The Internet has become a necessary means of communication in modern times. When speaking about communication, one does not necessarily refer only to interpersonal relationships, but also to mass communication. This type of relationship stands at the basis of online communication.

It is only natural that users should try to find the best web hosting services currently available on the market. Their search for proper hosting will normally include the best price offer, as well as other criteria usually presented by such service providers. For instance, some of the most common criteria are the technical parameters of the web server and the area of services available.

The technical support offered by the web hosting company may seem an unimportant problem, but it should form an area of serious consideration when choosing one’s hosting provider. The web server is one of the key elements for the success of an Internet business, as it directly determines the accessibility of the site and the way in which it works.

Technical problems may occur in implementing the site, or other malfunctions. It is highly important that those in charge with site implementation deal with them as soon as possible. Any delay may cause traffic or, worse, client loss. Technical support is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, provided, as a rule, by the web hosting company. This also should be an important criterion in choosing one’s hosting provider. If this support is not an aspect covered permanently, one should take into account jetlag. Avoid virtual communication problems by making sure that the employees in charge of the site administration have good English skills.

Many countries in different regions of the world are building such an infrastructure that would correspond to the demands of the Internet. They have still to reach the level of the United States of America concerning web hosting. Anyway, should the country in which your activity takes place be not one of the most developed in this area of expertise, it is obviously more acceptable to choose an international hosting provider.

You should compare the equipments and the servers a local provider can offer with the ones offered by an international provider, before you make a fast decision. They should be able to handle an increased amount of traffic. There are obviously some advantages in working with local web hosting companies, one of them being the same currency. Nevertheless, overall, the best solution is a specialized international provider.

A website is not by itself an objective. A professionally designed website can increase one’s business by increasing the sales accomplished by means of traditional sales channels or online sales. It also consolidates the company’s image on the market; it offers a more direct, more personal means of communication with customers, potential customers, employees, collaborators and suppliers.

For far too many companies this option in a new one, but an online alternative remains an attractive solution. Professionally designed and implemented, a website could become an indispensable tool in the growth of your business. Most hosting providers offer complete solutions for a successful presence online: Internet domain registration, web design, web programming, or the adaptation of open-source solutions: Linux or Windows web hosting.

Amelie Mag
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-hosting-articles/proper-web-hosting-a-fundamental-for-good-business-development-125017.html

Diverse values, specialist development, varied experiences, a unique mindset – mix it up and include a touch of interpretation and you have a human being with a social outlook. Leveraging differences between people is a daily necessity of living in societies, and leveraging our own perspective of the world – and others in it – is one of the utmost challenges in pursuing a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

So how do we detach from our past experiences and values to see the world from a clearer perspective? The answer is simple: we don’t. What we need to do is critically analyse our own process of thinking, and pursue reason and appropriateness in our actions. Whilst willingness to help is a premise for counselling, willingness to adjust is a professional requirement – and the following overlapping stages discuss the process of becoming an effective counsellor, facing its challenges, surviving the experience, and learning from it.

Stage One: The Fundamentals of Professional Care

There is a strong ethical component in any health-related profession, particularly ones which deal directly with consumers – in the case of counselling, the client. One of the most prominent aspects of becoming a professional counsellor lies in understanding the ethical guidelines of the profession, which in turn requires counsellors and prospective counsellors to be able to differentiate between ‘friendly advice’ and professional assistance. This is a challenging proficiency as it not only involves the process of learning which is intrinsic to any professional development (or training), but also remodelling the manner in which people naturally respond to a call for help: emotional and inevitably subjective feedback.

In order to cater for those needs, counsellor training involves a great deal of ethical background theory and practice which aims to develop the objective ‘eye’ – a demanded skill for counselling sessions. Such a methodical approach to interpreting human behaviour and individual needs is rooted in the development of early behavioural sciences.

Method in Counselling

What is ‘method’? Method (from Greek methodos or met hodos meaning “way across”) is a word which entered English in 1541 via French and Latin, and is defined as “a series of steps taken to complete a certain task or to reach a certain objective”. The methodical approach was induced by the need to share common guidelines in the observation and analysis of events, laying grounds for the advent of the scientific method – the central component of any modern science.

In the 19th century, the scientific method served to ‘unleash’ psychology from its bonds with philosophy and medicine – and the consequence was the advent of the original behavioural science. Counselling moved away from psychology and Freudian psychoanalysis in the early 1950s with the intent of enhancing the relationship between counsellor and client. The helping nature of the counselling approach set the standards for this newly adopted discipline – and increased focus was placed in nurturing the relationship with the client, encouraging client’s responsiveness, and developing a bond which would lay grounds for the client’s progressive development.

Stage Two: Becoming an Effective Counsellor

According to Meier and Davis (1997, p.61) “in no other profession does the personality and behavior of the professional make such difference as it does in counseling. Beginning counselors need to work at increasing their self awareness as well as their knowledge of counseling procedures. Your willingness to be open to supervision, to accept clients’ failures and criticisms, to participate in counseling yourself when appropriate, and to acknowledge your limits will contribute to your eventual success and satisfaction”.

Acknowledging Values

The client-counsellor relationship is fundamentally a relationship between two human beings. Obviously there are two different roles in the relationship but both counsellor and client have a history of experiences that have shaped who they are, how they view the world and what their values are.

An effective client-counsellor relationship does not ignore the “human” side of the profession. To establish trust, clients need to sense that the counsellors are genuine and sincere in their communications. But when they begin to suspect their own biases, conflicting values or judgements are influencing their work with a client, it is critical that they reflect upon this behaviour and seek to rectify it.

Critically reflecting in supervision, through journaling or personal inner work is required to establish an appropriate plan of action.

Recognising Limitations

It is easy for inexperienced counsellors to fall into the trap of feeling solely responsible for their client’s progress. Counsellors do not possess a magic wand to solve all of life’s problems and it is important to remember that ultimately it is the client that makes choices in their own life.

Counsellors can assist clients to think through options, explore motivators and hurdles, set goals, formulate plans of action and so on. A client, however, must assume the responsibility for taking actions in order to accomplish progress in their life.

