Friday, May 1, 2020
Stress Management Courses in Community Sample â⬠MyAssignmenthelp
Question: Discuss about the Stress Management Courses in Community Sample. Answer: Introduction Mindfulness is said to enhance self-regulation in presence of threatening or stressful experiences according to various literatures. In contemporary research in psychology there has been tremendous investigations related to impact of mindfulness for being a psychological construct for multiple clinical as well as behavioral interventions(Josefsson, 2014). Multiple studies have been progressed in order to analyse the impacts of mindfulness with that of stress by various researchers. Findings from all relevant studies reflects a positive relation of stress with that of mindfulness for coping with response. There are multiple theories as well that have been derived for enhancing studies relative to mindfulness to increase capacity of individuals for experiencing feelings as stress. The scope of this report analyses effects of mindfulness on coping behaviour amongst students of Western Sydney University. A group of participants were selected, who were exposed to a variety of situations o f diversified feelings then results were taken down and analysed to understand their relation with mindfulness indicators(Alsubaie, 2017). Analysis of results from the study have been discussed in detail in this report identifying the pertinent factors that are conducive to its study. The aim of this study examines impact of stress on mindfulness causing behaviour patterns amongst students, which also forms underlying hypothesis. There is a literature gap in this study as it does not incorporate other exhibitors of mindfulness and incorporates behavioral patterns as only parameter to depict effects of stress. A total of 478 undergraduate students from Western Sydney University participated in a study investigating the effects of mindfulness on coping behaviour. Trait mindfulness was measured using the 15-item Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale. Sample items included I find it difficult to stay focused on whats happening in the present and I rush through activities without really being attentive to them. Participants were asked to rate each item on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). A higher score indicates lower trait mindfulness. General perceived stress was measured with the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale. Sample items included In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something that happened unexpectedly and In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to handle your personal problems. Participants were asked to rate each item on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). A higher score indicates higher perceived stress in the last month. Coping behavior was measured post-test using the COPE Inventory from which approach and avoidance coping scales were derived. Only scores from the approach coping subscale were used in the final analysis because they focus on adaptive coping behaviours. Approach coping comprised measures of acceptance, positive reinterpretation and growth, and active coping, each comprising of four items. Participants were tested in their Psychology: Behavioural Science tutorial in weeks two and three. At the end of week two participants were instructed to complete a number of pretest items that included Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, General perceived stress, and cognitive defusion scales. In week three participants completed the manipulation of stress in which students were asked about their challenge or weakness in a hypothetical interview question. Following the manipulation of stress, tutorial groups were given a number of different inductions. These inductions included a mindfulness condition, a relaxation condition, and a control condition. The mindfulness induction involved participants either doing an acceptance meditation, a leaves on the stream meditation, or a mindful raising eating activity in which participants were invited to touch, smell, feel, and taste the raisin in a deliberate way. The relaxation condition involved tensing and relaxing the various muscle groups of the body using a progressive muscle relaxation script. In the control condition participants were reminded to allow their thoughts to wander. All inductions were recorded by an appropriately qualified psychologist to ensure consistency across the conditions. The self-affirmation written task was excluded from the analysis. A maze solving task was then given to participants as a filler task. In order to measure adaptive coping behaviours, participants were then instructed to complete the COPE Inventory We first examined the baseline measures of trait mindfulness and general perceived stress in the last month on the three conditions of mindfulness, relaxation, and the control (across the stress and no stress condition). No significant differences between the three conditions on trait mindfulness were found. A 3 x 2 (type of induction x stress) between groups ANOVA was performed on scores from the approach coping style of the brief COPE inventory. Initial analysis of the data found no missing data and assumptions of normality and homogeneity were satisfactory. The induction by stress interaction was non-significant, F(2, 217) = 0.44, p = .647. The main effect of induction was not significant F(2, 217) = 0.05, p = .95. The main effect of stress was not significant F(2, 217) = 0.35, p = .56. Descriptive statistics are given in Table 1. Mean Approach Coping Scores for Type of Induction by Stress No Stress Stress Total Type of Induction M SD M SD M SD Meditation 11.15 2.41 11.26 2.76 11.21 2.60 Relaxation 11.64 2.26 10.95 2.65 11.35 2.44 Control 11.18 1.81 11.09 2.81 11.14 2.34 Total 11.28 2.26 11.16 2.72 11.22 2.50 For the purpose of progressing on this study and conducting subsequent analysis of the same, the scholar has adopted first hand data collection. Primary data collection procedure has been adopted with explorative study methodology(Tapper, 2009). This procedure allows to explore various theories and concepts of psychology with that of mindfulness. The scholar has explored multiple theories and concepts in order to arrive at background for developing the study technique. Then following which inductive reasoning has been adopted which allows for drawing conclusions from theories and subsequent concepts connecting mindfulness with various behavioral patterns. The scholar has further adopted quantitative analysis with collection of such data for arriving at results for the study. Then subsequently statistical techniques and procedures were adopted for analysing the data collected from 478 total participants for the study(Weinstein, 2009). The scholar has adopted ethical procedures and not adhered to any unethical means by providing details of the study to the participants prior to collecting information. There are three parameters that has been adopted for the study consisting of Trait mindfulness with Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, General perceived stress with Received Stress Scale and coping behaviour with COPE Inventory. A cognitive scale had been adopted for the purpose of drawing data from students in hypothetical formed questions. Participants were divided into control groups and experimental groups, for experimental group had been given, Induction techniques were adopted for manipulating stress and maze solving tasks for CO PE Inventory. Control condition participants were allowed to wander(Siegling, 2014). ANNOVA test was conducted on Trait Mindfulness for arriving at results for the study. Mindfulness has several impacts on psychological health of individual students as its relation can be said to be positively related. Psychological well-being has been found to be dependent empirically as well as theoretically related to mindfulness(Raes, 2011). Drawing from the results of the data that was collected, there had been measures of mindfulness, relaxation and control on trait mindfulness(Agee, 2009). The findings from the data reflects that there were no subsequent effects of stress on mindfulness from the induction that was made. The induction made for control group as well as for experimental group where they had been exposed to situations have not been significant. This reflects that hypothesis on factors of behaviours on mindfulness can easily be rejected and the other hypothesis can be established( Nussbaum, 2008). In meditation, relaxation and control situations there have relatively no deviation on mindfulness factors which provides that with similar SD values stress and no stress situation on mindfulness almost prevailed to be similar in nature. Mindfulness consist of several factors as awareness, non-judgmental acceptance, anxiety, fear, suppress along with various other emotions. The hypothesis of the study has adopted that stress does impact mindfulness for exhibiting behaviours. Literature of this study examines only psychological impacts from stress on mindfulness that can exhibit behaviours amongst students. Results and findings from the study are analysed as below; Research Findings 1: Mindfulness has