Personal Ethics Gen/200 Essay Example

Personal Ethics Gen/200 Paper Welcome to WritePoint, the automated review system that recognizes errors most commonly made by university students in academic essays. The system embeds comments into your paper and suggests possible changes in grammar and style. Please evaluate each comment carefully to ensure that the suggested change is appropriate for your paper, but remember that your instructors preferences for style and format prevail. You will also need to review your own citations and references since WritePoint capability in this area is limited. NOTE: WritePoint comments are computer-generated writing and grammar suggestions inviting the consideration and analysis of the writer; they are not infallible statements of right/wrong, and they should not be used as grading elements. Also, at present, WritePoint cannot detect quotations or block-quotes, so comments in those areas should be ignored. For additional assistance, please visit our WritePoint Lab to speak with a tutor. During the lab, the tutor address es common WritePoint grammar and style errors, offers editing advice for students who use WritePoint, and takes student questions. A link to the lab is located on the Live Labs homepage, which is accessible by logging into eCampus and pasting the following URL (https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CWE/LiveLabs/) into the address bar.Ethical Lens Inventory Reflection: what i learned through ethical lens inventory? [Writing suggestion: Unless in a quote or a title, avoid rhetorical questions in academic writing. A good idea is to provide answers, not questions] Rights and Responsibility lens.Before i started this class i had no idea how ethics and teams related to college success. I [Avoid use of the first person (I, me, my) in academic writing unless writing about a personal experience. First person use may be allowed by the instructor. ] also had no concept of how working with a team of different lenses could improve my individual ability to work with others. I

The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy

The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy Throw a piece of swag at a marketing conference and you’ll (lightly) hit someone who can tell you about the importance of an email list. They’re not wrong. Despite new and flashy marketing channels constantly popping up, email remains one of the strongest for so many companies. According to eMarketer, 73% of in-house marketers worldwide said that email marketing provided a strong ROI in 2017, making it the most commonly reported answer in their survey. But most of the email marketing advice  out there is focused on building your list. Collecting subscribers. Hoarding fans. They don’t explain how to actually turn those subscribers into leads and customers. Remember, building your list is only the first step in the email marketing process and converting your audience into customers. If you don’t use that list wisely and plan how to move subscribers to the next step, the rest of the buyer’s journey will never take place. But when used strategically, email marketing is one of the most all-encompassing marketing channels you can use. It doesn’t just build an audience or generate leads, it’s incredibly effective in every single stage of the sales funnel. From capturing visitors at the awareness stage to nurturing current customers and retaining them long-term, email reliably gets results. Does this make you want to shape up your strategy  ASAP? Good. It’ll be worth it. Before you get to work, let’s break down what your email strategy should accomplish at every stage of the customer journey, and examples and ideas to get your brainstorming started. The 4 Simple Stages of an Engaging Email Funnel Strategy by @thatbberg via @Table of Contents: Step 1: Generate Leads at the Top of the Funnel Step 2: Nurture Leads in the Middle of the Funnel Step 3: Convert Customers at the Bottom of the Funnel Step 4: Activate Customers and Retain Them Forever Step 1: Generate Leads at the Top of the Funnel Building your list may not be the beginning and end of a strong email marketing strategy, as some marketers make it out to be, but it’s definitely the start of the process. Email opt-ins are one of the best ways to capture website and social media visitors at the top of the marketing funnel who aren’t yet ready to buy. When someone comes to your blog, for example, and enjoys the content and overall experience but isn’t ready to buy your product, subscribing to your email list is an alternative call-to-action that still brings them closer to becoming a customer. Someone handing you their email is essentially inviting you to market to them, as long as you provide value as well. Given how hard it can be to reach your audience on other platforms, say algorithm-determined news feeds, you want this direct relationship with as many people in your audience as possible. But they’re just as aware of how personal giving you their email address is, compared to something like following you on Instagram. Because of that, getting strangers to subscribe to your email list can be a challenge - especially if they’ve got hundreds of emails in their inbox already. Here’s how you can rise to the challenge and more to build a thriving, converting list of subscribers, based on ’s own success building a list of over 300,000: Send a Value-Packed Weekly Newsletter The email newsletters we’re talking about aren’t just your PDF pamphlet or weekly sales promos some businesses will call a newsletter. No, we mean high-value content that inspires, nurtures, and converts. That’s what a good newsletter looks like, for example ’s own weekly recap of new marketing advice, both from here on the blog and around the web. (Image source: https://.com/blog/how-to-make-an-email-newsletter/) In an era where we’re obsessed with custom lead magnets and interactive webinars and newer, flashier content types, it takes great content to make one worth signing up for. To make sure your newsletter can stand on its own in terms of attracting subscribers, make sure to: Determine a focused goal to base your newsletter strategy around, such as generating or nurturing qualified leads, driving customer renewals, etc. Create a theme and content strategy  your newsletters can follow, like ’s theme of the latest content to help marketers achieve their goals. Write newsletter copy that cultivates your brand. They may have an old reputation for being promotional and impersonal, some of the more popular modern newsletters, like TheSkimm  and The Hustle, build such an engaged community by developing strong brand voices  and personalities. Anyone can get started, no fancy technology needed. MailChimp  is free to get started with and powers some of the most popular brands on the internet, so you can start simple with it and build your strategies out further as you scale. Offer Lead Magnets Like Free Tools and Resources If sending a value-based newsletter every week for the foreseeable future, in addition to any more promotional emails, doesn’t fit into your content strategy, there are lots of other ways to attract new subscribers. For example, trading a free asset in exchange for a reader’s email address is a great way to provide a ton of extra value without the ongoing content creation  a newsletter can involve. You can create and develop the lead magnet once and promote and mention it in blog posts and other content for months. Trading a free asset in exchange for a reader’s email address is a great way to provide a ton of...Popular and easy-to-create lead magnets include: Checklists and cheat sheets Fillable or printable workbooks Ebooks Spreadsheet and document templates You can also take free offers to the next level and instead of creating a PDF or downloadable asset, you can create an interactive tool subscribers can get get ongoing value from. Some great examples include ’s Headline Analyzer, Mention’s Brand Grader, and Unbounce’s Landing Page Analyzer. Run Email Courses and Challenges To combine the educational value of content offers with the ongoing value of tools, something like an email course or challenge can give you the best of both options. They can involve a full series of emails, as opposed to a single downloadable asset. This can both help content feel more manageable to consumers, and help you build up a relationship with them over the course of a few days instead of a one-time transaction. You can choose to educate your new subscribers over the course of a few days, such a free 5-day email course, or focus on more action-oriented content with a challenge to achieve a certain result within the length of the offer. Hold Audience-Building Live Webinars The final lead generation tool to mention today is live webinars. Live, video-based content is a powerful tool at every stage of the funnel, so it will be mentioned again, but one of the most valuable elements of webinars is how willing people are to hand over an email to attend them. That makes them gold for lead generation, especially when you really perfect it. Lead generation webinars can be done over and over on the same topic and taken on tour to new audiences, like a virtual public speaking circuit. Lead generation webinars can be done over and over on the same topic and taken on tour to new...This exact strategy was a major factor in growing ConvertKit  from $98k to $625k in monthly recurring revenue. ConvertKit’s marketing team used collaborative webinars with affiliates to build an early audience and community around their product. They were able to perform the same webinar more than 150 times, each time to a new audience that converted incredibly well. Years later, it’s a tactic they continue today. With marketing-focused webinar tools that let you worry more about the content than technology, it’s become easy for businesses of any size to build full marketing campaigns around webinars. For example, ClickMeeting  is one option that’s not just for running webinars, but converting from them with features like built-in call-to-action buttons. (Image source: https://clickmeeting.com/tools) Step 2: Nurture Leads in the Middle of the Funnel Okay, you’ve found a lead gen tactic that works for you. Once you’re generating leads and subscribers, you need to do something with them. Next, you want to: Qualify them as potential customers, and Segment them according to your team’s buyer personas Once you’ve qualified someone and matched them to a buyer persona, you can match them to your most relevant product, service, value proposition, etc., and then plan emails that strategically guide them towards purchase. It sounds complicated, but with most email marketing and marketing automation software, it’s done easily and automatically. For example, you can segment your leads before ever interacting with them based on simple information, like: Which lead magnet, form, or web page they subscribed through Website and subscriber behavior Demographic information Lead scoring can be done the same way. And remember, drip sequences are your friend! By consistently emailing leads, you keep them engaged and have the opportunity to learn more about them