Market Auditing and Planning in Accor Group

Introduction With 3,645 hotels and more than 470,000 rooms in 92 countries that are spread across all continents, Accor Group of Hotel is one on the largest chain of hotels in the world. As at June 2014, the company had an estimated â‚ ¬8.2 billion market capitalisation. It had revenue of â‚ ¬5536 million as at 2013.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Market Auditing and Planning in Accor Group specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Accor Group is a market leader in Europe and a major player in the world. The hotel group is ranked among the world’s top ten largest hotels in the world. With over 45 years and its presence worldwide, the hotel has a well-deserved position (Accor Group 2014). The company has a portfolio of hotel brands that cover all market segments from economy to luxury. The portfolio ensures a wide coverage of as many consumers as possible. Its five-star brands of hotels include the Sofitel b rand, while its four-star brands include the Novetel brand. Its three-star and two-star hotel brands are the Ibis and Hotel F1 respectively. Despite its presence in nearly all continents, the company’s profits have lagged behind other competitors’ earnings. The situation has been attributed to many factors, among them being its expansion model through leases. The new planned measures of dividing the company into two divisions, namely HotelServices and HotelInvest, will go a long way in improving profits and better returns to investors. It will also position the group to be more competitive. As the company moves ahead, it will have to put more resources to market its brand and cement it in its existing market locations to boost its profitability while at the same time playing an important role in enabling future successes in its expansion plans. This paper will discuss important aspects of market auditing and planning to position the company to be more competitive in it s market segment. Importance of Market Planning and Auditing at Accor Group of Hotels The hotel industry is a highly essential business. It is important in providing accommodation for people on transit, holidays, and conferences among others. It also supports other essential sectors of the world economy such as tourism, transport, and agriculture (Middleton Clarke 2012). With the increasing globalisation and movement of people between countries, as well as within their respective nations, the hotel industry will continue to grow and provide essential services to the society. However, the industry is highly competitive. Hotels are competing to offer similar or differentiated services to consumers (Tollin Carà ¹ 2008).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More While goods in the form of food are sold in the hotel industry, the focus of the paper is the marketing of services such as accommodation and related luxuries such as security, experience, comfort, entertainment, and dinner experiences.  Marketing auditing is a major aspect of any organisation’s marketing planning process since it seeks to position itself to be more competitive and profitable in the industry (McDonald Wilson 2011). It allows an organisation to look into its macro and microenvironments and effectively identity the trends in the industry, its strengths and weakness, opportunities, and threats, which allow it to have competitive advantage over its rivals. Further, it allows the organisation to come up with a corporate strategy with goals that it is sure of achieving based on its strengths and opportunities that are identified in the auditing process. As Accor Group of Hotels moves ahead with its plan of dividing its hotel management approaches into two segments, it is important to have a marketing audit, which will guide its marketing plans and strategies towards more profitabilit y. Further, due to the high competition in the industry, marketing audit is a very good tool for ensuring that the company can identify the trends and best practices in the industry. It also stands a chance to identify its strengths and opportunities that it can maximise to its advantage. Consequently, marketing audit is an important and relevant tool that Accor Group of Hotels must use to guide its market planning process and development of the corporate strategies. Specific Business Tools for Marketing Auditing and Planning at Accor Accor can utilise various marketing audit tools to evaluate its marketing assets and/or review its marketing strategies, objectives, policies, and the means it seeks to use to achieve these goals and objectives. In the changing business environment, it is important to not only do auditing before the planning process, but also during the implementation process and the evaluation of the company’s future possible marketing actions (Taghian Shaw 20 08). The marketing audit allows an organisation to understand its external and internal environment, as well as its strategy development (Violeta 2012). To carry out marketing audit, various business tools are used to cover both external and internal business environment. At Accor Group of Hotels, a SWOT analysis can help the organisation to establish the key areas that it can emphasise while reducing its weak areas in its marketing strategies in an effort to boost its competitiveness through its restructuring plan.