Night World : Witchlight Chapter 18

The ride to Charlotte passed in a blur. All Keller could remember was hanging on while Nissa did some of the wildest driving she'd ever experienced. They went offroad for a good deal of the way. It was one minute to midnight when they squealed into a parking lot in front of a long, low building. â€Å"Go in, go in!† Nissa said, slamming to a stop in front of a set of double doors. Keller and Galen and Winnie and Iliana ran. They burst into a large room that seemed very brightly lit. A sea of chairs with bodies sitting in them swam in front of Keller's eyes. Then she focused on a platform at the front. â€Å"Come on,† she said tersely. There were a number of people sitting at a table on the platform, facing the audience just like any ordinary panel, with glasses of water and microphones in front of them. But Keller recognized some of the people as she got closer, and they were anything but ordinary. That little dumpling-shaped woman with the round face was Mother Cybele. Mother of all the Witches, just as Grandma Harman had been Crone. With Grandma Harman dead, she was the witches' leader. The tall girl with the lovely features and the cafe au lait skin who sat beside her was Aradia. The blind Maiden of the Witches mentioned in the prophecies. And that regal-looking man with the golden hair and beard, sitting by the queenly woman with flashing green eyes†¦ They could only be the leaders of the First House of the shapeshifters. Galen's mother and father. There were others, too, important people from Circle Daybreak, but Keller didn't have time to focus on them. Mother Cybele was on her feet and speaking. She must have been a little short-sighted, because she didn't appear to see Keller and the others coming up on the side. Her voice was slow and concerned. â€Å"I'm afraid that since it's now past midnight-â€Å" Keller glanced at her watch. â€Å"It's just midnight now!† Mother Cybele looked up, startled, over her glasses. Every head on the panel turned. And every face in the audience was suddenly fixed on Keller's group. A low murmur like the humming of bees began, but it swelled very quickly to something like a muted roar. People were pointing openly as Keller ran up the steps to the stage. She glanced back at the others and realized why. They were a pretty sad-looking bunch. Every one of them was dirty and ragged. Winnie's strawberry-blond hair was dark red with blood on one side. Galen's sweater was in shreds. And she herself was filthy from the tunnel and all the dirt she'd encountered in the clearing. Only Diana looked reasonably clean, and that was probably because the glow kept you from focusing too closely. Mother Cybele gave a little cry of joy that sounded quite young, and she dropped the index cards she'd been holding. Aradia stood up, her beautiful blank eyes turned toward them, her entire face shining with joy. Galen's parents looked extremely startled and relieved. But some guy in a dark suit grabbed Keller's arm as she reached the top of the steps. â€Å"Who are you supposed to be?† he said. Keller shook him off and stood with her hair swirling around her. â€Å"We're the people who're bringing you the Wild Power,† she said. She spotted Nissa just coming in the door and beckoned to her. â€Å"And we're also the ones who killed the dragon.† The big room fell so silent that you could have heard a paper clip drop. â€Å"Well, actually, she killed the dragon,† Keller said, pointing to Diana. Aradia said in a hushed voice, â€Å"The Witch Child. She's come to us.† Iliana walked slowly up onto the stage and stood straight. â€Å"I didn't kill it alone,† she said. â€Å"Everybody helped, and especially Keller and Galen.† Galen's father's golden eyebrows went up, and Galen's mother gripped her husband's arm. Keller glanced sideways at Galen and saw that he was blushing. â€Å"They fought it and fought it until they were both almost dead. But then, when I used the blue fire, they got better again.† She said it so simply, speaking to Mother Cybele alone, or so it seemed. She didn't look in the least self-conscious, or in the least arrogant. I suppose she's used to having everybody looking at her, Keller thought. Mother Cybele actually clasped her little soft hands together and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, they were shining with tears. But all she said was, â€Å"Welcome, my child. Grandma Harman's last words were for you. She hoped you would find your power.† â€Å"She did,† Keller said. â€Å"Winnie helped her.† I didn't help her do that,† Winnie said candidly. â€Å"What she did back there and what she said. I just tried to show her how to use the orange fire. But when she started talking-† She shook her curly head. â€Å"I don't know where she got all that stuff about Hecate.† ‘It just came to me,† Iliana said. â€Å"I don't know. It was as if somebody was saying it to me, and I was just repeating it.† But who could have said it? Keller thought. Who else but somebody who was there the first time, when the dragons were put to sleep? Who else but Hecate Witch-Queen herself? Even though she'd been dead thirty thousand years. It's time for everything that's sleeping to wake back up again. Keller realized that she was hearing a noise from the crowd. At first, she thought that they were muttering in disbelief again, or maybe in annoyance at these people who were standing on the stage and chattering. Then it got louder and louder, and she realized it was applause. People were clapping and cheering and whistling. It was echoing off the ceiling and walls. And just when Keller thought it couldn't possibly get any louder, a new wave would come and prove her wrong. It took a long time for Mother Cybele to get them all quieted down. Then she turned to Keller and said formally, â€Å"So you've completed your mission?† Keller realized that it was a cue. And in the midst of the dizzy happiness she'd been feeling, something twisted in her heart. She kept it from showing on her face. She kept herself standing erect. â€Å"Yes,† she said to Mother Cybele. â€Å"I've brought the Witch Child.† She swallowed hard. â€Å"And here is the son of the First House of the shapeshifters,† Galen's father said. He stepped over to Galen and took his hand. His face was stern but glowing with pride. Galen's face was pale but set. He looked at Keller-for just one moment. And then he looked straight out at the audience with unseeing eyes. Mother Cybele looked toward Iliana. To take her hand, Keller supposed, and join it with Galen's. But Iliana was holding some whispered conversation with Aradia. When she finally turned around, Iliana said, ‘1 want Keller to do it. She's the one responsible for all this.† Keller blinked. Her throat was so swollen, it was impossible to swallow again. But she wouldn't have thought it of Iliana. Really, it seemed so pointlessly cruel to make her do it. But maybe she doesn't understand. That's it, she doesn't realize, Keller thought. She let out a careful, shaky breath and said, â€Å"Okay.† She reached for Diana's hand- And felt a stab in her palm. She looked down, astonished. Iliana had a knife in that hand, a perfectly serviceable little knife. She had cut Keller with it, and Keller was bleeding. In fact, Iliana seemed to be bleeding, too. â€Å"Sorry,† Iliana hissed. â€Å"Ick, I hate blood.† Then, grabbing Keller's hand again, she faced the audience and raised it up high. â€Å"There!† she said. â€Å"Now we're blood sisters. And she's already been like a sister to me, because she saved my life over and over. And if that's not good enough for an alliance between the witches and the shapeshifters, I don't know what is.† The entire audience gaped at her. Mother Cybele blinked rapidly. â€Å"Are you saying†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Galen's father looked incredulous. â€Å"Are you saying that you won't marry my son?† â€Å"I'm saying that she ought to marry your son- or promise to him, or whatever they want. She's the one he's in love with. And I don't see why you should make him miserable for his whole life just because you want the shapeshifters tied to the witches. Keller and I are tied together, and we always will be. And Galen, too. Why can't that be enough?† A sound was starting from the crowd again. Keller's heart seemed to soar on it. But she was still staring at Iliana, afraid to believe. â€Å"But†¦ what if the witches don't agree to it?† Galen's father said feebly. Iliana stamped her foot She actually did. Tm the Witch Child. They'd better listen to me. I didn't go through all of this for nothing.† Then the crowd was thundering applause even louder than before, and the wave seemed to sweep Keller right into Galen's arms. Sometime later, in the middle of a lot of hugging and kissing, Keller whispered to Iliana, â€Å"Are you sure?† ‘Td better be sure, don't you think? Or Galen's going to be pretty upset.† â€Å"Iliana-â€Å" ‘Tm sure,† Iliana whispered. She squeezed Keller. â€Å"I really do care about him. I guess I'm sort of in love with him, too. But I saw. I saw his face in the clearing when he thought you were dead. And I heard the way he said your name. And then†¦ I knew, you know? The two of you were meant to be. So I'm sure.† â€Å"A leopard?† Galen's mother said, shaking out her topaz-colored hair. â€Å"Why, dear, that's wonderful. Your great-great-grandmother was a leopard.† â€Å"You gave up being a bird for me,† Keller whispered in his ear. â€Å"I think I could learn to like running,† he murmured, and took the chance to touch his lips to her cheek. â€Å"No, ma'am, I'm really sorry I woke you up,† Keller said. â€Å"Yes, ma'am, I do know how late it is.† She strained to hear the voice on the other end of the phone. She had a finger in her ear to try and block out the noise of the wild celebration around her, but it wasn't doing much good. â€Å"Because I honestly don't think it's funny,† Diana's mother said. â€Å"The baby is just fine; he's been in his bed all night. Why would you think he wasn't?† â€Å"Well, ma'am, it's hard to explain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"And now he's awake, and he's going to start crying-well, he's not crying. But now he wants to eat the phone†¦ Alex!† A voice on the other end squealed and said distinctly, â€Å"Kee-kee!† â€Å"Yeah, it's Kee-kee,† Keller said, startled. â€Å"Um, I'm glad you're okay, kid. And, see, I didn't go bye-bye after all. So you may think you're pretty smart, but you still have something to learn about precognition, hotshot. Right?† Keller added, â€Å"You know I thought for a minute once that you might be the Wild Power. But I guess you're just a good old-fashioned witch baby.† Diana, who was passing by, gave her a very strange look. â€Å"Keller, are you having a conversation with my baby brother?† â€Å"What exactly did the dragon say?† Mother Cybele asked anxiously. Although she looked like a big dove and her eyes were always kind, there was a firmness about her plump chin that Keller liked. â€Å"I asked who woke him up. And he said†-Keller reached for the exact words-â€Å"he said, ‘Someone you'll never know. A witch who isn't a witch. We made our own alliance.'† â€Å"A witch who isn't a witch,† Mother Cybele repeated. Aradia's face was sober. ‘I wonder who that could be. And where they are now.† Mother Cybele said quietly, â€Å"Time will tell.† â€Å"The police are already inside,† Nissa said, holding the cell phone to her ear as she talked to Keller. â€Å"I guess the kids at the party called them when they saw a panther. They've found the family†¦ Mr. and Ms. Ashton-Hughes and Jaime and Brett. They're taking them to the hospital.† She snapped the phone shut. â€Å"We'd better send some witches to the hospital. But as long as they're alive, they have a pretty good chance, don't you think? After all, we've got a Wild Power with healing fire. Now, can't you relax and try to enjoy yourself?† It was two days later. Keller was sitting in a sunny alcove in the safe house where Hiana and Galen and the others had been brought to protect them from the Night World. And to give them a chance to recover. It was nice to be still for a while. To sit and read†¦ and think. And it was even nicer to be able to do it with Galen around. He came in the door quietly-he always moved cat-quietly now. She smiled at him. He looked so wonderfully dear with his golden hair and fairytale looks and leopard-green eyes. â€Å"I wrote you a poem,† he said, sitting down beside her. â€Å"Well, no, that's not true. I kind of stole what your mother wrote and made it into†¦ something. I don't know what. But I think maybe it's what she really meant to say, after all.† Keller blinked at him, then looked down at the piece of paper he gave her. People die†¦ so love them every day. Beauty fades†¦ so look before it's gone. Love changes†¦ but not the love you give. And if you love, you'll never be alone. â€Å"Actually, I was going to say, ‘And you will always be alone†¦ so don't rely on others for your happiness, but don't stop loving, either, because then you'll end up empty and alone instead of alone and strong and able to give without worrying about what you're going to get back.' But that was kind of long, and it didn't scan,† he said. Keller stared down at the paper blindly. â€Å"I'm sorry,† he said. â€Å"If you don't like it-â€Å" Keller threw her arms around him, and her tears spilled over. â€Å"I'm going to burn the other one,† she said. â€Å"And I love you. Kiss me.† He grinned. â€Å"Yes, Boss.† And he did. One from the land of kings long forgotten; One from the hearth which still holds the spark; One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; One from the twilight to be one with the dark..

