EMBA 560 Executive position week 1 discussion 1 Essay

EMBA 560 Executive position week 1 discussion 1 - Essay Example Not too long afterward, traditional consensus shifted from the belief of a predestined leader to the idea that there were natural-born leaders – that is, individuals who have the natural traits that are associated with good leaders. The concept of ‘leadership’ shifted at this point, from the view that leaders were great people who defended their people during wartime, to the concept of leaders who competently acted as stewards of their people. Leaders were thought to be virtuous, gifted, and had a charismatic appeal that won over people’s loyalty and adulation. The problem with the leadership traits theory is that the good leader eventually was though to possess all the possible positive qualities (and none of the negative qualities), which is an impossible proposition (Ledlow & Coppola, 2010). With the coming of scientific management, it became generally accepted that leaders can be trained and developed. This is the skills approach, indicating that people who are trained at leadership skills (technical, human relations, and conceptual) can become good leaders. Simultaneous with this is the leadership style theory, which categorizes a leader as autocratic, democratic, charismatic, bureaucratic, laissez-faire, and a host of other styles. While leadership skills are the capabilities with which an individual functions in the duties of leadership, leadership styles pertains to how the leader relates to his followers. Insofar as ‘skills’ are viewed as talents, then it may be said that talents help make a leader, although not to the exclusion of other factors. More recently, leadership has been viewed as falling into two general categories – transactional and transformational. A transactional leader deals with followers on a transaction basis, that is, if the follower does what is expected, he gets a reward. A transformational leader, though, brings lasting change to his followers so that they are motivated to perform a ccording to expectation. References: Bass, B M & Bass, R (2009) The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, Fourth edition. New York, NY: Free Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc. Ledlow, G R & Coppola, M N (2010) Leadership for Health Professionals: Theory, Skills and Applications. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc Waite, M R (2008) Fire Service Leadership: Theories and Practices. International Association of Fire Chiefs. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. 2. In your opinion and experience, what do you believe to be the most important role / duty of an executive. Off the cuff, I (and many others, I would imagine) would feel that the most important role of an executive would be to reach the goal (of the organization) and to maintain the peace. Ultimately, that is the goal of all leaders, particularly in the matter of attaining the objective. That would be fine in the case of short-term projects, where there is a singular objec tive, a definite start and end, and a fixed lifespan. In a continuing undertaking, however, the objective is recurring and people in the organization are made to work together over a long – theoretically an infinite – period of time. In this case, leadership takes on a more profound role, that of motivator for his many followers. From my experience, the best way for a leader to motivate his/her followers is not only to articulate a goal for them, but to provide them with a vision that they can assimilate in their

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Analysis Essay Example for Free

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Analysis Essay In the book, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, A man named Okwonko is desperate to avoid being what his father was like: lazy and undetermined. He is dominated by anger, fear, and impatience which get him in many situations. The tribe of Umoufia represents a civilization that is strictly based off male dominance. Men are only required to be strong, and have a title within the clan; while the women must cook, clean, and take care of the children, and are beat if they do not do so. Umoufia is a tribe that is based off of stereotypes and sexism. Women are looked down upon as objects instead of people. When they are old enough to get married, they do not get to choose, nor does the father choose. The women are bought and sold with sticks, like an animal and not a human being. This shows that the women are not appreciated, nor given any respect or dignity. They are treated more like slaves, and are not seen as important. When in reality, without women, the tribie of Umoufia would be nothing. A man gains respect and popularity in the tribe of Umoufia, is a strong, masculine man with a wife, a strong son, and a tough warrior. All men share the same goal, which is to become one of the lords of the clan. To do this, he is a warrior who is strong, brave, and fearless. Unofia, Okwonko’s father was lazy, poor, and a failure. He hated his father and wanted to be nothing like him. Okwonko has no desires for the pleasures in life, such as: dancing, music, and celebrations. Instead he hungers for power and wealth. This means he must run a strong family and house hold; with multiple wives, and many children. Another part of his masculinity is his duty of a solider. He wants to be physically strong in defending his village from incoming threats. Another way that Okwonko wants to show masculinity is through his children. He wants to pass down all he knows to his kids, and have them do the exact same. The boys shall have their own households and will be strong and proud. When the women shall be good wives, clean, cook, and give birth to many children. Okwonko only wants his kids to have the same traditions as he did, and for it to never change. Some elders believe that it is not right, and that it is right to have change. Okwonko wants his legacy to be kept alive by his children keeping on the same traditions. The women cook and clean, when the men own the household and are in charge. The women are given less credit then they deserve. Okwonko wants his wife to bare him a son, so that he can keep his family strong once he passes away. He depends on the wife to give him a son, and will beat her if she does not do so. When the child is born the wife must raise him and do all of the work. But the child is born to the husband and always owned by the man. Women are very important to the Umoufia tribe, but are treated inhumanly and not seen as a contributing factor of the tribes surviving and thriving. They are beaten regularly if they do not clean, cook, and take care of the house. They are sold as brides, and not given the right to do what they want.

