Change Management term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Change Management - Term Paper Example The Aster Group provides homes and housing related services in England. For excellent leadership and performance, it secured the â€Å"Beacon Company† award in 2006. In fact, the company was forced to change and diversify due to a number of factors. First of all, as Green (2007) notes, the company wanted to shift from a local authority culture to an autonomous not-for-profit nature. Also, the Housing Corporation decided to reduce the number of approved organizations from 350 to 70. So, to retain business, the company had to go a long way from its 110th position. The way to achieve the same for Aster was to merge and seek new alliances. Starting at the Top However, one can observe slight differences in the way both of the companies introduced change. In the case of Biogen Idec, the company set up a project team, which looked into the various factors associated with the change. Various heads including â€Å"international business, commercial operations, human resources, and int ernational legal affairs were part of the project team, and every aspect of the change† was identified and analyzed (Green, 2007, p.90). Admittedly, the company was performing well in accordance with the Change Management guideline which indicates that it is necessary to understand the need for change through Diagnosing Change (Change Management, n. d.). On the other hand, in Aster, the change started from the new chief executive of the company, who tried to introduce a culture that just â€Å"keeps moving all the time†. In other words, observing the challenges ahead, the chief executive decided to move away from its local authority structure and develop a group structure. Thus, the company worked with Testway – and both chief executives considered open discussion as an important factor to ensure proper collaboration. As acquisition and merger were a part of the change strategy, a board was developed, which included important leaders of both the firms. And as the re were more mergers and acquisitions, more and more personnel were included in the board according to requirements. Anyway, as Gossas commented, the leadership led the change in both of the cases (Ahiberg & Naucler, 2007). Involving all the Layers In Aster Group, first of all, replacing the previous autocratic management style, the new chief executive introduced the culture of open communication and feedback. This resulted in better cooperation from the part of managers and other staff. Thus, at first, he managed to secure the belief and support of the managers and staff. Then, he encouraged the people to contribute their own opinions and suggestions for the future course of action. Here, as Jones, Aguirre, and Calderone (2004) point out, the leadership was giving adequate attention to the human factor, because, for making all the employees committed to the vision of change, the leadership role was effectively handed over to the managers. According to the writers, after allowing au tonomy in day to day operations, the board focused on long term strategic issues; and anyway, both the companies followed the golden rule that change should start at the top. Also, by enlightening and enabling all the layers, the leadership ensured the involvement of every layer. Increased Autonomy to Units and Affiliates In fact, both the companies changed their management styles to introduce various autonomous or semi-autonomous units. To illustrate, the board of Aster Group decided to hand over

There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge Essay

There are only two ways in which humankind can produce knowledge through passive observation or through active experiment. To what extent do you agree with this statement - Essay Example I will take passive observation to mean knowledge acquired through discovery but in which the knower do not influence the phenomenon they are studying. Active experimentation is whereby the knower participates in creating or producing knowledge. The title presupposes that humankind can only discover or create knowledge. I am going to argue that there are different approaches to produce knowledge in addition to passive observation and active experimentation as evidenced by the various areas of knowledge and ways of knowing. In order to understand whether we discover or create knowledge and whether there are other ways of producing knowledge, first we need to understand what knowledge is. Lagemaat (2015, 23) defines knowledge as â€Å"justified true belief† (Lagemaat, 2015, 23). From this definition, arise three concepts that need explaining: truth, belief and justification. Truth is what distinguishes knowledge from belief. People hold many beliefs depending on their cultures some of which are superstitious hence not everything that people believe is knowledge. For example, the Greeks believed in myths such as odyssey to explain extraordinary events such as earthquakes. Such beliefs even if the Greeks considered them true cannot be true and as such are not knowledge. For it to be considered as knowledge what one claims to know must be true otherwise, it may be true or false. Since we cannot be 100 percent sure that what we know is true, a degree of certainty is acceptable hence something is true beyond reasonable doubt (Stuart, 2000). Belief is to believe what you claim to know as true is true (Stuart, 2000). It is having confidence or strong conviction that what you claim to know is true. For example, if you hold the truth that telling lies is wrong, then you should have the conviction to say that you know that it is true. For Lagemaat, belief and knowledge lay in a continuum ranging from the impossible to certainty hence there is

