Bushido the soul of Japan Essay Example for Free

Bushido the soul of Japan Essay The book Bushido the soul of Japan presented the various aspects of the Japanese society when there was the emergence of close interaction between the western and eastern civilizations. In this essay, an attempt is made to discuss the major themes and significance of this book. Analysis Inazo Nitobe, the author of the book, Bushido the soul of Japan, intended to provide information regarding the basis of Japanese doctrines of knighthood to the western scholars. Perhaps his interaction with the western scholars must have inspired him to write a book, which discussed regarding the main features of the Japanese feudal society. This is not a huge book. The book, however, has ambitious motives in the sense that through this small book attempt is made by the author Nitobe to reveal the complete essence of Japanese culture to the western audience. However, it simplifies the basic features of Japanese culture to make it more comprehendible to the western audience. To achieve this objective, several examples are given from the eastern and western literature. Consequently, this book has attracted the attention of several western scholars who wished to learn about the cultural aspects of the Japanese society. This book attempts to explain the basic features of the Japanese culture for the western audience by the use of English language. This book has been translated into different languages such as German, Polish, Marathi, and Chinese. This fact indicates the popularity of this work among both western and eastern readers. In the following pages, we try to give the details regarding the information that we gather from this book. The author obtained the information regarding the martial code from the elders when he was young. During those days, the author avers that there still existed few features of feudalism. The book Bushido argues that among the variety of doctrines of the Japanese culture, the most important are the samurai ways of life. The book deals with an attempt to trace the traditional Japanese martial code, which is not preserved in a written mode; but it spread from one generation to the other through the oral means. This book tries to reveal the past and present status of this martial code, which has been safeguarded by the Japanese martial arts experts for several years. This book is very essential to comprehend the real soul of Japan. The book traces the origin of this martial code to the Buddhist and Confucian thinkers and practitioners of this martial code. The followers of Zen Buddhism and Shintoism who have discussed regarding this code in their writings also developed it. This book comprises different chapters which provide information regarding the principles and the various aspects such as the ethical system, sources of Bushido, justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, truthfulness, honor, duty of loyalty, training of samurai, self control, institutions of suicide and redress, the soul of samurai, influence of bushido, and the future of bushido. (Nitobe, 1908) The Japanese warrior was expected to follow certain ethical principles, which were the part of this martial code. This system has been compared with the western chivalry system. These ethical principles had great impact on the behaviour and activities of the Japanese warrior or Samurai. He possessed both his sword as well as the ethical principles, which can be considered, as his soul. In this respect, we can say that the title of the book is very apt because the book intends to reveal this soul of the Japanese warrior. The Japanese were given information regarding the various moral principles at an early age. One such principle is that they should demonstrate their obedience to the elders. These moral principles were advocated to improve the character of the people, which allowed the people to make distinction between the right and the wrong. Bushido existed during the feudal age in Japan where there existed differences between the elite warrior class and the ordinary people. Bushido provided few guidelines regarding the actions of the individuals and their attitudes towards others in the society. This moral code of Bushido gives great importance to the obligation or the duty of individuals towards other members in the society. Each individual was expected to perform his duties towards elders, superiors, and other members of the society. The young people were given instructions regarding the need to imbibe the spirit of courage and they were informed that the death caused due to courageous and right actions leads to obtaining honour in the society. An important principle of Bushido is that the people were expected to follow the principle of benevolence, which means that they were supposed to help other individuals. In fact, this principle was the basis of the feudal Japanese society. This work gave importance to the quality of politeness and sincerity among individuals. Through these qualities, it is possible to obtain the love and friendship of other individuals. This will lead to harmonious relationship between the various members of the society. Bushido gave extreme importance to honor. It was the duty of every warrior or samurai to protect his honor and reputation. The book criticized the act of lying, which was considered as a sign of weakness. It was not considered as an honorable act. The book also gives information regarding the life and activities of the samurais, who possessed the feudal characteristics. The main aim of the samurais was to serve their masters and to show obedience towards their lord. The training of the samurais consisted of various principles such as wisdom, benevolence, and courage. They were given training in different arts of warfare such as archery, horse riding, wrestling, sword warfare, etc. At very early age, the samurais were subjected to training in fighting. Importance was given to developing their character rather than intelligence. Bushido encouraged the development of the personality of the warriors. They were not supposed exhibit any weaknesses or other emotions which would harm their own character and those of their lord. Hence, the samurais were expected even to commit suicide in order to safeguard their and lord’s honor and reputation. Particularly when a samurai committed errors, they were expected to kill themselves. In fact, the work refers to the ceremonies where there was the suicide of the samurais. This act surprised many western observers. This was one system, which differentiated Bushido code from other martial codes. The Bushido code mentions that the most important companion of the warrior was the sword which can be considered as his soul and he was expected to carry the sword wherever he went as it’s use led to the happiness and misery of the warriors. Ceremonies were performed which gave the right to samurai to possess the sword. The sword was one symbol of samurai, which differentiated him from other individuals in the society. Both rights and duties were performed and enjoyed by the warrior class who lived in the feudal Japanese society. The book also gave specific information regarding the role of women in the feudal society. As the male members in the family sacrificed their lives for their overlords, the female members also sacrificed themselves for the male members like husband and sons. This represented the characteristics of a stereotype feudal society. Duty of loyalty towards the male members was the quality that was expected from the female members of the Japanese family. In the end, the author discussed regarding the relevance of the martial code for the modern Japanese society. The author agrees that the Japanese society has voluntarily accepted the forces of modernization and westernization. Yet, at the same time, one can see that the Japanese believe that Bushido or the martial code is the basic spirit that can be found in their heart. The Japanese in the modern context possessed great passion for this martial code, in the same way, as it was the guiding force during the pre-modern times. Thus, the author argues that Bushido has maintained the basic features of the Japanese culture through this martial code. (1908) Conclusion The book gives information concerning the perception of the author regarding the ethical principles of the martial code called Bushido. This book provided information regarding the features of the feudal society of Japan in the pre-modern times. However, the author suggests that these principles are relevant even in the modern context. The author argued that the Japanese military achievements in the modern period against its enemies like China were due to the martial codes such as Bushido. This meant that there is a need to encourage the modern generation to imbibe the principles, which would lead to the development of their personality and the personality of the Japanese society. Reference Nitobe, Inazo(1908). Bushido the Soul of Japan, 13th edition.

