Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction in a Bank

Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction in a Bank Introduction This research is on the effects of employee motivation and job satisfaction to CIMB Bank Berhdad. CIMB Group is the second largest in terms of providing financial services in Malaysia, and is one of the leading banking groups in Southeast Asia today. Listed in the Malysian stock exchange since 1987 the company was formerly known as Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Berhad. The CIMB Group became the third largest company listed on the Malaysian stock exchange on November 20, 2009. During this time its market capitalisation was listed at about a RM46.6 billion, and it also has substantial investments in Indonesia and Thailand with its Bank CIMB Niaga and the CIMB Thai. The CIMB group gives financial products and services which spans different areas in the banking industry. The company does business through its three corporate entities which are the CIMB bank, its investment arm CIMB Investment and an Islamic bank CIMB Islamic. The company provides services to a very diverse customer base. It actually serves everyone from large corporations in the region, local companies, small entrepreneurs, individuals with high profitability, and it even has savings programs concerning pensions for old people and savings accounts for children. CIMB group is a big company that employs 36,000 banking staff and employees. As an indicator of success CIMB groups earnings amounts to 80% of the gross domestic product of the whole ASEAN region and its operations services about 58% of the population in the region. Its retail banking operations have expanded to 1,150 branches making it the largest banking company operating in the region. Problem Statement This research on CIMB BANK BERHAD will identify the factors that affect the motivation and job satisfaction of employees in CIMB BANK BERHAD. This research also seeks to identify the strategies use to ensure employee motivation and job satisfaction and what is its effects. Objectives of the research These objectives pay attention to the problems and objectives that are selected to clarify the intended information and also be able to derive specific information that are not limited by the previous questions. This study intended to get the suitable data to help in building the proper assessment. This includes: To determine methods that CIMB BANK BERHAD practice to inspire or motivate their employees. To determine the accomplished strategies by CIMB BANK BERHAD in giving job satisfaction to their employees. To create an appropriate solution for CIMB BANK BERHAD problems. Scope of the Study The scope of the study is relied on the employees of CIMB BANK BERHAD. This focuses on determine which factors create desirable influence to their employees towards satisfaction. And to know what factors of independent variables that could have the greatest impact on employees satisfaction.-studying the factors that lead to employees loyal with CIMB BANK Significance of the Study This research was created to comprehend the significant factors of employees fulfillment to enable efficiency, quality, service, and loyalty to CIMB BANK. Definition of Terms Job Satisfaction Employee Motivation Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory Maslows hierarchy of needs Research Hypothesis Hypothesis 1 H1: This study shows that adequate salary or monetary income plays a major role in allowing employees to be satisfied in their jobs. H0: There is no significant relationship between salary and job satisfaction Hypothesis 2 H1: This study shows that work recognition plays a role to have a sense of importance and motivates employees to work diligently. H0: There is no significant relationship between work recognition and job satisfaction. Hypothesis 3 H1: This study shows giving professional growth to employees such as trainings, seminars, etc. allows employees to have mental growth which they apply to their daily duties as employees. H0: There is no significant relationship between professional growth to employees creativity and development. Literary Review Herzbergs Motivation-Hygiene Theory Frederick Herzbergs two factor motivation hygiene theory categorizes incentives as being either hygiene factors or motivators. Hygiene factors are potentially dissatisfiers†factors associated with the job itself but not intrinsic to it. These factors such as salary, job security, administration, interpersonal relations, if not adequate could operate to dissatisfy someone but would not necessarily motivate someone when adequate. On the other hand, motivator-factors are directly intrinsic to the job itself and critical in the process of doing the job, including sense of achievement and recognition by colleagues, level of felt responsibility and empowerment are keys to real motivation (Herzberg, 1959). What is essential to understanding this concept is the distinction made between a motivator and a satisfier. A satisfier is that factor which, when fulfilled, is enough to get the employee to come to work at all. On the upper end, a motivator is that which actively drives the employee to go beyond the minimum standard of simply showing up. Herzberg promoted such concepts as Job Enrichment, Job Enlargement, and Job Rotation as potential motivators that worked well for those operating at the higher levels of Maslows need hierarchy. It is important to keep in mind that once an individual has thoroughly pursued a motivator, it is likely to become a hygiene factor, and the search for motivating factors continues. Herzbergs Motivation-Hygiene Theory According to Herzberg, factors causing work satisfaction (motivators) are rather in connection with the content of work, while those causing dissatisfaction (hygiene) are in connection with work environment. Good examples of the first factors are taking responsibility, career advancement, recognition and the possibility to develop (achievement), while salary, status, inter-personal relations, company policy and administration as well as work conditions are examples of factors of dissatisfaction Hull and Read confirm that quality relationships, that key factor in excellence, are dependent on high levels of trust. Yet building trust is a major challenge for many Australian organisations. Research suggests that a trust deficit has emerged. A loss of trust can be devastating to organisational performance. When people no longer have confidence in management, productivity falls, turnover rises, gossip spreads, cynicism sets in, and initiative evaporates. But trust is a long term proposition, the result of countless management decisions made over a long period that help employees feel secure about their own and the organisations future. Like confidence in the quality of our graduates it can be lost in an instant yet take years to regain. Hull and Read suggest that workplace trust has two dimensions â€Å" our views of ourselves (self worth) and our views of others. Hull and Read believe these were sustained in their research. Hull and Read interviewed hundreds of employees at all levels of the selected organizations. From this one central factor emerged