Nestles change management report

Executive summary Competitive advantage and commercial success are very important aspects of modern day businesses and without this two factors, businesses often fail at some stage. Due to the volatile nature of the commercial environment businesses through their managers are required to be quite radical in the way they operate so that the current change management structures are able to assist the organization effect any strategic changes if necessary.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Nestle’s change management report specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Nestle is a good example of an organization which put in place a good management structure that made it very possible for the organization to embrace change because the organization identified the exact needs that were to accompany the change and therefore when managers initiated the change the entire organization was able to swiftly adopt to the new strategi c changes. When Nestle finally discovered that change is part and parcel of the organization they put in place change management strategies and also assisted organizational members to accept change more effectively making change management efforts from managers more successful. Introduction The current business environment is very volatile and dynamic and what is happening today will most likely change tomorrow, hence every organization needs proper change management. Change is inevitable in an organization and organizational managers are expected to behave like change agents who champion and advocate for change within the organization. Change must be accompanied by reason since organizations do not just change because other organizations are changing but because they need to change and if they do not change they will most likely not achieve their commercial objectives (Eden 2002, 804). The nature of changes from organization to organization always varies and therefore every organiz ation is expected to carefully monitor and manage the entire change process in order to ensure corporate, business and functional levels of strategies are not negatively affected (Wheelen Hunger 2002, 76-78). The main purpose of change in most instances is to rejuvenate the organization and improve its performance and hence managers are expected to ensure that the entire change process within the organization is quickly accepted within the organization so that both short-term and long-run performance is not affected negatively.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Change strategies therefore provide managers with numerous options which they can use to successfully marshal organizational members to quickly accept and adapt to strategic changes without negatively affecting the performance of the organization (Feldman 2000, 618). Change management is consequently part of the curre nt business atmosphere that commercial organizations exist in and this require that they dedicate significant resources and therefore it makes more sense if these organizations put up the necessary change management systems so that all organizational members can be in the same page as far as welcoming organizational change is concerned. The nature and need for change within Nestle The entire change process of Nestle was only successful because the organization identified the exact needs that initiated the change and also went forward to develop the appropriate change management strategies to usher in change. Emerging business trends and decisions have prompted Nestle to experience changes in its business model. Due to the fact that the organization is venturing into foreign markets and stepping out of isolation and venturing into new territories, this introduces a lot of complexities and may lead to ambiguity, which may often be fatal if not well managed. The nature of the change wi thin Nestle involves divesture of Strategic Business Units (SBU’S), which are not profitable and serve as a disadvantage to the company. Divesture normally requires organizations to sell existing business units and invest those funds in other more important business processes such as corporate restructuring or expanding to other business territories. Moreover, Nestle also considers growing its business structure by venturing into the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, and these kinds of changes are not easy. Expanding businesses often require change in management structure and approach and that is why the organization is also dumping the entrepreneurial way of management and adapting a corporate management business format which heavily depends on managers (Wheelen Hunger 2002, 244). All these changes have been triggered by the organizations desire to grow in size by going multinational and stepping out of isolation. Moreover, the management desires to step up sales and re venue hence stepping of using sales agents in the global market and entering into agreements with local subsidiaries in foreign markets by acquiring them or entering into contracts.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Nestle’s change management report specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The C.E.O, Brabeck-Letmathe, believed that change is very appropriate for the company because it will enable the company to realize efficiency and also increase productivity within the organization. Additionally, the entire corporate restructuring which costs almost $300 million annually is a type of change that is initiated by the need attaining a good and effective business structure whereby managers can be incomplete control of the entire businesses of the organization. The C.E.O believes that the organization’s desire/need to have a competitive advantage, grow, become flexible and highly flexible within the market dep ends on how well the organization can be able to respond to change. The nature of change requires the commitment of the entire organization and should therefore have a long-term approach therefore requiring managers to involve all organizational members. Moreover, managers are required to be highly critical of the nature of change and not just rush into changes such as technological change unless they are fully sure that the change is most likely to be for the benefit of the organization. Challenges Change in most instances within organizations, Nestle being an example in this case, is not always welcomed for the reason that it definitely demands that human resources and organizational personnel to commence a cultural change which is not easy because it involves removing people comfort zones to new unfamiliar territory and for an organization