Leadership Style Adaptability

Leadership Style Adaptability Overview of Leadership theories in Consideration   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Situational leadership theory (SLT) is developed by Hersey and Blanchard (1968) and is based on the leaders task behaviour, relationships and the maturity or ability of the employees. Task behaviour is based on how the leaders define role, how and what to do .Relationships are based on how leaders maintain relations with followers by supporting them. Maturity shows the followers experience, willingness and ability to do the task. Based on this, 4 types of leadership styles s1, s2, s3, s4 are identified by Hersey and Blanchard (1996). SLT is useful in understanding the relationship between leadership style, level of maturity of follower and importance of leadership style adaptability. Several other researchers worked further to develop the model for application on various platforms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Transformational theory is the latest theory which developed in the last two decades and is of high relevance and practice. The idea was first developed by Burns (1978) through Transformational leadership theory. Bass (1985) further developed the theory. The Transformational leaders put passion and energy into the work atmosphere. They develop a vision for their followers and the followers try to achieve the goal via the energy from the excitation. Leaders have to constantly convey or sell the vision to their followers. They will be always with the followers in charge of the task and have solution to most problems. Bass (1985) suggested that transformational leaders try to increase the task awareness, motivates followers to work for the team and organisation and makes the followers to aspire for needs. He proposed 5 factors or transformational leadership factors, Charismatic leadership, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, Intellectual stimulation an d individualized consideration. Based on these factors large number of researcher has studies the relevance of transformational leadership in various fields and have tried to develop the model further. Objective of the review   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The review tries to relate the various studies that have happened in the current decade on situational leadership and transformational leadership. Various authors who have studied the relevance of situational leadership theory and Transformational leadership theories are considered and their findings are taken into account for the development of the theories. The review checks the adaptability of both the theories in various work environment which helps to find the areas which require further studies on the models. Situational Leadership Theory Situational Leadership Theory-Supporting Views   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Several studies by various researchers were conducted on the application of the SLT in organisational contexts. (Arvidsson et al.2007) contend that leadership style adaptability vary according to group and individual situations and situations where success and hardship is present for the employees. The author further asserts that the leadership was relationship oriented and supportive in success and group situations and task oriented in hardship and group situations. This requires variability of leadership styles of the leader according to the situation, task and ability of the followers. Silverthorne Wang (2001) further supported this finding by asserting that leadership adaptability by managers requires better task behaviour and relationships and this increases productivity. They asserts that this require different leadership styles which vary according to situations. This requires managers to exhibit different leadership styles according to the task and ab ility of the followers. Arvidsson et al (2007) further contend and support this showing the importance of varying leadership style according to the ability of the followers. They should be able to guide on the task, and have successful and influencing relations with the followers. As far as my experience, this view holds in many sales environments where the influencing leadership styles give the focus and motivation to the followers. These leaders also understand the maturity or ability level of the followers and support them in various situations and thereby creating a strong rapport. My managers are seen to be exhibiting task behaviour more towards junior managers whom are new to the job. They guide them and tell them how to perform the task and thereby create a strong rapport with the followers. All this shows light to the ability of the leader to adapt to the situation according to the various needs and motives of the followers and situation which supports the SLT by Hersey and Blanchard (1996). Successful leaders thus vary their leadership styles and ability of the leaders to be adaptive to the environment leads to the success of organisation Silverthorne Wang (2001). (Silverthorne Wang (2001): Arvidsson et al.(2007)) state that leadership adaptability and exhibiting of different leadership styles depending on task, relations and ability of followers are important and thereby supports the SLT. My personal work experience as a leader supports this finding and thereby supports SLT.I have experienced the importance of task detailing, relationships and the ability of followers to execute the task as an important factor for success. Situational Leadership Theory -Against   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There was also some finding s which goes against the SLT. Papworth et al (2009) questions the applicability of SLT of Hersey and Blanchard (1996).They contend that their findings and research gave little support to the SLT model. They argue that the level of supervisor behaviour was independent of the supervisee experience. Support to SLT was only found when the supervisee is highly experienced and skilled and the supervisor have to do less task behaviours which were supported by Silverthorne Wang (2001). Butler Rees (1991) was also against the SLT model. They argue that the leadership style adaptability had little relations with the performance of the employees in a highly competitive sales environment (Insurance). They asserts that there are more factors that may affect the performance and readiness of the salesperson like followers perception of managerial style ,the difficulty of task involved in the sale process and difference in follower readiness. Sil verthorne Wang (2001) argues and supports SLT by asserting that leadership styles should vary according to situations and depending on follower readiness. The finding of Butler Rees (1991) are quite relevant because from my own experience in the Insurance industry over 2 years, I do understand that the varying perception of managerial style and difficulty of the task in hand do have an impact on the performance. Even though the managers vary their style according to situations of task and ability, the factors proposed by Butler Rees (1991) do contribute to the performance of employees. I would like to add that leadership adaptability is only one among many factors that determine performance in competitive sales environment. The objectivity and the provenance of the finding of Papworth et al (2009) are really questionable based on the type of the research and the area of research they conducted. They used clinical sessions and tapes from a very low sample and made all the assessme nt about the situational leadership theory. The relationships and tasks In these sessions were compared to leadership and task of SLT. This causes wide criticism and questions the relevance of their finding on SLT. Moreover Papworth et al (2009) gives only some theoretical evidence instead of an actual research result. All this studies point to the fact that SLT may not be widely accepted in all fields of study and industries. This also points that SLT may be suited to certain industries and may not be fitted into some other .There are external and internal factors which are to be considered depending on the type of industry and environment, like task involved and external factors. Situational Leadership Theory-Alternate Views Johnson (1998) proposes an alternate or modified model of SLT. The author combines SLT model which uses directing and supporting styles of leadership. He also takes stage theory of group development by Tuckman Jensen (1977) and the stages of development of the followers by Blanchard (1985) along with the SLT. This model varies from SLT by considering each of the four leadership styles may be appropriate some of the time, the most broadly applicable style combines structure and empathy Johnson (1998).The author further asserts that the model can be applied to individuals and only to the groups which are performing at the same level. VanderVen (1998) further supported this modified situational leadership model. The model tries to overcome some of the short falls of SLT. But my management experience shows that managers do tend to show situational approach based on the varying levels of their follower performance. It is not likely that in real world you will get a team of followers (gr oups) who perform In the same level. Discussion of Situational Leadership   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The findings of Arvidsson et al. (2007) and Silverthorne Wang (2001) favouring the SLT was across different cultures (Swedish Taiwanese) .They also researched in different industries of Information technologies and air craft. Butler Rees, (1991) and Papworth et al (2009) found no support to the leadership style adaptability and SLT in their respective studies. All these findings makes and echo to the fact that situational leadership varies according to industries and cultures. This calls for further studies on the modification and application of the SLT across various environments. The efforts put forward by Johnson (1998) is commendable and more research work should be done on further rectifying the limitations of the SLT model .One of the key areas which require research is the heterogeneity of the levels of subordinates and the behaviour of leaders accordingly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Transformational Leadership Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Transformational Leadership Theory-Favourable factors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Purvanova et al. (2006) conducted further studies on the impact of Transformational Leadership Theory (TLT) on job perception of the employees. Transformational leaders irrespective of the type of different jobs they were involved in exerted a positive influence on the employees perception of jobs. Employees with transformational managers found their job as, meaningful, challenging and inspiring .The studies further supported Bass (1985) views that transformational leaders inspire followers to see their jobs as important and seeks them to perform beyond expectations which they does. Chan Chan (2005) asserts that leaders with high usage of transformational leadership factors have more positive influence of job perception and performance. He further contend and support that, all the transformational leadership factors in the Bass (1985) TLT has direct impact on the leader effectiveness, performance of employees , their perception of job and its satisfaction. Sc hyns Sanders (2006) contend that solidarity of follower with colleagues and leader is related highly to Transformational leadership style of the leader. Higher the transformational style perception of the employees , better solidarity to the leader and the team was found. Panagopoulos Dimitriadis (2009) contend that a positive TL behaviour of managers will cause increase the performance of the sales person, high satisfaction due to their supervisor and creates or increases commitment to the organisation. This was predicted in a behaviour based control sales environment rather than an outcome based sales environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The works by these authors are related and focuses on the impact of TL styles on the followers and their behaviour in work .These works support that a high TL style surely increases the behaviour, focus, job satisfaction, and performance and commitment levels of the followers. Purvanova et al. (2006) and Chan Chan (2005) argue that exhibition of TL causes higher positive job perception of the employees. . Chen Baron (2006) further supports this by highlighting the impact of one of the TL style which causes higher job perception to the followers. I personally have experienced transformational leadership styles (factors) from my manager during my work as a junior sales manager. This caused an increase in motivation and commitment towards the organisation and manager resulting in high performance and achievements. ( Purvanova et al. (2006); Panagopoulos, Dimitriadis (2009)).