â€Å" the quality of relationships at work, which concretely manifests itself in the bond between co-workers, friends and colleagues. They note that there is a relationship between excellent workplaces and how this is shaped by the trust and respect among the employees. But building and maintaining a good working relationship is not easy and it requires cultivating a long lasting connection between the one supervising the group and the groups members. In examining research from the Australian Quality Agency the authors noted that Australian workplace cultures, in their focus on people, differed from other cultures. High quality workplace relationships were, in turn, supported by a number of other factors. Four factors were particularly important. The first was the quality of leadership. In excellent workplaces leaders at all levels were aware of the impact that their behaviour has on the way people feel about the workplace and their job. They recognise that their behaviour sets the example. Leaders who behaved as a captain/coach were particularly valued. These leaders were available providing support when needed but not getting in the way when they were not. Good leaders choose their approach to suit the different needs of their staff, helping out when there was a crisis and allowing trial and learning when there was not. This is in keeping with Australias egalitarian ethos supervisors in excellent workplaces often choose not to display the trappings of their position. Most importantly they inspired trust. The research demonstrated, too, that essential to quality leadership is the communication of clear values that become intrinsic to the way business is done. They influenced the way people related to each other thereby in turn helping to generate the quality working relationships. In this environment the inevitable dilemmas, conflicts and competing priorities can be immediately and openly discussed. In excellent workplaces managers really do practice what they preach. Excellent workplaces, too, are marked by a sense of common goals and objectives where workers support each other and show respect for one another. People have the skills to do their jobs and seek to develop these skills further. They have the confidence to have a say about how the work is done. They are encouraged by a management style that is open to new and different ways of working and values diversity. This is not seen as a way to exercise power but rather to add value. People are encouraged to operate with some autonomy. Of course some managers feel uncomfortable with giving their employees a high degree of independence but it is a feature of excellent workplaces. Excellent workplaces are also safe workplaces, where people care for the well being of their colleagues and are committed to safe practices â€Å" not just formal policies and manuals. In such environments a culture of safety, including the psychological safety of a respectful workplace, develops that all staff are able to share. None of these factors operates in isolation. Together they build a culture that further enhances the quality of working relationships. The research suggests that excellent workplaces must have all fifteen drivers present although they combine in unique ways. There is a form of hierarchy with one set of factors building upon. Adult learners are often characterized as learning-oriented and goal-oriented. Based on the results of this study, these characteristics seemed to be related to the satisfaction-dissatisfaction profiles of e-learners. The most frequently stated satisfying factors were learning-oriented factors such as interesting and relevant learning content, effective teaching methods, instructors expertise, and effective learning activities; and the most frequently stated dissatisfying factors were goal-related factors such as unclear directions or expectations that caused confusion or frustration while trying to accomplish their goals. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs Current risk organization theory and standards have the same opinion that risk and taking risk are not necessarily negative for development. Alongside the threat that a risk might entail more often than not this risk situation also provides opportunities. Managing chance through the risk procedure is often seen either as an not obligatory extra, or as only for advanced practitioners, or as just plain wrong. Why is this? This paper draws on human motivation theory (Maslow) and the latest ideas in information science (memetics) to explain the discrepancy. It also proposes practical solutions to promote management of opportunity within the risk process. Maslows hierarchy of needs? seeks to explain human motivation, and proposes a layered series of motivators ranging from survival to self-actualisation. Applying this framework to risk management reveals why individuals and organisations think first about threats, and why they see opportunities as optional extras to be addressed later if at all. Memetics suggests that ideas (or memes?) can be seen as packets of information which self-replicate like genes. According to this theory, the risk is bad? meme appears to be better adapted to the current environment maslows hierarchy of needs diagramthan the risk includes both threat and opportunity? meme. The paper describes how to motivate project teams and organisations to address opportunity based on Maslows theory, and how to enhance the competitiveness of the threat-plus-opportunity meme through memetic engineering. Over ten years ago, a debate arose within the project risk management community concerning the nature of the types of risk to be managed within the scope of the project risk management process (summarised in Hulett etal, 2002). Until then project risk had been seen as exclusively negative, defined in terms of uncertain events which could result in loss, harm, delay, additional cost etc, with risk? being synonymous with threat?. This definition reflected the secular definitions found in non-technical dictionaries (for example Collins, 1979). From the late 1990s project management professionals began to realise that there were other types of uncertainty that mattered. Sometimes good things might occur on a project which would result in saved time or reduced cost, or which would enhance productivity or performance. Such opportunities? could be brought under the existing definition of risk by simply expanding the types of impact to include positive as well as negative effects. This resulted in a change in approach by a number of organisations, including the Project Management Institute (PMI ®). The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK ® Guide, 2000 Edition) adopted a definition of project risk as an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project objective.? (Project Management Institute, 2000). This broader definition has been retained in the current PMBoK Guide and PMIs Combined Standards Glossary (Project Management Institute, 2004, 2005). It is also reflected in a number of other leading standards, both in the project management area (for example Association for Project Management, 2004, 2006) as well as in more general risk standards (Australian/New Zealand Standard, 