Economic Growth and the Environment

Economic Growth and the Environment Will the world be able to sustain economic growth indefinitely without running into resource constraints or despoiling the environment beyond repair? What is the relationship between a steady increase in incomes and environmental quality? Are there trade-offs between the goals of achieving high and sustainable rates of economic growth and attaining high standards of environmental quality. For some social and physical scientists, growing economic activity (production and consumption) requires larger inputs of energy and material, and generates larger quantities of waste byproducts. Increased extraction of natural resources, accumulation of waste, and concentration of pollutants would overwhelm the carrying capacity of the biosphere and result in the degradation of environmental quality and a decline in human welfare, despite rising incomes. Furthermore, it is argued that degradation of the resource base would eventually put economic activity itself at risk. To save the environment and even economic activity from itself, economic growth must cease and the world must make a transition to a steady-state economy. At the other extreme, are those who argue that the fastest road to environmental improvement is along the path of economic growth: with higher incomes comes increased demand for goods and services that are less material-intensive, as well as demand for improved environmental quality that leads to the adoption of environmental protection measures. The strong correlation between incomes, and the extent to which environmental protection measures are adopted, demonstrates that in the longer run, the surest way to improve your environment is to become rich, Some went as far as claiming that environmental regulation, by reducing economic growth, may actually reduce environmental quality. As agriculture and resource extraction intensify and industrialization takes off, both resource depletion and waste generation accelerate. At higher levels of development, structural change towards information-based industries and services, more efficient technologies, and increased demand for environmental quality result in leveling-off and a steady decline of environmental degradation (Panayotou 1993), as seen in the Figure 1 below: The issue of whether environmental degradation (a) increases monotonically, (b) decreases monotonically, or (c) first increases and then declines along a country’s development path, has critical implications for policy. A monotonic increase of environmental degradation with economic growth calls for strict environmental regulations and even limits on economic growth to ensure a sustainable scale of economic activity within the ecological life-support system (Arrow et al. 1995) A monotonic decrease of environmental degradation along a country’s development path suggests that policies that accelerate economic growth lead also to rapid environmental improvements and no explicit environmental policies are needed; indeed, they may be counterproductive if they slow down economic growth and thereby delay environmental improvement. Finally, if the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is supported by evidence, development policies have the potential of being environmentally benign over the long run, (at high incomes), but they are also capable of significant environmental damage in the short-to-medium run (at low-to-medium-level incomes). In this case, several issues arise: (1) at what level of per capita income is the turning point? (2) How much damage would have taken place, and how can they be avoided? (3) Would any ecological thresholds be violated and irreversible damages take place before environmental degradation turns down, and how can they be avoided? (4) Is environmental improvement at higher income levels automatic, or does it require conscious institutional and policy reforms? and (5) how to accelerate the development process so that developing economies and economies in transition can experience the same improved economic and environmental conditions enjoyed by developed market economies? Policy Response In the OECD countries we observe a strong decoupling of emissions of local air pollutants from economic growth. OECD countries have achieved a strong decoupling between energy use and economic growth over the past 20 years, with the economy growing by 17% between 1980 and 1998 and energy use falling by the about the same percentage. Water and resource use continued to grow but at a rate slower than GDP growth reflecting a weak decoupling of the two. Thus decoupling of emissions in OECD and generally the developed ECE countries has been accomplished through a combination of technological change and a strong environmental policy. The latter consisting of â€Å"greening† of fiscal policy, removing subsidies to environmentally harmful activities and the use of economic instruments to internalise environmental cost. A number of EU policy initiatives, such as the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines 2001, among others have promoted a gradual but steady and credible change in the level and structure of the tax rates until external costs are fully reflected in prices, to cope with most of the fundamental structural problem in all developed countries, the unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. In the energy markets these guidelines aim to uses taxes and other market-based instruments to rebalance prices in favour of reusable energy sources and technologies. Other EU initiatives in this direction are the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP), the directive establishing an EU framework for emissions trading, and the Integrated Product Policy (IPP) all of which aim at realigning price relations and stimulating investments in new technologies that promote sustainable development. Member states are encouraged to improve market functioning by addressing market failures such as externalities through â€Å"increased use of market-based systems in pursuit of environmental objectives as they provide flexibility to industry to reduce pollution in a cost effective way, as well as encourage technological innovations†. Economic instruments such as gradual but steady and credible change in the level and structure of tax rates until external costs are fully reflected in prices are promoted as the most efficient means of decoupling economic growth from pollution, as they alter price relations and thereby also drive changes in technology and consumer behaviour (preference) that lie behind the growth-environment relationship. As exemplified by the energy and transport sectors, the EU decoupling policy consists of demand management through full-cost pricing and development of more environmentally friendly alternatives by promoting technological innovations. Since 1990 all economies in transition have made efforts to restructure their energy and transport sectors along market principles and to raise energy prices closer to economic and international levels. However because of the political sensitivity of energy pricing and the lagging reforms in many transition economies a gap of 20-85% continues to persist between energy prices in economies in transition. For example electricity prices for households in Eastern Europe are only 50 percent of those of the European Union; for industrial consumers, electricity prices are closer to their economic and international levels being 20% lower than those of the EU. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe has repeatedly called upon its members to raise the prices of various energy sources to their full economic costs and adapt economic instruments to internalise the costs to human health and the environment associated with energy production and consumption. The aim is to decouple emissions from energy use and energy use from economic growth. Despite significant progress towards sustainable development developed countries are still experiencing unsustainable consumption patterns as evidenced by the continued growth of municipal waste and CO ² emissions. As transition economies begin to recover and grow again their emissions and resource use are also growing though less than proportionately. Their GDP energy-intensity, though declining, continues to be several times that of the developed countries while their consumption patterns are tracing the same path as that of their developed counterparts. Further decoupling of growth and environment and progress towards sustainable development calls for action on many fronts by both groups of countries as well as cooperation between them especially in technology transfer: Use of an effective mix of economic instruments such as taxes, charges and tradable permits to correct market and policy failures and to internalise environmental and social costs and induce changes in the composition of consumption and production. Improvement in resource use efficiency and â€Å"dematerialization† of the economy Change in the content of economies growth and this involves adjustments costs which tend to be greater the faster is the rate of change in relative prices; in particular those who lose need to be compensated by those who benefit Introduction of specific policies to preserve the living standards of those directly affected by the required adjustment and to avoid unemployment and social disruption; issues of inequality and social exclusion must be addressed.

