Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Species Native Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Species Native - Research Paper Example An adult green sea turtle weighs over 500 pounds. Like all other turtle species, green sea turtles possess a hard structure called shell, whose function is to provide protection to the turtle from predators. The part of the shell that is on the dorsal (back) side is known as the carapace (Green Sea Turtles, n.d.). This portion is heart shaped, and is as long as 5 feet. It is covered with large scales which are called scutes. The ventral part of the shell that covers the belly is known as the plastron. The dorsal and ventral parts are connected to each other at the sides through hard-shelled plates which are known as lateral bridges. The connection between the carapace and plastron breaks at the openings for the head, tail and limbs. The difference between green sea turtles, land turtles and tortoises is that green sea turtles are not able to retract their small heads into the shell for extra protection. The shells of green sea turtles are very light weight and are more developed as c ompared to shells of land turtles. The limbs seem like flippers that help them swim long distances in less time, making them refined swimmers. Adult turtles are herbivorous in nature. This characteristic makes them harmless to other animals living under water with them like fish. They hold bacteria in their guts, and depend on them for digestion of plant food. This is the case with adult turtles only. Young turtles are carnivorous. They feed on jellyfish and other little invertebrates. The dorsal surface of the shell or the carapace is dark brown in color but it gets covered with patches of algae on which fish feeds. The exact lifespan of green sea turtles is still unknown. They grow very slowly. The growth is so slow that they take 10 to 50 years to be able to become sexually mature to reproduce (Bredeson, 2007). The average age of maturity is 25 years. Due to this long lifespan and period of maturity, green sea turtles take too many years to recover from a significant population
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
B300 TMA01 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words
B300 TMA01 - Essay Example The demand for BBC shows started to decline when the UK government signed and implemented the Television Act of 1954. This provision gave way to other independent television companies to compete with BBC shows. Due to high technology that has been developed in the past few years, a lot of television competitors have emerged in the television industry. This allows many viewers to have a lot of channels to choose from. ITV including GMTV is considered as the close competitor of BBC 1 & 2. As of December 2000, ITV and GMTV were able to capture 30% share of viewing.1 The availability of cable and satellite network has captured as much as 18% of the viewers away from BBC television. This is also one big factor why the over the past few years, BBC television 1 and 2 is slowly loosing its share of total viewing to other sources of media. (See Table I and Chart I on page 4) In year 2001, globalization has become the market trend for all the industries. The opening of the international trading itself has become the main factor of a tighter competition in all businesses. This also affects the television and broadcasting business of BBC. It is therefore expected that the number of other commercial viewing will continue to grow in case BBC fails to maintain its loyal viewers. BBC is continuously striving hard to hold on to its present market share by keeping its operational costs down and at the same time doing its best to motivate the employees to work well despite the fact that the company has decided for a mass lay-off in 2000 in order to save some money in sustaining the production of program.2 It has been evident in the past that the choices of people changes with time. Back in 1920s, people are much satisfied and amazed with listening to a broadcasting radio.3 This trend was changed in the late 1930s when the use of television became more in demand.4 (See Diagram I – The Transition of Modern Technology Over the Years below) The
Monday, January 27, 2020
Globalisation and Formula One
Globalisation and Formula One ABSTRACT It is often argued whether motorsport is a proper sport, and thus can be examined as such by researchers. In this essay, Formula One, for many the most important form of motorsport, is compared to established sports such as football and the Olympic Games, in terms of structure, their respective governing bodies, and their characteristics. For the latter, it has been discussed whether Formula One is a socio-cultural sport or a commercial one, as these are identified by K. Foster. Moreover, the role televison played into growing the sports popularity is examined. Finally, there has been a comparison between two important personalities of football and Formula One, Dr Joao Havelange and Bernie Ecclestone respectively, in an attempt to examine to what extent individuals can have an influence on a sports development. Introduction Ever since the replacement of post modernity with globalisation as the predominant social theory (T. Miller et al, 2001), academics of sport have taken an interest on International Sport Governing bodies and their role in an era where, (according to the hyperglobalist tradition at least (D. Held et all, 1999), nation states and their institutions are going into decline. The two most commonly mentioned (and researched) International Sport Institutions are FIFA ( J. Sugden and A. Tomlinson 1999, J. Sugden and A. Tomlinson 2003), (the International Federation of Football Associations) and the IOC (the International Olympic Committee), (M. Roche, 2000). These are the respective governing bodies of football and the Olympic Games worldwide, and subsequently responsible of staging the worlds two most popular sporting events; the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. This essay will attempt to investigate in what extent does a slightly different sport, motor racing (through its most popu lar discipline, F1 GP racing), complies with the trademarks in world sport organisation set by the aforementioned institutions. For this purpose, I have opted to compare the structure of FIFA and the FIA (Federation Internationale de l Automobile), as well as the two sports (from their league structure point of view mainly),. Before that, however, I have decided to outline some of the characteristics of motor sport, which make it defer from mainstream bodily sports, as well as clarify some definitions and terminology that is widely used to describe it. Moreover, I have seeked to make a comparison between the two individuals that transformed these two organisations into what they are today: Dr Joao Havelange and Bernie Ecclestone. The role of these individuals within the structures of the Fedrations will be examined, taking into account the existing theories concerning agency, which try to understand the role individuals can play in a social system. Specifically, the essay will focus on the impact Havelange (as FIFA president from 1974-1998) and Ecclestone (as F1s commercial rights holder) had in what Miller refers to as Televisualisation (Miller et all, op. cit. p. 4) of sport. Televisualisation, along with Commodification (ibid, p. 4), will be further discussed, as they were the key factors that resulted in the economic growth of both FIFA and FIA, by being the marketing tools for boosting the image of football and motor racing worldwide. As a conclusion, some thoughts about the commercial future of Formula One will be outlined, mostly influenced by Sugden and Tomlinsons thoughts on the future of FIFA (J. Sugden and A. Tomlinson 2005). Unfortunately, due to the relative lack of scholarly sources on motor racing, historical information has been gathered mostly from journalistic sources, with every attempt made to ensure these are credible ones. The same applies to information acquired from the World Wide Web, where only established sites (such as the FIA official site, the Financial Times and the European Union) have been used. Finally, as most of the original notes for this essay had been in Greek, I have used the Oxford Greek-English Learners Dictionary as a reference (D. N. Stavropoulos, 2004). The nature of Motor Sport Due to its peculiarities, motor sport is not a popular participant sport, unlike football. Whereas football is easy to play, requiring minimum equipment such as a ball and two posts, and can take any place in any open space, motor sport is centred around such a sophisticated equipment as a racing car, which is very expensive to purchase and run, and it is restricted to specifically designed race tracks. Many consider it not to be a proper sport; First, because a drivers ability is compromised by the competitiveness of his or her equipment, and therefore not always the most capable can challenge for victory, if they are not well-equipped. Secondly, because mainstream sport in most cases involves an athlete physically using his/her body to perform. A person sitting on a car is not considered as a true athlete, although in the higher disciplines, such as F1, a driver has to endure lateral forces of up to 4g for approximately 1 and a half hour (the average duration of a GP race), and at the same time being completely concentrated in order to achieve consecutive laps with accuracy of tenths of a second. Motor Sport has various disciplines, which, unlike many other sports, are available for representatives of both genders to participate in and compete against each other. The motor sport discipline whose structure will be compared to football will be Formula One, for many the highest echelon of motor racing (Table 1). More specifically, with Formula One we refer to the Formula One World Championship, which is regulated by the FIA. Racing Type Power Output (in bhp) Champ Car 750 Formula 1 750 F1 equivalency Formula 750 Indy Racing League 670 Grand Prix Masters 650 GP2 580 A1GP 520 Table 1: (Power outputs of racing categories (F1Racing magazine 2006) Definitions What is Formula One The name Formula One was only introduced in 1947 when racing activities resumed after the 2nd World War. Formula 1 was actually a code used to identify the technical regulations under which grand prix cars should be run at the races. Formula 1 racing began in 1947 therefore, although only in 1950 was a World Championship for Formula one cars organised (A. Cimarosti). However, F1 as a discipline exists in other sports as well, for example powerboating. What is a Grand Prix The first Grand Prix (grand prize) for automobiles was organised as such for the first time in 1906 by the AFC (Automobile Club de France) (ibid). Ever since it has become almost synonymous with big motor sport events, and with Formula One since the inception of the World Championship in 1950. The term Grand Prix though is also used in other sports, such as motorcycle racing and some IAAF meetings. Ownership of Formula One the FIA The FIA owns the name Formula One World Championship'(www. fia.com. 2006). In their website the FIA describe themselves as a non-profit making association (www.fia.com/thefia/Organisation/organisation.html 2006) who, since its birth in 1904, (it) has been dedicated to representing the interests of motor organisations and motor car users throughout the world. It is also the governing body of motor sport worldwide (ibid). Today it consists of 213 national motoring organisations from 125 countries (www.fia.com/thefia/Membership/index_membershtml, 2006). We should bear in mind that unlike for example FIFA, which only has authority over football, the FIA is responsible for all the types of car racing (rallying, racing, hill climbing etc), but that does not include motorcycle racing, which is the responsibility of the FIM (Federation International of Motorcycle). The date of its foundation suggests it was conceived during a time when, according to Miller again, it was Europes high point for setting in place the global governance of sport. Miller points out that most of the worlds governing bodies were founded after the proclamation of the Olympic movement at the turn of the century; he also goes on to mention the establishment of equivalents for football, cricket, athletics and tennis (T. Miller et al, op. cit. p. 10 ). However, one of the peculiarities of the FIA is that it is not entirely a sporting body (see Table 2). FIA General Assembly FIA President Deputy President                                  FIA Senate                                  Deputy President (Mobility and Automobile)                                                                        (Sport) FIA World Council for Mobility and the Automobile                     World Motor Sport Council Mobility and Automobile Commissions                                          Sporting Commissions International Court of appeal Secretariat Table 2. The structure of the FIA (www.fia.com, 2006 ). Instead, the FIA consists of the World council for Mobility and the Automobile, and the World Motor Sport council. The World Motor Sport Council is the world governing body of the FIA Formula One World Championship. This is the sporting branch of the FIA under whose jurisdiction come all forms of international motor sport involving land vehicles with four or more wheels.  Of significant importance is the existence of the FIA International Court of Appeal, which is the final appeal tribunal for international motor sport. ()Iit resolves disputes brought before it by any motor sports National Sporting Authorities worldwide, or by the President of the FIA. It can also settle non-sporting disputes brought by national motor racing organisations affiliated to the FIA (www.fia.com/thefia/Court_of_appeal/index.html, 2006). The existence of the International Court of Appeal within the FIA structure points out to what Ken Foster refers to private justice among global sporting organisations. He argues that the intent [] is to create a zone of private justice within the sporting field of regulation that excludes judicial supervision or intervention with the decision-making process of international sporting federations. It denies athletes -[and teams]- access to national courts and leaves them dependent on the arbitrary justice of the international sporting federation themselves. Athletes can claim redress only from an arbitration panel created and appointed by the international sporting federation itself [], (K. Foster, 2005). It appears that the FIA has followed FIFAs and the IOCs example, in taking advantage of the difficulties of monitoring INGOs. Foster underlines that states are unwilling or incapable of challenging the power of international sporting federations[] (ibid. p.68). In addition, he points out alternative ways of avoiding legal scrutiny by making it compulsory in their rules that disputes go only to private arbitration, and by asking athletes to sign agreements not tot take legal action against international sporting federations'(ibid. p.69). Indeed, according to Allison, [modern sport] has developed highly autonomous international organisations () (L. Allison and T Monnington, 2005). In the same text, Foster has previously commented on the general attitude of powerful sporting bodies: Historically, sport has been governed by management structures that were hierarchical and authoritarian. Their ideology, and often their legal form, was that of a private club (). The commercialisation, and the later commodification [which will be discussed later on this essay] of sport put pressure on their legal form. Private clubs began to exercise significant economic power over sport. (). International sporting bodies, as federations of national associations, in turn organised global sport. () the need for due process in decision-making and the need to prevent abuses of dominant power within the sport were two important consequences of this [the] legal intervention (K Foster, in Allison, 2005).  