Friday, November 29, 2019

Tripadvisor free essay sample

Tripadvisor displays detailed ,rich and relevant data for use by consumers in their travel planning. Tripadvisor can guarantee authenticity by examining all data entered to insure that no fraud data. A sophisticated algorithm is used to calculate the ranking taking into consideration the quantity, quality ,age of reviews and external data . So it provides unbiased information which win the trust of consumers. Potential consumer can use this vast pool of data to help evaluate alternatives during the consumer decision making process. This â€Å"world of mouth† information is perceived as being more vivid, easier to use and more trustworthy than marketer-provided information. 3. How would you measure how â€Å"engaged† people are with Tripadvisor? Can you suggest some â€Å"actionable† metrics that Tripadvisor might be using in how it interacts with its user base? There are several measures can evaluate how people â€Å"engaged†: * Registration date * Log-in frequency * Numbers of reviews ,photos or videos posted * Update frequency of reviews, photos or videos. We will write a custom essay sample on Tripadvisor or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How long people remain activity status * Ranking of reviews or photos * Interactive with others on the forums * Average days each user spend on TA * Average time each user spend every log-in. 4. What do hotel owners and property managers feel about Tripadvisor? How does Tripadvisor manage to create the balance between consumers and hotel managers? 5. How does Tripadvisor monetize its UGC? How does it differ from many of the other UGC sites on the Internet (pick a few for comparison)? Tripadvisor use three main sources to monetize its UGC: Text links take users to hotels which could charge to TA on a cost-per-click basis. Once user click into the hotel link,the hotel should pay TA from $0. 25 to $1. * Display advertising on the basis of cost-per-thousand impression. That is showing advertising for thousand time then charge once. * â€Å"Business listing† service business owner to promote their TA listing by adding contact information or discount to consumer via coupons. There are many UGC website, some have the same profit model, some have different profit model. Take â€Å"secondlife † as example, its main business are virtual  community and games,its profib model are rental of virtual land, membership fee, Exchange fee of virtual goods. ect. One Chinese SNS website named â€Å"Kaixin†,its profit model are advertising,virtual money to buy game tools. 6. Why has Tripadvisor been so successful in hotel reviews? Why is it not known for restaurants even though it has user reviews on over half-a-million restaurants? 7. Can Tripadvisor replicate its success in China, vacation rentals and flights? If so, how would you prioritize them? So far, it is hard to say whether it is success in China or not. It has several challenges and competition is serious. * China is a huge potential market , but currently there are relatively small portion of population travel frequently, and most travel place are in China. International background is not the unique advantage. * Small portion people will choose online travel booking , most of them will rely on travel agency especially when they are going to travel abroad. When they travel in China,they are prefer to call the hotel for booking rather than online. As we know ,large amount of user are basis of UGC website. Without it, it is hard to make profit. * There are more than 5 strong local competitors such as â€Å"qyer†,†mafengwo†in China market. These local competitors have the same business model with Tripadvisor but are more familiar with Chinese markets and Chinese travel habits So far ,these UGC travel website are all in the stage of attracting user to visit website and

Monday, November 25, 2019

Cheetahs essays

Cheetahs essays we have all heard about cheetahs and their amazing speed, but these animals may soon be gone. If we dont stop taking over their habitat. Cheetahs are among the oldest of the big cats. They have short fur with black spots, and black stripes from their broad eyes to their mouths. Cheetahs are muscular and lean with broad chest and tiny waist. They can stand as tall as four feet, and can weigh up to 140 pounds. A cheetahs natural diet includes gazelles, impalas, hares, and wilderbeest calves. They hunt only day from around 30 feet away depending a lot on their sight. Cheetahs have binocular vision. The actual chase lasts only seconds and they catch their prey about half the time. They live in the savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa, along with a few hundred in Iran. The is endangered primarily because of loss of habitat to humans, and cattle ranching. Cheetahs have also been killed because they hunt cattle for meat. Cheetahs fur is another reason for poachers to kill cheetahs. In the 1980`s an outbreak of feline infectious peritonitis (F.I.P.) occurred in the cheetah community. Cheetahs are difficult to breed and they are at risk of getting many diseases. Studies show that even wild cheetahs have very little genetic diversity. They went through a genetic bottleneck in the last 1,000 years meaning that there are very little if any diversity now and there was a lot more before. Cheetahs are protected in national parks, and reserves, but overcrowding the Cheetahs to lose their kill to other predators and forces them to leave the safety of the reserve. The Cheetah conservation fund has developed numerous programs in Cambia to ensure the Cheetahs long-term survival. In February 1996, a population habitat viability analysis was held in Cambia and brought together all the stakeholders to address Cheetah conservation issues. This workshop assessed the threats to the Cheetah. There are currently 300cheetahs in the S.S.P. p...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Primary reserch (squirrels behaviour) Assignment