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All these findings (Purvanova et al. (2006); Chan Chan (2005);Panagopoulos Dimitriadis (2009)) shows that transformational leadership styles of leaders do have an impact on the employees perceptions of their own jobs. TL style increases the responsiveness, satisfaction, performance, inspiration, meaning and a vision for the followers jobs. TL motivates followers to perform beyond expectation of the employer and thereby creating more successful persons and organisations. Further TL creates a commitment and focus in the followers for the job and leader. TL generates a feel for team work and solidarity to colleagues among the followers. Thus TL as a whole helps in creating a focussed and motivated atmosphere were people work enthusiastically. My view is that, the application of TL in an organisation will lead to a motivated and successful organisation subjected to other factors. These calls for the ability of managers and leaders to adapt learn and implement TL style for a better and successful work environment. Transformational Leadership Theory Limited favourability.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Although the majority of studies showed support to the TLT model, there were some findings that offered limited support to the model and questioned the universality of the TLT model. Mannheim Halamish (2008) tested the TL model in the context of army training camps. They conclude that the only in the beginners learning culture the TL style is related to group result. The authors found little support for the leadership styles, group outcome and cohesion in other higher levels. This lead to the moderation of TLT in various contexts and also this may be due to many other factors which require further research. Barnett et al. (2001) supported this view by suggesting that the TL behaviour have a negative association with student learning culture. Kelloway et al. (2000) argued that leadership training and feedback together will have little effect on the TL style perception, where in the mean time both individually can have an impact on the TL perception. Chen Baron (2006) ech o a similar but slightly variant view. They argue that the leaders do tend to show high transformational leadership skills. But only the idealised influence style of TL increases the job satisfaction of the followers and if the leader don show this aspect of TL style, the level of satisfaction may be low. These findings do questions the variability of TL styles and the impact of each style over different situations, work environment and cultures. The findings of Mannheim Halamish (2008) and Barnett et al. (2001) questions the usage of TL style in the learning and training culture. Both of them conducted their studies in an environment where training has an important role to play.   Ã‚  Ã‚  The arguments of Mannheim Halamish (2008) and Barnett et al. (2001) clearly indicates that the TLT applicability in the learning and training culture is questionable as they found little evidence in favour of that in higher experienced levels. My personal experience supports this finding as experienced followers find it difficult to adapt to TL model due to their exposure to other styles of leaderships, whereas beginner can be trained and moulded to the desired form initially as they are fresh in mind. Chen Baron (2006) asserts that only one type of TL style have an impact over job satisfaction of followers. All these views calls for further research for the application of TLT in these areas and the factors which causes this effect on TL should be found and due consideration must be given for this. Transformational Leadership Theory -Alternative views   Ã‚  Ã‚  Mitchell Boyle (2009) developed a model based on TL for mitigating against destructive emotional barriers to group effectiveness Mitchell Boyle (2009 ).Their model was based on TL impact on knowledge creation in diverse groups and how TL will help in doing this. The model tries to explain the variation of diverse team performances through the impact TL has on knowledge creation. Dunn (2007) developed a modified leadership model which was different from the TL model. They found a difference in leadership style changes according to the gender of the leaders. Author argues that this moderated model will be advantageous to the organisation. Both Mitchell Boyle (2009) and Dunn (2007) tried to develop a model in order to adapt TL to the varying environments and to develop the model to a new level. Discussion of Transformational Leadership   Ã‚  Ã‚  To conclude, Most of the researchers do found favourable factors for TL even though there are limited support findings for the TL. Purvanova et al. (2006), Chan Chan (2005), Schyns Sanders (2006) and Panagopoulos Dimitriadis (2009) underline the fact that TL increases job perception, satisfaction and performance among employees. Mannheim Halamish (2008) and Barnett et al. (2001) contend that TL have impact on learning culture in beginners level only and TL dont have much impact in higher experience employee learning culture. Chen Baron (2006) highlights the impact of one TL style higher than other styles. Mitchell Boyle (2009) developed TLT further for applicability for diverse team performance. TL has found to have a high impact on the job perception of employee and their applicability in the learning and training culture requires further research. Also the impact of TL on cultures and team diversity requires further research. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Arvidsson et al. (2007) and Silverthorne Wang (2001) studied and supported the SLT. Their studies in these fields are commentable and is of high relevance. They together assert the need for adaptability of leadership and variation of leadership style. I would also like to view up on Butler Rees (1991) who drew on the leadership adaptability of competitive environment. There are many factors apart from leadership adaptability and styles which need consideration in such an environment. Johnson (1998) tried to study in the aspect of groups and the idea of SLT requires further research and studies on factors from external environment which effect the followers and environment. Purvanova et al. (2006), Chan Chan (2005) and Panagopoulos Dimitriadis (2009) finding on TL supported and is of high significance in the industry. They show the effect of TL on job perceptions of followers. It also shows the significance of TL style in organizations. Their finding shows the relevanc e of TL in the business world. Mannheim Halamish (2008) and Barnett et al. (2001 question the adaptability of TL in training culture of highly experienced employees leading to limitations in applicability of TLT in all work environments. Mitchell Boyle (2009) modified the TL model and tried to study and implement the impact of TL on knowledge creation and thereby impacting the diversity in team performance. Further research is recommended on TLT for application on learning cultures and its variance over cultures. All the above studies are of high relevance to the leadership studies and helps in the development of situational and transformational leadership theories. In general situational and transformational leadership styles have high impact on the employees and work environment and requires further studies for application in various work environments. References: Arvidsson, M., Johansson, C .R., Ek,A. and Akselsson,R. (2007) SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, Journal of Air Transportation, Vol. 12, No. 1. Barnett,K., McCormick,J., and Conners,R.(2001) Transformational leadership in schools Panacea, placebo or problem?, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2001, pp. 24-46. Butler, J. K. and Reese, R.M. (1991) Leadership Style and sales performance: A test of Situational leadership model, Journal of persona l selling and sales management, Volume XI, Number 3, Chan, A.T. S. and Chan, E. H. W. (2005) Impact of Perceived Leadership Styles on Work Outcomes: Case of Building Professionals, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 131, No. 4, pp 413-422 Chen, H. And Baron, M. (2006) Nursing Directors Leadership Styles and Faculty Members Job Satisfaction in Taiwan, Journal of Nursing Education, Vol. 45, No. 10, 404-411 Dunn, M. (2007) British army leadership: is it gendered?, Women in Management Review, Vol. 22 No. 6, pp. 468-481. Johnson, M.M (1998) Applying a Modified Situational Leadership Model to Residential Group Care Settings, Child Youth Care Forum, 27(6). Kelloway, E.K., Barling, J. and Helleur, J.(2000) Enhancing Transformational leadership: the roles of training and feedback. Leadership and organisational Development Journal, 21/3, pp 145-149. Mannheim,B. and Halamish,H. (2008) Transformational leadership as related to team outcomes and contextual moderation , Leadership Organization Development Journal ,Vol. 29, No. 7, pp. 617-630 Mitchell, R. J. and Boyle,B (2009) A theoretical model of transformational leaderships role in diverse teams, Leadership Organization Development Journal ,Vol. 30, No. 5, pp. 455-474 Papworth, M.A., Milne, D. and Boak, G. (2009) An exploratory content analysis of situational leadership . Journal of Management Development, Vol. 28, No. 7, pp. 593-606 Purvanova, R.K., Bono, J, E., and Dzieweczynski.J (2006) Transformational Leadership, Job Characteristics, and Organizational Citizenship Performance, Human Performance, 19(1), 1-22. Sanders, K and Schyns,B (2006) Leadership and solidarity behaviour Consensus in perception of employees within teams, Personnel Review, Vol. 35 ,No. 5, pp. 538-556 Silverthorne, C. and Wang, T. (2001) Situational Leadership Style as a Predictor of Success and Productivity among Taiwanese Business Organizations, The Journal of Psychology, pp 399-412 VanderVen,K . (1998) Modelling and Modified Situational Leadership: Some Comments on Johnson, Child Youth Care Forum, 27(6) London Metropolitan University, MBAPage 5

Information Communication Technology Essay

