This Book is Not a Tree Essay Example for Free

This Book is Not a Tree Essay The introduction of this book talks about how the things in our home are harmful to the environment. The author gives examples on these things and these things range from a rubber shoes to a chair up to a computer. The author points out that there is no such thing as recycling, but we ‘downcycle’ these things. We use harmful chemicals to ‘recycle’ things. However, the author mentions that consumers should not be guilty of buying these things. The manufacturers should bear the burden of making their products environment friendly. They should be the one to change their processes to make their products less harmful. The author also comments that these manufacturers should not focus on mere changing the raw materials that they use but to focus on creating something good in their industries. A Question of Design Here, the negative side of the Industrial Revolution is presented by the author. There are many chemicals that the industrials have been using in manufacturing goods. They are always promising that they are looking for a more environment friendly substances but they are not doing anything about it. As a result, many people are getting sick because of these industrials. Pollution has become rampant, too. That is why these industrials should be banned in using harmful chemicals. Why Being Less Bad is No Good This article talks about how the industrial companies are doing anything to be environment friendly. They are trying to promote recycling of waste materials or to ‘downplay’ the use of chemicals in their production. However, these methods do not prove to be successful. In recycling materials, there are still chemicals that are used to transform the waste products. This proves that there is no such thing as efficiency in the industrial companies. They will just continue to use harmful chemicals in recycling wastes and other resources. That is ‘why being less bad is no good’. It is not possible that the industrial companies are using less raw materials in their production and that they can still maximize their profits. What they could do is to think of other ways in which their waste products have other uses. Eco-Effectiveness This part talks about how the industrials should make â€Å"healthy goods and healthy byproducts. † The author gives an example of how a simple building design could enrich the environment. Natural lighting, good views, and fresh air are just some of the things that the designer should put into consideration when designing buildings. This will help in getting the building to be environment friendly because the use of electricity will be minimized and the employees will be inspired with the good views. The industrial companies should be like this, too. They should put into consideration the renewable resources that they could use in replacement of the nonrenewable resources that they are using.

Carrefour A French Multinational Retailer Marketing Essay

Carrefour A French Multinational Retailer Marketing Essay Introduction Carrefour, a French multinational retailer, was establised by the Fournier and Defforey families as a supermarket in 1959. In 1963, new concept hypermarket, was discovered and invested. Since then, Carrefour owned up to 5,200 stores worldwide, reaching out to 26 countires and region (refer to appendix A). In particular, for Asia, Carrefour have invested in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, India as well as Singapore with approximately 361 hypermarkets, 17 supermarkets and 2 other formats of stores (refer to appendix B). Opening its first store in 1997, Carrefour was the first to introduce hypermarket concept in Singapore, where everything can be purchased under one roof (aisaone business 2012; Krishnan 2012). Oxford dictionaries (online) defines hypermarket as a very large self-service store with a wide range of goods and a large carpark typically situated outside a town. Carrefour had two stores in Singapore; Suntec City and Plaza Singapura. Subsequently, in 2000, Giant, a major hypermarket retailer, joined the market, competing with Carrefour. As a result, Carrefour was not progressing well. Reported by numerous news (refer to appendix C), in a press release on 28 August 2011, Carrefour announced the decision to close its two stores in Singapore by the end of 2012. This decision was reached because Carrefour realized that there is no expansion and growth prospect in Singapore that brings them to a leadership position in the long term. Marketing Problem Segmentation/ Customer Research For 15 years, Carrefour has been providing consumers with one-stop service but it did not turn out as expected. Concluded by Krishnan (2012), Carrefour came in with the mind-set that consumers in Singapore would avoid frequent shopping and hence, would buy as much as possible within a trip. Unfortunately, this prediction was not accurate as this behaviour was not seen popular in Singapore. In addition, both Carrefours outlet was located in central hub which in customer perspective brings significant inconvenience such as high travelling cost and traffic congestion. Moreover, Carrefour does not offer unique products that appeal to consumers, enticing them to choose Carrefour over other retailers and local grocery shops (Krishnan 2012). As a result, Carrefour was observed to be targeting at the wrong country and customer segment, facing huge hurdle in attracting consumers with their one-stop shopping proposition, location and products offered. Sales and Distribution Research Being a hypermarket that offers a wide range of food items and non-food items such as appliances and clothing, Carrefour is in a direct competition position with grocery retailer, supermarket such as NTUC FairPrice (Ng 2012) as well as appliances chains such as Best Denki (Krishnan, 2012), which might eventually affect their sales. On top of these competitors, Giant, a hypermarket open by Dairy Farm Group, is their major competitor. Reported by Krishnan (2012), Giant offers consumer lower price, compensating and outweighing travelling cost. Giant is also able to control consumers behaviour as products sold seems to be more appealing to broader segment of market. Hence, with these competitors at hand, Carrefour did not operate as well as expected. Looking at Carrefours 2011 sales report, illustrated in the pie chart below, the highest contributor of 43.2% is France. Aisa, has the lowest contribution of merely 9% which is approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬73 Million (with the closure of Malaysia and Thailand stores). Source: http://www.carrefour.com/cdc/finance/key-figures/our-key-figures-/key-figures-folder/breakdown-sales.html In addition, reported by TODAY news (2012), in 2009, Aisa has accounted for 7.9% of Carrefours total sales of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬85.9 billion, with Singapore contributing only à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬85 Million (TODAY/CNA 2012). Comparing it with 2011 annual report, sales revenue in Singapore have decreased. Therefore, the failed in Carrefour may be due to its strong competition in Singapore with its direct and indirect competititors. Objectives The main purpose of this research proposal is to investigate the perception of consuerms towards Carrefour against their competitors in Singapore. The objectives of the research proposal are as follows: To evaluate Carrefours performance in comparision to its competitors To examine factors influencing consumers behaviour in patronizing its preferred hypermarket/supermarket retailer To ascertain what kind (demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural) of consumer frequent Carrefour To investigate the degree of brand loyalty consumer have towards Carrefour Research Design Research Question With the aim of achieving the objectives set, research questions have to be formulated. The following are some example pertaining to the research proposal. Which of the supermarket respondent most frequent? In selecting a supermarket, what are the factors that respondent consider most? Rate the level of awareness respondent have towards Carrefour (1 being the most and 7 being the least) How frequent do respondent shop at any of Carrefours outlet? What are the prominent difference between Carrefour and other supermarket? Research Method Aliaga and Gunderson (2000) quoted from Muijs (2011, p.1) defines