Odyssey An Epic Hero with a Flaw Essay Example

Odyssey: An Epic Hero with a Flaw Paper Odyssey: An Epic Hero with a Flaw BY cilia85 An Epic Hero With a Flaw In one of Homers most ancient Greek epics The Odyssey, Odysseus is clearly defined as an epic hero. Although having no superpowers like the Gods, Odysseus is portrayed as brave, loyal and having cunning intelligence throughout his Journey home following the fall of Troy. During his return back to Ithaca, Odysseus is faced with many challenges which derail him from his nostos / homecoming. Yet, these obstacles are not only because of the wrath of the Gods, but also due to the onsequences of Odysseus mortal flaws and weaknesses. Although smart and decisive, Odysseus suffers because of his excessive pride. Stranded in a gigantic cave with Polyphemus the one-eyed Cyclops by his side, the wise Odysseus devises a very strategic plan. As they both sipped the dark wine from their ivy-wooded bowls, the Cyclops asks Odysseus for his name. By this time, the wine had already started to affect the Cyclops perception. Odysseus answered wittingly: My name is No-one. No-ones the name they have called me my mother, my father and all the rest of my ar-friends. (McCrorie 128) Displaying his God like powers, he escapes the cave by courageously blinding Polyphemus. The Cyclops lets out a maddened call for help as he moaned in pain. When the other Cyclops heard him writhing with pain, they inquired. But fooled by the intelligent Odysseus, Polyphemus responds: My friends, No-one kills me through cunning, hardy by great strength. (McCrorie 129) Odysseus finally escapes but undermines his entire plan because of his excessive pri de. We will write a custom essay sample on Odyssey: An Epic Hero with a Flaw specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Odyssey: An Epic Hero with a Flaw specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Odyssey: An Epic Hero with a Flaw specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer As he escapes, he foolishly reveals his identity while taunting the giant by exclaiming: If nyone bound for the death-world should come by, asking about your shameful loss of your eyesight, tell them Odysseus blinded you, looter of cities, the son of Laertes, his home on Ithaka Island. (McCrorie 132) By boasting and revealing his identity, Odysseus shows his lack of foresight and by consequence becomes the barer of Poseidons wrath throughout his return to Ithaca. After defeating Polyphemus, Odysseus feels glorious because of his victory. He wants to make sure that people know that he was the one who blinded Polyphemus. But this sense of pride becomes detrimental to his goals and causes Odysseus to suffer grave consequences. One of Poseidons rages is seen as Odysseus sailed to Phaiakia. As he sailed on his raft, the anger of the sea becomes apparent as Poseidon the Earth Shaker gathers clouds, roughs the seas and gathers huge waves. The storm mounts as a giant wave struck him down from its fearsome crest when hed spoken. It twirled his raft in the water and threw him far from the craft, making the steer-oar drop from his hand. The mast as cracked in the middle by frightfully shifting winds that came at it gale-force. The man went under a long time, unable to bob up swiftly from under the drive and fall of the huge wave. (McCrorie 75) The great storm totally deteriorates Odysseus spirit. A tired and suffering Odysseus finds himself hoping to slip away from his own death. Throughout his Journey, the Gods favored Odysseus during his trials and tribulations. Often helped and guided by Athena, our epic hero faced many complex challenges during his battle towards redemption. However, his greatly delayed and derailed return home was not only because of Poseidon who held a grudge against him for blinding his son but also due to his character flaw. His excessive pride compromised his homecoming showing Odysseus imperfect human side. His lack of foresight made him believe that the height of glory is achieved by spreading your name when you achieve something. But at the end, he suffers grave consequences because of his foolish actions. Bibliography McCrorie, Edward. Homer: The Odyssey. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.

Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Example

Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Example Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Juan in this novel represents the quintessential saint and martyr Essay Essay Topic: Fight Club Novel In The Power and the Glory, Greene presents us with a very unconventional protagonist: a fugitive whisky priest, the father of a bastard child, on the run from an overzealous lieutenant in a world where religion is illegal. Struggling to survive, he meets a scheming Mestizo, a Judas, who he knowingly follows into the hands of the lieutenant, and is subsequently executed. The novel examines the concepts of duty, persecution, compassion, and the idea of sainthood. The world of Mexico that Greene creates is a decaying, merciless, ungodly place, a place where one would not necessarily expect to find a typical saint. The storybook heroic saint in the novel, Juan, embodies all of the saintly stereotypes, whereas the priest does not. Greene is not interested in the typical, formulaic saint: he is far more concerned with the idea of finding spirituality in unexpected places, a good example of which is the prison scene.The prison scene is presented by Greene as being a microcosm of the world: This place was very like the world: overcrowded with lust and crime and unhappy love, it stank to heaven. This shows us Greenes acceptance of the world, overcrowded with inevitable human flaws, with the repetition of and increasing the pace of reading, giving a tone of relentlessness. The word crime linking the prison and the outside world implies that, just as the prison is full of criminals, so too is the world. Lust is a reference to the pair copulating in the prison, and the wider implication of this is that the world is full of such lust, which Greene accepts, as we are but humans. Indeed, the priest himself succumbed to lust, in conceiving Brigitta, his illegitimate daughter. Unhappy love in itself is an interesting binary pair, as one usually associates love with happiness; Greene is here subverting our expectations associated with the word love, perhaps suggesting that the archetypal connotations of love are often illusory.The priests time in prison also gives us an insight into his own views on martyrdom; when a prisoner suggests he is a martyr, he replies I dont think martyrs are like this Martyrs are holy men. The fact that he giggles first shows us that hes no Juan; giggling is a childish, unmanly thing to do. This shows us that he does not believe himself to be a holy man; he is in a state of mortal sin. This is because he has fathered a bastard child, which fills him with a miserable happiness, reminiscent of the unhappy love in the prison. He continues his self-deprecation, saying you must never think the holy martyrs are like me. I am a whisky priest. His repeated use of the word holy, and his dissociation from it, shows that the priest is humble, modest, and aware that he is not the typical holy man. The fact that he accepts the whisky priest label, whilst avoiding the label of martyr shows that he is modest, but also encourages the reader to question the nature of martyrdom; could a whisky priest also be a martyr?A martyr, or saint, in the p riests eyes should see beauty in suffering: Saints talk about the beauty of suffering. Well, we are not saints, you and I. This is regarding the people having sex in the prison, when he is discussing it with the pious woman. He says he is a bad priest and knows from experience how much beauty Satan carried. That he acknowledges beauty in sin goes against traditional Catholic ideals regarding sin; he has a more realistic attitude to life, discarding the idealistic view of sin as being ugly, accepting that it can be beautiful. Of course, Greene is subtly implying that the priest does possess saintly qualities, in that he knows what a saint should see. Indeed, even though he doesnt find beauty in suffering here, he finds peace, clarity and an irrational affection for the inhabitants of the prison: love.Love is something the priest values highly, and in the religious sense love is paramount. It is notable that in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone; now in his corruption he h ad learnt Here, Greene shows us that the priests previous, pious, innocent way of life had been devoid of true love. Now, through suffering and corruption, he learns love, giving him a somewhat saintly quality. Typically, saints should learn through suffering alone, not corruption; but we know that the priest is no typical saint. Indeed, presenting us with a priest whose love stems from corruption questions the traditional nature of sainthood as epitomised by Juan.The way that the novel is written encourages the reader to sympathise with the whisky priest, in spite of his flaws. The priest shuffles in and out of scenes, with an air of nervous hilarity. He is diminutive, lacks presence, and refers to himself as a bad priest. This is in stark contrast with Juan, who was noted for his humility and piety; but yet, even the pious Catholic mother who is reading the story of Juan admits that the whisky priest is not despicable. The same cannot be said for Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, though, whom she does refer to as being a despicable man.Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ represents cowardice, abandonment of faith, and selfishness. In the graveyard, he refuses to pray for a couples dead child, confessing I am unworthy. Cant you see? I am a coward. This aspect of Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is made clear on numerous occasions, and his life seems to be dictated by fear. The word coward rings true, as Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, unlike the whisky priest, gave in to public humiliation, marriage, in order to save himself. He is described by Greene as having given in to the unforgivable sin despair. Contrastingly, the whisky priest never yields to despair, and has an underlying moral code and sense of duty he puts his duty before his fear, unlike Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. It is no coincidence, then, that the priest who converted Greene to Catholicism, Father Trollope, was described by Greene in A Sort of Life, as driven further by some inner compulsion to the priesthood; it is clear to see that the whisky priest reflects this com pulsion Greene writes that the whisky priest had given into despair five years ago, when he conceived his child, and he returns to the scene of his despair with a curious lightening of the heart. For he had got over despair too. This is crucial, as it is the pivotal difference between him and Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½; Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is unable to get over despair.Despair is a common theme in the novel, which is unsurprising given the setting. The Mexico Greene describes is one with blazing Mexican sun and bleaching dust. The words blazing and bleaching are very negative; blazing conjures up imagery of fire, and bleaching carries connotations of bones and arid land. Greene uses a filmic narrative technique, describing the visual aspects of the novel in detail; as Evelyn Waugh writes, His technical mastery has never been better manifested in his statement of the scene It is the cameras eye recording significant detail. It is this which gives the reader a clearer image of just how bleak the set ting is to live in.Living in such a place, despair seems almost inevitable for most, which creates a need for escapism. The story of Juan provides such escapism for the girls who listen intently to it: One of the little girls licked her lips secretively. This was life. Obviously, the story of Juan is not life at all; Greene is being ironic here, as the idealistic world of the tale is far removed from the harsh realities of life. It is also ironic that the mother says Juan was a true young Mexican boy, as children in this novel are typically cynical (such as Coral Fellows, Brigitta, and Luis, the boy who idolises the lieutenant), or in the case of the girls, gullible. These harsh realities outline the absurdities of Juans clearly fictitious world, and highlight the sheer dreadfulness of the world Greene has set the novel in, a world in which the word life was taboo: it reminded you of death. By telling the audience that the people of this place associate the word life only with death , Greene is emphasising the bleakness of the world, and the nihilistic attitudes of many that live there. In such a world, a heroic such as Juan seems ill-fitting and unrealistic: the whisky priest is a flawed, corrupted hero, for a flawed, corrupted world.This flawed hero, however, was not well-received by all of Greenes contemporaries; George Orwell wrote that Greene appears to share the idea, which has been floating around ever since Baudelaire, that there is something rather distinguà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in being damned; Hell is a sort of high-class nightclub, entry to which is reserved for Catholics only. Here, Orwell is trivialising the novel; the word floating is rather condescending, and the use of distinguà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ seems rather dismissive, and implies that the idea is somewhat pretentious. Mention of a nightclub further trivialises the novels message. Orwell is clearly accusing Greene of being unoriginal and pretentious, and the whisky priest as being nothing new. However, I disa gree; with the direct comparisons to sainthood and martyrdom between Juan and the priest, Greene puts this idea into a newer, more realistic and contemporary context.The world in which the novel takes place is one of people who doubt the priest: That is what everyone says all the time you do no good I can see them saying it all over the world. The fact that the priest is told this all the time shows that the opposition he faces is relentless, but he still does not give into despair. You do no good shows that his work is viewed as futile by the population. This is reminiscent of the nihilistic view expressed by philosopher Aleister Crowley in Towards The Golden Dawn, being appalled by the futility of all human endeavour. However, instead of being appalled by this futility, the priest acts in spite of it this is where his strength lies.Whilst nihilistic attitudes permeate many layers of this Mexican society, the priest seems to be determined, strong and stoic in his outlook,. He kno ws that his efforts are futile, that the easiest thing to do would be to hand himself in yet carries on regardless. He shows faith and courage, defies despair, and struggles on. Indeed, when he visits his home village, he realises that When he was gone it would be as if God in all this space ceased to exist, and finds himself shaken with the enormity of the problem, but still continues on regardless, driven by a sense of duty. That God would effectively cease to exist in the area without the priest outlines the magnitude of his responsibility: an immense load of responsibility: it was indistinguishable from love. This love is very like the love he feels for his fellow inmates in the prison scene.In the prison scene, the priest describes saints as people who see beauty in suffering, but doesnt see himself as such a saint. However, he certainly has a saintly appreciation of suffering. An excellent example of this is when he is about to leave his home town: He cried out stubbornly in a voice of authority, That is why I tell you that heaven is here: this is a part of heaven just as pain is a part of pleasure. He said, Pray that you will suffer more and more and more. Never get tired of suffering. The fact that he is stubborn shows how resilient and determined he is, and again gives us the idea that he is defiant in the face of despair. In his modesty, he proclaims himself not [a] saint in prison, yet clearly does appreciate the beauty in suffering. He links suffering to heaven, clearly associated with beauty, and his repetition of the word suffering shows us how passionate he is on the subject. It seems Greene is deliberately making the audience aware of the priests stance on suffering, so that we remember this moment when he later talks about sainthood in the prison. This is a technique Greene uses effectively, as we see the priest as humble and modest, yet still sees the world