Comparing Love in Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovannis Room, and Anot

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Baldwin’s first three novels -Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, and Another Country-boil over with anger, prejudice, and hatred, yet the primary force his characters must contend with is love.   Not meek or mawkish but "...something active, more like fire, like the wind" (qtd. in O'Neale 126), Baldwin's notion of love can conquer the horrors of society and pave the way to "emotional security" (Kinnamon 5).   His recipe calls for a determined identity, a confrontation with and acceptance of reality, and finally, an open, committed relationship.   Though Baldwin's characters desperately need love, they fail to meet these individual requirements, and the seeds of love they sow never take root and grow to fruition.    Baldwin's fixation with love, especially a love perpetually denied, arises from his past, which colors must of his writings.   Baldwin never knew his father.   He endured the brunt of his stepfather's abuse simply because he was not his true son.   Similarly, Baldwin's characters never receive familial love and are cast out, with neither support nor an understanding of love, into a world of hatred.   Baldwin never forgot his cold, strict, intolerant stepfather, David Baldwin, and this failed relationship between father and son forms the basis for his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain.   Also fundamental to Baldwin's works is his homosexuality, which plays a predominate role in Giovanni's Room and Another Country.   He favors the homosexual characters, who come closest to achieving love, not merely on account of their sexuality, but because they tend to meet more of Baldwin's prerequisites: "In his most elegant formulation, [Baldwin] remarked that the word homosexual might be an adjective, perhaps a... ...unity."   MELUS 10 (1983), 27-31.   Rpt. in Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. O'Neale, Sondra A.   "Fathers, Gods, and Religion: Perceptions of Christianity and Ethnic Faith in James Baldwin."   In Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. Pratt, Louis H. James Baldwin.   Boston: Twayne, 1978. Rosenblatt, Roger.   "Out of Control: Go Tell It on the Mountain and Another Country."   In Black Fiction.   N.p.: Harvard University, 1974.   Rpt. in Harold Bloom ed.   James Baldwin.   New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Standley, Fred L.   "James Baldwin: The Artist as Incorrigible Disturber of the Peace." Southern Humanities Review 4 (1970), 18-30.   Rpt. in Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. Comparing Love in Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, and Anot      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Baldwin’s first three novels -Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni's Room, and Another Country-boil over with anger, prejudice, and hatred, yet the primary force his characters must contend with is love.   Not meek or mawkish but "...something active, more like fire, like the wind" (qtd. in O'Neale 126), Baldwin's notion of love can conquer the horrors of society and pave the way to "emotional security" (Kinnamon 5).   His recipe calls for a determined identity, a confrontation with and acceptance of reality, and finally, an open, committed relationship.   Though Baldwin's characters desperately need love, they fail to meet these individual requirements, and the seeds of love they sow never take root and grow to fruition.    Baldwin's fixation with love, especially a love perpetually denied, arises from his past, which colors must of his writings.   Baldwin never knew his father.   He endured the brunt of his stepfather's abuse simply because he was not his true son.   Similarly, Baldwin's characters never receive familial love and are cast out, with neither support nor an understanding of love, into a world of hatred.   Baldwin never forgot his cold, strict, intolerant stepfather, David Baldwin, and this failed relationship between father and son forms the basis for his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain.   Also fundamental to Baldwin's works is his homosexuality, which plays a predominate role in Giovanni's Room and Another Country.   He favors the homosexual characters, who come closest to achieving love, not merely on account of their sexuality, but because they tend to meet more of Baldwin's prerequisites: "In his most elegant formulation, [Baldwin] remarked that the word homosexual might be an adjective, perhaps a... ...unity."   MELUS 10 (1983), 27-31.   Rpt. in Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. O'Neale, Sondra A.   "Fathers, Gods, and Religion: Perceptions of Christianity and Ethnic Faith in James Baldwin."   In Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988. Pratt, Louis H. James Baldwin.   Boston: Twayne, 1978. Rosenblatt, Roger.   "Out of Control: Go Tell It on the Mountain and Another Country."   In Black Fiction.   N.p.: Harvard University, 1974.   Rpt. in Harold Bloom ed.   James Baldwin.   New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Standley, Fred L.   "James Baldwin: The Artist as Incorrigible Disturber of the Peace." Southern Humanities Review 4 (1970), 18-30.   Rpt. in Fred L. Standley and Nancy V. Burt.   Critical Essays on James Baldwin.   Boston: G. K. Hall, 1988.

