Management and Samsung

Contents I. Introduction – Executive Summary:2 II. Critical Success Factors4 1. Wise R&D Strategy:4 2. Strong intellectual Capital:5 3. Self-weakness recognition5 4. Effective Supply Chain Management7 5. Effective Marketing Strategy:8 6. SAMSUNG’s culture and leadership:10 III. Conclusion14 References:15 I. Introduction – Executive Summary: Electronic products now are the necessary part in household and they provide the conveniences make living of people better. However, the awareness of people now progressively has improved, lead to the higher expectation in quality of products.It provides both opportunities and threats for electronics companies. SAMSUNG is the company which seized the opportunities to growth from small export business to world’s leading electronics company, which specializes in digital appliances and media, semiconductors, memory, and system integration. SAMSUNG was found on 1st of March, 1938 by Byung-Chull Lee in Taegu, Korea with only 30. 000 won. At the start, SAMSUNG focused primarily on trade export, agricultural products such as dried fish, vegetable and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing.Samsung Distribution ChannelWithin a decade, SAMSUNG owned flour mills and confectionary machines became a co-operation in 1951. From 1958, Samsung began to broaden into other businesses such as financial, media, chemicals and ship building during the 1970's before it specialized in electronics manufacturing and continued expand their business on global market in 1990. In 1997 the majority of Korean businesses got smaller in size and Samsung was no exception. They had to sell and dropped some businesses to reduce debt and cut employees down lowering personnel by 50,000.But they managed to control that situation and continue to grow after restructure old businesses and enter the new ones with the aim of becoming one of the world’s top five electronics companies. Adapt with the changing tech world, SAMSUNG gradually became the famous name in electronics markets and now over more than 60 years, SAMSUNG becomes market leader in electronics market when it has market share in almost countries in the world, especially in Asia, the largest market of SAMSUNG.For examining the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of the multinational corporation, SAMSUNG would be rather useful. It is essential to indicate the following Critical Success Factors of SAMSUNG that were in fact implemented to corporation’s strategy as main precedence in the long-term to become the leader in markets. ?Wise R Strategy ?Strong Intellectual Capital ?Self-Weakness Recognition ?Effective Supply Chain Management ?Effective Marketing Strategy ?SAMSUNG’s culture and leadership

Explore the various arguments used by John Donne to achieve his aim

Donne's main aim in the poem is to persuade his lover to go to bed with him, to do this he uses various techniques and arguments throughout the poem to tempt her into doing so. We see Donne trying to lure his partner into sleeping with him, â€Å"And in this flea, our two bloods mingled bee† By use of this conceit he suggests that as their bloods have already been mixed by the flea, they have been joined. This implies that when the blood mixes it is the same result as if they had had sex nevertheless as their bloods would have united. This is a very weak argument on behalf of Donne as the blood does not actually pass from one person to another during sexual intercourse; it is only bodily fluids. We can see that in â€Å"The Sunne Rising† that Donne suggests ideas that are unrealistic. â€Å"goe childe† and â€Å"goe tell court-huntsmen† This is obviously not thought about, because if the sun was to go away, life could not continue as the sun is vital to survival. Donne knows that his partner is religious, and so uses this to his advantage by exploiting her weaknesses. â€Å"This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;† Donne compares the flea to being a temple, which is an obvious religious symbol. He is comparing it to marriage where their two bloods have been merged to become, like the bond two people make when being married. Because his lover is religious, she would believe in not having sex until marriage. Donne is trying to convince her that it is as if they have already been married because their bloods have been unified within the temple that is the flea. John Donne attempts to persuade his lover into making love with him by using metaphysical conceit, a common tactic used by several other poets of this genre. â€Å"A sinne, nor shame, nor losse of Maidenhead† The plan of John Donne at this point is to show the similarity between the two ideas of the body and the flea. This concept would have been appreciated by a reader of this era – Elizabethans believed that sexual intercourse involved the mixing of people's blood. Therefore, the idea that the flea is an example of their mixed blood by this theory proves that intercourse has taken place. The language used n this line is soft in nature and persuades his lover to feel guiltless and secure – in addition the tone is fluent and articulate. Donne uses various arguments to try to persuade his lover to have sex with him. She is tempted but is held back by religion, family and overall fear. Donne's arguments are not very strong, although at the time they would have been considered differently.

