Tag: Learn What

Learn What? We want to learn, grow, change, grow, live, excel, take steps and do more. Learning is always but learns about the processes and theories to learn … it takes a certain purpose to understand it. How do people learn and key factors enable which effective factors?

Through Wikipedia, learning is the process of acquiring new or revising existing knowledge, behavior, skills, values or priorities. The ability to learn is near humans, animals, and some machines; Some plants have evidence of any kind of education.

Learning something is instantly motivating by an event, but more skills and knowledge are accumulating than the experience repeatedly. Learning-induced change often goes on for a lifetime, and it is difficult to separate the learning material, which is “lost” that cannot recover.

  • What is Biology?

    What is Biology?

    The study of living organisms, divided into many specialized fields that cover their morphology, physiology, anatomy, behavior, origin, and distribution; The plants and animals of a particular area, and the physiology, behavior, and other qualities of a particular organism or class of organisms.

    Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, identification and taxonomy. Modern biology is a vast and eclectic field, composed of many branches and sub disciplines. However, despite the broad scope of biology, there are certain general and unifying concepts within it that govern all study and research, consolidating it into single, coherent field. In general, biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the synthesis and creation of new species. It is also understood today that all the organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable and vital condition known as homeostasis.

    History of Biology:

    The term biology is derived from the Greek word βίος, bios, “life” and the suffix -λογία, -logia, “study of.” The Latin-language form of the term first appeared in 1736 when Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) used biologi in his Bibliotheca botanica. It was used again in 1766 in a work entitled Philosophiae Naturalis sive physicae: tomus III, Continens Geologian, biologian, phytologian generalis, by Michael Christoph Hanov, a disciple of Christian Wolff. The first German use, Biologie, was in a 1771 translation of Linnaeus’ work. In 1797, Theodor Georg August Roose used the term in the preface of a book, Grundzüge der Lehre van der Lebenskraft. Karl Friedrich Burdach used the term in 1800 in a more restricted sense of the study of human beings from a morphological, physiological and psychological perspective (Propädeutik zum Studien der GE Samm ten Heilkunst). The term came into its modern usage with the six-volume treatise Biologie, oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur (1802–22) by Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus, who announced; The objects of our research will be the different forms and manifestations of life, the conditions and laws under which these phenomena occur, and the causes through which they have been effected. The science that concerns itself with these objects we will indicate by the name biology [Biologie] or the doctrine of life [Lebenslehre].

    Biology is the study of living things. It encompasses the cellular basis of living things, the energy metabolism that underlies the activities of life, and the genetic basis for inheritance in organisms. Biology also includes the study of evolutionary relationships among organisms and the diversity of life on Earth. It considers the biology of microorganisms, plants, and animals, for example, and it brings together the structural and functional relationships that underlie their day-to-day activities. Biology draws on the sciences of chemistry and physics for its foundations and applies the laws of these disciplines to living things.

    Biology living world scale
    Biology – Living World Scale

    Many sub disciplines and special areas of biology exist, which can be conveniently divided into practical and theoretical categories. Types of practical biology include plant breeding, wildlife management, medical science, and crop production. Theoretical biology encompasses such disciplines as physiology (the study of the function of living things), biochemistry (the study of the chemistry of organisms), taxonomy (classification), ecology (the study of populations and their interactions with each other and their environments), and microbiology (the study of microscopic organisms).

    Their fascination with biology has a long history. Even early humans had to study the animals that they hunted and know where to find the plants that they gathered for food. The invention of agriculture was the first great advance of human civilization. Medicine has been important to us from earliest history as well. The earliest known medical texts are from China (2500 B.C.), Mesopotamia (2112 B.C.), and Egypt (1800 B.C.).

    In classical times, Aristotle is often considered to be the first to practice scientific zoology. He is known to have performed extensive studies of marine life and plants. His student, Theophrastus, wrote one of the West’s earliest known botanical texts in 300 B.C. on the structure, life cycle and uses of plants. The Roman physician Galen used his experience in patching up gladiators for the arena to write texts on surgical procedures in A.D. 158.

    During the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci risked censure by participating in human dissection and making detailed anatomical drawings that are still considered among the most beautiful ever made. Invention of the printing press and the ability to reproduce woodcut illustrations meant that information was much easier to record and disseminate. One of the first illustrated biology books is a botanical text written by German botanist Leonhard Fuchs in 1542. Binomial classification was inaugurated by Carolus Linnaeus in 1735, using Latin names to group species according to their characteristics.

    Microscopes opened up new worlds for scientists. In 1665, Robert Hooke, used a simple compound microscope to examine a thin sliver of cork. He observed that the plant tissue consisted of rectangular units that reminded him of the tiny rooms used by monks. He called these units “cells.” In 1676, Anton von Leeuwenhoek published the first drawings of living single celled organisms. Theodore Schwann added the information that animal tissue is also composed of cells in 1839.

    During the Victorian era, and throughout the 19th century, “Natural Science” became something of a mania. Thousands of new species were discovered and described by intrepid adventurers and by backyard botanists and entomologists alike. In 1812, Georges Cuvier described fossils and hypothesized that Earth had undergone “successive bouts of Creation and destruction” over long periods of time. On Nov. 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” the text that forever changed the world by showing that all living things are interrelated and that species were not separately created but arise from ancestral forms that are changed and shaped by adaptation to their environment.

    While much of the world’s attention was captured by biology questions at the macroscopic organism level, a quiet monk was investigating how living things pass traits from one generation to the next. Gregor Mendel is now known as the father of genetics although is papers on inheritance, published in 1866, went largely unnoticed at the time. His work was rediscovered in 1900 and further understanding of inheritance rapidly followed.

    The 20th and 21st centuries may be known to future generations as the beginning of the “Biological Revolution.” Beginning with Watson and Crick explaining the structure and function of DNA in 1953, all fields of biology have expanded exponentially and touch every aspect of our lives. Medicine will be changed by development of therapies tailored to a patient’s genetic blueprint or by combining biology and technology with brain-controlled prosthetics. Economies hinge on the proper management of ecological resources, balancing human needs with conservation. We may discover ways to save our oceans while using them to produce enough food to feed the nations. We may “grow” batteries from bacteria or light buildings with bioluminescent fungi. The possibilities are endless; biology is just coming into its own.

    Characteristics of Living Things:

    Defining a living thing is a difficult proposition, as is defining “life”—that property possessed by living things. However, a living thing possesses certain properties that help define what life is.

    Biology Human Lifecycle
    Biology Human Life-cycle

    Complex organization: Living things have a level of complexity and organization not found in lifeless objects. At its most fundamental level, a living thing is composed of one or more cells. These units, generally too small to be seen with the naked eye, are organized into tissues. A tissue is a series of cells that accomplish a shared function. Tissues, in turn, form organs, such as the stomach and kidney. A number of organs working together compose an organ system. An organism is a complex series of various organ systems.

    Metabolism: Living things exhibit a rapid turnover of chemical materials, which is referred to as metabolism. Metabolism involves exchanges of chemical matter with the external environment and extensive transformations of organic matter within the cells of a living organism. Metabolism generally involves the release or use of chemical energy. Nonliving things do not display metabolism.

    Responsiveness: All living things are able to respond to stimuli in the external environment. For example, living things respond to changes in light, heat, sound, and chemical and mechanical contact. To detect stimuli, organisms have means for receiving information, such as eyes, ears, and taste buds.

    To respond effectively to changes in the environment, an organism must coordinate its responses. A system of nerves and a number of chemical regulators called hormones coordinate activities within an organism. The organism responds to the stimuli by means of a number of effectors, such as muscles and glands. Energy is generally used in the process.

    Organisms change their behavior in response to changes in the surrounding environment. For example, an organism may move in response to its environment. Responses such as this occur in definite patterns and make up the behavior of an organism. The behavior is active, not passive; an animal responding to a stimulus is different from a stone rolling down a hill. Living things display responsiveness; nonliving things do not.

    Growth: Growth requires an organism to take in material from the environment and organize the material into its own structures. To accomplish growth, an organism expends some of the energy it acquires during metabolism. An organism has a pattern for accomplishing the building of growth structures.

    During growth, a living organism transforms material that is unlike itself into materials that are like it. A person, for example, digests a meal of meat and vegetables and transforms the chemical material into more of himself or herself. A nonliving organism does not display this characteristic.

    Reproduction: A living thing has the ability to produce copies of itself by the process known as reproduction. These copies are made while the organism is still living. Among plants and simple animals, reproduction is often an extension of the growth process. More complex organisms engage in a type of reproduction called sexual reproduction, in which two parents contribute to the formation of a new individual. During this process, a new combination of traits can be produced.

    Asexual reproduction involves only one parent, and the resulting cells are generally identical to the parent cell. For example, bacteria grow and quickly reach maturity, after which they split into two organisms by a process of asexual reproduction called binary fission.

