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Leadership Development: Philosophy Statement

Successful leaders are those who hold deep outlooks on their roles as leaders. Studies on leadership development illustrate that a leader’s attitudes and beliefs regarding leadership determines their success as a leader. Accordingly, leaders are required to develop a philosophy statement, which they will employ in their leadership activities and programs. In the field of leadership development, the term, philosophy statement, refers to a personal analysis of crucial assumptions and beliefs regarding leadership. Subsequently, these assumptions are what leaders employ in their respective institution for the success of their operational activities.

This paper presents a personal philosophy statement. The first section of the paper provides the actual philosophy statement of beliefs, whereas the second section presents a justification and explanations of these beliefs.

Philosophy Statement of Beliefs

Not everyone can be a leader, and for that reason, I believe that good leader is a unique individual who believes in stepping up the plate and taking on leadership roles. A good leader believes in instilling a sense of direction in others, so as to show his team members what needs to be done and why (Daft and Lane 1-493). A good leader is one who is confident in what he or she does. He believes that his projects have some significance to his institution and will focus on the best interest of the institution, as well as, his team members. A good leader is also one who believes in organization and order. Good leaders ensure that all their activities and projects, no matter how small they are, are orderly and purposeful. Good leaders are also those individuals who display composure and tolerance in during uncertainty (Daft and Lane 1-493). This is closely related to confidence, and they do not let their emotions get in the way of their work and what they believe in. Good leaders are also focused on the tasks of the organization, as well as, their roles as leaders in the performance of these tasks. They do not lag behind and wait for others to complete their assignments for them and instead they remain focused on the task at hand. Relevantly, good leaders are committed to excellence (Daft and Lane 1-493). They lay emphasis of maintaining high standards in what they do, and they work towards the achievement of excellence at all times. Conclusively, I believe that good leadership is primarily about taking initiative and assuming responsibility for work done in a team setting. Good leaders do not shy away from taking a lead, and is not afraid of being held responsible for work done by others.

Justification and Explanations

Listing personal attitudes and beliefs about good leaders and leadership is not enough to convince individuals on one’s philosophy and statement. For that reason, there is needed to provide a justification or rationale for what is presented in the listing of the philosophy statement. As previously mentioned, I believe that there are several attributes of good leaders and leadership including, confidence, organization and order, composure and tolerance, focus, commitment to excellence, responsibility, and taking initiative. The rationale and justification for these attributes are provided below.

Confidence

The position of leadership requires constant self-assurance, and for that reason, good leaders are inherently confident. If one is to take into consideration the many leaders who exist in society today, then they notice that most of these leaders are highly confident in themselves and their work. Confidence is what draws people to their leaders (Daft and Lane 1-493). This is because a leader’s confidence gives his team members the assurance that they are in good hands with such a leader. In essence, a leaders confidence gives his followers the confidence that what is being done ill yield good results (Daft and Lane 1-493). For a leader to set direction for his team members, he or she needs to appear as confident in his respective leadership role. A leader’s confidence motivates his followers into performing their duties. A confident leader inspires confidence in his followers and draws out the best efforts in these individuals. Such a person also encourages trust between his followers and himself, as well as, among his followers, thus ensuring that the work gets done in time. Leadership demands confidence because a confident leader suggests resilience in proposed objectives, hence, inspiring the greatest team member efforts.

Organization and Order

Good leadership demands organization and order. This is because unlike other positions, the leadership position demands that all activities be organized and systemized at all times (Daft and Lane 1-493). All institutional settings require that particular tasks be carried out for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. Because of the multifaceted nature of operations, individuals in these institutions take up different roles so as to ensure that the organization meets it goals and objectives. The leaders role, in such a case revolves around the planning and organization of activities and tasks to be taken on by his team members. For that reason, the leader needs to ensure that there is organization and order in his particular institution of the organization is to achieve the desired objective. A good leader needs to function orderly, and purposefully, so as to ensure that his team members are performing their tasks as expected. He needs to organize the teams in accordance with their tasks, as well as, give orders on what should and should not be done with relation to organizational goals and objectives. A leaders success is determined by the way in which he ensures organization and order in the tasks, as well as, team members. Leadership requires organization and order because carrying out tasks is hard and complex, and for that reason demands the best performance of duties and responsibility, which is only attainable through proper planning and organization.

Composed and Tolerant of Ambiguity

As mentioned earlier, good leaders are those individuals who are highly tolerant of uncertainty in their respective workplaces (Daft and Lane 1-493). The nature of work is that it experiences constant change at almost all time. Various unexpected events can occur during the course of work, most of which catch the people involved by surprise. Because no one can predict the things that can happen during the performance of work, there is need for the assurance of composure in the face of changes in the institutional setting. Evidently, most of the unexpected changes in an organization are negative and they end up affecting the organization in one way or another. For that reason, good leaders are those individuals who display the best sense of tolerance and composure when facing difficulties (Daft and Lane 1-493). They do not believe in panicking because panic disrupts organization and order in the institutions. Leadership demands that leaders remain steadfast to organizational goals and objectives irrespective of the challenges that they might face during the process. Successful leadership can only be achieved when the leader remains unshaken by both good and bad events that disrupt the organizational task. Good leaders should have the ability to recover themselves from such situations and successfully direct their teammates towards the achievement of organizational goals.

Focus 

Related to the need for composure and tolerance, a good leader is also one who is focused and remains focused on his duties, as well as, the attainment of organizational goals and objectives (Daft and Lane 1-493). Good leaders are able to think analytically and for that reason are focused at all times. A good leader is focused because focus allows the leader to examine their situation as a whole, as well as, in subsystems so as to understand how operational activities can be best conducted for the best results. By doing this, the leader is able to have a clear view of the goals and objectives of the organizations and can subsequently break them down to manageable steps for organizational progress.

