Ethical And Unethical Factors Of Leadership Management Essay

Ethical And Unethical Factors Of Leadership Management Essay Ethical leadership is important to achieve organizational long term goals. There are some factors that influence the ethical leaders traits in the organization. These factors include leaders morality, trustworthy, honesty, authenticity, and authority. Some unethical and toxic leaders effects organizational objectives. The primary objective of this study is to present the factors that influence ethical and unethical behaviours of leaders in the organizations. Ethical decision making is done by ethical leaders through organizational ethical code of conduct and decision rules. Next, it is followed with organizational top management (effective leaders) importance in implementation of ethical programs to their subordinates. This is also explains the importance of corporate culture to achieve effective ethical leadership. Next part of this study describes Leader Member Exchange (LME) theory. Importance of this theory is also elaborated. This is followed with people and task orientation lea dership roles. Nature of this ethical leadership style is explained with CISCO chairman and CEO, John Chambers. Lastly, this study explains the transformational ethical leadership with five dimensional model of transformational leadership. This study differentiates ethical and unethical behaviours incorporated in transformational leadership style. Organizational ethical behavioural improvement strategies are effectively illustrated at the end. Ethical and Unethical Factors Ethics is a code of moral principles and values that governs a person behavior with respect to what is right or wrong (Daft, 2008). Organization success is mostly depends on different leaders. Leadership in the organization is important to achieve the objectives and goals because they provide direction and process to the employees. Leaders have to establish the ethical standards and moral values in the organization. This will help the followers to change their behaviors. Every leader in the organization should act as ethically. Ethical leader characteristics are identified in the organization based on some set of factors. These factors include leaders moral behavior, vision, communication, collective environment, and program (task) procedures (Daft, 2008). These factors should implant with organizational social and ethical values. Organizational leaders with these ethical characteristics are identified as ethical leader. The factors that influences the unethical leadership is due to growing complex of the business, increase speed of information flow, and augmented pressure from top management about employee performance (Toor and Ofori, 2009). These factors influence the ethical leader to be act as unethical. Leadership is to act purposively and ethically according to the organizational needs. Toor and Ofori (2009) said that collective components of integrity, ethical standards, and strong relationship with employees are most important characteristics of the ethical leaders. Ethical leaders in the organization are strong moral persons and managers. Strong moral persons have characteristics of honesty, trustworthiness and reliable to others. When it comes to moral manager, they are very open to their followers by explicitly talks about the ethical standards and empower employees to achieve goals in the organization. Toor and Ofori (2009) have given some dimensions to the ethical leadership. They are mo rality and fairness, role clarification, and power sharing. These dimensions are adopted from fellow multi cultural leaders behaviour. One more important factor that influences the ethical or unethical leadership behaviour is decision making process. Ethical leaders have vision to achieve long term goals of an organization. This is key factor that influence the decision making process. It means that effective ethical leaders are not interested in short term goals. This kind of thinking helps the leaders to maintain good relationships between employees. This will achieve the effective communication between the employees. In order to implement this kind of ethical bevaiours, leadership requires high motivation, influence process strategies and self transformation of ethical standard conduct. Most of the authors research works suggested that there is special importance on organizational top senior executives because these people have ability to lead the company in ethical way (Athure and Melea, 2006). Most of the employees in the organization believe that their leaders are more ethically and honest. These kinds of beliefs bring some impact on the corporate culture of an organization. It means that organizational code of ethics should be incorporate with corporate culture (Athure and Melea, 2006). This can be done through ethical leadership because most of the employees in the organization are motivated by these ethical leaders. Ethical organization is build through the support of top management (Carlson et al., 1995). It means that the top management should support the local ethical leaders to establish ethical organization. For instance, McDonald has established ethical code of conduct through companies CEO and senior management because they are effective ethical leaders of that company (Carlson et al., 1995). These senior management and CEO have effective communication with their subordinates to achieve ethical requirement into new employee ethical training programs (Carlson et al., 1995). In order to build ethical behaviours, company has started some ethical programs such as ethical training to change internal values of employees, reorganization of ethical violations and finally increase awareness on organizational ethical code of conduct among the employees. This kind of organizational ethical behaviours can be constructed only through effective and efficient ethical leader. Effective ethical leadership is measured through two key factors. Those are degree of empowerment of employees by their leaders and identify leaders motivation and character towards organizational objectives. Leader Member Exchange (LME) Leader Member Exchange (LME) theory is implemented for ethical leaders to achieve ethical leadership behavior. This theory will provide good relationships between the leaders and subordinates. This helps the leaders to clearly specify job roles, task, and role ambiguity in effective manner. The relationship between LME and ethics is to respond ethically with employees in the organization when they have any ambiguities in the workplace. There two major leadership roles in the organization. They are people and task orientation leadership roles. Ethical leadership in people orientation role has mutual trust and more openness between the leaders and employees (Mendonca and Kanugo, 2007). Job roles and tasks are effectively defined in task orientation role by the ethical leader (Mendonca and Kanugo, 2007). For instance, John Chambers who is the chairman and CEO of CISCO systems. Chambers used to use the following statement. That is We want to create the greatest company in the history and We want to change the world (Chambers, 2009). This is kind of leadership represents people orientation leadership styles because Chambers is uses to use a word called WE. This represents collaborative work through people orientation leadership style. Chambers is achieving task orientation leadership through people orientation leadership style. This is also represents transformational leadership style as well. Transactional and Transformational Leadership According to Kanungo (2001), authenticity and authority of the leadership behavior is expanded through leaders moral standard conduct and integrity. Most of the transactional leaders are self centered, untrustworthy, more authorities, and manipulative (Toor and Ofori, 2009). According to Toor and Ofori (2009), transformational leaders have different ethical bevaviours such as moral character, strong concern for self and others, and ethical values. These ethical values are deeply manipulated with organization vision. Ethical leaders are very important to the organization to achieve its long term goals effectively. According to the recent research works, the transformational