Economics of Competitive Advantage Essay Example for Free

Economics of Competitive Advantage Essay A globalized economy in its theory entails opening up of the local economy of a certain country towards internationalization, creating a â€Å"borderless world economy†. Thus, ideally, it should pave the way for economic interdependence and promote economic fair play amongst participating countries. Globalization shall surely expose an economy towards the world market due to increased amount of global trade and exchanges in products and services and by encouraging application for an open-economy. Globalization has imposed too many changes on the international monetary policies. On the other hand, international monetary has seriously influenced trade and investment policies, finance, tourism and many other aspects that are coincided with the modernity imposed by globalization. Moreover, open-economy principles have profoundly affected exchange rate policies on the macro level. Thus, international economic migration has increased exposure towards international financial changes and commercial flows. (Frieden, p. 1) Moreover, according to Betts and Kehoe (2004), the aggregate real exchange rate movements are believed to be influenced by inter-country movements with regards to the relative prices of their traded goods within countries. Also, the currency denomination of international trade widely influences the trade prices of goods and services. Thus, it also turns out that changes or fluctuation in the on currency will decrease the buying power of a particular currency if compared to other currencies that have less amount of fluctuations in their market. In addition, the strong market competitors in this case, are those who are believed to have strong economic relations with participating countries, thus they carry an edge towards their trade practices. Nevertheless, they don’t act to stabilize world exchange rates, rather they only work to provide balance of trades and multi-lateral interaction amongst participating nations. There are several factors that affect the bilateral rate movements which have significant economic effects. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin (RBAB) (1998, p. 2) These are: (1) divergences between export and import and aggregated trade-weighted exchange rates; (2) role of US dollar as currency for international trade; (3) longer-term pricing of commodity exports in terms of other major currencies; and (4) importance of bilateral rates vis-a vis competitor countries with relatively little direct trade. These changes however, the depreciation or appreciation can create effects on international competitiveness. Moreover, aside from purely economic reasons of rate fluctuations, the political side behind changes in the market activity is also significant. This political-economic aspect is important most especially amongst developing nations. The emergence of developing countries and the continuing influence of strong countries amongst less empowered countries create domestic and international political pressures that are integral to the competitiveness of the participating countries (Freiden, p. 12) Thus, economically speaking, exchange rate fluctuations have impacts on the country’s competitiveness. Stability or non-stability of their currency has adverse effects on the currency’s buying and trading power. On the political aspect, excluding the changes and fluctuations in the currency rates, powerful groups and powerful consumers affect international economic integration. And thus the openness of world economy therefore pushes more politicized movements and political pressures in the economic arena.

Leadership Effectiveness And Personal Managerial Qualities

Leadership Effectiveness And Personal Managerial Qualities Leadership is about knowing the pros and cons of change, and comprehending the interplay of oneself and others. Leadership is the perception of ones connectedness both personal and business wise, thus leadership is about being self aware and choice-decision making. Thus, it is a process where a person influences a team to accomplish there objectives, and direct those objectives to be more coherent for the organisation, this is viewed by (Northouse, 2007). Hence, a leader is one who has a clear vision, communicate passionately, and direct their actions and those of the team toward the goal, by driving to completion. 1.1 Background Who is the author? The author born October 1978 belongs to a Christian home; newly married and is at the early stage of parenthood with bringing up a young family, has earned an Upper Second Class Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Anglia Ruskin University who is currently pursuing Masters in Business Administration with emphasis in Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The author holds the position of an Office Manager who performs a wide array of diverse duties, thus, working alongside the president to meet the companys staffing and organisational needs. Furthermore, the author is responsible for designing and implementing various policies, supervisory responsibilities, recruiting and training, which facilitate efficient and smooth functioning, with focus on supervising works of administrative staff. After eleven year service in the marine industry as Office Manager at Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, the author now partly owned and is a Director of a Sign Company. In addition, the author also landed a new job as Office Manager at another marine company, which operates tugs and water tankers. However, the author currently has no outside activities due to studies, a new family, working part time with spouse business, plus having a full time job. Therefore, the author has a tight schedule, with a vision to complete studies and become successful in being a confident leader and expressing creativity to find unique solutions for the family business with a joyous presence, continued dedication and people skills. The author strongly expressed values that everyone deserves to be fairly treated and education is the key to success. These few leadership traits, qualities and skills of the author are known to be soft skills that will assist the authors ability to resolve conflicts and build consensus, to motivate and inspire employees. Thus, office is like family, they get cranky and having a positive and genuine attitude will assist tremendously. 