So far it appears that the FIA is complying with the models of regulation of FIFA and the IOC in certain aspects, such as being an International Non-Government- Organisation (INGO). But, because of its very nature, the motor sport governing body does not entirely follow FIFAs and the IOCs patterns. For example, Sugden and Tomlinson (again), argue that drawing upon Archers classification of types of international organisations, (C. Archer, 1992), () since its foundation in 1904, FIFA has transformed itself from and INGO (International Non-Government- Organisation) into a BINGO (Business International Non-Government Organisation (), (J Sugden and A Tomlinson, 2005). They go on to comment that FIFAs reason for existence has been increasingly profit-driven () and has become a leading example of the professionalisation and commercialisation of modern sport (), (Ibid. p.27). From a capitalistic point of view, one would assume that it would be normal for every organisation to seek p rofit. Sugden and Tomlinson, though, observe that such commercial activity coming from INGOs is illegal, and refer to Morozovs claim: As Morozov states, the aims and activities of an international organisation must be in keeping with the universally accepted principles of international law embodied in the charter of the United Nations and must not have a commercial character or pursue profit-making aims, ( G. Morozov, (1997). ( However, the FIA cannot be considered to belong in the category of INGOs becoming BINGOs. Like FIFA and the IOC, it has opted to locate its corresponding offices in Switzerland (www.fia.com/global/contacts .html, 2006), something which, as Sugden and Tomlinson point out, underlines [FIFAs] political and fiscal autonomy (and unaccountability), ( J Sugden and A Tomlinson, 1998); but it has not directly benefited economically by promoting the Formula One World Championship. Although it states that part of its resources shall be derived from income arising directly or indirectly from sporting activities, including the FIA champions (www.fia.com/thefia/statutes/Files/index, 2006), hips, it cannot benefit directly from exploiting Formula Ones and other FIA championships commercial rights. Foster, again, gives a detailed account of how the case of motor sport became a unique example of governmental intrusion into a global sporting bodys self-regulation, ( K Foster, in Allison 2005). According to a European Commission principal, a governing body of sport needs to separate its regulation of the sport from its commercial activities in promoting events and in maximising their commercial value; a governing body must not use its regulatory functions improperly to exclude its commercial rivals from the sport (Official European Journal, 13/06/01, Cases COMP/35.163: COMP/36.638; COMP/36.776. GTR/FIA others, 2005). It is suggested that FIA used its monopoly positio n by the threat of imposing sanctions to drivers, circuits, teams and promoters who wouldnt grant them exclusivity, thus rendering them unable to compete in rival series. Moreover, broadcasters who televised rival events were given least favourable agreements (K Foster in Allison, 2005). The result of the European Commissions intervention was the change of regulations on behalf of the FIA: They insisted on a complete separation of the regulatory function of FIA, as the governing body of the sport, and its commercial function of exploiting the broadcasting rights to all motor sport events under its jurisdiction. The separation is (was) designed to prevent conflicts of interest. The Commission also limited the extent to which FIA, as the regulator of the sport, can take measures to prevent rival promoters of events competing with FIAs events. The Commission wanted to separate the function of the FIA in promoting events (and thereby gaining commercial benefit) from that of licensing events as part of its regulatory function. The role of a governing body, according to the Commission, is to act fairly and create a level playing field so that all promoters of events are treated equally and carefully (Ibid. p.84). Foster justifies the Commissions decision thus: The differen t approach by the Commission can be explained because motor sport is a globalised, rather than an internationalised, sport. It had a commercial structure of management and offered no cultural or social justification of its anti-competitive behaviour. As such it was subject to normal commercial criteria in its regulation, (Ibid); and goes on to comment that this example may be unusual in that there was an excessive intermingling of the regulatory and commercial functions within the governing structures of international motor sport. However, it indicates that regional regulation can be effective and that the fear that globalised sport can escape all regulation and be immune from legal intervention may be exaggerated (Ibid). Structure of the FIA Formula One World Championship Indeed, the structure of the FIA Formula One World Championship seems very much to resemble the American (commercial) model of sport, although being originally a European concept, as described above. Foster, once again, offers the key characteristics in American and European sport. (see Table 3.) European (socio-cultural) American (Commercial) Organisational motive Sporting Competition Profit League structure Open Pyramid. Promotion and relegation Closed league; ring-fenced Governing bodys role Vertical solidarity; sport for all Profit maximisation; promote elite stars as celebrities Cultural Identity National leagues; local teams. Opposition to relocation of teams transnational leagues Transnational or global leagues; footloose franchises International Competitions Important for National Identity Non-existent or minimal Structure of governance Single representative federal body League or commissioner Table 3. (European model of sport vs American model of sport), (Ibid. p.74). By attempting to compare the structures of football and Formula One, we can relatively easily identify that the former belongs to the European tradition. It was indeed conceived as a sporting competition first and foremost. It is rather doubtful that there had been a plan to make profit out of football when the FA was founded in 1886. The open pyramid system is adopted, with clubs being promoted and relegated form the divisions of their national leagues, depending on their performance. Football has been conceived as a sport for all, and FIFAs initiatives such as the goal project confirm this (J Sugdan and A Tomlinson, 2003). Moreover, with the existence of events such as the FIFA World Cup which is exclusively contested for by National teams, the importance of national identity in football is displayed. Finally, the FIFA remains the only representative body for the sport. In contrast, the structure of the FIA Formula One World Championship complies in general terms with the Ameri can (commercial one), although with few noticeable exceptions. It should be noted that, before starting to analyse Formula One racing using this model, we can identify in its nature all but one of the strands that are identified by Scholte, (A. J. Scholte, 2000). The only one absent is Internationalisation, as there are no international competitions in Formula One. Instead, it is an entirely globalised sport. There are no national Formula One championships. The only Formula One championship organised today is the World Championship. Liberalisation, universalisation and, most importantly, globalisation are all evident: Liberalisation: There are no cross border restrictions in Formula One, as it does not operate on a national level. The races can be held in any country, provided it has an FIA- affiliated national sporting body, and drivers and teams can come form any country as well. Universalisation: ()A global sport () needs to be simple in its structure and thus readily understood by those who have never played the game before, (Foster, in Allison, p. 66). This is more than evident in Formula One, whereas although most people are unlikely to have driven a Formula One car in full racing trim, unless they are professional racing drivers, they can easily understand its concept, that the faster car wins the race.          Globalisation/ Americanisation: Rationalisation of Formula One has been achieved since its conception in 1950. Written rules were adopted and a championship was organised in order to rationally identify (Ibid), the best driver, (and the best team in 1958 with the introduction of the Constructors championship). In addition, it also complies with imperialism and westernization. Foster comments that Developing countries are excluded because they have fewer facilities (). Sports like motor racing require massive technical capital that excludes them (Ibid). De-Territorialisation: Foster observes that we have global broadcasting of sport and global fans; (Ibid. p.67), and goes on to quote Giulianotti: Globalisation brings with it a disembedding of local social and political ties between club [-in Formula Ones case, team] and community (R. Giulianotti, 2005). This is again present in the case of Formula One. As races are not contested in the teams home grounds, but rather, in race tracks scattered throughout the world, there is not much connection between their national identity (with the exception of Ferrari, who still carries some sense of Italian-ness). Re-location for Formula One teams is usual, provided this gives them a better chance of winning. Hence, Renault are based in Enstone, UK, Toyota in Cologne, Germany, etc. Furthermore, the ease with which teams can change their identity overnight is unique: The tartan-liveried team of former Scottish triple World Champion Jackie Stewart, founded in 1997 was turned into Jaguar in 2000, proudly painted in British Racing Green colour, and Red Bull in 2005, after the name of an Austrian-made energy drink. The globalised nature of Formula One (especially in its difference to internationalised sport) has also been identified by Houlihan: Globalised sport () has rootless teams, with multi national or nationally ambiguous teams ( B. Houlihan, 2005), [for example McLaren are a British team, founded by a New Zealander (Bruce McLaren), have a German engine provider (Mercedes) and their drivers come from Finland (Kimi Raikkonen) and Colombia (Juan Pablo Montoya)]. These rootless, de-territorialised sports are often typified by their identification with commercial sponsors. [for example Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, and Mild Seven Benetton Renault F1 Team]. Formula One teams are defined by their manufacturers, such as Ferrari (Ibid).   Going back to the American vs European model, we have already argued that although Formula One racing was conceived in Europe on the turn of the 20th century, its current management has rendered it a primarily profit-making sport. One could argue that until 1968, when cigarette advertising (and generally corporate advertising) appeared in Formula One, (http://8w.forix.com/love.html, see also http://8w.forix.com/myths.html, 2005), the sport belonged to the European tradition. Up until then, any profit made was incidental, not central. Only starting and prize money was available to the competitors. In the 1970s, with sponsorship cash and television money heavily influencing the sport (P. Menard, 2004), Formula One became a profit-making sport. The role of television coverage in that will be discussed later in the essay. As for the league structure of Formula One, it is totally commercial. As mentioned before, there is only one Formula One contest, the World Championship. Entry to it is not based on a promotion system, but strictly on capitalistic values. In other words, only those who can afford it can enter. A recent example was that of the new Super Aguri racing team. Although the rules state that applications to compete in the Championship may be submitted to the FIA () two years prior to the Championship in which the applicant wishes to compet (), (www.fia.com /resources/documents/, 2006), the team applied in autumn 2005. However, the application was successful. On January 2006, FIA issued the following statement: Following receipt of the necessary financial guarantee and with the unanimous support of the competing teams, the FIA has accepted the late entry of the Super Aguri F1 Team to the 2006 Formula One World Championship, (http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=208865FS=F1, 2 006). This incident is characteristic of an American-type closed league, as Foster describes it: The entry [to the league] is controlled by the incumbents. There is a fixed number of teams in the league [in Formula Ones case, the highest number of cars that can take part in the Championship is 24] with no relegation. New teams cannot break into the closed shop unless the league decides that its overall economic wealth will be improved by expansion franchises. The economic risks of sporting failure are reduced and this makes capital investment in a team franchise more attractive (K. Foster, in Allison (2005), p. 75). In terms of the Governing bodys role, it is also an occasion where F1 follows the American model. Vertical solidarity is non-existent, as there are no lower Formula One leagues. Even for motor sport in general, Formula One revenues are not redistributed to lower formulae, and there is no effort to make motor racing a sport for all. Only whoever can afford motor racing can enter it. Formula One seeks to maximise its profits by commodificating itself. Elite stars are promoted as celebrities. For example, an attempt to present Jenson Button as a star has taken place in Britain, while in the case of Germany, Lincoln Allison and Terry Monnington comment: (Lotthar Matthaus), Michael Schumacher, (and Bernhard Langer) have been more importantly formative of young peoples images of Germany in the last generation that have Fichte, Hegel and Bismark, (L. Allison and T. Monningtonin, 2005). The American model seems to suit Formula One best again when questions about its relation to national identity arise. What Foster observes as a characteristic of the American model, is that there is little sense of national identity (). The leagues identification of its supporters is one of commercial customers rather than fans. The business can and will be moved whenever commercial considerations dictate, more like a supermarket chain than a sports team, (Foster, in Allison p. 75). This is partly true for Formula One and relevant to de-territorilisation. Most teams can