Comparing Different Education Systems Essay

The performance of the education system is an issue that causes much controversy in society. The educational system has many ways to teach in the schools but our society is always wondering if these methods are the best. We live in a country where the education is one of the first values and we are responsible about how education is taught in our schools. In the pursuit of improving this ways society tends to compare our education level with other countries and their teaching methods. The education is facing lot problems nowadays and has to be resolved. First I will discussed the arguments of the Article ’’ Why the other countries Teach Better’ ’by The New York Times Editorial Board. This article claims that United States scored lower compared to the other 12 nations. According with the survey Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development the argument of The New York Times Editorial Board match with this results and teachers have a lot to do improv ing their jobs. The teachers training are one of the big problems that our education have and this problem can be resolved if they receive better preparation. According to the article Finland have a good place in the areas of literacy and math because they have schools, which offer a high level of education, and they have equal opportunity in education for poor and rich students. Also, the students have to take many important classes like physics, chemistry, and biology. Philosophy, music and they have to learn two foreign languages. In my opinion being bilingual, open the doors for many opportunities in the job industry. The article argued that the training system of Finland is a leader over other countries including us because their teachers are subject to a regime of very high preparation compared with other countries. Furthermore, the article argues that in Finland teachers choose their careers not thinking about the money that they will receive for do their job and they earn more money than U.S professor. However, another interesting claim in the article is about how Canada manages their educational system to get good results. Canada has a good level of education their teachers have a higher educative standards. In difference to U.S. who supports the schools depending on the level of taxes  that the area generates, Canada has equality between schools no matter the taxes that the area generates. Promoting equality and good financial administration, Canada has taken a good place in education over the time. Another important argument is how China fights against elitism to give all students the same education without differences among students from different economic levels. Also, in China integrate migrant students as part of the student strength and they considered as important part of the future of the country. According to the article the American educational system, could improve the education level if we learn from de other countries that are in a high level. In contrast to the article â€Å"American Schools in Crisis?† by Diane Ravitch she claims that the media give to people wrong information about the problem in the U.S education system and they claim that teachers are not the problem. One of the important points of the article is about the scores in education that U.S got over the years Diane Ravitch argues that America is not losing level in education because they are in the same level comparing with other years. She have an interesting point when she said â€Å"They said the same thing in 1957 when the Soviet Union sent its Sputnik into orbit and â€Å"beat us† by being first. At the time, the media were filled with dire predictions and blamed our public schools for losing the space race. But we’re still here, and the Soviet Union is gone.’’ This can be a prove about that maybe U.S is not doing an excellent work but at least the thing works in some ways. In addition, Diane Ravitch said that our teachers have one of the most difficult works in the country because they have to teach migrants students who don’t know how to speak, write and read English and this make more difficult they way to teach, how to teach in the same level of education students who don’t know English. Also, the time are changing an the teachers have to fight with technology which the article claims that it is big distraction for the students. Another important argument in the article is about that the big problem of the education system is the way that the government has to change the rules and how introduce new laws or reforms. The government expectation are unrealistic they want that 100 percent of the students improve their grades thing that is impossible. When the government does not get the results that, they want many schools privatized or close and teachers lose their jobs. The big problems in the American education system are the bad administration. There  are many ways to teach and find the best is almost impossible nobody knows which one is better but people always are looking for improve. I believe that in the future these problems will be resolved and that the education system will find ways to improve schools. In addition, I think that we can learn and share some ways to teach with other countries and create a significant change in our schools.

Hul: -Strategies

Due to the continuous efforts of the top shampoo brands in India penetration of shampoos in urban areas is almost 100%. As far as penetration of shampoo in the rural areas is concerned it has risen by almost 18% in the current scenario. the shampoo market in India is valued at Rs 4. 5 bn with the penetration level at 13% only. The market is expected to increase due to lower duties and aggressive marketing by players Shampoo is also available in a sachet, which is affordable and makes upto 40% of the total shampoo sale. The Indian shampoo market is characterised by a twin-benefit platform: cosmetic and anti-dandruff. It is basically an upper middle class product, as more than 50% of the consumers use ordinary toilet soap for washing hair. While the awareness level is high, the penetration level is very low even in the metros which is only 30%. Urban markets account for 80% of the total shampoo market, The penetration level is rapidly increasing due to decline in excise duty, which was 120% in 1993 to 30% currently. Hindustan Unilever Ltd led hair care sales in 2010, with a 19% value share, followed by Dabur India Ltd India, Marico Ltd and Procter & Gamble Home Products Ltd India. These four companies accounted for almost 49% of value, by virtue of their strong brands in shampoos and conditioners. Consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever today said it is looking at cornering over 13% of the shampoo market next fiscal with its leading hair care brand Dove in the next fiscal. â€Å"We have already launched these products globally. Today we have launched it in this market. With this we expect to gain 13-15% market share in FY13,† HUL General Manager, Hair Care Business, Piyush Jain, told PTI here. He further said, â€Å"the company entered the hair care segment in 2007 and since then we have achieved a market share of 10%. † The shampoo market is estimated to be around Rs 3,500 crore. To achieve the target, the company today launched its Dove nourishing oil care range of products — oil care shampoo, daily treatment conditioner, oil care weekly vita-oils repair mask and oil care vita-oil serum — in the premium category which contains a blend of vita oils ncluding coconut, almond and sunflower oils. Dove, which initially started as soap brand, has diversified into the hair care and antiperspirant segments recently. we have achieved a market share of 10 percent. † The shampoo market is estimated to be around Rs 3,500 crore. (IBN Live oct 2011) But if HUL, the leader in shampoos with a market share of around 44% through its Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear and Dove brands, was to respond to P&G’s move with share of 24%. apr2011

Malcolm X : Identity Formation

Multicultural Issues Identity Formation: Malcolm X Everyday African-Americans go through identity formation. Identity formation is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity. While watching the movie, Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington as Malcolm, he shows many stages of identity formation. His whole life, he went by taking chances. The choices and decisions he made either ended good of ended bad. By the end of the movie, it ended in a tragic massacre that sadly ended his life. Throughout the movie, they jumped around about his life.They showed flashbacks of his childhood and continued from on through his life. I’m going to begin with his life transformation. As a child, he was faced with bad racism. His family would be tortured by the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). His father did everything he could do to protect his family. The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) killed his father after all the torturing. Malcolm and his siblings were taking away. Ma lcolm was sent to an Orphanage where in school he was the only African-American (black) student in his class. His teacher even told him he couldn’t become a lawyer. He should consider becoming a carpenter.Malcolm was faced with man racist comments. Later on in his life he lived the life of a â€Å"street hustler. † He went to prison and that completely transformed him. We must transform ourselves, as a people, as a condition for securing our freedom from oppression. This was the beginning of his phase of identity transformation, Who are you? The question Malcolm stressed. The first time Malcolm was asked that he said Malcolm Little. He was told that’s the white’s man name for you, now who are you? He didn’t have an answer. He had to find his self. Then he gave his self the name Malcolm X.The â€Å"X† representing the unknown name of his African ancestors and their culture that had been lost during slavery, discovering all of this after six y ears in prison, after being convicted of robbery and sleeping with white women. This identity transformation was also spiritual and intellectual transformation. He undertook a rigorous process of self-education. He was all about Black Power and the Power of the Great and Almighty Allah. This was a form of his identity transformation One aspect of the African-American life in society today, as well as in the movie, is the role and identity of women.The women serve as the backbone of the family that prays and request that God would watch over and protect the family. The focus of my writing is geared towards discussing the woman’s identity development in the African-American culture and the world at large. Research express that in order to be able to understand what the significance of identity development in African-American women consists of, it is important to get the picture of the racial undertones in society. Throughout our country’s history, African-American women have been subjected to digesting negative stereotypes about themselves in comparison with their Caucasian counterparts.The belief behind this statement is that Caucasian females were closely associated with having more positive qualities than African-American women. As a result, a sense of shame has been connected with the concentrated effort to explain what it means to be an African-American that leads to an existence of racial consciousness in the minds of everyone within the culture. Moreover the conversation continues by stating that research that focuses on identity development in African-American women includes the suggestion of oppression and the requirement for self-determination and/or strength through resilience.In order for African-American women to move towards self-determination through resilience, they have to acknowledge both the commonness and the actuality of racism and sexism in today’s society. These â€Å"isms† impact the everyday lives and experien ces that they have and will encounter at school, at work, and in places where they may receive any form of public assistance. An author named Black talk about faith in God as foundational in a woman’s life toward the development of a sense of identity and value as the women eal with the trials and tribulations that she faces. The use of faith helps her to keep perspective on God as a loving, caring person as she learns to redefine what adversity looks like. Another writer named Mattis says the study’s focus on African-American women is intentional because they weave together culture and spirituality as part of how they identify themselves . Moreover, Black comments that an African-American woman’s faith and how she interacts with God is effective because there are two key components to their relationship: reciprocity and familiarity.These two characteristics work together as a way to help African-American women deal with their struggles because: a) their self-wo rth is rooted in the fact that God loves them and b) no matter what they face in this life God has a plan to reward them now and forevermore. Just like any other family, we you grow up, you go through a reaching transformation. As I stated before, in African-American families religion is an important factor to their culture. Just like in the movie and in Malcolm’s real life, he became educated and went around the world teaching.He taught was it means t be black, what it means to worship the Nation of Islam and becoming Muslim, and opened the world up to the real racism of society. When he became Muslim, he seized to live in the society of whites. He believed in going back to our roots, back home, back to our original civilization, back to West Africa, South Africa and Central Africa. These teachings cost him his life, yet his legacy live in his family and around the world of African-American and Muslims

