Euthanasia: Death and Life-sustaining Treatment Essay

Physicians are committed to sustaining life and relieving suffering. Where the performance of one duty conflicts with the other; the patient’s wishes should prevail. Physicians are required by the principle of patient autonomy to respect a competent patient’s decision to forgo life-sustaining treatment, which prolongs life without reversing the underlying medical condition. Life-sustaining treatment includes, but is not limited to, mechanical ventilation, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, use of antibiotics, other drugs, and artificial nutrition and hydration. Define euthanasia and identify the difference between the types of euthanasia (passive/active euthanasia) Euthanasia is defined as the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient’s intolerable and incurable suffering. Some opponents feel that euthanasia is incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult to control if made public policy, and would pose serious societal risks. Instead of practicing euthanasia, physicians should be sensitive to the needs of dying patients. Patients should not be abandoned when cure is impossible and should continue to receive emotional support, comfort care, adequate pain control, respect for autonomy, and effective communication. Discuss your beliefs regarding euthanasia. Are there any circumstances when you feel it is justified? Explain your answer. When it becomes evident that a patient’s disease is incurable and death is imminent, palliative care may serve the dying patient better than curative care. Palliative care is directed toward providing relief to terminally ill patients through symptom and pain management. The goal is not to cure but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life. Going beyond relief of disease symptoms, palliative care includes relief of emotional distress and other problems so that a patient’s last months and days may be as comfortable as possible. Traditionally, in educational Define and describe the special populations as presented on the Pro/Con web site, and how this population might be adversely affected by euthanasia. Discuss your beliefs regarding euthanasia and these special populations. Identify and describe the law(s) concerning physician assisted suicide in the state you reside or the state you consider your â€Å"home state.† Compare and contrast laws in your home state against either Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act or another state of your choice.

Richard Branson Leadership Essay

Introduction I have chosen to write the profile of a Business leader who I admire on Richard Branson. Branson is a English business magnate, best known as the founder and chairman of Virgin Group of more than 400 companies. According to Wagner and Hollenback (2009), leadership is ‘the use of non-coercive and symbolic influence to direct and coordinate the activities of the members of an organised group toward the accomplishment of group objectives. According to Clark (2010), there are three main leadership styles. These are autocratic, democratic and laissez faire. In order to be an effective leader, managers should use all three leadership styles. A good leader should be able to judge which leadership style is most appropriate in a given situation. Research carried out by the University of Michigan and Ohio State University suggests that there are a number of behavioural and leadership theories. These theories outline different aspects of a leader’s behaviour or leadership style which may differentiate those who are effective leaders from those who are not. For example, the University of Michigan identified two general classes of supervisory behaviour. These are employee oriented and job production oriented behaviours. Research carried out by the Ohio State University is very similar to the above piece of research. They identify the two classes of supervisory behaviour styles as a considerate style i.e. employee oriented and an initiating structure style i.e. job production oriented. Similarly to the two above pieces of research, Fiedler identifies two different leadership styles. These are relationship motivated leaders i.e. employee oriented/considerate style and task motivated leaders i.e. job production oriented/initiating structure style. Another piece of research conducted by House identifies four different behavioural styles. They are as follows: directive leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership and achievement oriented leadership. In order for a manager to be an effective leader they must also be able to perform their roles effectively. A modern leader has fourteen main roles. Richard Branson’s Profile Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on the 18th of July 1950 in Blackheath, London. In his youth, Branson was not an impressive student. He was dyslexic and near-sighted, but he could always make things happen. When  he was seventeen, attending school at Stowe, Richard and a classmate started a magazine, Student . When doing an interview with The Guardian he stated â€Å" it was aimed at giving young people a voice on key issues such as the Vietnam War†. He sold  £6,000 worth of advertising in its first edition, which was launched in 1966. The first run of 50,000 copies was disseminated for free, after Branson covered the costs with advertising. This was important business and sales experience for Branson and what he learnt during this time benefited him over time. While running the Student from a basement in London, Richard noticed that stores were not discounting records. Richard began to run ads in the Student offering records at discount prices. The orders flooded in and record sales soon became more profitable than subscription sales. Richard quickly set up an office above an old shoe store and Virgin was born (http://www.lemonadestories.com/virgin.html). The name â€Å"Virgin† was suggested by one of Branson’s early employees because they were all new at business. It was from this point that the Virgin brand grew. Earning enough money from his record store, Branson in 1972 launched the record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell and bought a country estate, in which he installed a recording studio. Mike Oldfield, whose debut album Tubular Bells (1973) was Virgin Records’ first release and a chart-topping best-seller. Virgin Records had other notable artists such as â€Å"The Sex Pistols† and â€Å"Culture Club†. n 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Branson sold the Virgin label to EMI for  £500 million. Virgin Atlantic had its inaugural flight in 1984 on its then only route between London and New York. After adding a route from Gatwick to Miami in 1986, Virgin Atlantic celebrated its 1,000,00th passenger in 1987. In 2011 Virgin Atlantic carried 5.3 million passengers, making it the eighth largest UK airline in terms of passenger volume. Branson has added other airlines to his Virgin empire such as Virgin Express which operates in Brussles, Virgin Australia and Virgin America. Not being one to shy away from a challenge Branson has had many other ambitious business ventures such as Virgin Vodka, Virgin Cola, the gay night club Heaven, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Money, Virgin Cars, F1 team Virgin Racing and most famously Virgin Galactic which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to space tourists, suborbital launches for space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites. He himself frequently  states that all of these ventures are â€Å"calculated risks† which is hard to argue against seeing as Branson is the 4th richest citizen of the United Kingdom, according to the Forbes 2011 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of US$4.2 billion. Bransons ambitious and risky are not just limited to the business world as he has broke several world records and attempted many more, for example he completed the first balloon flight across the Atlantic in 1996. All these business and adventuring feats make Branson a truly admiral business leader role model. Branson’s Career and Leadership Style Branson’s career has been hugely successful from leaving school at 16 to go on to become the 4th richest U.K. resident is remarkable. Branson is clear in his book â€Å"Screw it, let’s do it† (2007) about how he has achieved this: â€Å"I have no secret. There are no rules to follow in business. I just work hard and, as I always have done, believe I can do it† With this being said he has combatted the tediousness of working hard by indulging himself in whatever he does, taking a genuine interest and having fun with it: â€Å"A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.† Bransons leadership style is undeniably democratic. Although a democratic leader will the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This is not only increase job satisfaction by involving employees or team meam members in what’s going on, but it also helps develop people’s skills. Employees and team members feel in control of their own destiny, such as the promotion they desire and so are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. Branson professes this in an interview with Kets De Vries (1998) : â€Å": I’m absolutely certain that it’s a question of the kind of people you have, and the way you motivate them. I’m sure that’s what makes any company successful. If you can motivate your people, use their creative potential, you can get through bad times and you can enjoy the good times together. If you fail to motivate your people, your company is doomed†¦.If your employees are happy and smiling and enjoying their work, they will perform well. Consequently, the customers wiIl enjoy their experience with your com- pany. If your employees are sad and miserable and not  having a good time, the customers will be equally miserable.† In the same interview Branson says he often rewards employees: â€Å"We like to reward our key performers for their creative contribution†¦ I suppose that we have made maybe 15 or 20 multimillionaires through this structure.† Branson applies this personal approach when assessing new business like when Virgin Money took over Northern Bank: â€Å"When we launched Virgin Money, I met with staff members at branches up and down the country. The insight those visits gave me were priceless. If I ever needed convincing that investing in a bank was the right thing to do, well, the stories I heard that week confirmed it. To see so many employees enthusiastic and proud to be working for Virgin made me even more excited about the future of our bank. We very much wanted Virgin Money to be the start of something different, and it was great to see that everyone was onboard. I’ve found that if you ensure that your staff and customers are happy and that your product or service is of good quality, the finances often take care of themselves.† What I could learn from Sir Richard Branson Through my study of Branson I have took many snippets of advice which I hope to use during my career in business after I complete my studies. Branson is an avid ambassador for his democratic style of leadership: â€Å"Having a personality of caring about people is important. You can’t be a good leader unless you generally like people. That is how you bring out the best in them.’ This is definitely a characteristic I want to weave into my leadership fibre. This approach has served Virgin well over the years as in his book, Branson (2009), he mentions a positive outside perspective of working for Virgin which is echoed by the agreement of Virgin staff who enjoy working there. â€Å"Virgin people have told me that at the end of a tiring day, when they are off duty, having a drink in the pub, or a meal, they’re occasionally asked where they work. When they say, â€Å"With Virgin,† the enquirer usually replies, â€Å"Lucky you! That must be a great place to work!† Our staffs usually agrees.† In addition to this extracted advice he gives open advice to anyone who wants  to join him in being an entrepreneur. Forbes magazine (2012) pitched Sir Branson the question â€Å"What are your top three pieces of advice for young entrepreneurs?† to which he responded: â€Å"1. Create a strong culture of excellence – roll up your sleeves and work alongside your staff and take care of them. 2. Don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself if it helps your business. 3. Find ways to equally prioritize people, planet and profits – because it CAN be done.† These three points offer up key things to take on board if you are to succeed. Have high standards to give you an edge over competition and if needs be work on the ground level with your staff to set an example of how you expect things to be done. Take risks even if there is a chance it may make you look silly if it fails, it could help your business and you should lose your ego for the sake of your business. And finally your staff are your greatest resource, environmental and ethical procedures should be taken, Branson has become environmentally aware ever since a speech Al Gore gave him and he has even set up a green fuel business, and do all you can to ensure your business is running profitably. He insists these three things can be done together.Branson is a master marketer and communicator. Forbes (2012), When Richard Branson had the idea of launching Virgin Atlantic, he pitched it to his fellow directors who had no previous experience in the airline business. He delivered the idea simply, concisely, and effectively. Branson offers leaders and entrepreneurs this advice: â€Å"It is vitally important to present a clear, concise plan that investors can easily understand and repeat to their own people. In the first meeting avoid overly complicated, numbers-laden presentations.† Presentations are supposed to be about getting your point across effectively, you could have the most statistical, graphically stunning and hilariously funny presentation to have ever been seen but if the people you are pitching it to don’t come out of that meeting 100% sure what the point you were trying to make was and interested in your idea then you have failed in your objective.As well as learning from Branson’s successes and teachings, there is equally as much to learn from his failings. He expresses this himself: â€Å"You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.† Branson’s book â€Å"Business stripped bare† even has a whole chapter called â€Å"Damage Report†. One anecdote goes as follows: â€Å"I was nineteen years old and driving a shipment of records to Belgium when I stumbled on the fact that records  bought in Great Britain that were intended for export were not subject to purchase tax. So I bought the records I needed, pretended they were export, and then sold them to British customers. The whole ploy involved driving four Transit vans loaded with records to Dover, taking them to France, then returning on the next ferry with the records still on board. It not only was illegal, it was really pretty stupid. In May 1969, I was caught red handed by HM Custom and Excise†¦ But I learned a very important lesson: never do anything that means you can’t sleep at night.† This is a huge piece of advice and something we can learn from and hopefully avoid from encountering ourselves. It cost Richard  £60,000 and took almost 3 years for him to patch up such a loss. Illegal doings can almost certainly cost a business its existence and shouldn’t even be thought about. Conclusion Michael Walenius (2010) concludes in his analyses of Branson’s leadership that â€Å"Sir Richard has got a very high degree of consideration and participation in what he does, but at the same time he is very involved in the structure setting at the start of a new business. He is definitively a relationship-oriented leader who is good at aligning people and giving them emotional support and encouragement. He seems to fall into the segment of being a participative and consultative leader. His very strong charisma seems to make anyone listen and follow him.† I find it extremely difficult to disagree with this evaluation. Branson is an iconic leader who prioritises his employees and their well-being. He follows his belief that a happy employee will work harder, create a happier and better working environment, infect customers with their pleasantness, resulting with a happy and loyal customer who then by word of mouth praise the business leading to increased revenue. He is extremely insightful with his advice on presentations, assessing business opportunities and acknowledging and learning from your mistakes. With an estimated wealth of  £4.3 billion, 400+ companies under his name including the 7th biggest airline in the U.K., the first commercial space travel business and most importantly a well-respected name that’s held in high regard in the public eye Branson truly is the business leader who I most admire and most envy. References: Books: Wagner, J.A. and Hollenback, J.R. (2009) Organizational Behaviour: Securing Competitive Advantage, Michigan: Taylor and Francis Richard Branson (2009) Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. London. Virgin Books.Branson, Richard (29 March 2007). Screw It, Let’s Do It. London. Virgin Books Websites: Clark, D. (2010) ‘Leadership Styles’ [online] (Cited 3 February 2012) Available from Kets De Vries (1998) Charisma in Action: (online) (cited 2 December 2012) Available from < http://molar.crb.ucp.pt/cursos/2%C2%BA%20Ciclo%20-%20Mestrados/Gest%C3%A3o/2007-09/DGRH/Papers/Charisma%20in%20action%20PPP.pdf> Richard Branson (2012) Richard Branson on How to Delegate Control of Your Finances (online) (cited on 2 December 2012) Available from < http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/224879> Carmine Gallo (2011) Richard Branson: The One Skill Leaders Need to Learn (online) (cited 2 December) Available from < http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2011/06/29/richard-branson-the-one-skill-leaders-need-to-learn/> Michael Walenius (2010) The leadership style of Sir Richard Branson (online) (cited 2 December) Available from < http://michael.walenius.com/?p=141>

