Sunday 30 November 2014

About Me

There is not much I could say about myself... Who am i kidding? IM A LOUD PERSON ON THE INTERNET but very awkward in real life. I love playing MMORGs and watching anime. I'm a sportive and kinda tall guy (6ft1 maybe even 6ft2 depending on the weather xD). I want to take a career path onto the internet and interact with everyone on the internet!

Friday 28 November 2014

It's a new dawn. Its a new day. Its a new life!

Good morning everybody and I hope you all woke up feeling refreshed... if you didn't then I dont care... <3

I hit 1200 blog post views in one day yesterday?! One day?! Thank You all for viewing my posts, the reason I reach that amount of viewers is because I researched most viewed posts i.e. keywords and found out those two were the most talked about. Figuring out what people want to read will help your blog again more views! I know this post is short, but it still counts as one for the day so another will be uploaded later this evening! Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Thursday 27 November 2014

Are Pay Day Loans Good?

Is anything that you need to pay back with interest good? NO! But sometimes you do need some money and payday loan companies take advantage of the people who need the money. You see their humour, animated and persuasive advert showing how easy it is to get money from them but how easy is it for you to pay them back?

DO NOT USE PAYDAY LOANS if you haven't got a secure job or not getting a job within the time period the money is due as they will constantly call you up and pester you until they receive their money with the interest they seem to make soooo tiny in their adverts.  As mentioned above, if you do believe you are able to pay them back then use them as they have what you need for that moment.

PAYDAY LOAN SCAMS: Please note that a lot of criminals that do fraud use payday loans as a way to get money from stolen debit cards so I suggest staying clear from payday loans as they sound disgusting and vile!

Thank you for reading :)

Auto Insurance?! NO! NO! NO!

I'm nearly 18 and I'm coming to a stage where having a car is a must... but the insurance for a car is far too much! Yes, I understand being 18 means you are young and a new driver, but paying more insurance than the amount your car cost is crazy! I want to drive a £300 car and pay £300 for it to be insured not £1000+! In america (USA) they call it auto insurance and in england we call it car insurance. Either way both countries have pricey insurances!

Main thing not to do is to buy insurance straight from the insurance company... The reason for this is because they will promote their most 'costly' or 'best for you' insurance package. Always use compare sites such as http://www.comparethemarket.com/ as they will gather all the best packages for you and will use you the information you've provided to find what you need rather than want the insurance company believes you need.

Thanks for reading.

UPDATES 27/11/2014

As you could tell by now... I've gotten accepted by Google Adsense meaning now I can make some revenue through their publisher programme. I reached the 5,000 total blog views milestone on 27/11/2014 and I am HYPEDDDD UP! Thank You all for reading/viewing my blog as it has motivated me to continue making posts/

UPDATES:
-2 New posts a day: The reason for this is because I want to keep my blog active with gaining viewers throughout the day and this can only be possible if I post new content twice a day.

-Music Reviews: When I first started this blog, the main concept was to review music songs/video from youtube channels such as LinkUpTv, LDrecords and SBTV. However, I began to slack off in posting these reviews so I stopped this content. I am glad to announce, I will begin posting this content again, usually 3 times a week as this is not my main priority for content.

-Interviews: A lot of people have asked me on social networking sites to do interviews with important/famous people. You need to understand that a blog like mine, cannot get the opportunity to conduct these interviews as no important/famous people realise this blog exist. However, when the time does come... I will make sure that there is atleast 1 interview posted daily.

That is all for now, thanks for reading and I hope you have a nice day/evening.

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Reasons why usability is important to a business!

‘A website to should encourage a visitor to look at the site content, easily find something of value and draw them step by step into the site’

Why is usability important to a business website and its customers?

 Usability is important for both the business and customer as this allows customers while surfing the business’ website to roam freely without any trouble and give options that allow the customer to make the website viewable to what the customer would like it to look like. These options could be a few theme changes, font size increase/decreased and other things similar to this. If this is not given this may causes problems for the user as they may be short-sited and want the font size to increase but cannot do so or if the font is too big and user want to make it smaller but it’s not able too.

That’s not the only example of usability, others are the navigation systems. If a navigation system of a website is too complicated and links have errors or load too slow this will put of the user from continuing to surf the website. Another thing that annoys users is if pop-ups open constantly interrupting the user while accessing the website caused by the website. Another problem that may come up is if pictures do not load properly on the page.

If users are attracted and like information(could be goods) given on the website they may want to register and keep up to date with the latest news from the website. When a user register and they have been asked to check their email to click on a confirmation link, most websites sending this link automatically, but others delaying causing frustrating as some websites allows registered users more access and the user must wait till the link has arrived. If it takes longer than an hour or so this could be seen as bad service as most websites offer better services. However some websites state their operating hours and say when they can get back to you.

When a user cannot find the information they are looking for on the website (i.e on the homepage) they use the search button to find it. When they have searched it and no search results have come up or the page crashes on the searched result they may not be interested on continuing their search on the website.

Customer retention is an important matter as a business will want their current customers to stay loyal and to do this they will need to provide certain features that they can only access on the website making them feel special and for them to know that you appreciate them. One feature will be allowing them to access certain information or getting a discount on items if your website runs a shop.

  

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Thoughts on F2P games

As you may know by now there are a ton of F2P games out there... but are there actually free to play?I know these games have stores with items which their player can purchase with $$$ but arent these items usually required to enjoy the gameplay fully? Like end gear items etc.

