Problem Solution Foundation Schools

The use of strategic program management can help an institution to grow to aspired levels. Different projects call for different strategies though the concept always remains the same. Effective project management is crucial if any success is to be attained. Program implementation is the other key aspect of project execution which should be carefully handled. After a successful implementation, an evaluation should be carried to determine how the project has contributed to solving of the problem that was targeted. All these, however depend on the leadership of the project.

Organizational managements have realized the need to use program management in addressing their issues. Program management is necessary because it aids all the processes of a project towards addressing a certain concern. Like in this paper, the foundation schools are set to gain by keenly using the program management approach to the need for expansion of service provision.
The use of program management is crucial if the target goals are to be achieved by any organization. The foundation schools should adopt program in responding to the goal of providing services to an increased number of clients.

The Situation
The foundation schools, the largest special needs program provider, have had a big success in their field. Through segmentation of the leadership team into various departments, the schools have been able to work out different strategies towards attaining the organizational aims. Enrolment in these schools has been soaring in the recent past at a 5 percent level.
Due to the enrolment increase, the schools have got to devise a new development strategy. The school leadership opted for a business development method so as to increase the funding sources and revenues to the schools. The three year project would include a number of fresh projects in a bid to realize their vision. The initial year of the project stands completed.

The Issue and Opportunity Identification
The issue is identified on the basis of the case study which points to the foundation schools service provision. It is alleged in the study that student enrollment has been increasing in the recent past and with this the opportunity to expand service provision emerges. It is through this realization that the schools have embarked on a three year development strategy.  

Stakeholder PerspectivesEthical Dilemmas
A good number of the stakeholders representing a 60 percent portion agreed upon the belief that expansion of the foundation schools was necessary and a moral issue whose addressing attracted paramount importance. However, funding of the program needed to be sourced from whatever mechanism that could possibly provide the resource. It was also felt that availing the schools in only three cities was morally wrong in reference to the diversity of the areas that ought to be served. To address the major dilemma, the stakeholders chose to expand the schools to other regions.

The Problem
The foundation schools will become more spread geographically. In this realization, the schools would serve more US residents. In the same line, the funding and revenue collection would rise.

Vision
In the future, the foundation schools are expected to have grown to unprecedented levels. The schools would have expanded to more that the current number of states they occupy. The enrollment of students ought to have grown by large proportions. The training staff would also have expanded to cater for the needs of the expanding student community. Given that plans were in the making to adjust tuition fees, it is expected that the foundation schools would increase their revenue in big ways. Another revenue source would be the donor community. Owing to the good results posted by the foundation schools in the development of life skills and the knowledge imparted to the society, the donor funding would have increased. Having revealed the situation that is anticipated by the schools, the vision statement should read, the foundation schools endeavor to avail the best life skills to all US residents in a view to making the society a better place.

The Alternatives and Benchmarking Validation
The issue there is no fixed way of raising funds and increasing revenues
The realization made is that the demand for the services offered by the foundation schools has been on the increase. Thus, there is need to expand the provision of this service to cater for the increased demand. Instead of raising school tuition, another alternative would be to seek sponsorship as this would ensure needy students are not locked out of the program. However, in the event that no sponsor is secured, the management team should consider having a partial fee increment, partial in the sense that the fee increase should not apply uniformly to all students. This would address the needy students plight. The school should also consider the option of raising funds through the acquisition of loans from commercial lenders. However, the loans repayment and interest rating should be carefully done so as not to run into servicing troubles.
Thirdly, part of the student, staff and management team may be willing to invest. This kind of people should be persuaded into acquiring shares in the school. Such equity would be a very useful tool in raising funds to address the issue. In the case of foundation schools, the most ideal solution would be to seek sponsors to aid in their pursuit to expand providing the life skills service to students. This is in line with the view that raising tuition fees may serve to derail needy students pursuit of education.

The Alternatives
The first ranked goal is to increase the scope of service provision to reach large areas as opposed to the level that currently exists. The role of the foundation schools is to provide life skills to individuals irrespective of any other considerations. It should however be noted here that other factors are of course important. This is after the realization has been made that the foundation schools have only been serving three cities in California. So, in essence there is need to focus attention on spreading these services to other regions.

