Group Business Project

Project Management for Small to Medium Enterprises

Project Management for Small to Medium Enterprises Work breakdown structure, critical path and costed time strategy The chart below illustrates the project’s work breakdown structure. This goal has been achieved by identifying the task, the duration, and the resource requirement in order to execute the task effectively and within the set time.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management for Small to Medium Enterprises specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Chart 1: WBS Task name Duration [days] Start time Finish time Resource Analysing the green fashion market in Australia 12 4thOct. 2013 1 5thOct.2013 Marketing manager Selection of store location 12 4thOct. 2013 1 5thOct. 2013 Entrepreneur Developing the project business plan 15 4thOct. 2013 19thOct. 2013 Entrepreneur Compliance with legal and environmental 3 17thOct. 2013 19thOct. 2013 Entrepreneur Seeking sponsorship from charity organisations 18 4thOct. 2013 19thOct. 2013 Entrepreneur Furni shing and decorating the store 15 17thOct. 2013 31stOct. 2013 Project team Attracting consigner 12 20thOct. 2013 15thNov. 2013 Entrepreneur Finalising the shops self-owned system 26 15thNov. 2013 26thNov. 2013 Project team Implementing the green fashion concept will play a critical role in minimising the rate of environmental pollution. In a bid to establish the Green Fashion Store, effective time management is essential. Approximately, the store will take 70 days to be completed. It is projected that this duration is sufficient to complete the project. However, taking 70 days will lead to increase in the resource requirements, which are scarce. Thus, effective time scheduling is paramount. The project manager will reduce the project duration with 20%, which means that the project will take 56 days to be implemented. Crashing strategy will be used in order to arrive at the critical path as illustrated by chart 2 below. By crashing the time, the Green Fashion Store will be com pleted within 56 days and the likelihood of the entrepreneur conforming to the time constraint will increase. The areas shaded in black illustrate the critical path that will result in optimal resource utilisation. Chart 2: the critical path Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Project Manager estimates that the project will require $19,200 in order to be successfully implemented. Budget and resource allocation In establishing the new business, the entrepreneur is focused towards ensuring that resources are effectively utilised. In this project, the resource that the Project Manager is mostly focused on relates to time. The green fashion project is time constrained. The Project Manager intends to complete the green fashion project in 56 days. Thus, the entrepreneur will ensure that time is effectively utilised. Levelling resource allocation technique will be used. This will aid in effective utilisation of slack time by delaying non-critical activities. Moreover, the levelling technique will aid in reduction resource demand, peak resource demand in addition to minimising the amount of resource fluctuation. Some activities will be undertaken concurrently in order to eliminate slack time. Chart 3: Estimated budget before crashing the amount of time by 20% Work package 1stOct.- 15thOct 17thOct-19thOct. 20thOct.-31stOct. 1stNov. -15thNov. 16thNov- 26thNov. Total by activity Market research $2,000 $2,000 Developing the store’s blue print. $500 $200 $700 legal and environmental analysis $1,000 $1,000 Seeking sponsorship $600 $400 $1,000 Furnishing the store $8,000 $4,000 $12,000 Attracting consigner 1,000 1,000 Finalising the self-owned store system 1,500 1,500 Cumulative 19,200 However, reducing the amount of time required to complete the project with 20% is expected to increase the amount of financial capital required. Thus, it is estimated that the project budget will increase by 20%. Thus, the green fashion project will require $ 23,040 in order to be completed. Quality management and control A number of elements quality management elements as illustrated the chart below will be taken into account in the green fashion store. The project will be implemented as a one-off expense hence eliminating the need to revisit the project upon its completion. The chart below illustrates the variables that will be taken into account in ensuring effective quality management. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management for Small to Medium Enterprises specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Figure 1: quality control A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis will be undertaken in order to maintain the project within the desired quality. This will be achieved by controlling the prevention cost, external and internal fai lure, control, and appraisal cost. This will improve the quality of the project. The Project Manager will ensure that the green fashion store addresses the customer’s needs adequately. To achieve this, a substantial amount of appraisal cost will be incurred. The appraisal cost will entail product audits, product inspections, and reviews. Some of the elements that will be integrated in assessing the appraisal cost include evaluating whether the process of implementing the store takes into account the desired conditions. For example, an appealing store ambience will be ensured in order to develop unique customer experience. Moreover, the Project Manager will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the green fashion products collected from the sponsors to ensure that they are aligned with the specified environmental requirements. One of the ways through which quality of the products collected will be ensured is by conducting an intensive training on the parties charged with the re sponsibility of collecting the second hand products. Moreover, the appraisal cost will also entail assessing whether the green fashion store is effectively designed. The Green Fashion Store entrepreneur is cognisant of the fact that the project may be affected by to lack of sufficient support from the sponsors. For example, customers might not adopt the concept of green fashion as expected. A comprehensive project quality plan will be developed to minimise the adverse effects of quality costs.