Globalisation of Consumer Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Globalisation of Consumer Culture - Essay Example Ted Levitt in his article, â€Å"The Globalisation of Markets† states that the needs and desires of people are becoming homogenized as do the tastes and modes of doing business (Mooij, 2000). McLuhan also prophesied that the media would turn the world into a global village. However, Kotler contends that consumers are not rational human beings and in fact markets are becoming more diverse. Thus based on the theories of cultural homogenization, Indigenization, and fetishism and cultural imperialism, this paper aims to evaluate the extent to which globalisation of consumer culture has led to cultural homogenization. Drivers of globalisation Appadurai identifies five global flows that are transforming the nature of society and eroding the barriers between them (Craig & Douglas, 2006). These include mediascapes (flow of imagination and communication), ethnoscapes (flow of tourists, migrants and students), ideoscapes (flow of political ideas and ideologies), technoscapes (flow of te chnology) and finanscapes (flows of capital and money). The collective effort of these five scapes is turning the world into what Tomlinson (1999) describes as â€Å"a single social and cultural setting†; globalisation makes the world a ‘single place’. Tomlinson however, maintains that connectivity still does not extend in any profound way to every single person or place on the planet; social and cultural divisions continue to persist. Globalisation and culture While culture has been defined by Hofstede as the collective programming of the mind that gives rise to set beliefs and patterns of behavior, and thereby distinguishes one group of people from another (Merz, He & Alden, 2008), cultural globalisation is the emergence of a specific set of values and beliefs that are largely shared around the planet (Movius, 2010). Globalisation of media has been held responsible for the globalisation of culture. However, with converging incomes, cultural values and habits ha ve not converged (Mooij, 2000). People would spend their incremental income based on their value pattern – the Americans would buy more cars while the Spanish would spend more on food. This implies that values, beliefs and patterns of behavior have not homogenized; cultural homogenization has not taken place despite converging income. Appadurai (2001) and Tomlinson (1995) believe that globalisation is not just an economic and a political phenomenon; it is also a complex cultural phenomenon. It promises new possibilities but also gives rise to new anxieties that transform social life. However, as global forces begin to penetrate local culture, it could lead to tensions or collisions. Thus the outcome could be displacement of local culture leading to homogenization of culture or it could lead to resistance due to cultural imperialism. Craig and Douglas (2006) emphasize that culture is pervasive and it is the lens through which individuals perceive and interpret phenomena. Howev er, cultures are dynamic and keep evolving over time; hybrid cultures (fusion of two or more cultures resulting in a new cultural element) develop as people travel across borders. Membership in a culture is becoming transitional and deterritorialized (a particular culture is no longer defined in terms of the specific geographic