Primary reserch (squirrels behaviour) - Assignment Example The researchers chose fox squirrels living under natural conditions at The Morton Arboretum. Sciurus niger is a specie of squirrels that store acorns and nuts, during winter months, for future use (Kotler et al, 1999 p79). Their food structure is highly complex, thus making this analysis call for a special training. For example, training is needed to determine the supplemental food, which differs in cacheability, to present to the squirrels. Additionally, training is required to determine the behavior of the squirrels, in the assesment trays. Animal’s foraging behavior is significantly affected, in several ways, when its food has future value and is cacheable. When a forager collects food, its marginal value of energy usually declines, thus cost of predation is increased (Kotler et al, 1999 p81). This mostly happens during the summer when dropped supplemental food items such as pine seeds and corns are spread on the ground surface. Food gathering increases to a point that the forager stops collecting more food and moves to a shelter, and this happens during winter. In this experiment, it was determined that food of future high value has less effect on the squirrels current and subsequent food gathering activities (Kotler et al, 1999 p81). However, stored perishable food influences the subsequent behavior of the squirrels. This implies that supplemental food items directly influences behavior of squirrels, during the summer and winter (Kotler et al, 1999 p81). In other words, food gathering is mainly done during th e summer, and squirrels rest during winter while consuming the stored food. Shuttleworth, in this article, is determined to establish how the nutritional content of food items affects the feeding behavior of red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). According to this study, the nutritional content of food significantly affects the dietary

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

TLMT312 WEEK 5 FORUM Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

TLMT312 WEEK 5 FORUM - Assignment Example They have a definite or regular shape that facilitates their easy storage and handling as opposed to non rigid containers which do not hold their shape. Non rigid containers have an indefinite shape because of lack of supporting structures. ii. Nonrigid containers in most cases will take the shape of its contents. This is opposed to the rigid containers, of which its contents, especially, fluids and gases take the shape of the container. This is vital in the determination of the type of container to be used during packaging by the organization. In the cost reduction strategy, it is required that appropriate container be selected as per the volume of the load. iii. Ordinarily, rigid containers will take more storage space as opposed to non rigid containers which can be folded to occupy less space. Nonrigid containers in the long run save the storage cost accrued from usage of less space. In the supply and procurement department this is important so as to strategies to ensure that the organization still makes profits. iv. Rigid containers have more storage and maintenance costs as opposed to non rigid containers. This is due to labor used for cleaning and storing the rigid containers. Most non rigid containers are non reusable, thus do not attract the costs. (Donald J. Bowersox, 2009) v. In most cases rigid containers are durable and reusable as opposed to non rigid containers. This is vital in the cost benefit analysis 2of the firm to ensure that it is making profits. The usage of rigid containers saves costs that would emanate from frequently container purchases. Oftenly, rigid containers are usually highly priced than the non rigid containers because of their durability and reusability. vi. In rigid container the manufacturers must give instructions and provide documentation for the evaluation, purchase, processing, and effective use of containers as opposed to non rigid where the is no much

Monday, November 18, 2019

Social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Social work - Essay Example She may not even realize how â€Å"jaded† and judgmental he/she has become. This is clearly someone who has never taken the time to realize and address their own ignorances, assumptions, and embraced stereotypes that could make them less helpful and more of a hindrance. Such people lack the self-awareness that, I think, is so important to the field of social work and the kind of worker that I hope to be. Alice Miller, in Anne Bishop’s Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression in People, says that without self awareness and an ability to connect with those you aid can become just part of a routine and that, †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦morality and performance of duty are artificial measures†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (2002) In my mind this is a prime example of this line of thinking. This woman does her job, but she lacks empathy or even sympathy, but can, probably, fake it under the right circumstances. This is why it is essential for social workers to have an understanding of their own h istories, backgrounds, biases, founded or unfounded, before they will ever be truly effective in their position. How effective a social worker will be in helping others is directly related personal beliefs, attitudes and outlooks, and how self aware they are.