Coy Mistress assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coy Mistress assignment - Essay Example Women, by nature, are more shy and timid to express their love all on a sudden in the public. The sensual instinct of the speaker in coercing the mistress to make immediate love is clear to the readers as well as to the lady. There is also a tone of contempt, in the voice of the speaker, for the natural forms of love making and the means of passing the ‘long love’s day’. â€Å"We would sit down and think which way / To walk, and pass our long loves day; / Thou by the Indian Ganges side / Should’st rubies find...† (Marvell, lines 3-6) Though the speaker is able to state some essential facts about the temporary nature of time and life, he forgets the general facts about love. He is concerned about the material and physical love and he is practical in approach. Thus he states that â€Å"Thy beauty shall no more be found, / Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound / My echoing song...† (Marvell, lines 25-7) Love is not anything spiritual or sublime t o him – it is merely a physical activity which he calls ‘sport’. â€Å"Now therefore, while the youthful hue / Sits on thy skin like morning dew, / And while thy willing soul transpires / At every pore with instant fires, / Now let us sport us while we may...† (Marvell, lines 33-6) Therefore, the mistress is able to recognize the lack of credibility and trustworthiness in the words of the

Environmental Toxicology. Homework 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Environmental Toxicology. Homework 6 - Essay Example 36 Bioassessibility refers to the amount of a pollutant that can be dissolved by the digestive fluids. Lead enters the body through either ingestion or inhalation. As much as it can be eliminated, continuous exposure leads to accumulation as well as intoxication. Analysis of waste materials indicates that 40% of lead was present as cerrussite (Brack, 2011). Cerrussite is a highly bio accessible lead-carrying molecule. However, 65% of lead also exists in the waste in a bio accessible form (Brack, 2011). This shows that lead which does not exist as cerrussite is also high bio accessible. Lead bearing minerals such as sulfur and oxygen make it more bio accessible. Presence of these stable minerals is evident in the stomach and the intestinal phase. The higher the residence of the lead in the gut the higher the bio accessibility. 13. Briefly describe the chemical and biological processes by which mercury from a coal-fired power plant enters a lake and makes it way to humans through fish caught and consumed by a fisherman or fisherwoman. Coal fired power plants emit mercury, which accumulates as sediments. Sulfur reducing bacteria then converts the mercury into methyl mercury. The sediments are then passed into water bodies and into the systems of fishes. Mercury is bio accumulative and hence it is retained in the bodies of the fish. There is a high bio concentration of methyl mercury in these aquatic organisms (Brack, 2011). Fishermen catch the fish and as they consume them, methyl mercury is passed on to

The Future Of The American Dream Sociology Essay

The Future Of The American Dream Sociology Essay As Franklin Roosevelt understood, Americans will postpone immediate gratification and endure hard sacrificesif they mustso long as they are convinced the future can be better than the past. But we face a far more difficult problem at our moment in history. What do you promise people who have been told they can have anything they want, who are repeatedly congratulated for living in the best of all possible circumstances? How do you tell them the good times, as we have known them, are not coming back? Americans need a new vision that helps them deal with reality, a promising story of the future that helps them let go of the past. Here is the grand vision I suggest Americans can pursue: the right of all citizens to larger lives. Not to get richer than the next guy or necessarily to accumulate more and more stuff but the right to live life more fully and engage more expansively the elemental possibilities of human existence. That is the essence of what so many now seem to yearn for in their lives. Peopleeven successful and affluent peopleare frustrated because the intangible dimensions of life have been held back or displaced in large and small ways, pushed aside by the economic systems relentless demands to maximize yields of profit and wealth. Our common moral verities have been trashed in the name of greater returns. The softer aspects of mortal experience are diminished because life itself is not tabulated in the economic systems accounting. The political order mistakenly accepts these life-limiting trade-offs as normal, as necessary to achieve good times. At earlier periods of our history, the sacrifices demanded by the engine of American capitalism were widely tolerated because the nation was young and underdeveloped. The engine promised to generate higher levels of abundance, and it did. But what is the justification now, when the nation is already quite rich and the engine keeps demanding larger chunks of our lives? What families, even those who are prosperous, typically lose in the exchange are the small grace notes of everyday life, like the ritual of having a daily dinner with everyone present. The more substantial thing we sacrifice is time to experience the joys and mysteries of nurturing the children, the small pleasures of idle curiosity, of learning to craft things by ones own hand, and the satisfactions of friendships and social cooperation. These are made to seem trivial alongside wealth accumulation, but many people know they have given up something more important and mourn the loss. Some decide they will make up for it later in life, after they are financially stable. Still others dream of dropping out of the system. If we could somehow add up all the private pain and loss caused by the pursuit of unbounded material prosperity, the result might look like a major political grievance of our time. More important than all the other losses is that people are also denied another great intangiblethe dignity of self-directed lives. At work, at home and in the public sphere, most people lack the right to exercise much of a voice in the decisions governing their daily lives. Most people (not all) are subject to a system of command and control over their destinies. They know the risks of ignoring the orders from above. Not surprisingly, many citizens are resigned to this condition and accept subservience as the way things are, and their lives are smaller as a result. Many find it hard to imagine that these confinements could be lessened, even substantially removed, if economic organizations were informed by democratic principles. Whats needed in American life is a redefinition of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Given the nations great wealth, the ancient threats of scarcity and deprivation have been eliminated. Yet people remain yoked to economic demands despite wanting something more from lifefreedom to explore the mysteries and bring forth all that is within them. Collectively, Americans need to take a deep breath and reconsider what it means to be rich. Greider, William. The Future of the American Dream. The Nation [The Nation] 6 May 2009, May 25, 2009 edition ed.: n. pag. