...| FALL 2011-2012Critical Reflection | Should a leader be feared or loved? | 12-Dec-11 | In early May 2009, I got hired at a reputable local software development company. At the time, I was really excited and looking forward to achieve the best that I could. I even felt somehow lucky that I was going to be a member of this company. Little did I know however, that in just a few months’ time things were going to take a turn for the worse. My boss succeeded at making me dread her presence. Not only did she not tolerate any mistakes, but she also failed to acknowledge my hard work. I reached a point in time where I didn’t dare go to her office to ask her a question. The reason was that she would directly lose her temper and engage in a heavy criticism. New ideas were attacked rather than welcomed. As a result, I just focused on doing the job right, and waited impatiently for my last day at work. Was my boss’s leadership style effective? The answer to that question depends on how a leader is defined. A true leader is one who inspires his/her followers through shared vision, shared goals, mutual respect, ongoing communication, and most importantly a focus on problem solving rather than finger pointing (Gittell J.H, 2004). A person who is self-centered and who believes that people should be driven by fear can’t possess these traits and qualities. According to Bird (2003), “Leadership through respect is built on the bedrock of patience, virtue, and a truly strong moral...
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...“If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right” (Ford quotes). This quote expresses how one should always keep a positive mindset because the outcome of a situation depends solely upon on ones mindset. It can also help people establish a certain type of attitude one should keep when going through obstacles in life. Anglo-Saxon hero, Beowulf, and modern day hero, Nelson Mandela can be characterized as archetypal heroes from the characteristics that define them. Ancient hero Beowulf along with present day hero Nelson Mandela similarly have comparable quests during their time. Both heros during their quests experience great struggle and obstacles which they had to overcome in order to achieve their goals. Beowulf’s quest dealt with him having to defeat the monster, “Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild Marshes, and made his home in a hell” (Raffel 44). The Anglo-Saxon hero may not have used weapons on his quest but he did use his Geats to his full advantage. In his epic quest to slay the monster, Beowulf realizes he cannot be successful alone and that he will need the aide of his loyal Geats. When faced with adversity he always had his men at his side. By succeeding in defeating the monster, Beowulf would have freed people of their nightmare. They showed their gratitude by holding ,“...a banquet in [his] honor, [and toasting to his] victories..."(Raffel 49). Like Beowulf, Nelson Mandela had a difficult quest to fulfill as well, “Mandela's main...
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...of high school and map of where the different cliques sit in the cafeteria for lunch, warning her to stay away from The Plastics, an elite clique revered as "high school royalty." Meanwhile Cady also made a friendship with Regina and Janis convinced her it would be fun to have her as an insider with Regina to spy on her and the other two Plastics. When Regina found out Cady had a crush on her ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels, Regina pretended to hook Cady up with Aaron, but actually made up nasty rumors about her so Aaron wouldn't like her, then got back together with him. Cady made a plan with her actual friends, Janis and Damian, to ruin Regina George's life. They gave her candy bars to make her gain weight, and other fun mean pranks. When none of Regina’s clothes fit anymore, she is forced to wear sweatpants two days in a row, a violation of one of her own rules. Cady, Gretchen, and Karen tell her that she cannot sit with them resulting in Cady being the new leader of the Plastics. Cady kissed Aaron and then convinced him to dump Regina, turned her best friends against her, and Cady became the new "Queen Bee." When Regina found out she pretended not to care, but was really upset and humiliated. When Cady tried to talk to her, Regina ran out of the gym and got hit by a bus. Regina received tons of flowers from everyone who feared her. She didn't become Spring Fling Queen, but got a lot of sympathy votes because she was hit by a bus. ISSUES Cady Heron is corrupted, she is corrupted...