through their opens, clicks, and replies. By consistently emailing leads, you keep them engaged and have the opportunity to learn more about...During nurturing, you want to continue providing value, building trust, and developing a relationship with your lead up until the final moment before they convert. Each email is a new opportunity to build more rapport with them as well as learn about their behavior and customize your marketing accordingly. You want to build up to the moment of conversion: where you’re talking to the right person with the right message and the right timing. How do you do that? Here are some of the types of emails that nurture leads and get them to the next stage of the sales funnel. Use Self-Segmentation Emails A self-segmentation email presents different options to your leads and lets them select which is most relevant. You can then move them into appropriate email segments based on which option or options they click. You have lots of options for how you can segment, based on what’s most useful to your business: What types of content they prefer Which topics they’re most interested in Goal or reason for signing up for your list This works great as a welcome or confirmation email when someone first signs up, but you can ask someone to self-segment more than once and at any point in the buyer’s journey. Everyone appreciates the promise of more relevant and useful emails. Everyone appreciates the promise of more relevant and useful emails.Send Case Studies and Customer Stories As you start to introduce your leads more directly to your product, you want to do as much as you can to help them see themselves using your product or service. While segmentation so you can more specifically talk to people is great, you need to â€Å"show† as well as â€Å"tell.† Sending leads case studies, success stories, testimonials, and other social proof featuring customers similar to them will do that. Keep Providing Free Resources Til The End Finally, continuing to offer free content that’s jammed with value will continue to make an impact throughout the funnel. As a lead moves through your nurturing content and you learn more about them, you can even get more relevant, personal, and valuable with that content. For example, by shifting the topics of your webinars from broader content to more solution-specific ideas, you can use them for nurturing as well as lead generation. Monitoring software Mention, for example, offers both topical webinars like those discussed above (like one they hosted with !), as well as more product-focused webinars that are ridiculously helpful for those already interested in them. (Image source: https://info.mention.com/live-training) If you do provide multiple formats of nurturing content, like adding webinars to your email sequences, make sure you’re able to track results both per channel and for your whole funnel. For example, marketing dashboards like Cyfe  let you pull in information from multiple apps and tools to track all stages and locations of the funnel in one place. You would just add pre-built widgets for your tools like Google Analytics, InfusionSoft, and Unbounce at their proper places in your funnel map. (Image source: https://www.cyfe.com/marketing-dashboard) Step 3: Convert Customers at the Bottom of the Funnel Congrats! Your email lead gen and nurturing are fantastic and have primed leads perfectly. You’ve shown value, built a relationship, and fired off all the psychological triggers  that have people ready to buy. This is obviously what you’ve been waiting for, the moment when your funnel (literally) pays off. With your email marketing funnel so carefully set up with the steps we’ve gone over, like using segmentation to provide super personalized value, you have a great chance of converting a new customer. And segmentation is about to come in handy yet again. In addition to using it to deliver more personalized nurturing campaigns, you can use it to offer your product or service in the most relevant way possible to each individual prospect. Between automated funnels and sequences and your seasonal/regular marketing calendar, you have lots of options for reaching your customers, all of which will be more successful the better the rest of your funnel is segmented. By combining segmentation with different conversion strategies like those listed below, you’re sure to be within reach once your customer has reached their moment of decision and purchase. Recommended Reading: How to Create a Marketing Strategy That Will Skyrocket Your Results By 9,360%" Retarget Subscribers With Emails and Ads Once again, at this point you’re searching for that perfect moment when your prospect is ready to buy. At this point, you’ve built up enough of a reputation with them that ads placed in front of them will convert well. (Image source: https://okdork.com/how-to-spend-your-first-100-on-retargeting-ads/) You don’t need to stick to just email to reach them affordably - retargeting ads  can be some of the most cost-effective kinds of paid marketing. For example, AppSumo  was able to achieve a 224% ROI from a recent retargeting campaign. That said, email retargeting may be all you need, especially with your warmest leads, like e-commerce abandoned carts. Abandoned cart emails  find people who’ve essentially already decided to buy your product, so offering it one more time is often an easy win. (Image source: https://support.bigcommerce.com/articles/Public/Using-the-Abandoned-Cart-Saver) When Henna Caravan  first started using retargeting and abandoned cart emails, it had a major impact on acquisition of first-time customers. Founder Jessica McQueen explained to BigCommerce what it was like watching the results come in: â€Å"That’s turned into the most exciting part of my day, seeing an abandoned cart get converted into a sale...I had no idea that people were leaving their cart empty and how much was sitting on the table at the end of the day.† Create Time and Urgency-Based Offers Another great way to convert well-nurtured prospects is through offers based on limited time and other urgency factors. By building authentic and ethical deadlines  into your marketing, like expiring offers and discounts, into your funnel, you give warm prospects a reason to convert today versus next week. A great tool for this, for example, is Deadline Funnel. It lets you easily create customized deadlines and scarcity offers for each lead, based on different email and website activity. So you could trigger a funnel with an expiring deadline for: New leads who’ve just signed up for your list Existing customers to celebrate occasions like birthdays Prospects who have visited certain high-intent pages on your website It’s a â€Å"get ‘em while they’re hot† approach that can lead to crazy high conversion rates when the situation is right. Recommended Reading: How to Effectively Measure Marketing ROI With Google Analytics and a Simple Formula Onboard Free Trial Users Finally, if you’re selling something with some kind of free trial like software, you can’t assume that they’re sold once they’ve signed up for a free trial. The true conversion - them becoming a paying customer - hasn’t happened yet. You still need to further engage and nurture them, and this is where it matter most. You can introduce tutorials, use cases, and more product-related content to get them to the final purchase point. For example, as noted in Val Geisler’s onboarding teardown, Mixmax  sends their free users an introduction to the product in the form of an email course or educational sequence. (Image source: valgeisler.com/email-onboarding-tear-down-mixmax/ Step 4: Activate Customers and Retain Them Forever Once someone becomes a customer and reaches the bottom of the sales funnel, you might think your job as a marketer is over. Sorry, but that’s not the case. Retaining customers and extending your relationship with them lets you optimize your lifetime customer value and increase your marketing ROI. So once someone becomes a customer, enjoy a very brief break, because soon it’s time to start working towards their next conversion. Email is one of the best ways to keep in touch with and nurture them here, too. You want to continually prove and increase value, let customers improve their experience, and make your product sticky in their lives, so they’ll renew, upsell, refill, or whatever you need them to do. It’s not too different from nurturing prospective customers, except that you can and should talk about your products and services more directly to keep customers engaged. And there are so many ways to do that. Recommended Reading: How to Select Marketing Metrics and KPIs to Monitor Keep Customers Engaged With Your Product One important way to use email is to keep people needing what you offer. Whether it’s an app, physical product, or service, remind them and help them keep it in their lives. (Image source: mine) I love the way Grammarly  does this. Since I use the free Chrome plugin running in the background, it’s not always at the forefront of my mind. But their weekly progress report emails giving me helpful stats and compliments (â€Å"You were quite the busy bee†), along with CTAs to use and upgrade my free account never let it fade to the background for long. Find Organic Upsell and Cross-Sell Opportunities In addition to keeping customers coming back, you also want to find opportunities to sell them bigger or related offers. The key to doing this without coming off as pushy, you’ll want to look for ways to recommend things in the context of the value you provide and your customer’s life. (Image source: mine) A great example of this is Care/Of vitamins. They send frequent product-based emails and newsletters that are super helpful and insightful, customized based on what products you buy from them. It allows customers to learn more about their health and products they’re already, and get even more free value. They win you over so well that the upsells and calls-to-action in the emails are completely natural and truly enticing. Activate Advocates With Referral and Word-of-Mouth Campaigns Finally, getting customers to buy again isn’t the only way to get more value and ROI from them. Customers have friends, colleagues, neighbors, and other people who might be your perfect customers. Advocacy marketing, referrals, and word-of-mouth let you use happy customers to find new ones just like them. While it takes a more mature product and funnel and should only be offered to satisfied and engaged customers, incentivizing already satisfied customers to share that satisfaction. Create a Yellow Brick Road With Your Email Funnels By now, you’ve seen multiple ways you can use email marketing at every stage of the sales funnel: You can generate leads with lead magnets, challenges, and other valuable free content Nurture those leads by segmenting and personalizing your emails and communication Convert them with retargeting, urgency, and epic onboarding Keep customers engaged long-term with customer emails and recommendations Whatever is holding back your funnel from achieving your marketing goals, you can pinpoint what stage of the journey is the problem and create an email funnel strategy to solve it.

