Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Essays

Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Essays Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Paper Intercultural Communication in the Workplace Paper The growth of interdependence of people and ultras in the global society of the 21 SST century has forced us to pay even more attention to intercultural issues. In order to live and function in this multicultural environment as effectively and meaningfully as possible, people must be competent in Intercultural communication, which includes verbal and nonverbal communication. Communicating with people from other cultures can be challenging regardless of where one works. At the same time, ones ability to foster successful communication between people of differing cultures will bolster ones success in business and career. In order to overcome the cultural barriers to effective communication, one must first learn what culture means. Culture is a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms for behavior. I do have a couple of specific example to discuss but working In human resources. I have to be sensitive to many different cultures and will focus on the different situations I have encountered. The first instance of intercultural communication that comes to mind is a situation where I was trying to explain a policy to an employee. The particular employee who s from India originally but has been in the United States for some time yet is difficult to understand with her strong accent. The employee sent me an e-mail with a question regarding the use of annual and sick leave time and the length she would be allowed to be on vacation and sick leave combined. The second part of the question involved the insurance coverage of a treatment she wanted to receive while visiting India called Arrived (arrived is a system of medicine that originated in India several thousand years ago. The term Arrived combines two Sanskrit words your, which means life, and Veda, which means science or knowledge. Arrived means the science of life). Although this might seem like a simple answer It was not and Involved discussion with her manager and some research to understand what this treatment was all about and if it would be covered. Situations such as this one make it difficult to decide if the best approach is to communicate via e-mail or to attempt to communicate face to face to make sure one understands. The second situation involves a Package employee who works in our building and is from the Somalia. This person came here as a refugee and speaks very little English yet is always friendly and has a smile on his face. At Characteristic, It was suggested to adopt a Tamely Ana someone suggested patting NV Ana Nils Tamely. I tongue It was a wonderful idea yet the group had individuals who objected and said what about one of our employees! I thought that was very selfish and it should not matter whether it was a Court employee or a Package employee. However, the decision was made we would not adopt this family through the Court but a group of us decided it as the right thing to do and worked with Catholic Social Services to make it a special Christmas for him and his family after all but did so anonymously. In the first situation I had to do some research to understand what exactly this treatment was for and why she was not receiving the treatment here in the United States. What I learned is the treatment mainly comprises of powders, tablets, and detections, and medicated oils prepared from natural herbs, plants and minerals. The medicines are from natural sources and not synthetic, they are accepted and assimilated in the body without creating any side effects. Because she was going to be in India visiting family she wanted to take the opportunity to get this treatment from someone she trusted in her own country. I have also learned about the certain comfort zone in this culture as well as weddings can go on for three to four days, which is what she was going there for, and the culture is not good with paperwork. Had I taken the time to explore her culture or even ask her about it I could have learned this and been able to understand where she was coming from instead of making assumptions and Judgments. The result was she was allowed to take her 6 ekes of annual leave but was not able to use sick leave because having the treatment there was a personal choice and the medical insurance would not cover it. Although I thought I was being open to the cultures of others I now recognize that one can take it a step further and take the initiative to learn on my own and ask questions to become educated on the cultures of others. The second situation which involved adopting the family was also very important and was happy that we went to Catholic Social Services for assistance. The biggest factor in this situation was the employees who wanted to participate in this particular nation could but it would have to be anonymous as opposed to the employees presenting the gifts. I was fine with this approach but we again had others who wanted to be recognized for their contribution and choose not to participate. Well, what I learned is the reason it had to be done anonymously is because it might cause humiliation and embarrassment to this Package employee if the group presented the gifts for him and his family. The other reason is the Package employee would have felt like he owed those who donated items something and would have created a ruder for him. All these factors are part of his culture and who he is and I think it would be wrong for anyone to invade those characteristics. Cultures can differ in several ways that affect communication such as; stability: conditions which may be stable or may be changing either slowly or rapidly; cultures vary in the accessibility of information which can make things more complex; composition: because some cultures are made up of many diverse subcultures and generally the fewer subcultures in ones background, the easier communication is because of the fewer attention differences to consider; Acceptance: cultures carry in his or her attitudes toward outsiders, some can be openly hostile, some have a detached aloofness, and others are very friendly and cooperative with strangers. If one can work to bridge the Deterrence antelope above en or seen can Is taking ten relent approach to canceling intercultural communication. It might be easier said then done but I found the following 10 Commandments to follow when trying to bridge intercultural communication: 1) Be aware of differing social values; 2) Be aware of differing status humbly and how to demonstrate them; 3) Be aware of decision making customs: not all people like to make decisions quickly and efficiently; 4) Be aware of concepts of time: not all people like to see time as money; 5) Be aware of personal space: people from different cultures have different comfort zones; 6) Be aware of cultural context: people from certain cultures (called high-context cultures) rely less on verbal communication and more on the context of nonverbal actions and environmental settings to convey meaning. People from low-context cultures like the USA rely more n verbal communication and less on circumstances and implied meaning to convey meaning; 7) Be aware of body language: learn the basic differences in the way people supplement their words with body movement; 8) Be aware of different etiquette rules or manners: what is polite in one culture may be considered rude in another; 9) Be aware of legal and ethical behavior; 10) Be aware of language barriers: English is the most prevalent language in international business, but a easy mistake to assume that everyone understands it. If one is willing to learn as much as possible about another ultra it will enhance ones ability to communicate more effectively with many individuals. I know it can be easy to disregard the cultures of others and think because we are in the United States each person should become accustom to the way things work here. However, I have to say that approach would be selfish and the reality is we can learn so much f rom other cultures that might do one some good!

