Behavioral theory development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Behavioral theory development - Research Paper Example Unlike Erikson, Freud’s theories were based upon studies of neurotic patients; Erikson’s theories were based upon studies of normal childhood. Keoke and Porterfield (2001) explain the beginning of Erikson’s observation of normal childhood development as follows: in 1902, Erickson was born in Germany to a well-off family who immigrated to Germany from Denmark; at the age of 25 years, Erickson moved to Vienna, Austria where he established a school and was fortunate to become one of Sigmund Freud’s students and colleagues. During the Hitler reign of terror, Erikson migrated to the United States where he worked with prominent anthropologists and studied two American Indian tribes called the Sioux and Yukon. Erickson’s anthropology study turned into the first empirical study on normal childhood development. The focus of the study was the early childhood development of the Sioux and Yukon children in their home and school environment compared to White Ame rican children. After a longitudinal scientific investigation focused upon the childhood development of the Sioux, Yukon, and White American cultures, including the American Welfare system, Erikson knew that it was time to establish his own theory of development which was in direct conflict to his teacher and colleague namely Freud (Keoke & Porterfield, 2001). Santrock (1997) describes Erikson’s famous eight developmental stages as follows: (a) Trust vs. Mistrust is focused upon the fetal years through the first year and ideally the child learns to get physical and emotional needs fulfilled of which must be achieved before the child will learn how to trust; (b) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt initiate around the second year of the child’s life in which independence and the assertion of the child’s will is observed through the behavior of doing things and exploring. Erikson observed that if

TESCO's Business Plan Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

TESCO's Business Plan - Case Study Example According to Kanter (1995) such an action will not constitute an adequate response. This is so because success is based on an organisation's ability to create, rather than predict the future by developing those products that will literally transform the way the world thinks and view it self and the needs (Kanter 1995:71). The study first of all scans the market environment using the PESTLE framework; thereafter the study looks at TESCO corporate mission and vision statement in the phase of its new business plan. Finally the study looks into how ecological factors and other environmental factors have been used by TESCO to benefit its business plan. The last section of the paper provides the conclusion and recommendation for the study. Founded by Jack Cohen in 1919, Tesco Plc today, has established itself as the largest super store in Europe. According to the company 2007 corporate report and the website, Tesco PLC is an international retailer. Tesco principal activities include food retailing having over 2,000 stores in the United Kingdom. The company also has stores and retail outlet in other countries like the Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Turkey, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan and China (Tesco 2006 Review). Tesco operates 165 International Express stores. In addition it operates 39 stores in China, 111 in Japan, 13 in Malaysia, 62 in South Korea, 6 in Taiwan, 219 in Thailand, 35 in Czech Republic, 87 in Hungary, 105 in Poland, 91 in Republic of Ireland, 37 in Slovakia and 8 in Turkey. (Tesco Annual Review, 2006). It therefore operates round the clock which demonstrates its commitment to create customer value which in turn generates superior value for its shareholders. Tesco denotes its success to an aggressive global strategy of geographical diversification, product differentiation, cost focus and it use of umbrella branding. In its attempt to renew the brand and keep it in sync with changing customer tastes, Tesco follows various strategies including international diversification, providing value to customers, product diversification, innovation, acquisition and umbrella branding. Its recent strategy is the creation and opening of environmental friendly and energy efficient stores. 1.1.1 Political Factors The PESTLE framework outline in appendix one stipulates that a company is

Lesbian Gay Bisexual And Transgender Media Essay

Lesbian Gay Bisexual And Transgender Media Essay Most of the respondents are found to possess at least a little knowledge about the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) group as it has been found in the survey questionnaire data that most respondents heard and are aware of existence of LGBT. Majority of the respondents approach and expose to media daily, according to the data collected from the survey questionnaires. This means that they have a better understanding of what is the content of media better than those who expose less to media. If there is any information or news about the LGBT group, this group of people will be the first to know and the group who will discuss the most as they approach to the media daily. This made the credibility of respondents and the data collected from them are higher because they understands and approach more to the media, as this research study about the perception gained from media. Among the many kinds of media, a greater number of respondents approach more to the new media. As the internet is not fully controlled by the government unlike other media, the information gained from internet is different from local media. LGBT related information and news can be found more on the internet, as individuals can access to various LGBT related web sites. If the individuals want