Prashant Lakhera free essay sample

The case revolves around these three individuals, Prashant Lakhera (senior analyst at Credit Rating Agency Limited), Gagan Vedi (analyst at Construction Development Board) and Deepak Ghosh (project manager at CDB) who had to finish a credit rating report by December 27, 2006 for their client, Continent Construction Limited. The objective of CDB is to provide a forum for all parties involved in construction and CRB deals in providing investment information and credit rating services. CRB and CDB had an agreement to work together on credit rating, where CDB would provide technical expertise and CDA would provide two analysts and its expertise in rating methodology. These grading were done to increase the confidence of the bank in the construction sector. The CRB-CDB team that consisted of Prashant Lakhera, Gagan Vedi, and Deepak Ghosh were given the task to grade Continent Construction limited. During the task, the team visited two CCL sites where they were relying on Ghosh’s expertise on construction as he has been in this business for more than two decades. We will write a custom essay sample on Prashant Lakhera or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Contrary to that Ghosh cted very immature and didn’t work as a team member. He used local language to talk to the construction workers and site engineers instead of English which was not appreciated by the other two members of the team. He even didn’t record anything in his diary which could bring a lot to the tables during the team meetings. Even after constant reminders for Lakhera, he kept the same attitude and didn’t comply with the team’s rules. This behaviour of Ghosh’s created a lag between him and the other two members of the team and the team didn’t meet after the two construction site visit till their meeting with CCL. During the meeting with CCL in Mumbai, a question of unaccounted money was raised by Ghosh which left the other team members and the financial manager of CCL shocked but the situation was very well handled by Prashant Lakhera. Ghosh was asked to be quiet during the whole meeting which did make him really frustrated and angry. Post this event, when the team met in Hotel to finalize the report Ghosh didn’t gave any operational analysis and walked off on Prashant Lakhera and Gagan Vedi asking them to finish the report on their own. Background: Credit Rating  Agency Limited (CRA), a leading provider of  investment information and credit rating services in India, had two divisions- Credit Rating and Industry Research. In order to extend its product offering to include grading services for construction entities CRA’s Industry Research division had a tie-up with Construction development Board (CDB) in November 2006. CDB was a Government of India undertaking with an objective of providing a forum for all parties involved in construction to express their concerns and study various problems of the sector. As per  the agreement  between CRA and CDB, the latter would provide technical expertise and network of construction entities and former would provide two analysts along with its rating methodology to analyze the financial statement of construction activities. Their recent but extremely important assignment was for Continent Construction Limited (CCL), with project sites at Nashik and Jalgaon. Prashant Lakhera and Gagan Vedi are the two  financial analysts from the CRA, and Deepak Ghosh is the project manager from CDB. Learning Objectives: ) Team spirit and Group Dynamics. 2) Managing others and understanding the difference between personal and positional power. 3) To understand the responsibilities of a manager how to get things done on time by the people assigned to a particular task. 4) Dynamics of relationship management with colleagues and between organization and also the impact of this dynamic on work performance.. 5) Tackling an unwanted situation where sensitive questi ons are put forward by a subordinate to a Senior Official in an organization. Discussion Questions: Question 1: What has happened so far in the CRA-CDB project? Has Lakhera missed opportunities to manage Ghosh? What could Lakhera have done? Overview of the Project Journey so far: Although the two companies namely Credit Rating Agency (CRA) and Construction Development Board (CDB) had been in contract for grading Continent Construction Limited (CCL) for a long time no efforts were made by the executives of both companies in getting to know each other. It has been mentioned that Ghosh and Lakhera had not met and had been communication over mails or telephone. The first meeting of Lakhera, Vedi and Ghosh which happened in Chennai in the month of November, was spent mostly in Ghosh briefing them about the CRA rating methodology. Instead they could have utilised the time to get to know each other and breaking the ice and develop a more personal rapport and friendship. The team flew to their respective destinations after that and did not get in touch until the day they started working on the CCL assignment. Site Visits by the team: It was decided that the team would visit the two construction sites of CCL to gauge their work and give a realistic picture of the company’s operational strengths. 