relocate, as mentioned, and race venues can be changed, as was the case in recent years, with traditional European races (like the Austrian GP) being dropped from the calendar in favour of new venues in Asia (Bahrain, Malaysia, Turkey, China). However, when the sport was conceived, (prior to advertising) the racing cars would be usually painted in their national colours (green for Britain, blue for France, silver for Germany, Red for Italy etc). Today only Ferrari maintains some sense of national identity, being the only team remaining of those who took part in the inaugural 1950 World Championship; and they are still carrying the traditional racing colours (Rosso Corse). It is the only team that has fans (usually fans support drivers, not teams), the tifosi, and the race tracks of Imola and Monza are considered their home. In a lesser extent, that could apply to British teams and the Silverstone circuit. Few customs that refer to the presence of nationalism in past years still remain. One such example is the playing of the national anthem for both winning driver and constructor during the award-giving ceremony. At the same time, the hoisting of the flags in honour of the first, second and third drivers takes place. Another is the existence of a small flag next to the name of the driver, to indicate his or her nationality, on their racing overalls and on the sides of the cars cockpit. Finally, there are no national teams competitions in Formula One, (In 2006, a rival series to F1, A1GP appeared), and, as mentioned before, the FIA is the only regulating sporting body. Televisualisation However, we have seen that in practice, because of the aforementioned intervention of the European Commission in the governing of Formula One, many key decisions about the sport are taken by the person who administrates its commercial rights and not the governing body. This person could be considered the equivalent of a commissioner in a commercial model. In the case of Formula One, he is Bernie Ecclestone, through his FOM company. FOA/FOM, companies controlled by () Ecclestone, are engaged in the promotion of the FIA Formula One Championship. The 1998 Concorde Agreement provides that FOA is the Commercial Rights Holder to the FIA Formula One Championship. FOA is thus responsible for televising and generally commercializing the Championship. On 28 May 1999, FOA changed its name to Formula One Management Limited (FOM) which manages the rights. The commercial rights themselves were taken over by an associated company, now also named FOA, (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/c_169/c_16920010613en00050011.pdf). Miller underlines the importance of televisualisation in sport: Television was the prime motor in the development of post-war sport() helping to constitute a sports/media complex or media-sports-culture complex of sports organisation, media/marketing organisations, and media personnel (broadcasters and journalists). Dependency of sports organi
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Research Methodology Essay
â€Å"The study of man contains a greater variety of intellectual styles than any other area of cultural endeavor. How different social scientists go about their work, and what they aim t accomplish by it, often do not seem to have a common denominator †¦ Let us admit the case of our critics from the humanities and from the experimental sciences: Social science as a whole is both intellectually and morally confused. And what is called sociology is very much in the middle of this confusion. †Wright Mills Images of Man Abstract The quest for knowledge has always been at the forefront of societies mind. What makes us tick as a society or an individual, what circumstances have to come about to lead to different phenomena to occur? Sociologists, psychologists, philosophers and social scientists have spent eons of time pondering on these questions. Research is the way in which these questions may be answered, but the question remains, as to what type of research leads us to the right answer or, if there is a right answer, what is the one true answer? If different research methods produce different answers, which is the right, the true answer and if we find it does this render all the other answers null or wrong? These are some of the questions that I will be asking in this paper through examining concepts such as the symbolic order in research, the role of emotions in research, the grouping together of different methodologies to create a clearer picture of the research and the importance of reflexivity during the research process. Keywords; emotions, symbolic order, reflexivity. The word research originates from the late 16th century French word recerche, re (expressing intensive force) and cherchier to search. It means the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. In this essay I will be focusing on qualitive research methods, examining some of the problems that may be encountered when conducting social research and how these problems may be overcome and used to advantage. Qualitative research takes an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter; qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings that people bring to them. This process begins by understanding that there are a variety of ways of making sense of the world and therefore focuses on discovering the meanings that are seen by those who are being researched, to better understand their view of the world. The methodology used in research will vary in accordance with the research being conducted, this can be limiting if a type of methodology is decided on and rigidly adhered to throughout the research leaving no room for reconsideration or change of view. Different Methodological Approaches. The manner in which sociologists study society varies greatly between individual sociologists. There are many reasons for these varying views such as backgrounds, culture, family influences, religion and experiences with these experiences leading them to come to certain conclusions about certain situations. For this reason it is important not to rely on one type of sociological perspective which may constrict the researcher in the researching of certain phenomena. In research however objectively the reality of the social world was approached, its meaning was never self evident but always subject to interpretation with this interpretation being subject to the researchers biases formed out of the afore mentioned factors. Some of the different methods of researching or research style are Positivism which means scientific; positivists would argue that it is possible and desirable to study social behavior in ways similar to those used by natural scientists when studying the natural world. The interpretive approach to research has been gaining attention in recent years as an alternative to the more traditional positivist approach (Lee 342). Lee describes the interpretive approach as â€Å"such procedures as those associated with ethnography, hermeneutics, phenomenology and case studies. By the positivist he refers to inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, mathematical analysis and experimental and quasi experimental design. Ethnography (Greek ethnos = folk/people and graphein = writing) is a qualitative research method often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and in sociology. It is often employed for gathering empirical data on human societies/cultures. Data collection is often done through participant observation, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Ethnography aims to describe the nature of those who are studied (i. e. to describe a people, an ethnos) through writing. In the biological sciences, this type of study might be called a â€Å"field study†or a â€Å"case report,†both of which are used as common synonyms for â€Å"ethnography. Lee states that the difference between positivist and interpretive approaches has been described as objective versus subjective (Burrell and Morgan 1979), outsider versus insider (Evered and Louis 1981), quantitive versus qualitive (Van Mannen 1979) and etic versus emic (Morey and Luthans 1984). In literature it may seem that these 2 methods of research are opposed and irreconcilable and there is some concern over what Morey and Luthans call the â€Å"widening gap between the two major orientations to organizational research†(1984, 84). Lee puts forward the idea of joining the two methodologies together as he argues that they both have something to offer the researcher. He devised a framework called three levels of understanding. [pic] The first level belongs to the observed human subjects, this consists of common sense and meanings which are true for these subjects and how they see themselves, which give rise to the behavior that they manifest in socially constructed settings. The second belongs to the observing organizational researcher. This understanding according to Lee is the researchers reading and interpretation of the first level, common sense understanding where the researcher may use concepts such as subjective interpretation, the hermeneutical circle or thick description. The third level of understanding also belongs to the researcher. This understanding is one that the researcher creates and tests in order to explain the empirical reality that he is investigating. This explanation is called scientific theory is made up of constructs that belong only to the observing researcher. This explanation consists of formal positions that typically posit the existence of unobservable entities such as social structure, issues that may attempt to account for the influence of certain factors of which the observed subjects may not even be aware. The above diagram shoes the flow of ideas and understanding between the three levels of understanding and the relevance of the two methods of research in question. This illustrated the importance of varying the methods of research used, to create a legitimate piece of research work it is vital to come at the work from different angles rather than taking a blinkered approach. This is vital all there can be no definite knowledge in research as there are so many variables and researchers take the research on for so many different reasons with so many different worldviews. Identifying applicable research strategies is almost as difficult as methodologies tend to differ according to the various factors found within the desired outcome. Yet methods cannot be orchestrated to generate this outcome from the data, but merely facilitate its collection and synthesis. Any successful research methodology does not, therefore, create knowledge, but rather is an applicable strategy for identifying and processing the information which exists. Hathaway (1995) stresses that there are decisions embedded within the creation and conduct of research methodologies that are generated both within the research setting and within the perceptions of the researcher. The concept of an unbiased methodology is thus inherently impossible: Are we creatures of reason and logic? Or are we better characterized as the victims of unconscious drives, forces and emotions? Does the different language we use really make such a difference in what we have to say? Are we saying something better and more academic if it is considered almost too technical for the reader to understand? Are texts considered more valid if they are difficult to understand and read? Are these technical essays and writings elitist, written by elitist academics just to be appreciated by like minded and like educated individuals? Why publish research ideas that are inaccessible to society? All researchers come to the experimentation process with preconceived opinions of how and why the research process should transpire. â€Å"When one chooses a particular research approach, one makes certain assumptions concerning knowledge, reality, and the researcher's role. These assumptions shape the research Endeavour, from the methodology employed to the type of questions asked. †(Hathaway 1995). So how do we carry out the most informed research possible? It is important not to take a ‘sat nav’ approach to the research, asking a question that you already know the answer to and not be prepared to change course along the way, the research process is the information that the researcher finds along the pathway to the research, the phenomena the researcher encounters along the pathway is as relevant as the final conclusion and it is vital to include this in the research process. If the research question is not working is it preferable to change the question or come at the research from a different angle rather than trying to fit your research question into every area of the study? Reynolds argues that the methodologist turns research technician, in spite of himself, and becomes an aimless itinerant, moving in whatever direction his research techniques summon him, studying changing patterns of voting because these are readily accessible to his techniques rather than the workings of political institutions and organizations for which he has not evolved satisfying techniques of investigation. Reynolds 190). In my own research on texting differences between adults and teens I will be using field work which will consist of focus groups with informal questioning and conversation, individual interviews and data analysis in the form of analyzing a number of text interactions in both focus groups. Bourdieu and the Importance of Reflexivity in Social Research. Is knowl edge independent of the situation of the knower, or a product of it? Bourdieu stresses the importance in reflexivity while conducting social research. The sociologist must at all times be aware of their own habitus, their position of thought and in life and how bringing this to research will affect the research outcome. According to Bourdieu it is impossible for our objectivity to remain unbiased and unprejudiced due to our preconceived habitus. It is only by maintaining such a continual vigilance that the sociologists can spot themselves in the act of importing their own biases into their work. Reflexivity is, therefore, a kind of additional stage in the scientific epistemology. If there is a single feature that makes Bourdieu stand out in the landscape of contemporary social theory’, wrote Loic J. D. Wacquant (1992: 36), ‘it is his signature obsession with reflexivity. ’ For Bourdieu, reflexivity is an epistemological principle which advises sociologists, as ‘objectifying subjects’, to turn their objectifying gaze upon themselves and become aware of the hidden assumptions that structure their research. Without this reflexive move, sociology cannot escape the ‘fallacies of scholasticism’ and loses its chances to provide a truly scientific analysis of the social world. Reflexivity requires an awareness of the researcher's contribution to the construction of meanings throughout the research process, and an acknowledgment of the impossibility of remaining ‘outside of' one's subject matter while conducting research. Reflexivity then, urges us â€Å"to explore the ways in which a researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research. †(Nightingale and Cromby, 1999, p. 228). In the rush of interest in qualitative research in the past 15 years, few topics have developed