If you play a F2P game on facebook... deactivate your facebook account and never go on the website again. These games force (persuade) you into buying digital items like gems just to play the game a little more. They lure you in with their fancy game graphics and then boom! You end up spending 100 of dollars without realising and end up playing the game just so you dont feel like you wasted money for no reason.

An example of a F2P game that fits into this category is PerfectWorld, they advertise it as a F2P, but its actually P2W meaning pay to win. After you reach 30+ the grind begins and you end up being forced to buy items to speed up the process.. and trust me this process even after spending money is still slow! I understand how you may spend money on fashion, mount etc but spending money on gear that other players cant achieve who dont spend money is a 'little' unfair. So all these games similar to PerfectWorld... FUDGE OFF!

#RANTOVER

Thanks for reading.

"League Of Angels... or nah?" #LoA #Game #Microsoft #Sony

Worst game ever. Just like any other 2/2.5d game. They are money wh0res. The game is repetitive and allows you to level up quickly the first few levels after you unlock ‘pricey’ items that the item shop has for your level… the extremely long grind begins. Play Crystal Saga if you want to actually spend money on a game. This game at first looks enjoyable... but I'm telling you it is so sh1t. You will get bored of it after spending money and end up regretting spending money on the game! Btw the game is published by the same makers of Crystal Saga... so yeah they are just milking the 2/2.5d consumer base they have.

http://loa.r2games.com/

Monday 24 November 2014

What can determine if a business is successful?

       What is team cohesion? Cohesion is an important aspect that is needed in any team as cohesive means sticking together/united. This is the bond that keeps the team together by preventing group fragmentation. Bonding is completed by having common goals as this is the key part for it to be team cohesion. Cohesive teams consist of proposing objectives, clarifying goals, seeking informations and keeping track of work. Members of this team support each other by ensuring everyone is included team discussions and having their input heard.

       Why do businesses want cohesive teams? Businesses want cohesive team as members of this group will be on the same page and will have different roles that are suitable for their skills. If the team members are able to give their own views on the objectives that have been chosen by the leader they can step forward in the right direction to reach the target. Having a cohesive team is a valuable asset to have for a business as it allows certain task to be completed that wouldn’t be able to be done by a regular team.

Theories relating to cohesion    

Tuckman’s Theory: Tuckman’s Theory explains how groups can be developed into real teams given the right structure to become one. His theory consist of four stages, the first stage is Forming: first time members of this group get together and gives members time to adjust to the situation and observe other members of the group. At this stage members of group are polite to one another and have their own agenda meaning no goal has been set. The next stage that follows is Storming: the group has been become more established and begin storming ideas. With this they become more vocal and compete with one another with their own agendas in place. At this moment the team are in many disagreements and conflict may occur but this is an important stage for a group to become a team as it allows them to be open. After this stage has been completed, Norming is next up. This stage involves members of the group agreeing on a common goal and a leader has been chosen.  At this point all the roles for each member has been set to suit their skills and experience. The final stage of Tuckman’s Theory is Performing. This is the stage where the team’s life cycle is at its peak such as goals are being achieved through good team work. However, even with a good team assembled there will be conflict caused from time to time within the team. 
This theory links to cohesion as it shows the process on a group of members becoming team cohesion through four simple stages. These stages help normal individuals to understand the values of team cohesion by enforcing these stages to improve themselves through team work.

Belbin’s Theory: Unlike Tuckman’s Theory, Belbin believed that a team was made up of a variety of roles. Belbin believed there were nine roles that are required in a team and these are:
Plant: Belbin’s Theory has a role called “Plant”. The name explains itself as this role is given to the person who is creative, imaginative and unorthodox; similar to a plant sprouting flowers. This role is suitable to people who are able to solve difficult problems, but tend to ignore minor problems and greatly involved in communicating effectively.
Resource Investigator: The next role in Belbin’s Theory is Resource Investigator. The person that has been assigned this role is enthusiastic and communicative. They are able to explore a range of opportunities and work well with others. However, a downfall of theirs is that they can be over optimistic and will lose interest after initial enthusiasm has disappeared.
Co-ordinator:  As the name of this role suggest, someone that is a co-ordinator is mature, confident and a likely chairperson. They are able to make all goals clear to the group and regularly does decision-making. A person that fits this role may be seen as manipulative and controlling as they will believe their opinion is the right opinion.
Sharper: A person that fits this role is challenging and shines under pressure. They do this my using their determination and courage to beat any obstacle that may come across them. However, they can be easily angered by others and ignorant of their feelings.
Monitor Evaluator: This role sounds up a person that is even tempered, strategic and discerning. This means they will not be misguided by their own personal opinion and will review all options before coming to a decision. They lack drive and inspired leadership qualities that prevent them from being a leader.
Team Worker: The key role that is needed in Belbin’s Theory is the team worker as they are good listeners and builds with relations with others and tries to prevent confrontation to occur in the group. They are co-operative, sensitive and diplomatic that can be a disadvantage when making decisions in a crisis.
Implementer: This role is most suited for someone is well disciplined, reliable and efficient. They are able to act on ideas, but may not be able to see new opportunities. They are needed in a team as they are able to plan workable strategy can carry it out as efficiently as possible.
Complete Finisher: As the title suggest, this role was given to someone who provides the necessary finishing touches and makes sure the task is completed on time. They are able to search out the errors as they have an eye for detail. At times they maybe a worrier as they may think the team may not meet the deadline.
Specialist: This is the person who provides the group with specialist knowledge and keep the teams work in check. However, they have a tendency to focus on their own chosen subject and may zone out from the group to do so.

