A Perky Way to Productivity Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

A Perky Way to Productivity - Case Study Example However, the kinds of perks being offered at some of these companies are not in response to actions, but offered as incentive to do their jobs; that is not the point or purpose of benefits and perks in the workplace. The company pays you to show up on time and to do your work, they should not have to offer you a bonus for what they are already paying you for innately. When used correctly incentives provide the company with increasing revenue, but also motivate the employees at the same time. They have lower turnover and higher retention (Miller, 2007). If something works then it is feasible to invest in it. However, there is a point where such things can become extreme. For example, an â€Å"employee nap room† is a little inappropriate in the workplace; it does not exactly promote energy and productivity. The concern can come when potential employees stop choosing their careers and workplaces based on the quality of the company but more dependent upon the nature of the rewards they will receive. When better perks are offered by a competitor they will be quick to â€Å"bail out† on the company. It can start to be less like rewarding good employees for a job well-done and instead, essentially, bribing them not to leave. This could easily diminish the integrity of the business in the long term. The employee motivation strategies the two companies, Genentech and Zappos, are implementing involve a number of typical and unusual motivators. Firstly, they use traditional incentives like, bonuses and other monetary motivators. They, also, employ strategies that involve some unique choices and incentives. They offer things like on-site employee day care, special rooms for nursing mothers, free snacks, pajama parties, and â€Å"employee nap rooms.† Both, of these companies are boasting that their employee satisfaction and retention are high and their turnover is low, which means that

Diploma in Ship Superintendancy Module 3 TMA Essay

Diploma in Ship Superintendancy Module 3 TMA - Essay Example This can be followed when there is enough Insurance for the ship and the cargo. I t is important to know to whom the insurance is named after and whether the insurance is assigned to a bank under a loan agreement. The extent of the insurance should be known for there may be uncovered items. Then there is Freight Management which is the provision of voyage orders and other information to enable the master to plan and undertake the voyage, of voyage estimates and accounts, the calculation of hire and freights, dispatch and demurrage and the arrangement of the correct collection and payment of all charter hire and freight monies. Fifth would be Accounting which is the accurate records of accounts. Sixth is Chartering which is the owner's instructions. Proper coordination with the owner, or a selected organization, is crucial to avoid mistakes. Next is Vessel Sales and Purchase. This is a major activity where the exchange of the purchase price with the deed of sale of the ship along with the physical asset. Eighth is Provisions and Bunkering. This is the negotiation for competitive prices for optimum quality for shipment. Then we have Operation, which includes voyage estimates, voyage instructions, appointment of agents and stevedores and the arrangements for surveying cargoes. ... Seaworthiness and cargoworthiness always go hand in hand. As an overview, seaworthiness is the shipowner's responsibility to see the ship is fit for travel and cargowothiness is the responsibility to make the cargo hulls safe for the cargo and the cargo safe for transport. Related directly as the shipowner's right to limit his liabilities, the concept is of seaworthiness is a very important in legal context. This is achieved by proper preparation at the start of the voyage. This means that the ship must be properly manned, equipped and supplied. The parts of the ship in which the good are carried must be fit and safe for receipt, carriage and preservation. At the event that cargo is not at par with the cargo owner's desires, the right to limit the liabilities can then be challenged at court. The concept of cargoworthiness relates as the consideration associated with fitness for purpose and condition. This is now the cargo owner's task to see that his products are properly transported. This is important for both the cargo and ship owner's because it will definitely limit future problems with substandard shipments. Furthermore, the cargo must be properly loaded, stowed, carried, discharged and delivered. This now is the mainly the responsibility of the cargo owner, although it does go hand in hand with the shipowner's task of keeping the ship seaworthy. Even if the ship is of perfect condition for cargo containment, without the proper handling and transport of the cargo to and from the vessel, it is still likely that the goods are to be damaged. 3. The process involved in amending (in 1995) the STCW convention and ensuring that it operates consistently and effectively Back in 1974 when the STCW convention was first introduced, it was

Personality psychology Essay Example for Free

Personality psychology Essay Abstract Carl Gustav Jung has influenced many facets of modern psychology and counseling with his unique spiritual approach to personality theory. Herein lies a biographical address of Jungs life, a comprehensive overview of the principle tenets of his personality theories, and a Christian evaluation of his work. Specific attention is given to comparing and contrasting Jungs theory of a collective unconscious with a Christians understanding of the spiritual world. In addition, a guide is provided to Christians looking to mine Jungs work for techniques that might help their clients, while at the same time avoiding others that cannot coincide with orthodox Christian beliefs. EVALUATING JUNG FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE Evaluating Jung From A Christian Perspective Carl Jung lived a very interesting life, and has provided the fields of psychology and counseling with valuable perspective and insight. A modern Christian psychologist or counselor would do well to mine Jungs theories for useful application today. The difficulty is found in moving past Jungs cloud of mysticism and properly applying orthodox Christian beliefs to Jungs work. The Life Story