Role of Zeus in the Iliad free essay sample

As an introduction, I would like to give you some background on my subject, which happens to be Zeus. Zeus is also known as the supreme god of the Olympians. Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. When he was born, his father Cronus intended to swallow him as he had all of Zeuss siblings: Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Hera. But Rhea hid the newborn in a cave on Mount Dicte in Crete. (To this day, the guides at the cave of Zeus use their flashlights to cast shadow puppets in the cave, creating images of baby Zeus from the myth. ) When he had grown up, Zeus caused Cronus to vomit up his sisters and brothers, and these gods joined him in fighting to wrest control of the universe from the Titans and Cronus, their king. Having vanquished his father and the other Titans, Zeus imprisoned most of them in the underworld of Tartarus. We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Zeus in the Iliad or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Then he and his brothers Poseidon and Hades divided up creation. Poseidon received the sea as his domain, Hades got the Underworld and Zeus took the sky. Zeus also was accorded supreme authority on earth and on Mount Olympus. Zeus was also known for having many relations with mortal and immortal alike. His offspring include Ares god of war, Eris goddess of discord, Apollo god of light, Aphrodite goddess of beauty, Hermes god of thieves and commerce, Artemis huntsman of the gods, Hephaestus god of the forge, Persephone wife of Hades, Hebe goddess of youth, Dionysus god of the vine, Epaphus, Minos King of Create, Rhadamanthus, the Muses namely, Clio (History), Urania (Astronomy), Melpomene (Tragedy), Thalia (Comedy), Terpsichore (Dance), Calliope (Epic Poetry), Erato (Love Poetry), Polyhymnia (Songs to the Gods), Euterpe (Lyric Poetry), and his favourite Athena. Other stories in Greek mythology include the creation of the world, the overthrowing of Cronos, creation of man by Prometheus, the lovers of Zeus who all have stories of their own, the birth of Athena, the wanderings of Dionysus and the labours of Hercules. The story of the Iliad is focusing on the Trojan War. This war is between the Trojans and the Achaeans. There are several themes in the story, one of them being the wrath of Achilles and the will of Zeus. With this I will end my introduction. Chapter 2 Recommended Reading Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values by Adkins, A. W. H. Religion in the Homeric Epics by Carpenter, Rhys. The Greeks and Their Gods by Guthrie, W. K. C. The Homeric Gods by Otto, Walter F. Translated by Moses Hadas The Iliad Modern Critical Interpretations by Harold Bloom The Iliad by Homer Translated by Robert Fitzgerald The Iliad Classics in Translation. Vol. I by Paul Mackendrick Understanding the Iliad by Leon Golden The Iliad: Structure, Myth and Meaning by Bruce Louden Here are some excerpts from which I got my information: The Role of the Gods in Homers Iliad If one holds the contemporary view of the Christian God then it may be difficult to comprehend the actions and motivation of the Greek deities. The Christian God does not tend to take such an active role in the affairs of peoples lives, where, on the other hand, the Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a daily, uncontrollable part of life(Guthrie 17). Needless to say, divine intervention was a major variable in the equation of Homers Iliad. The gods picked who they would favor for different reasons, except Zeus. As the symbol of supreme authority and justice, he makes judgment calls as to the other gods involvement in the war, remains impartial, and doesnt seem to get caught up in picking favorites. Even when his own son, Sarpedon, was about to die, Zeus chose to let the outcome go unaltered. On the other hand, Zeuss wife, Hera, displayed the more typical actions of a god. After Paris, a Trojan, judged Aphrodite the fairest over Hera, and, after her daughter Hebe was replaced as cupbearer to the gods by a young Trojan boy, she was quite resentful towards Troy and its people. Obviously, she sided with the Greeks and would stop at nothing to express her will. Scheming and manipulating, she even dared to trick her husband, King of the Gods. Hera, along with Athena, who was also passed over by Paris, is seen as the chief divine aid to the Greeks. Being the god of the sea, Poseidon was another strong supporter of the ocean-faring Greeks. Whenever Zeus turned his back, Poseidon tried to help the Greeks in the fight. Poseidon felt that he was somewhat Zeuss equal, as his brother, but recognizing Zeuss authority and experience, he looked to Zeus as an elder. There were also Gods who favored the Trojan side of the conflict. Both Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister, gave aid to the city of Troy. Although Artemis takes a rather minor role, Apollo, perhaps angered by Agamemmnons refusal to ransom Khryseis, the daughter of one of his priests, and was constantly changing the course of the war in favor of the Trojans. Responsible for sending plague to the Greeks, Apollo was the first god to make an appearance in the Iliad. Also, mainly because Apollo and Artemis were on the Trojan side, their mother, Leto, also helped the Trojans. Aphrodite, obviously supporting Pariss judgement, sided with the Trojans. Although she was insignificant on the battlefield, Aphrodite was successful in convincing Ares, her lover and the god of war, to help the Trojans. One view of the gods seemingly constant intervention in the war was that they were just setting fate back on the right course. For instance, when Patroklos was killed outside of Troy, Apollo felt no guilt for his doings. It had already been decided that Patroklos would not take Troy, he should never have disobeyed Achilles in the first place. As a god, he was just setting fate on a straight line. Achilles laid blame on Hektor and the Trojans. He did not even consider accusing Apollo, who never came into question, although he was primarily responsible for the kill. Apollos part in the matter was merely accepted as a natural disaster, or illness, would be today. This general acceptance of a gods will is a recurring trend throughout the poem. A prime example of this trend is in book XXIV. Achilles, angry over the death of Patroklos brutally disgraced Hektors body. Tethering Hektors corpse through the ankles, Achilles dragged him around Patroklos tomb every day for twelve days. This barbaric treatment was uncalled for and displeased the gods greatly. Achilles mother, Thetis, was sent by Zeus to tell him to ransom the body back to the Trojans. One may think Achilles would be possessive of the body and attempt to put up a fuss as he did before with Agamemmnon in Book I. But, Achilles showed humility and respect for the gods and immediately agreed to ransom the body to the Trojans, showing that all mortals, even god-like Achilles, were answerable to the gods. This ideology would seem to give the gods a sort of unlimited freedom on earth, although, the gods could not always do as they pleased and, eventually, had to come before Zeus. Zeus acted as a balance of sorts throughout the Iliad. He had to keep the gods in order and make sure that what fate decreed, would happen. For example, after Achilles re-enters the battle, Zeus declared that if Achilles was allowed to go on slaughtering the Trojans with nothing to slow him down, he would take Troy before fate said it would happen. Therefore, to counter Achilles massive retaliation against the Trojans, Zeus allowed the gods to go back to the battle field. In Zeuss own interests, he preferred to deal with issues more personal to the individual heroes of the Iliad. This can be seen throughout the book as Zeus attempted to increase the honour of certain individuals. Zeus knew that Hektor was going to be killed by Achilles, and, feeling sorry for Hektor, Zeus attempted to allow Hektor to die an honourable death. For instance, when Hektor stripped Achilles armor off Patroklos, Zeus helped Hektor fill out the armor so he would not seem like less of a man than Achilles. Zeus also gave his word to Thetis that Achilles would gain much glory showing his involvement on a personal level. Homer used the gods, and their actions, to establish twists on the plot of the war. It would not have been possible for him to write the story without the divine interventions of the gods. Indeed, they affected every aspect of the poem in some way, shape or form. Yet, from the immortal perspective of the Greek god, the Trojan War, and everything related to it, was only a passing adventure in the great expanse of time. The Role Of Zeus in Homers Iliad In the era of Homer, divine intervention was thought to be typical, and one of his foremost works, The Iliad, reflects this. Nearly all of the Greek gods are involved in the outcome of the Trojan War, which happens to be the background story of this epic poem. The gods are used by Homer to add twists on an otherwise standard plot of war. I shall concentrate on Zeus, however, and reflect on his actions and their outcomes on the Trojan War, and more importantly, the story of The Iliad. Zeus, very untypical of a Greek god in his lack of involvement in the Trojan War for selfish reasons, was portrayed as the father figure, being impartial and fair to both sides of the war. He remains this way to serve as a check for each gods involvement in the war. Without his presence at the head of the inner circle of Olympus, it is likely that the activity of the Trojan War would become chaotic, possibly even becoming a playground of war for the gods. With Zeuss majestic power, above all of the other gods combined, along with his experience, he is quite befitting to his role in the storyline of The Iliad. The Iliad was thought to be written by a Greek minstrel named Homer. The Iliad was the first of the major epics credited to him, the second being The Odyssey. Discussion about Homer among scholars inevitably leads to controversy on nearly every conceivable issue, ranging from his birthplace to his actual composition of either of these epics. Because of our lack of reliable information, we have but a small fragment of knowledge agreed on by scholars about the writer of the first great piece of literature of Western civilization. Homer in ancient Greece was conceived as a blind, old man, singing or reciting his own compositions (History of Horticulture), and at least seven ancient Greek cities claimed to be his birthplace. His work has been questioned as to two separate ways: if one minstrel, possibly named Homer, composed these works alone, and if so, if this minstrel wrote both of these epics. It has been argued that Homer is, in fact, the collective progression of minstrels that have passed this ever-evolving tale down until it was inscribed into the epic that we have today. The opposite has been argued also, however. Concerning the second question, that of if Homer wrote both The Iliad and The Odyssey, several points have been brought up. One point brought up is the fact that they have been thought to be written over a generation apart, which, if true, makes it very unlikely for one man to have composed both of these classic epics. The other point brought up is the amount of variances in the writing of these epics, especially in writing style and word choice and phrasing. It has been proposed by several scholars that the authors of The Iliad and The Odyssey be named Homer I and Homer II, respectively. However the origin of these epics, they are classics and served as cornerstones for the early Western literature, and possibly even modern as well. The Iliad has been ascribed to Homer in approximately 750 BC. This would put his writing several centuries after the completion of the Trojan War, currently thought to have occurred in 1185 BC. Homer is writing in what historians call the Dark Ages of Greek history, in which the Greek population saw a virtual elimination of literacy. By the time his epics were composed, literacy had begun to return, which is one of the reasons his works became so popular. Homer reflects on a different time, almost a half millennium earlier, reflecting on an era known as the Heroic Age. This contrasts directly with the contemporary society of Homer, in which the quality of life dropped tremendously. The Iliad, in essence, recounts the story of part of the tenth year of the Trojan War. It recounts of the anger of Achilles, the greatest warrior present at Troy, and of the background battle that is ensuing. The background story of the Trojan War is assumed to be known by the reader, and Homer focuses his energies on expanding the characters of the epic, showing the reader that he is more a dramatist than a pure historian, writing for pleasurable purposes rather than strictly educational purposes. The main theme of The Iliad is the anger of Achilles, even starting in the first line of the play. The wrath of Achilles is brought on by the irrational actions of the leader of the Greek forces, Agamemnon. Achilles refuses to fight against the Trojans, and the Greeks suffer accordingly without their top warrior. Two other themes are intertwined around this main theme, one being the Trojan War, and the final being the will of Zeus, my subject. These intertwining themes meet in the end of the epic, when Achilles wrath is curbed and he returns to battle. The role of Zeus in Homers Iliad is one of moderator and the overall director of all that occurs in this story. His position was to ensure that whatever fate decreed would happen. As I stated before, without his presence, the story would likely become a war playground for the gods instead of the Greeks and Trojans. Zeus stayed impartial throughout