to know more about the LGBT group, the internet is definitely a better choice compare to the local media. A large part of respondents are aware of the LGBT portrayal are also believed to obtain related information more from the new media, as it can be seen rarely on the local media. Most respondents think that the media in Malaysia does not portray and expose the LGBT group sufficiently as they might not see the related information and article on the local media often. The LGBT related news can still be seen from time to time, but rarely. When there are news about the group, most respondents thinks that it is negative portrayal towards the LGBT group. It might be caused by the news shown are usually not happy news, like they are attacked, robbed or failed a law case. Although most of the time LGBT are being portrayed not positively by the media, more than half respondents still feels neutral about LGBT group after the exposure of media. It is believed that the respondents already possess some information about the LGBT even before exposure of media, and have their own impression and impression towards the group. Their perceptions are still not changed by the media even after negative portrayal of LGBT group in media. A majority number of total respondents find that the portrayal of LGBT group in media is not similar to the reality. One of the reasons might be the respondents already have friends or know someone from the LGBT group in real life, when they starts to understand about them, they find the media portrayal is different to reality. 5.2 Discussion Throughout the research data collection process, it has been found that the data collected from respondents are not quite similar to the articles and information collected in literature review. Although the articles collected so far discusses about the discrimination issues of LGBT in Malaysia, it has been found that the information are different from information gained from respondents who answers the questionnaires. From the articles that have been collected, it can be seen that LGBT suffers from attacks and robbery due to the discrimination issue. However from the data collected from survey, it can be seen that the most of respondents do not view the LGBT group negatively. In fact, they view the group as neutral and view them equally. Other than that, the data collected in the survey questionnaires are seen to be similar with the articles that were discussed. In the local Malaysian media, the media portrayal is not much enough, resulting in the audienceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s lack of knowledge about LGBT related information, and often causes misunderstanding towards the group. The respondents who participate in the data collection also, agree about this. Most of the respondents thinks that media does not expose the LGBT group sufficiently. In the previous articles, it is also found that the media portrays the LGBT group differently. It is seen to be more negative as all the news is being attacked, robbed or law suits. Positive news about the LGBT related matter can hardly be seen on the media, causing most of the public perception to be more negative towards the group. In the data collection survey, the results are also similar. Large numbers of respondents agree that the media portrayal is negative towards the LGBT related information, and it is different compare to the reality. 5.3 Conclusion As conclusion, although the LGBT news can rarely be seen in the local media, the public seems to possess some knowledge about the group. It could be someone they know in real life, their peer group or colleague. Which is why, what and how the media portray does not affect much about the respondents because they already have their own perception about the term LGBT. The media, although did not portray the group in a very negative way, did not portray the group in positive manner either. The news and articles that can be seen on the media are usually robbed, attacked and other similar news. The news about positive LGBT attitude is not seen in the media, causing the information about LGBT to be a little bit stereotypes on the mainstream media. Many respondents also agrees the fact that what are the media portraying about the LGBT group are not similar to the reality, as they are not like what are being portrayed and said on the media. A very high percentage of respondents generally feel neutral to the LGBT matters before and after exposure of media. Some agree that it is human rights that should be respected, and some state that they should be accepted as they are, because they are also human being. 5.4 Limitation One of the limitation is the matter discussed is still a very sensitive issue all over the world, not to mention that Malaysia is an Islamic country that does not approve gay rights. The matter, if discussed in public, will surely stir up a big commotion among the society. Some respondents also did not answers the question open mindedly because of their religious view. Some are extremely bias towards the LGBT group and does not like the idea of the group exposing themselves in the public, and thinks that it is not moral. Although most of the respondents think neutrally about the matter, there are still a small group of respondents who carry bias and think that the matter is an issue that should not be discussed in public. 5.5 Suggestion for future research It is suggested that for future research, the scope may be narrowed down to different types of media (eg. Printed media, broadcast media). Although it is more difficult in data collecting process and looking for subjects, it will enable the data collected to be more precise and detailed. The research can also be done to a specific group of respondents, for example only target on homosexuals, and to see if the research carry what result compare to general audience.