Narrowed List of Alternatives
The sponsorship option is expected to address the funding issue in cases where it is thought that raising tuition fees may disadvantage a section of the student community that happens to come from poor backgrounds. Sponsorship deals should be struck with charitable or business entities that may be willing to aid the education cause. It is not easy to strike sponsorship deals especially during these difficult times which have been marked by the credit crunch. This is so because most organizations have been forced to reconsider their spending options (McShane and Von, 2004). However, this should not present an obstacle but rather a challenge which the foundation schools should face.

Another important idea that has been raised concerns the adoption of a scheme that allows an interested section of stakeholders to hold ownership of the school through shareholding. This way is ideal as it allows only the willing stakeholders to contribute towards the development of the school. However, the fact that schools of this nature are not profit motivated, skepticism is likely to dog the feasibility. However, with good lobbying, tangible results abound to be realized.

Identification and assessment of Risks
As indicated earlier, another fund and revenue raising strategy would be to source for loans from commercial providers. This is a good form of obtaining funds if well negotiated. The rating of bank loans is known to be quite expensive. This is something that complicates the servicing of such loans. Since schools are not profit making ventures the servicing of commercial bank loans is likely to be a difficult hurdle that may impede the efficacy of loan use. In short, the usage of such funds wont raise the money that bank loans attract in terms of interest accrued.

The risk associated in an attempt to raise funds by shareholding in the foundation schools rests on the same premise that it is not a profit making venture. As a result, very few people would be ready to invest their funds in such a program. It is only out of a will to help that shareholding in this venture would be a success. In mitigating the reluctance to invest, high level lobbying to persuade stakeholders is a prerequisite.  

The Decision
Having considered all the options outlined in this paper, it has been realized that it is in the best interest of the foundation schools to adopt the sponsorship approach so as to address the expansionist needs required. The efficacy of the program would be judged on the effect the impartment of such skills achieves. This calls for a diversified approach of seeking funds.

On the above basis, my approach entails looking for 5 sponsors that are willing to lend a helping hand to this initiative. Currently, the needed funds to complete the remaining phase of accommodating more students through expansion may require about 5 million US dollars. In light of that, seeking funds from these five donors would take the dimension where each sponsor is persuaded to cough the highest possible amount. In case of a shortfall, other sponsors are sought. But if the funds raised are in surplus of requirement, the extra funds will be redirected to other uses with the approval of the sponsors.

Through the use of the above mentioned approach, the foundation schools goal to increase student enrollment and at the same time stretch coverage would be a realizable dream. The kind of sponsorship sought should enable the schools to grow to the desired levels by spreading to other states and as a result increasing their student enrollment.

Developing and Implementing the Solution
Preparing the infrastructure
While envisaging expansion, the necessary infrastructure should be put in place. The nature of the environment of implementation should be explored. While preparing to expand the school programs into other cities, all the machinery and equipment ought to be in place.
Coordinating with the organizations involved in implementation
The simple thing here involves communicating with the entire leadership community to strike a working formula that incorporates the use of cooperation. Communication should be ahead of all issues that are to be addressed.

Implementing training
Many solutions require that users attend training or informal coaching sessions. Such type of training could be finished earlier. Training that is close to the point of execution should be carried out as part of the actual implementation plan.
Installing the production solution
This involves moving the development plan to a test. Because this is a new approach, it should be carried out in a thoughtful manner.

Converting the data
Data conversion involves changing the data from one format to another. It should take place once the solution and the infrastructure are implemented.
Performing the final verification in production
This should be aimed at confirming that things are moving according to the laid down procedures, if found not to be so, a revision is deemed necessary. The development plan and implementation personnel should be involved (Mochal, 2003).

Implementing new processes and procedures
As the findings may necessitate, new procedures to address rising problems should be explored.

Monitoring the solution
The project team should expend more energy in monitoring the implemented project. By taking a holistic approach, the project is likely to be a success. But in case problems arise, the monitoring team should be able to fix the problem.

All this is expected to last about two years. All stakeholders and implementation personnel would play a key role. The major needed resources would be financial as opposed to material resources.

