Home Depot Employee Benefits Essay

The first case is against an employee Gunderson working at JMI agency owned by Brown Corporation. It is filed by Brown on account of the defendant’s violation of the employee agreement by joining a competing company after working there continuously for seven months and soliciting and servicing Brown’s customers and disclosing confidential information. The summary judgment was made in favor of the defendant because an employment of seven months is not enough under Illinois law to support the limiting agreement. (Findlaw, 2008) The second case is against an employee Robert M. Bono working at Chicago Transit Board who was discharged from his job on account of misconduct by calling a customer while working though his job duties did not require calling any customers. The call was personal and social in nature involving a sexual joke. The court affirmed the decision of Chicago Transit Board as being reasonable and appropriate. (Findlaw, 2008) Issues:Â  The issue being discussed in the first case is the claim by the parent company of breach of contract by the employee. But since the employment period of Gunderson was only seven months so according to Illinois law no charges can be made against him In the second case, the issue discussed is of an employee misbehaving with a customer on telephone and making personal use of the phone though he is not allowed to do so. Therefore, he dismissed by the company. Implications for Home Depot:Â  At Home Depot, each employee should be clearly told of his/her duties and the consequences of not acting accordingly. Secondly, the employee contract at Home Depot should specify clearly all the terms and conditions specially the time period after which he can be accused of the violation of the contract. Conclusion: Through the analysis of the above cases, I learned that minor mistakes by an employee can result into big troubles and court procedures. Therefore, one should remain cautious every time while working on his job.

Rehabilitation in Prison Essay

Prison rehabilitation programs are the methods stated by criminal justice authorities to keep prisoners away from committing further crimes. Previously, the purpose of such programs was to improve the character of prisoners but now it has been directed towards complete avoidance of crimes. These programs assist criminals to start new life free from criminal activities. There are several methods or disciplines of prisoner rehabilitation (Cartmell, 2011). Some prisons are into the faith-based prisoner rehabilitation wherein religion is used to encourage inmates to adapt some moral values. There are also prisons, which practice the nonreligious and nonmedical approach to prisoner rehabilitation. Some of their programs last for about six to eight months. This program does not use alternative drugs for its drug rehabilitation module, and the costs are extremely low compared to the other prisoner rehabilitation programs that use drugs and acquire the services of third party counselors (Cartmell, 2011). Although prisoner rehabilitation does not guarantee that a prisoner is release on the due date, if he or she will then follow a life of crime any longer, at least it will give him or her new perspective on life. It will ensure that prisoners do not go out with the same attitude they had when they came in (Cartmell, 2011). It will change their lives and give his or her hope that there is life waiting for them outside the prison walls. Parole is the discharge of an inmate, previous to the expiration of the inmate’s court-imposed sentence with a period of supervision to be successfully completed by observance with the conditions and terms of the release agreement ordered by the Commission (Christensen, 2003-2011) . The decision of the commission to parole an inmate shall represent an act of grace of the state and should not be considered a right.  There are several differences between parole and probation. Most of the misunderstanding regarding the words is that probation officers may also be called parole officers. Probation is part of a sentence for committing a crime. The judge decides how much time a person must serve in jail guided by the laws of the state and how much time after incarceration is spent on probation. Sometimes a judge will only sentence a person convicted of a minor crime to one to several years of probation (Christensen, 2003-2011). Although on probation, a condition of the sentence may be to have weekly or monthly meetings with a probation officer. The other conditions may be applied to probation (Christensen, 2003-2011). A person may not be able to drive, or might have a curfew. He or she must also not commit further crimes whereas on probation, or the probation may be violated. This empowers the courts to send the person to jail to serve the length of the original sentence, and to serve any additional time for new crimes. Parole, on the other hand, is granted to the individual placed in jail. With many crimes sentencing has a maximum amount of years imposed. These years in jail however can be shortened if the person convicted of a crime behaves well in prison. After a time, a person in prison â€Å"comes up† for parole. The decision to grant a person parole is made by a parole board. If the person has done well in prison, and early release is not contested, the parole board can shorten prison time. There is superior motivation to parole nonviolent offenders because many jails are overcrowded. When a person receives parole, he or she is often bound by many conditions. The violation of parole means going back to prison to serve out the rest of one’s sentence. When someone is on parole is quite similar to experiencing probation. One expects a greater degree of supervision and is bound by the parole board or the court to behave in an exemplary fashion (Christensen, 2003-2011). Probation is given as part of judge’s sentence during a trial. Both impose conditions on the person’s continued behavior. Violation of these conditions can result in serving some or serving more jail time. The Community Corrections Division supervises offenders who either been confined in a county jail or prison for felonies, convictions of more than a year, or sentenced to direct supervision in the community (Mangino, 2006) . Most offenders have conditions of supervision.  These conditions guides by public-safety considerations and engage each offender in programs to reduce their likelihood of re-offense. Offenders report to Community Corrections Officers and depending upon the offender’s history or crime is prohibited from acquiring contact with minors or victims. They’re also required to submit to urinalysis testing and to participate in substance abuse treatment programs. A range of sanctions imposed for noncompliance, up to and including jail time. The purpose of community corrections has many good reasons, overcrowding in jails and prisons can be greatly reduced, a person can remain a productive member of society and still serve his or her sentence. The risks involves with anything, the court must take those into consideration before placing someone in a diversion program, minor drug offenses are being dealt with in this fashion and in a number of cases proving to be successful in doing so (Mangino, 2006) . In deciding on the release from prison of a life sentenced prisoner, the Minister will always consider the advice and recommendations of the Parole Board of Ireland (Mangino, 2006) .The Board, at present, initially reviews prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment after seven years served. Prisoners serving very long sentences, including life sentences, are normally reviewed on a number of occasions over a number of years before any substantial concessions recommended by the Board (Mangino, 2006) . The final decision as to about a life sentenced prisoner is release solely with the Minister. The length of time spent in custody by offenders serving life sentences can vary substantially. Of those prisoners serving life sentences released, the average sentence served in prison is approximately 12 years. However, this is only an average, and there are prisoners serving life sentences in Ireland who have spent in excess of 30 years in custody. In conclusion, criminal experts believe the need for prisoner rehabilitation programs so that cases of prisoners won’t continue. Although prisoner rehabilitation does not guarantee that a prisoner, or that he or she will not follow a life of crime any longer, at least it will give him or her new perspective on life. Prisoners serving very long sentences,  including life sentences, are normally reviewed on a number of occasions over a number of years before any substantial concessions recommended by the Board. The final decision as to about a life sentenced prisoner is rests solely with the Minister. Criminal experts believe the need for prisoner rehabilitation programs so that cases of prisoners re-offending will be pointed. The length of time spent in custody by offenders serving life sentences to a large extent. References Christensen, T. (2003-2011). Conjecture Corporation. : Mangino, Mathew ProQuest Newspaper Database. , p. (2006, December 6 Cartmell, P. (2011). Rehabilitation

Consumer behavior about target-based internet market in China Dissertation

Consumer behavior about target-based internet market in China - Dissertation Example eople’s Republic of China Theoretical Background 11 Chapter Three: Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 31 Chapter Four: Results and Discussions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 48 Chapter Five: Conclusions and Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 72 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 79 Appendices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 85 Abstract This research focuses on the determination of the behavi ors of consumers to target-based internet markets. The researcher focuses on the use of the said target-based internet markets as well as the perceptions of the consumers in the People’s Republic of China. In order to determine the same, this study used a purposive sample of 142 consumers. In ascertaining the perceptions of the China-based customers with respect to target based internet marketing, the results pointed out that this type of marketing has been preferred by the respondents because of the following factors: (1) its capacity to ensure that the online activities of the users and the consumers do not suffer from intrusion; (2) it has the capacity to appeal to the senses in a more effective manner; (3) marketers may customize the advertisements depending on the needs of the target population; (4) marketers may control the amount of junk mail associated thereto; and lastly, the efficient use of models. Unfortunately, the responses of the participants revealed mere neut rality with respect to the issue of privacy. This, however, means that the marketers must effectively address the issue of privacy in order to ensure that they properly influence the behavior of the consumers. Nevertheless, the overall preference for the marketing approach and behavioural intentions related to the approach has been rated positively signifying that indeed, the Chinese customers have high regard for target-based internet marketing. Moreover, the study found that target-based internet marketing has been merely confined as regards the factor that influence it, traditional marketing has been approved of only in terms of use of models. The rest of the factors were assessed neutrally. Finally, the independent variables that were found to positively and significantly predict behavioural intentions are customization and use of models. Recommendations for the improvement of target-based marketing are put forth. Chapter 1: Introduction Background of the Study The twenty-first century noticed a remarkable increase in terms of the usage of the internet. Undoubtedly, the increase in its usage has tremendously affected society (Kuratko and Hodgetts 2008). For instance, traditional societies who once gave paramount importance to the knowledge of their revered and respected elders do not rely on the as tons of information has been available online. In fact, the influence of the internet has even caused breakdowns within their societies (Charlesworth 2009; Lee 2001; Roldan 2001). Aside from this, the increase in the usage of the internet has likewise affected the commercial latter organisations and their businesses. Literature written with respect to the topic at hand clearly shows that the businesses’ use of the internet

Medical futility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medical futility - Essay Example As a physician am not obliged to offer to a patient medication that I know will only aggreviate their condition. Futile interventions tend to increase the patient’s pain instead of reducing it. Medicine has come of age, especially in the American society where the role played by the patient is both important and inclusive. Even though patients have a right to make a choice or even demand that the acceptable treatment be given to them, it does not expresslly provide that their wish be granted. A physician is only obliged to offer treatment that conforms to the professional guidelines. Many at times the decision is made based on the personal preference of the patient. A patient may decide that a particular outcome is not worth striving for and therefore reject or demand tratment. As a medical physician I would therefore take it upon my self to explain to the family of the patient about the various medical procudures available and the futility of those procedures. In a loving and compassionate language I would try my best to make them understand the dinamics of such treatment in an effort to help them come to closure with the issue. I may only agree to use some of these interventions to help the patient stay alive if at all there is an important relative who really needs to see the patient alive at least for the last time. Carefull choice of words comes in handy here especially when trying to make the family and friends to realize that the decision has nothing to do with the availability or cost of the necessary medical equipment for the futile procedure. According to medical ethics; the principle of beneficience states that every medical practioner must endevour to do well to the patient whenever possible, including when the most beneficial thing to do is â€Å"nothing†. It’s therefore important to have all parties realize that it’s for the best interest of the patient that nothing is done. That’s where statements

