Autocratic Leadership Style Essay

Can an authoritarian/autocratic/directive leadership style be appropriate in American companies currently? If yes/no, why? It is first important to clarify what the term leadership means. According to Kinicki & Fugate (2012), â€Å"leadership is defined as ‘a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organizational goals’† (p. 364). This means leadership involves exercising authority at individual, group, and organizational levels. Bass (2008) identifies positive leadership traits to include task competence, interpersonal competence, intuition, traits of character, biophysical traits, and personal traits. With this basic understanding of leadership, it can be said that the appropriateness of an autocratic leadership style depends on the type of company and situation at hand—the idea of situational leadership (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 370). Even though the United States is a democratic country, an autocratic leadership style fits some but not all companies, depending on what the company wants to accomplish and what the company’s circumstances are. A manager with an autocratic style of leadership typically does all the decision-making without getting input from his/her subordinates (Rao, 2010, para. 3). Therefore, the manager is the authoritarian while all the subordinates are to simply follow instructions without giving their own thoughts or concerns about the task given to them. A benefit of this style is it can help provide structure and discipline to an otherwise inexperienced team, and also help a team stay on top of strict deadlines. Since the manager makes all the decisions, there is no time â€Å"wasted† on decision-making if there’s a time constraint. This type of leadership is also helpful when the manager has the highest amount of knowledge and could therefore specifically guide the subordinates on how to complete a task (Cherry), or when a type of industry simply does not require much communication or creativity relative to other industries. However, an autocratic style of leadership would be ill-fitting for many other types of companies, especially if the autocratic style is taken to extremes. As the textbook Organizational Behavior mentions, a bad leader would possess traits like being incompetent, rigid, or callous (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 366). Since a manager taking up an autocratic style of leadership is enforcing rigid rules, it could be potentially easy to become rigid as a person as well, which could lead to loss of respect from subordinates and ruin morale of the team. Cherry states that abuse of the style can make a person seem â€Å"controlling, bossy, and dictatorial,† and that this autocratic style of leadership prevents subordinates from producing creative solutions to problems. Giving employees such a lack of influence in the company could cause them to feel resentful since their opinions are never heard (â€Å"Leadership Styles,† 2008, para. 3-4), which means valuable relationships cannot be developed, thus straining human and social capital. An example of where an autocratic style of leadership would not be appropriate is if all the subordinates are just as knowledgeable or skilled as the manager. It would make more sense to use a democratic style of leadership so that everyone can participate and have a sense of importance in the decision-making, and because of their contribution, would feel more committed and enthusiastic about the company’s goals. Situational leadership theories suggest that â€Å"the effectiveness of a particular style of leader behavior depends on the situation.† This applies to how the appropriateness of the autocratic style of leadership depends on the company at hand. It is important to fully analyze the employee characteristics (locus of control, experience, task ability, etc.) and environmental factors (task structure and work-group dynamics) to decide whether or not an autocratic style of leadership would produce the most desirable results for the company (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 370-372). References Bass, B.M., & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership. New York: Free Press. Cherry, K. Lewin’s leadership styles. About.com: Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership Cherry, K. What is autocratic leadership?. About.com: Psychology. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/leadership Kinicki, A., & Fugate M. (2012). Organizational behavior: Key concepts, skills, and best practices. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Leadership styles: Autocratic leadership. (2008). Leadership-toolbox.com, pp. 3-4. Retrieved from http://www.leadership-toolbox.com/autocratic-leadership.html Rao, M.S. (2010). Is autocratic leadership relevant today?. Chief Learning Officer: Solutions for Enterprise Activity. Retrieved from http://clomedia.com/articles

Emotionally-Charged Subjects Essay

Parents and teenagers need not always argue about issues that are manageable. The key to managing these issues is in understanding each other’s position and in finding a middle-way solution. If we can aim for a win-win solution, that would be best, but many times it may not be possible. So, adjusting our wants with regards to the other’s position may be necessary to solve our problems. Let us take the issues of friends, money and school for example. If we try to understand the problems facing each side, from the teenager and from the parents, we can try to negotiate our way to a solution. First, many teenagers today have friends that parents disagree with, but both sides can work on a solution. Proverbs 18:24 says, â€Å"A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother† (New American Standard Bible). The teenager has to understand that quality friends are more important than quantity. Bad company may lead to drug abuse, alcoholism, pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancies and other consequences that are life-and-death situations. It is important then to choose our friends wisely and to refrain from others who are bad influences on us. So how do we choose our friends? Or how do we know that they are truly our real friends? Proverbs 17:17 asserts that â€Å"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need† (New Living Translation). If our so-called â€Å"friends† are only there when we have money or if we are in good health or if we have a nice car and a beautiful house, then they are not our friends. A true friend will be there for you even in sickness, homelessness and poverty. Of course, parents also have to understand that nothing is perfect and that these ideals may not be realized all the time because of actual, instead of theoretical circumstances. So parents have to give their teenagers some room for error and imperfection. By learning from their mistakes, they will become better adults later. Second, many teenagers nowadays want more money, which their parents don’t have, so we need to find creative solutions to solve it. In 1 Timothy 6:10, it is mentioned that â€Å"the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs† (New International Version). Money is needed to satisfy many physical desires, but too many desires will lead to suffering. It is important to extinguish the flames of desire through moderation. If we don’t really need something, we don’t have to possess it. We also need to be wise with our money through investments and diligent work. By finding part-time work and learning how to invest our savings properly, a teenager will learn good financial skills that he will need later as an adult. As Matthew 25:18 mentions, we should not dig â€Å"a hole in the ground and [hide]†¦ the master’s money† (New Living Translation) even if we have only a little of it. We should invest it, and we can also find some work to earn more money that we can additionally invest. We should also not have sudden cravings to splurge once we have a lot of money. In Proverbs 7: 20, a prodigal man â€Å"took lots of money with him†¦ [and] won’t be home for a couple of weeks† (God’s Word Translation). Instead, we should learn how to control our emotions. Being wasteful in our expenditures will empty our bank account. Lastly, we should also be generous. As Exodus 22:25 says, â€Å"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest† (New International Version). By learning how to give, we will receive payment in â€Å"kind† later on in the form of respect, the return of favors and other non-quantifiable intangible forms that we will appreciate later. Lastly, teenagers may need to confront their parents about their problems in school. Grades are one of the major problems that teenagers face in school. Low marks could be a consequential problem due to bad friends or the lack of money to buy learning resources. If our problem with friends and money are resolved, then we can solve our issues in school also. But sometimes, the cause may be something else. If our ancestors were not so bright themselves, then we shouldn’t expect too much on ourselves. Or if we take some mental aptitude tests, and we score poorly, we may be faced with a biological problem that requires specialized training. But more often than not, we can improve our brain power through proper nutrition, exercise and mental conditioning. There are many books and courses in the market that will teach us on how to increase our mental aptitude. So, it may be necessary to purchase a few for the benefit of our future. But parents should also consider that school and grades are not everything. Jesus himself was very learned, but he did not bother to prove his academic excellence by getting a respected degree from a well-known school. In John 7:15 â€Å"the Jews were surprised and said, How has this man got knowledge of books? He has never been to school† (Bible in Basic English). Indeed, school is not the only place to learn and thus, school grades are not the only proof of learning. While some people may be God-gifted, more often than not, many people learn from the â€Å"School of Hard Knocks. † Truly, there are many successful people today, such as Bill Gates, who never finished college. In the end, teenagers are not always wrong and parents are not always right. When a proper middle-ground is reached between the two, there is peace. References Hook, S. (ed. ). (1965). Bible in Basic English. Cambridge University Press. Holy Bible: New International Version. (1978). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. (1996). Wheaton: Tyndale House. The Bible: God’s Word Translation. (1995). Jacksonville: Baker Publishing Group. The Bible: New American Standard Bible. (1997). Anaheim: Foundation.