Have Terrorism Laws been Helpful?

There have been numerous debates that have risen from analysis related to terrorism laws that were passed in the United States of America and Europe since the horrific attack on 11th September 2001 that killed scores of people and wounded thrice the number of the dead. The terrorism, counter terrorism and anti terrorism laws have all been scrutinized to weigh their suitability. Sharp criticism has befallen the laws, the public too is eager to know if the laws are more beneficial than they detrimental or if the reverse is actual status quo. Such debates have always led to repeals or amendments of the laws in question, one revision of the laws has proved not to be enough as there is always a word or two to adjust to deem the laws plausible by the masses, the government and the observers. I will be dissecting the whole with precision to draw a line between the merits and demerits of the laws.Proposing argumentThe main goal behind every terrorism law across the world is to prevent terrorism acts and protect its citizens from the adverse effects of it. Zooming on the American and countries under the European dynasty we notice that there has an immense reduction in attacks from both internal and external sources. Domestic and mass terrorism has been cut by more than 35% if the statistics are compared with ones taken two decades before 2001(gray-2018). This has created a business environment conducive for investors to come into the country because they have a natural feeling that they will be safe and their business will bloom. Trust on the USA government has increased as we see many foreign leaders come to the country whenever they are under threat from external sources (Beckman-2016). The security agencies have been unified by the laws and they all share information about security conditions of specific areas and individuals. Proposing defense The fluidity is one that One police department can notice a terrorist threat, pass the information for investigation to done by another unit, give the findings to the threat alert department while another can be sent to apprehend the suspect depending on their locality and expertise they have. This smooth flow of command and swift take of action has instilled a sense of security and patriotism of citizens to the governments of the. Civilians can spot a suspect and notify the relevant authorities without fear of being tracked by the suspect in the equation. Let us take a brief walk down the history lane to and peruse through the terrorist reports to get a vantage point on this issue. Statistics reveal that there had been 2608 terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2001; the year that terrorism laws were fortified, that was an aggregate of 65 attacks per year. Most of them were executed using bombs and congested public areas were the main targets. After the laws were passed, we have seen the number drop by a whopping 94% annually. This is because there have only been 8 terrorist attacks on American soil since 2001 to 2017. In these unfortunate incidences on 102 people died capped with 333 injuries. 6 out of the 8 cases have been launched by lone slayers, one executed by an American couple; the 7 acts were carried out using guns and only the Boston marathon case was a bombing attack made. This number is way low than and somewhat insignificant when compared to the fatalities of 11th September 2001. This is a case that strongly backs the argument that laws have been very beneficial as they have served their objectives and succeeded in meeting their goals. Opposing argumentI am meant to believe that the terrorism laws that were drafted and passed are not meant for the better good of civilians. There are arguments around that point is that the laws were drafted out fear and vengeance and thus failed to solicit essential views from security stakeholders and the general public. That is a claim enough to show that they are meant to serve other interests. Critics on this front argue that a lot of money is being siphoned out of the national coffers to service the numerous security departments that were formed under the laws. The money cannot be clearly be accounted and a dubious justification is given to it; it is a matter of national security (Beckman-2016). The main enemies of these laws are not terrorists but human right activists; they claim that the laws are not compatible with universal human rights and should be rephrased or better still repealed.Opposing defenseWe begin introduce this front by giving the basic definition for the word terrorism; violence against civilians to achieve military or political objectives. The media has been the casualty of the draconian laws as there right to information and freedom of expression has been gagged. The governments always hoodwink the public that all that is done for their own good; it is a matter of national se curity. Then a question arises, how news reporting become a threat to the civilians? Such questions arose when Mr. Miranda was detained in Heathrow airport for 9 hours and forced to surrender his documents and media devices to the security agencies for scrutiny in august 2013. He was on his way to Brazil from Germany. No weapon was found on him and no criminal bodies had tied links with him at any point of his life yet he was arraigned for in the British courts to answer to terrorism charges. The judges found that the evidence against him was far more blasphemous to the law practice than it was a joke to media profession. Mr. Miranda won the case and showed that the laws can be more devastating to the media practice and the civilians as they only serve the political interests (chi-2015). No appeal was made to the decision made by the court proving the main point; the laws need to reviewed from the beginning and if after the review the laws still fall below the universal human rights code then they should be abolished. Argument analysisFrom this argument we see that both fronts had their points to stress on. The claims given by the opposition are more than the proposing gave but the evidence provided by the proposing side is way more overwhelming than the evidence produced by the opponents. The narrative leaned towards the proposing side as it gave claims baked by detailed evidence. Objectivity was to be the main key; the proposers said that the laws truly served their purposed as they reduced terrorism attacks significantly while their critics did not give any link to the main topic of the team. My analysis on this case also leaned on the proposing side as the issue of security should always precede any other issue; it is the foundation that harmonizes the cultural, social and economic factors of the society. The right to privacy and freedom of privacy would not find space in the human conscious if he was constantly exposed to continuous threat and imminent demise. The opposing gave a radical approach and failed to first acknowledge that their fields exist simply because their security is guaranteed. I feel like that the claims about governments wasting civilian resources would have helped the opposing side prove their point but they failed to provide relevant evidence to that matter. All that the opposition posed were questions that they themselves failed to provide answers to; what is the main objective of the laws if the public feels disfavored by them? Who are the laws meant to serve? We are aware that security agencies have been set up to tap information from the civilian devices; what happened to the right to privacy? (Giroux-2016) Their side would be formidable if they answers and backing evidence to all of them. Journalists claim that they are affected yet they hold side on the topic. Then I formed a question, what if they report news that exposes a government hence drawing the attention of terrorists? Furthermore, they proposed that the laws be abolished but did not give a better alternative. I wish that the opposition had thought the whole issue out than leave the case in a limbo.ConclusionTruth of the matter is that the proposing side was strong and well planned compared to their critics but the points stated by the weak side on this debate hold water. The laws should be more inclusive to other sectors of human cycle and not look like it overrules all the other rules and universal privileges that come with them. State agencies always motivate people verbally by asking them to report any suspicious people or activities to them but it is high time they started acting receptive (boister-2018). That said does not admonish the fact the fact the laws are made for the better good of people and stability of all other spheres. It is important that all parties realize that the laws are as important as any other on the land and should approached with care as it defends the well being of human life. I propose that the laws be amended, not repealed.ReferencesInternational law and the use of forceC Gray-2018Comparative legal approaches to homeland security and anti-terrorismJ Beckman-2016Impossible to regulate: social media, terrorists, and the role for the UNP Wu Chi-2015Beyond the spectacle of terrorism: global uncertainty and the challenge to the new mediaHA Giroux- 2016An introduction to transnational criminal lawN Boister- 2018