been described to be a psychological trait that provides a mode of awareness. It is connected to reducing as much possible confusion and deriving meaning from all perceptions. Non-judgmental way of perceiving the present moment is a definition that represents mindfulness. In this context students from the University were provided a set of hypothetical questions, in order to test their mindfulness or attentions or awareness levels. They were provided set of situations where they had answer these questions. Then Coping with stress scores were derived from each one of them for computation which reveal low variations amongst them(Dobkin, 2017). Students had reflected almost randomly irrespective of the situations in which they were exposed to. Research Findings 2: Bishop et al. model proposes two components of mindfulness as self-regulation of attention and adopting of particular orientation in ones experience. This model provides useful thoughts and concepts from where questions for students has been derived. As students are subject to number of tests and assignments of the most important questions was to reflect on ways in which they handled stress when they were unable to finish tasks. In spite of various situations, students found that this resulted often in high stress on them, when they were unable to complete a task in time. Thus, from this it can be derived and analysed that response towards stress often is connected with stress factor and not towards their mindfulness to cause behaviour patterns. Research Findings 3: Ones orientation towards a particular incidence has been connected to behavioral patterns of mindfulness. A students attitude, orientation, openness, curiosity, acceptance are some factors that are connected with mindfulness and cannot be equated against resignation or passiveness. Mindfulness needs to be cultivated for attaining goals of individuals and cannot be impacted from situations, it is a psychological course. Students when exposed to a wide variety of situations were expected to react differently in various groups(Van Vliet, 2017). While the scholar created incidents separately in for determining behavioral trends which can be distinctly identified, no such distinctions were noted. While calculating standard deviation and p results for each group, similar trends were found. Thus, mindfulness meditation that began in 1960s was determined to be an integral factor in psychological intervention. It works as a clinical method for various disposition with no significant behavioral outcomes as anxiety, cheerfulness, fear and so on. Thus, stress being connected to mindfulness as a behaviour pattern can act as a stimuli in case of meditation. Though the Mean in case of stress factor in meditation were fairly high as compared to no stress situations. Research Findings 4: Relaxation also has been found by many researchers as having positive correlation with positive behavioral trends in mindfulness. With results done form the analysis it was found that relaxation does not impact greatly on mindfulness in stress and no stress conditions. Meaning that in this case also hypothesis can be rejected and no behavioral outcomes has been seen. Trait mindfulness is generally found to be associated with higher levels of satisfaction, consciousness, self-esteem, sense of autonomy, empathy, optimism, pleasant effect and agreeableness amongst other factors. There are other negative behavioral trends associated with mindfulness which results in difficulty in emotional regulations. Self-reported measures in the study has been totally excluded. Thus, it can be said that trait mindfulness is not impacted by control factors, relaxation and meditation variables as assigned in the study. Research Findings 5: The results from the study depicts no significant impacts on trait mindfulness and all results from participants has been collected by scholar himself. Trait mindfulness can act as useful determinant in psychological well-being which cannot be connected with any factors that has been identified in the study. The study provides useful insights into factors that can be rejected while analysing or developing features that can increase mindfulness amongst students. This study in case enhanced can results in tremendous benefits in the domain of psychological sciences by rejecting these three factors for student level enhancement for trait mindfulness factors. The scope of the study is immense and can form basis for further theoretical extension. References Agee, J. D.-B. (2009). Comparing brief stress management courses in a community sample: mindfulness skills and. Explore: The Journal of Science and, 104-109. Alsubaie, M. A. (2017). Mechanisms of action in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in people with physical and/or psychological conditions: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review. Dobkin, P. L. (2017). Who experiences depressive symptoms following mindfulness-based stress reduction and why? International Journal of Whole Person Care. Josefsson, T. L. (2014). The effects of ashort-term mindfulness based intervention on self-reported mindfulness,decentering, executive attention, psychological health, andcoping style: examining unique mindfulness effects and mediators. Mindfulness, 18-35. Nussbaum, A. D. (2008). Defensiveness versus remediation:self-theories and modes of self-esteem maintenance. Personality Social Psychology Bulletin, 599-612. Raes, F. (2011). The effect of self-compassion on the development of depression symptoms in a non-clinical sample. Mindfulness, 33-36. Siegling, A. B. (2014). Measures of trait mindfulness:convergent validity, shared dimensionality, and linkages to the fivefactor model. Frontiers in Psychology, 1164. Tapper, K. S. (2009). Exploratory randomised controlled trial of a mindfulnessbased weight loss intervention for women. Appetite, 396-404. Van Vliet, K. J. (2017). Impact of a mindfulness?based stress reduction program from the perspective of adolescents with serious mental health concerns. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 16-22. Weinstein, N. B. (2009). A multi-method examination of the effects of mindfulness on stress attribution, coping,and emotional well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 374385.
Friday, April 10, 2020
Sample Paper of Contrast Essay
Sample Paper of Contrast EssayIf you are looking for a sample paper of contrast essay, then take a look at this link. It is an easy to read sample paper and a good way to start your practice as a writer.The sample paper has been written by a student. A simple and easy to read essay with a topical description on the topic. It is suitable for first-year college students, or students wanting to improve their writing skills.I remember when I was a student in first year in university. I was a real fast learner, and it helped me learn my subject quickly. In fact, my first paper of contrast essay was so easy that I did not even have time to finish it. I tried to speed up the writing process by writing different things in different pages and the writing became clearer and easier to understand.When I went to the second year, I was only average, so I decided to write another paper of contrast essay to improve my writing skills. I found that I could also speed up my reading, and the essay was m uch easier to understand.In college, I never found the time to work on my own essays, but the emphasis on academics in my classes and studying influenced my writing style, and the result of my essays became more academic. When I started writing my own essays, I wrote the entire essay in a paragraph, as most of my ideas were to be stated in one paragraph.A good essay takes more than one sentence. By slowing down your writing process, you can concentrate on giving a good summary and providing information instead of just listing facts.If you want to improve your writing skills, here is a free paper of contrast essay you can use. Try it out and see how your writing skills change.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
20 Poetry Research Paper Topics and Ideas