Hamlet as a Critical Study Essay

Why is Hamlet still relevant to our studies regardless of the centuries that have passed since its production? Is it worthy in continuing to be a critical study? The reinterpretation that Shakespeare created of Hamlet was based on a number of previous plays including the 12th century Danish Amleth, both these plays are situated around the main theme of being revenge tragedies. The prime aspect of why Hamlet will continue to be relevant as a critical study is due to the themes that the play is centralised around such as existentialism, corruption and illusion vs. eality. These universal themes engage audiences of any society, even four centuries later, creating a timeless classic. The literary devices utilised within the play, such as the iambic pentameter, antithetical language and word play create an engaging atmosphere which captures the imagination of any audience making it worthy of a critical study. The ambiguity, open ended, and unanswered questions that Shakespeare utilises leaves the audience open to interpretation, thus allowing the play to relate to the specific context to which it is being viewed and studied. This makes it worthy of a critical study as a personal response is erected and the audience is emotionally involved with the play as they find common grounds with the universality of themes and notions presented. This can be seen through differing productions of Hamlet such as Damien Ryans play and Tony Richardsons film, which are directed to sustain an audiences engagement regardless of the context. Shakespeare uses techniques such as metatheatre and a mouse-trap to further engage the audience and reflect on himself respectively as the audience can see that both Shakespeare and Hamlet use the theatricality of the play to withdraw emotion from their selected audience. Through these techniques and thematic concerns, along with the central plot, it is shown why Hamlet is worthy of critical study. Act I Scene V of Hamlet serves as a key scene in the play as it is when Hamlet is commanded by the ghost to revenge his â€Å"foul and most unnatural murder. † In this scene Hamlet is told that Claudius is to blame for the death of his father and the ghost exhorts Hamlet to seek revenge, telling him that Claudius has corrupted Denmark and corrupted Gertrude, having taken her from the pure love of her first marriage and seduced her in the foul lust of their incestuous union. Corruption is exposed within this scene due to the focus that the ghost sets on Gertrude and her domestic affairs rather than the political state that Denmark is undergoing. The ghost has exposed himself to Hamlet for the first and last time as the audience is told, and rather than focusing on the political state of the country as the honourable king would do, the ghost insists on complaining about his beloved Gertrude marrying his brother, the ghost even says â€Å"Let not the royal bed of Denmark be a couch for luxury and damned incest†. This represents corruption as the audience would have expectations of the original king to have a higher concentration for the future of his country rather than the scandalous affairs of his widow. An act of corruption is also exposed to the audience when Hamlet learns that Claudius, the machiavellian character, has performed the shocking act of killing a king also known as regicide, the ghost explains Claudius to be â€Å"the serpent which did sting thy fathers life now wears his crown† which presents the contextual view of regicide, as he portrays him in a negative manner. Contextually, the Elizabethans watching the play would have found these acts of treason completely taboo and unacceptable emphasising the density of corruption in the scene and even to this day, such acts of treason have a severe penalty as they are completely deplorable. Through this we can see the significance of the situation and how it relates to any context making it worthy of a critical study. In two contrasting productions of Hamlet, the ghost is presented in two opposing views entirely. In Damian Ryan’s production, the ghost is introduced to the audience in a ripped up, run down trench coat, he is barefoot and wrapped in a rope. The ghost is presented to us as exhausted and weak, contrary to the king that he was before. Damian Ryan choses to portray the ghost in a modest way in comparison to the way he dressed when he was king. The use of these costume and props may serve as a representation of the after life to the audience in explaining that after death, it does not matter whether a man dies a king or a peasant, in the after life all will be the same. The lighting that is used during this scene is spotlight focusing directly on the ghost himself making him the main point of interest yet sometimes it was clearly seen that the light would travel both in front and behind him representing the purgatory state that the ghost was in as he was in a phase of in-between where the ghost had not entirely crossed over yet. Through the lighting this was portrayed to the audience, showing the lighting and film techniques create representations of what idea may be desired to be presented. In contrast to this, in the Tony Richardson adaptation of Hamlet, the ghost is not even seen by the audience. What can be assumed though, is that the ghost appeared in armour as Horatio states â€Å"yes, my lord, he wore his beaver up. † the ghost being presented in armour opposes the ghost in Damian Ryan’s production as in the film, this representation may present the king as a symbol of authority even after his death. We are also told that the ghost is wearing the same armour the king wore during the last battle he fought against Fortinbras, this presents symbolism as the king is shown as a influential character, not presented as weak because of purgatory. Taking into consideration that the king set the play into motion therefore the audience is aware of the influence he carries. A film technique that was used in Tony Richardsons production was the absence of the kings figure. Although the audience was aware of his presence, we are never exposed to him. This raises further ambiguity over the reality of the ghost presenting the idea of illusion and reality. An intricate web of illusions vs reality is also depicted in this scene as the notion of a ghost or apparition appearing to someone was not a complete surprise during the Elizabethan era, but during this context, a spiritual form appearing could mean several distinct ideas. When a ghost appeared, people believed it could either be an angry spirit seeking revenge, a devil in disguise as a trustworthy figure or simply a projection of one’s imagination. However Hamlet seems to be surprised at the sight of his passed father standing before him but why is this? Ambiguity is raised in this scene as the audience questions whether the ghost is Hamlets imagination or the real spirit of King Hamlet reaching out to his son. Due to the Elizabethan audience that the play was originally written for, a religious view must be taken into consideration, the main religions circling at the time were the Protestants, who believed ghosts were a figment of imagination and the Catholics who believed they were real spirits. The ambiguity of this scene is left in question as we know from Horatio, Bernardo and Francisco that the ghost was real and not simply Hamlets imagination because the ghost had appeared to them, in contrast to the ghost being invisible to Hamlets mother later in the play. This all depicts illusion vs reality as the audience is left questioning what is real and what isn’t leaving the unanswered questions open to be interpreted. Therefore, building a personal response to the reality of the ghost, making it worthy of a critical study. A literary device employed by Shakespeare in the scene is the iambic pentameter, throughout the play the audience learns that through the presentation of a characters speech, the interest or the state of mind can be easily depicted by Shakespeare’s device. When a character is speaking in prose, they are completely engaged in the conversation and the rhythmic flow creates a certain interest with both the audience and the character they are conversing with. In this scene, the ghost clearly speaks to Hamlet in prose, this is due to the notion that what the ghost is confiding in Hamlet is clearly important and the use of the iambic pentameter creates a flow of interest so that both the audience, and Hamlet are engaged in what is being spoken. Contrary to this, Hamlet replies in single sentences such as â€Å"Murder! â€Å", although this does not necessarily mean that Hamlet is disinterested, it could present the idea that Hamlet’s mind is too preoccupied with gathering the many thoughts that the ghost has presented. From this literary device, it is clearly illustrated that Hamlet is clearly slightly confused and shocked, trying to process his thoughts. Although the audience is not told this, a personal response would suggest this idea as the ambiguity that is presented. Through this personal response it is clearly shown that Hamlet will continue to be worthy of a critical study. This point in the play can be considered the pivotal event and sets the main plot into notion, also developing the main character of Hamlet as the ambiguity created between the contrasting themes of illusion and reality. It is directly after this scene that Hamlet starts to feign madness in the play and although the audience is well aware of the reality that Hamlet is merely alluding everyone into believing he is mad, the characters in the play start to question his sanity. This shows Hamlet to be an enigmatic character as there is always more to him than the characters in the play can figure out. Hamlet is presented as overly analytical and indecisive during the attempts to avenge the death of his father. Throughout the play, Hamlet is always held back by his consideration of religion, beliefs and the notion of doubt regarding the honesty of the ghost. A view into the mindset of Hamlet is presented though his thoughts and actions as we can see the existentialist character build within him. We see him often think about the afterlife and questioning the quality of someone’s afterlife according to his moment of death, we even see Hamlet contemplate suicide. â€Å"The everlasting had not fix’d his cannon gainst self-slaughter† shows the struggle within Hamlet as he despises his life’s conditions of the moment and wishes he could end it. The character Hamlet is aware of morals and knows that suicide would lead to hell, therefore he would rather live in â€Å"an unweeded garden† rather than suffer the consequences. Another way the audience is exposed to why Hamlet is a person of morals is due to the desire to avenge his father, although this is carried out by a recurring impossibility. Yet, when Hamlet returns from his uncompleted trip to England, we can see the character more determined on Claudius’s death than any other part of the play, he realises he must serve action. Hamlet presents a serious intent to end his inaction and indecisiveness when he proclaims â€Å"O, from this time forth my thoughts be bloody ore be nothing worth† explaining to the audience that his main focus will be revenge on Claudius to avenge his father. Although Hamlet is portrayed as the anti-hero in the play, and the audience create a personal response of frustration at his inaction and over thinking, he is eventually successful in overcoming the in-action and finally seeking what was asked of him by his father. Hamlet becomes aware that the indecisiveness is due to a lack of self determination and starts focusing solely on revenge.

