Interviews and Reflection Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Interviews and Reflection Report - Essay Example I aimed to understand the perception and awareness of people about the different forms of mental illness that exists in today’s society and how most people think about handling people with psychological problems. Before the interview was conducted I hypothesized that most people will have some form of knowledge about mental illnesses and at least 80% will be able to name three different types of mental illnesses where depression might be the most common. I expected that most people will understand that not all patients are a threat to society and that through proper counselling and clinical therapies, people with mental illnesses can recover and lead a normal life as well. Furthermore, I expected a very average result when it came to people knowing where to seek help in order to help a mentally ill person they knew. After I had conducted the interview, the results were a bit different than what I had expected. Most people knew about mental illnesses and 100% of the people were able to name mental problems. However, contrary to my expectation, alcoholism and drug addiction were the most popularly known addiction problems. This may be because of the increases awareness programme that works with addiction problems. Also, most people were shocked when they heard that 1 in 5 people were mentally ill and 90% of the subjects said they did not know that mental illness was a huge problem. 80% of the subjects believed that mentally ill people were a challenge to society and needed proper asylums and rehabilitation centres to help they recover. Most importantly, only 1 of my subject was able to name 2 organizations that worked for mentally ill people. The results indicate that even though most people of different age groups were aware of mental problems there was widespread lack of sensitization among the people especially among the middle aged people. However, people did not know that mental problems were so widespread. The results also highlighted the fact that most

The immigration trend Essay Example for Free

The immigration trend Essay In the past six years the immigration trend of Dominicans in Puerto Rico have saw an upward surge, both documented and undocumented ones. Although most of what gets into the news are those who have come to Puerto Rico through illegal means and of which many have perished or have been compromised. This influx of Dominicans to Puerto Rico has been attributed to the economic crisis in their country but no singular reason has been identified at present. At present the number continues to rise and legal actions against illegal Dominican immigrants have also been intensified but the smuggling and illegal passage continues. According to wikipedia. com, â€Å"immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. † Therefore, an immigrant is an individual who is determined to live and make a living in the country which distinguishes him/her from a traveler or visitor. The number of immigrants in a particular country especially if it does not have stringent rules on immigration can only be approximated, and it can be said that many people living and working in Puerto Rico are illegal immigrants. The legal migrant workers can be monitored since their entry to the country is documented; it has been reported by the Migration Policy Institute that from 1998 to 2002, the documented and legal Dominican immigrants in the United States is at 20, 000 and 200,000 who were granted permanent and temporary status respectively. Based on the same report, the illegal immigrants are said to be close to 109,000 in the same years. The legal immigrants are in a more favorable situation than those who do not and generally not much attention has been given them. This is not the same for the illegal immigrants, whose pitiful plights have been reported over and over again. Many have died at sea or have been intercepted trying to cross the Mona Passage to get into Puerto Rico aboard the notoriously dangerous yolas (Brown, 2004; Taipei Times, 2004; Matos, 2002). The primary reason for wanting to get to Puerto Rico is to find a better life for the individual and his/her family, but research on this aspect is very limited and dated. Thus, this project surveyed Dominican immigrants to determine reasons for coming to Puerto Rico, ways in which they arrived in the commonwealth, kinds of jobs they have, income and demographic data like educational attainment, sex, and age and immigration status. The data from this project can help give a picture of the current situation of Dominican immigrants in the commonwealth and can be used as baseline data for further research. Sample The approximated number of Dominican population in the United States is at 300,000; thus for this survey a sample of 50 Dominican immigrants was projected since it is a viable sample given the breadth of this project. The surveyed respondents were identified randomly but were recruited through a referral of friends and coworkers. The respondents for this survey were made up of 28 females and 22 males; their mean average age was 37ranging from 15-59 years old. Instrument The questionnaire used in this survey was designed by the author and was made up of questions to determine demographic data and current work conditions (income, type of job) and their reasons for coming to the region and ways they got here. The 10 item questionnaire was in checklist form to ensure ease of answering. Data Analysis Responses were tallied and analyzed using the measures of central tendency and dispersion. Graphs were used to give a visual presentation of the results of the data.