Educational Practice in a Multilingual Context Essay

Educational Practice in a Multilingual Context - Essay Example The writer is a Sri Lankan, born into a Hindu Brahmin family and the eldest of three sisters. Brahmin is the name of the priestly caste, the highest in the Hindu social system. In fact, the word Brahmin translates to "divine" and its role has been defined as one of teacher or advisor. In the Hindu Sri Lankan society, members of the Brahmin caste are tasked with officiating at religious rites and are responsible for studying and teaching the Vedas. The oldest and most developed of the Dravidian languages is Tamil. It is also the primary language of the minority Tamil region in Sri Lanka. However, majority of Sri Lanka is dominated by people who speak Singhalese, which accounts for the fact that this is the nation's official language. All Sri Lankan children are required to learn Singhalese. In the first two years of primary school, Tamil children were taught Singhalese as an additional language, which accounts for the writer being able to understand, read, and write but not speak Singhalese. Thus, this writer calls herself bilingual rather than multilingual because she does not consider herself competent in both productive and receptive skills in Singhalese, unlike what could be said for her proficiencies in both Tamil, her native language, and English, her second acquired language (Porter, 1990). In the central or up country part of Sri Lanka where the writer was born, the Tamil accent is different from the Jaffna Tamil accent spoken in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. Jaffna Tamil is regarded as a higher form of the language. The reason for this status-defining characteristic of the language is that in former years, Tamils from the up country were brought to work in the tea plantations of India by the British Empire. When her family moved to Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka in the early 80s, she found it difficult to adjust to the Jaffna Tamil accent. It was so difficult that she felt like she was learning a new language altogether. However, upon her mother's death in the late 80s, she and her family went back to the up country, allowing the writer to switch back to her Tamil up country accent once again. In the school where the writer spent her primary schooling, the medium of instruction was both Tamil and Singhalese. Classes were taught separately in either language, and since she never had friends for whom Singhalese was the primary language, she never learned to speak Singhalese fluently as much as she did Tamil. Over the years, she improved her competence in both productive and receptive skills in Tamil, and until she migrated to England, Tamil was her language for study and communication with friends and family. At an early age, she was reading Tamil children's magazines and books, and by the time she was 8 years old, she was already reading complex historical novels. This not only improved her reading abilities but also encouraged her to read proficiently in front of the whole class with more confidence (Rossell & Baker, 1996). The first encounter of the writer and her sisters with the English language was at home, when their parents preferred to be called using the English words "Daddy" and "Mummy". In Sri Lanka, English was considered a higher status language, and her mother must have thought that this would give the family some added social

Giuseppe Peano Essay Example for Free

Giuseppe Peano Essay Giuseppe Peano spent most of his career in teaching mathematics at the University of Turin in Italy. He was a fanatic of mathematics who contributed many ideas to mathematical logic but later on gave more focus on symbolic logic and developing auxiliary languages. He wrote his mathematical ideas and logic in 200 books and papers (Giuseppe, 2006). Peano was born on August 27, 1858 to a poor family in an Italian farm in Spinetta, near Cuneo, Italy. He graduated with high honors in the degree of Mathematics at the University of Turin wherein he later worked as its mathematics professor starting in 1880. At the same time in 1886, he was also employed in the Royal Military Academy. Peano’s contribution to mathematics includes differential equations and vector analysis and his famous space-filling curve that contradicts some of the existing axioms and concepts of mathematics in his time (â€Å"Guiseppe†, 2006; Golba, 2007). Another contribution of Peano was in the development of symbolic logic. He introduced many symbols, such as the symbol which means â€Å"belonging to the set of† that