Physician-Assisted Suicide Essay - Euthanasia Should Not be Legalized

Euthanasia Should Not be Legalized      Ã‚   "It is conceivable, that life can deteriorate to the point where persons lose their dignity and self-respect and are unable to communicate; life in such a form no longer meets meets the basic criteria of human- ness."   (O'Keefe, A1)   Under these circumstances only should Euthanasia be practiced and then only passively ("pulling the plug").   "Dutch Death", Euthanasia, doctor assisted suicide, whatever you want to call it, it should not be legalized.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   People should live their lives for as long as long as it is worth living.   As long as someone can still have experiences and communicate with others, they should go on living. Someone may have six months to live and decides to end their life rematurely, saying that they are going to die anyway, why bother with waiting.   It is the same with anyone. Everyone will eventually die, so why doesn't every one just kill themselves now?   It is because there are things they want to do and see, there is life they still have yet to experience.   The same thing is true for a terminably ill person, they could do alot in that six months. They write an autobiography or a novel, do a lot of reading or traveling, who knows?   It has been said that trials and pain make us stronger.   Even if someone is in pain, that pain could make them mentally stronger than if they give up and take the easy way out.   Life is pain, everyone goes through pain in their lives, but most stick it out to the end, not giving up taking the easy way out.   As long as a person still is able to know what is happening around them and can interact with the world around them it should be... ...hey deemed fit for death.   Then perhaps we would become like a dog or cat and instead of bothering to heal us we would just be put down.   Who knows where it would end.   These examples are pretty radical, but once we take that first step there is no telling where it will end.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sometimes change is needed in society, sometimes things must change to fit societies needs.   Some things, however, can never change;   it will always be wrong to steal, it will always be wrong to kill, and it will allways be wrong to kill someone. Works cited Henry, Sarah. "The Battle Over Assisted Suicide:   A Time to Die" California Lawyer, January, 1996 O'Keefe, Mark.   "Doctor Assisted Suicide:   Dutch Death" The Oregonian, January 8, 1995.   ppA1+ Shavelson, Lonny.   A Chosen Death;   The Dying confront Assisted Suicide, January, 1994

