A Review of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed Essay

Few educational thinkers have been more widely influential than Paulo Freire. His classic text, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, has been studied by numerous Left intellectuals, political activists, radical educationists and liberation theologians for almost four decades. Freire’s ideas and theories have been applied by academics, school teachers, adult literacy coordinators, church leaders, counselors, psychologists, social workers, health professionals, language learning specialists, and prison rehabilitation workers, among others. In addition, Freire has inspired (directly or indirectly) thousands of books, articles, interviews, theses, videos, and even theater productions over the years. When he died on 2 May 1997 Freire left an extensive body of written work and a legacy of memorable educational and political achievements. In this light, this paper reviews and critiques Pedagogy of the Oppressed and how this book relates to my work as an elementary teacher. Overview of the Book Drawing on his experiences with rural peasant communities and the urban poor in Brazil and Chile, Freire theorized an intimate connection between education and the process of becoming more fully human. Chapters 1 and 3 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed set out Freire’s ontological and ethical ideas in comprehensive and lucid detail, and Chapter 4 provides an extensive consideration of the politics of domination at a macro level. The discussion of education is primarily located in Chapter 2, and literacy does not figure as prominently as it does in a number of Freire’s other texts. Pedagogy of the Oppressed develops the distinction between banking education and problem-posing education. Freire rejects a banking model of the teaching process in favor of a problem-posing approach, and encourages students to adopt a curious, questioning, probing stance in exploring educational issues. Freirean education demands a deep commitment to the goal of building a better social world, and necessitates active resistance against oppressive structures, ideas, and practices (Roberts, 2000). Some of the theoretical areas explored in Pedagogy of the Oppressed include questions about structure and rigor in liberating education, the nature of critical reading and writing, legitimate and oppressive uses of authority in the classroom, and the process of study. Freire also explores the role of intellectuals in resisting dominant ideas and practices, dialectical thinking and education, the dynamics of dialogue, the distinction between facilitating and teaching, and the bearing language difficulties have on education. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire writes that most of Latin Americans living in economic and politically dependent part-societies feel powerless and have internalized the ruling group’s view of them as unalterably stupid. Before participating in the culture groups, words and other codifications in movies and television are seen by them as tools that can be wielded by the rich and powerful only, while they are fated to be objects of culture. This attitude changes as they become conscious of their feelings and social position. Then they begin to see that their condition worsens if they submit to the seductions of the modern consumer culture, spending what little money they have for packaged entertainment and manufactured goods. They discover they are giving up their birthright as creators of culture, turning against their own art and artisan work to gain the illusion of participation in the modern society. They are further motivated as they discover that only they can codify their unique experience. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire reports that after analyzing the unreal and sometimes contemptuous messages in many standard texts available to them, they want to create their own texts. Critique Freire views man’s nature which is humanistic and optimistic. For Freire, education is humanizing when it is critical, dialogical, and praxical (Roberts, 2000). Man is unique among animals in his ability to shape himself and his environment. While all things change, only man is a purposive agent in change. Man’s nature is to continually create himself through an interactive process of purposive reflection and action in life situations. Wherever these two aspects of human behavior are divorced, men are victims of a social system which encourages them to see themselves as acted upon, passive things, rather than subjects who act upon the world. Conforming, apathetic behavior is the evidence of repressive relationships. Welfare programs which rob men of their initiative amount to false generosity. For Freire, education should increase political consciousness. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he argues that the oppression of peasants is partly maintained by their acceptance of their situation as an unalterable fact of existence. Freire feels that this fatalism reflects an internalization of the oppressor; thus, the oppressed is not for himself, but is ambivalent or even hostile to the idea of liberating himself. For this reason, liberation cannot be given to the oppressed; rather, the oppressed as an organized collective must take an active part in liberating themselves (Pitts, 1972). According to Torres (1993): â€Å"Freire’s global purpose transcends a criticism of the current educative forms, and goes on to virtually become a criticism of culture and the construction of knowledge. In short, the basic assumptions of Freire’s works lie in a dialectical epistemology for interpreting the development of human consciousness in its relationships with reality. † (p. 125) For Freire, the primary problems and issues of education are not pedagogical issues. Instead, they are political issues. The schooling system does not change society; instead, society can change the schooling system. However, the educational system may play a vital role in a cultural revolution, which implies the conscious participation of the masses. As a cultural praxis, critical pedagogy contributes to lifting the ideological veil in people’s consciousness. In addition, revolution itself is a meaningful pedagogy for the masses – Freire has spoken of revolutions as a continuing political workshop. Freire’s proposal is an anti-authoritarian though directivist pedagogy, where teachers and students are teaching and learning together. Since education is the act of knowing, teacher-student and student-teacher should engage in a permanent dialogue characterized by its horizontal relationship, which does not preclude power imbalances or different everyday living experiences and knowledge. This is a process taking place not in a classroom, but in a cultural circle. â€Å"There is not a ‘discursive’ knowledge but a knowledge starting from the living everyday and contradictory experience of teachers-students/students-teachers. Certainly this set of notions dismantles the most important framework of authoritarian pedagogy and, to this extent, appears as a ‘counter-hegemony’ practice and ideology within teacher training institutions. † (Torres, 1993, p. 126) One thing I like about Pedagogy of the Oppressed is that the oppressed are not seen as a passive force. In the book, Freire states that oppression must cease and it can; but the oppressed must liberate themselves. How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in the pedagogy of their liberation? According to Freire, for them to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, peasants and urban poor must perceive the reality of their oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit but as a limiting situation which they can transform. The problem that arises from banking education is that the ruling classes are not merely contented with the defense of their material privileges; they also insist on the preservation of their cultural hegemony. The culture that co-exists with their economic dominance is one that demands silence, fatalism, superstition, self-contempt, subservience and all forms of false consciousness on the part of the masses. Education provided by these dominant classes must therefore be authoritarian and banking education. How then is one to carry out Freire’s program under the existing social order? Freire is aware of the problem and the further one reads, the more one senses that the Pedagogy of the Oppressed is really written for subversive elements already in action (Mkandawire, 1975). Freire’s egalitarian methodology for education as espoused in Pedagogy of the Oppressed is intended to be politically subversive of oppressive regimes. It seems likely, however, that it could serve to legitimate opposition to any routinized form of delegated authority. For Freire, development is nonmaterial, and the unit of development is not the nation but the individual. For these reasons, it is unlikely that any government will attempt to follow Freire’s methodology to its most radical implications (Pitts, 1972). The Pedagogy of the Oppressed has attracted many criticisms over the years. Those who consider education as a technical or neutral process have complained that Freire’s approaches politicize teaching and learning. Freire’s refusal to provide â€Å"packages† has irritated those who seek clear-cut methodological solutions to educational problems (Roberts, 2000). The use of the male pronoun in Pedagogy of the Oppressed and other early writings has been particularly attacked. Also, the idea of promoting a critical mode of consciousness has been questioned. Furthermore, Freire’s focus on social class (at the expense of gender and ethnicity) in his early analyses of oppression has been rendered problematic by a number of contemporary educational theorists. Others suggest that Freire should have devoted more space in his books to class theory. Some critics have argued that the pedagogy proposed by Freire, contrary to its professed aims, constitutes a form of cultural invasion. Finally, as post-modern ideas have gained increasing currency in recent times, universalist assumptions in Freire’s ethic, epistemology, and pedagogy have come under fire. Despite these criticisms, it is undoubted that Pedagogy of the Oppressed has left an important legacy to education. Application Freire knew the world and problems of teachers regarding pedagogy. The Pedagogy of the Oppressed answers my questions on how to move my students to become self-motivating learners. I learned that I could not move them. Following Freire’s pedagogy, teachers could only help their students learn to move themselves. The thoughts conveyed in the book are indeed seditious but they did not transform me overnight. However, Freire’s theories have planted on me seeds of a new way of thinking. Upon reading the book, I realized that the learners and their mindset is more fundamental than the curriculum – not more important, it is just more fundamental. In addition, I learned that one’s view of the world determines what can be learned. According to the book, learning is dependent on environment and emotion as well as on presentation, materials, and text. Importantly, the Pedagogy of the Oppressed suggests the danger to learning of oppression in the classroom environment. Thus, there should be no hierarchy in the classroom as the teachers and the students are both learners in this environment. Accordingly, instructions and curriculums should be oriented towards the learners creating and solving their own problems. In other words, knowledge construction and collaborative learning are encouraged. Conclusion This paper has reviewed Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and how this book relates to my work as an elementary teacher. This discussion of Freire’s ideas on formal education has been brief and selective. In so being, it does not communicate the immense richness of his thoughts on such matters as the universal nature of man’s humanity Freire’s rejection of and banking model of the teaching process in favor of a problem-posing approach. However, if the readers have gained from this review some appreciation of how Freire’s thoughts are applied in the classroom environment, the review will have served its purpose.