almost the entire epic in contrast to the other gods, who would scheme and contrive plans for the sides that they chose to ally with. For example, Hera, his wife, chose to display the more typical actions of a Greek divinity. Paris, a Trojan prince, chose Aphrodite as the fairest over Hera and Athena, and this infuriated her, and she went to no end to try to help the Greek army defeat the Trojan side (Classics in Translation, 14). However, Hera recognizes the superiority of Zeus over herself as well as the rest of the Olympian gods. Hera is obviously the subservient god, even becoming afraid and ceasing speaking when Zeus orders her under the possible occurrence of him laying his invincible hands on her (Iliad, Book I, 30). She does try to undermine his power by trickery, slyly getting him to sleep while her and her brother, Poseidon, god of the seas, influence the war in the favor of the Greeks (Iliad, Book XIV, 334). However, when Zeus awakens, his reemergence into the picture effectively eliminates the other gods from intervening in the war due to his sheer will and backing power (Iliad, Book XV, 349). The opposing gods were mainly Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister. They favored the Trojan side, and were constantly turning the tide in favor of the Trojans. Apollo respected Zeus and his enforcing of the laws of fate, however, and kept fate as it was deemed to be. An example of this is when Achilles servant, Patroclus, tries to take the city of Troy. Before Patroclus was allowed to wear Achilles armor into battle, he promised only to drive the Trojans away from the ships and not to take an offensive against the city of Troy. Only the reflection of Patroclus by Apollos shield three times prevents this. This lack of moderation shown by Patroclus, as well as the deeming of death before the end of battle by fate, granted by Zeus, leads to his death (Iliad, Book XVI, 398). Zeus serves as an enforcer of fate in the epic, giving no ground to anyone, even his blood relatives. Zeus also shows no mercy to mortals in The Iliad. His own son, Sarpedon, was allowed to die at the hands of Patroclus while Zeus looked on, unwilling to break fate and save even his own son. Zeus was debating whether or not to take him from the battlefield, but Hera convinced him by expressing the feelings other gods would have, namely anger. She told him that he would not be praised and that other gods would possibly take their loved ones out of battle as well (Iliad, Book XVI, 391). Zeus was confined to his own sorrow because he was not willing to take his son out of the battle. Zeus was able, however, to have Apollo take his body from the battlefield and take him back to Lykia, where he could be buried as a hero (Iliad, Book XVI, 397). Patroclus, another example somewhat discussed previously, was also fated to die when he took an offensive against the Trojan city. It was fated for him to die in battle, and it was Zeus who then aroused the spirit in Patroclus breast (Classics In Translation, 37). This led him into his inescapable fate, to which Zeus was unerring and emotionless. Zeus will only enter into the fray of the Trojan War if fate is not being followed, and will only alter situations until fate has been met. At the end of the epic, when Achilles is finally roused back into battle, he turns the fate of the war so much to the Greek side that Zeus temporarily allows the other gods back into the war to ensure the city of Troy is only sacked when fate decrees, and not a second earlier. Zeus interferes in the war in areas that fate has nothing to do with, such as glory and honour. Zeus helps Hector, the main hero of the Trojan side, in his attainment of honour when he takes the armour of Achilles off the body of Patroclus. Only Achilles could fit into the incredible armour, but with Zeus intervention, Hector was enabled to fit into the armour as well, proving himself no less of a man than Achilles (Iliad, Book XVII, 408). Zeus knew of the fate of death of Hector at the hands of Achilles, and felt that the increase in honour of Hector was necessary. Zeus also wanted a respectable and honourable death for Hector, the Trojan hero, and was infuriated when Achilles decided to desecrate the body of Hector. This epic ends when Hectors body is ransomed back to the Trojan side to the pleasure of Zeus, in essence wrapping together the themes of the wrath of Achilles and the presence of all-powerful Zeus. Zeus has an overriding presence in The Iliad, sometimes not directly present, but always in the mix. He is the only presence in the epic that stresses the Greek ideals of moderation and fate. The Greeks believed in the ideal of moderation and the essence that moderation was the key to becoming a better person. Fate also could not be avoided in the eyes of the Greeks, and when fate was trifled with, bad things happened, as they did when fate was trifled with in The Iliad. The presence of Zeus in the epic affected every action taken or avoided in some shape, way, or form. His allowance of other gods intervening in the war at times strengthens the idea that he is all-seeing, all-powerful, due to the fact that the other gods intervention inevitably led fate back onto its original course. In the eyes of the Greeks, the Trojan War was a spectacular event to the mortals, but to the gods, it was nothing more than a mere petty struggle. However, the idea of fate must always be kept under all circumstances, and Zeus was the overseeing power that ensured this in The Iliad. Chapter III Analysis Sub Topic I: Zeus’ Personal Intentions Zeus acted in a way that was not considered normal for the Greek Gods, because in Greek mythology the gods were always intervening. This was considered as a part of life. Zeus was portrayed as a father figure because he was fair to both sides. Without him the Trojan War would become a battleground for the gods themselves. Zeus is befitting to his role because of his power which is greater than all the other gods combined and also because of his experience. The main theme of the Iliad is the anger of Achilles. This is brought about by the irrational acts of Agamemnon the leader of the Greeks. This causes the Greek army to suffer accordingly. There are also two other themes in the story. One is the Trojan War itself and the other is the will of Zeus. The will of Zeus is so great that it is regarded as a theme in itself. These themes meet in the end resulting in Achilles wrath being curbed and he returns to battle. Zeus’ will was to allow things to happen in the way that fate decreed it should happen. Zeus stayed impartial to the sides in contrast to the other gods which include Athena, Hera, Poseidon and Hermes on the side of the Greeks and Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis and Leto for the Trojans. A simple example of the typical behaviour of a Greek god/goddess would be the actions of Hera. When Paris decided that Aphrodite was the fairest god over Hera and Athena, Hera was infuriated and went to no end to help the Greeks. However Hera knows that Zeus is mightier than her and ceases speaking when Zeus threatens her with is invincible hands (Iliad, book I). Even after this Hera still tries to help the Greeks by tricking Zeus into sleeping with her, while Poseidon influenced the war (Iliad, book XIV). An example of Zeus enforcing fate was when Patroclus tried to take the city of Troy. Before Patroclus was allowed to wear Achilles armour into battle, he promised to only drive the Trojans away from the ships and not take an offensive to the city. Only the reflection of Patroclus by Apollo’s shield prevents this. The lack of moderation by Patroclus and the decision of death before the battle by fate granted by Zeus, leads to his death (Iliad, Book XVI). Zeus gives no ground to anyone, even his son Sarpedon whom he let die under the hand of Patroclus. Zeus however was able to make Apollo take out the body from the battlefield and send him back to Lykia, where he would be buried a hero (Iliad, XVI). Even in the example of Patroclus it was already decided that he was to die in battle and it was Zeus who â€Å"aroused the spirit in Patroclus’ breast†. At the end of the story, Achilles goes back into battle he turns the fate of the war so much towards the Greek side that Zeus allowed the other gods to temporarily go back to war to ensure that Troy is only sacked when fate says so. Zeus’ personal intentions lie in the areas where fate plays no part, such as glory and honour. Zeus helps Hector in the attainment of honour when he takes Achilles’ armour off Patroclus and puts it on himself. Only Achilles could fit in the incredible armour but with the help of Zeus, Hector fits in it as well, proving himself no less of a man than Achilles (Iliad, XVII). Zeus knew that Hector was going to die and that an increase in glory and honour was necessary. Zeus also intervened when Achilles, after killing Hector, decided to desecrate Hector’s body. The epic ends when the body is ransomed back to Troy to the pleasure of Zeus. This wraps up the themes of the will of Zeus and the wrath of Achilles. Zeus has an overriding presence and is the only presence which upheld the Greek ideals of moderation and fate. This ends my analysis on the personal intentions of Zeus. Sub Topic II: How Zeus helped the Trojans One of the most notable ways that Zeus helped Troy was when Achilles overcame his wrath and decided to com back to the battlefield. When Achilles returned, his retaliation was so great. Because of this Zeus feared that Troy would be taken before it was the right time. In response to Achilles massive retaliation, Zeus allowed the gods to return to the battlefield. This allowed more time for Troy and in the end allowed Troy to fall at the time fate decreed it to fall. Another way that Zeus helped Troy was when Hera seduced Zeus with glamour and love charms from Aphrodite. When Zeus saw her, he was so overwhelmed and he said that she was more beautiful than the wife of Ixion who bore him Peirithoos, sweet Danae who bore him Perseus, Europa who bore him Minos and Rhadamanthys, Semele who bore him Dionysos, Alkmene (Alcmene) who bore him Herakles (Heracles), the queen Demeter, and glorious Leto, mother of Apollon and Artemis (Iliad, book 14). While Zeus was asleep, Poseidon then went to help the Achaians. Luckily for the Trojans, Poseidon’s bellowing and shrieking awakened Zeus. When Zeus awoke he realized Hera’s treachery and Poseidon’s boldness. He then sent Iris to warn Poseidon of his folly. Poseidon saw the wisdom of retreating and did so. Then Zeus sent Apollo to revive Hector and charge the Achaians back to their ships, thus rebalancing the battle. Zeus did several other things for Troy, including raising the honour of his beloved Hector and sending Sarpedon’s body back to Lykia where he would be buried a hero. Sub Topic III: How Zeus helped the Achaians Zeus helped the Achaians directly by allowing fate to happen. That act in itself gave the Achaians the victory because Troy was already fated to fall. If Zeus had gone against fate, the Achaians would fail and Troy would not fall. Zeus also helped the Achaians indirectly by falling for the charms Hera used on him. This gave Poseidon the chance to help the Achaians turn away the Trojans who already reached the ships of the Achaians. Another way that Zeus helped the Achaians indirectly was by sending Agamemnon a sinister dream. The dream then took the form of old Nestor and said to Agamemnon â€Å"Sleeping, son of Atreus, tamer of horses? You should not sleep all night, not as a captain responsible for his men, with many duties, a great voice in the conferences of war. Follow me closely: I am a messenger from Zeus, who is far away but holds you dear. ‘Prepare the troops,’ he said, ‘to take the field without delay: now may you take by storm the spacious town of Troy. The Olympian gods are of two minds no longer: Hera’s pleading swayed them all, and bitter days from Zeus await the Trojans. ’ Hold on to this message against forgetfulness in tides of day when blissful sleep is gone. Zeus intended to destroy the Achaians in windrows by their ships but instead of this happening, Achilles came back and the Achaians succeeded. With this Zeus hit two birds with one stone. He did glorify Achilles because of his promise to Thetis and he also followed fate by allowing the Achaians to triumph and overthrow Troy. Chapter IV Conclusion My conclusion on the role of Zeus is that Zeus is a moderator and overall director of everything that occurs in the story. His job in the story is to ensure that everything fate decreed would happen. As was stated before, without Zeus’ presence the story would become a war playground for the gods, instead of the Achaians and the Trojans. Unlike the other gods who wanted to help the sides they were allied to Zeus’ interests lie in things that are not affected by fate like glory and honour. Compared to the other gods, Zeus stayed impartial to any side through the whole epic. The other gods would scheme and make plans to give the side they allied with the upper hand. The result of Zeus’ impartiality was that Zeus was not considered as a typical Greek divinity. The more common action of a Greek divinity would be to destroy any person who infuriates him or her. A perfect example, albeit a commonly used one, would be Hera. When Paris chose Aphrodite over Hera and Athena, Hera was infuriated and went to no end to defeat the Trojans. Comments My comments on this book would be very positive. As I am an avid fan of Greek mythology, this story really appealed to me. The translation puts out all doubts as to how the original writer would want it written. The description and detail are so precise, which is great and it makes the book so much better.

