Managing Stress in the workplace

DISCUSS TOPIC:

Stress in the workplace is a major problem. What are some reasons why stress is increasing in the workplace?

Layoffs:

In today’s working class is struggling to find and keep work. With unemployment reaching 10% Americans need jobs. The tough economy is then in turn demands companies make cuts to stay in the black. This causes great stress on the work and their position is valued. It is their lively hood and how they provide for their family. Many positions are getting cut and employees are left jobless.

Managers might not have any choice in this season, as funds are limited. At the same time managers could, look into other areas that they could cut to keep employees in their positions. Consider how companies could cut a great bit of overhead by shifting many employees to work from off site locations. Years ago this option seemed a bit more difficult, but with high-speed Internet and computer technology working in a virtual environment is pretty seamless. Dollars saved in overhead could be applied to wages and give the company a new virtual edge.

Lack of Compensation:

Today’s employees are very frustrated with their wages. As the prices of goods and services have continued to rise, the wage of the worker has remained pretty much the same. Many employees today are not receiving the bonuses; health benefits, retirement plans and annual raises that were once considered common place in any position. In fact employees are seeing that their marginal raises barely cover inflation of goods from year to year.

The truth of the matter is that the rate of compensation is rising slower than the rate if inflation. Mangers may not have the funds to financially compensate their employees, but they can still compensate them. Insensitive programs, lottery pools, verbal affirmation, special recognition and contests are just a few things a manager could put into place to try to help employees feel valued, when the wage is not enough.

Raising Expectation: In an 8 hour workday, which is an hour longer than it was 50 years ago, the expectation of higher production is continually on the backs of employees. Technology has spoiled the work environment with instant results. An employee has the information at their fingertips. The expectation has followed technology as employers expect employees to produce significantly more with continual growth. Also, there is now the instant availability and employees can never get away from work. They are taking phone calls, emails, and working round the clock.

While pushing productivity is important to business growth it is important for managers to see their employees as humans, not machines. Setting goals is important, and pushes employees to work hard. At the same time to continually raise the bar will eventually burn out employees. Managers need to keep a healthy balance in mind and compensate long days and long hours. Some managers may even celebrate a the tough season in the slow season and take staff on trips, or have office parties. This is also a way to recognize the hard work and effort.

Resources:

AIO Classroom, Organizational Psychology | PS4010 XB. Week 6 Web. 21 September 2011.

Bunner, B. (n.d). Discussion about Modern Management. Warehouse Manager.
Interview. 22 September 2011.

Managment and Change

DISCUSS TOPIC:

Change is difficult for everyone because it is often seen as threatening. Give specific reasons why change and willingness to be flexible are important to modern management. Use outside references and the readings to support your argument.

Higher efficiency: New systems are continually being implement to streamline production and create greater efficiency. Many companies are learning the value of new management systems that help manage time, projects and people. Sigma 6 is one of the many that helped revolutionize GE and had become one of the major systems that larger companies implement. 

Competition: As businesses progress and companies move forward change is necessary to keep a competitive edge. If management is unmovable and set in their ways the company will miss the needs of their target market. Consider how landline companies had to switch their direction to stay in the market. ATT now offers Internet, cable, and wireless devices. Cable TV had to push their technologies forward as well too. And cell phones change almost on a weekly basis.

New information and technology: Every company is implementing new technology continually. One of the greatest new pieces many companies have added to there systems is the ipad. Implementing this new device has streamlined efficiently and communication greatly. Also considering how smart phones are essential to today’s businessperson. Their calendars, contacts, presentations and more are all so much easier to access with advancing devices.

Mergers and Takeover: Companies these days are merging and switching full management systems. If you were unable to flexible and move with the change you would be lost in the changes. From banks, grocery stores, automotive companies, and even advertising agencies all are experiencing mergers and takeovers. Managers must be willing to implement new systems and to meet the needs of the new and or adjusted department.

