Persuassive speech School Uniforms Essay

Should school uniforms be required in public schools? It will increase education, and decrease on violence and the cost will be lowered. This is a question that has created debates in several different schools. Some say that school uniforms represent discipline and obedience while others say not wearing uniforms takes away from the children’s creativity and individuality. Not only does wearing uniforms teach obedience and discipline it also helps students to focus and have better grades and it cuts cost on parents. Will wearing uniforms improve education in schools? Yes wearing uniforms does improve on education. By having students wear uniforms they are more focused on their studies than what someone else has on. It has caused a less distraction because when you have students that are wearing all the new name brand clothing students are found in the classroom admiring the other peers clothes and shoes instead of focusing in the class room. So by wearing the uniforms they all have on the same thing and allow the students to focus and pay more attention in class which helps these students get better grades. When it comes to education, clothes are not quite important. According to (Thomas, S) â€Å"studies show wearing uniforms help the educational environment. It only shows unity within the student-body but as well helps students concentrate in class.† Do uniforms cut down on conflict in schools? I believe uniforms do cut down on conflict in schools. It cuts down on the competition with others in schools. Less fighting and more discipline. For instance High school and middle school students have it the worse it could be stressful trying to get all the credits you need to graduate. This is the age were they experience name brand clothing, shoes, also were the most bulling and violence comes in from gang’s and other different things. Being bullied by your appearance can be a bit overbearing. During my research I found that in the late 90’s(Pickles, L, P.) the focus of uniforms was called to action for intercity schools were violence was happing in for several differen t reasons from theft to gangs and cliques. I remember when I was in middle school and high school before uniforms were implemented there was a big issue with gangs if you wore the wrong color  (red or Blue) you were approached by these members. So going to uniforms were they all having the same color top and bottoms solved a lot of that violence. Then there comes the bulling and teasing of other students who are less fortunate than others. Students can be mean and messes with another student’s self-confidence because they are in a household were they have to wear hand me downs or parents can’t afford the latest brands of clothing. So by wearing uniform everyone looks alike and there is no reason for the bullying. Do uniforms cut down cost? Uniforms indeed cut down cost for families. Instead of parents having to go out and buy $50.00 pair of jeans and yes that is for one pair. Most stores have bundle sales on school uniforms. What you paid for one pair of jeans can buy you 2 uniform bottoms and 2 uniform tops a nd some places 3 or 4. Only expensive thing you worry about is shoes. Uniforms are much less expensive than traditional clothing worn by teens. Some schools provide programs where kids can receive the uniforms at little or no cost. I remember my daughter went on a filed a trip when she got home from the field trip she had a be brown paper bag in the bag was 2 uniform pants 2 shirts, a sweater, socks, a pack of underwear and many more things that were given to her in this program that was offered in her school. So there is help to get uniforms at little to no cost were you can’t get that help with regular clothing for school. By allowing school uniforms in the school, education will improve student’s success. It will enforce discipline towards learning. There will be less violence, Peer Pressure will reduce because there will be less distraction on what everyone else has on. However some people feel that wearing the uniforms takes away from a student’s individuality students are still encouraged to be creative. Students tend to alter their uniform with jewelry. But we have to remember the most important thing school is a place for our children to learn not to flaunt wealth and fashion. We have to decide as a society if individual expression is more important than an improved violent free educational performance. I’m like most parents uniforms can be worn during school and they can express there individuality outside the class room when it comes to dressing. References 1. Uniforms in the Schools: Proponents Say It Cuts Competition; Others Thomas, S. (1994, October 20). Uniforms in the Schools: Proponents Say It Cuts Competition; Others. Black Issues In Higher Education, PG, Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.prx-anthem.lirn.net 2. Mandating school uniforms at all grades Pickles, L, P. (2000, December 01). Mandating school uniforms at all grades. School Administrator, (11), 51, Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.prx-anthem.lirn.net

WeChat: Connect with Friends

Some of the website use their own language, and some use English. The most activity page Is Weight Indonesia; It has more than 800,000 Likes and 63 thousand talking about this. The second one is Weight India. It has more than 747 thousand likes and 7 thousand talking about this. Other pages have about 20 thousand likes. Some activity pages, like India, Malaysia, have different cover pages; but some, like Hong Kong, Australia, have the same cover page and most of the content are the same. If there is a need to separate Faceable by countries, It should every country character.If It makes every hint the same, it Just need one Page. Because It has 1 1 pages, I want to choose two typical ones of them. The Weight India page Is the most activity one. And it almost update twice a day. At first glance, we can see almost every post has picture with Weight icon. It is a good way to give new users the impression of Weight. The photos can help you know what they post. You even have no need to see the worlds up the photos. Weight has a function that people can build fan page in Weight about some topic, which Is Interesting or useful. Then people can get newest Information from that page or we can call It group.On their Faceable, they always post some Weight group, and promote you to follow the Weight ID, Like PER Cinema, or Colors TV. I think the reason why there are not so much replies is also because when people find a group on Weight, they would like to have a talk on Weight. It is a good way to appeal people to use it, but it also needs to create conversation on its Fan page. So that others who do not use Weight can know the opinion from those who use It. Those opinions will be the first suggestion for them to use It or not. To promote Itself, Weight posts their function and explain how to have fun with them.The conversation under this kind of poster has not so much replies, but if some one says he has problem with Weight, Weight will reply him with the solution. I think that is not enough for Weight to have interaction with people. They can lead some interesting topic on Faceable, not only introduce the function or follow some groups. Another one I want to choose Is Weight Taiwan. I choose this one because the posters they have on their Fan page. It not only talk about Weight Itself, It also post the conversation. However, Weight Taiwan does not have so many fans. It is not so activity like Weight India.It may Just post one for one or two days. That will not help it show up in public. Maybe because it is an App, so when people download and use it, they may not pay so much attention on its Faceable. No matter which Fan page, it always do not have so many replies. It is an important point they need to develop. I think when people have more replies and more share on Faceable, other who never heard about it can see. Now Weight is expanding its market, so it needs more activity. Another point I want to mention is that it has 11 Faceable Fan pages, but I think it need a main page for all over the world.Then on the main page, Weight can put the links of different countries. This can help people who do not in these countries can like Weight page and pay attention to what happen. Twitter: The same as Faceable, it also have individual page for different countries. Here is the problem, it do not have a list on its website of all Twitter it has. It has about 146 thousand followers, and it updates frequently. It rewets others' Twitter. Most of them are those people's opinion about Weight, like they can have group talk with friends or he can have free video chat with friend in Beijing.I think it is a very good way to promote their product. In this way, when people want to see the react of Weight and they find its Twitter and see these Tweets, they will think it is a useful and convince App. Here I also want to mention the Weight India. It has fewer followers than its main page, but it has about 10 times tweets. Weight is a Chinese app, wh en it wants to open it foreign market, India is their first choice. Now, India is the second biggest user of Weight, and because China use it own social media, like Webb, Renee. Then India is very activity on its promotion.On Weight India, it wets average 3 times a day. It will post some important event on both Faceable and Twitter with photos. Weight India is the only one has a Weight background picture. From this detail, we know Weight India is doing diligently and attentively. It has hash tag, and people always talk about how they use Weight; or when someone builds a group, he or she may washrag Weight. I think Weight can rewet this kind of tweets. It can help people expand their group, make those who have same interesting come together, also it can tell them use Weight. It can kill three birds with one stone.Not only its own hash tag, it also uses other hash tag to connect with other activities. Blobbing: When I searching its blob, I find it do not have a link to its blob. Final ly, I find All About Weight blob. It does not seem like the official blob post because it has no background, no other information. It looks like very simple and I do not think they pay attention to this platform. Under the title, it has one sentence: now we are here with a link. There Just one more blob, and others are exactly the same. If two places have the same articles, why it need to separate readers to different platform.Some posts re even in Spanish. Spanish is the second language in US, but it can't Just post in Spanish. They can have two posts with same content in different language. The I do not think it can typically representative the main idea. It talks about new emotions for Weight, why it needs to have tagged all, about. The emotions are different, but the tags are the same. At the top, it has a sentence saying: All you need to know about Weight: Readers from 154 countries as of May 2013. Where are the readers? There is no comment, no evidence to provide the dates. An other reason why there is no comment maybe the article is too short.The article is like posts on Faceable, not many words, Just a picture and several words to explain. When people first see on Faceable, they may want to comment, but if they see it again on blob and without any new, they do not want to comment. The article is not â€Å"news† for them. As I know from class, Weight India hires writers to writer about Weight every month, maybe the blob is on their country website. Actually I also see articles and news about Weight, but it does not have a specialized platform to collect this article to let people know comprehensive Weight. I find their official blob website, but it is aChinese website. I want to write about it because it has some good points. The articles are formal and have many replies. The Weight team posts these articles. All the topics are people concerned and they like to give opinion about these topic. It does not have tags, but it has classification. Then people can know the article is about function, tips or update. I hope they can work on this platform because from the replies, we can know there are many people following Weight and they must want to now information from official website. It they use it, they also need to change or update some things.It needs IRS or other ways to share the article, and tags for easy to search. Linked: In my point, Linked is a social media for career or company. Weight do not use Linked so well. I find a Weight Marketing Linked page. It has a big problem that it does not use it in English. I think if it wants to open its market, the first thing it needs to change is the language. I also suggest they can have a list of employees, especial like the CEO. Then people can see the size of the company or if they want to find a job in Weight, they can know who need to connect with.Weight almost posts rarely, ND I find some article even with strange pictures. The pictures have noting to do with the topic. In my opinion, the picture is also a media tool, and it can tell people directly. Maybe because the fan page name is Weight Marketing, it Just posts articles about marketing. It should be emphasis marketing, but not only marketing. It also can post the App itself or some interesting things happen with Weight. Under their products and services, there are Just two articles. From my experience of using this product, I think it can have more pages talk about this product specifically.In its Faceable, when it updates its App, it will have a post on Faceable to help people get new function. Linked can help people know what you have, so I think it is important to have a complete introduction of the function. It has Linked group with 161 members, but Just few of them are working at Weight. It is really not an activity group, and the nearest post is amounts ago. Weight need to pay attention to Linked because it is a good social media to promote itself. In its group, it needs to add more employe es and post more about Weight. Otherwise, the members talk try to make friends there.I know most of employees are Chinese, and they do not use Linked. However, if Weight want to have more users, it needs to take full advantage of social media. They can't be stuck by Chinese social media and culture. Youth It has Weight India channel on Youth. It has four parts, Weight TV Ad, Stars on Weight, Weight Global, and Weight Feature Tutorials. In TV Ads part, the most popular video has more than 3 million views, and the average view is 100 thousand. The ads are interesting though it speak Hindi and people also reply they think it's funny and amazing, and they want to use this app.It means the ads do a good promotion. Though I do not understand what they are talking, but I can know the story from their action. Weight use small interesting stories to tell people Weight is a very convince way to communication and many India stars are using it. Each part has about 50 videos. I can't tell whethe r it is lot or litter for it because I think as ad it needs to update and it will have new ads coming. When a new advertising showing up, if it can inform people to use it, then it is successful. Form the reply, we know the video catch audiences attention and they will try this app.I also think it can have a broad let audience put their own video. What does user do with Weight? It also can be interesting. Conclusion I think there has big space to improve its social media. First thing is its website. When people want to know a product. He must go to its website first. In Yacht's website, it does not have all social media it has. It also does not have a list of which countries can use its product. As I mentioned before, it need to have a main page for Faceable, Twitter. On the main page, it should have links to separate pages. The language is also a big problem.Weight tries to be an international app, so it needs to unify its language in English. To translate the media, it Just needs to have language selection at the top. Among all the platforms, I think they use Faceable and Twitter best. They update everyday and have reaction with followers. If I grade this company, I will it a B- or B. As a company, its social media cannot Just about one or two countries. India does very well, the Faceable, Twitter, Youth, and blob. It is activity on these platforms and does an effective promotion. However, in other countries Faceable, they seems like not pay attention to social media.Again the Linked is about the company; maybe costumers will not check Linked. They still need to fill out it. When people access to some technical, they may want to find who produces it, and who are in the team or what do the team create before. It should have a Weight Linked page, not Just marketing page. Its main market is in China, and Chinese has Webb. At first I do think it need to promote it in China because almost every phone has Weight. But now I think whether it is the first communicati on tool in China, it will need promotion and social media. It needs to have something new to keep people sing it.