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Vicki Davis | @coolcatteacher Teacher/Technology Administrator and EdTech Consultant 48. Josh Stumpenhorst | @stumpteacher 6th grade Language Arts and Social Science Teacher 49. Patrick Larkin | @patrickmlarkin Assistant Superintendent for Learning in Burlington Public Schools 50. Steven W. Anderson | @web2classroom Former Classroom Teacher and Director of Instructional Technology, Current Speaker

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Working In A Group Psychology Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Working In A Group Psychology Essay According to Ian Brooks, â€Å"Organisation behaviour (OB) is the study of human behaviour in organisational contexts with a focus on individuals and group processes and actions†. â€Å"Hence it involves an exploration of organisation and managerial processes in the dynamic context of the organisation and is primarily concerned with the human implication of such activity† (Brooks, 2009). Overview Groups Group has always been a characteristic of human behaviour According to Aronson’s (2007) people is ‘Social Animal’, and often need interaction with others to function effectively as individuals. Definition of Group ‘Two or more people who are perceived by themselves or other as a social entity.’ (Arnold et al, 2005) The Advantages and Disadvantages of Working in a Group for the Individual When people are working in group have to be anticipated each other opinion and individual working alone cannot perform the more efficiently than what gr oup do. So there is some reward as well as weakness for individual working in group. A number of time questions have been raised whether group problem solving is superior, inferior to individual problem solving. (Hoffman, 1965 and Kelley Maier, 1930). Many problems will face by individual in order to achieving a goal. Thus he become handicapped in his approach and also fails to discover a further approach that may work out problem but in group is opposite to this. For examples the group member do not have the same approach that individual thinks but they will contribute by knocking their ruts in thinking in order to solve the problem. Participation in Problem Solving Increases Acceptance Group problem solving authorize participation and influence, it follows that more individuals acknowledge solutions when a group solves the problem than when one person solves it. When one individual solves a problem he still has the task of convincing others. Therefore, when groups solve such prob lems, a greater number of persons accept and feel responsible for making the solution work. Better Comprehension of the Decision Decision made in group is directly utilized by the group member were as when individual make a decision he has to consult with decision maker to the decision-executors. Disadvantages Social Pressure Social pressure is a major force making for agreement good member will accept tends to silence disagreement and favours consensus. Minority opinions in leaderless groups have little influence on the solution reached, even when these opinions are the correct ones (Maier & Solem, 1952). Reaching agreement in a group often is confused with finding the right answer, and it is for this reason that the dimensions of a decision’s acceptance and its objective quality must be distinguished (Maier, 1963).