Project Mgmt Discussion Topic - Week 3.2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Mgmt Discussion Topic - Week 3.2 - Essay Example However, the system has been criticized in various ways because of the fact that it may not offer long term solutions to sustained increased performance. In the first place, the system plays an important role by making the members to increase their efforts in order to get more benefits. This is a good move since the team ends up achieving more. However, one of the disadvantages is that the system does not create and sustain intrinsic motivation (Emerson & Loehr 2008). For this reason, some members often do not put their best in the work because they are not motivated by the incentives they receive. In most cases, the attention often shifts to those that do best and not encouraging those that do not. In this case, the mode of motivation can affect work relationship between the members of the team (Emerson & Loehr 2008). The manager needs to ensure that the method he uses elicits maximum intrinsic motivation from its members. In as much as the project has to succeed from achievement of its set targets, it does not need to achieve them at the expense of its workers; instead, it needs to ensure that the attained results are celebrated by all members because of their combined efforts and effective motivation

Proposal to determine if standardized testing is an effective method Research

To determine if standardized testing is an effective method to measure student learning - Research Proposal Example Application of the SAT test later extended to evaluation for entry into colleges and universities, becoming popular among the institutions. The tests are however not limited to application for entry purposes into colleges and universities, as use of common standards in the education curriculum requires standardized tests for evaluating students. While standardized testing may offer a basis for evaluation, consideration of such factors as disabilities and special needs undermine the equal opportunity concept. Disparities in environmental factors are also threats to standardized tests. A study, for example, noted that students may perform poorly in a standardized test that is developed in a foreign environment with such factors as language barriers being significant (Wood, Eichner-LeFrank, Wood, S., and Braus, n.d.). Standardized tests are used to evaluation students’ intelligence for grading and comparison with other students. While need for equal opportunities is one of the reasons for standardized tests, allowing for evaluation on the same baseline, differences in potentials, some of which may be induced by natural factors, undermine the fairness objective. Relative significance of the factors to performance in mathematics identifies the need to understand effectiveness of standardized tests in understanding students’ potentials in mathematics. Mathematics, according to Claro, Cabello, San Martin, and Nussbaum (2015), is more sensitive to environmental factors than reading is and this suggests difference in effectiveness of standard tests between the two. Economic, social, and cultural statuses, among students from Chile, have greater effects on mathematics skills than on reading skill and this means that the factors influences effectiveness of standardized tests for mathematics among the students and others. Students with similar level of competence in

Organizational Behavior wk 7 discussion Assignment

Organizational Behavior wk 7 discussion - Assignment Example Norms are on the other hand established codes that are communicated to members of the organization and subsequently observed (Cameron and Quinn, 2011). The structure at the company, Google, is organic. This is because of its structural features that include teamwork, integration of efforts and processes, decentralized authority, and informal communication (Cho, 2012). Organizational culture of a company can be a strategic competitive advantage. This is because it is a direct tool to operational efficiency and hence organizational performance. A culture that motivates employees particularly promotes efficiencies towards cost effectiveness. As a result, the organization will be able to achieve competitive advantage through lower prices. Similarly, an informal culture in which the employees are allowed room for experiments into innovation leads to development of new brands of commodities towards competitive advantage (Cameron and Quinn, 2011). The organizational culture at Google Company is an example of cultures that generates effectiveness. The organic structure and the freedom of employee facilitate innovation of processes and products leading to effectiveness (Cho,

Video games Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Video games - Research Paper Example Based on changing trends among children it is also evident that video games have replaced traditional physical games that were common some years back. Initially, there was a common stereotype that as compared to women, men had dominated in the consumption of video games. Today, the number of women who play these games is almost equal to that of men. As time goes by, video games continue to evolve and advance hence attracting the interest of the media. Since many people have been attracted to this form of entertainment, the term ‘gamer’ is commonly being used by the media to refer to people who play video games. Media has played a significant role in shaping public perception on video games. Media has contributed to popularizing video games to a large extent because almost everyone is talking about the new games in the market. Prominence received by games such as Doom and Grand Theft Auto can be attributed to media coverage. As a result, many people have been attracted to this form of entertainment hence leading to a tremendous growth of the video game industry. Developing and selling new games that meet various demands of consumers has become a thriving business. In recent times, manufacturers are facing stiff competition from different players in the industry. This has forced them to make improvements to existing games and develop new ones. Examples of transformations that have occurred include the introduction of 3D games alongside the improvement of digital quality of sound and images. In regard to this matter, media coverage has shaped the public debate by raising the question of how much revenue governments generate from the sale of video games. Evidence from medi a sources indicates that in 2014, revenue from video games in the United States alone had amounted to approximately 886 million dollars. This figure has since risen (Statista 1). Imagine how much the government would lose if video games were to be banned. Through the media,

Civil and criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Civil and criminal law - Essay Example To gain a better insight, these questions can be looked at from two angles as proposed by Ronald Standler: Punishment and Burden of Proof (Standler, 1998). Punishment: In criminal law, a guilty defendant is punished in one of the two ways: either incarceration in a jail or prison or fine paid to the government; or, in exceptional cases: execution of the defendant: the death penalty. On the other hand, a defendant in civil litigation is never incarcerated nor executed. Most often, a losing defendant in civil litigation only reimburses the plaintiff for losses caused by the defendant's behavior. Burden of Proof: With certain exceptions, in most cases, in criminal litigation, the burden of proof is always on the state. The case starts with the defendant assumed to be innocent and as the case proceeds, the state must prove that the defendant is guilty. In contrast, in civil litigation, the burden of proof is initially on the plaintiff. It should be noted that, there may be several situations in which the burden shifts to the defendant. With the above discussion in mind, it can be noticed that, in a criminal law case the litigation is filed by the government called the prosecution against the defendant whereas in a civil law case a private party files a lawsuit

Poll week 6 dis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Poll week 6 dis - Essay Example Key among the causes of global financial crisis was the credit crunch in which US investors lost confidence in the value of sub-prime mortgages that in turn led to a liquidity crisis. The step by the US Federal Bank to inject large sum of capital into financial markets also contributed to this global crisis (â€Å"Crash course,† 2013). The crisis widened by September 2008, when the stock markets across the globe crashed, by that, becoming highly volatile. The event of September 14, 2008, when the Lehman Brothers collapsed, profoundly contributed to global financial crisis. The decision by Federal Reserve Chairpersons to dismiss the build-up of the housing bubble until 2007 from 202, contributed to this crisis. They never took the initiate to control the housing bubble or regulate mortgage companies. The Wall Street Executives’ decision to ignore policies focusing on internal risk management and their aim to increase revenues in a short time led to the crisis. In addition, the decision by US Presidents to hire former Wall Street lobbyists to serve as government policy makers, led to bailing out of banks without any regard to moral hazard. The decision risked the future of the national economy and shifted the burden to taxpayers. Timeline: Key events in financial crisis. (2013, September 9). Retrieved February 12, 2015, from

Intermediate sport management (sport events) Essay

Intermediate sport management (sport events) - Essay Example Such dilemma has appeared in the case of Beijing Olympic Games of 2008. The findings of studies developed on this event seem to be controversial. The effectiveness of the above event is evaluated in this paper by referring to the literature and the empirical studies that have published in this field. The key finding of the study is that the specific event can be characterized as successful even if the problems appeared during the development of the event’s Strategic Plan have been many, as analyzed below. 2.0 Introduction The effectiveness of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is reviewed in this paper. A qualitative research approach has been used for reviewing the various aspects of the specific event. A series of studies published in the academic literature has been reviewed in order to check whether the above sport event has been successful or not. Specific aspects of the particular event are set as priorities in this study: Marketing, Operations Quality and Performance, Legal and Ethical issues, Finance, Human Resources and Media. Certain articles published in the local and international press have been also employed, for providing additional information, where necessary, on the issue under examination. The main body of this study has been divided into two parts: Discussion and Findings. In the first of these parts, the Discussion part, the findings of the literature related to this study’s subject are presented, being categorized in order for the coherency of the study to be secured. These findings are then evaluated in the second part of the main body, the Findings section, in order to decide whether the management techniques used for managing the above sport event have been successful or not. The findings of the literature review are supported by graphs included in this study’s Appendix. Conclusions in regard to the issues discussed through the paper are provided in the Findings section; in this way, all conclusions are appropriately suppor ted while any gaps, as revealed through the literature, are highlighted. 3.0 Discussion 3.1 Marketing Marketing, as part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, can be evaluated by referring to two, different, facts: the popularity of the specific event as it was in progress and the popularity of the city after the end of the particular event. The Beijing Olympic Games of 2008 can be considered as a major event for China’s public image. In fact, since the end of the Olympics the number of tourists that have visited the region has reached impressive levels; in 2011 about 4.61 million people visited the city, a number that it is quite high (Blanchard and Fan 2012). Gibson, Qi and Zhang (2008) tried to identify the level at which a major sport event can be used as a tool for improving the image of the hosting country. The case of Beijing Olympics is used as an example. A survey was developed in Athens among college students during the Athens Olympic Games of 2004. The objective of th e survey was to show whether the intention to travel to China could be influenced by the Olympics in Beijing. It was proved that, indeed, a relationship could exist between the hosting of a major sport event and the intention to travel to the hosting country. The above relationship is presented in the graph included in Figure 1,

