Communication an organisations Essay Example for Free

Communication an organisations Essay This assessment is to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the topics taught in leading and motivating a team effectively module of the ILM Level 3 Course in Leadership and Management. The document will be split into two main sections, the first section will focus on how to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team as well as provide an analysis on its importance. The second section will look at the role motivation in the development of a team. Section 1: How to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team One of the definitions of the word team (in its verb form) is, come together to achieve a common goal (Oxford University Press, 2014). It is this common goal or purpose that turns a group of individuals into a team without a common purpose or goal to strive toward a team cannot function effectively. For example in a football team each player needs to know their place and role in the team, but also the strategy and vision for wider team, is the team an attacking team, a defensive team, do they attack via the wings etc. without knowing the common goal of the team the players will look to their own role and not know how to support the wider team and therefore are less likely to achieve their common goal. The same holds true within an organisation not just at an individual person level but at a departmental level, if teams do not know the wider vision or strategy of the organisation they can become siloed and retreat upon themselves and just focus on delivering the â€Å"day job† rather than support the organisation in a more holistic role. With the above in mind, it’s clear to see that for a team to perform it needs clarity in its purpose, and from a business point of view this should be given by the vision and strategy of the organisation. The vision tells us what the organisation wants to be, it doesn’t focus on the how that is the role of the strategy, the vision is a simple statement of what it wants to achieve. Below is an example vision statement from Amazon. Our vision is to be earths most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online†¦ at the lowest possible prices. It’s a fairly short statement but allows staff and managers to know that the focus of Amazon is on three things †¢Being Customer Focused †¢Providing Online Services †¢Cost effectiveness (for Amazon and the customer) With the vision clearly stated it helps teams understand the direction in which the organisation wants to go, the next step is to explain how team fits in this vision and will help deliver it. Once the vision of an organisation is understood, it’s important about going about explaining how it will achieve this and this is referred to as the strategy. The strategy should be a series of plans that detail how elements of the vision will be achieved; for example Amazon’s vision could be split into two strategies; being customer centric and providing online services with cost effectiveness being a theme that runs across both strategies. These plans would then be broken down into more tactical detail such as action plans and SMART objectives to be carried out an operational level. For example a call centre team will have several objectives/KPI such as Calls answered in less than 5 seconds in a given month or First Time Call Resolution 95% (Year to Date), which without much explanation simply look like tools to ensure staff are doing their jobs when in fact they are SMART objectives that relate to the customer focused strategy of Amazon’s vision and how effec tively that strategy is working. It is the performance of these objectives that dictate future strategy, poor performance may result in a change of strategy (i.e. outsourcing) where as good performance could result in the current strategy being maintained or even expanded (i.e. expansion to provide alternative services) and as such it is vital that staff are informed not only of their objectives and targets but how and why they exist, and what their overall effect on the business is. As we can see the role the vision and strategy plays in the performance of a team or individual is huge but it can be a two edged sword if the vision and strategy are either poorly communicated, misunderstood or simply unknown. As such communication is key, to ensure that the common sense and purpose that the vision and strategy provides is embedded and understood. There are many methods of communication available within an organisation in aid of establishing a common purpose, but the first method is that the vision statement should be one that staff and customers can relate too and  understand, if the vision doesn’t make sense the job to communicate it to staff will be twice as hard. A good basis for ensuring good communication is using the seven principles of communication; to ensure the message is clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and naturally courteous. Once the message has been developed, it’s a matter of choosing the medium in which it is delivered; there are various methods such as email, telephone, meetings, seminars, presentation, 1-2-1s, newsletters all of which to be effective must be used at the right time and place. As the vision is a supposed to provide a common purpose and understanding of what the company wants to be, it suggests that the best way to communicate this message is via more group/communal methods such as Team meetings, Away days or newsletters where the same message can be relayed to multiple staff at a time and avoids confusion or contamination of the key messages trying to be delivered, that can occur in mores personal communications such as 1-2-1 meetings. For example a team meeting where a contact centre manager for Amazon relays the vision of the company and how the team’s work fits in and helps deliver it to their 10 staff, is likely to be more effective than having 10 1-2-1 sessions in which they deliver they try to deliver the same message which is likely to alter between sessions due to personal relationships coming into play, more two way conversation disrupting the flow of the message, the recipient choosing to understand the message how they see it rather than how it was said and then finally the confusion that can occur when team members compare conversations. This is not to say that group communication is always the best method to use as it does also have its downsides such as; it’s less likely people will ask questions in team/group meetings and could result in misunderstandings/confusion, if the person delivering the message is not clear and does not understand the message being delivered it will