such as Nestle which has over 220,000 employees the entire change process should be a product of careful planning. Change is not easy and simp le and employees may often refuse or rebel against regimes that champion for change and this usually affects the performance of the organization. Additionally, change may end up being expensive and exhausting to organizations therefore affecting performance of the organization negatively (Eden 2002, 803). Organizations and managers are faced with a lot of challenges especially during the change phase in organization especially due to the fact that employees often do resist then it automatically becomes hard to maintain the vigor and passion of employees all the way through the change process and this results to negative consequences within the organization. Additionally, if all organizational members are not on the same page this may sabotage the entire change process because the organization may most likely backslide into old ways of operation (Hughes 2007, 41-43). Hence, change management is a must if an organization is to survive and ensure its objectives are met without compromi sing the stakeholders involved in the organization.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is not easy managing cultural shifts within organizations and managers are required to come up with the most appropriate culture changing initiatives for organizational members to accept change. Change is not only complex but also costly for organization restructuring and most of the time it becomes hard for managers to prioritize the numerous organizational projects and resources, and this is one of the reasons why the C.E.O Brabeck-Latmathe insisted that it is sometimes better to adopt a slow and steady approach when it comes to issues of expansion and divesture because nestle spent well over $300 million annually in restructuring costs (Steiner 1997, 128). Prior to implementing change initiatives within organizations, it is vital that managers who are change champions/agents for the companies to understand the resulting effects and consequences of the changes process on the workers (Eden 2002, 805). By doing so, the managers will appropriately prepare for any challenges and th is will see the organization formulate better change policies and strategies in order to avoid many of the potential pitfalls that may arise as a result of the challenges which accompany the entire organizational change process. When managers get to comprehend the cognitive change process then they are likely to managing the entire process more effectively and marshal the corporation of other organizational members Change Management Change is always received with hostility because it is accompanied by uncertainty and people usually fear uncertainty and the entire change process was not smooth and easy for an organization such as Nestle. Therefore, this is the reason why managers such as the C.E.O Brabeck-Letmathe of Nestle become champions of change within the organization and hence come up with the more appropriate strategies that will make it possible for a smooth transition to take place to allowing organizational members gradually and successfully accept organizational changes a nd therefore welcome in the new era that will assist the organization become better in terms of performance. Contemporary Management theories hold on to the belief that organizational change must take place whenever organization themselves in complex / ambiguous situations that necessitate the organization to move from ordinary ways of doing business to a much more radical business model in order to improve the performance of the organization (Wheelen Hunger 2002, 78). This fact was reflected in Nestle when the company decided to shift its focus from the local Swiss market to other parts of the world such as North America. The main endeavor during the organizational change phase is for the organizational change managers to maintain some balance and tranquility by working together with other organizational members so that the organization can ultimately progress (Steiner 1997, 203-204). Current operations should be carried out in such a way that the organization will respond in the most effective way to unpredictable commercial and non commercial events when they occur according to the organization adaptation theory. The organizational adaptation theory insists that organizations are more likely to become more successful only if the organizations gives up rigid business structures and decide to put in place the necessary framework to usher in change more effectively making them flexible. Managers often use numerous strategies to enable their organizations accept change within their organizations. Figure 1. A pictorial diagram indicating what organizational change normally involves Change Management Strategies Whatever change management strategy is pursued by managers it is necessary that the organization dedicates the required resources that are required to implement the changes. Implementing change is not simple for an organization such as Nestle as it expands and divest and therefore the organization should most of all make sure that it develops clear goals and communication systems and also go ahead to offer rewards and incentives in order to encourage organizational members to accept the change without altering their motivation (Tovstiga 2010, 49-54). Despite stand of organizational members as the organization moves into North America and other non-related business industries a non biased support system should be formed, so that organizational members can get the necessary help as far as the change process is concerned. Facilitation Organizational change is not simple and managers are required to be change agents and also use other organizational members to bring about change. Often one of the best approaches that managers can use is to work hand in hand with other organizational members in the process of creating the change. When managers decide to work hand in hand then the possibility of the change being successful goes up. Facilitation often involves educating employees and creating the best communication systems that encourage the flow of information and feedback loops (Wheelen Hunger 2002, 38-44). When managers decide to work together with other organizational members by communicating their intentions and vision and giving clear reasons why change is inevitable within the organization and the intentions of the change then organizational members will likely be more receptive to work with the manager. Facilitation offers a good way under which when organizational members are willing to welcome change and