Understanding Conflict Management in the Workplace

Identify causes of conflict at workâ€Å"Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more persons when attitudes, motives, values, expectations or activities are incompatible and if those people perceive themselves to be in disagreement.† – Hunt 1982It is safe to assume that in every workplace you are always going to get some kind of conflict from within. Conflict in the workplace can be caused by issues from groups, individuals or the organisation itself. It’s in everyone’s best interests to stop conflict as early as possible before a situation escalates.Some potential causes of conflict are: 1. Power and Ego 2. Clashes of personality 3. When people have contrasting values and beliefs 4. Miscommunication 5. Underlying stress and tension 6. Unresolved disagreements 7. A breach of faith or trust between individualsLet’s look at a couple of the above examples. Power and ego can cause major conflicts in the workplace due to people having different lea dership styles e.g. authoritarian or democratic. Not all employees respond well to an authoritarian approach where they are told what to do as opposed to being able to have an input into how their jobs are done. This can cause them to feel demoralised and not appreciated meaning they no longer enjoy their jobs and the organisation do not get the best work out of them. Recent conflict at my workplace occurred when the door handle of one of our fork trucks kept getting broken and needed to be replaced hence causing unnecessary expense to the organisation. It was decided by myself that in order to stop this happening the door would be removed for a short period of time.This caused conflict because some members of the team felt that they were being punished for other peoples  actions and couldn’t understand why it was not discussed with themselves first. Contrasting values and belief can also cause conflict in our place of work when members of management at TATA let us know the ir expectations in our morning meetings. Conflict can occur when they set us daily tonnage targets which in our opinion are sometimes impossible to meet. Sometimes these targets are unrealistic due to machinery needing maintenance or there not being enough manpower to be able to get the coils despatched to clients. Management are sometimes not willing to listen to these problems because they believe they should be sorted quickly so the targets can be reached. This cannot always happen leading to conflict between them and Pd Ports.A breach of faith or trust between individuals also occurred recently when a member of the team was asked to do some overtime so tonnage targets could be met. When speaking to the individual I learnt that they still hadn’t received payment for the last lot of overtime they completed and so they were no longer willing to do any overtime because trust had broken down and they believed theyd be working the extra hours without getting paid. We will be lo oking at these examples in more detail later on.Describe the stages in the development of conflictOnce conflict has started it can sometimes go through several stages before it is resolved. Below is a diagram showing the different stages conflict can go through, although they do not always occur in a set order. Sometimes conflict cannot be resolved and only lies dormant until the problem occurs again.Latent Conflict This happens when individuals, groups or organizations have differences that bother one or the other. However these differences are not enough for either party to act to try and change the situation. For example when working in close proximity with someone certain behaviours can annoy another person with a different kind of personality to them. It is sometimes better to keep quiet and try and ignore this rather than get into confrontation. The seeds of this conflict might then exist for long periods of time before another party becomes aware of it.Conflict Emergence If t he differences between the individuals, groups or organisations are strong enough then a â€Å"triggering event† can cause the emergence stage of conflict. The differences are enough to be acted upon but may erupt in low level conflict. If the low level conflict is seen as some form of threat then this can cause dormant issues to be aroused resulting in the next level of conflict occurring.Escalation This stage happens when the intensity of a conflict is increased and tactics used in pursuing the conflict can become more severe. Going back to the example used in latent conflict of working in close proximity with someone, if personalities continue to clash then the conflict can escalate by parties bringing in other individuals to back up there ideas and arguments. This can lead to individuals feeling ganged up on and the conflict continues to escalate.Stalemate A stalemate is a situation in which neither side can win, but neither side wants to back down or accept loss. This ca n happen due to a number of reasons for example when group members no longer show solidarity and support for the particular conflict or costs of the conflict become too great for the conflict to continue. This then means all parties involved in the conflict then accept the differences cannot really be resolved although no one is really happy with the situation.De-escalation / Negotiation As conflicts cannot continue to escalate eventually they have to reverse direction meaning the differences have been resolved or in the result of stalemate differences end up being forgotten or lying dormant. De-escalation also occurs when compromises are made resulting in all parties feeling happier.Dispute Settlement This stage is when a conflict has come to an end. When underlying causes of disputes are settled the conflict may be resolved forever but in some cases are only resolved for a certain period of time. This may be because a difference of opinion may remain and is resolved for the time b eing but will develop again if the difference again becomes significant.Post-Conflict Peace Building This is the process when individuals, groups or the organization tries to prevent the recurrence of the conflict by addressing the root causes and the effects of conflict through reconciliation. Some organizations hold team building events. This works well with people working in close proximity with each other helping them to realise that while there may be a clash of personality they can in fact work well together as a team sometimes managing to stop latent conflict occurring.Explain the effects of conflict on individual and team performance at workIf conflict has arisen in the workplace then this could affect an individual or team in a number of ways. Effects of conflict in my workplace might be: Individuals 1. Low motivation. 2. Increased absenteeism 3. Stress frustration and anxietyIf conflict has occurred in the workplace with an individual and has reached stalemate or not been resolved satisfactorily then this can again cause latent conflict. Meaning the individual no longer feels strong enough to air his differences but instead harbours these ill feelings towards their job causing them to no longer work to the best of their ability. They are no longer motivated to perform well and so there standard of work slips resulting in other problems. Management then need to address the issue with the individual as business needs still need to be met sometimes resulting in them feeling unhappy, stressed and frustrated.This can also lead to increased absenteeism as they may no longer want to attend work due to them not enjoying it and not feeling that they are listened to. Deadlines are then harder to meet as the job is no longer being done efficiently or in the  case of absenteeism extra manpower is needed to cover an individual’s job. Quality of work is then effected. If we look at the example given earlier of conflict occurring over overtime we can see h ow this affected the individual. When he agreed with management to do overtime he quite rightly believed he would be paid for this however when payday came he realised he hadn’t been paid for it.This then led to him being extremely annoyed and unhappy. After discussing the issue with a member of management and being promised it would be sorted out it soon became apparent that it had not been. This then resulted in him lacking motivation in his job. He no longer went the extra mile as he had done previously and was no longer happy when at work. This shows that even low level conflict can have a huge effect on performance of an individual at work.Groups1. Loss of productivity 2. Delay in decision making 3. Missed deadlines 4. Strained relationshipsConflict within a group or groups effects performance at work on a larger scale. There are more people involved and productivity can be greatly affected. This can often start as latent conflict but can quickly escalate when individual s start discussing with others things that they aren’t happy about causing a domino effect. Others then become involved in the conflict which can cause problems for other individuals or the organisation. A good example of this is the scenario at my place of work is with regards to the fork truck doors.Fork truck door handles kept getting broken which was causing an unnecessary and expensive cost to Pd Logistics. The decision to take one of the doors off to stop the door handles getting broken was very unpopular with the fork truck drivers. Those that hadn’t broken a handle felt that they were then being penalised for other peoples accidents thus resulting in them being unhappy and frustrated. The drivers were then wanting to air their views with management meaning there was a loss in productivity as there was no one around to move coils etc.Luckily this issue was resolved quite quickly but had it not have been and decision making had been delayed then our daily deadlin es may not have been met as a result of the delay in lorries being loaded and the relationship between  employees and management would have been strained due to the drivers feeling they were being treated unfairly. As a leader it is important that destructive conflict is quickly identified in order to avoid the above effects and stop conflict escalating.Explain any recognised technique a manager could use to minimise and resolve conflict in the workplaceThere are a number of techniques that could be used to minimise and resolve conflict in the work place. One such technique is the method of Positioning Exercises. These exercises are designed to help people â€Å"step into each other’s shoes†. This involves imagining the interaction from two or three different perspectives. The perspectives are: 1. The first person is your own point of view2. The second person is the point of view of the other person 3. The third person is the point of view of an observerThis method c an either help stop conflict from occurring or can help stop conflict from escalating. I used this method myself when dealing with the incident over the fork truck doors. Heated debates between everyone were not helping the conflict to de-escalate so it was decided that this may help calm things down. Two of the main fork truck operatives were called for a meeting to try and resolve the issue. They were asked to think about their own views on the problem and then I told them my reasons for taking the door off. These were that every time a door handle got broken it was costing the company  £144 just to fix them. At a time where we are told that the company really needs to start saving money and cut down on unnecessary spending this was just unfeasible.Especially as the numerous breakages were due to carelessness. Every time a handle needed repairing I was expected to justify spending this amount of money to fix them. This was becoming more difficult due to the amount of breakages i n a short space of time. My solution to stop this unnecessary spending was to take the door off so that handles could no longer be broken. My opinion was that if they couldn’t respect the machine and take good care of them after numerous warnings then the only action that could be taken was to remove the door hopefully teaching them a lesson. The  two fork truck operatives and I were then asked to think about the situation as a whole from an observers point of view. If we weren’t directly involved in the situation what conclusions would we come to with regards to ideas and opinions.This helped the drivers to understand that whilst everyone was being penalised for the damage it was the only way they would stop and think and start taking care of the vehicles since warnings had been ignored and this in turn would reduce maintenance costs. It also helped me to understand that when operating the fork trucks for a long period of time they were subjected to colder working c onditions because of the lack of door which wasn’t fair on operatives who did take care of the machinery. This technique enabled us to understand each other’s point of view and manage to reach a compromise.The compromise was that they would go back to the other operatives and relay the information with relation to maintenance costs etc. and if after a month they could show me that nothing on the fork trucks had been broken then the doors would be put back on. This meant that the conflict was de-escalated. All parties felt they had been listened to and all points of view taken into account and a compromise was reached and discussed amicably.Describe how a manager could promote a positive atmosphere in order to minimise the adverse effects of conflictManagers could promote a positive atmosphere at work by creating harmony within the work place. There are several actions that can be undertaken by a manager to create harmony a few of which we shall look at below:Expect The Best From Your Staff In psychology the Self-Fulfilling prophecy states that people will generally perform in the way others expect them to perform. If a team is managed badly and constantly told they are not performing well within their job role and they are not capable of doing something then it is believed that this is how they will continue to perform. So turning this around if a manager has high expectations of their staff, and they treat them as though they are very much capable and competent people and they are expected to perform this way, then it is thought that they will rise to the occasion and be the excellent  employees required.Build Trust Trust is an important factor in all manner of relationships. Creating a working environment built around trust between all levels of the workforce is one of the most important things a manager can do when building a positive, harmonious work environment. Staff need to know a manager is reliable, responsible and accountable and that they can be relied upon for consistency. Trust is about doing what you say you are going to do and being who you say you are. A positive workforce needs to be led by example. If they trust their manager they will feel much happier and more secure in their jobs thus resulting in them being more motivated at work.Create Team Spirit One of our basic human needs is to feel we belong to something bigger than ourselves, and for many people that need is met by being part of a supportive work group. If a manager creates team spirit this enables the work force to feel united and that they are not on their own. They feel valued and that they belong. They want to come to work and they want to work to the best of their ability for themselves and to help their team mates. This will result in minimal absenteeism and increased motivation when at work.Be Approachable A manager must always be approachable to their staff. This can be portrayed to the workforce by the manager communicating with them that they are always available and happy to speak to anyone about any issues that may occur no matter what position they hold. This again makes the team members feel valued and that their opinions and differences are listened to. Management need to make the team feel that if differences do occur they can be approached and will endeavour to sort the situation out. If a manager is not approachable then ill feeling can build up and latent conflict can quickly be triggered and escalated which can create lack of motivation at work.Give Recognition and Appreciation Most workers respond extremely well to reward and recognition schemes. If a manager notices an employee doing a job exceptionally well or going the extra mile then they should be recognised aloud for it. This can happen by either giving the employee some form of reward i.e employee of the month status or merely just acknowledging it out loud so others can here. This is a great tool for boosting team morale and making team membe rs feel special and vital in their roles. It can also encourage others to strive to do better and improve in their job roles.Give Credit and Take responsibility Success within the business should always be credited to the team. This makes them feel invaluable and appreciated and makes them want to perform even better. Managers should remember that success of the business cannot happen without the work force performing well. It’s a managers job to make sure the team are always well trained and are equipped with the correct tools to be able to complete the job correctly and efficiently. If thing don’t go well it’s just as important for management to take responsibility for this as it is to give credit for success. If for some reason the team fail to perform their job in the expected manner it’s the managers responsibility to ensure they receive further training or direction to enable them to complete their job as expected. These are just a few of the exampl es in which a manager can promote a positive atmosphere in order to minimise the adverse effects of conflict.In conclusion conflict within the workplace can occur because of many different reasons. A good manager can recognise conflict in its early stages and deal with it using many different techniques in order to stop the conflict escalating. This in turn creates a better working environment for the team in which they feel happy in their work and believe they are a valued member of the team resulting in an increased standard of productivity.

