The final solution :: essays research papers

The final solution It seems as though Present day Americans have â€Å"Super sized† their way of life from what it was in the past. People are buying larger houses, shopping at huge department stores, and buying goods in bulk. It also seems like people are living an accelerated lifestyle with a schedule primarily composed of business. New technology in communications and transportation has provided us with the necessary machines that get us through the day. Every morning, millions of Americans rely on their cars to carry them safely to work; most, make the journey alive. Drivers today not only have to deal with the road problems of the past like narrow highways, crumbled streets, and wheel-deep potholes, but we must also deal with the effects of a constant growing number of drivers on the road.. Unfortunately, countless lives have been lost on the roads due to people driving too fast, in cars that can’t stand up to today’s road conditions. These caffeine driven speed freaks, w eaving their little toy cars, in and out of traffic, during the morning commute, need to find somewhere else to wreck their cars because other people have jobs to be at. As much as people like defending their supped up Scions and Mini Coopers and enjoy blaming accidents and other traffic related issues on other factors, such as poor roads or careless driving, the fact is that cars are no longer a typical, safe means of transportation. Roads are too expensive to be re-surfaced every time a tree root springs up the asphalt, or whenever a few potholes break out. Today, we Americans need a dependable vehicle that is capable of safely transporting us through the rugged roads and highway trails. These vehicles would be big enough to provide ample space for passenger seating and cargo storage, and would feature an expanding pop out room, that could be used as a kitchen, office or lounge. The giant sized truck would enable drivers to safely travel through the roughest and most severe road conditions, even through trails un paved. This â€Å"Monster 4 x 4" would not only provide a greater level of convenience and safety for the drivers, it would produce the well needed funds to support struggling businesses and industries, such as US car manufacturers, the oil industry, and the US Government. While we can’t control how people drive, we can control what they drive. By restricting all cars, mini vans and small trucks from being used on city streets and highways, Americans would have no choice but to purchase a giant 4x4. The final solution :: essays research papers The final solution It seems as though Present day Americans have â€Å"Super sized† their way of life from what it was in the past. People are buying larger houses, shopping at huge department stores, and buying goods in bulk. It also seems like people are living an accelerated lifestyle with a schedule primarily composed of business. New technology in communications and transportation has provided us with the necessary machines that get us through the day. Every morning, millions of Americans rely on their cars to carry them safely to work; most, make the journey alive. Drivers today not only have to deal with the road problems of the past like narrow highways, crumbled streets, and wheel-deep potholes, but we must also deal with the effects of a constant growing number of drivers on the road.. Unfortunately, countless lives have been lost on the roads due to people driving too fast, in cars that can’t stand up to today’s road conditions. These caffeine driven speed freaks, w eaving their little toy cars, in and out of traffic, during the morning commute, need to find somewhere else to wreck their cars because other people have jobs to be at. As much as people like defending their supped up Scions and Mini Coopers and enjoy blaming accidents and other traffic related issues on other factors, such as poor roads or careless driving, the fact is that cars are no longer a typical, safe means of transportation. Roads are too expensive to be re-surfaced every time a tree root springs up the asphalt, or whenever a few potholes break out. Today, we Americans need a dependable vehicle that is capable of safely transporting us through the rugged roads and highway trails. These vehicles would be big enough to provide ample space for passenger seating and cargo storage, and would feature an expanding pop out room, that could be used as a kitchen, office or lounge. The giant sized truck would enable drivers to safely travel through the roughest and most severe road conditions, even through trails un paved. This â€Å"Monster 4 x 4" would not only provide a greater level of convenience and safety for the drivers, it would produce the well needed funds to support struggling businesses and industries, such as US car manufacturers, the oil industry, and the US Government. While we can’t control how people drive, we can control what they drive. By restricting all cars, mini vans and small trucks from being used on city streets and highways, Americans would have no choice but to purchase a giant 4x4.