desire collaborate but they lack the capacity to effectively blend in into the new change regime (Hughes 2007, 42). Education Often employees refuse change because of information asymmetry and it hence becomes necessary for management to educate them on the main reason why change is important. Education enables organizational members understand the reasons of the change, the benefits, and all variables of the entire change process. As a result of proper education systems organizational members are able to rationalize change and what is expected for them (Eden 2002, 802). Because sometimes the resistance to organizational change is triggered by perceptual issues, the education programs can make employees less rigid especially if they understand that change can be rewarding. Education offers an avenue under which employees can be empowered to understand what the entire change process entails and how it can be easy for both them and the organization (Cascio 2002, 84) Involvement Sometimes the change process within the organization does not only emanate from the higher levels of the organizational hierarchy. When organizational members are not involved physically or intellectually, or emotionally then they may feel as if their opinions are not respected and therefore this could ultimately affects their motivation and this may sabotage the entire change process. Allowing organizational members offer their suggestions and become involved in the process of change offers an avenue under whi ch all organizational members become change agents and own the change process (Wheelen Hunger 2002, 243). When the change is a brainchild of the organizational members then there is no way that the employees themselves can sabotage the change process. Negotiation When management and the organizational change agents discover that the other party the other cannot easily be persuaded, it therefore becomes necessary to reach a consensus through negotiation. Organizational managers will hence be required to enter into conference/board rooms and ask them to discuss with each other in order to ensure that the change process is accepted (Eden 2002, 804). Especially when change involves mergers and acquisitions in unrelated industries which are common for Nestle resistance to change is most likely to be very high and negotiation may often be the best way for change to be accepted. Negotiations are a way under which mutually agreeable solution that works for both the organization and organiz ational members can be arrived at (Wetlaufer 2001, 115). Manipulation Manipulation is an art used by managers and involves controlling a person’s environment so that a suitable outcome can be arrived at. Despite the fact that manipulation is considered as morally questionable, organizational managers are forced to use it especially when the stakes are high and change is required to take place quickly. Some ways of manipulating employees may involve using psychological and monetary awards to force them accept change regimes faster (Watson 2006, 72) Coercion Change management strategies fail managers are often forced to take extreme measures and often coercion is the only option. If manipulation fails those managers might decide to use threats and force to enable organizational members change. Some of the threats may involve threatening employees will lose their jobs, allowances and job related benefits (Wetlaufer 2001, 114). Unorthodox managers may often go as far as humiliati ng and threatening employees or even public sacking in order to create fear and make examples out of organizational members who have not yet adopted change. This should only be used as a change management strategy of last resort especially when change is to be implemented in a hurry. Conclusion The role of change management in commercial organizations is directly related to the success of the organization. Managers are required to justify the need of the change, the nature of changes, the challenges that will accompany the change and pick the most appropriate strategy to implement change and make it acceptable among organizational members. Managers should not ignore the important role that change management plays and therefore should dedicate the necessary resources and support to organizational managers in order for organizational members to accept change in the most appropriate timeframe. References Cascio, W., 2002. â€Å"Strategies for responsible restructuring.† Academy of Management Executive 16(3): pp. 80–91. Eden, C., 2002. â€Å"Strategy development as a social process.† Journal of Management Studies, vol.29: pp.799–812. Feldman, M., 2000. â€Å"Organizational routines as a source of continuous change.† Organization Science 11(6):pp. 611–29. Hughes, M. 2007. â€Å"The Tools and Techniques of Change Management.† Journal of Change Management, 7(1): 37-49. Steiner, G., 1997. Strategic planning: what every manager must know. New York: Simon and Schuster. Tovstiga, G., 2010. Strategy in Practice: A Practitioner’s Guide to Strategic Thinking. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Watson, T., 2006. Organizing and managing work, 2nd edn. London: Penguin. Wetlaufer, S., 2001. â€Å"The business case against revolution.† Harvard Business Review, 79(2): pp.113–119. Wheelen, T. L. Hunger J. D., 2002. Strategic Management and Business Policy. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. This report on Nestle’s change management report was written and submitted by user Man-Thing to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. 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Free Essays on Advertisings Affect on Kids

The effects of 2 People see advertisements all around the globe that attempt to lure consumers to buy products. Advertisements are placed in newspapers, magazines, schools, and on billboards everywhere. According to marketing consultants Stan Rapp and Tom Collins, on a typical day, an average American sees over 5,000 advertisements a day (Gay, 1992). Many questions arise about these advertisements, such as â€Å"Is advertising deceptive? Does it create or perpetuate stereotypes? Does it create conformity? Does it create insecurity in order to sell goods? Does it cause people to buy things that they really don’t need?