Strategic Thinking and Leadership

Abstract Based on the crucial trait of innovation that a leader is expected to have, scholars with a vast and rich background in leadership have formulated various theories that go hand in hand with exemplary or rather strategic leadership. Strategic thinking is one of them. In a tactical thinking, various strategies have been developed and implemented.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Thinking and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper clearly reveals various theories on how a strategy is developed and implemented. The paper also subdivides the key theories of strategy development into two major groups: the classical and learning strategy theories. The classical theories include the design school of thought by Selznick, Learned and Chandler, and the position school by Porter. A strategy is a plan to conquer. Innovation is the creative ability to build up new ideas. Change involves develo ping fresh ideas that re-energise an organisation. Since all these aspects must be availed when implementing any strategy, the paper goes a step further to illustrate how the three link within the context of strategy development, implementation, and leadership. For instance, the leadership of an organisation ought to learn from its mistakes, change its past misleading plans, and ensure that it continually comes up with new ideas that translate to meeting the formulated deliverables of the organisation. The ability of a leader to develop strategies, implement them, learn them, and understand what need to be changed for the betterment of the organisation is key to innovation and strategic leadership. Therefore, the paper also reveals how strategic leadership develops and implements change in the organisation. It provides an insight on critical analysis of the classical strategic processes in a selected organisation, Harvard School of Economics for this case. This example is used to vi vidly demonstrate how the three schools of thought are imperative in strategic leadership and change. For this school to develop and implement its strategy, design, planning, and positioning were paramount. The paper details how innovative leadership is able to carry out strategy development and implementation. It further reveals how strategic leadership and innovation are crucial in a change process besides demonstrating how classical theory is more people-oriented. It also indicates how human resources are engaged in designing, planning, and positioning for the success of change processes in organisations. Finally, the paper goes further to provide a detailed recommendation on the need to improve strategic processes within an organisation through careful selection of the business, innovative leadership, strategic task identification and structuring, defining the long-term and short term organisational goals, development of talents and skills, and selective investment.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Introduction Every organisation, country, institution, or even individual embraces leadership. The field of leadership is so crucial and one that determines the destiny of all these bodies. As such, poor leadership translates to poor performance and vice versa. For any organisation that wishes to achieve its set goals and objectives, it has to be aware of the implication of strategy development and implementation. The available scholarly literature of key theories of developing and implementing strategy clearly portray the interrelationship between strategy, innovation, and change. A strategy is developed in the pursuit of answering the question how a leader will overcome the period ahead. Innovation enables an organisation to develop unique and new ideas. Change in an organisation is mainly linked with creativity, which is the ability to come up with new ideas. According to Mumford (2003), creativity involves the production of new, unique, and useful products. Strategic leadership must therefore understand the need for creativity, innovation, and continuous change in an organisation. Theories on Strategy Development and Implementation There are various theories that have been advanced on strategy development and implementation. The theories aim at enabling leaders to become winning managers in organisations. They can be classified into two major groups: the classical and learning strategy theories. The classical theories range from the design school of thought by Selznick, Learned, and Chandler to the planning school of thought by Ansoff, and the position school by Porter. In the classical strategy theory, the choice of industry determines the profit that a firm gains and its market ability. Basic Design School Model Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Thinking and Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Source: (Mintzberg et al. 2003) In classical theories, a strategy is developed by carrying out a need analysis of the organisation. For example, leadership may realise that there is a need to increase the profit margin, gain a larger market share, improve the level of customer satisfaction, or even complete its projects. In fact, Beer and Eisenstat (2000) affirm that many organisations only succeed in drafting good strategic plans though they lack the ability to implement them. In the classical schools of thought, leaders are not guided by the past. They do what is right now. The major guidelines are how to plan, how to position, and how to design. The learning strategy theorists completely counter the classical theories. Proponents of this theory pose it that learning drives strategy. The strategy development team members should learn from their mistakes, change past plans, and ensure that they continually solve problems. Sou rce: (Johnson et al. 2011) According to Grant (2008), the ability of the strategy development and implementation team to learn and to understand what they learn is paramount in strategic management. Learning theorists also expound on organisational learning. In strategic leadership, leaders have to continually acquire new ideas, become more creative, and manage change.