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The quality plan will outline the standards that the project manager will be required to adhere to in order to satisfactorily fulfil the quality requirement. Regular meetings involving all the team members will be conducted to generate ideas on how to deal with contingencies that arise in the process of implementing the project. The above quality control chart will be used. Project team performance The entrepreneur is aware that the Green Fashion Store will depend on the input of all the team members. Consequently, it is imperative for the project manager to ensure that effective team performance is attained. Optimal team performance can be achieved by incorporating the principles of team management such as organising, leading, controlling, and planning. In a bid to attain optimal team performance, the project manager will take into account a number of issues as illustrated in the table below. Chart 4; project team performance Approach Strategy Significance to team performance Leadership Transformational leadership style will be adopted The style will provide team members an opportunity to share ideas on how to improve the project. -Transformational leadership will lead to development of a sense of inclusion amongst the team members. Communication Horizontal, vertical, upward, lateral diagonal and downward channels of communication will be adopted. Formulating an effective feedback mechanism Communication will ensure that the team members are adequately informed about the project and their roles. Establishment of an effective working relationship Optimal conflict resolution The feedback mechanism will lead to development of optimal understanding of the project. Decision making Inclusive team meetings Team meetings will give the manager insight on the team members’ perception and attitude regarding the project. Including employees in the decision, making process will provide the manager insight on how to minimise employee resistance. Including t he team members will lead to development of a sense of project ownership amongst team members. Developing a strong project team Effective selection of project team members and integration of volunteer part-time team members Effective volunteer management Formulation of an optimal volunteer training programme The manager is cognisant of the fact that unforeseen forces may affect completion of the project. For example, multitasking amongst the project team members may limit their effectiveness. In a bid to deal with this challenge, the Project Manager is focused towards attracting volunteer part-time team members. This goal will be achieved by designing an effective volunteering programme. Currently, individuals are embracing the concept of volunteering in different organisations in an effort to develop a wide range of knowledge and skills. Sufficient awareness on the contribution of the green fashion project to environmental conservation will be undertaken. The training wil l be aimed at ensuring that the volunteers are acquainted with the project objectives and goals. The Project Manager will educate the volunteers the contribution of the Green Fashion Store in minimising climate change. Reward management Comprehensive and continuous appraisal of the team members’ performance Recognising project team members with optimal performance The appraisal will aid in the determination of the team members effectiveness in executing the duties assigned Reward management will lead to increased level of motivation towards achievement of the set project milestones. By implementing the above strategies, the project manager will be able to improve the outcome of the project. Project team meetings In a bid to ensure that the project is successful defined, planned, and executed, a number of project team meetings will be conducted. A number of issues will be discussed during the project team meetings as illustrated by the figure below. Figure 2 Project team identity In a bid to ensure that the project team members are committed to the green fashion store, the project manager will ensure that adequate team identity is established. Developing team identity will contribute towards development of a high level of commitment amongst the team members. The team members will identify with the green fashion store. Thus, their efforts will be focused at achieving the project’s goals. The project manager intends to create team identity by conducting frequent meetings. The meetings will lead to improvement of the team members’ attitude and opinion towards the project. Consequently, the likelihood of developing team behaviour will be increased. Team identity will also be developed by nurturing a high degree of interaction and information sharing amongst the team members. This goal will be achieved by utilising the co-location technique. Virtual teams will not be used in the project. Thus, the project team members will have an opportun ity to interact with another thus developing a strong working relationship. The phrase ‘green fashion’ will be used as the project team name. This name will make the project team more tangible. Moreover, an appealing team logo will be designed. The logos will be designed on T-shirts and caps that will be worn by the project team members. As a result, the project team members will love being associated with the project. In addition to the above strategies, the project manager will ensure that effective team rituals are developed. The rituals will lead to establishment of strong and unique team identity. One of the rituals that will be developed entails giving the team members a T-shirt inscribed with the milestones achieved. Monitoring and evaluation This process improves the project outcome by identifying areas that require adjustments. Furthermore, monitoring and evaluation allows the project manager to evaluate the achievements that have been accomplished. The process of monitoring and evaluating the Green Store Project will take into account a number of issues, which include the project costs, resources, project sponsors, and the entire project management team. Participatory monitoring and evaluation strategy will be adopted and this strategy will entail taking into account all the project stakeholders. The project sponsors will be evaluated in order to determine whether they are providing the necessary project guidance. On the other hand, the project team members will be monitored in order to determine whether their actions are positively influencing the completion of the project. Monitoring and evaluating resources will play a critical role in ensuring that the project resources, which are scarce, are optimally being utilised. By integrating effective project monitoring and evaluation, the project manager will be in a position to promote the development of positive behaviours amongst the team members. The entrepreneur intends to complete the Green Fashion Store within 56 days. Consequently, optimal monitoring and evaluation with regard to how time is utilised in implementing the project will be undertaken. The project will monitor the project’s progress by tracking the Gantt chart by incorporating a baseline Gantt chart. The respective activities in the Gantt chart will be tracked. Periodic reports regarding the project process will be formulated by developing a control chart. Consequently, the project manager will be in a position to determine the project’s trend. For example, the project manager will assess whether the project progress is ahead or behind schedule, and hence report to the stakeholders more effectively. In addition to the above types of evaluation, the project manager will also evaluate the customers’ opinion regarding the