Irish migration to Great Britain Research Paper

Irish migration to Great Britain - Research Paper Example Irish people have a long and profound history of migration to Great Britain. The migration is due to economic necessities, political compulsions and geographical location. The historic aspect that accelerates the migration process since the eleventh century has varied impact on the economy of Great Britain. After many political and geographical adjustments and divisions, the present position is that Ireland has two entities. Independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, that remains part of Great Britain. This long association and disassociation, has resulted in millions or Irish people becoming residents of Great Britain and they can be identified through their Irish ancestry. As the migration process continues unabated, Irish people have become the largest minority group in Great Britain and this position is being sustained for centuries. Apart from others, proximity and employment factors are the important reasons for Irish migration to Great Britain and it is going on una bated with intermittent high and lows. Economic conditions dominate the scene of migration With the Great Famine of the 1840s and potato crop failures on a recurring basis, exoduses on a mammoth scale occur. About a million people migrate and an equal number of them die in Ireland due to hunger and poor economic conditions. Migration on a big scale occurs for the second time during the period 1930-1960, as the Irish people are trying to escape from the desperately poor economic conditions, following the establishment of the Irish Free State. On the other hand, conditions are favorable in Great Britain that facilitates migration from Ireland. With the rapid industrialization in Great Britain, demand for labor is intense and the domestic and constructions companies depend on labor. Especially in the construction industry, the contribution of the Irish labor is magnificent and this has been acknowledged by the concerned authorities in Great Britain. Seasonal migration for a specific period is also in vogue and they are known as harvest labors. London accounts for the biggest Irish population and they are concentrated in the County Kilburn area of North West London. Liverpool, Birmingham, and Manchester are the other important cities in England that own a good chunk of Irish population. Irish population in Scotland and Wales is also substantial. There are an unspecified number of people of Irish ancestry in Great Britain and some other cities with Irish population are, Cardiff, Coventry, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Coat bridge, Leeds, Lupton, Middleborough, Preston, Portsmouth and Sunderland. â€Å"Genealogy has become hugely popular throughout the world in recent decades but has long had an important position in Ireland. Many of the surviving medieval Gaelic manuscripts are accounts of the pedigree of important, powerful Irish families.†(Murphy) Due to some profound reasons that are not part of the culture of normal procedures of migration, it is impossible to decide the exact dimensions of Irish migration to Great Britain. Ireland remains under British rule for centuries, and notwithstanding the legal provisions to render the process of assimilation of the Irish in the mainstream society by barring them from owning land, the sense of kinship persists. â€Å"Emigration has been a feature of Irish society for centuries. There is another myth that emigration began during and after the "Great Famine" 1846 - 52. But in fact the Irish had been upping sticks and moving long before that.† (Murphy) The process has been unstoppable due to one or the other reason. It is often forgotten that until 1922 Ireland was part of the UK, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. As such they were one and the same country and migration between the two islands was commonplace. Consequently records of Irish born are common in British civil, parish and other records. Indeed one-sixth of all residents of the UK

Marketing Red pull Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Marketing Red pull - Assignment Example The study has selected UK as target international destination for Red Bull in order to develop marketing plan. In order to develop three-year marketing plan for Red Bull, the study will focus on three key issues. Issue 1- analyze the macro and micro environmental dynamics pertinent to UK and conduct environmental appraisal for Red Bull. Issue 2- on the basis of environmental appraisal; identify two new target segments appropriate to Red Bull in the U.K. market. As part of new target market selection, customer profiling, age group, characteristics of target group and positioning of the brand ‘Red Bull’ will also be discussed. Issue 3- on the basis of new target market selection; develop differentiated marketing mix for each target market identified. In the report, marketing objectives and control mechanism for individual marketing mix projected for particular target group will also be discussed. Red Bull is regarded as most popular energy drink across different countries in the world (Farris, 2010). Although, the Red Bull products were developed by TC Pharmaceutical during early 1980’s but Dietrich Mateschitz rejuvenated the product and established the brand as ‘Red Bull Energy Drink’ in Austria during 1981 (Red Bull, 2014a). From the initial years, market position of Red Bull Energy Drink was strengthened through unique positioning, integrating research and development (R&D) activities with product innovation and customization of marketing activities (Farris, 2010). In the last 26 years, the company has established its distribution channel in more than 55 countries. As of 2012, Red Bull sells more than 5 billion cans annually (Red Bull, 2014b). During 1980s, Red Bull was sold as medicine containing caffeine that can boost energy level upon consumption but the company has successfully repositioned the brand through streamlining

Unmanned aerial vehicles future use from conventional airports Research Paper

Unmanned aerial vehicles future use from conventional airports - Research Paper Example The army is already surveying sites for these field tests of the system and also looking at the new means of certifying the new aviation standards that are required to ensure the safety of the system not only for other aircraft sharing the airspace as well as populations living near or around the airfields (InsideDefense.com, 2012). Social Implications When we look at the social implications of the use of drones, there has been a great deal of debate about the use of these aircraft for peacetime activities. While initially when the use of these crafts was limited to military strikes in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the huge possibilities for their use in non-military situations – such as in crop and wildlife stock monitoring, search and rescue in dangerous weather and other conditions, fighting forest fires – has resulted in a great deal of debate about how their use would be regulated and monitored, particularly for reasons of safety. The UAV business is now valued at more than $14 billion and projections are that it will go up to $82 million and support over 70,000 jobs by 2015 (Jank & Armentrout, 2013). Another reason that has come up in the regulation of the use of UAVs has been the issue of privacy (Sengupta, 2013). UAVs can be used in monitoring border security from altitudes that would otherwise be dangerous for manned aircraft and this brings about many issues about the invasion of privacy as these UAVs are equipped with sophisticated imaging equipment that can carry out detailed surveillance and some even have capability of intercepting electronic communications (Electronic Privacy Information Centre, n.d.) These social and privacy concerns have to be dealt with before widespread use of drone technology is licensed and...The use of UAVs not only in civilian applications but also at conventional commercial airfields is now not a question of â€Å"if† but â€Å"when† as the technological, commercial and other barriers that hinder the expanded use of UAVs continue to be surmounted and overtaken. Technological Aspects One of the key technological barriers to the use of UAVs in more conventional flights has been the safety of these operations. The major difficulty has been that with conventional manned air transportation the presence of a pilot who can look outside his window and see any other aircraft that is near in the same area as them and take corrective action. This drawback has not only made it difficult for the UAVs to be used in the same airspace with other craft but it has also meant that the test and training flights of these UAVs have had to have a trailing manned aircraft making it expensive to conduct such training and in a way, defeating the whole purpose of unmanned aircraft. There are quite a slew of things that do need to be implemented before the UAVs can be incorporated into operation in the airspace currently occupied by manned aircraft, in particular the adaptation of air traffic management and air traffic control processes to cater for the new unmanned aircraft.

What Might Succession Be A Critical Point in the Development of the Essay

What Might Succession Be A Critical Point in the Development of the Family Owned-And-Managed SME - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises are the commercial organization that is related by marriage or blood and resolution creation is entirely influenced by several family generations. It is believed to be the oldest system of business organization that has advantages of commitment to quality and focuses in long term. It is critical for understanding circumstances that leads to unhealthy and healthy family SME. The family-owned SME is considered as common and oldest model of economic business organization. There are a massive majority of companies from multinational listed and corner shop listed administrations that can be regarded as the family owned small and medium-sized enterprises. The five critical points that involve at the development of family businesses are social capital, human capital, patient financial capital, low cost of governance and survivability capital. The inner circle and human capital are considered as the first resource and the primary element. In the form of external relationships and networking, the valuable social capital has been brought by the family members. The threat of liquidation is lessened by effective family relationships with managers and investors. The firms have an opportunity to provide emergency loans and free labor for survivability capital of their family members. In perspective to infrastructure dimension, the strengths of family firms are innovative, informal, entrepreneurial and flexible. The organizational structure is believed to be effective and simple. This is primarily because the hierarchical position of family-owned SME is simple. Family members have the better understanding of each other. This enables to family businesses to expand globally. Most of the family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises are considered to have compact informal training. The mixture of younger and older individuals adds something new to the family business operation. The family members involved in SME are believed to be more committed to help a business grow and survive. The employee relations for family businesses are better.

Exclusionary rule Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exclusionary rule - Essay Example It was applied in 1955 in California supreme court in a case between people V. Cahan, so by almost 1960, 22 sates in USA adopted the rule, this are califormia, Delaware, Frorida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, north, Caolina, Oldahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennesse, Washington, Texas, west Vigina, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Michigan. Also Exclusionary Rule does not bar the introduction of all evidence obtained in violation of the fourth, Fofth, or Sixth Amendment in case of Criminal case. See Hudson V. Michigan, 547. U.S. 586, 126 S. Ct. 2159 (june 1, 2006), justice scalia write for U.S. Supreme court. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusionary_rule)Suppression of evidence, however, has always been our last resort, not our first impulse. The exclusionary rule generates "substantial social costs," United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 907 (1984), which sometimes include setting the guilty free and the dangerous at large. We have therefore been "cautious against expanding" it, Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157, 166 (1986), and "have repeatedly emphasized that the rule's 'costly toll' upon truth-seeking and law enforcement objectives presents a high obstacle for those urging [its] application," Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole v. Scott, 524 U.S. 357, 364-365 (1998) (citation omitted).