Obstacles to cohesion                   
There are many reasons why obstacles to cohesion may occur and prevent the team from being formed. 1) One example is the team goals set were poorly defined meaning the team are not clearly aware what is asked from them and ay lose interest quickly. 2) Another obstacle that leads to cohesion’s team downfall is if there is a high turnover of team members. If there are a large group of members then team members are sharing roles which can create conflict between opinions. Those two mentioned above are just two types of obstacles that can face cohesion teams. 3) Another obstacle is a weak or authoritarian team leadership. If the team leader is unable to keep the group working to the goals then the team leadership is causing this as the team leader should enforce rules to prevent team members from slacking off. 4) Linking to this obstacle, another obstacle that teams face are members competing for team leadership. Having a quantity of members all wanting to be leaders will cause the team to be split and following different orders/opinions. 5) When a team is formed there may be personal problems between one another in the group that can cause conflict to occur frequently and prevent any positive progress for the team. 6) The last obstacle I will be explaining is the members formed as a group do not fit the criteria to be able to reach the goals and members are given roles that are not suited to their abilities.

How to overcome obstacles using the theories 
Tuckman: Using Tuckman’s Theory to overcome obstacles is very useful as each stage can cater to prevent or resolving an obstacle that may appear. For example one obstacle could be that team goals are poorly defined. If the team follows Tuckman’s theory and begin from forming then to storming then they will be able to question what the goal is and decide on how they will reach the goal. After they have passed these stages, they are now on the right in achieving the goal as they are all achieving the same aim and having chosen/assigned roles suited to their abilities.
Another obstacle that may come up is a high turnover of team members, this can be easily sorted by using Tuckman’s stage to identify which remembers are needed i.e. in forming members will decide on a leader which will decide who is useful to the team succeeding and then deciding on which roles each member will have in the storming stage. This will decrease the amount of members in the group.
Belbin:
An obstacle that can be sorted by using Belbin’s theory is internal challenges to team leadership. Belbin’s theory involves giving each member specific roles that all play and are needed for a team to succeed. If members acknowledge that their role as let’s say a Complete-Finisher they will feel empowered and will stop trying to gain leadership as they will know they are an important asset for the team.

Another example of an obstacle that a team may face is little opportunity for career progression for team members. This can be easily sorted by assigning a member a role that they aren’t quite familiar in Belbin’s Theory such as a complete-finisher being a plant in a certain will allow them to gain experience and improve their skills. The person being a Plant will not affect the team negatively as they will be learning and improving on their skills that are needed for a Plant which means they can be a Plant for a different task in the near future.




Comparing the roles of different members of a team.           
role name
strengths and styles
Team member and how you identified this
Coordinator (CO)*
able to get others working to a shared aim; confident, mature - (originally called 'Chairman' by Belbin)
Dion: The reason I identified Dion as the coordinator is because she was able to get members of the group working by using her confident and maturity to show how serious she was in achieving the aim. She made sure everyone took the balloon activity seriously and all members were on track.
Shaper (SH)*
motivated, energetic, achievement-driven, assertive, competitive
Waheed: I identified Waheed as the Sharper as he was the energetic one in the group. He was ready to get to work and was motivated in achieving the aim without getting distracted.
Plant (PL)*
innovative, inventive, creative, original, imaginative, unorthodox, problem-solving
Elidon: I believe I was the plant as I was creative on in the group. I was the one who suggested a creative balloon chair rather than going for a simple design and did many test on balloon chair to solve any problems that occurred.
Monitor-Evaluator (ME)
serious, prudent, critical thinker, analytical
Michelle: She was the serious one in the group. Didn’t want to waste time having pointless conversation, but was quiet at times thinking of ideas on how we could improve the balloon chair.
Implementer (IMP)
systematic, common sense, loyal, structured, reliable, dependable, practicable, efficient (originally called 'Company Workers')
Adrian: He was the reliable one in the group as everyone knew what he was capable of and allowed him to work on building the balloon chair as he was one the team could depend on doing it without destroying the chair.
Resource Investigator (RI)*
quick, good communicator, networker, outgoing, affable, seeks and finds options, negotiator
Olivia: I identified her as the resource investigator for the main reason she was the best communicator out of all of us. She was able to negotiate with members in the group who were causing conflict to come to a reasonable agreement.
Team Worker (TW)
supportive, sociable, flexible, adaptable, perceptive, listener, calming influence, mediator
Natalie: It was clear to say that Natalie was the supportive one in this activity as she kept everyone stress free by socialising with us and being a good calming influence while others were building the balloon.
Completer-Finisher (CF)
attention to detail, accurate, high standards, quality orientated, delivers to schedule and specification
Elidon: I think I fitted this role perfectly as when the balloon chair was near to completion, I made sure that it was able to handle a person’s weight and met the criteria need for a chair.
Specialist (SP)
technical expert, highly focused capability and knowledge, driven by professional standards and dedication to personal subject area
Olivia: Olivia was also the specialist as she had a plan on how the balloon chair would look like before and was dedicated it making the balloon chair a success by concentrating on the area (planning) she was strongly good at.
                                                                                           
Paternalistic Leadership: The last management style I will be explaining is Paternalistic leadership. This type of leadership describes a leader that makes the decisions but listens to input from their employees however their decision is final. The leader believes in encourage a sense of belongings towards employees and a sense of involvement in the business. This will help employees to be motivated as the leader considers everyone as an importance to the business individually and tries to maintain the productivity of the employees to a high level.
Key Leadership Theories:
I will now be reviewing three types of leadership skills theories that are an importance to what a leader should be and have.

