Bereavement and Grief: Counsellling and Therapy

Bereavement and grief impacts people on many levels: emotionally, biologically, sexually, economically, socially, and spiritually. In essence, all aspects of a bereaved person’s life are affected by grief. The lack of emphasis on the personal toll of therapy may lead to unprepared therapists; conversely, having a personal preparedness for dealing with death issues, rather than simply being trained in tactics, seems to predict more effective work with grieving persons and improved self-efficacy on the part of therapists.This paper provides extensive research on the bereavement and grief therapies. First, it examines various definitions of grief and bereavement and differences between them. Then a variety of theories related to these processes are scrutinised and presented. Then different therapeutical approaches coping with bereavement and grief are explored. After that subject of this study is examined through lenses of two classical psychotherapy theories: Person-Centred and Cognitive Therapy. Finally, an integrated approach based on previous ones is presented.Some conclusive remarks are also added. Definition of Bereavement and Grief Morgan (2000) and traced the words bereavement and grief back to the French word ravir and even further, to its root, the old Frisian word reva, which means to steal or to rob. Thus, in experiencing loss, one feels an acute sense of deprivation of a significant person in one’s life. Morgan (2000) stated that grief is the price we pay for love; it is the price we pay for security; it is the price we pay for a sense of warmth and for a sense that our lives have meaning (p.1). Simply expressed, â€Å"grief is the little kid inside of us protesting. Grief is that little kid inside of us thinking that if I yell loudly enough, if I scream loudly enough maybe my loved one will come back† (p. 1). While the terms grief and bereavement may be viewed as synonymous, some authors make a distinction between them, generally defining bereavement as â€Å"the objective situation of having lost someone significant† (Stroebe, Hansson, Stroebe, & Schut 2001, p. 6).Grief is defined as the reaction to bereavement, the â€Å"severe and prolonged distress that is a response to the loss of an emotionally important figure† (Weiss 2001, p. 47). Parkes (1970) offers a more detailed definition: Grief, it seems, is a complex and time-consuming process in which a person gradually changes his view of the world and the places and habits by means of which he orientates and relates to it. It is a process of realization, of making psychologically real an external event which is not desired and for which coping plans do not exist (p.465). While grief is the internal experience of thoughts and feelings in response to the loss, bereavement can be described as the loss itself, and the process that expresses the internal experience of grief (Worden 2002). Thus, a person may be bereaved in having experienced a los s, but not directly experiencing grief, as in the stage of denial (Worden 2002). Bereavement is characterized most often by emotions of sadness, anger, guilt, loneliness and insecurity (Kubler-Ross 1969). Becker (1973) asserted his belief in three possible responses to death.The first response is to deny the reality of death, to act as though it will not happen or is not important. The second response is to become mentally ill, to engage with death in a way that disregards societal and legal boundaries. The third response is to be heroic, to live life fully and to leave a legacy that upholds life and that honours one’s existence (Becker, 1973). Original Theories of Bereavement Morgan (2000) stated that grief impacts people on many levels: emotionally, biologically, sexually, economically, socially, and spiritually. In essence, all aspects of a bereaved person’s life are affected by grief.Freud's (1917) seminal bereavement paper, â€Å"Mourning and Melancholia,† was the first to propose the necessity of doing grief work, which he defined as a cathartic process of reviewing and then severing the psychological bonds to the deceased, in order to create room for a new attachment to a live person; â€Å"a withdrawal of the libido from this object and a displacement of it on to a new one† (p. 249). Stroebe (1992) more recently defined grief work as â€Å"a cognitive process of confronting a loss, of going over the events before and at the time of death, of focusing on memories and working towards detachment from the deceased† (pp. 19-20).Freud (1917) compared melancholia, which he considered pathological, to the normal process of mourning; he argued that while both share the same features of dejection, loss of interest, inhibition, and loss of capacity to love, melancholia was distinguished by its punitive and painful view of the self, during which the grieving person expects punishment (a belief which may reach delusional proportio ns). â€Å"In mourning it is the world which has become poor and empty; in melancholia it is the ego itself (p. 246). The pathology becomes the conflict within the ego, as opposed to the normal struggle to reconcile the loss of the object.Freud introduced ambivalence as a necessary precursor to melancholia, implying that the quality of one's prior relationship to the deceased was an important factor. The ambivalence toward the lost object created a maelstrom in the grieving individual, who struggles to both detach and remain attached simultaneously. His assumption was that all people need to do the â€Å"work† of grieving, where â€Å"every single one of the memories and situations of expectancy which demonstrate the libido's attachment to the lost object is met by the reality that the object no longer exists† (Freud 1917, p. 255).Freud believed that the ego then became â€Å"free and uninhibited† (p. 245) once the grief work was completed, and ready to form a new attachment. While these were theoretical constructs, based on Freud's observations of grieving persons, they were assumed to be representative of the process of grieving and had implications for the bereavement field for many decades afterward. Freud himself even stressed that further study was needed to identify those who may be predisposed to develop melancholia, and that his paper was actually not addressing grieving, per se; he was exploring dimensions of depression.The distinction between normal and pathological grieving was further explicated by Lindemann (1944), who interviewed 101 bereaved individuals from both an inpatient and outpatient population. Lindemann described the trajectory of normal grief as a fairly comparable phenomenon across patients, characterized by â€Å"(1) somatic distress, (2) preoccupation with the image of the deceased, (3) guilt, (4) hostile reactions, and (5) loss of patterns of conduct† (p. 142).Lindemann observed that it was not unusual for people experiencing a normal grief reaction to resolve the immediate symptoms within four to six weeks with the care of a psychiatrist. Lindemann (1944) viewed morbid grief reactions as a distortion of the normal grieving process. These pathological responses included a delay or distorted reaction to the loss (i. e. , overactivity, or no observable change in affect), somatic reactions that mimic the illness of the deceased, hostility against those perceived as responsible (i.e. , the loved one's physician), prolonged isolation from social supports, and intense self-persecution and desire to punish oneself, including suicidal ideation. Lindemann (1944) defined grief work as â€Å"emancipation from the bondage to the deceased, readjustment to the environment in which the deceased is missing, and the formation of new relationships† (p. 143). He believed that an obstacle to the successful resolution of grief was the avoidance of expressed emotional distress.Lindemann seemed perhaps overly optimistic by stating that a person could be assisted through a morbid grief reaction in eight to ten interview sessions, yet this may have been seen as a welcome departure from Freud's (1917) statement that mourning is â€Å"long-drawn-out and gradual† (p. 256). Furthermore, this could have been a precursor to the studies supporting the profile of the resilient individual (discussed in greater detail below). Anderson (1949) described the symptomology of 100 hospitalised bereaved patients under his care, who exhibited anxiety, hysteria, agitated and anergic depression, and hypomania.Anderson clearly endorsed the pathology of a delayed grief reaction, stating, â€Å"It is obvious that such states of mind will pervert, distort and prolong the natural process of grief in reference to patients who were unable to cry or who appeared elated. Anderson (1949) also believed the necessity of understanding the bereaved patient's relationship to the deceased, and endorsed that an ambivalent attachment would produce a conflicted and prolonged bereavement process.