A Critical Evaluation of The Value of Play Essay Example for Free

A Critical Evaluation of The Value of Play Essay Introduction Play has a vital role in a child’s learning and development. Each adult has their own interpretation of what play is, but play can be interpreted as, ‘children being given the opportunity to use resources and facilities provided in order to develop their skills and expand their knowledge. This can be done spontaneously through imaginative play, and using communication to enhance their independent learning. Play can also be seen as a way a child learns and develops emotionally, physically and socially. DEFINITIONS OF PLAY What is play? Play can be interpreted as, children being given the opportunity to use their imaginative skills, to learn as well as develop their physical, social, emotional and cognitive skills. Play can be child initiated, or adult led, where they provided with resources and support in both situations. Play is an attitude that manifests itself in different behaviours. Gavey (1991) stated â€Å"play was a forward and backwaref 7cd movement where different levels of action, communication, and interaction are needed. It could be regarded as deeply serious and purposeful or trivial and purposeless, (Attfiled 2005). Similarly, (Molyes J) stated â€Å"play is without a doubt the most natural way children learn all over the world†. Babies and young children learn through interaction with an adult, who could be parents, siblings, other family members as well as practitioners who have responsibility of looking after the well-being of a child. However, Froebel stated, play is what children are involved with when they initiate a task and work is what they do when fulfil a task required by an adult. Bruce 2005. The role of an adult is entering a child play that is child initiated, and intervening to extend the play without interfering. Bruce Children need to play with objects and materials and resources in order for play to integrate cognitive processes and stimulate the imagination. The value of play Play is seen as the â€Å"only† way that young children learn and develop their social, physical, cognitive and emotional skills. Bruce(2005) Value of play A practitioner who understands the importance of play, offers children  freedom, where they are able to choose their own activities. * Gives a child freedom * Responsibilities * Child initiated * Adult led * Risks * Consequences Child initiated play Child initiated play can be interpreted as any activity that is started by a child to meet their personal needs and interests, Moyles J (2008). This can alos be seen as active learning, where the childis engaging in the activity they are doing. Bruner argued and put forward children require choice and should be able to make their own decisions in order to learn and develop their skills. For example in a reception class where children are of the age 4-5 years, being given the freedom of being able to choose any activity available to them and to carry out their chosen task or activity in their choice of environment can be seen as child initaitiated play. The adult has no role in the choice of play as the child has the control of what they are setting out to do. However the adult provides the child with resouces. Through child initaied play children learn to become creative through critical thinking. When having achoen an activity to arry out they start to make cnectuoins which transfroms their understanding. Howevr if a child does not understand or have the skill to carry out an activity and feels they want to, they tend to approach an adult who then supports the child by interevening. (BRUCE) the adult can then support the child by scaffolding (BRUNER) for example Similary Vygotakys stated in his theory a childs needs to be independent in order to learn, however a child still requires the adult to present to aide them when needed. For example. By allowing a child the choice of free play they are able to explore DEFINITION By investigating childen learn and are able to ask the adult questions where the adult will support them by asking open eneded question and providing them with encouragement.

Conflict Management And Dispute Resolution

Conflict Management And Dispute Resolution Conflict can be defined as a struggle which is emanates from different ideas, values and beliefs. Most of the time, misunderstanding and miscommunication among people cause conflict. Furthermore, conflict lies not in objective reality, but in peoples minds (Fisher, 1981). Disputes, on the other hand, are such issues that are less deep than conflict but still very important. As human beings evolve and their technology grows through time, their awareness expands and they take more responsibility for making their own decisions. This is especially true of personal decisions. Humans want to be the ones that drive decisions in their lives; they do not want anyone else to decide on their behalf. Thus, conflicts arise. Often, conflicts occur because people differ in their ways of thinking. Because of this, conflicts can make people look at problems and issues not only from their perspectives but from others as well. Consequently, conflicts are not always negative; they can also bring about new ideas. These new ideas can help people to change, which is useful because everything in nature is changing in every moment. Conflict shows itself in every part of our lives. One of them can be the commercial activities that play an important role in todays world. For example, conflict can arise in commercial contracts. When this happens, the possibility of dispute arising is much higher. In this essay, we will discuss the conflict and dispute in commercial contracts and explain that whether or not they are inevitable. In addition, we will compare and contrast the different methods for resolutions of dispute in commercial contracts. Finally, we will present an