    Evolution: Living organisms have the ability to adapt to their environment through the process of evolution. During evolution, changes occur in populations, and the organisms in the population become better able to metabolize, respond, and reproduce. They develop abilities to cope with their environment that their ancestors did not have.

    Evolution also results in a greater variety of organisms than existed in previous eras. This proliferation of populations of organisms is unique to living things.

    Ecology: The environment influences the living things that it surrounds. Ecology is the study of relationships between organisms and their relationships with their environment. Both biotic factors (living things) and abiotic factors (non-living things) can alter the environment. Rain and sunlight are non-living components, for example, that greatly influence the environment. Living things may migrate or hibernate if the environment becomes difficult to live in.

  • Do You Really Want to your Own a Business?

    Do You Really Want to your Own a Business?

    If “Yes” So, this article of post little help you How to Start. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” said English poet and essayist Alexander Pope several centuries ago. He wasn’t describing people expanding or starting a business, but he may as well have been. Everyone who goes into business for themselves hopes to meet or surpass a set of personal goals.

    A business (also known as an enterprise, a company or a firm) is an organizational entity involved in the provision of goods and services to consumers. Businesses serve as a form of economic activity and are prevalent in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and provide goods and services allocated through a market to consumers and customers in exchange for other goods, services, money, or other forms of exchange that hold intrinsic economic value. Businesses may also be social non-profit enterprises or state-owned public enterprises operated by governments with specific social and economic objectives. A business owned by multiple private individuals may form an incorporated company or jointly organize as a partnership. Countries have different laws that may ascribe different rights to the various business entities.

    The word “business” can refer to a particular organization or to an entire market sector (for example: “the financial sector”) or to the sum of all economic activity (“the business sector”). Compound forms such as “agribusiness” represent subsets of the concept’s broader meaning, which encompasses all activity by suppliers of goods and services.

    Sole Ownership: A sole proprietorship (ownership), also known as a sole trader, is owned by one person and operates for their benefit. The owner operates the business alone and may hire employees. A sole proprietor has unlimited liability for all obligations incurred by the business, whether from operating costs or judgments against the business. All assets of the business belong to a sole proprietor, including, for example, a computer infrastructure, any inventory, manufacturing equipment, or retail fixtures, as well as any real property owned by the sole proprietor.

    Do You Really Want to your Own a Business - Sole Ownership

    While your particular configuration is sure to be unique, perhaps you will agree with some of the ones I have compiled over the years from talking to hundreds of budding entrepreneurs.

    Independence: A search for freedom and independence is the driving force behind many businesspeople. Wasn’t it Johnny Paycheck who wrote the song “Take This Job and Shove It?”

    Personal Fulfillment: For many people, owning a business is a genuinely fulfilling experience, one that lifetime employees never know.

    Lifestyle Change: many people find that while they can make a good income working for other people, they are missing some of life’s precious moments. With the flexibility of small business ownership, you can take time to stop and smell the roses.

    Respect: Successful small business owners are respected, both by themselves and their peers.

    Money: You can get rich in a small business, or at least do very well financially. most entrepreneurs don’t get wealthy, but some do. If money is your motivator, admit it.

    Power: When it is your business, you can have your employees do it your way. There is a little Ghengis Khan in us all, so don’t be surprised if power is one of your goals. If it is, think about how to use this goal in a constructive way.

    Right Livelihood: From natural foods to solar power to many types of service businesses, a great many cause-driven small businesses have done very well by doing good.

    If owning a small business can help a person accomplish these goals, it’s small wonder that so many are started. Unfortunately, while the potential for great success exists, so do many risks. Running a small business may require that you sacrifice some short-term comforts for long-term benefits. It is hard, demanding work that requires a wide variety of skills few people are born with. But even if you possess (or more likely acquire) the skills and determination you need to successfully run a business, your business will need one more critical ingredient: money.

    You need money to start your business, money to keep it running, and money to make it grow. This is not the same thing as saying you can guarantee success in your small business if you begin with a fat wallet. now, let me confess to one major bias here. I believe that most small business owners and founders are better off starting small and borrowing, or otherwise raising, as little money as possible. Put another way, there is no such thing as “raising plenty of capital to ensure success.” Unless you, as the prospective business founder, learn to get the most mileage out of every dollar, you may go broke and will surely spend more than you need to. But that doesn’t mean that you should try to save money by selling cheap merchandise or providing marginal services. In today’s competitive economy, your customers want the best you can give them at the best price. They will remember the quality of what they get from you long after they have forgotten how much they paid.

    In practical terms, that means you must buy only the best goods for your customers. Anything that affects the image your business has in your customer’s mind should be first-rate. It also means that you shouldn’t spend money on things that don’t affect the customer. For example, unless you’re a real estate broker your customers probably won’t care if you drive an old, beat-up car to an office in a converted broom closet, as long as you provide them an honest product or service for an honest price. Save the nice car, fancy office, and mobile telephone until after your business is a success.

    Self-Evaluation Exercises

    Here’s a question to ponder: Are you the right person for your business? Because running a business is a very demanding endeavor that can take most of your time and energy, your business probably will suffer if you’re unhappy. Your business can become an albatross around your neck if you don’t have the skills and temperament to run it. Simply put, I’ve learned that no business, whether or not it has sound financial backing, is likely to succeed unless you, as the prospective owner, make two decisions correctly:

    • You must honestly evaluate yourself to decide whether you possess the skills and personality needed to succeed in a small business.
    • You must choose the right business.

    A small business is a very personal endeavor. It will honestly reflect your opinions and attitudes, whether or not you design it that way. Think of it this way: The shadow your business casts will be your shadow. If you are sloppy, rude, crafty, or naively trusting, your business will mirror these attributes. If your personal characteristics are more positive than those, your business will be more positive, too. To put this concretely, suppose you go out for the Sunday paper and are met by a newsie who is groggy from a hangover and badmouths his girlfriend in front of you. chances are that next Sunday will find you at a different newsstand.

    I’m not saying you need to be psychologically perfect to run a small business. But to succeed, you must ask people for their money every day and convince a substantial number of them to give it to you. By providing your goods or services, you will create intimate personal relationships with a number of people. It makes no difference whether you refer to people who give you money as clients, customers, patients, members, students, or disciples. It makes a great deal of difference to your chances of ultimate success if you understand that these people are exchanging their money for the conviction that you are giving them their money’s worth.

    The following self-evaluation exercises will help you assess whether you have what it takes to successfully run a small business. Take out a blank sheet of paper or open a computer file.

    Your Strong and Weak Points

    Take a few minutes to list your personal and business strengths and weaknesses. Include everything you can think of, even if it doesn’t appear to be related to your business. For instance, your strong points may include the mastery of a hobby, your positive personality traits, and your sexual charisma, as well as your specific business skills. Take your time and be generous.

    To provide you with a little help, I include a sample list for Antoinette Gorzak, a personal friend who has what she hopes is a good business idea: a slightly different approach to selling women’s clothing. You’ll get to know her better as we go along. Her strengths, weaknesses, fantasies, and fears are surely different from yours. So, too, almost certainly, is the business she wants to start. So be sure to make your own lists—don’t copy Antoinette’s.

    Your list of strong and weak points will help you see any obvious conflicts between your personality and the business you’re in or want to start. For example, if you don’t like being around people but plan to start a life insurance agency with you as the primary salesperson, you may have a personality clash with your business. The solution might be to find another part of the insurance business that doesn’t require as much people contact.

    Unfortunately, many people don’t realize that their personalities will have a direct bearing on their business success. An example close to the experience of folks at nolo involves bookstores. In the years since nolo began publishing, they have seen all sorts of people, from retired librarians to unemployed Ph.D.’s, open bookstores. A large percentage of these stores have failed because the skills needed to run a successful bookstore involve more than a love of books.

    General and Specific Skills Your Business Needs

    Businesses need two kinds of skills to survive and prosper: Skills for business in general and skills specific to the particular business. For example, every business needs someone to keep good financial records. on the other hand, the tender touch and manual dexterity needed by glassblowers are not skills needed by the average paving contractor. Next, take a few minutes and list the skills your business needs. don’t worry about making an exhaustively complete list, just jot down the first things that come to mind. make sure you have some general business skills as well as some of the more important skills specific to your particular business.

    If you don’t have all the skills your business needs, your backers will want to know how you will make up for the deficiency. For example, let’s say you want to start a trucking business. You have a good background in maintenance, truck repair, and long distance driving, and you know how to sell and get work. Sounds good so far—but, let’s say you don’t know the first thing about bookkeeping or cash flow management and the thought of using a computer makes you nervous. Because some trucking businesses work on large dollar volumes, small profit margins, and slow-paying customers, your backers will expect you to learn cash flow management or hire someone qualified to handle that part of the business.