A detailed assignment examining Leadership style management

A detailed assignment examining Leadership style management Leadership is the behavior of an individual when he/she is directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal. A leader is seen as someone who sets the paths in an effort to influence people to adhere to those paths. Leadership is an action and not just a position. It can be shown via different people in various situations. A person is not born to be a leader but cultured through the upbringing and environment. A leaders personal characteristics are also vital for the developments and motivations of the organizations. True leaders such as the teachers who illustrated that leadership is an action (teaching and leading the students) and not a position. Touching the lives and affecting the outcome of many different expectations, a teacher is the epitome of a leader. A leader has his or her own style of motivating the people in the organizations. A leader must find the best skills in order to provide directions, motivations and purposes. Effective leaders are flexible. Organizational Leadership Model The effective leadership influence is not the same for everyone. It depends on their ranks in the organization and abilities which are required in leaders. The three basic leadership roles identified: initiation, speech, and management. 1. Initiation Initiation refers to planned decision making on policy formulation or structural change. These vital decisions are the determinants of the organizations culture and mission. 2. Speech Strategic decisions and methods designed for implementation within the establishment. It includes adjusting or adding on to the present structure towards new policy demands. 3. Management Management is putting into practice the policies and measures that are available to maintain the operations of the organization efficiently. These three kinds of Leadership are naturally executed at diverse ranks in the company with different abilities and skills. The top level management would initiate new policies that involve a change in the businesss structure or understanding the companys mission. An understanding of the entire organization, culture, mission, vision and how it correlates with the external parties is mandatory for these top level individuals. They represent the organization and what the business stands for. Understanding the policy decisions and practicing them to the existing organization via utterance or speech is usually made by the intermediate-level managers. They must uphold a two-way point of reference by taking orders from the above management and adapting them for the lower groups of people in the organization. Type of Leadership Process Typical Organizational Level Cognitive (Knowledge) Affective (Emotion) Initiation: Change, creation and elimination of structure Top echelons System perspective Charisma Speech: supplementing and piecing out of structure Intermediate levels: pivotal roles Subsystem perspective: two-way orientation Integration of primary and secondary relations: human relation skills Management: use of existing structure Lower levels Technical knowledge and understanding of system of rules Concern with equity in use of rewards and sanctions EXHIBIT 16.1 Three Leadership Patterns, Their Location in the Organization, and Their Skill Requirements The companys policies and procedures will be administered by the Lower-level supervisors. These personnel must possess both the technical knowledge and a clear perception of the organizations rules in order to be successful. They have to continually deal with issues such as equity, rewards and punishments in leading others. Therefore, leadership plays a crucial role in an organization because the it has direct impact on the effectiveness of the organizations. Leadership is when a person manipulates others to perform a task at their own will which they would not normally do. Leadership is a vital process to an organization and it can be deliberated on three different stages; i.e. the individual, group and organization. Analysis at the individual stage: the leadership studies have paid attention on the successful leader personalities. Behaviors of both formal and informal leaders are focused at the group level. The effectiveness of an organization is decided by the relations between the leader, follower and circumstances. The studies have caused an emergence of different theories of leadership, namely situational and contingency. In Search for Leadership The requirements in selecting and training efficient leaders were emphasized during the World War I and the quarter century between World War l and World War II; numerous studies were made to examine the personal characteristics of good leaders. These studies are usually referred as characteristic studies since the primary goal was to classify the traits and personal characteristics of successful leaders. The diverse methods used to study these leadership traits could possibly be the reason in the irregularities of the results. The manner of studies was not consistent in identifying the leaders. A majority of the studies was in comparing efficient with inefficient leaders or leaders with non-leaders. Some were identified by external observers, others selected by the group by way of recommendation or voting, nominated by observers such as teachers while some were chosen because they are already in leadership positions. The studies conducted were in conflict as to the way they deliberated on the traits. Some traits were measured by mental tests; others relied on viewers to spot the traits they have seen while some depended on the persons to report their own personality traits. The trait studies were quite unsatisfactory as a whole especially since they had hoped to develop an accurate measure of leadership effectiveness. The spotlight on the leadership research moved because of the flimsy results, to contingency studies which investigated more than just traits of a leader. Numerous traits formed an important divergence in leadership effectiveness and they interrelated with other conditional variables to stimulate the effectiveness of the leader. Physical Behaviors Physical attributes including height, weight, health and appearance are also examined in the studies. It was concluded that there is a relationship between the above features and leadership. Apparently leaders have the tendency to be taller, heavier, better fitness, greater physique, higher energy output and more attractive in appearance. However, these types of results were not always reliable and consistent. The results neither are too weak in general and not consistent to be effective in selecting leaders nor are they helpful for training functions since not much can be made to alter most of these physical traits. Intellect It was generally agreed that leaders are more intellectual than non-leaders and the relationship was shown in the various studies. The relationship could probably begin from the reality that leadership functions depend mostly on success in problem solving. Leadership roles such as initiation, speech and management necessitate great mental ability. In general, it is safe to assume that leaders seems to be more intelligent than non-leaders but the relationships are small. Many other variables other than intellect inspire leadership effectiveness. It was also suggested that leaders should not be too intelligent than the group because associates who are notably brilliant than others are rarely chosen as leaders since the other members tend to snub them. Individuals with high IQs are inclined to have different sets of vocabulary, networks and aspirations that would create communication and inter-relations problems. Leaders do extremely well generally at school/college/university and score better grades. It is important for effective leadership to know how to do things. Thus general and practical knowledge are essential for leaders to make better decisions. Characteristic Traits Only a partial of the characteristic traits seem to be related to leadership and most are not especially convincing. It was suggested that the average leader is more used to social displays, greater initiative, persistent, knows how to get things done, self-confident, are more cooperative and adaptable, and possesses excellent communication skills. Leaders were found to be more emotionally mature than non-leaders in the personality integration or emotional adjustment. It can be concluded that personal characteristics are related to leadership. Effective leadership does not depend on a mixture of personality traits only because situational variables are also important since they always decide whether a character was associated with effective leadership either positively or negatively. Therefore, it can deduced that effective leadership depends on the leaders characteristics, his subordinates and the nature of the task at hand. Many leadership styles were based on studies of leaders behaviors. The finest researches on the styles of leadership are made together at the same time; i.e. The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. Researchers acknowledged two leader behaviors that were similar although the investigations were conducted separately. As a result, a two dimensional aspects of leadership have been to used to form the Managerial Grid. Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-faire Leadership Due to the diverse political systems in the US and Germany before World War II inspired studies of leadership which evaluated three leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez faire. In the democratic leadership style, decisions were made by vote of majority; equal participation encouraged; criticism and punishment minimal. In the autocratic leader, the leader made all the decisions and others must follow the set procedures strictly. In the laissez-faire leader, there was minimal actual leadership and others were permitted to work and play as usual without proper directives. Initiating Structure and Consideration The two leadership factors were initiating structure and consideration which include leadership behaviors in organizing and defining the tasks to be performed and goal achievements. A leader who assigns people to do specific jobs, expected workers to follow set routines and meet deadlines. The consideration factor is showing friendship, mutual trust, warmth and concern for subordinates. Production-Centered and Employee-Centered Leader Behaviors Production centered behaviors were akin to initiating structure in which leaders would establish targets, gave directives, checked on operations and planned the group Employees work. Centered behaviors were similar to the considerations dimension in which the leader would develop a caring personal relationship with the subordinates and encouraged a two-way communication with them. The relationship between production-centered and employee centered behaviors are found to be independent scopes of leadership. A leader with strong production orientation does not mean that he is disinterested in the employees. Managerial Grid Robert Blake and Jane Mouton had created a framework which combines a concern for task accomplishment and a concern for people called the Managerial Grid. They both assumed that concern for production and concern for people would produce the most effective leadership style. There are leaders primarily more concerned with accomplishing the production and task not concerned about people. This person wants the job done and schedule followed at all costs. There is also individual who is not concerned whether the group produces anything but concerned more about the personal needs and interests of the team members. Ideally, leaders should be concerned about meeting schedules in order to get the work done and simultaneously are concerned about the team members interest and feelings too. The Managerial Grid is popular among managers. It is extensively used by organisations as part of their training program to assess leadership style. However, the effectiveness of the Managerial Grid is not consistently supported. The factors which are considered in determining leadership styles interact in complicated ways which resulted in various leadership styles. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP In assessing leadership effectiveness, there are many factors that must be combined. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard developed a situational leadership model which considers three variables: (1) guidance and direction provided by the leaders (task behavior) (2)emotional support given by the leader (relationship behavior) (3) the maturity level exhibited in performing the task As a result, four potential leadership styles have been created using a combination of the above factors : S1: Telling Give instructions and supervise performance closely. Suited for followers who are unwilling but of low maturity. S2: Selling Decide and provide opportunity for explanation. Appropriate for followers who are not able but willing. S3: Participating Sharing ideas in making decisions. Suited for followers who are able but not willing. S4: Delegating Responsibility handed over for decisions and performance. Appropriate for groups who are able and willing. Contingency Theory of Leadership Fiedler studied the interaction of leadership style and situation. He identified and developed ways to measure leadership orientation of the leader and situational factors which influence leadership. Leader Orientation Two types of leaders were identified, i.e. relationship-oriented or task-oriented. Leaders who are relationship-oriented tend to look at others as coworkers and look upon interpersonal relations as a requirement towards accomplishing the task. However, for task-oriented leaders, they react strongly against people whom they could not get along with in performing a task. Situational favorableness (1) relationships between leader and member can be good or bad; (2) the task is relatively well planned or not; and (3) the leaders authority is relatively strong or weak. The task structure becomes the second most important situational variable as evaluated by judges who examined four aspects of the task structure. Clarity: whether requirements of the tasks are stated clearly, Multiplicity: which the problems encounter can be solved. Verifiability: which the correctness of the decisions can be ascertained. Specificity: which there are generally more solutions involved in performing the task. Group effectiveness Relationship-oriented leaders perform excellently well in situations where concern for the team members is apparently necessary in order to motivate them to perform well. People naturally prefer leaders who care about them and their welfare. However, task-oriented leaders are clearly more effective in impossible situations. Path-Goal Model Directive leadership: subordinates are told what to be expected. Specific guide, standards and work schedules are provided to ensure that task are performed as expected. Supportive leadership: subordinates are treated equally and show concern for their needs and well-being; develop pleasant interpersonal relationships among the group members. Achievement-oriented leadership: challenging goals are set and subordinates are expected to perform at their highest level, improvement in performance always. Participative leadership: subordinates are consulted on suggestions and ideas in making decisions. Situational factors Situational factors characteristics of the followers and environmental factors which affect leadership style. Significant characteristics of the followers which have been identified as determinants of leadership style are: (1). Followers with internal locus of control believe that they are rewarded for their own effort. Meanwhile, followers with external locus of control believe that external forces have a control on their rewards. (2). Authoritarianism: an individuals willingness to accept the influence of others. (3). Abilities: The followers ability and experience influence a leader whether they are able to work with an achievement oriented leader or a supportive leader who are patient enough to provide encouragement and instruction. The path-goal model recognises three environmental factors which effect leadership styles: the nature of the task to be performed, the existing organisations authority system the organisational norms and dynamics The above factors may influence the effectiveness of different leadership styles in a many ways. Normative Decision-Making Model of Leadership Based on the contingency theory of leadership, this leadership model does not assume any leadership style as appropriate for all situations. Leaders must develop a range of leadership styles and take on the most appropriate style depending on the situation. Leaders are required to know in which circumstances they need to consult others and vice versa. Even though the leader may be the chairman of the group, he is just one of the group members and does not try to influence the group to adopt a particular solution. Criteria for selecting a leadership style. Two criteria used for assessing the efficiency of a leadership style are quality and acceptance. The quality of the decisions made refers to the accurateness of the actions taken and the extent which some objectives are achieved. The quality of decisions depends on accurate and relevant information Conferring with other group members often provides additional information. Diagnostic decision rules. In order to save time and minimize costs, some managers choose the lead autocratically. If the aim was to further the subordinates personal development, the participative style is selected. In some strategies, the manager decides alone. At times, the manager decides on his own after earlier consultations with his subordinates. Comparing the leadership models. All situational leadership models emphasize on the effect of external factors on a particular leadership style. Different leadership styles suggest styles that are determined by various situational factors. The models focus on different methods, which are situational factors and criteria for selecting the best style: task-oriented versus relationship-oriented. The normative decision-making model ascertains three leadership styles, namely autocratic, consultative, and participative. In each model, situational factors which influence the effectiveness of leadership are somewhat different. A significant reason being that normative decision- making model equates leadership with making decisions and looks at only this leadership function. The models also use different criteria for evaluating leadership effectiveness. DETERMINANTS OF LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS Although identifying what makes an effective leader seems like a simple task, however, individuals who are in leadership positions are often faced with a dilemma on deciding which leadership pattern to practice. Choosing a Leadership Style Choosing the most appropriate leadership style to adopt depends largely on the context of the organisation. A successful leader must be capable of assessing the situational forces in the organisation and respond accordingly to the needs. The forces include the organisation culture, business goals as well as the organisations strategic plans. Effective leaders must understand themselves, the group, company and social environment. Strategies for Improving Leadership One of the main variable to improve leadership relates largely to the organisations reward system. Leaders should not overlook his capacity to reward his followers accordingly since followers will respond otherwise. For instance, the managers of high- performing groups generally are compensated according to their achievements. Considerate leaders manage to create satisfaction among their performing subordinates while at the same time, changes