The Roles and Barriers of Curriculum Leaders an Example of the Topic Scholarship by

The Roles and Barriers of Curriculum Leaders Leadership is experienced everywhere in the world, it is seen in organisations, schools, governments, small groups as well as in families. It enables a system to run well, effectively and with a sense of direction. Leadership therefore is not about power, accomplishments or what we do but it is about creating a domain in which human beings continually deepen their understanding of reality and become more capable of participating in the world and creating new realities. Need essay sample on "The Roles and Barriers of Curriculum Leaders" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed The functions that enables school systems and the schools to achieve goals and ensure quality of students in what they study and learn is therefore referred to as curriculum leadership. Supervisors, principles, classroom teachers and team leaders can all work together to discharge these responsibilities as the functions are goals oriented and the ultimate goal is to maximise student learning by providing quality learning content therefore making a distinction between curriculum, that is what is learnt and instruction which is the content taught. (Fullan 2004) Several theories in regard to leadership have been developed by philosophers from different schools of thought. (Gary 2001) came up with various leadership theories which focus on characteristics and behavioural success of leaders. These theories try to explain leadership and the different approaches used by leaders to effectively lead others. College Students Often Tell Us: How much do I have to pay someone to make my essay today? Specialists advise: Get Academic Writing At Reasonable Price With Us Cheap Essays Within Hours Write My Essay For Me Cheap Write My Essay Online Cheap Writing Service Reviews Contingency theory developed by Fred Fielder focuses on situations which affect a leaders effectiveness. The situations are such as leader-member relationship, which refer to the degree of confidence subordinates have in their leader. Another situation is task structure which refers to the degree to which followers works is routine in contrast to non routine and the final one is position power which include rewards and punishments associated with leaders formal authority, position and support that he or she receives from supervisors. The second theory is contingency theory which states that the most successful leaders are those who increase subordinate motivation by making sure they have control of outcome, reward them for their performance, encouraging them to achieve group and organisational goals and take into account their characteristics and the type of work they do. This theory explains why people perform well where their efforts are recognised by their leaders. For example in institutions where students are rewarded for their good work, there is usually stiff competition for the reward and this therefore improves the performance of the students Leader-style theory by Vroom and Yetton describes ways which leaders can make decisions and guide them to determine the extent to which subordinates should participate in decision making. The theory holds that organisational decisions should be of quality and subordinates should accept and be committed to the decisions made. The final theory is Hersey and Blachard theory which identifies three dimensional approaches for assessing leadership effectiveness; leaders should exhibit leadership and task behaviour, leader effectiveness depends on how his or her leadership style interrelates with the situational finally willingness and readiness of an employee to do a task. Leaders are on day to day basis faced with many roles which make them to be effective. These roles enable them to be able to handle the students and persons who are their juniors and allow them interact directly with team members. Curriculum leaders have both managerial roles as well as leadership roles. Managerial roles stresses on the role of leaders as custodians of institutions and also as a source of control of their institutions. The leaders should be able to manage all the curriculum activities of their institutions and ensure that they are running well and well adopted by the students. On the other hand, leadership roles stress on being the role model and making sure that there is discipline and sanity in the institutions. This creates a good picture to the community surrounding them and therefore holds a high level of respect from the people dealing with them as well as the community at large. This role also deals with improvement of instructional practice and performance which enables the curriculum leaders to be coalition builders as well as brokers among the perse interests of both the students and teachers of their institutions. Another role of curriculum leaders include monitoring team members behaviours and take action if needed in respect to team performance (Hackman 2002). The leader is meant to monitor performance and progress towards task accomplishment and if problems are discovered the leader should gather information to determine the nature of the problem and use it to implement an effective solution (Hackman 2002). Another role of curriculum leaders includes focusing on the enactment of team orientation which includes factors with motivational implications (that is promoting shared goals creating positive effect and shaping perceptions). Orientation represents effective bonds that connect members to the team and its mission. Team coherence represent team members collective bond and is also part of this role and includes development of linked inpidual goals checking team strategies and a compatible network of role expectations across team members. As (Koslowski 1996a) states team leaders have the role of building a new team. He or she should develop them into a coherent, seamless and well integrated work unit as the ongoing teams experience outflows and inflows overtime. Therefore as new replacements are brought to the team, there is need to socialise, assimilate them and make sure that they fit in the team. The other roles of curriculum leaders in schools are; One is to create a moral purpose which is a social responsibility to others and to the environment. School leaders with a moral purpose make a difference in the lives of their student. They are determined to close the gap between high performing and lower performing schools and students as they have the intension of making a positive difference in their schools. Another role is to improve relations as it leads to betterment of schools. The leaders should build relationships with perse groups and people who think differently. As cultural change principal knows that building relationships and teams is a difficult skill, he or she should therefore work hard to develop full range of emotional intelligence domains and self management of emotions and empathy towards others. This not only boost scores