Ethics paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics paper - Essay Example Thus, considering working in a highly collaborative team as well as peer review is strongly recommended as it helps in protecting the data from potential falsification. Researchers must rationalize each step in their study and provide reasonable answers to questions when needed. Being open to discuss any concerns and issue that are addressed by activist side by side, will avoid halting the study (Bennett, 2010). The main objective of a research is to comprehend the unique contributions of each member of the team from the word go, effective communication, and the willingness to share any findings or an idea with the other team members. This helps in avoiding conflicts of interest and consequently study failure. Researchers should keep in mind all the research ethics so as to ensure a smooth and successful study. First, any respondent should be free to accept or decline to participate in a research question. Soliciting respondents with gifts such as money so as to participate in the research is also unethical. A non-voluntary consent such as, giving the participants money to enroll them in the study is unethical and considered as coercive (Moodly, 2007). Where the information might be sensitive, respondents views should be confidential, and anonymity can be another

Someone Who Has Changed My Life Essay Example for Free

Someone Who Has Changed My Life Essay Romans chapter 4 is about how faith is the means for is proof that faith has always been the means for justification. Paul reflects back to the Old Testament patriarchs who were justified by faith, not works, to illustrate his point. Paul uses this illustration to prove that Gentiles were part of this promise given to Abraham. The whole world was blessed through him because he chose to believe God rather than his circumstances and because of this, his faith was credited to him as righteousness. Chapter 4 shows proof that faith is the true meaning of justification. It tell us in the beginning of the chapter that Abraham trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own. I believed that we all should do that because God is the only one that knows best for us. We all think we know when we have a situation in our hands but we actually don’t know anything if we don’t ask God to help us out in it. It also goes back to the Old Testaments to show us that patriarchs who were justified by faith, not by works alone. Paul uses this example to prove that Gentiles were part of this promise given to Abraham. The entire world was blessed through him because he chose to believe God rather than his circumstance and because of this, his faith was credited to him as righteousness. Chapter 5 had a lot of things to talk about. It lost me i had to read it a couple times to understand it. I believe that Paul was trying to tell us that after being justify we will be saved. It also shows that we rejoice in the glory of God. It also shows that tribulation produces patience. Sin, death, judgement, condemnation entered the world by one man but after it tells us that Jesus Christ brought grace, gift, justification, life and righteousness. I learned that sin reigned in death meanwhile grace reign in eternal life. I knew that from before but it reinforced it. Chapter 6 talks about different things. It teaches us that as born again believers, sin’s power over us is broken. I learned that we shall not continue in sin that grace may abound. i also learned that we are buried with Christ through baptism unto death. We shouldn’t allow sin to reign over us. The wage of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life.Paul explains that we are freed from sin and made alive to God through Jesus Christ. Our sin was taken away when he got crucified for us. Chapter 7 shows the difference between living bound to the law and living fresh b the spirit of God. Tells us to serve God with newness of spirit. The law is not sin but the law is holy and spiritual. Paul mentions the law of God, law in my members, law of my mind, law of sin. Paul also mentioned that he served the law of God with his mind. My favorite chapter of all 4 that I read was the first one I really got something out of it. Sometimes i find myself doing alot of work but my faith is still lacking. That is something I am improving in but at the same time i know that i shouldnt stop doing work either. I really want to gain the gift of God. My second favorite chapter was chapter 7 there was a lot of little details there that i didnt know of. I knew the different laws but i didnt find myself actually think each of them. I had never actually read the book of Romans before and i find it very interesting. It actually makes keep me interested. Theres somepart in the Bible that bore you because thats not what we like to read. I am enjoying my time reading the book of Romans and understanding and leaning new things from another prospective.

Life And Career Of James Cameron Film Studies Essay

Life And Career Of James Cameron Film Studies Essay Ever heard of some really good movies called Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar? Iconic director James Cameron is the brains behind making these and other great films that were, and still are very popular throughout the world. In his life, he has been extremely successful. Titanic went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. You can give the credit to Camerons genius special effects and amazing story lines. His movies are all very interesting and really capture the imagination of the viewer. Camerons contributions to the movie world make him a big time Hollywood director. James comes from a working class family, where his parents worked very hard to support him. Oscars and numerous other awards can be found all over his house. He is a really good director and his movies are very loved around the world. James was born in the year of 1954 Phillip and Shirley Cameron. He was delivered in Kapuskasing, Ontario Canada. Camerons Dad was an electrical engineer at a power plant. His mom, Shirley was a creative type. Shirley played a large and significant role in stimulating the artistic prowess inside of her son. She enlisted him in numerous acting lessons, painting instruction, and even hired him a personal piano teacher. She did this to encourage James to be as artistic and in touch with his creative side. At school, Cameron was a pretty good student. He didnt like math because of one reason. There was only one answer to every problem. He was never able to fully be creative in his work.. James really liked reading and writing, but really liked in science fiction and space/futuristic novels. His all time favorite book as a student was 2001 A Space Odyssey. The amazing futuristic and descriptive writings of the novel really stuck with Cameron and shaped him into the creative director he is today. After reading the book Cameron had a revelation. He wanted to be in the business of art. The form he chose was directing. He felt like he would be really good at it. But he knew his dream of stardom was one of a Hollywood fairytale. So instead of pursuing a career as a director, James finished high school and went on to college. After receiving his high school diploma, Cameron transitioned into college. He chose to pursue a physics at Cal State Fullerton. He really liked studying physics there, but in the back of his head, a feeling of incompleteness still stuck in the back of his head. Cameron still wanted to test the waters as a film maker. After this sudden change of heart, he switched his major to English and went on to continue his studies for one more year. As the year past, Cameron came to the decision that college was not where he wanted to be anymore. James dropped out and moved into a small apartment in Los Angeles. There, he worked odd jobs here and there. In the mean time, he was always writing scripts and coming up with ideas for his films. At this point in his life, Cameron was at ease with his decision. His parents continued to support him from across the country. A changing point came though when Cameron first watched original Star Wars. This was in 1977. Just like the books he used to read as a child, watching Star Wars really resonated with him. It was exactly the kind of thing he was into. So, after he saw it, he really decided to pursue his dream as a director. He quit his current job and proceeded to focus all of his time and energy into film making. Camerons close knit friends in LA got together as he told them about the dream he wanted to purse. They all agreed they were interested and wanted to be a part of it. The group got together and created a movie. The movie was small and very low budget. However, it caught the attention of writers in Hollywood and got Camerons name out there as a legitimize director. They hustled enough money and eventually were able to get all the equipment necessary to create movies. Camerons first movie as a big time director was awful and terrible. The producer of the film told him that he was a terrible director and would never make it in the business. The negative comments only encouraged him to pursue his dream. He wanted to prove everyone wrong. He wanted to show Hollywood that a kid from Canada could become one of the best film makers in the history of movies. James swore to himself from that point that everyone of his next projects would be top quality and extremely well done. The movie he came up with was Terminator. Futuristic and sci-fi effects were the backbone behind this movie. People had never seen a story like this. They were consumed by the awesome explosions and amazing gun fights. The future governor of California, Arnold Shawrtzanegier got his first big break in this movie. After this, he blew up and went on to become a big time action movie star. Terminator was extremely successful, and James proceeded to create great picture after great picture. James Cameron then unveiled his greatest movie. In this film, he went away from his big explosions and fights scenes like we had seen in his previous movies. Instead, he created a movie that tugged and pulled at the emotional sensors of the human brain. This movie was Titanic. Titanic made Cameron a very rich man. It would go on to become the highest grossing film ever. It made billions and billions of dollars. The movie is very cool because it is so detailed. In one scene he replicated the exact china that was used on the real Titanic. Also, on the scene where Jack and Rose are floating in the ocean, if one is to look into the sky, the consolation of stars is exactly that of the night the real ship sank. After Titanic, Camerons reputation grew as a film maker and he continued on his quest for stardom. Cameron has been a part of many projects, not only the movies he has directed. He assisted fellow directors and also helped produce some of his friends movies. He also has an interest in acting, and sometimes fulfills roles in his own, and others movies. One of Camerons most recent movies is one about a blue alien species. Avatar is a very cool and intriguing movie. It has awesome special effects and if you see it in 3-d it will enhance the experience greatly. Avatar went on to surpass Titanic as the highest grossing movie of all time. His ingenious is really shown in this movie. His creation of a whole other race, with there own language, customs, and culture is a extremely amazing feat. It truly shows the brain power and imagination that he truly possesses. This skill is what makes him so successful in his directing. In all of his movies, Cameron usually has some reoccurring things that usually always take place. Some of these themes are apocalyptic, mans dependency on machines, and more then usual, a woman will have a very prominent role in saving the day. Most of Camerons movie have one or more of these elements in them. Cameron has married many women in his life. In his years, he has had 5 wives. First he was married to Sharon Williams in 1978. In 1984, he married Gale Hurd, the producer who bough Terminator. After Gale, he married Kathryn Bigelow in 1989. After Biglow, Cameron married Linda Hamilton, whom he has one daughter with. Finally, he married his current wife, Suzy Amis in 2000. When it comes to religion, Cameron does not really have any beliefs. He considers himself an atheist. Meaning he believes that after death, a persons body just becomes part of the earth, and that is it. director James Cameron is the brains behind making these and other great films that were, and still are very popular throughout the world. In his life, he has been extremely successful. Titanic went on to become the highest grossing movie of all time. You can give the credit to Camerons genius special effects and amazing story lines. His movies are all very interesting and really capture the imagination of the viewer. Camerons contributions to the movie world make him a big time Hollywood director. James comes from a working class family, where his parents worked very hard to support him. Oscars and numerous other awards can be found all over his house. He is a really good director and his movies are very loved around the world.

Slaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut :: essays research papers

Slaughter House-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Slaughter house-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut is a post modern novel, attempting to undermine the reader's expectations. The novel does not have smooth transitions from one event to the next. The reason is, because the novel reflects modern man's life. Since the novel is not smooth it is confusing. This is just like modern man's life, confusing. Another literary device is, it is difficult to follow. When the novel is hard to read the reader cannot enjoy and understand the book. This is how modern society is too(difficult to follow). Another literary device is the novel's characters lack depth. The characters need more descriptive details. This reflects man by saying that man lacks depth and is not well rounded. The book undermines the novel's conventional approach. These are some reasons for the undermining of the reader's expectations. The novel does not have smooth transitions from one event to the next one. "Billy blinked in 1958, traveled in time to 1961." After a chapter, "Billy Pilgrim nestled like a spoon with the hobo on Christmas night, and he fell asleep, and he traveled in time to 1967. When Billy is in 1958, he is busy talking about World War Two. Then suddenly he travels through time to 1967 and he ends up being kidnaped by aliens from Tralfamadore. So when the story changes, the reader's mind has to adjust to the changes. The events just pop up all of a sudden. Modern man always has surprises in life that just pop up just like this novel. In life there is usually no smooth adjustments. It is abrupt and sudden. Billy Pilgrim(protagonist) travels through time in an awkward chronological order. In life people do not adapt to different situations without any problem. In this book, shifting from one situation to another is meant to be poor. The book is difficult to follow. It has many small stories in it. Pilgrim is in World War Two and then he ends up being with aliens from Tralfadamore. Some of these topics are hard to comprehend. This symbolizes modern life since it is difficult to comprehend the understandings of life. For example, Roland Weary is one of Billy's war companions. He kept beating the living daylights out of Billy. The novel mentions that Weary treat Pilgrim like this to discipline him, but he over does it. Is it, because Weary is a psychopath or has something