example of dispute and explain how to solve it. Section A Are conflicts and disputes inevitable on commercial projects? Conflict and dispute definitions Before we can determine whether or not conflict and disputes must be avoided, we must first define both terms and determine the differences between the two. Conflict and dispute are two common terms. Although sometimes they are interpreted as equal types, there are some differences that will be mentioned. Conflict First, we will discuss the definition of conflict. There exist many definitions of conflict (Foss, 1979; Gelles, 1978; Straus, 1978) cited by Straus (1979). Mary Parker (1925) states that we can summarize conflict in one word: difference. A more comprehensive definition by Strauss (1979) suggests three distinctions: conflict of interest, conflict, and hostility. Conflict of interest A conflict of interest means that each member of the group prefers to seek their own interest, which is often different from other people. In other words, they want to live out their own lives from others. According to Straus (1979), the relationship between the amount of conflict (conflict of interest) and the well being of the group is curve linear. It means that existence of conflict can have a positive impact on the well being of group. However, if it exceeds more than the optimum point, it would be detrimental. Conflict Coser (1956) uses conflict to refer to the means or behavior used to pursue ones interest rather than conflict of interest, itself Straus (1979). According to Straus (1979), conflict means tactics which are used by a person in the response to the conflict of interests. Hostility Hostility occurs when feeling of dislike takes a place of sympathy among the members of the group. Often this fact is also named as conflict but in paradox of this idea, there exists some conflict theories that believe that hostility will not appear if conflict exists. This is because it can protect people from getting hostile in a way that can express their point of views and interests and do not let anyone to force them. Consequently, the author considers hostility as a negative fact in groups. Conflict exists in every part of our lives such as commercial activities. Contrary to popular belief, commercial conflict is important to a countrys economy. Dorussen (2006) concluded that trade in some commodities will have a strong impact on conflict in comparing with other goods. The reason for this fact is that some commodities have much more significant important on the security of states than others. Recently oil industries as well as high tech ones, have the importance impact though. And also (Park, 1976; Abolfathi, 1976; Ward, 1976; Polachek, 1980) cited by Dorussen (2006) have reached to the conclusion that when the amount of trading oil increases, the exporting country will become more hostile toward oil importers. There exists three ways of dealing with conflict: domination, compromise and integration (Parker, 1925). First, domination arises from victory of one party to another one. Second, compromise means to get along with each other to settle peace. In this case, one side loses something and gets something in order to agree to end up the conflict. According to Parker (1925), compromise is the basis of trade union tactics, in collective bargaining, the trade unionist asks for more than he expects to get, allows for what is going to be lopped off in the conference. Thus we often do not know what he really thinks he should have, and this ignorance is a great barrier to dealing with conflict fruitfully. Third, integration is when two parts decide to integrate with each other. This is the most efficient way of dealing with conflict. There is no need to sacrifice, and both parties will benefit from each other and become satisfied. Dispute The distinction that is made by Burton (1993) cited by Fenn (2006) between conflict and dispute, is based on two parameters: time and content. He considers disputes as short term disagreements which can be solved easily. On the other hand, conflicts are deep-rooted, long term problems which need much effort to be solved. These types of disagreements can occur independently and, in some cases, dispute can exist inside the long term conflict. Are conflict and dispute inevitable? Considering the evidence presented above, conflict and dispute differ from each other. They both can occur and deserve our consideration. In this section, we will discuss how conflicts are inevitable and how disputes can be avoided. According to Parker (1925), conflict exists in the world which we are living. Instead of ignoring its existence, it is better to find a way to embrace it. We can change the unpleasant situation in a way that benefit from. Conflict is one of the issues that is better to be accepted and get advantage of it. In some cases, dispute can exist inside the long term conflict Burton (1993). The school of western thought believes that: conflict is part of dynamic capitalism and an integral part of commercialism (Fenn, 2006). If conflict cannot be managed properly, dispute may rise. In other words, in contrast with conflict, dispute can be avoided. Therefore these two areas should be considered: First, conflict management or dispute avoidance; and second, dispute resolutions. Some conflict theorists believed that conflict is an inevitable part of human beings life and without the changes which are caused by conflict, the risk of collapse among the social groups such as academic departments, or family will get higher (Adams, 1965; Coser, 1956; Dahrendorf, 1959; Scanzoni, 1972; Simmel, 1955; Sprey, 1969) cited by Straus (1979). If conflict fades away, there will be no hope to adapt to changed circumstances and therefore hostility will arise. Conflict is defined as a process that arises when group of people or a person believes that other groups or other people are thinking frustrating (McKenna, 2006) and Fisher (1981) has defined that everybody has different perception and different way of thinking. By analyzing theses two theories, we can understand that conflict is inevitable; because people are different. Suggestions to prevent dispute Regarding to this section, we can conclude that conflict is inevitable. If we cannot manage conflict properly, dispute will arise. Disputes are caused by conflicts and sometimes they exist inside long term conflicts. (Burton 1993) the same story exists in commercial contracts and because they are important facts, there are some suggestion on how to manage conflict and consequently avoid disputes. By reviewing dispute resolution guidance published by office of government (United Kingdom) commerce (OGC, 2002) we can understand that contractual disputes can destroy the relationships between the client and supplier. In some cases, they have been spends lots of time to build it. Thus, this kind of dispute is time consuming and expensive. One of the roles of government is to emphasize on the importance of the good relationships between both parties of a commercial trade or the client and suppliers. There are three facts that are advised by OGC (2002) to prevent dispute in commercial contracts: 1. Stating the expectations and intentions at the beginning of the contract. Everything must be clear. Besides, dispute resolutions which both parties agree to provide in the time of dispute, should be mentioned. 2. Managing the contract is one of the most important facts that should be paid attention during having the contract. Both parties should be aware of any kind of disputes that may occur. Try to find the sign of dispute before it arises. 3. Considering the importance of managing the contract which is near to be expired, is one of the significant things that both parties must learn. Section B Compare and contrast of dispute resolution techniques Dispute resolution methods It has been concluded that conflict is inevitable but dispute can be avoided in commercial contracts. Although it can be avoided, there still some probability of happening. Therefore here are dispute resolution methods which can be used in commercial contracts. ADR is an alternative dispute resolutions .It does not mean the same to all the people. In Europe and much of the rest of the world it connects to those resolutions that exclude arbitration and litigation. On the other hand, in the Unites States, ADR conclude arbitration (Moses ,2008). Negotiation Negotiation is a common way of dispute resolution which both parties try to solve their problems without the need of others (OGC, 2002). Mediation Mediation is a nonbinding and confidential process (Moses, 2008). In this kind of resolution, the third party will meet each party privately and express their point of views to each other. Mediation sometimes known as an interest based procedure whereas arbitration is the right based procedure. Adjudication Adjudication is a quick and relatively inexpensive way of resolving a dispute, whereby an impartial third party adjudicator decides the issues between the parties. It will almost certainly be quicker and less expensive than arbitration or litigation. Section 108 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act (1996 ) gives the right to parties to virtually all construction contracts to refer any dispute arising under the contract to adjudication at any time. If the contract does not contain any adjudication procedure, or it does but the procedure does not comply with the Act, then before you can refer a dispute to adjudication you need to make sure that the contract is a construction contract as defined by the Act;(Construction Umbrella Bodies Adjudication Task Group,2003). Litigation: Litigation is a formal process which is a binding and non confidential procedure, which is held in the civil courts (Moses, 2008). Arbitration: Arbitration is a formal and nonbinding (sometimes binding) dispute resolution .where the third party exists to make the final decision for two other parties (Moses, 2008). Choosing a resolution method By comparing the dispute resolutions that discussed before: Mediation is not a binding resolution. -litigation is not a confidential resolution. Adjudication is a resolution that has some limitations. (Not being useful for all kinds of contracts as discussed in the previous part). These days, in many commercial contracts, parties choose arbitration as the default dispute resolution. As they got clear vision about the courts and their actions, they preferred to rely on the courts to solve their commercial disputes; Because of its confidentiality, and also in some case the need to continue their relationships. (Fenn, 2006).In Mentschikoff (1961) idea, the reasons that why we use arbitration in commercial groups are: speed, lower expense, more expert decision, and greater privacy. According Moses (2008), there exist two main reasons that why commercial parties choose arbitration as a dispute resolution. First, the forum is neutral. it means that it is possible to stay out of the other partys court. Second, the parties which are included in 140 countries that are under the control of New York convention must obey the award that comes out of the arbitration and that is the reason that we mentioned before that arbitration is sometimes a binding process. As Charles Newton Hulvey(1929) mentions ,there are 2 classification of agreements to arbitrate in commercial disputes.1:agreements to just submit existing commercial disputes.2:agreements to submit all commercial disputes including those will may occur in future. Arbitration has more advantages (Moses, 2008).One of the important advantages of arbitration is its confidentiality. Besides, parties choose arbitration because they can freely choose the arbitrator. Another advantage is that the discovery fact is less in arbitration therefore it takes shorter to