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This strategy makes organisations experience growth and development.In addition, de Witt (2005) argues that learning theories also provide insights on how companies create knowledge through strategic thinking. Strategy developers and implementers who apply these theories have to understand the purpose of knowledge development in the organisation. Strategic leadership therefore evaluates the levels of profit, the percentage of market share, the levels of customer satisfaction and approval, and the past mistakes in project developments. Leadership therefore learns from it past mistakes. This is how a strategy is developed in learning theories. The process of strategy implementation is similar in both classical and learning theories. The process involves analysis of an organisation’s operation context, selecting the strategic choices available, and assessing and choosing the best alternatives. According to Capon (2008), resources are always scarce for organisations. Therefore, s trategic management teams should ensure competitive resource management. There exist a relationship between strategy, innovation, and change. A strategy is a plan that an organisation comes up with in order to conquer in its business venture. This plan is paramount to the achievement of organisational goals. Innovation is the ability of organisation leadership to come up with unique ideas that steer it towards achieving better results. Change is the new ideas and results that an organisation targets. All these are aimed at making the organisation more competitive. When an organisation leadership comes up with a plan to conquer its venture, it must therefore develop unique ways of doing things. The new ideas result in transformations. The three forces are interrelated as shown: A critical analysis of selected strategic process A critical analysis of selected strategic process in an organisation sheds more light on strategic thinking and strategic leadership. This paper takes the exa mple of the Harvard School of Economics. For this school to develop and implement its strategies, design, planning, and positioning were paramount. The organisation adopted the classical strategy theories. After carrying out its needs analysis, the organisation realised the need for increasing its profits in a bid to improve its market share. According to Pearce and Robinson (2011), the process of strategic management must begin with needs analysis. This forms the foundation of the evaluation process. After adopting the classical theories of strategy development and implementation, the leadership of the Harvard School of economics followed a three-stage process. This process involved context analysis, strategic variables identification, and best option selection. In contextual analysis, strategic leadership of the Harvard school of economics ensured that it understood itself and the condition of its environment. The leadership examined the available resources, the abilities, the lia bilities, and weaknesses of the organisation to enable it to major on perfecting its strength in attracting business students from all over the world. The weakness of the organisation to integrate business courses with science courses was also resolved by silently scrapping science courses that had a low market share. After a clear evaluation of the environment, the leadership realised that the world is tended towards business. In fact, Johnson et al. (2011) confirm that strategic management makes organisations flexible and dynamic. This meant that there was a need to intensify the quality of economics graduates from this school. Leadership also came up with plans to win over the customers by ensuring that they were satisfied. Analysis of stakeholders of the institution also enabled it to reveal their needs to satisfy them better. Today, this strategy has greatly improved the market segment of the Harvard School. The other analysis that leadership in the Harvard School carried out i s on its competitors. The leadership analysed how the graduates of this school compared with other graduates in the job market. This strategy indicated that graduates of this school were more competitive relative to business graduates from other schools. The leadership department therefore devised a design that ensured that its competitors would not reach its standards. According to Capon (2008), organisations must formulate strategies that are within the ability of their resource base. Since this organisation had successfully trained competitive business graduates, it was easier to intensify the same venture using sophisticated software in teaching. The next step in the implementation was the identification of strategic options that existed as a way of creating competitive advantage. According to Mintzberg (1998, 2003), strategic processes offer competitive advantages to organisations. Strategic leadership and thinking at this level utilised the brainstorming strategy, which enable d it to come up with a variety of profitable projects. In addition, this strategy also enabled the Harvard School to identify its threats and opportunities. The greatest threat to the success of this institution was the declining market share, which was eliminated through rigorous advertising across all media platforms. The third step involved the evaluation and selection of strategic choices, which involved a detailed assessment of strategies that was followed by selection of the best. From a variety of proposed projects, each of them was evaluated in the context. The financial factors like break-even points and cost analysis were considered. The strategies that were within the financial ability of the Harvard School of Economics were adopted. They included cost effective marketing, advertising, and quality control. After the evaluation, the