of Jung Boyhood Carl Gustav Jung was born in 1875 in Kessnil, Switzerland (Jung, 1989). It is quite telling that very early in Jungs autobiography he describes how he came to his understanding of Jesus as a boy. Jung (1989) described how the natural dangers around his home led to untimely deaths, how his father presided over these funerals, and how Jung lost trust in Jesus because Jesus allowed or caused these people to die. He admits, â€Å"In later years and until my confirmation, I made every effort to force myself to take the required positive attitude to Christ. But I could never succeed in overcoming my secret distrust† (Jung, 1989, pp. 13-14). Jung wrote his autobiography while he was in his eighties and only a few years before he died. Either Jung was a little boy particularly sensitive to his faith, or as an old man he superimposed some of his mature hostility to Christianity onto his memories of early life. Either way, it seems Jung would admit that he was never a Christian. Another strange phenomenon in Jungs early life was a strange experience he described as occurring while he was around eight or nine years old and playing on a favorite rock he had: Often, when I was along, I saw down on this stone, and then began an imaginary game that went something like this: â€Å"I am sitting on top of this stone and it is underneath. † But the stone also could say â€Å"I† and think: â€Å"I am lying here on this slope and he is sitting on top of me. † The question then arose: â€Å"Am I the one who is sitting on the stone, or am I the stone on which he is sitting? † (Jung, 1989, p. 20) It is possible to dismiss this event as a childs whimsy and miss the significant dissociative quality that affected Jung. As if Jung anticipated this, he follows this memory with another even more emphatic. He carved a two-inch long manikin out of his school ruler, dressed it, made a stone for it, and secretly hid it in his attic (Jung, 1989). His thoughts show how divided and anxious his personality had become. â€Å"No one could discover my secret and destroy it. I felt safe, and the tormenting sense of being at odds with myself was gone† (Jung, 1989, p.21). This introspective dialogue confirms Jung struggled with a personality disorder himself. Young Adulthood and Parents Not surprisingly, these two themes of distrust toward Christianity and an increasingly manifest disorder continued into Jungs formative years. â€Å"As a school boy, Jung began to experience himself and be convinced that he was both the child he objectively seemed to be and also an authoritative wise old man who had lived in the eighteenth century† (Sollod, Wilson, Monte, 2009, p. 157). According to Sollod et al. (2009) while trying to understand himself, Jung also struggled with understanding his parents and his home life. Jungs father was a pastor of the Swiss Reformed Church who struggled with his own faith, and his mother seemed to possess two personalities. Sometimes she was a sweet mother and wife, and at other times she was a â€Å"witch, prophetess, and seeress who communicated with spirits† (Sollod et al. , 2009, p. 157). The two themes most obvious in young Jung are the same two themes that dominated the lives of his parents. EVALUATING JUNG FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE Adulthood. Later, Jung (1989) proved to be a good student and was considering a career as a medical man when he was strongly influenced by paranormal events in his house. Curious, he began to attend seances with his family and included these events in his doctoral thesis. After finishing that, Jung (1989) says, â€Å"On December 10, 1900, I took up my post as assistant at Burgholzi Mental Hospital, Zurich† (p. 111). It was there Jung became interested in the mentally ill and Freuds work. Freud and Jung became close, and Jung learned much from Freud. However, a bitterness developed between them and they began to break apart. Sollod et al. explains: By 1913, the break with Freud and the Freudians had become permanent. As we have seen, this period also signaled Jungs development of the most distinctive aspects of his own theorizing and his own personal voyage into the depths of what he termed the â€Å"collective unconscious. † (2009, p. 159) From this association and then public break with Freud, Jung and his ideas began to gain in popularity. He began to develop many independent theories in addition to the collective unconscious, but the basis of his personality theories remain rooted in Freudian thought. Still, most of Jungs theories were inspired from his own personal, spiritual experiences (Boa, 2004, p. 97). Jungs Theories The Collective Unconscious It is good to begin discussing Jungs theories in relation to his break with Freud. We can draw from our understanding of Freud the concepts of psycho-sexual unconscious drives, repression, and the id, ego, and superego to gain an understanding of where Jung began. Jung looked deeper into the concept of the unconscious and found a collective element there: If we analyze the persona we remove the mask and discover that what appeared to be an individual is at bottom collective. We thus trace â€Å"the Little God of the World† back to his origin, that is, to a personification of the collective psyche. Finally, to our astonishment, we realize that the persona was only the mask of the collective psyche. Whether we follow Freud and reduce the primary impulse to sexuality, or Adler and reduce it to the elementary desire for power, or reduce it to the general principle of the collective psyche which contains the principles of both Freud and Adler, we arrive at the same result: namely, the dissolution of the personal into the collective. (Jung, 2008, p.38) Jung believed this collective unconscious was a natural result of the evolutionary process in humans, and therefore â€Å"is morally and aesthetically neutral and should not be regarded as an enemy to be avoided† (Boa, 2004, p. 97). Christian Response To The Collective Unconscious Jungs collective unconscious might excite the Christian who is thinking of the biblical descriptions of angels, demons, heaven, hell, and the entire spiritual world. Is Jung tapping into a part of all of us that comprehends these spiritual things? Both the Christians understanding of the spiritual world and Jungs collective unconscious are unseen. And both views believe all humanity participates or will participate in their unseen world. However, Jungs