The Discovery Essay Example for Free

The Discovery Essay ‘The Discovery’, by J. C Squire describes a historical event: Christopher Columbus’s ‘discovery’ of the New World on his 1942 expedition across the Atlantic Ocean which initiated the process of Spanish colonisation. The poem has gone by several names including ‘The Caravels, ‘Sonnet’ and ‘There was an Indian’. John Collings Squire (J. C Squire) (1884-1958) was a British poet, writer, historian, influential literary critic and editor of the post WW1 period. He was also a leading poet of the Georgian period. The poem is a simple sonnet; made up of two quatrains and a sestet. The rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efegfg. The rhyme creates a steady, forward-moving motion similar to the movement of the waves and the inevitability of the oncoming Spanish vessels reaching the shore. The poet uses simple language and imagery which mirror the uncomplicated life of the Indian from whose perspective this historical event is retold. The discovery of the New World is often related from the perspective of the Spanish colonisers of the 15th and 16th centuries. Squire also reminds us that this was a two-fold discovery as the indigenous Americans discovered a new world of their own. The phrase, ‘an Indian’, in the first stanza lends a sense of anonymity to the identity of the Indian who witnesses the arrival of Columbus. The indefinite article (an) allows us to believe that this Indian represents all Native Americans. The opening line is reminiscent of a folktale. This style suggests a mythologizing of this historical event, infusing it with an element of magic. One might also believe it to be an example of the oral tradition of legends told among Native Americans. Like other Indians, the Indian in the poem ‘had known no change’. His life consisted of gathering shells; a simple way of life that belonged to an old civilisation for which this discovery was sure to be a shock. The alliteration of ‘s/sh’ in the line ‘†¦ along a sunlit beach. Gathering shells’ depicts the calm, serene and uninterrupted life of the natives. He ‘strayed content’ almost aimlessly, along a ‘sunlit beach’, in no rush to go about his simple life. The presence of dawn symbolises the dawn of a new era in the life of the Indian. We are reminded that historical records show that the event occurred at dawn. Light also symbolises knowledge and discovery for both the Spanish and the Indians. The caesura in the third line ‘He heard a sudden, strange commingled noise’ effectively draws our attention to the abrupt change in this tranquil picture. The caesura evokes a sense of confusion in the atmosphere which was once silent but is now filled with an unfamiliar noise. This is created through the use of alliteration and hard consonants. The Indian’s reaction in the last line of the first stanza ‘looked up: and gasped for speech’ indicates how amazed and speechless he was. The caesura in line four ‘Commingled noise: looked up; and gasped for speech’, also denotes the abrupt actions and reactions of the Indian man. The second stanza is linked to the first stanza by means of a further explanation for the sudden change in the first quatrain. The poet evokes the Indian’s tone of amazement and wonder at the appearance of the ‘huge canoes’ that appear ‘by magic’. The idea of magic evokes a contrast between the two civilisations; the superstitious, tribal beliefs of the natives versus the more advanced scientific beliefs of the Spanish. The poet also evokes the serene, tranquil and undefiled setting and one of confusion which is emphasised by the impressive image of these unnatural and unfamiliar sea vessels on the water. The Indian is unfamiliar with these large ships. In fact, he can only describe them in terms of what he already knows, for eg. ‘huge canoes’ and ‘not one oar’. The Indian’s tone of awe is audible even though the poet does not give him a voice. Perhaps, this is to further emphasise the domination and oppression of the Spanish colonisation of the Native Americans stamping out their voice, culture and traditions. The images used in the stanza are simple yet vivid as can be seen through the image of the ‘Bellying cloths’ and ‘Fluttering coloured signs. The second quatrain is stylistically interesting because the poet is conscious of the different perspectives: that of the Indian man who tries to describe these unfamiliar objects by adapting them to those he is familiar with, and that of the reader who has a knowledge of history and immediately recognises the Indian’s attempt to describe the billowing sails, fluttering flags and ‘clambering crews’. The alliteration of the letter ‘k’ sound in the last line of the second stanza ‘And fluttering coloured signs and clambering crews’, reminds us of the confusion and cacophony created by the sailors as they prepare to land. The third stanza, the ‘sestet’, begins with the conjunction ‘And’, linking it to the previous stanzas. There is now a Volta as the focus shifts to the Indian’s reaction to the caravels. There is an even greater use of caesura which creates an abrupt and staccato rhythm which might reflect the fear that has overcome the Indian, maybe his accelerated heartbeat too. The Volta between