Explain the principle psychological perspective Essay Example for Free

Explain the principle psychological perspective Essay Behaviourist A perspective means a way of seeing things. Behaviourist is the first approach in this criterion. Behaviourist is the study of human minds, they study behaviour. The behaviourist sees the brain as a black box, this is because as they study animals it is easy to experiment, and they think that humans and animals are similar. The behaviourist wanted to become scientist, which is why they carried out the experiment. Although JB Watson (1887) was the founder of this theorist he studied the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov did an experiment once on a dog. The dog salivated every time Pavlov came to the lab with the food. The dog then started associating the time, the bell and the brown coat. This kind of association is called classic conditioning. JB Watson also once experimented on a little boy called Albert. JB Watson taught Albert to have fear of the rats. Albert had a white fluffy rabbit. One day a white rat came pass Albert, but Albert did not seem to be frightened. JB Watson stood behind Albert’s back with metals. Every time the rat went pass JB banged the metals and Albert was startled, JB did this couple of times until Albert was scared of the rat, however Albert was not only scared of the white rat, it was also scared of his white fluffy rabbit as them to animals has the same colour. BF Skinner was also another behaviourist theorist, he did an experiment on a rat in a cage, he put some food on the food pallet for the rat, the rat accidently put its foot on the lever and food cam e out. So the rat did this few time and knew that if the rat puts the foot on the lever food would come out, this type of experiment was positive reinforcement. On the opposite Skinner experimented on the negative reinforcement. Skinner investigated this by giving the rat a small electric shock whenever it pressed the lever. The consequence of lever pressing was experienced as unpleasant, so the rat learnt to stop pressing the lever. Psycho dynamic Freud ( 1856-1939) and Erikson(1902-194) are two men who came up with the psycho dynamic theory. Freud said that we humans are like animals driven by basic biological natures. He came up with the psyche idea. He said that the psyche idea had three stages, ID means the basic animal instinct, for example, eating sleeping and reproducing, SUPER EGO means morality and EGO means reality and logic. It is said that Freud was the earliest thinkers to bring public attention the idea that us humans are not always aware of some aspects in our lives. He believed that we lock up memories that we do not want to remember or feeling that we do not want to expose somewhere in our brains. He referred consciousness to a tip of an iceberg. He referred pre consciousness at the middle of the ice berg and he also referred unconsciousness as at the bottom of the iceberg. He also came up with defence mechanisms. He knew that when people do not want to remember things, they want to deny it. This mechanism has five stages. Denial is when a person reject the thought or feeling, repression is when we push down the bad memories to the unconsciousness however it could leak at some points. Projection is when a person pushes the social unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else. Rationalisation means making excuses and lastly sublimation is putting all the energies onto something else. Freud also came up with the early experience; he came up with this idea which has five stages. Oral means mouth, anal means anus, phallic is a Latin word for penis, latent which means resting and genital which means private parts. Erikson agrees with Freud however he thought that this continues throughout our life time and were essentially social in nature. Social Learning Theory The theorist of social learning theory is bandura. He is said to be sympathetic towards behaviourist. Although bandura does not criticize, he tells the behaviourist to build up to it. Bandura agrees with the positive reinforcement. Albert bandura said that leaning takes place in social situations, such as in the family or with friends and other people. How Skinner came up with positive reinforcement, Albert came up with vicarious reinforcement, this means when people observe and get affected. For example, Barbara is good to her mother and the father praises her, her sister is observing it but she gets affected by how she is getting treated by her parents, Barbara’s sister was vicariously reinforced. The other idea bandura came up with was role model and modelling. The people we learn from are our role model but the process of imitating the person is called modelling. Modelling has five stages, attention, which is when a person is attracted to a celebrity or a person they reall y like. Retention is when the person is keeping the likeness inside them, reproduction is when he person copies the behaviour, motivation is when the person is tempted to do what the celebrity does and lastly self efficacy is when the person is confident in