How Many People Are Killed or Injured in Hunting Accidents

How Many People Are Killed or Injured in Hunting Accidents According to the International Hunter Education Association, in an average year, fewer than  1,000 people in the US and Canada are accidentally shot by hunters, and of these, fewer than 75 are fatalities. In many cases, these fatalities are self-inflicted by hunters who trip, fall, or have other accidents that cause them to shoot themselves with their own weapons. Most of the other fatalities come in hunting parties, where one hunter shoots another accidentally. Firearm Fatalities in Hunting Fatality numbers have improved somewhat in recent years, thanks to extensive hunter education programs available in most states, but hunting does come with inherent dangers. Hunting fatalities due to firearms account for about 12% to 15% of all fatalities due to firearms nationally. Hunting proponents point out that the chances of a death due to a firearm accident of any kind are roughly the same as a death from falling out of a bed, chair, or another piece of furniture- about 1 in 4,888. If you compare pure numbers, roughly 20 times as many people die each year by accidental drowning than do by accidents while hunting. These statistics are misleading, however, since far more people engage in recreational swimming than engage in  sports hunting with firearms.   Overall accidental death statistics from the National Safety Council can provide some context. Of all accidental deaths:   1 out of every 114 is a motor vehicle crash1 out of every 370 is an intentional assault by a firearm1 out of 1,188 is due to accidental drowning1 out of every  Ã‚  6,905 is an accidental firearms discharge1 out of every  161,856 is due to a lightning strike It must be noted, however, that a great many accidental deaths by firearms do not involve hunters. When shooting-related fatalities occur in hunting,  most of the victims are hunters, although  non-hunters are also sometimes killed or injured. It can be said that this is a sport that does pose some danger to an entire community, not just to the willing participants.   Hunting Accident Statistics A report published by American orthopedic surgeons Randall Loder and Neil Farren in 2014 showed that between 1993 and 2008, 35,970 firearm-related injuries involved in hunting were reported to US hospitals or about 2,400 per year over the fifteen-year period of the study. Thats out of a total of 1,841,269 total accidents involving firearms (about per year 123,000).   Hunters injured by firearms in this study were nearly all Caucasian (91.8%), young adult to middle-aged (ages 24–44) and male (91.8%), who came to small hospitals (65.9%) to be treated. They were most often shot (56%) but other injuries- fractures and lacerations from falling out of trees, etc.- made up the rest. The injuries were most common in the head and neck (46.9%), self-inflicted (85%), unintentional (99.4%), at a school or recreation center (37.1%), and with an overall mortality rate of 0.6% (about 144 per year). The mortality rate is lower than reported elsewhere because the study included all injuries reported with hunting accidents. Alcohol was an issue in only 1.5% of the cases. The most common type of injury was a laceration (37%), not a puncture wound (15.4%).   It will come as no surprise that most of the injuries occurred during the hunting months of October, November, and December. The study found that the estimated incidence of a firearm injury associated with hunting activities is 9 in 1 million hunting days.   Hunting Related Accidents in Context In reality, most of the greatest dangers to hunters  are  not related to firearms but occur for other reasons, such as car accidents traveling to and from hunting sites or heart attacks while hiking woods and hills. Particularly dangerous  are fall from tree stands. Recent estimates say that there are almost 6,000 hunting accidents to hunters each year involving falls from tree stands- six times as many as are wounded by firearms. A recent survey in the state of Indiana found that 55% of all hunting-related accidents in that state were related to tree stands.   The vast majority of fatal accidental shootings while hunting involve the use of shotguns or rifles while hunting deer. This is also perhaps no surprise, since deer hunting is one of the most popular forms of hunting where high-powered firearms are used.   The Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting maintains the Hunting Accidents Center, which collects news stories about hunting accidents throughout the world. Although the list is long, its not comprehensive, and not every hunting accident is reported in the news. Sources Barber, C, et al. Underestimates of Unintentional Firearm Fatalities: Comparing Supplementary Homicide Report Data with the National Vital Statistics System. Injury Prevention 8.3 (2002): 252–56. Print.Carter, Gary L. Accidental Firearms Fatalities and Injuries among Recreational Hunters. Annals of Emergency Medicine 18.4 (1989): 406–09. Print.Greninger, Howard. Falls from tree stands top hunting accidents. Terre Haute Tribune Star, November 11, 2014.Incident Reports. Responsible Hunting, International Hunter Education Association.  Loder, Randall T., and Neil Farren. Injuries from Firearms in Hunting Activities. Injury 45.8 (2014): 1207–14. Print.Reports of hunting accidents for the current year. Hunting Accidents Center, Committee to Abolish Sports Hunting.  What Are the Odds of Dying From... At Work: Tools and Resources. National Safety Council.