    Your Likes and Dislikes

    Take a few minutes and make a list of the things you really like doing and those you don’t enjoy. Write this list without thinking about the business—simply concentrate on what makes you happy or unhappy.

    If you enjoy talking to new people, keeping books, or working with computers, be sure to include those. Put down all the activities you can think of that give you pleasure. Antoinette’s list is shown as an example.

    As a business owner, you will spend most of your waking hours in the business, and if it doesn’t make you happy, you probably won’t be very good at it. If this list creates doubts about whether you’re pursuing the right business, I suggest you let your unconscious mind work on the problem. most likely, you’ll know the answer after one or two good nights’ sleep.

    Specific Business Goals

    Finally, list your specific business goals. Exactly what do you want your business to accomplish for you? Freedom from 9 to 5? money—and if so, how much? more time with the children? making the world or your little part of it a better place? It’s your wish list, so be specific and enjoy writing it.

    How to Use the Self-evaluation Lists?

    After you’ve completed the four self-evaluation lists, spend some time reading them over. Take a moment to compare the skills needed in your business to the list of skills you have. do you have what it takes?

    Show them to your family and, if you’re brave, to your friends or anyone who knows you well and can be objective. of course, before showing the lists to anyone, you may choose to delete any private information that isn’t critical to your business. If you show your lists to someone who knows the tough realities of running a successful small business, so much the better. You may want to find a former teacher, a fellow employee, or someone else whose judgment you respect.

    What do they think? do they point out any obvious inconsistencies between your personality or skills and what you want to accomplish? If so, pay attention. Treat this exercise seriously and you will know yourself better. oh, and don’t destroy your lists. Assuming you go ahead with your business and write your business plan, the lists can serve as background material or even become part of the final plan.

    You have accomplished several things if you have followed these steps. You have looked inside and asked yourself some basic questions about who you are and what you are realistically qualified to do. As a result, you should now have a better idea of whether you are willing to pay the price required to be successful as a small businessperson. If you are still eager to have a business, you have said, “Yes, I am willing to make short-term sacrifices to achieve long-term benefits and to do whatever is necessary—no matter the inconvenience— to reach my goals.”

    Reality Check: Banker’s Analysis

    Banks and institutions that lend money have a lot of knowledge about the success rate of small businesses. Bankers are often overly cautious in making loans to small businesses. For that very reason it makes sense to study their approach, even though it may seem discouraging at first glance.

    Do You Really Want to your Own a Business - Bankers

    Banker’s Ideal

    Bankers look for an ideal loan applicant, who typically meets these requirements:

    • For an existing business, a cash flow sufficient to make the loan payments.
    • For a new business, an owner who has a track record of profitably owning and operating the same sort of business.
    • An owner with a sound, well-thought-out business plan.
    • An owner with financial reserves and personal collateral sufficient to solve the unexpected problems and fluctuations that affect all businesses.

    Why does such a person need a loan, you ask? He or she probably doesn’t, which, of course, is the point. People who lend money are most comfortable with people so close to their ideal loan candidate that they don’t need to borrow. However, to stay in business themselves, banks and other lenders must lend out the money deposited with them. To do this, they must lend to at least some people whose creditworthiness is less than perfect.

    Measuring Up to the Banker’s Ideal

    Who are these ordinary mortals who slip through bankers’ fine screens of approval? And more to the point, how can you qualify as one of them? Your job is to show how your situation is similar to the banker’s ideal.

    A good bet is the person who has worked for, or preferably managed, a successful business in the same field as the proposed new business. For example, if you have profitably run a clothing store for an absentee owner for a year or two, a lender may believe you are ready to do it on your own. All you need is a good location, a sound business plan, and a little capital. Then, watch out Neiman-Marcus!

    Further away from a lender’s ideal is the person who has sound experience managing one type of business, but proposes to start one in a different field. let’s say you ran the most profitable hot dog stand in the Squaw valley ski resort, and now you want to market computer software in the Silicon Valley of California. In your favor is your experience running a successful business. on the negative side is the fact that computer software marketing has

    no relationship to hot dog selling. In this situation, you might be able to get a loan if you hire people who make up for your lack of experience. At the very least, you would need someone with a strong software marketing background, as well as a person with experience managing retail sales and service businesses. naturally, both of those people are most desirable if they have many years of successful experience in the software marketing business, preferably in California.

    Use the Banker’s Ideal

    It’s helpful to use the bankers’ model in your decision-making process. Use a skeptical attitude as a counterweight to your optimism to get a balanced view of your prospects. What is it that makes you think you will be one of the minority of small business owners who will succeed? If you don’t have some specific answers, you are in trouble. most new businesses fail, and the large majority of survivors do not genuinely prosper.

    Many people start their own business because they can’t stand working for others. They don’t have a choice. They must be either boss or bum. They are more than willing to trade security for the chance to call the shots. They meet a good chunk of their goals when they leave their paycheck behind. This is fine as far as it goes, but in my experience, the more successful small business owners have other goals as well.

    A small distributor we know has a well thought-out business and a sound business plan for the future. Still, he believes that his own personal commitment is the most important thing he has going for him. He puts it this way: “I break my tail to live up to the commitments I make to my customers. If a supplier doesn’t perform for me, I’ll still do everything I can to keep my promise to my customer, even if it costs me money.” This sort of personal commitment enables this successful business owner to make short-term adjustments to meet his long-range goals. And while it would be an exaggeration to say he pays this price gladly, he does pay it.

    Note: This article of “Do You Really Want to your Own a Business?” from Internet and book of How to Write a Business Plan, only for share knowledge with help.

  • What is a Business Plan?

    What Is a Business Plan?

    A business plan is a written statement that describes and analyzes your business and gives detailed projections about its future. A business plan also covers the financial aspects of starting or expanding your business—how much money you need and how you’ll pay it back.

    Writing a business plan is a lot of work. So why take the time to write one? The best answer is the wisdom gained by literally millions of business owners just like you. Almost without exception, each business owner with a plan is pleased she has one, and each owner without a plan wishes he had written one.

    Why Write a Business Plan?

    Why Write a Business Plan?
    Why Write a Business Plan?

    Here are some of the specific and immediate benefits you will derive from writing your business plan.

    Helps You Get Money

    most lenders or investors require a written business plan before they will consider your proposal seriously. Even some landlords require a sound business plan before they will lease you space. Before making a commitment to you, they want to see that you have thought through critical issues facing you as a business owner and that you really understand your business. They also want to make sure your business has a good chance of succeeding.

    In my experience, about 35% to 40% of the people currently in business do not know how money flows through their business. Writing a business plan with this book teaches you where money comes from and where it goes. Is it any wonder that your backers want to see your plan before they consider your financial request?

    There are as many potential lenders and investors as there are prospective business owners. If you have a thoroughly thought-out business and financial plan that demonstrates a good likelihood of success and you are persistent, you will find the money you need. of course, it may take longer than you expect and require more work than you expect, but you will ultimately be successful if you believe in your business.

    Helps You Decide to Proceed or Stop

    one major theme of the book may surprise you. It’s as simple as it is important. You, as the prospective business owner, are the most important person you must convince of the soundness of your proposal. Therefore, much of the work you are asked to do here serves a dual purpose. It is designed to provide answers to all the questions that prospective lenders and investors will ask.

    But it will also teach you how money flows through your business, what the strengths and weaknesses in your business concept are, and what your realistic chances of success are.

    The detailed planning process described in this book is not infallible—nothing is in a small business—but it should help you uncover and correct flaws in your business concept. If this analysis demonstrates that your idea won’t work, you’ll be able to avoid starting or expanding your business. This is extremely important. It should go without saying that a great many businesspeople owe their ultimate success to an earlier decision not to start a business with built-in problems.

    Let’s You Improve Your Business Concept

    Writing a plan allows you to see how changing parts of the plan increases profits or accomplishes other goals. You can tinker with individual parts of your business with no cash outlay. If you’re using a computer spreadsheet to make financial projections, you can try out different alternatives even more quickly. This ability to fine-tune your plans and business design increases your chances of success.

    For example, let’s say that your idea is to start a business importing Korean leather jackets. Everything looks great on the first pass through your plan. Then you read an article about the declining exchange ratio of U.S. dollars to Korean currency. After doing some homework about exchange rate fluctuations, you decide to increase your profit margin on the jackets to cover anticipated declines in dollar purchasing power. This change shows you that your prices are still competitive with other jackets and that your average profits will increase. And you are now covered for any likely decline in exchange rates.

    Improves Your Odds of Success

    one way of looking at business is that it’s a gamble. You open or expand a business and gamble you’re and the bank’s or investor’s money. If you’re right, you make a profit and pay back the loans and everyone’s happy. But if your estimate is wrong, you and the bank or investors can lose money and experience the discomfort that comes from failure. (of course, a bank probably is protected because it has title to the collateral you put up to get the loan.)

