Category: Uncategorized

Class 2, Case Study 3 (Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Incident)

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Introduction

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident in Japan is one that will remain etched in people’s minds for a long time to come. Not only was Japan hit by a 9.0 earthquake, it was further hit by a tsunami. The earthquake resulted in the crippling of the power grid in the nuclear plant’s area, after which back-up generators came in handy. With the hit by the tsunami, the nuclear plant lost all power, resulting in the plant’s reactors’ experiencing damage, thus losing all ability to cool the reactors. To make matters worse, Japan’s “government, the regulators, TEPCO management, and the Kantei lacked the preparation and mindset to efficiently operate an emergency response to an accident of this scope” (Price, 2013). TEPCO stands for the Tokyo Electrical Power Company: the organization responsible for the running of the nuclear plant. The quote just means that any leaders linked to the plant were unprepared to handle any of the occurrences on the nuclear plant and the devastating effects that this had on the operational systems of the plant as well as on the lives of people. With this in mind, this essay will seek to assess the strategic leadership process in light of the strategic leadership essential skills applied in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident of 2011. This will give a good idea about the role that the Japanese leadership played in either averting the situation or making the situation worse.

The Strategic Leadership Process during the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident

Anticipation

2011 was a year in which Japan was heavy-hit by the effects of the earthquake and the tsunami that the country experienced, especially following the damaging effects to the country’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant. There were devastating effects that followed. To gauge the effectiveness of the country’s leadership at that point in time, it is important to ensure that the strategic leadership process is assessed in line with the essential skills that strategic leaders ought to possess. The writer will consider the skills of anticipation, challenging, interpretation, decision, alignment, and learning; all of which play a significant role in defining a strategic leader (Schoemaker, Krupp, & Howland, 2013). The first essential skill in consideration is anticipation. Strategic leaders are expected to have the ability to spot any signals of change through their scanning capabilities of various situations. This aids them in detecting any threats or opportunities presenting signs of ambiguity and trying to interpret them in line with their business.

In consideration of the Japan case, several organizations that could be said to have had a say on the matter of the plant failed in their ability to anticipate the devastation by the earthquake and tsunami. Looking at the political leadership, for instance, it was still new in office following their takeover from the office-holding by the opposition for 50 years. As a newly appointed cabinet of government officers, there was a lot of difficulty that the team took over, including a lack of emergency planning by that government, insufficiency in their bureaucratic capabilities, and a situation that came with vested interests by opposition leaders (Parker, 2014). Their abilities and capabilities in this case were, to a great extent, limited. These were some of the issues that were an obstacle to the government’s efforts to consider anticipation of such occurrences. The inheritance of power by the new government was the source of the lack of anticipation by the same government.

Given that the issue was widespread, the lack of anticipation not only lay in the hands of the political leadership in Japan, but it also lay in the hands of any and every leadership that had, directly or indirectly, vested interests in the nuclear plant. The Tokyo Electrical Power Company (TEPCO), for instance, was the organization behind the nuclear plant. The inevitable was bound to happen, especially since the organization was responsible for making the decision to put up the plant on a known fault line. Their lack of preparation was deliberate, seeing that they colluded with the regulators in government to see it as a non-issue (Price, 2013). Owing to the decisions made by the government regulators, the prime minister back then was not in a position to manage the resulting issue due to unpreparedness. The emergency response, in this regard, was lacking within the country’s leadership. None of the leaders were able to foresee the amount of damage that would result from such a catastrophe nor have the effective capacity and capability to prevent or reduce the resulting damage. However, the lack of preparedness does not mean that the leadership put no effort into curbing or reducing the effects of the catastrophe. It just means that the leadership in charge at the time failed to see the oncoming catastrophe when it was already clear that the only thing was a “when” issue.

Challenging

Challenge is yet another essential skill in a strategic leader’s life. It means taking a decisive action following careful examination of a problem and careful reflection of the situation. At the same time, such strategic leaders question the normal while challenging the views of others as well as their own. It further helps to have strategic leaders open to other people’s thoughts and using this for a clearer thought process on the issue in question. This usually creates an open environment to differing views on the same matter, giving an opportunity to all to be heard. Strategic leaders should be able to use the available information during a crisis and put it to good use. However, in the case of the nuclear incident in Japan, the prime minister at the time, Prime Minister Kan, is said to have refused to delegate responsibilities to help improve the situation. Instead, he got caught in the details of the incident so much that confusion resulted (Yakowicz, 2013). His focus was on ensuring all the important facts had first been collected before acting. He did not understand the essence of using the available information and acting fast, as any strategic leader ought to have been doing. The situation should have needed him to encourage ideas from various people he was working with, encourage unfiltered communication of the situation, and ensure delegation of various aspects of decision making to those trustworthy of responsibility handling.

Averting a crisis requires leadership to acquire information critical to the situation in an expeditious manner. Prime Minister Kan is said to have failed in handling the situation strategically through the creation of effective communication system. The first issue in his system of communication was the long chain of communication that was in place. Conveyance of the information happened from TEPCO to Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), passing through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and finally arriving at the doorstep of the Cabinet Office. The final step is where the prime minister’s office was located. Such a complicated communication system is bound to birth miscommunications, which resulted between the government and TEPCO. By the time the cabinet office was taking charge of the situation, five days have gone by since the difficulties with the tsunami and nuclear reactors began (Hayata, 2012). By this time, three nuclear reactors had already experienced a meltdown. This is when the cabinet office decided to establish the emergency response headquarters.

On top of the late response, the prime minister went ahead to decline international assistance. The U.S. government had offered to chip into providing expert knowledge and equipment to help with the crippled nuclear reactors but Kan turned it down. Not only did the cabinet office lack in important and factual information (considering the complicated channel of communication), it also decided not to take on external assistance that was much needed (Price, 2013). This is already an indication that the Prime Minister took on no challenge against his views while taking on no external thoughts for assistance. A lack of these can only be said to have reduced the chances of saving the situation.

Further still, the said nuclear experts on hand in the cabinet office were said to have and incapability in providing guidance that was considered useful. They neither made decisions on their own nor provided any important input that would have averted the situation. It is unfortunate that these were the experts that were to help out at the cabinet office. Prime Minister Kan made the situation direr after refusing to delegate responsibilities to those who would visit the site, and instead chose to go to the Fukushima site himself while disrupting the chain of command in the process. It can openly be said that the prime minister refused to be challenged or to take on a challenge as the case should have been (Reb, Iinuma, & Joshi, 2012). A further hindrance to the free flow of information and open ideas occurred since no one working with the prime minister took it upon himself to question authority and add ideas to the prime minister’s thought process. No one was willing to challenge or be challenged by the prime minister.