1) Nashik Visit: The team first decided to visit the construction site at Nashik where CCL was building a bridge. They decided to have a random inspection of the site alongwith a CCL site engineer. Instead of working together as a team, Ghosh started talking to the local workers in their native language which was unknown to both Lakhera and Vedi. When they both tried to intervene Ghosh replied by saying that he would manage and since they did not want to create a scene in front of their clients Lakhera and Vedi quietly followed the site engineer and Ghosh not understanding of what was happening around. After reaching the hotel when asked for details Ghosh did not divulge into anything and mostly kept all the information to himself. Instead he told Lakhera and Vedi to concentrate on the financial aspects of the company and leave the construction part to him as construction was his forte. ) Jalgaon Visit: The second visit was planned to Jalgaon where CCL had undertaken a road construction project. The whole process that happened in Nashik was repeated in Jalgaon with Ghosh taking in-charge of things and making individual visits all over the site leaving Vedi and Lakhera as mere passive analysts of the whole situation. Also Lakhera and Vedi avoided asking any questions since asking the same questions would have made the situation awkward for them and the firm (CDB and CRA) would also lose credibility in front of its clients. Frustration kept in day after day since Ghosh was being uncooperative and not giving any details to them and instead had briefed his boss at CDB about both the sites and given updates to him. After this incident the team stopped exchanging any notes and attempts were made to reconcile the situation. No fixed timeline was decided for completion of grading report and communication stopped completely between Lakhera, Vedi and Ghosh. On the night of dinner meeting with client Ghosh failed to show up on time and on his arrival greeted only the client without even acknowledging his team members. ) Mumbai Meeting: The team of CRA-CDB was meeting its client CCL in Mumbai to update them on the grading progress. The team had decided that Ghosh would only be a mute spectator of the meeting not providing any inputs. But after the financial analysis when the finance manager of CCL asked for operational details Ghosh coluld not take it anymore and asked whether the team had taken into consideration the costs that wouold be incurred in paying bribes to union leaders to ensure smooth work. This outraged the CCL manager but somehow Lakhera and Vedi were able to manage the situation and did not let it go out of hand. 4) Hotel Incident: After the meeting with the finance manager of CCL, later that night the three of them decided to meet at 8pm and discuss notes. When Ghosh was asked to incorporate his operational analysis following the two site visits, he just stormed out of the room shouting â€Å"Do what you want to do, I don’t care anymore†, leaving Lakhera and Vedi shocked. Missed Opportunities and Steps Lakhera could have taken: Lakhera at the beginning should have made an attempt in Chennai itself in getting to know Ghosh personally. Since both he and Vedi belonged to same organization Ghosh could have felt out of place and it was the responsibility of both Lakhera and Vedi to have made him feel more comfortable. If Ghosh was not taking an initiative they both could have started an informal conversation and involved Ghosh into it making the surroundings more familiar to Ghosh which would have helped in the future. After the Nashik incident Lakhera should have spoken to Ghosh and made it clear to him that since all of them were supposed to be working together as a team it was essential for Ghosh to give them details of the meeting or converse in a language that was known to all. He could not have worked alone as it was a joint venture of CRA and CDB. Also after the Jalgaon incident communication went completely for a toss and everyone was working alone. Lakhera should have realized that Ghosh was never an initiator of conversation and whatever may be happening he could ave taken an initiative to talk to him instead of just stopping the communications completely. Also they refrained themselves from asking any questions at client sites considering that repetition of same questions would be a cause of embarrassment for them. Instead they should have lingered around Ghosh and asked questions in Hindi since English would be an unknown language to the site workers which would have made Ghosh stopped asking questions in native language and would have given Lakhera and Vedi an insight into the construction aspect of CCL. Question 2: Evaluate Lakhera’s options. 1) The first option available with Lakhera is to reconcile his differences with Ghosh since all the operational details of the construction site are known to him only. And plus the deadline is just four hours away not leaving much time with Lakhera to do any research on his own. 2) Other option could be to have a conversation with Ghosh’s boss and giving him details of what has happened so far and asked him to intervene in the matter. His boss might be able to get Ghosh on line and make him help Lakhera and Vedi to complete the grading report in time. ) Also Mr. Phadnis, the boss of Lakhera and Vedi could be brought into the loop of all the things and he could help in things by talking to higher management at CDB to make Ghosh work atleast cordially on this project. 