Final Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Final - Assignment Example Looking at solar energy this is the sun’s energy that undergoes conversion by an n equipment to produce desired power to use as lamps and heat in the school, house, and industries. Other form of energy such as gas and coal comes from fossils, which will not remain available for long. To add on that, this fossils pollutes the air and hence causing harm to human being. Solar energy is clean and readily available furthermore its distinction is not measurable. This equipment produces light for human being to use. It can be streetlights, house light or even vehicle light. The different types of bulbs include those that save energy and those that use significant amount of energy. Basing to fluorescent ballasts, this bulbs tent to use small amount of energy compare to the other light emitting bulbs. Again this ballast supplements long life and to lamp and cost reasonably. This lamps are wired in parallel thus when one lamp blows off, the other one remains illuminated. This lamp is cheaper to install and use, also does not produce pollution in the environment. A green house is essential in that the plants use up carbon, which in turn produces oxygen that offers good air purification. In implementation, it is cheap since its easier to access it and more cheaper to organize the whole field. These plants are effective to human since they purify the air as well as using the sun making human kind to benefit from the rays. In the end, this leads to energy conservation. In both industrial and commercial buildings, fan is critical in that, it provides a source of cool breeze that gives comfort to workers. This fan is capable of blowing warm air that may be because of hot heat from the machine. This fan has ability to reduce up to 25% of heat produced in the industry. Wind is essential in the rotation of turbines making it give power for some big

JP Morgan Chase and Bank One Merger Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

JP Morgan Chase and Bank One Merger - Essay Example Bank One Corporation had been created through mergers with many other banks like Banc One of Columbus, First Chicago NBD, and Ohio but the mergers were considered a failure until Jamie Dimon who had been chosen as the president and CEO took over the leadership of the company and reformed the new firm’s practices (American Bar Association, 2007). Dimon improved the firm by changing the disastrous technology jumble inherited from the prior mergers done by Bank One Corporation and ensured that the bank was more than sufficient to be a viable merger for JPMorgan Chase. Bank One Corporation had spread its roots in many States with the beginning of interstate banking and acquired many banks and with this successful process, they resisted combining into one bank. According to the writings by Truitt (2006), Bank One Corporation, had to be merged with JPMorgan after the departure of their CEO John B. McCoy, whose father and grandfather had headed Bank One. McCoy left because after the First Chicago NBD merger, Banc One Corporation started having financial issues and there was no other option other than accepting help from others. Dimon was brought in as the head of the company and this is when the JPMorgan completed the acquisition of Bank One. The mega-merger was a success because JPMorgan Chase & Co. is one of the largest and best-known financial institutions in the world. Skeel (2011) stated that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with valuable assets and operations in more than 50 countries. The firm provides good services to people in the society and many of the world’s most prominent government, institutional and corporate clients. The mega-merger was a success because Bank One would have failed running on its own due financial difficulties. Griffin and Moorehead (2010) stated that JPMorgan Chase & Co is

The Volcker Rule and its Consequences for the Financial and Banking Essay

The Volcker Rule and its Consequences for the Financial and Banking System - Essay Example Federal Reserve has publicly announced that the banking system of US does not need to accept and operate according to the rule before the month of July of 2014 but the banks will have to conduct the process of â€Å"good faith planning efforts† to get ready to accept the rule in the future and during the temporary phase. As banks and the financial system is still not aware of the bans that will be levied, there will be a cloud of uncertainty that these systems will experience for two years (Ciro 2012). These systems are experiencing ambiguity in understanding what does the Federal Reserve means by good faith planning efforts. The ambiguities are making condition worse thus decision makers should make the scenario clear and present the effects of the rule on US and other nations. The cloudy situation was made clear when a draft of the regulation was prepared and this draft consisted of details regarding the services offered by financial system and the way these services are use d by the common public. The situation is still quite unclear for financial institutions as even the draft wasn’t clear enough to identify the effects that the rule will have on financial sector. The European Union and other countries have even showed concerns as they expect that the rule will decrease the liquidity in world financial markets, thus it is quite clear that the rule will impact the financial systems negatively. Body The delay in implementing and clearing the effect of the rule may not help the banks and make situation worse as banks do not have the correct idea of when the rule will be implemented and banks will have to accept the rule legally regardless of whether they understand its effect or not. Legally it is stated that those banks that have operated in good faith effort during the temporary implementation phase will experience less problems in complying with the actual rule. The policy makers should make the scenario clearer instead of making the financial system of US and overseas operate according to their own guess work. The delay is making the financial system take decisions under ambiguous situation which is already hurting the system. Volcker Permitted Bank Activities According to the rule there are certain permitted activities that can be performed by the banks, these activities comprise of banks acting as market maker, underwriter, hedger, deals of government securities and other activities that are stated under the act as permitted activities. These activities have been permitted to ensure that banks continue to provide liquidity to the markets and help companies in raising capital. But these activities have been restricted to ensure that banks do not cross the line and the funds with the bank do not become unsafe. If the permitted activities cannot be conducted in a safe environment and without risky conditions, then the federal system has the right to barge banks from conducting such activities or increase charges and fines on these activities so these activities become unfavourable to the banks. The activities that have been stated as acceptable in the rule are done on the basis that the bank conducts these activities for the customer and only to meet the short term demands of the customers. Rule Effect The Volcker Rule has received its name from the Paul Volcker who was the Federal Reserve Chairman during the period of the financial crises of 2008. The