as broad a consensus as the relevance of analytic â€Å"reflexivity. †(Macbeth 2001). Macbeth argues that contemporary expressions of reflexivity have attachments to critical theory, standpoint theory, textual deconstruction and sociologies and anthropologies of knowledge and power and agency with theorists such as Bourdieu and Wacquant at the forefront of this type of thinking. Bourdieu has problematised social research in relation to his concept of habitus stating that the researcher must at all times be aware of his habitus,(prevailing and long learned personal norms and biases, formed over a lifetime) and take steps to acknowledge this habitus by looking back on himself and his research with a critical eye. The postmodern condition is such that there are no certainties in social research as norms and values become intertwined, identities and culture intermingle and clash as do gender and sexualities, power is gained and lost through means of popularity alone and social researchers can only strive to explore every avenue of their research subject reflexively in the quest for knowledge and answers. In research this reflexivity can be put into two categories, personal reflexivity, which involves the researcher acknowledging their own habitus and how this is affecting their research and in turn affecting the researcher carrying out the research. The second is epistemological reflexivity which requires us to ask questions of the research such as: â€Å"How has the research question defined and limited what can be ‘found? ‘ How have the design of the study and the method of analysis ‘constructed' the data and the findings? How could the research question have been investigated differently? To what extent would this have given rise to a different understanding of the phenomenon under investigation? Thus, epistemological reflexivity encourages us to reflect upon the assumptions (about the world, about knowledge) that we have made in the course of the research, and it helps us to think about the implications of such assumptions for the research and its findings. †(Willig, 2001). The Use of Emotion in Social Research. Williams and Bendelow (1996), map the field of sociology of emotions onto the concerns of sociology: â€Å"emotions have fundamental implications for a range of pertinent sociological themes and issues including social action, agency and identity; social structure; gender, sexuality and intimacy; the embodiment of emotions across the life-course (from childhood to old age); health and illness; and the social organization of emotions in the workplace (formal and informal). Emotions play an important part in the field at a number of levels. It is important to realize that the researcher's identity and experiences shape the ideas with which they go into the field, their political and ideological stance, and there is an analytic cost if this interplay of person and research is not taken into consideration. The researcher takes assumptions and emotions into and generates emotions in the field about the researched. Kleinman and Copp (1993) suggest that if a researcher experiences negative emotions about their participants they would prefer to ignore, or repress those feelings, since to admit them might constitute a threat to their professional and personal identity. But these can be the very feelings (anger and disappointment perhaps) that could help the researcher to understand their own assumptions and their participants. It is clear to me that emotions are very important in fieldwork, both those of the participants and of the researchers. The researcher's emotions can have effects at the personal and professional levels, in relation to their understanding of their self and identity, and their capacity to perform in a fashion that they would themselves regard as professional, and these effects can be long term. A considerable amount of emotion work is called for in qualitative research, and often the dangers consequent on this are not recognized. In some instances researchers have been made quite ill (physically or emotionally) through their experiences of denying, ignoring or managing emotions. The emotions experienced by respondents in the field are data and need to be drawn into analysis and interpretation. It has been suggested here that emotions are important in the production of knowledge from a number of perspectives. In most cases, despite some unpleasant experiences, researchers value the extra power in understanding, analysis and interpretation that the emotions they experience in the field can bring to the research. In his article Hidden Ethnography: Crossing emotional Borders in Qualitive Accounts of Young People’s Lives. Shane Blackman concludes that different ethnographic episodes show how powerful feelings of emotions from love to hate grip both the researcher and the researched. He states that his fieldwork consisted of constant negotiation and respect with participants who allowed him access to their public and private spaces. He advises that to advance more open, reflexive approaches that explain how research is conducted and written, sociology needs greater disciplinary understanding and recognition of the real challenges and opportunities faced by qualitive research, which demands emotion. The Symbolic Order in Social Research. â€Å"The â€Å"Symbolic Order†achieved its currency in Anglo-Saxon human sciences by way of Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory but originated in Claude Levi-Strauss’s Les structures elementaires de la parente (1949) [translated into English as Elementary Structures of Kinship, 1969] which used the term to group the many different codes which constitute human societiesâ€â€from social identities and kinship relations to cooking and feasting rituals and religious observancesâ€â€in short all cultural practices and inscriptions, whatever their language. Levi-Strauss showed that patterns we can observe in one level are invariably linked to and determined by similar patterns in other levels†. (Clark 2004) How important is the symbolic order in social research? There are many factors to take into account when discussing the symbolic order in relation to research. Gusfield and Michalowicz argue that in recent years, sociologists and anthropologists have conducted â€Å"significant studies of modern life using concepts and perspectives derived from symbolic anthropology. Among anthropologists words like ritual, myth, ceremony and symbolism are central to the study of social life in primitive societies. In contemporary society they have been peripheral terms and the activities they denote have not usually been studied in modern societies. †(Gusfield and Michalowicz 1984). The symbolic is of huge importance in social research and cannot be separated from it. When researching we must ask, what is happening here? Recognizing the potentially multiple responses to this question illuminates the way in which meaning is mediated by cultural categories and structures of thought. This awareness of the social construction of reality, which Richard Brown calls symbolic realism (Brown 1977), implies that any segment of human, social activity can be experienced in different and in multiple ways by diverse actors and observers. David Blacker in his thesis argues that for Gadamer, all understanding  whether of a text or of another person  is interpretive. This means is that, whatever else it is and does, understanding moves in what Heidegger called a â€Å"hermeneutic circle. †This circle is productive of meaning. To generate meaning from a text, for example, one must always move around from whole to part and back again. The â€Å"whole†may be the language in which the text was written, the literary tradition to which it belongs, its historical period, the life circumstances of its author, and so on. This â€Å"whole,†then, provides the backdrop against which one gives significance to the â€Å"part,†e. g. , the particular words comprising the text, the individual work in question or the specific period of the author’s life. A helpful analogy is with understanding an ambiguous word within a sentence. If the meaning of the word itself is not immediately obvious, one must find it in its larger context. The newly appreciated meaning of the part (the word) then alters to a degree the meaning of the whole (the sentence). One never escapes â€Å"outside†this whole-part circuit  even the dictionary only relates words to other words. In my own research on ‘the difference in meaning of texting between teens and adults’ the symbolic order plays a large part. The mobile phone will mean different things to these two groups and these issues must be taken into account when formulating the research. Mobile telephone has been widely adopted by many people in society. As it integrates into daily life, it alters the way people communicate, identify their personalities and relate to others in social system. It affects socio-economic structures as well as individual life. Mobile telephone enables accessibility, emancipation, security and micro-coordination and serves as a symbol of prestige, pride and self-identity. The aim of this study is to explore the symbolic factors influencing the use of mobile telephone among teens and dults where in the case of adults the phone may be vital for communication; the teen may find it impossible to function socially without the use of the phone and the texting facility. Conclusion There is no way of determining a sure path for arriving at sociological knowledge; there is unlikely to be, just over the horizon, a new approach, paradigm or perspective to rescue us from the intellectual difficulties involved in a sociological theorizing which can giv e us a better understanding of our social world. Reynolds 339) As researchers we must be aware of our limitations in the social world in so much that we cannot really promise to theorize in a way that explains everything. This is not possible in life as there are too many different collective and individual ideas that are thousands of years in formation. In social research these variables and ideas must be acknowledged and given importance within the research area and with their relevance acknowledged the researcher may move on to the findings of her own particular studies. Karl Mannheim answers critics in letter to the members of a seminar on the sociology of knowledge, by stating that â€Å"if there are contradictions and inconsistencies in my paper this is, I think, not so much due to the fact that I have over looked them but because I make a point of developing a theme to its end even if it contradicts some other statements. I use this method because I think that in this marginal field of human knowledge we should not conceal the inconsistencies, so to speak covering up the wounds, but our duty is to show the sore spots in human thinking at its present stage. In a simple empirical investigation or straightforward logical argument, contradictions are mistakes; but when the task is to show that our whole thought system in its various parts leads to inconsistencies, these inconsistencies are the thorn in the flesh from which we have to start. The inconsistencies in our whole outlook, which in my presentation only become more visible, are due to the fact that we have two approaches which move on a different plane. (Mannheim in Reynolds 1970) David Hume held that we can never be absolutely sure that what we know is true. (Bernard 2006). He argues that we come to understand what is true from what we are exposed to. This reiterates the fact that research is personal even when we try our best to avoid this being the case. We can never be sure according to Hume what we know is true, Humes brand of skepticism is a fundamental principle of social science according to Bernard, â€Å"the scientific method, as it is understood today, involves making improvements in what we know, edging towards the truth, but never quiet getting there and always being ready to have yesterday’s truths overturned by today’s empirical findings.. †(Bernard). In the social sciences we can see sociologists, philosophers and social psychologists such as Michael Foucault, Fredriech Nietzsche, Pierrie Bourdieu and others changing their views on subjects and seemingly contradicting themselves but I would consider that this is paramount when conducting any type of research, as society evolves, technology changes and people become more individualized the world is changing rapidly so we as researchers must be open to change and not be afraid to re-examine our research and research motives to ensure that we are generating the most informed and comprehensible research possible. In the case of Foucault , Tom Keenan argues that â€Å"these contradictions and paradoxes do serve a very important strategic purpose since they allow to articulate a critique of the juridical discourse on a theoretical level. Foucault’s work produces paradoxa since it struggles against doxa, it seeks to place in question orthodoxies of political thought and leftist critique. It is contradictory since it contradicts dominant forms of critique that itself functions as a constraint for imagining political alternatives (Keenan 1987)†. Bibliography Blacker, D. (1993). Article on Education as the Normative Dimension of Philosophical Hermeneutics. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Bourdieu, P & Wacquant (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Burrell, G. , & Morgan, G. Sociological Paradigms and Organizational Analysis, Heinemann, 1979 Cuff. E. C, Sharrock. W. W, Francis. D. W (1998) Perspectives in Sociology. Fourth Edition. Routledge, London. Clark, R. (2004) â€Å"The Symbolic Order†. The Literary Encyclopedia. March 2004. Evered, R. , Louis, M. R. (1991), â€Å"Research perspectives†, in Craig Smith, N. , Dainty, P. (Eds),The Management Research Book, Routledge, London Gusfield. J & Michalowicz. J (1984). Secular Symbolism: Studies of Ritual, Ceremony and the Symbolic Order in Modern Life. Annual Reviews Inc 1084 Holland, J (2007) International Journal of Social Research Methodology. Volume 10 Issue 3. July 2007. Keenan, T, (1987) The ‘P aradox’ of Knowledge and Power: Reading Foucault on a bias, in: Political Theory, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1987. Kleinman, S. & Copp, M. A. (1993) Emotions and fieldwork. Sage, Newbury Park, CA Macbeth, D. (2001). On â€Å"reflexivity†in qualitative research: Two readings, and a third. Qualitative Inquiry. Morey, N. , and Luthans, F. (1984) â€Å"An Emic Perspective and Ethno Science Methods for Organizational Research,†Academy of Management Review (9:1), 1984. Nightingale, D. & Cromby, J. (Eds) (1999). Social constructionist psychology: A critical analysis of theory and practice. Buckingham: Open University Press. Reynolds, L & J (1970). The Sociology of Sociology. Analysis and Criticisim of the Thought, Research and Ethical Folkways of Sociology and its Practitioners. David McKay Company INC, New York. Van Maanen, J, (1979). â€Å"Reclaiming Qualitative Methods for Organizational Research: A Preface,†Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 24 Williams, S. J. & Bendelow, G. A. (1996b) Emotions and ‘sociological imperialism': A rejoinder to Craib. Willig. C, (2001) Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology (p. 10).