2.0 Reflection on Leadership Effectiveness Effective Leadership begins with the fundamental ability to believe in oneself, which incorporates maturity, conviction and expertise that translate into a purpose and direction, thus, having a dream and vision that will better the company or society. Effective leadership is composed of a number of different competencies, thus effectiveness of leader is limited, where leaders are person who know how to inspire and relate to subordinates. This all depends on how appropriate the leadership style is to the situation in that it is operated, which comes from matching style and follower task relevant maturity, or task readiness. Based on the Myers Briggs test, the author type indicator reflected ENTJ (Extroversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Judging). ENTJ are generally gets straight forward, decisive, and leadership natural, they also see illogical very quickly and notes inefficient procedures, also generally develops and implement comprehensive systems in solving any company or business problems. Along those same lines, enjoys setting future planning and being goal oriented, usually well up to date, well read, enjoys on expanding knowledge as required and passing it to others by giving forceful present ideas. Thus, true effective leaders possess specific leadership qualities, skills and styles beyond industry knowledge and technical skills. 2.1 Qualities of Leadership Leadership behaviour reflects the traits and personal characteristics that will facilitate success in leadership role. ENTJs are imaginative, conceptual learners who learn best in a challenging and interactive environment. The combination of intuition and logic leads them to enjoy dealing with concepts and strategic thinking, and excellent language skills. These qualities of the author are drawn from work and personal life balances that are reflected as follows:- Strengths of Personal and Work Life Communication and Relationship The author an ENTJ is an enthusiastic communicator who loves to interact with tremendous amount of self-confidence, has excellent verbal communication skills and value honesty. The author has always been the centre of attention that is being an extravert with intellectual freedom to think and speak, who has a disposition of always being frank and getting straight to the point with strong regards for positive structure that is able to synthesize and adapt to new ideas. Even though the author had been tested to be extraverted, the author has Introverted Intuitive functions which complement Extraverted Thinking, such as, being talented in creating great benefits through the ability to recognise the expected potential of others, and showing others the way to get past difficulties within the given situation. Career and Work In the position of an Office Manager ENTJ shows exactly that the author is assertive, loyal, and knowledgeable and manages people, along with marshalling resources. The author is career-focused in long-term perspective with visualisation of both businesses with high performance and standards. The author is generally an energetic people person who likes to be in charge and make things happen, along with others participating, especially in team projects rather than work alone. The author tends to move up the ladder very quickly when joining any company or generally in life. With this current company the author has been there for two months and a major travelling abroad is ahead. On entering the organisation, the author has been leapfrogging people who have been there longer, thus, the cumulative experiences have prepared the author for it. The author has always been level headed, shows improvement and value the position given. Throughout the authors career, as most ENJT can identify, vision is priority and risk does not scare the author. The payoff has been consistent on an executive level, and once going towards the goal, the author makes sure it is attainable, and believing all production must be done to the best with logic and rationale. 2.1.2 Weaknesses of Personal and Work Life Some major flaws of the author:- Gets frustrated by lack of closure of people not meeting deadlines, thus, bearing in mind the given work produced should also show professionalism, which is one of the main priorities in and ENTJ. The manner in which conversation is carried out, such as, being harsh and blunt in criticism when errors occur. Tends not to listen to other peoples sentences or have them finish their sentences, especially if what was said do not make sense to them, thus, not giving the chance for the person to justify their point. Limited patience with a temper over relatively small matters that escalates into bigger things with inefficiency and can be very judgmental and argumentative. Low regard for people who are intimidated by them that is intensified by arrogance, thus, making hasty decisions, without understanding the issues and possible solutions to the problems. Therefore, the author must enforce balance due to the qualities possess above, in order to accomplish whatever goals are set. Below, speaks on the leadership skills which need improving by the author. 2.2 Leadership Skills Leadership skills are based on leadership behaviour, thus, skills alone do not make a leader style and behaviour do. Leadership is interesting because it is about talent and the natural ability that is mostly about oneself and maintaining that personal authenticity, by being true; not just slavishly following others ideas. Good leaders always rely on their ability to read situations and improve tasks, and acknowledge their shortcomings, which may work for them. However, a good leader would want to improve their skills of communication, decision-making and problem solving and not shy away from new opportunities to lead. The author skills are most effective when matching styles to the needs of the people that are trying to influence. Thus, the challenge is that leading people is the opposite of trying to control them. It is not just what happens when you are there; it is what happens when you are not there. The author believes that leadership is not something you do to people; it is something you do with them. Listed below are two simple ways suggested for the author to improve leadership skills for future growth? The