view is specifically amoral, whereas Scripture describes Gods revealed morality for humans in the material world and angels and demons in the spirit world (2 Pet 2:410 NASB). For the collective unconscious to encompass all the Christian understands about the spiritual world, it would have to be under Gods authority and therefore moral. A Christian understands God as eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, and thus God would have sovereignty over the collective unconscious if it did exist. In addition, a Christians understanding of the spirit world is that it exists as a real space even though it cannot be seen. A Christian believes this spirit world cannot be entered by a human voluntarily. These two beliefs are antithetical to Jungs understanding of the collective unconscious. Not only does Jung claim to have voluntarily entered the collective unconscious, but much of his later work is based on his return from this place including a mysterious little red book. His writings in that red book were very different from most of his professional work: Instead, the book was a kind of phantasmagoric morality play, driven by Jungs own wish not just to chart a course out of the mangrove swamp of his inner world but also to take some of its riches with him. It was this last part – the idea that a person might move beneficially between the poles of the rational and irrational, the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious – that provided the germ for his later work and for what analytical psychology would become. (Corbett, 2009,  ¶ 16). The orthodox Christian is forced to conclude that Jungs theory of a collective unconscious has no bearing on the reality of the spiritual world. Archetypes Jung, however, believed in the reality of the collective unconscious and devoted much of his life to its experience and study. From this work came his understanding of archetypes. He defined archetypes loosely as primal images and experiences shared in humanitys unconscious world (Sollod et al. , 2009, pp. 161-162). These archetypes include names such as the Mother, the Trickster, the Shadow, the Hero, the Anima, and the Animus. Freud believed archetypes on the unconscious side and instincts on the conscious side combined to drive a human (Boa, 2004, p. 159). Or, put another way, Daryl Sharp (2001) explains an archetype is â€Å" a universal tendency to form certain ideas and images and to behave in certain ways. Instincts are the physiological counterparts of archetypes† (p. 14). The general and inclusive nature of the collective unconscious and archetypes made Jung popular among secular and religious spiritualists. Here was a theory they could united behind and put its tenets to work in a practical psychology. Christian Response To The Archetypes Jung easily used the idea of archetypes to interact with Christianity. All of the major historical figures and many icons associated with Christianity can all be explained through archetypes. However at its core Jungs creation of archetypes is not compatible with Christianity as Boa (2004) explains: Disagreement exists among theologians as to whether Jungs system repudiates or is compatible with Christianity, some arguing that it undermines biblical authority, and others claiming that it illuminates and enhances the Christian message. However, the psychological interpretation of Christianity in works like Symbols of Transformation and Answer to Job denounces the scriptural portrait of Yahweh and Christ and rejects traditional Christianity as inadequate for modern culture. (p. 101) The orthodox Christian must not reduce God to the status of one archetype among many, and is encouraged to view the historical figures mentioned in the Bible as literal. One may also study Jung further to read of his aversion to orthodox Christianity more clearly. Word Association Test. Whereas Freud relied on hypnosis and forcing a subject to concentrate to draw out unconscious tangles in a person, Jung developed a word association test. Jung would provide the subject with a card with a stimulus word written on it, would ask the subject to respond to the word, and would record reaction times. This method was very successful in identifying unconscious problems. Jung would later improve on this technique to measure more physical responses from the subject (Sollod et al. , 2009, p. 148). Christian Response To The Word Association Test. Jungs word association test would be improved on and expanded to the many different versions of psychological tests we see today. This method, and methods like it, are useful in determining where a client might need to focus or might be hurting and not realize it. This test would be particularly useful with children or with clients who are unaware of the nature of their psychological baggage. Unlike the incompatable differences associated with the collective unconscious and archetypes theories, the word association test is a useful tool that any Christian should consider. The Introvert and the Extrovert. Jung also developed a model for understanding personality types by observing the differences between Freud and Adler. Jung believed there was a continuum between introversion and extroversion and that everyone fell on a different place on that continuum. Jung also broke those two general types into more specific types, and used this model to fit personalities into categories (Sollod et al. , 2009, pp. 166-171). Later Hans Eysenck, influenced by behaviorist and cognitive schools of thought regarding personality theory, expanded on Jungs ideas of introversion and extroversion. He performed tests that partially confirmed the basis of Jungs descriptions, and then described how the ideas Jung postulated had been around since the times of ancient Greece. Nevertheless, Eysencks evaluation and expansion of Jungs work has led to an understanding of personality types that is useful today Sollod et al. , 2009, pp. 501-506). In addition, â€Å"Web sites based on the dimensions Jung outlined have proliferated, and one can find a number of well-researched tests of Jungian types. Foremost among these are the Myers-Briggs test and the Kiersey temperament survey† (Sollod et al. , 2009, p. 170). Christian Response To The Introvert and Extrovert Types Similar to the word association test, Jungs formulation and the subsequent development of personalty type theories based on introversion and extroversion are helpful