as a saint by his own definition; seeing beauty in suffering.The priest is in many wa ys a pathetic character, with his shambling from place to place, and his degradation. He is, in many situations, a powerless victim of circumstance. For example, when the wine he works so hard to purchase is drunk by the chief of police, he starts crying, and says he sees all the hope of the world draining away. Here, we see the pathetic side of the priest not only because he is crying, but because he is beginning to despair, and is a powerless victim of circumstance. However, this is by no means his most pathetic, undignified moment; this is without doubt when he fights with a dog over a scrap of meat. The absurdity of the situation is not lost on the priest, either: suddenly he laughed: this was human dignity disputing with a bitch over a bone. The phrase human dignity is clearly intended by Greene to be ironic, as the priest has lost any dignity he may have once had by fighting with the crippled bitch over a bone. He is clearly not a macho, true Mexican [man], unlike Juan Greene gives us such situations to show that humans Gods image will do what is necessary to survive, which should not affect their role as saints. He challenges the traditional view of sainthood, where upholding ones dignity is expected.A sense of responsibility clearly drives the priest to continue his struggle, his suffering; he knowingly walks into the mestizos trap He was quite certain that this was a trap probably the half-caste had suggested it but it was a fact that the American was there, dying. This fact gives the priest a sense of responsibility, even though hes heading to his death, which displays immense courage. Interestingly, the priest fails to see his own worth in this regard; after coming across the Native American woman, he thought God forgive me. I have no sense of responsibility: what can you expect of a whisky priest?.Greene makes it clear to the reader, by examples such as missing the boat at the start and following Judas into the trap at the end, that the pries t does have a sense of responsibility, despite being a whisky priest; this defies the stereotypes one might associate with the term, and shows that the priest has determination and courage. Of course, the priest is not completely courageous; he fears pain, and still fears death hes only human, unlike the seemingly supernatural Juan; he thinks you needed to be a little drunk to die, showing his flaws of alcoholism and fear. Juan, of course, was quite calm and happy when he knew he was about to die, and prayed for his enemies.Praying for his enemies, however, is something that the priest does, to an extent, share with Juan he pities the mestizo, thinking it was really shocking bad luck for the poor devil that he was to be burdened with a sin of such magnitude. Indeed, in his cell, the priest tries to pray for the half-caste, the lieutenant but in the moment of prayer he switched back to his child beside the rubbish dump, and he knew it was for her only that he prayed. The fact that he is unable to do as Juan and pray for his enemies is largely unimportant, as he at least attempts to pray for his enemies, and it is a sign of his flaws that he can think only of his daughter. He himself thinks that the people deserved a saint [but] God hadnt thought fit to send them one. Just by saying this, Greene is encouraging the reader to compare the priest to a saint, and is clearly challenging the preconceptions regarding sainthood.The priest, before death, thinks it would have been quite easy to have been a saint. It would only have needed a little self-restraint and a little courage. Here, Greene uses the word little twice, to show how the priest, by his own measure, has only missed sainthood by a small way. This encourages the reader to view the priest as a saint, and dismiss his sins as being too little, too trivial, to mar his piety. The mother of Luis even says that the whisky priest was a hero, one of the martyrs of the Church, and may be one of the saints. That eve n she considers him to be as such conveys Greenes message that sainthood need not be restricted to the absolutely, unattainably perfect. However, Greene seems to almost mock established ideas of sainthood when the mother says Of course, before we know he is a saint, there will have to be miracles and goes on to mention paying for relics. Such concepts seem ludicrous, given the priests own pragmatism, yet still persist. Greene is here questioning the Catholic definition of sainthood, and is satirising it critically.Critic David Lodge wrote that There is a good deal of evidence, internal and external, that in Greenes fiction Catholicism is not a body of belief requiring exposition and demanding categorical assent or dissent, but a system of concepts, a source of situations, and a reservoir of symbols. Clearly, he is supporting the notion that Greene challenges the categorical assent and dissent regarding sainthood, where assent represents the followings of the Catholic teachings, many of which the priest abandons. The assent is embodied by Juan, and the complete dissent by Josà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, giving into the ultimate sin, despair. The priest lies in the middle ground, representing what V.S. Pritchett refers to as a whole and memorable human being.In conclusion, Greene uses the contrast between Juan and the whisky priest to not only question, but also to criticise and challenge the idealistic Catholic views on sainthood. He uses the priests flaws and self-doubt to present us with a character who would not be considered a traditional saint, but possesses many saintly qualities. Greene gives us the priests ideas of sainthood, such as seeing beauty in suffering and having a sense of responsibility, with the priests own thoughts of how he is not fulfilling them. However, Greene subtly subverts this by having sections in the novel where the priest does fulfil these self-lain expectations of sainthood, allowing the reader to make the connection and realise that the priest is actually a very dedicated and dutiful Christian, even though he himself does not realise it; his humility serves only to augment his saintliness.