Evaluating the Results
Companies have executed development plans achieving mixed results in the process. Successful companies have focused on planning well ahead of schedule and carrying out pilot programs to establish the efficacy of such ventures. Companies that run into problems in implementation may have planed inadequately or used misguided data in rolling out their projects (Edward, 2007). Measuring success along the implementation path rests on the focus on how the program implementation procedures are falling to plan.

Having realized this, it has emerged that project implementation is a difficult task. To sort out the difficult areas, the problem needs to be identified and planning done in advance so as to be in a position to respond to all issues before the implementation begins. However, with good planning and organization, project implementation is a task that becomes relatively easy to achieve.

Development programs need funding and revenue to be successful. As the foundation schools harbor an ambition to increase service provision, they are under no illusions as they need to seek funding so as to be able to roll out such a scheme. However, implementation is an important aspect that requires good planning to succeed. In light of this, the foundation schools should seek that funding and draw a good plan as prescribed in this paper in a bid to achieving the set target.

Communication can be defined as the verbalizing of ones thoughts and sharing them with others.  For this to happen one can either use words or pictures.  This makes it possible for the world to go around.  It is through communication that relationships are built and natured. The relations built make for fuller enjoyment of a full life.  This is possible out of a realization that no one is self-sufficient.  The saying no man is an island must have had the need of communication as the basis.  However, increasingly due to advancement in technology, we are progressively finding our selves not been able to communicate effectively and often. 
What this paper will look to interrogate whether there is need to shift to a more ritual model of communication.  With the dynamics of current economic and political situations, this paper will look to grill if it is necessary to gain back collectivism and societal cohesion.

Discussion
From classical definitions of communication, the transmission model of communication, defines it as entailing five core ingredients.  These are the information source, the transmitter, the channel, the receiver and the destination.  Some have included a sixth not very core but still significant factor to the achievement of quality communication that is noise.  It is included because of its possibility of affecting and distorting the real meaning of the message and its effective reception (Grosenberg, 18-20). 

Critical analysis of the transmission model shows that though it was developed in 1949 by Shanon and Weaver, it has formed the foundation on which all communications theories have been built on.  The main reason for the preference of this model in developing of other theories is that its simplicity that still holds true to date.  By looking at communication in its most basic, it allows people today to be able to appreciate the simplicity of communication  it is all about passing a message from one person to another (Chandler 2008). 
The media today appreciates the fundamentals of effective message delivery is ensuring the message gets to the intended receiver with the least possible interruptions.  Increasingly media today is using transmission model of communication to get its message across.  By focusing the consumer messages to targeted market segmentation, media helps to demarcate divisions that exist in our minds. 

It is propagating the concept of individualism increasingly. When media is designing messages for the consumption of the public, they look to fulfill the basics of an effective message.  These are the Who-the source, communicates what-the message, through which channel-avenue of getting the message out, to whom-the consumer, to achieve what effect-reason of the message.  The assumption of a linear directional movement of the message being communicated still holds true in todays world. 

The best advertisements are those that are direct to the point even when the message to be delivered is considered complicated in nature.  The same is true for preachers who are increasingly using the mass media to reach an increasingly growing congregation.  When one is bombarded by the messages without the opportunity of having a healthy discourse with another human being, one will tend to believe the message as gospel truth.  One can then use the information as the basis of making decisions, without having a care of what the effect in others will be.  This natures individualism in the present society affecting peoples beliefs, ideology and preference.

The critical cultural model seeks to look at the various avenues of message delivery and incorporate a cultural aspect to these methods.  To help understand why a person would chose a particular avenue, and what they would appreciate when the message was communicated through a different medium (Frechete 36-41).  It has been discovered that people are social beings and interactions are part of what gives them satisfaction.  Within these interactions cultures develop.  These cultures have over time developed ways of performing specific task in order to achieve maximum return or the desired response-the stimuli must bring about the desired outcome. 

Just as communication is dynamic, so to is culture.  By looking at communication through both the cultural and critical theories what is achieved is the critical cultural model.  It looks at the history of communication in order to understand how it has grown, and changed over time.  How different words and avenues of communication have mutated over time and of what significance these is in the present age (Gonzalez, Moskowitz  Gomez 139-154).