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...An Ideal Leader: An analysis of Machiavelli’s The Prince, Plato’s Republic, and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations Leadership strategies are a source of great debate in the discussion of Marcus Aurelius, Machiavelli’s Prince, and Plato’s Republic when considering the pedagogic approach of each writer or thinker in their ideal understanding of the leadership role in a country or state. Messick agrees with this concept that leadership is hotly discoursed, “Leadership is indisputable one of the most discussed, studies, and written about topics in our society. A keyword search in the Expanded Academic Index for occurrences of the word “leadership” in a title or abstract reveals over 12,000 citation sin the year 2000 alone.” Every country has some sort...
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...great woman, and behind every unsuccessful man is a bad woman. In the Igbo culture, women do not have much to gamble with such as the men. The women take care of the household; take care of cooking, and the children. We can see this type of behavior in many types of old cultural ways of life. The Igbo culture is known for men to have multiple wives and I view this as a blessing in many ways such as having many different children who can carry out their father’s legacy or vice versa, especially in Okonkwo situation. At the end of this beautiful story we see that Okonkwo kills himself because of the changes that have come to his people. Was it just to see someone hang himself because of this? Well let us see how this had come to be. Okonkwo feared most was failure just like his father; however in my humble opinion his father was not really a failure but more down to earth type of person with problems just like many people in modern day society. Owing people is the same as having a credit card with debt. For Okonkwo to show his manly hood, he takes a very big leap of faith in becoming a well respected man within his tribe which comes with great deal of responsibility. Again, in this case responsibility for Okonkwo is to keep up and maintain his wives and children with food and living space, and responsibility within his tribe is maintain security for his tribe as he was a great wrestler and makes a respectable warrior. To prove my point I quote, “He was a wealthy farmer and had two...
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...In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997. Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disney's board of directors. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. With Steve Job , Apple commands a dedicated consumer base and is know for its premium brands like iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes etc . Apples success is known under Steve...
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...09/26/2012 Organizational Behavior Leadership Styles There are many great leaders and thinkers in the history of man kind, but I have chosen three that intrigued me the most. The first two are from the same country of origin and the same time frame as well, but two very different views on life. I felt that Lao Tzu and Confucius would show a good contrast in two different thought processes. The third person I chose to write about is from a completely different country and time frame. Machiavelli is more similar to that of Confucius but with his own twist of life and what needs to be accomplished to govern a population successfully. The following is a very small and basic explanation of the thought processes of these great thinkers. According to (Cotterell 2003) Lao Tzu was the man also known as the ‘madman of Ch‘u’, or the first of the ‘irresponsible hermits’, according to the Confucians, was Li Er who was born around the time of 604 BC, but has become usual in China to refer to the founder of Taoism as Lao-tzu, the Old Philosopher. He was the keeper of the royal archives at Loyang, but few details are known of his life. Lao-tzu was ‘a hidden wise man’, who was reluctant to form a school and gather a following, and partly because of this the Confucians believed he was irresponsible. More so however it is because of the way he lived while teaching others in his way. Confucians believed in structure and hierarchy, and this was the...
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...General Information about the iPad The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, apps and web content. Its size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. The iPad runs on iOS, the same operating system used on Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone, and can run its own applications as well as iPhone applications. Without modification, the iPad will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via the Apple App Store (with the exception of programs that run inside the iPad's web browser). Like iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch display—a departure from most previous tablet computers, which used a pressure-triggered stylus—as well as a virtual onscreen keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard. History: Apple released the first iPad in April 2010, selling 300,000 units on the first day[22] and selling 3 million in 80 days.[23] During 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide,[7][8][9] representing 75% of tablet PC sales at the end of 2010.[24] By the release of the iPad 2 in March 2011, more than 15 million iPads had been sold[25]—selling more than all other tablet PCs combined since the iPad's release.[26] In 2011, it took approximately 73% of the tablet computing market share in the United States.[27] During the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple sold 15.4 million iPads. Before launch Apple's...