get to the conclusion. One of the points of arbitration in the past was that it was less expensive in compared with litigation. Many companies do not think that it is the advantage any more. Buhring-uhle (2005) cited by Moses (2008), mentioned:more than half (51%) of the respondents thought that the cost advantage did not exist. However with considering all the facts, parties tend to choose arbitration because of its advantages and it still worth the cost. Besides the advantages, Arbitration has some disadvantages as well. If the advantage of fewer discoveries can be viewed from different point, it would become a disadvantage. Especially for those kind of disputes which need much more discovery and are extended. Fewer discoveries mean here less chance for the claimant. Moreover, in arbitration there is lack of requesting multiple appeals. This can be considered as a disadvantage when the arbitrator has made a wrong decision it would be frustrating to a party to accept this award with lack of ability to have an appeal. To wrap up, we got to the conclusion that, although we can prevent dispute in commercial contracts with some methods, it can be take place in some situations. Knowing how to deal with commercial disputes is important and one of the significant methods in dispute resolution is arbitration. Section C Example of use One of the dispute resolution methods is negotiating. Positional bargaining is a negotiation method in which each party only focuses on what they want, and dont pay attention to hidden interests. According to Fisher and Ury (1981), there are three trends through positional bargaining in the conflict resolutions between parties: Hard, Soft, and Principled Negotiation. Principled negotiation is suggested to parties to get better results more amicably. This method is separated into four parts (Fisher and Ury, 1981): 1. People: separate the people from the problem. 2. Interests: focus on interests not positions. 3. Options: generate a variety of possibilities before deciding what to do. 4. Criteria: insist that the result be based on some objective standards. In order to understand principled negotiation, we will review a fictional case study below. By reviewing this case, we can understand better how to use the stages of principled negotiation. Note: The following case study was created based on a true past experience of an employee in a construction company. Some details and events were modified to fit with the goals of this essay. Please note that the case study is written in the first person. In April 2009, I was working as a civil engineer in one of the building construction companies in Iran. One day something strange happened to me. While I was working in the construction site, a woman came to the site and asked me whether I could help her to find the project manager. I showed his room and told her that she was lucky that she came that day, because the project manager was not in a meeting. I brought her in the room and stayed along to introduce her to the project manager. The woman then proceeded to explain that she was one of the customers that had bought one of the apartments in advance. She wondered if she could get her apartment earlier than the specified time. She wanted the project manager to finish her apartment earlier. (It was possible but a somewhat costly).The project manager, instead of listening carefully to her, just said no. She repeated her request once more and the project manager interrupted her and said:No; it is completely impossible. The woman repl ied: You do not even pay attention to me. Why dont you listen to me to solve the problem? He answered: Because it is impossible. We have never done such a thing in our projects. When I saw this, I immediately thought that there was a problem with the project managers behavior: he didnt separate the people from the problem (Stage 1 of Principled Negotiation). In fact, he was very hard on the woman and did not even spend time to get the problem. After a 10 minute discussion, he listened completely to her. At last he said:It is impossible because we cannot finish constructing one apartment completely and then working on other flats; it is too costly for us. When he said this, he forgot that he should have focused on interests instead of positions (Stage 2). It would be better if he listened to her and paid attention and instead of not listening. If he did, he could tell her the issues and also asked her if she had solution to solve the problem. After few minutes, the client said you just say it is impossible. What if I pay all the additional costs? The project manager just kept saying:it is impossible and against the rules. We have never done such a thing in construction projects. In this stage, the project manager should have known that, he could invent options for mutual gain (Stage 3). He could have thought more about her suggestion and also presented his own suggestions. He also could not reach to the final stage of principled negotiation which is invent options for mutual gain (Stage 4). The woman got frustrated and without saying good bye went out of the room. After a week I understood that we should work harder to complete that apartment earlier. It was the order of the board manager. He told the project manager she is one of our best clients that we get so many benefits from her. If we keep her satisfied, that would be point for us in future projects. The project manager somehow got shamed. Because he did not know how to negotiate properly with her and actually if he had done so, he would have got benefit from the good negotiation by getting the money that the woman has suggested and spent it in the project. To conclude, as far as the conflict is inevitable, knowing how to negotiate properly is an advantage that only some people have. Principled negotiation is the best way that everybody can use and get benefit from the negotiation and conflict.

