Monday, September 30, 2019

Locke and Hobbes: Cause of Religious Toleration Essay

Historically, Locke’s treatment of toleration was one riddled with religious change, religious turmoil, and political changes that were shaped largely by religious tensions. This was a time when religion, specifically the Christian Church, became fractioned and led to widespread war and death in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Locke’s Letter on Toleration promoted separation of church and state, arguing that each institution has legitimacy and power in certain areas. The state exists to protect people’s interests, and can use force to protect these interests. However, the state will not be able to coerce its people to believe in a certain religion. In Leviathan, Hobbes provides ideas that support Locke’s toleration of religion. Hobbes belief in the state of nature, state of war, and covenants helps to paint a clearer picture of a world without religious intoleration. Locke’s plea for tolerations is one of religious toleration in general but more specifically toleration among Christians. Locke speaks out against Christians whom â€Å"deprive (men) of their estates, maim them with corporal punishments, starve and torment them in noisome prisons, and in the end even take away their lives†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p.24). This type of intolerance is itself intolerable because it violates many mandates that should characterize a true Christian. The mandates of charity and meekness are violated, and those who have committed these aggressive and violent actions against others are in themselves hypocritical. These people are usually careless about their own virtues, imposing on others something they don’t practice. According to Locke, instead of looking into others moral salvation, they should practice looking into their own moral salvations as well as the salvations of family and friends. These same people are spending time and effort on trivial things like doctrinal matters and ceremonial preferences. Locke urges that one should not worry so much about matters that, on the surface are nice and intricate, but â€Å"exceed(s) the capacity of ordinary understandings†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Letter p. 24). Instead of wasting time on these futile activities, one should actively try to better oneself. Separation of church and state is an important premise that buttresses his argument throughout the letter. It is a separation of civil versus religious authority and who has power of what domain. Locke argues that civil government has certain responsibilities for its citizens, which include preserving and advancing the civil interests, well-being and life of its citizens. Locke defines the one who wields civil authority as a magistrate and it is the magistrate who is enjoined to tolerate any religious doctrine, provided that these doctrines do not violate rights or disrupt the peace. Locke is intolerable of violations of rights of citizens and crime, or anything that disrupts the peace. Individuals do not have the power and position to respond and punish the criminals. That task is left to the magistrate. The magistrate has the ability to enforce laws through force but his coercive power must be kept out of religious matters, in so long as the religious matters do not hinder citizens’ rights and their peace. Locke believes that in religious matters, true belief in a religion requires more then the coercive power to make one believe. He argues if people are forced to believe in a religion against their will, it will not be as strong and effective unless the person consciously makes his own effort to believe. The ability for the magistrate to impose its power on its people is something Hobbes believes is a requirement and duty of a civil government. Men have an inclination towards peace, which is why men build commonwealths. Men want to get out of this state of war in favor of peace. Therefore, men come together in a commonwealth to make a covenant with every other man to establish peace and order. This sovereign now has the authority to enforce civil laws. This is a necessity because men by themselves cannot externally judge conflicts and will be naturally inclined to certain biases. By agreeing to this covenant, the people bestow upon a man or group of men power over sovereign. This covenant also holds responsibility for the people because they are the ones who gave power to the magistrate. To actually ensure peace, Hobbes says that a sovereign of this power is necessary. The question of the individual’s coercive power is another argument in favor of religious toleration. â€Å"No private Person has any Right, in any manner, to prejudice another Person in his Civil Enjoyments, because he is of another Church or Religion† (Letter p. 31). Tolerance brings about respect for the autonomy of the other. Since religious beliefs are freely chosen, there is no room for coercion to be a useful end because coercion and freedom cannot coexist in religious matters. Skepticism is another way religious believers can tolerate others holding different religions. Every religious person must tolerate one another because it would be foolish to believe that one person can have all the truths to the world. Similarly, Hobbes supports this argument through the state of nature. Having the freedom to choose ones religion is from the fact that individually, we are all equal. Hobbes believes that people are equal in strength of body and manifest of mind. There are differences, obviously, but Hobbes argues that these differences do not amount to much. We are fundamentally equal because we all have the ability to kill one another, whether it is through force or deceit. This constant threat of war between man and man is an important reason why men try to constantly seek peace. This state of nature provides us the liberty to our own self-governing because in the state of nature, there is no authority over man. Since man has no authority over him in the state of nature, naturally it would mean that man has no authority over another man. However, Hobbes continues that this natural condition of mankind is decidedly undesirable and should be avoided. From the natural state of man the desire for a stable government arises. Men are naturally equal but Hobbes believes self-preservation can only be had by constantly trying to acquire new property, or power. Power is the man’s means to some future good and the acquisition of more power is a constant cycle. Concerning the question of religious power, religious authorities also do not have the power for any coercive actions. Since religious authorities do not have the power to change someone who is not willing, they must respect and tolerate other religious churches or societies, even if there is disagreement with certain doctrines. Locke’s reasoning for the toleration of other churches stems from the belief of orthodoxy of the church. Every church believes that it is the Orthodox Church but Locke argues that people can never know which is the true Orthodox Church. However, he goes on to say that the true Church is the one that practices the idea of toleration. Despite Locke’s adamant stance on toleration, Locke does discuss certain beliefs that should not be tolerated. Locke specifically targets atheism because he believes that men should enter into some religious society because God should be publically worshipped. To Locke, atheists are the weak bones to a society because covenants and promises have no power over atheists. This causes problems within society because covenants and promises are the bonds of human society. Similarly, Locke also considers Catholics intolerable because of the political threat they represent. Catholic’s pledge allegiance to a foreign king. Locke views this as a problem because it brings into question who the Catholic pledges his loyalty to, the foreign king or his homeland king. Locke says that a person should be under the rightful king and not a foreign king. This means that any foreign jurisdiction in one’s country and any influence from the Vatican State is not acceptable. Locke also mentions odd religious practices, such as human sacrifice, as intolerable. The magistrate should make a conscious effort to not tolerate such practices because it could hurt society as a whole. Just because something is a religious matter should not dictate the legality of the practice. Hobbes would probably agree that atheists would not be tolerable under the condition that covenants and promises are not kept because they hold no power over atheists. Hobbes First Law of Nature is that human beings always seek a state of peace because it is the most advantageous to their survival. The Second Law of Nature is the creation of covenants. In Hobbes’s mind, the ideal covenant would be a leviathan government that would make and regulate laws very effectively. The Third Law of Nature is derived from the second, which states that it is necessary for men to perform their covenants. From these three laws, as stated earlier, men create a commonwealth to ensure peace. If covenants hold no power over atheists, the commonwealth and essentially peace is destroyed. Hobbes is adamant that to fortify this social contract, the members of the contract need steps to prevent others from breaching it. The Third Law of Nature creates a society where peace is established, but if a citizen is not held under contract, the political disruptions are more likely to occur. Locke’s primary rationale for toleration in the individual is the self-governing of the other. In Christina writing, loving ones neighbors is a key element in a Christian’s salvation. Locke emphasizes that one should only care for one’s own salvation rather than worrying about his neighbors or others religious teachings. By practicing toleration, one must ignore the content and be satisfied with the fact that the other has reached his conclusion autonomously. Before worrying about someone else, Locke urges that one must focus on ones own salvation because there are many instances where hypocrisy can rise by imposing ones beliefs. However, there are instances where non-intervention can be unjust because some matters are so offensive, it would be unjust to let it slide. Matters where injury or death can occur are justifiable for others to intervene. Even though this Lockean autonomy works most of the time, there are times where it would not. Locke’s reasoning for writing this letter, on the surface, seems to be from a religious perspective. However, a careful reading of the letter suggests that Locke is not interested in religious doctrines or practices. Locke finds that the religious differences are too insignificant for discussion. Although it is a letter concerning toleration of religion, this toleration is meant to benefit from a political standpoint. Reading the document with this point of view shows that Locke was writing it exclusively political in nature. Even though there was widespread religious violence and opposing opinions during the time Locke wrote the letter, it was a way for Locke to talk about the politics of society. This document was on religious toleration only because Locke viewed religion as having potential for civil disruption. This letter is a way for Locke to say what he believed was the means for maintaining peace and stability. To maintain peace and stability in a society requires sovereignty. The sovereign has the power and authority to govern its principality. Because it has the power to govern, it also gives the sovereign the right to use coercion. This does not give the right to religious institutions to use coercion because it has historically not worked in favor of the religion. The separation of church and state is therefore a way that Locke foresees peace in sovereign. Peace in sovereign is an important aspect to Hobbes’s Leviathan perspective because he views peace as the main reason we create societies. Religious toleration is therefore a tool that both Locke and Hobbes would advocate because it creates peace and unity in a sovereign.