author must prioritise time for proper organising and planning, thus, by consulting with experts for feedback Political skills can be developed by the author in order to reduce the gossip and rumours, that is, look for further critical information that others cannot get Thus the continued characteristics of developing good leadership skills for the author will take time, as if perfecting an idea for a project, because without investment of time, the author will not be able to become the great leader envisioned, thus these few skills that contribute to the authors behaviour will be able to accurately and successfully adapt to changing environment with limited challenges. Below speaks on the style of leadership the author is engaged in. 2.3 Leadership Styles Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. Effective leadership style takes time and energy but provides benefits, which helps to enhance team spirit and effectiveness among members that identifies preferred management styles. The style describes the personal way of leading; it becomes effective when matched with the skill sets and motivation of the follower. However, there is no right style of leadership, because it varies with the personality and situational needs. Thus, the author likes a mixture of working with others and working alone, in the form of management and leadership positions which can energise others to carry out the vision via the objectives and tries to motivate the team to work towards those goals. Leaders within the organisation have been found to account for some of the organisation overall performance, thus, the authors style has been identified as an important area of interest. Additionally, the author likes teamwork and interactions that convince and influence enthusiasm with an invaluable source of vitality and drive according to the style needs of Participative or Democratic Leadership. 2.3.1 Participative or Democratic Leadership Participative leadership or democratic style encourages employees to be part of the decision making, which takes everyone words as a considerable opinion before carrying out the final decision. This style of leader is coach, the one who has the final say, but still gathers information from staff members before making such decision. Ultimately, the author works in an environment that is still very autocratic, but given the changes that the organisation has hired the author for, participative leadership is what they are looking at. However, the author is not equipped to all situations that arise, thus, team handling is an assets and the author must use the required skills of facilitating discussion and ideas that is generated by the group. Furthermore, the author likes being in charge and to know what is going one at all times, thus, enjoys marshalling facts and planning future directions. Additionally, if the author foresees the project cannot be handled, someone will be brought in to carry out the project, and this person must have clear understanding towards the goal, because the author demands high quality and standards. The author a natural leader encourages team members to participate through listening and communicating, however, the leader maintains the final decision making. The style of leadership reflects the following characteristics of the author:- Organise staff to complete tasks in the most effective way, by delegating those tasks and overseeing the completion of the project to achieve results Motivates staff to meet the goals and objectives, given the overall picture, and vision to follow with new ideas, evaluation of possibilities and rational decisions Create positive work environment, and seek the interest of each employee with fairness given the responsibilities, which allows them the to challenge themselves Allowing subordinates to feel free in thinking creatively for problem-solving, thus, reducing office politics, so the use of ideas will importantly gain credit and reduce the tension generated amount staff Thus, the business cannot afford to make mistakes, using this type of leadership is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of strength where the author gains respect from the employees. Also, the author do not have all the information required to achieve the goal that is why knowledgeable staff is hired to allow better decision via teamwork, so that, effective and accurate decisions are made. 3.0 Theoretical Concepts ORegan and Ghobadian (2004) define performance measurements as consisting of quantitative indicators used by management to judge how well the organisation is doing. Leadership depends on whether emphasis is on behaviour or the result of that behaviour according to (Jex, 2002) thus leaders also make attributions about their followers behaviour. Similarly, Kelley (1967) describes leader attribution as a way leader interprets follower behaviours and attributes cause to that behaviour, where leaders can assess follower behaviour by specific task or across tasks and whether it is unique to an individual. Leaders intention is to diagnose problem performance, to understand the reasons for success, or anticipate the consequences as stated by (Mitchell et al. 1981). However, there is a distinction between leadership and management, where a manager carries out administrative duties and exerts control subordinates behaviour, thus obtain reluctant compliance. In contrast, a leader carries out administrative functions along with inspiring and motivating members to strive for excellence, by obtaining commitment, reviewed by (Jex, 2002). So, effective leadership demonstrates by influencing and guiding the activities of a team toward achieving its goals, defined by (Judge et at., 2004). In addition, according to Jex (2002), goals direct attention, focus efforts and maintain task persistence, helps individuals avoid getting sidetracked, thereby, guiding a leader to enhance processes and facilitates development of collective efficacy which has an influence, revealed by (Chen and Bliese, 2002). Leadership therefore, is most relevant aspects of an organisation context and is challenging by different situations, thus, emphasis of future leadership and interpersonal skills that ensure sound management practices and high leadership standards by the author are discuss as follows:- Qualities of Leadership Leadership Skills Leadership Style 3.1 Qualities of Leadership