Napoleanic reign :: Napoleon Bonaparte

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jason fish Napoleon Bonaparte was a genius, but above that he was a ruthless tyrant, who sought global conquest through waging wars against all of Europe, starting with the smaller European countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born in 1769 to a family of nobles, he was in a position of power since birth. Perhaps one of the deciding factors in his thirst for military conquest was the fact that his father placed him in a military academy at the ripe age of 10, and received his officer’s commission. At roughly the age of 20 he was an officer in the French revolution. As the revolution came to a close, he was an acknowledged officer, and held much authority over the population of France. By giving the church more power he gained much prestige with the people of France.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Once he attained enough power he appointed himself the emperor. Under his rule all authority would be placed in the hands of paid officials. He also implemented a merit based payment system for the people. His rule of the Napoleon Code is well known for the many changes that it implemented. The Napoleon Code brought the recognition of marriages that were not preformed in the church, as well as divorces. It removed political rights of women that they had worked for over the last few centuries. Finally the code set a policy for the judicial system that convicts were guilty until proven innocent, which is the contrary of the stance in our current government.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Up until this point he had the general public’s approval and was embraced by the majority of its citizens. His popularity fell as he began waging war after war on Frances neighboring countries. At the battle of Cape Trafalgar he attacked Britain with the aide of the Spanish forces. This was the first major loss for Napoleon as both the French and Spanish militaries were defeated by Heratio Nelson, the commander of the British army. This did not stop Napoleon from continuing his ongoing war with the rest of Europe. After his defeat at Cape Trafalgar, he began winning several wars against such European countries as Sweden, Germany, and Russia. While continuing to move his army throughout the eastern continent, he imposed his beliefs amongst all those he conquered, by abolishing serfdom in all areas which he had defeated. After years of war, even his faithful followers were becoming tired of the constant battles which he waged.

Thomas Green

A person’s success in an organization not only depends on his or her personality and ability, but also how he or she manages office politics and resolves conflicts. In order to successfully manage interpersonal relations within a corporate environment, one also needs to understand the power and influence structures in one’s organization. Failure to develop effective work relationships can cause job dissatisfaction, low work performance, unnecessary conflicts, and potentially getting fired from one’s job.Thomas Green Case is a great example of how different work styles and office politics can result in a career crisis. After reviewing the following case study, I have concluded that both parties are responsible for the lack of synergy between the employee, Green, and upper-management, Davis. The underlying root cause of these problems occurring in the office is from the lack of respect the co-workers have for one another.There are several other possible underlying root causes of these employee-managerial altercations such as Thomas Green’s immense amount of confidence in himself, or Frank Davis’ approach on how to handle certain situations, however, the lack of respect for one another is the root cause of the inappropriate challenges to authority Green has expressed, and the ill-favored atmosphere Davis has created. Company's BackgroundDynamic Displays was founded in 1990 as a provider of self-service options to banks via Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). In 1994, Dynamic Displays launched a new division at the Travel and  Hospitality Industry, and developed their first self-service check-in kiosk for  Discover Airlines. These kiosks not only reduced costs but also improved  customer service, shortened passenger wait times, and provided valuable information to these travelers. But now due to web check-in facility  is kiosk is facing a danger of lacking behind. Introduction:This is a case about Thomas Green, a 28 year guy , who was recruited in Dynamic Displays as an account  executive got promoted to senior marketing specialist within few months was finding difficulty in adjusting with  immediate boss Frank Davis. The conflict between the two now had reached its limit affecting the enthusiasm of Thomas Green and can result  in termination of Green. This case throws light on role of politics, dynamics of the power and importance of  communication within an organization. 1. Define the Problem: Describe the type of case and what problem(s) or issue(s) should be the focus for your analysis.Problem: In the case of â€Å"Thomas Green: power, office politics, and a career in Crisis†, it describes the dilemma of Thomas Green who works in a company called Dynamic Display. Thomas was recruited as an account executive, and then five months later, he was promoted as a Senior Market Specialist directly by the President Shannon McDonald. Thomas’s boss Frank Davis hadn’t expected to ch oose Green as the new senior market specialist, and he was very dissatisfied with Green’s work style and performance three months after the promotion.After being informed that Frank Davis had emailed McDonald about his concerns about Green’s performance, Green was getting really worried about his situation and not sure how to explain his perspective to McDonald. I’m going to analyze the issue for Green and suggest solutions to solve the problem. Thomas Green has a serious problem at Dynamic Displays. After joining the company in March of 2007, Green spent 6 months dazzling his superiors with his salesmanship and ability to create a strong rapport with his clients.He was also able to create a rapport with Shannon McDonald, the division vice president and Mary Jacobs, the national sales director. Green was able to impress McDonald to the point that, when a senior market specialist position opened up, she promoted him to the position, while advising him, â€Å"Thi s new job will require you to think strategically as well as tactically†¦I am hoping you compensate for your lack of experience by seeking out guidance from some of our more seasoned managers. † The promotion of Thomas Green did