A class performance Essay

magine you are going to direct act 3 scene 4 for a class performance what advice would you give to your actors to make this scene interesting and tense? Hello, with the performance creeping closer all the time we need to look at act 3 scene 4 so today we will be concentrating on that, I will be giving you all some advice to made the scene tense and interesting for your audience who will be watching you all I will first go thought the basis plot of this scene telling you in detail of a few important features. So here we go Macbeth and his wife lady Macbeth are hosting a banquet at their castle the other lords attending are Ross, Lennox and other lord that are un-named. Macbeth and Lady macbeth enter and sit on the thrones provide for them there is some dialog greeting the lords and thanking them for them for coming before this scene macbeth has ordered two murders to go and kill his loyal friend Banquo and his son Flence because they are a threat to Macbeth as Banquo is the only other one except lady macbeth that knows about the witches and their predictions in the predictions the witches tell Banquo he will not be king himself but he will father a line of kings so Macbeth feels that if Flence is dead then there is no way that will happen and no one will take over from Macbeth as king, but the murder bring bad news he has successfully killed banquo but his son escaped. Macbeth is not too worried because he does not feel he is too much of a threat at the moment but will grow up to be trouble. Lady macbeth still knows nothing and is carry on with the banquet while Lady macbeth is talking to the lords Banquos ghost enters and sit in Macbeths place no one else can see this because it is in Macbeth mind the lords start to ask Macbeth to take a seat on the table to join in with the feast but Banquo ghost is sat there. The other lords can’t work out why Macbeth won’t sit down and join them. Macbeth then starts to talk about Banquo to the lords and says that he could not make it tonight. Inside Macbeth mind the ghost is talking over. Macbeth starts to talk to the ghost Lady Macbeth and the lords are very puzzled by this. One of the lords Ross say the king is unwell Lady macbeth reassures the lords that everything is fine then talks to Macbeth on her own Macbeth tells her what he sees Lady macbeth tells him to behave and act like a man and it is all in your head. They both resume back to the lords, as Macbeth can no longer see the ghost. But the he comes back. In angry Macbeth starts shouting at Banquos ghost. Ross asks him what he sees but Lady macbeth steps in so that he doesn’t say anything she asks them all to leave which they do they are very puzzled as to the way the king has acted. But noting is said. After they have all left Macbeth and Lady macbeth talk Macbeth is going on about how Banquo and he is dead and his blood is on his hands, At the end of the scene Lady macbeth says â€Å"you lack the seasons of all natures, sleep. He is lacking this sleep because thought out the play sleep is one of the main themes and it is only for innocent people which he is not because he has killed Duncan he was killing god too because they though that the king was god so they had gone against god and killed him. So they were now evil and they would have no sleep. Well that is a round up of this sence as you can see it is one that needs a lot of effort put into to keep the audience concentrating on the play. Paul as Macbeth you have a big role to play in this scene also do you Pam Lady macbeth is trying very hard to take control over the situation and stop Macbeth spilling the beans on the bad deeds that he has done. You need to make sure that you look like you are in control of the matter and know how to handle it. When you are telling Macbeth to act like a man you need to be very harsh with him knock him back into the real world and make him see sense. Paul when you are talking to Banquos ghost at first you are very scared but then you could out of your shell slowly and face up to him, you will need to speak as if you are angry so talk in a low husky voice. Pam your voice needs to be firm and stern both of you need to act tired as you can as both of you are getting no sleep as I have already explained so if you take all this information I have told you today and work on it you will have them all hanging off the edge of their seat thank you for you all coming today I hope this advice has been help to you all.

Imperatives for Developing My Transformational Leadership Potential: Some Plans Essay

The word â€Å"leader† first appeared in the English language in the 1300s; it stems from the root â€Å"leden† meaning â€Å"to travel† or â€Å"show the way.†   The term â€Å"leadership†, however, followed only some five centuries later.   One can sift through many definitions of the term â€Å"leadership† and fail to find a single ‘common denominator’ that will unite all of them. This may be because there are so numerous, varying usages of the term in equally numerous and complicated situations.   However, for purposes of this paper, the following definitions used in many leadership studies were adopted: Leadership was broadly defined by Yukl (1989) as â€Å"influencing task objectives and strategies, influencing commitment and compliance in task behavior to achieve these objectives, influencing the culture of an organization.†Ã‚   In simpler terms, leaders influence the actions and behaviours of their followers to obtain a shared vision or aim.   According to Deming (1992), leadership must come from top management and leaders must possess profound knowledge. By profound knowledge, Deming meant that one must have knowledge of systems, variations (statistical thinking), theory, and psychology. Leadership is quite different from management; leaders grow from mastering their own conflict which arises during their developing years using internal strength to survive. On the other hand, managers tend to perceive issues as positive progressions of events which must be planned, organized, scheduled, and controlled.   In order to create the proper thinking perspective, leaders must aggressively investigate and act on the current market to create opportunities.   Effective leaders are those that are capable of assisting their organization/country manage change and steer it towards success. Past Work Experience I have had the opportunity to work with a local company; at peak work periods, I am tasked to manage a small team of 4 staff. Some of the responsibilities involved in this role are delegation of work; prioritizing tasks based on urgency and importance; reporting regularly to my superior for updates and new directives; and updating my superior at the end of the day for concerns and accomplishments. Moreover, it requires me to plan and manage my own time. Effective people skills are as critical as the management of tasks in a team leader’s role. It is necessary for me to create and manage smooth working relationships with line managers, colleagues, and team members. I am also expected to manage their performance by clearly explaining to them standards of work and behavior. An Assessment of My Leadership Style I personally want to develop a transformational leadership style that is more dynamic, innovative and accepting of change than that espoused by a management role. Tichy and Devanna (1986) assert that managers engage in very little change but manage what is present and leave things much as they found them when they depart. Transformational leadership, they declared, focuses on change, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They assumed that transformational leaders begin with a social fabric, disrupt that environment, and then recreate the social fabric to better reflect the overall business climate (Bass, 1990). They argue that there are four suggested personal characteristics of a transformational leader: (a) dominance, (b) self-confidence, (c) need for influence, and (d) conviction of moral righteousness. These are the traits that I have to focus on in undertaking my development plan. Transformational leaders are expected to deal with the paradox of predicting the unknown and sometimes the unknowable.   