Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Maternal bonding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Maternal bonding - Essay Example According to Sosa (1980, pg. 1), â€Å"The human maternal infant bond starts early in pregnancy, has a tendency to strengthen as the child grows older and is affected by numerous factors (see Figure 6). At the present time, data to support the existence of a sensitive period in the human species are inconclusive. Although a majority of mothers feel a sense of belonging to their infants immediately after birth, in some mothers this sense of intimacy commences at a later time. McFarland has pointed out that normal women become attached to their infants at different intervals of time: 41% during pregnancy, 24% at birth, 27% during the first week of life, and the remaining 8% after the first week of life.† The behavior of mothers is influenced by a number of factors. These can include, but are not limited to, the way in which the mother was raised, social and economic conditions, cultural beliefs, parental relationships with the mother’s own parents, and pregnancy experiences to date. The human baby is unable to care for himself, unlike many other animal species. This means that it is up to the mother to extensively care for her infant in order for it to survive. Thankfully, both the mother and the baby have been shown in studies to be ready to interact shortly after birth. Furthermore, the human infant has been shown to be able to interact socially and have far more other abilities than what was previously thought. For instance, the human infant has been shown to interact with his mother via visual and audio stimuli, such as eye contact and turning the head towards the breast (Sosa, 1980). The cultural and traditional beliefs in the area in which a mother resides can influence the behavior between her and her infant. Most cultures consider the birth of an infant a happy event and accept it as a regular part of life. Furthermore, studies show that mothers and babies remain close throughout both infancy and early childhood. Even throughout

Monday, October 28, 2019

Case in motivation and teamwork of Starbuck Essay Example for Free

Case in motivation and teamwork of Starbuck Essay Case in motivation and teamwork of Starbuck Introduction Question 1 Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Formal teams are teams whose structures are clearly defined mainly of the basis of specialization. In these types of teams, the members are not equal and every one of them has a rank (Moorhead Griffin, 73). For example, there are managers, supervisors and other junior employees. It is worthy noting that every member of a formal team performs their specific duties. For example, managers stay in their offices and issues directives to their juniors. On the other hand, informal teams have no structure and all team members are seen as equal regardless of their specialty. In these types of teams, any member can perform any task. Question 2 A team in Starbucks consists of three to six people and this helps the employees to know each other well. Any opinion expressed by employees is given an equal significance regardless of their position. The top management at Starbucks work together with their juniors which makes them more familiar and closer compared to other bureaucratic companies. The management at Starbucks treats all employees as equals and this is aimed at reducing the gap between the employees and the management. The top management at the company believes that employees are its main spirit. Consequently, the management adopts an interactive organizational structure that makes the employees love their jobs and perform them with passion. Question 3 a) The size of a team is an important factor because it determines how well the team members know each other. This is important because it brings about cohesion in the work place. b) The first benefit of Starbucks having small teams of staff in every branch is that the team members get to know each other better. Secondly, it improves communication within the group. Question 4 Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   From the Starbucks case study, it is clear that there are three major issues that the company needs to address in its planning process namely listening to the opinion of its employees, equal treatment and ensuring good welfare for the employees. Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Equal treatment- this is one of the major issues that the company needs to address in its planning process. Equal treatment requires all employees to be treated equally regardless of their position. According to the case study, it is clear that the management at the company treats all employees as equals and refers to them as partners. This is important because it narrows the gap between the employees and the management. Treating every employees fairly and equally in the workplace results in a friendly working environment. Consequently, if the issue of equal treatment is addressed in the planning process, it will help in creating closer working atmosphere and good management (Rynes Rosen 64). Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Â   Listening to the employees- listening to the employees is other issue that requires to be addressed in the planning process. From the Starbucks case, it is clear that the company wants every employee to take part in developing plans and work as a team to achieve the set goals. Consequently, the company’s principles and policies are communicated to all employees, and there is no restriction in the employee’s individual opinions. By listening to the employees, makes them feel important which in turn motivates them hence increasing their productivity (Rynes Rosen, 83). References Moorhead, G., Griffin, R. W. Managing organizational behavior. (10th ed.). Cengage Learning., 2012. Print Rynes, S., Rosen, B. A field survey of factors affecting the adoption and perceived success of diversity training. Personnel Psychology, 1995. Print Source document

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Rumors in Baldwins Notes of a Native Son Essay example -- James Baldw

