Study of a sonnet, looking at examples by two different poets writing before 1900, showing how they use form to express their ideas

The greatest aspect of a sonnet is that it reflects hard work and vigour. It also displays some of the characteristics that the sonneteer may possess. For example, Shakespeare has given himself a wealth of characteristics throughout his works, but what struck me most, was his power to fulfil what he wanted to say and would take up innumerable roles in which to display his message. I believe that this unveils a new side of Shakespeare every time he writes. I feel that my main aim in this essay is to look at the differences, both subtle and outright that make some of the greatest sonnets and sonneteers so very contrasting from one another. Firstly, it is very important to explore a sonnet. The first sonnet is called, â€Å"Batter My Heart† by John Donne. This is a classic English sonnet written at the beginning of the Seventeenth century where Donne unravels his negativity towards himself, and how he demands to be freed from his evil and cast back to God's side. The second sonnet is called, â€Å"Death Be Not Proud† by John Donne. This is a sort of argument against the rights of Death, exploring why Death does not, in fact, have any power over anything. In the two sonnets we see Donne as a man who desperately needed God in his life. He felt separated from God because of his sins and shortcomings. Steir, a critic known for his views on Donne states that he could not see himself free from sin: â€Å"Donne finds it difficult to accept being saved as a sinner and he cannot convincingly imagine being free from sin. In the absence of the capacity to imagine or feel either of these, Donne's deepest prayer must be either to be ravished into chastity, or to escape from God's attention†. Of these sonnets, many differences occurred. The exploration of these is just as important. For example, in both sonnets, Donne wanted God to interfere directly into his life and bring Donne to him. Donne could not bring himself directly to God because he felt that he was unworthy of God. The examination of William Shakespeare's 18th sonnet gives us a perspective into one side of Shakespeare's character. This particular sonnet discovers why the life of his mistress is more than the beauty of any flower, any countryside, or any season. His character in this poem can be very persuasive and canny at times, but as the mood swiftly changes, he shows that he has a loving and far more tender side to himself. â€Å"Shall I compare thee† has been an inspiration to many budding sonneteers and poets for a long time now. On the surface, the poem is simply a statement of praise about the beauty of his Mistress. Summer tends to go to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat, but his mistress is always mild and temperate. Summer is incidentally personified as the â€Å"eye of heaven† with its â€Å"gold complexion†; the imagery throughout is simple and unaffected, with the â€Å"darling buds of May† giving way to the â€Å"eternal summer†, which Shakespeare promises his mistress. The language is not heavy with alliteration and nearly every line is its own self-contained clause, almost every line ends with some punctuation, which creates pause. Batter my heart† reveals the relationship Donne desired to have with God. In this sonnet a theme of violence and sexual conquest is present. The speaker is asking God to violently possess him. It's as if God is a male and Donne is a subordinate female. In describing the opening and closing of the poem, Steir states: â€Å"They rely on the conception of total spiritual dependence on God, on the need for man to be utterly regenerated by God-‘made new'-not merely aided and assisted by him†. The poem opens by asking God to â€Å"Batter my heart†. The word â€Å"heart† in Donne's time had a sexual connotation. According to Craig Payne, â€Å"heart† was originally slang for Vagina. As Payne points out this is to give much of the imagery of the poem in just one line. He is asking God to â€Å"break† him in order to make him â€Å"new† which shows that he is torn by his evil side and needs to be made new, so he can start again. Donne seems to be playing â€Å"hard to get† which can be analysed as if Donne is hard to also turn from his â€Å"evil side†. Donne goes on to use alliteration in, â€Å"breake, blowe, burn† like the sound of a blacksmith's hammer against his anvil. He wants to be taken by God, yet his defences are strong. The image of a â€Å"usurped town† reveals this. Like a town that is being held at siege, Donne has defences. Just as a town must be won over by force so Donne. Phrasing like this contributes to an attitude which tells us that Donne is incarcerated in the Devil's lair and needs force to break his bars of some kind that hold him back. However, a town is usually not as strong as it appears to be from the outside. The nature of the line â€Å"labour to admit you† shows that Donne felt he should forcefully tell God to change his evil ways incessantly. Donne writes, â€Å"Reason your Viceroy in mee† so that, even if God is unable to help Donne, then Donne will settle for God's second in command. This can be read as if Donne is ordering for an angel to help him. Donne decides to go on to describe his strengths as â€Å"weake or untrue† to show a form of deception in the devil and his utter powerlessness over his sinful attitude. Donne then states, â€Å"Yet dearly I love you† and a complication arises. Donne up until now was demanding God to do something about his situation, yet now Donne is behaving differently and is pleading. This is to show he is still â€Å"betrothed† unto God's â€Å"enemy†. By the enemy, Donne creates this evil figure, which is seen as the devil in a sinful and competitive nature. Like someone trapped in a bad marriage he must be â€Å"divorced† or â€Å"untied†. He cannot break away alone though he must have God's help. In order for him to be free from his sinful ways he calls on God to fight for him to be free and then, he can marry God. He states, â€Å"take me to you, imprison me† as if Donne can never escape to bad ways ever again. In the most shocking request of all, Donne asks God to ravish him so that he can be â€Å"free† and â€Å"chaste. † It is being ravished or raped that will free Donne from his sin and his bond with the devil. Craig Payne states that it can be interpreted to be spiritual, â€Å"That which is humanly imperfect and even exploitative becomes divinely perfect and fulfilling. The rape preserves, rather than destroys chastity. God builds up as he tears down, possesses as he frees†. The next sonnet, â€Å"Death, be not proud† is about how Donne challenges the footing of Death instead of challenging the footing of himself in God's eye's, as in â€Å"Batter my Heart†. Donne was always seeking to rival what would normally just be passed by because people didn't care to challenge that what is, is. Donne seemed to be obsessed with death; he supposedly preached his own funeral sermon shortly before his death for example. He had a portrait painted of himself in his shroud and he wrote of the subject often. The main point at issue here is Death's power, and Donne clearly sets about showing that Death's power is non-existent. It is not a conversation of any kind, nor is it a debate, as the sonnet is totally one-sided and it is passing a judgment on Death, a verdict and the sentence is death itself, but more on that later. This, compared to â€Å"Batter my Heart† where Donne is pleading, is totally different, because Donne is arguing. The first two lines give clarity to the rest of the sonnet. In the first line, â€Å"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee† starts making it clear that Donne is addressing Death, personified. Thus, it is merely, on one hand, one person addressing another. Death is therefore made an equal. This makes quite a lowering in the overall stature of Death. The main point at issue here is Death's power, and Donne clearly sets about showing that Death's power is non-existent. It is not a conversation of any kind, nor is it a debate, as the sonnet is totally one-sided and it is passing a judgment on Death, a verdict and the sentence is death itself, but more on that later. Donne is forceful and defiant when he states, â€Å"Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so† which seems to ridicule Death. Donne underlines the dispute over, Death is not â€Å"mighty and dreadful† as some have thought. Certainly, the speech delivered in the sonnet has its aim on the fear of Death; unlike â€Å"Batter my Heart† which was proclaiming his own fear under God's eyes; which is wrong under the circumstances and the reassurance that Death isn't what it seems. There is a great logic in the next two lines, â€Å"For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death; nor yet canst thou kill me. † as Death challenges the very statement that when he kills people, they live on in heaven therefore Donne himself cannot die. The key word here must be â€Å"think'st†; it is unreal, untrue that Death is mighty. Moving to the next quatrain, Death is, through comparison, to be viewed as a short rest and sleep, from which pleasure comes, â€Å"From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow† you wake up the next morning and Heaven awaits. Yet, in â€Å"Batter my Heart† Donne was pleading with God that the next day he wants to be with God and now, Donne is telling Death/the devil that he never had any power over Donne in the first place. From the sonnet lines, we can surmise that Death must be pleasurable. It is only a temporary state, for it leads to life in heaven, therefore it is not as it appears once again. For Death, the audience in the poem, this negation of his power and situation would surely cause great torment and, we would assume, have tremendous emotional impact. The next two lines, â€Å"And soonest our best men with thee do go-, Rest of their bones and souls' delivery! † enter a whole verse of argument. They mean, our ‘best' men die, ‘with thee do go', but their souls live on in heaven, ‘souls' delivery! ‘ Add to that the reference to Death being merely a ‘slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,' which implies that Death is just a slave to God and kills in fate or chance, Kings, or men who simply want to commit suicide. Donne suggests in ‘desperate men' that Death isn't forcefully killing them, they have chosen to die therefore Death is belittled to have no power whatsoever. But moving on, ‘And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,' implying that Death is housed in the scum of the Earth; poison is used to kill others, war is killing other people massively and where sickness inhabits, such as Hospitals or 3rd world countries. This brings new meaning to, â€Å"And poppy charms can make us sleep as well,† where Death is being compared to Opium, â€Å"sleep as well,† and the poppies, ‘poppy charms' that lie where men at war were killed. This leads on to the next line, ‘And better than thy stroke. ‘ The use of ‘And' at the start of the above three lines creates an affect of points in an argument, or simple statements. There is an accusation in the next line, Death has been proud, has â€Å"swell'st† but with no justification. Death is made to look powerless in preventing life. However, the Octave could be a scene of sorrow and mourning, a funeral service for, possibly, one of ‘our best men. ‘ This ceremony is designed to blame and dishonour Death but also to lower him to the status of ‘desperate men' earlier in the sonnet. In â€Å"Batter my Heart† Donne was acting as a desperate man to be freed from the devil, who is now being compared to a desperate man. Donne probably thought that anything related to the Devil must have a part of the Devil within it. There is a second audience in the poem; besides Death himself, and Donne seems to be addressing all those who fear Death in, â€Å"One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more† He seems to ridicule Death, to make Death's power look smaller, comparing it with mere rest and sleep and where Donne uses all the evidence he can find, as well as emotional appeal, to persuade this audience that Death is neither to be feared nor dreaded and that Death is, ultimately, nothing, for it is through Death that we find a new kind of life in heaven. This is a kind of reassurance to readers, as if he is also preaching the goodness of God which can be compared to Donne's other sonnet â€Å"Batter my Heart† where Donne is showing that he cannot preach God's will, because he is bound by the Devil. The arguments' which would appear to Death as insulting, can appear to the reader as shocking, since Death has always been assumed a fearful. But Donne takes the role of making Death seem harmless. It is, of course, this very surprise and shock that the speaker uses as a powerful emotional ploy, along with a list of arguments, to persuade. We might almost imagine a courtroom scene with Death as the accused and all of humanity as the spectators and Donne as a sort of judge, for he not only presents the evidence, but also passes judgment, â€Å"Death, thou shalt Die† at the end of the sonnet. But this last line is the best of all, because it is the ultimate paradox and the ultimate irony that Death should in fact die! These reasons and appeals are contained and arranged within the traditional sonnet form: fourteen lines with the usual octave and sestet. Donne intended a strong break between the octave and sestet is reinforced by the period at the end of line 8, one of few in the sonnet. Donne has stated his thesis that Death is not mighty or powerful and cannot kill or destroy life. And he has supported it through dramatic arguments to a shocking conclusion. Death is the one who dies, not those whom he thinks to overthrow. The balanced and parallel structures of the opening of line 1 and the closing of line 14 serve to reinforce and emphasize the argument splendidly, â€Å"Death, be not proud †¦ Death, thou shalt die. † This is comparatively different to lines 1 and 14 of â€Å"Batter my Heart†, â€Å"Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for you †¦ Nor even chaste, except you ravish me†, for these two lines are still to do with his involvement with the Devil Shakespeare's â€Å"Shall I compare thee† sonnet is all to do with his Mistress. In the first line, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? † we start to see the development of a thought that Shakespeare is having. This line is taken usually to mean, what if I were to compare you to a summers day. The comparisons of the loved one to all the beautiful things in nature hover in a background throughout. Such thoughts have recurring words like â€Å"summer†, â€Å"days†, â€Å"song†, â€Å"sweet†. The second line, â€Å"Thou art more lovely and more temperate†, the mistresses' beauty is more perfect than the beauty of a summer day â€Å"more temperate† – more gentle, more restrained, whereas the summer's day might have violent excesses in store, such as are about to be described. May was a summer month in Shakespeare's time, because the calendar in use, lagged behind our calendar by at least a fortnight. As the last line is made to lead onto the next line, â€Å"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May†, so that it is set out like an argument in point form, why she isn't like a summer's day. â€Å"Darling buds of May†, the beautiful, much loved buds of the early summer and favourite flowers. The last line of the first quatrain, â€Å"And summer's lease hath all too short a date† means that summer holds a lease on part of the year, so summer is too short and has an early finish. The next quatrain holds yet another opening to another round of points in his argument, which can be compared to â€Å"Batter my heart† in which Donne is constantly begging, or demanding his freedom from the Devil. Yet, â€Å"Death, be not proud† is more of an argument, just like this one. â€Å"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,† which links us to the sun and how some days are just too hot. In the first line of reasoning after the argument's main point, we see ‘And often is his gold complexion dimmed,' which means that sometimes the sun is too cold as well. The part ‘his gold complexion' means the sun's golden face. It would be dimmed by clouds and on overcast days generally. The next line carries the load once more, ‘And every fair from fair sometime declines,' which can be broken down to mean that all beautiful things â€Å"every fair† occasionally become inferior in comparison with their previous state of beauty â€Å"from fair†. They all decline from perfection. The last line of this second quatrain, ‘By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;' what Shakespeare really means is that by chance accidents, or by the constant changes of nature, which are not subject to control, nature's ‘changing' look is ‘untrimm'd'. Untrimmed can refer to the ballast (trimming) on a ship which keeps it stable; or to a lack of ornaments or decorations. Therefore, does it refer to nature, or chance, or every fair in the line above, or to the effect of nature's changing course? As one critic, Katherine Duncan-Jones states, â€Å"Nature's changing course could refer to women's monthly courses, or menstruation†, in which case every fair in the previous line would refer to every fair woman, â€Å"with the implication that the youth is free of this cyclical curse†, and is therefore more perfect. The first line of the third quatrain gives yet another overview of the next three points that we come across as readers, and we can see yet another similarity with â€Å"Death, be not proud† because this also uses the bullet point technique to underlie the argument. â€Å"Batter my heart† starts its begging part in its third quatrain, instead of keeping a solid foundation like â€Å"Death, be not proud† and â€Å"Shall I compare thee†. â€Å"But thy eternal summer shall not fade†. This tells us that Shakespeare is trying to get across the issue that his Mistresses' â€Å"summer†, like beauty, will never go away. Nor shall it â€Å"your eternal summer† lose its hold on that power which she so richly possesses, â€Å"Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;† as in possession. The third line of the third quatrain, â€Å"Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,† comments on how the lines are undying. This use of Nor is very effective, for it enforces this idea of setting down a point formed argument. The last line before the couplet, â€Å"When in eternal lines to time thou growest;† underlines that even if her lines grow wrinkly, the lines of this sonnet will not, which surely leads to the final couplet so that the whole argument is enforced in just two lines. The final couplet, â€Å"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee† tells us that, She keeps in pace with time, she grows as time grows and as long as humans live and breathe on earth, for as long as there are seeing eyes on the earth then that is how long these verses will live, celebrating her, and continually renewing her life.