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template)

How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started? How to Plan a Marketing Calendar That Actually Works (Free Template) Im going to be blunt. A lot of marketing calendars are really tough to use simply because they arent designed to be marketing calendar tools. And that makes it really tough to plan a marketing calendar that actually works: PDFs: Printing a free editorial calendar template like this one from   is  a great way to start  your  planning- to get the brainstorming going. From here, youll likely want a digital version thats a bit easier to update with your constant changes. Excel: Heres a free marketing calendar template from Content Marketing Institute to get you started on a digital version. But its a bit difficult to get  your team to use it when you have it locked all day as you plan. :/ Google Docs:  A spreadsheet in Google Docs/Sheets like this marketing calendar template from Crackerjack Marketing will help you solve the locking problem youd experience with Excel. This still doesnt feel like a marketing calendar, though, without a visual way to see your upcoming projects. Google Calendar:  You could also build a marketing calendar in Google Calendar. The thing is If youve followed our  advice on social media calendars, you  may schedule 30 or more social messages throughout the following weeks and months to share a single blog post  with your audience. Im sure you cant imagine copying and pasting all of those from Google Calendar into your different social networks- what a time suck! Not to mention copying and pasting all of your other content, too So What Will Help You Plan An Awesome Marketing Calendar? So where am I going with all of this? Ive read dozens of other posts on marketing calendars, editorial calendars, content marketing calendars, social media calendars- you get the picture. And I checked out  a  monster list of marketing calendar templates in a post on Crazy Eggs blog. There are tons of folks who have really good ideas of what  to include in your calendar, and starting with a template to get your brainstorming underway is a solid way to begin. So heres how to plan a marketing calendar that really works- with a few tips from us at , and a lot more from the other rock stars out there. How To Plan A #MarketingCalendar That Actually WorksStart With This Guide + Marketing Calendar Template, And Then You might just need a guide and a little something to  write on while you read this post. Ive got your back. Download the free guide that will help you implement all of this advice with actionable, step-by-step information. Youll also get a  free marketing calendar template  (plus bonus social + email marketing calendars) to help you plan all your content in advance. And when you're ready to use a tool designed to be your marketing calendar,  get started with 14 free days of . Now let's get to the good stuff. Step #1: Turn Your Marketing Strategy Into Real Content You'll Create Maybe writing a  30-page marketing strategy  isn't as important as  planning real content. It sounds harsh, but hear me out: For startups, business plans are no longer normal. In fact, they're now considered a faux pas and seen as a mere â€Å"business guess.† But that wasn’t always the case.  Before the lean startup, the business plan was a document that assumed we knew everything there was to know about our business, a plan set in stone. It was done, or so we thought. In reality, it was just a big huge guess.   Marketing plans and gigantic old strategy documents aren’t much different. They may sound novel and responsible, but the reality is that they are just guesses, too. What could content marketing strategy builders learn from the lean startup model? For a startup, business plans are no longer normal. @garrett_moonThe more time you spend strategizing, the less time you spend creating real content that will influence sales (which, let's face it, is the entire reason to plan your marketing calendar). Whether you have a marketing strategy already  or not, there are just a few things you need in your strategy to help you validate  what content to create: The now-infamous: Know your audience. This could start as simple as a customer survey, then possibly just bullet points you add into an Evernote note that help you stay in touch with your customers'  changing needs. The main point here is this: Keep it simple, especially at first. Create content. Content is data, and you get to know your customers  by creating content and measuring its impact. There's no way you will know everything about your audience until you put something out there, start communicating with them, and get their feedback. Start small. If you're thinking about doing an hourlong video or an e-book first, think again. Could you release a chapter of an e-book first to gauge its performance before you spend more time developing content on that topic? Could the same go for your monster video? If content is data, plan minimum viable content on your marketing calendar first to feel out what will truly "move the needle." (I had to sneak in a quip  like that since we're talking strategy!) That really looks like this: From here, turn your strategy into content. And  use the data from what you create to plan more: Create your content. Share it with your audience. Measure what's working. Learn what to create and where to share. Plan more content like your best-performing projects. Recommended Reading:  Here’s Why You Don’t Need A â€Å"Content Marketing Strategy† So now that you have a minimum viable marketing strategy to get started, the next step is looping in who'll help you create that content. This will help you define expectations for everyone- even if it's really only you as an all-in-one marketing team. To Do: Brainstorm  every question your audience has about your niche from knowing nothing to being an expert. From there, strategize the best forms of content  you'll use to answer their questions. This will serve as the foundation for your marketing calendar. I’d rather have a first-rate execution and second-rate strategy any time than a brilliant idea and mediocre management. - Jamie Dimon Step #2: Understand Who'll Do What Ann Handley has an awesome idea when it comes to who should be involved in your editorial flow, and thus, have access to your marketing calendar to understand when pieces will publish: A Simple Content Marketing Org Chart from Ann Handley She  says: These are roles not staff positions. Each role might be filled by one person or perhaps by a dozen, depending on the size and complexity of your own organization. Let's take a look at those roles quick: Team lead, or your strategist Editorial director Designers Content creators Curator Syndicator Analytics expert Site manager That's a pretty good list. And while that list works for Ann, it might not for you. For a small team, you  can narrow that list of roles down even further: Team lead who helps with planning, editing, publishing, and distributing Writer who turns a content idea into something your audience will love Designer (or videographer, podcaster, etc.) who takes  the writer's creation  to the next level Essentially, these folks are the ones who'll help you plan, create, and share the content  according to your marketing strategy. Get everyone on the same page now to make actually producing content a lot easier down the road. To Do: Narrow down the roles you need to create the different content types you explored in step #1. Brainstorm  who'll help you complete those projects (you're looking for names here). Get everyone on the same page to understand about how much content you can publish in a normal week. Find a marketing calendar tool that helps with project management, communication, and workflow that everyone will use. Now it's time work that marketing calendar:  Plan what topics you'll cover. Step #3: Define Your Topic Themes John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing plans out his marketing calendar based on themes. The themes help him look at a calendar that connects with topics  he wants to cover for his audience. Note that this isn't actual content yet- it's just a note of the topics he'd like to address in his content: The first step is to start making a list of your most important themes. I generally try to find three core themes and about nine supplemental themes. (Nice tidy 12 monthly themes.) Your core themes are the kinds of things that might be found on your homepage or even in the title attribute of your home page. Or, perhaps the main navigational elements of your site. While it scares me to plan 12 months ahead  because the data from your current content should help you plan new content,  this is an awesome way to plan strategically (and super efficiently) and keep your content on point. John shares exactly how he chooses themes: Start with brainstorming. Lock yourself away and start thinking about the kinds of things people ask about the most, where you make your most money, or where you see the greatest opportunities in your industry. This is often enough to create a good start to your list. Obviously, if you have a team, get them involved – they may actually know better than you. (Industry jargon that means nothing to the prospect must be left out here.) John mentions this is a nice way to get past staring at a blank marketing calendar without any clue of what content to add to it. I also love that about themes. To Do: Find the main themes from your list of customer questions in step #1. Define their biggest challenges, the areas of opportunity in your industry, and how you make the most money. Choose themes to flesh out your marketing calendar. You may want to plan a month ahead, a quarter, or the entire year.  