According to Roach and Behling (1984), leadership is the process of influencing an organised group toward accomplishing its goals, therefore, these influential qualities most people associate with leadership are assertiveness, loyal, risk taker, self-sufficient, ambitious, patience, trustworthy, and knowledgeable. Thus, employee trust in leaders is influenced by the level of perceived fairness reflected in the company practices of distributing rewards and benefits. Dirks and Ferrin (2002) stated that leadership has three types of justice; procedural which is an indicator of the leaders tendency to be fair when making decision about rewards; distributive is the fairness of outcomes a follower receives as a result of those procedures; and interactional involves the degree of respect with which the leader treats the follower as they carry out organisational policies and procedures. Thus, Dirks and Ferrin (2002) also, found that trust in leadership is related to attitudinal, behavioural and performance outcomes. Therefore, trust a key concept is where leaders often have the power to impact followers and their ability to achieve goals, reflects that followers will attempt to draw inferences about their leaders characteristics such as integrity, dependability, fairness and ability, because these inferences have consequences for work behaviour and attitudes, viewed by (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002). Building subordinates trust in leadership starts with the managers ability to lead and administer the department functions, stated by (Knabe, 1999), thus, mutual trust needs to be in place. According to Bass (1985), one of the most important conditions that a leader must instill in his subordinates prior to problem solving trusted by his employees is the ability to lead for effective results. So, in order words, for the business to grow qualities of a leader is not only to fulfil goals, but, basic skills in management and leadership will also have to be the foundation in developing a more advance practice, thus, problem-solving, decision-making, planning and delegating, communication and managing oneself are effective leadership skills discussed below. 3.2 Leadership Skills The characteristics of a leader come through our day to day interactions with those around us. If the author stop to think about some the leaders that have been, or even infuriated, the qualities of good leadership skills will become apparent. Leadership skills is not just about showing your superiority, according to researchers (DeHann and Havighurst 1957), it is the use of attributes such as initiative, persistence ambition and dominance to describe leadership abilities, as well as, sensitive to others needs, affectionate and agreeable, that is used to enhance the skills towards leadership and the ability to improve such tasks. Tannenbaum (1983) reported that a correlation exists between the exhibition of leadership skills and general intelligence for advance leadership skills, such as, written and verbal communication, group dynamic, problem-solving, planning and personal skills. Effectiveness of these skills must be able to perform the ability to analyse strengths and weakness, identify and provide training effectively, show success in developing and enhancing skills, and scheduling and controlling work, such as, capabilities in identifying and setting performance goals along with posing all supervisory skills necessary. Thus, real leaders, read their team, analyse the compound between their team members, the tension between the tasks and processes, and how the team builds its competencies. According to Mehra et al. (2006) organisations must seek efficient ways to enable performance, longstanding approach that is, by shaping collective norms, helping teams cope with their environment that provides valuable insights into relationship between leadership and team performance (Guzzo and Dickson, 1996). Furthermore, Herr (1998) identifies a few competencies that should be incorporated into an executive performance appraisal including; coordination, awareness, personnel management, planning, financial management, coaching skills, evaluation skills, accomplishment assessment skills, technical competence, interpersonal skills, communication skills and leadership skills, thus in providing behavioural outcome and performance, that will lead to leadership style. 3.3 Leadership Styles Today management needs to command and direct, but also identify needs, communicate, empower, inspire trust and forge a common vision for a better future, defined by (Athanasaw, 2003). In similar, leaders need to enforce recognition of employees and value human being whose ideas are seriously considered, viewed by (Athanasaw, 2003) to support leadership role. Thus, leadership is the process of influencing followers so they cooperate, such leaders are members of groups who influence the context of the organisation they lead, according to (van Knippenberg and van Knippenberg, 2005). There are many types of leadership, but because of society today, participative or democratic leadership is more recognised, thus, Hersey-Blanchard (1998) theory is based on the amount of direction and socio-emotional support a leader must provide given the situation and the level of maturity of the followers. So, the most suitable leadership style would be the development level of the subordinate actions, such as, directing, coaching, supporting and delegating. Similarly, Tannenbaum and Schmidts (1958), leadership continuum reflects that leadership behaviour varies along a continuum and that as one moves away from the autocratic extreme the amount of subordinate participation and involvement in decision taking increase. They also suggested that the kind of leadership represented by the democratic extreme of the continuum will be rarely encountered in formal organisations. The four main types of leadership are, autocratic, persuasive, consultative and democratic. In similar, participative leadership defined by Lewin (1939) and others stated that there are three types, autocratic that is very dedicative, which has led to revolution, laisse-faire which lacks enthusiasm and democratic the effective style. Furthermore, Likert (1967) theorised four styles namely, exploitive authoritative where there the leader uses fear-based to enforce conformance, benevolent authoritative is rewards use to motivate performance, consultative is the seeking of consultation and participative invites participation across all level. Thus, leadership cannot perform without leaders and followers, therefore, leadership results in followers behaviour that is purposeful and goal-directed in some sort of organised setting, although most studies reflect the nature of leadership in a workplace. So, without having a leadership style, business cannot conform to achieve its objectives and goals, thus leaders must a style is able to adapt to the laws of the company and its future expected outcome. Thus, the values and qualities of the author must be able to adapt to the global challenges in an effort to develop proper growth for the business. 