for the next year but also lays a foundation for two years and beyond (Fullan 2004) knowledge creating and sharing is another role of leaders. Leaders should share and seek knowledge to ensure continual learning which add to students knowledge base. Curriculum leaders should appreciate that it is a both intellectual and moral profession therefore he or she should remember that they are engaged in practising, studying and refining the teaching craft. Effective leaders should be coherent makers (Fullan 2004), understanding the change process, ability to build relationships and creating and knowledge sharing help create coherence through checks and balances embedded in their interaction. Leaders with deep moral purpose provide guidance but can also be blinders if their ideas are not challenged by change dynamics, give and take relationships and ideas generated by new knowledge. Leadership and sustainability is another role faced by curriculum leaders. They can attain sustainability by developing social environment, learning in context, cultivating leaders at all levels and enhancing the teaching profession. According to (Collins 2001), an organisation cannot flourish for long with the top leader alone, schools therefore need leaders at many levels, curriculum leaders therefore has the responsibility of developing leaders from the lowest to the to level of education. To be able to deal with complex problem leaders need many years of experience and professional development of the job and to a certain extent, a school leaders effectiveness in creating a culture of sustained change will be determined by the leaders he leaves behind. Leadership succession is also likely if there are many leaders at all levels hence organisations should set their sight on continual improvement at all levels by nurturing, cultivating and appointing successive leaders who are moving in a sustained direction. It is also the role of curriculum leaders to set policies which should be followed by students. The policies can be achieved by setting performance targets, approve standards, monitor school performance, adjudicate conflicts over design performance issues, administer rewards and buffer non instructional issues, this enables smooth running of the system and therefore reduce their work load. Curriculum leaders also have professionals which include developing standards and setting new instructional practices, design pre-service and in-service learning, conducting model professional development and creating benchmarks for practice and content. The final role of curriculum leaders in schools is to enhance the teaching profession. This is because there will only be a pool of quality principals and leaders if we have a large pool of quality teachers who form ranks of the quality principals (Elmore, 2000). Despite the important leadership and managerial roles experienced by curriculum leaders, there are several barriers that they experience which hinders the full implementation of their roles. One of the barriers is the problem with the standard setting in curriculum which is set by staff officials who are already removed from schools and free from accountability. These standards are often not supported with other systematic changes like new approaches to teacher education therefore the standards are often fragmented and contradictory making it difficult for curriculum leaders, (Woolfolk 1994). In conclusion, the curriculum system complication is also another barrier which represents an almost impossible task for curriculum leaders. The complications faced also force the students to master several benchmarks which therefore make the system hard for both the student and the curriculum leaders.Curriculum leaders of late experience cultural barriers and difficulties when undertaking their leadership roles, this is due to lark of training on the many different cultural values and practices for different students and this therefore creates a misunderstanding between the student and his or he leader. The leaders should therefore have their own lessons on different cultures and how to handle students of different levels and races so as to ensure easy management of his or her duties. Learn more: ApplicationResponse to the ResumeWriting a research paper Bibliography Elmore Richard 1996, Restructuring in the classroom: teaching, learning and school management, Jessey Bass, Sanfransisco. Michael Fullan 2004 Moral imperative of school leadership, Corwin press ISBN 1412914779. Richard Hackman 2002, leading teams, Harvard business school press, London Richard .F Elmore 2000 Building a new structure for school leadership, Albert Shanker institute New York. Woolfolk Hoy, A. & Hoy, W. K 2006 Instructional Leadership: A research-based guide to learning in schools 2nd ed.Boston MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Explore Shakespeares presentation of Romeo Essays

Explore Shakespeares presentation of Romeo Essays Explore Shakespeares presentation of Romeo Essay Explore Shakespeares presentation of Romeo Essay Explore Shakespeares presentation of Romeo: Romeo and Juliet, the story of two star crossed lovers. The story begins by telling us about the Montagues and the Capulets.Two households both alike in dignityMeaning the Montagues and Capulets are both at the same social position, which is assumed to be rather high. The families have both been enemies, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny.Romeo attends a Capulet ball, where he meets Juliet, and little does he know that she is a Capulet, he falls in love with her almost immediately. However, shortly after their meeting they both discover each others names and realize that they are family enemies.My only love, sprung from my only hate. Juliet says, soon after her meeting with Romeo.Their family conflict grounds many problems for their doomed love. The two, without knowledge of their parents marry in secret. However Juliets father has found the perfect match for her, a radiant young man named, Paris. This causes a lot of problems for Rome o and Juliet, and their love for each other, which started out as a happy moment in time, starts to go awfully wrong. Romeo is first introduced as a untroubled and naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve young man, and over the next 3 days he is faced with serious issues and has to deal with some of the major events in his life, such as falling in love, getting married, murder, dealing with banishment and death, and finally taking his own life as he cant live without the girl he loves.At the beginning of the play Romeos father and mother are talking to his Cousin, their nephew, Benvolio. Romeos father is concerned about Romeos behavior, and says that he seems unhappy.Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, and makes himself an artificial nightRomeo is behaving in a strange way, but it is clear that he is discontented about something. His father wants to help but Romeo is being so secretive it is impossible to find out what is wrong: But to himself so secret and so closeBenvolio tells Romeos parents he will go and talk to him, and them that he will try and find out what is wrong with Romeo.Romeo tells him that he is in love with a girl, but his love is not returned. Romeo seems to be melancholy and confused about this. He tells Benvolio he is hurt. Benvolio asks him what her name is, but he avoids the question but tells Benvolio that she beautiful, O she is rich in beauty. Benvolio tells him Examine other beauties. He wants Romeo to forget about this girl, there are plenty other beauties. Be ruled by me, forget to think of her.In Act1, scene 2, we find out that the beauty Romeo is in love with is called Rosaline. We also discover that the Capulets are holding a feast, a ball. A servant has a list of names of people invited to the ball. Romeo and Benvolio meet him. Romeo sees that Rosalines name is on the list. Benvolio then persuades Romeo to go to the ball, so he can compare Rosaline to other beauties. Compare her face with some that I shall show, and I will make thee think t hy swan a crow Romeo questions Benvolio: One fairer than my love? Romeo strongly disagrees that there will be a girl with more beauty than Rosaline, but Benvolio tells him that he only think she is so beautiful beacause there was nobody else to compare her with: Tut you saw her fair, none else being by. Romeo agrees to go to the ball to prove him wrong.Act 1, scene 4, just before the Capulet ball. Romeo is miserable; he is still upset over Rosaline, and also worried about how they are going to explain themselves for being at a Capulet party without invitations. Mercutio, Romeos best friend, and Benvolio try to cheer him up, but with little success. They try to get Romeo to enjoy himself but he is reluctant to enjoy himself as he is feeling so depressed. Is love a tended thing? It is too rough, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn This is how Romeo is feeling. He has been hurt by love, It pricks like a thorn.Mercutio still tries to encourage Romeo to unwind by joking with him. At the end of this scene Romeo saysI fear too early, for my mind misgives,Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,Shall bitterly begin this fearful date,With this night revels, and expire the term,Of a despised life closed in my breast,By some vile forfeit of untimely deathRomeo thinks that is written in the stars that the events of the night will lead him to die an early death. He believes that he has mortgaged his life for love.In Act1, scene 5, Romeo sees Juliet for the first time. He asks a serving man who she is What ladys that which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight The serving man does not know and Romeo still doesnt get an answer. He is unaware that Juliet is a Capulet.O she doth teach torches to burn bright Romeo is stunned by Juliets beauty. Romeo uses beautiful phrases to express his feelings and thoughts on Juliet. He immediately falls for Juliet. Did my heart love till now? Forswear is sight, for I neer saw true beauty till this night.Tybalt spots Romeo at his pa rty and informs his uncle Capulet. Capulet tells him to behave himself and not to make mutiny among his guests. Tybalt reluctantly agrees but seeks revenge.Romeo approaches Juliet and speaks to her for the first time. He wants to kiss her straight away, To smooth that rough touch, with a tender kiss. They kiss. Juliet says that he kiss by th book meaning he is a good kisser. The nurse interrupts them, telling Juliet that her mother wishes to speak with her. Romeo asks the nurse who Juliet is. He discovers that she is a Capulet, a family enemy.Is she a Capulet? O dear account, my life is my foes debt?Romeo leaves the party. Juliet also asks what Romeos name is, and the nurse replies, His name is Romeo, and a Montague, the only son of your great enemyJuliet is distressed to learn that her love is the offspring of her family enemy, the Montagues.My only love sprung form my only hate, too early seen unknown, and know too late Juliet means she fell in love with Romeo before she found out his name, and its too late now for her to change her feelings.As Romeo is leaving the party he realizes he is so in love with Juliet, he has to go back to the Capulet Mansion to try and find her. He climbs over the wall into the Capulet orchard. He sees Juliet in the moonlight in an upstairs window. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun To Romeo, Juliet is so bright, and so beautiful; he compares her to the sun. Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon Romeo says that the moon is jealous of her maid Juliet because she is more beautiful. The things he says about Juliet show how much he adores and admires her.Juliet appears, thinking she is on her own, and speaks aloud of her love for Romeo. She talks of how their family names cause problems for them.O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Juliet means, Why are you called Romeo Montague? And not another name?She speaks of how Romeo would still be the same person even if he werent a Montague.That which we call a rose, by any other w ord, would smell just as sweetRomeo surprises her when he answers to her thoughts.Juliet says to him So stumblest on my counsel? Meaning he has heard her private thought which she was saying out loud. Juliet asks him how he got there, as the orchard walls are hard to climb. Romeo replies, For stony limits cannot hold out love Romeo is saying that the wall cant keep him away from her. Juliet informs him that if anyone sees him there he will be murdered. Romeo says My life were better ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. He tells Juliet that he rather be killed by their hatred for him, rather than go on living, waiting for death without her love.She wants Romeo to tell her that he loves her, but she doesnt want any lies. If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfullyJuliet is frightened that Romeo will think she is too forward. In truth fair Montague, I am too fond. An therefore thou mayst think my haviour light She thinks that girls who have skill will play har d to get. The nurse calls Juliet. As she is about to leave Romeo says, O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied. He begs Juliet to at least exchange vows of love with him. Juliet says she gave him hers before he even requested them.Romeo and Juliet decided to marry. Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence, a man he trusts and has a lot of respect for. He asks for Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet. Friar Lawrence senses that Romeo has been out all night, and he questions him. Romeo tells him of his new love for Juliet, a Capulet. Friar Lawrence is surprised that Romeo has fallen for the offspring of his enemy, and also in the sudden change of Romeos attitude and feelings. Just recently he had been upset, confused, and hurt, still in, what he had called love, with Rosaline. He points out that his love for Rosaline must have not been true, and was just infatuation; For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.Young mens love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes He mean that maybe Rome o thought he loved Rosaline because she was beautiful, and not really for her-his love wasnt in his heart- but in his eyes.Romeo agrees, and realizes his love for Juliet is true. He understands what he felt for Rosaline must have been infatuation. Friar Lawrence also saysThy love did read by rote, that could not spellHe mean that Romeos love for Rosaline, was like someone who, reads, by learning the story off by heart but cannot spell out the letters of what is written.Friar Lawrence accepts that Romeos love for Juliet may be true love, and also might bring their quarrelling families to peace, so he agrees to marry them. It is arranged for Juliet to go to Friar Lawrences cell to be married.After their exchange of vows, Romeo arrives whilst a small quarrel between Tybalt and Mercutio. Tybalt insults Romeo to get a reaction, to provoke him, but as Romeo has just married Juliet, he doesnt want to cause any more problems with his new relation. He keeps calm and doesnt accept Tybalts off er for a fight; Villain I am none. Therefore farewell, I thou knowest me not. Romeo tries telling Tybalt he isnt a bad person, not a villain, and that Tybalt obviously doesnt know him well, he says farewell, he doesnt want to fight. Mercutio is irritated by Romeos cowardliness and challenges Tybalt. They fight. In all the perplexity and confusion, Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt. He suffers from a fatal wound and dies almost immediately. Romeo is distraught. His best friend, killed by his wifes cousin, and now a relation to him. Romeo is incredibly distressed, and angry with this, and in a rage of fury kills Tybalt.The Montagues and the Capulets have been given punishments from the Prince. The Capulets feel that Romeo should be given a death sentence, but the Prince explains that he only did what the law would have required anyway; the death of Tybalt. Both families are heavily fined, and Romeo is banished from Verona. If he is seen is Verona ever again he will be executed.Both Juliet and Romeo are distraught by this. They feel as if Romeo has been given a death sentence. Will Juliet ever see her new husband again? Oh break, my heart, poor bankrupt, break at once Her heart has lost all its possessions and she feels broke. Tybalt and Romeo have gone.Juliet is confused. She is troubled by the variance of loyalties. The nurse tries to comfort Juliet by criticizing Romeo, but Juliet turns on her. This shows that Juliet obviously feels more for Romeo than she does for Tybalt. Juliet is upset because she thinks she will still be a virgin on her wedding night as she will not be able to see Romeo. The more she thinks about it, the more upset she gets.Whilst at Friar Lawrences cell, Romeo says that his banishment might as well be a death sentence, if he isnt able to be with Juliet any longer. He is completely distraught.Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here where Juliet livesThey both receive a visit from the Nurse. She tells Romeo that Juliet is overcome with misery and is crying over the death of her cousin, Tybalt, and the banishment of her loved one, Romeo. Romeo feels as if it is his fault that Juliet is in a miserable state, he doesnt want her to ever have to go through something like this, and he tries to stab himself. Friar Lawrence tells him to pull himself together, as Juliet and him are both still alive, and he still has hope. They plan for Romeo to go to Mantua until things are sorted out. The Nurse arranges a time so Romeo can spend the night with Juliet.The next morning Juliet tries to persuade Romeo to stay. He says he will accept her judgment but he will be risking his life. Juliet then sees it would be best for him to go. This is the only proper time both Romeo and Juliet have together, and Juliet must be sad to see Romeo leave, but she understands what the consequences of him staying are. Romeo only spends one night with his new wife, before he has to leave, he also must feel sad.Farwell, farewell, one kiss and ill descend.Thi s is the last time Romeo and Juliet kiss before their ill-fated destiny takes place.Juliets mother enters her room just as Romeo leaves, and notifies her about her marriage to a radiant young man, named Paris. Juliet is dismayed and tells her mother she refuses to marry Paris. Her Father also enters the room, and she repeats her refusal to him. Her father is livid with her and tells her she is to marry Paris or he will disown her.Juliet is extremely upset and turns to the nurse for help. Oh God! O Nurse how shall this be prevented? She is upset because when she married Romeo she made a promise that she would be faithful to him.Juliet later visits Friar Lawrences cell, and informs him on what happened. Juliet tells him that she would rather kill herself than be married to Paris.Father Lawrence gives her a potion. Juliet is to drink this and it should send her to sleep and make it look like she is dead. She will be taken to the family vault and hopefully wake up to Romeo who will take her to Mantua with him. The Friar will tell Romeo by letter what will be happening. Juliet agrees to this.Meanwhile in Mantua, Romeo never received a letter, but learns other news from his servant. He is told what everyone else think, which is the wrong information. Balthasar tells him that Juliet is dead.Romeo is heartbroken. He thinks the girl he loves, his wife, is not alive anymore, and he will never be able to be with her again. Then I defy you, stars The stars have intended that Juliet shall die and be taken away from Romeo. He is determined not to let that happen. Romeo does not want to live without Juliet; Well Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. He is willing to take his own life just so he can be with her forever.Romeo goes to an apothecary who is very poor and will be willing to sell him some poison, even though this is illegal. The poison Romeo buys is strong enough to kill twenty men.Romeo makes his way to Juliets tomb and finds Paris there. The two men fight, and Ro meo Kills him. Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet Before Paris died he asked to be placed next to his love, Juliet. It is only then Romeo realizes who he has killed; Mercutios kinsman, noble county Paris!Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred Romeo is saying that he will kill himself, but he feels dead already, now that he thinks Juliet is gone.Romeo sees Juliet. He is struck by her beauty.Ah dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous? He means bodiless death is in love with Juliet. Swearing that he will stay with her forever, Romeo swallows the poison.Friar Lawrence arrives at the vault, and its at this time Juliet wakes up. Friar Lawrence tells her what has happened, and tries to hurry her out, but she refuses to leave. She to, would rather be dead than live without Romeo. Hearing people coming, she quickly takes Romeos daggers and stabs herself.