Essay --

Percussion: The History ​Despite what many may think, percussion is well known across hundreds of nations all over the world. Percussion has been around for centuries, and it has a very important meaning in the lives of many. It would be safe to assume that Percussion will be around for a long time as well, and play an important part in the lives of many people. Most people see drums as a cool thing to do, others see them as a bunch of irritating noise makers; but do they know the history behind them? So what is percussion? Percussion is a musical instrument played by striking with the hand, a handheld, or a pedal-operated stick or beater (Hudson). There are different groups of percussion instruments, and as time went by, they have immensely evolved from where they started (Zed). So what is percussion, where did it start, and what is it used for? ​How and where did percussion start? Percussion started in Asia Minor [the western peninsula that now constitutes most of modern Turkey], being the first musical apparatus that ever came into being, existing in nearly every culture since before 6000 B.C. (Samuel & Jason). It was started by the native people hitting various items with sticks and hands. Percussion instruments were used for multiple purposes such as chanting, signaling war and communicating with other tribes (Samuel & Jason). The first percussion instruments were likely human hands and feet used to clap or stomp a rhythm. Eventually cultures discovered that they could create louder, more varied sounds with crafted surfaces and implements. In the 18th and 19th centuries, more percussion instruments [like cymbals and triangles] came to being. It is impossible to say where the first percussion instrument was made, t... ...e history of percussion is a very fascinating field of study; it is also important to those in the music industry, and for those who would like to pursue it. Percussion is also important because without it our music would be boring. It is also very helpful, because without it the Native Americans would not have been able to signal or communicate with each other and call for help during war and other times of need. While doing research on this subject I learned only a few things, such as the origin, what they are used for, and its important role in everything aside from marching band. The subject of percussion seems to be a much more important idea than most give credit for. The next time you see or hear about percussion, you will easily identify any of the instruments that a band member is playing. Now, you can give credit to where credit is due and deserving.

De Beers Jewellery

Case Introduction De Beers, the so-called cartel in the jewelry industry, is a company that dominates diamond industry. The core operational of De Beers includes diamond mining, diamond shops, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea. The company's headquarter located in Johannesburg, South Africa. As the vertically integrated diamonds producer, De Beers also controls the power f supply to its ‘sight holders'.The group owns and operates mines in Canada has gained 26% Interest In South African mines through Its partners, operates In more than 20 countries across six continents. Areas of focus are In Botswana, Angola, India, Canada and RASA (South Africa). As the year 2000, the company remained the world's leading diamond producer and distributor with extensive activities in the value chain of exploration, mining and distributio n of rough stones as well as significant influence in processing, manufacturing and marketing. History of De Beers: Cecil Rhodes EraFounder of De Bees, Cecil Rhodes started the company by renting water pumps to diggers with flooded claims during the diamond rush In 1871. He seized opportunities to purchase and consolidate claims and later enter mines. Among the rights he purchased was the right to mine the De Beers brothers farm, whose name became the name if his company. Rhodes used his market position and access to credit to engineer a merger with Barney Barton (who managed to obtain a large stake in Kimberley biggest mine), in 1888 to form De Beers Consolidated Mines.De beers controlled close to 100% of South African diamond output and 90% of oral diamond output. Its position was so formidable that when the company reduced production in 1888, rough-stone process quickly rose by 50%. By 1893, Rhodes had established a single buyer, the Diamond Syndicate. It was also Rhodes, who nev er married, who conceived of the Idea of diamonds as a symbol of committed romance. Rhodes became the prime minister of Cape Colony In 1890, ad enacted laws benefiting mine owners. The Glen Grey Act effectively relocated native Africans from their lands to make way for industrial development.Rhodes was responsible for laws During his reign, he named the country as ‘Rhodesia' (Zombie since 1980), and by the ruling time, commissioned railways, bridges, schools and public buildings has emerged efficiently. Rhodes died in 1902. De Beers' share of rough diamonds had fallen to due to a large discovery at Premier, a competing local mine, though De Beers owned a stake in its production. De Beers stepped up its focus on buying and consolidating mines as opposite arose. While the company would remain without a forceful new leader until the sass, the system put in place by Rhodes endured.Ernest Oppenheim Era Ernest Oppenheim, came to South Africa as a diamond buyer. He would become mayor of Kimberly in 1908 and a member of the South African Parliament in 1924. Oppenheim builds up diamond interest and founded the Anglo-American Corporation in 1924. He then set out to link gold and diamonds, and began purchasing every known diamond mine in the early sass including new fields in Iambi. Oppenheim not only purchased mines, but also established a distribution system independent of dominant De Beers syndicate.Oppenheim began raising the issue of racial problems in