(Heydt & Sherman, 2005) It would be very easy for someone with discriminatory thinking or unresolved personal issues be inadvertently expressed in ways that cam impede the â€Å"good works† that a social worker is supposed to do. A social worker must take the time to self-evaluate, even if it means discovering things about yourself that you are not necessarily proud of. Knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and flaws make you a more complete person that can actually be beneficial to those with whom they are working. Having the right tools are essential to completing any task. A plumber is of little use without a pipe wrench. Social workers are no different, except the tool that they use to complete their tasks and achieve t heir goals is themselves.(Heydt & Sherman, 2005) â€Å"Self awareness is the core of ethical practices.†(Lipschutz, 2012 ) That said, it may be difficult to genuinely perform their jobs ethically unless they are committed to becoming self-aware. In 2003, Sheafor and Horejsi, listed the eight most common factors that can be an interference in the helping of others and are recommended as part of a social workers self-awareness check-list; personal issues, appearance (clothing and grooming), behaviors that devalue or degrade others, distracting personal habits, difficulties in verbal communication, difficulties in cognitive functioning, problems in written communication, and poor work habits. Having reviewed all of these items, I find that I have no overwhelming or overpowering personal issues that might negatively affect my future works. I, always, attempt to dress and present myself professionally and appropriately for the work environment. I do not participate in intentionall y degrading or insulting behaviors. I have never been told that I have any distracting personal habits. I am a strong communicator, both, verbally and in written endeavors. Lastly, I think I have, both, positive and efficient work habits. That said, I am by no means perfect. There is much that I still need to learn, about my work and the people that I may eventually help. Still I am comfortable with myself and

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Leadership styles and the behaviour styles

Leadership styles and the behaviour styles Leadership is the behavior of an individual when he/she is directing the activities of a group towards a common purpose.  [1]  A leader is seen as someone who sets the paths in an effort to influence people to adhere to those paths. Leadership is an action and not just a position. It can be shown via different people in various situations. A person is not born to be a leader but cultured through the upbringing and environment. A leaders personal characteristics are also vital for the developments and motivations of the organizations. True leaders such as the teachers who illustrated that leadership is an action (teaching and leading the students) and not a position. Touching the lives and affecting the outcome of many different expectations, a teacher is the epitome of a leader. A leader has his or her own style of motivating the people in the organizations. A leader must find the best skills in order to provide directions, motivations and purposes. Effective leaders are flexible. Organizational Leadership Model The effective leadership influence is not the same for everyone. It depends on their ranks in the organization and abilities which are required in leaders. The three basic leadership roles identified: initiation, speech, and management. 1. Initiation Initiation refers to planned decision making on policy formulation or structural change. These vital decisions are the determinants of the organizations culture and mission. 2. Speech Strategic decisions and methods designed for implementation within the establishment. It includes adjusting or adding on to the present structure towards new policy demands. 3. Management Management is putting into practice the policies and measures that are available to maintain the operations of the organization efficiently. These three kinds of Leadership are naturally executed at diverse ranks in the company with different abilities and skills. The top level management would initiate new policies that involve a change in the businesss structure or understanding the companys mission. An understanding of the entire organization, culture, mission, vision and how it correlates with the external parties is mandatory for these top level individuals. They represent the organization and what the business stands for. Understanding the policy decisions and practicing them to the existing organization via utterance or speech is usually made by the intermediate-level managers. They must uphold a two-way point of reference by taking orders from the above management and adapting them for the lower groups of people in the organization. Type of Leadership Process Typical Organizational Level Cognitive (Knowledge) Affective (Emotion) Initiation: Change, creation and elimination of structure Top echelons System perspective Charisma Speech: supplementing and piecing out of structure Intermediate levels: pivotal roles Subsystem perspective: two-way orientation Integration of primary and secondary relations: human relation skills Management: use of existing structure Lower levels Technical knowledge and understanding of system of rules Concern with equity in use of rewards and sanctions EXHIBIT 16.1 Three Leadership Patterns, Their