is still used in science and math today. Peano had reasoned that the ambiguity of the ordinary language in his time tends to hamper the progress in the development and study of mathematics therefore he proposed many symbols to use for a much easier learning and universal understanding. He believed that the scientific community needed a universal language so that anybody who spoke different languages may understand each other through it. In 1891 and for the next fifteen years , Peano worked on a project he called Formulario Project or better described as an Encyclopedia of Mathematics† that proposed to use mathematical symbols by publishing all the 4200 symbolized formulas and symbols of science using his invented standard notation (â€Å"Guiseppe†, 2006; Golba, 2007) . Peano became an active promoter of auxiliary language. In the second International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris in 1900, (right after the First International Conference of Philosophy where he was a member of the patronage committee), he presented a paper that touch on the subject of how to correctly form definitions in mathematics, including the question of â€Å"how do you define a definition? in the first place. This of course is made to arouse an interest and a need for an auxiliary language. By now, Peano’s main interest and quest (for the rest of his life) had shifted to this philosophical view to such an extent that he had neglected his calculus (â€Å"Guiseppe†, 2006; Golba, 2007). The popularity of Peano’s symbolic logic had prompted a resolution in a mathematics conference calling for the formation of an international auxiliary language to spread its mathematical and commercial idea. In 1903, Peano presented his work of a universal auxiliary language called Latino sine flexione, (Latin without flexions, eventually recognized as Interlingua) which uses the popular and widely known Latin vocabulary but stripped of its grammar and without its â€Å"irregular and anomalous forms† (â€Å"Guiseppe†, 2006; Golba, 2007). In 1908 Peano became a director of the Academia pro Interlingua in Turin, a congress that was set up in order to study and develop auxiliary languages. At the same time, he published the fifth and final edition of the Formulario project (â€Å"Formulario Mathematico†) with all proven theorems in 516 pages. This project had not been much of a success at that time since it was published in Peano’s new Latino sine flexione language which nobody really understood (Golba, 2007). Even with the opposition against Peano and his subsequent resignation in the Military Academy due to the students’ resentment of having to learn his mathematical symbols which they reasoned they will never use in real life, by 1910 Peano continued to develop and promote auxiliary languages. He remained to teach in the University of Turin until his death of a heart attack on April 20, 1932. Peano got married in 1887 but he was childless (â€Å"Guiseppe†, 2006; Golba, 2007).

Management Essays Key Communication Skill

Management Essays Key Communication Skill Key Communication Skill The ability to negotiate is a key communication skill and frequently takes place in the context of meeting. How can meetings be managed to ensure useful outcomes are achieved, particularly when the participants may have very different objectives? Use examples from real meetings where possible. Abstract Business meetings frequently take place with the view to allow executives to explore and achieve desired organizational objectives. They are to communicate of plans, updates, progress and outcomes of business strategies. At times these meetings are also between parties outside the organization. Whichever the case, negotiation skills are critical in helping managers to persuade other participants to change their views and accept the ones that are presented at the meeting. The ability to negotiate therefore is key to communication at meetings and required by chairpersons/leaders/participants to conduct successful business meetings. IntroductionMeetings can be frustrating and at times not necessary if the objectives of the encounter are not clearly identified. Business persons get frustrated at the frequency and quality of the meetings they attend (or conduct) declaring them a waste of time and resources. The value of such meetings is compromised when parties attending the meeting come out unsatisfied and frustrated by the decision reached. With the rate of meeting timings increasing everyday in organizations engaging executives 75 percent to 100 percent of their time, the success rate is diminishing day by day due to rapid decisions made and implemented (Timm 1997). Meetings participants are likely to feel disappointed and unsatisfied with the results of meetings especially when they spend less time in preparing and planning for meetings they attend. It is therefore not surprising to find that there are numerous documents and books published on meetings and how participants can engage in fruitful endeavours without compromising their own position. As a formal communication framework, meetings can make or break a business therefore consideration for its success is critical. Negotiation