How was Islam founded? Essay

Islam was founded in the 17th century when the angel Gabriel revealed to the prophet Muhammad the revelations of God. What is the difference between a Shi’ite Muslim and a Sunni Muslim? The Sunni believes that the legitimate leaders to be recognized by the Muslims are Mohammad’s successors – the four caliphs. On the other hand, the Shi’ites believe that only the heirs of the fourth caliphs should succeed as a religious leader. Why was the site of the Great Mosque of Cordoba so appropriate? The Great Mosque is appropriate because it was originally built as a church and later became a mosque for the Muslims, which expanded and became the second-largest mosque. What events led to the end of the Muslim world in 1492? The main event that marked the end of the Muslim world in Iberia was the conquest of Granada. On the second day of January 1492, the Muslim leader of Granada gave up his kingdom to the Catholic Monarchs. This became the end of the reconquistas when all of the peninsulas were recaptured by the Catholics. How was the Ottoman Empire formed? The formal Ottoman Empire rose during the year 1299-1453, which is associated with the fall of the Roman Empire. Under this government, the religious and ethnic minorities had freedom from the central control with regards to their internal issues or concerns. How does the life of Galla Placida bring the fall of the Roman Empire to life? During the animosities between the Goths and the Emperor, Placidia was captured and later on married Athaulf after the fall of Rome and they settled in Southern France. How did the Norse use animal style in their art? With the use of seminaturalistic lions and bird motifs, the Norse used animal style in their art to create pieces that will represent the 9th to 12th century. Why were manuscript covers often reused or stolen?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Manuscript covers were often reused or stolen because it is made of silver and gold. What beautiful artistic elements characterize the Book of Kells? The manuscripts were made interesting by the use of vibrant colors and intricate knotwork of human and animal figures. The decorations were filled with Christian symbolism that illuminates the major theme of the illustrations. What was the fate of most Ottonian architecture and why? It is a pre-Romanesque style of architecture and also known as the Ottonian Renaissance. Architecture was influenced by Carolingian tradition. Of the vast number of Churches built, only a few are well-reserved, most have disappeared.

Constitutional Criminal Procedure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Constitutional Criminal Procedure - Assignment Example Furthermore, Felonies can be defined as the criminal offence which is considered to be a serious illegal performance from legal law of the United States. Misdemeanors can be stated as the criminal offences those are less serious from the US criminal law viewpoint. Moreover, the prevailed case scenario i.e. keeping illegal amphetamines comes under the Felonies offences. According to the federal government legal law, the convicted people in the prevailed case can be charged under Harrison Act of 1914. 38 Stat. 785, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 and Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.21 U. S. C. A. 801et Seq. (841, 844 and 823) along with Uniform Controlled Substance Act: 1910, 1990 and 1994 (Scheb and Scheb II 271-274). To a certain extent, a person can keep or manufacture the amphetamine medicine because it is also used for curing certain diseases for which a person is allowed to hold 5 grams of amphetamine. However, in doing so, the person should hold a license or permissi on or prescription from the government or doctor. Furthermore, if the person is found to be not having any valid license or permission or exceeding the permissible level of possession then the person can be termed as guilty. The person found guilty under these Acts can be charged with penalty or imprisonment under the US legal law (Scheb 271-274). Application of the Law According to the defined acts and laws under the US legal law, the detained people in the presented case can be charged or convicted with penalty or imprisonment because they did not have any proper license or permission from the government. This is because a large number of capsules of prohibited amphetamines were found in a plastic bag from Jimmy Jaffers when the search was conducted by the police (Scheb and Scheb II 480-492). The discussion of the presented case is illustrated with a related case example stating about the charges and the tenure of the imprisonment for a convict caught under the amphetamines posses sion act. The identified case was put into trial on 13 September, 1988 where Boyd Barksdale was the defendant. In this case, it was observed that Boyd Barksdale was caught by the police while serving amphetamines to a person. In that raid, police recovered a 0.38 caliber Taurus revolver along with 250.7 grams of amphetamines as well as 0.18 gram of paraphernalia from the car. Subsequently, the offenders had been charged under the â€Å"Title 21, United States Code, Section 841(a)(1) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 2† because they had violated the legal law enacted by the US government. Furthermore, when Boyd Barksdale proved to be the culpable person, he was sentenced to seventy two months of imprisonment (Justia, â€Å"968 F.2d 1216: United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Boyd Barksdale, Defendant-Appellant†). In keeping with the example case, the convicts Harry Hampton and Jimmy Jaffers in existing case can also be charged with the similar tenure of imprisonment or more along with other penalties. This is because Harry Hampton and Jimmy Jaffers were caught red-handed by the police in the raid and both were found with amphetamines crossing the permitted levels that can be possessed by a person in terms of grams along with certain equipment that can be used for manufacturing the drug. Furthermore, they can also be charg

Soul Individualism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Soul Individualism - Essay Example Historically speaking, human life revolved around the idea of serving the divine being to gain worldly profits and satisfactory existence. A number of practices like human sacrifice for the sake of making the divine being happy are clear indicators of the fact that humans societies of the past were willing to go to any extent merely for the purpose of satisfying the blood thirsty nature of the divine being; and the fact that divine being is satisfied by bloodshed was merely their own thought with no solid proof behind. The concept of soul originated to explain a number of phenomena that could not be explained by ordinary means. The perception that soul is not destroyable appears to be a modern way of explaining the concept of soul. Human beings as individuals have been considered to be the embodiments of soul; every soul being enclosed within the body till the time of death; death being a state that results due to separation of body and soul. The coexistence of body and soul provided existence to an individual; the individual in turn possesses a self. In ancient languages like Hebrew, a word to explain ‘essential self’ is lacking; the self that could survive death (Watson 143). Politically speaking, around 510/509 BC, the Roman law manifested a number of changes that were more inclined towards preserving the rights of individuals rather than the divine being or the state (Watson 154). Law was becoming more and more powerful whereas the concept of depriving the ruler of unlimited powers was gaining pace. With the promotion of the concept of accountability, the individuals were gaining more and more power, and the system to run the state was becoming more and more humanistic. The conditions which led to the rise of the west appear to be similar to these conditions. In America from example â€Å"democracy was established on the western shores of the Atlantic and–equally important–that it was similar from community to

Death of Sun - 1 page discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Death of Sun - 1 page discussion - Essay Example ve until this time, it is therefore clear that the use of space shuttles and similar vehicles to transport humans to outside of Earth will have become mass produced. It is therefore sensible to conclude that there should be technology which is advanced enough to propel all human beings to a refugee planet in outer space. However, the only problems that might be encountered here would be the probable fight for who will be on those vehicles first, plus the money needed for it. Human greed might then become the reason for the probable failure of this evacuation plan. Anyone anywhere should therefore cooperate with the government and the media on what to do, although this would be highly impossible because of panic. There is nothing much anyone can do at this time but to keep their ears glued to the news, to pack up all their essentials, and to say their prayers. They should then await any directive from the government. They should then await any directive from the government for a possible relocation to where they should be transported to space. If the sun dies out, then the whole solar system should also die, and so only an exoplanet could be the answer. According to National Geographic, there is an exoplanet named Gliese 581g which is â€Å"a rocky place with an atmosphere, temperate regions, and crucially, liquid water considered vital for life as we know it† (Roach). This is a proof that such an exoplanet is worth a try. We may not know what is in Gliese 581g, but we definitely know the death that awaits us on Earth. Roach, John. â€Å"First Truly Habitable Planet Discovered, Experts Say.† 2010. National Geographic. 4 Mar 2013.

Features of power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Features of power - Essay Example " or ""Everyone will be just as it was," drawing on to the themes of Modern ennui or the famous Eliot line ""In the room the women come and go/ Talking of Michelangelo". The boredom is with a wasted life where the Victorian or Aristocratic order becomes a sham. The powerful imposition of an abeyance of organic cycles full of decadent spectral traditions in Chekhov, and the "ghost" of the Victorian order posing acute psychological and intellectual repercussions in Nora's marks themood of Ibsen's play. The context of power in Ibsen's play is more imminent since it outright satirizes the Victorian marital set-up and the kind of power-relation is shared between a husband and his wife. It did subvert the idea of the 'angel in the house'. The play satirises the helplessness of Victorian women, financially and legally dependent their husbands and were considered legal property of her husband. Her property or wealth too belonged to her husband. There was very little financial independence she was not expected to earn for her own living. This patriarchal imposition was masked behind an idea of good-will. The cold rationality of Torvald Helmer and his patronozing attitude towards Nora is extremely apt in giving the account of the kind of power and hierarchy he engages to help Nora content with an illusion about her home and life. Her eating macaroons and lying about them are just shallow exchanges that have greater ideological practices at play behind them. Torvald is the shaping power wh o must teach, guide, rescue and advice Nora under the excuse of romantic love which has no basis in anything apart for in creating and restoring a hierarchy where he must appear to represent greater experience, knowledge, intellect and above all benevolence. His appearance masks a deep selfishness (for his own integrity) when he refuses to oblige his beloved Nora by refusing to let in Krogstad. There is a great urge working within Torvald to control appearances within his household and with his relationship. The epiphany about her real self emerges only when Torvald falls short of his role as a protector. Krogstad's blackmail reveals the other side of Nora. It shows her acumen for business, and the desperation to maintain the status quo of her substandard life. She realises that his continuous playful tone with her, disciplining attitude signify Torvald's actual expectations out of her. She is never his equal, sharing his intellectual comanionship. She is another decoration in the " Doll's" house, with a stunted mental life. Nora questions the possession of authority and intellectual power granted to her even for raising her children. She was thus not indispensable in her substance. Nora has lived a derogatory life only to conform to an ideal that does not even exist and says: "I have been performing tricks for you, Torvald". Nora becomes a person with a greater purpose. Her ideals about motherhood take a backseat when she realizes that she is estranged by the religion and the law and fits nowhere. Torvald's desperate plea to make Nora accept her "roles" was a pathetic attempt to appease her reveals his hypocrisy. Choosing integrity over love becomes a crucial question when Nora chooses the prior thus establishing that Torvald's selfishness to maintain his own integrity even at the expense of their marriage

