Racial Stereotypes In Disney Movies

Racial Stereotypes In Disney Movies The objective of Disney films was to transport its viewers to a magical realm of enchantment and endless possibility. Disney offered a supposed alternate paradigm in which there was the promise of a Happily Ever After. It aimed at appealing to audiences young and old and hoped to find universal viewership. Walt Disney once stated that Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language. And although it did reach audiences far and wide, for a young Indian girl watching The 1937 Disney adaptation of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, it gave her very little to identify with or relate to. Snow White, the first on-screen Disney Princess was rendered With lips as red as rubies and skin as fair as snow. Blatantly epitomising Western ideas of femininity and beauty, films like Snow White alienated the Non-western viewer. They created a fantasy that was centred on fixed archetypes of beauty and desirability which catered to the white, western population and had no room for anybody else. Eventually, the industry was criticised for its focus on a singular ethos and restriction to the First World. Consequently, the last decade of the 20th century saw Walt Disney Pictures release films that were now aimed at broadening its cultural spectrum. Alladin, debuted as Disneys first attempt to explore a different cultural terrain. Released in 1992, it was later followed by other culture specific films like Mulan and Pocahontas which opened in cinemas in 1998 and 1995 respectively. These films signalled a distinct departure from films that were pivoted around Western protagonists and their lived experiences. Although this new brand of films hoped to establish a sense of cultural inclusivity by venturing beyond the Western World, what became clearly evident in the process was a heavy dependence on racial stereotypes and caricatured depictions of culture. Elena Di Giovanni, in her essay Disney Films: Reflections of the Other and the Self, states that Disneys selection of certain cultures which it chose to portray, was not a choice that was arbitrary and unplanned. According to Di Giovanni, the reasons for selecting these cultures can be ascribed to precise cultural and ideological strategies. The cultures depicted in these films are either conventionally considered to be somehow inferior if juxtaposed with modern Western Civilisations and to the narrating American culture in particular, as suggested by the Saudi Arabian-born scholar Ziauddin Sardar. Edward Said was one of the first scholars to examine the complex relationship between the Orient and the Occident, one that he found to be a relationship of power, of domination of varying degrees of a complex hegemony In his 1978 publication of Orientalism, Said One of the first scholars to give a sharp account of these biased cultural encounters was Edward Said in Orientalisrn(1978). Even though primarily concerned with tracing the history of the Orientalist attitude by the West in literature, Said does not fail to consider the importance of new technologies and the media in the proliferation of this unjust tradition: One aspect of the electronic, post-modern world is that there has been a reinforcement of the stereotypes by which the Orient is viewed. Television, films, and all the medias resources have forced information into more and more standardized moulds. More recently, Ziauddin Sardar has echoed similar ideas in his 1999 publication of Orientalism, a book he writes, as assort of tribute to Saids work, therefore titling it the same. The main interest of Sardars book, whose approach is even harsher than Saids, lies in his detailed reflections upon the new, modern ways by which the Orientalist attitude manifests itself and is still spreading nowadays. By way of introduction to his work, Sardar declares that even though the project of Orientalism has way passed its sell by date, it is colonizing new territories, such new territories being related to the new geographies which are shaped and controlled by contemporary means of mass cornmunication like the cinema. A whole chapter of Sardars work is devoted to Orientalism in films, where the author sets out to explore the treatment and manipulation of other cultures within the discourse of cinema, across different genres, including cartoons, and where he makes ample reference to the Americ an hegemonic control of the cinematic medium. Sardar states that otherness is generally treated as a pattern book from which strands can be taken to draw up cultural representations which serve the purpose of entertaining audiences while reinforcing, by contrast, the superiority of the narrating culture. Thus, the the commodification of culture takes place whereby visual and verbal elements belonging to a distant world are taken and made suitable for smooth reception within more powerful socio-cultural settings. Aladdin, which was based on the Arab folktale of Aladdin and the magic lamp from One Thousand and One Nights, became the most successful films of 1992, grossing over $502 million worldwide. However, almost instantly, it was met with criticism from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The movie quite literally translated into an Orientalist fantasy. With glaringly distorted depictions of Arab culture, and a few pointedly offensive remarks, the movie has gone down in history as one of Disneys most controversial films. The film, which is set in the fictitious kingdom of Agrabah, introduces an ensemble cast of characters: Aladdin, a young street urchin, Jasmine, a jaded princess, Jafar, an avaricious minister of Court and Genie, the ebullient prisoner of the lamp. Although the film seems to focus on the characters as individuals, it is difficult to dismiss the overall denouncement of Arab culture, as is evident in the treatment and presentation of Arab society in the film. The vilification of Arab men in the film can be observed quite clearly through their portrayal as thugs, sorcerers, pick-pockets or beggars. Their physical attributes also seem to echo the cultural bias, with their descriptions coloured by thick lips, missing teeth, heavy, menacing brows and hooked noses. However, what is interesting to observe, is the decidedly different treatment afforded to the central protagonists. Both the hero and heroine are presented as almost exact counterparts to the white, suburban youth of the west. Aladdin seems fairly content in disinheriting his Arabian heritage, as he is cleverly christened Al, and exhibits American mannerisms through his style of speaking in the film. In the same vein, the character of Jasmine is equally americanised. Jasmine, though sporting dark flowing hair and with darker skin than her counterpart princesses in earlier films, still retains blue eyes. Though Jasmine must reflect an Arabian image, the films producers seem to find i t necessary to leave at least a vestige of tangibility that Western audiences can relate to. What one is left to ponder is whether these characters would have appealed to western audiences, had