William Shakespeare :: essays research papers

William Shakespeare 1564 to 1616 Family and Education -born in Stratford-on-Avon -his father was a prominant citizen or "gentleman" -Shakespeare read everything available in print -he read the classics, French and Italian plays, legends, folk plays, mythology, historical chronicles, and the Bible -Gutenberg printing press had been invented 100 years earlier -married Ann Hathaway and had three children - Susanna, and the twins Hamnet and Judith -Shakespeare died in 1616 of Brights' disease -in Shakespeare's will he left his house and lands to his eldest daughter, his wife his "second-best bed", his youngest daughter a silver bowl, and enough money for each of his fellow actors to buy a ring to wear in his memory -Shakespeare's grave reads Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here Blessed be the man that spares these stones And cursed be he that moves my bones. -seven years after his death his friends John Hemings and Henry Condell published a book containing 36 plays, which was called the "First Folio" -"He was not of an age, but for all time." Ben Johnson His Life in the Theatre -considered to be the greatest dramatist in the world -only the Bible is read more than Shakespeare's plays -from 1593 - 1613 he wrote 37 plays, acted, helped manage an acting troup and was part owner of the "Old Globe Theatre" -1593-1594 the theatres were closed because of the plague and Shakespeare wrote his narrative poetry -little is known about Shakespeare because he did not write about himself, nor did he publish his own plays, he made his money by writing plays that were performed for an audience -his first play was The

Using Music to Teach Ethos :: Personal Narrative Teaching Essays

Using Music to Teach Ethos Introduction After teaching high school English reading and writing for four years, life led me to apply for a position teaching English at a state university. I was hired as an adjunct faculty member, but in my eyes, I was basically a utility man in the Major Leagues. The brief hour-long meeting with the adjunct coordinator was my first exposure to rhetoric and anything related to it. I knew what a rhetorical question was—don’t we all?—and I had heard people make comments such as â€Å"He might think he knows what he’s doing, but in all reality, his talk is all rhetoric.† Still, did I know how to teach this stuff to other people? On the college level? I sat down with the information the coordinator had given me and I found many helpful hints, ideas, and terms. I love terms. If I am given a list of terms, I can often use the definitions to find the common links and make the material teachable. I did an online search and found a Web site that broke down the various elements of rhetoric and included a list of terms. I was in heaven, rhetorically speaking. This first exposure to rhetoric was, I must admit, dull and dreary, much like Latin seemed to be where I used to teach. Dead languages, dead concepts—were the Ancient cultures good for anything other than art, stories, language, and great food? I decided that this seemingly dry material would have to be souped up a bit to attract college freshmen whose attention spans run between 10 and 15 minutes. Then, as Red Skelton might say, I had an apostrophe. I realized that the compositions my students write are comprised of sections, each an entity unto itself which contributes something to the overall essay. I remembered my senior year at UGA, taking â€Å"History and Analysis of Rock and Roll Music,† and the lessons we learned about the different sections of a song and how those sections are merged to create one complete unit. After reading a bit more about rhetorical appeals—ethical, logical, and emotional—I realized that the songs we listen to every day can be linked to this previously unknown, dry material.