2004; Institution of Civil Engineers et al, 2005; Institute of Risk Management et al, 2002; Office of Government Commerce, 2007). The forthcoming ISO risk management standard is also expected to adopt a similar position. The use of the project risk process to manage both upside and downside risk is not only embodied in a wide range of standards, but it has been described in textbooks as good practice? (for example Chapman Ward, 2003; Hillson, 2004; Cooper et al., 2004; Hillson Simon, 2007). There are a number of benefits available to those who include opportunities in the risk process (see figure 1). The first potential explanatory framework for why organisations might find it hard to address opportunities as part of their risk management process comes from the work of Abraham Maslow on human motivation, as encapsulated in his hierarchy of needs? (Maslow, 1943, 1987). He postulated that humans are motivated by the drive to satisfy needs, of which there are a variety of different types. However not all needs are equal, and Maslow arranged the various needs in order of their pre-potence? or influence over people. This ordering is usually represented as a pyramid, with the higher needs? at the top and base needs? at the bottom. There are several alternative versions of Maslows hierarchy of needs, one of which is shown in figure1. A key feature of Maslows hierarchy of needs is his contention that people are driven to satisfy lower needs before higher needs exert any influence. So for example, the most basic needs of air, water, sleep and food must be met first, and are the over-riding concern of each individual, even more important than being safe or feeling self-esteem. Once these are satisfied a person is free to be concerned about other things. As each level of hunger? is met (with literal physical hunger at the lowest level), higher needs emerge which require satisfying. Maslow divided his hierarchy of needs into two groups, with deficiency needs? towards the base, and growth needs? (or being needs?) at the top. Deficiency needs are those which must be satisfied, and without which a person might be said to be deficient or needy?. The individual does not necessarily feel anything positive if these needs are met, but feels anxious if they are not. When these needs are met, they are removed as active drivers of behaviour. Deficiency needs are mostly physical and emotional. Growth needs by contrast are those which add to a person, which are not necessarily required for a healthy existence, but which make a person more fully rounded and complete. This type of need is psychological and spiritual, and they form more enduring and permanent motivators. How is this relevant to the question of why individuals and organisations might find it difficult to implement opportunity management as part of an integrated risk process? Assuming that Maslows hierarchy of needs is as valid for organisational motivation as it is for individuals, this framework would predict a strong preference for actions which satisfy deficiency needs?, and that these would take precedence over actions which target growth needs?. Translating this to the risk domain requires an understanding of which risks relate to the different types of needs. Deficiency needs are about survival, ensuring that the essentials are available to maintain life. In the organisational risk context, this naturally leads to a focus on threats. A threat is any uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, will have an effect on objectives which is negative, unwelcome, harmful, adverse etc. According to Maslow, both individuals and organisations will be motivated to address these risks as the highest priority. For individuals, the concern is to avoid problems, save face, protect ones reputation etc. At the organisational level, this is the realm of business continuity and disaster recovery, which aim to protect the business and ensure corporate survival. Deficiency needs are also addressed by operational risk management and health safety, since these are also about feeding and protecting the corporate organism. At project and tactical levels, the need to tackle deficiency needs is also likely to be strongly influential, with a focus on dealing with threats to achievement of project objectives. By contrast, opportunities would appear in Maslows hierarchy as growth needs, being those uncertainties that, if they occurred, would have a positive, welcome, helpful effect on achievement of objectives. Such growth needs exist in such areas as marketing and business development, as well as strategic decision-making, and they also exist at project level in the form of project opportunities. While these are undoubtedly good things, and in themselves they are clearly worth pursuing, Maslows hierarchy of needs predicts that there is likely to be less motivation to satisfy these higher needs than there is to address more basic deficiencies. In other words, given a limited amount of time, effort or resources (which is the normal situation in most projects), an organisation will be driven to address threats before opportunities. If the environment is perceived as threatening, then the need to remove or minimise threats will always take precedence over the option of exploiting opportunitie s, since the drive to survive is stronger than the attraction of growth. Maslows hierarchy of needs seems to explain why both individuals and organisations are motivated to deal with threats before opportunities, since threats operate at the lower levels of the hierarchy and threaten deficiency needs, whereas opportunities exist at the higher levels and are seen as lower priority. A second useful framework for understanding the current reluctance to adopt an inclusive approach to risk management is the recently-developed hypothesis of memetics (Brodie, 1996; Blackmore, 2000). This wasintroduced by Richard Dawkins as a development of the selfish gene? approach to biology (Dawkins, 1989). Dawkins proposed an extension of this idea, applying it to information theory, postulating the existence of a hypothetical meme? as a self-replicating unit of information, analogous to a gene, which drives human behaviour and culture. From this initial innovation, the ideas of memetics mirror genetics, with such principles as survival of the fittest, competitive adaptation, mutation, replication, propagation etc. Whitty has applied the memetic approach to project management and found it to be a useful paradigm to generate new insights (Whitty, 2005). A meme is defined as a package of informational content, approximating to an idea or concept, which exists in the human brain or mind, and which seeks to replicate by transfer to other brains or minds. It is the basic unit of cultural transmission, and culture can be seen as the sum total of all memes. Clearly there are very many memes currently in existence, all of which are competing for the limited resources of human attention and absorption into current culture. The most successful memes are those which are best adapted to the environment in which they operate, which leads them to replicate and become dominant. Dawkins argues that dominant memes are not necessarily beneficial to human individuals