Hammurabi’s Law Essay

â€Å"If anyone brings an accusation against a man and the accused goes to the river and leap into the river, if he sinks in the river, his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser†. This law implies that if a person laid charges and could not substantiate the guilt of the accused, then the accused plunged into the river. If guilty, the accused drowned into the river. On the other hand, the river could also cleanse him from his guilt and restore him (Richardson, 2004). This is a trial by ordeal method that was used to prove guilt or innocence. It was a common believe that the Euphrates River would judge people accused of various crimes (Brians, 1998). Hammurabi’s law 2 is biased due to the fact that those who knew how to swim, no matter how few, did not drown even if they were guilty. Consequently, justice did not prevail in such circumstances. This law is no longer relevant due to the advancement in technology. Most people know how to swim and therefore it is not a reliable method of establishing guilt or innocence. Nowadays, if the accused claims to be innocent, he is given a chance to prove this beyond reasonable doubt. The trial by ordeal method is rarely used. Hammurabi’s law 5: â€Å"If a judge tries a case, reaches a decision, and presents his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgment†. This implies that the Babylonians valued not only justice but one that is declared by a judge. However, the judge was also scrutinized for any shortcoming in his judgment. Consequently, if any error was found, he would pay twelve times the fine he had set. This law is good because it ensured that the judges were cautious when they were making a decision. Consequently, justice was practiced. Today, Hammurabi’s law 5 can be used to come up with code of conducts for public servants. More so, clear boundaries as to what behavior is expected or prohibited will be provided. In addition, it will ensure competency and accountability. The judge should be the only person to declare innocence or guilt. Hammurabi’s law 6:â€Å"If anyone steals the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death†. The temple was very important to the Babylonians because this is where they took their tithes, sacrifices and other offerings. In other words, it was the city archives. Stealing from a temple or court was a capital offence and the thief was convicted to death. This law is good because it aids in promoting a crime free society. If such a crime is committed, then the punishment should be implemented to the fullest extent of the law. Hammurabi’s law 6 can be used today to instill respect to public institutions by people. In so doing, evidence in courts will not be interfered with and holy places will be respected. Hammurabi’s law 7: â€Å"If anyone buys from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death†. A buyer had to find out the title of their potential seller. If he bought from a minor or a slave without witnesses or a signed contract, then he was considered a thief and was executed (King, 2007). This law is relevant because it seeks to protect the poor and the minor against exploitation from the rich and the powerful. Hammurabi’s law 7 is not applicable to the present generation due to the fact that human rights are being advocated for and therefore, slavery will soon come to an end. Minors are being employed and in some special circumstances can now own or sell property.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

History of Circle Essay

The word â€Å"circle† derives from the Greek, kirkos â€Å"a circle,† from the base ker- which means to turn or bend. The origins of the words â€Å"circus† and â€Å"circuit† are closely related. The circle has been known since before the beginning of recorded history. Natural circles would have been observed, such as the Moon, Sun, and a short plant stalk blowing in the wind on sand, which forms a circle shape in the sand. The circle is the basis for the wheel, which, with related inventions such as gears, makes much of modern civilization possible. In mathematics, the study of the circle has helped inspire the development of geometry, astronomy, and calculus. Early science, particularly geometry and astrology and astronomy, was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars, and many believed that there was something intrinsically â€Å"divine† or â€Å"perfect† that could be found in circles. The compass in this 13th century manuscript is a symbol of God’s act ofCreation. Notice also the circular shape of the halo| Circles on an old astronomy drawing| Some highlights in the history of the circle are: * 1700 BC – The Rhind papyrus gives a method to find the area of a circular field. The result corresponds to 256/81 (3.16049†¦) as an approximate value of Ï€. * 300 BC – Book 3 of Euclid’s Elements deals with the properties of circles. * In Plato’s Seventh Letter there is a detailed definition and explanation of the circle. Plato explains the perfect circle, and how it is different from any drawing, words, definition or explanation. * 1880 – Lindemann proves that Ï€ is transcendental, effectively settling the millennia-old problem of squaring the circle.

Immanuel Kant †Ethics Essay

Immanuel Kant was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia in 1724. He attended the Collegium Fridiricianum at eight years old where he was taught classicism. Then he went to the University of Konigsberg where he spent his career focusing on philosophy, mathematics, and physics. When his is father past away, Kant left the university and earned his living as a private tutor. In 1755 he returned to the University to receive his doctorate in 1756. Immanuel Kant remained at the University teaching for 15 years. He received his tenure at the University in 1770, where he stayed for the next 27 years. In 1792 he was barred from teaching or writing on religious subjects do to his unorthodox approach in his teaching by King Fredrick William II. He returned to teaching after the king had passed away five years later. In his retirement he published a summary of his views on religion. Immanuel Kant passed away in 1804. Immanuel Kant was widely known for his categorical imperative theory. Categorical imperative is how one determines one’s duty, what principles are proper, and which are not. Doing one’s duty for the sake of duty itself is better than simply acting in agreement with one’s duty. Telling the truth in order to benefit yourself is acting in accordance with duty and not acting for the sake of duty. The categorical imperative states, â€Å"Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will it should become universal law(Keele, 2008). † Maxim in this sentence is the moral part of your action. Categorical imperative tells us it is immoral to make an exception of our self. Just like my mother would say treat and act as you would want others to treat and act towards you. In the news I view an article about â€Å"School knife attack poses ethical dilemma for daily. † In this article they talk about the Worcester New identifying a schoolboy as a suspect. The news published the boy’s name and picture on Facebook putting the boy’s life at risk. After the boy was found the news took down the boy’s picture at once. Everyone was perplexed by this situation asking why they put picture up and then took it down. According to the Worcester News, the situation change, where they were trying to find the boy to stop him from hurting himself or others and then to protecting the child. Would the newspapers actions have been ethical according to Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative? First let’s take a look at the reasons why they did it. The newspaper stated they put his picture up to protect him and other, then took down to protect him. I believe they were acting in the best of society myself by putting the information up. According to Immanuel Kant’s theory they were acting in accordance with their duty. They had a duty to let the public know what was going on to protect other students and teachers If they didn’t act with such speed would the boy have been found so soon? I think not! This boy could have went on a killing spree and if the Worcester News didn’t report it they would not have been acting in the best of society and would not have been doing their duty. But then to take down the information I feel is unethical. They don’t take down any information when it comes to any other person involved in a crime. Immanuel Kant stated that it is immoral to make an exception of yourself. The Worcester News should hold to the same standards as any other crime they report. I understand that they are trying to protect the boy, but if you are going to report any other crime and not take it down this should happen in the same way. In conclusion, based on my research I feel that Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative theory is important to our society today. It holds everyone to the same standards! He has help to maintain a set of standards for our society that requires everyone to be treated the same. The study of ethics is important in today’s business and government world because it sets standard for all to abide. From John Locke’s right theory to Kohlberg’s moral development stages. They all 1 / 2 set standards in which business need to stay within. If there were no standards there would be more scandals in the news than there is. References Britannica. (2014). Immanuel Kant. Retrieved from http://www. philosophypages. com/ph/kant. htm. Keele, Lisa. (2008, The Categorical Imperative of Immanuel Kant. Retrieved from https://www. suite. io/lisa-keele/ypd2fk. Linfold, Paul. (2014, September 28). School Knife Attack Poses Ethical Dilemma For Daily. Retrieved from http://www. holdthefrontpage. co. uk/2014/news/school-knife-attack-poses-ethical- dilemma-for-daily/ POWERED BY TCPDF (WWW. TCPDF. ORG).

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Definition of Literature Essay

Literature is an outlet of escape from reality. At the end of the day, I open a book and allow the story to take me to a world where my own fades into a distant memory. With every turn of a page, my imagination is free to reinvent a narrative that is better than the reality I live. Literature can be non-fiction and based on facts surrounding real events, people, and places. Examples include history books, memoirs, biographies, newspapers, self-help, devotionals, and textbooks. Literature can also be writings based not on truth, but on the imagination and creativity of the author. This includes fiction novels and children story books. A lot of times authors of fiction will get their idea from a real life event and then they allow their imagination to recreate the characters and plot. Aside from being fiction or non-fiction, literature can also fall into different categories according to the genre, purpose, and style. Some genres include romance, science fiction, Christian, suspense, and western. The authors purpose for writing will likely determine what style and genre they will use. Poetry and drama are forms of literature that are stylistically different from other writings. Every writer wants to engage their audience and capture their attention in order to convey a message. The meaning of the text may hold differing messages within the audience, but it is the goal of the author to captivate the reader and keep them wanting to read more. John Smith wrote historical accounts of life while he was living. His writings brought insight and hope regarding English settlement during the early 1600s. The General History of Virginia is difficult to comprehend in areas because I am unfamiliar with his use and style of language, but nonetheless it is a beautifully written piece of literature. John Smith’s targeted audience was most likely the people of his time, with the goal of informing them of recent events. I appreciate the way he portrays the struggles of daily life realistically and in a way that inspires and intrigues. William Bradford was not formally educauted, yet he was a wise and well-read man. His writings spread throughout the world and have been studied and quoted by many. As with most of the literature from his time period, Bradford’s style is simple, but he writes with such conviction that demands the attention and respect of the reader. Bradford was a man of faith and often expressed this in his writing. In Of Plymouth Plantation he often refers to God’s providence and makes continuous references to God. Bradford may refer to God more than any other author in this colonial unit. Anne Bradstreet was a powerful force in literature during the 1960s because she was one of the first recognized women poets. Centuries later she is a revered writer and her poetry remains enchanting. â€Å"Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is the opening line to her poem The Author of Her Book and illustrates just how feeble her brain is not. She has the unique capacity to use words to express herself so creatively and with so much emotion. To My Dear and Loving Husband is a great romantic poem that I admire. Bradstreet’s style reminds me slightly of my own. However I need more experience and practice to become nearly as talented as she. Upon the Burning of Our House reminds of my own experience of a house fire and has inspired me to attempt to capture my experience through poetry. Through all Anne Bradstreet’s work, she inspires others to recognize the beauty and power in writing. Edward Taylor was a highly educated, well respected, and devout religious man who used poetry as a private expression of his faith. He did not seek fame or recognition for his writing, rather just the pleasure it brought him. Taylor writes of God beautifully and is a master of creating moving and emotional works of art without intending to. As with most poets, Taylor and Bradstreet used metaphors and had a personal style unique from others. There is also an overflowing of emotion from both Taylor and Bradstreet within all their writings. William Byrd was a very accomplished man of his time. He was well educated, respected, and prosperous. His most famous writings are the journals that he wrote to describe day to day life. In The History of the Dividing Line I was able to pick up on the humor that has lead Byrd to be one of the first distinct comedic writers. The humor is not â€Å"pee your pants funny† rather it is more light-hearted humor that makes the reader smile. It is evident in his writing that Byrd was indeed well-read. A writer is capable of learning a great deal about language, word usage, and style through reading. Byrd’s style is simple, yet he articulates his message very well and although he wrote for himself, he managed to write in a way that would capture an audience’s attention. Jonathan Edwards was an intelligent man of God who served as a preacher. As an author, he wrote popular sermons and other serious works on religion, metaphysics, and philosophy. Edwards’ style of writing is quite different from other authors in this unit because unlike the others he gives the reader an array of possible positions for the topic he is presenting. In the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards develops his view on destruction and punishment from verses in Deuteronomy. Not only does he explain how he interprets the scripture, he also gives other possible views. St. Jean De Crevecoeur wrote about religion but he did not profess or maintain that he believed in God. He was a well-educated humanitarian who served his people and country. I found Letters from an American Farmer difficult to get through because his style of writing is unexciting. I was also turned off by the way he wrote about certain topics particularly African American issues. Crevecoeur was not a racist man, but he lacked some sensitivity in discussing his unique view on negroes and parenting. He believed that negroes should not continue having children because if they did misery would undeniably result for themselves and their offspring. I understand that he is referring to slaves and perhaps even slaves may have wished to not have children in order to save future generations from being forced into slavery. Crevecoeur surprised me with the boldness in his writing. The progression of writing from Smith to Crevecoeur is interesting to track and there are noticeable changes in language and word usage. As defined earlier, literature to me is written art that engages my imagination and takes my mind away from reality. Not every piece of literature will bring me the pleasure of leaving my own world for a moment and that does not mean the author has failed. Genre plays an important role in this element of the definition. For example the writings from the colonies unit are primarily non-fiction history writings that are meant to inform more than entertain. Anne Bradstreet is an exception. As the writer of poetry, her style is most obviously different from the more serious and constructed essays of the other writers. Every writer has a style that is unique, however one similarity in the colonial writings is the purpose of the author’s writing. Many of the writers were writing for the sake of recording daily life and making historical accounts of slavery, war, and developing colony life. Centuries later, authors such as Smith, Bradford, Bradstreet, Taylor, Edwards, and Crevecoeur are recognized as masters in the field of writing. Writers during the establishment of the colonies wrote simple, yet serious and powerful pieces of art. They have a style of writing and voice that still captures the hearts of readers.

