Lincoln’s House Divided Speech Essay

Through the spoils of war in 1848, and a $15 million payment, the U.S. acquired nearly half of Mexico’s territory. To some, Mexico had dumped its useless wasteland and the U.S. had been duped into paying for it. But to most, the acquisition of the Mexican territory was the culmination of Manifest Destiny–the fulfillment of the expansion across the North American continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that was ordained by God. But did God intend for this territory to be slaveholding or free? Within two short years, California petitioned to become a state. Slaveholding or free? That question would propel the nation that had just become a continental power to the precipice of dissolution. It took the Compromise of 1850 to avert a disaster. The Compromise itself was made up several bills. Among them, California would be admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians upset about the imbalance, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. It required Northern citizens to assist in the recovery of slaves escaping from the South. Kansas-Nebraska Act With the threat of dissolution addressed, a continental build-out could get underway. The country pined for a transcontinental railroad. The South wanted a route that ran far south, but the North insisted on a route in the center. Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas was committed to this central route and to the prerequisite organization of the territory of Nebraska. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories, Senator Douglas had the responsibility of sponsoring the necessary legislation. He had already been instrumental in bringing five states into the Union and had created five territories. He repeatedly tried to organize Nebraska, but sectional differences had made it impossible thus far. The Missouri Compromise, thirty years prior, had prohibited slavery north of the line of 36 º 30†², and all of the Nebraska territory was above that line. Yet Douglas’ 1854 legislation–though it used the same language under which Utah and New Mexico had become territories–made the proposed condition of slavery or freedom unclear. So the legislation was revised to appeal to the Southern Democrats, explicitly stating that the decision about slavery was â€Å"to be left to the decision of the people residing therein, through their appropriate representatives.† Essentially, â€Å"popular sovereignty† would rule the day and kill the slave restriction in the Missouri Compromise. Still, Democratic Senator Archibald Dixon of Kentucky didn’t think this pushed the Missouri Compromise far enough. Dixon proposed an amendment that specifically stated the Missouri Compromise restriction did not apply to the proposed Nebraska Territory, nor to any other territory of the United States. Douglas wanted to avoid a fight and begged Dixon to withdraw his amendment, but Dixon refused. So Douglas supported the Kansas-Nebraska bill–now modified to propose two territories from the land rather than just one. The bill declared that the Missouri Compromise was inconsistent with the Compromise of 1850 and, hence, inoperative. With the backing of Democratic President Franklin Pierce, the bill had become law. Anti-Nebraskan Men Protests arose not only from free-soilers and abolitionists, but also from moderates–including moderate Democrats–who thought the slavery issue had been put into remission in 1850, and now found it eating away at the country again. Abraham Lincoln, retired from politics and happy in his law practice, was compelled to return to politics. As Paul M. Angle observed, Lincoln â€Å"believed that no man concerned for his country could remain silent.† Writing about the event later, in the third person, Lincoln said of himself, â€Å"His profession had almost superseded the thought of politics in his mind, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused him as he had never been before.† â€Å"It is as if two starving men had divided their only loaf,† Lincoln said of the Compromise of 1850. Having divided the loaf in a fair compromise, the South now wanted more: â€Å"The one had hastily swallowed his half, and then grabbed the other half just as he was putting it in his mouth!† Lincoln vehemently disagreed that â€Å"popular sovereignty†Ã¢â‚¬â€œthe choice of white men of European ancestry–should be allowed to cush the inalienable right to liberty the Declaration of Independence promised to all men, regardless of color. Like so many others, Lincoln thought that if slavery remained confined to the states in which it currently existed–protected by the Constitution, incidentally–it would eventually come to extinction and liberty would prevail. Now he found the monster of slavery more animated than ever before. Believing that Anti-Nebraska men must be elected to overturn the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln began canvassing the state of Illinois with the goal of re-electing Anti-Nebraskan Richard Yates. A new Abraham Lincoln was on the scene. Where in earlier years, Angle notes, Lincoln â€Å"had brought roars of laughter with raillery and personal jibes and had grappled for any small argumentative advantage,† Lincoln now â€Å"spoke from deep conviction that the nation was in danger–spoke without humor but with eloquence that he had never before achieved.† Claiming popular sovereignty to be a middle ground that couldn’t logically exist, he urged men to rally together and embrace liberty. â€Å"Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. Let north and south–let all Americans–let all lovers of liberty everywhere–join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving.† To further the Anti-Nebraska cause, Lincoln allowed himself to be named as a candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives. On November 7, 1854, he was elected. But the senatorial term of James Shields, a Douglas supporter, was expiring and Lincoln was in a position to take the seat. To strengthen his candidacy, he declined to accept his seat in the Illinois House. In February 1855, the legislature met in joint session. On the first ballot, Lincoln was the leader with 44 votes, but could not win without the five votes received by Lyman Trumbull. Vote after vote, Trumbull’s supporters refused to budge. After the ninth ballot, Lincoln realized that unless he threw his support to Trumbull, a supporter of the Kansas-Nebraska Act would be elected. So he released his supporters to vote for Trumbull and Trumbull won the election. But Lincoln became the clear leader of the Anti-Nebraska men and was destined to run against Stephen A. Douglas when his term expired in 1858. Lincoln Opposes Douglas At the Republican State Convention of Illinois, on June 16, 1858, a resolution declaring â€Å"that Abraham is the first and only choice of the Republicans of Illinois for the United States Senate as the successor to Stephen A. Douglas† was carried unanimously. Acknowledging the nomination that evening, Lincoln delivered what became known as the House Divided Speech–the name being taken from the opening of the speech: â€Å"†¦We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. â€Å"A house divided against itself cannot stand.† I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved–I do not expect the house to fall–but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.† Lincoln borrowed the reference to the â€Å"house divided against itself,† from the Bible. In the twelfth chapter of Matthew, Jesus healed a man possessed with a devil. The Pharisees accused him of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. To this, Jesus replied: â€Å"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?† (Matthew 12:25) Lincoln made a public reference to this Biblical quotation as early as 1843, when he wrote a circular emphasizing the unity of the Whig party: â€Å"That ‘union is strength’ is a truth that has been known, illustrated, and declared in various ways and forms in all ages of the world. That great fabulist and philosopher, Aesop, illustrated it by his fable of the bundle of sticks; and he whose wisdom surpasses that of all philosophers has declared that ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand.'† The quotation was one which Lincoln obviously found useful. However, it was only after careful consideration that he included it in his speech at the state Republican Convention in 1858. Lincoln was well aware that the position could be inflammatory. In fact, most of Lincoln’s friends advised against it. Within weeks, Stephen Douglas would twist Lincoln’s meaning and paint him as a warmonger and radical abolitionist. But as part of Lincoln’s legacy, the House Divided Speech marked the point at which Abraham Lincoln, local politician, firmly planted his stake in the ground on a highly-charged national issue. ——————————————————————————– MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION: If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. â€Å"A house divided against itself cannot stand.† I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved–I do not expect the house to fall–but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. Have we no tendency to the latter condition? Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination–piece of machinery so to speak–compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also, let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its chief architects, from the beginning. But, so far, Congress only, had acted; and an indorsement by the people, real or apparent, was indispensible, to save the point already gained, and give chance for more.

