How do my consultancy project develop my skills Essay

How do my consultancy project develop my skills - Essay Example While English was the common language of conversation, yet the group members had different dialects and accents. Working with this group enhanced my ability to understand English when it is spoken in a variety of accents. While doing this project, I had a detailed insight into the merits and demerits of group work. Some of the merits of group work include having a wider knowledge-base, having a variety of perspectives, and having a well-organized team to make a structured and well-thought approach toward the achievement of goals. Some of the demerits of group work include problems of communication, and conflicts originating in the contrast of opinions and beliefs. I have realized the importance of good leadership for making a group achieve its optimal potential in work. Our leader had a democratic style of leadership. He included all group members in the decision making process and sought their opinions. This gave a sense of increased participation and engagement in the decision making process to all group members and they felt respected. As a result, their motivation for work increased. A very important skill that I improved as a result of this project was time management. In the consultancy project, we had definite and well-identified goals and milestones that had to be achieved within particular deadlines. While the milestones were numerous and the deadlines were close, we had limited resources to draw the help from. This imparted the need to be very particular about planning and scheduling so that the available resources could be made optimal use of. I made a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) of the whole project in which I identified the key deliverables, work packages, and individual activities. I made the WBS on MS Project 2010. Having such a breakdown of the whole scope of the project enabled me to carefully assign the resources to each activity individually without over-allocating the resources. In the same way, after

The Impressionism Vs Post Impressionism Film Studies Essay

The Impressionism Vs Post Impressionism Film Studies Essay Impressionism was a movement or style of painting that originated and developed in France in 1870s and distinguished by its focus on the immediate impression produced by a landscape or scene and use of the primary colors to replicate actual reflected light. The style was characterized mainly by the use of intense colors, open composition, light and movement and brush strokes. The roots of impressionism are the early 19th century plein-air painting methods by the Barbizon school and naturalism of Camille Corot. Impressionists specialized mainly in genre scenes and landscapes. They were mainly concerned with producing visual reality in their paintings in terms of fleeting effects of color and light (Gunderson 35). The pioneers of impressionism included Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Manet and Degas. Monet was one of the most celebrated impressionists of his time. He was best known for his landscape painting. He particularly concentrated on painting the instant changes in nature. For instance, if nature changed color after a short while, Monet would blindly follow the change in his paintings to depict the true color of nature. Another painter who was revered was Manet. At the age of 29 years, he was reputed as the leading realistic painter (Halliwell 45). He was noted mainly for his reinterpretation of neoclassical themes and his approach to oil painting. The main characteristics of impressionism was a sense of immediacy, emphasis on light and its changes in quality, appearance of movement, unusual visual angles, overall effect rather than detail and visual brush strokes. Impressionists sought to capture and display nature at instants. They wanted to depict the changes in nature through paintings. They also aimed at showing the movements of the various phenomena in nature through art. The stylistic developments of impressionism included the use of short and broken brushstrokes that hardly convey forms, use of pure unmixed colors, and emphasis on the effect of light. Post-impressionism, on the other hand, was a style or movement of painting that sought to break away from the naturalism of impressionism and used color in expressive ways like expression of emotions rather than just optical impressions. Post-impressionists rejected the random spontaneity exercised by impressionists in favor of measured painting techniques based in science and study of optics (Nochlin 136). They believed that separate touches of interlaced color produced a higher vibrancy of color than what was being practiced by the impressionists. The main proponents of post-impressionism include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, and Vincent van Gogh. The most influential person in post-impressionism is Georges Seurat. He is considered the father of post-impressionism. His styles of painting signaled a new trend that shifted from the traditional impressionism. He introduced a new style of painting known as pointillism or divisionism that sought to employ a scientific approach in the use of color. This led to a shift from impressionism, which concentrated in using unmixed primary colors. His main technique was that of using weaving and layering brushstrokes. This enabled him to achieve tapestry-like paint surfaces that depicted complementary and contrasting hues. This made his works to be admired by even other great post-impressionists like Vincent van Gogh making him to be of a great influence to later artists. Seuratà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s influence on post-impressionism artists traversed many decades. This is seen in the works of later artists like Charles Angrand whose work greatly resembled that of Seurat. Another great post-impressionist was Paul Cezanne. Paul Cezanne was a French artist. He was one of the main founders of post-impressionism and his works laid the foundation of the shift from impressionism to post-impressionism (Halliwell 86). His main style of painting was the use short and loaded brushstrokes, a style b orrowed from impressionism. Vincent van Gogh, on the other hand, was a Dutch post-impressionist. His work was notable for its bold color, emotional honesty and rough beauty. Vincent was one of the most influential post-impressionism artists as his work had great influence on art in the 20th century. His love for art began when he was a small child and this would influence his decision to become an artist in his later years. During his lifetime, Vincent produced over 2100 artworks. Paul Gauguin was a French post-impressionism artist. He was one of the artists whose work highly influenced the shift from impressionism to post-impressionism, though he was recognized and appreciated until he died. He was renowned for his experimental use of color and introduction of the synthetist style of art which has had a big influence on the modern art. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter. He is best known for depicting the colorful and theatrical life in Paris in art. This led to production of provocative, elegant and exciting images of life in those days. Together with the likes van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne, he was among the post-impressionists that greatly influenced the shift from impressionism (Halliwell 92). Post-impressionism was characterized by many styles due to contribution of each artist. These artists could not agree on a common style of painting. However, their main aim was to shift from impressionism. Some of the styles that characterized the early impressionism art included the detailed painting of a particular landscape, which was mainly employed by Cezanne. This was in a bid to move away from the overall effect style of impressionists. Cezanne sought to depict greater pictorial structure of nature. Another style that was prevalent among post-impressionists was the use of symbolic and expressive content. Artists like Gauguin created paintings from imagination or memory (Stein et al 58). They expressed in their works a great connection with subject that inspired the works. Post-impressionists also placed emphasis on harmony in terms of surface design. The main differences between impressionism and post-impressionism are that impressionists sought to capture nature in its original and primitive state while post-impressionists sought to involve their imagination and memory in their works. Impressionists detached themselves from their works while post-impressionist sought to involve their emotions and expressions in their works. Another difference between impressionism and post-impressionism was that impressionism was mainly characterized with simple and overall depiction of nature while post-impressionism sought to depict details of the works of art and nature. They sought to show the still nature of life while impressionists wanted to show nature in motion (Nochlin 87). Post-impressionism as a form of art was mainly concerned with abstract depiction of works art through imagination while impression sought a realistic depiction of nature. The two works of art that bring out the differences between impressionism and post-impressionis m is the Birth of Venus by Adolphe-William Bouguereau and the Harvester by Jules Adolphe. The two paintings depict the kind of ideals held in the two schools of thought. For instance, in the painting the Birth of Venus, there is evidence of activity. The portray shows immediacy of the scene where the momentary activities of the people are captured. There is also evidence of movement with everyone involved in some activity. There is also the basic use of color where one color is used to paint one scene. On the contrary, the Harvester is a timeless portrait that is detailed (Stein et al 78). There is a combination of reality and imagination in the painting of the portrait. For instance, though the artist the harvester as a commoner, he gives her the beauty not common with commoners. There is also a combination of colors in the portrait.