not go unnoticed, of course.The position had been vacated by Frank Davis, who had been promoted to marketing director and now supervised the position. Davis had hoped to choose his replacement for the position and Green would not have been his choice. Be that as it may, both Green and Davis appeared ready to work together, with Davis stating, â€Å"We had some good meetings this week and the clients responded well to your ideas. However, I think we would have been more effective if we had been able to provide the clients with some market data. † Problem Statement:Thomas Green, a young account executive, was offered by Shannon McDonald the opportunity of a lifetime to quickly climb up the career ladder at Dynamic Displays, and become a senio r market specialist. However, this wasn’t kindly embraced by the person who was going to be his boss, Frank Davis, who was the one supposed to choose a person for that position. Several conflicts arose between them, mainly due to work style differences and failed expectations, and Green is facing a meeting with McDonald to give his point of view about the whole situation.Now the question is â€Å"What should Thomas Green do? †. He just started to look for a new place to live and was dealing with a long distance relationship, is it the best time to quit the job? Root Cause and Analysis Current scenario /Problem The main problem is that Davis and Green both believe that they have the power to perform their job better than the other. Lack of proactive action taken by McDonald as she never the mail regarding Green's  performance seriously. Davis want of maintaining the power  distance was also one of the problems. Highly individualistic nature of both Green and Davis. 2.List any outside concepts that can be applied: Write down any principles, frameworks or theories that can be applied to this case. One of the reasons one might think that all these conflict happened is because Davis was the one supposed to choose the person for the job Green was assigned to, and he wasn’t definitely going to pick him. He could be also somewhat resentful towards Green since he had worked all the way throughout his life to have a successful career and Green just â€Å"won† the career lottery. Hence, even if Green met with all his expectations and went above and beyond, he would have never been satisfied.A second theory was that Davis had a really hard time dealing with Green’s attempt to challenge his forecasts in front of an audience, since he didn’t have the experience or knowledge to question them and decided to make is life miserable from then on. A third hypothesis, and the most plausible one, is that Green just didn’t cope wi th Davis’s requirements and was not the professional he was supposed to be. A difference in work styles was certainly one of the main causes for this clash. While Green adopted a more â€Å"face to face†, informal and intuitive approach, Davis was much more organized and structured, and adopted an authoritative stance. . List relevant qualitative data: evidence related to or based on the quality or character of something. 4. List relevant quantitative data: evidence related to or based on the amount or number of something. 5. Describe the results of your analysis: What evidence have you accumulated that supports one interpretation over another. Respect is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as â€Å"esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as the manifestation of a personal quality or ability. The underlying root cause of the lack of synergy in Dynamic Display’s work place is the lac k of respect the employee has for his superior and vice versa. Thomas Green doesn’t respect Frank Davis’ leadership strategies and the amount of experience Davis has, while Davis doesn’t respect Thomas Green’s potential and his ability to correctly do his job effectively and efficiently. Frank Davis had his mind set on whom he wanted as the new senior market specialist and Thomas Green was not who he originally had in mind.This is displayed when Shannon McDonald informed Thomas Green about his new boss, â€Å" Tom, you are walking into a sticky situation with Frank Davis. Frank had expected to choose the new senior market specialist and it would not have been you. You’ll have to deal with any fallout that might result from that† (p. 3). Frank Davis had very high expectations in a little amount of time for Green to show the best of his abilities. 6. Describe alternative actions: List and prioritize possible recommendations or actions that com e out of your analysis.Possible Solutions / Recommendation McDonald can remove Green from the current position of Senior Market Specialist and put him at the new position where his Sales  skills can best utilized in interest of organization. McDonald can act as an intermediary between Davis and Green. She can separately talk to  both and try to convey the point of views of Green and Davis to each other in order to create win-win situation and aligning their individual goals with the organization goals. She can encourage Green to  ask Davis for managerial advice and try to convince Davis to help him.Green can be given adequate training so that he can understand the necessary managerial skills that are needed for the position he is in and he should also be educated about employing correct office politics. Davis should clearly lay down the organizational goals and rules and should use his position of power to influence Green to  abide by them. Green shouldn't change the job (to o much loan) and try to change his style of working and try to develop skills which he lacked  (pointed out by Davis and others) which not only helped him in his growth within the organization but  also will add to organization success 7.Describe your preferred action plan: Write a clear statement of what you would recommend including short, medium and long-term steps to be carried out. Learning's from the case This case portrays office politics and if not treated properly can create problems in an organization. This case gives insight how power  distance in an organization can cause problems. This case illustrates the importance of proper communication between the different members of organization. This case is also proves that point that if proactive action is not taken by leader  then it can result in bigger issues a.What is Thomas Green’a situation? The case describes the dilemma of a marketing manager, Thomas Green, who, after being rapidly promoted, is harshly c riticized by his boss, Frank Davis. Green and Davis disagree on work styles and market projections. Green believes the sales goals set by Davis are based on â€Å"creative accounting† and grossly overstate the current