4) The least feasible option for Lakhera and his company would be to approach the clients CCL and ask for more time to complete the grading report without the involvement of Ghosh or CBD at all. But this could lead to embarrassment in front of clients and they might lose the project entirely. Also it would mean more costs to CRA since they would have to begin everything from scratch. Also they would need to hire some construction expert from outside since Lakhera nd Vedi have limited knowledge of operational facts of construction business. Question 3: What would you do if you were in Lakhera’s shoes? The best option would be to try and reconcile differences with Ghosh as there is little time to do anything else. Also for future decide on a particular framework within which things would be done. Guidelines on involvement of everyone on the project would be devised. Ghosh would be updated on financial aspects by Lakhera and Vedi and he would update them on operational aspects of the business. Since not much time is there for the project to get over cordial relations would be maintained for next week till the presentation on December 27th is made. Managerial Learning: 1) Personality Conflict: The case presented above was typical example of how people with different educational backgrounds and different work areas thus having developed a very different personality would function in team setting resulting in conflicts. ) Interpersonal Relations: The case also shows the importance of communication and having good inter personal skills so that no gaps arise between the team members. 3) Crisis Prevention: the case also shows how important it is to be pro active so that whatever crisis arises can be handled in time without letting them escalate to a level where the consequences become difficult for the firm to handle. ) Conflict Management: If Lakhera, Vedi and Ghosh had sat down and spoken about the differences that arose during the course of their meetings the situation would not have become this worse and conflicts could have been resolved amicably. 5) Conflict Resolution: the case also shows how we can employ different strategies to resolve conflicts arising between the team members working together towards the same goal.

The Loss of Victorian Morality Essay Example

The Loss of Victorian Morality Essay Example The Loss of Victorian Morality Essay The Loss of Victorian Morality Essay Essay Topic: The Poetry of Dh Lawrence The Victorian Era and The Loss of Morality The Victorian era marks the period of Queen Victorians reign over England from 1837, until her death in January 1901. It was an age of new prosperity brought about by thriving industrialization, new scientific discoveries and technology, which encouraged the rise of an educated middle class. This new age also brought about a shift from agriculture to manufacturing, causing mass immigration into cities. City life provided Victorians with freedom and anonymity from the social values of smaller rural communities, and resulted in the loss of social and spiritual morality with lenience, poverty and carnality becoming routine occurrences. New cultural ideals and scientific findings, such as evolution, clashed with the religious philosophies of the time. The early Victorian age also had an influence upon literature and poetry and produced many excellent writers, such as Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, and Matthew Arnold. The subject matter of most Victorian works by these authors was usually socially oriented and focused upon the practical problems of daily life and contained moral messages for their readers. Robert Browning focused his poetry on the scandals of everyday Victorian urban fife. He used sex, violence and moral hypocrisy as themes in many of his poems. Browning, like Charles Dickens, filled his literary works with people from all levels of society and he also included characters that were immoral and evil. According to The Literature Network, Robert Borrowing dramatic monologues covered a wide array of subjects, from lucid dreams to the nature of art and even the meaning of existence. His poems Porphyrys Lover and My Last Duchess, are similar in that they both include murderers who coldly describe their evil deeds without any remorse. Porphyrys Lover, begins with a lover describing the arrival of Porphyry, and then it quickly descends into a description of her murder at his hands. He describes how he strangled his lover with her own hair to preserve the moment forever. The poem My Last Duchess also echoes this theme of depravity. The Duke describes his last wife, whose painting is hidden behind a curtain on the wall, and cheerfully mentions that his wife seemed to smile at everyone, so he Gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together (Browning 503). Robert Browning, like Matthew Arnold, included religious figures in his momentary of the loss of social values in society. His poem, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister demonstrates that religious men were not immune to immoral behavior either. In the Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, the speaker spews out his intense hatred for his colleague, Brother Lawrence. The reader quickly discovers that Brother Lawrence is a sincere and devout Christian; however, the narrator is in fact morally, spiritually and socially bankrupt. Scott and John, suggests that Borrowings botanical references throughout the poem not only demonstrate the narrators petty attitudes ND disturbed mind, but also suggests that homosexuality and buggery were common place. He points out that the word scrofulous in stanza 8, (Browning IPPP) could also refer to the Latin name