Lecturing

January 11, 2015. Congratulations to our AIU alumni Dr. Mike Boniface Goma. He is currently lecturing in the University of Lusaka in three programs: Masters in Public Sector Accounting and Finance, Public Sector Budgeting and Finance and finally, Corporate Governance in Legal Framework in Auditing.

He is also an external Examiner in Dissemination marketing at the Masters Level as well as a Supervisor of Dissemination writing both at the Masters and Doctorate level. Dr. Mike Boniface Goma completed a Doctorate program in Philosophy at AIU.

Student’s work published

December 28, 2014. AIU wants to congratulate one of our students, Kenneth Okocha for his recent success. Kenneth wrote his work on: “The Strategies of Military Capability” and it has been published by American Open Political Science Journal.

You can read his work through the following link: rekpub.com/American%20 Open%20Political%20Science% 20Journal/Current%20 Issue.php

Kenneth is currently enrolled in a Doctorate program in International Relations at AIU. We are very proud of you, Kenneth, and we wish you more success in your professional projects.



Published

January 19, 2015. Felix Ale, graduated who completed a Doctorate program in Journalism at AIU, wrote his work on: “New Media and a Democratic Society”, which has been published as an e-book through Grin Publishing. Read it here: www.grin.com/en/ e-book/286499/ new-media-anda- democraticsociety His publication has received commendation from the National Leadership on Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as the National President of the Union, Mallam Garba Mohammed, who also doubles as the President of West Africa Journalists Association (WAJA) has described it as one of the brilliant academic works by any member of the Union in recent times and as a pride to Journalism profession in Africa.

Trust in the workplace

Assignment: Using MyAIU and its elements to compliment the article, you will need to choose five questions from the list below and develop an essay based on those. Once you have your assignment ready, please submit it via your student section for an evaluation. Bibliography (include at end of essay): Rogers, Robert; Riddle, Sheryl. Trust in the Workplace. Development Dimensions International. Pittsburgh, USA. 2003. The reading for this assignment is called Trust in the Workplace. www.aiu.edu/online/etempl/ fin/pdf/trust%20in%20the%20 workplace%20business.pdf This topic is important for any business or organization so that the people working there are more productive and creative. This assignment has the goal of exploring trust as an important factor in making a community or business more productive. Explore trust in your life, your workplace and in your own community. Is there trust? Does trust make a difference? What difference? Questions to develop in your essay. Include personal experiences to explain your views. • Why is trust important in the workplace?

• How do you define trust?
• What are the advantages of trust? What are the dangers?
• Is it better to have trust in the workplace or better to have control? Can you have trust when management controls the workplace? Does the trust develop creativity and superior productivity?
• Discuss the following areas
o Integrity of the organization
o Strategic direction of organization
o Compensating employees to develop trust o Trust in the work environment
o Communications between workers and management
o Leadersh
ip that develops trust o Rebuilding trust after it has broken
• Give your views on trust. Would you work in an organization where workers and management did not trust each other? Evaluate the trust in the places where you have worked. Was it important or not? Is there trust in your community? Does the workplace reflect your broader community? Give your final thoughts about trust among people and how trust changes life. Enjoy and remember to Live, Learn and Share.



5TH Internatio nal Conference on Health, Wellness, and Society

Call For Papers. This Conference will be held 3-4 September 2015 at the Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid, Spain. 2015 Special Focus: Health and Wellness in the Age of Big Data. In the practice and study of health and wellness, the question of ‘big data’ turns our attention not only to the integration of data collected formally by medical professionals, but also the aggregation of isolated silos of personal data collected incidental to everyday life activity.

Conference Themes
• The Physiology, Kinesiology, and Psychology of Wellness in its Social Context
• Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
• Public Health Policy and Practices
• Health Promotion and Education

Proposal Submissions and Deadlines

The current review period closing date for the latest round of submissions to the Call for Papers (a title and short abstract) is 21 January 2015*. Please visit our website for more information on submitting your proposal, future deadlines, and registering for the conference. If you are unable to attend the conference, you may still join the community and submit your article for peer review and possible publication, upload an online presentation, and enjoy subscriber access to The International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society. *Proposals are reviewed in rounds adhering to monthly deadlines. Check the website often to see the current review round. Visit the website: healthandsociety.com