gatjay Romantic Jay Gatsby of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Romantic Jay Gatsby of The Great Gatsby Doesn't it always seem as though rich and famous people are larger-than-life and virtually impossible to touch, almost as if they were a fantasy? In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby as a Romantic, larger-than-life, figure by setting him apart from the common person. Fitzgerald sets Gatsby in a fantasy world that, based on illusion, is of his own making. Gatsby's possessions start to this illusion. He lives in an extremely lavish mansion. "It is a factual imitation of some Hotel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden." (5) It models an extravagant castle with a European style. Indoors it has "Marie Antoinette music-rooms and restoration salons." (92) There is even a "Merton College Library, paneled with imported carved English oak and thousands of volumes of books." (45) There is even a private beach on his property. He also has his own personal hydroplane. Gatsby also drives a highly imaginative, "circus wagon", car that "everybody had seen. It is a rich cream color with nickel and has a three-noted horn." (64) It has a "monstrous length with triumphant hat-boxes, supper-boxes, tool-boxes, and terraced with a labyrinth of windshields and a green leather conservatory." (64) Amidst Gatsby's possessions, he develops his personal self. His physical self appearance sets him apart form the other characters. His smile is the type "that comes across four or five times in life. One of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it." (48) He has a collection of tailored shirts from England. They are described as " shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel." He has shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue." (93) Gatsby wears a unique " gorgeous pink rag of a suit" that sets him apart as a "bright spot." (154) Gatsby's mannerisms are different too. He gives the "strong impression that he picks his words with care." Gatsby is an "elegant young roughneck

Identify three (3) risks of the bid strategy Essay

After identifying the customer key evaluation requirements I have identified three risks that may affect our bidding strategy. First, I want to identify why it’s important to know your risks when creating a bid strategy to help you understand why I choose these top three risks. Risk management is the process of identifying risk issues and the options for controlling them, commissioning a risk assessment, reviewing the results and selecting amongst the assessed options to best meet the goals. The purpose of risk analysis is to help managers better understand the risks (and opportunities) they face and to evaluate the options available for their control. (Vose software, 2007) The top risk of the bid strategy for this company would be price. Price was selected as the top risk because although the company would like to win the bid, the price has to be within a range where they could also make money. The second risk selected is Logistics. This risk was selected since the product has to travel overseas. Depending on the time frame and the cost to have the product shipped the product may not make it to the destination in time. It is very important to have the product delivered in a timely manner to satisfy the end user requirements. Thirdly, the last risk selected is Customer Commitment. Our company must follow all the requirements in order to make the end user happy. Since the product is going overseas it will be hard to follow up on maintenance. Without having our own personnel at the end user location or close to the location it will also be a challenge if there are any issues with the product. Based on the three risks of the bid strategies that were selected there are also three opportunities to mitigate each risk. First we have the price, now when negotiating on the rate we will really need to do our research. It’s important to have knowledge of previous pricing and to also include overhead, packaging and transportation. Although, we have to take all these things into consideration we also have to remember we are not the only company bidding on this offer so we must rate acceptable amount. Next, we have logistics. Our company would have to negotiate with a freight forwarder for a reasonable rate to have the freight transported to the final destination. In order to negotiate a reasonable rate we would mention that if the rate offered is good this would be an opportunity for extreme growth. While we are negotiating we would have to make sure the transit times would be guaranteed in order to have freight delivered to the destination on time. Finally, we have customer commitment. This may be the most important opportunity of them all. If our company is able to provide a reliable solution to the end user needs we will gain past performance while making our customer happy. We will provide this service by checking with the customer on a monthly basis and sending an employee over to the end user location every two to three months to check that our products are working correctly. The flip side of risk is opportunity. Every bid carriers with it some opportunities beyond those represented by winning the contract. Potential opportunities include future additions or changes to contract value via market share, maintaining dominance in a particular area, protecting an area or contract from assault by competitors, or using the contract as a gateway to future procurements. Osborne, 2011) In conclusion, by looking into these risks and opportunities we will be able to determine whether we want to bid or no bid. If we cannot provide the end user with the requirements they need in a timely manner at a great cost it will not be beneficial for us to move forward with the bid procedures. As a company we must protect our brand and our products. So, we need to look closely at this conclusion to make our final bid or no bid decision.