BARN BURNING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BARN BURNING - Essay Example This story is no exception, however, the greatest job that he served as a writer was the intricate fabrication of fine play of words with the anxiety and aggression that the protagonist faced. The characters in the story play an important part in explaining to readers the general behavior of people. The main characters are an antagonist who gains sadistic pleasure in destroying the elements of law in the society, a protagonist who chooses the right path and in turn shows the readers the right path, and the secondary characters who either are the cause for the behavior of antagonist or are meek observers who do not have the heart to choose the right path. This story has it all. In the story, the protagonist is young Sartoris Snopes, or Sarty as he is referred to in the rest of the story, and the antagonist his stern father, Abner Snopes. The conflict that forms the central theme is the loyalty towards one’s blood or loyalty towards truth and justice. While the antagonist prefers the former to the two, more to satisfy his own evil deeds and to secure his foothold, the protagonist prefers the latter. The conflict arises because the two are related by blood and while on many occasions Sarty tries to show his sense of loyalty to blood, he fails to understand his father’s desire to destroy his enemy, more so when he himself is responsible for creating that enemy. Young Sarty is in a bind because the antagonist is his father, so while his morals prefer justice and truth, they also compel him to be faithful to his father. Parents are the central figure for a child, however, with Sarty choosing the path of justice at the end, the writer shows how rel ations need to be restrained in order to do the right thing, which also indicates breaking free from the illusions and the bonds that keep a person from doing the right thing. Abner Snopes is a disgruntled man who is unable to find his sense of security for the simple reason because he is poor and

Diversity in employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Diversity in employment - Essay Example 13). Diversity in the work place has generally been thought of as purely an employment equity issue. However, diversity is coming to be recognized as an asset which can, like any other asset that is well managed, contribute to the bottom line. Diversity is growing almost as quickly as the number of software vendors at an accounting convention (Talbot-Allen, 2001, p. 3) One of the best definitions for diversity I have come across says, "Diversity is the mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values, and beliefs as assets to the groups and organisations with which they interact" (Rasmussen, 2000, p. 274). A mosaic enables people to retain their individuality while contributing collectively to the bigger picture. Second, this definition of diversity applies to and includes everyone; it does not rule out anyone. Finally, this definition describes diversity as an asset, as something desirable and beneficial! This change represents a move away from dominance by the white-Anglo male toward an increasingly diverse and segmented population. This workplace will include growing numbers of women, people of color, people of different ethnic backgrounds, aging workers, workers with a variety of physical handicaps, and people with alternative lifestyles. Only companies that have cultures that support diversity will be able to retain the best talent necessary to remain competitive. Diversity is not the same thing as employment equity. Diversity Pros and Cons Managing diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity for management. It is a challenge because it requires organisational change; it means fostering a cultural environment that values differences and maximizes the potential of all employees. It is an opportunity because organisations that proactively address diversity have a competitive advantage. They are able to attract, motivate and retain high potential employees. We must begin by recognizing the unique cultures of different racial, gender, ethnicities, abilities, differing lifestyles, etc., provide the basis for new perspectives on understanding organisational behavior. This perspective starts with the assumption that each cultural group organizes and defines experience within its own set of cultural systems. Research has suggested that men, women, and the various minorities do not share a common culture of organisational life. The implication is that each group identifies, defines, and organizes its experience in the organ isation in unique ways (Fine, Johnson, & Ryan, 2002, p.306, 317). A number of factors account for these differing experiences. For instance, women hold lower level positions at lower salaries than men; therefore, they tend to see the organisation from the bottom. Minority employees are fewer in number, so, they view the organisation in an isolation perspective. Second, each group appears most comfortable communicating within their own group. Third, the cultures of gender and race give unique perspectives on organizing experiences. Women and minorities identify interpersonal barriers as obstacles to their success, while white men see formal structures and policies as eliminating any obstacles. Women define moral order in terms of interpersonal relationships (as cited in Fine, Johnson, &am

Planning and Implementation of Mega-urban Projects Essay

Planning and Implementation of Mega-urban Projects - Essay Example Another aspect of these mega urban projects is the fact that the built environment needs to be based on the social systems and structures in such a way that the economy, culture, and social factors become evident through the arrangement of the landscape. This is what Soja describes as the â€Å"socio-spatial dialectics† These four major factors come together to define the capitalist and socio-spatial elements of a given mega urban project. This is because these indicators provide the basis for evaluating urban development project. This paper examines three urban mega projects in the United Kingdom, Germany, and South Korea. The paper examines the key elements of these three project in relation to the concepts and ideas of urban megaprojects. In arriving at this end, the paper will compare differences and similarities between the base projects. In this process, the paper will examine the trends in urban megaprojects. Liverpool ONE is a major urban development project that was conducted to boost the competitiveness of one of the UK's cities. It involved a total of about  £1 billion in expenditure and it sought to redevelop 42 acres of Liverpool into a retail-oriented zone (Grosvenor, 2007). The project was completed in 2008 and it made that zone of Liverpool one of the top five retail centers in the UK. The Potsdamer Platz in Germany is one of the key areas of Berlin and lies just a kilometer away from the famous Brandenburg Gate and has the German Parliament [Reichstag] just over twenty kilometers away (Weitz, 2007). This makes the region a very sensitive cultural and public section of Germany. The area came under intense Allied bombardment during World War II and it became a buffer zone during the Soviet Occupation (Weitz, 2007). However, after German reunification in the late 1980s, the Potsdamer Platz has gone through a lot of change processes.  

Trends in the Workplace Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Trends in the Workplace - Coursework Example Issues of ageing employees, diversity and skills deficiencies feature new trends in work place. To respond to the demands of the work environment, the human resource managers need to exercise flexibility if their organizations have to remain profitable both in the short and long-term. The organization selection and recruitment process is an activity that the human resource managers take seriously to obtain the best work force within their institution. The selection process is an activity that involves selection of only qualified employees who suit the minimum requirements of the position and fill the existing employee gaps effectively (Schuler & MacMillan, 2012). For an organization to achieve its goals, it requires skilled personnel with adequate skills and experiences to handle the needs of the organization. In any organization, the selection process takes at different stages. The applicants undergo scrutiny for academic qualifications, skills, experiences and leadership qualities. The human resource managers set clear the qualifications of the position in their advertisement to ensure that only the qualified candidates apply. Those with less than minimum requirements are dismissed at the preliminary stage even before the first interviews. This saves on time an d cost that is used for hosting the interviews, regarding the high number of applicants who turn up to their advertisements. In addition, human resource managers provide a formal orientation to the successful candidates. The orientation process is a good way to facilitate employees work behavior and this helps them to adapt more quickly and to work become part of the work team more quickly. The ability of human resource managers helps to recruit the right workforce and to form a team that can implement the organizational goals. Employee performance evaluation is a key element of human resource

Intercultural communication class- research paper

Intercultural communication class- - Research Paper Example nships between these multicultural societies it is also very important to understand how the world today is characterized by an ever growing number of contacts that results from communication between people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Samovar, 2006). This paper takes a stand that cultures plays an important role in determining the method of intercultural communication amongst the Hispanic community living in United States. Culture has different meanings although it is used to denote to a set of standards, values, art, practices and music of a particular group. Becker (2004) defines culture, as a complex whole that includes beliefs, arts, knowledge, morals, law, and any other capability and habit which is acquired by mankind within a society. Furthermore, he denotes that culture is normally acquired and learned, as opposed to biological traits which are inherited (Samovar, 2006). As we are made to comprehend that this was innovative against the background of colonialism, social evolution and racialism which were the most common ideologies during the nineteenth century (Davis, 2000). They are regarded as a highly group-oriented form of social setup. In this sense, Hispanics put strong emphasis on the family as the main source of the identity of an individual, and it protects against the hardships an individual passes through. People who do not have the capability of creating this set up are not easily trusted, and this process is very cautious (Toomey and Chung, 2012). The model of a family, amongst the Hispanics normally comprises of aunts, grandparents, cousins, etc. They use the term Familismo to describe their strong and supreme loyalty to extended families. Due to an emphasis on harmony, collectivity and corporation amongst the Hispanic people, this group normally emphasizes collective responsibility (Toomey and Chung, 2012). Within these groups, there is a very rigid definition of sex roles. The elderly are revered and very much valued

Socrates and his theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Socrates and his theories - Essay Example Contrary to other philosophers, Socrates devoted his life to serve his people without charging fees (Plato 34). Therefore, to state that Socrates had no or little participation of democracy in Athenian government is entirely true. Socrates perceived democratic form of governance as corrupt, unjust, and he profoundly differed with its ideologies. As a philosopher, Socrates believed in practicality and critical thinking in order for one to improve his or her life. He opposed the idea of the majority being in government, which is one of the fundamentals that form a democratic government. According to Pericles, Socrates lack of recognition in equality through participation of the majority makes him less a democratic citizen (Plato 40). Cleon as portrayed by Thucydides was a diligent supporter of the democratic system of government. In his speech Cleon, upholds the negative aspects of the Athenian rules. Cleon strongly believed that anyone who opposed the Athenian government is subject to punishment (Thucydides 25). Cleon delivered his speech opposing the Mytilenian revolt against Athens. In his speech, Cleon emphasized on certain aspects of democracy discussed by Pericles in his famous funeral oration. These aspects include the implementation of the death row sentence. It is my opinion that as much as Cleon convinced Athenians through his speech that democracy is the answer to peace, order and equality. However, it is vital to consider the opinion of the minority for democracy to be effective and sufficient. Socrates did not support Athenian democratic government because of its ignorance of the minority. In fact, he considered it a tool of oppression. Socrates would highly disagree with Cleon’s speech full of egotistical claims in favor of democratic government. This is because in his speech Cleon does not mention the installation of moral values among the citizens to ensure orderliness. Rather, he emphasizes on the execution of the law whether it is just or bias (Thucydides 30). His speech contrasts Socrates belief in the power of knowledge and critical thinking as opposed to following and serving the law blindly (Plato 56). In his speech Diodotus, stressed on the importance of reasoning before implementing a rule. Diodotus urges the Athenian parliament to reason and strategize before passing a judgment on the Mytilenian revolution. Diodotus opposed Cleon who stood by the rules of law. It is my understanding that Diodotus realized that strategy and tact are essential in implementation of power or rules. As in the case of Athens, they faced a challenge in integrating the other states in their system of governance. This was result of lack of strategy and tact (Thucydides 50). Diodotus in his speech argued that by wise reasoning Athenians would subtly subdue the other states without the use of force. Diodotus argument concurs with Socrates principles of governance and power. Just like Diodotus, Socrates believed in rational conflict solv ing methods. Moreover, in his theories Socrates states that, through critical reasoning, a state can achieve anything it intends to acquire without the use of force. Socrates also believed in knowledge as a tool for personal development. However, Diodotus and Socrates differed in terms of participation in politics. Diodotus was an active figure in policy making while Socrates concerned himself with acquisition of knowledge (Kamtekar 80). In the case of the Mytilenian debate, Diodotus