20 Poetry Research Paper Topics and Ideas It may seem that poetry is difficult to study, research, and even read sometimes due to its numerous genres, writers, and forms. Poetic styles are indeed innumerable, and artistic movements that existed throughout history were represented by many talented and poets, yet poetry as a discipline is still a fascinating subject to study. Therefore, by researching poetry, one can get acquainted with its multiple subgenres, techniques, forms, themes, and those people who create those pieces. Moreover, studying poetry boosts oneââ¬â¢s creativity, broadens the worldview, develops writing, reading, and speaking skills, as well as helps to learn to look at things from a different perspective. Finally, reading poetry is an aesthetically pleasing experience. Thus, writing essays is one of the parts of studying poetry, and this subject can be researched in numerous ways. When a professor asks you to write an essay on poetry, it is essential first to decide on a topic. Taking into account that this discipline is a rather extensive one, it may be puzzling for a student to choose what to write about. You can either dwell on a specific period of time, and all the works and poets connected with it or select a particular figure or verse to analyze. Besides, an essay can focus on a comparison of two poets or artistic movements, examine the thematic context of the work or dwell on someoneââ¬â¢s biography. Consequently, you have numerous possibilities when deciding on a topic of a poetry research paper, and if you have difficulties with choosing a definite one, this list of topics may be helpful. Topics and Ideas for Poetry Research Paper Below you can find the topics for the poetry research paper: 1. Sylvia Plathââ¬â¢s Poetry This essay should focus on both the life of Sylvia Plath and her writing. Thus, you can mention some key facts from her biography, the literary movement she belonged to, and the most notable works. Next, it would be great to analyze her writing techniques based on some of her poems. 2. The Poetry of the Beat Generation: Allen Ginsbergââ¬â¢s Impact Dwell on the history of the appearance of the Beat movement, its most celebrated representatives, and the key ideas and positions of the Beat Generation. Then, connect this data to the life and activity of Allen Ginsberg who was one of the leading figures of the movement. Mention his social and political activism and influence on the overall activity of the Beat poets. 3. Peculiarities of Shakespeareââ¬â¢s Sonnets Shakespeareââ¬â¢s sonnets remain the most significant examples of poetry, which does not lose relevance and value. Therefore, enumerate the central characteristics of the sonnets, such as rhyme scheme, structure, meter, as well as main characters and themes. Provide some specific examples for each peculiarity and then compare how those sonnets differ from contemporary poetry. 4. The Use of Allusions in Poetry First, you can provide a definition of an allusion and mention some examples of it. Then, you also can analyze specific poems that contain allusions or write about the poets that preferred to include those devices in their works. Finally, write about the role of allusions and the effects that they create when used in specific contexts. 5. The Analysis of Charles Baudelaireââ¬â¢s The Flowers of Evil Dwell on Baudelaires life and work; mention his other works and the literary movement he belonged to. Next, briefly describe the history of the collections creation, and then talk about its peculiarities, the number of poems, the theme, and mention the sections it is broken up into. You can also focus on each part separately and write about the messages they carry. 6. Prose Poetry and Its Main Features Since poetry is not solely about rhyme, and it can have a form of prose, dwell on the main differences between the former and the latter and mention those poets that preferred to write in prose. You can also state the difference between prose and prose poetry, as those are also two different notions. Finally, describe the essential characteristics of prose poetry, paying attention to details. 7. Poetry and Feminism Focus on the history of the appearance of feminist poetry, factors that influenced its creation, central figures, and most celebrated pieces. Furthermore, the ideas and positions of the poets are also worth mentioning. Discuss both feminist poetry of the past and the present and decide upon the central features of both. 8. Jazz Poetry: From Past to Present Jazz can be discussed not only in the context of music but also as a separate genre of poetry. Thus, provide a detailed definition of the notion, talk about its creation, and include the data about its fundamental features. Dwell on its development during the Harlem Renaissance and the Beat Generation as well as modern times. 9. French Poetry of the 19th Century While writing an essay on this topic, make sure you provide information about Romanticism and those poets that influenced the movement. You could research those ideas and visions that had the most significant impact on the creation of the poems. Moreover, it is necessary to discuss the most outstanding writers of the period, their collections of works, and the most remarkable events that had some impact on the movement. 10. Nature and History of Japanese Haiku In this essay, define haiku and talk about its origin and development. Then, enumerate the key figures connected with this type of poetry, such as Buson, Issa, Shiki, and Basho. Finally, this essay can also include data about the form of haiku, its meter, and the number of lines. 11. Poets of Symbolism Numerous poets represent Symbolism, and your task is to discuss their work. Yet, the initial step is to mention what Symbolism is, its history of appearance, and the essential characteristics. After that, you can proceed to analyze the works of such poets as Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, or Arthur Rimbaud. You are free to choose any other poets if you want, yet those three are considered to be the most outstanding figures of the movement. 12. Who Needs Poetry? Discuss your personal understanding of the question while relying on the statements made by acclaimed scholars or poets. You can talk about the practical applications of poetry or focus solely on its aesthetic side. All in all, the person reading your essay should understand the role of poetry in the life of humanity. 13. Emily Dickinson and Gospel Poems Before writing about Dickinsonââ¬â¢s work, dwell on her life path by mentioning the most important details from her life, such as her origin, movements she was involved in, and her most notable works. Even though Dickinson wrote numerous poems, your task is to research the Gospel poems. Thus, define the notion, give examples of those poems, and write about the reception of them in society. 14. The Poetry of the Romantic Period In this essay, include the definition of Romanticism, its origin, and a brief outline of its development. Enumerating the poets that were involved in the movement is vital, yet choose two or three of them for your thorough analysis. After selecting the poets, focus on the techniques they used, ideas and themes of their poems, as well as how their works represent the overall character of the period. 15. Edgar Allan Poe and His Philosophy of Poetry Even though Edgar Allan Poe is a widely known figure, there still is a lot to discover about him. Therefore, try to find the information that may be unknown for an ordinary person; discuss his vision of poetry in details. You may include some citations from his works to illustrate your arguments, as well as dwell on his writing techniques and style. 16. Main Themes of Walt Whitmanââ¬â¢s Poetry Before writing about the themes, write about Whitmanââ¬â¢s life, legacy, and style. Then, enumerate the themes and try to find those poems that can be applied to illustrate them. For instance, mention that the poem ââ¬Å"Ashes of Soldiersâ⬠dwells on the theme of war. Finally, you can also cite some of his poems that most apparently illustrate particular themes. 17. Spoken Word Poetry in the 21st Century Before writing the essay, you can search for the performances of the contemporary poets on YouTube to get inspired. It can help you chose those artists that you will mention in your essay and analyze. For instance, you can write about Sarah and Paul Kay, Neil Hilborn, and others. Finally, write about modern contests of spoken word poetry and its perception in society. 18. The Impact of John Keats on Poetry This essay can include the data about Keatsââ¬â¢ biography, most outstanding works, and his writing techniques. Furthermore, dwell on his impact on the world of poetry in the past and on his perception in the 21st century. You can also write about the letters he wrote, as those influenced a number of other poets of that time. 19. Is Rhyme an Essential Element of Any Poem? Enumerate the critical elements of poetry. Since rhyme is not among them, explain why it is not as important as other elements. In your work, you can mention free verse, prose poetry, and those poets that did not use rhyme in their works. Discuss the structure of free verses and provide examples of the most notable pieces. 20. Blank vs. Free Verse These types of verse are frequently being confused, and your task is to help ordinary people understand the difference between the two. Thus, enumerate the key elements and characteristics of each of them, do not forget to dwell on their differences and similarities, and find examples to support your statements. Conclusion Hence, writing a poetry research paper is not as complicated as it may seem. The key to writing a proper essay is choosing a topic that fascinates you and that you personally want to research. After doing it, make sure that you focus on all the fundamental details, such as historical events, dates, as well as notable poets and their works. When analyzing poems, pay attention to their rhyme, rhythm, meter, form, and the techniques applied by the authors. Besides, you can always refer to various books and scholarly articles related to your topic and cite them to support your arguments. Therefore, after reading the list of topics and ideas, you may choose the one suitable for you and either leave as it is and research it or alter it according to your preference or the task.