The ritual model when seen in light of the critical cultural model depicts communication as not being mechanical in nature. It brings out the concept of communication as incorporating aspects of fellowship, having a shared faith, sharing and partaking of common ideas.  The focus is not on the message being communicated but rather in maintainance and propagation of the collective values held in awe by the society (McQuail 70-71). 

By its nature, it is flamboyant, inclusive, invigorating and is practiced by a people who share more than social acquaintanceship.  It is for a people who share a history and a common destiny. A people with a shared culture and value system, which imparts propriety and importance in similar things.

The reception model looks at how the message is received by the intended recipient.  How does it need to be delivered in order to educe the desired effect  When a message is being prepared for delivery it goes through three phases.  It first encoded-this in the way it is designed and packaged in order to achieve the desired response of the sender.  The second phase is the transmission.  In this the creator of the message has to assign the mode through which the desired effect will be achieved without using up so many resources.  On getting to the destination it is decoded by the receiver.  Herein lays the crux of the model. 

Decoding can take three distinctive paths.  Positive decoders (optimists) will see the positive side of the message delivered.  They will seek to have an upbeat spin the message in order to satisfy their inner desire to always achieve positivity of every situation.  Negative decoders (pessimists) will visualize the message in a depressing manner.  They will very easily create a negative out of any situation in order to justify their view of life.  The final group is made up of the thinkers.  They will take time to analyze each situation critically.  They will seek a hidden meaning even in a straight forward situation.  For them it is never black or white.  It is more often than not grey (Losee 1-15).

It is this different inference from the same set of facts that gives rise to the reception model.  When used by advertisers, they have to be aware of all these groups in their decision of how the message in the message will be received.  They will design one advertisement in different ways in order to achieve the same result from different demographical groups.  They will go to use the different adverts in different media outlets at different times depending on the target market at the time.

With an understanding of the different models of communication, the one thing that comes out clearly is that communication in its entirety is very complex.  There are different factor that affect communication concurrently or in tandem.  Thus when looking at communication, it is imperative that a holistic view is chosen. 

In as much one would want to take a simplistic view, the truth is that it would end up isolating part of the population.  This would result in divisive nonlinear identity of issues.  In the current political and economical situation where there are wars and calamities every where and when the world economy is in a recession, the need for all to focus on that which we have in common becomes all the more critical. 
In times of adversity, humanity can best and fast overcome these when they pull together.  When we forget our individual differences and instead focus on our common heritage that makes us who we are the easier we are able to overcome challenging situations.  Unfortunately, this is one lesson which humanity is never in a hurry to accept.  We expend our energy looking at ways to justify our individuality and by extension our selfishness, to discover that we are only finishing each other.

What would one call it when a person insists on killing another just because they do not agree with the others view point  Not that before they were in agreement, but just because one has decided it is either my way or no way to all.  They could in fact be blood relatives and the sad part is the killer will find others like him who will stand up and shout to the top of their voices to all who will care to listen that the killer was justified.  That it is their right to do as they please. 

As seen earlier, the ritual example seeks to make the receiver and sender of the message become human.  They have some things in common and to them communication is not mechanical but is ceremonial.  It has become a participatory process.  All forms of communication and messages are achieved by appreciating the unique positions occupied by each different member of the society. 

The society by embracing the ritual model is able to grow and mature.  Relationships between members are no longer superficial but become wholesome.  Everybody appreciates the added value of having the other in the society.  Communication becomes an activity that is anticipated to by all.  One looks forward to the next opportunity of communicating with another in the society.

For the advertiser, the messages are more people focused.  It is no longer about disseminating a particular message. It becomes about the shared value between members.  The messages become more about adding value to the overall society.  Since the advertiser is part of the society, the advertisements are more geared towards offering a solution to a need in the society. 

The advertisers because they identify with the value of the societies, they can easily self regulate.  They do not create advertisements that go against the morals of the societies.  To the advertiser, the societal members take a more prominent position in the order of priority when making decisions (Calvert 4-19).  It is no longer about money only but what is good for the society.