French and Raven: The first theory I will be reviewing is the French and Raven theory that believes a leader is based on the power and authority they have. This theory considers power to be the ability to force through decisions and uses authority to involve the right to make these decisions. French and Raven suggests that a good leader is someone that has both and power and authority. Their authority is the title they have been given as a leader and the power is how they use the authority provided this title to make members of their team to do various things asked by them.
There are many different powers that this theory believes existing in the business world and these are:
Charismatic Power- the leader’s power is dependable on what the personality they have i.e. aggressive. An example of this is a football coach that has a personality that motivates and praises their squad to do things.
Legitimate Power- this power is given by the official title given to the leader and the legal power obtained by this title. An example of this is the head teacher at Palmer’s that can decide on what should be done to some extent because of the legal power they have.
Expert Power- this power is given to someone who has a high status in the group due to their skills relevant to the decisions being made. An example of this is when a business is considering buy new computers for their offices, the I.T Technician’s opinion will be valuable to the business when making the decision on what they will be buying.
Reward Power- this type of power involves using rewards to have a significant amount of power by rewarding those who deserve and taking rewards from those who are not achieving to the standards set by the leader.
Coercive Power- a person that has this type of power has the ability to force others to do what they say through any means such as bullying or peer pressure. This can be when a leader wants someone to do what they say and uses their title to force them to do it or they will face punishment as an outcome if they don’t obey.

John Adair: The next theory I will be reviewing is the John Aider Theory. This theory is based on the opinions of John Adair that believed developed a helpful model that can help anyone wanting to become a leader. John Adair produced a model that he considered showed how good leaders can motivate their team with three overlapping circles that had achieving the task, managing the individual and managing the team.

The model above suggests that if a leader can balance these three factors then they will be to increase the whole productivity of the team and increases team determination. Only when a team leader is able to balance all three of these factors well then the team will be in a situation where they are most productive. Being more productive will allow the team to clearly identify what must be done (resources needed) to achieve the goals set. The leader must be able to manage their team, task and individual. It is important for the leader to be able to control their team but also keep their self in check and set a good example of the whole team to follow.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt: The last leadership style I will be reviewing is ‘Tannenbaum and Schmidt’. This leadership theory consist of the three main forces that it believes influences the leadership style, which is why it’s the ‘Continuum of leadership styles’. This theory believes the leadership style taken by an individual depends on their background such as their characteristics. The situation that the leader is leading in plays a big part i.e. the state the business is in.
Telling- Telling is best suited when someone  under the authority of the leader is unable to come up with a decision on what they should be doing or take responsibility for themselves.
Selling- Selling is best suited when some under the authority of the leader is discreetly ready to make decisions and take responsibility themselves.
Testing- Testing is when a subordinate is comfortable in their own abilities and begin trying out decisions for themselves.
Consulting- Subordinates have the freedom to make decisions of their own choice and leader doesn’t not tell them what to do.
Empowering- This is where the leader is not use their authority to intimidate his subordinate, but allows them to self-manage and allows their ideas to be contributed 

Sunday 23 November 2014

"How to get paid online?" #GET #PAID #IN #FULL #TUTORIAL #MONEY #MAKING #GUIDE #PTP

A lot of you may be wondering 'How can I make money online?'... It's actually pretty simple but takes a lot of time. If you are some one who has many twitter followers or friends on facebook then ptc and ptp sites are the way to go. You can make an account on this website using my referral link http://www.4ptp.com/?refi=verzak. When you register you will be given two links:PTP and CTM links. I prefer using the PTP, this link is your own personalised link and will retrieve points that can be converted into cash. The reason you get money for sending traffic to this site is because it's full of advertisements... where there is advertisements there is money! 4ptp is only one website you can use, there are many more. You can use a website call hitleap to send traffic to your link, you do this by gain minutes by viewing websites on the hitleap page. When you have gained enough minutes, you can post your website and others will view yours. For 4ptp you will have to earn atleast 2$ before being able to cash out.

Another way to make money by using your 'popularity' on social network sites is through likes.com. When you register on this website you will be given the option to partner with them. It automatically sets you up a gallery page full of images. When people view your galleries, you will get paid. DO NOT USE HITLEAP for likes.com as your account will be banned for 'fake' traffic and there is 20$ target before cashing out.

