April 2012 - Diane Hamilton

Euphemisms, Metaphors, Clichés, Oxymorons and More

If you do not know the definition of some of the words in this title, you are not alone. Although many of these things are used in every day conversation, many people may look puzzled if you ask them to define them.

Anagrams – A word, phrase, or sentence formed by rearranging the letters of another. Example: angel, formed from glean. Click here for a list of anagrams.
Clichés – An overused expression or idea. Example: All’s well that ends well. Click here for a list of clichés.
Euphemisms – A harmless word or phrase that may be used as a suggestive one. Example: A bun in the oven would be a euphemism for pregnant. Click here for a list of euphemisms.
Metaphors – An implied comparison of two unlike things. Example: Frozen with fear. Click here for a list of metaphors.
Oxymorons – A figure of speech with contradictory terms. Example: Led Zeppelin. Click here for a list of oxymorons.
Palindromes – A word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backward as forward. Example: A Santa at NASA. Click here for a list of palindromes.
Pleonasms/Redundant Phrases – Using more words than is necessary. Example: Affirmative yes. Click here for a list of pleonasms.

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Today’s Organizations Embracing Virtual Business

Traditional brick and mortar businesses may become a thing of the past. Today’s modern workplace has embraced the virtual environment. In Managing Innovation by Tidd and Bessant (2009), the authors explained, “virtual organizations are increasingly a feature of the business landscape.” In the article Virtual Organizations, the author noted, “The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands.”

Amazon is an excellent example of an organization that has pioneered virtual business. Other successful organizations include: e-Bay, Zappos, and Netflix. There are some businesses that may not initially seem to be virtual organizations. Jet Blue is one of those companies. In an article by Cisco Press titled, Defining the Virtual Business and Its Benefits, the authors explain how Jet Blue reduced inventory through standardization, reduced real estate expenses, and allowed employees to work from home.

In the book The Virtual Organization by Davidow, the author explained that virtual products may exist before it is even produced. “Its concept, design, and manufacture are stored in the minds of cooperating teams, in computers, and in flexible production lines.”

To find out more about virtual organizations’ background, characteristics, challenges, and future potential, check out Virtual Organizations.

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Facebook Recognizes Importance of E-Commerce

Companies are able to increase global reach through e-commerce (short for electric-commerce). E-commerce occurs when products and/or services are sold over the Internet. Some examples of e-commerce include: Online shopping, electronic payments, online auctions, internet banking, and online ticketing. E-commerce may be business-to-business, business-to-consumer, or consumer-to-consumer.

Facebook recently acquired Tagtile to grow e-commerce business. Tagtile is a company that is designed to keep customers engaged and motivated to continue to frequent a company’s website. This will help add to their strong advertising revenue. Zdnet stated, “Facebook needs to be able to bundle a solution to sell to brands who want to tap into Facebook’s store of data for closer customer connections. It needs to find an alternative revenue stream to keep its shareholders happy as it builds its e-commerce offerings post IPO.”

To find out more statistics about e-commerce, check out Statista’s site. Statista is a website that provides some important statistics available on the internet. Statista “provides business customers and academic institutions with an innovative and intuitive tool for the research of quantitative data, statistics, and facts.”

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Big Business Embracing Entrepreneurial Thinking

Wal-Mart recently inspired an unusual entrepreneurial competition. Inventors could submit product ideas, with the hope of having their product available on the stores’ shelves. Wal-Mart is not the first company to recognize the importance of fostering creativity in unusual ways. In college-level innovation and entrepreneurship courses, one of the things students learn is that organizations place a high value on entrepreneurial thinking.

Wal-Mart initially created the entrepreneurial contest to create buzz in social media. The popularity of the promotion led to some creative ideas by inventors who sought attention for their creations. The Wall Street Journal reported that the winner would have the opportunity to sell on Wal-Mart.com as well as in the physical stores.

The idea of organizations recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial talents is becoming more popular. Check out some of the following articles that demonstrate the value of entrepreneurship in the modern workplac

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Perception and Motivation in Goal Achievement

It may be challenging for students to find motivation to reach set goals. People may be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to succeed. However, there are different theories about what motivates behavior. Some people believe that reinforcement is necessary for people to truly feel motivated to change behaviors. Albert Bandura is a name often associated with discussions of motivation and learning. Bandura is a Canadian psychologist responsible for social learning theory. Along with Skinner, Freud, and Piaget, Bandura is one of the most frequently cited psychologists. Bandura believed that reinforcement alone did not account for all learning or motivation. He felt people could learn through observation, intrinsic reinforcement, and modeling the behaviors of others. Intrinsic reinforcement occurs when people receive an internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment.

Part of wanting to achieve a goal is to have the expectancy of reward associated with that goal. Self-efficacy is another important component that is developed as students feel confidence in performing well. An article by Nacada.KSU.edu explained the factors associated with motivation include: Intrinsic goal orientation, extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control of learning beliefs, test anxiety, and self-efficacy for learning and performance. The authors noted, “The self-efficacy construct postulated by Bandura in his social learning theory has guided extensive motivational research.”

Students must not only be motivated to achieve the goal, but be able to make the goal measurable. The mnemonic “SMART” is often referred to in goal-setting. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. In the article Set Specific Goals to Increase Success, the author suggests using the following formula in order to make goals measurable: “I will (goal + performance measure) by (specific actions).” If a student wanted to receive an A as their goal, he or she would fill in the blanks with something like this: I will receive an A in BUS101 by studying 2 hours a night Monday through Friday from 6-8 pm.” Students often will state the goal without remembering to include the steps required to reach that goal. By making the goal measurable, students can measure their progress toward attaining that goal. This creates a roadmap to achieving the goal.

Reaching goals requires motivation. ZenHabits does a nice job of explaining motivation, as well as ways to achieve it and sustain it during times of struggle. To find out more about motivation, check out the self-motivation quiz from Mindtools. After the quiz, there is a nice explanation of factors involved in self-motivation including: self-confidence and efficacy, positive thinking, focus, and environment. The author from the article How Self-Motivated Are You noted, “Self-motivation doesn’t come naturally to everyone. And even those who are highly self-motivated need some extra help every now and then. Build your self-motivation by practicing goal-setting skills, and combining those with positive thinking, the creation of powerful visions of success, and the building of high levels of self-efficacy and self-confidence.”

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