Instead, they all decided to borrow from the Japanese culture and what they had known all along: “our reflexive obedience; our reluctance to question authority; our devotion to ‘sticking with the program’; our ‘groupism’; and our insularity” (Price, 2013). This type of mindset is said to be successful in the event that there is ample information to work with, but not in the case of crisis management, which requires fast thinking and decision making, especially in a limited information environment. This micro management and counterproductive style of management came in handy when ambiguity was needed at the time when the country was confused regarding what the government was doing (Biello, 2013). The serious coordination and information problems were solved in the process, instead of a complete disaster resulting from the nuclear plant’s meltdown. Despite slight change on the positive occurring, there was still great damage. On this note, therefore, challenging happened to a small extent, with a greater portion of decisions made relying on the Japanese cultural way of decision making.

Interpretation

Interpretation requires the correct handling of a challenge to self and others, as well as the correct handling of others’ opinions on a matter. Complex information that is also difficult to process becomes easier to interpret when the challenging process is smoother. Any new insights, patterns, and ambiguity are better read into and utilized to be interpreted correctly if indeed the challenge has been correctly dealt with (Funabashi & Kitazawa, 2012). In this case, however, the cabinet office where the prime minister was situated, takes just a few challenges within the coordination and information sphere. In this regard, therefore, the prime minister was able to correctly interpret the need for a slightly more effective coordination system due to his micro management skills. Despite these few changes, the nuclear experts present within this office provide no useful information that can be applied to the situation, thus creating no challenge for what the prime minister already thinks, given that he is a layman in matters to do with nuclear reactors.

A great amount of effort was spent on activities that would essentially be ineffective in dealing with the situation. A good example would be the decisions variously made by the prime minister regarding the extent of the evacuation zone. The government, through the prime minister, created distrust in his people when he changed his mind twice by first deciding to evacuate people within a 3 kilometer radius, following by 10 then 20 kilometer radius. Kan was considered to be inconsiderate of the depth of the situation (Yakowicz, 2013). This can clearly translate into skewed interpretation since the prime minister went with the waves each time he acquired new information. It is, therefore, safe to say that he had an ineffective way of interpreting the information reaching him. This was especially fueled by the lack of challenges in his information acquisition level. At the same time, the prime minister is unwelcoming to external assistance as he declines help from the United States government. He is not ready to be challenged. He probably thinks of the acceptance of the hand lent as a weak move or having motive. Further still the prime minister refuses to delegate both responsibilities and decision making to those who can be of assistance (Hayata, 2012). With no challenge whatsoever, it can be courageously said that the interpretation done in this regard only took in the little information that the prime minister possessed to make decisions seeing that only the cabinet office was making decisions following a complicated communication system.

Decision

The decision making stage requires a lot of input and guidance. It is a stage that considers all the possible options available to averting the situation. The government, through the prime minister, was able to make a few good decisions in line with Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. The micro management skills that the prime minister applied through his requirement of all minute facts on the situation came in handy during coordination of the efforts by the Kantei (Akiyama, et al., 2012). Information was kept secretive, which helped prove both the effectiveness and the ineffectiveness of the cabinet office. It was effective due to its ability to deal with challenges in coordination and information management (Parker, 2014). However, it was also ineffective due to since decision making was concentrated within this office, and only little could be done at this point.

The ineffectiveness was also clear when the office could not take in new information or assistance from external parties, within the country and outside its borders. Decisions were solely made on the basis of the decision makers’ experiences and information held so far. This was limited, and could best be said to have been the source of the exaggerated effect of the tsunami on the nuclear plant and on the people that were affected as a result. The effects outgrew the capabilities of both the government and TEPCO, seeing their inability to be challenged or challenge others. If it would have been a difference scenario, the leaders in this case would have taken to listening to external ideas (other than their own), which would have calm in handy in managing the situation greatly and in a short amount of time (Acton & Hibbs, 2012). More clearly now, the government took a huge risk on the human lives that were affected during that period and the nuclear plant by taking little to no consideration of the devastation that would result from decisions made from limited information.

Alignment

The success in alignment can best be attributed to gaining common ground in the views aired by the various stakeholders through constant engagement, communication, and building of trust. This is the only way that strategic leadership is born and bred. However, the one issue that led to the greatest effect to both the nuclear plant and the people was that of the Japanese culture. The Japanese culture greatly affected the decision making abilities of the leadership so much that no one made the point of challenging the leaders in the Kantei either through sharing new ideas or providing alternative options to what the leadership was holding on to for decision making. Stakeholders did not provide much input that would have made an impact in the way matters were handled. There was little or no input by the stakeholders; otherwise, their information would have been used to improve the effects of the nuclear plant meltdown as well as building trust (Kushida, 2014). Those that had been trusted to help with improving the situation had no useful information to add on. Looking at the engagement that the leadership involved itself in, there was a lot of ineffectiveness owing to the complicated communication channel from TEPCO to the cabinet office. Considering the fact that the first order of business by the prime minister was five days after the meltdown began, then it is clear that no alignment occurred, apart from the limited coordination at the Kantei.

Learning

A lot was learned from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. Leadership faced one of the most difficult moments of all time for Japan. The issues that arose during that period cannot be entirely placed on the shoulders of the government at the time, since planning had not been effectively done for such an occurrence, even though it happened every once a century. The case of the change in evacuation stretch zone was a lesson for the government that there is significance in sharing the thoughts leading up to the decisions made, especially if the decision is provisional. Mistrust would have been eliminated (Price, 2013). At the same time, a better approach to the lack of information sharing with the public would have been dealt with through assuring the people that the government representative would report the progress so far once or twice a day to gain their trust and reassure them.

There was greater importance in noticing the signals before the devastation happened. When TEPCO was putting up the plant, the government regulators were aware of the building on a fault line as was TEPCO, but no action was taken due to collusion. The need for crisis preparation is important. However, an excuse can be given in this case that the new government did not have enough to go by on this front, thus leading to little or poor planning. Another lesson was the need for functional communication systems as opposed to complicated and lengthy ones, thus reducing chances of miscommunication (Hayata, 2012). Lastly, the structural problems could best be managed through learning, something that the Japanese government is yet to do. Improper investigations were done leading to limited information to guide in structural solutions. It would be important to consider the significance of accepting external assistance.