4.0 Recommendations With recommendation to continued success, the author should enforce combination of leadership savvy, good judgement based on knowledge and information, and reasonable ability to steer a business in the right direction, which is considerably important. Thus, to become an excellent leader the author must use wisdom (head), feelings and emotions (heart), strength and power (hands) and good communication (tongue) to help others because without leadership within any given situation, there would be chaos and no formability as to where the organisation is headed. In addition, the author must commit in enhancing personal leadership qualities and managerial skills that is needed to initiate and sustain profitable growth for the company. Thus, strong leadership it is essential to the success of any company and therefore it is recognisable that the author should develop qualities of courageousness and patience to strive and become powerful. The author must also, choose competent subordinates, continue to demonstrate high moral standards, and exude charisma, while keeping the control of protocol and process, which will be used to enhance leadership. However, the author should never abuse power and should stay focus and stick up for one another, the author must readily adapt to leadership style to suit the situations, such as, being faced with a crisis, the author ought to take action and use imagination to solve problems and make recommendable suggestions, by simply scanning the business environment. ENTJs should be reminded that not every one is perfect and mistakes are there for everyone, so having quality patience is of foremost and respecting other peoples feelings is appreciated. Even though their personality of sentiments are not powerful, ENTJ must still be mindful the feelings and value judgement ought to sensitive to that individual, because, if submerge emotion and inappropriate problems are found serious problems can occur. Therefore, because ENJT are very informed and extremely creative, the best able to continue to keep head strong and hear others for what they need to say. Always be level-headed and growth will come its way, so that when making judgement and hurting someone, always keep focus that not everyone are leaderships, there must be people to lead, which make you a leader. Another recommendation is to prioritise your time as this will assist in planning and developing in case of an accident or incident occurs, thus, true leaders demonstrate strengths and recognise their weakness. If sound criticism is to take place, be sure that the individual has a strong back and that the criticism is approached in a professional manner and not arrogant as mentioned previously. So in all, leadership skills ought to improve, by making observation from other leaders using a variety of settings, going beyond their prior experience and adjusting or adapting to current business situation is of essences and must be able to develop continued skills. A good leader has a lifetime of study and should acquire indefinable qualities that involve developing and improving leadership skills along with enhancing the managerial skill at the business. Reference Northouse, G. 2007. Leadership Theory and Practices. 3rd Ed. London: Sage Publication,Inc. ORegan, N., and Ghobadian, A. 2004. Leadership and Strategy: Making it happen. Journal of General Management. 29 (3), pp. 76-92. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Kelley, H.H. 1967. Attribution Theory in Sovial Psychology. Cited in D. Levine (Ed.) Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. NE: University of Nebraska Press. Mitchell, T.T. et al., 1981. An Attributional Model of Leadership and the Poor Performing Subordinate: Deveolpment and Validation. Cited in B.M. Staw and L.L. Cummings (Eds). Research in Organisational Behaviour. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Judge, T.A., et al. 2004. Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analytic Test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology. 89 (5). Pp.755-765. Jex, S.M. 2002. Organisational Psychology: A Scientist-practitioner Approach. New York: Wiley. Chen, G., and Bliese, P.D. 2002. The Role of Different Levels of Leadership in Predicting Self and Collective Efficacy: Evidence for Discontinuing. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87 (3), pp. 549-556. Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628 Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628. Dirks, K.T., and Ferrin, D.L. 2002. Trust in Leadership: Meta-analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology. 87 (4). Pp.611-628 Knabe, W. 1999. Leadership Issues concerning the Los Angeles City Fire Department. [Online]. Available at: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/pdf/efo30918.pdf [Accessed 25 April 2010]. Bass, B. 1985. Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press. DeHaan, R., and Havighurst, R. 1957. Educating Gifted Children. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Tannenbaum, R. And Schmidt, W. 1958. How to Choose a Leadership Pattern . Harvard Business Review. 36 (2). Pp. 95-101 Mehra, A. et al. 2006. Distributed Leadership in Terms: The Network of Leadership Perceptions and Team Performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 17 (3). Pp.232-245. Guzzo, R. A., and Dickson, M.W. 1996. Terms in Organisation: Recent Research on Performance and Effectiveness. Annual Review of Psychology, 47 (1). 