they not been endowed with these traits? This example recalls Saids own observations on Orientalist attitudes. Bring in said here. And Elena di Giovanni A whole new world then move to another song that was in fact more noteworthy. Most noteworthy, however is the opening sequence of the film, which was later revised due to harsh criticism and protests. Aladdin opens with the expository song Arabian Nights which includes the lyrics PEDDLER: Oh I come from a land From a faraway place Where the caravan camels roam Where they cut off your ear If they dont like your face Its barbaric, but hey, its home The blatantly offensive final line had to be eliminated from the home video version of the film as a consequence of the numerous protests the Disney Company received after international release. However, all the other subtle and indirect hints at the American cultures position of supremacy over the narrated Other, which is deliberately kept ambiguous and undefined in historical-geographical terms, remain untouched, and continue to carefully shape the viewers perception. One of these subtle instances in the movie can be seen in the same opening sequence. The first words which are uttered by the peddler contain an unmistakable, conventional reference to the culture portrayed: PEDDLER: Ah, Salaam and good evening to you worthy friends. The worldwide-known Arabic greeting is, however, immediately followed by good evening, as if to compensate even for the faintest sense of estrangement the viewer might feel upon hearing salaam. Orientalist preconceptions find their way into the Disney adaptation of the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan. Walt Disney Pictures released Mulan in June, 1998 and it was the thirty sixth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. Mulan, which was once again infused with orientalist imagining of culture, uses a host of long-established, worldwide-known stereotypes on the visual as well as verbal levels. As Elina Di Giovanni points out, cultural metonymies are very often related to specific domains such as food, which provides universally identifiable socio-cultural references and ensures easy, if strongly stereotyped identification of different nations and peoples. In the case of verbal stereotypes, references to other cultures clichà ©d words and expressions tend to draw from common categories such as greetings, exclamations and titles. Greetings and exclamations, though not necessarily connected to the stereotyping of cultures, can nonetheless be frequently used to support cultural representations as they ensure simple and immediate identification. In the opening sequence of Mulan, the 1998 film which portrays the Chinese culture at the time of the invasions by the Huns, the visual and verbal cultural stereotypes employed do not contain any derogatory reference, but they are equally highly conventional. An instance of this can be seen in the portrayal and dialogue of the emperor of China who, incidentally, is always shown with the image of a golden dragon at his back to address his army generals in a situation of emergency. He is shown to exhibit a typical trait which is often associated with the Chinese culture, using words of wisdom to describe the fate of his country: EMPEROR: single grain of rice can tip the scale Moreover, one can note that the reference to the most popular element of the Chinese culinary tradition does not appear by coincidence in the emperors line. The shot which immediately follows features a large bowl of rice in the foreground with a pair of chopsticks lazily picking at the rice. This image is used in the film to introduce the protagonist herself, who will be very slowly revealed to the audience starting from her hand holding the chopsticks. But even more noteworthy, is that fact that the bowl of rice which alluded to in the beginning by the Emperor, and used in the introducing of the protagonist, Mulan is then later appropriated to serve American cultural interests by replacing the contents of the bowl(rice), with porridge and rashers of bacon and fried eggs, which make up Mulans breakfast. The bowl which contained rice in the opening scene has been deprived of its typical, if also highly conventional, Chinese content to be replaced by what looks more familiar to the American viewers, although totally remote from the eating habits of Chinese soldiers. Moving from visual to verbal examples, the use of language is an obvious vehicle for further consolidating the presence of American culture. It is worth pointing out that all the main characters in the films, although belonging to distant and exotic worlds, speak with perfect American accents. Moreover, they are very often characterized by the use of non-standard, colloquial or regional varieties of American English. This is the case of the dragon Mushu in Mulan, whose dialogue is generously punctuated with contemporary, informal American expressions. Similarly, in Aladdin, the most striking, informal and modem use of Ameriean English is to be found in the lines uttered by the genie of the lamp, appearing in different guises and often mimicking famous American personalities. His lines are filled with colloquial expressions as well as references to the contemporary American world. Pocahontas, which opened in cinemas in the year 1995, presented a thoroughly revised picture of a historical figure, appropriated suitably to appeal to western audiences. Modelled on the historical Native American figure ,Matoaka, who is more popularly known by the nickname Pocahontas, the film revamps and restructures the story of Pocahontas and showcases it as a tale where a culture under siege by British Colonialism, ends up being rescued by the White Messiah. The film clearly distorts historical facts and produces a tale that is made palatable to western audiences, with the White Settler rescuing the native tribe from a terrible fate, which, interestingly enough, would have been executed by his fellow men. The movie Pocahontas deviates from the true historical story in many ways. The most significant deviation is Pocahontas age and the nature of her relationship with John Smith. In the movie, Pocahontas is portrayed as a twenty year old woman who falls in love with John Smith, and he with her. From what we know of the historical record, she [Pocahontas] was a child when they met, probably between 12 and 14, and Smith was about 27, states Thomasina Jordan, the head of the Virginia Council on Indians, and herself a Wampanoag Native-American. However, it is not just her age that has been altered in the film version. Even her physical appearance is rendered far from factual. The on-screen Pocahontas is designed to be a tall, attractive figure, with dark, flowing hair and sharp features. This depiction in the film has been clearly designed to cater to the male fantasy of the young, exotic woman. Moulded from the Orientalist perspective, she is seen as the enigmatic princess, who captivates the young John Smith with her gentle spirit and exotic beauty. Moreover, the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas, was