These leaders change and transform the organization according to a vision of a preferred status. Leaders then are change makers and transformers, guiding the organization to a new and more compelling vision, a demanding role expectation. Studies have been carried out in many different countries, and research in this area also shows that transformational leadership is closer to perceptions of ideal leadership than transactional leadership.   As Hartog et al (1999) note, being perceived as a leader is a prerequisite for being able to go beyond a formal role in influencing others.   They hold that leadership perceptions can be based on two alternative processes.   First, leadership can be inferred from outcomes of salient events, and attribution is crucial in these inference-based processes. For example, a successful business ‘turnaround’ is often quickly attributed to the high quality ‘leadership’ of top executives or the CEO.   Leadership can also be recognized based on the fit between an observed person’s characteristics with the perceivers’ implicit ideas of what ‘leaders’ are (Hartog et al., 1999). This again points to the fact that an effective manager is not only focused on delivering tasks, but on handling his people well. This is especially true among people in the organization who put high premium on a manager’s interpersonal skills. The first step I will consider in my developmental plan is to maintain my enthusiasm and motivation of my team towards their work. Concurrently, I will also aim to develop my leadership potential. I will concretely undertake this by developing a strong mentoring relationship with my superior. Empirical research from both educational and industrial settings suggests that students and employees both have increased probability of success if they have had a mentor. While mentors are effective for everyone, sometimes organizations implement mentoring programs to support particular parts of their populations, often newer employees. And while mentoring programs are always established with the best of intentions, their results are often mixed (Werner, 2004). To make the most of my work exposure, I hope to establish a strong mentoring relationship with my superior or with an expert in my field to develop my competence further. Coaching and mentoring is a very effective way of developing my leadership potential because it does not only develop me in terms of technical expertise, but it will also allow me to actually experience how these experts undergo the coaching and mentoring exercise. Skills Acquisition Skill acquisition acknowledges that proficiency and expertise are a function of the exposure to a variety of situations. These circumstances become experiences for the learner to elicit apt responses. Bandura (1977) emphasized that most learning transpires by observing and modeling behaviors. Information is then stored and coded cognitively and utilized as guide for action. He further noted that the development of a realistic learning setting incorporating environment, behavior, and thought promotes the acquisition of complex skills. Moreover, simulation can help in providing this realistic exposure for neophyte professionals (Bandura, 1977). Because I have gone past beyond being a novice, now is the perfect time for developing strategic leadership skills. I will also be able to add on to my networks by attending conferences related to my field to be able to build and establish peer contacts. I will also endeavor to build relationships with members and managers of other teams within the organization. The following soft competencies have been recommended areas for leadership development by the Development Dimensions International website (2005): master at managing through ambiguity; inspires confidence and belief in the future; have a passion for results; are marked by unwavering integrity; set others up for success; have strong rather than big egos; and have the courage to make big decisions. Mastery at managing through ambiguity. Build a culture that embraces change; constantly set clear goals and expectations; are able to manage across boundaries (and lead others to do the same); show connections between individual accountabilities, team goals, and organizational vision and strategies; sets out a clear course even though it may change frequently. Inspires confidence and belief in the future. Are able to articulate a vision depicting what they want their organization; exudes calm and projects optimism in the face of uncertainty; can engage and inspire employees in their work connecting their needs and values with those of the institution. Passion for results. Set clear accountabilities and high expectations for themselves and for others; hire, promote and reward high performers; keep themselves and their employees focused on the top two or three customer-driven priorities; take action on those who do not fit or who are consistently not performing; establish critical measures of success and make sure they are visible to others. Marked by unwavering integrity. Serve as a â€Å"moral compass† for others; keeps promises and commitments; â€Å"walks the talk†; gives straight, honest feedback; leads through values; acts promptly when their own or the integrity of their organization is compromised.    Set others up for success. Coaches others to succeed before they have the opportunity to fail; truly enjoys seeing people learn and grow; rewards and recognizes success; views failures as learning opportunities; shares (rather than hordes) talent for the good of the organization. Have strong rather than big egos. Humbly shares credit with others; never shoots the messenger – they encourage the sharing of bad news; are always asking â€Å"how can we do things better?†; blame themselves before pointing a finger at others; knows themselves and are guided by strong personal values; listens to understand; recognizes that they, more often than not, are not the ones with the right answers.    