Where ever you go you always see ICT whether it’s at the cinema or at a bank, it has become a necessity in modern life. This report I will be writing, will be on the way I do activities at home and at school using ICT (Information Communication Technology). It will also show what I am able to do on a daily basis, as a result of information technology products, such as my homework, socialising with my friends, playing games and much more. The three ICT technologies I will discussing are: * Mobile Phones * E-Mail * USB Mass Storage Systems (Pen Drive, Flash Memory Cards) The Mobile Phone A mobile phone was originally invented for long range communication through a portable, electronic device, but nowadays, as technology progressed the mobile phone, not allows me to make calls to people from long ranges, but it also allows me to use SMS (Short Messaging System) which means I can send messages to others without direct need for speech. I am also able to access a variety of files such as image, video and music. Mobile phones work by the use of a Subscriber Identity Module Card or SIM Card. It holds a microchip and is inserted into the handset allowing you access to a certain mobile phone network depending on who your provider is. This network is made up of a series of base stations that send signals used by mobile phones. The area covered by each of these base stations is called a cell and cells overlap to make up a coverage area. Advantages There are many advantages to having a mobile phone such as: * You are able to communicate with others through SMS, voice calls and even video calls for any reason and vice versa. * You are able to carry media files on your phone for entertainment purposes. * Nowadays many mobile phones allow you to access the Internet through WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), Wi-Fi (although a disadvantage to Wi-Fi is that you need to be within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet) * The mobile phone can be used almost anywhere without the need for landline cables etcetera Disadvantages Along with advantages there are also some disadvantages such as: * Firstly, it is much more expensive to use than a landline and charges vary when calling other networks. * Also, providers have different numbers of base stations meaning that some providers would a larger coverage area than others so you wouldn’t be able to use your phone everywhere. * Mobile phones aren’t able to get any reception in some buildings that have no direct access to the outdoors e.g. windows and also when you are underground. * Also when one base station has too many people connected to it, it can sometimes disconnect your call. Personal Needs When it comes to using my phone personally, I use it to make phone calls to my family to let them know where I am or when I will back home. It is a way that my parents can ensure that I am safe and it is also a connection if there is any emergency and they need to contact me. Also I am able to listen to music through the music player. How the technology meets my Personal Needs My personal needs are met by this technology; it allows me to communicate with my family while I am not around with them. I can call any of my contacts which are saved in my contact list, by accessing the database of contacts on my mobile phone. By pressing certain buttons (input) different menus come up, in this case my contact list (outcome). This is done by the phone’s CPU (Central Processing Unit), it starts to process the information received by pressing certain buttons and gives the outcome of whatever buttons I have pressed, for example by me opening my contact list and I can find relevant numbers that I can use to contact my family for example my mother’s contact details, it gives me the phone numbers available for me to contact her, from there I can choose the required number I want to call then the mobile phone starts to connect to it and will send a request to the other phone for my call to be accepted or rejected depending on the person. Also when I am going to and from school, doing homework, going out or any other reason, I am able to listen to music while I do the activity. It allows me to pass time more quickly if I am getting bored and sometimes helps me to concentrate while I do work. Evaluate Personal Needs I can use this technology very well to meet my personal needs as I am able to communicate with my family cheaply through the use of SMS and voice calls. But as you go on and need to use your phone more you find that it is too expensive to use the phone but those needs are met by the use of contracts where you receive various numbers of free texts and voice calls for a set price per month. This makes it not only cheaper but easier to contact family because I do not need to worry about having large bills to pay out. Social Needs I need to use my phone for social reasons so that I can communicate with my friends and organise certain activities such as parties. I also need to be able to send and receive SMS messages. How the technology meets my social needs I need to be able to contact my friends, on a regular basis and at short notice, while I am out and about. I am able to do this due to the services provided by a mobile phone, it lets you make calls and send SMSs. My friends would call me to ask if I am able to come to certain arrangements, just as I would call or use SMS to see whether or not they are allowed to come to some events. Even if, for any reason, I am unable to accept a voice/video call from my friends they are still able to contact me through voicemail where they can save a message that I can check later on and get back to them. Also with SMS if my phone is turned off I will still receive the SMS as soon as I turn my phone back on. I can, not only communicate, but I can also share files with my friends through the use of Bluetooth or Infrared. I am able to send them music, images, videos or games quickly and effectively, anywhere. Evaluate Social Needs The mobile phone technology is excellent at meeting my social needs because it allows me make and receive calls and text messages and also share files with my friends. To further meet my needs it could better itself in the way you have to share files, you are unable to send a group of files at one given time but instead you need to accept each file you would like to receive after the previous file has been sent. School Needs As it is against school rules to have a mobile phone with you during school hours, there would be only one need for a mobile phone at school, and that is to secretly send messages to other pupils about various things. How the technology meets my School Needs I need to be able to send messages to my friends during school hours discreetly and I am able to do this because of the different sound settings the phone has. You are able to put your phone on ‘vibrate’ or ‘silent’ so that the teacher cannot tell that I am using my phone. I can also use the mass storage system from inbuilt memories or external memory cards to save/ transfer files from home to school and vice versa. Evaluate School Needs Thanks to the ‘silent’/’vibrate’ settings I can send text messages without getting caught but the level of vibration is sometimes too much and can be heard and by putting it on silent you wouldn’t realise you received a text and you would have to keep on checking and that could potentially get you caught, so by being able to set the vibration intensity I would be able to be more discreet and attract less attention when I receive a text. E(lectronic) Mail E-mail is a system for sending and receiving messages electronically over a computer network, through modems using telephone lines, or, through wireless transmissions to anybody around the world who has access to a computer and has their own personal e-mail address. Examples of messengers are: yahoo messenger, windows live hotmail, g-mail. In an e-mail you can send notes, letters and most kinds of files – music, image video, word processing and others. To send e-mails you first need an email address this consists of five parts; * Firstly, the username (e.g. john_smith), this refers to the recipient’s mailbox. * Then there is a â€Å"@† sign. * Thirdly you have the host name (hotmail, yahoo etcetera) this refers to the mail server this is mainly the company name. * The host name is followed by a dot â€Å".† * It is then completed by the domain (com, co.uk, gov.uk etcetera) Advantages There are many advantages to e-mail such as: * You can use e-mail at any time of the day and it will be sent to the preferred destination. * It is much quicker than by post – snail mail and you can ensure that it doesn’t get lost because it doesn’t have to go through the process of sorting. * It’s free to use. * It can be sent to anyone around the world so long as they have an Internet connection. * You can send messages to large numbers of people Disadvantages Along with the advantages there are also disadvantages to e-mail such as: * You can’t ensure you will get an instant reply because the receiver might not check his mail until later * You are subject to getting spam * There is less security as third parties are able to retrieve your email address * Not always suitable for serious business documents or transactions requiring signatures. Personal Needs I need to be able to contact my family via e-mail at any time of the day as I have family abroad and it is a free way of communicating to them instead of wasting a lot of money in making international calls. Also I need to be able to send some files to myself if I ever need to. For example music files. How the technology meets my Personal Needs With e-mail I am able to contact my family abroad or if they are at work on a regular basis. E-mail is a free type of mail which can be network based or web based or on a certain computer. If an email address is based on the web then it can be accessed from any computer that has an Internet connection but an email that is based on a certain computer or network can only be accessed from that computer or any computer which is connected to the network. Using Email is much more efficient and easier for me because to be able to contact my family without the use of a telephone makes it cheaper to use because e-mail is free. Evaluate Personal Needs My personal needs are met very well by the use of e-mail due to me being able to contact my family anywhere in the world very quickly and at no extra cost this makes my life easier and also better in the sense I have more money, because I don’t need to spend money making international calls and instead use e-mail I am able to save money to get the same message across. Ways that e-mail can be made better are that it should automatically detect spam mailings and delete them and to make matters better for everyone who holds an e-mail address, hosts like hotmail and yahoo should not allow third parties to have access to our information. Social Needs I need to use e-mail to contact my friends when I am unable to call/text them. It is an alternate way for me communicate with my friends if I ever need to talk to them about certain matters. How the technology meets my Social Needs Instead of the phone to communicate I can use e-mail or the more instant version IM, Instant Messaging, which is absolutely free to use. IM is when I am able to communicate with friends and family through different chat rooms. Windows Live Messenger, for example allows me to talk to friends and family when, the person I wish to speak to, and I are online at the same time it is similar to using the phone but the main difference is you are not talking but instead you are typing. I can arrange to meet up with people to go to the cinema or Brent Cross whenever I please I can also just generally talk with my friends about things that are going on at school etcetera. It allows my friends to talk to me if ever the need anything. Many IM servers allow you to play games with your friends like tic-tac-toe or poker I take advantage of this feature and play the games with many of my friends. The use of e-mail and IM, socially, means hassles like friends arriving at place too early or late can be avoided because we can tell each quickly and simply through this technology. Evaluate Social Needs E-mail and IM meets my needs for social uses very well because I am able to converse with my friends and family and arrange events like going to the cinema with great ease. I don’t have to go through the process of phoning different people at different times and spending money on calls, I can just go on an IM server and talk to all the necessary people at the same time and in