Education Timeline Essay Example for Free

Education Timeline Essay Education Timeline Antiria Jenkins HIS324: History of American Education Instructor: Timothy Kilgore November 12, 2012 http://prezi. com/vcesi_y4xome/history-of-american-education-timeline/ Education in the United States has faced great changes toward development in the past hundreds of years. At the beginning, during the Colonial Era, the principles of education were mainly based on those already used by European nations at the time. However, the country began to adopt its own approaches toward teachings given different social, political and religious practices (Rippa 9). 1635The first Latin Grammar School (Boston Latin School): Founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts, it is known as the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States. The Latin grammar curriculum was designed for boys 8 to 15, based on European Schools in a Puritan area. Schools were to prepare boys for college and the service of God. Protestantism believed that education was needed so that individuals could interpret the bible. 1751American Academy founded by Ben Franklin: The demand of skilled workers in the middle of the eighteenth century led Benjamin Franklin to start a new kind of secondary school, thus, the American Academy was established in Philadelphia. American high schools eventually replaced Latin grammar schools. Curriculum was geared to prepare students for employment. Academies eventually replaced the Latin Grammar Schools and some admitted Women. 783Introduction of Noah Webster’s Speller: Noah Webster published the A grammatical Institute of the English language, also known as, â€Å"the blue-back speller. † This was the most widely circulated of the early American textbooks and like Webster’s American Dictionary it strived to establish a national identity as well as the United States’ linguistic and cultural independence of England. As the first popular American textbo ok, the introduction of Noah Webster’s speller stands as a significant event in the history of American education. 817(April 15, 1817) Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons: The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opens. It is the first permanent school for the deaf in the U. S. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc are the schools co-founders. In 1864, Thomas Gallaudets son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, helps to start Gallaudet University, the first college specifically for deaf students. 824First State-Supported School Established: Originally named the Boston English Classical School and established in 1821, the school was renamed the English High School in 1824 and also, during that year, became the first-state supported common school. The adoption of the English High as a state-supported common school is a significant event in the history of American education as it was, essentially, the first public school. 1855Abolition of Segregation of Schools in Massachusetts: Following the case of Roberts v. Boston, the state of Massachusetts abolished segregation in their schools. The victory would be the first in a long battle lasting nearly an entire century. This was the first law to oppose segregated schools in the United States and is, therefore, a significant event in the history of American education. 1856The First Kindergarten: In the United States Margarethe Schurz founded the first kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1856. Her German-language kindergarten impressed Elizabeth Peabody, who opened the first American English-language kindergarten in Boston in 1860. The kindergarten was much more influential in the United States and in the northern part of Europe which encouraged the National Education Association to begin a kindergarten department in 1874, and later, teachers founded the International Kindergarten Union in 1892. 1896The Laboratory School of the University of Chicago (First Progressive Laboratory):John Dewey, the father of the progressive education, established the first laboratory school for testing the progressive educational method. This would lead to a popular trend in education adopted by schools during the first half of the twentieth century. Progressive education emphasizes cultivation of problem solving and critical thinking skills through hands-on learning activities. 1905 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center. The Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating seat time (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits which is still in use today. This system is known as the Carnegie Unit. 1939 The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (first called the Wechsler- Bellevue Intelligence Scale): This scale was developed by David Wechsler and is intended to measure human intelligence reflected in both verbal and performance abilities. It introduces the concept of the deviation IQ, which calculates IQ scores based on how far subjects scores differ (or deviate) from the average (mean) score of others wh o are the same age, rather than calculating them with the ratio (MA/CA multiplied by 100) system. Wechsler intelligence tests, particularly the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are still widely used in U. S. schools to help identify students needing special education. 1944 The Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights): Bill signed into law on June 22, 1944 by President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II. The GI Bill affords military veterans government funding to pursue or continue educational goals following their service. The GI Bill not only compensates veterans for their service, but has also been responsible for the growth of American colleges and universities. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: On May 17, 1954, The U. S. Supreme court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that separate schools did not provide equal education to students and therefore banned the segregation of schools nationwide with a ruling of (9–0) decision stated that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and declared unconstitutional. 1958 Defense Education Act of 1958: The Defense Education Act of 1958 was signed into law on September 2, 1958 by the United States government during the cold war in reaction to the successful launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik. The Soviets’ scientific success motivated the U. S. government to fund the U. S. Office of Education’s establishment of scientifically and mathematically centered curriculum. The act contained ten titles designed to improve the nations schools. 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed on July 2, 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson banned discrimination in all federally funded programs and outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. This law helped to further the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education as many schools had continued segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 financially, â€Å"cut-off,† institutions, such as public schools, which promoted discrimination of any and all types and gave leverage to the movement. 1965 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed on April 9, 1965 s a part of the War on Poverty. It emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and accountability as well as provides federal funds to help low-income students, which results in the initiation of educational programs such as Title I and bilingual education. 965 The Higher Education Act: The Higher Education Act was signed on November 8, 1965 to strengthen the educational resources of colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education. It increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans for students, and established a National Teachers Cor ps. 1965 Project Head Start: The Head Start program started in the summer of 1965 as an eight week summer program for children from low-income communities going into public school in the fall (Styfco and Zigler, 2003). The program provided preschool classes, medical care, dental care, and mental health services (Kagan, 2002). 1975Education for All Handicapped Children Act now known as The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): requires public schools to make available to all eligible children with disabilities a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their individual needs and requires public school systems to develop appropriate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for each child which will reflect the individualized needs of each student. 002 The No Child Left Behind Act: On January 8, 2002, NCLB was signed into law. NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. States must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels in order to receive federal school funding. All students are required to meet the standards establish by NCLB at the accountability of educators. 2004 H. R. 350, The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA 2004): reauthorizes and modifies IDEA. Changes, which take effect on July 1, 2005, include modifications in the IEP process and procedural safeguards, increased authority for school personnel in special education placement decisions, and alignment of IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act. The 2004 reauthorization also requires school districts to use the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach as a means for the early identification of students at risk for specific learning disabilities. RTI provides a three-tiered model for screening, monitoring, and providing increasing degrees of intervention using â€Å"research-based instruction with the overall goal of reducing the need for special education services (Re-authorization, 2004). The history of education has been influenced multiple times over the past years. In some shape, form, or fashion, the many changes have affected many lives, especially those with disabilities. Going from segregation to desegregation, women involvement in education and fighting for equal education of those individuals with disabilities has not only marked historical events but has brought togetherness among all races and genders. Without these historical events in shaping education, the world would be at a standstill. References Dewey, John. 1938 (1963). Experience and Education. New York: Collier Books Kagan, J. (2002). Empowerment and education: Civil rights, expert-advocates, and parent politics in Head Start, 1964-1980. Teachers College Record, 104(3), 516-562. Re-authorization of the IDEA 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://www. nj. gov/education/specialed/idea/reauth/ Rippa, Alexander. Education in a Free Society. Eighth Edition. New York: Longman, 1997. 3-107. Print. Styfco, S. , amp; Zigler, E. (2003). Early Childhood Programs for a New Century. Reynolds, A. , amp; Wang, M. (Eds. ) The federal commitment to preschool education: Lessons from and for Head Start (pp. 3-33). Washington, D. C. : Child Welfare League of America, Inc.