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. greider>. What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession? Pollsters for The New York Times and CBS News set out last month to try to answer that question. And the results seemed somewhat contradictory. Although the nation has plunged into its deepest recession since the Great Depression, 72 percent of Americans in this nationwide survey said they believed it is possible to start out poor in the United States, work hard and become rich a classic definition of the American dream. And yet only 44 percent said they had actually achieved the American dream, although 31 percent said they expect to attain it within their lifetime. Only 20 percent have given up on ever reaching it. Those 44 percent might not sound like much, but it is an increase over the 32 percent who said they had achieved the American dream four years ago, when the economy was in much better shape. Compared with four years ago, fewer people now say they are better off than their parents were at their age or that their children will be better off than they are. So even though their economic outlook is worse, more people are saying they have either achieved the dream or expect to do so. What gives? We asked Barry Glassner, who is a professor of sociology at the University of Southern California and studies contemporary culture and beliefs. You want to hold on to your dream even more when times are hard, he said. And if you want to hold on to it, then you better define it differently. In other words, people are shifting their definition of the American dream. And the poll conducted on April 1 to 5 with 998 adults, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points- indicated just that. The Times and CBS News asked this same open-ended question four years ago and again last month: What does the phrase The American dream mean to you? Four years ago, 19 percent of those surveyed supplied answers that related to financial security and a steady job, and 20 percent gave answers that related to freedom and opportunity. Now, fewer people are pegging their dream to material success and more are pegging it to abstract values. Those citing financial security dropped to 11 percent, and those citing freedom and opportunity expanded to 27 percent. Heres some respondents answers that were put in the category of freedom and opportunity: Freedom to live our own life. Created equal. Someone could start from nothing. That everybody has a fair chance to succeed. To become whatever I want to be. To be healthy and have nice family and friends. More like Huck Finn; escape to the unknown; follow your dreams. Those who responded in material terms were hardly lavish. Heres a sampling: Basically, have a roof over your head and put food on the table. Working at a secure job, being able to have a home and live as happily as you can not spending too much money. Just financial stability. Owning own home, having civil liberties. Mr. Glassner said, For the vast majority of Americans at every point in history, the prospect of achieving the American dream has been slim but the promise has been huge. At its core, this notion that anyone can be president or anyone can be a billionaire is absurd, he said. A lot of Americans work hard, but they dont become president and they dont become billionaires. Still, he said, Americans have always believed in possibilities. And they have consistently said over time that they can start poor in this country and become rich, regardless of the economy or their circumstances. The 72 percent who feel that way today is down from the 81 percent who felt that way in 2007, but 72 percent is still a very high percentage, especially given the downward economy. It would be hard to find another country where its as high, Mr. Glassner said. The percentage of people who say the American dream does not exist or is only an illusion has remained low 3 percent today and 2 percent four years ago. As one such person put it to our pollsters last month: A bunch of hooey. By the way, the phrase the American dream is generally agreed to have been coined first in 1931, in the midst of the Depression. In his book, The Epic of America, the historian James Truslow Adams wrote, It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable. Seelye, Katharine Q. What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession. The New York Times [e.g. New York Times] 7 May 2009: n. pag. New York Times. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. . The American Dream Goes On By Mortimer B. Zuckerman Posted June 13, 2008 Is the American middle class an endangered species? The majority of Americans have long shared one state of mind: that they are in some central way members of the middle class and hold a passport to the good life. Click here to find out more! Its true that theres been a contraction of the number of middle-tier households earning between $45,000 and $90,000. And its true they are having a tough time. Six in 10 testify to incomes falling behind the cost of living; six in 10 find it hard to pay for gasoline; and five in 10 say they cant afford healthcare. More than a quarter say they have trouble even affording food. To maintain their lifestyle-including those fancy cable TV packages, broadband Internet connections, and travel-theyve sent more family members to work, taken on more debt, and borrowed through home equity loans, though the housing slump has undermined that asset. At the other end of the income spectrum, the well heeled keep doing better. The number of millionaires has shot up, and the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. families have pushed their share of total national income to levels-21 percent-unseen since the Gilded Age. Yet growing inequality has had little traction thus far as a political issue. Why is this? Partly because some have moved up, as economist Stephen Rose points out. There are 12 percent more households earning in excess of $100,000 than 20 or so years ago. And those making less than $30,000 have not increased. So virtually the entire decline of the middle-class group has come from people moving up the income ladder, not down. Higher standards. Those in the middle, and below, are also living better. As William Robert Fogel, the Nobel Prize-winning economic historian, put it, In every measure that we have bearing on the standard of livingthe gains of the lower classes have been far greater than those experienced by the population as a whole. Among the inequalities that have narrowed: The quality of goods at the more moderate price levels has improved faster than at higher price tags; rich and poor are less apart in life expectancy, height, and leisure. Its the attitude of Americans that explains the low combustibility (at the moment!) of income inequality. Most Americans tend to believe that people bear primary responsibility for supporting themselves and that market forces are immune to public policy. Theres a reflection here of the optimism and confidence characteristic of American life. In one study by Roland Benabou, more than half of Americans think they will be above the median income in the future (e ven though that is mathematically impossible). Americans, quite simply, believe that plenty of opportunities exist to get ahead, and, indeed, 82 percent of those born into poverty are much better off than their parents and more than a third of them have made it into the middle class or higher. Education is another great American success story. There has been a dramatic increase in the percentage of adults completing high school and college. Nearly 90 percent of all adults get high school diplomas today compared with 33 percent in 1947; college graduates have soared from 5.4 percent in 1947 to almost 30 percent today. More than two thirds of Americans concur with the statement that people are rewarded for intelligence and skill-the largest percentage across 27 countries taking part in an international survey of social attitudes. This reflects the widespread belief in the ability to get ahead and helps explain why Americans are more accepting of economic inequality than peoples in other countries and why Americans are less likely to believe their government should take responsibility for reducing income disparity. For all that, reaction is gathering force in at least two areas. One is an increasing distrust of free trade. There is a widespread conviction that globalization-seen by economists as a boon-holds down earnings for millions of Americans who compete with workers overseas. Free trade has become a political albatross. Secondly, the level of wealth in the stratosphere of incomes has gotten so extreme that it is provoking a considerable majority to support the notion that wealth should be more evenly distributed through higher taxes. Zuckerman, Mortimer B. The American Dream Goes On. www.usnews.com. US News and World Report, 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. the-american-dream-goes-on.html>. Is the American Dream Still Possible? By David Wallechinsky published: 04/23/2006 To be middle class in America once meant living well and having financial security. But today that comfortable and contented lifestyle is harder to achieve and maintain. PARADE commissioned Mark Clements Research Inc. to survey Americans nationwide about their finances and outlook for the future. Contributing Editor David Wallechinsky-author of recent articles on where your tax dollars go and on pork-barrel spending-interprets the results. The traditional American Dream is based on the belief that hardworking citizens can better their lives, pay their monthly bills without worry, give their children a start to an even better life and still save enough to live comfortably after they retire. But many average Americans are struggling-squeezed