Human Resources Hiring Trends in USA for 2015 Article

Human Resources Hiring Trends in USA for 2015 - Article Example r the most popular jobs are software and application developers, engineers of computer systems, marketing managers, administrators of computer systems and network and project managers of information technology (Columbus, 2015). The minimum qualifications for the jobs in the healthcare sector includes at least undergraduate degree while progress is much faster for those with a masters’ degree and it is essential for them to obtain practicing license from relevant associations. In case of Information technology sector minimum qualification required is a bachelors’ degree in the relevant area. The pharmacists and the podiatrists are paid at an average of more than $116k, the physical therapy providers as well as dental hygiene providers are paid at an average of more than $70k and audiologist is paid at an average of $69k. In case of jobs belonging to the information technology sector the average salaries paid to these professionals is $90 to $100k on annual basis (Columbus, 2015). Professionals working in the information technology sector have better opportunities in the states of San Jose, California, Santa Clara, Washington as well as Oakland. In case of healthcare sector, the best states are Maine, New York and West Virginia (SEIU.org, 2015). Columbus, L. (2015). Five Catalysts Accelerating Cloud ERP Growth In 2015. [online] Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2015/01/27/five-catalysts-accelerating-cloud-erp-growth-in-2015/ [Accessed 5 Feb.

King Richard 1 Lion Heart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

King Richard 1 Lion Heart - Research Paper Example For this reason, King Richard is suspect of being a bad king. Nevertheless, there are some qualities in him to be appreciated. The label of a ‘bad king’ may not fully suit him. As king, he gave much on the behalf of others. Unfortunately, those ‘others’ were not the people of his kingdom. King Richard should be taken as he is and not quickly judged. The conclusion that he was neither a good or bad king, but a king, most correctly suits him. While not perfect, he was not wholly corrupt. An intelligent man, King Richard had a reason for his actions. Surely, the people of his land desired a better life than what he brought them. However, their suffering served a purpose that was to benefit a greater good. King Richard fought on behalf of what he believed to be right. He fought for that right with all that he had; which happened to include everything that the people of kingdom had. It is not amazing in medieval times for the peoples of a kingdom to lack social m obility. The oppression of his people for the sake of financial gain made such mobility impossible for those under King Richard’s rule. In this paper, the evidences that have been presented to label King Richard as either a good or bad king will be discussed and analyzed. The intent is to demonstrate that neither of these labels can fully describe him. Having some qualities from both categories, King Richard does not fit neatly into either. The actions of King Richard often depict a King that was not very interested in caring for his kingdom. He was obsessed with money. The kingdom was no more than a source of revenue to him. King Richard was able to extract large amounts of wealth from his people and land. This money he used for his own purposes. Therefore, his people did not get to enjoy the best of lives. Instead, King Richard pressured the people to pay taxes. He did not seek to enrich the lives of his own people. Their lives were full of work and yet they languished beca use of poverty. It is because of King Richard that the legend of Robin Hood was born. Robin Hood was a bandit, an outlaw, who sought to promote financial equality. The low distribution of wealth was the result of King Richards rule. He raped the land and the people of riches. Many people resented King Richard’s actions; especially since his father was considered to be a much better king. However, King Richard was hardly interested in following his father’s example. In fact, during his younger years, King Richard had actually engauged in war against his father. As it has been reported â€Å"  In 1173 he, the Young King and a younger brother, Geoffrey, backed by their mother, took up arms against their father in a war that lasted eighteen months† (Cavendish 2007). King Richard came to be despised by many of his people. For his greed of gain he is considered to be a bad king. When the thought of a king is someone who is beloved of the people and seeks their best interests arises, King Richard seems to fall nicely into the category of ‘bad king’. His lack of patriotism also helps him to fit into this category. It has been noted that â€Å"historians have traditionally spoken of him as incompetent and destructive, small-minded and incapable† (Heiser 1997; p.1). It was only about five months out of each year of his reign that the king actually resided in his own land. The rest of this time he spent in France. When King Richard made decisions about his kingdom they were often misguided. Being absent from

Elasticity of Demand Essay Example for Free

Elasticity of Demand Essay Elasticity of demand, also known as price elasticity refers to the way people react to price changes. The greater the demand elasticity, the more sensitive people are to changes in pricing. The degree of demand of a product or service depends on its pricing. If the product is priced lower, it will experience high demand while a higher priced product may see lower demand. Generally, products such as cars, appliances, cosmetics and other non-essential items show elasticity of demand while food, medicine, clothing and other necessities display inelasticity of demand. Our survey consist various types of green teas which are Dilmah, Lipton and Ten Ren. All three products that we surveyed contained the same amount of tea bags which is 20 tea bags. Dilmah was priced at RM8. 00 which comes up to RM0. 40 cents a bag and Ten Ren was priced at RM8. 79 which comes up to RM0. 44 cents a bag while Lipton was priced at RM18. 40 making it RM0. 92 cents per bag. From this information itself, we can say that Dilmah and Ten Ren are similarly priced while Lipton is priced considerably high compared to Dilmah or Ten Ren. According to the concept of price elasticity of demand, a 10% rise in price will result in a more than 10% drop in quantity demanded if a product shows elasticity of demand. If a product show inelasticity of demand, a 10% rise in price will result in a less than 10% drop in quantity demanded. At the price range of RM8. 00 to RM8. 79, we assume that Dilmah and Ten Ren are products that show inelasticity of demand while Lipton priced much higher at RM18. 40 shows elasticity of demand. We argue that this is due to the nature of the good where Dilmah and Ten Ren are considered necessities while Lipton is considered a luxury because they are aim towards different markets. Dilmah, Ten Ren and Lipton are supposed to be similarly priced because all three brands are Green Tea and carry two bags each but the higher pricing of Lipton suggests otherwise. Substitutes are supposed to be similar in pricing. Therefore this justifies that Lipton is a luxury good and aimed for a higher market. A lot of close substitutes exists at similar pricing for Ten Ren and Dilmah such as BOH and Cameron who also offer Green Tea. At this market, when one product experiences a change in price, a substitute of the product will either experience an increase or decrease in quantity demanded depending on the nature of the price change. Therefore due to the availability of many close substitutes, demand is more elastic for Ten Ren and Dilmah. However for Lipton which is aimed at a different market, the existence of close substitutes are almost none. Hence, Lipton would show an inelasticity of demand. When the income of consumer increases, the share of budget increases. Therefore, consumers have the ability to choose more. Luxurious product can be also purchased depend on the consumers budget, then the quantity increase as well. Since, Lipton is luxury good, when our consumer’s income increase, they will choose Lipton instead of Dilamh and Ten Ren. Moreover, when the income of consumer decreases, share of budget also decreases. Therefore, they will not choose luxury product, they will choose more necessity product such as Dilmah and Ten Ren. http://www. ehow. com/info_12132333_advantages-elasticity-demand. tml http://www. investopedia. com/terms/c/complement. asp http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/elasticity-of-demand. html Complements are very important these days. Complement is a product that is used in together with another product. There are no fixed complements for green tea (Ten Ren, Dilmah, Lipton). However, some consumers use complements such as sugar or honey to go with their green tea. In this situation, a decrease in th e price of sugar or honey might lead to an increase of quantity demanded of green tea. ( Ten Ren, Dilmah, Lipton).