GanGo Strategic Planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

GanGo Strategic Planning - Assignment Example It can be said that the strategic management plan that was designed and developed by the team of strategic management of CanGo was more of an emergent nature rather than that of a deliberate nature. It can be said that a strategic management plan that has been deliberately designed would have been more systematic and much more efficient in nature as compared to the current existent one. The deliberate approach would have a much more careful approach of the planning of the strategy while taking into account the various opinions of the team members as well as their decisions.In accounts of CanGo’s approach it can be said that the team was going for a on the need approach and was designing the strategy on the basis of the need faced by the company. Also, the conversation that took place between Clark and Ethel completely showed the fact that the staff was completely unaware of the company’s emerging plans to increasingly venture in to the online gaming market. Another fact that outlined and highlighted the very base that the entire strategy was designed by the top management without proper consideration of the relative advantages and disadvantages of venturing into the online gaming market is the factor concerning the ignorance of the financial implications of the company. Also, the management did not go for a review of the external conditions analysis of the macro environment which is considered a routine method in the application of a deliberate approach towards the planning of a strategy.... e process of proper planning of the sales strategy, while putting too much emphasis on the push factor rather than creating and maintaining equilibrium of the push and pull effect for the company’s product deliverables to the customers and clients. 2. It can be said that the strategic management plan that was designed and developed by the team of strategic management of CanGo was more of an emergent nature rather than that of a deliberate nature. It can be said that a strategic management plan that has been deliberately designed would have been more systematic and much more efficient in nature as compared to the current existent one. The deliberate approach would have a much more careful approach of the planning of the strategy while taking into account the various opinions of the team members as well as the advantages and disadvantages related to their decisions. In accounts of CanGo’s approach it can be said that the team was going for a on the need approach and was d esigning the strategy on the basis of the need faced by the company. Also, the conversation that took place between Clark and Ethel completely showed the fact that the staff was completely unaware of the company’s emerging plans to increasingly venture in to the online gaming market. Another fact that outlined and highlighted the very base that the entire strategy was designed by the top management without proper consideration of the relative advantages and disadvantages of venturing into the online gaming market is the factor concerning the ignorance of the financial implications of the company. Also, the management did not go for a review of the external conditions analysis of the macro environment which is considered a routine method in the application of a deliberate approach towards the

Marketing plan for NIKE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing plan for NIKE - Essay Example Nike was founded on January 25th 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight as Blue Ribbon Sports. The company adopted the name Nike on May 30, 1978 and began marketing its products and services under its own brand. Today, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. In addition, the company is known worldwide for sponsoring a great deal of sports activities and supporting many sports teams. The Nike brand is presently found in many countries across the world notably in the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas (Esty & Winston, 2009). Courtesy of its innovative design and effective marketing strategies, the company has obtained a very huge position in the sports markets in these regions. More importantly, Nike’s products are usually associated with high quality and this has been a major boost for the company over the years. Situation analysis Company mission and objectives Nike has always been focused to the realization of its goals, mission and object ives. More importantly, the organization has a strong sense of values which have created a kind of organizational culture often admired by many organizations. The mission of the organization is â€Å"to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world† (Esty & Winston, 2009) In this regard, it is seen that Nike actually exists in order to ensure that the world is well supplied with quality equipment, shoes, apparels and other quality products. The focus of Nike is to bring a new reality to the world of athletics. In the same way, Nike’s vision stresses on the aspect of people and profit and the need to implement sustainable principles within the market. The organization greatly appreciates the dynamic nature of the market and is therefore at the forefront in instituting the very changes that are almost imperative for its continued success. One major goal of the organization is always the creation of partnerships in the hope of adding value. In this regard , Nike UK has been a strong force in creating valuable partnerships with other organizations and the social media which has seen the creation of such brands like Nike. A combination of these vision, values and goals have been the core marketing formula for the organization. In this regard, the organization has seen much progress and success (Rigsby & Greco, 2003). Products Nike engages in the production of various types of sports equipment. The initial products were track running shoes. However, the company has greatly diversified its product line and manufactures shoes, shorts, jerseys and base layers for various types of sporting activities. The Nike Air Max was the initial shoe line introduced by the company back in 1987 and has remained popular for a long time. Some of the recent products introduced include Nike NYX, Nike SB and Nike 6.0 Shoes all for skateboarding. Similarly, the company launched a type of cricked shoes known as Air Zoom Yorker which are designed to be very eff ective and are actually 30% lighter than the competitors in the market (Katz, 2012). While Nike is majorly known for athletics products, it should be noted that the organization actually produces an assortment of products for basketball, combat sports, golf, football and many other sporting activities. In addition, the Nike brand has been very popular across the world in youth, hip hop and Chav

Sharia Law in Islam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sharia Law in Islam - Essay Example Moreover, they argue that the set of rules given in Sharia are not necessarily extremists and that there are positive reasons behind them. This paper contains some Sharia-opposing charges from a modern point of view, which are retaliated by Sharia-supporting facts taken from various sources (Maqsood; Cohen; Ali). One of the main criticisms of Sharia is the extremism regarding punishment for those who have sinned. Many believe that it is inhumane to cut off the hands of thieves or to throw stones at those who have committed adultery. They prefer giving such sinners sentences to prison or some other forms of legal punishments, instead of such brutal acts of violence. However, those who believe this are not well informed about the exact Sharia law concerning such offenders. According to Sharia, such measures are usually the only extreme penalty taken (if the offender’s hand is cut off, no other penalty will be given to him/her). Some Muslims even feel that this punishment is justified because they feel more sympathy for the victims of theft, rather than the thief. However, Sharia is not so strict, due to the fact that this punishment is not given to those stealers who prove that they have stolen only because they were in dire need. Although cutting the hands of the offender might seem har sh, Muslims believe that this measure prevents further such acts from happening. The Middle East, where Sharia is mostly practiced, does not contain one-handed people. This shows how effective such a punishment is in warning potential thieves, and why Sharia is considered so important in Islam (Maqsood). Another charge brought against Sharia is the punishment given to women who have had an illicit affair. For instance, there was a case of a woman in Nigeria who was in danger of being stoned by angry villagers because she was accused of adultery.However, after being taken into custody and judged by Sharia law, she was given a chance to appeal and explain herself.

Why Do Voters Vote Against Their Party Dissertation

Why Do Voters Vote Against Their Party - Dissertation Example The importance of this study is to determine the relationship between voting and party identification. The party identification significantly affects the outcome of an election. This was especially true in many elections that took place between 1972 and 2008 and this effect is mostly felt on the presidential vote choice.2 The effect of party ID was weaker between 1980 and 2000, but saw a dramatic rise in effect from 2004 to 2008. Ideological reputation is an emerging perception and attitude that citizens portray towards parties. This is the reason for the greater consistency in the policy views of the members of the public and their partisanship. This means the choice of leadership is motivated by partisanship which consequently implies party identification. In examining of these factors we draw the understanding of the nature of election results as well as the dynamics of the American election. Hence it is true that there is a close link of party identification to the voting choices of American citizens. Mark Twain stated â€Å"no party holds the privilege to dictate me how I shall vote. If loyalty to party is a form of patriotism, I am no patriot†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 3 Plausible reasons why voters vote against their party identification include long term and short term factors. Candidate quality also has a bearing on vote choice. For example, incumbents are evaluated based on their previous record of work hence they can or cannot benefit from the voter evaluation depending on the quality of their work.

Compare and contrast the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio Essay

Compare and contrast the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio - Essay Example In addition, they play key roles in precipitating the tragedy that befalls the lovers. However, even though Tybalt and Mercutio provide a foil for characters that are rather similar, their two characters represent almost two entirely different spheres of existence in terms of their essential natures. The most direct contrast of their characters comes in the tense interaction between Mercutio and Tybalt in Act 3 Scene 1 before Romeo arrives. Tybalt arrives and after Mercutio offers a witty quip, the Capulet immediately states his willingness to fight with swords instead of words (III,i,36-50). But Mercutio, the gifted artisan of language, stands his ground in an exchange with Tybalt and will not budge, even though this feud is now taking place in the public space. This difference in the two characters demeanours is the most noticeable throughout the play, given the instrumental role Tybalt’s sword will have on the plot structure—leading to Mercutio’s death and Romeo’s subsequent exile. But by mocking emotions and aspirations of other characters, Mercutio lightens the play with clever humour, contrasted with the almost infuriatingly solemnity of the malevolent Tybalt. And as a man with a more cynical perspective on human affairs, Mercutio allows the aud ience to see deeper through psychology. Tybalt, on the other hand, exemplifies simplicity and dimensionless action. In terms of a contrast, there remains also the issue of both characters’ worldviews and choices in the narrative structure of the tragedy. Mercutio, unlike other characters, refuses to blame an objective fate for the occurrences in the play, exemplified by such concepts as â€Å"star-cross’d lovers† (Prologue, 6). Instead, Mercutio lays the blame for the tragedy (in terms of events already taken place and those that will take place) on specific people rather than the hand of fate. In his view, the fault lays with the

Air Pollution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Air Pollution - Essay Example This is to the extent its obliteration could extend to affecting our lives in return though in diverse ways including causing cancer. The topic highlights how depositing of varied contaminants in the atmosphere ends up altering the state of air, hence affecting humanity in diverse ways. Depositing in this case not only is it possible through human activities but also natural means like vulcanicity, which based on studies so far conducted these eruptions comprise of HFCs as well as other significant Cl2 quantities. Besides other contaminants, these two agents there severity is worse because they take long before they attain their respective inactivity stages. To date, diverse environmental scholars including scientists through their studies have relayed how varied contaminants by have increasingly yielded to current extent of air pollution. Hence, contributing to worsening of climate change evident in the way varied current incidents are unexpectedly occurring. For instance, rising of sea levels, increased temperatures as well as augmenting prevalence of skin cancer as a result of ozone layer depletion. Recent studies contend early deaths currently experienced globally that approximate to 600,000 their core causes are linked to air pollution (Copenhagen and Haifa, 2015). Hence, prompting states especially in Europe incur economic cost of about $1.6 trillion while trying to manage air pollution related maladies as well as other varied health predicaments (Copenhagen and Haifa, 2015). This is despite states and respective global authorities pushing for the implementation of effective policies known to reduce this kind of pollution. One of this policy of summit whose core intention was to reduce depositing of contaminants in the atmosphere was the today’s famed Kyoto protocol, which some of the super powers declined to append their signatures. Hence, leading to the current increasing rate of air pollution due to competition especially