the second and third stanzas is also evident in the rhyme scheme which suggests the inevitable, impending conclusion to this sighting as the caravels ‘Slant to the shore, and all their seamen land’. The final stanza draws a clear contrast between the native, who is ‘naked’ and ‘alone’ and the numerous sailors disembarking ‘Columbus’ doom-burdened caravels’. The Indian’s nakedness suggests his primitive lifestyle and his defencelessness. The Indian reacts ‘in fear’ and drops his shells. This symbolises the fall of the native civilisation; his face turns white and he also kneels behind a stone. He stares at this monstrous sight and ‘did not understand’ the full impact of what was unfolding before his eyes. The poet’s intention is to make the contrast between the Spanish and the Indian evidently clear and simple to the reader, in order to draw our attention to the other side of the story which is rarely told in history books. This is emphasised by the choice of perspective for the poem. The image of ‘Columbus’ doom-burdened caravels’ is a powerful one, suggesting a grimly mocking or cynical tone because these caravels symbolise the beginning of the corruption of old civilisations. The final image of the sailors landing on shore is ominous, adding to the heaviness that weighs upon the reader’s knowledge of what will inevitably follow. The poem ends abruptly as the poet does not need to tell us anything else due to the readers’ knowledge of what happens next which has been documented in the history books.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Banking

Corporate Social Responsibility in Banking Abstract: In todays global economy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a core component of corporate strategy. As a result CSR emerge as a safeguard to protect financial scandals and diminish reputation of the banks. It also advocates and works to minimize the conflicts with stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) designed to respond to huge unmet needs of the society in the achievement of long term and persistent business value. Especially commercial banks play an important role in implementing various social and philanthropic programs to help disadvantaged people of the country. To reinforce, CSR activities, banks have focused the area of market place, work place, community and environmental policy. The analysis in the study was targeted to understand the overall corporate responsibility status in the banking sector of Bangladesh. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Commercial Banks, Bangladesh. Introduction: Now-a-days corporate strategy planner focuses their concentration on wealth maximization rather than profit maximization. The main cause is the intense market competition. So, they divert mentality from conventional business to social business. In addition, recent financial scandals eg, Enron, Parmalat, Worldcom etc have forced corporate executives, globally, to contemplate a broader strategy beyond the focused view of stockholders wealth maximization. The impact of business on the society has become a crucial issue. As a result, banks are emphasized on social, ethical and environmentally responsible approaches to business activity. Bank examine the environmental effect of projects in loan approval process and no projects are approved which are detrimental to the environment. Commercial banks are well aligned with Bangladesh Banks guidance on this aspect. They believe in the need to focus on poverty alleviation through education and health care, for long run benefit of the nation. Recent theories of CSR (Baron (2001), McWilliams and Siegel (2001), Bagnoli and Watts (2003)) assert that firms engage in profit-maximizing CSR. That is, companies are assumed to be socially responsible because they anticipate a benefit from these actions. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has given the following definition of CSR: CSR is the task of a business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working together with workers, their families, the local community and society in general to improve quality of life. Barnea and Rubin (2005) demonstrate that the decision to invest in CSR is negatively related to insider ownership, and interpret this finding in the light of an overinvestment hypothesis. CSR is good for shareholder value, up to a given level, but insiders may have an interest to overinvest in it to improve their reputation, and they are more likely to do so when their ownership share is lower. Literature Review: There is a growing trend for investors to direct their money towards explicitly socially responsible organizations. According to Peter A. Heslin and Jenna D. Ochoa (2008) The amount invested in green mutual funds in the U.S. rose 695% in the last six years. During the last three years, the amount of money invested in clean energy has reached U.S. $70.9 billion globally. The primary goal of any economy is to maximize the material wealth of nations (Adam Smith), production and distribution of wealth (John Stuart Mill), to maximize material wealth and material welfare (Alfred Marshall), satisfaction of the human needs with the scarce means (Lionel Robbins). But now a day, the objective of a