Commitment to Excellence 

Good leaders are those who are committed to excellence because it is only through this commitment that they can lead their team members into the achievement of organizational goals and objectives (Daft and Lane 1-493). Commitment to excellence gives the “good” in good leadership. Otherwise, if a leader is not committed to excelling, then he or she cannot be termed as a good leader. Instead, such a leader is a failure, and for that reason, cannot be deemed as a leader. Leaders lead people and organizations to success and not failure. Failure to commit to excellence beat the logic of good leadership, which in turn leads to the failure of most organizations (Daft and Lane 1-493). Good leadership requires that leaders maintain high performance standards through raising the bar for their teammates for the achievement of excellence in all areas of the organization.

Responsibility

There is no such thing as an irresponsible leader. Leadership demands first hand responsibility as leaders commit themselves to leadership positions. Responsibility refers to a leader’s dependability in relation to successful execution of tasks (Daft and Lane 1-493). Responsibility is the key to influencing people, which is the reason why most political leaders today have successfully managed to gain followers. Those who do not exercise responsibility end up failing and losing their team members as they cannot be trusted to perform their leadership roles and tasks as expected. Irresponsible leadership results in organizational disaster: for that reason, leadership demands that all leaders take up responsibility for the organization and their team members for organizational success.

Taking Initiative

Conclusively, good leaders are those who take up the initiative so as to get to the leadership position. Taking initiative is in the crux of being a good leader and successful leadership, and it involves stepping up one’s plate and taking on the role as a leader (Daft and Lane 1-493). It is by far the most inherent quality of leaders as it is the first step of determining whether an individual gains the leadership role that he desires. Taking initiative is the first step of leadership, as the leader gains the confidence to set himself apart from the rest of the people as a leader. Leadership requires that spirited leaders take initiative for the leadership position so as to elicit themselves to their team members as the leaders of the group.

Work Cited

Daft, Richard L. and Lane, Patricia, G. The Leadership Experience. United Kingdom: Cengage

Learning, 2007. Print.

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Introduction

Many people believe ethics is being morally correct or incorrect. But in summary, professional ethics is the ability, to know what is correct and incorrect in the places of work. This is in consideration to the services rendered by the organization. To encourage professional ethics, many organizations have made rules in the places of work that help to guide the workers of what should be done. Work ethics are essential for employees to work in peace and enjoy a serene working environment.

The failure to follow the rules of conduct, by the organization could lead to low production, or the production coming to a halt, the workers might not also enjoy the work, examples of work place ethics comprised of work attendance, the ability to work as a team, appearance, level of production, the employees loyalty, integrity, accountability, and dependability. Values are the things that one considers as significant (Kvale 120). Some values contain various characteristics like, compassionate nature, reliability; professional values are the ones that the employee share in the organization, to help the employees to do what is right (Wendleton, 220). When putting into practice another person’s ethics, they must judge what the most significant values means to them. After deliberating and identifying the most significant values to them, they can reflect on the values related to their career choice (Kvale 150). The organization might be looking for an individual with the traits to feel a certain post. An organization may want persons with traits such as kindness, appreciation, firmness, antagonism, esteem, and friendships.

A person who poses and shows professional ideals, and moral values can advance their career in a variety of ways. If an organization has put down clear rules on the code of conduct in the organization, the employees working within the organization should use the opportunity to advance their career, by proving that they can be depended on, hard working, and motivated may bring them success (Wendleton, 220). If an employee is given a task to work on by the employer, then the employee decides to work at night to ensure the completion of the work on time, it might show the employer how committed the employee is, and how much they want to move up the organization’s ladder through dedication. If the employee can show that they have an idea, of what the organization advocates for, and can depict that to the employer then the employee can gain lots of respect from the employer that can bring about promotion of the employee. It is constantly significant, to bear in mind that whenever an employer wants to promote an employee, the employer looks at the employees previous performance, responsibilities, and the pecking order.

Interrogation

Questioning, a possible suspect entails using a variety of skills. Cross-examination is naturally challenging (Wendleton, 280). The detective cross-examining the possible suspect would need to suppress the anger within the possible suspect, avoid war of words, and make the possible suspect open up to him to get additional information (Kvale 120). The purpose for an interrogation is for the detective to get more information from the suspect than to create tension (Wendleton, 290). In that case, the detective should consider the questions they ask the suspect. The first time a suspect is brought the questions that they should ask the suspect are questions like, asking the suspect what he likes doing during free time, the suspect’s hobbies, and even how the family is doing. These questions are to unnerve the suspect and make the suspect open up to the detective. After that, the detective can ask questions about the case. Asking the suspect where they were at a certain time, the persons they were with, and if the people the suspect mentioned can support the suspect’s story beyond any reasonable doubt (Kvale 170).

During the cross-examination, three detectives should be present, one would be investigating the alibi to prove if they are saying the truth, and the other two will be asking questions to the suspect. Another significant part of cross-examination is looking at the body language of the suspect as it can help to check if the suspect is saying the truth. Basic skills of telling whether a person is lying or not, can be gained by carrying out frequent interrogation. The daily interaction with different kinds of people can help one to tell when one is lying by looking at the body language (Kvale 120). That experience gained by looking at people’s behavior can be applied during interrogation.

Conclusion

Organizations are forever determined to display what they can offer and their exceptional competence. If one sabotages the organization in anyway, it could bring about the termination of employment of the person. For example, if an organization decides that employing the minorities is their priority in order to bring uniformity. The person responsible for hiring the organization employees should do as instructed, even if the person does not like the idea. If the employee allows personal principles, to come before the organizations principles then the employee would be jeopardizing their job. Every employee should always remember that professional ethics is of tremendous importance to them and organizations which they work for.