or charismatic leaders ethical behaviour reaches to higher moral standards (Kanungo, 2001). These kinds of ethical behaviours are contrasted by transactional leaders. Transactional leaders establish control strategies to influence the followers. When it comes to transformational leaders, they use empowering techniq ues rather than control strategies. These empowering strategies demonstrate exemplary behaviours, helps to increase confidence, provide more resources to accomplish the objectives of the followers (Kanungo, 2001). These kinds of empowering strategies will improve human conduct and ethical objective of the leader as well as his/her followers (Kanungo, 2001). Some transactional leaders have consensus on organizational rules, rights, and responsibilities. This kind of behaviours influences the followers ethically because these are collectivistic transactional behaviours. According to Kanungo (2001), the ethical nature of the leaders behavior is judged based on three factors. They are leader motivation, apparent behaviour, and social context where ethical behaviours are presented. Leaders should improve their motivation, behavioural strategies and techniques, and understand the social situations in the organizations. Hence, these three factors keep the leaders ethically. Leaders have to be show high ethical standards on their behaviours and actions that should be followed by the employees in the organization. Effective organizational governance can be achieved through efficient ethical leadership (Toor and Ofori, 2009). There are also some unethical leaders in which they exploit organizational management loophole to accomplish their desires. However, leaders ethical or unethical behaviors changes according to the organizational changes. However, leaders with highest social responsibility are more ethical to the organization (Toor and Ofori, 2009). Servant, transformational and spiritual leaderships are more ethical to the organizations because these leaders are very honest, fair, helping to their subordinates, behaving ethically, and having more motivation towards work and employees in the organization (Toor and Ofori, 2009). Bass and avolio (Tervino and Brown (2004), 2000) has developed five dimensions of transformational leadership. They are individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, and inspirational motivation. Idealized influence is a first dimension that contains high moral values. These moral values are transformed to subordinates without any self interest of the transformative leaders. The outcome of this dimension could be employee work satisfaction, high job performance, and organizational commitment. The leader is used to establish collectivistic direction in the followers rather than selfish manner. This will help the followers to increase self efficacy. When this idealized influence is mixed with inspirational motivation then it represents the charismatic leadership. In third dimension, leaders motivate the followers through clear future goals (Baucus, 2005). This is used to establish an attractive and optimistic visualization of the organization in followers perspective. The next dimension is intellectual stimulation. Leaders are used to accept challenges with clear directions. Intellectual stimulation in transformational leadership is effective because leaders creates effective work environment that the followers can able to accept the challenges. Leaders should have listening skills to improve collectivistic performance in the organization otherwise the team get into conflict situation. This conflict situation has occurred due to misunderstanding between leaders and followers. These kinds of situations are avoided with transformational leadership. The last dimension is individualized identification (Baucus, 2005). It is most important dimension that leaders should perform effectively to improve collaborative work environment. This dimension helps leader to identify individual subordinate skills but leaders should have some time to observe these skill set of the followers (Armstrong, 2008). Effectiveness and efficiency of transformati onal leadership is depends on leaders behavior. It is represented in below showed figure. This figure contains three input values to transformational leader in which instrumental and terminal values are ethical values and undesirable values are unethical values (Armstrong, 2008). Transformational leadership produces either ethical or unethical behaviour based on these three input values (Armstrong, 2008). Each and every task of the transformational leaders is represented with above discussed five dimensional transformational leadership models. Ethical leaders are more ethical to their organizations because these leaders are moral persons with honest and trust worthy characteristic. These leaders can do anything for their subordinates. These ethical leaders are used to perform right thing in their professional and usual life. Ethical leaders used to make decision based on organizational ethical values and decision rules. Ethical leaders are more significant social person in the organization because they have very clear objectives and more ethical to their followers. According to Tervino and Brown (2004), ethical leaders are come under the category of transformational leadership style because they are highly motivate and consistent with organizational objectives. Tervino and Brown(2004) has define the relationship between leadership and organizational ethical conduct based on two factors. They are social learning and social exchange. Leaders become role models for their followers if they are ethically embedded with organizat ional ethical conduct. This kind of relationship is represented with social learning because followers are motivated through ethical leaders. Even more, ethical leaders actions are very clear to the organizations as well as his/her subordinates. Eventually, ethical leaders maintained social exchange relationship through leaders ethical values such as trustworthiness, maintaining collaborative workplace, perceived fairness and moral behavior (Grojean et al., 2004). Hence, ethical leaders are used to help their subordinates by differentiating the ethical and unethical conduct of an organization values. According to Tervino and Brown (2004), leaders power and control is important to make effective ethical decisions but it is used to maintain at lower levels. Improvement of Organizational ethics Organization can improve the ethical behaviour through transformational leadership. Triveno and brown (2004) has suggested five dimensional transformational leadership. This model clearly differentiates ethical and unethical behaviours of transformational leaders. Even transformational leaders are highly moral persons and motivated to organizational ethical values. This transformational leaders highly implements collectivistic team work through better communication. Even information flow between ethical leaders and followers are very effective. People and task orientation leadership is also effective in the organization to develop effective ethical leadership because the leaders are more legitimate and open to their subordinates. And even these leadership styles have clear job role and objectives. Ethical leaders should have some certain characteristics which are discussed in above. Organization top management should implement ethical training programs (Athure and Melea, 2006). Organ izational ethical values are integrated with all employees through these training programs (Athure and Melea, 2006). Organization should follow Leader Member Exchange (LME) theory to effectively implement ethical relationship between leaders and subordinates. Conclusion: Leaders have to take initiatives to develop ethical practices in the organizations. Organizational leaders not only create ethical code of conduct but also integrate these ethical standards into subordinates. Leader has to show some examples of ethical leaders to their fellow subordinates that build an ethical organizational context. This study differentiates transformational and transactional leadership by using transformational five dimensional model. Factors that affect leadership behavior have to provide solutions to ethical behaviours.