Music and Dance Essay

Filipinos are known as great musicians worldwide. This is seen in their dedication and intense love for music. Early Filipinos already developed their own music through their endemic songs and instruments. The Magellan expedition in 1521, witnessed among the Cebuanos instruments of timbale, and cymbal and other forms of drums. The most popular music instrument found in the country is the kudyapi a metal stringed instrument shaped like a boat, Tingguian nose flute called kalalen, the Muslim xylophone called kulintang. Negritos of Bataan and Zambales have the musical instrument called ban, the Visayans had a guitar looking which they called gangsa and the toltogan, a bamboo drum. Aside from instruments, our ancestors also expressed themselves through their songs with dance like; tagumpay, Tagalog sog of victory, Mang-ay-uweng, an Igorot’s labor song, Kinnallogong which is an Ilocano dance of a man facing a woman, tudub a harvest song together with dandansuy, balitaw the two popular song and dance in Agusan, Other Philippine ethnic dances are the following; Bonog- Cordillera dance portraying hunting, Salisid- Cordillera courtship dance, Palok- cordillera tribal dance, Idudu- Cordillera tribal dance which is a common among Itneg or Tinguian society, Lumagen- Kalinga traditional thanksgiving dance, Bendayan- Benguet dance commemorating the arrival of the headhunters and Binaylan- Agusan ritual dance which originated from the Bagobo tribe. Dressing and Ornamentation The ancient Filipinos have their own attire and their own fashion. The men in the barangay society wore the kanggan, described as a black or blue collarless, short-sleeve jacket. They also wore a bahag a strip of cloth wrapped around their heads was also used which is called putong. They also had jewels such as pendant, gold necklaces, gold teeth, gold armlets that were called kalombigas and gold anklets filled with agates, carnelian and other gems. The women had their own way of dressing themselves same as the men. They wore wide-sleeve jacket called baro or camisa, in their lower part they wore a skirt, a piece of colored cloth, which they called as tapis or saya by the Tagalog and Patadyong by the Visayans. Women wore jewelry consisted of gold necklace,  gold bracelets, large gold earrings and gold rings and teeth. In Visayans, the most tattooed Filipinos settled; they developed a social representation through body marks of various designs representing animals, flowers and geometric representations. There were two reasons: first, to enhance their physical body beauty, and second, for men to show their war records, the more enemy a warrior killed in the battle, the more tattoo was inched in his body. The women were less tattooed than men. When the Spaniards came to Visayas and upon seeing such people they called pintados r painted people, they called the island as Las Islas Pintados or Island of Painted People. A Cat Disease A disease that causes chronic gastrological disorders, IBD, is envisioned in a spectrum of severities. Cats can vomit heavily, and suffer from continuous diarrhea. Reasons for the disease are yet unknown. Bacterial infections, gastrological irritation, lack of vitamins are often quoted as factors contributing to the development of the disease. Veterinarians, treating IBD in cats, usually prescribe medicine and advice on the dietary management as well as make surgical choices. If untreated, IBD, can be fatal for cats. Research – conducted mostly by pet owners – shows that a cat’s diet can be critical. Further research will include inspection of several vaccines. So far, grain-free, raw meat diet has already proved to be largely beneficial. The Meteor Show The much advertised meteor show this summer was a memory ot behold. The air was crisp and cool. I did not even feel a hint of a breeze  on my skin as I lie on my back in the darkness. The warm temperature of the water against the cooler air created a drifting airy fog that whispered over the lake. Darkness enveloped the sky as only a slight curve of the moon shone in the night; consequently, this made the perfect stage for the breathtaking view of twinkling stars. In the still of the night many galaxies glittered from the depths of the sky as I felt hypnotically drawn into the mesmorizing show above me. Broad irregular bands of light from the Milky Way stretched across the sky while the big and little dipper shined brightly. As predicted, the meteor show began with various sized meteors cascading to the earth’s atmosphere about every fifteen to thirty seconds. Shots of light, followed by orange and white mist, describes the presence of the meteors. The panoramic view made it possible to witness several meteors at a time while marveling at each one. An event like this may only happen once in a lifetime, so I will cherish this moment and it will remain as one of my fondest memories. My First Time In The Emergency Room I went to the Emergency Room for the first time when I was thirteen years old. It all came about when I was skateboarding in front of my grandma’s house and I tried to do a trick. I almost pulled it of, but I messed it up in the end and headed to the ground with my hands down. My right wrist was twisted the wrong way in the air when I landed hard on the ground, it just broke it. At first it did not hurt at all, but when I looked down at my warped and twisted wrist , all of a sudden excruciating pain rushed through my wrist and I came unglued. Rolling around on the ground yelling and cussing in pain, my parents saw what happened and came running to my aid. My dad started moving it around saying, â€Å"it’s not broken,† as my mom was saying over and over again we need to go to the emergency room to get the real diiagnosis. After about fifteen minutes of yelling and screaming, I finally got up and held my wrist as I walked to the car. The whole way to the ER the pain got worse and worse. Later I foound out the  increase in pain was due to massive swelling against the broken bone. I had to sit in the waiting room for almost and hour which seemed loke forever. After waiting impatiently, I finally got into the doctor’s office where I got an X-Ray and found out my wrist was truley broken.

Digital Fortress Chapter 12

David Becker had been to funerals and seen dead bodies before, but there was something particularly unnerving about this one. It was not an immaculately groomed corpse resting in a silk-lined coffin. This body had been stripped naked and dumped unceremoniously on an aluminum table. The eyes had not yet found their vacant, lifeless gaze. Instead they were twisted upward toward the ceiling in an eerie freeze-frame of terror and regret. â€Å"?Donde estan sus efectos?† Becker asked in fluent Castillian Spanish. â€Å"Where are his belongings?† â€Å"Alli,† replied the yellow-toothed lieutenant. He pointed to a counter of clothing and other personal items. â€Å"?Es todo? Is that all?† â€Å"Si.† Becker asked for a cardboard box. The lieutenant hurried off to find one. It was Saturday evening, and the Seville morgue was technically closed. The young lieutenant had let Becker in under direct orders from the head of the Seville Guardia-it seemed the visiting American had powerful friends. Becker eyed the pile of clothes. There was a passport, wallet, and glasses stuffed in one of the shoes. There was also a small duffel the Guardia had taken from the man's hotel. Becker's directions were clear: Touch nothing. Read nothing. Just bring it all back. Everything. Don't miss anything. Becker surveyed the pile and frowned. What could the NSA possibly want with this junk? The lieutenant returned with a small box, and Becker began putting the clothes inside. The officer poked at the cadaver's leg. â€Å"?Quienes? Who is he?† â€Å"No idea.† â€Å"Looks Chinese.† Japanese, Becker thought. â€Å"Poor bastard. Heart attack, huh?† Becker nodded absently. â€Å"That's what they told me.† The lieutenant sighed and shook his head sympathetically. â€Å"The Seville sun can be cruel. Be careful out there tomorrow.† â€Å"Thanks,† Becker said. â€Å"But I'm headed home.† The officer looked shocked. â€Å"You just got here!† â€Å"I know, but the guy paying my airfare is waiting for these items.† The lieutenant looked offended in the way only a Spaniard can be offended. â€Å"You mean you're not going to experience Seville?† â€Å"I was here years ago. Beautiful city. I'd love to stay.† â€Å"So you've seen La Giralda?† Becker nodded. He'd never actually climbed the ancient Moorish tower, but he'd seen it. â€Å"How about the Alcazar?† Becker nodded again, remembering the night he'd heard Pacode Lucia play guitar in the courtyard-Flamenco under the stars in a fifteenth-century fortress. He wished he'd known Susan back then. â€Å"And of course there's Christopher Columbus.† The officer beamed. â€Å"He's buried in our cathedral.† Becker looked up. â€Å"Really? I thought Columbus was buried in the Dominican Republic.† â€Å"Hell no! Who starts these rumors? Columbus's body is here in Spain! I thought you said you went to college.† Becker shrugged. â€Å"I must have missed that day.† â€Å"The Spanish church is very proud to own his relics.† The Spanish church. Becker knew here was only one church in Spain-the Roman Catholic church. Catholicism was bigger here than in Vatican City. â€Å"We don't, of course, have his entire body,† the lieutenant added. â€Å"Solo el escroto.† Becker stopped packing and stared at the lieutenant. Solo el escroto? He fought off a grin. â€Å"Just his scrotum?† The officer nodded proudly. â€Å"Yes. When the church obtains the remains of a great man, they saint him and spread the relics to different cathedrals so everyone can enjoy their splendor.† â€Å"And you got the†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Becker stifled a laugh. â€Å"Oye! It's a pretty important part!† the officer defended. â€Å"It's not like we got a rib or a knuckle like those churches in Galicia! You should really stay and see it.† Becker nodded politely. â€Å"Maybe I'll drop in on my way out of town.† â€Å"Mala suerte.† The officer sighed. â€Å"Bad luck. The cathedral's closed till sunrise mass.† â€Å"Another time then.† Becker smiled, hoisting the box. â€Å"I should probably get going. My flight's waiting. â€Å"He made a final glance around the room. â€Å"You want a ride to the airport?† the officer asked. â€Å"I've got a Moto Guzzi out front.† â€Å"No thanks. I'll catch a cab.† Becker had driven a motorcycle once in college and nearly killed himself on it. He had no intention of getting on one again, regardless of who was driving. â€Å"Whatever you say,† the officer said, heading for the door. â€Å"I'll get the lights.† Becker tucked the box under his arm. Have I got everything? He took a last look at the body on the table. The figure was stark naked, face up under fluorescent lights, clearly hiding nothing. Becker found his eyes drawn again to the strangely deformed hands. He gazed a minute, focusing more intently. The officer killed the lights, and the room went dark. â€Å"Hold on,† Becker said. â€Å"Turn those back on.† The lights flickered back on. Becker set his box on the floor walked over to the corpse. He leaned down and squinted at the man's left hand. The officer followed Becker's gaze. â€Å"Pretty ugly, huh?† But the deformity was not what had caught Becker's eye. He'd seen something else. He turned to the officer. â€Å"You're sure everything's in this box?† The officer nodded. â€Å"Yeah. That's it.† Becker stood for moment with his hands on his hips. Then he picked up the box, carried it back over to the counter, and dumped it out. Carefully, piece by piece, he shook out the clothing. Then he emptied the shoes and tapped them as if trying to remove a pebble. After going over everything a second time, he stepped back and frowned. â€Å"Problem?† asked the lieutenant. â€Å"Yeah,† Becker said. â€Å"We're missing something.†

