The Role of Personal Consumption - Essay Example

ROLE OF PERSONAL CONSUMPTION Role of Personal Consumption Customer Name: Lecturer Name: Date: Role of Personal consumption I have recently acquired the latest Smart-phone , doing away with the old phone, which has served me for some time. In comparison with the new expensive Smart-phone, with the phone I have used previously I realised that both serve similar functions with slight differences in performances but very huge difference in pricing. This gave me an insight into analysis of the role of personal consumption, which is an important social as well as economic matrix. There are several underlying reasons why I preferred owning a simple phone. I used the phone basically for sending short messages and voice communication, this functionalities could be efficiently performed by any simple phone. Moreover, I had low personal consumption capability, therefore I could not afford, to invest the limited finances in purchasing a phone, which was beyond my financial capacity. The simple phone also, gave me the opportunity to learn of some features of mobile phone, due to the uncomplicated user interface and simplicity. My sticking with simple phones also has to do with my perception on new products to the market. Several smart phone companies have had performance, security and technological challenges with their products. This has led to situations where the manufacturers have recalled smart-phones after launching. I do not like the idea of being used as a technological guinea pig, where I buy a product, after which the product is recalled. I prefer buying products, which have matured in the market, with proven security, safety and performance characteristics. My concern to develop analytical approach to personal consumption considerations was drawn from experience. In my class, several class members who are still struggling with live, and have limited sources of funds own very expensive smart-phones, with advanced functionalities and features. However, some persons who are perceived to be financially stable, and are the cradle of the society have very simple phones. Recently, a senior government official appeared in the mass media, holding a very simple and relatively cheap phone. Some lecturers also have very simple and cheap phones, which do not have the advanced functionalities and applications. The dissimilarity in the mobile phone usage has created an ironical situation with contrasts, I question myself after purchasing a smart-phone on why should I , a student who are still learning own expensive smart-phone, while lecturers and senior government officials own simple phones. If phone ownership is used as a personal consumption metric, then the students can be said to be ahead of the lecturers in terms of phone usage ownership. This however beats conventional logic, since some students are learning so that they become lecturers. Does this therefore mean that the students are learning so that they can come down in terms of ownership, reducing from smart phone owners, and becoming users of the simple phones? Accordingly therefore, the role of personal consumption can be paradoxical in that lecturers with several tasks need advanced phone features, but own very simple phones. In the other hand, students in most cases have simple things to do, yet they own smart phones with advanced computing and enterprise functionalities. The variance in the use of phones and smart-phones raises important personal consumption items for analysis. Social scientists as well as economists alike appreciate the role of personal consumption. The smart phones I own has several advanced features such as Multi-Touch Gestures, Multitasking , Push notifications, apps data sharing, Game Centre social network, Portrait orientation lock, iBooks with PDF support which I use to browse, buy, and read books on a mobile device. Advanced ability to view quickly current market capitalization in terms of stock’s price or percentage change, Voice over Internet Protocol are more capabilities of the phone. The other features offered by the Smart-phone are Background audio, advanced camera with 5x digital zoom and Categorized by Albums, Faces, Events and Places, FaceTime for video calling, searching with Web or Wikipedia, HTTP Live Streaming which comes as Built-in support for HTTP live streaming for streaming high-quality audio and video content . In addition, the Smart-phone offers added functionalities such as In-Page Video Playback, HTML5 Client-Side Storage in Safari, Exchange Server 2010, and Support for multiple Exchange accounts and ability to organize messages by threads, and open attachments in third-party apps. Having examined the several features of the Smart-phone, and matching the features with my day-to-day life, I realised that I am hardly using any of the extended capabilities. In fact, I was not aware of some of the features, while some features I have only used them once – when learning what they do out of curiosity. This was a foundation for reflection on the role of personal consumption, I asked myself why I should buy an expensive Smart-phone with advanced features that I do not need. Accordingly, personal consumption is driven by social constructs and demands. I realised that buying a Smart-phone, is not necessarily for the features offered by the phone, but a Smart-phone is a symbol of social status. Many students, own Smart-phones, yet they cannot even purchase airtime for the phone for long periods of time, in fact, some students have advanced Smart-phones such as iPhone 4, which they use hardly use, due to financial challenges in maintaining the phones. Statistics in terms of Gross Domestic Products of several countries, point out the role played by personal consumption in running the economy. In Australia, personal consumption in terms of mobile phone usage has been increasing, hence contributing to the Gross Domestic Product of the country. In the year 2004-2005, the direct contribution of mobile telecommunications to the Australian economy was $6.24 billion, which increased to $6.24 billion in the year 2006-07. The figure has been rising substantially to the extent that direct and indirect benefits from mobile telecommunications to the Australian economy are more than 4 % of the GDP, as at 2010 statistics. The increased mobile data traffic flowing from the enhanced uptake of 3rd generation mobile telecommunications, due to Smart-phone usage contributed an estimated additional $2.1 billion to country’s economic output in 2010, according to Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association, (2011). Personal consumption therefore influences the country’s economy through enabling the government to collect taxes from the goods and services purchased by an individual, when a person consumes anything; they are bound to pay taxes in one way or another. If individuals maintain very low personal consumption, the possibility of the government attaining its service delivery objective is affected (John 96). From experience, mobile phones and Smart-phones have few differences in terms of functions required for everyday use. However, the difference in pricing is wide, furthermore persons who purchase smart-phones do not