A Case Against Deceptive Advertising

Verizon Wireless, a joint ownership of Verizon Communications Inc. and the Vodafone Group PLC, had sold laptop cards with limited capabilities for wireless Internet access.For $59.99 the company was offering an â€Å"unlimited monthly usage plan,† despite the fact that the service had limitations (Sharma & Cheng, 2007).   Customers were not able to use their laptop cards for â€Å"high bandwidth activities,† for example, to download movies (Sharma & Cheng).   Moreover, Verizon Wireless had not mentioned the limitations of its laptop cards in advertisements (Sharma & Cheng).Following an investigation by the State Attorney of New York, Verizon Wireless was required not only to agree to change its â€Å"‘unlimited’ advertising† of the wireless broadband service, but also to reimburse the customers with $1 million in all (Sharma & Cheng).   Besides, the company was required to pay $150,000 in fees and penalties to New York.   Verizon Wireless agr eed to meet all of the legal conditions (Sharma & Cheng).CritiqueThe case of the laptop cards sold by Verizon Wireless concerned deceptive advertising.   The company had referred to its service as an unlimited plan in spite of its limitations.   Customers should have been informed about the limitations before they purchased the service.Thankfully, the New York State Attorney intervened to compel the company to reimburse the customers.   As a matter of fact, this aspect of business law is vital for consumer protection against company fraud.Deceptive advertising includes misrepresentation and omission.   Perhaps Verizon Wireless had mistakenly omitted the limitations of its service in its advertising.   Nevertheless, it was required to pay for its mistake.This serves as a warning for all companies in the U.S.   Furthermore, the business regulatory departments around the country must continue to evaluate all advertisements seeing that imperfect information is a source of ma rket failure.ReferencesSharma, A., & Cheng, R. (2007, Oct 24). Verizon Wireless Reaches Deal in Marketing Probe.The Wall Street Journal, pp. B5.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Response Strategies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Response Strategies - Assignment Example Whichever the case, a good response strategy must be in perfect alignment with the set objectives of the PPS. Response strategies can range from deterrence, to containment, to recovery, delayed response, denial, immediate response, or it could well be a combination of all depending on the set goals of the PPS. What is however, worth noting is the fact that the overall success or effectiveness of a PPS depends on the effectiveness of the response strategies. Deterrence Deterrence as a response strategy is largely based upon creating a perception of tight security as a way of forestalling aggression or attack from a potential low level adversary. For deterrence to be effective security personnel would need to be visible and they must communicate a sense of capableness, timely and effective response to incidence, diligence and randomness in patrol schedule. It is in many ways the first line of response strategy built in anticipation of attacks from adversaries who are not very motivated . For example, armed security personnel at a Wall Street bank generally would discourage low level attacks of vandalism from adversaries who are not very motivated.

Totalitarianism - World history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Totalitarianism - World history - Essay Example Some of the popular totalitarian leaders such as Hitler of Germany and Stalin of Soviet union can be used as an example of those who used special secret police to spy on and punish those who criticized their authority. Hitler used the Gestapo to punish those who went against the Nazi ideologies (Lloyd 2011). As stated earlier, totalitarian rule does not accord any importance to basic human rights. In Germany for example, Hitler blamed the Jews for the increased unemployment rate in the country, which was untrue as such was as a result of the great depression in 1930s. Consequently, thousands of Jews were incarcerated without fair trial and others were murdered in the process. Stalin on the other hand introduced collective farming, which forced numerous peasant farmers to give up their land, a policy which was highly criticized and which led to massive killings of those who opposed it. Freedom of expression in such a rule is also hard to find as the ruling party takes control of all m edia, in order to ensure that reporting is done in a biased manner favorable to the government.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

My Life as a Soldier in World War I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Life as a Soldier in World War I - Essay Example Life in the trenches was extremely horrible for me. The possibilities of enemy attacks and diseases were haunted me and many other American soldiers who were in my battalion. Trench life prevented us from proper sleeping, bathing, and taking foods. The disturbance of rats, lice etc caused more trouble during my trench life. Some of the rats which caused disturbances to us during WW1 were of the size of a cat. Life casualties were more in WW1 and dead bodies of the soldiers were coming to our army camp quiet regularly. It was difficult for us to give a proper funeral to our colleagues who fought bravely for the country. American government was not much interested in giving respect or paying homage to the dead bodies of the soldiers at that time. Many of the dead bodies were burned using petrol since it was difficult for us to give more attention to the normal funeral activities. I was a commander in American army during WW1. So I forced to take many decisions during the war period. In fact it was difficult for me to allocate different missions to different soldiers. Different emotions that were passing through the faces of the soldiers while getting dangerous tasks were horrible experiences for me. It was evident that many of the soldiers who were sending for the dangerous missions may not come back alive. Being a commander, it was impossible for me to consider humanitarian issues during the war period. I remember many occasions in which I forced to compel even diseased soldiers to engage in some kind of works. On many occasions, I forced to advance further leaving the seriously wounded soldiers behind. It should be noted that giving care to wounded soldiers at the time of intense fight may cause more casualties. Relatives of the soldiers who suffered death never got the information about their death in time. In fact, we had received many letters from the wives of the soldiers who were killed many weeks before. It was really a horrible experience to read all the se letters and send any reply to them. I remember one instance in which I received a letter from a killed soldier’s wife. I realised the depth of their love and intimacy from this letter. She was actually pregnant and the real intention of this letter was to convey the good news to her husband. Some tears filled in my eyes, and decided to send a reply to this woman. It should be noted that communication channels were not much developed during WW1 and sending letters was the major communication activity performed by the soldiers and their relatives. In my reply letter, I described her husband as a brave one and informed her about his death. I asked her to be proud of the heroics done by her husband and expressed the gratitude of American army to her for the great services extended by her husband. It was really a touching moment in my life. At the time of wring the reply, I struggled to get suitable words. American society has changed a lot after WW1. Before WW1, many of the Am ericans supported wars. It should be noted that the first time use of sophisticated weapons caused more death casualties than anticipated in WW1. The loss of beloved ones forced American society to revise their views about wars. The huge destruction of properties forced Americans to think about the necessities of avoiding wars in future. â€Å"In the 1920s, people seemed to be less interested in progress and were more interested in hedonism. It is like

CRJ-Q Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CRJ-Q - Essay Example This is why it is all about personal safety of victims being either bullied or paid to keep silent. To say more, victims feel unsafe as they â€Å"sometimes find it hard that they are treated just like any other witness† (Sanders & Grainger, 2003, p. 34). Hence, these impediments serve to keep victims away from witnessing. Question 2 Making laws against juvenile delinquency tougher is a way out on the grounds of a rational logical treatment. However, when judges and legislators tend to do so, the rate juvenile delinquents is still growing (Siegel & Welsh, 2008). There should be some approaches toward improving the social base for chronic delinquents. One of the most powerful instruments is to make them participate with the professional psychologists and teachers. It is not an absolute way to reduce the rate of delinquency but to make it somewhat lower than today. Thus, deterrence should not solely touch upon law enforcement as it has no positive results. Reference Sanders, J., & Grainger, R. (2003). Youth justice: your guide to cops and court in NSW (3 ed.). New York, NY: Federation Press. Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. (2008). Juvenile delinquency: theory, practice, and law (10 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Cengage Learning.

Research Paper Outline Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Research Paper Outline - Assignment Example Groves (2010) argues that schools that do not have a policy for dressing usually have problems in the sense that students tend to put on all manner of clothing, some of which border on indecency and controversy. Some clothes worn by students to schools conflict the school policies in terms of dressing code and ethical standards. In this regard, means that the school administrators have a hard time trying to ensure that all students dress appropriately while in school. It implies that much of the precious time that would have been used on instructional leadership is spent on attending to and solving dressing issues. According to (Mathison & Ross, 2008).  Some of the clothing-related conflicts arise from difference in socio-economic status of students that determine the brands of clothes that they wear. Allowing school uniforms to be mandated for public school systems will minimize the wear of baggy clothing that can be used to hide weapons.  Additionally, uniforms eliminate the wear of â€Å"gang related colors† which can lead to becoming and unknown target of opportunity.   Baron (2013) gives a classic example of the student who wore baggy clothing unleashing more than ten guns that he had hid in his clothes. In the age of school violence, especially in America, school administrators should not allow baggy clothes and oversized shorts in the school compounds. The boy hid ten kinds of different ammunitions in his oversized shorts and perhaps the trend is even more serious in other schools without the uniform policy. While the supporters of school uniforms agree that schools uniforms significantly reduce incidences of violence and crime in public schools, some parents and students see this policy as an infringement to personal freedom (Alexander & Alexander, 2012).  They argue that the uniform policy where all students must be clad in navy pants or skirts and white shirts is