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Fiscal Policy in the Philippines
The Philippines 2013 Budget is the national government’s blueprint of expenditures and sources of financing for the present year. It spells out the costs of government’s plans and operations for the entire fiscal year. More than that, however, crafted by a government that firmly believes that its sole purpose is to serve its true bosses the Filipino people this budget is the embodiment of our people’s collective hopes and desires. According to the present president Benigno Aquino III, as we move forward along the straight and righteous path, they have continuously planted and nurtured the seeds of reform with the annual Budgets enacted under this present Administration. They have prioritized the people’s most urgent needs in order to genuinely and efficiently address poverty and inequality. They proposed P2. 006-trillion National Budget for 2013 which 10. 5 percent higher than this year’s budget of P1. 816 trillion. This Budget pursues empowerment by creating more opportunities for public participation in governance. It invests significantly in the people’s capabilities by prioritizing funding for public services that provide jobs, educate our youth, ensure a healthier citizenry, and empower each Filipino to participate in economic activity. To ensure the swift fulfillment of our Social Contract, the administration has adopted policy measures to help national agencies accelerate their completion of priority program targets. They have to utilize our funds in a manner that is faster and more efficient, so that we can accomplish our critical programs and projects ahead of time. They have designated the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as the principal infrastructure agency. This means that they will take charge of the timely implementation of critical infrastructure projects, including roads and bridges, classrooms, rural health facilities, farm-to-market roads, bridges for agrarian reform communities and tourism access roads, as well as other projects identified in the master plans of departments tasked with the primary provision of these infrastructures: the Departments of Education (DepEd), Health (DoH), Agriculture (DA), Agrarian Reform (DAR) and Tourism (DoT). Our proposed Budget for 2013 deepens our performance budgeting and performance management system. Right now, our performance management system in government is unacceptably fragmented. It has caused much confusion among agencies, and has had them needlessly complying with redundant requirements. At worst, it has allowed an attitude of accountability avoidance in certain public institutions. The remedy this matter the president issued Administrative Order No. 25 â€Å"Creating an Inter-Agency Task Force on the Harmonization of National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems. †This Task Force led by the DBM and the Office of the Executive Secretary will streamline and simplify all existing monitoring and reporting requirements and processes into a single Results-Based Performance Management System (RBPMS). This will entail the development of a Common Set Performance Scorecard as well as a Government Executive Information System. As to present administration, this Budget is designed as a tool we can use to instill the highest standards of integrity and accountability in government. It seeks to strengthen our efforts in rebuilding the people’s trust in public institutions through greater transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in government.
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Free People Marketing Plan Essay example - 2017 Words
Free People-Company report Overall Store Profile 1.What type of store are you analyzing? (department, specialty, etc) what is the stores image and does the merchandise fit the image? 1. Free people is an innovative specialty retail company which offers a variety of lifestyle merchandise to highly defined customer niches in the United States Canada, and Europe, catalogs and websites. Their stores are very sixties and seventies inspired. Free People offers a merchandise mix of casual women’s apparel, shoes, and accessories. The stores all have a bohemian style that is inspired by a casual mix of hippie, ethnic, gypsy and vintage elements. The stores are all very colorful with vibrant and loud colors†¦show more content†¦As I walked into the studio city location, the sales associates welcomed me right away and asked me if I was looking for anything in particular. I have been working in retail for about 5 years now and if the sales professionals doesn’t acknowledge me throughout my visit, I refuse to buy anything. Customer service is a very important aspect in retail and if the store lacks it, it will definitely reflect on their sales. I spoke with the manager very briefly and she happily answered my questions and also asked me if I was looking for a job. Specific classification analysis 5. The women’s sweaters were the key items in the store and are a must have for the Fall/Winter season. The store was loaded with different styles like cardigans, ponchos, pullovers and tunics. Free people is known for their sweaters and they make sure they have a huge variety of styles, colors and patterns. There was a pretty balanced assortment. It was more of a deep assortment as to narrow in most of the styles. 6. Free people is its own brand, they do not work with any other vendors or designers. 7. Price range emphasis. 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Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Concept of the leader versus the manager as a primary source - Free Essay Example
Sample details Pages: 30 Words: 8946 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Chapter 1 Introduction Leadership skills are the focus of this study and therefore the author will be, in this chapter introduce leadership and the concept of the leader versus the manager as a primary source. In this section the author will define the meaning of leadership enabling one to understand better the next stages of this study. Furthermore one can find the objective of this study and the organisation studied. The structure section will define the construction of the complimenting chapters. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Concept of the leader versus the manager as a primary source" essay for you Create order 1.1 Objective The scope of this organisational case study is to compare and contrast the leadership skills theory and the selected organisations leadership and provided the concept of leadership versus management in order to understand better leadership skills which are defined later on in this study. Leadership skills will be reviewed by means of secondary research. Subsequently the leadership skills within the organisation will be studied by means of a primary research methodology. This will enable the author to reach the main objective which aim is to highlight the theory of leadership skills and present findings of the selected organisations current leadership practices. One will eventually benefit from the authors recommendations and conclusions based on the out come of the data analysis. 1.2 The Organisation The selected organisation for this study was HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited. HSBC Life Assurance Malta Limited was set up in 1995 and is a fully owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank Malta Plc, regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. Over the years, HSBC Life has developed into one of the leading life assurance product providers on the island with its full and diversified product range, including group and individual term assurance products, mortgage protection policies, etc. This study research thus moves towards assessing all the concepts of leadership styles, skills, coaching, team building. The organisation is in the direction of the Managing Director. 1.3 Structure The structure of this study will be based on 5 chapters. The introduction, chapter 1, has highlighted leadership and the concept of leadership versus management, the objective and the organisation under investigation. Chapter 2 will follow with a literature review of leadership skills from previous studies whilst chapter 3 will cover the research methodology. Chapter 4 will present the findings and finally chapter 5 will cover the authors views and recommendations. Chapter 2 2.0 Leadership Leadership can be defined as: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The ability to persuade others willingly to behave differently. The function of team leaders is to achieve the task set for them with the help of the groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Michael Armstrong 2003: 259). Another definition of leadership is: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The task of a great leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision. Those leaders who do not are ultimately judged failures, even though they may be popular at the momentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Henry Kissinger). Clawson (2006) explains that leadership consists of three components: the ability to influence others; the willingness to influence others; and the exercise of influence in a way that others respond voluntarily. Thus, while leadership included the use of power, not all uses of power are leadership. The highlight of leadership within an organisation is an emphasis on the importance of a strong human relation and the importance of creating rewarding high-performance teams of motivated and empowered employees. Human understanding and sensitivity are absolutely critical for leadership success. Leadership also consists of identifying proven talent within an organisation and optimising on this talented human resource by developing, retaining and partnering smartly together. Leadership has been perceived to be a primary key to successful strategy implementation. One of the key factors in implementing a strategy is building consensus. A consensus built by motivating, persuading people and by shaping culture and values within an organisation to support the new strategy (Ashby and Miles, 2002). Taking IBM as an example CEO Sam Palmisano has embarked on a leadership mission to get people within the organisation to focus on strategy formulation and implementation. He embarked on a mission to persuade people to focus on the on-demand vision and communicating clear directions. With this positive attitude and employee empowerment he made employees feel motivated and challenged to follow new strategic goals. In this changing world of globalisation, organisations are constantly facing changes within their set ups and therefore leadership plays an important role. Three important aspects of leadership would be people, influence and goals. In order to influence, the relationship between the leader and the follower must not be passive but assertive (Draft, 2006). Within an organisation, leadership directly impacts the effectiveness of costs, revenue generation, service, satisfaction, earnings, market value, share price, social capital, motivation, engagement, and sustainability. In this view one can identify the importance of vision within leadership. In order to move a group successfully towards its goal the leader must communicate the vision or visions with his or her followers. For effectiveness, a vision should appear to be simple, appear desirable enough to energise followers and should describe the organisations future position, which must be credible and preferable to the present state. The leader must communicate these visions adequately to ensure the followers feel as if the vision has been created by themselves (Renesch, 1994). Nonetheless one would need to understand that although leadership focuses on people, influence and goals it cannot be easily defined in such a generic context. However according to Scott (2007) a leader needs to understand that the follower may value a leader differently. Some may prefer a task oriented leader where others may prefer a people oriented leader. In this view the leader must identify the followers needs and how they construe effective leadership. One can see that self awareness is the foundation of effective leadership and one ought to communicate the vision and help the followers fit into that vision. Effective leaders need to change their approach according to the situation, as with one follower, a leader may need to be directive while with others, a leader may need to coach. 2.1 The History of Leadership Leadership, and the study of it, has roots in the beginning of civilisation. Egyptian rulers, Greek heroes and biblical patriarchs all have one thing in common leadership. There are numerous definitions and theories of leadership; however, there are enough similarities in the definitions to conclude that leadership is an effort of influence and the power to induce compliance (Wren, 1995). Our work, our environment, the motivation to work, leaders, leadership, leadership style, and a countless of other work-related variables have been studied for almost two centuries. The organisational focus of the leader has evolved over this same period. Early organisations with authoritarian leaders who believed employees were basically lazy transitioned into way to make work environments more conducive to increased productivity rates. Today, organisations are transforming into places where people are empowered, encouraged, and supported in their personal and professional growth throughout their careers. As the focus of leaders has changed over time, it has influenced and shaped the development and progression of leadership theory. 2.1.2 Early Leader Studies The Industrial Revolution shifted Americas economy from an agriculture base to an industrial one and, thereby, ushered in a change how leaders would treat their followers. The Industrial Revolution created a paradigm shift to a new theory of leadership in which à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“commonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? people gained power by virtue of their skills (Clawson, 1999). New technology, however, was accompanied and reinforced by mechanisation of human thought and action, thus creating hierarchical bureaucracies (Morgan, 1997). One major contributor to this era of management and leadership theory was Max Weber, a German sociologist who à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“observed the parallels between the mechanisation of industry and the proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organisationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Morgan, 1997, p. 17). He noted that the bureaucratic form routinized the process of administration in the same manner that the machine routinized production. 2.1.3 Classical Management Theory and Scientific Management Webers concerns about bureaucracy, however, did not affect theorists who set the stage for what is now known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“classical management theoryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“scientific managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Classical theorists focused on the design of the total organisation while scientific managers focused on the systematic management of individual jobs. In contrast to Weber, classical theorists such as Henri Fayol and F. W. Mooney, staunch advocates of bureaucratisation, devoted their energies identifying methods through which this kind of organisational structure could be achieved (Bass, 1990; Morgan, 1997). Collectively, these theorists set the basis for many modern management techniques, such as management by objectives. Scientific management, an approach heralded by Frederick Taylor, was technological in nature (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996). Taylor fused the perspective of an engineer into management with a strong emphasis on control, ruthless efficiency, quantification, predictability, and de-skilled jobs. He initiated time-and-motion studies to analyse work tasks to improve worker productivity in an attempt to achieve the highest level of efficiency possible. Consequently, he has been accused of viewing people as instruments or machines to be manipulated by leaders. The function of the leader under scientific management theory was to establish and enforce performance criteria to meet organisational goals; therefore, the focus of a leader was on the needs of the organisation and not on the individual worker. Although the classical and scientific approaches were different, the goals were similar organisations are rational systems and must operate in the most efficient manner possible to achieve the highest level of productivity (Morgan, 1997). Both theories relied on the machine metaphor with a heavy emphasis on mechanisation of jobs, which undermined the human aspect of the organisation and failed to recognise organisations as complex organisms. Although mechanistic organisations proved productive, there were limits to hierarchical bureaucracy. Emerging theorists encouraged leaders to recognise that humans were not machines and could not be treated as such. A post bureaucratic shift in the mid-1940s moved toward everyone taking responsibility for the organisations success or failure (Heckscher Donnellon, 1994). Researchers began to examine the relationship between leader behaviour and follower satisfaction level and organisational productivity and profitability. 