How the Media Affects Diet, Nutrition and Exercise Essay

How the Media Affects Diet, Nutrition and Exercise - Essay Example Many multidimensional models of messy eating (e.g., Garfinkel & Garner, 1982) count mass media under the heading of "sociocultural (risk) factors" without a huge deal of concentration to mechanisms of influence. In more detailed analyses media are interpreted as instruments of propaganda in the service of patriarchy and big business (Bordo, 1993; Wolf, 1991). Whatever theoretical harmony exists seems to revolve around two points. First, mass media both support and reveal body shapes, styles of clothing, and other images that signify ("embody") intricate themes of gender, race, class, beauty, identity, desire, success, and self-control in postindustrial societies (Bordo, 1993; Gordon, 1990; Kilbourne, 1994; Nichter & Nichter, 1991; Stice, 1994). ... nd research and the many complex effects being proposed, we examine the relation between mass media and messy eating by addressing some supposedly simple questions (after Harris, 1994): 1. What rationale is there to deduce that media help provide a "context" in which the mechanism and syndromes of messy eating thrive 2. Do content analyses prop up arguments about the nature and degree of messages that might add to messy eating 3. To what amount are females between the ages of 9 and 25, the population at risk for eating disorders, exposed to those mass media containing toxic messages 4. What is the status of the proof from association and tentative studies examining the effect of mass media or media images on that population 5. Which theories within the field of mass communication, developmental psychology, and social psychology might direct theory and research toward an understanding of media effects 6. What are the particular implications of existing work on mass media for research on the etiology of eating disorders The "mass media" are openly supported institutions and forms of communication that produce messages designed for a very huge, very assorted, and fundamentally unidentified audience (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1994; Harris, 1994). The messages serve many purposes, including entertainment, education, government, and, certainly, engagement of huge groups of people so that advertisers can sell them products. Children, adolescents, and adults interact with a wide variety of mass media, including television, music delivered by compact discs and radio, and telecommunications available through personal computers. In fact, books and articles about eating disorders in and of themselves constitute a form of mass media that may be

Cross Culture Marketing strategy2 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cross Culture Marketing strategy2 - Article Example They tend to take steps of the business context to make sure that relationships do not stop at just being business partners, but establishes allegiances as well. They believe that this method results to the establishment of harmonious relationships, with trust and loyalty, and eventually leads to a successful business relationship, where conflicts are resolved through mediation. For collectivists, â€Å"hasty litigation may be interpreted as uncompromising and self-oriented† (5), a big deviation from their sense of affective commitment, where business partners are treated as family. Entertainment, in the form of wining and dining is â€Å"a means of gauging the other party’s values, trustworthiness, and willingness to compromise† (2). This way, a possible business partner can be gauged or assessed according to his behavior not just as a possible business partner but a man and a future friend and â€Å"family† since â€Å"collectivists operate on solidarit y and share values† (4). Gift-giving on the other hand, is viewed by collectivists as a positive gesture. It is an expression of the â€Å"desire for partnership success† (James 5). Partnership success in a collectivist’s view means a lasting and enduring relationship with a sense of duty and obligation to each other (2). For a collectivist, â€Å"investments in time, energy and resources were acknowledged as pledges or signals to the buyer that the supplier was benevolent† (5). 2. In a collectivist culture, decisions are made collectively by senior members (James 2) and information sharing is of utmost importance. Being relationally oriented (1), with trust, commitment, cooperation, loyalty and obligation to his organization, it is not surprising that collectivist cultures rely more heavily on the use of social media. In high-context cultures, people prefer a less explicit form of communication (5). They prefer indirect

Journal Article Critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Journal Article Critique - Assignment Example o establish whether the authors arrived at a valid conclusion given the elements of research that were used (participants, methods, measurement principles, and secondary sources of information). The participants of the study were composed of 101 employees of a Korean construction company and a quantitative method of research was used to validate the hypotheses that were noted (Raile, Kim, Choi, Serota, & Lee, 2008). The hypotheses were clearly stated as each measure of centrality was being determined in terms of its link to job satisfaction in the Korean workplace. This is therefore consistent with Keyton’s (2006) discussion on assessing hypotheses (Chapter 3). Further, as the variables were clearly established, a regression analysis effectively validated the significant relationships to the chosen variables, as computed and revealed in the results. As also required, issues of reliability and validity, as discussed by Keyton (2006) were noted and resolved. A discussion on limitations of the study clearly noted lack of sample and data for workplace friendship networks within the Korean setting. Therefore, as recommended, future research could address the limitations b y increasing the sample size and by applying the study in other work setting using diverse cultural orientations. The authors validly arrived at a conclusive evidence that there is a link between closeness and job satisfaction using the components of quantitative method effectively with verifiable and credible

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Strategy - Essay Example This is the primary reason why management could not passively deal with the issues that concern the employees especially when dealing with the retail practices of business (Leat, 2001, 21). True, the situation of different organizations around the globe today are indeed changing massively, thus making it harder for their management teams to adjust on the said needs that they are supposed to adjust upon. As for a fact, decision-making is a major factor of management that requires adjustments in terms of actual application. People of different races intend to expect different things from the management Hence, it is then very important how effective management procedures could be affected by research procedures as per based in the theories of managing that shall be discussed within the following paragraphs of this paper. Along with this, the application of strategic choice in the different management activities that are to be handled for discussion shall also be tackled so as to know ho w it is possibly true that strategic choice becomes an element that subjects the business to different issues. As mentioned earlier, management requires one to be skillful enough in facing the different changes that the international set of business procedures offers the said systems of organizational operations. Hence, it could then be noticed that the management procedures accompanied by research yields better results on the part of the employers, the employees and the profit that the organization itself makes from the operations that it takes. Moreover, as research procedures aim to increase the knowledge of the people or the managers at that with regards the situation, the more they become competent in doing the job that they are supposed to complete. Through strategic choice application, most managers try to choose the right kind of solution that they ought to apply within certain situations. The examination of the different procedures by which managers