Conclusion

To summarize, the essential skills are significant to a strategic leader. They are needed in daily decision making, not only in the most difficult moments. Japan, to a great extent, failed to see the importance of this process when it was handling the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear incident. The Japanese culture had the greatest impact on the way things were handled during this period, since this affected every point that required decision making. The occurrence was neither anticipated nor averted as it should have. There were a lot of government structural problems, given that information was mostly concentrated within the decision making docket of the Kantei. The government officials were not bold enough to share their thoughts regarding handling of the issues at hand (Yang, 2014). The Japanese government would have done a better job had it had better access to information and to views and thoughts on other approaches other than of those that were in the decision making dockets. The government should also have been open with its people so that creation awareness would have reduced anxiety. Overall, the government and other points of leadership within Japan associated with occurrence learned a lot from it for the sake of Japan’s future, although the structural problem investigations were ineffectively done.

References

Acton, J. M., & Hibbs, M. (2012). Why Fukushima was preventable (p. 50). Washington, DC: Carnegie endowment for international peace.

Akiyama, N., Sato, H., Naito, K., Naoi, Y., & Katsuta, T. (2012). The Fukushima nuclear accident and crisis management-lessons for Japan-US alliance cooperation. The Sasakawa Peace Foundation.Biello, D. (2013). The nuclear odyssey of Naoto Kan, Japan’s prime minister during Fukushima. Scientific American, 16.Funabashi, Y., & Kitazawa, K. (2012). Fukushima in review: A complex disaster, a disastrous response. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 68(2), 9-21.

Hayata, K. (2012, Feb). Leadership in Nuclear Crises: Lessons from Three Mile Island and Fukushima.

Kushida, K. E. (2014). The Fukushima nuclear disaster and the DPJ: leadership, structures, and information challenges during the crisis. The Japanese Political Economy, 40(1), 29-68.

Parker, C. B. (2014). Japan’s political leadership helped save country from worst-case Fukushima disaster. Stanford News.Price, S. (2013, Oct 3). Lessons in Leadership from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/lessons-leadership-fukushima-nuclear-disaster/Reb, J., Iinuma, Y., & Joshi, H. (2012). The Fukushima nuclear disaster: Leadership in crisis.

Schoemaker, P. J., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills. Harvard business review, 91(1), 131-134.

Yakowicz, W. (2013, Oct 8). Leading in Crisis: 3 Tips From The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster. Inc. https://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz-3-leadership-lessons-from-fukushima-nuclear-disaster.htmlYang, J. E. (2014). Fukushima Dai-Ichi accident: lessons learned and future actions from the risk perspectives. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 46(1), 27-38.

Claim: Practice is Essential

Practice is essential in every aspect, most importantly towards feedback and improvement. Accordingly, the article provides that practicing enables individuals to give better feedback. Giving feedback provides an opportunity to be extremely helpful through the describe, evaluate, suggest framework. Moreover, practicing gives students better ideas as they can be able to go through their specific responses and correct where possible. It is also vital in developing a revision plan hence having a standard and well-structured work. In addition, its essential in review as it helps in communicating to writers on their work and giving opinions that contribute to development of written work.

Making a commitment to practice is essential to maximize the impact of learning in any environment. After all, practice is the only way to become proficient in a new skill or behavior. As learners, we therefore need to embrace the discomfort of being beginners, to allow us to continue growing and improve as best as possible in any learning environment. Writing is a process that requires a lot of practice to be proficient. One needs to keep writing, various articles and work and through it, one improves and becomes qualified. Also, in providing feedback of work of other writers, practice is vital to ensure the writer receiving the feedback understands the information given and is able to implement in their work and develop better articles. In learning environment, practice in writing is helpful to fellow students and also one benefits through the feedback received.

Practice is essential and we should therefore consider improving on the claim. We can do this by using, deliberate or mindful practice. This form of practice is systematic and highly structured activity, that is more scientific. Instead of mindless trial and error, deliberate practice is an active and thoughtful process of hypothesis testing where we relentlessly seek solutions to any problems. Due to many challenges in the learning environment. Mindful practice ensures one is able to solve the challenges and find a way to move forward and improve their learning. Proficiency in both learning and teaching comes from more practice done during the learning processes. However, the success of learning has to involve other parties’ suggestions and feedback, in order to know where to change and improve.

With increased technology currently, practice helps to make people fast in using them and perform many of their operations through the technological systems. This is also applicable in the learning environment as assignments and classwork require technological devices to accomplish them. Regular practice makes students skilled and increase experiences, hence making activities easier and faster. Student achievement is also dependent on the writing skills as clear information requires flow of information, organization and easy understanding by the recipient. To achieve this, students need to practice a lot and ensure the incorporate the feedback received from peers and the reviewer of the course works done by students. Practice helps give a conductive, respectful and specific feedback and reviews that is constructive and helpful to recipients.

Class 2, Peer Response 1

Name

Institutional Affiliation

The author has given a glimpse of their former understanding of leadership and managed to give a detailed version about how this has changed, owing to their exposure to what strategic leadership really means. I agree with the author regarding leadership placing its focus on the accomplishment of a goal made possible through human participation and motivation (Prentice, 2004). However, a strategic leader is more than this since there are essential skills, competencies, and responsibilities that are taken into consideration, as the author details. Furthermore, a strategic leader is one who is able to bring to alignment the envisioning of the future of the organization they run and the goals to be met. This calls for a balance of a strategic leader’s expectations.

From the studies done so far, it is important to note that real-life examples help give a clearer view of what a strategic leader looks like and how that interlocks with the expectations in place. The author has managed to identify this through identifying the concepts pointed out in leaders such as Barack Obama, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt. They were all strategic leaders, each managing to bring their competencies and skills to their ability to lead their countries despite the difficulties, but in an informed way (Lindsay, 2011 & Rhodes, 2019). In their uniqueness, there were strengths that came into play, making it possible for them to be great orators and applying their skills in decision making. Such experiences help give one a good idea about the roles that strategic leaders play in a bid to be successful at their endeavors and meeting the needs of their people.