that of a young girl and an older man. The relationship that the two share in the movie is entirely fictitious and completely inaccurate. Another deviation is John Smiths attitude towards the Native Americans. In the movie, Smith defends the Native-Americans, and dons the mantle of the White Messiah. Abandoning his fellow men, Smith advocates the legitimate right of the natives to possess their own land. He states that the British are the intruders and have no authority to colonise and usurp the land of the natives. This heroism, is however absent in factual accounts of the story. In reality, Smith believed that the English had a right to the land and he was not an advocate for the Native-Americans. Disney also distorts the facts about Governor James Ratcliffe. In the movie they portray him as a villainous character. At the end of the movie he tries to shoot Chief Powatan, but shoots John Smith instead. After he does this, his own men make him a prisoner and send him back to England. However, this is not confirmed in the historical account. Thus, it is evident, that even through Disneys attempt to create a more panoramic view of Society and the world, by retelling tales rooted in different socio-cultutal contexts, it is unable to rid itself of omniscient Western ideals which dictate the ways in which Non-western cultures are received. The non-western cultures can only be understood when either juxtaposed with western traditions or appropriated to appeal to a western audience. The appeal of a non-white prince must be countered with distinctly Americanised mannerisms. Tales from the East seem only to be tangible if they propagate long standing stereotypes and reinforce Orientalist preconceptions. While Disney paints portraits of cultural landscapes and attempts to traverse into the world of The Other, the question remains as to whether it is possible for the West to tell tales of a Non-White civilisation, without all the trappings of stereotypes and exoticism. Can a Media Giant like Disney truly showcase different cultures, without insinuating Western Supremacy over them all? Can they truly paint with all the colours of The Wind?

Employee Retaintion

CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. BRANDING 3. INTERNAL BRANDING 4. IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL BRANDING 5. INTERNAL BRANDING TOOLS 6. INTERNAL BRANDING PROCESS 7. FACTOR OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE OF INTERNAL BRAND 8. ROLE OF HR IN INTERNAL BRAND 9. RESEARCH METHODOLGY 10) DATA ANALYSIS 11) FINDINGS 12) CONCLUSION 13) SUGGESTIONS 14) REFERNCES 15) QUESTIONNAIRE INTRODUCTION A company's branding strategy often has a large impact on the success or failure of a particular product.This is especially true for large, multi-national corporations because it effects how the consumer correlates a product with the manufacturer. Some large companies choose not to use the manufacturer name and/or logo on all their brands. Often, a company name is well-known within business circles but unfamiliar to the average consumer, in which case, dissonance can prevent consumers from recognizing the brand name.Other companies pick and chose which of their products will carry the corporate brand name A fundamental problem w ith regards to international branding is that firms currently do not pay enough attention to their employees' expertise regarding brand strategy . If a company is able to make a consumer look at a certain product for a fraction of a second longer than its competitors' products, the probability purchase intent increases significantly. Therefore, the way a company brands its products can have a direct link to the success of the product and the brand.This encouraging framework, however, does not mean that employee perceptions of the strategy will be positive; without which the performance of both the brand and the company will be hindered in a significant fashion. Therefore, there exists a need for research to be done regarding how employees feel about current and future brand strategies in order to maximize company potential. Due to the complexity of balancing proper brand strategies for multi-national enterprises, balancing which products should carry the manufacturer name and/or tra demark is an essential consideration.It is necessary, therefore, to look into studies to see if using a company's name on all products helped or hindered product sales. Effective utilization of international branding strategies takes into account whether stand alone brands need a corporate name to be successful, how sales will be affected by using corporate brand names, and what the benefits of adding a corporate name or logo would be compared to the potential costs.By exploring employee perceptions of these facets of international branding, we can determine if a multi-national firm's global image is a product of its employees' collective perceptions. The primary objective of this study is to examine the context of the relationship between the global image of the fast food industry and employee opinions of the firm's various branding strategies.The key independent variables are stand alone brands owned by fast food industry, effect of the company brand name on sales, benefits vs. co sts of using the company logo, and fast food industry current global image as a product of its employee's perception. BRANDING A brand is a â€Å"name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition† American Marketing Association definition .A strong brand has been found to be instrumental in the facilitation of numerous marketing goals including: improved brand loyalty, brand-based price premiums and higher margins, improved successful new product introductions, greater shareholder and stakeholder returns, and clear, valued and sustainable points of differentiation as well as the simplification of consumer decision making, the reduction of consumer risk, and the establishment of expectations. The role of perception in branding is therefore critical: The challenge for marketers in building a strong brand is ensuring that customers have t he ight type of experiences with products and services and their accompanying marketing programs so that the desired thoughts, feelings, images, beliefs, perceptions, opinions, and soon become linked to the brand . While branding initiatives most frequently focus on external stakeholders, internal marketing, employee branding and/or internal branding efforts establish systems/processes and consequent employee behaviors that are consistent with the external branding efforts.The terms employee branding and internal branding are essentially synonymous in the literature and internal marketing has also been used to describe these activities and programs. For the sake of parsimony, the term internal branding will be used throughout the remainder of the paper to describe these processes and outcomes. The concept of internal branding is not new to corporate America.Promoting the brand to employees, and educating them about brand values, is steadily growing in popularity among corporate gian ts such as