Lady Macbeth Is More Ruthless Than Macbeth Essay

Lady Macbeth is portrayed as Macbeth’s driving force to, as some may call it the dark side. This is how Shakespeare shows her love for Macbeth and also her ambition; she wants the best life possible for him and also for herself. She is portrayed as the more ruthless one in the Macbeth team, but in hindsight she really only encourages Macbeth to be the best of his abilities she doesn’t kill anyone herself she is more ruthless in thought than in action. Macbeth acts on this encouragement therefore is the more ruthless one. The first time we hear of Macbeth in the play a captain is talking about the battle, even hear we can see Macbeth is ruthless. Macbeth is described as killing a man â€Å"Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops† without any mercy or any hesitation. This shows courage but also ruthlessness, he does what he must to win the battle, which is kill his enemies. When Lady Macbeth heard that the first prophecy had come true she was plottin g the murder of Duncan straight away, I would call this ambition. Lady Macbeth is almost portrayed as an opportunist here. She sees her chance to gain the throne, sees what must done for her to gain it and makes it happen. Lady Macbeth knows she could never kill Duncan herself she is too weak. She calls on the supernatural to help her â€Å"come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here and fill me from crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty† this shows Lady Macbeth is ruthless is thought but not in action. She doubts whether Macbeths has what it takes to seize the crown, she views his kindness and essential goodness as negative â€Å"it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness†. Macbeth is ruthless because he is the one to kill Duncan. At first Macbeth is hesitant when considering killing Duncan â€Å"who should against his murders shut the door, not bear the knife myself.† Lady Macbeth has to question has to question his man hood before he will agree to do it. â€Å"When durst you do it, the n you were a man†. Lady Macbeth never mentions anything about killing the guards Macbeth makes that decision all on his own. He does what he must to stay king and protect himself from being caught we see this constantly throughout the play. Macbeth was prepared to do something to Malcolm before he had even killed Duncan, before lady Macbeth had even spoke to him about killing â€Å"that is a step on which I must fall down or else o’er-leap for in my way it lies†. Macbeth has it arranged for his best friend and his son to be killed all for the sake of the throne, from the guards murder on Macbeth completely shuts out Lady Macbeth. He also kills macduffs family because he wouldn’t support him and feared he would try to over throw him. We see Lady Macbeth completely disappear from Macbeth life once he becomes king he is too preoccupied protecting his crown to bother with her. When she dies he doesn’t care all he says is â€Å"she should have dies hereafter† and charges away into battle this is where we see his true ruthlessness to not even care your own wife is dead to not care who will die in battle whether it be his subjects, thanes or wife all he cares about is staying king and he will do bathing he feels necessary. Lady Macbeth pays for her ambition dearly when she is haunted by her own sleep walking her subconscious mind shows what really is going on in her mind. Her tormenting grief is shown â€Å"yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him† she torments herself over Macbeths killings â€Å"the Thank of Fife had a wife: where is she now ?† â€Å"Banquo’s buried; he cannot come out on’s grave.† this all shows she is not as ruthless as Macbeth he shows no remorse for what he has done apart from briefly after Duncan’s murder, whereas lady Macbeth is tormented by grief which eventually leads to her suicide. Macbeth is the more ruthless is the Macbeth team he does what he must to stay king he commits and plans numerous murders. Whereas Lady Macbeth encourages him to commit one muder, she is more ruthless in mind than in action.