A strategic leader especially stands out, as the author mentions, when they are good communicators, anticipatory making them a visionary, have a good grasp of the systems in place, and alignment with the forces around them. These characteristics are effective in dealing with any challenges they may be faced with. The author gives an example of anticipatory skills in the Affordable Care Act for Obama and the World War II for Churchill and FDR (Cimino, 2018 & Gale, 2016). This is spot on since the leaders were able to adequately prepare for challenges before their occurrence or before the consequences took a turn for the worst.

Strategic leaders also employ consensus building with their teams for effective leadership, although this does not happen always. This means that a leader at times has to stand on their own while putting the interests of their people first. The author has been clear on this. For decisions to be made effectively, the strategic leader has to have a good understanding of the environments within which they operate and the needs as the likes of FDR, Churchill, and Obama have (Gale, 2016 & Cimino, 2018). Lastly, a strategic leader ought to be a good orator as these three were. Further to the author acquiring a good understanding of this, it is important to note that these characteristics have to align and be in sync with each other for the leader to adopt them in practice (Guillot, 2003). Understanding the system makes consensus building and anticipation easier, thus leading to clear communication with the people and the leader’s team.

References

Cimino, A. (2018). Roosevelt and Churchill: A Friendship That Saved the World. Chartwell Books.Gale, H. (2016). Obama Evaluates Obama Care Positively Some Analysts Disagree With His Conclusions. Missouri medicine, 113(5), 328.

Guillot, W. M. (2003). Strategic leadership: Defining the challenge. Air & Space Power Journal, 17(4), 67.Lindsay, J. M. (2011). George W. Bush, Barack Obama and the future of US global leadership. International Affairs, 87(4), 765-779.

Prentice, W. C. H. (2004). Understanding leadership. Harvard Business Review, 82(1), 102-109.

Rhodes, A. (2019). The Geographic President: Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Geographic Thinker and Communicator. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE NEWPORT RI NEWPORT United States.

My personal Opinion

Name of Student

Name of Institution

My Opinion

The argument of the Court of Appeal in this case is worthwhile. I concur with the Court that the jury and the District Court Judge erred in the award of damages. Of the three claims by Mrs. Clarkson, only the breach of contract claim stands out. The other two claims on fraud and breach of the Unfair Trade Practices Act were not sufficiently proven by the Plaintiff. Enquiry into damages has been a difficult area for most judges. This is because it has not been possible to arrive at one principle for awarding damages. Civil cases require judges to approximate sums of money for the loss or inconvenience suffered by the Plaintiff due to a violation of the Plaintiff’s legally enforceable interest or right. The general position on damages requires that once the Plaintiff successfully proves the facts on which damage approximation is based, the court is bound to award a reasonable sum to the Plaintiff as damages (unless public policy bars the court from awarding damages on that subject). Damages should be neither too high nor too low regarding the circumstances of a case and most importantly, courts should not award damages for sentimental reasons (Davison, 2008).

The fraud claim fails just as the Court of Appeal enunciates. The element of “deliberate or intentional” is necessary to establish any fraud claim. The Plaintiff did not reach that threshold and could not have reached it following the true picture of the facts. Moreover, the Plaintiff did not meet the threshold of violating the Unfair Trade Practices Act: the tendency to deceive. Because punitive damages are possible only where other damages such as actual and compensatory damages exist, the punitive damage in this case would also face a reversal now that the validity of two major damages are disputed. The Court of Appeal is, therefore, right to reverse the District Court’s decision in part. Perhaps the case of Pulliam Investment Co., Inc. v. Cameo Properties Banner Equities, Inc. Independence Construction Company Freedom Savings and Loan Association Independence Investment Company, 810 F.2d 1282 (4th Cir. 1987) could shed more light on the award of damages for fraud and violation of the Unfair Trade Practices Act.

References

Davison, R. P. (2008). Evaluating Contract Claims. Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Name:

Instructor:

Course:

Date:

My profound appreciation for your efforts aimed at promoting the welfare of Kentucky residents. There are developments that have taken place in the recent past that required I relocate to Sacramento, CA. My mother has a low back injury she succumbed to after a fall, a situation that called for me to move in with her to help out. The gravity of the matter required that I resign from my job at Danville and relocate. I envisioned this abrupt decision to be a temporary undertaking after which I should be able to resume residence in Kentucky State.

I have financial obligations that require an immediate income, in the midst of which I am still expending my energies trying to find a bearing in Sacramento. I have not been able to get myself a job that will see me through the myriad of expenses I have to attend to. I am currently surviving on my savings that will soon be depleted. I have limited options, so financial aid from your Unemployment Insurance Benefits is the only direction I can look towards to alleviate my situation. My unfortunate predicament is three pronged:

My sick mother cannot afford to put us up in her condition, she requires constant attention and her sickness requires that she uses most of her income on healthcare and proper medication, in addition to the debts she is servicing.

I have enrolled for culinary studies at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts and I am wholly depended on their financial aid that is barely enough to pay for the course.

I am jobless and have not been able to find employment in Sacramento, the conditions are harsh and I am yet to acclimatize to the job market disposition in California.

I filed a claim and followed due process towards the same. Your ruling to disqualify me from accessing unemployment benefits pegged wholly on my leaving work voluntarily. Be that the case, I would want you to also consider my reasons for resignation; It does not make economic sense to take care of my sick mother in Sacramento while attending to the demands of my job in Danville at the same time. My decision to enroll in College in the State of California was based purely on my desire to improve my job marketability and an understanding of the requirements of a positive growth trajectory of income.

I have had to reschedule virtually all my commitments to attend to that unfortunate family predicament. I saw priority in walking my mother through the recovery period, given that I am the only one she can depend on to run errands for her that include collecting her medication. Her emotional drain due to her condition told so much on her I felt obligated to attend to her constantly.

I have had the rigors of this personal responsibility and moving residence take their toll on my time management that I had to put off several duties that required ample time dedicated to them; these included writing this appeal and following up on it. I have enquired extensively with your office on the acceptance of this belated appeal, so I am sure I am making an informed decision. Thank you for reading my letter and I hope my appeal will be considered.

Sincerely,

Signature

Name

BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Talbot, Fiona. How to Write Effective Business English: The Essential Toolkit for Composing. Centre City: Kogan Page Publishers, 2009.