of a plant commonly used to cure piles, which was poetry shares a common thread with Matthew Arnolds poetry, in that they both use variety and inventiveness to draw attention to a narrators thoughts and concerns. Arnold is more thoughtful about what true spiritual belief should be; yet, Browning tackles the same topics in a more flamboyant manner by illustrating what true Puritanism is not. The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Parades Church, is one of Borrowing most famous poems and demonstrates his view that base, immoral tendencies could be found anywhere in Victorian society. This poem also portrays a man of high religious standing, who lacks the morals and values of Christianity. In the bishops final hours, he is not interested in seeking God or what the afterlife has in store for him, but rather he focuses on the material goods he is leaving behind on earth. He does not look at the afterlife as a chance of being closer to God, or coming whole, but rather sees it as his chance to leave a legacy on earth. In his final moments he is concerned over the type of gems and stone that his tomb will be made of, and is mostly concerned about outdoing Gondolas tomb. Rather than honoring the Christian idea that in dying on earth, one will thereby become alive to God, the Bishop focuses on honoring himself and his life. The bishop clings onto life, so that he can ensure that his tomb will reflect his greatness, and be an earthly monument that shows how much better he is than Gondola. When Browning addresses morality, his themes tend to revolve around the separation of people and morality from the church. Both the Bishop in The Bishop Orders His Tomb and the monk in the Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister are concerned with earthly matters as opposed to the Christian message that one needs to focus on the things in Heaven. Browning uses art as a symbol of the loss of morality. The art mentioned in Borrowing poems sound like beautiful works; however, the beauty is merely an illusion that highlights a narrator who is immoral, at best, or a cold-blooded murderer at worst. The portrait of the Duchess was only painted because of the corruption and evil of the Duke. Just as the Bishops beautiful tomb was only to be constructed in order for the Bishop to praise himself, and his worldly possessions. Matthew Arnolds poems, Stanzas from the Grandee Chartreuse and Dover Beach, show his distrust of the past and the philosophies, theologies and ideals that were popular in their time. Arnold is living in an era of change, and while he determines that faith and religion no longer provide answers or meaning to his life, he has nothing to replace it with. In Stanzas from the Grandee Chartreuse he finds that he is wandering between two worlds (Arnold 85); the world of religion which he has deemed as dead (Arnold 85) and the new scientific knowledge and beliefs that are unable to fill the void left by the loss of faith, and are too powerless to be born. (Arnold 86) Arnold laments that if the time for faith and spiritual fulfillment has passed, then why cant science take away, At least, the restlessness, (and) the pain (Arnold 103). He is cynical about his own time period and questions the ability of society to make spiritual or moral sense of the new modern era. Arnolds concerns for future generations reflect the turmoil caused by booming industrialization. He suggests that religion should provide moral guidance and a social safety net during chaotic times of change, and although scientific knowledge and advancements appear to make the concept of faith obsolete, there will always be the necessity for of the nineteenth or even the twentieth century captures the isolation of modern humanity as does Dover Beach, with its use of the Tachycardia night battle. Anderson points out that the poem encompasses Arnolds theme about the human indention and attempts to capture the sense of confusion and isolation. Arnold believed that poetry should illuminate the human condition by offering a satisfying sense of reality and reconciling human beings with the universe(Anderson). Arnold believes the loss of morality is centered upon the loss of religion in society, and he like Dickens, also agrees that new philosophies, science and facts are not substitutes f or spiritual wholeness. Both Arnold and Browning address the churches role in the loss of morality. When Arnold refers to the Catholic Church in Stanzas from the Grandee Chartreuse he mentions how the church and priests are prideful, and the purpose of their hymns is to honor the march of Rome (Arnold 599 line 50). Arnold uses imagery, specifically the scenery of nature as symbols of lost morality. Arnolds description of the long disused trail to the Saint Laurent Monastery symbolizes the abandonment of religion and religious morality and values in society. Arnolds description of nature seems to be violent and dark, symbolizing the clash of nature and religion. Charles Dickenss novel, Hard Times, was published in 1854 and serves s the authors commentary on industrialization and the age of machinery, as well as the prevailing philosophy of rationalism, self-interest, and fact. F. R. Leaves classifies it as a moral fable (Dickens 364), and states that Dickens is Possessed by a comprehensive vision, one in which the inhumanities of Victorian civilization are seen as fostered and sanctioned by a hard philosophy, the aggressive formulation of an inhumane spirit (Dickens 365). Dickens uses the characters of the Grandkid children to illustrate the emotional and spiritual void that fact-driven philosophy has left them. They are unable to cope with the morally depraved effects of an industrialized civilization and are ill-equipped to make any real decisions about anything important in their lives. One of the novels main characters is Louisa Grandkid. She is a woman who appears to be cold, detached and unfeeling due to the education she has received that focused entirely upon cold hard facts. Her father describes her as: well-trained and not impulsive not romantic Accustomed to view everything from the strong dispassionate ground of reason and calculation (Dickens 75). She is neither moral nor amoral. Under the Utilitarian philosophy, Louisa is merely an excellent end product, full of dry, useless facts and void of any imagination (Dickens 79). Louisa brother, Tom, also a product of strict utilitarian schooling and upbringing is described as someone Whose imagination had been strangled in his cradle and is a hypocrite and a monster (Dickens 102). Tom turns out to be a self-absorbed thief who prefers money and gambling above all else, even family. His life ends badly after he robs Bounders bank and eventually dies thousands of miles away from Louisa. Dickens communicates the loss of holding innocence due to the changing philosophies and times, and the impact the loss of childhood had on ones moral character. Dickenss characterization of Mr.. Grandkids good friend, Josiah Bounder, exemplifies the social and moral decline created by industrialization and capitalism. Bounder appears to be a self-made man who has worked his way up the social of a factory and a bank which he professes to be the result of being a hard worker who possesses self-discipline and boundless determination. Dickens exposes Bounder as a fraud and describes him as a Bully of humility, who had built his Indy reputation upon lies, and in his boastfulness had put the honest truth as far away from him (Dickens 196). Dickens also exposes the myth that the working poor are lazy and lack the self-discipline and work ethic needed to become wealthy. Bounder is very much a symbol of the new immoral social class shaped by capitalism, wealth, greed, and self-interest. Dickens symbolizes moral decline in the death and treatment of Stephen Blackball. Stephen Blackball represents all those that are righteous and good. He is caught between the corruption of Bounder and he corruption of the union, and ultimately his death is caused by the immorality of Tom Grandkid. Dickens, like Arnold and Browning, also demonstrates how the immoral tend to be the authority figures in society. Charles Dickens does not focus on religion as the major influence on morality, but rather sees that the immorality of the age is based upon industrialization and the Utilitarian philosophy. We see this in young Tom Grandkid and his emotionally empty sister. The immoral people in Dickenss novel and in Borrowing poems tend to be people in high standing, whether in the church, in the community or in business. Browning talks about members within the church being like frauds, as they do not follow the values they preach. In a sense, Dickenss character, Bounder, is very similar and also does not uphold the values he preaches. Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold and Charles Dickens are different in many respects; however, they share the same concerns about the changes that the industrial age was having on British society. Although their concerns were about different philosophies and ideologies that were popular at the time, their main concern was how the fast paced innovations of industrialization ere changing the moral tone of British society. These authors used symbols, narrations and memorable characters as vehicles in their works to define and explore possibilities for coping with the moral and social crises facing England. The literary works of Charles Dickens, Matthew Arnold and Robert Browning are as relevant today as they were in the Victorian era. In our fast-paced and technology driven era, new advances in technology, medicine, and science make the question of morality more important than ever. Work Cited Anderson, Warren. Arnold and the Classics, in Writers and their Background:

East Asian History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

East Asian History - Essay Example A man is allowed to marry if his wife fails to give birth to a baby boy. People use to sold their daughters if they want to work in the lands of rich land lords. The subject of this paper and my ancestor is one of those poor women who struggled hard to live her life, the one who loved her daughters and value them. She had to bear pain of foot binding and post marriage customs but she didn't give up and continued to work hard and serve her family and children. I was glad to know by my mother that my ancestors lived in song dynasty as I was very fond of knowing about ancient China specially song dynasty. My ancestor was born when the country was under Confucius rule, so according to the traditions she was named "daughter no 2" as she was the second daughter of her parents Her father was a farmer and she daily saw her mother working harder than her father and other males. Her mother loved her a lot as she had to sell her elder daughter (daughter no 1) to a rich land owner in order to earn bread and butter by farming on their land. It was one