Blood Spatter in Crime Scene Investigation Essay

Checking all aspects of a crime scene is a crucial part of investigating a crime. The thorough sampling of all suspicious items in a crime scene, like footsteps, hair strands, and even the changes that took place in the pieces of furniture may help in leading the authorities to the doer of the crime. Oftentimes, even the way the blood splattered from the victim to the walls and floors of the crime scene can help pave the way to the solution of the crime. Blood may be like any other piece of evidence in a crime scene. It is what everyone else immediately sees. It does not talk, yet it can tell so much information. Through analysis of blood splatter, an investigator can tell how the person was killed and from what angle it was done. It can also tell whether the act done fast or as slowly as possible. Blood splatter can greatly help in crime investigation through the analysis of it. Human Blood Normally, the human blood comprises seven to eight percent of the body weight. It carries the essential functions of carrying oxygen and nutrients to the body cells. It also rids the body of carbon dioxide, ammonia, and other body wastes. The blood also serves an important role in the body’s immune system and in maintenance of the body temperature. It is a specialized tissue that has various components. It is a four to six quarts tissue with many components being pumped throughout the body. It circulates constantly in the body, making everything function normally. This is the reason why, when this circulation is disrupted by any action, it spatters (O ‘Neil, 2008). There are various ways that can greatly disrupt the circulation of the blood. Definitely, the most disturbing are violent confrontations like, bullet-shot trauma, blunt force trauma, or knife trauma. The effects of these acts on the blood may vary into two. It can either spill or the blood may spurt out of the body into scattered drops. These differences in the effects of action to blood can help tell the forensic experts of what truly happened in the crime and to the victim (Castillo, 2009). Blood Spatters and the Crime Scene The positions of the blood stains or the patterns of the blood can greatly help in the solving of crimes. As was mentioned, there are numerous ways in which blood may come out from the body once a violent act is done to disturb the circulation. Through these various effects on the blood spatters, forensic scientist are able to conclude what really took place in the scene. Blood spatter normally tell the experts five important and oftentimes incriminating pieces of information about the crime. The positions of the blood spatters tell first, the activity at the scene. Second is the number of blows the victim received from the suspect or suspects. Third is the position of the victim and the assailant within the crime scene. Fourth is whether the death of victim was immediate or delayed. The fifth and last things that blood spatters tell are the characteristics of the weapon utilized by the assailant in attacking the victim (Waldrip, 2008). There a number of ways to analyze a blood spatter pattern. Given a room where blood is all over the wall, a person may conclude that the traumatic attack have been done all over the room. However, carefully following the rules on blood spatter analysis, forensics will definitely disagree. One way of knowing this fact is through the string convergence analysis. The string analysis is a common means of analyzing blood spatters. It utilizes strings that are attached to the points where blood has dropped. For instance, on a wall filled with blood droplets, an end of a string is pasted while the other end is pasted on another wall with a droplet. This is done with each remaining blood droplet all over the crime scene. If looked at by ordinary people, the pattern that will be formed by this activity may mean nothing. It will only look like a web created from a ball of yarn of string. However, for forensic experts, doing this will immediately tell them what they need to know (Carter, 2009). The pattern that was formed from the strings may look like a cobweb in the eyes of ordinary people, but to forensic experts, it already told the position where the victim was attacked. If observed carefully, the strings which were connected always meet in one area. The intersection or convergence point of all strings is the exact position of the victim when the attack occurred. From this, any lie or alibi given in relation to the position of the body will immediately be dismissed. The blood spatters unlike men, can not lie. As such, it is commonly believed more by judges and jurors (Carter, 2009). After the position of the victim is found, another form of blood analysis is done. The distance of the blood from victim is then measured. The measurement that is acquired from the distance always corresponds to a certain spatter velocity. This velocity also corresponds to a certain type of attack done to the victim (Waldrip, 2008). Low velocity blood spatter is typically indicated by five feet per second and three millimeter diameter and is usually dripping. Medium velocity blood spatter is on the other hand, indicated by five to twenty-five feet per second with less than three millimeter diameter. This type of velocity is commonly caused by blunt force trauma or sharp pr knife trauma. The third type of velocity is the high velocity spatter, which is more than one hundred feet per second with a spatter of less than one millimeter. This is indicative of gunshot trauma, power tools, and objects striking with extreme velocity or an explosion (Waldrip, 2008). Through the analysis of these different velocities of blood spatter, forensic investigators easily learn what the weapon of attack was used (Waldrip, 2008). This helps in identifying the weapon even if the suspect has disguised it, hid it, or completely eliminated it. This may incriminate the suspect or point the true criminal during litigation. Another use of blood spatter is in telling the angle of the impact of attack. This will point the position of the attacker from the victim and from where his arms began the movement for the attack. The tail of blood spatter is the most important aspect in this analytic strategy (Waldrip, 2008). In this analysis the most important things to look at are the positions of the drops. Drops that are circular are always from vertical positions. This means that the attack and position of the victim is above. This drop is commonly on the floor. If the blood droplets are on the wall, its elongation should be checked. As the angle increases, the drops usually elongate. This points that there is an existing distance between the attacker and the victim. If the angle is decreased, this may point that the attack was done point blank or in shorter distance from the victim (Waldrip, 2008). Other than these strategies, there still remaining other ways in blood analysis. Sometimes, when the blood flowed freely on the floor of the crime scene, forensics can easily tell that there are objects removed from the crime scene, perhaps by the criminal or accomplices. When the blood flowed freely on the floor of the scene, the area where there is no blood indicates that there had been an object in that place during the time of attack. The shape that was left by the object may help in locating this object which may be used as evidence against the criminal (Waldrip, 2008). Given these strategies or ways in analyzing blood spatters, it may be said that blood spatters or patterns of blood spills is a crucial part of a crime scene investigation. The many ways in which the blood patterns in a crime scene may be analyzed helps in deciphering certain information that other pieces of evidence may not be able to tell. Even though blood spatters are hard to look at, looking closely at it may actually help in incriminating the suspect of a crime. Criminals should keep in mind that even though the victims died the blood they leave behind will point out what really took place, where it was done, how exactly it was done and more importantly, who had done it. References Carter, F. (2009). â€Å"Blood Spatter Analysis†. Iprimus. com. Retrieved May 3, 2009 from http://home. iprimus. com. au/ararapaj/craigslea_testbed/Forensic%20Web%20Test%20 Site/blood_spatter_analysis. htm Castillo, F. (2009). â€Å"Forensic Blood Spatter Analysis- Stains and Spatter from Blood†. Ezinearticles. com. Retrieved May 3, 2009 from http://ezinearticles. com/? Forensic-Blood-Spatter-Analysis—Stains-And-Spatter- From-Blood&id=934816 O ‘Neil, D. (2008). â€Å"Blood Components†. Palomar. edu. Retrieved May 3, 2009 From http://anthro. palomar. edu/blood/default. htm Waldrip, E. (2008). â€Å"Blood Spatter Analysis†. Basepairlibrary. com Retrieved May 3, 2009 From http://72. 14. 235. 132/search? q=cache:SqqvCngUOhAJ:basepair. library. umc. edu/FBL M/BASE%2520PAIR%2520LABS/CSI%2520UMMC/H%2520- %2520Blood%2520Spatter%2520Analysis. ppt+blood+splatter+analysis&cd=8&hl=tl &ct=clnk&gl=ph Abstract The blood spatters in a crime scene greatly help in identifying the truths in a crime. There are ways to analyze the blood spatters in a scene. The spatters can tell the acts that were done in the scene. It can also tell the area in the scene where the act was done. It can also tell the weapon that was used. Through this, the criminal who did the act may easily be incriminated and the judge and juror may easily give a decision.

A Portrait of Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray's portrait He began to wonder if we could make psychology absolutely scientific, Sir Henry says how to manipulate it with the power of the mind When Dorian talked about hope of fate and exchange of portrait, he reached a contract with one of his own hooligans, not a contract with the king of darkness I have not. The picture of Dorian Gray starts on the beautiful summer day in the UK Victorian. There, the self-righteous Lord Henry Wharton is observing the painting of Dorian Gray by the sensitive artist Basil Holward. Portrait, this is a handsome young man, Basil 's ultimate muse. Dorian sat next to the picture and heard that Lord Henry supported his hedonistic world view and began to think that beauty is the only aspect of pursuit of life. This urged Dorian that his portrait would like to take years instead of himself. One of the main purposes of the story is a portrait of Dorian Gray. This portrait shows Dorian's sin, evil, and aging so that Dorian can maintain youth and beauty. Dorian Faust exchanged his spirit to express youth and beauty, which enabled this. Initially, basil was afraid to advertise his Dorian's portrait. It is because he revealed the secret of Basil 's soul, afraid that it would show a painter (basil) than the theme (Dorian). According to the explanation, Basil was concerned about his evidence of the traces left by portraits and the charm of Durian Gray, because homosexuality was highly stigmatized in Victorian England. In fact, Dorian was portrayed as innocent, and basil seemed to have seen him. There are literal portraits, but Durian Gray is a portrait. Since operation is art, Henry seems to be amused with his ability to influence and manipulate others, including Dorian. Pictures of Dorian Gray begin in England's Victorian summer and Sir Henry Watton is observing Dorian Gray painted by a sensitive artist Basil Hallword. Portrait, he is a handsome young man, basil's ultimate muse. While drawing a picture for this picture, Durian listens to His major Henry to support his hedonistic worldview, pursuing happiness is the only thing worth pursuing in life I started thinking about it. This urged Dorian to hope his painted image hopes to take his age instead. This book began with the artist's picture by Basil Hallward, Dorian Gray, reminiscent of Grey's aging and loss of beauty. This relationship between portraits is a way to explore the relationship between the outside world and self. How sad it is! I will get old, worse, and it will be terrible, it will be older than this special day in June ... if that is just another way! If it is always young, and that old picture! For this - I give everything! Yes there is nothing I will not give to the whole world! I will pay my soul for it I will!

War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

War - Essay Example Many thinkers and intellectuals, not to mention religious leaders, have lent their support to Just War and have moulded it over centuries with their contributions. According to Christian theory, resorting to war under any circumstances other than self defence is immoral, because war is never justifiable. At the same time, war is State's option and right of self-defence. "This is selective pacifism, for it does not deny the state the right of self-defense; it only denies to the Christian the right to participate. Likewise the just war theory gives no blanket endorsement of war, but demands painstaking discrimination between just and unjust causes," (Holmes, 19752). Just War is considered to be just, because it is interference on behalf of humanity, to establish peace, to repel an inhuman attack, to save people from its grips, to abolish anarchy. War for peace is also called Moral war because its intention is re-establishing morality and natural law. Just War tradition is of two fold: one is when to launch into a Just War and another, how to conduct the war without resorting into injustice. So it covers not only the motive, but also the process. The end result of winning or losing does not figure much in a Just War even though every war is fought for winning. As the means of winning the war has to be just and beyond reproach, the result of the war takes a secondary place. As morality, ethics and justice should support the origin of such a war and shape the conduction of it, its end result, even though important, cannot be achieved by mean methods. Cicero, Augustine, Aquinas, Grotius and many more philosophers stood by Just War. This includes de mands like a competent authority to declare the war, and there should be all probability of success, amongst other just causes. St. Augustine categorised them as follows: "1. Defending against an external attack; 2. Recapturing things taken; 3. Punishing people who have done wrong." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war Just War should be conducted as an act of discrimination where only the guilty party should be punished and not the civilians and non-offenders. And this means biological weapons, weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons of any kind are ruled out. Another principle is that it should be governed by proportionality, and this means, the use of force should be proportional to the offence committed and not beyond that. Civilian deaths, attacks on helpless refugees, mass killings, and indiscriminate persecution are ruled out. Also it demands minimum force. Excessive killings, torture, destruction, upheaval, exodus, genocide, target killings of particular groups due to enmity are not allowed. Just wars demand just cause, just intent and war should be the last resort after exhausting all other means of achieving peace. There should be a lawful declaration of war and during war, non-combatant groups like medical services, ambassadors, journalists, individuals providing service like Red Cross, and organisations that provide relief to refugees and dislocated people should be spared of all