Analysis Strategy of an Organization from Strategic Intent and Stretch Essay

Analysis Strategy of an Organization from Strategic Intent and Stretch Perspective - Essay Example The present discussion revolves around, the IT giant, Accenture’s strategy and its execution. Porter’s studies and contribution towards gaining an understanding and insight into strategy is regarded as highly valuable in contemporary management, and have paved way to the emergence of many businesses that have reached their pinnacle and have managed to stay there; one of them being Accenture. Porter’s studies have identified five main forces of industry competition, which can be used as the core guide to business management. Porter (2008) ascertains that the industry structure drives competition and profitability irrespective of the age of the business, policies or technology used. This, in other words, accounts for strategy adopted by the industry or business to enter the market, grow and sustain its position. Precisely, strategies help organisations to be focused towards their goals. Accenture is a global organisation that deals with and provides services in con sulting, technology and outsourcing, with about 246,000 employees in more than 100 countries. Its strategy is to become the world’s leading company in the field of consulting, technology and outsourcing by delivering high performance.... they claim, is more often achieved by imitating or copying competitors’ practices and also sometimes partnering with competitors in some way or other to share the profits. They also identified that many businesses actually adopted practices that were beyond mere replication of existing strategies and such businesses not only succeeded but also reached far fledged horizons. A good lesson for most of the businesses worldwide, this approach has indeed opened up new ways of looking at business and management. Hamel and Prahalad (1989) refer to this approach or attitude as the ‘strategic intent,’ which also indicates a specific approach to all strategy formulation and implementation that will help in treading ahead in the chosen field of industry. Accenture’s mission to become the world’s leading company by delivering high performance can be considered as its strategic intent. Harfield’s (1998) study challenged Porter’s approach to strategy and strategic management claiming the latter’s concept to be more of a myth. His study on strategic management based on the linear, adaptive and interpretative approaches provides multidimensional view to strategic management. Overall, this extensive study credits Porter for his contribution and on the other hand also claims strategic management to be much more complicated as well as resourceful, which modern management specialists can use for further construction. This anticipated potential gives rise to the concept of strategic intent, which is realized by leaders that really wish to align the actions and beliefs of all employees of an organisation towards one common challenging goal; Smith (1994, p.66) refers to such leadership attitude as the ‘Merlin Factor.’ Strategic intent is a by-product of strategic

America’s cause Essay Example for Free

America’s cause Essay But he calmly proceeded to act his part, pretending not the least bothered by the gut-wrenching ride over a swirling sea. The following day he received this message from the Navy Department: â€Å"Dear Mr. Wayne- we are pleased to record this latest addition to naval lore. To the immortal expression, ‘damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead,’ we now add your own memorable words, ‘get me out of this son of a bitch! ’†(Wayne168-169). Wayne spoke the American language well. Once, asked by a reporter about his rumored plan to run for president, Wayne said, â€Å"Bullshit. † When asked to give a definite comment, Wayne told him to use the word. The following day, this news item appeared: â€Å"When Mr. Wayne was questioned about the possibility of running for national office, he replied ‘Bt! †(Wayne 162). Americans responded to John Wayne in a manner different from other stars of his generation. Other actors simply shed off their screen personae after the lights went off; not so Wayne. Although little was written about his private life (marriage, romantic affairs) until after his death, his public life was an open book that maintained and reinforced the John Wayne mystique. He was a natural treasure who was loved and respected. In 1979 he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1998, an Army RAH-66 helicopter was named â€Å"Duke† in his honor. He wore a POW bracelet to show his sympathy with the fighting men in Viet Nam. Speaking extemporaneously before a subcommittee hearing in connection with the bill for the Congressional Gold Medal, Maureen O’Hara Blair, Wayne’s co-star in The Quiet Man, spoke for Wayne: â€Å"He is, believe me, the United States of America. He is a man that has a code of beliefs that he sticks with. He believes in individual responsibility and honor. † Said Reagan of Wayne: I never saw Duke display hatred toward those who scorned him. Oh, he could use some pretty salty language, but he would not tolerate pettiness and hate. He was human all right: he drank enough whiskey to float a PT boat, though he never drank on the job. . . he was virtually always the first to arrive on the set and the last to leave. World War II helped to define what John Wayne stood for. Unable to join the Navy due to an old football injury, his age (34), and being a father of four, Wayne did his part in the war by making movies about America’s fighting men. He appeared minus his horse and six-shooter in memorable films like the Fighting Seabees, Flying Tigers, Reunion in France, They Were Expendable, and Back to Bataan. The 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima earned Wayne his first Oscar nomination. These films did not have the nauseating gore and graphic violence of present-day war movies, but they exalted the heroism of ordinary men, and people related to them well. Wayne had made it a point not to accept any role that was un-American or tended to denigrate the United States or the American tradition. At a time when he was nearly bankrupt, Wayne bankrolled, starred in, and directed the epic The Alamo, which had been his dream project of many years. In it, playing the role of Davy Crockett, he described the defenders’ role as they waited for the approaching battle with Santa Anna: â€Å"There’s right and there’s wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you’re living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you’re as dead as a beaver hat. † As Crockett, he voiced out the timeless yearning of the Texans for independence: â€Å"It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. † John Wayne did not win on Oscar for The Alamo (except for Best Sound) although it received six nominations, but people came in droves to see the movie. Besides his classic westerns and war pictures, The Alamo is one of his lasting legacies. John Wayne is often equated with conservatism. He was the product of an age when Americans were proud of their heritage, conscious of their country’s new role as a world power and sincerely believed in the righteousness of America’s cause. He was born when Theodore Roosevelt was president, a man who believed in Manifest Destiny and was wont to â€Å"speak softly, but carry a big stick. † Wayne belonged to a generation yet untouched by pangs of national self-doubt, unstricken by remorse over purported wrongs committed by the white man against the natives, the blacks, the Vietnamese, the American youth who were being sent to die in remote battlefields. This was the turbulent 60’s, an age when young Americans were seduced by flower power, discovered new ideologies, adopted a libertarian attitude and opposed any kind of war. In a nation divided by war, John Wayne was seemingly a lonely figure as young Americans felt shame for everything America ever did in the course of her ascent to world dominance. A friend of Senators Barry Goldwater and Joe McCarthy, and former President Ronald Reagan, John Wayne was Republican to the core. Against the weakening of American resolve, John Wayne’s tenacious adherence to the American tradition of duty and honor could only be seen as naivete – sprung from the good guy–bad guy scenarios in his celluloid world. From the 40’s to the 60’s, the Left made inroads in school campuses where teach-ins became common, swaying many of the youth to the new ideology, and threatening to undermine the foundations of the country’s democratic system. Due to its potentials for propaganda, the movie industry was targeted and there were rumors that some Hollywood figures had embraced socialism. In 1944, Wayne helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, in the company of other giants like Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Walt Disney, and Robert Taylor. He later became president of the association for two terms. He was outspoken against the communist threat. He was mistaken for an archconservative and accused of blackballing movie personalities who refused to cooperate in Congressional hearings, although he never testified, nor did he blackball anybody (Wayne 55). His being perceived as a staunch anti-communist even gave rise to rumors that the late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin plotted to have him murdered (Soviet Dictator).