We Are Heading To An Apocalypse Of Our Own Creation :: Weapons of Mass Destruction

Mankind has walked the earth for around seven million years and we have the potential to achieve greatness. Throughout history we have left our boundaries, fought diseases and plagues and studied ourselves, however most of the evidence from these studies have led to the conclusion of no future for man kind what so ever, if we continue on our current course. On July the 16th 1945, in a remote part of the New Mexico desert, the most terrifying device in human history was used for the first time. The first atomic bomb was detonated. On that day mankind finally took the apocalypse out of the hand of God and put it in their own, they gave so much power to so few that a war could be ended in seconds. This is the first and most powerful indication that mankind will destroy itself if we do not â€Å"keep track.† What stops a leader in Washington from launching a weapon of mass destruction against his enemies? The answer is simple in theory, however the repercussions of the implications made are so complex that they dare not be pondered by man. M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction. That leader can be assured that if he launches a weapon against another country, that country, or it’s allies, will launch back. We have created weapons that are so terrifying that we are afraid to use them. They can end war, yet if instituted, will destroy man kind, leaving us in a â€Å"Catch 22† situation. We are the only species on earth that seeks to destroy itself. The human brain is the only brain on earth that is capable of studying itself. It has become so efficient, so as to study, how it can study itself. However we are the only species incapable of seeing how dangerous we are to ourselves. For example, two rhinos when attacking each other will run head on in the least dangerous manner, if that same rhino encounters any other species that it finds threatening, it will run for the sides of the animal to gore and kill that animal. It will protect is species by not harming it. We, on the other hand, intentionally try to destroy our species. We train men like soldiers to kill their fellow man, and yet are disgusted at murderers, and war for that mater. We have even gone so far has to employ colossal institutions who’s We Are Heading To An Apocalypse Of Our Own Creation :: Weapons of Mass Destruction Mankind has walked the earth for around seven million years and we have the potential to achieve greatness. Throughout history we have left our boundaries, fought diseases and plagues and studied ourselves, however most of the evidence from these studies have led to the conclusion of no future for man kind what so ever, if we continue on our current course. On July the 16th 1945, in a remote part of the New Mexico desert, the most terrifying device in human history was used for the first time. The first atomic bomb was detonated. On that day mankind finally took the apocalypse out of the hand of God and put it in their own, they gave so much power to so few that a war could be ended in seconds. This is the first and most powerful indication that mankind will destroy itself if we do not â€Å"keep track.† What stops a leader in Washington from launching a weapon of mass destruction against his enemies? The answer is simple in theory, however the repercussions of the implications made are so complex that they dare not be pondered by man. M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction. That leader can be assured that if he launches a weapon against another country, that country, or it’s allies, will launch back. We have created weapons that are so terrifying that we are afraid to use them. They can end war, yet if instituted, will destroy man kind, leaving us in a â€Å"Catch 22† situation. We are the only species on earth that seeks to destroy itself. The human brain is the only brain on earth that is capable of studying itself. It has become so efficient, so as to study, how it can study itself. However we are the only species incapable of seeing how dangerous we are to ourselves. For example, two rhinos when attacking each other will run head on in the least dangerous manner, if that same rhino encounters any other species that it finds threatening, it will run for the sides of the animal to gore and kill that animal. It will protect is species by not harming it. We, on the other hand, intentionally try to destroy our species. We train men like soldiers to kill their fellow man, and yet are disgusted at murderers, and war for that mater. We have even gone so far has to employ colossal institutions who’s