Rides Control Essay Example for Free

Rides Control Essay To establish a firm background for all these systems an efficient network had to be installed in order to ensure a fast and comprehensive method of linking all those users. The FDDI network on a token ring topology is used as our backbone (FDDI stands for Fibre-Distributed Data Interface) and this gives us the requirements we need for speed, distance and capacity. The nature of our business and the way the Park is spread over a large area, necessitates our using several methods of communication. E-mail is used increasingly: our current software is Microsoft exchange server 5. 5 and Outlook 98. It should help to cut down considerably on memos, forms, notice board information and bulky reports. This has the dual effect of saving paper, ink and printing costs and conserves environmental resources. E-mail address and website: www. thorpepark. co. uk. E-mail goes directly to The Tussauds Group Head Office, and via networks from there, to the other attractions in The Tussauds Group using an ISDN link (Integrated Services Digital Network). The main telephone switchboard is also ISDN. Voicemail is used to prevent unanswered calls, and an automated attendant kicks in on the rare occasion when our receptionists are unable to answer all the lines, and it automatically operates after office hours. Through a desktop interface we can monitor calls. This is an invaluable tool for analysis of calls, determining our busiest times of day and helping us to plan our casting resources accordingly. Some cast use mobile phones, particularly those whose work takes them away from the office. Nearly all our cast rely on radios to keep in touch with each other when they are spread about the Park which enables cast to be diverted to specific areas wherever and whenever necessary. Cast can relay information about queue lines on rides and alert security cast to any emergency situation. There are 8 channels all of which can contact, and be contacted by, the Control Room. If a Park-wide emergency situation should arise, cast in the control room can broadcast simultaneously to every radio holder in the Park. The main security system is CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) which uses infra red cameras throughout the Park, linked to 24 hour video recorders. Black and white and colour monitors in the Control Room can pan and zoom to any area. In this way cast response to a particular incident can be co-ordinated cast response to a particular problem. Our own security cast are on site 24 hours a day. In merchandising, sophisticated till systems are in use in all the shops and food outlets. EPOS (Electronic Point of Sale) is used for our products with barcode scanning facilities for the whole range of goods on sale. This is linked to the central stock control to monitor the movement of all our merchandise and food items from both our warehouses. This is essential for maintaining sell-by dates and to forecast sales accurately. EFTOS (Electronic Fund Transfer Point of Sale) is the system through which credit and switch cards are debited immediately and automatically through the national banking system. Any credit or switch cards used in the shops are attached to a polling machine. This is essentially a communications technique which determines when a terminal is ready to send data the banks own computer will check all its attached terminals on a regular basis. All of the ride attractions have computer control systems that are fed by mechanical levers and optical sensors. The rides, that are all mechanical, fall into three categories water, motor and track. The computer, through the use of optical sensors, detects the locking of safety bars and the speed and number of carriages passing. This information enables the operator to dictate how fast and how often the ride runs. Each ride has a very comprehensive range of fail-safe devices that are mechanical or electrical. There is video surveillance on each ride cameras are trained on the tracks and on the carriages. This helps us to detect any faults or potential problems. Software programmes are applications that are bought in from major manufacturers such as Microsoft, Oracle (database), Computer Associate (backup) and Network Associate (anti-virus). These can be specifically suited to a particular business function, such as Finance packages, which include wages and payroll systems, spreadsheets, etc. Other more sophisticated software, such as AutoCAD, may be necessary for our Engineers and the production team for our Entertainments Department. We primarily use Microsoft Office 97, which contains a comprehensive range of applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, PowerPoint. It is possible to customise our own databases for instance, we have one specifically written for our Guest Services Department, Charter 2000. This logs comments made by guests, produces a personalised reply, and collates information so that it can be reproduced in report form using a programme called Business Systems. It is currently used at Thorpe Park and Chessington with a planned introduction to the other Tussauds Group attractions in 2001. This information is confidential between the guest and the company. We are registered under the Data Protection Act to declare any information we may hold. The Tussauds Group Marketing Database on the other hand is common information shared by every attraction in the company. It helps us gather marketing information in order to improve our service. There is an electronic booking service for groups so that they can arrange their visit and tickets by phone, with a credit card. Individuals can make advanced bookings. This helps us to build up a profile of our guests and their requirements. The sales and admission system is called Omni Ticket Network. OTN have supplied all the hardware apart from the hard drives, VDU screens and key boards, which are standard hardware made by Compaq. The software used is called Overview. The Attractions General Database (AGD) has been designed by Syntegra, the Systems Integration Business of BT and is a component of the Sales and Admissions system. Its primary purpose is to provide a data repository for Sales, guests and admissions data and to provide tools to allow analysis of this imported data. A secondary function is to facilitate the exchange systems, and General Marketing Database (GMD), the external guest contact system. AGD configures all the information taken from Overview (information collected through Admissions on the tills each day) and turns it into reports for Finance and Marketing.