†(Alexander & Hanson, 1993, p. 240). Advertisers use specific methods to target teen consumers, but these methods are not always successful or ethical. Advertising is giving the general public information about new goods and trying to increase overall sales, which increases the efficiency of the nation’s economy. It is supposed to be a significant way of getting the point across about a product and create motivation for people to buy. Advertising alone, however, does not get customers. It simply catches consumers’ attention, gets them to walk up to a shelf, and make an impulsive purchase. However, getting the customer back requires a more creative marketing approach. There are several ways to research consumers’ behaviors, likes, and dislikes. The most popular method is tests and surveys, both before and after a product is introduced. Telephone surveys are very common, but they take several thousand calls to get a substantial number of responses to work with. Along with those, written questionnaires and samples, either handed out in stores or sent by mail, are effective tests to see if consumers like a product or not. The reactions to the samples, results of questionnaires, and number of participants are all recorded as The effects of 3 a part of the researching process to come up with effective ads. All of this da ta ... Free Essays on Advertising's Affect on Kids Free Essays on Advertising's Affect on Kids The effects of 2 People see advertisements all around the globe that attempt to lure consumers to buy products. Advertisements are placed in newspapers, magazines, schools, and on billboards everywhere. According to marketing consultants Stan Rapp and Tom Collins, on a typical day, an average American sees over 5,000 advertisements a day (Gay, 1992). Many questions arise about these advertisements, such as â€Å"Is advertising deceptive? Does it create or perpetuate stereotypes? Does it create conformity? Does it create insecurity in order to sell goods? Does it cause people to buy things that they really don’t need?†(Alexander & Hanson, 1993, p. 240). Advertisers use specific methods to target teen consumers, but these methods are not always successful or ethical. Advertising is giving the general public information about new goods and trying to increase overall sales, which increases the efficiency of the nation’s economy. It is supposed to be a significant way of getting the point across about a product and create motivation for people to buy. Advertising alone, however, does not get customers. It simply catches consumers’ attention, gets them to walk up to a shelf, and make an impulsive purchase. However, getting the customer back requires a more creative marketing approach. There are several ways to research consumers’ behaviors, likes, and dislikes. The most popular method is tests and surveys, both before and after a product is introduced. Telephone surveys are very common, but they take several thousand calls to get a substantial number of responses to work with. Along with those, written questionnaires and samples, either handed out in stores or sent by mail, are effective tests to see if consumers like a product or not. The reactions to the samples, results of questionnaires, and number of participants are all recorded as The effects of 3 a part of the researching process to come up with effective ads. All of this da ta ...

Film Genre Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Film Genre Analysis - Essay Example Horror films are meant to create some negative emotions like fear, shock and tension among the audience or viewers. This discourse is about genre analysis of Near Dark, produced by Kathryn Bigelow, in 1987. Horror films incorporate various aspects beyond human imaginations to inflict some sort of fantasy, supernaturalism and the thrilling effects among others. Majority of horror films incorporates the evil and scary scenes through ghosts, serial killers, ogres, zombies, demons, aliens and cannibals among others. This film genre is however restricted to adults above the age of 18 or 21, who can deal with their fears or nightmares without compromising their social and spiritual lives (Wilkins, 2009). Horror films have various influences in the society. It is one of the most selling or marketable genre after sci-fi and animations. The horror films are the opposite of the old movies where the main theme was to satisfy men’s desires. The horror movies incorporate both men and women 's roles in the society and thus are good attribute to gender equality. Women are also the main audience and actors, or the main contributor to the ideas behind the horror films. The majority of female horror films usually begins as a vulnerable scared being to who develop to be strong and confident as the films come to an end. This has really impacted confidence and the strength to endure life frustrations among several women and men facing some sort of difficulties (Plaisance, 2008). Horror films also include the elements of motherhood, pregnancy and lesbianism to attract more female audience. However, it is being revealed that the evil and scary scenes in the horror films have compromised the spiritual and social lives among several audiences. For instance, the Christian clergies have lamented that the movies inflict fear and social withdrawals among teenagers. They also lament that movies based on Halloween celebrations are not in accordance with the Biblical teachings, but some sort of an evil cult. Some social and psychological studies indicate that a pregnant woman could miscarry when shocked or frightened by the evil and scary scenes in the horror films. The films also kill the sense of humanity in frequent audiences, for instance, Children who watch horror films are likely to adopt some criminal minds when they become of age. This is because their humanity and affection is replaced with anger, terror and revenge among other undesirable characters. Near Dark is a horror movie produced in 1987, directed by Kathryn Bigelow but produced by Steven-Charles Jaffe. It was written by Eric Red alongside Kathryn Bigelow. Its main actors and actresses are Adrian Pasder, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Bill Paxton. Its music and cinematography was done by Tangerine Dream and Adam Greenberg respectively. The 95 minute movie was based in the United States, and the entire script is in English. Near Dark is about a young man who tries to choose be tween the normal human family life and the vampire family. The main struggle is attributed by the fact that each choice has its consequences. In 1980, there was need to revive the vampire movies and Near Dark was one of the releases. The movie begins with Caleb Colton (Adrian Pasdar) meeting a young beautiful woman Mae (Jenny Wright). This happens before the morning sun appears. Mae bites Colton’s neck before running away. The sun rises and Colton realizes his body system is not the same anymore, his flesh burns when exposed to

The advantages and disadvantages of the monster Essay