Review of Accounting Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review of Accounting Ethics - Research Paper Example Accounting ethics is a vast term and have a lot of minor details in it. Looking at just the basics, it can be defined as providing right financial details to the company and to its stake holders. Numbers are something which can be manipulated very easily for one’s own interest and that is where the rules and regulations are made to make sure that the accounting ethics are not breached at any level. Businesses make sure that each and every account is made and maintained in the right manner (Cohn, 2013). Accountants work in many different areas and fields. They are not focused on one particular subject but have to handle a lot of work at a single time. The accounting areas majorly include performing audits, making tax statements, making budgets and planning for the future, manage the ongoing accounts, consultancy and of course, preparing general accounts. Having so many things to handle, there is an opportunity for them to make frauds at each level or subjects they are working o n. The greed of making huge amount of money in no time makes them get onto the wrong track and that’s where the ethical issues start coming into action (Mele Carne, 2005). Although having all the right code of conduct, there are still some loopholes in the system which the accountants and the senior officials of the company identify and then use it for their own good. One of the biggest examples we can find in the history which was charged of the allegation of breach of accounting ethics is the Lehmon Brothers Inc. Lehmon Brothers was one of the giant companies and had a big name when it comes to the investment market of the United States of America and due to its unethical accounting methods it got bankrupt. The business of Lehmon Brothers can be described as borrowing money from the general public and then investing that money into different assets. They earned interest from their investment into the assets and then share the interest earned with the people they borrowed lo an from (Jeffers, 2011). Lehmon Brothers were considered a good company to invest in as they showed people their artificially made financial statements to the people. After they filed bankruptcy in 2008, the position of Lehmon Brothers came in front of the eyes of the people. We will now discuss about how they betrayed people by showing artificially made good financial statements. A report was made by Jeffers, Agatha E. in which all the details regarding Lehmon Brothers bankruptcy and how they did breach the accounting ethics was presented. Lehmon Brothers used a Repo 105 accounting policy to misguide their investors. Repo 105 policy suggests that when an asset is given out and cash is received, it should be recorded as sale of asset. Although in accounting methods, an asset is not considered and written as sale until it is completely transferred to the second party and is fully non-operational by the company. Lehmon Brothers accustomed to give assets as a guarantee to purchase loan s from the institutions abroad. They recorded this transaction as sale of assets and showed people that they have got rid of non worthy assets and have earned good money from that. In this way their balance sheet looked less leveraged as they have less unproductive assets and more cash. Secondly they used to pay off some liabilities with the

Black water private military company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Black water private military company - Essay Example Such private military firms refer to their line of business as The Circuit or private military industry in an effort of avoiding the stigma of being associated with mercenaries often. In the armed conflict history, hiring of mercenaries to carry out some military operations has been a common practice. The expertise and services offered by the PMCs are basically similar to the ones of police forces or governmental military, but most often occurs on smaller scale. While the PMCs often offer services to supplement and train official armed forces in governmental services, they can also be utilized in provision of bodyguards by the private firms for key staff or even protection of the premises of companies, particularly in hostile prone areas. However, the contractors who employ offensive mode of force in war zones could be viewed as unlawful or illegal combatants, with reference to a Geneva Conventions’ concept outline as well as explicitly specified by US Military Commissions Act (Barnes 32-35). Nation-states are hiring the private military firms in increasing rates to act in areas marred by armed conflicts. The predominant feeling within international community is that regulation of such companies is quite imperative. The present Congress has grappled with a variety of issues concerning the utilization of the private contractors in provision of security for individuals as well as property in Iraq and other conflict prone areas. This has seen the US gradually increasing the kinds of roles and tasks contracted to the private firms in military operations. Generally, the US Congress has accepted the use of the unarmed private contractors’ concept to conduct support functions in the military operations like provision of laundry and food services. However, this has posed a different challenge concerning the contracts’ costs and the alleged cases of favoritism in the issuance of these services (Elsea, Schwartz & Nakamura 5). Some of the emergent armed non-state