Marketing Segmentation Essay Example for Free

Marketing Segmentation Essay Market segmentation is the process of dividing up a market into more-or-less homogenous subsets for which it is possible to create different value propositions. At the end of the process the company can decide which segment(s) it wants to serve. If it chooses, each segment can be served with a different value proposition and managed in a different way. Market segmentation processes can be used during CPM for two main purposes. They can be used to segment potential markets to identify which customers to acquire, and to cluster current customers with a view to offering differentiated value propositions supported by different relationship management strategies. In this discussion we’ll focus on the application of market segmentation processes to identify which customers to acquire. What distinguishes market segmentation for this CRM purpose is its very clear focus on customer value. The outcome of the process should be the identification of the value potential of each identified segment. Companies will want to identify and target customers that can generate profit in the future: these will be those customers that the company and its network are better placed to serve and satisfy than their competitors. Market segmentation in many companies is highly intuitive. The marketing team will develop profiles of customer groups based upon their insight and experience. This is then used to guide the development of marketing strategies across the segments. In a CRM context, market segmentation is highly data dependent. The data might be generated internally or sourced externally. Internal data from marketing, sales and finance records are ofte n enhanced with additional data from external sources such as marketing research companies, partner organizations in the company’s network and data specialists (see Figure 5.2 ). The market segmentation process can be broken down into a number of steps: 1. identify the business you are in 2. identify relevant segmentation variables 3. analyse the market using these variables 4. assess the value of the market segments 5. select target market(s) to serve. Sales forecasting: Slide #6 (p. 136-8) The second discipline that can be used for CPM is sales forecasting. One major issue commonly facing companies that conduct CPM is that the data available for clustering customers takes a historical or, at best, present day view. The data identifies those customers who have been, or presently are, important for sales, profit or other strategic reasons. If management believes the future will be the same as the past, this presents no problem. However, if the business environment is changeable, this does present a problem. Because CPMs goal is to identify those customers that will be strategically important in the future, sales forecasting can be a useful discipline. Sales forecasting, some pessimists argue, is a waste of time, because the business environment is rapidly changing and unpredictable. Major world events such as terrorist attacks, war, drought and market-based changes, such as new products from competitors or high visibility promotional campaigns, can make any sales forecas ts invalid. There are a number of sales forecasting techniques that can be applied, providing useful information for CPM. These techniques, which fall into three major groups, are appropriate for different circumstances. ââ€"  qualitative methods: customer surveys sales team estimates ââ€"  time-series methods: moving average exponential smoothing time-series decomposition ââ€"  causal methods: leading indicators regression models. Qualitative methods are probably the most widely used forecasting methods. Customer surveys ask consumers or purchasing officers to give an opinion on what they are likely to buy in the forecasting period. This makes sense when customers forward-plan their purchasing. Data can be obtained by inserting a question into a customer satisfaction survey. For example, ‘In the next six months are you likely to buy more, the same or less from us than in the  current period? ’ And, ‘If more, or less, what volume do you expect to buy from us? ’ Sometimes, third party organizations such as industry associations or trans-industry groups such as the Chamber of Commerce or the Institute of Directors collect data that indicate future buying intentions or proxies for intention, such as business confidence. Sales team estimates can be useful when salespeople have built close relationships with their customers. A key account management team might be well placed to generate s everal individual forecasts from the team membership. These can be averaged or weighted in some way that reflects the estimator’s closeness to the customer. Account managers for Dyno Nobel, a supplier of commercial explosives for the mining and quarrying industries, are so close to their customers that they are able to forecast sales two to three years ahead. Operational CRM systems support the qualitative sales forecasting methods, in particular sales team estimates. The CRM system takes into account the value of the sale, the probability of closing the sale and the anticipated period to closure. Many CRM systems also allow management to adjust the estimates of their sales team members, to allow for overly optimistic or pessimistic salespeople. Time-series approaches take historical data and extrapolate them forward in a linear or curvilinear trend. This approach makes sense when there are historical sales data, and the assumption can be safely made that the future will reflect the past. The moving average method is the simplest of these. This takes sales in a number of previous periods and averages them. The averaging process reduces o r eliminates random variation. The moving average is computed on successive periods of data, moving on one period at a time, as in Figure 5.10 . Moving averages based on different periods can be calculated on historic data to generate an accurate method. A variation is to weight the more recent periods more heavily. The rationale is that more recent periods are better predictors. In producing  an estimate for year 2009 in Figure 5.10 , one could weight the previous four years’ sales performance by 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.1, respectively, to reach an estimate. This would generate a forecast of 5461. This approach is called exponential smoothing. The decomposition method is applied when there is evidence of cyclical or seasonal patterns in the historical data. The method attempts to separate out four components of the time series: trend factor,  cyclical factor, seasonal factor and random factor. The trend factor is the longterm direction of the trend after the other three elements are removed. The cyclical factor represents regular long-term recurrent influences on sales; seasonal influences generally occur within annual cycles. It is sometimes possible to predict sales using leading indicators. A leading indicator is some contemporary activity or event that indicates that another activity or event will happen in the future. At a macro level, for example, housing starts are good predictors of future sales of kitchen furniture. At a micro level, when a credit card customer calls into a contact centre to ask about the current rate of interest, this is a strong indicator that the customer will switch to another supplier in the future. Regression models work by employing data on a number of predictor variables to estimate future demand. The variable being predicted is called the dependent variable; the variables being used as predictors are called independent variables. For example, if you wanted to predict demand for cars (the dependent variable) you might use data on population size, average disposable income, average car price for the category being predicted and average fuel price (the independent variables). The regression equation can be tested and validated on historical data before being adopted. New predictor variables can be substituted or added to see if they improve the accuracy of the forecast. This can be a useful approach for predicting demand from a segment. Activity-Based Costing: Slide #7 (p. 138-40) Customer Acquisition costs Terms of Trade Customer service costs Working capital costs Activity-based costing The third discipline that is useful for CPM is activity-based costing. Many companies, particularly those in a B2B context, can trace revenues to customers. In a B2C environment, it is usually only possible to trace revenues to identifiable customers if the company operates a billing system requiring customer details, or a membership scheme such as a customer club, store-card or a loyalty programme. In a B2B context, revenues can be tracked in the sales and accounts databases. Costs are an entirely different matter. Because the goal of CPM is to cluster customers according to their strategic value, it is desirable to be able to identify which customers are, or will be, profitable. Clearly, if a company is to understand customer profitability, it has to be able to trace costs, as well as revenues, to customers. Costs do vary from customer to customer. Some customers are very costly to acquire and serve, others are not. There can be considerable variance across the customer base within several categories of cost: ââ€"  customer acquisition costs : some customers require considerable sales effort to move them from prospect to fi rst-time customer status: more sales calls, visits to reference customer sites, free samples, engineering advice, guarantees that switching costs will be met by the vendor ââ€"  terms of trade : price discounts, advertising and promotion support, slotting allowances (cash paid to retailers for shelf space), extended invoice due dates ââ€"  customer service costs : han dling queries, claims and complaints, demands on salespeople and contact centre, small order sizes, high order frequency, just-in-time delivery, part load shipments, breaking bulk for delivery to multiple sites ââ€"  working capital costs : carrying inventory for the customer, cost of credit. Traditional product-based or general ledger costing systems do not provide this type of detail, and do not enable companies to estimate customer profitability. Product costing systems track material, labour and energy costs to products, often comparing actual to standard costs. They do not, however, cover the customer-facing activities of marketing, sales and service. General ledger costing systems do track costs across all parts of the business, but are normally too highly aggregated to establish which customers or segments are responsible for generating those costs. Activity-based costing (ABC) is an approach to costing that splits costs into two groups: volume-based costs and order-related costs. Volume based (product-related) costs are variable against the size of the order, but fixed per unit for any order and any customer. Material and direct labour costs are examples. Order-related (customer-related) costs vary according to the product and process requirements of each particular customer. Imagine two retail customers, each purchasing the same volumes of product from a manufacturer. Customer 1 makes no product or process demands. The sales revenue is $5000; the gross margin for the vendor is $1000. Customer 2 is a different story: customized  product, special overprinted outer packaging, just-in-time delivery to three sites, provision of point-of-sale material, sale or return conditions and discounted price. Not only that, but Customer 2 spends a lot of time agreeing these terms and conditions with a salesperson who has had to call three times before closing the sale. The sales revenue is $5000, but after accounting for product and process costs to meet the demands of this particular customer, the margin retained by the vendor is $250. Other things being equal, Customer 1 is four times as valuable as Customer 2. Whereas conventional cost accounti ng practices report what was spent, ABC reports what the money was spent doing. Whereas the conventional general ledger approach to costing identifies resource costs such as payroll, equipment and materials, the ABC approach shows what was being done when these costs were incurred. Figure 5.11 shows how an ABC view of costs in an insurance company’s claims processing department gives an entirely different picture to the traditional view. ABC gives the manager of the claims-processing department a much clearer idea of which activities create cost. The next question from a CPM perspective is ‘ which customers create the activity? ’ Put another way, which customers are the cost drivers? If you were to examine the activity cost item ‘ Analyse claims: $121 000 ’ , and find that 80 per cent of the claims were made by drivers under the age of 20, you’d have a clear understanding of the customer group that was creating that activity cost for the business. CRM needs ABC because of its overriding goal of generating profitable relationships with customers. Unless there is a costing system in place to trace costs to customers, CRM will find it very difficult to deliver on a promise of improved customer profitability. Overall, ABC serves customer portfolio management in a number of ways: 1. when combined with revenue figures, it tells you the absolute and relative levels of profit generated by eac h customer, segment or cohort 2. it guides you towards actions that can be taken to return customers to profit 3. it helps prioritize and direct customer acquisition, retention and development strategies 4. it helps establish whether customization and other forms of value creation for customers pay off. ABC sometimes justifies management’s confidence in the Pareto principle, otherwise known as the 80:20 rule. This rule suggests that  80 per cent of profits come from 20 per cent of customers. ABC tells you which customers fall into the important 20 per cent. Research generally supports the 80: 0 rule. For example, one report from Coopers and Lybrand found that, in the retail industry, the top 4 per cent of customers account for 29 per cent of profits, the next 26 per cent of customers account for 55 per cent of profits and the remaining 70 per cent account for only 16 per cent of profits. Lifetime Value Estimation: Slide# 8 (p. 141-2) The fourth discipline that can be used for CPM is customer lifetime value (LTV) estimation, which was first introduced in Chapter 2. LTV is measured by computing the present day value of all net margins (gross margins less cost-to-serve) earned from a relationship with a customer, segment or cohort. LTV estimates provide important insights that guide companies in their customer management strategies. Clearly, companies want to protect and ring-fence their relationships with customers, segments or cohorts that will generate significant amounts of profit. Sunil Gupta and Donald Lehmann suggest that customer lifetime value can be computed as follows: Application of this formula means that you do not have to estimate customer tenure. As customer retention rate rises there is an automatic lift in customer tenure, as shown in Table 2.2 in Chapter 2. This formula can be adjusted to consider change in both future margins and retention rates either up or down, as described in Gupta and Lehmann’s book Managing Customers as Investments. The table can be used to assess the impact of a number of customer management strategies: what would be the impact of reducing cost-toserve by shifting customers to low-cost self-serve channels? What would be the result of cross-selling higher margin products? What would be the outcome of a loyalty programme designed to increase retention rate from 80 to 82 per cent? An important additional benefit of this LTV calculation is that it enables you to estimate a company’s value. For example, it has been computed that the LTV of the average US-based American Airlines customer is $166.94. American Airlines has 43.7 million such customers, yielding an estimated company value of $7.3 billion. Roland Rust and his co-researchers noted that, given the absence of international  passengers and freight considerations from this computation, it was remarkably close to the company’s market capitalization at the time their research was undertaken. Clustering (144): slide #9 Clustering techniques are used to find naturally occurring groupings within a dataset. As applied to customer data, these techniques generally function as follows: 1. Each customer is allocated to just one group. The customer possesses attributes that are more closely associated with that group than any other group. 2. Each group is relatively homogenous. 