    Writing a business plan helps beat the odds. most new, small businesses don’t last very long. And, most small businesses don’t have a business plan. Is that only a coincidence, or is there a connection between these two seemingly unconnected facts? my suggestion is this: let someone else prove the connection wrong. Why not be prudent and improve your odds by writing a plan?

    Helps You Keep on Track

    many business owners spend countless hours handling emergencies, simply because they haven’t learned how to plan ahead. This book helps you anticipate problems and solve them before they become disasters.

    A written business plan gives you a clear course toward the future and makes your decision making easier. Some problems and opportunities may represent a change of direction worth following, while others may be distractions that referring to your business plan will enable you to avoid. The black and white of your written business plan will help you face facts if things don’t work out as expected. For example, if you planned to be making a living three months after start-up, and six months later you’re going into the hole at the rate of $100 per day, your business plan should help you see that changes are necessary. It’s all too easy to delude yourself into keeping a business going that will never meet its goals if you approach things with a “just another month or two and I’ll be there” attitude, rather than comparing your results to your goals.

    Issues Beyond the Plan

    I have written this book to provide you with an overview of the issues that determine success or failure in a small business. Experienced lenders, investors, and entrepreneurs want a plan that takes these issues into account. of course, this book can’t cover everything. Here are some of the key business components that are left out of this initial planning process.

    Bookkeeping and Accounting

    This book discusses the numbers and concepts you as the business owner need to open and manage your small business. You have the responsibility to create bookkeeping and accounting systems and make sure they function adequately. One of the items generated by your

    accounting system will be a balance sheet. A balance sheet is a snapshot at a particular moment in time that lists the money value of everything you own and everything you owe to someone else.

    Taxes

    While there are a few mentions of tax issues throughout the book, most of the planning information doesn’t discuss how taxes will be calculated or paid. The book focuses its efforts on making a profit and a positive cash flow. If you make a profit, you’ll pay taxes and if you don’t make a profit, you’ll pay fewer taxes. A cPA or tax advisor can help you with tax strategies.

    Securities Laws

    If you plan to raise money by selling shares in a corporation or limited partnership, you’ll fall under state or federal securities regulations. You can, however, borrow money or take in a general partner without being affected by securities laws. A complete discussion of these issues is beyond the scope of this book. For now, take note that you must comply with securities regulations after you complete your plan and before you take any money into your business from selling shares or partnership interests.

    Your Management Skill

    This book shows you how to write a very good business plan and loan application. However, your ultimate success rests on your ability to implement your plans—on your management skills. If you have any doubts about your management ability, check out the resources other article. Also see another posts for a thought-stimulating discussion of management.

    Issues Specific to Your Business

    How successfully your business relates to the market, the business environment, and the competition may be affected by patents, franchises, foreign competition, location, and the like. of necessity, this book focuses on principles common to all businesses and does not discuss the specific items that distinguish your business from other businesses. For example, this post doesn’t discuss how to price your products to meet your competition; I assume that you have enough knowledge about your chosen business to answer that question.

  • What is CSR?

    What is CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)?

    Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to business practices involving initiatives that benefit society. A business’s CSR can encompass a wide variety of tactics, from giving away a portion of a company’s proceeds to charity, to implementing “greener” business operations.

    Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

    The movement aimed at encouraging companies to be more aware of the impact of their business on the rest of society, including their own stakeholders and the environment. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders.

    CSR is a concept with many definitions and practices. The way it is understood and implemented differs greatly from each company and country. Moreover, CSR is a very broad concept that addresses many and various topics such as human rights, corporate governance, health and safety, environmental effects, working conditions and contribution to economic development. Whatever the definition is, the purpose of CSR is to drive change towards sustainability.

    Although some companies may achieve remarkable efforts with unique CSR initiatives, it is difficult to be on the forefront on all aspects of CSR. Considering this, the example below provides good practices on one aspect of CSR environmental sustainability.

    Corporate Social Responsibility
    Corporate Social Responsibility

    Example; Unilever is a multinational corporation, in the food and beverage sector, with a comprehensive CSR strategy. The company has been ranked “Food Industry leader’ in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes for the 11 consecutive years and ranked 7th in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.”

    One of the major and unique initiatives is the ‘sustainable tea’ program.  On a partnership-based model with the Rainforest Alliance (an NGO), Unilever aims to source all of its Lipton and PG Tips tea bags from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms by 2015.  The Rainforest Alliance Certification offers farms a way to differentiate their products as being social, economically and environmentally sustainable.

    Other Definitions

    The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its publication Making Good Business Sense by Lord Holme and Richard Watts used the following definition:

    Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large The same report gave some evidence of the different perceptions of what this should mean for a number of different societies across the world. Definitions as different as CSR is about capacity building for sustainable livelihoods. It respects cultural differences and finds the business opportunities in building the skills of employees, the community and the government of Ghana, through to CSR is about business giving back to society from the Philippines.

    Traditionally in the United States, CSR has been defined much more in terms of a philanthropist model. Companies make profits, unhindered except by fulfilling their duty to pay taxes. Then they donate a certain share of the profits to charitable causes. It is seen as tainting the act for the company to receive any benefit from the giving.

    What is the Social Responsibility of Business?

    Ever since Milton Friedman famously proclaimed “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” (NYTimes 1970), pundits have pondered whether his purist interpretation was really the only way.

    Profit is certainly a lot easier to quantify than something like ‘happiness’, but the intangible benefits of good, honest business clearly go way beyond pure finance Must the word ‘profit’ always refer to money in the strictest sense?

    Collected on this page are various interpretations of the idea of “social responsibility” and the responsibility of business to take an active, passive or indifferent role in building a more sustainable world.

    There are a few broad categories of social responsibility that many of today’s businesses are practicing:

    I) Environmental efforts: One primary focus of corporate social responsibility is the environment. Businesses regardless of size have a large carbon footprint. Any steps they can take to reduce those footprints are considered both good for the company and society as a whole.

    II) Philanthropy: Businesses also practice social responsibility by donating to national and local charities. Businesses have a lot of resources that can benefit charities and local community programs.

    III) Ethical labor practices: By treating employees fairly and ethically, companies can also demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. This is especially true of businesses that operate in international locations with labor laws that differ from those in the United States.

    IV) Volunteering: Attending volunteer events says a lot about a company’s sincerity. By doing good deeds without expecting anything in return, companies are able to express their concern for specific issues and support for certain organizations.

    Examples of Corporate Social Responsibility

    Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

    While many companies now practice some form of social responsibility, some are making it a core of their operations. Ben and Jerry’s, for instance, uses only fair trade ingredients and has developed a sustainability program for dairy farms in its home state of Vermont. Starbucks has created its C.A.F.E. Practices guidelines, which are designed to ensure the company sources sustainably grown and processed coffee by evaluating the economic, social and environmental aspects of coffee production. Tom’s Shoes, another notable example of a company with CSR at its core, donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair a customer purchases.

    However, Stevens said companies need to really understand what their core social purpose is and how that aligns with their stated mission, to create a cohesive CSR strategy.

    For example, Stevens said that Kashi, a Kellogg’s brand, wants to increase organic farming and is one of the few certified organic kinds of cereal. Since only 1 percent of U.S. farmland is actually organic, the breakfast brand worked with Quality Insurance International to help certify new organic farmers across the nation.

  • Social Responsibility

    What is Meant by Social Responsibility?

    Social responsibility is an ethical framework and suggests that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. A trade-off may exist between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of the society and environment, though this has been challenged by many reports over the past decade. Social responsibility means sustaining the equilibrium between the two. It pertains not only to business organizations but also to everyone whose any action impacts the environment. This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by performing activities that directly advance social goals.

    Businesses can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. For instance, if a company follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for emissions of dangerous pollutants and even goes an extra step to get involved in the community and address those concerns that the public might have; they would be less likely to have the EPA investigate them for environmental concerns. “A significant element of current thinking about privacy, however, stresses “self-regulation” rather than market or government mechanisms for protecting personal information”. According to some experts, most rules and regulations are formed due to public outcry, which threatens profit maximization and therefore the well-being of the shareholder, and that if there is not outcry there often will be limited regulation.

    Social responsibility means that the government (including public corporations), NGOs, business organizations, and individuals have a responsibility to society to eliminate corruption and irresponsible or unethical behavior that might harm its people or the environment.

    Corporate social responsibility, therefore, refers to a business’s obligation to set policies, make decisions, and follow courses of action that are desirable in terms of the values and objectives of society — its customers, employees, and people in the community.

    Businesses accept social responsibilities when they take their objectives beyond what the business, the economy, and the law require and do what they feel are ethically and socially desirable. For example, such ethical and desirable actions might include raising the safety standards of product and continuously striving to care for the well-being of workers and their customers.

    These ethical and desirable actions that businesses may choose to undertake may be well above the legally required standards.