in the behavior of the leaders could be caused by the performance of the subordinates. Constraints on leader behavior. Leaders have limited opportunities to influence others. Leadership effectiveness is inhibited by a variety of factors. For example, the managerial decisions are planned ahead because of the law, structure, technological specifications and the absence of alternatives. Many other organisational factors can impose limitations on the leaders capability to either communicate with or to reinforce the behavior of the subordinates. For example, organisational policies, nature of task, skills and abilities of available resources and other external factors may impede the capacities of organisational leaders. External factors. In terms of external factors, leaders are constrained by factors that they have no control on such as state and federal laws. Other external factors include the world economy and global issues. Irrespective of their leadership style, leaders with unskilled resources will face great challenges in leading. The availability of skilled followers is subjected to the external labor market. Organizational policies. The organization may limit a leaders effectiveness by hampering the amount of communication between leaders and followers. The existing company policies may also pose restrictions on the ability of leaders to reward or punish followers. Group factors. Leaders may find it hard to penetrate or influence group members who are highly unified. This will create difficulty for leaders to demonstrate his true capabilities in performing tasks for the organisation. Individual skills and abilities. The leaders own skills and abilities may act as constraints since leaders can only possess so much expertise, energy, and power. Some situations may simply require greater skills and abilities than the leader may possibly hope to possess. Substitutes for leadership. While some situations constrain leaders other situations make leadership unnecessary. These variables are referred to as substitute variables because they substitute for leadership either by making the leaders behavior unnecessary or by neutralizing the leaders ability to influence subordinates. Leadership is an extremely important function. It has an enormous influence on the value of groups and organizations. The complexity of the situation, however, may prevent us from knowing in advance which will be the most effective leadership behaviors. SUMMARY 1. Leadership refers to increasing influence which occur when an individual manipulates others to do tasks voluntarily which they would not do otherwise. The basic leadership roles include initiation of policy and structure, speech, and management. A need for leadership within organizations stems from the incompleteness of the organization design and the dynamic nature of the internal and external environments. 2. The studies of leadership were mainly studies on traits that tried to identify the characteristics of effective leaders. The studies focused mainly on physical traits, intellect and characteristic. The results were usually weak and inconsistent although some personal characteristics were always related to leadership. Most studies concluded that the characteristics of the subordinate and the nature of the task were as important as the characteristics of the leader in determining success. 3. Another approach to studying leadership set on leader behaviors; i.e. how leaders actually behave. One of the studies compared three leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. Although democratic leadership produced the greatest satisfaction, autocratic leadership had the highest levels of productivity. 4. Research conducted simultaneously at two universities identified two similar leadership behaviors. At The Ohio State University the researchers labeled these two leader behaviors initiating structure and consideration. At the University of Michigan the same two factors were labeled production-centered and employee-centered leader behaviors. These two leader behaviors appear to identify leadership functions essential to the effectiveness of a group. The two Factors have been used to form a matrix called the Managerial Grid which places a concern for production on one side of the grid and concern for people on the other. The research evidence does not support this conclusion consistently. 5. The unsuccessful research to identify leadership traits or universally superior leader behaviors caused an emergence of development of four situational theories of leadership. The theories suggest that the most effective leadership style depends upon situational variables particularly the characteristics of the group and the nature of the task. 6. A situational leadership model that matched different combinations of task behavior and relationship behavior with the maturity of the followers. As the followers increase, the appropriate leadership style is telling, selling, participating, and finally for highly mature followers, delegating. 7. The most appropriate leadership style was determined by assessing three situational variables: whether the relationships between the leader and the members were good or poor, the task was structured or unstructured, and the power position of the leader was strong or weak. When these three situational variables created an extremely favorable or extremely unfavorable situation, the most effective leadership style was a task-oriented leader. However, where there were intermediate levels of favorableness, a leader with a high concern for interpersonal relationships was more effective in these situations. 8. The path goal model theory is derived from expectancy theory. It suggests that effective leaders must clarify the target paths and increase its attractiveness for followers. Four distinct leadership styles are proposed in the model: directive, supportive achievement-oriented and participative leadership styles. The style most appropriate depends upon two types of situational factors: the characteristics of the follower and characteristics of the environment. Three of the most important follower characteristics include the locus of control, authoritarianism, and personal abilities. The three environmental factors include the nature of the task, the formal authority system within the organization, and the group norms and dynamics. 9. The three leadership styles include autocratic decision making, consultative decision making, and group decision making. The decision titles determining which style is most appropriate include such questions as whether the leader has adequate information to make the decision alone, whether the subordinates will accept the goals of the organization, whether subordinates will accept the decision if they do not participate in making it, and whether the decision will produce a controversial solution. 10. The influence of the group upon the leader should not be overlooked. The relationship between the leader and the group implies a reciprocal influence. Groups have the capacity to influence the behavior of their leaders by responding selectively to specific leader behaviors. The influence of a leader can also be constrained by several external factors, such as organizational policies, group norms, and individual skills and abilities. Other variables have been found to neutralize or substitute for the influence of a leader, such as the skills and abilities of followers and the nature of the task itself. POSITIONING ON LEADERSHIP CRISIS There are many leadership theories. Arthur G. Jago (1982) had proposed a framework that organizes leadership theories based on each theorys focus and approach. Focus refers to whether the leadership is seen as a set of traits or actions. There is a universal formula of traits or behavior for an effective leader. However, effective leadership also depends on specific situations. The kinds of behaviors that leaders can actually perform in a group. The two leader behaviors that have been consistently observed including task-related activities, called initiating structure or production-centered activities, and interpersonal relations activities, sometimes called consideration or employee-centered activities. The incremental influence that one individual exerts upon another and that causes the second person to change his or her behavior voluntarily. Three leadership roles include origination of the structure by top-level managers, interpolation or adapting the structure by middle-level managers and administration or implementation of the policies and procedures by lower-level supervisors. I concur with A. Ange on the presence of leadership crisis but I also foresee the resolutions taken and are still being taken to resolve the problem. Many organizations are spending money in sending their employees to be groomed and trained for future growth of the company whereby they are exposed to different methods of management and how to be great leaders. Leaders are born to leaders but in some circumstances, situations and environments also play a huge role in creating a leader. Leaders come and go and new ones are always on the threshold to take over the empty space. The qualities of the leaders and their leadership styles vary but they are vital in the development and motivation processes of the organizations. There is a crisis in good leadership but it is not at a critical point. Big organizations would have everything in place for the future growth of the company and would have in line the replacements for all aspects of the management. Even is small to medium sized organizations have planned their management line-ups for the future. The ongoing programs and trainings that are conducted by organizations to produce capable leaders and groom them further showed that companies are aware of the could be crisis and had taken steps to overcome the situation. Yes, there is a crisis but the severity of the crisis is not huge enough to cause panics throughout the organizations.