Research Paper and Proposal on Advertising Essay

Research Paper and Proposal on Advertising - Essay Example , Tv programs are made to encourage viewers’participation (Henry 343).4Reality shows in particular require viewers to call and send text messages in order to influence the verdict of the judges(Henry 343).5 A show such as the American Idol in 2003 would attract more than 20 million calls or text messages per episode during its final weeks(Henry 343).6Marketers use the calling data to place their commercials during the most popular TV shows in order to reach out to their potential market(Henry 344).7According to Jhally, most of the advertisements broadcasted on TV are grossly misleading(217).8Although some programs purpot to unscripted, this is not always the case (Jhally 217).9The growing form of interactive viewership has allowed the advertisers to direct consumers towards certain consumption habits(Jhally 217).10Interactive viewership has also led to the formation of some cultures and social groups that shape the strategies and decisions of the corporates(Jhally 217).11 The popularity of the American reality TV shows lies on the fact they are short termed and carry a lot of drama and excitement(Henry 344).12 The fact that the characters that are staged on reality TV are real makes many people to be excited about them(Henry 350).13The stardom that is generally associated with reality shows creates a lot of appeal among the viewers(Henry 351).14 The reality TV shows and the incorporated advertisements have significant impacts on our cultures and social behavior. Many viewers, especially children, tend to have their hero from the reality TVs with whom they like to be associated with. In most cases, reality TV show participants are coached and therefore, do not portray the true selves as they make us believe (Henry 355; Rideout, Ulla, Donald1).1516 According to Victoria, Foehr, and Roberts, an average American child spends more than four hours watching television every day (2).17 Although there are a lot of researches on the impacts of watching television

Employment Research about Marriot Hotel Assignment

Employment Research about Marriot Hotel - Assignment Example The hotel was founded by J. Willard along with Alice Marriott and managed by Marriott family administration for more than 80 years. The business has headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and reports revenues of almost $13 billion in the financial year 2013. The year 1927 saw J. Willard Marriott open the nine-stool root beer stand. The stand grew into the Hot Shoppes eatery chain and developed into the present Marriott International hotel company ("Doha Prepares for the Opening of Marriott Marquis City Center Doha Hotel," n.d.). In the next 58 years, he constructed the Marriott product on a basis of guiding standards that stay entrenched in the business’s culture presently. At the moment, Alex Kyriakidis is the hotel’s leader and managing director. The organization’s Vision Statement is: Growing globally and opening up a world of experiences, as well as opportunities for individuals from all walks of life. The organization is as well driven to constantly challenge the status quo as well as anticipate its customers’ varying needs with new brands, new guest experiences and new global locations ("US General Error," n.d.). On the other hand, Mission statement of the organization is: â€Å"We support the communities where we work and live†. Marriott International puts its focus on five worldwide: social issues: the environment, poverty alleviation, the wellbeing of children, community workforce development, and global diversity and inclusion ("Marriott Marquis City Center Hotel Doha (Doha, Qatar) - Booked.net," n.d.). The Marriot Hotels has been taking part in some cooperate social responsibilities (CSR).

Different pricing objectives of company

Different pricing objectives of company Different pricing objectives of company Multi pricing objectives and strategies The task of the marketing manager is to decide the objectives of pricing before he determines the price itself. Pricing objectives provide guidance to decision makers in formulating price policies, planning pricing strategies and setting actual prices. The most important objective of the companies is to have maximum profits. Pricing objectives: Pricing objectives are goals that describe what a firm wants to achieve through pricing. Pricing objectives must be stated explicitly, and the statement should include the time frame for accomplishing them. There are six stages of setting prices. They are developing pricing objective, assessing the target markets evaluation of price, evaluating competitors prices, choosing a basis for pricing, selecting a pricing strategy, and determining a specific price. Cost-based pricing is adding a dollar amount or percentage to the cost of the product. Cost-plus pricing is adding a specified dollar amount or percentage to the sellers cost. Markup pricing is adding to the cost of the product a predetermined percentage of that cost. Demand-based pricing if pricing based on the level of demand for the product. Competition-based pricing is pricing influenced primarily by competitors prices. A pricing strategy is an approach of a course or action designed to achieve pricing and marketing objectives. Differential pricing is charging different prices to different buyers for the same quality and quantity of product. Negotiated pricing is establishing a final price through bargaining. Secondary-market pricing is setting one price for the primary target market and a different price for another market. Periodic discounting is temporary reduction of prices on a patterned or systematic basis. Random discounting is temporary reduction of prices on an unsystematic basis. Price skimming is charging the highest possible price that buyers who most desire the product will pay. Penetration pricing is setting prices below those of competing brands to penetrate a market and gain a significant market share quickly. Product-line pricing is establishing and adjusting prices of multiple products within a product line. Captive pricing is pricing the basic product in a product line low while pricing related items at a higher level. Premium pricing is pricing the highest-quality or most versatile products higher than other models in the product line. Bait pricing is pricing an item in the product line low with the intention of selling a higher-priced item in the line. Price lining is setting a limited number of prices for selected groups or lines of merchandise. Psychological pricing is pricing that attempts to influence a customers perception of price to make a products price more attractive. Reference pricing is pricing a product at a moderate level and positioning it next to a more expensive model or brand. Bundle pricing is packaging together two or more complementary products and selling them for a single price. Multiple-unit pricing is packaging together two or more identical products and selling them for a single price. Everyday low prices is setting a low price for products on a consistent basis. Odd-even pricing is ending the price with certain numbers to influence buyers perceptions of the price or product. Customary pricing if pricing on the basis of tradition. Prestige pricing is setting prices at an artificially high level to convey prestige or a quality image. Professional pricing are fees set by people with great skill or experience in a particular field. Price leaders are products priced below the usual mark up, near cost, or below cost. Special-event pricing is advertised sales or price cutting linked to a holiday, season, or event. Comparison discounting is setting a price at a specific level and comparing it with a higher price. It is necessary that the marketing manager decide the objective of pricing before actually setting price. According to experts, pricing objectives are the overall goals that describe the role of price in an organizations long-range plans. The objectives help the marketing manager as guidelines to develop marketing strategies. The following are the important pricing objectives. Market penetration Market skimming Target rate of return Price stabilization Meet of follow competition Market share Profits maximization Cash flow Product line promotion Survival Market penetration objective: In the initial stages of entering the market, the entrepreneurs may set a relatively low price. this is mainly to secure a large share of the market. in a highly price sensitive market, the businessman may continue to sell his products even without profit. he is interested in growth rather than in making a profit. in the market penetration objective, the unit cost of production and distribution will decrease when the volume of sales attain a particular target. in brief, market penetration objective is an attempt to secure a large share of the market by deliberately setting the low prices. Penetration pricingpursues the objective of quantity maximization by means of a low price. It is most appropriate when Demand is expected to be highly elastic; that is, customers are price sensitive and the quantity demanded will increase significantly as price declines. Large decreases in cost are expected as cumulative volume increases. The product is of the nature of something that can gain mass appeal fairly quickly. There is a threat of impending competition. As theproduct lifecycleprogresses, there likely will be changes in the demand curve and costs. As such, the pricing policy should be re-evaluated over time. The pricing objective depends on many factors including production cost, existence of economies of scale, barriers to entry, product differentiation, rate of product diffusion, the firms resources, and the products anticipatedprice elasticity of demand . Market skimming objective: Market skimming means utilizing the opportunities in the market to reap the benefits of high sales, increased profits and low unit costs. Some of the entrepreneurs study the buyers needs and try to provide the suitable goods, but charge them high prices. This objective is realized in those markets where the magnitude of competition is very low. The entrepreneurs, in this situation, make profits over a short period. The market-skimming objective would not be meaningful, when the consumer refuses to purchase the goods at the prices fixed by the producers. This pricing objective would be suitable in the markets where the consumers feel that costly goods are of the superior quality. Skimming is most appropriate when: Demand is expected to be relatively inelastic; that is, the customers are not highly price sensitive. Large cost savings are not expected at high volumes, or it is difficult to predict the cost savings that would be achieved at high volume. The company does not have the resources to finance the large capital expenditures necessary for high volume production with initially low profit