For the consumer, since they can identify with the products being advertised, it becomes easier to feel the product is addressing a need in their lives.  The shared value systems between the consumers and advertisers and manufacturers, give rise to another dimension in advertising.  Since there are no intentional falsehoods being peddled by the advertisers and manufacturers, the icons and opinion leaders in the society are used to endorse products. 

The people who are looked up to by the society members become brand ambassadors to products consumed by the society.  They are able to perform these roles easily since they are already using what they area endorsing.  It becomes the norm rather that the exception to receive feedback from consumers of products. 

This is because they feel a part of the organization producing the product and because they feel their feedback is valuable.  On its part, the organization has been known to react to its consumer needs, wants and desires.  It is always in touch with its consumer base and knows when something is not right or when it is working.

Since all are on the same page in terms of shared value and culture, the media is able to produce programming that is in line with the societal values.  Reality shows become acceptable.  This is because what the media is offering the society is what the society needs.  The media now responds to needs arising in the society. 

The programming is more cultural in order to reinforce shared values for the good of all.  Because the media is part of the society and they are in touch with the psyche of the society they can be able to direct the society in the way to go.  This is in terms of the core values thus the programming that satisfies a societys desire and want. 

The economy by extension gets to draw on the values of the society.  Because everyone makes decisions with the society members in mind, greed is eradicated.  The economy is able to flourish since all the information revolving in it is factual.  There is neither speculative information nor falsehoods.  Instead every one is looking out for the others well being. 
The values that hold the societal members together are to be found even in the economy.  The economy stabilizes since all the factors that affect the economy are well taken care of.

The ritual model of communication by its nature is interactive.  It is thus best served by communication methods that will allow and enhance the interactivity of all the actors.  It is very important to remember that in communication, it is not only the message that is important, but also the means (channel) of getting it out. 
There is no one right or most efficient method of use with the ritual model.  Rather depending on the message being relayed, the intended recipient and the weight attached to the message an appropriate channel will be identified.  Also depending on the speed at which one requires the feedback, this will play a part in determining the channel to be used (Soukup 1997).

There exists a variety of channels that are available to choose from.  One could chose to either use a brochure, a letter, an email message, a video, a telephone conversation, video conferencing or a face to face meeting. 

Brochures are ideal when one is looking to be persuasive in the message they are communicating. Brochures are ideal for disseminating information about a product or service.  When mostly it has been used in information dissemination the user is looking to minimize cost as much as possible.  It is not very ideal for generating feedback, but it is useful in generating hype and buzz about a product of service.

Letters are best when the information to be given out is of an official nature.  They are ideal in cases where evidence about the communications needed for future reference. The best uses for letters are for formal message conveyance, solicitation or to deliver official information like promotions and appointments.

E-mail has come to replace letters in the present world.  They are increasingly been used both for official and non official purposes.  They are gaining in prominence because of the speed of delivery.  On the push of a button the letter is sent and gets to the intended recipient almost instantaneous.  They have been found to be very ideal for routine communication.

A relatively recent improvement of the e-mail is the video e-mail.  It is a much richer channel as it allows for the transmission of more in-depth message-the inclusion of the video (pictures with words).  It is useful in sending short sales messages as even with advancement in technology it is still pretty space heavy (uses a lot of megabits). 

The use of telephone still remains one the long time tried and tested channels of communication.  It adds richness to messages as the use of voice in real-time can add emotion or emphasis to the words.  With advancement in technology, one need not be in an office to receive a telephone call.  Many people are increasingly using mobile phone in as a means of communication.  This allows for one to be available even when they are out and about.

Increasingly, corporations that operate in a more than one region need for their managers to confer and communicate in an interactive way.  Instead of a company having managers from different parts of the world congregate for a day meeting at the headquarters, video conferencing allows for the meeting to be held with every manger present but from the home base. 

It is a very rich channel and is increasingly gaining prominence and notoriety.  For internet users a simplified version of video conferencing is the use of web cams.  Friends find it very convenient to communicate in real time from great distances and see each other at the same time.