Business? #Make #Money #Microsoft #Sony #Net #Profit #Gross

Explanation:
Gross Profit Margin- This margin consists of using the two figures Gross profit and Sales to calculate a figure that will allow the business to know how much they make per pound they spent. For example if the gross profit margin was 70% then that means that for everu pound a business spends they make the pound and 70% more back. The higher the percentage the better for the business as it will mean they are making a higher return on what they have spent for the goods.
Net Profit Margin- This is the ratio that measure the profitability of the business after all costs have been covered. It is done by using the sales and net profit figure to see the differences between the two by percentage. The higher the percentage the better it is for a business as it shows that the net profit is close to their sales figure. Sales is nearly always greater than net profit, so having the net profit as close to the sales figures shows that the business are operating well.
Return on capital employed- This ratio is calculated by taking account the business’ net profit and capital employed to find out the return on capital employed. This ratio measures how efficient the business is with their capital employed. The higher the percentage the better it is for the business.
Current ratio- Current ratio is used to show how well the business is able to pay off their liabilities by calculating how much assets to liabilities they have. If a business has 2 assets for every liability they owe than that means that they are able to pay their liabilities and have money to reinvest into the business. A ratio of 1.5-2:1 is preferred as having too little means the business are unable to pay their liabilities and too high means they are keeping too much assets which is not being reinvested into the business to increase their profits.
Acid Test ratio- Similar to current ratio, acid test ratio is used to see how much assets to liabilities they have but acid test ratio excludes stock in the assets. Like I said for current ratio, the preferred ratio is still the same and with the same reasons why it’s the same.
Debtors Collection Period- This is the period it takes for the business’ debtors to pay them back in days within a year. The less days the better it is for a business, this is calculated by multiplying the total debtors by 365 (days) and divided by sales.
Credits Payment Period- Creditors payment period is the opposite of debtor’s collection period as this is how many days it takes you to pay back your creditors. Similar calculation, but you swap debtors with creditors and purchases with sales as purchases are what the business pays to a supplier.
Stock Turnover- Stock turnover is the amount of times the business had to restock to keep up with the demand for their goods. The higher the figure, the better it is for a business as it means that they aren’t holding on too stock for too long before needing to re-stock to keep up with demands.
Expenses to sales ratio- This ratio shows how much of the expenses is taken of the sales in a percentage. For example on the table above it shows 41% of sales goes to covering expenses cost, the less the percentage, the better it is for the business as it means that either their expenses is low or their sales are high.
Mark Up- Mark up is a ratio that shows the impact of cost of sales on the total of Gross Profit. If the percentage is high that means the cost of sales does not have a huge impact on sales, but if it is low then cost of sales are exceeding a level where the business must have it at. A business percentage may primary depending on the size of the business, maybe a small business will be happy with a percentage that a larger business wont.
KEY:
Average stock = Opening Stock + Closing Stock/2
#Business

Teamwork in more depth! #TEAMWORK

You all want to make money, but you usually cant do this on your own. YOU NEED A TEAM!
What is a team?
A team is a group of individuals coming together to complete/reach a certain goal. A team will contain a leader that decides on what should be done; usually their decision is final depending on the type of leader they are.
Advantage of a team:
A clear advantage of a team is that rather working individually, being in a team you are able to gather new ideas and improve your skills as members of the group may be better at something that you are not. Having other peoples opinion heard will help coming to a decision easier and will divide the workload equally rather than doing everything yourself.
Another advantage is that the team brings people who were not communicating before together and creates new friendships. Having someone to complete a task with motivates you to complete it, as it is not only yourself that is at risk. This gives a person in the team a feel of having more responsibility than they would have alone.
Disadvantage of a team:
One disadvantage of many of a team is that a leader is a big aspect of it. As many people of the group may see themselves ‘leadership material’, coming to a decision on who should be leader will be very difficult and even when a leader is chosen many people may feel disappointed which will cause conflict within the team.
Another disadvantage of a team is that not everyone within the group may be confident in their skills. If someone is unable or slacks off within the team then this will affect the whole team. For example someone has not completed a poster that is due in tomorrow, the team will then be behind and must catch up and make up for the person within the team.
What is a Formal Group?
This is a group that is run by rules and regulations. This group must follow these rules and regulations when completing the given task.
Advantage of Formal Groups:
An advantage of a formal group is that the goal will be reached quicker as everyone is aware of they must be doing and no distractions are caused as the rules and regulations are keeping them on track.
Another advantage of a formal group is that every member of the group already has role and rules are there to guide on what they doing rather than being confused for a long period of time and asking questions causing the group to delay their work rate.
Disadvantage of Formal Groups:
A disadvantage of a formal group will be that the a time may come where the members of the group feel unmotivated and when this occurs the members of the group will begin to slack off. This could be due to not having their ideas heard as their superiors have put ideas into place.
What is an Informal Group?
An informal group is a complete opposite of a formal group. It doesn’t have any direction from the leader, which you see in formal groups. This group develops on its own among each other rather than following what formal groups follow.
Advantage of Informal Groups:
One advantage of informal groups is that group members will feel more comfortable in expressing their own ideas and opinions on what should be while achieving their goal. This will prevent any awkwardness or conflict to occur and if conflict does occur it is to some extent where it benefits the group.
Disadvantage of Informal Groups:
As this is an informal group, conflict will most likely occur. Conflict is sometimes good for a group but when a member has personal conflicts then they are preventing the group from progressing and causing the team to disband.
What is a Permanent Group? This is a group that has had the same members for long period of time and will still have the same amount of members in the near future unless someone decides to leave.
Advantage of Permanent Groups:
This group is usually based on friendship and members previously knowing each other which itself is a clear advantage as members of the group already know whom they are working with and are comfortable working with them. Another advantage is that the group will usually exist for a long period of team and will achieve many of their sets goals as they will have a chosen leader and will all have responsibilities that are suitable to their skills.
Disadvantage of Permanent Groups:
A disadvantage of a permanent group is that their members will stay the same and outcome of this maybe that the group members feel unmotivated due to working with the same people. This will cause the splitting of the group and the group being disbanded.
Another disadvantage is that having no new people in the group will limit the ideas being discussed and the varieties of skills within the group. Having new people in the group will mean that the group can improve greatly and group such as this will not be able to due to this disadvantage.
What is Temporary Groups? This is a group that has been formed to complete a certain task and will then disband after completing this task. They will be a group for a certain amount of time usually until the goal has been reached/achieved.