Biographies of Oneil and Adele Cannon Essay Example for Free

Biographies of Oneil and Adele Cannon Essay Oneil and Adele Cannon will be honored this year as they celebrate fifty years of an activist marriage. The following is just a short summary of the many ways Oneil and Adele Cannon have contributed to the history of Los Angeles. The great French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) wrote in his work Emile: â€Å"there is no happiness without courage nor virtue without struggle†. This is a quote that certainly can apply to the lives of Oneil Cannon and his wife Adele. As they celebrate fifty years of an activist marriage, their life journey has exemplified the qualities of courage and struggle. The causes that they have fought together are a chronicle of the progressive movement over the last half century. Oneil Cannon was born in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana on January 28, 1917. He attended grammar and high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. In his 20’s he was drafted into the Army in Louisiana. He first visited L. A. during his furlough from the Army, to visit his sister and younger brother. He met and married his first wife, Elizabeth, in New Orleans in 1939. After his discharge from the Army in 1945 he felt that Los Angeles would probably offer better opportunities for a man and his young family, so they moved to Watts. This was during the era of a large migration of African-Americans from the south to California and other northern states. In order to sustain an income in those beginning years, he had various jobs. In 1946 he obtained a position as an Insurance Agent with the historical Golden State Insurance Company (the first insurance company to predominantly serve the African American community in Los Angeles). As Oneil puts it: â€Å"My brother Fred and I had opened our own printing shop in Watts before either of us knew very much about printing. We were both just out of the Army (World War II) and after a time, we decided that I would go to school and learn printing. I studied printing at Frank Wiggins Trade School which later became Trade Tech Junior College in the years 1947 to 1950. Fred would stay and take care of the shop and then I would come home and teach my brother what I learned at school about printing. That was my job. That’s the way we did it. So we both became printers at the same time, but I became a printing teacher, the same day that I became a printing student. We ran the shop and studied between meetings and other community activities, which we were both involved in Mrs. Carlotta Bass, editor and publisher of the California Eagle Newspaper, (who also introduced Oneil to Paul Robeson) also had a printing shop needing someone to take it over at that time. So Oneil went in and made a deal with her–she rented him the use of the printing shop. Therefore Oneil was in business for himself as the California Eagle Printing Company (1950-55). Also, he still worked with his brother at the Quick Service Advertisers Print Shop on 111th and Wilmington. They printed signs, leaflets and advertisements for various funeral establishments, political causes and groups, and businesses in the community. One day Carlotta Bass came into the printishop with some people to talk to Oneil about the Printers Union. Because of his hands-on work and training as a printer, they invited him to join in starting a campaign to break the color line in the Printers Union. This was a significant point in continuing the struggle for equal opportunities for all, and shows his genuine concern and courage to bring justice to the community. Philip â€Å"Slim† Connelly from the CIO, asked if he could participate in this very important campaign. Prior to this time, the Union did not have any African American members. Considering Oneil’s history of activism, from the voting rights movement in the south in the 1930’s, to being involved in breaking the color bar in the International Typographical Union (ITU), this was one of the most important, telling and dramatic labors of his life. Oneil stated, â€Å"This is how I got started to working on getting into a printing union. After getting all sorts of â€Å"run arounds† from printing unions, somehow some of the Communists who were in the ITU came to me and offered to help, if I was really interested in breaking the Jim Crow status in the printing industry and unions in Los Angeles. I had absolutely no doubts that I was ready for this struggle; â€Å"a piece of cake†, after all, hadn’t I just come from â€Å"Jim Crow† Louisiana where I’d lived all my life, and hadn’t I just gotten out, after three years in a â€Å"Jim Crow† Army. I had been all over Los Angeles looking for, and working on different jobs. But you â€Å"ain’t† lived until you have to deal with well-organized trade union bigots. These dudes were really pros. Interestingly, I never once heard them attacking my desire for membership on the basis of race, but only because the people who advocated my membership were Communists. Incidentally, I never saw any membership cards, but saw that they knew of my efforts to become a printers union member, and that they were the ones who came to my assistance. Logic tells me that there was something strange about the Union’s argument, because if they hated Communists so badly, why were these white Communists â€Å"in the union†, and not one African American? This point was raised by one of the comrades on the union floor and he was roundly booed, but not put out of the union. † Oneil finally became a member of the Printers Union, but then was never sent out to jobs. When he went to the Union Hall, somehow there was no work for him. However, some of his friends benefited by Oneil breaking that barrier, and did get jobs. So the struggle continued. Meanwhile, Oneil continued operating his own â€Å"Union† printing business Fidelity Lettershop, which he continues to run today. â€Å"I ended up not only running my own printing shop, but also teaching graphic arts at S. T. E. P. ne of the â€Å"Poverty Programs† and eventually I retired as a California State credentialed graphic arts teacher in 1999. This is where he first met (now Congresswoman) Maxine Waters. I still teach on a volunteer basis at the Paul Robeson Center in south Los Angeles, of which I am the director. I’ve been teaching printing a long time. † Oneil and Adele met in 1947, while working together as part of a political team in South Los Angeles during the campaign to put Henry Wallace (who was running against Truman) and the Independent Progressive Party (IPP) on the Ballot. Adele was also an activist, beginning with the Franklin Roosevelt campaign as a precinct worker. Adele Marx Rosenfield was born in El Paso, Texas in 1923. Her family moved to California in about 1936 and she graduated from Fairfax High School in 1940. She then attended UCLA to study Chemistry. After Pearl Harbor, she enlisted in the WAVES, but was discharged after only 17 days due to â€Å"political activities in civilian life†. It turned out the government had interviewed a friend of the family who told of her activities. She married and had two children—Jan and Dale Goodman. Adele and Oneil were married in December, 1954. When her youngest child, Jan Goodman, was in Junior High School she went back to school at UCLA Extension and then for her Masters of Business Administration at Cal State Dominguez, while working as an office manager, and raising a family. After earning her CPA and working as a full-time accountant, she served as the Peace and Freedom Party’s State Treasurer for 16 years and is still a State Officer of the Peace and Freedom Party. Since starting to work together as part of a political team in South Los Angeles during the campaign to put Henry Wallace and the Independent Progressive Party (IPP) on the ballot in the late 1940’s, they continued as a team when fighting to free the Rosenbergs and later Angela Davis. One fight always led to another, as they fought as part of the IPP to force employers to hire African and Mexican- Americans, where the slogon was â€Å"don’t bank or buy where you can’t work†. As part of the South-East Inter-Racial Council, they fought to end segregated housing and restrictive covenants and to bring Negro History Week into the Los Angeles City Schools. Always striving to bring peace, they gathered signatures to the Stockholm Peace Petition, fought and demonstrated against the wars in Vietnam and continue to fight for Middle East peace. As they raised their six kids, the Cannons fought to bring equal education to South Los Angeles, including the multi-years struggle led by Odessa Cox to bring a Junior college to South Los Angeles, which culminated in the establishment of Southwest Community College. They were also involved from the beginning to acquire a health facility of some kind in Watts, which ultimately came under the leadership of Ted and Bernice Watkins and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), a predecessor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. Oneil Cannon is known to current activists as owner/operator/union printer at his print shop, Fidelity Educational Press. Oneil, along with his wife Adele and others co-founded the Paul Robeson Community Center in 1986. When they were thinking about a name for this Center, their daughter Jan Goodman suggested it be named in honor of Paul Robeson since their goal was to establish a multi-cultural/multi-ethnic community center. Therefore, who better to exemplify multi-culturalism than Paul Robeson. In the Cannons’ fifty years as a team, they have certainly lived their motto to improve our community. Instead of leaving when the kids were grown, they stayed to continue the fight for better schools and living conditions in South Los Angeles. In this way they have been able to truly contribute to a multi-cultural South Los Angeles. Biographies of Oneil and Adele Cannon. (2017, Jan 14).

Marketing Mix of Louis Vuitton Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Mix of Louis Vuitton - Assignment Example The service period which he spent with the emperor introduced him to the styles of elite and the royal clientele who enjoyed his services even after his death. The Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVM) was established in 1854 in Paris, which is now considered the world-renowned lifestyle brand dealing in luxury leather (Louis Vuitton, 2013). The success story of the brand clearly reflects that it was not a coincidence rather Louis Vuitton achieved this peak position in the business world through the use of perfect marketing strategies (Peter Finocchiaro, 2010). LVM has always been very creative in introducing new products, since the start it has been catering to the needs the customers with the supreme quality services. LVM has been successfully using the marketing mix which led the company to acquire the second place in the Luxury Marketer Awards of 2010. The brand has utilized the multichannel strategies which have bridged the gap between history and status of French Fashion (Peter Finocch iaro, 2010) as per the BBC News LVM has increased its sales in the first three months of 2011 by 17%. Researchers have given the credit of successful operations of LVM to its Marketing Mix (Catarina Duque, 2012). After the selection of the target market the prime concern of the management is to set the principles for marketing mix which is a combination of product strategies, pricing strategies, placing strategies and promotion strategies. These all are formulated on the basis of the preferences of target market.

Human Genome Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Genome Project - Essay Example The private sector also pursues only those projects which do not need extensive investments over a prolonged period, can generate profits within a reasonable time and do not have long gestation period.. Public enterprises on the other hand cannot be seen to operate only under consideration of profit and have to act in the interest of the larger public good. However efficiencies in the public sector are limited as incentives and motivations do not encourage a culture of efficiency and urgency. While keeping in view its importance, the HGP has to be pursued with greater speed and exigency. This entails a private and public partnership which can seek the benefits of both the sectors and has been the trend in pursuance of the HGP. Thus there are a number of privately funded concerns such as Celera Genomics and Incyte who are involved in the HGP while international and national government bodies such as the National Institute of Health, US Welcome Trust, and Sanger Institute in the UK are also very intimately involved in these projects. A similar initiative in the international field is the pursuance of the Human Genome Initiative or HGI which is attempting to map a comprehensive genetic and physical mads for every single human chromosome for all the known 24 ones and also evolve a total DNA sequence of the human genome. This is also following a private-public partnership based on complexity of the project and need for greater impetus. Advantages Economic Benefit The HGP is a project with extensive applications in wide ranging fields such as clinical medicine, agriculture and livestock, industrial processes, environmental biotechnology and DNA finger printing. (Giants, 2005). Most of the research is pioneering with limited precedence. The economic benefit of a private-public partnership is particularly evident in the HGP. This requires very heavy investments which have a long period of gestation. The public sector has the capacity to absorb such long term investments easily as financing of public projects is made on a long term basis. However there are limitations to which specific projects can be financed by public funds and there are invariably far too many caveats for expenditure of public money. This shortcoming of public funding can be overcome by use of private investments. Thus venture capitalists, investors and stock owners can be brought in to invest in projects as they are willing to put in money in companies which are profit making . The HGP is considered a highly lucrative project commercially and has numerous spin offs and hence a large number of companies are willing to invest in these projects. It is estimated by Nature magazine that the bioinformatics industry will have an output in excess of $1 billion per year. (Nature, 2001). Thus the scale of investments that can come in through these private and public partnerships is very high and cannot be envisaged if these are undertaken only through initiatives by either of the sectors. Overcoming Bureaucratic Restrictions of the Public Sector Another advantage of the private sector is its ability to tap