of the happiest days of her life when she takes the first step and gets clothes to wear and straw shoes by her mother first time since she was born. It was made up of hemp (the cheapest material). While playing with her friends in the land, she was deeply impressed by the silk material wore by the daughter of the land lord and wishes to express her desire but was scared as she never saw her mother expre ssing anything My ancestor loves to play with children's living in the vicinity " such as flying kites and sliding down a stairway railing, to activities meant to emulate the adult males around them - playing the zither, writing poetry, and enacting a ritual washing of the Buddha."1 . As she grew up she had to wear old clothes of her mother. She always wore her hairs in two coils. She was amazed one day when unexpectedly her father took her to the market and was excited to see shopkeepers as' "one merchant is raising banners above his shop, another is supervising the unloading of grain sacks from transport boats on the Canal. Another individual is getting dressed, and the establishments, many of which seem to be for eating and drinking, seem on the whole relatively deserted2 . She looked strangely when she saw a person walking with them with his young son and another man came and did a strange practice. She asked her father what the man did and he replied that this is a tradition: "When a father goes out The son must follow behind If on a road he meets a senior He puts his feet together and joins his hand In front of a senior, He does not spit on a ground"3 She became happy as she thought his father will ignore her question now she expected something more from he father and thought he might buy something for her but her excitement comes to an end when her feet were binded. When my ancestor grew up she thought that it is said that Confucius tells us how to"act in accordance with the principle of humanity"4 then why she and other girls have to face this inhuman act of foot binding. When my ancestor turns 19 her mother told her that the greatest duty of women is to have a son. On one morning

Health Administarion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 20

Health Administarion - Essay Example As nurses require good knowledge regarding human body and medications, it is essential that they must get trained by instructors having great expertise in the field. For a nurse, a patient should be someone very important to him/her. Obviously, it is from their preceptors that the novice nurses must learn such values. In other words, nurses can acquire the required level of knowledge to work well in the healthcare sector only if they are trained by proficient academicians. Visual media and powerpoint have greatly enhanced the ease of teaching. Using video clips, animations and presentations are handy in conveying certain topics to the students. When it comes to learning topics like internal organs, visual media can provide an aid in imparting the concept to students rather than explaining it verbally. It also saves a lot of time by relieving instructors from preparing bulky lecture notes. Powerpoint makes it possible for them to add photos, videos and audio clips to their notes. Therefore, instructors get a single platform through which they can supply study materials in different forms. Internet helps them clarify doubts by interacting with experts from various parts of the world. However, putting multimedia in the first priority in teaching is not a laudable practice; it should act only as a reference aid and teaching should definitely be done by the

What Is Economics Essay Example for Free

What Is Economics Essay Quoting Michael Yates, â€Å"The subject matter of economics is the production and distribution of output†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yates, 2003). So what does this say to me? Simplifying, this says to me that Economics is a way of explaining the world. With studies dating as far back as Aristotle’s interest in the various forms of state, how can one ever fully understand the complexities of economic thought and how could one definition ever sum up the entirety of what economists endeavour to understand? Meikle, Scott, 1995) The study of economics attempts to understand and to explain how and why the wealth of the world is produced, distributed, and consumed. It examines everything from global and local markets, class structures and wealth distribution, the role of government and politicians, supply and demand of products and services, the division of labour, and countless other factors that affect how and why the productions systems of the world economy function the way they do. Arguably, one of the most influential factors in defining the subject matter of economics is the division of labour. By influential I am not stating that I am of the opinion that the current distribution of labour it is positive factor to our current economic climate, just that it is an influential one. Although the famous theorist Adam Smith argued that economic growth, as a result of the productivity improvements gained, was rooted in the division of labour (Smith, 1776). He, among others, also came to acknowledge the many downsides of a deepening division of labour (Walker, 1886 Smith, 1776 Marx, 1847). Labour is distributed not only between countries and companies but also within each individual company. The wage disparity between middle and lower class and the wealth distribution between