The Carter and Reagan Years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Carter and Reagan Years - Essay Example It is more reasonable to discuss Jimmy Carter first since he came before Reagan and it was during his presidency that the world faced the after effects of the oil shock (Walsh, 1997). Of course the present state of the world shows that we are going through another energy crisis and while our solution to the problem might be technological, the solutions thought of by Carter were practical. He wanted to handle the situation by asking the American people to make sacrifices and by asking them to make adjustments to their lifestyles (Shoup, 1979). In 1977, Carter used Congress to create the Department of Energy which was supposed to help America get out of dependence on cheap oil. Not only did Carter support the recommendations of the department, he applied them to his own life. To conserve energy, Carter started wearing sweaters to ward off the cold; he installed solar water headers in the White House and even had a wood burning stove in his living area. He also asked Americans to make sacrifices such as conserving energy, using less heating or cooling equipment, turn off Christmas decorations and place measures on how cool or hot commercial buildings could be (Carter, 1995). Comparatively, the use of force and strong-arm tactics that had become the hallmark of Reagan’s administration might have caused Reagan to attack countries with oil to take over their natural resources for American use. Carter also shifted the American viewpoint of allies and enemies through his focus on human rights. In essence, instead of working with a policy of containing ‘the communist threat’ Carter worked with the idea of human rights violations to suggest that some countries were behaving badly and some were behaving fine. Previously, the viewpoint on human rights was largely ignored but by bringing a focus on human rights, Carter was able to give a human touch to the policies of the government (Shoup, 1979). The practical

How did the interest rate affect the housing prices What drives Essay

How did the interest rate affect the housing prices What drives overseas investors to invest in UK housing market - Essay Example These rates determine the volume of economic activities within the different sectors of the economy Let’s take the example of housing market and understand what the impact of interest rates is over the housing market. In general perspective, the interest rates varies indirectly with housing prices. Any rise in the interest rates makes the market unattractive for the buyer buying the house and therefore demand falls which ultimately leads to falling house prices. On the other hand, any increase in interest rates will increase the monthly payments on a variable mortgage over the house Interest rates and housing prices Interest rate affects the value of income-producing real estate mostly as compared to any investment parameter/factor in the economy. Due to such greater degree of impact of interest rates on an individual's ability to purchase housing properties many people incorrectly assume that the only deciding factor in real estate valuation is the mortgage rate. However, mor tgage rates are only one interest-related factor that influence the property values In developing countries US and UK, the rising interest rates have a big impact over the housing prices. Few years ago, the world has witnessed the global economic turmoil due to the high failures in relation to sub prime mortgages. This means that many homeowners have got a mortgage by borrowing a greater portion of their disposable income The relation between interest rates and housing prices is stronger at lower real interest rates, but even at low real rates, when time trend is included, prices seem to rise by x% as interest rates fall by much lower at y% point. The most common reason with regard to rising housing prices is the availability of easy credit, which took the form of high loan-to-value ratios, low interest rates and permissive approvals. These variables certainly affect housing prices Some of the exceptions to the case i.e. cases where the rising interest rates may not cause fall in ho use prices: Due to time lags: Suppose, someone have a house but any rise in interest rates is unlikely to make him/her sell the house, unless it becomes very serious. Generally a rise in interest rates will not reduce demand straight away Due to confidence: Suppose if the confidence level over the market is high, people may continue to spend money and respond to rising interest rates. This would lead to a fall in the savings ratio while the demand for housing doesn’t fall Due to real interest rates: The affordability of housing is majorly affected by the real interest rates. Suppose, if the interest rates are 9% but the inflation is 8%, the real interest rate is only 1%. In other terms, though the interest rates seem high, but in practices the real cost of borrowing is low Due to Other factors: Many a times, it depends on basic supply and demand analysis as well. Suppose, if there are severe supply constraints (like in the Great Britain) house prices may continue to rise, eve n though interest rates are higher Many a times some of the small developers and second-hand house owners may first reduce housing prices: Any increase in the down payment for the first house would also lead to increase in bank interest rates. This would lead to rise in the down payment pressure and interest costs on buyers Interest rates and impact on capital flows over housing market Since interest rates affects the capital flows, the demand and the supply for capital and investors' required rates of ROI,

The European Court of Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The European Court of Human Rights - Essay Example This is with the respect that human rights and freedoms should be upheld and respected at all costs. In some instances, the European Court of Human Rights has come under sharp scrutiny and focus. This is a direct result of its overall mandate, jurisdictional application and accrued results (Mignon, 2012). This paper will dissect an article on the European Court of Human Rights. It will provide an in depth analysis and summation of the article with the aim of synthesizing the author’s thoughts. It should be realized that the need and respect for international justice and reprieve was one of the leading building blocks of the European Court of Human Rights. As a direct result, the pressure that the court faces over the years has created scenarios where the United Kingdom has opted to drop out of the convention. The court is experiencing fierce battles with many terming it a gross violator of human rights. This is a direct result of the many rulings and judgments made that favor terrorists and prisoners at the expense of ordinary people (Smith & Van-Der-Anker, 2005). In other instances, the court has been observed to blatantly ignore common sense in many of its rulings. During the formation of the court, Sir Winston Churchill envisioned a judicial process that could never interrupted. This was an emergent need as many governments had submerged many of their judicial ideals in totalitarianism and dictatorship. Churchill’s ideology was highly strengthened as the world watched the disaster that claimed lives during the Nazi regime. The court gained powers and support to ensure that it could adequately deal with such international injustices (Mignon, 2012). It is not possible to ignore the amount of work that has been concluded by the court. The court has set historical rulings at both individual and national level. This has guaranteed many people in Europe, rights and privileges that they could not previously attain. Despite this, there is a frenzy of r eactions that have decried the decisions arrived at by the court. In an analytical way, the author states that there are instances where the court has shrugged off external opinions regarding judicial interpretation (Smith & Van-Der-Anker, 2005). This is especially in cases where the court is seen to have handed down an unpopular judgment. In other areas, it has been observed that the court has failed to offer compensation to plaintiffs that rightfully deserved compensation. This is one of the reasons why the change of laws to counter the court’s rigidity has been presented by external pressures. The back log of cases that the court is experiencing is a direct result of the lengthy periods that take to interpret laws (Mignon, 2012). This results in inefficiency as speedy judgments are made without due consideration for all the required legal proceedings. In other areas, the court struggles to apply existing laws to new states. This is because the laws may not be directly appl icable in the new states. In conclusion, the author accepts that the creation of the European Court of Human Rights was a formidable idea. Over the years, the court has deliberated on a lot of issues. This is a direct result of law application and understanding (Keller & Sweet, 2008) . However, despite this positive strides, there a few areas that have been left behind. As a result, laws have been misinterpreted, a myriad of cases pending, threats of

Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships in Lifelong Learning Essay Example for Free

Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships in Lifelong Learning Essay I am a Registered Mental Health Nurse working for a private company and was given the opportunity to work as an in-house trainer when the regional trainer left the company last year. It was my responsibility as the trainer to ensure all staff was brought up to date with Mandatory training such as Health Safety, Moving Handling, Data Protection, and Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Children to name a few sessions. So the question had to be asked: What is the role and responsibility of the teacher in the lifelong learning sector? To find this out I would need to do some research to find the evidence as well as go to college to gain the relevant qualification to support my role as a teacher. Gravells, A (2012) believes, it is not just about the teaching but also about the learning that takes place; and that it is not just the students who will be learning but also the teacher. The sessions will have to be specific, at a language and stage the students can understand as well as assessing them as we go along to ensure learning has been achieved and at what level before we can move onto further sessions. Not only that, there will have to be feedback for the students as well as the teacher to assess if anything needs to be done to improve future sessions, as teachers can also learn from constructive criticism; this was something I had not thought about and will have to cope with as not everyone is perfect; Walker, G (10. 6. 2013) goes on to say that having critical feedback can promote good constructive growth in both relationships and the individual. It was at this point I decided to go to college and gain the relevant qualification that would help me gain insight and knowledge to ensure I was doing the teaching sessions correctly. The Institute for Learning (2008) is an independent professional body for tutors, trainers, teacher’s student teachers in the further education and skills sector who support excellence in professional teachers and trainers practice for learners in worked based learning so this was a good place to start for me to gain knowledge on behaviours expected of my students so that the company I work for, my students and myself and most of all the wider community would benefit. As part of my Professional Nursing Body NMC Code of Conduct (2008) my first concern would be to treat all individuals with respect and dignity, this also ties in with the Institute for Learning, who have similar codes of professional conduct. I would have to be professional in my role, although I know this is going to be a challenge as some of the people I will be teaching are my friends and I know that boundaries can be challenging at the best of times. As a teacher I will have professional boundaries to which I need to work within; it is all too easy to get involved with the personal lives especially as I will know my students on personal and professional levels; I will need to stick to the planned sessions and if I need to speak to anyone about their personal lives I will refer them onto their clinical supervisors. But I am sure I will remain professional and show respect to them, then the same will be reciprocated. I will uphold the reputation of the company, my nursing profession and that of the teaching role to ensure no damage is done. I will take reasonable care to ensure all members of staff who attend training will remain safe and I will protect and promote their health and well-being and help them develop knowledge at their level of learning. It was my role as a trainer to ensure people were first of all motivated to come to the training in the first place and once they were there I had to gain their interest by involving and engaging them in the sessions I was going to teach. I would need to identify their needs as each member of staff have done different learning schedules and some were more up to date on their mandatory training than others. I would then be able to assess, evaluate and mentor them throughout the days of training. According to Rogers (2001, p. 15) if you are not motivated you cannot and will not learn. She goes on to say, as a tutor, it is my role to keep them motivated by keeping the current flowing; to do this I need to research the information I will be teaching and ensure the students I will be teaching will understand the subject. Although this is a mandatory requirement of the company and policies and procedures had to be followed and are available both in the staff office and on the intranet of Lighthouse Healthcare for all to read and gain insight in what the company would expect from us as employees. As the trainer I would have a list of all the staff members personal details, under The Data Protection Act (1998 amended 2003) I would ensure all details are kept secure, relevant, used in accordance with the individual’s rights and kept no longer than necessary; if a member of staff leaves then all records will be archived until such a time it can be shredded. It would be my responsibility to identify the needs of each member of the group; if there was someone who was disabled or used a wheelchair, or they may be pregnant and could not do some of the techniques taught in some of the sessions such as moving and handling. If so then it was my responsibility under the Equality Act (2010) to ensure I have researched my attendees and provided them with the facilities and sessions appropriate to their needs. The Health safety at Work Act (1974) states staff should have a safe working environment, it is the duty of every employer to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, all employees have their welfare, health and safety at the workplace. At this point one member of staff did approach me and stated they found it really hard to work more than 2 days in a row due to their depression, as the training was going to be for 3 days I suggested we did their 3rd day on another set of training days I had planned for the next month. This made the member of staff happy and we as employers showed we had fulfilled their needs under The Equality Act and the member of staff had not been discriminated due to their illness. I would need to book the appropriate room, ensuring the room is the right temperature and appropriate to the group’s needs. Maslow (1954) believed you must satisfy the lower levels of basic needs before you can progress to the higher levels; therefore, if his theory was to work, if all my students had their basic needs like food and warmth they should progress up the pyramid and achieve fulfilment and learning. Maslow (1954) ‘The earliest and most widespread version of Maslows (1954) hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs, often depicted as hierachical levels within a pyramid. ’ As well as having the appropriate resources available, with a backup plan should there be any issues. I would need to plan the daily sessions according to the needs of the company training schedule which would need to reflect on the Health Inspectorate Wales (HIW) (2013) regulations and what they deem as necessary for mandatory training. These sessions would be spread over a course of 3 days so that it is not rushed and the needs of the students are thought of; they would need regular breaks to take away any boredom, as mandatory training is not the most exciting of subjects to teach or indeed learn but they are a company requirement that need to be completed yearly in accordance with HIW recommendations. It would also be my responsibility to provide hand outs, that are relevant and researched, at he beginning of the session with pens in case anyone wanted to take notes during the session; then at the end I would hand out evaluation forms to gain feedback on my teaching sessions; what have I learned from this, what went good and what could be improved on. This would then improve the quality of my work ready for future training sessions. Pennington (2008) explains that: According to Thorndike’s (1911) Law of effect, if the effect is rewarding for the organism, then the behaviour will tend to be reproduced again in the future. If the effect is punishing, the behaviour is not likely to be reproduced in the future. Therefore, I would need to ensure my sessions were interesting for people to learn so they would want to return back to my sessions over the next few days and for any future sessions I will have planned. If they have enjoyed the first sessions chances are they will enjoy the next ones. First of all I would explain the Health and Safety aspects of the room, what to do should the fire alarms sound and show them where the nearest fire exits were. Then to start the session I would do an ice breaker session as this would help people to relax and relieve any anxieties they may have, it will hopefully break down barriers, give people belonging to the group and help people remember names. It will promote team work and encourage people to share their interests and common grounds and it will give me some idea of how each person reacts and interacts in a group ready for the sessions I will be teaching. There are many books devoted just for ice breakers sessions but it all depends on what your needs are and who you will be working with but their main aim is to give ideas of how to get your students to work as a group and feel they are fully present; if you are not fully present in a group then you cannot learn. Rogers, J. 2001) I would need to stick to the schedule and not digress as this could delay the day and sessions may get rushed near to the end and important information may not be taken in; therefore the learning needs may not be met which could have a knock on effect putting theory to practice in the workplace. Whilst presenting I would have had to gain the knowledge to present it with confidence. According to Blooms Revised taxonomy Anderson, L. Et al. (2000), I would have to be creative, evaluate, analyse, apply, understand and remember my information teaching for it to work. Therefore, to be creative, I will need to bring in new ideas and a different way of viewing things should help with my planning. I will be able to evaluate and analyse through observation by doing an evaluation form for the students to complete when their training is finished. I will apply theory to practise with the knowledge I have gained and where I found the sources so the students can gain further knowledge themselves by reading and looking at the relevant websites. I will finally put my information on paper and powerpoint to ensure I have prompts to remind me and the handouts would reflect the knowledge with an area for the students to take notes to help them remember the information I have taught. The final part of the day would be the quiz I had prepared to see if they had taken in any of the knowledge I had taught over the previous days. My week would not end when the students left the room for the final day of training; I would then have to assess whether they have met the criteria of a pass or whether they would need to be referred back for further training. This is defined by scoring over 40/50 on the knowledge quiz, which was previously discussed at an executive meeting with the regional training officers at head office. I would also need to add the people who attended training onto the database of attendance to ensure they receive their certificates of attendance, it is also evidence they have attended mandatory training and it would allow them onto the unit to continue with safe practice after gaining knowledge through mandatory training and following the companies Policies and Procedures.