quantitative research as a method that explains the phenomena of collecting numerical data that are analysed using some mathematically based methods, in particular statistics. The researcher will thus be adopting a quantitative approach, employing primary research personal survey method, focusing on the phenomenon of consumers decision for patronizing a supermarket; their intentions, behaviour and attitude (A study on factors considered by consumers for patronizing a retail outlet 2010) and gather information on consumer awareness towards Carrefour compared to its competitiors. Personal Survey Malhotra and Birks (2007, p.265) and Malhotra (2010, p.211) defines survey as a method that gathers information based upon questioning respondents a variety of questions regarding their behaviour, intentions, attitudes, awareness, motivations and demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Most researcher noticed that survey is simple to administer and hence is a popular quantitative measure amongst all. Although it is argued that survey can be uncontrollable as respondents may be unable or unwilling to provide accurate responds (especially to motives or sensitive questions), it is recognised that due to the limited alternatives available, data collected will be consistent across and variability of results will be reduced (Malhotra 2010; Malhotra and Birks 2007; insights from decision point 2012). Rea and Parker (2012) further argues that commercial enterprises often use surveys to formulate market strategies for the potential widespread use, performance of new and existing products as well as finding out their market value. These aligns to the researchers aim and objective, to gather information on factors that affects consumer patronage behaviour as well as perception of consumer towards Carrefour. Furthermore, due to the surveys fixed-response alternative questions nature and consistent data gathered, coding, analysing and interpreting of survey results are relatively simplier for researchers compared to observation or experiment method. Appendix D shows a diverse survey techniques, and compares them against numerous factors, shown on appendix E. Personal interviwing street survey, occurs when respondents are intercepted while shopping or walking on the street (Malhotra and Birks 2007). Personal survey technique is a method to collect relevant data from target group and evaluation becomes easier (A study on factors considered by consumers for patronizing a retail outlet 2010), generalising the entire target population from a small amount of data gathered (Rea Parker 2012). Additionally, personal survey allows the researcher control the environment, to source for potential surveyee personally, collecting data from the right target segment (Gibran 2010; Rea Parker 2012). Moreover, response rate in persoanl survey can be significantly high as compared to other methods such as mail survey and speed of collecting data is also moderately high. Due to the characteristics of personal survey in appendix E, personal survey will be conducted by the researcher on consumers who patronize any supermarket or hypermarket in Singpaore to collect valuable data on their patronizing behaviour and their level of awareness towards Carrefour against their competitors. Formulate a plan Gibran (2010) suggested that, survey techniques includes selecting respondents randomly from the studied population in an unbiased mannar and having a standardized questionnaire for all respondents. However, Rea and Parker (2012) claims that physical characteristics of surveyee such as attire, cleanliness, manners etcetera is important when selecting respondent. On top of that, sample survey, where data will only be collected from a fraction of the studied population (Statistics Canada 2003, p.2; Rea Parker 2012), will be exploited by the researcher. It is noted that sample survey provides a economical and quicker way of obtaining sufficient information in the field. Hence, in this research, studied population refers to a representative number of consumers, particularly middle-aged women, who patronize any supermarket in any given time. As mentioned, there are two different issues. To attain the objectives, the questionnaire will be targetting at these two issues seperately where specific questions will be asked sequentially. First part of the questionnaire will focus on the factors affecting consumer partonage behaviour while the second part on consumers awareness towards Carrefour. Structured questionnaire, the degree of having a standardisation on data collection (Malhotra and Birks 2007), will be executed by the researcher in a formal and prearranged order,thus having a direct collection process. Although unstructured questions allows respondent to best express their attitudes and opinions towards the topic discussed (Malhotra 2010, p. 343), it will not be address as this is a quantitative research. Hence, the questionnaire will only contain structured questions. Most questions in the questionnaire will be in a likert scale (nominal scale) and respondents will be required to rate them accordingly base on their attitudes and behaviour. Rea and Parker (2012) recommends that sample size must be selected in an appropriate microcosm of the working population. They further concludes that larger samples yield higher degree of accurancy than smaller samples and hence researcher have to weigh the degree of accurancy with time and cost available. Analyze Data Before collating the results through computer-assisted programme, coding will be employed to facilitate capturing of data. This means that researcher will be allocating numerical values to every possible result of each question, giving it meaning (Malhotra 2010; Malhotra Birks 2007). Structured questions will be coded before the fieldwork is performed, while for unstructured questions, responses will be coded after the fieldwork (Statistics Canada 2003; Malhotra 2010, p.455). After which, coded values will be stored into the computer to analyse the questionnaires. As explained by Statistics Canada (2003, p.3), computer-assisted programme enables researcher to directly enter questionnaires into the computer and data will be captured and transform into readable format. Another benefit to computer-assisted programme is that inconsistent and invalid data will be identified instantly for researcher, providing a user-friendly and convenient form of identifying invalid data. The computer-assisted programme used will be SPSS, where data will be analysed into tabular or graphical form (Rea Parker 2012), making comparisons and interpret results for statistical analysis that will be reflected in the research proposal. As this research is about consumers behaviour towards patronizing, the research requires multivariate statistical technique where there are two or more measurements of each element and the variables are analysed simultaneously (Malhotra 2010, p.466). As mentioned, this research involves understanding the patronage behaviour. Hence, responses of the factors that affect respondents behaviour are dependent on each other. For example, respondent patronage behaviour will depend on the location, price, products offered etc. As such, referring to appendix F, a classification of multivariate techniques, the researcher is able to evaluate results with several methods such as cross-tabulation. Conclusion In summary, with the intention of discover the factors to consumer behaviour as well as establishing Carrefours market position in Singapore, the researcher have decided to employ personal survey method. Survey results will be analysed through coding followed by SPSS thereafter by the researcher to interpret these surveys into readable tables and graphs. Limitation Survey may seem to be the best suitable method for this research but it is time-consuming. As mentioned, this research is base on sample survey, which implies that it will not be 100% accurate as not everyone in the studied population is surveyed. Expected contribution With the mentioned objectives, and the methods used to meet these objectives, the researcher believes that this research will be able to contribute to Carrefour in analysing the reasons to their failure in Singapore, thus making improvements in other countries. This research can also set Carrefours management to react fast to changes in other international market, expending their market and prospects.