Analysing The Differences Between Soft And Hard Power Politics Essay

Analysing The Differences Between Soft And Hard Power Politics Essay Soft power was a term first coined by Joseph Nye in 1990 to recognise that nations had power resources other than the more readily conceived hard power of economic and military power. In his 2004 book Soft Power Nye attempts to expand upon the term and provide a tighter definition of soft power. His definition It is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments  [1]  is general and needs substantial qualification and explanation to provide utility to statesmen and academics alike. Soft power has therefore generated significant debate as to its existence and utility. It has been argued that soft power is merely an argument for the merits of public diplomacy.  [2]  Nye himself argues that soft power is a resource that is underappreciated.  [3]  Increasingly the term soft power is being used by politicians and academics alike to portray a warmer less aggressive approach to international relations in the contemporary connected world. Eme rging powers such as China and India have been applauded for their use of soft power to attract outcomes they desire.  [4]  The US under Obama has distanced itself from President Bushs unilateral approach and has re-emphasised the utility and power of soft power to influence the world.  [5]   Despite the increased use of the term soft power, questions still remain as to the validity of soft power as an actual usable form of political power. Criticisms of soft power abound and include recognition that soft power is too fickle and generated from factors many of which are outside the direct control of a government. Soft power can have a positive effect on one group but have a polar opposite effect on another group within the same nation. Realist thinking in particular finds it difficult to reconcile so called soft power against a much more tangible hard power such as military might. But images such as a lone protester standing in front of a column of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square do have a tangible affect on how the world reacts to situations. The protester certainly had less hard power, yet world opinion was certainly not attracted to the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) on that day. If not hard power, what sort of power is that then? The world today is increasingly connected. Images and opinions on crises and conflict can quickly be dispersed throughout the global community. The privilege of information superiority enjoyed by the leaders of nations in the past is increasingly threatened today. The governed can now get access to events and information much quicker and much more accurately than at any other time in human history. Measures of national power have to therefore take account of how a nation is perceived by the emerging global consciousness enabled by the information age. International relations is an ever changing tapestry of competition, cooperation and conflict but increasingly the interactions between states is becoming much more personal, much more deeper and much more diverse. While interactions between states remain dominant no state, particularly democratic states, can ignore the views of its citizens and their values. Much as violence is seen as distasteful within societies, there is now a great er threshold for justification of violence between states in the mind of the global community. Actions perceived as aggressive and without sufficient justification suffer a backlash of public opinion that undermines the ability of a regime to pursue a policy. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to better define the concept of soft power as a tool of international relations and establish the critical importance of soft power within the contemporary world. The research question as such, is as follows: What is soft power and why is it important in the world today? This will be answered by firmly establishing that the foundation of all political power, international or domestic, is the will of people and that power is becoming more dissipated throughout a globalised world. To aid in the understanding of soft power a number of questions need to be addressed. First and foremost is the question of where power comes from. To understand from where political power is derived we need to investigate power from its base form in human society. By understanding the basis of political power we can begin to understand why or how the nature of power may begin to manifest itself in different ways. Soft power is different from hard power. How and why this is the case is necessary to better understand what soft power actually is. Yet power is power and therefore at some, if not all, levels hard and soft power must interact and effect each other. The question of the relationship between hard and soft power must be addressed to gain greater insight into what soft power is and how to employ it. Hard power is the more easily recognisable and traditional manifestation of national power such as armed might and economic capability. Next is the question of how do we measure soft power. National power has always been perceived within a context of raw power potential shaped and melded into international effect by a nations leaders to achieve their international objectives. Does a nation therefore have a raw soft power potential and if so how can it best be cultivated and employed? Hard power can often be perceived as finite and expendable. Once you expend a resource you no longer have it. Is this true of soft power also? Or can soft power be re-used over and over? Finally an understanding of the trends and phenomenon of the world today is fundamental to determining the importance of soft power today and into the future. The importance and relevance of soft power is growing as more of humanity becomes connected. As people become more connected so the complexity of human interaction increases. This dramatically enhanced presence everywhere on the globe has the potential to generate a surge of global opinion. Increased connectivity however does not only provide presence everywhere for opinions to form on significant world events. People can now connect with a more diverse and more numerous audience throughout the world. The international relations implications are profound. As the complexity of human interaction increases so too does the complexity of international relations and politics. LITERATURE REVIEW This paper is on soft power. However to properly ground this concept in International relations this paper will cover a number of interrelated topics. Therefore, a variety of writings, including some on International relations, International relations theory and globalisation will be used to define what soft power is. Contemporary articles and media will update current discussions on soft power and aid in determining its relevance and utility. Joseph Nyes 2004 book Soft Power is dedicated to the subject of soft power and attempts to establish firmly through contemporary examples and discussion what soft power is and how it is generated and used. Nye defines soft power as It is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments.  [6]  Nye has attempted to expand upon the concept after first coining the term in 1990. In many regards he has not adequately achieved this and has in many regards muddied the waters and propogated confusion about what soft power is. Nye has not anchored this concept in any theoretical framework. Hans Morganthau book Politics Among Nations, first published in 1948 and then updated with eleven further editions up to 2005 will provide a basis for analysis of what national power is. Morganthaus chapters on political power, the struggle for power and the essence of power all provide insights into the enduring nature of power and a framework for determining what the basis of power is and therefore how relevant soft power is as a concept. Kenneth Waltzs book Realism and International Politics was published in 2008 and is a compilation of Waltzs earlier works. Waltzs works span six decades from 1959 until 2002 and will be used to provide a more contemporary understanding of international relations and a barometer to show how international relations, and more specifically political power, are evolving as the world changes. The theme of globalisation and issues associated with it is fundamental to the rising awareness and importance of soft power. Thomas Friedmans The Lexus and the Olive Tree published in 2000 provides an excellent discussion of globalisation and its effects on the world. Friedmans early chapters provide a good description of what globalization is and how it has arisen. Friedman also touches upon the impact of globalisation on how power is employed in the emerging world. Friedman has expanded on his previous work on globalisation with his 2006 book The World is Flat. Now in its third expanded and updated edition within three years, the publishing history of this book is testament to the increasing speed of globalisation within the world today. In this book Friedman highlights three phases of gloablisation that he terms Globilisation 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. The idea that in Globalisation 1.0 nations gloablised, Globalisation 2.0 organisations globalised and in Globalisation 3.0 that we are seeing every individual globalised is central to understanding the importance of soft power in the contemporary world. If Friedman is to be even half believed, soft power is only going to become even more critical in coming years. The relationship between globalization and international politics is further enhanced with The Globalization of World Politics, An Introduction to International Relations by John Baylis and Steve Smith, first published in 2001 and updated in 2005. While providing a comprehensive and detailed understanding of contemporary international relations overall it is striking to note that this work offers only the barest mention of the concept of soft power. Likewise Charles Kegleys 12th edition of World Politics: Trend and Transformation, published in 2009 is a comprehensive text that charts the evolution of international relations from a theoretical perspective but mentions soft power only as an aside. Malcom Gladwells now famous The Tipping Point, first published in 2000 and now in its fifteenth reprint, provides a discussion on how the little things can make a big difference in a globalised connected world. Gladwells work does not specifically deal with international politics or power but his central concept provides food for thought on why soft power is now so critical. RELEVANCE OF RESEARCH The 2003 US invasion of Iraq has highlighted both the unstoppable military might of the worlds only superpower and the limitations of operating solely in a hard power domain of international relations. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the merits or not of the decision to invade Iraq, it is clear that the US found that it suffered a significant backlash from the way in which it did approach this issue on the global stage. Understanding soft power is more critical with every passing day as the world continues to connect. The concept of soft power is fuzzy and ambiguous. Skeptics will always be found for any subject. Proponents of the concept have varying interpretations of what it actually is. Many use the term from a simplistic point of view that helps undermine the importance of soft power. Nye has done well in articulating the concept but confusion and misunderstanding persists. This paper endeavors to contribute in even the smallest measure to a better understa nding of soft power and why it is critical in the world today and into the future. METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS This research paper will focus on a theory review from the library resources available at the Maktab Turus Angkatan Tentura (MTAT), Malaysian Armed Forces Ministry of Defence, the University of Malaya, Malaysian and New Zealand Bookshops. In addition to this various journals and articles sourced from on-line databases will also be used. The intention of this paper is to bring together theoretical international power and globalisation concepts with Nyes concept of soft power, in order to provide a better understanding of soft power, its relationship to other elements of national power and its growing importance. Due to time constraints and resource limitations, research for this paper is based on a limited number of secondary sources. Some books obtained are not the most recent editions however internet resources have been used where possible to ensure ideas gained from older editions have not been superseded. CHAPTERISATION This paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter one provides an introduction to the study to be undertaken including background information and a review of the literature available in compiling this research. Chapter one also outlines the methodology undertaken in order to obtain the required information. Chapter two focuses on the theoretical concept of power. The chapter discusses power from its fundamental principles recognising that in todays world that . Chapter three introduces the concept of soft power as defined by Joeseph Nye and the transnational crime threats and regional security mechanisms within the South Pacific, describes the current security environment and a summary of transnational crime and security issues. The chapter will then discuss the factors contributing towards transnational crime in the South Pacific within the framework of political, military, societal, economic and environmental security concerns. Chapter three then discusses the regional security mechanisms by outlining the Pacific Islands Forum, The Pacific Plan, the Forum Regional Security Committee, and then concludes. Chapter four introduces the responses to threats in the South Pacific and discusses the approach being taken by regional and global governments, non government organisations and law enforcement agencies to combat transnational crime within the South Pacific region. Chapter five concludes the paper by drawing together the concepts of transnational crime and security, the transnational crime and security threats in the South Pacific and the responses to them, and concludes that in order to overcome the threats of transnational crime to a states national security, non government organisations and law enforcement agencies must understand the complexity of transnational crime, the contributing factors, the challenges associated with combating it and focus their efforts in a joint approach to address the threats to the benefit of the state, its population and the global community.