Work cited

Kvale, Steinar. Doing interviews. London: SAGE Publications, 2007. Print

Wendleton, Kate. Getting interviews. Franklin Lakes, N.J.: Career Press, 2000. Print.

Historical Film Review Essay

Professor J. BejaranoMany people learn about historical events through film and television. Historical Dramas are popular in most of the world. Writing, as an analytical tool, is vital to the college student and to your success. This assignment combines these two into a single, mostly enjoyable, experience. Film, itself, acts like a preservation tool. It not only freezes knowledge about the past but it also conserves the interpretation of it. For example, research changes and views change. Film can be used to examine those changes as researches record data on film. The same is true of Historical television and film. Even historical dramas, which seem highly romanticized, have kernels of truth.

Assignment: Analyze a historical film and construct a 3-5 page essay which answers the required questions. The purpose is to examine issues the film addresses, the film’s importance, your reaction to the film and its content, and mainly, to make critical and analytical connections between class content, outside research and the film.

Requirements: Address these, in detail, using at least 5 outside sources for support. 3-5 pages, 12pt Times New Roman, Double Spaced, Chicago Style Footnotes, Cover Page and Works Cited.

Describe the film. What historical subjects does it try to illustrate? What is the setting? What is the plot? What is the purpose of the film?

Describe the major theme, or themes, of the film. Major themes include things like “Individuality vs Society” or “Triumphing over Adversity”. You may find this article helpful.

Evaluate the film itself. How was the script? The acting? The cinematography? The production quality? Did you notice any obvious symbolism, foreshadowing or storytelling techniques? What types of people would this film appeal to?

Summarize the film’s strengths and weaknesses. List at least 3 strengths and explain how they help the film. Also, list 3 weaknesses and how they might impact the viewers of the film.

Relate the material and analyze. Make those important connections between course content (lectures, textbook, readings, websites, discussions, primary sources reviews, etc.) and the film. Is it realistic? It is accurate? How does it add to or harm the historical knowledge on the topic?

You might find these resources helpful:Prof. B. Historical Essay Videohistorymikelib.berkeley.eduhistoryprofessor.org

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Australian Hardware: Continuous Improvement Strategy

Company Overview

The Australian Hardware was established in the year 1921 while using the name Percy’s Home Goods. The name was changed in 1952 and in 1982 the firm became a public company when it was floated in the Stock Exchange of Australia. Percy Greenwright’s family is the major shareholder of the company with Holden Greenwright as the CEO and chairperson of the board of directors. It operates about 138 stores across the country with more than 1000 employees. The main products of the company include timber, hardware, outdoor, hardware, tools, paint, and garden. Australian hardware remains a competitively priced firm and offers high-quality and innovative products.

Continuous Improvement Methodologies

Total Quality Management

The best continuous improvement methodology for Australian Hardware is the Total Management Quality because it focuses on different areas of the company to boost efficiency and effectiveness. The main principles that will help enhance efficiency include customer focus, leadership, and process approach, the involvement of people, continual improvement, systems approach to management, supplier focus, and process approach. Customer focus entails the need for an Australian Hardware to be aware of customer requirements and often satisfy them. Leadership is about creating effective leadership of the company to ensure that it creates unity of purpose among all stakeholders. Such leadership also promotes the involvement of people to ensure that there is an appropriate interaction between people and systems in the company. The organization should be treated as a system that has an interrelated set of activities that link the internal and external environment of the organization.

Decision-Making Tools: Root Cause Analysis

A root cause analysis is the most appropriate approach to the identification of problems and making key decisions at the company. It is a collective term that illustrates a wide range of tools, techniques, and approaches utilized to uncover different issues. There are different techniques and approaches to root cause analysis. However, the best for the Australian hardware is the Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making model which involves situation, problem, solution, and potential problem analysis. These phases help identify a visible problem and analyze it to determine the root cause of a given problem.

Encouraging Participation

During implementation, there is a need for enhanced participation among all stakeholders to ensure success in the process. In this view, the change leader will be expected to communicate and negotiate with all stakeholders to encourage their participation. The negotiations shall entail listening and solving the fears and questions of the stakeholders to avoid any resistance. For one to successfully conduct this process the change leaders must have interpersonal, team decision-making, and negotiation skills. The change leader ought to communicate the need for change, the approaches required, the benefits of the changes not only to the company but also all stakeholders, and negotiate with them to find a compromise in some areas.

Building Ownership and Work Culture

To ensure that there is the sustainability of the changes, there is a need to ensure that all stakeholders in the company own the change and accept it. They must be encouraged to ensure that their participation is valued. There is also a need to communicate that participation in the improvement process is necessary. The participation shall also be measured among other performance management indexes, acknowledged and rewarded. The continuous improvements shall be incorporated in the organizational culture to ensure that it becomes part of the organizational structure and behaviors. These organizational cultures shall be continuously communicated to all stakeholders.

Impact of Continuous Improvement Measures

Communications to Stakeholders

Implementation of the continuous improvement methodologies at Australian hardware will have significant impacts on communication among stakeholders. The improvement methodologies will streamline communication between the company and the customers since it emphasizes customer focus. Besides, continuous improvement encourages the involvement of all stakeholders through effective communication. To ensure that all stakeholders including the shareholders, the management, and employees focus on the objectives of the company there is a need for effective communication strategies that encourage feedback and giving personal views and opinions. Moreover, continuous improvement shall improve communication between the company and the suppliers since there shall be a constant engagement between the two parties at all times.

Knowledge Management and Information Flow

The continuous improvement shall ensure that there is effective management of knowledge and information flow. The system ensures that the company can identify the existing source of knowledge and improve on them. It creates a system where the firm can map, index, categorize and evaluate its knowledge assets. This will make sure that the information gathered and shared is adequate and accurate. Besides, continuous improvement will promote prompt and specific knowledge sharing system. That is, the information shall be delivered to the right people at the right time. It offers a platform to continuously asses the existing communication structures to identify challenges and help promote the swift flow of information.