firm is not only consistent with those scholars but also incorporates social, ethical and environmental concerns. Therefore the primary objective, the purpose or use for which, firms exist is to ensure the subsistence of mankind and sustenance of the Earth containing the mankind. Some authors have argued that the stakeholder perspective of CSR ought to extend to the concept of accountability. Drawing from the works of other academics (e.g. Gray et al. 1987; Williams 1987; Roberts and Scapens, 1985), Swift (2001:17) broadly describes accountability as the requirement or duty to provide an account or justification for oneÊÂ ¹s actions to whomever one is answerable and narrowly as being pertinent to contractual arrangements only, where accountability is not contractually bound there can be no act of accountability. According to Lantos (2001), ethical CSR is a firms mandatory fulfillment of economic, legal and ethical responsibilities. It is akin to the first three components of Carrolls typology. Altruistic CSR is the same as philanthropic responsibility of Carrolls typology but differed from it in the sense that Lantos argued that it would only be possible for private firms to be philanthropic and irresponsibility on the part of public corporations since they do not have the rights to use the funds of shareholders (who might also be involved in private philanthropy) for public philanthropy. As argued by Konz and Ryan (1999: 200): People are searching for meaning in work that transcends mere economic exchanges between isolated, autonomous individuals. (and) a way to connect their work lives with their spiritual lives, to work together in community, to be unified in a vision and purpose that goes far beyond making money. In modern era, business activities moving around the society visualizing sustainable development. It is not only a promotional activity but also an ethical dilemma. Some of the authors findings are given below: Author Findings Sethi (1975) corporate activities should be stable over time definitions of various categories should be applicable across firms, industries, or even social systems, making comparative analysis possible. Carroll (1991, 2004) CSR is made up of the following components in a bottom-up order: (1) economic responsibility be profitable (2) legal responsibility obey the law (3) ethical responsibility be ethical (4) philanthropic responsibility -be a good global corporate citizen Lantos (2001) Identified the following strands of CSR: (a) ethical CSR, (b) altruistic CSR and (c) strategic CSR CPD (December, 2002) Following issues have been identified under corporate responsibility framework:- Sustainable Development Business Ethics Human Rights Legal Compliance Corporate Governance Fair Employment Health Safety Labor Standards Community Relations Environmental Responsibilities Objectives of the Study: The objective of the study is to investigate a definite structure and concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the area of banking sector. It deals with early history of corporate social responsibility, banking mission, and the area of social welfare. Besides these, it has some special objectives. These are: To get an idea of banking role in sustainable development. Evaluate transparency and accountability of corporate as well as public entities. To learn business ethics, safety and ergonomic issues. To learn banks responsibility to community. To know standard conduct that includes employment fair policy and all core labor standards. Methodology of the study: The paper is constructed to synchronize theoretical and practical exposure of CSR in Banking perspective. As a result, the paper is descriptive in nature. Most of the information are generated by evaluating Secondary Sources like: Annual report of different commercial Banks Study related books and journals Web sites Collected data have then processed compiled with the aid of MS Word, Excel other related computer software. Necessary tables have been prepared on the basis of collected data and various statistical techniques have been applied to analyses on the basis of classified information. Evaluation and Findings: In Bangladesh, there are forty eight scheduled banks and out of them forty six had engagement in CSR practices in some form or other in 2009 (Review of CSR Initiative-2008-09). Due to intense competition in the banking sector, it is essential for a bank to behave in a responsible manner towards the society. This sense stimulates business activities in a long term and persistent social value. To attain this intrinsic quality banks should: Focus on vision based strategy (wealth maximization rather than profit maximization). Draw their attention to internal and external components of the CSR activities like; fair salary structure, employee benefit, corporate governance, labor standards etc. They need to trust their shareholder-customers, shareholders, employees and society. Behaving responsibility towards society and the environment strengthens this trust. Their commitment has always been to behave ethically and to contribute towards changing the quality of life of their people, the local community and generally the society. Corporate social responsibility focuses on: Figure 3.2: Area of Social Responsibility Work Place Environment Market Place Area of CSR Community Source: Annual Report of National Bank Ltd (2009) In 2004 and 2005, several banks adopted meticulous CSR policies to limit lending related to destructive projects. The intense pressure from environmental activists and shareholders, different banks agreed to not finance projects in endangered or high conservation value forests or where illegal logging is occurring. Environmental concerns have grown steady during the past several decades. Goldman Sachs was the first global investment bank to adopt a comprehensive environmental policy. The natural environment is the major worldwide issue facing the business and the public. World concern continues to mount about the depletion of the Earths ozone layer and the resulting green house effect, a dangerous warning of the Earth. In the year 2007, There is a greater concentration in the field of disaster relief, both in participation and expenditure wise, was observed mainly because of the cyclone Sidr. Whereas, in the year 2009, the Education and Health sectors were getting more attention and appeared to be the most popular area for CSR activities as huge investments are being made by several banks in these segments. These shifts point to the responsiveness of the banking community to the changing need of the society. Despite progress made by many companies, adoption of CSR policies and reporting are still in its early stages at most corporations. Our Corporate Social Responsibility Program engages companies to adopt strong social and environmental policies, and follows us to ensure that commitments are kept. Corporate social responsibilities may provide added advantages to the business like as Balanced Score Card. Because pushing incentives in the base level (Work Place, Market Place, Community and Environment) will increase bottom line figure (Profit) of the statement. The positive attitude towards the focused element (Table-03) is the way of getting added advantages from the society. Major Areas Focused Element Added Advantages Work Place Working Environment Enhance employee satisfaction, confidence, productivity and loyalty Employee Benefit Training Job Security Gender Discrimination Staff welfare Day-care Center for children of bank employee Market Place Customer Service Attain customer fidelity, and retention New Product Introduce new technology Community Education Secure public confidence, interaction, positive attitude and devotion Employment Sports Cultural Activities Health Care Disaster Relief Environment Forestation Allure public attention through ethical behavior Financing on eco-friendly firm (Financial Inclusion) Fig: Added Advantages received by practicing CSR The Financial sector in turn can contribute hugely by catalyzing CSR practices in their real sector corporate clients, promoting inclusive economic and social development. In terms of direct monetary expenditure, engagements of banks in CSR initiatives are increasing, particularly following issuance of BB guidance (DOS Circular No 01 Dated 1st June 2008): CSR expenditures of banks have thus far largely been in the form of passive grants and donations. Apart from one-off grants and giveaways, some banks have engagements in longer term continuing support commitments, in areas of education and healthcare. Besides the passive engagements by way of grants/donations (Table 1, Section B, page 2), banks are now getting actively engaged in socially responsible business operations, by way of increased lending to under-served economic sectors like agriculture and SMEs, towards fuller financial inclusion and faster poverty eradication. The June 2008 BB Guidance circular suggested that banks could begin reporting their CSR initiatives in a modest way as supplements to usual annual financial reports, eventually to develop into full blown comprehensive reports in GRI format. Banks are yet to adopt separate reporting of their CSR activities in comprehensive formats such as the GRI format. Recommendations: The ultimate conclusion is that corporate responsibility is a changing philosophy of business. The demands for social responsibility have provoked enthusiastic discussion and debate on what new roles, if any, business firms should play in the social system. Banks should not attempt to minimize the expectations of the society; rather they need to respond to them more efficiently. The corporate responsibility practices can play positive role in improving competitiveness in the corporate entities in Bangladesh as well as improve working and living environment for the workforce. Whether is for the government, the community, shareholders, directs, top management, employees or the general public, a corporate organization that intends to effect changes in the environment must always perform a number of socially responsible actions. Formulate uniform rules and regulations: Government or regulatory bodies should formulate uniform rules and regulation regarding CSR practices in banking sector. Tax Shield: All social contribution by the banks should be tax exempted. As a result, social contribution will increase gradually. Change corporate values: In most of the cases, social contribution