The advantages and disadvantages of the monster - Essay Example This paper shall analyze various beliefs about the existence of demons as a category of monsters. The thesis statement shall be: demons are real monsters mostly attributed with lies and evil deeds. The question in the existence of demons as monsters has been questioned over time. Jenkins (1) explores what she calls â€Å"ten terrifying cases of demonic possession† to demonstrate that demons do exist and that all they do is to cause human suffering. Similarly, an article by Robert Lawrence Kuhn also attempts to shed more light on the existence of angels and demons. Finally, an article by an organization called truth for the world also explores whether demons still do possess people today. This paper shall analyze demons as a category of monsters. The article by Beverly Jenkins argues that demons are real and that they do possess people. In many cases when demons possess a person, they transfer their monstrous appearance and behaviors to the person. Jenkins observed that even during the time when Jesus was living on earth, he cast out demons from people. The author points out that when this type of monsters called demons possesses a person, they torment the body. For example, she gives the example of Clara Germana Cele, who was possessed with dark spirits. The author also demonstrates that when one is possessed by this spiritual category of monsters, the disadvantage is that they cause much suffering to their victims. She gives the case of Roland Doe whose body contorted in pain when he was possessed by demons. Jenkins also demonstrate that when one psychiatrist came across a patient who was later possessed, demons seemed to speak through her. She notes that some of the most common words spoken were phrases such as â€Å"Leave, leave her alone. She is ours.† That happened simultaneously with levitation off the bed as items in the

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2 questions - Assignment Example Furthermore, if this business is new or small, then this method is very unsuitable. In choosing maxmin criterion, the management will be looking at the worst possible situation in all the options and then adopting the option that provides the least bad results; that is, they adopts the option that optimizes the least profits. As already discussed, this criterion will not be attractive to this particular company if its owners are risk averse decision makers because the method is based on excessive watchfulness. However, while adopting Laplace method, the management should be sure that they are not conversant of chances of different conditions and have no reason to decide otherwise. From the calculations, the most central location is B; therefore, the most frequented department (4) should be placed there. The department that makes more trips to department 4 is department 2, therefore should be placed at the locations closest, for instance A, which is 40 yards from A. Second priority should be offered to department 1, which makes 80 trips to department 4. This department should be placed at location C, which is 40 yards from location B. Automatically, the last department, which is 3, will be located at location D, which is the most distant location at 50 yards from department D’s location (Stevenson, 2008). Following the revised trips schedule, minimizing travel costs will be best when the departments are placed as described below. The highest number of trips are made to department 4, therefore, it should be placed at the most central location. Therefore, taking the distances indicated in part a, department 4 should be placed at location B, which is 40 yards from location A; 40 yards from location C; and 50 yards from location D. However, priority should be given to department 3, which does 60 trips to department 4. Department 3 should be placed at either location C, then department 2, which makes 50 trips to

Consumerism And Sustainable Development Environmental Sciences Essay

Consumerism And Sustainable Development Environmental Sciences Essay Sustainable development has been a goal widely pursued by all nations, globally. Citizens lifestyle has an important effect on the sustainability of a city. A sustainable lifestyle will promote the development of a society; on the contrary, an unsustainable lifestyle will hinder the development of economy and society. At the same time, globalization also has vital effect on development of a society including positive and negative. In human living environment area, the Agenda 21 was held up and adopted, in the agenda, people tried to find the appropriate way to achieve a sustainable living lifestyle. According to Agenda 21, the reason why the global environment becomes deteriorated is mainly the unsustainable pattern of production and consumption, especially in industrialized countries, which needs serious concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances. However, with the increase of global population, how to balance the relationship between resources supply and demand to achieve the goal of sustainability is complicated. For communities and individuals, special attention should be paid on the use of natural resources which generated by unsustainable consumption and reduction of pollution. In other words, the communities and individuals should look for an appropriate living style of environment-friendly, energy conservation towards achieving sustainable goal. Although government has been put much efforts to encourage people to do some reduction of pollution, reduction of energy consumption, and waste recycling, actually there is still a long distance to reach the goal of sustainability, and there should be a series of fundamentally changes for individuals to adopt to pursue a green, sustainable society. Globalization Globalization means different things to different people. In general, globalization is a process that promotes world-wide exchanges of national and cultural resources. It has many aspects including economic globalization, social cultural globalization, and environmental globalization. In recent decades, the world markets have become integrated (Simone Borghesi 2001) As Lindert and Williamson 2011 pointed out, world market integration is not a new phenomenon, but it has steadily increased since the 1820s if we exclude the period between the two World Wars. (P.H.Lindert 2001)The increasing economic globalization could promote the society to be sustainable in one hand because the objective of sustainable development is the development should meet the needs of all people, however, this could not be realized in a limited environment. As we all know the carrying capacity of environment is limited, but the globalization