2.1.4 Hawthorne, Maslow, and Herzberg Environment and Worker Needs Much organisational research during this era focused on overcoming the perceived shortcomings of the classical and scientific schools of management. Elton Mayos Hawthorne Studies focused on the work situation and its effect on leaders and followers, indicating that the reactions of human beings influence their work activities as much as the formal design and structure of the organisation. Early on leaders could focus their attention on the environment factors of the organisations. The early theories and studies provided researchers with tangible and measurable performance outcomes that were directly transferable to profitability and spreadsheet bottom-lines. A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs posited that once a workers physiological, security, and social (intrinsic) needs were met, productivity would only be possible of the employees ego and self-actualising (extrinsic) needs were also met. Leader focus became redirected toward worker needs. Herzbergs Dual Factor Theory, the evolution of intrinsic and extrinsic needs, furthered Maslows work stating the employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could, and should, be met simultaneously. Herzbergs (1966) Motivation-Hygiene theory furthered the work of Maslow by providing insights into the goals and incentives that tend to satisfy a workers needs. Herzberg concluded that people have two categories of needs, which he termed hygiene (environmental factors such as working conditions, company policies, etc.) and motivators (factors involving the job itself). According to Herzberg, an employees intrinsic and extrinsic needs could and should be addressed simultaneously. 2.1.5 The Shift to Behavioural Factors Leader focus had moved to understanding the relationship between a leaders actions and the followers satisfaction and productivity. Theorists began to consider behavioural concepts in their analysis of organisational leadership. For example, Chester Barnard was instrumental in including behavioural components (Bass, 1990). Barnards work emphasised the ways in which executives might develop their organisations into cooperative social systems by focusing on the integration of work efforts through communication of goals and attention to worker motivation (Hatch, 1997). Barnard, for example, identified an effective organisational leader as one who determined objectives, manipulated means, initiated action, and stimulated coordinated effort (Bass, 1990, p. 31). Barnard (1938), whose work focused on the functions of the executive, was instrumental in including behavioural components in his analysis of organisational leadership, which claimed that leadership involves accomplishing goals wit h and through people. The theorists of this age argued that in addition to finding the best technological methods to improve output, it would behove management to address human affairs as well. It was claimed that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the real power centres within an organisation were the interpersonal relationships that developed among working groupsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Hersey, Blanchard Johnson, 1996, p.100). A new theory of organisations and leadership began to emerge based on the idea that individuals operate most effectively when their needs are satisfied. Additionally, when this happens they are more likely to increase their productivity which in turn impacts the organisations bottom line. According to McGregor (1960), the traditional organisation with its centralised decision making, hierarchical pyramid, and external control of work is based on certain assumptions about human nature and human motivation. He dubbed these assumptions Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X assumes that most people prefer to be directed, are not interested in assuming responsibility, and want safety above all else. Accompanying the Theory X philosophy is the belief that people are motivated by money, fringe benefits, and threat of punishment. Managers who espouse Theory X assumptions attempt to structure, control, and closely supervise employees. Although McGregor himself questioned whether Theory X was as accurate view of human nature, the assumptions persisted for a long time in leadership theory circles because it explained à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"some, though not all, of human behaviour within organisations (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Drawing heavily from Maslows (1959) Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor ultimately concluded that Theory X assumptions about human nature, when universally applied, are often inaccurate and that management approaches that develop from these assumptions may fail to motivate individuals to strive toward organisational goals (Hersey, Blanchard, Johnson, 1996). McGregor (1960) believed that management needed practices based on a more accurate understanding of human nature and motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals are not, by nature, lazy and unreliable. People can be self-directed and creative at work if properly motivated (Pugh Hickson, 1993). Therefore, an essential task of management is to unleash this potential. Consequently, the goal of effective leadership was evolving and moving away from the earlier concepts of the classical and scientific management theories that treated workers as machines. Leaders were now challenged to actively involve followers in achieving organisational goals. McGregor (1960), whose work was closely linked to that of the behavioural theorists, is a reflection of that era, providing a foundation for the future emergence of the transformational leadership. McGregors Theory X and Theory Y assumed that employees and leaders had progressed beyond Taylors productivity models that employees could find ways to satisfy their needs within the organisations structure. McGregor assumed employees far more complex that the trait and behavioural theories of leadership assumed and that their complexity and the leaders response to that complexity would affect how and whether the leader and followers worked in tandem to reach mutual organisational goals. McGregor proposed a replacement of direction and control of employees with humanistic motivation. The resulting concept, Theory Y, proposed that individuals did not inherently dislike work and, and that under certain conditions, work could actually be a source of great satisfaction. Theory Y assumed individuals would exercise self-direction and self-control, accepting and seeking responsibility (Pugh Hickson, 1993). The essential concept McGregor and other behaviourists proposed was that organisations are interacting groups and that leaders are a part of these groups. The leaders interaction and relationship with the employee must be a supportive relationship so all members of the organisation feel the organisations objectives and their achievement, are of personal importance to them (Pugh Hickson, 1993). 2.1.6 Situational/Contingency Theory The Circumstantial Focus Unprecedented social change in the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s shifted societal focus from increasing economic wealth to ensuring social rights and equality. Along with this social change, technology was again preparing to jolt American businesses. The advent of the computer age was shifting employee requirements from brawn to brains. Leadership became an intricate process of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“multilateral brokerageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? where leaders were forced to focus on constituencies within and without the organisation to survive (Vanourek, 1995). The internal and external environments of organisations were changing. The transference of power from those doing the work to those possessing knowledge about how to organise work more closely levelled the playing field for leaders and followers. Society acknowledged that traditional methods of leadership were no longer effective. McCollum (1995) implied that companies in the information age were unsuccessfully trying to conduct their business using obsolete industrial age leadership theories. Change was the only thing of which everyone could be sure, a factor requiring leadership research and society to consider contingency/situational approaches to leadership if businesses were to remain successful and profitable in an ever-changing and increasingly complicated environment (Contee-Borders, 2003). Heysey and Blanchard (1996) proposed a contingency/situational theory advocating a leaders use of differing leadership behaviours dependent upon two interrelated maturity factors: (a) job maturity relevant task and technical knowledge and skills, and (b) psychological maturity the subordinates level of self-confidence and self-respect (Yukl, 1998). An employee who has a high level of job and psychological maturity requires little supervision; while an employee who has a low level of job and psychological maturity requires hand-on attention. Fielders contingency theory is viewed as the opposite of Hersey and Blanchards theory, maintaining that leaders are less flexible in their ability to change their behaviour based on followers maturity (the basic concept of Hersey and Blanchards theory) (Hughes, Ginnett, Curphy, 1993). Fielders contingency theory posited that leader effectiveness is determined by not the leaders ability to adapt to the situation, but by the ability to choose the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"right leader for the situation (though this theory does not identify who would be responsible for making this choice). Some leaders are simply better for specific situation than others and the situation determines the identified leaders success, though leaders would need to be capable of understanding when they were not right for the situation and remove themselves a task of humility. 2.2 Leadership Styles From a very classical autocratic approach to a very creative, participative approach, different styles were needed for different situations and each leader needed to know when to exhibit a particular approach. The most familiar model is the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“leadership scaleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? devised by Tannenbaum and Schmidt. In this model, the leader is advised to choose a leadership style that it appropriate for the particular situation. These styles or behaviours, can be placed along continuum ranging from à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“boss-centredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? at one-end of the scale to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“subordinate-centredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? at the other end, as illustrated in Figure 1.1 Inevitably, the opposite poles of this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“continuumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? have been labelled Authoritarian (or task-centred), and Democratic (or people-centred) and the inference has been drawn that a concern forgetting the job done is at the opposite end of the scale of the people involved. Tannenbaum and Schmidts article is not as shallow as that, but, like it or not, the impression is left that the two concerns are somehow incompatible. Other commentators advised that authoritarian leadership styles would be most effective in situations that were à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“favourable to the leaderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and democratic styles would better suit situations that were à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“unfavourable to the leaderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Favourableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in this context means that the leader has high formal authority, relations between the leader and the staff are good, and the task is highly structured. This further reinforces the assumption that democratic styles are for the leaders to fall back on when things are not going entirely their way; they would not want to be democratic if it could be avoided. The Democratic styles should be the preferred option, falling back on authoritarian styles only when circumstances require it. For example, when the fire alarm sounds tell everyone to leave the building; do not hold a decision about the best course of action. Or, when something bad can not be avoided, accept your responsibility as a manager and give instructions clearly and assertively. Otherwise, the benefits of the bringing several brains to bear on an issue, and the commitment that democratic approaches tend to foster, usually outweigh the inevitable untidiness of getting everyone involved in decision-making . Interestingly, research into animal social groups has found that decisions arrived at communally or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“democraticallyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? are usually more beneficial for the group and its individual members than à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“despoticà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? decision-making, and tend to be less extreme. Whether lessons drawn from the observation of animal behaviour can usefully be applied directly to human groups depends on how much corroborating evidence there is. 2.3 Leadership versus Management Creech (1995) defines the manager versus the leader. She explains how a manager is typically well-educated and would generally possess very high conceptual skills. Managers are mostly focused on the latest management literature. Furthermore managers are very aware of the system, rules and procedures both documented and undocumented. They tend to be very productive oriented rather than people oriented persons and this style proves that they are usually inaccessible or have very little time to listed to the people they manage. This also results form their heavy busy schedules. In addition managers face highly intensive stresses and become very intolerant of any mistakes. They rarely motivate their people to take significant risks to improve operationally or personally and in moments of crisis they can easily consider to re-establish who is in charge, believing that they will achieve the expected performances and organisational goals. Nonetheless, they are very conscious of what others think about them and expect to be liked, despite being aware that this is rather impossible, due to the conflicting roles between management and workers. Furthermore managers ask subordinates for participative input, but rarely encourage real dissent with their own views (Creech, 1995). In contrast, leaders are very people oriented and although they are conscious of what people think of them they are generally less concerned. However, leaders feel themselves as helpers to the organisation as opposed being in command. They are inventive and imaginative movers and participate in achievement of goals. Arguably, leaders have a more positive style to achieving goals and during time of financial or operational turbulences they focus on asking team members for help in strategies and innovation in order to regain competitive advantage. Opposed to this, managers would consider downsizing and cost cutting (Creech, 1995). One can that this is visionary and leaders do communicate widely with simple clear cut visions and goals. They intend to simplify communication to ensure the message gets through without ridiculing anyone in the event of misunderstandings. Additionally they are tolerant of mistakes during the process of development and goal achievement and they are fond of acknowledging their mistakes and do not fear to take whatever measures are required to rectify them (Creech, 1995). Bennis and Goldsmith (1997) define the difference between manager and leader using the following paired contrasts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The manager administers; the leader innovates. The manager maintains; the leader develops. The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it. The manager focuses on systems and structures; the leader focuses on people. The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon. The manager imitates; the leader originates. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it. The manager is the classis good soldier; the leader is his or her own personà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Bennis and Goldsmith, 1997, p.9). Chapter 3 Literature Review For the purpose of this literature review it has been classified as follows: Human Relation Skills including follower leader relation, and conflict management and counselling as intrapersonal skills. Intrapersonal Skills includes self confidence, stress management, and time management whilst Organisational Skills include leadership styles and motivation and finally Creativity Skills. Human Relation Skills and Intrapersonal Skills follow the same paths and are the abilities how one interacts with others. However Intrapersonal Skills is ones own personal development whilst Organisational Skills is the skill to have a conceptual focus. Finally, Creativity Skills are the having of new ideas. The author introduced these skills in the above sequence as she believes that without having human relation skills one cannot help ones personal development and cannot encourage motivation or creativity. Needless to say, that without motivation one would find difficulties creating new ideas. 