Face to face is the richest mode of communication.  Not only does it allow for instant feedback, but one is also able to use their senses to better appreciate the message.  It is best for non routine business communications.  It is a very good source of synergistic effects resulting in higher than normal outcomes.  Given the value benefit of this method, it is worth the cost of using it. 

Given the different channels of communication available to one, this paper would have to put forth face to face as the best and most ideal channel of ritual communication model.  It is both efficient and cost effective.  Though it presents its own set of challenges, it is the basis from which all other avenues that may be co-opted in furthering the ritual model will be based on.  The first step in ritual model promotion is identifying on the values and culture to be the guideline to bind all parties.

By the virtual of its interactive nature and its all inclusivity, the ritual model when applied to promote the positive aspects will lead to cultural growth all round.  It will to the identity and promotion of common constructive values among societal members.  The culture will inevitably gain in an uplifting way.  Overall, the ritual model of communication, when harnessed and focused on the good, will ensure the society moves collectively toward self actualization.

The adoption of ritual based communication will give rise to positives all-round.  It will give rise to a better understanding between the different components since for it to be effective, the audience has to understand the message in the same way the source understood it on dissemination.  All in the society will have to understand the ritual usage of the collective foundation source of the shared values and norms. Unlike other communication channels, the ritual model has provision for reflection. 

This is a mechanism natural to self improvement for realized and appreciated shortcomings.  It gives an opportunity of lateral and vertical growth by all.  By focusing attention away from the information to the activity, the focus is thus on the present and this ensures the continued maintenance of the community.  The drive of the ritual model on the oral facet of the culture ensures continued maturity and greater guarantee in and of a future.

The Concept of Prosumption.

Prosumer is a blend of two words and their meaning the words are either producer or professional and consumer. The term prosumer has taken different conflicting meanings depending on the context of the use. It has been defined differently in business context and economics context. In business sector, prosumer coined from professional-consumer is seen as a market segment. The economics view the producer-consumer as possessing greater independence from the conventional economy. It can also be argued as opposite to the consumer having an inactive role of consuming only, indicating an active role as the person is actively involved in the process. In the media context it can be argued from the point that the audience no longer taking the passive role of viewing or listening only, to participating in the production of what they listen to or view (Baker  Bass 2003).The paper investigates the concept of producer-consumer or the concept of prosumption and its relation to media and how its effect on cultural identity.

Concept of prosumption
Prosumption means getting the consumer to work on the job, that is, being part of the production process, and generating goods and services for ones own utilization. There is a range of activities in prosumption from production to consumer. Towards the end of the consumption, there is an only dormant action among the consumers beyond this, consumers are more directly concerned with service relationships near the end of production the role of the consumer begin to merge with that of the producer. In prosumption there is the ladder of consumer involvement from inactivity to observer to membership, gathering activities, critical activity and the real service creation. Prosumption takes place if a product or service can only work where the consumer put a substantial contribution. In prosumption there is active user participation.      

The concept deals with the emergence of a new society, the prosumer society where the user produces at least part of what heshe consumes. The concept cannot be said to be a very new concept but one that has been developing for a long time with industrialization and development in technology. For example in farming, those who were and still are producers were also the consumers of whatever they produced. Underlying the concept of prosumption is production for use and production for sale (Czerniawska  Potter 1998).

Toffler argues that prosumption occurs in all of the waves that describe economic and social development all through history. In the initial wave, the one Toffler traces to ancient times, the majority of people in the community were prosumers by need and on a primitive technology basis. Only a very few of the community members sold their extra output for products generated by others. In this wave there was some degree of prosumption in that the consumers produced their own food. In the wave that followed, immediately after industrial revolution, members of the community except housewives generated products for commercial purposes to exchange with items generated by others. In the third wave, post industrial revolution, many of the community members moved much of their time from labor and customary business exchanges to prosumption actions.  In short, prosumption has gone though phases and has been brought back forth by the utilization of high technology (Ensign 2007).