have a negative impact on the recipients, they can become side tracked by issues that arise during the meeting and people forget the message being delivered. My own skills actually lend themselves to small groups or 1-2-1 sessions as I struggle to manage wider groups at times, especially when the meeting goes off topic or several conversations start within the meeting. However as I only manage two staff at the moment this hasn’t hampered my ability to communicate a common sense of purpose to my staff as I have my own concepts on what our role is in the  business, however as highlighted in our learner session in July we did struggle as a group to find the group’s vision and strategy, which in itself is a failing in that without knowing the true vision and strategy of the business how can I communicate that to my staff and could potentially be providing them with a purpose that is counter to the organisations own goals. In reflection this had led me to book in some time to read the new business plan, and in readiness I’ve booked a team meeting together with my staff to go over it and highlight were we as a team fit in it. I’ve also took some time recently to review our action plans and KPI’s on Covalent, which is a software we use to link action plans and KPI’s together to strategies to see how our objectiv es are linked to the wider organisation and through that hopefully provide better clarity and coherent information to my staff. Hopefully my management of meetings will improve through this course, as one of the modules in on managing meetings effectively. In conclusion I use to think my communication skills were quite good, however through this exercise I’ve noted that while my method of delivery and communication style may be good it doesn’t mean much if you don’t truly know the message you are trying to convey which until I’m up to speed on the business plan and our place in it I can’t say I know what that message should be without retreating into the â€Å"day job† which as mentioned at the beginning is a symptom of a team who doesn’t know the organisations vision or strategy. Section 2: Know how to motivate and develop the team Section 2.1: Describe the main motivational factors in a work context and how these may apply to different situations, teams and individuals. There are multiple models and theories for motivation such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfers ERG theory, Acquired Needs Theory by McClellan and Two Factor Theory by Hezberg to name a few and while most can be used to explain motivational factors in a work context some such as Maslow’s and Alderfer’s theory require more adaption or to make it fit as such I’ll be using Hezberg’s Two factor theory to describe the main motivational factors in the work context. According to Herzberg, two kinds of factors affect motivation,  and they do it in different ways: Hygiene factors: These are factors that are taken for granted and can be seen as having no positive satisfaction by themselves, however if they were taken away would cause a dramatic down turn in morale and motivation. An example is a policy of free tea and coffee for staff by itself unlikely to motivate staff but if it was removed would have a negative impact. Motivator factors: These are factors whose presence motivates. Their absence does not cause any particular dissatisfaction, it just fails to motivate. An example would be recognition at work for a job well done, achieving a promotion. Looking at the above it would seem that simply applying the motivator factors would cause an increase in motivation and simply ensuring the hygiene factors stayed in place is the sure fire way to succeed in motivating your staff, however the below example shows how by applying one rule to an individual can affect the team as a whole. Person A is doing a good job and as such you wish to increase motivation by recognising their work, which you do by offering a promotion/raise or bonus, this however can impact on the rest of the team as Pay and Benefits also come under Hygiene factors and as such by rewarding one and not everyone in the team this can cause a demotivation or job dissatisfaction. Section 2.2: Explain the importance of a leader being able to motivate teams and individuals and gain their commitment to objectives. Section 2.3: Explain the role that the leader plays in supporting and developing the team and its members and give practical examples of when this will be necessary

Understanding If The Iraq Wars Justified Politics Essay

Understanding If The Iraq Wars Justified Politics Essay The American war campaign against the military troops of Iraq began on 20th March 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by international troops led by United States of America and the United Kingdom. Then, the governments of the United States and United Kingdom and other European countries claimed that the possession of weapons of mass destruction by Iraq posed a threat to the international security. This assertion informed the invasion of Saddam Husseins Iraq by the United States and its allies. This invasion has proven to be an unjustified act after it was confirmed that the regime of Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. In fact it was alleged that Saddam Hussein only bragged of possessing weapons of mass destruction so he could prevent the neighbouring Iran from ever considering invading his country. Why would the United States invade Saddam Husseins Iraq instead of going after the Taliban and the Al Qaeda terrorists groups? After the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks, the Al Qaeda extremists admitted to being responsible for the bombings and Osama Bin Laden himself admitted to giving the directive for the bombing. It was only logical that the United States of America would pursue the extremists groups directly and swiftly. However, President Bushs advisers were wrong in going after Saddam Hussein instead of Osama Bin Laden. By then, Osama was still at large and offering more threats and so it would have been easier to find him and bring him to book for atrocious mass killing, than going against Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein in fact had no direct ties to the Al Qaeda or Taliban. The war in Iraq was pushed by the general objective of making the world a better place. The objective of the war was to convey a warning to other axis of evil nations to stop their uranium enrichment programs. The United States feared that if the Islamic Republic of Iraq enriched itself with uranium, this would spark a nuclear arms race. President George W Bush coined the term axis of evil, in January 2002 State of the Union Address in an