Cider House Rules Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Cider House Rules - Essay Example The title, however, serves as a metaphor from Homer’s situation. For instance, as a discipline, Dr. Larch expects Homer to obey the rules imposed on him by an outsider (Irving 52). Dr. Wilbur Larch ensures that the orphans in his orphanage are taken good care of as if the orphanage is their real home. In the orphanage, Dr. Wilbur Larch ensures that children are entertained by showing them movies, recites poems, read to the infants at bedtime and wishes them a good night, when the time comes for sleep (Irving 3). Nonetheless, the children in the orphanage appear very eager to be adopted. They keep asking themselves when their would-be parents will come to adopt them from the orphanage. Two services are definitely absurd and at odds with each other in the movie. On one hand, the doctor promotes abortion of infants by mothers, while on the other hand, he offers a safe haven for abandoned children in the form of an orphanage (Irving 1). Nonetheless, the services can be made to coexist when abortion is only procured in the event that the mother’s life is at risk. Doing this shows that the doctor is concerned about the health and well-being of a mother and infant, the same way he does by running an orphanage that harbors children abandoned by their parents. Saving the life of a mother whose life is at risk is a form of humanity, just like an orphanage. Abortion has become one of the most contentious issues in America’s history. This is presented in this movie in a series of discussion between Homer and Larch. According to the Irving (14), Homer is a pro-life crusader and believes in the sanctity of life. He believes that abortion is not only messy and goes against the sanctity of life, but also illegal. Despite his ethical stand on abortion, Larch teaches him how to perform abortion on women. The moral dilemma particularly comes out when Rose conceives and threatens to abort

Influential Type Designer paper (Akira Kobayashi) Assignment

Influential Type Designer paper (Akira Kobayashi) - Assignment Example Akira Kobayashi was born in the year 1960. He undertook his studies at Murashimo Art University in Japan for four years until 1983 before proceeding for a calligraphy course at the London School of Printing. Even though the type designer did not benefit from the United States military scholarships for education at that time, he managed to carve for himself a successful career out his art studies (Kobayashi 1-2). Akira worked as a freelance type designer from 1997 to 2001, during which he won himself numerous accolades in type designing competitions. Since 2001, Akira has been the Type Director at Linotype Library. During his reign at the company, Akira has overseen the completion of numerous typefaces that have received immense appreciation from art scholars across the world. Recently, a type designer completed his Optima nova family in collaboration with the original designer, Professor Zapf Hermann. Akira Kobayashi is arguably the most accomplished type designers of his time. His dedication to the realm of typefaces has earned him very many awards and prices over a career that has spanned for close to three decades. Some of his most outstanding achievements include the following: The informal new brush typeface is characterized by a unique, streaky appearance. It was created with a brush before getting refined in order to give its font an even, overall texture. The font has proved to be very effective in big display applications in which a casual, immediate effect is desired. This is a contemporary sans serif typeface that derives its character from the Italian scripts from the Italian Renaissance. The typographer has utilized an extremely stylish and rational approach in designing an inspired modern Adobe Originals adaptation through the Calcite Pro. The typeface’s geometric form and its near crystalline texture elicit images of the mineral element from which its name has been derived. The dynamic appearance of the typeface adds a strong