Budgets in higher education Essay

In higher education institutions, best budgeting practices involves the use of proper and excellent coordination of master plan which establishes all the priorities which have to be undertaken in the institution. This ensures that all the higher education institutions attend to their respective economic and educational goals. The institutions need to have in place excellent and sufficient infrastructure. In depth periodic facilities audits should be done so as to ensure that the facilities are well and adequate. There should be creation of baseline data for the institution so as to enhance planning procedure. The institutions’ operation budget should have an allocation of repair and renewal. All the needs of the institution should be allocated with the funds available. There is use of rational decision making process which enhances the effective means of budgeting (Caruthers & Orwig, 1979). Question two A grand university must always have good connections with the outside world through a well thought out and effective public relations policy. These much regarded connections go along way, albeit directly and indirectly, in building and maintaining the university’s image as well as being a resource in terms of being an avenue where funds and grants can be applied for. Many are instances when a university requires finances, out of its budget allocations, to carry out research studies, seminars, fairs, cultural activities and many other intermittent activities. With these three avenues serving the same purpose, there is a possibility that in their course of operations, they might approach a similar source, knowingly or unknowingly, and end up putting the image of the university at stake. The following are alternatives can be useful in harmonizing their activities (Knapp & Siegel, 2009). Firstly, the three bodies can be streamlined such that their activities are well synchronized and effective without necessarily clashing. For example, the finance operation could be liaising with the university’s accounting department to source for funds and oversee their use. The alumni organization can be only handling the monies from the alma mater as well as working with them closely with the objective of raising money courtesy of them. While the foundation offices could be dealing with the corporate world with a view of seeking funds from them. Secondly, all the three bodies can be revamped and made into a single entity and even given a new name. With such an action, all the activities that are currently being carried out by the three bodies can be combined. This will eradicate the possibility of a clash of their mandates given the fact that they will all be under a single supervision. References Caruthers, J. K. & Orwig, M. D. (1979). Budgeting in higher education. American Association for Higher Education Knapp, J. & Siegel, D. J. (2009). The Business of Higher Education: Management of Fiscal Strategies. New York: ABC-CLIO

Small shop closures are progress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Small shop closures are progress - Essay Example The elevating scale and market share accounts for the rising power. This is a vivid indication that hard sell will be a marketing strategy for the monopoly. However, the British regime has recommendable strategies and mechanisms to face this trend. Diverse concepts and theories are evident in the strategies and ideologies by Terry. These theories explain the development and ultimate implications of the Terry ideologies within the firm. Terry Leahy’s ideologies and perspectives were reflected in the report from the BBC. He was the C.E.O of Tesco, a position he is proud of. Since teenage, he served at this retailing outlet and developed gradually towards the top position (BBC, p1. 2013). His zeal, competence, and commitment elevated him towards the top position of the organization. Tesco is a top retailer within the British territory. Reporting to the BBC, Terry did not have a positive perspective towards the small shops in Britain. He viewed their closure as a key source of gro wth and progress to the large retailers. According to him, a majority of the society prefer to shop in the large retailers (BBC, p1. 2013). They would prefer supermarkets to the small shops. He defined some streets as backward due to the existence of the small investments. However, his deputy Michael Weedon had a different perspective. He viewed the small shops as advantageous rather than disadvantageous. According to Weedon, closure of large chains would enhance cheap availability of retail premises. The ideologies of this case have great affiliation to several concepts and theories. Business ethics and conflict theory are key attributes that affiliate to this case. Ethics involve a moral code of conduct in business. In this case, businesses ought to observe its impact to the internal and external environment (Peterson, p3. 2005). The Chief executive Officer can represent the interests and stands of the organization to the immediate society. Therefore, the organization ought to obs erve and maintain a positive impact to its environs. Humanity ought to be a key observation in the business policies and ideologies (Henn, p167. 2009). This has a direct appeal to the immediate society. It could therefore be a strategy to win more popularity and clientele from the immediate society. Terry Leahy represented the stand of the Tesco fraternity during his report in the BBC. His report had an implication of negativity within the small shops. It was a direct advocacy of small shops closure within Britain. This declaration has an affiliation with the concept of business ethics. Ethics require and advocate for equal rights in business (Crane, p28. 2007). In this case, business should not purely focus on profitability. It has an obligation to defend the rights of other individuals and external investments. Ethics also enhance an adjusted protection of its image. External parties should view the organization as a center of humanity and integrity. In his presentation, Terry Lea hy impaired the image of the organization significantly. His perspective did not consider the minority group of the Britain society. The entire Britain society engrossed 95% of the populace preferring the supermarkets (BBC, p1. 2013). This was the larger group in Terry’s presentation. According to him, this figure preferred to shop in top retailers. Terry still outlined a 5% of the population that highly preferred to shop

Identify one problematic aspect of Human Resource Management that Essay

Identify one problematic aspect of Human Resource Management that related to your organization - Essay Example On their way to becoming a part of the team, there can be many conflicts, disagreements, and unfortunate events. One major hurdle in achieving harmony among the members is the diversity that they have. The diversity involves age, education, religion, ethnic background, gender, pay scale, marital status, parental status, sexual orientation etc. Like any modern organization, oil & gas companies also seek diversity in their workforce in order to bring a variety of skills. Diversity in a workplace inevitably entails some problems. The biggest problem is created because of prejudices and lack of acceptance. The world consists of many cultures which are very different from each other. People have developed types and they identify other people using stereotypes. People are classified as Americans, Asians, Africans, Indians, Mexicans etc., and these classifications are so diverse that it is almost impossible to number them. Also, there are classes within classes. For instance, there are diff erent types of Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and Jews etc. People are also discriminated against if they are homosexuals. Further, when people come from diverse cultures, they are bound to have different lifestyles. Little appreciation is shown in today’s world for each other’s lifestyle. ... When people are from different cultures, they might speak different languages. With English having become an International language, this problem is solved to a great degree. However, there is also a non-verbal communication and certain gestures are only understandable by a certain culture. They have different values, beliefs, behaviors and assumptions about the world (Alexander, 1988). The more the people are different from each other, the harder it is for them to communicate. In oil & gas companies in The Middle East, recruitments are made from almost all over the globe. The personnel consist of people from the Far East and the sub-continent to workers from Europe and the US. In a professional organization, people learn to respect each other and they try their best to get along. However, there are certain values that are not commonly believed. For instance, the workers from the West have the habit of having platonic relationships with women. In their society, it is very common that a man and a woman are friends. However, platonic relations are very uncommon in Muslim cultures. The Arabs and other Muslims frown upon the platonic relations that the others have. Following the lead of the West, some Muslims may also have platonic relations but they are then questioned by their own communities. Therefore, a web of sophisticated problems is weaved. Drinking wine or alcohol is also prohibited for the Muslims in their religion. They stay away from alcohol but the non-Muslims do not do the same. While sitting in a mixed gathering, it often happens that a non-Muslim unknowingly offers a drink to a Muslim but the offer is rejected in a very emotional manner. This can lead to a verbal or a physical altercation. Even if it does not, it gives

Negotiation and Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Negotiation and Conflict - Essay Example 2. Circumstances based on the Power factor: Under the circumstance that one party has more power than the other; the negotiation often progresses in favour of the more powerful person. This is mostly applicable in the case of employer – employee, jailor – prisoner, competitors, commitments, experienced – fresher, etc. (Herb Cohen, 2004, Pg 40 – 70) 3. Circumstances based on the information factor: This is applicable when one of the negotiating party’s has more information than the other. This is mostly applicable in relationships between manufacturer and wholesaler. But it is widely applicable in the all new ‘buy – from – China’ trend. This is due to the fact that the manufacturer has a deep knowledge of the production process and the costing of the product and under most cases the marketer of the product has none. (Herb Cohen, 2004, Pg 76 – 89) 4. Telephonic negotiation: Negotiation on the telephone is a whole lot tougher then it seems. Of course, it is easy to speak and curse the other party involved in the negotiation but the other party can do the same and telephonic negotiation will not only give you a chance to speak more fluently then in person but it will give the other party involved the same benefits and under most cases the caller loses because by calling your client or supplier you’ve already proven that you (the calling party) need him more then he needs you. 5. Information of BATNA (Better alternative to the negotiating agreement) (Lewicki, Roy J, Barry, Bruce and Saunders, David M, 2007): In the case you are already prepared with the BATNA and the other party comes to know of it. You may just as well suppose that you’ve already lost your present negotiation agreement and you might have to accept an agreement that is even worse off then the BATNA itself. Yes. I definitely consider Distributive bargaining as a dominant form for any negotiation strategy. This is due to the basic and known fact

Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Politics - Essay Example There are three main topics which I cover in this essay, the first is explaining the current approaches to the post - Cold war international order, secondly I examine the role of the U.S.A in the international order, and finally, I discuss the future possibilities of the international order. I take each topic in turn, present both arguments and show the similarities and differences between Liberals and Marxists. The end of the Cold War can be analysed as a significant development in world politics and as the defeat of Marxism and triumph of Liberalism. Fukuyama is quoted as saying that this is â€Å"the end of History† and explains in his thesis, â€Å" [the end of the Cold war is] not to an â€Å"end of ideology† or a convergence between capitalism and socialism, but to an unabashed victory of economic and political liberalism† (1989 pp.39). The triumphant Liberals will claim that the post-Cold war world order has the U.S.A as the single world super-power, however, they have grasped this power through consent rather than through imperialist measures like past super-powers have done, for example, Great British Empire throughout the 19th century. This has been achieved through introduction of Free-trade agreements via the WTO, and, as a result of certain policies and economic development, other important liberal factors, such as democracy and freedom, have flourished, pa rticularly in former Soviet Union satellite states such as Poland and the Ukraine. The traditional Liberal position on the international order is a â€Å"bottom-up approach† (p121) which means that the needs of the individuals is paramount so the states orientations reflect the peoples desires and not the other way around. This in turn is reflected onto the international scene where different states want different things and hence free-trade can be quite effective in this position. From the

Deaf Again Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deaf Again - Assignment Example In the case study, Mark was born without this disability but later grew deaf. His parents were deaf. However, the mark was a lucky child since his parents without the use of sign language, which in a way could have interfered with his speech and later affect his studies, educated him. The author states that the parents opted not to use sign language when educating mark. They had the belief that sign will interfere with Mark’s ability to speak. This could later interfere with his level of understanding during education. On the Fence is another collection from the deaf writers that depicts the hidden world that those with hearing disabilities live as a virtually invisible population. The parents and grandmother of Mark feel much proud that Mark is educated without the use of sign language that they believed might interfere with is education. As per the argument of Mark Drolsbaugh, a child should pick up a language at the age of one to two years. This will enable their parents to identify any disability and be in a position to employ corrective measures before the situation is severe. This will also enable the deaf children to establish whether they can pursue learning with or without the use of sign language. The picking of language at this age also establishes a foundation on the education basis, enabling the child to pursue the various aspects of learning like speaking, reading and writing more effectively. Mark, although he was deaf, remained determined. The support he goes from his parents gave him chance to pursue learning and prosper in education. The author regrets his slow growth and development of emotions. It took him so long to appreciate and be proud of the ‘deaf culture’. The deaf people should appreciate themselves and get encouraged that they can still prosper regardless of their disability. After a deaf child is implanted, the parents have a responsibility to support him or her.

Appreciation of western art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Appreciation of western art - Essay Example There are three of them, one in the far left, the other in the middle and the other in the far right. Each of the three persons appear to be holding what seems like a hoe, and are all bending suggesting they are tilling. They appear to be doing the same thing but in an uncoordinated manner. This is apparent as they are all facing different directions. The person on the far left has his back facing us, the person on the middle faces the front while the person on the right faces sideways. Besides the people and the hoes they are holding, in the background there is what appears as a thick forest. At the middle ground there is a hill, this again is differentiated by the color variation and use of a different form. In the foreground, there is vegetation, again just as is the case with all the other forms this is also differentiated by the color and the form is not that clear. Art elements The two most important elements in this painting are color and form. The importance of these two elem ents is further brought to the fore given the genre of the painting. Fauvism as a form of art or genre of art was largely different from impressionism and cubism. Impressionism was keen in depicting reality and Cubism paid a lot more detail to form. Fauvism appears as a form that borrowed elements from these two genres. This is irrespective of the fact that Cubism was a genre that sought to address crucial elements that lacked in Fauvism. Form in a painting details the appearance; it represents a piece’s visible elements. These allow one to perceive and understand the painting or the entire artwork. In our chosen artwork, form is represented by different formal elements such as color, lines, mass, and shape. In terms of color, this will be largely discussed as a separate element in the following part it helps define form by identifying different objects within the artwork. The artist uses color to identify different objects. Choosing a different color for every object, this h elps create the forms of these objects and thus making it easier for the viewer to identify these objects. The color also helps identify transitions, from the foreground, to the middle ground and then to the background. These sections of the painting are painted in different colors and thus are very easy to identify. The other formal element is shape the artist uses different shapes to represent different objects within the painting. Lastly, the artist uses lines to represent different forms. These are used to signify transitions and mark appearance creating the linear orientation of these objects and also defining the different shapes within the artwork. Color Colors are a major part of this painting, with the artwork largely employing neutral colors, black, gray and brown. There are also dull shades of yellow and brown as well as an employment of a very dark shade of green at the background. The colors are mainly used to show transitions, the fore ground uses some shades of brown to show vegetation, this is followed by the color yellow that represents the middle ground representing what appears as a bare ground and there is the background that uses a very dark green shade creating an illusion of a thick forest. Colors black, grey, a slight yellow and brown is used to represent different objects mainly the people within the artwork. Shape Shape defines an enclosed space, the boundaries of this in the painting is defined by color and lines. Shape here refers to the space representing the people, the

Employee and Customer satisfaction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employee and Customer satisfaction - Assignment Example In real sense, within the government, satisfied workers are individuals who the government could do better without them. Satisfaction of employees does cover the basic needs as well as concerns of employees. It happens to be a good point to start at, however, it typically stops short of what matters really (Susan, 2015). Inefficient HR department which does not place a right employee to do the right job as well as tracking the employees’ individual performance makes employees dissatisfied. The executives in HR department need to listen to the views of the department’s employees (MBA Lectures, 2011). Work pressure in the HR department could cause employee dissatisfaction. When the HR bosses mask the HR employees to finish many tasks within a stipulated time, it brings about work pressure on HR workers. The employees will develop some sort of aversion to the work (Rose, 2015). Employee educational background- where an employee lands on a job of distinct profession from his training then the employee will have to be dissatisfied with the work. This happens to be quite natural since the worker will not be able to match his/her preference for such job kind (MBA Lectures, 2011). Work politics within the HR department- as well as inability for an employee to fit in an office environment will definitely lead to dissatisfaction. It leads to reduced efficiency as well as productivity of an employee. Reduced salaries within an HR department will definitely make HR employees dissatisfied with their jobs. HR employees feel like they should be paid a suitable price for services they undertake. No one is willing to work for a trifling amount (MBA Lectures, 2011). Organization- when employees are dissatisfied their performance go down. This happens be a big blow to the organization in the sense low productivity leads to less profits as well as poor public welfare, not forgetting that these are the main goals for an

Diabetes Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Diabetes - Annotated Bibliography Example The findings attribute a majority of socioeconomic burden in the society to this observation, noting it as a major cause of premature mortality. To the patients, the risk of retinopathy, neurological conditions and renal failure constantly looms. In spite of giving critical findings on the negative impact of diabetes in the society and acknowledging the need to prioritize public health control programs, the researchers fail to give recommendations to curb its effects as contrasted to the subsequent articles by Goyder, Simmons and Gillett (2010) and Malkawi (2012) hereafter. The researchers from the University of Sheffield appreciate the importance of diabetes prevention in reducing morbidity and mortality, and in this study they collect data from national policy documents in the UK to determine the persons charged with preventing diabetes. The evidence found point out at community level intervention as more effective than individual based approach with much synergy observed for diabetes prevention and other major public health priorities, just as indicated in the previous research by Dieren et al. (2010), including obesity prevention, socioeconomic inequality, reducing chronic diseases and climate change. Even though the study was confined within the UK hence unreliable to imply to the whole global population as contrasted to the previous article, it gives an important insight that prevention programs should be aimed at the larger population other than at individuals. Malkawi, A. M. (2012). The effectiveness of physical activity in preventing type 2 diabetes in high risk individuals using well-structured interventions: a systematic review. Journal of Diabetology, 2(1), 1 – 18. This research acknowledges the burden of type 2 diabetes as articulated in the previous two research studies and as such evaluates the effectiveness of physical activity in curbing diabetes spread. It aims at