Gertrudes as Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Gertrudes as Shakespeare Essay Where a twenty-first century audience would express sympathy for Hamlets loss and would understand his hesitation in taking vengeance, an Elizabethan audience would not sympathise towards him for avenging his fathers death, and would question why Hamlet is showing inaction. As Dori Ripley suggests, The church advocated Gods vengeance, while the state demanded justice through Gods chosen representative(s) (Ripley, 1), meaning it would be Hamlets duty to avenge his fathers death in the eyes of the Elizabethan Church, for Gods cause. Therefore, this would certainly contribute to Hamlets turmoil, with the added pressure to exact Gods vengeance on the wicked (Ripley, 2), and become King of Denmark. However, in the eighteenth century, Thomas Hanmer drew attention to Hamlets delay in avenging his fathers death, suggesting that Had Hamlet gone naturally to work there would have been an end of our play, meaning Shakespeares play would not have been as dramatic for his intended audience of his era. Ernest Jones suggests that Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius earlier in the play because he had already committed the deed Hamlet himself subconsciously wished to carry out; The long repressed desire to take his fathers place in his mothers affection is revealed in unconscious activity by the sight of someone usurping this place exactly as he himself had once longed to do (Jones, 99). This is evident in the play when Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius, however he decides to wait for when he is in thincestuous pleasure of his bed so he is guaranteed to suffer the same pain Hamlets father did when he was in purgatory. Eliminating his competition in the most torturous way suggests Hamlets hatred towards Claudius for marrying his mother. As an extension of this Hamlet is somewhat hostile to his mother throughout the play, shown through the language Shakespeare uses when Hamlet is alone with her. His anger towards his mothers sexuality is expressed, thus: O shame, where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, If thou canst mutine in a matrons bones, To flaming youth let virtue be as wax (3. 4. 82-4) Hamlet demands to know how young people can be expected to control their passions if mothers cannot control theirs. In the same scene, Hamlet pleads with Gertrude not to sleep with Claudius that night and to, Refrain tonight, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence (3. 4. 166-8) After that until she no longer wishes to sleep with Claudius. Whether this is right must be considered in psychoanalytic terms because abstinence stores up emotions that leads to a later emotional explosion. In the context of the play as a whole, this is symbolic because throughout Hamlet stores up his confusion, anxiety and turmoil until he explodes in the final scene, ending in death and destruction of the dynasty. Recent developments in Hamlet criticism suggest Hamlets attitude towards his mother can be explained in terms of Freudian psychoanalysis, in particular the Oedipus Complex where unconscious ideas and feelings centre round the wish to possess the parent of the opposite sex, and eliminate that of the same sex (Rycroft, 118), according to Charles Rycroft in A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Although this is a modern theory which did not exist during the Shakespearean period, Shakespeare unconsciously reflects this possible interpretation of character in the play. Hamlet seeking to avenge his father by eliminating Claudius, his mothers husband, could be one of his motivations and subsequent causes of his emotional turmoil. His confusion is, therefore, redirected onto Ophelia who experiences Hamlets anguish. Rycroft also suggests that this is symbolised in Hamlet as persons who are fixated at the oedipal level that are mother-fixated or father-fixated reveal this by choosing sexual partners with obvious resemblances to their parents (Rycroft 119). However, Ophelias qualities are not representative of Gertrudes as Shakespeare suggests Gertrude tends to sexually dominate men in the play whereas Ophelia is obedient to them, suggesting she is vulnerable. Therefore, whether Rycrofts analysis is related to the play must be considered because it does not directly link to Hamlets situation, choosing to have a relationship with Ophelia because she resembles his mother he has sexual desires for. In Gertrude marrying Claudius, Hamlets jealousy is provoked, which eventually contributes to his rage when alone with his mother, You are queen, your husbands brothers wife. Here, Shakespeare shows Hamlets confusion within his complex situation, that his mother has become queen by incestuously marrying her husbands brother. Combined with Hamlets oedipal fantasy and his mothers new marriage, therefore, he is bound to show rage and confusion towards his mother and hostility towards her new partner. In conclusion, Hamlet is a character whose mind is in turmoil, which is subliminally presented through Shakespeares use of soliloquies. This turmoil could exist due to Hamlets life experiences, whether they were his fathers death or his mothers hasty marriage to his uncle, who murdered his father. These occurrences may have caused Hamlets confusion between mothers and lovers, his contemplation of suicide and his hostility towards others, resulting in catastrophe at the end of the play. An Elizabethan audience would not sympathise with Hamlets hostility towards other and his delay in taking vengeance and so could argue that his mind is in turmoil, the reason why he is inactive.

Organizational Dynamics And Human Resources Management Management Essay

Organizational Dynamics And Human Resources Management Management Essay The terms Human Resource Management and Human Resources have replaced what was known as Personnel Management when it comes to describing the processes involved in managing people in organisations. The current trend towards people-oriented activities can serve the modern business challenges more effectively than the traditional Personnel Management approach. Naturally in a rapidly and constantly changing business environment, there is a call for more human resources involvement and more focus on human resource strategies in conjunction with the business strategies. Meanwhile there is evidence of devolving traditional human resource activities to line managers instead of personnel specialists. Recently, much of the work traditionally done by the human resources department has been devolved to line managers, who are now expected to take charge of people management activities such as, recruitment, selection, appraisals and training needs. This trend is encouraged as it leads to a closer relationship between line managers and employees, and hence leading to better employee performance and increased managers effectiveness. Torrington and Hall (2009) suggest that sharing HR activities between line managers and HR specialists is the key for a strategic HRM future, where HR specialists focus on business performance rather than operational concerns. This report highlights the significant role that line managers in HR activities while emphasising the importance of an HR specialist role for long term performance benefits. The Concept of Human Resource Management: HRM is defined as an approach to the management of people, the most valued assets of an organisation with their individual and the collective contribution to the success and achievement of the business objectives. Furthermore, Alan Price identifies HRM in Human Resource Management in a Business Context (2004) as the qualitative improvement of human beings who are the most valuable assets of an organisation. Hence HRM is concerned with the effective management of an organisations employees to achieve the strategic objectives of the business. Dave Ulrich (1996) defined four fields for the HRM role Strategic business partner Change management Employee champion Administration However, HR professionals have struggled to prove their value as a strategic business partner and were mainly concerned with the reactive roles of administration and employee champion despite the modern approach to devolve HR activities to line management. The Role of Line Managers in HR: Line managers have a major role in influencing employee behaviours and attitudes which reflects on performance and motivation. The increased responsibilities are mainly focused on people management where line managers could transform HR policies into practices to be embraced by employees leading to commitment, quality, productivity and ultimately, business performance (Hutchinson and Purcell, 2003). The CIPD highlighted the areas four areas where line managers can influence people management practices: Training, coaching and guiding Performance appraisal Dealing with discipline and grievances Recruitment and selection Moreover Hutchinson and Purcell (2007) explored the critical role of line managers in key HR areas including reward, training, learning and development, and identified that line managers do not only implement and bring HR policies into life, but also play a significant role in influencing employee attitudes and experiences. A case study at Selfridges indicates evidence that line managers in the retail store helped improve employees attitudes and behaviours. This change in the line management role mainly focussed on improvements to people management behaviours and skill sets. (Hutchinson and Purcell, 2003) However, a survey by Employment Review show HR practitioners disagree that line managers are applying these responsibilities effectively and training for line managers in people management should be compulsory. (Nadia Williams, 2008) In addition line managers agree with HR practitioners perception, as they struggle with the work overload and conflicting priorities to find time for people management activities. A research conducted by CIPD (2007) emphasise the extent of devolvement in the NHS, where ward managers effectively take responsibility for recruitment, selection, induction, appraisal and personal development plans, planning and delivering training, mentoring, communication, absence control and managing difficult people. The additional responsibilities are not welcomed by line managers who linked the lack of time and increased stress to the increased work load. Despite the trend to devolve HR activities to line managers, Phil Brown, in Why HR Must Empower the Line Manager (2008), believes that HR professionals are holding on to power and are unwilling to provide line managers with the tolls and information to perform HR duties effectively. Therefore CIPD stressed in their 2009 report that line managers need the following to fulfil their HR duties: Time to attempt management roles Carefully selected behaviour competencies Support by strong organisational values Sufficient people management skills training Career opportunity linked to training and development Involvement in decision making But above all, line managers need self-confidence, a strong sense of job security and development in the organisation. Support by HR professionals is welcomed by line managers as they take more accountability of implementing HR people management activities. This allows HR professionals to fulfil their own potential in defining policies and strategies that are adequately aligned with business strategies. Strategic HRM: The nature of Human Resource Management has changed from being reactive, prescriptive and administrative to being proactive, descriptive and executive (Boxall, 1994). Moreover, Guest (1997) highlighted the contribution of HRM in improving an organisations performance and overall success while Katou and Budhwar (2007) outlined three perspectives for HR practices. The Universalistic practice assumes the best of HR practices and implies business strategies and HR policies are independent in determining business performance. The Contingency practice implies a fit between business strategies and HR policies in determining business performance. The Configurational practice implies an interaction between business strategies and HR policies based on an internal and external fit of the organisational context in determining business performance. These perspectives highlight the growing contribution of HRM as an integral part of business strategy and success. Consequently, the term Strategic human resource management evolved which Guest (1987) outlined to be largely concerned with integration of HRM into the business strategy and adaptation of HRM at all levels of the organisation. In line with the emergence of SHRM, Budhwar and Sparrow (2002) proposed four generic HR strategies: Talent acquisition Resource allocation Talent improvement Cost reduction Strategic HRM is based on the integration of HRM and business strategies for the effective management of human resources. Barney (1991) suggests that organisations achieve competitive advantage by creating unique HRM systems that cannot be imitated. Recently, the pace of change in the global market has identified a significant number of contemporary issues emphasising the growing influence of strategic HRM and the importance of a human resources specialist to manage these challenges effectively. Contemporary Issues in Strategic HRM: HR professionals are struggling to catch up with the pace of transformation in global markets. Evidently, HRM faces an increasing challenge to use policies and strategies in the best interest of organisations and employees to maintain profitability and stability. The following are three basic examples of these challenges. Globalisation: The changes in international markets due to globalisation have a major effect on businesses in general and on how businesses manage human resources in particular. Although globalisation has many benefits, there are problems that have been attributed to the following factors: Reduction in job security because work can be moved from one country to another. Undercutting of one countrys wages by another, leading to erosion of wage rates. Increased working hours and exposure to health and safety risks to cut costs. HR professionals are struggling to ensure proper staffing and development with the required knowledge and skills for the changing business environment and according to Alan Price (2004), HR professionals are expected to be: Role models displaying appropriate company behaviours and values Fixers, adapting corporate values and mission statements to local circumstances Networkers, making connections between local managers and other parts of the business Coaches or mentors, transferring knowledge to local managers A major task for HR professionals is putting significant effort in the training and development of line managers to implement the relevant HR policies which can consistently be applied across different locations and cultures. Talent Management: One of the main challenges for HRM is to attract, develop and retain talented individuals though a recruitment, selection and development process. Nestlà © is a case in point as it uses a talent puddles initiative to overcome the shortage of skilled applicants. The process consists of small puddles each containing potential talents for each function rather than the whole company. (CIPD report 2007) The strategy managed to reduce the time and cost for filling vacancies and selecting suitable candidates. Other considerations include management of labour turnover and emphasizing employer branding in attracting the right candidates. Marks Spencer, the major high street retailer, conducted an analysis to understand and redefine its employer brand to keep ahead of the competition. This analysis explored the factors that increase job satisfaction and highlight the factors that make working at MS a unique experience. The analysis resulted in a better communication between the company and its employees that drove improvements across the business as well as increased levels of commitment and productivity. (CIPD report 2007) HR professionals invest considerable effort into finding new trends to attract and retain the right talents; however, their role is surpasses ensuring a faultless selection process. HR critical responsibilities include initial job design planning, defining the required qualifications and conducting accurate selection methods to ensure compliance with litigations and to avoid any legal case for discrimination or sexual harassment. Therefore HR professionals need to have the skills and knowledge that are required to handle these tasks effectively. Managing Diversity: For over thirty years the emphasis and progress on equality and diversity has been ongoing but slow. Globalisation and demographic change is putting further pressure on organisations to develop and manage equal opportunity and diversity strategies to improve performance and promote competitive position. (Torrington and Hall 2009) Furthermore the CIPD defines diversity as: valuing everyone as individuals as employees, customers and clients so diversity is a broader term of equality which aims to improve the opportunities of disadvantaged groups within an approach inclusive of all employees rather than focusing on the disadvantaged as in equality approach. Some of the main diversity issues may include: Age discrimination Bullying and harassment Disability Equal pay Race discrimination Religious discrimination Sex discrimination A recent case of bullying and harassment concerned British Gas, whose workers have been balloted for strike action over alleged bullying at the company. The GMB union sent ballot papers to 8,000 members at British Gas to vote over claims of bullying and plans for job cuts. It said the management culture was undermining employees terms and conditions. (PM online, 11/03/2010) It is worth noting that managing diversity is not solely an HR job but there is a great emphasis on the line managers role in promoting and achieving diversity in a workplace as well as handling conflicts before developing and becoming harder to resolve. Conclusion: Human resource management has evolved from the traditional personnel perspective and continues to evolve due to rapid change in the global business environment: in customer trends, competitors strategies and advancing technologies. Indeed factors such as globalisation, credit crunch and creation of multinational corporations have resulted in increased pressure to maintain the competitive edge while reducing operative costs. Clearly the daily HRM activities have become integrated in line operations; however, an investment is needed in time and effort to up skill managers to fulfil their HR responsibilities properly. HR needs to provide and integrate well designed policies and strategies in frameworks and systems to enable line managers to perform effectively. Despite an obvious trend to devolve more human resource activities into line management, clearly many of the new challenges require special skills and knowledge that line managers may not generally have. Therefore HR specialists and line managers must collaborate to achieve the business objectives within a frame of legislation and compliance. Hence the role of an HR specialist is moving towards a strategic partnership aligned with the business strategies while coordinating, advising and supporting line managers in performing the HR activities required. Obviously, line managers have a responsibility towards their staff, given the close relationship and direct daily connection and interaction. Line managers are expected to implement and deliver the policies and strategies that are devised by HR specialists. There are many areas of HRM like talent management where line managers need more responsibility to manage activities, such as attracting, retaining, developing and motivating. Moreover, line managers must have authority and responsibility to control and reward the staff which in turn will improve their people management and leadership skills. Finally it is evident that there is a correlation between HR professionals and line managers in certain HR activities that require further development. The report focussed on line managers as a front line management role, though HR knowledge and skills should be a requirement for middle management. Managers need be given adequate training and sufficient time to take on HR activities; these requirements should be included in HR strategies to achieve a high performance workforce objective.