Essay on Pride and Prejudice: Theme Essay

In this novel, the title describes the underlying theme to the book. Pride and prejudice were both influences on the characters and their relationships. Darcy alienated himself from the others at first because of his intense pride. His prejudice against the Bennet’s because of their poverty was also something that he would have to overcome. For Elizabeth, her prejudice against Darcy came from his snobbery. It caused her to not see his feelings for her and to believe whatever Wickman said. Darcy’s fierce pride often alienated him from others. For example, he acted so snobby and superior at the first ball with the Bennet’s that they were all turned off by him. His eventual love, Elizabeth, was disgusted at his behavior and formed a prejudice against him. Even after he fell in love with her and proposed to Elizabeth, he completely debased her family. Darcy realized eventually that he was going to have to change. He tried to look at his behavior and analyze why he acted as he did. In the end, he fought his intense pride so that he and Elizabeth could be happy together. Prejudice was also an issue for Darcy in that he disliked Elizabeth in the beginning because of her low social status, poverty, and socially inept family. Darcy was forced to deal with his prejudice when he fell in love with Elizabeth. This was not easy for him to do but it was necessary. His snobbery was countered by his love for Elizabeth. In the end, he overcame his pride and gave in to his feelings by marrying her in spite of her and her family’s shortcomings. Elizabeth had her own issues with prejudice with which to deal. Darcy’s cold arrogance and snobbery prejudiced her from him from the beginning and it took Elizabeth a lot longer time to overcome her prejudices than it did Darcy. This was because Elizabeth was a very caring person and did not like the things that Darcy had said about her and her family. When given the chance, Elizabeth loved to hear about how awful Darcy was, such as when she met Wickman, who was eager to slander Darcy. However, Elizabeth gradually came around and began to fall in love with Darcy, but it was difficult for her to overcome the prejudices that had been imposed on her by both herself and Darcy. This novel’s theme was tied up in the title of the book, Pride and Prejudice. The pride that Darcy felt and his initial prejudice against all of the Bennet family was eventually overwhelmed by his love for Elizabeth. For Elizabeth, she needed to overcome her prejudices about Darcy and see through his snobbery. In the end, all the pride and prejudice was dealt with and Darcy and Elizabeth were left in love.