Brand Report – Monster v Red Bull

At the heart of every great organization, Is a world class product or service and in any competitive business market, organizations rival to be every consumer's â€Å"first choice†. Effective brand management Is essential to every business – building strong brands that not only reflect value and credibility, but also outlive the product or service the business offers, Is a challenge for many organizations today.The FMC (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry is one of the biggest industries in the world, simply because of the rand's and products that make up this sector such as Colgate, Dove, Palmolive and the list goes on. This report will compare two FMC brands within the Australian market, namely Monster Energy and Red Bull, and the consumers levels of brand awareness towards the selected brands. It will also discuss the importance of brand association and how this is measured.Through the use of these brands, Monster Energy and Red Bull, the report will illustrate the importance of an organization's ability to continuously build brand awareness with its consumers. Launched by Hansen Natural In 2002, Monster Energy penetrated the Australian market In 2009 ND has since bumped up the consumption of energy drinks In Australia to 225 million liters, resulting In gross sale of $2. 37 billion, according to Monster Corps's 2012 annual report. This figure also includes Australia's number one selling energy drink company, Red Bull, with a market share of 40%.As defined by Kettle (2009), a brand can be a name, sign, logo, symbol or a combination of these, that identifies an organization's product or service, differentiating them from other competitors. According to Keller (1993), brand equity is conceptualized from the perspective of the individual consumer. He also asserts that customer-based brand equity (CUBE) occurs when the consumer is familiar with the brand and whilst holding favorable, strong and unique brand associations in memory (1993). CUBE (Cus tomer-Based Brand Equity) is further defined by Keller (1993, up. ) as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand. Brand knowledge Is defined In In terms of two components; brand awareness and brand Image. According to Keller (1 993), brand awareness relates to brand recall and recognition performance by consumers, whilst brand image refers to the set of associations that consumers hold in memory. Since its launch in 2002, Monster Energy has developed strong brand salience, despite its non-evocative brand name.Placing the word ‘energy' with ‘Monster assists the customer to associate the product with the correct category. Brand salience is the first step in Seller's CUBE model (2008) and where organizations must establish who they are and what the brand represents to consumers. Establishing an identity and creating brand awareness is important at this stage, as it is when customers initially create perceptions about the b rand. McDonald & Sharp (2003) assert that a brand that has some level of brand awareness Is more likely to be selected by the consumer, than a brand unknown to the consumer.A challenge FMC companies must consider, Is the consumer's lack of decision making process Involved at the time of purchase, making It difficult for new brands to penetrate an already infiltrated industry. When Monster was initially low. Despite heavy marketing promotions and sporting associations, Monster's position within Australia's energy drinks category was relatively low, in comparison to market dominator and competitor, Red Bull. In comparison to its rival, Red Bull, Monster's brand salience lacks depth in the minds of Australian consumers.Although the Monster's logo of a monster claw shaped as an ‘M' is easily recognizable internationally, Australian consumers still lack the ability to recognize or recall the product category in which Monster belongs. The breadth of brand awareness concerns the rang e of purchase and usage situations in which the brand comes to mind (Keller, 2008), which largely depends on the organization of the brand and the product knowledge in consumers' memory.Today, Red Bull is the most recognized ND profitable energy drink in the world and is a beverage consumed at any time throughout the day. Both Red Bull and Monster offer a range of energy products, targeting consumption at different times throughout a given day. Both brands have broad brand awareness, consumers associating them with extreme sports, beverage for consumption early, mid or late in the day and an energy booster. Experiment 1 A research survey was conducted with a sample of 30 participants, 1 5 of which were male and 15 female (Fig 1 & 2).The objective of the survey research was to: Determine if males or females consume energy drinks and how frequently To determine the position of both Monster Energy and Red Bull in the mind of consumers Determine when and where the energy drink is most c onsumed Procedure The survey was formed with the appropriate questions to provide the data required to support brand awareness research on the energy drinks category. Participants were recruited from Speeches Australia Pity Ltd and also several students from the University of Western Sydney, Parameter campus.Results The first question was to determine how frequently males and females drink energy drinks throughout any given week (Fig 3). 19 participants reported drinking 1 or less energy drinks throughout the week with only 2 drinking 5 times a week. The next question asked what energy drink they consume and Red Bull came in at 43% popularity and Monster ranking third place at 20% Fig 4). The third question was asked to determine when and where the participants consumed their selected energy drink (Fig 5). 