Johannesburg, where e lived, and lobbied for creation of modern native villages and social progress for black Africans. As a member of the United Party and a member of parliament, Ernest opposed the Afrikaner nationalist. Unfortunately, the Nationalist Party came into power in 1942. And the era of apartheid, or institutionalized racial discrimination began. Harry Oppenheim Era Harry, son of late Ernest became the CEO of De Beers in 1957 until 1984.Harry was born to an assimilated Jewish family of German origins in Kimberly, the original center for diamond mining in South Africa, and lived most of his life in Johannesburg. Harry Oppenheim was also known for his philanthropy. From 1967, the social investment activities of De Beers were merged with those of Anglo American in the Group Chairman's Fund. The fund initiated and finances numerous projects that contributed to community development on a large scale in South Africa, particularly in the arenas if education and heals.De Beers was instrumental in establishing a number of schools and technical colleges for black students. Following the Sweet riots in 1976, Harry established the Urban Foundation to improve, directly and wrought legislative reform, the social and industrial environment of urban native Africans. The slogan on ‘Diamond is forever' was created during his time with De Beers. Nicholas Oppenheim Era In 1985, Harry son Nicholas succeeded him as a Chairman. In addition to diamond trading business and other related profit mak ing activities.Through the sass and sass, De Beers geologist explored in Angola, Australia, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, China, DRY, Lesotho, Iambi, Russia, Venezuela and Zombie. Through this period, De Beers also expanded its advertising program worldwide; n 1972 in Spain and Brazil; in 1977 in Holland, Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland; in 1979 in Mexico; in 1982 in Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan; and 1984 in India and Korea. In the mid-sass, De Beers has implemented plans to ensure that its mines in Africa met 3rd party certified environmental management standards.De Beers also set aside nature reserves around mining areas in South Africa, Botswana and Iambi and commenced programs to protect rare biodiversity. Problem Statements The end of apartheid era in 1994, has written down several changes in the policies dad in South Africa. The situation become different for the native people where high priority then given to them instead of the Afrikaners. While rec ognizing that diamond mining had made economic contributions, a growing proportion of policymakers in Africa believed that the diamond industry had not generated sufficient contribution by way of value-added processing activities.Therefore the Minerals Development Bill was drafted by the South African Department of Minds and Energy (DEEM) which would become the county's new mining law by year 2000 and gibe the state exclusive custodianship of all mineral rights. Then a new policy called ‘Black Economic Empowerment' (BEE) came into the scene in 2000 with a goal of creating opportunities for previously disadvantaged communities and individuals, including black Africans, women and people with disabilities.In addition to the changes in policies as one of the biggest challenges, a potential threat came into the gem market by the advancing technologies, for synthetic production. Thus, De Beers needed a new strategy to override with both rapidly changing industry environment and new expectations of society. SOOT Analysts Strengths Weaknesses Its reputation of monopoly Strong investment in marketing and advertisement. Good – strong reputation with the ruling government.High operating cost (exploration, mining, sorting and distribution) Issue with mines that are offset with civilization areas. Strong competitors from other brands Opportunities Threat Technology advancement. Backed by government policies to support the health of the industry. Apartheid issue Strong competitors from other brands. Racial issue could cause angry mobs to destroy the mining equipment (loss) De Beers' 4-legged Strategy First Legged: To improve efficiency and margins from De Beers own operations Second Legged: To stimulate demand of diamond by at least 5% per year.Third Legged: To establish De Beer's own brand that directly meets the end customer. Forth Legged: Suppliers of Choice (SOC) – to improve efficiency and productivity sight holders. Recommendation Despite having sh ares in the major mining area since late sass, De Beers should expand/ to make effort to penetrate to new ventures of exploration areas. This is due to demand of synthetic industrial diamonds which is largely used in lots of fields: deiced, drilling tools for oil & gas, entertainment industry especially in acoustic devices and others.As a analyses, I couldn't see any issues of expansion, since De Beers has been the market leader for almost half of the century. In order to manage the societal crisis, De Beers can improve its labor policies by giving more benefits such as insurance, incentives, and other related compensation. Apart from that, the company should determine a minimum wage for its labor, and the company should keep on protecting the rights against child labor which happens to be a serious problem is African continents. To maintain a good CARS, De Beers should implements ways to give back to the community.Prevention campaign such as Hips, poverty and starving which are qui te popular in the African countries should be carried out efficiently to ensure that De Beers is the organization that cares, for what it's worth to public images. It is also important to sustain the efficiently of providing good diamonds to the world, Just for the company to stay relevant in the industry. In order to achieve that, De Beers must focus its core business as the producer of pure diamonds, not only focusing much on synthetic quality.