increased the trade between nations in terms of the productions. Howeve r, on the other hand, the globalization of markets also brought about globalization of environmental problems. A long-term correlation between the globalization of international markets and environmental degradation is quite obviously (R. Looney 2003) Global climate change, ozone layer becomes thinner, reduction of biodiversity, over consumption of natural resources, desertification are all global environmental degradation brought by the economic globalization. The industrial revolution use large amount of natural resources as materials in the process, this led to the deterioration of environment and pollution. The acceleration of economic growth led to the increasing of world population that also promoted the deterioration of environment. In order to achieve much profit, companies extend the use of land, damage the habitats of living organisms, thus, decrease the biodiversity. In addition producers focus more on the economic values of products instead of their environmental values, this will lead to the imbalance of environment. Lifestyle and sustainability Concept of sustainable development The concept of sustainability means that something is maintained for a period of long time. The concept of sustainable development first came out of the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in (1972) Since the publication of the UN Brundtland Commission report  Our Common Future  in 1987, the concept of sustainability has become associated with the integration of economic, social, and environmental development to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs(Development 1982)In this definition, we should focus on two key points, one is the needs and the other is meet the generation needs need the efforts of all nations. Thus, the conference required the cooperation of all nations to act to reduce the environmental pollution and protection of resources. Since then, it has become clear that what we do has an impact on the environment, from the climate change, desertification, and the destruction of forests to the disappearance of species. By discussing the impact of human beings behavior on the environment, it should be in a social and economic dimension, especially the North- South dialogue and the rights of future generations. This finally led to the United Nations Convention on Education and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In this conference, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Framework on Climate Change, the Rio Declaration and 38 of the 40 chapters of Agenda 21 were agreed. (Development 1992) After that the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was set up to review progress in the implementation of Agenda 21 and other UNCED documents. There are more than 1000 NGOs are accredited to participate the Commission work(Nations 1987) Concept of lifestyle The concept of lifestyle comes from social science and refers to a bundle of practices or ways of behaving that are meaningful for individual as well for the community. Lifestyle includes different ways of socializing with others and different types of consumption of everything, from houses to clothes, food, and leisure time activities. Lifestyle could reflect individuals attitude and values and at the same time signals these to others through visible, or conspicuous, consumption. Sustainable lifestyle can thus be defined as bundles of practices that are tied together by attitudes related to sustainable development, or as ways of living that in practice lead to sustainable development. In 1992 at the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro, there was an international agreement on promoting sustainable development and thus also promoting sustainable lifestyle. Following the line of the Brundtland report, the conference reached consensus on the so-called Agenda 21 programme, which contains detailed guidelines and objectives, in a non-legally binding language, and advice on how NGOs, citizens, and other actors can be involved in the process. The slogan was act local -think global and during the 1990s Local Agenda activities were started in many countries by both governments and NGOs. In 2007-08 such initiatives received high attention, with global climate being highlight on the political agenda. Local Agenda 21 was no longer a slogan, though the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles were then used together with climate discussions. The processes of Local Agenda 21 build on the idea that changes must come from below, from changes in the everyday life o f ordinary consumers. Current lifestyle When talking about living lifestyle, smoking, poor nutrition, obesity, elevated stress, and suboptimal sleep will come into ones mind, these are major contributors to the general of lifestyle-related conditions, morbidity, and premature death (Dean 2008) Preventable lifestyle-related conditions such as ischemic heart disease, lasting bronchitis, and emphysema, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and some cancers, are not only leading causes of disability and premature death in high-income countries, but increasingly in middle and low-income countries (Tal Gilbert 2004) Compared to the impact of environment brought from lifestyle, the bad lifestyle seems to have much effect on individuals health. However, from long-term sight, bad lifestyle will bring waste of resources, pollution of environment and at last hinder the development of society. When considering the relationship between lifestyle and consumerism, green consumerism should be advocated (Andrew Gilg 2005) Then what is green consumerism? In short, who buys and why. Current global levels of domestic energy consumption and waste production have been acknowledge as important contribution to the detriment of environment (Nations 1998) This reflects a abnormal consumerism that who needs so much energy and whether they really need. This caused the debate of how we will live in the future(De Young 1993) and response there has been a call for the development of national policies and strategies to encourage changes in consumption patterns(UNCED 1992:64). One approach has been the promotion of environmentally-friendly lifestyles which often take the form of media or community campaigns. These campaigns encourage individuals not only to decrease the amount consumed, but also to alter the nature of goods consumed (lUCN/UNEPAVWF 1991). Many studies will discuss in later sect ion. Changing Lifestyles towards Sustainability In discussion of sustainable lifestyles above, how to achieve sustainable lifestyles is important. There are two ways