Formation of Isoamyl Acetate Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Formation of Isoamyl Acetate - Lab Report Example During reflux a colour change from colourless to slight yellow was observed. After 15 minute reflux the mixture was allowed to cool and 1M sodium hydroxide solution was used for the neutralisation. Strong banana smell was detected. To the obtained solution a portion of diethyl ether was added. As two layers formed, sparatory funnel was used to remove the diethyl ether layer. Extraction was conducted several times after which all the produced diethyl ether layers were combined, dried and heated until all diethyl layer evaporated. The described manipulations afforded 1.52 g. of isoamyl ester (25.42%). It is expected that the boiling point of isoamyl acetate will be 1420C, however this temperature will be lower of traces of diethyl ether remained. Regarding IR results, it is expected that there will be no signals in the region 3000-4000 cm-1. If there are then traces of acetic acid or alcohol remained in the product. Also, characteristic signals in the region 1500-2000 cm-1 should point out to the presence of C=O group. The fingerprint region should be compared with the isoamyl acetate spectrum from the database (Clayden, et al.,

John Wesley Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

John Wesley - Essay Example Wesley’s preaching mainly focused in developing the Modern Methodist movement, which encompasses the concept of Pentecostalism, the Charismatic movement and Neo-Charismatic churches. Thus, he strongly emphasized on the evangelical status which was much more deviated form the Orthodox Catholic Christianism. Also, he insisted much on perfectionism among the Christians, where he focused on implanting holiness in their heart and life. He framed small groups through which he preached the sacraments and other religious instructions among the members of the groups. Thus the concept of Christian perfectionism was his major basic sacramental theology. â€Å"Wesley wished Methodist to become peculiar people; to abstain from marriages outside the societies; to be distinguished by their dress and by the gravity of speech and manners; to avoid the company of even relatives who were still in Satan’s kingdom.† (Bloy, n. d). Thus, pertaining to the above statement he insisted th at the Methodist to lead a disciplined and spiritual life. Moreover, he always opted for the Open-air teaching where he preached the essence of faith in Salvation and to feel that each and every human being is the child of God and they are filled with God’s spirit. Also he maintained a cordial and amicable relationship with his fellow followers. This part of the content will identify and link the relationship of John Wesley with his followers and his contribution to the Christian History. Wesley traveled all throughout his life meeting all sections of people propagating the vital elements of Methodism and the concept of evangelism. â€Å"He traveled almost constantly, generally on horse back, preaching twice or thrice a day.† (Theology thru Technology). As mentioned above, he formed small groups or societies and propagated his preaching through the groups. Each group had to follow the religious instructions strictly. He insisted the concept of personal responsibility i n developing the spirituality among the members of the societies. He also selected preachers among the groups and they had the role of spreading the concept of evangelism and taking care of the people. His main motive was to administer discipline among the members of the society and thereby allowing them to feel the spirituality and ultimate salvation. His link and relationship with the people, who were his followers, can be easily identified through various events that he implemented during his period. For example, he opened many chapels and made the people to assemble in those chapels and commissioned the preachers respectively. Importantly, he raised funds for the schools, orphanages and established charity homes in various regions of United States of America. Also, he assisted the poor and the sick people by providing them with appropriate medication and other treatment for illness. Thus, he rendered a helping hand for the people who were in need. Moreover he took earnest steps in preparing the religious literatures through which he could make even a lay man understand the essence of Christianity. Through his continuous and constant traveling he was able to meet people and enlighten them with his preaching. â€Å"He is believed to have traveled in the course of his itinerant ministry more then 250,000 miles and to have preached more than 40,000 times.† (John Wesley, n. d.). Thus he spread the vital essence of spiritual Holiness among the people. John Wesley can be considered as a keen observer of Human behavior,

General Motors Corporation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

General Motors Corporation - Essay Example GM’s six main automaking divisions have catered to its manifesto of â€Å"a car for every purse and purpose† (Monks & Minow, 2008: 414). Statement of Purpose: This Case Study on the General Motors Corporation is for the purpose of investigating the company’s downward spiral into possible bankruptcy. Using appropriate theories and literature, investigation of the What? Why? and How? of the organization will help to determine the reasons for the auto giant’s decline 0ajjind the implications for the future of the company. The reasons for and the processes by which the United States’ auto giant General Motors Company deteriorated to a position of near-bankruptcy, can be determined by investigating various factors based on relevant theories of corporate collapse (Fig.1). These would include corporate governance, organisational culture, leadership styles, operational risk management and financial risk management pertaining to the functioning of General Motors. The underlying concepts pertaining to risk management, financial markets and products, and global perspectives on risk are important aspects. A widely encompassing approach that associates the causes of bankruptcy to the characteristics of the company and to the financial symptoms of distress, is essential, in examining the company’s financial decline (Thornhill & Amit, 2003). Besides the financial situation of the company, other crucial factors include the time dimension of failure, and the influence of key non-financial factors such as managerial error which is found to be one of the main reasons (Balcaen & Ooghe, 2006). Over the decades, from the time of GM’s inception in 1909, the company has suffered numerous set-backs which destroyed its ability to control the cost of its workforce. Roger Smith as CEO started downsizing the manufacturing units from 1985, with a commitment to revolutionizing the organization.

Environmental impact assessment for proposed developments in Prembrey Essay

Environmental impact assessment for proposed developments in Prembrey Airport - Essay Example It also provides mitigative measures for any possible negative impacts. The study considers both the physical and social environment. The main aim of EIA is to promote a sustainable environment where the current developer does not compromise the ability of future generations to enjoy the same resources. This work entails an EIA study into the proposed developments or extension of Pembrey Airport in reference to likely fires in the new freight and customs warehouse as well as on the runway (Morgan, 2000). The report covers the project description, the existing environmental status of the site, the likely positive and negative environmental impacts, mitigation measures as well as the environmental legislations with respect to fire prevention in such developments among other issues. The EIA team carried out the project assessment using a combination of methods including ground surveys, questionnaires and interviews with the neighbors. Existing literature on statutory and other requirements was also reviewed (Wood, 2003). During the study, various Acts and Regulations were reviewed to gather information which would help in preparing the EMPs. The following baseline information was derived from the assessment of the proposed project: †¢ The project is being developed in a well-established commercial zone. †¢ Public consultations revealed that there were no significant negative environmental impacts resulting from the project. †¢ The project involves the management of socioeconomic effects and hence requires a detailed EMP. †¢ The project has significant positive socioeconomic and economic importance with potential for employment generation. This report contains the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the proposed runway extension in Pembrey Airport. The proponent, Carmarthenshire County Council, contracted an environmental team to conduct the EIA study of the proposed development with regard to likely fires during the implementation and the operational phases of the project. The proposed site is situated within the recreational areas like the Ffos Las racecourse as well as the Machynys Championship’s golf course. Pembrey Airport is located about 11.8 km north-west of Llanelli and 17.9 km south of Carmarthen. The facility is used for training purposes, loading and offloading of cargoes, landings and takes-off among others. It is also situated a few kilometers from the Royal landing base but within a safe range. In this case, the client wanted to extend the length of the runway to 2400 meters (7.874 ft). This is to enable operations of the Air Bus A320 passenger aircraft, VIP corporate jets and horse/race car carrying freighters. Furthermore, the proponent wishes the facility to accommodate large military aircraft like C130 used for both monitoring logistics and training purposes. In addition to the runway, the proponent, Carmarthenshire County Council, plans to explore the full potential of the facility by proposing for developments of new terminal, customs as well as freight buildings for the site. The proposed development is greatly appreciated by the legislators of Welsh government since it would benefit the Carmarthenshire region and serve both the southern and western parts of Wales. This would

Where relevant make reference to the royal art ancient empires of Essay

Where relevant make reference to the royal art ancient empires of Ghana and Mali - Essay Example This statue consists of a distinct style that brings out the real nature of the chief’s authority. The lines on the surface of the robe show the depth of the folds express on the sculpture. This only brings out the richness of the textile worn by the chief (Walker and Chaplin, 1997). This is an image of the King of the Kuba people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The king of the Kuba people was in charge of the political, economic and social organization of the kingdom. As a sign of authority, the king would adorn a distinct head gear comprising of certain feathers. These feathers were a symbol of authority only fit for the king. The other pieces of clothing contain exquisitely embroidered textiles that have organized geometric patterns. He also has anklets on his feet and bracelets on his arms, and he is holding a spear in his right hand. As a king, it was his duty to protect his people as well as command all the political power in the region. Adorning in such attire was a way of expressing the power commanded by the king since no one else could wear

Managing Global Human Resources 1 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Global Human Resources 1 - Article Example This article helps in understanding the manner in which employees posted on international locations, must be dealt with and managed, so as to minimize the risk of failures. It fulfills the key objective of this course – that of management of global human resources, by explaining the need; and discussing the key approaches, and critical managerial functions in a comprehensive manner. It enriches and broadens the understanding of the readers, on critical aspects such as the right approach to hire and train the employees, establishing and maintaining labor relations, aspects related to remuneration, and most of all, the need to familiarize the employees’ families with the global culture and environment through appropriate training so as to avoid risk of failures and ensure a smooth functioning of the business and in the process establish harmonious inter-relations between the organizations and their employees. This article aims to analyze and discuss the contemporary global trends with regard to management of human resources especially in terms of the social responsibility of the global organizations towards people in general. It basically intends to bring to the fore, the issue of global public consciousness and the duties and responsibilities of giant multinational corporations operating beyond their respective national boundaries. Globalization has led to the expansion in scope of businesses as well as the manner in which it is managed. According to Palazzo and Scherer (2008) the regulatory systems which govern a nation have outgrown its own boundaries and has now expanded to the global corporations as well, which are operating in international locations. Such a drastic change in the role of business, calls for an equally significant change in the management practices of these corporations particularly in the