Have the courage to make big decisions. Addresses issues or problems quickly; takes actions that are right, even when they are unpopular – they act on conviction; stands by their decisions once they make them – even if circumstances cause them to change course later; takes a longer term view consistent with a future vision (www.ddiworld.com, 2005). Soft skills are as equally if not more important than technical skills, in the development of leadership potential. These competencies must also be integrated into my success competency profile and adequately addressed through formal classroom or on-the-job training. Naturally, to be able to identify which leadership areas I need to focus on, I need to use reflection. The main approach is to develop fully into a transformational leadership role. With transformational leadership, the followers feel trust, admiration, loyalty and respect towards the leader and they are motivated to do more then they originally expected to do. Leaders transform and motivate followers by: (1) making them more aware of the importance of task outcomes, and (2) inducing them to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the organization or team and activating their higher order needs. In contrast, transactional leadership involves an exchange process that may result in follower compliance with leader requests but is not likely to generate enthusiasm and commitment to task objectives. Therefore, my staff need to feel that I can empathize with them, are able to give them feedback while maintaining their self-esteem, and also solicit their ideas on important issues. Transformational and transactional leadership are distinct but not mutually exclusive processes. Transformational leadership increases follower motivation and performance more than transactional leadership, but effective leaders use a combination of both types of leadership.   Such is the argument of   Gary Yukl (1989).   He defined transformational behavior as idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation. Yukl theorized that transformational leadership probably involves internationalization because inspirational motivation includes the articulation of an appealing vision that relates task objectives to follower values and ideals, it therefore also involves personal identification.   Yukl (1989) described transformational leadership as a process of micro-level and macro-level influence. At the macro-level, transformational leaders must take charge of the social systems and reform the organization by creating an appropriate power situation. At the micro-level, transformational leaders must attend to the personalities in the organization to facilitate change at an interpersonal level. One other way of developing my leadership potential is by regularly reflecting on areas for improvement. In this area, the feedback of my superior would serve as critical input. There is now broad agreement on four key attributes, therefore, known as the four i’s of Transformational Leadership (Avolio et al., 1991; Bass & Avolio, 1994b). Inspirational leadership means ‘the arousal and heightening of motivation among followers that occurs primarily from charismatic leadership’ and individualized consideration is evident when subordinates are treated individually according to their needs. Intellectual stimulation refers to the leader’s influence on followers’ thinking and imagination (Bass, 1985, pp. 62,82 and 99). And, finally, idealized influence is the identification with and emulation of the leader’s mission and vision. Apart from focusing on my own leadership needs, I would also like to assist in the drafting of Career Management plans of the members of my team. I would also like to ensure that I continuously serve as a model and inspiration for them in terms of giving support, praise and encouragement to all team members. Moreover, I will work for the implementation of retention strategies among the team members I work with through career development,   flexible work, induction, partnership and staff involvement, and pay and rewards. Some Comments on the Transformational Leadership Framework / Theory In contrast with leader emergence which deals with the likelihood that a person will become a leader, leader performance involves the idea that excellent leaders possess certain characteristics that certain leaders do not. For example, an excellent leader might be intelligent, assertive, friendly, and independent, whereas a poor leader might be shy, aloof, and calm. Research on the relationship between personal characteristics and leader performance has concentrated on three areas: traits, needs and orientation. In relation to transformational leadership framework, I do agree that the leader must possess certain characteristics to transform the organization. But this is not all – there must also be ample consideration of other factors such as subordinates’ ability and organizational climate. Traits. The idea that certain traits are associated with effective leadership is appealing, but in 1964, a review by Heslin and Dunphy indicated that only two traits – intelligence and interpersonal adjustment – have consistently been related to leadership performance. More recently, it has been proposed that good leaders need to possess only one stable trait – adaptability or self-monitoring (Cohen & Bradford, 1990). Thus, good leaders will constantly change their behaviors to meet the demands of the situation or person with whom they are dealing. Support from this theory comes from a study by Caldwell & O’Reilly (1982), who found that field representatives who dealt with many different types of people were more effective if they were high self-monitors. Similar results were found with Zaccaro, Foti & Kenny (1991). The concept of self-monitoring focuses on what leaders do as opposed to what they are. For example, a high self-monitoring leader may possess the trait of shyness and not truly want to communicate with other people. He know, however, that talking to others is an important part of his job, so he says hello to his employees when he arrives at work, and at least once a day stops and talks to each employee. Thus, the leader has the trait of shyness but adapts his outward behavior to appear to be outgoing and confident. An interesting extension of the trait theory of leader performance suggests that certain traits are necessary requirements for leadership excellence but that they do not guarantee it (Simonton, 1979). Instead, leadership excellence is a function of the right person being in the right place at the right time. The fact that one person with certain traits becomes an excellent leader while another with the same trait flounders may be no more than the result of timing and chance. Needs. A personal characteristic that has received some support to a leader’s need for power, need for achievement, and need for affiliation. Research by McClelland and Burnham (1976) and McClelland and Boyatzis (1982) have demonstrated that high-performance managers have a leadership motive pattern, which is a high need for power and a low need for affiliation. The need is not for personal power but for organizational power. This pattern of needs is thought to be important because it implies that an effective leader should be more concerned with results than with being liked. Leaders who need to be liked by their subordinates will have a tough time making decisions. A decision to make an employee work overtime, for example, may be necessary for the organization’s survival, but it will probably be unpopular with employees. Leaders with high affiliation needs may decide that being liked is more important than being successful, causing conflict with their decision. Needs for power, achievement and affiliation can be measured through various psychological tests. The most commonly used is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT is a projective test in which a person is shown a series of pictures and is asked to tell a story about what is happening in each picture. The stories are then analyzed by a trained psychologist who identifies the needs themes that are contained in the stories. Obviously, this technique is time consuming and requires a great deal of training. Task vs. person orientation. Over the last 45 years, three major schools of thought – Ohio State studies (Fleishman, Harris & Burtt, 