There are many aspects of the counselling relationship in which it is important to recognise the limitations of counselling. When progress seems “stuck”, some of the best plans involve tolerating ambiguity, sharing responsibility with the client, re-establishing the role of the counsellor and/or sharing information with a supervisor.

Drawing the Line

Maintaining a critical perspective towards the counsellor-client relationship is essential in order to avoid emotional burnout, misjudgement and unproductive distribution of power. “A common mistake for beginners is to worry too much about clients. There is a danger of incorporating clients’ neuroses into our own personality. We lose sleep wondering what decisions they are making. We sometimes identify so closely with clients that we lose our own sense of identity and assume their identity. Empathy becomes distorted and militates against a therapeutic intervention” (Corey 2001, p. 34).

Stage Three: Dealing with Challenging Situations

One of the foremost challenges facing counselling professionals is to understand the complex role that diversity plays in their work. In counselling, each client’s needs and objectives should be considered and used to guide the counselling process. These needs vary for each individual according to factors such as personality, culture, gender and age.

Counselling with Difference

It is vital that counsellors working with issues of difference recognise the unique needs of their client and plan intervention accordingly. The counsellor must decide on the approach that will provide better responsiveness from the client, and therefore lead to a constructive outcome.

Clients affected by systems of inequity in our culture are frequently subjected to acts of discrimination and prejudice. Counsellors need to understand the impact of such in order to analyse the depth to which a client may be culturally traumatised. Prejudice impacts on self-esteem and may evoke imbalances in a client’s wellbeing. They may experience feelings of being left out of the larger group, feelings of powerlessness, loneliness and hopelessness.

Working with Groups

Group counselling is a challenging and dynamic form of counselling that requires all-round professional skills from counsellors. It implies that any challenges a counsellor may find in helping an individual can potentially duplicate, triplicate, or vastly multiply – however, the more intricate the challenge is, the higher the rewards.

Similar to mathematics theory, the dynamic interactions which occur within a group, along with the external influencing factors upon that group, pose challenges to controlling and interpreting group outcomes. When dealing with groups, the primary objective (whether a group is formed to develop a project or a group united by the need to tackle an analogous problem) is to ensure that the group is healthy and productive. As such, core communication skills which are based on interpersonal communication theory are applicable for groups – promoting good communication between group individuals creates a safe and productive environment for the group to work.

When dealing with groups, there are several major issues that should be noted by professional counsellors, such as:

1. Understanding power relationships – in other words – how the interaction between counsellor and the group’s individuals impact interpersonal relationships;

2. Consciously avoiding generalisations and stereotypes;

3. Accepting that all people are multi-dimensional;

4. Making judgements exclusively on situationally relevant criteria;

5. Adopting communication patterns which minimise stereotyping and increase dignity and respect to induce more appropriate decisions (based on information relevant to the particular context) and;

6. Consciously controlling group communication which is likely to aggravate negative perceptions by others.

The Unfaithful Mind

Counsellors are also faced with situations in which their own personal perspective creates a challenge in their relationships with clients. A client’s personality, behaviour or opinion may diverge from the counsellor in such a radical way that it becomes a motive for dislike or disassociation. It is a complex situation which requires the counsellor to reflect on their own capabilities of dealing with such situation.

The risk of developing hatred against ‘opposing’ groups of society can perpetuate negative behaviour – a kind of traumatic response to what has been perceived as a threat. Recognising value in the individual is part of the process of developing the client’s self-confidence through providing a supportive environment during counselling sessions.

What is the solution? Primarily, the counsellor will need to reflect on whether he/she is able to restrain his/her own negative feelings towards the client and work together in a productive manner. If he/she decides that it is feasible, strategies need to be devised in order to avoid conflict and lack of alignment in the relationship goals. If the counsellor believes that it is not appropriate to deal with the client due to personal motives, there should be a contingency plan to refer that client to appropriate support and ensure that this process is done efficiently – without incurring in any psychological harm to the client.

Stage Four: Learning and Perpetuating

Dealing with human behaviour is never a static process. Learning from each experience is the secret to naturally widen one’s perspective towards the world, improve one’s ability to understand people and to effectively communicate with them. Therefore, learning also plays a big role in the process of developing a positive counsellor perspective. How to improve learning? The best way is to construct a disciplined approach is be attentive to details and situations which produce unexpected results in counselling sessions and other interaction with clients. Learning through observation is of considerable value in terms of experience and maturity for a counsellor.

Perpetuating constitutes the maintenance of the basic backbone that allows a counsellor to be a productive and efficient professional: mental and physical health. Counsellors are deemed to deal with stress throughout their careers – whether through emotional attachment, excessive work, lack of self-care, or a combination of these factors. It is of vital importance that counsellors avoid burnout because emotional stress tends to accumulate overtime and it can result in trauma. All these issues directly affect the counsellor’s ability to oblige to ethical and professional guidelines.

Most people ignore the first signs of excessive stress, and by doing so, become vulnerable to further pressure from work. At some point, counsellors may find it very difficult to attend counselling sessions, to get to work, and to perform in several other areas of life. Preventing burnout is simply a necessary task to anyone aiming for a balanced and fulfilling career (and life).

References:

Scientific Method Wikipedia. Retrieved on: 14/08/2006 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method.

Meier, S., & Davis, S. (1997). The Elements of Counselling. Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole.

Corey, G. (Ed). (2001). Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Wadsworth: Thomson Learning.

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Pedro Gondim
http://www.articlesbase.com/psychology-articles/creating-the-counsellor-mindset-a-career-overview-139863.html

What is interpersonal communication? Thanks, I cant find a definition.

Interpersonal communication is the communication that takes place between two people. It can include verbal, non-verbal and expressions.

INDIAN JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY, VOL.20, No.4, 2006, p:405-416.

INTRODUCTION

Electronic technology is changing our life-style to a great extent. Prevalence and excessive use of electronic products found among people, cutting across cultural differences, have set in a trend for e-culture. Electronic-culture is new. It is emerging as a transnational and global phenomenon; not confined to geographical boundaries. Internet, especially, is expected to bring in sweeping and lasting cultural transformations. For instance, terms like e-commerce, e-business, e-banking, e-mails, e-organizations, e-governance, e-journals, e-books, e-medicine, internet, web-shopping, etc have become part of the current lexicon.