Sustainability and Sustainability Objectives

Sustainable continuous improvement necessitates the engagement of all stakeholders at all levels as well as a robust management system that enhances long-term and incremental culture-based changes. The process of continuous improvement boosts engagement of employees, development of their competencies and skills to effect improvement of processes. It creates an integrative improvement approach that is designed around the products, customers, and processes. This translates to functional improvements, for instance, maintenance, quality, and demand and supply planning. Continuous improvements necessitate complete integrative improvement which includes systems, tools, and principles that are always ready. The process promotes systemic, multidimensional methods to make sure structural, behavioral, and process alignment which promotes sustainability.

Performance Management

Continuous improvements enhance the engagement of all employees and facilitate the effective flow of information. These ensure that all employees understand their performance metrics and the rewards that accompany them. As a result, the employees will understand what is expected of them and can commit to achieving it. Besides, the engagement process created by the continuous improvement will ensure that employees can communicate their challenges and the management responds promptly to ensure that they maintain high productivity. The system ensures that the challenges and issues affecting employees can be reviewed and analyzed through root cause analysis to find an immediate solution that promotes employee welfare.

Legislative Compliance

Legislative compliance is a crucial component in the company. It is essential that Australian hardware conform and comply with all regulations to avoid issues that can destroy its brand image. Therefore, continuous improvement creates a means through which the company can continuously review its legal compliance status and rectify areas with issues. Besides, it encourages continuous engagement with external stakeholders which include the government and other agencies to ensure compliance. It also ensures that employees are educated on different policies and regulations to ensure there are legal compliance at all levels of the company. Through root cause analysis the company can also identify issues that can result in potential violations and ensure that procedures are put in place to address the challenges.

Part C: Portfolio of Work Communication Strategy

Communication Objectives

Communicate the need for the continuous improvement initiatives

Illustrate the value of the continuous improvement across the company

Communicate the parameters of continuous improvement to be adopted at the company.

Target Audience

Individual employees

Work Teams

Communication Medium

Emails: It shall be used to communicate to the individual employees

Team Meetings: It shall be used to communicate to work teams

Procedures for Communicating Continuous Improvement Activities Outcomes

Monitoring and Evaluation: All initiatives shall be reviewed and monitored to facilitate identification of challenges and successes.

There shall be short-term and ling-term outcomes at each step

The short-term outcomes shall be communicated when each step of every activity is completed

The long-term outcomes shall be based on the implementation matrix.

Personal outcomes shall be reviewed and communicated through performance appraisals.

The main communication channels for outcomes shall be the emails and team meetings.

Monitoring Strategy

Targets

Attain customer-focused operations and services

Reduce operational costs

Increase revenue per customer interaction

Standards

Customer-centered services

Compliances with legislations

Compliance with company policies and procedures

KPIs

The Key KPIs include

Operational cost reduction

Sales

Revenue generated

Customer satisfaction

Responsibilities for recording and reporting

Each team should generate review reports on monthly, quarterly, and annual basis

Management should generate review report for shareholders

Timelines

The continuous improvements to be carried out on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis

Technologies and Systems for reporting

Customer relationship management

Performance Management systems

Project Management software such as Microsoft Share point

Procedures for Special Meeting and managers CI Teams

Day to day processes and activities, and outputs shall be reviews

The performance of partners and staff shall be reviewed constantly

Regular meetings and interviews shall be the main channel of review and communication

The evaluation shall be done in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis

Regular reports must be generated and distributed to partners and stakeholders.

Leadership Styles

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The nursing industry has a challenge of dealing with the issue on finding the appropriate nursing leadership. Every nurse is in need of skills in favor of powerful leadership. The latter does not matter if one is in a position of top management, or provides care to patients directly. Any person in the nursing industry is considered a leader as long as they are in authority. Also, leaders are nurses that offer assistance to patients (Jooste, 2004). Nurses involved in influencing others through caring as well as caring for patients are known as leaders in clinical nursing. Often leadership is described as being behaviors that are influenced by a person’s attitude. The latter are more vital as compared to engaging in certain tasks or having certain skills. When exemplary leadership is shown by nurses, other people are affected positively by it.

Nursing leaders help other employees by being their visionaries and not enforcing opinion s and views upon them. They make sure that they do not control other people but merely guide them. Also, in nursing leadership, Employees are helped in making sure that there activities are organized and controlled appropriately. There are many levels whereby, leadership exists and it involves goal attainment and group setting. Many types of nursing leadership exist, and they include; laissez faire, bureaucratic, participative, authoritative leadership and situational leadership. Nurse leaders who do not allow fellow work mates to engage in decision making are known as being autocratic leaders. While this is in contrast to nurse leaders, who allow fellow employees to engage in decision making. The latter are known as participative leaders (Outhwaite, 2003).

The most beneficial form of leadership in nursing is known as situational leadership. Nurse leaders make sure that they incorporate the various methods of leadership styles. This will depend upon the follower’s competence as well as the situation which has been presented to them. In nursing, the leadership style that is used should bring about few disruptions and increase work performance levels (Kelly & Crawford, 2008). This is depending on the various situations that exist in a nurses work routine. It should be known that there is a difference between leadership and management in nursing. Managers are involved in controlling, organizing and planning, and these roles are different from that in leadership. On the other hand, leaders are involved in empowerment, inspiration; motivating and communicating vision to their fellow employees. Leaders always seek to ensure that the organization undergoes significant change in order to become successful.