An Analysis Social Media Media Essay

An Analysis Social Media Media Essay We have witnessed lots of changes in the communication field over the past few years. Different types of communication media have been emerging and making their way into the market and have made the communication needs of the customers cheaper owing to competition. Internet is one of those things that contributed to the revolutionary changes in the recent times. There have been many changes and different stages of evolution in the said field even with the use of internet. Different methods and technologies have been evolving to use the internet in a better way. Social networking is one of those that have and have been making the internet exciting by the day. The latest buzz Social Networking added to make users more interactive with their friends (Ivanauskas, 2009). Social Networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, and Twitter are already in to the market and making their presence felt by having lot of members join their networks and communicate with their friends and buddy list through their websites. The above mentioned social networking websites have bridged a lot of gap between friends who are priory difficult to stay in touch. They also have many users friendly and value added features such as sharing media and playing online games etc. The increasing demand for these websites meant the marketing companies have started focussing on these websites to attract the unique customer groups these websites represent. The latest buzz in marketing that reaches customer directly has been social networking. Aim: Main aim of this dissertation is to know how the social networking influences the current generation through the extensive utilisation of social networking for marketing purposes and evaluating the social networking sites as a medium of advertisement. Objectives: To study the effect of social networking websites on the current generation. Researching latest marketing strategies of business by using Internet Technologies including social networking sites Conducting a consumer survey about the usefulness and effectiveness of advertisements in social media networks. Context: First online community created was SixDegrees.com in the year 1997. And it used allow users to create their own profile and make them available to their friend by adding to their friends list (Adrian, 2008). The first ever social networking website however did not stand the tide of time and was closed due to reasons which are out of scope of this dissertation. The time spent by the netizens on the social networking sites is increasing by the day and the recent studies only go on to show the same. The community websites hold major part of Internet traffic and it increased 230% since from 2007 (Diana, 2010). The time spent on the internet increased by around 65% by the users in UK from 2007 to 2010 (Burrows, 2010). The statistics also show that the average age of the users of the social networking sites is predominantly low like in the 20 to 30 and 30 to 40 groups due to various reasons. (Michael, 2008) The projections also indicate a billion users for the social networking sites by the end of 2012. The increasing strength of these websites makes the marketing departments rethink their marketing strategies. After going through lots of articles and statistics related to online communities, it has been observed that the latest market trend was revolving around these networking sites and making most of this to their business advantage. Acknowledging the fact that teenagers do spend a lot of time online, it would be interesting to take advantage of this new trend and utilize it for the classroom more specific to the teaching and learning process. (Pingdom, 2010) Experts predict that between 2007 and 2011, U.S. ad spending on social networks will grow 180% from $900 million to $2.5 billion, as illustrated below in Figure II, which is attributable to increased revenue projections of the popular social networking site Facebook and increased spending on niche social networks (Zarina, 2009). It is indeed surprising to observe the share of internet marketing in the youth related companies. Modern marketing companies started making tools to make use of this trend and the same can be observed by studying these websites. In fact many companies adopted marketing in social networking websites as their major outlet of advertising and publicity. (RedBridge, 2008; MLC, 2008) The companies are also undergoing a major change technologically like adopting technologies such as web 2.0 to use the marketing space and opportunity in the modern websites such as Facebook, twitter etc which are mentioned above. According to Bakardjieva (2004), technologies of communication media were instrumental factors in building up successful communities that exists today. The increasing demand for the online communities and social networking websites is making new companies enter the arena. The investments of major IT companies in the already existing social networking websites (Google invested $900 million in MySpace and Microsoft $240 millions in Facebook) goes on to show the obvious which is the potential of these sites for the future (Ivanauskas, 2009). The investment is looked upon not as a business opportunity but rather as a marketing venue for these big companies to promote their already existing products. Companies on the other hand besides grabbing big opportunities such as above also are not missing out on being on the user side of these websites and being part of the plan when it comes to their target population. Almost everyone these days seem to have their presence in almost all the social networking sites which are most common in those respective regions. An account in Facebook, MySpace and Twitter seem to be the most common thing to most companies to reach out to customers on a direct basis. The customers are rising their doubts and the interaction is what is making the use of these websites so unique compared to other marketing strategies (Grunert, 2009). The above unique facts about the social networking and the new trends of marketing that are starting to spread making use of the same made the choice easier. It was decided that the area has lot of scope for research. Literature Review: According to Linda Peters (1998), the Web presents a fundamentally different environment both as a medium and as a market from traditional communication channels perspective. Itcreates the Marketspace a virtual realm where products and services exist as digital information and can be delivered through information-based channels (Rayport and Svikola, 1994). The companies and consumers quickly adopted the new concept of the new interactive world for their own benefits. These interactive channels allowed companies to reach new markets or have a grater influence in the existing oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (i.e. example media companies transferred their news papers in order reach new audiences) and the consumers had an opportunity to save time and money by communicating, looking for information or buying product and services online. The concept of interactivity has been extensively researched in advertising and marketing literature and was summarized by Johnson (Johnson et al, 2006) According to Liu Shrum (2002) emergence of new media (Internet), brought new models of interactivity: user-to-user and user-to-message. Contemplating about user-to-user interactivity Ha and James (1998) suggested that the more communication in a computer-mediated environment resembles interpersonal communication, the more interactive the communication isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Steuer (1992) defined users-to-message interaction as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Lee (2005) summarized the main components of online interactivity Commercial online services and the introduction of the Web have created the potential for a mass interactive dialogue between exchange parties (Peters, 1998). The world have witnessed the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurred the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication (Neuman, 2003). The new market space changed the behavior of the people and the communication models. The shift is then from a one (firm)-to-many (consumers) model of communication to the many-to-many model where contribution to the medium and the message may come from both directions (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Chaffey (Dave Chaffey et al., 2007) argues that such kind of communications allows mass customization and personalization and the messages send trough Internet can be targeted more effectively. Moreover, the Web is changing the traditional marketing communications concepts as t he consumers can go all the way from awareness to interest to desire to action (AIDA Framework), all within the same medium and within the same session (Economist, 2008a). Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies signals ia a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources. One of the key features of the new electronic communication media is the ability of consumers to control both contact and content (Peters, 1998). Sohn and Lackenby (2002) suggest that individuals participation in social communication processes is the crucial factor for increasing the perceived interactivity of the Internet (citied in Stafford and Ronald, 2005). Moreover, according to Normann and Ramirez (1994) the consumers become co-producers, because the value is constantly created in interaction with many different players, including consumers, suppliers, employees and managers. As a result, marketers are losing control over the communication messages their trying to deliver to their consumers. According to Gatarski and Lundkvist (1998) when communication, in the meaning of sharing information, meets i nteractivity, it creates not simple massages but forms two-way conversations. These conversations can be applied in production as implementation of mutual ideas (consumers and producersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸) in order to create new enjoyable products or services. 2.1 Introduction to changing media and communications landscape The last century was a gold age for the media development. The new technologies as Telephone, Radio and Television have changed peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s lives forever. The new ways of communications have been successfully adopted and become a norm. The last decade of the century brought the new innovative technology Internet. As predicted by Newman (1991) Internet: Altered the meaning of geographic distance. Allowed the huge increase in the volume of communication. Provided the possibility of increasing the speed of communication. Provided opportunities for interactive communication. Allowed forms of communication that was previously separate to overlap and interconnect. Grieco and Holmes (1999) (citied in Combe et al, 2003) identifies three powerful features of Internet: 1. Disintermediation or the removal of brokers by allowing direct communication across spatial and sociometric distance; 2. Asynchronicyty of the removal of temporality as a barrier to communications; 3. Oculacy or the ability to communicate messages through images. According to Hermeking (2006) The global spread of modern technology, including information and communication technology (ICT), is commonly regarded both as an indicator of the postmodern era of globalization and as the very precondition for that era of intensive worldwide interactions of people and exchanges of goods, services, information, and capital. Hoffman (Hoffman et al., 1995) argues that the popularity of the WWW as a commercial medium (in contrast to other networks on the Internet) is due to its ability to facilitate global sharing of information and resources, and its potential to provide an efficient channel for advertising, marketing, and even direct distribution of certain goods and information services. In the recent years Internet witnessed amazing growth, according to Internet Consumption Report (Soumukil, 2008) the 21% (1,407,724,920) of the world population (6,676,120,288) are internet consumers. Most of them live in well developed regions as North America where internet penetration is as high as (73.1%), Australia (57.0%) and Europe (47.7%). Peters (1998) suggest that no other technological innovation has captured the imagination of users with the speed and impact of the Internet (Graph 1). According to Linda Peters (1998), the Web presents a fundamentally different environment both as a medium and as a market from traditional communication channels perspective. It creates the Marketspace a virtual realm where products and services exist as digital information and can be delivered through information-based channels (Rayport and Svikola, 1994). The companies and consumers quickly adopted the new concept of the new interactive world for their own benefits. These interactive channels allowed companies to reach new markets or have a grater influence in the existing oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (i.e. example media companies transferred their news papers in order reach new audiences) and the consumers had an opportunity to save time and money by communicating, looking for information or buying product and services online. The concept of interactivity has been extensively researched in advertising and marketing literature and was summarized by Johnson (Johnson et al, 2006) (Appendix 1.1). According to Liu Shrum (2002) emergence of new media (Internet), brought new models of interactivity: user-to-user and user-to-message. Contemplating about user-to-user interactivity Ha and James (1998) suggested that the more communication in a computer-mediated environment resembles interpersonal communication, the more interactive the communication isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Steuer (1992) defined users-to-message interaction as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢the extent to which users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated environment in real timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Lee (2005) summarized the main components of online interactivity (Table 1). Commercial online services and the introduction of the Web have created the potential for a mass interactive dialogue between exchange parties (Peters, 1998). The world have witnessed the evolution of a universal interconnected network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurred the distinction between interpersonal and mass communication and between public and private communication (Neuman, 2003). The new market space changed the behavior of the people and the communication models. The shift is then from a one (firm)-to-many (consumers) model of communication to the many-to-many model where contribution to the medium and the message may come from both directions (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Chaffey (Dave Chaffey et al., 2007) argues that such kind of communications allows mass customization and personalization and the messages send trough Internet can be targeted more effectively. Moreover, the Web is changing the traditional marketing communications concepts as t he consumers can go all the way from awareness to interest to desire to action (AIDA Framework), all within the same medium and within the same session (Economist, 2008a). Peters (1998) suggests four main changes in communication model compare the new and old media: 1. Communication style tend to have little or no time lag between the giving, receiving and responding aspects of communication between the parties. 