Film Ragtime Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Film Ragtime - Movie Review Example The inspector tells the father that the colored do not have the same sense of family as the whites do. The story simultaneously shows how white people like Evelyn Nesbit use wedlock merely to improve their wealth and status. The main intention is to show that there are good and generous people like the mother and father as well as mean people like the firehouse chief among the white people. It's the same with the colored; there are people who respond violently, like Coalhouse Walker and there are peace loving people like Mr. Booker T Washington. a) Narrative - The plot structure is chronological without any flash back scenes. The interesting part is that four interconnected stories are running simultaneously and due to the systematic and chronological order of scenes, at no point one feels disconnected with any of the four stories. b) Acting - The performance of all the actors, including those with the smallest of roles, is outstanding. However, the performance of Howard E Rollins Jr. (as Coalhouse Walker Jr.) and Elizabeth McGovern (as Evelyn Nesbit) is exceptionally remarkable. The most appealing factor in Howard's performance is his fluency in dialogue delivery. Also, there is a kind of innocence and earnestness in his performance. Some of the scenes in which his immense talent can be seen are the ones in which the firemen block his way and when he expresses his emotions to Mr. Washington and also undoubtedly the concluding scene just before his surrender. By watching Elizabeth's act, it seems like she knew exactly what was expected of her for this role; it is as though she personally knew the character she was playing. She has neither underplayed nor overplayed her role. It is evident that she does not need a dialogue to make an impact. For instance, the way she expresses "couldn't care less" attitude when her husband is speaking about bringing down her nude statue and also the way she shows her disinterest in what Baron Ashkenazy is speaking is notable. Yet another actor worthy of praise is Kenneth McMillan (as the firehouse chief, Willie Conklin). The performance is so good that one is likely to hate the very sight of the character he plays. The characters in the film maintain their basic characteristics throughout the film. The only character that changes is that of the Father's. The father, at the beginning is very indifferent towards Coalhouse, but as the film proceeds, he becomes more sympathetic and finally goes to the extent of risking his life to prove Coalhouse harmless. c) Cinematography - By observing the photography and the lighting, it seems as though great care has been taken to make the movie look very real, as if it's happening right in front of the audience and not on the screen. In the outdoor scenes, the lighting looks very natural and in the indoor scenes, the key light is on the face of the character without placing emphasis on the background. d) Editing - The pace of the film is constant throughout. The constant pace maintained even after Coalhouse and friends taking over the library has helped enhance the suspense. No transition effects have been used, yet

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Nursing research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 40

Nursing research - Essay Example Thus, it is important to create a good methodology for the investigation held. This section should make readers familiar with the main purpose of your research and the ways and methods you are going to use to reach the goals. A person who wants to implement the same research that you did should be able to receive all the corresponding information from your methodology section. He/she should understand the main goal of the research and the ways you offer to reach these goals. This section should include everything that should belong to it, not much or less. - Write your thoughts about the following: When reviewing research or preparing a literature review, nurses should consider the level of evidence. How might levels of evidence influence nursing practice? In the field of nursing it is very difficult to have and express your own opinion. All the further investigations should be based on the previous ones and the acknowledged experience. All the innovations in the field of medicine should go through a great of number of important tests to be acknowledged as really helpful for human health. Thus, a literature review is a very important section of the research in the field of nursing and the whole research should be thoroughly based on

The effects of Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The effects of Globalisation - Essay Example The effects of globalization on the European Union are diverse. But the future growth and sustainability of the EU is dependent on globalization. The reforms influenced by globalization in the European countries not only make the Union more transparent and effective but also help the European Union to establish itself as a strong global actor. The challenges faced in the global including the European Union like economic integration, economic migration, humanitarian crises, failing states, energy security, climate change, terrorism etc. are interdependent. The European Union identifies the importance of globalization and the impacts of the phenomenon on the various aspects of the economy. Therefore, it should focus on effective management of the globalization process in order to meet the arising challenges and prevent any backlash from the phenomenon. The effective management of globalization and its rules would help the European Union to act as global actor in the true sense. The int ernal policies and the association with the international organizations can help the Union in managing the process of globalization in the region and control its effects and impacts to a large extent.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

HRIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

HRIS - Essay Example This resulted in inconsistent outcomes and the cost of the human resource was also increased to a great extent. Consequently, the manager is desperate to find out appropriate solutions to overcome these issues due to which he is looking for different vendors that would make things better within the organization. There were basically two choices of vendors that could work well for this business. It includes; the pro staff files and the Auxillian West Human Resource Software. The pro staff files works well for huge organization like Castle’s Family Restaurant whereas the HRnet source is applicable on the small or mid-size organizations. As far as my opinion is concerned I prefer that Mr. Morgan selects the pro staff files as this a high profile business. Knowing the fact that the HRnet could only be used for smaller organizations it is likely to be disqualified. Henceforth, this is a time where Mr. Morgan should lead form the from the front and take a decision that should make things better and produce consistent and efficient results along with creating a diverse environment within the workplace. One thing that plays a significant role for an organization to be successful is its well organized Human Resource Department. The Human Resource Department can either make or break the organization. It helps to operate the business smoothly along with improving the information and technology processes. With the rapid advancements in the technology it is essential for any organization to maximize their focus on the technology and produce effective results. It has been witnessed that the introduction of Human Resource Information System obliged to set up a computerized system rather than depending much on manual work. Castle’s Family Restaurant has also decided to maintain a HRIS in order to create diversity within the workplace. However, this was not very easy as the company had to go

Present how strategic planning, performance improvement, and Essay

Present how strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are interrelated and fundamental to the delivery of quality health care - Essay Example This is because health care organizations are dynamic and thus they experience changes that are rapid, complex, and discontinuous from time to time (Swayne, Duncan, & Ginter, 2006). This makes the people involved in its management to require high degree of leadership skills. The investigations would have the capacity to improve this and thus improve management of these organizations. The issue to be investigated in this research is management of health care organizations. This encompasses issues like strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning. Health care organizations face a form of competition that could only be addresses using a systematic fashion (Moseley, 2009). The systematic fashion could be achieved through coordination of strategic planning, operational planning, and tactical planning. Issues that would be investigated by research proposed by this paper will aim at improving these three aspects of management and their coordination. Impact of not investigating this issue would be very great since it would make it difficult to improve management of healthcare organizations. Moreover, it would make improvement of these aspects of management too hard. As a result, health care organizations administrator would be able to use their leadership position and capability to interrelate strategic planning, performance improvement, and information system to provision of quality health care. Therefore, the profitability and survival of health care organizations in their respective markets would be greatly reduced. The research topic, which to be investigated in the proposed research, is improvement of health care organization management. Various specific researches have been undertaken on this research topic. Some of them have been trying to identify the factors that might be hindering proper management of these organizations. Others have been trying to investigate the impact of poor

Monday, September 23, 2019

Research proposal What is the effectiveness of adopting Surgical Time

What is the effectiveness of adopting Surgical Time Out policy in improving patient safety in the Operating Room '' - Research Proposal Example UP-14). In general, a surgical time-out policy is all about identifying the right patient, the right site where surgical procedure will be performed, observing the right body positioning, signing the consent form which strongly suggest that the patient has agreed to receive the said surgical procedure, and to ensure that special arrangements are made to get hold of a particular equipment needed to perform the surgery (Fry, 2008, p. UP-14). Often times, it is the registered nurse who is in-charge and is accountable for performing the surgical count of surgical items like cotton swabs, sponges, gauze, needles, blades, and scalpels among others (Hamlin, Richardson-Tench and Davies, 2009, p. 88). Miscommunication can happen among a group of healthcare professionals who are working within the operating room (Halverson et al., 2011). In line with this, several studies acknowledges that the process of using a â€Å"surgical safety checklist† as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) is effective in terms of preventing the risks of mortality caused by human errors (Kasatpibal et al., 2012; van Klei et al., 2012; Conley et al., 2011). However, despite the process of continuously educating the healthcare professionals on how to accurately perform surgical time-out process, there are still some cases wherein the surgical team may fail to comply with the surgical time-out procedures (Gillespie et al., 2010). It is part of the duty and responsibility of healthcare professionals to continuously improve patient safety within the operating room. In line with this, the surgical team is normally composed of surgeons, anaesthesiologists, and registered nurses. For this reason, the proposed research study aims to determine how well the surgical team in Hong Kong are able to adopt with the local hospitals’ surgical time-out policy. Specifically the main research objective is to test the

Read the Ford Case Study and answer the 3 questions assigned Essay

Read the Ford Case Study and answer the 3 questions assigned - Essay Example This cash position seemed much more considerable when compared to the company’s $57 billion market capitalization in the year 2000. This cash accumulation seemed humongous and it needed proper allocation of this cash reserve to make sure that the company progresses smoothly and steadily in future. The cash position was almost half of the market capitalization i.e. the market value of the company at that time. The company’s directors decided to use the Value Enhancement Plan to distribute the cash amongst its shareholders. The alternatives for cash distribution would have been: Investing those funds into other profitable investments/ventures. Capital Expenditure i.e. by buying any machinery/equipment that can be used within the business for a long period of time. The Value Enhancement Plan (VEP) was designed to distribute cash amongst the shareholders of the company. Under the VEP, the existing shareholders would exchange their common or Class B share type one-for-one fo r a new share of the same type. Besides that, the shareholders had the right to receive $20 cash or $20 cash equivalent shares based upon the market value of the shares as on July 2000. The aim of the VEP was to ensure better flexibility, liquidity and alignment for its shareholders.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

All human beings have a deep need for affection and respect Essay Example for Free

All human beings have a deep need for affection and respect Essay Do you think that Steinbeck conveys the message that nearly all human beings have a deep need for affection and respect? Yes I do think that Steinbeck conveys the message that nearly all human beings have a deep need for affection and respect because there is a lot of characters in the story that are very lonely and depressed, they need someone to talk to and to discuss their own problems with. Curleys wife is very lonely and she doesnt have anyone to talk to. She is the only woman on the ranch and isnt treated properly. She has a dream to become and actress and she tells us the story about the time she was talking to a man and he told her that he would send her a letter back to become an actress and she is still waiting on the letter. She should be respected and it makes us release it. George and Lennieà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s dream is to liv of the fata the lanà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. This means that they dream to buy their own land and be there own boss and work there every day. They also want to be fed from there and Lennie wants to tendà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ his rabbits. As soon as candy finds out that George and Lennie have a dream, Candy buysà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in to it by offering all his savings. Lennie and George are outcasts and exiles, the reason for this is for the fact that they are itinerant workers and they always work together and go everywhere with each other. This makes them outcasts because they always go everywhere together where as compare to other people at that moment in time every one went on their own. Crooks is lonely and no one talks to him, he doesnt sleep in the bunkhouse with the other ranch-hands because he is black. This shows the racism at this time. When Lennie goes in to his room he tells Lennie to get out of it because he wasnt allowed in their rooms so why should Lennie be in his room. It shows the way he is rejected from the others and that he has a need for deep affection. Curley is very bossy and he thinks that everyone is afraid of him. He bullies people because this is the way he can talk to people. He thought that he would be able to bully Lennie because Lennie looked stupid and very shy, but after he hit Lennie a few times so as soon as George told Lennie to hit him back he did so. Every person has a need to convey their affection and in Of Mice and Men Steinbecks shows this in different ways, with the different characters.