The advances and breakthroughs made in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT) and electronics during the present and previous centuries have resulted in the emergence of e-culture. Though the ICT revolution started in the near past its progress towards networking is achieved only recently through the impetus provided by the Internet (Uzelac, 2003). According to Mercer (2003) it is the ICT-availability and access to Internet that provides scope for production of e-culture. However, today the emergence of e-culture is taken for granted due to prevalence of the interactive digital applications of the ICT such as Internet and mobile technologies (Mitchell, 2003).

Van Dijk (2001) identified four different types of access to ICT as conditions for the emergence of e-culture, namely, motivation, possession, use and skills. Motivation concerns psychical access to ICT: the interest in it, the will to use it and the lack of fear of new technology. Possession means, in this context, the availability of equipment and an Internet connection at home or at work, school or university. The third component of access is the actual use that people make of available possibilities. The use depends in part on the fourth form of access, namely the possession of digital skills (De Haan & Huysmans, 2002).

E-culture though prevalent widely, is a recent phenomenon. The scientist community has not explored much of it now. De Haan and Huysmans (2002) cautions that the exploration of e-culture may only be the start of a long-term process of change taking place at a global level. Research on e-culture presently is at a rudimentary level and so is its concept. Scholars in this field have tried to define e-culture in various ways, but all being far from conclusive.

E-culture is increasingly perceived as a new digital media culture or digitalization of culture. Netherlands council for culture (2004) argues that, within the context of the ‘digitizing society,’ e-culture should be seen as the integration of ICT into the primary processes of productivity, distribution, presentation, preservation and (re)utilization of cultural expression. According to the view of De Haan and Huysmans (2002) the term ‘e-culture’ is stated to refer to the diffusion of new technology, its application for various avenues such as information and communication in addition to shifts effected in related attitudes, values and norms. Patel and Rajendran (2005) have defined “electronic culture” as “increased use of electronic goods by individuals in various areas like home, office, public places and those they carry personally with them, to fulfill their psycho-social needs.”

E-culture is both technological and a social development. There is a widespread consensus that new digital and networking technologies like the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet have the capacity to reorder the domains of everyday social and personal life (Dona Kolar-Panov, 2003). Cultural habits and participation in cultural life are changing as a corollary of e-culture. Hence, it would be pertinent here to consider briefly the concept and importance of culture in the light of a psychological focus leading to the study on the impact of e-culture.

According to Brislin (2000) one of the major assumptions of cross-cultural social psychology is that culture shapes human behavior. Numerous advanced theories of social behavior indicate that cultural factors play significant role in the determination of behavior, shaping values, self, and motivation of individuals (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Lehman et al (2004) point out that culture and psychological processes influence one another and a dynamic interplay exists between them.

Culture aims to ensure a harmonious relationship between humans and their environments. Psychological well-being remains the main focus of cultural norms and practices. Myers and Diener (1995) refer to life-satisfaction as one of the three key aspects of psychological well-being, the others being positive and negative affect. Life satisfaction stands together with the affective elements to yield a relatively comprehensive picture of psychological well-being (Diener et al., 1999). Chirkov et al (2005) found ‘culture-fit’ is positively associated with life satisfaction. Adjustment to cultural demands is essential for psychological well-being and life-satisfaction. But cultures are diverse and dynamic social systems and not static monoliths (Bandura, 2002). Cultural changes are inevitable and tend to create new demands which the elderly may find difficult to fulfill. Now the dawning of e-culture emphasizes the acquiring of digital skills and demands shifts in related attitudes, values and norms. Access and usage of electronic technology will be an important determinant of life-satisfaction in this era of e-culture.

Culture also emphasize the importance of group living because from an evolutionary perspective, solitude (loneliness) is dangerous; mutually supportive collective behaviour is beneficial, both for survival and sexual reproduction. Thus, it makes sense to assume that humans have an evolved tendency toward the establishment of shared beliefs, behaviours, and normative structures that help hold social collectives together (Campbell, 1982). Loneliness is popularly viewed as a relative deficit in social relationship with others in the environment. Russell, Peplau, and Cutrona (1980) defined loneliness “as the relational deficit reflecting interpersonal and social relationships that the individual evaluates as quantitatively inadequate or too few in numbers.” It has been conceived as a problem for everyone from children to elderly, however, elderly experience more loneliness because their spouses might be deceased, their friends might have either moved away or died, their children might be in distant places/ cities or on account of physical disabilities (Peplau et al, 1982). Mullins and Mushel (1992) indicated that the elderly people desired to be part of a social network and also prefer the existence of a set of friends but not emotional commitment to a set of friends. They also pointed out that the inability to be part of a social network and lack of friends in old age results in the experience of loneliness. The rapid spread of e-culture enabling easy access to information and facilitating communication with others may help elderly reduce loneliness. Especially, the Internet provides people access to a complete new space and society known as ‘cyber society’. Anybody who enters this virtual world can expect an almost infinite number of possibilities to retrieve information, engage in social interactions and build up lasting relations. There, with the exception of the physical body, the individual can encounter almost everything which can also be found in “real society”: such as membership, role playing, emotions, work, commodities, discussions, etc. Like the conventional reality the cyber experience can also form identity (Jones, 1997). Hence the Internet is considered as an identity-based technology (Langer, 2003).But the onset of electronic culture also poses new demands which the elderly must cope with; failing may result in the experience of loneliness.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Reviews done indicate that studies on e-culture are fragmented and inadequate. Scanty information is available about the influence of e-culture, both at international and national levels. The scientist community has just begun to recognize the importance of e-culture and its influence. At present there are not much substantial empirical evidences available on the impact of e-culture. In India, unfortunately, the research efforts in understanding and investigating the status of e-culture have not yet gained momentum. The research and academic community are dormant regarding the influence of e-culture. Deplorably, many researchers belonging to various disciplines are yet to take up this issue. In particular, from a psychological perspective, e-culture still remains unexplored. India is one of the poorest countries in exposing commercial contents on the global platform using digital media. However, the scope of India’s strength in this direction is immense. The government of India as well as many NGOs stand dedicated and determined to enrich and enhance the e-status of India. Osama Manzar’s (2005) book “The Best E-contents 2005” published by ‘Digital Empowerment Foundation’ (DEF) is an eye-opener regarding the e-contents in India. India is perhaps one of the most uniquely positioned countries in the world.