Critically Assess Geert Hofstede’s Use of Cultural Dimensions

ABSTRACT: Along with the trend toward globalization, communication across cultural and national boundaries has a significant effect on business. The Dutch management researcher Geert Hofstede’s work of culture dimensions is regarded as an approach to measure inter-cultural differences to business for scholars and practitioners. However, such a significant work does not escape criticism. Even though his theory consummates to six dimensions based on varies datum and is widely applied by many academics, McSweedney and many specialists assert his work as an absolute assumption.INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, the country boundaries are shaped by the spread of global communication networks and the development of transportation. Because of globalization, countries are tied closer than ever before. Since the beginning of 1970s, scholars such as Geert Hofstede started to notice the importance of cultural differences for many aspects of business life, in particular, when business related to com municate between people with different cultures. Hofstede (http://geert-hofstede. com/dimensions. html) claimed that â€Å"Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy.Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster. † Such conflicts are determined by the people’s perception which is partly the product of culture. Therefore, in order to avoid the conflict caused by culture, it is important to recognise cultural differences under global business environment. Hofstede’s cultural framework provides a guideline to recognize the differences between cultures and may improve the inter-cultural communication in business area. However, his work is critiqued by scholars and researchers as an unreliable framework.This essay firstly outline Hofstede’s cultural framework briefly and then apply his theory into practical situation to access whether it can improves the inter-cultural communication in the workplace. Afterwards, it will criti que the limitations based on the literatures opposite to Hofstede’s viewpoint. HOFSTEDE’S MODEL: Geert Hofstede’s work is ground-breaking and he himself is considered as the pioneer and pathfinder in inter-cultural study(Bond, 2002 and Sondergaard 1994). He described his significant research result based IBM employees’ attitudes and work-related values around the world.In the past 30 years, he persists to refine his theory from the previous four to six dimensions: Power distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Uncertainty avoidance and Long-term orientation, and Indulgence versus Restraint (Hofstede et al, 2010). In his book, each country is evaluated by scores on every dimension, thus people can take an insight into the cultural differences by comparing countries’ scores. Power distance (PDI) is defined as that, to what degree people can perceive the unequal power distribution in a society.PDI scores, deriving fr om value of the less powerful people, indicate the level to which members accept power inequality. A low score demonstrates that members of the society prefer equality; whereas a country has a high PDI score means that people accept large power differences. Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) is the dimension relating to how people ties to others within the community. Individualism pertains to societies whose members tie loosely and concern about themselves and their immediate family. On the contrary, in collectivistic countries people belong to strong and cohesive group.Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS) refers to whether emotional gender roles are distinct or overlap. In masculine societies men are supposed to behave ‘assertive, competitive and tough’, on the contrary, women are supposed to be ‘modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life’ (Hofstede, 2010: 140). Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) related to extent to which members handle anxiety w ith ambiguous and unknown situations. Strong UAI Countries maintain â€Å"rigid codes of belief and behaviour and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas†.Countries exhibiting weak UAI encourage practice than principles with a more relaxed attitude. Long-term versus Short-term orientation (LTO) deals with which kind of value is fostered. This dimension is based on Bond’s World Values Survey on â€Å"Confucian dynamism†. Long-term oriented countries foster virtues such as perseverance and thrift for future rewards, whereas short-term orientation focuses on rewards in the present and the past, which means particularly ‘respect for tradition, preservation of ‘face’, and fulfilling social obligations’ (Hofstede, 2010: 239).Indulgence versus Restrain is linked to happiness. An indulgent society permits ‘relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun’ (http://geert -hofstede. com/dimensions. html). On the contrary, restraint countries use strict social norms to control gratification of needs and regulates. Application As the world becomes globalized, to remain competitive and minimize conflicts which are the result of ignoring cultural differences, companies should not adopt an ethnocentric management mode to different cultural staff.To minimize these conflicts, many scholars and practitioners utilize Hofstede’s work of cultural dimensions as a means to narrow the cultural gap in business. One reason why his framework is widely adopted is that his data are collected from varies companies and the fifth dimension is based on ‘Confucian dynamism’. Thus, to access its practical applicability to decrease the negative aspect of cultural differences and to elevate cross-cultural communication level, it is important to apply Hofstede’s work into real cases.Since the late 2009, the