1955), Theory X (McGregor, 1960) and managerial grid (Blake & Mouton, 1984) – have postulated that differences in leader performance can be attributed to differences in the extent to which leaders are task versus person oriented. Person-oriented leaders (country club leaders, theory Y leaders, leaders in high consideration) act in a warm and supportive manner and show concern for their subordinates. Person-oriented leaders believe that employees are intrinsically motivated, seek responsibility, are self-controlled, and do not necessarily dislike work, Because of these assumptions, person-oriented leaders consult their subordinates before making decisions, praise their work, ask about their families, look over their shoulders, and use a more â€Å"hands-off† approach to leadership. Under pressure, person-oriented leaders tend to become socially withdrawn (Bond, 1995). Task –oriented leaders (task-centered leaders, theory X leaders, leaders high in initiating structure) define and structure their own roles and those of their subordinates to attain the group’s formal goals. Task-oriented leaders see their employees as lazy, extrinsically motivated, wanting security, undisciplined, and shirking responsibility. Because of these assumptions, task-oriented leaders tend to manage or lead by giving directives, setting goals, and making decisions without consulting their subordinates. Under pressure, task-oriented leaders tend to produce humor (e.g. tell jokes and stories) whereas person-oriented leaders tend to appreciate humor (e.g. listen to others’ jokes) (Philbrick, 1989). I feel that the best leader who may undertake transformation in the organization ought to be both person and task-oriented. In effect, in being a transformational leader, I should put premium on both person and task orientations, exhibiting each one with equal strength or emphasis. Interaction between the Leader and the Situation Apart from just focusing on the leader, I feel it is equally important for him to consider the complexities of his situation so that he may have a better grasp of how it is to transform the organization. In line with this, I should also be able to focus not only on developing myself but also consider the characteristics of the situation which I find myself in. One of the more recent research on this area is the situational theory of Geier, Downey and Johnson (1980) who believed that the leader has one of six behavioral styles, namely, informational, magnetic, position, affiliation, coercive or tactical. Each type is only effective in a particular situation, or in what researchers call an organizational climate. These researchers further say that based on the organizational climate, a leader with an informational style is best fit in ac climate of ignorance; those with magnetic style in a climate of despair; those with a position style in a climate of instability; affiliation style in a climate of anxiety; coercive style in a climate of crisis; tactical style in a climate of disorganization. This suggests that as a transformational leader, I should be able to adjust myself on the basis of my assessment of my organization’s climate. Relationship with Subordinates One other facet of transformational leadership which I intend to integrate into my personal development plan is my relationship with subordinates. This is consistent with the vertical dyad linkage theory. Vertical dyad linkage (VDL) theory was developed by Dansereau, Graen, and Haga (1974) and is a unique situational theory that makes good intuitive sense. Some situational theories concentrate on interactions between leaders and situations and between leaders and employees with differing levels of ability. VDL theory, however, concentrates on the interactions between leaders and subordinates. These interactions are called leader-member exchanges (LMXs). The theory takes its name from the relationship between two people (a dyad), the position of the leader above the subordinate (vertical), and their interrelated behavior (linkage). VDL theory states that leaders develop different roles with different subordinates and thus act differently with different subordinates. Dansereau et al (1974) believe that subordinates fall in one of two groups, the in-group or the outgroup. In-group subordinates are those who have developed trusting, friendly relationships with the leader. As a result, the leader deals with in-group members by allowing them to participate in decisions and by rarely disciplining them. Thus, in-group membership is thought to increase performance. Out-group subordinates are treated differently from those in the in-group and are more likely to be given direct orders and to have less say about how affairs are conducted. In general, research on VDL theory has been supportive (Grestner & Day, 1997). There are, however, relationships between leaders and subordinates that probably can be categorized into types other than in-group and out-group. In relation to transformational leadership, I should increase my self-awareness in treating my subordinates such that there is no rigid classification of whether they are members of the in-group or the out-group. Under the transformational leadership framework, all subordinates are encouraged to participate in decision making. As such, I should try my best to gather input from all of my staff to be able to come up with the most optimal solution to a problem or an issue. Subordinate Ability Apart from self-development, the transformational leader must also be wary of his subordinates’ abilities in carrying out his plan for change or transformation. According to House’s (1971) path goal theory, a leader can adopt one of four behavioral leadership styles to handle each situation: instrumental, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented. The instrumental style calls for planning, organizing, and controlling the activities of employees. The supportive style leader shows concern for employees, the participative style leader shares information with employees and lets them participate in decision making, and the leader who uses the achievement oriented style sets challenging goals and rewards increases in performance. Each style will only work in certain situations and depends on subordinates’ abilities and the extent to which the task is structured. In general, the higher the level of subordinate ability, the less directive the leader should be. Likewise, the more structured the situation, the more directive the leader should be (Schriesheim & DeNisi, 1981). In conclusion, I feel that the transformational leadership framework is wanting of some considerations. Apart from just focusing on the leader himself, the plan should include a grave consideration of other important factors, such as his subordinates’ ability and the organizational climate in which the leader operates. My transformational leadership development plan, in summary, will equip me with the necessary technical and leadership competencies towards effectively taking on a management role, whilst seriously considering my subordinates’ abilities and the culture of the company I am working for. Ultimately, this will reflect in being able to lead and motivate a team – who in themselves are competent, goal-driven and are able to contribute to the organization’s bottomline. References Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavior change. 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Behavior Modification Project Essay