Belonging to Place Essay Example for Free

Belonging to Place Essay Have you ever been in a room packed full of people, yet no matter whos around, you cant shake a feeling of un-ease, or a sense of not belonging? This has probably happened to each of us atleast once before. Belonging is usually defined as just generally being accepted, we assume its a reference to someone being treated differently to others, whether its for better or worse. But sometimes, it has more to do with the place we are in, rather than the people who are around. To prove this, Ill be discussing Shakespeares As You Like It, a romantic comedy set in a ficticious world, where the illustrious Court is supposedly the place to be for educated citizens, and the Forest of Arden, a place of exile, is thought to be harbour to many theives and those discarded from society. The dramatist uses techniques such as imagery, metaphors and dramatic irony to highlight key aspects of belonging and not belonging. In contrast to this text, Ill also examine My Sisters Keeper written by Jodi Picoult, where the sense of place is not physical, but familial. Picoult uses similar techniques to Shakespeares in As you like it, with imagery and irony used as common themes through-out the text. As You Like It revolves around Rosalind whos uncle, Duke Frederick banishes several characters from city life in the French Court. But when Rosalind herself is exiled, her cousin Celia declares that she will join Rosalind, and that they must go to the Forest to seek the rightful Duke, Rosalind cries Alas, what danger will it be to us, maids as we are, to travel forth so far! Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold This is where Shakespeare introduces the reputation of the forest, known as a dark and scary place of banishment and explains Rosalinds sense of obligation to dress as a man and call herself Ganymede, as she feels she must protect herself and her cousin. Throughout the text Shakespeare uses symbolism in many different ways. He commonly uses metaphors or similies not only to describe things, but sometimes to give them a double meaning. An example of this being Rosalinds choice of alternative identities, when she picks the name Ganymede, who in Roman myhtology is a cupbearer and a symbol of homosexual love, this adds to the continuum of sexual possibilites. When Orlandos selfish brother Oliver first causes him to join those exiled into the Forest of Arden he fears for himself, and his servant Adam, yet his opinions of the forest change when he meets Duke Senior and his comrades. Hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court? The Duke asks him. Eventually others come to realise that their impression of the forest was also wrong, and that it has the potential to give them true happiness. As opposed to finding a physical place, Jodi Picoult demonstrates a different kind of belonging. Sara and Brian Fitzgerald dedicate their every moment to their middle daughter Kate, who is suffering from leukemia, leaving their other two childern, Anna and Jesse, feeling like they have no place in the family. This affects Anna in particular, as she was concieved in a lab to be used as spare parts for Kate, and made to donate things like stem cells and bone marrow. She is pushed too far when she is told she has to donate a kidney to her sister, and seeks medical emancipation, leaving her feeling even more out of place in the household. The eldest child Jesse however, rebels his own way by committing arson and petty crimes. Throughout the book Picoult uses this allusion to fire for many things; Kates uncontrollable illness, which seems to destroy everything within its path, or Anna initiating the law suit, like shes starting a blaze that she might not be able to contain. It is again used as a comparison to Kates disease, by her father Brian, who is a firefighter, when he suggests that some fires need to be left alone until they burn out. Though both texts have clear links to family, another aspect they share is great irony. In As You Like It, dramatic irony is used quite often because we, as the audience, always know something that the characters dont. When Rosalind, acting as Ganymede, ends up weaving a very tangled web for herself, she is the character who comes to help everyone achieve their happy ending, and find their rightful place. Shakespeares use of this technique brings great entertainment, and adds to the comedy. However, in My Sisters Keeper the irony is not so comedic. Jesse announces in court that Kate had forced Anna to stop donating organs as she was ready to let her luekemia take her life. Leaving the courthouse, after winning her case, Anna and her lawyer are caught in a terrible car accident, resulting in her giving her kidney to Kate before she passes, this helps Kate to fight off her cancer. Through this Picoults use of irony, much different to Shakespeares, allows Anna, who never knew her part, to help her sister find her own place in the world. In conclusion, the very different texts both highlight aspects of belonging, or not belonging, to a certain place. Whether its physical place or a role that you need to find. The Authors use of techniques such as imagery and irony, and as focus on relationships involving both love and hate, helps to convey what belonging truly means to them.

An Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay

An Analysis Of Family Structure And Dynamics Social Work Essay The concept of family identity can be defined as a familys subjective understanding of reality based on shared beliefs and experiences that determine how individual members interact and relate to each other and the world outside the family (Bennett, Wolin, McAvity, 1988). Throughout my childhood my family had two identities: a public identity that was shaped by societal expectations and norms, and a private identity that was governed by the unique needs and issues that plagued our family life. From a public perspective we were a traditional middle class family complete with a married couple, three children, and two dogs. We lived in a modest but nice home in a suburban community, my sisters and I attended private schools, and we were financially secure. However, few people were aware of the conflict, chaos, and abuse that occurred behind closed doors within our home. Our private identity, characterized by dysfunctional behaviors and interactions that occurred between various members of the family, told a very different story. The structure or organization of my family based on patterns of interactions, subsystems, and boundaries is important in understanding the dynamics within my family of origin (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). The genogram, or family diagram, provided in the appendix illustrates a multigenerational view of structure and relationships within my extended family (Bowen, 1978; Nichols, 2011). However, for the purpose of this paper I will focus on the structure of my family of origin. My family consists of my father, Gerald, my mother, Alma, and three children: Michelle, the eldest, Jennifer, the middle child, and myself the youngest child. Our family structure was governed by familial roles, rules, and expectations (Nichols, 2011). My father held the role of financial provider within the family. His responsibility was to ensure that the family had financial security. My mother maintained the role of caregiver and leader. She was the matriarch of the family and was charged with the task of maintaining every aspect of the home and family. My oldest sister was the scapegoat and protector within the family. Family issues were often projected onto her forcing her to take responsibility and blame for family dysfunction (Shulman, 2006). She also held the role of protector within the sibling subsystem, and frequently shielded my middle sister and I from danger and harm within and outside the home. My middle sister was the quiet member and model child of the family. She is passive and rarely expressed opinions regarding family issues, and always made an attempt to satisfy familial expectations and demands (Shulman, 2006). As the youngest child, I played the role of gatekeeper within the family. My goal as the gatekeeper was to use my wit and humor to help the family return to a state of homeostasis by easing tension and restoring calm and peace within the family (Shulman, 2006). My family was also governed by a set of explicit and implicit rules and expectations (Nichols, 201 1). Explicit rules and expectations consisted of good behavior, high academic achievement, and the completion of various chores and duties within the household. Implicit rules helped fortify family secrets and included keeping family issues private, and forbidding family members to discuss or acknowledge the dysfunction within the family. Additionally, my family operated as a closed system with rigid boundaries limiting input from outside sources (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). We were not open or welcoming to outside influences and support; rather, we internalized familial issues and problems. My mothers mental illness complicated family dynamics and contributed to the pathology within the home. My mother has Borderline Personality Disorder which made her a polarizing presence within our home due to her frequent fits of rage and unstable mental health (Nichols, 2011). Thus, the familys attention and energy was primarily focused on my mother and her needs (Nichols, 2011). My mother would frequently displace her anger and rage onto my sisters and I in the form of physical and emotional abuse. Her behavior affected relationships, boundaries, and attachment patterns within the family as illustrated in the family genogram. My mother exhibited an anxious-ambivalent attachment to my father due to her imminent fear of abandonment (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). She desperately desired my fathers love and attention, but would behave in ways that created conflict and chaos within the marital subsystem (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). As a result, my father developed an anxious-avoidant attachment to my mother, which resulted in him creating a rigid boundary within the marital subsystem in order to protect and distance himself from my mothers anger and concomitant feelings of helpless and frustration (Bowlby, 1988; Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). My parents were involved in a cyclical pursuer-distancer pattern of interaction that resulted in my fathers disengagement within the marital subsystem (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). The dynamics, boundaries, and attachments between the parental and child subsystems were equally complicated. The relationship between my mother and my oldest sister was filled with conflict and tension. My mother was exceptionally abusive to my oldest sister which resulted in the establishment of disorganized attachment (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). My oldest sister perceived my mother as frightening; yet, she desperately desired nurturance from my mother and fluctuated between distancing herself from my mother and desperately seeking comfort and security (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). My oldest sister and my mother were psychologically and emotionally entwined or fused with one another despite years of abuse (Bowen, 1978; Nichols, 2011). My middle sister established an anxious-avoidant attachment with my mother (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). As a child, my middle sister rarely sought help, guidance, or comfort from my mother as a result of the abuse she endured and my mothers inab ility to adequately address her needs for safety and comfort (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). I established an anxious-ambivalent attachment to my mother in which I desperately depended on her for emotional support and encouragement despite her abuse, but rarely received adequate comfort and nurturance (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). My sisters and I have an anxious-avoidant attachment with my father as a result of his inability to consistently provide us with comfort and safety in response to my mothers abuse (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). The family dynamics, however, strengthened the sibling subsystem. My sisters and I have a secure attachment and are able to rely on each other for support, comfort, and nurturance in the face of adversity (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). Culture and ethnicity also played an integral role in my family identity and dynamics. My parents are first generation Mexican-Americans and were raised in families that emphasized traditional Mexican cultural values and beliefs including a strong commitment to family, respect, trust, and religion (Rothman, Gant, Hnat, 1985). However, my parents raised my sisters and I in a bi-cultural environment that incorporated various aspects of American and Mexican culture and traditions. My parents emphasized trust, respect, and commitment within the family, but they also introduced American language, food, celebrations, and values including a focus on individuality, privacy, and achievement (Rothman et al., 1985; Beane, 2011). Additionally, contrary to traditional Mexican culture, there was a stronger emphasis on immediate rather than extended family (Rothman et al., 1985). Religion was also an important cultural aspect of our lives. My family is Catholic and placed a strong emphasis on relig ious beliefs and rituals such as praying before meals and attending church together every Sunday. Family Crisis/Transition In June of 1992 my family, as we knew it, changed forever. My father left our home without any prior notice or discussion and filed for divorce from my mother. His abrupt and unanticipated departure from our home left every family member struggling with feelings of shock, confusion, disdain, anger, and anxiety. The initial phase of the divorce process is identified as the most stressful time for a family due to the changes in family structure as a result of the absence of a parent, and subsequent pressures and demands for family members to take on new roles and responsibilities (Cooper, McLanahan, Meadows, Brooks-Gunn, 2009; Kelly Emery, 2003). Additionally, families often experience significant changes in socioeconomic, social, and health resources as the result of a divorce that often increases the level of stress within a family and complicates the coping and adaptation process (Cooper et al., 2009, p. 559; Kelly Emery, 2003). According to the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis, a fam ilys ability to adjust and cope with transitions and crises is based on the interaction of the following variables: A-the situation or stressor event, B-available resources, C-the familys perception of the event, and X-the degree of stress or crisis experienced by a family (McKenry Price, 1994). Let us now apply the ABC-X Model of Family Crisis to analyze my familys initial response to the stressful transition of my parents divorce. The stressor facing my family was the separation, and subsequent divorce, of my parents which left the family in a state of distress and significantly altered our family identity, structure, dynamics, and functioning. My fathers absence resulted in significant financial hardship for the family, which forced my mother to enter the workforce and take on the new and unfamiliar role of financial provider. The responsibility and demands of this new role affected my mothers ability to maintain her caregiver role within the family. As a result, my sisters and I had to take on many of her responsibilities within the home. Initially, my oldest sister took on the role of caregiver in my mothers absence. However, my oldest sister left for college shortly after my fathers departure which resulted in significant changes to the sibling subsystem and further complicated our familys ability to adapt and cope. My middle sister was forced to abandon her usual role as the quiet member, and assume the r ole of protector and caregiver. This new role placed a great deal of pressure on my middle sister and changed the dynamic within the new sibling dyad by increasing tension. Additionally, I was no longer able to successfully ease family tension and chaos as the gatekeeper, and assumed the new role of helping my middle sister maintain the household. The divorce also affected family attachment needs, boundaries, and relationships. After the divorce, my father was physically and emotionally cut-off from my mother and the rest of the family (Bowen, 1978; Nichols, 2011). My sisters and I had no contact with my father for a year following the divorce, which created a rigid boundary between him and the child subsystem and contributed to our inability to reconcile our grief and heal (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). Additionally, boundaries between the parental and child subsystems, and within the sibling subsystem, became more diffuse as a result of the new roles and responsibilities of each family member (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). The changes in family structure forced my middle sister to take on more of a parental role within the sibling subsystem. Additionally, my mother was unable to spend as much time within the home due to the demands of her new role as financial provider, which created a distance and disengagement between the parent and child subsystems (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). My mothers relationship with my oldest sister was equally affected as a result of the transition. After she left home, my oldest sister was able to emotionally separate or cut-off my mother and the chaos within the home (Bowen, 1978; Nichols, 2011). However, my oldest sister continued to provide emotional support within the sibling subsystem. My mothers mental illness complicated her ability to cope with the transition and adequately address the attachment needs of my sisters and I (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). Despite the complicated and chaotic relationship we each had with my mother we desperately needed and wanted her comfort, guidance, and nurturance in response to the pain, confusion, and anguish we were feeling. However, my mothers own emotional instability rendered her unable to adequately address our needs for attachment. My mother was preoccupied with her own needs for emotional comfort and responded in a cold and rejecting manner to our need for comfort and security. Rather, my middle sister and I were forced to provide comfort and solace to my mother and put our own needs aside. This role reversal further complicated the interactions and boundaries between the parent and child subsystems. Culture also influenced my familys perception of the divorce and ability to cope with the transition. The dissolution of a marriage and family is not well accepted within the Mexican culture due to the strong emphasis on family connection and commitment. In fact, families that experience divorce are often shamed and ostracized by extended family as was the case in our family system. My maternal grandparents expressed disdain and disappointment in my mothers inability to salvage her marriage and family, which created more tension within our family. Additionally, divorce was uncommon within our suburban community. We were the first family in our community to experience a divorce and this contributed to my familys feelings of embarrassment and shame. The divorce also altered our familys public identity of the ideal middle class family, and revealed some of the conflict and chaos within our home. Our family identity now reflected marital discord and a broken home. Our religious beliefs a lso complicated our ability to adapt after the divorce. Divorce is not supported or condoned within Catholicism which increased our feelings of embarrassment and shame in the Catholic community. My family had limited access to resources following the divorce. As previously mentioned, our family operated as a closed system which complicated our ability to attain adequate financial, social, and emotional support and assistance from external systems (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). Our socioeconomic status, financial resources, and standard of living were significantly minimized. We transitioned from being a financially secure middle class family to living below the poverty line in a matter of months. Our access to social support was also limited as a result of the rigid boundaries separating my family from external systems of support such as family friends and mental health professionals (Minuchin, 1974; Nichols, 2011). Rather, each member of the family sought individual resources within and outside the family to help alleviate emotional distress and attain support. For example, my sisters and I sought support from external systems including friends and teachers (Nichols, 2011 ). We also relied on the secure attachment we had with each other for emotional support and guidance (Bowlby, 1988; Nichols, 2011). My mother sought emotional support from extended family, the child subsystem, and her new co-workers. My parents divorce was an unexpected event that significantly increased the level of stress within my family and contributed to changes in family identity, structure, roles, relationships, and resources. My familys resistance to seek and accept external resources and support further complicated our ability as a system to recover from our loss and adaptively cope with the transition. Cultural influences also contributed to a negative appraisal of the situation. My familys negative perception of the divorce resulted in feelings of hopelessness and despair rather than an emphasis on problem-solving and growth (McKenry Price, 1994). This negative perception significantly inhibited our ability to adaptively cope with the transition and associated stressors. My family was able to readjust structure and roles, but lacked cohesion and stability. The culmination of the event, the lack of sufficient resources, and the negative perception of the transition resulted in my familys appraisal of t he event as a crisis that disrupted equilibrium, increased pressure and stress within the family system, and negatively affected family functioning (McKenry Price, 1994).

Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process

Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process A FUTURE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE The phenomenon of blogs is growing rapidly and is expected to increase even in a more rapid pace (Technorati, 2006, November 6). As Wright (2006) discuss; blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers, as customers want to be talked with, not to. Companies have newly started to pay attention to this and as a result, the concept of Blog marketing has been born. The use of blogs as a communication tool has the huge importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how and why consumers use blogs in their decision making process. Interview technique was used on young adults, as research suggests that this population use blogs the most (Tremayne, 2007). It was identified that consumers use blogs throughout their decision making. Within the consumers decision making, collaborative blogs was mostly used as the consumers because it cover specific topic of interest for the consumers. Consumers were found mainly writing in the blogs when they had knowledge to contribute with or when they needed information that they could not otherwise find in the blogs. It was identified that consumers turned to groups they belonged to, so called normative group, or they turned to groups that they did not belong to, so called comparative groups. These groups influenced the consumer by providing them with knowledge and by giving them positive and negative confirmation on their choice of purchase. However normative groups also persuaded the consumer to buy products in order to belong to the group. Besides this, a pattern of characteristics of the individuals that the consumer blogged with were noticed. Consumers wanted user experiences and thus the vast majority of these individuals they turned to, seemed to be consumers themselves, with relevant product experiences. The consumers also seem to blog more with certain individuals, whose opinions were valued more. These individuals often shared the latest information on products. Lastly it was also identified that consumers seemed to be selective when reading blog posts. The blog posts needed to contain detailed- and up-to-date information. Moreover, consumers wanted blog post to be written by other consumers because they saw them as more credible then companies. The consumers also chose to read blog posts that show similarities between the consumer and the blogger in terms of either usage pattern of product or preference for product choices. INTRODUCTION Ever since the internet was introduced for the general public during the 1990s, people have used it as a source of information. Majority of the population in India use internet in order to get information regarding products and services. However most statistics available does not tell how the consumers use the internet and what kind of information they search for. There are many different sources of information online, for example company web pages, communities, blogs etc. The concept of blogs and blogging is a relatively new phenomenon in todays society and it has not really been explored before. Nevertheless, magazines are today filled with articles on the importance for companies to start blogging and join the communication of the future, if they do not want to loose ground to their competitors (Lindstedt, 2005, November). The major blog search engine, Technorati, shows some interesting facts on the number of blogs and its growth. In October, 2006, Technorati counted 57 million blogs and a growth rate of one hundred thousand new blogs per day. This number is expected to keep growing and double every eight month (Technorati, 2006, November 6). However, when it comes to the number of blogs in India, there is uncertainty. Different articles talk about a wide interval of blogs, starting at around 18,000 (Lindstedt, 2005, August) and counting up to more then hundred thousands (Johansson, 2007). The reason to this wide span is due to the lack of a clear definition on what a blog is and also the fact that the figures are 18 months apart from each other. But the fact is that the tremendous growth of blogs worldwide also is true for India. India contains actors like Twitter, Facebook and MSN spaces whom all contain blogs and allow for a creation of your own blog. As a result of this growth, blog marketing has emerged as a new innovative way to create closer relationship with customers. It has also given the consumers the possibility to discuss amongst each other. Blog marketing allows marketers to establish closer relationships with its segment. Today limited research has been made within the concept of blog marketing. Furthermore, all research that has been conducted has had the focus on how companies can use blogs in order to interact with consumers. Something that has not been considered, and has been taken for granted, is the issue of how consumers use blogs in their decision making. Moreover, how consumers consider the information that is being transmitted on the blog has not yet been explored. The truth could be that consumers use blogs in a way that companies have not thought about. The existing use of blog marketing could thus miss its objectives if companies do not know how their audience perceives it. PROBLEM DISCUSSION The paper focuses on consumer decision making process and tried to explore how consumers use blogs in this process. As there is not so much work done on the area, this increases the importance to conduct such study. Blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers (Wright, 2006). In order to use this communication tool, it is of big importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The focus on the consumer decision making process in the context of blog is of importance for several reasons. It is today unclear how and in what stages consumers use blogs in their decision making process. An overview of the literature shows that not much research has been done within this subject. Traditional marketing tools such as advertising, sales promotion etc have different impact in the different stages of the consumer decision making process. But it is unclear what impact blogging has in those stages. By mapping out this information, companies can learn how to use their marketing in a new and innovative way to appeal consumers. Moreover, whatever research is conducted is from company perspective. To be successful in blog marketing, activities needs to be shaped in accordance to consumers blog usage. If companies learn how blogs are used, they can benefit in several ways like they can engage in the viral marketing on the blogs to create knowledge of their products, or can listen on why consumers prefer competitors products. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK What is Blog? A blog is a web page that contains regularly posted inlays that are archived and arranged in reversed chronological order (Wright 2006). They are user-friendly, inexpensive, self-publication of content for a potentially vast audience on the web. The entries in the blogs are called blog posts. Blogs are more flexible and interactive than previous publication print and digital formats. They contain numerous hyperlinks that are often accompanied by comments regarding the destination of the link. Blogs are designed to be a part of a network where they are connected to each other through links, which are generally related to the content. The readers then have the possibility to comment on the blog posts. Blogosphere is the term used to describe the global network of blog postings. Blogs can be thought of as a gateway to vast sources of information where users may respond to a blogger by sending comments and links to additional information. In this sense, it is fulfilling many needs (Trema yne, 2007). Type of Blogs Diary blog A diary blog is a web based tool that gives the author the possibility to post information for consumption for others. Also, diary blogs gives the reader the possibility to add comments regarding its content; however, this is not applicable for all diary blogs. The authors that are writing on a diary blog all have different opinions regarding things and express their view of whatever they are writing about. This is a demonstration to the personal and dynamic capacity of a diary blog according to Searles and Sifry (2002). Pomerantz and Stutzman, (2006) describes diary blogs as web pages that arranges discrete posts that contains chunks of information that may contain images, multimedia and text. According to Lamshed, Berry and Armstrong (2002) diary blogs are very personal and if the reader does not like the author and his/her opinion, it may not interest them enough to return. The blogger can use the diary blog for personal enjoyment and archive the happenings in their li ves. Collaborative blog It contains information that is posted by several individuals not just one author. In collaborative blogs, readers have the possibility to contribute with links or posts comments, in order to participate with their opinions, answers and questions. Most collaborative blogs focus on a specific topic, and the authors can be both regular people as well as experts within the topic (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). The collaborative blogs are an online group created by the bloggers in the blogosphere. These groups have focus on certain topics in order to encourage readers to correspond to each other, which is similar to a normal discussion group. The purpose, according to Lamshed et al. (2002), is to break down the barriers between people and to extend the blog to more than just one author, in order to create a discussion among its members. Collaborative blogs have standard rules about participation in order to avoid development of poor quality content, which do not encoura ge new and current readers to come back on a regular basis. Company blog It include two types of blogs, product and customer service blog. Product blogs can consist of different approaches. One approach is to provide updates about the product so customers can receive the latest information. A second approach is to provide customers with insights and information directly from those who are responsible for the products. A product blog that keeps customers updated can build loyalty to the product and the brand/company. The customer service blog is rather similar to product blogs, but customer service blogs focus completely on issues on the already purchased products. The customer service blogs is a channel in order to address the issues on the products to the customers that have purchased the product (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). When the first blogs appeared in the late 1990s, they were primary web pages that contained many links, offering mostly â€Å"personal information† and easy to update. The blogosphere has been expanding rapidly over the last few years. According to the New York Times and Pew Research, nearly one blog per second is created (Tremayne, 2007). The Current Scenario People have blogged long before the term was coined, but the trend gained force with the introduction of automated published systems, especially Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and increase the publishing process. People started using the blogs because they wanted to express themselves about mentioned events. Blogging about events has attracted the attention of the mainstream news media, further contributing to the popularisation and adoption of this new phenomenon of computer mediated communication. Today the blogging in the blogosphere concerns business, for example about markets, customer service, product etc. (Tremayne, 2007). According to the search engine Technorati (2006, November 6) there were more than 57 million blogs available on the internet as of the end of October 2006. Approximately 12% of those blogs had posted comments or links. Research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project presented by Tremayne (2007) also indicates that blog readers today are similar to the early adopters of the internet and other new communication technologies. The bloggers are young, well-educated and more likely to be males. According to Tremayne (2007) the development of blogs seems to follow the traditionally diffusion path of successful new communication technologies and users with great interest in technology. The final step to become a part of the broader public of the internet community is then to shift to the general internet users. The new stage of the development of blogs is the business sector. Business has become a new phase of the communications that appears on the blogosphere today. Bloggers communicate and share information to each other since blogs are the new ways for customers to reach out to the companies. This scenario has made the companies more alert to listen to their customers demands through the blogosphere. Enterprises now have the opportunity to gain new knowledge from the customer and to gain an idea about what the customers are saying about them (Tremayne, 2007). Observations have been done on why internet users connect to blogs. Blogs seem to encourage a sense of community, especially for those who seek more in-depth information than what is available through traditional media. Blog content generally reflects the bias of the blogger, who tends to take one side of an issue. Furthermore it contains a sense of belonging to a group of like-minded individuals. Information seeking is also a reason for accessing blogs. Bloggers provide the latest news and analysis by experts and other with inside knowledge, some of which is glossed over or omitted by the traditional channels. Blog users can also frequently use one certain blog due to they follow a story for a longer period of time than that they would be able to do if the story came from traditional media (Tremayne, 2007). Blog as mode of Communication In business, companies are required to communicate with their customer and have a strategy for the implementation of the chosen approach (Kotler et al. 2005). Communication with customer can take many forms, such as advertising, mailed brochures, sales promotion and personal selling etc. The marketers are often those who conduct this communication. They are often perceived as people with something to sell; they express what is good, great and irresistible with the product/service (Varey 2002). Blog enjoys characteristics of different types of flow of communication like: It enjoys characteristics of One-step flow of communication as: Flow of information from company to the target audience (Fill 1999, Harrell et al 1999, Ottesen 2001). It is non-personal communication since the message is carried without personal involvement by Kotler et al. (2005). All consumers are exposed to the same message at the very same time. It follows the principle of Mass Communication (Fill 1999). It enjoys characteristics of Two-step flow of communication as: In this information goes from the sender to certain receivers, that in turn reach the target audience through interpersonal networks (Fill 1999). Mass communication reaches the target audience, opinion leaders and opinion formers are there to strengthen the influence of the message (Blackwell 2001). Blogs helps the opinion formers and leaders in reaching targets that were missed by the traditional mass communication. It enjoys characteristics of Multiple-step flow of communication as: It overcomes the problem of two-step flow of information that neither allow the information to flow between individuals in the target audience, nor it includes the communication between the original senders, via a consumer, to the opinion leader and then passed on to other consumers. It adds the function of gatekeepers, who are people in a position