Impressing your Superiors

by V S Rama Rao on February 1, 2012

It has been a long time since you spent some quality time with your spouse or went on that overnight trip that your friends were planning for months, but getting leave is always an issue. You simply cannot muster up the courage to ask your immediate superior to whom you are reporting for a leave when you have had one just last week. Last weeks leave was for some essential ritual at home. So, how to do you impress your boss to grant you a leave without putting in actual extra unpaid hours, potentially work weekends. Here is a little help with a few no-effort ways which when done for a week are bound to impress your boss and give you that leave you want so badly. If you know that your immediate superior reports at 8:50 every day, be there at 8:45. So that when he enters the office and sees you, he will be impressed with your keenness and eagerness to work. Also, staying at the desk for five minutes till after your boss departs gives an impression of extra-dedication to work. It is advisable to learn what makes your immediate superior dislike the most and avoid doing that for until actually you can manage to get the leave. Even continue this throughout after your leave to impress your boss. He or She does not like to be interrupted after lunch hour or is in a negative mood every morning, avoid talking to her / him. One of the best ways to remain in your bosss good graces is to constantly make him aware of your presence by good work and completing projects in time. For this, do not make number of visits to him or her asking for work that will just creep him or her out, rather volunteer. When volunteers are asked for a certain project be the first to put your hand up. That way, in front of your boss, you will look dedicated, engaged and eager. This is going to require a little amount of effort from your side. As this is not school no one is going to come to you and assign you with class work. You have to ask what can be done to help, or just take on some task yourself. What you can also do is take on a task which every body is been avoiding because it either too much or just too boring.

Whatever you do, make sure that your boss knows that you have taken it on so and so is aware of the additional workload. He/she will think of you as a hard working employee. Even if your job is as boring as some of the serials on Radio or TV these days fake enthusiasm whenever possible. Plaster a big smile on your face, talk some big buzz words while on the phone and your boss will think you are a truly dedicated worker. In fact, more and more organizations are supporting water cooler conversations as they strengthen employee bonding. Who says gossip has to be malicious? Here are some reasons why you too should indulge in it: Trust us, gossip will help you make more friends than your IQ level or fashion sense (that is if you have one). Colleagues who gossip together are happier than ones who indulge in pure professional talk. This is because people find similarities between one another in a gossip sessions and bond better to make friends And gossiping need not be office back biting only it can be about personal lives, commuting woes, shopping trips, radio, politics etc. Gossiping is a harmless way of venting frustration, sharing insecurities and connecting with others to feel good. At times if bitching about someone makes you feel good then go ahead with it, as long as its not vicious. It can help best your social and professional worries. It can also help build your confidence. You will be one of the most sought after persons in your office if you give good scoop every now and then. Having inside information can make you feel powerful. It will also help you stay ahead of others in crucial professional matters. Moreover, people who gossip also invariably build better networks within an organization and get powerful. Most people enjoy gossip as it gives them information they wouldnt have laid their hands on otherwise. You can get a whole lot of information in a gossip session, i.e. stuff you wouldnt come to know otherwise. It will give you an insight on how trustworthy or reliable people are, and who can be trusted with what type of information. This kind of information can help you succeed and stay away from dubious characters. However, a careless word can land you in trouble. You never talk bad about the company at the coffee breaks or water cooler gossips. Some material at these gossip sessions can be passed on to the boss also.

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Consumer Behavior (Research)

by V S Rama Rao on January 6, 2012

Attracting a consumer to their product is a marketers goal. But a consumer gets attracted and opts for repeated purchases if the product has good aesthetics, fully satisfies the consumer in his or her use and the marketer offers good after sale services. The world of marketing is completely dominated by the buyers. It is the buyers behavior that decides the fate of any product or company. A buyers behavior includes prepurchase behavior and post purchase response. It is the consumers response that decides the future of the product or service in the market. As a result more and more industries and businesses are investing great amount of time and money in reading consumer behavior. The success of any product largely depends on the buyers response as a result it is very important to research consumer behavior and develops the product accordingly. Design a marketing strategy keeping in mind the consumers interest. The process of buying a product is very complex and there are various factors that affect buyers behavior in choosing a certain product over the other. Though there is no a set rule or law to interpret the consumers behavior, but close study of the market and analysis of consumer buying behavior could help in explaining consumer behavior. It elaborates what influences the consumers decision while selecting a particular product or service. The procedure of buying any product is long and there are various factors that lead the buyer towards buying. Problem/need One of the major factors that lead a consumer towards the buying is the problem or need. Suppose if you have television and it is working properly you will hardly consider buying another T.V, but if your television is not working properly or you dont have a television then there is a greater probability that you will explore the market with the urge to buy a T.V that fits well in your budget and meets your expectation. Before launching the