Identify Target Behavior: Get a Healthier Amount of Sleep/Stop Napping Daily I chose to modify my sleeping behavior for my behavior modification project. Sleep is something that I have always had a problem with. In high school I would get an average of about 5 hours of sleep a night, and now as a junior in college I get about 5-6 hours a night. I wanted to modify this behavior because I feel that not getting enough sleep is negatively affecting my mood, health, and overall outlook on my every day experience. It would be beneficial to me to be more awake and happy throughout my days rather than be tired and pushing myself to stay awake. My main issue with my sleeping behavior is the amount of time I spend per day napping. If my nightly sleeping patterns were increased, I could eliminate the need for naps during the day. Baseline Data: 4.5-5.5 Hours of Sleep per Night At the beginning of the term I observed my sleeping patterns for a week. Since I have a different schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays than I do on Tuesdays and Thursdays I found that I do get slightly more sleep on some nights than I do on others. I did not include weekend sleep times in my data. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights I would go to bed between 11:30 and midnight. I would then wake up at 5:30 am the following mornings. Therefore 3 nights of the week I was getting around 5.5/6 hours of sleep. On Monday and Wednesday nights I would go to bed somewhere in that same time frame of 11:30 to midnight. However on the following mornings I needed to be awake an hour earlier, so I would wake up at 4:30 am. On these nights I was getting about 4.5/5 hours of sleep. I noted that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I was more likely to get home from work and fall asleep around 4 pm for about 3 hours each of those days. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I would nap for about an hour and a half around 3 pm. I observed that during the times that I would come home and nap, I could have been doing something more valuable with my time if my body had the energy to keep going rather than take a few hours to rest itself. Stimulus Conditions: School, Homework, and Distractions I live at home and commute to school, so the main stimulus condition was the distractions that are available to me such as TV and internet. I have slept with my TV on for as long as I have had it. Usually I will turn on a show or a movie and fall asleep half way through watching it. This is the main problem for me because once I start I have an extremely difficult time stopping myself. My brain is still concentrating on the website I was on or what I was watching as I am trying to fall asleep. Another condition is school. Since I do commute, I have to be up a lot earlier than I would if I were living on campus. I work a lot of days after I get out of class so I have to have my hair and makeup done and can’t go to class looking the way I did when I woke up. I realize that I could not change my wakeup time for this project because that is the amount of time that I need to get ready and drive to school. Another condition is my homework. I usually study and work on homework after dinner which is around 7 pm so homework doesn’t usually affect my sleep that much unless I have a lot of work or studying to do. Set Goals: Every Week Sleep 30 Minutes More per Night At first my goal was to increase the amount of sleep I got by 10 minutes every day. I attempted that the first week and found it to be extremely difficult because the times were so close together that it was almost impossible to make myself fall asleep at that exact time. I also was thinking about it too much and thinking about it made it even more difficult to fall asleep. I decided to switch my goal by going to bed a half hour earlier than I did the week before. That way with a starting point of 5.5 hours, by week 5 I would be getting 8 hours of sleep. The national sleep foundation states on their website that 7-9 hours is the recommended amount of sleep for the average person over the age of 17. Therefore I took the median of that to use as my final goal. Since the main problem that I had was the distractions such as TV and Internet, I made it a rule that I needed to close my laptop and turn off my TV at the specific sleep time goal for that week. I found that with my TV off I was able to fall asleep almost immediately after laying down. I recorded the amount of sleep that I got every night, though it is not exact I did fall asleep almost immediately after the start times so it is only off by a few minutes at most. Sleep Time Goals Week 1 – 11:30 Week 2 – 11:00 Week 3 – 10:30 Week 4 – 10:00 Week 5 – 9:30 *Since Week 1 was unsuccessful in going to sleep around that specific goal time I changed my project by pushing my sleep goals back 30 minutes for the remaining 4 weeks. *Altered Sleep Time Goals Week 1 – 11:30 (Already Passed) Week 2 – 11:30 Week 3 – 11:00 Week 4 – 10:30 Week 5 – 10:00 Actual Sleep Times Week 1 Monday: 11:55 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours 35 minutes (5.58 hours) Tuesday: 11:45 pm-4:30 am – 4 hours and 45 minutes (4.75 hours) Wednesday: 12:00 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours and 30 minutes (5.5 hours) Thursday: 11:50 pm-4:30 am – 4 hours and 40 minutes (4.66 hours) Friday: 11:45 pm-5:30 am – 5 hours and 45 minutes (5.75 hours) Week 2 Monday: 11:20-5:30 – 6 hours and 10 minutes (6.17 hours) Tuesday: 11:15-4:30 am – 5 hours and 15 minutes (5.25 hours) Wednesday: 11:25-5:30 am – 6 hours and 5 minutes (6.08 hours) Thursday: 11:20-4:30 am – 5 hours and 10 minutes (5.17 hours) Friday: 11:15-5:30 am – 6 hours 15 minutes (6.25 hours) WEEK 3 Monday: 10:50 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 40 minutes (6.66 hours) Tuesday: 10:55 pm-4:30 am – 5 hours and 35 minutes (5.58 hours) Wednesday: 10:45 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 45 minutes (6.75 hours) Thursday: 10:50 pm-4:30 am – 5 hours and 40 minutes (5.66 hours) Friday: 10:50 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 40 minutes (6.66 hours) WEEK 4 Monday: 10:25 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 5 minutes (7.08 hours) Tuesday: 10:30 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours (6.0 hours) Wednesday: 10:35 pm-5:30 am – 6 hours and 55 minutes (5.92 hours) Thursday: 10:20 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 10 minutes (6.17 hours) Friday: 10:20 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 10 minutes (7.17 hours) WEEK 5 Monday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Tuesday: 10:05 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 25 minutes (6.42 hours) Wednesday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Thursday: 9:55 pm-4:30 am – 6 hours and 35 minutes (6.58 hours) Friday: 10:00 pm-5:30 am – 7 hours and 30 minutes (7.5 hours) Below I have included the graphs that I made weekly with the data I collected over the course of that week. The actual amount of sleep I got, my goal amount of sleep for that week, and the National Sleep Foundation recommended amount of sleep are all included. I found that these graphs are excellent for displaying how much closer I got to my sleep goal every week. I was very pleased with the results as I did not expect the project to go so smoothly. Since I live with them, I had asked my mother and my sister to look for any changes in my behavior during this time. Both of them agreed that around week 3 I was more fun to talk to because I wasn’t being so