3.1 Human Relations and Intrapersonal Skills 3.1.2 Follower Leader Relation In order for a leader to achieve effectiveness through human relations, Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt (2001) shared four important insights and beliefs about the nature of their relationships with their followers: Firstly, they explain how positively effective it is, to gradually and gently direct the follower towards the established goals rather than throwing them into heavy burdens to accomplish corporate purposes. When a mutual agreement of mutual interest is established leaders would smartly lay down the red carpet to the follower and will satisfy the goals of both parties. Rigid commands from the hierarchy within an organisation normally lead to unsatisfactory results and frustration (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001) Secondly, it is in the leaders interest to strongly understand their followers, by recognising their needs, what motivates them , their various stages of personal development, and their goals. This is seen through a flow of communication and observations. The leaders challenge in such scenario would be to reach satisfactory levels of both the follower and the organisation. During such a process of identifying the followers needs the leader must show sensitivity, ingenuity and judgement when putting together corporate and personal objectives through communication. The leader should address those areas identified to be low in self confidence and capability by the follower in order to achieve maximum results (Isaac, Zerb and Pitt, 2001) Thirdly, leaders have to establish motivating conditions not only to motivate the follower but to encourage self motivation. One of the motives encouraging the self motivation process would be organisational rewards however this makes the leaders responsibility intense, as he/she would need to determine the various intrinsic or extrinsic rewards to followers. Intrinsic motivational states are beyond leaders control however they can possibly enhance such feelings and emotions by: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Spending time with the follower and enhancing, rather than undermining, self-confidence. Increasing follower knowledge, skills and abilities through exposure to various educational and training programs, as well as experiences. These activities enhance both follower capability and self-confidence. Establishing realistic, meaningful and attainable goals with the follower to both parties. Creating a climate of mutual respect. Showing appreciation when the follower meets or exceeds expectations, or addressing problematic issues regarding the followers performance by focusing upon the work rather than the individualà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001, p.212) The fourth and final insight relates to the importance of honesty and consistent behaviour showed to the followers. Leaders can loose credibility through promises that are rather difficult to fulfil at a later stage, and will also be exposed to deducting the followers motivation. On the other hand consistency generates a clear path to the followers especially in matters such as fairness, expectations and personal cose of conduct. In addition, leader must reduce distinctions of status that might cause some followers to feel degraded and not regarded (Isaac, Zerbe and Pitt, 2001). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Relationship closeness, is the extent to which an employee has a sharing, open, familiar relation with management. Thus, relationship closeness is a broad concept that encompasses several specific constructs like interaction, open communication, and informal relations between employees and managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Mcknight, Ahmad and Schroederet, 2001, p.466). As one can see from the above four insights of human relations skills incorporates a strong degree of interpersonal skills and as expressed by Hargie and Dickson (2003) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“interpersonal skills are those skills we employ when interacting with other peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. However this definition is not very precise as it states what skills are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“used forà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? rather than what à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“they areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In fact it is like defining train as something that gets you from one station to another. However literature rather increases in number the term interpersonal skills and another definition is: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the extent to which an individual can communicate with others, in a manner that fulfils ones rights, requirements, satisfactions, or obligations to a reasonable degree without damaging the other persons similar rights, requirements, factions or obligations, and hopefully shares these rights and other factors with others in free an open exchangeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Phillips, 1978, cited in Hergie and Dickson, 2003, p.4). Hargie and Dickson (2003) highlight that leaders with great levels of interpersonal skills are most likely to obtain funding, maintain good relationships with employees, attract quality employees and score better results with suppliers and customers (Hargie and Dickson, 2003). Having outlined what these skills are used for, the author will explain what they are. One can find that amongst others, interpersonal skills include, conflict management and counselling. 3.1.3 Conflict Management Human Resources practitioners sometimes have to ask themselves is, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Who is the client the company or the employee? Human Resources professionals may sometimes have to walk a fine line between serving the company that pays their salary and serving individual employees. They may be involved in counselling employees over work problems. This can only be carried out successfully if the employee trusts the Human Resources practitioner to maintain confidentiality, but something might be revealed which is of interest to management, and this places the counsellor in a dilemma to betray or not to betray the trust? There is not pat answer to this question, but the existence of a code of professional conduct, a set of values and a company ethical code can provide guidance. Human Resources specialists, as Thurley (1981) put if, often à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"work against the grain. Their values may be different from those of line managers, and this is a potential cause of conflict. But conflict is inevitable in organisations that are pluralistic societies, the members of which have different frames of reference and interests, particularly self-interest. Management may have their own priorities: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"increase shareholder value, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"keep the city happy, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"innovate, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"get the work done. Employees might have a completely different set: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"pay me well and equitably, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"give me security, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"provide good working conditions, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"treat me fairly. Human Resources specialists, as noted above, may find themselves in the middle. Conflicts in the Human Resources contribution can arise in the following ways: A clash of values. Line managers may simply regard their workers as factors of production to be sued, exploited and dispensed with in accordance with organisational imperatives. Different priorities. Managements priority may be to add value make more out of less and if this involves getting rid of people that is too bad. Human Resources people may recognise the need to add value, but not as the expense of employees. Freedom versus control. Line managers may want the freedom to get on with things their own way, interpreting company policies to meet their needs; and the thrust for devolution has encouraged such feelings. But Human Resources specialists will be concerned about the achievement of a consistent and equitable approach to managing people and implementing Human Resources policies. They will also be concerned with the attainment of a proper degree of compliance to employment and health and safety law. They may be given the responsibility for exercising control, and conflict is likely if they use this authority too rigidly. Disputes. If unions are recognised, Human Resources specialists may be involved in conflict during the process of resolution. Even when there are no unions, there may be conflict with individuals or groups of employees about the settlement of grievances. As Mary Parker Follett (1924) wrote, there is the possibility that conflict can be creative if an integrative approach is used to settle it. This means clarifying priorities, policies and roles, using agreed procedures to deal with grievances and disputes, bringing differences of interpretation out into the open and achieving consensus through a solution that recognises the interests of both parties a win-win process. Resolving conflict by the sheer exercise of power (win-lose) will only lead to further conflict. Resolving conflict by compromise may lead to both parties being dissatisfied (lose-lose). 3.1.4 Counselling Counselling is about creating empathy with someone encountering problematic feelings about something. With counselling skills a leader can gain an insight into ones feelings and experience. Additionally it enables the leader to act in a supportive manner (Carroll and Walton, 1997). It is quite wrong if a line manager infers counselling to be an entirely natural, spontaneous and everyday process requiring little depth of understanding. On the contrary, counselling is a purposeful activity, which has a profound effect on people. Professional counsellors undergo extensive and ongoing training precisely because counselling is such a potent process. It is so powerful that people make significant and often radical changes in their lives as a result of counselling. Any apparent contradictions on the nature of counselling must be resolved or its value in relation to line management will be misunderstood. The values and beliefs that underpin professional counselling are inseparable from the use of counselling skills. The process is the same. It is the relationship which makes it counselling and, for line managers a counselling relationship is impossible. The ethical use of counselling skills is both possible and desirable for line managers one they are trained, as long as they: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Buy into the basic values of counselling Avoid manipulation by exercising self-discipline in choosing when to use them Adhere to setting clear boundaries when they do Observe the cross-over point into unethical practice Have the facilities available and the skill to refer a person for further appropriate help. 3.1.5 Ethical Considerations Leaders are concerned with ethical standards in two ways: their conduct as professionals, the values that govern their behaviour and the ethical standards of their firms 3.1.5.1 Professional Conduct The CIPD of Professional Conduct states that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In the public interest and in the pursuit of its objects, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is committed to the highest possible standards of professional conduct and competency. To this end members:  · Are required to exercise integrity, honesty, diligence and appropriate behaviour in all their business, professional and related personal activities  · Must act within the law and must encourage, assist or act in collusion with employees, employers or others who may be engaged in unlawful conduct.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? 3.1.5.2 Values Leadership is part of management. Leaders are not there to act as surrogate representatives of the interests of employees, but this does not mean that there may not be occasions when in their professional capacity leaders should not speak out and oppose plans or actions that are clearly at variance with the values of the organisation. They should do their best to influence changes in those values where they feel they are necessary. They must not tolerate injustice or inequality of opportunity. 3.1.5.3 Ethical Standards in the firm More and more companies are, rightly, developing and publishing value statements and code of ethics. The focus on such codes was encouraged by the Cadbury Report on corporate governance which in 1992 recommended that companies should adopt one. Ethics codes may include the guiding principles the organisation follows in conducting its business and relating to its stakeholders employees, customers, shareholders (or other providers of finance), suppliers, and society in general. These may include conflicts of interests, the giving and receiving of gifts, confidentiality, environmental pollution, health and safety, equal opportunities, sexual harassment and political activity. As suggested by Pickard (1995) leaders can contribute to enhancing awareness of ethical issues by: Deploying professional expertise to develop and communicate an ethics policy and field the response to it, holding training sessions to help people think through the issues and monitoring the policy; Contributing to the formation of the company strategy, especially touching on mission and values; Setting an example through professional conduct, on issues such as fairness, equal and treatment and confidentiality. 3.1.6 Intrapersonal Skills The intrapersonal, or inner dimension, includes forms of self-communication and understanding personal emotions, goals and motivations. Self-regulation of attention and stress management skills depend largely on self-communication. 3.1.7 Stress Management à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Stress is the experience of opportunities or threats that people perceive as important and also perceive they might not be able to handle or deal with effectivelyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (George and Jones, 2002, p.275). There are four main reasons why organisations should take account of stress and do something about it: 1. They have the social responsibility to provide a good quality of working life. 2. Excessive stress causes illness. 3. Stress can result in inability to cope with the demands of the job, which, of course, creates more stress. 4. Excessive stress can reduce employee effectiveness and therefore organisational performance. The ways in which stress can be managed by an organisation include: Job design clarifying roles, reducing the danger of role ambiguity and conflict and giving people more autonomy within a defined structure to manager their responsibilities; Targets and performance standards setting reasonable and achievable targets which may stretch people but do not place impossible burdens on them; Placement taking care to place people in jobs that are within their capabilities; Career development planning careers and promoting staff in accordance with their capabilities, taking care not to over- or under-promote; Performance management process, which allow a dialogue to take place between managers and individuals about the latters work, problems and ambitions; Management training in performance review and counselling techniques and in what managers can do to alleviate their own stress and reduce it in others; Work-life balance policies which take account of the pressures on employees who have responsibilities as parents, partners or carers, and which can include such provisions as special leave and flexible working hours.(Michael Armstrong, 2003, p.837) 3.1.8 Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Qualities Management development should be concerned with enhancing leadership as well as extending and improving more general management skills. According to Goleman (1995), this process should take account of the concept of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has been defined by Goleman (1995) as being about: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Knowing what you are feeling and being able to handle those feelings without having tem swamp you; Being able to motivate yourself to get jobs done, be creative and perform at your peak; Sensing what others are feeling and handling relationships effectivelyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The possession of high levels of emotional intelligence is a necessary attribute for success as a leader. Goleman has defined four components of emotional intelligence: 1. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Self-management the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and regulate your own behaviour coupled with a propensity to pursue goals with energy and persistence. The six competencies associated with this component are self-control, trustworthiness and integrity, initiative and adaptability, comfort with ambiguity, openness to change and a strong desire to achieve. 