Thursday, March 5, 2020
When Should You Start Studying for Your AP Exams
When Should You Start Studying for Your AP Exams SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips So youââ¬â¢re taking a couple AP classes, theyââ¬â¢re going well, and you feel pretty good about most of the material. The exam in May seems a long way off. Do you need to start studying?The answer is, that depends! Every student and every exam is different. However, my general advice is to start studying no later than the midpoint of the school year. (That would be after winter break for most of you.)Why the midpoint of the year? Keep reading to find out! Iââ¬â¢ll also discuss how many hours you should plan to prep based on how the course is going and what score you are aiming for. Then Iââ¬â¢ll present some strategies for determining how you should balance general conceptual review of the material and dedicated exam prep like taking practice exams. Finally, Iââ¬â¢ll make suggestions as to when and how you should study based on overall course subject (math, science, foreign language, and so on.) Note that in this article Iââ¬â¢m going to generally assume that you are taking the class for which you are going to take the AP exam. For self-study, see my article onstudying for AP exams without taking the class. 3 ReasonsYou Should Start Studying for Your AP Exams by the Midpoint of the Year The way I see it, there are three reasons why you should start studying for you AP exams in earnest by the midpoint of the school year. Reason 1: Youââ¬â¢ll Know a Good Amount of Course Material By the middle of the school year, you will have covered enough material in class that you will be able to answer a decent amount of practice questions and problems without wanting to tear your hair out in frustration. If you start looking at AP practice exams in October, you will have only learned a fraction of the course material, so they will be of limited use to you. Reason 2: Avoiding the Cram! The midpoint of the year is also still early enough that you wonââ¬â¢t have to cram for the exam. Youââ¬â¢ll have plenty of time to familiarize yourself with the exam format and make sure you understand all of the course content. A major danger of waiting too late to prep is you might find that thereââ¬â¢s a segment of the course material that you really donââ¬â¢t understand or a section on the test that is very foreign to you, so if you start in the middle of the year, you can be confident youââ¬â¢ll have enough time to fully prepare. The only cramming you should be doing is these delicious cookies into your mouth. Reason 3: Pacing Yourself Another advantage to starting early is that you wonââ¬â¢t necessarily have to spend hours and hours a week studying to hit your target amount of study-hours, which will help you later in the semester when things are busy and you may not be able to devote entire weekends to cramming for an AP exam. If youââ¬â¢re in a particularly content-heavy course, you should probably review class material throughout the first semester so that it stays fresh. In general, though, the midpoint of the year will give you enough time to brush up on the material, identify any gaps in your knowledge, and prepare for the exam format. What If Youââ¬â¢re in a Semester-Long Course? Some schools offer semester-long AP courses. If youââ¬â¢re in one of these, should you still start studying at the midpoint of the year?This depends on when you take the class. If you take the class during the first semester,keep the midpoint of the year as your prep start point. You'll basically start prepping as soon as the class is over. This is for two reasons: first, you will know all the material before you start studying for the exam, so you can take practice tests and write essays without being concerned that there may be questions about material you havenââ¬â¢t studied yet. Secondly, prepping throughout the second half of the yearwill help you remember the material. Keeping it fresh in your mind will be much easier than trying to play catch-up in the few weeks leading up to the exam. If itââ¬â¢s a second-semester only AP course, youââ¬â¢re in less danger of forgetting the material, but you also have less time to study. This is fine. Semester long APs donââ¬â¢t cover as much material as full-year ones, so just so long as you are doing well in the class, you can afford to wait until four to six weeks before the exam to put your studying in full gear. That said, if there are any concepts you arenââ¬â¢t clear about or that seem fuzzy, try to learn them as soon as you realize thereââ¬â¢s an issue. This will save you a lot of heartache during the studying process. Not this kind of fuzzy. How Many Hours Should I Study for My AP Exam? There is no magic number of hours you need to study for an AP exam to get a certain score. There are, though, two main factors that together should give you a rough idea of how many hours you should plan to study. Factor 1: How Youââ¬â¢re Doing in the Course If youââ¬â¢re acing exams and the material clicks with you at an A+ level, you can probably get away with studying around 15 hours for the exam and walking away with a 5 in the bag (Remember, youââ¬â¢re spreading the prep out over a semester, so 15 hours total would only be about an hour and a half a week for ten weeks). If, though, youââ¬â¢re scraping by with a C+ or B- (which is perfectly respectable- these courses are hard!) you may well need to devote 40+ hours to get the same score. (An added bonus is that all of that extra studying will probably raise your course grade.) Factor 2: How Well You Want to Score Obviously the higher you want to score, the more you need to study relative to how you are doing in the course. If youââ¬â¢re aiming for a 3 and youââ¬â¢ve got a B, you may well only need to study for 15 hours to pull it off. If you want a 5, that may be more like 35 hours. See my handy table below, where you can cross-reference the letter grade you have with the score you want on the AP exam and the absolute minimum hours you should plan to study. (I assumed no one is aiming for a grade lower than a 3, the general minimum accepted for college credit.) The more demanding the course is overall, and the more content it covers, the more you should plan to study. Ultimately, only you can truly gauge how much time you need to spend preparing to feel comfortable with your chances of getting your target score. Mimimum Study Time Based on Letter Grade and Target Score 5 4 3 A 15+ 10+ 10+ B 25+ 20+ 15+ C 40+ 30+ 20+ D 60+ 45+ 30+ F 80+ 60+ 40+ As you can see, how many hours you need to study depends on a lot of things- how well you're doing in class, how much material there is, and your skill level in the given components of the test. If youââ¬â¢re great at timed essays, you wonââ¬â¢t need to spend as much time studying for AP Lit and Comp as someone who struggles with them. In general,itââ¬â¢s better to spread your prep out over time- a couple months at least- as opposed to doing massive cramming. Cramming will stress you out, especially in May when you are probably also trying to wrap up projects and study for exams in other classes. Once you have an idea of how many hours you will need to study for the exam, how should you spend those hours? Read on for my recommendations on balancing general review of the course material with dedicated exam prep. Study slow and steady like a snail. Say that five times fast. General Review vs. Dedicated Exam Prep: How Much of Each? Once you determine how much time youââ¬â¢re going to spend studying, you need to decide how youââ¬â¢re going to spend that time. There are, generally speaking, two kinds of studying you can do for the AP. You can review the material the course is based on, or you can prepare specifically for the exam by taking practice questions, writing practice essays, and so on. Obviously, to do well on the exam, you need to have a good grasp on the material. But understanding the material is not always enough to ace the exam. Many AP exams have portions that test special skills, like the DBQ on the history exams, so itââ¬â¢s good to prep for the actual format of the exam as well. Understanding the material is like the foundation, and doing well on the exam is like building a strong house on that foundation. So how should you split your exam prep time? What should you focus on? In general, I would focus more on reviewing the material when you first start studying, especially if you decide to do any studying during the first semester. Before you know a decent amount of material, taking practice tests etc will just be frustrating, because there will be a lot of questions you have no idea how to answer. As you pass the midpoint of the class, you can start to familiarize yourself with the exam format. Familiarity with the format will become more critical as time goes on. So the closer you get to the day of the exam, the