The present investigation is significant because looking around one finds a number of problems in our society especially related to the elderly. The changing demographic profile of India where there is a rapid increase in the aged population, it is increasingly becoming vulnerable due to the process of urbanization and industrialization (Venkoba Rao, 1992). Chadha and Easwaramoorthy (1993) have critically evaluated the need for a comprehensive study on elderly in India.

Reviews made on psychological well-being indicate that not much is known about age-related changes in life satisfaction, most studies has focused on the role of positive and negative affect. Studies on the impact of cultural changes upon life-satisfaction among the elderly in Indian context appear negligible. Loneliness has become the subject of substantial empirical research only recently. One impetus for the new interest is the realization that loneliness is a serious and widespread problem for millions today (Weiss, 1973). Lakshminarayanan (1993) found that the elderly people feel lonelier than any other population. Research on loneliness among the elderly particularly in Indian context also appears inadequate (Patel, 1998).

Despite, a developing country, its wealth of information, resources, and knowledge capacity puts the country in the list of top 5 countries in the world. India like other nations of the world is no exception to the global process of digitization. India certainly is getting transformed into an e-society, at a faster pace (Osama Manzar, 2005). There are no substantial empirical evidences available regarding the reaction of Indian elderly to the e-cultural phenomenon. Adapting to e-culture demands the acquiring of digital skills (De Haan and Huysmans, 2002). The elderly might find this difficult which may leave them less satisfied with life and also feel lonelier. No studies relating e-culture, loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly were also found. Hence this investigation is a pioneering effort made to explore the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction in Indian context. This investigation will enlighten the academic and research fraternity throwing light on the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly.

METHOD

Sample

The sample for this study comprised of 120 elderly individuals (60 females and 60 males respectively) from Pondicherry (a Union Territory of India). The age range of the samples were between 60 to 73 years (Mean age=64.3 years). Samples were restricted to the educated segment of the elderly population, those with a minimum of a graduate degree and above were only included in this study. Purposive sampling technique was adopted.

Tools used

The research tools used in this study for data collection were the (1) e-culture Inventory, (2) UCLA Loneliness Scale, and (3) Life-Satisfaction Scale, selected after a comprehensive review of related literature.

(1) E-culture inventory

This inventory was developed by Patel and Rajendran (2005) to measure e-culture. It evaluates e-culture based on multiple electronic products people use in different areas such as home, office, public places and those that they carry personally with them. Under each area certain electronic items used by people such as (a) Personal computer, (b) Internet, (c) digital diary, (d) mobile phone, (e) micro-oven, (d) disc-man, (e) Digital cameras, (f) lap-tops, (g) automatic washing machine, (h) DVD players, and frequent visits to (i) computerized shops/ movie halls/ theme parks/ ATMs, etc were stated and verified. The inventory consists of 42 items with 2 responses, i.e., “yes” and “no” respectively for each item. The 42 items are classified into 4 areas, namely, home=16 items, office=11 items, personal=8 items and public=7 items. The score for ‘yes’ in home area is 2, in office is 1, in personal area is 3 and in public area is 1 were as the score for ‘no’ in all the areas is 0. The maximum score possible in this inventory is 74 and the minimum score is 0. High score indicates high e-culture and low score indicates low e-culture. The reliability and validity co-efficient values for this inventory were 0.72 and 0.85 respectively found significant at 0.001 levels.

(2)Revised University of California at Los Angles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale

This scale was developed by Russell et al (1980). It is a 20 item self-report on which respondents express how often their feelings and behaviours reflect perceived isolation and dissatisfaction with social relationships. This scale consists of 10 statements dealing with satisfaction of one’s social relationships and 10 statements dealing with dissatisfaction of one’s social relationships. Respondents indicated how frequently they experience each item on a scale from 1 to 4, corresponding to ‘never,’ ‘rarely,’ ‘sometimes,’ and ‘often’ respectively. Russell et al (1980) determined high internal consistency reliability for the instrument yielding a co-efficient alpha of 0.94. They also found acceptable concurrent validity and discriminant validity. Split-half reliability in Indian context was 0.71 (Jha, 1988).

(3)Life-Satisfaction Scale

This scale was constructed by Campbell et al (1976) to measure life-satisfaction. The scale consists of 7 items based on Likert-type of scaling technique with 5 responses, namely, ‘very happy,’ ‘pretty happy,’ ‘happy,’ ‘not happy,’ and ‘not too happy,’ and the scores range from 1 to 5 respectively. The maximum score possible in this scale is 35 and the minimum score is 7. The test-retest reliability reported for this scale and the validity worked out with Psychological Well-being Scale and with Index of Domain Satisfaction was found to be significant.

Procedure

The samples of this study were personally and individually contacted and data was obtained through face-to face interview. The duration of data collection were spread over a period of two months (60 days). The obtained responses were scored and statistically analyzed.

Table I: Showing the Mean, SD, SEM and t-test for e-culture score of the groups on the basis of gender.

Gender N Mean SD SEM t-value LS

Male 60 34.80 15.46 1.09 1.35 NS

Female 60 32.37 15.96 1.44

Table II: Showing the Pearson’s moment correlation co-efficient for e-culture with

loneliness and life-satisfaction.

Variables r

Loneliness -0.171**

Life-satisfaction 0.154**

** significant at 0.001 levels

*significant at 0.005 levels

Discussion

The main aim of this research study was to explore the relationship of e-culture with loneliness and life-satisfaction among the elderly. For this purpose Pearson’s product moment correlation were calculated, since no significant gender differences were found as indicated in Table I the results for both sexes are combined and given in Table II.