necessarily use all the features but rather own the phone for social status and prestige, therefore Personal consumption has played a role in social segregation and social classification of persons. People are classified as upper class, middle class or low class, depending on their propensity and capacity to consume, it is apparent that personal consumption is the underlying reason for the social differentiation. Personal consumption has also played a role in innovation and development, the need for better applications and features of smart phones drives up innovation. From choosing a Smart-phone over the simple mobile phone, I realised that phone manufacturers have to be innovative and inventive in order to remain relevant and competitive. Furthermore, the features of Smart-phones keep on advancing to satisfy the demand of the consumers. Personal consumption varies, for example, the lecturers have capacity to buy expensive smart phones, and however, to most of them, a phone is a means of communication and is not considered a form of social stratification. Lecturers go for phones with the basic minimum functionalities, unlike students who take ownership of phones as a symbol of social status. This shows that the intentions of individuals in personal consumption may be good; the results may not necessarily be ethical. The role of personal consumption can therefore depend on the beliefs and perceptions of the individual person. People with resources may go for cheap phones, which perform the basic communication functions, while others who have very little money may go for expensive smart-phones which have several applications they do not use, as a way of status, these people may pay for what they are not using. I am still doing this, confirm the above first, thanks. Reflection of Career Planning Career planning is defined as the combination of structured planning and the active management choice of one's own professional career, It is a process rather than an occurrence, aimed at strategic networking, identifying and researching on potential employers, making more informed choices and increasing the chances of getting a job that matches a person’s important life needs (Tricia 165). Career planning entails different procedures such as developing high levels of self-awareness, options awareness in terms of capabilities and interests, and self-marketing which involves understanding on how to get to the career destination. To attain job satisfaction, it is important to satisfy some important life needs through working in an environment, which meets the person’s most basic expectations and beliefs. Before embarking on career planning, individuals have to understand the values concerned with their future employment such as helping others, societal contribution, leadership capabilities, customer and community service, teamwork, Self expression, knowledge capacity, Moral fulfilment , Change, Stability, security, Environmentalism, Corporate responsibility, Ethics, Risk, Complexity, cutting edge, Subsistence and Financial freedom. The values have levels of importance. Developing a work target is an important foundation for career planning. A person have to decide on which sector they would like to work for, such as Not for profit organisations statutory bodies, public sector, private sector or self-employment. The organizational environment is also an important consideration, such as the style of the organization, the physical environment of the workplace and status, reputation of the organisation as well as remuneration issues. Personality and skills assessment is an important construct in career planning. Skills assessment involve different ways such as Communication, Initiative & enterprise, Learning, Technology, Planning & organising, Self-management, Problem solving and Teamwork. It is also a requisite to analyse the transferable skills a person possesses and as well do employer search. Career planning can be improved through promoting and subscribing to ethical activities in the course of career planning. In addition, the individuals should promote virtues and having friends to assist in identification of opportunities. It is also important to talk to the executives of the potential places on would like to work and having a positive attitude towards work in general and the persons person’s profession in particular. What it means to be a professional There are diverse definitions of what a professional is. From what is understood in the course, being a professional entails being an associate of a vocation established upon specialized educational training. Professional entails observing the code of conduct and the code of ethics of the professional and acting in a manner that promotes the common good of humanity. Being a professional means obtaining and maintaining professional competence, this involves advancement of knowledge and competence in the field of specialization. Being a professional means understanding and respecting existing laws and regulations, pertaining to professional work unless there are substantial ethical grounds not to do so. Being a professional means being responsible to provide an appropriate professional review and working hard towards achieving the maximum dignity, effectiveness and quality in both the process and products of professional work. In addition, being a professional means respecting contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities and acting professionally as a specialist. Using appropriate methods and tools is an important element of being a professional as well as effective management of workload. A professional is a person who can manage who can plan their workload to ensure optimum workload and as well maintain uttermost standards of behaviour, professional ethics and work activities. Furthermore, being a professional means respecting the opinions, perceptions, beliefs and the interests of the customers and colleagues (Beeghley 45). Professionalism also means promoting good practices within the organisation where the professionals ensure that the work carried out in their organization meets safety standards and are for the good of all stakeholders. Furthermore, professional entails respecting professional attire such as the dressing. Professionalism also entails having a positive attitude towards the work associated with the profession as well as reasonable work morale and motivation. To be a professional is therefore a wide array of requirements and standards that an individual should satisfy. It is not limited to academic expertise and experiences but it includes ethical standards, personal conduct, advancement of knowledge and working for the common good of humanity. Works cited Beeghley, L. The structure of social stratification in the United States. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2004. Jim Dolmas. Excluding Items from Personal Consumption Expenditures Inflation. Pennsylvania : DIANE Publishing, 2009. John Blewitt. The Ecology of Learning: Sustainability, Lifelong Learning and Everyday Life. Michigan: University of Michigan, 2006. Rob, Terry and Deirdre Shaw. The Ethical Consumer. New York : SAGE, 2000. Tricia Jackson. Career Development. New York :CIPD Publishing, 2000. Read More