market environment. A mood of silent conflict develops quickly between the two men, and Green is concerned that Davis is building a case to fire him.Green's situation is one in which his failure to adapt his work style and fully understand the demands and boundaries of his new position may lead to his discharge. A factor in the background is Green's relationship with his boss's boss. Radical thoughts and style: Thomas Green is a young and dynamic graduate from University of Georgia in Bachelor's  degree  in Economics and has a six year work experience as account executive. He is relatively still not that experienced and he is very power hungry, which  probably caused him to use Shannon to further his goals rather than looking after the interest of the orga nization.Inability to blend in the organization and not listen to his immediate boss: Green was reluctant to listen to his boss, Davis and hence was unable to mould himself to the needs of  the organization. As a result, the boss got vexed with his lack of documented numbers and updating his scheduler properly. Inconspicuous  promotion  of Green: Green's (having less age than others plus only few months of job with the organization) promotion was not clear. Although Shannon took a chance in promoting Green, Davis might have asked for an experienced person to take the  position.Just because Green and Shannon were in the same college alumni and from the same state (Georgia), and the  fact that he cajoled her into promoting him. Lack of showing interest on feedback of a guy whom she hired: Though we see that Shannon  promoted Green, she was not concerned enough to carefully read through the performance review given by Davis and taking some proactive action. It can be assume d that if she would have taken enough interest in giving Green some important suggestions, about how to improve his work, things might have been different.Personal relationship is a source of conflict: The personal relationship between Shannon and Green is also cause of concern as it already caused Shannon to err in her judgment. There is very little visibility of Greens work in the organization which also accounts for his lack of alias in the organization and his low-influence. b. What are the different work styles, personalities and expectations of Davis and Green? What are the work styles and personalities of Thomas Green and Frank Davis? Thomas Green and Frank Davis have completely different work styles, and their personalities are also very contrasting.Thomas Green is an ambitious, bright and aggressive young man without any managerial experience. Green was unable to look at issues based on a structural and long-term view. Most of all he is interested in the end result of the p erformance, not in the detailed plan or a structure of the job. Although he is an excellent seller with strong hard skills, he has a poor strategic and tactical lore, ignoring office politics. Green is clearly annoyed by office politics and rather than taking the time to learn about the culture of the firm he chooses to ignore the cultural norms and values that existed.Thomas is too self-confident to ask for guidance from more matured colleagues that results in a complete failure of an effective work and establishing of friendly relations with his boss, Frank Davis. Frank Davis on a contrary is an excellent strategic player. Davis would rather to make memos and presentations for a meeting, while Green prefers to deliver his ideas directly to clients and talk face to face. Frank pays much attention to the office politics, strong efforts and enthusiasm of the employee.As he had just been promoted from the position of a senior market specialist he for sure was competent and experienced in the way the things should be done. He got used to a precise planning of an every detail, schedule and documentation. That depicts him as a highly organized person with perfect managerial skills. Thomas Green and Frank Davis use different working styles, and their personalities are also very different. When dealing with clients, Frank uses memos, proposals and also uses data to back up his proposals and give the client a better idea on what they are investing in.Thomas is more of a face to face to guy. He delivers is ideas to the clients and expect them to jump on board just by trusting his ideas. In the article Thomas is sketched to be very intelligent and talented and that causes him to be arrogant and overly confident. Frank Davis on the other hand was very concerned about the future of the company. He is portrayed as a visionary that believes in facts to achieve his goals. Even though they were so different in working styles and personality, both Frank and Thomas were trying to achieve the same goal but their methods were very different.How do the actions of TG differ from the expectations of F. D.? Generally TG work style does not align with FD strategy and procedures. For example; TG doesn’t keep Davis updated about his sales appointments. He doesn’t even listen to FD when he receives orders or other vital information. TG has an inappropriate work style for his new role. FD has optimistic Thomas Green ‘s evaluation of his job as senior market specialist did not meat the expectations of his boss. According to Frank as a senior market specialist, Thomas should think outside the box and develop strategies to capture aggressive growth target.After the first 2 month in the position, Thomas didn’t get a good review from is boss due to his actions. The first thing that affected Thomas performance was the fact that Frank could not locate him because he wasn’t keeping is Outlook Calendar updated. Frank wants to be informed on the progress of his specialist with the tasks that he assigned, and not being able to get in touch with Thomas wasn’t a good look. The second thing was the fact that he wasn’t keeping up with the specific tasks that were assigned to him by Frank. Frank Davis:His long career makes him feel better than Thomas Green: In the initial meeting (Green's first meeting), Green challenges his position on the growth rate forecasts for following year  calling them unrealistic and unattainable. Davis feels that Green is too inexperienced to  justify to him how he got to the 10% growth projection. Positional power also has influence in his actions: Frank Davis thinks that Green is not capable enough to handle the responsibilities nor is he experienced. Therefore he sends along negatively biased report against Green to Shannon in an effort to remove him and get some one more able.About Frank Davis: * Frank Davis is a 17-year veteran of Dynamic Displays. * He joined the company in 1990 as an account executive with the Financial Services Solutions