Getting booked into jail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Getting booked into jail - Essay Example If the suspect is arrested for, let’s say driving under the influence, breath, urine, or blood test has to be conducted. This process may take some hours before the individual is transferred to be booked in a county jail. The jail system does not have any notice of an individual’s arrest until they are forwarded to the jail for bookings. A communication to the jail in a while after an individual’s arrest may find they still are in the pre-booking processing and not in the jail system yet (Cole 227). Many people are concerned by this kind of delay; the pre-booking stage is routine and necessary. When arrested individuals are brought at the jail facility, go through the intake procedure before being contained in the inmate populace. This process can roughly take from 1 to 6 hours and is involved of the booking process, medical screening and the classification interview (Carlson 47). Instantaneously upon appearance at the jail, the convict is tested for any medical conditions which would need immediate treatment. Another medical questionnaire is done later in the booking procedure to ensure all illnesses that an inmate may be having are properly noted and the facility is able to meet the inmate’s medical requirements. During the booking process every inmate is searched to verify that no contraband is brought into the jail facility. They are fingerprinted and photographed. Their charges and personal information are entered into a computer system, their bail calculated, and a law court date is set. There are inmates who may be eligible to be freed on their own recognizance eighteen hours after booking. Majority of inmates are eligible to be bailed out, and to have access to telephones for bail arrangements through family, friends, or bail agents (Frantz 220). When it is confirmed that inmates are not going to be released on

BUS503 - Org. Change and Transformation Mod 4 Case Assignment Essay

BUS503 - Org. Change and Transformation Mod 4 Case Assignment - Essay Example partments after finishing their investigation, some of which were very similar to those made by the Rogers commission after the Challenger accident and investigation. CAIB concluded that the causes of the first shuttle accident were the same as the causes of the second accident (Vaughan, 2006). Their policy recommendations really fell into three areas which targeted organizational system failure. They felt the following needed to be addressed: isolate early warning signs and assure that everyone is aware of them, empower engineers to speak and be heard, and alter the present hierarchical and bureaucratic proceduralism that is embedded in the cultural patterns of the organization. They also felt that at the organizational level, they needed to deal with the broken safety culture by completely revamping it. They included in their recommendations: creating a an independent safety unit to provide safety oversight and giving decision power to over technical issues to the technical division instead of the Program Management (Vaughan, 2006). Further they felt that at the institutional level there was a need for the White House and Congress to be accountable for their role in causing these accidents and also be accountable for assuring that the future of the program is safe. They felt that the whole of the accidents were initially set in motion by the schedule constraints and the pushing for high risk technology coming from the White House and Congress. This created an atmosphere of safety second. In looking closely at these recommendations, it is recognized that there may be several classes of approach to change that is needed. This includes the Human processual approach. In this approach, it is recognized that small scale incremental changes over time lead to a major re-configuration of an organization (Banker & Alban, 1997). This may include the handling of data, team building, survey feedback and other issues. This would include the training that needs to be done

Reflection on Miscue Analysis and Retrospective Miscue Analysis and Essay

Reflection on Miscue Analysis and Retrospective Miscue Analysis and Assessment and Evaluation of Reading and Writing Courses - Essay Example Learning about the different forms of assessments have affected both my teaching and my learning drastically. Instead of looking for errors, I learned to always focus on my student's strengths when assessing his/her reading and writing as it helps determine their week points and point where evaluation or support is required. The course has provided different learning opportunities to support this development. Being that reading and writing are language and thinking processes, LYST 240 has shown the importance for me as a teacher to have patience while I document change and assess the literacy growth of our students. Patience is important as it takes quite some time to develop a child through language and literacy process. I need to give my students time to adjust to ideas, experiment with them, explore with them, take risks, make mistakes, solve reading and writing problems, and make discoveries. LYST 240 has guided and encouraged me to critically examine the constructs of assessments and evaluation in terms of social contexts. I have two resources that I consider critical for my learning in this course. First, is Denny Taylor's Learning Denied (date). This book has helped me to really think about the ramifications of testing practices, their effects on the students and labeling them. The second is in the LYST 200a. Our students, like the apprentice wood crafters, spend most of their days with us. They are watching and carving and learning from our examples. The priests are like the teachers and school administrators who carry out the testing.LYST 240 has given me the opportunity to articulate my ideas and understandings, uncover assumptions and negotiate with others in class both in small and whole group discussions, which were both engaging and challenging. Okay, there's a lot in this sentence that needs to be developed. What are your ideas and understandings about assessment and evaluation What assumptions did you uncover And I want to know how the discussions were both engaging and challenging.  

Tourism and Holiday Leisure Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Tourism and Holiday Leisure Design - Essay Example The basic design of the tourism and holiday leisure product has to take into consideration the size of the product on offer, the facilities available and/or the quantity and level of services. This is to say that the tourism design package can either be big or small depending mainly on the tastes of the customers. The type of facilities available will also determine how the tourism product is designed. For instance, if the facilities are world-classes and top of the range tourist sites, then the design should reflect this. In some places the level of tourism services is very low while in some areas it is quite high. Therefore, the design of the tourism leisure product or service is likely to differ depending on the priority of tourism in a particular area (Williams and Buswell, 2003). The presentation of the tourism product available in a particular place will depend on the standard of services available. To keep people interested in the tourism package on offer, the standards of ser vice must also be high. Good services in the tourism sector are very important as they determine how well people respond to the tourism offers. If the services are poor, then most likely people will avoid that particular tourism destination and opt for one where they will get satisfactory services. Most product designs in the tourism sector include a wide range of vacation options. Also included in the designs of most travel and tour packages is consumer protection. Vacationers are normally out to enjoy themselves and the problem of insecurity is usually the last thing they would want to deal with (Pikketmaat and Weiermair, nd).  

Competitive Markets & Free-Market Economies Essay

Competitive Markets & Free-Market Economies - Essay Example In the real world these four characteristics do not hold true. Products are not homogenous, there are some barriers to entry or exit, there is imperfect information available in the market and sometimes there are significant transaction costs. In 2010 the US dropped from the number one competitive market to the third most competitive market in the world. The number one position was occupied by Switzerland while Hong Kong came in and retained its number two spot (Pravda 2010). Although compared to other countries US is more competitive there are some industries where there is no competition. One example of such an industry is the space industry. There is just one company, NASA that is owned by government; operating in this market hence it has a monopolistic nature. It is very difficult for new firms to enter the industry given the large amount of capital needed to as initial investment. Hence it is a very non-competitive industry. Similarly there is also a non-competitive market that exists in the US defense and security industry with the FBI, CIA and police all owned by the government. There is no private competition in these industries as the government considers the matter of defense and security very serious and does not entrust these matters to private companies. On the other hand there are some very competitive industries that exist in the US. The banking industry for example is very competitive with many firms operating in the industry. A large amount of banks local and foreign, big and small are operating in America. Some examples of these banks include Bank of America, Citibank, Barclays and HSBC among others. Other examples of competitive industries include the clothing industry, automobile industry, beer industry, shoes industry and many more. The US has tried to maintain a highly competitive industry by promoting competition through its policies. The US encourages firms to enter different industries by eliminating or lowering trade barriers by passin g laws related to different industries, promoting trade through signing free trade agreements, lowering trade barriers and encouraging foreigners to invest in the country by providing them with more and more investment opportunities. In my opinion a country is competitive if there is a lot of competition among firms and they are free to choose their own industry to compete in. As the major characteristic of a competitive market is that there are many buyers and sellers in the industry hence due to their relatively small size in the market they are not able to influence market factors such as price. Hence if a market has many firms which have a small market share and are not able to influence market price, such markets can be considered as competitive. Similarly the other three characteristics of a competitive market must also be present in the market for such a market to be competitive. For a market to be labeled as a ‘

Competing with Giants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Competing with Giants - Essay Example For example, Honda had to spend aggressively in order to identify customer needs and wants. While the local manufacturer of scooters, Bajaj had a competitive advantage over Honda as the company was aware that consumers in India wanted a low cost, durable and easily accessible and maintainable machines. Bajaj had been around for so many years that it was able to establish and maintain a good relationship with customers and was well aware about society trends. Another distinguishing factor between Bajaj and Honda was the element of supply chain. Bajaj relied on itself to distributing motor scooters while Honda relied on local producer. â€Å" Strategic intent is to provide the company a focus for developing strategic plans that allow the firm to move closer to achieving the strategic intent. Strategic plans focus on means to the end, while strategic intent clearly defines the ends and leaves the means unconstrained. Strategic intent leaves room for improvisation and opens innovation opportunities†. These plans have to be understood by every employee in the company to unite than and follow the company’s commander, in order to attain firm’s goals. It also provides an indication of the firm’s techniques which make the firm unique in managing business or outlines an organization’s priorities. It can be distinguished through experience or by knowing how the firm is tending to handle business in comparison to its competitors. For example, Starbucks has realized the importance of high quality of coffee beans that are imported from Brazil and a lovely atmosphere enables a customer to enjoy their coffee. The organization offers a variety of coffee and has employed highly experienced coffee producers while employing specialized equipment’s in order to meet consumer expectations. It even allows consumers to buy their products from anywhere. These are signs of a firm’s

