The New Plant Manager Essays - Management, , Term Papers

Toby Butterfield worked for Montclair Company where he was an assistant plant manager at the Illinois plant. Butterfield was promoted and transferred to the Houston plant as plant manager. He was very ambitious and power oriented. Shortly into his stay he ordered budget cuts, increased production budget and dismissed workers who did not meet his standards. The Plant produced excellent results and within five months the plant was within its budget. Within two years, he was promoted to the New York home office, but when he left production dropped substantively below budget at the Houston plant. 1.Discuss the model of organizational behavior Butterfield used and the kind of organizational climate he created. Butterfield employs the Autocratic style of leadership. As indicated in the case, Butterfield was ambitious and some-what power-oriented; similarly, autocratic leaders depend on power. With this type of leadership, managers make as many decisions as possible and have the most authority and control over decision making. This is exactly what Butterfield did; his approach was to take control, make decisions and to use his authority to carry out his decisions. Butterfield believed that he knew what was best for the company and felt and acted in the sense that the obligation of the employees were to follow all orders give by him. He never consulted with the staff to get their input on what could have been done differently or could have assisted in increasing productivity. Butterfield went in and ordered them to cut budgets and increase productivity. Being a no-nonsense leader, Butterfield fired workers within two months; this showed that he was not concerned with the personal situations of the workers, but that his only concern was to increase productivity. He did whatever he needed to do to achieve this goal! This type of leadership appeared to tremendously decrease employee morale, the work environment became extremely tense and the workers did not like being ordered around. Because these employees disliked the tense and demanding environment or climate that Butterfield created workers began to resign. Generation Y workers are capable of self-direction and particularly dislike the autocratic leaders or managers; this is potentially a reason why some of the workers left. On the other hand, generation X workers may need this type of supervision and control. At this point my conclusion is that the workers that stayed probably needed the job and only because of the force and control Butterfield exerted, they were producing good results. 2.Discuss why productivity dropped when Butterfield left the Houston plant. The productivity dropped when Butterfield left the Houston plant. In my opinion this decrease in productivity was because the workers had already become dependent upon Butterfield demands. The employees no longer had a manager that controlled what was done and told them what and how to do it. They no longer had this direction and became lost. Every manager does not manager the same way and when Butterfield left the workers no longer had a powerful leader that used his authority to make all decisions. This may have left the workers in a lax state and due to their lack of motivation they did not push to meet production quotas. I also believe that the staff may have someone become relieved of the tense environment and felt as they worked extremely hard for the two years Butterfield was there and was overdue for a break. Considering that Butterfield was no longer there and they no long had such a strict environment, it allowed for them to slack off and work at a minimum pace. The workers clearly are not self-disciplined, self motivated employees. The workers that stayed appear as if they need an autocratic leader like Butterfield to drive them to perform at an acceptable level. 3.If you were Butterfield?s New York manager, what would you tell him about his approach? How might he respond? If I were Butterfield?s New York manager I would let him know that his performance was remarkable, however, the approach used is not always the best approach. Also, I would make it clear that I know his intentions were good. Even though the employees seem to obey the orders given or decisions implemented, it does not mean they liked them. In