negative in our conversations. My mother enjoyed the fact that I was more willing to go out and run errands with her when I got home rather than go in my room and pass out. By week 5 both of them had said that they noticed I seemed to be getting through my days without as much complaining. Overall I also didn’t notice any changes myself until about week 3. Weeks 3-5 made a big difference because I no longer felt that I â€Å"needed† to take a nap and since I felt that I had more time to do things that I wanted I had a much more positive outlook on my day as a whole. Encourage/Remove Stimulus Conditions: Time Management and Eliminate Distractions Since my main stimulus condition was the distractions that I had, the most important thing for me to do was to set a rule for myself to always turn off my TV and laptop before the goal sleep time of that night. I have always thought that I needed the background noise of my TV to sleep, and I was very surprised to found that I did not have a single problem with the TV being off. The only issue I had with this alteration was the fact that I didn’t create this rule until after week 1. For the first week of my project I continued to go to bed with the TV on, and even though I was technically in bed at my goal sleep time I was not falling asleep until approximately a half hour after laying down. Once I made this change and altered my sleep time goals the project went a lot more smoothly. Since I could not change the time that I woke up in the morning, I knew I needed to work on time management with my homework so that I could have at least a little free time before I made myself shut off my electronics. I stopped taking so many breaks during the time that I was working on homework and I just used a solid block of time to finish everything I had to do. It was a lot easier for me to get done faster when I wasn’t losing focus on other things all of the time. I was happy with the decision I made to turn off my TV and laptop at the time I planned to go to bed every night. I believe that that factor made all the difference in the direction that my project went. I feel that there would have been more obstacles and challenges if I had not created that rule for myself. Modifying these two conditions helped me be able to fall asleep faster and also enjoy falling asleep much more than I had before. Punishers & Reinforcers: Activities During the Time that was used for Naps I at first contemplated the punishments that I could use for not going to sleep at my goal time. The first week of my project I was still not going to sleep around my goal time and I was continuing to sleep at the times I had been sleeping before. I realized that since I used this time to watch movies, I could instead turn it into a reward by watching movies during the time in which I usually napped. Therefore when I returned home around 4 pm, rather than napping for 3 hours I could use that time for â€Å"free time† watching movies and going on the internet so that I could get my fix during that time instead of getting my fix right before I went to bed. If I went to bed earlier, I would not need the naps. It was almost like a cycle that just needed to be adjusted. I stopped needing naps around week 3 when I was getting roughly 6 and a half hours of sleep. It was a nice feeling to look forward to coming home and having free time rather than coming home and wasting a few hours of my day to feel refreshed. The fact that I had something to look forward to was a good reinforcement. I didn’t feel that I needed many more rewards because being on a normal schedule and not losing as many hours of my day was a reward enough for me. I enjoy having more free time as opposed to having nap time. In a way I was using positive and negative reinforcement because I was taking away my time on the internet and watching movies late at night, but rewarding myself by using my time during the day for those activities which I got from going to sleep earlier. Design Schedules of consequence and Administer Schedules: I am going to modify my sleep patterns in order to get an increasingly healthier amount of sleep per night. This will aid in the elimination of daily naps. I am going to sleep 30 minutes earlier every week until I am getting 8 hours of sleep a night. My reward will be having more free time to relax and do what I want after a long day rather than wasting those few hours by sleeping. The free time will be my motivator since I already wish I had more time during the day to do things that I want to do. The Results: Creating this program was somewhat of a challenge because the main problem was my bad sleeping habits. I learned a lot about myself as a result of doing this project, and the most that I learned was near the end when I was organizing all of my data. Though week 1 did not go as planned, I was very proud of myself for actually following through with my goal sleep times for the remainder of the project and I can clearly see the benefits I have gained from the changes that I made. Even though my main goal was to work on the amount of naps that I would take, I noticed many more benefits along the way. I found it easier for me to pay attention in class, and my note taking skills have also improved. My need for coffee in the morning has gone down and I actually drink more water in place which is a much healthier alternative. I also find it much easier to drive to school. I also am in a much better mood in the mornings that I was before. I found the most difficulty in this project during week 1. I believe this is because I had not yet made the adjustment to turn my electronics off. After making that change in my project everything seemed to work out much better and I never really went off track again. I feel that I am more productive and I now also have more time during the day to relax and enjoy myself. I felt that I made a good choice in choosing this specific behavior to modify because it has really improved more than one area of my daily life. I really have learned what a difference a healthy amount of sleep can do for you and I will continue to try and stay with the amount I have worked to getting right now.

Denver Art Museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Denver Art Museum - Essay Example Within the scenario of Asian art, the Falconer on Horseback, displayed at the Denver Art Museum, reveals the growth and development of art in China. This artwork is completed by an unknown artist. Besides, this artwork represents the development of art during the reign of Tang dynasty in 700 A.D. Thesis statement: The visual analysis of the work of art named as Falconer on Horseback proves that the same is symbolic of the rich artistic tradition of China, especially during the Tang dynasty. Visual Analysis In the art work, the Falconer on Horseback (See appendix-1), the artist provides ample importance to the visual elements. For instance, the artist does not make use of primary colors. Instead, mixture of primary colors is used by the artist to inculcate visual beauty to the art work. One can see that orange, green, black, and mixture of ivory white and light brown are the dominant colors in the art work. For instance, green provides elegance to the falcon in the art work. On the ot her side, mixture of ivory white and light brown is used by the artist to project the body of the horse and the falconer’s head. Besides, the falconer is dressed in orange and green robe. So the combination of primary colors provides visual beauty to the art work.