or society, and that harmful memes can take root in the same way that viruses can cause pandemics. The important feature which determines the persistence of a particular memeis its competitive advantage when compared to the other memes against which it competes. Having created this hypothetical framework, it is possible to develop an approach called memetics?, analogous to genetics, to describe how memes operate. The term memetic engineering? can be used to describe attempts to manipulate memes in order to produce a desired outcome. While the basis for memetics is challenged by many as entirely hypothetical and unproven, the memetic paradigm offers useful insights into many aspects of human behaviour and culture, including management of risk. Solutions from Maslow Taking Maslows model first, there are three ways in which an organisation might proceed if it wishes to adopt the broader risk approach including management of opportunities equally alongside threats. Ensure effective threat management. The first is simply to make sure that all the lower-level motivators are fully satisfied all the time, allowing the organisation to move on to the higher levels. In other words, a risk process which deals effectively with threats will result in an organisation which is confident and relaxed, and which feels secure in its ability to handle both foreseen and emergent negative events and circumstances. Once these more basic deficiency needs are met, the organisation will feel free to release energy and resources to address the growth needs represented by opportunities. Develop conscious opportunity management. A positive focus within the organisational culture on the benefits available from proactive management of opportunities will create a motivational force to counter that of the lower-level need to deal with threats. If management express a requirement for projects to identify and capture opportunities, and reward such behaviour visibly, then teams will respond appropriately. Making management of opportunities both explicit and required will maximise the chances of this approach being adopted. By emphasising the value of the higher growth needs, their motivational value can be increased, even if the lower-level deficiency needs are not all met. Practice emotional literacy. Maslows hierarchy of needs is not universally accepted, and some researchers and practitioners believe the linear hierarchy oversimplifies human motivation (for example Wahba Bridgewell, 1976). The reality of human motivation is like to be much more complex. Studies of disadvantaged communities where deficiency needs are clearly unmet often find unexpectedly high levels of contentment and fulfilment, indicative of the higher needs being met. For example the Kingdom of Bhutan is renowned for its high Gross National Happiness (GNH), introduced as a key national measure by King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972 (Kinga et al., 1999), despite its low development status. Maslows hierarchy of needs seems to explain why both individuals and organisations are motivated to deal with threats before opportunities, since threats operate at the lower levels of the hierarchy and threaten deficiency needs, whereas opportunities exist at the higher levels and are seen as lower priority. A second useful framework for understanding the current reluctance to adopt an inclusive approach to risk management is the recently-developed hypothesis of memetics (Brodie, 1996; Blackmore, 2000). This wasintroduced by Richard Dawkins as a development of the selfish gene? approach to biology (Dawkins, 1989). Dawkins proposed an extension of this idea, applying it to information theory, postulating the existence of a hypothetical meme? as a self-replicating unit of information, analogous to a gene, which drives human behaviour and culture. From this initial innovation, the ideas of memetics mirror genetics, with such principles as survival of the fittest, competitive adaptation, mutation, replication, propagation etc. Whitty has applied the memetic approach to project management and found it to be a useful paradigm to generate new insights (Whitty, 2005). A meme is defined as a package of informational content, approximating to an idea or concept, which exists in the human brain or mind, and which seeks to replicate by transfer to other brains or minds. It is the basic unit of cultural transmission, and culture can be seen as the sum total of all memes. Clearly there are very many memes currently in existence, all of which are competing for the limited resources of human attention and absorption into current culture. The most successful memes are those which are best adapted to the environment in which they operate, which leads them to replicate and become dominant. Dawkins argues that dominant memes are not necessarily beneficial to human individuals or society, and that harmful memes can take root in the same way that viruses can cause pandemics. The important feature which determines the persistence of a particular memeis its competitive advantage when compared to the other memes against which it competes. Having created this hypothetical framework, it is possible to develop an approach called memetics?, analogous to genetics, to describe how memes operate. The term memetic engineering? can be used to describe attempts to manipulate memes in order to produce a desired outcome. While the basis for memetics is challenged by many as entirely hypothetical and unproven, the memetic paradigm offers useful insights into many aspects of human behaviour and culture, including management of risk. Solutions from Maslow Theoretical framework, population sample, data collection, data analysis The researcher visited the different libraries for journals, articles and studies needed for the research. The researchers gathered time-series data from different Banking institutions to assure of its validity and consistency. The researchers would also gathered different news and articles regarding the past events that involves or has consistent customer interaction as its main issue. It would tackle evidences of how proper services, awareness serves as the means affect the profit and increase the margin for more clients. The researcher has also researched data of the banks that have similar situations with CIMD The researcher would gather data from 2007-2009 to be able to assure consistency and reliability. This study will took place within CIMB BANK BERHAD in Malaysia. Participants will be selected according to their desire to participate in this study. Narrative data will be generated from all researched studies such as journals, articles, academic references, etc. The data analysis will Quantitative research enables the researcher to generate new theories from gathering descriptive data about the research topic. Quantitative research process involves the result of a certain procedure. The type of qualitative research studies undertaken are ethnographical, which refers to the description of a phenomenon from a cultural group or society, grounded theory, which focuses on real life settings and phenomenological which describes different experiences. Quantitative research is used to identify the specific