labourers and capitalists (business owners) that results from a deepening division of labour plays a much more significant role in determining what is produced, by whom it is produced, who is able to purchase these produced goods and services, and ultimately the subject matter of economics then one would initially assume. The division of labour does not only refer to the dividing of complex tasks into simple tasks so that many, easily replaceable labourers, complete one task over and over to produce a product, (associated mainly with the industrial revolution); the division of labour refers to the division of labour between organizations. In modern times, labourers from individual organizations produce goods for another organization rather than directly for a consumer. That organization then uses those goods, combined with their own, to produce a final product. This deepening of the division of labour resulted in the progressive substitution of self-sufficient production with industrial production and market exchange. (Schmidt, 2009) These worldwide networks and interdependencies between organizations, combined with the division of labour within the individual organization, further the disconnect between workers and the ownership of their work. They lose pride of workmanship, close personal relationships, direct access to the means of production, and they become â€Å"a mere appendage to the cold, implacable, pace-setting machine† (Hunt Sherman, 1986). Their work, or labour, is owned by the capitalist that owns the organization in which they work and they are left virtually powerless to control the economy in which they live. The labour of a CEO differs substantially from that of a production worker in an automotive factory, and so does the wealth accumulated by that labourer and the CEO and eventually, their heirs. The ‘labourer’ who accumulates the most wealth has the most influence over the means of production. This labourer, once they own the means of production and are able to determine what is produced and the method of production comes to be termed a ‘capitalist’. A capitalist makes no secret that goods will not be produced and dollars will not be invested in production capital, regardless of people’s needs, because production decisions in a capitalist economy are based primarily on profit (Hunt Sherman, 1986). This capitalist, and the wealth they accumulate, also has significant influence over the political economy that sets the stage for capitalism to continue to thrive and to encourage capitalist accumulation and further the deepening of the division of labour. It is in this way that capitalism and the division of labour drives our production economy and influences the global markets and the modern subject matter of economics.

N. Scott Momadays House Made of Dawn Essay -- Momaday House Made Dawn

N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn House Made of Dawn, the novel that began the AMERICAN INDIAN LITERARY RENAISSANCE, is Scott Momaday's masterpiece. He originally conceived the work as a series of poems, but under the tutelage of Wallace Stegner at Stanford, Momaday reconceived the work first as a set of stories, then as a novel. House is the story of Abel, an Indian from the Pueblo Momaday calls "Walatowa," a fictionalized version of Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, where Momaday grew up. Abel returns from World War II a victim of what we would call today "post-traumatic stress syndrome." He is unable to speak, even to his grandfather, Francisco, who raised him. Abel, who is drunk when his grandfather picks him up on the return to the reservation, is based in part on a veteran that Momaday knew at Jemez, but also in part on Ira Hayes, the Pima Marine who raised the flag at Mt. Suribachi, and was memorialized in the statue that became the symbol of the Marine Corps. Hayes couldn't adjust to civilian life, and died drunk in a ditch on the reservation. The Indian veteran who is a hero in war but cannot find a niche in civilian life when he returns to America has become an archetype. Abel's name (Momaday only gives him one) suggests the biblical victim, and many readers assume the Cain who lays him low to be white society. But readers should remember that in the Bible Cain is Abel's brother, and the characters in House Made of Dative who cause Abel the most harm are indeed his fellow Indians. Furthermore, Abel's troubles begin even before his stint in the army. He is illegitimate, and as a result has always been an outsider at Walatowa. The war exacerbates his problems, but they started at his birth. Abel's first t... ...se of hendiadys, simple clauses linked with "and:" "The feasting had begun, and there was a lull on the town." Faulkner’s influence can be seen in the stream of consciousness passages and the use of the bear as a symbol of the wilderness. But Momaday's novel is distinctly Indian as well. Cherokee novelist and critic Louis OWENS says: "What has matured with Momaday is not merely an undeniable facility with the techniques and tropes of modernism, but more significantly the profound awareness of conflicting epistemologies [Euro-American and Indian]. . Momaday's novel represents more fully than any Native American novel before it the "assertion of a different perspective (92)." Works Cited Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York: Harper, 1968. Owens, Lewis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman, OK: U Oklahoma P, 1994.