green fashion store. One of the elements that will be taken into account entails assessing whether the target customers have integrated the concept of green fashi on in their consumption processes. Consequently, the project manager will be able to determine the likelihood of obtaining support from the customers. To evaluate the performance of project amongst potential customers, the entrepreneur will conduct a market survey through the green fashion website that will be established. Moreover, emerging social media platforms will also be used. Project closure Projects have a definite timeframe and must be completed within the set deadline and transferred to the owners. Consequently, it is imperative for project managers to ensure effective project closure. The project manager is of the opinion that the project will be successfully completed. Consequently, normal project closure technique will be undertaken. The closure will comprise a number of activities, which include, Conducting a post project audit to determine the degree of project success Undertaking wrap-up closure activities [which include paying out the bills and closing the project accounts] Conducting individual and team evaluation Preparing a final report that summarises the entire project. The final report will be comprised of a number of elements which include; Project performance review- This will be achieved by reviewing whether the project is in conformity with the set standards. Project analysis Lessons learnt and recommendations on how to improve future projects The project team members and the volunteers will be acknowledged and thanked for their effort. The acknowledgement will be undertaken by identifying each of the team members’ contribution to the establishment of the green fashion store. Potential obstacles The project life cycle will be comprised of three main stages, which include the start, project life, and finish. A number of activities, which include project definition, planning, execution, and project delivery, will be undertaken during the project life cycle. However, various obstacles might affect project implementation and s uccess adversely. Consequently, it is imperative for project managers to adopt effective preventive measures. Some of the risks potential obstacles that might be experienced in this project are discussed herein. Implementation challenges One of the major obstacles that might affect the project relates to lack of commitment amongst the team members. Such occurrences may limit the likelihood of the project being completed within the set timeframe. The project team members may lose momentum, hence drifting from the set project goals. Development delays- The entrepreneur intends to cut the amount of time required to complete the Green Fashion Store project with 20% and to achieve this goal, the project manager will adopt the crashing strategy. Considering that the Green Fashion Store is a new entity, the firm does not have adequate staff. Consequently, the likelihood of some project team members multitasking is high as some activities and assignments will have to be completed within the same time. Multitasking may limit the effectiveness with which the project team members undertake their duties. Moreover, excessive multitasking may lead to time loss hence affecting the project completion. Cost increment- Existence of resource bottlenecks is another major obstacle that might affect the project. Risk management Occurrence of risk might hinder the project implementation. Consequently, comprehensive risk management process will be adopted. Four main risk management aspects, which include risk identification, risk response control, risk assessment, and risk response development will be incorporated. The project manager will integrate the following risk management strategies. Assessment of the milestones- The project manager will evaluate whether the set milestones are achieved. Balancing project activities with personal activities, the project manager will integrate optimal time management strategies to prevent the team members’ infectiveness because of multit asking. Effective allocation and control of project resources; this will prevent deviation from the predetermined project budget. Summary and recommendations Implementing the above project plan will improve the likelihood of the Green Fashion Store succeeding. The feasibility of the project is enhanced as the project will contribute towards environmental protection and the project will promote consumption of ‘green fashion’, hence minimising environmental pollution and climate change. Moreover, the project feasibility is enhanced by the fact that customers are increasingly becoming conscious of the environment. Therefore, project sponsors will be committed in supporting the project. The success of the project will depend on the effectiveness with which the available project resources are managed. Time is one of the most important resources in the process of implementing the Green Fashion Store. By implementing the time crashing strategy, the project manager will minimi se the duration within which the project has to be implemented. As a result, the amount of resources required will go down. The project manager will be required to assess the work breakdown structure in order to determine the most effective way to crash the project time. Analysing the WBS will enable the project manager to define task durations effectively. In a bid to improve the project outcome, effective quality management, and control should be integrated, by formulating optimal quality standards. Through effective quality control, the project manager will eliminate non-conformities. Non-conformities underscore aspects that add no value to the project but they might be inevitable in a project management process if the project manager fails to observe effectiveness for optimal results. The success of the Green Fashion Store project will be determined by the commitment of all the team members, which underscores the importance of optimal project team management. The project manager can achieve this goal by integrating effective team formation and development strategies such as effective conflict management and communication, which will improve the effectiveness with which the project team members interact. The project manager should ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are developed by integrating Gantt charts, which should be tracked continuously to improve the likelihood of identifying and adjusting deviations that occur. Upon its completion, the manager should ensure that effective project closure is undertaken by conducting an audit of the project in order to determine its success. The success of the project might be subject to various internal and external challenges. Consequently, it is imperative for the project manager to integrate effective risk management strategies by ensuring that risks are identified effectively in a bid to address any challenge that might arise during the project management process.

Intercultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Intercultural communication - Essay Example lates that: ‘The study of intercultural communication begins as a journey into another’s culture and ends as a journey into one’s own culture’. This last statement sensitized me on the extent that I detested my culture; that is the key reason why I decided to share Haiti’s cultural beliefs and background in relation to intercultural communication. Haitian culture comprises of African and French cultural aspects. African culture forms the most prevalent Haitian cultural setting, evidently from the high population of West Africans. Haitian culture, therefore, represents an integration of the language, artistry, and musical ideas from African and French cultures. Creole is the main language spoken by Haitians (Hall 149). Creole is an integration of French language and Haitian Creole. Considerable percentages of Haitians are religious and believe in Christianity, except for few who are Muslims. Haitians are outstanding artists specializing in woodcarving and painting. Their exceptional artistry emanates from the belief in conserving historical events through drawings. Moreover, Haitians remain conservative of their music culture through continued dance and music creativity. Haitians culture beliefs that their music has the potential of scaring off evil spirits and facilitating healing of specific diseases. Haitian traditional dance incorporates native drumming and rhythmic patterns inherently form African and French culture. When it comes to the two concepts of Universality and relativism, I tend to be more universalistic. For instance, I once watched on Facebook some Chinese preparing dog meat for supper and commercial purposes. The meat, to most people is not something that anybody should be eating, as it is a taboo in most cultures around the world. In another scenario, I watched some other Chinese roasting rats as a special meal for a birthday party. I felt disgusted not only by the idea of eating dogs or rats but also by the cruelty with which they

Free Economic Zones in Transition Economies and Its Impact of Economic Essay

Free Economic Zones in Transition Economies and Its Impact of Economic Development of a Country - Essay Example e areas of a certain national economy where the government has put up a special system of opportunities and benefits that are not available to other areas of the country.3 These zones are also referred to as â€Å"islands† or â€Å"windows† wherein foreign investments and technologies are presented to a country. They are an example of an â€Å"open door† policy.4 Another definition of FEZ presents it as a part of a country’s territory wherein goods are being looked at as something that does not fit the limits of national customs territory; thus, they are not under common customs control and taxation, according to the Kyoto Convention. Hence, products being entered through the FEZs are not subjected to any trade barriers. The Ministry of Finance and Economy of Korea also gave their own definition, stating that FEZs are self-sufficient areas that provide wide-ranging services.5 Consequently, the Free Economic Zone Law defined FEZ with Article 23 as â€Å"th e zone, which is developed with the aim of improving the business environment for foreign-invested enterprises and the living conditions for foreigners†. Thus, an FEZ is a special area where exceptional measures are practiced. Moreover, it is a specific area which offers an optimal business and living environment to foreign investors and enterprises in order to draw high-end foreign industries and global services.6 FEZs are similarly known as free zone (FZ), free port (FP), customs free zone (CFZ), EPZ, foreign trade zone, free production zone (FPZ), FTZ, industrial free zone, tax free zone, customs free airport and foreign access zone.7 FEZs are also areas characterized as a part of a national economic area rather than a geographic territory where preferential economic conditions are being imposed with respect to entrepreneurs.8 Thus, others regard FEZs as a means of selective reduction of the state’s power to interrupt with economic processes. FEZs are referred to as devices that are capable of

Obama's Views on War and Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Obama's Views on War and Terrorism - Essay Example President Obama’s agendas have proved to be stronger and more viable over time. President Obama is a law graduate. President Obama’s years of public services has seen immense achievements. He mentioned numerous pointers, or tasks to be completed, in his Inaugural Speech on 20th January 2009. These included reviving the economy by creating jobs for people, developing renewable energy resources, increasing the educational standards, economic and infrastructure development, scientific research and lowering the healthcare costs, and to make federal budget spending transparent in front of masses. Most of these objectives the president has already achieved and continues to improve on. The inaugural speech also contained a specific emphasis on war on terrorism and how the worldwide contempt and hatred is to be tackled. This is the world’s biggest concern so far and, as United States of America is the most powerful country in the world, it also shoulders a certain respon sibility regarding maintaining peace in the world. President Obama’s Inaugural speech received worldwide viewership and interest for his views and interests on the subject of war and terrorism. President Obama’s Inaugural speech contained specific references to the war-zones of that time. â€Å"We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we’ll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet† (Obama). It is evident in these words that President Obama, at the time of gaining office, aimed to establish worldwide peace. He intended to retrieve the United States’ army from Iraq which had been deployed during former president Bush’s reign following the 9/11 chaotic incident. Obama’s priorities also included establishing peace in Afghanistan which had also deteriorated into a war zone in search of Al-Qaeda le ader Osama bin Laden and in search of nuclear weapons which were sadly never discovered. President Obama stressed that he would go to any lengths to establish peace in the region by communicating beneficially with both friends and enemies. As a super power of the world, President Obama specifically felt the responsibility of peace and hence placed extra emphasis on it. President Obama’s other notions have been successfully completed or are in the process. 