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...General Information about the iPad The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, apps and web content. Its size and weight fall between those of contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. The iPad runs on iOS, the same operating system used on Apple's iPod Touch and iPhone, and can run its own applications as well as iPhone applications. Without modification, the iPad will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via the Apple App Store (with the exception of programs that run inside the iPad's web browser). Like iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch display—a departure from most previous tablet computers, which used a pressure-triggered stylus—as well as a virtual onscreen keyboard in lieu of a physical keyboard. History: Apple released the first iPad in April 2010, selling 300,000 units on the first day[22] and selling 3 million in 80 days.[23] During 2010, Apple sold 14.8 million iPads worldwide,[7][8][9] representing 75% of tablet PC sales at the end of 2010.[24] By the release of the iPad 2 in March 2011, more than 15 million iPads had been sold[25]—selling more than all other tablet PCs combined since the iPad's release.[26] In 2011, it took approximately 73% of the tablet computing market share in the United States.[27] During the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple sold 15.4 million iPads. Before launch Apple's...
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...diverse society is to understand their religious beliefs and practices. In the western world there are three major religions. These religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each of these religions is monotheistic and is practiced by more than half the people in the world. Monotheistic religion is the belief in one God. Although Judaism, Christianity and Islam religious practices are each monotheistic, some of the religious traditions are different. Judaism believes there is one God who cannot be made up of parts; Islam embraces an immaterial, invisible God, one to be intensely feared in His omnipotence; Christians hold fast to the trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The differences mentioned are but a few of the differences between the three religions that could very well be reasons for some of the struggles believers faced during the early biblical days. To better the religious traditions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, one must study the early traditions and struggles of each religion. The writers of this paper will discuss the similarities, differences, theological and historical connections between the three religions. Historical Connections Judaism is historically connected to Christianity through Jesus and the Old Testament. Jesus is considered the Messiah in Christianity and the Son of God. Jesus was actually born and raised Jewish in ancient Palestine. His birth to a virgin mother enforced the belief that he was conceived by...
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...Temujin, was the son of a leader of a Mongolian tribe. He was brought up in a time of warring tribes and factions. Genghis Khan was a fierce and brilliant military commander, who achieved unprecedented success in setting Ghengis Khanup an Empire which stretched across Europe and Asia. His Mongol armies left a trail of fear, death and destruction. But, he also created a vibrant empire with a common language, booming trade, tolerance of religion and some basic customs and laws( Pettinger., 2010). Arguably the most famous Asian of the last 2,000 years, Genghis Khan created an empire that was more than twice the size of any other conqueror's in history, and that endured for more than a century and a half after his death. Almost everything we know about him came from the descendants of people he conquered, and they have seen him as merely one of many bloodthirsty savages -- such as Attila the Hun and Tamerlane -- who periodically erupted from the steppes like some evil force of nature to ravage the superior civilizations around them(Weatherford, 2000). Although Genghis Khan was a great conqueror, he never stopped becoming open to new cultures and he was very open to learn from the technologies, practices and even religions of the different territories he conquered. A great leader never stops learning and it is the key to your success too. You must be humble enough to realize that you can learn from anyone, anywhere no matter how far you have come as a leader, there is always something...
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...Researching and Overcoming Cultural Barriers in a Global Market Patrick Moran SSCI210-1102A-07: Sociology American Inter-Continental University May 29, 2011 Abstract This paper is in fact a research project commissioned by the CEO of a major manufacturer of polymers in the United States. The company plans to sell to Asian and European markets as well as open up plants in Asia. The president and CEO of the company has asked that research be conducted as to how to best prepare personnel to the exposure of different cultures and how to conduct business with people of different culture. The CEO, Maverick, is concerned because many companies in the past have failed to successfully expand their businesses into foreign markets because of lack of understanding of foreign cultures. Group 4 researched the subject, and engaged in a group discussion that generated several points of view and ideas. There were many common beliefs, which will be defined, and solutions and policy recommendations will be offered in this paper. Researching and Overcoming Cultural Barriers in a Global Market Many companies are looking to foreign markets to expand their business and enlarge their market-share. Respecting laws and regulations imposed by a foreign government is the least of a company’s worries if it wishes to succeed. Standing in the way of success are cultural barriers that must be overcome, otherwise a company can expect to fail in its endeavors. Many companies have tried to establish...