Resources:

AIO Classroom, Organizational Psychology | PS4010 XB. Week 6 Web. 21 September 2011.

Bunner, B. (n.d). Discussion about Modern Management. Warehouse Manager.
Interview. 22 September 2011.

Challenges with Direct Mail

Direct mail first off has very low return rate. “For a targeted direct mail campaign, you should see an average response rate of 2-5%” (Direct Mail Response Rate Tips, 2011). This means for 5000 Pieces were sent out a 2% response would mean 100 responses. In my opinion this is very low. Considering the cost clients with a low budget may want to consider a different approach, as the amount need to invest is rather significant for a reasonable response. The price invested is in production of the mailer piece as well as the posting. Also if there is a promotional offer or gift that can be redeemed, that is an added expences. The key question is how to make the response rate higher?
A very competitive offer is a good place to start. It is a sad but true fact that people are not very interested unless they are getting something out of the piece. The direct mail piece needs to grab the audience’s attention and call them to action. For me personally I end up handing most direct mail pieces to my 3-year-old daughter. She likes the color, images, and it keeps her entertained for about 4 minutes. Unless they have a great offer, or something that strikes me, (grabbing my attention) the piece will end up in her little hands.  Even if the mailer is to inform people about an upcoming event, sale, or promotion there needs to a reason to motivate the viewer to take action. Coupons and money saving offers are a great place to start.
Another vital part of direct mail is making sure the contact information is available. Yes, we know pretty much anyone can jump online and do a few searches and figure it out, but why add the extra challenge? Contact information is essential to an effective call to action. Taking this a step further is making sure there is a web addresses and social media. The web is the modern day yellow pages. You could take it one step further and add a QR code for those with a smart phone that want to play with this fad.
Urgency is another essential aspect to add to a direct mailer. If there is no sense of urgency, the mailer is likely to be filed away never to be seen again or the packrat individual will show up with your mailer 3 years later and be annoyed that you are no longer extending the offer. Making the mailer urgent also adds a sense of excitement, and a call to action now. For example, “This weekend Grand Opening! FREE fuel card to the first 50 shoppers!” This means if you want some free gas, you need to get there first.
These of course are the basic essential elements for successful direct mailers. Keep in mind also getting an accurate target mailing list is also helpful. For example I have a client that does mailers for his automotive repair shop. He buys a mailing list for all German automobile owners in a surrounding 100-mile radius. This focuses his advertising to the local area and individual that would be interested in his specific services. Also he always gives money saving offers.




Works Cited:
Birchell, MaKenzie. "4 Big Direct Mail Mistakes | Bluewater Blog." Integrated Direct Marketing Solution - Bluewater. Web. 27 Sept. 2011. .
"Direct Mail Response Rate Tips." Small Business Marketing Tips. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. .

Effective Direct Mailer Concepts

DISCUSS TOPIC:

Will your direct mail campaign be viewed as just another piece of junk mail? Discuss some of the strategies learned from your reading as well as ideas you've developed that could save a direct mail campaign from being automatically tossed in the trash.

Overview:

The stats are against direct mail especially if an organization is not able to afford the volume to get the low rate of return to show the needed numbers. This means some creative ideas are in order to generate a better return and get the public to delay disposal of the direct mail piece.

1. Using the Famous:

The first idea is to locate some sharp looking celebrities with great teeth, probably some one on the red carpet looking very glamorous. The concept is that “You don’t have to be a celebrity to have a nice smile…” Images could be located on http://www.shutterstock.com and as long as the printed number was less then 250,000 the price for the photography would be rather affordable. To make this concept successful the celebrity would need to be a more popular one. Kids might connect with Justin Bieber, while generation-X might be drawn more to Megan Fox, or Ryan Reynolds. My wife claims women of all ages like George Clooney. The bottom line to this concept is that people would see the celebrity and think of this glorified individual. We would play on their emotions as we are saying the dental care will make them one step closer to this ‘godlike’ individual. Think of how teens have posters of these individuals plastered across their bedrooms. Using a popular celebrity face would defiantly slow the trip to the trash.