The factors a manager needs to consider in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a work team Essay Example for Free

The factors a manager needs to consider in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a work team Essay â€Å"Discuss the factors a manager needs to consider in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a work team. Give examples to support your choices.† As work settings become more complex, it is imperative for managers to identify the increasing importance of team-working throughout the organisation and to consider the consequential factors leading to work team efficiency. According to Cane, (1996) cited by Mullins, (2005) a team is seen as a group of individuals who have a strong common purpose and work towards that purpose rather than individually, and are committed to deliver tangible performance results. The following assignment will comprise of information that will analyse the evaluative measures that a manager requires in order to assess the effectiveness of a work team, and will include supportive literature containing arguments for and against whether team-working is effective, and will enable a conclusive decision to be made. It is common for the term groups and teams to be used interchangeably although teams are often described more in the formal and specific work context. There are various types of groups which include: Formal/Informal groups, reference groups, social groups, professional groups and societies. Formal groups are used mostly in the working environment where there is a specific task to be achieved with set objectives. As an early theory of team effectiveness, Elton Mayo (1880-1949) cited by Business Review (1997) was a follower of F.W. Taylor’s scientific approach to management but was of significance that the work he conducted (The Hawthorne Experiment in the 1920’s) disproved the theories of F.W. Taylor. From Mayo’s work came the human relations approach to management which discovered (amongst other factors) that the workers studied became more cohesive as a group and spontaneously began to work co-operatively as a team and consequently increased productivity. Since these findings, managers of firms began to use team-work as a tool to increase productivity and also found that the motivation of workers increased as result of human interaction. Team-working is crucial in today’s society due to such fierce competition from other firms within their market on factors such as productivity, quality, innovation and technology, which requires the collective inputs of individuals each with different abilities and skills to provide the desired product or development. This is related to the later work of Meredith Belbin (1926-) who set out factors to determine what made a good team combination. Of these factors, it was the team-roles inventory that became famous and of increasing importance to firms who adopted the theory. Belbin identified that, within a team, particular individuals could take on specific roles. The blend of these roles has a crucial influence on the effectiveness of the team. There are nine team-roles altogether described by Belbin, (1993) and cited by Mullins, (2005:557). These are: The Plant who is creative and solves difficult problems, the Resource investigator who explores opportunities and develops contacts, the Co-ordinator who clarifies goals and promotes decision making, the Shaper who has the courage to overcome obstacles, the Monitor-Evaluator who is strategic and sees all options, the Team worker who is co-operative and perceptive, the Implementer who turns the ideas into practical actions, the Completer who searches out for errors and omissions, and the Specialist who provides knowledge and skills that are in rare supply. Teams therefore require a balance of these different characteristics in order to create an effective and functional team in the workplace. However, it is inevitable that not all firms can adopt this inventory due to the fact that the team may not consist of nine people, or the members may not have the necessary characteristics to make up each of the nine roles. Some members of the team are therefore required to fulfil the missing roles which may not be relevant to their characteristic or personality which makes the theory’s effectiveness subject to the organisation and its members. Taskforces, project teams and committees are all key elements in the modern workplace and use modern day management approaches to practices such as empowerment, quality circles, total quality management and how groups manage change. Using these group techniques, the manager can identify the effectiveness of a team by the quality and productivity rate at which the product is developed which makes the organisation more profitable than their competitors. Mullins, (2005). Quality control, improvement and assurance involve methods of team-working including cell-production where employees work as a team to produce a unit or product and use self-checking as a method of inspection before problems arise. In some cases such as factory work, cell-production can relieve monotony because there is interaction with other colleagues along with an element of empowerment because teams have control over their work. Job rotation can be used as a tool to prevent repetition which provides job enlargement and multi-skilling. This can consequently improve motivation and productivity leading to higher profits for the firm. According to Willis, (2001) there are seven key elements that are essential to high-performance work teams which consist of: Commitment, contribution, communication, co-operation, conflict management, change management and connections. To compete effectively, managers/leaders must design a network to consist of these factors along with skilled employees who support each other in the achievement of corporate goals. However, according to Mullins, (2005) as a group or team increases in size, problems start to arise regarding communications and co-ordination. Large groups are difficult to maintain and often require a high level of supervision or a strong team leader. When a group is over-sized there is usually an increased level of absenteeism and the group may become split into smaller groups or sub-groups which may lead to competitiveness and friction within the company. A manager must therefore evaluate what size of group would be best suited and more beneficial for the company which has enough members to generate innovative ideas but not so many that it begins to cause friction. Jay, (1975) cited by Mullins (2005) states that: â€Å"The size of a group will depend upon other variables, but it seems to be generally accepted that cohesiveness becomes more difficult to achieve when a group exceeds 10-12 members.† Different personalities and interests within the group may serve to complement each other, but on the other hand, they may conflict and cause disruption within the group. Good group relationships take time to develop and so consequently, the longer the employees have been a member of the group, the more likely they are to be able to ‘gel’ together and produce a cohesive and effective team. A high staff turnover would have an adverse effect and reduce the morale of the team and potentially the whole workforce. The manager therefore needs to be able to recruit employees that are likely to stay with the organisation for the foreseeable future. This however would be difficult to predict due to the fact that you cannot judge a potential employee on their first impressions. Bass and Ryterband, (1979) cited by Mullins, (2005) states that group development and maturity occurs in four distinct stages: â€Å"Mutual acceptance and membership; communication and decision making; motivation and productivity; and control and organisation.† An alternative and perhaps more popular model devised by Tuckman, (1965) cited by Mullins, (2005) identifies four main stages of group development and relationships: forming, strorming, norming and performing. Tuckman believes that these are the life cycle stages that a group travels through before they become an effective team. Stage one is forming. This process occurs when there is the initial formation of the individuals who identify the purpose of the group and decide individual roles and responsibilities. The second stage – storming is the process of when the members of the group become more familiar with each other and start generating ideas and put forward their views and opinions and make agreements on more meaningful structures and procedures. Stage three known as norming is when members begin to co-operate more in order to plan, agree standards of performance and fulfil the purpose of the group. The final stage is performing when the group has progressed successfully through the earlier stages of development and produced a sense of cohesiveness to work effectively as a team. At this stage the group can ascertain the purpose of the task and objectives. It is now that the group is likely to be the most effective. When evaluating the effectiveness of a work-team, the manager must also consider the possible inadequacies and functional errors of the team. These may include factors such as; spending too much time talking rather than doing; this may either concern a discussion or conflict about the task objectives and strategies/ideas to achieve the objective, or merely a social discussion that has no effect on the task at hand. Although it is important for groups to communicate well, there may be a question of balance. Either discussion could be non-productive wasting valuable time and money and consequently could lead to an ineffective team that decreases profits for the company. There can also be an adverse effect on the business if a group or team works together for too long because the idea of ‘groupthink’ can occur. Janice, (1982) defines this as: ‘a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement that results from in-group pressures’. As a result, this can lead to non-productive work because the group can just drift along towards decisions and not produce new ideas or use their initiative. To avoid this happening, the manager of the company should perhaps rotate members of different groups around to stimulate new ideas. However, by introducing new members to groups could cause conflict within the different teams which would not be beneficial for the company. According to Mullins, (2005) the characteristics of an effective work group should exhibit: â€Å"a belief in shared aims and objectives; a sense of commitment; acceptance of group values and norms; a feeling of mutual trust and dependency; full participation by all members; a free flow of information and communications; the open expression of feelings and disagreements; the resolution of conflict by the members themselves and a lower level of staff turnover, absenteeism, accidents, errors and complaints.† A manager should take all of these factors into consideration when evaluating their work teams and should talk to their employees about whether they feel at ease within the team and are able to contribute freely to discussion without being ruled out by others more forcible members. In conclusion, it is evident after research that team working is much more beneficial to an organisation than individual input because it generates higher production levels and the collaboration of different ideas can often produce much more desired results. Team working is also rewarding in the sense that it increases the motivation of the workforce due to human interaction which may also lead to increased productivity and consequently increased profits. We have learnt from Belbin, (1993) that individuals within work teams/groups suit different roles, and when put together, can produce very effective work teams. However, the performance of work teams will be largely determined by the characteristics of its members meaning what works well for one team may not work well for another. The team is also affected by the tasks to be undertaken, the nature of the technology and the organisational environment. A manager therefore needs to take all these factors into consideration when assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of a work team. Managers have to delegate responsibility to the team members leading to empowerment and job satisfaction. The manager can then judge the effectiveness of the team by the outcome of the task set. Improvements can perhaps be made to the team through the use of group training and development which may provide a more effective work team. Bibliography Bass B. M. and Ryterband, E. C. (1979) Organisational Psychology 2nd ed. Allyn and Bacon Belbin, R. M. (1993) Team roles at work, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Cane, S. (1996) Kaizen strategies for winning through people, Pitman Publishing Janis, J, L (1982) Groupthink, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Jay, A. (1975) Corporation Man, Penguin Mayo, E. (1880-1949) Elton Mayo Revisited – Management Gurus, Business review, February 1997 Mullins, L. J. (2005) Management and organisational behaviour, 7th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited Tuckman, B. W. (1965) Development sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, vol.63, pp 384-99 Willis, S. (2001) 7 keys to building great work teams [cited 29th Nov 2004] Available from: http://www.stickyminds.com/sitewide.asp?ObjectId=2769