Starbucks case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Starbucks - Case Study Example Some grocery stores sell Starbucks branded ice cream and coffee. (Starbucks Corporation, 2007) From where it was established in Seattle, Washington, as only a local coffee bean roaster and seller, Starbucks has rapidly expanded. In the 1990s, the corporation was establishing a new store each workday, a tempo which continued into the 2000s. However domestic expansion has ever since slowed down, although Starbucks continues to spread out in foreign markets, The company's first location out of the U.S. and Canada was launched in 1996, and at present they constitute about one third of Starbucks' total stores. (Starbucks Corporation, 2007) As at November 2007, Starbucks Corporation had 8,505 company-owned coffeehouse outlets global: 6,793 of them located in the United States while 1,712 are located in other countries and the U.S. territories. Besides, the Starbucks has 6,506 joint-venture or licensed outlets, and 3,891 of them are in United States and 2,615 are in some other countries or in U.S. territories. This thus brings the total number of locations (as at November 2007) to 15,011 worldwide. (Starbucks Corporation, 2007) 2003: Starbucks concluded acquiring Seattle's Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia from the previous owners AFC Enterprises, increasing the total number of Starbucks-operated outlets worldwide to over 6,400. In 2006 September 14, competitor Diedrich Coffee company stated that it would sell many of its company-owned retail outlets to Starbucks company. This sale included the company owned sites of the Oregon-located Coffee People chain. Starbucks company representatives were quoted as saying that they will translate the Diedrich Coffee and Coffee People sites to Starbucks stores. January 2008, Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks took up again his position as Chief Executive Officer, substituting Jim Donald, who earlier on in 2000 had succeeded him. Schultz's main challenge is to re-establish what he calls the "distinctive Starbucks experience" in the moment of high expansion. Industry observers believe that Schultz have to determine the manner in which to contend with soaring materials prices and increased rivalry from lower-price competitors, which includes McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts. (Findingdulcinea, 2008) On 31 January, 2008, Schultz stated that Starbucks Company would suspend its warm food items, originally planned to launch countrywide in 2008, so as to refocus the brand on coffee. 1. Evaluation of HRM Each employee requires more learning in order to improve his /her skills, no matter how best a candidate is, he/she can not be 100% percent qualified. Thus, the human resource management should implement learning management system (Beardwell & Holden, 1997) Starbucks Corporation has understood this aspect and that is why it recognizes that its employees are one of their highly valuable resources. The very first guiding rule in their mission statement also addresses the Company's principle towards its employees: "Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity". The management recognizes that the Starbucks employees play a foremost function in the expansion of the company. (Hoovers.com, 2007) Starbucks Corporation training can be termed as systematic enhancement of knowledge, skills and attitudes of the needed by an employee in order to perform a given task. Development is the growth of an employee in terms of capability, understanding and

Professional Development as a Strategic Manager Essay

Professional Development as a Strategic Manager - Essay Example c management study: the first makes stress on the meaning of the strategic management concepts, the second focuses on the process and important factors. The essence of the decision making in strategic management is perfectly explained by the following citation: The role of strategic management in the organization should not be underestimated as it is very important. The issue is worth-discussing; therefore, in the given paper I would like to discuss my professional development as a strategic manager and prove that I can build the long-term business strategy for the company British Airways taking into account the organizational change in the new rapidly changing market conditions. Now leadership ideas get new sense in the transportation industry; leadership is thoroughly investigated from the theoretical and practical points of view. It is obvious, that transportation industry requires gifted leaders as any other, however as far as transportation sector has special characteristics, and is focused on offering the clients distinctive services, leadership in this industry can’t be considered as universal. Nevertheless, leadership ideas of other successful companies can be applied and adapted to the sphere of transportation business. Shelley Kirkpatrick and  Edwin A. Locke  (1991) state that "key leader traits include: drive (a broad term which includes  achievement,  motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative), leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to seek power as an end in itself), honesty, integrity, self-confidence (which is associated with emotional stability), cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business. According to their research, "there is less clear evidence for traits such as charisma, creativity and flexibility". Though transportation industry is considered to be the one, where many leadership initiatives can’t be completely appropriate and almost certainly requiring other methods, however leadership is still very

Argument Essay - Illegalize Alcohol Essay Example for Free