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Market Auditing and Planning in Accor Group specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, this tool can be used to identify the viability of its marketing plans that are focused on expanding its business in locations such as North America and Africa where it has less presence. It can help the company to ensure that its marketing strategies are aligned with the prevail ing market conditions in the specific markets. SWOT Analysis for Accor Group of Hotels Strengths Weaknesses Strong financial resources as evidenced by its market capitalisation of â‚ ¬8.8 billion Strong global brand identity and recognition Its 45 years of experience in the hotel industry The company has less risk for its business due to its presence in many locations It has a strong reach of different levels of clients Strong and good relationships with its business partners such as suppliers Strong brand name, image, and reputation, both locally and internationally An inefficient business model that has seen it lag behind other rivals in terms of profitability Low profits as compared to the industry trends Low product differentiation as compared to those of others Opportunities Threats The emerging markets in Asia and Africa offer opportunity for expansion and profits Its low penetration to the North American market at 1% shows that the company has the pote ntial to invest more in this market The company has an opportunity to invest more in product innovation and differentiation The growing market of travel and tourism presents a good opportunity for the company to grow even higher Increasing competition from other players in the industry who are ready to dominate the market Threats of new hotel entrants and models that may affect it, especially in emerging markets such as Africa Threats of global market volatility due to recession and currency fluctuations Increased insecurity in places such as Africa and Asia, which may greatly affect the number of people travelling to those regions and hence less business for the company Another tool that Accor Group can use for marketing audit is the PEST analysis, which analyses the political, environmental, social, and technological conditions of the various markets where it exists. For instance, the company can use this tool to identify the conditions in the market and the viability of expanding its luxury hotels in specific market locations that the company may consider now or in the future. Macro-environment for Accor Group in Asia Macro environmental elements are the factors that happen in an organisation’s external environment that it cannot control, yet they are important in guiding its decision-making processes (Chabra 2012). They relate to the political, economic, social, and technological matters that must be considered at all times in an organisation’s strategic planning process. Looking at Accor’s Asia market, the organisation must consider various important macro-environment factors as shown below: Pest Analysis For Accor Group Of Hotels Political Factors Economic Factors Governments’ policies on foreign investors and businesses in emerging markets Political stability, especially in Asia where the company seeks to expand and dominate Punitive tax measures Consumer perception and willingness to spend on luxury hol idays Economic growth rates of the countries High rentals for business premises Availability of credit finance Stability of interest rates Dollar exchange rates with local currencies Income levels of the target groups Social Factors Technological Factors Buying and access trends Changing societal values Changing lifestyles and consumer demographics Level of education Brand and company image Fast-changing technological environment Technology access patents and licensing Intellectual property issues Consumer buying mechanisms E-commerce infrastructure From the above table, political stability is a major factor that must be considered by Accor Group. The hotel industry is highly dependent on tourism and travel sectors, which only flourish where there is political stability. Therefore, it is important for the company to strive to ensure that its expansion plans consider the political climate of the respective countries. For example, major uprisings in the Middle East fr om groups such as Al-Qaida and the ISIS are a real threat to the tourism industry and in extension the hotel industry. Therefore, it is important for Accor Group to consider these factors in its expansion plans for its Asian market. Micro-environment for Accor Group in Asia The microenvironment refers to the immediate business factors in a business’ area of operations. They can influence its performance and its decision-making capabilities. These factors are unique to the business. They include customers, suppliers, producers, distribution channels, and the public among others (McDonald Wilson 2011).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Porter’s five-force model is an important tool for analysing Accor Group’s microenvironment. The model considers supplier powers, threats of new entrants, customer powers, substitutes, and competitive rivalry.  In the case of Accor Group, the threat of new entrants is not very high since the company targets different consumer segments to ensure that is has a competitive advantage over others, especially the new and emerging players. However, considerable threats of entrants are evident with reference to other existing and reputable companies that can set base and compete effectively with Accor Group in the areas where it dominates. For instance, the Intercontinental Hotel Group is a major competitor. It also has a wide coverage as Accor Group. Secondly, the threat of substitute is very high in the industry due to the high number of hotels in the sector. However, the company has remedied this situation by establishing hotels that target various levels of consumers fro m five-star to two-star hotels. The plan ensures that the company is competitive in terms of pricing. The company should also guarantee quality services and reduced operation costs to improve its profit margins. The third important factor is customer bargaining authority. The hotel industry serves a wide array of customers. Hence, it experiences a moderate to low pressure with reference to customer powers in the sector. Further, customers are driven by many factors such as quality services, pricing, and security. Hence, no customer can monopolise the industry. There is also an increasing brand loyalty for Accor Group, which erodes customer bargaining power.  