Legendary Betsy Ross and the American Flag Essay -- American America H

Legendary Betsy Ross and the American Flag The American flag has long been a symbol of our country, but there have been certain doubts about its origin. No one really knows who sewed the American flag. The legend of Betsy Ross has been told many times, but some people look upon it as a myth, saying Betsy Ross never even existed. Betsy Ross was indeed a real person who lived in the 1700's, but no one can prove she actually sewed the American Flag. Betsy Ross did not have an extremely interesting childhood. She was born Elizabeth Griscom on January 1, 1752, to a Quaker couple. Her father's name was Samuel Griscom, who worked as a carpenter. The Quakers were "members of the religious society of friends." (Comptons 1). She lived in Philadelphia, and attended a Friends School while growing up (Walters 335). Betsy Ross married three times, but her first marriage was to a man named John Ross in an upholstery shop where she was a seamstress at age 21. John Ross was the son of an Episcopal clergyman (Compton's 1). Their parents were against the marriage because John was not a Quaker, and so the two eloped together to Glouchester, New Jersey, on November 4, 1773 (Walters 335). After that, the Friends disowned her because she was married out of meeting. John Ross was a patriot. He owned an upholstery shop on Arch Street, Philadelphia. John, like many patriots served in the local militia. One December night in 1775 he was guarding astore of gunpowder when it exploded. He died January 21, 1776, after being severely wounded, leaving his widowed wife of three years behind with no children (Walters 335). After his tragic death, Betsy Ross continued the business alone. Betsy Ross married two other times. After John Ross's death,... ...rians believe that the story of Betsy Ross is pure fiction, but they do not know where the American flag could have originated from. The American flag is a symbol of our country, and it is sad that the legend of Betsy Ross cannot be proven. I believe that the legend of Betsy Ross will continue to be told to keep alive this piece of American history. Works Cited "Betsy Ross." Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. CD ROM. 1996. Crouthers, David D. Flags of American History. Maplewood: C.S. Hammond and Co., 1962. Davidson, James W., and Michael B. Stoff. The American Nation. Eaglewood Cliffs: Paramount Communications, 1995. Seeden, Margaret. Star Spangled Banner. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1993. Tonn, MaryJane Hooper. You're a Grand Old Flag. Ideals Publishing, n.d. Waters, John J. "Betsy Ross." The New Book of Knowledge, 1991.

The Business of the Ford Corporation :: Ford, automobiles, business,

The state where I live is ‘Ford Country†. There are many Ford auto products such as autos and trucks driven daily. Although I am not fully familiar with the intricacies of the Ford Corporation, the business dealing with this organization is endless. Ford’s marketing department responsibility lies with one state where there are 6 other competitors in the Ford organization, its product price is the area where a difference advantage for the Ford Company can occur. The ability to achieve such a goal for the Ford organization begin with the auto manufacturer production capacities and prices of its highest-volume cars, the target market and the buying patterns of its customers. Using the 4Ps –Production, and the Ford organization, the banks might watch the auto manufacturers sticker prices and the prices which the auto sales for. Plus, the Ford Company knows its sudden excess capacity in production of its auto has created capacity overload. As a result, the Ford organization competitive environment has prevented Ford and other auto makers from increasing its prices. As marketing director, Ford’s production of auto’s will continue but with less models. For instance, last year the Ford auto maker was able to hold the production line on its prices.[2].On the other hand, because of strong competitive environment, this prevents the Ford organization from increasing the autos and trucks prices [3]. The Ford organization can differentiate its product from rival competitors using price. The company can only offer lower price, by reducing the current line of autos and trucks costs. The marketer wants to consider the immediate an d future plant productions of autos made in its other plants. Especially, if certain auto and truck engine production plants will distinguish to meet Ford’s manufacturing according to each Ford production plant state engine need, thus, Ford can further differentiate its auto product. For example, in states where auto and trucks fuel emission engines are a concern the company will want to address this need of the customer. For example, Ford will want to reduce the emission cost of its auto and trucks in states such as California, New York and Massachusetts, or cut out the consumer cost.