It is inferred from the results summarized in Table II that e-culture has a highly significant positive relationship with life-satisfaction but is negatively and significantly related to loneliness.

In this study e-culture has been conceptualized as increased use of electronic products. The outcome of the present research indicates that more use of electronic items by the elderly results in high life-satisfaction. This outcome of the present study can defended by the view that access to electronic technology and use of electronic products by elderly has multiple implications, it connotes that the elderly posses the required digital skills, is active and productive, is mentally and physically healthy, has adequate economic support and is progressive minded. Van Dijk (2001) has already identified four different types of access to information and communication technology (ICT) as conditions for the emergence of e-culture, namely, motivation, possession, use and skills. Hence, the elderly individuals who are high in e-culture may find easy to adjust to the demands of e-environment and thereby experience more life-satisfaction.

The finding of this research that e-culture is inversely related to loneliness among elderly indicates that increased use of electronic products by elderly individuals results in low level of loneliness and vice versa. The rationale for this finding might be that the preoccupation with electronic products especially multi-media technologies by the elderly may make them feel part of a social network or be a replacement for the lack of friends. The information and communication technology (ICT) championed by Internet and mobile technology ensuing in e-culture has made access to information and communication between people simple, effortless and undemanding. Loneliness which is popularly viewed as relative deficit in adequate social relations may be compromised by increased indulgence in electronic technology making contacts and communication easy for the elderly. Further the elderly individuals possessing the motivation and skills to use electronic products may have more perceived control over their environments. Patel (1998) has empirically proved that increased perceived control results in decreased loneliness among the elderly.

CONCLUSION

The present study reveals that e-culture is positively and significantly related to life-satisfaction and loneliness is negatively and significantly related to e-culture among the elderly.

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Mullins, L.C and Mushel, M. (1992). “The Existence and Emotional Closeness of Relationships with Children, Friends and Spouses: The Effects of Loneliness among Older Persons.” Research on Aging, Vol 14(4), pp. 448-470.

Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.

Netherlands Council for Culture. (2004. English Edition). From ICT to E-culture: Advisory report on the digitalization of culture and the implications for cultural policy (Submitted to the Netherlands State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science, June 2003). The Hague: Netherlands Council for Culture Publishing.

Osama Manzar (2005). “The Best of E-contents 2005.” Delhi: Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).

Patel, J.M.A. (1988). Loneliness among the elderly- The role of perceived responsibility and control. Recent researches in Education and Psychology, Vol (3) Nos I-II, pp.21-25.

Patel, J. M. A and Rajendran, K. (2005) E-culture Inventory. SCOPE- Annamalai Psychology Journal, Vol. I, pp. 1-11.

Peplau, L.A., Bikson, T.K., Rook, K.S and Goodchilds, J.D (1982). Being old and living alone. In L.A.Peplau & L.D.Perlman (Eds). Loneliness of source book of current theory, research and therapy. New York: John Wiley.

Russell, D.W., Peplau, L.A and Cutrona, C.E (1980). The Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, pp. 472-480.

Uzlec, A. (2003). E-culture: Cultural Goods between Public Domain and Private Property. In S. Dragojevic., D. Dodd., B. Cvjeticanin and C. Smithuijsen (Ed)(2005): E-Culture: The European Perspective- Cultural Policy, Creative Industries, Information Lag (From the proceeding of the round table meeting, Zagreb, 24-27 April 2003). Zagreb: Institute of International Relations. pp. 31-40.

Van Dijk, J. (2001). The accessibility of ICTs and the quality of infrastructure and services. In: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands (Ed.), People in networks: A contribution to the discussion of the Ministry of Transport to the debate about the Digital Divide. The Hague: Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management.

Venkoba Rao, A. (1992). The Universe of Geron. Presidential Address, 6th National Conference, Association of Gerontology, November. 1992. Aligarh, India.

Weiss, R.S. (1973). Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

asgaralipatel
http://www.articlesbase.com/psychology-articles/loneliness-and-lifesatisfaction-among-the-elderly-140418.html

Quite a few corporate and retail employers enjoy looking for fun ways to bring employees together. One of those ways is to plan team building activities.Sometimes team building activities are held on the premises of an employer. However, quite often employers will provide unconventional team building opportunities off site. The following is a list of some of the most commonly planned types of team building activities:

1.Problem Solving Games

One of the most popular team building activities that involves problem solving is “murder mysteries”. This particular game involves the solving of a mystery with given clues.

Solving a murder mystery is an activity that requires players to use all of his or her finest problem-solving skills. While playing this type of game, some players may be able to exercise their management skills of delegation and organization. Likewise, other players will learn more about how to work well with a close-knit employee group. Treasure Hunts are also another type of problem solving game that calls for group activity. This usually involves finding some type of valuable gift or object with just the use of location or object description hints that are given. This particular type of activity is perfect for helping a group of people learn how to follow directions and to use time wisely.

2.Driving Sport Events

Driving events are sometimes planned for employee groups. Quite often these are planned for pure enjoyment. However, one of the benefits of planning a driving sport event day is that employees learn how to get along even if they are competing against one another. Examples of driving sport events include quad racing (four wheeler racing), off road racing, buggy racing, and remote control car racing. For a very crazy (in a good way) adventure some corporate or employee teams may enjoy reverse steer car races.

The reverse steer car race may deserve a little more explanation than the other types of car racing. The cars used in this type of race involve the use of a backwards type of steering wheel.

3.Communication Exercises

Another type of activity involves playing games that require people that do not know each other well to talk to each other. These are typically called communication exercises, and are planned to help people improve interpersonal activities within the office. Sometimes employee groups who are involved in communication games will play “Twenty Questions” or “Get to Know You” games. For instance, one of the questions for the “Twenty Questions” game could be as follows:

“If you could have one new type of food in the office cafeteria what would it be?”

The type of direction involved in “Get to Know You” games could include something along the lines of the following:

“Find someone in the room who has the same hobby as you.”