by rising costs, declining wages, credit-card debt and diminished benefits, with little left over to save for retirement. (See statistics below.) Does the dream survive? Do most Americans still believe they can forge better lives for themselves? PARADE surveyed more than 2,200 Americans, of whom fully 84% described themselves as belonging to the middle class, regardless of where they live (living costs are higher in some regions) or the size of their household. For this report, we focused on U.S. households earning between $30,000 and $99,000 a year. Most of those surveyed describe themselves as married and having a family. More than 64% say they are employed full-time or part-time. Most say they are in reasonably good health and have a satisfying religious or spiritual life. They own a home and at least two cars, and they are able to take vacations. By international standards, they live a life of prosperity. Yet behind this prosperity is a growing unease. Half of the employed respondents say that theyve experienced either increased health-care costs or a cut in health benefits over the last three years, and 39% have had cuts in their overtime, raises or bonuses. Almost two-thirds say they live from paycheck to paycheck, and 47% say that no matter how hard they work, they cannot get ahead. More than a third worry about job loss. Richard Oden of Conyers, Ga.-married, with five children-worked in the beer industry for 23 years. Last year, he developed pneumonia and required major surgery. When he was unable to return to work by a given date, he says, his company terminated him at age 54-even though he had a perfect attendance record and no performance problems. To help support his family, Oden had to dip into his 401(k) fund, paying a penalty for premature withdrawal. This was very stressful, he says. Everything had gone up-except wages. Oden has since started his own business, a leadership and personal development consulting firm. His wife, Josett, works as a representative in the health-care field. I do believe I will recover financially, Oden says, and that I will realize a decent retirement. But the traditional American Dream? For most Americans, its still a dream-a pipe dream. Having drawn on his own retirement fund, Oden knows that saving can be a big problem. In the survey, nearly 83% say that there is not much left to save after theyve paid their bills. Statistics from the Commerce Department bear this out: The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years. Self-reliance and sacrifice. Most of those interviewed display qualities common to American success stories: determination, flexibility, pragmatism, willingness to work hard and especially self-reliance. Almost three-quarters of the middle-class respondents surveyed say they take responsibility for their own financial destiny and believe that they will succeed or fail based on their own efforts. Still, many are downsizing their dreams. Shelly Comer, 43, of Dos Palos, Calif., is a divorced mother of three who also takes care of a friend of her oldest child, Michelle. She is going into debt so that Michelle can go to college. Shelly has worked her whole life-as a receptionist, janitor, preschool teacher and activities director at a hospital. Recently, she became a registered nurse and now works the night shift in obstetrics at another hospital. Her annual income is $70,377. Michelle, 19, is a freshman at the University of California at Merced. She says she is concerned about the financial burden her education is placing on her family: In order to meet our expected family contribution, my mother had to borrow the entire amount of her share. For her part, Michelle earned six small scholarships, two of which are renewable for next year, and took out a federal loan. She also works 16 hours a week in the financial-aid office at the university. Shelly has a retirement plan through the hospital. But I have nothing saved for me, she says. Im putting it all into the kids, so that they can succeed in school. Our parents did everything for us, and I hope to do the same for my kids. I dont count on anyone else to help us get to where we want to go. Its all up to me and my family. And I trust in God to help us. Who is responsible? One of the most intriguing results of the Parade survey is that 89% of the middle class believes that businesses have a social responsibility to their employees and to the community. Yet 81% believe that, in fact, American businesses make decisions based on what is best for their shareholders and investors, not whats best for their employees. Randy Omark, 55, and Cherie Morris, 58, of Stroudsburg, Pa., husband and wife, are former flight attendants for TWA. Cherie took a buyout in the late 1990s-before American Airlines bought TWA in 2001. After the acquisition, Randy was put on furlough (as were about 4,000 other former TWA flight attendants) and never rehired. After 26 years with the two airlines, his pension was frozen and then taken over by the government. Now he gets $324 a month in payments. Today, despite having a college education, Randy works for $9 an hour finding community jobs for mentally challenged adults. Cherie works for a greeting-card company for $7.25 an hour. It used to be that if you stayed with your job, you would be rewarded, says Cherie. Now there is no guarantee. As for retirement, Randy says, Eventually, we will just downsize everything, sell our house and move into a smaller one. Is the dream changing? Simone Luevano, 46, and Miguel Gutierrez, 44, run a garage-door installation and repair business in Albuquerque, N.M. While the business grossed $453,000 last year, they took home just $50,000 net to live on. They have a daughter-Marilyn, age 7-who is deaf in one ear and goes to a private school that costs $3600 a year. Simone says that financial stress is part of their lives: It comes from the maybe, could be, should be nature of our business. When the economy is down, people dont buy a new garage-door system. The cost of gas at the pump is a major factor, she adds: When the price of gasoline goes down, business goes up. Have they prepared for retirement? Simone laughs, then replies, The words retirement and vacation are not in our vocabulary. You know that old Tennessee Ernie Ford song: I owe my soul to the company store? We dont think about retirement. Theyll have to take me out of here with my high-top tennies on. The American Dream is a bygone thing, she adds. Its not the way life is anymore. I used to believe I was responsible for my own destiny. But its not that simple. Now its faith and fortitude. The Stressed Middle Class National statistics show the increasing pressures on middle-income Americans: The real median household income declined 3% from 2000 to 2004. The percentage of households earning $25,000 to $99,999 (roughly middle-income range) shrank 1.5% from 2000 to 2004. Last year, real average weekly earnings actually fell 0.4%. The savings rate for Americans is the lowest it has been in 73 years. Credit-card debt is at an all-time high, averaging $9,312 per household. The average cost per year of a public college (in state) is $12,127, a 25% increase since 2001. A private university costs $29,026. Heres What Americans Say Our survey of middle-income Americans about their financial outlooks showed both skepticism and hope. More than 52% of middle-class Americans think that theyre better off than their parents were, but 56% think things will be worse for their own children or for future generations. Nearly 57% say they believe that the middle class in America is decreasing. 51% of employed members of the middle class have experienced either increased health-care costs or a cut in health benefits, and 39% have experienced cuts in overtime, raises or bonuses. 66% say they tend to live from paycheck to paycheck. 47% say that no matter how hard they work, they cannot get ahead. Nearly 83% say that there is not much money left to save after they have paid their bills. 89% of the respondents believe that businesses have a social responsibility to their employees and to the community, but 81% believe that American businesses make decisions based on what is best for their shareholders and investors-not what is best for their employees. 74% of the middle class say they take responsibility for their own financial success or failure. 80% say they believe it is still possible to achieve the American Dream. Wallechinsky, David. Is the American Dream Still Possible? Parade [Parade] 23 Apr. 2006, Final ed.: n. pag. Web. 28 Mar. 2010. edition_04-23-2006/Middle_Class_feature>.