Location in the Organization, and Their Skill Requirements  [2]   The companys policies and procedures will be administered by the Lower-level supervisors. These personnel must possess both the technical knowledge and a clear perception of the organizations rules in order to be successful. They have to continually deal with issues such as equity, rewards and punishments in leading others. Therefore, leadership plays a crucial role in an organization because the it has direct impact on the effectiveness of the organizations. Leadership is when a person manipulates others to perform a task at their own will which they would not normally do. Leadership is a vital process to an organization and it can be deliberated on three different stages; i.e. the individual, group and organization. Analysis at the individual stage: the leadership studies have paid attention on the successful leader personalities. Behaviors of both formal and informal leaders are focused at the group level. The effectiveness of an organization is decided by the relations between the leader, follower and circumstances. The studies have caused an emergence of different theories of leadership, namely situational and contingency. In Search for Leadership The requirements in selecting and training efficient leaders were emphasized during the World War I and the quarter century between World War l and World War II; numerous studies were made to examine the personal characteristics of good leaders. These studies are usually referred as characteristic studies since the primary goal was to classify the traits and personal characteristics of successful leaders. The diverse methods used to study these leadership traits could possibly be the reason in the irregularities of the results. The manner of studies was not consistent in identifying the leaders. A majority of the studies was in comparing efficient with inefficient leaders or leaders with non-leaders. Some were identified by external observers, others selected by the group by way of recommendation or voting, nominated by observers such as teachers while some were chosen because they are already in leadership positions. The studies conducted were in conflict as to the way they deliberated on the traits. Some traits were measured by mental tests; others relied on viewers to spot the traits they have seen while some depended on the persons to report their own personality traits. The trait studies were quite unsatisfactory as a whole especially since they had hoped to develop an accurate measure of leadership effectiveness. The spotlight on the leadership research moved because of the flimsy results, to contingency studies which investigated more than just traits of a leader. Numerous traits formed an important divergence in leadership effectiveness and they interrelated with other conditional variables to stimulate the effectiveness of the leader. Physical Behaviors Physical attributes including height, weight, health and appearance are also examined in the studies. It was concluded that there is a relationship between the above features and leadership. Apparently leaders have the tendency to be taller, heavier, better fitness, greater physique, higher energy output and more attractive in appearance. However, these types of results were not always reliable and consistent. The results neither are too weak in general and not consistent to be effective in selecting leaders nor are they helpful for training functions since not much can be made to alter most of these physical traits. Intellect It was generally agreed that leaders are more intellectual than non-leaders and the relationship was shown in the various studies. The relationship could probably begin from the reality that leadership functions depend mostly on success in problem solving. Leadership roles such as initiation, speech and management necessitate great mental ability. In general, it is safe to assume that leaders seems to be more intelligent than non-leaders but the relationships are small. Many other variables other than intellect inspire leadership effectiveness. It was also suggested that leaders should not be too intelligent than the group because associates who are notably brilliant than others are rarely chosen as leaders since the other members tend to snub them. Individuals with high IQs are inclined to have different sets of vocabulary, networks and aspirations that would create communication and inter-relations problems. Leaders do extremely well generally at school/college/university and score better grades. It is important for effective leadership to know how to do things. Thus general and practical knowledge are essential for leaders to make better decisions. Characteristic Traits Only a partial of the characteristic traits seem to be related to leadership and most are not especially convincing. It was suggested that the average leader is more social, has greater initiative, is more persistent, smart in getting things done, highly self-confident, cooperative, adaptable to situations and possesses excellent communication skills.  [3]  Leaders were found to be more emotionally mature than non-leaders in the personality integration or emotional adjustment. It can be concluded that personal characteristics are related to leadership. Effective leadership does not depend on a mixture of personality traits only because situational variables are also important since they always decide whether a character was associated with effective leadership either positively or negatively. Therefore, it can deduced that effective leadership depends on the leaders characteristics, his subordinates and the nature of the task at hand. Many leadership styles were based on studies of leaders behaviors. The finest researches on the styles of leadership are made together at the same time; i.e. The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. Researchers acknowledged two leader behaviors that were similar although the investigations were conducted separately. As a result, a two dimensional aspects of leadership have been to used to form the Managerial Grid  [4]  . Authoritarian, Democratic, and Laissez-faire  [5]  Leadership Due to the diverse political systems in the US and Germany before World War II, studies of leadership have been inspired which evaluated three styles of leadership: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez faire. In the democratic leadership style, decisions were made by vote of majority; equal participation encouraged; criticism and punishment minimal. In the autocratic leader, the leader made all the decisions and others must follow the set procedures strictly. In the laissez-faire leader, there was minimal actual leadership and others were permitted to work and play as usual without proper directives. Initiating Structure and Consideration The two leadership factors were initiating structure and consideration which include leadership behaviors in organizing and defining the tasks to be performed and goal achievements. A leader who assigns people to do specific jobs, expected workers to follow set routines and meet deadlines. The consideration factor is friendliness, showing trust, exhibiting warmth and concern for followers. Production-Centered and Employee-Centered Leader Behaviors Production centered behaviors were akin to initiating structure in which leaders would establish targets, gave directives, checked on operations and planned the group Employees work. Centered behaviors were similar to the considerations dimension in which the leader would develop a caring personal relationship with the subordinates and encouraged a two-way communication with them. The relationship between production-centered and employee centered behaviors are found to be independent scopes of leadership. A leader with strong production orientation does not mean that he is disinterested in the employees. Managerial Grid  [6]   Robert Blake and Jane Mouton had created a framework which relates task accomplishment to concern for people called the Managerial Grid. They both assumed that concern for production and concern for people would produce the most effective leadership style. There are leaders primarily more concerned with accomplishing the production and task not concerned about people. This person wants the job done and schedule followed at all costs. There is also individual who is not concerned whether the group produces anything but concerned more about the personal needs and interests of the team members. Ideally, leaders should be concerned about meeting schedules in order to get the work done and simultaneously are concerned about the team members interest and feelings too. The Managerial Grid  [7]  is popular among managers. It is extensively used by organisations as part of their training program to assess leadership style. However, the effectiveness of the Managerial Grid is not consistently supported. The factors which are considered in determining leadership styles interact in complicated ways which resulted in various leadership styles. SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP In assessing leadership effectiveness, there are many factors that must be combined. A situational leadership model developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard considers three variables: (1) guidance and direction provided by the leaders (task behavior) (2)emotional support given by the leader (relationship behavior) (3) the maturity level exhibited in performing the task As a result, four potential leadership styles have been created using a combination of the above factors : S1: Telling Give instructions and supervise performance closely. Suited for followers who are unwilling but of low maturity. S2: Selling Decide and provide opportunity for explanation. Appropriate for followers who are not able but willing. S3: Participating Sharing ideas in making decisions. Suited for followers who are able but not willing. S4: Delegating Responsibility handed over for decisions and performance. Appropriate for groups who are able and willing. Contingency Theory of Leadership Fiedler studied the interaction of leadership style and situation. He identified and developed ways to measure leadership orientation of the leader and situational factors which influence leadership. Leader Orientation Two types of leaders were identified, i.e. relationship-oriented or task-oriented. Leaders who are relationship-oriented tend to look at others as coworkers and look upon interpersonal relations as a requirement towards accomplishing the task. However, for task-oriented leaders, they react strongly against people whom they could not get along with in performing a task. Situational favorableness (1) relationships between leader and member can be good or bad; (2) the task is relatively well planned or not; and (3) the leaders authority is relatively strong or weak. The task structure becomes the second most important situational variable based on evaluation of four aspects of the task structure. Clarity: whether requirements of the tasks are stated clearly, Multiplicity: which the problems encounter can be solved. Verifiability: which the correctness of the decisions can be ascertained. Specificity: which there are generally more solutions