margins. Target rate of return objective: Rate of return is normally measured in relation to investment and sales. The producers enjoying some protection may prefer to earn a target rate on investment. This would be possible where the entrepreneur enjoys a franchise or a monopolistic situation. But in the long run, every businessman attempts to secure an adequate return on investment through price setting. Mostly, middleman like wholesalers, retailers will price their merchandise to earn a particular rate of return on sales. Price stabilization objectives: Frequent changes in the prices of product will harm the long-term interests of the companies. Hence, they aim at stabilization of prices. They do not exploit a short supply position to earn the maximum. During the periods of good business, they try to keep prices from rising and during the periods of depression, they keep prices from falling too low. Thus, they take a long-term view in achieving price stability. Meet or follow competition objective: Pricing is often done to meet or even prevent competition. If a company is a price leader, it is better to follow it to ward off the possibility of competition. Market share objective: A company may either have the objective of maintaining the present market share or increase its share depending upon its stature. Particularly, big business houses adopt such pricing that it enables them to retain their market share. If they raise their market share, they may draw the attention of the government and if they shed their share, they may lose revenues. Contrary to this, small business houses are found interested in raising their share in the market so as to reap the benefit of large-scale production. In few cases, firms may sell the products even at a lower cost to capture the market. However, such practice may lead to financial crisis. As a matter of fact, this is an objective to be adopted by new firms cautiously. Profit maximization objective: Profit maximization does not mean profiteering. There is nothing wrong in this policy if practiced over the long run. As a matter of fact, many of the enterprises strive to maximize their profits. Maximization of profits should be on the total output and not on a single item. In such case, consumers do not get dissatisfied since a particular group is not called for paying a high price. While adopting this pricing objective, the marketers should attempt to project their image in the market through sales promotion techniques. The marketers should watch the reactions of the consumers. Profit maximization through price hikes should be sparingly used. Cash flow objective: One of the important objectives of pricing is to recover invested funds within a stipulated period. Most of the time you will find different prices for the cash and credit transactions. Generally, you find lower prices for the cash sales and high prices for the credit sales. But this pricing objective could be implemented with good results only when the firm has monopoly in the market. Product line promotion objective: Product line means a group of products that are related either because they satisfy similar needs of different market segments or because they satisfy different but related needs of a given market segment. While framing the product line, the marketer may also include such goods, which are not popular. The intention of the marketer is to push through all the goods without any discrimination. Thus, the ultimate objective is to increase the overall demand of the goods. In this pricing objective, equal prices are adopted for the entire product line. Survival objective: Perpetual existence of the business over a period is the indication of the sound financial position of the enterprise. All organizations will have to meet expected and unexpected, initial and external economic losses. These enterprises have to pool up the resources to meet all the contingencies through appropriate pricing strategies. Price is use to increase sale volume to level up the ups and downs that come to the organization. Profit Oriented: Target Return sometimes the vendor specifies a specific dollar amount or percentage amount that the price will be offered at in order to make a profit which has been calculated for a specific purpose. Usually this amount is part of a larger plan involving several product units in a product line Profit Oriented: Maximize Profits if the Competitive Market is not intense you may charge the highest price the market will bear because sometimes you may have an advantage for reasons based on your geographic advantage special features not available on other competitors products very very famous brand. etc.. Sales / Marketing Oriented: Increase Sales Volume Sales / Marketing Oriented: Increase Market Share Status Quo Goals: Just Meet the Competition if the customer has many choices, and you barely have the resources to stay in the market, then just charge the same price. You dont have the resources to survive a price war, and you dont have the ability to claim better quality to charge a higher price Prof. Allen says Volume objectives include sales maximization and market-share goals, which are specified as a percentage of certain markets. In sales maximization, management sets an acceptable level of profitability and then tries to maximize sales. This objective can lead to discounting or some other aggressive pricing strategy, such as rebates and sales. Skim the cream† pricing involves selling at a high price to those who are willing to pay before aiming at more price-sensitive consumers. This expression comes from the farming practice of milking cows the cream rises to the top and you skim it off. Skimming Pricing A Skimming policy is more attractive if demand is inelastic says the Shapiro text remember inelastic means there are no close substitutes products that people will pay a high price for because there is nothing else they can buy the is close to the item Prof. Allen says A skimming pricing policy involves setting prices of products relatively high compared to those of similar products and then gradually lowering prices. The skimming price is the highest price possible that buyers who most desire the product will pay (skim the cream off the top skim the innovators). This market segment is more interested in quality, status, uniqueness, etc. This policy is effective in situations where a firm has a substantial lead over competition with a new product. Example: A great example of Skimming is DVD players in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the late 1990s DVD players sold for $500 and $400 when they first came out, then the price dropped to less than $100 by 2001 by 2004 you can get them for $50 or $60 at many different types of stores. Penetration Pricing to make it too intimidating for competition to follow, or to make sure you enter the market in a competitive environment or as part of a brand building strategy Prof. Allen says A penetration pricing policy involves setting prices of products relatively low compared to those of similar products in the hope that they will secure wide market acceptance that will allow the company to later raise its prices. Such a policy is often used when the firm expects competition from similar products within a short time and when large-scale production and marketing will produce substantial reductions in overall costs. The low price must help keep out the competition, and the company must maintain its low price position. Discount Pricing can be seasonal can be based on volume or amount bought can be used to attract a form of payment e.g, CA$H Prof. Allen says Discount and allowance pricing has the effect of reducing prices to reward customer responses such as paying early or promoting the product. A recent pricing issue is that of everyday low pricing, where the retailer charges a constant, lower price at all times, with no temporary price discounts. Wal-Mart has led the trend toward everyday low pricing. Geographic Pricing F.O.B. basically, this is the price out the door at our factory you come and get it C.I.F. the cost at our factory + the insurance and freight to ship it to you ZONE if you live close, it is cheaper, if you live farther away, we add in shipping costs ZONE pricing used for everything from Pizza delivery to clothing to grain shipments Basing-point pricing means that all customers are charged freight from a specified billing location. Freight-absorption pricing, the seller pays all shipping costs to get the desired business. Prof. Allen says Price is influenced by geography, where the company decides on how to price to distant customers. Free On Board or FOB-origin pricing is a geographical pricing strategy in which goods are placed free on board a carrier; the customer pays the actual freight from the factory to the destination. Because the customer picks up its own cost, supporters believe that this method is the fairest way to assess freight charges. Some of the more pricing objectives are Maximize long run profit Maximize short run profit Increase sales volume Increase monetary sale Increase market share Obtain a target rate of return on investment Obtain a target rate of return on sale stabilize market or stabilize market price: an objective to stabilize price means that the marketing manager attempts to keep prices stable in the marketplace and to compete on non-price considerations. Stabilization of margin is basically a cost-plus approach in which the manager attempts to maintain the same margin regardless of changes in cost. company growth maintain price of leadership desensitize customers to price discourage new entrants into the industry match competitors prices encourage the exit of marginal firms from the industry survival avoid government investigation or intervention obtain or maintain the loyalty and enthusiasm of distributers and other sales personnel enhance the image of the firm, brand, and product be perceived as â€Å"fair† by customers and a potential customers create interest and excitement about a product discourage competitors from cutting prices use price to make the product â€Å"visible build store traffic help prepare for the sale of the business (harvesting) social, ethical, or ideological objectives get competitive advantage MARKETING MIX Themarketing mixis probably the most famous marketing term. Its elements are the basic, tactical components of a marketing plan. Also known as theFour Ps, the marketing mixelements areproduct, price, promotion, place. 