Fans and their Diehard Spirit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fans and their Diehard Spirit - Essay Example Fans and their Diehard Spirit Indeed even today millions go through the writings and the meanings and perceptions, that one can gather from Karl Marx engraved thoughts, can very much be likened to the crowd behaving at the NBA game. People differ in their perceptional qualities and attitudes and it is this difference, which the writer really wants to portray in the context of the NBA game. The writer has been quite successful in this process and allows the reader to very well project the human tendency, to view things differently under altering conditions and situations. It is very true that in one sense this renders a subtle effect, which helps the players to get on with the game. But fans and spectators who watch a game differ in their viewpoints based on what they see and believe. It is this inner reaction which is produced, that is very well exhibited by them, in the form of different kinds of emotions during the course of the game. In certain cases such emotionally charged up fans turn out to be fanatics, when their spirits burst out of them in the form of violent actions. In many cases where the fans have become fanatics, they lose control on their self and most of them indulge in activities, which cause harm to the surroundings. Indeed a very good example can be had from the incidences that happened during the course of the NBA game between the Boston Celtics versus Utah Jazz, which would give a very good perspective of the fans and their behavior during the course of the game.... But to sum it up it is really the fans that enliven any game, no matter which ever part of earth it is being played, that brings the true spirit of the game. Though the perceptions and their attitudes are totally different, the fans really crowd together and spend their valuable time to cheer up for their home teams. This very well show that people really club together as per their likes and also are more attached to their natives, than to the foreigners. In some cases it is this team spirit and the excessive fan spirit, which really spoils the games since there have been several past occasions of fans turning very rude and indulging in clashes. This is clearly revealed in the below lines that states â€Å"The filmmaker was even struck blurring the camera from taking clear shots of the event†. (www.thegazette.com) This above said human perceptions and the difference in attitudes bringing contrasting actions can be very much likened to the Karl Marx writings, which have the sam e effect on the reader even after so many years. Karl Marx People around the world perceive things differently because they are quite intrinsically different and are sure to hold different view points, about a certain thing that occurs in the world. This could be with regards to a particular object, a phenomenon occurring in nature or it could be any incidence that normally happens, in the course of the day today life. It is this difference in the view point or the perception of the individual human beings, which Karl Marx tries to bring out through his writings. It very well proves that the same terms, whatever it may be philosophical or any other word that may be used with regards to a particular context, could bring into picture one set

Book report on The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Book report on The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf - Essay Example The transition from the stereotypical housewife to the news making beauty myth has resulted in lessening the status. Being beautiful as well as not, pose problems. For instance, at work, beautiful women are often mistaken as incompetent. They suffer from the discrimination that they are merely pretty and not good enough for work. If the women are not beautiful they are looked down as diffident and inactive. If a woman is harassed, that is again due to her beauty. Women are caught up in something like a catch22 situation. There are a lot of fashion magazines on demand. They all tell us how to be beautiful and why and when and lots more. It is meant to shape our lives. It gives us information on a wide range of beauty products and puts us into buying them. These magazines make us feel inferior about our looks. They pressurize us intensely and they win in getting the women with big pockets spend and thrive on the products. There was a time when everyone wanted to achieve spiritual salvation- when the Ultimate was the quest for moral principles and values. It has changed. The beauty myth has changed women to search for beauty salvation instead. Now all they want is to be thin and beautiful and thereby to attain salvation. Sexual relations with partner are highly affected by the myths. Sex needs freedom of expression and comfortable styles of doing. Our women are too much engaged in their looks and this has made them unnecessarily self-conscious and this, inurn, affects sex adversely. The women are made tenuous in their relationships and they develop poor self-esteem. No man wants to be an admirer of beauty all the time. He wants and expects a partner in himself and his woman. I should admit that Anorexia and Bulimia have become favorites of the beauty industry. It cannot be helped. How willingly women go hungry for days! If not going on hunger, it is lesser calorie intake. They

See the instruction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

See the instruction - Essay Example nked to this area has the agreement of the Russian elites, and finally because conflicts in Middle East have sensitive implications for Russia’s domestic problems (Ehteshami 66). The G. Bush administration was capable of rallying the military industrial complex, the oil lobby and the Zionist movement in a huge project: to secure a control of the oil fields that run from the Horn of Africa to the Caspian Sea by re-designing the political map on basis of small ethnic states. The region, demarcated not for its populace but for the reserves under its soil, was initially called â€Å"Crescent Crisis† by Bernard Lewis, a University professor and later George W. Bush called it â€Å"Greater Middle East† (Halliday 13). Washington did not hold back on its Middle East â€Å"re-modeling† project. Huge sums of finances were invested in hiring local elites so as their personal interests would be before national interests in the globalized economy context. Most significant was the deployment of a vast military force to Iraq and Afghanistan in order to interrupt Iran, the main actor around the region that outlooks up to the empire. The maps of the region were drawn up and distributed by the Chiefs of General Staff. Every country in the region, including US allies, could be viewed being broken up into innumerable emirates, incapable of protecting themselves, while overpowered Iraq would get divided into 3 federate states ( a Sunni, a Shiite, a Kurdish) imposed by the White House (Ehteshami 23). When it appeared that nothing could stop that domination process from moving forward, the Pentagon handed Israel a task of destroying every secondary fronts before they attacked Iran. The aim was to end the Lebanese Hezbollah and overthrowing the Syrian government. Nevertheless, after submitting a third of the territory of Lebanon under a shelling campaign the likes that which had never been seen before since the Vietnam War, the Israelis were forced to retreat without attained any of its

Untying the Knot by Melanie Thernstrom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Untying the Knot by Melanie Thernstrom - Essay Example Monetary concerns played vital role for the outcome of their 11 years of marriage. The couple. Kate is an impulsive career-oriented woman who is not afraid of risks in whatever decision she might come up to, who happened to be wed to Max, a controlling man who preferred art rather than increase of salary. It's surprising to know that in eleven years of marriage none of the couple adjusted to one's flaw in order for the marriage to last. Though it seems that Kate did submit herself to her husband's term, it was her character as financially domineering in the marriage that held her back for total submission or to give way. It always boiled down to financial reason. Her impulsiveness often resulted in disappointments, and the result of her marriage to Max is a failure as expected. Was the marriage salvageable The former couple (not yet married at that time) was revealed as vacationing at the Costa Rica, where they had a serious argument for looking at different birds in the same tree. This incident depicted the seriousness of their indifferences to prolong being tied in a commitment. It was stated that Max still longed for reconciliation; the only problem is that, lately, they both realized that Kate doesn't wanted to get married not only to Max, but to anybody else. She longs for freedom and always had preferred it all along unconsciously.

Case Study (Skill Analysis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case Study (Skill Analysis) - Essay Example Sophie Smith is a 44-year-old female who is two days post-operative, following an appendectomy. Sophie works as a real estate agent, weighs 46kgs and 168cm tall. Sophie has a story of rheumatoid arthritis and takes 10mg of prednisone daily and also has an allergy to penicillin. While changing her dressing you notice a thick yellow discharge oozing from the wound. Wound management following an appendectomy is essential for the complete recovery of Sophie. A comprehensive assessment of the present state of the wound is necessary as well as the stage of healing. Thus, it is important to obtain information from the client about factors that may affect wound healing. Consent is necessary so that nursing procedures can be carried out and prioritized according to the patient’s needs. The nurse’s role in wound management is critical not only to wound management but to maintenance of aseptic technique while doing nursing care. Identify and discuss the importance of obtaining inf ormation during a nursing admission in relation to post-operative assessment.The process of obtaining and communicating information during a nursing admission also refers to the nursing assessment and these can be obtained from the client, significant others, health team members, and client’s medical records (Funnell, Koutoukidis& Lawrence, 2009, p. 229). Obtaining information during a nursing admission is important in identifying areas needing nursing interventions. Obtained information may either be subjective or objective and includes nursing history, physical examination and observation, and laboratory and diagnostic tests. Applying Sophie’s case, obtaining information during a nursing admission requires explanation of the purpose and rationale for gathering information. Sophie must also be put in a quiet and private place for ease of patient during personal information gathering. Information such as medical diagnosis, previous admission to the hospital, clientâ₠¬â„¢s perception of condition, allergies, social data, activities of daily living, habits, and use of prosthesis are necessary because obtaining these information during a nursing admission will adjust the plan of care related to post-operative treatment. For instance, Sophie has a history of rheumatoid arthritis, takes 10mg of prednisone daily and has allergy to penicillin.These information has relevance to post-operative treatment as rheumatoid arthritis impairs healing, can cause deformities, and increase pressure on the soft tissues leading to increased risk of skin breakdown. Prednisone is a corticosteroid which also delayed healing by interrupting cellular division (Guo and DiPietro, 2010, p. 219). Sophie has allergy to penicillin and its significance include not giving Sophie penicillin to avoid allergic reactions and tests other antibiotics that will not produce allergic response because antibiotics are essential for wound healing and combatting infection. Identify and discu ss the nurse's role in consent procedures for patients undergoing a procedure involving general anesthesia.Surgical and invasive procedures involving administration of general anesthesia requires written consent. Nurses play a major role during consent procedures. Nurses provide the needed information of the individual and make sure that it is well-understood prior to administration of

