Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance

Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Acknowledgement Apart from the efforts put by me, the success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of my Thesis. I am heartily thankful to my Thesis Guide- Prof. Robin Thomas, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of this subject. The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are contributing to this research, was vital for the success of this Thesis. I am grateful for their constant support and help. OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance in the organizations in todays scenario. Also, to study the impact of effective Employer Branding on perceptual and objective areas of Performance Management. ABSTRACT Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys the organizations value proposition the totality of the organizations culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging its people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding represents a firms efforts to promote, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes it different and desirable as an employer. In recent years employer branding has gained popularity among practicing managers. The importance of managing employee perceptions has given rise to the contemporary notion of Employer Brand. This is essentially the brand the employer projects to existing and potential employees via the chain of communication touch points ranging from recruitment intermediaries through to line managers. However one of the major issues in Employer Branding is how to measure an employer brand, what value does the employer brand have? Ultimately, a strong employer brand should contribute to the performance and success of the organization. The workforce is the real driver of profits in todays business world. Employer Branding helps in recruitment and retention of the best of talents. It has its impact in many areas of Human Resource Management like Employee Loyalty, Employee commitment, Employee retention and one of these areas which should get highly affected by this concept is Employee Performance. The strength of an organizations brand has a significant impact on the performance of its employees. A strong Employer Brand has a significant influence in the employees performance and that a strong product brand can essentially support the development of the employment brand. These days companies make a lot of investments in this concept of Employer Branding, thus studying the extent of its impact on Employees Performance in these organizations has become a vital need in todays scenario. THE SCOPE/COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF THE STUDY * To study the concept of Employer Branding and its evolution over a period of time. * To study what it takes for an organization to build a magnetic Employer Brand. * To study the causes that lead organizations to focus more on this concept of Employer Branding. * To study the extent to which this process of Employer Branding helps the organizations to improve Employee Performance and what impact it has on other areas like Employee Loyalty and Employee Retention. * To study Employees Brand Based Equity and its impact on Employee Performance. * To study the benefits gained by the organizations as well as the obstacles faced by the organizations in the development and implementation of this process of Employer Branding. * To study the ways by which the impact of Employer Branding Process can be measured with Employee Performance being a major area of focus. METHODOLOGY The conceptual study of the thesis will be done through literature reviews. Descriptive research design will be used to get an idea of the implementation of this concept. Also, Causal research design will be used to understand the relationship between the variables under study to reach reliable and valid conclusions. The method of Probability sampling will be used to carry out the required surveys. Hereby, the method of Stratified Random Sampling will be used. The use of these methods and Research Designs would make the study more concrete and reliable. SOURCES OF INFORMATION  · Secondary data collection will be done through websites, literature study, journals, magazines and articles.  · Primary data collection will be done through interviews of professionals and subject experts. Also, the questionnaires will be used to carry out the surveys of the Target Audience. * The target audience would be the H.R [Senior Level] and Subject Experts. Study would be conducted across sectors and around Five Industries would be taken under study. Five Firms would be taken for survey purpose under each Industry. So in all, 25 H.R [Senior Level] across sectors and Five Subject Experts would be surveyed. Sample size would be 30. Note: The thesis has to be divided in three parts. The first part would talk about the following: * The meaning and background of Employer Branding, the dimensions of Employer Branding, etc. * The meaning and background of Employee Performance and how it is defined. * How are Employer Branding and Employee Performance related. The second part would be of Industry research which would include study of various industries taking into consideration various units under various industries. It would include data analysis and data interpretation. The third part would include the derivations of the study. It would include key findings and learning and suggestions. Chapter 1. Introduction to Branding 1.1 Defining a Brand Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word brand is derived from the Old Norse word brandr, which means â€Å"to burn, as brands are the means by which owners of livestock mark their animals to identify them. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.† Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand. Thus, the key to creating a brand, according to the AMA definition, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other attribute that identifies a prod ­uct and distinguishes it from others. These different components of a brand that iden ­tify and differentiate it can be called brand elements. A brand is therefore a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents. One mar ­keting Observer put it this way. More specifically, what distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers perceptions and feelings about the products attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand? 1.2 Why Brand? More and more firms and other organizations have come to the realization that one of their most valuable assets is the brand names associated with their products or services. In an increasingly complex world, individuals and businesses are faced with more and more choices but seemingly have less and less time to make those choices. The ability of a strong brand to simplify consumer decision making, reduce risk, and set expectations is thus invaluable. Creating strong brands that deliver on that promise, and maintaining and enhancing the strength of those brands over time, is thus a management imperative. Emile Durkheim in Elementary Forms of The Religious Life explains the religion of the Australian Aborigines. The concept of a church as Durkheim defines it is ‘a shared feeling of a special kind. It is group dynamics, the act of assembling for a common purpose, that creates the feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling that strikes a chord with our deepest longings. Brands, too, strike chords. However, striking the right chord is both difficult and often costly. There are no guarantees of the result, although there is a clear difference in the growth of financial value if we compare companies that have done at least a little branding and those that havent branded themselves at all. 1.3 Why do Brands matter? Creating a successful brand entails blending all these various elements to ­gether in a unique way—the product or service has to be of high quality and appropriate to consumer needs, the brand name must be appealing and in tune with the consumers perceptions of the product, the packaging, promo ­tion, pricing and all other elements must similarly meet the tests of appropri ­ateness, appeal, and differentiation. An obvious question is why are brands important? What functions do they per ­form that make them so valuable to marketers? One can take a couple of per ­spectives to uncover the value of brands to both consumers and firms themselves. 1.3.1 To Consumers As with the term product, this book uses the term consumer broadly to encompass all types of customers, including individuals as well as organizations. To consumers, brands provide important functions. Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Most important, brands take on special meaning to consumers. Because of past experi ­ences with the product and its marketing program over the years, consumers learn about brands. They find out which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. As a result, brands provide a shorthand device or means of simplification for their product decisions. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lour search costs for products both internally (in terms of how much they have to think) and externally (in terms of how much they have to look around). Based on what they already know about the brand—its quality, product characteristics, and so forth— consumers can make assumptions and form reasonable expectations about what they may not know about the brand. Brands can also play a significant role in signaling certain product characteristics to consumers. Researchers have classified products and their associated attributes or benefits into three major categories: search goods, experience goods, and credence goods. With search goods, product attributes can be evaluated by visual inspection (e.g., the sturdiness, size, color, style, weight, and ingredient composition of a product). With experience goods, product attributes—potentially equally important—cannot be assessed so easily by inspection, and actual product trial and experience is necessary (e.g., as with durability, service quality, safety, and ease of handling or use). With cre ­dence goods, product attributes may be rarely learned (e.g., insurance coverage). Because of the difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality and other characteristics to consumers for these types of products. Brands can reduce the risks in product decisions. Consumers may perceive many different types of risks in buying and consuming a product: *Functional risk: The product does not perform up to expectations *Physical risk: The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the user or others *Financial risk: The product is not worth the price paid *Social risk: The product results in embarrassment from others *Psychological risk: The product affects the mental well-being of the user *Time risk: The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another satis ­factory product Although there are a number of different means by which consumers handle these risks, certainly one way in which consumers cope is to buy well-known brands, espe ­cially those brands with which consumers have had favorable past experiences. Thus, brands can be a very important risk-handling device, especially in business to business settings where these risks can sometimes have quite profound implications. 1.3.2 To Firms Brands also provide a number of valuable functions to firms. Fundamentally, they serve an identification purpose to simplify product handling or tracing for the firm. Operationally, brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, manufacturing processes can be protected through patents, and packaging can be protected through copyrights and designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. As noted earlier, these investments in the brand can endow a product with unique associations and meanings that differentiate it from other products. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and cre ­ates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market. Although manufacturing processes and product designs may be easily duplicated, last ­ing impressions in the minds of individuals and organizations from years of marketing activity and product experience may not be so easily reproduced. In this sense, brand ­ing can be seen as a powerful means of securing a competitive advantage. 1.4 Can anything be branded? [Can organizations be branded?] Brands clearly provide important benefits to both consumers and firms. An obvious question, then, is, How are brands created? How do we brand a product? Although firms provide the impetus for brand creation through their marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that resides in the minds of consumers. A brand is a perceptual entity that is rooted in reality, but it is also more than that, reflecting the perceptions and perhaps even the idiosyncrasies of consumers. To brand a product it is necessary to teach consumers who the product is by giving it a name and using other brand elements to help identify it—as well as what the product does and why consumers should care. In other words, to brand a product or ser ­vice, it is necessary to give consumers a label for the product (i.e., heres how we can identify the product) and to provide meaning for the brand to consumers (i.e., heres what this particular product can do for we and why it is special and different from other brand name products). Branding involves creating mental structures and helping con ­sumers organize their knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm. The key to brand ­ing is that consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category. As noted earlier, brand differences often are related to attributes or benefits of the product itself. In other cases, however, brand d ifferences may be related to more intangible image considerations. The universality of branding can be recognized by looking at some different product applications. As noted previously, products can be defined broadly to include phys ­ical-goods, services, retail stores, online businesses, people, organizations, places, or ideas. Brands extend beyond products and services. People and organizations also can be viewed as brands. The naming aspect of the brand is generally straightforward in this case, and people and organizations also often have well-defined images understood and liked or disliked by others. This fact becomes particularly true when considering public figures such as politicians, entertainers, and professional athletes. All of these different public figures compete in some sense for public approval and acceptance and benefit from conveying a strong and desirable image. 2: Introduction to Employer Branding 2.1 Defining an Employer Brand Like a consumer brand, it is an emotional relationship, but between an employer and employee, one that radiates out from this core to other stakeholders, to the community at large, and obviously to potential employees. Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys a value proposition the totality of a culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging a people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding is the essence of the employment experience, providing points that commence with initial employer brand awareness, and continuing throughout the tenure of employment, even extending into retirement. Employer branding is a distinguishing and relevant opportunity for a company to differentiate itself from the competition creating its branded factors as its USP for employee satisfaction and happiness resulting in retention, productivity and efficiency. 2.2 Elements/ Essentials of an Employer Brand Few things that form an Employer Brand are:  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST ARTICULATE A PROMISE TO EMPLOYEES. Just as every business has a customer brand, every business has an employer brand, too. Whether or not a business has ever spent any time developing it. Thats because every business needs employees. And as it recruits and retains and motivates, a business needs to clarify what it stands for. Why it must exist. What difference it can make. What it believes in. How its offerings align with its values. And if a business doesnt define an employer brand, just ask the recruiters. They will tell the story based on their own experience. In fact, more than 90 percent of people on line looking for jobs say they must very closely or closely understand the value of working for a company, according to the 2005 poll by Yahoo! Hot Jobs. An employer brand is a promise to employees to provide an experience that, in return, will motivate their commitment to deliver a customer brand. The real spirit of a employer brand is a combination of what a business may promise and deliver, inside and outside. Essentially, its about a relationship, between a business and a people. How business generally approaches people, or talent, has actually changed a bit over the years. We can remember when business viewed employees as followers in a campaign—people who simply did as they were told. Then, as time passed, business progressed to considering employees as partners in the implementation of strategies. This led, in recent years, to a consideration of the exchange between employees and business—sort of a we do this in exchange for this—to express the relationship. But that was primarily a financial transaction. And over time the old ways of framing the relationship functionally became outdated. Employees began to demand a relationship that reached for something more: an emotional connection. Thats where employer brand makes a difference. An employer brand can be a magical combination of what a business values, offers, and rewards—marrying what a brand promises outside with what a experience demands inside; what a business believes in and how we fundamentally respect the people who deliver a brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST SUPPORT A BUSINESS STRATEGY. But one cant just build an employer brand because everyone else does. Its too important. Theres too much it must accomplish. The need must come from a business strategy. The key to a successful employer brand is alignment with the business strategy, says Yvonne Larkin of Diageo. Together the business and organization strategies give the employer brand a reason for being. The power of employer brand is how it connects the internal experience to the external business need. How it grounds the necessity for this internal experience in the economic realities of the buying decisions a customers make. For example, is a business in a phase of rapid growth? An employer brand is essential to a growth strategy. Thats because growth will demand that a business continue to hire the right people in the right jobs at the right time. And keep the people we currently have. This constant effort to recruit and re recruit demands that a business enjoy a reputation in the marketplace that will support am bitions for growth. An employer brand can help a business clarify what will and will not change as we grow. And what growth means to the people who choose to work for we. Or is a business shrinking? An employer brand is essential to a strategy for stability. It can, simply, give employees something to hold on to during periods of significant turbulence. An emotional connection with employees will be tested as a business faces challenges, such as reducing a size without cutting out a heart, or shifting a direction from what employees may consider sacred. And is a business changing? Considering or pursuing new strategies? An employer brand is essential to any change strategy simply because it provides a focal point for employees. An employer brand is a touchstone for a employees, as their willingness to emotionally connect may be tested with each action each day. The essence of effective change management is effective stability management, giving people things to protect as they adjust to things that change. An employer brand can give people that emotional anchor as they may emotionally react to how they are expected to change. It can help people sing off the same page and embrace a common vision.