of changing lifestyles: bottom-up and top-down. (Hanssen 2012) The so-called bottom-up means people themselves try to find sustainable lifestyles with their knowledge and experiments, and the second way means changing the lifestyles by enforcement of government. Authorities can promote changes by political initiatives such as economic incentives or green taxes and through information and labeling of green products and campaigns focusing on changing attitudes. Furthermore, authorities can focus on establishing the physical infrastructure which supports sustainable lifestyles: public transportation, renewable energy production, recycling waste system, and so on. As the discussion above, it is the needs for individuals and government to change the lifestyle and the lifestyle needs to be sustainable. Many countries have been implemented sustainable lifestyles. The global climate change has caused the attention from all over the world, and many countries have been done for it. For example, the non-motorized in Amsterdam. Today, due to the lack of natural recourses, the transportation system becomes unsustainable. The carbon emission from the combustion of fossil fuel is the contribution to the air pollution. Therefore, it is encouraged encourage people to use more bicycle or walking instead of motors in order to not only to reduce the carbon emission but also to get a healthy lifestyle. The picture shows people in Amsterdam riding a bicycle (Figure1) Another example is a car dependent city of UK-Belfast. This is a city depend seriously on cars. The research was done to see the citizens response to the measures of limit the use of cars and their attitudes and awareness of climate change. Sweden is adopting the measures to reduce carbon emission from transportation to decrease the climate change. And in Malaysia, the government wants to do the similar to reduce the air pollution especially global climate change, however, the climate in Malaysia may be a challenge for implementation of this. Because the climate in Malaysia is the tropical rainforest climate, the temperature there is also higher for people to ride bicycles(M. R.Mat Yazide 2011) Therefore, this programme needs to be evaluated in Malaysia. From these examples, we can see that the sustainable lifestyle is a main stream for each country. There is a research about the carbon emission of each nation, from the chart ,we can see that those nations with high income have higher emission(Figure 2). Figure 1. People are riding bicycles in Amsterdam source:(M. R.Mat Yazide 2011) 1-s2.0-S1877343509000396-gr1.jpg Figure 2. Country-wise emission per capita source:(Pal 2009) Those countries which have high income have the high carbon emission (Figure 2) It is unequally for those low income countries who to share the deterioration environment. It is not the responsibilities of one or two countries, but the world-wise efforts to reduce the carbon emission globally. In the recent decades, some nations have been tried to change their citizens lifestyle through public participation, and associated with some NGOs develop some environmental protection programmes. These activities are all design to increase the citizens awareness to let them know the living environment has become deteriorated. Water should be recycled, waste should be classified, energy should be produced from renewable resources, and the community building in neighborhoods to strengthen and revitalize local social life. In order to look for a new, environment-friendly lifestyle, eco-village was born (Hanssen 2012) The people deciding to build and live in these eco-villages thus establish other physical, social, and cultural structures around their everyday life as part of living a sustainable lifestyle. However, this type of lifestyle was questioned that whether this really can lead to the global sustainable lifestyle or only the pursuit of a small part of people. In addition, this raises the question of whether sustainable lifestyles are only for those who want to live an alternative life or whether they should be acted as a mainstream trend and made available for a broader audience. In order to find a more sustainable lifestyle and examine which type is more effective for people and society to implement, many studies were done by researchers. In general, social science is used to deal with such issues and divided into two directions, psychological and sociological approaches. As an example of the psychological approach, there was a study done to look the effects of an Internet-based tool that used a combination of tailored information, goal setting, and feedback on households direct and indirect energy consumption in Netherlands. An evaluation lasts 5 months showed that households gained a significant direct energy saving of 5%, whereas there was no measurable effect on indirect energy consumption. It is thus possible to document a small but significant relation between knowledge and action. From a sociological approach, the Action at home of UK, which is part of the Global Action Plan that originally developed in the United States during the late 1980s, has been evaluated by Hobson to find the simple relation between knowledge and change of behavior (Hanssen 2012)The Action at home programme lasted 6-month where households were provided with information, support, and feedback in a local setting enabling local support and networking between participants. An evaluation based on qualitative interviews suggests rethinking the ideas on information, barriers, and behavioral change. Information should be seen as a much more constructivist approach, where people use and develop arguments through conversations with others, rather than by receiving objective knowledge. The focus should be on the whole array of social structures sustaining specific behaviors, rather than on only barriers to action, and finally the understanding of behavioral change should rather focus on how debat e can bring unnoticed routines that are never consciously thought of. Though there are disagreements in the understanding of behavior and the role of information between the social and the psychological approach, it is possible to draw some general recommendations on how to best persuade people to change to a more sustainable lifestyle: Communication should be as specific and personalized as possible, and information should be as adjusted to the lifestyle of the citizens as possible, thereby making the advice meaningful and useful for the citizens attitudes and practices. Conclusion In order to achieve a global, green, sustainable development, the efforts needed from all over the world. For governments, based on the