Fourthly, supplier bargaining command can play an important role in Accor Group’s microenvironment. However, with its presence in numerous countries, and consequently a high number of suppliers, it is difficult for suppliers to leverage a significant power over Accor Group of Hotels.  Lastly, rivalry in the industry i s very high. Accor Group of Hotels must consider this factor the most important. The process of attracting customers with various offers and services is competitive. In addition, other players are increasingly adopting cost-effective strategies to increase their profit margins. For instance, automating management systems and the adoption of technologies are the new frontier for competition in Accor Group’s luxury market segment. Market Research and Market Intelligence Timely and informed research is an important ingredient for successful decision-making in any given industry. For instance, looking at the hotel industry, especially in the mid-market segment in Asia where Accor Group has interest in, it is worth carrying out an informed decision-making process that is guided by market research. In the Asian market, the region has been experiencing phenomenal economic growths that are fuelled by the emergence of economic powerhouses such as China and the oil-rich Middle East Asi an nations (Kurkarni 2014). These encouraging conditions have attracted many hotels that are keen on increasing expenditure on luxury and transport. For instance, major hotel players such as Intercontinental, Starwood, and Mantra have focused almost 80% of their expansion plans on this area of the world. Further, with more than 250 million visitors coming to China each year, the hotel industry will continue to surge even higher. Further, hotel occupancy has consistently been higher than 82% since 2012. This finding is an encouraging trend, which hotels must recognise and maximise. Another important fact is that the luxury segment of 35% dominates the Asian market while the mid-market segment constitutes only 24%. Hence, by focusing on this segment, Accor Group will serve an obviously underserved and overlooked market segment. By carrying out market research and intelligence, the company will be in a better position to understand market trends and competition levels. Hence, it will i dentify the target customers, especially in the middle class for its mid-market segment hotels. Segmentation and Specific Segmentation Variables Segmentation is an important factor for any business. It allows an organisation to identify and divide its target customers into various groups that have specific characteristics (Rusten Bryson 2010). These characteristics or variables may include age, sex, and income among others. For example, the luxury segment of Accor Group mostly targets high-income individuals, especially people in executive positions or corporate clients. These clients can be found in major cities of the world. Such clients are mostly in the age working bracket of 30 to 55 years. By segmenting the market, Accor Group is in a better position to design its marketing strategies that best suit this group of customers. Market Positioning Positioning involves the efforts that an organisation exerts towards creating a specific brand image. For instance, through its various brands, the company has positioned itself as a flexible company that can satisfy the expectations of other businesses while at the same time offering the highest luxury levels to all its customers (Tollin Carà ¹ 2008). The company’s luxury segment has positioned itself as an excellent segment that offers outstanding and memorable experiences to its customers, regardless of the location where they receive the services. In other words, the organisation seeks consistency of services across its outlets in the world. Understanding Buyer Behaviour The customer is always the king. This claim cannot be far from the truth, especially in the hotel industry. For instance, Accor Group must always understand the prevailing customer preferences and trends and implement them as soon as they arise. Consequently, market research should be an ongoing process to guarantee innovation and creativity, and hence organisational competitiveness. Conclusion Marketing is an elaborate subject that co vers diverse areas that are critical in an organisation’s strategic planning. As discussed herein, Accor Group of hotels must undertake marketing audit that involves identification of its powers, flaws, success chances, and threats that will guide its marketing planning. It is also an important process of understanding competition. The company needs to identify and appeal to its customers through segmentation and positioning of its brand. References Accor Group 2014, Key Figures. Web. Chabra, T 2012, Marketing management, University Press, New York, NY. Kurkarni, A 2014, Hotel views 2014: Asia Pacific. Web. McDonald, M Wilson, H 2011, Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to