This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin Essay -- This Be the Verse Philip L

This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were sloppy-stern And half at one another's throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don't have any kids yourself. Lately, I have read a good deal of poems by Philip Larkin, and one unifying factor that I have noticed is that Larkin never seems to use a filler. Every word in every one of his poems seems to be carefully crafted and placed, to the point where the flow and rhythm of the poem seem almost an accident. One poem I read that really stayed with me is the above poem, "This be the Verse." I will now show you how this poem, which at first glance seems to be written only to amuse, really has a much deeper meaning. I will examine the poem in several parts. First, I would like to examine the use of curse words in the poem, or why other words that would be considered more acceptable to the general public were not used. Then, I will discuss the three stanzas of the poem and what they were meant to do for the audience. Lastly, I will explore why Larkin would write such a poem, and what he was trying to get across to his audience by writing it. The second line in this poem contains the word "fuck," a word that is usually not considered acceptable for the general public. Yet Larkin incorporates it almost immediately into his poem. I can think of four possible reasons why. Firstly, words such as fuck quickly and easily grab the audiences attention. This is similar to yelling "sex" in a crowded marketplace, everyone wants to know what is being discussed. Also, words like fuck prepare the audience for a humorous bit of poetry, and this perks the audience's attention, and lets them know off the bat that this will not be another long and boring verse. Secondly, words such as fuck produce an atmosphere for adults, or mature people. One term that is used quite extensively lately is "adult language." This term branches off of the common idea that children should and would not use such words until they are older and have a more concrete knowledge of what they are really saying. Thus, by using a w... ...of the poem then provide the solution: to stop reproducing. This is where Larkin says to the world that there is no way out of this problem. That the human race will either have to cease to exist, or simply live with all of it's problems. Like all of his poems, Larkin wrote "This be the Verse" with very careful planning and word placement. And even though this is a funny poem, it has a very deep message to share with the world. Everyone knows that the world is full of problems, and that hundreds of organizations are trying hard to fix all of the problems in order to make our lives better. However, as demonstrated in the poem, we can never absolve all our problems because we keep handing all of our flaws on to posterity. Thus, the human race will forever have problems, and although we work hard to decrease some, we will always have new problems, and there will never be a completely happy world. And this lesson can be applied to a smaller environment as well. All the way through a country's internal problems, a city's problems, a family's problems and the problems one has with oneself. No one can ever lead a perfectly happy life. There will always be problems to overcome. This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin Essay -- This Be the Verse Philip L This Be the Verse by Philip Larkin They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were sloppy-stern And half at one another's throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don't have any kids yourself. Lately, I have read a good deal of poems by Philip Larkin, and one unifying factor that I have noticed is that Larkin never seems to use a filler. Every word in every one of his poems seems to be carefully crafted and placed, to the point where the flow and rhythm of the poem seem almost an accident. One poem I read that really stayed with me is the above poem, "This be the Verse." I will now show you how this poem, which at first glance seems to be written only to amuse, really has a much deeper meaning. I will examine the poem in several parts. First, I would like to examine the use of curse words in the poem, or why other words that would be considered more acceptable to the general public were not used. Then, I will discuss the three stanzas of the poem and what they were meant to do for the audience. Lastly, I will explore why Larkin would write such a poem, and what he was trying to get across to his audience by writing it. The second line in this poem contains the word "fuck," a word that is usually not considered acceptable for the general public. Yet Larkin incorporates it almost immediately into his poem. I can think of four possible reasons why. Firstly, words such as fuck quickly and easily grab the audiences attention. This is similar to yelling "sex" in a crowded marketplace, everyone wants to know what is being discussed. Also, words like fuck prepare the audience for a humorous bit of poetry, and this perks the audience's attention, and lets them know off the bat that this will not be another long and boring verse. Secondly, words such as fuck produce an atmosphere for adults, or mature people. One term that is used quite extensively lately is "adult language." This term branches off of the common idea that children should and would not use such words until they are older and have a more concrete knowledge of what they are really saying. Thus, by using a w... ...of the poem then provide the solution: to stop reproducing. This is where Larkin says to the world that there is no way out of this problem. That the human race will either have to cease to exist, or simply live with all of it's problems. Like all of his poems, Larkin wrote "This be the Verse" with very careful planning and word placement. And even though this is a funny poem, it has a very deep message to share with the world. Everyone knows that the world is full of problems, and that hundreds of organizations are trying hard to fix all of the problems in order to make our lives better. However, as demonstrated in the poem, we can never absolve all our problems because we keep handing all of our flaws on to posterity. Thus, the human race will forever have problems, and although we work hard to decrease some, we will always have new problems, and there will never be a completely happy world. And this lesson can be applied to a smaller environment as well. All the way through a country's internal problems, a city's problems, a family's problems and the problems one has with oneself. No one can ever lead a perfectly happy life. There will always be problems to overcome.