involved in performing the task. Group effectiveness Relationship-oriented leaders perform excellently well in situations where concern for the team members is apparently necessary in order to motivate them to perform well. People naturally prefer leaders who care about them and their welfare. However, task-oriented leaders are clearly more effective in impossible situations. Path-Goal Model Directive leadership: subordinates are told what to be expected. Specific guide, standards and work schedules are provided to ensure that task are performed as expected. Supportive leadership: subordinates are treated equally and show concern for their needs and well-being; develop pleasant interpersonal relationships among the group members. Achievement-oriented leadership: challenging goals are set and subordinates are expected to perform at their highest level, improvement in performance always. Participative leadership: subordinates are consulted on suggestions and ideas in making decisions. Situational factors Characteristics of the followers and environmental factors which affect leadership style are called situational factors. Significant characteristics of the followers which have been identified as determinants of leadership style are: (1). Followers with internal locus of control believe that they are rewarded for their own effort. Meanwhile, followers with external locus of control believe that external forces have a control on their rewards. (2). Authoritarianism: an individuals willingness to accept the influence of others. (3). Abilities: The followers ability and experience influence a leader whether they are able to work with an achievement oriented leader or a supportive leader who are patient enough to provide encouragement and instruction. The path-goal model recognises three environmental factors which effect leadership styles: the nature of the task to be performed, the existing organisations authority system the organisational norms and dynamics The above factors may influence the effectiveness of various styles of leadership in a many ways. Normative Decision-Making Model of Leadership Based on the contingency theory of leadership, this leadership model does not assume any leadership style as appropriate for all situations. Leaders must develop a range of leadership styles and take on the most appropriate style depending on the situation. Leaders are required to know in which circumstances they need to consult others and vice versa. Even though the leader may be the chairman of the group, he is just one of the group members and does not try to influence the group to adopt a particular solution. Criteria for selecting a leadership style. Two criteria used for assessing the efficiency of a leadership style are quality and acceptance. The quality of the decisions made refers to the accurateness of the actions taken and the extent which some objectives are achieved. The quality of decisions depends on accurate and relevant information Conferring with other group members often provides additional information. Diagnostic decision rules. In order to save time and minimize costs, some managers choose the lead autocratically. If the aim was to further the subordinates personal development, the participative style is selected. In some strategies, the manager decides alone. At times, the manager decides on his own after earlier consultations with his subordinates. Comparing the leadership models. All situational leadership models emphasize on the effect of external factors on a particular leadership style. Different leadership styles suggest styles that are determined by various situational factors. The models focus on different methods, which are situational factors and criteria for selecting the best style: task-oriented versus relationship-oriented. The normative decision-making model ascertains three leadership styles, namely autocratic, consultative, and participative. In each model, situational factors which influence the effectiveness of leadership are somewhat different. A significant reason which contributes to this is that normative decision- making model likens leadership to decision making and considers only this aspect of the leadership function. The model also uses different criteria for evaluating leadership effectiveness. DETERMINANTS OF LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS Although identifying what makes an effective leader seems like a simple task, however, individuals who are in leadership positions are often faced with a dilemma on deciding which leadership pattern to practice. Choosing a Leadership Style Choosing the most appropriate leadership style to adopt depends largely on the context of the organisation. A successful leader must be capable of assessing the situational forces in the organisation and respond accordingly to the needs. The forces include the organisation culture, business goals as well as the organisations strategic plans. Effective leaders must understand themselves, the group, company and social environment. Strategies for Improving Leadership One of the main variable to improve leadership relates largely to the organisations reward system. Leaders should not overlook his capacity to reward his followers accordingly since followers will respond otherwise. For instance, the managers of high- performing groups generally are compensated according to their achievements. Considerate leaders manage to create satisfaction among their performing subordinates while at the same time, changes in the behavior of the leaders could be caused by the performance of the subordinates. Constraints on leader behavior. Leaders