3. The groups collectively are very different from each other. In other words, clustering techniques generally try to maximize both within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity. There are a number of clustering techniques, including CART (classification and regression trees) and CHAID (chi-square automatic interaction detection).7 Once statistically homogenous clusters have been formed they need to be interpreted. CRM strategists are often interested in the future behaviours of a customer: segment, cohort or individual. Customers ’ potential value is determined by their propensity to buy products in the future. Data miners can build predictive models by examining patterns and relationships within historic data. Predictive models can be generated to identify: 1. Which customer, segment or cohort is most likely to buy a given product? 2. Which customers are likely to default on payment? 3. Which customers are most likely to defect (churn)? Data analysts scour historic data looking for predictor and outcome variables. Then a model is built and validated on these historic data. When the model seems to work well on the historic data, it is run on contemporary data, where the predictor data are known but the outcome data are not. This is known as ‘ scoring ’ . Scores are answers to questions such as the propensity-to-buy, default and churn questions listed above. Predictive modelling is based on three assumptions, each of which may be true to a greater or lesser extent: 1. The past is a good predictor of the future †¦ BUT this may not be true. Sales of many products are cyclical or seasonal. Others have fashion or fad lifecycles. 2. The data are available †¦ BUT this may not be true. Data used to train the model may no longer be collected. Data may be too costly to collect, or may be in the wrong format. 3. Customer-related databases contain what you want to predict †¦ BUT this may not be true. The data may not be available. If you want to predict which customers are most likely to buy mortgage protection insurance, and you only have data on life policies, you will not be able to answer the question. Two tools that are used for predicting future behaviours are decision trees and neural networks. Decision trees (145): slide #9 Decision trees are so called because the graphical model output has the appearance of a branch structure. Decision trees work by analyzing a dataset to find the independent variable that, when used to split the population, results in nodes that are most different from each other with respect to the variable you are tying to predict. Figure 5.12 contains a set of data about five customers and their credit risk profile. We want to use the data in four of the fi ve columns to predict the risk rating in the fifth column. A decision tree can be constructed for this purpose. In decision tree analysis, Risk is in the ‘ dependent ’ column. This is also known as the target variable. The other four columns are independent columns. It is unlikely that the customer’s name is a predictor of Risk, so we will use the three other pieces of data as independent variables: debt, income and marital status. In the example, each of these is a simple categorical item, each of which only has two possible values (high or low; yes or no). The data from Figure 5.12 are represented in a different form in Figure 5.13 , in a way which lets you see which independent variable is best at predicting risk. As you examine the data, you will see that the best split is income (four instances highlighted in bold on the diagonal: two high income/good risk plus two low income/poor risk). Debt and marital status each s core three on their diagonals. Once a node is split, the same process is performed on each successive node, either until no further splits are possible or until you have reached a managerially useful model. The graphical output of this decision tree analysis is shown in Figure 5.14 . Each box is a node. Nodes are linked by branches. The top node is the root node. The data from the root node is split into two groups based on income. The right-hand, low income box, does not split any further because both low income customers are classified as poor credit risks. The left-hand, high-income box does split further, into married and not married customers. Neither of these split further because the one unmarried customer is a poor credit risk and the two remaining married customers are good credit risks. As a result of this process the company knows that customers who have the lowest credit risk will be high income and married. They will also note that debt, one of the variables inserted into the training model, did not perform well. It is not a predictor of creditworthiness. Decision trees that work with categorical data such as these are known as classification trees. When decision trees are applied to continuous data they are known as regression trees. Neural Networks (147): slide #9 Neural networks are another way of fitting a model to existing data for prediction purposes. The expression ‘ neural network ’ has its origins in the work of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Researchers in this field have tried to learn from the natural neural networks of living creatures. Neural networks can produce excellent predictions from large and complex datasets containing hundreds of interactive predictor variables, but the neural networks are neither easy to understand nor straightforward to use. Neural networks represent complex mathematical equations, with many summations, exponential functions and parameters. Like decision trees and clustering techniques, neural networks need to be trained to recognize patterns on sample datasets. Once trained, they can be used to predict customer behaviour from new data. They work well when there are many potential predictor variables, some of which are redundant. Case 5.2 Customer portfolio management at Tesco Tesco, the largest and most successful supermarket chain in the UK, has developed a CRM strategy that is the envy of many of its competitors. Principally a food retailer in a mature market that has grown little in the  last 20 years, Tesco realized that the only route to growth was taking market share from competitors. Consequently, the development of a CRM strategy was seen as imperative. In developing its CRM strategy, Tesco first analysed its customer base. It found that the top 100 customers were worth the same as the bottom 4000. It also found that the bottom 25 per cent of customers represented only 2 per cent of sales, and that the top 5 per cent of customers were responsible for 20 per cent of sales. The results of this analysis were used to segment Tesco’s customers and to develop its successful loyalty programmes. SWOT and PESTE (p. 154-5): slide# 10 SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis explores the internal environment (S and W) and the external environment (O and T) of a strategic business unit. The internal (SW) audit looks for strengths and weaknesses in the business functions of sales, marketing, manufacturing or operations, finance and people management. It then looks cross-functionally for strengths and weaknesses in, for example, cross-functional processes (such as new product development) and organizational culture. The external (OT) audit analyses the macro- and micro-environments in which the customer operates. The macro-environment includes a number of broad conditions that might impact on a company. These conditions are identified by a PESTE analysis. PESTE is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological and environmental conditions. An analysis would try to pick out major conditions that impact on a business, as illustrated below: political environment : demand for international air travel contracted as worldwide political stability was reduced after September 11, 2001 economic environment : demand for mortgages falls when the economy enters recession. social environment : as a population ages, demand for healthcare and residential homes increase technological environment : as more households become owners of computers, demand for Internet banking increases environmental conditions : as customers become  more concerned about environmental quality, demand for more energy efficient products increases. The micro environmental part of the external (OT) audit examines relationships between a company and its immediate external stakeholders: customers, suppliers, business partners and investors. A CRM-oriented SWOT analysis would be searching for customers or potential customers that emerge well from the analysis. Th ese would be customers that: 1. possess relevant strengths to exploit the opportunities open to them 2. are overcoming weaknesses by partnering with other organizations to take advantage of opportunities 3. are investing in turning around the company to exploit the opportunities 4. are responding to external threats in their current markets by exploiting their strengths for diversification. Five forces The five-forces analysis was developed by Michael Porter. 17 He claimed that the profitability of an industry, as measured by its return on capital employed relative to its cost of capital, was determined by five sources of competitive pressure. These five sources include three horizontal and two vertical conditions. The horizontal conditions are: competition within the established businesses in the market competition from potential new entrants competition from potential substitutes. The vertical conditions reflect supply and demand chain considerations: the bargaining power of buyers  the bargaining power of suppliers.  Porter’s basic premise is that competitors in an industry will be more profitable if these five conditions are benign. For example, if buyers are very powerful, they can demand high levels of service and low prices, thus negatively influencing the profitability of the supplier. However, if barriers to entry are high, say because of large capital requirements or dominance of the market by very powerful brands, then current players will be relatively immune from new entrants and enjoy the possibility of better profits. Why would a CRM-strategist be interested in a five-forces evaluation of customers? Fundamentally, a financially healthy customer offers better potential for a supplier than a customer in financial  distress. The analysis points to different CRM solutions: 1. Customers in a profitable industry are more likely to be stable for the near-term, and are better placed to invest in opportunities for the future. They therefore have stronger value potential. These are customers with whom a supplier would want to build an exclusive and well-protected relationship. 2. Customers in a stressed industry might be looking for reduced cost inputs from its suppliers, or for other ways that they can add value to their offer to their own customers. A CRM-oriented supplier would be trying to find ways to serve this customer more effectively, perhaps by stripping out elements of the value proposition that are not critical, or by adding elements that enable the customer to compete more strongly. Strategically Significant Customers (157) slide #11 The goal of this entire analytical process is to cluster customers into groups so that differentiated value propositions and relationship management strategies can be applied. One outcome will be the identification of customers that will be strategically significant for the company’s future. We call these strategically significant customers (SSCs). There are several classes of SSC, as follows: 1. High future lifetime value customers : these customers will contribute significantly to the company’s profitability in the future. 2. High volume customers : these customers might not generate much profit, but they are strategically significant because of their absorption of fixed costs, and the economies of scale they generate to keep unit costs low. 3. Benchmark customers : these are customers that other customers follow. For example, Nippon Conlux supplies the hardware and software for Coca Cola’s vending operation. While they might not make much margin from that rela tionship, it has allowed them to gain access to many other markets. ‘ If we are good enough for Coke, we are good enough for you ’ , is the implied promise. Some IT companies create ‘ reference sites ’ at some of their more demanding customers. 4. Inspirations : these are customers who bring about improvement in the supplier’s business. They may identify new applications for a product, product improvements, or opportunities for cost reductions. They may complain loudly and make unreasonable demands, but in doing so, force change for the better. 5. Door  openers : these are customers that allow the supplier to gain access to a new market. This may be done for no initial profit, but with a view to proving credentials for further expansion. This may be particularly important if crossing cultural boundaries, say between west and east. One company, a Scandinavian processor of timber, has identified five major customer groups that are strategically signi ficant, as in Figure 5.22 . The Seven Core Customer Management Strategies (158-9) slide # 12 This sort of analysis pays off when it helps companies develop and implement differentiated CRM strategies for clusters of customers in the portfolio. There are several core customer management strategies: 1. Protect the relationship : this makes sense when the customer is strategically significant and attractive to competitors. We discuss the creation of exit barriers in our review of customer retention strategies in Chapter 9. 2. Re-engineer the relationship : in this case, the customer is currently unprofitable or less profitable than desired. However, the customer could be converted to profit if costs were trimmed from the relationship. This might mean reducing or automating service levels, or servicing customers through lower cost channels. In the banking industry, transaction processing costs, as a multiple of online processing costs are as follows. If Internet transaction processing has a unit cost of 1, an in-bank teller transaction costs 120 units, an ATM transaction costs 40, telephone costs 30 and PC banking costs 20. In other words, it is 120 times more expensive to conduct an in-bank transaction than the identical online transaction. Cost-reduction programmes have motivated banks to migrate their customers, or at least some segments of customers, to other lower cost channels. An Australian electricity company has found that its average annual margin per customer is $60. It costs $13 to serve a c ustomer who pays by credit card, but only 64 cents to service a direct debit customer. Each customer moved to the lower cost channel therefore produces a transaction cost saving of more than $12, which increases the average customer value by 20 per cent. Re-engineering a relationship requires a clear understanding of the activities that create costs in the relationship (see Case 5.3). 3. Enhance the relationship : like  the strategy above, the goal is to migrate the customer up the value ladder. In this case it is done not by re-engineering the relationship, but by increasing your share of customer spend on the category, and by identifying up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. 4. Harvest the relationship : when your share of wallet is stable, and you do not want to invest more resources in customer development, you may feel that the customer has reached maximum value. Under these conditions you may wish to harvest, that is, optimize cash flow from the customer with a view to using the cash generated to develop other customers. This may be particularly appealing if the customer is in a declining market, has a high cost-to-serve or has a high propensity-to-switch to competitors. 5. End the relationship : sacking customers is ge nerally anathema to sales and marketing people. However, when the customer shows no sign of making a significant contribution in the future it may be the best option.You can read about strategies for sacking customers in Chapter 9. 6. Win back the customer : sometimes customers take some or all of their business to other suppliers. If they are not strategically signifi cant, it may make sense to let them go. However, when the customer is important, you may need to develop and implement win back strategies. The starting point must be to understand why they took their business away. 7. Start a relationship : you’ve identified a prospect as having potential strategic significance for the future. You need to develop an acquisition plan to recruit the customer onto the value ladder. You can read about customer acquisition strategies in Chapter 8.