Argument Essay Illegalize Alcohol Essay Our country is facing a growing problem. It is a problem of moral decay. The legal and open use of alcohol is an unnecessary vice that is enjoyed and accepted by a majority of the United States population, unfortunately, it leads to social and moral downfalls. Alcohol should be held to the same standards as other illegal mind and body-altering substances, as alcohol is addicting and has no medical value. Lawmakers and active voters should put an outright ban on alcohol. The revenue that is generated from the manufacturing, distributing, and sales of alcohol is a major source of taxable income that is a benefit. As of 2007 the U. S. Government was collecting $5. 6 billion dollars annually from the taxation of alcohol (joshritchie). This revenue has tended to increase each and every year. Although the revenue is important, the question must be asked, is it moral? Is it moral for our government to profit off the sale of a frivolous vice that causes fatalities and creates addicts? The revenue that is made from the taxation of alcohol could be lost, and would simply increase our never-ending national debt by a miniscule amount. Through out history our country has faced several social epidemics that have resulted in many people becoming substance abusers. Though these times our government has stepped in and enforced laws to restore the moral and social fabric of the infected areas. The current epidemic that we are facing is the abuse of alcohol. It is widespread and available almost everywhere in our country. â€Å"According to the Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI) tool, from 2001–2005, there were approximately 79,000 deaths annually attributable to excessive alcohol use. † (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Beyond the number of the deaths that are related to alcohol every year, a staggering number of people in the United States are alcoholics. According to the National Library of Medicine, â€Å"nearly 17. 6 million adults in the United States are alcoholics or have alcohol problems†. (U. S. National Library of Medicine) We need to completely ban alcohol so that we can start working on decreasing the number of addicts in our country rather than encourage the use to every single person just as he or she turns a certain age. The United States government has already tried to ban alcohol in the past, it was a complete failure and subsequently repealed. This attempt resulted in a spike in organized crime and was an obvious failure. Eventually the government conceded and re-legalized the use of alcohol. I too will concede that it was a failure on the part of our government in enforcing the prohibition of alcohol. Even today we are fighting the exact same battle by the DEA with the Controlled Substances Act. There is already a long list of illegal substances that are given priorities and schedules and are subsequently enforced. It would not be a stretch to incorporate alcohol into this list of illegal drugs. Many would assert that it would be difficult to enforce the mere consumption and manufacturing of small amounts of alcohol by individuals in there own homes. It is a very simple process to either brew low alcohol content drinks or to distill higher alcohol content spirits. The enforcing of these laws would be similar to current laws of cannabis cultivation. These laws would seem just as hard to enforce, yet they are enforced. The manufacturing of homemade alcohol could be given the same fear of punishment and could be enforced on incident-to-incident bases. Alcohol has the tendency to increase the probability of someone committing a violent crime. If alcohol were banned and harder to get a hold of this number of crimes would greatly diminish. The National Center for Victims of Crime has referenced the U. S. Department of Justice concerning drug and alcohol related crimes. The report states, â€Å"The U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey asks the violent crime victims who reported seeing their offenders whether they perceived the offender to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. According to the 1999 survey, over a quarter of the violent crime victims could make such a determination. About twenty-eight percent (28%) of those reported that the offender was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The most common substance identified was alcohol alone. About sixteen percent (16%) reported that the offender was under the influence of alcohol alone (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2001). † (The National Center for Victims of Crime) This only takes into account the victims that were able to see their offender; this means that there are possibly more unaccounted for alcohol related crimes. The legal and open use of alcohol as a vice is leading to the downfall of our society. It is creating addicts while not offering a single practical medical benefit. The United States Government has already invested time, money, and effort to enforcing its Controlled Substances Act. Alcohol should be held to the same standards as all other physically altering substances are held to. Alcohol poses the risk of dependence and has no beneficial medical value. In order to start the moral fabric of our country we need to do away with the crime inducing substance alcohol. Lawmakers and active voters, it is our duty to hold our selves to higher standards and completely abolish the manufacturing, sale, and use of alcohol. Works Cited Alcoholism: MedlinePlus. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. 25 Aug. 2011. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. http://www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/alcoholism. html. CDC Alcohol and Public Health Home Page Alcohol. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. http://www. cdc. gov/alcohol/. Drug Related Crime. The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2008. Web. 1 Dec. 2011. http://www. ncvc. org/ncvc/main. aspx? dbName=DocumentViewerDocumentID=32348. Joshritchie. How Much Is the Government Making Off of Alcohol? | Tax Break: The TurboTax Blog. Tax Break: The TurboTax Blog | Its All about the Refund. 5 July 2010. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. http://blog. turbotax. intuit. com/2010/07/05/how-much-is-the-government-mak

Handguns in America: To Ban or Not to Ban Essay -- argumentative, persu

Handguns in America: To ban or not to ban. Americans should be able to have, own and carry handguns if they feel the need to protect them. It’s a statement that is a topic of major debate and has been for years. There are proponents and oppositionists with regards to handgun laws and rights. Both sides have strong, seemingly valid arguments. In the end, we should have that choice. One of the strongest arguments for banning handguns: An increase in the availability of handguns equals an increase in crimes using handguns. â€Å"Handguns were used in murder more than all other weapons combined.