have limited opportunities to influence others. Leadership effectiveness is inhibited by a variety of factors. For example, the managerial decisions are planned ahead due to factors such as organisational structure, state and federal law, technological specifications and innovations as well as the absence of other alternatives. Many other organisational factors can impose limitations on the leaders capability to communicate with subordinates or reinforce their behavior towards achieving the organisational purpose. For example, organisational policies, nature of task, skills and abilities of available resources and other external factors may impede the capacities of organisational leaders. External factors. In terms of external factors, leaders are constrained by factors that they have no control on such as state and federal laws. Other external factors include the world economy and global issues. Irrespective of their leadership style, leaders with unskilled resources will face great challenges in leading. The availability of skilled followers is subjected to the external labor market. Organizational policies. The organization may limit a leaders effectiveness by hampering the amount of communication between leaders and followers. The existing company policies may also pose restrictions on the ability of leaders to reward or punish followers. Group factors. Leaders may find it hard to penetrate or influence group members who are highly unified. This will create difficulty for leaders to demonstrate his true capabilities in performing tasks for the organisation. Individual skills and abilities. The leaders own skills and abilities may become their constraints because leaders can only possess limited expertise, energy, and power. Some situations may need greater amount of skills, experience and capabilities compared to what the leader may possibly have. Substitutes for leadership. Leadership is an extremely important function. It has an enormous influence on the value of organizations, especially in a business environment. However, in complex situations, we may not know exactly which leadership behaviour will be the most effective to adopt. In addition, certain situations warrant that leadership may be unnecessary subordinates. SUMMARY 1. Leadership is the increasing influence which occurs when an individual manipulates others to do tasks voluntarily which they would not do otherwise. The basic leadership roles include initiation of policy and structure, speech, and management. Leadership is required within organizations to provide direction to employees towards a common organisational objective. 2. The studies of leadership were mainly studies on traits that tried to identify the characteristics of effective leaders. The studies focused mainly on physical traits, intellect and characteristic. The results were usually weak and inconsistent although some personal characteristics were always related to leadership. Most studies concluded that apart from behaviour characteristics and traits of the leader, the nature of subordinates and the type of task to be performed were as equally important to determine success. 3. Another approach to studying leadership set on leader behaviors; i.e. how leaders actually behave. One of the studies compared three leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire. Democratic leadership produced the greatest satisfaction among subordinates while autocratic leadership style encouraged high level of productivity in the organisation. 4. Research conducted simultaneously at two different universities identified two groups of similar leadership behaviors. At The Ohio State University, researchers identified these two leader behaviors as initiating structure and consideration. At the University of Michigan, the similar two factors were called production-centered and employee-centered. These two leader behaviors seem to relate leadership functions which are essential to the effectiveness of a group. A matrix named Managerial Grid had been formed based on these two factors. The Managerial Grid correlates the concern for production and the concern for people in identifying leadership effectives. 5. As a result of unsuccessful researches conducted to identify superior leadership behaviors, four situational theories of leadership were developed instead. Theories have suggested that the effective of leadership style depends largely upon situational factors, especially nature of the group and the task to be performed. 6. A situational leadership model that matches various combinations of task and relationship behaviors with maturity of the subordinates. As the number of followers increases, the appropriate leadership style that should be employed would be telling, selling, participating and delegating. 7. Three situational variables are used to assess the most appropriate leadership style. The variables are the relationship between leader and members (good or bad), the task (structured or unstructured) and the strength of the leaders power. Based on findings, the most effective leadership style when these three variables created an extremely favorable or unfavorable situation is task-oriented leadership. However, a leader with a high concern for interpersonal relationships is most effective when there were intermediate levels of favorableness. 