Southwest , Standard Register, Cisco, Ernst & Young (Boone, 2000), BASF (Buss, 2002), Sears, BP, IBM, Nike and Miller Brewing (Mitchell, 2002). All are examples of firms that have realized the inherent power of an informed workforce committed to delivering the brand promise. Unfortunately, in many organizations there is a fundamental disconnect between the external and internal branding systems: Many companies do a brilliant job of advertising and marketing to customers.Then comes the hard part; delivering. While they put millions of dollars into marketing [external branding], most companies invest little to ensure that employees transform brand messages into reality in terms of the customer's experience. Its one thing to tell customers who you are and quite another to show them who you are. Employees have to be engaged to make the brand come alive. Therefore, the messages sent to employees about the brand are just as important as the ones sent to customer.Due to the subs tantial potential for synergy between internal and external branding initiatives, those in both the academic and business communities are devoting more of their time to the doctrine, all stress the importance of a coordinated internal and external branding program and the inherent benefits of marketing efforts that address not only the needs and wants of the target market, but the proper hiring, training, and motivation of those who must deliver the brand's promise. Within Hallmark, a group of internal managers is responsible for brand training and education.Hallmark has regular brand training sessions, a brand-based intranet site, internal publications, a speaker series, and even daily brand promise reminders on the start-up screens of employees' computers. Hallmark consistently focuses on conducting internal assessments of employees' perceptions of the brand with the intent of focusing on gaps between internal perceptions and marketplace perceptions. The value of a well-coordinate d program aimed at educating and training employees on the brand message and how to incorporate it in their work appears to be growing significantly.But the importance and specific role of the HR management department remains somewhat cloudy. Through a wide variety of HR plans, processes and actions, it is possible to make a tremendous impact on the branding success of an organization. While none of this constitutes a revelation – the role of HR in influencing branding (both externally and internally) has been recognized in isolated ways, ways that are certainly intuitive – the need for HR to be more comprehensive in its role to support branding efforts has not been recognized a great deal in the literature, nor has it been revealed in the actions of most HR professionals.The work of Gotsi and Wilson (2001) identifies what is necessary to close the gap between what an organization is saying to its external constituents and what is believed and practiced by internal con stituents. The respondents suggested that HR management practices such as recruitment policies, performance appraisal, and training need to be aligned with brand values to avoid sending conflicting messages.This study looks at the relationship between specific HR internal branding activities, the incorporation of the brand message into work activities and employee personal attitude toward the brand to determine the degree to which cross-functional synergy between internal and external branding initiatives is being realized in the business community. INTERNAL BRANDINGInternal branding is considered as a means to create powerful corporate brands. It assists the organization in aligning its internal process and corporate culture with those of the brand.Management and brand consultants have been key figures in providing valuable insights to the concept of internal branding. Little research has, however, been devoted to exploring the perceptions of the employees. As the concept underline s the role of services employees, their views may be important if management is to implement the most appropriate internal branding programmes. The objective of internal branding is to ensure that employees transform espoused brand messages into brand reality for customers and other stakeholders.A number of publications have identified that successful internal branding engenders employees' commitment to, identification with and loyalty to the brand. When employees internalize the brand values, they will consistently deliver on the brand promise across all contact points between the company and its stakeholders. To implement successful internal brand building, IM has been suggested as a key instrument. Although IM is regarded as an appropriate approach for communicating the brand internally, communication is not the sole method to ensure the success of the internal branding campaign.Machtiger remarked that one of the six pitfalls in internal branding is to rely largely on internal co mmunications (ICs). In fact, internal branding requires a broader integrative framework across corporate marketing, corporate management and corporate human resource management. Marketing functions as a link between communication, service and quality. Both service and quality could in part be enhanced by understanding techniques used by the HR function, as it is involved in developing the human asset to enhance the organization’s economic performance and its brand's success.If management can understand and orchestrate marketing and HR theories, it is argued that employees will better accept and internalize the brand values and align their attitudes and behavior, accordingly. This will result in the brand promise being delivered to the organization’s clients, providing it with customer satisfaction, customer preference and loyalty. ICs aim to influence employees' brand knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The outcomes of ICs include employee commitment, shared vision, a service-minded approach, loyalty and satisfaction.While ICs operate with the current members inside the organization, the role of the HR department begins with selecting and recruiting the right prospects. With the rise of the concept of ‘person-organization fit', de Chernatony underlines the value congruence between the candidates, the organizations and the brand. As values are hard to change, staff recruitment based on the level of value congruence is sometimes more viable than emphasizing merely on their technical/operational skills. Then, training and development programmes are essential to enhance employee performance and to bring consistency to the xternal brand experience. Therefore, HR should be led by marketing and incorporate the brand concept into all employee development programmes. To maintain brand standards, an organization should reward employees accordingly. Effective reward and recognition schemes can enhance employee motivation and commitment. When the right employees are kept satisfied, the organization tends to retain the best people facilitating superior performance. Therefore, incorporating the wisdom from HR practitioners, ICs move beyond merely