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE, FOR EMPLOYEES, WHAT A CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE. An employer brand will never thrive if its only an HR thing or a Communications thing. If its only purpose is to make people feel better. It will only thrive if it makes a difference in results by making a difference to customers. If it supports every touch point a customers have with a business. Such importance is a key reason why Hallmark, as part of its internal efforts to excite employees about its consumer brand, annually gives each employee a card pack as a friendly way to tell others of sending greeting cards. The card pack is just that—an attractive folder with three greeting cards inside, along with a note to the employee suggesting that they share this pack with someone outside Hallmark and their immediate family, such as a new neighbor, the person sitting next to them on an airplane or bus, or the helpful sacker at the grocery store.† The approach clearly connects employees to consumer touch points to help share Hallmarks mission of enriching lives. A customer who has a positive experience will be more likely to return. But that positive experience doesnt simply happen. People make it happen. And most of these are employees of a business. A customers experience, regardless of the product or service a business offers, is a series of reactions and observ ations at each touch point: how people notice, observe, hear, experience, and talk. Every brand experience has a defining moment. An authentic brand experience will be consistent from one person to the next because employees internalize what they must accomplish at each customer touch point. And ultimately they will tell others what they think based on what their experience. Commitment to the brand is just as important for an employee who touches customers as for an employee who never sees a customer. People who work with customers must live the brand in every interaction they conduct. Others, at the same time, work behind the scenes to make sure customer-facing employees have the tools and support they need for a positive interaction. Any business has people who never see a customer but who, in every interaction, represent the brand. Regardless of where an employee works, the commitment to deliver the brand involves internalizing the promise the brand makes, developing the skills necessary to deliver the promise, and displaying the behavior necessary when implementing those skills. At every touch point.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE WHAT A BUSINESS NEEDS FROM AN EMPLOYEES. All the magical things that can happen when a brand connects with customers dont simply happen. Employees make them happen. An employer brand is more than simply articulating what the customer brand is all about. A employer brand must define what a business needs from employees to deliver the brand Two things must happen for any employee of any business— from the smallest gas station on the corner to the largest global business—to live the brand. First, the employee must understand what the brand is all about. The employee must understand and internalize the essence of what a business is about—how that essence authentically applies to the products and services and experiences a business offers, and how the customer brand articulates this essence. What customers expect. To successfully deliver the brand promise to customers, the employee must understand the difference a business makes to customers—through its brands as well as what employees are expected to deliver. Which is the difference between doing the job and delivering the brand? Second, the employee must believe how the brand differentiates from what else is available on the market. Its not enough for the employee to believe the product, service, or business is a better choice. The employee must seriously believe it is the only choice. How the brand is aspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the pictures the brand can create. The idea the brand promotes. How the brand reaches beyond a single product or service to articulate the cumulative purpose of a business behind the brand and how it connects to what people aspire to be. How the brand is inspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the brand. What a business stands for. How it differentiates from others, not just in products and services, but in fundamental integrity. How its business proposition stands apart. What is unique in how a business inspires people to connect? How the brand is emotional. The employee must feel a sense of ownership in the brand, how the brand represents a business and anyone who works for a business. As if each employee wears the brand on his or her sleeve. And it certainly involves more than wearing a logo on a shirt. This has everything to do with the values of a business. Its as if, to strongly believe in the brand, the employee must believe there is something at this business they simply cannot find anywhere else. This has everything to do with how the employees values align with the values of a business. And if everyone in a business shares and aligns with these values, the brand will grow stronger. How the brand is functional. Finally, the employee must believe the products and services a business produces will actually work. They must believe in the functional integrity of what a business delivers.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE ON-BRAND BEHAVIOR. On-brand behavior is what brand is all about. Any business needs specific behaviors from employees to deliver its brand promise to customers. This on-brand behavior occurs when an employee acts (or delivers) in a way that is consistent with what the brand is all about. And its important because customers experience the brand only when employees deliver the characteristics the brand promises—when the behavior of employees supports the promise of the brand. The key to delivery of the brand is the on-brand behavior of employees at each touch point. PG carefully outlines the principles for creating exciting, memorable PG experiences—in short, a summary of on-brand behavior. In materials distributed to employees, the company says, â€Å"To make the experience personal for a consumer, the employee is encouraged, for example, to anticipate, appreciate, and respond to diverse styles, needs, and motivations. To put the guest in the center of the experience, the employee is encouraged to be genuine and authentic in actions and behavior. To deliberately build a consistent delightful experience for the consumer, the employee is encouraged to define and execute a total experience from the very first moment the guest is made aware through the final follow-up. To make the guests experience comfortable and seemingly simple, the employee is suggested to put the guest at ease. And to respond generously and selflessly to delight, and go beyond what is expected, the employee is encouraged to always look for ways to improve an experience .† The role of the employee to deliver the brand will differ from one business to another, simply because of the differences in what businesses offer. On-brand behavior is just as important in businesses whose employees never see a customer. Employees create what a business sells to customers. And customers experience the brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST CONNECT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE TO WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE. A business has a customer brand as a place to buy—and an employer brand as a place to work. While a customer brand focuses on specific products or services available externally, an employer brand may highlight distinct experiences or opportunities available internally. An employer brand, on the inside, frames the experience a business creates for employees, so they in turn deliver the brand promises to customers. In fact, the only way an employer brand can authentically reflect a business is if it articulates an identity, mission and values. That can happen only if an employer brand builds from the inside—to incorporate an essential identity, mission, and values. But its not just about what happens inside a business. To fully picture the potential of an employer brand, we must focus on what happens outside—and what an employees must deliver.  § A EMPLOYER BRAND MUST FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE CHOICE Every day, employees make choices about where and how to work. They view each stage of their relationship with a business as a brand experience that a business delivers. Some may consider new opportunities they believe may better meet their personal expectations. Some may wonder Whats in it for me? if they contribute to the demands of the job and a business. Some may decide to depart a business about which they hold memories of what they experience—and they likely will share those experiences with others still actively connected to or certainly considering a business as an employer. Thats why a business needs to use its employer brand no matter what it is doing or w Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance Acknowledgement Apart from the efforts put by me, the success of any project depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of my Thesis. I am heartily thankful to my Thesis Guide- Prof. Robin Thomas, whose encouragement, guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an understanding of this subject. The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are contributing to this research, was vital for the success of this Thesis. I am grateful for their constant support and help. OBJECTIVE: To study the impact of Employer Branding on Employee Performance in the organizations in todays scenario. Also, to study the impact of effective Employer Branding on perceptual and objective areas of Performance Management. ABSTRACT Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys the organizations value proposition the totality of the organizations culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging its people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding represents a firms efforts to promote, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes it different and desirable as an employer. In recent years employer branding has gained popularity among practicing managers. The importance of managing employee perceptions has given rise to the contemporary notion of Employer Brand. This is essentially the brand the employer projects to existing and potential employees via the chain of communication touch points ranging from recruitment intermediaries through to line managers. However one of the major issues in Employer Branding is how to measure an employer brand, what value does the employer brand have? Ultimately, a strong employer brand should contribute to the performance and success of the organization. The workforce is the real driver of profits in todays business world. Employer Branding helps in recruitment and retention of the best of talents. It has its impact in many areas of Human Resource Management like Employee Loyalty, Employee commitment, Employee retention and one of these areas which should get highly affected by this concept is Employee Performance. The strength of an organizations brand has a significant impact on the performance of its employees. A strong Employer Brand has a significant influence in the employees performance and that a strong product brand can essentially support the development of the employment brand. These days companies make a lot of investments in this concept of Employer Branding, thus studying the extent of its impact on Employees Performance in these organizations has become a vital need in todays scenario. THE SCOPE/COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF THE STUDY * To study the concept of Employer Branding and its evolution over a period of time. * To study what it takes for an organization to build a magnetic Employer Brand. * To study the causes that lead organizations to focus more on this concept of Employer Branding. * To study the extent to which this process of Employer Branding helps the organizations to improve Employee Performance and what impact it has on other areas like Employee Loyalty and Employee Retention. * To study Employees Brand Based Equity and its impact on Employee Performance. * To study the benefits gained by the organizations as well as the obstacles faced by the organizations in the development and implementation of this process of Employer Branding. * To study the ways by which the impact of Employer Branding Process can be measured with Employee Performance being a major area of focus. METHODOLOGY The conceptual study of the thesis will be done through literature reviews. Descriptive research design will be used to get an idea of the implementation of this concept. Also, Causal research design will be used to understand the relationship between the variables under study to reach reliable and valid conclusions. The method of Probability sampling will be used to carry out the required surveys. Hereby, the method of Stratified Random Sampling will be used. The use of these methods and Research Designs would make the study more concrete and reliable. SOURCES OF INFORMATION  · Secondary data collection will be done through websites, literature study, journals, magazines and articles.  · Primary data collection will be done through interviews of professionals and subject experts. Also, the questionnaires will be used to carry out the surveys of the Target Audience. * The target audience would be the H.R [Senior Level] and Subject Experts. Study would be conducted across sectors and around Five Industries would be taken under study. Five Firms would be taken for survey purpose under each Industry. So in all, 25 H.R [Senior Level] across sectors and Five Subject Experts would be surveyed. Sample size would be 30. Note: The thesis has to be divided in three parts. The first part would talk about the following: * The meaning and background of Employer Branding, the dimensions of Employer Branding, etc. * The meaning and background of Employee Performance and how it is defined. * How are Employer Branding and Employee Performance related. The second part would be of Industry research which would include study of various industries taking into consideration various units under various industries. It would include data analysis and data interpretation. The third part would include the derivations of the study. It would include key findings and learning and suggestions. Chapter 1. Introduction to Branding 1.1 Defining a Brand Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. In fact, the word brand is derived from the Old Norse word brandr, which means â€Å"to burn, as brands are the means by which owners of livestock mark their animals to identify them. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.† Technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand. Thus, the key to creating a brand, according to the AMA definition, is to be able to choose a name, logo, symbol, package design, or other attribute that identifies a prod ­uct and distinguishes it from others. These different components of a brand that iden ­tify and differentiate it can be called brand elements. A brand is therefore a product, but one that adds other dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents. One mar ­keting Observer put it this way. More specifically, what distinguishes a brand from its unbranded commodity counterpart and gives it equity is the sum total of consumers perceptions and feelings about the products attributes and how they perform, about the brand name and what it stands for, and about the company associated with the brand? 1.2 Why Brand? More and more firms and other organizations have come to the realization that one of their most valuable assets is the brand names associated with their products or services. In an increasingly complex world, individuals and businesses are faced with more and more choices but seemingly have less and less time to make those choices. The ability of a strong brand to simplify consumer decision making, reduce risk, and set expectations is thus invaluable. Creating strong brands that deliver on that promise, and maintaining and enhancing the strength of those brands over time, is thus a management imperative. Emile Durkheim in Elementary Forms of The Religious Life explains the religion of the Australian Aborigines. The concept of a church as Durkheim defines it is ‘a shared feeling of a special kind. It is group dynamics, the act of assembling for a common purpose, that creates the feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling of being in the presence of a spirit greater than the individual, a sacred feeling that strikes a chord with our deepest longings. Brands, too, strike chords. However, striking the right chord is both difficult and often costly. There are no guarantees of the result, although there is a clear difference in the growth of financial value if we compare companies that have done at least a little branding and those that havent branded themselves at all. 1.3 Why do Brands matter? Creating a successful brand entails blending all these various elements to ­gether in a unique way—the product or service has to be of high quality and appropriate to consumer needs, the brand name must be appealing and in tune with the consumers perceptions of the product, the packaging, promo ­tion, pricing and all other elements must similarly meet the tests of appropri ­ateness, appeal, and differentiation. An obvious question is why are brands important? What functions do they per ­form that make them so valuable to marketers? One can take a couple of per ­spectives to uncover the value of brands to both consumers and firms themselves. 1.3.1 To Consumers As with the term product, this book uses the term consumer broadly to encompass all types of customers, including individuals as well as organizations. To consumers, brands provide important functions. Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Most important, brands take on special meaning to consumers. Because of past experi ­ences with the product and its marketing program over the years, consumers learn about brands. They find out which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. As a result, brands provide a shorthand device or means of simplification for their product decisions. If consumers recognize a brand and have some knowledge about it, then they do not have to engage in a lot of additional thought or processing of information to make a product decision. Thus, from an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lour search costs for products both internally (in terms of how much they have to think) and externally (in terms of how much they have to look around). Based on what they already know about the brand—its quality, product characteristics, and so forth— consumers can make assumptions and form reasonable expectations about what they may not know about the brand. Brands can also play a significant role in signaling certain product characteristics to consumers. Researchers have classified products and their associated attributes or benefits into three major categories: search goods, experience goods, and credence goods. With search goods, product attributes can be evaluated by visual inspection (e.g., the sturdiness, size, color, style, weight, and ingredient composition of a product). With experience goods, product attributes—potentially equally important—cannot be assessed so easily by inspection, and actual product trial and experience is necessary (e.g., as with durability, service quality, safety, and ease of handling or use). With cre ­dence goods, product attributes may be rarely learned (e.g., insurance coverage). Because of the difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality and other characteristics to consumers for these types of products. Brands can reduce the risks in product decisions. Consumers may perceive many different types of risks in buying and consuming a product: *Functional risk: The product does not perform up to expectations *Physical risk: The product poses a threat to the physical well-being or health of the user or others *Financial risk: The product is not worth the price paid *Social risk: The product results in embarrassment from others *Psychological risk: The product affects the mental well-being of the user *Time risk: The failure of the product results in an opportunity cost of finding another satis ­factory product Although there are a number of different means by which consumers handle these risks, certainly one way in which consumers cope is to buy well-known brands, espe ­cially those brands with which consumers have had favorable past experiences. Thus, brands can be a very important risk-handling device, especially in business to business settings where these risks can sometimes have quite profound implications. 1.3.2 To Firms Brands also provide a number of valuable functions to firms. Fundamentally, they serve an identification purpose to simplify product handling or tracing for the firm. Operationally, brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, manufacturing processes can be protected through patents, and packaging can be protected through copyrights and designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. As noted earlier, these investments in the brand can endow a product with unique associations and meanings that differentiate it from other products. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and cre ­ates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market. Although manufacturing processes and product designs may be easily duplicated, last ­ing impressions in the minds of individuals and organizations from years of marketing activity and product experience may not be so easily reproduced. In this sense, brand ­ing can be seen as a powerful means of securing a competitive advantage. 1.4 Can anything be branded? [Can organizations be branded?] Brands clearly provide important benefits to both consumers and firms. An obvious question, then, is, How are brands created? How do we brand a product? Although firms provide the impetus for brand creation through their marketing programs and other activities, ultimately a brand is something that resides in the minds of consumers. A brand is a perceptual entity that is rooted in reality, but it is also more than that, reflecting the perceptions and perhaps even the idiosyncrasies of consumers. To brand a product it is necessary to teach consumers who the product is by giving it a name and using other brand elements to help identify it—as well as what the product does and why consumers should care. In other words, to brand a product or ser ­vice, it is necessary to give consumers a label for the product (i.e., heres how we can identify the product) and to provide meaning for the brand to consumers (i.e., heres what this particular product can do for we and why it is special and different from other brand name products). Branding involves creating mental structures and helping con ­sumers organize their knowledge about products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making and, in the process, provides value to the firm. The key to brand ­ing is that consumers perceive differences among brands in a product category. As noted earlier, brand differences often are related to attributes or benefits of the product itself. In other cases, however, brand d ifferences may be related to more intangible image considerations. The universality of branding can be recognized by looking at some different product applications. As noted previously, products can be defined broadly to include phys ­ical-goods, services, retail stores, online businesses, people, organizations, places, or ideas. Brands extend beyond products and services. People and organizations also can be viewed as brands. The naming aspect of the brand is generally straightforward in this case, and people and organizations also often have well-defined images understood and liked or disliked by others. This fact becomes particularly true when considering public figures such as politicians, entertainers, and professional athletes. All of these different public figures compete in some sense for public approval and acceptance and benefit from conveying a strong and desirable image. 2: Introduction to Employer Branding 2.1 Defining an Employer Brand Like a consumer brand, it is an emotional relationship, but between an employer and employee, one that radiates out from this core to other stakeholders, to the community at large, and obviously to potential employees. Employer branding is the development and communication of an organizations culture as an employer in the marketplace. It conveys a value proposition the totality of a culture, systems, attitudes, and employee relationship along with encouraging a people to embrace and share goals for success, productivity, and satisfaction both on personal and professional levels. Employer branding is the essence of the employment experience, providing points that commence with initial employer brand awareness, and continuing throughout the tenure of employment, even extending into retirement. Employer branding is a distinguishing and relevant opportunity for a company to differentiate itself from the competition creating its branded factors as its USP for employee satisfaction and happiness resulting in retention, productivity and efficiency. 2.2 Elements/ Essentials of an Employer Brand Few things that form an Employer Brand are:  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST ARTICULATE A PROMISE TO EMPLOYEES. Just as every business has a customer brand, every business has an employer brand, too. Whether or not a business has ever spent any time developing it. Thats because every business needs employees. And as it recruits and retains and motivates, a business needs to clarify what it stands for. Why it must exist. What difference it can make. What it believes in. How its offerings align with its values. And if a business doesnt define an employer brand, just ask the recruiters. They will tell the story based on their own experience. In fact, more than 90 percent of people on line looking for jobs say they must very closely or closely understand the value of working for a company, according to the 2005 poll by Yahoo! Hot Jobs. An employer brand is a promise to employees to provide an experience that, in return, will motivate their commitment to deliver a customer brand. The real spirit of a employer brand is a combination of what a business may promise and deliver, inside and outside. Essentially, its about a relationship, between a business and a people. How business generally approaches people, or talent, has actually changed a bit over the years. We can remember when business viewed employees as followers in a campaign—people who simply did as they were told. Then, as time passed, business progressed to considering employees as partners in the implementation of strategies. This led, in recent years, to a consideration of the exchange between employees and business—sort of a we do this in exchange for this—to express the relationship. But that was primarily a financial transaction. And over time the old ways of framing the relationship functionally became outdated. Employees began to demand a relationship that reached for something more: an emotional connection. Thats where employer brand makes a difference. An employer brand can be a magical combination of