Rumors When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flow ed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, â€Å"Notes of a Native Son,† to highlight the struggle toward equality. On June 21, the city of Detroit exploded as racial tensions finally reached their boiling point. Various news organizations, such as Time and Newsweek, covered the story. At the time of the riots, none of the reported accounts of the uprising matched. The most disputed facts were the discrepancies regarding why the riot started, the number of deaths and injuries, and the exact time the riot began. Yet, most news sources reported that around six hundred people were taken into cu... ...etimes these tensions exploded into riots, as in Detroit. Printed sources of the time recorded bits and pieces of varying data and left out other information. The public was finally beginning to become conscious of the racial inequalities in American cities. In addition, James Baldwin provided future generations a view of the injustices of the time. Works Cited Brown, Earl. "The Truth About the Detroit Riot." Harper's Magazine Nov. 1943: 488-498. "Deep Trouble." Time 28 Jun. 1943: 19. Momboisse, Raymond M. Riots, Revolts and Insurrections. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1967. â€Å"Notes of a Native Son.† 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84. Person's Index: Facts On File. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1943. "Riotous Race Hate." Newsweek 28 Jun. 1943: 42-43. Rumors in Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son Essay example -- James Baldw Rumors When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flow ed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, â€Å"Notes of a Native Son,† to highlight the struggle toward equality. On June 21, the city of Detroit exploded as racial tensions finally reached their boiling point. Various news organizations, such as Time and Newsweek, covered the story. At the time of the riots, none of the reported accounts of the uprising matched. The most disputed facts were the discrepancies regarding why the riot started, the number of deaths and injuries, and the exact time the riot began. Yet, most news sources reported that around six hundred people were taken into cu... ...etimes these tensions exploded into riots, as in Detroit. Printed sources of the time recorded bits and pieces of varying data and left out other information. The public was finally beginning to become conscious of the racial inequalities in American cities. In addition, James Baldwin provided future generations a view of the injustices of the time. Works Cited Brown, Earl. "The Truth About the Detroit Riot." Harper's Magazine Nov. 1943: 488-498. "Deep Trouble." Time 28 Jun. 1943: 19. Momboisse, Raymond M. Riots, Revolts and Insurrections. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1967. â€Å"Notes of a Native Son.† 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84. Person's Index: Facts On File. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1943. "Riotous Race Hate." Newsweek 28 Jun. 1943: 42-43.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Jai Ho

Assignment: Inverted Index October 19, 2012 1 Introduction Today, top search engines like Google and Yahoo use a data structure called Inverted Index for their matching of queries to the documents and give users the relevant documents according to their rank. Inverted Index is basically a mapping from a word to its position of occurence in the document. Since a word may appear more than once in the document, storing all the positions and the frequency of a word in the document gives an idea of relevance of this document for a particular word.If such an inverted index is build up for each document in the collection, then when a query is ? red, a search can be done for the query in these indexes and ranking is obtained according to the frequency. Mathematically, an inverted index for a document D and strings s1 , s2 , †¦ , sn is of the form s1 ? > a1 , a1 , †¦ 1 2 s2 ? > a2 , a2 , †¦ 1 2 . . . sn ? > an , an , †¦ 2 1 where ak denotes the lth position of k th word in the document D. l To build up this kind of data structure e? iently, Tries are used. Tries are a good data structure for strings as searching becomes very simple here with every leaf node describing one word. To build up an inverted index given a set of documents using trie, following steps are followed †¢ Traverse one document and insert words into a trie. As a leaf node is reached, assign it a number (in increasing order) representing its location in the index (staring from 0). Add the position of this word into the index. Now for a word which occur more than once in the document, when attempt for second insertion into the trie is made, a leaf node already containing that word would be found and its value would tell the location in the index. So simply go to this index and add another position for this word. †¢ Do this till end of document is reached. Now, you have a trie and an inverted index for the ? rst document. †¢ Repeat this procedure for the rest of the doc uments. 1 Now follow the below steps to search for a word from the inverted indexes and tries of all the documents †¢ For every document, ? st search for the word in the corresponding trie and get its location in the inverted index of that document. †¢ Then traverse through all the positions and see which document has most frequency and arrange the documents accordingly (in decreasing order). Also, in every document there are special words called â€Å"anchor texts† which have more importance than a normal text word. For example – a download link. So for the same word, its occurence as an anchor text increases the relevance of that document over its normal occurence. 