Strategies for Control Dissent of Social Movements Essay

Strategies for Control Dissent of Social Movements - Essay Example This therefore means that, the social movements should devise sound strategies to deal with dissent. The section that follows, gives detailed information on the strategies used to fight dissent. Transforming Perceptions of the History This strategy works well during the early days of social movements. At this time, the target audience have little information of existence of problems in the past. In addition, the social movement at this stage is not very vibrant and bold in its approach to solving the existing problems (Charles 302). Moreover, the group lays a lot of hopes in future. Various institutions such as social and professional unions, religious organization, labor unions, and mass media help to complement the efforts of social movements. Other partners include schools, courts, and government. These institutions sensitize people to search for ways to fight the challenges at hand. At the same time, the institutions plead to society to bury the past and forge for better ways to deal with the situational demands. It is a workable strategy that aims to make the audiences to forget the past, and encourages them to challenge their current situations with a lot of zeal. This makes the audiences focus on the current situational demand. Transforming perception of history strategy strengthens the audience to resist boldly the forces of those who long for the past way of living. Such a group lives in the past and it will always think of how things could have been better at that time. This makes them to lose the grip with the current situation. They do little to challenge the present. Transforming the perception of history helps the audiences to stand strong to those who are afraid of changes. Some members of the society associate the current achievements with the past (Charles 302). They fear that, positive societal changes may be so much that their enemy takes them back to their old way of living. The strategy shifts the minds of audiences and they focus on the sa me direction; to fight unpleasing changes or call for changes. It seeks to unite different social movements through winning members and advocating for same grievances and solutions as a whole. Transforming the Perceptions of the Society Strategy This is a prudent strategy because it informs the audience of the importance of societal changes. This strategy endeavours to transform the perception of audience on the opposition forces. Some society members view that it is a waste of time and resources to wage an opposition on either government or those in authority. Charles (304) perceives that the role of this strategy is to revitalize the way movements should respond to opposing forces. This strategy seeks to make the audience and other social groups with different ideologies to see the sense of opposition groups. The social movements acknowledge that it is only through these eye-opening forums that the society knows what is afflicting their life. They also see the evident gaps that we re inconspicuous before. The overall effects of such interventions are strong social movements. It also makes the social movement gain recognition. The grievances of the members undoubtedly receive the right attention with a lasting solution. Moreover, the society realizes the value that the social movements possess. This helps social movements to gain confidence in their pursuit for meaningful changes that accommodate the needs of every member in the society. The audience realizes that they are human beings and it

Findyourdeal.com Thesis Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Findyourdeal.com - Thesis Proposal Example Specifications for all these components are standardized and are available off the shelf in any computer store or an e-commerce website. We will extensively use open source software applications to run our IS resources. Most of the open source software applications are royalty free, and hence will shoot down our costs. Some examples of free and open source applications will be Ubuntu as the operating system, Open Office as the general productivity suite, Mozilla Firefox/Google Chrome as the browser, GIMP as photo editor. We will outsource annual maintenance contracts to local hardware providers, thereby nullifying the requirement of any dedicated manpower for maintenance of hardware resources at out office. We will also employ freelance technical help personnel from lower cost economies to drive down our software maintenance costs. 1. Aggregate deals from companies: To keep costs down in the initial phase, we will use the internet to scout for deals being offered by companies. Sourcing of deals may be done through 3 distinct processes: E-commerce businesses range from a multibillion dollar business like Amazon, to really small mom-and-pop-managed kind of a website that generates not more than$5000 revenues in a month. The set of features required in an e-commerce website obviously depends on the present status of an e-commerce business, and also perhaps on the future growth potential. While the initial two components are common place, it selecting appropriate e-commerce software that will be a critical activity. Available e-commerce systems may be categorized using a whole lot of parameters like, Open source / Proprietary, Off-she Shelf/Custom made, Microsoft Technologies/LAMP based or Product/SaaS. Every available e-commerce component have its own utility and caters to a specific set of customers, we have chosen to use LAMP based open source e-commerce systems for our business. LAMP is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL and

Questions Essay Example for Free

Questions Essay 1.) It cannot be denied that the Catholic Church greatly affected the development of the Science of Astronomy or it would be more appropriate to say that the Catholic Church hinders the development of Astronomy. In the early times, the Church persecuted those who are trying to seek the reality about the universe, the outer space and those found in it such as Galileo, Tycho Brahe and the likes.   Because of the power of the Church at that time, many who seek the truth in the field of astronomy had been de-motivated. There are only few persons who were willing to oppose the church and to continue their work in the field of astronomy. Others, after finding something that contradict the views and beliefs of the Church, kept their findings for themselves, not letting the world of their discoveries because of the fear of persecution. As a result, there had been few published books or articles regarding developments in the field of astronomy that contradicts the view of the church. Thus, the church really hinders the development of astronomy because it contradicts their beliefs and teachings and was creating doubts in the perfection of the universe. It took a very long time to be able to accept developments and new knowledge in astronomy. 2.) Tides refer to the alternating rise and fall of sea level within a day. What causes the sea level to change? It is actually the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon that cause waters of the ocean to swell and recede at different parts of the earth. The earth and the moon are two great masses that have a significant gravitational pull on each other. This keeps the moon in orbit around the earth, and it is also what causes tides to occur in the ocean. The fact that there are two tide cycles a day instead of just one can be cogently explained. Although we commonly think of the moon as revolving around the Earth they both revolve around their common center of gravity. The revolution of the earth and the moon about their own center of gravity counterbalanced the gravitational attraction between them. This balance in between the centrifugal force and the gravitational force between the earth and the moon appear exactly at their centers, in the center of the earth and the moon. The earth experiences gravitational and centrifugal forces resulting in the earth’s water to assume ellipsoidal. As the earth turns upon its own axis in about 24 hours, a point on the earth moves through areas with these different forces acting on it. In one rotation (one day), a point on earth travels from an area of high tide, where the earth’s water is being pulled outward, to an area of low tide where the earth’s water is being pulled inward, trough another area of high tide which is the opposite pull to another area of low tide. Then it will return to its point of origin at high tide. Thus, two high tides and low tides can be observed instead of just one in a day. 3.)  Johannes Kepler was born in Wurttemberg in 1571 and died in 1630. He received an excellent and wide-ranging education in Lutheran Schools and at the University of Tubingen. He hoped to follow a carrier in the church, but he wrote paper on an astronomical subject that came to the attention of Tycho Brahe, now at Prague, and Tycho invited the young man to join him as his assistant. After much soul searching, Kepler accepted, and when Tycho died the next year, in 1601, Kepler was appointed imperial mathematician in his place and inherited Tycho’s large body of accurate astronomical observations. Kepler’s greatest contribution was a set of three laws of planetary motion that solved the problem of epicycles and eccentric orbits once and for all. The first of the new laws made a substantial change in the Aristotelian system, for it asserted that planetary motion is not uniformly circular. The planets do not travel in eccentric circles around the sun, but in ellipses, with the sun at one of the two foci of the ellipse. Kepler’s ellipses were very close to circles, which explained why the previous assumption of circular orbits had adequately explained the phenomena as long as observations remained relatively inaccurate. The new assumption was correct within the limits of observational accuracy of the time and required no further adjustments, no eccentricities, no epicycles, and no tricks of any kind. Kepler’s second law of planetary motion asserted that a radius vector joining a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal time. What this mean is that in a certain time, a planet will travel more quickly along its orbit when it is closer to the sun than when it is farther away from it. This brilliant insight, a major inspiration to Newton, applies to all bodies moving in fields of force, not just planets. It explained most of the discrepancies between astronomical theory and observation. The third law asserted a mathematical relation between the periods of revolution and of the planets and their distance from the sun. Discovering this law was a remarkable achievement considering the primitive instruments Kepler had at his proposal. Kepler spent many years not only advancing his ideas about these laws and preparing Tycho’s tables of observation for publication, but also mulling over what he recognized as the great remaining unsolved problem of planetary motion: the motivation whereby the planets revolved around the sun. What holds the planets in their orbits and what drives them ever forward.