as a key to communication skills must be integrated along with other meetings strategies with the view to ensure outcomes are achieved to the desires of the participants without frustrating either party. Purpose Statement In the following report the researcher shall outline how negotiation as a key to meetings communication skill can be used to achieve business objectives despite participant differences in objectivity. The report shall first outline the purpose of meetings followed by how business meetings should be conducted and what elements are critical for its success. This is concluded with recommendations for successful business meetings. ReportPurpose of communication Building a corporate culture is pegged in the setting up of an effective communication system. Organizations shape and influence the behaviour of individuals through powerful communication strategies and culture so that they can help in achieving organizational objectives. When used appropriately, communication can offer insightful analysis of the organizations vision and mission, goals and objectives and more importantly how these may be implemented. To perpetuate conducive business environment, executives and management often engage in communication dialogues for numerous purposes and on a variety of occasions. According to Deborah J. Barrett (Oliver 2004) organizations engage in communication to mediate change management. Executives and top management uses its communication framework to communicate the need for change to cope up with the dynamic business environment. They engage in meetings with employees to communicate identification of roles in car rying out tasks required for the change management. Employees and employer meetings therefore is a top-down approach to communication with the purpose to form powerful coalition, creating vision, empowering workers to act on vision, carry out plans and consolidating efforts for change management (Barrett in Oliver 2004). However, often management in the flow of forming their objectives fail to recognize the objectives of individuals working within their organizations, resulting in ineffective and useless weekly meetings that achieve less and waste more time and resources. In another scenario communication through meetings among managers to discuss and generate ideas and feedback on work progress is also normal. Purely administrative communication of this nature is carried out with the purpose to analyze and update on organizational progress. Managers of various departments communicate their intent, delegate by expressing their proposals and establish chain of command of internalized processes for plan implementation purposes. They communicate with other managers and executives to update progress and express their desire for shared resources or to provide feedback to evaluate existing or forthcoming problems within and outside the organization. In such instances the climate of communication may not appeal to the participants as each attempt to put forth their ideas and expect acceptance from the others. For this reason resistance and barriers to communication are expected. The participants tend to bargain or negotiate their way with others with the hop e to elicit collaborative actions (Ramundo 1994). Another and perhaps the most important aspect of formal communication in meetings is the objective to elicit business outcomes from individuals outside the organizations like sellers, suppliers, unions, shareholders or directors where the basic premise of the meeting is to negotiate and come to certain winning outcomes. Meeting participants therefore come to the room geared to negotiate and to reject opponents proposals. The purpose of these corporate meetings therefore is to overcome the barriers to communication and come out as the wining party. Negotiations in business meetings Meetings in todays business world compromise of participants negotiating defensively (Foster 2004). Whether one is a buyer, a supplier, a union leader or a client successful meeting participants are those who negotiate before the contract is signed. Spending some time to communicate the details of the contract like clauses, agreed upon provisions, price or salary can help the negotiator in achieving the desired outcomes. Once a meeting is convened, the participants assume the roles of the negotiators engaging dialogues that elicit their objectives and purpose for participating. It is best that participants define the objectives and account for the desired outcomes. Successful negotiators usually plan their strategies before hand so that they can concentrate on non-aggressive yet succinct dialogues to persuade the opponent in accepting their terms. For instance a union leader and a company management will likely have their strategies written down before they enter the meeting room. They are likely to engage in dialogues that reflect clauses that they plan to negotiate upon. Such planning is critical as it helps the negotiators to direct the meeting and also to save time by concentrating on the objectives only rather than engage in meaningless communication. In such situations James Manktelow of Mind Tools (2005) is of