Beneficial of team work

Beneficial of team work Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. Henry Ford I personally feel that team work is almost totally beneficial to an organisation and also to its members. Researchers suggest that individuals are better than teams at generating new ideas, but the teams are better than individuals at evaluating ideas. Before advancing into the argument, let us first try to understand what does the term Team actually mean and in turn to understand it we should figure out what does a Group mean. A group is a collection of two or more people who often have a face to face interaction among themselves and work in an interdependent manner in order to achieve their common goals. As mentioned by Katzenbach Smith, a team is an extraordinary form of a formalised group. He states that a team consists of a small number of people who all are committed to serve a common purpose and achieve their performance goals. It generally operates with a common approach and the people in it are always mutually accountable. Having got an idea of what a team really means, now let us try to get a pinch of some of the issues that are being faced by them. The following should be taken care for the proper functioning of a team, A pleasant atmosphere should be maintained within it and all its members should sustain a good relationship among themselves. All the members should be made to actively participate in the team. The members should all be made aware and also accept their team goals the up to date informations should be shared among them. If any misunderstanding arises in the team, they should be resolved as and when possible. Since decision making holds a higher degree of importance, all the team members must be made to participate in it. Performance evaluation should be carried out frequently. Labour should be equally divided among all the members and they should be given the freedom to express their concerns. In order for the team work to be beneficial to an organisation and its employees the practise of it should be made efficient enough. The effectiveness of such a team could be determined by factors like its design, overall composition and the processes it follows whereas Hackman suggests three different criterias for assessing a teams effectiveness. Firstly, it is the actual output of the team. Secondly, the entire team should work as a performing unit. Thirdly, each member of the team should be satisfied with the experience of working in it. As already stated now let us study in detail about the various factors that contributes to the effective working of a team. Effort There are some factors which intensifies the quantity of effort the members of the team disburse on carrying out the given task, Work Design The motivating factor of the team very much relies on its work design. Hackman states that a higher degree of effort is achieved from the team only if the task they perform is found to be challenging, has a major impact on the organisation or its clients, is totally owned by the team and if it gives out regular feedback on the team members performance. Reward System Efforts will be higher if there is a reward system in place. It provides the team with challenging objectives and emphasizes their accomplishment. Hence it directly paves way for the team members growth and indirectly aids the organisations augmentation. Knowledge and Skill The members of the team should be both technically as well functionally competent. The effective performance of a team mainly depends on the resources (Knowledge and Skill) it possesses in order to complete the given job. The factors that should be taken care are, Team Composition A teams composition is mainly determined by the level of expertise it has pertaining to the performing task. But normally the teams composition is determined either by seniority or by personal predilections instead of taking into account the ability or the technical expertise it possesses. Team Size Though many teams in an organisation tend to be large, it does not paves way for the effective functioning of the team. The major issue being that if the number of members in a teams increases then the degree of interaction within the team decreases to a greater extent. In addition some people will start finding it difficult to make their contributions. As stated by Handy, the first and foremost reason for the above is that a tendency would start arising for those who make huge contributions to employ most influence and vice versa. The second factor being that the people who are devoid of their contribution could deny the team of their relevant knowledge and skills. Performance Strategies Hackman states that a team would almost employ a task appropriate performance strategy based on the following three conditions, Firstly, the concern about the amount of information available for the team members to be made use while assessing their performance. Secondly, the concern is about the interaction that takes place within the team members which in turn encourages them to make use of the information available. The teams before getting into the actual must do some pre-work to figure out what the work is all about and the process which they should employ. Thirdly, the team interaction not only paves way for newer ideas but also helps the team to no get deviated from the strategic implementation of their ideas. In spite of taking good care during some instances there seems to be some deviation from the chosen approach, which in turn is mainly due to the lacking of quality in the decision making process. Decision Making One of the major factors pursued by a team in order to achieve good results both for the organisation and its members is the Decision Making. All the members of the team should be actively made to participate in the decision making process. Biasing is an important factor that arises during the decision making process. The one being the general biasing where even though there seems to be an abundance of information across all the team members, it is always some peoples voice which could be heard in the decision making process owing to their seniority. The second kind of biasing is called the Epistemic Freezing, which means the team tends to come up with an opinion and once it is shaped up it is left all alone i.e., it is literally let to freeze out. The teams normally make accurate decisions when compared to the individuals. There are two reasons to support it. Firstly, when all the members of the team are brought together they all in turn bring about a diversity of knowledge and information which could not be obtained from a single person. Secondly, there would be different approaches by different kinds of people in a team for the problem in progress. The teams should comprise of a good mix of people in order to make the decision making process effective. It should have a combination with different levels of experiences in the problem they are dealing with. The status of the team members should never be considered in the decision making process, this is because the members with a higher status always try to have some amount of influence on the teams solution to the given problem which in some scenarios could be wrong. There are number of techniques for performing the decision making process in a team. Some of them are as follows, Brainstorming A team of about five to ten people sit together and discuss for about an hour about the issues on which they need to generate newer ideas. It is normally the lead person who initiates the meeting. The entire conversation between the team members are recorded for later assessment. Delphi Technique The actual face to face interaction among the team members does not takes place. Initially each member of the group writes down his ideas and solutions to the reported problem, which are then updated in a common database. Each member of the team are then sent a copy of the other members contributions and are all expected give out their comments for the same. The above process is repeated until the team arrives at a common solution. Stages of Team Development There are five stages in the development process of a team. The teams though often keep changing the order of development owing to the constant change of members in it. Forming The actual formation of the team takes place in this stage. The team interacts and learns about the challenges and agrees on their goals. This is considered as the most important stage as the basic interaction between the team members takes place here. Storming The team argues about the different ideas that are to be considered. Since all the team members actively participate, this stage is considered necessary for the growth of the team. Norming The team members start to adjust each others behaviour and make work to seem more natural and free flowing. They agree on each others rules working methods and ideas. A sense of mutual trust begins to develop among them. Performing The teams begin to perform their tasks as unit without any supervision. The members of the team tend to be become interdependent, motivated and knowledgeable. In this stage the team members care of the decision making processes by themselves. A teams success not only depends on its members but mainly on the kind of leader it has. A leader is one who guides as well as acts with his team to achieve their objectives. A good team should have leader who could portray different working styles and also be able to recognise the strengths of his team members as well as tolerate their weakness. Also an excellent team should not be stuck with the one person as its leader all the time. Team Building Team are often found to be more cohesive. The factors that add on to it are, The Common Task Teams always perform as closely tied unit since they work for achieving a common goal. This unified approach leads to a greater degree of cooperation and job satisfaction among its members which in turn helps the organisation to give out its deliverables at a faster rate. Communication When there is a better level of communication among the team members, they begin to help each other and make themselves to get a grip on all the processes. Hence communication paves way for the team to start working as an organised unit. Size The team should only have a maximum of 10-12 members. Increases in the number of members tend to have an adverse on the performance of the team. Belbin has suggested eight roles that could be used while building a team. They are, Company Workers A person who is hard working and self disciplined. He has good organising ability and is also pretty dutiful. Chairperson A person who has good idea about his team objectives. He is almost confident, calm and treats everyone in the team fairly. He is not all biased. Shaper As the name indicates he is the person who challenges and corrects all kinds of deficiencies that is prevalent in the team. Plant A person with higher degree of individualism and with radiant imagination and intellectual capabilities. Resource Investigator Someone who comes up with newer ideas and solutions for the reports problems. He communicates well with all his team members. Monitor Evaluator Someone having good judgemental capabilities and a practical attitude towards work. Team Worker He is always calm in nature and interacts with others and induces team spirit among them. Completer-Finisher An anxious person who follows order in each and everything he does and has a obsession towards perfection. Though team work always ends up in success, there are some scenarios which could result for its failure, If there are not enough knowledgeable people Conflicts between the members of the team owing to the portrayal of different characters Incapability of some to perform their assigned tasks Constant changing of the roles of the members within the team Lack of basic ethos to aid the team growth by the organisation