Feasibility Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Feasibility Report - Essay Example This trend is supported by the increasing demand of the tablets from the emerging markets around the world. In the study, many people revealed their preference to tablets to be based on its user-friendly nature, classiness and convenience. According to Richard Shim, an analyst and a member of the team who conducted the research, consumers continuously shift towards mobile computing against the traditional notebook, a trend that has picked up well in mature markets around the world. For example, tablet PCs are expected to grow by annual average of 28% in the next 5 years within the mature markets of United States, Japan, and West Europe. The challenge for HP is to ensure it manufacture tablets that are sleek and trendy, which will resonate with the increasingly trendy consumer. In a market where internet business giants such as Google and Microsoft have taken by storm through their flagship tablets in the market, it is logical to note that any failure by the HP to embrace the tablet m arket will deal a big blow to its market share. The strategy is to ensure the company maintains or improve its 16% market share around the global consumption of PC usage. Problem statement: While many tablet manufacturers have concentrated their tablet market share within the established or rather mature markets, HP has not involved itself in the manufacturing of tablets despite the growing trend in the tablet PC usage around the world. Companies such as Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and Google have consolidated their market share in the tablet PC manufacturing, leaving HP still struggling with its notebook PCs. A point to note, however, is that many of these companies only focus their products towards mature markets. This trend leaves the gap in the emerging markets, which are expected to grow in equal measure in the projected year. HP can take a leap into the emerging markets, which seem to be catching up with the established markets in the tablet PC usage on a daily basis. However, this should not mean that HP needs to ignore the mature markets, which sets trends for the emerging markets. The company, however, can develop cheap but classy tablets to match the buying trends in emerging markets. A proper study, however, will be needed to ensure a pricing criteria, design and consumption trend is established. The goal of this study is to establish the consumption trend, both in the mature as well as emerging markets. Methodology: The research will largely be an internet based, and phone calls. This study will involve web searches on what customers of competitors say on online forums, design online questionnaires, as well as feedback forms for HP notebook users. This strategy will ensure that information about the established and emerging markets are defined, the customers’ behaviours, and the future business prospects of both markets. This research will include acquiring of products information, analysis of the existing brands, profiling of the users psych ology, and geographical information. Document Specification: Project description Windows 8 application has been used by different firms in enhancing both their mobile and tablet applications. This has been the case through combination with other apps to suite needs of the company. For instance, PageSuite is one of the firms that have integrated Windows 8 with other applications to suite

T.G.I. Fridays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

T.G.I. Fridays - Essay Example The inner decor of the restaurant gives it a feel of a theatrical stage, the ambience, the service, the product along with the package make the visit memorable for the customers. The study deals with evaluating the service technologies used and assessing the image created by it in the minds of the people and the media. Moreover, the success attained by the T.G.I. Friday’s social media campaign will also be evaluated. Discussion The T.G.I Friday’s provides mass customisation service to the customers to maintain the standard and make them feel valued. The service technologies used the restaurant include the Point of Sale (POS) to rationalise its front and back office procedures to make the guests enjoy the service and experience the quality of offerings. T.G.I Friday’s has used the customisation technology to provide personalised menu to the customers satisfying their request through menu permutation. The restaurant uses the computer technology to monitor the timel y service delivery of foods by the employees with standardised behaviour. The approach of the management is to provide distinguished and standard quality by implementing hard and soft elements in the service. The hard element is the used is the parking facility which helps in attracting more customers.

Parents behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parents behavior - Essay Example Jeanette enjoyed her time at the hospital, although her father decided to come and take her home even though she needed all the medical treatment she could get. After a few years, Jeanette’s family moved back to her father’s hometown, West Virginia. For the first time, Jeanette was able to meet her grandmother on her father’s side. She was not a very nice woman though because she often sent Jeanette and her siblings into the cold basement without any dinner. After many confrontations, the family was forced to move out and into a poorer part of town. Something that did not help the family at all was the father’s decision not to find any work. The family was in such a poor state that Jeanette and her siblings had no option but to look for food in the trashcans at their local school. Even though Jeanette’s family was not in a very good financial situation, this was no excuse to ill treat their children. Many parents choose to take out their anger on their children because it can be a type of stress relief. But, children are always innocent and thus should be left alone. Jeanette’s parents spanked their kids when they were disobedient, taught them how to use a weapon at a very young age, left them unsupervised for long periods of time, and usually used foul language in front of their kids. Additionally, their father was also an alcoholic, which did not help their situation at all. All of these unwarranted actions had a long term effect on the lives of Jeanette and her siblings. To help curb these issues, Jeanette’s parents should have enlisted some kind of parent counseling help to assist them in the upbringing of their children. Some alternative punishments to their children’s disobedience could be carried out by giving them timeout or grounding them. This would have taught Jeanette and her siblings to always obey

Workforce 2020 Executive Report - DHSOS Assignment

Workforce 2020 Executive Report - DHSOS - Assignment Example Future trends – forecast 6 3.1 Economic, social, demographic, and workforce parameters that are expected to be in the U.S. in the year 2020 6 3.2 What are the general trends in leadership/management that are impacting your organization? 7 4. Recommendations – changes needed for the future in order for the organization to meet the expected challenges of 2020 8 4.1 Leadership actions that the organization should take 8 4.2 Competencies that will be needed 9 4.3 What does the organization need to do to be prepared? 10 References 11 Summary The standardization of organizational performance in the long term is a challenging task. Firms that tend to perform high on annual basis may face periods of downturns; this phenomenon has been related to problems in the organization’s internal environment, especially in regard to the leadership style and the workforce structure. Managers in DHSOS, a medium-size firm of the US computer industry, face the following dilemma: should they try to support the firm’s existing leadership practices or they should promote major changes in regard to the firm’s leadership style and workforce structure? The first choice has been considered as rather risky; the second one, i.e. the emphasis on changes on the specific sectors has been chosen. The particular plan can secure, at higher level, the limitation of a series of organizational problems that would result to severe delays in the firm’s performance up to 2020. 1. Introduction The ability of an organization to survive in the modern market is depended on certain criteria. Issues, such as the organization’s leadership style, its workforce diversity but also the quality and the level of communication are critical for the long-term success of the organization in its industry. On the other hand, in high competitive industries, the challenges for organizations of all sizes can be significant, at least compared to less competitive industries. DHSOS is one of the most promising firms in the computer industry in USA. The firm focuses on the provision of IT consultancy services in large firms. The firm was first established in New York in March of 2009, i.e. about 3 years before. During this time, the firm has managed to develop its customer base at least by 80%, a fact that it is quite promising for the firm’s performance in the future. Currently, the firm’s employees are estimated to 540, across the firm’s branches in New York, Chicago and Illinois. Up to the end of 2011, the firm’s performance seemed to be continuously developed, with no sign of a potential downturn. However, during the first half of this year, the firm seems to be unable to control employee performance, which tends to change unexpectedly leading to important losses, as compared to the same period of last year. A careful review of the organization’s key trends, such as its structure, its leadership style and its workforce ch aracteristics leads to the assumption that a series of changes need to be made in regard to the particular organizational sectors. These changes are highlighted in this paper, which can be used, as a manual for the firm’s workforce needs by 2020. 2. DHSOS – Presentation and analysis of key organizational trends 2.1 Organizational structure Since its establishment, DHSOS has been a highly centralized organization. In fact, its leadership style can be characterized as autocratic. The leader of the organization sets the key criteria on which workforce structure and employee performance would be evaluated. Moreover, the promotion of team – work within the organization is rather limited. Tasks are assigned to individuals are need to be completed by them, usually without cooperation with other colleagues. This practice has resulted, in many cases, to