C. A. Tripps Book Asserts Abraham Lincoln was Gay

C. A. Tripp's Book Asserts Abraham Lincoln was Gay Was Abraham Lincoln gay?  In his  book The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, historian C.A. Tripps  makes the case that Abraham Lincoln  was indeed gay and had several homosexual relationships throughout his life. However, the controversy surrounding the book overshadowed an important fact that Tripp revealed a fact even his harshest critics accept as true Ann Rutledge was not the love of Lincolns life. Tripps extensive new research proves it simply could not have been the case. And many experts, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln historian David Herbert Donald now concede it is so. A Firestorm of Debate As you might expect, Tripps book created a firestorm of debate most of it predictable along political lines. The left proclaimed a curious victory saying incorrectly that the book shows beyond all doubt that Lincoln was gay. The right responded angrily that Lincoln could not have been gay since he fathered four sons and they dismissed his so-called encounters as false and malicious. Tripp could not respond. He died two weeks after completing his book and one of the key elements of his work, proving that Lincoln and Rutledge were not star-crossed lovers, is in serious danger of being  ignored. Tripp told a friend shortly before he died that he knew the work would be controversial and that, while he believed he had made his case, he wanted each reader to draw his or her own conclusion. As the books editor, Lewis Gannett puts it: You get to a point where you just shake your head and say, How the hell did [Lincoln] do it? How did he save the union, survive the challenges of his troubled wife Mary, endure the deaths of two sons, preside over the bloodiest era of American history, all the while fending off widespread contempt, and in the end emerge a hero? A secretive, enigmatic, genius hero? With a manic and dirty sense of humor? Who had close and controversial relationships with other men his entire life? Lincoln is far from solved and probably never will be satisfactorily explained but Tripp has made the picture less murky. His accomplishment is stunning. Lincoln Loved Only One Woman And She Was Not Mary Todd For years, historians have assumed that Lincoln loved only one woman, Anne Rutledge and courted Mary Owens before marrying Mary Todd, whom he avoided whenever possible. Tripp, however asserts that Lincoln actually loved none of these women and has sex – though reluctantly only with his wife and mother of his children, Mary Todd. While it has never been proven, several historians contend that Mary Todd suffered from mental illness. â€Å"And it is true that Mary Lincolns actions, as reported by newspapers, often invited criticism from the public,† writes About 18th Century History Expert Robert McNamara. â€Å"She was known to spend money extravagantly, and she was often ridiculed for perceived haughtiness.† Intimate Relationships With Men Tripp contends his research into Lincoln’s private life suggests that his relationships with several men were more intimate  and possibly more sexual than those he had with any of the women he supposedly â€Å"loved.† For example, Tripp asserts that Lincoln shared a narrow  bed with Joshua Speed for at least four years  and that as president, he often shared the presidential bedroom with another man during the many times Mary Todd was â€Å"away.† Early Lincoln biographers, John G. Nicolay and John Hay, called Speed â€Å"The only as he was certainly the last intimate friend that Lincoln ever had.  In their analysis letters from Lincoln to Speed before and after Speed’s eventual marriage in 1842, Nicolay and Hay described Lincoln’s tone as â€Å"fretful,† like that of a military commander before a risky battle. Several of Lincoln’s letters were signed â€Å"Yours forever.†Ã‚   Through a plethora of letters and other personal data, Tripp’s book at least leaves the interpretation that Lincoln might have been gay. The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln by C.A. Tripp was published by the Free Press, a division of Simon Schuster.

The Global Environment of Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

The Global Environment of Business - Essay Example He decided to venture into employment as a freelance designer and simultaneously opened a sportswear company that collapsed in less than a year due to financial inefficiencies. He then joined Jordache fashion house as a designer as a blue jeans designer where he was able to meet Murjani. On his part, Mohan Murjani was hansdling a failing business and was in need of a new idea. Although he was one of the main brains behind the blue jeans craze in the 70s, his own venture, the Gloria Vanderbilt Jeans was not doing quite well. He sought Hilfiger to design for his company; the Murjani International. His move was targeted at resurrecting the jeans craze that was once a Phenomenon in the 1970s. Furthermore, he wanted to introduce new clothing designs that were less expensive and with a high appeal to the youthful generation. 1988, Murjani, Hilfiger and two other investors bought out Murjani International due to its financial woes and changed the name to Tommy Hilfiger.They moved their head quarters to Hong Kong due to the business connections of one of the partners in Asia. This business venture clicked and sales begun to come quickly and they eventually joined the New York Stock exchange in 1992 although this came to an end in 2006 as it was privatized by the Apax partner fund in London. Consequently, their headquarters were relocated to the Netherlands. Currently, it is considered to be one of the most successful fashion brands in the world. Its profits are believed to be around the region of $1.8 billion per annum. It is rated as one of the most creative and influential design companies in the modern times. Their logo is considered to be one of the most recognizable in the world. Almost each an every adult can be able to recognize the blue, red and white colors of the logo. For this reason, he has been able to expand his local and international appeal through his ever improving and unique