best strategic option was chosen. The only strategic options that were considered were those that were in tandem with the vision, values, and objectives of the Harvard School of Economics. These strategies were implemented for the success of the school as it is today. It was through strategic planning, design, and positioning that this organisation became very competitive. Assessment of the engagement of people in this strategy An assessment of the level in which people within the Harvard School of Economics are engaged in the strategy affirms the viability of it. The classical theory is more people-oriented since it uses people as a resource. According to Pearce and Robinson (2011), human resources are engaged in designing, planning, and positioning. The affirmation of the level of engagement of the people in the implementation of this strategy can be realised through evaluation (Schumpeter 1942). The three-step strategy implementation process involves human resources at various stages. First, the whole process of strategy implementation in Harvard School of Economics was people-centred. The process was geared towards be tter profits and more market share. Both of these objectives have people at heart. Secondly, the process of contextual analysis and environmental assessment involved people specifically the strategic leaders of the school who began by understanding the entire people in the organisation. If the leadership did not clearly understand the people in this organisation, the implementation of the strategy would not have succeeded. Every leader including management and supervisors was involved in the evaluation of the environment. Thirdly, the actual implementation of the strategy involved all the ‘publics’ of the organisation including employees, stakeholders, students, the media, government, customers, and even financial institutions. The competitors were evaluated followed by a thorough analysis of their competitive ability to ensure that the competitors who mainly included other universities and institutions of higher learning did not outdo the Harvard School. Customers were also analysed followed by the laying down of strategies of retaining them to ensure that no customer felt unsatisfied or moved to another institution. To maintain this level of customer approval, employees and the leadership team had to be more innovative in relation to their competitors as confirmed by Davila et al. (2006) who say that companies cannot develop via cost cutback and reengineering only without innovation as the main building block in realising forceful development. The institution leaders also gained from this innovation. With innovation supervision, monitoring and evaluation became simpler. For example, in the process of innovation, the organisation came up with a new way of allocating duties, appraising employees, students, and even rewarding their performance. A good example was the application of central monitoring computers by supervisors in the Information Technology department of the Harvard School. From his office, the supervisor is now able to monitor what e very employee is doing in real time thus enabling leaders to save time and energy besides making their work more efficient. The second phase of strategy implementation involved people as well. The process involved brainstorming where various stakeholders including employees and management gave their opinions. A variety of projects came up with the most feasible ones being adopted thus affirming the high level of people involvement that this strategy adopts. At this step also, the human resource of the Harvard School was used to solve the existing problems to ensure that all stakeholders were at ease with their responsibilities. In addition, it also ensured that everyone in that organisation discharged his or her duties efficiently and effectively. People were also used in the implementation of the third face of this strategy. Major decision makers in the organisation were used to look into the available options. From the suggestion of many stakeholders, the management chose to adopt some projects that were feasible. Because of the number of employees, the organisation had to choose from a variety of many projects. Pearce and Robinson (2011) affirm that all strategies require people to implement. People were also involved in decision-making. At this step, they came up with the best strategic designs and plan for implementation. The human resources in the Harvard School of Economics were used to draft an implementation procedure besides being involved also in design, planning, and positioning. Recommendation on how strategic processes can be improved From the strategic processes analysed in this paper, it suffices to offer some recommendations pertaining to the area that need improvement as far as strategy development and implementation are concerned. Firstly, the strategic leadership should carefully carryout the selection of business. It should embrace innovative leadership, strategic task identification and structuring, be creative, define the long-term and s hort-term organisational goals, develop talents and skills, and encourage selective investment. When selecting a business venture, a careful situational analysis needs to be carried out. According to Grant (2008), strategic leadership should guide the organisation on the feasibility of every business venture that interests it. Organisations should not just invest their resources in any business undertaking. The possibility of attaining high levels of customer satisfaction, good profit margins, better relationship with suppliers and financial markets, and even employee satisfaction should be prioritised. A strategic analysis of the environment should be done way before the investment. It should be noted that every organisation has an inner and outer environment and that both environments should be evaluated. Another recommendation is that the leadership of every organisation should be innovative. Grant (2008) says that leadership should also be the major inventor in an organisation. While innovation is the introduction of new ideas, persons, products, and business functions, an invention is an inimitable or new device, process, composition, method, or finding that has been realised. An invention can also be an enhancement upon a machine, a product, or even an alternate method of realising a process. Innovation enables an organisation to develop unique and new ideas. When leadership is innovative enough the organisation is able to stand out from its competitors. According to Grant (2008), apart from processes, products, and systems, opening of new markets and development of new sources of supply of raw materials are also parts of the innovation. Strategic leadership should steer the organisation from redundancy to excellence through innovation. This strategy raises the competitive ability of the organisation. Another recommendation on strategic processes is that the leadership should be creative enough to initiate change. According to Mumford (2003), creativity involves the production of fresh and constructive products. A creative leader must possess a certain skill or idea that he or she can use, or that can be used by others to develop new things. Such a leader will come up with something completely new, for example, a product, explanation, a piece of work, or even a valuable device. In addition, organisations must clearly define both short-term and long-term goals to enable them keep on benchmarking besides acting as plans to guide it towards its specific objective. Goals are road maps for successful organisations. Finally, organisations should allow development of skills and talents. Organisations are always hunting new technologies, ideas, human resource, and even policies that can win over news customers and even maintain the existing ones. The need to increase the quality of ideas, products and devices, to save time, and or reduce production cost is generated from the traditional problem solving methods. Conclusion In conclusion, st rategic thinking and leadership continues to be the key drivers of success in organisations. Various schools of thought have been advanced towards this end. These theories are grouped into learning theories and classical theories. In strategy development, there is a close relationship between innovation, change, and the strategy itself. In the implementation of strategies, leadership has to engage people in the organisation for its success. Competition among institutions, individuals, and functions increases on a daily basis. The need to outdo competitors and or have products that are more appealing will result in the need for strategic innovation, change, and development of an organisation such as the Harvard School of Economics discussed above. In this light, every organisation should identify and nurture talents. Various methods can be adopted to improve strategic processes in organisations as recommended in the paper. References Beer, M Eisenstat, R 2000, ‘The Silent Kill ers of Strategy Implementation and Learning’, Sloan Management Review, vol. 41 no. 4, pp. 29-40. Capon, C 2008, Understanding Strategic Management, Pearson Education, Harlow. Davila, T et al. 2006, Making Innovation Work: to Manage is, measure it, and profit from it. Upper Saddle River: Wharton Scholl Publishing. de Witt, B Meyer, R 2005, Strategy Synthesis: Resolving Paradoxes to Create Competitive Advantage, Thompson Learning, London. Grant, R 2008, Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Blackwell, Malden, MA. Johnson, G et al. 2011, The Practice of Strategy from Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases, Pearson Education Ltd: Harlow. Mintzberg, H et al. 1998, Strategy ‘And over here, Ladies and Gentlemen, the strategic management beast, Prentice Hall, Safari FT. Mintzberg, H et al. 2003, The Strategy Process: Strategy Formation, Prentice Hall, Safari FT. Mumford, M 2003, ‘Where have we been, where are we going? Taking stock in creativity’, Creativity Research Journa l, vol. 1 no. 15, pp. 107–120. Pearce, J Robinson, R 2011, Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation and Control, Organisational Structure, McGraw Hill, Boston. Schumpeter, J 1942, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Harper Row, New York. This essay on Strategic Thinking and Leadership was written and submitted by user PuppetMaster to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Examples of Linguistic Conversion or Zero Derivation

Examples of Linguistic Conversion or Zero Derivation In English grammar, conversion is a word-formation process that assigns an existing word to a different word class (part of speech) or syntactic category. This process is also known as a functional shift or zero derivation. The rhetorical term for grammatical conversion is anthimeria. Examples ofLinguistic Conversion Lets not Rumsfeld Afghanistan.(Senator Lindsey Graham, quoted in Time magazine, Aug. 24, 2009)Boyes spent the night with Mr. Vaughan, and they breakfasted together in the usual way upon bacon and eggs, toast, marmalade and coffee.(Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, 1928)One writer who went on a tour of New Yorks Harlem district was shown the place where Adam C. Powell was funeralised. Another letter detailed an American friends eagerness to see the Prince of Wales coronated. On a flight to Boston, flight attendants promised passengers they would soon beverage, but later, because of adverse weather conditions, they said they were unable to complete beverisation. Asked about this trend, one American quipped: Any noun can be verbed.(Kevin Courtney, Con Text Verbing. The Irish Times, March 18, 2008) The Strategy of Conversion Consider sentences such as:- Henry downed a pint of beer.