one area. It is said that we do not imitate all behaviour we observe and remember. Humanistic This approach has been found by two theorist called Carl Rogers (1902-1987) and Abraham Maslow. Carl Rogers (1902-1087) theory is based on clinic and it is also based on the years he has been dealing with different clients with different problems. Rogers sees people as good and he thinks that â€Å"good mental health is a natural progression of human development†. This quote shows that he is stating that human being instinctively know what is bad and what is not. Rogers came up with an idea of an actualisation theory. This is the natural motivation that every human being has. For example, we as human beings try to do very risky things, such as flying to the moon. Some of our hobbies is to create music and paint pictures, we do all because we want to be the best we can, achieve and become successful in the future. He also came up with the idea of unconditional positive regard; he said that this is when people like you, because of who you are regardless of your performances and conformity. The opposite of this is conditional positive regard, which simply explains when someone likes you if their expectations are fulfilled. In other words, Rogers believed that some of the people feel wanted and belonged when they fulfilled other people’s expectations and that is when they develop conditional self regard. Cognitive Approach Cognitive approach is found by three theorist, Jean Piaget, Kelly and beck/Ellis. With the invention of computers and other aids brain activities was like the operation of a computer. Loads of researches have been devoted to understand the process of cognitive, such as attention, memory information processing and problem solving. Jean Piaget came up with an idea related to how people develop throughout their lives. He came to a conclusion that cognition develops through a series of stages. There are four stages that Piaget has mentioned in the theory. The first stage is called the sensory motor, it means that babies from 0 to 2 are experiencing through motor and the sense. stage 2 is the pre operational, this is when children from 2 to 7 develop languages along with the memory, stage 3 is the concrete operational which means that the child can now understand conservations but cannot solve problems yet. The last stage is the formal stage, this is when the children can abstract thought s and present problems of their own and other people. Biological Approach The theorist of this theory is called Arnold Gessel (1880-1961), Gessel came up with the idea is that people are born with a set of genes and the genes carries different personalities, so the theorist is stating that behaviour does not to do with environment and what can of people you socialise with but it is to do with the genes the person is born with. This is quite different to the humanistic approach where the effectiveness of nurture is paramount. Gessel believes that as the baby is being formed in the womb of the mother, for example, the heart being first to form. As the child develops the genes allows to flower over the person. The theorist came up with the genetic influences on behaviour idea. He thinks that genes effect behaviour in many ways, some illnesses such as Huntingdons disease is caused by the genes caused by the parents genes or the genes from the family. This disorder will change the person’s behaviour, for example, they will speak in appropriately and they will become aggressive.

Animal Farm And The Russian Revolution Essay -- Animal Farm Essays

George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm is a great example of allegory and political satire. The novel was written to criticize totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin's corrupt rule in Russia. In the first chapter Orwell gives his reasons for writing the story and what he hopes it will accomplish. It also gives reference to the farm and how it relates to the conflicts of the Russian revolution. The characters, settings, and the plot were written to describe the social upheaval during that period of time and also to prove that the good nature of true communism can be turned into something atrocious by an idea as simple as greed. This essay will cover the comparisons between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. It will also explain why this novel is a satire and allegory to the Revolution that took place in Russia so long ago. First and foremost Manor Farm itself represents Russia with its poor conditions and irresponsible leaders. Mr. Jones plays one of those leaders, Nicholas the Second or The Czar as people called him in those days. Mr. Jones beats his animals, forgets to feed them and treats them badly. His actions are portrayals of the actions of The Czar. Old Major is representative of Karl Marx. Marx had a dream of a better Russia and created the doctrine of communism to aid in distribution of wealth, and to bring the people to a place were they would all be equal, but what he didn’t realize was that under the wrong rule the good intentions of communism would become...