2.6 million Jobs were added to aid the recession-stricken nation of America and for the country’s economic growth. This would also influence the education sector positively as more people would be able to acquire education if personal financial conditions were satisfactory. President Obama’s efforts do not end here as he furthers his cause and plan till the completion of his tenure. President Obama seems to be carrying a huge impact of his law schooling. He is a strict disciplinary regarding corruption and its legal implications. Not only has he applied his legal educational background to federal budget spending by placing it online in plain view of all United States citizens, but the same is also reflected in his foreign policies and his course of action against terrorism. When talking about President Obama’s views on wars, it is imminent that his views before his presidency were hardly any different. â€Å"I am not opposed to all wars. I am opposed to dumb wars† (Obama). It is clear from his 2002 speech against the Iraq

Gender Differences in Advertising Language

Gender Differences in Advertising Language In this modern life, advertisements appear widely not only in shops and stores, in leaflets and brochures, on newspapers and magazines but also on high-tech media like radios, televisions and the Internet. They appear in different forms: texts, images, audio files or an integrated form of all: video/animated files. However different they are, they are designed with only one intention. That is to make more profit by bringing the products to groups of potential customers. To fulfill that intention effectively, they characterize the potential customers of each product or service and design personalized advertisements (2008 Choicestream Personalization Survey) that target to certain potential groups of customers. Thus, in the advertising market, some products have more than one advertisement which target at different groups: one may target at the old while another may target at the young; or one may target at the rich while another may target at the working class. Clear Shampoo is one obvious example in Vietnam. The product has seven advertisements on television and the Internet. They seem to target at different viewers of different genders and have several other aspects such as models, images, languages and advertising techniques. This essay focuses on one of those aspects, the language, and aims to find the answers for two following questions: Is the language used by male models/voiceovers different from that used by female models/voiceovers? Is the language used by models/voiceovers of different genders strongly associated with the target viewers? 2. Theoretical background 2.1. Advertising Nowadays, businesses and manufacturers are actually aware of the great importance of advertising their products or services since a successful advertisement can bring them great profits whereas an unfortunate commercial can lead them to bankruptcy (Sadek-Endrawes, 2008). According to adcracker.com, a website for tips, tools and techniques to create world-class advertising ideas, businesses and manufactures try their best to find ways to design the best advertisements for their products and services to attract attention, engage minds, trigger emotions and change what people think. Among techniques used are special metaphors (a symbolic representation for the product), promises of benefit or problem solving, offers of free samples, features of human-like and life-like, features of eye candy, etc. Writers from adcracker.com also believe that it might be useful to choose or create their own characters who are put in some special situations, for example conflicts, which can be exaggerated . But the most and foremost important techniques that all advertisement designers need to know are the techniques of choosing the target viewers and language wisely and correspondingly. That is the reason why there are sometimes more than one advertisements designed for only one single product. 2.1.1. Language use as a powerful advertising technique Language plays a vital role in the society in general and in everyones life in particular. We use language of all kinds every day, if it is not to say, every moment to communicate with other people, to get ourselves and our own opinions expressed and vice versa to get the same things from others (Gyllgard, 2006). Mastering that communicative power of language, sensible advertisers try to utilize language as a powerful tool to influence the viewers. More specifically, they often try to use language distinctively in order to catch viewers attention (adcracker.com). For example, they sometimes play with words, use them out of context, and create new ones in order to help viewers remember a certain brand. Sometimes, those words become the slogan for the brand like Moving Forward for Toyota cars or Malaysia Truly Asia for Tourism in Malaysia. The designers of advertisements also pay attention to speech accommodation (Giles Coupland, 1991) and adjust the speech styles of models and voiceovers in order to fulfill their advertising intentions, especially the intention of attracting the attention of specific groups of viewers. A study of a group of students from Mount Holyoke College (Alfaro et al.) finds that the advertisement is much more effective when the gender of models/ voiceovers and the targeted gender are matched. Language in advertisements is also internationalized (Sadek-Endrawes, 2008), which is expected to be beneficial in order to create the same response from viewers of different countries in case the product comes into the global market. 2.1.2. Focus on target viewers Most advertisers know that advertising techniques have persuasive energy and that the strength of such persuasive energy is measured in several ways, but most importantly in relation to a target audience (adkracker.com). It is explained by adcracker.com that different target audience have different lifestyles, different attitudes, different feelings and emotions, which consequently results in different behaviors. Thus, successful advertisers often attempt to build adverts that can get people to take action or plant a belief in the minds of their prospective buyers by closely associating their adverts with the targeted viewers. This is also supported by the 2008 Personalization Survey of Choicestream, an independent research firm providing recommendation service for the worlds largest retailers and entertainment brands including Yahoo!, ATT, Tesco, Overstock.com, etc. In the survey, they noted that those who spend the most money and shop most frequently are more likely to click on per sonalized ads than non-personalized ads. In fact, 39% of them are more willing to click on a personalized advertisement. 