8. The path goal model theory is derived from expectancy theory. It suggests that effective leaders must clarify the paths to attract followers. Based on this theory, the directive, supportive, achievement-oriented and participative leadership styles emerged. The most appropriate leadership style is dependent on two types of situational factors: characteristics of followers as well as the internal/external environment. Three significant characteristics of follower are the locus of control (internal or external), authoritarianism and personal capabilities. The three environmental attributes are nature of the task to be performed, the existing organisational authority system and norms and dynamics of members. 9. The three leadership styles identified are autocratic, consultative and group decision making. Determining which style is most appropriate depends largely on several factors such as considerations whether adequate information is made available to the leader when making decision alone, whether the goals of the organisation are acceptable by the subordinates, orwhether the followers accept decisions made without their involvement. 10. Members of the group also has a reciprocal influence on the leader. Group member can influence the behavior of their leaders by responding selectively to specific leader behaviors. The power and influence of a leader can also be limited due to certain external factors such as policies of the organisation, norms of the group members as well as the skills and abilities of followers. POSITIONING ON LEADERSHIP CRISIS Many leadership theories have been in existence as more people tries to determine the most effective leadership style available. Arthur G. Jago (1982)  [8]  had proposed a framework that organizes leadership theories based on each theorys focus and approach. However, effective leadership also depends on specific situations. There are various kinds of behavior that leaders can display to its followers. The two leader behaviors that have been consistently identified are called production-centered and consideration-centered activities. A person can change his or her behaviour without being forced based on the amount of influence exerted by another individual. I concur with A. Ange on the presence of leadership crisis but I also foresee the resolutions taken and are still being taken to resolve the problem. Many organizations are spending money in sending their employees to be groomed and trained for future growth of the company whereby they are exposed to different methods of management and how to be great leaders. Leaders are born to leaders but in some circumstances, situations and environments also play a huge role in creating a leader. Leaders come and go and new ones are always on the threshold to take over the empty space. The qualities of the leaders and their leadership styles vary but they are vital in the development and motivation processes of the organizations. There is a crisis in good leadership but it is not at a critical point. Big organizations would have everything in place for the future growth of the company and would have in line the replacements for all aspects of the management. Even is small to medium sized organizations have planned their management line-ups for the future. The ongoing programs and trainings that are conducted by organizations to produce capable leaders and groom them further showed that companies are aware of the could be crisis and had taken steps to overcome the situation. Yes, there is a crisis but the severity of the crisis is not huge enough to cause panics throughout the organizations.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Importance of the Night in William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Importance of the Night in Romeo and Juliet Night can be seen in two contrasting ways. The first can be summarized as a time for celebration and love. The second, and most commonly associated with night, is a time of darkness and horror. Two shining examples of the different emotions and reactions brought on by darkness are the books Night by Elie Wiesel and Romeo and Juliet by well-known author, William Shakespeare. In Romeo and Juliet night has a positive image, a welcomed time for love, protection and exchanging of covenants, while in Night the image is portrayed in a negative way, a time for fear, suffering, and death. Night in the great romances is a greeted time of romance and in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet a time to hide from the harsh reality of the outside world. Juliet greatly yearns for the coming of night. "And bring in cloudy night immediately. Spread thy close curtain..." (Shakespeare Act III Scene ii:4-5) Juliet is very eager for night to come as she uses the word "immediately," which is very strong and demanding. Her true love, Romeo, is also associated with night. "Come, night, come Romeo, come thou day in night." (Shakespeare Act III Scene ii:17) Shakespeare uses night also as a time for exchanging of vows. "Lady, by yonder, blessed moon I vow, That tips with silver all these fruit tree tops -- -". (Shakespeare Act II Scene ii:106-107) After Romeo's vow Juliet later promises during the welcomed night to be loyal to him throughout his life. Under the cloak of darkness she is unafraid to pledge, "And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay, And follow thee my lord throughout the world." (Shakespeare Act II Scene ii:146-147) Night has a third important role of protecting Romeo at first when he trespasses to the Capulet Mansion and later when Romeo, then banished, meets Juliet for the final time. "I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes..." (Shakespeare Act II Scene ii:74) Night, although it can be a time of love and happiness, can also be the complete opposite --- fear, suffering, and death. Elie Wiesel uses stunning, vivid descriptions to show the readers the negative side of night,