It's whatever works for you. Personally, I'd choose weekly themes to repeat over the course of months to have tangible data as evidence to plan more content around a theme or less. This way, you'd avoid planning lots of content around a theme for an entire month without knowing if that theme is a dud. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for your entire team to see. Remember, themes aren't content; themes direct the content your team will create. Step #4: Prioritize  Your Marketing Projects Marcus Sheridan from  The Sales Lion has a simple solution to help you plan your marketing calendar based on projects that will have the biggest impact on your business. He addresses prioritizing your marketing calendar  very simply: Remember, content marketing is about generating more sales. When all is said and done, that’s what matters. He suggests  prioritizing more "Buyer's Content" instead of so much top of the funnel, inbound content. By understanding this, the aim is  to plan content on your marketing calendar that will help prospects make purchase decisions instead of purely focusing on content that's great for the top of the funnel but just generating traffic. The team at The Sales Lion even have a  simple  algorithm they use to prioritize their projects that you can use, too: Essentially, we have every client rate their planned content (be it blog titles, videos, etc.) on a scale of 1-3. A â€Å"3† score means it’s â€Å"Buyer’s Content† and therefore marked as most urgent- moving it to the top of the calendar. If it’s a â€Å"1† grade, then we’ll wait to produce this content because it’s either a top of funnel question that a buyer may be asking or even an â€Å"outside of the funnel† question/subject- meaning that although it may be relevant to the business and buyer, it doesn’t necessarily represent someone who is seriously considering making a purchase right now. From here, you can plan a balance of content focused on selling and content focused on inspiring interest in your business on your marketing calendar. To-Do: For each theme, brainstorm content you could create for that topic. Don't limit yourself at first: When you think of an idea, write it down quickly and move to the next. For those content ideas, use Marcus' algorithm to rank them with good, better, best: 1 means inbound, 3  means looking to buy. Use your best judgement to rank these just to get started. Sift through the  content ideas for every  theme. Sort them according to 3, 2, 1 to prepare a prioritized list that you'll add to your marketing calendar. And when you start planning actual pieces of content on your calendar, there are a few things to keep in mind: Step #5: Plan Your Content On Your Marketing Calendar This is the fun part! And there are many ways to do this: The Best 2018 Content Calendar Template to Get Organized All Year 2018 Social Media Content Calendar: How to Organize a Year of Posts the Easy Way 5 Lessons From The Forbes Editorial Calendar That Will Make You Better At Blog Planning How To Use A Content Marketing Editorial Calendar To Save A Ton Of Time Seven Content Calendar Examples From Awesome Brands to Inspire Your Own While editorial  calendars work particularly well for managing blogs, you can use them to organize all of your marketing. So I wanted to know how the other pros out there plan more than just blog and social media content, but a true all-in-one marketing calendar that you can also do with . Here's what they had to say: Plan Actual Pieces Of Content To Target Specific Keywords Your Audience Uses You used Marcus' algorithm to prioritize your projects, so let's make those into actual pieces of content on your calendar. John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing had some more solid advice on planning projects as content: Now take that list to the Google Keyword Planner and see if you can find themes that have significant volume. You must balance key terms with being too generic though. A term like â€Å"marketing† wouldn’t make sense as a theme, even for a marketing consultant, but a term like â€Å"referral marketing tactics† might. To summarize: While all of your content may be connected to a theme, choose a keyword for every single piece of content you'll publish. These may be keywords all related to the same topic, but unique enough to help you connect your different content to the terms your audience is searching for. To Do: Read this: SEO Content Strategy: How to Skyrocket Your Traffic By 594%. Select a core  keyword for every single piece of content (and related keywords)  that will publish on the magical interwebs. Then add the keywords into  your projects on your marketing calendar according to the priority you defined through Marcus' scoring  exercise. Plan Content For A Week, Month, Or Year Out Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute has a lot of insight on  the content marketing process, and marketing calendars are a huge element of successful strategies turning into real content: One thing is certain: if you don’t keep an editorial/content calendar, the content doesn’t get done. - Joe Pulizzi Joe breaks it down into such a simple idea: An editorial calendar simply tracks what content you are going to cover, what tactic it’s for (blog, newsletter, etc.) and who’s responsible. [...] Best practice is to set up a master calendar for all your content initiatives, and then a separate content calendar for each initiative. Traditionally, we’ve set up editorial calendars 12 months out and then constantly change them as we tweak the marketing plan. The good news is that your themes are the year calendar, and now you're ready to plan real projects for each "initiative", as Joe calls them. So let's recap everything  you just learned, and use Joe's advice to get your projects on your marketing calendar. To Do: At this point, you have a marketing calendar with themes outlining the topics you'll cover every single month. Plan those themes on your marketing calendar for the entire year (and take seasonality into account, too, for big holidays or events in your industry). You  got the entire team on board to understand their roles. Now it's time to understand how much content you can actually produce in a given week or month. Sit down with the team to plan your publishing frequency,  taking into consideration all of the  marketing projects you'll complete. You have a list of prioritized projects to complete. Now that you know how much you can complete, and the entire team is on board, plan an achievable amount of projects.  It's not worth stressing yourself out with an unrealistic amount of projects to complete. Actually Create The Content I couldn't say this better than Rebecca Lieb from (who's brilliant, by the way, and worth following) on combining your marketing calendar with a content production  process: Many editorial calendars also incorporate the production process into the mix, which is a great way to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, the due date of a first draft, who conducts the copyedit, and a date (often, with a specific time) for receiving and proofing the final draft, entering it into the CMS system (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and when it will be pushed live, or published. Where Rebecca started, Jodi Harris from Content Marketing Institute provides a  few more details to help you set up your marketing calendar: The date the piece of content will be published The topic or headline of the content piece The author of the content The owner of the content – i.e., who is in charge of making sure the content makes it from ideation to publication and promotion The current status of the content (updated as it moves through your publishing cycle) Jodi continues with a few more items to include: The channels where your content will be published: This can include only your owned channels (such as your blog, Facebook Page, website, YouTube page, email newsletters, etc.), or you can expand your tracking to include paid and earned channels, as well. Content formats: Is it a blog post? A video? A podcast? An infographic? An original image? To get more mileage from the content you create, you might want to consider repurposing it into other formats at some point. So it’s handy to keep tabs on the types of assets you have on hand right from the start. Visuals: Speaking of assets, it’s important that you don’t overlook the appeal that visuals can lend to your content, both in terms of social sharing potential and overall brand recognition. Tracking the visual elements you include in your content efforts – such as cover images, logos, illustrations, charts – will make it easier to ensure that your work has a signature look and cohesive brand identity. Topic categories: This helps make your calendars more searchable when you are looking to see about which target topics you already created a lot of content – or which you haven’t covered often enough. Keywords and other meta-data, such as meta-descriptions and SEO titles (if they differ from your headlines), which will help you keep your SEO efforts aligned with your content creation. URLs: This info can be archived as an easy way to keep your online content audits updated, or to link to older pieces of content in the new content you create. Calls to action: This helps you ensure that every piece of content you create is aligning with your company’s marketing goals. So it makes sense to simply include all of this advice  right  in your marketing  calendar as you create it. Here's how:All the actionable advice in this post will work with any format your marketing calendar takes. It's just that is actually designed to be your all-in-one marketing calendar, and helps you do all of this way more efficiently. What would your marketing  look like if you could manage all of this in one tool? Are you ready to get started?