† Page 75 (Every handgun is aimed at you) Josh Sugarman is for banning handguns arguing, the higher number of handguns, and the higher number of crime. That fact may be accurate according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports. However, who is to say about the likely hood of the murder occurring regardless if the gun was available or not. If someone has a gun, they are more likely going to use it. But if someone is murder-minded, they will commit the murder, regardless of the weapon. To argue this point further, John R. Lott Jr. in his book The Bias Against Guns, mentions a study from 1977 to 1992. The research showed that the states that adopted right to conceal laws had a decrease in crimes with guns immediately following the passing of those laws. (pg 228 the bias against guns) Suicide and handguns: â€Å"†¦.the ready availability of handguns in the moments of despair takes thousands of lives each year.† (page 35 Every handgun is aimed at you) The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention states that: â€Å"Firearms account for 50 percent of all suicides. Death by firearms is the fastest growing method of suicide.† Just as the murder-minded individual h... ...ection of this site, deals specifically with statistics on firearms and suicide rates. Sowell, Thomas. "RealClearPolitics - Judges, the Constitution & Gun Control Laws." RealClearPolitics. Creators Syndicate Inc., 29 June 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. The author is a general columnist and writes political articles including publishing weekly articles in Forbes magazine. He is a respected top economist. His article shows the author’s view on how stricter laws will increase gun violence. Sugarmann, Josh. Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns. New York: New, 2001. Print. The author is the executive director/founder of Violence Policy Center. He has published two books on the subject of guns and has written many articles for several newspapers across the country. This book looks at gun violence in America and why we should completely ban handguns.

Does violence on televison lead to violence in real life? Essay

The debate on television violence has been on going for many years now and has produced a wide and varied set of views and research results. Many well established psychologists have attempted, through various types of experiments and observations, to either support or negate a link between violence on television and the violent episodes in â€Å"real† life. These sets of data have thrown up some interesting views and personal conclusions regarding the subject of television violence, and we will show the varying views and conclusions that some of these psychologists have reached; and by using a respected and well known system we will try to show the views of a small section of our community. Previous research into the link between violence and television Over the years numerous psychologists have produced thousands of experiments and or research to support or negate the link between violence and television. In 1987 a psychologist named Cumberbatch produced data on the actual amounts of violence found to be in British television programmes. He concluded that 30% of the programmes contained some form of violence, with an overall frequency of 1.14 violent acts per programme and 1.68 violent acts per hour. Each act of violence lasted an average 25 seconds leading to violence occupying just over 1% of total television airtime. His research showed that in 26% of violent acts death occurred, but in 61% no injuries were shown and the victim was portrayed as being in pain or stunned. In 83% of cases, no blood was shown as a result of a violent act, and considerable blood and gore occurred in only 0.2% of cases. Cumberbatch also revealed that most perpetrators of violent acts were more likely to be portrayed as â€Å"baddies† rather than â€Å"goodies†, and violence occurred twice as frequently in law breaking than in law-upholding contexts. His research, although neither for or against violence on television, gives us an idea of the amount of violence on television we are exposed to. Howitt and Cumberbatch in 1974 analysed 300 studies of television violence and it’s direct effect on children’s behaviour, they played down the link between television violence and the children’s behaviour. A further study into the relationships between the media and violence carried out by Eron 1987and Phillips 1986 found a different conclusion. They concluded that a positive correlation between the amount of aggression viewed at 8 and later aggression at 30 could be seen. George Gerbner (1989) researched television and its influences on human behaviour and said: † Television influences human behaviour because there are â€Å"routes† or mechanisms whereby the content of television can have an effect on what we do, and how we act. Thus, part of televisions influence comes about because of how we learn (by observation and imitation), because of how we respond to certain kinds of story material (arousal/desensitisation), and because of the structure of our inhibitions and the way television provides the kind of stimulation necessary to release them (disinhibition). I called these behavioural mechanisms, because for the most part the influence was shown on some activity† (p128 The Psychology of Television) Aletha Huston (university of Kansas 1989) studied the effects of television violence on children’s behaviour and stated: † Children who watch violent television programmes, even ‘just funny’ cartoons, were more likely to hit out at their playmates, argue, disobey class rules, leave tasks unfinished, and were less willing to wait for things than those who watched the non violent programmes.†(p 142 The Psychology of Television) We can see from the varying studies, different results and opinions of these psychologists just how hard it can be to support or negate a link between violence on television and in real life. How the questionnaires were prepared in class In a classroom environment we produced a questionnaire on peoples opinions relating to the link between television violence and real life. The class split into small groups of three or four and discussed possible questions to add to the questionnaire, trying to have a balance of pro television and anti television questions. The individual group questions were discussed and eight questions picked to make up the actual questionnaire, these questions consisted of four pro television and four anti television, the questions were set out so an anti television was followed by a pro television question. The obvious reason for the split into pro and anti television is to try and produce a questionnaire that will give the people taking part a non-biased set of alternate answers. The questions we decided on where as follows: 1. Violence on TV causes certain people to copy those actions in real life 2. People understand TV is not real life and have no wish to copy what they see 3. Children often act out violence from