Reflections Ethical Issues On Abortion Philosophy Essay

Reflections Ethical Issues On Abortion Philosophy Essay Society has been up in arms over the issue of abortion for years, and will continue to be for years to come. There are those who defend the laws against abortion and those who believe that abortion is perfectly within a womans right to have the procedure performed. What then is hubbub about? It all boils down to what is morally and ethically right. There are those who argue that abortion is morally reprehensible and should be prohibited; and those who try to abstain or avoid casting any judgment on the morality of this practice. There are those who say the laws are just because they prohibit actions that are morally permissible; others oppose these laws without thought of the moral issue at all and argue that the individual have a right to choose for themselves whether or not to indulge in the practice. Abortion, as we all know, is the unnatural termination or an end to a pregnancy before birth that results in the death of a fetus. The question then becomes how is it determined how abortion can be morally right or wrong if it cannot be determined when the essence of personhood begins, and is abortion in fact murder (Warren)? Some abortions occur spontaneously or naturally because the fetus does not develop normally. Others occur because of a trauma or injury to the mother which prevents the pregnancy from developing full term. Also, there are those that are clinically induced because either the pregnancy presents a risk to the woman or is unwanted. An induced abortion is one of the most ethical and philosophical issues of the century. In the United States, the debate over abortion has brought about many legal court and state legislative battles. These battles have also been the source of violent confrontations at clinics and anti-abortion rallies. There are also several other methods used in the abortion process: the morning after pill that is taken within seventy-two hours of unprotected sexual intercourse and another pill taken twelve hours later. The purpose of this pill is to prohibit the fetus from further development at the early stages of conception, or at the point where the sperm fertilizes the egg (Schmidt). So, when does the fertilized egg become a fetus? Is it when the fetus can react to pain? Is it at conception, or, is it when the actual birth occurs? Evidence conflicts, with several physicians holding that the fetus is capable of feeling pain sometime in the first trimester (Schmidt, 1984), and medical researchers, notably from the American Medical Association, maintaining that the neuroanatomical requirements for such experience do not exist until the 29th week of gestation. Pain receptors begin to appear in the seventh week of gestation (Schmidt, 1984). The thalamus, the part of the brain which receives signals from the nervous system and then relays them to the cerebral cortex, starts to form in the fifth week. However, other anatomical structures involved in the nociceptive process are not present until much later in gestation. Links between the thalamus and cerebral cortex form around the 23rd week. There has been suggestion that a fetus cannot feel pain at all, under the premi se that it requires mental development that only occurs outside the uterus Some of the most common arguments abortion supporters use when confronting abortion opponents is when does a life begin? When does a fertilized egg become a fetus? When does a fetus become a baby? Since there is no scientifically provable answer, it boils down to religious beliefs and not scientific proof. Don Marquis argues that abortion is wrong and immoral. That the killing of a fetus is equivalent to the killing of any human being is morally wrong (Marquis). Marquis argues, is that abortion destroys ones possible future. It is for this very reason that it is morally wrong to take our lives. All our activities, enjoyments, etc., are suddenly non-realizable because someone has taken our lives. This is, he says, the natural property that explains why it is wrong to kill humans Singer states that arguments for or against abortion should be based on utilitarian calculation which weighs the preferences of a mother against the preferences of the fetus. In his view a preference is anything sought to be obtained or avoided; all forms of benefit or harm caused to a being correspond directly with the satisfaction or frustration of one or more of its preferences. Since a capacity to experience the sensations of suffering or satisfaction is a prerequisite to having any preferences at all, and a fetus, at least up to around eighteen weeks, says Singer, has no capacity to suffer or feel satisfaction, it is not possible for such a fetus to hold any preferences at all. In a utilitarian calculation, there is nothing to weigh against a mothers preferences to have an abortion. Therefore, abortion is morally permissible (Singer, 1993). An individuals position on the complex ethical, moral, philosophical, biological, and legal is-sues is often related to his or her value system. Opinions of abortion may be best described as being a combination of beliefs on its morality, and beliefs on the responsibility, ethical scope, and proper extent of governmental authorities in public policy. Religious ethics also has an influence upon both personal opinion and the greater debate over abortion. Let us, as an example of an ethical dilemma, consider Shauntay. Shauntay is a soon to be graduated senior at the New York School of the Arts. All of her young life has been struggle. Hungry, and sometimes near homeless, shes lived for eighteen years from one project to another. Shauntay knew the only way out of this situation was through hard work and dedication. Fortunately for her, there were those who believed in her as much as she in herself. Dance became her escape. Her hard work and determination finally paid off. Upon graduation, Shauntay was to receive a full ride scholarship to Julliard in the fall. All her life, it has been her dream to become a professional dancer and get away from the life of poverty to which she had been born. She has long had the desire to travel and see the world, an opportunity that her parents had never been able to give. However, just after her senior prom, and before graduation Shauntay received what to her was the most devastating news imaginable. You see, for several mornings she had experienced bouts of nausea and weakness. At first, not thinking much of it, she thought it was the flu or a stomach virus. Also, in reflecting she remembered she had not had a menstrual cycle this month. Concern that the virus would not go away, Shauntay went to the doctor. After her examination, the doctor returned and told her that she was going to be a mother. In the blink of an eye, all of her hopes and dreams seemed to fly out the window. What was she to do? How could she tell her parents? How would she tell those parents, whose dreams of her having a chance to grow were just as vivid as her own that, she was pregnant? How could she give up what she had worked so hard to achieve? How could she keep, love and care for this child that would have taken so much from her, and possibly condemned her to a life of further impoverishment? How would she take care of a baby? Where would she live? What could she do? What should she do? She had been taught that abortion was morally wrong. She had been taught that abortion was in the eyes of God, the same as murder. This was her dilemma. The idea of liberalizing abortion laws became culturally salient during the late 1960s, and several state legislatures passed relatively permissive abortion laws during this period. The trend toward gradual liberalization was interrupted by the Supreme Courts landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, which held virtually all state abortion laws to be unconstitutional. Although public opinion generally moved in a more prochoice direction following Roe, the decision mobilized opposition from several, often religious, sources. Many cultural and religious conservatives opposed legal abortion because legal abortion was thought to encourage sexual promiscuity by reducing the risks of sexual activity outside of marriage. Another early source of opposition to legal abortion came from the African-American community. Several African-American leaders denounced legal abortion as genocide and suggested that easy access to abortion would ultimately be used by whites to limit societal responsibility to care for children born into poverty. When engaging in culturally and ethically controversial topics like abortion, it has been found that most people latch onto a specific idea and use it to counter every argument offered against their view. For example, one in favor of abortion might be unwilling to question the fact that a woman has a right to her own body, (which means that a fetus has no such rights). On the other hand, one who is against abortion might be unwilling to go beyond the claim that abortion is simply murder (Warren; 1973). It may well be that abortion is murder, but the debate will not be won by simply asserting that such is the case. The reason for so much of the confusion on the issue is our human tendency to accept or reject basic moral principles without adequate examination all boils down to agreeing to disagree. Failure to conduct such an examination means that we improperly accept or reject principles that ultimately determine the direction of life. One need only look at the radically different presentations regarding human nature found in Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, Freud, Marx, Hegel, Hume, Sartre, Kierkegaard, and a host of others to see the importance of this issue. In the final analysis, who stands to judge what is morally right or ethically wrong? Is not killing by any other name still killing?