Division. * He also held the position such as market specialist and senior market specialist with the Travel and Hospitality Division. * He is currently the marketing director of the Travel and Hospitality division. * Thomas Green’s immediate boss is Frank Davis, the marketing director. Davis had recently been promoted from position that Green assumed. Thomas Green:Radical thoughts and style: Thomas Green is a young and dynamic graduate from University of Georgia in Bachelor's  degree  in Economics and has a six year work experience as account executive. He is relatively still not that experienced and he is very power hungry, which  probably caused him to use Shannon to further his goals rather than looking after the interest of the organization. Inability to blend in the organization and not listen to his immediate boss: Green was reluctant to listen to his boss, Davis and hence was unable to mould hims elf to the needs of  the organization.As a result, the boss got vexed with his lack of documented numbers and updating his scheduler properly. Thomas green Case Study:- 1) Thomas Green was a high performing individual and could have been a very good leader, if he would have exhibited all the qualities of a true leader. Here is an analysis of Thomas’s leadership style based on Ancona leadership model. a. Inventing:- Thomas was very good on this quality of leadership. Soon after his promotion, when he met Davis, his boss, he was able to come with many new ideas and client responded very positively to these ideas. . Another example of Thomas being inventive:-one of the market specialists who accompanied Thomas to several meeting during the special software project said that Thomas is very creative and can quickly think of new ideas on his feet. b. Visioning:- One of the very important example of Thomas being a visionary was that he know what he wants in his career. He was able to see the position where he wants to be in his organization. And using his inventing capability he was able to make a way to that promotion i.Another example of Thomas’s visioning skill:- In-spite of positive indicators of the market stats (as per Davis) Thomas was able to see that market is actually not going in that direction. Thomas was more close to the consumers. After he stepped into this new role he met many clients, their account executives and market specialist. Based on his meetings he was able to predict that 10% growth, which Davis forecasted was not achievable. c. Sense making:- Thomas was good in this skill also. His ideas made sense to clients (clients responded well to his ideas).Also he was able to convince McDonald that he is a better fit for the new senior marketing specialist position. While in meeting he was able to invent new ideas for his clients which totally got the clients interested in his ideas. d. Relating: – This was something Thomas fel l behind on. McDonald informed him that he is walking into a tricky situation; still he was not able to relate this warning to Davis’s behavior. During Budgeting and forecasting meeting he openly challenged Davis’ forecasted growth of 10 %.He was not able to relate that Davis was doing this forecasting for past several years and Thomas is the young new guy, challenging Davis Openly will make Davis very upset. In addition he was not able to relate to McDonald either. After the promotion he did not follow up with McDonald to keep him posted of the dynamics going on between him and Davis. Further he was not able to relate to his clients. He was able to walk them through the benefits they will get based on his idea, however, he was not able to provide data supporting his ideas.Green was a high potential worker, if he has been more successful in relating to the people around him then he could have been very strong and influential leader. c. What is your analysis of Green's actions and job performance to date? What is your analysis of Thomas Green’s actions and job performance in his first five months? What mistakes has he made? Thomas Green doesn’t have much to show for after his first five months on the job. I feel Mr. Green was the most effective during the first few weeks after his promotion. He was able to accomplish a lot before the Budget Plan Meeting on October 8, 2008.One of Mr. Green’s biggest mistakes was publicly disagreeing with Mr. Davis’ sales growth projections. Mr. Green’s performance decreased drastically after this meeting. Mr. Green, in my opinion, spent the next several months complaining about the inflated sales goal, and trying to get others in Dynamic Displays to see his point of view. During Mr. Green’s second month performance evaluation, Mr. Green and Mr. Davis spoke about several things he had been doing wrong. Some of these problems were: not keeping an updated schedule, not followi ng up when information is requested, and a lack of enthusiasm.Because Mr. Green felt like he was being micromanaged he was very reluctant to do what Mr. Davis had suggested. Mr. Green did not heed his boss’s advice about using hard data and presentations. Mr. Green later received feedback from several of his sales associates that this hard data was going to be essential in closing the sales with many of the prospective clients. What actions, if any, would you recommend for Thomas Green to take? (Be sure to explain WHY these are the actions he should take. ) Mr. Green’s first plan of action should be to complete the self-evaluation of his performance that Ms.McDonald, Mr. Davis’ boss, asked him to complete. Mr. Green should use the points Mr. Davis suggested when completing the self-evaluation, because this is how upper management will be viewing him as well. Furthermore, I feel Mr. Green needs to listen to Mr. Davis more. Mr. Davis was in the same position he wa s just a few months Analysis: Although Green is willing to achieve a high selling growth for the company, he concentrated too much on achieving the goal instead of observing the surrounding situation.Moreover, Green did not have enough managerial experiences so he was not able to deal with issues based on a structural and long-term view; that's why he decided to avoid interactions with Davis instead of making improvements or rebuilding his relationship with Davis after Davis first criticized him. Their divergence in work style and personalities also contributed to the problem. For example, Davis prefers using memos or presentations when a meeting is set up, while Green would rather talk to his client directly or talk about things face to face.In addition, lack of communication further deteriorated the situation between Davis and Green. Despite Green’s relationship with Davis as a subordinate, they were less connected with each other for their