use them, John Wiley Sons, New York, NY. Middleton, V Clarke, J 2012, Marketing in travel and tourism, Routledge, New York, NY. Rusten, G Bryson, J 2010, Industrial design, competition and globalisation, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK. Taghian, M Shaw, R 2008, ‘The marketing audit and organisational performance: an empirical profiling’, The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, vol. 16 no. 4, pp. 341-350. Tollin, K Carà ¹, A 2008, Strategic market creation: A New Perspective on, John Wiley and Sons, Cambridge, UK. Violeta, R 2012, ‘The role of market analysis in developing efficient marketing audit’, International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, vol. 1 no. 5, pp. 222-229. This report on Market Auditing and Planning in Accor Group was written and submitted by user Jaeden C. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Solubility Rules for Inorganic Compounds

Solubility Rules for Inorganic Compounds These are the general solubility rules for inorganic compounds, primarily inorganic salts. Use the solubility rules to determine whether a compound will dissolve or precipitate in water. Generally Soluble Inorganic Compounds Ammonium (NH4), potassium (K), sodium (Na) : All ammonium, potassium and sodium salts are soluble. Exceptions: some transition metal compounds.Bromides (Br–), chlorides (Cl–) and iodides (I–): Most bromides are soluble. Exceptions: salts containing silver, lead, and mercury.Acetates (C2H3O2–): All acetates are soluble. Exception: silver acetate is only moderately soluble.Nitrates (NO3–): All nitrates are soluble.Sulfates (SO42–): All sulfates are soluble except barium and lead. Silver, mercury(I), and calcium sulfates are slightly soluble. Hydrogen sulfates (HSO4–) (the bisulfates) are more soluble than the other sulfates. Generally Insoluble Inorganic Compounds Carbonates (CO32–), chromates (CrO42–), phosphates (PO43–), silicates (SiO42–): All carbonates, chromates, phosphates,  and silicates are insoluble. Exceptions: those of ammonium, potassium and sodium. An exception to the exceptions is MgCrO4, which is soluble.Hydroxides (OH–): All hydroxides (except ammonium, lithium, sodium, potassium, cesium, rubidium) are insoluble. Ba(OH)2, Ca(OH)2 and Sr(OH)2 are slightly soluble.Silver (Ag): All silver salts are insoluble. Exceptions: AgNO3 and AgClO4. AgC2H3O2 and Ag2SO4 are moderately soluble.Sulfides (S2–): All sulfides (except sodium, potassium, ammonium, magnesium, calcium,  and barium) are insoluble.Aluminum sulfides and chromium sulfides are hydrolyzed and precipitate as hydroxides. Table of Ionic Compound Solubility in Water at 25 °C Remember, solubility depends on the temperature of the water. Compounds that dont dissolve around room temperature may become more soluble in warm water. When using the table, refer to the soluble compounds first. For example, sodium carbonate is soluble because all sodium compounds are soluble, even though most carbonates are insoluble. Soluble Compounds Exceptions (are insoluble) Alkali metal compounds (Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+) ammonium ion compounds (NH4+ Nitrates (NO3-), bicarbonates (HCO3-), chlorates (ClO3-) Halides (Cl-, Br-, I-) Halides of Ag+, Hg22+, Pb2+ Sulfates (SO42-) Sulfates of Ag+, Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+, Hg22+, Pb2+ Insoluble Compounds Exceptions (are soluble) Carbonates (CO32-), phosphates (PO42-), chromates (CrO42-), sulfides (S2-) Alkali metal compounds and those containing the ammonium ion Hydroxides (OH-) Alkali metal compounds and those containing Ba2+ As a final tip, remember solubility is not all-or-none. While some compounds completely dissolve in water and some are almost completely insoluble, many insoluble compounds are actually slightly soluble. If you get unexpected results in an experiment (or are looking for sources of error), remember a small amount of an insoluble compound may be participating in a chemical reaction.

Two Tail Hypothesis Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Two Tail Hypothesis - Scholarship Essay Example The analysis can be used by the manager to study if there is the significant difference between position and extrinsic job satisfaction in the company. This would enable the manager to make a plan on which strategy to use either Hourly Employee or Salaried Employee in respect of job satisfaction. Since ÃŽ ±=0.05 and confidence level is 95%; t- statistic=-54.60, the critical value is  ±1.96 we reject null hypothesis because p-value 1.67 E-91 is less than 0.05 and adopt alternative hypothesis. The t-test is used when the sample is small; it can be used to test the difference in population mean, that is when the population is n≠¤30 and the standard deviation of the population is estimated from the standard deviation of the sample. Whereas z-test is used when the population means is known together with standard deviation. Researchers do not have enough time to study the whole population. To study the entire population would be tedious and time-consuming; therefore, representative sample from the population is appropriate in the data collection. In statistical inferences, conclusions are drawn about the attribute of the population, e.g. the standard deviation or mean based on sample data analysis. Supposing there was a need to calculate the average weight of the population of youths in America, it would be unreasonable except at massive cost to weigh up each individual and calculate the mean weight. Another scenario is that testing process may be very destructive such that sampling becomes the only sufficient way.