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Information Overload Essay

Information Overload Essay Information Overload is an increasing problem both in the workplace and in life in general. It is a state in which the amount of available information is so overwhelming a person is unable to effectively process and utilize it. Information overload is intuitively noticeable in our daily lives. Walking any street, we can hardly measure the amount of information we are exposed to. Information hits us from all directions, newspapers, television, voice mail, cellular phones, email, electronic memos, and the World Wide Web, to name a few. This increase in information, combined with the factor of change in many aspects of our lives, can lead to an unhealthy effect. Information Overload is when you are trying to deal with more information than you are able to process to make sensible decisions. The result is either that you either delay making decisions, or that you make the wrong decisions. Understanding Information overload The first recorded use of the phrase information overload was used by the futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970, when he predicted that the rapidly increasing amounts of information being produced would eventually cause people problems. Heylighen (1999) noted, People exposed to the rapid changes of modern life may develop a state of helplessness and inadequacy. Nelson (2001) defines information overload as the incapability to obtain a form of knowledge from a massive amount of information for one reason or another. Information overload can take place for one of these reasons: 1. Not understanding the existing information 2. Feeling inundated by the need to absorb huge amounts of information 3. Not knowing if the needed information exists or not 4. Not knowing where to obtain the information 5. Knowing where the information is but have no access privilege Causes of Information overload Information overload was experienced long before the appearance of information technology and electronic gadgets. Complaints about too many books echo across the centuries, from when books were papyrus rolls, parchment manuscripts, or hand printed. After Printing innovation books were produced and accumulated in unprecedented numbers, and, given their drop in cost, many more readers than before had access to more books than they could read. In the Internet era where millions of smart phones and gadgets are sold every day, zillions of tons of data are being produced. Thus making people spoilt for choices. With a touch, one can easily get almost any data from any corner of the world. The rate of production of different kinds of data such as news, text, multimedia and graphs is breathtaking. For example: YouTube where 24 hours of video is being uploaded in every minute and the rate is increasing everyday. There are millions of sites are there and even the IP address is going to be exhausted. One could imagine the amount of electronic data that is available to digest. Organizations accumulate a huge amount of information about its internal operations and resources. Fifteen years ago only phone, fax and post mails were used for communication. There is a general increase in business communication by voice mail, e-mail, internet and online conferencing in addition to the above mentioned traditional methods which results information overload. Disadvantages of information overload for an organization Too little or too much information is not good for an individual and an organization. Too much reduces their ability to concentrate effectively on the most important messages. People facing information overload sometimes try to cope by ignoring some of the messages, by delaying responses to messages they deem unimportant, by answering only parts of some messages, by responding inaccurately to certain messages, by taking less time with each message, or by reacting only superficially to all messages. Persons exposed to excessive amounts of information are less productive, prone to make poor decisions, and risk suffering serious stress-related diseases. He becomes highly selective and ignore a large amount of information or give up and dont go beyond the first results in many cases, need more time to reach a decision, make mistakes, have difficulties in identifying the relationship between the details and the overall perspective and waste time. Information overload affects-and afflicts-both individual knowledge workers, struggling to perform their jobs while drowning in data, and entire office organizations, whose productivity and customer care suffer as a consequence. The abundance of information we enjoy today comes at a price. Less apparent is the tremendous hidden cost it imposes on the organization as a whole. In one study, for example, people took an average of nearly 25 minutes to return to a work task after an email interruption. Another study found that time lost to handling unnecessary e-mail and recovering from information interruptions cost Intel nearly $1 billion a year. An article in the October issue of HBR, found that forcing knowledge workers to take weekly breaks from email and other work distractions improved performance. Information Overload on an organization is to understand all the lost opportunities it causes and inefficiencies produced. The amount of information has increased for a number of reasons: there is a general increase in business communication, in-company and with customers and suppliers; trends such as globalisation and deregulation increase competition; companies are downsizing and fewer secretaries are employed to protect people from information; more outsourcing means a wider range of other companies with which it is necessary to communicate. There are also more ways to communicate: by fax, voice mail, e-mail, internet and online conferencing, in addition to the more traditional methods, telephone, meetings, post and telex. The cost to business Time is wasted. People spend too much time looking for information. 38% of managers surveyed waste substantial amounts of time just looking for information. Factors such as the holding of files in different software formats and the speed of the internet at critical times of day contribute to this. Decisions are often delayed: 43% of respondents though that decisions were delayed and otherwise adversely affected by analysis paralysis or the existence of too much information. 47% of respondents said that information collection distracts them from their main responsibilities. They find it difficult to develop strategies for dealing with the information they retrieve. It is interesting to imagine the potential increase in productivity if all distractions were removed. The human costs The study identified for the first time that information overload contributes to stress. Two out of three respondents associated information overload with tension with colleagues and loss of job satisfaction. 42% attributed ill-health to this stress. 61% said that they have to cancel social activities as a result of information overload and 60% that they are frequently too tired for leisure activities. National differences In general these were not considered to be of great significance. Managers in the USA and the United Kingdom get the most unsolicited information. Asian managers appear to need less information to make decisions: only 9% claimed to need enormous amounts of information compared with 31% in the United States. Their major decisions may be made through intuition to a greater extent. More United States managers (39%) agree that they suffer stress than those in the UK and Hong Kong. People can no longer develop effective personal strategies for managing information. Faced with an onslaught of information and information channels, they have become unable to develop simple routines for managing information. Technologies for managing information are often the problem, not the solution. They can create the M25 effect: more lanes just means more traffic. People create and distribute because they can, not because its useful. Intranets can become like the internet full of home-made home pages and dead links. Intelligent agents frequently do not live up to their name. Current research suggests that the surging volume of available information-and its interruption of peoples work-can adversely affect not only personal well-being but also decision making, innovation, and productivity. In one study, for example, people took an average of nearly 25 minutes to return to a work task after an e-mail interruption. Thats bad news for both individuals and their organizations. Theres hope, though. Innovative tools and techniques promise relief for those of us struggling with information inundation. Some are technological solutions-software that automatically sorts and prioritizes incoming e-mail, for instance-designed to regulate or divert the deluge. Others prevent people from drowning by getting them to change the way they behave and think. Who knows: Maybe someday even I will enjoy swimming in the powerful currents of information that now threaten to pull me under. Before we can take action / set the procedure to minimize the negative effect of information overload, we should do the analysis of information flows both individual and organisation. Not only for electronic information source such email, but also for spoken words, reading books and talking to friends and family. The analysis is started with identification what information we need based on our key information areas, when we need the information, to whom we should exchange the information with (information sharing), and why we need the information and how we turn the information into results. After understand the information flow, we will be able to set/construct the procedure of information handling which consists of filtering, information pruning, time management, to-do list and optimization the use of current technology as information organizing and distributing tool. There are two types of filtering information i.e. technical filter and daily communication filter. The technical filter is easier to manage as once we set our preference it will work accordingly. An example of technical filter is filter function that is available in e-mails. Filtering daily communication is more difficult because it depends much on the situation and current conversation at that time. Every reaction to another person is an indication of what you want to hear or not hear during the rest of the conversation. We often think that the information is important/useful for the recipient which actually not from recipient point of view. Filter prime our thinking and test whether the new information is important. However, the filter should not be too rigid, as it may exclude coincidences. We will no longer accidentally stumble across information, as is often part of searches on the internet. As regards of second information flow, we can decide more quickly to simply stop receiving it if the information is just nice to know instead of need to know. We will not miss anything as we dont use this information for making decision. Besides that, this less important information will leave us less time for really important information. There is a tool for technical pruning such as setting up the expiry date and which action should we take e.g. file, cancel, delete, etc. Time management is important as time is always in exceedingly short supply. We never enough with the time that we have. Therefore, attention and concentration are important aspect in time management. With full attention and concentration the time spent for managing information is more efficient. Because we need to remember increasingly more, we need an aid i.e. to do list of actions so that we can keep tracking what things we still need to do/settle. This practice alone will give us a lot of added value. Besides the to-do list, it is also good if we also make not-to-list so that when the time come, we are ready. Nowadays with high technology we can optimize the IT to help us to organize and distribute the information.