Should Service Learning Be a Requirement for College Graduation Essay

Should Service Learning Be a Requirement for College Graduation - Essay Example In such programs, students work with communities to solve real-life problems, which not only helps them learn their role as citizens but also inject a sense of social responsibility in their minds. Service learning is of two types, which include directly concerned and not directly concerned service learning programs. In directly concerned programs, students are engaged in activities, which are related to the educational major whereas in not directly concerned programs, students need to provide their services in such programs, which have no direct concern with the educational majors of the students. Let us come to the point that whether service learning should be a requirement for college graduation or not. I firmly believe that it should be a part and a requirement for college graduation due to a number of reasons. One of the major reasons is that service-learning programs enhance learning abilities of the students. Such programs not only improve students’ critical thinking an d decision-making abilities but also prepare them for future because students may need to do such work at some point in future. Through participating in such programs, students learn the ways to apply their skills and knowledge to real life problematic situations, which they may encounter in their professional lives. Service learning makes students prepared for their future professional roles and responsibilities. Such programs make students aware of the workplace environment at an early stage, which helps them adjust in any workplace environment in a very short span of time. Such programs enhance personality development of the students and improve their workplace skills and abilities. Service-learning programs allow students to translate their theory learning into practice, which is a very positive aspect of service learning. Service learning not only provides opportunities to the students to get experience of real work but also help them enrich learning and renew communities. Coll eges and universities should maintain such resources, which they can use to provide learning opportunities to the students. Service learning has become a necessity for the success of students in professional life. Today, many of the students struggle when they enter their professional lives because sometimes they are not mentally equipped with the workplace environment that is provided to them and sometimes they take a lot of time being trained for the job. Service learning eliminates all such possibilities by preparing students mentally for work. One more thing, for which service learning seems essential at college level, is that it enables students identify the roles, which they will need to play in society in future. When students engage in community activities, they become aware of their social roles and responsibilities in a very young stage of life. It is a fact that a society can sustain its existence only if its citizens, both young and adults, are aware of their roles in th e society. Service-learning programs serve this purpose very well. Opponents of service learning say that such programs are unnecessary because they are not relevant to the educational majors of the students. They say that sometimes students who have selected management as their major are selected for the service-learning programs in which they have to take care of patients is the hospitals. Similarly,