Australian Conscription in Vietnam War Essay Example for Free

Australian Conscription in Vietnam War Essay The conscription issue during the second Indo – China war in the 1960’s tore apart the fabric of Australian society and resulted in divisions in all sections of the community. There were many reasons for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, including the allegiance commitments of South-East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). The introduction of conscription illustrates the main purpose of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The conscription issues and the war itself caused social division in reaction to the Vietnam War. In 1964 compulsory National Service was introduced under the National Service Act. The Defence Act was amended in May 1965 to provide that National Servicemen could be obliged to serve overseas, a provision that had been applied only once before – during World War Two. Paragraph one The Australian government supported the USA involvement in the Vietnam War, and Australia felt it was imperative that the North Vietnam have a proper defensive treaty, as a number of other countries felt the same way, so SEATO was created to deal with this situation. SEATO was a much stronger agreement to support Australia’s security needs in the Pacific. It also helped to highlight the growing division between Australia and Britain and the new dependence on the United States (US). † (N/A, The ANZUS Treaty and SEATO Alliance, 2013, Skwirk. com. au Interactive Schooling) Australia joined the SEATO because it could support Australia in the Pacific. As America joined in the Vietnam War, A ustralia supported them to join the war as well. The Australian government feared the idea of communism overtaking their nation, this fear lead to the decision of forcing their young men to be conscripted to join the war in South Vietnam. Conscription was a tremendous issue for the families of the young men who fought in the war because many males were being conscripted sent into the Vietnam War without any choice or opinion. As a result of the fear of communism, Australia decided to support the US to join the Vietnam War and fight for the South Vietnam. SEATO was one of the reasons that Australia joined the war, because it was a much stronger agreement to support Australian security of the needs in the Pacific, Australia joined the SEATO to against the North Vietnam. As Australia got involved the war, the conscription has leaded to the depressions and social divisions in the Australian society. Paragraph two The purpose of the second Indo-China war of conscription was to avoid communism spreading to Australia. This caused Australian men and women to become infuriated and create groups against conscription. Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was keen to get more supporters of his actions in Vietnam, to give them legitimacy. This was during the Cold War, both North and South Vietnam tried to gain the moral upper hand over the other in a way that does not happen today. â€Å"You have in us [the Australian Liberal delegation] not merely an understanding friend but one staunch in the belief of the need for your presence in Vietnam. We are not here because of our friendship, we are here because, like you, we believe it is right to be there and, like you, we believe American forces should stay there as long as it seems necessary to achieve the purpose of the South Vietnamese Government and the purpose that we join in formulating and progressing together. And so, sir, in the lonelier and perhaps even more disheartening moments which come to any national leader, I hope there will be a corner of your mind and heart which takes cheer from the fact that you have an admiring friend, a staunch friend that will be all the way with LBJ. ( Wikipedia, A Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today, 2004, Today In Alternate History) From this speech -‘All The Way with LBJ’, to show that LBJ tried to convince other Australia to join the war with them together, and America knew that Australia would support them, and Australia had training teams in Vietnam before 1965, just as the Am erica did. The main reason that Australia was afraid of the communism was the domino theory, the countries of South-East Asia was like dominoes. If one ‘fell’ to communism, this would lead to the fall of another, and so on until all were ruled by communists. It is evidenced that Australia was very fearful of communism and of growing Asian power, by offering Australia’s full unquestioning support of the United States (US). Australia’s foreign policy is basically to secure protection by cuddling up to a more powerful friend; since World War Two America has been Australia’s powerful friend. Australia supported America by helping them in conflicts such as joining the Vietnam War was one of the prices that Australia paid for the protection. Paragraph three Conscription led to people combining together and creating groups to revolt against the conscription and Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The social divisions appeared in all sections of the Australian community. Conscription started as choosing 20-year-old males in Australia in 1964, but then it turned into conscripting teenagers. In 1964 compulsory National Service for 20-year-old males was introduced under the National Service Act. The selection of conscripts was made by a sortation or lottery draw based on date of birth, and conscripts were reduced to give two years’ continuous full-time service, followed by a further three years on the active reserve list. Young men who were subject to the conscription lottery also formed their own anti-conscription organization, the Youth Campaign Against Conscription. Like Save Our Sons, it spread to other states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. (Wikipedia, 11 March 2013, Conscription in Australia) In 1965 a group of concerned Australian women who had ‘lost’ their husbands and sons joined together and created the Save Our Sons (S. O. S) which was established in Sydney with other branches later formed in Wollongong, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Newcastle and Adelaide. In the same year, young men who were subject to the conscription lottery also created their own organization the Youth Campaign Against Conscription (YCAC). One of the social divisions would be conscription affect people’s daily routine, and people were being anti-war and anti-conscription. Overall, the governments’ fear of communism spreading into Australia was why they chose to continue supporting the America. This is most likely because the war and conscription were mostly fused into one without taking account of a nuanced position that addresses the two issues separately. The importance of keeping the two issues separate is that the Government would have been more credible if it had simply pursued the war and not sent conscript. Conclusion In conclusion, conscription issue during the Vietnam War in the 1960’s put Australian society into the social divisions in all parts of Australian community, especially in 1966 people started to stand out and combined into organizations to against it. The reason that they supported and followed the United States (US) to join the Vietnam War would be Australian Government was afraid of the spreading of the communism. Australia supported the defence of the people in South Vietnam and intellectual consistency to accept the use of conscription in a war that was supposed to be fought in defence of freedom; instead the war got extended.

The Biggest Challenges Facing Mncs Commerce Essay

The Biggest Challenges Facing Mncs Commerce Essay There are several challenges faced by MNCs while competing in the global dynamic business environment today. One of the biggest challenges today is being global while acting locally by understanding the culture of location in which they operate (Firoz, Maghrabi Kim, 2002). It is vital for firms to understand the local culture to negotiate with local suppliers, government and other stakeholders. Furthermore understanding the moral and ethical values of targeted consumers is also essential so that companies can market the right product to the right market in the right manners. Another challenge for MNCs is economic and political condition of the country in which they operate since political instability may lead to economic instability with changing inflation rates, taxes, regulations, exchange rates etc. Another challenge is integrating marketing strategies according to the cultural values of the region in which the MNC operates so that no blunders might be committed such as the case of Nestle in Africa. Competing with local vendor is also a grave challenge since MNCs need to differentiate their products in quality and price to compete with local competition that have greater knowledge of the country and people. Since MNCs employ people from a diverse cultural background therefore the managers need to create synergy through their workforce. Q2)  Why is it useful to have an 8-step negotiation model? What are the consequences if a step is skipped? Companies need to understand the negotiation model since they have to negotiate with several stakeholders inside and outside the organization such as suppliers, labor unions, government etc. Using the 8-step model can enforce an efficient negotiation process through which companies can avoid turning a conflict into crisis. The 8-step model provides the company with step by step solution to every kind of negotiation the company might have to consider. The characteristics of various steps in this model understand the scenario, listening to all parties, create alternative solutions, offer BATNA, reaching a final agreement, coming to a conclusion and making sure that the decision is implemented   (The Negotiation Experts, 2012). A company must go through each and every step when on a negotiation table for several reasons. First reason is that if companies miss any single step such as offering BATNA incase an agreement is decided upon then a minor conflict may turn into a crisis. Furthe r if organizations miss an important step like looking for alternative solutions then the companies might not know what possible solutions exist which can help the company negotiate with any party while keeping the companys interest intact. As companies follows the steps for negotiation managers can find solutions in an efficient manner. Q3)  Which of the cross-cultural theme do you feel is most vital to the success of an MNC and why? Cross-cultural management is essential for MNCs since multi-national corporations have to deal with people from a diverse cultural background. One cross-cultural theme which companies need to incorporate in their business strategy and with prove vital for the success of the firm is creation of synergy within the workforce. MNCs tend to work across geographical boundaries and employee people from various locations and cultures. All these people are different in demographical characteristics like caste, sex, religion, color and other values. Now as human-resource is the biggest asset of a firm therefore it is essential that the workers work in a harmonious manner. There are several ways of creating synergy such as sharing a common vision and goals aligned with the companys strategic objectives along with creation of trust, compassion and companionship in the company (Kusumowidagdo, 2011). Such methods can help firms to develop a well-integrated corporate culture so that all the departm ents work in unity towards achieving the strategic objectives of an organization. It is vital for an MNC to create such a corporate culture so that corporations can succeed in different countries. It is therefore vital for companies to follow this cross-cultural theme to gain the maximum advantage from a diverse workforce.   Q4)  How should an HR department evolve to match a companys expansion overseas? Which leadership roles are most important in this scenario? HR department needs to evolve in accordance with the companys expansion overseas and form strategies which assist in staffing and motivating the organizations human resource. It is important that while staffing HR department take into consideration the importance of aligning people to the corporate values of the organization. The company should make sure that HR department should conduct value-based interviewing techniques so that only those individuals whos attitude match with the values of the organization. HR department should also incorporate talent pools which integrate strategies of selection and succession through a continuous development process. Leadership roles are also important for MNCs since a good leadership in one country might not be considered good in other country as well. Every culture has its own cultural and social standard when leadership is considered. Therefore a leader should have knowledge regarding the beliefs, ethics, customs and beliefs so that they may b e able to successfully lead business in another country. There are several skills which a leader must have and which might make leaders globally successful. These skills include integrity, courage, standards, awareness, business knowledge, commitment and sensitivity towards cultural differences. A leader must be aware of good work ethics, professional and personal integrity and determination to lead. Q5)  Characterize the future of US-based companies desiring to expand overseas within the next 5 years. What political, economic, and technological challenges might those companies face and why? How can they be overcome? US-based firms thinking of expanding globally may have to face several social, political and economic practices in the coming years due to a change in perception of United States in the developing and developed countries. Furthermore exchange rates of developing countries are being unstable across the globe due to a dynamic change in the socio-political and economic factor. The world is going through a global recession and the next 5 years might see a global change towards business practices with a massive shift towards e-business plans. The war against terror has distorted US economy and made it politically unstable with a distorted image in the Muslim world where US products have a great potential target market. However this situation might change in the next 5 years with emerging markets like Brazil, India, Russia, China and Pakistan on the globe. These countries will have a suitable working environment for US-based business with high demand for US-based high quality products as l ocal vendors will not be able to provide such products due to lack of technology and financial resources. US-based organization can utilize this opportunity and gain maximum profit through expanding business in developing countries along with thinking of ways to reduce manufacturing cost. Q6)  Describe the relevant factors when considering localization of HR activities. HR department needs to consider several factors when operating globally so that their activities are developed in accordance with the local cultures. HR department must organize their activities according to the cultural values, habits and requirement of business operations in the country they operate. First factor to be considered is the cultural dimensions of Hofstedes which include factors like masculinity, long-term orientation and individualism are important when considering HR strategies. For example individualism approach should be considered when developing human resource development strategies since employees from American background and Asian culture are different in their approach towards career. Asian employees are more of collectivism nature and tend to prefer working in groups whereas American employees need to be of individualistic nature and prefer working alone or not sharing their success with anyone. Further motivational factors are also different among different c ultures since different cultures have different motivational drives which are to be considered when motivational strategies are developed. Q7)  Discuss the impact and implications of Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions on MNCs today. Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions have a grave impact on strategies of MNCs today since they have to deal with diverse cultures. Whenever a company works outside its local geographical boundary it comes across a different set of cultural values. Hofstede has regarded these cultural values into five cultural dimensions called power distance, individualism, uncertainty, masculinity and long-term orientation. A MNC needs to take all these cultural dimensions into consideration when making strategies to target consumers in different countries. For example when making the organizational hierarchy when establishing a foreign subsidiary the company must acknowledge the power distance cultural values in that country so that the managers can incorporate an organizational culture with accordance to the local values. Further there are certain scenarios in which a firm develops relationship with the suppliers or form a joint-venture agreement in which values like long-term approach and uncertainty m ust be taken into consideration. For example when forming collaboration with a local company the foreign firm must know what cultural norms such as risk taking or long-term approach embodies the local culture. All these dimensions identified by Hofstede also play a major role in the strategies for global branding and advertising strategy so that strategies are developed according to local habits and preferences (Mooij Hofstede, 2010).