Value of Reflective Practice for Skills Development

Value of Reflective Practice for Skills Development Reflective practice has been defined as Involving self, a process that is undertaken in response to a positive or negative event that may be initiate consciously or subconsciously, that requires to provide an answer (Chapman, Dempsey et al. 2009). It has also been defined as Paying critical attention to the practical values and theories which inform every day actions, by examining practice reflectively and reflexively, this leads to developmental insight (Clouston, Westcott 2005). Reflective practice is a process to which a person dissects their internal reactions to certain situations, and how they dealt with the cause and effect. It is only through this reflection that an individual can comprehensively understand and learn from their previous decision making mechanisms. Reflective practice gives the opportunity for a health professional to look back at their clinical skills used in given situations, and assess how these skills could be amended to better their professional practice. It is a method of learning from experiences, using experiences to analyze why problems occurred, and then to find a solution to these problems (Taylor 2010). Reflection has been defined by Dewey (1933) as active persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends cited by (Mann, Gordon et al. 2009). Boud (1978) reinforces Deweys assessment of reflection, however, he aligns himself with an overtly emotional assessment of personal experience. Boud defines reflection as a generic term for those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to a new understanding and appreciation cited by (Mann, Gordon et al. 2009). There is a gap between academia and good professional practice. Although a student may have a very good understanding of theory, this does not necessarily teach them about good professional practice (Baird 2008). Knowledge is something that is to be challenged and reinforced. Gaining knowledge through clinical experience and reflection is key to being a reflective practitioner (Clouston, Westcott 2005). This can be obtained at university level within Radiography through clinical placement, positioning classes and a personal development system (PDS) (Baird 2008). These classes give the student an opportunity to challenge, discuss, but more importantly reflect on the theory which they have learned. It is through problem solving that a student can reach below the purely scientific understanding of processes and procedures, and can delve into the deeper, and one could argue, the more complexities of clinical practice. Through these teaching methods a student can learn that the theory of practice is not always going to work in given situations, and through reflection they can amend their knowledge to give the result of better clinical skills and professional practice (Baird 2008). It would be nieve to assume that every patient, every ailment, should reprieve a standard set method of treatment. The PDS is an online resource which provides a student with a key initial starting block to which they can build a more successful, productive, and ultimately professional methodology to explore key skill and developmental needs (Rowland 2006). A study of students found that reflective exercises proved successful, and that they thought it could be a valuable part of their professional careers within the health service. Students realised that reflective practice can help to deal with any similar issues arising (Cronin, Connolly 2007). Another study found that student nurses gained confidence in decision making through journal writing also stating that they believed more, that writing could be used to learn (Epp 2008). Both studies show that reflective practice is a beneficial tool that can be used to enhance professional practice. However the first study is seemingly over crediting the usefulness of reflective practice on a one size fits all basis. Students must not become fully dependant on the benefits which reflective practice may bring, and must leave room for ingenuity, and adapt these procedures to specific circumstances. The second study reinforces the benefits which reflective practice can bring to a students confide nce in their own professional expertise. The introduction of key performance indicators (KPI) into healthcare departments increased awareness among staff and gave an obligation to staff to fulfil certain tasks (Abujudeh, Kaewlai et al. 2010). Through KPIs in individual can highlight areas of strengths and weaknesses, however more importantly can develop a systematic and detailed plan to improve their continual personal development. There are methods incorporated into KPIS to encourage reflective practice, Continual Professional Development (CPD) and life long learning (LLL) (Chapman, Dempsey et al. 2009). Within radiography these two strategies are used to develop reflective practice. LLL was implemented with the intention for individuals to continually re-educate themselves on advances within their field of work. CPD is a resource which is discussed in detail with, the relevant line manager. If CPD is used properly reflective thinking is encouraged in the practitioner (Chapman, Dempsey et al. 2009). This reinforces the rel ationship which exists between CPD and the development of reflective practice. The society of radiographers has invested in an exclusive CPD tool which gives advice to members on how to reflect and learn. The CPD plan outlines that reflective practice can be carried out in a number of ways. Firstly by writing a reflective journal about personal experiences in the workplace or secondly in an educational environment through health professionals attending courses, to learn better ways of becoming a good reflective practitioner (Kelly 2005). It is only through implementation of all of these methods that a continual and productive mode of reflective practice can be achieved through the CPD plan. Writing a reflective journal helps a health professional keep a record of their practice, remind themselves of good and bad practice, why it happened and how they overcame or will overcome the problem (Clouston, Westcott 2005). A study found when a group of radiation therapists gathered to write journals together that their motivation, confidence, professional knowledge, critical thinking and professional practice all increased ensuring the CPD of staff (Milinkovic, Field et al. 2008). It is vital for reflective practice to be a success, all individuals within an organisation must be wholly committed to the belief that reflective practice is a worthwhile and productive tool. Things which hinder reflective practice occur in workplaces where there is no emphasis put on it by line management.. The pressures placed on professionals in the clinical environment mean that the health professional may feel that time spent on reflective practice may seem wasted (Mann, Gordon et al. 2009). It is a well known fact that as the health professional spends more time in the profession, it is found that less of their time is spent reflecting. It has been said that barriers to reflective practice include lack of time and space, negative preconceptions, organisational culture, fear, the risk of routine and not fully understanding reflection (Clouston, Westcott 2005). A study found that the use of a facilitator within a healthcare team to guide people and help promote reflective practi ce was very beneficial to the team. The time spent on reflection was said to have enhanced critical thinking, professionalism, making decisions and being able to challenge things they were not in full agreement with (Mann, Gordon et al. 2009). The use of a reflective practice facilitator provides a systematic and constant reminder to practitioners of the importance and benefits which this tool can give in work life. The facilitator provides an outlet for relevant and knowledgeable advice in what a practitioner may perceive as being a difficult circumstance. This study suggests that reflective practice has a positive impact on clinical skills and professional practice. Another study found that within the format of a meeting environment consisting of health professionals, reflective practice was influenced by five factors. The first factor which influenced reflective practice was that too much structure in a meeting lowered the ability to reflect. Secondly the level of interest a prof essional has in reflection, the more interested being better reflectors. Meetings in which people have certain roles and consist of tasks do not provide ideal for reflection. A pressurised environment where a professional is obliged to complete tasks, was shown to prevent reflective capabilities also (Heel, Sparrow et al. 2006). It would be nieve and absurd to remove structure from this mode of reflection, as the KPI targets reinforce good reflection methods. . Reflective practice has been proven to be an important tool in developing clinical skills and professional development. All studies had a similar agreement that reflective practice is good but the method of reflecting varied. Reflective practice has to be carried out from student to professional level. Reflection was said to increase confidence, decision making, motivation and professionalism (Clouston, Westcott 2005). There were no studies found that measured the effectiveness of reflective practice, perhaps this is an area where more research is needed. Another area that no research was located on was bad experiences of reflective practice. Further study into these areas could give more insight into how beneficial reflection is.