2.2. Gender difference Men and women are different in various aspects which can mainly be categorized into biological and social factors. Consequently, different terms are coined to show such differences, for example sex and gender. Sex is defined by Eckert and McConnell-Ginnet (2003:10) as a biological categorization which is based primarily on reproductive potential and gender is the social elaboration of biological sex. This means that sex is something fixed by birth (Thomas, 2004) and gender is something that the social life shapes on us continuously in every pace of our life (Graddol and Swann, 1994:8). It is believed that gender has a major influence on language use through the process of socialization (Tannen 1993:84). As afore-mentioned, language is an important part of an individuals life which helps to form his/ her social identity (Gyllgard, 2006:1) by their different linguistic habits which reflect different individual biographies and experiences (Graddol and Swann, 1994:5). Coates (1993:144) also claims that when children adopt linguistic behavior considered appropriate to their gender they perpetuate the social order which creates gender distinctions This means that language is among the most significant factors, bedsides social roles and social positions, that make distinctions between men and women. Actually, it is observed that men and women use language differently in a gender-appropriate manner (Tannen, 1993:85) since they are small. In the following part of the paper, the use of language by different genders will be discussed in three main aspects: (1) topic choices, (2) word choices and (3) manner of speaking. Topic choices In terms of topic choices, men are believed to talk more about sports or other physical activities when they are small (Poynton, 1989) and about current concerns, about their strength and their dominance (Coulmas, 2005) when they grow up. Meanwhile, women are believed to spend time talking more about home activities, romance and fantasy worlds. Later in their life, they are considered to choose to talk about nonsense and unimportant personal topics (Gyllgard, 2006). Consequently, mens language is often considered as serious and important while womens is seen as trivial and easy to ignore (Coates, 1993). Word choices It is believed that women seem to be more careful about choosing words than men. It is explained that this results from the different roles of the two genders in the society. Women are considered to have their first and foremost roles as caring the families and bringing up children. Consequently, they need to be careful with the words they use or otherwise they may set bad examples for their children. Also regarding word choices, in their works, Poyton (1989) and Eckert McConnell-Ginet (2003) find that women use more intensifies (such as so and very), words of approximation (such as about and around), or inessential qualifiers (like really or so) than men. Women are also claimed to use more adjectives (including empty adjectives like cute and evaluative adjectives like wonderful) and adverbs. Furthermore, hedges and tag questions are found more in womens language than in mens in order to require confirmation or signal uncertainty respectively (Lakoff, 1989). Manner of speaking With the same reasons of different social roles, in terms of manner of speaking, women are found more polite in speaking and men are found to create and use more taboo language like slang or swear words (Poyton, 1989). Lakoff (1989) also agrees with this by giving an example that women choose to use weaker expletives like oh dear or goodness instead of words like shit or damn. Meanwhile, Coates (1993) believes that the language used by women is collaboration-oriented with supportive comments to create and maintain relationship of closeness and equality while that used by men is competition-oriented in order to assert their positions of dominance. 3. Methodology and Data This study focuses on the difference between the languages used by male and female models in different advertisements for the same product, namely Clear Shampoo, one kind of shampoo used in Vietnam. It will test whether the difference in language used by male and female models and voiceovers is associated with the difference in genders of the target viewers and how they are associated. First of all, English versions of seven Clear Shampoo advertisements are selected to be the data for analyzing. Those advertisements are chosen for several reasons. Firstly, shampoo is now an essential cosmetic product that people, regardless of their age, their social or financial status and certainly their gender, have to use in their daily life. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate the advertisements of such product. Secondly, it is found that there are several different advertisements of Clear Shampoo on television as well as on Youtube at the same time and it is presumed by the author that it may result from the advertisers purpose of targeting viewers of different genders. Consequently, with the help of Google search and Youtube website, seven advertisements of Clear Shampoo are collected and transcribed in the appendices of this essay for being analyzed to answer the first research question. Differences among those advertisements will then be figured out by checking the above -mentioned theory and later used to group the seven advertisements into 3 groups: for men, for women and for both men and women. The second question is answered by analyzing the interviews with 20 viewers of both genders who are non-native speakers of English but gain sufficient proficiency to understand the advertisements. Actually, they are Vietnamese teachers of English who are now teaching English at College of Technology and students of some M.A. programs for English Linguistics or English Teaching Methodology. The procedure includes two small sections. Firstly, the viewers are given the transcriptions of the advertisements and asked two following questions: Who does each advertisement target, men or women? How do you know who the advertisement target at? After that, they are asked to watch the seven advertisements and answer the two questions again. 