Managerial Behavior Essay

Manager is anyone who responsible for the work of other people. Stewart (1988) defines manager as those above a certain level in the hierarchy, usually those above foreman level on the works side and those above the first level of supervision in the offices. Managerial behaviour is the behaviour that can be reported, whether from observation by others or by self-reports. Managerial objective is the aim that a manager of a firm wants to achieve. In perfect markets a proper managerial objective is to maximize its firm’s market value. The powers of the managerial behaviour are by no means unconstrained. On one hand they are constrained by the shareholder, involuntary takeover, and by the debt market through threat of capital starvation while on the other hand they are constrained by the ever present force of competition in product markets and its managerial labour market. While there are significant differences among countries, managerial constraints are ineffective and managerial objectives predominate. The first constraint in managerial behaviour is coming from the share holders. The reason is that, dispersed ownership in large firms increases the principal-agent problem due to asymmetric information and managers are subjected to bounded rationality. Because the contracts between managers and shareholders are unavoidably incomplete as future contingencies are hard to describe, shareholders must monitor managers. However, the cost of monitoring tends to be really expensive and when the equity is widely dispersed, shareholders do not have appropriate incentives to monitor managers since it is often that managers have better information and are more knowledgeable. The common solution is by appointing the Board of Director with the fiduciary obligation to look out for the best of their interest and monitor managers. Nevertheless, this is only partially successful since in most cases the Board of Directors is also in the management. One way to align manager is by introducing Management Remuneration Schemes. This is not only to motivate managers to work harder or guarantee them a  competitive salary, but a way of getting them to work in the interests of the owners. The remuneration scheme is the signal of owner expectations from management and can be divided to Cash-Based which includes performance-related and profit-related, and Share Ownership or Share-Value-Based. The argument for cash-based incentives is that it provides motivation for effort and cooperation to maximize results for the firm, and that it is good for morale if managers get more when profits are good. However, the disadvantage is that, it transfers part of the risks of a firm to the managers, who if they are risk-averse might prefer incomes which were smaller on average, but safer. Among the share-based systems, the most common are stock options. Stock options are long-term incentives, normally supplementing short-term schemes like performance - related pay. Nevertheless, when managers are subjected to stock options compensation, they are most likely to focus more on their stock returns. The effect in shareholders control to manager is different among countries. For cooperative system in European countries, constraints on managers are not only coming from the owners, but also from other stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and the local community. Therefore, managerial behaviour is highly constraint in this region. Unlike in the Europe, the concept of the stakeholder firm that emphasize cooperative labour relations was largely ignored by US and UK whereby shareholders are the only residual income claimants and risk bearers in a firm (Fitzroy 1998). In the UK and US, maximization of shareholder value is generally regarded as the only legitimate goal of the firm through stock-options or bonus payment which leads to high basic salary and other payments. Hence manager of a larger firm not would prefer to be risk-averse rather that achieving profit-maximizing and would intend to pursue operations that are subjected to lesser risk as they had already receiv ed high incomes (Fitzroy 1998). In addition, for a large company with dispersed ownership structure, shareholders have little incentive to discipline the management to act in their interest due to free-rider problem. The second constraint that is being used by the owner for disciplining management and correcting managerial failure is the takeover mechanism which  resulted in the downsizing of multi-sector conglomerates. Managers will wish to have certain amount of net profits to distribute as dividends in order to keep their shareholders satisfied with the firm’s performance. Unsatisfied shareholders may either replace the manager or attempt to sell their shares causing share devaluation and encouraging hostile take over bid (Moschandreas 2000). Meanwhile, the manager wants to keep their jobs and will try to increase the costs of takeover to the potential bidder is decreasing in takeover costs which mean the higher the take over cost, the more unlikely the firm to be take over and therefore the managers will have higher job security. Countries differ dramatically in the ease and frequency of takeovers which arises not only from differences in the regulatory framework underlying takeovers but also from cultural and historical attitudes towards takeovers. As for equity-based countries like US and UK, with dispersed ownership, take-over threat is higher caused by devaluation of shares as bidders are much feasible to raise large sums of money. Besides, there are also difficulties in manager entrenchment and higher liquidity in secondary markets which facilitates transfer of large blocks of voting shares has also made take over threat more feasible. On the other hand, in the bank-based countries, take over mechanism is unlikely to work because the cooperative society usually retains their majority of the shares. For example, in German and Japan are virtually unknown because of the concentrated ownership and long-term relationship investing by banks, the manager is entrenched and takeovers are ineffective in disciplini ng him. Creditors which are mostly banks are another type of constraint in managerial behaviour. By pooling the resources of many depositors and lending to many firms, creditor can hold a substantial piece of a firm’s debt giving banks incentives to monitor. In most cases, manager issues bank debt in order to raise capital. The controlling effect of debt is firstly that, as it is normally granted for a relatively short period, management must make a real effort to find productive ways of operating in order to amortize the loan, and secondly, if the company is unable to meet its debts, the creditors have  the right to apply for bankruptcy and realise the loan guarantees. The cost of monitoring by banks differs across economies as countries differ widely in regulatory regime applicable to the banking system. Japan and European systems are typically bank-based and owner concentrated, where as American ones rely on the stock market and dispersed ownership. The differences are due to legislation, the nature of financing and also partly to social attitudes. Since the creditor-depositor relationship is closer, banks in these Japan and European countries also have lower cost of bank monitoring. Therefore, manager in these region are much more constraint by their creditors. However, unstrict legal systems in concentrated ownership will offer a lot of discretion to the manager, allows him to make project choices which are in his best interests, for example the choices which accord him with larger private benefits. On the other hand, US and UK have legal restrictions on corporate shareholding and are tends to have external relationship with the depositor which has lead to problem such as asymmetric information in the Principal-Agent relationship. The environment in US and UK is not conducive to bank monitoring are regarded as having a high cost of bank monitoring. However, in dispersed ownership, monitor through creditors is ineffective since manager will adhere to the bank debt only if his private benefits are much lesser than the benefits that he will get from commitment with the bank debt. In addition, they would rather prefer to be risk-averse than undertake any risky decisions. The next constraint on managerial behaviour is due to product market competition. According to Leibenstein (1966), there may be a substantial amount of X-efficiency if output markets are perfectly competitive because manager would normally work harder and more effective. Contrarily, in situations where competitive pressure is light, manager will trade the disutility of greater effort, or search for the utility of feeling less pressure and of better interpersonal relations. In addition, Schmidt (1997) stated that, when the product market for managers is tough, an increase in competition is less likely to also increase in incentive schemes. He argues that increased competition reduces the firm’s profit, which induces the manager to work harder for a cost reduction in order to avoid liquidation. Nevertheless, rising of product market power will also increased the managerial discretion because manager has more bargaining power and will takes this opportunity to pay more attention on increasing their incentives rather than committing themselves to maximize the firm’s profit. Plus, in order to retain its competitiveness, a company will invest in long-term product development, but managers are actually more concern on their own short-term-less-risk goals rather than long-term ones that would lead them to pursue their own objectives instead. Product market competition is also different among countries. For instance, competition between individual is stronger in the US than in UK as in the US, the inefficient manager will be fired more readily. In the latter, incompetent but long-service managers in a large company used to be kicked upstairs and given jobs with a high-sounding title but which did not let them handicap the firm’s efficiency (Stewart 1985). The fifth constraint in managerial behaviour can be classified as the managerial labour market. In managerial labour market, managers are preferred to be associated with good performance because this would allow them to earn a good reputation. Additionally, they have also found that executive cash compensation and top management turnover are strongly performance-sensitive. Top executive turnover is shown to serve as a disciplinary mechanism punishment for corporate underperformance whereas compensation rewards good performance and will provide strong managerial incentives to seek superior corporate performance in the subsequent periods. This type of managerial constraint is somehow ineffective in controlling managerial behaviour since manager would not want to commit to any risky projects because their decision might disrupt their good labour market and therefore will affects their incentives. Since all of the managerial constraints are ineffective in controlling the managers, they will tend to pursue their own objectives which would much benefit them later rather than aligning themselves to the owners’ interest.  Managers may want to choose projects that give them a larger level of discretion and higher private benefits of control. According to Dicretionary Theory, Baumol (1959) argued that manager’s aim is to maximise their sales revenue while Williamson (1964) stated that managers would create discretionary funds for investment and spend excessively on emoluments and staff expenditure (Moschandreas 2000). The first reason is because most managers want to achieve short term goals. In fact, any accounting based measure leads to short term thinking and may be counterproductive since managers often influence and control accounting practices. Most common stock-based managerial incentive plans are relatively liquid, such as stock options with stock appreciation rights or share-performance cash bonuses. Additionally, if they are going to negotiate for a certain matter they will also adopt to short termism actions. For example, the recent merger between Time and Warner company has raise doubts to the public since the entire merger was took place for only five months and all other aspects of the agreements came very easily. However, recent findings has proved that the one real deal-breaker was took place for the compensation benefits of the head of Time-Warner. The second reason for predomination of managerial objective is because they want to maximize their own incomes i.e. private benefits, managerial ownership of the firm, expected cash flows to equity holders and salary. Manager will pursue their objective anytime when the private benefits are sufficiently large to offset the incremental value of his share of the higher cash flows as a result from his alignment. In Europe and Japan, managerial salaries do not seem to grow faster than average pay and indeed CEO in these countries tend to earn lesser than their US counterparts today. In these regions, stock options are not widely being used and PRC are less important since it have no detrimental effects on firm performance (Fitzroy 1998). Contrarily, in UK, CEO compensation rose much faster than average pay throughout the 1980s and 1990s. More companies were introducing PRC, stock options and bonus schemes to align managerial incentives and shareholders’ interests and detailed studies had shown that  this system to be tenuous at best. According to Bureaucratic theory by Monsen and Downs (1965), the best established empirical fact about top manager’s pay is that total compensation is closely related to the firm’s size. Stewart (1985) argued that the manager of large companies would become more bureaucratic because of increasing in size and greater complexity. Therefore, in large firm, for the same level of positions, the managers are getting more pay compared to the smaller one. This has contributed to predomination of managerial objectives in large firm in maximizing their incomes. The second reason for predomination of managerial objectives is because most managers are risk-averse because they expected to be blamed for failures but inadequately rewarded by the profits of success and pay depends on output will exposes employees to greater risk (Milgrom and Roberts 1992). Managers therefore prefer to diversify in their decision making between unrelated lines of business which would lead to devaluation of firm because of lack of economies of scope. Additionally, outside shareholders would like manager to maximize the value of the firm as this will lead to higher share prices but managers would try to offer shareholders steady capital gains and earnings increases, in contrast to possibly more fluctuating but on average more lucrative possibilities. The third reason is because manager would always want to have a very high job security. Most managers don’t dare to jeopardise their jobs to achieve profit maximization by taking high risk decision. According to the Growth theory by Marris (1964), the various possible candidates for inclusion in a managerial objective function are collapsed into the single motive of desire for sustainable long-run growth in size. Managers have the power to pursue a long-term growth rate faster than the one which would be optimal for shareholders, but the further they go, the more they are in danger of depressing the market value of the firm to the point where there is a serious risk of involuntary takeover, the latter being feared because it means loss of job. Hence, manager may want to subject to unprofitable on average as this will increase both the size of the firm and also their own compensation (Fitzroy 1998). The fourth reason is because managers may want to sustain their political reputation in the firm and would only run his objectives that will not disturb their political reputations. This would enable them to maintain supports from their staffs. In Japan, the preservation of individual status and prestige is much more important than in the US and UK. Promotion is largely by seniority at all levels (Stewart 1988). Some managers may want to pay their employees more than they deserve to maintain good relations with them and hence increase their political reputation and makes them more entrenched in the company. As for conclusion, it is considerably clear that managerial behaviour is ineffective in controlling managers because they are more preferred to achieve short term goals, maximizing profits, being risk averse and securing their job security, which has lead to predomination of managerial objectives. The Growth Theory by Marris, Discretionary Theory by Baumol and Williamson, and Bureaucratic Theory by Monsen and Downs explain clearly the reasons for objectives predomination by managers. Besides, there are also different impacts of managerial constraints on managerial behaviour among bank-based and share-based system on different countries i.e. European, Japan, US and UK. Lastly, in any large firms regardless of the system of corporate governance, it is impossible to totally eliminate the predomination of managerial objectives. However, this problem can be reduced through development of management control systems and development and evaluation of remuneration schemes.