4 PS OF MARKETING MIX PRODUCT A tangible object or an intangible service that ismass producedor manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service based like thetourism industry thehotel industryor codes-based products like cellphone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are themotor carand the disposablerazor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced service is acomputer operating system. Company should produce product according to customers needs and want because the motive of pricing pricing objective is profit maximisation. PRICE The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customers perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product. Company should set their price according to customers budget to earn more profit. One of the four major elements of the marketing mix is price. Pricing is an important strategic issue because it is related to product positioning. Furthermore, pricing affects other marketing mix elements such as product features, channel decisions, and promotion. PLACE THE Place represents the location where a distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet. Companies set their price according to place if target place is rural and backward then they should reduse their prices and if the target place is modern urban then the company charge more price according to its brand image and get more profit. PROMOTION Represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements -advertising,public relations,word of mouthandpoint of sale. A certain amount of crossover occurs when promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards. Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and Public Relations. Packaging also needs to be taken into consideration. Broadly defined, optimizing the marketing mix is the primary responsibility of marketing. By offering the product with the right combination of the four Ps marketers can improve their results and marketing effectiveness. Making small changes in the marketing mix is typically considered to be a tactical change.Parm Bains says Making large changes in any of the four Ps can be considered strategic. For example, a large change in the price, say from $19.00 to $39.00 would be considered a strategic change in the position of the product. However a change of $130 to $129.99 would be considered a tactical change, potentially related to a promotional offer. The term marketing mix however, does not imply that the 4P elements represent options. They are not trade-offs but are fundamental marketing issues that always need to be addressed. They are the fundamental actions that marketing requires whether determined explicitly or by default. The main objective is profit maximisation so company promote its brand and invest more money and get maximum profit. INFLUENCE THE MARKETING MIX Before the product is developed, the marketing strategy is formulated, including target market selection and product positioning. There usually is a tradeoff between product quality and price, so price is an important variable in positioning. Because of inherent tradeoffs betweenmarketing mixelements, pricing will depend on other product, distribution, and promotion decisions. ESTIMATE THE DEMAND CURVE Because there is a relationship between price and quantity demanded, it is important to understand the impact of pricing on sales by estimating thedemand curvefor the product. For existing products, experiments can be performed at prices above and below the current price in order to determine theprice elasticity of demand. Inelastic demand indicates that price increases might be feasible. CALCULATE THE COST If the firm has decided to launch the product, there likely is at least a basic understanding of the costs involved, otherwise, there might be no profit to be made. The unit cost of the product sets the lower limit of what the firm might charge, and determines the profit margin at higher prices. The total unit cost of a producing a product is composed of the variable cost of producing each additional unit and fixed costs that are incurred regardless of the quantity produced. The pricing policy should consider both types of costs. MARKET ENVIRONMENT Themarket environmentis amarketingterm and refers to all of the forces outside of marketing that affect marketing managements ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. Themarket environmentconsists of both the macro environment and the microenvironment Micro environment The microenvironment refers to the forces that are close to the company and affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the company itself, its suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets,competitors, and publics. The company aspect of microenvironment refers to the internal environment of the company. This includes alldepartments, such as management,finance,research and development,purchasing,operations andaccounting. Each of these departments has an impact on marketing decisions. For example, research and development have input as to the features a product can perform and accounting approves the financial side of marketing plans and budgets. Thesuppliersof a company are also an important aspect of the microenvironment because even the slightest delay in receiving supplies can result in customer dissatisfaction. Marketing managers must watch supply availability and other trends dealing with suppliers to ensure that product will be delivered to customers in the time frame required in order to maintain a strong customer relationship. Marketing intermediaries refers to resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, andfinancial intermediaries. These are the people that help the company promote, sell, and distribute its products to final buyers. Resellers are those that hold and sell the companys product. They match the distribution to the customers and include places such asWal-Mart, Target, andBest Buy. Physical distribution firms are places such as warehouses that store and transport the companys product from its origin to its destination. Marketing services agencies are companies that offer services such as conductingmarketing research, advertising, and consulting. Financial intermediaries are institutions such as banks, credit companies andinsurance companies. Another aspect of microenvironment is the customers. There are different types of customer markets including consumer markets, business markets, government markets,international markets, and reseller markets. The consumer market is made up of individuals who buygoods and servicesfor their own personal use or use in their household. Business markets include those that buy goods and services for use in producing their own products to sell. This is different from the reseller market which includes businesses that purchase goods to resell as is for a profit. These are the same companies mentioned as market intermediaries. The government market consists of government agencies that buy goods to producepublic servicesor transfer goods to others who need them. International markets include buyers in other countries and includes customers from the previous categories. Competitors are also a factor in the microenvironment and include companies with similar offerings for goods and services. To remain competitive a company must consider who their biggest competitors are while considering its own size and position in the industry. The company should develop a strategic advantage over their competitors. The final aspect of the microenvironment is publics, which is any group that has an interest in or impact on the organizations ability to meet its goals. For example, financial publics can hinder a companys ability to obtain funds affecting the level of credit a company has. Media publics include newspapers and magazines that can publish articles of interest regarding the company and editorials that may influence customers opinions. Government publics can affect the company by passing legislation and laws that put restrictions on the companys actions. Citizen-action publics include environmental groups andminority groupsand can question the actions of a company and put them in the public spotlight. Local publics are neighborhood and community organizations and will also question a companys impact on the local area and the level of responsibility of their actions. The general public can greatly affect the company as any change in their attitude, whether positive or negative, can cause sales to go up or down because the general public is often the companyscustomer base. And finally, the internal publics include all those who are employed within the company and deal with the organization and construction of the companys product. Macro environment The macro environment refers to all forces that are part of the larger society and affect the microenvironment. It includes concepts such as demography, economy, natural forces, technology, politics, and culture. Demographyrefers to studying human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, gender, race, and occupation. This is a very important factor to study for marketers and helps to divide the population intomarket segmentsandtarget markets. An example of demography is classifying groups of people according to the year they were born. These classifications can be referred to asbaby boomers, who are born between 1946 and 1964,generation X, who are born between 1965 and 1976, andgeneration Y, who are born between 1977 and 1994. Each classification has different characteristics and causes they find important. This can be beneficial to a marketer as they can decide who their product would benefit most and tailor theirmarketing planto attract that segment. Demography covers many aspects that are important to marketers including family dynamics, geographic shifts, work force changes, and levels of diversity in any given area. Another aspect of the macro environment is the economic environment. This refers to thepurchasing powerof potential customers and the ways in which people spend their money. Within this area are two different economies, subsistence and industrialized. Subsistence economies are based more in agriculture and consume their own industrial output. Industrial economies have markets that are diverse and carry many different types of goods. Each is important to the marketer because each has a highly different spending pattern as well as differentdistribution of wealth. The natural environment is another important factor of the macro environment. This includes the natural resources that a company uses as inputs and affects their marketing activities. The concern in this area is the increased pollution, shortages of raw materials and increased governmental intervention. As raw materials become increasingly scarcer, the ability to create a companys product gets much harder. Also, pollution can go as far as negatively affecting a companys reputation if they are known for damaging the environment. The last concern,government interventioncan make it increasingly harder for a company to fulfill their goals as requirements get more stringent. The technological environment is perhaps one of the fastest changing factors in the macroenvironment. This includes all developments from antibiotics and surgery tonuclear missilesandchemical weaponsto automobiles andcredit cards. As these markets develop it can create new markets and new uses for products. It also requires a company to stay ahead of others and update their own technology as it becomes outdated. They must stay informed of trends so they can be part ofthe next big thing, rather