Graduation Ceremony

December 2014



Deivis Arturo Solsol Cabezas
Bachelor of Science
Mechanical Engineering
Peru
Joelma Margarida Caetano Jose Maria
Master of Social and Human Studies
Languages and Literature
Angola
Angel Guillermo Brito Isidro
Bachelor of Industrial Engineering
Maintenance
Argentina
Alicia Vanesa Nowak
Bachelor of Psychology
Psychology
Argentina
Angel Alberto Echeverry Castaño
Bachelor of Comp uter Science
Systems Engineering
Colombia
Daymara Tratman Brown
Master of Education
Education
Barbados
César García Balaguera
Doctor of Public Health
Sexual and Reproductive Health
Colombia
Rafael Rodrigo Jacobo Pfingst
Bachelor of Marketing
Marketing
Colombia
Raul Herbert Schiantarelli Liebminger
Bachelor of Marketing
Marketing
Colombia
Miguel Angel Valverde Hernandez
Bachelor of Science
Science and Agricultural Engineering
Costa Rica
German Mendoza Rudecindo
Doctor of Literature
Spanish American Literature
Dominican Republic
Rafaela de los Ángeles Jiménez
Doctor of Philosoph y
Spanish American Literature
Dominican Republic
Wiston Vladimir Calderón González
Bachelor of Science
Physical Education
Ecuador
Adelabu Michael Gbenga
Master of Science
Finance
Gambia
Stephania Noel
Bachelor of Science
Project Management
Haiti
Douglas Reinaldo Zerón Juárez
Bachelor of Science
Electromechanical Engineering
Honduras
Ran Bibi
Doctor of Business Administra
tion
Marketing
Israel
Luis Jorge Benítez Barajas
Doctor of Science
Architecture
Mexico
Alabi Abdulraouv Olawale
Doctor of Philosoph y
Financial Mathematics
Nigeria
Alfonso Roberto Campos Moretti
Bachelor of Science
Civil Engineering
Peru
Arnaldo Arévalo Nizama
Bachelor of Science
Agronomy
Peru
Kialanda Nsidiovova
Master of Science
Chemical Engineering
Angola
Karangwa Innocent
Doctor of Project Management
Formulation and Evaluation Project Mgmt
Rwanda
Andrea Williams
Master of Business Administration
Operations Mgmt and Health Care Mgmt
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Allison Brown Koyoo Achoo
Bachelor of Science
Civil Engineering
South Sudan
Khamis Ameir Haji
Bachelor of Science
Public Health
Tanzania
Mohamed Gamal El-Din Khougali
Bachelor of Science
Chemical Engineering
UAE
Elvira Y Gomez Hernandez
Bachelor of Arts
Interior Design
USA
Erica Benita Thompson
Doctor of Psychology
Psychology
USA
Nicholas Mundia
Bachelor of Science
Agriculture Economics
Zambia
Smart Mwitwa
Bachelor of Business Administration
Business Administration
Zamb ia
 



Testimonial

Rehema C. Batti
Doctor in Project Management
January 11, 2015

“I enrolled in AIU on September 2013 after searching during two years for a university for a doctorate course. I knew I needed to find a university that was credible, would provide me the opportunity to pursue my professional career while still pursuing my studies. I believe an effective adult learning program should be continuous, enriching and empowering. After a long search I came across AIU website, I looked through the requirements and noted they had the course I wanted (Project Management). I have worked in development projects the past 15 years and I was seeking to gain new skills and knowledge that would also propel me to the next level in my career. I did not have experience with the andragogy education approach but I took courage and contacted AIU. The tutor (Junko) was quite helpful by answering all the questions I had about the university and I was finally convinced that an AIU was a credible university and an AIU education experience would be worth a try. I was further impressed and encouraged when AIU offered me a scholarship for my studies something that I did not expect. I am grateful for the support. I began my work and had an enriching time while working on my assignments and reading from the student library and other sources. Some examples on how the studies helped are as follows
• I learned that I could share my field work experiences with others through developing manuscripts for publication. This led me to prepare and submit three college assignments in Organization Development, Resource mobilization and Human Resource Management which were published. This was the first time I have ventured into the area of preparing manuscripts for publication.
• I was able to use principles I learned and new perspectives to develop a partnership guide for use within the organization I work for.
• I developed an interest in writing a book on my field experiences working with local NGOs in Kenya and Tanzania especially in the area of Organization Development. I felt that I needed to share my experiences so that other development practioneers can be committed in supporting Local NGOs that go through so many challenges in management yet they do a lot of impressive work at community level. I currently have a manuscript ready on Organizational development and am pursuing to publish it as an e-book soon.
• I am currently working on my research project on challenges and opportunities of Partnership between Local and International NGOs. This is a continuation of a unit I did on partnership and it sparked an intrest in highlighting the challenges faced in such collaborations. I believe as a development practioneer who has been working with Local NGOs for the past 14 years, the findings of the research will support partnerships here in Tanzania.
• I got encouraged when I saw other Kenyan students and other professionals graduating from the University and their testimonies inspired me. Studying at AIU was an eye opener for me as it helped me explore new horizons and discover current development perspectives that empowered me in my professional work. My advisor (Dr Valcin and others) and the various tutors were committed and prompt whenever I needed help. I remember I could not access the website for awhile and when I presented my request it was worked on and I was back online in less than 24 hours. Dr Valcin gave me continuous guidance on how to approach my assignments and when I was uncertain on how to proceed he readily and quickly gave me advice. I owe my success and remarkable performance to the AIU team. I have learned a lot and I appreciate both financial and technical support. Keep up the good work.