apparent reference to nations that were sympathetic to the Al Qaeda terrorist group and other international terrorist organizations. After that address, the United States embarked on a war campaign that as at 22 August this year has cost the administration 743 billion dollars  [1]  . The cost of the war has been especially difficult to manage given the existent global economic climate. The effect of the Iraq war on the economy needs no advertising. The United States spends at least 200 million dollars on the Iraq war daily. In 2002, when President George W. Bushs economic adviser Larry Lindsey inferred that the war would cost approximately 200 billion dollars in the long run, people thought he had overestimated the costs. It is now clear that his estimation was a gross underestimation. The Iraq war has costs the United States taxpayer a whooping 730 billion dollars as at August 2010. President Bushs economical advisers anticipated a quick and reasonably inexpensive war, but instead the war dragged on and resulted in the deployment of more than 125,000 American soldiers. These American soldiers need food, shelter and at time entertainment and the only place they can derive these human wants is from Iraq. These soldiers have therefore been supplied by products made in Iraq and this has only helped build the Iraq economy while the United States economy continues to la nguish in budget deficits. Sustaining the large troop base in Iraq has meant the United States spent more and thereby accruing more debts. The major casualties of the Iraq war have been the innocent civilians caught in the cross fire between American forces and its allies against the insurgent. Data available indicating the death toll from the invasion is varied, but critically indicting of the war. Different groups have given different information regarding the actual or even projected figure of Iraqi casualties. The Associated Press gave its figure of civilian casualties at approximately 110, 500 deaths as at April of last year. Another organization called the Iraq Body Count, which collects a database of Iraqi civilian casualties, released a report in April this year indicating that around 105, 000 innocent residents lost their lives from the American offensive  [2]  . War, if absolutely necessary, is meant to deliver humans from suffering and not create suffering instead. The staggering number of civilian casualties makes the war in Iraq more harmful than helpful. This war has ravaged family units, displaced per sons from their homes and left millions living in perpetual fear of imminent death. In the aftermath of the war, America attempted to assist Iraq in managing their country and fighting insurgents, but this caused more harm than good to the general stability of the United States. There are growing doubts in the mainstream America about the administrations capability of winning the war. It is clearly known that the United States of America miserably failed in the Vietnam War three decades ago, and that severely affected the confidence the Americans had on their government ability to successfully complete an overseas mission. The Iraq war is having similar effects on the American psyche. Vietnam made Americans to doubt the governments stand on issues of foreign policy. This confidence by the citizens is further is crushed by realization that their government could wage war on a country based on false intelligence reports  [3]  . When the environmental or ecological effects of the war are assessed, more harm can be seen. The weapons used excreted chemical substances that polluted air, soil and water. These substances contained toxic materials such as hydrochloric acid, asbestos, dioxins and other harmful metals. This polluted the soil as the uranium released by combat troops killed some plant species. During the shock and awe, in the initial launch of attacks, there was thermal radiation excreted by heavy artillery. This thermal radiation caused death by ionising the body of Iraq civilians and American soldiers. In the course of the protracted war, many innocent civilians and soldiers suffered mechanical injuries that left them without limbs. A lot of complications arose due to the mechanical and ionising radiation such as infertility, blood disorders like blood cancer, and cataracts formation. It caused adverse effects on body organs and tissues formation i.e. radiation poisoning. It also caused genetic effe cts and birth defects that might subsequently be passed from current Iraq generation to the next generations. Pressure from heavy artillery employed in the war meant Iraqi civilians chances of survival depended on buildings they were staying in as the buildings can survive 0.8 bar of the heavy blasts, while a human can only withstand 2.0 bar of blast. The increased pressure caused by the blast caused burns of different types to the innocent casualties of the war. Examples are thermal burns from infrared radiation, beta burns from beta radiation and gamma burns from gamma radiation. Radiation also caused hair loss, other effects on the skin like ulceration, itching, flaking, inflammation and blistering. The war in Iraq is associated with other grave ills in the society. There has been significant movement of refugee populations from Iraq to its neighbouring countries of Syria and Jordan. The war has intensified terrorism across the borders of Syria-Iraq and Jordan-Iraq instead of curtailing it. The overthrowing of Saddam Hussein from the Iraqi presidency has intensified separatism in the country and propelled sectarian violence pitting the Sunni and Shiite Muslims to another level. Prior to invasion of Iraq, Saddam had managed to keep the two factions in harmonious coexistence. With the withdrawal of the allied forces from Iraq, it will be interesting to see whether the sectarian violence, transnational criminal activities in the Middle East and the cross-border terrorism will subside or intensify. A safe bet would be on deterioration of stability and security standards. The seven year war in Iraq has damaged the overall credibility of the United States as a world leader. Images of roadside civilian bombings, video footages of American soldiers torturing suspected terrorists and shipment of the suspected terrorist to Guantanamo bay has compounded the already bad image of the United States abroad. It can be recalled that the United States made a unilateral Iraqi invasion decision, in total disregard of the United Security Council opposition to the war and this has installed the perception of arrogance from the Americans in dealing with diplomatic issues  [4]  . These and other reasons make the United States Iraq war completely unjustified.