able to decide whether or not the target audience will be able to take part of the message. Relationship between Blog and Word of mouth (WOM) WOM is defined by (Blackwell et al 2001 p.404) as â€Å"the informal transmission of ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two people, neither one of which is a marketer†. According to them, both the sender and the receiver gains from WOM, which is supported by Fill (1999), who also argues for the above. The benefits for the receiver are rather straight-forward; as they gain lots of information they would not be able to obtain otherwise. The benefits for the sender can be a little vaguer at first glance, but according to both Blackwell et al (2001) and Fill (1999) people like to talk about the purchases for a number of reasons, such as confirmation, satisfaction, status etc; which is what the purpose of blogs. According to Blackwell et al (2001) the affect of WOM has increased rapidly due to Internet. Consumers of today are able to spread the word of something faster and further than ever before. Schindler and Bickart (2005) discuss that the traditional WOM and online WOM differs in the strength of ties between consumers when they are exchanging information between each other. Granovetter (1973) previously argued that the strength of ties between two individuals is a function of the amount of time spent together, the emotional intensity and degree of intimacy in the relationship. Following this discussion, online WOM is characterized by weak ties. Weak ties then provide three possible benefits for the consumer. Friedkin (1982) argues that it first provides a potential input for a decision. Second, consumer information should be more diverse then that coming from stronger ties. Thirdly, it also gives consumers the opportunity to gain access to expertise which they normally would not get access to (Constant, Sproull and Kiesler, 1997). One downside is however, that consumers do not know the motives of the person that provides the online WOM. It can be difficult to access the in formants background and expertise in the topic (Schindler and Bickart, 2005). Consumer Decision Making Process The consumer decision making process provides a general description on how a purchase decision is made. Consumers does not necessarily go through all the stages for all the kinds of decisions they make, and neither do they always go through the stages in the very specific order that is presented below (Blackwell et al 2001). The process consists of mainly five steps (need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and the post-purchase process) according to most researchers within the field (Blackwell et al. 2001, Statt 1997, Kotler et al. 2005), but there are number of factors that affects the consumer in their purchasing process. Consumer are affected by individual determinants (Blackwell et al., 2001) and physical factors (Harell Frazier, 1999) because they are different, have different experiences and motivations, therefore, they will interpret things differently. Also consumers differ in available resources and knowledge which will further affect thei r decision. Another aspect that affects the consumers is the environmental influences (Blackwell et al., 2001) and societal and social factors (Harell et al., 1999). Here the authors talk about external factors that affect consumer, such as culture, social class and reference groups, but also the influence of the family and other individuals by whom the consumer is affected because every individual strive to some extent â€Å"fit in† heavily affect consumers. Also the information provided by these groups tend to have high credibility, depending on the consumers need to belong. Lastly, consumers are also affected by their degree of involvement (Harell et al. 1999). Involvement is the degree to which the consumers perceive the purchase to be of importance to them, and how complex they find the purchase situation (Blackwell et al 2001). The more complex the purchase, the more effort will be needed from the consumer in order to make a good decision. The involvement in turn affects the way in which consumes will learn about the products. Since a low involvement purchase is fairly routine consumers do not engage in a very extensive information search on the product, they mainly gather their information passively. A high-involvement purchase will demand more from the consumer and they will be more motivated to actively search for information. LITERATURE REVIEW Bickart Schindler (2001) investigated the WOM in online forums on the Internet. They assigned students to look at either corporate web pages or consumer forums about specific products. They found that after one semester, there was a higher interest in the product category for those who used the online discussion forum. They then suggested that a reason for this was because the content posts in the online discussion forums are thought to be more credible and more relevant but also having more empathy among its readers. In another study, Bickart Schindler (2005) tried to explore the consumer use of online WOM. They found three motives for using online WOM a) To gain information on purchase decisions, in which consumer reviews and negative information was of most interest; b) To get support from decision already made in which positive was used most for confirmation of that the right choice have been made; and c) Whether information was searched for fun or not. Another theme they discovered was the evaluation of the content of information in online WOM. They identified, corporate web pages are more biased and untrustworthy. Independent web pages free from corporate marketing, in which detailed information and authentic first person experience was viewed more credible and reliable. A consensus of agreement among consumers in the online WOM also tended to increase the credibility. Finally, they found online WOM disperse more information in all stages of consumer decision-making process. During the nee d recognition, when product was mentioned, it sometimes stimulated interest or problem recognition for the consumer. Other consumers sometimes provide ideas that lead for alternative product to be included, or removed, in the consumer consideration set. Online WOM also suggested important attributes that could influence the criteria of which alternatives are compared. Information from consumers on how alternative rate on those criteria was also of importance when comparing alternatives. After purchase was done, online WOM information could increase the consumers satisfaction of the purchase through positive information. They also discovered that their informants were selective in their information gathering process. This was done to simplify the information but also to help them absorb the information with amount of consumer information about a large area of different products. They continue and suggest that future research should look deeper into what characterise the content in those online WOM consumers choose to read. Bernhad, Bjurling and Ã…hrà ©n (2006) did another study on un-addressed consumer complaints through blogs. They found that the blog is used as a way to express dissatisfaction on companies and their products and services. It is used when the consumer do not get enough amendments from the companies. Blogs then works as a complement to complaints through friends and family, and it is an easy way to ease the consumers experiences and reduce the stress of a distasteful treatment from companies. The consumers have then used blog to warn other consumers on products and companies but also to tell their own story regarding the complaint. Bernhad et al. (2006) discuss that the technical development has reduced the barriers to complain and this had led to increased likelihood to present complains for products of less value. Wallstà ©n (2005) then comes to the conclusion that the collaborative blogs increase the learning process in which people can learn from each other by reading blog pos t. It also gives a shared knowledge base for the participants. In another study by Constant, et al. (1997) weak-tie sources were found to make it harder for consumers to assess the quality of the WOM information they received. Schindler and Bickart (2005) then discuss that the reason for this may be that the consumer do not know the motives of the informant and it may also sometimes be hard to assess the background and expertise in the topic of the informant. RESEARCH METHOD Research approach As the purpose of study is to understand how consumers perceive their own experiences and behaviour which can be best analysed through inductive approach. As this approach allows researcher to have more flexible structure that will permit alternative explanations of the phenomena. This approach is qualitative in nature that begins with data. It develops an empirical generalisation that describes patterns of that data and it seeks to identify or develop a theoretical proposition that is consistent with those patterns (Schutt, 1996). Research Strategy Putting emphasis on the inductive approach, research strategy of the paper is built on an exploratory study, though it also includes a cross-sectional study as interviews were held over a short period of time (Saunders et al. 2003). As the paper does not allow for sufficient time for conducting a longitudinal study and it is not intended to study the effects of change and development of the blogging phenomena on the consumers decision making process, a cross-sectional study is more appropriate. As the purpose of paper is from the consumers perspective, qualitative research method will enable us to get information from the informants and will allow us to understand the meaning that the informants attach to their experiences of blogging. Description is based on the meanings that informants express through words. A qualitative approach will allow getting this non-standardised data without being locked into a standardised set of questions. This is because the nature of the questions will need to be flexible and open-ended in order to explore what emerges during the interview. Furthermore, to get a rich description of this non-standardised data and to get into the thoughts of our informants, the interviews will need to allow a long length of time. Sample selection The sample selection consists of young educated adults; as previous research suggests they use blogs the most. The sample size consisted of nine people within the ages of 21 to 28. Of those nine people, three are females and six are males. Judgement sampling technique was used for identifying the informants who had rich experiences of blogging. The low number of informants can be justified by this as it allows getting a richer description of the phenomena studied. Data collection This primary data has been collected through interviews which are qualitative (semi-structured and in-depth) in nature. Limited research that exists and relates to our study has been used as secondary data. To check the effectiveness of semi-structured interview, two pilot studies were conducted. First semi-structured interview uses too much theoretical jargons that fail in retrieving the information. The second test then avoided the theoretical jargon and explanations. To get a rich description, informants were briefed two days prior on the themes to be covered in the interview. It was ensured that each informant had read the information letter before the interview took place. The informants were interviewed in two different ways -a) 6 informants were interviewed face-to-face in quiet rooms and conversations were recorded; and b) remaining 3 informants were interviewed through Skype because of distance and conversations were again recorded. However, attempt was made to conduct all interviews face-to-face as it enables to establish personal contact which is also important as Saunders et al (2003) argue; qualitative data favours the establishment of personal contact. It was also judged that the face-to-face contact would increase the likelihood of describing and identifying our informants accurately. In all cases, focus was on recording the findings from the interview as the findings emerged naturally. To really understand the informants meanings to their experiences and actions, flexible approach was used within the semi-structured interview. Although questions were bound to the themes, questions were flexible to allow an understanding of the participant. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS Data is presented through sectioning each interview individually. Collected raw data was put into categories and themes that emerged from the interview as need is to have a close understanding to our informants. Information collected and compiled under each category will be compared with other categories. This helps in identifying relationships; in discovering key themes, and recognising patterns and trends. Later on, theoretical framework will be applied on those patterns in order to understand it in a new way. Quotes will be made to simplify the meaning and in drawing conclusions. Empirical Findings a) Interview with Reema Sharma: Reema, 25 years old, was interviewed at her office in Jammu and studying at Jammu University. She uses blogs when she wants to buy something new or wants to find out different type of products available. She also uses blogs for reading travel diaries for fun and to be in touch with people she knows. When it comes to blogging about a future purchase, she reads blogs by people who are in the same situation as her and that have experience from the things she is interested in. She blogs travels but sometimes for electronics products and hiking. She has never used blogs actively, she only reads them. The kind of blogs she uses is mainly product blogs, and collaborative blogs, where she can read and learn more. She does not really read the blogs from companies. Rarely she reads a blog and completely changes her mind. The blog can instead make her choose a different brand. Relationship with bloggers: For her, the blogger is just someone whose blog she happens to find. Reema trusts all the information that is written in the blogs, but she explains that the more detailed description on how the product has been used, the more she relies on the inlay. People whose blogs she reads most often posses greater knowledge then her, within the subject. Need and awareness discovered with blogs:Reema agrees that she discovers a lot of new kinds of products, but this has never actually evolved to a need. This has occurred, for example, when she has blogged about hiking gear, she has learned about many new products and the advantaged with those products, but as she is not very experienced in the area, many of those products are just too complicated. However, the blogs she reads regarding travels could actually create a need sometimes. From these blogs she learns more about possible places to travel to which she might visit later in her life she explains. Blogging for information and evaluation of potential purchase: Reema searches for information about experience from others consumers and their opinions. She looks for new things and assesses which of the product will give most value for her money. For her, price is often one of the most important factors affecting her decision. The reason to why she chooses to collect the information from blogs is because she feels that this is the only place where she can learn about peoples experiences and opinions, and also since this information is more neutral then if it would be from a company. When it comes to evaluating products, she mainly uses collaborative blogs in where many people can express their opinions on things. While evaluating the products she mainly stick within one price category that will offer her maximum value of her