Impact of Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction of Nurses

Impact of Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction of Nurses Every day nurses have the responsibility for the health as well as the well being of their patients and therefore to ensure a continuity of the patient care each every nurses on a unit work tougher to ensure that they achieve the shared goals. The cohesive team thus work diligently to promote then patent health, safety and recovery and to achieve such unity nursing manager coordinates and supervises all the interactions that go on between all the team members he is in charge of (Longerich, et al 2003).Nurse leaders may be nurses mangers who are responsible for one nursing unite or a nurse executive held responsible for all the in-patient nursing units. Nurse steam leaders achieve their roles by applying the various nursing leadership style which include: transformational, transactional as well as dynamic leadership. A combination of more than one leadership style is often considered more effective but a single type also serves the intended purpose depending on the situation that the leader is in (Mahoney, 2001). Background The nursing professionals faces one of the greatest challenges of developing future leaders as powerful leadership skills are required all nurses i.e. those responsible for providing direct acre to those in the top management position for example anyone looked upon as an authority ranging from a nurses taking care of a patient to those responsible for giving assistance to others. All of them are considered s leaders. Another difficult that faces leadership for health care professionals is that most of the leadership theories were not developed based on the healthcare context but rather with in the business context then applied to healthcare. A clinical nursing leader is involved in direct patient care as well as offers a continuous improvement of the care by influencing others. Leaders have skills, task which they utilize to as an attitude that inform behavior leading to consistent superior performance with long-term benefits to all those involved. Leader s not alloy control other but are more of visionaries who serve to helping employees to lead, plan, organize and control their activities (Jooste, 2004). In the past decade shelf life of leaders in the health service has halved and instead of working in environments that encourage creative thinking especially about the future of health care there is one that consists of vast paper trails that are characterized by motions masquerading as activity. Thus the luxuries of personal lives for the senior staff are tumbled upon especially in some of the healthcare organizations where 60- hours working in a week has become quite normal. This situation has made some health care staff to no longer work for patients but rather to be motivated by pronouncements from government representatives , media expose an even on the latest scandal regarding misuse of public money (Woolnough, 2002). Health care system has witnessed different parts of the health organization focus on different things which is often marred with poor coordination across the various departments with objectives being sandwiched between keeping costs down with efforts to increasing patient services. Such in-coordination as been felt by the hospital administrators especially at times when demands for administrative services increases and thus administrative jobs are cut. Making choices require certain amounts of freedom, thought, actions, time for weighing options, as well as time for reviews of such decision, unfortunately in health cares leaders lack such luxuries as the reliable, easily accessible and relevant information they require to make decision is often not unavailable. Further more resources and time that is essential for such responsibilities is missing and this affects much of the health care leaders who are driven by gut feeling which is linked to strong sense of personal values regarding what is right, just and reasonable(Outhwaite, 2003). Irrespective of the countries which healthcare leaders operate they are always expected to fulfill the following roles: being a diplomat, a visionary, politician, conflict resolver, coach, figure head as well as a human being failure to which no leader can claim to the title. as a matter of fact most leaders face the pressures of sharing a little pieces of themselves with anyone that ask for it, in addition to that healthcare leaders face real dilemmas regarding several issues like ways of radically changing their organizations without any guarantees of success despite the well planned changes and being able to accept the consequences of their actions, working with political agendas or legislations which they disagree with and also accept the consequences, apportioning of resources of the available as fairly as possible while also accepting the consequences, saying no when they want to say yes and also accept the consequences ,trying to act ethically yet sometimes leading to failures and knowing that despite their selfless effort someone some how cries foul. In addition to that healthcare leaders are faced with challenges of making decision like making choices regarding decisions on acting on absolute principle or creative several flexible responses, to keep particular services or to discard them, having a open organization and developing closer ties with the service users yet at same time having little or no control over the eventual outcomes, to continue to lead or not (Outhwaite, 2003). Failure to act in decisive manner by healthcare leaders may lead to general delay action for instance lack of medical and nursing action in the review of requested treatment in admission leads to inaction on the part of delivering the treatment. The pivotal role of the leader may be overshadowed by fear of unjust critism which result to delayed decision which its ultimate consequence of having to deal with sense of failure and guilt. Leadership Leadership can be defined as the process of influencing others, meeting goals by obtaining the co-operation from those around them and acquiring the resources to achieve their goal. To be a leader you must make a decision to act; doing so requires skill, knowledge, energy, vision and self-confidence (Tappen, 2001). On the other hand, leadership may not be obvious or visible process of influencing others, but the very leadership features within the individual may trigger other people to act according the leading person. Carney (1999) defines leadership as persuading others to pursue a common goal by setting aside individual concerns, while Marquis Huston (2000) states that leadership is made up of authority and accountability. They define authority as the power one has to direct the work of others and accountability as well as the moral responsibility that comes with the position of leadership. Majority of existent theories pays attention to leadership as a personal feature which is more or less helpful when achieving goals within the organization and not for individual goals. However, this paper work would focus on both parts as leadership in nursing field requires the same amount of attention to the work of organization and the individual as well. In other words, if adding all definitions together, we get the idea that leadership involve influence on others, authority, achievement of goals through command work and the leaders moral responsibility. The basic question is how the leader arranges his / her priorities, the job of staff, atmosphere, etc. Leadership theories Trait theory Much has been written about the differing leadership styles and theories over the last seventy years. Many leadership theories have evolved over the last century starting with Trait theory. It is based on the assumption that some people possess personality traits which single them out as natural leaders and those who possess such traits should be nurtured into leadership positions (Marquis Huston, 2000). However, this theory was abandoned by the 1940s as no set of consistent traits could be identified and thus research focused on the behavior and attitudes of managers based on the assumption that leadership styles are based on specific behavior. (Sellgren et al, 2006) Nowadays, many ideas of trait theory are rejected as psychology studies provided evidence that leadership though appears as every individuals feature is not that helpful when trying to nurture it so this theory now has only historical rather than practical importance. Behavioral theory Research on leadership has shifted focus from leadership traits to leadership behavior (Bass, 1981 cited in McNeese-Smith, 1996). Behavioral theories particularly focus on what a leader does (Whitehead et al, 2007). This approach was adopted from the 1950s onwards following two major studies by American universities. It looked at what a leader does and what he / she should do, what is leaders role when facing certain problems, the behavior exhibited by leaders and the influence of leadership style on a groups performance. Research into behavioral theory was based on the premise that each leader has a style based on their personality, they experience and education (Ekvall, 1992 cited in Sellgren et al, 2006). Also, the theory was interested on leaders interaction in group work, and how members of the group react to each other and especially, the leading figure. For further analysis, the leaders behavior can be separated into three main leadership styles Authoritarian, democratic and Laissez-faire (Tappen, 2001). Leadership style is related to the amount of control or freedom which the leader affords to the group (McCarthy, 1998). Authoritarian Authoritarian leaders keep most of the authority and make most of the decisions without much consultation with the group. Autocratic leadership style does not allow group participation and does not nurture creativity. This may have the effect of de-motivating the team members in the long term (Whitehead et al, 2007). In some cases it can even be said that autocratic leader does not even need a group work; all what matters is groups ability to follow the orders. Authoritarian style can however, be useful in situations where group participation would be counter-productive or where rapid decisions need to be made. Still, rapid decisions do not guarantee success, so this type of leadership in many cases is rarely acceptable. There are certain researchers nowadays who examine the leadership and leaders behavior of important historical figures. They draw a conclusion that many presidents, politicians and generals of the past were good authoritarian leaders as the very lifestyle back then were based on social status and the power within the society (Whitehead et al, 2007). Education also played an important role and the good leader was the one who could lead the whole nation to success by making decisions on his own. Fortunately or not, nowadays this type of leadership is often treated as unacceptable behavior rather than type of leadership. Democratic This style of leadership takes the opinions of the group into account. The decision making is shared with the group paying attention to every single critique and comment from other members of the group. This style encourages group participation and exercises general, rather than close supervision. (Carney, 1999) In other words, it is all seen in the very word democratic; the leader within the group is seen as more important figure than everyone else, but the leader himself / herself is responsible for creating a feeling of equality; work in such group usually would be followed by friendly and positive atmosphere as every individual in the group would be seen in many cases as more important figure than the very problem they are solving. Possible drawbacks may be that democratic leaders are only strong when every individual feels strong in the group, but some leaders are not capable of withstanding their opinion if it may damage the atmosphere within the group. Despite that, these case s are rarely discussed as after such incidents the authority of the leader may be diminished and the group would be searching for other leading figure. Laissez faire In this style the leader allows the group to determine their own way of working and does not provide much direction, feedback or decision making. This type of leader is passive and non-directive; he / she provide little support for the group and in fact may turn requests for help and support back to the group in general (Tappen, 2001). Some groups require passive leader, who in a way will took all responsibility, but actions and decisions would be made by other people in the group. It does not necessarily suggest that this kind of leadership is provoked by group members; the leader should be conscious about the situation and accept that. Some behavior researchers and psychologists even points out that this type of leadership requires more psychological knowledge and personal strength than others; not many people would allow such freedom for the group without being afraid to accept full responsibility of their actions (Tappen, 2001). In more recent times, research carried out by Kouzes Posner (1988) and Bass (1995) showed interesting results about leadership behaviors. They studied over 1,300 leaders and have identified five different leadership behaviors: Challenging the process: these are leaders who are innovative and experimental; their work should be a challenge. Inspiring a shared vision: Intuitive leaders who picture the future and enlist others to become involved; Enabling others to act: these are empowered and supportive leaders who build trust and team work; Modeling the way: Leaders who act as role models, setting a good example and practicing what they preach; Encouraging the heart: Leaders, who support their followers, recognize and reward their accomplishments, though some researchers nowadays questions methods of leading the group through rewards (especially material). These leadership behaviors are very useful and can be used as independent variables to measure both the managers opinion of their style of leadership and that which is perceived by those they manage. This in turn can be used as an indication of employees satisfaction with their managers style. Situational leadership theory This leadership theory is based on the premise that leadership style should be determined by the situation or the individuals involved (Marquis Huston, 2009). The differing leadership styles of situational leadership proposed by Hersey et al (1997) are based on the maturity or readiness of the follower. They set out four levels of readiness ranging from low (unable or unwilling) to high (able, willing and competent) and depending on the level of the follower the leaders style is directive, coaching, supportive or delegate in approach. There would be helpful to present an example which would illustrate this theory better. For example, the leader who is working with group of people which is known to him / her would follow absolutely different steps or provide different behavior when working with other group of people which he / she has not met before. That is because new people would consciously or not question presented leaders authority, their working methods may contradict the meth ods by which leader chooses to act, etc. In other words, this theory focuses on the new direction which was not discussed before the conflict between group members and leader when facing certain new issues, or anything at all what is innovative and not known how to deal with. Situational leadership stresses out the importance of leaders actions in new situations where group work has to be organized very carefully (Hersey, 1997). Charismatic Theory (Transactional and Transformational leadership styles) New leadership