Campare Sonnet Essay Example for Free

Campare Sonnet Essay Shall I compare you to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:| You are more lovely and more constant:| Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,| Rough winds shake the beloved buds of May| And summers lease hath all too short a date: | And summer is far too short:| Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,| At times the sun is too hot,| And often is his gold complexion dimmd; | Or often goes behind the clouds;| And every fair from fair sometime declines,| And everything beautiful sometime will lose its beauty, By chance or natures changing course untrimmd;| By misfortune or by natures planned out course. But thy eternal summer shall not fade | But your youth shall not fade,| Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;| Nor will you lose the beauty that you possess;| Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his shade,| Nor will death claim you for his own,| When in eternal lines to time thou growest:| Because in my eternal verse you will live forever. | So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,| So long as there are people on this earth,| So long lives this and this gives life to thee. So long will this poem live on, making you immortal| My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun;| My mistresss eyes are nothing like the sun;| Coral is far more red than her lips red;| Coral is far more red than her lips;| If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; | If snow is white, then her breasts are a brownish gray;| If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. | If hairs are like wires, hers are black and not golden. I have seen roses damaskd, red and white,| I have seen damask roses, re d and white [streaked],| But no such roses see I in her cheeks; | But I do not see such colors in her cheeks;| And in some perfumes is there more delight | And some perfumes give more delight| Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. | Than the horrid breath of my mistress. | I love to hear her speak, yet well I know | I love to hear her speak, but I know| That music hath a far more pleasing sound;| That music has a more pleasing sound. I grant I never saw a goddess go;| Ive never seen a goddess walk;| My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:| But I know that my mistress walks only on the ground. | And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare | And yet I think my love as rare| As any she belied with false compare. | As any woman who has been misrepresented by | The sonnet 18 is a Shakespeare’s early love poem which is about affection of a young man to his beloved. It starts with the genuine question, â€Å"shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? † The speaker is thinking about his lover’s beauty rather than putting her poem in a conventional love poem formula. Then, he points out her lover’s beauty was more beautiful and constant than a summer day; her beauty was eternal and would be preserved in the lines of this poem. However, Sonnet 130 is a more convincing love poem because it is more descriptive and realistic in depicting his lover which shows that his love is more sincere and everlasting. Sonnet 18 is about the feeling of perfection of his lover’s beauty while sonnet 130 is about the real appearances of her mistress. In sonnet 18 the speaker says, â€Å"Shall I compare thee to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:† Although summer is pleasant season, the speaker never talks about how his lover is like a summer day nor how she was more lovely. He did not give life to his lover because we can use this poem to mostly every woman in the world; he does not specifically describe his lover. In sonnet 130, the speaker explicit states what his mistress looks like. The speaker says, â€Å"My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun;/Coral is far more red than her lips red;/If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; /If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. It explicitly describes his lover in an honest way. Although love poems often use sun, snow and beautiful objects to praise the beauty of their subject, realistic love is not about an idealized sense of beauty. A person cannot love another one simply because they are physically beautiful. We think that the women with red lips, white skin and gold hair are beautiful, but does it mean the women that having â€Å"not so† red lips, brownish skin, and black hair are not beautiful? Beauty is subjective. When people love someone, they would define beauty by his/her st andard. By describing in detail of his lover’s appearance, the speaker of sonnet 130 really know his lover. Love is not only about the feeling of a warm sunny summer day, but know a person as a distinguish individual. Sonnet 130 make his lover feel special and superior because the speaker pay quite attention to her actual appearance, and honestly writes it down in a poem. It also gives her the sense of security because she knows he loves her for who she is and she does not need to pretend to be a perfect figure nor be an everlasting summer day. Sonnet 130 ses reality to prove the speakers love while sonnet 18 uses exaggeration. Sonnet 18 illustrates only the speaker’s love for his beloved’s beauty while in sonnet 130 illustrates more sincere love for her mistress even though she is not perfect. In sonnet 18, the speaker claim his lover was eternal by saying, â€Å"By chance or natures changing course untrimmd;/But thy eternal summer shall not fade /Nor lose possession o f that fair thou owest;/ Nor shall Death brag thou wanderst in his shade,† The speaker praise that her beauty stronger than the nature. Although the speaker values her beauty greatly and even believed her is beauty has the power to overturn the nature, it is only his wish and imagination that her beauty would not change. It will not be convincing to a woman since they consciously know that appearance will change. His lover will feel that the speaker only focuses on her beauty, but not anything else. In sonnet 130, the speaker states, â€Å"I love to hear her speak†. The speaker loves her thinking, her opinions and her intellects. The speaker values her thought which is not very common even in current society. Relationship is about equality and respect. Many men treat women as an object that has nothing inside. Even in sonnet 18, the speaker compares his lover as an eternal summer which also an object. Then, the speaker says, â€Å"I grant I never saw a goddess go;/My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:† . The speaker wants to compare his mistress with a goddess as many sonnets do, but he admits that he never saw one. It mocks that other poets are dishonest which compare their lover to a figure they never see. He emphasized the word â€Å"my mistress† which shows that he takes pride that this woman is his mistress as while as the ways his mistress is like. He shows that this poem is about her mistress but not anybody else, not even goddess can compare with his mistress. He cares only his mistress which makes her even superior to a goddess. He shows that although her mistress is not an immortal figure, but her mistress is special for him. Then, speaker of sonnet 130 transits his understanding of her mistress to his confession of love while in sonnet 18, the speaker transits his lover’s beauty to mortality. The speaker of sonnet 18 uses poetry to eternalize his lover while in sonnet 130, the speaker shows that his love for her is eternal. In the end of sonnet 18, the speaker says, â€Å"So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, /So long lives this and this gives life to thee†. The life of the subject will be an endless summer, but only because the speaker has immortalized her in this poem, and only if people continue to read these verses. It makes the readers feel that the poem itself is greater than the subject. The poem builds up this subject with eternal beauty and the subject only lives in the poem. However, this poem is for a living woman, and she is not living by her beauty or by the poem. Every woman knows this poem cannot real give immorality to them because the readers do not even know who the subject is. Not only the woman reading this poem cannot relate herself to this poem, buy she also will feel the speaker’s love is unrealistic and superficial and will not last long. In contract, in sonnet 130, the speaker claims that â€Å"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare†. His claim is convincing because in previous lines, he honestly depict his mistress and we expect he is honest when he says that he loves her. Furthermore, if his love for her is not because she is idealized beautiful since she is not, then he must love her because of her which we define as true love. His love would not fate with changing of appearance or time. His mistress would feel that she has the speaker’s heart forever. Sonnet 130 well proved the speaker’s love for her mistress; his love is about understanding and respect; his love is strong and everlasting. In contrast, sonnet 18 is more about the speaker’s passion to his lover’s beauty than his love for her as a whole individual. Many people say romantic love would last long. It is because that when people know each other well, their flaws would appear, and they are intolerance to these flaws. They would try everything to change each other to the way they want, but they most likely fail. Everyone is difference and not perfect, so when people love someone, they should acceptance their flaws.