How to Solve a Problem Essay Example for Free

How to Solve a Problem Essay After reading up on the â€Å"Art of Thinking† e-book, chapter 5 explains the 4 stages of the critical thinking process. The first stage of critical thinking is to search for challenges. It explains that not all challenges are obvious and on how you should make it a habit to look out for challenges that comes your way. The second stage of critical thinking is expressing the problem or issue. The e-book explains in more detail the difference between a problem and an issue. The third stage of critical thinking is to investigate the problem or issue. Last but not least, the fourth stage of critical thinking is producing ideas. I think that this is also the critical stage of what makes a critical thinker. When I was in the Navy during my first year, I noticed that it was very difficult to advance in the occupational specialty that I was in compared to the other military occupation. One of the things that I’ve noticed was that the reason why the advancement was difficult was because there were too many people who were in the field rating. The air department field rating was a difficult and dangerous job to be in; especially if you didn’t know what you were doing. There was long 18 hour work days that I had to do whenever there were out to sea deployments to the Persian Gulf. I also had to worry about equipment malfunction and the risk of falling over board from the flight deck. I was very dissatisfied with working with the air department division, so I decided to take the exam for a different rate when I was up for advancement. I was curious to find out what other military occupations were out there for me with less danger on the field and better advancement opportunity. Fortunately for me, the advancement exam that I took was 100% advancement and 18 hours less than what I had to work compared to the air department. Based from my reading of chapter 7, the problem for me was working long hours in a hazardous environment. I asked myself, how can I get out of a hazardous work environment such as working on the flight deck? How can I advance myself to a rate that has less competition? There were also some issues for me that I had to address. One of the questions I had to ask myself regarding the issue was if I should notify my supervisor that I plan on taking the advancement exam for another rate? Is he going to single me out and make me work harder in the division? In order to resolve my problem, I decided to take the advancement exam that focused on operating the radar systems and it was 100% advancement. The working hours were 6 hours on and 18 hours off rotations at the work center. The work environment was also less hazardous and more relaxed compared to the air department. For my issues to get resolved, I decided not to tell any of my supervisors that I plan to leave the division by taking the exam for another rate. I figured that if I don’t tell them what I plan to doing, then they will not single me out or make me work harder compared to the other people in the division. I believe that it was the best decision that I made during my time in the military. Before I decided to take the advancement exam, I noticed that one of my co-workers had also taken the same exam before me. According to chapter 8 of the â€Å"Art of Thinking,† I investigated the problems and issues that relate to working with the operations department compared to working in the air department. I took an eyewitness testimony from my former co-worker who used to work for the air department division, but later switch to the operations department division after taking the advancement exam. He provided the information to me regarding the pros and cons of working with the operations department. The con part of working with operations was that you were working around a lot of high ranking officers and always had to practice for certain drills, but the pro side to it was good advancement and less work hours compared to working with the air department. In conclusion, I think that one of the best ways for me to solve this problem was to avoid going into the air department in the first place. I should have weighed out my options in regards to finding out what other good department divisions that I could benefit from by working with them for the 4 years that I was with the Navy. I noticed that some fields such as working as an electrician has its benefits. I could have been able to transfer all of my work experience into the civilian side and done a similar job like that with more salary pay. I also now understood that the person who recruited me into the Navy had a quote to me in order for him to keep his job as a recruiter, but I should have done a better job in regards to thinking things out more critically in regards to how I was going to benefit from joining the Navy besides getting the educational benefits after successfully completing my contract of serving my country.

Role of a Customer Champion

Role of a Customer Champion Key role of marketing is to act as customer champion to the organization. There are two highlight points in this argument, one is if organizations have to act as customer champions among all the other orientations that they can choose, and the other one is if it is the role of marketers in each organization to be the customer champion between other alternative positions. Marketers roles in an organization Marketers role by the time: Pull/push method: Since 1950, marketing has been on a push/pull model that the manufacturer designs a product to fulfill a need and then persuades the customer to buy that product by advertisements, promotions and different kinds of distribution tactics. Customer-centricity: the next level of marketers role in organizations with more involvement of customers. Customer advocacy: a new era in marketing in which marketer is the customers advocate.(Urban, 2005) The marketers role has significantly changed during the past years, for example the development of social media, made the marketers role more strategic and complicated. Considering the history of business, it shows that marketing has played a role in even the simplest early businesses.(burrow, 2009) In marketing, there are metrics that relate to customer satisfaction: advocacy, loyalty, margin, market share and the rest. Marketers main jobs are creating a marketing plan that ensures the metrics are on the right track, and engaging and supporting everyone across the business to ensure delivery. In other words, their role is to create the future and deliver it today. We all know that marketing is about more than creating the advertisements. (Gooding, 2006) New products and services require marketing, in order to find and build relationships with different types of customers, to speak to them in an innovative way and sometimes reach them through different channels. Marketers have to connect with mass-market consumers and help them to imagine how this new product would enhance their life. It is not a small task. (Kelley, 2010) They should also be involved in product development, and since they are the closest to customers opinion, it is their responsibility to share new ideas to match the companys offer to the customers needs and wants. ( Asis, 2003)Most fundamentally, marketers must bring the outside-in perspective to balance, and often lead the inside-out aspects of business.(Fisk, 2006) Different approaches Product-orientation: the companys knowledge about its customers is often vague and general. The customers segmentation is not very precise, and since the company cannot predict the customers behavior accurately, the strategic objectives of the firm are also unclear.(Matheson, 2006) Customer-centricity: is the orientation of a company to the needs and behaviors of its customers, rather than the internal drivers, like quest for short-term profit. (Landy, 2010)From this basic strategic difference other different organizational features flow. These are the two extremes, but different strategies in every organization will result in different degrees of customer-centricity. Nokia is a good example of a hybrid structure of products and customers. It moved from a product-centric company to one that is still product-centric, but also has added a customer-centric component.(Galbraith, 2002) Knowing which type of marketing organization exists within a company is crucial. Every organization has to ensure that their type of marketing organization actually fits what the company is trying to do. (Mitchel, 2006) Market and customers changes Customers today are more different and individual, more intelligent and difficult than ever, while 100 years ago, a new car buyer would be more than happy to buy a Ford Model T, a model that hardly changed in decades, in any color as long as its black. (Fisk, 2006) Thanks to new media, Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, eBay, Amazon and etc. customers now have an unlimited access to information about a company, its products, customer reviews, seller rating and almost whatever they want to know in no time. There are no time and place barriers any more. No matter where the customers are, they can buy from everywhere. Therefore the old methods of marketing are much less effective now customers can easily find competing products and compare them in order to find the best product at the lowest price. With the simple and visible star ratings, even they do not have to bother themselves reading through lots of comments.(Urban, 2005)So in such a market it is almost impossible to survive without transparency. Although among all these approaches in the 21st century customer-centricity is the most popular and successful one but there is an exceeding tactic with almost the same basic principals called customer champion. Definition of customer champion: Advocate for your customers and they will advocate for you. It is a two-way relationship between the company and its customers for a common benefit of both. (Urban, 2005)In very simple words they become a trusted resource and partner. They build trust and respect. Customer champions believe that when you focus on the relationship rather than the business, business will come. (OBrien, 2010). The whole concept is to motivate some changes in the organizations approach toward customer-centric strategy in order to meet new changes, in which customers are in power, they have various needs, their own independent means to research the market and more bargaining power. Also they are now more individualistic.(Fisk, 2006) This approach is mostly based on representing the customers interest by providing them complete and unbiased information, always be there for them and give them some advice on which product is the best, even with comparing with competitors. This kind of partnership leads to a long-term loyalty.( Urban, 2005) Besides having the skills in customer-centricity, using revolutionary tools to gain value from customer conversations is one of the must dos in order to be a customer champion. It can be achievable by seeing things through the eyes of the customers and serve them as a dedicated consultant. It sounds more like a slogan rather than a strategy, to bring the voice of the customer to the centre of the business, but by utilizing certain skills it will be possible.(Newby, 2010) By being transparent they have to tell the truth to the customer. Therefore considering the quality of the products or services becomes very important. They should be good -not necessarily the best- in quality to eventually win the customers and maintain them for a reasonably long time.(Urban, 2005) Why customer champion The markets change, the economy changes, customers change. If we are not in alignment with the voice of the customer, and if we are not nimble or humble enough to make the changes, we are not there.(Mainz, 2010) Successful examples in the market like Tesco, PG, IBM and lots of other businesses illustrate the effect of changing the organizations approach with the flow of the super quick changing market. Tesco is the market-leader supermarket in the UK, with a significant presence in Eastern Europe and South-east Asia. They think of marketing as looking after their customers. Actually their core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty. They do this by responding to the different and constantly changing needs of all of their customers to deliver what they want, when they want. (Dibb and Simkin, 2006)And this is their secret for such a big success. In IBM even the bonuses are based on customer satisfaction. In addition to the fact that others experiences are promising, there is another reason for organizations that encourage them to go for being a customer champion and it is the image. Some companies believe that it can build brand image and customer loyalty and at the end it results in delight the customers and increase revenue. It can be a differentiation value for the organization in market.(Gunn, 2010) Marketers as customer champions Customer champions may have different jobs and responsibilities, but they share a common passion for the customer. Customer satisfaction and positive feedbacks are satisfying result for them.(Collins, 2009) The customer champion may live on the edge of the organization. By having a constant contact with the customers, they can understand their needs, become familiar with their actions and behaviors. (Kelley, 2010) The marketing people should take the lead in this way, because they are best placed to act as both the voice of the customer and an effective part of business plan. (Gooding, 2006) And also regarding to the nature of the marketing -mostly interaction and communication with customers- it makes more sense to think about marketers as the customer champions. Possible solutions As it is mentioned before the push/pull method has been the core of marketing for the past 50 years. Actually it was a solution to economics of mass production. But now with more powerful and wiser customers, the time pressure of the modern life and new technologies, this method does not work anymore. It may result in a short term winning in the sales but undoubtedly will end in losing the customers. They also can choose to continue with customer-centricity approach, which was urged by the saturation of push/pull marketing and also intense competitive market especially around quality and price. This is the approach of many leading companies in recent years. By emphasizing on customer satisfaction criteria, creating consistency in customer interactions, trying to satisfy the customer with higher quality products and with more customized services. They try to use one-to-one marketing and understand each customer and then deliver a consistent service to that customer. It seems an effective way and customers may like this one-to-one connection, but the problem is the huge amount of data, which companies are getting from CRM programs. (Urban, 2005)They keep receiving feedbacks from customers but most of the times they do not take these feedbacks into account for the upcoming steps. These feedbacks are data, and data is not information, information is not knowledge, and knowledge is no t insight. Insight is more profound.(Fisk, 2006) In fact considering the results, for most of the companies, CRM is just an improved way of pull/push marketing. As mentioned above The third way that they can follow is customer advocacy approach, being a loyal representative of customers interests and provide them with open, honest and thorough information. They have to simply reflect the reality, because customers now have the ability to find out the truth. (Urban, 2005) Conclusion Accepting this concept as a leading approach in the organization and the translation of customer champion from words to action is a tricky job; it requires lots of care, knowledge and skills. It also needs a crystal clear visioning. As technology advances and consumers become more knowledgeable, selling a product will increasingly demand a well-defined target segment and thorough understanding of customer needs, interests and frustrations. And it just can be achieved by the relationship, which is defined as customer champions.(Fisk, 2006) The point is that marketers as a customer champion would result in satisfied customers but not necessarily every happy customer is a result of a customer advocate marketer. Customer advocacy is the right way to do marketing; it is honest, open, and ethical. It can be a difficult decision to make as well, since it may result in short-term losses. But by committing to customers this approach is an easy and long-term decision; in long-term perspective businesses in the front line are the winners. Customers trust them and it will be very difficult for the competitors to change the customers mind and persuade them to switch to a new manufacturer. (Urban, 2005) By taking this approach, based on the information that companies can get from the customers, products and services will improve. As a result sales will increase and the company can produce more efficiently and costs can decline. But the problem is how to use this knowledge.(Burrow, 2008) I think in todays extremely competitive market, organizations cannot just compete on price and product. They have to deliver a great customer experience and build an extra ordinary trust among customers. The penalty for not doing so is greater than ever since consumers will complain on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.(Caballero, 2009) It is the matter of how to implement it. By doing it correctly, the organizations can gain huge opportunities that competitors can never touch.