Foxwoods: Pleasure in the Absence of Sin? Essay -- Descriptive Essay, D

Fifty two miles from Providence, on Route 2 off Interstate 95 you will find a purple and turquoise glow in the middle of the Connecticut woods. On the Mashantucket Pequot reservation, the largest gambling casino in the world —Foxwoods, sits nestled among massive, old growth trees and modest hills. Route 2 cuts a straight shot through the woods. An endless row of headlights returning from the casino illuminates both sides of the rural, two-lane road, and a string of brake lights guide the way towards a land run by rules of luck, addiction, and money. A tour bus returning to New York lights up a hand-laid, New England stone wall. In its disrepair, the wall no longer marks the boundaries of a proud property, tilled and worked with Protestant resolve. The decrepit mass of stones stands as a sadly antiqued relic on either side of a yellow brick road towards a fantasy world of elusive profits and dreams backed only by chance. The pastoral vision of a Puritan New England, with stone walls and white clapboard houses, frames an approach to the self-contained complex of mammoth buildings. They rise above the tree line and cast an umbrella of neon over an otherwise undeveloped and rural part of Connecticut. Residents of the three closest towns have complained that they can no longer see the stars due to the lights cast off from Foxwood’s enormous towers. Last year, tour buses coming from New York, Hartford, Providence, and other points discharged 1.1 million gamers. The buses shuttle constantly along this paved artery between Foxwoods and Interstate 95, so you are never alone, and there is never darkness. I asked a Yale student, 21-year-old Cory Anthony Lee whether he sees himself as a winner. "A winner. There really are no wi... ...as they fall into cupped palms, quarters sloshing like soup in super sized plastic cups. It’s a circular sound that induces you to keep going. Cresting, high-pitched waves of noise always ends on the up, and vibrate through your body to make mush of the brain. You are filled with a sense of propulsion, repetition, a feeling of the inevitable. It’s maddening, deafening, like that ringing in the ear when you’re sick or have damaged your eardrum —both a persistent ring and buzz, but one which isolates you from any realm of normalcy. The noise distracts you from the impulse to stop at your limit. Cresting waves of winning, surrounded by the circular rhythms of machines on the edge of paying big, fill you with a sense of anticipation. Foxwoods studiously prods, cajoles, and seduces you into believing that you are always on the cusp of making it all back or winning more.

Parenting Teenage Boys and Education

Keeping your cool and staying firm without letting your guard down.Do we all know how to keep our cool at the moment of a disappointment with our teenage boy? Parenting Teenage boys can be a hell of a rollercoaster ride what matters most is the foundation you lay out for them when they are young. Being a role model speaks volume. Communication is the key element to connect with your teen. Parenting is a challenging task, but with the proper guidance and understanding parents can raise their son's to be their best and to succeed. â€Å"Therefore parents who refrain from corporal punishment seem to have a more positive outcome and are more successful in being able to get their Teen to focus on their education and every aspect of their life.† Development: Making your teen aware of the changes in his body, the knowledge on sex, alcohol, drugs and weapons. Connecting: Learning how to communicate with your teen and their emotions.Educational attitude: Schooling them on the importance of education and the impact it has on their lives. Boundaries: Teaching them about consequences. Identifying core values: Knowing what makes them valuable and making them aware of it. It requires us as adults to be good role models and be the best example for them in all aspects of their life from beginning to end. This includes when they begin their development as adolescents and begin the early stages of puberty and start having a desire for sex, and talking to them about alcohol and the danger of drugs and weapons. Connecting with your Teen allows you to be able to communicate and connect with what they are feeling. Also it is very important that we understand the attitude that they have about Education and help them understand the impact it can have in their lives. Also putting boundaries to show them that crossing that line has consequences. Also being able to identify their core values will help the process. As a parent sometimes you have to walk the talk. Unfortunately some parents use corporal punishment while others completely abstain from such due to their beliefs and morality of the situation. As for me and in my opinion and experience I find that corporal punishment does not work for me due to my upbringing in which I never agreed. I feel that violence does not resolve anything and will only result in negative behavior coming from your Teen. This includes them rebelling towards you in many ways, not sleeping well, not eating well, not focusing in school and affecting their surroundings in general.