Computer Crime Essays - Hacker, Phreaking, Hacking, Free Essays

Computer Crime Essays - Hacker, Phreaking, Hacking, Free Essays Computer Crime Computer Crime It's the weekend, you have nothing to do so you decide to play around on your computer. You turn it on and then start up, you start calling people with your modem, connecting to another world, with people just like you at a button press away. This is all fine but what happens when you start getting into other peoples computer files. Then it becomes a crime, but what is a computer crime really, obviously it involves the use of a computer but what are these crimes. Well they are: Hacking, Phreaking, & Software Piracy. To begin I will start with Hacking, what is hacking. Hacking is basically using your computer to Hack your way into another. They use programs called scanners which randomly dials numbers any generating tones or carriers are recorded. These numbers are looked at by hackers and then used again, when the hacker calls up the number and gets on he's presented with a logon prompt, this is where the hacking really begins, the hacker tries to bypass this anyway he knows how to and tries to gain access to the system. Why do they do it, well lets go to a book and see Avid young computer hackers in their preteens and teens are frequently involved in computer crimes that take the form of trespassing, invasion of privacy, or vandalism. Quite often they are mearly out for a fun and games evening, and they get entangled in the illegal use of their machines without realizing the full import of what they are doing , I have a hard time believing that so lets see what a hacker has to say about what he does Just as they were enthraled with their pursuit of information, so are we. The thrill of the hack is not in breaking the law, it's in the pursuit and capture of knowledge. , as you can see the hacker doesn't go out to do destroy things although some do. It's in the pursuit of knowledge. Of course this is still against the law. But where did all of this start, MIT is where hacking started the people there would learn and explore computer systems all around the world. In the views of professional hacking is like drugs or any other addictive substance, it's an addiction for the mind and once started it's difficult to stop. This could be true, as hackers know what they are doing is wrong and they know odds are they will be caught. But as I mentioned some hackers are just above average criminals, using there skills to break in banks and other places where they can get money, or where they can destroy information. What a hacker does at a bank is take a few cents or even a few fractions of a cents from many different accounts this may seem like nothing but when all compiled can be alot. A stick up robber averages about $8,000 each job, and he has to put his life and personal freedom on the line to do it while the computer hacker in the comfort of his own living room averages $500,000 a job. As for people destroying information, this is for taking some one down, destruction of data could end a business which for some is very attractive. It can cost a company thousands of dollars to restore the damage done. Now that you have an understanding of what a hacker is, it time to move on to someone closely associates with a hacker. This is a Phreak, but what is that. For the answer we turn to the what is known as the Official Phreakers Manual Phreak [fr'eek] 1. The action of using mischievous and mostly illegal ways in order to not pay for some sort of telecommunications bill, order, transfer, or other service. It often involves usage of highly illegal boxes and machines in order to defeat the security that is set up to avoid this sort of happening. [fr'eaking] v. 2. A person who uses the above methods of destruction and chaos in order to make a better life for all. A true phreaker will not go against his fellows or narc on people who have ragged on him or do anything termed to be dishonourable

Different Definitions for Species

Different Definitions for Species The definition of species is a tricky one. Depending on a persons focus and need for the definition, the idea of the species concept can be different. Most basic scientists agree that the common definition of the word species is a group of similar individuals that live together in an area and can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. However, this definition is not truly complete. It cannot be applied to a species that undergoes asexual reproduction since interbreeding does not happen in these types of species. Therefore, it is important we examine all of the species concepts to see which are usable and which have limitations. Biological Species The most universally accepted species concept is the idea of the biological species. This is the species concept from which the generally accepted definition of the term species comes. First proposed by Ernst Mayr, the biological species concept explicitly says, Species are groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups. This definition brings into play the idea of individuals of a single species being able to interbreed while staying reproductively isolated from each other. Without reproductive isolation, speciation cannot occur. Populations need to be divided for many generations of offspring in order to diverge from the ancestral population and become new and independent species. If a population is not divided, either physically through some sort of barrier, or reproductively through behavior or other types of prezygotic or postzygotic isolation mechanisms, then the species will stay as one species and will not diverge and become its own distinct species. This isolation is central to the biological species concept. Morphological Species Morphology is how an individual looks. It is their physical features and anatomical parts. When Carolus Linnaeus first came up with his binomial nomenclature taxonomy, all individuals were grouped by morphology. Therefore, the first concept of the term species was based on the morphology. The morphological species concept does not take into account what we now know about genetics and DNA and how it affects what an individual looks like. Linnaeus did not know about chromosomes and other microevolutionary differences that actually make some individuals that look similar a part of different species. The morphological species concept definitely has its limitations. First, it does not distinguish between species that are actually produced by convergent evolution and are not really closely related. It also does not group individuals of the same species that would happen to be somewhat morphologically different like in color or size. It is much more accurate to use behavior and molecular evidence to determine what is the same species and what is not. Lineage Species A lineage is similar to what would be thought of as a branch on a family tree. The phylogentic trees of groups of related species branch off in all directions where new lineages are created from speciation of a common ancestor. Some of these lineages thrive and live on and some become extinct and cease to exist over time. The lineage species concept becomes important to scientists who are studying the history of life on Earth and evolutionary time. By examining the similarities and differences of different lineages that are related, scientists can determine most likely when the species diverged and evolved compared to when the common ancestor was around. This idea of lineage species can also be used to fit asexually reproducing species. Since biological species concept is dependent upon reproductive isolation of sexually reproducing species, it cannot necessarily be applied to a species that reproduces asexually. The lineage species concept does not have that restraint and therefore can be used to explain simpler species that do not need a partner to reproduce.