Testimonial

Pascoal André de Guimarães
Master of Econometrics
January 3, 2015

“Since I entered AIU, my hope of having a diploma of Masters in Econometrics came true. It is a specialty not available in the universities of my country, however, AIU gave me the opportunity to make my dream come true. I have had an autonomous learning supported by AIU.

AIU has given me the opportunity to carry on my own researches and, since then, I started to believe more in myself and my capacities. Now, I know that many of the issues of my assignments are important, so I intend to carry on this investigations and increase the number of articles published.

AIU gave me the opportunity to carry on my studies when I had nowhere else to go; and, even when I thought to quit, they always came after me, asking me to carry on and finish what I had started.

They encouraged me. Even when I had no money to pay (which was a true situation I passed through during course), they understood the situation and helped me; from that time I understood that the main goal of AIU’s personnel is that many more people in the World get educated, and these people are the ones that the world shut the doors when the fees of the colleges and universities get expensive for the citizens with low income.

There is too much I could say about AIU’s action in benefit for the disfavored people, however, personally saying, I can say that: AIU was the hand of God in my life. May God bless the pioneers of AIU and all those who carry this project on forth.






New philosophy to Customer Loyalty: MKi4

By Miguel Ángel González Cernuda | Doctorate Degree in Marketing

The commercialization of products every day is a more complex exercise. The consumer, competitors, the dynamic and changing environment, new tastes and preferences, product, value-added services are the cornerstones on which the sales and marketing strategies are designed to achieve success and objectives previously defined. Has so far been the way of working, and working, but no longer produces the expected results. Analyze all these components from the perspective of marketing, market research, psychology, sociology and anthropology is no longer enough. Formulas inherited from the past to sell, attract and retain customers successfully becoming more obsolete and outdated are mainly due to consumer maverick character and lack of adaptation to the times we live in. The formula Good Product + Good Service is no longer enough to ensure success in the goals and targets in an enterprise. This formula is weak and incomplete to events and evolution of the times in which we live. MKi4 is the new paradigm of customer loyalty and shows the way towards excellence in business management. Relational marketing, CRM and 1 to 1 were the beginning of the path to loyalty and proper management of customers however these methodologies and business philosophies have cracks that do not guarantee the fullness in the financial and economic results in the companies. MKi4 (Marketing Intelligence 4-dimensions) is the solution for comprehensive management of the relationship with customers. MKi4 applies to strategic and operational level. Integrates the entire company as a driver to act correctly with customers eliminate the barriers that traditional relational marketing not resolved. MKi4 shows how you should be managing relationships that companies must undertake to maintain or improve the current success in business performance. MKi4 is a new philosophy in the science of marketing that seeks to represent the next step to relationship marketing and 1to1 and providing companies the real success in managing relationships is necessary to undertake and develop. The justification for its existence is based on the current trade relations between customers and companies are not optimal, there are a series of issues that still generate cracks in the relationships and interactions. The starting point is the following: • It is no longer sufficient to have a good product and provide it with good service. We must deliver the product when the customer wants or is willing to buy it and not when our marketing department creates a commercial action to sell or disclose the product. Put the product available to the client when it wants or needs and not before. Make commercial actions, campaigns, promotions when the client will receive the correct way. • Positive interactions with staff attention to the public. We must prepare our human resources to provide the best attitude 24 hours. No serves train people in motivation, leadership, sales management if the focus is not the client. The focus is the client and not the results of the company. We must educate people of the company in this new vision that goes beyond 360 client focus.