diagnostic tools. While observing the view that a human does not completely fit into a single personality type, and humans personalities change, these tools should be utilized in a modern psychology or counseling setting in addition to usual methods. A Christian can counsel another Christian with scripture in truth and love while better understanding that client in terms of their general personality bent. Summary There is no doubt that Carl Gustav Jung lived a troubled life and regularly interacted with the occult. Were he alive today, its likely the fields of psychology and counseling would treat him more as a patient than a contributor. Nevertheless, his ideas and views help shape each of those fields and influenced many others who also helped shape those fields. A Christian would do well to mine Jungs life and work through a filer of orthodox belief. Even though Jung was a nonbeliever, a troubled man, and was hostile to orthodox Christianity, his unique insights are still useful in doing Gods will in todays world. After studying Jung, a counselor is better equipped to help people. References Boa, K. (2004). Augustine to Freud: What theologians psychologists tell us about human nature and why it matters. Nashville, TN: BH Publishing Group. Corbett, S. (2009, September 16). The Holy Grail of the Unconscious. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com Jung, C. (2008). The Conception of the Unconscious. In M. W. Schustack H. S. Friedman (Eds. ), The Personality Reader, (2nd ed. , pp. 36-40). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Jung, C. (1989). Memories, Dreams, Reflections. New York: Vintage Books. Sharp, D. (2001). Digesting Jung: Food for the journey. Toronto, ON: Inner City Books. Sollod, R. N. , Wilson J. P. , Monte C. F. (2009). Beneath The Mask? : An introduction to theories of personality (8th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons.

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness Contemporary organizations are faced with demands and pressures of ever expanding magnitude that the quest for effective leadership continues to intrigue educators, researchers, and practitioners. In this context, the present paper focuses on the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) in relation to leadership effectiveness. A significant amount of research and attention has been given to identifying relationships between emotional and social intelligence regarding, life satisfaction, personality, social relationships, team performance, education and leadership. Today, in light of the increasingly complex and changing world, researchers have highlighted the need for a new leadership approach. Through research in the area of personal-best experiences, Kouzes and Posners five identified leadership practices, which were identified through studies associated with the stories of leaders who were able to get extraordinary things done in their organizations Underlying Kouzes and Posners Model is the leaders ability to generate, encourage, and promote healthy, reciprocal, and collaborative relationships. This interpersonal or relational aspect of leadership has recently been connected to the emotional intelligence constructs that have gained popularity in recent decades. Emotional intelligence skills provide developing leaders with an increased understanding of the impacts of emotions within a team or organization. Caruso and Salovey demonstrated the advantages EI has with respect to six common challenges in leadership: (a) building effective teams, (b) planning and deciding effectively, (c) motivating people, (d) communicating a vision, (e) promoting change, and (f) creating effective interpersonal relationships. This paper ends by highlighting the impact of Emotional Intelligence in the leadership style of resonant and dissonant leaders. Introduction Contemporary organizations are faced with demands and pressures of ever expanding magnitude that the quest for effective leadership continues to intrigue educators, researchers, and practitioners. Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) explained that, leaders everywhere confront a set of irrevocable imperatives, changing realities driven by profound social, political, economic, and technological changes. During these changing times, it is most important for organizational leaders to stay attuned to their own emotional reactions to pressures, as well as how those environmental pressures affect their constituents. Hence todays organizations need a transformational change, calling for new leadership. In this context, the present paper focuses on the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) in relation to leadership effectiveness. EI Research The concept of emotional intelligence has gained popularity in recent decades; however, the characteristics and concepts associated with EI are rooted in research conducted throughout the twentieth century. Earlier works identified competencies, other than general intelligence, that contributed to life success. Thorndike (1937) reported the concept of social intelligence. Wechsler (1940) fought for the addition of non-intellective aspects as a measure of general intelligence. Likewise, Leeper (1948) purported that emotional thought should be considered when reviewing the concept of logical thought. However, it was not until the 1980s that the current concepts related to emotional intelligence started to emerge. Gardner (1983) shared a theory of multiple intelligences that encouraged researchers to step outside the notion that human beings are confined to a singular or plural view of intelligence. Gardner purported that there were five more intelligences that were equally important to collective human intelligence: musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence. Within these multiple levels of human development or intelligences, a movement evolved that expanded two particular areas of Gardners approach (i.e., interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences). According to Bar-On (2002), several researchers expanded Gardners interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences into six primary components of emotional intelligence: emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, empathy, interpersonal relationship, stress tolerance, and impulse control. Researchers generally agree that EI addresses ones ability to identify, interpret, and control his