Counseling And School Counselor Roles

Counseling And School Counselor Roles This literature review is divided into six subjects which started with the historical overview of counseling and school counselor roles, then followed by the American School Counselor Association National Model, ASCA National Model and Education Trust, self-efficacy, self-efficacy theory, and lastly research on school counseling and school counselor self-efficacy Historical Overview of Counseling and School Counselor Roles Within the educational framework, counseling and guidance are relative novel concepts, having developed in early 1900s with vocational guidance as its origins (Lambie Williamson, 2004). Instituted in 1915, the Department of Vocational Guidance was considered an education entity in the public schools of Boston. In connection, certification of school counselors also began in this same year (Smith, 1951). Pioneering efforts in the field of school vocational counseling were done by Frank Parsons (Nugent, 1994; OBrien, 2001). Parsons motivated career counselors to work towards social justice and social change prompting the youth to explore careers (OBrien, 2001). This same time period also coincided with Parsons work on vocational counseling which Adolf Mayer coined as mental hygiene which became the thrust of school guidance counseling. Smith (1951) described mental hygiene as the process school counselors were trained to better understand and work with individuals in coping with day to day stressors. Following the death of Parsons comes the emergence of vocational guidance; however, guidance in schools disappeared by the early 1930s (Nugent, 1994). By the later part of the 1930s, EG Williamson developed trait-factor theory of vocational and educational guidance along with the reappearance of guidance and counseling, and the 1940s saw the publication of the research of Carl Rogers (Gysbers Henderson, 1997; Gysbers Henderson, 2001; Lambie, 2004; Nugent, 1994). Since the time that school guidance and counseling emerged professionally during the 1940s, there were already efforts to have a clear definition and develop the standards set for school counselors (Gysbers Henderson, 1997; Nugent, 1994). The National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which took effect in 1958, rapidly affected school guidance and counseling through training and funding of individuals who are desirous in becoming school counselors. The advancement of school counseling as profession only began in the 1960s with the emergence of developmental guidance, the terminology utilized in describing how programs in school guidance and counseling needed to be developed (Gysbers, 2004). Ten years after the movement towards developmental guidance comes the movement for accountability (Gysbers Henderson, 1997; Lambie Williamson, 2004). During the 1980s, school guidance have become more integrated into schools slowly becoming a unique field of specialization then a foundation of education from the point of view of guidance-as-education and classroom teachers as teacher counselors (Gysbers Henderson, 1994, p. 11-12). As stated by Myrick (1997), there were numerous instances that the terms guidance and counseling are constantly interchanged in describing the roles and functions of a professional school counselor adding confusion between their roles and functions. Myrick (1997) clarified that guidance are program-based initiatives while counseling is founded on counselor-counselee relationship and provides a supportive net against anxieties and concerns. In the history of education, the school counselors role has evolved with each passing decade. During the first few decades of the 20th century, the focus of school counselors is the provision of academic placement, assessment and vocational guidance to students. Towards the middle, school counselors are responsible for providing social and personal counseling services at the same time support holistic student development. The recent years has seen the integration of student academic program coordination, teacher-parent consultation and special education services (Gysbers Henderson, 2002) into the responsibilities of a school counselor. Over the years, these changes in a school counselors role have resulted in ambiguity and confusion in practice. Development of this role evolution started with service-oriented traditional school counselors who assist students with their class schedules, employment preparation and college admission guidance to more contemporary data-driven role. In di scharging their contemporary role, school counselors made use of professional national standards so that student outcome competencies would be obtained, work in collaboration with teachers in the preparation of lesson plans and present and model teaching strategies that promote student success. Instead of school counselors taking control over how they define their roles, it is the local district level school administrators. As a matter of fact, Sears and Coy (1991) stated, School counselors appear to be reluctant or unable to convince principals that they should perform the duties for which they have been trained (p. 3). Roles of school counselors defined by school administrators include non-guidance-related activities like clerical staff members, detention room supervisors, testing coordinators, and master schedule builders. Moreover, school counselors likewise defined the responsibility of school counselors as the personnel providing students individual counseling services on both college and academic placement and a family liaison. While school counselors do not hold to these perspectives, conflict results in defining school counselor roles. Lambie and Williamson (2004) explained that role ambiguity likely occurs when the individual does not have sufficient information about his or her role at work, lacks clarify about his or her work objectives, and lacks understanding on how their work peers expect of them with their job responsibilities. The study of Burnham and Jackson (2000) compared the actual and prescribed responsibilities of school counselors. Very often, school counselors spend most of their time in bus duties, keeping records, attendance records, testing coordination, and multiple clerical tasks. School counselors are yet to come up with a concrete definition of what their roles are and how they will apply these roles to their jobs. The constant question has always been What do school counselors do?. To remove role ambiguity, it is necessary for school counselors to be provided with process data that describe practice and effectiveness. Gysbers and Henderson (1997) said, the purpose of evaluation is to provide data to make decisions about the structure and impact of the program as well as the professional personnel involved (p. 263). Research provides support for the implementation of counseling interventions in curriculum, counseling, coordination and consultation (Scarborough, 2005). Through available counseling task information, student success is promoted by school counselors in achieving the competencies described in the National Model for School Counseling Programs of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2003). The American School Counselor Association (2002) supports the roles and standards of school counselor practice and describes that school counselors are involved in systematic, development, and preventive methods of counseling. As insiders in the educational system, school counselors are advocates of families, students and teachers in enhancing the psychosocial, academic, and employment-related well being. The ever-changing formation of professional school counselors is described in 2004 by the American School Counselor Association in the following literature: Professional school counselors are certified/licensed professionals