Existentialism in the Stranger and the Metamorphosis Essay Example for Free

Existentialism in the Stranger and the Metamorphosis Essay â€Å"We are thrown into existence first without a predetermined nature and only later do we construct our nature or essence through our actions. †(Existentialism)This quote is present through the main characters of The Stranger, Blade Runner, and The Metamorphosis in each of these works the characters create their own nature. These works are similar several ways; in all three the men create their own nature by the free choices they make. Through these choices they also create their own values. The characters values and meanings of life are where these works differ. Initially, in The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s life seems to have meaning, through providing for his family, until he changes into a bug and determines for himself that his life really has no meaning. This is very unlike The Stranger because Meursault, throughout the entire work, lives his life as if there is no meaning to life and he dies knowing this. Finally Deckard, at the beginning of his life, seems to have lived his life with no meaning or values, until he encounters Roy and Rachael who change his perspective. Throughout these works these men make makes choices that determine who they are and what their about, but ultimately every one of them knows their subsequent mortality. It is clearly understood through Meursault’s narration that life to him is meaningless. The choices he makes and things he says are without thought or meaning. They are usually in the spur of the moment of what will please him. For example the novel starts by Meursault telling the audience â€Å"Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours. That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday†(The Stranger). Meursault treats his mother’s death with the same demeanor with which he will later treat the death of the Arab. Both of these events are usually different in the types of emotions they reveal, but Meursault shows no emotion at all. He just goes through the day to day motions of life. Through his narration and the tone of the novel the reader is clearly able to determine Meursault lives with no emotion or essence. He accepts who he is and his mortality. In the end he accepts a punishment that is not worthy of the crime. He knows even if he doesn’t get executed he will die anyway whether its ten years from now or fifty. Clearly The Stranger questions the reader whether humans really have a meaning for life since in the end everyone will die and be forgotten. It seems that Camus meant to get the point across that in life there is no predetermined nature people create it through their choices. Meursault chooses to live his life with little or no meaning. Unlike Marie who falls in love with Meursault and chooses to support him even though he didn’t care if they got married. Like Marie in The Stranger Gregor, who is the main character, in The Metamorphosis has a mean and value to his life. Gregor supports his family because his father failed and never went back to work. Gregor had it all good job, money, and ability. He chose to support his family and allow them to live a nice life while he worked and traveled with little time for himself. Gregor doesn’t like his job, but he chooses to stay because it offers good money and he will pay of debt. All of these choices are Gregor’s they are what he based his life off of. When he changes into a bug his mentality is altered. He begins to realize that all that he did for his family eventually is forgotten and soon he is forgotten about too. Kafka relates this to the human race and its inevitable end. When humans die in the beginning they are remembered, but slowly people forget, or lose interest, until eventually that person is totally forgotten about and life goes on. This previous statement is clearly seen in the novel when the family moves and decides that is time to marry off their daughter. They never mention anything about the loss of their son. In Blade Runner the main character Deckard destroys replicants. He does his job and usually never questions the reasons why he destroys the human-like robots. The director seems to try to get across the point early that Deckard lives a meaningless life. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants. At first it seems like he lives a life much like Meursault, but later it becomes clear that he is trying to find a meaning for life. When talking to Roy, Deckard realizes that in life everyone is going to die and that everything that person did would be forgotten and lost. At the same time Roy explains the value of life, the choices, love, and things humans can experience. Blade Runner tries to get across to the viewer that they are who they want to be and that in the end the choices and things they’ve seen will be forgotten and meaningless. In all three works the slogan â€Å"Existence precedes Essence† (Existentialism) is present. Each one of the main characters makes their choices which determine their nature. Every one of the characters at some point realizes that they all share a common trait with the rest of the human race and that is death. They also know that in the end they will be forgotten about and eventually everyone will move on with their lives as if they never existed. These works differ in the way each character goes about their lives. Meursault believes there is no meaning to life so he lives his life on the fly. He does whatever pleases him. Gregor begins with a life he has chosen for himself only to realize that eventually all that he has done will be forgotten and lost. Finally Deckard begins with no meaning and tries to determine a meaning through replicants. He realizes that the choices in his life are what makes his life meaningful. Throughout these works Existentialism was present. The characters offered a glimpse of the reason for existence. Whether it was for providing for a family or killing replicants each one of the character in the end determined that life was only the choices that they make. Ultimately they all learned that everything they did and chose to do was meaningless when they were dead and there is no way to avoid it.