In nursing leadership is described as an art and management is referred to as a science. Often in management, there are a series of steps, which have to be followed to meet demands at the work place. Leadership is more beneficial than management as the latter is involved in making people at the work place happy with their work (Sullivan, 2004). They come up with objectives and goals, which have to be met for the improvement of the running of operations. Managers usually follow only procedure and will not divert away as they are afraid of risks. On the other hand, leaders seek to challenge the status quo as they never seem to be satisfied. In conclusion, anyone has the ability of being a leader regardless of whether they are in authority or not. Professionals in the health care system should be aware that they will have an opportunity of demonstrating leadership. Thus, they should strive to acquire the traits related to appropriate and effective leadership.

References

Jooste, K. (2004). Leadership: A new perspective. Journal of Nursing Management, 12, 217-223

Kelly, P. & Crawford, H. (2008). Nursing leadership and management: First Canadian edition. Toronto: Nelson.

Sullivan, E. J. (2004). Becoming influential: A guide for nurses. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Outhwaite, S. (2003). The importance of leadership in the development of an integrated team. Journal of Nursing Management, 11, 371-76.

Employment Law

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In every large firm, there has to be a human resource manager and each has various responsibilities. They are in charge of employee welfare to ensure that the needs of employees are well catered for .This will in turn ensure that that they are taken care off. Employees can at any one time, become disabled while at the work place, and it can be in a temporary form. There are certain laws, which apply to employees, who become temporarily disabled at the work place. This act came into being after the efforts of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (Cabrelli, 2007). Most times, they are two types of benefits, which occur as a result of temporary disability. They are the temporary partial and temporary total benefits.

In order to qualify for these benefits, a doctor must be consulted .The doctor must ensure that they are treating the employee. The WSIB must be made aware that the employee has a medical problem or an injury, which is work related. This means that they are not in a position to work for some time. In the case of temporary total benefits, the employee is awarded a substantial amount of money. This means that they are entitled to a take-home-pay of 90%, as a result of being injured, while at the work place. The benefits are awarded as long as the doctor approves of the situation (Cabrelli, 2007). WSIB must approve everything the doctor is recommending; otherwise they will not award the employee any benefits. Also, in the future, the employee must prove that they can work, to the WISB. If the employee is not likely to improve, WISB will not continue awarding the benefits to the injured employee. The employee will thus be given their pension, and if the employee improves, they will be given their temporary benefits. This is after a thorough assessment by the WISB.

There are many times when conflict arises between civil rights and collective bargaining, as a result of contract rights. An example of a situation in real life is when a school board is at conflict with a union for teachers. In collective bargaining, there are certain resolutions and obligations, which have to be met. This means that in any bargaining agreement, there has to be good faith and exclusivity. An example of where conflict arises in such matters is in school boards whether private or public. This is because according to the schools unions, they are entitled to extreme exclusivity. The bargaining unit and the collective interests of the elected union are bargained through good faith. Good faith is extremely essential in all the different processes, as the situation is bound to become heated and intense.

It must be known that in an agreement of collective bargaining, certain constitutional and statutory provisions cannot be contradicted or violated. This agreement should also ensure that contract rights are recognized (Cabrelli, 2007). Social and political freedom, as well as equality, is a civil right of every human being. According to the National Labor Relations, good faith is an extremely important issue. This is because elements of cooperation, fairness and openness, ought to exist. The school board and the teachers union may engage in negotiations and not come to an agreement. The disputes are sometimes not solved even though good faith is involved and this is known as legal impasse. This means that suspension of active bargaining occurs as a result of the impasse. For this case to be solved mediation occurred and it took a long time before the parties came to an agreement. People have civil rights, which should not be violated.

Employees in an organization should ensure that the existing conditions at the work place favour their work. This is known as ergonomics and more should be known about this essential work place aspect. Through ergonomics, employees become satisfied, increase their productivity and also the risk of injury as well as illness is reduced. There are many situations, which pose a risk for employees at the work place, which might cause disorders of the musculoskeletal. An example of how such an issue can occur is through constantly carrying objects, which are extremely heavy or pulling them (Opsvik, 2009). If they do this kind of job on a daily basis, they are bound to become injured. This might in turn pose serious consequences to the employee and may suffer from problems related to the musculoskeletal. In such cases, something needs to be done to ensure that there are no more further injuries. These include transferring the employee to another department, where risk is less, taking them to a specialist, among other things.

The Labor occupational Safety & Heath Administration (2011) has come with guidelines concerning this issue. This is because it is known that employees working in certain sectors of the economy such as manufacturing and mining occur frequently. The guidelines ensure that musculoskeletal injuries at the work place are reduced. They assist employers in knowing how to control and recognize risk factors of ergonomics. The information provided is extremely helpful in many ways.

References

Cabrelli, David. (2007). Employment Law (Law Express).New York: Longman.

Opsvik, Peter. (2009) .Re-Thinking Sitting” Interesting insights on the history of the chair and how we sit from an ergonomic pioneer. New York: Prentice Hall.

The United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration. (2011). Safety and Health Topics: Ergonomics.

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A co-culture is a group in the society that has little or no say in contributing to the development of a dominant structure of the society to which they live. Some of the co-cultural groups include the homeless, homosexuals, ethnic groups, the disabled as well as the religious minorities (Ting-Toomey & Dorjee, 2018). Studying co-cultures is significant in various ways. The identification and explication of the communication practices of the co-cultural groups are significant and valuable in understanding how the individuals who are marginalized in a dominant society tend to communicate with the people in the same society but have direct access to the institutional power, the influencers of the dominant society. Learning about the co-cultures also enables the learner to understand how the minorities survive under the dominant majorities in society.

Various potential communication barriers exist between a co-culture and the dominant culture. Language is the key barrier as the co-culture may not be of the same language with the dominant culture, and therefore, the two groups cannot communicate effectively. Different cultures have different languages. The only viable mode of communication is through the use of non-verbal means as the words may not be easily understood. The use of non-verbal communication may as well not work as expected as it is subject to misinterpretation.