more the balance will shift from material review to exam prep. That way youââ¬â¢ll know youââ¬â¢ve got a strong foundation before you start trying to build a house on it! You might also (politely!) ask your teacher what you will be doing in the course to prep for the AP specifically. If you are going to be doing a lot of dedicated exam prep exercises during class time, you may not need to do quite as much outside. If you are just trying to race headlong through the material so you arenââ¬â¢t still learning on WWI material on exam day, youââ¬â¢ll know it will be pretty much up to you to familiarize yourself with the exam format. Remember, regardless of what you learn in the classroom, it will be you taking that exam on test day, so you are ultimately responsible for your own prep. Now that weââ¬â¢ve discussed balancing conceptual reviews and dedicated prep, I have some more specific recommendations based on the examââ¬â¢s general subject matter. You are as majestic as this crane, and better-prepared for the AP exam. When and How To Start Studying for AP Exams Based on Course Content The general guidelines Iââ¬â¢ve given so far will hold for most, if not all, AP exams. Still, it is worth calling out that the best way to use your study time, and when you should ideally think about preparation, will vary quite a lot among exams. In the following section I give my study recommendations based on the general subject matter of the course. When and How to Start Studying for Math AP Tests In general, math coursework is cumulative- everything you learn builds on what you learned before. So the single most important thing you can do for prepping for an exam like AP Calculus is to make sure you learn concepts as soon as it is clear you are struggling with them. If you do poorly on a test in class, the time to try to learn that material is decidedly not in the two weeks leading up to the AP exam, itââ¬â¢s right after you realize you donââ¬â¢t get it. There is no shame in this! There are some hard, hard concepts in these classes.Overall, making sure you really learn the material as you go along is the best thing you can do for your AP exam score. So basically, the time to start studying for a Math AP is immediately, by making sure you know the material backwards and forwards as it is being presented to you. When and How to Start Studying for Science AP Tests Most of the science APs- Chemistry, Physics, and Biology- cover a lot of material and have reputations for being fairly difficult. This is another category where studying right from the get-go is quite important, and where content is probably more important than test format. Donââ¬â¢t get me wrong- it will still help you to be familiar with the general format of the exam- but most of your energy should be focused on making sure you understand all of the huge swathes of material throughout the year. Focus on content throughout the year, and format after the midpoint. Space: the final frontier that's not your AP exam. When and How to Start Studying for Foreign Language AP Tests To build a strong foundation in a foreign language, constant practice is the name of the game. If your high school class is pretty intensive, you may not have to study quite as much outside, although brushing up on vocab and grammar rules occasionally to stay sharp is a good idea. It will also help you to do things like watch TV or movies in the language you are studying, and to read books. It will definitely help you to do dedicated AP test prep, but the most important thing is bringing your language skills as close to fluency as you can, and you can work throughout the year to do this. Itââ¬â¢s also fairly common to take a foreign language AP in a language that you grew up speaking at home. This means you probably already have a phenomenal foundation in the language, but you should still prepare. For one thing, you should brush up on all those pesky grammar rules; it can be surprisingly difficult to remember the specific grammar rules for a language you have mastered. You should also practice writing timed essays.Fluency wonââ¬â¢t carry you all the way if you canââ¬â¢t give the AP graders what they want. When and How to Start Studying for English AP Tests The most important thing you can do to practice for the two English AP exams is timed essay practice. You should hone your timed essay skills for all of the different kinds of essays that appear on a given exam, and carefully study the rubric. This is an exam area where general subject mastery of English is certainly helpful, but developing AP-rubric-specific timed essay-writing skills will make a huge difference in ultimate success. So when should you start writing practice essays? I would advise getting your start fairly early in the year- around or even before the midpoint- so you can gauge how much additional practice you should put in throughout the year. If things are going well, youââ¬â¢ll know you wonââ¬â¢t need as many outside-of-class prep hours. When and How to Start Studying for History AP Tests A main challenge with learning historical material is that it can be fairly siloed: you learn about the Civil War and then donââ¬â¢t come back to it, you learn the French Revolution inside and out and then wonââ¬â¢t be tested again until the AP, and so on. This is why keeping historical information fresh is essential, and you should be doing it throughout the year. You may need to do more dedicated content review for AP History exams, and start reviewing old content earlier than for any other AP, simply because so much of the exam relies on your ability to recall historical facts and details. Obviously, a sense of overall historical trends is very important, but an occasional dip back into your textbook will go a long way towards helping you remember the peskier little details. Pesky details like whoever this lady is. When to Start Studying for AP Exams - Conclusions So as you can see, when exactly you need to start studying for your AP exam depends on several factors.In general, the latest you should start studying for the exam is during the midpoint of the school year. The number of hours you should plan to devote to studying depends both on how you are doing in the course and what your target score is. Reviewing conceptual material is more important earlier in the year, while specific AP exam prep becomes more salient later on.How much to weigh one or the other depends on the specific exam and your own knowledge and skill level. Itââ¬â¢s a lot to consider. But if you study as you go and balance content review with dedicated test prep, you can go into the test with confidence. What's Next? Need help registering for your upcoming AP exams? Check out our article on registering for AP tests and classes. Still considering which AP classes to take next year? Let us help you with our AP class schedule planning guide. If you're taking the SAT this year, be sure to check out our guide to the new SAT, which was offered for the first time on March 5th of this year! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Techniques of Effective Discipline Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Techniques of Effective Discipline - Term Paper Example But if an employee fails to respect these rules, the employeeââ¬â¢s behavior needs to be corrected. The entire purpose of discipline is to improve the employeeââ¬â¢s behavior, and hence in turn improving work performance. This relationship is considered the most important factor that governs effective discipline in the work environment. If a manager gets along well with his employee and they develop an understanding, life in the workplace becomes fairly easy. A good manager would take time to go through the work of the employee and would not hesitate to give positive as well as negative feedback. This would motivate the employee to improve and actually perform better. For example: if a manager were to give negative feedback, point out mistakes and rebuff the employee, everytime he submitted an assignment, and not compliment the employee for submitting it before the deadline or even when he did a good job , then obviously the employee would be extremely demotivated and would not try to improve. Hence, it is extremely essential for the manager to be supportive, helpful and encouraging so that the employee strives to do a better job. Whenever an employee makes a mistake the manager should explain what went wrong and then guide the employee on how to correct the mistake. This not only motivates the employee but it could help to make him enjoy his work. Positive reinforcement is one of the primary techniques in effective discipline and one the most successful one. It is a known fact that people work harder and better when they are rewarded for doing something right than when they are punished to do something wrong (B.F.Skinner, 2011). If an employee has never been late to work or has always submitted his assignments on time, the manager should praise him in the monthly meeting so that he keeps up the good work. Not only that, other employees might learn from