2. Special Offer:

My gut reaction is a special offer will always get someone in the door or at least delay throwing away the promotional. But as dental offices are giving away free whitening, cleanings, and x-rays like it is going out of style, one would think that there would never be anyone missing dental care or not establishing a dental home.

This offers have almost given ruined the public for direct mail as there is always a catch. My wife for example went for her free exam and the dentist claimed to find 6 cavities and wanted $2500. Funny she had never had a cavity before in her life.

The offer would need to be clear and not have hidden addenda.  For me I would like to know that I could get in the door and out with the service without getting hammered with a bill. “A free first visit” might be in order. The service and experience would key to retain the client and make them want to return. Also booking the follow up in 6 months would need to happen to help establish the relationship and dental home.

3. Stuff For Kids:

Kids love to get stuff in the mail. If the mailer was directed at children it might prove to stay in the home out of the trash for the longest amount of time. I would consider some type of folded piece that has stickers and was a chart that children could place by their toothbrush, or even hold the toothbrush. They could track their brushing, and flossing and it would help count down to the next dental appointment. This would help remind the child of their next dental visit and they would be excited as the completed chart could offer some “great prize” for healthy brushing habits.

Conclusion:

I think a combination of all of these concepts would be the best solution. Marketing should be directed at the children. The piece should be some type of thing that helps them remember to brush and practice good dental habits. If the piece showed a good track record the child would get a prize and free dental cleaning this would be Incentive for the child and parents both. Taking this one step further finding a relatively inexpensive character to help endorse the promotion would be the best touch, but could be costly. Most cartoon characters are branded with copyright. It might almost be easier to develop a new character, but that removes the “I know them” concept from the piece. For example, if my daughter got a piece in the mail with Dora, or Elmo on it saying to brush her teeth, she would be more drawn to the piece than if a everyday cartoon dog was on the piece. This being the case still combining the concepts would aid in creating a solid piece that would offer great motivation to both child and parent.

Pros and Cons of Branding

Branding may hurt or help a nonprofit organization in marketing pieces. Many nonprofit organizations do not have the dollars to create and support a strong use of their branding. Organizations tie up dollars more in operations and fulfillment and therefore have no funds left to put toward the image or branding of their association. This can be good in as it shows people that are donating to the organization that the support is needed and necessary for the future existence. Many companies also might prefer a weaker branded organization that might let their company shine through with great support. Bottom line with poorly branded nonprofit organizations there is some positive depending on the view of the individual. It mainly shows that the organization is struggling and needs help. Some might find that appealing, others may see that as a red flag and take their support elsewhere.

Stronger and more established branding in contrast could be seen as a good thing to many companies. Many companies that want to support a nonprofit want to know their dollars are going to a legit organization that is growing and going to be around for years to come. Having strong branding established helps both supporters and users of the service to know the nonprofit is established and is not going to fall apart in the coming months. Their investment and use of the service is going to be for the “long hall” and not be a wasted investment. They also see the dollars are being use and moving the organization forward and are glad to have their name associated with the success and being part of it.

Taking this a step further, depending on the public’s view of  an organization, if it is involved in a marketing piece it could discourage involvement of some parties. For example, I think of how some conservatives do not like to have anything to do with the Planned Parenthood organization as they perform abortions. Having the Planned Parenthood branding on apiece may strike some individuals to not even take a look at what the piece is trying to communicate. Branding a piece that has nothing to do with abortion but might be loosely tied to Planned Parenthood could make the piece very unsuccessful, depending on the market receiving the pieces.

On a more personal level I recently had a client that wanted nothing to do with a promotional book I was working on cause it was involved with and had a page branded for the Red Cross. For some reason the client wanted nothing to do with this organization and refused to participate.

Resources:

AIO Classroom, Advanced Computer Graphics | GDE406 P04. Week 3, Web. 10 October 2011.