Changing Marketing Strategies of Pharmaceutical Companies

Changing Marketing Strategies of Pharmaceutical Companies Abstract Pharmaceutical companies spend large sums of money in the time-consuming research and development of new drugs and the new classes of drugs. Each company marketing in the US seeks the possible payoff of staggering high profits which is possible on their patented medicines. Because of the lack of price regulation in the marketing environment in the United States, the United States has become a premium sales market targeted by all pharmaceutical companies. This explains the continued willingness of each pharmaceutical company to persist through the entire long process of idea, creation, development, testing, approval, marketing and distribution despite the high possibility of product failure. The pharmaceutical companies have had to additionally contend with more US federal FDA rules, regulation and oversight in the United States for the entire process before receiving clearance to start marketing their drug product. Other influences like HMOs and Social Security cap limits affect prof itability structure. Over the last fifty years newer marketing strategies by pharmaceutical companies on prescription drugs include a directive appeal to the end consumer to increase the odds of making corporate profits and a marketing focus on social and internet interaction. Introduction Pharmaceutical companies produce specialized medical drug material designed to fill a need. These pharmaceutical companies are usually multinational operations located in key countries around the globe. Many have grown to become complete facilities that attempt to do the entire spectrum of research, develop, test and finally market the subject drug in order to reap the whole benefits possible from the entire cycle (Kaitin, 2010). The pharmaceutical industry has shown over time that they have the capability to increase consumer perceived value with their unique drug products using their own successful plans for timely marketing. But because of these old and new factors causing cumulative hurtles, a new trend in marketing in the pharmaceutical industry is now to additionally market direct to the customer, for example: TV advertising spots showing a new superior drug product which has special features making it directly appealing to a consumer. Changes in basic marketing structure tacti cs will be evaluated for the key levels of pressure from these internal and external factors as these pharmaceutical companies seek to address continuing ongoing product failure rates, increasing US regulation and the ever present potential competition from others inside their own industry. This trend has been a natural development over the last hundred years or so. This is reasonable because the same research that produces one drug may produce an entire class of drugs for market. Confidentiality, control, patents and oversight give these pharmaceutical companies the oversight. It also allows each pharmaceutical company to keep maximum control of all their connected environments. And by controlling these the final marketing each company achieve continues the cycle of giving the most control over the drug for the marketing campaign. The drug industry often competes worldwide and on different economic levels but in some specific territorial markets like the United States, pricing structures are not preset by the government and therefore the free market sets its own competitive standards for pricing giving the possibility and most often the probability of higher drug prices with the resultant bigger profit level opportunities. However these are offset by rigorous structural standard guidelines set by the FDA that must be complied with for any drug sold or marketed to the US public. In the past, drug companies in United States, marketed to doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and sometimes middleman companies as transitional handlers of the newest product. Marketing drugs in the United states has now changed as developers are now targeting consumers directly through television spots, online advertising and in print ads. The direct appeal is to make the end point consumer aware of the name of the drug and its benefits. The object is to have the consumer become familiar with the trade name, ask for the drug directly from their doctor thus boosting the initial sales of the new product and creating a ready market. Industry History Marchetti Schellens (2007) outline the structures of development showing it to be complex and expensive. Not only does the potential class or specific drug have to be discovered or created, it has to show promise for certain illness or disease, then pharmaceutical research can proceed through certain phases. Pharmaceutical companies have a history of costly product failures. Generally theres three clinical phrases and all this can take upwards of 15 years to complete. Additionally the FDA has trended over the last decade to creating higher pressures against drug companies by not approving as many new drugs for marketing. The probability odds are that any specific drug in early clinical phase has only 8% chance or less of ever becoming public (Food and Drug Administration, 2006) (Kummar, 2007). In the United States the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sought to control the drugs available to Americans because of the number of tragedies that have resulted in birth defects o r deaths. The most highly publicized incident was in the mid-1960s and the drug was called thalidomide which for pregnant women often resulted in severe birth defects. As an end result of public outrage creating governmental pressures, the pharmaceutical companies are overseen at all levels and must now successful clinical trials. Lamb(1998) writes that testing protocols have been standardized and once clinical trials are completed there is a analysis period with the end result being an application to the FDA called an NDA ( new drug application) which contains all the technical information. Over the last forty years (1970s -2010) and now in 2011 differential forces are in opposition to the ends of pharmaceutical companies. Environmental and safety issues, new technologies, mergers and the rise of managed care and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) have all effectively changed the environment thats pharmaceutical companies operate in. additionally in 1997 the FDA changed regulations relating to the presentation of risk level. This action in the United States opened the door for pharmaceutical companies to directly market to the public .This freedom for the pharmaceutical companies is offset by the FDA still having oversight surveillance of the specific phases and clinical approval. The FDA must approve the drug. After the drug is marketed there is oversight for continued compliance by the pharmaceutical companies to ensure a low-level of side effects during marketing. Post approval by the FDA comes solely after this period (Silverman, 2011). Pharmaceutical company spending on marketing exceeds that spent on research.[3][22] In 2004 in Canada $1.7 billion a year was spent marketing drugs to physicians and in the United States $21 billion were spent in 2002.[4] In 2005 money spent on pharmaceutical marketing in the US was estimated at $29.9 billion with one estimate as high as $57 billion.[3] When the US number are broken down 56% was free samples, 25% was detailing of physicians, 12.5% was direct to consumer advertising, 4% on hospital detailing, and 2% on journal ads.[4] In the United States approximately $20 billion could be saved if generics were used instead of equivalent brand name products.[3] Although pharmaceutical companies have made large investments in marketing their products, overall promotional spending has been decreasing over the last few years, and declined by 10 percent from 2009 to 2010. Pharmaceutical companies are cutting back mostly in detailing and sampling, while spending in mailings and print advertising grew since last year.[23] Historical Marketing Pharmaceutical companies have employed various methods of marketing their products and this idea can be understood by the phrase â€Å"How would you like to be in an industry where your buyers are uninformed about your product and almost 100 per cent insensitive to its price?† (The Business Edge Consortium, 2010). For many decades this was true. Around the mid 80s this started to change â€Å"The result of these industry conditions was impressive profit growth through the middle of the 1980s. With significant barriers to entry, docile suppliers, powerless buyers, almost no threat of substitutes, and little rivalry, the pharmaceutical industry in the 1980s was just about as perfect an industry as one could imagine. Given its attractiveness, the industry attracted the attention of genetic and molecular biology scientists and the venture capital community, who saw its appeal and thought their revolutionary approaches to drug therapy could attract enough money to overcome the for midable entry barriers the industry enjoyed. Thus, as scientific advances in biotechnology took hold, numerous entrepreneurial companies like Genentech and Amgen were founded to commercialize new scientific breakthroughs. Genentech, the first biotech firm having commercial success, developed a protein that broke up blood clots. Amgens famous molecular biology used recombinant DNA to produce erythropoietin, a hormone that increases the supply of red blood cells in anaemic patients under treatment for cancer and other diseases. By 2000, erythropoietin was generating $2 billion in sales and another $3 billion in licensing revenue for Amgen. Both of these new entrants fared very well in this attractive industry:Genentech went public in 1980, and by 2001 its shares had appreciated 2700 per cent since its IPO. Amgen shares, first offered in 1983, soared more than 16,000 per cent. Starting in the mid-1980s, the barriers to enter the pharmaceutical industry began to show cracks. New legislation made it easier for generic drug companies to enter the market. In the USA, the 1984 Waxman-Hatch Act, which changed the rules for generic drug manufacturers, reduced the barriers to generic entry. Instead of having to prove the generic drugs safety and efficacy, the act required companies only to prove their formulas were equivalent to that of the brandname drug. The subsequent growth in generic drugs was profound. By 1996, generic drugs accounted for more than 40 per cent of pharmaceutical prescriptions. Aside from the influx of generics, the pharmaceutical companies also saw a wave of biotechnology competitors enter their industry Genentech, Amgen and many others suggesting that economies of scale meant less than they used to, and that barriers to entry, while still high in absolute terms, were dropping, thanks in part to the availability of venture capital. Further, the biotech companies new science-focused research model, known as rational drug design, stood the traditional approach to drug discovery on its head. These drug companies worked backwards from known disease biochemistry to identify or design chemical ‘keys to fit the biochemical ‘locks of that disease.† Traditionally they employed very effective strategies that includes educational sponsorship to cover the costs of continuing instruction for top medical personnel, sponsorship of articles in well-respected journal publications, providing free drugs samples to doctors and promotional gifts that include a corporate logo or specifics about a drug the idea behind the promotional marketing is to simply connect the new drug with an old medical symptom and encourage the writers of the prescription to fulfill the marketing cycle. Promantally pharmaceutical samples are still given out to doctors as a promotion and marketing tactic and it works (Alexander, Zhang Basu, 2008). A few generations ago these forms of marketing worked well for the pharmaceutical companies. However circumstances have changed. The FDA seeks to discourage the intimate connection between pharmaceutical companies and their pharmaceutical representatives is the connection to the doctors prescribing medicines, these days d octors see more patients and fewer pharmacy drug representatives, additionally there is a continuing trend by hospitals, doctors and pharmacies towards being conservative in their recommendations and prescriptions because of lawsuits of all kinds (Pharmaceutical Industry History, 2007). Medical drug malpractice suits in the US are rising. Fiscus (2008) writes that â€Å" In the United States, the growing use of DTC advertising has raised challenges to one of the strongest defenses available to drug manufacturers against failure to warn allegations in product liability suits for prescription drugs and medical devices: the learned intermediary doctrine. Under this doctrine, a manufacturer fulfills its duty to warn by adequately informing a learned intermediary, typically a physician.† Current Marketing .In 2010 the global pharmaceutical market is worth over 825 million with a large percentage of this comes from newer and mature drug products and there are over 100,000 health-related websites (The Business Edge Consortium, 2010). The statistics show that marketing by pharmaceutical companies is changing because of external pressures. There has been a dramatic rise in U.S. physicians routinely using d the web to check or research information making the relevance of digital promotion all the more important Pharmaceutical companies have risen to the changing challenge of Internet marketing and now promote and advertise doctor friendly physician and customer service online portals like PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National, and Physicians Interactive (Kaitin, 2010). Pharmaceutical marketers are relying more on connecting digital medical information to their target audience through focused marketing, interactive social media campaigns, and cell and mobile linked advertising all targeted to connect to the 145 million + U.S. adults who go online for health answers . The old saying â€Å" time is money† is accurate in the case of pharmaceutical companies as it takes upwards of 15 years to develop a potential drug which only has a 8% probability of getting out of trials and going to market. Therefore it is a necessity to carefully control costs and expenses where possible. One major area of expense has been having marketing representatives which were costing out as high as15 to 20% of a pharmaceutical companies annual drug product revenues. As pharmaceutical company overall expenses and costs have additionally escalated over the last few generations there is a need to reduce expenses down where possible. So the switch from costly pharmaceutical representatives to cheaper graphic marketing is easily understood. Finkelstein (1997) wrote that Competitive and technological changes in the pharmaceutical industry-from powerful new drug chemistries to innovative RD partnerships and marketing plans-are reshaping the business strategies of many phar maceutical and biotechnology companies Given these cost pressures it is understandable that the pharmaceutical companies are looking for better ways to market their drugs. The newest strategy is now to promote what is known as marketing blockbuster medical drugs directly to the consumer public. The idea was to empower the consumer. Right now only the United States and New Zealand allow pharmaceutical products promoted by DTC (Pharmaceutical Drug Manufacturers, 2011). When an individual consumer requests information and the medicine by name by their Doctor some of the responsibility while also applying pressure on the doctor to prescribe the new medicine. Additionally both the small and large pharmaceutical companies are now using digital media to promote their products. From TV and cable to Internet ads consumers are constantly being made aware of the virtues and minor drawbacks of a number specific pharmaceutical drugs. The reasoning behind this strategy by the pharmaceutical companies is relatively simple, if they can promote their products and make its trade name and cure synonymous with the ongoing medical complaint in the publics mind, then they can create momentum utilizing the end customer. Another reason for doing this is to get any of their major blockbuster drugs to pay for the company costs for their other company made drugs sold in smaller volumes Another reason for marketing these blockbuster drugs as to make a success of these drugs synonymous with the company name creating consumer goodwill towards the next product. The latest trend is for reduction in the number of blockbuster drugs and pharmaceutical companies delvin g back into their former research to find potential missing new specialized drugs, .this can be seen clearly by the reduction in applications to the FDA showing ever reducing numbers of new drugs. Another complication that pharmaceutical companies must contend with is the ever-growing number of over-the-counter substitutes (OTCs) that the consumers choose to purchase as an alternative. Over a period of 20 years Naprosyn was widely prescribed as an arthritis remedy but now is available as an over-the-counter drug. A whole spectrum of drugs from arthritis to antihistamines are now available without prescription providing relief to customers but adding little to the economic bottom line of pharmaceutical companies that originally developed these drugs. Another complication in drug marketing is the force exerted by HMOs on doctors and what doctors prescribe .Generally the majority of HMOs are not big on covering high prescription costs for new medicines recently brought to market. The economics are easily understandable because it is not about a single client which needs a single drug but the numbers are multiplied by the potential hundreds of thousands. Therefore HMOs seek to be conservative. And because of that they create a potential customer roadblock for pharmaceutical companies with the new drug on the market at a very high price. Because of the HMO will not cove r the price then the customer must, which generally means the consumer settles for less than the newest product. managed care organizations (MCO), compared with 5 per cent of the US population covered in 1980. These MCOs typically provided full coverage for prescription drugs. But, because of their sheer mass, these institutions had considerable bargaining power with drug companies If present industry overview is taken into consideration then the global pharmaceutical market in 2010 is projected to grow 4 6% exceeding $825 billion. The global pharmaceutical market sales is expected to grow at a 4 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2013. This industry growth is driven by stronger near-term growth in the US market and is based on the global macroeconomy, the changing combination of innovative and mature products apart from the rising influence of healthcare access and funding on market demand. Global pharmaceutical market value is expected to expand to $975+ billion by 2013. Different regions of the world will influence the pharmaceutical industry trends in different ways. http://www.da-group.co.uk/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=31%3Amicro-and-macro-environmentscatid=2%3Amarketing-lecturesItemid=3 CURRENT CHALLENGES FOR THE RESEARCH-BASED INDUSTRY To understand why â€Å"business as usual† is no longer an option for the research-based drug industry, it is worth considering some of the myriad challenges that drug companies currently face. At the top of the list is the upcoming onslaught of patent expirations of many highrevenue- generating branded medicines. Between 2009 and 2012, worldwide sales for these products will exceed $112 billion (Table 1). Included in this list are 36 blockbusters (drugs with annual sales of $1 billion or more). Some important examples include Singulair (montelukast), with more than $4 billion in annual sales (patent expiration in 2012); Plavix (clopidogrel), with more than $8 billion in annual sales (patent expiration in 2011); and Lipitor (atorvastatin), with an industry-leading $13.7 billion in annual sales (patent expiration in 2010). Given that only 3 in 10 new products, on average, generate revenues equal to or greater than average industry RD costs,1 the loss of patent protection on the se blockbusters represents a very real threat to the industrys ability to sustain its own growth. Without question, many of the large pharma mergers and acquisitions announced in 2009 reflect the industrys desire to avoid the imminent danger of the patent cliff, rather than an interest in enhancing RD capabilities or scope. The current environment for innovation presents formidable economic, regulatory, and political challenges for the research-based pharmaceutical industry. In particular, the growing time, cost, and risk related to drug development are stubborn obstacles to filling industry pipelines and boosting the output of new pharmaceutical and biological products. Presented here is a model of an innovation network. Although structures may vary, the innovation network offers the best mechanism to ensure viability and economic success for all sectors of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, as well as the uninterrupted flow of innovative lifesaving and life-improving medicines for waiting patients. The Rise of Contract Research Organizations Clinical trials are administered by investigators at hospitals, academic institutions or managed sites. The investigators find and enroll healthy and symptomatic volunteers, each of whom is required to sign an informed consent acknowledging acceptance of the drug and its potential side effects. The testing protocol and informed consent form are monitored by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the sites where the trials are conducted. In essence, the IRB acts as an ethics committee to ensure the safety of patients and volunteers. Once clinical trials are completed, the data are subjected to biostatistical analysis over a 6 to 12 month period.3 If the data yield promising results, the sponsor seeks final approval though a New Drug Application (NDA). The NDA must contain all scientific information the sponsor has gathered and typically fills 100,000 pages or more.4 During the review period, the FDA assesses the safety and effectiveness of th e drug, the manufacturing process, and the risk-benefit calculus.5 By law, the FDA has 180 days to either approve the application or notify the sponsor of the opportunity to request a hearing on the merits of the application.6 In practice, however, the FDA review process takes more than two years; in 1996, for example, the mean approval time for NDAs was 17.8 months, down from over 30 months during the late 1980s.7 Following approval, the FDA may require additional post-market research. Post-market surveillance regulations require the sponsor to collect and periodically report additional safety and efficacy data.8 In addition, the FDA may request further clinical research (Phase IV) to find new uses for the drug, test dosage formulations, compare the drug to competitors treatments, and assess long-term effects.9 Finally, pharmaceutical Conclusions A continuous call for ethical standards by pharmaceutical companies that market in the United States is often put aside because company marketing and business model of making profits matter more.(Pharmaceutical Drug Manufacturer, 2011). Brezis (2008) writes that the US public will lose out in the long run because the pharmaceutical companies are more focused on marketing and profits than about public health. Drug trial deaths still happen and have been described as a trade secret. It is not just one of the big pharmaceutical companies by Johnson Johnson, Merick and others whose own safety documents raise concerns that are buried in stacks of papers while marketing continues (Brezis, 2008). But this is offset by the ability of both the doctor and patient to use the Internet to search out the detailed information and become truly informed. Each of them can then make an informed decision about the benefits and potential drawbacks of using pharmaceuticals.