The White Cube Is Designed To Neutralize Philosophy Essay

The White Cube Is Designed To Neutralize Philosophy Essay Heres the question: In your own words, how would you describe the connections between the idea of white(ness) and the themes in Buckinghams work? *If you want to include references to our reading and conversation on Kirk Varnedoes lecture last week-where we covered topics ranging from how history is recorded, how knowledge is formed, and how we come to believe in or trust the art we live with-please do. One paragraph. Buckingham forces the viewer to investigate further into his work; he wants us to actually become involved by making us think and see beyond want being presented to us rather than to simply look at an image. As with other work we have discussed in class, Buckingham uses color (colorfulness and white/black) to compare and contrast the past with the present in the film production of Mary Wollstonecraft. It is his way of cluing us on that there are two different worlds, just as he did to present the ghost of Mary Wollstonecraft. He also uses the glow of whiteness to lightened Wollstonecraft to convince us whether or not she is in the past or present. He is able to use white(ness) to guide us through his time-based production. As I read through Chapter 3 regarding minimalism, I was having a constant pull and push of Minimalism versus modernism. How is that one genre of artist can take a square and assign a meaning to it, then later another genre takes the same square and assigns a different meaning to it, then claim to owe nothing to its predecessors? To me, this calls on the same conversations we have had several times in previous classes. Is it really a new art because you are able to have support of art critics and come up with your own vocabulary to bring a different meaning to a work of art? Donald Judd claims to reject rationality as part of the European philosophical tradition. This is how he explains the difference between his work and traditional abstraction. But Frank Stella says to balance piece? Is that not rational? The correlations between the two types of art beg the question; isnt minimalism very much rooted in abstract modernism? It seems to me that Minimalist were just a self-proclaimed development of modernism. Judd and other Minimalists artist claim they wanted to get rid of the hands-on ethic of abstract; they wanted to get rid of the idea that the character of the art resides in the touch of the artist compared to abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock who stomped on a canvas and rubbed cigarettes in to it who affirmed that the painting was an object in the world, not a window onto anything else. This is when I began to better understand the difference in the two genres. The Minimalist opposed the cult of the gallery and attempted to remove the appearance of composition from their work. To that end, they tried to expunge all signs of the artists guiding hand or thought processes all aesthetic decisions from the fabrication of the object. For Donald Judd, this was part of Minimalisms attack on the tradition of relational composition in European art rather than the parts of an artwork being carefully, hierarchically ordered and balanced, he said they should be just one thing after another. Comparing Marcel Duchamps ready-mades provided important inspiration for the Minimalists. His example suggested an approach to sculpture that emphasized fabrication and industrial materials over the craft techniques of most modern sculpture. Much of Minimalist aesthetics was shaped by a reaction against Abstract Expressionism. Minimalists wanted to remove suggestions of self-expressionism from the artwork, as well as any illusions. The Minimalists also sought to erase distinctions between paintings and sculptures, and to make instead, as Donald Judd said: specific objects. The Minimalist opposed the cult of the gallery and Summary of Inside the White Cube The gallery space is the first interaction between the spectator and the artist. Clean white walls were ideal for presenting a painting. Because of its simplicity, a white wall is seen as neutral and supposedly indispensable for placing each painting. However, what a white wall does to a Baroque or easel painting, is it actually transforms it into a modernistic one, just as framing a Baroque or modernist painting and placing it in Le Salon converts it into a tableau. The white cube is designed to neutralize Another value of the white cube was a social one. Readymade as invented by Duchamp totally depend on the special social status of a gallery space. Reliance on the social power of a gallery space can lead to anything goes. Yet if a gallery space is considered a sacred place intended only for art, than anything that is placed there cannot be anything but art. When you put something into a gallery, it transforms the thing into a picture of itself. The intention of To fully understand the nature of how the viewer interacts with a piece of art it is essential to understand the dynamics of how the work is presented to the viewer. He talks about the eye and how the white cube gallery determines how the eye behaves. The eye urges the body around to provide it with information; the body becomes a data gatherer. The eye was capable of experiencing art in a disinterested and detached way. The spectator, on the other hand is unable to distinguish the difference between real space and art space in the white cube gallery because they have become blurred into one another and the walls of the gallery itself. Such a spectator is prone, he believes, to sensation and impression and as such experiences not only art but their own sense of self as something fractured. The eye appears as the disembodiment faculty that relates exclusively to formal visual means, while the spectator constitutes the attenuated and bleached-out life of the self from which the eye goes forth and which, in the meantime, does nothing else. The bodies of the visitors become unnecessary. You can only gaze at the framed spaces in the gallery space. Consequently, it is only the eye that interacts directly with the artwork. One has to teach the eye how to palpate those spaces. Frames also facilitate this separation into two realities the distant relation of a fixed viewer to a framed view. The framed easel on the wall assists the spectator to align herself in space; it indicates the place where one should stand, look at, or refrain from touching. One is not allowed to touch the sacred objects, the artworks. Touch is directed and mediated only through the eye. ODohertys main concern is the relationship between the white cube is where the object sits, the surrounding space and the effect or the influence that the combination of these elements impose onto the viewer. By bringing attention to the arrangement in which works are exhibited and the influence on the spectator, context becomes content. Another factor that ODoherty suggests bought about a new way of looking art is  Courbets one-man Salon des Refusees outside the Exposition of 1855. ODoherty states that this was the first time an artist had to  construct the context of his work. It is to say the artist had to set about displaying his work in such a way that the placing and hang of the pictures influenced the meaning of what the artist was attempting to say with his art. This was highly significant as it highlighted the importance of how a work is displayed affects the way in which its viewed. For example displaying the Mona Lisa on the floor would give the painting a different meaning than placing it, in its own special room. ODoherty defines the artistic gesture as a singular artistic action, an individualist, daring act. The successful gesture created a narrative became a story by changing history. He believes that these gestures always had two audiences, one present and another one not present, which, as he writes, is usually us. We, as this second audience, are looking back at the eventof a performance as a historical fact, an occurrence. ODoherty furthermore says that the original audience is usually not appreciative, often nervous, not at all pleased. It is only in retrospect that we learn to appreciate the gesture. All these gestures are transformations of the given situation in one way or another. What makes them potent, I believe, is that they are stop signs; or rather they are the stops themselves in the train of events, interruptions in the business as usual. The gallery gestures start with Duchamps, continue on with Yves Klein, Armand, Daniel Spoerri, Andy Warhol and Kaprow and many others. Many of these gestures can be described as parody, mocking the art business, but many of them really challenged the spectator, the gallery space and what is meant by art and showing art. There are several categories of gestures; those that question the gallery space altogether are of course in the minority. ODoherty points out that at least the American avant-garde never really questioned the gallery space as an idea, except for one brief moment when artists did their performances and events in the landscape and only brought photos back to the gallery. Summary of Pictures of Nothing- Chapter 4 Late 1960s is when the urge to escape catergories by artist becomes all the more difficult itself because but minimalism itself had become a category. This installation of minimalist traditions happened very fast. Anti institution makes want to go away from any type of object. Artist wanted to get away from any types of collectible object. Which makes sculpture dominant. It turned out to be the only non of the above catergory. Painting was only paintying, sculpture could include video installation, earth works, performance, etc.. it was constantly transforming itself and was flexible in the way painting could not be. The idea of a generation of artist who absorb the formal term of minimalism but challenge the basic princibles. Tweaking image reconigtion became important. Shiparo installed from the 70;s compared to morris is obvious mostly by scale. The gallery space isnt about blank kinestectic anymore it becomes a place for imagination and stimulation of metaphorization Imageless abstraction became much more representational. Basic propertyies extracted from pollaock drip paintings. Judd argued the paintings had a greater sense of simplicity or wholeness Directness of which becomes a part of the are, simplicity wholeness order process materials become the watch workds for the new generation of artists Present and future was linked to the deep past. Heiser stated we were living at the end of time. Complex 1 had been made in the dessert and the angle was designed to deflect necluear bomb. He wanted to collapse the idea of time Minimalist idea of reducing internal relationship the work became redirected of the relationship of the person to the object. The sense of space became extrapolated beyond the gallery. Heiser was key in moving out into much broader canvses. Like making huge circles in the deserts. Double negative made a huge mark a vast space. All about bedded layers of structure, represents stratified time. Vs. the overview which shows it as a unified with a unified simplicity man made absolute against the geolocial forces of the canyon. Had different experience through close up and far away views. Clarity of the overview vs the caois of the close up view Staged collision between order and disorder. The idea of order. Cannot simply be. Evident declaration of process. The new left compared to old left. Blue collar ethic. Materials (1:03) Smithson piles dirt on shed until it collaps. Concerns with weight. Not just meaning attaches itself but simple certainties become charges with ambiguities. Abstraction cant stay pure and out of catergories but it can revitalis new ideas of ourselves and our time.. Summary Chapter 5 Although abstraction tries to be pictures of nothing, it constantly could be a picture of something. Rauschenbergs Factum 1 and Factum II were important to the uniqueness of the moment in abstract expressionist painting. Lichtenstein continued more aggressively in works such as Big Painting No. 6. Abstract expressionism becomes reduced by Lichtenstein. His satires and comments run throughout his career, with two different meanings. One, he is engaged by the notion that you cannot get away from the history of style. Second is that all representation is at base abstract. He is engaged in both sides and does not want to let go of either representation or abstraction. Olderburg wants to bring modernism out of its closet and into the public. He believed it was ill served to by idealism. Both Olderburg and Lichenstein hold the irony that bad faith is a necessary ingredient for a good society. Pop art jokes are less serious and more serious than they seem: admiration of abstraction and at the same time deeply suspicious of it. Andy Warhol has found the nerve of the good/bad faith problem. He uses and understands to some extent the language of abstraction. His most direct insult to abstract painting is represented by his Oxidation Painting of 1978 which he pisses on Pollock. With canvases on the floor he urinates on them in an exaggerated replay of Pollocks drip paintings. Where Lichtenstein tends to be interested in economy and reduction, Warhol is an artist of spit, splash, blot, excess. He is very interested in the graininess of photography. Halley isnt interested in the ambiguity of abstraction. He believes that all abstraction is coded representation of power. Taafe is also is against abstraction but in a different way. He puts to work the idea of revisiting high decoration with intent to make it low decoration. Richter has gambits between abstractions and representation. He literally waters down Stella; Both Warhol and Richter, it is blur and smear that obscures rather than makes things clear. Comparing to Johns, the whole idea that destroying order is the same thing as producing it. Twombly expands the repetitive gesture to the scale that Pollock had with his blackboard work. Everything that Twombly achieves, he achieves by the negation, by distancing of himself from Pollock, by the exact inversions of what Pollock is. Johns too take a swipe at Pollock. He made his living debunking abstraction. Just as Twomblys repetition speaks of expressionism, so is Johns gesturalism. He has to establish a system in order to cancel or bury it. The order itself is hardly as important as the demonstration of its vulnerability or fragility. He obsessively worked the surface with personal marks. These aforementioned artists are speaking about art through art by their knowing relationship to that tradition. It is a relationship of negation. It is a relationship to tradition that involves the acceptance of traditions constraints at the same time that is subverts and reacts against them. With these artists you have an abstraction saturated with skepticism, saturated with knowing, an abstraction that proves that abstraction can be knowing and still have meaning. Chapter 6 De Kooning abstraction gives rise to a new kind of life in his works by compacting them. His work misrepresented the dichotomy between abstraction and representation. Within his work such as the Women and early figurations, he shows the border between abstraction and representation wasnt something untouchable but rather something transgressive. Agnes Martin is the opposite of de Kooning. His works are at the other end of abstraction. His work is about delicacy of touch and tint. Martins art is all about the experience on the part of both the artist and the observer. In contrast, Robert Ryman is all painting; he is an abstractionist who is interested in imagery and in the nature of painting. His art is about constant restlessness and is never about perfection. Unlike Clement Greenberg, who believed there was an essence of painting. Ryman is sure that there is no essence at the bottom that painting constantly needs to be changed. Brice Mardens work is a good demonstration of pulling together the contemporary abstractions of Johns and Pollock. He tried to live with the legacies of Pollock as a great abstract artist and Johns as representative painter by mixing and blending what they both stand for. Gombrich believed that representation is a matter of solving dilemmas and is neatly summarized in his drawing. Gombrichs interest seems to be primarily in rendering. He believed strongly in the nature of visual representation and realism. Pollock finds one translation in Klein through the acts of performance yet a completely different translation in Richard Serra. Instead of painting on a canvas, he throws hot lead into a corner. What was refined in Kleins interpretation becomes industrial with Serra. Many artists unpack many meanings from Pollock, however, the intention of what brings an artist to the canvas does not control meaning nearly as much as does the material existence of the picture itself. The experimental dimensions of abstract art- its scale, materials, method of fabrication, social context, and tradition are crucially important to our understanding of it. Abstract art is a symbolic game and it is akin to all human games: you have to get into it, risk and all and this take certain act of faithà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a faith in possibility, a faith in not knowing. Practically Nothing:   Light, Space, and the Pragmatics of Phenomenology In the exhibitions catalog Schuld writes, does not deal with light space as media as much as it deals with the participating subjects personal adjustmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ In this essay, Schuld grounds the work of Irwin, Turrell, Orr and Nordman in the phenomenological philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This essay explores the Light and Space movements giving its roots in Minimalism. Merleau-Ponty sought to establish a primacy of perception with particular interest to Light and Space art. Irwin and Turrell experimented with psychologist Ed Wortz as a part of Maurice Tuchmans Art and Technology Program. In these experiments, scientists and engineers were paired with artists in tests that involved sensory deprivation, particularly within an anechoic chamber, a soundproof structure used for astronautic and psychological research.   Irwin, Turrell, Wheeler, Nordman and Orr all spent time in the chamber, occasionally enhancing it further by light proofing the space. The experience of dep rivation training attributed an increased sensory awareness.   Light and Space art does not deal with light and space as media as much as it deals with the participating subjects personal perceptual adjustment by extending ones own experience in the extremes of sensory deprivation experiments. Irwin, Turrell, Wheeler, Nordman, and Orr bring phenomenology into practice by creating situations that act as experiential snares, capturing attention through disorientation. Work and Word Adrian Kohn raises practical questions about writing about California Light and Space art, much of which frequently deals with language. He questions the inadequacy of verbal language to approach abstraction. According to Kohn, language falls short of communicating the obscure with much clarity. He calls attention to the vagueness of artists statements that make the emotional qualities of the artwork take precedence. This same problem plagues Light and Space art as well as other works that will also pose a challenge to photography. Words inevitably catch up to art and take hold. Belles thinking of his canvas support as a geometric illusionary volume and his notion that panes of glass can feel soft prompt you to stop and assess the validity of those formulations. While words may obscure arts strangeness at first, their failings, when noticed, restore it. http://www.theartstory.org/movement-minimalism.htm http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/modern_art/abstract%20art5.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_O%27Doherty http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/sep/20/art1

Essay --

Human Trafficking Human trafficking which is commonly referred as â€Å"modern-day slavery† is a trade in humans in the form of prostitution, sexual exploitation, forced labor or even for the extraction of organs. Here in this country, people are being abducted, bought, and sold like slaves to be forced into all forms of servitude. The U.S Department of Justice stated that â€Å"human trafficking has become the second fastest growing criminal industry — just behind drug trafficking — with children accounting for roughly half of all victims† (Baldas, Human trafficking a growing crime in the U.S). It is not only happening in the States but it is also a worldwide phenomenon. To think that human trafficking may be happening even in our own neighborhood, for us being unaware as we go about our daily lives is unimaginable. Human traffickers generate billions of dollars per annum by victimizing countless people all around the world. Human trafficking is illegal in any way or anywh ere as it is a massive violation to human rights. People may still wonder that how can human trafficking still exist in the 21st century. There are various causes that make adults and children vulnerable to exploitation. However, human trafficking does not exist mainly because of the victims’ vulnerability to exploitation. Instead, just like drugs and arms trafficking, human trafficking is a market-driven industry which is based on the principles of supply and demand. Joyce Hart stated that â€Å"when there is a demand for services, human traffickers will eagerly fill it with slaves or very low-cost workers† (26). It is a highly sophisticated and organized crime industry with low risk and high profit, which are the main two factors that cause its demand to thrive. When the i... ...he 21st century, it is also expanding. Everyone should do their part in order to prevent more people being exploited and protect them. One of the main reasons that many of these traffickers are not being prosecuted is because a lot of victims are too traumatized or terrified to testify against their own abusers. Therefore, â€Å"police and criminal justice staff need standard working procedures to guarantee the physical safety of victims, protect their privacy and make it safe for them to testify against their abusers† (UNODC). Even for normal citizens, there are also ways to help fight against human trafficking such as contacting respective authorities if knowing of a potential human exploitation, changing purchasing options, or start a fundraiser and donate the funds to an anti-trafficking organization. These people need our help and together we can make a difference.