one conversation making it more like speaking to them in person. Ways it can be improved to meet my social needs are that it should be more easily accessed, you should be able to use these IM services on your mobile phone for free so you don’t need to be on a computer all the time. School Needs I can use e-mail to help me with my school work as I am able to send work-related files to myself and then access them at home and vice versa. How this technology meets me School Needs People who do not have their own external mass storage device, for any reason, can take advantage of using e-mail to send work. On many occasions I have forgotten to bring my USB Pen Drive to school but I that hasn’t stopped me from being able to take my work home with me. Thanks to e-mail I am able to send necessary files to myself so I can complete that work at home. Also my friends are able to send me files which can aid me in doing my homework via e-mail. I can also send my coursework files to relevant subject teachers for them to mark and give back, this means I do not have to waste time in trying to track down the teachers but they can receive it successfully without it being lost through e-mail. I have known people who have asked other teachers to give the coursework to their teacher and had it lost and others who have sent their work directly to the teacher’s e-mail address this is more efficient because that way you can be sure that it won’t get lost. Evaluate School Needs I am able to use e-mail to meet my school needs very well. I can send work to myself so I can continue to do the work at home. This is very good because a lot of the ICT syllabus requires doing work, not only at school, but a lot at home as well and people like me who, on a regular basis forget to bring their USB Pen Drive to school, can benefit the use of e-mail to send work home. Ways that it could be improved to meet my school needs are that it should allow you to send whole files at the same time, because currently it only allows me to send any number of files but it has to be done all separately, this is very time consuming as I have to upload each individual file into an attachment and then I have to download each file onto the computer when I get home . By allowing you to send a whole file at once it saves much more time and hassle. USB Pen Drive – Flash Memory USB Pen Drives are portable, external mass storage devices with a USB plug which can transfer files from one USB supporting machine to another. These are ideally suited to people who have a large number of documents that require frequent access in different places. The memory capacity of these devices has been increasing steadily over the last few years due to advances in technology. The first mass storage system started off only with a capacity of 32mb but nowadays we have USB Pen Drives ranging from 32 MB (megabytes) to 4 GB (gigabytes). USB (Universal Serial Bus) Pen Drives come in many different ways, you get the standard device which is used for storage only and then you get other devices which are mp3’s as well, so not only can you save important files on it you can also listen to music USB Flash Memory differs from hard drives because the Flash Memory stores the memory in a chip whereas hard drives store the memory in a disk Advantages There are advantages to having a USB Pen Drive such as: * They are supported by most operating systems, and can be directly attached to a hardware device. * It is portable and easy to transport as they are so small and compact. * You can transfer files from one computer/machine to another. * You can get different amount storage on them depending on the size and/or quantity of your files. * They can carry much more data than a floppy disk. * Nowadays they aren’t very expensive to buy. Disadvantages Just as there are advantages there are also disadvantages to USB Pen Drive such as: * You have a limited amount of storage – some files may be too big to hold in the USB Pen Drive or you may have too many files on it. * Files may get corrupted on the USB Pen Drive if it is faulty resulting in you losing your work * Due to the portability of it, it is very easy to lose track of it and you may find that you keep on misplacing it. * Some older technologies like old computers do not support USB ports meaning there is no use for the USB Pen Drive. Personal Needs I do not have much of a personal need for USB Pen Drives but sometimes I need to be able to transfer data from one place to another such as music files(mp3, wma), image files(jpg.), video files(wmv, mp4, mpeg). How the technology meets my Personal Needs With a USB Pen Drive I am able to move files to different destinations for example if one of my computers in the house is connected to the Internet and the other computer isn’t, I can download a file from the Internet and then transfer it to the other computer via USB. Evaluate Personal Needs USB Pen Drive meets my needs very well because I am able to transfer many files and folders at the same time to different systems that support USB Ports. Due to the large amounts of memory available to the ability to compress files you end up with a lot space for you to use. Social Needs Just as there are not many uses for USB Pen Drive personally, socially there are limited uses. The main social use for the USB Pen Drive is that you can share files with friends like music or images. How the technology meets my Social Needs If ever I need to go to my friend’s house and they need some files or I need to get some files from them, I am able to use a USB Pen Drive to transfer files. It is more efficient than using e-mail because you are able to transfer whole files and on e-mail you have limits to the size of the file you can send. Also I can access the files without the need of accessing the Internet. Evaluate Social Needs The USB Pen Drive meets my social needs very well because I can move files to any system at my friend’s house very easily. This is very helpful because some of my friends don’t have access to the Internet so I can use the USB Pen Drive to give them files. School Needs Unlike my social and personal needs there are many uses for the USB Pen Drive in school life. I am able to transfer files from school to my home and continue to do my work. How this technology meets my School Needs As an ICT GSCE student I need to be able to take coursework, data files and other various files to and from school, with a USB Pen Drive I can easily do that. With a 1GB flash memory drive I have no problem transferring files. Using a USB Pen Drive I don’t need to access the Internet, instead I can just plug it into the computer and it will detect the hardware and install the software to run the USB Pen Drive. When it has done that I can freely open up the USB Pen Drive files from ‘My Computer’ and ‘drag and drop’ necessary files. I can carry on doing work at home and complete it to give in to the teacher the next day it is better than having to wait until the next lesson to complete the work. Evaluate School Needs The USB Pen Drive meets my school needs extremely well; thanks to it I can send/transfer files to any computer I need to complete my school work. This is very useful because some computers may not have the program/software to support the necessary file so being able to move files via USB Pen Drive is helpful because then I can move it to a computer that does have the software. Ways to make the USB Pen Drive better in meeting my school needs are that you should be able to upgrade your USB Pen Drive to have a larger space for memory instead of having to buy a new one.

Ethic Essay Topics Tips & Guide

Ethic Essay Topics Tips & Guide The New Angle On Ethic Essay Topics Just Released You should first figure out the reason behind your essay, before it's possible to write persuasive content about it. The simplest way to select a persuasive essay topic is to talk about a present issue. Possessing no thought of the persuasive essay topics, you just do not understand what to write about. Deciding on the proper topic for a persuasive speech may be not such an easy matter to do as it might appear. Our qualified academic experts will help you to find an ideal persuasive essay topic according to all of your requirements and compose a custom-tailored model answer. Take notes concerning all possible topics it is possible to consider. Feel free to pick a topic you will delight in writing about and not just one which you think will please your professor. It will be simpler that you compose an excellent persuasive essay if it's a subject in which you have knowledge. Just adhere to the guidelines stated above, and you'll be well on your way to writing a great persuasive essay. So far as essay structure goes, a 4 or 5 paragraph essay based on the number of points you might want to argue is a superb start. Before actually beginning to compose your essay, you have to pick an issue to write about. Assume that the reader doesn't know anything about the situation. So, the best method to compose a fantastic persuasive essay is to discover a theme you're acquainted with and would like to share your experience with the reader. The very first thing you must realize searching for an ideal topic is that your opinion is the thing that matters the most. Still, figuring out the very best topic for your essay isn't your only concern for a student. There are a lot of intriguing topics that could be become a persuasive essay if you take the opportunity to consider about doing it. Thus, include data in the shape of statistics, experiments, research material to assist you support your essay argument. Your individual ideas and opinions in the paper has to be supported with arguments. Any idea can prove to be a fantastic foundation for a topic. Another good idea is to receive some totally free essay examples of different sorts and on various subjects to find a general idea of the way in which a thriving debatable paper looks. Prior exposure or knowledge about a specific subject provides better hindsight which may bring improved arguments on the issue. You will need to set up facts, possess the confidence and demonstrate the crystal clear evidence of your private viewpoint to certain phenomenon. You will need to underline the source of the prevailing prejudice in young men and women particularly. Therefore, you've got to locate enough substantial evidence for the specific topic. Gossip, Lies and Ethic Essay Topics The college essays must be organized in the particular format and design based on the instructions given. For that, research for sources to have in your essay to strengthen your viewpoint. All scholars are requested to write down a persuasive essay in the plan of their scientific studies. Finding out how to compose an essay is something which will help students not just in their school and college career, but throughout their life also. Many people wind up covering the identical tired topics they see in the media daily, only because they can't produce a better idea. You may trust us to present expert assistance for many of your academic writing needs. All people ought to be allowed to receive free high education. Just imagine, you have all of the freedom on earth to write about anything you desire. Key Pieces of Ethic Essay Topics Persuasive essay is also referred to as the argument essay. All persuasive essays are like argumentative essays. Good persuasive essay topics must be persuasive. There are several persuasive essay topics to select from to finish your high school or college assignment. Students need to be careful about posting on social networking. They are not able to come up with a good piece of prejudice essays, not because they can't write essays but probably because of the fact that they are not able to develop good titles for essays on prejudice. They always go online when they need to find something. They should be allowed to pray in school.