Michael Porters Analysis Of Starbucks Essay -- essays research papers

Michael Porter, a Harvard Professor introduces his ideology of the Five Forces model that shapes the competition in the industry. Each force is interrelated and therefore leads into the other to show the elements directly involved in the further success or ultimate success of the firm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Starbucks Coffee Co. throughout its existence since 1971, with its great management team, innovative style of thinking and strong will to succeed in compliance with its mission and vision statements has and continues to overcome its barriers by recognizing such strategic planning as those included in Porter’s five forces model. The model includes such components as Barriers to Entry, Supplier and Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutions, and most importantly the Industry Competitors. Starbucks throughout its existence has addressed each and every one of Porters forces with a positive edge that has greatly contributed to the success of the company. Starbucks took many risks and spent capital that it really did not have. To build a corporation based on intuition and a trip to Italy has undoubtedly paid off in the long run which is evident throughout the year that Starbucks has been in operation. Howard Schultz, CEO and founder of the company, has stuck to his con viction not to â€Å"sacrifice long-term integrity and values for short-term profit.† He knew if he played his cards right and stuck to his guns it would only be a matter of time that Starbucks would become the world largest coffee industry in the world. He wanted the company to become and international outlet for coffee consumers which not only included men and woman but also addresses the needs and wants of those of all ages and nationalities, children, students and any other category of people that have and interest in Starbucks diverse product line. With constant dedication to the company’s vision and mission statement and believing in the value of market share and name recognition and how critical they are to the success of the company, he was able to achieve his goal within a few years. During this time of course he has been able to open a total of 1,100 stores and continues to do so until this day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Starbucks Coffee Co. continues to address the issues introduced in Porter’s Five-Force Model as such:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New Entrants (Barriers to Entry i... ...mployees). Starbucks also only acquires companies that comply with the ethical beliefs and standards set forth by the company because it is believed that this is the only way a company merger can survive or be successful in the long-term. When a foreign company does not comply with the standards set forth by them, Starbucks reacts instantaneously. An example of such an instance was in 1995 when they reacted to the neglectful treatment of the workers in Guatemala who were earning less than $3.00 a day, by enforcing a code of minimal working conditions and pay for foreign subcontractors. The company’s guidelines call for overseas suppliers to pay wages and benefits that â€Å"address the basic needs of workers and their families† and to only allow child labor when it does not interrupt required education (58-11).† Starbucks can be considered a trendsetter not only in products but also in the area of work ethics by sticking to its mission of the company and apply ing it whether working domestic or foreign. Starbucks is socially responsible and responsive to not only the issues affecting the company and the employees but also to that of the community through which they are able to exist. Michael Porters Analysis Of Starbucks Essay -- essays research papers Michael Porter, a Harvard Professor introduces his ideology of the Five Forces model that shapes the competition in the industry. Each force is interrelated and therefore leads into the other to show the elements directly involved in the further success or ultimate success of the firm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Starbucks Coffee Co. throughout its existence since 1971, with its great management team, innovative style of thinking and strong will to succeed in compliance with its mission and vision statements has and continues to overcome its barriers by recognizing such strategic planning as those included in Porter’s five forces model. The model includes such components as Barriers to Entry, Supplier and Buyer Power, Threat of Substitutions, and most importantly the Industry Competitors. Starbucks throughout its existence has addressed each and every one of Porters forces with a positive edge that has greatly contributed to the success of the company. Starbucks took many risks and spent capital that it really did not have. To build a corporation based on intuition and a trip to Italy has undoubtedly paid off in the long run which is evident throughout the year that Starbucks has been in operation. Howard Schultz, CEO and founder of the company, has stuck to his con viction not to â€Å"sacrifice long-term integrity and values for short-term profit.† He knew if he played his cards right and stuck to his guns it would only be a matter of time that Starbucks would become the world largest coffee industry in the world. He wanted the company to become and international outlet for coffee consumers which not only included men and woman but also addresses the needs and wants of those of all ages and nationalities, children, students and any other category of people that have and interest in Starbucks diverse product line. With constant dedication to the company’s vision and mission statement and believing in the value of market share and name recognition and how critical they are to the success of the company, he was able to achieve his goal within a few years. During this time of course he has been able to open a total of 1,100 stores and continues to do so until this day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Starbucks Coffee Co. continues to address the issues introduced in Porter’s Five-Force Model as such:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  New Entrants (Barriers to Entry i... ...mployees). Starbucks also only acquires companies that comply with the ethical beliefs and standards set forth by the company because it is believed that this is the only way a company merger can survive or be successful in the long-term. When a foreign company does not comply with the standards set forth by them, Starbucks reacts instantaneously. An example of such an instance was in 1995 when they reacted to the neglectful treatment of the workers in Guatemala who were earning less than $3.00 a day, by enforcing a code of minimal working conditions and pay for foreign subcontractors. The company’s guidelines call for overseas suppliers to pay wages and benefits that â€Å"address the basic needs of workers and their families† and to only allow child labor when it does not interrupt required education (58-11).† Starbucks can be considered a trendsetter not only in products but also in the area of work ethics by sticking to its mission of the company and apply ing it whether working domestic or foreign. Starbucks is socially responsible and responsive to not only the issues affecting the company and the employees but also to that of the community through which they are able to exist.