distributing brand information through media towards creating shared brand understanding.Although a number of publications have addressed how to implement a successful internal branding process, most of these insights have been acquired from a management's and brand consultant's perspective. Few studies have been done to unearth the perceptions of employees who are considered as the ‘internal customers. IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL BRANDINGMany companies do a brilliant job of advertising and marketing to customers. Then comes the hard part: delivering. While they put millions of dollars into marketing, most companies invest little to ensure that employees transform brand messages into reality in terms of the customer's experience.Its one thing to tell customers who you are and quite anothe r to show them who you are. Employees have to be engaged to make the brand come alive. Therefore, the messages sent to employees about the brand are just as important as the ones sent to customers. EX- David Reyes-Guerra, associate director of brand management at Ernst ; Young, says internal branding plays a vital role in powerfully and accurately conveying the Ernst ; Young brand around the world. Reyes-Guerra's goal is to create 75,000 â€Å"brand ambassadors† who present a consistent, clear, professional image of a global firm.To that end, his department has set up The Branding Zone on the corporate intranet. â€Å"We felt that the intranet would be our best tool for establishing a global focus on branding,† The Branding Zone, launched in January of this year, is a central source for branding, marketing, and advertising information at Ernst & Young. It contains a threaded discussion area where people throughout the firm can access a topic and then pose a question to the global branding and marketing community. There is also an extranet for the company's outside agencies.The information on this extranet includes standards, fonts and logos, and material from advertising campaigns. By providing this information, the internal branding group insures that all marketing collateral-whether produced in house or by an agency-is consistent with the brand message. The Branding Zone has generated a significant level of interest inside the firm. In the first 90 days after it was launched, one presentation template was downloaded 9,000 times. A graphics standards manual on the site was downloaded 10,000 times. An image library garnered another 10,000 downloads of photography and advertising icons.Even though it's in its early stages, Reyes-Guerra anticipates that the site will have significant impact, including streamlining the entire design process by eliminating the need for extensive custom design of collateral materials. â€Å"A focus on internal brandi ng and the successful practice of digital brand management via Web site tools inspires collaboration and breeds integration,† Reyes-Guerra says. â€Å"It's very effective in breaking down barriers, creating synergies, and opening lines of communication-all of which are critical to success in today's business environment. INTERNAL BRANDING TOOLS| | | INTERNAL BRANDING PROCESS Employee branding is a process by which employees internalize the desired brand image and are motivated to project the image to customers and other organizational constituents. The messages employees take in and process influence * the extent to which they perceive their psychological contracts with the organization to be fulfilled * the degree to which they understand and are motivated to deliver the desired level of customer service In so doing, they drive the formation of the employee brand.The messages employees receive must be aligned with the employees ‘organizational experiences if the psycho logical contract is to be upheld. Therefore, the conscious development of organizational messages is the fundamental building block in this process. The messages must then be delivered through appropriate message sources. The following guidelines provide a starting point in this process: * Organizational messages should be carefully thought out and planned in much the same way mission and vision statements are thought out and planned. The organizational messages should reflect the organization’s mission and values. * Messages directed toward external constituencies must be in line with the messages sent to employees. * Messages directed toward external constituencies should be sent internally as well. * The design of recruitment and selection systems should incorporate messages that consistently and frequently reflect the brand and organizational image. * The compensation system should incorporate messages that consistently and frequently reflect the brand and organizational image.For instance, managers in organizations that value training must be held accountable when they fail to train and develop their employees. * Training and development systems should help managers and employees internalize their organization’s mission and values and help them understand how the mission and values pertain to their roles in their organization. This should enable them to more effectively articulate messages that consistently and frequently reflect the brand and organizational image. * Advertising and public relations systems should communicate messages that consistently and frequently reflect the brand and organizational image. Managers should be taught the importance of communicating messages that are consistent with their organization’s mission, vision, policies, and practices. * Performance management systems should address inconsistencies between practices and policies to minimize violations of employees’ psychological contracts. * Accurate and specific job previews should be given to new employees so that realistic expectations are incorporated into their psychological contracts. * Corporate culture (artifacts, patterns of behavior, management norms, values and beliefs, and assumptions) should reinforce the messages employees receive. Individual output should be measured and analyzed to determine if there are message-related problems at the departmental, divisional, or organizational levels. * Individual messages should be continually examined for consistency with other messages. * Message channels should be examined to ensure consistency of message delivery. * In the event that messages need to be changed or psychological contracts altered, organizations must take careful steps in rewriting the messages. * Measures should be used to assess outcomes such as customer retention, service quality, turnover, and employee satisfaction and performanceFACTORS OF FAILURE AND SUCCESS IN INTERNAL BRANDING Organization Factors in the organizational dimension are difficult to change or indeed influence at all, given the scope and intangibility of many of these factors. Thus, while culture has a large impact on internal branding programmes, awareness, rather than change of this culture, may be appropriate. However, cultural change may be necessary where there exists no fit between the prevailing culture and the objectives of