money. Bloggi Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process Role of Blog Marketing in Consumer Decision Making Process A FUTURE MARKETING PERSPECTIVE The phenomenon of blogs is growing rapidly and is expected to increase even in a more rapid pace (Technorati, 2006, November 6). As Wright (2006) discuss; blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers, as customers want to be talked with, not to. Companies have newly started to pay attention to this and as a result, the concept of Blog marketing has been born. The use of blogs as a communication tool has the huge importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The purpose of this paper is to understand and explore how and why consumers use blogs in their decision making process. Interview technique was used on young adults, as research suggests that this population use blogs the most (Tremayne, 2007). It was identified that consumers use blogs throughout their decision making. Within the consumers decision making, collaborative blogs was mostly used as the consumers because it cover specific topic of interest for the consumers. Consumers were found mainly writing in the blogs when they had knowledge to contribute with or when they needed information that they could not otherwise find in the blogs. It was identified that consumers turned to groups they belonged to, so called normative group, or they turned to groups that they did not belong to, so called comparative groups. These groups influenced the consumer by providing them with knowledge and by giving them positive and negative confirmation on their choice of purchase. However normative groups also persuaded the consumer to buy products in order to belong to the group. Besides this, a pattern of characteristics of the individuals that the consumer blogged with were noticed. Consumers wanted user experiences and thus the vast majority of these individuals they turned to, seemed to be consumers themselves, with relevant product experiences. The consumers also seem to blog more with certain individuals, whose opinions were valued more. These individuals often shared the latest information on products. Lastly it was also identified that consumers seemed to be selective when reading blog posts. The blog posts needed to contain detailed- and up-to-date information. Moreover, consumers wanted blog post to be written by other consumers because they saw them as more credible then companies. The consumers also chose to read blog posts that show similarities between the consumer and the blogger in terms of either usage pattern of product or preference for product choices. INTRODUCTION Ever since the internet was introduced for the general public during the 1990s, people have used it as a source of information. Majority of the population in India use internet in order to get information regarding products and services. However most statistics available does not tell how the consumers use the internet and what kind of information they search for. There are many different sources of information online, for example company web pages, communities, blogs etc. The concept of blogs and blogging is a relatively new phenomenon in todays society and it has not really been explored before. Nevertheless, magazines are today filled with articles on the importance for companies to start blogging and join the communication of the future, if they do not want to loose ground to their competitors (Lindstedt, 2005, November). The major blog search engine, Technorati, shows some interesting facts on the number of blogs and its growth. In October, 2006, Technorati counted 57 million blogs and a growth rate of one hundred thousand new blogs per day. This number is expected to keep growing and double every eight month (Technorati, 2006, November 6). However, when it comes to the number of blogs in India, there is uncertainty. Different articles talk about a wide interval of blogs, starting at around 18,000 (Lindstedt, 2005, August) and counting up to more then hundred thousands (Johansson, 2007). The reason to this wide span is due to the lack of a clear definition on what a blog is and also the fact that the figures are 18 months apart from each other. But the fact is that the tremendous growth of blogs worldwide also is true for India. India contains actors like Twitter, Facebook and MSN spaces whom all contain blogs and allow for a creation of your own blog. As a result of this growth, blog marketing has emerged as a new innovative way to create closer relationship with customers. It has also given the consumers the possibility to discuss amongst each other. Blog marketing allows marketers to establish closer relationships with its segment. Today limited research has been made within the concept of blog marketing. Furthermore, all research that has been conducted has had the focus on how companies can use blogs in order to interact with consumers. Something that has not been considered, and has been taken for granted, is the issue of how consumers use blogs in their decision making. Moreover, how consumers consider the information that is being transmitted on the blog has not yet been explored. The truth could be that consumers use blogs in a way that companies have not thought about. The existing use of blog marketing could thus miss its objectives if companies do not know how their audience perceives it. PROBLEM DISCUSSION The paper focuses on consumer decision making process and tried to explore how consumers use blogs in this process. As there is not so much work done on the area, this increases the importance to conduct such study. Blogs provides a new way of communicating with customers (Wright, 2006). In order to use this communication tool, it is of big importance for companies to understand how consumers use blogs in their decision making. The focus on the consumer decision making process in the context of blog is of importance for several reasons. It is today unclear how and in what stages consumers use blogs in their decision making process. An overview of the literature shows that not much research has been done within this subject. Traditional marketing tools such as advertising, sales promotion etc have different impact in the different stages of the consumer decision making process. But it is unclear what impact blogging has in those stages. By mapping out this information, companies can learn how to use their marketing in a new and innovative way to appeal consumers. Moreover, whatever research is conducted is from company perspective. To be successful in blog marketing, activities needs to be shaped in accordance to consumers blog usage. If companies learn how blogs are used, they can benefit in several ways like they can engage in the viral marketing on the blogs to create knowledge of their products, or can listen on why consumers prefer competitors products. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK What is Blog? A blog is a web page that contains regularly posted inlays that are archived and arranged in reversed chronological order (Wright 2006). They are user-friendly, inexpensive, self-publication of content for a potentially vast audience on the web. The entries in the blogs are called blog posts. Blogs are more flexible and interactive than previous publication print and digital formats. They contain numerous hyperlinks that are often accompanied by comments regarding the destination of the link. Blogs are designed to be a part of a network where they are connected to each other through links, which are generally related to the content. The readers then have the possibility to comment on the blog posts. Blogosphere is the term used to describe the global network of blog postings. Blogs can be thought of as a gateway to vast sources of information where users may respond to a blogger by sending comments and links to additional information. In this sense, it is fulfilling many needs (Trema yne, 2007). Type of Blogs Diary blog A diary blog is a web based tool that gives the author the possibility to post information for consumption for others. Also, diary blogs gives the reader the possibility to add comments regarding its content; however, this is not applicable for all diary blogs. The authors that are writing on a diary blog all have different opinions regarding things and express their view of whatever they are writing about. This is a demonstration to the personal and dynamic capacity of a diary blog according to Searles and Sifry (2002). Pomerantz and Stutzman, (2006) describes diary blogs as web pages that arranges discrete posts that contains chunks of information that may contain images, multimedia and text. According to Lamshed, Berry and Armstrong (2002) diary blogs are very personal and if the reader does not like the author and his/her opinion, it may not interest them enough to return. The blogger can use the diary blog for personal enjoyment and archive the happenings in their li ves. Collaborative blog It contains information that is posted by several individuals not just one author. In collaborative blogs, readers have the possibility to contribute with links or posts comments, in order to participate with their opinions, answers and questions. Most collaborative blogs focus on a specific topic, and the authors can be both regular people as well as experts within the topic (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). The collaborative blogs are an online group created by the bloggers in the blogosphere. These groups have focus on certain topics in order to encourage readers to correspond to each other, which is similar to a normal discussion group. The purpose, according to Lamshed et al. (2002), is to break down the barriers between people and to extend the blog to more than just one author, in order to create a discussion among its members. Collaborative blogs have standard rules about participation in order to avoid development of poor quality content, which do not encoura ge new and current readers to come back on a regular basis. Company blog It include two types of blogs, product and customer service blog. Product blogs can consist of different approaches. One approach is to provide updates about the product so customers can receive the latest information. A second approach is to provide customers with insights and information directly from those who are responsible for the products. A product blog that keeps customers updated can build loyalty to the product and the brand/company. The customer service blog is rather similar to product blogs, but customer service blogs focus completely on issues on the already purchased products. The customer service blogs is a channel in order to address the issues on the products to the customers that have purchased the product (Holtz and Demopoulos, 2006). When the first blogs appeared in the late 1990s, they were primary web pages that contained many links, offering mostly â€Å"personal information† and easy to update. The blogosphere has been expanding rapidly over the last few years. According to the New York Times and Pew Research, nearly one blog per second is created (Tremayne, 2007). The Current Scenario People have blogged long before the term was coined, but the trend gained force with the introduction of automated published systems, especially Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and increase the publishing process. People started using the blogs because they wanted to express themselves about mentioned events. Blogging about events has attracted the attention of the mainstream news media, further contributing to the popularisation and adoption of this new phenomenon of computer mediated communication. Today the blogging in the blogosphere concerns business, for example about markets, customer service, product etc. (Tremayne, 2007). According to the search engine Technorati (2006, November 6) there were more than 57 million blogs available on the internet as of the end of October 2006. Approximately 12% of those blogs had posted comments or links. Research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project presented by Tremayne (2007) also indicates that blog readers today are similar to the early adopters of the internet and other new communication technologies. The bloggers are young, well-educated and more likely to be males. According to Tremayne (2007) the development of blogs seems to follow the traditionally diffusion path of successful new communication technologies and users with great interest in technology. The final step to become a part of the broader public of the internet community is then to shift to the general internet users. The new stage of the development of blogs is the business sector. Business has become a new phase of the communications that appears on the blogosphere today. Bloggers communicate and share information to each other since blogs are the new ways for customers to reach out to the companies. This scenario has made the companies more alert to listen to their customers demands through the blogosphere. Enterprises now have the opportunity to gain new knowledge from the customer and to gain an idea about what the customers are saying about them (Tremayne, 2007). Observations have been done on why internet users connect to blogs. Blogs seem to encourage a sense of community, especially for those who seek more in-depth information than what is available through traditional media. Blog content generally reflects the bias of the blogger, who tends to take one side of an issue. Furthermore it contains a sense of belonging to a group of like-minded individuals. Information seeking is also a reason for accessing blogs. Bloggers provide the latest news and analysis by experts and other with inside knowledge, some of which is glossed over or omitted by the traditional channels. Blog users can also frequently use one certain blog due to they follow a story for a longer period of time than that they would be able to do if the story came from traditional media (Tremayne, 2007). Blog as mode of Communication In business, companies are required to communicate with their customer and have a strategy for the implementation of the chosen approach (Kotler et al. 2005). Communication with customer can take many forms, such as advertising, mailed brochures, sales promotion and personal selling etc. The marketers are often those who conduct this communication. They are often perceived as people with something to sell; they express what is good, great and irresistible with the product/service (Varey 2002). Blog enjoys characteristics of different types of flow of communication like: It enjoys characteristics of One-step flow of communication as: Flow of information from company to the target audience (Fill 1999, Harrell et al 1999, Ottesen 2001). It is non-personal communication since the message is carried without personal involvement by Kotler et al. (2005). All consumers are exposed to the same message at the very same time. It follows the principle of Mass Communication (Fill 1999). It enjoys characteristics of Two-step flow of communication as: In this information goes from the sender to certain receivers, that in turn reach the target audience through interpersonal networks (Fill 1999). Mass communication reaches the target audience, opinion leaders and opinion formers are there to strengthen the influence of the message (Blackwell 2001). Blogs helps the opinion formers and leaders in reaching targets that were missed by the traditional mass communication. It enjoys characteristics of Multiple-step flow of communication as: It overcomes the problem of two-step flow of information that neither allow the information to flow between individuals in the target audience, nor it includes the communication between the original senders, via a consumer, to the opinion leader and then passed on to other consumers. It adds the function of gatekeepers, who are people in