Chapter 13 Guided Reading

Guided Reading Chapter 13 Terms: 1. Tropics- Areas with high humidity and temperatures 2. Monsoons- an overflow of water from rivers 3. Ecosystems- communities of living things within a certain climare 4. Bilad al-sudan- West African Jewish communities who were connected to known Jewish communities from the Middle East, North Africa, or Spain and Portugal. 5. Dhow – any of various types of sailing vessels used by Arabs on the east African, Arabian, and Indian coasts, generally lateen-rigged on two or three masts. 6. Swahili – a member of a Bantu people of Zanzibar and the neighboring coast of Africa.Also, Kiswahili, ki-Swahili. the Bantu language of the Swahili people, used also as a lingua franca in Tanzania, Kenya, and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 7. Urdu- an official language of Pakistan, also spoken in India. The script derives primarily from Persia. It belongs to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family of languages, being closely related to H indi but containing many Arabic and Persian loan words 8. Junks- Chinese Ships that can contain up to 40 tons Places: 9. Niger River – the principal river of western Africa, extending about 4,180 km 10.Indus River – is a major river which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses through western Tibet (in China) and Northern India. 11. The Ganges – a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The 1,569 mi river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. 12. Mekong River- a river in Southeast Asia. is 4,350 km From the Tibetan Plateau this river runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. 13.Swahili Coast-The Swahili Coast refers to the coast or coastal area of East Africa inhabited by the Swahili people, mainly Kenya, Tanzania, and north Mozambique. The term may also include the islands such as Zanzibar, Pate or Comoros which lie off the Swahili Coast. 14. Strait of Malacca – is a narrow, 805 km (500 mi) stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 and 1511. 15. Mogadishu – the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta's appearance on the Somali coast in 1331, the city was at the zenith of its prosperity.He described Mogadishu as â€Å"an exceedingly large city† with many rich merchants, which was famous for its high quality fabric that it exported to Egypt, among other places. He added that the city was ruled by a Somali Sultan originally from Berbera in northern Somalia who spoke both Somali and Arabic with equal fluency. The Sultan also had a retinue of wazirs (ministers), legal experts, commanders, royal eunuchs, and other officials at his beck and call. 16. Kilwa -Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an islan d off the coast of East Africa, in present day Tanzania. 7. Aden – In 1421, China's Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor ordered principal envoy grand eunuch Li Xing and grand eunuch Zhou Man of Zheng He's fleet to convey an imperial edict with hats and robes to bestow on the king of Aden. The envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden. This event was recorded in the book Ying-yai Sheng-lan by Ma Huan who accompanied the imperial envoy 18. Malabar Coast – The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent.Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain slopes. The term â€Å"Malabar Coast† is also sometimes used in reference to the entire Indian coast from the western coast of Konkan to the tip of the subcontinent at Cape Comorin. 19. Malac ca – the third smallest Malaysian state after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and Johor to the south.Malacca was founded by Parameswara, also known as Iskandar Shah or Sri Majara, the last Raja of Singapura (present day Singapore) following a Majapahit attack in 1377. He found his way to Malacca around 1400 where he found a good port—it was accessible in all seasons and on the strategically located narrowest point of the Malacca Straits. 20. Timbuktu – The first mention is by the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta who visited both Timbuktu and Kabara in 1353 when returning from a stay in the capital of the Mali Empire. [25] Timbuktu was still relatively unimportant and Battuta quickly moved on to Gao.At the time both Timbuktu and Gao formed part of the Mali Empire. A century and a half later, in around 1510, Leo Africanus visited Timbuktu. He gave a description of the town in his Descrittione dell'Africa which was published in 1550. [26] The original Italian was translated into a number of other languages and the book became widely known in Europe. [27] Empires/ Kingdoms: 21. Delhi Sultanate – five short-lived dynasties, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, mostly of Turkic and Pashtun (Afghan) origin in medieval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty.The five dynasties were the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90); the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320); the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414); the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51); and the Afghan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). 22. Mali Empire – a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 C. E. to c. 1600. C. E. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I. The Mali Empire had many profound cultural influences on West Afric a, allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River.It extended over a large area and consisted of numerous vassal kingdoms and provinces. 23. Kanem- Bornu – existed in modern Chad and Nigeria. It was known to the Arabian geographers as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century AD onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but also parts of modern southern Libya, eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon. The history of the Empire in the longue duree is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth. 4. Gujarat – From 1297 to 1300, Allauddin Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, destroyed Anhilwara and incorporated Gujarat into the Delhi Sultanate. After Timur's sacking of Delhi at the end of the fourteenth century weakened the Sultanate, Gujarat's Muslim Rajput governor Zafar Khan Muzaffar asse rted his independence, and his son, Sultan Ishaan Shah (ruled 1411 to 1442), restructured Ahmedabad as the capital. 