Relationships in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire :: Streetcar Named Desire

Relationships in A Streetcar Named Desire  Ã‚     In many modern day relationships between a man and a woman, there is usually a controlling figure that is dominant over the other. It may be women over man, man over women, or in what the true definition of a marriage is an equal partnership. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Stanley is clearly the more dominant figure over Stella. Throughout the play there are numerous examples of the power he possesses of her. Williams portrays Stella as a little girl who lives around in Stanley’s world. She does what he wants, takes his abuse yet still loves him. Situations likes these may have occurred in the 1950’s and lasted, but in today’s time this would only end up in a quick divorce.   The first scene of the play (pg. 14) Stanley has just thrown a piece of meat up to Stella as he turns the corner heading for the bowling ally. He makes no motion to stop, run up the stairs and explain to his wife what’s going on, similar to what would occur in an equal relationship. Instead he continues down the street like a boy with no responsibilities. Stella yells, â€Å"Where are you going,† and then asks if she could come to watch, he agrees but doesn’t stop to wait for her. This scene demonstrates how Stella follows Stanley along, and serves him according to what he wishes to do and when he wants to do it.   In scene three Stanley is having his poker party (pg. 57). At this point he is very drunk. Blanche distracting Stanley by listening to the radio instigates him to grab it off the table and toss it out the window. Stella in a state of panic tells everyone to go home which angers Stanley so he chases after her and hits her. This type of behavior is not normal of any human being involved in any relationship. Stanley repeatedly gets what he wants by use of any means possible. In addition the person whoever threatens the existence of his poker game receives a beating, in this case his wife.   This scene demonstrates Stanley’s viscous animal like traits with such violence. If what happened here was repeated in today’s society he would find himself in a jail cell with a pending divorce. During the last scene of the play (pg.

Engaging in Cio-Cxo “Conversations That Matter”

Individual Assignment Engaging in CIO-CxO â€Å"Conversations that Matter†: An Interview with Peter Keen. MIS Quarterly Executive 9(1): (2010). Hamza Lahkim Bennani 10-24-2012 MIS 3301 Dr. Chihab Benmoussa Reflection Q1: I have heard you say more than once that CxOs are not interested in â€Å"IT. † Can you explain what you mean by that? Peter Keen, The chairman and advisor of Keen Innovations, answered this question very clearly, where he stated that it is important that CxOs know the importance of information systems in their company and how it can extend and integrate relationships between the companies processes.For the majority of CxOs, knowing the innards of an information system is not as crucial as knowing how the plateform developed is used and how it can increase the performance of a company. He talked about Facebook where he showed how 300 million people use it daily but don’t know how the plateform works, they just use it for communicating with people . CxOs are tuning out, and the more comfortable they are about the value of IT, the less they want or need to tune in on the old technology discourses† said Peter Keen, which means that even when CxOs start using IS in their company and giving it importance, they don’t regret it and think that is enables more business capacities. â€Å"Over the last five years, the whole business has become much moreIT-aware and IT-literate, and sees the need to get more involved in IT so that business benefits are delivered.As a result, It has become more influential and more proactive. , and has driven an increasingly an entreprisewide culture. † (Andrew Mullock, CIO, BNP Paribas) As far as CIOs are concerned, Peter Keen thinks that their role in the corporation is as important as the role of any other CxO, sometimes even more important. CIOs know exactly what is going on inside the comany, and through information technology they know how to solve problems in a very efficient a nd effective way.CIOs should be among the decision making commitee inside the company; their influence on strategical decisions could be very important and fruitful. Peter Keen thinks that business-savvy CIOs are the ones who know how to communicate with other people inside the company, from the CxOs to the emloyees in the IS or IT departement. Key skills of today’s CIO include the ability to translate Board requirements into solutions. He needs to talk the language of the Board and the investors. All innovation in our industry will be technology- led or technology facilitated. (McGill, 2011)As I see it, CxOs and CIOs are interdependant in an organization, they should all work in a harmony that will enable the company to perform better in terms of solving inner problems that will eventually enhance profi making and more revenues. It is illustrated in the example Peter Keen gave by saying that and General is not an army without his subordinates. In this case, the general are t he CxOs, and the subordinate are the CIO and the people working in the IT department. To put it in a nutshell, companies should not think that It is involved only when there is something not working weel inside the company and work is not well synchronised.Q2: As you look back at the last 30 years, how do you think that the role of the CIO has changed in terms of its focus on the operations mission vis-a- vis business strategy, and what does that suggest for CIO role changes in the future ? For Peter Keen, the role of the CIO nowadays compared to 30 years ago underwent some changes. Before, a CIO was just a technology shop manager that is considered one of the costs to be controlled; but years later, the role of the CIO has changed to be a crucial part of an organization, that is now responsible for many tasks such as cost containment and operations liability.Insourcing and outsourcing is also one of the tasks a CIO is responsible of, and it is bringing competitive advantage to orga nizations. CIOs have got a lot of attention recently despite the economic turdowns in the recent years. CIOs have some skills and capabilities that can help comapnies concentrate on business operations and help them solve some cross-functional problems that still confuses many entreprises. â€Å"For yesterday’s CIOs, and many of today’s as well, it was enough to have two out of three key capabilities – personal leadership, technology leadership and business acumen. Tomorrow’s CIO will need all three. † (Brumby, 2010)I think that CIOs should be in charge of more strategic tasks. Being a CIO and evolving well inside the company is difficult and requires certain skills that not all CxOs have. As for Peter keen, he assumes that the CIO’s role will have more importance and gets more attention within time in the future. The following diagram illustrates the role of a CIO in an organization and how it works. (IBM, 2008) Q3: At your ICIS 2009 presen tation you talked about â€Å"conversations that matter. † Could you expand on that? Peter Keen in the answer of this question focused most on innovation, and how the CIOs innovation can better help an organization.Besides, Professor Keen talekd about the importance of use of the appropriate language to between CIOs. He also pointed that for a conversation to be effective, the things that should be discussed are things that are worth sharing, questioning and arguing about rather than shop-talk and social chat. For Peter keen, some intersections that are between CxOs, CIOs, IT proffesionals and educators’ dialogs, are the kind of discussions where CxOs are present and that are never cancelled anr successful because there is someone high up in the organization who cares about them as personal and leadership riority. In these intersections, some irreversible business decisions are made, where most fruitful discussions are about how to enter a market overseas and other imp ortant subjects. CIOs are usually present in those conversations for the aim of bringing somme innovation in sloving some issues like costs of operations and not discussing them. Few years ago, moving IT as a profession towards business awareness has well progressed as CxOs came late to see that IT is a great opporunity for them to evoluate the coordination of technology for