Book Review of Drinking Essay Example for Free

Book Review of Drinking Essay Caroline Knapp writes eloquently and honestly, yet often starkly, about her life as a â€Å"functioning alcoholic. † Ms. Knapp graduated Magna cum laude from Brown University, was a contributing editor at New Woman magazine as well as the Boston Phoenix. She wrote for many other magazines as well and was the author of Alice K’s Guide to Life. She was born into an upper-class family, one of two twin girls, daughter of a psychoanalyst father and an artist mother. Yet despite all the gifts seemingly bestowed upon her, from her earliest memories Ms. Knapp felt that she was different in some way; that she needed something to sustain her and help her travel through life; her particular crutch became alcohol. Carolyn’s family, though a model of respectability and stability on the outside, had their own particular demons to deal with. Carolyn’s father was described as â€Å"cold, remote, and inaccessible, an alcoholic involved in extramarital affairs. † (Handrup, 1998, p. 1). Her mother seemed to be â€Å"preoccupied with breast cancer throughout much of Knapp’s childhood,† and â€Å"was seemingly unaware of the inner life of her children. † (p. 1). Carolyn relates stories of her father’s previous marriage which produced three children, and the confusion that came along with the ex-wife and the younger son who was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and whose erratic behavior frightened Carolyn. The theory of nature causing alcoholism pretty much goes out the window on this particular case as Carolyn’s twin sister Becca never turned to alcohol or any other addictive behavior to cope with a life that virtually mirrored Carolyn’s own. The disability of any alcoholic seems to be an intense need for protection; an inability to weather the storms of life alone, the absolute craving for a friend, a lover that will carry them through the rough times. In fact, Ms. Knapp felt about alcohol the exact same way she imagined others felt about their lovers. It was something she craved, obsessed over, and thought about constantly. Ms. Knapp’s â€Å"rough times† in life soon translated into absolutely anything at all, good or bad. The sun was shining, or it wasn’t, the cashier at the grocery store was unfriendly, or perhaps too friendly, somebody died, a baby was born. Every nuance of life became too difficult to deal with, the emotions that accompanied normal day-to-day living were too much to process without a drink—or two, or three, or four. Ms. Knapp wryly notes that living without alcohol is like being â€Å"forced to live alone without the armor. The armor, of course, is protection from all the things we might actually feel, if we allowed ourselves to feel at all;† (Knapp, 1996, p. 113) Comfort became an absolute necessity, and Caroline remembers that from the time she was able to sit in her mother’s lap she would rock herself back and forth, and that this bizarre behavior continued for more years than she cared to remember. â€Å"Later I developed a more elaborate system: I’d get on my knees and elbow and curl up in a ball on the bed facedown like a turtle in its shell, and rock away, for hours sometimes†¦I was deeply embarrassed that I did this, ashamed of it, really, but I needed it. I needed it and it worked. The truth? I did this until I was sixteen. The rocking was just like drinking. † (Knapp, 1996, p. 62). So, from the comfort she derived from rockingfor hours sometimes Caroline â€Å"graduated† to a more sophisticated form of self-comfort—alcohol. She never came to a satisfactory conclusion as to why that comfort was so essential to her. â€Å"I still don’t know, today, if that hunger originated within the family or if it was something I was simply born with. In the end I don’t suppose it matters. You get your comfort where you can. † (p. 61). While Knapp faced few serious medical issues as a result of her alcoholism, she nonetheless suffered through the physical challenges her addiction brought such as the soon-daily hangovers, headaches and nausea. She suffered blackouts on occasion, and another woman one day remarked about all the tiny broken blood vessels on her nose—a classic sign of the habitual drinker. Knapp combined two addictions for a period of time; anorexia and alcoholism. She felt like the anorexia gave her control over her life, and the alcoholism made it possible for her to continue the anorexia. She notes during her anorexic phase that â€Å"I simply couldn’t stand the starving anymore, couldn’t go on without some kind of release from the absolute rigor and vigilance and self-control, and I’d go out and eat like crazy and drink like crazy. These episodes were usually preceded by some glimmer of insight into my own loneliness, some gnawing sense that my hunger was more than merely physical. † (Knapp, 1996, p. 141). The psychological consequences of this intense need for protection in the form of alcohol were many; Knapp notes several times how impossible it was to maintain any type of intimacy in relationships when she had a whole secret life that nobody else knew of. She felt she was one person at work the responsible, hard-working, intelligent and dedicated writer another with each of her boyfriends, another with her parents and siblings, and perhaps could only let her true self come through when she was alone with her lover, her glass of bourbon. Caroline felt an emptiness deep inside, that nothing could counteract except alcohol. She also felt an enormous sense of powerlessness in her own life, and described it in this way: â€Å"As a rule, active alcoholics are powerless people, or at least a lot of us tend to feel that way in our hearts. † (Knapp, 1996. p. 178). Perhaps because she was a classic example of the functioning alcoholic, few people in Caroline’s life ever mentioned her drinking to her as being a problem. When her mother told her that perhaps she was drinking a bit too much, Caroline promised she would only drink two drinks a day, no matter what. When she was unable to keep that promise, she found one excuse after another. Her own sister, while realizing the problem, skirted the issue with Caroline. While Becca didn’t come right out and say that she thought her sister was an alcoholic, Caroline felt shame because she knew on some level her sister knew. Friends and boyfriends alike, seemed to accept the fact that Caroline drank, never seeing much below that superficial level of awareness. Although there were moments of clarity when Knapp realized she must stop drinking, (such as the time she was drunkenly swinging her best friend’s two daughters around and fell down, narrowly missing injuring the children), in the end it was no one thing that prompted her to enter rehab. She felt that it would take â€Å"great courage to face life without anesthesia,† (Iaciofano, 2004, p. 13) yet, in the end, she was able to pull that very courage from somewhere deep inside herself. Ms. Knapp’s story, full of bad relationships, years of self doubt and pain, strong addictions and family issues, psychologically goes far beyond the disease of alcoholism itself, and offers tremendous insight into the gut-wrenching need for something to ease the pain that life inflicts. Ms. Knapp notes that â€Å"You take away the drink and you take away the single most important method of coping you have. How to talk to people without a drink†¦.. How to experience a real emotion—pain or anxiety or sadness—without an escape route, a quick way to anesthetize it. How to sleep at night. † (Knapp, 1996, p. 254). References Handrup, Cynthia Taylor. (July-September 1998). Drinking: A Love Story. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. Retrieved April 20, 2006, from http://www. findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_qa3804/is_199807/ai_n8791537/print Iaciofano, Carol. (June 16, 2004). Lyrical Essays Trace a Woman’s Short Yet Rich Life. Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2006 from http://www. arlindo-correia. com/061203. html Knapp, Caroline. (1996). Drinking: A Love Story. New York, Bantam Dell, A Division of Random House.

Female Absenteeism from Sociology Theories

Female Absenteeism from Sociology Theories Critically explore the claim that women have been excluded from the history of sociology. When studying the history of sociology, it is evident that the perspective of male scholars and theorists has been much more prevalent than that of females and has had a greater influence on the nature of society today. In patriarchal society, men have made their own knowledge and their own gender representative of the whole of humanity (Daly, 1973;8, cited in Spender, 1981). The most dominant theorists who pioneered sociology during their time, were males such as Durkheim and Weber, regardless of the fact that they had many female contemporaries (such as Webers wife, Marianne, who became a feminist and writer) who at the same points in history, had developed theories and conducted research of their own. This essay will aim to critically explore the claim that women have been excluded from this history, and will attempt to show arguments both for and against this statement. The exclusion of women in the history of the sociological field can only be fully understood when examining the exclusion of women in the history of society as a whole. For example in late 19th century England, women were not recognised as individuals. They were confined to the private and domesticated world, where they were unnoticed by public society. Some women did engage in more public activities, although there were restrictions, such as the factory legislation, which limited the involvement of women in the industrial sector. Men held formal power over the family, and women were confined to the private sphere of society and were excluded from the public sphere where they enjoyed few of the same benefits and privileges as men (Eisenstein, 1986). As during the 19th and 20th centuries, the dominant role of women was involved in the private sector rather than the public, this could perhaps have lead to the exclusion of women in sociological history. This meant that sociologists at the time were unable to conduct research on women, as they were unaware of the exact roles of women in this sector of society had. Additionally, at this point in history there were many other aspects of society that were to be observed, for example the industrial revolution. This created many changes in the lives of the working classes, and as such a majority of the work force was male, this only aided in the exclusion of women, as they were unavailable for observation by sociologists. It is because of this, that sociologists who sought information on working classes were unable to obtain sufficient information on the female workforce and accurately represent women. Instead they could only describe the working classes as being predominantly male and b ased the majority of theories on this (Spender, 1981). In 1865 Mill became a member of the House of Commons and fought for womens suffrage, and fought to amend the laws that gave husbands control over their wives money and property (Eisenstein, 1986). Such suppression is also evident in other sectors of society, for example women have been encouraged to specialise in less prestigious areas than men, and areas which are least likely to be thought of as preparation for any academic career (Roberts and Woodward, 1981). The omission of women from the expansion of knowledge in academic fields such as social and physical or natural sciences has been documented (Roberts and Woodward, 1981), this illustrating the lack of female perspective and lack of acknowledgement of females in academic fields. The majority of knowledge in our society is that documented and discovered by men, although has been passed off as the knowledge of mankind as they claim it is representative of the whole of humanity. The views of men have become the legitimate view of society as a whole (Spender, 1981). Even the knowledge that society has of women, is not from a female perspective, but that of male scholars. It is also men who controlled the media outlets, such as womens magazines in the 1950s, which dictated to women their expected roles and behaviours and according to Betty Friedan, was so influential in shaping their lives (cited in Spender, 1985). From more recent investigation, it seems that employment prospects of women in social sciences have yet to see much improvement (Roberts et al., 1981). Beard (1946, cited in Spender, 1981), insisted that women had actively contributed to the development of society throughout history, however as womens contributions to society had been ignored for so long, this only makes it easier for this to continue and also reinforces womens poor self image (Spender, 1981). It has been argued that women need to prove themselves to be better than their male counterparts in any field before they can be accepted. It is perhaps for this reason that there is little documentation on what women did in the past (Spender, 1981). However, throughout history women seem to have played a lesser role in times of crisis and revolution in comparison to men. For this reason Hexter argued that historians were concerned with the process of social change and that since women did not play a decisive role in such proce sses, they were not the legitimate subject of history (Spender, 1981; 55). In other words, the patriarchal society of this time did not see the actions of women to contribute significantly enough to deserve historical mention. Evidence of the continuation of this Despite the majority of sociologists, during times of the industrial revolution, focusing for the most part on the lives of the working classes (or in other words, working class men) Margaret Hewitt (1958, cited in Spender, 1981) was writing about the behaviours and experiences of wives and mothers in the Victorian industrial era. Even before this, Pearl Jephcott (1949, cited in Spender, 1981) wrote on Girls Growing Up which remains a classic text in sociology. This would suggest evidence against the exclusion of women in sociological history, as there were sociologists who were writing about them. Although these sociologists mentioned were themselves, women, and as previously described, the patriarchal society of the time did not see the opinions of women to be as important as that of men. Therefore it can be said that whist the place of women in society, and their lives, was acknowledged by female sociologists, as it is a male dominated field, their works were not to be regarded highly amongst their male counterparts. In identifying this, it can also be realised that the majority of well known female sociologists, are those which discuss the roles and lives of women, over that of men. Their stance on sociology, is that from a feminist viewpoint, rather than adopting the theories of the classical sociologists, such as Marx or Durkheim. Female sociologists who take these view points are to be forever in the shadows of the original male theorists, where as female sociologists who write and research under the principles of the feminist movement seem much more likely to gain wider recognition for their work. To conclude this essay it can be seen that women were not fully excluded from the history of sociology, as there were other women who wrote about them and documented their place in society. However at the same time they did not receive the same recognition as males in society did and were not seen to have such a significant role in the history of society. Therefore the claim that women have been excluded from the history of sociology is largely true as their work and input have been much less appreciated and acknowledged in comparison to men of the same time. Jessie Bernard (1972, cited in Roberts et al., 1981) asked not what sociology can do for women, but rather what women can do for sociology. It can be seen that in the sociological field there is a definite bias towards the presence of men in society, both as subjects and as researchers, whilst that which involves women receives much less recognition. After all, the founding fathers of sociology, are the founding fathers and not the founding mothers (Spender, 1981). References: Eisenstein, Z. (1986). The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism. Boston: Notheastern University Press Roberts, H. and Woodward, D. (1981). Changing patterns of womens employment in sociology: 1950-80. The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Dec., 1981), pp. 531-546. Blackwell Publishing [Online] available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/590132?seq=1 Spender, D. (1985). For The Record. London: The Womens Press Limited Spender, D. (ed). (1981). Mens studies modified. Oxford: Pergamon Press Limited