2 Problem StatementFor this assignment, you need to create an inverted index for a collection C of documents from 1 to n. Every document will be a plain text ? le with ? rst line storing its id from 1 to n and next few lines containing space or new line separated words. The index should be an arr ay of lists with size of array equal to total number of distinct words in the array and the list for each word contains the locations of the word in the document. The trie used for this construction can be represented in any form (array/linked list/trees etc. ).So you would have n such tries and inverted indexes. Then you should ask user for the queries (single-word) and give the order of documents in decreasing order of relevance. For our case, the anchor texts are represented by following the word with a ?. So if you have something like – â€Å"Rats fear cats and cats* fear dogs. † then here 1st cat is a normal word whereas 2nd cat is an anchor text. So now your array size will be 2 ? totalnumberof distinctwords in the document as you would store positions of normal text and anchor text separately for a given word.And now relevance should ? rst be decided by the frequency of anchor texts and within them collision should be resolved by frequency of normal text. D1 D2 D3 1 it is what it is 2 what is it 3 it is a banana Below are the corresponding tries and inverted indexes for the 3 documents (? gure 1). 2 Figure 1: Trie and Inverted Index for Documents 1, 2 and 3 Now if query is â€Å"it† – then search in 1st index gives – 0, 3(f req = 2), 2nd index gives 2(f req = 1) and 3rd one gives 0(f req = 1).So, our output is – 1, 2, 3or1, 3, 2 (as document 2 and 3 have equal relevance). NOTE †¢ The names of the data ? les should be taken from command line. After 3 building the inverted index, you should ask for query again from command prompt and also give an option of quitting any time the user want. †¢ The inverted indexes should be written to ? les named as â€Å"1†¦ n. txt† with each line corresponding to one word in the document. †¢ You can ignore case-sensitive words i. e. , Cat and cat are same. †¢ Also ignore symbols in the text (if any) like . ,-? 4

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Estimating Informal settlers in the Philippines Essay

In the Housing Backlog Study commissioned by the HUDCC, the Consultants prepared the estimates of Informal Settlers in the Philippines. According to the Spatial Statistics of Informal Settlers in the Philippines component of the Study, informal settler families reached an estimated 550,771 households as of August 1, 2007. This is based on the extrapolation made using the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) and the 2007 Census of Population. The study showed that the highest concentration of informal settlers was in Quezon City, having more than 90 thousand households. Far second are Rizal in Calabarzon and Davao City in the Davao Region, both with more than 20 thousand households in the informal settler sector. Table 1. Results of the Mapping of Informal Settlers in the Philippines It should be noted that for this specific study, Informal Settlers are defined as those households1 whose tenure status is â€Å"rent-free without consent of owner†. The 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) data provides statistics on households with tenure of lot, â€Å"rent-free without consent of owner† which were then classified as informal settlers. However, the 2007 Census of Population did not include the â€Å"housing aspect†, hence the study used the characteristic observed in CPH 2000 to project the numbers for 2007. The HUDCC then compared the result of the Study with the Survey on Informal Settlers in Metro Manila conducted by the NHA in 2007. In Table 2, the NHA identified 544,609 informal settler families in Metro Manila, while the NS0-CPH figures account for only 199,398 informal settler families. 1 Household- a group of persons who sleep in the same housing unit and have a common arrangement in the preparation and consumption of food. Page 1 of 6 Table 2. Comparison of Estimated Number of Informal Settlers in Metro Manila, 2007 The discrepancy between the Census-derived figures and the data from NHA can be explained by the different definitions and methodologies adopted by the NSO and the NHA. DEFINING AND IDENTIFYING INFORMAL SETTLERS The National Census Office has defined Informal Settlers as â€Å"households occupying a lot rent-free without the consent of the owner†. In Census questionnaires on Tenure Status of the Lot, the respondent is asked, â€Å"Do you own or amortize this lot occupied by your household, do you rent it, or do you occupy it rent-free with consent of owner or rent-free without consent of the owner?† Moreover, the Census questionnaires also generate data on type of building or house, construction materials of the roof, construction materials of the outer walls, state of repair of building/house, year building/house was built, floor area of the housing unit, tenure status of the lot . During Census of Population and Housing held every ten years, additional questions are asked from a 20 percent sample on the following: fuel for lighting, fuel for cooking, source of water supply for drinking and/or cooking, source of water for laundry and/or bathing, tenure status of the housing unit, acquisition of the housing unit, source of financing, monthly rental of the housing unit, usual manner of garbage disposal, kind of toilet/facility, land ownership. Page 2 of 6 The National Housing Authority and Local Government Units, on the other hand, must follow the multi-faceted approach provided in RA 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 or UDHA in identifying â€Å"homeless and underprivileged citizens† or more broadly, informal settlers. UDHA does not use the term â€Å"informal settlers† nor â€Å"squatters† but adopts the term â€Å"homeless and underprivileged citizens †2 . At the same time, the law mandates LGUs to undertake a Registration3 of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries, subject to eligibility criteria4. Special considerations are also provided for persons and entities who may be subject to eviction and demolition5 particularly those occupying danger areas and other public places, or areas affected by government infrastructure projects, and in lands when there is a court order for eviction and demolition. Moreover, UDHA also distinguishes potential housing beneficiaries from