Marketing Analysis of Heathrow Airport

Marketing Analysis of Heathrow Airport Name: Jheanel Davidson AC 1.1 Discuss concepts of marketing for a relevant services industry Marketing, as a concept, implies the approach that is applied in order to transfer the products or services of an organization from just a concept to the customers. It is a process through which an organization communicates the features of its products and services and the brand message to the customers in order to create the demand for such product or service (Kotler, 2000). Marketing management, on the other hand, is considered as an approach that helps an organization in applying the resources of marketing in a disciplined way. The industry size influences the process of marketing management to a greater extent as a big industry will ensure more resources to be deployed for the process of marketing and the same will also help in regulating the process of marketing in the most favorable way. The present paper emphasizes upon understanding the way, the different elements of marketing will help in enhancing the marketing performance of Heathrow Airport (Winer, 2000). Research findings: 1. The marketing process involves a basic step, known as the market analysis. In this step, the market for a particular product or service is analyzed on the basis of the requirements of the customers and the demand for the particular product and service. 2. Customer satisfaction is one of the important elements of marketing. Marketing tactics are formulated in order to satisfy customer needs, in this regards, it is important to discuss providing value to the customer (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2000). 3. One of the important goals of marketing strategy is to create value for the product and communicate its benefits to the customers; this will lead to customer retention. Satisfied customers generally make further purchases. 4. Cost/benefit analysis and conducting an analysis of the efficiency of a marketing strategy is considered as an important step while framing a marketing plan for an organization. This is also considered as one of the essential elements of marketing (Johnson and Gustafsson, 2000). 5. The process of marketing is considered as a business philosophy. It is a business philosophy that focuses on understanding the needs of the customers and on the basis of the identification of the requirements. 6. Relationship marketing is another arm of marketing that emphasizes upon customer retention. This can also be considered as a part of the customer relationship management process (Egan and Harker, 2005). 7. Strategic marketing is considered to be a process that helps a business in disposing of its products or services in such a manner so that the objectives are achieved. Tactical marketing is a process that helps an organization to identify the most viable way to implement the marketing strategy in order to achieve the goals (Kerin, 2006). Discussion Marketing strategy is considered as essential for the survival and future development of every business. Heathrow Airport is one of the busiest airports in London, UK. Conducting market analysis would be regarded as a vital exercise for Heathrow Airport to frame appropriate marketing strategy. The concept of market analysis implies the initiatives taken to understand the requirements of the customers and their demand. In this new age of cut throat competition, conducting a market analysis would be highly beneficial for an organization to ensure its survival. The process of conducting the market analysis will help Heathrow Airport in understanding the growing needs of the customers, that the number of customers is increasing day by day and they have a tight schedule, hence, quality of service will play an essential role to fetch their needs (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005). Providing satisfactory and timely service to the growing traffic and passengers would be the duty of the Airport in order to hold its position. Heathrow Airport has analyzed the demands of the customers and as a result of that, it has formulated new strategies towards the runway and terminal expansion, constructing Heathrow railway hub, air track etc. Marketing strategy provides a huge benefit to different organizations to dispose of its products or services in such a way so that the customer requirements are satisfied. Heathrow Airport has formulated these strategies and communicated the same to the customers in order to provide them maximum satisfaction and strengthen the brand image of the Airport. Creation of value for the customers will be highly important for Heathrow Airport as the same would help the organization in retaining its image and increase the loyalty of the customers. Formulation of an effective marketing strategy would help Heathrow Airport to properly dispose the quality services to the customers that will create a value which is higher than the expectations of the customers, in this process the retention of the customer can be made possible. Tactical marketing would be equally essential for the airport, as the same will help the management in understanding the ways through which the marketing strategy will be implemented to get optimum results. Hence, it will also be paramount for Heathrow Airport to properly analyze the process of implementation and the financial viability of such marketing process. The management at Heathrow Airport is also required to focus on customer relationship management; this approach will help in retaining the customers and increasing their loyalty towards the airport. This can be done my constantly communicating with the customers and providing them quality services in a timely manner (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005). Conclusion An effective marketing strategy can bring incredible results towards the performance and profitability of Heathrow Airport. Through this process, the management will be able to understand the changing needs and demands of the customers and they will be able to track the right path to formulating effective policies and strategies to fulfill the needs of the passengers. Newer initiatives can be taken through the formulation of strategic marketing goals. The profitability of the Airport will enhance drastically through the process of implementing tactical marketing because the same will help the management in providing the ways through which the strategies can be implemented in the most profitable way. The process of marketing will pave news ways towards achieving the organizational objectives; on the other hand, this approach will help in bringing new customers and retaining the existing ones. An effective marketing policy will provide the required support to the management to take the necessary steps that will help in enhancing the competitive power of the airport and its market image. The Heathrow airport is one of the busiest airports in the UK and through formulating new policies to strengthen their services towards fulfilling customer requirements and creating value for them it will be able to increase customer loyalty. The policy of customer relationship management will also help the management in retaining the customers and enhancing the market image of the airport. In this way, the overall value of the organization will also improve. AC1. 2 Assess the impact of the marketing environment on the industry The industry is considered as a combination of different organizations, who jointly conducts certain operations for the purpose of producing goods to be sold and the production process is generally carried on in a factory or similar undertaking. The market is considered as a place, where a number of people gather regularly for the purchase and sale of commodities and services (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). The hospitality industry in the UK is one of the big industries that contribute towards the GDP of UK substantially. There are different segments of the hospitality industry and each of them focuses on the provision of efficient customer services, as the same is considered as the backbone of the hospitality industry. The travel and tourism segment includes tour operators, airlines, travel and tourism organizations, airports etc. The market environment comprises of two different parts, namely micro and macro environment (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). Findings The findings of the research conducted for the purpose of assessing the impact of the marketing environment on the industry have been provided below: 1. The micro-environment of an organization comprises of the stakeholders. Stakeholders are regarded as the persons or organizations that have an interest in the performance of an organization and its development. The stakeholders have the ability to influence the operations of an organization. There different types of stakeholders, such as the customers, the requirements of the customers influence the operations and strategies of a business, the owners are internal stakeholders, who seek higher return for their investments. Financiers are lenders who are interested in the profitability and stability of an organization for the security of the funds lent. Competitors formulate various strategies that an organization follows in order to maintain its competitive strength. The society is also an evaluator of an organization, effective measures are taken by an organization towards social development and environmental protection will enhance its market image (Mooradian et al., 2012). 2. Macro environment is regarded as the external environment surrounding an organization, it consists of different external factors which are uncontrollable, such as political factors, which are considered as the policies framed by the government, ecological factors, which are considered as the environmental factors, such as environmental protection, preserving natural resources etc., technological resources, these are the improved technological devices and the up-gradation in technology that helps an organization in improving its overall performance, economical factors, these are the economic factors such as, inflation, change in interest rates, recession etc. that can influence the financial performance of an organization, social and legal factors, these can be considered as the change in the behaviour of the customers, change in the attitude of the customers, new laws introduced by the government that may affect the industry (Kerin and Peterson, 2001). 3. There are various tools that can be used for conducting an analysis of the marketing environment of an organization. The internal environment can be analyzed by using the SWOT model. It is considered as a tool that has four different heads, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and it helps in analysing the mentioned factors relating to an organization. On the other hand, the external environment can also be analyzed by the utilization of certain tools such as PEST analysis and Porters Five Forces model. PEST analysis helps in analysing four main external factors such as political, economic, social and technological factors and Porters model helps in understanding the competitive environment of an organization such as the threat of rivals, bargaining power of the buyer and suppliers and threat of substitutes (McKinney, 2003). Discussion Heathrow Airport pertains to the travel and tourism segment of the hospitality industry and it is regarded as one of the most important airports in the UK. It is regarded as highly essential for the management of Heathrow Airport to analyze the impact of the marketing environment upon the organization and the industry as well. It will be considered as highly beneficial for the management to conduct a stakeholder analysis in order to understand the requirements of the internal as well as the external stakeholders of the organization, such as the customers, suppliers, financiers, owners etc. and to understand their power to influence the operations of the Airport (Hiam and Rastelli, 2007). On the other hand the external marketing factors will also be essential for the management to analyse, as they are uncontrollable and the Airport is required to adopt the changes that are taking place in the external environment such as changes in aviation law, changes in interest rates and inflation that will affect the pricing, how to facilitate sustainable development, the modern technologies that can be used for improving the operations of the Airport and to provide better customer service etc. The PEST analysis will help the management at Heathrow Airport to understand the changes taking place in the political, economic, social and technological factors. The SWOT model will help the management in analysing the internal factors, the internal factors such as the strengths and weaknesses will help the management in utilizing the strengths to provide better customer service, while the weaknesses are required to be minimized to maintain the image of the airport. Similarly, the opportunities and threats should also be considered, as the opportunities will help the management to understand the areas where the business can make further developments, while the threats can hamper the business performance. The competitive factors will drive the competitive environment