An Ethical Dilema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An Ethical Dilema - Essay Example The person spent hours using the company phone lines in setting up of doctor’s appointment or making phone calls to their friends who are from different side of business on company time. Even when the person was in state of using internet in office computer, he had an interest in surfing to different social networking sites on company’s valuable time. His friend was obsessed with his behavior because it resulted in low performance. The same colleague used to have longer conversations with other colleagues which were irrelevant and had nothing to do with business. The situation did not offered his friend to report this unethical behavior to his supervisor because the person was his dearest friend and he did not wanted the company to take actions against his colleague. Due to his positive nature, the colleague started to continue the behavior excessively and always made his friend involved in his conversations. This also had a negative impact on his performance as he was unable to meet deadlines with the work. Answer 2: If I put myself in the role of an employee that had to deal with his colleague’s unethical behavior, I would have reviewed code of conduct and the company’s philosophy regarding the attitude of that employee. I would consult with my other colleagues the particular situation without revealing the name of any person in the scenario. This would help me understand rules of the company regarding an unethical behavior to conduct personal business on company’s time. Then simply I would pay visit to my colleague and let him know of his unethical behavior which is ruining the culture and philosophy of the organization. I would make him understand that his particular behavior is inflicting my performance curve with greater margins. I would make him realize that the company pays its employees for the work they have performed instead of doing personal business (Rhodes, 1986). If still the matter persisted with consistency, I would approach an ombudsperson that is charged with the duty of handling informal complaints from the working staff. This would allow me to make complaints against any employee regarding their behavior without revealing my name. These complaints are made confidential and the company assures employees’ anonymity in the case. This is also considered as the whistle blowing concept in which an employee has a right to share the wrongdoing practices happening within the firm to his manager and supervisor. This act would only be possible if actions made by a colleague are recognized as an unethical behavior. I would not be taking actions if the behavior would not have resulted in decrease in my performance (Garber, 2008). Answer 3: Ethical dilemmas often do not have clear responses unless the person has broken the law or regulations that are governed by the organization. The concept of integrity is to make correct choice between right and wrong. Individuals can make good decisions in this case if they have been prepared for the particular situation or their ethical base is strong. A person who commits to integrity will find himself in a right situation before it requires action against an ethical dilemma. In the above case of ethical dilemma, an employee had to make corrections with the colleague’s behavior. He had to make up his mind that the behavior he was pursuing was unethical and is resulting in low

Discrimination Against Biracial Children Essay Example for Free

Discrimination Against Biracial Children Essay Biracial children face a myriad of concerns on a daily basis. Research reveals what common sense suggeststhat all these problems are rooted in racist, biased, and discriminatory social attitudes, attitudes which children encounter from their first moments of pre-school. The sense of injustice that they instinctively feel when they sense these biases will manifest out of discrimination towards one or both of their racial backgrounds, as well as towards the fact that they have more than one racial background. Examples of these concerns, and manifestation of racist attitudes, are concerns shared by parents of bi-racial children, who also suffer the emotional brunt of discrimination against their children. An understanding of the suffering of parents, as well as bi-racial children, can provide for us not only a comprehensive perspective on the challenges and concerns that bi-racial children and their parents experience on a daily basis, but a means of providing the proper environment thereof. Sample of Sources Used: * Black Women with Biracial Children. 2007:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blackwomenwithbiracialchild/ * Delle, Margaret. Raising Biracial Children: Still a Difficult Subject after all These Years. 2007: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/107661/raising_biracial_children_still_a_difficult.htmlIdentity Issues and Concerns of Biracial Children.2007: http://members.aol.com/lacillo/biracial.html * Jones Frank and Gibbs Staff. Parenting Biracial Children: Issues for Black/White Biracial Child- Rearing. 2007: http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Parenting%20Biracial%20Children.htm * Nakazawa, Donna Jackson. Does Anybody Else Look Like Me?: A Parents Guide to Raising Multiracial Children. Da Capo Press; Reprint edition March 30, 2004. * Pattnaik, Jvotsna. Learning about the other: Building a Case for Intercultural Understanding among Minority Children. Childhood Education Vol 79 2003. P NA