famous Japanese auto-maker Toyota struggled into an unprecedented crisis due to pedal quality problems which led Toyota to its historical largest recall in the world. The Economist (Feb. 6, 2010) commented that safety recall is a common issue in vehicle manufacture but Toyota changed the order. In the process of managing crisis, Toyota acted according to Japanese culture without taking the American cultural values into account. It can be said that one reason deteriorates the normal recall cars to a crisis is the ignorance of cultural differences.Some literatures analyse the cultural aspect affecting the crisis and group them into two main points (Feng, 2010, Huang, 2010). Firstly, the Japanese management mode and organizational behaviour is different from American. As a result of the Japanese organizational culture, Toyota responded slowly after the accident. It is reported that on American time 28th August 2009, a Lexus ES 350 caused a fatal crash due to the gas pedal was stuck and the car was out of control (Los Angeles Tim es, Oct. 25, 2009). Yet Toyota did not respond to the accident immediately.US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that documents show that Toyota knew of the problem in late September but did not give response until late January, moreover, â€Å"they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from US officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families† (Thomas, 2010). The second reason is the different communication behaviours between Japan and the U. S. A. In the American hearing and variety interviews, Akio Toyota, the president of Toyota Motor Corporation, spoke implicative, tactful and modest with a large number of modest words without any directly answers (Huang, 2010).In addition, Akio Toyota’s behaviours are understood as hiding the truth by American people. According to Hofstede’s framework, Western culture, represented by the U. S. A. , and such Japanese Eastern culture have significantly differences. The magnitude of the differences has been directly described in ways. See from the figure 1. 1. Figure 1. 1 Japan and the U. S. A It is obvious that there exist large differences between Japan and the United States. One of the most telling to explain the crisis can be the collectivist versus individualist dimension.The fundamental issue related to IDV is the extent of connection between individuals and the group (Hofstede, 1980). From the data provided by Hofstede, Japan, at a score of 46 on a scale of 1 to 100, is a collectivist society, whose group allegiances are strong, cohesive and invoke higher authority. The individuals adhere to the entity and preserve harmony. Thus the Toyota North American office was been called a â€Å"little safety deaf† by LaHood (CBC news, Feb, 2010). The North American office need invoked by the highest authority to handle the accident and the applicable proposal must pass through the whole company.Nevertheless, this system is not adaptable in handling probl ems in America. According to Hofstede, Toyota needs to handle the problem immediately rather than make a long-term agreement. Meanwhile, the high power distance (Japan 54) can be used to analysis the slow response. Japan is a more centralized decision country, and it is therefore all the command should be endorsed by the president of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio Toyoda. Because only the CEO can respond to the allegations, the response to the event was hauled in respect to the stakeholders living in a country that has only 40 in the index.As mentioned before, the official recall and apologize came four months later after the car accident has been reported. Yet the stakeholders demanded immediate response to the accident from Toyota regardless from the CEO or other representative. Moreover, during the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, in response to why Toyota responded so slow, Toyoda claimed that do not answered directly but reiterates his plan to set up a g lobal commission to address complains more quickly (CNN Politics, Feb. 24, 2010).This phenomenon can adopt Hofstede’s fifth dimension, long- term versus short-term orientation to demonstrate the inevitability of this divergence. Hofstede himself defines long-term orientation as ‘the fostering of virtues oriented towards future rewards' (Hofstede 2010: 239), which means that high long-orientation scores countries (Japan 80) pay more attention to the things that will benefit the future whereas low score countries tend to focus on nearby benefits or rewards. Jealous writes, â€Å"In America, we ultimately judge people on what they are doing today for tomorrow, not for what they did yesterday. (CNN Politics, Feb. 24, 2010). In the hearing, American part were expected that Toyota undertake their obligations by providing continuous plans to the stakeholders. Akio did not account for this and responded indirectly to the solution to the current accident therefore caused Americ ans the disgusted and suspected feeling. Consequently, if Toyota can notice the cultural differences and adopt Hofstede's theory to handle the problem in their American market in the bud, the common recall would not exacerbate American people and became a crisis which will threaten its reputation. CRITIQUE:Culture is deeply rooted in many aspects of business life when people must interact with the people such as suppliers, buyers, employees or stakeholders. The case of Toyota crisis demonstrates that Hofstede’s framework of cultural dimensions is practical to uncover these conflicts in cross-cultural communication. If people could realize the cultural differences concluded by Hofstede and take proper communication style and management mode, the fate of Toyota might be changed. However, the framework cannot act as a textbook