a position able to decide whether or not the target audience will be able to take part of the message. Relationship between Blog and Word of mouth (WOM) WOM is defined by (Blackwell et al 2001 p.404) as â€Å"the informal transmission of ideas, comments, opinions, and information between two people, neither one of which is a marketer†. According to them, both the sender and the receiver gains from WOM, which is supported by Fill (1999), who also argues for the above. The benefits for the receiver are rather straight-forward; as they gain lots of information they would not be able to obtain otherwise. The benefits for the sender can be a little vaguer at first glance, but according to both Blackwell et al (2001) and Fill (1999) people like to talk about the purchases for a number of reasons, such as confirmation, satisfaction, status etc; which is what the purpose of blogs. According to Blackwell et al (2001) the affect of WOM has increased rapidly due to Internet. Consumers of today are able to spread the word of something faster and further than ever before. Schindler and Bickart (2005) discuss that the traditional WOM and online WOM differs in the strength of ties between consumers when they are exchanging information between each other. Granovetter (1973) previously argued that the strength of ties between two individuals is a function of the amount of time spent together, the emotional intensity and degree of intimacy in the relationship. Following this discussion, online WOM is characterized by weak ties. Weak ties then provide three possible benefits for the consumer. Friedkin (1982) argues that it first provides a potential input for a decision. Second, consumer information should be more diverse then that coming from stronger ties. Thirdly, it also gives consumers the opportunity to gain access to expertise which they normally would not get access to (Constant, Sproull and Kiesler, 1997). One downside is however, that consumers do not know the motives of the person that provides the online WOM. It can be difficult to access the in formants background and expertise in the topic (Schindler and Bickart, 2005). Consumer Decision Making Process The consumer decision making process provides a general description on how a purchase decision is made. Consumers does not necessarily go through all the stages for all the kinds of decisions they make, and neither do they always go through the stages in the very specific order that is presented below (Blackwell et al 2001). The process consists of mainly five steps (need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and the post-purchase process) according to most researchers within the field (Blackwell et al. 2001, Statt 1997, Kotler et al. 2005), but there are number of factors that affects the consumer in their purchasing process. Consumer are affected by individual determinants (Blackwell et al., 2001) and physical factors (Harell Frazier, 1999) because they are different, have different experiences and motivations, therefore, they will interpret things differently. Also consumers differ in available resources and knowledge which will further affect thei r decision. Another aspect that affects the consumers is the environmental influences (Blackwell et al., 2001) and societal and social factors (Harell et al., 1999). Here the authors talk about external factors that affect consumer, such as culture, social class and reference groups, but also the influence of the family and other individuals by whom the consumer is affected because every individual strive to some extent â€Å"fit in† heavily affect consumers. Also the information provided by these groups tend to have high credibility, depending on the consumers need to belong. Lastly, consumers are also affected by their degree of involvement (Harell et al. 1999). Involvement is the degree to which the consumers perceive the purchase to be of importance to them, and how complex they find the purchase situation (Blackwell et al 2001). The more complex the purchase, the more effort will be needed from the consumer in order to make a good decision. The involvement in turn affects the way in which consumes will learn about the products. Since a low involvement purchase is fairly routine consumers do not engage in a very extensive information search on the product, they mainly gather their information passively. A high-involvement purchase will demand more from the consumer and they will be more motivated to actively search for information. LITERATURE REVIEW Bickart Schindler (2001) investigated the WOM in online forums on the Internet. They assigned students to look at either corporate web pages or consumer forums about specific products. They found that after one semester, there was a higher interest in the product category for those who used the online discussion forum. They then suggested that a reason for this was because the content posts in the online discussion forums are thought to be more credible and more relevant but also having more empathy among its readers. In another study, Bickart Schindler (2005) tried to explore the consumer use of online WOM. They found three motives for using online WOM a) To gain information on purchase decisions, in which consumer reviews and negative information was of most interest; b) To get support from decision already made in which positive was used most for confirmation of that the right choice have been made; and c) Whether information was searched for fun or not. Another theme they discovered was the evaluation of the content of information in online WOM. They identified, corporate web pages are more biased and untrustworthy. Independent web pages free from corporate marketing, in which detailed information and authentic first person experience was viewed more credible and reliable. A consensus of agreement among consumers in the online WOM also tended to increase the credibility. Finally, they found online WOM disperse more information in all stages of consumer decision-making process. During the nee d recognition, when product was mentioned, it sometimes stimulated interest or problem recognition for the consumer. Other consumers sometimes provide ideas that lead for alternative product to be included, or removed, in the consumer consideration set. Online WOM also suggested important attributes that could influence the criteria of which alternatives are compared. Information from consumers on how alternative rate on those criteria was also of importance when comparing alternatives. After purchase was done, online WOM information could increase the consumers satisfaction of the purchase through positive information. They also discovered that their informants were selective in their information gathering process. This was done to simplify the information but also to help them absorb the information with amount of consumer information about a large area of different products. They continue and suggest that future research should look deeper into what characterise the content in those online WOM consumers choose to read. Bernhad, Bjurling and Ã…hrà ©n (2006) did another study on un-addressed consumer complaints through blogs. They found that the blog is used as a way to express dissatisfaction on companies and their products and services. It is used when the consumer do not get enough amendments from the companies. Blogs then works as a complement to complaints through friends and family, and it is an easy way to ease the consumers experiences and reduce the stress of a distasteful treatment from companies. The consumers have then used blog to warn other consumers on products and companies but also to tell their own story regarding the complaint. Bernhad et al. (2006) discuss that the technical development has reduced the barriers to complain and this had led to increased likelihood to present complains for products of less value. Wallstà ©n (2005) then comes to the conclusion that the collaborative blogs increase the learning process in which people can learn from each other by reading blog pos t. It also gives a shared knowledge base for the participants. In another study by Constant, et al. (1997) weak-tie sources were found to make it harder for consumers to assess the quality of the WOM information they received. Schindler and Bickart (2005) then discuss that the reason for this may be that the consumer do not know the motives of the informant and it may also sometimes be hard to assess the background and expertise in the topic of the informant. RESEARCH METHOD Research approach As the purpose of study is to understand how consumers perceive their own experiences and behaviour which can be best analysed through inductive approach. As this approach allows researcher to have more flexible structure that will permit alternative explanations of the phenomena. This approach is qualitative in nature that begins with data. It develops an empirical generalisation that describes patterns of that data and it seeks to identify or develop a theoretical proposition that is consistent with those patterns (Schutt, 1996). Research Strategy Putting emphasis on the inductive approach, research strategy of the paper is built on an exploratory study, though it also includes a cross-sectional study as interviews were held over a short period of time (Saunders et al. 2003). As the paper does not allow for sufficient time for conducting a longitudinal study and it is not intended to study the effects of change and development of the blogging phenomena on the consumers decision making process, a cross-sectional study is more appropriate. As the purpose of paper is from the consumers perspective, qualitative research method will enable us to get information from the informants and will allow us to understand the meaning that the informants attach to their experiences of blogging. Description is based on the meanings that informants express through words. A qualitative approach will allow getting this non-standardised data without being locked into a standardised set of questions. This is because the nature of the questions will need to be flexible and open-ended in order to explore what emerges during the interview. Furthermore, to get a rich description of this non-standardised data and to get into the thoughts of our informants, the interviews will need to allow a long length of time. Sample selection The sample selection consists of young educated adults; as previous research suggests they use blogs the most. The sample size consisted of nine people within the ages of 21 to 28. Of those nine people, three are females and six are males. Judgement sampling technique was used for identifying the informants who had rich experiences of blogging. The low number of informants can be justified by this as it allows getting a richer description of the phenomena studied. Data collection This primary data has been collected through interviews which are qualitative (semi-structured and in-depth) in nature. Limited research that exists and relates to our study has been used as secondary data. To check the effectiveness of semi-structured interview, two pilot studies were conducted. First semi-structured interview uses too much theoretical jargons that fail in retrieving the information. The second test then avoided the theoretical jargon and explanations. To get a rich description, informants were briefed two days prior on the themes to be covered in the interview. It was ensured that each informant had read the information letter before the interview took place. The informants were interviewed in two different ways -a) 6 informants were interviewed face-to-face in quiet rooms and conversations were recorded; and b) remaining 3 informants were interviewed through Skype because of distance and conversations were again recorded. However, attempt was made to conduct all interviews face-to-face as it enables to establish personal contact which is also important as Saunders et al (2003) argue; qualitative data favours the establishment of personal contact. It was also judged that the face-to-face contact would increase the likelihood of describing and identifying our informants accurately. In all cases, focus was on recording the findings from the interview as the findings emerged naturally. To really understand the informants meanings to their experiences and actions, flexible approach was used within the semi-structured interview. Although questions were bound to the themes, questions were flexible to allow an understanding of the participant. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS Data is presented through sectioning each interview individually. Collected raw data was put into categories and themes that emerged from the interview as need is to have a close understanding to our informants. Information collected and compiled under each category will be compared with other categories. This helps in identifying relationships; in discovering key themes, and recognising patterns and trends. Later on, theoretical framework will be applied on those patterns in order to understand it in a new way. Quotes will be made to simplify the meaning and in drawing conclusions. Empirical Findings a) Interview with Reema Sharma: Reema, 25 years old, was interviewed at her office in Jammu and studying at Jammu University. She uses blogs when she wants to buy something new or wants to find out different type of products available. She also uses blogs for reading travel diaries for fun and to be in touch with people she knows. When it comes to blogging about a future purchase, she reads blogs by people who are in the same situation as her and that have experience from the things she is interested in. She blogs travels but sometimes for electronics products and hiking. She has never used blogs actively, she only reads them. The kind of blogs she uses is mainly product blogs, and collaborative blogs, where she can read and learn more. She does not really read the blogs from companies. Rarely she reads a blog and completely changes her mind. The blog can instead make her choose a different brand. Relationship with bloggers: For her, the blogger is just someone whose blog she happens to find. Reema trusts all the information that is written in the blogs, but she explains that the more detailed description on how the product has been used, the more she relies on the inlay. People whose blogs she reads most often posses greater knowledge then her, within the subject. Need and awareness discovered with blogs:Reema agrees that she discovers a lot of new kinds of products, but this has never actually evolved to a need. This has occurred, for example, when she has blogged about hiking gear, she has learned about many new products and the advantaged with those products, but as she is not very experienced in the area, many of those products are just too complicated. However, the blogs she reads regarding travels could actually create a need sometimes. From these blogs she learns more about possible places to travel to which she might visit later in her life she explains. Blogging for information and evaluation of potential purchase: Reema searches for information about experience from others consumers and their opinions. She looks for new things and assesses which of the product will give most value for her money. For her, price is often one of the most important factors affecting her decision. The reason to why she chooses to collect the information from blogs is because she feels that this is the only place where she can learn about peoples experiences and opinions, and also since this information is more neutral then if it would be from a company. When it comes to evaluating products, she mainly uses collaborative blogs in where many people can express their opinions on things. While evaluating the products she mainly stick within one price category that will offer her maximum value of her money. Bloggi