Genesis in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible Essay

Genesis in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible - Essay Example Mankind now has to work the ground to obtain his needs for survival. (Genesis 3:23). Eve's downfall is due to Satan's temptation. The lesson teaches to focus on God's Word with complete obedience and never be tempted by Evil. The serpent told Eve to take and eat the forbidden fruit. Jesus tells his followers to take and eat his body and blood in the holy sacraments. The forbidden fruit makes the consumer a sinner while Jesus' offering heals a sinner. Adam's son, Cain killed his brother Abel. God tells Cain that He knows what has happened and that he will be punished. Adam has another son, Seth, to replace Abel. Seth in turn has his most famous son, Noah, who is chosen by God to build his Ark. (Genesis:4). God favors obedient people. He saves Noah from the Great Flood because he was 'blameless among the people of his time.' (Genesis 6:9). God tells Noah to build an Ark and take his family inside it, along with certain species of animals. God flooded earth and killed every living thing. At the end of two months, the waters dried up and Noah knew it was safe to descend back to land. Noah immediately built an altar to offer sacrifice to God. Noah is an example of a righteous man who maintained his relationship with God despite living in an environment full of wickedness. This is a lesson to teach that God will help those who follow God's Word. God makes a covenant to Noah; '"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind."'(Genesis 9:13-15). God speaks to Abram and reveals prophecies to him. When Abram travels into Egypt, he is afraid that the Pharaoh would kill him to take over Sarai because she is beautiful. He instructs Sarai to lie and say that she is Abram's sister. The Pharaoh does not know the truth and takes Sarai to become his wife. God is angry and inflicts diseases upon the Pharaoh and his household. The Pharaoh eventually discovers the truth and releases Abram and Sarai. (Genesis:12). When Abram and Sarai cannot conceive a child, Sarai sends her servant, Hagar, to sleep with her husband so that they will get a descendant. Sarai cannot wait for God to do His work but takes matters into her own hands. Then, Sarai makes a mistake when she ill treats her servant Hagar because she was jealous of Hagar's pregnancy with her husband Abram. Hagar runs away but God comforts her and she returns to Abram and Sarai. God tests Sarai with the birth of Ishmael. Thirteen years later, God makes Sarai pregnant with a son called Isaac. It has been a hard time waiting for Sarai and Abram while maintaining their beliefs. Sarai is ninety years old and Abram is one hundred when they become parents. This is His reward to them. He renames Abram as Abraham, and Sarai as Sarah to celebrate God's blessing on them. God says to Abraham; ' I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you , and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.' (Genesis 17:6-7). Isaac is soon born. God decides to test Abraham by ordering him to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice to God.