Cathys Clothing case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cathys Clothing case study - Essay Example onus provisions for the Coastal District stores, I will evaluate whether the stores have met their set targets in order to earn the stipulated bonuses (Armstrong, 2007). Evidently, New Haven and Boston have surpassed their benchmarks. For the month of May, New Haven Store has registered sales of $628,000 against the required $570,000 hence automatically qualified for the bonus. Concurrently, for Boston, the 12% of $549,500 (sales) is $ 65,940 (net income goal required for the month). Fortunately, the store the store registered a net income of $110,943. It surpassed the target thus qualified for the bonus. Another financial factor I would consider in evaluating the proposed bonus plans for Boston and New Haven incorporates the overall performance against expenditure. It is evident that the expenditure in advertising for Boston and New Haven stores are$5,300 and $53,000 respectively for the month of May. This contradicts the ultimate net income, which is $110,943 for Boston Stores and $70,992 for New Haven Store. I consider such differences and reward any store that spends strategically and sparingly on their daily business operations. Financially, this indicates some sense of responsibility and obedience for the business (Crosson & Needles, 2010). The managers in the performing stores should get some bonuses besides the stipulated ones. The aspects of cost and revenues are critical in the realms of bonus implementation. Strategic considerations will include customer care and prompt services. I will consider the stores in the realms of their customer attraction endeavors and how they uphold the brand name of Cathy’s Classic Clothes. This will be proportional to the value of sales registered per store. This will affect even the Portland Stores, which is not under the scheme. I consider such factors to be influential in decision-making, fair compensation, and motivation of all store managers (Warren, Reeve & Duchac, 2011). I expect the proposed bonus structures to

Leadership Theories From Mahatma Gandhi To Winston Management Essay

Leadership Theories From Mahatma Gandhi To Winston Management Essay From Mahatma Gandhi to Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King, there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. Fortunately, businesspeople and psychologists have developed useful and simple ways to describe the main styles of leadership, and these can help aspiring leaders understand which styles they should use. So, whether you manage a team at work, captain a sports team, or lead a major corporation, which approach is best? Consciously, or subconsciously, youll probably use some of the leadership styles in this article at some point. Understanding these styles and their impact can help you develop your own, personal leadership style and help you become a more effective leader. With this in mind, there are many different frameworks that have shaped our current understanding of leadership, and many of these have their place, just as long as theyre used appropriately. This article looks at some of the most common frameworks, and then looks at popular styles of leadership. Leadership Theories Researchers have developed a number of leadership theories over the years. These fall into four main groups: 1. Behavioral theories What does a good leader do? Behavioral theories focus on how leaders behave. Do they dictate what needs to be done and expect cooperation? Or do they involve the team in decisions to encourage acceptance and support? In the 1930s, Kurt Lewin developed a leadership framework based on a leaders decision-making behavior. Lewin argued that there are three types of leaders: Autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting their teams. This is considered appropriate when decisions genuinely need to be taken quickly, when theres no need for input, and when team agreement isnt necessary for a successful outcome. Democratic leaders allow the team to provide input before making a decision, although the degree of input can vary from leader to leader. This type of style is important when team agreement matters, but it can be quite difficult to manage when there are lots of different perspectives and ideas. Laissez-faire leaders dont interfere; they allow people within the team to make many of the decisions. This works well when the team is highly capable and motivated, and when it doesnt need close monitoring or supervision. However, this style can arise because the leader is lazy or distracted, and, here, this approach can fail. Similar to Lewins model, the Blake-Mouton Managerial Grid helps you decide how best to lead, depending on your concern for people versus your concern for production. The model describes five different leadership styles: impoverished, country club, team leader, produce or perish, or middle of the road. The descriptions of these will help you understand your own leadership habits and adapt them to meet your teams needs. Clearly, then, how leaders behave impacts on their effectiveness. Researchers have realized, though, that many of these leadership behaviors are appropriate at different times. So, the best leaders are those who can use many different behavioral styles and use the right style for each situation. 2. Contingency theories How does the situation influence good leadership? The realization that there isnt one correct type of leader led to theories that the best leadership style is contingent on, or depends on, the situation. These theories try to predict which leadership style is best in which circumstance. When a decision is needed fast, which style is preferred? When the leader needs the full support of the team, is there a better way to lead? Should a leader be more people oriented or task oriented? These are all examples of questions that contingency leadership theories try to address. A popular contingency-based framework is the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory, which links leadership style with the maturity of individual members of the leaders team. 3. Trait theories What type of person makes a good leader? Trait theories argue that leaders share a number of common personality traits and characteristics, and that leadership emerges from these traits. Early trait theories promoted the idea that leadership is an innate, instinctive quality that you either have or dont have. Thankfully, weve moved on from this approach, and were learning more about what we can do as individuals to develop leadership qualities within ourselves and others. Whats more, traits are external behaviors that emerge from things going on within the leaders mind and its these internal beliefs and processes that are important for effective leadership. Trait theory