Distributed leadership and teacher leadership

Distributed leadership and teacher leadership This assignment will explore the leadership practices of both distributed leadership and teacher leadership. Where necessary these practices will be applied to the environment of school A. School A is an inner city comprehensive secondary school with a large intake of English as an Additional Language (EAL) students. In 2009 School A achieved its best ever GCSE results in history with 72% of students achieving an A-C grade in Maths and English. These results placed the school within the top 10 best performing schools in the LEA. Other schools in the top 10 included independent grammar schools or outer city comprehensive schools. However, in 2010 the school was unable to maintain the successes of the previous year as overall GCSE results fell by 4%. It could be argued from this, that the school had neither the leadership capacity to sustain or improve (Ansell, 2004) its position. Kotter (1998) has identified eight principal errors that cause organisations to fail and the applicable principle in this scenario is declaring victory too soon. However; this was not the case for school A, the problem was that three strong leaders whom held senior positions were promoted to other schools around the borough and as a result the rising GCSE trend was unsustainable. Lewis (2003) describes such situations as an uncontrollable barrier that impacts upon organisation improvement. A differing view by an external practitioner had highlighted that the lack of distributed leadership or teacher leadership practices may have hindered the schools chances of improving. Leadership was the term commonly used in all of the examples given above and the opinions of the external practitioner provided me with a focus for this assignment. As a result I intend to examine the literature around leadership, in particular how distributed leadership and teacher leadership are perceived and practiced. The policy and theory related literature review will allow me to develop a greater insight into the two leadership styles, which may well improve my practice as a middle leader. To meet the aims of my project I will answer the following questions and where necessary apply these to the context of my school; What is leadership and educational leadership? What are the key features of distributed leadership and teacher leadership? What are the similarities and differences between distributed leadership teacher leadership? What are the merits and constraints to distributed leadership teacher leadership? 2. What is leadership and educational leadership? Despite decades of research into leadership, writers still remain divided over the answer to the question what is leadership? One powerful criticism is that leadership is a label attributed to human behaviour and that this term can be interchanged with another term (Lakomski, 2005). Cuban (1988, p190) states that there are more than 350 definitions of leadership. Paglis and Green (2002) describe leadership as the process whereby a person identifies where the group is at present, where they need to be and then devises a strategy for reaching their destination. Northouse (2007) defines leadership as a process where an individual influences a group to achieve a common goal. Out of the two definitions I feel that Northouse (2007) definition provides the stronger answer to my research question as the definition takes account of personality traits such as influence which Paglis and Greens (2002) definition does not dwell into. Yukl (2002) explains this influence process as a social influen ce process whereby intentional influence is applied to structure the tasks and relationships within an organisation. Earlier researchers by Stodgill (1948) reviewed 124 trait studies of leadership and found several personal factors of leadership which included responsibility, participation capacity and status. However, the criticism was that these studies did not examine how aspects of contexts and personality traits were interrelated in leadership studies. As a consequence many attempts to find universal qualities of leadership proved to be fruitless (Shorter and Greer, 1997). This led to the emergence of many leadership models. Nevertheless, the term leadership within organisations became associated with innovation and the ideas of change, as a result was elevated in status above management (Gronn 2004). Cuban (1988) stated the contrast in leadership and management to be vast, as leaders sought change and wholeheartedly implemented it whereas managers preferred to maintain the status quo. For this reason, many businesses recognised the importance of leadership as the key driver to their future success. However, applying Gronns (2004) and Cubans (1988) ideas to education I feel that it is necessary for the Headteacher to both play the role of a manager and a leader. This is because the Headteacher is responsible for the school vision (leadership) but needs to take practical steps to implement the school strategy (management). Bolman and Deal (1997) share my thoughts and state that modern organisations require practical managers that lead others in achieving a common goal. Educational leadership is a specific area of leadership within education. Although as highlighted earlier defining leadership is impeccably difficult, however educational leadership within a school setting is defined as a process that guides the talents and energies of, teachers, students and parents to achieve the common educational aims. Preliminary the aim of successful leadership is securing and sustaining improvement (Hopkins, 2001). School improvement has been at the forefront of educational reform leading to many writers discussing the positive benefits of leadership to student learning and school improvement. Wallace (2002) explains the impact of leadership upon school effectiveness and school improvement to be of great importance. Leithwood and Riehl (2003) share a similar view and state that large scale studies of schooling conclude the effects of leadership on student learning to be educationally significant. For this reason the term educational leadership has made its mark within education. It is evident from the literature review that no universal definition has been noted for leadership; however it has allowed me to discover that leadership is a process and one which brings about many models of leadership. In school, leadership is considered to be a process that will support schools to be successful (Harris 2004). Traditionally, educational leadership focused around the heroic model of leadership where the Headteacher demonstrated heroic features such as authority, courage and control (Johnson, 1997). The post-heroic model lays emphasis on teamwork, participation and empowerment. In this situation, school leadership does not dictate and control, but collaborates with others regarding organisational plans and operations. (Eicher, 2006). As schools become more challenging places to control and lead it has become necessary for Headteachers to promote school leaders as a means of sustaining improvement. The National College for School Leadership support this view and state As schools become more complex places to manage and lead, we need many more leaders than ever before (NCSL, 2008). The capacity building model is focused around the promotion of leaders. At the centre of the capacity building model, it has been discussed, is distributed leadership along with social cohesion and trust (Hopkins and Jackson, 2002, cited in Harris 2004 p12). In short, distributing leadership equates with taking full advantage of the human capacity within an organisation. This creates opportunities for all teachers to become leaders and contribute towards the schools vision (Harris Muijs, 2005). In the context of my own situation as a middle manager the school has supported my development extensively, as two years ago I started off as a NQT, now I am a middle manager on a fast track senior leadership training programme. Through the support of this development it can be argued that a form of capacity building has taken place. 3. What are the key features of distributed leadership and teacher leadership? Distributed Leadership Distributed leadership is one form of leadership that has raised the interest of many researchers within the educational field. Prominent researchers within this field include James Spillane, James Duignan and Alma Harris. As a result Bennett et al. (2003) address that there is little agreement to the term of distributed leadership and consequently the interpretations of this term vary from writer to writer and some of the interpretations of distributed leadership are related to collegiality. Connections have also been made between ideas of democracy, empowerment, and autonomy; however the integration of these elements is not made explicit. (Harris 2004). Most helpfully Bennett et al. (2003) suggest that it is more practical to imagine distributed leadership as a way of thinking about leadership as oppose to seeing it as another technique or practice. This view is shared by Spillane (2006) who suggests the key feature of distributed leadership to be used as a framework to examine lea dership. Another key feature discussed by Woods et al, (2004, p441) is that distributed leadership highlights leadership as an emergent property of a group networking of interacting individuals. This process shares some resemblance to transformational leadership as both focus on the actions of the group which Gronn (2000) describes as concertive action and an additional dynamic that is the product of conjoint activity. But different to transactional leadership as this focuses around a leader and its followers. The distributed leadership process also allows educational establishments to consider the boundaries of leadership, expanding upon the traditional leadership positions such as those of Assistant Heads and middle leaders. Woods et al (2004, p442) state that this process is predisposed to widen the convectional net of leaders this in turn raises the question of which group and individuals are to be brought into leadership or seen as contributors of it. So therefore distributed leadership concentrates on how leadership practice is distributed between informal and formal leaders. As Bennett et al. (2003 p3) note, distributed leadership is not something done by an individual to others, rather it is an emergent property of a group or network of individuals in which group members pool their expertise. Teacher Leadership Upon reviewing literature