2. Self-awareness the ability to recognise and understand your moods, emotions and drives as well as their effect on others. This is linked to three competencies: self-confidence, realistic self-assessment and emotional self-awareness. 3. Social awareness the ability to understand the emotional make-up of other people, and skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. This is linked to six competencies: empathy, expertise in building and retaining talent, organisational awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity, valuing diversity, and service to clients and customers. 4. Social skills proficiency in managing relationships and building networks to get the desired result from others and reach personal goals, and the ability to find common ground and build rapport. The five competencies associated with this component are leadership, effectiveness in leading change, conflict management, influence/communication, and expertise in building and leading teams.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? 3.2 Motivation One of the motivations theories is theContent Theory which focuses on the content of motivation. It states that motivation is essentially about taking action to satisfy needs, and identifies the main needs that influence behaviour. Needs theory was originated by Maslow (1954), and in his two-factor model, Herzberg, Mausner and Synderman (1957) listed needs which they termed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"satisfiers. The basis of this theory is the belief that an unsatisfied need creates tension and a state of disequilibrium. To restore the balance, a goal that will satisfy the need is identified, and a behaviour pathway that will lead to the achievement of the goal is selected. All behaviour is therefore motivated by unsatisfied needs. Needs theory was developed originally by Maslow (1954), who postulated the concept of a hierarchy of needs which he believed were fundamental to the personality. He suggested that there are five major need categories which apply to people in general, starting from the fundamental physiological needs leading through a hierarchy of safety, social and esteem needs to the need of self-fulfilment, the highest need all. Maslows theory of motivation states that when a lower need is satisfied, the next highest becomes dominant and the individuals attention is turned to satisfying this higher need. The need fur self-fulfilment, however, can never be satisfied. He said that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"man is a wanting animal; only an unsatisfied need can motivate behaviour and the dominant need is the prime motivator of behaviour. Psychological development takes place as people move up the hierarchy of needs, but this is not necessarily a straightforward progression. The lower needs still exist, even if temporarily dormant as motivators, and individuals constantly return to previously satisfied needs. The two-factor model of satisfiers and dissatisfiers was developed by Herzberg, Mausner and Synderman (1957) following an investigation into the sources of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction of accountants and engineers. It was assumed that people have the capacity to report accurately the conditions that made them satisfied and dissatisfied with their jobs. Accordingly, the subjects were asked to tell their interviewers about the times during which they felt exceptionally good and exceptionally bad about their jobs and how long their feelings persisted. It was found that the accounts of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"good periods most frequently concerned the content of the job, particularly achievement, recognition, advancement, autonomy, responsibility, and the work itself. On the other hand, accounts of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"bad periods most frequently concerned the context of the job. Company policy and administration, supervision, salary and working conditions more frequently appeared in these acco unts than in those told about à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"good periods. The main implications of this research, according to Herzberg, are that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The wants of employees divide into two groups. One group resolves around the need to develop in ones occupation as a source of personal growth. The second group operates as an essential base to the first and is associated with fair treatment in compensation, supervision, working conditions and administrative practices. The fulfilment of the needs of the second group does not motivate the individual to high levels of job satisfaction and to extra performance on the job. All we can expect from satisfying this second group of needs is the prevention of dissatisfaction and poor job performance. These groups form the two factors in Herzbergs model: one consists of the satisfiers or motivators, because they are seen to be effective in motivating the individual to superior performance and effort. The other consists of the dissatisfiers, which essentially describe the environment and serve primarily to prevent job dissatisfaction, while having the little effect on positive job attitudes. The latter were named the hygiene factors in the medical use of the term, meaning preventive and environmental. 3.3 Communication Organisations function by means of the collective action of people, yet each individual is capable of taking independent action which may not be in line with policy or instructions, or may not be reported properly to other people who ought to know about it. Good communications are required to achieve coordinated results. Organisations are subject to the influence of continuous change which affects the work employees do, their well-being and their security. Change can be managed only be ensuring that the reasons for and the implications of change are communicated to those effected in terms which they can understand and accept. Individuals are motivated by the extrinsic reward system and intrinsic rewards coming from the work itself. But the degree to which they are motivated depends upon the amount of responsibility and scope for the achievement provided by their job, and upon their expectations that the rewards they will get will be the ones they want, and will follow from the efforts they make. Feelings about work and the associated rewards depend very much on the effectiveness of communications from their managers or team leaders and within the company. Above all, good two-way communications are required so that management can keep employees informed of the policies and plans affecting them, and employees can react promptly with their views about managements proposals and actions. Change cannot be managed properly without an understanding of the feelings of those affected by it, and an inefficient system of communication is needed to understand and influence these feelings. But the extent, to which good communications create satisfactory relationships rather than simply reducing unsatisfactory ones, can be exaggerated. A feature of management practices during the twentieth century is the way in which different management theories became fashionable or influential for a while and then decline in favour. Among these has been the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"good communications theory of management. This approach to dealing with management problems is based upon the following assumptions: The needs and aims of both employees and management are, in the long run, the same in any organisation. Managers and employees ideas and objectives can all be fitted together to form a single conceptual framework. Any differences in opinion between management and employees are due to misunderstandings which have arisen because communications are not good enough. The solution to industrial strife is to improve communications. This theory is attractive and has some validity. Its weakness is that the assumptions are too sweeping, particularly the belief that the ultimate objectives of management and workers are necessarily identical. The good communications theory, like paternalism, seems to imply that a company can develop loyalty by keeping people informed and treating them well. But people working in organisations have other and, to them, more important loyalties elsewhere. The existence of different loyalties and points of view in an organisation does not mean that communication is unimportant. If anything the need for a good communications system becomes even greater when differences and conflict exist. But it can only alleviate those differences and pave the way to better cooperation. It cannot solve them. It is therefore necessary to bear in mind that the group with which we identify the reference group influences our attitudes and feelings. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Management and the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"the union as well as our family, out ethnic background, our political party and our religious beliefs (if any) constitute a reference group and colour our reactions to information. What each group à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"hears depends on its own interests. Shared experiences and common frames of reference have much more influence than exhortations from management. Employees may have feel they have nothing to do with them because it conflicts with what they already believe. However, although there may be limitations on the extent to which communication strategies can enhance mutuality and commitment, there is no doubt that it is essential for managements to keep people informed on matters that affect them and to provide channels for them to express their views. This is particularly necessary when new employment initiatives are taking place and effective change in management is very much about communicating managements intentions to people and making sure that they understand how they will be affected. Chapter 4 Research Methodology 4.1 Introduction in the previous chapters the author highlighted some of the existing literature and the relevance of leadership skills in organisations. This is the Research Methodology Chapter and it is organised by outlining the theory of Research Methodology, the Methodology utilised and the Research Design conducted. Attached to the Research Design one can find the Data Collection and Sampling Procedure sub section and the Interview Questions and Questionnaires sub section. Furthermore one can find the Limitations encountered and finally, the Analysis Approach in preparation of the next chapter. This study utilised a Survey-Questionnaire where behaviours, beliefs and observations of specific groups are identified, reported and interpreted. 4.2 Research Methodology Theory Qualitative approach, is a way to gain insights through discovering meanings by improving our comprehension of the whole. Qualitative research explores the richness, depth, and complexity of phenomena. Qualitative research, broadly defined, means any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification (Strauss Corbin, 1990). Those who are not familiar with qualitative methodology may be surprised by the sheer volume of data and the detailed level of analysis that results even when research is confined to a small number of subjects (Myers, 2002). There are three main methods of data collection, which are interviewing, observation and descriptions by participants. Analysis begins when the data is first collected and is used to guide decisions related to further data collection. In communicating or generating the data, the researcher must make the process of the study accessible and write descriptively so tacit knowledge may best be communicated through the use of rich, thick descriptions (Myers, 2002). 4.3 Methodology Research methods can be classified in various ways however one of the most common distinctions is between Quantitative and Qualitative research methods. Quantitative research involves large numbers of respondents, typically 100 or more, and yields results that are representative of the total population. This research is numerically oriented, requires significant attention to the measurement of market phenomena, and often involves statistical analysis. Examples of quantitative methods include survey methods, and numerical methods such as mathematical modelling. Participants to the study are selected in a random unbiased manner from a study population and data is gathered from the participants replies to a standardised questionnaire. This data is then analysed by means of statistical methods in order to test predetermined hypothesis regarding the relationships between specific variables. In this case the researcher is considered external to the actual research, and results are expected to be replicable no matter who conducts the research. Qualitative research can be structured as in-depth one-on-one or two-on-one interviews, but is generally done in the form of focus groups, where groups of six to ten respondents carry on a group discussion which is led by a trained moderator. Qualitative research methodologies are designed to provide the researcher with the perspective of the target audience members through direct interaction with the people under study. Unlike quantitative research there are no fixed questions but, instead, a topic guide (or discussion guide) is used to explore various issues in-depth. 4.4 The Questionnaire The literature review in this thesis is based on the importance of leadership skills within organisations and explains ways and means on how one manager can consider the leadership function. Most of the information was directed to the ethical relation between the leader and the follower/s and therefore the questions addressed in the questionnaire included 4 topics: Demographics Human Relations and Interpersonal Skills Personal Development Motivation The opening of the interview questionnaire served as an explanation of whats behind the questions, with an extra emphasis on confidentiality. Only one demographic question was included in this questionnaire, which covered the different levels, was included in the first section. The above topics were tackled in subsequent sections. The respondents were requested to reply as to whether they believed their manager practised the highlighted leadership styles. To conclude, the respondents were shown a great appreciation and they were thanked for their most valuable participation. The questionnaire was handed to employees at HSBC Life Assurance Malta Ltd, in November 2009, were the said employees were handed out a covering letter and the questionnaire itself. A sample of the said covering letter and questionnaire can be found in the Appendix section. 4.5 Limitations During the course of this research design a number of limitations were encountered. The core of this research was based on a qualitative approach which in nature necessitates the sampling of a small size, unlike the quantitative approach which includes a larger sampling size. The design of this questionnaire is such that can give information on each individual, such as the attitudes, this can be interpreted into different varied data. However, the author opted to concentrate the attitude of two different levels of employees, namely the managerial and clerical. The author chose this option since the scope of this study was to have an in-depth study of dynamics within different levels and sections of the organisation. Chapter 5 Research Findings and Analysis 5.1 Introduction The scope of this study was to assess the current leadership function of management through research techniques. It was concerned about the various forms of best practice leadership skills within the organisation. 5.2 Demographics The first question of the questionnaire was to determine, if employees are clerical or managerial. The company employs 37 persons, where the total respondents were 29. 12 of the respondents work in a Managerial role and 17 work in clerical grades. 5.3 Evaluation of the Questionnaire The questions asked to employees related to the manager or supervisor skills, motivation and true of the organisation. 5.3.1 My Manager or supervisor The first batch of questions refers to the manager of supervisors skills. One of the questions asked was: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“My manager or supervisor works with me to define the expectations of my jobà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Clerical employees agree more than managerial staff that their supervisor is working hand in hand in terms of defining the job, while managerial staff sometimes dis/agree with this statement. Question number 8 was: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“My manager or supervisor lets me do my job without interfering.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? 12clerical staff agrees that their supervisor let them do their jobs without interfering after the job has been tasked to them. Managerial staff are quite neutral regarding this statement, but on the whole they agree with the above mentioned statement. Another question asked was: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“My manager or supervisor keeps favouritism from being a problem in our workgroup.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Bibliography https://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1976/mar-apr/dean1.jpg
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