Below is conceptually new paradigm for customer loyalty:
Brief explanation of the concept Managing the relationship with a client has 4 components:
1. Rational
2. Emotional
3. Intuitive
4. Imaginative.
The rational part refers to transactional generated world acts of purchase between the customer and the company normally recorded in the information system as number of visits, average spending, frequency, etc. For example. Ticket purchase. The emotional part refers to all types of market research (quantitative and qualitative) that any company launched to meet the tastes and preferences of your customers or potential target. With these two components enterprises have worked and continue with relative success and notoriety in terms of financial results and in terms of customer satisfaction. But as anticipated is no longer enough to do well in these two lines of work. Not enough to meet customer behavior and define ad hoc trading strategies based on customer segmentation and based on customer differentiation worth in the present or future as indicated 1 to 1 philosophy. There are cracks in the relationship with customers and we feel incomplete. You need to interact with the customer at the right time and not just when the customer contacts us, or when we have our hands on a new product that burns our hands and through innovation are pioneers and want to be the first to make it available to the client. We must be able to detect the precise contact with the customer time, about the intuitive component to be developed by companies, taking as reference “the moments of truth” where the customer is more likely to hear concerns our business and proposals not when we as a company believe that it is time, the customer, the circumstances are the key to efficiently manage this component to ensure fulfillment in the linkage and interaction with customers. Knowing the right time when the customer needs or may want our product is the key to success in the future. No control this moment means major losses in commercial campaigns and communication activities (telemarketing and telesales especially). The fourth component of MKi4 refers to the operational capacity of the staff of customer service available to each company. Imaginative component: Attitude is the key factor that determines the proper performance in customer relationship with the company. The staff interacting with the customer must have the right motivation and predisposition, but so, that emotional bond that is the trigger for the continuity of a client company may be limited and may condition the relationship medium and long term you want with the client. A dissatisfied employee generates dissatisfied customers. Typically, companies spend part of its budget to education and training of sales staff in courses that do have an improved technical skills to manage and create the closing of a sale.

But that attitude is not learned through leadership or motivation are the keys mainly used in these training sessions. Attitude is a psychological component that is part of everyone and only active in those specific moments when the appropriate sensors are activated. Correctly handle the attitude of employees supposed to implement a policy of sustainable and inclusive human resources with their personal life. One must know how to encourage employees and that goes beyond the current incentive policies used. There are a number of factors that determine how we see the activation of this attitude, the willingness to do and accomplish goals. If we are able to efficiently manage these four components of the new relationship marketing will have a competitive advantage over our competitors because customers want to come to us, they want to remain part of the company and hence the step of loyalty we will have built solid. The efficiency in business management involves the fullness financially, level employee, customer level and at society. These are the keys that MKi4 offers companies to reach the fullness in management.




Getting the fullness

There is a driving force more powerful than steam, electricity and atomic energy: the will. –Albert Einstein

For having fullness one must first know who I am and what I want for having fullness. We would say before, fullness is an adjective that sounds very nice and the first thing with which we associate it is with having all. Having everything is what illuminates the thought of being in a paradise where everything is beneficial. Well let’s see what those who claim to know about creating these heavens of goods such as Philip Kotler say, about fullness of satisfaction markets. Fullness is referred to the development of something, being complete, or reaches its target; which also means it reached its goal through a process. Morin also speaks of fullness when he says there must be a policy that covers all aspects of life. Morin (2007). Love, peace, justice and more: from the previous material goods and values are inferred. For what we are seeing fullness can be material, but it that there are two integrated parts and then you have to make they reach the maximum, both the body as the no material we have, our thinking. And what we do, we just think about goods and goods and more goods.

But if we only think of goods, all goods involve a process; nature and activities that we do are on stage, but we believe in having fullness with a magic wand; I will reach things by magic, in one day; and also I will be happy forever. There is something that has to be clear in our minds, and it is that everything is a process and that process involves an organization and as being full must be aware of our body and our mind then I have to organize what I want to be and do and build a project with their activities, instruments, procedures, time and goals because what happens in our lives is that we see the windows or shop windows and we want to have what marketing advertised very good, and we feel unhappy because we have not been able to buy them. “The abandonment of the also means values. We’re getting to some of the way; it is something material and is also referred to values. But if we say, “REACH THE FULLNESS” we are talking about human beings, because they are the ones who will have to decide what to do, and what are humans.