Effects of Industrialization and the Conditions of the Working Class in

Effects of Industrialization and the Conditions of the Working Class in England In the middle of the 19th century the industrial revolution was flourishing in England. With all of the advancements in machinery there would be new opportunities and drawbacks for citizens. Many would leave their lives on the farms and work in factories with unsafe settings. Karl Marx felt that the new advancements in society were able to support the fourth stage of human development, Communism. Along with these new advancements the people would have to learn how to self-govern themselves in the workplace and understand their new responsibilities. England possessed the right settings for the autonomous operation of the economic forces that generated industrialization. Before the industrial revolution England was mainly an agrarian society. Then there was a radical change that moved the citizens from farms and into cities. With the large rise in England’s population there was also a larger demand for goods. There was a necessity for quicker and more efficient methods of producing those goods. During the beginning of the 19th century there was a large push of inventions to help create a more mechanical society. By 1848, when the "Communist Manifesto" was written, machinery had already been assimilated into society.1 The industrial revolution made transportation, commerce, and communication more accessible to the masses. Britain already had many navigable rivers and also utilized the inventions from the revolution to improve even more.2 One of the biggest contributions to those was that of the steam engine. Thi s invention was the first automatic machine that allowed people to work uninterrupted for longer periods of time, ... ...k : Longman, 1985),3,32. 2. Kevin Kitano and Anthony Morejon, "Essay on the Industrial Revolution," 2 November 1997, <http://members.aol.com/mhirotsu/essay.htm> (23 October 2001). 3. Sidney Pollard, Peaceful conquest : the industrialization of Europe, 1760-1970 (New York : Oxford University Press, 1981),22. 4. Donald L. Donham, Studies in Marxism and Social Theology: History, Power, Ideology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 60-61. 5. Kevin Kitano and Anthony Morejon. 6. Karl Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party. 7. Pollard,27. 8. Kemp,5. 9. Kevin Kitano and Anthony Morejon. Links: http://www.neo-tech.com/businessmen/part6.html http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/ENLIGHT/INDUSTRY.HTM http://members.aol.com/mhirotsu/kevin/trip2.html

An analysis on leaderships’ effect on culture Essay

Facts ConnectCo is an outbound call center in Toronto, Ontario and is the Canadian Subsidiary of a U.S. marketing and sales consulting practice. The parent company has provided services to Fortune 500 companies over its five years of operations and employs approximately 75 people. ConnectCo has annual revenues of $29.4 million, with Symbol Office Solution as their biggest account at $20 million annually, for a contract length of three years. This contract awarded ConnectCo net profits as high as 35% of sales. What ConnectCo offers to clients is the convenience and cost savings of removing a costly field sales force and replaces them with a more cost efficient outbound call center. These call centers help customers with technical problems, provide new equipment updates, and disseminates knowledge about new technologies or equipment. The Symbol account, as previously mentioned, provides a significant sum of ConnectCo`s total revenue and was first negotiated by Charlie Gallagher, the vice-pre sident of Canadian operations, and is managed by Chad Macdonald. Joe Davis is a passionate and experienced consultant that has worked closely with clients to identify and implement solutions to very specific problems. He joined ConnectCo hoping to learn from the pool of experience that he saw within the organization, with the majority of them being former Xerox employees with considerable knowledge in increasing sales. His role in the organization was to ensure that the level of service that ConnectCo provided met or surpassed the needs of clients. As per his position within the company he was the first to notice the discrepancy within the Symbol account. The contract that was signed between ConnectCo and Symbol required that there be a certain number of Inside Account Executives (IAE) that be trained at all times and at a phone making calls in the client`s interests. The recent decline in the IAE pool has left several seats open, with no calls being placed on behalf of Symbol, however they were still billing the customer as if the seats where all operating at full capacity while they should only be billing them for filled operators. The amount of the discrepancy totals $81000. The terms of the contract have been modified several times over its effective term with the first being an extension of the contract and the notice of intent to develop mutually agreed to service levels. Service level targets were never established. Symptoms The four factoring symptoms are communication, trust, accountability, responsibility and integrity. These symptoms are the leading cause for Connectco’s inability to run operations smoothly and effectively. The lack of communication within Connectco is causing headaches for Davis as information continues to be blocked by â€Å"noise† within the company. The communication is next to nonexistent from the top of the hierarchy to the department managers within the company. The lack of trust throughout the company is not helping their cause when trying to create an effective and demanded product for fortune 500 companies. There is little trust betwee the top managers and employees that they will complete their respected jobs at hand with the level of trust level between employees and managers decaying over time and as the situation worsens. Accountability is near nonexistent within the organization. Davis is not able to hold his manager accountable because of his past record in doing so. Accountability is crucial in order for Connectco to run smoothly in the future. Conflict frequently causes employees to look to offload their work onto others to not be responsible for failure, as in the case of Chad Macdonald passing the role of dealing with the Symbol account off to Joe Davis. Finally, there is little integrity. Dealing with the account neither Chad nor Charlie believe that the best solution would be to deal with the problem and would both prefer to make a decision that would go against the main values of the corporation that includes trustworthiness. There is a valid case of values incongruence within ConnectCo. These four main symptoms are major attributes to the problems faced within Connectco and are the four elements that may be the solutions to solving Connectco’s organizational problems in the near future. Problem Statement ConnectCo`s current situation is the direct result of the poor corporate culture as evidenced by the symptoms that are present. This culture stems from the leadership`s poor ethics and lack of values and has cascaded to the rest of the organization. Joe Davis, the new manager of the Planning and Reporting department for ConnectCo, began his new job about a month ago finds himself in the uncomfortable situation of questioning the morals of his coworkers that has led to the jeopardized relationship between ConnectCo and their largest client: Symbol Office Solutions. Joe must decide how to approach this conflicting situation as a new member of the company without compromising his own morals and values. Analysis In evaluating the relevant models to address the problem statement there is one model in particular that effectively incorporates several of the models needed to perform an analysis of the corporate culture at ConnectCo; Edgar H. Schein’s Model of Organizational Culture. Schein’s model is the most relevant to identify the reason for the symptoms and problems currently facing ConnectCo. The incorporation of the many different aspects to identify the culture of an organization including atifacts, shared values, and shared assumptions enables a thorough review of the culture present at ConnectCo. The following analysis will break down Schein’s model and evaluate