the internal branding programme. Cross-functional coordination and cooperation have been suggested to reduce internal competition and departmentalized thinking.Information The effectiveness and overall success of internal branding programmes is dependent on an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the internal as well as the external environment of the organization. While market research provides such information , the measurement of target performances and collection of feedback from all organizational levels as well as from outside the organization enables management to assess the sui tability of the current programme to the and highlights any necessary changes to be made .Management This dimension is concerned with the degree and nature of visible support given by management to the internal branding programme. In order to be regarded as legitimate by the target audience, management has to lend its support to the programme, as well as visibly adhere to it. In fact, as internal branding is concerned with the corporate brand, responsibility for the internal branding effort should lie with the CEO of an organization, given that role's intensive association with the organization’s strategy and brand.It has been suggested in the literature that a multi-departmental approach may be most appropriate for internal branding, particularly with a view to the importance of the HR function. Also, the composition and management of brand teams has been mentioned as having an impact on internal branding programmes. Communication Information needs to be made available to ev eryone in the organization without exposing individuals to too much detail in order to avoid information overload. Likewise, messages should be internally and externally aligned to avoid confusion.Only where the objectives of the internal branding programme are in line with the overall business objectives and properly translated to the target audience is a programme capable of achieving its intended outcome. The effectiveness of communication depends on constant reinforcement on one hand, and adaptation to internal and external changes on the other. Strategy Alignment should exist between all strategies and programmes employed by an organization, including the fit between the internal (or external) brand and the objectives of the business.Conflict between these will reduce the appeal and believability of the brand and greatly reduce a program me’s effectiveness. Further aspects under this dimension include scheduling the most suitable timing and budget the programme. Staff Re cruiting, motivating and rewarding staff are all aspects that can influence the readiness among employees to adopt a new or altered strategic direction with respect to the internal brand. Consequently, like the organizational dimension, the staff dimension addresses the most favorable preconditions for internal branding as well as techniques capable of further enhancing the effectiveness of the programme.Likewise, this dimension highlights the importance of gaining not only leadership support, but also the support of employees at all levels, since they constitute the largest audience for the internal branding programme. Internal branding is deemed most effective where the programme has been designed in participation with employees. Education Out of the previous six dimensions arises the need for a seventh concerned with the education of staff and management to prevent some of the failures that may occur during internal branding programmes as a result of ignorance and flawed preconce ptions.Thus, this dimension calls for the identification of such beliefs, attitudes, and mental models through market research and constituency assessments and their alignment with organizational objectives and policies through education. ROLE OF HR IN INTERNAL BRANDING The degree of HR involvement in internal branding was evaluated using the mean of the five-item measure presented in diagram The measure's mean of 3. 31 on a six-point scale (1 – strongly agree; 6 – strongly disagree) does not indicate a strong degree of HR involvement in internal branding activities.In fact, fully one-fifth of the respondents generally or strongly disagreed that brand value training is provide or that the knowledge is used in staffing decisions. More than 30 percent generally or strongly disagreed that annual performance reviews or departmental plans consider the brand values. It is apparent that HR is not heavily involved in the internal branding process, and/or that internal branding is not considered a high priority function at most American firms.When asked who within the company delivers the brand message, more than two-thirds (68 percent) of respondents indicated it was top management, followed by marketing personnel (35 percent), the immediate supervisor (27 percent), and human resources (16 percent). Since respondents were able to check more than one response, it is apparent that in many cases more than one individual in the company delivers the brand message, and the involvement of HR could be stronger. Incorporation of the brand message into work activities The incorporation of the brand message into work activities is not particularly strong.With an overall mean of 2. 68 on a six point scale (1 – strongly agree; 6 – strongly disagree), it appears that American professionals do not emphasize the integration their firm's brand message into their general work activities, at least at the level one might expect given recent accounts in business and academic literature. Personal involvement in the brand Respondents' attitude toward the company brand was stronger than may have been suspected by the human resource involvement and the incorporation of the brand message into work activities. The measure's mean of 2. 4 on a six-point scale illustrates a relatively strong respondent attitude toward their respective brands, and possible opportunity for furthering the development of incorporation the brand in work activities. Relationship between HR involvement in internal branding and the incorporation of the brand message into work activities and personal involvement in the brand While perceived HR involvement in internal brandingand the incorporation of the brand message into work activities appears moderate at best within US businesses, there is a relatively strong relationship between the means of the two variables.As the findings in Table IV indicate, the relationship between mean HR involvements in internal branding and mea n incorporation of the brand message as well as the relationship between mean HR involvements in internal branding and mean personal attitude toward the brand are significantly correlated. In other words, respondents who perceived a stronger involvement of the HR function in internal branding were more likely to incorporate the brand message in work activities and/or had a more positive personal attitude toward the brand.HR involvement in internal branding and the incorporation of the brand message into specific work activities Not only does a strong relationship exist between mean HR