    Look at the following examples of Namibian businesses fulfilling their social responsibility towards the Namibian society:

    Many companies are increasingly working on cultivating a social responsibility, whatever their actual practices. They are eager to prove that you can save the planet, help the poor and make money at the same time.

    As an entrepreneur how can you behave in an ethically social responsible way towards the following?

    Employees Responsibility

    The main responsibility of any business is towards its employees. It is imperative that a business always looks for ways to support and empower its employees. A happy workforce, a well-motivated and a loyal workforce, leads to improvements in productivity and quality. Your responsibility towards your workers goes beyond just paying them salaries. A socially responsible business tries to ensure that its working environment is free from sexual harassment and discrimination.

    Customers Responsibility

    Customers Social Responsibility

    Even if you are an entrepreneur, you are also a customer at a business where you buy your products. It is, therefore, important that you live and practice the notion, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. That means that you should treat your customers in the same way as you expect to be treated as a customer by other businesses. A business’s social responsibility actions towards its customers are rewarded by loyal customers and by their word-of-mouth advertising.

    Government Responsibility

    The acceptance of social responsibility has increased in the government because through policies, the government is forcing businesses to act responsibly. When a firm act in a socially responsible manner, it sets policies, makes decisions and follows courses of action that are desirable in terms of the values and objectives of its different stakeholders. To pay tax is a business’ responsibility towards the Government of a country.

    Society/Community Responsibility

    Social investment looks at what a business is doing for a community. Businesses can engage in social responsibility programs to help the community fight their social problems, such as drug addiction in impoverished areas or providing recreation activities for the youth. These programs normally aim to improve standards of living and create more stable and peaceful communities.

    Corporate Responsibility

    Corporate Social Responsibility
    Corporate Social Responsibility

    Corporate social responsibility or CSR has been defined by Lord Holme and Richard Watts of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s publication “Making Good Business Sense” as ” the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large.” CSR is one of the newest management strategies where companies try to create a positive impact on society while doing business. Evidence suggests that CSR taken on voluntarily by companies will be much more effective than CSR mandated by governments. There is no clear-cut definition of what CSR comprises. Every company has different CSR objectives through the main motive is the same. All companies have a two-point agenda to improve qualitatively (the management of people and processes) and quantitatively (the impact on society). The second is as important as the first and stakeholders of every company are increasingly taking an interest in “the outer circle”-the activities of the company and how these are impacting the environment and society. The other motive behind this is that the companies should not be focused only on the maximization of profits.

    Social responsibility, therefore, is about holding a group, organization or company accountable for the effects it has on the people within the company, people working with the company, the community in which the company operates and those who buy from the company.

    How Does an Individual Become Socially Responsible?

    The Workshop for Civic Initiatives Foundation (WCIF), Bulgaria, describes ISR in its position statement on Social Responsibility as, “The individual social responsibility includes the engagement of each person towards the community where he lives, which can be expressed as an interest towards what’s happening in the community, as well as in the active participation in the solving of some of the local problems. Under community, we understand the village, the small town or the residential complex in the big city, where lives every one of us. Each community lives its own life that undergoes a process of development all the time. And every one of us could take part in that development in different ways, for example by taking part in cleaning of the street on which he lives, by taking part in organization of an event, connected with the history of the town or the village or by rendering social services to children without parents or elderly people. The individual social responsibility also could be expressed in making donations for significant for the society causes – social, cultural or ecological. There are many ways of donating, as for example donating of goods or donating money through a bank account or online”

    Social Responsibility can be “negative,” in that it is a responsibility to refrain from acting (resistance stance) or it can be “positive,” meaning there is a responsibility to act (proactive stance). Being socially responsible not only requires participating in socially responsible activities like recycling, volunteering and mentoring, but to actually make it a lifestyle. Only through a commitment to embrace and embed social responsibility into your personal value and belief system can you truly become socially responsible in all you do.

    What is a Social Entrepreneur?

    Entrepreneur Social Responsibility
    Entrepreneur Social Responsibility

    Social entrepreneurs work to solve critical social problems and address basic unmet needs through entrepreneurship. Their innovations create system change, improving the lives of underserved or marginalized groups.

    Despite the increased attention that social entrepreneurship has received in recent years, there is no precise definition. Various organizations describe social entrepreneurship differently:

    Ashoka defines social entrepreneurs as “individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems” who “find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions.”

    The Skoll Foundation calls social entrepreneurs “society’s change agents, creators of innovations that disrupt the status quo and transform our world.”

    In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Roger L. Martin and Sally Osberg offer a more rigorous definition. A social entrepreneur is “someone who targets an unfortunate but stable equilibrium that causes the neglect, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity; who brings to bear on this situation his or her inspiration, direct action, creativity, courage, and fortitude; and who aims for and ultimately affects the establishment of a new stable equilibrium that secures permanent benefit for the targeted group and society at large.”

  • What is My Goal Orientation?

    What is My Goal Orientation?

    Educators have determined that students have different reasons or purposes for achieving in different courses. Dweck and Leggett (1988) believe that the achievement goals students pursue “create the framework within which they interpret and react to events.” They have identified two types of achievement goals: mastery and performance. A mastery goal is oriented toward learning as much as possible in a course for the purpose of self-improvement, irrespective of the performance of others. A performance goal focuses on social comparison and competition, with the main purpose of outperforming others on the task. Think about how you approach different classes. Are you interested in learning as much as you can in a class, or is your major goal simply doing better than the majority of students so you can attain a satisfactory grade? Of course, in some classes, you may value both learnings and be getting good grades because you can have multiple goals in school. It is not uncommon for students to have a mastery goal orientation in one class and a performance goal orientation in another. It is also possible to have a performance and mastery goal orientation in the same class. An analysis of the distinction between mastery and performance goals in Table shows how students define schooling and learning in different ways.

    Mastery Performance
    Success defined as Improvement, progress, mastery, innovation, creativity High grades, high performance compared with others, relative achievement on standardized measures
    Value placed on Effort, academic venture some ness Demonstrating high performance relative to effort
    Basis for satisfaction Progress, challenge, mastery Doing better than others, success relative to effort
    Error viewed as Part of the learning process, informational Failure, evidence of lack of ability
    Ability viewed as Developing through effort Fixed

    The goal orientation that students adopt in a course influences the effort they exhibit in learning tasks and the type of learning strategies they use. Thus, when students adopt a mastery goal orientation, they are more likely to have a positive attitude toward the task (even outside the classroom), monitor their own comprehension, use more complex learning strategies, and relate newly learned the material with previously learned the material. In contrast, students who adopt a performance orientation tend to focus on memorization and other rote learning strategies and often do not engage in problem-solving and critical thinking. In general, they do not think about what they learn but rather look for shortcuts and quick payoffs. Students with performance goals want to look competent (e.g., Safe Susan) or avoid looking incompetent (e.g., Defensive Dimitri). In general, the research suggests that adopting a mastery goal orientation has positive academic outcomes (Ames, 1992). However, it has been found that performance goals, but not mastery goals, were related to academic performance in introductory college classes (Harackiewicz, Barron, Carter, Lehto, & Elliot, 1997).

    The researchers argued that in large lecture classes where instructors’ grade on a curve and success is defined as outperforming others, performance goals can lead to academic success. Another important issue to consider is that multiple-choice tests often are used in such settings and may assess more factual rather than deeper understanding of the material. Thus, the grading method and/or type of tests used may create a performance oriented classroom environment. In the same investigation, the researchers found that mastery goals predicted interest in the introductory class, whereas performance goals did not. We have an interesting dilemma: each goal was related to one indicator of success (academic performance or interest) but not the other. In this situation, it appears that students who endorsed both goals were most likely to like the course and achieve well.

    In the following section, two students present different views on goal orientation. The first student admits that his primary goal orientation is to meet requirements, not learn. The second student reports that his goal orientation is influenced by the value he placed on different courses. What factors influence your goal orientations?

    Your goal orientation in a particular course can greatly impact your motivation, even before you ever open a textbook or take your first lecture notes. Analyze your goal orientation in each of the classes you are currently taking. Do you have the same goal orientation in all of your classes? Do you think you exhibit both orientations in some classes? Do you find that your learning behavior differs depending on your goal orientation? Also, think about a hobby or particular interest you have. How long can you persist on the task before getting tired or bored? How is your behavior related to your goal orientation?

  • What are Motivation and Factors Influence IT?

    What are Motivation and Factors Influence IT?

    Student motivation in the college classroom involves three interactive components (adapted from Pint rich, 1994). The first component is the personal and sociocultural factors that include individual characteristics, such as the attitudes and values students bring to college based on prior personal, family, and cultural experiences. The second component is the classroom environment factors that pertain to instructional experiences in different courses. The third component is internal factors or students’ beliefs and perceptions. Internal factors are influenced by both personal and sociocultural factors and classroom environmental experiences. Current research on motivation indicates that internal factors (i.e., students’ beliefs and perceptions) are key factors in understanding behavior. Most of the attention is given to the internal factors of motivation. I begin this section with a discussion of what behaviors determine students’ motivation and then discuss how personal and sociocultural, classroom environmental, and internal factors influence motivated behavior.