to interpret the whole cultural gap even in the case of Toyota crisis.Many intercultural researchers criticized Hofstede’s theory for not providing valuable guiding intelligence or regard it as absolute assumptions. Hofstede did not mention the impact of linguistic on the communication. Different languages and contents have objectively impact on the understanding of the conversation. Take the US-based 3M Company as an example. The company earns $7 billion per year in their overseas market, it become the â€Å"forefront of language instruction by sponsoring an in-house Language Society that provides linguistic and cultural support† to 3M (Frey-Ridgway, 1997).Freivalds (1995) said that the French firm Bull adopted the 3M model to train its employees in the competition of global marketplace and still in success. Language plays an irreplaceable position in the inter-cultural communication. Different types of body languages cause misunderstanding as well. In japan, apology needs humility, in order to be forgiven, Japanese usually avoid eye contact stands for rudeness, offend and provocation, but it would be decoded as disint erest, dishonesty and cunning in western countries (Huang, 2010, Dahl, 2004).Gudykunst and Nishida (1994:2) said that misunderstanding between Japan and American people often â€Å"stem from not knowing the norms and rules guiding each other’s communication†. In hofstede’s model, the data come from the English-speaking company IBM and it is aim to evaluate work attitude and value, this led his theory ignore linguistic and body language difference. Moreover, in the process of communication among Akio Toyoda and the American interlocutor, the stakeholders, the Congress representatives or the media people, misunderstanding occurred continually.As mentioned above, Toyota responded euphemistic to the problem (Huang, 2010). Akio repeated the apology several times and declined to give pithy answers to undertake the obligation and to interpret the information and plan for the stakeholders in the hearing (Clark ; McCurry, 2010). The answer type can be derived from the pa tterns of Japanese communication. Lincoln (1995) studied Japanese and found that due to the politeness cultural they reluctance to say â€Å"no† directly. Hall (1976) separated communication into High-context and low-context.The United States is a typical low-context communication country while Japan belongs to high-context communication. Low-context communication refers to the patterns of communication use explicit verbal to convey meanings, whereas high-context pattern draw heavily on context. This cultural difference is raised by Hall instead of Hofstede. Michael (1997) claim that literatures are lack of specific details and are concluded in broad behavioral terms. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) classified cultures has seven value orientations which is more than Hofstede’s six dimensions and has somewhat different perspectives.Additionally, Dahl (2004) criticizes the theory is the result of very little data, especially from specific companies with limited num bers of questions. This indicates that culture can be separated into more dimensions and those national scores and ranks are not the exclusive guide to improve inter-cultural communications. From Hofstede’s (1980) research, Japan ranks in the middle level of Individualism versus collectivism dimension. Yet Japan is widely stereotyped as a harmonious society.Woodring (2010 cited in Jandt, 1995: 163) used the original Hofstede’s questionnaire to study Japanese students and found that students scored lower on power distance whereas higher on individualism comparing with Hofstede’s original sample. Woodring explained that the different scores might be the result of age; that is means, students may praise more on individualism and equality than the whole Japanese society. About 1990, youths 25 years old and under were named as shin jin rui (literally â€Å"new human beings†), who were described as â€Å"selfish, self-centered, and disrespectful of elders and tradition† by older Japanese.In the description from Hofstede suggested that the Japan is a group oriented and hierarchical country. However, there are evidences to show that the young generation seeks for egalitarian and individualism. This demonstrates that Hofstede’s research can lead to stereotype and this ought to be avoided. Furthermore, this study shows that cultural value is dynamic. Holden (2002) criticizes the â€Å"relative reliance† on Hofstede’s paradigm in the workplace. He points out that the data is outdated as it was collected before 30 years.Hofstede attempts to set a certain form of culture for people to understand specific cultures and he (Hofstede, 2010: 34) states that â€Å"cutlures, especially national cultures, are extremely stable over time†. This has been criticized as â€Å"functionalist ambition of measuring largely unquantifiable phenomena† (Gray and Maloory, 1998: 57). Hostede himself stated, â€Å"There is no such thing as objectivity in the study of social reality: we will too often to be subjective, but we may at least try to be ‘inter subjective’. As His data are come from the questionnaire made by a group of western people, as a result of this, the question are tend to reflect western culture which means Hofstede’s theory has its cultural bias. Meanwhile, there is a debate about what level of analysis is practical for the term â€Å"culture† to be a viable tool. McSweeney (2000) questions the classification of culture in Hofstede’s theory. Hofstede (2010: 10) stated that people are shaped by â€Å"certain cultural trains† from the same country. Although general cultural dimensions can be established at a cultural level, ndividuals may not necessarily reflect the national culture they belong to. Hofstede (1980, 