Family and Son Essay

Success can be a rather abstract term and it can mean very different things to different people. Trying to define what success is is not easy. To most people, success means achieving a goal. In order to achieve a goal, a person usually has to work hard and believe in himself. Being successful at what you do can also be very motivating. People who are successful in one project, tend to be more successful in other projects. This is because they get the feeling that their hard work pays off and that a goal is worth their time and effort. Success usually goes hand in hand with appreciation. If someone we know succeeds at what he or she does, we will most certainly congratulate them. This will make them feel good and motivate them even further. To some people, success means being the best at what they do. Another truth about success is that it can create envy. If you are good at what you do, others will want to be good at the same thing, and if they are not as good as you, they will envy you. This means that success can create a bitter taste in your mouth, because instead of being happy about your achievements, people are mean to you. In this case it is important not to forget that you have done well and that there are many other people who appreciate what you have done. Just think about it this way: if people envy you, you have done something right. And if you are lucky, the envious people will see your success as a means of motivation for achieving their own goals. Success means more to some people than to others. Some want to be successful by all means, others are satisfied by simply trying and giving their best, whether they succeed or not. The secret of success! A young man asked Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher, the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to their necks, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him under water until he started turning blue. The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get up. The first thing he did was to gasp and take a deep breath. Socrates asked, â€Å"What did you want the most when you were under the water?† The man replied â€Å"Air†. Socrates said: â€Å"That’s the most secret to success. When you want success as badly as you want air, you will get it. There is no other secret†. Reflection: A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishments. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cannot produce great results†¦ Hard Work Bring’s Success. There once lived a rich businessman who had a lazy and fun loving son. The businessman wanted his son to be hard-working and responsible. He wanted him to realize the value of labour. One day he summoned his son and said: â€Å"Today, I want you to go out and earn something, failing which you won’t have your meals tonight.† The boy was callous and not used to any kind of work. This demand by his father scared him and he went crying straight to his mother. Her heart melted at the sight of tears in her son’s eyes. She grew restless. In a bid to help him she gave him a gold coin. In the evening when the father asked his son what he had earned, the son promptly presented him the gold coin. The father then asked him to throw it into a well. The son did as he was told. The father was a man of wisdom and experience and guessed that the source of the gold coin was the boy’s mother. The next day he sent his wife to her parent’s town and asked his son to go and earn something with the threat of being denied the night meals if he failed. This time he went crying to his sister who sympathized with him and gave him a rupee coin out of her own savings. When his father asked him what he had earned the boy tossed the rupee coin at him. The father again asked him to throw it in a well. The son did it quite readily. Again the father’s wisdom told him that the rupee coin was not earned by his son. He then sent his daughter to her in-laws’ house. He again asked his son to go out and earn with the threat that he shall not have anything for dinner that night. This time since there was no one to help him out; the son was forced to go to the market in search of work. One of the shopkeepers there told him that he would pay him two rupees if he carried his trunk to his house. The rich man’s son could not refuse and was drenched in sweat by the time he finished the job. His feet were trembling and his neck and back were aching. There were rashes on his back. As he returned home and produced the two rupee note before his father and was asked to throw it into the well, the horrified son almost cried out. He could not imagine throwing his hard-earned money like this. He said amid sobbing: â€Å"Father! My entire body is aching. My back has rashes and you are asking me to throw the money into the well.† At this the businessman smiled. He told him that one feels the pain only when the fruits of hard labour are wasted. On earlier two occasions he was helped by his mother and sister and therefore had no pain in throwing the coins into the well. The son had now realized the value of hard work. He vowed never to be lazy and safe keep the father’s wealth. The father handed over the keys of his shop to the son and promised to guide him through the rest of the life.