Monday, February 3, 2020
Labour Market in the United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Labour Market in the United Kingdom - Essay Example The employment pattern in Britain is however different today. With over 70 per cent of the population in United Kingdom classified as being in work, there has been a notable trend of movement towards part-time employment from full-time employment (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998). Worth noting is the fact that the number of women in employment in steadily increasing. For instance, women accounted for just over half all part-time employment in 1998 (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998). Moreover, it was estimated that in the same year 45 per cent of women in United Kingdom were in part time employment as compared to 8 per cent of men. Additionally, the flexibility of the labour market in United Kingdom allows people to have more than one job. For example, nearly 1.3 million people had two or more jobs by 1998 (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998) Although changes in the labour market in the United Kingdom have been towards a more open and non-discriminatory system, there has been criticism that the market employs a "voluntaristic" tradition (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998). However, some economists view the labour market as a form of free market. In such a setting, there is freedom for employers to implement meaningful utilization of labour while avoiding impracticable and induced level of labour costs (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998). Furthermore, the free labour market attracts inward investment in United Kingdom (Mabey, Salaman, & Storey 1998). In contradistinction, it is noteworthy that a very flexible labour market may compromise work relations or undermine worker output. As Mabey, Salaman, and Storey (1998) noted, employers in the free about market may seek low-cost strategies to access labour. Such a move would result in underinvestement in training, poor skills at work, low pay for the workers and fierce competition at the lower level of the labour market [Streeck 1992, cited in Mabey, Salaman, and Storey (1998)]. From the aforementioned perspectives, it is worth noting that the effects of transformation in the labour market in United Kingdom in the past decade are amenable to discussion. While some changes have brought plausible benefits, some have caused compromise in the workplace employee relations (Blyton & Turnbull 2004). As noted above, a flexible labour market encourages employer-independence in making decisions. Nevertheless, since the market is subject to competition, employers may use strategies such as pay adjustments to win employees. As such, employers may pay their employees based on performance (Blyton & Turnbull 2004). Effects of flexible labour market Although the free labour market allows employers freedom to employ without constraint, employers have to comply with the minimum wage directive that was introduced in 1997 (Howell 2005). Moreover, the flexibility in the labour market has caused a significant drop in the number of members joining trade unions. For example, while 49 over cent of the workforce in the United Kingdom were registered with labour unions, the figure dropped to 26.8 per cent in 2000 (Howell 2005). This may imply that employees enjoy better work relations currently than in 1980 hence the decline in
Sunday, January 26, 2020
The Background Information Of Malaysia Airlines Marketing Essay
The Background Information Of Malaysia Airlines Marketing Essay Malaysian Airlines System Berhad (MAS) is the holding company for Malaysias national airline carrier, one of Asias fastest growing airlines. Through several other subsidiaries, the company manufactures aircraft parts, offers trucking and cargo transportation services, caters food, provides laundry and dry-cleaning services for airlines and other industrial institutions, and oversees a travel agency. Company Chairman Tajudin Ramli owns a significant share in Malaysian Airlines System (MAS), and the Malaysian government retains a strong voice in MAS affairs. In the premium market segment, MAS is under tremendous pressure from full service carriers (FSCs) who are striding ahead with first class products, new and modern aircraft, and fast-expanding routes. On the other hand, in the price driven market segment, MAS is also strongly pushed by low cost carriers (LCCs) with low fares. In a nutshell, MAS must reinvent itself to fend off competition from FSCs and LCCs. MAS aspires to become the Worlds Five Star Value Carrier. MAS believe that they have to reinvent themselves to achieve this vision. C:UsersmicDownloadsmas.jpg 3.0 Situation Analysis 3.1 General Environment Analysis Demographic segment The demographic segment is about the population size, age structure, geographic distribution, ethnic mix and income distribution. Malaysia is a multiracial country and its population comprises of 28.6 million of people. The government aims for increasing the national population to seventy million by the year 2100. There is 63.8 percent of the population lives in urban area while only 36.2 percent of population love in rural area. The passenger load factor (PLF) of an airline, is a measure of how much of an airlines passenger carrying capacity is used. It is passenger-kilometersà flown as a percentage ofà available. The PLF of Malaysia is 67.8, 60.7 for Asia, 74.9 for Europe and Middle East, 73.6 for Australia and New Zealand, 72.6 for Africa and South America, 60.6 for Orient and North America. Besides, Malaysia is recently introduce a new policy which with the purpose of making the Malaysia to become the high income nation. This significant policy had show the increase of Malaysian income in the future time. Sociocultural Segment The labor force in Malaysia has been increased from year 2003 to year 2010. It reached a capacity of 11.38 million of people in the year 2010. http://www.indexmundi.com/malaysia/labor_force.html. It is found that the youths who are in between of the age of 15 to 34 basically make up the largest labour force in Malaysia. They are makeup of 42.5% of the total population, roughly 9.75 million of people. http://www.mtuc.org.my/young_workers.htm. It is also found that the women in the workforce have increased. This is due to the reason that a lot of countries have endorsed legislation such as Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act to protect the women in the workforce. Besides, there are many reasons to explain why the women have increased in the workforce. For example, women are more educated and more skilled. http://www.strategic-human-resource.com/women-in-the-workplace.html. There are various type of airline careers offer in the airline industry, such as pilot, captain, copilot, second officer or flight engineer, flight attendant, flight dispatcher, and meteorologist. Airline industry employs those people with highly diversified skills regardless of the sex. It is proved that the flight attendants like the stewardess or steward symbolize the major job sector in the airline industry. For instance, there are nearly 80000 flight attendants in United States airline industry. http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/airline-careers.html However, it is found that the age discrimination cases have been happened in the United States airlines. According to the pilots required retirement policy such as Age 60 Rule, pilots are forced to retire at age 60. This is because the airline industry believed that the pilots are not able to perform the job well at the age of 60. They believed that the pilots are place the airline company and the passengers in danger if they are permit to fly. http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/airline-careers.html Global Segment Airlines have participated in globalization and consolidation. They link their network through the establishment of alliances and partnerships to expand the access to their customers. For example, the world aviation market is shared between the global alliances such as KLM or North West, Atlantic Excellence alliance, STAR, and British Airways or American Airlines alliance. http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/airlineindustry.html The airlines industry has targeted some relevant new long term global market in order to expand their services such as Asia Pacific and China, South Asia, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania (Australasia). It is believed that most of the airlines keep the new global market in Asia Pacific and China. This is due to reason that China has grown promptly and the urbanization