My Personal Qualities

Right from childhood, I have had a fond regard for certain personal qualities, accomplishments, contributions and talents that I can conclusively say have contributed to making me the person I am today. Born of a humble background, 25 years old now, and a student of English and Literature, I have come to understand the value of simplicity in life. I know for certain that my own life is the most precious gift I can ever have and based on this understanding I have been able to use my life to give moral support to the disadvantaged groups in the society. I strongly understand that every human being deserves a right to be happy and I consider it my personal initiative to guarantee this to every person.

I am a strong believer of social justice and I know for certain that every human being should be considered equal. I do not hesitate to do all that I can to ensure that justice prevails in the society particularly for the weak. The desperate and the destitute members of the society are held close to my heart of hearts and I believe they also have reasons to live. Since I was a child, I have always felt pain when I see others suffer. I have realized that I cannot be happy when others are sad and I have believed that the only way to be happy is making other happy.

Humility is the driving force towards my good relationship with people, my teachers, friends and family members. However, I am also very assertive especially when my conscience propels me to doing what I fundamentally believe is right. I have no reservation for the course of justice and truth. And am always willing to go an extra mile in ensuring that what my conscience considers right is done. I have no apologies at all for doing the right thing. This has sometimes seen a few friends break up with me. However, I lack ability to hold grudges; there is no hate in my heart. Even as they run away from me, I continue treating them with humility and love. With time, they come to realize that after all, I meant no harm. This has made many close friends cling to me amid many challenges.

In the field of business, I am very entrepreneurial, inventive and innovative. I have contributed significantly to the growth of my mother’s small shop in town. With the ideas that I constantly give her, she has been able to expand the shop and today it is her main source of livelihood. I particularly imparted into her the idea of taking risks, however I warned her not to take very huge risks are the consequences might sometimes be too great to contemplate. Modesty and humility are some of the key attributes that mother has learnt from me. She uses these virtues to relate well to her customers who are mostly low and medium income earners. She constantly tells me that she did not believe she could learn from her son. After all she was supposed to be my role model and I was to learn from her.

I have a wide experience in writing. I write articles and poems. Sometimes when I have nothing else to do, I find myself with a pen and a piece of paper. At one point I wrote what went down as a masterpiece article on justice and truth. Then, I was still very young and everybody wondered where I got the ability and the knowledge to write such an impeccable piece. It also goes without saying that I love reading a lot. I read biographies, novels, articles on the social world, psychology, philosophy, religion – comparative religion, Hindu, Islam, Christianity. I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I always want to know more.

My contributions to the social well being of the society are very immense. Through the articles I have been able to write, people have been enlightened on the importance of justice and truth. I have particularly played a very fundamental role in ensuring that I inform my readers on the value of truth and justice. I have had reservations for dirty, racial and ethnic politics. I believe the most fundamental thing in politics is to judge individuals not on the basis of the depth of their pockets, not on the basis of their ethnicity or race. The leaders ought to be judged by the content of their character and on the basis of the keenness of their minds. I have also been actively involved in several community development forums. I have given talks to the students in disabled schools, I have encouraged them to be useful members of the society and this has worked positively. I particularly believe in making others happy and this has guaranteed my own individual happiness and social well being.

Though still a student, I consider myself to have had a wealth of learning experience considering the many books and articles I have read. These have fundamentally shaped my character and personality. The experience I have accumulated over the years has made me to know well that the freedom of individuals should be given a very huge consideration. I am sometimes angered by the numerous prescriptions that the government and society has placed on individuals. I believe that every individual should be allowed to do what he/she wants without any restrictions so long as he/she is in his right frame of mind and his actions are not causing any harm to other individuals. This is what right to individual liberty should entail. My experience in helping the desperate and destitute members of the society has been an immense source of pride, satisfaction and fulfillment. Whenever I sit and see how many souls I have uplifted, I can’t help but expose a wide smile.

I take significant pride in these qualities because they are what define the person I am. I believe I live for some thing and when I die, I need to die having done something or better still die for something. I live because other individuals do. If it were not for them, I would not be the person I am, the more reason I do what I do.

Student’s Name

Professor

Course

Date

My Reading and Writing Experience

Since I was a small kid, I can comfortably state that I have always had great interest and awareness regarding reading and writing. As a kid, I had a smooth experience of learning because of the eminence of teaching and support that I was receiving from my family members particularly my father. I can remember well my father reading and interpreting some bedtime stories to me as a small kid, and I can attribute this to where my reading and writing experience originated from. At some times he could come home with some newspapers and other publications like magazines and ask me to read out the content for the whole family. I struggled, but with time my reading habit and skills were significantly improving.

It was during the early education that I achieved to sharpen my skills of writing and reading and this played a significant role in my life. Therefore, all the support that I received provided a good ground for me in learning first the reading and writing basics of the English language. The support made my learning to seem more manageable, and thus I had enough time to relish reading and writing outside my school work as well as handling the tasks that were set in front of me.

My school library was stocked with many books, and I never imagined setting my foot there possibly because of shyness. One day I decided to visit the library during my free time. Inside the library, I felt in a different world because of how the place was terrific. There was a serene environment, and everybody was busy with their stuff, some reading while others were writing. My attention was caught by the book entitled “Harry Potter” on one of the shelves. The book looked nice as it was well decorated by having an attractive cover page. I decided to read the first pages of the book before the library time was over.

The story was about a young boy named Harry Potter who lived with his wand-wielding friends at the time of witchcraft and wizardry. The book had an epic story such that I could not control myself from further reading. Suddenly I had the voice of the librarian, “Hey you there! The library time is already up, and you are the only one left in the library.” I looked around, and it was true, all the other students had already left. As I walked outside, I felt like I can write a whole book and I started seeing myself differently. From that day I developed the habit of going to the library since I realized that was where I fitted most. I became a great fan of the “Harry Potter” series after reading that first book. I also managed to read other fascinating books such as “The Hobbit,” “The Book Thief” as well as “The Outsiders.” These books opened my mind by increasing my reading habit up to a point where my friends regarded me as a bookworm.