Thank you for Smoking the comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Thank you for Smoking the comedy - Essay Example In my opinion, the movie â€Å"Thank you for Smoking† has applied agenda setting to capture the public’s attention on the smoking behavior, which is the issue of concern in this movie. In this movie, Nick, a lobbyist for alcohol and pro-gun association is connected to the merchants of death squad and the media paints him as a public enemy and he loses his job. In another incidence, Nick visits Jeff, a marketer and questions him about the incorporation of cigarettes in films and its moral implication. By making frequent address to the moral integrity of Jeff, Reitman poses a challenge to the public to identify the ethical concerns of cigarette smoking, which I feel is an agenda well set up. Diffusion of Innovations Diffusion of innovations is a theoretical explanation for the mechanisms and the speed through which information is relayed in a society set up through the available communications channels (Rogers 49). One of the major role players in the information diffusion process in the social systems is the opinion leaders who have a high level control of flow information. This category of people is close to information sources and has many followers who are willing to obtain information from them. Therefore, opinion leaders will make a judgmental decision and pass information innovatively to their followers given that they have the power to control information flow between the people. They form the category of early adopters who receive more attention from the public as opposed to laggards who form the least innovative group. Laggards are ignored by the media since they are the conservative group that adopts the innovation very late and have little followers. In the comedy ‘Thank you f or Smoking’, I feel that Nick plays the role of an early adopter in the entire film by forming part of the social system that can access first-hand information in the society. The whole public has all its eyes set upon him as he meticulously convinces Jeff on his moral implication of advertising cigarettes. When he struggles to convince his 12 year old Joey he points out that he is not actually after convincing his son, but the public on the need for moral flexibility. By rolling out information on the media concerning the use of tobacco I find him a rather excellent first adopter. Today, the public has over a hundred alcohol commodity choices and well over thirty cigarette varieties to choose from. The media coverage of alcohol, cigarettes and guns has intensified and has paid attention to the elite in the societies to pass information to the societies, as a strategy to engage innovation diffusion to hammer critical issues in the society. Knowledge Gap Hypothesis The knowled ge gap hypothesis refers to the diversity of the economic status of the society and how it influences their ability to access information from the media. The poor in the society have little contact with media information while the rich access the most current information (Hwang and Jeong 535). Given the power that comes along with information, I believe that those who acquire information first benefit more that those who receive it when it is almost obsolete. In this view, I feel that it is a political necessity to care for the poor by bridging the information gap that exists in the social systems. Films such as ‘

What are the Main Differences Between Liberal and Radical Feminism Article

What are the Main Differences Between Liberal and Radical Feminism - Article Example According to Margaret Jackson (1995), the progress of the feminist activism and struggle started by a series of organized campaign in the British Victorian and Edwardian periods in regard to marriage, spinsterhood, and the sexual double standard. (p. 3) From then on, it has gathered steam, propelled by women activism as seen in literature, cultural and political campaigns advancing feminist engagement. However, as mentioned elsewhere in this paper, its history is fragmented, making it difficult to pinpoint its specific history or cultural tradition. All in all, the history of feminism is contingent on other political issues and social changes. As a political ideology, it has been made by women through different campaigns and moral surges, hence, its objectives and ethos varies through time. This dimension is highlighted by the fact that contemporary feminism has found expression in two principal forms: liberal feminism and radical feminism. Liberal Feminism The liberal feminism has been largely seen as positive social movement that only seeks gender equality in social political and economic roles and opportunities. It primarily seeks to bring women into the fold - fully participating in the mainstream society, exercising full privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in genuinely equal partnership with men. Since the 1700s, the liberal feminists have been important advocates vigorously campaigning for women's education and campaigning for equality of access and provision. As years passed, this advocacy extended its focus on individual rights, education, political and religious freedom, individual choice, and self-determination. Feminism has addressed gender inequalities through... This paper explores that feminism may have existed in the ancient times such as in Egypt and Greece, the concept as we of it today traces its roots from the struggle for female sexual autonomy as conceptualized in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century feminists in terms of emancipation of women from sex slavery. This essay stresses that the liberal feminism has been largely seen as positive social movement that only seeks gender equality in social political and economic roles and opportunities. It primarily seeks to bring women into the fold – fully participating in the mainstream society, exercising full privileges and responsibilities of citizenship in genuinely equal partnership with men. Since the 1700s, the liberal feminists have been important advocates vigorously campaigning for women’s education and campaigning for equality of access and provision. As years passed, this advocacy extended its focus on individual rights, education, political and religious freedom, individual choice, and self-determination. Feminism has addressed gender inequalities through their efforts and campaigns for inclusion within civil rights legislation, access to education, and equal opportunity. This feminist school’s main argument is that women are as rational as men. Liberal feminism h as, over the years, campaigned and achieved equal access to education and profession, property rights, suffrage, and all other rights enjoyed by men.