Americas New War Essay -- Middle East September 11 Terrorism Essays

America's New War The events of September 11th, 2001 will influence the lives of American's for years to come. Some American's will never fly on a commercial airliner again while others feel unsafe in their usual daily routine. Our country has felt a mix of emotions as the war on terrorism begins to unfold across the globe in Afghanistan. Yet I believe that a war on ignorance is about to unfold on our own soil. After the attacks the national news reports were filled with stories about Americans of Middle Eastern decent being targets for hat crimes and unnecessary violence. At this point in time, Americans of every gender, race and religion need to focus on who are nations true enemies are. The attacks on America left me with a mix of emotions and unanswerable questions. I went to sleep on September 11th feeling unsettled. However in the days to follow I felt angered watching the news reports about how ignorant American's had been acting towards citizens of Middle Eastern descent. One news report that I recall vividly was about a West Bloomfield restaurant. Someone had claimed that when the news began to show actual pictures of the attacks on the World Trade Center customers and staff began to cheer. The story escalated and numerous rumors circulated the community and within a few days the Middle Eastern restaurant had little to no business. The owner was on the news stating that there were no celebrations within his restaurant and he wanted to show the surveillance videos from that day to show the city that this was all a lie. What I find even more frustrating is the ignorance that U.S. Representative John Cooksey displayed by his comments about Muslims and Arab Ameri cans after the terrioist attacks. Cooksey stated to a ... ...rty I had been to. I even learned to do a few traditional Arabic dances and tried some new Arabic food. I am fortunate to have experienced different aspects of a few Middle Eastern cultures. Over the last few years I have learned about so many different aspects of Middle Eastern culture so now uninformed American's ideas about Arab's and Muslim's frustrate me. After such a tragedy as the recent terrorist attacks I hope that fellows American's will take it upon themselves to end this hatred that has surfaced. It's shallow to treat someone differently because they wear a turban or own a party store. American's should spend less time worrying about who's Arabic and focusing on what makes someone Arabic and accepting that. At this time American's of all cultural backgrounds should unite together and stop the ignorance that is present in our American culture today.

Lee Harvey Oswald :: essays research papers

Outline Thesis Statement: Because of extensive evidence, I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone on the day of November 22, 1963 in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The additional gunman was strategically placed in the grassy knoll area, in order to shoot at Kennedy from a frontal view (Rubinstein 4). A. Opening Paragraph   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since November 23, 1963, the day after President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated, there have been speculations as to the happenings of November 22, 1963. Along with the Warren Commission, there are hundreds of conspiracies and theories attempting to explain the assassination of Kennedy. Many people agree with the Warren Commission in that Lee Harvey Oswald acted as the lone gunman, while others maintain that another gunman was involved. Because of extensive evidence, I believe that Oswald did not act alone on November 22, 1963 in the assassination of Kennedy. The additional gunman was strategically placed in the grassy knoll area, in order to shoot at Kennedy from a frontal view (Rubinstein 4).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B. Warren Commission (Refutation) 1. The Warren Commission was a team of people chosen to examine the assassination of John F. Kennedy (Rubinstein 2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a. Give a brief summary of the Warren Commission’s account. 2. Many people agree with the Warren Commission in that Lee Harvey Oswald is the lone gunman.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a. Give evidence as to why they agree.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  b. Tell why this evidence is wrong. C. The Grassy Knoll (Reason) 1. The grassy knoll was an area on the left side of Elm Street, where President Kennedy was shot (Hurt insert page).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a. Give more general information on the grassy knoll area. 2. The grassy knoll, when the shooting began, was positioned in front of Kennedy’s limousine (Rubinstein 4).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  a. Describe the â€Å"head snap† of John F. Kennedy. D. More Than One Gunman (Reason) 1. Often, it is concluded that a lone gunman couldn’t have made the shots in the short seconds of the shooting (Rubinstein 4). a. It appears that President Kennedy and Governor Connally were injured by two different shots (Hurt 63).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   b. Describe the abilities of Oswald’s gun (Hurt 63). E. Witnesses on the Grassy Knoll (Reason) 1. Several eyewitnesses to President Kennedy’s assassination, which were present in the grassy knoll area, testify to the fact that a shot was made from the grassy knoll area. a. Gordon Arnold was standing in the grassy knoll area when he was asked to move over a little. Just as he stepped away he felt a bullet nearly hit his left ear (Hurt 111).

Wasteful :: essays research papers

Wasteful Repetition 12 years of our lives are spent learning the basics, 12 years. Yet, after those twelve years of near continuos education, colleges require us to relearn what we already know, knowledge that may be irrelevant to our chosen major. Core Curriulumn is a waste of time and money. Each year for twelve years we wake up on a day around August in order to attend required schooling. We learn english, mathematics, sciences, health, and history. School becomes our lives, almost a career that lasts approximately 120 months. For those 120 months we are taught the same subjects, not a year goes by that we were not required to take an English, Math, Science, and History courses. After successfully completing our â€Å"lower learning† studies and recieving our much awaited diplomas almost two thirds of us go on to college.1 Upon arrival at these institutions of higher learning we come to realize that our â€Å"Basic† learning is not over and we must extend our knowledge of said material before we can move on to things that more directly concern our majors. Colleges are asking us, rather, telling us to relearn the knowledge we, for the most part, already pocess. There are several things we lose when we agree to, or rather are required to retake the basics in college. Most likely foremost of what we lose,in students minds ,espeacially in todays society, is money. We spend outrageous sums of money to attend college for 4 years, individually the cost of tuition possibly ranges between 50,000 to 100,000.As a whole the nation spends in excess of $175 billion each year.2 Money wasted on learning the same material we were educated in for 12 years of our lives. Money that many of us do not have and if we are not fortunate enough to recieve a scholarship or any type, we must look towards students loans. By definition a loan is something that is lent on condition of being returned.3 Zachary Karabell,author of the book What’s College For?, wrote that: In the 1990’s alone, the average debt burden for a   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  college student grew from 8,200 to 18,800. Given that   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  these students, once they graduate, tend to earn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  between $20,000 and $30,000 a year, those debts are   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  heavy, and some schools have begun efforts to limit   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  borrowing by students. In addition to loans,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  three-quarters of all students work part time during   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the school yea, and more than 15 percent work   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  full-time.* For their money, for their investment, for   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the hours they work in order to pay for their classes,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  these students expect to be taught something they don’t   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  already know. They expect to learn. And at the end,

Armenian Genocide †Forgotten Fire Essay

1.The author included the quote from Hitler as the epigraph because he wrote â€Å"Who does now remember the Armenians† before the question and Hitler’s quote answered it. The quote answers the question because only Hitler remembered the Armenians and did the same to the Jews. My ideas didn’t change after reading Forgotten Fire because I already knew the story about the Armenian Genocide. 2.Vahan couldn’t discuss his fear with his mother because first of all, he was too scared to say a word and he wasn’t confident enough to say anything. Also he was imagining things in his mind of what might have happened to his father and maybe if he told his mother, he would burst out in tears. He didn’t also want to disturb his mother because his mother was very depressed when her husband left and it seemed like her heart wasn’t there. Also, her mother would have lied to him anyway and not tell him the truth for why the Turks took his father. 3.The attitude of the Armenian community changed in various ways. No one knew something was going to happen to them, so once everything started; everyone began to only care about themselves. Some people just didn’t want to go any longer and just wanted to be shot before getting tortured in any way. Also they were shocked of what the Turks had done and they started hating them. Every Turk they saw, they started to hate. 4.The Kenderian family was a very wealthy family and lived a great Armenian life. The father had great honor in his community. Vahan greatly admires his father because he always followed his father’s rules and the only way he survived was staying strong and admiring what his father told him to do step by step. The memory of his father gave him a lot of courage to survive because every time he had a hard time, he would close his eyes and imagine what his father told him and then move on. 5.I was aware of the Armenian Genocide before reading the book. The only ethnic war I know of before World War 11 was the Jewish Holocaust. 6.After the murder of Vahan’s brothers, he had a hard time. He didn’t feel  like himself anymore and thought that there was no point of living any longer because he knew that the soldiers would come back and kill him also. He was in pain and couldn’t stand the fact that his brothers had died, he thought everything was imaginary. After that, he stood up more and became aggravated tat he was going to survive through everything. 7.After violent experiences on his journey to Constantinople, his behavior changed afterward. He witnessed many things so after a while, if he saw someone get shot or people begging for something, he did not care because it was normal to him already just because he seen it so many times. The graphic descriptions didn’t disturb my reading because I knew about the Armenian Genocide before I read the book and also I saw an Armenian movie which had more details so the description in the book didn’t seem so harsh. 8.Vahan reveals his spiritual doubt when all the time he prayed about someone or something he got no answer. For example he would always pray to find his family members and when he didn’t, he started to doubt praying. After that, he finally found out that God really exists and he answered as many of his prayers as he could. 9.Vahan knew that Selim Bey wasn’t a polite person but the way he treated him, his first impression of Selim Bey was surprising. Vahan actually â€Å"liked† Selim Bey and couldn’t believe he had done anything to harm the Armenians. Vahan discovers Selim Bey’s true nature when he sends him to his father’s house and doesn’t ever visit Vahan again. Selim Bey betrayed Vahan which showed he didn’t care about him. 10.What Vahan means when he says I would be free an would never be free is the it was unbelievable that he was free from everything now and didn’t have to worry about hiding from Turkish soldiers, but then he still didn’t fell free because he didn’t have his family and everything he once had which made him seem like he had something missing in himself. I don’t think there are countries that deny freedom to certain citizens based on their ethnicity. 11.Mr. and Mrs. Tashian help Vahan on his journey to a new life in many ways.  Vahan learned how to take care of himself and form a family of his own one day. Also, he learned how to do different types of tasks that he learned from Mr. and Mrs. Tashian. Also, they influenced him to move on and not give up which gave him the courage to continue. 12.Everyone in Vahan’s past gave him courage to contribution to freedom in many ways. Every time Vahan was in a dark room or some place he was not sure what he can do, he would close his eyes and imagine something that someone said or did from the past which helped him move on and do what the person once told him to do. Each person gave him courage because he would imagine something each person told him to do and then he would gain more courage and confidence with his journey. 13.The meaning of the tile Forgotten Fire is the death of all the Armenians that was forgotten by the Turks. 14.The quote from Hitler was related to the Armenian Genocide because the world did indeed forget the extermination of people after the war. As well as the Jewish Holocaust, the extermination of humans was forgotten by everyone and never came to mind after such a cruel person such as Hitler committed such an act that was done to the Armenians. It also relates to the Armenian Genocide because Hitler tried to do the sane thing to the Jews as the Turks tried to do to the Armenians. http://www.armenian-genocide.org/Education.73/current_category.123/resourceguide_detail.html