styles have developed in more recent times and that involves the transactional leadership and transformational leadership, both of which are part of Charismatic theory (Rafferty, 1993). In rapidly growing health sector, these kinds of leadership are especially notable up to the present day. Transactional leadership is characterized by bargaining, it emphasizes the organizations goals while recognizing the rewards that people value. Once goals have been achieved the leader rewards those who helped to achieve them (Lindholm et al 2000, Carney 1999). It seems as a very fair method to focus on goals rather than rewards; the sequence of actions is very strict, showing that efforts would be rewarded only if they were effective. Transformational leadership has charisma as its focus. The leader provides the vision, instilling a sense of pride in achievements, while gaining trust and respect from the group. Transformational leadership raises both leader and follower to a high level of motivation and morality as both shares a common value according to Burns (1978) who coined the term. In other words, both leader and the follower are on the same level, the main distinction is who leaded who to such level. To shortly sum up, this theory basically was called charismatic as leader must be able to build up the strategy consciously and think ways of how group can effectively be included into achievement of necessary goals. Servant leadership One of the more recent leadership concepts is Servant leadership. This style is very different to traditional views of management where the organizations needs take precedence. Servant leadership is concerned with service to the follower as opposed to engaging followers to support organizational goals (Stone et al, 2004). Servant leaders take into account their followers needs first and this in turn empowers them to achieve organizations goal. This also sometimes brings problem of inequality in light as the leaders needs and the followers would be of very different level. Thus, one side could feel in a way used but in many cases feelings would not be considered that important as many problems are solved in formal style and achievement of goals is the only satisfactory solution. This theory was called servant for various reasons very few literature provides the origin of such concept, as the fact that organizations word is always the last, is quite natural itself (Carney, 1999). To sum up these kinds of leadership theories, the short evolution of leadership studies it is seen that analysis provides numbers of exceptions, and ambiguities. Every theory and every type of leadership can be understood and interpreted differently considering every individual. Leadership is necessary in group work to achieve certain goals, but nothing can guarantee or provide an easy pattern to do so. However, after this discussion we now would be focusing on another part of this paper analysis; in what forms leadership appears in nursing field and how leadership styles can help to achieve personal or institutional goals and bring satisfaction for the job. Leadership styles in Nursing What is clear from the literature is that no one style of management and leadership is consciously used within nursing as a specific method to cope with certain issues that nurses and ward managers are facing. However, what emerges is that predominantly health care has moved away for the traditional autocratic style and towards a combination of transactional and transformational leadership. A study of 71 Irish Health Managers carried out by Armstrong (1999) found that over half used transactional and transformational leadership. The reasons are quite obvious. The period of time shows that the research is quite new and nowadays autocratic leadership is usually interpreted negatively. Transactional and transformational leadership, however are more effective in nursing field as such kind of leadership showed great success in institutional work (Avolio, 1988). Nurses in general, aims to helping people, and these two styles of leadership are emphasize the co-operation with other people; g roup work and care for others is extremely important to get successful results. Nowadays in nursing field other models are rarely seen as effective and though it can be said that democratic leadership is also very common, it usually appears in the group of nurses excluding their direct leader the employer. Democratic leadership often occurs where leader is not the one with higher status, but the one which is chosen by the group as the most reliable or so on (Bass, 1995). In a study carried out by Lindholm et al (2000) he found that more than half of managers interviewed exhibited a combination of both transactional and transformational leadership styles and these managers appeared to experience fewer management problems, less resistance to change and greater support from other professional groups within health care. What is not really acceptable is that these studies do not provide enough information about minorities, who are using different leadership styles. Although, it is only natural to state that leaders who uses different methods or have mixed qualities, often are said to be better than those who can be applied only to one pattern. The Hay group, an international management consultancy firm which carried out a study of leadership styles in seven NHS trusts in Brittan sets out six leadership styles which are prevalent in nursing (Kenmore, 2008): Directive: A leader who instructs staff on what to do without consultation, this often seems as autocratic style, though also can be the transactional or transformational leadership style leader; Visionary: The leader who provides long term guidance and vision for the future, the team work is important and especially the trust for a leader; Affiliative: This leader creates harmony within the team as other way the achievement of goals would be not as effective as needed; this style is especially good if the certain group is going to co-operate in the future, they would find ways to achieve goals effectively together as a team; Participative: A leader who generates ideas and develops staff commitment; it is an active leader who also works in a group though he / she clearly states who is the leader; Pace-setting: This leader promotes high standards and task accomplishments as he / she finds the reward as the best way to motivate his group; statistics show that money as motivation is not the most important part for job satisfactory, but still this kind of leaders are quite common; Coaching: A leader who promotes self-development and further education; it is a sort of investment in group for facing future tasks; also very effective if the team would work together for a long period of time. The Hay group found that the most effective ward managers are flexible in their approach and used a variety of these leadership styles in order to get the best performance from their staff (Kenmore, 2008). However there is no comparative study of leadership styles carried out within Irish nursing on this scale which identifies an opportunity for further research in order to gain better understanding in the Irish context. In Ireland the National Clinical Leadership Programme (2008) was set up by the Office of the Nursing Midwifery Services Directory (ONMSD) to assist nurse managers to develop leadership skills which support the new and expanded ways of delivering quality patient care. This programme was adopted from the Royal College of Nursings (RCN) Clinical Leadership Programme framework which aims to develop transformational leadership qualities in participants (Clinical Leadership Pilot Evaluation Report, 2008). The theoretical framework focuses on: Learning to self manage Developing effective relationships Patient focus Networking Political Awareness This leadership programme has since been developed further by the ONMSD to become the National Leadership Development Project. This project has developed competencies which promote clinical leaders. These, the ONMSD believe, are the key to providing better care and developing leadership within nursing. This pilot project commenced in March 2011 with the completion date set for 2012. (NLDP, 2010). So far, this project received positive reviews by many researchers of health care studies and the nurses themselves. Defining Job satisfaction history and current thoughts Job satisfaction is defined by Locke (1969) as: a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experience. It is described as a positive affective orientation towards employment by Muller McCloskey (1990). Job satisfactory is a crucial factor which influences individuals personal appearance in his / her work sphere which can result in increasing or decreasing effectiveness in job duties. As a formal area of research, job satisfaction did not really exist until the mid 1930s although there was a good deal of qualitative research and theorizing about the concept of job satisfaction. These included Freud (1922) who felt that morale acted to suppress negative tendencies, encouraging personal sacrifice and commitment to group goals. Janet (1907) theorized that repetitive work encouraged one to dwell on negative thoughts and cause obsessive thinking. Historically, researchers were interested in job satisfaction as a means of increasing productivity. Scientific management theory assumed that above all things, workers value economic incentives and would be willing to work harder for economic incentives. Taken these two opinions into account it is seen that the lack of personal or moral satisfaction still was not discussed widely. This led to the Hawthorne studies which were carried out by Professor Elton Mayo from the Harvard Business School between 1927 and 1932. This study began by examining the effect of physical conditions on productivity, however in the course of his investigations he became convinced that factors of a social nature were affecting job satisfaction and productivity. This study revealed that the feelings and attitudes of workers affected production rates and this led to him introducing an interview programme to assess the nature of the relationship between methods of supervision and workers attitudes. As a result of these interviews it became apparent that small changes in work conditions temporarily increase productivity but further investigations reveled that this increase resulted, not from the changes in conditions, but from the knowledge that workers were being observed. In other words when interest was shown in workers their productivity increased but when this interest was withdrawn , the productivity fell. This later became known as the Hawthorne effect. This research provided strong evidence that people work for other purposes than pay as well and sparked a wave in research into other factors which affect job satisfaction. After these studies and thoughts about job satisfactory, numbers of tools for measuring job satisfaction appear. One of the most commonly used is Maslows theory of human needs (1954). Maslow asserted that human needs emerge sequentially according to a hierarchy of five need levels: physiological, safety, affiliation, achievement and esteem and self-actualization. Maslow argued that the satisfied need was not a motivator of behavior and therefore the importance of higher needs increases as lower needs are satisfied. This was followed by Herzberg et al (1959) who went on to develop a theory of job satisfaction based on Maslows hierarchy and concluded that not all factors increase satisfaction. They conclude that there was a relationship between job satisfaction and certain work behaviors as well as between job dissatisfaction and other work behaviors. Hertzberg concluded that satisfaction and dissatisfaction were two totally different phenomena which develop from distinct sources and h ad differing initial and long term effects on behavior. Hertzberg also found that the factors related to good feelings towards ones job were achievement and recognition, the nature of the work itself, responsibility, advancement and salary. The bad feelings towards the job stemmed from company policy and administration, technical supervision, the question of payment, interpersonal relationships with supervisors and working conditions. Hertzbergs basic proposition is that workers are driven by two different factors; hygiene and motivation factors. Hygiene needs related to the physical and psychological environment in which the work is done while motivational factors relate to the nature and the challenge of the work itself. However, there has been severe criticism of Hertzbergs theory due to its lack of empirical support as well as the very idea of job satisfactory did not provide examples of fairly different job spheres. The job satisfaction of nurses There is a wealth of literature relating to job satisfaction in general management literature and to a lesser extent, in nursing literature. From the moment when job satisfaction became a field of psychological interest, numbers of considerable researches has been done on various aspects of job satisfaction. One of the most notable studies was carried out by the Hay group and it would be mentioned further. Job satisfaction is not easily defined mostly because it means different things to different people. Job satisfaction is multifaceted and can be affected by both internal and external factors. Atchison (2003) lists pay as the most important external factor but states that internal factors such as a good boss, professional development and a nurturing work environment are even more important. This is borne out by the extensive study carried out by the Hay group (1999) of over 500,000 employees in 300 locations where they found that employees rated pay and benefits in only 10th position in the reasons for employee satisfaction. According to Atchison (2003), pay checks are entitlements and not motivators. The only time a pay check is motivating is when there is a threat of loss of the pay check. Atchison (2003) states, that job satisfaction to nurses is unique as what motivates nurses is not so much pay and conditions but rather the well-being of the patient and a sense of a job well don e. What is more, not payment, but the patient is one of the most important figures in nurses job. Even when the patient outcome is not positive a nurse may feel a sense of satisfaction having met the patients needs spiritually, physically and psychologically. This is defined by the Hay group (1999) as Meaningful work, making a difference and is cited as the 3rd most common reason given by employees for wanting to stay with a company. Pay ranked at only 10th place as a reason for staying, though this may vary in other countries depending on nursing conditions, economy, etc. This research lists ten reasons overall (Hay group, 1999): Career growth, learning and development Exciting work, challenging Meaningful work, making a difference Great people Being part of a team Good boss Recognition for job well done Autonomy, sense of control over ones work Flexible work hours and dress code Fair pay and benefits This is re-iterated by Lebbin (2007) who says that many people who work in health care are motivated by improving the health and well-being of their patients. He goes on to state that staff dissatisfaction cannot be fixed by increasing pay and benefits but by the organization addressing its primary goal which is caring. Blegin (1993) found that factors affecting employee satisfaction were: employer commitment, communication with supervisors, autonomy, recognition, and peer communication. This study also found that stress and routinization negatively affected employees satisfaction. Basically, if an employee meets constant stress in work place or the job becomes as a routine, the changes are necessary, and the payment is rarely a sol