Software-Effect of Cultural Differences

Effect of Cultural Differences on Software Development A culture could be defined as the predominating attitudes and behaviour that characterizes the functioning of a group or organization. Through this paper we would like to address the effect of culture in the field of software development and one of the most commonly used model for development of a software Rapid Action Development (RAD). No matter what culture you are a part of; to develop software, a development model has to be followed. There are two different types of culture which affect the software development. 1.Culture difference between countries – People from different geographies think, act and react differently. There is no scientific relation between how two different individuals think or act on a given situation or scenario. It requires careful planning and judgement when working with an individual from a different culture. Some things might be normal for us but may be offending to someone else. With the adve nt of IT, the world is fast turning into a global village, the distances are diminishing. In such a scenario it’s expected that our colleagues can be from any part of the world.Hence it becomes all the more important to behave in a culturally sensitive manner. Negotiations with potential clients are more likely to succeed when concerned parties understand the reason for difference in view points. Fifty years ago, majority of the population lived in the same region they were born and employed in a single profession throughout their lives. The reality of working in a global company is almost the exact opposite. Employees of TCS interact and coordinate with colleagues in different time zones, in a foreign language and in global workgroups with members in distant countries.In order to make cross-cultural global cooperation work, cross-cultural competencies must be strengthened. Cultural differences, which can be seen, tasted, felt, smelled or heard, are not the ones that cause di fficulties. It is the invisible cultural differences that create misunderstandings – different value systems, attitudes, beliefs and expectations. To adopt a more customer centric approach, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is training all its employees to speak and understand at least one foreign language in a bid to become a global player in the knowledge sector.The move is not only limited to learn a language but also to make them conversant with other soft skills like culture and etiquette of at least one foreign country. Considering the diversity in cultures, our own experience with a North American based bank can be taken as an example here. This North American bank and Tata Consultancy Services have matured processes. Though a model driven approach is followed in both the companies, certain cultural factors are observed during the Software Development Life Cycle.Working in a multi-cultural environment for this North American bank has forced us to think about the cultural differences in software development. This bank is globalised in a true sense. We, Indians are currently working with colleagues from Greece, Sri Lanka, Russia, Romania and China. Where else would you get people of such diversity working towards one common goal of driving the business of the bank? 2. Culture of the organisation – Organisational culture lays out the values, beliefs, attitude and experience of a company. It may have been created unconsciously to align with the beliefs of the founder or top management personnel.The organisational culture we would like to describe here is of Closed Source and Open Source software development companies. Both these streams have their own beliefs and end goals. Main objective of a Closed Source organisation is profit and that precisely is the motive that drives these organisations. There strategy revolves around expanding their customer base and increasing the value of there stocks on the contrary Open Source organisations are non c ommercial in nature and the developers who participate do more for creative satisfaction than anything else.It’s just that the path they have chosen to conduct there business. Both the approaches have their own pros and cons. ? Model for Software Development The Rapid Application Development methodology was developed to respond to the need of delivering systems very quickly. Rapid Application Development, or RAD, began as a software development process developed in the 1980s. It is a methodology that involves iterative design, prototypes, and the use of CASE tools. RAD was designed as a response to previously limiting models, such as the waterfall method.The culture of an organization is a critical success factor in its process improvement efforts. â€Å"Culture† includes a set of shared values and principles that guide the behaviors, activities, priorities, and decisions. Due to RAD’s focus on quick delivery, certain project characteristics need to exist to fac ilitate the RAD processes: 1. Scope – focused scope with well-defined business objectives 2. Data – data already exists and focus is on analyzing and reporting that data 3. Team Size – very small, 6 or less 4. Technical Architecture – in place and tested 5.Technical Requirements – reasonable and within capabilities of technology being used Further, RAD requires management approval acceptance of certain tools, such as prototyping, iteration, and time boxing. Key Features of RAD RAD is composed of elements that are not new but are proven strategies. RAD differentiates itself from other systems analysis tools through its use of synergistic approaches based on the theory that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. A. JAD – RAD utilizes facilitated workgroup sessions known as Joint Application Development sessions.JAD sessions are crucial in that they allow impartial facilitators to become part of the design process without becoming invo lved in the design decisions. Further, the use of JAD sessions, within RAD atmosphere, has been shown to dramatically reduce development costs and development time JAD facilitates the ultimate communication sessions and results in increased development success. We expect that professional software developers know how to do the â€Å"thing† right. Doing the right thing, though, requires an unambiguous understanding of what your customer expects. Proficiency of the English language becomes a key for all part of the project.Traditionally Business has been driven by market leaders like US and UK, by investing large sums of money in new ideas and emerging markets. Among India’s huge population of 1. 1 billion people, Hindi is the dominant and official language. Yet it’s important to note that, as a result of Britain’s long colonial involvement in India, an estimated 4% of the populace speaks English. This might not sound like much, but when you do the math, it turns out that you’re actually talking about 40+ million people, which makes India one of the largest English speaking countries in the world.This is one of the major reasons for the growth of IT and the ability of software companies from India to deliver consistently on time and with acceptable quality. B. Incremental Development – Like JAD, incremental development is nothing new and was developed in the mid 1980's. It’s believed that anything that passed 90 days of development missed the business opportunity window. The idea was to take the overall project and break it down into smaller pieces that can be analyzed, designed, and delivered incredibly faster than the original approach.RAD uses the 80/20 rule, which says that 80% of the value can be delivered with 20% of the application. By focusing on the required 20% of the application they are able to deliver the product with lighting speed. Systems analysts take advantage of constant feedback with the use of incremental development. The incremental delivery of prototypes allows the user to easily communicate what they actually want to the analyst. Through the use of incremental development, the user and the analyst approach a level playing field in terms of system requirements.With the growth of economies of the world, customers are aware about the complexities and with markets being opened up to globalization, the customer is able to convey his requirements to the analyst and this is translated to a solution C. Case Technology – Case technology is the third RAD element. Case has added new impetus to the JAD movement. With its emphasis on planning, analysis and design documentation capabilities, and a graphics language understood by both user and developer, Case both demands clearer communications and provides the idiom for it D. Small Teams-The last key element of RAD is the use of small teams of highly skilled and motivated people. Common sense tells us that bright, motivated people are likely to be highly productive. The only problem is finding those people! RAD seems to be applicable to most IS environments. It is especially appropriate when requirements are not well understood or easily pre-specified, as with many so-called â€Å"front office† departmental computing applications. In contrast, applications that depend on algorithmic complexity or require significant pre-specification, such as aerospace and defence systems, probably lend themselves less well to RAD methods.Management of RAD teams is by motivation towards achieving the optimum business solution. Those who see RAD as â€Å"seat-of-the-pants† development have missed its most critical aspects and will find themselves creating bad applications rapidly (or creating good applications without infrastructure, leading to bad systems and high maintenance overhead). RAD only makes sense after Case methods, JAD techniques and disciplined software processes have been established. 1. Eff ect of National Culture on Software development A. High Context Vs Low Context culture –Tasks are broken down to a detailed level, within each project, with dependencies identified and risk associated with each of the task, Stakeholders and reviewers would come to a common platform to evaluate the tasks, the time assigned to each task, the perceived risk and the mitigation strategy to be adopted. Though this being one of the crucial aspects of the project lifecycle, the team has noticed that the discussion tends to be prolonged with some meeting attendees trying to digress the topic in hand to more trivial issues.This is dependent on the project manager assigned to the project in guiding the team to delve into the more the tasks in hand and arriving at a logical decision point. A detailed discussion is carried out to implement any change in a truly low-context fashion. For we as Indians have a habit of assuming some things in a high context manner. This approach of targeting any issue in a detailed manner was the biggest difference in the initial days. All the stakeholders in a meeting narrate out their requirements and clearing out confusing details and finding out the real facts about something.The first and foremost difference observed during our day to day life is the detail and model driven approach implemented in this bank. This detail driven approach tends to increase the timelines of software delivery but improves the quality a little. Quality is of utmost importance when it comes to building software’s for banking solutions, aviation, nuclear plant etc. At the start of a project itself the cost of quality should be determined as to much effort would be sufficient. An optimum level of quality if sufficient would reduce the timelines as well as save the cost of resources which could be utilised later for another initiative.B. Personal Vs Professional life North American way of life tends to support a lifestyle to accommodate personal inter ests of an individual. Expanding ones hobbies, participating in cultural and outdoor activities apart from professional work. Life in the BRIC countries is more tuned to professional growth of an individual with respect to the socio-economic fabric in the society. Boom in the software and its ancillary divisions is contributing to the growth in the per capita income and has lessened the gap from the haves and the have-nots.Job security in the BRIC countries is growing and is helping the individuals to build a life beyond their workstations. BRIC countries are now opening their market to the world, has brought in influx of capital, work culture from Multi national software companies. All said and done the economic structure of BRIC countries are still not mature enough to allow individual to look far beyond their professional boundaries. It is happening but will take some time before it becomes a part of life.Being more inclined towards their professional life rather than personal th e work force of BRIC countries delivers the same product as offered by Western country at a much reduced timeline as well as at a throw away price. This dedication though is having its toll on the work force which tend to be more unsatisfied with there job than there western counterparts. C. Income and Demographics Demography is observed to be playing an important role in the way the world is shifting work. The large impact of this change is observed on Information Systems. The average age of a professional is much more in western countries than in the BRIC countries.Young work force in BRIC countries tend to pick up things faster, readily adapt to different situations and work environment and importantly are available at a relatively lower cost than those in developed countries The decline in working-age population and unavailability of resources on emerging technologies in developed countries is leading to a large shift of the work to the BRIC countries. A young resource in India can learn under the guided training programs and implement the emerging technologies with ease whereas the learning curve of an individual in a western country is much longer span of time.Apart from this due to difference in the economic value of the currency of the western and BRIC countries, the companies in BRIC countries are able to provide same software solutions at a much lower cost as compared to the companies in developed countries. This is a win-win situation for both the client and the vendor, client is able to get solution at a cheaper cost and the vendor generates more revenues. D. Innovative approach The people in developed countries tend to be more innovative than the one’s in the BRIC countries. Being Innovative is encouraged and is a part of life.With their stable economic background and sufficient fund to promote any aspiring talent they encourage a lot of research and development activities. Most of the new path breaking companies and softwares are developed by western countries. The work force of BRIC countries do not lack the talent but the problem lies in the economy of the country which still require international funds to cater to the needs of its growing population. The software companies in these countries tend to pick up service oriented assignments, as they can be easily executed and it brings in much required funds to develop the economy of the country.Any innovation is these countries are mainly due to an inspired individual alone with little or no support from the government. We can take the example of a country like Israel which being so small in size still has a high innovation quotient. The North American bank for which we work has only two employees working in the performance test lab but still they have sanctioned a few million dollars to buy a quality centre tool. There were no long meetings or debate to discuss the viability of the adventure. Top management thought that the tool may be handy and hence they approved.T hey could have done that only because they were backed by a department worth billions of dollars. 