professional squatters and squatting syndicates (Section 27) and new squatters (Section 44) who occupy the area after March 31, 1992. The identification of homeless and underprivileged/socialized housing beneficiary or more broadly â€Å"informal settlers† in UDHA must take the following into consideration several aspects: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ location in urban and urbanizable areas family income non-ownership of housing facilities elsewhere in the Philippines occupancy in makeshift dwelling units security of tenure location of dwelling (danger areas, public spaces, government infrastructure projects, private land) not a member of a squatting syndicate not a professional squatter the business of squatter housing for profit or gain occupancy of the land before March 31, 1992 To this end, the LGUs and the NHA conduct â€Å"censuses† on specific areas that involve physical survey of the area, tagging of every structure, mapping and household listing, ownership of structure, tenure arrangements (rental, sharing arrangements, absentee holdings), as well family composition, source of income, education. â€Å"Censuses† of informal settlers identify all households and even families, as well as structure owners, tenants, sharers, and other occupants, especially if the area will be cleared of structures for infrastructure development; for safety considerations in danger areas, or due to court orders. However, only a handful of LGUs conduct regular â€Å"censuses† of informal settlers and report their findings to HUDCC. 2 Section 3. t.â€Å"Underprivileged and homeless citizens† refers to the beneficiaries of this Act and to individuals or families residing in urban and urbanizable areas whose income or combined household income falls within the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority and who do not own housing facilities. This shall include those who live in makeshift dwelling units and do not enjoy security of tenure 3 Section 17 Registration of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries – The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, in coordination with the local government units, shall design a system for the registration of qualified Program beneficiaries in accordance with the Framework. The local government units, within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, shall identify and register all beneficiaries their respective localities. 4 Sec. 16. Eligibility Criteria for Socialized Housing Program Beneficiaries – To qualify for the socialized housing program, a beneficiary: a. Must be a Filipino; b. Must be an underprivileged and homeless citizen, as defined in Section 3 of this Act; c. Must not own any real property whether in the urban or rural areas; and d.Must not be a professional squatter or a member of squatting syndicate 5 Section 28. Eviction and Demolition Eviction or demolition as a practice shall be discouraged. Eviction or demolition, however, may be allowed under the following situations: a. When persons or entities occupy danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, and other public places such as sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds; b. When government infrastructure projects with available funding are about to be implemented; or c. When there is a court order for eviction and demolition. Page 3 of 6 It is in this regard that there is a need to improve the data collection techniques for informal settlers in the Philippines. IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION FOR INFORMAL SETTLERS Faced with the challenges of coming up with realistic and systematic information of informal settlers, the HUDCC has taken the lead in several initiatives: Defining â€Å"informal settlers† and designing data collection schemes The HUDCC proposed defining the term â€Å"informal settlers† as those households living in i) lot without consent of the property owner; ii) danger areas; iii) areas for government infrastructure projects; iv) protected/forest areas (except for indigenous people); v) Areas for Priority Development (APDs), if applicable; and vi) other government/public lands or facilities not intended for habitation. The definition is based on the UDHA provision of households that will be affected by eviction and demolition namely those in danger areas such as river/waterways, railroad tracks, dumpsites; those in government lands, and those in private lands. The definition thus focuses on the spatial nature of population distribution of informal settlers. This definition also reflects the operational requirements for clearing of danger areas and those areas affected by government projects which targets all households, regardless of income or even tenure status. In this regard, mapping of such sites to guide the NSO will be crucial. Operationally the HUDCC has made arrangements with the National Statistics Office and the National Statistical Coordination Board through the Technical Committee on Population and Housing Statistics (TCPHS) that this definition be adopted during the 2010 Census of Population. The HUDCC moved for the inclusion of the following question to be answered by the enumerator through observation: Encircle the actual or the nearest physical location of the housing unit of the respondent: 1 Residential area 2 Along river/creek/canal/estero/waterways 3 Along the railroad 4 Easements of road and/or highway and/or under the bridge 5 Inside cemetery 6 Areas for government infrastructure projects 7 Within dumpsites 8 Within protected areas and forest lands Page 4 of 6 9 Within compound of government hospital, school, military camps or other public institution and facilities 10 Within private lands 11 Others, specify______________________ The NSO, through Administrator Ericta considered the request of HUDCC as a post census activity. The HUDCC was also required to come up with maps delineating barangays boundaries, limits of danger areas, and even extent of right-of-way to guide the post-census validation. The HUDCC offered to concentrate first on Metro Manila informal settlers in coordination with Metro Manila Development Authority. To