treated as enhance reputation only. But, they have to change their values and try to think its their responsibility too. Improving Business and Social Productivity: A societys productivity depends on how efficiently it uses resources. If the naturally human and financial resources are combined and managed effectively by business forms then the productivity of both business and society can be high. Balancing Ethics and Economics:A serious social challenge to business is to integrate ethics and economics. How much more profit is desirable and what cost to the customers? What about product quality? Is the customer being cheated through poor measurement or abrasive advertisement? Ethical behavior and economics are the opposite sides of a bad coin. There should be a balance. References: Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4):39-48 Carroll, A. B. (1999). Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct. Business Society, 38(3):268-295 Carroll, A. B. (2004). Managing ethically with global stakeholders: A present and future challenge. Academy of Management Executive, 18(2):114-119 Lantos, G. P. (2001). The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Marketing 18(7): 595-630 Konz, G. N. P Ryan, F. X. (1999). Maintaining an organizational spirituality: no easy task. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12(3):200-210. Peter A. Heslin and Jenna D. Ochoa , Understanding and developing strategic corporate social responsibility, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 125-144, 2008 www.sciencedirect.com

Biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Essay -- FDR American President

Biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt, (1882-1945), 32nd of the United States. Roosevelt became president in March 1933 at the depth of the Great Depression, was reelected for an unprecedented three more terms, and died in office in April 1945, less than a month before the surrender of Germany in World War II. Despite an attack of poliomyelitis, which paralyzed his legs in 1921, he was a charismatic optimist whose confidence helped sustain the American people during the strains of economic crisis and world war. He was one of America's most controversial leaders. Conservatives claimed that he undermined states' rights and individual liberty. Though Roosevelt labored hard to end the Depression, he had limited success. It was not until 1939 and 1940, with the onset of heavy defense spending before World War II, that prosperity returned. Roosevelt also displayed limitations in his handling of foreign policy. In the 1930's he was slow to warn against the menace of fascism, and during the war he relied too heavily on his charm and personality in the conduct of diplomacy. Still, Roosevelt's historical reputation is deservedly high. In attacking the Great Depression he did much to develop a partial welfare state in the United States and to make the federal government an agent of social and economic reform. His administration indirectly encouraged the rise of organized labor and greatly invigorated the . His foreign policies, while occasionally devious, were shrewd enough to sustain domestic unity and the allied coalition in World War II. Roosevelt was a president of stature. The future president was born on Jan. 30, 1882, at the family estate in Hyde Park, N.Y. His father, James (1828-1900), was descended from Nicholas Roosevelt, whose father had emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in the 1640's. One of Nicholas' two sons, Johannes, fathered the line that ultimately produced President Theodore Roosevelt. The other son, Jacobus, was James' great-great-grandfather. James graduated from Union College (1847) and Harvard Law School, married, had a son, and took over his family's extensive holdings in coal and transportation. Despite substantial losses in speculative ventures, he remained wealthy enough to journey by private railroad car, to live graciously on his Hudson River estate at Hyde Park, and to travel extensively. Four yea... ...nd front greatly intensified Soviet suspicions of the West. But it is easy to second-guess and to exaggerate Roosevelt's failings as a military leader. The president neither invited nor welcomed the Pearl Harbor attack, which was a brilliantly planned maneuver by Japan. He worked with Darlan in the hope of preventing unnecessary loss of Allied lives. Unconditional surrender, given American anger at the enemy, was a politically logical policy. It also proved reassuring to the Soviet Union, which had feared a separate German-American peace. Establishing the second front required control of the air and large supplies of landing craft, and these were not assured until 1944. In many of these decisions Roosevelt acted in characteristically pragmatic fashion--to win the war as effectively as possible and to keep the wartime alliance together. In these aims he was successful. By 1945, Roosevelt was 63 years old. The events early in that year added to the strains on his heart, and on April 12, 1945, he died suddenly at Warm Springs, Ga. Three days later he was buried at Hyde Park. Despite his limitations, he had been a strong, decent, and highly popular president for more than 12 years.