Leadership Skills Theory at HSBC Life Assurance Malta

Leadership Skills Theory at HSBC Life Assurance Malta Chapter 1 Introduction Leadership skills are the focus of this study and therefore the author will be, in this chapter introduce leadership and the concept of the leader versus the manager as a primary source. In this section the author will define the meaning of leadership enabling one to understand better the next stages of this study. Furthermore one can find the objective of this study and the organisation studied. The structure section will define the construction of the complimenting chapters. 1.1 Objective The scope of this organisational case study is to compare and contrast the leadership skills theory and the selected organisations leadership and provided the concept of leadership versus management in order to understand better leadership skills which are defined later on in this study. Leadership skills will be reviewed by means of secondary research. Subsequently the leadership skills within the organisation will be studied by means of a primary research methodology. This will enable the author to reach the main objective which aim is to highlight the theory of leadership skills and present findings of the selected organisations current leadership practices. One will eventually benefit from the authors recommendations and conclusions based on the out come of the data analysis. 1.2 The Organisation The selected organisation for this study was HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited. HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited was set up in 1995 and is a fully owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank Malta Plc, regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Over the years, HSBC Life has developed into one of the leading life assurance product providers on the island with its full and diversified product range, including group and individual term assurance products, mortgage protection policies, etc. This study research thus moves towards assessing all the concepts of leadership styles, skills, coaching, team building. The organisation is in the direction of the Managing Director. 1.3 Structure The structure of this study will be based on 5 chapters. The introduction, chapter 1, has highlighted leadership and the concept of leadership versus management, the objective and the organisation under investigation. Chapter 2 will follow with a literature review of leadership skills from previous studies whilst chapter 3 will cover the research methodology. Chapter 4 will present the findings and finally chapter 5 will cover the authors views and recommendations. Chapter 2 2.0 Leadership Leadership can be defined as: The ability to persuade others willingly to behave differently. The function of team leaders is to achieve the task set for them with the help of the group (Michael Armstrong 2003: 259). Another definition of leadership is: The task of a great leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision. Those leaders who do not are ultimately judged failures, even though they may be popular at the moment (Henry Kissinger). Clawson (2006) explains that leadership consists of three components: the ability to influence others; the willingness to influence others; and the exercise of influence in a way that others respond voluntarily. Thus, while leadership included the use of power, not all uses of power are leadership. The highlight of leadership within an organisation is an emphasis on the importance of a strong human relation and the importance of creating rewarding high-performance teams of motivated and empowered employees. Human understanding and sensitivity are absolutely critical for leadership success. Leadership also consists of identifying proven talent within an organisation and optimising on this talented human resource by developing, retaining and partnering smartly together. Leadership has been perceived to be a primary key to successful strategy implementation. One of the key factors in implementing a strategy is building consensus. A consensus built by motivating, persuading people and by shaping culture and values within an organisation to support the new strategy (Ashby and Miles, 2002). Taking IBM as an example CEO Sam Palmisano has embarked on a leadership mission to get people within the organisation to focus on strategy formulation and implementation. He embarked on a mission to persuade people to focus on the on-demand vision and communicating clear directions. With this positive attitude and employee empowerment he made employees feel motivated and challenged to follow new strategic goals. In this changing world of globalisation, organisations are constantly facing changes within their set ups and therefore leadership plays an important role. Three important aspects of leadership would be people, influence and goals. In order to influence, the relationship between the leader and the follower must not be passive but assertive (Draft, 2006). Within an organisation, leadership directly impacts the effectiveness of costs, revenue generation, service, satisfaction, earnings, market value, share price, social capital, motivation, engagement, and sustainability. In this view one can identify the importance of vision within leadership. In order to move a group successfully towards its goal the leader must communicate the vision or visions with his or her followers. For effectiveness, a vision should appear to be simple, appear desirable enough to energise followers and should describe the organisations future position, which must be credible and preferable to the present state. The leader must communicate these visions adequately to ensure the followers feel as if the vision has been created by themselves (Renesch, 1994). Nonetheless one would need to understand that although leadership focuses on people, influence and goals it cannot be easily defined in such a generic context. However according to Scott (2007) a leader needs to understand that the follower may value a leader differently. Some may prefer a task oriented leader where others may prefer a people oriented leader. In this view the leader must identify the followers needs and how they construe effective leadership. One can see that self awareness is the foundation of effective leadership and one ought to communicate the vision and help the followers fit into that vision. Effective leaders need to change their approach according to the situation, as with one follower, a leader may need to be directive while with others, a leader may need to coach. 2.1 The History of Leadership Leadership, and the study of it, has roots in the beginning of civilisation. Egyptian rulers, Greek heroes and biblical patriarchs all have one thing in common leadership. There are numerous definitions and theories of leadership; however, there are enough similarities in the definitions to conclude that leadership is an effort of influence and the power to induce compliance (Wren, 1995). Our work, our environment, the motivation to work, leaders, leadership, leadership style, and a countless of other work-related variables have been studied for almost two centuries. The organisational focus of the leader has evolved over this same period. Early organisations with authoritarian leaders who believed employees were basically lazy transitioned into way to make work environments more conducive to increased productivity rates. Today, organisations are transforming into places where people are empowered, encouraged, and supported in their personal and professional growth throughout their careers. As the focus of leaders has changed over time, it has influenced and shaped the development and progression of leadership theory. 2.1.2 Early Leader Studies The Industrial Revolution shifted Americas economy from an agriculture base to an industrial one and, thereby, ushered in a change how leaders would treat their followers. The Industrial Revolution created a paradigm shift to a new theory of leadership in which common people gained power by virtue of their skills (Clawson, 1999). New technology, however, was accompanied and reinforced by mechanisation of human thought and action, thus creating hierarchical bureaucracies (Morgan, 1997). One major contributor to this era of management and leadership theory was Max Weber, a German sociologist who observed the parallels between the mechanisation of industry and the proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organisation (Morgan, 1997, p. 17). He noted that the bureaucratic form routinized the process of administration in the same manner that the machine routinized production. 2.1.3 Classical Management Theory and Scientific Management Webers concerns about bureaucracy, however, did not affect theorists who set the stage for what is now known as classical management theory and scientific management. Classical theorists focused on the design of the total organisation while scientific managers focused on the systematic management of individual jobs. In contrast to Weber, classical theorists such as Henri Fayol and F. W. Mooney, staunch advocates of bureaucratisation, devoted their energies identifying methods through which this kind of organisational structure could be achieved (Bass, 1990; Morgan, 1997). Collectively, these theorists set the basis for many modern management techniques, such as management by objectives. Scientific management, an approach heralded by Frederick Taylor, was technological in nature (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996). Taylor fused the perspective of an engineer into management with a strong emphasis on control, ruthless efficiency, quantification, predictability, and de-skilled jobs. He initiated time-and-motion studies to analyse work tasks to improve worker productivity in an attempt to achieve the highest level of efficiency possible. Consequently, he has been accused of viewing people as instruments or machines to be manipulated by leaders. The function of the leader under scientific management theory was to establish and enforce performance criteria to meet organisational goals; therefore, the focus of a leader was on the needs of the organisation and not on the individual worker. Although the classical and scientific approaches were different, the goals were similar organisations are rational systems and must operate in the most efficient manner possible to achieve the highest level of productivity (Morgan, 1997). Both theories relied on the machine metaphor with a heavy emphasis on mechanisation of jobs, which undermined the human aspect of the organisation and failed to recognise organisations as complex organisms. Although mechanistic organisations proved productive, there were limits to hierarchical bureaucracy. Emerging theorists encouraged leaders to recognise that humans were not machines and could not be treated as such. A post bureaucratic shift in the mid-1940s moved toward everyone taking responsibility for the organisations success or failure (Heckscher Donnellon, 1994). Researchers began to examine the relationship between leader behaviour and follower satisfaction level and organisational productivity and profitability. 2.1.4 Hawthorne, Maslow, and Herzberg Environment and Worker Needs Much organisational research during this era focused on overcoming the perceived shortcomings of the classical and scientific schools of management. Elton Mayos Hawthorne Studies focused on the work situation and its effect on leaders and followers, indicating that the reactions of human beings influence their work activities as much as the formal design and structure of the organisation. Early on leaders could focus their attention on the environment factors of the organisations. The early theories and studies provided researchers with tangible and measurable performance outcomes that were directly transferable to profitability and spreadsheet bottom-lines. A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs posited that once a workers physiological, security, and social (intrinsic) needs were met, productivity would only be possible of the employees ego and self-actualising (extrinsic) needs were also met. Leader focus became redirected toward worker needs. Herzbergs Dual Factor Theory, the evolution of intrinsic and extrinsic needs, furthered Maslows work stating the employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could, and should, be met simultaneously. Herzbergs (1966) Motivation-Hygiene theory furthered the work of Maslow by providing insights into the goals and incentives that tend to satisfy a workers needs. Herzberg concluded that people have two categories of needs, which he termed hygiene (environmental factors such as working conditions, company policies, etc.) and motivators (factors involving the job itself). According to Herzberg, an employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could and should be addressed simultaneously. 2.1.5 The Shift to Behavioural Factors Leader focus had moved to understanding the relationship between a leaders actions and the followers satisfaction and productivity. Theorists began to consider behavioural concepts in their analysis of organisational leadership. For example, Chester Barnard was instrumental in including behavioural components (Bass, 1990). Barnards work emphasised the ways in which executives might develop their organisations into cooperative social systems by focusing on the integration of work efforts through communication of goals and attention to worker motivation (Hatch, 1997). Barnard, for example, identified an effective organisational leader as one who determined objectives, manipulated means, initiated action, and stimulated coordinated effort (Bass, 1990, p. 31). Barnard (1938), whose work focused on the functions of the executive, was instrumental in including behavioural components in his analysis of organisational leadership, which claimed that leadership involves accomplishing goals wit h and through people. The theorists of this age argued that in addition to finding the best technological methods to improve output, it would behove management to address human affairs as well. It was claimed that the real power centres within an organisation were the interpersonal relationships that developed among working groups (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996, p.100). A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Additionally, when this happens they are more likely to increase their productivity which in turn impacts the organisations bottom line. According to McGregor (1960), the traditional organisation with its centralised decision making, hierarchical pyramid, and external control of work is based on certain assumptions about human nature and human motivation. He dubbed these assumptions Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X assumes that most people prefer to be directed, are not interested in assuming responsibility, and want safety above all else. Accompanying the Theory X philosophy is the belief that people are motivated by money, fringe benefits, and threat of punishment. Managers who espouse Theory X assumptions attempt to structure, control, and closely supervise employees. Although McGregor himself questioned whether Theory X was as accurate view of human nature, the assumptions persisted for a long time in leadership theory circles because it explained à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"some, though not all, of human behaviour within organisations (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Drawing heavily from Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor ultimately concluded that Theory X assumptions about human nature, when universally applied, are often