this end the HUDCC coordinated with the Metro Manila Development Authority which committed to generate maps from its member-LGUs. It should be noted that the MMDA was also engaged in its own update of the Informal Settler Families in Metro Manila and welcomed the opportunity to bridge the inconsistency between the generated ISF data of HUDCC with their own database. In this regard the HUDCC facilitated a workshop between NSO and MMDA to harmonize the data gathering system of the two agencies. The National Statistical Coordination Board, through the TCHPS took cognizance of the strong demand for population data for danger areas/zones and recommended that the â€Å"HUDCC first provide an operational definition of these areas and then identify and prepare a listing of these areas by barangays. With the operational definition and listing of danger areas/zones, the HUDCC may coordinate with NSO for the generation of the population data for these areas as part of the post census activities.† The Department of National Defense also supported the concern for more population data on those in danger areas/ zone, with its comments made during the Referendum among the NSCB Board Members (November 11, 2009) when it stated: 2. On Population count for danger areas/zone It may be appropriate to link this up with the work of the Interagency Committee on Security Sector Statistics (IACSSS). The IASCSSS may identify conflict-affected areas and study the correlation, if any, between census-generated data on population and housing with other demographic data, as inputs to policy and strategy formulation. This may be done as an after-census activity. Moreover, there is an ongoing effort to develop the â€Å"hazard map† of the Philippines, showing the vulnerabilities of various regions/provinces in terms of disasters, such as typhoons, earthquakes, landslides and others. Data on population and housing will be very critical in the formulation of policies and disaster management plans. Page 5 of 6 DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER-AIDED SYSTEM OF SOCIALIZED HOUSING BENEFICIARY REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR LGUs Section 17 of RA 7279, Registration of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries, directs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, in coordination with the local government units, to design a system for the registration of qualified Program beneficiaries. The local government units, within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, shall identify and register all beneficiaries their respective localities.. To this end a simple form indicating family composition, and tenure status was designed to be filled up by the potential beneficiaries during the Registration date designated by the LGU. More than a decade later, the Housing Backlog Study was able to generate a computer program that will assist the LGUs administer the registration. The computer program will facilitate encoding, and even gather biometric data (photos, etc.) and ease reporting requirements. The Computer-based data entry system on beneficiary listing in the CD which was tested in Taguig and Muntinlupa , in which both LGUs expressed their appreciation for the program. NEXT STEPS  The HUDCC continues to coordinate with the MMDA and the NSO with regard to the processing of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. To date, the MMDA has been able to consolidate the reports of informal settlers in Metro Manila from 15 out of the is 17 component LGUs . Maps have been prepared in  several municipalities. Under the new administration of Vice President Jejomar Binay, the HUDCC has refocused its housing thrusts to building new homes for the poor in partnership with NGOs like the Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity, and to empower LGUs to assume a bigger role in providing housing for their constituents. In this regard, the Computer-aided system developed by the SRTC could be easily mobilized. The HUDCC will also work with the NSCB and the Interagency Committee on Security Sector Statistics (IACSSS) as suggested by the DND in order to design a better data collection system. To this end, the HUDCC envisions that future population data will also have a spatial component, with mapping incorporated in the data-gathering and reporting – using a GIS approach to identifying potential housing beneficiaries in the near future. CONCLUSION The quest to improve the database on informal settlers was the result of open dialogues and the support of the NSO, the MMDA and the NSCB. The dialogues were able to generate a definition of â€Å"informal settlers† that is based on location and is complementary to the needs of agencies that will address the needs of these households. As the Philippines and the rest of the world grow more urban in nature with the attendant challenges of urban blight, overcrowding, poor quality of life , better data gather methods and baseline data will be crucial in identifying areas and sector that will need interventions. The latest computer programs should be used as tools to And we hope when the next Census of Population and Housing comes around in nine years, we are better equipped so that we can cover the whole Philippines . Page 6 of 6

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Example

Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Example Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay Social Responsibility in Marketing Essay The topic, ‘social responsibility in marketing’ refers to a few ethical principles that the corporations are expected to follow.   Main motive of the businessmen is to earn maximum revenue. However, in recent years, society expects that the corporate world also contribute to the welfare of the people. Therefore, while marketing the products the companies need to take into consideration the possible impact of marketing techniques on the society. Recently, a few tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco, have been criticized for not openly acknowledging the fact that tobacco products can lead to dangerous consequences. Tobacco companies have misled the users of tobacco by not directly stating that consumption of tobacco products would lead to harmful effects on the health of the individuals. These companies have been inspiring the young people to consume tobacco.(Chapman 445) The young people are informed that by smoking they could achieve happiness in life. These advertisements have destroyed the life several individuals who have used tobacco. A few scholars and activists have registered their protest against the companies headed by corporate leaders like Philip Morris who attempted to give the impression that his company is committed to bring welfare of the people in the society. These tobacco companies decided to sponsor a few conferences on corporate responsibility and ethical marketing. Participants of these conferences have expressed their reluctance to be associated with the tobacco companies because these scholars are convinced that these industries have not worked for the welfare of the society. Through their effective marketing techniques, these companies have been able to obtain substantial profits. However, in the process, this has affected the health of millions of people. Recently, a US court gave the verdict that all internal documents of t obacco firms should be made public, which means that now the public would be able to analyze the marketing techniques and real motives of these companies. Millions of documents of these companies are now available in their websites. This has imposed a great pressure on the corporations to prove that they have responded to the feelings and aspirations of the society. These companies need to contribute to the welfare of society. On the contrary, the scholars are unhappy with these companies because they have avoided their social responsibility while marketing their products. The scholars have boycotted such companies from academic bodies, indicating that the companies need to change their attitude towards marketing ethics.(Chapman 446) Many industrialists have realized that they need to make positive contributions to the society and that they are expected to restructure their marketing techniques so as to achieve the twin objectives of profit enhancement and following the principles of marketing ethics. Academicians and industrialists have participated in conferences to discuss the desired strategy of corporate people in order to avoid negative impact of marketing techniques pursued by these industrialists. Academicians have argued that apart from achieving brand name and customer satisfaction in the form of product quality, the corporations also need to believe in the principles of social welfare and quality of life. By introducing a few changes in the marketing of the products it is possible to achieve social welfare. For example, in the developing countries, the drugs related to AIDS are sold at a cheaper price. These pharmaceutical companies have done a great service to the society by understanding the needs of the community. In a similar manner, industries belonging to other sectors also need to collaborate with social activists in order to justify their marketing practices. The academicians have requested the industrialists to incorporate responsibility management perspective in their marketing strategies. (Bhattacharya et.al.) The corporations have been justifying their unethical marketing techniques by claiming that they have been following marketing techniques, which are considered as legal. This would mean that as long as a particular product is not banned by the government, the industrialists can continue to market products such as cigarettes and fast food. However, it is proved that many of these products, although legal, are not ethical. The corporations are required to distinguish between legal and ethical aspects while marketing a product. However, lack of ethics can be found in other spheres also. For example, the politicians have been involved in various scandals, and they have allowed the corporations to continue to sell their products in spite of the fact that they affect the overall health of the society. However, legislators cannot introduce laws that can prohibit all the marketing techniques that can be perceived as unethical. (Nucifora) The corporations have used advertisements in order to determine the attitude of the people. The companies have used the service of celebrities in order to market their products. This has encouraged the people to consume products such as tobacco and food products which have harmed their health. However, in recent years people are becoming wiser. Corporate marketing strategies are analyzed by the media, and this has increased the awareness of the public regarding the marketing techniques used by the companies in order to make the people to consume their products. For example, it has been found that the young people have been consuming too much fat when compared to the earlier generation. Many Physicians have reported that several young people are suffering from cholesterol-related health problems. Pizza and hamburger shops have justified their advertising techniques although their products do not contribute to welfare of the people. Now the people have become more concerned with profit motives of the companies. This indicates that the corporations need to contribute to the social welfare. They need to design products and market them so that they would not harm the individuals in the society. (Nucifora) Different scholars have given various definitions of the concept of corporate social responsibility. For Milton Friedman this concept meant attempt made by the corporations to maximize their profits by following the rules of the state.