involvements in internal branding and mean incorporation of the brand message, but a relatively strong relationship also exists between mean HR involvement and each of the specific work activities tested. In each case a significant, positive relationship can be found, as well as possible opportunity for enhance brand integration among American professionals.RESEARCH METHODOLGY Data Collection:- There a re two main sources for collecting data. These are: 1. Primary Data 2. Secondary Data 1. Primary Data: The primary data was collected in the form of questionnaire from employees of various industries like IT industry, Hotel industry etc. 2. Secondary Data: The secondary data was to be collected from reference books, journals, magazines, and newspapers and through internet. The research instrument was Questionnaire.SAMPLE SIZE: The sample size for the questionnaire was 50 employees. SAMPLE METHOD: Simple random method of sampling. The limitation of the study was:- * The area covered was only pune city. * There was the lack of diversification within each sample, and the relatively low total sample size employed. * The respondents may be biased or influenced by some other factors. DATA ANALYSIS 1) Did your organization carry out induction program? YES| NO| 80%| 20%|Through this graph we have tried to show that 80% of the organizations carry out the induction program whereas 20% of the organizations do not carry out the induction program. 2) Did in induction program you cover Employee branding? YES| NO| 80%| 20%| In the second graph we have tried to figure out how many organization in induction program cover the employee branding technique and the result was that 80% of the organization mainly It industry do cover the employee branding technique whereas 20%of the industry do not cover it. ) Which technique do you use for employee branding? Mentoring| Presentation| Apprenticeship| Other| 30%| 20%| 30%| 20%| In these graph we have tried to find out which method do they use to tell them about their brands they use various method like mentoring where only 30% of them use it then other is mentoring where only 20% only use it other apprenticeship where only 30% use it and there are other method which only 20% of the organization use it. ) Do you have any other employee branding program for existing employee? YES| NO| 10%| 90%| Through this graph we have tried to figure out how many organization uses any other employee branding program for their existing employee the result was that 10% says they do have where they send their employee for training for some limited amount of time to brush up their knowledge and 90% says they do not have. 5) What is the best way to approach employee branding? EMPLYOEE | CUSTOMER| 50%| 50%|In this we try to find out who is the best way to approach Employee branding and we come to know that marketers should look at employees as an internal market, where the objective is to make them feel valued and give them a sense of belonging because this is a basic human need. But equally staff should be viewed as another vehicle to communicate and manifest the brand. 6) Who should take charge of employee branding? TOP LEVEL| HR DEPARTMENT| MARKETING DEPARTMENT| OTHER| 40%| 40%| 10%| 10% |In this we try to find out who has the main responsibility of conveying the employee branding and the result was it is not whole-sole responsibil ity of one department it is the responsibility of all the department. 7) How do you communicate internal branding? MEETINGS| SPONSORING | NARRATING STORY| OTHERS| 20%| 40%| 10%| 30%| Through we try to find out what is the best way to communicate your brand to people because brand is at the centre of the organization that why organization uses meetings, narrating events to tell them about their brands. ) What are the ways you use to make them interested in the brands? TV-ADS| SPONSORING| INTERNET| OTHERS| 40%| 30%| 20%| 10%| In this we have shown which are the best medium to communicate about our brand we have seen TV-ads , internet ,organizing events were the best way to communicate about it because it attract lot of attention of the customers. 9) How do you monitor the success of your internal brand? SETTING TARGET| CLIENT ASSESSMENT| OTHERS| 40%| 40%| 20%|In this we have tried to figure out that how they monitor the success of their brand because sometime it become benchmarking ex ercise to try to see if anything is becoming problematic so they set target and sometime they do client assessment test where they interviewed 50 people from client organization. 10) To what extent do employees understand what their organization brand represents? At 20%| At 50%| At 70%| 70% or above| 10%| 40%| 30%| 20%| In this we have tried to find out how much employees of an organization understand their brand so we have try to present in the form of numeric form FINDINGSIn general, the majority of participants were able to articulate (in varying degrees) what their organization’s brand represents In relation to the way in which employees acquire organizational knowledge for the purpose of carrying out their roles and responsibilities, the results revealed three strong themes, that is, training, customer/market information and work environment (co-workers). The employees devoid of brand knowledge are unable to transform the brand vision into the brand reality evidence pres ented here suggests that there is still an inconsistent practitioner approach to the provision of employee-relevant brand information.This is somewhat surprising, given that it is apparent from the comments provided by the participants who lacked customer or market information that employee satisfaction and their ability to successfully carry out their roles and responsibilities is adversely impacted. Despite the speed with which business decisions need to be made today in order to remain competitive, individuals within organizations are still not being given the support and skills they feel are necessary for them to respond effectively to the business challenges of today. CONCLUSIONIt could be concluded that employee branding is becoming the concept or mantra of today's business world. Employee branding helps the companies to have better perspective of their consumers and motivate the employees as well. The brand interpretation in the mind of customer is very important. At the end of the day, how the brand is positioned in the minds of the consumers is heavily dependent on company's employees. Investment in an organization’s human capital is a precursor for subsequent organizational success, especially in such a competitive global market.While conceptually this appears to be a reasonable assumption, the empirical evidence is limited to the validation of the link between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty. In particular, internal brand management has been identified as a means to engender such outcomes (eg organizational success and employee satisfaction) and yet there appears to be limited understanding as to the impact of such efforts from an employee perspective. Without such insight, attainment of a desired level of