Stereotyping and prejudices play a major role in hindering communication between cultures. Members of the dominant cultures have negative perceptions regarding the co-culture associating them with bad things merely because they might have heard from someone else. Dominant cultures only believe what members of their culture says, characterizing the co-culture as deceptive and harmful. The negative stereotyping creates prejudices among the co-culture, and this provokes judgmental attitudes. When stereotyping and prejudices are incorporated, it becomes had for the two cultures to come to terms due to judgmental attitudes.

Ethnocentrism is another barrier to communication between co-cultures and dominant cultures. Mostly, the two cultures don’t have a lot of similarities, and therefore each culture perceives the other as being different from them, which is bad. With the dissimilar concept in mind, it is difficult to get members of the two cultures together as they have no common agenda. The dissimilarity can be reflected in behavior and religion where every person in the respective groups feel different from those that belong to the other.

A co-culture of homelessness implies that the people who are in that culture are homeless and they share similar beliefs, norms, values, and behaviors. They also share similar structures, and they belong to the same economic class and thus have a similar environment. According to Walsh et. al. (2016), the homeless do not converse freely with other people, and they feel that they don’t belong to the same social class with most of the interested parties who want to question them and due to this they inhibit a stereotyping effect that the interested parties want to take advantage of their situation. They, therefore, refuse to open up and only freely talk with the other homeless people whom they are in the same culture.

The homeless feel insecure while communicating with people from the dominant culture and this may lead to a lack of disclosure of information. Another reason why the homeless as a co-culture refuse to open up for the dominant culture is the fear of being judged wrongly. Most of them do not live in the streets because they wanted to, but because certain circumstances that led to their eviction from their homes. According to a study by Crane (1998), some of the homeless people were evicted from their homes as they were unable to pay for their mortgage or are mentally ill. Others had their homes taken by their relatives when their parents died, and as children they had no one to take care of them, eventually ending up to the streets.

References

Crane, M. (1998). The associations between mental illness and homelessness among older people: an exploratory study. Aging & Mental Health, 2(3), 171-180.

Ting-Toomey, S., & Dorjee, T. (2018). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Publications.

Walsh, C. A., Lorenzetti, L., St-Denis, N., Murwisi, P., & Lewis, T. (2016). Community Voices: Insights on social and human services from people with lived experiences of homelessness. Review of Social Sciences, 1(2), 27-41.

Leader and Manager

Name

Institution

Course

Date

Management and leadership are often confused to mean the same thing, but they are not the same. Leadership often involves setting new directions or a vision for people to follow. On the other hand, management is more about controlling or directing people and resources in line with already established values or principles (Copeland, 1997).

Managers are known to be formal and rational while leaders take on a passionate and emotional approach. An effective manager follows the organization’s vision. On the other hand, effective leaders are known to have the ability to forge the vision for the organization. Leaders are vision-oriented as they think about the future but managers are process oriented as they think about how the organization will run effectively. An effective leader knows how to protect their staff and motivate them to achieve organization goals, but managers are known to protect themselves (Nibley, Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies., & Brigham Young University, 1988).

In approaching decisions, an effective leader will do so actively; a leader is a decision maker who should not be hesitant to make a decision in any respect. However, effective managers give a cautious approach to decisions. They are dependent on their supervisors and other parties in making decisions. Effective managers listen selectively; their decision making involves selected staff or employees. In contrast, an effective leader will listen to all staff members and take their opinions very seriously. Another important trait of effective leaders is that they deal with conflicts, unlike managers who always avoid involvement in a conflict.

Both effective leaders and managers must be able to influence others, work with other people, and be effective in managing goals. Moreover, the two groups of individuals should possess traits of honesty, forward-thinking, and competency. An effective leader should demonstrate good management skills so that they are able to operationalize their visions. Leadership skills help managers in motivating their teams (Copeland, 1997).

It is possible that one is an effective manager without necessarily being a good leader. For example, a manager who is able to achieve all their set goals without involving their employees excels in management but is poor in leadership in that they do not recognize the input of their employees or staff. On the other hand, one can be a good leader but poor in management. For example, a leader can have a very good vision good vision for their organization, but this does not necessarily imply that they possess the necessary management skills to bring the vision into an operational state.

In terms of differences in management styles between male and female managers, various styles differentiate them. Women tend to use emphatically, relational and socially intuitive management styles. On the other hand, men managers tend to adopt an assertive, and aggressive. The fact that male and female managers adopt different management styles means that organization objectives are met in different ways. Female managers are more close to the employees and are able to identify more with them than the male counterparts (Burke, & Collins, 2001).

Both male and female managers are known to adopt participative styles of management, the use of personal authority to in management, and setting objectives formally. Participative management means that employees will be involved in decision making, but the level of involvement is higher in females than males, which makes the females managers more likeable. The other impact of the similarities in management styles is that when an order is given, it cannot be questioned. In addition, these management styles make it easy to motivate employees and make them work hard to achieve the objectives of the organization.

References

Burke, S., & Collins, K. M. (2001). Gender differences in various leadership styles and management skills. Women in Management Review, 16(5), 244-257.

Copeland, K. I. (January 01, 1997). Leadership versus management. Canadian Emergency News.

Nibley, H., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies., & Brigham Young University. (1988). Leadership versus management. Provo, Utab: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (F.A.R.M.S.) in association with Brigham Young University.