does, however, help us identify some qualities that are helpful when leading others and, together, these emerge as a generalized leadership style. Examples include empathy, assertiveness, good decision-making, and likability. In our article Building TomorrowHYPERLINK http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_62.htmHYPERLINK http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_62.htms Leaders, we discuss a series of attributes that are important for all types of leaders to develop. However, none of these traits, nor any combination of them, will guarantee success as a leader. You need more than that. 4. Power and influence theories What is the source of the leaders power? Power and influence theories of leadership take an entirely different approach. Theyre based on the different ways in which leaders use power and influence to get things done, and the leadership styles that emerge as a result. Perhaps the most well known of these theories is French and RavenHYPERLINK http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htmHYPERLINK http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_56.htms Five Forms of Power. This model distinguishes between using your position to exert power, and using your personal attributes to be powerful. French and Raven identified three types of positional power legitimate, reward, and coercive and two sources of personal power expert and referent (your personal appeal and charm). The model suggests that using personal power is the better alternative and, because Expert Power (the power that comes with being a real expert in the job) is the most legitimate of these, that you should actively work on building this. Similarly, leading by example is another highly effective way to establish and sustain a positive influence with your team. Another valid leadership style thats supported by power and influence theories is Transactional Leadership. This approach assumes that work is done only because it is rewarded, and for no other reason, and it therefore focuses on designing tasks and reward structures. While it may not be the most appealing leadership strategy in terms of building relationships and developing a long-term motivating work environment, it does work, and its used in most organizations on a daily basis to get things done. An Up-to-Date Understanding of Leadership Within all of these theories, frameworks, and approaches to leadership, theres an underlying message that leaders need to have a variety of factors working in their favor. Effective leadership is not simply based on a set of attributes, behaviors, or influences. You must have a wide range of abilities and approaches that you can draw upon. Having said this, however, theres one leadership style that is appropriate in very many corporate situations that of Transformational Leadership. A leader using this style: Has integrity. Sets clear goals. Clearly communicates a vision. Sets a good example. Expects the best from the team. Encourages. Supports. Recognizes good work and people. Provides stimulating work. Helps people see beyond their self-interests and focus more on team interests and needs. Inspires. In short, transformational leaders are exceptionally motivating, and theyre trusted. When your team trusts you, and is really fired up by the way you lead, you can achieve great things! The transformational leadership style is the dominant leadership style taught in our How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You program, although we do recommend that other styles are brought in as the situation demands. Having said that Transformational Leadership suits very many circumstances in business, we need to remember that there may be situations where its not the best style. This is why its worth knowing about the other styles shown below so that you have a greater chance of finding the right combination for the situation you find yourself in. Popular Leadership Styles A Glossary The leadership theories and styles discussed so far fit within formal theoretical frameworks. However, many more terms are used to describe leadership styles, even if these dont fit within a particular system. Its worth understanding these! 1. Autocratic leadership Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. Staff and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions, even if these would be in the teams or the organizations best interest. Most people tend to resent being treated like this. Therefore, autocratic leadership often leads to high levels of absenteeism and staff turnover. However, for some routine and unskilled jobs, the style can remain effective because the advantages of control may outweigh the disadvantages. 2. Bureaucratic leadership Bureaucratic leaders work by the book. They follow rules rigorously, and ensure that their staff follows procedures precisely. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks (such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, or at dangerous heights) or where large sums of money are involved (such as handling cash). 3. Charismatic leadership A charismatic leadership style can seem similar to transformational leadership, because these leaders inspire lots of enthusiasm in their teams and are very energetic in driving others forward. However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams, and this creates a risk that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader leaves. In the eyes of the followers, success is directly connected to the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership carries great responsibility, and it needs a long-term commitment from the leader. 4. Democratic leadership or participative leadership Although democratic leaders make the final decisions, they invite other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving team members, but it also helps to develop peoples skills. Team members feel in control of their own destiny, so theyre motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. Because participation takes time, this approach can take longer, but often the end result is better. The approach can be most suitable when working as a team is essential, and when quality is more important than speed to market, or productivity. 