with a masters degree or higher in school counseling or the substantial equivalent. Professional school counselors deliver a comprehensive school counseling program encouraging all studentsacademic, career and personal/social development and help all students in maximizing student achievement (p. 23). The American School Counselor Association National Model The American School Counselors Association in 2005 enumerated the standards for appropriateness in school counselor activities. Generally speaking, ASCA has greatly specified how counselors should be utilizing their time in school based on Gysbers and Hendersons model of distribution of school counselor time (ASCA, 2003; Gysbers Henderson, 2006). Enumerated are activities considered to be appropriate as follows: planning of individual academic program, interpretation of scores obtained from achievement, aptitude, and cognitive tests, counseling students who are always absent, tardy or having discipline problems, counseling on appropriate school attire, collaborating with teachers in the presentation of guidance curriculum lessons, analysis of grade-point average in association with student achievement, interpretation of student records, provision of suggestions and recommendations to teachers on how to better manage study halls, ascertaining the maintenance of student records in adh erence to both state and federal regulations, working closely with students in providing counseling services for both small and large groups, and supporting students in their individual education plan meetings and student performance. On the other hand, the following activities are inappropriate according to ASCA: scheduling and registration of new students, coordination or administration of achievement, aptitude, and cognitive tests, signing of excuse slips for absent or tardy students, implementation of disciplinary measures, sending home students who violated school dress code, holding classes when the teacher is absent, computation of grade-point averages, maintenance of student records, supervision of study halls, clerical record keeping, assistance in the duties of the principal, working with one student at a time in a clinical, therapeutic setting, preparing individual student education plans, teams for student study, and school review boards, and entry of data. As earlier mentioned in the historical background, the role of school counselor is somewhat blurred because of the lack of clarity of what is proper and expected of the position (Huffman et al. (1993). Myrick (2005) asserted, history shows that unless the role of the school counselor is clearly established, the whims of the times can threaten the very existence of counselor positions (p. 6). Hatch (2002) pointed out that despite the listing of inappropriate activities by the ASCA, school counselors feel a great amount of frustration on their actual function and role. One respondent in the study mentioned that her daily school tasks as school counselor are those that are not related to counseling that she finds it difficult to change her role since she has become an expert in these tasks and showed concern over who would likely take over her position after her tenure. Dahir and Stone (2007) emphasized that it is the ASCA National Model that contemporized the expectations of 21st century centers of education with reference to how they will be founded, managed and how services will be delivered to their stakeholders along with accountability. The model provided the mechanism wherein school counselors and their teams can help in designing, coordinating, implementing, managing and evaluating their programs geared towards academic achievement. When the four components of the program starting with foundation, management, delivery system and accountability are integrated with skills in data usage, teaming, collaboration, leadership and advocacy along with the art and science of counseling, the school program of the 21st century is created. The ASCA National Model (2005) provided for a counseling program that is comprehensive in scope, preventive in design, and developmental in nature (p. 13). By comprehensive, ASCA meant that the counseling in school should be able to tackle healthy social/personal, career, and academic development of students from grades pre-K to 12. Preventive measures aim at proactively fostering adaptive skills and disseminating vital information through a curriculum in classroom guidance. Lastly, counseling in school should also be developmental as it is sensitive to the needs unique the student population being served a delivers programming that meets competencies and content standards specific to the age group of students. These competencies and content standards are summarized in the ASCA National Standards. These national standards provide the framework in the design of school counseling programs. Likewise the ASCA model listed down standards in the content of classroom discussion specific to age presenting what students ought to know and do after completion of the school counseling program and provide learning objectives designed to help students reach their highest potential. There are nine ASCA National Standards subdivided to three domains namely: academic, career, and personal/social development. Under academic are the standards that students should be able to: (1) acquire attitudes, knowledge and skills that impact effective school learning and in his or her lifetime, (2) complete school equipped with the necessary academic preparation in choosing from a variety of post-secondary school options which covers college, (3) understand the association between the workplace and home and community life. For career development, ASCA listed another set of standards: (1) acquire skills of investigating the workplace and relate these skills to the self so that informed decisions on career would be derived; (2) utilize the strategies in achieving career goals in the future successfully and satisfactorily; and (3) correlate personal characteristics and qualities, training, education, and the workplace. In the domain, personal/social development, the standards are the following: (1) acquire the knowledge base, attitudes, as well as interpersonal skills in respecting and understanding the self and others; (2) decide, set personal goals, and act upon those goals; and (3) understand survival and safety skills. A frequent way school counselors address the national standards defined by ASCA and emulate the national model in their schools is the adoption of guidance programs that are comprehensive and developmental in nature (Galassi Akos, 2007). Though these counseling programs are described to be efficacious by several authors like Lapan, Gysbers, and Petroski (2001), Lapan, Gysbers, and Sun (1997) and Sink and Stroh (2003), there is no outline constituting these programs. The ASCA National Model and National Standards set the direction in program structuring but the specific details and components of the program are left to the discretion of the school counselors. The ASCA National Model and the Education Trust The Education Trust, in coordination with the DeWitt Wallace Readers Digest Fund, provided support for a group of counselor educators and school counselors to reorganize school counseling training and practice. One aim of the DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Fund is the promotion of significant achievements on educational quality and career development among the youth. In addition, the funding is aimed at increasing access of disadvantaged communities to improved educational and social services (DeVoss Minnie, 2006). Areas of interest cover improvement of services delivered to individuals in the elementary and secondary levels as well as community-based organizations through the collaborative efforts of the school and the