job progress and they didnâ€℠¢t communicate well. Lastly, the most important thing we need is trust when working in a company or collaborating with other people. The environment in Dynamic Displays lacked trust. On the one hand, Davis required his subordinates to keep him informed of their progress and schedules.On the other hand, Green didn’t trust Davis’s evaluation and he suspected Davis had an intention to get rid of him. Analysis: One of the problems that has aroused was the inconspicuous promotion of Thomas Green. Shannon McDonald promoted Green due to the fact that they graduated from the same college and were both from the same state. They shared a similar background which gave more incentive to promote Green, although he lacked experience in the organization. Personal relationship between the two was a source of conflict, which altered Shannon’s judgment.Shannon also lacked interest of the Davis’s performance reviews. To avoid conflict, she should have provided Green with su ggestions on how to improve his work ethic. As described in the case, Thomas Green is a young graduate from the University of Georgia, with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a six year work experience as an account executive. Although Green has little experience, he aggressively seeks to advance his position in the organization, using Shannon to further his goals. Instead of pursuing the goals of the organization, he only looks out after his own personal gains.Another problem of Green’s was his inability to connect with the organization and refusal to follow Davis’s instructions. Due to Green’s reluctant behavior, Davis was faced with a lack of documented numbers and failure to update his schedule accordingly. Therefore, he was unable to reach the goals of the organization. Frank Davis’s problem is that he feels that he is much more experienced than Green due to his long career. Green challenges Davis’s position on the growth rate forecas ts for the following year, calling them unrealistic and unattainable. Davis feels that Green is too inexperienced for his justification.Some solutions that could have avoided the problem is that Shannon could have put Green in the new position, allowing him to fully utilize his sales skills in interest of the organization. Also, she could have individually spoken to Davis and Green creating a win-win situation for them and aligning their individual goals with the organization’s goals. Green should have received training so that he could understand the managerial skills needed for his position. d. What are the possible underlying agenda’s for Davis and McDonalds? Power, Office Politics, and Career in CrisisIn this essay I will attempt to answer why the actions of Thomas Green were so different than what his boss Frank Davis expected of him. I will also address the individual agendas of the two bosses and how each person wants to be treated. In identifying the power base s that were used by each person, I will go to French and Ravens personal bases of power to see how each could have used them more effectively, while also identifying if any of those powers were abused. An old Yugoslavian Proverb states, â€Å"If you wish to know what a man is, place him in authority! †Ã‚   Actions Differ from ExpectationsFrom the information given Thomas Greens promotion given by Shannon McDonald was one that put him in a very difficult situation from the beginning. His new boss, Frank Davis, was promoted out of the very position that Green just assumed and Davis had not wanted to promote Green to this position in the first place. Then Thomas spent most all of his time during that first week reviewing the old sales reviews, after which during the following week, Frank Davis gave Tom a whirl wind review and tour of all the major airline clients he had contact with for the company.After which Frank told Tom that their meetings had gone good and the clients real ly liked his ideas. At which point Frank said, â€Å"I think we would have been more effective if we had been able to provide the clients with some market data. † (Sasser ; Beckham, 2008) Frank even gave Tom some very specific things he needed to do like; spending a lot of time preparing to meet the clients and have proposals with supporting details that can be given to the clients. He also tasked him with developing the Market Strategy for his assigned area of responsibility.The back ground of Tom was that he is a guy that is able to keep it all in his head and this makes a great salesman, but his new position is one that requires him to have the documentation to back up what he is e. What should Thomas Green do? In the case of Thomas Green, the best possible solution would be to set up a meeting with McDonald. As the company Vice President, it would be best for Green to speak directly to the head of the department, especially since it was McDonald herself who granted Greenà ¢â‚¬â„¢s promotion.In this meeting, it would also help for Green to request Frank Davis’ presence, so that there are no hidden or mixed messages among the two employees. Judging from the three’s characters, it is easy to see why their current problem occurred. As vice president, McDonald became too trusting with Green’s abilities despite only having minimal experience in the position he sought for. As an aspiring corporate leader, Green was all too confident in his ideas and determination to see any mistakes in his actions. Finally, as the marketing director (not to mention, the previous holder of Green’s current position) Davis’ was more ager to doubt Green rather than to trust him. Collectively, each person made it difficult to have teamwork, and a sense of unity as a company. While Green recognizes the different options he has, nothing will benefit him more than choosing to discuss his performance with his superiors. In doing this, not only will he be able to plead his case, but a personal and physical discussion of the problem would avoid the possibility of having his reasons misunderstood, something an impersonal note or email would do. One of the contributing problems to their current situation is that Frank Davis has all but faith in his newly promoted subordinate.In telling Green to keep quiet of his forecasts being overstated, not only is Davis misusing his power as a superior, but he is also being close-minded. When superiors are reluctant in having their decisions challenged, subordinates are less encouraged to throw out ideas and suggestions. This is a reason why keeping quiet is not the best option for Green. Although it may not be written that it is his responsibility to question his boss, just because Davis is Green’s superior does not mean his forecasts are always accurate.