product it is necessary to know what is the scope of the particular product and how consumers will respond to it. Information search: Though radical marketing and advertising have made it a lot easier for the buyer to choose a particular product or service, but still a buyer likes to explore the market before making a final decision. Todays consumer has access to various sources of information. They search on the internet, read reviews in magazines and newspapers ask their friends and relatives regarding service and quality of a particular product. Unless they are completely satisfied with reviews and feedback they will not make any final decision. Evaluation of available options: This process includes price comparison, features, guarantee time, price, durability and other factors. People mostly choose the product that offers best value. Todays consumers are well-informed and they know what they want. Unless and until a product meets all the expectation they will not go for it. If a buyer is looking for the television then he will consider all the available options and he will choose the one that offers best price value. Decision: Once the consumer is satisfied with all the aspects he decides to buy a certain product. Earlier local shops were the only place to shop for but many people prefer stores, online portals and phone service for buying a product. Post-purchase behavior; Consumers post purchase behavior deeply effects future purchasing. If a consumer is happy and satisfied with the service then there are great chances that he will again go for the same product and will recommend it to others as well where as if a consumer is dissatisfied he will discourage others from buying the product and will never come back. To know more about consumers it is suggested that one should read the psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and select between different alternatives (e.g., brands, products, and retailers). The psychology of how the consumer is influenced by his or her environment (e.g., culture, family, signs, media). Analyze the consumers behavior thoroughly and make your product launch easy and successful. Lastly, if the product is good and to the satisfaction of the consumers there are many outlets a marketer can display and sell his goods at. The outlets are Malls, Supermarkets, big retail shops and if the item is of low value then petty stores. The marketer must make his product attract consumers and sell through all outlets.

more at http://www.citeman.com/19421-consumer-behaviorresearch.html#ixzz1lOT3Jv2i

Marketing in a Developing Country

by V S Rama Rao on December 22, 2011

A marketer cannot take initiatives and introduce a state-of-the-art marketing system on a developing country or economy. Marketing efforts must match to each situation and made for each set of circumstances. A sales promotion campaign for a population that is 50 per cent illiterate is vastly different from a program for a population that is 95 per cent literate. Pricing in a market where goods produced are insufficient poses different problems from pricing in a surplus situation. An efficient marketing program is one that provides for adequate utility given a particular set of circumstances. In evaluating the potential in a developing country, the marketer must make a survey of the existing level of market development and acceptance within the country. The scope of market development will go with of economic development. Economic cooperation and assistance, technological change, and political, social and cultural factors can and play a role in market development. The more developed an economy, the greater the variety of marketing functions demanded and even if required a local marketing agency (reputed) can be contracted for some time to perform marketing functions to penetrate the local market. As countries develop, the distribution and channel systems develop. In the retail sector, specialty stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets are established and small grocery and General stores give way to larger establishments. In short, the number of retail stores decline and the volume of sales per store increases. A channel network from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer develops and replaces the import agent that traditionally assumed all the functions between importing and retailing. Advertising agencies, facilities for marketing research, repair services, specialized consumer financing agencies, and storage and warehousing facilities are facilitating

agencies created to serve the particular needs of expanded markets and economies. These facilitating agencies do not come about automatically, and the necessary marketing system does not simply form or function. Part of the marketers task when studying an economy is to determine what in the foreign environment will be useful and how much adjustment will be necessary. In some developing countries it may be up to the marketer to lay the marketing channels. An important feature in the speeding up of market development is that countries or areas of countries have been propelled from the 18th to the 21st century in the span of two decades by the influences of borrowed technology. It is not unusual to find traditional marketing retail outlets functioning side by side with advanced, modern markets. This is especially true in food retailing, where a large segment of the population buys food from small produce stalls while the same economy supports modern supermarkets. Demand in a developing country: Estimating market demand in less developed countries involves a number of challenges. Most of the difficulty arises from the coexistence of three distinct kind of markets in each country:

The rural / agricultural sector. The modern urban / high income sector, and Very large transitional sector usually represented by low-income urban slums.

The modern sector is located in the posh areas of the city and has airports, star hotels, new factories, and an expanding westernized middle class. The traditional rural sector tends to work in the countryside as it has for decades or centuries. Production and consumption patterns vary across the three sectors. India is a good example. One of the largest industrial economy in the world, India has a population of approximately 1 billion, of which 200 million to 250 million are considered middle class. The modern sector demands products and services similar to those available in any industrialized country. The remaining 750 million are in the transitional and rural sectors. A rural Indian can live a sound life without many products. Toothpaste, sugar, coffee, washing soap, bathing soap, kerosene are all bare necessities of life to those who live in semi-urban and urban areas. One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to manage and market to the transitional sector in developing countries. The large city slums perhaps present the greatest problems for smooth economic development. Developing countries thus have at least three different market segments. Each can prove profitable, but each requires its own marketing program and products and services appropriate for its market characteristics. Many companies market successfully to both the traditional and the modern market segments but often have problems in the

transitional segments, where, for example, advertising targeting high income consumers reaches low-income consumers. Tomorrows markets will include expansion in industrialized countries and the development of the transitional and traditional sectors of less developed nations, as well as continued expansion of the modern sectors of such countries. The traditional sector offers the greatest long range potential, but profits come only with a willingness to invest time and effort for longer periods. Market investment today is necessary to produce profits tomorrow.