A Reflection On Herman Melvilles Accomplishments :: essays research papers fc

A Reflection On Herman Melville's Accomplishments "As an author Melville both courted failure and scorned success."(pg. 613, A Companion to Melville Studies). How many famous legends in time have existed to know no fame. How many remarkable artist have lived and died never receiving due credit for there work. Herman Melville is clearly an artist of words. Herman Melville is certainly a prodigy when it comes to writing. Herman Melville never received hardly any credit for any of his works. Melville wrote such novels as Moby-Dick, and Billy Budd. Melville wrote about things that he knew about. He wrote about his own experiences. The one thing that he loved, and knew the most about was whaling. Herman Melville was born in 1819, the son of Allan and Maria Melville. He was one of a Family of eight children - four boys and four girls - who was raised comfortably in a nice neighborhood in New York City. Herman Melville came from a famous blood line out of Albany, NY. Melville's grandfather, General Peter Gansevoort, was a hero. Even though the General died six years before Melville was born, Melville still put him in his book, Pierre. On the outer side of the blood line there was Major Melville. The Major was a wealthy Boston merchant who was one of the famous "Mohawks" who boarded the ship of the East India Company that night of 1773, and dumped the cargo in to the Boston Harbor. Later Major Melville became the Naval Officer of The Port of Boston, a post given to him by Gorge Washington. It is like the two blood lines fitted together perfectly to create Herman Melville. Herman had the strength of the General, and the crazy hart of the Major. Herman Melville was "hardly more than a boy" when he ran out to sea after his fathers death. A young Melville sighed up as a boy on the St. Lawrence to Liverpool and back to New York. Many of the events that show up in Melville's Redburn are actuarial events that happened of his first voyage. After returning home and finding his mothers family fortune gone, Melville decided to take a journey over land this time to the Mississippi river to visit his Uncle Thomas. Through out all of Melville's work the image of inland landscapes, of farms, prairies, rivers, lakes, and forest recur as a counterpoint to the barren sea. Also in Moby-Dick Melville tells how he was a "Vagabond" on the Erie Canal, which was the way Melville returned. Melville wrote that it was not the lakes or forest that sank in as much

Arts and pornography Essay

?No-one ever asks ‘When does art become realistic? ‘, or ‘When does art become abstract? ‘, or ‘When does art become literary? ‘, although questions like these make as much sense because art can be all or any of these things. This is because we can usually distinguish an abstract work from a realistic or literary one, whereas what pornography is, is unclear in the minds of most people. Pornography derives from two Greek words: porne, which means harlot, and graphos, which refers to writing; however, we use the term today to describe much more than stories about prostitutes. And when we use it, it is as more than the definition of a class of writing and visual art: it has an ethical (usually pejorative) connotation also. And, like most ethical and aesthetic terms, its use is intensely personal. Just as beautiful really means no more than ‘I like it (although I cannot clearly explain why)’, pornographic means ‘I find this offensive (although I cannot really explain why)’. There is no generally agreed meaning for either of these terms – which bedevils our discussion of both. Art exists in many different forms. Sculpture, paintings, graphics, drawings and such are part of the visual art. Dance, film, music and theater, as well as literature, are also forms of art. Throughout the years, art has, in all of its forms, interpreted, presented, or made allusion to nudity. Many famous masterpieces or important art represent nude people, and sometimes even persons making love; yet, it is recognized as beautiful art by many people. What difference is there, if any, in the interpretation and importance that we humans give to nude art and pornography? So it leads to my first knowledge issue: When does art become pornography? Here is a real life example. As we all know, our school invites some nude models for art class, they expose their nude bodies to the art students. I am not sure if it is the reason why many guys take art. Do you think it is art, nasty art, performance art or pornography? Art, nudity and pornography are different, and every individual’s sense perception of what these are will also be different. The area of knowledge of art is one of the most subjective of all the areas of knowledge, which explains why persons interpret it differently. Nudity may or may not be included in the AoK of Art, but it is a part of many art pieces. Nudity is present in many forms, for example, the famous sculpture of David by Michelangelo Buonarroti. This 5. 17 meter tall statue represents the biblical King David, nude, and it is recognized by many as a masterpiece, and some even consider it a symbol of the defense of civil rights. Vitruvian Man, by Leonardo Da Vinci, is the drawing of a nude man, legs and arms stretched. Michelangelo did not limit himself to sculpting nude man, but also painted many important figures nude on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, such as Adam, Eve, Jesus, and others. All these art pieces, famous and important, widely recognized masterpieces include nudity. Of course, the importance and recognition of these art pieces is debatable and can be argued, but many people and important art communities consider them to be masterpieces. These art pieces illustrate both, men and women, sometimes together, other times separated, but share many things in common. All of these art pieces include nudity, and are recognized by many as important art. But then, when does art become pornography? Is it just like crossing a line, on one side its art and the closer you get to that line, it becomes less art until you cross that line and it becomes pornography? If that is the case, what if you stand on the line, would it be neither art nor pornography, or both? Every single person can interpret it as they want, but as I see it, many factors affect the decision of whether it is art or pornography. I see it as a line, on one side it is art, and on the other it is pornography, because I don’t think that an art piece can be both art and pornography at the same time for a single person. I emphasize on the fact that it is for a single person, as this is very subjective. Although this is very subjective, as mentioned before, it is also very cultural. In most of Western Europe, nudity is seen in a very different way than in the Middle East, due to cultural and historical differences. In the Middle East, for example, Muslim women must wear the burkha, while in Western Europe there are many semi-nudist or nudist beaches that anyone, regardless of age and gender, can enjoy. This, however, does not justify or imply anything else than the fact that there are higher chances for western Europeans to have higher limits and Middle Eastern people to have lower. It only means higher chances, because as mentioned before, although culture is a factor that affects where the individual puts the