effect which leads to using statistical evidence and appropriate statistical tools. It is also used for intervention studies and randomized control trials, which is the gold standard, ob servational and cohort studies. The quantitative approach is applicable to smaller sample group to generate rich data. Hopkins (2008) defined quantitative research method in the following words, In quantitative research your aspire is to settle on the relationship flanked by one thing (an independent variable) and another (a dependent result variable) in a population. Isolated research design is either evocative (subjects usually measured once) or new (subject for assessment before and after a treatment). A evocative study establish only relations between variables.?Hopkins (2008) defined quantitative research method in the following words, In quantitative research your aspire is to settle on the relationship flanked by one thing (an independent variable) different (a dependent or outcome variable) in a population. Quantitative research design are either evocative (subjects usually measured once) or new evocative study establish only relations between variables.? RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology used in the study is an analytical survey that measures consumer satisfaction of CIMB BANK BERHAD. The analytical survey through the use of statistics and data measures the correlation of consumer satisfaction with company measures that ensure employee satisfaction and delivers customer service. This research explores the possible correlation of customer satisfaction with factors such as employee motivation, company values, services rendered, and policies affecting its efficiency. In order to carry out the analytical survey, a questionnaire was developed that measures the level of customer satisfaction for CIMB BANK BERHARD, how the company is perceived by costumers, and what factors affect its customer service. The interview recipients of the study were composed of a cross-sectional group that represents different consumers from different age groups, sexes and income level. Interview questions were also distributed among employees and managers of CIMB BANK BERHARD and their response was correlated with the responses culled from the customers of the company. The survey also used open ended questions that is unstructured and which was administered personally by the researcher to ensure rapport, and elicit immediate responses from the interviewees. The data gathered was analyzed by determining the level of customer satisfaction, and what aspect of customer satisfaction cuts across different income and age groups. The survey also analyzed the response of CIMB BANK BERHARD employees and managers to questions pertaining to their role

Media Systems Dependency Theory

Media systems dependency theory (MSDT), or simply â€Å"media dependency,† was developed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976. [1] The theory is grounded in classical sociological literature positing that media and their audiences should be studied in the context of larger social systems. MSDT ties together the interrelations of broad social systems, mass media, and the individual into a comprehensive explanation of media effects.At its core, the basic dependency hypothesis states that the more a person depends on media to meet needs, the more important media will be in a person's life, and therefore the more effects media will have on a person.The relationships between componentsDependency on media emerges from three relationships.1) The relationship between the society and the media Within this relationship, media access and availability are regarded as important antecedents to an individual’s experience with the media. The nature of media dependence on s ocietal systems varies across political, economic, and cultural system.2) The relationship between the media and the audience This relationship is the key variable in this theory because it affects how people might use a mass medium. This relationship also varies across media systems. The more salient the information needs , the stronger are the motivation to seek mediated information and the dependency on the medium. In result, the likelihood for the media to affect audiences becomes greater. 3) The relationship between the society and the audience. The societies influence consumers’ needs and motives for media use, and provide norms, values, knowledge, and laws for their members.  Social system can function an alternatives to the media by offering similar services of the media.Media needs and media dependencyThree types of needsAccording to Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, three media needs determine how important media is to a person at any given moment: 1) The need to understa nd one's social world (surveillance) 2) The need to act meaningfully and effectively in that world (social utility) 3) The need to escape from that world when tensions are high (fantasy-escape) When these needs for media are high, the more people turnto media to meet these needs, and therefore the media have a greater opportunity to effect them. That said, none of these media needs are constant over long periods of time. They change based on aspects of our social environment.Two basic conditions for hightened media needsMedia dependency theory states two specific conditions under which people's media needs, and consequently people's dependency on media and the potential for media effects, are heightened. The first condition of heightened media needs occurs when the number of media and centrality of media functions in a society are high.For instance, in modernized countries like the United States, there are many media outlets and they serve highly centralized social functions. In the United States alone, the media act as a â€Å"fourth branch† of government, an alarm system during national emergencies, and as a tool for entertainment and escape, whereas in the underdeveloped world the media are not as numerous and serve far fewer functions. As such, the media have a greater opportunity to serve needs and exert effects in contemporary America than in a third world country.The second condition of heightened media needs occurs when a society is undergoing social change and conflict. When there is a war or large-scale public protests like during Vietnam or the Arab Spring, a national emergency like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, or a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, people turn to media to help understand these important events. Consequently, the media have a greater opportunity to exert effects during these times of social change and conflict.The effects of media messageBall-Rokeach and DeFleur suggests that the cognitive, behavioral a nd affective consequences of media use are premised upon characteristics of both individuals and their social environment.CognitiveThere are five types of cognitive effects that will be exerted on audiences, the first of which is the creation and resolution of ambiguity. Ambiguity occurs when audiences receive inadequate or incomplete information about their social world.When there is high ambiguity, stress is created, and audiences are more