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...Cultural Perspectives of Japan William Earl Barnes Jr. Abstract Japan is an island country sited east of the mainland of Asia. It is made up of a long, slender group of islands. The four main islands are Honshu (the largest), Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. There are more than three thousand smaller islands. Together, they have about the identical land area as the state of California. Across the Sea of Japan to its north and west are Russia and South Korea. To the east, where the sun rises, Japan borders the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese call their nation Nippon, which means “Land of the Rising Sun” Japan has a remarkable landscape. Mountains and hills cover most of the land. A chain of mountains runs down the middle of Japan. Snow-capped Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest peak, towers over Honshu Island. Swift streams flow from the mountains into the sea. Thick forests cover the mountainsides where deer and monkeys make their homes in the spring; the countryside is colored pink and white with the blossoms of plum and cherry trees. In southern Japan, summers are long and hot. In the north, winters are cold and snowy. Central Japan has an enjoyable climate, with warm summers and cool winters. The country is often shaken by volcanic explosions and earthquakes. Japan’s first powerful rulers were chiefs from the Yamato region. During the Yamatos’ rule, many visitors from other lands came to Japan. Scholars from china brought the Chinese writing system in the 400s. They also brought...
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...Emancipation and Apprenticeship Pre-18th Century Attitudes to Slavery Like other people of the time, Europeans believed that the enslavement of another person was justifiable as long as a reasonable explanation could have being given for the enslavement. In Africa itself, slavery was acceptable and people were taken as slaves in three ways: as prisoners in war, as a punishment for a crime and as a payment for debt. An English philosopher, John Locke stated that slavery is only justifiable when a person was then taken captive as a prisoner of war e.g.: in crusades. The Spanish questioned whether slavery was right but they still practiced it. They argued that slavery although wrong was necessary in order to develop their empire and to convert heathens to Christians. The Bible itself was ambiguous enough for Europeans to use it as the foundation for supporting slavery e.g.: the story about the curse on Ham and his posterity and their ‘blackness’ giving them inferiority and making them slaves forever. 18th Century Attitudes to Slavery In the 18th century, there was a changing attitude towards slavery, ideas about Christian brotherhood and that Christians could not be enslaved became popular for e.g.: the Quakers believed that blacks have immortal souls just like whites and can be saved as well. In France, the anti-slavery group was more of secular than a religious group. They were humanitiarrtians who believed that all men were created equal and that all men...
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...The Myth of Dracula Jenny Martinez, Com 220 University of Phoenix Cole Chatterton January 9, 2008 THE MYTH OF DRACULA In October of 1999, a television series began that would run for approximately four and a half years. This series would again sate the American appetite for vampire stories begun by the likes of Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Tanith Lee, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. The name of the series? Angel. The Premise? A vampire, originally named Angelus, had been cursed by a gypsy victim, with a soul, and could no longer kill humans. And if he fell in love with one, his dark side would return, which he feared more than anything else. The series featured many flashbacks to many centuries past because the vampires depicted were several centuries old. Not only that, but the vampire had true eye-appeal for the female audience. He was tall, dark, and handsome, just like almost every vampire in almost every myth America has ever heard (Angel site, 2004). But could such a creature truly exist? Although the vampire myth is present in many societies around the world through the centuries, there is a basis in science and fact, for this legend. To start off with, one of the most popular modern vampire stories, written in 1897, was Bram Stoker’s Dracula. To this day, it sets the bar for the modern vampire. Authors have a tendency to pull juicy pieces of many different tales together to patchwork them into something to hold the reader’s interest. ...
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