each section with the following relevant analysis to get a better understanding of the situation. It will be presented in the following order; artifacts, shared values, shared assumptions. Artifacts Communication within the ConnectCo organization does not represent the ideal scenario for a well-run organization. This lack of proper communication and clarity is unfortunately spilling over into its business dealings with clients. Both represent one of the most evident aspects of the artifacts of the company, the cultural norms that are evident to others and neither is impressive. To begin, this analysis will focus on internal communication and then shift focus to the external communication with other organizations. â€Å"Davis opened up a new message and types a simple e-mail, in case Gallagher picked it up with his Blackberry†. This is but one example of the many e-mail conversations that take place within the ConnectCo organization. The situation that ConnectCo finds themselves in is extremely complicated, owing a client a credit for $81000, yet the medium with which Joe Davis chose to use to relay his message was e-mail. A quick analysis of the media richness hierarchy model shows that in this particular situation, which can be easily identified as non-routine and ambiguous, this medium carries too little data-carrying capacity. If ConnectCo is going to come up with a solution they are going to need to switch to a much richer medium such as face-to-face to get a better understanding of the issue and come up with better outcomes. A second occasion that warrants investigation is the initial email from Joe Davis to Charlie Gallagher. In this initial email he again used to wrong medium to convey the breadth of the issue that is ambiguous and non-routine. Charlie chose to respond in an email as well, with nine words. This will play a factor again in the analysis of the shared values, more specifically the espoused values that leadership (Gallagher) conveys. Communication between the organizations is also very weak, speaking to the weak cultural artifacts of the ConnectCo organization, and possibly Symbol. It has been acknowledged that they do indeed have face to face communications with their customers, Gallagher does meet with Puhl for golfing events face to face, this does not represent an ideal time, however, as the venue is much to informal to discuss business matters as public meetings contain significant noise, literally and figuratively, that may lead to the message being decoded incorrectly. The rest of the communication between the two parties, even between the account relationship manager Chad MacDonald and Steve Puhl was done either by telephone or by email. Another aspect of the artifacts of communication that deserves attention is the construction of the contract. Again, the communication process model is most relevant and one of the simplest ways to word the breakdown is that the contract contained too much noise and was not properly decoded by ConnectCo. The ambiguity of the contract comes from many revisions, some of which were not even available to the relevant employees such as Joe Davis and using words such as â€Å"notwithstanding† which was interpreted differently by Joe Davis, Chad MacDonald, and Charlie Gallagher. This occurred because the contract was not descriptive enough. Another aspect to the artifacts portion of the model of organizational culture is the ceremonies that take place within the organization. These ceremonies are used by certain employees and management to get the attention of an audience. In this particular situation the most evident are the golfing trips that Gallagher takes with clients to cement his position as the most important contact to the clients. And finally, the organizational structure, which has a great effect on culture. ConnectCo currently has a client structure, as negotiated within the contract agreement, the organization will maintain a set number of staff specifically to service that account. Espoused Values â€Å"Our values reflect what is important to us. They are a shorthand way of describing our individual and collective motivations. Together with beliefs, they are the causal factors that drive our decision-making.† (http://www.valuescentre.com/values/?sec=values_overview) The above quote reflects what should be the core of any business, the values shared by all of the different employees congruent to the plan laid out by management for the success of the organization. In Schein`s model shared or espoused values represent the second of the 3 components and the first of the invisible dynamics, as in they cannot be easily observed by others. Richard Barrett, author of Building a Values-Driven Organisation: A Whole System Approach to Cultural Transformation believes that values can be either positive or negative and each can have an equal and opposite effect on the corporations culture. The espoused values must begin as an individual value through some authority figure, such as a founder, senior management, or even an individual with significant power within an organization. These individuals` culture then influences their immediate coworkers, the teams with which they operate, then the organization as a whole. These individuals can therefore set the values for the whole organization regardless of what the dominant culture of the organization through countercultures. â€Å" The culture of an organisation, or any group of individuals that share a common identity, is a reflection of the values and beliefs of the leadersâ€Å". (http://www.valuescentre.com/leadership/?sec=leadership__culture) With limited information on the dominant culture of ConnectCo as established by its American head company, which include integrity and trustworthiness, it can only be assumed that the culture that prevails at Connectco is a subculture of the organization as a whole. The following analysis suggests that the counterculture present in ConnectCo is the direct result of the actions of Charlie Gallagher. As the leader in the organization Charlie has had a profound effect on the values and ethics present within the organization. His handling of the Symbol account clearly demonstrates his values and ethics. His position as leader and culture setter warrants investigation based on several components. First, the competency of his leadership will be analyzed incorporating an analysis of his personal values and the source of his power. To begin, Charlie possesses several characteristics of an effective leader. He has significant self-concept, his personality skills are high, he has the motivation to be a leader, and significant knowledge of the business. These competencies push those that work for him to have the same skills as demonstrated in Chad MacDonald; however, his low integrity has also been transmitted to other co-workers. By encouraging Davis to p lay with the numbers and do things that were out of the contract he shows his low integrity. This has led to a lack of trust that is evident from Joe Davis and several other members of the ConnectCo staff throughout the handling of the symbol account. This is not the only negative quality that has displayed. Gallagher also exhibits limited cognitive and practical intelligence. His recommendation to simply `go with the lowest cost` shows a lack of understanding of the situation (and going back to communication) the ambiguity of the situation , this has pervaded to his employees where Chad was more than willing to agree to a band aid solution going against ethical business practices. Neither fully understands the situation and Chad was more than happy to hand off the problem to Joe Davis even though he was the relationship manager on the account and dealing with clients is outside of the scope of work for Joe Davis. The reason for Gallagher`s lack of integrity can be easily explained through the Swartz values circumplex. Clearly, Gallagher is more focused on self-enhancement, his need for achievement is evidenced through the fact that everyone must know that he is the one that negotiated the Symbol account and demonstrated through his golf business trips, as well as his refusal to accept responsibility for poorly negotiating a contract and failing to adhere and communicate the contents of the contracts that he signed. He is also a leader that