Diploma in Leadership for Health Essay

The purpose of this unit is to assess the learner’s knowledge, understanding and skills required to promote the professional duty to maintain the currency of knowledge and skills and the need to continually reflect on and improve practice. The learning outcomes below are to be covered to enable you to achieve the unit. 1. Understand principles of professional development. 2. Be able to prioritise goals and targets for own professional development. 3. Be able to prepare a professional development plan. 4. Be able to improve performance through reflective practice. ASSIGNMENT COMPLETION INSTRUCTIONS Complete each learning outcome with a minimum of 250 words for each assessment criteria. Refer to the relevant workshop material in particular the Additional Reading Material. This assignment needs to be typed and when completed sent to: suzannebettaney@eurosourcesolutions.com LEARNING OUTCOME 1 – UNDERSTAND PRINCIPLES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 1.1 Explain the importance of continually improving knowledge and practice. It is important whilst working in a childcare setting to continually improve your knowledge and practice to ensure all aspects are carried out correctly in line with up to date policies and procedures. This helps to ensure that the best practice is followed at all times. Understanding that practice can change frequently and keeping ourselves up to date is vital. Constant development of all staff would also ensure that no one is falling behind and that everyone is up to date. Sharing information around the team helps to certify all staff are kept up to date with changing practice and are following the best practice possible. ‘Froebel believed that the training of workers for early years settings was essential’ – Early years and education pg.6. Benefits of training The benefits of staff training are good practice and bring together professionals to develop common ways of working which will widen an employee’s potential to progress and enhance performance. Continually training or extending to having managerial skills enable the individual to apply for a new job role or a promotion, therefore leading to a career progression. Benefits to the individual The benefits to the individual of improving knowledge and practice are becoming confident in your skill. Effective education requires practitioners who understand that young children develop rapidly, children are entitled to provision that supports and extends knowledge, skills, understanding and confidence. The outcomes for the children are better for development and learning. Training acts as a toolkit to use in all scenarios. Benefits to the employer It is the employer who has overall responsibility for their staff and therefore it is in their best interests to have a well trained team. It is  beneficial to the manager to be able to get work done safely, effectively and efficiently, the organisation is only as good as its overall staff. Having had further training staff will be able to pick up on extra additional needs a child may need as a result the child needs can be met successfully. 1.2 Analyse potential barriers to professional development In order for me to progress within my professional development, i should consider any potential barriers, once these barriers have been identified i should look at these barriers as challenges to overcome and not as problems which may remain unsolved. I consider barriers as a stepping stone to improve my skills and knowledge. Here is a list of some barriers which may prevent further professional development Having inadequate staffing levels Fear and lack of confidence in learning Lack of time due to high work loads Lack of resources and skills Lack of effective evaluation of learning Everyone has different learning styles, some people find it difficult sitting in a class and taking notes from a teacher, other people learn better from practical, I myself learn better being more hands on. Language barriers could play a big part in a staff member understanding what they are hearing or reading. A manager should encourage this member of staff to get extra help from themselves or an early year’s advisor. Individuals’ personal beliefs and attitudes impact significantly on the way they behave, overcoming these barriers is essential and here are a few ideas of how things can be resolved. Talking to the key individual, this gives an insight into particular problems or situations. Advantages include: Ideas can be explored Information can be obtained Gets any problems fixed quickly Disadvantages: It relies heavily on the key individual The responses may be biased It may be difficult to find the right person to talk to Observation is an effective way of assessing people’s behaviour in their working environment, this gives detail and analysis of current behaviours. A disadvantage of this is that some people’s behaviour alters if they know they are being observed. A good questionnaire can help give me a clear picture of current practice, I can then get a rapid collection of large amounts of data from lots of people it also highlights any need for change through communication from result. Some disadvantages from this is that time is needed to develop good questions and I cannot ask follow up questions. Professional development is vital to improve the workplace and it is essential for good people management. Continuing professional development is an ongoing, planned, learning and development process which enables all workers to expand and fulfil their potential. 1.3 Compare the use of different sources and systems of support for professional development. Support for my learning and development is very important and can be provided by other people in my workplace and also by outside agencies. Sources of support Staff meetings Training provided in house Training by outside agencies Appraisals Discussions with staff team Internet and E-learning Training – planned activities which enable a trainee to do something they haven’t done before. Learning – absorbing new information to apply in practice. Training is the input of information from outside, learning is the internal process of absorbing and understanding that information so it can be put into practice. Another source of support is using my manager as a role model and having staff meetings for advice. Supervisors can support my professional development by using supervisory meetings as an opportunity to scaffold and support any new knowledge. One way of doing this is to analyse my own work and its implementations. Reflection is important because it empowers people to assess their own performance. Awareness of my own strengths as well as my limits and vulnerabilities allows me to make mid-course corrections in work performance that feels natural and unforced. 1.4 Explain factors to consider when selecting opportunities and activities for keeping knowledge and practice up to date. LEARNING OUTCOME 2 – BE ABLE TO PRIORITISE GOALS AND TARGETS FOR OWN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 2.1 Evaluate own knowledge and performance against standards and benchmarks. My role as team leader is to work as part of the management team, to provide professional leadership and management to the nursery staff to ensure all children receive the highest standards of care and education. I need to have positive working relationships with staff, parents and carers and make sure that my entire team feel supported in their job roles. My key responsibilities: Provide professional and relevant feedback to parents/carers about their child. Ensure records of development and learning are accurately maintained by the appropriate staff. Make sure appropriate planning is in place to maintain the required standards. Provide leadership and support staff to  enable them to establish and uphold positive working relationships. Guarantee that practice and provision in the nursery meets the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Ensure all children are kept safe and that staff understand and, when necessary, follow safeguarding procedures. Support the development of good practice with regards to special needs and inclusion. Develop and maintain highly professional working relationships with relevant local authority departments, regulatory bodies and other agencies. Health and safety: Undertake a shared responsibility for health, safety and cleanliness throughout the nursery. Be fully aware of all emergency and security procedures. Operational: Support the manager and staff during inspections by regulatory bodies and assist in the implementation of any recommendations. Promote the nursery to current parents and potential customers. Staff: Support and supervise nursery staff with their day to day duties. Support and mentor staff and students. Be responsible for taking part in all self-development activities such as appraisals. Identify any training needs. Develop positive relationships with staff. General: Adhere to all company policies and procedures. Ensure that the company’s policies on diversity and equal opportunities are adhered to. The tasks I have stated above require a different combination of skills, knowledge and personal attributes for my work to be effective. I need to hold strong written and spoken communication skills, have good time management and organisational skills to meet deadlines and targets and to  have leadership skills to be able to support, develop and motivate my team. I need to hold and NVQ level 3 or above with at least 2 years experience in an early years setting, have a working understanding of the early years foundation stage and have current first aid qualifications to carry out my job role. I also need to have previous leadership skill, experience of meeting OFSTED requirements, practice as a room leader or manager and knowledge of OFSTED and EYFS. Some personal attributes that I feel I hold which allow me to achieve in my job role are being caring, mature and having a patient nature. I also need to be consistent and fair and have a sense of responsibility. 