Adverse Effects of the Atkins Diet Essay -- Exploratory Essays Resear

Adverse Effects of the Atkins Diet The Atkins diet prescribes a menu consisting of high-fat, high-protein foods that theoretically stimulate weight loss. However, excessive consumption of such foods is associated not only with weight loss, but also with several serious health problems. For example, heart disease and atherosclerosis have been linked to foods with high fat content. Further, replacing the carbohydrate component of one's diet with fat and protein stimulates a fat burning process called ketosis, which may adversely impact kidney and liver function; for some dieters, ketosis may result in dehydration and related symptoms, including muscle cramping and fatigue. Based upon the possible side effects of a high-fat, high-protein diet, it is reasonable to assert that the Atkins diet does not promote healthy food choices. Consequently, one's health might be affected adversely by the Atkins plan. As mentioned, heart disease and atherosclerosis are associated with the excessive consumption of high-fat foods encouraged under the Atkins program. More specifically, the Atkins diet places few restrictions on the quantity of fat consumed. One problem with this relatively unregulated intake of high-fat foods (e.g., butter) is that such foods, especially in large portions, have been linked to serious heart and vascular problems. For example, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that children who consumed large amounts of very high-fat foods (foods averaging 90% fat content) demonstrated significant increases in bad LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and a corresponding decrease in good HDL cholesterol1,2. Triglycerides are derived from glycerol, the chief component of fa... ...tkinsuooh.htm> 3 Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus. 1996. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. 4 Journal of Ultasound Medicine . 5 Borgia M.C. and Medici F. "Perspectives in the Treatment of Dyslipidemias in the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease" 6 Fogoros, M.D. et. al. 7 "Muscle Cramps/Twitching." . 8 "Sports Med Tips." . 9 "Ketones Definition." . 10 Bailey, Kathryn. "The Atkins' Diet: Friend or Foe?" . 11 Bailey, Kathryn. et.al. 12 HyperDictionary. .

HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents in South Africa :: HIV in Africa

Policy Brief: HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Adolescents in South Africa Heterosexual intercourse among adolescents is the primary method of HIV transmission in South Africa, with the majority of new infections occurring in the 21 – 25 year age group. An HIV-prevention campaign promoting abstinence among young people would seem to be an effective barrier to further infections. However, a policy promoting abstinence approaches the problem only superficially, and would not take into account all of the factors driving adolescents to engage in sexual relations, specifically unprotected sex, in the first place. Abstinence is not a viable method of HIV/AIDS prevention within the social, political, and economic context of South Africa. A more appropriate strategy would be a comprehensive program aimed at the de-stigmatization and prevention of the disease. A campaign promoting the use of condoms in all sexual encounters, backed by education and the expansion of HIV care and prevention services, and accompanied by policies addressing destructive economic conditions and gender inequality would be the most effective strategy. Countries such as Uganda and Senegal have had success when taking a direct approach to HIV prevention, we should follow their example and confront the epidemic on the terms on which it is striking our populace – through the unfettered, unprotected, and unhealthy sexual practices of our youth. Education is of primary importance in the war against HIV/AIDS. It is the most efficient preventative weapon in our arsenal. Most young adults are at risk because they lack the most basic information on HIV and how to protect themselves from infection. There is confusion about methods of transmission, cultural myths about the disease’s curability, and, perhaps most damaging, skewed perceptions of self-risk. In addition, there are high levels of denial of HIV’s prevalence in communities that have yet to experience AIDS-related deaths. This results in adolescents convincing themselves that they can filter out dangerous partners through appearance or reputation. AIDS is externalized as a disease striking only at the margins of society, and is not seen as sufficient enough of a threat to change one’s risky sexual behavior. HIV/AIDS education should be a community-wide occurrence. Scare tactics should be used to depict HIV in a realistic manner - as a disease incorporated into every community that can and will infect you if you do not take the correct precautions. Limiting education to the schools keeps HIV/AIDS as a medicinal, sterile topic, and disassociates parents who are unwilling or unable to talk to their children about issues of a sexual nature.

Humor and Irony in British Literature

The comic novel is a very English kind of fiction and does not always settles down in other national literatures well. Certainly the English novel tradition is remarkable for the number of comic novels among its classics from the work of Fielding, and Sterne and Smollett in the eighteenth century, through Jane Austen and Dickens in the nineteenth to Evelyn Waugh, Arnold Bennett and David Lodge in the twentieth.Even novelists whose primary intention is not to write funny novels such as George Eliot, Thomas Hardy and E.  M. Forster have scenes in their fiction which make us laugh aloud. In this work we will define on the example of literary texts of British literature the notion of humor and irony both of which are based on the comic element.Comedy in fiction would appear to have two primary sources, though they are intimately connected: situation (which entails character – a situation that is comic for one character wouldn’t necessarily be so for another) and style.Bot h dependent upon timing, that is to say, the order in which the words, and the information they carry, are arranged. The principle can be illustrated by a single sentence from Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. At the beginning of the novel, the shy, unassuming hero, Paul Pennyfeather, an Oxford undergraduate, is divested of his trousers by a party of drunken aristocratic hearties, and with monstrous injustice is sent down from the University for indecent behavior.The first chapter concludes: â€Å"God damn and blast them all to hell,† and Paul Pennyfeather meekly to himself as he drove to the station, and then he felt rather ashamed, because he rarely swore. (Waugh, 1929) We laugh at this because of the delayed appearance of the word â€Å"meekly†: what appears, as the sentence begins, to be a long-overdue explosion of righteous anger by the victimized hero turns out to be no such thing but a further exemplification of his timidity and passiveness.Lucky Jim of Ki ngsley Amis exhibits all properties of comic fiction in a highly polished form. As a temporary assistant lecturer at a province university, Jim Dixon is totally dependent for the continuance of his employment on his absent-minded professor’s patronage, which itself requires that Jim should demonstrate his professional competence by publishing a scholarly article. Jim despises both his professor and the rituals of academic scholarship, but cannot afford to say so.His resentment is therefore interiorized, sometimes in fantasies of violence: â€Å"to tie Welch up in his chair and beat him about the head and shoulders with a bottle until he disclosed why, without being French himself, he’d given his sons French names† (Amis) and at the other times, as here, in satirical mental commentary upon the behavior, discourses and institutional codes which oppress him. The style of Lucky Jim is full of little surprises, qualifications and reversals which satirically deconstru ct cliches. Jim’s powerlessness is physically epitomized by his being a passenger in Welch’s car, and a helpless victim of his appalling driving.The banal and apparently superfluous sentence â€Å"Dixon looked out of the window at the fields wheeling past, bright green after a wet April† (Amis) in fact proves to have a function. Looking from the same window moments later, Jim is startled to find â€Å"a man’s face staring in his from about nine inches away† Surprise is combined with conformity to Welch’s incompetence. â€Å"The face, which filled with alarm as he gazed, belonged to the driver of a van which Welch had elected to pass on a sharp bend between two stone walls.† (Amis) A slow motion effect is created by the leisurely precision of the language: â€Å"about nine inches away†, â€Å"filled with alarm†, â€Å"had elected to pass† contrasting comically with the speed with which the imminent collision approa ches. The reader is not told immediately what is happening, but made to infer it, re-enacting the character’s surprise and alarm. Another stylistic device based on humorous effect it creates is irony. Irony consists in saying the opposite of what you mean or inviting an interpretation different from the surface meaning of your words. Unlike other figures of speech – metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche etc.– irony is not distinguished from literal statement by any peculiarity of verbal form. An ironic statement is recognized as such in the act of interpretation. When, for example, the authorial narrator of Pride and Prejudice says â€Å"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a fortune, must be in want of a wife,† (Austen, Chapter I) the reader, alerted by the false logic of the proposition about single men with fortunes, interprets the â€Å"universal† generalization as an ironic comment on a particular social group obsessed with matchmaking.The same rule applies to action in narrative. When the reader is made aware of a disparity between the facts of a situation and the characters’ understanding of it, an effect called â€Å"dramatic irony† is generated. (Lodge, 179) Arnold Bennett in his The Old Wives’ Tale employs two different methods to put his characters’ behavior in an ironic perspective. Sophia, the beautiful passionate but inexperienced daughter of a draper in the Potteries, is sufficiently dazzled by Gerald Scales, a handsome commercial traveler who has inherited a small fortune, to elope with him.The embrace described in the passage below is their first in the privacy of their London lodgings. Her face, view so close that he could see the almost imperceptible down on those fruit-like cheeks, was astonishingly beautiful; †¦[and] he could feel the secret loyalty of her soul ascending to him. She was very slightly taller than her lover; but somehow she hung from him, her body curved backwards, and her bosom pressed against his, so that instead of looking up at her gaze he looked down at it. He preferred that; perfectly proportioned though he was, his stature was a delicate point with him.(Bennett, 278) What should be a moment of erotic rapture and emotional unity is revealed as the physical conjunction of two people whose thoughts are running on quite different tacks. Gerald in fact intends to seduce Sophia, though in the event he lacks the self-assurance to carry out his plan. Even in this embrace he is at first nervous and tentative, â€Å"perceiving that her ardour was exceeding his. † (Bennett, 278) But as the intimate contact continues he becomes more confident and masterful: â€Å"His fears slipped away; he began to be very satisfied with himself† (Bennett, 278).There is probably a sexual pun hidden in â€Å"His spirits rose by the uplift of his senses†, for Bennett frequently hinted in this fashion at things he dared not describe explicitly. Gerald sexual arousal has nothing to do with love, or even lust. It is a function of his vanity and self-esteem. â€Å"Something in him had forced her to lay her modesty on the altar of his desire†. Like â€Å"the secret loyalty of her soul ascending to him† (Bennett, 279) earlier, this florid metaphor mocks the complacent thought it expresses.The use of the word â€Å"altar† carries an extra ironic charge since at this point Gerald has no intention of leading Sophia to the altar of marriage. Up to this point, Bennett keeps to Gerald’s point of view, and uses the kind of language appropriate to that perspective, thus implying an ironic assessment of Gerald’s character. â€Å"So he kissed her yet more ardently, and with the slightest touch of a victor’s condescension; and her burning response more than restored the self-confidence which he had been losing.† (Bennett, 279) The description of his timidity, vanity and complacency – so very different from what he ought to be feeling in this situation is enough to condemn him in reader’s eyes. In the next paragraph Bennett uses the convention of the omniscient intrusive author to switch to Sophia’s point of view, and to comment explicitly on her misconceptions, adding to the layers of irony in the scene. Sophia’s words are more creditable than Gerald’s, but her words, â€Å"I’ve got no on but you now† , are partly calculated to endear him to her.This merely reveals her naivety, however. â€Å"She fancied in her ignorance that the expression of this sentiment would please him. She was not aware that a man is usually rather chilled by it, because it proves to him that the other is thinking about his responsibilities and not about his privileges. †¦ [He] smiled vaguely. † (Bennett, 279) As the â€Å"burning† Sophia utters this sentiment in a â€Å"meltingâ₠¬  voice, Gerald is â€Å"chilled† by the reminder of his responsibilities.He responds with non-committal smile, which the infatuated Sophia finds charming, but which, the narrator assures us, was an index of his unreliability and a portent of disillusionment to come: â€Å"A less innocent girl than Sophia might have divined from that adorable half-feminine smile that she could do anything with Gerald except rely on him. But Sophia had to learn. † (Bennett, 279) The reader is supplied with knowledge that helps to feel pity for Sophia and contempt for Gerald. This type of irony leaves us with little work of inference or interpretation to do; on the contrary, we are the passive recipients of the author’s wisdom.To conclude it is necessary to note the main difference between humor and irony. These two devices while both based on comic element apply different approaches to their object. Irony the funny object is hidden beyond the mask of seriousness, and the negati ve, derisive attitude to the object is expressed. The different is humor, where the serious thing is hidden beyond the mask of ridiculous and the attitude to the object of derision is predominantly positive. Works Cited List: Amis, Kinsley. Lucky Jim. London: Gollancz, 1954.Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Reissue edition, Bantam Classics, 1983. Bennett, Arnold. The Old Wives’ Tale. New York Hodder & Stoughton, 1909. Carens, James F. , The Satiric Art of Evelyn Waugh. Seattle and London, University of Washington Press, 1966. Lodge, David & Wood, Nigel Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. Harlow: Pearson, 2000 Nilsen, Don L. F. Humor in Eighteenth-and Nineteenth-Century British Literature. A Reference Guide, 1998. Waugh, Evelyn. Decline and Fall. London: Chapman & Hall, 1928.