Question 1 

A commodity is any basic good with a role of an input in the economic production of goods or services. It is also any physical good that has the ability to be sold or bought on a commodity market. That is to say that anything used in the manufacturing process to become an everyday good is a commodity. Commodities are basic goods used in commerce. They are interchangeable with other goods. Basic commodities available today include coffee beans, copper, gold, wheat, and crude oil. Technological advances have ushered in a new era that has created new types of commodities in the market, including bandwidth and cell phone minutes. More recently, the definition of a commodity has expanded to include foreign indexes and currency and other financial products. When traded in an exchange, a commodity must meet specific minimum standards, the basis grade.

Karl Marx defined the value of a commodity to include two contradictory elements: exchange value and use value. Use value is used to mean the utility of a commodity in its role of satisfying needs or wants according to its material properties. Therefore, use value is linked to the physical attributes of a commodity, including all material uses that are put on the object and the human needs fulfilled. Exchange value, on the other hand, is the worth of a commodity usually expressed in terms of a price. Exchange value is the amount of services or goods that are obtained in a market in exchange of other particular commodities. It can be equated to the price of a good bought and sold in the market. For example, a given quantity of rice can be exchange for a dozen of eggs, giving the value of that quantity of rice as equal to a dozen of eggs. This creates a definition of exchange value in terms of quantitative relation as a proportion that the value in use is exchanged for that of another. Exchange value is a comparison of use value, where users attach a certain value to a commodity and provide comparative aspects of how it should be exchanged in the market. Usually, money replaces the need to use the use value of a commodity against the other by equating value to quantity and other elements such as time and place. For example, commodities like air and water have high use value but are available on large scale thus creating a low exchange value.

Question 5

Mechanization is the introduction of automated devices such as machines into activities, places, and processes. Mechanization has become a phenomenon of the 21st century as more organization turn to machines and automated devices in an effort to create efficiency through automated routines. The use of robots and other artificial intelligence gadgets has become common practice in the employment scene today. For example, big corporations such as Toyota and IBM or Google are employing mechanization through use of AI and robots to replace human labor and improve on the efficiency of work. As these robots and other forms of mechanization become commonplace, it is expected that the effects on employment levels and employment practices will be largely negative. Some of the already notable effects of mechanization in advanced industrial societies include loss of jobs, high costs of installation and maintenance for organizations, reduced flexibility, higher expectations on human labour to match the efficiency of robots, reduced opportunities, and insecurity and anxiety regarding the future.

While mechanization has had positive effects on employment levels and practices in the advanced industrial societies, it has also led to several effects on the labour market. First, it has largely displaced employees performing certain jobs such as performance tests on cars, safety checks in factories, and packaging in large organizations. The main effect here is that it has directly led to reduced employment opportunities and reduced wages for employees who have historically relied on these positions now mechanized. While other sectors have also expanded to soak up this loss, it is also likely that their respective industries will, in the short term, employ mechanization techniques leading to the same negative effects.

Other negative effects include employment practices that are unfair such as expecting the same level of output from human labor compared to robots. It is also possible that work practices have changed to include reduced flexibility for employees. Robotic workforce occupies a significant portion of the labor market in the industrialized world, meaning that workers are now forced to specialize and work within their main areas of strength. Job specialization often leads to reduced flexibility in terms of what a worker is able to achieve.

Overall, mechanization has had its fair share of benefits. For example, it improves safety, increases the speed of operations, has remarkable consistency, often yields perfection, and improves productivity. However, it also means that very soon people in various mechanized industries will go out of work. It is important that the effects of robots and other mechanized workforces be checked to ensure that the effect on human labour is not as severe as expected.

Corinna Rodriguez

Dr. Ledbetter

ENG 3301

25 October 2018

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens is the author of the novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ and he takes Marxist’s perspective throughout the story. Dickens adopts the Marxist perspective in the sense that he identifies a ladder of achievement that begins with social improvement and ends with social order. For a social ladder to occur, the story portrays an audience that public life matters much more than private life. The story ‘A Christmas Carol’ takes place during the nineteenth century, and this was the primary reason why people judged others over their dressing or even how they acted in public.

In the beginning of the story, the author introduces Ebenezer Scrooge as an older man who is grumpy, selfish, and cold-hearted as he criticizes everyone that he tend to encounter. To paint the image of Scrooge, the author introduces two gentlemen to Scrooge and asked if he was generous enough to donate money to the poor. However, in regards to asking Scrooge for money, it shows the audience that it is a way to be able to provide food and drinks. They ask, “What shall I put you down for?” “Nothing!” Scrooge answers. “You wish to be anonymous?” “I wish to be left alone,” said Scrooge. (Dickens 31). Scrooge’s ignorance and critic to the two gentlemen implies that he doesn’t believe in helping people or in the sense of happiness and therefore this is another reason that compelled Dickens to write the novel showing the audience that the rich people are ignorant and selfish and that they think they are bigger and better than the people around them.

As a matter of fact, during Stave One, there is a time where Scrooge encounters his partner who has been dead for the past seven years. However, the quote “The same face, the very same. Marley, in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head.” (Dickens 38), describes the way Jacob Marley looked like now that he is a ghost. Therefore, even when Scrooge saw Marley as a ghost, he began to question himself if he was hallucinating due to the fact that Marley could make a conversation happen. On the other hand, Scrooge realizes that Marley could sit perfectly motionless in a chair.

Also, of all this happening Scrooge begins to question Marley about his chains compelling Marley to break down the process in a more comfortable and better way. He does it for Scrooge to understand the fact that Marley has the chains attached to him is because during the time that he was alive all he did was hard work labor for Scrooge instead of being able to live his life as an individual. Marley informed Scrooge that he had been receiving visits from three ghosts due to the fact that it was based on the many different things that Scrooge had done during his lifetime. However, even when Marley seemed to inform Scrooge, he believed that it was all a dream at one point due to the fact that he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him. Therefore, even with the mindset that he had of him believing that his mind was casually playing trick on him was just some sort sense of denial due to the fact that it shows the audience that Scrooge is the type of character who wants to be casually right all the time even when they know that they are wrong.