    Motivated Behavior

    If you want to understand your own motivation, you might begin by evaluating your behavior in the following three areas:

    Choice of behavior.

    Level of activity and involvement, and

    Persistence and management of effort.

    Students make choices everyday about activities and tasks in which to engage. Many students choose to learn more about a subject or topic outside of class, whereas others limit their involvement to class assignments. As an undergraduate, I had a roommate who slept until noon each day. This behavior would not have been problematic if his classes were in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all his classes were in the morning. Another student I knew could not say no when someone asked if she wanted to go to a movie or have pizza, even though she had to study for an exam or write a paper. Students do not have to be productive every moment. Having fun or wasting time is a part of life. However, the choices they make play important roles in determining the number of personal goals they will attain throughout life. A second aspect of motivated behavior is level of activity, or involvement in a task. Some students are very involved in their courses. They spend considerable effort after class refining notes, outlining readings, and, in general, using different learning strategies to make sense of what they are learning. Other students are less engaged in their courses and do the minimal amount required to get by. The third aspect of motivated behavior is persistence. The willingness of students to persist when tasks are difficult, boring, or unchallenging is an important factor in motivation and academic success. In many cases, students have to learn how to control their efforts and persistence in the variety of academic tasks they experience. Let’s now examine the factors that influence motivated behavior.

    Personal and Sociocultural Factors

    The attitudes, beliefs, and experiences students bring to college based on their personal and sociocultural experiences influence their motivation and behavior, and even their persistence or departure from college. When you walk into your first college class, you bring all your precollege experiences with you, such as your study and learning strategies, attitudes and beliefs about your ability to succeed in college, your coping strategies, and the level of commitment to meet personal goals. All of these attributes will influence the way you interact with the college environment. If you receive a low grade on a paper or exam, will you remind yourself of your ability to succeed, or will you say something like: “Here we go, just like high school. I don’t know if I can do well in this course?” All your past experiences with stressful situations and the way you handled them will influence your ability to deal with new stressful situations in your college environment. You are going to learn new copying strategies in this course that should result in a reduction of stress and increase confidence in your ability to succeed in college. You also are influenced by your family and cultural experiences. Family characteristics such as socioeconomic levels, parental educational levels, and parental expectations can influence motivation and behavior. For example, first-generation and ethnic minority students have a more difficult time adjusting to college than do second- or third-generation college students (Ratcliff, 1995). Transition to college can be difficult for any student, but when an individual has family members who have experienced this transition, he or she is less likely to feel lost in a new or unfamiliar environment or unsure about what questions to ask. Also, Reglin and Adams (1990) reported that Asian American students are more influenced by their parents’ desire for success than are their non–Asian American peers. They pointed out that the desire by Asian American students to meet their parents’ academic expectations creates the need to spend more time on academic tasks and less time on nonacademic activities. In what ways has your family influenced your goals, motivation, and behavior? Here is a list of some other student characteristics that can influence adjustment and involvement in college (adapted from Jalomo, 1995):

    • Married students with family obligations Single parents.
    • Students who never liked high school or who were rebellious in high school.
    • Students who were not involved in academic activities or student groups during high school.
    • Students who are afraid or feel out of place in the mainstream college culture.
    • Students who have a hard time adjusting to the fast pace of college.
    • Students who lack the financial resources to take additional courses or participate in campus-based academic and social activities in college.

    Stereotype Threat

    A distressing research finding is that African American and Latino students from elementary school through college tend to have lower test scores and grades, and tend to drop out of school more often than White students (National Center for Education Statistics, 1998). In addition, regardless of income level, they score lower than White and Asian students on the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT). For years, educators have been concerned with these statistics, especially when capable minority students fail to perform as well as their White counterparts. Professor Claude Steele (1999) and his colleague (Aronson, 2002) believe they have identified a possible explanation for this dilemma. They think the difference in academic performance has less to do with preparation or ability and more to do with the threat of stereotypes about the students’ ability to succeed. They coined the term stereotype threat to mean the fear of doing something that would inadvertently confirm a stereotype. The following is an explanation of this phenomenon. Stereotypes can influence an individual’s motivation and achievement by suggesting to the target of the stereotype that a negative label could apply to one’s self or group.

    For example, the commonly held stereotype that women are less capable in mathematics than men have been shown to affect the performance of women on standardized math tests. When female’s students were told beforehand of this negative stereotype, scores were significantly lower compared to a group of women who were led to believe the tests did not reflect these stereotypes (Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999). In another investigation (Levy, 1996), half of a group of older adults were reminded of the stereotype regarding old age and memory loss while the other half were reminded of the more positive stereotype that old people are wise. The older adults performed worse on a test of short-term memory when they were presented with the negative stereotype than when they were reminded of the more positive stereotype. Why do you think the women and older adults scored lower under the stereotype threat condition? Now let’s review the research as to how stereotype threat may help to explain the low achievement of certain minority group members.

    There exists a stereotype that many African American and Latino students may not have the academic ability to succeed in college. As a result, many minority students may feel at risk of confirming this stereotype and wonder if they can compete successfully at the college level. Thus, just the awareness of the stereotype can affect a student’s motivation and behavior. Steele and Aronson (1995) asked African American and White college students to take a difficult standardized test (verbal portion of the Graduate Record Examination). In one condition, the experimenters presented the test as a measure of intellectual ability and preparation. In the second condition, the experimenters reduced the stereotype threat by telling the students that they were not interested in measuring their ability with the test, but were interested in the students’ verbal problem solving. The only difference between the two conditions of the experiment was what the researchers told the students: the test was the same; the students were equally talented and were given the same amount of time to complete the exam.

    The results of the experiment indicated a major difference for the African American students. When the test was presented in the no evaluative way, they solved about twice as many problems on the test as when it was presented in the standard way. Moreover, there was no difference between the performance of African American and White test takers under the no-stereotype threat condition. For the White students, the way the test was presented had no effect on their performance. The researchers believed that by reducing the evaluative condition, they were able to reduce the African American students’ anxiety, and, as a result, they performed better on the exam. Aronson (2002) pointed out that in numerous investigations, researchers have found that the stereotype threat condition doesn’t reduce effort, but makes individuals try harder on tests because they want to invalidate the stereotype. Not all individuals are equally vulnerable to stereotype threat. Individuals who are more vulnerable include those who care most about doing well, people who feel a deep sense of attachment to their ethnic or gender group, and individuals who have higher expectations for discrimination in their environment. Students under the stereotype threat condition appear more anxious while taking a test. In addition, they also reread questions and recheck their answers more often than when they are not under stereotype threat.

    As a result, students placed in a stereotype threat condition become poor test takers! Are you vulnerable to stereotype threat as a member of a minority group, a woman, an older student who has come back to college a number of years after graduating from high school? Can student-athletes experience stereotype threat? Could the stereotype threat “absentminded professor” influence your instructor’s behavior? Has stereotype threat influenced your motivation or behavior in any way? Are you aware of such influence? What can educators do about reducing the influence of stereotype threat? Aronson (2002) pointed out that stereotype threat appears to be especially disruptive to individuals who believe that intelligence is fixed rather than changeable. In this course, you are learning that academic performance can be improved through the use of different learning and motivational strategies. Do you believe that you can become a more successful student and compete with other students at your college or university? There also is some evidence that stereotype threat may be reduced through cooperative learning and other forms of direct contact with other students.

    In a successful program that improved the academic achievement of a group of African American freshman at the University of Michigan (Steele et al., 1997), students lived in a racially integrated “living and learning” community in a part of a large dormitory. The students were recognized for their accomplishment of gaining admission to the university and participated in weekly rap groups to discuss common problems they all faced. In addition, they participated in advanced workshops in one of their courses that went beyond the material in the course. All of these activities were useful; however, the weekly rap sessions appeared to be the most critical part of program. The researchers believed that when students of different racial groups hear the same concerns expressed, the concerns appear to be less racial. The students also may learn that racial and gender stereotypes play a smaller role in academic success than they may have originally expected. It is important to realize that the researchers exploring the impact of stereotype threat are not saying that this phenomenon is the sole reason for underachievement by certain minority students. We have already discussed a number of other important academic and motivational factors that can make a difference between a successful and unsuccessful college experience. Nevertheless, stereotype threat must be considered an important factor in understanding underachievement of certain minority students.