25. Bahmani Kingdom – was a Muslim state of the Deccan in South India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms. Bahmanid Sultanate was the first independent Islamic Kingdom in South India. 6. Vijayanagar Empire – an empire based in South India, in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty and Dhangar / Kuruba Gowda lineage. 27. Great Zimbabwe – Great Zimbabwe acted as a royal palace for the Zimbabwean monarch and would have been used as the seat of their political power. One of its most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high and which were constructed without mortar. Eventually the city was abandoned and fell into ruin. Individuals / Peoples: 28.Muhammed ibn Ab-dullah ibn Buttata – a Muslim Moroccan explorer, known for his exte nsive travels, accounts of which were published in the Rihla (lit. â€Å"Journey†). Over a period of thirty years, he visited most of the known Islamic world as well as many non-Muslim lands; his journeys including trips to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, and to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance surpassing threefold his near-contemporary Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta is considered one of the greatest travellers of all time.He journeyed more than 75,000 miles (121,000 km), a figure unsurpassed by any individual explorer until the coming of the Steam Age some 450 years later. 29. Sundiata – founder of the Mali Empire 30. Mansa Kankan Musa – the tenth Mansa, which translates as â€Å"King of Kings† or â€Å"Emperor†, of the Malian Empire. At the time of Mansa Musa's rise to the throne, the Malian Empire consisted of territory formerly bel onging to the Ghana Empire and Melle (Mali) and immediate surrounding areas, and Musa held many titles, including: Emir of Melle, Lord of the Mines of Wangara, and Conqueror of Ghanata, Futa-Jallon, and at least another dozen states. 1. Mansa Suleiman – mansa of the Mali Empire from 1341 to 1360. The brother of the powerful Kankan Musa I, he succeeded Musa's son Maghan to the throne in 1341. His son Kassa briefly assumed the throne following his death in 1360, but was succeeded the same year by Maghan's son Mari Diata II. 32. Sultan Iltutmish – He was a slave of Qutb-ud-din Aibak and later became his son-in-law and close lieutenant. He was the Governor of Badaun when he deposed Qutub-ud-din's successor Aram Shah and acceeded to the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in 1211.He shifted Capital from Lahore to Delhi, remained the ruler until his death on May 1, 1236. Iltutmish introduced the silver tanka and the copper jital-the two basic coins of the Sultanate period, with a standard weight of 175 grains. He introudced Iqtadari system: division of empire into Iqtas, which were assigned to the nobles and officers in lieu of salary. 33. Sultan Raziya – First female Sultan referred to as Razia Sultana was the Sultana of Delhi in India from 1236 to May 1240. She was of Seljuq slave ancestry and like some other Muslim princesses of the time, she was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary.Razia Sultana, the fifth Mamluk Sultanate was the only woman ruler of both the Sultanate and the Mughal period. Important Events: 34. Mansa Musa’s Pilgrimage – Musa's journey was documented by several eyewitnesses along his route, who were in awe of his wealth and extensive procession, and records exist in a variety of sources, including journals, oral accounts and histories. Musa is known to have visited with the Mamluk sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt in July 1324. Questions to Outline: 1.The ecosystems in Africa are controlled by their location in comparison with the equator and there are many different ecosystems with in a tropical environment which is an area with a high temperature and humidity. 2. It mobilized the labor of ordinary people in order to produce surpluses, helped support powerful states and profitable commercial systems. 3. Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent mainly took place from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into North India as early as the time of the Rajput kingdoms in the 7th century.Some historians consider parts of the conquest the bloodiest chapter in human history. 4. The Indian Ocean trade has been a key factor in East–West exchanges. Long distance trade in dhows and sailboats made it a dynamic zone of interaction between peoples, cultures, and civilizations stretching from Java in the East to Zanzibar and Mombasa in the West. Cities and states on the Indian Ocean rim were Janus-faced. They looked outward to th e sea as much as they looked inward to the hinterland. In the contemporary period, the re-assertion of Asia’s cultural, political, and economic trength has manifested itself in varied events such as the meteoric rise of the Chinese economy and the growing influence of India’s culture industry, and the rise of Dubai as a global financial hub. These processes indicate a gradual movement of the fulcrum of global economic and military exchanges away from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, a shift which is being keenly watched by national elites and global institutions. 5. Their status was determined by males, Tasks were cooking, brewing and farm work, family organization was important in society and some women didn’t adopt veiling. . The spread of Islam, Commercial contacts and the rise of Mali and Ghana. These changed many things with in the people such as what rights they had, the amount of slavery, taxes and trade, economy was based off gold and their religion. 7. They made certain adjustments such as irrigation systems, and adopted different means of surviving such as wild food and fish hunting, herding and grain trade, farming of rice, wheat , sorghum and millet. They also built dams and reservoirs.