limit, it still is subjective, based on beliefs, ideals, past experiences, and many other factors. The Ways of Knowing apply to this judgment or decision of whether it is art or pornography in different ways for each individual. Sense perception, which includes the five senses, is the main element that allows the interpreter to perceive the art piece, whether it is through hearing, seeing, or touching. The other two senses, smelling and tasting, are not as relevant for the interpretation of the forms of art mentioned earlier. With the three senses mentioned (sight, hear and touch), a person can interpret a work of art and decide what it is, give an interpretation, a symbol, a meaning to it. Then, through emotions, the person can associate feelings and ideas to the work of art. If the person feels shocked or offended (emotions) from seeing (sense perception) a nude sculpture, he or she might decide it is pornography. Finally language is very important as it is one of the most important filters affecting the decision between art and pornography. The simple definitions of what is art and what is pornography are evidences of the implications of language. Art can be defined as â€Å"the quality, production, expression or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance† in other words, something exceptional according to a set of principles (decided by a majority of people). According to this definition, the masterpieces mentioned before are still art. Pornography is more difficult to define. The first definition (from dictionary. com) describes pornography as â€Å"obscene writings, drawings, photographs especially those having little or no artistic merit†. The definition states â€Å"obscene† materials, but obscenity is very subjective and varies from person to person, just like the limit at which art becomes pornography. The second part of the definition is very interesting, and I would agree with it: materials with â€Å"little or no artistic merit† so that would mean that is not exceptional according to the set of principles previously mentioned, which again supports the idea that it’s subjective. Another definition of pornography (from The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition) states it is â€Å"sexually explicit [material] whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal†. This definition is more ambiguous then the first mentioned. According to this definition, two factors are needed in order for something to be pornography: it needs to be sexually explicit, and it needs to primarily cause sexual arousal. The problem with this definition is that anything containing nudity is sexually explicit, so all the masterpieces mentioned above have at least the first factor needed to be considered pornography (according to this definition). The second part of the definition is very subjective, because we cannot know what the purpose of the nude sculpture, drawing or painting was unless the author tells us. To conclude, in my personal point of view, art cannot â€Å"become† pornography, it is either born as art, or born as pornography, and this depends on each individual’s interpretation of the material in question. Not only the visual arts, but other forms of arts, especially Medias, have many influences on young people. Anyone who watches television, goes to the movies, or picks up a magazine today knows sex is prominent across all media. Discussions regarding the early sexualization of children and young people are an increasingly hot topic with celebrities and politicians alike having something to say. An analysis of use of the term sexualisation published on the Global Media Insight blogspot showed that in early 2010 use of the term ‘sexualisation’ in both mainstream and social media more than doubled (fig. 1). This is not to say that the concerns behind the idea of sexualised childhood are new ones; it does however suggest that this is a concept which is increasingly in the collective public consciousness. Although the effects of sexual content have received little attention from researchers in the 1980s, there are strong theoretical reasons to believe that media may play an especially important role in the socialization of sexual knowledge, attitudes and behavior. These were well summarized by Elizabeth Roberts (1982): â€Å"(1) the adult nature of most programming children watch; (2) children’s limited access to or experience with countervailing information or ideas; (3) the ‘realism’ with which roles, relationships, and lifestyles are portrayed; and (4) the overwhelming consistency of the messages about sexuality that are communicated† (Roberts, 1982, p. 209). Each of these points is even more pertinent in 1998 than in 1982. Children watch a great deal of adult programming, and there has been a steady increase in the frequency and explicitness of sexual content on broadcast television. Young people have access to a much wider range of video content as well as to other entertainment media than they did in the early 1980s. Movies Adolescents see movies in theaters, and the same movies are soon available on pay TV channels and video tape. Many of these movies are â€Å"R-rated. † They contain more frequent and more explicit portrayals of sexual behavior than broadcast TV – an average of 17. 5 per film in one analysis (Greenberg, Siemicki, Dorfman, Heeter, Stanley, Soderman, &Linsangan, 1993). Like TV, the most frequent sexual activity shown is unmarried sexual intercourse. Sex is often in the context of profanity, alcohol and drug use, and nudity. Not only have the movies, music world confronted similar problem as well. Let’s see a real example. Modern music is becoming increasingly pornographic. It is not about being old-fashioned. It’s about keeping values that are important in the modern world. We can’t watch modern stars like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga with a two-year-old. 99 percent of the charts in R&B and 99 percent of that is soft pornography. Children and young people are being forced to grow up too young. A researcher named Larson (1995) used an experience sampling technique to analyze the relationship between emotional states and the use of television and other media. He argues that adolescents experience increased emotionality and that such emotionality may be related to increased use of music because â€Å"it both speaks to adolescents’ personal issues and helps them create a separate experiential space at home†¦ music is also important to adolescents because it helps define their public self outside the family†. Private, solitary use of both music and television use by adolescents is important in providing them an opportunity to deal with the stress and emotionality of this stage of development. Young people select media which entertain them, contribute to their identity formation, help them cope with their problems and emotional mood states, and form the basis of their selection into youth subcultures. Today’s generation of youth has easier access to sexual content. From television, movies, magazines, and advertisements (billboards, print, and electronic), to music (on radio and in music videos) and the Internet, youth who are interested in nudity, sexual role models, romance and depictions of sex and intercourse, have a range of media options readily available. Media provide perhaps the least embarrassing way to get information about sex and romance.