craves power and prefers significant power distance, as proven by his screening of his employees’ calls and not showing up to the meeting with Joe Davis and Chad MacDonald to clarify the contract for them. Both of these values compromise his integrity and unfortunately those values are only two that his leadership has caused the rest of the organization to adopt, the need for security security being another. Gallagher`s aforementioned need for power is also affecting the culture of the organization. His handling of the Symbol account and the contract shows that he uses a wheel formation of information control to maintain power within the organization. By him going golfing with the big shots at Symbol rather than relationship manager Chad, shows that he needs to maintain that control of information which in turn gives him control over Chad and the account. This is combined with Joe Davis` perception of an upward appeal within the organization that made him rethink his ability to go to the higher ups with the information because he believes that the management will take the side of Gallagher given that they are both MBA graduates. Fear is an influence tactic that Gallagher has wielded to maintain order and obedience from his employees through his connection with the president. The effect on culture is that because employees cannot contact upper management the values that he imposes on the organization will be the ones that dictate how operations are carried out. Indirectly, this is what has causes the problem with ConnectCo and Symbol. Gallagher controlling the information has prevented Chad from acting in the best interest of the company to ensure the contract is followed and that there are no issues. It also means that now since the contract has not been followed the persons involves will use the cultural aspects of poor integrity and dodging that he has used with his employees as Chad demonstrated by dodging Steve Puhl and pushing the problem onto Joe Davis. Shared Assumptions and Values Analysing the shared assumptions of ConnectCo with the Schwartz’s Values Circumplex, we notice that the company talks about wanting to keep their most important client Symbol satisfied by valuing self-transcendence and conservation however their actions and dealing of the contract with Symbol do not reflect those values. The appropriate way to describe the values that ConnectCo tend to go by is self-enhancing. They are working for the client to provide them with everything listed in the contract, in this case a sufficient amount of IAEs, but are hiding information from Symbol to protect their own well-being. This seems to be enforced by Charlie Gallagher as he is telling Joe Davis that they should not have to pay any penalty fees to Symbol for empty seats at the IAE position if there are current individuals in training for that position. Now we will look at the ethical values and behaviour the moral intensity of ConnectCo, more specifically Charlie Gallagher’s ethical s ensitivity to the issue. The degree to which they should be applying ethical principles should be is high because Symbol is their biggest client and has trusted ConnectCo for a few years. However, the intensity being put forth is minimal as they are trying to get out of paying money to Symbol for not having staffed enough IAE’s and they are forcing Joe Davis to go against his values and follow suit. This shows how little Charlie Gallagher cares about ethically conducting operations with clients and co-workers, as Joe Davis is being pressured into complying with Charlie’s demand because he does not want to risk losing his job even though what Charlie is telling him to do is illegal. Taking a look at the conflict process model we find our sources of conflict between, Gallagher, Davis and Steve Puhl from Symbol. The most obvious source is the communication between Gallagher and Puhl. First of all the contract between the two is too vague and open for interpretation as the service level targets have not been defined for almost two years. Charlie is also not communicating the issue of his understanding of the contract, as he is just assuming that they should not have to pay Symbol credit for not having the specified amount of IAE’s because he is claiming that during those times they had individuals in training to fill those positions. Another issue is that even if what Gallagher interpreted was true, he does not have any data to prove that he had employees in training because he failed to communicate to Chad MacDonald, Joe Davis and to Carole Lam the exact details of the contract. This puts Joe in a uncomfortable situation when he receives a call from Steve Puhl and is unsure what the contract requirements. Another source of conflict is the incompatible goals and differentiation between Charlie and Joe. Joe is simply trying to do the right thing because he is new to the company and wants to make a good impression by doing things ethically however Charlie is trying to make it seem like he is fulfilling the terms of the contract by making assumptions of the contract to get away with not having to pay Symbol their deserved credit. Another source of conflict is the scarcity of important resources. As mentioned previously Carole Lam the analyst was never told to keep data on the amount of days and which days that employees were in training. Joe needed this data to complete his work but obviously was unable to retrieve complete and accurate data on employee training. The way that Charlie seems to be handling this conflict is by avoiding communication with clients and co-workers. He is notorious for screening calls, he failed to show up to a meeting with Chad MacDonald and Joe Davis, and when asked how to calculate the credit owed to Symbol he simply tells Davis to use the lowest cost to save ConnectCo money and make himself look good. He also does not seem to be of much help to Joe Davis as Gallagher is the one who began this lack of communication which has led to faulty handling of Symbol’s credit account, and seems to be avoiding Joe Davis. This is causing the rest of the employees to obey his ideas beca use they have no idea what the contract actually calls for and even if they did know, would likely be unwilling to challenge his decisions because he is higher up in the company. Alternatives Alternative #1: Bring these numbers and issues to the President and CEO Pros| Cons| * Issues dealing with the Symbol account get addressed * Issues with the culture of the organization get addressed * Issues are addressed to an authority that can fix these problems and remove the negative counterculture * Keeps the organization from committing accounting fraud like other companies (Enron) * Brings to light all the ethical issues surrounding Charlie Gallagher and Chad MacDonald * Addresses turnover issues that have become routine in the company| * This act could cause tension between Joe and his direct superior (Gallagher) * There is a risk that the President sees this act as disloyal * Working with Gallagher and MacDonald after bringing their issues to light will be difficult moving forward * President/CEO may share the same dysfunctional attitude towards the culture in the organization| This alternative should include him making an appointment with the President/CEO and bringing analyst Carole Lam to help support his findings. She is well aware with the financial numbers and how Gallagher is letting ConnectCo take money from their top client. This meeting needs to be face-to-face in order to bring about the severity of the conflicting situation. The meeting needs to include all facets of the organizations current lack of corporate ethical values and which individuals must be held accountable. Joe must conclude that if there are immediate corporate culture changes, he would still like to keep working with Gallagher and MacDonald and build a trusting and functional working relationship with both. This will help ease the tension between himself and his immediate superior as well as showing the President that he is capable of handling mismanagement. This alternative is highly recommended and addresses all the facets of this situation. Alternative #2: Quit and find another job Pros| Cons| * Joe no longer has to deal with the resoundingly shaky ethical structure and poor communication at