2. Social presence or perceived personalness, the feeling that communication exchanges are sociable, warm, personal, sensitive and active. 3. Control of contact Early research into the willingness of consumers to utilize technology in shopping behavior concludes that the ability to control the pace and presentation of product information has the strongest influence on willingness to engage in computer-mediated marketing activity (Carson et al., 1996). 4. Content The content can be customised either by users or by senders. Where users are able to control the content, or presentation, of the message it is said to be interactive. Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the emergence of new, digital technologies signals ia a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources. One of the key features of the new electronic communication media is the ability of consumers to control both contact and content (Peters, 1998). Sohn and Lackenby (2002) suggest that individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s participation in social communication processes is the crucial factor for increasing the perceived interactivity of the Internet (citied in Stafford and Ronald, 2005). Moreover, according to constantly created in interaction with many different players, including consumers, suppliers, employees and managers. As a result, marketers are losing control over the communication messages their trying to deliver to their consumers. According to Gatarski and Lundkvist (1998) when communication, in the meaning of sharing information, meets interactivity, it creates not simple massages but forms two-way conve rsations. These conversations can be applied in production as implementation of mutual ideas (consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s and producersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸) in order to create new enjoyable products or services. 2.2 Social media and Web 2.0 2.2.1 Social media The real power of people can be noticed in the new revolutionized media channel social media. According to Mayfield (2008) social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of the following characteristics: Participation Engagement: social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience. Openness: most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content password-protected content is frowned on. Conversation: whereas traditional media is about à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾broadcastà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ (content transmitted or distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way conversation. Community: social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a lov e of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show. Connectedness: Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people Drury (2008) suggests that when analyzing social media marketers too often concentrates on the media factor, when social element is the key, because marketing within social media is about building a relationship and conversation with the audience, where the simple message delivery is changed by ongoing exchange of perceptions and ideas between company and the consumer. Haven (2008) suggests that social media key elements are not entirely new as features of sharing, connecting, opining, broadcasting and creating has been long in our lives, but there are several characteristics of new technologies and behaviors that set them apart from the past: Reach Historically, audiences for the common person have been limited: a tribe, family, friends, neighbors, or the local community. Todays technologies pr ovide scale and enable anyone to reach a global audience. Accessibility The means of production for most media used to lie in the hands of enterprises with unlimited resources (financial or human). Todays technologies for media creation are available to anyone at little or no cost. Usability The means of production typically required specialized skills and training, both technically and creatively. Todays technologies simplify those processes, or in some cases reinvent them, so anyone can create and operate the means of production. Transparency People, especially Americans, historically kept personal information to themselves and had a general distrust of authority (enterprises, government, etc.). Today, people are willing to share anything about themselves (interests, location, family situations, health condition, etc.) in a public venue, and todays technologies make that both possible and purposeful. Recency When people did have the means of production and distribution in the past (albeit limited), the time lag between communications was typically long (days, weeks, or even months). It was a limitation of the technology or system in which it operated. Todays technologies enable instantaneous responses and dialog where only the participant determines the delay in response. The interactivity gains a new meaning when it is applied through Web 2.0 platforms and Social media channels as dialogue between consumer and company becomes much more active and interactive. As summarized in the media landscape analysis the past decade was all about two-way communicationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s and interactionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s models. Most of the marketing academics (Kotler, 2003; Pettit and Brassington, 2005) recognized the importance of creating two-way marketing channels between consumer and company for brand building, CRM, sales (and etc). Social media, itself, does not change this idea, but redefines interactivity and takes it to another level. Armano (2008a) argues that social media goes beyond the interactive marketing which is facilitated by computer-human interaction, and introduces human-to-human interaction enabled by technology (Appendix 2.1). The main difference is that the companies instead of pushing the content (i.e. automated e-mailà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s) through online channels empower people to engage and interact with other people and produce new content about the company (blogging, commenting, social networking and etc.). Free production of content and voluntary distribution is the key elements of the social media. Meadows-Klue (2008) suggests that in social media marketing engagement replaces interruption; diversity and self-expression replace conformism and unity; the media of the masses replace mass media; granular insights and rich data replaces generalization and conversations in marketing replace control. Another major change from the marketing perspective is the shift from persuasion to influence. Past decades marketing practitioners were using the communication mix in order to attack consumers with pervasive messages to make them buy goods and services offered, but in the age where 25 percent of search results on Google for the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s 20 largest brands links to consumer-generated content (Nielsen Buzz Metrics, 2007 ), to do this is too late, not practical or impossible, as the messages are already floating out there. According to Mitchell (2008) this process is facilitated by the change of information flows from top down (B2C) to bottom up (C2B) what redefines marketing environment as marketers do not own the message anymore (Figure 2.2, Apendix 2.2). Armano (2008) suggests that people can be divided in different grouping according their strength as the massagers (Apedix 2.3) The User Generated Content (UGC) can become influential message of the consumer to the consumer (C2C) about the company and therefore should be carefully monitored. In fact, the content is the new message in social media channels. According to Eikelmann (Eikelmann et al, 2008) the best marketers can do in this environment is to try to engage with the consumers through social media in order influence these messages. Drury (2008) suggests that instead of sending simple messages, marketers should provide the content which would be relevant for consumers and would generate conversations among them. Therefore, influence will become a standard measurement in Marketing 2.0 (Dowdell, 2008). As blogger and social media strategist Douma (2008) put it: The age of persuasion is over. Welcome to the age of influence. Marketers are forced to look for alternative communication strategies to market in the social media environment, because advertising clutter, growing advertising literacy and changing consumer behaviour drives down the return on investment (Biegel, 2008; Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). These strategies have to consider the increasing fragmentation in the markets. 2.2.2 Web 2.0 Social media and Web 2.0 are two terms which are often used interchangeably in the marketing literature, even though they are not entirely the same. From the marketing perspective, the Web 2.0 should be perceived as the new tools for the marketing communication mix and facilitator and enabler of social media. The Web 2.0 term was introduced by Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly in 2004, it has originated from talks about social software and the communities surrounding these applications. According Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly (Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly, 2007) the companies that survived the dotcom boom had something in common; these companies realized that the Web is much more useful for delivering service than being used just as a platform for packaged products (i.e. software). Constantinides and Fountain (2008) defined Web 2.0 as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Web 2.0 is a collection of open-source, interactive and user-controlled online applications expanding the experiences, knowledge and mar ket power of the users as participants in business and social processes. Web 2.0 applications support the creation of informal users networks facilitating the flow of ideas and knowledge by allowing the efficient generation, dissemination, sharing and editing / refining of informational content . Hoegg (Hoegg et al, 2005) suggests that Web 2.0 is the philosophy of mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. Both definitions share similar concepts of maximizing the collective intelligence, self-regulating community, network effect, transparency of the information creation and sharing process, but the key element in these terms is the user. From technological perspective, there are not many changes in the Web 2.0 compared to Web 1.0 applications; the real value is created by people not only using this social software but participating in the creation process of it (by creating and editing the new content or even in some cases modifying the application itself). According to Constantinides and Fountain (2008), the key innovative elements typifying this new family of web applications can be summarized as three main principles: 1. Focus on simple, service-based open-source solutions in the form of online applications. 2. Continuous and incremental application development requiring the participation and interaction of users in new ways: not only à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-consumingbut also contributing, reviewing and editing content. 