4. Data analysis and results 4.1 Advertisement analysis and results Based on the theoretical background and seven advertisements of Clear Shampoo, the following results on gender differences in language use are obtained and grouped in three major aspects: (1) choice of topic, (2) choice of word and (3) manner of speaking. 4.1.1. Choice of topic It is revealed by the advertisement analysis that male models talk about their confidence and show their strength as well as their dominance to others by facing the problems: Black is confident. Confidence means no dandruff. (Appendix 1) Face it. Cover it. I deal with dandruff like man. (Appendix 4) or Rage. Rage against her breath of fear. (Appendix 5) Meanwhile, female models talk about beauty as in: some beauty shampoos (Appendix 3) about their daily activities such as combing in appendix 3 or about their emotion and their perception as in: I love my hair. Im convinced. (Appendix 2) Convinced. I am. (Appendix 3) They also mention one fact that they often try to avoid the troubles they encounter: Hide itCover itI keep it secret as any woman should. (Appendix 4) 4.1.2. Choice of words Verb choice As male models choose to talk about their confidence, their strength as well as their dominance, they use words that help to express perfectly what they mean. Actually, they use strong verbs as breath, move and sweat in Appendix 1 or face, solve, and deal with in appendix 4 or verbs that show their activeness as in I trust Clear. (Appendix 1) The verbs spoken by male voiceovers also have the same feature: remove and prevent the dandruff (appendix 5), or make the dandruff go away and stay away (appendix 7) so that its all settled (appendix 4). All those verbs bring to the audience the active position of the speakers, and thus, reveal their dominant positions. On the other hand, the verbs used by female models are quite different since they seem to display the defensive positions of the women Im convinced. (Appendix 2) Convinced. I am. (Appendix 3) or their solutions of avoiding dandruff by hiding it, covering it or keeping it secret (appendix 4). Adjective choice As their concerns are different, female and male models choose different adjectives when they speak about their hair. For example, most male models and voiceovers use black to talk about their hair or the hair they want to have: I like black. Black is confident. Black looks good. (Appendix 1) From black into darkness and into the dark, the icy blackness follows. (Appendix 5) the seduction of black, the temptation of black. Its the closeness of black that you can only have (Appendix 6) At the same time, female models talk about the features of soft, clean and beautiful which are just suitable to describe female hair. Clear makes my hair soft and beautiful. Just soft hair. (Appendix 2) Can your shampoo leave your hair soft and clean Clear takes it soft. Just soft hair. (Appendix 3) 4.1.3. Manner of speaking As can be seen from the seven advertisements, female models talk with a collaborative orientation. They talk as if they want to share their experience with the audience whereas male models and voiceovers try to assert their positions of dominance by a competitive orientation. They talk about their dealing with dandruff (appendix 4), the collision of sparks and dandruff (appendix 5), their black seduction and temptation when they are dandruff free (appendix 6). The tendency of dominance is also expressed by their short imperative sentences which can be found more frequently in male models or voiceovers speech: Face it Solve it (Appendix 4) Rage, rage against her breath of fear. (Appendix 5) Make the season more seductive. Make it a Clear Black Valentines. Be board. Be Black. Move closer anytime. Have Clear Black Valentines. (Appendix 6) The first advertisement in Appendix 1 with the male model also offers another feature of male speech. That is the logic in thinking and speaking: Black is confident. Black looks good. Looking good means no dandruff. Confidence means no dandruff. Clear means no dandruff. With his logical speech, the male model tries to convince the audience the close relationship among Clear, black, confident and looking good. 4.2 Interview analysis and results The results of the interviews reveal that it is not language but mainly the models, the images in the advertisements that inform the interviewees about the target viewers of the advertisements. In fact, after looking at the transcription of the seven advertisements, most of them (16 out of 20) hardly say who the advertisements target at. The other four guess the target viewers based on the name of the models (Rain in Appendix 1 or Nicole in Appendix 2) or the name of the products (Clear Men in Appendix 4 or Clear Black Valentines in Appendix 6). However, they can easily answer the two questions after watching the video files and confirm that the language does not get much of their attention but the rhythm of the speech does have some effects on their viewing. This might lead to a conclusion that language does not play an important role in revealing the target viewers of advertisements. 5. Conclusion The results of two analyses reveal the answers for both research questions. Firstly, the analysis of the advertisements answers the first question about the relationship between the language and the gender of speakers. In fact, it confirms the theory of gender language. According to the analysis, the language used models/voiceovers of different gender are not the same even though they are not the language that they say in the real life but what they are told to say by the advertisement designers or directors. The differences mainly lie in the choice of topics, choice of words and the manner of speaking. Secondly, the analysis of the interviews with 20 non-native English speakers answers the second question about the relationship between the language and the target viewers of the advertisements. The result reveals that language does not have a strong link with the target viewers since most of the interviewees cannot say exactly the target viewers of the advertisements if they only look at the transcriptions of the ads. Although the research has found answers for both research questions, there are still many drawbacks that should be improved. First of all, it is realized that just one or two typical advertisements should be selected in stead of seven so that the analysis could be more thorough and focused. Secondly, the interviews should be recorded by means of multi-media in stead of just recorded by note-taking since it can provide much more information and can be referred back easily. References 2008 Choicestream Personalization Survey. Choicestream. 