Assesment-3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assesment-3 - Essay Example For the purpose of recording a transaction an account is maintained like Cash A/C, Depreciation A/C etc. An â€Å"account† can be defined as the summarized record of the transactions. To obtain any information it is not possible to go through all the transactions. So, one can refer to the respective account and find out the details. An â€Å"account† is divided into two sides - debit and credit. The right hand side is the â€Å"credit† side and the left hand side is the â€Å"debit† side. The term â€Å"debit† represents all the expenses, losses etc. and â€Å"credit† all the incomes and gains. The net of the debit and the credit side gives the balance at the end of the year. At the end of the year, a statement ascertaining the profit and loss is prepared called the Profit and Loss A/c. It is prepared after closing all the accounts and posting the balances in the Profit and loss A/C. If the total of the credit side is more than the total of t he debit side there is a profit and if the debit side total is more than the credit side total there is a loss. An account is opened as follows – The process of allocation of the cost of the asset is called â€Å"depreciation†. In other words, the reduction in the value of assets over its useful life is called depreciation. It does not involve any cash outflow but is only a record in the books (National Productivity Council Of India, Pg no 1). In the books of account every year an amount is recorded as an expense and charged as depreciation in the statement of profit and loss. In accountancy, there are two aspects of recording a transaction – debit and credit. The debit side represents all the expenses, losses etc and the credit side represents the incomes, gains, etc. Depreciation is an expense to the firm and hence recorded on the debit side of the statement. This helps in finding out the true profit or loss of the business operations. The most

International Taxation - International Taxation and Foreign Tax Research Paper

International Taxation - International Taxation and Foreign Tax Credits - Research Paper Example However, in reality the U.S. government ignores this concept of neutrality and imposes taxation on profits earned by U.S. companies in any country outside the border. Thus, U.S. companies who seek to spread businesses overseas are burdened with a combination of tax systems. Such companies are required to pay taxes to the U.S. Government as well as the government of the countries where they are conducting their activities (Henchman, 2011, pp.1-2). This paper contains my proposals as a tax professional to my U.S based client who wants to expand his business into foreign markets. Taxpayer’s organizations My client can establish chain of hotels or restaurants in a foreign country. This will make my client fall under deferral system of U.S. foreign tax. Under this system, subsidiary companies that are situated in other countries can be exempted from U.S. taxation unless such revenue is repatriated to the parent company like in the form of dividends. Also, I will advice my client to launch hotels in countries that are keen on promoting tourism by easy tax credits and ready development loans. For instance in Peru, foreign investors on hotel industry are given tax incentives and tax returns even before the investments are completed or the recommended constructions are completed (Finkelstein, 2012). The second type of organization that my client can establish is manufacturing company. This will benefit my client if he sells the manufactured products to foreign clients with foreign titles. Such income will fall under foreign income category although the company is situated with the U.S. Moreover, in the initial year since my client will be new in the foreign market his sales volumes will be low. In that case my suggestion will be to conduct activities from the U.S. without opening subsidiary company in the foreign country. In this way he will be able to avoid local taxes in the country on income earned from local sources. Tax mitigation on repatriate earnings A ma jor portion of income earned by U.S. companies is derived from foreign sources. Both the United States and the country in which the company is executing its activities prefer to impose taxes on the company. The governments of both countries try to benefit from these companies thereby establishing double taxation concept. Although the U.S. government attempts to mitigate its tax claim, these overlapping tax impositions create complications for U.S. tax collectors. This provides opportunities to multinational companies to avoid taxes. Subsidiary companies are confronted with high tax rates in countries where they operate. As an owner of a multinational company, my client will have an incentive to get income remittances in one of the forms that propose tax deductions. The incentive will not be in the form of dividends. A remittance that is subject to tax deductions directly reduces tax payments of source country. On the other hand, dividend expenses may only generate unusable surplus o f credits. The strategy is to keep the rates of tax less than that on dividends on the forms of payments that fall under the category of tax deductions. This will be more beneficial if the parent company that is situated within US has surplus of credit. It will be then profitable for my client to conduct payments in these tax-deductible forms. The surplus of credits can also be utilized for counterbalancing any remaining U.S. tax on such payments. The principle impact will be that