307-338. Herr, J.A. 1998. Developing Leaders and Managers through the use of 360-Degree Performance Appraisals. National Fire Academy. Athanasaw, D.L. 2003. Leadership Styles as perceived by Career Senior Service Executives. International Journal of Public Administration, 26 (10-11). Pp.1207-1236. Athanasaw, D.L. 2003. Leadership Styles as perceived by Career Senior Service Executives. International Journal of Public Administration, 26 (10-11). Pp.1207-1236. Van Knippenberg, B. and van Knippenberg, D. 2005. Leader Self-sacrifice and Leadership Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Leader Prototypically. Journal of Applied Psycology. 90 (1). Pp.25-37. Hersey, P. and K.H. Blanchard. 1977. Management of Organisational Behaviour. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall. Tannenbaum, R. And Schmidt, W. 1958. How to Choose a Leadership Pattern . Harvard Business Review. 36 (2). Pp. 95-101 Lewin, K. 1946. Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2 pp 34-46. Likert 1967 Fieldler, 1967. A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill Handy, co. 1192. The Language of Leadership in Frontiers of Leadership (Ed. Syrett and Hogg). Oxford: Blackwell Blanchard, K., 1998. Gung Ho! New York: Morrow. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes3.asp

Legalizing Medical Marijuana Essay -- Legal Issues, Drugs

Medical marijuana has more advantages than it does disadvantages. The reason I have chose to support medical marijuana is for one reason. My reason is because people have fear of abuse if it is legalized but in reality people are abusing it as I write this paper. A lot of states haven't legalized marijuana because it is classified as no medical use. If no medical use is found why would some states legalize it. Marijuana affects the lungs and can cause long term lung damage. Although marijuana can affect your lungs it can benefit someone way more than it can hurt them. People have done a lot of research on this topic because it is very important. Jean Charles Pariseau is a 30 year old man with AIDS. His doctor gave him three months to live, and he was taking thirty pills a day. He only weighed eighty-two pounds. His doctor recommended medical marijuana and he felt and looked like a new man. Imagine where he would be without medical marijuana. That is right dead. Hundreds of court case s and many laws about legalizing medical marijuana have been brought up. The government has had there own medical marijuana law where some patients were allowed to receive marijuana if they met the requirements. This is a very important topic because can help someone out tremendously in the medical field and it can take care or many side effects. Smoking medical marijuana may not be the difference of life or death but it will make someone feel more relaxed and better about themselves when they are going through a rough time with there particular illness. Marijuana is the term for dried leaves, flowers, or stems of the cannabis plant, known as cannabinoids. Of these cannabinoids the â€Å"most pharmacologically active is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, also... ...! The cost of the marijuana would be up to the people who is buying it. It is grown out of the ground so if the government wanted to make profit from it they can go right ahead. I think the government should just legalize it for medical use only. The way they could do this is by having individuals buy it through their doctor or even the government themselves. I think that people should get a recommendation from their doctor first. Then they should have to run it by the health department and they should be fine. There is no way to stop the abuse of the drug, but if the government would legalize it throughout the country, people could actually get the medical uses out of it. Medical marijuana could be the answer to a lot of medical mysteries for people that don't now about it. If doctors could recommend marijuana I think it would be a lot easier on everyone.

Contemporary Significance of the Greek Views of Paideia :: Philosophy

Contemporary Significance of the Greek Views of Paideia ABSTRACT: We argue that there are three basic views of paideia in ancient Greece. After briefly discussing them, we turn our attention to the contemporary situation. We try to show that the dialogical or Socratic view of paideia can contribute toward a deeper understanding of the contemporary problem of multiculturalism. In this article we will argue first that there are three basic views of paideia in ancient Greece (I). Then after making a brief overview of their fate in the later history (II), we will turn our attention to our contemporary situation and try to show that it is the dialogical or Socratic view of paideia which can contribute to a deeper understanding of the contemporary problem of multiculturalism (III). I. The three basic views of Greek paideia are all connected with the concept of truth and the relation of man to it. I call these views "basic", simply because I consider the man's "transcendental" relationship to truth (which includes the denial of this relationship) fundamental for our understanding of paideia, especially in ancient Greece after Parmenides. 1) The authoritarian view is found in the so-called Presocratic thinkers, such as Parmenides and Heracleitus. They assert the existence of absolute eternal truth that can be grasped intuitively and expressed verbally by a few wise men (sophoi). Even though they disagree and dispute each other on the content of truth, they all share in the esoteric view of truth. Just as Being is separated from the realm of appearance by Parmenides, so the wise man who alone can discern Being is clearly distinguished from the common crowd who cannot move beyond the realm of appearance. Or according to Heracleitus only the wise man can give ears to the eternal Logos amid the ever-changing flow of the world; whereas fools are compared with swine that are content with mud. This view gives the wise the authority to teach Truth ex cathedra. 2) The relativistic view of the Sophists, especially of Protagoras and Gorgias, is more "democratic". We should not forget that the Sophists flourished especially in democratic Athens as testified among others by the friendship between Protagoras and Pericles, the greatest statesman of democratic Athens. Both Protagoras and Gorgias criticized and ridiculed the Parmenidean concept of Being. The famous words of Protagoras, "man is the measure of all things" should be interpreted in this light.