the opinion that negotiation skills are essential in meetings and conflict situations where the participants need to appropriate their dialogues to seek wining negotiation. The participants who lose out tend to become confrontational or harbour a grudge against the wining party. Consequently the modern adage for negotiation is to create a win-win situation whereby both parties gain from the negotiation. this approach is not only critical for resolving disputes and have a lasting effect on the business relationship but it also open up channels of communication in the long term. Nevertheless, this is not to say that negotiation dialogues always result in win-win situations. In cases of policies making, or buying of a house or selling a product negotiation often result in one party losing and the other wining. For this purpose it is recommended that the situation is dealt with in an amicable manner through excessive planning for counter arguments without having to be aggressive to the other person. The key to such business meetings is to negotiate the terms of trade rather than focussing on defeating the opponent (Manktelow 2005). Consideration for trades terms, alternatives, expected outcomes, consequences, and possible resolutions are critical to the negotiation situation. Communication in meetings Meetings as discussed in the previous sections are formal communications in organizations and businesses carried out by participants with certain objectives expressed and negotiated in the course of the meeting. Successful meetings are those that engage negotiation strategies to focus and achieve desired objectives. These strategies need to be carried out in a very conducive manner so as not to offend opponent yet reach the end results amicably. For this purpose, Joan Mulholland (1991) recommends certain kind of speech acts chosen to represent a range of meanings and significance designed to represent and develop negotiation content. These acts should be considered often and may be integrated in negotiation dialogues to express certain context and performance of certain actions. Mulholland posit that communication during a negotiation meeting entail the use of body language as well as speech specification. Careful use of language notations and sentence structure can greatly influence the results of the encounter. For example one of the most important parts of meetings is the participants acceptance or rejection of proposed ideas. Depending on the individual perception offer or proposal can be accepted, rejected or reach a compromise. Depending on how the proposal is presented the response from the participants can damage cooperation behaviour and result in conflict situation if it is rejected. To mediate and elicit a positive response even if the participant is hesitant about accepting the proposed idea should demonstrate a cooperative attitude by acknowledging the ideas without acceptance by saying Thats an idea worth consideration; given general acceptance like we would be keen to do something along those lines on day. or set up a response from other participants or voice hesitation before acceptance (Mulholland 1991). On the other hand in cases of real acceptance of ideas participants should not hasten to communicate acceptance immediately but should ask for additional information and reports to reach to informed decisions. The important aspect of the meeting is to show to the participants that the outcome should be mutual. Furthermore, acceptance in situations of business meetings should be entirely separate from the person who has communicated and negotiated the deal. The communicator should communicate the fact that the organization or institutions with which he is associated and himself are two different entities and any personal remarks should not constitute as business dialogues. The content or objectives of the meeting should also be separated from participants who attend it. These considerations are important for participants to be objective in their decisions whether it is a rejection or acceptance or something in between (Mulholland 1991). Hence, a human resources manager conducting a performance appraisal (a type of meeting) should communicate its objectivity and his/her role as the mediator and the organizations requirement. He/she should also communicate the separation of the employees records and performance outcome from himself the evaluator. Any negative outcome from the performance appraisal meeting should not be associated with the ill-will of the appraiser. This can be expressed through verbal communication between the participant s. Effective meetings The above dynamics are critical for influencing the progress of meetings in the desired direction of organizational objectives. However, implementing these dynamics does not necessarily guarantee efficacy of meetings. Instead there are certain procedures that need to be followed and managed for meetings to achieve its objectivity. Adair and Thomas (2003) prescribe preparation and the following formality:  ¢ planning  ¢ Informality  ¢ Participation  ¢ Purpose  ¢ Leadership They also outline the importance of purpose in meetings:  ¢ To pool available information  ¢ To make decisions  ¢ To let off steam/tension  ¢ To change attitudes  ¢ To instruct/teach Gathering information, reports, agendas and laying out technical data or equipment in advance are helpful. Meetings should be purposeful so that the information relegated is meaningful for the participants to absorb, analyze and make decisions. Whether it is a meeting of signing contracts, an employee-employer appraisal meeting or a purchase of an asset, advance planning is critical in enabling the participants to focus on the objectives. Since meetings are of groups of people from different background, different meetings tend to develop personalities of its own. Leaders or the chair persons must make efforts to understand the personality of the participants conformity, values, attitudes, prejudice or power so that they can effectively communicate in a certain manner to influence participants thinking (Adair and Thomas 2003). Furthermore, Kellie Fowler (2005) is of the opinion that running effective meetings is inherent in the skills of the leader who is managing the meeting. The leader should: Generate an agenda to all involved in the meeting Start the discussion and encourage active participation Work to keep the meeting at a comfortable pace not moving too fast or too slow Summarize the discussion and the recommendations at the end of each logical section Circulate minutes to all participants (Fowler 2005) But perhaps the most important aspect is the fine tuning of negotiation skills so that outcomes can be achieved. The first step is to choose the right participants to contribute to the decision making and problem solving initiatives. The key is to try to keep the number of participants to 12 and ensure that they are knowledgeable in the issue under consideration. The leaders role in enumerating on the agenda, guiding the participants and direct them towards it, and summing up of the debate is critical as he/she is the one who rounds up the various views to resolve the issues discussed. Confusions, misunderstanding and mix-up of any sort should be clarified before decisions are made. The basic premise for such meetings often stem from the debates or negotiating points presented by the participants. The leader or the chairperson acting as the mediator must keep the above communication principles and dynamics in mind to guide the participants in taking part in the decision and not feel neglected or lose out in the negotiation. Conclusion The above report on meetings enumerate on the process and management of effective meetings. It also outlines the importance of negotiation skills in contributing to successful business meetings under certain circumstances. The purpose of meetings as discussed is to focus on planned agenda and achieve desired outcomes. Many business meetings deviate from this focus and tend to result in inefficacy and waste of time. For this reason it is recommended that meeting participants develop planned agendas, focus on objectives and agenda, and direct the flow of communication dialogues in the same direction. More importantly, for business meetings to reach its desired conclusions, participants should engage in amicable negotiation strategies in which both parties attain a win-win situation. This adage has proven beneficial and fruitful for meetings participants as it relegated non-aggressive business conduct and communication yet at the same time achieves the desired corporate objectives. Successful meetings therefore are those that engage in extensive preparation, allow time for participants to understand agendas and purpose of the meeting and equip themselves with information for debates and discussion. Meetings that elicit positive response engage participants in positive and non-aggressive dialogues by allowing them to communicate their ideas and reservations. The leader or the participant has the choice to reject or accept or compromise but these should be communicated in an amiable manner without offending the opposing parties and at the same time do not compromise ones own position. Overall successful meetings are those that influence the objectives which the participants had before they entered the meeting room and persuade them to see ones own point of view and adopt it. References Barrett, D. J. 2004, A best-practice approach to designing a change communication programme from Sandra Oliver, A Handbook of Corporate Communication and Strategic Public Relations: Pure and Applied. Routledge: New York. p20. Foster, J. Jul 2004, Negotiate Defensively, Successful Meetings. Vol.53, Iss. 8; pg. 24 Manktelow, J. 2005, Win-Win Negotiation: Finding a fair compromise. Mind Tools, Accessed on 26-11-2005 from: http://www.mindtools.com/stress/cwt/TeamNegotiationSkills.htm Mulholland, J. 1991, The Language of Negotiation: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Improving Communication. Routledge: New York p137. Ramundo, B. A. 1994, The Bargaining Manager: Enhancing Organizational Results through Effective Negotiation. Quorum Books: Westport, CT. p85. Timm, P. R. 1997, How to Hold Successful Meetings: 30 Action Tips for Managing Effective Meetings (30-Minute Solutions Series), Career Press.