employee satisfaction could be considered synonymous to ‘flying blind'.Furthermore, it becomes increasingly challenging to justify such an internal investment without evidence of the impact such an investment has on the org anization as manifested in employee attitude and behavior. SUGGESTIONS * Cultivate a culture that reinforces your Brand Contract and encourage employees to â€Å"live the brand† * Measure the effectiveness of your internal branding strategy to maximize the ROI on your internal branding initiatives * Insist that senior management models brand-focused behavior and cultural values. * Set communication alignment goals (are you even measuring the effectiveness of your internal communication. Make positive examples of employee behavior that represents your values, mission, brand and business strategy. * Reward employees for demonstrating their commitment to your brand contract and values. * Show daily how commitment to mission and values is the touchstone that drives your decisions. * Harness the entire creativity of every employee in bringing the brand to life. * Involve all departments in branding, not just marketing – HR, operations, customer support, development, finance , and more. REFERENCES BOOKS AND JOURNALS * Aurand, T. W. , L. Gorchels and T. R.Bishop (2005), ‘Human resource management's role in internal btanding: an opportunity for cross-functional brand message synergy', Journal of Product and Brand Management, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 163-9. * Bak, C. A. , L. H. Vogt, W. R. George and I. R. Greentree (1994), ‘Management by team: an innovative tool for running a service organization through internal marketing', Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 37-47. * Ballantyne, D. (1997), ‘Internal networks for internal marketing', Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 13, no. 5, July, pp. 343-66. * Barnes, B. R. , M. T. Fox and D.S. Morris (2004), ‘Exploring the linkage between internal marketing, relationship marketing and service quality: a case study of a consulting organization', Total Quality Management, vol. 15, nos. 5/6, pp. 593-601. * Beagrie, S. (2003), ‘How to †¦ influence employee behavior through internal marketing', Personnel Today, August, p. 35- * Bergstrom, A. , D. Blumenthal and S. Crothers (2002), ‘Why internal branding matters: the case of Saab', Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 5, nos. 2/3, Fall, pp. 133-42. * Berry, L. L. (1981), ‘The employee as customer', Journal of Retail Banking, vol. , pp. 25-8. * Berry, L. L. , M. C. Burke and J. S. Hensel (1976), ‘Improving retailer capability for effective consumerism response', Journal of Retailing, vol. 52, no. 3, Fall, pp. 3-15. * Berry, L. L. and A. Parasuraman (1992), ‘Services marketing starts from within', Marketing Management, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 24-34. * Bowen, D. E. and E. E. Lawler III (1992), ‘the empowerment of service workers: what, why, how, and when', Sloan Management Review, vol. 33, no. 3, spring, pp. 31-9. INTERNET SITES www. google. com www. philipkotler. com www. Shrm. org www. wikipedia. com QUESTIONNAIRE ) Did your organization carry out induction program? Yes No 2) Did i n induction program you cover employee branding techniques? Yes No 3) Which techniques do you use for employee branding? Mentoring Presentation Apprenticeship Other 4) Do you have any other employee branding program for existing employee? Yes No 5) What is the best way to approach employee branding? Employees Customer 6) Who should take charge of employee branding?Top level Hr department Marketing department other 7) How do you communicate internal brands to people? Meetings nsor sponsoring narrating story Other 8) What are the ways you use to make them interested in the brand? TV-ads Sponsoring Internet Other 9) How do you monitor the success of your internal brand? Setting targets client Assessment Other 10) To what extent do employees understand their organization brand represent? At 20% At 50% A At 70% 70% or above

Teaching Life Skills in the Classroom

Life skills  are the skills that children need to be eventually become successful and productive parts of their society. They are the kinds of interpersonal skills that allow them to develop meaningful relationships, as well as more reflective skills that allow them to see their actions and responses critically and become happier adults. For a long time, this kind of skills training was the province of the home or church. But with more and more children — typical as well as special needs learners —showing life skills deficits, its become more and more a part of school curriculum. The goal is for students to achieve transition: going from children in school to young adults in the world. Life Skills Vs. Employment Skills Politicians and administrators often beat the drum for teaching life skills as a pathway to employment. And its true: Learning how to dress for an interview, answer questions appropriately and be part of a team are useful for professional careers. But life skills can be more general — and fundamental — than that.   Heres a list of crucial life skills and suggestions for implementing them in the classroom: Personal Accountability Teach personal responsibility or accountability by setting up a clear framework for students work. They should know to complete learning tasks on time, hand in assigned work and to use a calendar or agenda for school and home assignments and longer-term projects.   Routines In the classroom, routines include class rules such as: follow directions, raise your hand before speaking, remain on task without wandering, work independently, and cooperate by following the rules. Interactions Skills to be addressed through a lesson plan include: listening to others in large and small groups, knowing how to take turns, contributing appropriately, sharing, and being polite and respectful during all group and classroom activities. At Recess Life skills dont stop during lesson time. At recess, crucial skills can be taught, such as sharing equipment and sports items (balls, jump ropes etc.), understanding the importance of teamwork, avoiding arguments, accepting sports rules, and participating responsibly. Respecting Property Students need to be able to care appropriately for both school and personal property. This includes keeping desks tidy; returning materials to their proper storage locations; putting away coats, shoes, hats etc. and keeping all personal items organized and accessible. While all students benefit from life skills curriculums, it is especially helpful for special needs children. Those with severe learning disabilities, autistic tendencies, or developmental disorders only benefit from day-to-day responsibility. They need strategies in place to help them learn the essential life skills. This list will help you set up tracking systems and work with students to enhance those necessary skills. Eventually, self-tracking or monitoring can be achieved. You may want to devise a tracking sheet for specific areas to keep the student focused and on target.