Comparing Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer Essay -- comparison compare

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows a young boy named Huck through his adventures down the Mississippi River. Through the adventures and obstacles he faces and overcomes with Jim, a loyal run-away slave, Huck changes and becomes more mature. He is no longer the careless, prank playing boy that ran around and had fun at other people's expense. Near the end of his life-changing journey down the Mississippi, Huck is reunited with his idol and close friend Tom Sawyer and these once very similar boys now have many obvious differences. Huck differs from Tom in his way of thinking, in his treatment and attitude towards Jim, and in his tendency to question his surroundings. Huck sees and interprets the world realistically and in practical terms whereas Tom, a true romantic, believes the world operates like the stories in his books. A great example of their contrasting ways of thinking is in their differing approaches to rescue Jim from his imprisonment. Huck plans to simply steal the key, get Jim out, run to the canoe, and escape down the river on the raft. Huck's plan to get Jim out of captivity is straightforward, simple, and effective. Tom, however, complains that "its too blame simple," and that "there ain't nothing to it"(224). Tom's plan is complicated and full of unnecessary additions because of his stubborn adherence to the romantic scenarios that he reads in his novels. Tom believes there is "honor in getting [Jim] out through a lot of difficulties and dangers,"(230) and he goes out of his way to invent obstacles to make the situation more difficult and more like the stories he grew up on. He unnecessarily invents hard rock to dig t hrough, a tall tower to climb down from, an infested ... ...t the change that Huck undergoes. Without Tom, an unchanged character that Huck once modeled himself after, the reader cannot correctly judge how much Huck changed from his experiences down the river and how genuinely good Huck has become. After spending so much time with Jim and discovering Jim's real character and personality, Huck acquire new understanding, compassion, and respect for him. He can now see past the color of his skin and treat Jim as a human being. Although he will never consider Jim as an equal, he has already taken momentous steps towards realizing that the slave institution is unjust. Huck has gone beyond anybody in his society and has become free of the limitations that the southern society has placed on thought. He has become nearly the opposite of Tom, who is the perfect embodiment of the southern lifestyle and way of thinking. Â  

How to Be a Chef Essay

Bodily/Kinesthetic My first intelligence was Bodily/ Kinesthetic. I’m very athletic and I love to play sports a lot. I play basketball after school on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at my local community center. I even play basketball outside when I have spare time on my hands. I play a lot of 2K13 on my PS3 and my favourite team in the NBA is Oklahoma City Thunders because they have good players like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. I get better by shooting at certain spots on the court and practicing my lay ups. I play rugby for the Newman Knights. I started in grade 9 and I love to go to practice. When I scored my first try in rugby, it felt all my hard work and determination paid off. Interpersonal My second intelligence is Interpersonal. I have many friends from my old elementary school and I also made new friends when I came to Newman. I socialize with many people at Newman; having laughs, tears of joy and always joking around a lot. I always go out with my closest friends to malls like STC or Eaton’s Center, after hanging out at my school or in my house to play PS3 and to other people’s house. I keep in touch with my friends on Twitter and texting them on my phone. I have fun texting people; it keeps me occupied and keeps my friends close to me no matter where I am. I also enjoy having group work with people, it’s easier to work with people because I don’t like working by myself. Visual/Spatial My third intelligence is Visual/Spatial. I like to draw and do art when I’m bored. I like to draw Pokà ©mon when I was a kid and I still do Pokà ©mon drawings sometimes. I don’t like reading novels but I love to read manga and its Japanese base where you read it left to right. I love these types of books because I like to see the manga panels instead of reading books without pictures. I learn better when they show me a drawing, a demonstration, or an activity because I sometimes don’t understand when teachers explain without a visual representation. Such as in science, history and math. Personality and True Colours My dominant color is gold and the main characteristic of gold to me is dependable. I chose the picture of a quote saying â€Å"You’re even more dependable than alcohol† because I can always depend on my friends and they can also depend on me to be there by their side no matter what. People know that I’m nice, so they always say that I’m such a good friend to them. I always say yes to favors from my friends and they know I always finish the job no matter how big or small it is. I am always loyal to my friends and to my work in school. I chose an image of a wolf on top of a rock saying loyalty because as I said before, I’m always there when you need me like a dog. As the saying goes, â€Å"a man’s best friend is a dog†. I’m very loyal to people when they need me to do work or to get them something for someone. I never tell any of my friend’s secrets to people because they trust me and I trust them with my personal things as well. I’m as loyal as a knight to the king or a friend who’s there to the end. I’m also a very responsible person. I’m responsible at home, school and in my life. I’m always on top of my chores and sometimes on top of my school work. I chose a picture of a dog cleaning up his feces because I always clean up after myself. I have chores at home like washing the dishes, cook and to look after my little brother and sister. At school, I try to be on top of my work and to my studies but sometimes I slack off with my work. When I make a big mess, I take responsibility to clean up and to say sorry to them if I made the mess. Values The value I cherished in life is being a humanitarian. The picture that represent humanitarian to me is the Canadian Red Cross organization because I love what they do all over Canada; by donating food and money to people in need. I’m just like them because I help people who are in need. I help people at school with work and understanding concept in certain subjects like math or science. I help at home by doing chores and helping my sister with her homework. When I’m in public I help hold the door or pick up and return their belongings. I do these nice