2. Organisational culture differences Since inception, Organisations have a culture where a hierarchical line of authority is maintained. These hierarchies have in fact ensured that work is done where the collective abilities the companies’ employees are harnessed and a finished product is thus deployed. Compare this against a massive online community in a virtual organization where the employees are spread across the globe, exploiting the power of communication and collaboration in a gigantic manner.Millions of employees of a virtual organisations use blogs, wikis, chat rooms and personal broadcasting mediums to add their voice to a constructive medium of dialogue. Thanks to Internet, masses of people outside the boundaries of traditional hierarchies can innovate to produce content, goods and services. This paradigm shift in the culture of an organisation, vanishing of the hiera rchies is having enormous impact on Software development as well. They contribute to this organisation thereby prepare a finished product – including cars, airplanes – which are perceived to be some of the most complex products.Software majors in India including Tata Consultancy Services are handling the outsourced work of major aircraft manufactures. TCS has a blogosphere for its employees where more than a hundred thousand of its employees share their thoughts on various topics to guide the company to the next generation of software Development. This is a cultural shift started by the Open Source movement to challenge the monopoly of some players in the development and deployment of software. Thousands of employees of TCS collaborate in real time, exchange ideas with the CTO of the company reading and commenting on some of them.One of the writers of this paper has more than 100 videos on the internet with three hundred thousand views so far and the number is growing day by day. Thanks to Internet, masses of people outside the boundaries of traditional hierarchies can innovate to produce content, goods and services. This paradigm shift in the culture of an organisation, vanishing of the hierarchies is having enormous impact on Software development as well. They contribute to this organisation thereby prepare a finished product – including cars, airplanes – which are perceived to be some of the most complex products.Below we compare some of the features of an Open Source vs. Closed Source culture. A. Open Source projects TCS using Open Source Culture to its full potential The firm of the future needs to be a people-intensive firm. In the new Open Source culture, managers need to give due consideration to future threats and depend more than ever on human imagination, creativity and initiative. Twenty First Century Software majors in India including Tata Consultancy Services are handling the outsourced work of major aircraft manufactu res.This aircraft manufacturing major has taken the collaboration to a new level by engaging its peer in a real time manner. Firm of the Future The organisation that will excel in the next generation will be the one that recognises information as a major resource and knowledge as an important structure in and of itself. This organisation will use information and knowledge as efficiently as it does its other resources and assets. The difference between success and failure in an Open Culture will be about sharing enough of the right information about designs and methods.The intellectual and knowledge management will be the toughest challenges for the firms in the coming years. Information is a resource like money and material. It has a cost and value. It is less understood because it is less tangible. The unique character of information is that its supply is useless. The future firms need to fathom this fact that information becomes more valuable with use and when properly applied can greatly enhance the use of other resources. A big chunk of the workforce for these companies will come from Generation Y (Born between 1980 and 1995).The Gen Y associate on an average would have better exposure to emerging trends and would have a global outlook. As the Global Delivery Model for the software firms matures, the employees of such companies would increasingly find themselves working in culturally diverse distributed teams. While this is an exception today, soon this can become the norm. Collaborative Software Development platforms can become a norm and accelerate this trend. Thus the firm of the future and in particular the software firm needs to inculcate the open source culture as it is here to stay.The changing demographics, advent of internet, the collaborative features of Web2. 0 will give way to new ways of working and collaborating. The cultural inertia has to fade off to stay in the competition. We won’t be surprised if TCS employees start introducing th emselves as â€Å"I am a TCSer working in project XYZ and member of the TCS Java and oracle blogging community†. These informal affiliations can gain enterprise wide legitimacy. Advantages of the mass collaboration culture ?Reduction of Cost: One of the foremost advantages of adopting the Open culture is its monetary benefits.The sole and whole purpose of driving this cultural change, fading off the cultural inertia and adopting new ways of developing the same thing is that it reduces cost for companies who are adopting and driving this change. For IBM alone who along with Red Hat was one of the few companies to join the Open source bandwagon, the cost reduction is $900 million annually. Self-organised Operating System like Linux marshals the efforts of thousands of scattered individuals, sometimes in miraculous ways. ?More user involvement: Let us take an example of user involvement from the Mozilla Firefox Internet browser.After the elimination of Netscape, Microsoft has no t experienced any real competition in the web browser market. But now, the introduction of Mozilla Firefox, an open source Web browser that allows users to alter the code and create plug-ins and customized extensions that the users can download. We put on our thinking hats on for the TCS web mail which we use extensively. Some of the major disadvantages observed in the web mail are that †¢The user interface is clunky in that it is poorly designed from a user perspective. †¢The UI has several unused features.So the TCS innovation lab came up with a script which quickly put together a script that runs this into this as illustrated in the screen prints below. ? ? Not to mention this is only applicable to an Open source browser like Mozilla firefox which hinges on the user creativity and imagination. This might act as a starting point where many of the internal One might be tempted to question the whole deal behind this small example given above. The big deal is that the futur e of software development lies in delivering Service Oriented, semantically correct systems that allow end users to tweak their user experience.So what else is possible for TCS like Software Development companies in the future? †¢Project Leader specific customizations and generation of reports. †¢Bringing the timesheet page on the front page of the internal website on Fridays only. †¢Right click Employee Number and be presented with a palette of information such as â€Å"Lowest/Highest rating received by the employee†, â€Å"Employee basic information†. This shows that if one does not stay current with the users, they invent around you, creating opportunities for competitors. ?More power to the end userIn the software industry, publishing code on the internet has enabled companies to focus the shift to applications, integration and services. By using peer production to involve way more people who are external to the organisations, a futuristic firm can d evelop customer solutions in a smart way. Without the Open source culture, we would just have a set of monopolies, creating what can be termed as â€Å"Feudalism in Softwareâ€Å". Understanding and applying this new culture to competitiveness means dispelling the cultural inertia. Collectively, these examples suggest a range of ways in which peer production creates value and competitive advantage.Challenges to the Open Source culture: Critics of Open Source culture have always argued that it will no longer be clear who owns what or how individuals and companies will profit from their creations. The challenge lies how does a company manage its information sensitive resources in a way it does give enough freedom to the user to expand his horizons. But also keeps the essential features with the company itself so as to benefit from it. The pioneer of the Apache web server – which currently powers 70 percent of all Web sites – Brian Behlendorf did not make a dime off it! But truly speaking, the inventors never intended to make money out of it. Thus embracing this new culture of Open Source means new ways of wealth creation, new ways to innovate and developing software at an accelerated rate. B. Proprietary or Closed Source System: Another approach for providing software solution is Closed source or proprietary system. It could be defined as â€Å"a system in which the specifications are kept proprietary or closed to prevent third party hardware of software to be used. It has a restriction on copying and modification. Restriction could be either legal or technical.Legal restriction is like software licensing, copyrights etc. Technical restrictions are usually implemented by releasing only machine readable format instead of complete source code. â€Å" The following below listed points lists down its various features which in turn affects software development. †¢Innovation driven by motivation – As opposed to an open source project a clo sed source initiative generates more revenues due to licensing, patents of software etc. Over a long term higher revenue implies having a dedicated team of developers motivated which otherwise becomes difficult in open source as it’s not a money spinner. Mission critical projects – Traditionally open source software are considered to be more secure as the source code is reviewed by thousands of tech savvy developers. Though this holds true in many cases but still mission and time critical projects prefer a closed source. Any tweak in that code can cost severe damage to the society and country. For example software of a jet liner or a nuclear reactor has to be a closed source. It simply cannot be risked to use an open source for them. †¢Stable development environment – Closed source projects are usually developed in a stable environment. It has enough potential in it o take all the variables into consideration and tie it all together so that it just acts as a piece of hardware. A closed source initiative iphone has had only one release till now whereas linux has had hundreds of upgrades. The environment is turbulent for open source initiatives to focus on its criteria †¢Contractual agreement – Before opting for a closed source solution a potential client has to make a decision about the money to be spent and the amount of transparency they require. A closed source will tie them with an agreement; they won’t have any access to the source code as well. Vendor support – Proprietary software provides proper vendor support, they generally have a dedicated helpdesk assigned to address public queries and issues. Proprietary solution also comes along with proper documentation as well which helps the customers to do some debugging themselves and also makes them aware of the different features and configuration of the system. The vendor is bound by contractual agreement to provide adequate documentation and support â₠¬ ¢Better life cycle – Closed source projects usually have a better development life cycle. It has a dedicated team of developers working towards a common goal.They also have a separate test labs to ensure performance and functionality of the application. This difference becomes more glaring when the code grows to millions of lines; it becomes difficult for naked eye to identify and fix a problem and adjudicate the effect of that fix on other portions of code. It requires proper automated debugging tool. This kind of a setup is difficult for an open source company to acquire. †¢Security – Being transparent causes open source system to be more secured as it is reviewed by thousands of developers but being obscure provides a different kind of a security to closed source system.It protects the codes from potential hackers. They are not able to read the code and figure out the loop holes. Take the example of an anti virus software. If the source code of that is releas ed for everyone to review the hackers and virus programs will just paralyse the entire computer industry. †¢User interface requirement – A project which requires a good and intuitive interface should go for a proprietary product. Especially if the users are not that well versed with the computer culture. We can take the example of Windows or MAC OS which automatically creates a wow from the user just because of their user friendliness.Even for a novice user they are not that hard to figure out. Now compare this to a KDE or Gnome shell which might make a new user scratch their head off. Precisely because of this UNIX is more used at the back end. †¢Driven by an end target – A project developed in closed source is usually with a end goal in mind. They align all there activities towards achieving the end result. For open source products there is a tendency of the developers to code keeping themselves in mind. They don’t consider that whatever is intuitive to them may not be to others. Budget constraint – A closed source initiative have a finite amount of budget, depending upon the intermediate milestones achieved, political acumen of the project lead that can vary whereas an open source initiative depends on how much time its developers can dedicate. For long running projects with no real monetary benefit it becomes difficult to keep the developers interested. †¢Scheduling – Closed source projects have predefined schedules which may be altered according to market conditions or to coincide with any event. Strategic marketing – A proprietary software has a separate marketing team looking in to build the hype and increasing the curiosity of the potential customers. It gives sort of a head start to such projects. †¢Organisational limitations – A proprietary product can suffer from organisational limitations. In a corporate environment there are a lot of senior management level people making decision s on the behalf of the developers. The framework to use, the language to code in, data base to use, architecture to be followed. The developers are stuck with the choice that has been made on their behalf. Quality of resource – A developer working on a closed source project might have been chosen for reasons other than technical skills. The reason maybe the seniority of the resource, their relationship with a top management official etc. This problem is usually not observed in a resource working on an open source project as most of the resources themselves have self volunteered for work. It mostly consists of motivated workforce who works for fame rather than money. †¢User limitations – Commercial or closed source products tends to balance the demand of its user base with the goal of increasing shareholders value.They tend to view things from the profit perspective. Their end motive is to generate revenue for the company whereas open source developers are free fro m this restriction and can concentrate on satisfying the needs of its user base. Their approach is non-commercial in nature. †¢Market limitations – Being profit minded; closed source organisations tend to include a lot of features on their product just to attract potential client. With time, the point of interest can shift towards those additional features which may not necessarily be part of original requirement. This may incur additional time and money. External factors affecting the end goal – There maybe other external factors apart from the user requirement which may change the features or the way a product is supposed to work. There might be constraint to be backward compatible or to be compatible from other applications from the same stable or a top management thinks otherwise of the way the software is supposed to work. ? 3. References 1. Wikinomics – Dan Tapscott and Anthony Williams 2. The IT Revolution in India – F. C. Kohli 3. The World i s Flat – Thomas L. Friedman 4. Dreaming with BRICs: The path to 2050. A Global Economics paper by Roopa Purushottam and Dominic Wilson