inaccurate and that management approaches that develop from these assumptions may fail to motivate individuals to strive toward organisational goals (Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson, 1996). McGregor (1960) believed that management needed practices based on a more accurate understanding of human nature and motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals are not, by nature, lazy and unreliable. People can be self-directed and creative at work if properly motivated (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Therefore, an essential task of management is to unleash this potential. Consequently, the goal of effective leadership was evolving and moving away from the earlier concepts of the classical and scientific management theories that treated workers as machines. Leaders were now challenged to actively involve followers in achieving organisational goals. McGregor (1960), whose work was closely linked to that of the behavioural theorists, is a reflection of that era, providing a foundation for the future emergence of the transformational leadership. McGregors Theory X and Theory Y assumed that employees and leaders had progressed beyond Taylors productivity models that employees could find ways to satisfy their needs within the organisations structure. McGregor assumed employees far more complex that the trait and behavioural theories of leadership assumed and that their complexity and the leaders response to that complexity would affect how and whether the leader and followers worked in tandem to reach mutual organisational goals. McGregor proposed a replacement of direction and control of employees with humanistic motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals did not inherently dislike work and, and that under certain conditions, work could actually be a source of great satisfaction. Theory Y assumed individuals would exercise self-direction and self-control, accepting and seeking responsibility (Pugh Hickson, 1993). The essential concept McGregor and other behaviourists proposed was that organisations are interacting groups and that leaders are a part of these groups. The leaders interaction and relationship with the employee must be a supportive relationship so all members of the organisation feel the organisations objectives and their achievement, are of personal importance to them (Pugh Hickson, 1993). 2.1.6 Situational/Contingency Theory The Circumstantial Focus Unprecedented social change in the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s shifted societal focus from increasing economic wealth to ensuring social rights and equality. Along with this social change, technology was again preparing to jolt American businesses. The advent of the computer age was shifting employee requirements from brawn to brains. Leadership became an intricate process of multilateral brokerage where leaders were forced to focus on constituencies within and without the organisation to survive (Vanourek, 1995). The internal and external environments of organisations were changing. The transference of power from those doing the work to those possessing knowledge about how to organise work more closely levelled the playing field for leaders and followers. Society acknowledged that traditional methods of leadership were no longer effective. McCollum (1995) implied that companies in the information age were unsuccessfully trying to conduct their business using obsolete industrial age leadership theories. Change was the only thing of which everyone could be sure, a factor requiring leadership research and society to consider contingency/situational approaches to leadership if businesses were to remain successful and profitable in an ever-changing and increasingly complicated environment (Contee-Borders, 2003). Heysey and Blanchard (1996) proposed a contingency/situational theory advocating a leaders use of differing leadership behaviours dependent upon two interrelated maturity factors: (a) job maturity relevant task and technical knowledge and skills, and (b) psychological maturity the subordinates level of self-confidence and self-respect (Yukl, 1998). An employee who has a high level of job and psychological maturity requires little supervision; while an employee who has a low level of job and psychological maturity requires hand-on attention. Fielders contingency theory is viewed as the opposite of Hersey and Blanchards theory, maintaining that leaders are less flexible in their ability to change their behaviour based on followers maturity (the basic concept of Hersey and Blanchards theory) (Hughes, Ginnett, Curphy, 1993). Fielders contingency theory posited that leader effectiveness is determined by not the leaders ability to adapt to the situation, but by the ability to choose the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"right leader for the situation (though this theory does not identify who would be responsible for making this choice). Some leaders are simply better for specific situation than others and the situation determines the identified leaders success, though leaders would need to be capable of understanding when they were not right for the situation and remove themselves a task of humility. 2.2 Leadership Styles From a very classical autocratic approach to a very creative, participative approach, different styles were needed for different situations and each leader needed to know when to exhibit a particular approach. The most familiar model is the leadership scale devised by Tannenbaum and Schmidt. In this model, the leader is advised to choose a leadership style that it appropriate for the particular situation. These styles or behaviours, can be placed along continuum ranging from boss-centred at one-end of the scale to subordinate-centred at the other end, as illustrated in Figure 1.1 Inevitably, the opposite poles of this continuum have been labelled Authoritarian (or task-centred), and Democratic (or people-centred) and the inference has been drawn that a concern forgetting the job done is at the opposite end of the scale of the people involved. Tannenbaum and Schmidts article is not as shallow as that, but, like it or not, the impression is left that the two concerns are somehow incompatible. Other commentators advised that authoritarian leadership styles would be most effective in situations that were favourable to the leader and democratic styles would better suit situations that were unfavourable to the leader. Favourable in this context means that the leader has high formal authority, relations between the leader and the staff are good, and the task is highly structured. This further reinforces the assumption that democratic styles are for the leaders to fall back on when things are not going entirely their way; they would not want to be democratic if it could be avoided. The Democratic styles should be the preferred option, falling back on authoritarian styles only when circumstances require it. For example, when the fire alarm sounds tell everyone to leave the building; do not hold a decision about the best course of action. Or, when something bad can not be avoided, accept your responsibility as a manager and give instructions clearly and assertively. Otherwise, the benefits of the bringing several brains to bear on an issue, and the commitment that democratic approaches tend to foster, usually outweigh the inevitable untidiness of getting everyone involved in decision-making . Interestingly, research into animal social groups has found that decisions arrived at communally or democratically are usually more beneficial for the group and its individual members than despotic decision-making, and tend to be less extreme. Whether lessons drawn from the observation of animal behaviour can usefully be applied directly to human groups depends on how much corroborating evidence there is. 2.3 Leadership versus Management Creech (1995) defines the manager versus the leader. She explains how a manager is typically well-educated and would generally possess very high conceptual skills. Managers are mostly focused on the latest management literature. Furthermore managers are very aware of the system, rules and procedures both documented and undocumented. They tend to be very productive oriented rather than people oriented persons and this style proves that they are usually inaccessible or have very little time to listed to the people they manage. This also results form their heavy busy schedules. In addition managers face highly intensive stresses and become very intolerant of any mistakes. They rarely motivate their people to take significant risks to improve operationally or personally and in moments of crisis they can easily consider to re-establish who is in charge, believing that they will achieve the expected performances and organisational goals. Nonetheless, they are very conscious of what others think about them and expect to be liked, despite being aware that this is rather impossible, due to the conflicting roles between management and workers. Furthermore managers ask subordinates for participative input, but rarely encourage real dissent with their own views (Creech, 1995). In contrast, leaders are very people oriented and although they are conscious of what people think of them they are generally less concerned. However, leaders feel themselves as helpers to the organisation as opposed being in command. They are inventive and imaginative movers and participate in achievement of goals. Arguably, leaders have a more positive style to achieving goals and during time of financial or operational turbulences they focus on asking team members for help in strategies and innovation in order to regain competitive advantage. Opposed to this, managers would consider downsizing and cost cutting (Creech, 1995). One can that this is visionary and leaders do communicate widely with simple clear cut visions and goals. They intend to simplify communication to ensure the message gets through without ridiculing anyone in the event of misunderstandings. Additionally they are tolerant of mistakes during the process of development and goal achievement and they are fond of acknowledging their mistakes and do not fear to take whatever measures are required to rectify them (Creech, 1995). Bennis and Goldsmith (1997) define the difference between manager and leader using the following paired contrasts: The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager maintains; the leader develops. The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it. The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader focuses on people. The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon. The manager imitates; the leader originates. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. The manager is the classis good soldier; the leader is his or her own person (Bennis and Goldsmith, 1997, p.9). Chapter 3 Literature Review For the purpose of this literature review it has been classified as follows: Human Relation Skills including follower leader relation, and conflict management and counselling as intrapersonal skills. Intrapersonal Skills includes self confidence, stress management, and time management whilst Organisational Skills include leadership styles and motivation and finally Creativity Skills. Human Relation Skills and Intrapersonal Skills follow the same paths and are the abilities how one interacts with others. However Intrapersonal Skills is ones own personal development whilst Organisational Skills is the skill to have a conceptual focus. Finally, Creativity Skills are the having of new ideas. The author introduced these skills in the above sequence as she believes that without having human relation skills one cannot help ones personal development and cannot encourage motivation or creativity. Needless to say, that without motivation one would find difficulties creating new ideas. 3.1 Human Relations and Intrapersonal Skills 3.1.2 Follower Leader Relation In order for a leader to achieve effectiveness through human relations, Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt (2001) shared four important insights and beliefs about the nature of their relationships with their followers: Firstly, they explain how positively effective it is, to gradually and gently direct the follower towards the established goals rather than throwing them into heavy burdens to accomplish corporate purposes. When a mutual agreement of mutual interest is established leaders would smartly lay down the red carpet to the follower and will satisfy the goals of both parties. Rigid commands from the hierarchy within an organisation normally lead to unsatisfactory results and frustration (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001) Secondly, it is in the leaders interest to strongly understand their followers, by recognising their needs, what motivates them , their various stages of personal development, and their goals. This is seen through a flow of communication and observations. The leaders challenge in such scenario would be to reach satisfactory levels of both the follower and the organisation. During such a process of identifying the followers needs the leader must show sensitivity, ingenuity and judgement when putting together corporate and personal objectives through communication. The leader should address those areas identified to be low in self confidence and capability by the follower in order to achieve maximum results (Isaac, Zerb and Pitt, 2001) Thirdly, leaders have to establish motivating conditions not only to motivate the follower but to encourage self motivation. One of the motives encouraging the self motivation process would be organisational rewards however this makes the leaders responsibility intense, as he/she would need to determine the various intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to followers. Intrinsic motivational states are beyond leaders control however they can possibly enhance such feelings and emotions by: Spending time with the follower and enhancing, rather than undermining, self-confidence. Increasing follower knowledge, skills and abilities through exposure to various educational and training programs, as well as experiences. These activities enhance both follower capability and self-confidence. Establishing realistic, meaningful and attainable goals with the follower to both parties. Creating a climate of mutual respect. Showing appreciation when the follower meets or exceeds expectations, or addressing problematic issues regarding the followers performance by focusing upon the work rather than the individual. (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001, p.212) The fourth and final insight relates to the importance of honesty and consistent behaviour showed to the followers. Leaders can loose credibility through promises that are rather difficult to fulfil at a later stage, and will also be exposed to deducting the followers motivation. On the other hand consistency generates a clear path to the followers especially in matters such as fairness, expectations and personal cose of conduct. In addition, leader must reduce distinctions of status that might cause some followers to feel degraded and not regarded (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001). Relationship closeness, is the extent to which an employee has a sharing, open, familiar relation with management. Thus, relationship closeness is a broad concept that encompasses several specific constructs like interaction, open communication, and informal relations between employees and management(Mcknight, Ahmad and Schroederet, 2001, p.466). As one can see from the above four insights of human relations skills incorporates a strong degree of interpersonal skills and as Leadership Skills Theory at HSBC Life Assurance Malta Leadership Skills Theory at HSBC Life Assurance Malta Chapter 1 Introduction Leadership skills are the focus of this study and therefore the author will be, in this chapter introduce leadership and the concept of the leader versus the manager as a primary source. In this section the author will define the meaning of leadership enabling one to understand better the next stages of this study. Furthermore one can find the objective of this study and the organisation studied. The structure section will define the construction of the complimenting chapters. 