Leadership And Management Skills Portfolio

Introduction This reflective work focuses on assessing my personal weaknesses in different areas. It starts by a self –assessment of my personal development needs.The next section looks at the difficulties I experienced on various issues. Finally, the action plans for self-development in the various areas are suggested. Portfolio Section 1Planning and personal management skills Using a paper exercise, I assessed my planning and personal management skills to determine areas of development. Concerning planning, I scored 13, which is a relatively low score. This indicates an area for development because my score was less than 24, which was the score I had to attain to show that I did not further development. I knew this was a weakness and a concern for me prior to starting my postgraduate studies while working full time. On the time management dimension, I scored 15 and this demonstrated a need for further development. I should have a score of above 24 to demonstrate that this area did not require further development. The issue of time management was a concern for me because of starting my postgraduate studies and working full time. I have had challenges in the past characterized by attempting to do too much at work and not managing my time effectively. The low scores on both planning and time manageme nt reveal that I have challenges with task prioritization. An action plan for self-development in these areas is presented later under task prioritization.Learning style Honey and Mumford designed a Learning Styles Questionnaire that is used in assessing the learning styles of individuals, and these are categorised into activists, theorists, pragmatists, and reflectors (Jarvis, 2005). When I completed this questionnaire, the results showed that I have a strong preference for the activist learning style and a moderate preference for the pragmatist learning style. As an activist, I enjoy novel experiences, I am active and depend on intuitive decision making and I have an aversion to structure (Jarvis, 2005). I learn best from learning activities that provide new problems and experiences, role playing and working together with others in group tasks and opportunities for dealing with challenging tasks. In addition, I prefer tasks with high visibility including presentations, leading discussions, and chairing meetings.However, I learn less when I have to listen to lectures, think, write or read on my own, or absorb and understand a lot of data. Furthermore, my learning is impaired when I have to follow precise instructions without any form of flexibility. As a pragmatist, I prefer risk-taking, group work and application and testing of concepts (Jarvis, 2005). I learn best when there is a clear association between the learning topic and actual issues in life. Learning activities should be structured around demonstrating techniques for accomplishing tasks with clear, realistic advantages. Furthermore, I prefer to be provided with opportunities for trying out and practicing techniques with feedback or coaching from a reliable expert. Similarly, I need examples or models that I can emulate, and I should be taught techniques that are presently applicable to my work context. I also prefer being offered with opportunities for immediately applying any new knowledge that I have learnt. As a pragmatist, l learn less when the learning activities are not associated with an immediate need, lack clear guidelines, and when there are obstacles to implementation of acquired knowledge. Such obstacles can be personal, managerial, organisational or poli tical in nature. These learning styles have an important influence on the learning activities undertaken in the action plan for developing different skills as demonstrated later. Assessment of how I work In a paper exercise, I assessed the way I work and the results revealed that I procrastinate when faced with tasks that I do not really like, I spend a lot of time attempting to perfect things, and I am unable to find things and notes whenever I require them. This is an indication that I have poor prioritization skills, and this will be addressed through an action plan on task prioritization that is explained later.Personality indexI assessed my personality index using an online exercise, and the results demonstrated that I possess various traits. First, I demonstrate low assertiveness as I do not need to be in constant control, and I have a higher orientation toward teamwork than tasks. Second, I am an extreme extrovert because I need to discuss issues in detail with other people. Third, I am extremely impatient as I find it challenging to concentrate on repetitive tasks, and I have a high sense of urgency. Finally, I am highly detailed because I want to acquire knowledge and become an expert. These traits of my personality affect how learning activities will be structured in the action plan to improve learning. Portfolio Section 2Group leadershipIn the first week of my course work, I was leader of my group. I did not know my fellow colleagues very well as we had just started on the course. Therefore, stepping up and being a leader of people I did not know was tough considering that I am not a manager or leader at work. I had to lead the group in the preparation of a group presentation on a case study of someone else’s leadership skills and present with them. I needed to take control and set the direction for the team more rapidly, and a lot of time was wasted as I did not know what was expected of me as a leader. For instance, a group or team leader is required to set the goal of the group and establish performance expectations (Morgeson, DeRue & Karam, 2010). This was a challenging undertaking as I decided to choose an informal approach to this activity where the group members actively facilitated the process of setting goals and determining how the members would be held responsible in relation to the performance expectations. This approach resulted in wastage of time because it was difficult for consensus to be achieved among the group members on the goals and performance expectations. Similarly, I had challenges in structuring and planning the group in terms of developing a shared understanding among the group members on the best approach for coordinating action and working together to achieve the established goals (Morgeson et al., 2010). I faced difficulties in determining how the activities would be performed, the individual’s responsible for specific tasks, and when the group activities would be done. On the issue of when the group activities would be performed, it was challenging to achieve consensus because the group members had conflicting schedules that interfered with choosing an appropriate time for the group meeting to determine the progress of the tasks. Although I faced various challenges during the initial process of forming group, I eventually embodied the role of the group leader. However, I did not always allow everyone to have input. It is suggested that soliciting and using continuing feedback from the group members is vital for achievin g the group objectives (Morgeson et al., 2010). By failing to allow the group members to offer their input into the group presentation, I ended up not including their diverse and useful perspectives on the group activity.Coaching sessionI acted as a coach on how to reactively write. There are specific skills required of coaches including social competence, emotional competence, listening, questioning, framing and contributing (Maltbia, Marsick & Ghosh, 2014). Social competence is associated with establishing relationships with individuals being coached by increasing a supportive and a safe environment that is characterized by freedom in expression thoughts, mutual respect, and trusted partnership (Goleman, 2006). However, I lacked in this competency as I did not allow the individuals I was coaching to freely express their opinions on reactive writing. Rather than encouraging engagement with my peers, I monopolized the coaching process. Emotional competence is associated with having self-awareness of one’s emotions and those of other people to ensure that the coaching relationship is experienced as productive, flexible, and open (Maltbia et al., 2014). I had a difficult time managing my own emotions when coaching others as I got angry whenever any person I was coaching did not understand what I was communicating to him or her. Furthermore, I did not recognize the effects of my actions on the emotions of the people I was coaching. For instance, some of the people I was coaching were visibly frustrated during the coaching process but I did not take time to address these issues. Listening involves understanding the meaning of what the person under coaching is saying with regard to achieving desired outcomes (Maltbia et al., 2014). When I started the coaching session, I did not ask the person I was coaching the specific outcomes they desired from this activity. It is suggested that a hierarchy should not exist in the relationship between the coach and the p eople being coached (O’Broin & Palmer, 2009). By failing to include the objectives of the people being coached into this relationship, their agenda failed to take precedence in the coaching process. As a coaching skill, questioning entails inquiry for revealing the information necessary with the highest benefit to the client (Maltbia et al., 2014). I was lacking in this competence as I rarely asked the person I was coaching questions related to the coaching process. I took on the role of an active coach and required the people I was coaching to assume a passive role in this process.Framing is characterized by expanding the world views of the people being coached through an examination of whether learning is rooted in experience (Maltbia et al., 2014). This skill requires the coach to establish whether the coaching process has had a positive effect on learning in terms of addressing the initial challenge or problem that influenced this activity to be undertaken. During the coaching sessions, I did not frame the coaching process to establish if the people I was coaching had benefited from this activity. Finally, contributing entails effective communication during the coaching sess ion as a mechanism for achieving balance between the support and challenge required for facilitating growth and learning (Maltbia et al., 2014). As initially mentioned, I monopolized conversations, and this prevented the people I was coaching from effectively contributing to the coaching process. Moreover, I failed to offer adequate challenges to promote learning in relation to reactive writing.Role playing as a manager in an appraisalPerformance appraisal is an important process as it is utilised in assessing recent performance and addressing future opportunities and objectives (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2014).). When conducting a performance appraisal, employees have to be provided with sufficient notice of the expected performance standards and timely and regular feedback about their performance (Heslin & VandeWalle, 2011). During my role play as a manager in an appraisal, I did not offer timely and regular feedback on individual performance toward the ach ievement of expected performance standards. It is also suggested that employees should have an input in the appraisal process and be provided with opportunities for challenging it if they view it as being unfair (Heslin & VandeWalle, 2011). Conversely, during the appraisal, I did not allow the individuals with opportunities for presenting their views and opinions in relation to assessment of their performance. In this regard, I failed to consider the voice of these individuals that would have provided a deeper understanding of the performance achieved.Acting as a consultantI took up the role of as a consultant in a team of two individuals to pitch to a client our ideas for their people strategy of their new business. According to the Institute of Management Consultants (2014), consultants need