community. The contemporary role of this initiative defined school counseling as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a profession that focuses onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦reducing the effect of environmental and institutional barriers that impede student academic success. The profession fosters cond itions that ensure educational equity, access, and academic success for all students k-12 (Education Trust, http://www.edtrust.org). The Trust also solicits proposals that develop new training models in training school counselors from refurbishing the criteria in selecting candidates eligible for counselor education programs to the revision of the content in the curriculum, professional development, and field experience. It is crucial that education departments in states make sure that training programs are abreast with present changes and demands in society (ASCA, 2003; Education Trust 1999). The changes are now referred to as New Vision Counselor (DeVoss Minnie, 2006; Education Trust). In 2003, the Education Trust began with the movement transforming school counselors role from merely providing services to one that is more oriented towards student achievement and learning. During the same year, Reese House, the director of the National Center for Transforming School Counseling explained, This new Center will arm practicing school counselors with the data and knowledge to lead schools efforts to raise achievement of all students and close the gap between groups once and for all (Paragraph 6). When the teachers were surveyed by Clark and Amatea (2004), they had definite ideas regarding the services they wanted their school counselors to discharge. It was likewise noted that the school counselor is a valuable and significant player and resource not only to the student body but to the faculty force as well by giving support in their instructional endeavors. The teachers believed that the role of the counselor is the provision of direct services to students through the conduct of classroom guidance and individual student counseling. When their recommendations were asked, the students and teachers said they need additional school counselors so that the programs of the school counselors would be better communicated to the student body. Dahir (2004) mentioned that school counselors are continuously working toward adequately defining their roles and establishing program standards in the delivery of counseling services. In1990, Ginter and Scalise found that teachers classified the roles of elementary school counselors into two dimensions: first is the helper role and the second is the consultant role. In the former, the school counselor provides counseling for individual students, guidance for classroom and resolving concerns affecting students while the latter requires his or her professional expertise and guidance in helping teachers implement strategies that impact curriculum planning, classroom assessment, and student behavior. According to Stone and Clark (2001) and Ponec and Brock (2000), principals regarded school counselors as integral to the school system as they are collaborators and values formation advocates resulting in a more holistic academic school program. Beale (2003) expressed the need for school counselors as they aid principals in fulfilling their primary responsibility of helping their students achieve their full potential. So that this is achieved, counselors must directly serve the interest of students by working with small groups in counseling and in-service coordination with teachers at the same time, collaborating with the school and the community (Beale, 2003; Beman, 2000). Both principals and counselors shared the belief that if there is mutual respect and understanding towards the role of the counselor, the school counselor would be most effective. However, school counselors must continuously educate principals and teachers regarding their role as well as tasks which are appropriate and inappropriate for them (Beale, 2003; Perusse, Goodnough, Donegan, Jones, 2004; Ponec Brock, 2000). Numerous times has the school principals job involve the selection of a guidance counselor and it has also been the principals assignment to define and delineate the level in which the school counselor dictates the type of counseling program that will be implemented (Beale, 1995; Dahir, 2000). Though principals did not include specific administrative tasks in the manner with which they perceive the school counselors role, they have for numerous occasions regarded there is an overlap between the duties of a principal and a school counselor. These included coordination of the master schedule, teaching the class where a teacher was absent and acting as assistant to the principal in some instances (Fullwood, 2004). Myers (2003) described the presence of role confusion among school counselors since its foundation and has been compounded many times by school principals who misunderstood the role and function inherent of a school counselor. As stated by Stone and Clark (2001), school counselors occupy a distinct position of exerting their unique leadership style and take part in the leadership team that work in collaboration with the principal in driving a collective vision of student achievement and success. School counselors and principals can act as powerful allies in school r eform focusing on helping students access and be successful in more rigorous academic standards (Stone Clark, 2001, p. 46). All are in agreement with the observation that how the school counselor perceived his or her role in school is not in sync with his or her actual role; therefore much needed work has to be done for the school counselor to function in consonance with the professions guidelines (Myers, 2003). Feller et al (1992) expressed that although ambiguity is evident in the school counselors role, they stated: While it is unwise to assume that there is one right role for school counselors, it is clear that a stronger relationship between the tasks of the school counselor and the educational priorities of the nation will support the continuing evolution of the profession(p. 46) The American School Counseling Association and Education Trust advocated the enactment of comprehensive and consistent standards for school counselor training and teamwork among stakeholders in education consisting of leaders in the community, parents, school administrators, teachers, school counselors, and the departments of education together with university training programs and professional organizations (Dahir, 2004; Galassi Akos, 2004). For instance, some investigators revealed the need of counselors playing the role as consultants and advisors in leadership (Colbert et al., 2006; Amatea Clark, 2005; Martin et al., 2003). On top of universities the priorities seemed to be promoting professional accountability among school counselors and equip them with the required skills in support of each other while simultaneously encourage academic achievement among students in their school (DeVoss Minnie, 2006). Baker (2000) summarized these priorities of Education Trust and advised that for a university training program to be more viable, experts should trace back to the grass roots emphasizing on the following: (1) development and promotion of models specifically on collaborative training models tailor fitted to school counselors so they can better prepare in their function in the multidisciplinary team; (2) education on the significance of school counseling to the community and school personnel; (3) assessment of specific needs of the school or district; (4) development and implementation of programs addressing these concerns; and (5) conduct of regular and periodic assessments basing on the feedback of community partners, school personnel, students and parents to fine tune services offered. These are lofty yet essential goals. Literature has shown that school counselors should possess leadership skills in the school scenario and follow the standards set by the state and federal goverment . Universities and several boards of education have placed the New Vision school agenda as their first priority (Education Trust, 1999). Conversely, counselor educators should keep in mind that the greatest resources in a school rests in the efforts currently employed by the school counselors (Loesch Ritchie, 2004). Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy denotes to peoples beliefs about their capability to exercise control over their own level of functioning and over events that affect their lives (Bandura, 1991, p. 257). Belief of individuals regarding their self-efficacy is considered to be the result of deliberating, synthesizing and assessing information regarding individual capabilities, and consequently regulate choices and the total effort applied on a specific task (Gist, 1987). A persons judgment on his or her self-efficacy differs across time as he or she is exposed to new experiences and information (Gist, 1992). Therefore, the concept of self-efficacy is dynamic. Beliefs on individual self-efficacy are correlated with the conditions of specific tasks though it will be noticed later that there individual could generate generalizations on these beliefs in related tasks on the basis of the persons sense of efficaciousness in general (Bandura, 1991). Gist (1987) identified the three domains of self-efficacy: generality, strength, and magnitude. Generality is the level in which a self-efficacy belief applies in a variety of tasks; strength is the conviction that a specific task performance level is achievable; and magnitude is the extent of difficulty in a task that a person can accomplish. Of these three, generality is not measurable. Naturally, when an individual is asked what they feel towards the attainability of various task performance levels, he or she can answer it by a yes or no and when inquire about whether he or she is confident in reaching a certain degree of performance by assigning a number to it on a scale of 1 to 100. Thus, determination of magnitude is the aggregated sum of yes responses while strength is aggregated responses on confidence. Wood, Bandura, and Bailey (1990) described the four primary sources of self efficacy judgments and each is particularly significant when applied in work environments in an organization. The first source referred to as enactive mastery experiences implies that self-efficacy judgments become strengthened resulting from the accomplishment of tasks. According to the triadic reciprocal causation model, there is association between enactive mastery experiences and impact of behavior on individual perception of self-efficacy. The implication is that when there is a higher resilience in the persons sense of self-efficacy, it signifies that the person has overcome obstacles by being perseverant. This experience provides assertion of the individuals capabilities allowing the person to tolerate failures and setbacks without losing his or her confidence. Quick successes are the result of expecting short-term results which lead to fast discouragement when failure comes. It will be observed that w hen self-efficacy beliefs are strengthened or weakened by their experiences, it will have a major effect on their work especially with success or the lack of it in a person in his or her present position and conditions in the task which may be modulated and adjusted to facilitate success. Vicarious modeling or experience is the second source of beliefs pertaining to self-efficacy (Gist, 1987) and is mainly influenced by environmental factors. Modeling is the process of observing another person or the model who is performing a specific task. If a model is successful in his or her efforts, he or she is able to effectively convey to the observer plausible task strategies providing the basis for comparing and judging their individual abilities, and encourage the observer in believing on him/herself that with persistent efforts, in spite of setbacks, the task is accomplished successful. The effect of modeling is linked to the likeness of both model and observer in terms of age and capabi lity. Emulating models is a powerful desire. Modeling first started during childhood when the child tries to imitate significant others like parents or older siblings. In an organizational setting, the desire to model immediate supervisors or superior performers is likely strong in some. Definitely, when roles are taken in and previously observed behavior, these illustrate social learning (Vecchio Appelbaum, 1995). The impact of vicarious modeling or experience in an organization has repercussions in both daily uninhibited situations when a person examines another performing a similar task as part of normal routine work and with reference to training activities using modeling as a method of learning. Social or verbal persuasion though less efficacious than enactive modeling or mastery is regarded a significant source of self-efficacy judgments. The aim of verbal persuasion is communicate to the individual confronted with the activity of using his or her capability to succeed in the task at hand and not set high and unrealistic expectations which negatively affect the person if the task is a failure. Social persuasion is used widely on an ad hoc basis as if one is encouraging another; however, utilization of the form of persuasion would be strategic in a skill development context because it promotes higher task-directedness in the effort and this is useful during the initial phases of skill development. Another source is the physiological state perceived by the person. When the individual is in a state of fear, anxiety or tension, he or she may judge him/herself to be less competent in accomplishing a specific task. Pain or fatigue will adversely affect the individuals perception of his or her self-efficacy especially in tasks requiring physical strength (Wood Bandura, 1985). Efforts of improving either the psychological or the physical state of the individual by means of stress reduction interventions can potentially enhance self-efficacy judgments. Self-efficacy Theory The self-efficacy concept lies at the heart of the social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura. His theory highlights the role of reciprocal determinism, social experience, and observational learning in personality development. The theory defined the self-system is an individuals cognitive skills, abilities, and attitudes and it is said that this system plays a significant role in perceiving situations and behaving in response to various situations. An important element in the self-system is self-efficacy. Bandura (1995) defined self-efficacy as the belief in ones capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations (p. 2). This means that self-efficacy is the belief of the individual regarding his or her capability to successfully accomplish a specific task. Bandura believes that self-efficacy determines the thinking, behavior, and feelings of people. Since the publication of Banduras seminal work entitled, Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change, self-efficacy has ever since the talk of psychologists the world over. Why is self-efficacy considered an important subject matter in education and psychology? Bandura and other investigators have established that self-efficacy affect state of mind to behavior and motivation. School Counseling Research and School Counselor Self-Efficacy Young (2004) described the perceptions of the leadership of school counselors and the practices of a large university in midwestern US. The specific objective of this study is to answer how participation in The Ohio State University Transforming School Counseling Initiative (OSUTSCI) program affected the leadership perceptions of graduates in the said university. Qualitative approaches were employed in the collection and analysis of data. A purposive nonprobability sampling procedure was done where 19 graduates of the program were considered. The sources of data were field notes, structured individual interviews and focus group discussion. The team of researchers who were experts in analyzing qualitative data using the grounded theory gathered the data. There were four major and multiple sub-themes that emerged and indicated that program participation led to leadership practices and perceptions that positively change the servi