The Portrait Of ED Students Pronunciation Education Essay

The Portrait Of ED Students Pronunciation Education Essay Introduction This chapter reveals the background of study, problem statement, purpose of the study and the benefit of the study. The explanations of these parts are presented below; Pronunciation is one of the most important things that students have to master in order to communicate appropriately and fluently. According to Fangzhi (1998:39), that it is important to pay attention to pronunciation since it results in whether or not someones message can be passed or not by other people. More over, Gilbert (cited in Otlowsky, 2004:3) stated that if someone cannot hear English well, she or he is cut off from the language. And if someone cannot be understood easily, she or he is cut off from conversation with native speakers. We can conclude from the statements above that pronunciation gives a significant effect to the meaning of what someone says. However, almost all English teachers make little attempt to teach pronunciation in any overt way and only give attention to it in passing. In ideal condition, students in ED seem to have good pronunciation because they are taught by using English as their language. As cited in Buku Pedoman Akademik FBS 2005/2006, students in English Department are expected to be able to speak and write English correctly. But in fact, based on the observation and informal talks both with lectures and students done by the researcher, students still have bad pronunciation. For example, it is hard to find MC with good pronunciation in ED. Many students speak incorrectly when they are in their thesis examination and so on. Considering this situation, the researcher is interested in conducting this study to find out ED students pronunciation portrait and its implication to the teaching and learning of English. 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Based on the background of the study above, the research questions are divided into two, they are: Major questions: 1.) What is the portrait of ED students pronunciation? 2.) What is the implication of students pronunciation portrait towards the teaching and learning of English? Minor questions: How do ED students learn pronunciation? Does the students mother tongue affect students pronunciation? What are general mistakes that students often make? What are the causes contribute to the mistakes of the students pronunciation? Is students pronunciation influenced by American English or British English? 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purposes of the study based on the research questions above are divided into: 1. Major purposes: The major purposes are 1.) to describe the portrait of ED students pronunciation, 2.) to find out the implication of students pronunciation portrait towards the teaching and learning of English; 2. Minor purposes: The minor purposes are 1.) to investigate the way ED students learn pronunciation, 2.) to analyze whether the students mother tongue affect students pronunciation or not, 3.) to figure out the mistakes that students often make in producing sounds, 4.) to investigate the causes that contribute to the students pronunciation mistakes , and 5.) to analyze whether students pronunciation is influenced by American English or British. 1.4 BENEFIT OF THE STUDY The results of the study are hoped to give an input for the institution, to enrich the research in pronunciation field. And it can help ED students who are interested in conducting the related research. 1.5 PREVIOUSLY RELATED STUDY The previously related study was done by Ros Dwi Wahyuni whose thesis title was The Pronunciation of Second Grade Students of SMU 77 in 2005. She conducted her study using a case study as her approach, thus the results of her study can not be generalized for the entire population. The data were gathered by using interviews and pronunciation test from December 2004 until January 2005 and processed using rank order correlation formula. The results of her study showed that most participants were intelligible in recognizing the words in their speech and the participants also had positive attitude towards pronunciation and the teaching of pronunciation. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter consists of the definition of pronunciation, related issues on TEFL and pronunciation, background of teaching pronunciation, principles for pronunciation teaching, the areas of English pronunciation, pronunciation teaching, and factors affecting students pronunciation. 2.1 Definition of pronunciation Pronunciation is the most important thing that we have to master. Otherwise, people cannot receive the message we say. According to Penny Ur (2001), Jack C. Richard (2002), Pronunciation is the sound of the language, or phonology; stress and rhythm; and intonation and includes the role of individual sounds and segmental and supra segmental sounds. Moreover, Otlowski (2004:1) stated that Pronunciation is a way that is accepted or generally understood. From those statements above, we can conclude that pronunciation is the way of someone produces segmental and supra segmental sound that is accepted or generally understood. 2.2 Related Issues on TEFL and Pronunciation There are several problems that related to pronunciation and TEFL, such as; in ED there is no subject that focuses on pronunciation. Indeed, there are some simple and enjoyable exercises to practice pronunciation. According to Jenkins (2007) mentioned on her article, Global English and Teaching Pronunciation, that an implication global English for pronunciation teaching that is students should be given plenty of exposure in their pronunciation classrooms to other non-native accents of English so that they can understand then easily even if a speaker has not yet managed to acquire the core features. For EIL, this is more important than having classroom exposure to native speaker accents. It means that students should have non-native accents of English in order to help them understand what the speaker means even though he or she can not get the RP pronunciation. Moreover, Griffiths (2007), Integrating Pronunciation into Classroom Activities, found that addressing issues (pronunciation) regularly during the language feedback or group correction stage of lesson helps to focus learners attention on its importance and lead to more positive experiences. He also described that pronunciation work can be kept simple and employ exercises which are both accessible and enjoyable for students, whatever their level is. Whenever students do a freer speaking activity, the main aim is usually at developing their spoken fluency in the language. However, the activity also serves to work on students accuracy through the feedback we give them on their use of language. It means that lecturers should give the feedback on students pronunciation regularly so that students will have positive attitude towards the pronunciation. Based on those statements above, Okita (2007), Teaching Pronunciation, concluded the activities that can be passed in teaching pronunciation are: 1.) explaining Daniel Jones phonemic symbols, using a chart of English vowels and consonants; 2.) using minimal pair exercises; 3.)getting learners to memorize pronunciation patterns to predict on which vowel the primary stress is placed in a word, and; 4.)distinguishing the differences in the sounds of a vowel or consonant in a given word. 2.3 Background to the teaching of pronunciation There are three main orientations proposed by Nunan (2003, p.112-113) in pronunciation teaching: Listen carefully and repeat what I say (1940s-1950s). In this orientation, the activities are students are to repeat the words said by their teacher for several times. The problem that can be raised in this orientation is that students differ in how effectively they are able to really listen to and discern the sound system of anew language; Lets analyze these sounds closely to figure out how to pronounce them clearly (1960s-19701s). The teacher compares features of the sound system of English with features of their native languages. It is done in order to get students accustomed to International Phonetic Alphabet; lets start using these sounds in activities as soon as we can while I provide cues and feedback on how well youre doing (1980s and beyond). The teacher gives chances to the students to use the sounds which they are right in producing. 2.4 Principles for Teaching Pronunciation In the teaching of pronunciation, there are five principles, according to Nunan (2003, p. 115-117) , which are: stated five principles of pronunciation teaching, they are: Foster intelligibility during spontaneous speech. Teachers need to keep fostering the students intelligibility to get them concentrate to pronounce words while they are doing the spontaneous speech. Keep affective considerations firmly in mind. Teachers need to give affective support to their students in order not to make them have feared to develop new pronunciation habits. Avoid the teaching of individual sounds in isolation. Giving students chances to communicate meaningfully with their friends are more interesting, enjoyable, and memorable activities. If the teachers provide such activities, in the long run, have more impact on improving students speech intelligibility. Provide feedback on learner progress. Teachers should support students efforts, guide them, provide cues for their enhancement. Unless, students would unaware where they need to place their energies. Realize that ultimately it is the learner who is in control of changes in pronunciation. According to Morley (1994, p.89), teacher is only as a language coach who supplies information; gives models from time to time; sets high stands; provides a wide variety of practice opportunities; and encourages the learner. 2.5 The Areas of English Pronunciation The areas of English pronunciation are categorized into two, they are: segmental (e.g. English consonant and vowel sounds) and supra segmental (e.g. stress, linking, weak forms, intonation), Rajadurai (2001: 25). Parker adds (2000: 25) rhythm, reduction, and deletion are included as supra segmental features. The controversial issues about which areas of pronunciation are important to be taught came arise. According to Rajadurai (2001:13) teaching supra segmental is less valued than the teaching of segmental areas. However, Harmer (2002:183) disagrees with what Rajadurai stated. He claims that overt teaching of supra segmental areas particularly gives improved comprehension and intelligibly. Wahba (1998: 32-33) supported this statement, he claimed that that if learners are aware that there is a stress pattern in English words, and the pitch of the voice can convey the meaning, they will know what to pay attention to and can build basic awareness. In conclusion, both of segmental and supra segmental areas of teaching give significant effect in affecting students pronunciation. 