Asian Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Asian Philosophy - Essay Example The main issue in dispute here is the fact that, while Brahman is conceived as encompassing all reality, Brahman is also understood to be the cause of the world. This claim seems contradictory to the metaphysical principle of causality. This is because, according to the metaphysical principle of causality, the cause and the effect can never be the same. The metaphysical principle of causality demands that the cause and the effect must, of necessity, be different, otherwise there will be no causality at all. On the contrary, however, Vedanta Sutra holds that Brahman is the absolute reality that encompasses the totality of reality and at the same time is the cause of the world; this claim clearly seems to be contrary to the metaphysical principle of causality that we have explained. In an effort to reconcile the metaphysical principle of causality and the teachings of Vedanta Sutra on the nature of reality, Samkara held that the non-difference of cause and effect in regard to Brahman a nd the world result from the use of such terms as origin and other such terms. The main point that Samkara makes in this claim is that in reality there is no causal relation, as we conceive it, between Brahman and the world. For Brahman, the concept of causality in regard to the relation between Brahman and the world is fictitious, and it is brought about by use of wrong terms like† origin† in the description of the relation between Brahman and the world. For Samkara, Braham is all there is, and it is not differentiated or it does not have any modifications, it is one absolute entity that encompasses all reality. Samkara defended this claim in the following three ways. Firstly, using the example of clay and the things that are made from the clay, Samkara argued that there is no really any difference between the clay and the things that are

Locked in the Cabinet Essay Example for Free

Locked in the Cabinet Essay Democracy is a form of government where people have a right enabling them to have a say in everything that affects their lives. However, our government is not a direct democracy, and as such, individuals are not empowered or able to have a say in the inner-workings of their government. Their beliefs are not heard as often as they would like, and they are given little to no opportunities to decide what the government will do. The average citizen has little access to political power, and as a result little influence in the government. But if one individual chooses to change the government, and places that as their goal, then they have a chance of altering the system that governs their lives. If one such as Robert Reich works hard towards their goal, then they can possibly change the government to some degree. Robert Reich was an average man who had strong beliefs, and among those beliefs was the belief that to help people was just. His career in law began as a law clerk to a judge, and he eventually worked his way to the position of Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. All of the time that Reich spent in Clinton’s cabinet was dedicated towards attempting to make his idea’s bear fruit. Although in the book Reich is the Secretary of Labor, he did not start out in this position. He worked his way up from the position of a law clerk, as I have previously stated, to a job that came with some measure of power. Reich attained this place in the government through his own efforts, and by showing that he had ideas suitable to fill in the role of Secretary of Labor. Reich is just one example of an ordinary person with true passion for their beliefs who was able to make a difference in the government. In Reich’s book, he talks about how an average person named Steve Wandner had an idea to reduce unemployment. Reich explains that Steve’s idea was when unemployed people claimed that they were unemployed, that they had to be screened to find out whether or not they were permanently laid off so that they could find new jobs faster. Steve worked hard in order for his idea to be heard, and after being ignored several times, Reich gave him the attention his idea deserved. Later, Wandner’s idea became an official law. Anyone can make a difference in the government if they work hard to reach a position where it is possible. During Robert Reich’s stay a part of President Clinton’s cabinet, he followed a strong belief in â€Å"putting the people first†. He cared deeply about helping the unemployed obtain new jobs and to retrain them in order to have better working skills, and in that same vein, better jobs further down the road. Reich also wanted to raise the minimum wage, show people the inequality of income in America, and much more. Reich’s ideas were not in any way offensive or unfair, he simply wanted to help people first rather than putting full attention on government issues such as reducing the deficit. Because of this, many of his ideas were igored and rejected by the members of Clinton’s moderate administration. For example, during one of his meeting with Bill Ford, chairman of the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee, Reich tried to explain to him the idea of retraining American workers. Reich ended up being yelled at and his idea rejected. Although many of Reich’s ideas were disregarded by other members of government he continued to pursue his goal of helping the working class of America. Reich was rather successful in performing his duties as Secretary of Labor. One of his successes was helping pass the Family and Medical Leave Act. It allowed working class families to have more time off from work if they were injured or had a child. He was also successful in convincing President Bill Clinton in aiding the people rather than the government. In doing so Clinton decided to pass a law in raising the minimum wage 90 cents. This pleased many of the working class of America. Finally, Reich was also able to set up several reforms in order to help provide more jobs for the unemployed. For example, Reich gave 3 million dollars to a job center helping people trying to get employment. Even though he want able to pass a law to retrain workers, he still managed to work hard and complete some of his goals. Reich was ignored by many government officials during his term as Secretary of Labor, and this greatly hindered his chances of getting his goals finished. But while this may be true, this was not the center of his experiences as the Secretary of Labor. Reich was aiming towards retraining Americans, and he is not the only one who has seen this as a valuable idea. Freddie Ray Marshall was the Secretary of Labor for Jimmy Carter, and he shared many similar ideas with Reich. Both men were working to provide jobs for others, and they both were trying to get workers to be retrained. (F. Ray Marshall) If workers could get more training, they can possibly get better jobs. He also is a teacher, like Reich. However, unlike Reich, Marshall was able to pass many programs and to help reduce unemployment. I would say that some of Reich’s experiences were unique to his time as the Secretary of Labor, and that others were not. In conclusion, Reich was a man who fought all alone for his beliefs, and was more successful in some areas than in others. To call him a failure is a little harsh, and to call him a success depends on your political views. All in all, Reich did what he felt would be best for the people who have little say in the government. Reich can be seen as a prime example of one who worked hard to have their voice heard, and as one who made a difference, even if it wasn’t as big a difference as he would’ve liked. Reich really seemed like he was a kind individual (but then again, he wrote the book) and even if he did not succeed in all his plans, he still changed some things for the better.