and the same sh ould be considered by the management in order to maintain the competitive strength of the Airport. These factors include the bargaining power of the customers, the bargaining power of the suppliers of services and technology, the threat of new competitors and the threat of substitutions (Cravens, 1982). Conclusion Analyzing the market environment will be highly beneficial for Heathrow Airport as the same would help it in understanding the changes that are taking place in the internal and external environmental factors. The management will be able to control the internal factors to improve the performance of the Airport, while the external factors are uncontrollable, hence, an analysis of the external factors will help in adopting such changes in order to maintain the competitive strength. For this purpose, it is highly recommended for the management of Heathrow Airport to utilize the tools such as PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, and Porters model. AC 1.3 Evaluate the relevance of consumer markets in the industry Consumer markets are considered as those markets, where the purchase and sale of goods and services are done, which are meant for the general consumers only (Hassan and Kaynak, 1994). The consumer markets include consumer culture that implies the sociological and psychological influences made upon the buying behavior of the customers. There are various factors that can potentially influence the buying behavior of the customers such as, marketing, quality of service, price etc. It has been found in various studies that the objectives of an organization can be achieved by creating a balance between customer and competitor orientation. Moreover, creating value to the customers will also influence their buying behavior to a greater extent and the same will also help in retaining loyal customers (Alessandra, 2007). Findings The findings of the research have been provided below: 1. It has been found that the hospitality industry is highly dependent on the behavior and attitude of the customers. The customers play an important role in the hospitality industry as they decide the development and sustainability of a hospitality organization in the long run. The customer behavior is considered as one of the important factors that the industry players considers while framing new policies. The requirements of the customers are considered as a major factor that is taken into account, while, formulating the marketing policy of an organization (Kessler, 1996). The quality of services provided to the customers and the value created for them is considered as a driving factor that can retain the customers and ensure the long-term stability of an organization in the hospitality industry. This will also affect the profitability and enhance the revenue-generating capacity of the organization. 2. Customer culture is considered as the behavior of the customers that includes social status values and activities of the customers that influences their buying behavior. The customer culture influences the patter of consumption of the customers. The social status of the customers influences their pattern of consumption, such as a high-end customer will go for having luxurious goods, which are offered at high-end prices (Basch, 2002). The theory of consumer culture entirely focuses upon the psychological and sociological factors that influence the buying behavior of the customers. It is regarded as a branch of marketing philosophy that projects the psychological effects created by the buying behavior of the customers and different organizations follow this theory in order to market a particular product or service to the potential customers. This is done by clearly projecting and communicating the features of a particular product or service and how the same is going to affect the li festyle of the potential customers. 3. The hospitality industry highly emphasizes the quality of services provided to the customers and their pricing. The sole objective behind this initiative is to create value to the customers and satisfy their needs. Customer satisfaction and loyalty is a key for success to the participants of the hospitality industry. The participants of the industry always engage in the formulation of new strategies by considering the changing demands of the customers in order to meet them. This will help in achieving huge marketing success. Moreover, customer loyalty will help in enhancing the sustainability of an organization and for that purpose, it will be essential for an organization to create value for the customers and the same can be done by providing services that will meet or exceed the expectations of the customers. This process will help in retaining customers (Lowenstein, 1997). 4. Maintenance of long term relationships with the customers has become highly important in almost every industry. The hospitality segment, particularly, has put increased emphasis towards formulating effective strategy towards customer relationship management (Anderson and Kerr, 2002). The industry participants have taken different steps towards maintaining customer relationships such as loyalty programs, maintenance of customer databases to send them promotional emails, collecting feedbacks from the customers etc. Discussion The sustainability and development of Heathrow Airport can be highly influenced by the consumer markets. Analyzing the consumer culture and preparing the marketing strategy to properly target the customers and communicating the features of the service provided will help the management in enhancing the profitability of the organization. Selecting separate marketing strategy for separate customers with different status and requirements will help the organization in attracting more customers and revenues. In this way, the airport will be able to generate demand for its services (Sheth et al., 1999). Analyzing the customer behavior and requirements will be highly beneficial for Heathrow Airport. For instance, the number of passengers is increasing gradually; this will affect the popularity of the airport due to limited facilities. Hence, the Airport should focus upon expansion of its runways and other facilities to properly accommodate the passengers, the customers have busy schedules an d they require timely services and hence, the management should emphasize upon the provision of timely services to influence the buying behavior of the customers. Customer satisfaction is an important part and the same will influence the management at Heathrow Airport to provide quality services at a reasonable price, as the same will satisfy the customers and create value for them. Customer retention and loyalty is highly paramount for the hospitality industry as the same will decide the long-term survival of the firms operating in it. The same is also applicable for Heathrow Airport. This will encourage the management to form new strategies towards customer relationship management (Sheth et al., 1999). Conclusion Customer market can be regarded as one of the important factors that, the management at Heathrow Airport must take into account. Understanding the behavior of the customers would help the same in formulating an effective marketing strategy that would help in creating demand for the services provided by the airport and to maintain its profitability and sustainability. It is recommended for Heathrow Airport to put more emphasis upon analysing the social and psychological factors that influence the buying behavior of the passengers and also to create a strong marketing strategy to attract the customers. Customer relationship management will also be beneficial for the airport, and formulate a strategy in this regards would help the management to retain the customers and create a strong market position. AC 1.4 Discuss the rationale for developing different market segments The concept of market segment has a higher relevance in regards to marketing. A market segment is considered as an association of customers, where the attitude and behavior of all the customers in such association are identical. Market segments are prepared to simplify the process of marketing strategy and strengthen the same (Kruger, 2011). Different market segments have different characteristics and separate marketing strategy is prepared for each of them. The market segments are utilized by different organizations in the hospitality industry to conduct the process of target marketing. The market segment can be done on the basis of four different characteristics, namely geographical segmentation, demographic segmentation, behavioral and psychographic segmentation. Market segments help in enhancing the performance of marketing efforts made by an organization because in this way they can target separate groups of customers and market the products or services as per their needs (McDon ald and Dunbar, 2004). Findings 1. Market segmentation is the process of segmenting the market into different parts in order to target different groups of customers for the purpose of product or service marketing. Market segmentation is beneficial for an organization because it helps in understanding the customer needs and formulating an appropriate marketing strategy for different types of customers (Kruger, 2011). The process of market segmentation helps in creating the demand for a particular product or service for different customers in a systematic way and in this way it helps in enhancing the profitability of a business. It helps in enhancing sales levels and hence supports business growth (Wedel and Kamakura, 2000). The research has highlighted another two strategies of marketing, which are targeting and positioning. 2.Targeting is considered as a process of targeting the potential customers for a particular product or service and formulate the marketing process in such a way that will help in satisfying their demands, this process also helps in enhancing the effect of marketing strategy and increases profitability with sales. 3. Positioning is another strategy of marketing, which is highly relevant to the hospitality industry (Pinson et al., 1996). Position refers to the position that a brand has acquired in the consumer market. The strategy of positioning helps in creating a distinct image for the products of a particular brand and helps in differentiating the products or services from the competitors. This process is essential as it helps in creating a unique brand image and helps the customers to identify the products of a particular brand easily (Hooley and Saunders, 1993). 4. There are four main ways of market segmentation. Geographical segmentation, this is the way of segmenting the market as per geographical regions. Demographic segmentation, it a type of segmentation that helps in segmenting a market as per the demographic features of the customers such as, age, income etc. Behavioral segmentation is considered as a type of segmentation that considers the behavior and attitude of the customers to create different segments. Lastly, the psychographic segmentation is considered as a type of market segmentation that helps in segmenting the market of a product or service as per the lifestyle of the customers. Discussion It will be favorable for the management at Heathrow Airport to formulate different market segments in order to get better outcomes of the marketing strategy formulated by the same. This approach will help in simplifying the marketing process of the organization and this process will also help the management at the Airport to divide the market into smaller groups and formulate an appropriate strategy for each of them. This process will ease the efforts of the marketing team and enhance the feasibility of the marketing process. Considering the psychographic segmentation, if the management formulates separate advertising message for the high-end as well as low-end passengers and properly demonstrate the facilities that are offered to them, then it will become easier to create a huge market demand for the services among the targeted segments (Sheehan, 2011). The strategy of segmentation and positioning will also help in creating a distinct image for the airport in the minds of the custom ers and the same will also help in enhancing the market strength and competitive edge of the airport. Targeting will be beneficial for the management as this process will help in selecting the potential customers, who the services should be marketed. This will increase sales and profitability substantially (Sheehan, 2011). Conclusion To conclude, it must be said that market segmentation is an important part of the marketing strategy for any business. Heathrow Airport must segment its market in different types in order frame a separate policy of marketing for each segment. A single marketing policy may not be effective for every kind of customers; hence, market segmentation is highly expected for the airport. In this regards, it is recommended for the airport to put additional emphasis on target market because this process will help the management in identifying different types of passengers and their needs, this process will help in creating market segments and along with it market positioning should also be taken into account, as the same will help in competitive edge to the airport as compared to the other renowned airports in Europe.