Example Leisure Management Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3543 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Critical essay Did you like this example? Critically evaluate the process of change management carried out by a leisure and sport organisation with which you are familiar. Use appropriate theory to evaluate the change management process in question. Sports and fitness has come a long way over time, it is now looked upon as an industry, which operates on a global scale. Sports and Fitness could comprise clubs, health centres, big games like the Olympics, football clubs, golf courses, championships and titles ranging a multitude of sports and games. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Example Leisure Management Essay" essay for you Create order Each of these activities are part of organisations which are run just like any other organisation with management control, finance, marketing, human resource management and strategy. Each of these areas contribute to the success or failure of the enterprise. Due to immense media coverage and sponsorships, the sector has become very active, glamorised and highly competitive. The competition in this sector is becoming stronger and more players realise the lucrative benefits this sector has to offer. Television and media have greatly publicised the health and sports segment, to an extent where people are beginning to see the advantages of being part of it. Many beauty pageants have also been instrumental in creating the message about beauty, health and fitness. The outcome has been a combination of fitness and leisure centres, these are training grounds for athletes and people who would like to achieve a fitness regime by being part of these centres. More and more people are now keen to be fit and involved in sports of some kind to keep up their fitness levels and be healthy. Crichter (1984) says, the paradox of sport is that it provides such moments of self-realisation even as it confirms their apparent impossibility elsewhere. It both realises human identity and denies other kinds of especially racial and sexual identity. It is both uncontaminated by the rest of social life and shot through with economic and political influences. It is both timeless and a product of history [Frank Kew (1997), p 12 25]. Sports and fitness are about helping create a self-identity, which is high on self-esteem, confidence and good belief. The following is information on sports psychology which helps understand the reasons behind so many fitness and leisure centres springing up across countries including UK. Another interesting quote about sports comes from Huizinga, 1972, Play is essentially a free activity quite consciously outside ordinary life as being not se rious, but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. Play has no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their differences from the common world by disguise or other means [Cox H. Richard (1998), p 15 30]. The feature about sports, which is of great interest, is that the ways these organisations work have wholly different perspectives. The social practices, rule structures are self-contained and independent and so applying management practices would need to take this psychology in context to the final argument. The people who work in this industry are also influenced by the way this industry operates, their psychology is determined by this. The concept of sports and fitness as joint collaborative projects can be analysed fu rther, there are social dynamics involved in this ball game. In this context, the social dynamics pertains to practitioners who interact with each other. As per Guttmann (1978), modern sports and fitness is monitored and handled by multinational companies, who administer and control the operations by local, regional or international levels. The people in this organisation exercise a lot of power, power to oversee and sanction athletes, teams and events make up rules and enforce them, organise events and certify records [Cox H. Richard (1998), p 20 34]. As the sports industry had gained momentum and is diffused with different social and national groups of personnel, the bureaucracy needed to oversee the governance process of sports have become more complex and powerful. In organisations driven by such force bringing about change would be a tall order, which would need more than good management skills. Although sports and health organisations are a new phenomenon compared to a lot of sectors and industries, which have been around for decades now, change management is a subject which will be difficult and need strategic management inputs when applied to this sector. Yet given the volatile markets and external environment, change would be a factor organisations cannot avoid. Change in any organisation could be triggered due to either internal or external circumstances. The organisation in question for this paper is a health club, which has three divisions sports, health and beauty and a leisure centre. For the sake of protecting the identity of the club, the name of the organisation has been changed to Fitness first. The problems in this organisation first started with the introduction of a new arm to the organisation Sports Centre, where world famous coaches along with fringe benefits of private training gave professional and prospective athletes the option of being part of a club. Fitness first was initiated and conceptualised in the year 2001, the infrastructure and management were the best in the industry and finance was not a problem since the funding came from heavy weights in the Sports