Agenda 21 and the characteristics of city, they should formulate the local strategy to meet the needs of development is the most important thing. Such as in Hong Kong, due to the limitation of land and high building density, government should make some strategies like economic incentive to encourage local citizens to reduce the private cars and increase use of public transportation. However, the premise of implementation of reduction of private cars should be the sound transportation system. A sound transportation will bring more convenient to citizens like time saving. For citizens in Hong Kong, time is money, to save time equals to earn money. Thus, for cities like Hong Kong with fast life, using of public transportation instead of private cars will bring amount of saving of energy and reduction of air pollution. Sustainable development is a long-term process that getting more from less, for longer and for all. For people, they should start from changing their daily life. As the analysis above, people could do to reduce the stress of environment from these following aspects: Resources conservation Resources conservation including reduction of using natural resources to make sure the limited resources could use longer for more people. Such as water conservation in daily life. Water is the source of life. People could not live on earth without water. Another important resource is biodiversity. Biodiversity conservation should be paid much attention because the whole earth includes people, animals, atmosphere, land and water stays in a stable system. Lacking of one of these factors, the system will damage, and we human beings could gain the benefits from the biodiversity such as food, fibers and even medicine. These are the necessities for human beings life. Rich biodiversity will offer the ongoing resources for future generations to reach the sustainable goal. Resources recycling The resource recycling is mainly about the waste classification. There will be amount of domestic waste production in our daily life. The compound of the domestic waste is so complex and difficult to deal with. And the process of dealing with the waste will bring the pollution of environment such as release the greenhouse gas, sewage discharge into river and marine. Waste classification could reduce the difficulties in the process of dealing and increase the effectiveness. The most common waste in our life is plastic bags and bottles. And the material of the plastic bags and bottles is too difficult to deal with, so it is important to distinguish it from other types of waste and deal with centralized. Resources reuse Resource reuse means using again especially in a different way. This could help increase the effectiveness a resource. For example, the can could use to keep the screws that we do not need to buy another container. This will help saving not only money but also resources. In our life, especially for children, because of their growth, their clothes will become too small to wear. At this time, some parents will consider throwing them out then buy new ones. This is an unsustainable behavior. On the contrary, many parents will consider passing the cloth to other children who can wear them. Giving things to those people who need them is better treated as litter. This behavior reduces the production of waste. The three aspects above are what we can do now in our daily life to help construct a sustainable society. In the process of changing lifestyle, however, citizens attitudes play a vital role. This related to their awareness to the environmental and social risks. It is need to increase citizens awareness through formal and informal education. However, sustainability is a contested concept, and developments in the structures and practices of everyday life continue to change and thus provide new challenges for what a sustainable lifestyle is or should be. In the future, there is also a need to continue experimenting, debating, and developing new approaches to sustainable lifestyles

computers in classrooms :: essays research papers

The Benefits of Classroom Computers With the rapid growth of technology in America’s society today, the use of computers in school classrooms has increased tremendously—an action that certainly has become beneficial to students, educators, and parents. The use of computers has positively skyrocketed over the past ten years. Not only are computers utilized daily in large companies across the world, but the everyday use in classrooms has also become prevalent. Using modern technology to assist school instructors with his or her daily lessons should definitely be regarded as a positive, acceptable method of instruction and not definitely does not prohibit students from understanding or critical thinking. The discipline, commitment, and responsibility standards that are required for an exceptional learning experience in school systems today are very consistent with those necessary fifty years ago. For example, the tools an educator were provided then were utilized to the best of his or her ability, which can easily be comparable with the circumstances of today’s uprising culture of computers. The world’s technology advancements are quickly developing, thus, unquestionably, contributing to the extraordinary benefits obtained by students, parents, and educators. Students are provided an enhanced understanding of diverse subjects due to presentations, use of the Internet, and various programs, assisting them with projects, homework, tests, or merely general interest. Classroom computer use is certainly beneficial to parents as well. If a student does not have computer access at home to complete a project or essay, it could easily be completed on the classroom’s computer. This avoids any conflicts that may arise from families that do not have access to a personal computer. Teachers are able to easily compose a multimedia presentation to, not only help teach the class, but also to assist the pupils while taking notes and ensuring their understanding of the topic. The â€Å"learning is fun† motto which has been declared for centuries is still true today. Although particular subjects are not so interesting, there is always a way for the educator to make the topic appealing. The Internet websites, interactive games, video clips, presentations, and animated cartoons are coupled with facts and taught daily. This is the chief technique in which many teachers educate their students. The standard lecture is somewhat considered outdated, while this â€Å"new† manner of teaching has become the modern tendency. During a debate on PBS, Damon Moore stated the following: â€Å"The computer is a perfect tutor.