Usually communication games not only require quite a bit of verbal communication, but they may also require non-verbal communication as well. For instance, most people know what “Charades” is, or “Pictionary”. Charades is a silent acting game and Pictionary is a drawing/word guessing game. Communication exercises are usually meant for resolving issues that are directly work-related. However, they may also be designed to help teach employees how to resolve personal issues between one another.

4.Social Events

Sometimes entertainment such as music, dancing, or theatre productions may be planned for a corporate event. Moreover, employee events that are organized by employers and/or third party activity coordinators may involve themed parties. Two of the most popular themed parties include the Wild West theme or the Hawaiian themed party.

John Tarr
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/four-main-types-of-team-building-activities-127662.html

I’m a mass comm. student. I’m supposed to write a paper making a comparison between interpersonal comm. and mass media.., so just give me and over view and tell me the points I’m supposed to illustrate.

Without doing your homework for you, Mass media is obviously communication on a large-scale basis and interpersonal communications on a one-on-one or small groups such as small businesses or even larger corporations. Mass media could be viewed as a firehose spraying a large area as opposed to a squirt-gun in spraying interpersonal communication. :>)

Lateral Structural Arrangements in Organizations
In order that the organisation can achieve its goals and objectives the work of individual members must be linked into coherent patterns of activities and relationships. This is achieved through the structure of the organization and the nature of relations. Decision about the future strategy of the organization are made by people and strategies are implemented by people. The success or failure of a current strategy will depend not only on decisions made in the past but also on how those decisions are being implemented now by people employed by the organization.
Lateral organizational arrangements include individuals of different departments and groups. These relations exist on the same organizational level and involve coordination and consultation. This type of arrangements depends upon the co-operation activities and of informal relations. It is therefore important to questions about who, how and why people are doing what they are doing and what they should do in strategic implementation. In short effective lateral organizational arrangements add value, manage the business and can contribute to strategic success but, conversely, they can make spectacular errors that can be very costly to the organization (Galbraith, 1995).
Lateral organizational arrangements depend upon the roles of each individual which implies the expected pattern of behaviours associated with members occupying a particular position within the structure of the organisation. It also describes how a person perceives their own situation.
The concept of ‘role’ is important not only to the functioning of groups but for understanding cooperation processes and behaviour. It is through role differenti¬ation that the structure of relationships among the mem¬bers are established. The development of lateral arrangements entails the identification of distinct roles for each of its members. Some form of structure is necessary for team-work and co-operation. The concept of roles helps to clarify the structure and to define the pattern of complex relationships within the group.
Lateral organisational arrangement belong to tThe formal relationships which can be seen as forms of role relation¬ships. These individual authority relationships determine the pattern of inter¬action with other roles. The role, or roles, that the individual plays within the group is influenced by a combination of: situational factors, such as the requirements of the task, the style of leader¬ ship, position in the communication network; and personal factors such as values, attitudes, motivation, ability and personality.
The role that a person plays in one work group may be quite different from the role that person plays in other work groups. However, everyone within a group is expected to behave in a particular manner and to fulfil certain role expectations. Also, the role relationships with members of their own group – peers, superiors, subordinates – the individual will have a number of role-related relationships with outsiders, for example members of other work groups, trade union officials, suppliers, consumers, and this patterns determine the nature of lateral organizational arrangements. This is a person’s ‘role-set’. The role-set comprises the range of associations or contacts with whom the indi¬vidual has meaningful interactions in connection with the performance of their role (Galbraith, 1995).
An important feature of lateral relations is the concept of ‘role incongruence’. This means that a member of staff should not be perceived as having a high and responsible position in one respect but a low standing in another respect. Difficulties with role congruence can arise from the nature of groupings and formal relationships within the structure of the organisation. Lateral organizational arrangements help to overcome problems which cannot be solved with the help of vertical relations only. “However, in many modern organisations where conventional communication structures either do not exist or are less formal, communication tends to be horizontal, between individuals and departments, rather than the upwards or downward flow assumed by so many to be the normal case” (Ball, 2001).
Decentralization principle is important in a large corporation, which became the central tenet of so much business practice. The need to co¬ordinate strategic planning from the centre to ensure longterm growth for the company, while allowing the indi¬vidual units and their managers to get on with day-to-day tactics are also play the crucial role. “The personal relations existing among members of an organisation which are not represented by the “blueprint” constitute informal organisation or informal relationships. Informal organisation plays as important a part in functioning of social organisation as formal organisation” (Formal & Informal relations, n.d.).
lateral organizational arrangements are achieved when the various HR strategies cohere and are mutually supporting. This can be attained by the process of ‘bundling’ or ‘configuration’. If a deliberate attempt to ‘bundle’ is made, this process will be driven by the needs and characteristics of the business. In this very case lateral organizational arrangements could be described the process of ensuring that strategies are integrated with or ‘fit’ business strategies. The concept of coherence could be defined as lateral organizational arrangements – the development of a mutually reinforcing and interrelated set of policies and practices. Lateral organizational arrangements are chiefly about ensuring that the firms has the skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce.
Lateral organizational arrangements are closely connected with functional features of work. The word ‘functional’ is used to indicate major aspects or departments of the organisation such as research, production and marketing. Differentiation describes ‘the difference in cognitive and emotional orien¬tation among managers in different functional departments’ with respect to: the goal orientation of managers, for example the extent to which attention was focused on particular goals of the department; the time orientation of managers and relation to aspects of the environment with which they are concerned, for example longer-term horizons, or short- term horizons and problems requiring immediate solutions; the interpersonal relations of managers to other members, for example a managerial style based on concern for the task, or on concern for people relationships; and the formality of structure.
It is sometimes suggested that in many organisations the responsibility for employee relations still lies with the line managers who are often sceptical or even hostile towards personnel ideas and techniques, and who frequently reject the concept of an employee relations policy because it hampers their work and limits their flexibility. If line managers are left to handle industrial relations issues for themselves, the pres¬sures of production are likely to lead to ad hoc and contradictory decisions. If a per¬sonnel policy is introduced to promote consistent decisions on industrial relations issues, its effectiveness may depend on granting authority to the personnel depart¬ment to override the natural priorities of line managers (Galbraith, 1995). “Rather than increasing hierarchies, they support the minimizing of vertical structures and the flattening of hierarchies, creating lateral roles and relations. The decision making processes become decentralized and there is a decrease in formalization” (Complex Organizations, n.d.).