of China had caused it became the dynamic aviation markets. The urban population has been increased from 302 million in year 1990 to 622 million in years 2009. It is expected the population will come up to one billion by year 2025. Besides, the domestic passenger traffic is projected to grow on an average rate of 7.9% in China. Boeing, as the Chinas leading provider of passenger airplanes, predicts that about 71% of the demand in China is the single-aisle airplanes with the full deliveries of 3090. http://www.globalintelligence.com/insights-analysis/asia-news-update/asia-news-update-november-19-2010/malaysia- malaysian-airline-eyes-indian-chinese-mar/ http://www.boeing.com/commercial/cmo/china.html Physical Environment Segment The great majority of the airlines have developed their own comprehensive programmed to reduce the environmental footprint and produce a more environmentally product. Based on the research, the members of alliance in the airline industry have enhance the fuel efficiency of the aircraft and create not as much of greenhouse gases like the old aircraft and are quieter. Basically, there are some international industry bodies like IATA (the International Air Transport Association), Association of European Airlines, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, the USAs Air Transport and others are fully support the environmental activities. Based on the global perspective, there is fewer than 2 percent of the worlds total carbon dioxide which produce by the airline industry being released. The passenger aircraft nowadays are more environmentally friendly as it is 70 percent more fuel efficient than 40 years ago. For example, Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner are more fuel efficient aircraft. In addition, the noise footprint which produces by the aircraft is naturally 50% more quiet than those aircraft in ten years ago. According to IATA, airlines are planning to improve the fuel efficiency of the aircraft and carbon dioxide emissions in another 25 percent more. It is also plan that in the coming year 2025, the fuel efficiency of the aircraft will be improved in another 30 percent. http://es.oneworld.com/enes/ow/news-and-information/fact-sheets/fact-sheet?objectID=35tempURLParam= http://www.travelgreen.org/industry_landing2.htm?select_industry2_id=33 Technological Segment There are many airlines currently using proprietary check in systems which will convert all its check-counter to the ARINCs MUSE common-use system. City Airport, Logis Travel (CALT) can make better use of its available counter space because it will help to provide a convenient in town check in. The improvement of the check in counters at CALT is economically feasible. In addition, many of the airlines involved already have experience with ARINCs MUSE technology at Incheon and Gimpo. They will be able to make the transition at CALT with little extra cost. http://www.arinc.com/news/2010/10-07-10-vmuse-seoul.html Besides, technology also can be used to enhance customer relations. It will help to create convenience for consumers. The industry can offer travelers a web interface customized to a specific type of travel. The web interface can direct the customer to services with the desire benefits but cost a little more. Other than that, the automated check in machines is available in some airlines. Travelers can swipe a credit card through the automated check in machines as identification and print out their tickets instead of checking in with airport staff. The new technology also helps airlines to track lost luggage. There are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems which will help to enhance aircraft unit loading devices and help boost security. http://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/new-technology-helps-airlines-track-lost-luggage-1.703356 Economic Segment A low cost airline generally has many features that differentiate it from the traditional carriers. These features include ticketless travel, online ticket sales, no international offices, no frequent flyer points, no free food and beverages, no in-flight magazines, no club lounges and use of secondary city airports. In the early economic regulation of airlines, the government is concerned more on their participation in the airmail system. The Air Mail Act of 1925 allowed the U.S. government to pay airlines for carrying the mails. http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/Econ_Reg/POL16.htm Besides that, Air Asia was re-launched in Malaysia as a low fare and low cost domestic airline. Air Asia is promoting low fare of Indonesia Malaysia trip which will help it to open the Indonesia market. It will help Air Asia to rise up the economic growth. Air Asia also provides its services between Singapore and Bangkok by introducing a 2nd daily flight to its existing schedule. Air Asia is offering its guests promotional fares to/from Singapore-Bangkok which is much lower than the lowest fare SGD$56 offered by full service carrier. It will help Air Asia to open the Singapore market. Political / Legal Segment Airlines political action committee is a huge donor when compared it with those big companies in other industries. For example, Singapore Airline is currently facing or might face political strategies in near future. SIA could face problems of entering the new markets like China and increase market share in existing network. It is because many airlines are still government owned and much of the trade in aviation services is still controlled by governments. Besides that, Thai Air Asia is a joint venture which is established by Air Asia with the Shin Corp. Shin Corp is owned by the family of Thailands Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra. There are about 900 million baht will be invested in Thai Air Asia over a five-year period. Shin Corp oversees the finance and administration of Thai Air Asia while Air Asia shoulders the responsibility for marketing and operations. Shin Corp has financial strength which will help to support Air Asia to grow. Therefore, Air Asia with its politically pow erful may well grow up to bite. (function() { var scribd = document.createElement("script"); scribd.type = "text/javascript"; scribd.async = true; scribd.src = "https://www.scribd.com/javascripts/embed_code/inject.js"; var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(scribd, s); })() 3.2 Porters Five Forces Analysis Threat of new entrants As justify form the environment, any new company or organization to entering this airline industry is not easy due to the several kinds of entry barriers may discourage competitors from entering a market. The level of barriers to entry depends on the customer loyalty. For example, customers from Malaysia Airlines who is significant in brand loyalty will result the high switching costs towards other airline company. Exception for the price sensitive customers, they may prefer cheaper price flight tickets. Besides, capital requirements for a new company to start up the airline business are huge. New entrant or infant company has to spend a large capital to compete with existing airlines due to the fail of participate in economies of scale. The cost of setting up of offices, buying or leasing aircraft, hiring pilots and others staffs like air stewardess is a fix cost which create a high barrier for the new entrants. Infant firm or industry require a long time period to significant their products or services differentiation, such as Full Service Carriers (FSC) in Malaysia Airline. Through government policy, governments can also control new firm to participant in airline industry. Government high level of protection towards the major airline may result many new firm unable to meet the requirements and regulations and enter the industry. Thus, threat of entry towards the airline industry is high. Bargaining power of suppliers Power of suppliers is important as it will directly affect the industry. In airline industry, the power of supplier is moderate result from there are only two major supplier which are Airbus and Boeing so most of the firm like Malaysia Airline (MAS), Singapore Airline (SIA) and others need to buy the aircrafts from them. The satisfactory substitute products are low make the larger of power in suppliers. In addition, industry firms are not a significant customer for supplier group. The suppliers good is important to the MAS in order to obtain a success in market place. Power of buyers Buyers are one of the factors which will impact to industry. Nowadays, price sensitive customers are increase directly. On the other hand, number of customers who is concern the services differentiation is rise and result low cost oriented and full service carrier oriented. Customers purchase the only small portion of the industrys output and do not large participate in the company annual sales. Besides, buyer or customers will obtain a high switching cost in terms of loyalty result from the MAS superior services performance. Thus, the bargaining power of buyers low to Malaysia Airline. Threat of substitute Threat of substitute is substitute is product or service which can replace the original products or service. Not only the others airlines, customers also can choose others transportation system such as train, bus and ferries but air travel is more convenient and faster compare with other transportation. Businesses which require a faster and safe journey may choose airline cargo as their transportation. Intensity rivalry among competitors In this case, the threat of rivalry is high to the Malaysia Airline. This is because various large equally balanced competitors such as Air Asia, Tiger Airway, Singapore Airline and etc are provide almost the similar services. As a result, high rivalry to the MAS because more firms must compete with same customers and resources. Besides, lack of differentiation product is difficult to compete with other firm. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) have successfully differentiated their product as full services carrier and have less rivalry. Rivalry in slow industry growth becomes more intense as firms battle to increase their market shares. The main competitors of MAS are Asian carrier like Singapore Airlines. So MAS intends to reassess the effectiveness of its route network both international and domestic. This involves reviewing the viability of the existing fare structure and routes and the realigning of its aircraft capacity to markets that offer the greatest opportunities. Home http://www.hicbusiness.org/biz2003proceedings (journal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines 3.4 SWOT analysis based on stakeholder groups Capital market stakeholders Strengths Based on the market stakeholders, MAS have diversified their revenues stream to avoid uncertainty. It generates revenues from various areas, for example which is deal with freighter flights and aircraft cargo hold (Scribd, n.d.). Moreover, MAS had diversified into related industries such aircraft ground handling, aircraft leasing, aviation engineering, air catering and tour operations. This can lead to MAS to maintain a consistent growth and give a competitive edge. Next, MAS had improving in yield which can be defined as the revenue per revenue passenger kilometer (RRPK). There are two significant projects which are the Route Profitability Project (RPP) and the Revenue Enhancement Project (REP) had been implemented by MAS in order to increase their revenue (Datamonitor, 2008). Regardless of minor decrease in load factors, the yield had more improvement as compared to the compensated for the decreases of load factor. This had shown that the Revenue per Available Seat Kilometer (RASK) has also increased by 14 per cent (Datamonitor, 2008). As a result, there is an evidence shown that a strong increase in the profit and the efficiency of MAS. Weaknesses Besides, MAS was reporting negative cash flow from the operations in their company over the past couple of years. In 2005, the negative cash flow of MAS was about $ 157.2 million (Datamonitor, 2008). However, in the fiscal year of 2006, MAS had reported net cash outflows of estimated $ 41.6 million from their operating activities (Datamonitor, 2008). This affect MAS financial health as the cash flow continuous is negative. The negative cash flow will also tightened the cash resources and limit the liquidity of cash for working capital needs. While many businesses were go through many losses and difficulties in the related industries, MAS still using a huge amount of capital to run its business effectively for providing an excellence services for their customer (Scribd, n.d.). Consequently, the risk that incurred by MAS in the future is very high and the possibility for MAS to having a loss will be increase. Product market stakeholders Weaknesses Even though MAS had its humble beginning in the golden age of travel but this airline will still having some weaknesses in their business. MAS as a 5 star international airline needed higher cost for the maintenance and convenience (Scribd, n.d.). Therefore, customers purchase will be affected due to the effect in the real cost of airline tickets. This can lead to MAS only focus on the market with high income. However, there is not many people can effort to pay for the cost for flying to other country because of this higher price in airline tickets. Opportunities MAS had the chances to introduce a new concept of flying with MAS due to the customers different needs and desires in the term of buying (Scribd, n.d.). The different needs and desires of customers are because of the several factors such as demographic, geographic and psychographic factor. Thus, customers are human beings which can be easily to have a change in their life. For example, MAS had introduce hot meal boxes which offer several favorites such as nasi lemak and nasi goreng kampong to respond the preferences of customer while they are continuing to optimize the aircraft utilization in line (Scribd, n.d.). Furthermore, MAS had been approved to launch Firefly which was a new low-cost community in the March of 2007 (Datamonitor, 2008). MAS as a parent airline for Firefly allowed Firefly to take over its B737-411s to serve more primarily secondary airports in the country and also within the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (Emmanuel, 2010). Thus, MAS can regain their market share which had lost in the recent years on local and regional routes as compared to its low-cost competitors like Air Asia. This is a chance for MAS to look at returning to a path of growth. Also, MAS has a very strong existence in the Asia. It can cover many regional destinations and various destinations in the country like China, Japan, India and the Middle East where there are higher in demand for air travel (Datamonitor, 2008). The increased in the demand for air travel will drive MAS to emerging in the Asian country like China and India (Datamonitor, 2008). Therefore, the revenues earn by MAS from the Asian region will increased. Threats There are some negative elements from the outside of the organization which will affect MAS in the aviation industry. Jet fuel is an important portion of the operating expenditure of all airlines. The increasing in the price of jet fuel will affect the bottom lines of most of the airlines in the world. MAS are also included due to the sharply increased in the price of jet fuel (Datamonitor, 2008). As a result, the margins of MAS will come under pressure. Organizational market stakeholders Strengths MAS have provided several strengths based on the organizational market stakeholders that reflect companys competencies and capabilities of their core business in the aviation industry. MAS have established a strong brand image which is being highly recognized in the local market and the international market (Miller, 2010). In order to build a strong brand image, MAS had provides excellence services to all of their customers around the globe. With the excellence services provided by MAS, it had won the Staff Service Excellence for Asia award. In the year of 2010, MAS was known as the winner of the Worlds Best Economy Class Award at the 2010 World Airline Awards (Miller, 2010). In addition, MAS have a strong and better designed in their organizational structure. Their management team is talented and plays the significant responsibility in planning and controlling their action in the service system in order to carry out the excellence brand experience (Scribd, n.d.). Management teams of MAS always have their own strategy to overcome the difficulties and losses. Besides, they also can make sure that they have the ability to improve their service quality. Weaknesses The poor management and inefficiency of the management team and network are the weakness to the MAS organizational market stakeholders. Some employees tend to read from the newspapers, media and rumors from their friends when MAS had incurred billions of losses in 2005 (Lian, 2010). The staff of MAS were discussed the issue in the closed room. It is not a healthy environment for MAS because the level of trust and confident between the management and employees are very low. Opportunities Moreover, technology developments had led the MAS Company to effectively manage their knowledge in management. As a result, MAS employees will gain rapid learning and greater intelligence that will lead to the generation and sustenance of competitive advantage (Foon Eurn, 2009). Besides, the advancement in technology can replace several inadequate legacy accounting system and thus it help MAS to enhance their quality and relevance information for management in making decision and important reduction in manpower (Foon Eurn, 2009).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)