2.6 Pronunciation Teaching Pronunciation teaching is important to ED students, but in fact there is no lesson which focuses on pronunciation. Indeed, pronunciation can increase the quality of students speaking as Harmer stated (2001:183) that pronunciation teaching not only makes students aware of different sound and sound features (and what these mean), but also improve their speaking immeasurably. In order to teach pronunciation, here are the three kinds of pronunciation practices which are most widely used by English teacher to help students improve their pronunciation: Minimal pair drills. This is a pair of utterance-usually short- which differs in meaning, but which are exactly alike in sound except in one point. The students are to pronounce pairs of words which differ in pronunciation only in one respect, such as bid/bId/; big/bIg, and sound/saund/; round/raund; (Deterding and Pudjosoedarmo 1998:77) A series of isolated sentences. These have concentration of the sound to be practiced, but they are not sentences frequently used in everyday conversation, Fangzhi (1998:38). For example: ai: Mike tried five times to get the prize Five times five is twenty-five Tongue twisters. Playing with words is particularly useful for the students who have unique pronunciation problems. Ball (2003:8) gives examples of tongue twisters: She sells seashells on the seashore; Red lorry yellow lorry; If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose? They think that it is Thursdays the thirtieth; Fangzhi (1998:38) concluded that the practices above are good for introducing English sound to beginners and also good for building a strong basic pronunciation. These pronunciation practices might be succeeded in helping students to improve pronunciation but not in sequence. Students who are trained in these ways tend to make more pronunciation errors when speaking spontaneously. Not only that, Celce Murcia, et.al. (1996:2) introduced two approaches that can be applied in helping students pronunciation improvement, they are: An intuitive-imitative approach. It talks about the students ability to listen to and imitate sounds of a target language. He or she also can make imitate the pronunciation of other people in television, radio, songs, and so forth; An analytic-linguistic approach. It recognizes the importance of intervention of pronunciation in language acquisition. Using this approach, teacher is to identify students problem in pronouncing the foreign language by providing pedagogical aids; Beside that, Nunan (2003) also gave us teaching strategies to teach pronunciation that consists of: Openness to change. Teacher ask learner to discuss problem areas that are faced. It is important to build learners self-confidence and attend their emotional needs as a non-native speaker; Contextualized minimal pairs. Teaching pronunciation by distinguishing between specifically targeted sounds, stress patterns, or intonation patterns through the use of minimal pairs; Gadgets and props. Learners are to analyze the words on their own, and to practice saying words by using their tools in coordination with their pronunciation stress syllables. Slow motion speaking (SMS). SMS allows learners to view close up, and to imitate, the teachers way of producing specific sounds in context; Tracking. Languages learner are not being asked to repeat after the recorded voice, but to try to say the words presented in the transcript concurrent with the voices they are listening to. Techniques from drama and theater arts. Popular plays and screenplays can be interesting sources of pronunciation work; Pronunciation teaching is not as easy as the stated statements above, it has obstacles too. Because of that, Otlowsky suggested: pronunciation should be integrated into other subjects orienting to communicative competence than linguistic skill especially in segmental and supra segmental phoneme ,Morley (1991, p.481-520); listening comprehension and pronunciation have close relationship ,Gilbert (1984, p.1) and Nooteboom (1983, p.183-194) stated that there is a strong impact of speech perception to speech production; the best technique should involve teachers and students as speech trainer or trainer, Morley (1991, p.507); intelligible pronunciation is seen as essential component of communicative competence, Morley (1991, p.513); 2.7 Factors Affecting Students Pronunciation Sometimes we, as the non-native speaker, made mistakes in pronouncing words. It is because the several things, such as the differences in pronunciation area so that we are not accustomed to produce the sounds. As stated by Ur (2001, p.52) that some causes affect pronunciation mistakes: 1.) substitute second language with first language sound because there is no in first language; 2.) create wrong perception on second language sounds because the sound is an allophone in first language; 3.)use a stress pattern and first language intonation when pronouncing second language in order to create a strange accent; CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter reveals the methodology used by the researcher, including research design consists of time, place, and the subjects of the study; data collection process; and data analysis. RESEARCH DESIGN Since the study focuses on describing the portrait of ED students pronunciation and analyzing the implication of students pronunciation towards the teaching and learning of English, the method will be used in this study is descriptive analytical interpretive. This research does not make any intervention and judgment. It only describes the portrait of ED students pronunciation and analyzes its implication towards the teaching and learning of English. This study also describes how ED students learn their pronunciation and whether their mother tongue affects their pronunciation or not. This study applies two methods of data collection that are by recording the test of English phoneme and doing the interview. The test of English phoneme consists of the list of words; those are vowels, diphthongs, trip thongs, consonants, consonant clusters, stress, and intonation. The interview is designed to get more specific information to answer the research questions. Both data collected by means of test of English phoneme and interview will be analyzed with descriptive analysis interpretive. Descriptive analytical interpretive The study used a descriptive analytical interpretive method. Yin cited in Tunisa (2008) and Ardi (2009) mentioned that descriptive cases require that the writer begins with a descriptive theory, or face the possibility that problems will occur during the project. Surakhmad (1990:140) stated two features of descriptive study: Memusatkan diri pada pemecahan masalah-masalah yang ada pada masa sekarang, pada masalah-masalah aktual Data yang dikumpulkan mula-mula disusun, dijelaskan dan kemudian dianalisa (karenaitu metode in sering pula disebut metode analitik. Surakhmad (1990:140) It can be concluded that to implement descriptive study, the study has to (1) focus on solving the past and actual issues then (2) the collected data is ordered, explained, and then analyzed (that is why this is often called an analytical method). Geoff Walsham said on his presentation that according to Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) interpretive studies assume that people cerate and associate their own subjective and intersubjective meanings as they interact with the world around them. Interpretive researchers thus attempt to understand phenomena through accessing the meanings participants assign to them. This definition is based on the ground that: The interpretive research approach towards the relationship between theory and practice is that the researcher can never assume a value-neutral stance, and is always implicated in the phenomena being studied. There is no direct access to reality unmediated by language and preconception. Walsham (1993) himself states that interpretive methods of research start from the position that our knowledge of reality, including the domain of human action, is a social construction by human actors and that this applies equally to researchers. Thus there is no objective reality which can be discovered by researchers and replicated by others, in contrast to the assumptions of positive science. Population The population of the study was the whole of ED classes at State University of Jakarta. Sample The samples of this study were the students from 2005, 2006, and 2007 both from educational and non-educational students. Site and place The study was conducted at English Department of State University of Jakarta from December 2008 to April 2009. Instruments Two kinds of instruments are designed for data collection. They are test of English phoneme and interview list. 1.) Test of English Phoneme The test of English phoneme is consisted of the list of words that are categorized into vowels, diphthongs, trip thongs, consonants, consonant clusters, stress, and intonation. Then, students are asked to pronounce them using tape recorder. 2.) Interview list The interview for this study is designed as a structured interview. The questions in the interview list are designed based on the research questions in chapter I. 3.2 DATA COLLECTION PROCESS The data collection was conducted on December 2008 until April 2009. The data in this study consisted of information collected by using test of English phoneme, and interview list. The collected data using an English test phoneme was conducted on December 2008 until April 2009. Meanwhile, the data from interview was done by taking notes (face-to-face individually) and sending via e-mail. DATA ANALYSIS The researcher analyzed the data by the following steps. The first was checking data completeness; the data taken were the recorded ED students pronunciation. The recorded data contains vowels, diphthongs, trip thongs, consonants, consonant clusters, stress, and intonation. To classify the data, the writer analyzed the pronunciation into the transcript based on the participants entrance year. The second was grouping data by making them in the table presentation based on the data source. The third was comparing the data in each category; by comparing the data, the writer would find the dominant and the less dominant made by students in pronouncing the sound. The forth was putting groups of data in order from the more dominant data to the less ones. The last was the taken data was interpreted based on the findings.