Computers, the Internet, and the World of Education :: Technology Education Educational Essays

Computers, the Internet, and the World of Education Computers and the internet have changed the world of education in innumerable ways. This means the teacher must also change. Most students now have access to countless sources of information from all over the world. They can also talk to experts in multitudes of professions. Many students now learn to type before they learn to write in cursive. Despite these facts not all the changes have been positive. Students are now exposed to outside predators who may try to take advantage of them. In addition they may be exposed to obscene materials. Schools have installed filters, but they sometimes are unable to prevent all inappropriate material from being viewed. Many teachers complain that the internet allows plagiarism and all out cheating with access to pre-made term and research papers (where do you think this paper came from). Many critics of the educational system also point out that often students only like to use computers to access information. They don’t like to use compute rs for their many other uses like complicated math problems or construction of spreadsheets. Unfortunately, this seems to be true computers need to be used across the curriculum not just for research projects. Yet another benefit having computers and internet access in the classroom is the ability of students to be able to talk to experts in their respective fields. Children doing a project on insects can to talk to scientists who work with insects every day. They may be lucky enough to talk to an astronaut or maybe an author whose books they have been reading. Children can also participate in interactive chat rooms with other students or international pen pals. With this said it’s important that teachers take the proper precautions. Everyone knows that the internet poses many dangers especially for unsupervised children. When children are using chat rooms, care needs to be taken to ensure the children safety. Any student using a chat room needs to have a screen name(www.ptft.merit.edu). Teachers have to make sure they go over certain rules before they allow any student use the internet. Students must be taught to never give personal information over the internet this includes their name, location, or telephone number. It can be quite a liability to have internet access in the classroom; teachers must be sure they protect themselves. Another worry is that students may access inappropriate material.

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest :: essays research papers

"Ting. Tingle, tingle, tremble toes, she’s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts ‘em inna pens†¦wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock†¦one flew east, one flew west, on flew over the cuckoo’s nest†¦O-U-T spells out†¦goose swoops down and plucks you out."The book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest" is about a man, Randle Patrick Mc Murphy who is a rough-and-tumble, fun-loving guy who comes into the mental ward in Oregon and challenges the authoritarian nurse, Ms. Ratched. As the struggle between them goes on, Mc Murphy starts to show the other men of the ward how to loosen up and that they do not have to always listen to the nurse. Eventually, Mc Murphy is defeated when Ms. Ratched makes him get a lobotomy. When you first pick up the book, you will first notice that the story is told by one of the men who live in the ward. This is Chief Bromden; a half-Indian who is one of the long time committed men. In my eyes, the Bromden is a key character in the whole book. The Chief, in reality, is 6 foot 7 inches tall, but in his mind he sees himself as a man only two or three feet tall. This is because he has received over 200 electro-shock treatments and has been physiologically beaten to think that he is an inferior being to all others but he is not alone. All of the patients in the ward have had this done to them, some more than others. Another thing that sets the Chief apart is the fact that he has led everyone to think he is deaf and mute. This has enabled him to hear some of the secrets of the ward because everyone thought it was safe to talk around him. The Chief has also been in the army and in WWII. He claims to hear and see machinery in the walls of the ward that track and monitor all action that goes on in and around the hospital. With his experiences in war and with what he has gone through in the ward, he often loses himself in a "fog". He creates this "fog" in his mind so that he can numb the reality of where he is. Because of how he acts when in this fog, he has remained distant from all other patients in the ward. At least he was until he met McMurphy.