Compare and Contrast Qualitative and Quantitaitve Research...

Compare and contrast Qualitative and Quantitative research methods Monique Gowans Charles Stuart University Compare and Contrast Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Qualitative research methods are complex meaningful analysis characterised by processes and meanings that are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of mathematical measurements (Lincoln, 2003; Sarantakos, 2005). Quantitative research however, relies and builds on mathematical procedures and methods, such as frequency, quality, amount and statistical procedure. This paper will compare and contrast both qualitative and quantitative research methods endeavouring to highlight differences and similarities between the two methods. Qualitative†¦show more content†¦Often a researcher undertaking qualitative research will not commence their research with a hypothesis but rather develop one based on the outcome and information of the research (Burton 2007/2010). Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are concerned with an individual’s point of view. Qualitative analysis tends to get clo ser to an individual’s perspective through the use of interviews and observation (Lincoln, 2003). Quantitative methods are unable to achieve and capture an individual’s perspective as they focus more on remote standardised procedures. Qualitative analysis provides explanations that tend to be rich in detail and capable of showing sensitivity and sequences in social life (Lincoln, 2003). Although qualitative researchers are more likely to come up against the constraints of everyday social life, qualitative research embed their findings within the action of the social world (Lincoln, 2003), in contrast quantitative research seldom studies the world directly. Quantitative research is diverse and complex in that it employs many advantageous processes in its research. Quantitative research provide fast data processing and analysis of huge amounts of data, being a relatively inexpensive way to process and analyse data while attaining high reliability in the research proje ct (Linclon, 2003; Srantakos, 2005). Quantitative research thus, is a

Strategic Management Accounting Cost Advantage And...

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Brand Communication Free Essays

string(56) " forces and negotiations of meaning coming from inside\." Journal of Consumer Marketing Emerald Article: Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community Reto Felix Article information: To cite this document: Reto Felix, (2012),†Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 Iss: 3 pp. 225 – 232 Permanent link to this document: http://dx. We will write a custom essay sample on Brand Communication or any similar topic only for you Order Now doi. org/10. 1108/07363761211221756 Downloaded on: 08-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 47 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight. com Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by Dublin City University For Authors: If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service. Information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www. emeraldinsight. com/authors for more information. About Emerald www. emeraldinsight. com With over forty years’ experience, Emerald Group Publishing is a leading independent publisher of global research with impact in business, society, public policy and education. In total, Emerald publishes over 275 journals and more than 130 book series, as well as an extensive range of online products and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 3 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. *Related content and download information correct at time of download. Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community Reto Felix ? Department of Business Administration, University of Monterrey, San Pedro Garza Garc? , Mexico Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand consumers’ product use, practices, identity, and brand meanings in the context of a brand community dedicated to a mainstream Japanese motorcycle brand. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative research approach was used in the form of netnography (i. e. ethnography adapted to the study of on line communities). Findings – On the product level, consumers experience multiple con? icts and negotiations of meaning related to the use of the product. These ? dings are reproduced on the brand level, where members of the brand community present a more differentiated look on the brand, accompanied by lower levels of admiration and identi? cation with the brand, as in previous reports of brand communities for brands such as Apple, Jeep, or Harley-Davidson. The results suggest that consumers for mainstream brands may be more prone to multi-brand loyalty instead of single-brand loyalty. Practical implications – Marketers should monitor motivations, attitudes, and decision-making processes on both the product and the brand level. Further, non-company-run online communities such as the Yamaha R1 forum bear the risk of community members transmitting brand information in a way not desired by the company. Thus, marketers should consider sponsoring an entire discussion website, a forum, or part of a forum. Originality/value – Whereas previous studies on brand communities have concentrated predominantly on highly admired and differentiated brands, such as Apple or Harley-Davidson, this study investigates consumer practices, identities, and negotiations of meaning on both the product and brand level for a less differentiated mainstream brand. Keywords Brand community, Brand loyalty, Netnography, Identity, Consumer behaviour, Brand management Paper type Research paper An executive summary for managers and executive readers can be found at the end of this article. Introduction to brand communities and literature review Community-based brand relationships in marketing literature have been discussed commonly with a focus on brand communities. A brand community is a â€Å"specialized, nongeographically bound community, based on a structured set ? f social relationships among admirers of a brand† (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001, p. 412). Brand communities have been found to be crucial in order to understand brand loyalty (Fournier and Lee, 2009; McAlexander et al. , 2002, 2003). They are based on a shared interest in the brand (Algesheimer et al. , 2005) and, more speci? cally, on the three characteristics of consciousness of kind, shared rituals and traditions, and a ? sense or moral responsibility (Muniz and O’G uinn, 2001). As a positive outcome of brand communities, consumers may engage in cocreation (Schau et al. 2009), and religious-like relationships between consumers and brands may evolve, as documented in the case of the Apple Newton brand ? ? community (Muniz and Schau, 2005; Schau and Muniz, 2006). The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/0736-3761. htm Journal of Consumer Marketing 29/3 (2012) 225– 232 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761] [DOI 10. 1108/07363761211221756] Because of their geographical independence, brand communities can exist in the form of local clubs or interest groups (Algesheimer et al. 2005; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), entirely on the Internet (Kozinets, ? 1997; Muniz and Schau, 2005), or in combined form (Kozinets, 2001). Further, brand communities have emerged for virtually any product, such as cars (Algesheimer et al. , 2005; Leigh et al. , 2006; Luedicke et al. , 2010; McAle xander ? et al. , 2002; Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001; Schouten et al. , 2007), motorbikes (Schouten and McAlexander, 1995), computers (Belk and Tumbat, 2005), groceries (Cova and Pace, 2006), or movies and television series (Brown et al. , 2003; Kozinets, 2001). The common denominator of the brands patronized in brand communities is a clear and unique positioning in combination with consumers who strongly identify with the brand. Consumers de? ne themselves by the brands they consume as well as the brands they do not consume, and brands are clearly classi? ed into â€Å"our brands† ? and â€Å"other brands† by the community (Muniz and Hamer, 2001). In other words, members of a particular brand community are not only supposed to be more loyal to the own brand, but also substantially less loyal to competing brands. This phenomenon has been described as oppositional brand ? loyalty by Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) and may lead to enhanced intergroup stereotyping, trash talk targeted at members outside the community, and emotional pleasures from news about a rival’s failure (Hickman and Ward, 2007). In extreme cases, oppositional brand loyalty can turn into active consumer resistance or anti-brand communities (Hollenbeck and Zinkhan, 2006; Luedicke et al. , 2010). However, brand communities are not free of oppositional forces and negotiations of meaning coming from inside. You read "Brand Communication" in category "Essay examples" Rather, brand communities may embrace consumers who are 225 Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 critical with the brand or the product in general, and it would thus be overly optimistic to expect equally high levels of loyalty from all visitors of a brand community. For example, Kozinets (1999) classi? es members of virtual communities according to the identi? cation with the consumption activity (or brand) and the intensity of the social relationships with other members of the community. Whereas insiders show both high levels of brand identi? cation and social orientation towards the community, other members may have lower levels of brand identi? cation (minglers), lower levels of social relationships with the community (devotees), or both (tourists). Especially consumers who are simultaneously members in competing brand communities in the same product category may have high levels of participation in the communities, but without showing high levels of brand loyalty or admiration for the brands (Thompson and Sinha, 2008). In an application of these segmentation approaches to a sample of videogame players (Settlers of Catan) and a Swatch brand community, Ouwersloot and Odekerken-Schroder ? (2008) ? nd one segment of community members who are highly interested in the product, but not in the brand (36 and 7 percent, respectively) and a second segment including consumers who are neither interested in the product, the brand, or social relationships, yet still prefer to remain in the community (15 and 7 percent, respectively). Thus, it can be argued that consumer responses, such as satisfaction or loyalty, operate not only on the brand, but also on the product level (Torres-Moraga et al. , 2008). In the following analysis of an online brand community for a Japanese mainstream motorcycle brand, it is shown how consumers negotiate product and brand meanings, and how identity construction and brand attitudes are affected. The analysis is divided into a ? rst part on issues related to the activity and practices of riding a sports bike and the identity of sports bike consumers in general, and a second part on brand attitudes and how brands mediate identity construction. as chosen as the primary data source. Yamaha is one of four mainstream Japanese motorcycle brands with worldwide sales of US$12. 