Effective Leadership Is A Tool To Organisational Performance Management Essay

Effective Leadership Is A Tool To Organisational Performance Management Essay Leading people in the course of accomplishing certain goals and objectives needs certain skills; amid them is the leadership skill. Leadership is a process by which a group of people are inspired and influenced to achieve organizational objectives and long-term goals. This essay is aimed at examining critically, some of the main theories of Leadership and will be structured into two parts. The first part will focus on leadership and evaluation of the leadership theories. The second part will be linking leadership to performance and giving examples of some organisations that have succeeded through good leadership practices. The concept of Leadership has no universal definition. It is imperative to understand the meaning of leadership before going into the different theories of leadership. Leadership has been defined as the relationship that exists among leaders and their followers in expressions of power relationship, here leaders through their power effects change in others, the skills and knowledge a leader possess to effect this change through others makes effective leadership possible (Northouse, 2004). Although leadership, has been defined to mean different things to various authors. It is thought to be unknown and mysterious (Adair, 2006), but to have a general conclusion, it is seen as an important ingredient to achieve effective management and mainly about the ability to influence people, driving them towards achieving organizational goals, objectives and aims. Roger (1997) suggests that leadership is not necessarily the same as management, that although managers have authority, they may not have power. Hackman (2002) argues that leaders can also control personnel resources by creating a situation for team effectiveness, enabling structure. Enabling structure which can be formed through the manner within which work is considered, the encouragement of core norms of conduct and team work is organised. Bernard (1926) posits that anybody who is ordinarily efficient in delivery psychological stimuli to others and hence effective in cultivating cooperative responses can be called a le ader. This means that a leader must have prestige, know which stimuli that is adequate to response to the purposes and device a procedure for presenting the stimuli. Despite the diverse ways by which leadership has been conceptualized, there are central components that can be identified as fundamental to its phenomenon. Key Elements in leadership definition Just as there are many definition of leadership, there are also approaches to leadership that has help to in-depth understanding of leadership. Trait Approach Trait theory asserts that certain qualities of being an effective leader may possibly be inherited; these traits can be intelligence, social status, physical traits like weight and strength, or personality traits like self-honesty, self confidence, and creativity (Mullins, 2005; Northouse, 2004; Rogger, 1997). Most Scholars that take the trait approach attempt to categorize physiological, demographic, personality, self-confidence, and assertiveness, task-related and social characteristics with leader effectiveness. Whitener (2007) suggests that these lists of traits are what potential leaders should aspire to have in other to be seen as an effective leader. Trait approach has been seen to be incoherent, as there are no traits that differentiated leaders from non- leaders in that a leader in one situation may not necessarily be a leader in another position, instead of the qualities that individual have, leadership was reconceptualised as a relationship among people in a social situat ion (Stogdill, 1948). Trait explanation of effective leadership has been regarded with little esteem by leadership researchers, although some steady relationship were found, the discovery suggest that leadership is not just a sheer possession of mixture of traits, situation specific analysis took over if not dominating( Zaccaro et al, 1991; Stogdill, 1948; Bass, 1990). Conger et al (1998) saw trait approach as being too simplistic, House et al (1997) concluded that there were few, if any common trait is linked to leadership effectiveness. Trait approach gave rise to the question whether leaders are born or made and whether is an art or science. Even if they are born it still needs to be developed through training and encouraged and if it is an art, it still requires the application of certain special skills or techniques (Mullins, 2005). Furthermore, researchers have found that there is no one and only trait or leadership style to lead effectively and that it all depends on organizational culture, employee behaviour, readiness to achieve and tasks to be performed or aspects of the situation. This is in conformity with the situational leadership model according to Hersey Blanchard (1969) which basically suggest that the knowledge of employees is vital in effective leadership. Although trait approach have a century of research to back it up and has given us a benchmark on what to look out for if we want to be a leader, it failed to define ultimate list of leadership traits, take situation into consideration and has resulted in highly subjective determinations of the most important trait (Northouse, 2004). Behavioural Approach The Behavioural approach believes that leaders are made and not born and to be a leader needs to be learnt and develop through observation and creativity. This school of thought concentrates on the kind of behaviour of people in leadership situations, how they treat their subordinates and its result on performance (Mullins, 2005; Antonakis et al, 2003). The Michigan University and Ohio State was used in the study of this approach, the survey acknowledged two scope of leadership referred to as consideration which is employee oriented leadership and structure which is production oriented leadership (Antonakis et al, 2003). McGregor recommended that a leaders behaviours depend on his assumptions about people and the human nature. For instance, if a person is appointed a manager and he see people as being naturally lazy, reluctant to take responsibility, resistant to change the theory -X employees the leader may adopt autocratic style of leadership and if he see employees who works hard, quick to change and seek responsibility rather than avoid it the theory- Y employees he will adopt a participative leadership style (Roger, 1997). This approach to leadership is contradictory because the type of behaviour a leader enacted depends on the situation. The Leadership styles The leadership styles can be attributed essentially to the philosophy of the leaders. Mullins, (2005) suggest that leadership style is the way within which the functions of leadership are carried out and the way managers typically behaves towards their subordinate. In this regards three styles can be distinguished via: autocratic, participative, and laissez-faire. The autocratic style also known as authoritarian style of leadership can be termed tellers. They feel that they know best what they want and tend to express those wants as direct orders to their associate. This style according to Roger (1997) can be dictatorial or paternalistic. Dictatorial in the sense that the leader tells the followers what to do without comment. Reward and penalty for poor performance becomes the order of the day. While the paternalistic style, imposes close supervision and control. Although this type of leadership is looked upon as negative, many autocratic leaders have been successful in accomplishing goals. Its strength can be seen when employees are submissive and prefer not to be responsible for participating in planning and decision making, autocratic leaders are effective since they keep decisions and control to themselves. However autocratic leadership style has number of disadvantages. Here employee ideas are not fully applied, it suppresses workers idea, and staff cannot be developed to their maximum potential Roger (1997). The participative leadership style encourages the feeling of involvement, being relevant, valued, team work and part of the decision making process. It involves the employees in the whole process towards implementation and effecting change. Here workers like to feel that their ideas are important and feel more committed, they also tend to develop greater feelings of esteem and are therefore better motivated, there is also high quality decision and productivity, it also encourages team work and interpersonal exchange and finally eliminates feelings of hostility Roger (1997). This style can also be disadvantageous in that decision making can be slow because of the time taken to consult the employees, it also works on the principles of consensus and lack of positive direction, may prevent the achievement of the objectives and employee participation in minor operation rather than the major decisions which may lead to resentment. The laissez-faire also called the free rein. Here the leader observes that the members of the group can work well on their own. With the goal of the organisation in view, the leader presents task to the group members who then work out their best own techniques for accomplishing those goals within the frame work of the organizational objectives and policy, this is to allow them freedom of action to think best but ever ready to help when the need arises. Although there is freedom of action, it can degenerate into chaos, decision making is performed by the dominant peers in the group, work generally is sloppy and productivity low Roger (1997). The Situational Contingency Approach The situational and Contingency emphasises that in leadership study in organization, certain variables and situations should be put into consideration as there could be unforeseen situation which can emerge anytime. That flexibility and dynamic styles should be used in different situations. This approach emphasises that situation is the dominant feature for determining an effective leadership as situation is one of the main forces influencing managerial behaviour and the contingency model assumes that there is no one best way or style of leadership(Mullins, 2005). Although this approach is appealing there are some managers who have the knowledge and skill and appear to be the most appropriate leader in given situation but do not appear as effective leaders (Mullins, 2005). The Functional Approach The functional approach concentrates on the roles, functions and responsibility of an effective leadership, what the leader do and the character of the group (Mullins, 2005). This approach sees leadership as distributed function. The most important ingredient of this leadership approach is its attention on how rather than who (shead, 2010). John Adairs three circles in his action centred leadership deeply influenced the functional leadership approach. These three circles symbolize the areas where leadership functions take place. Those areas are: task, team, individual. This approach believes that the skills of leadership can be learnt, developed, and perfected through training and development (Mullins, 2005). In recent times most organization does not wait for leaders to look for them but search for those who have leadership potential to develop them and expose them to their careers (Mullins, 2005). This model encourages team work, considers the changing role of leaders and followers in organization and can help in selecting team leaders. Although it encourages team work it does not offer a specific situation for team leader and the direction for leadership training is unclear, compound and demoralizing (Northouse, 2004). Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is quite appealing and emphasizes on the most effective way to use human resources to achieve result, which has led management concentration on how leaders transform organization (Mullins, 2005). Leadership should not just be about an elite few that distributive leadership should be among the key factors to effective organisational success (CIPD, 2010a). Burns in his writing upon transforming leadership Posits that the transforming leader shapes, alters, and elevates the motives, values and goals of subordinates attaining considerable change in the process. Transformational leaders may; develop a followers needs, change a followers self-interest, enhance the confidence of followers, promote followers prospect, enhance the value of the leaders intended outcomes for the follower promote behavioural change, motivate others to higher levels of personal success Bass (1990). Tichy Devanna (1986) in Bolden et al. (2003) propose that transformational leadership cannot just be attributed to charisma but also as a behavioural process. All this can be achieved through employee involvement, motivation and engagement because a charismatic leader is the one who inspires their followers with the idea that they can accomplish great task through extra exertion. Transformational leadership has seen to be effective in most of the organisation that has succeeded through effective leaders. This leadership approach is individually considerate in that it considers the difference among their employee and acts as mentors to the employee who need help the leaders also through stimulation shows their followers new ways of tackling problems by making them understand difficulties as problem solved Bass (1998). An illustration of this leader is Lorenze Iversen, a former president of Mestas Machine Company, who said to the employees, we got this job because u re the best mechanics in the world. This president believes in walking around inspiring his employees and he is known for instilling pride and commitment. Although Transformational leadership has intuitive appeal, treats leadership as a process that occurs between followers and leaders, lays emphasis on followers needs, values, and morals and as effective form of leadership, its functions connect with each other and it is elitist and antidemocratic (Avolio, 1999; Bass Avolio, 1993). Yukl, (1999) in Northouse, 2004 argues t hat transformational leadership suffers from heroic leadership and also likely to be abused. Evidence that effective leadership is a tool to organisational performance It will be important to define what