ConnectCo * Joe doesn’t become a â€Å"part of the problem† * Joe no longer has to deal with Gallagher’s lack of trust and consideration with their top clientele at his cost * Joe doesn’t become an accomplice to committing accounting fraud| * Leaving an organization after only one month doesn’t look good to future prospective employers * This would go against his newly engaged fiancà ©e who wanted to see him â€Å"get off the road† * No severance package * No recommendation or verbal support from ConnectCo once he leaves| This alternative does not come recommended as it leaves Joe and ConnectCo with an uncertain future. Should Joe decide to leave the company, he would not get a severance package and future employers will wonder why he lasted only a month at his previous job making it more difficult to find employment opportunities. Also, his fiancà ©e did not want his moving around for work a lot and two jobs in less than two months will leave his situation at home stressful. Also, should prospective employers contact ConnectCo, they would have no reason to support Joe for his limited work. Although Joe does not have to deal with this poor corporate culture, running away from the situation does not help in any positive way. Alternative #3: Try to resolve issue without Chad MacDonald or Charlie Gallagher Pros| Cons| * Helps ease relationship between ConnectCo and Symbol * Steve Puhl does not have to deal with Chad (who he is getting nowhere with) * Joe can try to incorporate cultural changes to those he can * Has Carole Lam to help him fix the financial disparities of the comapny| * Leaving Chad and Charlie in the dark is risky * Steve Puhl may accidently contact Chad or Charlie and miscommunication may occur * Does not address how to fix the imminent turnover issues surrounding the IAE’s * Not reporting these changes with his superior could cost him his job| Because Joe handles the reporting side of the company, it would go against his responsibilities as an employee to bring up any new information regarding Symbol and can be subject to his employment being terminated if Gallagher was to find out. This alternative is incredibly risky, but does see some rewards. These rewards include easing the relationship between ConnectCo and Symbol and slowly changing the culture in the corporation as best he can. Unfortunately, he is only just a manager and a new one, so it would be hard for him to get others to respond to his command when there hasn’t been enough relationship development between his other employees. With this in mind, it is best to look at other alternatives. Recommendation Our recommendation is based off of Alternative #1, in which we suggest brining the financial statements and issues to the attention of the President and CEO. This will allow us to ensure that all problems in relation to the Symbol account and the culture of the organization are addressed accordingly. This will also shed light on the ethical issues that need to be addressed, surrounding Gallagher and MacDonald. As well, it will prevent any consequences from occurring, resulting from accounting fraud. Once Joe Davis meets with the President and CEO to inform them of his findings, it will be up to the President to create and urgency for change within the organization. In order to implement this change we would recommend the use of Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model. By implementing this model the President could unfreeze the current situation, change the organizational culture and ethics of the company, and then freeze the company in that state. By doing so the company would chan ge into operating with a more socially responsible client first attitude. By creating urgency for change the President could use client satisfaction as a driving force to push the employees, in order to ensure each client receives the customer service they deserve. By ensuring the client is always receiving social and ethical treatment, it will drive away any restraining forces, such as lack of integrity, which can be attributed to the accounting fraud. Now we can consider how the President could unfreeze and re-freeze the company in order to complete the change. The President should focus on creating an adaptive culture, in which the company will have an external focus. By creating an external focus the employees will realize that the organizations success depends on continuous change to be a more stakeholder and client oriented company. In this situation it means focusing on changing into a more socially and ethically aware organization to better serve the clients. There is also an internal focus that must be implemented as well. This includes employees working towards the organizational goals that are set. In this situation the organizational goals would be to provide better customer service. As well by creating an adaptive culture, employees would have a stronger sense of ownership within the organization, and therefore take more responsibility for their performance and tasks. Therefore we believe that since a company’s culture often reflects the leader’s personality, it really is up to the President to make the steps necessary to change the organization. One final step we would recommend taking, is to fire Charlie Gallagher. The basis of firing Gallagher is the fact that he was trying to commit accounting fraud. Therefore the company would have just cause for his dismissal. By firing Gallagher, this would also be the first step towards creating a socially and ethically driven company; Gallagher is simply a restraining force that is preventing the organization from making that move towards a better organizational culture. Action Plan Our recommendation is often referred to as whistle blowing, which is when a company employee goes public or to his superiors with private information that could hurt the company. This technique is usually used when social and ethical responsibilities are being neglected or ignored. While it may seem simple enough, the process is far from smooth and the employee doing the whistle blowing is often made out to be a burnt out low level employee who is unhappy. So before Joe does anything of the sort he must be prepared for anything to happen. The best way to approach this alternative would be: 1. Collect all relevant information and be prepared to present your case and be able to answer any and all questions 2. No president of CEO wants to hear that their company’s values and ethics are being compromised, so he must prepare a plan B in order to protect himself from media and personal scrutiny. 3. Joe must schedule a face-to-face meeting with the CEO to ensure that there is no outs ide noise or misinterpretations with his information and language 4. When presenting his findings, Joe must deliver his message in a way that is not an attack or critique. He must not point out what is wrong but what needs to be improved and why. 5. As part of his presentation Joe needs to incorporate his own recommendations and action plan. Once he goes through with this meeting there is not turning back. The recommendation and action plan should follow a similar tone to what was mentioned above, it should not only identify the problems but what needs to be done to fix them and how to go about fixing them. 6. After the meeting is over all Joe can do is wait for the decisions by the CEO and board of governors. At this point in time a lot of different things can happen and Joe needs to be prepared for any outcome. The optimistic outcome would be to have your action plan ready to implement and begin fixing the company. The pessimistic outcome would be that they reject his action plan and making his career a nightmare. If this were the case Joe should be prepared to look for another job, or be prepared to defend himself from public scrutiny. Joe is caught in the middle of a lose-lose situation, so his best alternative is the lesser of two evils. It is difficult being the new guy in a company, especially when you’re the one telling that what they are doing is wrong. However, sometimes it takes an outside perspective to identify the problems that have gone unnoticed for too long. If Joe can present a clear and strong case that does not personally offend the CEO, and present the opportunities for improvement, the process should run as smooth as possible.