what a business values, offers, and rewards—marrying what a brand promises outside with what a experience demands inside; what a business believes in and how we fundamentally respect the people who deliver a brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST SUPPORT A BUSINESS STRATEGY. But one cant just build an employer brand because everyone else does. Its too important. Theres too much it must accomplish. The need must come from a business strategy. The key to a successful employer brand is alignment with the business strategy, says Yvonne Larkin of Diageo. Together the business and organization strategies give the employer brand a reason for being. The power of employer brand is how it connects the internal experience to the external business need. How it grounds the necessity for this internal experience in the economic realities of the buying decisions a customers make. For example, is a business in a phase of rapid growth? An employer brand is essential to a growth strategy. Thats because growth will demand that a business continue to hire the right people in the right jobs at the right time. And keep the people we currently have. This constant effort to recruit and re recruit demands that a business enjoy a reputation in the marketplace that will support am bitions for growth. An employer brand can help a business clarify what will and will not change as we grow. And what growth means to the people who choose to work for we. Or is a business shrinking? An employer brand is essential to a strategy for stability. It can, simply, give employees something to hold on to during periods of significant turbulence. An emotional connection with employees will be tested as a business faces challenges, such as reducing a size without cutting out a heart, or shifting a direction from what employees may consider sacred. And is a business changing? Considering or pursuing new strategies? An employer brand is essential to any change strategy simply because it provides a focal point for employees. An employer brand is a touchstone for a employees, as their willingness to emotionally connect may be tested with each action each day. The essence of effective change management is effective stability management, giving people things to protect as they adjust to things that change. An employer brand can give people that emotional anchor as they may emotionally react to how they are expected to change. It can help people sing off the same page and embrace a common vision.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE, FOR EMPLOYEES, WHAT A CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE. An employer brand will never thrive if its only an HR thing or a Communications thing. If its only purpose is to make people feel better. It will only thrive if it makes a difference in results by making a difference to customers. If it supports every touch point a customers have with a business. Such importance is a key reason why Hallmark, as part of its internal efforts to excite employees about its consumer brand, annually gives each employee a card pack as a friendly way to tell others of sending greeting cards. The card pack is just that—an attractive folder with three greeting cards inside, along with a note to the employee suggesting that they share this pack with someone outside Hallmark and their immediate family, such as a new neighbor, the person sitting next to them on an airplane or bus, or the helpful sacker at the grocery store.† The approach clearly connects employees to consumer touch points to help share Hallmarks mission of enriching lives. A customer who has a positive experience will be more likely to return. But that positive experience doesnt simply happen. People make it happen. And most of these are employees of a business. A customers experience, regardless of the product or service a business offers, is a series of reactions and observ ations at each touch point: how people notice, observe, hear, experience, and talk. Every brand experience has a defining moment. An authentic brand experience will be consistent from one person to the next because employees internalize what they must accomplish at each customer touch point. And ultimately they will tell others what they think based on what their experience. Commitment to the brand is just as important for an employee who touches customers as for an employee who never sees a customer. People who work with customers must live the brand in every interaction they conduct. Others, at the same time, work behind the scenes to make sure customer-facing employees have the tools and support they need for a positive interaction. Any business has people who never see a customer but who, in every interaction, represent the brand. Regardless of where an employee works, the commitment to deliver the brand involves internalizing the promise the brand makes, developing the skills necessary to deliver the promise, and displaying the behavior necessary when implementing those skills. At every touch point.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE WHAT A BUSINESS NEEDS FROM AN EMPLOYEES. All the magical things that can happen when a brand connects with customers dont simply happen. Employees make them happen. An employer brand is more than simply articulating what the customer brand is all about. A employer brand must define what a business needs from employees to deliver the brand Two things must happen for any employee of any business— from the smallest gas station on the corner to the largest global business—to live the brand. First, the employee must understand what the brand is all about. The employee must understand and internalize the essence of what a business is about—how that essence authentically applies to the products and services and experiences a business offers, and how the customer brand articulates this essence. What customers expect. To successfully deliver the brand promise to customers, the employee must understand the difference a business makes to customers—through its brands as well as what employees are expected to deliver. Which is the difference between doing the job and delivering the brand? Second, the employee must believe how the brand differentiates from what else is available on the market. Its not enough for the employee to believe the product, service, or business is a better choice. The employee must seriously believe it is the only choice. How the brand is aspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the pictures the brand can create. The idea the brand promotes. How the brand reaches beyond a single product or service to articulate the cumulative purpose of a business behind the brand and how it connects to what people aspire to be. How the brand is inspirational. The employee must believe in the authenticity of the brand. What a business stands for. How it differentiates from others, not just in products and services, but in fundamental integrity. How its business proposition stands apart. What is unique in how a business inspires people to connect? How the brand is emotional. The employee must feel a sense of ownership in the brand, how the brand represents a business and anyone who works for a business. As if each employee wears the brand on his or her sleeve. And it certainly involves more than wearing a logo on a shirt. This has everything to do with the values of a business. Its as if, to strongly believe in the brand, the employee must believe there is something at this business they simply cannot find anywhere else. This has everything to do with how the employees values align with the values of a business. And if everyone in a business shares and aligns with these values, the brand will grow stronger. How the brand is functional. Finally, the employee must believe the products and services a business produces will actually work. They must believe in the functional integrity of what a business delivers.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST DEFINE ON-BRAND BEHAVIOR. On-brand behavior is what brand is all about. Any business needs specific behaviors from employees to deliver its brand promise to customers. This on-brand behavior occurs when an employee acts (or delivers) in a way that is consistent with what the brand is all about. And its important because customers experience the brand only when employees deliver the characteristics the brand promises—when the behavior of employees supports the promise of the brand. The key to delivery of the brand is the on-brand behavior of employees at each touch point. PG carefully outlines the principles for creating exciting, memorable PG experiences—in short, a summary of on-brand behavior. In materials distributed to employees, the company says, â€Å"To make the experience personal for a consumer, the employee is encouraged, for example, to anticipate, appreciate, and respond to diverse styles, needs, and motivations. To put the guest in the center of the experience, the employee is encouraged to be genuine and authentic in actions and behavior. To deliberately build a consistent delightful experience for the consumer, the employee is encouraged to define and execute a total experience from the very first moment the guest is made aware through the final follow-up. To make the guests experience comfortable and seemingly simple, the employee is suggested to put the guest at ease. And to respond generously and selflessly to delight, and go beyond what is expected, the employee is encouraged to always look for ways to improve an experience .