we mean by organisational performance and success before delving into the way it is affected by leadership practices. Richard et al (2009) posits that organisational performance consists of three main areas of firms outcomes which includes; financial performance involving (profit, return on assets, and return on investment etc.), shareholder return (total shareholder return, economic value added etc.) and product market performance (sales, market share etc.). Richard went further to explain that many organisation have tried to manage performance using the balance scorecard method in which performance is tracked and measured in multiple ways such as; financial performance, customer service, social responsibility (corporate citizenship and community outreach) and employee stewardship. Organisational success differs from one sector of business to another. Nevertheless organisations use key performance indicators (KPI) to determine their level of success. For instance key performance indicator (KPI) for a sales or retail sector could be profit, customers loyalty. Also for service sectors their success could be measured by key performance indicators (KPI) such as employee satisfaction, customers satisfaction and achieving the goals and objectives set by management (Forsaith Hall 2000). However, when we talk about high performance it is not enough to say that an organisation is performing high during the short-term or during economic progression periods, organisation that can be recorded as a high performing organisation is the one that can face both of the internal and external challenges (CIPD, 2010b). Darwin E. Smith who was appointed the CEO of Kimberly Clark a paper company whose stock had fallen from 36% is a typical example of a leader who can thrive in economic challenges and progression. Smith created a transformation at Kimberly Clark turning it into the leading consumer paper products company in the world and beating its rivals Scott paper and Procter Gamble. In so doing he generated a cumulative stock return of 4.1 times greater than those of the general market outpouring companies such as Hewlett-Packard, 3m, Coca-Cola and General electric (Collins, 2001a). Effective leaders, understands that high performance in organisation is not all about instant su ccess but long-term feasibility and they tend to also focus on training and development programmes that is linked to high performance. They tend to concentrate more on on-the-job training (Ashtons, 2002). Leadership has been seen to be central to individual, team and organisational performance. Many factors both internal and external have a posture on sustainable performance and employee engagement lies at the heart of organisational performance, leadership can be said to be inexplicably influential in terms of its impact on employee engagement and performance(Collins, 2001a). To lead effectively, leaders ought to know that it takes the inspiration, commitment and engagement of their employees and they should know how to influence them towards achieving organizational objectives. Engaging employees is quite vital as leadership is very much about it (CIPD, 2008). Engagement could be said to be the sum of effort an employee is willing to apply in their work. This can be influenced if the engaging leadership scheme is assumed and this is can be illustrated using its model: Figure 1: The Structure of the Engaging Transformational Leadership Questionnaire Engaging Individuals Showing genuine concern Enabling Being Accessible Encouraging questioning Personal qualities and core values Acting with integrity Being honest and consistent Engaging the organization Inspiring others Focusing team effort Being decisive Supporting a developmental culture Moving forward together Networking Building shared vision Resolving complex issues Facilitating change sensitivity Adapted from www.cipd.co.uk/shapingthefuture This chart shows that engaging leadership has a key role on employee motivation, job satisfaction and commitment and can reduced work-related stress which will in turn lead to high performance in organisation. Therefore, in other for organisation to compete effectively and achieve competitive edge that will ensure long-term success and survival of business, there is a need to foster a leadership that takes into consideration human relations, and its responsive to the dynamics of the business environment McGunagle (2010). Various authors have proposed several forms of leadership that will enhance performance in organisation. These forms of leadership range from Transformational, charismatic and participative leadership styles. Transformational could be said to be linked with adaptive behaviours which has to do with getting the employees to think creatively and learn new skills, it also takes into consideration the need and ability to manage and control challenging situations while accommodating different social factors (Han Williams, 2008; Pulakos et al, 2000; Rosen et al, IN PRESS), (Moss, Dowling Callanan, 2009). Transformational leadership is seen to be effective because it presents a leader who focuses on challenging visions as such input commitment into the employees, this kind of leadership favours and empowers teams in achieving organisational goals (Shin Zhoug, 2003). Several authors have identified transformational leadership to function at both team and individual level (Kirkman, Chen, Farh, Chen, Lowe, 2009; Liao Chuang, Zohar Tenne-gezit, 2007). Very importantly at the individual level transformational leadership assumes the position of discretionary stimuli that arises as a result of different relationship between the leader and the lead (Wang et al., 2005). While at the team level transformational leadership creates an atmosphere where team members are creative and they willingly share ideas capable of transforming the organisation (Chen Bliese, 2002). Bass Avolio (1994) posit that transformational leaders engage more with their colleagues. They behave in different ways to a ttain superior result using the Four Is which is idealised influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation individualised consideration (Avolio, Waldman Yammarino, 1991). However in achieving effective organizational success, leaders who adopts bottom-up strategy rather than top-down system seems to be more effective. The top-down system is rule from above, with little or no involvement of those at the bottom, who are highly needed for the execution of tasks. It blocks flow of information in an organisation which will lead to misinformation to the employees. Bottom-up strategy promotes employee involvement, help free flow of information and feedback, ideas and suggestions from the employees (Wright Taylor, 1994). Good to great leaders do not start from vision and strategy rather they start from people first and then strategy second. They get the right people on the bus and move the wrong people off the bus, then ushers the right people on the seats and then figure out where to drive it (Collins, 2001a). Collins, (2001b) also identified some factors of moving from a good to a great leader. The prime is the level 5 leadership which emphasises that leaders should be an epitome of humility to be able to do whats best for their organizations by accomplishing advantageous outcomes. Examples of leaders in this class are Yun Jong-Yong of Samsung Electronics, Japan, Makesh Ambani of reliance Industries in India etc. Jong Yong Yun, Samsung Electronics chief executive officer since December 1996, has restructured Samsung by challenging traditional Korean corporate culture of hierarchy and lifetime employment. Yun inculcated a sense of perpetual crisis among his employees and encouraged them to come up with innovative products that according to him, were essential for Samsungs survival. His emphasis was on quality products with unique designs and effective brand promotions. In 2004, Samsung surpassed Sony to earn profits of $9.4 billion over revenues of $72 billion 34. Roopa Chaudhuri (2005) in 2003-2010 IBS Case Development Centre Effective leaders understand the importance of employee empowerment which in turn leads to organisational success. This can be made evident in the case of Sao Paulo in Brazil. When Ricardo Semler, became the Chief Executive Officer, Semco expanded into other businesses like banking, environmental services and e-business. Ricardo preferred to change Semco into a democratic organisation for which he adopted the philosophy of employee empowerment. Ricardo was against the autocratic style of management, and was for participative management. Under Ricardo, Semcos revenues rose from $35 million in 1990 to $160 million in 2003. Semco soon came to be known as the unusual kind of workplace 25. Kiran, B. Chaudhuri , (2009) in 2003-2010 IBS Case Development Centre. However, many organisations have succeeded through good leaders who understand the need to invest in their people. An example of this can be seen from Vineet Nayar, CEO of Indian IT service giant HCL Company who likes to rock the boat. When Vineet was asked his greatest legacy, he responded without missing word That I have destroyed the office of the CEO his company has 55,000 employees and a market cap of $24 billion which is growing faster than Indians red-hot economy. He also led the charge that gave rise to the companys motto, Employee first, customer second an idea that gave many managers hives (Cappelli et al., 2010). In an interview with the senior executive of the Indian companys like the Tata, Mahindra Mahindra, and Infosys etc. on how they derive their organisation to high performance none of these leaders said that they succeeded because of their own cleverness at strategy or top team effort. These leaders said that their source of competitive advantage lies deeply in their companies, in their people (Cappelli et al., 2010). This entails that when employees are made the epitome of performance in an organisation they will be willing to contribute effectively to the organisational success that is to say good leadership cannot be separated from organisational success. A leader that takes the loyalty of their employees for granted jeopardises the collective foundation of that organisation, while this leaders go in one direction, the rest of the organisation will be trapped in another way. The High Commitment High Performance leaders (HCHP) such as Tim Solso of Cummins, Jorma Ollila of Nokia, Russ Fradin of Hewitt Associates, Allan Leighton etc. focuses attention on involvement with their people and operations; they try to create a link between the people who do the job and the performance they deliver (Russell et al. 2008). These leaders were able to achieve a greater height by combining four strategies such as earning the trust of their organisation through their openness to the unadorned truth, they were greatly engaged with their employee, were also able to assemble their people around a determined agenda and finally they realised that they can only succeed as part of a committed team and endeavoured to make their firms collective leadership cap abilities (Russell et al 2008). Allan Leighton practiced management by working around; before he became the CEO of Royal mail they were losing  £1.2m. Mr Leighton has already had some success in turning the company around. In May, the company posted its first improvement in trading performance for five years. By then, it said, it was losing just  £750,000 a day, down from an average of  £1.2m a day the previous year (Russell et al., 2008).). These HCHP leaders believes that investing in people is a means to achieving their goal because achieving a greater organisational height depends highly on how an employee is happy enough and feels committed to contribute effectively to attain high performance (Russell et al, 2008). Leaders in High performance organisation are inspiring and accessible; they do this through effective communication, high employee involvement and engagement, training and development. In fact they believe in their people, this can be made evidence through Stella David of Bacardi-Martini UK, she not only shaped various phase of the Bacardi-Martini work practices and performance systems, but was also known by all employees at Bacardi-Martini as inspiring and accessible. To the employees, she is highly discernible with the day-day operations of the business. Through her leadership style the company had  £400m turnover with 550 employee each earning  £35,000 p.a.; 19% (Ashton, 2008). Also Chris Galanty the managing director of Flight Centre UK said their company have built up a reputation as a people-focused business and their culture is about cultivating personal and career development, which gives their employees a strong degree of empowerment (2010 Flight Centre (UK) Limited). This company has a Turnover rate of  £19.4m with 550 employees earning  £35,000 p.a.; their business strategy is Shared high performance and profit one big global family and One Best Way (Ashton, 2008) In achieving sustainable organisational success one can see that distributive leadership plays an important role because it encourages line managers and employee empowerment which results to positive effect on performance. Caroline Sharp the director of HR and Workforce Strategy at Dumfries and Galloway NHS Board in her interview on distributed leadership pointed out that the traditional hierarchical form of leadership was not working well for their organisation in terms of making their teams changeable to enhance performance and the need for distributive leadership aroused which made them to deliver a leadership programme called Delivering Dynamic Improvement, this programme was a success because it helped the organisation to restructure their general management team (CIPD, 2010a). In summary successful leaders concentrate on the factors that derive profitability which revolves around investment in people, technology that supports frontline workers, serious recruitment and training and compensation which is related to performance for employees (Heskett et al, 2008). From the above explanation and examples one can see that effective leadership cannot be separated from high performance in the organisation, the both term are linked together and for organisation to attain a greater height there is need for distributive leadership and employee satisfaction (CIPD, 2010a).