surrounding teacher leadership, it is evident that a precise meaning cant be found. The idea of teacher leadership focuses its attention towards the encouragement of teachers becoming leaders and engrossing in leadership activities outside the classroom environment. Barth (2007) describes this process of leadership where teachers take on initiatives that will inturn have a positive impact within the classroom. Similarly, Wasley (in Harris and Muijs, 2005) suggest that the key characteristic of teacher leadership is to support colleagues to develop work on their own initiative, rather than be lead by initiatives derived from a formal leader. Within my responsibilities as a director of specialism (Business and Enterprise) in my school I have to co-ordinate several whole school enterprise days throughout the year. Rather than organising and leading activities myself, I get my team on board and discuss the delivery of these enterprise days. By getting the team on board I am creating opportunities for these members to build upon their strengths and offer opportunities where they can deliver these sessions independently. It is clear from this example that a form of teacher leadership is taken place within my department. Another aspect of teacher leadership is for teachers to work together, constructing meaning and knowledge collectively and collaboratively (Lambert 1998). It is argued that if everyone has the capacity to do this, only then will school improvement take place (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001). This is why schools should have an understanding that leadership should not just be assigned to those within formal positions (Harris and Lambert, 2003). Research has also addressed that understanding leadership alone will not be enough to encourage all staff to play a part in the schools improvement process alone, a form of capacity building will also be required. (Harris and Muijs 2005). It has been highlighted from the Ofsted report during our last inspection that Assessment for learning practices should be consistently applied throughout the whole school. This has resulted to several teacher training days focused around assessment practices. Opportunities have been provided during these days fo r teachers to work collaboratively and share good practice to all. So, it can be argued that these practices share the opinions of both Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001) and Harris and Muijs 2005. The largest numbers of staff within a school are teachers and therefore are at the centre of the capacity building model. The argument for this, is teachers are in the unique position to make change happen given that they are directly involved in the teaching process (Lieberman Miller 2004). Therefore, the key characteristic of teacher leadership is to develop teachers to become leaders beyond the classroom thus leading to improved educational practice (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001). 4. What are the similarities and differences between distributed leadership teacher leadership? The focus of distributive leadership is the distribution of power that is stretched over a number of individuals and where the leadership activities are achieved through the interaction of many leaders (Spillane and Louis 2002). Harris (2005) shares a similar view and suggests that distributive leadership is centred on the creation of conditions where people work together and learn together. So it could be argued that teacher leadership is just one area under the umbrella of distributed leadership. Whereby, this process of distributive leadership is all about giving authority to teachers and empowering them to lead, (Harris 2005). This is a move away from the individualism and isolation of teaching brought forward by Lortie (1975 cited in Spillane et al 2001) Teacher leadership and distributed leadership share many similarities (Muijs and Harris, 2003). Both leadership processes are centred on people working together and it is argued that the knowledge base of individuals would increase when compared to individuals who worked alone (Bennett et al 2003). This is why both leadership types promote the construction of knowledge through cooperation and active participation (Harris and Lambert, 2003). 5. What are the benefits and constraints of distributed leadership and teacher leadership? This section will be broken into sub-headings generated from distinctive elements of distributed leadership, distinguished upon reviewing related literature surrounding this type of leadership practice. (Gronn 2000; Harris 2004; Timperley; 2005; MacBeath et al 2005; Spillane 2006). Within this section I will discuss the benefits and constraints of both leadership types. As addressed earlier teacher leadership forms one strand of distributed leadership so therefore my discussion surrounding the benefits and constraints of this leadership type will also be addressed within this section. Emergent property of interaction One of the primary functions of distributed leadership is the development of interaction between groups of people (Woods et al 2004). Spillane et al (2001) describe this as a collective leadership process that leads to an evolution of leadership practice, one which is far greater than the sum of each individuals practice. In the context of my school, this type of process could involve groups of professionals (teachers and senior leaders) coming together and sharing their expertise on a particular topic i.e. improvement strategies of Assessment for learning within classrooms. A shared approach compared to a singular led approach would not only yield a stronger pool of information, but also create a sense of belonging amongst teachers. After all, it is teachers who are required to implement these practices. This approach is similar to theories of teamwork, where the view is that working together produces far greater results than working alone (Harris 2004). It is also suggested that th e interaction approach would be best utilised in an environment where relationships are based on support and mutual protection (Belbin 2000). In respective of teacher leadership, Griffin (1995) highlights the need for teachers to prosper as leaders so they can support the development of other teachers. The knock on effect of teachers not interacting with each other can be seen as an intellectual resource being wasted. A similar view is shared by Harris and Mujis (2005) who have reported that teachers knowledge and expertise increase after being involved in discussion sessions with other leaders. These viewpoints are shared by my colleagues who are on the teaching and learning committee within my school. Having the time to interact with other teachers and discuss improvement ideas/good practice has improved the teaching within their own classroom and this would not have been possible prior to the committee being set up. Top-down Vs Bottoms-up The term top down leadership in schools is a process whereby strategies and solutions are identified by senior leaders and are then passed down the organisation (Hodgkinson 1991). Whereas the bottoms up approach promotes employee participation at all levels of the decision making process. Ryan (2003) suggests that distributive leadership is a non-hierarchical collaborative approach. The benefits of the collaborative approach would increase work performance compared to the traditional hierarchical approach. (Leithwood and Riehl 2003). As a middle manager I have witnessed the bottoms up approach to be more favourable than the hierarchical approach. For example, when the Deputy Headteacher runs CPD sessions some staff are displeased with the development support provided as their views are not taken into consideration. When the contributions and views of teachers are considered, then there is a greater chance that teachers will implement school strategies and support school goals. (Shepp ard,1996). Research has made it known that the authoritarian top-down style of leadership is common in schools that are in special measures (Gray, 2000) compared to improving schools that have embedded distributive leadership (Muijs and Harris 2003). It is apparent from this research that top-down leadership approaches are found within failing schools; however this point cannot be generalised as other factors could play a part towards a school deemed to be failing. Murphy and Meyers (2008) highlight lack of readiness for school, low socioeconomic status of students and urban school settings as a constituent to a failing school. Furthermore, I feel that top down and bottoms up leadership approaches can coexist within a school and still be classed within the spectrum of distributed leadership. For example the Assistant Head in charge of teaching and learning at my school had put forward the five principles to monitor progress of students in lessons. The teachers administered these principles and were given the opportunity to discuss the results with the Assistant Head to identify improvement strategies for the problem areas. This process both involved formalised leaders and informal leaders working together on a similar cause and is described by Spillane (2006) as coordinated distributed leadership. As a recognition of expertise Distributed leadership focuses its attention on assigning experts to appropriate tasks within formal and informal roles and this is different to the traditional leadership model which would only assign formal leaders to take on leadership tasks. Owens (2004) suggests that schools operate under complex systems so therefore; it is unrealistic for the Headteacher to be an expert in all areas of the school. Applied to the context of my school, the Headteacher has recruited a business manager to deal with the financial aspects of the school and oversee the Building School of the Future (BSF) programme. The reason for this is, the business manager has previous experience not only in finance but most importantly holds the expertise in managing a school rebuild elsewhere. Although the Headteacher is ultimately accountable for the school finances and the rebuild, this role is assigned to an expert to ensure the efficient running of school operations. Expertise can also be drawn from school teachers. By creating a climate that identifies teachers know-how will bring out the leadership within those teachers. For the Headteacher to seek expertise outside the formalised roles will empower those individuals (Hargreaves, 1999). However, in my opinion there proves to be unanswered questions with Hargreaves (1999) thoughts as no mention is made when the expert i.e. teacher is not skilled or enthusiastic to lead and as a result the process of identifying expertise may become unproductive. However, Duignan (2006) does shed some light on my thoughts and mentions recognising expertise will promote an allowed-to-be-a-leader culture; this can be a powerful tool in the motivation, support and appreciate of teachers. Conversely it is argued by Katzenmeyer Moller (2001) that teachers can be supported to develop their leadership potential, but teacher leadership can only blossom within a culture where the opinions of these leaders are respected. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the support and expertise offered by teachers can fulfil the responsibilities of the site leaders (Keedy Finch 1994). Lambert (1998) believes that this allows experts to shine from outside the formalised roles of leadership and will increase their capability of becoming leaders. These views could potentially support the problems towards the decline in GCSE results within my school. An initial thought to the cause of this problem was through the departure of three senior leaders who were promoted to posts at other schools. The view here was that when strong leaders left their posts, it led to the decline in students academic results. Lamberts, Keedys and Finchs (1998) views could not be applied to the context of my school, as there was little evidence of a culture of teacher leadership being recognised, nurtured and built upon within my school. If the teacher leadership culture was apparent then the school may not have been affected when the senior leaders left their posts. Harris and Lambert (2003) support my view and put forward the notion that all teachers harbour leadership capabilities and if unlocked can be engaged for the benefit of the school. It has been noted from the literature on teacher leadership that formal roles such as lead teachers were established to recognise the efforts of teachers, however; these programmes were found to be ineffective as Smylie and Denny (1990) found out. These teacher leaders could not fully support their fellow teachers as most of their time was taken up attending meetings as opposed to spending time at improving the practice of other teachers. Supporting school improvement It is argued that leadership that is distributed can support capacity building in school and contribute to school improvement (Harris 2004). This view is supported by Silns and Mulford (2002), their research within this area has identified that student outcomes are likely to increase if the leadership is distributed throughout the school community. However, it is Harris (2004) that brings to our attention that more evidence is required to confirm the relationship between student learning outcomes and distributive leadership. Hallinger and Heck (1998) also bring to our attention that the quality of teaching and learning play a pivotal role in supporting student achievement. If the students are doing better compared to the previous year then the school is seen to be improving. School leaders need to recognise that teachers have contributed extensively to this improvement. Literature has also highlighted that teacher leadership can lead to improved student outcomes as knowledge and skills are shared in order to improve instructional practice (Smylie, 1994) This view is shared by Lieberman and Miller (2004) who suggest, when teachers have opportunities to lead and share good practice the chances of securing the quality of teaching learning is increased. Barth (2007) adds to this view by stating that schools badly need the leadership of teachers if they are to improve It is apparent from the views of the writers above; that teacher leadership plays a crucial role in raising attainment. If effective teacher leadership practices are in place then students attainment will increase. This may not be the case within my school as GCSE results had fallen by 4% compared to the previous year. Therefore; this raises the question is teacher leadership not prominent in my school or is leadership on a whole poor? Moreover, Mendez-Morze (1992) research into effective urban schools has highlighted that student achievement could only be raised with the guidance of an effective leader. -Tensions barriers to distributed leadership and teacher leadership There are no guidelines available as to how distributive leadership should be implemented and this is the key concern of this type of leadership. Other leadership models that exist, encompass guides of delivery for example, John Adairs (1973) Action Centred Leadership model provides a blueprint for the leadership of a team or an organisation. As the model is open to interpretation, the distributive process may lead to the abuse of power and as a result the intentions of this leadership style may prove to be invalid (Maxy and Nguyen 2006 cited in Mayrowetz 2008). Gunter and Ribbins (2003) support this view and address concerns to what distributive leadership will look like in an organisation. Spillane (2005) challenging these concerns and points out that distributive leadership is a way of thinking of leadership and as a result no blueprint can be made available nor an instruction of how leadership should be practiced in a school. This view is supported by Harris (2005), upon the revi ew of both Spillanes and Gronns work into this process of leadership and addresses that distributive leadership is a way of studying leadership as opposed to explaining leadership practice. Also, the distributive process encourages teachers to take on leadership roles, in my opinion there is a significant problem with this as an assumption is made that teachers are capable in taking on leadership roles. Smylie (1994) study of teacher leaders and their principles brought out that teachers raised concerns about the lack of training that was provided towards building new working relationships. In my experience leaders require some form of training prior to taking on leadership responsibilities. The expertise of potential teacher leaders hold may not be effective if the teachers are not capable to lead. This is why in my school the majority of leaders assigned to middle leadership and senior leadership positions attend training courses delivered by the NCSL. Centralised systems of accountability that hold the Headteacher accountable can prove to be another barrier towards successful implementation of distributive leadership. One reason for this is that the Headteacher may be reluctant to delegate their power as he/ she may feel vulnerable due to the lack of control they harbour once others bear the burden of responsibility. OECD (2008) state that this may be true in cases where legal, HR, and financial control is given to others in the school. This is not the case with my school as the Headteacher has given away some of her power to others for example the responsibility of the school finances has been passed down to the business manager within the school and the curriculum design and management passed down to the Deputy Headteacher. This demonstrates that distributed leadership is taking effect as responsibility has been delegated to experts within their fields. Hierarchical systems that remunerate staff in accordance to their roles and responsibilities can prove to be a barrier to teacher leadership. Teachers may feel that the increase workload of additional responsibilities may not be worthwhile if financial rewards are not provided, in return may lead to teachers not being motivated enough to take on leadership roles. In my experience of taking on additional teaching and learning leadership responsibilities when I was teaching a full timetable, I had problems fulfilling my role fully due to the lack of time made available for me to implement my additional leadership responsibilities. My view is supported by several other studies which recommended that time has to be made available for teachers to plan and discuss whole school plans, curriculum matters or liaising with external bodies (Ovando; Seasore-Louis et al., cited in Muijs and Harris 2003). 6. Conclusion I am aware of the benefits that distributed leadership can provide, in particular having a framework to examine and understand leadership practice and developing group interactions through the collaboration process. However, the literature has acknowledged that distributed leadership is a new phenomenon that encompasses a limited literature base and a widely accepted definition (Bennett, Harvey, Wise Woods, 2003; Harris, 2004; Timperley, 2005; Spillane, 2006). In addition there is also little empirical evidence towards the effectiveness of the impact that distributed leadership has towards increasing student attainment and promoting instructional improvement. On this basis, I was unable to find a definitive answer to my hypothesis, which was to determine whether distributed leadership could improve student grades. What I have become aware of is, distributive leadership can play a part to increasing student attainment. Apart from the improvement of student grades, distributed leadership is a powerful leadership strategy where evidence has shown contributes directly to school effectiveness and development (Muijs and Harris, 2003). It is also suggested that the structure of teacher leadership creates a more professional work atmosphere (Little, 1995), which leads to building of a professional community. Studies have found that a school with higher levels of teacher learning and leadership, significantly enhances teacher work in the classroom (Silns and Mulford, 2002) as such an environment encourages collaboration and trust. However; the research has found Headteachers must be prepared to create a culture and climate that is favourable to teacher leadership (Bishop, Tinley Berman, 1997) as teacher leadership offers a realistic understanding of the idea maintained by the theory of distributed leadership as it presents leadership as an invention of a collective activity with all teachers being involved. Overall, the literature reviewed has allowed me generate a deeper understanding of both distributed leadership and teacher leadership. It was also apparent from the application of the literature to the context of my school that distributive practices do exist with some elements of teacher leadership. However, I am aware that it was not possible for me to directly link/test the literature to my problem as no action research into distributed and teacher leadership methods were trialled and tested. Nevertheless the literature has enabled me to build a theoretical base that would be