5 billion in 2009 (Yamaha Motor Co. , 2009). As a comparison, Harley Davidson’s same year consolidated sales from motorcycles and related products were US$4. 3 billion (Harley-Davidson, 2009). The Yamaha R1 foru m is primarily dedicated to Yamaha’s top-of-the-range sport bike, the Yamaha R1, but there are also members subscribed to the forum who either have motorbikes from different brands, such as Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, or Ducati, or who currently do not have a motorbike. As of June 14, 2010, the R1 forum had 107,249 subscribed members and more than four million postings in approximately 265,000 threads. The threads in the forum are organized into ? ve different sections: 1 Community 2 R1-related discussion 3 Technique, racing, and stunt discussion 4 Marketplace/classi? ed. 5 Misc. section. After starting reading threads in the Community section, it was possible to identify preliminary themes and issues by further browsing through the postings. At a very early stage of the research, evidence was found for more complex and ambiguous brand relationships than in previous studies on brand communities. Following a purposive sampling approach (Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Wallendorf and Belk, 1989), reading and downloading posts were continued as long as analysis of the postings generated new insights and did not lead to redundancy (Belk et al. , 1988). At a later stage of the study, the forum’s search engine was used to immerse more systematically into the data. Over the period between August 2006 and June 2010, around 10,000 postings were read, of which approximately 300 were downloaded. Organization, analysis, and ethical procedures In a ? st step, downloaded postings were pre-classi? ed into different categories and reoccurrences were coded by assigning one or several codes to the statements in the postings. Using an iterative approach, jumping back and forth between coded and uncoded statements facilitated the interpretation of the data. Codes were then condensed into more meaningful constructs and subsequently into interpretive themes in order to obtain relevant layers of me aning and richly textured interpretations (Arnould and Wallendorf, 1994). This procedure allowed a grounded, hermeneutic interpretation to emerge from the data that did not strive for representativeness, but rather for analytic depth and relevance. In order to impede the tracking of forum members’ identities, user names were changed to generic member names, such as â€Å"forum member 1. † Deviating from Kozinets’ (2002) recommendations, permissions from community members to use direct quotations were not requested. The reason for this decision was twofold: First, in an initial attempt to contact community members, only one response out of ten emails sent was obtained. If only those postings had been used that responses had been received for, the pool of usable data had been reduced signi? cantly. And second, Langer and Beckman’s (2005) reasoning was considered in that postings in an internet community forum are intentionally public postings, comparable to readers’ letters in a newspaper, and that it would be highly unusual to seek 226 Method Netnography was used to explore brand relationships and identity construction for an online community of a mainstream Japanese motorcycle brand. Netnography has been de? ed as â€Å"ethnography adapted to the study of online communities† (Kozinets, 2002, p. 61) and has been used in consumption contexts such as the X-Files (Kozinets, 1997), Star Trek (Kozinets, 2001, 2006), wedding messages (Nelson and Otnes, 2005), cars (Brown et al. , 2003), and consumer gift systems (Giesler, 2006). Similar to traditional ethnography, netnography is open-ended, interpretative, ? exible, metaphorical, and grounded in the knowledge of the speci? c and particularistic (Kozinets, 2002). However, netnography is usually faster, simpler, and less expensive than traditional ethnography (Kozinets, 2002, 2006). Further, it has been argued that new online communication technologies have â€Å"expanded the array of generalized others contributing to the construction of the self† (Cerulo, 1997, p. 386), and netnography as a tool of analyzing online communities is thus able to integrate the broadened spectrum of agents involved in the construction of individual and collective identity. Data collection Because of its size and relevance for the motorcycle community, the Yamaha R1 forum (www. r1-forum. com) Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 ermission to use direct quotations in this context. However, Kozinet’s concerns about adequate ethical procedures in netnography research are certainly valid, and the pragmatic issue (non-responses for permission requests) ? nally was the one that complicated following his recommendations. The product level: practice and identity Although recreati onal motorcycling in general is considered a high-risk leisure time activity, there are different segments within the motorcycle community that distinguish themselves in attitudes and behaviors related to riding style and speed. On one extreme of street bike riding are the easy-rider oriented owners of choppers or touring bikes who prefer to ride at moderate speeds and enjoy the immediate experience with the environment. On the other extreme are sports bike enthusiasts who prefer a fast, competitive riding style that is often accompanied by the exhibition of riding skills and risky stunting maneuvers such as performing wheelies (Haigh and Crowther, 2005). Commercial sports bikes aim to be copies of racing bikes used by professional riders at the Moto GP or Superbike competitions, and a modern liter bike, available at dealerships for under US$15,000, accelerates from zero to 200 km/h (125 miles) in less than ten seconds and reaches speeds in excess of 290 km/h (180 miles). A complete safety gear, consisting of helmet, leather gear, gloves, and boots, is considered an obligation for any sports bike rider by some, but lead to mock comments by others, ridiculing the â€Å"power ranger† out? t of sports bike riders. An important number of psychological and social con? cts are derived from the inherent nature of sports bike riding. Physical, functional, ? nancial, psychological and social risks form a complex, multilayered ? eld of tensions and constraints that are constantly negotiated by the individual, both internally and externally, and rarely resolved with simple heuristics. The actual or anticipated implications of an accident are dominant in many of the comments on the R1 forum, as the following sequence of succeeding narratives related to accidents and quitting riding suggests: I quit riding one time in my life. I was just getting married, building a house, etc. [. . . ] and coincidentally I was involved in a string of near misses: cars cutting me off, almost getting side swiped by an idiot who didn’t know how to turn into his own lane, getting run off road and up over a curb through a gas station parking lot by a garbage truck who just decided he wanted to cut across two lanes with no warning. It was my opinion that there was just some bad energy around me right then, and with all the other stress in my life maybe it was adding to the problem. I don’t know. I hung it up for a few years, then got back into it when everything felt right again. It still feels right [. . . ] all the while I’ve witnessed bike wrecks, been close to others’ fatal accidents, laid my own bike down at a track day, etc. [. . . ] but it still feels right for me. My single rule is that as long as my head is in the game, then it’s â€Å"rightâ€Å". If my head is constantly focusing on crashing, dying, etc. [. . . ] then it’s time to take another time-out. Shouldn’t be riding if you can’t focus on what you’re doing. Period. No shame in that (forum member 1). I’ve seen bad accidents but also I believe its mental. With so many, â€Å"I’ve gone down† threads, it can eat your con? dence away and make riding not fun. If it ain’t fun, that’s a good time to step back and let time rebuild your enjoyment (forum member 2). [. . . ] Subscribed [. . . ] (forum member 3). Personally everyday that I wake up and am fortunate enough to ride I tell my wife I love her I get my brain focused and I always keep reminding myself that this could be my last ride and I think that is half the reason I ride so responsibly on the street. I don’t want to have a last ride I love this sport. I have been down once very hard and that was a wake up call but I can’t give up what I love and to all my friends and fellow riders if I do go down and don’t get up please keep riding for me cause I would do the same (forum member 4). The con? ict between the hedonistic and aesthetic pleasures of riding a bike and the inherent risks involved in the activity becomes salient in forum member 2 comment about how riding a motorcycle should be related to fun. Speci? life events, such as those mentioned in forum member 1 narrative, amplify these tensions and may lead to important changes in attitudes or behaviors. However, these attitudinal or behavioral changes are frequently dynamic and unstable in time. For example, the decision to quit riding is in many cases a temporal one, and forum members compare riding to an addiction such as drinking or smoking. This addiction-like need to ride a motorbike then becomes an imp ortant factor in identity construction: From the point of view of the individual, riders do not choose riding a motorbike in order to signal certain values. Rather, as expressed by forum member 4, the activity forms a natural part of the self and is just there, similar to early conceptualizations of gender or race in the essentialist identity logic. Riding a bike is elevated to a mission that does not leave room for choices, and fellow riders are encouraged to honor the dead by continuing the mission and keeping the spirit alive. The inherent trait of being addicted to motorcycles is assessed critically in a re? ective discourse by many riders. For example, forum member 5 explains that he is aware of the multiple con? cts that surround his hobby, but apparently resolves these con? icts by stating that riding is the most important thing in his life, and that he has learned that riding makes him happy. The shared consciousness and discourse related to themes such as the risk of experiencing a severe accident, losing a fellow rider, or problems with girlfriends, spouses, or the family in general, leads to a collective identity that is const ructed, complex, and deprived of precise classi? cations. The brand level: attitudes mediating identity construction The negotiations of meaning related to the practice of riding a sports bike are reproduced at the more speci? c brand level. Whereas previous research