3. New service-based business models and new opportunities for reaching small individual customers with low-volume products. As Web 2.0 applications are still in the development stage, the grouping of them varies according to the purpose and field of the research. Hoegg (Hoegg et al, 2005) groups web 2.0 applications according the services they provide (Figure 2.4). Tim Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸Reilly (2005) argues that Web 2.0 doesnt have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core which could be visualized as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core (Appendix 2.4). Therefore it is difficult to classify the Web 2.0 into the precise groupings, because the applications are interrelated and most of the time a few Web 2.0 features works on one platform. The mixture of Web 2.0 applications working under one site are known as Mash-ups. According to Mayfield (2008) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢this combination of two or more pieces of content (or software, or websites) is one of the phenomena in social media that make it at once so exciting, fast-moving and sometimes bewilderingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-. But even more important feature of Web 2.0 applications is the adaptability in the different platforms. Social applications are becoming more and more popular on mobile devices (Phones, iPods (via podcasts)). In fact, according to BBC News (2008) one of the reasons the Internet usage on the mobile devices is increasing Web 2.0 applications. According to Drury (2008) social media applications has an ability to bring Head (Professional) and Tail (UGC) content together in all the formats (audio, video , text). As more and more professionally edited websites incorporates social media content some companies (i.e. Joost) are trying to apply Web 2.0 principals (live participation) for even bigger media platforms as TV. These applications are being tested in the Internet TV and in the near future have a good chance to redefine TV experience completely. All theses changes open new opportunities for integrated marketing campaigns, where marketers are enabled to reach larger audiences of consumers at all their touch points with mediated world at one-stop shop. Blogs and blogging Web Logs (commonly knows as Blogs), according to Tredinnick (2006), are arguably the oldest Web 2.0 applications and have been in the web space since mid 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s. Constantinides and Fountain (2008) states that it is the most know and fastest-growing category of Web 2.0 applications. According to McCann report (2008), 184 million people World Wide have started a blog and 346 million read blogs, which means that 77% of active Internet users read blogs. Furthermore, 17.8 m have read a blog and around 4.3 m have created their own blog in the UK (McCann, 2008). The most recent Technorati research (2008) confirms this phenomenon as they tracked blogs in 81 languages from 66 countries around the world, it suggest that blogging have made a major influence on media ecosystem as bloggers are collectively creating almost one million posts every day and have representation in all top-10 web site lists across all key categories. In general a Blog is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video where entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order and has permalinks (Daily Blog Tips, 2008), but Pomerantz and Stutzman (2006) argues that for every blog author and consumer, the precise understanding of a blogà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s use is different, therefore it is difficult to define its true meaning. Dearstyne (2005) summarized the definitions and blogging opportunities provided by major companies: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Microsoft defines blogs as frequently updated personal web journals that can dramatically help both small and large companies communicate their product messages. They increase peoples ability to share ideas and information exponentiallv, and on a worldwide scale. Accenture says blogs are an interactive website that allows the owner to publish ideas and information. Users can read and evaluate material and add new content, creating a conver sation that spans lime zones and continents. Research Design and methodology: We are left with mainly two options for the way and approach for gathering the research data- primary and secondary in the broadest sense. The primary research methodology involves direct interaction with the subjects where as the secondary research involves collection of data from sources such as literature, magazines etc. While the primary research methodology is more current, it includes interviews, questionnaires, targeted groups, personal interviews etc which is a time taking and tedious process. There needs to be a trade off regarding the extent of primary research data to be included in the research. The main empirical study will be carried out based on the primary data which was collected as per the study requirements. Based on the requirement and research find

Hamlets Grief :: essays research papers

The Grieving of Hamlet Although many different positions could be taken on writing an essay for this Shakespearian play, the author took it upon himself to write about Hamlet’s grief. His grief is obvious from the beginning of the play and he continues to grieve althroughout the play. Within his twenty-one-page essay, I chose this line to represent that I agree with his outlook on the play. â€Å"†¦his focus is on his grief and the profound impact in which the ghost has upon it. (Hamlet pg.18 paragraph 3)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I strongly agree with this statement because Hamlet is continually showing huge amounts of grief throughout the play. Even in his opening words in the play he shows some amount of grief to his uncle, the new king, and his mother. His mother basically says that his father is dead, and that there is no bringing him back. So what good does it do for him to weep and mourn? Hamlet replies to this by saying: Seems madam nay it is! I know not seems ‘Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, Not customary suit of solemn black. Not windy suspiration of forc’d breath, No, nor the fruitful rover pf the eye, Nor the dejected haviour of the visage, Together with all forms, moods, shapes, of grief, That can denote me truly. These, indeed seems, For they are actions that a man might play; But I have that with in which passes show--- These but the trappings and the suits of woe. (1,2,76-78) Clearly this shows Hamlet grieving his father’s death while showing hostility to the king and queen for being so deathly cold about the previous king’s death. Also the readers can also see in Hamlet’s opening dialogue, it shows that he still has not come to terms with his father’s death and is still in the state of shock when we first see him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All throughout the play Hamlet mourns the loss of his father, especially since his father is appearing to him as a ghostly figure telling him to avenge his death, and throughout the play it sets the stage and shows us how he is plotting to get back at the assassinator. Such an instance where the ghost appears to Hamlet is when Hamlet and his mother are in her bedchamber where the ghost will make his last appearance. Hamlet tells his mother to look where the ghost appears but she cannot see it because he is the only one who that has the ability to see him.

Accounting Information Sytems

Wikipedia: An accounting information system (AIS) is a system of collection, storage and processing of financial and accounting data that is used by decision makers. An accounting information system is generally a computer-based method for tracking accounting activity in conjunction with information technology resources. The resulting statistical reports can be used internally by management or externally by other interested parties including investors, creditors and tax authorities. The actual physical devices and systems that allows the AIS to operate and perform its functions 1. Internal controls and security measures: what is implemented to safeguard the data 2. Model Base ManagementThe collection, storage and processing of financial and accounting data that is used by decision makers. An accounting information system is generally a computer-based method for tracking accounting activity in conjunction with information technology resources. The resulting statistical reports can be used internally by management or externally by other interested parties including investors, creditors and tax authorities. An accounting information systems that combines traditional accounting practices such as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) with modern information technology resources. Six elements compose the typical accounting information system: People – the system users.Procedure and Instructions – methods for retrieving and processing data. Data – information pertinent to the organization's business practices. Software – computer programs used to process data.Information Technology Infrastructure – hardware used to operate the system. Internal Controls – security measures to protect sensitive data.MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTINGManagement accounting or managerial accounting is concerned with the provisions and use of accounting information to managers within organizations, to provide them with the basis to make informed bu siness decisions that will allow them to be better equipped in their management and  control functions.In contrast to financial accountancy information, management accounting information is: primarily forward-looking, instead of historically  model based with a degree of abstraction to support decision making generically, instead of case based; designed and intended for use by managers within the organization, instead of being intended for use by shareholders, creditors, and public regulators; usually confidential and used by management, instead of publicly reported; computed by reference to the needs of managers, often using management information systems, instead of by reference to general.The process of preparing management reports andaccounts that provide accurate and timely financial and statistical information required by managers to make day-to-day and short-term decisions. Unlike financial accounting, which produces annual reports mainly for external stakeholders, manage ment accounting generates monthly or weekly reports for an organization's internal audiences such as department managers and the chief executive officer. These reports typically show the amount of available cash, sales revenue generated, amount of orders in hand, state of accounts payable and accounts receivable, outstanding debts, raw material and inventory, and may also include trend charts, variance analysis, and other statistics. Also called managerial accounting.BUSINESS POLICYThis course examines the components and processes of the strategic management model, using examples from Canada and the United States. Students learn to do case analysis throughout the course. Topics covered include strategic management, social responsibility, environmental and internal analysis and diagnosis, strategy selection, and implementation and evaluation After completing this course, students should be able to:Perform a rigorous analysis of a company's strategic direction. Identify and explain a company's mission and vision statement and relate and critique  these statements to the company's strategic direction. Prepare a SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis and explain and evaluate the relationship between the SWOT and a company's strategic direction. Identify and explain all micro and macro forces that shape a company's strategic plan and determine performance. Analyze and evaluate all the steps for the proper alignment of financial and non-financial resources within a company's strategic plan.Analyze a company's strategic plan in the context of the industry life cycle and environment in which it operates. Analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions on the effectiveness and performance of control and integration mechanisms. Establish metrics to assess and measure strategic performance. Analyze and evaluate the company's communication and feedback loop relative to company strategy and performance.Analyze, evaluate, and draw conclusions on the finan cial performance relative to the company's strategic plan. Analyze, evaluate, and identify risks and risk mitigation strategies appropriate to the company's strategic direction. Analyze, evaluate, and develop strategies for a single or multi-business organization. Assess, analyze, and recommend changes to company strategy based on a full analysis of a company's strategic plan. Develop and prepare a strategic review document presented in a consistent form and properly documented.PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENTProduction and Operations Management (â€Å"POM†) is about the transformation of production and operational inputs into â€Å"outputs† that, when distributed, meet the needs of customers.The process in the above diagram is often referred to as the â€Å"Conversion Process†. There are several different methods of handling the conversion or production process – Job, Batch, Flow and Group. POM incorporates many tasks that are interdependent, but whi ch can be grouped under five main headings:PRODUCTMarketers in a business must ensure that a business sells products that meet customer needs and wants. The role of Production and Operations is to ensure that the business actually makes the required products in accordance with the plan. The role of PRODUCT in POM therefore concerns areas such as:– Performance – Aesthetics – Quality – Reliability – Quantity – Production costs – Delivery datesPLANTTo make PRODUCT, PLANT of some kind is needed. This will comprise the bulk of the fixed assets of the business. In determining which PLANT to use, management must consider areas such as: – Future demand (volume, timing)– Design and layout of factory, equipment, offices – Productivity and reliability of equipment – Need for (and costs of) maintenance – Heath and safety (particularly the operation of equipment) – Environmental issues (e.g. creation of wa ste products)PROCESSESThere are many different ways of producing a product. Management must choose the best process, or series of processes.They will consider: – Available capacity – Available skills – Type of production – Layout of plant and equipment – Safety – Production costs – Maintenance requirementsPROGRAMMESThe production PROGRAMME concerns the dates and times of the products that are to be produced and supplied to customers. The decisions made about programme will be influenced by factors such as: – Purchasing patterns (e.g. lead time)– Cash flow – Need for / availability of storage – TransportationPEOPLEProduction depends on PEOPLE, whose skills, experience and motivation vary. Key people-related decisions will consider the following areas: – Wages and salaries – Safety and training – Work conditions – Leadership and motivation – Unionisation – Communicati onGOOD GOVERNANCEGood governance is about the processes for making and implementing decisions. It’s not about making ‘correct’ decisions, but about the best possible process for making those decisions.Good decision-making processes, and therefore good governance, share several characteristics. All have a positive effect on various aspects of local government including consultation policies and practices, meeting procedures, service quality protocols, councillor and officer conduct, role clarification and good working relationships.