Therefore reading became my hobby and hence the more books I read, the more my skills improved. When I became old enough to be able to read fluently without much struggle, I would read a storybook and then put my mental pictures from what I had learned into writing. I thus found the novice of writing as well as reading to be enjoyable as I grew. However, I was not the fastest reader nor the best writer and currently, I am still not. I prefer reading the words in a sentence at a moderate rate to read and still understand the context by just reading the writing once. Therefore my experience in reading made me believe reading as one of the significant features of education as it provides a substantial platform for all the other knowledge to be absorbed. When individuals learn to adore reading, they will hence find it simpler to enjoy all the learning.

However, I feel that my interest, as well as my desire to write, grew once I reached middle school. There before I used to read a lot with some little writing but in middle school, we were required to write some stories for a test. Our English teacher was so encouraging, and she supported us where necessary. Her proficiency in the language made to see her as my mentor. I used to go to her for assistance, and she would give me some topics and articles to write about where she later corrected me where I was wrong. She demanded a one hundred percent score from me in her subject and most of the time I gave out my best my emerging to be the top student. She encouraged me to keep reading as she saw I had a great passion for it. Presently I enjoy writing a lot since it consents me to express my feelings, establish my beautiful thoughts and to study information. Consequently, writing helps me to get my beliefs as well as opinions out in the open.

Overall, it is vivid that writing and reading come in hand in hand since, without writing, there would exist no reason to read. I consider both as my enjoyable aspect in all my school years as I enjoy both writing and reading at a personal level. Also, I tend to be very obsessive about literacy since I regard both writing and reading as the basis of learning as well as finding oneself. My journey about literacy started while I was young and I have seen the best coming from it. Reading and writing are my talents, and I feel like I can read and write forever.

History

Students Name

Institution of Affiliation

Course Title

Date

Civil religion is a concept to which dates its origin from the French political thoughts and eventually becoming a major topic for the American sociologists. The idea was first used by Robert Bellah in the 1960s. Civil religion means the inherent religious values of a nation as they are expressed via the public rituals and symbols such as the national flag and the ceremonies on the sacred days as well as at sacred places that include the battlefield, monuments and national cemeteries. Churches are excluded from the civil religion though at sometimes they are incorporated to be part of the civil religion in America. In the sociology of religion, the civil religion is regarded as the folk of the nation and as well as the political culture of the nation.

Sociologist Robert Bellah in his seminal 1967 essay, he argued that the United States had an elaborate and well and a well-instituted civil religion that existed alongside and was rather clearly differentiated from the religion conducted in the churches (Bellah & Tipton, 2006). Civil religion is also referred to as religious nationalism, public piety, shared faith and public religion, and that it provides a religious sanction for the political order as well as the divine justification for and the support for the civil society and the practices of the nations. Also, civil religion may be used to imply the state’s use of the consensus religious concepts, sentiments as well as symbols for its purposes. As a system for the established rituals, norms, values, allegiance and symbols, the civil religion is deemed to function as the social glue that binds the people of a nation together giving them an overarching sense of spiritual unity. Civil religion involves beliefs, events that reveal the purposes of God such as the American Revolution and the civil war, sacred places such as shrines to Washington, prophets such as Jefferson and Lincoln, sacred texts such as the constitution. Also, the civil religion further includes the ceremonies such as the Independence Day, hymns such as God bless America and my country as well as rituals that include the prayers at the public events such as the national day of prayers.

The Constitution in the American civil religion

Max Lerner in his classic article, the constitution and court as symbols, he pointed out to the role of the United States Constitution to what later the analysts termed as the American civil religion (Levinson, 1979). Lerner said that every tribe cling to something to which they believe to possess supernatural powers as an instrument for controlling the unknown forces in the hostile universe. The American tribe is no different from the others, and, the same and very habits of the mind derived from the authoritarian bible, as well as the religion of submission to a higher power, have also been carried over to the American authoritarian constitution. Also, philosophy to the submission to a higher law and a country like America in which its early traditions had prohibited a state church, ends by attaining a state church after all, although in a secular state. The United States Supreme Court plays a significant role in seeing to it that the constitution is followed to the letter and that the violators of the constitution do not go unpunished. The constitution being the supreme authority in the region helps to keep all the aspects in check including regulating the powers of the president and making sure that everyone is fairly treated even if not fully.

The hymn ‘God Bless America’ as a civil religion in America

The hymn God bless America is a popular song to which majority of the American population are conversant with and can be able to sing at any time if necessary. The song is taught in the American schools, and it is regularly performed at the sporting events. The hymn ‘God bless America’ sheds light on the cultural tensions that are within the US that are both past and present offering a historical chronicle that is full of surprises, and that will both edify and delight readers from all walks of life (Kaskowitz, 2013). The performance of the song at major sporting events qualifies the song to be incorporated into the components of the American civil religion as it binds all the people at the event making them be one. Furthermore, the song is taught in all schools, an indication that it is an important factor in the American population and that each person needs to know about it as well as the generations to come. The song has been passed to generations for quite a long period for now and has continued to be passed to the later generations to signify a common culture and embrace the symbolism of unity derived from the song. After the attacks of September 11th, the song God bless America was sung on the steps of the capital, at spontaneous memorial sites as well as during the seventh inning stretch at basketball games. The performance of the song at the majority of the events have made Americans become even more deeply embedded in the Americans collective consciousness. Civil religion has existed since the birth of the American republic and has continued to be present in all of the forms of the civil life, emerging with unusual strength in the times of a national crisis as evident from the hymn God Bless America. The hymn has some significant efforts to connect America with both divine blessings and guidance.

The president of America as a prophet and leader of the civil religion.

The president is a national figure and a symbol of unity, and that’s the main reason behind being led by a single president. Throughout the American history, the president has provided the leadership in the public faith. At sometimes, the president has primarily functioned as a political prophet just as the likes of Abraham Lincoln, at some occasions acting as the nation’s pastor like Dwight Eisenhower while at some times perform basically as the high priest of the civil religion like Ronald Reagan (Grinder & Shaw, 2016). In the prophetic civil religion, the president examines the nation’s actions about the transcendent values, calling upon the citizens to make sacrifices in times of crisis and also to repent of their corporate sins at the times when their behaviors fall short of the national ideals. As the national pastor, the president provides for spiritual inspirations to the people by affirming the American core values and urging them to appropriate those values and through the comfort of their afflictions. By assuming the role of the priest, the president makes America itself the ultimate reference point, leading the citizens in affirming and celebrating the nation and reminding the citizens of the country’s mission while at the same time praise and glorify his political people.