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Performance appraisal
by admin on July 25, 2006 Performance Appraisal The meaning of the word appraisal is to fix a price or value for something. This is used in finance in terms such as project appraisal or financial appraisal where a value is attached to a project. Similarly performance appraisal is a process in which one values the employee contribution and worth to the organisation. The objectives of performance appraisal are: 1.To help better current performances 2. To help in development of the employee. 3.To determine training and development needs. 4. To give employee feedback and counsel them 5. To review performance for salary purposes. Employees across the entire organisation are appraised of their performance. This could be done annually, twice a year, periodically depending the need of the organisation The various kinds of performance appraisal systems are: 1.Personality based performance appraisal system:

Here the appraiser is supposed to rate the personality traits of the person being appraised. This is not in much in organisations as it very subjective and judgmental. It could also be biased and prejudiced. 2.Competence based performance appraisal system: Here the job analysis is used and the employee is appraised for the skills he exhibits. For e.g. if his job entails dealing with the clients then he is judged foe his effectiveness in dealing with them. This enables both the organisation and the employee as to what deficiencies are to be overcome and can be useful in providing training to the employee to better his performance. Result based performance appraisal system: This system concentrates on the final results achieved by the employee irrespective of his personality or deficiencies. This is totally related to the job and concentrates on the end results that are more important to the organisation. The performance appraisal system has to be transparent and the employee should be taken into full confidence. In many cases employees themselves are given a chance to conduct a self-appraisal. Performance appraisal is a case of joint problem solving by the organisation and the employee. However the organisation must also take care of future potential and not get bogged down by current performance. Normally the immediate supervisor does the appraisal. Some organisations also have a peer group performance appraisal where colleagues rate the performance. The HR person must also ensure that line managers are properly trained for carrying out the appraisal including interviewing techniques and on how to give feedback. The managers must also be trained to look at the cases objectively outside of their personal opinion of the candidate.

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Forgotten Values and their Impact

by Khurana Sharma on February 22, 2011 This is another case I would like to share with all of you, hopefully it will be of some help

Let us start with the definition of personal values first, and then move to the case which happened in one of the companies I worked with. As per the definition in Wikipedia. Personal Values are an integral part of every culture. With worldview and personality, they generate behavior. Being part of a culture that shares a common core set of values creates expectations and predictability without which a culture would disintegrate and its members would lose their personal identity and sense of worth. Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc. They answer the question of why people do what they do. Values help people solve common human problems for survival. Over time, they become the roots of tradition that groups of people find important in their day-to-day lives. These are the values we carry wherever we go, be it workplace or any other place. These set of values become a part of an Organizations culture. We were a close knit groupthe office in India consisted of just 31 of us and we all used to work as a family. Some of the group members had been working with each other since the last 6-10 years, I was comparatively new but had been given a warm welcome by all of them barring a few. As the company was introducing new concepts and products in India, lot of training programs were being organized by the Parent company at their Head Quarters, which was offshore. HR, IT, Sales and Marketing training were being organized for all of us at various stages and time. Once our IT guy, Pratik, had to go to attend one such training program outside India, he was the youngest of all of us and was a little childish too. He got married a few months back in a very instant kind of wedding which means that he met his wife a day before his marriage and they got along so well that they decided get married the next day. So, he went for this program and everything was going well till one day I got a call from my boss- the HR Director who was a foreigner and used to work from the Head Quarters. He told me that, Pratik, was coming back to India without completing his training and what he told me next was very very shocking. Pratik, was caught with a girl in a compromising situation in a red light area in that Country, and the place got raided by the Police. The girl also told the police that she was just a victim and had no clue where Pratik was taking her, which was surely a made up story as Pratik, had gone to this country for the first time. But he was put behind bars and the senior management of our company got involved with my HR Director also. They all were called by the police to verify Pratiks statement. The HR director knew, Pratik, very well since all of them had been working together since

many years and he even knew that he had got married a few months back only and that his wife was expecting their first child as well. They somehow helped him get bail and arranged the bail money which was paid by the company itself as Pratiks salary was not that much and he was not carrying that much cash. As per, Pratik, he met the girl in a bar and the girl asked her to accompany her to a place and he agreed to go. Reaching there some people (girls allies) came in and they started asking for money from, Pratik, and started blackmailing. And so he got caught with his pants down. The HR director also told me that, Pratik, was also filmed by the allies of that girl who were hiding when things were happening between the two. Finally he was sent back to India, and was given a strict written warning. This is because the HR Director was a very nice person, and as he knew all about his family he did not ask him to leave. Another reason to keep him in the company was that he had to pay the entire amount of bail in installments. I was so disturbed with this guys behavior that I did not speak to him for many days, not even professionally. And being a female the feelings were a little strong. And I am sure if he would have been in some other company, with a different culture and different people he would have been sacked immediately. Now my question to you all

What would you have done in this case? Do you think that our values are so weak that the moment we are out of sight we can get involved in such activities, without thinking anything about the wife, the peer group, the subordinates and seniors? What if the culture of the company was not that family oriented?

Will wait for your views and opinions

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