It was suggested by two authors, Marshall McLuhan and Barrington Nevitt in a book, Take Today published in 1972 that with the development in electric technology, the consumer would be transformed to a producer. The term prosumer was formed by a futurologist, Alvin Toffler in his book, The Third Wave published in 1980. Toffler suggested that the roles of consumers and producers would start to blur and merge. He envisaged an extremely inundated market place as vast production of consistent goods began to satisfy fundamental consumer needs. However in his theory, in order to achieve a high level of standardization on the products, consumers would have to participate in the process of production more specially in identifying the design required. He suggested a situation where consumers are not inactive (Ekstrm  Brembeck 2004).

The term was elaborated by Don Tapscott in his book, The Digital Economy, published in 1995. He called the concept prosumption. The Cluetrain Manifesto presented markets as conversations where the new economy is coming from inactive consumers to dynamic prosumers. For example, Amazon.com came in as an ecommerce head. This was partially because customers were able to generate relations as conversations instead of the traditional one-time sales. It supports user participation, exchange of information among consumers and gives space for consumers to add information to the website as reviews (Baker  Bass 2003).

Realizing that customers are actively participating in the production process establishing values and profits for their use, is in line with the concept of prosumption. It is also in line with the concept of the consumer being actively involved in the production process. Prosumption entails that consumers generate goods and services for their own current of later consumption. Most products need the participation of consumers to generate value. Prosumption does not deal with profession choices, but with how users operate as consumers in their daily lives. To an author for example, coming up with a book does not importantly contend with purchasing or using the book. Use and purchasing are in general reliant on and an essential part of prosumption and imminent into the causes and logic of prosumption should render the precursors of purchasing more understandable (Ekstrm  Brembeck 2004).

Prosumption is in phases and not a single action and comprises of an amalgamation of physical actions, mental power, and socio-psychological actions. The consumers actively contribute to the process by inputting finances, energy, time and experience. The physical effort required comprise of manufacturing-like processes like acquiring, sorting, moving, merging and altering inputs. The mental activities involved comprise of activities like development, appraising, supervising, managing and regulating progress. The socio-psychological experiences happen in variety features of the process and its outcomes and their effects on the prosumer and others. Therefore prosumption can be defined as activities that establish value done by the consumer whose outcome is the development of products that the consumer eventually use and that come to be their consumption occurrence. This definition goes consistently with the idea of value co-creation which possesses dual components. The first component is the value-in-use that suggests that the creation of the value can only be possible with the user involvement and can also be determined by the consumer in the consumption process and through utilization. The other component is what is known as co-production which involves the contribution of the consumer in the production process. This can happen through communal inventiveness, co-design, or communal production of related products. It can happen with customers and any other member in the value creation network (Ensign 2007).

Prosumption changes the perspective of being creative and innovative and how the two are currently understood. The idea has created the need for creativity and innovativeness on the part of the consumer. In the past, the consumer had no need to be either creative or innovative because the producer did the work of producing while the consumer only waited for the end results. Even where the consumer participated in value creation in actions like specifying the design, it cannot be compared with the current concept of prosumption. In prosumption, creativity goes far past innovativeness and needs a more detailed comprehension of creative intelligence. The passive consumers differ from the prosumer in habitual behavior. The habitual behavior of the passive consumer deals with stability over time of the market place and the products to be purchased. In prosumption, there is creativity and production of products that are better quality and are tailored to the consumer needs (Ritzer 2005).

Prosumption in media
In media active audience participation is very crucial. When what is provided to the audience is tailored to what they really need, there is no doubt that they will participate. There is no better way of ensuring audience active participation in media than applying the concept of prosumption. This is the reason why interactive media has become preferable to the audience over others especially the print media. Prosumption is threatening the market of the conventional or print media. Prosumption has created the concept of capitalism providing a ground for competition between different media. Advancing technology particularly in computers and telecommunication has made more and more people to become prosumers (Morley 1992).

Prosumer brings about the appearance of an emancipatory collectivity in media production. The trend in prosumption has been manifested in the entertainment industry. The concept exists in media especially the television. It is argued that it is part of a major fundamental role reversal, a reordering of the centuries old relationship between whos on stage and whos watching, a devaluing of professionalism and a new premium of amateurism. Theres been a kind of perverse democratization of mass media (Ritzer 2008, p. 11).