Challenges of Managing a Non-Profit Organizations Essay -- Business

There are different challenges a non-profit organization face, although I believe that those same challenges are faced on for profit organization either at the same level or very similar. Trust is an issue that both non-profit and for profit organizations will encounter at some point in their business and therefore they would need to be as transparent as possible. Transparency entitles you to provide clear statements of where your money goes, how it is utilized in your organization, and how it is making your organization accomplish their goals. It is not the only thing that is necessary to make the stakeholders, other business, employees or anyone interested in other business to trust in your organization. For a non-profit organization trust is a key element to engage volunteers, donors and other business; without trust chances are that the organization might fail to achieve their mission. Trust is acquire by performing the goals you have set for your mission and not deviatin g from it, at least not too far from achieving the organizations goals either for non-profit or for profit organization. It is also important to have a plan (Taylor-Hamm) in case there is a catastrophic event that might jeopardize your organization, it will help you foresee adverse situations and you will be better prepared in case your first plan fails. Performance challenges are faced in the same manner on both types of organizations non-profit and for profit organization. However they might be measured in a different way due to the different types of mission they have set for themselves and the different outcome they might expect. There are different ways that a manager can measure the work performance of their employees, by what they produce, b... ...that I should mention and that is that most of these corporations that have partnered with Children’s Miracle have been with them for more at least 10 years. What is most important of all the sponsors is that they share a common vision with Children’s Miracle. There is one thing that left me amazed and that was that most of the sponsors do some other type of fundraising for other organizations and that that like RE/MAX says â€Å"the power of many is to make a difference...they have learned that genuine compassion in life directly corresponds to meaningful success in business and that in RE/MAX is called Premier Community Citizenship-performing ordinary acts of extraordinary generosity† (Children’s Miracle). If there has been a problem that might have affected either Children’s Miracle or their sponsors and than that sponsor is no longer part of this tremendous cause.

Look at the significance of chapter five to the novel as a whole. Essay

Look at the significance of chapter five to the novel as a whole. Focus on the relevance and effect of the writer’s language to describe setting, character and what it shows about social and historical influences. Frankenstein is a Victorian novel written in the gothic genre. It is about a man, Victor Frankenstein, giving life to an inanimate being and abandoning it. The monster then seeks revenge and the love of what he believes to be his mother, Frankenstein. The author, Mary Shelley, wrote the book at the age of nineteen but was not able to get the book published at first, as she was a woman. Her husband, Percy Shelley, finally got the book published by an unknown author. It took years for Mary Shelley to officially become known as the author of Frankenstein. At the time the ideas portrayed in Frankenstein were grotesque and many thought it unbelievable for these thoughts to have come from the mind of a woman. Chapter five is the most significant chapter within the book as this is where the monster is created, which is the main beginning to the story. The first four chapters are to set the scene for the story and to show why Victor Frankenstein was so determined to bring life to an inanimate object. The novel addresses many important issues. Mary Shelley writes about how Frankenstein chose the most perfect body parts for his creation but once it is complete he finally sees the monster he has created. ‘No mortal could support the horror of that countenance’, this shows that when Frankenstein finally sees what the monster looks like he becomes afraid. Frankenstein had been blinded by obsession and has no sense of reality, ‘ how can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe’. He has taken such ... ...d. She shows this in the story as the monster was infused with life by electricity. Mary Shelley has a lot of social influence in the novel as she talks about the monster losing his mother, which symbolises the loss of her own mother. She was also shunned by society when she married Percy Shelley, which is like the society shunning the monster. When she talks about Frankenstein abandoning his creation she is symbolising the death of her own children. Also when she talks about the monsters sense of abandonment she is symbolising her life as at a young age as her mother died. She then ran away with Percy Shelley and was shunned by society and her father. Her and Percy had three children, two of whom died, and then Percy drowned leaving her with a two-year-old child and no money. The novel of Frankenstein reflects some of the pain within Mary Shelley’s life.