Road Construction Essays

Road Construction Essays Road Construction Essay Road Construction Essay International Infrastructure Project Cost Estimating Work Breakdown Paul Hewitt, International Project Estimating Limited Introduction Construction Cost Estimating Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The term WBS has become a common term in all fields related to Cost Engineering including Construction Cost Estimating, Scheduling and Project Cost Control. A well defined WBS is the backbone of good Construction Estimating Software and can take several forms including the breakdown of items within an estimate, the layout of groups within a schedule or the rollup of accounts within a cost report. It usually starts with a client’s desire to breakdown a tender into definable pay items, followed by the project manager’s wish to schedule activities of work in a logically and efficient manner and the contract cost control engineer’s goal to track and forecast costs. In each case a properly organized WBS is required. The Phases of a Civil Infrastructure Project The cycle of developing, designing, constructing and maintaining Civil Infrastructure projects includes many phases and participants. The projects usually originate with a developer or government body who formulate a concept design and budget. If the project is approved it then moves on to preliminary design and a more detailed budget is estimated. Depending on the financing options available, the project may go out as a traditional Detailed Design and Bid Build project or proposals may be solicited for Design Build or Design Build and Finance options. Participants within the Project Cycle The life of a major international infrastructure project can involve many participants and span across many years. These projects involve developers, government agencies, engineers, contractors, operators, environmentalists and community stake holders. It is essential for the success of a project that all participants within the project cycle communicate and transfer data efficiently and consistently. Lack of a Standard Industry Wide Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The dilemma that the international construction industry faces today is that there has been no common work breakdown upon which to communicate and transfer data between project participants. Traditional agencies like state and provincial highway authorities have all developed their own tender breakdowns, many of which that have been around long before the creation of electronic data transfer. Construction estimators have tended to follow the layout of the bids as provided by the government agencies. The scheduler commonly ignores the estimate breakdown because it does not logically adapt well to the sequence of work activities. The cost control engineer has to rollup the project costs into a corporate chart of accounts that even creates more inconsistency. Current Standard Work Breakdown Structures Many standard project work breakdown structures have been created over the years. The CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) format in North America and the SMM7 (Standard Method of Measurement) format in Great Britain are the most common and have been in existence for over 40 years. These originated as breakdowns for commercial building construction and quantity survey but both have evolved over the years to include other forms of construction. The State of California USA (DOT) Department of Transportation and the Province of Ontario Canada (MTO) Ministry of Transportation are examples of transportation government agencies whom have standardized tender breakdowns. The CSI (Construction Specifications Institute), the most popular Work Breakdown in North America, recently introduced an expanded version of their MasterFormat â„ ¢ in 2004 [1]. This work breakdown was expanded from the tradition 16 divisions of work covering building construction to include 50 divisions of work covering civil site work as well as process equipment. A Proposed Standard for an International Infrastructure Project Work Breakdown None of the current breakdowns, including CSI, fully cover the complete civil infrastructure project cycle including; development, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance and risk mitigation. The current CSI MasterFormat â„ ¢ 2004 Edition [1] comes closest to covering all the scope of work found in the construction of Building Facilities and Site Work. It falls short in addressing the unique requirements of estimators, schedulers and cost engineers in identifying all phases of work included in major Infrastructure work such as Build Own and Transfer (BOT) projects. This Standard Work Breakdown attempts to format the project into a multi-level WBS suited to estimate, schedule, track cost and measure performance on international infrastructure projects. The breakdown is also designed to facilitate the data transfer of a standard work breakdown between common estimating, scheduling and cost control software applications. The International Infrastructure Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) The following paragraphs outline the various sub-projects and phases within the Civil Infrastructure WBS. The Sub-Projects within a Civil Infrastructure Project Life Cycle Traditional work breakdown structures in the past have only identified the Construction Divisions within a project. This proposed work breakdown includes all phases within the life span of the project cycle, including Development, Engineering, Operations, Maintenance, Transfer and Risk. 1 Project Capital Cost 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 1. 4 1. 5 1. 6 2. 1 2. 2 2. 3 2. 4 2. 5 3. 1 3. 2 3. 3 3. 4 3. 5 Overhead Construction Equipment Engineering Design Capital Cost Escalation Capital Cost Risk Proposal Financial Close Development Overhead Development Escalation Development Risk Operations Maintenance Transfer O M Escalation OM Risk 2 Project Development 3 Operations Maintenance Project Capital Cost The Project Capital Costs are normally the initial cost of the project, also referred to as the initial investment for the project. It is within this phase that the project is designed and built. Traditional work breakdowns have only included direct construction divisions. This WBS includes Site Head Office Overheads, Construction Equipment as well as Rolling Stock and Engineering. 1. 1 Overhead 1. 1. 1 1. 1. 2 1. 1. 3 1. 1. 4 1. 2. 1 1. 2. 2 1. 2. 3 1. 3. 1 1. 3. 2 1. 3. 3 1. 4. 1 1. 4. 2 1. 4. Site Indirect Costs Head Office Overhead Unallocated Costs Bonding Insurance Facilities Site Work Infrastructure Construction Equipment Operations Vehicles Transit Vehicles Site Investigation Engineering Design Resident Engineering 1. 2 Construction 1. 3 Equipment 1. 4 Engineering Design Project Development With the advent of the Build Own procurement model the activities and costs associated with the financial development of the project also ha ve to be accounted for and tracked. On major Civil Infrastructure projects, separate entities called â€Å"Concessionaires† have evolved to take on this responsibility. The concessionaire is often a joint venture company comprised of the contractors involved with the project or can be a separate entity on their own. The activities performed by the concessionaire have to be defined within the work breakdown structure. These activities are split into 3 distinct phases; the Proposal Phase during which time the proposal and financial models are prepared, the Financial Close phase, where the concessionaire negotiates with banks and financial institutions to procure financing for the project and the Operations phase, where the concessionaire manages or oversees the operation of the facility. On some international projects it may take several years to finalize all the legal agreements in order to get to financial close. 2. 1 Proposal 61. 10. 00 61. 20. 00 61. 30. 00 61. 40. 00 61. 50. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 63. 10. 00 Proposal Preparation Financial Modeling Legal Due Diligence Financial Due Diligence Success Fees Management Salaries General Expenses Office Facilities Office Services Public Relations Travel Subsistence Municipal Taxes 2. 2 Financial Close 2. 3 Concessionaire Overhead Operations and Maintenance In addition to building and owning infrastructure facilities the concessionaire (developer) is normally required to operate and maintain the facility over an extended period of time. The concession period can extend for 20 to 30 years. At the end of the period that facility is then transferred back to the municipality or government agency. The WBS must include the ability to estimate, schedule and track these operations maintenance activities over the concession period. The staff involved with operating infrastructure facilities can include Management, Supervisors, System Controllers, Fare Collectors and Vehicle Operators. Energy Consumption can include electric power consumption for transit vehicles and fuel for buses. Consumables include tickets. Maintenance can include such things as the cost of maintaining and cleaning buildings, repairing highway pavements, cutting and watering grass, replacing bridge bearings and maintaining ticket vending machines. Maintenance can also include the labor and parts required to operate transit vehicles over the concession period. Transferring the facility back to the government includes demobilization costs such as cleanup costs, staff severance as well as audit fees required to transfer the assets. 3. 1 Operations 3. 1. 1 3. 1. 2 3. 1. 3 Staff Salaries Overhead Energy 3. 1. 4 3. 1. 5 3. 2 Maintenance 3. 2. 1 3. 2. 2 3. 2. 3 3. 2. 4 3. 2. 5 3. 3. 1 3. 3. 2 Consumables Insurance Bonding Facility Maintenance Road Site Work Maintenance Infrastructure Maintenance Rolling Stock Maintenance Service Vehicle Maintenance Demobilization Legal Audit 3. 3 Transfer The Construction Phase of Work Breakdown Structure The Construction phase of the Capital Cost portion of the project is still where most of the detailed scheduling and cost control tasks are required. Most current WBS layouts have addressed the direct construction costs in detail. The following paragraphs describe how current breakdown structures have been adapted and revised to form part of the proposed Civil Infrastructure WBS. Summary Levels within the Construction Cost Breakdown The cost of construction has been summarized into definable levels that can be estimated, scheduled and procured. These sections are structured to help the estimator, scheduler or cost control engineer group the project into definable work packages. These work packages can also serve as subcontract procurement packages. The following table lists the main summary levels within the Construction Phase of an Infrastructure Project. 1. 2. 1 Facilities 1. 2. 1. 1 1. 2. 1. 2 1. 2. 2. 1 1. 2. 2. 2 1. 2. 2. 3 1. 2. 2. 4 1. 2. 2. 5 1. 2. 2. 6 1. 2. 2. 7 1. 2. 3. 1 1. 2. 3. 2 1. 2. 3. 3 1. 2. 3. 4 1. 2. 3. 5 1. 2. 3. 6 1. 2. 3. 7 Buildings Building Services Existing Conditions Earthwork Paving Landscaping Site Improvements Utilities Traffic Control Walls Bridges Tunnels Rail Airfield Marine Dams 1. 2. 2 Site Work 1. 2. 3 Infrastructure CSI MasterFormat â„ ¢ 2004 Divisions of Work It is under construction summary levels that the author has followed the basic divisions of work as defined by CSI MasterFormat â„ ¢ 2004 [1]. In the 2004 version, the term â€Å"Building† construction was replaced with â€Å"Facilities† construction. Building Services that used to be classified under division 15 for Mechanical and division 16 for Electrical were shifted to divisions 20 through 29. New divisions were created covering Civil and Infrastructure from divisions 30 through 39. There are over 3,000 lines within this section of the WBS. We have included sample breakdowns of two of the main CSI divisions here for illustrative purposes. The Building divisions, that remained the same from the original CSI breakdown, and a new breakdown for the Earthworks level, included with the new CSI divisions for Site Work. 1. 2. 1. 1 Buildings 02. 00. 00 03. 00. 00 04. 00. 00 05. 00. 00 06. 00. 00 07. 00. 00 08. 00. 00 09. 00. 00 10. 00. 00 11. 00. 00 12. 00. 00 13. 00. 0 14. 00. 00 31. 21. 00 31. 22. 00 31. 23. 00 31. 24. 00 31. 25. 00 31. 26. 00 31. 27. 00 31. 28. 00 31. 33. 00 31. 38. 00 31. 39. 00 31. 40. 00 Building Site Work Building Concrete Masonry Metals Wood Plastics Thermal Moisture Protection Openings Finishes Specialties Permanent Equipment Furnishings Special Construction Conveying Systems Dewatering Grading Earth Earth Excavation Embankment Construction Erosion Contr ol Sub-grade Preparation Structural Excavation Structural Backfill Rock Stabilization Soil Stabilization Rock Excavation Shoring 1. 2. 2. 2 Earthwork New Infrastructure Items and Activities For Infrastructure work, where similar activities can be included in multiple items, the traditional CSI breakdown does not work for estimating and scheduling purposes. For example; if a Retaining Wall and a Bridge are to be constructed on the same project, they have to be estimated and scheduled separately, yet they both include similar CSI divisions of work such as excavation, setting and stripping formwork, and placing concrete. For this reason, the work breakdown structure must include different WBS codes for these similar activities in the various infrastructure summary levels. The proposed Infrastructure Break down includes the following classifications: Walls, Bridges, Tunnels, Rail, Airfield, Marine, Dams The following table illustrates the different breakdown required for a Wall as opposed to a Bridge, although each are performing essentially the same activities. 1. 2. 3. 1. 2 Cast in Place Walls 03. 11. 01 03. 11. 02 03. 11. 03 03. 12. 01 03. 12. 02 03. 12. 03 03. 12. 04 03. 13. 01 03. 13. 03 03. 21. 01 03. 21. 02 03. 21. 03 03. 22. 01 03. 22. 02 03. 22. 03 03. 22. 05 03. 22. 06 03. 22. 07 03. 22. 08 03. 2. 09 03. 23. 01 03. 23. 02 03. 23. 03 03. 23. 04 03. 24. 04 03. 24. 05 Foundation Preparation Footing Excavation Wall Backfill Mud Slab Concrete Mass Concrete Footing Concrete Wall Concrete Reinforcing Steel Dowels Foundation Preparation Footing Excavation Abutment Backfill Mud Slab Concrete Mass Concrete Footing Concrete Substructure Concrete Deck Concrete Approach Slab Concrete Barrier Wall Concrete Concrete Slope Paving Reinforcing Steel Welded Wir e Fabric Dowels Stressing Systems Pre-cast Concrete Girders Structural Grouting . 2. 3. 2. 1 Bridges Conclusion A comprehensive Work Breakdown Structure is essential for the proper communication of construction cost estimating and scheduling data between all participants in an International Infrastructure Project. The Work Breakdown must include all phases of the project life cycle, from conception, through development, engineering, construction, operations, maintenance and transfer. In order to accomplish this task, the WBS must also be available in formats compatible with the common software applications used to manage these projects. References 1. MasterFormat â„ ¢ 2004 Edition Numbers Titles Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) 99 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA USA 22314

One Scary Night

One Scary Night Free Online Research Papers One warm, dark, summer night, my friends and I were hanging out looking, laughing, and making fun of stupid peoples myspace pages. All of a sudden, we were all alramed by a blood curdling scream coming from the next room. We all sat, motionless as we awaited what would happen next. The thoughts running through our minds were only about if we were going to survive, if we were going to be tortured, if we were going to ever see each other again, if we were ever going to see our families again, if we were ever going to be able to laugh at stupid people on myspace again. Then one of the girls came galloping into the room, as fast as her short, stubby legs would carry her chubby body. She stood, motionless, in the doorway. We all stared at her not knowing what to do or say, or expecting her head to fall off infront of us because of some murderer that got her when she was alone, all by herself, in the next room, which was dark, disturbingly dark, and scarily quiet. There is plenty of dark funiture in the room and a non-squeaking, unlocked door that he could have walked through and then hid. As our friend struggled for words, we all watched, jaws to the floor, as she appeared to be suffocating from shock. After about seven hours of this, she finally snapped out of it and exclaimed to us, in her annoying, ear piercing voice that she saw someone standing in the front lawn, look at her, and then run across the lawn and into the extremely dense forest of dark trees located in the back yard. Everyone started screaming and running ferociously around the house, banging into everything, breaking all of the items in the house and a couple bones, from the momentum of our bodies running into each other during our panic. After a few hours of this chaos, we came to the realization that we needed to teach this peeper a lesson, we loaded up on supplies. We ended up with blinding light flashlights, five or six sniper gus and about one thousand two hundred and fifty seven bullets, thats just an estimation, two taser guns, and five cans of sure guard spray. We found the man and skinned him good, killing him within about ten hours. Research Papers on One Scary NightThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsThe Hockey GameThe Spring and AutumnHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayTrailblazing by Eric AndersonUnreasonable Searches and Seizures19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyMind TravelCapital Punishment