Coming full circle Essay

You could almost say that Leadership, the US Army, the Quality Circle (Editors, 2007), and the Baldrige Criteria (Commerce, 2006) have a shared history: Having established above the importance of leadership in all aspects of life in that it is found in the military as well as in the civilian: business even in the spiritual (servant-leadership) or religious—it was the US Army which took the lead in the formation of â€Å"quality circles† during the Second World War in the 1940s to ensure that the US produce large quantities of war materiel of best quality (Anonymous, 2002). It even took a US Professor, W.Edwards Deming (Editors, 2007), of Western culture, to teach the Japanese, of Eastern culture, to this concept of â€Å"quality circles† (Anonymous, 2002; Editors, 2007; Jarvis, 2006; Swinton, 2007), catapulting Japan slowly but surely to Asian world power status and endearing Prof. Deming to the Japanese who honored him with a prestigious award after his name, the Deming Award. Faced with slack economic progress in the 1970s, the US government set up the Baldrige Criteria/Awards to catch up and to try to lead again in the world’s industries (Commerce, 2001, , 2005, , 2006, , 2007a, , 2007b, , 2007c). In effect, it cannot be avoided if the Baldrige Awards is compared with the Deming Award in Japan. All things besides, the Baldrige Criteria attempts to accurately measure those seven (7) identified aspects (more about later) which contribute to organizational success. Even this year 2007 (Commerce, 2007b), many modifications have been in place in the Baldrige Criteria to keep up with new challenges met, showing how dynamic the Baldrige Method is. It now took the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve ESGR (E. S. G. R., 2007), a US Department of Defense agency working for the US Armed Forces to take the lead in possibly showing other applications of readily available Baldrige Criteria raw scores. Statement of the Thesis Problem Attempting to prove that when Leadership Scores Category are high as measured by the Baldrige Criteria, then the other six (6) Category areas measure high as well, such as Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Measurement; Human Resource Focus; Process Management; and Business Results and to show a correlation as such. Hypotheses Hypotheses to be tested: 1. Leadership scores category are significantly correlated with the scores of the other six category areas. 2. Significant multiple regression equation exists between leadership scores (Y, dependent variable) and the scores of the six category areas (X, independent variables). Objectives of the Thesis 1. To determine the difference between Leaders (or Senior Leaders) and Others (or Junior Leaders) using performance excellence criteria of the Baldrige framework. 2. To determine which of the different concerns contribute to leadership. Materials and Methods The Survey Data Provider The set of raw data used as the primary research of this paper provided the basis for the Report (Peacock, 2006) submitted by Gartman and Associates, a Baldrige-accredited contractor duly authorized to conduct the Baldrige survey using the 2006 Baldrige Criteria as the framework. This criterion is the de facto criteria of performance excellence used globally by manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education, and nonprofit/government for improving organizational performance. The criteria has seven focus areas: Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; Human Resources Focus; Process Management; and Business Results. The Survey Date and the Target Institution. During the week of 4 through 8 December 2006, Gartman and Associates performed a high-level, initial â€Å"quick look† assessment of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, ESGR (E. S. G. R. , 2007). Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense (DoD) organization of the United States of America (USA). It is a staff group within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (OASD/RA), which is in itself a part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The nation’s Reserve components, referring to the total of all National Guard members and Reserve forces from all branches of the military, (Laurent, 2006) comprise approximately 46 percent of the total available military manpower of the USA’s Armed Forces . The current National Defense Strategy indicates that the National Guard and Reserve will be full partners in the fully integrated Total Force. The USA Reserve Forces will spend more time away from the workplace defending the nation, supporting a demanding operations tempo and training, take note, to maintain their mission readiness. In this environment, civilian employers play a critical role in the defense of the nation by complying with existing employment laws protecting the rights of workers who serve in the Reserve component. ESGR was established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment. ESGR is the lead DoD organization for this mission under DoD Directive 1250. 1.