1.1 Objective The scope of this organisational case study is to compare and contrast the leadership skills theory and the selected organisations leadership and provided the concept of leadership versus management in order to understand better leadership skills which are defined later on in this study. Leadership skills will be reviewed by means of secondary research. Subsequently the leadership skills within the organisation will be studied by means of a primary research methodology. This will enable the author to reach the main objective which aim is to highlight the theory of leadership skills and present findings of the selected organisations current leadership practices. One will eventually benefit from the authors recommendations and conclusions based on the out come of the data analysis. 1.2 The Organisation The selected organisation for this study was HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited. HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited was set up in 1995 and is a fully owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank Malta Plc, regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Over the years, HSBC Life has developed into one of the leading life assurance product providers on the island with its full and diversified product range, including group and individual term assurance products, mortgage protection policies, etc. This study research thus moves towards assessing all the concepts of leadership styles, skills, coaching, team building. The organisation is in the direction of the Managing Director. 1.3 Structure The structure of this study will be based on 5 chapters. The introduction, chapter 1, has highlighted leadership and the concept of leadership versus management, the objective and the organisation under investigation. Chapter 2 will follow with a literature review of leadership skills from previous studies whilst chapter 3 will cover the research methodology. Chapter 4 will present the findings and finally chapter 5 will cover the authors views and recommendations. Chapter 2 2.0 Leadership Leadership can be defined as: The ability to persuade others willingly to behave differently. The function of team leaders is to achieve the task set for them with the help of the group (Michael Armstrong 2003: 259). Another definition of leadership is: The task of a great leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision. Those leaders who do not are ultimately judged failures, even though they may be popular at the moment (Henry Kissinger). Clawson (2006) explains that leadership consists of three components: the ability to influence others; the willingness to influence others; and the exercise of influence in a way that others respond voluntarily. Thus, while leadership included the use of power, not all uses of power are leadership. The highlight of leadership within an organisation is an emphasis on the importance of a strong human relation and the importance of creating rewarding high-performance teams of motivated and empowered employees. Human understanding and sensitivity are absolutely critical for leadership success. Leadership also consists of identifying proven talent within an organisation and optimising on this talented human resource by developing, retaining and partnering smartly together. Leadership has been perceived to be a primary key to successful strategy implementation. One of the key factors in implementing a strategy is building consensus. A consensus built by motivating, persuading people and by shaping culture and values within an organisation to support the new strategy (Ashby and Miles, 2002). Taking IBM as an example CEO Sam Palmisano has embarked on a leadership mission to get people within the organisation to focus on strategy formulation and implementation. He embarked on a mission to persuade people to focus on the on-demand vision and communicating clear directions. With this positive attitude and employee empowerment he made employees feel motivated and challenged to follow new strategic goals. In this changing world of globalisation, organisations are constantly facing changes within their set ups and therefore leadership plays an important role. Three important aspects of leadership would be people, influence and goals. In order to influence, the relationship between the leader and the follower must not be passive but assertive (Draft, 2006). Within an organisation, leadership directly impacts the effectiveness of costs, revenue generation, service, satisfaction, earnings, market value, share price, social capital, motivation, engagement, and sustainability. In this view one can identify the importance of vision within leadership. In order to move a group successfully towards its goal the leader must communicate the vision or visions with his or her followers. For effectiveness, a vision should appear to be simple, appear desirable enough to energise followers and should describe the organisations future position, which must be credible and preferable to the present state. The leader must communicate these visions adequately to ensure the followers feel as if the vision has been created by themselves (Renesch, 1994). Nonetheless one would need to understand that although leadership focuses on people, influence and goals it cannot be easily defined in such a generic context. However according to Scott (2007) a leader needs to understand that the follower may value a leader differently. Some may prefer a task oriented leader where others may prefer a people oriented leader. In this view the leader must identify the followers needs and how they construe effective leadership. One can see that self awareness is the foundation of effective leadership and one ought to communicate the vision and help the followers fit into that vision. Effective leaders need to change their approach according to the situation, as with one follower, a leader may need to be directive while with others, a leader may need to coach. 2.1 The History of Leadership Leadership, and the study of it, has roots in the beginning of civilisation. Egyptian rulers, Greek heroes and biblical patriarchs all have one thing in common leadership. There are numerous definitions and theories of leadership; however, there are enough similarities in the definitions to conclude that leadership is an effort of influence and the power to induce compliance (Wren, 1995). Our work, our environment, the motivation to work, leaders, leadership, leadership style, and a countless of other work-related variables have been studied for almost two centuries. The organisational focus of the leader has evolved over this same period. Early organisations with authoritarian leaders who believed employees were basically lazy transitioned into way to make work environments more conducive to increased productivity rates. Today, organisations are transforming into places where people are empowered, encouraged, and supported in their personal and professional growth throughout their careers. As the focus of leaders has changed over time, it has influenced and shaped the development and progression of leadership theory. 2.1.2 Early Leader Studies The Industrial Revolution shifted Americas economy from an agriculture base to an industrial one and, thereby, ushered in a change how leaders would treat their followers. The Industrial Revolution created a paradigm shift to a new theory of leadership in which common people gained power by virtue of their skills (Clawson, 1999). New technology, however, was accompanied and reinforced by mechanisation of human thought and action, thus creating hierarchical bureaucracies (Morgan, 1997). One major contributor to this era of management and leadership theory was Max Weber, a German sociologist who observed the parallels between the mechanisation of industry and the proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organisation (Morgan, 1997, p. 17). He noted that the bureaucratic form routinized the process of administration in the same manner that the machine routinized production. 2.1.3 Classical Management Theory and Scientific Management Webers concerns about bureaucracy, however, did not affect theorists who set the stage for what is now known as classical management theory and scientific management. Classical theorists focused on the design of the total organisation while scientific managers focused on the systematic management of individual jobs. In contrast to Weber, classical theorists such as Henri Fayol and F. W. Mooney, staunch advocates of bureaucratisation, devoted their energies identifying methods through which this kind of organisational structure could be achieved (Bass, 1990; Morgan, 1997). Collectively, these theorists set the basis for many modern management techniques, such as management by objectives. Scientific management, an approach heralded by Frederick Taylor, was technological in nature (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996). Taylor fused the perspective of an engineer into management with a strong emphasis on control, ruthless efficiency, quantification, predictability, and de-skilled jobs. He initiated time-and-motion studies to analyse work tasks to improve worker productivity in an attempt to achieve the highest level of efficiency possible. Consequently, he has been accused of viewing people as instruments or machines to be manipulated by leaders. The function of the leader under scientific management theory was to establish and enforce performance criteria to meet organisational goals; therefore, the focus of a leader was on the needs of the organisation and not on the individual worker. Although the classical and scientific approaches were different, the goals were similar organisations are rational systems and must operate in the most efficient manner possible to achieve the highest level of productivity (Morgan, 1997). Both theories relied on the machine metaphor with a heavy emphasis on mechanisation of jobs, which undermined the human aspect of the organisation and failed to recognise organisations as complex organisms. Although mechanistic organisations proved productive, there were limits to hierarchical bureaucracy. Emerging theorists encouraged leaders to recognise that humans were not machines and could not be treated as such. A post bureaucratic shift in the mid-1940s moved toward everyone taking responsibility for the organisations success or failure (Heckscher Donnellon, 1994). Researchers began to examine the relationship between leader behaviour and follower satisfaction level and organisational productivity and profitability. 2.1.4 Hawthorne, Maslow, and Herzberg Environment and Worker Needs Much organisational research during this era focused on overcoming the perceived shortcomings of the classical and scientific schools of management. Elton Mayos Hawthorne Studies focused on the work situation and its effect on leaders and followers, indicating that the reactions of human beings influence their work activities as much as the formal design and structure of the organisation. Early on leaders could focus their attention on the environment factors of the organisations. The early theories and studies provided researchers with tangible and measurable performance outcomes that were directly transferable to profitability and spreadsheet bottom-lines. A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs posited that once a workers physiological, security, and social (intrinsic) needs were met, productivity would only be possible of the employees ego and self-actualising (extrinsic) needs were also met. Leader focus became redirected toward worker needs. Herzbergs Dual Factor Theory, the evolution of intrinsic and extrinsic needs, furthered Maslows work stating the employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could, and should, be met simultaneously. Herzbergs (1966) Motivation-Hygiene theory furthered the work of Maslow by providing insights into the goals and incentives that tend to satisfy a workers needs. Herzberg concluded that people have two categories of needs, which he termed hygiene (environmental factors such as working conditions, company policies, etc.) and motivators (factors involving the job itself). According to Herzberg, an employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could and should be addressed simultaneously. 2.1.5 The Shift to Behavioural Factors Leader focus had moved to understanding the relationship between a leaders actions and the followers satisfaction and productivity. Theorists began to consider behavioural concepts in their analysis of organisational leadership. For example, Chester Barnard was instrumental in including behavioural components (Bass, 1990). Barnards work emphasised the ways in which executives might develop their organisations into cooperative social systems by focusing on the integration of work efforts through communication of goals and attention to worker motivation (Hatch, 1997). Barnard, for example, identified an effective organisational leader as one who determined objectives, manipulated means, initiated action, and stimulated coordinated effort (Bass, 1990, p. 31). Barnard (1938), whose work focused on the functions of the executive, was instrumental in including behavioural components in his analysis of organisational leadership, which claimed that leadership involves accomplishing goals wit h and through people. The theorists of this age argued that in addition to finding the best technological methods to improve output, it would behove management to address human affairs as well. It was claimed that the real power centres within an organisation were the interpersonal relationships that developed among working groups (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996, p.100). A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Additionally, when this happens they are more likely to increase their productivity which in turn impacts the organisations bottom line. According to McGregor (1960), the traditional organisation with its centralised decision making, hierarchical pyramid, and external control of work is based on certain assumptions about human nature and human motivation. He dubbed these assumptions Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X assumes that most people prefer to be directed, are not interested in assuming responsibility, and want safety above all else. Accompanying the Theory X philosophy is the belief that people are motivated by money, fringe benefits, and threat of punishment. Managers who espouse Theory X assumptions attempt to structure, control, and closely supervise employees. Although McGregor himself questioned whether Theory X was as accurate view of human nature, the assumptions persisted for a long time in leadership theory circles because it explained à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"some, though not all, of human behaviour within organisations (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Drawing heavily from Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor ultimately concluded that Theory X assumptions about human nature, when universally applied, are often