Crowdsourcing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 2

Crowdsourcing - Term Paper Example The paper will further offer solutions concerning generating design interest from online communities and evaluation of skill set and quality of codes submitted by potential unknown users. Lastly, legal, societal and ethical issues related to outsourcing will be discussed, and possible recommendations offered to the solutions. With the invention and growth of outsourcing, online communities have introduced attractive human-like platforms that directly conduct experiments with the aim of controlling over participants and the environment. This concept operates on the notion of tapping as much knowledge and intelligence as possible from the public to complete complex business-related tasks that would require hiring of third parties or outsourcing. The same sentiments are echoed by Brabham, (2010) who defines crowdsourcing as an ‘online distributed problem solving and production model largely used for business† (para.1). The collective intelligence of the online community is controlled through soliciting of organizational ideas and solutions from such communities through models of open calls. Thus, successive crowdsourcing operates on the assumption of ‘collective intelligence’ and ‘crowd wisdom’. According to Nakatsu and Grossman (2013), the process of crowdsourcing involve individuals / organizations who request and identify problems to be solved or tasks to be performed, broadcasting tasks online by requestors in order to get attention of the online crowds to perform tasks and/or solve already identified problems, and the submission of solutions to the problems by the targeted crowd. After receiving solutions, the requestor carefully examines solutions into meaningful ways especially in cases where there are numerous responses (Allahbakhsh et al., 2013). Crowdsourcing offers a channel through which human computation is utilized as a substitute to solve complex problems that are

Poverty and American Humane Association Essay Example for Free

Poverty and American Humane Association Essay You see it in movies, books, and even real life. The cycle of poverty is an endless cycle that entraps those who have become its victims. Poverty has become one of the largest troubles within America today. It repeats the questions of fear, like, whether or not you will have food on the table? Will I be able to pay the mortgage for the house? How can I pay for my child’s doctor visits if their sick? Families who fall into poverty cycle are usually never able to recover, but there are a select few who find a way to strive and leave its menacing hands, through education. There are kids just like you and me, who are living in conditions unimaginable and have to deal with it almost their whole life. Many people fall to poverty because of the loss of a job, expenses, wages, incomes, and other such money problems, but through the success in education they can prevent this from happening. Poverty has become a universal flaw in both our country and many others. Education is one of the possible reasons why people fall into poverty, because many who do not have an education or a high school diploma usually will cause themselves and their families to fall into poverty. According to roastedpinebark at hubpages. com, people in the U. S who have a high school diploma will have a more likely chance of receiving at least $40,000 yearly salary paying job while those who are dropouts would receive a $20,000-$16,000 yearly salary job. This may sound like a lot of money for all of you but really, it’s not. If you think about it on a $20,000 yearly salary you would only receive about $1,666 a month probably barely being able to pay for mortgage for their house, not including water, electric, and gas bills too ([emailprotected] paragraph 2). That is a lot of money. What it comes down to is that a good education is a divided pathway to getting an average paying job or ending up in poverty. If a family is already in the cycle of poverty then those kids are even more likely to continue that cycle to their next generation. Three years ago in 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released that â€Å"For [all] Americans without a high school diploma the unemployment rate is significantly higher than the national average at 14. %† (Employment Policies Institute). The idea of never getting out of the cycle of poverty moved me, because there can be kids just like you and me who try and try to do well in school but end up failing. According to Celia Baker on Deseret News posted on October 22, 2012 that â€Å"earning a high school diploma can help break the cycle of multi-generational poverty†(Baker paragraph 6). The reason for this is because of the lack of money, family issues, and their social life. It may not make sense as to why a child’s social life effects their education, but it’s because they do not receive the skills to develop their brains to learn or adapt. Another problem that is found through poverty is the backing of a loving and stable family. Generally I assume all of us have a warm loving family that we have the greatest times with. Some kids aren’t so lucky. When they come home from school they are sometimes abused, exposed to drugs, and some may have no family. I know that without my family I wouldn’t be able to be the person I am today. Our families give us the necessary love and attention we need to function as people. According to American Humane Association, kids in poverty are often neglected and abused because their parent or parents are aggravated with being unable to pay bills or even hold a job. It seems horrid but it’s the truth. If you think about your younger siblings or cousins, if you have any, they want a lot of attention right? I know my little sister does, and if a parent just ignores their child and neglects them it breaks their heart, so they keep trying and trying to live up to the approval of their parents only to get rejected again. According to Dr. ’s Ashlee Loughan and Robert Pern, â€Å"brain growth advances in the first 6 years of life and are further supported with high nutrition, appropriate stimulation, attention, and emotional support† (http://www. apa. org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2012/07/neurocognitive-impacts. spx). So as you can see domestic life is very important in the early stages of life. Other research has found that the kids found in poverty are not given that nutrition, emotional support, or attention therefore they are more likely to have depression or any other psychological or mental illness. The cycle of poverty causes many problems for people; it is a chain reaction that is impossible to get out of. It affects many aspects of a person’s life and I b elieve it is one of the worst things that could happen. Many students in high school, like ourselves, are faced with the decision of staying in school or having to drop out to be able to put food on the table for their families. This is where the rates of student dropouts increases and many wonder why. Some say it’s because the kids are lazy and don’t care about school, but only a few percentage of them are like that. The other percentage of students who drop out of school that live in poverty, make the decision to get a job just to be able to make sure their family gets food on the table, or even keep the place they currently live in. Nowadays, you teenagers, even me, we take it for granted that we have a home to live in, food to eat every day, a bed to sleep in, and all of those things are just something we expect to be there; and for some it is not the case. Studies shown by Chris Isidore proved that those kids who leave school to take on jobs are more likely to become the 20% of adults who earn the bare minimum under a full time job which is $10. 65 at a minimum wage of $7. 45 (Isidore paragraph 2 3). The topic of poverty is sometimes an overlooked topic among students, I believe that it is one that should be more paid attention to; and I believe that there should be a lot more relief efforts to get people out of it. I hope today, that this speech has changed you mind on the topic of poverty and moved you to want to try and help. If so check out to learn more about how you can help stop poverty and get involved in creating a better world (www. peopleagainstpoverty. com). Known to many officials even the President, poverty, is a virus in America that cannot be ridded of until it is right medicine. To help prevent the beginning of epidemics like these from spreading, I suggest you become a good parent when you are an adult, help guide you children, acknowledge their mistakes, help them learn from it, and to create or join any clubs that de-motivate the dropping out of school. Traits such as these will allow your children to strive to do well in school forming a better future for them-selves. To learn more about how to prevent teens and children from going into poverty go to this link and scroll down to the subheading â€Å"What Can We Do? †