Classical Greek Art, Drama, and Government Influence on Mode essays

Classical Greek Art, Drama, and Government Influence on Mode essays Four thousand years ago the humanities were introduced by the Ancient Greeks. The men began to record their feelings and ideas in the form of architecture, sculpture, plays, and paintings which make up the humanities. These numerous artists, writers, and politicians set the foundation for the whole world to build on. Our current government, buildings, literature, and sculpture all have their roots in the Classical Greeks. Aside from the drama and art, even the first governments that developed in Classical Greek are still in power today only with modifications brought about by the elapsed time periods. Greek drama which signifies things done arose out of festivals that were held in the early spring to honor Dionysus, god of wine. These dramas started out as songs and dance but retold religious stories. They were improved as time went on and developed two specific types still popular today which were comedy and tragedy. Thespis, a Greek dramatist, introduced tragedy to the world, and the first actor which were known as thespians or hupokrites. From the early actors known as hupokrites was where the version of the word we know as hypocrites a person who plays a false role began. Tragedies are stories that arouse the feeling of sadness, awe, fear, or pity, and the character brings about a downfall by a tragic flaw. Although introduced by Thespis, later writers such as Aeschylus, Socrates and Menedor also improved the Greek Tragedy by their plays and input. Menedor whom constructed many excellent plots, also gave us some famous sayings still used today such as whom the gods love di e young which has been translated into our society as being the good die young. The Greek tragedy influenced writers from then on and improved only with time, but also the early tragedies laid the foundations for many of the worlds classic Literature pieces. Some of these include Shakespeares tragedies such...

Question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Question - Assignment Example He also said that death is nothing compared to injustice (48b6-7) Socrates perceive the â€Å"Laws† from the point of gratitude that Athens provided him the birthplace, raised and took care of him. He was also educated in Athens and protected him and his fellow citizens. It is therefore incumbent upon him to obey the state as it raised and took care of him. This tacit contract is enforceable for as long as one stays in Athens. If one is not amenable to follow the laws of Athens or state, one is free to leave Athens and go somewhere else. But if they chose to stay, they must submit to the laws of the state. and if they do not like what they see, they are free to take their property and go wherever they please. However, if they choose to stay in Athens, they are actively submitting themselves to the Laws of Athens, and must abide by them no matter what.   Gadfly is a harsh critic of the status quo who is already contented with how things are done even if they are in slumber. The term was used in one of the most inflammatory arguments in the Apology was when Socrates described himself as a gadfly who is stinging a lazy horse which is a state. The personalities I can think of in history that is appropriate to be called a gadfly are Luther Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King is a gadfly because he went against the status quo of discrimination and removed the injustice against African American. Rosa Parks on the other hand went against the patriarchal society and asserted the equal rights of

View of Nature and Humanitys Relationships Essay

View of Nature and Humanitys Relationships - Essay Example Nature as Local. Interestingly, Bacon implicated that nature’s instrumentation was largely determined by location. While burial was done in the Lower Region, observatories were situated in the Upper Region. Thus, nature presents a limit by which instrumentation is permissible or not advisable, and this fact was respected by the people of Salomon’s House. The same fact was implicated by Carolus Linnaeus in his The Economy of Nature. His recognition of the co-location of habitat and particular species of flora and fauna was expressed through his acknowledgment of the dissimilar patterns of seasons, as well as the variance in soil composition (Linnaeus 2). Moreover, Linnaeus explicitly expressed this: â€Å"How wise, how beautiful is the agreement between the plants of every country, and its inhabitants, and other circumstances!† (2). Nature as the Framework of Imitation. Bacon’s view suggested that the workings of nature served as the mold by which humans re plicate certain processes for the desired output. This imitation was explicitly detailed: â€Å"We use them likewise for the imitation of natural mines...,† or â€Å"We have heats in imitation of the sun’s and heavenly bodies’ heats, that pass divers[e] inequalities...† (Bacon 3-5). Thus, it is safe to assume that early processes that were said to be ‘invented’ by early humans were probably forms of mimicry out of the observable natural processes. Nature as Something to be Improved. The recognition of nature’s imperfection was prevalent; yet, this imperfection was viewed by Bacon only in the context of the human’s desired output.  

WESTERN CIVILIZATION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WESTERN CIVILIZATION - Essay Example The peasants were made to pay land tax, war tax, and an extraordinary number of dues were imposed on them such as, cloth dues, salt dues, bread dues, while the clergy and the nobility were exempt from paying taxes. Resentment and anger were fuming among the exploited poor peasants. These form the long time social background, which caused French Revolution. The administrative failure in France and her bankruptcy in the later part of the 18th century forced Louis XVI to call a general meeting of the Estates General. But differences ensued among the representatives regarding voting rights. On June 10, 1789 the Third Estate, consisting of the bourgeoisie, the peasants, and the liberal minded representatives from the members of the nobility declared itself the National Assembly. Louis XVI failed to disband the group. On July 14th commoners in Paris stormed the Bastille. French Revolution brought new hope and light to all other European states. As the age-old feudal system was demolished the new age upheld the high ideals of Enlightenment. New institutions came up which were based on reason and justice. Man broke the shackles of superstition, prejudice, oppression and cruelty of a fellow human being. New terms such as freedom, liberty, equality and brotherhood filled the hearts of men. For that generation, human rights came within sight; forces of oppression, tyranny and misery were identified. â€Å"So 1789 stands as the pivotal year- a watershed- in which these forces came to their abrupt and necessary

Langston Hughes' Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Langston Hughes' Poem - Essay Example In "Rivers, " Hughes claimed this legacy-vocabulary of place encompassing "downriver, " the term for all the dreaded places in the lower South to which slaves were sold off, "the riverside, " one of the relative safe havens and sites of resistance within the domain of the plantation itself, and "over Jordan, " the beckoning frontier of freedom visible from inside the bounds of enslavement and exile as it was elaborated and interpreted in the nineteenth century in the traditional Negro spirituals and in such classic fugitive slave narratives as Frederick Douglass's and Harriet Jacobs's as sites of meditation, rebellion, and recuperation. (R. Baxter Miller, 2005). By placing that inherited vocabulary of place within a wider geographic perspective, however, Hughes proposed a reconstituted imagery of place for the twentieth century, one associated with a progression across continents in a historic and prophetic language of belonging and entitlement, beyond enslavement.

Lost Maples Winery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lost Maples Winery - Essay Example This report focuses on the arriving at the optimum production of the three wines produced by Lost Maples, namely Austin, St. Genevieve and Los Almos. The resources that are available for the coming week have been specified as 2,080 bushels of Variety A grapes, 2,040 bushels of Variety B grapes, 800 pounds of sugar and 1,060 man-hours of labour. It is very essential to ensure that these resources are carefully utilized by Lost Maples in order to attain maximum possible profits. It has been found that the optimum output comprises of 183 cases of Austin, 510 cases of St. Genevieve and no Los Almos wine to be produced. When this optimum amount of specific wine cases are produced by Lost Maples, the maximum contribution that will be attained is $ 18,680. It should also be noted that at this output, there is surplus (slack) of 2068 bushels of Variety A grapes and 617 pounds of sugar. It is evident from the results of the linear programming that there are 617 pounds of sugar left out after the optimum output is reached. The dual price or the shadow price indicates the effect of reducing the sugar available by 1 unit. In this case, reduction in sugar will not affect the maximum contribution, as there is surplus sugar available (Gal, 1986). Hence the sensitivity analysis indicates a shadow price of $0. The complimentary slackness condition indicates that the product of the slack/surplus and the dual price (shadow price) is equal to zero or in other words, either one of the slack or the dual price will be zero (Econ, 2008 and Alaouze, 1996). In this case this condition has been proved as the shadow price value is zero and hence the product is also zero.The allowable decrease in the labour has been computed as 549 man-hours. Hence the lower bound to labour in the ranging (sensitivity) analysis is (1060 – 549) 511 man-hours. When the man-hours falls reaches 510, the production of Austin has to be stopped and all the resources will be used only in the production of 5 10 cases St. Genevieve wine (Higle and Wallace, 2003). This indicates that when the available labour falls to 510 man-hours or below, only St. Genevieve wine has to be produced to attain maximum contribution.  