Survey of Software Systems

Week 6 Case Study 1. How important is the reservation system at airlines such as WestJet and JetBlue? How does it impact operational activities and decision making? The reservation system is extremely important to small airline companies such as WestJet and JetBlue. Since these companies are small and fairly new, efficient customer service is essential to their success. When potential customers visit the JetBlue and WestJet websites and view their competitive rates, it is imperative that they are met with a completely capable, efficient information system to book their reservations on.Also, the reservation system will impact operational activities because it clearly lies out how many reservations are currently booked which is essential in deciding on the number of aircraft to use for a specific block of time to a specific destination. It also provides foresight on how much fuel to have on the aircraft etc. Another thing that the reservation system helps is the ability to know when to advertise specials on certain flights in order to fill the roster and offer standby to last minute travelers. 2. Evaluate the risks of the projects to upgrade the reservation systems of WestJet and JetBlue and key risk factors.There are several risks associated with upgrading any information systems within a company. Typically the most difficult tasks involve providing training to the employees that are responsible for using, operating or receiving data from the upgraded information systems. In this situation in particular, one of the major concerns for these companies was that the information system updates would cause defects in the system and also that the time that it would take to upgrade the reservation system could cause a gap in services to the user.An outage in their web services would cause major setbacks for both companies and neither of them could afford the loss. The text states that WestJet had been running practice tests and training for over 100,000 hours in prepara tion for the live upgrade. Still, they encountered some issues that they had not planned for during the live upgrade. This caused the website to be inaccessible for quite some time during and after the upgrade. This caused an enormous number of dissatisfied customers.Users flocked to Facebook and other social networking sites to express their dissatisfaction with WestJet’s services; they also called customer service in an effort to gain a better understanding about what was going on. As a result of the increase in customer service calls that WestJet was also unprepared for, there was a major increase in customer service wait times, which then led to more angry customers. Luckily WestJet was able to redeem itself some time down the road and didn’t take too much of a hit financially because of that mishap.This goes to show that the risks associated with upgrading information systems within a company are extremely high and in no way should they be undermined. Companies sh ould always be prepared when attempting to upgrade information systems otherwise the loss has the potential to be devastating. 3. Classify and describe the problems each airline faced in implementing its new reservation system. What people, organization, and technology factors caused those problems? The problems that WestJet faced in implementing its new reservation system ran the gamut.They had a number of organizational problems which included the fact that they obviously hadn’t considered the possibility that the transfer could not go as planned. Although they trained and practiced for over 100,000 hours in preparation for the transfer, they failed to have a backup plan, which is something that every company needs to have should they need to employ other options. When the initial plan was foiled, there weren’t even enough employees to handle the commotion that the lack of web services caused.They also had a critical technology problem, and that was that the file tra nsfer didn’t go as planned. Another technology problem was that the unsuccessful file transfer caused the web services to be down for a number of hours. There should have been a backup webpage to mitigate that gap in service. JetBlue on the other hand, was very well organized based on the information that the text gave. They had a backup for their webpage that they ended up needing to use because their servers were down due to the file transfer.They chose a low web traffic day to initiate the file transfer; and they hired 500 temporary employees to man the call center in case they had an increased number of customer service calls. JetBlue also had technology problems which caused a delay in their data transfer but the reason that it didn’t affect them as bad as it did with WestJet, is because they were prepared, 4. Describe the steps you would have taken to control the risk in these projects.The risk associated with performing live data transfers is imminent. There wil l never be a way to completely mitigate that risk, but if I were in that situation I would handle it like JetBlue did. I would examine all of the possible outcomes and have a backup in place to control the possible damage. I would have definitely had a backup web interface and I would have hired temporary employees to help with the extra workload. Basically, I would have done the exact same things that JetBlue did.