Minimum wages

Many economic theories have been proposed to discuss the impact of minimum wages on labor market. The proceedings of the labor market is based on the exchange of resources between the employee and employer, the employee receive wages in return for their labor services to the employer. Labor market is considered to be most competitive market, where the established market price is much closer to the value of the product. Therefore, the employee is likely to receive marginal value, in the competitive market (excluding the factor of minimum wage). Therefore minimum wage laws have been introduced which foresee crisis of unemployment, if fewer employers are interested to hire labor, where as more people are willing to offer their services. Therefore, the law intends to maintain the equilibrium, to avoid social and economic turmoil. The amount of labor supplied by the workers is directly proportional to the nominal wage, a certain increase in the wage, forecast increase in the labor supply. The observation is based on the assumption that an employee hired at a low wage will prefer to consume ‘leisure and forego wages', a slight increase in the nominal range, it becomes difficult to practice leisure and avoid labor, therefore there is an increase in the number of workers wiling to offer labor. The relationship between the labor supplied and nominal wage is function of different variables including price. A substantial increase in the price level will reduce the number of workers, at all wages (Wascher, 1995). LABOR MARKET AND WAGES There exists an inverse relationship between the nominal wage, and the ‘amount of labor demanded by the organizations'. A substantial increase in the wages is likely to compel the organizations to reduce recruitment schemes. The relationship has been derived on the basis of an assumption that the organization prefers saving for increased proportion of profitability i.e. such level of production is aimed by the organization which increases the profit i.e. the difference between expenses and revenue. The revenue is based on the price of an item, and quantity of the items sold (Christopher, 2005). The expanses include the amount of wages, which is based on the labor and services. Therefore, the company will prefer to maintain a minimum threshold level to secure profit, on the basis of reduction in the wages, as more workers are employed, the labor wage increases which turn the organization less profitable. The price factor may compel the organizations to recruit the employees for all wage levels. minimum wages AND LABOR MARKET: IMPLICATIONS It has been predicted that minimum wage laws are expected to increase unemployment, if minimum wage is established above equilibrium wage. It is because, a large number of employees will be interested in offering their services in exchange for higher wages, on contrary on small and limited number of such opportunities will be available. Also, the organizations will be careful about the recruitment scheme, and ensure that only well qualified people are hired on high wages, therefore there is expected to be little scope for the least skilled and inexperienced employees, thus within the labor market the unemployment level will increase (Kane, 2007). Another factor which has the potential to deteriorate the condition and extend the unemployment crisis is monopsony within the labor market. If the employer has the authority to determine the wages for the employees, it is expected that the unemployment rate will diminish because minimum wage may boost employment. The equilibrium between the labor demand and labor supply will exist only at a point when applied wage is equal to the requirements of the labor and organizations. Wages are more than the equilibrium wage, will result in unemployment i.e. the excess supply of labor. ‘Using the matching function formulation along with Nash bargaining between workers and firms, the results of Hosios inform us that an efficient labor market equilibrium requires that the elasticity of the matching function with respect to the size of the set of searchers be equal to the share of the surplus they receive’ (Kane, 2007). CONCERNS: MINIMUM WAGE It is important to understand that minimum wage is a practice control factor applicable on the labor, which can be regarded as the captivity of the economic rights of the low-paid labors, and their prospects. The increased minimum wage limit is expected to reduce America's labor freedom index to 87 percent. In the case of free market economy, the maximum utilization of the land, information, capital goods, and labors achieved through price allocation. If the prices are kept free floating, the market is considered to be real free in launch of its economic policies and business plans, which have an impact on the labor market, and the fixture of minimum wage. ‘Estimates of the bargaining power parameter, although significantly lesser than a   percent, are significantly larger than estimates of the match function elasticity and as a result yield an optimal minimum wage rate less than the then current value of $4.25’ (Swinnerton, 1996). Considering the example of an organization, the organization has the right to increase its wages to capture the attention of the labor for the employment. Wages are considered to be suitable indication to discuss the expansion of business activities, and direct employment. ‘Freely floating prices allocate resources efficiently to places where they will take root and boost economic productivity' (Christopher, 2005). Price signals have been disturbed and distorted through implementations of labor regulations, which hamper market mechanism, and restrict economic freedom of employers and employees. Minimum wage is considered to have significant impact on economic freedom, the labor supply and demand mechanism undergo disruption due to the allocation of government specified minimum wages (Card, 1995). If the situation is not existent, the minimum wage can be regarded as ‘crude instrument' which relocate the labor market towards efficient allocation. ‘The labor market is not excused from the basic economic principle that artificially high prices cause lower demand'. The National Bureau of Economic Research observed that many analysts were of the opinion that minimum wages have negative impact on the labor market, ‘almost all point to negative employment effects’. More specifically, the study also revealed that there is, ‘relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger unemployment’ impacts on less experienced workers (Swinnerton, 1996). In the case on United States, the proposed federal minimum wage has been avoided by the Congress for more than a decade. The reviewed limit for the minimum wage is expected to raise to $7.25, however analyst are of the opinion that labor market can be served well through expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC, a substantial wage subsidy for low-income workers). According to 2007 Index, more than 90% of the US labor market is considered independent, and the imposition of the minimum wage will not only hamper the status of the labor market, but will reduce the labor freedom factor. IMPLICATIONS The proper approach for ensuring better income for group of workers can be achieved through imposition of minimum wage. The entrance to Labor Market can be achieved through implementation of minimum wage, and this is likely to benefit least qualified individuals. ‘Labor market flexibility refers to the ease with which workers and employers can negotiate mutually advantageous labor contracts' (Nathalie, 2006). However the implementation of minimum wage has been discouraged by economist, most of the economists are of the opinion that higher minimum wage has failed to achieved the primarily goal of poverty reduction, and is responsible for unemployment. According to a survey by Canadian authorities, 10% increase in the minimum wage was responsible for the direct unemployment of Canadian teenagers by 2.5%. In this context the labor laws play fundamental role, to counter such flaws. Researchers have concluded that, the scheme of tightening of laws about labor relations is responsible for the unemployment. It has been warned that implementation of rigid laws for the minimum wage barrier will affect the performance of the organizations. It is believed that organizations will opt for recruitment of smaller staff, and sought the replacement of workers with machines, and diminishes the performance premiums and other perks, or move switch over their operations ands move to other part. EFFECTS AND ALTERNATIVE (TAX CREDIT) The increase in the level of minimum wage is considered to be blockade for the reformed economic policies of any country; furthermore it disrupts international competitiveness, labor freedom. Labor freedom, like property rights and business freedom, a detailed study report issued by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal have concluded that, all these factors are considered to be important parameters for the evaluation of country's overall economic freedom as measured by the Index of Economic Freedom (Kane, 2007). The labor market should be based on labor freedom to strengthen the scope of economic activities that correlates the ability of workers and businesses to interact without any surveillance or official restrictions by the government. The minimum wage is although considered to be an important measure for supporting the poor and less skilled worker, but such conditions affect the business activity and shatter the economic plans of the organizations, and consequently the labor market is affected (Wascher, 1995). ‘The minimum wage disrupts the natural interaction of supply and demand and leads to inefficient allocations of labor and, eventually, increased unemployment', on contrary the government discourage the practice of competitiveness, and transform it into level economic battlefield, with restricted scope of advents (Swinnerton, 1996). The sole objective of minimum wage is to provide higher income to low earners, but to avoid the negative fallout of labor market, the execution of such policy should be avoided, and therefore policies based on negative income tax or earned income tax credit should be introduced to favor the low wage earners. Such methodology is considered to be economic efficient. The classical analysis of minimum wage support the idea that higher wage earners should help the low earners, the restriction of higher minimum wage is likely to affect the services and jobs of the low wage earners, therefore the labor market can be strengthen by providing sufficient incentives to ‘ low wage workers at the expense of other low wage workers and businesses employing low wage workers' (Card, 1995). The alternative scheme of negative income tax or earned income tax credit support the low earners, and it is the over all society that incurs the cost, and this further stabilizes the labor market. The scheme is considered to be economically viable, ‘because, a low tax rate on the broader economy causes less deadweight loss than a high tax rate on a small section of the economy' (Wascher, 1995). It has been reported that the approved EITC has increased the level of earnings by 40 percent; the proposed $7.25 of minimum wage after taxes for a full-time worker is expected to double the EITC. It is expected that minimum wage and tax credit scheme will rekindle the hope of low earners, and re-link them directly to the benefits of growing economy. REFERENCES Tim Kane, Ph.D. and Anthony B. Kim. A Higher Minimum Wage Equals Less Economic Freedom. 2007. Prentice Hall. pp. 125 Neumark, D. and W. Wascher. Minimum-Wage Effects on School and Work Transitions of Teenagers. American Economic Review 85. 1995. pp. 244-249. Card, D. and A. Krueger. Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1995. Swinnerton, K. Minimum Wages in an Equilibrium Search Model with Diminishing Returns to Labor in Production. Journal of Labor Economics 14. 1996. pp. 340-355. Christopher J. Flinn. Minimum Wage Effects on Labor Market Outcomes under Search, Matching, and Endogenous Contact Rates. New York University Publications. 2005. pp. 45 Nathalie Elgrably. The Minimum Wage and Labor Market flexibility. December 2006.Montreal Economic Institute Publications.      