on brand communities has been largely focused on communities with extraordinary high levels of brand loyalty and commitment, members of the R1 sports bike community show a more ambiguous and differentiated relationship with the Yamaha brand: I’m really faithful to Yamaha, but when sitting on a new R1 and a new GSXR1000 side by side, I have to say I like the Suzuki. The R1 just feels so much [. . . bigger. I don’t know. Also, the magazines bitch about the suspension [. . . ] yet how many serious track people leave suspension stock anyway? Regardless, I’m too poor to buy a new bike, so I’ll continue riding my 02 R1 on the track (forum member 6). Faithfulness in this context is not experienced as absolute loyalty to only one brand. Rather, it is legitimate to question publicly the qualities of the favorite bran d. Contrary to what might be expected, forum member 6 receives very few objections from the community members, and a relatively ational, attribute-based discussion of the merits and disadvantages of different motorcycle brands and models follows. In general, discourses presented by the forum members include few elements of real enthusiasm and emotional commitment for the brand. Apparently, community members perceive both the products and the brands in the sports bike category as little differentiated. This does not mean that R1 owners are dissatis? ed with their bike 227 Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 r the Yamaha brand in general. Rather, the speci? c situation of the sports bike community suggests customers who are highly satis? ed with their brand, yet nevertheless would switch to another brand easily. It has been suggested that brand loyalty can be measured by asking individu als how likely it is they would recommend the brand to a friend or colleague (Reichheld, 2003). Because people new to sports bike riding frequently ask for advice on the forum, a great number of posts are related to what bike from which brand would be recommended. Typical answers include statements such as â€Å"any of the new bikes are great† (forum member 7) or â€Å"I’ve spent some time on all the bikes and seriously there is no true winner, no matter what you get nowadays is a rocket out of the crate and you will be getting a good bike! Each has its ups and down but overall I could see myself on any of them really! † (forum member 8). Rather than showing indifference, consumers like and actually buy any of the important sports bike brands. Using the conceptual partition of the awareness set into an evoked set, an inert set, and an inept set (Narayana and Markin, 1975; Spiggle and Seawall, 1987), it seems that R1 community members place most of the important sports bike brands into the evoked set, whereas the inert set is relatively small. Instead of a highly committed loyalty to one single brand, as in previous accounts of brand communities, the Yamaha R1 brand community is, if anything, prone to multi-brand or split loyalty (Jacoby, 1971; Jacoby and Kyner, 1973). Identity is thus less de? ed by a speci? c brand, but rather by the activity of riding a sports bike itself. Wherever brand personalities in? uence decision making, it seems that these criteria are exclusive rather than inclusive. That is, the consideration set is not formed by the inclusion of a speci? c brand or set of brands, but rather by excluding unattractive brands. For example, in the R1 forum, some members distance themselves from Suzuki, one of Yama ha’s main competitors, because they don’t identify with the people who ride Suzukis: Yes, gixxer is by far the â€Å"squid bike† all the ? st time riders and newbies love the gixxers [. . . ] Their mentality and unfriendly attitude is because they are young, dumb, and think their bike is the best ever (forum member 9). the brand and clash with the otherwise positively perceived performance and quality of the product. The identity of the R1 brand community is further formed by the relationship with two other groups of motorcycles. On one hand, most forum members seem to admire the more exclusive Italian sports bike brands, such as Ducati and MV Agusta. On the other hand, the relationship to Harley Davidson is not marked by a clear distinction of acceptance versus rejection pattern, but rather by a complicated and sometimes ambiguous pattern of mixed emotions toward the brand and its users: There are a lot of douche bag riders, Harley and sportbike alike, but I will admit I’ve ? ipped off quite a few Harley riders. I’ve gotten less camaraderie from Harley riders than anyone, but those are just the young wannabies, the old guys are usually cool tho, hahaha (forum member 10). In motorcycle slang, Gixxer stands for Suzuki’s GSX-R line of super sport motorbikes. Forum members do not reject the Suzuki brand because of issues with the quality or performance of the product, but rather because of the characteristics of the riders who use the brand. Squid, an expression that, according to some forum members, is a combination of the two words â€Å"squirrel† and â€Å"kid,† describes irresponsible motorcycle riders who overestimate their riding skills and frequently wear inappropriate and insuf? cient riding gear. By claiming that the Suzuki GSX-R series is the typical squid bike, attributes of the consumers are ascribed to the brand. Thus, brand identity is built on exclusion (â€Å"this is not how we want to be†) rather than on inclusion. Further, meaning transfer in this case deviates substantially from the traditional symbolic consumption process. Symbolic consumption suggests that individuals transfer the symbolic meaning of a brand to themselves, and subsequently the audience, such as peers and signi? cant others, assigns the attributes of the brand to the individual (Grubb and Grathwohl, 1967). However, meaning in the example above is transferred in the reverse direction, from the user to the brand. Negative attributes of Suzuki brand users (such as being squiddish, dumb, and inexperienced) are transferred to 228 Here, forum member 10 develops a differentiated look toward Harley-Davidson riders by explaining that the less friendly Harley riders are typically those that are younger (and thus less experienced), whereas the older riders seem to be more open. Both positive and negative feelings co-exist at the same time as the result of a cognitive evaluation that avoids simple stereotyping found at other brand communities. Many R1 forum members perceive the Harley-Davidson brand as both cool and obsolete at the same time, and this ambiguity toward the brand is replicated for the users of the brand, where Harley-Davidson riders have been experienced as both cool and authentic riders or as ignorant and unfriendly â€Å"weekend warriors. † Thus, brands in the R1 community are not iconic symbols that unambiguously communicate attitudes and lifestyles of brand users to the larger audience via the meaning of the brand. Rather, brands are complex, multidimensional entities that gain meaning only in the reciprocal relationship with the brand user. Unconditional single-brand loyalty and â€Å"we† versus â€Å"us† stereotypes are replaced in large part by ambiguous, differentiated, and often critical attitudes toward the own brand. Brand identity is based on exclusion (Suzuki is a typical brand for squids) instead of inclusion, and within a relatively large evoked set, multi-brand loyalty is more common than religious-like brand worshipping described for, e. g. the Apple Newton. Conclusions and managerial implications Brand communities have sparked the interest of marketing researchers and practitioners alike because of the high levels of brand loyalty and commitment observed in previous studies on brands such as Apple, Jeep, or Harley Davidson. However, the results of this qualitative study suggest that instead of single-brand loyalty, consumers for mainstream brands may be more prone to multi-brand loyalty. As forum member 8 (see citation above) expressed it, â€Å"[. . . ] no matter what you get nowadays is a rocket out of the crate and you will be getting a good bike! Each has its ups and down but overall I could see myself on any of them really! † The case of the Yamaha R1 brand community thus presents preliminary evidence that speci? c industry conditions may shape the relationships consumers have with their brand, and more speci? cally, that multi-brand loyalty is more probable to occur for low levels of brand differentiation (Felix, 2009) combined with more choices (Bennett and Rundle-Thiele, 2005). It follows that from the point of view of a company, having many members in a speci? c brand community does not necessarily translate into a highly loyal customer base. Rather, under certain Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 conditions, higher levels of participation may actually increase the likelihood of adopting products from competing brands, especially if individuals are simultaneously members in several brand communities (Thompson and Sinha, 2008). The results of this study suggest that marketers should monitor and track consumers’ motivations, attitudes, and decision making processes on two levels: On the product level, it is important for marketers to understand barriers and con? cts related to the general use of the product. In the speci? c case of a sports bike, the physical risk (in the form of experiencing a severe accident) is probably the most important issue, which in turn may lead to substantial social tensions, especially with family members. For other products, such as clothing, computers, or food, the motivations why consum ers may or may not consider a speci? c product category may be different, but it remains essential to understand these reasons. On the brand level, it is important for marketers to understand the degree of brand identi? ation in the community as well as the way how consumers perceive a consciousness of kind, share rituals and traditions, and experience a sense of moral responsibility ? (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). In a world of online consumer-to-consumer communications, companies are increasingly losing control over their brands. It is therefore important for marketers to get involved in the process of image building and brand positioning in online communication platforms. Non-company-run communities, such as the Yamaha R1 forum, bear the risk of community members transmitting brand information in a way not desired by the company (Stokburger-Sauer, 2010). Marketers thus should try to integrate consumers by either sponsoring an entire discussion website, a forum, or part of a forum (Pitta and Fowler, 2005). Finally, an unobtrusive and authentic way of increasing a company’s involvement in a noncompany-run forum is exempli? ed by a company that provides motorcycle braking systems. One of the company’s employees invites Yamaha R1 forum members to ask him brake related questions and explains that he is on the forum not to sell, but to educate riders about brakes in general. By choosing a nonselling approach in the R1 forum, the company manages to gain credibility in the community and to build customer relationships that are more consumer-focused and authentic than many of the hard-selling approaches at the dealerships. The employee’s thread on brake questions has more than 600 postings, which is signi? cantly above the forum’s average of around 15 postings per thread, and evidences the interest of the community in a direct contact with company representatives. The example also suggests that online communities are not limited to relationships between consumers and the brand and between consumers and consumers. 