Americans Will Never Accept a License to Drink Law :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Americans Will Never Accept a License to Drink Law Mike Brake’s â€Å"Needed: A License to Drink† has many claims, but the thesis is anything but qualified. In my opinion, this is a story that explains the desperation of a man who had family members close to him pass away due to alcoholism. The author believes everyone must take a course and a final test to see whether they should be allowed to purchase alcoholic beverages or not, with a certain alcohol license issued when they pass the course. Even if this so-called drinking license were to become a law, the truth still remains that people will always find ways to get alcohol. Do you honestly believe such a ludicrous idea would work in today’s society? When I read this article, I was astonished to find out somebody would even think of such an outrageous idea like making people take tests to get an alcohol license. â€Å"Addiction to alcohol is one of the primary public-health problems in the United States. It causes more than 19,000 auto fatalities each year and it is responsible for more than a third of deaths from drowning and fire† (135). Any one of those people could have simply been at a wedding or casual get together in which they had alcohol. I know that does not mean they have an alcohol addiction problem and should be required to have a drinking license. Even though nobody close to me has ever died due to alcoholism, like the author’s past experiences, I simply cannot see anything this strict going into effect, especially here in America. This is still America where people come to live for our freedom. This plan would definitely fail due to people’s constitutional rights. This country’s backbone was built on people’s freedoms, and this idea of having a license to drink would definitely try to restrict far too many people that should not be restricted. What says every single person of the 19,000 had an alcohol addiction problem? In addition, even back when prohibition was taking place, people got around that obstacle by making their own alcohol behind the walls of their houses. If people were to do that today, it could become very dangerous. People could mix the wrong amount of ingredients together and come up with a deadly concoction, or neighbors could fight for their alcohol when people become desperate and try to steal each other’s alcohol.

How Lennie Is Portrayed in the First Chapter Essay

To begin with, Steinbeck describes Lennie’s physical features to be very animal-like. He states that he walked â€Å"the way a bear drags his paws†. The use of animal imagery in this quote illustrates an image of a huge man heavily dragging himself, not only suggesting his size but also suggesting his immense strength. Due to his physicality, he is unable to carry out tasks normal people would be able to do. He is unable to control himself, specifically his strength—thus easily breaking things. Steinbeck emphasizes this as he brings up incidents of Lennie having killed mice and other small, fragile animals, while petting them. Lennie is also described to have an animal’s mental state, leaning towards animal instincts rather than human instincts. Steinbeck states he’d â€Å"drink out of a gutter if [he] was thirsty†, displaying Lennie’s rash behaviour. His urge to satisfy his immediate desire would overpower the need to be cautious and aware of his surroundings. Many people think before they act. In Lennie’s case however, he doesn’t think at all as George does it for him. Lennie was â€Å"snorting into the water like a horse† which also proves his uncivilized manner. Furthermore, Lennie’s animal instincts prevent him from being able to learn. Like wild animals, he is uncontrollable and unpredictable; though he may be trained and taught not to do some things, they are bound to commit the same mistakes over and over again. Steinbeck states that George had â€Å"hopelessly† warned Lennie about the water he was drinking, proving that George’s warnings will not affect Lennie in any way as he is bound to forget—he will never learn. Not only is Lennie’s mental behaviour similar to an animal, but it is also similar to a child. Lennie is described to be â€Å"puzzled† and thathe â€Å"giggled happily† at some parts of their conversation, showing that he is unaware and immature. He constantly forgets everything very easily and doesn’t sense the seriousness in some of their conversations—showing that his maturity is like of a 6 year-old, who needs constant reminding and explaining of almost every matter discussed. Steinbeck states that after Lennie created ripples in the water with his fingers, he said â€Å"Look George, look what I done. He is easily impressed at the ripples he made and notifies George of his work to make him proud. Lennie’s child-like character also depicts a father/son relationship between Lennie and George. Earlier in the book, it is stated that â€Å"Lennie’s closed hand slowly obeyed† after George had commanded Lennie to hand over a dead mouse. The adverb â€Å"slowly† shows that though Lennie was reluctant to follow George’s orders, he had no choice but to obey him. Like an obedient son who must follow his father, Lennie fears George—the paternal figure—conveying George’s authority over Lennie. Supporting this, Lennie’s timid behaviour towards George is constantly portrayed as he is described to be speaking â€Å"slowly† and â€Å"cautiously† to George—indicating Lennie’s high level of respect for George. As a son would look up to his father, Lennie also sees George as his role model and a leader. Steinbeck portrays Lennie as submissive—giving him the role of the follower between the two main characters. Lennie is said to have â€Å"imitated George exactly† proving that he sees George as a role model. He â€Å"imitates† George, depicting his respect for him. Lennie also prioritizes him and whatever he says. This is seen when he tries to recall a memory from the past saying, â€Å"and you says†¦you says†. It is conveyed through this quote that he is dependent on George as he values George’s opinions more than his opinions. Supporting the fact that Lennie is dependent on George, George says, â€Å"think I’d let you carry your own work card? † This proves that George is much more responsible than Lennie, who constantly forgets things. Steinbeck also states in the beginning of the book that they walked in a â€Å"single file†, conveying that one is the leader and the other is the follower. Their relationship evidently highlights George’s authority over Lennie.