1991) admits that using data from the level of country to analyze the individuals is not appropriate, and labeled it â€Å"ecological fallacy†. He (1991:253) affirms that national cultural level reflects â€Å"central tendencies (†¦) for the country†, it is, not practical to analyze and predict specific individual behaviors or events. Conclusion: Generally overview the assessment, Geert Hofstede’s use of cultural dimensions provides a measurable paradigm to attract people’s attention to cultural differences and contribute to the inter-cultural study.For those people who are involved in international commerce, culture is important for many aspects of business life, thus, if people go into another country to communicate with local company, changing the management process and practices to meet their values is essential. Concluding from the case analysis of Toyota crisis, Hofstede's cultural model indeed provides an effective reference to support better cross-cultural communication as it uncover the reasons of cultural conflict for people to apply appropriate method to minimize its nega tive influence.However, cultural dimension theory functions limited in small space as it is not perfect. It regards culture as a fixed concept and separates it by national boundaries is improper. The data is collected in several decades years before even it has been updated in recent years based on questionnaire in a specific group in international companies from a perspective of western people. Moreover, it narrows culture into six dimensions may potentially disturb the derived value prediction as certain context influences on the individual respondents.The inter-cultural communication conflicts exist no matter how much understanding goes both ways. In conclusion, Hofstede’s work of cultural dimensions is a supplement for supporting better inter-cultural communication, the bilateral respect of culture and positive attitude are the core to successful inter-cultural communication. Bibliography: Bond, M. H. (2002). â€Å"Reclaiming the Individual from Hofstede's Ecological Ana lysis- A 20-Year Odyssey: Comment on Oyserman et al. † Psychological Bulletin, 128 (1): 73-77 CBC news (Feb 2, 2010), â€Å"Toyota slow o react: LaHood- US Transportation Secretary criticizes automaker†. Available at (13 May, 2012) Clark, A. & McCurry, J. (2010). â€Å"Toyota boss offers ‘sincere regrets' for faulty accelerators†, The Guardian, Thursday 25 February 2010. Available at < http://www. guardian. co. uk/business/2010/feb/25/toyota-akio-toyoda-congress? INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487> (13 May, 2012) CNN Politics (Feb 24, 2010). â€Å"Toyota president testifies before Congress†. Available at < http://articles. cnn. com/2010-02-24/politics/toyota. earing. updates_1_toyoda-inaba-national-press-club? _s=PM:POLITICS > (13 May, 2012) Dahl, S. (2004). â€Å"Intercultural Research: The Current State of Knowledge†. Middlesex University Discussion Paper No. 26. Available at < http://papers. ssrn. com/sol3/papers. cfm? abstract_id=658202 > (13 May, 2012 ) Feng, Y. (2010). â€Å"Toyota crisis: management ignorance? – a swedish case of consumers perceptions†. Available at < http://hh. diva-portal. org/smash/record. jsf? pid=diva2:349746> (13 May, 2012) Freivalds, J. (1995). â€Å"Learning languages†. Communication World, December: 24-7.Frey-Ridgway, S. (1997). â€Å"The cultural dimension of international business†. Collection Building, 16(1): 12 – 23 Gudykunst, W. & Nishida, T. (1994), Bridging Japanese-North American Differences, Communicating Effectively in Multicultural Contexts Series, Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 2 Hofstede’s website, available at < http://geert-hofstede. com/dimensions. html > (13 May, 2012) Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences:International Differences in Work-related Values Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: software of the mind, 2nd Ed.New York: McGraw-Hill Hofstede, G. , Hofstede, G. J. & Minkov, M. (2010). Cultures an d Organizations: software of the mind, 3rd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Holden, N. (2002). Cross-cultural management: a knowledge management perspective. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall Huang, Z. (2010). â€Å" —— â€Å" â€Å" † (From the perspective of inter-cutlural communication to see Japan-America cultural differeces—analysis Toyota â€Å"recall†). Journal of Huaihua University,29 (6) Jandt, F. E. (2009). An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global

Methods of Attribution †Psychology Research Paper

Methods of Attribution – Psychology Research Paper Free Online Research Papers Subtitle: Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of ‘traditional’ compared to ‘critical’ social psychological approach on attribution There are a lot of questions that people want to know the answer, most probably because human beings are curious at everything. Due to curiosity, people always want to know how other people think and why others think that way. Laymen try to explain others behaviour by ‘guessing’, they think it is a rather common sense thing to do; but psychologists try to generate theories to explain and predict attributions by scientific methods. Attribution generally means beliefs about the causes of behaviour that attributing causes to certain events which it is an important part of language. And attribution theory is a conceptual framework within social psychology dealing with lay, or common-sense, explanations of behaviour. Traditional social psychologists use experiments to ascertain how particular stimuli would affect causal attributions for particular events. There are several theories of causal attribution which Heider was seen as the founding father of attribution theory. He made crucial foundation towards