Play And Creativity In The Curriculum

Play And Creativity In The Curriculum Some have argued that play is childrens work but I would say that it is far more than this. Play is their self-actualisation, a holistic exploration of who and what they are and know and of who and what they might become. (Broadhead 2004, p. 89) Since nineteen century, learning has been constructed and reconstructed within the frameworks of three main theoretical perspectives, whether understood as adult-led process, child-led individual process of discovering knowledge, or socially constructed experience. This essay will discuss in depth the contribution of play and creativity to young childrens well-being and improving childrens lives; what is play and creativity and why they are important; the three theories or instructions versus exploration are fundamentally diverse in their understanding about the development of childrens cognition and application in learning environment, yet their persistence in contemporary school system is evident. An evaluation of the intervention of different theories will be based on the important work of Skinner, Piaget, Vigotsky etc. and different curriculum developed and used all over the world as TeWhaariki, Reggio Emilia and Early Years Foundation Stage. This essay underlines the importance of play and creativity of young children in their early years, considering historical point of view, theoretical and examples from own experience, practice and observations. Within western societies, the optimal conditions for early learning are frequently viewed as environments where play, both unstructured and structured, adult-led and child-led, solitary and social, provides the majority of the learning opportunities (Wood 2010). In the last century theories of play replaced or developed earlier learning theories and previous ways of thinking. Ideas taken of psychologists like Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner have lead to create educational framework and curriculum, as the High/Scope curriculum developed from the US Head Start project in the 1960s (Schweinhart and Weikart 2003), and the Te Whaariki curriculum developed by the New Zealand government in the 1990s (Ministry of Education 1996) . the last decade the Foundation Stage was introduced in England and Wales (QCA 2000) where play has been described as the key way in which children learn. Recently, the findings of the EPPE project (Sylva et al 2004) made practitioners thinking how to get the right balance into the curriculu. The main object is how to implement potentially instructive play activities which need to be supported by effective adult interactions into the learning process. In the meanwhile the debate on the value and nature of play for young childre n and for their development continues. The benefits of play for children and young peoples physical, intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing are no longer questioned. The Early Years Foundation Stage stands up behind this philosophy which we can see from the Appendix 1. Play is innate. Childhood play is an instinct that is pleasant and important when we look at the learning and development of young children (see Appendix 2). Play is different and flexible. Often we cannot use terms as right or wrong way when consider play. There are enormous ranges of different types of play. They can be active or subdued; they could involve imagination or exploration. Furthermore play could involve others or carried out alone. The essence of play is best described perhaps with the 12 Principles of play (Bruce, 2011). Those principles underline any present playwork practice which we could describe as good practice. Play is a process that is freely chosen, personally motivated and directed. Children and young people rule and control the meaning and fulfill of their own play, by listening their own instincts, ideas and interests. This is done in childrens own way for their own purposes and reasons. All children and young people need to play. The impulse to play is innate. Play is a biological, psychological and social necessity, and is fundamental to the healthy development and wellbeing of individuals and communities. (Gleave, 2012) Recent research shows that to be able to respond and function effectively in our complex society requires interactions with others. Those interactions need to be managed actively (Sawyer et al., 1997). In addition one of the beliefs which is used in therapeutic play is that imaginative play affect the aggression levels and promote emotional intelligence as state by Holland (2003). Furthermore, the more play is cooperative, the more children might connect with/or understand other childrens knowledge. This understanding is underpinned with their respond and emotional engagement with the surrounding environment. Interactions like those will increase childrens understanding of other childrens perspectives. They can become experts for one another, scaffolding their own and their peers learning experiences. When children interact with peers they are more creative, the dialogue they build with each other or the play is like a practise to reality and helps them develop social skills. Their learning and creativity is stronger than when an adult tells then what to do, or leads them to a game, there is not as much personal/inner involvement when its adult led. Recently observations try to focus more on play between children, not on their interactions with adults. This is to recognise that into communication with peers which are equally engaged, exist the potential to improve childrens learning development. It will arise along their actions and interaction. As an example see Appendix 2. Often play goes hand by hand with creativity. As a concept creativity has been vastly researched for more than fifty years, and they still remain disagreements what creativity is and how it develops (Lynch Harris, 2001). Part of researches underline that creativity involves process of flexible thinking and being original, also problem solving and being capable to redefine and elaborate (Meador, 1997). The other part of researchers point to personal characteristic which could help some individuals to become more creative, for example tolerance for uncertainty, willingness to overcome obstacles, openness to growth, possession of personal motivation, acceptance of sensible risk-taking, wanting to be recognized, and willingness to strive for such recognition (see Sternberg, as cited in Lynch Harris, 2001). Moreover, others support the thinking that people cannot be generally creative in all areas but more often into specific fields, as art, machinery or woodwork (see Gardner, as cited in Lynch Harris, 2001). The cultivation of creativity is a base on which programs and strategies are produced for positive outcomes and underpin the well being of young children. Such programs which include creative problem-solving skills help children to become successful adults. Adults who will question the accuracy of information and put this information into constructive use (see Todd Shinzato, as cited in Brockman,2012). Moreover, Sautter (1994) suggests that children being involved in creative activities improve their motivation. Practitioners in the mental health field discovered that creative activities can be used to protect children from stress (see Honig, as cited in Brockman). Creative thinking allows both young people and adults to avoid boredom, resolve personal conflict, cope with increasing consumer choice, accept complexity and ambiguity, make independent judgments, use leisure time constructively, and adjust to the rapid development of new knowledge (Strom, 2000, p. 59).Furthermore, in our century we are witnesses of rapid scientific and technological development, so people need to be inventive and flexible. Therefore, in order to keep up with nowadays accelerating developments, it is important for adolescents to be creative thinkers (see Fryer, as cited in Brockman). In addition to the above, the study Trough a different lens by Meynard (2010) shows that moving away from a subject-centered approached, particularly when they are prescribed outcomes in the Framework, towards child-led learning and play, may be extremely challenging for the practitioners. The project is based on Reggio Emilia pedagogy. While in England and Wales early years education policy appears to have shifted direction in relation to curriculum, pedagogy and underpinning theories of learning, by contrast the infant and toddler centres of the municipality of Reggio Emilia are rooted in a coherent, well-defined theory of knowledge which resonates with sociocultural principles. In the Reggio Emilia approach it is important the collaboration between all participants. They believe that young children symbolically represent their ideas through, for example, drawing, painting, dance, singing, speaking, mime and play. Instead of curriculum lead activities, organic projects are used as a vehicle for learning. However, having used to lead childrens play, the practitioners found it hard to not interrupt and their believes challenged. One of the teachers states: Children who I initially thought of as low ability, fidgety boys I now feel have fantastic problem solving skills à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ this approach has made me question what I thought was a bright child and has turned on its head how I rate the children in my class. From the above study is evident the influence of different approaches have on the adults role in relation to childrens play. For example learning for behaviourism is adult-led, emphasising on the external environmental influences on learning and outcome focused; the most effective teaching technique in class room in the sixties and seventies was the programmed instruction, an operant conditioning method developed by Skinner in a behaviourist fashion which went in four steps. Giving a task to perform in their play, observing the child, if incorrect repeat again in an easier manner, if correct reward. This processes lacks imagination of the activity, leads children to understand learning as a stressful experience and create anxiety which in turn interferes with school performance and social and psychological development.(Gavrielle L.2008). Although Skinner acknowledged children need to explore knowledge for themselves and that creativity is born within social interaction, it was not until the constructivist theory of Jean Piaget (1896-1980) when society and school acknowledge the need for children to explore knowledge for themselves. In contrast to behaviourist believes, Jean Piaget argued learning happens inside the child, should be child-led, with little if no emphasis on teaching. According to Piaget instructions were the inhibition for exploration. In a computational study, Bonawitz and colleges compared the outcomes of play with a same toy given by an experimenter in two conditions. In the first condition children were instruct how to use it, and in the second they were just given the toy to play with. The results of this study show significant differences between the times children of both conditions played with it. Also, the toy had more features then the one shown by the experimenter and the children in the sec ond condition seems to show higher exploration in contrast to the first. (Bonawitz E., et al, 2010). In a contrast, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) was the one to outline the importance of some adult guidance in childrens development; introducing Zone of Proximal development (ZPD) as the difference between what the child can not do by himself and what he can achieve with help from more able adult/peer; an adult-led theory in which the teaching and assisted performances were the key for successful development. In conclusion, the importance of how play is used to encourage creativity was outlined; the implication of the above theories is evident in the present educational curriculum. The frameworks influenced by Piaget discovery learning theory have been revolutionary for educational practices. The above examples show the importance to find the right balance between adult and child-led play and creativity which are fundamental for childrens learning and development.