General Mills Warm Delights Essay

1. Warm Delights is in the single-serve cake treat category. 2. (a) The target market is on the go women who want a small dessert treat. (b) A point of difference would be that it is convenient due to that it comes in its own bowl. (c) A potential opportunity would be that Warm Delights is positioned as a snack instead of as a dessert. A hindrance could be that while marketing it as a snack versus a dessert, it may have more competition. Also by marketing it to women, you may be losing other potential customers like children and teenagers. 3. (a) Vivian Callaway did some market research on naming the product. She was trying to decide if naming it Warm Delights or Dessert Bowls would be more appealing to customers. (b) â€Å"What does she want?† was one critical question she sought answers for. (c) Targeting on the go women had marketing advantages like a $2.00 price tag, the products message of â€Å"warm, convenient, delightful†, and that on-the-go women’s meal plans include the occasional delicious treat. 4. (a) Callaway’s initial plan was to pay for displays that would catch the consumer’s attention because there is usually not a lot of consumer traffic in the dessert aisle. (b) The displays made sense to Callaway because it was vital to get new people down the dessert aisle that wouldn’t normally visit that aisle. 5. I would try to make the product more appealing to the younger consumer. Maybe changing the packaging to a more kid-friendly view. I would also create and add more flavors. And one more thing would be to market to college students and their college stores and cafeterias.

Recruitment, Selection, Performance Appraisal Essay

Recruitment Finding the right people for the job is one challenge all managers and organizations share. While managers may have the ability to redesign or adjust jobs to fit the available people, the usual challenge is the reverse. Thus, a first important step in the recruitment, selection, and placement process is undertaking a job analysis. This helps ensure you know what the employee must know and do (job requirements) and under what circumstances. There are several common mistakes one can make in the recruitment phase, including: †¢Restricting the pool of qualified candidates by using a poor search strategy and/or approach. An example is exclusive reliance on either internal or external recruitment no matter the position or available candidates. Another is failing to include a good array of sources to ensure a strong â€Å"talent pool.† †¢Writing a position description that does not match the job. This happens most frequently when there has been no careful analysis of the job and/or when there is no second level review of the analysis to help ensure accuracy. †¢Writing position postings/advertisements that are overly broad or are inappropriately restrictive. An example is when everything in a posting is â€Å"preferred† or everything is â€Å"required.† For those who are hiring managers the issue of whether to recruit/promote from within (internal recruiting) will likely be a familiar one. There are numerous advantages, including development of â€Å"career ladders† that help with employee retention. Simply put, a career ladder is one that plans and enables advancement up the levels of an organization. Internal recruiting can also help organizations preserve and protect critical knowledge, values, and practices. Transitions can be smoother, with less negative impact on productivity. Look more:  recruitment and selection process essay One thing organizations can and should do when wishing to leverage internal talent is to inventory the knowledge, skills, experiences, interests, and abilities of their employees. When the organization has the needed financial and technology resources, these can captured electronically in a knowledge management or human resource information system (HRIS). Performance appraisals, when done well, can also prove rich and useful sources of information about employee  interests and potential. An exclusive reliance on internal recruiting has its potential disadvantages. One is that there may be no one in the organization who has the knowledge and skills for either new initiatives or those where there is no room for downtime or training. Another is that it may be difficult for the organization to refresh its talent pool and learn by recruiting those with diverse knowledge, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. Selection Selecting the best candidate for a position is both a critical management function and one that can be difficult. It is useful to begin by recognizing that there is no failsafe method of ensuring the right choice is made. Mistakes happen regularly and the consequences for all parties can be enormous. As Bohlander & Snell (2009, p. 254) report the average cost of a mismatch has been estimated at anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 for intermediate and senior positions. This is just the financial cost and does not consider the frequent emotional and even physical distress bad hiring decisions can have on the candidate, other employees, an organization and manager’s reputation, and beyond. As discussed in the section above, an important first step is to conduct a careful job analysis that provides as much information about what knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, preferences, etc. will lead to success. Ensuring a good match between important organizational and candidate values is also a critical and sometimes forgotten factor. To illustrate this point, it is useful to envisage a candidate who is seeking an improved quality and balance in his/her personal life walking into an organization with â€Å"Whatever it takes!† posted strategically on the potential supervisor’s door. Cascio (2010) offers a good summary and discussion of the importance of ensuring reliability and validity of the information obtained during the selection and staffing process (see Chapter 7). The goal is to work to ensure sound and consistent judgments/results no matter the people, time, and/or tools used in the selection process. The risk in failing to attend to these concerns is not only a poor selection decision but also a possible legal challenge. You will find the overview on staffing and selection methods (Cascio, Chapter 7) and tools interesting and useful when preparing your week 5 assignm ent. Those who work for small firms might be surprised by the  array of tools and tests in current use. Some, like graphology (Cascio, p. 247), are not generally accepted by U.S. academic experts and others present sufficient problems (eg., polygraphs) they are either not used widely or are not viewed as reliable sources of information (eg., reference checks). Interviews remain an important selection method, with those that use a structured process viewed as most effective and appropriate. Those wanting a smile during your research and writing process should read the â€Å"Top Five Biggest Mistakes Candidates Make During Job Interviews.