or her own emotions, as well as stay in tune with, understand, and relate to the emotions of groups and individuals (Goleman et al., 2002; Bar-On, 2002; Mayer Salovey, 1993). Additionally, EI stems from ones ability to utilize emotional information to appropriately solve problems and make environmentally savvy decisions. In the last two decades of the 20th century and more recently in the 21st century, a significant amount of research and attention has been given to identifying relationships between emotional and social intelligence regarding, life satisfaction (Palmer, Donaldson, Stough, 2002), personality (Higgs Rowland, 2001; Schulte, Ree, Carretta, 2004), social relationships (Lopes, Salovey, Straus, 2003; Massey, 2002), team performance (Rapisarda, 2002), education (Jaeger, 2003; Zeidner, Roberts, Matthews, 2002), outdoor leadership training (Thompson, 2004) and leadership (Goleman, 1998, 2001; Dulewicz Higgs, 2003; Cherniss Goleman, 2001). Leadership Theory Historically, social changes have been charted, coordinated, and led by a few leaders who had the ability to energize and motivate constituents or community members to stand tall, shed fears, and push forward the need for change. Today, in light of the increasingly complex and changing world, researchers have highlighted the need for a new leadership approach (Yukl Lepsinger, 2004; Kouzes Posner, 2002; Goleman, Boyatzis, McKee, 2002). Though researchers have been studying leadership and leadership development since the days of Aristotle and Plato (Leonard, 2003), the study of leadership has been plagued with an overabundance of theories with little common direction (Chemers, 1993; Northhouse, 1997; Day, 2001). Chemers (2000) conducted a historical overview and analysis of leadership theories and concluded that common findings in leadership studies have led to the following three tasks that leaders must achieve to be effective: (a) establish the legitimacy of their authority, (b) coach, guide, and support their constituents in ways that allow for both group and individual goal attainment, and (c) identify and employ the strengths and abilities found in themselves, as well as their constituents, to accomplish the organizational mission. Astin and Astin (2000) called for a leader who can be adaptive and promote creative solutions to modern societal problems. They further explained that to cope effectively and creatively with these emerging national and world trends, future leaders will not only need to possess new knowledge and skills, but will also be called upon to display a high level of emotional and spiritual wisdom and maturity. Hence, there is little doubt that our turbulent world requires a new perspective on leadership (Komives, Lucas, McMahon, 1998). Through research in the area of personal-best experiences, Kouzes and Posners five identified leadership practices, which were identified through studies associated with the stories of leaders who were able to get extraordinary things done in their organizations (Kouzes Posner, 2002). These leadership practices include Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act, and Encouraging the Heart. Relational Leadership: Five Practices of Exemplary Leaders Effective leadership is about creating reciprocal relationships between the leader and followers, subordinates, or constituents that in turn creates the foundation for organizational and group success (Bass, 1985; Chemers, 1993; Komives, Lucas, McMahon, 1998; Kouzes Posner, 2003; Potter, Rosenbach Pittman, 2001). The Kouzes and Posners Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership Model has been noted for its contributions to the Relational Leadership paradigm (Komives, Lucas, McMahon, 1998; Endress, 2000; Berg, 2003). Kouzes and Posner (1987) conducted research in the area of personal best leadership experiences. They developed a Personal-Best Leadership Experience questionnaire, asked thousands of managers to complete the questionnaire, and conducted many follow-up interviews to gather additional information. The personal-best questionnaire asked managers to pick a project, program, or event that they characterized as their personal-best leadership experience. After analyzing the data collected from questionnaires and interviews, Kouzes and Posner found that despite the variety in situations and types of leadership experiences, similar patterns were identified related to actions taken by the leaders during the experience. Through the analysis process they identified Five Practices of Exemplary Le adership that contributed to getting extraordinary things done in organizations: Modeling the Way Inspiring a Shared Vision Challenging the Process Enabling Others to Act and (e) Encouraging the Heart. The first practice is Modeling the Way, in which leaders role model the behaviors they want the see in their constituents. Through action and involvement, leaders earn the right to lead and the respect of their followers. The second leadership practice is Inspiring a Shared Vision. This is when the leader imagines what the organization could be and then creates a vision that is attainable and attractive. The leader connects this new vision to the hopes and dreams of his or her constituents to generate passion and enthusiasm for realizing the vision. The third leadership practice is Challenging the Process. Exemplary leaders are pioneers who know that innovation and change involves experimentation, risk, and failure. A leader understands that change can feel uncomfortable and then builds constituent confidence by pursuing change incrementally and by accomplishing small victories. The fourth leadership practice involves Enabling Others to Act. Successful leaders understand that leadership is a team effort and are not afraid to share the leadership process. Leaders foster collaboration and build trust by supporting and encouraging their constituents to do good work. Leaders who are able to build trusting and collaborative relationships find that their constituents are higher performers and even exceed their own personal expectations. Finally, exemplary leaders Encourage the Hearts of their constituents to help them carry on in the face of challenge, frustration, and discouragement. Leaders know that celebrations and rituals, when done with authenticity and from the heart, build a strong sense of collective identity and community spirit that can carry a group through extraordinarily