likely to turn to mass media to resolve ambiguity. Ambiguity might be especially prevalent during times of social change or conflict. The second effect is agenda-setting. This is another reason why we might call dependency a â€Å"comprehensive† theory of media effects – it incorporates the entire theory of agenda-setting within its theoretical framework. Like any other effect, media agenda-setting effects should be heightened during times when the audience’s needs and therefore dependency on media are high.So, for instance, if our informational needs and dependency on media was high during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, we would have been more susceptible to agenda-setting effects, and we would have therefore perceived the Iraq War as the most important problem (MIP) facing the United States. Third is attitude formation. Media exposes us to completely new people, such as political figures and celebrities, not to mention physical objects like birth control pills or car safety mechanisms that we come to form attitudes about.Dependency does not suggest media are monolithic in their ability to influence attitudes, but the theory does suggest that media play a role in selecting objects and people for which people form attitudes about. If a person is experiencing greater media dependency, we would therefore expect that the person will form more (or more complex) attitudes about these attitude-objects than people with low media dependency. Media also have the potential cognitive effect of expanding people's b elief systems.Media can create a kind of â€Å"enlargement† of citizen's beliefs by disseminating information about other people, places, and things. Expansion of people’s belief systems refers to a broadening or enlarging of beliefs in a certain category. For example, a constant flow of information about global warming will expand people’s beliefs about pollution affecting the earth’s atmosphere, about cap and trade and other policies, and about personal contributions to global warming.These beliefs meet with and are incorporated into an existing value system regarding religion, free enterprise, work, ecology, patriotism, recreation, and the family. Last is value clarification and conflict. Media help citizens clarify values (equality, freedom, honesty, forgiveness) often by precipitating information about value conflicts. For instance, during the 1960s the mass media regularly reported on the activities of the CivilRights movement, presenting conflicts between individual freedoms (e. g.  , a businessman’s property rights to deny blacks entrance) and equality (e. g. , human rights). When such conflicts play out in the mass media, the value conflicts are identified, resulting in audiences forming their own value positions. Such a position can be painful to articulate because it can force a choice between mutually incompatible goals and the means for obtaining them. However, in the process of trying to decide which is more important in a particular case, general value priorities can become clarified.AffectiveBall-Rokeach and DeFleur mentions several possible affective media effects that are more likely to occur during times of heightened dependency. [13][14] First is desensitization, which states that prolonged exposure to violent content can have a â€Å"numbing† effect on audiences, promoting insensitivity or the lack of desire toward helping others when violent encounters happen in real life. Second, exposure to ne ws messages or TV dramas that portray crime-ridden cities can increase people's fear or anxiety about living in or even traveling to a city. Media can also have effects on morale and feelings of alienation.The degree of positive or negative mass media depictions of social groups can cause fluctuations in people's sense of morale in belonging to that group or in their sense of alienation from that group.BehavioralThere are two broad categories of behavioral effects that Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur identify. The first broad category is called â€Å"activation† effects, which refer to instances in which media audiences do something they would not otherwise have done as a consequence of receiving media messages. Behavioral effects are largely thought to work through cognitive and affective effects.For instance, a woman reading a news story about sexism in the workplace might form an attitude toward sexism that creates a negative emotional state, the culmination of which is joining a women’s rights march in her local community. The second broad category of behavioral effects is called â€Å"deactivation,† and refers to instances in which audiences would have otherwise done something, but don't do as a consequence of media messages. For example, the primary presidential campaign has become longer and increasingly use more media to target audiences.As such, primary campaigns might elicit negative attitudes toward the electoral process and negative affective states such as boredom or disgust that in turn might make a person not turn out to vote.The levels of media dependenceIn the MSD view, the media system has two-way resource-dependency relations with individuals (micro-level), groups and organizations (meso-level), and other social systems (macro-level).The microlevel(individual level) of dependencyMicrolevel, or individual level application focus on the relationship between individuals and media.The microlevel dependency, better known as individu al level media system dependency(IMD)begins with an assessment of the types of motivation that bring individuals to use the media. In the perspective of IMD, goals are preferred to needs to conceptualize the motivations that affect media behavior. According to Ball-Rokeach and DeFleur, goals are the key dimension of individual motivation. While needs imply both rational and irrational motives, goals imply a problem-solving motivation more appropriate to a theory of media behavior based upon the dependency relation.Three types of motivational goalsThe IMD approach provides a comprehensive conceptualization of three motivational goals:understanding, orientation, and play. 1) Understanding- needs for individuals to have a basic understanding of themselves and the world around them. 2) Orientation- needs for individuals to direct personal actions effectively and interact successfully with others. 3) play(or recreation)- a way through which one learns roles, norms, and values and its ref lected in such activities as sport, dance, and celebration.The macrolevel of dependencyEvery country's media system is interdependent on the country's other social systems (e. g. , its economy, its government) for resources, and vice-versa. At the macrolevel, dependency theory states these interrelationships influence what kinds of media products are disseminated to the public for consumption, and the range of possible uses people have for media.Media and Economic SystemThe media depend on a society's economic system for 1) inculcation and  reinforcement of free enterprise values, 2) establishing and maintaining linkages between producers and sellers, and 3) controlling and winning internal conflicts, such as between management and unions. In turn, the media is dependent on a society's economic system for 1) profit from advertising revenue, 2) technological developments that reduce costs and compete effectively with other media outlets, and 3) expansion via access to banking and f inance services, as well as international trade.Media and Political SystemA society's media and political system are also heavily interdependent.  