Eymp 5

2. 1 Explain the ways in which adults can effectively support and extend the speech, language and communication development of children during the early years. Adults can effectively support the speech, language and communication development of the child by the parent talking fluently and clearly so the child can hear the patterns of the language they are learning. The adult can also help the child’s understanding of communication by miming the actions they are saying, this help the child put together the actions and words to understand what he adult is saying.An adult can extend the child’s development by introducing new words, and getting the child to use more intellectual words such as ‘dog’ instead of ‘doggy’. Babies communicate by crying for their needs such as for a nappy change or a bottle. Adults can support the child’s development by talking to babies in short phases and high pitched voices and emphasis on key words, this is cal led parentese.Another way that adults communicate with children is by eye contact, if the child has sigh issues then the babies response would be by listening intently and becoming still, as for a baby that is well sighted would ‘dance’ and smile. Adults can extend the child’s communication development by repeating a word to the baby to get them used to the word, and then showing the child the meaning, by also miming and using body language. 2. Explain the relevant positive effects of adult support for the children and their causes. The positive effects of adult support for the children involve improvements in speech, language and communication skills, social interaction, behaviour and emotional development / self confidence. Praising and encouragement are very important when supporting the child’s speech, language and communication development as they need a lot of praising or rewards when the child is speaking correctly.By the adults giving the child rew ards and praising them supports the child as they know they are doing good, and will continue to excel and improve their development, as well as the child gains self – confidence and self – esteem when they are being praised which allows the child to experience new things and experiences, this would help the child’s communication as they would have the confidence to speak up and ask questions. There are a few methods that are used to praise children, one is verbal, such as praising the child by giving them positive comments about what they are doing and how they do things like ‘Brilliant Tony!You played really well’ As this has two positive comments would make the child feel good, and would then go and play well again and this would improve their social interaction as well as their motional development. Another positive method that the adult could use is symbols, such as smiley faces and well done stickers when the child has done something well such as reading, this would have a positive effect on the child development as they feel confident as they can read well or playing well, which could lead to the child trying to learn and do more things as they feel good about themselves.