Theory Of Reasoned Action

Theory Of Reasoned Action CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction This chapter will deals with survey of literature review in the area of online purchase intention and perceived risk and its determinants. This section will discuss the dependent, independent and mediating variables and the relationship among the variables that might influence consumer perceptions of perceived risk towards online purchase intention. Researcher was replicates the framework from the study Factors influencing consumer perceptions of brand trust online by Hong-Youl Ha, 2004 and The influence of prior experience and age on mature consumers perceptions and intentions of internet apparel shopping by Wi-Suk Kwon and Mijeong Noh, 2009. The reason to choose this framework are because, this framework seem like fit with Malaysian culture and tradition. Although researcher was replicate the framework but some changes were made, which is researcher will combine both of the frameworks into one new framework and will test the framework into different setting of place. 2.1 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) To make some improvement for the past studies, researcher will apply the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by (Fishbein, 1980) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by Ajzen in 1991. Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) by Fishbein, 1980 was developed to explain how a consumer leads to a certain buying behavior, this theory asserts that attitude toward buying and subjective norm are the antecedents of performed behavior. Two antecedents which are (attitude and subjective norm) influence the purchase behavior additively (Ha, 1998). Two important propositions underlying the theory of reasoned action offered by Lutz (1991) are the first one is to predict a purchase behavior, it is necessary to measure a persons attitude toward performing that specific behavior, not only the general attitude toward the object around which the purchasing behavior is. The second one is, in addition to the attitude toward the behavior, TRA includes a second determinant of overt behavior namely the subjective norm (SN). SN is intended to measure the social influences on a persons behavior such as family members or friends and colleagues expectations. Sometimes in some situations expectation o f relevant from others may be a major factor in ultimate behavioral performances and simply not under the attitudinal control of individuals. Another study Lada et al., 2009, claim that according to the TRA, a persons intention is a function of two basic determinants, which are one personal in nature and the other one is reflecting social influence. The personal factor is the individuals positive or negative evaluation when performing the behavior and this factor is termed attitude toward the behavior. The second determinant of intention is the persons perception of the social pressure put on him or her whether to perform or not to perform the behavior in question and this factor is termed subjective norm since it deals with perceived prescriptions, (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). According to Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), attitudes are a function of beliefs when someone believes that performing a given behavior will lead to mostly positive outcomes they may hold a favorable attitude toward performing the behavior, contrary a person who believes that performing the behavior will lead to mostly negative outcomes then they will hold an unfavorable attitude. The beliefs that underlie a persons attitude toward the behavior are termed behavioral beliefs while subjective norm is a function of beliefs that specify individuals or groups to think whether they should or should not perform the behavior and these beliefs which is underlying a persons subjective norm termed as a normative belief. A person who believes that most referents with whom they are motivated more to comply think, that they should perform the behavior will receive social pressure to do so (Lada et al., 2009). 2.2 Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) The second theory is Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which is proposed by Ajzen in 1991 as an extension of the first theory discussed above which is theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) (Fishbein, 1980). (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), the TPB has been used by many researchers over the past 20 years and its shown to be able to predict a variety of intentions and behaviors perform by persons. According to Ajzen (1991), a persons action is determined by their behavioral intentions, which in turn are influenced by an attitude toward the behavior and subjective norms as discussed above. (Azjen, 1991), behavioral intentions are factors that capture how people are willing to try to perform a behavior, behavioral intention also the most influential predictor of behavior and its shown that in TPB constructs, intention was a better predictor of behavior. In the TPB, attitude toward the behavior is defined as ones positive or negative feelings about performing a specific behavior and determined through an assessment of ones beliefs regarding the consequences which is arising from ones behavior and an evaluation of the desirability of these consequences. 2.3 Conceptual Definition of Dependent Variable (Online Purchase Intention) It is best to start this study by explaining what an online purchase intention is it in order to give some idea and to dispel some common misconceptions that might occur. Purchase intention can be defined as a plan to purchase a particular goods or services in the future. Purchase intentions is the likelihood that a consumer will buy a particular product in which resulting from the interaction of his or her need for it, attitude towards it and perceptions of it and of course from the company itself which produces the products or services (J. Baker, 1998). This study using definition from (Azjen, 1991), behavioral intentions are factors that capture how people are willing to try to perform a behavior, behavioral intention also the most influential predictor of behavior, intention also was a better predictor of behavior. 