Managerial Ethics

â€Å"Ethics is the code of moral values and principles that governs the behaviors of a person with respect to what is right or wrong (Burke)†. Ethics sets standards on what is good or bad in a person's behavior or decisions making. In addition it deals with internal values that are a part of the company's culture and their employees. An ethical issue is found in a case that the actions of a person or an organization may harm others. â€Å"Managerial ethics help to guide decision making and the organization of internal and external behavior. Ethical problems usually arise from a conflict between an individual or group and the company, division or department as a whole. Companies have created a set of values and standards that are recognized by managers and consistently referenced during the work day have created an ethical platform that can operate managers and make decisions. Training managers on the specifics of managerial ethics by role play, case study and group discussion has paved the way for ethical behaveor. † (Burke) Managers in most organizations seek to encourage ethical practices to gain whatever commercial advantage there may be in having potential consumers and employees regard the company as ethical, also to ensure ethical behavior in the company. Distributing, creating, and continually improving a company's code of ethics is a one-step manager can take to create an ethical workplace. Another step managers can take is to provide the work force with appropriate training. Many companies implement training programs designed at encouraging ethical practices within their organizations. (Marion, 2001) Managerial ethics are a set of standards that dictate the behavior of active manager within the workplace. It helps to guide decision making and organize the future path of the organization. People need to increase their awareness about ethics. Therefore, this paper will illustrate the history and the importance of ethics in the workplace environment. It will also provide good example of ethical and unethical behaviors in the place of work. History of ethics: The history of ‘’business ethics ‘’ has a lot of definition and it depends on how people define it. The history of ethics was known in 1970s and it was known in japan and Europe in 1980s. Business ethics is different in each country, for example the business ethics in China is way different from the business ethics in the United Kingdom. The history of business ethics will have three standards because it used in at least three different stands. First stand of the history is ‘‘the term ‘’ business ethics ‘’ came into common use in the 1970 in United State. ’’ (George, 1998). It was found in the academy, business meetings, and academic writing, research and teaching. Second stand of the history is when business ethics becomes more general usage in media and public discourse, and then they had to call it ‘’ethics in business. ’’ And it is the most widespread stand in general public, news reporters and many business companies use this term. Another stand of the history is when the history is broader; it goes back to the principal of business and taken in a broad sense, for example; commercial exchanges and later meaning economic system. Movement within business or movement to building ethics into structure in a form of ethics code, ethics training is the third stand of the history of ethics. Moreover, the meaning of business ethics is different from each country. According to Richard T. De George ‘’ Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become something that corporations can no longer ignore and still maintain a positive public image. ’’. It plays in most of European countries, where the government has a huge role than United States, for example, a lot of labor force that were managed in United states were legislated in United Kingdom. Also, Agreeing to Richard T. De George,† CSR is a somewhat nebulous concept and it is often adopted by companies in response to external criticism, without any overarching framework or set of values‘’. Ethics of CSR is recognized in all cases by ethical norms not by the demand of interest groups. The globalization of business ethics has been in the worldwide of all the three stand of business ethics. The globalization of business ethics is still in tis incapability. They have a little attention of global issue; lobal warming is an example of attention they have. TOYOTA ethics in Japan’s 1)Leave employee exhausted. 2)They think the more working hour daily will give more productivity and quality to the product. 3)Work late at night without break time. 4)No meals available in the company. Toyota in japan have a strict rules of ethics that employee must do it if they joins the Company. However, Toyota ethics in other countries is different from japan due to the change in culture, environment and what people believe in. Religion perspective on business ethics The reason why religion is the most important factor in a person’s perspective of business ethics is because there are several different views of religious. For example: Muslims use the Holy Quran and the teaching of Prophet Mohammed to inform people their views on business ethics, while Christianity uses the Ten Commandments and the teaching of Christ to explain their ethics in business. The Jewish uses the Torah. In Islam, responsibility, freedom and honesty are the three main concepts of ethics. In addition of these three main concepts, a Muslim person should also have to be fair and productive. They believe that a selfish habit has no room in Muslim’s ethics. Moreover, they also believe that an absolute freedom should not have a place in their ethics because the economy will damage slowly if it has absolute freedom. According to religious views on business ethics website, ‘’ Jewish faith believes that a person should show reasonable concern for others. In these aspects Judaism is like Christian faith, however, there is a major difference in their beliefs. ’ Jewish thought that wanting wealth is a fault and this fault turn people away from God. Furthermore, they also believe that a person should only have what is necessary to him/her to live a happy life. Judaism has rules that they follow as business ethics. Employers and employees are in different levels, so they will have different rules to follow. According to Religious views on business ethics website, ‘’ One rule that Jews believe, is that an employer should not demand more from a worker than they are capable of doing. ’ The basis for these different religions for theirs business ethics is: wealth and to know the perfect ways to deal with that wealth while staying in the limitation of their laws and rules. The main different in these religions is the way in which to deal with a situation that arise in everyday life and that because every religion has its own policy. The importance of ethics: Obviously, unethical and abnormal performance difficulties are of huge worry to businesses, which need to precede stages to resolve them. Unethical performance leads to unethical workplace environment that’s full of animosity, dishonest competition and inconvenient atmosphere and that’s why ethics are central quantity of each business organization. The ethical culture should be encouragement, solid and optimistic. â€Å"The vanity of the sciences, physical science will not console me for the ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science of ethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical sciences† (Pascal, 1998). There is a rising acknowledgment that noble ethics can have an optimistic financial influence on the performance of organizations. Lots of statistics provision the basis that ethics, integrity, responsibility and values are essential in the modern place of work. For customer crowds and the general public at outsized, studies has shown that noble ethics is good business. Ethics are essential aspect in the business environment. It goes beyond setting rules and applying them in the workplace to increase the organization’s profit, spread their reputation and competitive advantage to consumers and suppliers. Ethics advance the productivity and efficiency of the labor, honesty, and dependability, positive Work Habits, initiative, humility, positive Attitude, Teamwork, protect human rights of employees and provide a restful atmosphere at work. The importance of ethics in the workplace environment lays down numerous benefits in many different approaches. It can benefit the internal culture and atmosphere to the external firm’s reputation and stature. Several college courses are currently comprehensively applying the training of ethics and for worthy purpose. Young minds will proceeds this info into the workplace and recognize that ethics must be practical there as well as in the private division. A great level of ethics in the business has to be in place as a minimum for the consumers. If anything, it is the consumer that would be reflected the furthermost when it arises to ethical business performs. Customers will rather purchase their needs from a good reputation company that teach and apply good ethics to their employees. Ethics are believed by a lot of individuals as something that is associated to the private sideways of lifetime and not to the business sideways. In countless businesses, consuming ethics is assumed as an undesirable topic. This is since business is frequently about choosing what is the finest for number one, not about what's truly the correct thing to do. Ethics are theoretical to advance our lives and appeal honest spirits. Maybe the purpose ethics is such an uncomfortable topic is for the reason that they are repeatedly unwell applied, if applied at all. Ethics aren't checkered at the gate when arriving the place of work. Ethics obligate each little as much a place in the community as they do the private. What is unethical behavior? We can describe unethical behavior as any act that is not accepted by the principles of behavior recognized by the association. Unethical behavior can take place at any situation with an employee; either it can occur while dealing with another employee, in day to day running of the business or when he is dealing with the company’s resources and finance. Unethical behaviors show damaging in workplace . There are a lot of unethical behaviors in workplace. One of the important causes of unethical behavior is greed. For example, the worker who’s in contact with a client may be willing to give him/her a discount in exchange for a kickback. The essential reason that can lead to unethical behaviors in the workplace is ignoring the firm's policies . The most common unethical behavior is deception in the workplace. Such as, switch prices of products so that items are marked as cheaper than they should be. Also, failure to commit with clients, such as delays in the due date and failure to respond to customers’ calls or emails . You must know how to deal with difficult clients. (Wallace, 2012) Also one of the common unethical behaviors by an employee in a company can be seen in a situation where he uses the company’s computer for his personal use. Unethical behavior is carried out when he uses the computer for either shopping online, checking his personal emails not related to company’s official work, playing games †¦etc. These tasks may lead to delay in the responsibilities that he was assigned to do for the company. In addition â€Å"fraud is a form of unethical practice, which involves falsification of facts or data to obtain unjust rewards Fraud is a crime which attracts harsh sentences to offenders. It also causes huge losses to business organizations. †(Thomson, 2004) Moreover, bribery is considered number one of the most unethical behaviors in the companies. Bribery means offering or accepting anything of value in exchange for changing or influencing the behavior of the recipient of the bribe. Anything of value can use as a bribe, but the money is a classic bribe. It also can be more intangible, and they might be like offers of real estates, valuable objects or a promise to do a specified service in the future. In order to consider it as a bribe, the object of value should be offered with the clear understanding that the person who accepts the bribe will be doing something in return. This distinguishes bribes from gifts given in real good faith, and also discriminate bribery of tipping, a practice in offering gifts in return for good service. For example, a driver being ticketed for speeding or parking in the wrong place might offer a bribe to the police officer to ask him to rip up the ticket. In many areas of the world bribery is considered as a crime, and it can be hardly punished. While in other areas bribery is more socially acceptable, and that can put a heavy burden on those in the lower levels of society, as they cannot afford to bribe officials in the pattern to which they are accustomed. The cultural differences on bribery can lead sometimes to confusions. In some cultures, for example, offering a tip may be considered a bribe, while in others, if you did not give a tip it considered as an offensive. Depending on regional laws, bribery can be punished with fines, imprisonment for a specified period, or compensation. Particularly in countries that are based on high ideals of equality, bribery is usually seen as especially offensive, because it erases the illusion that all the members of society are equal when someone can basically buy favors or someone else's skills with the right bribe. Ethical behavior: Ethical behaviors are essential for employees to deal with clients in a professional way . Employees face ethical and unethical behaviors from clients every day in the workplace. If you want your company or shop gain profit you must train the staff to act ethically in accordance with the company. Working with clients requires specific ethics. For example, ability to offer successful communication to makes them repeat clients. As employee in company you must protect the rights of the client when delivering the service. Such as, rights of privacy. Moreover, the worker should have confidentiality relating to the release of information about clients. Be a good employee for instance, tell the truth always to your clients. Must respect all people and not to differentiate between them, give the clients your best advice and listen to the client because he/she wants to know that you care about his/her problem. Apologize and correct the problem if you had mistaken. Also, show the positive relationship between the employee and the clients. (Knight, 2009) Other example of ethical integrity in the workplace is confidentiality. It is a major illustration of veracity in any place of work. It is also considered as a legal obligation for any employee at any level of organization. All the employers in an organization has got certain information that is to be kept as secret and exposure of these to anybody can lead to fines, penalties and lawful punishments. Confidentiality helps in building trust and motivates genuine deliberation of secrecy of others. The most basic business ethics are honesty, integrity and fairness. Honesty is related to ethical advertising and a reasonable cost for the quality of the products or services. The businesses make profits through ethical business strategies instead of trying to benefit from others through dishonest pricing. Moreover, integrity includes a very wide range of ethics, but it covers issues like social and environmental responsibility. Integrity in business is to be fair and considerate to others but at the same time make profit. Finally, fairness is a very basic concept of ethics, where the company has to treat all the people in commercial dealings either employees or buyers fairly. Fairness in commercial dealings means to be objective and to have an interest in creating a win-win situation for both parties, whether between an employer and employee or a company and a client. Conclusion: To sum up, ethical is essential and very important aspect in the workplace environment. Ethics sets standards on what is right and wrong in an individual's performance and decisions making. There is a rising acknowledgment that noble ethics can have an optimistic financial influence on the performance of organizations. Unethical behaviors provide lack of enthusiasm and negativity in the workplace. Therefore, ethical behaviors are central part to the workplace environment and to employees to work with clients in a professional way.