Political system rely on the media to 1) inculcate and reinforce political values and norm such as freedom, voting, or obedience to the law, 2) maintain order and social integration, 3) organize and mobilize citizens to carry out essential activities like waging war, and 4) controlling and winning conflicts that develop within political domains (e. g. , Watergate). Conversely, the media rely on a country's political system for judicial, executive, and legislative protection, formal and informal resources required to cover the news, and revenue that comes from political advertising and subsidies.Media and Secondary SystemsTo a lesser extent, media has established interdependencies with several other social systems. The family is dependent on media for inculcation and reinforcement of family values, recreation and leisure, coping with eve ryday problems of child rearing, marriage, and financial crises. On the other hand, the media is dependent on the family for consuming their media products. The same is true of media and religious systems. Religious systems rely on media for inculcation and reinforcement of religious values, transmitting religious messages to the masses, and successfully competing with other religious or nonreligious philosophies.In turn, the media relies on the religious system to attain profits from religious organizations who purchase space or air time. The educational system in a society relies on media for value inculcation and reinforcement, waging successful conflicts or struggles for scarce resources, and knowledge transmission such as in educational media programming. Media depends on the educational system for access to expert information and being able to hire personnel trained in the educational system.Finally, the military system depends on the media for value inculcation and reinforcem ent, waging and winning conflicts, and specific organizational goals such as recruitment and mobilization. The media, in turn, depends on the military for access to insider or expert information. The consequences of all of these interdependencies, again, are alterations in media products that audiences consume. In this way, the system-level interdependencies control media products, the range of possible social uses for media, the extent to which audiences depend on the media to fulfill needs, and ultimately media effects on audiences.Individual differences due to demographics or personality traits might change what people actually do with media messages or how they interpret media messages, but the messages always begin as the result of interdependent social systems.A comparison of use and gratification theory and media system dependency theoryBall-Rokeach summarized the major differences between uses and gratification (U&G)theory and media system dependency(MSD) theory.Conception o f audience membersBoth U &G and MSD theorists view the audience member as active, but the basic conceptions of the audience member differ.  U&G theorists focus on psychological and sociodemographic origins of differences in media use. In this perspective, the variability of text interpretation suggests an audience member in charge of the text. MSD theorists focus on psychological, interpersonal, and sociological origins of differences in micro MSD relations as well as the macro MSD relations that constrain media text production and individual’s MSD relations. The responsiveness of micro MSD relations to environmental conditions and the ecological constraints on media production and consumption are important features.In this perspective, the audience member is neither in charge of the text nor controlled by the text. The only way we can predict the effects is the audiences’ MSD relations in context of the ecology of macro relations.Conception of interpersonal networks and communicationU&G theorists emphasize the role of interpersonal communication in the distortion of media messages and of networks as interpretive communities. In this conception, interpersonal networks are regarded as a safety way against the cultural apparatus of the media and its partners.They believe that the interpersonal network contributes to individual â€Å"agency,† and the â€Å"networked† individual is empowered to manipulate media texts, not to be manipulated by them. The MSD conception is compatible with the U&G conception up to a point. Consistent with MSD conceptions of the individual member of the active media audience, the interpersonal networks play major roles in MSD theory. They link the individual to public and they link and influence the nature of the individual’s relations with the media system.Conception of the Media system and of media powerU&G theorists in the psychological tradition think of the media system as creators of tentative texts subject to multiple reconstructions. In this perspective, the media system is functional to the extent that it is useful or affords ways for individuals to gratify needs. The MSD conception is closer to a macro functionalist version of U&G. MSD shares the macro functionalists’’ view of the media’s interdependence with other social and cultural system. In this view, the function of media is seen as a key structure for vertical and horizontal integration of society.The MSD viewpoints seem to be even closer to cultural studies traditions in that the central concern for structural relations of control over information resources that generate the power to create social realities and to negotiate social conflict and social change.Methods of observation, analysis, and interpretationAlthough both U&G and MSD researchers ask similar questions of individuals, they do so for very different reasons. Those differences are reflected most clearly in (a) the logics of hy pothesis formation (b) item and scale construction (c) modes of data analysis, and (d) interpretation of findings.The MSD researcher essentially wants to know the micro and macro determinants of stability and change in micro MSD relations to learn something about their cross-level consequences for individuals and their interpersonal networks-the dynamics of their inner worlds and how they live in their social worlds. The U&G theorist wants to learn something about the individual's attraction to media texts and the interaction between text and reader to better understand the contributions of reader characteristics to text processing.The differences between micro U&G and micro MSD are, thus, in their epistemological origins, assumptions, concepts, and missions. Criticisms[edit] Baran and Davis identify four primary criticisms of dependency theory: 1) Variability in microlevel and macrolevel measurement makes between-study comparability problematic. 2) The theory is often difficult to empirically verify. 3) The meaning and power of dependency is sometimes unclear. 4) Dependency theory lacks power in explaining long-term effects.