5. Laissez-faire leadership This French phrase means leave it be, and its used to describe leaders who leave their team members to work on their own. It can be effective if the leader monitors whats being achieved and communicates this back to the team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership is effective when individual team members are very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, this type of leadership can also occur when managers dont apply sufficient control. 6. People-oriented leadership or relations-oriented leadership This is the opposite of task-oriented leadership. With people-oriented leadership, leaders are totally focused on organizing, supporting, and developing the people in their teams. Its a participative style, and it tends to encourage good teamwork and creative collaboration. In practice, most leaders use both task-oriented and people-oriented styles of leadership. 7. Servant leadership This term, created by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by meeting the needs of the team, he or she is described as a servant leader. In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic leadership, because the whole team tends to be involved in decision making. Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest that its an important way to move ahead in a world where values are increasingly important, and where servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals. Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people who practice servant leadership can find themselves left behind by leaders using other leadership styles. 8. Task-Oriented leadership Highly task-oriented leaders focus only on getting the job done, and they can be quite autocratic. They actively define the work and the roles required, put structures in place, plan, organize, and monitor. However, because task-oriented leaders dont tend to think much about the well-being of their teams, this approach can suffer many of the flaws of autocratic leadership, with difficulties in motivating and retaining staff. 9. Transactional leadership This style of leadership starts with the idea that team members agree to obey their leader totally when they accept a job. The transaction is usually the organization paying the team members in return for their effort and compliance. The leader has a right to punish team members if their work doesnt meet the pre-determined standard. Team members can do little to improve their job satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some control of their income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity. Alternatively, a transactional leader could practice management by exception rather than rewarding better work, the leader could take corrective action if the required standards are not met. Transactional leadership is really a type of management, not a true leadership style, because the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations for knowledge-based or creative work, however it can be effective in other situations. 10. Transformational leadership As we discussed earlier, people with this leadership style are true leaders who inspire their teams constantly with a shared vision of the future. While this leaders enthusiasm is often passed onto the team, he or she can need to be supported by detail people. Thats why, in many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders (or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives that add new value. Key Points While the transformational leadership approach is often highly effective, theres no one right way to lead or manage that fits all situations. To choose the most effective approach for yourself, consider the following: The skill levels and experience of your team. The work involved (routine, or new and creative). The organizational environment (stable or radically changing, conservative or adventurous). You own preferred or natural style. Good leaders often switch instinctively between styles, according to the people they lead and the work that needs to be done. Establish trust thats key to this process and remember to balance the needs of the organization against the needs of your team.

In the New Century, the Unfinished Business of the Old World :: essays research papers

In the New Century, the Unfinished Business of the Old   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all I would like to restate that what keeps this world going is the infinite evolutionary progress, which evolves every human as well as the actions that each of us take throughout every second of our lives. Whenever, and wherever there is an action, there is a consequence that always follows closely. Sometimes it’s good but sometimes it can be bad, as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What professor Galbraith says is that although we are so different in every aspect, we are also the same. Although we all want peace, not all of us act towards it. Money has always moved the world of egos, but nowadays it has reached a platform where much of the spiritual part of our lives has been overtaken by the material addiction of the human compulsion. The U.S is a living proof of it. Here, we live in extremes, you are either in, or you’re a totally out of the American societal acceptance. Either ways will make you a true American. But one thing bonds it together: the honesty and the quality of an organized personnel that runs this so loved and hated country. Although here Americans have all the facilities and support for sports and education, it always seems that there is something lacking. Other countries that unfortunately do not have the same blessings as Americans do eventually learn from their difficulties, creating something that in Portuguese, my native language, we call â€Å"Malicia†. This is a word deeply shows that humans are not robots and that we can adapt to everything in our own little ways. Malicia is something impossible to be taught. It is hidden inside each and everyone of us. What this article brings, in my understanding, is that it has come the time for the world to unite as one, and for everyone to start caring.