industry. To begin with the senior management that was brought on board by the two directors were given a lot of autonomy in running the business and expansion plans. The first two years in the business witnessed an inflow of members who were ready to pay a hefty annual fee to be part of the club. This was because of the personal care and interest each member was able to enjoy along with the state of the art infrastructure. The members realised the value of such benefits and were promoting the club through the word of mouth. Any business is good to go once the customers are satisfied with the deliverables and they see value for money. By the year 2003, the club had opened up 20 branches across England with additional features like a Beauty centre, which was very popular with both, the male and female members. The problem starte d in the year 2004 with the initiation of the Sports centre facility, the directors increasing interference, bureaucracy, lack of autonomy for the management and complacency on part of the management towards the operational and customer service aspects of the business. The first sign was the failure of a club, which had opened up in the posh area of Kensington, London. The management was unable to understand the reasons for the lack of members despite heavy promotional campaigns. It was then observed that almost seven clubs had not enrolled new members over a period of three months. Finally the first Sports centre initiated at the Reading branch was showing blatant signs of failure. From a membership base of six professional athletes and 4 beginners, three beginners had already dropped out in the first month itself and the remaining members were considering giving up membership of the sports centre. All this had a combined effect on the revenue figures as well as dwindling profits in the first quarter of 2004. Fortunately the two directors realised that there were serious problems with the health club and leisure centre and a meeting was called upon with the entire management team across all clubs. A whirlwind strategic conference was organised, which lasted four days, and everyone realised that there was a need for introspection and change. The main problems identified during the conference were 1. Lack of Autonomy 2. Lack of focus on customer service 3. Lack of flexibility amongst management 4. Lack of improvisation tools to enhance business prospects 5. Lack of focus on new customers as well as old 6. Lack of personalisation, which had been a competitive advantage at one time The problem now was to understand and plan a strategy to combat all the problems listed above. Change is always a difficult proposition since it needs people to do something new, something they are not aware of and this especially since it takes them into an insecure environment. The framework involving strategic change might comprise the organisation structure, culture and skill set. When implementing plans for a change proposal, one needs to comprehend if the change runs as deep as the organisation structure and culture since the latter is a deep process which needs a lot of time, patience, acceptability and understanding. Peters and Watermans (1982) defined strategy as the core structure of change, strategy is the deliberate or emergent pattern of decisions which shape an organisations future and its fit within its environment. These decisions may involve changing the future scope and shape of activities or major areas of internal change aimed at protecting or enhancing capability. [Grundy Tony (1993), p 28] The changes at fitness first would not only need the management personnel who were part of the conference but also individuals who were contributing at one level or another at every branch. Each personnel needed to understand the extent of the problem and be willing to bring about the required change so that the organisation could once more progress towards growth, profitability and satisfied customers. Carnall (1986) is an important contributor to the process of managing change. As per Carnall, implementing change goes through a series of stages, which involve, denial, defence, discarding, adapting and internalising. Change needs very adept and fragile handling of people, according to Lewin (1935), the cycle of change spans a considerable amount of time, it depends on how fundamental or challenging the change is, also there is always some decline in performa nce in managers and thats what the change agents need to account for [Grundy Tony (1993), 40 46]. A change agent is the person in charge of bringing about the change process; the agent might be internal or external depending on the circumstances as well as the extent of change. This agent is a manager with special qualities, which will make him/her effective and successful in planning and executing the process. Charles Handy (1999) uses the ten roles defined by Mintzberg as a basis for making one understand the different roles of the manager. As leading personnel the manager needs to be a figurehead, leader and liaison, all these are interpersonal roles. In the capacity of an administrator, he/she needs to monitor, disseminate and be a spokesperson these are informational roles. Lastly as a fixator, he/she need to be an entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator, these are decisional roles. Since the meeting at Fitness First, it was strategically de cided that each centre would be assigned a change agent who will be internal given the extent of the problem. The senior management, local teams and the directors based on a compilation of all the above qualities, mutually listed the change