In the current economic climate in Britain, the risks of starting up a Essay

In the current economic climate in Britain, the risks of starting up a new business outweigh the benefits, Discuss - Essay Example Admittedly, some very recent reports of Britain's Office for National Statistics indicate a hopeful improvement in the economic performance of the nation with regard to its GDP that showed ‘over 3 percent annual growth rate’ unlike other world economies (Schomber and Milliken). Although the 0.8 percent growth it showed between July and September ranks its fastest pace in more than three years, the employment growth has not yet showed significant improvement; and this makes the sustainability of the economic recovery uncertain. Hence, from an entrepreneur’s point of view, the risks of starting up a new business in UK in the current economic climate outweigh the benefits. Some experts believe that Britain’s economy is built on shaky foundations. To illustrate, as Elliot, the Guardian reporter points out, the economy is exceedingly depending on private, ‘and to a lesser extent to public borrowing’. He also says that the so called economic recovery is concentrated only in certain sectors and as a result, ‘manufacturing base is shrinking’ and the trade deficit is mounting. Obviously, all these reports reveal that UK economy currently is relying on a debt based recovery which will raise long term financial stability concerns. The growing rate of consumer borrowing is one of the symptoms of this economic crisis. Another point to mention here is that the highlighted GDP growth in fact does not add up for the country’s working class. For instance, over the past 12 months, the use of food banks has gone up by 170% in the nation, and still five million people in the UK are currently living in fuel poverty (Cresswell). The financial position of an economy can influence a company’s stability and sustainability. New businesses are highly vulnerable to risks related to the economic stability of the country in which it operates. New entrepreneurs often fail to plan financial projections or create good working e nvironment. It is necessary for new businesses to determine if their product or service is strong enough to sustain the market completion and other challenges. Business owners with little knowledge in current trends and socio economic changes tend to fail in their venture. In other words, it is important to study the socio economic and political conditions of the business destination before commencing operation. Finding a new appropriate business is also a challenge in the new environment. It requires extensive research to determine the most relevant product and business concept in a competitive environment. One recent survey report reveals that 31% of the participants opined that finding a new business would be the major challenge for their organisations in 2013 ‘followed by rising costs (14%) and holding onto customers (13%)’ (MT Management). At this juncture, new entrepreneurs must be cautious about the current economic climate in the UK regardless of the recent impr ovements. This is because even Britain's big businesses have just started spending their cash piles after the recession. Although expansion is their higher priority, for the time being, their decisions seem to be an experiment. When it comes to new businesses, they usually confront insufficient cash flow, lack of expertise, and knowledge. Although new businesses fail due to a multitude of reasons, there are

Langston Hughes' Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Langston Hughes' Poem - Essay Example In "Rivers, " Hughes claimed this legacy-vocabulary of place encompassing "downriver, " the term for all the dreaded places in the lower South to which slaves were sold off, "the riverside, " one of the relative safe havens and sites of resistance within the domain of the plantation itself, and "over Jordan, " the beckoning frontier of freedom visible from inside the bounds of enslavement and exile as it was elaborated and interpreted in the nineteenth century in the traditional Negro spirituals and in such classic fugitive slave narratives as Frederick Douglass's and Harriet Jacobs's as sites of meditation, rebellion, and recuperation. (R. Baxter Miller, 2005). By placing that inherited vocabulary of place within a wider geographic perspective, however, Hughes proposed a reconstituted imagery of place for the twentieth century, one associated with a progression across continents in a historic and prophetic language of belonging and entitlement, beyond enslavement.

In the current economic climate in Britain, the risks of starting up a Essay

In the current economic climate in Britain, the risks of starting up a new business outweigh the benefits, Discuss - Essay Example Admittedly, some very recent reports of Britain's Office for National Statistics indicate a hopeful improvement in the economic performance of the nation with regard to its GDP that showed ‘over 3 percent annual growth rate’ unlike other world economies (Schomber and Milliken). Although the 0.8 percent growth it showed between July and September ranks its fastest pace in more than three years, the employment growth has not yet showed significant improvement; and this makes the sustainability of the economic recovery uncertain. Hence, from an entrepreneur’s point of view, the risks of starting up a new business in UK in the current economic climate outweigh the benefits. Some experts believe that Britain’s economy is built on shaky foundations. To illustrate, as Elliot, the Guardian reporter points out, the economy is exceedingly depending on private, ‘and to a lesser extent to public borrowing’. He also says that the so called economic recovery is concentrated only in certain sectors and as a result, ‘manufacturing base is shrinking’ and the trade deficit is mounting. Obviously, all these reports reveal that UK economy currently is relying on a debt based recovery which will raise long term financial stability concerns. The growing rate of consumer borrowing is one of the symptoms of this economic crisis. Another point to mention here is that the highlighted GDP growth in fact does not add up for the country’s working class. For instance, over the past 12 months, the use of food banks has gone up by 170% in the nation, and still five million people in the UK are currently living in fuel poverty (Cresswell). The financial position of an economy can influence a company’s stability and sustainability. New businesses are highly vulnerable to risks related to the economic stability of the country in which it operates. New entrepreneurs often fail to plan financial projections or create good working e nvironment. It is necessary for new businesses to determine if their product or service is strong enough to sustain the market completion and other challenges. Business owners with little knowledge in current trends and socio economic changes tend to fail in their venture. In other words, it is important to study the socio economic and political conditions of the business destination before commencing operation. Finding a new appropriate business is also a challenge in the new environment. It requires extensive research to determine the most relevant product and business concept in a competitive environment. One recent survey report reveals that 31% of the participants opined that finding a new business would be the major challenge for their organisations in 2013 ‘followed by rising costs (14%) and holding onto customers (13%)’ (MT Management). At this juncture, new entrepreneurs must be cautious about the current economic climate in the UK regardless of the recent impr ovements. This is because even Britain's big businesses have just started spending their cash piles after the recession. Although expansion is their higher priority, for the time being, their decisions seem to be an experiment. When it comes to new businesses, they usually confront insufficient cash flow, lack of expertise, and knowledge. Although new businesses fail due to a multitude of reasons, there are

Stalin Power Essay Example for Free

Stalin Power Essay Joseph Stalin, the Man of Steel, is one of the most powerful dictators in history. Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union’s sole leader from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin is one of the most controversial figures in Russian history; he is still the subject of fierce discussions. Stalin was a very powerful leader who had a huge impact on USSR; Stalin consolidated power in the USSR through propaganda, fear and, the five-year plan. Stalins rise to power was methodical and strong. The construction of his image was very well thought of and arranged. Nearly every medium propagandized Stalins image, propaganda was used to build up Stalins image. Like a religious worship, a cult of Stalin was formed. Stalin was like a godlike leader to the people, praised in the newspapers, books and in films, posters and poems. Everything praised his deeds, his skills, his modesty, his wisdom and his brilliance. Censorship was used to censor anything and everything that might reflect badly on Stalin. Leaving, no one a chance to see the bad side of Stalin, hence having everyone love and praise him. â€Å"The soviet education system was geared not to independent thinking but to Stalinist propaganda.† Parents taught their children that Stalin was the wisest and greatest. History books and photographs were changed to make him the hero of revolution, and obliterate the names of purges people. Stalin gave the people no chance to worship any kind of religious path; he did not want the people to have loyalty to anyone but him. Belief in god was replaced by belief in communism and Stalin. Cities and towns were named in his honor. Stalin established and consolidated his power through propaganda, thus gaining the love, respect and trust of the majority of the Russian people. However, propaganda alone was not enough to consolidate full power. Stalin was a paranoid ruler, always feared that political opponents, military officials, even common citizens were plotting against his political position and even his life. Perhaps as self-defense, Stalin was responsible for killing millions. Stalin consolidated his power base with the Great Purges against his political and ideological opponents. â€Å"Under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, tens of millions of ordinary individuals were executed or imprisoned in labor camps, that were little more than death camps. The Purge period of Soviet history can be considered the worst period of the twentieth century.† Stalin managed to use purges and violence to make people fear him, and therefore support him. Stalin imprisoned and executed anybody who opposed industrialization, and the kulaks who opposed collectivization. â€Å"Stalin also arrested thousands of his political opponents, they were put on show trials, where they pleaded guilty to impossible charges of treason.† Stalin executed or imprisoned almost all of the admirals and half the Army’s officers. Many people disappeared including teachers, miners, doctors, and ordinary people. Around 18 million were sent to labor camps, ten million died. â€Å"Stalin’s secret police had very effective torture methods. Many of the accused’s families were also killed or tortured in order to provoke confessions.† â€Å"Stalin had succeeded in destroying any sense on independent thinking. Everyone knew that his or her lives depended on thinking exactly as Stalin did.† Stalin accomplished power through fear, by using purges and violence to make people fear him and therefore support him, by having anyone who threatened his leadership, killed or murdered. â€Å"Propaganda and fear are not enough to explain Stalins extraordinary power. No dictator can hope to rule without popular support, and this was also true of Stalin. Power can only be acquired and retained by delivering benefits to significant numbers of people.† In Stalin’s case, this was achieved via five-year plans. Collectivization brought mechanization, rationalization to the many small plots that peasants worked on and put in place the distribution and supply networks needed to modernize agriculture and to produce enough grain for export. This system gave Stalin effective control over the entire economy, and thereby the Soviet people. The most effective means of increasing Stalin’s power was collectivization. â€Å"This involved the elimination of private ownership of agricultural land, and its replacement with a system of state-owned and collectively owned farms. The peasants who worked on these farms were under the control of the Party, which in turn was under the control of Stalin. Collectivization also gave Stalin the opportunity to eliminate large numbers of class enemies, the kulaks, and to steal Party members to wholesale murder.† Serious famines resulted, livestock and grain were destroyed and agriculture never fulfilled its potential. Yet most peasants remained grateful to Stalin for giving them a better standard of living. The Five Year Plans were also an essential part of Stalin’s consolidation of power. Targets were set for coal, iron and electricity production and progress was achieved through propaganda, fear, education, forced labor and socialist competition. â€Å"Stalin had declared that Russia was at least 100 years behind the industrialized world and, in setting out to modernize Russia; he was symbolically breaking with the past.† Stalin consolidated power through the achievements of the fiver year plan; new cities, dams and hydroelectric power, farm machinery, coal; steel, plastic, education and no unemployment and doctors and medicine were available. â€Å"For all the problems and hardship caused by the Five Year Plans, by 1941, Stalin had transformed Russia into a world class industrial power. This was to be vital for Russia as the war was about to test her to the extreme.† Today the role of Stalin in Russian history is the subject of bitter debate, with a number of Russian history textbooks calling him â€Å"an effective manager† and others presenting him as absolute evil dictator. Nevertheless, It can be seen that Stalin succeeded in consolidating power through many factors, mainly from propaganda, fear and terror, and the five-year plan.