Selfish Love in Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights Essay -- Wuthering H

The Selfish Love in Wuthering Heights      Emily Brontà «'s Wuthering Heights is a classic soap opera type drama of infatuation and deceit. Brontà « advances the plot of this story in several different ways. Perhaps the most effective method and indeed the most vital parts of this story are the characters. Of all the characters of this story, Catherine and Heathcliff stand out the most. There are many similarities as well as many differences between these two characters. The two characteristics most commonly shared by Catherine and Heathcliff are love, although sometimes it's hard to tell if it really is love, and selfishness and conceitedness, so extreme at times that it is hard not to get irritated with the novel. The mixture of the love and selfishness of these two characters proves to be fatal. Time and again Catherine's extreme selfishness and conceitedness are put on display. Whether it is through deceit or betrayal, Catherine's selfishness plays an important role in almost every situation she is involved in. Perhaps due to the environments that she was exposed to growing up, Catherine becomes very conceited and selfish as a child. After returning from a stay with the Lintons, Catherine is even worse. Brontà « shows, "Our young lady returned to us, saucier, and more passionate, and haughtier than ever" (65). Catherine's actions were often governed by her extreme selfishness. In fact, her marriage with Edgar Linton was almost entirely based around what she would get out of it. In a conversation with Nelly, Catherine demonstrates this in saying, "...He will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood, and I shall be proud of having such a husband," she tells Nelly (57). She has only married for m... ... similar in this aspect. Catherine would not have even been in her death bed had she not acted so selfishly with her husband and Heathcliff.    This timeless novel is one of love and deceit. The main characters of Catherine and Heathcliff never cease to amaze as their extreme selfishness ruins every situation they are involved in. When reading this book, it is easy to get lost in how dismal things are; however, by the end, the book does teach a lesson. Wuthering Heights demonstrates many things. Though the characters of this book were far exaggerated, and at times frustrating, they teach a very distinct lesson. Love is not meant to be selfish, and if it is, it will never work. The selfish love of Catherine and Heathcliff causes almost every conflict in this book.    Work Cited: Charlotte Brontà «.   Wuthering Heights.   New York: TOR Books, 1989.     