agents. Charles Handy brings in some interesting perspective on how organisations are, as much as people would like to view them as well-oiled machinery, they comprise of people. People from different backgrounds, cultures, lives, opinions and behaviour. All these people compete for resources, power, recognition and their own judgements. There will always be a difference of opinions, values and culture, each one would conflicts of priorities and goals, there are pressure groups and lobbies, cliques and cabals, rivalries and contests, clashes of personality and bonds of alliances. [Charles Handy (1999), p 209 210] Since the problems being faced at Fitness First were grave in appearance, the directors were very forthcoming in following a p articipative approach, from top to down in the organisation. They realised that the autonomy and right to exercise power in the individual sphere of the managers was a positive attribute, which had to return to the way the organisation functioned. As per Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1983), the participative approach is only taken when the change agents view the problem as internally driven, based on choice and responsiveness, rather than something which is imposed externally facing extreme resistance. The architecture of change needs an awareness of foundations, Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1983) an academic expert on change management states that the change agents need this history of relationships, coordination, mutual trust to learn from a successful story and imbibe the values in the new process. The art and architecture of change, also involves designing reports about the past to elicit the present actions required for the future [Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1983), p 288 290]. The build ing blocks of change can be easily interpreted from Quinns definition of managing strategic change, The most effective strategies of major enterprises tends to emerge step-by-step from an iterative process in which the organisation probes the future, experiments, and learns from a series of partial commitments rather than through global formulations of global strategies. Good managers are aware of this process, and they consciously intervene in it. They use it to improve the information available for decisions and to build to improve the information available for decisions and to build the psychological identification essential to successful strategies. Such logical incrementalism is not muddling as most people understand that word it honours and utilises the global analyses inherent in formal strategy formulation models and embraces the central tenets of the political or power-behavioural approaches to such decision making [Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1983), p 288 295]. The pro cess of change as defined by so many academics needs trust, loyalty and faith in the change agent who will lead the people involved through the process. The managerial style in organisations like Fitness First needs to change as part of the change management process. The hierarchical form needs to become more networked where people have access to information, there is informality, equality and there is lateral bottom up communication. Birchall and Lyons (1995), talk some more about the way businesses need to become more effective and efficient, as this will help in the change process, similar to fitness first businesses need to rethink the way work is being organised and executed. This is due to the changing demands of the customers, the expectations and aspirations of the employees; the transformation comes through with revamping of operations and by taking advantage of emerging possibilities. Expectations and communication brings us back to the way the change agents would draw personnel at Fitness First into rectifying the problems being faced by the organisation. Change is not always about something new; sometimes it is about going back to the foundation and grass root level of the origination of the business. Since the change was primarily internal, managing the expectations of the people involved about the quantity and quality of change would be very important. The people involved need to know that the change is being brought about within the structure and culture of the organisation to eventually benefit everyone by being part of a successful venture. Since the profits are dwindling, it does call for extreme measures, which people might not be expecting. The biggest fear amongst employees in the face of change is the insecurity of not having a job, these fears had to be allayed by the change agents at the earliest else the performance would dip to a large extent. The second step was to know expectations and then communicating the plan for managing and executing change in the way work was being handled. The final steps needed at Fitness First were 1. Changing the organisation structure in certain places depending on the agenda and need 2. Make the business more result oriented through customer satisfaction 3. Training for all personnel to understand customer relationship management 4. Motivate the employees through personal belief to work towards rectifying the problems 5. Open door communication policies to make operations transparent 6. Introduce annual reward management system for employees and customers A communication plan was the first step towards personnel involvement in the change process. When complacency sets in and people get comfortable with their surroundings, change mostly uproots them from this comfort zone and more often than not, the results are not