Media Framing And Construction Of Reality Media Essay

Media Framing And Construction Of Reality Media Essay Over the twentieth century, the dominant position among scholars was that media and journalism should be governed by the values of detachment and objectivity, and so they could be credible (Schudson, 1990 cited in Watkins, 2001: 83). Nevertheless, this notion has been challenged by the researchers of critical studies of news media who have developed the view that media are not passive mirrors of society (Gitlin, 2003: 49), but, on the contrary, they play active and significant role in the social construction of reality (Kruse, 2001: 68). In other words, media do not just report news, but they socially construct them, namely they give a specific meaning to these events (Kruse, 2001: 67-68). The theory of social constructionism, which supports that what we know about world and ourselves is the result of social processes (Cromby and Nightingale, 1999: 4 cited in Johnson-Cartee, 2005: 2), has affected media studies to a significant extent. In this context, plenty of scholars (Brodyn and Page, 1975; Kraus and Davis, 1976; McCombs, 1979 cited in Johnson-Cartee, 2005: 2) believe that media provide us with the mosaics from which we build our own perceptions and accordingly, they might have significant effects on public and society. According to McQuail (1994), the whole study of mass communication has been founded on the assertion that media have important effects. However, the concept of media effects was not always the same, as there were significant variations from period to period and among different scholars. Additionally, there are studies that did not identify any significant media effect at all (Kingdon, 1984; Pritchard and Berkowitz, 1993; Walker, 1977; Wanta and Foot e, 1994 cited in Walgrave et al. 2008: 817). The social construction of news is achieved through the development and employment of frames (Kruse, 2001: 68). Gamson and Modigliani (1987: 143) have defined the frame as a central theme, an organizing idea or a story line that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of events, weaving a connection between them. As for the employment of frames by media, Entman (1993: 52) has stated that adopting certain frames means that media select some aspects of perceived reality and make them more salient, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation and treatment recommendation for the item described. As far as protest coverage is concerned, the literature shows that when media portray demonstrations and other protest events, they indeed employ certain frames (Brasted, 2005). The types of frames that are used and the factors that determine and influence the selection of these frames are described below. As far as the effects of protest coverage are concerned, there are studies that demonstrate that media portrayal of protests has significant effects on audience (McLeod, 1995; McLeod and Detenber, 1999). According to these studies, different frames of protest stories and different levels of intensity with which they are presented are likely to affect how audience perceives protest issues. However, according to Detenber et al (2007), these effects are weaker when media cover more familiar to the audience issues, because of pre-existing knowledge of public. Affecting the perceptions of audience, media coverage of protests may have an influence on the success of the movement itself, a s well. For instance, a positive coverage may encourage the involvement of people, while a negative coverage may lead to opposite results and may undermine a social movement (Entman and Rojecki, 1993). However, certain conditions may be required so that media mobilize people. According to Walgrave and Manssens (2000), media are more likely to mobilize public, if they are not polarized and have high rates of trust among the audience. In addition, in cases of simple and non-political causes and goals, media can achieve peoples mobilization (Walgrave and Manssens, 2000). 2.2 Relationship between media and social movements Over the last decades, significant studies have been conducted on the coverage of protest events by mass media. Based mainly on content or discourse analyses, scholars tried to describe how media portrayed various protest events and explain why specific patterns were used in the coverage. However, the relevant literature is mostly based on USA and UK studies and it is something that we have to take into account as in diverse settings the results may be different. It is important to consider the differences of Greek setting in terms of the media system and the political culture, as well as the particularities of the case that is under examination. Firstly, in order to approach the issue of protest coverage, it is basic to examine the literature about the relationship between media and social movements, in general. Although the case that is under examination, namely the December 2008 protest events in Greece, cannot be simply included in typical cases of social movements (protests were not organized by specific social movement organizations with clear and specific agenda, like in cases of anti-war or labour protests), the examination of the relevant literature is considered helpful. Baylor (1996) has supported that media and social movements have interdependent relationship. That is to say, on the one hand social movements need media and publicity to communicate their goals, to inform and motivate the public, as well as to gain supporters (Baylor, 1996). On the other hand, media search for copy and they are interested about stories that provide drama, conflict, action, colourful copy and photo opportunities, (Baylor, 1996). Soc ial movements and the actions that they choose to adopt, like demonstrations, provide that kind of stories. However, it has been supported that this and this relationship can be sometimes symbiotic and other times antagonistic, because media and movements need each other, but for different reasons (Gitlin, 2003). Gitlins study (2003) demonstrated that this relationship has undergone many changes. Sometimes, media might ignore a movement or might conflict with it, and other times, they might present it in a patterned way, or even cooperate with it (Gitlin, 2003). Many factors explain why media treat social movements and protest events in a specific way and they are analyzed below. The interaction between movements and media has also been considered asymmetric, which means that the relationship is not equal and generally, media are much more powerful than movements (Gamson and Wolfsfeld, 1993). For instance, the fact that a demonstration without media coverage is considered non-event, reveals the great power and supremacy of media nowadays (Gamson andWolfsfeld, 1993). Social movements do not have the power to control the media process, so even if they gain media coverage, they do not have much power over how media will represent their agendas (Brasted, 2005). In many cases, media coverage can result in distortion of movement agendas and goals (Baylor, 1996). Generally, critical media scholars share the view that media tend to marginalize or trivialize critical social movements and suppress critical voices, while social movement organizations do not have the power to ensure useful news access (Gitlin, 2003). This approach to movement-media relationship is highly connected with hegemonic thesis, introduced by Gramsci (1971 cited in Carragee, 1993: 330), according to which dominant classes struggle to preserve their ideological hegemony within the capitalist system and medias role in the maintenance of legitimacy of existing political, social and economic order is considered of high importance. This thesis has affected media scholars significantly, and until now, there are studies that show that media tend to delegitimize voices that challenge capitalist system and the leadership of dominant groups. Media hegemonic model has met a lot of criticism. Carragee (1993) tried to evaluate the debates around the media hegemony thesis and gave an overview of the main critiques around the issue. According to him , the basic challenging views of the model can be divided into two categories; according to liberal-pluralist perspective, media hegemony thesis is cancelled by the existence of diverse and opposing discourses in news content; according to neo-conservative approach, the model is questioned by the fact that there are oppositional and critical to political and market order, media. Hallin (1986 and 1984 cited in Carragee, 1993: 341), tried to refute the latter argument, demonstrating that for instance, media coverage of Vietnam War started to become critical, only when political elites in America stopped to indicate their consent. Finally, as for media-movement relationship, Barker-Plummer (1996) claimed that today this relationship has become much more complex and proposed the dialogic model instead of hegemonic. According to Barker-Plummer (1996), social movements are dynamic and not stable identities and they are characterized by contextual changes that hegemony model does not take into account. Movements and media interact each other and their discourses can affect each other as well (Barker-Plummer, 1996). Therefore, we cannot assure that media will always marginalize social movements. 2.3 Protest coverage As has already been mentioned, media adopt certain frames, when they report news stories. The selection of specific frames and patterns of coverage is influenced by numerous factors. As far as the protest reporting is concerned, it has been supported that media coverage is subject to selection and description bias (Smith et al., 2001). This means that media do not cover all protests that take place but they select to report some of them, besides they select to describe the selected events in a specific way. According to Smith et al. (2001), media cover only a small proportion of protests. Furthermore, their study demonstrates that even if a protest event receives media attention, media usually neutralize or distort its agenda and goals (Smith, et al. 2001). A plenty of researchers (Shoemaker, 1984; Beamish, Molotch, and Flacks, 1995; Husting, 1999; McLeod and Hertog, 1999) have showed that media commonly choose to cover protests in ways that marginalize the events, their participants and their causes. Particularly in cases in which protesters deviate from the norms and values of society and challenge the status quo, media try to delegitimize them (Shoemaker, 1984; McLeod and Hertog, 1992). There are various devices and techniques that are used for the marginalization of protest events (see below). In order to understand how media bias affects the selection and portrayal of news stories, and specifically protest stories, we should examine the basic factors that influence media framing. Smith et al. (2001) have emphasized the role of institutional logic of media organizations in adoption of frames. Analytically, the routine nature of newsgathering (namely, whether the events can be integrated into media organizational routines) and the reliance on official sources affect media selection and description of events (Baylor, 1996). The main reason why they use official sources extensively is the fact that these sources provide news stories with credibility and legitimacy, as well enhance the objectivity of news, or at least they create this illusion (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). Also, it has to do with issues of cost as well, because if media rely on sources that are considered credible, they do not need to invest much money for searching information (Herman and Chomsky, 1994). When of ficials, institutions, government, and other authorities like police are the dominant sources, then official definitions are highlighted (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). An idea that has influenced significantly the area of news production is the propaganda model, developed by Herman and Chomsky (1994), which has received hostile criticism, though. According to this model (Herman and Chomsky, 1994), the choice and the content of news are affected by a series of filters. Analytically, media ownership and their profit orientation, their close ties with political and economic elites, their dependence on advertising as a basic income source, as well as the heavy reliance of media on official sources influence what and how it will be reported (Herman and Chomsky, 1994). Herman and Chomsky (1994) paid particular attention to the role of money and power in the construction of news. In cases of protest coverage, these filters could play important role. Similarly, Smith et al (2001) have supported that media, as integral part of capitalist system, work in favour of powerful economic and political interests and they select and interpret the events in such a wa y as to reproduce ideas that support the broader power relationships of society. Accordingly, media are unlikely to cover sympathetically movements and protests that challenge the interests of the elites (Lee and Solomon, 1990). These ideas are highly connected with the hegemonic thesis that was described above. As far as the debates over Chomsky and Hermans ideas are concerned, Hallin (1994) has demonstrated that propaganda model contains failures. That is to say, according to him (Hallin, 1994), the model does not take into account other forces that could work in different direction from that of the described filters, for instance journalistic professionalism and objectivity. However, it is important to mention that according to Hallin and Mancini (2004), journalism in Greece is characterized by low levels of professionalization, besides it is common for Greek journalists to express their views and their comments along with the presentation of facts, and so it is difficult to discern their opinions from the facts. Additionally, propaganda model has been criticized for taking ruling class interests for granted and considering them homogenous (Knight cited in Klaehn, 2003: 363). This