Great Gatsby Essay -- essays research papers

The novel The Great Gatsby is a story that takes place in the 1920’s. The story tells about Nick Carraway moving to New York and the actions that take place during his time in New York. The two main characters of the story are Nick Carraway who moved to New York and the other main character is Jay Gatsby who is Nicks new neboir and a very rich man who always has parties. The main conflict in the story is Gatsby’s long lost love who is Nick’s cousin, Daisy, reunite and her husband finds out about the affair .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story starts out with Nick moving to New York and then going to dinner at his Cousins he meets Jordan Baker who he begins a relationship with. At the dinner party they make planes to go to Tom’s, Nick’s cousin’s husband, run down apartment he uses for his affair. Myrtle the girl Tom is having a affair with taunts him about his wife and Tom brakes her nose.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the summer continues Nick is invited to one of Gatsby’s parties. When he gets there he sees Jordan they talk and then meet Gatsby for the first time he is surprisingly young he talks to Jordan privately about Daisy Gatsby becomes in love with Daisy again. He tells Nick to have a dinner party and invite him and Daisy but not tell Daisy about him being their. This works and Gatsby and Daisy start to see each other again. Tom figures out that his wife is cheating on him with Gatsby. He is very mad even though he himself is involved in an affair. Tom conf...

Media Advertising - Women in the Media :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Women in the Media    The Psychological Power of the Media to Trap Women in A Role. The power of advertising to change, shape and mold the public's opinion has had a major impact on the lives of women. Women are the main target for many advertisements and are used in many forms of advertising. The media has historically used propaganda to define who women are and what they should be. The time period following WWII maybe one of the greatest examples of how completely media can control the ideas of the society on a specific group of people.    During WWII women were encouraged to go out to factories and work to support the war effort. This gave women a sense of need and belonging that many had been left out of before they had the opportunity to persue any type of career in an acceptable manner. With the men away at war, women were encouraged to find work outside the home due to a lack of factory workers who could produce war goods. Once the war ended, however, this propaganda not only stopped- it abruptly changed.    Once the men were back in the states there was an excess of workers. Men came back form war to find that there were no jobs or that their wives were occupying them. With production plummeting after war time highs there were few jobs to offer the men returning home. This started a media blitz on women. Women were encouraged to return to the home and take care of their families. Women's magazines were overflowing with ideas on how to make a perfect wife and mother. It was obvious that if you weren't happy making your family your job, there was something wrong with you as a woman.    The problem was that women were unhappy; President Kennedy commissioned a report on the he status of the American Woman due to the magnitude of this problem (Schneir 38-47). The report basically said that women were unhappy with the idea that they were fundamentally only responsible for being wives, mothers and homemakers; they had nothing they could associate as their own accomplishments.    Another study came out in 1963; it was called The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.

Matilda and How She Belongs Essay

The film Matilda is a clear representation of the concept of belonging, the ideas that are conveyed in the film are relevant to belonging by how they are displayed. The ideas of belonging in Matilda are that Matilda doesn’t belong in her family, Matilda finds a sense of familial belonging with Ms Honey, Matilda finds a sense of familial belonging but with classmates and that the catalyst for belonging is the personality of Ms Trunchbull, it creates a sense of unity for the class – giving them a purpose. These ideas of belonging are described by the use of camera angles, tone, quotes and the use of narration. From the start of the film you come to realise that Matilda doesn’t relate or is able to connect to her family. This relates to belonging that Matilda doesn’t belong to her own family she doesn’t connect, this is demonstrated in the quotes â€Å"Are you in this family? † â€Å"Mmmm†¦ â€Å"Hello? † â€Å"Are you in this family? † â€Å"I’m fed up with all this reading! You’re a Wormwood, you start acting like one! Now sit up and look at the TV† this quote is telling us that she loves reading but her family love watching television so the father questions her daughters belonging in this family. Throughout the movie the use of tone and colour with what Matilda and her family wears indicates the separation between her and her family, an example of this is that Matilda wears articulate clothing like the bow in her hair and the violet dresses but her family wear suits and cocktail dresses like those that wear on the television which are superficial that they idealise so much. So there are clear differences between her and her family. Matilda finds a sense of familial belonging with Ms Honey. When Matilda first enters her classroom she gets a strong sense of belonging with her teacher Ms honey, because she is drawn in by her warm kind hearted nature. Matilda finds a sense of belonging through the shine that Ms honey exudes, she also relates to Ms honey and the Choice of clothing is very similar. Matilda and Ms honey have a relatable childhood with them both having a barbaric narrow minded parent/guardian. The catalyst for belonging is the personality of Ms Trunchbull, she creates a sense of tyranny for the class and the school. Her demeanour and insidious punishments for children makes the average school life a living hell, this hatred and ill-behaviour towards the children gives a unity to over throw her. This is demonstrated through particular scenes. The scene where trunchball holds an assembly for Bruce Bogtroter stealing some of her chocolate cake, so she tries to set an example, but that foolishly backfires when the school unites and cheers on Bruce. This scene and the use of uplifting music, the constant repetition of â€Å"Bruce! and that Trunchball gets no response makes her feel powerless and now the children are all working together and that scares Trunchball. So the children strive to get rid of trunchball and it works there by their common goal brought them together. Matilda is a great example of belonging and not-belonging, its ideas about it and how they are represented make it a good piece for my analysis. So the concept of belonging can be found anywhere from simply being different to your family or to strive to see your principal overthrown, so what go you belong or not belong too.

