Happiness

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LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

BOAT, beneath a sunny sky

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky;

Echoes fade and memories die;

Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking  eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream--

Lingering in the golden gleam--

Life, what is it but a dream?

Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) "Life is but a Dream" is reprinted from The Hunting of the Snark and Other Poems and Verses. Lewis Carroll. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1903.

14 Principles of Management – Henri Fayol

Henri Fayol was born in 1841 in a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey. Fayol studied at the mining school in Saint-Étienne and joined a mining company in Commentry as an engineer. By 1888, he was a director of the mine which now employed over 1000 people. It became one of the largest producers of iron and steel in France. Fayol stayed there for 30 years until 1918 by which time he had written down his management experiences in a book called “Administration Industrielle et Générale”, the book that would be his lasting legacy. This is an extraordinary little book that offers the first theory of general management and statement of management principles.

Fayol believed management theories could be developed, then taught. His theorising about administration was built on personal observation and experience of what worked well in terms of organisation. His aspiration for an "administrative science" sought a consistent set of principles that all organizations must apply in order to run properly.

Henri Fayol was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, having proposed that there are five primary functions of management: Planning, Organizing, Commanding, Coordinating and Controlling. Henri Fayol was the first to identify the four functions of management: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling, as known today. He then went on to explain that these functions should be carried out according to 14 principles of management, namely:

1. Specialization of labour. Specializing encourages continuous improvement in skills and the development of improvements in methods.

2. Authority. The right to give orders and the power to exact obedience.

3. Discipline. No slacking, bending of rules. The workers should be obedient and respectful of the organization.

4. Unity of command. Each employee has one and only one boss.

5. Unity of direction. A single mind generates a single plan and all play their part in that plan.

6. Subordination of Individual Interests. When at work, only work things should be pursued or thought about.

7. Remuneration. Employees receive fair payment for services, not what the company can get away with.

8. Centralization. Consolidation of management functions. Decisions are made from the top.

9. Chain of Superiors (line of authority). Formal chain of command running from top to bottom of the organization, like military

10. Order. All materials and personnel have a prescribed place, and they must remain there.

11. Equity. Equality of treatment (but not necessarily identical treatment)

12. Personnel Tenure. Limited turnover of personnel. Lifetime employment for good workers.

13. Initiative. Thinking out a plan and do what it takes to make it happen.

14. Esprit de corps. Harmony, cohesion among personnel. It's a great source of strength in the organisation. Fayol stated that for promoting esprit de corps, the principle of unity of command should be observed and the dangers of divide and rule and the abuse of written communication should be avoided.

Fayol has been described as the father of modern operational management theory. Fayol’s ideas had a major effect on how management functions in most established organisations. In many ways, they are the bible of management and the source of the idea that "managers have the right to manage". Whether knowingly or not, anyone who manages, even today, is almost certainly managing in accordance with Fayol's ideas and principles.

Freudian Slip

A Freudian slip is a verbal or memory mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind.

Example 1: A man calls his wife by the name of his mistress.

Example 2: A person calls his wife "mom" because he subconsciously thinks of her like his mom.

Example 3: A person expecting a dinner guest with a large nose reminds himself to avoid making any reference to noses at dinner. Then dinner comes and he says "Pass the nose" instead of "Pass the salt".

(Warning: All slips are not Freudian, and to interpret all slips as Freudian is not recommended.)

According to the theory of Sigmund Freud, people have many subconscious wishes, feelings and desires, which they have suppressed so that they are not consciously aware of them or are not willing to think of them at the present time. However, people sometimes make mistakes, called "Freudian slips" which reveal their subconscious thoughts. In a wider sense, "Freudian slip" is used to refer to any mistake in speech which reveals feelings or thoughts a person does not want to reveal.

The term is popularly used today in a humorous way when a person makes a mistake in speech. In these situations, observers often suggest (in a comic way) that the mistake reveals some type of hidden emotion on the part of the speaker.

Sigmund Freud Theory

Known as the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud developed a theory of the mind which contains three levels of awareness:  the conscious, the preconscious, and the super conscious.  According to his theory, the human mind is like an iceberg.  The conscious part of the brain is just the small tip which is easily visible (accessible).  The other two parts remain hidden below the surface.

            In addition to the three levels of awareness, there are 3 components of personality:  the id, the ego, and the superego.  The id is the primitive part of the mind; it is irrational, emotional, child-like, and seeks self-gratification.  The superego is the moral compass.  The conscious, a subsystem of the superego, is constantly aware of right and wrong.  For a child, this consists of everything he thinks mom and dad will disapprove of or punish.  The ego, the rational part of the brain, compromises between these two opposing forces.  "The conflict between the Id and Superego, negotiated by the Ego, is one of the fundamental psychological battles all people face."

In order to deal with this constant internal conflict, Freud believed that defense mechanisms were created to protect one's self.  One of these methods is repression, where intense emotions, too difficult to deal with in the conscious awareness, are repressed into the subconscious.  It’s like our unconscious mind is a door to our conscious brain and the two meet during our dreams.

Psychology of Online Shopping

I happened to read an article that said Indians have started to go online for shopping products more than ever before. The cost conscious Indian customer has started to evaluate offers and deals and is waiting for coupons to be used while shopping on the internet. The conservative Indian buyer has moved from booking tickets online and checking account balances to e commerce.

 The significance on social media has been so huge that customers gain confidence to try out buying online. With reviews about product and usage experiences, customers have started to venture into buying online. This has helped the online retailers’ to manipulate with colours, price points and time distortions to get us buying. Psychology plays its part on how customers react to your website content and its products. In order to keep up appearances of the website considerations such as colour, imagery, pricing need to be carefully planned. Green and Blue colours have major impact on online purchases. Studies show that product images set against green background trigger sensitivity to price; products set against blue background evoke a sense of ‘Comfort’.

For an effective online presence, you must evoke emotion, trigger a reaction and excite your visitors enough so that they not only return but they tell others about their experience in your store or website. So if your business isn't treating its online presence seriously, then you're sending the wrong message to your customers.