However, towards the first few pages of Stave Two, it shows the audience that Scrooge had just received his first visit from The Ghost of Christmas Past and therefore, once The Ghost of Christmas past assisted Scrooge to relieve his memories from when he was a little boy, it made him all feel ecstatic. The reason behind is that he began to recognize everything from childhood. Coming from the audience’s point of view it depicts that there is this nostalgic feeling that Scrooge is having since it shows that he was once a happy child. Besides to this being a nostalgic feeling for him, there is a part where Dickens mentions that there is a little girl back in his past. For example, the quote “You are quite a woman, little Fan!” exclaimed the boy. She clapped her hands and laughed, and tried to touch his head; but, being too little, laughed again, and stood on tiptoe to embrace him.” (Dickens 56). The phrase shows the audience that there is such a strong connection with this little girl due to the fact that Scrooge and Fan seemed to share such a strong bond since they are brother and sister. As a matter of fact, for the way it was described it seems to the audience that when his sister passed away, it took such a big toll on Scrooge due to the fact, that they had such a strong bond, unlike any other siblings.

On the other hand, coming from the perspective of the reader it seems that the more it covers over the topic of his sister’s death, the more the audience gets to realize that this is where Scrooge begins being mean and rude to every person he gets to encounter. Coming from the reader’s perspective, it is entirely understandable the way Scrooge has been acting from his sister’s death due to the fact, that every person must go through the five stages of grief in their way. Also, of accepting the five stages of grief, it shows the audience that Scrooge might have been just stuck on the topic of grief for such a long time, which perhaps made him go through so much pain since he had nobody to share his grief.

Towards the end of Stave Two, that is where a beautiful woman is being introduced that goes by the name of Belle. Besides to her introduction, it is mentioned that Scrooge was deeply and madly in love with her when he was a young man. However, there came a time where they were both engaged to each other, but at the end, Belle decided to break off the engagement due to the fact that Belle started to realize that time had come where Scrooge was being consumed with greed and lust. Therefore, when he encounters her once again but this time via the Ghost of Christmas Past, he starts to realize that he completely lost the one true love he possessed to her due to the fact, he kept putting his need for money way ahead of everything else. If he did not believe that money was more important than her, then he would have still have Belle at some point in his life due to the fact, before money came into the picture, they were both two poor people.

In addition to Belle breaking the engagement off due to the few reasons she decided to marry someone else who had his life set out and who believed that they were right for her. For example the quote, “Belle,” said her husband, turning to his wife with a smile, “I saw an old friend of yours this afternoon.” “Who was it?” “Guess!” “How can I? Tut, don’t I know?” she added in the same breath, laughing as he laughed. “Mr. Scrooge.” “Mr. Scrooge it was. I passed his office window, and as it was not shut up, and he had a candle inside.” (Dickens 66 – 67) illustrates the fact that Belle’s new husband had a time where he saw Scrooge which he tells Belle that Scrooge seems like he is a miserable man because Scrooge had lost his long-term business partner. Even when the ghost of Christmas past is showing him this piece that happened between Belle and her husband, it shows the audience that Scrooge was showing all sorts of emotions, for example, he was showing anger and hurt due to the fact, that was his first love whom he had lost over the fact, that he decided that lust and greed were much more important than her.

However in the third stave, once Scrooge wakes up from his slumber due to the fact, that the church clock had startled him since he is already started to prepare himself for the second ghost’s arrival. Therefore, once the ghost of Christmas present has arrived, he has Scrooge touch his giant green robe due to the fact that it looked so elegant because of the white fur that boarded along the garment. As a matter of fact, when the Ghost of Christmas Present shows up, he seems to be sitting down on a throne of gourmet food. Besides to the Ghost of Christmas Present, he decides to show Scrooge all these amazing things he is missing out on due to the fact, that he is this bitter and uptight person who does not know how to enjoy celebrating a holiday or even how to accept any happiness. As this is taken in the present time, the ghost seems to first take Scrooge to Bob Cratchit home where it shows that the family is doing the best they can to be able to put food and treats on the table.

However, it is also showing the audience that Bob’s oldest son is wearing a hand me down from his father; therefore, it also shows that the only daughter is returning from her job that way she can spend time with her family. The ghost of Christmas Present also shows that Bob is carrying his youngest who goes by the name of Tiny Tim. However, the ghost seems to tell Scrooge that the same time next year there will be an empty chair at Bob Cratchit’s Christmas dinner. The only reason he seems to inform Scrooge is that Scrooge seems to know what the pain of losing someone feels like and Scrooge does not want anybody to go through the same thing he went through. On the other hand, the only reasons Scrooge is being haunted is because each ghost wants Scrooge to be able to have a change of perspective since they want him to be able to open his eyes in regards of being able to do good for others occasionally.

However, once he has met with the ghost of Christmas yet to come, he gives off such a mystery and gloomy sense due to the fact that he knows what he is going to show Scrooge if he does not change for the better. Therefore, when Scrooge has met with the last ghost, he comes to terms that he has to change for the better due to the fact that he does not want to be left alone as he saw in the vision that the ghost shows him. As a matter of fact, Scrooge finds this last ghost much more terrifying than the past two since the ghost of Christmas yet to come has this vague horror because of the things he has shown people, and that is everything that will happen if they do not get their act together. The only reason Scrooge might find the ghost a bit more fearsome is that of the way he is dressed since he is mainly dressed in a black hooded cloak. However, even when he shows Scrooge an ominous view of his lonely death, it makes Scrooge want to be able to change for the better due to the fact, that he experienced what he does not wish to. For most people nowadays, they need something drastic to happen to them or in their lives for them to be able to have a change of thought or a change of appearance.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Christmas carol. Alma Books, 2018.