2.4 Conceptual definition of Mediating Variable (Perceived Risk) Risks is a part of everyday life and always come as a routine in between us and exist when there is a less than 100 percent probability that things will turn out as someone expected will happen (Baeur, 1967). Risks are different for different persons, according to Martin and Camarero (2008), some people view risk as a their inability to value the quality of the product directly, lack of personal contact with the salesperson, the cost involve of learning on how to use the internet, cost switching different channels, security of payment and personal information. Whilst others, view risk as a (Stone and Gronhaug, 1993) degree of uncertainty about the outcome of an action which might carries the possibility of physical harm or damages. Manzano et al., 2008 offered six dimensions of perceived risk which are security risk, privacy risk, performance risk, time loss risk and social risk. Whilst Beardon and Mason, 1978 proposed different dimensions of perceived risk namely, financial risk, social risk, performance risk, psychological risk and physical risk. Although there are different kind of names or term used but the meaning is quiet same in a context of online shopping. Financial risk or security risk share a same meaning, it can be incurred when customers financial circumstances are damaged because of loss of money in cash or via credit card (March, 2006; Manzano et al., 2008). Social risks come through purchasing process that is perceived to be down-market (March, 2006). Littler and Melanthiou, 2006 found that social risk is concerned with the possibility of attracting unfavorable attention and response from purchasing a particular product. Consumer attitudes to the different methods of purchasing highly depend on their characteristics. Performance risk according to (Littler and Melanthiou, 2006) is concerned with how well the product perform relative to expectations for example, the lack of personal contact with a salesperson prevent the consumer from correctly evaluating the characteristics of the product which in turn decreasing confidence (Ba, 2001) among consumer. It is good if consumer can try out the product they will buy before they make a payment, (Gerrard and Cunningham, 2003) in their study reveal that the opportunity to conduct a trial before make payment provides the necessary confidence to consumers with high perceived performance risk. Whilst March 2006, implies that performance risk is occur when a product does not fulfill its functio n as expected especially services which may take risk time wasted in waiting. Time loss risk happen when consumer incur time costs from using online purchasing, the time of learning how to buy on a certain products, the time to wait for respond or the time for searching process( Littler and Melanthiou, 2006). Physical risk leading with purchases that might include products which are unsafe or will cause physical harm to the user or in services, allow customers to take risks whilst undertaking risky activity such as cycling (March, 2006). The last dimensions of perceived risk are psychological risk, which may be caused by consumers wearing unfashionable clothes, leading to the social risk of not fitting in and in turn will decrease confidence level among consumer. We do not always accurately perceive the threats of risks, accurately understanding and effectively eliminating or limiting risks are part of the survival and safety especially in online industry. Risk management must be an active part of facility marketing manager duties, risk should be well manage to control the financial and personal injury loss from sudden, unforeseen, unusual accident, and intentional torts (Ammon et al., 2004). In summary, for the purpose of this study, perceived risk can be summarize as a degree of uncertainty about the outcome from an action which carries the possibility of physical harm especially in financial and information fraud. Hence, this study assumes customer perceived risks are all the six dimensions discuss above which are, security risk, privacy risk, performance risk, time loss risk and social risk. 2.5 Conceptual definition of Independent Variables 2.5.1 Security Theres a various definition of security, Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Wolfinbarger and Gilly define security as to protecting the user from the risk of fraud and financial loss. According to (Milne et al., 2004), security often breaches of internet transmissions and databases enable the unauthorized use of consumers confidential information from third parties such as, name, address, password, social security and credit card numbers and, often result in identity theft. In reality, the prospect of privacy losses and information misuse in e-commerce settings may offset any convenience, time, and financial savings afforded to consumers thus by providing security for consumers will lead to customer satisfaction and in turn will decrease risk perception among consumers. Unfortunately, security breaches are occurring at a growing rate from time to time. Indeed, Miyazaki and Fernandez (2001) found that internet users highly concerns with regard to online shopping were privacy, system security breaches from third parties in which due to faulty technological security and security breaches in the form of fraudulent online retailer behavior. Security plays a vital role on customer trust and customer satisfaction, thus by providing security to consumers will lead to brand trust and would expect (Mayer et al., 1995) security decrease risk perceptions among consumers. On the other hand, Krisnahmurthy (2001) also found that consumers who experience positive security leads to improvements in the levels of familiarity on the web, accordingly security should affect brand trust as well as decrease risk perceptions. 2.3.2 Privacy Consumers patronizing an online service which requires the regular transmission and remote storage of confidential information may perceive elevated concerns regarding threats to the privacy of their personal and confidential information is very important during online transactions (Mauricio et al., 2007). Privacy refers to protection of personal details implicit or explicit agreement and not to sell or exchange the personal information gathered from consumers during transactions (Yoo and Donthu, 2001; Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003). Another definition of privacy from (Parasuraman et al., 2005) is the claim of individualsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to determine on when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others. (Caudill and Murphy, 2000; Sheehan and Hoy, 2000) proposed in their studies that consumer concern for information privacy is considered one of the most important issues nowadays. Fried (1998) was one of the earliest modern scholars to evaluate the notion of privacy; he argued that privacy is especially valuable since it allows people to conduct online transactions that result in trust, which would not be possible in the absence of privacy. Caudill and Murphy (2000) argued that both public and private information should be included in the debate regarding privacy since technologies today are making it increasingly easier to move private information into the public domain, which will cause consumers serious concerns regarding their private information. If the private information going into public meaning that, there is no privacy at all and this will cause distrust among customers and will lead to unsatisfied customers. 