Sociology and Disabilities :: Sociology Essays

â€Å"If the technology became available for the deaf to hear completely, would you want your deaf child to have this technology?† It is every parent’s dream for their child to grow up healthy and happy. There are so many children in the world that do not have the ability to hear, and it is a horrible thing. Many would think it wrong for a parent to not want to give their child the gift of sight. If I had a child that was deaf, I would do everything in my power to help them get their hearing. If the technology was there to fix this disability, why wouldn’t anyone want their child to have it? â€Å"840 babies are born with a permanent hearing loss every year.†(NDCS of UK). This is a horrible number to hear, that so many children will never be able to hear. If there was any technology able to restore a child’s hearing it would be a shame if the parents didn’t get it. â€Å"Deaf children face tremendous difficulties learning to read, write and communicate with the hearing world around them.†(NDCS of UK). Not only would you be giving your child the gift of hearing by using this technology, but you will also help child to be able learn on the normal level of other children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is also true that we can change and enhance our body features through elective cosmetic surgeries. Many people choose to undergo these surgeries because they are unhappy with their appearance. I feel that these procedures are unnecessary, and that you shouldn’t undergo surgery unless you need it for your health. I believe that people go through these procedures purely because they have low self-esteem. Society tells them that there is something wrong with their body, and they feel that they need to change it to fit in. I think that this is a way to see if someone is truly happy with themselves, as we all should. No one is perfect, so no one should try to be it. It’s just a waste of time and money on their part all so they can fit in, which I think is pathetic. It is always a risk to undergo surgery, and there is no reason to put yourself in unnecessary risk. I think that it is ridiculous to put yourself through something like that. If I had a ten year old dark-skinned African American daughter who wanted blue contact lens, have her skin chemically lightened, and straighten her hair, I definitely say no.

Tui Mkt301 Module 1 Case

TUI University MKT 301 Winter 2012 Module 1, Case Assignment High Involvement: Infinity FX35; Low Involvement:  Starbucks Coffee Explain why the first product you chose was a High Involvement purchase and why the second was a Low Involvement purchase. Describe in detail the process you went through in buying each product. Bear in mind that the purpose of the assignment is to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of the teaching materials. Identify and discuss the differences between the ways you went through the purchase decision processes for the two products.Explain how you might use your understanding of the Model of Consumer Buying Behavior for the two products. High Involvement vs Low Involvement Purchases The purchase of anything is based on the consumer background, lifestyle, and comfort in which is a routine action or something that requires attention. This is generally tied to currency and risk. High Involvement: My recent high involvement purchase was an Infinity FX 35. This purchase was a $57000 automobile that required effort and thought to purchase.This vehicle also represents an impact to my debt to income ratio and required a nominal loan that would influence my monthly cash flow over a period of time. High involvement purchase here is linked to high cost, my expression of status and ego. This was also an emotional purchase as I chose to purchase a product that fit my culture, my personal expectations of status and the immediate purchasing power that this represents. I know that a new car would represent a 40% loss of equity within a three year period but this represents a decision that was based on an acceptable level of risk.Recognizing the need for a new car that fit my wants, doing research and test driving multiple vehicles in this class, buying and evaluating post purchase are all solid steps in the purchase decision process (PDP). Actual branding of a luxury sport crossover played the most significant role in classifying this as a h igh involvement product. Low Involvement: Starbucks Coffee is what I would consider a low involvement product or service. There is not much thought put into this type of purchase and skips many of the PDP stages.This product or service is more about segmentation, habits, and brand loyalty. A low involvement purchase has little to no risk or monetary impact based on the individuals involvement. Starbucks Coffee represents a routine action that provides me with a fragmented conversation, a sense of satisfaction, and need to appease routine habits that is driven by the daily urge for caffeine and social interaction. A cup of coffee requires no evaluation process. The individual purchase decision process was night and day for these two products.The Infinity FX35 was influenced by more than one aspect of my decision making process. I followed more of the Do – Learn – Feel process with this purchase as it ended up representing a form of self-satisfaction to me versus and inf ormed decision. I followed fragmented parts of the PDP. I knew that I needed a vehicle within the next year as I was giving my current car to my daughter. Based on a series of events I moved my purchase timeline to the current week. I knew I needed a car in a condensed timeframe and had the resources to buy anything that I would come across.While driving down a street I pulled into the infinity dealer, was captivated by the vehicle sitting in the center of the show room floor and told