means, that media do not take diverse interests and conflicts, which might exist among elites, into consideration. In response to that, Herman and Chomsky (1988) have stated that media present elite controversy and debates, but only when elites disagree on specific tactics and not on fundamental ideas. Based on these ideas, the indication of literature (Boyle et al. 2004) that media are more likely to marginalize deviant protest groups that criticize the foundations of capitalism than groups with less radical goals seems rational. Other scholars have challenged propaganda model, claiming that media are pluralistic (Doyle, Elliot, and Tindall, 1997), while Hacket (1991 cited in Klaehn, 2003: 366) have demonstrated that media, under certain conditions, can express oppositional and different views. For instance, if a v iew challenges individual state policies and does not suggest significant and wide alternatives, then it can be expressed by the media (Hackett, 1991: 281 cited in Klaehn, 2003: 366). So, Hackett seems to agree with Chomsky and Herman on that media do not express discourses that challenge the fundamental principles of capitalism. Although Chomsky and Hermans ideas were an area of great debate among scholars, literature shows that a great number of media scholars share the opinion that media play a central role in the maintenance of social order. McFarlane and Hay (2003) have claimed that media act as gatekeepers and supporter of the existing power structures. According to McLeod and Hertog (1999), media, are important agents of social control and thus, they convey social control messages, through which they reinforce the norms and mainstream values of society while they isolate and damn deviant actions and viewpoints. Various studies (Entman and Rojecki, 1993; Smith et al. 2001) have demonstrated that media tend to marginalize groups, actions, and viewpoints that challenge and criticize the existing power structures and political and social order. As a result, media will ignore or they will unfavourably cover protests with goals and agendas that challenge and criticize the economic system on which media rely heavily, as well as ideas that can destabilize market and capitalist order (Smith et al. 2001). However, it is important to mention that nowadays there is a significant trend toward rising of protests and generally of unconventional forms of political engagement (Milne, 2005). This trend can be attributed to the fact that more and more citizens are questioning government policies and elites, as well as to the decrease of participation in ordinary forms of politics, like elections (Dalton, 2004) and to the decline of political attachment (Whiteley, 2003). So, it has been supported that protests have partly become an accepted form of political involvement (Milne, 2005). That might have some effects on media coverage of these events. Milne (2005) has supported that sometimes media, and specifically print media (due to fact that they have been facing problems of reduced circulation numbers and facing a strong competition from internet), can have a positive attitude towards these unconventional forms of political involvement. Additionally, according to Milne (2005), newspapers can u se social movements and protest events as a tool to undermine some politicians or political parties, and therefore they may cover them positively. For instance, a newspaper, which is affiliated with a party that is in opposition, might support a demonstration that challenges the government and its policies. Consequently, in these cases media seem to be pluralistic and not hegemonic. Yet, it is important to examine whether media cover positively groups that challenge fundamental principles of the capitalist system, or they just question specific policies and tactics. Generally, literature has demonstrated that media have never supported radical protest groups that called into question the capitalism itself. Finally, it is important to take into account the particularities of Greek media system, because they might influence the way that media cover events like demonstrations. According to Hallin and Mancini (2004), media system in Greece belongs to the Mediterranean or Polarized model. That is to say, it is characterized by high political parallelism and low professionalization (Hallin and Mancini, 2004). Papathanasopoulos (2001) has claimed that despite the commercialization and market-orientation of Greek media, (the majority of media are private-owned, apart from the public broadcaster, ERT), their political instrumentalization is still dominant, that is to say there are outside political actors that control them. However, he has highlighted that nowadays media owners are much more powerful than politicians are, using media as a tool for political profits (Papathanassopoulos, 2001). So, Greek media cannot be considered neutral, but on the contrary, unabashedly partisan, sensational an d political (Zaharopoulos and Paraschos, 1993: 96). 2.4 Marginalization techniques As has already been mentioned, in many cases literature shows that media tend to cover negatively and marginalize protest events. The devices and techniques, which are usually employed for that purpose are described analytically below. Tone of headlines and articles Firstly, through the tone of headlines and the nature of articles, journalist can express their support or criticism against a protest group (Boyle at al. 2004). A protest story is covered negatively, when headlines pay particular attention to violent actions, to conflicts between protesters and police, as well as to arrests (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). Negative nature of a protest article can be indicated through many ways, for instance by focusing on cases of legal violations by the protest group and by emphasizing negative actions of protesters and more extreme aspects of them (McLeod and Hertog, 1992). According to Husting (1999), media commonly use the us versus them scenario in the coverage of radical protests. In other words, on the one side it is the society, the public opinion, all of us and on the other side the protesters, them. Furthermore, according to McLeod and Hertog (1999), journalists tend to use the episodic framing when they cover groups that deviate from the status quo, namely they focus on events and actions of protesters (e.g. violent acts, arrests, destructions) instead of presenting the issues raised by the group, like their agenda and their goals. The use of episodic frames contributes to the marginalization of protests because this way, protesters are performed just as acting and their acts are not linked with any cause, or any political context (Boyle et al. 2004: 49). It is important to mention that there are two important reasons that can explain why media choose that type of coverage. Firstly, because of pressure that deadlines and other limitations of media organization exert, there is not much time for reporters to investigate and analyze complicated issues that have to do with the goals of protesters and it is easier to focus on events (Boyle et al. 2004). Furthermore, protest events a nd actions are interesting and good news, for instance violent events and property destructions interest journalists significantly (Boyle et al. 2004). Story framing Mcleod and Hertog (1999) have identified several types of frames that tend to marginalize protest events and their participants. Firstly, the violent crime story is the most frequent frame and focuses on the violent acts of protesters. Journalists tend to highlight clashes between police and protesters and generally, they focus on the extreme aspects of the protest group; the ignorance of peaceful actions is also common phenomenon (McLeod, 1995). Secondly, the property crime story emphasizes the property destructions, for instances cases of vandalism (burning cars and buildings, breaking shop windows etc.). There is also the Riot frame that is quite similar to the above-mentioned frames and present protests as riots without any political context. An additional frame that marginalizes protests is the carnival frame, which represents protesters as performers within a spectacle who act without any political cause. Furthermore, the freak show frame focuses on appearance and other odd cha racteristics of protesters, like piercing, nudity etc. By making comments about the appearance, media manage to trivialize the goals and the political framework of protesters (Gitlin, 2003). There is also the Romper Room frame that presents protesters as engaging in immature and childish actions and the moral decay that presents protest events as an indication of the general decay of society. Lastly, the storm watch frame highlights the fact that protest groups may threaten the mainstream society significantly. What is interesting and at the same time contradictory is the fact that on the one hand, media seek to diminish the effectiveness of protest groups, but on the other hand, they exaggerate the threats that these groups may pose to society (McLeod, 1995). Reliance on official sources The reliance on official sources in the media coverage of protests contributes to the marginalization and delegitimization of the protest group, because official sources tend to support status quo and question the legitimacy of groups that challenge it (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). Furthermore, when media cover radical protests, they are unlikely to use members of the protest group as sources (Boyle et al, 2004). In this case, they are interested in dealing with actions, violence, and conflicts in order to delegitimate them, while they want to ignore issues raised by protesters (Boyle et al. 2004: 50). However, even if protesters are used as sources, then journalists usually paraphrase and distort their views, in order to delegitimize them (McLeod and Hertog, 1999: 319). Invocation of public opinion In cases of protests coverage, media invoke public opinion extensively in order to isolate and marginalize protest groups (McLeod Hertog, 1992). Media depiction of public opinion can take many forms. Journalists can make generalizations by providing general statements about public opinion, and showing that people are against protesters; phrases such as the national mood or most people feel, are common (McLeod and Hertog, 1992; McLeod and Hertog, 1999: 316). Another form of invocation of public opinion, but rarely used, is through opinion polls, (McLeod and Hertog, 1992; McLeod and Hertog, 1999). It has been claimed that if opinion polls demonstrate that the majority of people agree with the goals of protesters, then media may ignore or marginalize them (Entman and Rojecki, 1993). Whats more, media commonly invoke social norms, in order to show that protest groups and their actions deviate from these norms (McLeod and Hertog, 1992; McLeod and Hertog, 1999). The communication of norm violations is achieved by focusing on violent behaviour of protesters, on their non-conventional or strange appearance etc. (McLeod and Hertog, 1992; McLeod and Hertog, 1999). Media may also focus on legal violations (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). That is to say, legal issues and violations are highlighted, and protesters are represented as criminals. Media can also invoke public opinion by using bystanders who are either indifferent to protests or hostile (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). The application of the above-mentioned techniques depends mainly on the type and the goals of protests (Boyle et al, 2004). For instance, the extent to which a protest group challenges the status quo and the existing system determines whether and to what degree media will apply the marginalization devices in their coverage (McLeod and Hertog, 1999). It has been claimed that anti-war protests are more likely to receive negative and radical coverage than the labour or police protests, because anti-war protests call into question the social system (Boyle et al. 2004). Finally, it is important to note an important contradiction. As has been mentioned above, media are based on official sources largely because the credibility and the status of those sources help journalist to be objective. The use of episodic framing can satisfy the same goal. That is to say, media report events and actions that indeed took place, without expressing their views, so they can support that they are objective. But, on the other hand, it has been demonstrated that framing in terms of events as well as adoption of official definitions contribute to the marginalization of protests, which means that finally media are not so objective. Summary In general, the main arguments about media coverage of protest events are highly connected with the hegemonic thesis that supports that media play an important role in the maintenance of status quo. Although this idea has received a lot of criticism, it has affected media studies to a significant extent. Several studies have demonstrated that media have a tendency to delegitimize and trivialize groups that challenge capitalist system and the leadership of dominant groups. In cases of protest events, literature showed that media tend to ignore them and generally cover a limited number of them, while even if a demonstration gain attention, media choose to describe it in negative way, trying to marginalize it. This is more common in cases of radical protests, namely when they have radical goals and agenda and challenge the foundations of capitalism. The marginalization is achieved with the employment of various devices and specific frames. Nevertheless, the findings of the specific study demonstrated that, under certain circumstances, media can use a variety of frames and not only the negative ones and generally be more balanced, even if they cover some radical demonstrations. Particularities in terms of the nature of protest events, specific elements of media system, as well as some political circumstances can have significant influence on media portrayal of protests.