As with other aspects of the personnel function it is important that line man¬agers are involved, at least to some extent, with employee relations. But there must be good communications and close consultation with the personnel department. There must be teamwork and a concerted organisational approach to the management of employee relations. This is made easier when top management, who retain ultimate responsibility for the personnel func¬tion, take an active part in fostering goodwill and co-operation between departments and with official union representatives.
Top management should agree clear terms of reference for both the personnel manager and line managers within the framework of sound personnel policies. “By creating lateral connections, the information in the organization is allowed to flow more directly. The communication system would be an informal one. This can be achieved through liaison roles and task forces” (Complex Organizations, n.d.).
The purpose of lateral organizational relations is contributed to a nationwide restructuring of corporations, with the multi-divisional form of organization becoming the standard for large industrial firms producing multiple products in multiple markets. He was one of the first management theorists to perceive the importance of creating a strategic plan for a business before framing its organizational structure (Galbraith, 1995).
In general lateral thinking is the generation of new ideas and the escape from old ones. Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way and creativity comes into every aspect of manag¬ing a business not only innovation but information systems, communications, finance, marketing, advertising and promotion, labour relations, problem solving, planning, design, R&D and public relations.
According to Ball: “Traditionally, the structure and therefore the communication process is based upon a hierarchy of individual departments, although more and more organisations now see the product and the market as more fundamental to structure than individual departments” (Ball, 2001).
The lateral organizational arrangements is a part of the generality of management. The personnel manager, as a separate entity, operates in terms of a ‘functional’ relationship, that is as a specialist adviser on personnel matters and on the implementation of personnel policies through all departments of the organi¬sation. It is the job of the personnel manager to provide specialist knowledge and services for line managers, and to support them in the performance of their jobs.
In all other respects the personnel manager’s relationship with other managers, supervisors and staff is indirect: that is, an advisory relationship. It is the line managers who have authority and control over staff in their departments, and who have the immediate responsibility for personnel manage¬ment, although there will be times when they need the specialist help and advice of the personnel manager. If the personnel function is to be effective there has to be good teamwork, and co-operation and consultation between line managers and the personnel manager. In this case, “High-quality internal training programs not only give people the skills they need, but also send the clear message that you care about people’s career development and are willing to invest in them as individuals” (HRM guide, n.d.)
The lateral organizational arrangements offers the best hope for long-term business pros¬perity, and he concentrates on the principle that the salaried manager’s role is critical. As managers receive power and authority through their offi¬cial roles, so their careers become increasingly technical and professional. One could use lateral thinking for five per cent of the time and vertical thinking for the other 95 per cent, operating the systems alternately.
The significance of the distinction between jobs and roles is that in the new process-based organisation, horizontal processes (which may have been defined in a business process re-engineering exercise) cut across organisational boundaries. Managements are beginning to regard their organisations in some fundamentally different ways. Rather than seeing them as a hierarchy of static jobs, they think of them, as dynamic processes.
Some members may have the opportunity to determine their own role expectations, where, for example, formal expectations are specified loosely or only in very general terms. Opportunities for self-established roles are more likely in senior positions (Galbraith, 1995).
Given the possibility that different demands of the environment are characterized by different levels of uncertainty, then it follows that individual departments may develop different structures. At the organisational level the detailed involvement of the work activities of organizational several departments, available time, and the need for specialisation suggest that the personnel manager has a prominent role to play. The ager is the main executor of personnel policies but acting in consultation with, and taking advice from, line managers.
Lateral organizational arrangements are connected with coordination and consultation. Line managers are on hand to observe directly the performance of their staff. They will actually see, and be directly affected by, for example, lateness of staff, unsatisfactory work, insufficient training, low morale, staff unrest, or poor planning of work duties and responsibilities. As an element function, personnel is an integral part of any managerial activity. The extent to which the personnel function is devolved to line managers is a decision for top management, and is likely to be influenced by the nature and characteristic features of the particular industry or organisation.
Separate units of differ¬ing size, location and mix of skills, means of necessity the personnel function is decentralised and prime responsibility has to be with line management.
An understanding of the capabilities of individuals and groups terms of attitudes, abilities and skills, as well as an understanding how individuals relate one to another, is an important part of the preparation and development of strategy. At the same time there has been a deterioration in lateral relations in many places, and a failure to introduce changes in work methods necessary for effective competition and organisational effectiveness. Personnel departments as such are clearly not to blame for these developments much more guilty are those line managers at the highest level who have opted out of their most important function, that of managing people.
Members may not always be consciously aware of these informal expecta¬tions yet they still serve as important determinants of behaviour. The psychological contract implies a variety of expec¬tations between the individual and the organisation. These expectations cover a range of rights and privileges, duties and obligations which do not form part of a formal agreement but still have an important influence on behaviour.
At the departmental or unit level the individuals might assume a promi¬nent role for day-to-day personnel matters, with the personnel manager as adviser, and if necessary as arbitrator. They would be more con¬cerned, at least in the first instance, with the operational aspects of personnel activities within their own departments. For example: the organisation of work and allocation of duties; minor disciplinary matters; standards of work performance; safety; on-the-job training; communication of information; and grievances from staff . On-line communication process can reduce waste of time for solving these problems (DeSanctis, Monge, 1998).
Within lateral organizational arrangements many role expectations are prescribed formally and indicate what the person is expected to do and their duties and obligations. Formal role prescriptions provide guidelines for expected behaviours and may be more prevalent in a ‘mechanistic’ organisation. Formal role expectations may also be derived clearly from the nature of the task. But not all role expectations are prescribed formally. There will be certain general conduct, mutual support to co-members, attitudes towards superiors, means of communicating, dress and appearance.
According to lateral organizational arrangements it is made easier when top management, who retain ultimate responsi¬bility for the personnel function, take an active part in fostering goodwill and harmonious working relationships among departments. Top management should agree clear terms of reference for individuals within a framework of sound personnel policies. Within this framework the personnel function can be seen as operating at two levels: the organisational level and the departmental level.
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Andrew Sandon
http://www.articlesbase.com/organizational-articles/lateral-structural-arrangements-in-organizations-75489.html

‘Grammar’ is one of the most problematic issues in writing and “Use Punctuation Marks” Checker was developed in order to help us better deal with it. English writing is a powerful tool; if we use it properly it will enable us to achieve many of our goals whether for personal or business purposes. You don’t have to be an expert in order to transform your writing correct and professional – read more in the following article.