Interpreting Research Findings Essay

What follows are my responses to the hypothetical students who responded to the topic: â€Å"The human mind is a very powerful tool of research. How does the mind use statistics, deductive logic, and inductive reasoning to interpret research findings? † Student #1. Since you provided the reference for your response, you may not understand the meaning of plagiarism. For example, the statement from Pinker’s article (p. 2): â€Å"In this conception, a computational system †¦ into existence† appears in your response, without quotation marks or a page reference. The addition of the parenthesized word â€Å"mind† does not make the excerpt yours. There are similar examples throughout your response. You might have had difficulty in reading a highly theoretical article: one that actually is from a scholarly journal (Pinker, 2005) and does not address the question of using â€Å"statistics, deductive logic, and inductive reasoning to interpret research findings†. Despite adding these phrases to statements from Pinker (paragraphs 2 and 3), you did not answer the question. Student #2. Your first three sentences, though interesting, aren’t related to the question. Note too that conclusions based on using the scientific method are not â€Å"right answers/outcomes. † The closest one can come to a â€Å"right answer† requires doing an experiment and then using inferential statistics to conclude that the probability of finding a result such as yours by chance is so low (e. g. , < . 05 or . 01) that it’s reasonable to conclude your experimental manipulation caused your results (Levin, 1999). Almost your entire response is related to descriptive statistics, only one part of the question. Your quote about deductive logic (the only route to certainty) does not explain how it is used, and your quote about inductive reasoning is not, in itself, a complete explanation of how such reasoning is used. Student #3. Your response was very good. Note that it isn’t possible to free one’s â€Å"mind of bias,† which is why methods are used to prevent human biases from influencing the results, as in the classic double-blind experiment, where neither participants nor researchers know who is receiving the placebo and who is receiving the medication (Levin, 1999). Also, your son’s conclusion was valid – a conclusion is valid if it must be true if the premise is true. He was incorrect because his premise was incorrect (typical of a bright three-year-old). Also, your discussion of inductive reasoning was weak – try thinking in terms of â€Å"inferential statistics. † As an aside, there were some violations of APA rules regarding citations and references. Student #4. Unfortunately, your response does not begin to address the question. Also, in answering a question you weren’t asked, you reached conclusions that have been disconfirmed in previous research. For example, there’s a strong relationship between the behavior of peers and a teenager’s use of nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, etc. , but not a relationship between parent and child use of these substances (reviewed in Harris, 1995). It’s true that â€Å"educational and prevention programs† have not been â€Å"cost effective,† but there’s no evidence that such programs are effective at all, i. e. , that they influence teenage-smoking. Before you reach a conclusion on the â€Å"something† you will study, you need to read the relevant literature on previous research. Student #5. In a response as brief as yours, the first two sentences should have been related to answering the question. I also have no idea of what your answer means: â€Å"to form somewhat of an ‘argument’ that helps to interpret research findings. † In discussing deductive reasoning, you needed to explain that incorrect premises can result in valid but incorrect conclusions and that factually correct premises can result in incorrect conclusions if the hypothesized conclusions are invalid (e. g. , in the classic example, knowing that â€Å"all men are mortal and that Socrates was mortal† does not imply that â€Å"Socrates was a man†). You also did not explain how statistics and inductive reasoning are used. Student #6. First, you did not provide any source(s). Had you used a book on statistics and design, e. g. , Levin, 1999, you would have avoided some errors, described below. Your examples of descriptive statistics are accurate, but your explanation of inferential statistics is not. A sample is used to generalize about a population, not about a larger sample. Also, if â€Å"blue† were the favorite color of 80 people in a sample of 100, you could not conclude (or â€Å"speculate†) that if you sample 1000 people, blue would be the favorite color of 800. You could conclude, for example, that if you repeatedly (infinitely) sampled 100 people from the same population, the probability of failing to find that a majority favor â€Å"blue† is known and small (e. g. , . 05 or . 01). It may be important to understand correlational research, but the question was to explain how particular tools were used to interpret research findings. One tool, deductive logic, does not, as you stated, â€Å"indicate that a series of statements are facts. † You also needed to use quotation marks in your statement from Kerlinger, 1986, â€Å"Hypotheses are declarative †¦ more variables† and the full Kerlinger reference should have been provided (you should not have included references you had not cited). Finally, your conclusion regarding your dissertation suggests you do not understand how the three research tools noted in the question are used, e. g. , do you intend to use statistics only in your literature review? References Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458-490. Levin, I. P. (1999). Relating statistics and experimental design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Pinker, S. (2005). So how does the mind work? Mind & Language, 20, 1-24.

What is Gender Identity?