Marxism Analysis of The Lower Depths Essay

Maxim Gorky’s â€Å"The Lower Depths† shows the struggle between classes. Unquestionably, its focus is on the lowest of the economically low class people being controlled by the bourgeoisie. It is also a representation of how cruel the society could be towards them and how, in turn, the people are affected by the society. Although the play talks of the story of low class people –the vagrant, the gambler, the ex-artist, the ex-aristocrat, the prostitute, and so many others, the thief’s character is the best to display the struggle between the classes. Thieves are likely to be wicked, troublesome, and disobedient. However, the thief in the text projects only the wickedness and troublesomeness but is not really disobedient. He is a bit subservient to the whims of their landlady. Though it is true that there are times when he doesn’t want to follow what the woman says, in the end the woman would always find a way to make him do whatever she likes. For instance, when the landlady wanted the thief to kill her husband, the thief refused. And to bring her plans into reality, she beats Natasha –whom the thief cared about. This made the thief furious and he went to confront the landlady but he incidentally killed her husband instead. Aside from this, the fact that the landlady â€Å"owned† her sister Natasha made the thief adhere to her caprice. He is always protecting his love and is willing to do everything to spare her from the landlord and the landlady’s injustice. The text embodies how the low class people resist the ideology of those in the higher classes. However, because of circumstances they are in, they end up going along with whatever those in higher classes’ demands. The lower economic groups are ignored in this text by those higher than them. The mere title of the play is distasteful. The place where the characters live is created and tagged as the lower depths by no other than the society itself. This just means that the society is also the primary reason for the repression experienced by the people. What the society didn’t realize is that these low class people are in the lower depths because they are deprived of chances to attain their goals and they are put on circumstances that destroy their self-confidence. The system of the ruling class caused the alienation of the low class people, therefore causing them not to be able to live their lives to the fullest. Also, the setting is where the characters tell their stories and debate on whether it is better to live without illusions on one’s own capability or to embrace a romanticized view of the world in order to protect oneself from the pain of daily life. In the play, it is the character of Luka who seems to idealize everything in life and the one who demonstrate that philosophy is meant to be used as an instrument to initiate change. Precisely, it was him who played the opposing figure to the rest of the characters. He is an example of an old man whom experiences made wise. He serves as an inspiration to everyone he meets by urging each of them to start a new life. In spite of this, his extreme optimism could also be the same reason why his life failed. And although he amazed the neglected lower class people in the lower depths, his arrival in their lives was too late that their energy and will has already taken from them. No matter how those people try to ascend from the social swamp, they are always shoved back into the depths. For example, when Natasha and the thief were about to begin a new life, destiny surpass them. Natasha was terribly beaten by her sister and when the thief came to confront the landlady, he accidentally killed the landlord. The theme of the play could be about the dominance of the higher class over the lower classes. As one of the play’s characters puts it â€Å"And so for all the others†¦. Locksmiths then †¦ bootmakers and other working folk †¦ and all the agriculturals †¦ and even the gentry — they live for the better man! Each thinks ‘e’s livin’ fer ‘imself, yet it turns out it’s fer that better man†. All of them who live in the depths and all the other workers seem to believe that they are living for themselves. What they don’t realize is that they are living to work and feed the bourgeoisie. And aside from this, the fact that the characters came from different field means that the bourgeoisie could control all aspects of the culture. To sum up, the play is a depiction of how the bourgeoisie rule the society. And the fact that the society puts the label to people shows how powerful it could affect other people’s lives.

For or against racial profiling Essay Essay

Write an essay that presents your opinion on racial profiling. Begin with a debatable thesis statement. Then follow the guidelines for writing an argument essay. As you write your essay, be sure you support your opinions with reasons. ESSAY OUTLINE INTRODUCTION (5-7 sentences) 1. Hook (1-2 sentences) 2. Background information (3-4 sentences) 3. Thesis Statement (1-2 sentences) BODY PARAGRAPH 1 (REASON 1) 1. Topic Sentence (1 sentence) 2. One piece of evidence with citation 3. Commentary sentences (2-3 sentences) 4. Second piece of evidence with citation 5. Commentary sentences (2-3 sentences) 6. Transition/ Closing Sentence (1 sentence) BODY PARAGRAPH 2 (REASON 2) 1. Topic Sentence (1 sentence) 2. One piece of evidence with citation 3. Commentary sentences (2-3 sentences) 4. Second piece of evidence with citation 5. Commentary sentences (2-3 sentences) 6. Transition/ Closing Sentence (1 sentence) BODY PARAGRAPH 3 (COUNTERARGUMENT AND REFUTATION) 1. Topic Sentence (1 sentence) 2. Opposing side’s argument evidence with citation 3. Refutation argument 1 (2-3 sentences) 4. Refutation 2 (2-3 sentences) 5. Transition/ Closing Sentence (1 sentence) CONCLUSION (5-7 sentences) 1. Restate your thesis statement 2. Sum up your two arguments 3. Ask â€Å"so what?† questions (2-3 sentences) BRAINSTORM ARGUMENTS Arguments for racial profiling Arguments against racial profiling *In persuasion, we use the term arguments to mean reasons. Which arguments do you find most persuasive? Which side will you argue in your essay? I will argue that __________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________. My 2 arguments will be (choose 2 from the table above): The best argument for the opposing side is ___________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________. Thesis Statement (main idea of my essay): __________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. FINDING EVIDENCE Now that you have your thesis statement and your arguments laid out, you need to find evidence to support those arguments. EVIDENCE CAN INCLUDE: Facts from your sources (newspaper articles, USDA website) Statistics Quotes from experts like spokespeople for companies, university professors, scientists who study nutrition, and experts on psychology or advertising Personal experiences or observations Go through your articles in the racial profiling packet and put an arrow next to any evidence you may plan to use for your two main arguments and your argument for the opposing side. Write the number of the body paragraph (1,2,3) next the evidence you plan to use in your essay. TWO SAMPLE MLA IN-TEXT CITATIONS 1. Introduce the source and author In â€Å"If You Pitch It, They Will Eat† Davis Barboza argues, â€Å"Television, of course, remains the most powerful medium for selling to children† (39). 2. Put whole citation after the quote (author and page number) The article says, â€Å"Television, of course, remains the most powerful medium for selling to children† (Barboza 39). Never ever write (pg. 39)!!!!! MLA NEWSPAPER CITATION A works cited page always puts the sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name and is double-spaced. FORMAT Author’s last name, first name. â€Å" Title of the article †. Newspaper publisher. Day month year of publication, Pages. SAMPLE CITATION Barboza, David. â€Å"If You Pitch It, They Will Eat†. The New York Times. 3 Aug. 2003, 37-41. RACIAL PROFILING ESSAY: BODY PARAGRAPH 1 OUTLINE TOPIC SENTENCE EVIDENCE/QUOTE 1 with source (â€Å"article title† and author) COMMENTARY (Why is this evidence important? How does it relate to the thesis?) EVIDENCE/QUOTE 2 with source (â€Å"article title† and author) COMMENTARY (Why is this evidence important? How does it relate to the thesis?) TRANSITION/ CLOSING SENTENCE RACIAL PROFILING ESSAY: BODY PARAGRAPH 2 OUTLINE TOPIC SENTENCE EVIDENCE/QUOTE 1 with source (â€Å"article title† and author) COMMENTARY (Why is this evidence important? How does it relate to the thesis?) EVIDENCE/QUOTE 2 with source (â€Å"article title† and author) COMMENTARY (Why is this evidence important? How does it relate to the thesis?) TRANSITION/ CLOSING SENTENCE BODY PARAGRAPH 3 COUNTERARGUMENT AND REFUTATION The topic sentence for body paragraph 3 will be the opposing side’s argument and will include one piece of evidence to support their claim (the opposite of your thesis). For your two refutations you will explain why the opposing side is wrong. Use two pieces of evidence to support your argument. TOPIC SENTENCE (OPPOSING SIDE’S ARGUMENT) OPPOSING EVIDENCE/QUOTE REFUTATION 1 EVIDENCE REFUTATION 2 EVIDENCE TRANSITION/ CLOSING SENTENCE