29 October 2009 Advertising techniques Dos and Donts and Simple Tips from Years of Learning. Buzz Marketing. 29 October 2009. Alfaro, M.W. et al. The effect of voice-over gender and targeted gender of product on television commercial effectiveness. 12 December 2009 Creative and Effective Advertising Techniques. AdCracker. 29 October 2009 Coates, J. 1993. Women, Men and Language. London: Longman. Coulmas, F. 2005. Gendered speech: Sex as a factor of linguistic choice. Sociolinguistics. Cambridge. Eckert, P. McConnell-Ginnet, S. 2003. Language and Gender. Cambridge: CUP Giles, H. Coupland, N. 1991. Language: Contexts and Consequences. Open University Press Graddol, D and Swann, J. 1994. Gender Voices. Oxford: Blackwell. Gyllgard, L. 2006. Gender differences in Swedish students written English and students identification of female and male language features. 29 Oct, 2009 Lakoff, R. 1989. Language and Womans Place. New York: Harper and Row. Newman, M.L. et al. 2008. Gender Differences in Language Use: An analysis of 14,000 Text Samples. Discourse Processes. 45: 211-236 Poynton, C. 1989. Language and Gender: Making the difference. Oxford: OUP Sadek-Endrawes. 2008. Culture Advertising. 29 Oct, 2009. Sunderland, J. 2008. Language and Gender. Routledge. Tannen, D. 1993. Gender and Conversation Interaction. New York: OUP. The Targeted Advertising Dictionary and Business Index. The Interactive TV Dictionary and Business Index. 25 Nov, 2009. Thomas, L. et al. 2004. Language, Society and Power. Routledge. Trudgill, P. 2000. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. London: Penguin APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLb6o0QV9jo I breath. I move. I sweat. With the world watching. My hair. My clothes. I like black. Black is confident. Black looks good. Looking good means no dandruff. Confidence means no dandruff. Clear means no dandruff. I trust Clear. Dandruff never comes back. My name is Rain. Clear. No Dandruff. APPENDIX 2 Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGzm2dIjO3I I lived to perform. My song, my dance, my hair. Theres no room for dandruff. Clear makes my hair soft and beautiful. I love my hair. Clear. It works. Im convinced. My name is Nicole. Clear. No Dandruff. Just soft hair. APPENDIX 3 Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TYOSixnZWwfeature=related Can your shampoo leave your hair soft and clean. That is how combing sounds like with some beauty shampoos. And that is how it sounds like after Clear takes it soft. Convinced. I am. Clear. No Dandruff. Just soft hair. APPENDIX 4: Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd_LQMSvXJ4 Face it. Hide it. Solve it. Cover it. I deal with dandruff like a man. I keep it secret as any woman should. But either way, we know the answer is clear. I use clear. Clear men for me. It has zinc vitanol, clinically proven effective to remove dandruff and prevent it from coming back. Its all settled then. For us, its only one choice. New clear. No dandruff. APPENDIX 5 Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6WlPhqIyrs From black into darkness, shadows see follicles bent and broke and slivers of sparks as dark and dandruff collide. Rage, rage against her breath of fear! Now frozen, silence marks the danse macabre. And into the dark, the icy blackness follows. APPENDIX 6 Clear Commercial found on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9tx1JR34lc You never know when youd get stuck by the seduction of black, the temptation of black. Its the closeness of black that you can only have when you are dandruff free. With Clear. Make the season more seductive. Make it a Clear Black Valentines. Be board. Be black. Move closer anytime. Have Clear Black Valentines. With clear. No dandruff.

Henrik Isbens A Dolls House :: A Dolls House Essays

Translation Trouble In the play "A Doll House" the main character, Nora, is in a situation where she is caused to act, emotionally and physically, as a doll to please her husband. Nora has to be very sneaky and conniving in order to be perfect and talked down to by her husband. The translation of this play from Norwegian was a little difficult. The title can either be translated as "A Doll House" or as "A Doll's House". Many people believe either title fits the theme of the play. I believe that the title "A Doll's House" may fit because it is Nora being a doll in order to please her husband Torvald. Torvald sees her as his toy, not as a human equal to himself. Torvald gives his wife pet names such as "spend thrift" and "squander bird". This shows just how controlling he really is. Nora just plays along, keeping secrets from Torvald in order to please him at any expense. This was a very common situation during the era whom this play was produced. Nora is smart and capable of a lot more but she lets herself be held back in order to be the perfect wife for Torvald. The title "A Doll House" would not fit the play because this states that everyone in the house is a doll. However, Nora is the only character truly pretending to be what they are not. This title would work if everyone was trying to give off an image that wasn't true, such as Nora did. If Nora is a doll then all the other characters would be the humans playing with her, causing her to do extra ordinary tasks such as forgery and lying. The best title is definitely "A Doll's House" because Nora is the only character acting in a different manner in order to please her power hungry husband, Torvald. Even if she was conniving it was all in good intentions. It takes a very loving wife to go out of her way in order to make sure that her husband isn't burdened down with the expenses of a trip that saved his life. However, Torvald doesn't really see his Nora as his wife emotionally but as his little sex pet. This is what Nora finally realizes at the end of the play when Torvald is only worried about himself and what everyone else thinks about him.