(Coelho et.al.) However, this definition is not accepted by many other scholars who have argued that corporate social responsibility involves not only legal issues but also ethical aspects expected from businessmen. Therefore, businessmen, apart from trying to obtain profits, also should strive to achieve the social welfare. In order to achieve this, an attempt should be made by the marketing companies to realize the negative consequences of the use of marketing techniques. (Coelho et.al.) However, some scholars believe that corporate social responsibility should not be imposed on the companies as this would violate the rights of the shareholders. The main motive of the company should be to increase company revenue. By involving in social responsibility tasks, the companies may lose their image as profit making enterprises, which may compel the shareholders to withdraw their investments from these companies. It is suggested by these scholars that a company should give importance to social responsibility only when these tasks improve the revenue or brand image of the company. This shows that some scholars have objected to the argument that organizations should give importance to the concept of social responsibility. When the companies give greater importance to their social responsibility this would mean that money is not spent for the welfare of the shareholders and customers, and this may negatively affect the revenue potential of the company. (Lantos 2) The corporations are expected to give importance to various kinds of responsibilities including ethical responsibility, which refers to conduct of business through fair means without harming the society. However, it is found that many companies have failed to concentrate on ethical responsibility as they have given greater importance to their economic responsibility, which refers to earning profits in order to satisfy the shareholders. Some scholars have argued that main responsibility of the companies is to follow the rules framed by the government pertaining to marketing of a particular product. However, while sticking to rules, the companies also can violate ethical principles as particular marketing techniques can harm social groups. It has been argued by Lantos that companies need to give importance to only strategic responsibility.(Lantos 3) This would mean that they need to accept only those social responsibilities that can lead to increased revenue to the company. For example , by exhibiting the company interest in following ethical principles, the company can get more customers. However, the motive of this theory of social responsibility can be questioned because many scholars believe that profit motive and corporate social responsibility should be differentiated in order to achieve the welfare of the society. The above argument of Lantos is not acceptable. The various companies have been marketing their products with the intention of gaining profits. However, they also need to assess the impact of their products and try to modify the products when they find that their products have negative impact on the health of the majority. The companies claim that they produce and market only those products that are demanded by customers. Their argument is that customers would not ask for something which is bad for them. However, in all the cases customers may not be able to judge the value of different products. One product such as tobacco or alcohol may be good for some customers, while it may be bad for the society as a whole. Taking into consideration such situations, one can suggest that companies need to market only those products which the companies can justify. By producing quality products, the marketing companies can be proud of their achievement as they have contributed to the welfare of t he society.(Kotler) The company needs to research the methods of removing side effects of its products. Negative effect of products can be removed by introducing measures such as encouraging companies to produce safe products, restricting the sale of particular products which affects many people in the society, imposing taxes on harmful products so that people will lose their interest in some products, and public education campaigns. Socially responsible companies can also become profitable companies by pursuing measures necessary to achieve the objectives of obtaining profit and at the same time become socially responsible. Many companies have remained socially responsible, while at the same time increasing their revenue. Marketers have introduced various products such as computers, automobiles and other items which have benefited many people, while they are abused by some customers. In such cases, one cannot blame the companies. However, the corporations are expected to follow a few basic ethical prin ciples so that they would not hurt the physical and mental health of the people. There is a need for minimum government intervention in the corporate activities in order to encourage the businessmen to follow ethical principles while marketing their products. (Kotler) Although the main motive of the companies is to earn revenue and satisfy the demands of shareholders, the corporations are also expected to understand their social responsibility. While marketing the products, the companies need to analyze the positive and negative impact of such products on the society. The modern customer has obtained information regarding ethical principles that a company is expected to follow while introducing a product. Many academicians believe that the corporations need to introduce products that lead to  Ã‚   welfare of the society.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Washington Irving