    Classroom Environmental Factors

    Many classroom environmental factors influence student motivation. These include types of assignments given, instructor behavior, and instructional methods. Ratcliff (1995) reported that a successful transition to college is related to the quality of classroom life. In particular, student motivation and achievement is greater when instructors communicate high expectations for success, allow students to take greater responsibility for their learning, and encourage various forms of collaborative learning (i.e., peer learning or group learning). In an interesting book, Making the Most of College, Light (2001) interviewed hundreds of college seniors to identify factors that made college an outstanding experience. Here are some findings about college instruction that appeared to motivate students: First, the students reported that they learned significantly more when instructors structured their courses with many quizzes and short assignments. They liked immediate feedback and the opportunity to revise and make changes in their work. They did not like courses when the only feedback came late or at the end of the semester. Second, the students reported that they liked classes where the instructors encouraged students to work together on homework assignments. They mentioned that some of their instructors created small study groups in their courses to encourage students to work together outside of class. This activity helped students become more engaged in their courses. Third, many students found that small-group tutorials, small seminars, and one-to-one supervision were the highlights of their college careers. They highly recommended that undergraduate students find internships and other experiences where they can be mentored by faculty members. Fourth, students reported the beneficial impact of racial and ethnic diversity on their college experiences. They reported how much they learned from other students who came from different backgrounds— ethnic, political, religious, or economic. Fifth, students who get the most out of college and who are happiest organize their time to include activities with faculty members or with other students. Most students need recommendations from faculty members for graduate study or jobs. Yet, they often fail to meet with their instructors to get a letter of recommendation. Light (2001) pointed out the advice he gives all his advisees: “Your job is to get to know one faculty member reasonably well this semester. And also to have that faculty member get to know you reasonably well.” He reported that as his first-year advisees approach graduation, they tell him that this advice was the most helpful suggestion they received during their freshman year.

    Professors differ as much as any other group of individuals; some are easy to approach, whereas others make it appear that they are trying to avoid students. In fact, in many large universities, a student has to work hard to make contact with some professors. Nevertheless, think about the challenge of getting to know at least one instructor or professor well each semester. Not only will you find that the experience will motivate you to achieve in his or her class, but when the time comes for letters of recommendation, you will have a list of professors to ask. So, try not to be intimidated by your instructors: go to office hours, sign up for study sessions, and get a few students together and invite the instructor to lunch if you don’t want to do it by yourself.

    Although it is important for students to understand that the classroom environment can influence their motivation, they need to take responsibility for their own behavior. My daughter came home one day during her freshman year and told me that she received a low C on a midterm exam. In the same breath, she reported that she did not like the instructor, implying a relationship between the low grade and her dislike of the instructor. I responded that my expectations for her academic performance were not based on her like or dislike of courses or professors, and told her she had to learn to do well in all types of situations. You learned that self-directed students learn how to overcome obstacles to increase the probability of their academic success. Think about some of the actions you can take to improve your academic learning when you don’t like your instructor, find the course boring, or when the instructor spends all his or her time lecturing and doesn’t encourage student interaction or small-group work.

    Internal Factors Students’ goals, beliefs, feelings, and perceptions determine their motivated behavior and, in turn, academic performance. For example, if students value a task and believe they can master it, they are more likely to use different learning strategies, try hard, and persist until completion of the task. If students believe that intelligence changes over time, they are more likely to exhibit effort in difficult courses than students who believe intelligence is fixed. I’m going to explain why the answers to the following questions can provide insight into your own motivation:

    How do I value different academic courses and tasks?

    What Are My goals?

    What is My goal orientation?

    Do I believe I can do well on different academic tasks?

    What are the causes of my successes and failures?

    How do I feel about my academic challenges?

    Notice that all of the questions deal with beliefs and perceptions. Students can learn a great deal about their motivation by examining how their beliefs and perceptions influence them.

  • What are Motivational Problems?

    What are Motivational Problems?

    Many of my students frequently state in class or in written assignments: “I have no motivation” or “I need to get motivated.” Unfortunately, I find that many students do not understand the meaning of these statements. Actually, everyone is motivated. Educational researchers have found that many different patterns of beliefs and behaviors can limit academic success. Therefore, many different types of motivational problems can be identified in any group of students. Let’s look at five students who have diverse motivational problems (adapted from Stipek, 1998): Defensive Dimitri, Safe Susan, Hopeless Henry, Satisfied Sheila, and Anxious Alberto.

    Defensive Dimitri

    Dimitri is having difficulty in his first term in college and is beginning to doubt his ability to compete with other students in his classes. As a result, he puts his energy into preventing anyone from interpreting his poor performance as evidence of lack of ability. Basically, he appears to be more motivated to avoid failure than to succeed. Dimitri uses a number of failure-avoiding strategies, such as asking instructors several questions to give the impression that he is interested in the material, telling friends that he does not spend much time studying for exams when he really does, and spending time trying to find out what information appeared on tests in other sections of the same course. Unfortunately, the strategies he uses to avoid looking like a poor student prevent him from developing his academic abilities.

    Safe Susan

    Susan is a bright student with high SAT scores. However, she can be classified as an underachiever. Her primary goal is to attain high grades and recognition from her instructors. She is upset if she obtains any grade less than an A. She takes courses that offer little challenge and over studies for every test. Susan rarely reads anything that is not required in a course and does not allow herself to be challenged. She learns only what she is told to learn.

    Hopeless Henry

    Henry has a very negative opinion of his ability to do college work. He realized early in the term that he was having trouble understanding college textbooks and taking lecture notes. In fact, he has no study skills of which to speak. Henry does not attempt to seek help because he believes it is useless to try because nothing seems to work. When talking to friends, he constantly puts himself down. He sleeps late and misses many classes and finds himself falling further and further behind in his coursework.

    Satisfied Sheila

    Sheila is a likable student who enjoys college life. She joined a number of social organizations the first term in college and is a Cave rage student who could easily attain A grades. Sheila does not want to push herself and lets course work get in the way of having a good time. She is not worried about getting C grades and is especially satisfied with any grade that does not require much effort. Sheila enjoys reading novels and writes very well. In fact, she has submitted some of her poetry to her college literary magazine. Unfortunately, she does not apply her intellectual interests and abilities to her schoolwork.

    Anxious Alberto

    Alberto lacks self-confidence and is very anxious about academic tasks. He constantly worries about his performance on every test or assignment. His anxiety is so great that he forgets material on tests even though he prepares well. Alberto has trouble sleeping, constantly has stomachaches, and does not enjoy college.

    Each of these students has a different set of beliefs and perceptions that limit his or her present and possibly future academic success. All of these students have motivational problems. Defensive Dimitri doubts his ability and is concerned that others will not see him as capable. Safe Susan does not want to take any risks or challenge herself. She just cares about doing well. Hopeless Henry does not believe anything he does will make a difference in succeeding in college. He has learned to be helpless. Satisfied Sheila does not value her academic accomplishments. As a result, she chooses to spend her time and effort in nonacademic areas. Anxious Alberto wants to be a successful student. However, his constant worry causes considerable anxiety that interferes with his academic success. Do any of these students resemble anyone you know? As you read this chapter, think about how the content can help you better understand each of these students.

    After studying this Posts, you will be able to:

    Identify the factors that influence motivation.

    Assess your beliefs and perceptions to account for your own motivation.

  • What are Interpersonal Skills and Their Types?

    What are Interpersonal Skills and Their Types?

    This may be the understatement of the year: right now there is an incredible need for engineers. All skill sets and experience levels are in high demand from start-ups to giant corporations, but that doesn’t mean that every engineer will be employed or successful.

    Interpersonal Skills also called Human Relations Skills, Interpersonal skills are often called “People Skills” because they describe a person’s ability to interact with other people in a positive and cooperative manner. Unlike technical skills that people attend school for, interpersonal skills are considered soft skills that are typically developed over time through interactions.

    Having good interpersonal skills is desired in most careers. The best members of a team often have strong skills that help them communicate and problem solve with other people in an organization. There is a long list of interpersonal skills, but among the most important for working in a team or workplace are conflict resolution, communication, problem solving and patience.

    Interpersonal skills in the thriving STEM fields, interpersonal skills are becoming increasingly important in career advancement. They are just as important as the technical skills, as they help create personal branding and a well-rounded network of professionals, opening opportunities and creating relationships with peers. Following are the five key interpersonal skills that engineers and other STEM professionals should develop for career success:

    Interpersonal Skills and Their Types

    (I) Communication Skills: Communication skills are required equally at all three levels of management. A manager must be able to communicate the plans and policies to the workers. Similarly, he must listen and solve the problems of the workers. He must encourage a free-flow of communication in the organization.

    Engineers and other STEM professions place the higher value on technical skills than communication. However, effective communication is equally as important. In order to succeed and be innovative in their position, they must be able to communicate their ideas.

    (II) Creativity Skills: The technical skills to find and fix system issues is just as valuable as the creativity to find new ways to solve problems. People who continually push the envelope to find and develop new products, processes etc., get the recognition from peers and management.