Hip Hip Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Introduction Hip hop as a ding an sich is marked by some confusion. Consider the name; is it "hip hop," "hip-hop" or "hiphop"? You will see all three used in titles in this bibliography. Hip hop is, at the same time, a cultural phenomenon that developed in the late 70's in the projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and a musical style from that phenomenon. Nevertheless, hip hop has become a pervasive element of popular culture, as witnessed by this bibliography. There are hip hop exercise videos, children's books as well as books, magazines, magazine articles and theses about it. Before we get to the bibliography, a brief hip hop history is in order. Hip hop began in the mid- to late 70's, but its roots are much older (indeed, hip hop's use of music from other genres is reflected in Renaissance parody masses). According to one source, the roots of this phenomenon are in Jamaica in the 40's. By the 60's, it was common to find "sounds", or a truck fitted with sound equipment parked at a street corner, playing American rhythm & blues records for the people in the neighborhood. Some of these DJs included Coxson Dodd, Prince Buster, and Duke Reid. By the 1970's this phenomenon was to be found in the US, particularly in the Farragut Projects in Brooklyn, NY. Some of these early DJs were Maboya, Plummer and Kool DJ D, who played mostly disco music. Another of these early figures, Kool Herc, emigrated to the States from Jamaica and settled in the Bronx with his sound system he called "the Herculords." In contrast to some of the other figures, Kool Herc focused on rhythm & blues and funk records. Another of Kool Herc's innovations was to play only the "break," or the musical material between the verses of a song, repeating that break again and again. He did this using two turntables mounted with the same record. This came to be called "break-beat deejaying." People began to perform "strange, acrobatic twisting dance routines" to these episodes that came to be called "break dances."2 Kool Herc eventually hired someone to "MC" these parties. This person would talk to the crowd between the songs to keep the party going. This was the beginning of "rapping." DJ Hollywood, one of the early MC's at Kool Herc's parties would use rhyming verses in his rap... ..., ed. Drumvoices. University of Illinois, Edwardsville, Illinois, 2004. Contains "The Hip Hop Nation as a Site of African American Cultural and Historical Memory" by James Spady. Roberts, John W. From hucklebuck to hip-hop: social dance in the African-American community in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Pa.: Odunde, 1995. Sansevere, John R. Post-bop hip-hop: a tribe called Quest. [Racine, Wis.]: Western Pub. Co., 1993. Sexton, Adam., ed. Rap on rap: straight-up talk on hip-hop culture. New York: Delta, 1995. Shabazz, Julian L. D. The United States of America vs. hip-hop. Hampton, VA: United Bros. Pub. Co., 1992. Shaw, Arnold. Black popular music in America : from the spirituals, minstrels, and ragtime to soul, disco, and hip-hop. New York: London: Schirmer Books; Collier Macmillan, 1986. Shomari, Hashim A. From the underground : hip hop culture as an agent of social change. Fanwood, NJ: X-Factor Publications, 1995. Smash, Nick. Hip hop 86-89. Woodford Green, Essex, England: International Music Publications, 1990. Illustrated. Spady, James G., and Joseph D. Eure. Nation conscious rap. AfroAmericanization of knowledge series; 3. New York: PC International Press, 1991.