† The role of the employee to deliver the brand will differ from one business to another, simply because of the differences in what businesses offer. On-brand behavior is just as important in businesses whose employees never see a customer. Employees create what a business sells to customers. And customers experience the brand.  § AN EMPLOYER BRAND MUST CONNECT WHAT HAPPENS OUTSIDE TO WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE. A business has a customer brand as a place to buy—and an employer brand as a place to work. While a customer brand focuses on specific products or services available externally, an employer brand may highlight distinct experiences or opportunities available internally. An employer brand, on the inside, frames the experience a business creates for employees, so they in turn deliver the brand promises to customers. In fact, the only way an employer brand can authentically reflect a business is if it articulates an identity, mission and values. That can happen only if an employer brand builds from the inside—to incorporate an essential identity, mission, and values. But its not just about what happens inside a business. To fully picture the potential of an employer brand, we must focus on what happens outside—and what an employees must deliver.  § A EMPLOYER BRAND MUST FOCUS ON EMPLOYEE CHOICE Every day, employees make choices about where and how to work. They view each stage of their relationship with a business as a brand experience that a business delivers. Some may consider new opportunities they believe may better meet their personal expectations. Some may wonder Whats in it for me? if they contribute to the demands of the job and a business. Some may decide to depart a business about which they hold memories of what they experience—and they likely will share those experiences with others still actively connected to or certainly considering a business as an employer. Thats why a business needs to use its employer brand no matter what it is doing or w

JD EDwards :: essays research papers

COMPANY OVREVIEW: JD. Edwards provide innovative, full range business solutions for multinational organizations for almost a quarter of a century. Its innovative approach allowed it to act as a true business partner with companies of all sizes, leveraging their existing investments and taking advantage of new technologies thereby increasing their competitive advantage. 80 international offices are maintained to support an ever-expanding customer base of more than 6200 installations distributed among 113 countries. J.D. Edwards also helped to shape the next phase of e-business in the Internet economy: collaborative commerce (C-Commerce). C-Commerce is the ability to deliver open, collaborative technologies that facilitate communication among organizations, suppliers and customers across a supply chain, maximizing value in business-to-business environments. J.D. Edwards has over 80 product alliance partners, leading to a myriad of platform variations in implementing their business solutions. Providing a means for its international sales force to demonstrate their range of applications in ways that emulate the diverse environments of its customers was a formidable and costly challenge. As with most dynamic international organizations, J.D. Edwards has a continually expanding internal requirement for collaborative and business process applications. A number of pending application initiatives meant that the wide area network infrastructure would require expansion. Reducing the network overhead of bandwidth hungry client/server applications could allay costly link upgrades. J.D. Edwards operates a tiered IT administration architecture. The primary IT expertise and 7x24 support services are concentrated at the corporate headquarters in Denver. Administrators are stationed at larger hub sites and also support smaller satellite offices. These regional administrators incur significant travel expense when server console access is required at the satellite locations. Solutions J.D. Edwards implemented Windows 2000 Terminal Services to provide single instance delivery of its business applications integrated within a wide variety of client environments. Their centralized Windows 2000 terminal servers now provide product demonstration capabilities for an international sales force of 300, highlighting an array of product integration capabilities. Centralizing these complex client scenarios significantly reduced the ongoing support and management of the sales systems. Prior to setting up Windows 2000 terminal servers, demos were being run by individual sales people on their own laptops, they would demo multiple versions of the software by having multiple hard drives. That was a lot of administration overhead. Deployment of the constant stream of application updates was also greatly simplified. When there are new versions of client software they’re very easy to deploy. J.D. Edwards also deployed Terminal Services as a delivery platform for a bandwidth hungry client/server application.

Reflection Using The Gibb’s Reflective Cycle model Essay

In order to help me with my reflection I have chosen Gibbs (1988), as the model to help guide my reflective process. This model comprises of a process that helps the individual look at a situation and think about their thoughts and feelings at the time of the incident. Reflective skills help us to think about what could have been done, so that if a similar situation occurs again the experience gained can be used to deal with the situation in a professional manner (Palmer et al 1997). To enable me to use this situation for my reflection the patient will be referred to as â€Å"James†. This is in order that his real name is protected and that confidentially maintained in line with the An Bord Altranais Code of Professional Conduct (2000). James, a seventeen year old boy was admitted with a fractured wrist who suffers with schizophrenia. Jame’s condition caused him to have delusions and hallucinations which made him act inappropriately towards other patients and staff. He found it hard to relax and paced the ward a lot. James constantly needed reassurance and would ask other patients and staff if he was all right. His questioning involved wanting to know if he was in trouble and if his eye balls were ok. Everyone would reply to his questions by saying: â€Å"yes James you are all right, your eyeballs are fine and no you are not in any trouble‟, but this was not enough, you also had to give the â€Å"thumbs up† as well to assure him that he was fine. When James became agitated he would act out by kicking people. Due to his small size and light weight, the kick was usually light and didn’t hurt but sometimes it had strength in it. This acting out led me to question my preceptor if James’s kicking was behavioural or part of the illness and why it hadn’t been dealt with. My preceptor relayed to me that the nurses had used various techniques including behavioural therapy to stop James’s kicking but nothing had worked. Doctors had also tried a number of different drugs to help James with his schizophrenia but nothing had worked for him there either. He had been taking Clozaril for a few months but it was not doing anything for his psychotic symptom s. James was even sent to the Maudsley hospital in England (a world leader in psychiatry research) to see if they could help him or if they had any ideas that could help him in his treatment but experts were mystified with him there also. Mealtimes were a very difficult process with James. If he could get away with it, he would never eat. He would play around with his food, smell it, ask if it was poisoned and ask various  questions to distract the nurse from what he or she was trying to do (which was trying to get James to eat). It was a very tedious task for the nurse in charge of him that day to get him to eat. The nurses always handled it professionally and with a lot of patience. Usually by the end of the meal James had eaten almost half of it and so would also have to drink a fortisip later to make up for his lack of dietary intake. One evening after a long and tiring day, the nurse in charge of James was busy and I was put in charge of him eating his dinner. As usual the task was very hard and James didn’t seem to take me very serious. I tried to emulate what I had seen the other nurses do but James would hardly touch his food. He even began spitting out his food on the plate and this really disgusted me. I tried not to let him know what I was thinking and behave like a professional. I also tried to encourage him by saying â€Å"come on now James, just a little bit more â€Å"and he did the usual by trying to distract me and asking questing like â€Å"Am I dead, I’ve no eyes†, but I wasn’t having it. This process went on for what seemed like an eternity and I was beginning to get very frustrated. I finally said to him, â€Å"if you don’t eat your food, I’m goanna have to feed you like a little baby†. I then took his fork, scooped up some food and held it in front of him. I then said â€Å"now open your mouth†. It was then that it finally dawned on me what I was doing and I immedia tely stopped. I was filled with embarrassment as I realised the implications of my actions. I glanced around at the other tables to see if the other nurses and patients had seen or heard me, but they had not. I felt very glad that no one had witnessed my actions but also very ashamed of myself for what I had done. James didn’t seem very bothered by me and carried on with his questions. I was glad he didn’t seem angry or upset by what I had said but I also wondered if my actions had an effect on