The Light of Liturgy essays

The Light of Liturgy essays In the reading of Exposition of the Ancient Gallican Liturgy, St. Germanus explains the Gallican Mass. One main idea that is clear is during the liturgy music is used at certain points and that the music has certain meanings and structures. The Gallican Mass is made up of different sections. There are two main sections: Fore-mass and the Eucharist. The Fore-mass is broken down into the Preface, Kyrie and Gloria, Readings, Silence, the Aius, Prophecy, the Prophet and the Apostle, the Hymn, Gospel. The Eucharist consists of the Homilies, Prayer, Catechumens, Sonum, Lords Prayer and the Blessing. In this paper only the Fore-mass will be discussed with example of music structure. The description from the Exposition of the Ancient Gallican Liturgy mainly is a description of a mass service which would have place during the eight century A.D. Just to give a quick history of the meaning of liturgy. The word liturgy comes from the Greek word leitourgia, which means public work. This is so because the liturgy is perceived to be when a group of people gather around an altar and prepare for the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. For such an event to take place there would be need for a very structured ritual. Hence we have a liturgy. The Gallican mass began by a Preference. The basic introduction began by opening with a hymn of the Lords death (p. 165). The meaning toward the song is about the Lords death. This song may be used to help the congregation in preserving life and eternal peace as well as rooting out evil. The sung portion of the introduction has two chanting styles. Using the example on page 8 in the NAWM, the first way is used to sing the psalm. The melody has basically the same pitch. Style two has more notes which mean its the antiphon or the music that precedes the psalm. The Readings follow the Preference, but first there is an antiphon that beings the section of the Reading,...

The Importance of Play in the Design Practice Thesis

The Importance of Play in the Design Practice - Thesis Example He or she should also possess a passion for innovation, curiosity for exploration and a good amount of perseverance. Again, these are traits one acquires along the way as one grows up from childhood to adulthood. Such qualities rather than being taught are inherent or inspired through different interactions during one’s developmental stages as a child. Thus, the more a person plays during the transition from childhood, and further maintains an interactive mode through play, the more creative he or she will become. The physical, emotional and intellectual developments of humans largely depend on their environment and the activities they engage in during the process of growing up. It is through these activities that they attain cognitive development and emotional as well as intellectual maturity and become responsible adults. Thus, if a person who possesses the traits of imagination, innovativeness and a sense of aesthetics, he will acquire a high level of creative potential. Wh en such an individual pursues a career in designing, proper education and training can make him or her highly proficient and competent professional in the field of design practice. Similarly, when adults continue the activity of play, they will remain imaginative and will be able to sustain their activity. Hence, it can be contended that play cultivates the qualities of imagination, innovativeness, sense of aesthetics and creativity which are essential traits for a designer to excel in his work. Thus, the concept of play has a direct bearing on design practices and it has a vital role in nurturing proficient designers. Psychology of Play Play has an important role in human life, especially in the context of the development of children and cultivating the faculties of imagination, creativity and innovativeness in them. Further, even after one grows into an adult, one needs to continue the activity of play, so as to actively engage their imagination as well as to invigorate their crea tivity. In the course of play, children develop conceptual meanings apart from understanding various things relating to life on the earth, which is a major characteristic in the growth of advanced mental functions. â€Å"Many studies have been conducted on the significance of play in human life and evidence suggests that this activity is one among the most common forms of behavior during childhood.†1 Therefore, this concept has generated intense interest in researchers in developmental and educational areas of psychology. Lev Vygotsky, a renowned psychologist, illustrates the example where he proposes that in the case of a child who wants to go for a horse ride, if he or she is below the age of three, it will probably cry and become angry, if he or she cannot ride the horse. But at the age of three, the relationship of child with the changing world "matures and it understands certain concepts. Thus, the child becomes

Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy Research Paper

Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy - Research Paper Example The more significant aspect of this process has been the creativity and innovativeness of individuals in exploiting emerging opportunities in business. In doing so, they have improved their own welfare, and laid down an operational base upon which other people can build their social and economic livelihoods. The academia world has also moved fast to cover, encourage, and promote all levels of entrepreneurship, especially in the context of creative world economy.Entrepreneurship has been accorded significant attention in every level of entrepreneurial-based operations. Although entrepreneurship is associated with individual operations in relation to setting up and running business ventures, it has come to be a source of social and economic livelihood for massive populations around the world. Firms and organizations have embraced entrepreneurial function in many aspects of their operations, in a bid to exploit the creativity and innovativeness of entrepreneurs across the globe. The int egration of entrepreneurship in global business undertakings, and the subsequent advancement of entrepreneurial concepts have captured the attention of various scholars. Charlotte and Naudin (2006) consider curriculum design and development for the various creative industries, with specific concern on current attitudes and emerging issues in these creative industries. The enterprise curriculum considered in this text does not fail to treat entrepreneurship with utmost interest. Entrepreneurship is a key driver in today’s economy, at both national and international levels. The curriculum specifically tries to assess and evaluate the issues and attitudes that characterize the existing creative industries, entrepreneurship included. Entrepreneurship practices are guided by various attitudes, and also face diverse and dynamic issues from time to time. Entrepreneurs establish their operation for different motives, but are commonly guided by the need for social and economic success . In that pursuit, they work their way to satisfy variant market needs within the relevant industries that entrepreneurial ventures are established. The motive to succeed and at the same time satisfy market demands shapes the observed attitudes in entrepreneurial operations (Charlotte & Naudin, 2006). Emerging issues in the same context could be cultural, social, economic, or political in nature. However, the creativity, innovativeness, knowledge and skills that entrepreneurs exhibit counters the negativity of such issues. Cultural, social, economic, or political factors also influence entrepreneurship positively. Entrepreneurs have realized enormous encouragement and assistance for each of the mentioned factors in every level of entrepreneurial practice. Each of these factors has provided a favorable and efficient environment within which entrepreneurs thrive. Literature and academic sources have developed interest into entrepreneurial matters, resulting in the integration of entre preneurship and other enterprises into the development of curriculums for use in academic purposes. Green community entrepreneurship: creative destruction in the social economy Globalization has enhanced entrepreneurship practices around the world. This has been realized due to the ever rising industrialization, economic integration between economies, and state interdependencies across the globe in relation to