inaccurate and that management approaches that develop from these assumptions may fail to motivate individuals to strive toward organisational goals (Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson, 1996). McGregor (1960) believed that management needed practices based on a more accurate understanding of human nature and motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals are not, by nature, lazy and unreliable. People can be self-directed and creative at work if properly motivated (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Therefore, an essential task of management is to unleash this potential. Consequently, the goal of effective leadership was evolving and moving away from the earlier concepts of the classical and scientific management theories that treated workers as machines. Leaders were now challenged to actively involve followers in achieving organisational goals. McGregor (1960), whose work was closely linked to that of the behavioural theorists, is a reflection of that era, providing a foundation for the future emergence of the transformational leadership. McGregors Theory X and Theory Y assumed that employees and leaders had progressed beyond Taylors productivity models that employees could find ways to satisfy their needs within the organisations structure. McGregor assumed employees far more complex that the trait and behavioural theories of leadership assumed and that their complexity and the leaders response to that complexity would affect how and whether the leader and followers worked in tandem to reach mutual organisational goals. McGregor proposed a replacement of direction and control of employees with humanistic motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals did not inherently dislike work and, and that under certain conditions, work could actually be a source of great satisfaction. Theory Y assumed individuals would exercise self-direction and self-control, accepting and seeking responsibility (Pugh Hickson, 1993). The essential concept McGregor and other behaviourists proposed was that organisations are interacting groups and that leaders are a part of these groups. The leaders interaction and relationship with the employee must be a supportive relationship so all members of the organisation feel the organisations objectives and their achievement, are of personal importance to them (Pugh Hickson, 1993). 2.1.6 Situational/Contingency Theory The Circumstantial Focus Unprecedented social change in the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s shifted societal focus from increasing economic wealth to ensuring social rights and equality. Along with this social change, technology was again preparing to jolt American businesses. The advent of the computer age was shifting employee requirements from brawn to brains. Leadership became an intricate process of multilateral brokerage where leaders were forced to focus on constituencies within and without the organisation to survive (Vanourek, 1995). The internal and external environments of organisations were changing. The transference of power from those doing the work to those possessing knowledge about how to organise work more closely levelled the playing field for leaders and followers. Society acknowledged that traditional methods of leadership were no longer effective. McCollum (1995) implied that companies in the information age were unsuccessfully trying to conduct their business using obsolete industrial age leadership theories. Change was the only thing of which everyone could be sure, a factor requiring leadership research and society to consider contingency/situational approaches to leadership if businesses were to remain successful and profitable in an ever-changing and increasingly complicated environment (Contee-Borders, 2003). Heysey and Blanchard (1996) proposed a contingency/situational theory advocating a leaders use of differing leadership behaviours dependent upon two interrelated maturity factors: (a) job maturity relevant task and technical knowledge and skills, and (b) psychological maturity the subordinates level of self-confidence and self-respect (Yukl, 1998). An employee who has a high level of job and psychological maturity requires little supervision; while an employee who has a low level of job and psychological maturity requires hand-on attention. Fielders contingency theory is viewed as the opposite of Hersey and Blanchards theory, maintaining that leaders are less flexible in their ability to change their behaviour based on followers maturity (the basic concept of Hersey and Blanchards theory) (Hughes, Ginnett, Curphy, 1993). Fielders contingency theory posited that leader effectiveness is determined by not the leaders ability to adapt to the situation, but by the ability to choose the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"right leader for the situation (though this theory does not identify who would be responsible for making this choice). Some leaders are simply better for specific situation than others and the situation determines the identified leaders success, though leaders would need to be capable of understanding when they were not right for the situation and remove themselves a task of humility. 2.2 Leadership Styles From a very classical autocratic approach to a very creative, participative approach, different styles were needed for different situations and each leader needed to know when to exhibit a particular approach. The most familiar model is the leadership scale devised by Tannenbaum and Schmidt. In this model, the leader is advised to choose a leadership style that it appropriate for the particular situation. These styles or behaviours, can be placed along continuum ranging from boss-centred at one-end of the scale to subordinate-centred at the other end, as illustrated in Figure 1.1 Inevitably, the opposite poles of this continuum have been labelled Authoritarian (or task-centred), and Democratic (or people-centred) and the inference has been drawn that a concern forgetting the job done is at the opposite end of the scale of the people involved. Tannenbaum and Schmidts article is not as shallow as that, but, like it or not, the impression is left that the two concerns are somehow incompatible. Other commentators advised that authoritarian leadership styles would be most effective in situations that were favourable to the leader and democratic styles would better suit situations that were unfavourable to the leader. Favourable in this context means that the leader has high formal authority, relations between the leader and the staff are good, and the task is highly structured. This further reinforces the assumption that democratic styles are for the leaders to fall back on when things are not going entirely their way; they would not want to be democratic if it could be avoided. The Democratic styles should be the preferred option, falling back on authoritarian styles only when circumstances require it. For example, when the fire alarm sounds tell everyone to leave the building; do not hold a decision about the best course of action. Or, when something bad can not be avoided, accept your responsibility as a manager and give instructions clearly and assertively. Otherwise, the benefits of the bringing several brains to bear on an issue, and the commitment that democratic approaches tend to foster, usually outweigh the inevitable untidiness of getting everyone involved in decision-making . Interestingly, research into animal social groups has found that decisions arrived at communally or democratically are usually more beneficial for the group and its individual members than despotic decision-making, and tend to be less extreme. Whether lessons drawn from the observation of animal behaviour can usefully be applied directly to human groups depends on how much corroborating evidence there is. 2.3 Leadership versus Management Creech (1995) defines the manager versus the leader. She explains how a manager is typically well-educated and would generally possess very high conceptual skills. Managers are mostly focused on the latest management literature. Furthermore managers are very aware of the system, rules and procedures both documented and undocumented. They tend to be very productive oriented rather than people oriented persons and this style proves that they are usually inaccessible or have very little time to listed to the people they manage. This also results form their heavy busy schedules. In addition managers face highly intensive stresses and become very intolerant of any mistakes. They rarely motivate their people to take significant risks to improve operationally or personally and in moments of crisis they can easily consider to re-establish who is in charge, believing that they will achieve the expected performances and organisational goals. Nonetheless, they are very conscious of what others think about them and expect to be liked, despite being aware that this is rather impossible, due to the conflicting roles between management and workers. Furthermore managers ask subordinates for participative input, but rarely encourage real dissent with their own views (Creech, 1995). In contrast, leaders are very people oriented and although they are conscious of what people think of them they are generally less concerned. However, leaders feel themselves as helpers to the organisation as opposed being in command. They are inventive and imaginative movers and participate in achievement of goals. Arguably, leaders have a more positive style to achieving goals and during time of financial or operational turbulences they focus on asking team members for help in strategies and innovation in order to regain competitive advantage. Opposed to this, managers would consider downsizing and cost cutting (Creech, 1995). One can that this is visionary and leaders do communicate widely with simple clear cut visions and goals. They intend to simplify communication to ensure the message gets through without ridiculing anyone in the event of misunderstandings. Additionally they are tolerant of mistakes during the process of development and goal achievement and they are fond of acknowledging their mistakes and do not fear to take whatever measures are required to rectify them (Creech, 1995). Bennis and Goldsmith (1997) define the difference between manager and leader using the following paired contrasts: The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager maintains; the leader develops. The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it. The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader focuses on people. The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon. The manager imitates; the leader originates. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. The manager is the classis good soldier; the leader is his or her own person (Bennis and Goldsmith, 1997, p.9). Chapter 3 Literature Review For the purpose of this literature review it has been classified as follows: Human Relation Skills including follower leader relation, and conflict management and counselling as intrapersonal skills. Intrapersonal Skills includes self confidence, stress management, and time management whilst Organisational Skills include leadership styles and motivation and finally Creativity Skills. Human Relation Skills and Intrapersonal Skills follow the same paths and are the abilities how one interacts with others. However Intrapersonal Skills is ones own personal development whilst Organisational Skills is the skill to have a conceptual focus. Finally, Creativity Skills are the having of new ideas. The author introduced these skills in the above sequence as she believes that without having human relation skills one cannot help ones personal development and cannot encourage motivation or creativity. Needless to say, that without motivation one would find difficulties creating new ideas. 3.1 Human Relations and Intrapersonal Skills 3.1.2 Follower Leader Relation In order for a leader to achieve effectiveness through human relations, Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt (2001) shared four important insights and beliefs about the nature of their relationships with their followers: Firstly, they explain how positively effective it is, to gradually and gently direct the follower towards the established goals rather than throwing them into heavy burdens to accomplish corporate purposes. When a mutual agreement of mutual interest is established leaders would smartly lay down the red carpet to the follower and will satisfy the goals of both parties. Rigid commands from the hierarchy within an organisation normally lead to unsatisfactory results and frustration (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001) Secondly, it is in the leaders interest to strongly understand their followers, by recognising their needs, what motivates them , their various stages of personal development, and their goals. This is seen through a flow of communication and observations. The leaders challenge in such scenario would be to reach satisfactory levels of both the follower and the organisation. During such a process of identifying the followers needs the leader must show sensitivity, ingenuity and judgement when putting together corporate and personal objectives through communication. The leader should address those areas identified to be low in self confidence and capability by the follower in order to achieve maximum results (Isaac, Zerb and Pitt, 2001) Thirdly, leaders have to establish motivating conditions not only to motivate the follower but to encourage self motivation. One of the motives encouraging the self motivation process would be organisational rewards however this makes the leaders responsibility intense, as he/she would need to determine the various intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to followers. Intrinsic motivational states are beyond leaders control however they can possibly enhance such feelings and emotions by: Spending time with the follower and enhancing, rather than undermining, self-confidence. Increasing follower knowledge, skills and abilities through exposure to various educational and training programs, as well as experiences. These activities enhance both follower capability and self-confidence. Establishing realistic, meaningful and attainable goals with the follower to both parties. Creating a climate of mutual respect. Showing appreciation when the follower meets or exceeds expectations, or addressing problematic issues regarding the followers performance by focusing upon the work rather than the individual. (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001, p.212) The fourth and final insight relates to the importance of honesty and consistent behaviour showed to the followers. Leaders can loose credibility through promises that are rather difficult to fulfil at a later stage, and will also be exposed to deducting the followers motivation. On the other hand consistency generates a clear path to the followers especially in matters such as fairness, expectations and personal cose of conduct. In addition, leader must reduce distinctions of status that might cause some followers to feel degraded and not regarded (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001). Relationship closeness, is the extent to which an employee has a sharing, open, familiar relation with management. Thus, relationship closeness is a broad concept that encompasses several specific constructs like interaction, open communication, and informal relations between employees and management(Mcknight, Ahmad and Schroederet, 2001, p.466). As one can see from the above four insights of human relations skills incorporates a strong degree of interpersonal skills and as