Marketing Anti-Depressants: Prozac and Paxil Essay

The expiration of Prozac’s patent necessitates swift, defensive action from all companies in the SSRI industry. As generics enter the market, demand for more expensive, branded medications will fall as price sensitive consumers switch to the cheaper alternatives. Additionally, incident prices on consumers themselves, in the form of copayments, will rise as insurance companies pressure their constituents to switch to more cost-effective offerings. To overcome these obstacles, we recommend the following to both GSK and Lily: 1. A decisive repositioning of the brand to emphasize its advantages over market substitutes. 2. The rapid deployment of new inclinations to support previous point while simultaneously addressing the issue of competition. Background: Prozac’s early success stemmed from its value proposition of effectiveness and relative safety, compared to the current brands on the market. Prozac involved minimal side effects and was easy to self-administer, in contrast to the dangers associated with the Tricyclics and MAOIs on the market at the time. Prozac first segmented and targeted psychiatrists who were the main prescribers of anti-depressant medications then. After Prozac’s reputation grew, they targeted the general practitioners who were comfortable prescribing such a safe drug requiring minimal doctor supervision, thereby eliminating the need to send patients to costly specialists. Once the FDA relaxed rules on advertising prescription drugs, Prozac targeted the general public with a series of advertising campaigns. Furthermore, Prozac initially positioned itself simply as an anti-depressant treatment but soon expanded to a cure-all drug, treating issues ranging from OCD to compulsive gambling. Originally positioned as an alternative to Prozac, an SSRI called â€Å"Paxil† was introduced in 1993. Like Prozac, Paxil was effective for various illnesses, could be taken once a day, and had comparable side effects. However, an opportunity to market and develop an unknown emerged in 1999 when Paxil became the â€Å"first and only† medication to receive FDA approval in treating social anxiety disorder (SAD). SmithKline Beecham changed its marketing plan, with a new focus on heightening SAD public awareness. An aggressive campaign was launched and supplemented by direct-to-consumer advertising, focused almost entirely on the disorder, rather than the drug. The next year, SmithKline Beecham merged with Glaxo Wellcome to position themselves as one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, known as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), enabling a significant increase in their DTC advertising budget which in turn triggered roughly $1. 6 billion in sales. Recommendations: Although Paxil’s patent does not expire for several years, it will be significantly and similarly affected by the expiration of Prozac’s patent. Therefore, its reactive strategy to the nullification of Prozac’s exclusivity should be very similar, on a conceptual level, to what we are proposing to Lily. The foremost concern for both Paxil and Prozac will be repositioning. Paxil has the advantage of remaining an exclusive brand and thus does not face the immediate concern of losing existing customers to a direct generic replacement. However, Paxil must stress its unique benefits to new customers to stay competitive with other brands and generic forms of Prozac. Towards this end, we recommend that Paxil reorient its DTC marketing strategy to target those who suffer from illnesses uniquely treatable by Paxil, specifically SAD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). In addition, GSK should heavily emphasize the advantages of its newly approved controlled release variant, particularly decreased side effects. Finally, practitioner advertising should be increased and similarly targeted. These measures will ensure that potential customers suffering from SAD or GAD will be more likely to both recognize their illness and purchase the GSK product. Even more, consumers may be drawn from other brands attributable to the promise of decreased side effects. Similarly, Lily should put heavy emphasis on their new, weekly variant of Prozac. Additionally, following the introduction of generics, Prozac should focus its marketing strategy around PMMD. Basis for Recommendation: The population of people suffering from the two adds up to 9. 3 million Americans (minus overlap for people who suffer from both), about 6. 5% of the adult population in America (Exhibit 5). With the incredible versatility Paxil has had treating various conditions, these two aforementioned conditions, both relatively new, have not gotten the attention from GSK that it really should garner given the fact that no other company can attract people in this state. GSK must look to re-position itself as a figure-head, a trailblazer in the field of SAD and GAD to build a strong market share now and develop brand loyalty to off-set, as best they can, the impending downturn brought on by future generics for the product. Based on the regression we conducted using data from Exibit 12 , we believe that DTC advertising presents an effective way to increase both company’s bottom lines. Looking at the data for prescription drugs, a $1 million investment will, on average, yield a $14. million increase in sales for the product alone. That is a pretty sizeable increase and the model proves that there is a strong correlation between DTC advertising and sales. This does seem reasonable, especially given the companies’ proclivity toward airing late-night infomercials (a form of DTC) when a large group of depressed patients are watching, leading them to go into the doctor’s office the next time, recall the product they were exposed to by t he ad, and request to have it prescribed. Paxil gets about $19. 6 million dollars return on a $1 million investment in DTC advertising. Similarly, Prozac should run a similar type of advertising campaign. Since they do not show up in the statistics in Exhibit 12, they should be slightly more hesitant to go all-in on the investment but should incrementally invest and see which direction it takes sales; all signs point to a solid return for Prozac which already has a solid brand image and loyalty. Lastly, with the advent of the generic, both Paxil and Prozac have to seriously consider lowering their prices to a competitive level to keep pace somewhat with the much cheaper generic, Prozac needing to do so more because of its $14 higher price-tag of $79. 20 to Paxil’s $65. 70. With this market penetration pricing, and within a reasonable interval, consumers will be willing to pay that extra bit because they are comfortable with the brand and value its credibility and integrity. Plus, once consumers see a decrease in price, even with a cheaper generic option, those who are price-sensitive but satisfied users of Paxil or Prozac will see discount  and feel like they did not have to change their buying patterns but saved money. The fact is Prozac and Paxil may completely lose out on their market share in the fields the generic has access to unless the respective companies make calculated, practical price cuts. Although Lilly and GSK’s hands are forced, they still stand to benefit greatly for this market penetration pricing strategy.