The human body is amazing. And even though there are many researchers that conduct studies on human anatomy, there are so many questions that are unanswered still to this day. But what we do know has helped many people and continues to benefit certain theories that have been made over many centuries. One part of the human body that has lots of answered and unanswered questions is gender identity. There are many factors when it comes to gender identity. Some people think simply: Men act as men, women act as women, and man to be with woman. It has been thought to be the â€Å"right way† for many centuries. But people are all different and to think that one way is the right way would be a misunderstanding of how the body works and what can happen to the human body if something is out of tune. Gender identity can be defined as a person’s inner sense of being male or female. Gender identity is believed to be developed during early childhood an effect of how the child was brought up by parents and societal influences. When the child reaches puberty, the influences are reinforced by hormones. Is gender identity a result of nature of nurture? What are the biological factors that play a role in gender identity? What is the difference between how the male and female develop? Does nature or nurture play a bigger role in gender identity? This will all be discussed later on in this essay, along with some of the arguments about sexual identity and how evidence from biopsychology may help resolve these arguments. There are many roles that play a part in sexual differentiation, as well as gender identity. Some of those roles are tied to biological factors or nature and yet others may be linked to environmental influences or nurture. It is impossible to know all the details, but we do know a great deal of how the body of a male versus the body of a female. The role of biological factors is largely dependent on hormones in the body system, as well as genes, gonads, chromosomes, and anatomy. During childhood, levels of circulating gonadal hormones are low, reproductive organs are immature, and males and females differ little in general appearance (Pinel 2009). When a child reaches puberty, the body makes significant changes. These changes can be seen and even heard, but these changes are also different in a boy than in a girl. While both male and female have many similarities, both also have many differences within the body. The differences in chromosomes and hormones are what completes the natural evolution of a child into an adult and ultimately decides whether the sex of a person is male or female at birth. When speaking of hormones, most people will think of testosterone for men and estrogens for women. But in fact, women produce testosterone and men produce estrogen. The difference is the ratio in which the body produces these two types of hormones. Men produce more testosterone and women produce more estrogen. There are many differences like the example above in the bodies of male and female. Increases in the release of gonadotropic hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone cause the gonads and adrenal cortex to increase their release of gonadal and adrenal hormones, which in turn initiate the maturation of the genitals and the development of secondary sex characteristics (Pinel 2009). Along with biological roles, it is also believed that the environment or surrounding of a person may be a factor of gender identity. Some of these nurture factors include one’s self-concept, social and political attitudes, and perceptions and relationships about other people. Family, peers, schooling, religious training, mass media, and popular culture are just a few of the agents through which gender socialization happens (Crossman, 2012). Through this evaluation, making a conclusion on which has more of an influence on gender identity, nature or nurture, is a hard decision to make. Reading and hearing of stories of people’s gender identity crisis has a pull towards nature, but nurture still has a big role in gender identity as well. Gender identity shapes how we think about others and ourselves and also influences our behaviors (Crossman, 2012). For example, gender differences exist in the likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse, violent behavior, depression, and aggressive driving. Gender identity also has an especially strong effect on our feelings about our appearance and our body image, especially for females (Crossman, 2012). Each of these can be linked both to biological and environment factors. The story that may have the most evident factor is the story of the twin that lost his penis. After losing his penis to a circumcision procedure, the doctor advised the parents to let doctors perform a surgery in which they castrate the boy and create an artificial vagina, and raising the boy as a female. The parents agreed, but it would later prove that their child was not acting or wanting to act as a girl. In fact, the child wanted to do things that a normal man would do and took no interest in any female activities, like playing with dolls. Even with treatment, the child still developed as a man would. When approached with an estrogen regimen at the age of twelve, the child refused not liking the changes of the estrogen. At fourteen, the now teenager decided to live as a male. Shortly after, the twin’s father decided to share the truth with his son. Now the kid could have an identity not only of himself but of his gender. He requested androgen treatment and surgery that would remove the breast and create a penis. The man regained use of his new penis with the help of androgen treatment, but was never able to reproduce children of his own. In the end, the doctors and parents could not change how the boy felt on the inside. Just how much influence does nurture have on gender identity? It could just depend on the situation in itself. There are many arguments that surround gender identity. Theorists have come up with their own opinions and views regarding gender and the why gender inequality exist. Functionalist theorists argue that men fill instrumental roles in society while women fill expressive roles, which works to the benefit of society (Crossman, 2012). Further, it is our socialization into prescribed roles that is the driving force behind gender inequality. For example, these theorists see wage inequalities as the result of choices women make, which involve family roles that compete with their work roles (Crossman, 2012). Symbolic interactionists look at gender from the micro perspective and examine gender stratification on a day-to-day level. For example, men are more likely to interrupt women in conversations and their workspaces generally reflect greater power. These theorists also focus on how gender roles are internalized by males and females (Crossman, 2012). Conflict theorists view women as disadvantaged because of power inequalities between women and men that are built into the social structure. For example, from this viewpoint, wage inequalities that exist between men and women result from men’s historic power to devalue women’s work and benefit as a group from the services that women’s labor provides (Crossman, 2012). Feminist theory emerged out of the women’s movement and aims to understand the position of women in society for the sole purpose of improving their