Stereotyping in Nursing Care | Reflection

Stereotyping in Nursing Care | Reflection PLACEMENT REFLECTION Introduction Reflection has been defined within healthcare as the active process of reviewing, analysing and evaluating experiences, drawing upon theoretical concepts or previous learning, in order to inform future actions (Reid, 1993). A reflective practitioner often reflects on experience and is capable of reflecting-in-action, continually learning from experience to the benefit of future actions (Schon, 1983). This essay is a reflective account based on the recurrence of an incident that took place during my placements in a forensic and an acute ward as part of my mental health nursing training. This reflection is based on Gibbs (1988) definition of reflection which is shown in his reflective cycle in the diagram below. The model will be used to describe the incident, my feelings following the incident and an evaluation of my experience. An analysis of what sense can be made of the situation and thoughts of what else could have been done under the circumstances. The final stage is an action pl an for what has to be done if the incident eventuates in future during practice (NHS, 2006). In accordance with the NMC code of conduct (2008) on confidentiality, the names used for the patients are pseudonyms. Reflection in nursing is important as it generates practice knowledge, enhances the ability to adapt to new situations, develops self-esteem, leads to satisfaction and improves professional practice (Baird and Winter, 2005, p.156). Similarly, Siviter (2004, p.165) explain that reflection is about gaining self-confidence, identifying when to improve, learning from own mistakes and behaviour, looking at other people’s perspectives, being self-aware and improving the future by learning from the past. Description of the incident During my first week of placement at a forensic ward, I was cautioned to be careful of some patients whom the nurses had labelled as ‘difficult’. This was a perception I carried with me till the end of my placement, unfortunately. At one instance I was with a nurse in the office when Yosef, one of the ‘so-called’ difficult patients came to request for the patients phone to make a call. The nurse appeared to be very busy and ignored the patient. As the patient kept knocking at the window, I asked the nurse if I could facilitate the request, but I was told the patient had to wait because he has a habit of always making requests. Yosef walked away after waiting for a few more minutes without help. He was fuming and very upset. I looked at the nurse in despair as I really could not understand what he had to wait for in the first place since in my view, the request could have easily been facilitated. I felt a sense of guilt because at that moment I felt we had le t down a service user as facilitators of service. I carried this guilt with me to my second placement which was a female acute admissions ward. I found that here too, the labelling of some patients as ‘difficult’ existed. Bridget, a 59 year old patient who presented as isolative, interacting minimally with peers and staff was also labelled as such. During a ‘plan of the day’ meeting which all patients and staff are expected to attend, Bridget was surprisingly very forthright. She spoke about staff negative attitudes towards patients during the ‘any other business session’. After lunch that day, I decided to have a conversation with her. I started by introducing myself and congratulated her for being outspoken at the meeting, empathising with her on some of the concerns she raised at the meeting. This was meant to make the prospect of engaging her more appealing to her. The conversation took off slowly, but I had to adopt emphatic listening whic h according to Wold (2004, p.73) is about the willingness to understand the other person and not just judging the person’s facts. During the conversation, I maintained eye contact in order to express a sense of interest in what she was saying (Caris-Verhallen et al, 1999). To my surprise, Bridget was participative, and very pleasant throughout the conversation, dispelling the earlier impression I had been given about her. At the meeting that morning, she had mentioned nurses’ insensitivity which I wanted her to elaborate on. In her response, she said ‘Nurses must know that mental illness is invisible unlike physical illness. The therapy is not all about medication, but it is also about relationships that show warmth towards us as patients. But some nurses feel so important and insensitive; their attitude sometimes makes me feel slighted and frustrated. This can easily lead me on to kick off and explode when I shouldn’t’. She was very thankful and said she felt ‘lifted’ after the conversation. My feelings I had mixed feelings after this conversation; a feeling of disappointment and regret. The disappointment was associated with the fact that there appeared to be a thread of a culture of neglect instead of