Read the three articles in the instructions . Then, write three Assignment

Read the three articles in the instructions . Then, write three synopsis of the work - Assignment Example uses direct communication). He comments that the concepts of high-context and low-context cultures and polychronic (i.e. multitasking) versus monochronic time (i.e. one thing at a time) orientation are useful, but ambiguous. The next theory comes from Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. These dimensions pertain to: power distance, individualism /collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance (Dahl 12). Dahl commends the model for its simplicity and widespread application on different cultural interactions. Dahl also explains Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s seven value orientations. These orientations are: universalism versus particularism; communitarianism versus individualism; neutral versus emotional; defuse versus specific cultures; achievement versus ascription; human-time relationship and; human-nature relationship (Dahl 14). Dahl explains the connections between these orientations and other intercultural theories. In addition, Dahl describes Shalom Schwartz’s Schwartz Value Inventory (SVI). SVI has two categories: individual-level analysis and cultural-level analysis. Dahl concludes that there is no one theory of cultural dimensions. In the article, â€Å"What Do Employers Really Want? Top Skills and Values Employers Seek from Job-Seekers,† Randall S. Hansen and Katharine Hansen discuss the major skills and values that employers desire from their employees. They want to help job-seekers become more employable for target employers by explaining these skills and values and how the latter can appear in resumes, cover letters, and interviews. Hansen and Hansen discuss that the top main skills that employers want from employees are: communication skills, analytical/research skills, technical literacy, flexibility, interpersonal abilities, leadership and management skills, multicultural sensitivity, planning and organizing skills, problem-solving/reasoning/creativity skills, and teamwork

The Different Kinds Of Truth Philosophy Essay

The Different Kinds Of Truth Philosophy Essay There are two different kind of truth which is something that is true and something that is believed to be true. We must accept the idea that man can acquire all kind of truth but let us not mix them up. We would risk that the mixture will dissolve them up. Truth consists in the agreement of our thought with reality. The Aristotelian definition of truth states  [1]  : To say of something which is that it is not, or to say of something which is not that it is, is false. However, to say of something which is that it is, or of something which is not that it is not, is true. A belief is called true if it agrees with a fact or stated otherwise  [2]  . Beliefs determine how we see, interact and experience the world around us. Beliefs are ideas that are made after repetition and contemplation, that are accepted as truth and reality and therefore impact how we see life  [3]  . Believes and truth are often in conflict. For something to be true it must be public, eternal, and independent. By using different way of knowing such as reason, emotion, perception and language it can help us to distinguish the truth. Some knowledge can be taught and some we learn by our self through a process of reasoning. In our daily life, sometimes our logical thinking affects our believed about something. The fact is our logical thinking based on our experiences. Our reasoning is based on our pass experiences and from that we make a generalization. It is just the matter of how far our logical thinking based on our experiences can distort our attempt to distinguish between truth and believed truth. By putting down your hand into hot fire thus teaches us not to do it again. The implication of reasoning is of the greatest importance because it comes from our inner instincts. Logic attempts to help us determine whether our argument is true or false, or whether it is logical. Based on pass experience, it is logical if we tend not to do the same mistake by putting hand on fire because it is painful. Similarly with the truth, we tend to be selective in choosing knowledge based on our pass experienced and logical thinking. Sometimes mistake do happen during the process because we are easily influenced by our surrounding. The last question that will be dealt with is the question of what people know. According to the psychologist Jean Piaget  [4]  Ã‚  certainly regarded thinking as secondary to the actions of the intelligence. For him, logic was a science of pure forms, structures simply representing the processes of thought. As for me, logic was too narrow, arid and mechanical to properly represent human thought processes. Therefore, I can say that the truth which is true and believed to be true is not conforms and affirms through logic as ways of knowing alone because human have many limitations to count of. Logic work alone cannot really distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true. Is emotion is the effective way? For some people, emotion plays an important role when it comes to decision making. Whether we like it or not, our emotion is depending on degree of logic that is include during the process of decision making. Imagine if you are a doctor and you have two make a decision whether to give a kidney to two of your patients who suffer kidney failure. One of the patients is your family. Which one would you give the kidney? Would the priority go to your family? The doctor tends to be bias if the decision made is involving with emotion. If I was the doctor, I would personally give the kidney to my family. But, based on what reason? The only reason why is because of strong love emotion. We tend to be bias in the process of seeking the truth because of our emotion. Based on scientific explanation, emotional situation triggers the release of chemicals in the bloodstream that alter the functioning of the brains neurons and other bodily functions as well. In effect, the situation requires some special behavior different from what we would do in the normal course of events. We only accept truth that will give us pleasure and make us happy. Emotional states seem to occur when things of particular importance occur in our lives. The neurobiologist Antonio Damasio  [5]  (1994) provides a somatic