tough times. Relational Leadership and EI Underlying Kouzes and Posners Model of Exemplary Leadership Practices is the leaders ability to generate, encourage, and promote healthy, reciprocal, and collaborative relationships. This interpersonal or relational aspect of leadership has recently been connected to the emotional intelligence constructs that have gained popularity in recent decades (Mayer Salovey, 1997; Bar-On, 2002; Goleman, 1995). Researchers agree that there is considerable overlap between relational leadership and EI competencies in both content analysis and empirical evidence (Higgs, 2002; Dulewicz Higgs, 2003). Goleman (1998) made connections between emotional intelligence and leadership practices in which he boldly claimed that highly emotionally intelligent leaders and work teams contribute significantly to the overall success and bottom line of the organization. Goleman, et al. (2002), when talking about building a culture of change in an organization, assert the following: Emotionally intelligent leaders know how to manage their disruptive emotions so that they can keep their focus, thinking clearly under pressure. They do not wait for crisis to catalyze a need for change; they stay flexible, adapting to new realities ahead of the pack rather than just reacting to the crisis of the day. Even in the midst of vast change, they can see their way to a brighter future, communicate a vision with resonance, and lead the way. Positive emotional leadership is a necessity in times of chaos and change because constituents closely examine and then emulate or mirror their leaders behaviors and actions (Goleman, Boyatzis, McKee, 2002). In other words, constituents, either consciously or unconsciously, react to a leaders verbal and non-verbal responses to a specific crisis or challenge (Caruso Salovey, 2004). Dulewicz and Higgs (2003), identified common EI elements that have been linked to effective leadership characteristics: (a) self-awareness, (b) emotional resilience, (c) motivation, (d) interpersonal sensitivity, (e) influence, (f) intuitiveness, and (g) conscientiousness and integrity. Ultimately, leadership is a social and emotional process, and effective leaders are able to harness those social and emotional ties to successfully pilot organizations through chaos and rapid change. EI and Leadership Challenges Emotional intelligence skills provide developing leaders with an increased understanding of the impacts of emotions within a team or organization. Caruso and Salovey (2004) demonstrated the advantages EI has with respect to six common challenges in leadership: (a) building effective teams, (b) planning and deciding effectively, (c) motivating people, (d) communicating a vision, (e) promoting change, and (f) creating effective interpersonal relationships. Throughout Caruso and Saloveys descriptions of the six challenges, they cited a connection with Kouzes and Posners Effective Leadership Practices Model. 1. Building effective teams The first challenge was building an effective team. Caruso and Salovey discussed the need for clarifying personal values before attempting to formulate team values. Like Kouzes and Posners model, Caruso and Salovey explained that leaders must identify their own values before clarifying team values. A significant level of trust is important for leading teams, and a leader must generate positive opportunities for meaningful team communication and interaction. Additionally, a leader must have significant self-confidence to give team members credit for accomplishments and not blame them when shortfalls occur. 2. Planning and deciding effectively Caruso and Salovey went on to explain that even though planning and decision-making can seem cognitive and practical, emotions contribute significantly to these activities. Emotionally intelligent leaders possess the ability to remain flexible and open to other alternatives. Additionally, EI leaders take into account how their team members may react to a decision, and then attempt to make decisions that will fit in with the shared values of the team. In the end, this type of flexible decision-making will contribute to the successful implementation of the decision. 3. Motivating people Every leader at one point or another is faced with the question of how to motivate a team. Caruso and Salovey cited Kouzes and Posners (2002) encouraging the heart model as a significant contribution to motivating a team. When a leader expresses appreciation for the accomplishments of team members, they are in many ways providing that added incentive for future successes. Caruso and Salovey also explained that it is important for a leader to celebrate team member successes without promoting or encouraging envy throughout the team. 4. Communicating a vision Furthermore, communication is among the most difficult challenges to leadership. EI leaders base their communication efforts on delivering a message [they] want to deliver and delivering it in such a way that is heard and understood by others. Communication also entails a leaders vision for the future. Caruso and Salovey emphasized that because an EI leader has the ability to understand and empathize with group feelings, he or she will be successful in encouraging team members to buy into their vision of the future. 5. Promoting change In light of rapid worldly changes, a leaders ability to facilitate and encourage change has been a hot topic recently (e.g., Kotter, 1995; Higgs Rowland, 2001). Caruso and Salovey (2004) explained that EI leaders challenge the status quo through innovation, experimentation, and risk-taking. They further explained that most people are resistant to change; however, EI leaders identify, empathize with, and acknowledge resistance and then communicate the need for change and clarify a road map toward successful implementation. 