Affects of Frontal Lobe Damage Essay -- essays research papers

Damage to the frontal lobe cortex of the brain can cause difficulty in everyday activities. The frontal lobes role in people’s behavior includes executive processes, language, emotional expression and movement. Ryan Godfrey has difficulties in some areas of executive processes due to the damage tumors caused in his brain. Ryan and others with frontal lobe damage can benefit from knowing these deficits by taking steps to reduce their impact. The brain tends to compensate for damaged parts and a faith in God brings power to overcome deficits. Thus, behavioral difficulties for frontal lobe damaged patients are only a guideline not a box, for nothing is impossible for God to accomplish.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A 23-year-old man, named Ryan Godfrey was observed in his everyday behaviors to understand how he deals with frontal lobe damage. When he was 7 years, old the doctors discovered a grapefruit size benign meningioma tumor in his brain. After this, he had six more surgeries and his last one left him paralyzed on his left side. This was because most of his tumors were found in the right hemisphere, prefrontal cortex with his last surgery towards the premotor and motor cortex causing his paralysis. Ryan overcame being paralyzed with a desire to play basketball and video games. Today he is running sound for church, working full time and helping with student ministries. People like him can benefit from understanding the brain and its functions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The frontal lobe comprises a third of the brain and it enables us to engage in higher cognitive functions such as planning and problem solving (Jonides & Smith, 1999). The frontal lobe is divided into 3 regions, the motor cortex, premotor cortex, and prefrontal cortex. The motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus and directs fine motor coordination. The premotor cortex is involved in planning, organizing, and integrating body movements. The prefrontal is involved in executive functions, including short-term memory, working memory, decision making, and prioritizing behaviors (Wilson, 2003). Some of the frontal lobe disorders than can cause brain damage and behavioral changes are Huntington’s disease, infection, stroke, tourettes, dementia, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, tumors, closed head injury and traumatic brain injury (Chow, 2000).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People wi... ... Shimamura, A. (1995). Susceptibility to memory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  interference effects following frontal lobe damage: findings from tests of paired-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  associate learning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 144-152. Humphreys, G. & Kumada, T. (2002). Early selection induced by perceptual load in a   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  patient with frontal lobe damage: external vs. internal modulation of processing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  control. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 49-65. Jonides, J. & Smith, E. (1999, March 12). Storage and executive processes in the frontal   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  lobes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Science, 1657-1663. Lepage, M. & Richer, F. (2000). Frontal brain lesions affect the use of advance   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  information during response planning. Behavioral Neuroscience, 1034-1040. Levine, B. & Stuss, D. (2002). Adult clinical neuropsychology: lessons from studies of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the frontal lobes. Annual Reviews Psychology, 401-433. Wilson, J. (2003). Biological foundations of human behavior. Belmont: Thomason   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Learning Publishers.

Case 17 ? Johnson & Johnson :: essays research papers

Case 17 – Johnson & Johnson 1. Diversity should provide greater alternatives and inputs into the decision process, but if diversity is blocked due to organizational infrastructures that do not allow the free flow of information, than the diversity goes unutilized. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) structured its company to insure the positive impact of diversity in regards to decision making through its creation of FrameworkS. Through Frameworks, the executive committee is partnered with a variety of managers from around the organization that concentrate on specific, unprogrammed organizational decisions. FrameworkS matches the problem with appropriate decision making method. In this approach, managers share the problem with others and engage the group in consensus to arrive at a final decision. By incorporating managers from around the organization, FrameworkS provides a process that successfully incorporates knowledge from a wide variety of sources. Managers are able to bring a variety of perspectives and experiences to deal with the problem at hand. The knowledge brought into focus is greater with these additional individuals involved. In addition, difficulties including decision biases (confirmation traps and hindsight traps) and escalation of commitment can be countered in a constructive manner. J&J provides an environment that supports information search and open discussion among members of the group. By challenging long-held assumptions, a better decision develops from the interaction of group members. 2. J&J wished to increase both the number and quality of strategic choices for creating its future. Groups are often more successful than individuals in developing creative solutions due to the increased diversity of ideas available to the members. J&J managers attempted to benchmark high performance activities by investigating processes at its three internal and three external organizations. With a focus of identifying and implementing the new processes into J&J, the program "What's New" was the focus of the collection of J&J’s executive and senior management team. By mixing managers from different organizations within J&J, the executive board hoped to manage knowledge in a manner that supports new ideas. A manager from one area may be able to shed considerable insight into the problems of a manager from another section of the company and as a result, organizational learning is increased through a free exchange of ideas. 3. J&J has shown through its Credo and actions that the company is very committed to ethical behavior on the part of its employees and managers. Its reaction to the Tylenol poisoning, with its emphasis on socially responsible behavior above immediate profits, was entirely consistent with its ethical code of placing the customer first and shareholder interests second.