Advantage of Temporary Groups:
A clear advantage of Temporary Groups is that the members have the freedom of choice to either work together or leave to join another group. Linking back to this advantage, as this group is temporary, the group will be able to have many new members joining and helping by sharing new ideas and suggestions.
Disadvantage of Temporary Groups:
As I’ve stated in the advantage of temporary groups: members are able to leave whenever they choose too. This is also a disadvantage as if a member leaves then the group must find a replacement as losing a member could delay their work rate. Also being a temporary groups means that the members know that after this task is completed they will most likely not be together. This may cause lack of interest as members may not feel committed to achieving the goal.
Benefits of Teamwork:
Teamwork has many benefits and the first one I would like to talk about is the unity teamwork creates when groups of individuals come together to achieve a similar objective. This allows the team to share their own ideas but also gain positive feedback from the group on their ideas. This allows the team to be on the same page and will increase the chances of the team completing the given task.
The next benefit of teamwork is the skills being gathered when a team is formed. Instead of working individually on a task, a person in a group will have people who may be more skilful at something than they are and which will help the team achieve their goal. Having a variety of people in a group that have different skills will help each other out on what they are lacking i.e. computer skills will be useful when a team is creating posters. So if a person is able to teach the other members the basics then this will increase the production of the team.
The third benefit of teamwork that promotes being a team better than working individually is the work rate. Instead of someone working countless on everything without any help. Being part of the team will decrease the time take to do this as everyone will be assigned a different small task to do within the big task.
The next benefit of teamwork that I would like to talk about is that a leader is chosen within the group. This leader has the responsibility of deciding what the team must be do, this is a benefit as the group will give input on what the team should do the leader can decide the best option without being bias to anyone.
Another benefit I will like to talk about is the reduction of alienation. This is when an individual feels distanced from others and has no belonging. Being part of a team will prevent this from occurring as they will be communicating often with a set of individuals rather than just being an employee in a large organisation.
Last benefit and I believe is most benefit of team work is fostering innovation. Being part of a team you are able to motivate and encourage fellow team members by your ideas. They will feel enthusiastic and more interested in working together to complete the task. These ideas will be used as a base format which will be modified to produce the best possible idea.

Friday 21 November 2014

"Microsoft to purchase Mojang worth a £1.2Billion" @Minecraft @Mojang @Microsoft #Minecraft #Mojang #PLEASE #NO #Servers #Donations #Xboxone #Sony

Rumours are going round that Microsoft will make the move to purchase the legendary, loving and enjoyable game Minecraft (Mojang) for a £1.2 Billion deal... THAT'S TOO MANY ZEROS. I hope Mojang doesn't sell out. because Minecraft will be completely destroyed. We have no clue what Microsoft is capable of, they may even increase prices for new accounts, make playing latest version compulsory and must make an additional purchase to access older versions?! Who knows! But one thing for sure is that current servers that are making profit from 'donations' will have hefty lawsuits coming their way if Microsoft purchase Minecraft!

There are some benefits if Microsoft to purchase the game, they make update the games graphics completely, give it more a nicer look (we all know they have the money for it). Probably even make it easier to create minigame servers such as tnt run without even using bukkit plugins such as having the map reset automatically with new command blocks etc.

However, we've seen over the years when a big company has purchases a game studio... they've ruined all the studios titles. These small game studios make games to be enjoyable for a reasonable price and not to make tons of profits! It would be a great move for Microsoft as they can increase the price Sony are paying for the game to be playable on their consoles or remove it completely. I don't blame they if they do, it may sound silly but a lot of people will end up purchasing xbox ones just to play Minecraft. They also could add new features just for the Xbox One which will be a d!ck move but highly profitable.

My thoughts overall are that MICROSOFT STAY AWAY FROM MY BAE (MINECRAFT).

TEAMWORK... Is it really needed? #TeamWork

PUTTING TEAMWORK INTO PRACTICE
  • Introduction
To test out the benefits and drawbacks of Teamwork I was involved/took part in three activities that required me to work with a team. These activities included balloon activity which my team had the task in building a balloon chair which had to be stable enough for someone to sit on, the other activity was called the bridge activity, this involved developing a stable bridge between two tables where two objects bust be able to be placed without dropping/bridge collapsing. The last activity I took part in was the egg drop activity, this involved securing an egg by covering up and drop it, and the egg must land safely without breaking.
  • Methodology
Balloon Activity: The first activity I did was the balloon chair activity. I was assigned the role of coming up with a design on how the chair should like. This design decided on where each balloon should be place and how the chair would look like. The design was good as the final test work great, but previous test had some errors, however I changed and improved the design to make it perfect.
Bridge Activity: I was assigned leader by the team members within my group and with that title I was given the responsibility in deciding on how many papers we were to use and the type of bridge we will design. I took authority as I had previous experience and used this to our advantage by forming a simple yet effective bridge that was able both objects (apple and banana).
Egg drop: Unlike previous activities, I had the role of just sharing ideas. However, my ideas were heard and was used to make the egg as safe as possible. I did take some part in wrapping and covering the egg up but not as much as I would have liked too. Either way the outcome was positive; the egg drop was a success as the egg was protect by the covering material used.
  • How did you do