"Marketing a Non-Profit Brand." Ries' Pieces. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. .

"Nonprofit Branding: Unveiling the Essentials." GuideStar Nonprofit Reports and Forms 990 for Donors, Grantmakers and Businesses. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. .

Bluebeard - Points of view.

In the 1697 story ‘Bluebeard’, written by Charles Perrault, a story is painted of a very wealthy man that is considered terribly ugly because of his blue beard. He was so ugly and frightening women would actually run from him. In addition to his horrible looks there were rumors that he had been married many times previous, and nobody knew what had happened to his wives.

He desired one of his neighbor’s two beautiful daughters, but neither wanted him. To win affection he threw a party at his home and had several girls over for a week of all kinds of fun. His efforts were not in vain as the youngest of the girls began to see him differently. They were soon married and shortly after Bluebeard was called away for a trip.

He gave his new bride free reign of the house, handing her keys to everything and granting her permission to go anywhere, except for one closet. She promised and he went away. She then quickly threw a large party while he was gone and became very curious about the forbidden closet. She opened it and found it full of dead women.

Bluebeard, returned home and found out what happened he set out to kill her. She was granted a short bit of time before she was to be slain, in which she contacted her brothers who came and killed Bluebeard seconds before he was going to slay his disobedient wife.

While the morals written by Charles Perrault talk about regret from entertaining curiosity and perusing disobedience, the article written by Ginette Vincendeau reflects much deeper ideas and interpretations. He admits that there is the aspect of addressing the caution against curiosity, but he also goes much deeper, even to suggest, “It is a parable on the dangers of sex for girls” (Vincedeau, 2010).

Another aspect he suggests is that it is a glimpse of the story of Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Consider how she had free reign of the garden, and was only instructed not to eat from one tree. This is a great parallel, until we see the girl’s brothers kill Bluebeard. If Bluebeard were personifying the role of God, the comparison does not really work.

He also discusses that others have a view of the story showing a close relationship to that of a victim and their assassin, the sexual power struggle of men against the emerging sexuality of females and even a relationship to death in childbirth.

Regardless of the message the underlying story is terrifying. Women identify with the joy and freedom the new bride experiences with the sharp contrast of fear as she realizes whom she is really married to. We could consider the simple phrase, “ignorance is bliss”, as she was happy until she knew the truth. The truth is the women were killed previous to her developing the relationship. The only thing that had changed was her perspective. And that is what this story is really about, perspective.

Works Cited:

Perrault, Charles. “Blue Beard.” Contemania.com - Contes, Fables, Histoires, Comptines - Texte Intégral Gratuit. Web. 12 Nov. 2011. .

Vincendeau, Ginette. "Bluebeard." Sight & Sound Aug. 2010: 50-51. Wilson Web. Web. 12 Nov. 2011.

Serious, Nonsense, the Best of Both.

Defining children’s literature may seem like a simple task when the thoughts of picture books, phonics builders, fairytales, and the like at a primitive comprehensive reading level. Children’s literature seems to really boil down into two main categories. Children’s stories have always been used to help teach, educate, train and even entertain children with fundamental principles that will help move them forward in their culture. As stories have evolved through the ages, we see the extremes of structured principles, nonsense and an approach that shows a balance of both extremes.

Aesop’s fables, while rather simple short stories, were entertaining illustrations for teaching principles. Consider these allegorical writings with their simple lessons. We see these simple teachings in fables like; The Crow and the Pitcher, and learning the principle of innovation; The Fox and the Grapes, which gives insight to dealing with disappointments; and the classic lesson of “Slow but steady wins the race” in The Hare and the Tortoise (Aesop, 2007). The fables are short entertaining and give children a unique life lesson. These stories also show fundamental characteristics in the characters in each story. Consider the fast hare, or slow tortoise. The stories also were more geared around the outcome or lesson for the audience. The more serious, and lessons of cause and effect in many cases revealed disappointment for the characters developed.          