There is the recent development of television shows, that is, the reality shows, where the people on the audience become performers, and they still are in a position to watch as they perform. It is much easier and cheaper in the current age to get formats that allow audience to be performers, than it is in getting creative people required for successful dramatic or comedic television series. Reality television shows that have led to more audience activity have realized lower cost of production and higher profits for the media. They have also enabled the television industry to thrive and compete with the threatening cable television and the internet. Reality television has increased in popularity taking the place of dramatic and comedic series. While famous actors and actresses require a lot of financing in terms of salaries, reality show performers, perform for very little or nothing (Morley 1992).

The idea of prosumption has greatly been made more popular with the development of the internet media. The concept of prosumption in the internet is seen in what has come to be popularly known as Web 2.0 generated by the consumer. Web 2.0 contrasts with Web 1.0 for example AOL.Yahoo, which was provider-generated other than consumer-generated. Web 2.0 is defined by the capability of consumers to generate content in collaboration whereas most of what is accessed in Web 1.0 is generated by the internet service provider it is the advent of Web 2.0 that has seen rapid explosion in prosumption. It is suggested that Web 2.0 should be significant in the establishment of the means of prosumption. Web 2.0 has facilitated the explosion of production and consumption (Ritzer 2008).
    
The internet has been described as a self-service technology, especially the use of web for example Wikipedia and Facebook. There is a convergence taking place between production and consumption, producer and consumer, and also between author and audience, amateur and expert etc. In the internet, the producer of whatever is accessible on the website is simultaneously the consumer of what is available and there is hence a close relationship between productionconsumption as well as producerconsumer (Ritzer 2008).

Much of what happens in the internet can be viewed as the latest developments in the continuing trend of prosumption. They include the very people who create texts on the internet who are the very people who view, edit, revise and comment on them it is the audience who come up with the videos, text and interactivity on You Tube, My space and Facebook the very people who generate blogs, whether weblogs or personal blogs and comment on them are the ones who consume them it is the consumers and not retailers who establish the market for eBay, craigslist, etc. it is the consumers who uploads and later download photos on flickr it is the users who order products from sites like Amazon.com and also add things like the reviews that appear there and it is the viewers of internet maps who create them on what is known as GeoWEb. This is made possible because Microsoft, Yahoo and Google have come up with tools that are accessible to and can be utilized by the people with little or no technical experience (Ritzer 2005).

While prosumption in media is advantageous to the media owners, it can be viewed as capitalism. Media owners are exploiting the opportunity presented by consumers as producers to spend less while making more profits.  Prosumption can be looked at as means of transforming consumers and their labor time into some sort of means of production.  However there are cases where the consumer becomes a prosumer out of own free will. Most of the internet prosumers are not forced to be producers as well as consumers. Choosing to be on Facebook, playing Second Life, MySpace, or posting a flickr or something to Wikipedia is usually out of free will and the need to benefit. Prosumption is not forcing people to make the choices although the providers may be bent on earning a profit from the media. Many people seem to enjoy being prosumers. Having a choice on what one can have or consume is very enjoyable (Morley 1992).

Cultural identity defines social construction through difference and exclusion in communications, practices and positions. All identities whether based on class, culture, religion or nation, are always constructed in language. Identity is developed through social interaction and communication. Prosumption concept in media like the internet and television has allowed unlimited communication and social interaction. They have allowed construction of identity and cultural competence. Prosumption is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful engines in media that is changing cultural and social behavior. Being successful prosumers in media field is creating self-actualization. Prosumption is also emerging in media as a society with different cultural and social practices. It is transforming the traditional community into an online society with different behaviors, beliefs and norms (Ritzer 2005).

Prosumption will continue to rise as a result of such factors like improvement and establishment of new technologies that allow people to contribute in the design of standardized products, increase in structural unemployment, rise in cost of labor, the yearning for better quality products and services, and the general rise in education which motivates the desire for self-actualization. The concept of prosumption has brought in competition in the market place. Different people, products and companies are striving to get a way of outdoing their competitors in order to stay at the top. Co-creating with consumers is like assembling in a pool the most unique intellectual capital.  With the advantages that are accrued to prosumption, there is the possibility of it rising and adapted to all aspects of the economy.