Business information and their sources Essay

This report aims to show the different forms of information used in H&M. It will tell us if we need to improve on any of our methods of communication, or if we need to enhance any methods we use. Internal information is when it can be found from inside the business, such as previous sales records. External information is when the information needs to be found from outside the company, for example in books or customer feedback forms. Primary information is when you have received the information fist hand, either through a report or through surveys. We need internal information for evidence so nothing is mis interpreted within the business. Internal information can be previous records, we need these to write reports and to make sure the business isn’t at a loss. H&M need external information to monitor new trends so we can stay ahead of fashion. We do this by getting our internal and external customers to complete questionnaires. It is important that we do this so our customers always stay interested in the clothes that we have on offer so we do not lose any business. Combining internal and external information is very effective because your ideas can be expanded by using existing ideas but with our own unique twist. So we can take an existing idea on a clothing range, but then add something to it based on the feedback and ideas we get from our customers. Internal information can be more important for H&M than external information because it includes private details and information of the company that cannot be found anywhere else. This would be needed if we were to start a sale because we’d have to know what products are not selling well to put them in the sale. However, external information can be seen as more important that internal information because it includes new information from customer feedback. This is much needed because it would help our business form fresh ideas and to help us move forward. Internal information cannot help us do this. H&M need primary information to help the business run smoother and gain new  ideas. We can do this by getting surveys from the public to get more ideas on things we can sell or do in store. Primary information is very useful because it can be used for a lot of different things, for example customer service or new clothing ranges. Also it is usually very reliable because you have created it. Secondary information can also be used to gain new ideas. We can use secondary information to do this because the information has already been created so we could just expand on the information to make it unique and our own. A combination of primary and secondary information is important because it means that we can monitor our own records and also monitor our competitor’s records so that we can always try to stay on top. Primary can be more important than secondary information because we are actually creating the informatio9n so it is 100% reliable whereas secondary information is not always be reliable because it was created by an unknown source. Verbal information is when it can be spoken, for example a phone call. In our company, we give verbal information to our staff and customers. We verbally give information to our staff because it is quick and easy. Written information is written down to pass information, for example a letter or email. We use written information to communicate because it can be used as confirmation and it is harder to be forgotten if you have it written down. We also give written confirmation to our customers all the time, for example receipts. We do this so there is proof of purchase and there is no mis understanding between the business and the customers. Multimedia can be shown through moving adverts or audio. It is a very effective way to present information because it engages the reader a lot more than a bit of writing on a piece of paper. We use multimedia in different ways, for example, on our website there are videos of our products being modelled and shown on the catwalk. We use multimedia in this way so our customers will stay engaged and will be more interested in our products if they see them on top models. Using a combination of verbal and written information is more effective than just using either one of them. Having a staff meeting is quick, easy and usually there isn’t any miscommunication. To guarantee that there has been no mis communication, you can send an email after the meeting has taken place just too highlight was said in the meeting. Verbal information is  sometimes better than written information because if we needed to pass information on to our team, having a meeting where we could easily speak to them all at once is more appropriate than using written information by sending an e-mail or letter where there could be mis-communication. Written information can be better than verbal information when for example we needed to confirm a purchase with a customer. We would need to give them a type of written confirmation because if the sale was done verbally, information could easily be forgotten or mis-communication could occur. To conclude I am going to summarise this report. The way we use internal and external information is very successful because H&M uses original ideas combined with ideas from customer feedback to improve the way the company functions. How primary and secondary information is used in the company is also successful. This is due to us using our own reliable information (primary) and comparing it to our competitor’s information (secondary) to monitor whether we are currently popular or not. Verbal and written information is the most effective way of transferring information within H&M. This is because there is a very small chance of mis-communication if verbal and written information is given properly. To fully conclude, H&M are transferring information successfully in all different ways.

The Faces of Wuthering Heights essays

The Faces of Wuthering Heights essays The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. Specifically, what does Bronte seem to imply are the main factors in shaping a persons personality? Brontes characters all exhibit strong emotions, it does not matter if they are kind or cruel, the emotions are strong and almost exaggerated. Heathcliff of course is the obvious, because early on the narrator discovers he is really just a mean, hateful, spiteful man. He does not even treat his dogs with kindness. Mr. Lockwood hears Heathcliff say, Get it ready, will you? was the answer, uttered so savagely that I started. The tone in which the words were said revealed a genuine bad nature (Bronte Chapter 2). It seems to be Brontes suggestion that all the characters are creatures of their upbringing. Mr. Lockwood asks Ellen, He must have had some ups and downs in life to make him such a churl. Do you know anything of his history? (Bronte Chapter 4). Indeed, when he first came to the house it seems his personality was already set. He was hard, and the other children picked on him, but he simply shrugged it off. By this, he was already accustomed to needing no one, and he never changed. Class was a strong issue at this time in Britain, and a persons social standing could make or break them in the eyes of polite society. Heathcliff was an orphan, so he was doomed from the start, he had no upbringing, and it shows in his dark, angry, spiteful personality. She says it in the first paragraph of the story, this house is completely removed from the stir of society, and not just the hustle and bustle of people, there is no society there. The people do not get along, and there are no genteel good manners or kind spirits. However, the entire house seems to be under the same spell, all the people are surely and unkind, ...