A Combination of Liberal Arts and Christianity Essay

Two ways of thought and life are combined to make one learning environment. Liberal arts and Christianity seem like two separate concepts to most, but together they create a harmonious setting for an individual to grow in a multitude of ways. A Liberal Arts College creates a life long thinker that becomes adaptable to society using their knowledge to make decisions. In Holmes pg 35 he says, â€Å" Liberal education is an open invitation to join the human race and become more fully human. Its goals are to read and write and thereby think independently, and appreciation of lasting values coupled with the ability to make sound value judgements and live by them, a critical appreciation of the past and responsible creative participation in the future.† We are educated from kindergarden to 12th grade to learn the fundamentals of all subjects with hopes to impact the society as an educated citizen. This hope is continued if we choose to further our education in college with a specifi c emphasis on a major. Like many students with a major, Christians are faithful students that use the Bible to guide their daily lives, but to the rest of the world they can be viewed as sheltered and limited to their beliefs. This causes a hindering on effectiveness that Christian have in the community and a misunderstanding of the validity of their thoughts. in Holmes pg 6 he supports this thought by saying,† Unless we understand the thought and value-patterns of our day, as well as those of biblical revelation and the Christian community, and unless we speak fluently the language of our contemporaries, we tragically limit our effectiveness.â€Å" With a Christian College education is heightened by integrating literarary works, theories, and concepts to Christian commitment, moral, and faith making a collaboration of endless possibilities. This creates a well rounded opportunity for students to learn at a college with the strengths of both liberal arts and Christianity called a Christian College. We are not limited to any one way of thinking. As people we want to explore and question the how, what, where, and why’s of the world. The Christian College does not limit the ability of self perception or thought, but encourages the process. Using liberal arts to educate the Christian learner and further their insight in the world is a primary purpose of a Christian College. As stated in Holmes pg 8 â€Å"†¦integration of faith and learning remains the distinctive task of the Christion liberal arts college.† The worldview of Christianity should not be  limited to ones home, but incooperated throughout a persons education to further equipt them for a future that will continue to challenge and question their abilities. In support of this thought, On page 36 Holmes writes on the ever lasting benefits of education,† If the person, including what she becomes in this life, has an eternal destiny, then what I become in the process of education lives on forever†¦ Christian liberal arts education has an eternity in view.† For most, being a student is only a fragment of a lifetime. That is why the importance of receiving a well rounded education that a Christian College has to offer is essential to establish a foundation of education to apply to the remaining years of our lives. Learning with a purpose to become a reflective being, and value being, and a responsible agent will prepare an individual to step into the world and make educated, reasonable, and moral decisions. A reflective beings have a passion to learn, ask, and wonder which leads us to analyze and come up with our own thoughts of possibilities. Reflectiveness sometimes leads us to have a birds eye view of a thought as a whole as opposed to thinking in a narrow, closed minded way. Causing us to become more critical thinkers and nurture our natural inquisitions. Holmes states, â€Å" â€Å"To teach a person to read and write is to teach him to think for himself, to develop more fully the possession of his God-given powers. He becomes in fact, not just in possibility, a reflective, thinking being.† Next, as value being takes a worldview of everything important to them and acts on those thoughts and feelings for direction. In a Chirstian College we see those values as what God has created in the the reflection of Him, us. Actions we take have effects and the choices of those actions can not be learned by reading a book, but the foundations of values can guide a person towards a better outcome. Last, there is the need to be a responsible agent. As Christians we are accountable for our actions and are governed by our Lord Jesus Christ. Decisions of right and wrong are presented daily, but as a Christian going to a Christian College we are taught the principles of reasoning through education and guided with the righteous path God has called us to live. The world is filled with possibilities and opportunity, but it is the people we become with the help of a Christian College, that steers us on the road to a life of reflection, value, and responsibility. A Christian College provides a basis in creating a holistic person by incooperating faith with a liberal  arts education. To see life as one picture rather than a million tiny pieces in a puzzle can create a smoother transition from college to the real world. Often students face the delema of just figuring it out. There is no how to manual or direction guide of life. As Christians we look to the bible for answers and get the general idea of what should be done with digging into our faith, but the is an element of critical thinking that must be applied. That kind of thinking is learned though a Christian College. â€Å" If a person, including what she becomes in life, has an eternal destiny, then what I become in the process of education lives forever†¦Christian liberal arts education has an eternity in view.†(Holmes 36) No one person or book can teach us the do and don’ts in life, but a well round education can prepare us for a life of constant decisions and obst acle to overcome.