Compair the Matrix, Cathedral, and Billy Slaughterhouse 5 to the one Essay

Compair the Matrix, Cathedral, and Billy Slaughterhouse 5 to the one who ascends from in The Allegory of the Cave - Essay Example On the hand, the blind man’s view of life comes from an open perspective and he is ready to learn new things about life (Carver, 2002). The narrators view on blindness (life), changes when the blind man asks him to describe the cathedral for him. When he lacks words to do this, he is forced to show him by drawing, by catching his hand. Communication through symbolism helps him to understand the world through the blind man’s point of view. The blindness that separated them at the beginning brings them together. This is achieved through seeing the world from others perspective. Slaughter house- five basically explores the illogical nature of human beings, free will and fate. This book explores the concept that we are powerless and can do only what we can actually do. Billy Pilgrim is an anti-war character, who trains as a chaplain assistant, earning him disgust from his friends. Despite being the main character of the book, he gets on the nerves of everyone because of his dreams, weak body and fecklessness. He still manages to survive one of the main human atrocities, where others have failed. Nothing in Billy’s life happens out of his own will, but he watches as his life unfolds in front of him for example he is recruited to the war without his consent and gets married to a woman he does not love. In most of the novel, his character is not one the narrator could call a â€Å"character†, and only does so when he becomes â€Å"crazy† and breaks out of hospital to a radio talk show to tell about â€Å"Tralfamadore†. This is a place where he was abducted to by aliens, and this could either be in his head or reality. Events in this place take place simultaneously, so nothing happens before or after the other. In this situation, a person can choose only the good memories of life. Some can argue that the events in his life are due to the post traumatic disorder he has suffered in his life. We all can agree that human life invol ves suffering, and in his case, this seemed to be happening a lot. The old ways of explaining this suffering; religion and patriotism, do not seem to work. In the end, Billy awaits death without fear and is in control, something he was not able to do throughout his life. He ends up being the most unlikely war heroes. In Matrix the movie, Thomas Anderson, is one of the many billions of people connected to the Matrix unaware that they live in a virtual world. Despite being a respectable programmer for a software company, he is also a hacker with an alias†Neo†. This is when he gets to know about the Matrix. He has a choice to forget all about it and live his normal life, or gather information on the Matrix. Neo chooses to liberate humanity from the virtual fate, and there begins his journey to enlighten and being a hero. This is despite warnings from those who know the truth. He embraces his role and even learns fighting skills quite first, in the journey of being savior of the universe, where he gets his other name, â€Å"the one†. This is when we start to see his messianic like qualities and belief from other characters such as Morpheus and the Oracle, towards human liberation. There are several similarities between this character and Jesus Christ, for example Jesus was both earthly and godly, which can be compared to Neo’s ability to go through realms. The name Thomas can also be compared to doubting Thomas in the New Testament, who doubted the resurrection of Christ. Similarly, Neo doubted his abilities at

Gastrointestinal Disorders Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gastrointestinal Disorders - Essay Example Functional gastrointestinal diseases are associated with a plethora of symptoms which present biochemical and structural abnormality which is unidentifiable (Chang, Locke, McNally, Halder, Schleck, Zinsmeister, & Talley, 2010). Ageing itself is associated with numerous functional changes in the gastrointestinal tracts; such changes involve motility, intraluminal digestion, secretion and absorbtion (Grassi, Petraccia, Mennuni, Fontanna, Scarno, Sabetta, & Fraioli, 2011). Oropharyngeal muscle dismotility has a high preveilance among the elderly patients. Another functional disorder that is present in elderly patients is gastroesophagal reflux, which occurs as a result of reduced esophagal peristalsis and pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter (Park, 2011). Gastric emptying and motility has been found to be normal with ageing, however, some studies have shown that in some instances it may slow down. Structural neurological and endocrine changes lead to disturbed functioning in parts of the G.I tract. These include the propulsive motility of the colon, which is decreased due to these changes. A decrease in gastric secretions also causes gastric ulcers as the structure of the mucous bicarbonate barrier is also impaired (Park, 2011). Other functions that also decrease with age include pancreatic secretion and the level of bile salts. The above mentioned structural and functional changes along with other factors are part of the mechanisms that result in gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroesophagal reflux disease, dysphagia, primary dyspepsia, primary constipation, bowel syndrome, and a reduced level of nutrient absorption (Grassi, Petraccia, Mennuni, Fontanna, Scarno, Sabetta, & Fraioli, 2011). Evaluation of elderly patients is a complex process and may require more than one session (The Merck Manual, n.d.). The patients often become fatigued and the examination will have to be conducted at a later stage. The evaluation of elderly patients has also been assoc iated with underreporting and typical manifestations for certain disorders maybe absent (The Merck Manual, n.d.). Elderly patients often have several different problems with their health hence it is difficult to analyze the system that is affected and whether or not the pathology is a result of malfunctioning of other organs. Concomitant disorders can affect the results obtained from the diagnostic test and may show pathological signs from another system, which can be mistaken for another disease (Shamburek & Farrar, 1990). Therapeutic response by elderly patients is usually very slow as organism is undergoing physiological degradation. Drugs which are administered to elderly patients should present minimal adverse effects to other organs such as the liver as the damage from these drugs may be more severe (The Merck Manual,