the sales person to ring it up. There was no information search or evaluation of alternatives as this was a vehicle that grasped at the superficial aspects of environmental influences and individual differences within me. I knew that Infinity was an upper-scaled Nissan vehicle and that I wanted to buy a vehicle that represented a separate class of society as well a sense of accomplishment for myself.The regular purchase of a Starbucks coffee on a daily basis is habit that is perpetuated with a potentia l need to feel accepted by myself for some reason. I routinely drive by the corner store and pass up an inexpensive cup of coffee daily as the big green Starbucks sign draws a reaction of wants out of me. I go in every morning to a small and friendly environment that has warm pastries, friendly employees, and regular customers that are typically all from the same class of society. I do not even attempt to order anything outside of a WhiteChocolate Moca and a walnut muffin while managing to maintain a happy filler conversation with the cheerful staff and routine customers. I do not ever maintain a receipt nor do I care about the impact of such a small routine purchase. In contrast to the vehicle purchase the lack of risk mitigates decision steps. The idea to market an Infinity FX35 is based more on customer driven segmentation. This vehicle is in the same class as the BMW X5, Porsche Cheyanne, and Audi Q7. It is generally out of financial reach and comfort of consumer risk from gener al population.The targeted approach to dealership placement is in large suburban areas that are user related and focus on the buyer’s characteristics. This class of vehicle additionally targets a very diverse size of the potential market by branding and pricing in-between the middle class and upper class. The available or targeted market is based on life style and snob appeal. Most people that are in this target group are fairly well educated and are in a higher income bracket or place more value on self-worth.The motivation for this purchase is based on a high level of thought that focuses on the informative aspects of the product while actually skipping many sub elements in the information search aspect of the PDP. The buying behavior for an Infinity FX35 tends to key in on the influences that lead to a purchase. Environmental influences are culture, social class, and personal while individual differences focus on attitude, personality, and life style. For these reasons, th e PDP has the potential to skip information search and evaluation of alternatives steps based on the buyers fit into the mixed marketing environment and strategy.Infinity its self is marketed as the highest class, lowest priced of Japanese luxury vehicles. This gives them the ability to reach a more diverse segment of the middle class population based on a lower price and class branding. Infinity’s competitive advantage is based on value to the customer over its class of competitors. Starbucks coffee is based more on customer driven segmentation on a much broader scale. This produce is no different from many other similar products but is focused on social and habit forming elements.It is not generally out of financial reach and comfort of consumer risk while maintaining status quo as a high end coffee franchise. The targeted approach to Starbucks franchise placement is in a broad spectrum of suburban and rural areas based on a global footprint. The areas that are user related and focus on the buyer’s habits and culture. This brand of coffee additionally targets a very diverse size and global aspect of the potential market by branding and pricing with upper echelon of lower class and the middle class.There is an age value placed on the target audience from 19-36+ and has a socio-economic, demographic and attitudinal impacts on the consumer break down. Even though Starbucks is at the higher end of price for coffee, the available or targeted market is based on value, life style, and snob appeal. Consumers in this target group are seem to have satisfaction out of feeling as if Starbucks branding and association with a fictions lifestyle could appease individual value on self-worth and group acceptance.The motivation for this purchase is based on a low level of thought that focuses on the affective, habit forming, and self-satisfaction aspects of the product while actually skipping most all aspect of the PDP. Marketing stimulus plays a key role in sub dividing these customers in a similar way and have similar needs. The buying behavior for Starbucks branded coffee tends to rely on word of mouth and influences that lead to a purchase. This is not about problem recognition, information search, and skips evaluation of alternatives.This is a direct purchase of a consumer good based on â€Å"FEEL† regardless of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Environmental influences are culture, social class, and personal â€Å"loyalty branding† while individual differences focus on attitude, personality, and life style. For these reasons, the PDP is affected by the product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps). The target market skips different steps based on the category of consumer and how the consumer fits into the mixed marketing environment or strategy.Starbucks survives thru diversity among segment of the middle class population based on a lower price and branding. Starbucks competitive advantage is based on branding and social acc eptance to the customer over its class of competitors. In conclusion, these two products have widely different levels of involvement by the consumer, but the target markets are very similar in nature. These products are associated with a enhanced image of a brand that influences the customer. The PDP and 4Ps may vary, but the target market will always be willing to spend more spend more to maintain self-worth.