An Excerpt from Classic Monologue Oedipus the King

An Excerpt from Classic Monologue Oedipus the King This Greek tragedy by Sophocles is based on the ancient legend of a fallen hero.  The story has several interchangeable names including  Oedipus  Tyrannus, Oedipus Rex, or the classic,  Oedipus the King.  First performed around 429 BC, the plot unfolds as a murder mystery and political thriller that refuses to reveal the truth until the end of the play. The Mythic Tragedy Although it was crafted thousands of years ago, the story of Oedipus Rex still shocks and fascinates readers and audience members alike. In the story, Oedipus rules over the kingdom of Thebes, yet all is not well. Throughout the land, there is famine and plague, and the gods are angry. Oedipus vows to find out the source of the curse. Unfortunately, it turns out that he is the abomination. Oedipus is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta and unknowingly marries his mother, who he ends up having four children with. In the end, it turns out that Oedipus has also murdered his father. All of this, of course, was unbeknownst to him. When Oedipus discovers the truth of his actions, he is wrought with horror and self-loathing. In this monologue, he has blinded himself after witnessing his wife’s suicide. He now devotes himself to his own punishment and plans to walk the earth as an outcast until the end of his days. What Readers Can Take Away from Oedipus the King The significance of the story surrounds the character development around Oedipus as a tragic hero. The suffering he endures as he goes on his journey in search for the truth is different from his counterparts who have killed themselves, like Antigone and Othello.  The story can also be seen as a narrative around family ideals about a  son who is competing with his father for his mothers attention. The ideals set by Greek society are challenged by the Oedipus character. For example, his personality characteristics such as  stubbornness and anger are not that of the idealized Greek man.  Of course, the theme around fate is central as the gods have willed it toward Oedipus. It is only until he is king of the land that he learns about his dark past. Although he was a model king and citizen, his complexity allows him to be labeled as a tragic hero. An Excerpt of the Classic Monologue from Oedipus the King The following excerpt from Oedipus is reprinted from Greek Dramas. I care not for thy counsel or thy praise;For with what eyes could I have eer beheldMy honoured father in the shades below,Or my unhappy mother, both destroyedBy me? This punishment is worse than death,And so it should be. Sweet had been the sightOf my dear childrenthem I could have wishedTo gaze upon; but I must never seeOr them, or this fair city, or the palaceWhere I was born. Deprived of every blissBy my own lips, which doomed to banishmentThe murderer of Laius, and expelledThe impious wretch, by gods and men accursed:Could I behold them after this? Oh no!Would I could now with equal ease removeMy hearing too, be deaf as well as blind,And from another entrance shut out woe!To want our senses, in the hour of ill,Is comfort to the wretched. O Cithaeron!Why didst thou eer receive me, or received,Why not destroy, that men might never knowWho gave me birth? O Polybus! O Corinth!And thou, long time believed my fathers palace,Oh! what a foul disgrace to human natureDidst thou receive ben eath a princes form!Impious myself, and from an impious race.Where is my splendor now? O Daulian path!The shady forest, and the narrow passWhere three ways meet, who drank a fathers bloodShed by these hands, do you not still rememberThe horrid deed, and what, when here I came,Followed more dreadful? Fatal nuptials, youProduced me, you returned me to the wombThat bare me; thence relations horribleOf fathers, sons, and brothers came; of wives,Sisters, and mothers, sad alliance! allThat man holds impious and detestable.But what in act is vile the modest tongueShould never name. Bury me, hide me, friends,From every eye; destroy me, cast me forthTo the wide oceanlet me perish there:Do anything to shake off hated life.Seize me; approach, my friendsyou need not fear,Polluted though I am, to touch me; noneShall suffer for my crimes but I alone. Source: Greek Dramas. Ed. Bernadotte Perrin. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1904

Carter's Way of Knowing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Carter's Way of Knowing - Research Paper Example Ways of knowing are most apparent in situations where western notions regarding the attainment of information and knowledge comes into close contact and interaction with indigenous ways of knowing. Differences in the approaches that these two apply makes it possible to discern the significance of ways of knowing and its impacts on what is believed to be true in various societies around the world. This paper seeks to identify and discuss the theoretical basis of the conceptual theoretical framework of Carter’s Way of Knowing. Each discipline has a recognized body of knowledge that is specific to that particular subject and its content with regard to its domain or area of study. In each discipline, there is the aspect of knowing or being informed about the subject matter of interest, and this is what is referred to as conceptual knowledge or having the know-how about a particular discipline. According to Carter (2007), this is what is referred to as active ways of knowing or pro cedural knowledge that is related to the discipline of interest. Carter (2007) postulates that the notion of disciplinary ways of doing things is linked to the discipline-specific ways of knowing and the concomitant skills of writing within and across disciplines. Carter calls this bridging the outside/in gap and this can be contextualized by analysing relationships in ways of knowing. The relationship among knowing, writing and doing that is veiled by the disciplinary focus on conceptual knowledge (Munhall, 2011). The middle term that links writing and knowing is doing in the disciplines, which makes it challenging to reframe these disciplines as ways of knowing, writing and doing (Bonis, 2009). To achieve this entails finding a means of describing these aspects in convincing terms with regard to the ways of doing that characterize these disciplines. Research studies have indicated that to know and be able to do through the use of outcome based statements, there emerges certain way s of doing that are repeated in general terms across a variety of disciplines. Examples of these outcome-based statements are illustrated in response to academic learning situations that call for problem solving, performance, research, and for empirical inquiry (Munhall, 2011). Evidence from research has also established that despite similarities in ways of knowing across disciplines, there exist significant differences that enable the identification of discipline-specific ways of knowing. This revelation was achieved by analysing the different types of written activities that test participants’ produced as a requirement for the study. Ways of knowing in nursing offers a guidance and direction to holistic ad well rounded research, education and practice for health care givers (Bonis, 2009). According to Munhall (2011), Carter’s ways of knowing can be applied in nursing research from diverse epistemological perspectives that enhance the appropriateness and effectiveness of evidence based practice. Carter’s ways of knowing get their significance when they are applied to hope research with regard to grieved palliative health care givers with the ultimate objective of promoting positive outcomes and health (Meleis, 2011). Bereaved health care givers involved with palliative patients are characterized by having unmet necessities that