Balloon Activity: As previously stated in the methodology, I was the person who came up with the design of the balloon chair which turned out to be a success. While the chair was in the process of being formed, I motivated my team and gave clear instructions on the size of the balloon and where it should be placed. If anyone had any ideas on improving the balloon chair they will speak to me and as a whole group I will run a discussion if their idea should be approved. This shows that I demonstrated democratic leadership styles as I did what was best for the team and came to a decision by first hearing what others have to say. Another way I showed this leadership style is that I was focused in my team succeeding and this involved me motivating them and making them feel part of the team and not just another member. However, Olivia who was in my team showed autocratic leadership styles as she was more focused on only having her ideas heard and what she says goes without consulting other members of the group. Her leadership style wasn’t the most suitable for this activity and is why I was chosen as leader to lead myself and the team to success.
Belbin’s Theory: I believe the Belbin role I took in this task was the “Plant (PL)” as this role fitted me perfectly as I was innovative and creative in the balloon chair activity. I came up with a variety of designs that were creative and designed to be different to one another as the more different they are the easier it was to find the best possible design by combining the good things about each design and merging them into one. Another aspect of a Plant is being able to solve problems and in this task problems did occur as some of the designs didn’t work well and I used these test prior to the final testing to sort these problems out.
Tuckman’s Theory: Tuckman is a theory that involves stages. The first stage that my team faced was forming. As we were all familiar in working together, we were comfortable in working as a group and we wasted little time in deciding a leader and individual roles as we knew who was most suitable for leadership and what skills each member had that could be of use to the team for this Balloon Activity. The stage was storming, this was the stage where my team delayed as we wanted to come up with the best possible strategy. The time we wasted was of good use as we all shared our opinions and came up with the best strategy that in the end lead us to success.  The third stage of Tuckman’s Theory that we faced was norming, this was possibly the easiest stage out of the three as we all knew which roles we would have before hand and did not hesitate on coming to an agreement on which roles and responsibilities we had for this balloon activity. Finally the last stage of Tuckman’s theory is performing. For the balloon activity at this moment we were all prepared to get to work and were now ready to begin building the balloon chair. The leader (me), never intruded in others work as we all knew the skill levels of each other and were comfortable in letting others get on with it. We performed well as the chair was able to hold a member of our group without any troubles and had all the feature that the teacher asked the hair must have.
 Bridge Activity:
On the day of this activity, I was chosen as the leader of the group and I believe without me my team would have lost as I came up with the design of the bridge and organised my team well to succeed which is why we were the only team to do so. This is why I showed autocratic leadership styles as I’ve previously done this task and had some experience on it. I knew what to do and how to do so planning time was more of me speaking and my team listening rather than everyone having input. We completed the bridge in half the time the others did as I organised everyone to do one task individually and no one objected to it. However, a member in my group called Matthew believed that his and others ideas should be heard. He helped others members and try share his ideas with the group and have input from other members, which is a clear example of a democratic leader and as an autocratic leader, I chose to disregard his ideas.
Belbin’s Theory: For this activity my role was precise to the one in Belbin’s Theory which is the Completer-Finisher. I took great attention to details on how the bridge should look like, how each paper should be formed and attached. This made sure the bridge was accurate and was ready to be tested when the time we had to complete the task was over. The Completer-Finisher fit my role perfectly as I made sure that the bridge was designed up to the standards of being able to hold fruits.
Tuckman’s Theory: As previously stated above, the first stage of Tuckman’s theory is forming and this I believe was the hardest stage of the bridge activity as my team did not know each other personally and weren’t comfortable at first. So this was a necessary that my team had to face and after communicating for a bit, I decided I should be the leader as I had previous experience on a similar activity to this. We were still unsure what roles we each had, but I continued to answer any questions they might have about the activity as I was the leader and the one with most experience. The next stage as storming, instead of everyone sharing ideas, I was the only one sharing ideas as I knew on the best design for the bridge to succeed. No one disputed about me taking this approach and we then moved onto the next stage which was norming. At this stage I was giving everyone specific roles and dividing them in two small groups with who I believed they’d work best with. The roles were decided/accepted and I made all the big decisions that were needed to be made. Now we were in a situation where we were at stage 4(performing) in Tuckman’s theory. This is where my team were putting my strategy into action and was doing as I stated. We were now in situation where we were on the right in achieving the goal of the bridge being stabled and both small team groups were working alongside each other to succeed.
Egg drop activity
As this was a completely different activity task and I was unaware on how to complete this task, I took advices from other members of the group that motivated me to work harder in helping the group to succeed. I believe I contributed a lot in this task and after learning the basics of what we had to I took the more leadership role as democratic leader as I allowed other people’s ideas to be heard and not allow one person making all the decisions. However, one person did show autocratic leadership which was Ryan. He believes his opinion is greater than everyone’s and I objected to that as I thought everyone in the group should have a fair chance in sharing their ideas and that their ideas should be considered before a decision is made. Which is why we succeed as all view were heard before we came up with a strategy on how the egg should be wrapped.
Belbin’s Theory: In the egg drop activity I took the more Team Worker role that is explained in Belbin’s Theory. As at first I was unaware of what to do so I was only able to be supportive to the group and a listener to make sure I was doing everything correctly by following what was being said in the planning stage. I socialised with the other members of the group quite well as I needed to ask for help when I was stuck or confused about a task I was given by the members. This is why I believe I was sort of a liability in the beginning as I was asking everyone questions about the task and delaying the progress of the team. But after understanding what the task was, I begin to fit perfectly as a team worker.