Legal and Ethical Issues in Healthcare

Josh tests positive for hepatitis C. DR. Smith who ordered the labs is also Josh’s brother-in-law. When Dr. Smith informs Josh that his results will be reported to the public health department, asks Dr. Smith not to report him as a favor since they are family and he promises to get treatment somewhere else. Josh is embarrassed by the way he contracted the disease. Not only is Dr. Smith asked to break the law by his brother-in-law, his wife, Josh’s sister, who is concerned for her brother expects Dr. Smith to share the test results of his patient.If he tells her anything without Josh’s consent he will violate HIPPA. Dr Smith is worried about being accused of malpractice if he gives in and doesn’t ensure Josh’s results are not only reported but also that he receives proper care for the diagnoses. This case is legally and ethically sensitive. The doctor faces issues with relationships, confidentiality, consent, legal requirements of treating communicab le diseases, as well as malpractice. Legal and â€Å"Ethical issues in healthcare are common. Nearly every decision that’s made has ethical implications–for patients, for providers and for healthcare leaders.â€Å" (Larson, 2013).The first ethical violation that Dr. Smith is guilty of is having a personal relationship with a patient. â€Å"Relationships with patients are forbidden by both the medical and nursing code of ethics. Such actions are considered serious misconduct and can result in expulsion from the profession and losing the license to practice† (Greenwood, 2013). Because of the relationship with the patient, Dr. Smith is being asked to violate the patient’s confidentiality. â€Å"Confidentiality is both an ethical and a legal issue.Keeping information about a patient confidential is a way of showing respect for the person’s autonomy; releasing information can damage the patient. † (Greenwood, 2013). Dr. Smith’s wife asks him to share medical information about her brother, She feels she has the right to this information but does not understand the position she is putting her husband in. he understands her concerns for her brother, however if this were any other patient Dr. Smith would never consider discussing a patient with her. â€Å"There are also specific laws regarding the release of information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.The laws define exactly what information can be released and to whom. † (Greenwood, 2013). Dr. Smith needs to ensure he keeps the confidentiality of his patient and doesn’t violate HIPPA. Josh is also asking Dr. Smith to break the law by not report the test results to the public health department. There is a legal requirement for reporting and treating communicable diseases. â€Å"Reporting of cases of infectious diseases and related conditions has been and remains a vital step in controlling and preventing the spread of communicable disease. † (CDC, 1990).Dr. Smith must report the positive test results according to the law; however he does have a close relationship with his brother-in-law and does not want to lose his trust, especially with his current medical condition. Although Dr. Smith does not need consent to report the case of hepatitis C, he will need the patient’s consent to begin any treatment for the disease. â€Å"Patients must provide informed consent for treatment to be legal. † (Greenwood, 2013). â€Å"Health care practitioners of all sorts face the risk of being sued for malpractice.A lawsuit may be brought from an injury related to surgery, defective equipment or medical products, care that was omitted or a deliberate act that caused harm to a patient. † (Greenwood, 2013). Dr. Smith can be sued for malpractice by anyone who contracts hepatitis C from Josh if he does not report the case and give Josh the proper treatment. By choosing to not report or tr eat Josh’s case, Dr. Smith will be guilty of omitting care. A kind act by a caring doctor has quickly turned into a legally and ethically nightmare. Dr.Smith chose to make his brother-in-law a patient by ordering labs that gave a positive result for hepatitis C. Dr. Smith can now face charges and lose his license to practice medicine. This whole situation could have been handled differently and the weight of violating medical law and ethics would not be on Dr. Smith’s shoulders. There is still a way for out of the doctor to correct the situation. All he has to do is report the case of hepatitis C, and hand off his brother-in-law to another provider with no connection to ensure he does in fact receive the proper care.

Ethical Analysis of Eight Mile Road Hearsay Accident Essay

Ethical Analysis of Eight Mile Road Hearsay Accident - Essay Example As a result, an engineer is under pressure to explain the causes and consequences of such actions. The incident has raised major concerns within the ECCS Analysis. The primary reason for this concern is the termination of High Pressure Injection, a situation that places the power plant in major trouble (Barbour 12). Facts A pressure valve opened so that it can relieve steam hence decrease pressure due to a minor over-pressurization passing. As a result, the pressure valve failed to close. When the plant operator noticed this inaccuracy, he terminated high pressure injection. It is worth noting that this was a faulty move from the operator because the system was on a two-phase state. High pressure injection is only applicable when the primary system stood in a sub cooled state. Within 20 to 30 minutes after high pressure injection was terminated, the pressurizer level collapsed showing that this was a wrong move. As a result, the operator was forced to reintroduce injection. Significa nt fluid inventory was lost in the 30 minutes that injection was terminated. The engineer reported back to superiors with the facts as required. However, the superiors did not take the nuclear engineer seriously. Instead, they dismissed this as hearsay. It is worth noting that nuclear engineering is governed by a strict code of conduct. ... The engineer ought to make sure that the power plant operations are smooth flowing. This is because the emotions from a nuclear power plant are harmful to the people around and environment as a whole. Residents of Toledo are also major stakeholders. This is because they are the key focus of my decision. The value of life is important to any ethical organization. Moreover, the operator had to know what to do in case of incidences. However, in this case, he took a wrong decision more than once. This risked the lives of all persons in and around the power plant. Moreover, the ethics of the top management are also at stake here because they failed to take action just because they believed that it was from an incredible source (Shrader-Frechette 84). Regulations and Laws Any nuclear power plant is complex. As a result, it ought to be well-designed and engineered to reduce incidences. It is worth noting that it cannot be deemed to be a failure proof. This is clearly seen in the Eight Mile Road nuclear power plant when the pressure valve failed to close. The accident exposed serious shortages in a scheme that was destined to safeguard public well-being and safety. Failure modes ought to be present in any nuclear plant. This is because a commercial nuclear reactor can explode like a bomb. It is worth noting that, in this case, the fail-safe mechanisms were evidently not present. Moreover, the location of nuclear power plants is critical (Maxey 123). This is because emissions from such plants are powerfully harmful to the public health surrounding it. In this case, we are not told where the plant was specifically located. As a result, we hope it was located in a place where its emissions

Managing Organisations Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Organisations Business - Assignment Example This calls for very skilled managers that are well aware of their roles. The following is an account of my experience with a manger in a banking institution. The Experience (278 words) I was working with a bank in the UK. As a customer care officer, I had many experiences with the customers as well as the bank manager. Though this company was successful, I still believe that it could achieve even more success if the manager did not face the many difficulties that he was facing in his work. The company could hardly match its ideals with the realities of each day, meetings were poorly planned and recorded, decision making was arbitrarily done, there were inadequate control procedures instituted, and no clear ways of dealing with unsatisfactory behavior or work performance. However, the manager worked very hard to ensure that these problems were appropriately dealt with. Therefore, he started having trust and confidence in all those involved in the company. As Thomas, (1987, pp 729) sta tes about qualities of a good manager, I believe he was a good manager because he was good in both personal and interpersonal skills like communication with the staff. Other skills that he applied were people oriented roles like teamwork, resource investigation, and co-ordination. He observed action oriented roles like implementing the desired goals of the company. ... Integrating Theory with Experience (342 words) According to Mintzberg (1973, pp 2), a good manager observes the following managerial roles: information, decision and interpersonal roles. Information roles involve assimilation and dissemination of information as required, and when it is required. Therefore, a good manager in an organization should be very effective in monitoring and collecting information from inside and outside the organization, communicate information to organization’s members, and being a spokesman by representing the organization outside. In this case, I believe that the manger was playing a good role because he always engaged in interpersonal and personal communication with the staff. However, his representation of the organization outside, especially to potential customers, was very poor because he mainly relied on the salespersons. The theory of Mintzberg (1973, pp. 2) also states that a good manger should also play the role of decision making. In this a rea, he has to initiate new ideas that ill improve the performance of the organization, handle disturbances by taking corrective actions that aim at coping with adverse situations, be a resource allocator by effectively allocating monetary, physical, and human resources. Finally, he should also be a negotiator. This involves negotiating with other stake holders and trade unions. Though the manager was good at initiating new ideas, he failed on the part of handling disturbances because he always blamed others incase of a problem instead of effectively solving the problem. He rarely negotiated for the company with trade unions. Thus regular strikes were experienced that yielded heavy losses. However, he was a