Short overview

The following solution is basically an automatic proofreading tool; this advanced “Use Punctuation Marks” Checker enables you to improve your English writing by identifying any grammatical and/or spelling problem as you write. Text analysis as far as it concerns correct grammar and punctuation, is quite challenging. However, in recent years we notice several technological achievements in this field based on massive DB as well as advanced algorithms. In most cases these solutions enables us to do the following: grammar check, misspelling and typos correction, and suggesting proper punctuation.

Quick benefits and advantages

Finally, we need the bottom line, let’s see what benefits we get:

* Assisting ESL learners assimilating English grammar rules.
* Improving our writing style.
* Improving our inter-personal communication skills.
* Saves us time spent on grammar guides.
* Helping people who use writing as their main working tool whether at home or in the office.

There are probably many other benefits that are not covered here, as this powerful tool constantly changes, bringing us new ideas and additional solutions that help us on improving our English writing.

Conclusion

“Use Punctuation Marks” Checker is based on a new technology that can help most average users on improving their English writing skills. Do we really need it? Well, could we imagine using a word processor without a basic spelling checker…? We can only expect this important webmarketing technique to further develop itself, simply because writing is one of the most important tools that help us fulfill our daily assignments.

Gil Lavitov
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-publishing-articles/quotuse-punctuation-marksquot-checker–how-to-write-like-a-pro-670208.html

Express your thoughts clearly:
To be effective in interpersonal communication, organize your thoughts. Think through what you plan to say before you say it. Choose the appropriate words that will best communicate these thoughts, and speak in the language of the listener. Strive for utmost clarity.

Be willing to express your feelings:
Those people who are able to express their feelings are more likely to be effective communicators than those who are not. This does not mean an irresponsible venting of emotions; rather, it means expression of feelings tempered with responsibility. If you are unable or unwilling to express your feelings, others may view you as bland. Your people want to know where you are coming from. Tell them! Move beyond merely exchanging data and information. Enrich your communication with a clear expression of your feelings about the issues at hand.

Put yourself in the place of the other person:
The effective communicator has empathy: the capacity to participate in another’s thoughts or feelings. Empathy is the ability to see the world through the other person’s eyes. It is an attitude, a frame of mind, which has a profound effect on the quality of the communication. Empathy is what helps set up the exchange as a living mutual relation.

Be “truly present” When engaging in interpersonal communication, many managers appear to be preoccupied with other thoughts. Their body language conveys the impression that their thoughts are paying attention on something other than the matter at hand. Don’t be guilty of this type of behavior. Whenever talking with another person, give that person your undivided attention. Even if you have only 10 minutes to give, give the person 10 minutes of your undivided attention.

Be a good listener:
It has been estimated that no more than about 10 percent of the general population might be considered really good listeners. That means that about 90 percent of us have room for improvement. It will be to your credit if you develop a reputation for being a good listener. Be an active listener and listen with understanding. Ask good questions. Paraphrase the key points that the other person has made. Check your perception of the person’s feelings. Link the elements. Achieve unity. These are things that you can learn to do. Great effort is required, but making the effort will surely enhance your effectiveness in interpersonal communication.

Postpone evaluation:
Whenever a new idea is being presented for consideration, many managers are too quick on the draw in evaluating the idea. Before they have really understood the idea, they judge it to be either good or bad. Such behavior tends to inhibit communication and may cause the manager to miss out on some promising ideas. Whenever a new idea is being presented to you, discipline yourself to postpone evaluation until after you have demonstrated that you fully understand the idea.

Avoid becoming hostile when another person’s views differ from your own:
Employees learn a great deal about their manager on the basis of how the manager responds to opposing views. (And body language speaks louder than words.) If the manager appears threatened or distressed whenever an employee offers an opposing view, the employees in all likelihood will be reluctant to challenge the manager in the future. As a consequence, the manager’s ideas may go untested, and some potentially good ideas may never be considered. Avoid becoming hostile to opposing views. Try to understand the other person’s views: what they mean, how they came about, and why the person supports these particular views. Then, when appropriate, try to incorporate these views into your own thinking, while at the same time giving due credit to the person who generated the ideas.

Be willing to change your convictions as new truths are uncovered:
Too many people believe that they have a “lock” on truth. There is only one way to the top of the mountain, and that is their way. Their own views are obviously correct, which means that any opposing views are obviously incorrect. One of the greatest challenges for you as a manager is to keep an open mind. This does not mean a wishy-washy approach in which you agree with every opposing view, but it does mean that you will hear others out and try to understand their views, even when the views are contrary to your own. Perhaps it will turn out to be a significant learning experience; you may glean some insights that will help you strengthen your own views.

Be willing to confront:
Conflict is an integral part of life. If we are encouraging people to be authentic in expressing their thoughts and feelings, conflict is inevitable; if we are calling for people to be creative in expressing their own views, conflict is inevitable; and if we are requiring people to work in complex and ever-changing organizations that have competing demands, conflict is inevitable. Conflict is not something to be avoided; rather, it is something to be guided and channeled for productive ends. Whenever your views differ from those of others, be willing to confront. This is essential for authentic dialogue.

Think win-win:
When confronting others, there are those who think only in terms of win lose. There obviously will be a winner and a loser. This is a basic attitude that has been ingrained over the years. Don’t get trapped in the win-lose mentality. Transcend it! Focus on ends rather than means. Ask yourself: In this particular confrontation, what might be done to assure that both my adversary and I achieve our objectives? How can we both emerge as winners?

Nishanth Reddy
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/effective-communication-tips-for-todays-manager-74858.html