support at the two wards towards patients. My regret was borne out of the fact that I had allowed some nurses to colour my perceptions of some of the patients. It was clear after this conversation that some nurses have failed to understand and respond to the needs of some patients because they failed to form sound therapeutic alliances with patients which is an essential component of all therapeutic interventions through effective communication Stevenson (2008, p.109). It is important in a mental health setting that nurses promote a therapeutic rapport with patients that is underpinned by a sense of trust, respect and mutual understanding. According to Harkreader and Hogan (2004, p. 245) these are ingredients that would raise the patient’s self-esteem and personal growth. Even more important, according to Arnold and Boggs (2007, p.200) is the need for effective therapeutic communication which can improve the patient’s ability to function. In order to establish therapeutic nurse-patient interaction, a nurse must demonstrate caring, empathy and trustworthiness (Kathol, 2003, p.33). These involve the implementation of interpersonal skills which Johnson (2008) defines as the total ability to communicate effectively with patients and all those involved in their care. Communication is the exchange of information, and effective communication must involve both verbal and non-verbal communication through the use of gestures, postures, facial e xpressions, tone and level of volume. I had a feeling that this intervention was a good starting point to develop my communication and interpersonal skills in future. Evaluation I realised that through communication, I got to know how some patients feel about nurses and the kind of interaction that they expect would contribute to their therapy. At least, my intervention had helped to alleviate her stress to some extent, calmed her frustration and anger through the use of effective communication skills which underpins the promotion of therapeutic relationships necessary to handle aggression more effectively (Duxbury 2002). Analysis Caring which consists among other things of the provision of comfort, concern and support, the development of trust and the alleviation of stress (Leninger, 1994) is a primary duty of nurses. But arguably, caring can only be demonstrated when people interact with each other and get to understand their needs. My interaction with Bridget was part of my duty to provide nursing care, and this was achieved by putting her at the centre of the conversation by way of making her: feel listened to; feel that her concerns are being validated and not trivialised; feel emotionally supported; feel understood. A conducive atmosphere for effective communication was created which enabled her to express her feelings. The Department of Health (DH) (2004) and the National Health Service (NHS) Modernisation Agency (2003) lay emphasis on the importance of patient-focused communication between health professionals and patients. This is seen as vital to achieving patient satisfaction, inclusive decision making in caregiving and an efficient health service. Nursing literature also promotes these concepts as indicative of best practice. For example, McCabe and Timmins (2006) and Charlton et al. (2008) found that, by using a person-centred approach in the interaction between nurses and patients, care outcomes were improved in: patient satisfaction; adherence to treatment options; patient health. Effective communication is also essential to practice and improving interpersonal relationships in the workplace between professional groups and peers (Grover, 2005) Conclusion The nurse is seen as the therapeutic agent in the nurse-patient relationship. This involves the application of effective communication and interpersonal skills which can lead to a sense of safety and protection, improved levels of patient satisfaction and greater adherence to treatment options and increased recovery rates. Furthermore, a successful communication through a patient-centred approach also serves to reassure relatives that their loved ones are receiving the necessary treatment. Action Plan My action plan for future clinical practice is to avoid stereotyping of some patients, but to try to understand them as individuals and treat them with the care that ensures recovery. This can only be done by forming therapeutic alliances with them through effective communication and interpersonal skills. REFERENCES Arnold, E. C. and Boggs, K. (2007) Interpersonal Relationship: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses, Copyright  © 2006, Elsevier, London. Baird, M. and Winter, J. (2005) Reflection, practice and clinical education in Philadelphia: ElsevierChurchill Livingstone. Caris-Verhallen, W. M. C. M., Kerkstra, A. and Bensing, J. M. (1999) Non-verbalbehaviour in nurse-elderly patient communication. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29 (4), 808-818. 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