19th Century China

Drawing on what I’ve learned from class discussions and individual research, the 19thcentury in China brought a lot of failure and hardships. It was a time of unhappiness and rapid decline giving it a theme of â€Å"national humiliation†. There was a lot of corruption and rebellion during this period of the time. Around this time China experienced economic regression when foreign interests invaded the country. With the majority of the world expanding and advancing, China found itself on the back burner of this shift into a globalized world.China weakened in the adaption of the new world due to it isolationist ways. This period of rapid political decline and unhappiness was matched with an economic decline as well. China ill-prepared to handle the military and technological distresses from the West in the age of industrialization. Many say that the last few years of the 19th century were by far the worst for China. They had fallen into a state of chaos by the turn of the 20th century. The political structure was a very imbalanced structure in the sense that it did not seek equality.The imperial known as the Manchus were at the top of this political structure. The Manchus came from Manchuria, they ruled from 1644 to 1912 and became nearly conformed into China. The Manchus were known to be the last ruling dynasty to date. They were in charge when the Europeans begun to arrive in vast numbers. Internal trade was very important to China during the 19th century. The silk industry was very important, as it had been for many years. But the balance of the population and the ability to maintain it reached its highest at approximately 1779.Later on, it continued to rise but could not sustain itself at the same time. Accordingly, the orthodox of living and food available for every individual declined greatly. Eventually, with the rise of population, the ability to sustain its people and the average standard of living plummeted. Millions of people starved to d eath in the province of Shaanxi, a third of the population, all in one winter. Near to the end of the 18th century, China’s political administration experienced a tremendous decline. These problems were not very well known, even to the current Emperor.However, In addition to a combination of political and economic issues, the Emperor gave up the throne. Chinese society was made up of a hierarchy, which consisted of male officials. During this time the country was in shambles. The women in China during this time were extremely mistreated and limited. One very unfortunate sign of exploitation women was foot binding which became worse over time. In late 17th century England tried to convince the Chinese emperor to ease restrictions on trading privileges.The Chinese had always felt that they had enough and did not need anything else. With the downfall of political administration and economic failures, multiple wars that resulted in unfair treaties were further intrusions upon the once proud country. These treaties became known as the â€Å"unequal treaties,† made by the British and French after their invasions. In the early 19th century British importers began smuggling opium into China in order to surplus their acquisitions of tea for export to Britain.In 1839, China implemented its prohibitions on importing opium by terminating it, a large quantity of opium seized from the British merchants. Great Britain, which had been trying to end China’s limitations on foreign trade, reacted to this by sending battle ships to attack several Chinese coastal cities. This was known as the first opium war that last for two years. This was the first of many â€Å"Unequal Treaties. † China was defeated by the superior British and was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing.In 1850 China experienced the Taiping Rebellion, which is known to be the largest peasant revolution in Chinese history as well as one of the biggest civil wars in world history. The re bellion was anti-Manchu, anti-Confucianism and pro-Christianity movement. This revolutionary movement resulted in a three huge changes in China; it shifted military power from the Manchu to Chinese generals due to the Qing government mobilizing local Chinese army to fight the Taiping. It regionalized China and gave more economic and political power to local influences.This provoked anti-Manchu feelings and led to the end of the Qing Dynasty and the reestablishment of the Chinese nation. China had derived from world economic supremacy to a shattered semi-colonial country with a huge impoverished population. The last few years of the 19th century were China’s toughest ones, causing them to fall into a complete state of disorder as the 20th century was around the corner. This was not a good period for China, but they got past all their hardships and failures with time making them a stronger and more unified nation.

Impact of superior leadership Essay

Introduction Leadership can be defined as â€Å"a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills†. (A good leader offers reality check, thank you – The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area) â€Å"Leadership is concerned with intimacy, intimacy with the substance of the work and with the people you serve,† (What is Leadership?) Nowadays in the world of business, one of the most important issues that companies face is that their workforces, including executives, are incapable of wrapping their minds completely about how to think and act as a superior leader. To become a superior leader, your role in your organization should be lasting success. Besides this, superior leaders must be ambitious, hard working, broad minded, striving, caring, competent, intelligent, cooperative, loyal, dependable, supportive, forward looking, mature, self controlled and so on. Superior leadership motivates us to do more, learn more and dream more. In fact, superior leadership is an approach that unleashes your employees’ brainpower. This is due to the fact that when this brain power is completely utilized, workers and employees are motivated, innovative, creative and committed. How Good Leadership Affects Organization Obviously, we all are aware of the fact that employees are our most significant asset and the best ones are self-starter