thei company, saying that they were unimaginative ever before.As I see it, companies have been losing or badly investing in some things that are worthless relatively to what IT has done in the business domain. Q4: Why do conversations that matter in CxO circles address innovation, rather than invention? Dr. Keen thinks that innovation is better than innovation because invention is bout product features the logic of benefits, however innovation is about inventing value. As far as CxOs are consered, Peter Keen stated that they should be among the exclusive people in an organization to be able to talk about innovat ion.For him, no invention nor innovation should be under/overestimated. RFID is an example of the problems happening while going from invention to business value. â€Å"Successful companies actively cultivate new ideas, put those ideas to work quickly and efficiently, and harvest the business value benefits of successful innovations. Discussions of innovation often focus on what a company offers, that is, its products and services. In Managing Information Technology Innovation for Business Value, Esther Baldwin and Martin Curley show how successful IT innovations pay back handsomely as well.Innovation is not just about what a company offers, innovation is also about how a company conducts business and how IT innovation can transform an organization into a significantly more efficient company. † (Baldwin & Curley , 2009) What Peter tried to say here is that investing in an innovative IT solution provides even greater business value. Practicing innovation is necessary to make a firm’s IT investment successful, and that is what some Intel Corporation IT managers have learned through many years of experience. Q5: Can you give us some examples of conversations for innovation?Peter Keen explained and showed what conversations for innovation talk about, mostly about how IT is changing the financial structures of the enterprise in a deleveraged world, and how we are moved to a variable cost business model. He used Amazon as an example to show that IT makes organizations decrease their costs the maximum; for Amazon for instance, thei have over 2 million storesbut did not invest in fixed capital assets. For him, the discussions and conversations between the CIO and the CFO is very important, and that a good collaboration between the two is very advised for the better making of money.Both of them can learn from the other, and so come up with very good ideas and make strategic decisions when needed. He also said that these one of a kind companies like Google , Amazon, Apple and Wal-Mart inspire other companies and help them make better decisions based on one of a kind companies. There is the famous example of Wal-Mart, where CIOs and other CxOs work in harmony and have conversations mostly on implementing new strategies that will help them minimize costs as much as they could. The strategy of Wal-Mart is having no warehouses.When they run out of stock, people in the IT departement can have access and check their suppliers warehouse and see if the product they run out of stock from is available, if so they just order it through this database. This strategy helped Wal-Mart minimize the cost of the warehouses, their electricity bills, less employees to pay, and finally decrease their phone bills fee. Q6: Let us take the example of a currently-hyped technical issue such as cloud computing. How can we transform that into a conversation for innovation?For this question, Peter Keen said that when talking about cloud computing as a conversation for innovation, things that could be discussed are about how can cloud computing change the variabe cost structure of the entreprise, and how it can add flexibility and speed of responde for the IT organization. For Dr. Keen, chaning the customer experience is very important, and IT can help do that. He said that it is useless if CxOs are going to talk about virtualization or open cloud standards. Cloud computing has present an attractive opportunity to both small business and large enterprise.Traditional information systems were predominately operated on physical machines that were in house. The emergence of cloud computing makes it possible to develop information systems on virtual machines that are hosted by cloud service providers. For the companies that IT is not their core business, cloud computing presents an opportunity to save costs on the development of information systems that support their major business operations. (Chou, 2007) Q7: What is it that you think the IT prof essional worker in general knows that brings special value to the organization?What is their distinctive competence in the next decade? For Peter Keen, the competences that distinguish IT professionals are bein good at analyzing business processes and multi-functional at the same time. It is in usually necessary and plays a crucial role in the innovation conversation because CIOs know how to integrate and put all pieces together. He gave the example of people in the organization not kowing how things work in other departements, but stated that people in the IT departement have an idea about the general processes of the organizations they are working for.What also distinguishes IT people is that they really understand data assurance, data integrity and version control, which are distinctive competences thay have. For Keen, it is important not to underestimate the difficulties of implementing the innovation of a new genration technology. The IT coordination skills can equally live in the business, the IT organization, or in a third-party provider. In a world where achieving results can often require the participation of a multitude a loosely related resources, effective coordination skills are paramount. Among these skills we find coordination, analysis and innovation. (Reichental, 2011)Q8: What does all this mean for IS academics as researchers and teachers? Keen briefly stated that executive education needs to be reinvented in order to develop the next generation of IT leaders, for him CIOs and CxOs who innovate have their efforts becoming practice by other IT professionals who are growing in order to become next CIOs or CxOsIn terms of their educational function, IS academics need to consider their role in the wider context of social and political changes. These include the delivery of generic IS/IT skills through all levels and types of education (Gough, 2000). (Hemingway, 2000) References Charles, B. (2002).Successful e-business strategy: The potential of e lectronic marketplaces. Sydney: Pearson Education Australia. David , K. , & Richard , H. (1993). Business information systems. (5th ed. ). New York: McGraw Hill. Hemingway, C. , & Gough, T. (2000). The value of information systems teaching and research in the knowledge society. In Fluency with information technology (Vol. 3). Cranfield: Hussain, K. M. , & Hussain, D. S. (1995). Information systems for business. (2nd ed. ). Padstow, UK: T. J Press. Judith, C. S. (2001). Introduction to information systems. Crawfordsville: R. R. Donnelley. DOI: www. wiley. com/college/simon Kroenke. & Hatch, (1994). Management information systems. (3rd ed. ). Watsonville: McGraw Hill. Leonard, J. , & Joseph, V. (2003). Information systems today. New JErsey: Prentice Hall. Paul, L. (1994). Information-systems development. Great Britain: Clays Ltd, St Ives pls. Richard, N. (2002). Service management: Strategy and leadership in service business. (3rd ed. ). Weinheim: John Wiley & sons, LTD. Stuart, B. (2 002). Knowldege management systems: Theory and practice. (2nd ed. ). London: The Alden Press. Turban, R. P. (2003). Introduction to informatin technology. (2nd ed. ). Danvers: John Wiley & sons, Ltd. DOI: wwww. wiley. com/college/turban

Accountability and Transparency in Public Procurement