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(1987), â€Å"A choice sets model of retail selection†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 97-111. Stokburger-Sauer, N. (2010), â€Å"Brand communities: drivers and outcomes†, Psychology Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 347-68. Thompson, S. A. and Sinha, R. K. (2008), â€Å"Brand communities and new product adoption: the in? uence and limits of oppositional loyalty†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 72 No. 6, pp. 65-80. ? Torres-Moraga, E. , Vasquez-Parraga, A. Z. and Zamora? Gonzalez, J. (2008), â€Å"Customer satisfaction and loyalty: start with the product, culminate with the brand†, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 302-13. Wallendorf, M. and Belk, R. W. (1989), â€Å"Assessing trustworthiness in naturalistic consumer research†, in Hirschman, E. C. (Ed. ), Interpretive Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 69-84. Yamaha Motor Co. (2009), â€Å"Annual report†, available at: www. yamaha-motor. co. jp/global/ir/material/pdf/2009/2009 annual-e. pdf (accessed June 14, 2010). About the author Reto Felix is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Monterrey, Mexico. He received his Master’s in Marketing and PhD in Business Administration from the University of St Gallen, Switzerland. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Marketing Group, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and has published in journals such as Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 Business Industrial Marketing, and Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Further, he has presented his research at conferences hosted by the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science and the Society for Marketing Advances. Reto Felix can be contacted at: rfelix@udem. edu. mx Executive summary and implications for managers and executives This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of this article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full bene? ts of the material present. The topic of brand communities has provided the focus for much marketing literature. Brand communities transcend geographical boundaries and contain people who exhibit passion for a particular brand. These individuals also display similarities in consciousness while â€Å"shared rituals and traditions† is another cornerstone of their social relationships. Some scholars have even noted the propensity for â€Å"religious-like† associations to develop. Evidence shows that groups can be based locally, online or a combination of both. A wide range of products has supplied the inspiration for brand communities to form. In addition to strong consumer identi? ation with the brands, â€Å"clear and unique positioning† is viewed as a common characteristic among brands concerned. Brand loyalty can be fervent to a degree that an â€Å"us and them† mentality often arises with regard to other brands. Bonding within the community can generate stereotypes and outsiders are treated with some disdain. Any failure of competitor brands is cause for celebratio n. It is, however, a misconception to assume that brand communities are always homogenous. Signi? cant internal differences appear to be the rule not the exception. Relationship intensity with other members is subject to variation because some are loyal to the brand while others may identify more closely with the product. Levels of social orientation can similarly differ. Researchers have also pointed out the possibility of some individuals lacking interest in brand, product and social relationships yet remaining in the community. Others might become involved with different brand communities in the same product category, resulting in further dissemination of loyalty. Felix explores the topic in a study of an online Yamaha brand community principally devoted to the Japanese manufacturer’s R1 luxury sports otorcycle. Yamaha is one of the world’s leading brands in its category and in 2009 boasted sales of $12. 5 billion. At the time of the study, there were 107,249 registered members in the R1 forum. Some members did not currently own a motorcycle, while others possessed a different brand. The author considers netnography as the most relevant study method for the investigation of brand relationships and â€Å"identity construction of an online community†. This approach is regarded as ethnography adapted for the purpose of exploring online communities. Among other things, netnography has been commended for its ? xibility, 231 open-endedness and interpretative qualities. Different researchers have used the approach in a variety of study contexts including cars, consumer gifts and TV programs. Following initial analysis of messages posted on the forum, the threads were arranged into ? ve different sections respectively labeled as: Community; R1-related Discussion; Technique, Racing and Stunt Discussion; Marketplace/ Classi? ed; and Miscellaneous Section. Analysis of the threads enabled messages to be coded and then organized into â€Å"interpretive themes† so that appropriate â€Å"layers of meaning† could be identi? d. Message themes were analyzed at the product level to ascertain factors whic h in? uence practice and identity. In general, considerable risk is associated with riding a motorcycle for leisure purposes. But the variation in attitudes towards factors like speed and riding style means that different segments exist within the biking community. At one end of the continuum are those who ride around at moderate speeds to savor the experience with the environment. Positioned at the other extreme are bikers whose penchant for high speed is often accompanied by an aggressive style of riding. Such individuals are also likelier to ? aunt their biking skills through dangerous maneuvers like pulling wheelies. According to Felix, riding a motorcycle gives rise to various risks and con? icts that can be physical, functional, ? nancial, psychological or social in nature. The activity is therefore highly complex and generates a web of â€Å"tensions and constraints† that the individual must constantly address internally and externally. Concern about accidents is a recurring theme with community members referring to â€Å"actual or anticipated implications† in that eventuality. Message content reveals that con? ict exists between knowledge of the intrinsic risks associated with bike riding and the grati? cation derived from it. Forum members suggest that such tensions may prompt attitude or behavioral changes, albeit sometimes ? eeting in nature. This occurs because riding a motorcycle is almost addictive and an important aspect of identity construction. Some comments imply that it is a â€Å"mission† that simply has to be ful? lled. Even though members are aware of the con? icts which surround this pastime, the desire to ride is the main driving force. Analysis reveals a â€Å"shared consciousness† about issues including serious accidents, loss of a fellow biker, and problems relating to the family. The author ascertains a collective identity that is complex in nature but dif? cult to categorize precisely. An examination of meaning at the speci? c brand level reveals a relationship between forum members and the Yamaha brand that is â€Å"ambiguous and differentiated†. Instead of absolute loyalty to the brand, it is more evident that people engage in balanced debate about its qualities and those of other motorcycle brands. Members apparently perceive little differentiation between brands and may switch to another brand even if they are highly satis? ed. Many studies have noted that some consumers can display loyalty to multiple brands and there is some evidence of this tendency here. Messages seeking advice on future purchases are frequent and members typically recommend a range of brands they consider decent. In the opinion of Felix, this indicates that riding a sports motorcycle de? nes identity much more that the speci? c brand of bike. Another signi? cant ? nding is how decision making seems in? enced more by exclusive than inclusive brand criteria. A Brand communities for mainstream brands Reto Felix Journal of Consumer Marketing Volume 29  · Number 3  · 2012  · 225 –232 key example is the negative perceptions of the Suzuki brand among some R1 forum members. The interesting fact about this hostility is that is has little to do with product quality concerns. Instead, such evaluation ar ises because members question those who ride Suzuki sport bikes. With regard to identity construction, meaning is normally transferred from brand to individual. Here, however, it is the negative traits of Suzuki riders that re transferred to the brand. Some con? ict with positive perceptions of the product subsequently occurs. That brands are complex and multidimensional is further illustrated by the contrasting ways in which R1 members relate to Harley Davidson. Positive and negative feelings exist simultaneously as the brand is regarded as cool yet obsolete. Contrasting statements are likewise directed at Harley Davidson riders. One important deduction is that ambiguity surrounds brand meaning, attitude and lifestyle conveyed within this community. This study indicates that consumer-brand relations might be shaped by â€Å"speci? industry conditions†. Marketers are also alerted to lack of clear brand differentiation and the possibility that multi-brand loyalty will ensue, e ven when a large brand community exists. Understanding what in? uences consumer attitudes, motivations and decision-making at both product and brand level is essential. Certain factors may encourage or deter choice of a particular product, while it is equally important to be aware of brand identi? cation levels and collective sensitivities among consumers. Given the revealing nature of online communication, Felix suggests that ? ms might gain greater insight into consumer thinking by becoming actively involved in non-company forums. An unobtrusive approach is considered vital though. The aim should not be to sell but to build authentic consumer-focused relationships with an emphasis on providing advice or information. ? (A precis of the article â€Å"Brand communities for mainstream brands: the example of the Yamaha R1 brand community†. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald. ) To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight. com Or visit ou r web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints 232 How to cite Brand Communication, Essay examples

Working Towards a Better World free essay sample

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