Why Standardized Tests Are Ineffective at Measuring a Student’s Capabilities

A Test Destined For Failure In America, standardized testing has become a prevalent method for testing the educational ability of students. Tests such as the SAT for College and the California STAR for elementary and junior high students have been administered since the beginning of the 20th century. These tests are often considered by many as crucial for the academic progression of students into further education, such as an elementary student being promoted from third to fourth grade or a high school senior applying to college. However, standardized tests have setbacks which could jeopardize a student’s future academic progression given he/she fails to pass. Therefore, I believe standardized tests are ineffective at measuring a student’s capabilities and hence interfere with true academic learning. Standardized tests assess the capability of the student to react to the test in an appropriate manner. It does not factor in true knowledge retention, the key element to a successful academic exam. Students who are faced with any form of disadvantage are most drastically affected by the consequences of standardized testing. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing (FairTest) calls these tests â€Å"very inaccurate and encourage the use of overly academic, developmentally inappropriate primary schooling. † â€Å"Inappropriate schooling† is described as â€Å"schooling not appropriate to the child's emotional, social or intellectual development and to the variation in children's development. † Students who are incapable of possessing necessary test-taking skills such as focusing for long durations, budgeting time, etc†¦ fail these tests while their true knowledge of the material may prove otherwise. Students who rely on rote memorization and superficial knowledge pass the test when in fact they should not. Standardized tests are commonly and widely criticized for their bias towards children of â€Å"privileged background[s]† who more likely than others possess â€Å"a set of knowledge and skills† that result in higher scores. Alfie Kohn, an author on education writes â€Å"affluent families, schools, and districts are better able to afford [test preparation materials], and the most effective versions of such [materials]. It is fair to say then, that those receiving a poorer quality education will be at a significant disadvantage compared to those who can or already received quality instruction and education related to the test. Charles Murray, a former Harvard graduate writes in his article â€Å"Abolish the SAT† for the journal The American,† The SAT test isn't the problem. The children of the well educated and affluent get most of the top scores bec ause they constitute most of the smartest kids. They are smart not because their parents are well educated, but because their parents are smart. † Murray summarizes his whole point with a bold claim, â€Å"if you’re rich, you can buy your kids a high SAT score. † Although the topic of standardized testing is widely debated and argued, the notion of such an important test with many innate flaws existing in the education system is shocking and appalling to many. Standardized tests were created to assess a student’s true academic potential. However, the variables and factors that influence these tests cause standardized testing throughout the world to be ineffective at that task. Works Cited FairTest. â€Å"How Standardized Testing Damages Education. † FairTest. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, 20 Aug. 2007. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. . Kohn, Alfie. â€Å"Standardized Testing and Its Victims. † Education Week. Alfie Kohn, 27 Sept. 2000. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. . Murray, Charles. â€Å"Abolish the SAT. † The American. The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute, July 2007. Web. 9 Sept. 2011. .