and self-motivated. Unfortunately, they are approximately only 5 to 6 percent or so naturally occurring. By using a superior leadership strategy, the management can certainly make huge number of employees highly self-motivated and self-started. And in this regard, this superior leadership strategy can be taught to newly hired and prospective managers to maintain your product quality and to provide fineness in leadership. According to Richard Hughes, R&D director for groups â€Å"Specifically, most organizations whether they are in the corporate sector or not have business strategies but have not given sufficient thought to what human capabilities are needed to implement that business strategy effectively†. (McLean, 2005) Furthermore, as a corporate leader of a firm, delivering satisfactory results to your employees, customers, organization and shareholder/investors is your responsibility. Primarily, result-based superior leadership motivates trust, energizes organizational employees and makes performance measurement easier for an organization. Nobody can deny the statement that your company’s overall performance depends upon the fact that how your management plans certain things and applies them in business activities. And with respect of this, a strategic leader should make a caring plan that gives assurance of your company’s goodwill and future business. And to achieve the aforementioned things, the management and the leaders should treat team members as partners instead of employees. In addition to this, a successful leader builds a strong communication connection inside and outside the organization, and understands your stake holders’ and investors’ mutual expectations. Moreover, in order to understand a company’s goals and objectives productively, a workforce should mutually understand and practice its strategy because of the fact that overall success of a company depends upon good leadership. A responsible team leader or manager should apply the aforementioned points. In today’s globalized world of business, many corporations are facing economic, social, political and climatic changes. Hence, a good leader is one who can cope with day to day changing political and social situations. Certainly, true leadership provides business to organizations in any circumstances whatsoever. However, the business environment can have impacts on the style of leadership â€Å"Successful leaders of change may not always be successful leaders of stability, consolidation, continuity, or thriving leaders in periods of massive disruption, such as 9/11. These different conditions require a different style of leadership, which may not necessarily be found in the existing senior management†. (emcc – Transforming organisations – the importance of leadership and culture in managing change) If a strong leadership culture is not present in any type of organization, employees do not contribute a common vision to the organization’s future and would disagree on what the most significant priorities are. In this regard, one would believe that such indicators are influenced according to an organization’s size or in other ways like in which responsibilities are distributed in an organization. In this regard, Marvin Lieberman, Lawrence Lau and Mark Williams conducted a study which is considered a most classy study in the automobile industry. These researchers estimated the productivity equation in order to ascertain the growth in both labor and capital outputs in six companies over a period of forty years. They found that â€Å"effects of top management on all of the companies except Toyota (because it had a system that made performance robust and largely independent of who occupied senior leadership positions) and that these effects were significant† (Pfeffer and Sutton, 2000) Furthermore, there is evidence that leadership results are modest because of the fact that employees who are allowed to keep and hold leadership positions are similar to each other. Practically speaking, leaders are selected for similarity in outlook and education. Consequently, in most of the organizations, leaders who appear to be successful are highly sought after and are likely to take bit positions. Another theorist described his views about leadership and its impacts on your organization as â€Å"building your superior confidence in you requires giving them your confidence. Once you and they have established in both ways, your organization may have an unbeatable competitive advantage, whatever the battlefield†. (Hinders, 2005). Generally, it has been observed that bad leadership has adverse effects on organizational performance and work output. For instance, organizations without proper project management miss milestones. Projects in such organizations cost more than the estimated amount and do not deliver the desired results. Certainly, leadership plays a tremendous role in every aspect of the organization. For example, most of the US financial companies systematically hired the best world talent regardless of the market size and shifted these leaders through every critical and non critical aspect of its operation. Because of the leadership fact, human assets pay off handsomely in today’s global world of business. And in this regard, the world’s best economists also weigh the fact that in today’s business world, it is very difficult to run your business operations economically without having a good leader who has the ability to cope with different problems and solve problems economically and excel among business competitors. Tsun-yan Hsieh and Sara Yik, in an article while emphasizing the leadership importance for an organization stated that, â€Å"â€Å"what do we mean by â€Å"leadership†? Whereas good managers deliver predictable results as promised, as well as occasional incremental improvements, leaders generate breakthroughs in performance. They create something that wasn’t there before by launching a new product, by entering a new market, or by more quickly attaining better operational performance at lower cost, for example. A company’s leadership reaches well beyond a few good men and women at the top. It typically includes the 3 to 5 percent of employees throughout the organization who can deliver breakthroughs in performance†. (Hsieh and Yik).