The American civil religion has been in existence since the nation became a republic. The founding fathers of the nation were responsible for the initiation of the civil religion, especially the post of the president, the constitution, national flag as well as the national currency. The components of the American civil religion are the symbols that are used to show unity among the American citizens in the manner of conducting their daily activities. The constitution acts as a check of balance and a supreme authority ensuring that justice is enforced through the courts. The hymns such as God Bless America are passed from one generation to the other as part of the American culture.

References

Bellah, R. N., & Tipton, S. M. (Eds.). (2006). The Robert Bellah Reader. Duke University Press.

Grinder, D., & Shaw, S. (2016). The Presidents & Their Faith: From George Washington to Barack Obama. Elevate Publishing.

Kaskowitz, S. (2013). God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song. Oxford University Press.

Levinson, S. (1979). ” The Constitution” in American Civil Religion. The Supreme Court Review, 1979, 123-151.

Civil religion

OUTLINE

IntroductionOrigin and Concept of civil religion-

Civil religion is a concept to which dates its origin from the French political thoughts and eventually becoming a major topic for the American sociologists. Civil religion means the inherent religious values of a nation as they are expressed via the public rituals and symbols such as the national flag and the ceremonies on the sacred days as well as at sacred places that include the battlefield, monuments and national cemeteries.

Bellah’s contributions in civil religion

Sociologist Robert Bellah in his seminal 1967 essay, he argued that the United States had an elaborate and well and a well-instituted civil religion that existed alongside and was rather clearly differentiated from the religion conducted in the churches

Forms of civil religion in America

The American constitution

Max Lerner in his classic article, the constitution and court as symbols, he pointed out to the role of the United States Constitution to what later the analysts termed as the American civil religion

The hymn God bless America

The song is taught in the American schools, and it is regularly performed at the sporting events. The hymn ‘God bless America’ sheds light on the cultural tensions that are within the US that are both past and present offering a historical chronicle that is full of surprises, and that will both edify and delight readers from all walks of life

The American president as a prophet

Throughout the American history, the president has provided the leadership in the public faith. At sometimes, the president has primarily functioned as a political prophet just as the likes of Abraham Lincoln, at some occasions acting as the nation’s pastor like Dwight Eisenhower while at some times perform basically as the high priest of the civil religion like Ronald Reagan

Conclusion

The American civil religion has been in existence since the nation became a republic. The components of the American civil religion are the symbols that are used to show unity among the American citizens in the manner of conducting their daily activities.

Bibliography

Bellah, R. N., & Tipton, S. M. (Eds.). The Robert Bellah Reader. Duke University Press. (2006). 

Grinder, D., & Shaw, S. The Presidents & Their Faith: From George Washington to Barack Obama. Elevate Publishing. (2016). 

Kaskowitz, S. God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song. Oxford University Press. (2013). 

Levinson, S. “The Constitution” in American Civil Religion. The Supreme Court Review, 1979, 123-151. (1979).

Assignment 1

My Opportunities

Student’ Name

Student’s ID

MWL 101 Personal Insight

Lecturer’s Name

Trimester: 201903

Word Count:

Executive Summary

I would utilize this report to present, analyze and evaluate my skills, traits and characteristics that with respect to my career growth and desire to work in the Tourism and Hospitality industry. Accordingly, this document would rely on my professional and industrial dashboards its basis. Precisely, I would utilize different tools including the 16 personalities test, shapes, academic review, personal performance style and values to test, identify and present my characteristics, skills and traits. Subsequently, I would respond to the findings from the different tests that I conducted. Moreover, the report presents my strengths and weaknesses, analyze and evaluate them (strengths and weaknesses) with regards to my desired job and industry. Thus, I would explain the importance of every strength and negative impacts of my weaknesses. Further, the report illuminates on the trends shaping the Tourism and Hospitality industry, analyze and evaluate such trends to determine employability level of the industry in the next couple of years. Finally, the document offers detailed analysis and evaluation of gaps in my skills with regards to the requirements of the selected industry. Conversely, the findings indicate that the Tourism and Hospitality industry is a highly-competitive industry that continues developing due to the ever-changing demands of its varied groups of customers. Luckily, I exhibit some of the essential skills and traits that are vital in the Tourism and Hospitality industry. Such skills include altruism, leadership, tolerance and reliability. As the industry strives to remain relevant and ensure provision of quality services and products, it focuses on recruiting highly-qualified individuals. Thus, this report presents my skills gap that I should handle to increase chances of succeeding in my career.

1.0Introduction

The Tourism and Hospitality industry serves as the most dynamic industries that continuously evolve since it focuses on offering quality products and services to a wide array of clientele. Tourists’ demands and expectations tend to change with time and differ from one category of individuals to the next. Moreover, the advancing technology impacts significantly on the industry as relevant tourism firms that entail hotels, travel agencies and airlines strive to establish, install and utilize the most suitable technologies for seamless communication and related processes. Consequently, individuals working under the industry of Tourism and Hospitality are expect to demonstrate particular skills and capabilities to ensure they remain competent in the highly-competitive environment. The relatively challenging processes of handling diversified types of tourists rely significantly on the ability of an individual to critically analyze and evaluate the business environment, determine and deliver the most appropriate products and services that meet or exceed expectations of the clients. Currently, I could adequately work as a management trainee in the industry following my limited scope of skills and experience. Accordingly, this report strives to illustrate and explain my current skills, characteristics and traits. Moreover, the report presents appropriate improvements that I ought to accomplish to attain better chances of excelling in my career. Therefore, this document presents descriptions, analysis and evaluation of my skills, characteristics and traits while focusing on necessary adjustments to remain relevant and competent in the dynamic industry.

2.0My Capabilities

2.2 My Capabilities – Analysis

2.2.1 Findings of My Tests

I strongly agree with the results since they paint my picture at a relatively high degree. I am an extrovert who likes hanging out with different persons including friends, relatives and family members. I spend most of my mental energy on handling intuitive processes rather than making mere observations of prevailing conditions. Consequently, emotions greatly influence my decision-making activities. Even so, I rely significantly on judgment to evaluate and determine suitable approaches with regards to my decisions-making processes, planning and execution of my duties and responsibilities. My overall identity is turbulent because I always desire more improvements, performances and developments (See Appendix personality 3).