attribution theory that he argued it was essential to know what people believed as it would guide ones behaviour. He viewed layperson as a naà ¯ve scientist seeking to find an explanation for everything. Heider classified two types of attribution: personal attributions (dispositional) and impersonal (situation attributions) ones. The theory suggested that it is all about motivations whether one should be responsible for their behaviour or their behaviour is caused by external factors. Heider’s work was built upon Jones and Davis (1965)’s correspondence inference theory which they suggested people interpret behaviour or acts in terms of stable underlying qualities, or characteristics, of the actors. There are several reasons for correspondent inference: free will, non-common effect, social desirable action, hedonic relevance, and personalism. Though this theory has significant historical impact, its impact has been limited. Kelley (1967, 1973) assumed that there should be different factors that cause a behaviour and she tried to separate out which effects are to be attributed to which of several factors. She claimed if two events repeatedly occur together, then we are more likely to infer that they are causally related. Kelley suggests people consider three variables when making attributions. The first one is distinctiveness which refers to the extent that people behaves in the same way to other stimuli. Secondly, she mentioned about consistency that refers to the extent to which people has behaved in the same way in the past towards the stimulus. Lastly, it is consensus which refers to the extent that other people behave in the same way towards the same stimulus as people whose behaviour we are trying to explain. People who weigh up those variables above make either a dispositional or situational attribution. There was also theory like fundamental attribution error that suggest there are bias in attributing other’s behaviour more to internal factors than to situational factors because of focus of attention (people’s attention on the situation have generally found greater level of situational attributions) and differential forgetting (tend to forget situational causes more regularly). In contrast to casual attribution theories, Semin and Manstead (1983) argue that research into attribution lacks ecological validity as experimental research into attribution sets out to explicitly ask someone why they believe people chose a particular course of action. However, it does not necessarily they will make causal attributions in the same when they are not called upon to explicitly explain their answers. And this suggestion contradicts Kelley’s co-variation model where it seems difficult to imagine that we always take different factors into account when making quick decisions. On the other hand, majority of the research has been conducted in Western cultures that imply the theories suggested may not take cultural variations into account. Critical social psychologists argue that attributions are rarely made solely at an individual level. They are the result of cultural and social forces which provide different information based. Traditional attribution theories underestimate the extent to which attributions are articulated through the uses of language and discourses especially. Besides, mass media play a big part in analyzing relationships that may affect our understanding of relationships which traditional social psychologists do not take into account, nevertheless, critical psychology places a greater emphasis on the role of discourse and attempt to engage more with the content and nature of conversation than traditional social psychologists. Recent research has been conducted in different areas such as relationships which have yielded more complex models of attributions. Fincham and Bradbury (1988) claim when a relationship is sound, people are less motivated to engage in engaging in sophisticated thought when making attributions and vice versa yet this does not take into account the cultural and historical variability in couple relationships. Smith and Harris-Bond (1993) so suggest that the difference between individualist and collectivist cultures leads to different attribution styles as the role in a relationship is different between two cultures. Traditional social psychology places emphasis on the fact that people often make attribution errors and suggests that the way people view the social world can occasionally be flawed. Critical social psychology on the other hand stress that people are quite realistic who rarely make mistakes because they use strategies and personal experience to interpret an attribution. Moreover, traditional social psychology fails to take into account the emotional factors behind attribution. Human beings have feelings, thoughts and emotions which all influence the attributions that one make. In conclusion, stresses the uniqueness of each individual failing to take into account how culture mediates understanding the world. On the other hand, it also fails to take into account other social processes such as social influences and the construction of knowledge by more powerful groups in society. People do not draw upon just their own personal constructs when making decisions. They actually use knowledge from a range of other sources such as books, experience, other family members and friends etc. People do not just use alternative constructs from within our own cognitive systems. Research Papers on Methods of Attribution - Psychology Research PaperThree Concepts of PsychodynamicEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseResearch Process Part OneRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andHip-Hop is ArtBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesAnalysis Of A Cosmetics Advertisement