6. Creating effective interpersonal relationships Building effective interpersonal relationships is the foundation of the emotionally intelligent leader. Caruso and Salovey (2004) explained that effective interpersonal relationships include both positive feedback and sincere criticism (p. 209). EI leaders are able to generate relationships that are healthy and mature enough for members to express honest and tactful reactions with other members. Caruso and Salovey explained that emotions contain data and [those] data are primarily communicating information about people and relationships. Being accurately aware of emotions and their meaning provides the emotional intelligent manager with a solid base of understanding of themselves and of others. Along with understanding and interpreting emotions, it is equally important for leaders to understand the impact of emotions on individual and organizational performance. EI and Resonant / Dissonant leaders Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) shared two leadership styles that relate both positively and negatively to emotional intelligence and contribute significantly to productivity and work satisfaction: dissonance and resonance. Goleman, et al. explained that a dissonant leadership style demonstrated characteristics that are not emotionally effective or supportive within an organization. A dissonant leader is one who offends constituents and creates an unhealthy and unproductive emotional environment within the organization. They described dissonant leaders as leaders who are so out of touch with the feelings of their constituents that they create a negative environment, which in turn moves the organizations attitude toward that leader on a downward spiral from frustration to resentment, rancor to rage. Dissonant leaders were also described as authoritarian, untrustworthy, uncooperative with constituents, unharmonious with the group, abusive, and humiliating. Resonant leaders, on the other hand, project an emotional atmosphere that is comfortable, cooperative, supportive, and enthusiastic. They inspire shared values and rally people around a worthy goal. Goleman, et al. described four leadership styles that build resonance within the organization: (a) visionary moves people towards a shared dream, (b) coaching connects personal desires with organizational goals, (c) affiliative creates harmony by connecting people to each other, and (d) democratic values input and builds commitment through participation. As mentioned earlier within the area of modeling, the concept of mirroring in relationship to resonance and dissonance within the organization is very important when a leader reacts to both positive and negative situations. When a leader reacts to a negative situation in a concerned but positive fashion, his or her behavior becomes a model which the rest of the organization can follow. Goleman, et al. explained that leaders within organizations are observed for acceptance or rejection to thoughts, projects, or ideas. If a leader shows any nonverbal or verbal gestures, constituents quickly notice and react to those gestures. Emotionally intelligent leaders realize and understand how their emotional reaction can guide and steer the emotions of the entire organization. This concept of resonant and dissonant leadership styles is one example of the power of the emotional climate within an organization. Emotional intelligence has been linked to a number of additional factors associated wit h effective leadership (Goleman, 1998; Kouzes Posner, 2002; Dulewicz Higgs, 2003). Conclusion With the identified benefits of emotional intelligence related to creating and developing positive relationships, combined with the understanding that positive relationships are the core of effective leadership, the idea of emotional intelligence and effective leadership is one that has been well established in the literature. Researchers have started to develop and assess developmental programs for emotional intelligence that coincide with leadership development programs and initiatives. The question most pertinent to those involved research and practice in the area of leadership development is the process by which leaders learn about emotions and the power of emotion on leadership success.

How McEwan Presents Ideas about Memory and Recall in Enduring Love :: Enduring Love Ian McEwan Literature Essays

How McEwan Presents Ideas about Memory and Recall in Enduring Love In ‘Enduring Love† McEwan has created a storyline that refers to the 1st person narrator’s own perception of his own mind and memory. Because of this we do not know whether to trust Joe or not as he is extremely biased in his own opinion. At the very beginning of the novel we, as the reader, feel extremely safe being â€Å"in Joe’s hands† because we see the very scientific, rational mind; however as we go on through the story we see the loss of rationality and we are given hints not to trust Joe as much as we did; â€Å"His writing’s rather like yours† and â€Å"Mr Tapp went to the toilet, not his daughter†. Within the opening chapter we see as a very clear memory from Joe of the balloon accident. Within this chapter we see the very rational side of Joe where we see the view of the balloon accident from a â€Å"buzzards† point of view so that it looks like the people who are within the balloon accident are on a snooker table coming from all direction. Joe is able to stop time here and point out where absolutely everyone is in relation to himself and the actual balloon. The use of narrative and chronological time not being the same in the first chapter also gives the reader different views of Joe’s own memory and what kind of state he is in within the first chapter; the change from people running towards the balloon to then of Joe’s and Clarissa’s reunion to then being back at the balloon accident. From the very beginning of the novel we, as the reader, see that Joe is a very rational person who has to think about every single detail of his own life and other people’s lives around his own. However in Chapter 3 we see a very emotional part of Joe as he describes what both he and Clarissa are up to after the great tragedy of the balloon accident; â€Å"why didn’t I think of this?† and â€Å"she caressed my balls†. This defiantly shows another side of Joe that we hadn’t seen yet, this gives the reader the insight into Joe so that we know what different sides there are to him that can affects his own memory. This is extremely important for the reader as we must know whether the narrator is trustworthy or not. At his point we are given no reason to doubt Joe and what he is telling us. However at the end of chapter 3 we are given an inclination not to trust Joe as much as we do as Jed

Motivating Teachers Essay