Information security Essay

Most organizations today are adopting and integrating technologies in their production with an aim of improving production, efficiency, profitability and the competitive advantage in the market. This has been accelerated by the increasing globalization and innovation of new technologies which pose a major competitive threat to many organizations. Also, formulation of environmental standards as well as increased expectation on the standards and quality of goods and services by both the government and customers has also necessitated adoption of new technologies to ensure this is met. New technologies in use today like the web 2. 0 and also the new internet as well as wireless technologies have led to increased efficiencies as well as increased productivity for most organizations. However, despite the advantages which accrue from introduction and use of new technologies in organizations, they pose major security threats to an organization. Data hijack by criminals as well as terrorism threats are some of the challenges that organizations are facing during new technology implementation processes (Bazelon, Choi & Canady, 2006). Security issues in regard to new technologies implementation in an organization Security is a top concern for most business since it may lead to destruction of a company’s reputation thus affecting the competitiveness of an entity. With increased globalization and increased terrorist threats, security risks have increased posing a major threat to most organizations. One of the major threats that companies face while implementing information technologies are the risk of losing or protecting sensitive data. Information technologies especially via internet and other wireless technologies are accessible globally which poses a major threat to an organization. Organizations hold private and sensitive information regarding their employees, production processes and also marketing strategies which are vital for competitive advantage. However, with technology implementation, and the dynamism in technology, such data may be accessed by unauthorized individuals causing a business great harm in terms of profitability. This also exposes the employees as well as an organization’s customers’ at risk of fraudulent activities via technologies. Information security experts insist that just like information networks operate or cross borders with no regard for the provincial and national boundaries, also security vulnerabilities and threats pass in the same way thus necessitating greater and stern security measures to ensure that the threats are minimized (Hinojosa, 2005). Another threat that organizations are facing is terrorist attacks and threats. Currently, there are many terrorist groups which operate globally and they employ high technologies to carry out their tasks and to harass businesses and employees as well as the customers. An increase in global terrorist organizations in the world that are connected via the new technologies poses a major security threats to most organizations in the world. Terrorists may not only be interested with soliciting the financial and production processes of an organization, but also the structural and day to days activities of an organization with an aim of identifying weak areas or points which could be used to attack an organization. This is made possible by new technologies which enable then to tamper the security measures taken by an organization to ensure that it is protected (Sussman, 2008). Phishing and data mining is also another information security risk that is faced by organizations during implementation of technologies in an organization. Phishing refers to the unauthorized use of personal information of another person which is obtained through networks. It also involves alteration of an individual’s computer software with an aim of obtaining the computer owner’s personal information by scrupulous individuals and for the purposes of defrauding the person or harming their reputation or career. With implementation of new technologies in an organization, the entity is enabled to sell its goods and services online and all the transactions are carried without having to meet the customer or the client. While making the payments, a client gives his private financial data depending on the mode of payment which he or she uses. Computer criminals have a way of tampering with or gaining access of such information which they can manipulate to make purchases while pretending to be the clients. The business thus faces a risk of being sued by a client on such grounds and for lack of adequate protection measures. This has increased the cost of implementing technology especially with different cases of security breach being reported today. Organizations are supposed to ensure that the private information of their clients and employees are well protected and that their privacy is upheld despite the cost this may involve (Ena, 2008). Risk of loss of important documents by an organization has also been a major security issue while implementing information technology. Apart from the risk of terrorist threats and phishing, an organization also faces the risk of losing vital information through dangerous programs such as the viruses which are transmitted via the internet and other networks. If such programs find their way to the computers and other technologies in a company, a company may risks losing most of its vital information as these programs corrupts the whole network system in an area. This could be dangerous for and organization as it may lead of reduced productivity, increased costs and reduced earnings (Blankespoor, 2005). With increased awareness of information security threats increasing in the world, the attackers have changed their tactics posing even a major threat to an organization. Most of the attackers are usually professional information technologists who invent new methods of accessing data from an organization despite the security measures taken. As mentioned earlier, technology is changing at a very high speed and so are the security threats to an organization. The dynamism of technology is a risk which cost organizations heavily as they try to keep pace with it. While implementing new technologies, organizations are also faced with the problem of testing the validity of the technology. Most of the cases involving security breach end up being the problem in an organization. IT companies exonerate themselves by arguing that lack of adequate security policies in an organization are the major causes of any cost that an organization may incur (Wallace, Lusthaus. & Kim, 2005). Conclusion Information technology is a major strategy that has enabled most of the businesses to perform well in terms of growth and expansion. New technologies have been on high demand in the recent past especially as most organizations go global which necessitates networking. Technology improves the efficiency, effectiveness and the overall productivity of an entity. However, it poses major threats to the privacy of a company as well as its clients and employees. Stern security measures should be taken to ensure that technology implantation in an organization does not turn out to be more costly. This can be done though formulation of technology security policies and procedures to ensure privacy is upheld.