Satire and Epic Conventions

Alexander Pope was the author who set the trend of the Augustan Age. The poem ‘Rape of the Lock’ was prompted by a real incident when Arabella Lemore’s lock of hair was snipped by Peter, another member of the aristocratic family. This led to the feud between the families and hence Pope was summoned to attempt on reconciliation. The fact lies in a trivial matter blown out of proportion. But Pope extended his courtesy in making a satire of all the possible members who constituted the 18th century aristocratic society. The society once praised for its lofty values came down to spending time on frivolous matters. Pope vividly describes the occupation of Belinda who wakes up late because of having spent an entire evening courting and alluring men. After she wakes up, she is preoccupied reading the ‘billet-doux’ that she had received from her admirers. The poem as a mock-epic comes from the description of how the aristocrats spent time playing cards, a mock-epic battle. The society Pope mocks soon followed the heroic epic period where battles were fought to defend honor and pride and heroes became legends. But the society Pope satirizes fell far short of epic glory. Even morals and values were treated recklessly. Men and women indulged in extra-marital affairs that most husbands suspected that their wives cheated on them with their lovers. Women mourned over their late husbands, as much as they would over their lapdogs. Law and order was also on an imbalanced scale of justice since it was held by irresponsible judges who were eager and quick to pass judgment without investigating. Men of yore exhibited their chivalry by being warriors but during Pope’s time men exposed their chivalry by paying complements to women, flirting and gambling. Through the character of Clarissa, who actually aids in having Belinda’s hair cut off by offering a pair of scissors to Baron, and then later advises that Belinda should pay more attention to her virtues than given into the vanities of her youth. Because it’s the virtues that will outlive her while everything else will fade away. The employment of mock-epic is use the form to mock the society. Pope clearly sent the message across to the aristocratic community through his satire and till day ‘The Rape of the Lock’ remains most popular text of the Augustan Age.

The Contribution of Processual and Emergent Perspectives to Strategic Change

Change is ubiquitous. Organisational change has become synonymous with managerial effectiveness since the 1980s (Burnes, 1996; Wilson, 1992). However, north American influence over the quest for commitment, efficiency and improved performance, appears to have fallen back upon largely Tayloristic notions of management, with the result that organisational change is widely perceived to be controllable by modern management, with organisations themselves instrumental in their in their hands (Collins, 1997). However, this ‘scientific' approach appears to have diffused with scant regard to contextual variables that may serve to modify and constrain contemporary managerial rhetoric for change (Hatch, 1997). One perspective that attempts to refocus the debate on wider issues has come to be known as the processual or emergent approach to organisational change (Collins, 1997), and it is this perspective that this paper seeks to evaluate You can read also Waves First, the inevitability of change is briefly considered as the time frame selected for organisational analysis tends to dictate the substance of investigation. This leads into a critique of planned change under the umbrella of strategic choice, with its core assumptions based upon managerial hegemony. This approach is then contrasted with the processual and emergent perspectives that seek to widen management appreciation to include factors beyond the organisation and its immediate environments. The implications of the apparent divergence between theory and practice are briefly outlined before concluding that the subjectivist paradigm of the processual/emergent approach is best seen as a modification to theories of strategic choice, which may add to effective managerial practice in the future. This argument is qualified by the need to support such a modification by a fundamental change in modern managerial education. The Inevitability of Change ‘Change' exudes temporality. While it may be a truism that in any field of activity, all periods may be characterised by change and continuity, the time frame selected will tend to highlight change or continuity (Blyton and Turnbull, 1998). For example, a focus upon organisational change during the last two-decades may reveal a period of rapid change. However, a perspective encompassing the last two hundred years may indicate a basic continuity in the capitalist social mode of production (ibid). Consequently, differentiating between whether organisational change should be analysed from the perspective of a strict chronology of ‘clock' or linear time, with its associated notions of relentless progress, planning and implementation, or whether changed is viewed from the perspective of a processual analysis over tracts of time, has given rise to a vigorous debate on how change should be understood as it applies to complex business organisations (Wilson, 1992). Two paradigms dominate the analysis of organisational change. On the one hand, a positivist view holds that change is objectively measurable, and thus controllable, embracing notions of rationality, temporal linearity and sequence – change is an outcome of deliberate action by change agents (Hatch, 1997; Kepner and Tregoe, 