his unconscious feelings. When I had first saw James I was very intimidated and a little scared of him because he was very confrontational and tended to lash out. What was good about this experience was that I had finally gotten over my fear of him. By challenging him to eat, I felt more assertive and empowering. Kilkus (1993) claims that using assertive behaviour in nursing, empowers the nurse and is an invaluable component in the profession. The negative side to this incident was that I became too forceful and domineering. By saying to him â€Å"I’m goanna have to feed you like a little baby† was very sarcastic of me  and subconsciously I was even mocking him. It also could have made James associate food with negative feelings and that would have set the nurses back in their progress with getting him to eat. Jacobsson et al (2004) asserts that food psychologically, can be associated with positive feelings of well-being and comfort or it can be associated with negative feelings of sorrow or b urden. Although James did not react to what I had said, this did not mean he did not comprehend it. It is common for schizophrenia sufferers to appear as though they have a lack of feelings. This is so, due to damaged pathways connecting the brain to facial expressions. Although it is possible that these feelings cannot be expressed, emotions are felt inside (Kring et al. 1993). James may not have understood the underlying meaning of what I was saying to him but we as human beings can convey and relate to others through expressions, gestures and body language. Whether one comprehends what you are saying or not, one can understand what you are really saying by how you hold yourself, showing how you feel and sometimes what you are thinking (Kozier et al. 2004). James often had trouble communicating what he wanted to say, which is a common aspect of the illness (Kring et al. 1993), and would often throw out words that made no sense to us. Sometimes he would talk about something that meant something else entirely different, for instance he might say; â€Å"Am I dead, I’ve no eyes† but would mean â€Å"I am worried about something†. Only the other nurses would know what he meant as they had experience with James over time. That evening while trying to get James to eat, he said â€Å"Am I dead, I’ve no eyes† and I took it as one of his usual ramblings that meant nothing. I should not have taken it at face value and tried to understand where it was coming from. If I am to become an effective nurse in the future I must have good communication skills with my patients. Only through good communication skills will I be able to establish the patient’s usual forms of communication and social interactions and identify any difficulties the patient may be experiencing. I must also learn how to treat the patient as an individual with their own individual needs and concerns (Taylor et al. 200 8).By saying to James â€Å"I’m goanna have to feed you like a little baby† was very belittling of me. Perhaps a subconscious part of me was annoyed by his disease and I just did not want to deal with it. Eventually, when I become a staff nurse I will have to deal with psychiatric patients, and so I must learn to be open to the  patient (whether they have schizophrenia, Bipolar or any other psychiatric illness) by not having any prejudicial thoughts or perceptions. I must learn to show acceptance and respect (Browne, 1993). I was feeling very tired that evening and so because I was tired, I was probably a little irritable as well. Due to the way I felt and having the tedious task of getting James to eat, I may have acted in a way that I would not have, if I had not been tired. How nurses feel when they are tired may negatively impact their judgment and increase patient errors (Townsend &Anderson, 2009).Once I am a qualified staff nurse I am sure there will be days where I will be feeling very tired but that does not mean using the way I feel as a means to justify my actions. I must be a professional at all times, tired or not. Nursing is a professional practice that is constantly ev olving (Fasoli, 2010), and I as a nurse must act as a professional if I am to succeed in the profession. As a student nurse I need try to understand why James did not want to eat. One of the telltale signs of people with schizophrenia disorders is a deterioration in self-care skills. Individuals with the illness may not be interested in eating, may distrust the food and/or maybe too busy to eat or take care of themselves (Brooking et al. 1996). I was not taking this into consideration when I was trying to get him to eat his dinner. As a novice in the nursing profession, I could put this incident down to inexperience (Benner,1984). I could also put this experience down to bad judgement and bad communication skills on my behalf. Communication is not only the foundation of humanity but it is also the most crucial aspect of nurse-patient interactions (Taylor et al. 2008). I should not have tried to force James to eat. I should have kept trying to convince him to eat in a positive and understanding way (just like how I saw his nurse do before). By forcing James to eat I acted like a bully an d could have subconsciously made him associate eating with negative feelings (Jacobsson et al. 2004). I also could have shown more patience and empathy towards James. As a student nurse I must have patience and empathy for patients and also be sensitive to the patient’s psychological needs (Scully & Dallas, 2005). If this situation were to happen again, I would first examine my self-awareness. According to Bulman & Schutz, (2004, p.29) â€Å"Self-awareness may be described as the foundation skill upon which reflective practice is built†. It enables the nurse to view themselves in a specific situation and monitor what effect he  or she has on the situation and what effect the situation is having on him or her. Nurses with a healthy self-awareness are likely to have a positive effect on patient care. Having a good sense of self-awareness is also necessary for creating therapeutic relationships with one’s patients. As a student nurse I must also learn to communicate to the patient with knowledge and awareness in order to strive for the best for them. Through self- awareness I would have realised that I was tired and kept in mind not to let it have a negative effect on the patient. This is also another way to describe â€Å"reflection in action†. It is whereby the practitioner recognises a situation or problem and thinks about it while still carrying out an action (Schon, 1987). Also if this situation were to happen again I would remember what I had learned by my previous experience. My experience with James has taught me a lot about self-awareness, communicating effectively, empathy, patience, having a comprehension of the patient’s illness, respect, empowerment, not putting my feelings before the patients and staying positive. When this incident occurred I wanted to bury my head under the sand and wish that it never happened, but now I am grateful that it did happen because it gave me an opportunity to look deeper into the situation and deeper into myself. Using the Gibb’s Reflective Cycle model (Gibbs, 1988), has helped me to analyse what took place and examine my own insight and take on what happened. This experience was a learning curv e for me as a novice and it will be beneficial to my learning experience as I have many learning needs as a student nurse. I know realise that only through experience and reflection will I be able to learn from them(Benner, 1984).

The Shining And Misery What Makes A Film Adaptation Great

The Shining and Misery: What makes a film adaptation great? In the film culture, horror is one of the most solid and prominent genres. The film adaptations of the famed Stephen King’s novels; The Shining and Misery had become cult classics. Released ten years apart from each other in 1980 and 1990, both were commercially successful with the revenues of 44.4 million and 61.3 million US dollars. The two works share similar characters and settings, though the premise of each are hugely different where one is about a psychological breakdown due to hauntings in captivity, while the other is about terror of the obsessed and physical abuse. However in the matter of film adaptations, often the finished product ends up being a little, or very different than the original. In adapting literature into film, the accuracy of the details in the story plays a huge role in film making process, and that affects how well it’s received as well. Although the two adaptations had been recognized as some of the best horror novel to film adaptations of all time, Misery is renowned for its simplistic yet tasteful tribute to the original story, and The Shining had received mixed critiques for its emphasis on art directions and its pale adaptation. The plot of The Shining had undergone many changes under the direction of Stanley Kubrick. Numerous tangible differences such as the iconic hotel room number being 237, not 217, the protagonist’s name where in the book is called John Daniel Torrance,Show MoreRelatedStephen King: American Author of Contemporary Horror, Science Fiction, and Fantasy885 Words   |  4 Pagesbooks. Many of his books have been adapted into films, TV movies, and comic books. King has published 50 novels, five nonfiction books, and two hundred short stories. He has received many awards to recognize his amazing works. King is married to Tabitha King and have three children: Naomi King, Joe King, and Owen King. 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