Regardless of the beliefs we have two things we have to admit, two substances that are present inside or outside of any religion: a material part which we call body, and a no material part that is mind, thought or spirit. Well, what we have to do to say that we have fullness; apparently it has to do with the two parts we have mentioned: body and mind; what is problematic about the situation is great illusions should not be paid at the price of the illusion that it is possible to be satisfied with a limited everyday pragmatism. Abandoning a great illusion should lead to the formation of a large project. Morin (2002, p. 170). We work and work wanting things for miracles and just thinking about the material and the thing is that we do our lives a badly managed enterprise and feeling that overwhelms us is not the best. How will we achieve what we want going the wrong way; a saying is that by asking we can get to Rome; but we want to have fullness and we did not even stop to ask or wonder how? We are human beings, how can we have fullness; as easy as this: we have fullness of what is consistent because the incongruity is rejected by nature. What are we? Beings of biological, social and rational nature so all we have to do to have fullness is having our body well because we take care of it for it to function properly; living and interacting with others in a society of growth; caring nature because we live of it and learn every day to keep our mind in full development. The question as to knowledge is what we have to learn. We have to learn what science says to be useful in a corporation so we can share our knowledge for the goods we need.

We also need to learn how far is the limit of the goods we need and that marketing wants us to have. To have fullness we have to see the full scope and limits of what we need from two planes: the material and the spiritual, and that balance is so difficult to find: be happy, be full, in a project that should last a life; we reach a goal and we have to propose the following. “GET THE FULLNESS” no matter what stage of the year we are or what stage of life you are!











Fuji kindergarten

This gorgeous new “Ring Around a Tree” addition to an existing building celebrates a Japanese Zelkova tree at the Fuji Kindergarten in Japan. Designed by Yui and Takaharu Tezuka, the glass and wood structure wraps around the 50 year old tree, creating a lovely interior garden and play space. The circular shape joins and complements the innovative oval-shaped kindergarten.



The perimeter of the cylindrical building is lined with classrooms and waiting areas, so that children can daydream while looking out the window and gazing at the old tree. The tree itself has a storied and inspirational history —it was almost uprooted during a typhoon, then it dried out from the subsequent trauma. It miraculously recovered from the damage, and became a favorite tree for local children to climb, long before the school was built. It’s truly a mythical tree to build a kindergarten around! The tree is now equipped with climbing ropes for the students to play on during recess and after school. Each floor gradually builds up on the spiral. In actuality, there are only two usable floors, but for children there are an additional four floors that are only one meter highfor inspired playing, exploring and crawling. The play areas are lined with soft rubber mats, to protect little bodies from rambunctious climbing. The building’s use of glass and open air ensures a sun-drenched interior that connects children to the outdoors while they study in the interior. The idyllic building seeks to inspire the imaginations of little minds while serving as a place to both learn and play. Source: Amazing Japanese Kindergarten Circles Around a Mythic Tree. inhabitat.com Photos by Katsuhisa Kida / Fototeca





Emotional AB

“Who can tell me why Twiggle here is sad,” Thomas O’Donnell asks his class at Matthew Henson Elementary School in Baltimore. “Because he doesn’t have friends,” a student pipes up. And how do people look when they’re sad? “They look down!” the whole class screams out. Eventually, Twiggle befriends a hedgehog, a duck and a dog. And along the way, he learns how to play, help and share. Mastering social skills early on can help people stay out of trouble all the way into their adult lives. So shouldn’t schools teach kids about emotions and conflict negotiation in the same way they teach math and reading? The creators of Twiggle the Turtle say the answer is yes.

Twiggle is part of a program called Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, or PATHS. It’s designed to help young kids recognize and express emotions. Matthew Henson Elementary is one of about 1,500 schools around the country using this program. Every week, students get two 15- to 20-minute lessons on themes like self-control and treating others with respect. Especially for the youngest kids Twiggle often serves as their guide.

While most kids will eventually figure out such strategies, O’Donnell says, the lessons help them learn more quickly. And for some, especially those with troubled home lives, Twiggle is their first and only introduction to healthy self-expression, he says. “Some of them don’t have words to express how they feel before this.”
Source: Article by Maanvi Singh. Copyright 2015 NPR. www.npr.org