competencies to deliver consulting services. Some of these competencies are balanced judgment, awareness of the organisational context and external environment, and listening (de Caluwe & Re itsma, 2010). Balanced judgment entails a comparison of potential courses of action and evaluating available information and using relevant criteria, which leads to realistic decisions (de Caluwe & Reitsma, 2010). In the role of consultants, my colleague and I only focused on a single course of action for the organisation in relation to the people strategy for the new business. Consequently, when the clients asked us any alternative courses of actions that might be undertaken, we were unable to provide satisfactory responses because we were unprepared. Furthermore, external environment awareness is related to being adequately informed about issues in the business environment that have influences on strategies and utilising such knowledge for the benefit of the organisation (de Caluwe & Reitsma, 2010). In our case, we considered legal, economic and technological factors that affect an organisation’s people strategy. However, we failed to consider trends influencing human reso urces in the organisation and political issues. Thus, the clients were dissatisfied as the people strategy we developed did not take into consideration all the factors in the business environment that have impacts on the organisation’s human resources management strategy. Listening skills are important in management consultancy as they provide the client with the space for expressing their opinions, focusing on their reactions, responding suitably and posing further questions (de Caluwe & Reitsma, 2010). Regarding this, my colleague and I did not focus on the clients’ reactions. We were focused on pitching our strategy and thus we were unable to capture nonverbal signals that would have communicated to us whether the clients were in agreement with the arguments we had made in the people strategy that the organisation had to adopt. Regarding organisational context, management consultants are expected to understand how an organisation operates and considering these issues when developing an action (de Caluwe & Reitsma, 2010). We strived to develop a people strategy that reflected the organisation’s current practices related to management of human resources. However, the information related to this issue was not easily available. Therefore, we ended up pitching a people strategy that we considered as non-existing in the organisation. We later discovered that some aspects of the people strategy were already present in the organisation, which means that we had not provided a more effective solution to the clients.Task prioritisation I had two finance classes but missed the first one but then I attended the second class. It was only after attending the second class that I realised that I should have attended the first one. The content covered in the second class was only a continuation of the issues addressed in the first class. Therefore, by failing to attend the first class, I missed out on the necessary context for understanding the topics covered in the second class. This negatively interfered with my learning. Upon reflection, I learned that I did not attend the first class because I did not prioritise the things that I had to do. I have to deal with conflicting demands of working full time and pursuing my postgradu ate education (Armstrong, 2012). In this regard, I missed the first finance class because I was attending a meeting at work where I was presenting an important report to senior management.Negotiating as a ClientMy colleague and I assumed the role of a client negotiating with a software vendor on delivery times and price. As clients, we argued and debated with the software vendor on the relevant issues. For instance, there was prolonged argument and debate on the delivery times because we were considering small insignificant factors on this issue. The outcome was that the arguments related to the main issue of delivery times were largely neglected. Indeed, it is suggested that it is important to have awareness of any insignificant arguments that might derail the negotiation process (Pinet & Sander, 2013). In our case, we concentrated on being right rather than winning the arguments associated with the price and delivery times. The negotiation process deviated from the agenda establi shed prior to the meeting with the software vendor. Consequently, a lot of time was wasted on these arguments and compromises were achieved after a protracted process.Portfolio Section 3This section presents an action plan for developing my postgraduate, management and leadership skills further. The action plan covers skills required for group leadership, management consultant, appraisal manager, coaching, negotiation, and task prioritization as presented below.Action plan for group leadership skillsObjective To improve my skills in leading and managing groups in completion, of course, related tasks Tasks Read and brainstorm with my peers on available literature including books, reputable online articles and journal articles about team leadership. I will focus on literature that looks at leadership functions on the different phases of teams namely the transition and action stages. The transition stage is a time when a group or team focuses on activities associated with the team’s structures, planning tasks, and assessing the performance of the team in terms of the whether the team has the ability of achieving its objectives (Marks, Mathieu & Zaccaro, 2001). The specific leadership skills that I will learn about for this phase include defining the mission of the team, goals, and performance standards, structuring responsibilities and roles in the team, and promoting feedback processes (Morgeson et al., 2010). The action stage is where the team or group members are focused on tasks that directly contribute to goal achievement (Marks et al., 2001). In this phase, I will learn rele vant leadership skills including creating a positive climate in the group, encouraging autonomous actions by members, resource acquisition for the group, problem solving, involvement in the group’s work, and monitoring the group(Morgeson et al., 2010). Discuss with managers and leaders in my workplace about effective approaches for leading and managing groups or teams Evaluation After acquisition of the necessary leadership skills, I will apply to future group assignments in my course work. I will evaluate the acquired group leadership skills by asking my peers to rate my performance as a leader. I will design a checklist where the group members will provide their responses about my overall leadership skills and areas that require improvement. Review date The reading of literature, applying the relevant knowledge to actual practice, and evaluating leadership skills will be reviewed on a regular basis whenever there is a group assignment.Action plan for coaching skillsObjective To become a very effective coach Tasks Read books, journal articles, and online publications on the coaching process and the required skills and competencies for this activity followed by a brainstorming exercise with my colleagues. Participate in training in coaching provided by my organisations to equip with necessary skills. Ask a senior manager in my workplace to act as my coach to enable me to understand this process from a practical perspective and model it. Evaluation The knowledge acquired from literature, training, and on-the-practice will be utilised in coaching my peers in coursework on different topics. The performance data that will be collected to establish the level of my effectiveness as a coach will be obtained from interviewing the individual that I will be coaching. Review date Ongoing throughout my course work.Action plan for management consultant skillsObjective To enhance my skills as a management consultant Tasks Read available literature on management consultancy and look at case studies on the process of management consultation. After reading alone, I will brainstorm these issues with my study group. Discuss with management consultants within and outside my organisation to learn the criteria for success. Evaluation Evaluation will be based on establishing the extent to which the client is able to achieve desired outcomes in relation to the consultation services I will offer them. This will be achieved by using a questionnaire to ask the clients whether I demonstrate the skills of a management consultant. Review date Ongoing based on management consultancy projects.Action plan for managerial skills in appraisalsObjective To improve my skills in conducting performance appraisals Tasks Read widely and brainstorm on skills for performance appraisals. Role playing with my peers on posing the right questions to the individual under appraisal. Discuss with senior managers in my workplace about successfully performing performance appraisals. Evaluation The assessment of my skills in this area will be based on determining to which I successfully complete a performance appraisal. This will involve asking individuals involved in the appraisal process to rate my performance using a checklist. Review date This activity will be completed on a monthly basis.Action plan for negotiation skillsObjective To improve my negotiation skills as a client Tasks Reading widely and brainstorming with colleagues on negotiation skills for clients to understand negotiation skills, negotiation phases, and sources of conflict in negotiation process. Engage in role play to assist in clarification of responsibilities and roles in working in a negotiating team. Evaluation Evaluation will involve collecting evidence indicating whether I applied competencies and skills required in negotiating as a client. This will be achieved by interviewing the other parties to the negotiation process to determine the level of my skills in negotiating as a client. Review date This will be completed by February 2015.Action plan for task prioritizationObjective To enhance my skills in prioritizing both work and education tasks. Tasks Listing all the tasks that I have to perform on a daily basis in my work and college and categorising them based on their impacts on my work and educational pursuits. Using a personal calendar to plan my tasks. Using a checklist to determine completion of tasks on daily basis. Evaluation Performance in task prioritisation will be evaluated by assessing the extent to which I complete all the tasks required in my workplace and at college. Review date This activity will be completed on a daily basis. Conclusion This reflective work has identified areas that require further development in improving my managerial and leadership skills. Based on this reflective work, it is evident that I lack skills in different areas including leadership, task prioritization, effective coaching, managerial skills in performance appraisal and management consultancy. Therefore, these skills have to be improved to ensure that I am effective as manager and leader. Therefore, action plans for improving the different skills have been presented. It is expected that implementation of the action plans will equip with skills that are applicable to my workplace and educational setting. References Armstrong, M. (2012) Armstrong’s handbook of management and leadership: developing effective people skills for better leadership and management. PA: Kogan Page. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2014). Performance appraisal. [Online]Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/performance-appraisal.aspx (Accessed: 15 Dec. 14). De Caluwe, L., & Reitsma, E. (2010) `Competencies of management consultants: a research study of senior management consultants’, In Buono, A., & Jamieson, D (Eds), Consultation for organisational change, pp. 15-40. NC: Information age publishing. Goleman, D. (2006) Social Intelligence: the new science of human relationship. NY: Banam books. Heslin, P., & Vandewalle, D. 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