I am a great Hospitality and Tourism enthusiast with desired traits and characteristics. For instance, I demonstrate excellent attitudes to tourism and hospitality related processes and operations. Moreover, I have great strategies, preferences, habits and skills that facilitate better development and growth in the industry. Unfortunately, I have a little weak experience in the hospitality and tourism industry since I have spent most of my time in studying with extremely limited industrial experiences (See appendix 1).

2.2.2 My Strengths and Weaknesses (Areas of Improvement)

As a protagonist, I exhibit some of the most crucial traits and characteristics that would contribute immensely in my career growth and development. I am a reliable individual who can be entrusted with varied activities and processes. Moreover, I am a charismatic person who can easily win attention of my audience and develop suitable communication environment. Still, I can tolerate varied situations and individuals, hence can work effectively in teamwork. Naturally, I am a true leader. My teammates would probably request me to lead them in handling varied events. Also, I am an altruistic person who strives to attract goodness for the largest number of parties (See appendix 3).

On the contrary, I exhibit some traits and characteristics that attract negative consequences with regards to my career development. As a protagonist, I am overly idealistic, and thus could realize many instances of conflicts with my workmates. Moreover, I am too selfless and hence my end up spending virtually all of my energy and time helping my workmates. Still, I am too sensitive and could end up suffering from relatively minor and less-relevant issues. Finally, I exhibit a fluctuating self-esteem that could attract detrimental effects with regards to my motivation (See appendix Personal 3).

2.2.3 Impact of these Strengths and Weakness on My Job Choice

Being an outgoing person would enable me to interact effectively with some ease while handling my managerial duties. Such a desirable aspect would enable me to overcome fear and socialize with persons from varied backgrounds, a practice that is expected of every hospitality and tourism personnel. Moreover, leadership skills would contribute significantly to effecting delivery of my duties as a manager. Also, I would be striving to attract more successes and improvement of applicable processes through the effect of my turbulent identity and altruism (See appendix personal 3).

Unfortunately, the weaknesses in my experiences, traits, skills and characteristics would adversely impact on my capacities to perform as a manager. Emotions would negatively impact on decision-making processes my forcing me to make conclusions that may be inappropriate to the industry, instead, I would be developing decisions that favor my desires and those of my organization. Similarly, limited exposures and experiences would negatively impact on my effectiveness and efficiencies when handling my managerial roles (See appendix 1).

Additionally, my selfless nature could adversely impact on my service delivery capacities. I would be spending more time helping others other than handling my duties. Also, the fluctuating self-esteem could result in loss of motivation. Moreover, my tendency to spend lots of time handling a given role could result in unwanted delays (See appendix 3).

Conclusion

Various tests as seen in my professional dashboard reveal that I exhibit lots of positive traits, characteristics and skills that are critical in the dynamic Tourism and Hospitality industry. My extrovert nature empowers me to effectively interact and work with persons from varied backgrounds, a practice that is inevitable in the industry. Moreover, my excellent attitudes and preferences toward the industry processes and operations are invaluable in encouraging more growth and development. Similarly, my capacity to intuitively handle situations and make appropriate judgments would allow me to properly execute my duties as a manager by facilitating development of informed decisions. Similarly, my turbulent identity contributes significantly in ensuring that I yearn for better performances and improvements at personal and organizational levels. Furthermore, I am a charismatic person who is a leader by nature. Even so, I am too sensitive, tolerant and idealistic, conducts that could attract unwanted consequences that include unnecessary focus on minor or irrelevant issues and wastage of time. Nonetheless, my relatively limited experiences in the industry coupled with my practice of making decisions under the influence of emotions could attract undesired consequences. Accordingly, I strive to develop such areas of weaknesses to remain more competent in the industry whose jobs become more competitive with time. I endeavor to acquire more knowledge and skills to close the existing gap and gain more competing capabilities to improve chances of prospering in my career. Thus, establishment and evaluation of professional and industry dashboards at regular intervals are invaluable in facilitating career development.

Appendix 1: SHAPE

Weaker areas Strengths

0-5 5-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50

Non-existent Very weak Weak Quite weak A little weak SHAPES OK Quite good Good Very good Excellent

Skills Habits Attitudes Preferences Experience Strategies Appendix 2: PPF Table

PPF Aspect Score Level and direction of preference

Structure 25 A score of 20 – 30 for the ‘More structure’ column suggests you have a strong preference for working or studying in an organised and systematic way. This can be a very productive way of working, and you are likely to be someone who gets things done and in an organised and timely fashion. It is worth considering whether more flexibility and openness to new ideas would benefit your performance. Danger points to watch for are over-rigid ways of thinking and working (79).

External Direction 21 A score of 20 – 30 for the ‘Less external direction’ column suggests you have a strong preference for taking control over how you work. This can be very useful in developing as an independent, autonomous learner, capable of taking on new projects and setting targets for yourself. It is worth considering whether you need to be more open to ideas from others. Danger points to watch for are possible weaknesses in team working and not fulfilling the requirements for an assignment (81).

Working with Others 27 A score of 20 – 30 for the ‘working with others’ column suggests a strong social preference when working or studying. This can be very useful for gaining a wide set of perspectives and ideas, for developing social skills, for team working and for developing mutual support. It is worth considering how far you would benefit from more time studying independently. Danger points are possible over-reliance on others and not developing your own ideas in an independent way (80).

Physical Stimulus 2 Scores of 2 for any item suggests that your performance might be affected if that stimulus is not present (81)

Global / Serialist 22 A score of 20 – 30 for the ‘Serialist styles’ column suggests you take a logical, analytical approach to study. This can be very useful in ensuring clarity and structure in your work. It is worth considering whether you need to create opportunities for developing your imagination and intuition. It may help to experiment with searching out links and connections between ideas. Possible weaknesses may be in drawing together your ideas into a strong whole and in making connections between what you are studying and the bigger picture (83).

Pressure 27 Scores of 20– 30 for ‘low pressure’ suggest that you may be good at protecting your health and well-being, and at producing good work even when there isn’t external pressure to do so. You need to beware of over-sensitivity to stress and to external requirements and conditions.

VAK 45 No strong preference: If your scores for all three areas are similar, then you may not have a strong sensory preference for learning. If your scores are high (40– 48 for each area), then you use all of your senses well to assist your learning. If scores are low (between 0 and 24), you may need to use your senses more consciously to assist your learning and experiment more with your learning

Appendix 3: 16 Personalities