† And, of course, everyone will want to be sure to avoid illegal questions when conducting employment interviews. This resource serves as a useful reminder of what to avoid: http://employment.findlaw.com/employment/employment-employee-hiring/employment-employee-hiring-overview.html Employee Performance Appraisal Just these words can send a shiver down many if not most people’s spines! Even in modern organizations with well trained and resourced managers, it is safe to say that a large percentage do not like this part of their job and/or feel they do it poorly (on this, see Cascio citing Grensing-Pophal (2001) and Sandberg (2007)). One sad thing about this is that assessment and feedback are so important for improved performance and, ultimately, for creating a workplace where people want to be. Another is that so much is known about what to do and to avoid but this information does not seem to have found its way in a systematic or consumable format into the hands of practicing managers. Cascio provides a summary of what is known from the study of this subject and you can find much more in professional and scholarly management journals in the UMUC electronic databases. Of the numerous things to remember when evaluating the performance of an employee, three are critically important: â₠¬ ¢Evaluate only what is required to do the job †¢Ensure the employee has a written copy of expectations and standards at the beginning of the period when performance will be reviewed †¢Use observable and measurable standards – rely on evidence-based assessment AND maintain records (document †¦ document †¦ document!) (Bohlander & Snell, 2010, p.  369). Time is a frequent enemy of effective performance appraisals. There never seems to be enough of it to plan, prepare, meet, review, write, discuss, and follow up. Thus, it is common to cut corners. An example is waiting until the end of an evaluation cycle to discuss performance for the entire year. Sometimes that discussion never even happens and the entire process is handled as a paper/e-mail transaction. Imagine the message this sends to employees about their relative importance to the organization! Yet most of us who have been managers have probably both had this done to us and do it to others. Also often related to time shortages, managers and employees find themselves at the end of a review cycle with no concrete documentation to support their views. The potential for reliance on recent or certain events is great in such circumstances and this can result in unfair and/or inequitable reviews. Avoiding behavior is also quite common. Surprises are the consequence. Conflict, whether direct or indirect, is likely. A recommended standard is that there should be no surprises in a performance review discussion or document. Sometimes, this happens when those being evaluated are not good listeners but in many more cases, managers have not invested the time needed to plan for and then communicate expectations or provide timely feedback. Depending upon the method and process used, concerns about ensuring fairness and equity can occur and can serve as constraints on a good evaluation process and outcome. Imposed rating quotas and caps can cause this to happen, especially when they are either not known or are announced at the end of an evaluation period. As you systematically and critically analyze your performance assessment systems this week, you will find it useful to review carefully the information Cascio and other sources you find provide, being sure to objectively consider both strengths and possible limitations of the available alternatives. As you will see, there are no prescribed rules about who should be involved in the evaluation process and there is no single method that works for all organizations. People often think a 360-degree appraisal is optimal. If the organization and people are well prepared such a system can be great. If not, it can be, and often has been, a disaster. Speaking of which, there are numerous sources of potential error when conducting an appraisal. Cascio discusses some of them (halo error, contrast error, recency error) (pp. 356 – 357). If you have worked for a while in  different organizations it is quite likely you will have observed some of these in practice. They are both common and often difficult to avoid. Training, increased awareness, and self-management are important in avoiding and/or limiting the possible negative consequences of these rating errors. As Cascio writes, performance appraisal systems MUST have these characteristics: relevance, sensitivity, and reliability and SHOULD also be acceptable and practical (p. 335). A review of this discussion is strongly recommended. In my experience many systems fail on all counts. People are evaluated on factors not directly relevant to their success or that of the organization. It is difficult to differentiate between and among employees using the system and as a result everyone gets rated about the same. Different raters evaluating the same person and behavior arrive at different conclusions and the view of those more senior often prevails. Managers don’t really accept the system. And, finally, the system is so onerous everyone waits until the last possible minute to do this task hoping it will somehow make it more bearable. The three major types of performance assessment used in most organizations are those that focus on the following factors: a) Individual characteristics or traits b) Behaviors c) Results As Cascio explains, there are several methods that organizations and their managers use. You should discover the one that is the closest fit to the method used in your own organization. It is important to recognize that each method has advantages and disadvantages. While organizations may design and employ a hybrid, it is likely behaviors or results will be relatively more important when evaluating performance and determining consequences. It is common to hear arguments in favor of a results-based approach. There are, however, some essential preconditions for this to work. One is an understanding that this does not mean â€Å"results at any cost.† Another is to find a way to recognize those who may have a difficult time demonstrating how what they do on a daily basis contributes directly to organizational goals. This concern applies especially to those at lower levels in an organizational hierarchy. To summarize, designing and conducting effective performance appraisals is something all managers have to do, whether using a  formal or informal method. There are available alternatives and each has its pros and cons. The secrets to success are relatively simple: †¢Begin by establishing a common understanding of what is required to do the job. †¢Establish and carefully communicate expectations and standards for performance. †¢Set performance goals and milestones and monitor and discuss progress throughout the year. †¢Maintain good records.  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Avoid surprises.   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Set aside sufficient time to plan and focus on each employee when meeting to discuss performance. †¢Treat employees with respect and remember to engage them in the process and recognize both accomplishments and areas needing improvement. †¢Use appraisal as an opportunity to examine and explore opportunities for future growth and development. †¢In other words, focus primarily on what will happen rather than what has happened. For those who are interested, this is a video that demonstrates what NOT to do during a performance review meeting: http://polaris.umuc.edu/cvu/amba602/home.html And here is one of several examples from the Web of a well organized and implemented appraisal meeting: ________________________________________ References Bohlander, G., & Snell, S. ( 2010). Managing human resources. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Cascio, W. (2010). Managing human resources: Productivity, quality of work life, profits. NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Written by: Christina A. Hannah, Ph.D.