17 participants reported having an energy drink in the afternoons, with mornings being the time energy drinks were least consumed.Consumption within the workplace was reported as being the most common place of consumption with social events ranking in second with a reported 9 participants (Fig ). Summary Although the sample was small, the data research supports the statistics that Red Bull Energy rates higher in consumer's minds than Monster Energy. Despite both brands being strongly associated with humor, fun, excitement and extreme sports, one can conclude that because energy drinks are most consumed during the day and within the workplace, the breadth of brand awareness for both Monster and Red Bull is relatively broad.According to Asker (1992), brand association is anything linked in memory to a brand associations enable a company to differentiate their brands in the market and can be tildes as an organization's competitive advantage. Keller (2013) classifies brand associations into three categories; attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes are the features of the brand, benefits are the values the consumer attaches to the brand and attitudes refer s to the consumer's overall evaluation of the brand. Building brand equity can also be done through the leverage of related or secondary brand associations (Keller, 2013).Secondary brand association can be an effective way for an organization to reinforce existing strong, favorable and strong associations if the existing brand is deficient. Red Bull uses celebrity endorsements, sporting, cultural and community events as secondary brand associations. Low & Lamb (2000) discusses the importance of firms measuring being able to measure associations with their brands and the techniques that can be used to accurately measure consumer brand associations. Brand image, attitude and perceived quality have been used to measure brand associations for many years.After much research, Low & Lamb concluded that not all brand scales such as personality or attributes can be applied across all categories, therefore, acting as separate constructs as opposed to nee-dimensional brand associations. This g ives rise to the idea that consumers now have more developed memory structures for more familiar brands. The authors also suggest that care must be taken when measuring associations of familiar brands – as quoted by the author ‘Familiarity moderates the dimensionality of brand associations'.Asker (1996) asserts that in order for organizations to perform optimally and allocate resources fairly across its portfolio of brands, it must implement common measures of performance. Managers should seek new branding strategies, to always from the same category as their product, but from the other brand categories. This will provide fresh ideas and new insight, resulting in new product positioning in the market. Kara also discusses the use of ten different measurements used to measure brand associations.He also asserts that the one measurement of brand equity that can be used is price premium. The reason behind this is that regardless of brand, any driver of brand equity will affe ct price premium. The consumer's association with any given brand is important to any organization wishing to maintain competition in the business market. Suppresses (2000) discusses the lack of knowledge regarding brand association relevant to other brands in other product categories. Suppresses points out the challenges brought about by private label brands.Suppresses also discusses the ways by which firms can research consumers' brand associations including lengthy personal interviews as opposed to group interviews and validating given answers to questions. By validating answers, one can increase the probability of detecting hidden associations. Suppresses concludes that brand managers need to attain a deeper understanding f the sources of brand equity in order to implement optimal brand strategies and to maintain effective communication. The way by which firms undertake research should delve into the unconscious and non-verbal associations that consumers have for their brands (2 000).Experiment 2 Personal interviews were conducted with two participants, male and female, aged 27 and 19 respectively. The objective of the survey research was to: the emotions associated with Red Bull's secondary association through sporting imagery Determine the emotions evokes when the participants brand Red Bull Procedure The interview was conducted to determine the emotions consumers have Bull and its secondary brand association. Both participants (Male A and were students of University of Western Sydney, Parameter campus. Rest The words ‘RED BULL† was vocalizes to each participant two times.The FL to measure their initial reaction and the second was to validate that area reacted immediately with instant recognition and slight excitement. Fem. recognition but not of excitement. When validating their reactions, Male loves the brand and is a regular consumer however, Female B said she c Red Bull but is not a fan of the taste. A picture of the Red Bull logo (Fig. 5; to both participants and both reacted similarly, with recognition. Male A recognition and affordability for the brand with the use of facial express head gestures.Similar to the reacted of Female B, although she wasn't t the product. The third measurement was through the use of imagery re Bull's secondary association, sporting endorsements (Fig. 8). Male Bi's ex. increased and he vocalizes his interest in X-tree sporting events and of Red Bull's consistent involvement in the sporting arena. Female Bi's en however, dropped and was visible by her posture and lack of verbalism Brands can evoke strong emotions and memory associations from consul that one's negative perception of the brand as a result of taste or expert difficult for organizations to change.The research also illustrates that the association consumers hold with Red Bull is a positive one. Following Ex and Experiment 2, the results reflect the premise that the selected bran extensive brand salience with consumers and that if consumers are expo positive marketing, perceptions tend to remain. Red Bull is a superior BRB otherwise saturated energy drink category, posing increased competition riveter label beverages and other energy brands. By continuously impair strategic branding, firms can be certain that with these strategies, it will competitive edge within the business market.Brand management with industry is of utmost importance, as monopoly retailers continue to dicta brands to display on their shelves, minimizing consumer choice and the increasing competition within all product categories. The energy drinks exception, with consumers increasingly becoming more health conscious industry battling to remain competitive with an increasingly globalizes market. With the right brand strategies and managers to drive and imply strategies, one can be confident that Red Bull will continue to dominate energy market share. Appendix Fig 7.