    (III) Adaptability Skills: Like creativity, the ability to continually push and change is invaluable. Challenges arise daily and as an employee and job seeker, you must be able to adapt, be creative, and communicate the issues to work towards a solution.

    The world of work is changing at an ever increasing pace so employers actively seek out graduates who can adapt to changing circumstances and environments, and embrace new ideas, who are enterprising, resourceful and adaptable.

    (IV) Collaboration Skills: Product creation, service execution, and system innovation do not happen by one person. Steve Jobs may have been an incredible driving force behind Apple’s success, but there were countless engineers, developers, and other professionals working to create, market and sell their products.

    Collaborating in a team setting is not only necessary for a job seeker and employee, but is absolutely essential. Collaborative skills that we have identified as promoting the core concepts and supporting class norms are listed below. This list of collaborative skills has been used successfully by instructional teams to identify skills that address the ways students and teachers should interact to realize class norms. The list is not exhaustive and some classrooms may have to add skills to fully meet their needs.

    (V) Leadership Skills: Leadership skills is the ability to influence human behavior. A manager requires leadership skills to motivate the workers. These skills help the Manager to get the work done through the workers.

    We all know what a leader is, however becoming one takes thought. If you aspire to make a difference in your company/ city/ the world in any profession, leadership skills have to come into play. Developing these skills over time as you build relationships will help you achieve success beyond your career.

    Advanced Interpersonal Skills

    Interpersonal Skills
    Human Relations Skills or Interpersonal Skills

    Advanced Interpersonal Communication training sessions can be custom designed to suit your employees, address specific issues and industry. Pictures, questions, and material will all be modified to suit training requirements and objectives. Contact our staff for more details.

    This Advanced Interpersonal Skills Session is designed to help your team members, management, and all staff communicate effectively with respect, build rapport, interact professionally and control their emotions for better business relations.

    Objectives for the Advanced Interpersonal Skills

    Being in control of your emotion is a benefit to you and your workplace. Learn how to be able to change your mood, attitude, and perception at the drop of a hat.

    Questioning techniques will assist you in both control and information gathering. Learn how to quickly change a subject, motivate others and communicate more effectively using communication techniques.

    Rapport is about similarities and connections. We show participants how to connect with others more with simple and effective mirroring techniques.

    Reading body language will come in use throughout your life. We develop this area and discuss how participants can take advantage of this form of communication.

    A positive mindset will move mountains. Everything will seem easier and you will feel empowerment with a positive outlook. Learn how to create the mindset for optimum performance and feel great when you need.

    More behavioral tools for the participants here as we develop some techniques to improve on existing behavior.

    learn about the four social categories and how to improve on your social category if you feel you need. We also discuss personalities and provide insight into why you do many of the things you do. This section also teaches you about others and their needs around you in the workplace.

    Advanced Interpersonal Communications are a requirement today to work closely as teams and with other people. This session is designed to carefully address any areas of concern and help individuals increase their awareness of their interpersonal skills, including any unintended communications they may be making. This session provides a greater understanding of non-spoken communication and allows a much-improved level of interpersonal communications to be implemented in the company, improving management to staff and interdepartmental relationships, which also leads to greater productivity, happier staff, and a much higher standard of customer service provision.

  • What are Managerial Skills?

    What are Managerial Skills?

    Managerial Skills; A skill is an individual’s ability to translate knowledge into action. Hence, it is manifested in an individual’s performance. Skill is not necessarily inborn. It can be developed through practice and through relating learning to one’s own personal experience and background. In order to be able to successfully discharge his roles, a manager should possess three major skills. These are conceptual skill, human relations skill and technical skill. Conceptual skill deals with ideas, technical skill with things and human skill with people. While both conceptual and technical skills are needed for good decision-making, human skill in necessary for a good leader.

    The conceptual skill refers to the ability of a manager to take a broad and farsighted view of the organization and its future, his ability to think in abstract, his ability to analyze the forces working in a situation, his creative and innovative ability and his ability to assess the environment and the changes taking place in it. It short, it is his ability to conceptualize the environment, the organization, and his own job, so that he can set appropriate goals for his organization, for himself and for his team. This skill seems to increase in importance as manager moves up to higher positions of responsibility in the organization.

    The technical skill is the manager’s understanding of the nature of the job that people under him have to perform. It refers to a person’s knowledge and proficiency in any type of process or technique. In a production department, this would mean an understanding of the technicalities of the process of production. Whereas this type of skill and competence seems to be more important at the lower levels of management, its relative importance as a part of the managerial role diminishes as the manager moves to higher positions. In higher functional positions, such as the position of a marketing manager or production manager, the conceptual component, related to these functional areas becomes more important and the technical component becomes less important.

    Human relations skill is the ability to interact effectively with people at all levels. This skill develops in the manager sufficient ability (A) to recognize the feelings and sentiments of others; (B) to judge the possible actions to, and outcomes of various courses of action he may undertake; and (C) to examine his own concepts and values which may enable him to develop more useful attitudes about himself. This type of skill remains consistently important for managers at all levels.

    A table gives an idea about the required change in the skill-mix of a manager with the change in his level. At the top level, technical skill becomes least important. That is why people at the top shift with great ease from one industry to another without an apparent fall in their efficiency. Their human and conceptual skills seem to make up for their unfamiliarity with the new job’s technical aspects.

    A Table of Skill-Mix of different Management levels and Managerial Skills

    Different Management levels

    Explanation of Managerial Skills

    (I) Conceptual skills: Conceptual skills are skills that allow a person to think creatively while also understanding abstract ideas and complicated processes. A person who has conceptual skills will be able to solve problems, formulate processes and understand the relationship between ideas, concepts, patterns and symbols.

    Conceptual skills are used frequently in the business world where managers can use their ability to conceptualize to view and visualize the entire company that they work for in order to develop the best plans for the business’s success. Most companies consider conceptual skills to be a requirement for their management staff.

    Conceptual Skills
    Conceptual Skills

    Some people are born with conceptual skills and have an intuitive sense while others must acquire the skill through learning. Other common skills valued with conceptual thinking include critical thinking, implementation thinking, innovative thinking and intuitive thinking.

    For those individuals who are not born with an innate sense of these skills, there are ways to develop the skill set. In an individual’s personal life and professional life, these skills can be developed by first taking the time to look around. Observing the way that other people and other businesses implement strategies as well as reading related publications (in the individual’s field or hobby area) can help increase the range of possibilities a person sees. Then, an individual must be willing to change direction and to pursue new goals whenever an opportunity arises that makes sense. If a problem occurs, do not look for the simple and fast fix. Look for a lasting solution instead that is a best-case scenario.

    (II) Human Relations Skills: Human Relations Skills is Interpersonal skills, Interpersonal skills are often called “people skills” because they describe a person’s ability to interact with other people in a positive and cooperative manner. Unlike technical skills that people attend school for, interpersonal skills are considered soft skills that are typically developed over time through interactions.

    Interpersonal Skills
    Human Relations Skills or Interpersonal Skills

    Having good interpersonal skills is desired in most careers. The best members of a team often have strong skills that help them communicate and problem solve with other people in an organization. There is a long list of interpersonal skills, but among the most important for working in a team or workplace are conflict resolution, communication, problem solving and patience.

    (III) Technical Skills: Technical skills are a person’s abilities that contribute directly to the performance of a given job, such as the computer, engineering, language and electrical skills. Someone with excellent abilities in any of these technical areas has the potential to secure a career in a related field.

    Technical Skills
    Technical Skills

    A person with technical writing abilities may get a job creating instruction manuals for complex products and equipment. A data expert may get a specialized job in database management or data analysis. A person with crafting abilities may get a job assembling fabrics or other products. Someone with excellent skills in automobile mechanics may get a position in an automobile repair shop.

    Other Managerial Skills also Important

    Communication Skills: Communication skills are required equally at all three levels of management. A manager must be able to communicate the plans and policies to the workers. Similarly, he must listen and solve the problems of the workers. He must encourage a free-flow of communication in the organization.

    Administrative Skills: Administrative skills are required at the top-level management. The top-level managers should know how to make plans and policies. They should also know how to get the work done. They should be able to coordinate different activities of the organization. They should also be able to control the full organization.

    Leadership Skills: Leadership skill is the ability to influence human behavior. A manager requires leadership skills to motivate the workers. These skills help the Manager to get the work done through the workers.

    Problem Solving Skills: Problem-solving skills are also called as Design skills. A manager should know how to identify a problem. He should also possess an ability to find the best solution for solving any specific problem. This requires intelligence, experience and up-to-date knowledge of the latest developments.

    Decision Making Skills: Decision-making skills are required at all levels of management. However, it is required more at the top-level of management. A manager must be able to take quick and correct decisions. He must also be able to implement his decision wisely. The success or failure of a manager depends upon the correctness of his decisions.