things out of the kindness of my heart. My second most cherished value in life is my beloved family. I love them no matter what happens in life, through thick or thin. I chose a picture of my family at my grade 8 graduation because they love and support me in my accomplishments. Sometimes I have trouble with my family but I always say to myself that they love me no matter the kind of attitude I give them, if it’s me being nice or being rude to them. I use to have fights with my brother and sister but later on we would forgive each other and we would just laugh about it. I know my family would support me whatever I do in life. My last most cherished value is money. I love to make a lot of money in the future so I can go to college and one day to support my own family. The picture I chose was a person buying something in a store because I would love to spend my first paycheck on things I want. I know money doesn’t give people joy but it can make you happy by buying people things and to donate to organizations that will help the poor and people in third world countries. Work/Life Balance My career choice is one that relates to my strengths at this very moment and allows me to do what I love to do. That is to make people smile with my passion to cook food. The work environment that would allow me to cook is one where I can cook for families and to earn more experience from cook’s that could pass their knowledge to me and it would help me in the future. I wouldn’t quit my job in life because if I can make nice tasting food for people, it would make my job easy and enjoyable. My love in food is very strong and it’s my only passion in life that I would hold on to forever. If I choose to be a chef, it would make my life complete because it can help me feed my family and have fun cooking with them. It can benefit me by helping me strengthen my relationships with my friends by teaching them how to cook and to make them happy when they come over to my house. It can help me in the future by cooking in community kitchen for all ages and it would fill my heart to see people in need eating my food, smiling at the food and thanking me. I cook a lot when I feel hungry at home. I would pop out my cook books and choose my favorite recipe. The way I cook makes me happy because it can bring people together and bring my friends closer to me. The hardship I would go through to get the job is to work my way up to an experience chef from what I know now. When I graduate from high school, I would like to take a culinary course in college and to gain more experience so I can improve my cooking skills. No matter the hardship it would take to become a chef, I will be dedicated to earn a cooking degree.

Preventive Vigilance

Vigilance:- Vigilance means to be watchful to be alert what is happening and what can happen. There are traces of concept of vigilance in our olden literature like Atharva Veda. Originally, it was Henry Fayol who listed out awareness and security which was later referred as ‘Vigilance’. Importance of Vigilance :- Vigilance makes preparedness to be watchful always and sense the happening around oneself. People always have wrong approach towards vigilance as they perceive vigilance as enquiry, fixing responsibility etc.Vigilance is not investigation but it is prevention. To punish and not to prevent is like pumping the water through a pump without arresting the leakages which result in wastage of water, energy and time. Why do organizations need vigilance:- An organization protects itself from external dangers through creating security and posting manpower to guard against such threats. The role of vigilance is to protect organization from internal dangers which are more s erious than external threats.Responsibility of Employees in Vigilance Matters: Vigilance is not confined to a particular individual or set up. All public servants should be honest. They also have a responsibility towards the nation to help the organization to discharge vigilance functions effectively by bringing to the notice of organization about the activities of dishonest employees. Need for Preventive Vigilance Preventive vigilance plays an important role in strengthening the vigilance set up of any organization.There has been a wide spread realization that punitive vigilance alone cannot be the foundation of an efficient vigilance machinery. In punitive vigilance, the vigilance wing reacts to complaints or information of specific instances of mala fide action, verifies such information and then proceeds against the erring officials. On the other hand, the preventive vigilance sets up procedures and systems to restrain the acts of wrong doing and misconduct in the various areas of the functioning of the department.Preventive vigilance is thus more effective than punitive vigilance. It has several advantages: †¢It is global in its impact and affects the working of the department as a whole. †¢It is less costly and does not require elaborate specialized machinery like punitive vigilance. †¢It is impersonal and does not act as a fetter upon the rightful exercise of authority. †¢It is not directed against an individual. †¢It cannot be misused for vindictive purposes. Tools of Preventive Vigilance 1. Standardization:Laying down clear cut conditions/ procedures in order to reduce discretion and scope of granting undue favors. 2. Automation: The computerization’s of procedures help in reducing interface between officials and taxpayers. 3. Transparency: The taxpayers need to be educated about their rights and responsibilities. Transparency can also be extended to performing official functions in public view and across counter tops r ather than in covered enclosures. 4. Accountability: Accountability should extend to all levels and every person must be held accountable for his action or inaction.For decisions made with improper motives, penalty should be swift and decisive. 5. Control and supervision: The success of the above methods depends on effective control and supervision. Right persons should be put in key positions. The personnel policy should discourage long tenures in one post. 6. Conducive work environment This would involve focus on the following items: Appropriate logistical support including sanction of adequate funds †¢Adequate manpower †¢Meaningful and relevant job assignment Frequent, supportive and instructive interaction between supervisor and subordinates †¢Transparency in transfer and placement. †¢Institutional selection for foreign assignment, training and deputation. †¢Objective performance appraisal and formal recognition of competence. †¢Promotion of mutual trust. Role of individual to Fight against Corruption Individual person have a vital role in fight against Corruption. Every man can stop corruption, fist that individual must say stop to Pay & Take Bribe to anyone. Every man must be watchful abut what is going around and must complaint