position in society. There are four major frameworks that have developed out of feminist theory: liberal feminism, socialist feminism, radical feminism, and multiracial feminism. People will always have their own opinion about gender (Crossman, 2012). There may never be a way to solve these arguments, not until there is scientific proof or people can decide on which opinion they believe is all true. Gender identity is one’s sense of being male or female. Both biological (nature) factors and environment (nurture) influences play roles in both sexual differentiation and gender identity. Hormones are the biggest biological factor and the biggest environment influence is how one is brought up in their childhood. During the evaluation, I have thought about nature being more of a factor when it comes to gender identity, but have come to the conclusion that it may depend on the situation of a person. Through the years of research, many people have argued over gender identity and gender inequality. Theorists have formed many opinions surrounding gender identity and unless there is some kind of scientific proof the argument may continue. References Pinel, J. P. J. (2009).  Biopsychology  (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Crossman, A.  (2012).  About.com.  Retrieved from http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of- Gender.htm

QUESTION 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

QUESTION 3 - Essay Example Companies can adapt the principles into their policies, rules, and regulations to enhance their performance. Handling these obstacles and balancing the risks with the company growth and return goals to avoid facing challenges from uncertainty, â€Å"Enterprise â€Å" (2004) outlines internal environment, objective setting, event identification, risk assessment, information and communication, risk response, control activities, and monitoring as the eight principal factors warranting attention in that order: (1) ERM helps the company to prevent risk by creating a good environment within the firm. The risk will be identified by including risk management philosophy, risk appetite, integrity and will be monitored by the firm’s people. (2) Management should set up the objectives before identifying the risk to ensure that it aligns with the company’s mission and risk appetite is appropriately factored in. (3) A company should identify both internal and external events that have an impact on its success and distinguish between risks and opportunities. (4) A company can deal with and respond to the risks effectively by setting up and implementing policies and procedures. (5) The company should identify, capture, and communicate the relevant information across the organization in a suitable format and timeframe so that its workforce has total clarity and are accountable to their duties. (6) Management can decide a set of actions to respond to risks by avoiding, accepting, reduci ng, or sharing risk along the company’s risk tolerances guideline and risk appetite. (7) In order to manage the risks, the company should analyze the likelihood and impact of them and evaluate on an inherent and a residual basis. (8) Dynamically monitoring the whole process of activities by independent evaluations, and modifying some points when necessary represents the ultimate flexibility of ERM, rendering it complete and effective. While abiding by

Gender studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Gender studies - Essay Example ough the work of Beauvoir is influenced by Sartre, one such unique facet has keep herself isolated from the style of Sartre and that is her generosity which is the focus of Beauvoir’s ethical position. Passion and extremism have made this book the significant as well as original. (The Philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir, Gendered Phenomenology, Erotic Generosities) points out the different sources of Beauvoir’s philosophical positions. Bergoffen in the above book has analyzed two streams of thoughts i.e. two voices. One is dominant philosophical and existential while the other is muted voice which operates as the margins of Beauvoir’s primary philosophical identity. Here we are going to study the theme of sexual relationship of man and woman from different feminist’s writers’ point of view. Man and woman relationship has been the engrossing subject of study and many philosophers and critics. The aim of this topic is to discuss and compare the platonic love with the love from modern feminist point of view. In this topic we have considered the different perspectives of love from different writers and philosophers. Plato’s philosophical work called ‘Symposium’ discusses this theme through very thought provoking dialogues. It is a conversation and a type of debate which is happening between Socrates and a lady called Diotima. Here she explains the extent of love. Diotima is very philosophical and abstract in her view and she has exalted attitudes towards love. According to her love between man and woman is divine and very beautiful. ‘It is immortality in a mortal creature.’ (â€Å"Symposium† page 49) Diotima opines that the real object of sexuality is to give birth. Sexual love is the medium which Nature uses for this same purpose. T hus the purpose of love is very noble and that is the reproduction. While describing about the difference between physical beauty and intellectual beauty Diotima argues that intellectuality plays a vital role. The person

Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture Personal Statement - 5

Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture - Personal Statement Example In the last year, which was my Foundation year, I have learned a good many things. Apart from an insight into subjects like Economics, Business Development, and Accountancy, I developed a spirit of inquiry. I learned how to do proper research through formulating an appropriate research design and methodology, and preparing instruments of data collection. I learned to analyze and interpret data. I have learned how important it is to keep abreast of the current developments in the world and in my field, and have gotten into the habit of regularly reading newspapers. I’ve also learned how important it ma tokes presentations correctly and in a manner that communicates to my target audience. Making presentations is the order of the day in the corporate world. It is not just a skill but is often even taken to the level of an art. Therefore this has been a very valuable competence that I have picked up. I have bettered myself on the general reading front. Besides, both my individual working skills and team working skills have improved a great deal. I have learned that people will always need to work together and that being a team player is as important as working efficiently on an independent basis. I’ve also learned to meet assignment deadlines. In the last year, I created a portfolio containing nine sections, which has been the result of a considerable amount of work throughout the year. The topics that I chose to work on were interesting but they were also challenging - both in terms of depth of detail as well as in dealing with a diverse range of themes. On the research about technology in business, I chose to work on the theme of smartphones. On the research about developments in the energy sector, I chose the oil industry.