2.2 Prioritise development goals and targets to meet expected standards. To become more effective in my job role I need to have a plan. Having a visible plan helps me as a team leader see a quick overview of daily tasks and allows me to check that everyone understands their own work objectives. It also helps to agree timescales and goals and helps with performance and managing. Planning skills are vital to my efficiency and success in my job. I have to be able to set and achieve targets, prioritise these and help others do the same. The main purpose of negotiating realistic targets for work is to ensure that work gets done in a reasonable time and allows for overall better management, focusing on the outcome. Setting targets is part of planning so the more accurately I keep to a plan usually the more likely I am to succeed. Personal development is a long process. It helps me to assess my skills and qualities, consider my aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise my own potential. Practical steps need to be taken to enhance my personal development including: Organising my time Overcoming barriers to learning a new skill Undertaking a skills appraisal Being able to manage my time effectively will allow me to plan specific periods where I can devote myself to studying and preparing for future  assignments. Time management has always been one of my personal areas to improve and now I feel that i need to prioritise study time as this could be a potential pitfall for me. My end goal is to be able to complete my NVQ level 5 and in order to do this I need to plan where to study and still set aside time to spend with my family and work life. Some ways in which I can begin to organise my time could be to delegate at home and at work and to collect appropriate reading materials to help me, I can use all these skills to implement at work what I have learnt from studying. LEARNING OUTCOME 3 – BE ABLE TO PREPARE A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN. 3.1 Select learning opportunities to meet development objectives and reflect personal learning style.(please state the method you used to identify your learning style and describe your findings) State and explain the learning opportunities. Having a personal development plan helps me to take responsibility for my own personal development; this will motivate me to develop my own skills and to be aware of strengths, weaknesses and what training might be required to fulfil my future plans. Here are a few main steps to begin this process: Consider my own skills, strengths and weaknesses. Before i can work out which areas I need to develop, I need to analyse the skills I already hold. Decide which areas I need to develop. Looking at my current job I need to decide whether I intend on staying in my job role. Create the plan. I would think about how I can achieve objectives and do I need more training? Discuss plan with others. My manager or even my colleagues could give support and offer suggestions to help gain experience. Implement my plan Review my plan After looking at all these steps I can now begin building my own professional development plan. After previously stating in an earlier section everyone’s learning styles are different, I see myself as a pragmatist meaning I am keen to test things out in practice and like to experiment with new ideas. 3.2 Produce a plan for own professional development, using an appropriate source of support.(Use format shown in additional reading activities) It is often a good idea to keep a record of personal development plans. By writing down key developments in learning and development as and when they occur, I am able to reflect on my success at a later date. This reflection may well help to motivate me to learn more skills in the future. Targets identified Resources required Recommended solution Expected outcome Timescale for completion Leadership skills Time management To complete NVQ level 5 Help from colleagues and friends Time log and diary Appropriate reading materials Be assertive and take control of situations Prioritise my time, make a plan for work, home and studying Plan when to study To be a confident team leader who can delegate To have a healthy a Balance for work and home. To pass each assignment and maintain standards at work Ongoing Immediately December 2015 I will use the results of my PDP evaluation as part of the continuous improvement process to develop the following years’ PDP, and to revise professional learning goals based on my performance results and practice. 3.3 Establish a process to evaluate the effectiveness of your professional development plan. In order to establish the effectiveness of my PDP, I will need to measure my achievements against the targets and goals I have set. As well as being SMART, in order that the goals are achievable, I must use a method of evaluating it’s effectiveness. In this case, a formative method would be appropriate as I will need to evaluate my outcomes on a regular basis. Summative methods would not be appropriate as it would only take into account measures of actual achievements, and would not account for all the different factors involved in the process. A formative evaluation would enable evaluation of all these factors in order to have a working document that can be adapted on a regular basis, in order that it stays relevant and SMART. My targets are time management, developing my leadership skills, delegating and completing NVQ. I need to break down some of these further in order to make it easier rather than just trying to measure that my leadership skills have improved. For example, delegation is a leadership skill but will also help with my time management. How I go about delegating will show how my leadership skills are developing. Therefore ‘improving my leadership skills’ is the end goal and the targets I need to meet to help me achieve this are ‘to improve my time management’, ‘complete my NVQ’, ‘delegate tasks’ and to be able to take steps to achieve this. I might also break these down further so that ‘to improve my time management’ would be ‘to complete assignments and submit them on time’. However, to achieve this I need to set aside time to study, which will show that I can manage my  time, so I would need to include this within the plan, as well as how I have achieved this. I will also include times when I have been unable to achieve things such as ‘setting aside study time’ and evaluate this. This will demonstrate my leadership skills are improving. When evaluating the effectiveness of my PDP, I must reflect on what has been useful and what has hindered the targets I have set myself. This must also take into account the opinions or feedback from colleagues and peers. As I have chosen a formative style of PDP, regular evaluation and reflectiveness is an integral part of the formative PDP, and something that I must evaluate and re-evaulate on a regular basis, so that I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. When I evaluate my plan, my reflections on the effectiveness of the plan will help me to adapt my behaviour and the plan if necessary. LEARNING OUTCOME 4 – BE ABLE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE THROUGH REFLECTIVE PRACTICE. 4.1 Compare models of reflective practice. There are many different models of reflection; the most simple model could be Boud’s triangular representation. Experience Learning Reflection This model has restrictions; it doesn’t lead us as to what reflection might consist of or how learning might transform into experience. Alternatively, other theorists have broken down the cycle into further stages; an example of this is Gibbs reflective cycle. Gibbs model acknowledges that personal feelings influence the situation and how I could begin to reflect on it Edgar Schon describes reflection in two ways, reflection in and reflection on action. The differences in these types of reflection are reflecting whilst the situation unfolds (during the activity) and reflecting retrospectively on an event (looking back and changing what didn’t work). Greenwood states that reflection before action is an important preparatory element to  reflective learning as it allows the practitioner to formulate plans ahead of situations arising. Reflecting on action is perhaps the most common form of reflection; it involves me carefully re-running in my mind events that have occurred in the past. The aim is to value strengths and to develop different, more effective ways of acting in the future. Reflection in action is the feature of the experienced professional, it means examining my own behaviour and that of others while in a situation (Schon 1995) The following skills are involved: Being a participant observer in situations that offer learning opportunities; Attending to what I see and feel in my current situation, focusing on responses and making connections with previous experiences. Reflection on action is a more appropriate type of reflection especially when developing a personal development plan as I can record, look back, analyse, and improve after each target has been reached. 4.2 Explain the importance of reflective practice to improve performance. Reflection is one way of helping to link a theory and integrate learning. Through reflection i can: Focus thoughts on experience Gain greater understanding of my practice Become more aware of knowledge and skills which I have developed Identify strengths and areas for development Develop an action plan for future development. ‘Reflecting on performance and acting on reflection’ McKay notes ‘is a professional imperative’ – 2008 forthcoming Through reflection i can examine my own thoughts and feelings about the experience and identify the interventions that best meet the specific child’s goals for growth and development Being a reflective practitioner helps to increase my skills, understanding and learning. It results in being  a more effective practitioner. Effective practitioners are those who understand themselves, their knowledge, their feelings and the framework within which they understand children. Being a reflective professional requires that I continually review and develop my own practice. 4.3 Use reflective practice and feedback from others to improve performance. (please write a personal and witness account of this in practice with explanation and examples) One personal example of using reflective practice to improve my performance came to me only recently. Up until a few weeks ago I was job sharing my team leader role with another member of my team. I found it very difficult to voice my opinions and always felt as if delegating wasn’t working. All shared responsibility on her side was more often left incomplete and as you can see I was feeling very annoyed and upset about this due to the feeling I was letting the remainder of my team down. After continually liaising with my manager about this I began to feel more confident in speaking out as I feel very passionate about my job I didn’t want to fall even more behind with planning and jobs to improve my team. I have now taken on full responsibility of my unit and have had very positive feedback from my manager on how the unit and team have improved significantly. Every day I am developing more self confidence and courage and am learning to be more assertive as a team leader. Having positive feedback from my manager and colleagues has given me a huge confidence boost, knowing that I am capable of leading my team which enables me to continually improve the quality of my work. 4.4 Evaluate how practice has been improved through: Reflection on best practice Reflection on failures and mistakes.