Tuckman’s Theory: The first stage that my team face was forming. Forming was a difficulty to pass as I was unsure on what we’re doing at first and was unclear on what role I’d have in this Egg Activity. However, after a period of time a leader was chosen and made it clear to me on what this task was about by answering a lot of questions me and fellow members had. This allowed us to progress to the next stage which was storming. Some members were beginning to be distracted, but at this stage we began making decisions that were needed to be done. An example would be deciding on how we would be wrap the egg, the amount of layers we would wrap it in and similar decisions that are needed to be done before reach the next stage which was norming. We finally all agreed on the major decisions and were split into smaller groups by the leader. One to come up with the design of how the egg should be wrapped and the other wrapping the egg. We all engaged in social conversations in the process and found this task enjoyable. We were finally ready and reached the last stage in Tuckman’s theory that is performing. We were all aware of the roles we each had in the success of achieving the task that was to successful drop the egg without breaking. Disagreements did occur, but was quickly resolved and were used positively to improve our teams work rate and the design of how the egg should be wrapped.
4.0 How did others do?
Balloon activity: When my team was coming up with an idea on how the balloon chair should be designed, we all came together and had a big discussion inputting all our ideas. Waheed took the role as leader of the discussion and made sure everyone’s ideas were heard and no one was being disrespectful to another for saying something that may have been incorrect. He kept the team motivated throughout the discussions and is a reason why we were able to sort all disputes peacefully. Which is why I believed he was the Resource Investigator as he was negotiator and was seeking the best option (idea) that was most suited for the Balloon Chair to be a success. My team were able to pass the forming and storming stage in Tuckman’s theory as were already comfortable in working together for example Waheed and I were already familiar and friends beforehand so we weren’t shy of sharing our ideas and knew what role we both suited in this balloon activity.
Bridge Activity: As I’ve previously stated, I was an autocratic leader so there wasn’t much sharing of ideas as I believe I knew what was best in this bridge activity. However, without the members working well, we wouldn’t have succeed. In particular, Adam worked extremely hard in making sure that the bridge was done to a high standard and had no faults. This is why I believe Adam was the Sharper in Belbin’s Theory as he was motivated throughout the activity and achievement-driven in wanting the bridge to be a success. The stage that Adam shined was the performing stage in Tuckman’s theory as he was able to perform successfully and knew clearly what he was doing without bothering other members asking for help.
Egg Activity: When we were storming the team was in perfect harmony as we all were on the same page and were deciding on what roles we would be having. The leader at this point was Michelle as she was deciding each role we were going to have and why we had these roles. I believe Michelle fit the Coordinator perfectly in Belbin’s Theory as she was confident in taking the leadership role and was able to make everyone working on a shared aim which was for the egg to drop safely without getting destroyed.
5.0 CONFLICT
Balloon activity: Even in a successful team, conflict occurs and for us the conflict was deciding on the design of the chair. We all had different views and all disagreed on each other’s ideas. But as a team we overcome this by taking all the good aspect of each idea and merged it into a ‘perfect’ idea. This conflict was necessary as it allowed us to design the best balloon chair.
Bridge Activity:  There was no conflict in the bridge activity as I kept the team organised and made sure that decisions made were most suitable for our team to achieve the task given. Another aspect that allowed us to avoid conflict is because we all worked together in creating the bridge and never slacked off for a minute. We were all motivated in producing the best bridge and to win the task.
Egg drop activity: We faced a major conflict that was a dispute between me and another member. They believed I was delaying the group as I was completely confused on what this task was and was acting childish for not listening. I disagreed completely and the conflict was going to continue until the leader stepped and explained clearly to me what we were doing. The other person that was involved in the conflict apologised for assuming I was delaying the team on purpose and we progressed.
  • & 7.0 Recommendations/Conclusion
Balloon Activity: The major thing I would have changed about my team was to have a variety of unfamiliar faces as I would have shown my skills more if I weren't around people who believed were more suited to a role and each member could have tried something rather than the same old role. This would have benefited the team significantly as we would have been able to improve on skills we were so uncomfortable in. To conclude for the balloon activity, it was a success even without implementing this recommendation as the team worked really well together and made sure the balloon chair was finished in time and able to handle the test (of having a person sit on it).However, having the team work with others who they aren't so close with would have improved the way team, but would have caused disputes between members if this did happen.
Bridge Activity: I hate to admit, but I would recommend allowing other members opinions being heard as it would have been more enjoyable for the whole group and we could have made an even better bridge compared the dull one we (me mainly) designed. One way I would change how the team worked is by splitting the workload equally rather than having one person doing more than other. This would have made the team’s chemistry better and allowed members to communicate more with each other rather than being too focused in completely a task by themselves.
Egg drop activity: One recommendation I would suggest is for the members of group who have knowledge of the egg drop activity to speak before any leader was chosen rather than rush to progress leaving members out of the blue for most of the task. This would have made the task go more smoothly as we would have all been on the same page. To conclude, this activity was a success but not an enjoyable one as we did have conflict that delayed the progression of the group and if we kept our personal opinions out of the discussions this wouldn’t have occurred. So having the team members interested in the aim rather than communicating about nonsense that is not relevant to the task. This would have made the egg drop activity a bigger success than it was.