Situational Leadership in Organisations: Benefits

Situational Leadership in Organisations: Benefits This report was commissioned to review the importance of the situational leadership theory in an organization and how it can positively affect the general performance of a company. The article aims to reveal how this method of leadership can prove to be beneficial, if a leader constantly changes his leadership style based on the maturity level of his subordinate groups in relation to the job allotted to them. Situational leadership, if practiced correctly, can help increase employee efficiency and loyalty, reduce employee turnouts and cut down on extra training costs, subsequently putting a company on a profitable ground. It is often seen though that many leaders make the mistake of practicing a common leadership style across all levels of his subordinate groups, rejecting the need for a change. This misreading often results as one of the major reasons for their failure as a leader or manager. Moreover, it has also been noticed that many leaders, at times, are unable to make the required changes in their leadership, even though they can see the need for the same. This inability is often generated from their personal rigid nature and apprehension towards any kind of change. Fear of failure, losing control or even loss of authority can be considered as significant factors that hinder them from making this change in them and adapting to the situation and people in question. The report aspires to find solutions to eradicate this blockage. TABLE OF CONTENTS (JUMP TO) 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2.0 NEED FOR CHANGING LEADERSHIP STYLE 2.1Â  UNDERSTANDING MATURITY LEVELS 2.2Â  CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP STYLE 2.3Â  BENEFITS OF CHANGING LEADERSHIP 2.3.1Â  HIGHER EFFECIENCY AND PERFORMANCE 2.3.2Â  LOYALTY TO LEADER AND COMPANY 2.3.3Â  REDUCE EMPLOYEE TURNOUTS 2.3.4Â  COST REDUCTIONS 2.4Â  AVOIDING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP 2.4.1Â  REASONS FOR AVOIDING TO CHANGE LEADERSHIP STYLE 3.0Â  CONCLUSIONS 4.0Â  RECOMMENDATIONS 1.0 INTRODUCTION The core of this article is the Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership model which states that there is no single best style of leadership. The effectiveness of a Leadership style is based on the adaptability of the leader towards the maturity of his subordinates and the elements of the task to be done. The theory points out that if a leader does not change his leadership style according to the maturity level of the group he is leading in relation to the task required to be performed, he will inevitably fail in his attempt to extract pleasing results from them. In this report, I will discuss the positive aspects of this leadership style and exhibit the possible advantages that it can give to an organization. Furthermore, an acute comprehension will be presented on why some managers avoid applying this theory in their leadership and some possible solutions to this problem. 2: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2.0 NEED FOR CHANGING LEADERSHIP STYLE There is a very popular idiom used in India which says all five fingers of the hand are not the same. The five fingers of the hand in this expression, symbolizes people. The phrase talks about how every individual is different from each other in terms of intelligence, personality, strength and capabilities, just as the five fingers are different in size, structure, strength and function. In an organization too, there are various kinds of people or groups of different designation levels, age groups, education, and experience. Thus it is necessary to manage them using a suitable leadership method in accordance to them and the desired output. 2.1 UNDERSTANDING MATURITY LEVELS When I talk about maturity, I am referring to the willingness, readiness and expertise of an individual or group in relation to a particular task. Let me cite a simpler example closer to my life. When my brother, who is seven years older to me, turned twelve, my mother allowed him to do many things on his own and he did it willingly as it made him feel responsible. On the other hand, I was always helped by my mother in doing things for myself as I was only five years old then. So why did my mother do that? The answer is quite simple. There was a difference in my maturity level and capability compared to my brothers and my mother understood that well. She knew that being only five, I was not physically or mentally prepared to do some things on my own and thus would require her guidance and support to do some tasks whereas she gave my brother a freehand as he was older and more knowledgeable compared to me. This freedom made him feel more responsible and confident about himself as his maturity was acknowledged by my mother. Now let us imagine my mother handled my brother the same way as me even though he was twelve and a lot more mature. What would it do to my brother? He would definitely feel irritated because he was being treated at the same level as a person seven years younger to him. He would feel stripped of his seniority to his so much younger sister. Moreover, this common treatment could also hinder his personality growth and affect his confidence in himself. Similarly in an organization, one can find groups of people with different maturity levels, experience and assigned roles. In this situation, if a leader or manager followed a common leadership style throughout all groups, it could cause a lot of problems. His selected mode of leadership could suit one or more groups but not all. 2.2 CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP STYLE Situational leadership is directed on 2 major points; task behavior and relationship behavior. When applying the situational leadership theory, leaders will be able to decide whether to give more or less importance to the task or more or less importance to their relationship with the person they are leading, depending on which helps the task to be done more effectively. In my last office, a new member had joined my colleagues team sometime ago. They were working on a very vital project when my colleague had to leave on an emergency call. She quickly handed over some tasks to this new member and went off. Unfortunately, this new member did not have enough knowledge and understanding of the task and neither did he have the confidence to ask other members about it. As a result, he held on to the tasks and did not work much on them with the apprehension of making a mistake. When my colleague returned after 3 hours, she was furious to see that he had not completed the task. She thought she had given him enough time to do the task and he could have easily completed them on time. But a lot of time was wasted and nothing was done. She scolded him and called him irresponsible and unreliable, not realizing that she was equally to be blamed for this mishap. Considering that he was a new member, she should have given him proper guidance and instructions on how to do the task, instead of just telling him to do the task. The new member was low on the maturity scale (M1) but she made the mistake of using the Delegating style (S4) of leadership with him. The result; there was wastage of valuable time and manpower and the job was still not done. I faced a similar situation when one of my counterparts was leaving for a holiday and wanted me to take over some of her responsibilities. I was excited and interested in doing the same as I had worked very closely with her and had a good understanding of most of her responsibilities. Though she was aware of this, she still gave me a detailed list of her tasks and a step by step instruction of how to do them. This approach made me feel that she did not trust me with her work and that annoyed me. As a result, my enthusiasm for the job, dropped. I completed the tasks but not with the best of my ability. She knew that I was high on the maturity scale (M4) but she still opted to use the Telling style (S1) of leadership, as result, she ruined her relationship with me as a colleague due to her lack of trust. The above examples clearly explain why it is necessary for any leader to adapt his leadership style to the maturity of the person they are leading in relation to a required task. 2.3 BENEFITS OF CHANGING LEADERSHIP Following situational leadership can offer several benefits for an organization. It is often seen that the leader who works to understand the unique needs of his or her employees will build loyalty and dedication to both himself and the organization, while achieving a higher level of performance. 2.3.1 HIGHER EFFECIENCY AND PERFORMANCE A greater level of efficiency and performance can be achieved from employees if their leader is able to understand and identify his follower willingness, readiness and mindset towards a task and adjust his leadership approach towards them accordingly. By choosing the right style for them, he will be able to extract the optimum level of performance out of his subordinates in the required time, thus making his workforce more efficient for the company. 2.3.2 LOYALTY TO LEADER AND COMPANY A persons loyalty is always governed by his or her emotions. In an organization, when a leader recognizes, supports, guides, appreciates and trusts his employees or subordinates using the correct method of leadership with them, they feel more bonded towards their leader and the company, as a result offering a stronger loyalty affiliation towards them. 2.3.3 REDUCE EMPLOYEE TURNOUTS One of the major reasons for high employee turnout in an organization is a usually a bad manager. When employees are not guided and supported well by their leaders or not given their due respect, appreciation or trust by their managers, it generally affects their work performance. As a result, they end up feeling frustrated and dejected at work, subsequently leaving the job. A wrong leadership approach towards employees can also hamper the relationship between the management and its subordinate groups. A manager can avoid such issues by selecting the best suited leadership style towards a group based on their maturity and capability levels. Understanding the in-depth need of the subordinate group will help him decide how much intervention and leverage is required from him in the groups activity in relation to a task they are going to perform. By doing this, he will be able to inculcate the correct amount of guidance and support when required or provide the right of independence; as a result employees feel more valued and satisfied in the company, consequently reducing the turnout percentage. 2.3.4 COST REDUCTIONS Situational leadership can cut costs of an organization in a vital way. As illustrated above, following a suitable leadership style reduces employee turnouts. Reduction in employee turnouts means there is a lesser need of bringing in new employees in an organization for the same existing jobs. This automatically saves the company a lot of extra costs of hiring, training and re-training of new employees. An employees work efficiency is equally proportionate to the company costs. If an employee is not efficient enough to do a job in a particular time, it costs the company more money to keep him. A leader when following the correct method of leadership as per the readiness of the employee towards a task, he can increase the efficiency and work performance of the employee by providing the correct amount of direction to him and getting the right amount of work done in the required time. 2.4 AVOIDING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP Even though situational leadership is quite popular with many multinationals today due to its simplistic and easy to use nature, it is often seen that a lot of managers do not want to use it. They either do not consider the requirement of this leadership style or are just apprehensive about using it with their work force. 2.4.1 REASONS FOR AVOIDING TO CHANGE LEADERSHIP STYLE Many managers avoid using situational leadership or changing their leadership because due to personal reasons. The leader is sometimes overpowered by his fear of failure and thus avoids making changes in his style. He is not sure if experimenting with his leadership style would bring him the desired results and so keeps away from it even though he sees the need to do it. Besides this he also fears losing control over his people and work. The love for extreme power has also been cited as a possible reason behind avoiding to use situational leadership. Moreover, a managers inflexible personality also acts as a hindrance to his ability to adapt to his groups needs towards a task. He may be a person who does not like change in general and has a fixed modus operandi towards his work and managing people. 3.0 CONCLUSIONS The Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model is intuitively appealing and has been widely used in management development programs. Leaders should consider altering styles to achieve the best results with followers and situations, even as they change with time. Leaders must give continuous attention to the skill levels and task confidence of his subordinates through training and development programs. If the correct styles are used in lower-readiness situations, followers will mature and grow in their abilities and confidence. This willingness to understand follower development and respond with flexibility allows the leader to become less directive as followers mature. 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS All teams, and all team members, are not created equal. Hersey and Blanchards theory argues that leaders are more effective when they use a leadership style based on the individuals or groups theyre leading. So you should start by identifying whom youre leading. Are your followers knowledgeable experienced in the task? Are they willing and excited to do the work? Rate them on the M1-M4 maturity scale, and then use the leadership style from S1 to S4 thats appropriate for that rating.