marker hypothesis  [6]   which explains how emotions make decision making possible. The doctor try to believe by giving the kidney to his family will save her/his live by ignoring the other patience live. How the doctor would know which operation will succeed? In this situation, we can say that the doctor is in believed truth. Thus, we can conclude that emotions are ordinarily conceived as irrational occurrences that cloud judgment and distort reasoning. It would be better if we separate our emotion when make a judgment. However it is impossible to that. Some philosophers, particularly those identifying themselves as postmodernists  [7]  , assert that truth is not absolute, but depends upon the individual point of view. Perception is one the ways of knowing that can help us to distinguish the knowledge whether it is true or just believed to be true. Everyone has different perception regarding on certain thing depends on own personal background, knowledge, experiences and our perceptions grow as we mature. I still remember during my childhood, my mom always told me to finish my meals or else the unfinished foods will cry. To be frankly, I believe on what my mom had told me. As I grow, I know that the foods will never cry as it is non-living thing. It just my mums trick to make sure I finished my meal. The perception of children will not be the same as adult. The problem is our perception constantly changing as we increase the scope of our knowledge. Thats why in science subjects we always come across with the term evolution and revolution. As scientist doing more research, they found that the previous theories are no longer applicable to support their new discovery. During the 20th century, in the history of biology, biologists mostly accepted that living organisms is classified into five kingdoms  [8]  . However, in 1978 the American Biologist Carl Woese  [9]  proposed a three domain classification. From the example and explanation above, we can conclude that our perception is not fixed and differ from one another. But without perception, it is hard for us to differentiate the truth. Last but not least, we can use language as one of the way of knowing to help us distinguish whether the truth are the real truth or believed to be the truth. According to R.A Hall: language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols  [10]  . Language plays an important role in our lives in seeking the truth. Language allows us to form statement, express concept and our idea. Let we take the example of a statement all bird can fly. From the statement, we can express our idea to other people that all type of birds has the ability to fly. Imagine how could we explain the word bird, all, fly without word? Without the  statements it would be hard to organize our ideas and to then determine if these ideas are true or only we believe them to be true. We could use other alternative such as gesture, sounds and drawing to represent our ideas. As it connected to the ideas that they portray they als o become part of the language. The statements created by language help us to determine if an idea in true or not. Since a sentence expresses the relationship between objects we can check the validity of the statement. If ostrich cannot fly, then we can prove the statement all bird can fly is not true. The presence of evidence can always prove the statement is false then we know the statement is not true. The problem with language is sometimes it is misinterpreted due to the word that has many different meaning. For example the word gampang. For Indonesian it means easy but for Malaysian it is insulting. Admittedly, all knowledge could be regarded as a combination of truth and believed truth, and since all information needs to pass our subjective minds to become knowledge. By using the four ways of knowing logic, emotion, perception and language can helps us to distinguish the truth. One ways of knowing stand alone to distinguish the truth and believed truth would not be very fruitful. 1450 words.

Teamwork Analysis Essay -- Team Building Papers

Teamwork Analysis Abstract The purpose of this assignment is for each learning team to apply what team members are learning about successful teams to an in-depth analysis of itself. As teams go through development stages, the members learn how people feel about themselves and what the content of the task that is to be accomplished, based on each stage that is achieved. Describe the process your team has used to form, storm, norm, and perform. At this point, where do you believe your team is in the team formation process? Team A was initially formed by our professor, and everyone had their anxieties and questions about the other members. After the team was formed, a Team Charter was developed to gather information about everyone on one document, so we would all know each others strengths, weaknesses, and contact information. We realized that our team was a diverse team, with members scattered in several different time zones, including Africa. We had an initial conference call to check the temperature of everyone, but not everyone could participate in the call. Once everyone agreed to the team charter, it was suggested that each person on the team be a leader for a week, leaving the last week without an actual leader. The plan was to let the last week have everyone work together without a leader, but to draw virtual straws to decide who would post that week’s team assignment. The team members were listed in alphabetical order, which is the same order each person was assigned a week. Team A was successful at reaching the next stage of development, which is storming. The team had some initial problems durin... ... Caouette, M.J. & O’Connor, B.N. (1998). The impact of group support systems on corporate teams’ stages of development. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 8(1), 59-60. Chupp, M. (2002). Reaching for Higher Ground in Conflict Resolution. International Journal of Conflict Management. 13(2). Retrieved February 11, 2005, from EBSCOhost database. Horton, T. R. (1992). Delegation and team building: No solo acts please. Management Review, 81 (9), 58. Mckenna, P.J., Meister, D.H. (2002). Playing by the rules. Industrial Management. 44 (5), 8-14. Retrieved February 14, 2005, from EBSCOhost database. McShane, S.L. & VonGlinow, M.A. (2004). Foundation of team dynamics. Organizational Behavior, second edition (pp 238-240). Â ©The McGraw-Hill Companies.