Psychodynamic and Behavioural Essay

Introduction In this essay I’m going to describe and evaluate the core theoretical perspectives in counselling, behavioural, cognitive behavioural, humanistic and psychodynamic theories, the view of the person in therapy, the blocks to functioning of the person in therapy and the goals and techniques of each theory. I will compare and contrast the approaches looking at the similarities and differences between the counselling perspectives and how the counsellor in each theory differ in their techniques to counselling their clients. This essay will present and contrast the workings of the four major theories of counselling psychology mainly – psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and person-centred. First I will describe what counselling entails, introducing each in turn. My discussion will examine the four theories or approaches for a history of the founder and a rationale for why they were led to introducing a new therapy approach and a sketch of the key concepts. Further, I will look at methods and processes employed by each theory, the respective roles played by the therapist and the client and the various situations to which the theory can be applied. Finally I will examine the limitations of the theory and how well it integrates with other approaches. Throughout this paper I will offer my own view of the issues at hand and in so doing attempt a synthesis of the four theories The aim of writing this essay is to widen my knowledge and insight of the four theories, their backgrounds and development, their ideologies and how they influence human behaviour. This academic essay is going to form part of the requirements for the award of Diploma in counselling studies at the Kenya Association of Professional counsellors in Kisumu. Counselling The function of counselling is to help people to resolve problem areas in their life. Counselling provides an opportunity for the person to explore the difficult feelings, thoughts and behaviours that have blocked the way to satisfying relationships, personal happiness. The purpose of counselling is to help clients achieve their personal goals, and gain greater insight into their lives. One hopes that by the end of this process one will be more  satisfied with his or her life. Counselling is not a process where the counsellor tells the client what he or she should do or decides choices for the client to make. Rather it is an opportunity for the client to come to a greater understanding of the person that he or she is with the help of the counsellor. Counselling is to assist individuals through a helping relationship to make changes and adjustments in their lives to alleviate stress and reduce unrest. To create and discover choices those are available to counsellor in order to eliminate negative responses from challenging situations. The client relationship with their counsellor is confidential. No information concerning the client will be released without their consent. Counselling does not provide instant answers. The frequency of the person visits will be determined by the client and their counsellor. Living in the modern world, surrounded by confusion and at times apparent chaos, we are all often exposed to difficulties and challenging situation. We all encounter problems such as relationship difficulties, work demands, financial obligations, unemployment, divorce or other pressures we may face on a daily basis. Psychodynamic Theory Psychodynamic theories relate in some ways to the way we feel and behave as individuals and seek to provide a framework for us to understand these aspects of our personalities often our experiences in childhood and particularly our early relationships. Much of psychodynamic thinking from Freud’s theory of psychosexual development (Freud, 1905) to Winnicott’s work with children there is a recognition that we develop patterns in behaviour early in our lives that will shape the way we relate to the world as such these theories are known as developmental theories (Spurling, 2004, pg. 2). Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) The psychodynamic theory was first postulated by Sigmund Freud as psychoanalysis in essence learned in overcoming his emotional pain, the dynamics of personality development (Corey, 2000) He developed an interest in hypnosis which was an early precursor of psychotherapy. First Born of a Viennese family of three boys and girls, he graduated from medical school and became a psychotherapist Basic Assumptions and Key Concepts The counselling theories all encompass therapeutic techniques as well as a model of the human personality. Freud’s views of human nature was that the human beings was controlled by irrational forces and instinctual drives established in childhood whereby people are products of their environments and innate unconscious forces. These instincts serve as a meaning of survival for the individual where the goal of life is to enhance pleasure and avoid pain. The reviewed human personality as comprising of three elements The ID The primitive, it is instinctive, illogical, lacks organization, seeks pleasure. Hereditary factors are represented by the ID.the Id has no judgement value (good vs evil) and has no morality. The EGO Refined by the contact with the outside world the ego is realistic, organized and logical. Super Ego Representing the authority figures, the super ego is judgemental, ideal, strives for perfection and informs the person’s moral code. It represents reality of the external world. Freud believed that for psychological health all three had to be in balance (Hough, 2002) the ego’s role was to balance the conflicting demands between the id and the super ego that led to tension in order to protect the ego from negative energy defence mechanisms develop; these include denial, repression, regression and others. He saw human development through stages denominated by changing awareness and attitudes towards human sexuality organs. Accordingly, he devised the notion of libido which he refers to as the energy of all life instincts. This energy then is the motivation that drives us to the central goal of life which is to enhance pleasure and avoid pain. Later he came up with the death instincts that accounts for human aggression in his view, those unconscious drives determine how people act (Corey, 2000). Defence Mechanisms According to psychoanalysis, when an individual faces a conflict among the ID, ego and super ego over the control of psychic (mind) energy, he adopts several defence mechanisms to cope with the challenges. While all defence mechanisms can be unhealthy, they can also be adaptive and allow us to function normally. The greatest problems arise when the defence mechanisms  are over used in order to avoid dealing with problems. [Class notes, certificate in counselling studies, 2014] Anxiety There are three types of anxiety, one being reality anxiety which is in touch with reality threat, second is neurotic anxiety which is concern those instincts that will get out of hand and thirdly moral anxiety which is fear of own conscience . So when anxiety state is in excess, one goes into ego defence mechanisms to be able to cope. This happens mostly at the unconscious level and the aim is to either deny or distort (class notes, diploma in counselling studies, 2014, pg. 65) Reality examples of defence mechanisms include repression which acts to keep information out of conscious awareness. However these mechanisms don’t just disappear they continue to influence our behaviour. E.g. a person who has repressed memories of abuse as a child, may later have difficulty forming relationship Displacement Taking out our frustrations, feelings and impulses on people or objects that are less threatening egg if a boss has annoyed a person since he/she cannot argue with the boss he/she instead expresses anger towards a person or object that poses no threat such as spouse, pet or children or house maids. Sublimation Diverging sexual or aggressive energy to socially acceptable behaviour, for example a person experiencing extreme anger might take up kickboxing as a means of venting frustrations, Development Stages Freud linked different kinds of conflicts to specific stages of a child’s development, he classified these in terms of areas of the body, he believed to represent the source of child’s libido on sexual instinct at the time he termed them oral, from birth to 1 year, anal from 1 year to 3years, phallic from 3 to 6 years, latent from 6 to 12 years and genital from 12 to 18years. Freud believed that if a child does not negotiate any of this stages, they get fixated that is they psychologically remain in that stage and do not move effectively to the others. For example you may find a 12 year old still sucking the thumb, a characteristic of the oral stage. The adolescent is in  turmoil as she/he discovers the self. Goals The goal is psychodynamic theory is one to modify individuals character by making the unconscious conscious and two to strengthen the ego so that behaviour is based more on reality than on instinct. Techniques There are many techniques used to facilitate the clients to gain insight into their behaviour and meaning of symptoms and they include, free association whereby clients are made to relax so that they can reflect whatever comes to their mind uncensored even if it is disagreeable or if it seems meaningless and this is to bring forth material from unconscious mind (Jones, 2006) another one is dream analysis where during sleep the defences are lowered and repressed feelings surface. These may point to some unresolved issues, and in transference analysis, transference manifest itself at the point when a client’s unfinished business causes them to distort the present reality and to react to therapist as they did to the father, mother as significant others. Through Freudian slip or slips of the tongue, unconscious thoughts and feelings can be transferred to conscious minds. Freud believed that slips of tongue provide an insight into the unconscious mind and not accidental and every behaviour including slips of the tongue was significant thus determining behaviour (Corey, 2001) Limitations and Weaknesses Some of the ideas (penis envy, Oedipus) are outdated in terms of our contemporary world, and it is questioned by some theorists/practitioners whether these concepts are clinically useful It takes a long time commitment in terms of time and resources to complete the psychoanalytic therapy and process. His fellow proponent Carl Jung maintains that our behaviour is not merely shaped by our past events only but by the present as well as the future. Erik Eriksson Freud did not tolerate divergent views from himself and this led his contemporaries and students establishing their own theoretical approaches, these included Alfred Adler (1870-1937) who introduced what he calls (individual psychology) in 1911 another one was Erik Eriksson[ 1963] extended his theory of psychosocial perspective by stressing the  psychosocial aspects of development beyond childhood. His theory of human development holds that both psychosexual and psychosocial growth take place together and that each stage in life we face the task of establishing equilibrium between ourselves and our social lives. He describes development in terms of the entire lifespan divided by specific crisis to be resolved. He describe the crisis as turning point in life when we have the potential to move forward or regress. To large extend our life is as a result of the choices we make at each of these stages. Behavioural Theory Behaviour therapy, lie its name implies is the psychotherapy that focuses on the change or improvement of behaviour rather than the healing of the heart or the mind as Jan Ehrenwald called it ‘psychotherapy without psyche’ (Ehrenwald, 1976) although its main focus is on the behaviour only, however, in its clinical approach, behavioural therapy has been used to treat variety of disorders such as anxiety disorders, eating disorders and sexual disorders etc. besides the clinical approach behaviour therapy has been used in the area of business, schools and rehabilitation centres. Furthermore behaviour modifications, though slightly different approach but based upon similar techniques and assumptions are also used to correct undesirable behaviour and promote adaptive behaviours in our daily life. As an overall theory the distinctive emphasis is on overwhelming role of environmental contingencies in influencing the acquisition and maintenance of behaviour (Jones, 2006) Pavlov’s classical conditioning. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) research on the digestive system of dogs led to his discovery of the classical conditioning process which demonstrated that the learning process could be used to make an association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus the underlying belief in classical conditioning is that behaviour can be controlled and that human beings can be made to do things without being aware of them just as Pavlov was able to condition a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell. This experiment shows that the environment can be manipulated to produce the desired behaviour or response, for example in counselling the client can be conditioned to produce the desired result for example to undo a negative practice such as fear. Pavlov’s researches into  conditioned reflex were essential to the founding of behaviour therapy (Jones, 2006). Skinners Operant Behaviourism B.F Skinner (1904-1990) was born in Susquehanna Pennsylvania. He came up with the concept of operant conditioning which demonstrated the effect of punishment and reinforcement on behaviour. According to him, reward and punishment make people behave in certain ways, positive reinforcement aims to increase the frequency of a response by filling it with a favourable event (rewards) while negative reinforcement makes use of punishment, withdrawal of the rewards. The term ‘operant’ emphasizes the fact that behaviour operates on the environment to generate consequences. Thus the consequences define the properties with respect to which responses are viewed as similar He acknowledged that Pavlov called all events that strengthened behaviour in his dog ‘reinforcement’ and the resulting changes their voluntary behaviour ‘conditioning’. However, the critical difference is that in Pavlov’s work, the reinforced is paired with stimulus, whereas in operant behaviour it is contingent upon a response. Classical and operant conditioning are the only two possible kinds of conditioning. (Jones, 2006) Albert Bandura‘s Social learning Bandura(1925) was born and raised in Mundare in Northern Alberta, Canada he graduated from the university of British Colombia with a psychology major and later received a doctorate in clinical psychology from university of IOWA and it was there that he came under the influence of behaviourist tradition and learning theory. He propagated social learning theory. It postulates that people are capable of learning vicariously by observing behaviourism of others as well as its consequences and imitating that behaviour. The key learning aspects include observation, retention, and motivational imitation. (Jones, 2006) Goals Main goal is to create new condition for learning. The behavioural approach helps produce effective ways of managing conditions of the client through behaviour modifications techniques and the principles of reward and punishments. It is assumed that such learning experiences can restructure behaviour. Assumptions The main assumption of behavioural approach is that behaviours learnt can be unlearnt for example the unacceptable behaviour such as smoking can be stopped. Techniques  Behavioural approaches use a variety of methods and techniques which include; relaxation training, systematic desensitization, token economies just to mention a few. These training methods are often utilized to help people learn new ways and overcome maladaptive behaviours. Relaxation training method aims at achieving muscles and mental relaxation, it is a useful experience in releasing physical and mental fatigue. While systematic desensitization is based on the principle of classical conditioning and is used to address anxiety based on maladaptive behaviour or avoidance reaction (Corey, 2001) Limitations and Weaknesses Behaviour Change is based on the idea of learning and that behaviour can be learnt and unlearnt and re-learnt contrary opinions show that some behaviours are hereditary (genetic) also behavioural approach deals with a client’s current problems and the factors that influence them rather than the reasons leading to the problem or historical determinants. The counsellor assumes that the client’s problems are influenced by present conditions for example at time it ignores the important relational and historical factors of present behaviour. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy In its simplest form, cognitive behavioural therapy (or CBT as it is referred) refers to the approach of changing dysfunctional behaviours and thoughts to realistic and healthy ones. CBT encompasses several types of therapy focusing on the impact of an individual’s thinking as it relates to expressed behaviours. Such models include rational emotive therapy(RET),rational emotive behavioural therapy(REBT), behavioural therapy (BT), Rational Behaviour Therapy (RBT), schema focused therapy and Cognitive therapy (CT).Most recently a few other variations have been linked to CBT such as an acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectic behavioural therapy (DBT) and mindfulness based cognitive therapy ( MBCT) (Harrington and Pickles,2009). The main aspect that all these branches of therapy share is that our thought relate to our external behaviours. External events and individuals do not cause the negative thoughts or feelings. But instead the perception of events and situations is the root cause (National Association of Cognitive Behavioural therapists 2010) Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) Albert Ellis (1913) was born in Pittsburgh he combined humanistic, philosophical and behavioural therapy to form rational emotive therapy, (now known as rational emotive behaviour therapy or REBT) Ellis can be referred to as the grandfather of cognitive therapy. Ellis became dissatisfied with practicing psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and began to focus more on philosophical beliefs including those that clients could change self-defeating behaviours by changing their points of View (P.333, Sharf, 2012) Ellis was the first to connect the impact of thoughts as they relate to behaviour when he published in 1962, Reason and Emotion psychotherapy (Walsh, 2010) Ellis work asserted that an individual’s underlying thinking about him/herself directly affected his/her behaviours and as a therapist his goal was to help the clients become more reasonable in thoughts and ultimately followed behaviours. Assumptions The basic assumptions of REBT is that people contribute to their own psychological problem as well as to specific symptom by the way they interpret events and situations. The approach views human problem as stemming from disturbances in the thought or cognitive process which people are disturbed not by events themselves but by their view of events. Emotions are derived from our beliefs, evaluation, interpretation and reactions to life situations and that changing these will lead to a change in how we feel about things and consequently how we behave or the actions we take (Corey 2005) The approaches teaches individuals to become rational in thoughts in order to eliminate irresponsible behaviour Ellis created the A-B-C theory based model to create changes which simply states that emotional and behavioural consequences (C) are the results activating events. (A) And irrational beliefs (B) of those events. Later D and E are bought into play with (D) representing the detecting and disputing element and (E) becomes the new effect or behaviour. Other techniques used in REBT that are major component of CBT are visualizations, skill training, homework and role  playing many believe that Elli’s REBT and Beck’s cognitive are very similar, however, Ellis disputes this and argues that there are significant differences, as do some therapists who take the side of Beck and favour cognitive therapy (Padesky and Beck, 2003,2007) Cognitive Theory Aaron T. Beck (6 1921) was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His childhood was characterized by adversity. Aaron Becks is widely renowned for his contribution to CBT. In the 1960s Becks, who initially was interested in depression, found the depressed individuals carried many biases in their cognitive processing leading him to create Cognitive Theory (C.T) (Burns, 1999.) Beck noticed that individuals exhibit an â€Å"internal communication system within themselves, from which they formed their beliefs† or what Beck called schema (Shard, p371). An individual’s schema represents their distorted thinking patterns and determines how they view or perceive events. For those that are depressed, the schema often consists of negative thoughts along with self-criticism and self-blame. More specifically, this cognitive schema presented â€Å"three basic themes of personal ineffectiveness, personal degradation, and the world is essentially an unpleasant place (Walsh, 2010).† This type of thinking commonly resulted in individuals prophesying failure and disaster for themselves. He also noticed during therapy that his depressed clients consistently dismissed positive thoughts in order to focus on the negative thoughts. Many of such thoughts seemed to be automatic and spontaneous, leading him to coin the phrase ANTs better known as automatic negative thoughts. Such thoughts, ideas and beliefs resulted in clients believing that they were unlovable, worthless, and despicable. In 1976, Beck published Cognitive Therapies and the Emotional Disorders leading others to take notice of this concept. He also contributed to the field greatly with some of the most well-known and utilized assessments such as the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and Beck scale for suicidal ideation (BSS), Beck anxiety scales (BAI), and the Beck youth inventories of social impairment (BYI). Goal Cognitive therapy teaches clients how to think about their thinking so that they can correct faulty cognitive processing and develop assumptions that  allow them to cope. It also aims to impact behavioural skills relevant to client’s problems for example listening and communication skills for distressed couples and assertion skills for shy people (Jones, 2006) Technique Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is directive and persuasive and even confrontive, though it can also be reflective and structured in its approach (Corsini and Wedding 1995) the therapists takes on the role of a teacher pointing out distorted thinking helping the clients identify and process emotions and practicing new skills by way of role play. In cognitive therapy, There is a heavy reliance on homework assignments and it is very much skill based method. Limitations