Washington Irving Washington Irving was the first American to make a living as an author and during his prolific career in the early 1800s he created celebrated characters such as Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane. His youthful satirical writings popularized two terms still closely associated with New York City, Gotham and Knickerbocker. Irving also contributed something to holiday traditions, as his conception of a saintly character with a flying sleigh delivering toys to children at Christmas evolved into our modern depictions of Santa Claus. Early Life of Washington Irving Washington Irving was born April 3, 1783 in lower Manhattan, during the week that New York City residents heard of the British ceasefire in Virginia that effectively ended the Revolutionary War. To pay tribute to the great hero of the time, General George Washington, Irvings parents named their eighth child in his honor. When George Washington took the oath of office as the first American president at Federal Hall in New York City, six-year-old Washington Irving stood among the thousands of people celebrating in the streets. A few months later he was introduced to President Washington, who was shopping in lower Manhattan. For the rest of his life Irving told the story of how the president patted him on the head. While attending school, young Washington was believed to be slow-witted, and one teacher labeled him a dunce. He did, however, learn to read and write, and became obsessed with telling stories. Some of his brothers attended Columbia College, yet Washingtons formal education ended at the age of 16. He became apprenticed to a law office, which was a typical route to becoming a lawyer in the era before law schools were common. Yet the aspiring writer was  far more interested in wandering about Manhattan and studying the daily life of New Yorkers than he was in the classroom. Early Political Satires Irvings older brother Peter, a physician who was actually more interested in politics than medicine, was active in the New York political machine headed by Aaron Burr. Peter Irving edited a newspaper aligned with Burr, and in November 1802 Washington Irving published his first article, a political satire signed with the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. Irving wrote a series of articles as Oldstyle over the next few months. It was common knowledge in New York circles that he was the real author of the articles, and he enjoyed the recognition. He was 19 years old. One of Washingtons older brothers, William Irving, decided that a trip to Europe might give the aspiring writer some direction, so he financed the voyage. Washington Irving left New York, bound for France, in 1804, and didnt return to America for two years. His tour of Europe broadened his mind and gave him material for later writing. Salmagundi, a Satirical Magazine After returning to New York City, Irving resumed studying to become a lawyer, but his real interest was in writing. With a friend and one of his brothers he began collaborating on a magazine that lampooned Manhattan society. The new publication was called Salmagundi, a familiar term at the time as it was a common food similar to present day chefs salad. The little magazine turned out to be shockingly popular and 20 issues appeared from early 1807 to early 1808. The humor in Salmagundi was gentle by todays standards, but 200 years ago it seemed startling and the magazines style became a sensation. One lasting contribution to American culture was that Irving, in a joking item in Salmagundi, referred to New York City as Gotham. The reference was to a British legend about a town whose residents were reputed to be crazy. New Yorkers enjoyed the joke, and Gotham became a perennial nickname for the city. Diedrich Knickerbockers A History of New York Washington Irvings first full-length book appeared in December 1809. The volume was a fanciful and often satirical history of his beloved New York City as told by an eccentric old Dutch historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker. Much of the humor in the book played upon the rift between the old Dutch settlers and the British who had supplanted them in the city. Some descendants of old Dutch families were offended. But most New Yorkers appreciated the satire and the book was successful. And while some of the local political jokes are hopelessly obscure 200 years later, much of the humor in the book is still quite charming. During the writing of A History of New York, a woman Irving intended to marry, Matilda Hoffman, died of pneumonia. Irving, who was with Matilda when she died, was crushed. He never again became seriously involved with a woman and remained unmarried. For years after the publication of A History of New York Irving wrote little. He edited a magazine, but also engaged in the practice of law, a profession which he never found very interesting. In 1815 he left New York for England, ostensibly to help his brothers stabilize their importing business after the War of 1812. He remained in Europe for the next 17 years. The Sketch Book While living in London Irving wrote his most important work, The Sketch Book, which he published under the pseudonym of Geoffrey Crayon. The book first appeared in several small volumes in American in 1819 and 1820. Much of the content in The Sketch Book dealt with British manners and customs, but the American stories are what became immortal. The book contained The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the account of schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his otherworldly nemesis the Headless Horseman, and Rip Van Winkle, the tale of a man who awakens after sleeping for decades. The Sketch Book also contained a collection of Christmas tales which influenced the celebrations of Christmas in 19th century America. Revered Figure at his Estate on the Hudson While in Europe Irving researched and wrote a biography of Christopher Columbus along with a number of travel books. He also worked at times as a diplomat for the United States. Irving returned to America in 1832, and as a popular writer he was able to buy a picturesque estate along the Hudson near Tarrytown, New York. His early writings had established his reputation, and while he pursued other writing projects, including books on the American West, he never topped his earlier successes. When he died on  November 28, 1859 he was widely mourned. In his honor, flags were lowered in New York City as well as on ships in the harbor. The New York Tribune, the influential newspaper edited by Horace Greeley, referred to Irving as the beloved patriarch of American letters. A report on Irvings funeral in the New York Tribune on December 2, 1859, noted, The humble villagers and farmers, to whom he was so well known, were among the truest mourners who followed him to the grave. Irvings stature as a writer endured, and his influence was widely felt. His works, especially The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle are still widely read and considered classics.