A completely different approach with children’s literature would be The Owl and the Pussy-cat, by Edward Lear. While some may question Lear’s value in pushing fundamental principles in culture, he may have actually touched on one of the most important values children need to consider. He has earned the title, “an unrivaled master of nonsense verse” (Stahl, 2007). Lear revels the value of fun, silliness and wonder that often is discouraged in childhood. He helps remind kids to be kids and not grow up too fast. His stories of nonsense that talk about a women with a long “wonderful nose”, or the man with all kinds of birds nesting in his beard, and the owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat,” create more of a dreamlike story where anything is possible (Lear, 2007).  Silly rhymes and concepts paint a creative picture in the minds of his audience as he fills their thoughts with silly creative images.

Shel Silverstein takes the principles of both lesson, and nonsense then unifies them in a very unique piece called; Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. This ingenious fusion of the entertaining foolishness that children love, and the very simple moral or lesson, is a great merging of the two approaches. I enjoy most the climax of the story where the character finally says, “ ‘OK, I’ll take the garbage out!’ But the of course it was too late… The garbage reached across the state,” (Silverstein, 2007). The phrase paints a very vivid image and is so witty in the rhyme scheme that it just makes one smile. The story builds so nice and the lesson is clear as day, don’t procrastinate.

Children’s literature is most difficult to break down into categories with its many avenues, themes, styles, reading levels and so on. The evolving art of writing children’s literature has does have two drastically different approaches used to reflect the values of its culture. We see in early works like Aesop’s Fables that while the entertaining factor was present that the lesson was serious giving opportunity for many different avenues of application. As time moves forward culture saw the value in fun foolish gibberish in many of the creative silly tales of Edward Lear. Both have value and both are still valid approaches seen in children’s literature today. But we also see how well these two approaches work when they are fused together like in the stories written by Shel Silverstein. Keeping things light, silly and entertain, and yet giving children a simple lesson makes shows the influence of two great approaches.

Works Cited:

Aesop. "Aesop's Fables." Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. 1st ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. 335-36. Print.

Lear, Edward. "Edward Lear (1812-88)." Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. 1st ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. 312-13. Print.

Silverstein, Shel. "Shel Silverstein (1932-99)." Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. 1st ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. 316. Print.

Stahl, J. D., Tina L. Hanlon, and Elizabeth Lennox Keyser. Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: an Anthology of Texts and Criticism. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.

Achieving Authenticity in Childrens Literature

DISCUSS TOPIC:

Authenticity of voice is often a topic analyzed in literature. Considering key elements of the character’s identity, such as race, class, gender, or regionalism, how can a writer portray characters which are different from the writer’s own and still achieve authenticity?

 

While there is a great bit of children’s literature that is story telling, many pieces involve an author placing themselves in different roles in the characters of their stories. The writer of today is called to address many topics and issues that they may never have experienced personally. Consider the topics of abuse, divorce, sexuality, and social issues children of today face. Consider how many others use personification and take on the character of an animal. Taking this even a step further an author may develop characters that come from a completely different background then their own. In considering the contrast of race, gender, wealth, and even culture and geological location, many might question how the author keeps the character believable and well developed.

A key component involved in a genuine character for any author would be research. The author need to delved into the situation, life, culture, values, and find as many characteristics to build and develop an authentic character. This is much easier today than many years ago with the convince of technology, and travel. The world that was once so vast keeps getting smaller and smaller with people traveling and visiting all over. Developing a realistic character not only provides authentic characterization for the reader, but also reaffirms and educates the reader about other issues they might not be as familiar with.

Once an author has found several key examples to pattern a character from they then need to delve in with empathy. They need to consider their background, heritage, hurts, joys and what has shaped them into the character they are. With empathy and careful consideration the character will be understood by the author who can then develop an authentic character that is contrary to their won life experience.

Resources:

AIO Classroom, Children's Literature | ENG4010 P01. Week 3, Web. 19 November 2011.