Individual Management and Leadership Plan

IntroductionThis brief is aimed at canvass and reporting my make idiosyncratic circumspection and leading project. It c everyplaces sending and owning my somebody leadinghip breeding requirements using a range of enchant symptomatic tools. Alongside with this is the endning of the ontogenesis of these attainments, supporting such(prenominal) devise with let use up of academic and leaning theories. much(prenominal) architectural plans argon primed(p) in an organisational or parturiency condition, in which consume think to organisational strategies be created. Appropriate professional nonice at relevant intervals is incorporated.According to Gallos (2008), attractership is a complex social outgrowth that is grounded on the values, switch it a modeledge, and skills of loss leaders and followers. Adaptive permute is always involved in the invention of leading. Leaders atomic number 18 able to perceive new opportunities and facilitate a multiface ted interactive process that reinforces man-to-man and collective growth. Ladkin (2010) states that understanding leadership as a lived experience requires studying it within the specialised context in which it operates. It is all-important(prenominal) for leaders to relate to followers where they moldiness tend unneurotic within a detail context and change by reversal towards a clear purpose. Kezar (2009) has articulated that leadership is a blank space of whole arrangements sooner than of psyches, which miserlys that dur talent in leadership is a go forth of those associations or kinds amongst areas rather than of whatsoever one dismantle of such system (i.e. the leader). This will be illustrated in the devised plan and placing such plan in an persistence context.Identifying and Owning my Individual leaders victimisation RequirementsThis part of the paper efficaciously identifies my own psyche leadership victimization requirements finished the use of a ran ge of appropriate diagnostic tools such as Bel stack away rill, quad Temperaments record Test, and Myers Briggs Assessment. These various(prenominal) leadership increment requirements constitute of what one knows about himself, what he does non know about himself, and how to find it out. The allude why one must call and own his/her individual leadership spudment requirements is because of the need to examine where his skills, conduct, and attitudes are placed within leadership and collaborative continuum and how he/she patrons in building leadership in the organisation. It is overly important to link record and piece with leadership because reputation and character determine how one leads a throng or organisation (Adair, 2007).According to Kezar (2009), squad up and collaborative leadership models highlight the import of focusing on organisational relationships, processes, and structures that foster collaboration, alternatively of emphasis on nameing and cultiva ting individual leadership skills.The Myers Briggs Assessment tends to hand accurate image takes through the use of administered and scored questionnaire (Quenk, 2009). (Since this test is not available online, it is save cited here as one of the sound judgment tools that assesses personality/behaviour and is not utilised in factual assessment.) The Belbin Test, on the early(a) hand, measures the behavioral parting of an individual through Belbin police squad situation surmise, making this test a behavioural test rather than a personality test. Team role taste perceptions are determine in Belbin reports to enable the individual to know and appreciate the extent of their strengths and the behaviour that must be developed for the benefit of the squad (Riding and Rayner, 2001). From the Team Roles Test, which is part of the Belbin Test that I stimulate taken, my strengths are identify as the expertness to usefully purport engagement with squadmates and force to pla n and coordinate with aggroup upmates. The authorization strengths, on the separate hand, are tolerable interpersonal skills, ability to clear with former(a)wises with relational puff, and ability to lie with various tasks and other aspects of team take a crap. The limitations I exhibit, which require advertise repairments for my team role performance, are insufficiency of team- base problem-solving ability, mountain but few determinations for team projects, and orientation course for individual piss kinda of team work (Psych Tests, 2014). The Belbin Test clearly displays the strengths, potential drop difference strengths (which can turn into real strengths in the future, precondition ones increase maturity), and limitations (which can similarly turn into strengths, abandoned their realisation through the test) for ones undertaking of the team roles.On the other hand, the intravenous feeding Temperaments temperament Test yields for me a 75-per cent sco re for apiece of the Sanguine, Choleric, and sombre aspect, whilst 58 per cent for the Phlegmatic aspect. This would mean that I am a large number-person who likes enculturation and exhibits optimism, en thuslyiasm, com fad, impulsiveness, and self-indulgence. Being choleric, the results show that I am extr everywhereted, task-oriented, and seek ambition and conquest at all cost, with strong leadership skills and passion for work. Being melancholiac, I am respectful, compassionate, and get intuitive traits. My phlegmatic traits, which are underplayed by the three other traits -sanguine, choleric, and melancholic- are hands-off aggressiveness and calmness (How oft Do I, 2014). These traits play an influential stance on how I approach leadership and teamwork. My sanguine, choleric, and melancholic traits can be used in how I pioneer leadership and team roles in my work towards achieving objurgate goals. My association of both these dominating and negligible traits found o n the four temperaments supports my knowledge of my skills based on the Belbin Test.Planning the Development of Mentioned SkillsThis part of the paper includes planning for the development of the skills mentioned above. These skills are the potential skills and limitations identified in the Belbin Test. The quadruple Temperaments personality Test shows ones personality based on temperaments, which greatly assistances in my understanding of my arguing to developing the potential skills and cited limitations.The plan includes the following(a) modify my interpersonal skills from fitted direct to above-average take increase my ability to fleet with others with congener ease up team-based problem-solving ability reach some(prenominal)(prenominal) goals for team projects instead of notwithstanding a few ones increase my gustatory sensation for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals Improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory take to above-average leve lThe importance of increasing my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level is seen in the fact that effective leadership necessitates not simply uninflected and decision-making skills save also interpersonal skills (Grant, Rothstein, and Burke, 2010). Such importance is evidenced by leader-member exchange theory, which focuses on the low-exchange and high-exchange dyadic relationships amid the leader and the followers (Rainey, 2009), and transformational leadership theory, which states that leaders must inspire followers towards more than accomplishment by focusing on the value of the followers and helping them aline these values with those of the organisation (Givens, 2008 Nohria and Khurana). Additionally, Robinson (2011) underlines the importance of interpersonal skills by linking them to goal riding horse, such that the forest of goal aspect is always machine-accessible to the quality of (interpersonal) relationships. Goal setting will rema in empty unless leaders are able to motivate the pile who are required to deliver the goods them.Grant and colleagues (2010) get down the dichotomy between analytical and decision-making skills on one hand, and interpersonal skills on the other. It is important to delineate what constitutes interpersonal skills in raise to place the significance of this skill to the wider leadership context. According to Grant et al. (2010), interpersonal skills development for leaders and managers refer to complex abilities of meshing management and negotiation skills, rater than conscionable simply focusing on engaging heap in quality interactions, speaking and listening effectively, and providing substantiative feedback. As for modify my interpersonal skills, this will be done by attending a skills training seminar center on interpersonal skills for effective leadership (e.g. Grant et al., 2010).Increasing my ability to channelise with others with proportional easeThe importance of communication to leadership is that it is the process used for setting and communicating clear goals (Robinson, 2011). Improving this skill is through constant employ meaning, talking to commonwealth more often. This is however not a difficult stance to undertake since as my score in the quaternity Temperaments constitution Test shows, I guide dominant extrovert behaviour shown by my sanguine and choleric tendencies, which indicate an avocation to communicate with mass (e.g. Ricketts and Ricketts, 2011). Management theorys human relations safari highlights the importance of hoi polloi motivation (Banhegyi, 2007), which is indirectly linked to communicating with them to foster inactive relationships.Improving team-based problem-solving abilityIn my plan to develop my management of various tasks and other aspects of teamwork, an important read/write head to consider is that a leader cannot rely on teamwork to develop automatically without exerting some conscious effort on his/her part. Without the leaders influence, it is mum possible for teamwork to develop to some extent, but this setting is unlikely for the work throng to develop member satisfaction and utmost task performance (Butterfield, 2011).In stray to develop my team-based problem solving ability, my build of action is to read books on the subject. Applying into practice what I have learned conceptually and theoretically about it will yield positive outcomes, leading to desired improvements in my management of various tasks and other aspects of teamwork. Theodore impudentcombs Balance surmisal explains why people tend to be attracted towards host formation, and this is because of the similarity in attitudes in their interest group for a common goal. Such similarity sanctions them to destiny ideas with one another and break down as a team. Lack of similar attitudes leads to firing of balance, resulting in a team not universe formed (Kandula, 2006). An important matter to con sider is that team-based learning is a result of good team-based decision making and problem-solving ability (Michealsen, Sweet, and Parmelee, 2008).Setting some(prenominal) goals for team projects instead of alone a few onesGoal-setting involves identifying the goals to be established, gaining the commitment of people who are tasked to procure them, and communicating these goals to people who have enkindle in their achievement (Robinson, 2011). Having this renewed realisation that setting many goals rather than just a few ones is more preferable to effective leadership and goal attainment, the plan is cogitate on taking a conscious effort on enumerating several goals every time goal-setting is organism undertaken, and suggesting to the group a more increased denomination of goals each time the group tends to identify sole(prenominal) a few ones. The point is consciously putting into practice this knowledge. The relevancy of setting several goals instead of only a few ones i s apparent a team that identifies more goals is able to achieve more goals, compared to a team that identifies only a few goals, which becomes delimited to achieving only these few goals. The Goal Setting Theory explains the importance of goals in motivating people to work, and consequently, in making them behave with a purpose (Lussier, 2012). This would mean that not only is goal-setting beneficial for the organisation but for the people working on these goals as well.Increasing my mouthful for team work over individual work in accomplishing goalsSince leadership is about leading people, individual work is not the paramount aspect of goal achievement, but teamwork. In a team, people work together towards achieving desired goals, have full and sufficient understanding in the importance of these goals, how these goals may be achieved successfully, and what each one and the whole team may contribute to their successful achievement. If the leader and veritable(a) the team members a re more focused on working by the piece rather than as a team, the essence of teamwork is lost. (Ricketts and Ricketts (2011) indicate that working as a team is more effective than working individually thus, the motivation to utilise teamwork and the various literary productions on the importance of this concept (e.g. Dyer, Dyer, and Dyer, 2007 Morgeson, Reider, and Campion, 2005 Valle and Witt, 2001). Since the results of my Four Temperaments Personality Test indicate that I have an extraverted temperament, this temperament would help in my ability to build team work. The result of my Four Temperaments Personality Test on the phlegmatic aspect, specifically self-indulgence, is a good point to consider in my current preference for individual work over team work. On the other hand, since my dominant sanguine and choleric propensities show that I am inclined to being extraverted, this preference is likely to be changed with ease, given such initial knowledge for its compulsory c hange. Heneman and Greenberger (2002) state that the facilitation of team work is through the efforts of some extraverted individuals.Placing the Plan in an Organisational or Industry Context/ systemHaving accomplished the plan, the next step would be to place this in an organisational or persistence context, creating clear links to organisational strategies. First of all, leadership is an important concept in the success of an organisation, which is why organisations always gear for effective leadership or management in the workplace. Leadership is different from seniority or ones position in the hierarchy of his or her organisation. It is an influential relationship that takes place between a leader and his/her followers as they pursue sealed changes or objectives that mirror shared meanings, purposes, and strategies (Mills, Mills, Forshaw, et al., 2007).The potential skills and limitations, on which the plan has been established, will at last add up to my series of strengths i dentified by the Belbin Test. After implementing the plan, the expected outcomes for me would be above-average interpersonal skills, ability to communicate with others with relative ease, modify team-based problem solving ability, setting many goals for team projects, and increased preference for team work over individual work. These skills are useful in an organisational context specifically in managing people where the leader/manager needs to unify his/her team towards successful goal attainment. By being able to work in a team and foster good communication skills, problem solving ability, and other skills thus cited as my strengths, I and my team would together work on the necessary aspects of several tasks, which we are responsible to accomplish.The retail fabrication is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. This industry is characterised by several challenges in attaining competitive advantage because of the armorial bearing of new entrants, substitute p roducts, bargaining authority of customers and suppliers, and rivalry between existing competitors (Stonehouse, Campbell, Hamill, et al., 2004). These challenges take care as a factor for my pursuit for effective leadership and team roles, on which the plan is established. My ability to effectively resolve conflict with teammates and to plan and coordinate with them plays a significant role in fall working relationships within the team. This importance is further seen in the claim that conflict and lack of team coordination serve as a barrier to attaining desired goals (e.g. Lencion, 2012 Rout and Omiko, 2007). Moreover, my change interpersonal skills will enable me to communicate my ideas more effectively across people and departments. It has been noted that interpersonal skills refer to analytical and decision-making skills (Grant et al, 2010), which means that my possession of these skills will aid my team and the organisation in addressing the competition that retail compan ies commonly experience. These together with my alter ability to communicate with others with relative ease, improved team-based problem-solving ability, setting many goals, and increased preference for team work over individual work will help the lodge develop strategies for competitive advantage.Incorporating Appropriate original Reflection at Relevant IntervalsThis question has enabled me to identify my own strengths, limitations, and potential skills in leadership and team roles. Apparently, I had no prior ideas of these skills and limitations on a arrogant basis, but the Belbin Test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test enabled me to find out roughly what these skills are. I authorizedly have an initial knowledge of myself, but these tests confirmed them and crimson added some more which I was not very aware of, such as my satisfactory level of my interpersonal skills, a need to communicate with others with relative ease, a need to improve my team-based problem- solving ability, and my inclination to set only a few goals instead of many goals for team projects. Some of the skills that I am already aware of are effective conflict resolution and ability to plan and coordinate with teammates.Moreover, the Four Temperaments Personality Test made me understand the ease that the potential skills and limitations may be improved. This is because of my dominant combination of sanguine, choleric, and melancholic temperaments, which have positive traits for leadership abilities (e.g. extraversion, being a people-person, optimism, and enthusiasm, being task-oriented, being competition-focused, and being success-specific and strong leadership skills).A further realisation that I have derived from this exercise is the importance of astute oneself strengths, skills, abilities, potentials, and limitations since such knowledge serves as a prelude to being able to manage teams and the organisation as a whole. By being able to systematically identify my st rengths, I have been personally advised of my abilities. By being able to also systematically identify my potentials and limitations, I have found out the areas that need improvement. These limitations and potentials allow me to better focus on what I must take an effort to improve on, whilst seeing them as a way for constructive criticism.In addition, no effective leader can function without self-realising his own strengths, skills, and limitations since only when he/she has fully take in them can they be able to function more effectively. ConclusionThis paper has provided an probe of ones own individual management and leadership plan, using such diagnostic tools as the Belbin test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test. These tools helped identify and own my individual leadership development requirements. Through the Belbin Test, certain strengths were thus identified along with the potential skills and limitations. The Four Temperaments Personality Test also identified the dominant temperaments that helped in the assessment of ones leadership propensities and abilities.The plan for development of the skills is centered on improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level increasing my ability to communicate with others with relative ease improving team-based problem-solving ability setting several goals for team projects instead of only a few ones and increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals.The retail industry is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. A professional manifestation is conducted, focused on how the entire work is done.ReferencesAdair, J. (2007) Develop Your Leadership Skills. London Kogan Page.Banhegyi, s. (2007) unclouded Perspectives Management. Cape Town Pearson Education southwest Africa (Pty) Ltd.Butterfield, J. (2011) Illustrated Course Guides Teamwork and Team Building. Mason, OH Course engine room Cengage acquire.Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W, G., and Dyer, J. H. (2007) Team Building Proven Strategies for Improving Team cognitive process. NJ conjuration Wiley & Sons, Inc.Gallos, J. (2008) argument Leadership A Jossey-Bass Reader. NJ tush Wiley & Sons, Inc.Givens, R. J. (2008) Transformational Leadership The Impact on organisational and Personal Outcomes. Emerging Leadership Journeys, 1 (1), 4-24.Grant, M., Rothstein, G., and Burke, R. (2010) Self-Management and Leadership Development. Glos, UK Edward Elgar publication Limited.Heneman, R. L. and Greenberger, D. B. (2002) Human imagination Management in Virtual Organizations. US Information Age Publishing Inc.How Much Do I (2014) What Is My Personality TypeFour Temperaments Personality Test. Retrieved on May 10, 2014 from http//www.howmuchdoi.com/personality/What-is-my-personality-type-Four-Temperaments-Personality-Test-70.htmlKandula, S. R. (2006) Performance Management Strategies, Interventions, Drivers. New Delhi Prentice house of India Private Limited.Kezar, A . J. (2009) Rethinking Leadership in a Complex, Multicultural, and spherical Environment. Sterling Virginia Stylus Publishing. LLC.Larkin, D. (2010) Rethinking Leadership New Look at venerable Leadership Questions. Glos, UK Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.Lencion, P. (2012) The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Intact Teams Participant Workbook. San Francisco, CA Pfeiffer.Lussier, R. N. (2012) Management Fundamentals Concepts, Applications, Skill Development. Mason, OH South-Western Cengage Learning.Michealsen, L. K., Sweet, M., and Parmelee, D. X. (2008) Team-Based Learning Small Group Learnings Next Big Step. New York Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Mills, J. C., Mills, J. B., Forshaw, C., and Bratton, J. (2007) organizational Behaviour in a Global Context. Plymouth, UK NBN International.Morgeson, F. P., Reider, M. H., and Campion, M. A. (2005) Selecting Individuals in Team Settings The Importance of friendly Skills, Personality Characteristics, and Teamwork Knowledge. Personnel Psychology, 58 (3), 583-611.Nohria, N. and Khurana, R. (2010) vade mecum of Leadership Theory and Practice An HBS centenary Colloquium. US Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.Psych Tests (2014) Team Roles Test. Retrieved on May 10, 2014 from http//testyourself.psychtests.com/bin/transferQuenk, N. L. (2009) Essentials of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment. NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Rainey, H. G. (2009) Understanding and Managing Public Organizations. NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Ricketts, C. and Ricketts, J. (2011) Leadership Personal Development and Career Success. Mason, OH DELMAR Cengage Learning.Riding, R. J. and Rayner, S. (2001) Self Perception. Westport Ablex Publishing.Robinson, V. (2011) Student-Centered Leadership. NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Rout, E. and Omiko, N. (2007) Corporate Conflict Management Concepts and Skills. New Delhi PHI Learning Private Limited.Stonehouse, G., Campbell, D., Hamill, J., and Purdie, T. (2004) Global and transnational Business Strategy and Manag ement. Second Edition. NJ John Wiley & Sons.Valle, M. and Witt, L. A. (2001) The Moderating Effect of Teamwork Perceptions on the Organizational Politics-Job Satisfaction Relationship. The Journal of fond Psychology, 141 (3), 379-388.