1986). On the other hand, a subjectivist view holds that change is dependent upon the temporal context of the wider social system in which it occurs and is thus a social construction – while organisations define and attempt to manage their change processes, outcomes are not necessarily the result of the top-down cascade advocated by the planned approach (Pettigrew, 1985). Consequently, as a point of departure, planned organisational change shall be discussed before moving on to examine the emergent approach as a challenge to the rational model. The Planned Perspective Contemporary US and UK managerial ideology may be identified as an outcome of, and a contributor to, neo-liberalist voluntarism (Dunlop, 1993). This ideology is mobilised through the agency of management to protect capital's interests above all others. Consequently, management and managers come to be considered a social elite through their exercise of ‘god-like' control over a logical and rational process of adaptation, change and ever-improving performance. The organisation is thus instrumental in the hands of management (Collins, 1997; Daft, 1998; Hatch, 1997; Kepner and Tregow, 1986). Generally referred to as ‘strategic choice', the planned approach, according to Wilson (1992:22) is constructed upon the following theories of organisation: 1 Organisational Development (OD) and Behavioural Modification (BM); 2 Planned incrementalism; 3 The ‘enterprise culture', best practice and ‘gurus' as change agents. These perspectives have all in common the role of human agency, whereby, ‘†¦human decisions make an important difference†¦ a voluntarism in which human courage and determination count' (Gouldner 1980, cited in Wilson, 1992:25). OD and BM (closed system) approaches emanate from the field of psychology, positing that organisational change is implemented by management through changing the behaviour of individuals. OD aims to foster consensus and participation on the basis that management attributes resistance to change to poor interpersonal relations (Wilson, 1992). BM is a systematic approach to the conditioning of managerially defined ‘appropriate' behaviour, based upon Skinnerian psychological theories of learning (reward and punishment) and motivation (ibid). Both approaches are based on the assumptions that managers are capable of identifying internal barriers to change, determining appropriate behaviours, and designing and implementing programmes to achieve desired outcomes. Consequently, there is a plethora of ‘frameworks', ‘recipes' and ‘how to' packages aimed at managerial audiences (Collins, 1997) A central feature of many of these packages is Lewin's (1951) ‘force field' framework, which proposes that change is characterised as a state of imbalance between pressures for change and pressures against change. It is suggested that managers are capable of adjusting the equilibrium state of zero-change, by selectively removing or modifying specific forces in the required direction (Senior, 1997). Implicit is the normative nature of planned change: managers should know the various forces as they apply to their own particular situation, and should understand and possess the means to exert influence over them. It follows that, ceteris parebus, without deliberate managerial action, change, at worst is unlikely to occur and, at best, is unlikely to realise desired outcomes without the intervention of chance (Collins, 1997). Planned incrementalism argues that change is constant and evolutionary and should be planned in small steps based on an orderly adjustment to information flowing in from the operating environment (Quinn 1980, cited in Senior, 1997). This approach is related to contingency theory. The argument runs that the most effective way to organise is contingent upon conditions of complexity and change in the environment. Thus, the organisation should achieve congruence with its market environment and managers should support their strategies with appropriate structures and processes to enhance the likelihood of success (ibid). Turning to the final ‘ingredients', Wilson (1992:37) argues that ‘enterprise culture', ‘best practice' and ‘management gurus' are different faces of the same ideology. Enterprise culture denotes best practice and grows from a particular interpretation of management theory. This interpretation shapes the role of external consultants and thus determines who are the gurus; the ideology becomes self-supporting. Thus the ideology of strategic choice is mobilised in support of managerial ideology: to be successful in a free market system (entrepreneurial), firms should be modelled by managers upon best practice (currently, from the US and Japan), should adopt flexible specialisation and decentralised structures, and should seek to create organisational cultures congruent with managers' own. The ‘successful' manager comes to be defined as a ‘change master' (Kanter, 1993; see Peters and Waterman, 1982). The Emergent, Processual Perspective A common critique of the planned perspective is that the ability of management to rationally plan and implement organisational change ignores the influence of wider, more deterministic forces outside the realms of strategic choice (Wilson, 1992). Largely in opposition to this perspective and generally referred to as ‘systemic conflict', the emergent approach, according to Wilson (ibid:22) is constructed upon the following theories of organisation: 1 Contextualism; 2 Population ecology; 3 Life cycles; 4 Power and politics; 5 Social action. While also tending to acknowledge the role of human agency in effecting change, these approaches