2.3.3 Brand Name Theres are various definition of brand, one of the definition is proposed by Bennett, 1988 claim that a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or any combination of these concepts, used to identify the goods and services of a seller. Keller (1998) states that brand name are one of the main factors facilitating the development of brand awareness or familiarity. The more specialized and reputable a brand name is in selling or recognizing the product or service, the more highly will its brand trust be perceived by consumers. Choosing a brand name for a consumer product or service is so critical that some writers argue it is one of the most important marketing management decisions that marketing manager should take highly considerations about choosing a brand name (Landler et al., 1991). A well chosen brand name can provide a customer with a symbolic meaning which assists in both the recognition of the product and the decision-making process (Herbig and Milewicz, 1993), it is also can produce a number of specific advantages including suggesting product benefits (McCarthy and Perault, 1990), contributing to brand identity, simplifying shopping, implying quality (McNeal and Zerren, 1981), evoking feelings of trust, confidence, security, strength, durability, speed, status and exclusivity and at the end of the day can decrease risk perceptions (Shimp, 1993). The more positively the persons perceived the brand, the higher the consumers brand awareness and loyalty, allowing the firm to command larger margins, higher market share, more inelastic consumer response to price increases, less vulnerability to competitive activity, increased marketing communications effectiveness, additional brand extension opportunities and other competitive advantages such as distribution leverage, customer satisfaction and as well as decrease risk perceptions (Keller, 1998). 2.3.4 Word of Mouth Word of mouth (WOM) plays a vital role in consumer behavior because Word of mouth (WOM) would affect purchase and intention to purchase and also experience of other consumers by conveying their consumption experience of others, namely the satisfaction or dissatisfaction after the purchasing process occur. WOM is commonly defined as informal communication about the characteristics of a business, services or a product which occurs between consumers (Westbrook, 1987). Most importantly, WOM also allows consumers to exert both informational and normative influences on the product or service evaluations and purchase intentions to fellow consumers (Bone, 1995; Ward and Reingen, 1990). According to Ha, 2004, WOM has been shown to influence awareness, expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intentions and behavior towards a product or services. Online shopping consumers will perceive higher purchase risk than that of the traditional shopping since the purchase occurs in virtual space rather than face to face transactions. They will accordingly rely more on WOM information to reduce uncertainty and purchase risk to make decisions (Kim and Song, 2010). According to Assael (1995), since online shopping has higher purchase risk than face to face interactions, (Richins and Shaffer, 1987) consumers carry out WOM action to obtain market information while making buying decision especially consumers who rely more on WOM as they perceive higher risks. Nowadays, there a growing body of evidence that the internet based opinion mechanism influence consumers when making a purchase such as blogs, social network (facebook, myspace, twitter) (Hong, 2006) and this is a new form of word of mouth communication and is known as electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM). e-WOM is any positive or negative communication among the potential, current or former customers about a product, services or company that is available to public on the internet. Indeed, (Sen, 2008; Sen and Lerman, 2007) claimed that the impact of e-WOM is not as effective as the traditional face to- face word of mouth (WOM). In contrast, Steffes and Burgee (2009) found that the information gained from the e-WOM forum is more influential and beneficial in decision making process rather than speaking with friends in person (WOM). 2.3.5 Good Online Experience Often consumers tend to remember best the last experience they encounter (the recency effect): thus, one positive experience may be sufficient to alter perceptions of more than preceding negative experience, and vice versa (Ha, 2004). Experiences are sometimes confused with services, but experiences are as distinct from services as services also distinct from goods because experiences exist only in the mind of the individual. They are rich with emotional, physical, intellectual, or spiritual sensations created within the consumer during transactions (Kotler et al., 2005). According to Pine and Gilmore (1999), An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and then goods as props to engage individual customers in a way to create a memorable event that consumer will remember best. The more satisfied the customer with the experience that the web sites offer, the more durable is the relationship among consumer and that particular brand (Buchanan and Gillies, 1990), and the relationship is highly depends on the customers experience, whether positive or negative experience. Experience plays a vital role in trust by making it possible to compare the realities of the firm with customer preconceived expectations. Ganesan (1994) goes further, and views experience as an antecedent to build brand trust among customers which in turn will lead to making purchasing. Usually customers expect Web sites to offer them not just a message, but a positive experience such as, security and privacy, ease of use, web site design and aesthetic elements and interactivity. The ease of use of the web sites is important factor which refers to the layout and design of the web site and the ease of making ones way around it, how the users perceives and interacts with the site, and how easy t o use it (Nielsen, 1999). While (Steur, 1992) covers the web sites design and aesthetic elements as a representation of the web site environments, associated with its formal characteristic such as graphics, colors, images, icons, animated sequences, videos and pop -ups which will influence customer to trust the web site as well as to proceed at the end action which is making purchasing. (Yoo and Donthu, 2001) claim that these elements has contribute to the atmosphere of the web site and are important in evaluating the web site experience. Thus, if the web sites offer all of this experience to customer will lead to customer satisfaction and build brand trust among customer thus will decrease customer risk perception. General speak in detailed, the fact that it easy to access and use the site, including the access speed and the overall guide design and layout, as well as the information provided; requirement fulfillment refers to whether the sites handling and goods delivery in a systematic way; system accessibility refers to whether the site has been technology based or still using a traditional based, or is vulnerable to attacks; and privacy, also known as security, refers to whether the site can keep the customers information secret and payments safe (Sheng and Liu, 2010) are experience that customer want in which we can called it positive experience will lead to customer satisfaction and purchase as well as to build brand trust. 