CBT does not suit everyone and it is not helpful for all conditions. You need to be committed and persistent in tackling and improving your health problem with the help of the therapist. It can be hard work. The homework may be difficult and challenging. You may be taken ‘out of your comfort zone’ when tackling situations which cause anxiety or distress. However, many people have greatly benefited from a course of CBT. In order to benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) you need to ensure that you give a considerable level of commitment and involvement. Due to the structured nature of CBT, it may not be suitable for people who have more complex mental health needs, or learning difficulties. Cognitive Behaviour modification Donald Meichenbaum was another major alternative to rational emotive behaviour (CBM) which focuses on changing clients self-verbalization, according to Meichenbaum (1977), self-statements affect a person’s behaviours in much the same way as statements made by another person the therapeutic process consists of training clients to modify the instructions they give to themselves so that they can cope more effectively with the problems they encounter. Emphasis on acquiring practical coping skills for problematic situations such as impulsive and aggressive behaviour, fear of taking tests, fear of public speaking. On how behaviour changes, he describes three phases one being self-observant, here clients observe their  behaviours by listening to themselves then phase two is for starting a new internal dialogue, here clients learn to notice the maladaptive behaviours and begin to see opportunities for adaptive behavioural alternatives. Phase three for learning new skills. Then modif ication process consists of teaching client more effective skills. Assumptions Meichenbaum operates on the assumption that there are multiple realities and one of the therapeutic tasks is to help clients appreciate how they construct their realities and how they author their stories (Corey 2001). Humanistic Theory Humanistic theory focuses on the positive attributes to what they considered it is to be human. To better understand some of the attributes and notions of humanistic theory the following paper analysis’s two humanistic theories in turn; specifically Maslow’s conception of self-actualization and Rogers phenomenological based personality theory. This is followed by discussing some strengths and limitations to humanistic theories in understanding relationships, others and the self. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs According to Abraham Maslow our actions are motivated in order to achieve certain needs using a pyramid model to display the hierarchy of human needs he suggests that people are motivated to fulfil the basic needs before moving on to other more advanced needs. Needs at the bottom of the hierarchy are basic physical requirements including need of water, sleep, air and warmth. Once this lower level needs have been met. People can move to the next level of needs which are safety and security.as people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. So once the need for love, friendship and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority, Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization which is a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential. This Hierarchy of needs was presented in the formation of a triangle Person-Centred American psychologist Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is often considered to be  founder of this school of thought. Carl Rogers was born January 8, 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois. Carl was the fourth of six children. He maintained there were three conditions which constitute the climate to promote the personal growth Genuineness: this is the realness and congruence. According to Rogers the more a counsellor is real and true in the relationship and is not putting up personal faà §ade and professional face the more the client will change positively. Unconditional Positive Regard: This is the simple act of accepting all traits and behaviours in the client as long as it does not entail causing significant harm to others. Positive regard is not withdrawn if the client does wrong or makes a mistake Empathy: Rogers believed that the counsellor should experience an accurate understanding of the client’s awareness of his own experience and show this understanding to the client. Carl Rogers believed that the client by establishing a productive relationship with an understanding counsellor can resolve difficulties and gain the insight necessary to restructure their life. Assumption The main assumption is one that human beings are good and moving towards good provided the environment is supportive and two ,people have the capacity to solve their own problems through the self-actualizing tendency and thirdly human beings are unique, singular and individual. Techniques Humanistic counselling is aimed at helping the counselling client make different choices. This type of counselling gives the client as much freedom to be himself in the counselling setting as possible. The counsellor’s role is to accept the client as she is and direct her to view her choices objectively, but not to impose choices on her or direct her behaviour in any particular manner. Humanistic counselling includes active listening, gestalt techniques and no confrontational questioning. Active Listening Active listening helps the client identify his own thoughts and feelings by summarizing for him the content or subtext of what he says. For example, if the client says he feels uncreative lately, the counsellor might comment, â€Å"You’re really having a dry spell,† or â€Å"It must be frustrating not to have any ideas when you want to work.† This gives the client a sense of visibility–the counsellor sees, understands and accepts who he really is–as well as putting a specific name to what he is experiencing. In some  cases, this gives the client new abilities to identify his own feelings outside of the therapy room. When using active listening, counsellors should be careful to reword emotional content rather than repeating it verbatim, as the latter technique can come off as glib or â€Å"not really listening.† Gestalt Techniques Gestalt techniques are a subset of humanistic counselling aimed at helping the client integrate her thoughts, feelings and experiences so her behaviour is consistent with her values and emotions, according to Psychology Today Treatment Centre. Common gestalt techniques include free association and psychodrama. In free association, the client is asked to say the first word or phrase that pops into her head in response to a word, phrase or incomplete sentence. Psychodrama involves dialoguing with aspects of the self, such as the inner child. Clients may be asked to switch from one seat to another in order to speak from the point of view of each such aspect or to write out dialogues between these aspects. Open-Ended Questions Asking open-ended questions helps the client delve deeper into his own thoughts about an issue. These questions provide a starting point for deeper thought without expressing the counsellor’s point of view, which could unduly influence the client. The questions require the client to say something more than â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† and avoid language that might lead him to a particular answer. Strengths and Weaknesses of Humanistic Theories As with every theory designed for application in the understanding of mankind, Humanistic theories have both strengths and many weaknesses. Thus the following section will address the major strengths and weaknesses of Humanistic theory in turn. One of the major strengths attributed to Humanistic theory is the idea that the subject is fully accountable and in control of their actions. This is in stark contrast to the notions behind psychoanalysis. Leading from this assumption is the notion that humanistic theories promote the idea of being human, self-fulfilment and realistic and observable goals that can be obtained. A final strength to Humanistic theory is the idea that from a clinical perspective it offers an open space in which a patent can express any feeling of thought without being led down a  path to revisit traumatic events which they may not feel comfortable discussing. One of the major weaknesses with Humanistic theories is lack of empirical evidence to support its claims. Academics such as Maslow have been widely criticized in this respect in terms of an absence of scientific empirical evidence. A further and related criticism of Humanistic theories is their inability and unsuitability to be used within a metaphysical arena. While Freud and contemporary Freudians managed to move towards ethics and morality through the same criticism of lack of empirical evidence, Humanistic theories have yet to encroach on the metaphysical subject area. A final criticism of Humanistic theories is that many professionals view this discipline as motivated by the cold realities of psychoanalysis and is a discipline which is based on the resistance of the unconscious; furthermore the discipline has seemed to be in decline in recent history. Conclusion I have come to the conclusion that all the four techniques are complementary and one can draw from each, and that the four approaches of psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural, behaviourism, and humanistic psychology, represent the fundamental ways of viewing human beings and their behavioural problems. It is therefore important to get an understanding of all the techniques so as to know how to help clients with varied problems solve them. I therefore prefer Eclecticism as it acknowledges the human being is a complex being and a single approach cannot be sufficient enough to cater for this complexity. I recommend that a therapist/counsellor gets proper knowledge and training of all the theories in order to be able to counsel a client effectively. Cognitive behavioural approaches deals mainly with what is conscience and evident to the client in my view more research needs to be done and the emphasis should be more on exploring past emotional painful feelings experienced during development period. Which I believe will help the client experience them afresh, address and work on them and in so doing resolve the issues by changing their defective thinking and behaviours. References 1. BAC, 2009. The BACP definition of counselling [online] Lutterworth,Leicestershire: BAC 2. British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 1986, â€Å"Counselling-Definition of terms in use with expansion and rationale (Information Sheet 1)†, Rugby: British Association for Counselling. 3. Burns, D. D. (1993). Ten Days to Self-Esteem. New York: Quill. 1999. Revised edition. 4. Corey, G, (2005) Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 7th Edition, Belmont: Brooks/Cole. 5. Corey. (2001). 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Hansen, J.C., Rossberg, R.H., Cramer, S.H (1994) Counselling Theory and Process, 5th Edition, Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon. 14. Hough M, 2002; A Practical Approach to Counselling, 2nd Edition, Harlow: Pearson. 15. Rogers, C. R., & American Personnel and Guidance. (1980). Inner world of counselling with Carl Rogers. New York: Insight Media. 16. Rogers, C. R., & American Personnel and Guidance. (1980). Inner world of counselling with Carl Rogers. New York: Insight Media. 17. Spurling, L. (2004) An Introduction to Psychodynamic Counselling London: Palgrave.