serve to widen the debate to include the impact of human interaction at micro and macro levels, thus constraining strategic choice (ibid). Contextualism is based upon an open systems (OS) model which views any organisation as being an interdependent component of a much larger whole (Pettigrew, 1985). Serving as a direct intellectual challenge to closed system perspectives, fundamental is the notion that no organisation exists in a vacuum. Emery and Trist (1960, cited in Wilson, 1992) argue that OS reveals the following characteristics: Equifinality – no one best way of achieving the same outcomes; Negative entropy – importing operating environment resources to curtail or reverse natural decay; Steady state – relationship stability between inputs, throughputs, outputs; Cycles and patterns – cash flows, stock-turns and so on. Thus, OS enables the variances between organisations' performances to be explained by external influences, facilitating comparative analysis, the establishment of sectoral norms and the identification of ‘supra-normal' practices (Wilson, 1992). Population ecology (and perhaps institutional theories) is based upon the Darwinian notion of ‘survival of the fittest' (Hatch, 1997). Thus strategic change is aimed at maximising ‘fitness' within the general population of organisations, through the identification of ‘market' niches and strategies of specialisation, differentiation or generalism (Porter, 1980, 1985). Competitive advantage is thus created and sustained through the construction of distinctive and inimitable structures, processes and cultures, eg: erecting high barriers to entry through technological investment, or eliminating threats of product substitution through high R & D investment and thus (desired) innovation (ibid). The life cycle perspective explicitly recognises the temporal nature of organisational change. Though linear in nature (all life cycle theories assume birth, growth, maturity, decline and death as givens), this approach provides insights into the potential internal and external conditions (and constraints) that an organisation is likely to encounter during distinct life cycle phases (Greiner, 1972 cited in Senior, 1997). However, this approach suffers from a similar critique to those levied at models of planned change. ‘Cycles' are not in fact cycles (suggesting reincarnation). Development is linear and progressive and an organisation's location on the ‘cycle' is highly subjective. Perhaps the major contribution of the emergent approach to organisational change, is the highlighting of the role of power and politics in moderating managerial efforts to effect fundamental and sustainable change (Handy, 1986). Essentially, three political models of power reveal that outcomes are incapable of being considered independently of processes and personal stakes. First, overt power is the visible manifestation of localised influence over preferred processes and outcomes (eg: ‘it's the way we've always done things around here'). Second, covert power is less visible and related to the extent of information sharing and participation in change processes afforded by organisational sub-groups (eg: senior management) to others – the phrase ‘inner circle' is a common indicator of covert power relations in operation. Finally, third, contextual power suggests that outcomes are mediated by societal forces and the economic structure of society itself (eg: elites, notions of social justice, and so on) (Burrell and Morgan, 1979). Postmodern analysis reveals the influence of discourse, symbol and myth as interchangeable between organisations and societies in the endorsement of preferred solutions. Thus, contextual power may be utilised to shape the wider justification and acceptability for organisational change( eg: ‘restructuring' for labour stripping; ‘reingeering' for work intensification; ‘partnership' for collective labour coercion; ‘TQM' for zero-tolerance and panoptican managerial control). Moreover, the contextual power perspective also reveals the hegemony of accounting ideology in neo-liberal systems (itself positivist, reductionist and inextricably linked to Taylorism). Thus serving to expose the influence of elite groups, notably silent under the strategic choice framework (Wilson, 1992). Finally, social action theories depict organisational culture (OC) as the structure of social action (ibid). The strategic framework choice would hold that OC is a possession of the organisation and is thus capable of manipulation . In contrast, the systemic conflict framework depicts OC is something an organisation is (a contrasting ontological position) and is therefore largely beyond managerial influence (Legge, 1995). Nevertheless, ‘strong' (integrated) notions of OC are eulogised by the so-called gurus (see Kanter, 1993; Peters and Waterman, 1982), despite receiving severe criticism for their weak methodological foundations (See Guest, 1992). The emergent approach appears to be at odds with the strong culture = high performance proposition at the heart of most change programmes; its causality is unclear. Implications As the above discussion illustrates, the management of change appears to hold sway over the analysis of change (Wilson, 1992). This implies that understanding has been exchanged for expediency. Put differently, managing change is both a learnable and teachable skill. In view of the short-termism inherent in the US and UK economies, with their shareholder emphasis on maximum financial returns and minimal financial risk (itself a contradiction with the notion of ‘entrepreneur'), it is hardly surprising that ‘recipes for