2.3.6 Quality of Information There is various definition of information. Some writers make no distinction between data and information (Wang et al., 1998) while some writers see the differences as most crucial (Tozer, 1999). Information is logically derived from theories or principles, it is an artifact. The producer of information has an intention to produce a symbolic meaning of certain entities or events, put it into a context, assign it into a pre defined meaning and then transmit the information into receiver. The producer of information expected that the receiver will capture the meaning as intended (Lillrank, 2002). Consumers search for information in their pre-purchase search process for a product or service they intend to buy thus, by providing effective information does lead to improved awareness and brand perception among consumers (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Ha, 2002; Keller, 1998), particularly for individuals with high brand trust and high perceived risk (Duncan and Moriarty, 1998). Many online buyers indicate that their buying decisions mostly depend on the information offered online (Long Ching, 2009). Bickart and Schindler (2001) found that consumers who gathered information from online discussions namely electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) reported greater interest and intention to buy in the product than did those consumers who gathered information from the marketer-generated sources. The main reason for this is highly likely to be the trust issue as raised in a study by Sen (2008). Customized information has become more important in internet nowadays based applications due to the multitude of choices that are available on the internet (Simonson, 2005; Ha, 2002). (Ha (2002), has shown that internet users are very interested in customized information offer by the web sites be this is because mostly firms today have added value by providing appropriate information to simplify the customers decision making process (Murthi and Sarkar, 2003). In addition, the source of the information is very crucial for a message to be effective and reliable and it often depends on the receivers perception of the senders trustworthiness and expertise (Kiecker and Cowles, 2001) they also suggest that the information also must be perceived believable, competent, valuable and trustworthy for information recipients. (Robinson and Kaye, 2000), found that consumers, who relied on online sources for more information, rated the online sources as more credible than other sources, so it is important tasks for managers to provide quality information online to gain trust from customers. Meyvis and Janiszewski (2002) reveal that irrelevant and lack in quality information will weakens consumers belief in the products or services ability to deliver the benefit. Hence, whether perceived quality of information is provided and, if it is provided, the quality of customized information for customers, also highly influence the level of brand trust and custom er satisfaction on the web (Ha, 2004). 2.4 Relationship among the Variables Individuals who perceive a low risk in online buying likely make decisions more quickly and less likely to take into account aspects outside of the web site. In contrast, individuals who are more fearful will behave in a more cautious way, searching for external information that warrantees a successful buying decision to decrease uncertainty in internet purchase (Martin and Camarero, 2008). Bhatnagar et al., 2000, reported that consumers were less likely to shop online in which perceived product performance risk was high than those with low product performance risk, consumers perceived risk negatively influences their intention to purchase products online. Customer who satisfied with the security, privacy and online good experience offered by the web sites will experience lower perceived risk and will have effect on the purchase intention. (Chen and Hsin, 2008) results show that consumers perceived risk towards specific online retailer with regards to purchase intention was influence by trust. As consumer trust increases because of decreasing perceived risk will influence consumer to make purchase (Chen and Hsin, 2008). 2.5 Summary This chapter reviewed literatures on consumer perception of perceived risk towards online purchase intention in detailed. Based on the findings from literature reviews, definition conception of online purchase intention, perceived risk, security, privacy, word of mouth, brand name, good online experience and quality of information are developed. In the last part of this chapter, the relationship between independent variables, mediating variable and dependent variable are constructed. Conceptualizing definitions of variables is important in order to construct a research framework in which would be discussed in chapter 3.

Cyber Culture: The Future of Print Essay -- Technology Literature Essa

When we think of technology, what often comes to mind are televisions, communications devices such as cell phones and satellites, computers, and different modes of transportation. However, there are other ways in which technology is applied, one of those being the Internet and its various components including email, chat rooms, and search engines. The list of uses for the Internet is innumerable and many corporations and universities are forcing people to make use of it. But no matter how much this new technology is forced on us, people are still resistant to it. As George Landow, Professor of English and Art History at Brown University, states, "Technology, in the lexicon of many humanists, generally means 'only that technology of which I am frightened'" (Landow 218). Such resistance is unfortunate because the generation of online technology is here. Whether we have accepted it or not we are "twenty minutes into the future" (Landow 214). Books are no longer the sole resource for inf ormation gathering and communicating. A whole new system for conveying information has taken place. "In many ways, we have, for better or worse, already moved beyond the book. Even on the crudest, most materialist standard involving financial returns, we no longer find it at the center of our culture as the primary means of recording and disseminating information and entertainment" (Landow 215). Cyber culture, particularly Internet phenomenons such as online journals and email, have enhanced the way we work with writing and changed the way we write. For instance, references such as online journals and magazines have facilitated researchers in numerous ways. EMU's online database alone contains a library of information on topics ranging from busines... ...w technology called cyber culture, Landow makes a very good point when he says â€Å"Digital technology may be new, but technology, particularly information technology, has permeated all known culture since the beginnings of human history (218). Cyber culture is here to stay and can be very effective in communication, research, and writing; the challenge now, is to close the generational gap between those who have embraced cyber culture and those who still resist it. Works Cited Landow, George. â€Å"Twenty Minutes into the Future, or How Are We Moving Beyond the Book?† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age.† Comp. Evelyn B. Tribble & Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 214-226. Lesser, Wendy. â€Å"The Conversation.† Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age.† Comp. Evelyn B. Tribble & Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 227-223.