A virtual community and a social networking web site Essay

QUESTION 1. Write a paragraph to explain and distinguish between a virtual community and a social networking web site. In Social networks everyone has their own social network (whether online or offline). Everyone has friends, families, and people they are acquainted with. An online social networking site simply makes our social networks visible to others who are not in our immediate network. So the single most important feature that distinguishes a social network from a community is how people are held together on these sites. In a social network, people are held together by pre-established interpersonal relationships, such as kinship, friendship, classmates, colleagues, business partners, etc. The connections are built one at a time (i.e. you connect directly with another user). The primary reason that people join a social networking site is to maintain old relationships and establish new ones to expand their network. Some obvious examples of social networks are Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn. One interesting feature about people’s social networks is that they are extremely unique. It is actually very difficult to fake a Facebook or LinkedIn profile, because your friends (or who you connect to) will collectively identify you. Unlike social networks, communities (both online and offline) are more interesting from a social anthropological perspective, because they often consist of people from all walks of life that seem to have no relationship at all. Yet, as we’ve learned from history, communities are very robust social structures. So what is it that holds these communities together? Communities are held together by common interest. It may be a hobby, something the community members are passionate about, a common goal, a common project, or merely the preference for a similar lifestyle, geographical location, or profession. Clearly people join the community because they care about this common interest that glues the community members together. Some stay because they felt the urge to contribute to the cause; others come because they can benefit from being part of the community. In communities identity are easily forged. QUESTION 2. Identify a product that could be promoted using a social networking site such as Facebook. Explain why your chosen product would be a good candidate for a social networking-based promotion strategy. Amazon  products such as electronics and wears are definitely liable products for promotion on Social networking sites. Especially when discounted this products call for great awareness knowing that large amount of people or customers demand and are in search of these products in cheaper, available and from trusted companies. These products being available for sales online with sound delivery and trust (in returns and delivery) calls for great insight for people to generate interest, confidence and preference for purchase. Consequently, people or customers through the social networking sites creates vast awareness in conversations and sharing thoughts and likeness for such products or promotion. QUESTION 3. Describe 2 or 3 specific apps that could use a smart phones GPS capability. State the benefits of using the GPS in the app in each case. Find my phone Find My Phone is a GPS tracking application on android phones that makes it easy for you to track and locate a stolen phone. This phone tracker app includes a navigational feature and assistance and as long as the location app is running, it can help locate a stolen or lost phone quickly and easily. The app uses secure data from cell phone companies to track and display the phone location on the Find My Phone map. For this feature to function, the Find My Phone app needs to be installed on both your phone and the phone of the person you want to track or locate. Find My Phone uses state-of-the-art GPS technology to accurately locate phones. Note: For this feature to function, the Find My Phone app needs to be installed on both your phone and the phone of the person you want to track or locate Google Maps The Google Maps app for Android phones and tablets makes navigating to your desired location faster and easier. It enables you find the best spots in town and the information you need to get there. Google Maps includes various relevant features such as †¢ Comprehensive, accurate maps in 220 countries and territories †¢ Voice-guided GPS navigation for driving, biking, and walking †¢ Transit directions and maps for over 15,000 towns and cities †¢ Live traffic conditions, incident reports, and automatic rerouting to find the best route †¢ Detailed information on more than 100 million places  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ Street View and indoor imagery for restaurants, museums, and more.

Essay on The French Revolution - 6694 Words

Creating a new Society 14 July 1789 to 9 Thermidor II,(27 July 1794) (snapshot Napoleonic France 1804) According to Joseph Weber, foster brother of Queen Antoinette, there were three primary causes of the French revolution the disorder of the finances, the state of mind, and the war in America. The disorder in the finances acknowledged that the bankruptcy of the monarchy opened the doors to defiance of the Kings authority. The greatest single cause of the revolution was the economic crisis, which forced the King to recall the redundant Estates General which had not been called since 1614, which opened the debate for people to make complaints with the current system through the cahiers of the three Estates. The state of mind†¦show more content†¦In the Ancien Regime authority had been deriven from g-d and the king. ** The Declaration primarily appealed to bourgeois (and nobility) spread to proletariat via propaganda (see Townson pg.43) POWER STRUCTURE - NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY (June 1789 - 30 September 1792) - deputies based the writing of the constitution on the Declaration of Rights of man - deputies saw the reluctance of the King to accept the changes that were taking place - and decided that he should have a suspensive veto - *at this point no one considered abolishing the monarch completely and setting up a republic - it was decided that Legislative power reside in the National Assembly - over the next year went about reorganising French govt., laws, finances, and economy LOCAL GOVERNMENT - deputies wanted to make sure power was decentralised, passing from the central govt. in Paris to local authorities - making it more difficult for King to recover the power he had before - wanted the elected representatives to be responsible to those who elected them - already the principles of the Declaration of Rights were being undermined, as citizens were divided into active and passive citizens. - Only active citizens who paid the equivalent of three days labour in taxes, voted for the municipal officials, those who did not earn that amount from wages were not allowed to vote and known as passive -Show MoreRelatedThe French Revolution And French Revolutions2006 Words   |  9 PagesAlthough the American and French revolutions both took place in the late 18th century, both fought for independence, and both portrayed patriotism, the revolutions are markedly different in their origins; one which led to the world’s longest lasting democracy and the other to a Napoleonic Dictatorship. 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