Appropriate Needs Assessment For a Social Intervention Program

In the pre-planning stages of any social intervention project, a basic needs assessment of the target group or population should be conducted first to determine priority areas for intervention and draw up benchmark data and indicators for reference during planning, implementation, monitoring and post-implementation phases. Furthermore, according to Acosta et. al, â€Å"Conducting needs assessment research is a rational way to examine the effectiveness of social programs† (Acosta, 343). A needs assessment basically consists of several benchmark data gathering activities that would require collection of primary and secondary data and other forms of data gathering, like focused group discussions.   Some even require several or multi-level studies to come up with the benchmark results, like that of an assessment process conducted in the State of Pennsylvania. To quote: â€Å"The process was designed to use a seven-step procedure incorporating qualitative and quantitative data collection strategies† (Daly, 95).   Hence, depending on the needs and scope of an intended intervention, strategies for benchmark data gathering in establishing needs assessment output should be pre-designed. A needs assessment usually focus on a group of people or population in a given environment.   For example, the needs assessment from Pennsylvania stated focused on â€Å"Individuals with developmental disabilities who present challenging behaviors create significant issues for families and service delivery systems that provide support† (Daly, 95). How does one go about specifying the extent of a problem? The results of a needs assessment study identifies several opportunities for addressing the problem and gives an insight on how best to attack or implement the program to address the conflict or problem in a given population group in a specified environment.   There are strategies and methodologies by which the problems or needs for social intervention can be identified and addressed.   One such approach is the SWOT Analysis or the identification of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats present in the environment and in profiling all the stakeholders affected in the proposed or planned social intervention program. Elaborate on the difficulties associated with defining and identifying the targets of interventions. How might we describe the target populations of social interventions? Not one social intervention program can boast of a 100% foolproof plan that will ensure a definitive path for success or capture and identify for sure the appropriate beneficiaries of a social intervention project.   In every intended project, it has been a lesson in the past that planning should be bottom up and not the other way around.   Instead of a project identified and a benchmark study scheduled just to fit into the â€Å"prerequisite† for approval of the intervention program, the process should be reversed. One frequent mistake adapted by governments or non-profit organizations, in identifying target populations for a social intervention program. is having a â€Å"ready made program† and trying to find a beneficiary for the identified program.   The environment and community setting plus other nuances other than a pre-targeted population should be considered first, and then the intervention program, later to be identified in an appropriately processed needs assessment.   Otherwise, if the social intervention program has already been prescribed even before consulting what the target population needs and what the community or environmental setting dictates, then the intervention program has already failed even before it has begun. Works Cited: Acosta, O., and Toro, P. (2000). Let's Ask the Homeless People Themselves: A Needs Assessment Based on a Probability Sample of Adults. American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 28, 343. Daly, D., Kvarfordt, C., Malatchi, A., Shannon, P., Yoder, T. (2001).   Capacity for Statewide Implementation of Positive Behavior Supports: A Needs Assessment Strategy. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Vol. 3, 95.