The Road Not Taken Vs. Mother To Son Essay -- essays research papers

Paths are Like Stairs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although they portray two very different writing styles, Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and Langston Hughes’s â€Å"Mother to Son† have a few things in common, especially their meanings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Road not Taken† Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both† (1-2). â€Å"Mother to Son† also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: â€Å"Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair† (1-2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Frost describes the appearance of each road, one as being less traveled on than the other by people before him who had to make the same decision: â€Å"And looked down one as far as I could / Then took the other, just as fair / Because it was grassy and wanted wear† (4,6,8). â€Å"Mother to Son† takes it another step as to describe the staircase the mother had to climb. She explains how hard it was but also how she never gave up: â€Å"It’s had tacks in it / And splinters / And boards torn up / But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on† (3-5,8-9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Road Not Taken† ends by giving a moral to us about Frost’s life and the path he did take. Although Frost doesn’t thoroughly explain the path he took, the reader ...

Prescription Drug Abuse and Addiction

These medications are prescribed by a physician and purchased at a pharmacy to treat cute or chronic pain (Byrne, Lander, & Ferris, 2009). Description Prescription Drug misuse and abuse affects all members of society to include the rich and famous, homemakers, physicians, executives, teachers, the young and the elderly. The fact that the medications are self-administered substances prescribed to treat acute or chronic conditions contributes to the increased Incidence of Dalton (Wolfed, Appear, & DuPont, 2011).There are some factors that affect the rated of prescription drug abuse such as older people and women are less likely to abuse drugs (Weaver, & Jarvis, 2010). However adults that range In age thirty- five to forty-four have the highest drug abuse rates as wells as residences of the Southern and Western regions of the US (CDC, 2008). Rationale Everyday increasing amounts of the patients seek treatment in the emergency departments across the Valley of the Sun. These patients are actively seeking prescription painkillers.Some of the patients have legitimate pain issues but most do not. Many of the high emergency room utilizes are treated in over four different hospital emergency departments per week. Many have been caught altering, or forging prescriptions. Patients give explanations such as their medication was lost, stolen, or the pharmacist did not give the correct amount of drugs for the Increased frequency of the need for refills (Wilfred, Appear, & DuPont, 2011). There are increased incidences of identity theft and patients using aliases to obtain prescriptions.

Environment Day Essay

It gives me great pleasure to address you on this World Environment Day 2014. World Environment Day is commemorated worldwide each year under the direction of the United Nations to heighten public awareness of the environment. In recent times, the need to promote more earth friendly practices in order to maintain the health of our planet has come to the forefront, as world nations struggle to reverse the present trend of climate change. The World Environment Day is a reminder to show our gratefulness to Mother Nature, which sustains all forms of life. This is the day to focus our thoughts and our energies to make collective efforts towards protecting the environment. India has rich traditional knowledge and wisdom in the conservation of nature and natural resources. Religious beliefs, culture and folklore have together treated nature and environment with sanctity. Conservation and protection of environment and love for nature have always been part and parcel of Indian ethos and cultu re. Thank you all. Have a nice day. It gives me great pleasure to address you on this World Environment Day 2014. World Environment Day is commemorated worldwide each year under the direction of the United Nations to heighten public awareness of the environment. In recent times, the need to promote more earth friendly practices in order to maintain the health of our planet has come to the forefront, as world nations struggle to reverse the present trend of climate change. The World Environment Day is a reminder to show our gratefulness to Mother Nature, which sustains all forms of life. This is the day to focus our thoughts and our energies to make collective efforts towards protecting the environment. India has rich traditional knowledge and wisdom in the conservation of nature and natural resources. Religious beliefs, culture and folklore have together treated nature and environment with sanctity. Conservation and protection of environment and love for nature have always been part and parcel of Indian ethos and cultu re. Thank you all. Have a nice day. It gives me great pleasure to address you on this World Environment Day 2014. World Environment Day is commemorated worldwide each year under the direction of the United Nations to heighten public awareness of the  environment. In recent times, the need to promote more earth friendly practices in order to maintain the health of our planet has come to the forefront, as world nations struggle to reverse the present trend of climate change. The World Environment Day is a reminder to show our gratefulness to Mother Nature, which sustains all forms of life. This is the day to focus our thoughts and our energies to make collective efforts towards protecting the environment. India has rich traditional knowledge and wisdom in the conservation of nature and natural resources. Religious beliefs, culture and folklore have together treated nature and environment with sanctity. Conservation and protection of environment and love for nature have always been part and parcel of Indian ethos and cu lture. Thank you all. Have a nice day.