success' are so eagerly sought after by under pressure managers and eagerly supplied by management gurus with pound-signs in their eyes. Practice appears to be on a divergent path from theory (Collins, 1997). Collins (ibid) attributes this apparent divergence to managerial education, which itself (as must any educative process) be viewed as a perpetuation of ideology. With respect to organisational change, management education serves to promote the aggrandisement of managers as †Canute-like rulers of the waves'. Epitomised by the MBA (Master of Bugger All?) with its roots in north America, such programmes are themselves reductionist and short-term in nature. Thus, students are precluded by time constraints from exposure to the theoretical foundations of change and, consequently, may be discouraged from challenging received wisdom. This is not to assert that ‘hands on' skills are unimportant, rather to expose that they lose potency in the absence of the appreciation of the wider context which MBA ‘babble', among a wider range of programmes, serves to suffuse. Conclusion – a rejection of Positivism? The investigation of organisational change has not escape the inexorable north American ‘shift' towards hypothetico-deductive perspectives of economics and psychology, with their positivist paradigms focused upon atomisation akin to the natural sciences (Cappelli, 1995). From a temporal perspective, while organisational change is viewed as inevitable in much the same way as in nature, the time frame selected for analysis tends to dictate the scope and degree of change to be investigated. Short-termism, it appears, is a form of temporal reductionism in the search for objective truth, that is a key factor behind the notion that managers can be trained to manage change through sets of skills that imply mastery over the ‘natural' world and therefore, time itself. In this view, planned models of change, rooted in classical theories of management, may be accused of being an ideological construct of assumed legitimacy and authenticity. On the other hand, a subjectivist systemic tension approach, rejects reductionist ‘tool kits' and lays claim to the inclusion of contextual variables at work throughout an organisation, its operating environment and beyond. In this view, while change is clearly not beyond managerial influence, its management is reliant upon wider understanding of the interplay of these variables, of which power relations may be prominent, in order to be able to predict the likely outcomes of managerial actions. However, for something to exist it must be capable of theoretical explanation. That practitioners have opted for voluntarist models of strategic change is not surprising given the elitist ideology of modern management: to control is to manage; short-termism equates to reduced risk and increased control; the institutions of Western corporate governance and finance thus have their goals met by such an approach. Yet, this is to obfuscate the quintessential qualities of the processual, emergent contribution to organisational change. While not refuting planned change, it perhaps serves to modify it – for any change to be understood, explained and sustained, the duality of voluntarism and determinism must be acknowledged and incorporated into the managerial knowledge base. The emergent approach exposes the potential folly of the extremes of positivism as applied to organisations as social entities, thus throwing open the debate to multi-disciplinary perspectives and enriching the field or organisational change. To be of value, such enrichment must be reflected in managerial education itself.

Topic of your choice Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Topic of your choice - Personal Statement Example I protested each time she called me to a meal where I sat, morosely looking at the bowl of rice. Each time that she found herself on the verge of anger, she would set the ultimatum to finish my food by setting a fifteen minute timer next to me. Fearing her wrath, I would pick up my spoon and swallow a few bites of the offensive dish. Since so much time had already passed, the rice was now cold and soggy, definitely not delicious at all. Sometimes feigning vomiting would make my mother feel guilty and force her to allow me to eat something of my choice. Mealtimes like these often resulted in a battle of wills between my mother and me. I hated Indian food with a passion; however, overtime, I developed a liking for the Basmati rice dish and consider the dish to be one of my favorites these days. My mother helped me finally developed a taste for the Indian delicacy. The time even came when my mom and I finally reached a food compromise. Agreeing that I would eat the Indian food that she cooked, provided that she asked me what I wanted her to cook for me first. In the end, that was actually an agreement that worked well for us. Not only did we bond because we learned to respect each others choices in life, but I also ended up learning how to appreciate Indian delicacies as well. The most important memory from my childhood stems from the times when I would watch English television. I remember my sister and I would spend hours glued to Nickelodeon. Imagine our dismay when we turned on the TV one day to discover that our mother, in an effort to curb the Westernization of our way of life, chose to cancel our American cable subscription and add Indian channels. My sister and I were becoming strangers in our own land. When we complained, our mother explained that she wanted us to be able to understand and speak Hindi, in addition to the Guajarati that we grew