TV especially cartoons 4. Violence in playgrounds is not influenced by TV 5. Violence is sensationalised in TV soaps to boost ratings 6. Violence in soap story lines is vital to keep viewers interested 7. News programmes use to much graphic violence 8. Graphic violence is needed in the media to show reality in news stories To measure these results we required a scale, this scale is known as the Likert questionnaire scale and was devised in the 1930s, and it works on the principle of asking the question and then giving the subject five possible answers, strongly agree, moderately agree, unsure, moderately disagree and strongly disagree (the first two and last two can be reversed) Questions one, two, five and six were prepared using the answer scale, 1: strongly agree, 2: moderately agree, 3 unsure, 4: moderately disagree and 5: strongly disagree. Questions three, four, seven and eight were prepared using the answer scale, 1: strongly disagree, 2: moderately disagree, 3: unsure, 4: moderately agree and 5: strongly agree. The reason for this is to prevent untrue answers and is explained in the next section. Why are there anomalies in preparation and analysis When preparing the questionnaire we realised that we could possibly encounter problems in the way people would answer the stated questions, the Likert scale is specifically designed to prevent this. For example we could encounter people who would pick only their favourite number and pay no attention to the questions being asked, or people would stick to the left side or right side of each column. The way the scale is set out at the moment both someone who is anti and someone who is pro television would both score the same, 24, and somebody who is unsure of every question asked would score 24 as well. Also a person who sticks to only one side of the scale, say the right side, would score a maximum of 40. This would not form a very interesting conclusion and people’s true views would be unknown so we have to alter the scale to produce interesting results, we alter only the scale and not the actual answers. To alleviate these problems the scale has to go through slight changes when we have all the necessary data, but we must emphasise that only the scores are changed and not any of the actual answers given by the participants After we have made these changes it can be seen that we now have a set of interesting results with definite pro and anti opinions and the people who have not completed the questionnaire correctly have no bearing on the result. How the data was analysed To analyse all the data collected from the questionnaires we needed to produce a graph of all the answers. This table would show in detail how the subjects of the questionnaire answered our eight questions and, when we alter the scale, would provide us with evidence of the pro and anti television feeling. The graph shows all the answers to the questionnaire and also shows the changes made, the numbers in red show how we have altered the value for the actual answer e.g. question 1 answer 1 has now become question 1 answer 5 etc Summary results of questionnaire To find the pro and anti television views of our subjects we needed to work out the over all percentages, these were found by the mathematical processes below: 1. Strongly pro television: value 1 (79) divided by the number of participants (520) multiplied by 100 to give us 15.19% 2. Moderately pro television: value 2, 113/520 x 100 = 21.73% 3. Unsure: value 3, 45/520 x 100 = 8.65% 4. Moderately anti television: value 4, 181/520 x 100 = 34.81% 5. Strongly anti television: value 5, 102/520 x 100 = 19.62% These results show that 54.43% of the people who participated in our questionnaire are moderately or strongly anti television, compared to 36.92% who are moderately or strongly pro television. Other theories for the cause of aggressive behaviour Although the debates still continue on the links between television and aggressive behaviour, other links have been researched and their findings well documented. Probably the most well known person to document his findings on aggressive behaviour was Sigmund Freud (1856-1939); he had a psychoanalytical approach and stated that we all have innate instincts in the form of something called Eros (the seeking of pleasure and self-preservation) and Thanatos (a tendency to self destruct) He tells us that this tension can often lead to the Thanatos being projected outwardly and onto others. Freud stated that the need for displaying aggression comes as naturally as the need for food, drink and sex. The aggressive instinct can be displaced through cathartic activities such as sport. Megargee (1966) supported Freud in his findings and found that crimes are often committed by over controlled individuals who, over a period of time, have repressed their anger. Another approach to this topic was Lorenz’s ethological approach, his hydraulic model claimed that ‘aggressive energy builds up gradually over a period of time and needs to be released periodically.’ Lorenz (1966) stated that aggression is connected with our need to be adaptive, to fit in and survive within our environment. Dollard et al (1939) adopted a very different approach, the frustration-aggression hypothesis. This hypothesis claimed that aggression is always a consequence of frustration and the existence of frustration always leads to aggression. Dollard et al view aggression as innate and in doing so agree with the findings of Freud and Lorenz, but, say it would only take place in particular opportune circumstances. Aggression could possibly be delayed or it could be aimed at a third party, a scapegoat. It is as if the mind thinks things through and only acts when the time is perceived to be right, or is advantageous. Another view is that of Berkowitz (1966) who says we rely on certain cues to trigger our responses. Frustration leads to anger, which is different from actual aggression, the frustration cues a readiness to act. Then only an environmental cue will actually trigger aggression. This theory is somewhat similar to the frustration-aggression hypothesis but it has the intermediary response that takes the form of anger, something has to come along that tips us over the edge. Bandura (1961, 1963, 1965, 1973, 1994) produced a theory on social learning. He claimed that aggressive behaviour was learned through observation, imitation and reinforcement of aggressive models. Even non-tangible reinforcements such as the words † be tough† can have the same effect. Bibliography Course notes R Walters & P J Daly 2003 The psychology of Television John Condry