Apple Inc

Features of Apple Industry:2 Evaluation of Steve Jobs as a strategic leader4 Strategic Innovation5 Recommendation7 Conclusion8 Reflection of our group work9 References12 Introduction As the first of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (Business week, 2010) and the 17th of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand, 2010), Apple has succeeded in strategic leadership and innovation, which has drawn attention from the world recently. This essay focuses on some key issues of Apple’s innovation. It begins with analyzing the key features of Apple Inc by Porter’s five forces and Kay’s distinctive capabilities.Then, the evaluations of the CEO Steve Jobs as the strategic leader and explanations of Apple’s strategic innovation are involved. The final section is our recommendations to Apple. Features of Apple Industry: In the stage of analyzing the key features of Apple industry, the first method is the Porter’s five forces model. It divides into five parts, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and competitive rivalry within an industry (Assen, Berg and Pietersma,2009). Firstly, for Apple, there are some new entrants have disruptive power.For example, some online services which are similar to iTunes. However, there are numbers of high requirement for new entrants to get in the market, for instance, time and cost of entry. In the part of substitutes, nowadays, large amount of substitutes have good performance, they cost lower, are easy to switch, but only few of them have same quality as Apple’s products in the same price. In terms of bargaining power of buyers, it is an influential trouble for Apple. Although Apple has vast and loyal customers, every buyer and retailer all want better stuff in lower price.Moreover, they may reduce spending on Apple’s products if their economy downturn. Furthermore, Apple can ignore bargaining power of its professional supp liers, such as Inter, and strategic alliance, like Microsoft. The last part is the existing rivalry; Apple has a lot of powerful competitors, for example, HP and Lenovo. They pressure into Apple in every technological area and attract buyers by different products. Nevertheless, to be the most innovation company of the world, Apple industry is competitive all the time.Another method used in analysing key features of Apple industry is Kay's distinctive capabilities. This model consists of Architecture, Reputation and Innovation. Architecture: in the internal part between firm and employees, Apple industry has owns special corporate culture and a spiritual leadership. Apple corporate culture is featured in intense works and being pursuit of perfect works under a casual atmosphere and with sharing spirit. For a spiritual leadership, Steve Jobs' role in Apple is motivating employees to bring employees' creative talent into full play and not involving in the employees' work.In the externa l part and net works of architecture, Apple only choose strong suppliers having professional advantages to cooperate, such as Intel, it always cooperate other firms with its own purpose. For instance, the apple chose the Google to take advantage of its maps and video features for phone. Reputation: Apple has a great reputation that is built up on the basis of the quality signals and consumers' own experiences. Apple pays attention to quality of products. Apple keeps a trial and error on every product to prevent any quality problems from happening in future.Moreover, Apple's production is always based on consumers' experience. For example, Apple offers a free trial for consumers to feel their products. Innovation: Apple is famous for its innovation that can be demonstrated by technological innovation, product innovation and management innovation. Technological innovation means a perfect integration between hardware and software and Apple also keep updating them. Referring to product innovation, from first imac to recent-product i phone, Apple products, combining different functions, all go through the innovation.Speaking of management innovation, after Steve job's employment, Apple's management style is successfully transformed from relaxed style to controlled one. Evaluation of Steve Jobs as a strategic leader Steve Jobs is known to be eccentric when it comes to strategy and business because he strives to become a market leader by dominating the competitors in customer loyalty, distribution and coverage, perceived value, price, profit and promotional spending. This is evident when we compare Apple and Microsoft because when Microsoft shows profit by sheer quantity, Apple competes strongly with the quality of its products and services.As an innovative leader, Steve Jobs is legendary which is reflected on his company motto â€Å"Think different! † Rethinking, reinventing and revitalizing are the three main ways of doing business according to Steve Jobs. S implicity and innovation in terms of the product range gave Steve Jobs the edge over other competitors. A well-known example for this is the annual launch of new and updated versions of the iPod with a simple change in colour, form-factor and memory capacity. His risk-taking approach to business is believed to be unique making him an epitome of courage.His idea of self-belief and a vision enabled him to lead a great career life. He believes in investing in new innovative products and services that are built on existing technologies to create a â€Å"customer and market-based business†. His ability to get over failures and try again makes him a suitable comparison with Thomas Edison who had his share of failures along with mighty successes. Apple is a multi-billion company and yet they have just fewer than 30 different products. This is because of Steve Jobs’ immense drive for focus on a specific and well-identified section of the consumer electronics market.This shows the stringent and perseverant character of Steve Jobs as he would have told â€Å"No† to many potential ideas related both to the products and in recruitment. When Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 and came back in 1996, he implemented what we now believe as a CEO-centric model of strategic leadership that involves not just generation of ideas but also to hold the rudder of a massive ship that is Apple. Hence Steve Jobs will always be remembered as one of the most visionary, creative and high-impact leaders of his generation or any generation.Strategic Innovation Apple has successfully engaged in strategic innovation and has awarded the most innovative firm for triple years continuously. At the same time, it is the top one most admired firm in American (McGregor, 2008). Due to apple’s history, it belongs to established company. Therefore, overcoming the inertia of success and making a change is a big challenge. Combing Palmer and Kaplan’s theory of seven d imensions of strategic innovation with apple’s experience, this paper analyzes strategic innovation in Apple.In terms of Markides (1998), strategic innovation is basic principles build up new business modules and creates new markets and increase benefits for both company and consumer. In other words, strategic innovation refers to company needs to market positioning and was good at founding vacant space in market and filled up. Palmer and Kaplan’s theory of seven dimensions of strategic innovation are explained as follow: A Managed Innovation Process -Assembling conventional and unconventional ways to business strategy (Palmer, D. and Kaplan, S. , 2007).It is said that apple’s products develop in simultaneous stages and Apple always sticks with a proprietary ecosystem. Though it has some drawbacks, the benefits outweigh drawbacks. Core Technologies and Competencies- Main skills (ibid). Due to the face that Apple is high-tech Company, it requires consecutive high technologies innovation. Apple was dedicated to study innovative industrial design; such as apple has the world’s most advanced operating system and intuitive UI and so on. Industry Foresight –Forecasting the complex forces driving change (ibid. Steve Jobs quoted the words from Wayne Gretzky-â€Å"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been† (Jobs, 2008, cited in Yates, 2010). And he said they always tried to do that at Apple since the very beginning. Strategic Alignment – Establishing Support (ibid). In Apple, when it comes to a strong strategic vision for the business, the powerful leader is capable to align the people in the organization with the direction inherent in this vision. Therefore, the enthusiastic internal support could be achieved. Consumer/Customer Insight – Deep perceiving of target (ibid).On one hand, Apple possesses wide audience ranging from amateurs to professionals. On the other hand, Apple satisfies custo mers’ requirements. All products are characterized by human interface design and ease of use, combing aesthetics and simplicity, showing a perfect balance of form and function. Organizational Readiness – The ability to implement strategy (ibid. ) The board of directors had been re-structured since Jobs took over in 1997. Apple gets an excellent leadership and team spirit. At the same time, Apple masters core technologies and competencies.Sufficient preparation leads to success. Disciplined Implementation –Putting the strategy into effect (ibid. ) Apple’s process of implementation follows the module: culture- product-user-brand. All the products that meet user’s needs abide by their culture, which causes consumer loyalty; they get good reputation, therefore, the brand is established. Certainly, effective marketing strategy is an essential part of successful implementation. Recommendation Based on analysis above, here follows some recommendations to Apple. Maintain design spirit.As most customers are attracted by peculiar aesthetic design of products, Apple should continue paying attention to it. Keep innovation. Innovation is the soul of Apple Inc, Keeping innovation will bring Apple a bright future. Improve product compatibility. Improving compatibility is able to increase the opportunities of choosing Apple products. At the same time, the product market share will be improved. Search for the promising leader and create positive crises. It is essential to find another brilliant leader after Jobs. Apple should keep unsatisfied with current success and pursue change.Find hi-tech partners. Consumer electronics and entertainment industry are high competitive industries which update technology frequently. Thus, finding partner is crucial for an enterprise in the industry, especially, a hi-tech partner. Conclusion According to studied about Apple, it can be reached that there is an excellent management team in Apple Inc. , especial ly the CEO Steve Jobs, a strategic, spiritual leader with strong personality. In terms of strategy of the corporation, it is sticking to core competencies and innovation strategy, making the perfect products to consumer.With reference to organization, Apple is a mix-mechanic and organic style. Staffs in Apple are always with passion and love their own company as well. Performance of Apple in the consumer electronic and entrainment market which is a hyper competition market with technology updating speedily is excellent. There are a large number of loyal customers, great strategies, beautiful products and influential leadership which are all produced by Apple, an innovation corporation. Reflection of our group work Our group work focuses on a topic- Strategic Leadership and Innovation at Apple Inc. y Apple case studies, several key questions are asked to answer, including the key features of Apple industry, the evaluations of the CEO Steve Jobs as the strategic leader, explanations o f Apple’s strategic innovation and our recommendations to Apple. Our group activities was proceed according to a routine of making assignment for each people; then searching for materials individually; next, sharing ideas and of discussing issues together. In the following part, we will introduce a procedure of our group activity in detail.The object of our first group meeting was getting main idea to carry out our project after we read the apple case material. In this meeting, our group discussed and got general ideas and several key words from this case: what is management and innovation in Apple. But it didn't work very well due to insufficient preparation. Therefore, when we made a second meeting, we changed our idea to go on our tasks according to orders of questions. Each two members of our group took responsible for one question, and a member took charge of introduction, recommendation and conclusion.In this time, everyone got a clear task. In the following group meeti ng, we discussed what we found from collected materials and gave advices of every question and pick the best ones to the questions. Everyone is asked to complete their own speeches of their own presentation. If we had problems of our project in the period of not being together, we still kept in touch online. In the last two group meeting, we all gave a brief presentation of our own part to group members and made them understand every piece of our works, and we all achieved agreement to our project without any doubt.One of team member combined all pieces of Power Point into the whole and decorated it. We all prepared for the presentation and kept practice with a time controlling together. For a group work, we evaluate that it is fairly good with advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, we learned a lot from this group work. Firstly, we learned how to analyzer a case with models. Furthermore, we also learned that by a combination of case studies and models, it strengthens the kn owledge we learned in the class. Secondly, this activity also improved our skills of doing presentation and reports.We got a clear understanding of requirements of good presentation and reports. Last but not least, our team members shared ideas and made up for each others' disadvantages. From this experience we got the team work spirit and learn how to corporate with others, how to solve the conflicts. On the other hand, some problems existed in the period of meeting. Frankly speaking, some meetings are ineffective, because we didn't prepared well what supposed to do about case studies. Moreover, on the account of some member’s absence and lack of team spirit, the progress of our group work was affected.Here are some suggestions to the future team work we learn from our experience: firstly, a clear schedule should be made in the beginning as a guide of future works. Secondly, team members need to improve group awareness and join in a group activity positively. Everyone of a g roup should review handouts or materials in advance of one’s own responsibility of a group. Lastly, the efficiency is critical to group work.References Assen. M. V. , Berg. G. V. D. , Pietersma. P. (2009) Key Management Models, Prentice Hall Best Global Brands, Retrieved Nov 4th, 2010, form http://www. interbrand. om/en/best-global-brands/Best-Global-Brands-2010. aspx Brian. C. Steve Jobs Killer Instintcts. Retrieved Oct 27th, 2010, form http://www. forbes. com/2009/04/06/apple-microsoft-advertising-technology-enterprise-tech-apple. html Harvard Business review blog, Retrieved Oct 27th , 2010, from http://blogs. hbr. org/taylor/2009/06/decoding_steve_jobs_trust_the. html Markides. C. (1998). Strategic Innovation in Established Companies, Sloan Management Review, pp31-42. McGregor. J. (2008). The world’s most innovative companies. Business week, April 17. Retrieved Oct 27th, 2010, from http://www. usinessweek. com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081061866744. htm Palmer, D. an d Kaplan, S. (2007). A Framework for Strategic Innovation, Innovation Point LLC, PP. 1-24. Practice of leadership website, Retrieved Oct 28th, 2010, from http://www. thepracticeofleadership. net/2008/03/30/steve-jobs-and-his-leadership/ Roberts, J (2004). The Modern Firm, Oxford University Press. Saswati. 2010. The seven dimensions of strategic innovation. Retrieved Oct, 26th, 2010, form http://www. improvementandinnovation. com/features/articles/seven-dimensions-strategic-innovation? age=1 Strategy leader blog, Retrieved Oct 26th, 2010, from http://strategyleader. blogspot. com/2010/01/steve-jobs-risktaking-innovative. html The 25 Most Innovation Companies 2010. Retrieved Nov. 1st, 2010, form http://images. businessweek. com/ss/10/04/0415_most_innovative_companies/26. htm , Yates, V. |(2010). Steve Jobs. Retrieved Oct 26th, 2010, from http://www. leadevalues. com/Content/detail. asp? ContentDetailID=1369 1000 ventures website, Retrieved Oct 27th, 2010, from http://www. 1000ventures . com/business_guide/market_leader. html