What to Do With My Life? :: College Admissions, Personal Narrative

Wish I could be Anything I wanna be Wanna be a fireman Wanna be an astronaut Wanna sail the seas Just like a sailor But it's not the end of the world So baby don't get upset It's just a little regret    Less than a year left of high school, then four years of college to study who knows what, and after that... I do not know. There are so many things I wish I could do, so many careers I think would be interesting as the lyrics above suggest. I am big on traveling just to see the sights. I could wander endlessly on through the world. I could visit China to see the Great Wall, Russia to see the Red Square, and Australia to SCUBA dive in the Great Coral Reef. I would go from there to South Africa to see my best friend from fifth grade, taking my camera with me the whole way. I would check out the ancient Greek and Roman structures in Europe and follow the footsteps of my grandfather to the ends of the world. When my tour had ended, I would return to college to learn to be an astronaut so I could carry my exploration even further. And after exhausting my wonder of the universe I would return to explore the depths of the ocean. And so as for getting ready for a career, I do not have any time; my schedule is packed for the next 253 years. I only regret that I do not have enough in my life to do all that I dream. But it's not the end of the world So baby don't get upset It's just a little regret I will just have to be content to save the majority of my travels for eternity. But as for my current preparations for the real world, I have a few things going for me. I have always been a good student and done well at many things. I am a perfectionist to an extent.

My Role Model :: essays research papers

My Role Model In my life I have had very few role models. They have been mostly famous people I see on TV like Michael Jordan, but what young man hasn't wanted to seemingly fly through the sky and slam dunk a basketball? But as you grow older and mature you soon realize that more than just famous people can be role models to you. To me one of my role models is my friend Nick. Nick and I are a lot alike. We both grew up without a father and had a very supportive mothers who love us very much. Nick is three years older than me and we have been friends for about two years. To begin to understand why I look up to Nick you will first have to learn about his past and where he is now. Like I said Nick grew up in a single parent home where the dad was gone. He went to school like everyone else. Every week he went to church on Wednesday and Sunday. His mom struggled to support him by working several jobs, although she was there when he needed her his relationship with her was strained. Through high school Nick played sports and hung out with a variety of people. Some good, some not so good. Eventually he fell victim to the so called "party crowd". He started drinking, doing drugs, and selling drugs. He just didn't care what others thought. All the while he was doing this he continued to go to church and pretend everything was fine. Eventually Nick graduated and moved on to college where things would get worse. His first year of college all he did was party. It got so bad that he was out five nights a week drinking. After his grades started to suffer he realized he had a problem. All this while he was still going to church. Church is eventually where he turned to find help. After kicking his bad habits Nick decided to help others who might have problems like his. Nick decided the best way to help others was to get involved in as an adult leader in the youth ministries program. He has really shown me what is like to grow up and take responsibilities. The reason I most look up to him is because he has turned away from all that pressure the world puts on people to be popular and is doing something with his life.

Tender is the Night Essay -- Fitzgerald Literature Essays

Tender is the Night â€Å"Servant trouble†¦political worries†¦almost neurosis†¦drinking increased†¦arguments with Scottie†¦quarrel with Hemingway†¦quarrel with Bunny Wilson†¦quarrel with Gerald Murphy†¦breakdown of car†¦tight at Eddie Poe’s†¦sick again†¦first borrowing from mother†¦sick†¦ ‘The Fire’†¦Zelda weakens and goes to Hopkins†¦one servant and eating out.† (Mayfield 207) A short excerpt from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Ledger provides a small sample of the many hurdles Fitzgerald struggled to overcome while slaving away nine years with Tender is the Night. The labor which accompanied Fitzgerald’s fourth novel was not anticipated by the author. He had first envisioned Tender is the Night to be â€Å"something really new in form, idea, and structure—the model for the age that Joyce and Stein are searching for, that Conrad didn’t find†(Scribner 1). But disease, relative poverty, and heartbreak plagued Fitzgerald and repeatedly interrupted his work on the novel. Tender is the Night finally appeared on April 12, 1934. But despite Fitzgerald’s high expectations of hot reviews, the reception was, at best, luke warm. The novel sold only thirteen thousand copies and left Fitzgerald’s ego bruised and his hopes of its estimable success unfulfilled. Ernest Hemingway offered little praise. The characters, he believed, were â€Å"beautifully faked case histories rather than people† (Mayfield 209). Similarly unimpressed, Hal Borland of the Philadelphia Ledger remarked on April 13, 1934, â€Å"Most of the themes [of Tender is the Night] seem better fitted for clinical studies than for fiction. Fitzgerald’s novel is admirably done, and its dozens of cross-currents are well handled. But it is not the important nov... ...the critics’ reception of Tender is the Night. Though short in length, Scribner reveals several excerpts from Fitzgerald’s letters and personal writings which present for the readers a more personal view of Fitzgerald, the author. http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/fitzgeraldbio.html This website lists Fitzgerald’s published works and offers a detailed biography of the author himself. The highlighted texts serve to differentiate different eras in Fitzgerald’s life. The site also offers several links wherein additional information regarding influential people and events can be researched. http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald.com This website summarizes Fitzgerald’s life as well as the general reception of his novels. It also touches on the many hurdles Fitzgerald came across during his nine years of struggling with his fourth novel, Tender is the Night.