Accountability and transparency in public procurement Police chief Hemant Karkare died with bullet proof jacket at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on 26/11/2008 at 22:45 PM while attacking pakistani terrorists. Bullet Proof jacket was such low quality that does not work! From the above example, we can easily understood the Public procurement is how much transparent in our country. Moreover, It was not published in any newspaper that who is/are accountable for that Bullet Proof jacket(s). Nobody was accountable nor anybody got punishment!!! We can make a lot of SWOT analysis upon accountability and transperancy, public procurement vs. ommercial procurement etc. but the question is what’s the thresold limit of compromising. Not only India, most of the countries alongwith international agencies such as UNDP and the World Bank are in the process of harmonizing and perfecting their approaches to the diagnosis of financial accountability. Such as World Bank’s Country Financial A ccountability Assessment (CFAA) (CFAA assess the risk that public funds may be used illegitimately, inefficiently or ineffectively, by comparing the financial management standards and practices of agencies using funds against an international or ‘best practice’ standard. Sustainable Public Procurement is one major way of seeking to achieve the UNDP’s good governance goal of â€Å"realizing development that gives priority to the poor, advances women, sustains the environment and creates needed opportunities for employment and other livelihoods. † The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first legally binding international anti-corruption instrument. As of 12 July 2012, the convention had been ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to by 161 countries as well as the European Union.On Dec 20, 2011 the Europian Commission officially announced its proposal for the new procurement directives. Literature review Literally accountability mea ns the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable i. e. responsible, by both its people and its elected bodies, for its choices and actions. Transparency denotes the free access to governmental political and economic activities and decisions. Procurement is everything associated with an incoming invoice. This holds true for goods, services, and works.In public procurement transparency and accountability have been recognised as key conditions for promoting integrity and preventing corruption, balancing with other good governance imperatives, such as an efficient management of public resources, providing guarantees for fair competition etc. In order to ensure overall value for money, the challenge for decision makers is to define an appropriate degree of transparency and accountability to reduce risks to integrity in public procurement while pursuing other aims of public procurement. Who is accountable?Every person who is in a position of power on trust is accountable for the u se of that power. Within the execution of any system, there is a hierarchical structure by which each level is accountable to the next higher level, from desk clerk to the cabinet. For instance, the clerk who failed to maintain up-to-date records, the Officer who failed to supervise the Clerk, the Head of Department who is answerable to Parliament, but failed to get sufficient trained staff etc. and so on. But it is easy to pin down who is accountable. Public Procurement & Transparency The goal of Public procurement are : ) serving the organisation, b) appropriate use of public funding, c) efficient use of public funding, d) accountability, e) value for money etc. But the real picture of public procurement is horrible ! The most common practice is â€Å"Low Bid† or H1 bidder. But the â€Å"low bid† is equated to a poor quality standard have often soured the public perception of the profession, even though the interpretation of some of these decisions may have been repo rted out of context. Even through e-procurement always there is a gap exists. Secondly supplying Low quality by paying bribe to govt. fficials is a very common practice. Generally Political powerholder to government servants are engaged in circumvention of their own laws. Lot of examples are failure of budget estimates of revenues and expenditures, avoidance of credit limits through an accumulation of unpaid bills, transfer of amounts toward the end of the year to deposit accounts to avoid lapse of funds, manipulation of performance data and associated means. Hence economic growth and policy measures may not be formulated. General public may not always know what the government is doing.While some countries review of the estimates by the audit agency, or through an assessment by credit rating agencies but this practice work against financial accountability. There are vital gaps in most public budgets and accounts. In several cases, they do not provide information on tax expenditures, outstanding guarantees, non-financial assets, and liabilities including contingent ones. Public procurement operations are subject to various controls: local controls, accounting controls, controls made by fiscal authorities, as well as external controls and audits.As public procurement has become more decentralised, a key concern is the lack of co-ordination between various controls, which has led to some loopholes and overlaps in controls over the procurement process. Only a few countries have mechanisms to ensure coordination of control. A related difficulty is to maximise the use of information produced by different controls. Demand for Public Procurement Public procurement created by external demands. As we know that these are transparency, integrity & accountability. Transparency refers to openness and equal opportunities for all interested bidders.Integrity refers to avoiding improper, wasteful or corrupt and fraud practices. Accountability refers to the fact that public pro curement authorities are responsible for effective, legal, and ethical way of procurements. Public procurement is affected by distinct internal demands. This is serving multiple political goals. This complicates public procurement, because sometimes it is not clear to identify the influence of political powers on public procurements. The second internal demand is serving a large amount of stakeholders. These various stakeholders may have different objectives.Ultimately Common public suffers. There are other factors also affects on the procurement process. 1) Demands on the process from legal regulations. 2) Public procurement is restricted from engaging into long-term relationships with their suppliers. 3) Absence of a perfect competition in public procurement may affects by various ways. Benefits of accountability Poverty is the biggest challenge facing the globe in the new millennium. Government is less accountable and responsive to citizens. All the citizens do not get equal acce ss to government services.Conversely, improvements in governance are associated with higher per capita income, higher adult literacy, lower infant mortality and reduced poverty. Fiscal transparency is a necessary condition for sound economic governance. Timely publication of a budget document enables the market to evaluate government’s intentions and allows itself a constructive discipline on the government. Transparency increases the political risk of unsustainable policies. A transparent public financial accounting policy makes it possible to determine what the government has done and to compare budgeted and actual financial operations.Further, open procurement policies not only facilitate the achievement of basic macroeconomic policy objectives, but also increase the productivity of public expenditure. One of the underlying objectives of improved transparency and accountability is to reduce the extent of corruption in the management of governmental affairs. Points to ensur ing accountability and transparency in public procurements are : Accurate records: A pre-condition for accountability and control. Internal control: A management instrument for improvement. External audit: Must for SWOT analysis.Challenging procurement decisions: Complaint and recourse mechanisms with ensuring public scrutiny. Hence the steps to be taken are: a) Strengthening parliamentary control in big infrastructure projects. b) Governments to reduce the high costs and the distortion effect of corruption in public procurement. c) Ensuring transparency at all phases of procurement, from demand creation to contract management and payment, through unrestricted access to all documents for the Monitor and for all activities, which brings both policy and technical expertise to the project. ) Providing adequate incentives and sanctions for both the public authority and bidders i. e. equal opportunity; f) Provide the right environment for detecting corruption and protects against it. Bes ides raising awareness about the structure and the application of the public procurement systems, we should follow the International common methodology for benchmarking and assessing public procurement systems. The Capacities of Supporting Transparency and Accountability by our civil society is the strength of novel and innovative progress. PARTHA MUKHERJEE [email  protected] com (1018 words)