In today’s school system where ‘no child is left behind’; the teacher is set up for failure. Combined with achieving metrics on standard testing scores; these extrinsic motivators seem to be the only thing presented to teachers today. They are expected to be high quality teachers who are able to inspire, mentor, design and align lessons, differentiate instruction, craft assessments, analyze data, grade homework, connect with parents, enforce discipline, promote fitness, cultivate a love of learning, write individualized education programs, and so on. Look at what we are expecting of our teachers today, and how we are trying to motivate them. The joy of teaching students to make their own decisions and succeed in life seems to be gone. Perhaps it is time to rethink the teaching job itself so that more people might do it well. One idea is to create more specific teaching jobs so that each teacher isn’t asked to excel at so many different tasks on a day to day basis. The idea is to revamp the job in a way that allows individual teachers to spend more time doing what they’re best at. Rocketship Education (www. rsed. org) is an example of a high-performance charter school that uses a hybrid model of classroom instruction, real-time assessments, and customized, supplementary services in its â€Å"learning lab. † Using this type of a method means that the actual tasks that each teacher must do have been recreated. It allows the teacher to concentrate on coaching, motivating, instructing and problem solving around student issues and needs. In Boston, there are examples of Citizen Schools (www. citizenschools. org) which provide a new idea of who can teach. These schools leverage local professionals on a part-time basis to teach on specific topics and areas of expertise. These examples suggest opportunities to expand and better use the pool of teaching talent through smart differentiation and specialization. These methods use intrinsic motivation to increase teaching effectiveness by allowing autonomy for teachers to instruct students in the topics that they have an affinity for. It seems that current standard practice in schools has all teachers—regardless of skill or demonstrated performance—taking equal turns monitoring the lunchroom, supervising bus loading, patrolling the hallways, filling out stacks of mandated paperwork, and the rest. Increase in effectiveness would be shown by allowing more specialization.

Desiree’s Baby and Battle Royal: Character Comparison Essay

Reasons the main characters in Desiree’s baby and Battle Royal choose different paths to solve their problems Racism has deterred many Africans from living happily, for from the two given stories we saw that one took her own life for that and the other had to suffer all the cruelty and inequality of the whites in order to continue his academic life. In the stories, our main characters had both chosen different paths, solutions to their problem. The reasons that lead to this dissimilarity were that both of them were different people with different stands in society and also their situations were not alike. As a woman, Desiree’s joy in life lied in her happy family yet she was deserted by her own husband. Armand’s treatment towards Desiree made her became miserable and so when she left with the child, she had nothing to live for. Armand and Desiree were very much in love at the beginning of the story and Desiree could not cope without him. Desiree did not understand what she had done but she felt guilty. Armand thought that she had betrayed him that she was an unfaithful wife. The change in Armand’s attitude towards his wife affected Desiree and due to this she killed herself and her child. On the other hand, our young African-American narrator was a slave. He was and always has been an obedient slave who believed if he worked hard enough the white community would accept him. Thus, through all the abuse and after being treated as an entertainment, he still held on to his speech the one thing he was firmed of. And in the end, though he was very confused if his grandfather’s words were true he had to go continue his academic life first, which left him in a crossroad. Furthermore, Desiree was adopted by a well-respected family and also she married Armand who was also from a wealthy family, which put a lot of pressure on her to be a perfect woman. So when her husband falsely accused her of being black, she was confused since it went against everything she had been in her whole life: good, kind, and pure. She was shocked to see happiness taken away from her so easily and also to see that she had became a humiliation to her husband’s and her own family. That also is why she chose death as her solution. In contrast to Desiree the narrator’s family in Battle Royal were all slaves. They were not ashamed of it. They believed in â€Å"Equal but separate. †, they always taught their kids to be good and their good deed will be rewarded. This point was proven when white people gave the narrator a scholarship. At that point he had caught glimpses of the cruelty of the white society but still he was very grateful for that scholarship hence, it blindfolded him from the real truth. Moreover, Desiree chose death for herself because she thought she had nothing left to live for in this world, she was treated like an outcast. Of course we can argue that she had to live for her baby, but in the end she did what she did to save both of them. She was scared and she knew for sure that in this society no one would accept her baby. She did not want her child to go through what she had thus ending both of their lives was the easiest choice. However, our narrator in Battle Royal, not like Desiree, he had a choice. He could go to college be an obedient African-American like he was and everything would stay perfectly fine. He could have a life and he was not going to throw that rare opportunity away which is why his choice of path was not remotely as same as Desiree’s in the other short story. In conclusion, our characters had unraveled their problems through different ways. Desiree chose to commit suicide and our narrator in Battle Royal continued with his life though he was unsure what he should do. They chose differently because they were different person, they came from different society class at that time, and their problems were not the same. But in the end, Desiree and the African-American narrator were both victims of racism which were portrayed differently in both of our short stories but still were saying in Desiree’s case what tragic did racism brought and in our young narrator’s case that how racism can be covered with the sentence â€Å"Equal but separate. †