very encouraging. The change agents brought into play an effective communication plan, which covered the scope of change, the effects and results. Since there was a need for restructuring, the involvement of people is necessary, listening and learning become prime to making it a success. The agent has to take people into confidence about how the change will affect them internally as well as externally, from the view point of the organisation as well as personally. Another important factor to be remembered by the change agents is the five-model process for managing change diagnosis, planning, implementation, control and learning. At fitness firs t the first two stages were near completion and the following three were moving at a parallel pace with the ensured commitment of the staff. According to Margaret Davis and David Weckler (1996), a major factor underpinning the success of failure of change is the capability of the organisation in question. Organisational capability is a big part of the organisations competitive advantage; it is also a reflection of its inherent flexibility, adaptability, and capacity to preserve single-mindedness, rationality despite all pressures, internal or external. Coming to fitness first, now that a detailed analysis of the organisation structure and resources was through with a new one in place, displacement of employees from their previous positions had to be dealt with patience. It is important to time and again bring in communication tools and enforce the change objective and what it does on a larger scale. The anxiety and insecurity need to be dealt with, once the commitment is pa rt of the change project, success is not difficult. Once the change agents had spent time, money and effort in designing the new organisation chart, it was important to see how well it could be implemented. This brought us to the three important ingredients of implementation communication, impact analysis and transition management. In this case the employees needed to know if the reporting system would be different, working in different divisions under different people would be a part of this transition. The customers needed to know if the services changed with this process in flow and if the representatives they dealt with earlier would also change. On all accounts, effective communication was introduced through a first ever group wide meeting being called to mitigate or absolve any doubts which might hinder the change process. The customers were dealt with newsletters and individual meetings as deemed appropriate. Fitness First change agents had devised a list of ripples t hese changes might create and so there were already back up resources and plans in place. Each Change Agent had accounted for a transition manager in their teams who would be responsible in overseeing that the transition took place as effectively and smoothly as possible. After long, fitness first had brought changes in the structure and introduced open communication channels; there was more autonomy in the organisation. This gave way to a common platform for employees to chip in ideas about growth potential and customer enrolment. The sports centre introduction was seen as a moderate expansion plan and so new associates and trainers were introduced to cater to the demands of upcoming talent. Apparently a talk with the old members revealed that they missed personal training regimes and a dedicated coach scenario, which led them to the decision of quitting membership. The introduction of the Customer Relationship Management program was an effective measure, which reintroduced one to one personal communication between members and the club centres. There was a monthly reward program for the most successful idea of the month; all these tools went a long way in hauling employee confidence, motivation and loyalty. The customers were also content and satisfied with the resurgence of these change measures, which showed responsiveness on part of the club towards their reaction and value. Customers always need to feel important and taken care of; this is the oldest adage for any successful business. To conclude the design of an organisation cannot be rigid. Given the current competitive environment and unpredictable markets, they need to be more in tune with the customers and changing business conditions. The only constant is change and so any organisation their structure and business processes need to be productive, flexible, adaptable and responsive to changing business needs. Fitness First was able to bring about internal changes which the manageme nt deemed fit, yet in the future there will always be need for more review processes to see when and where another change might be required. This was a learning lesson for fitness first, a platform for them to realise the need to become a learning organisation to stay abreast of competition and external environment. Senge (1990) introduced the concept of the learning organisation, one, which constantly reflects, understands, and evolves and changes based on internal and external conflicts and needs. All organisations need to imbibe the qualities of a learning organisation and the sooner they do o the better. Finally Change involves the interaction of a number if systems within an organisation. These may interact with one another in ways, which will either facilitate or inhibit change. A key factor in managing change effectively is to understand how these systems interact with one another. Openness to understanding these interdependencies is identified by Senge as being a cruci al part of the learning organisation [Handy Charles (1999), p 12 25].