- Melissa went to town and did a buy.English, we note, lacks a simple means of saying to do something in one fell swoop. This may be why the word down can be converted into a verb to mean drink down in one gulp, and the word buy into a noun which, when combined with the verb do, means go on a single massive shopping spree. This type of fast-moving, thorough activity may represent a change in the pace of life, which is in turn reflected in the language since we increasingly make use of conversionsthe conversion of one part of speech into another.(Jean Aitchison, Language Change: Progress or Decay? Cambridge University Press, 1991) Shakespeare's Conversions Shakespeare was the conversion expert. I eared her language. He words me. Some of his conversions seem really daring. Even the name of a person can become a verb. Petruchio is Kated. But all he was doing was tapping into a natural everyday usage that is still with us.(David Crystal, The Story of English in 100 Words. St. Martins Press, 2012) Which Came First? Almost all the examples [of zero conversion] are of shifts between noun, verb, and adjective. In some instances the direction of the shift is clear. We have had the noun text for a long time, but it has come to be used as a verb only recently with reference to sending messages full of abbreviations via mobile/cell phone. In other instances, we might hesitate to say which part of speech came first, as with plot, for instance. Was it a noun first or was it a verb first?(Barry J. Blake, All About Language. Oxford University Press, 2008) Conversion and Meaning Meaning is crucial to the system of word-classes, [...] as it is to the recognition of instances of conversion. Even if it were not for the homophonous noun plane carpenters tool, we would not wish to relate to plane smooth a piece of wood and a plane aircraft by conversion, because their meanings are not sufficiently close. What is a sufficiently close meaning (and how it can be defined) remains an open question. A slightly dubious example is to bank turn an aircraft and a bank side of a hill which, despite their etymological relatedness, may no longer be close enough semantically for us to wish to say that the same relationship holds between them as between to bridge and a bridge. Somehow, then, we need to operationalise the notion of related in meaning to a sufficient degree to allow us to recognise potential instances of conversion.(Laurie Bauer and Salvador Valera, Conversion or Zero-Derivation: An Introduction. Approaches to Conversion/Zero-Derivation, ed. by L. Bauer and S. Va lera. Waxmann, 2005) Pronunciation: kon-VER-zhun (a/k/a functional shift, role shifting, zero derivation, category shift)

19 Famous Quotes for Inspirational Marriage Wishes

19 Famous Quotes for Inspirational Marriage Wishes The vows and rings are exchanged, and the new couple makes their newlywed walk back up the aisle. If you look carefully at their faces, you may see joy mixed with apprehension. What wedding wishes and wisdom can you offer them? Its too late now to warn them away from the marital institution. Its time for wishing them well. Here are famous quotes on love and marriage that you can use to wish them a new life of togetherness and happiness: Anne Bradstreet If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee. Nathaniel Hawthorne What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. John Lennon To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. Martin Luther There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage. Rumi Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along. Sam Keen You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Joseph Campbell When you make a sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship. Sophocles One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love. George Sand There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. Lao Tzu Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Amy Bloom Marriage is not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together, and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and choice of partner. Mahatma Gandhi Where there is love there is life. Vita Sackville-West There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years, from the small acorn of passion into a great rooted tree. Victor Hugo The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved. Leo Tolstoy What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. Mignon McLaughlin A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. George Eliot What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life- to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting? Montaigne If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love. W.H. Auden Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.

American Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Government - Essay Example An objective that was clearly lived up to as far as the cultural will of the people is concerned; in the way America has more races of people that reside in the country than any other nation in the world. It is through the constitution that every culture and religion on earth has found a place in America and then had the ability to flourish; with individuals from various backgrounds and religions and cultures finding a place for themselves in the American way of life and hence the formulation of an American identity. Today however we look at the numerous ways in which the American Government falls short as far as reflecting the will of the American people globally and socially is concerned. If we look closely in the past decade there has been wide spread public cynicism as far as established political institutions and the government is concerned. With the most frequently occurring theme in the American political system being pointed out by critics being the obvious dismay of the Amer ican citizen as far as the government’s inability to perform is concerned. ... One might wonder what causes all this discontent as far as the social needs of the people are concerned. A key push that has driven the public to formulate the negative opinion as far as their effectiveness to represent the people is concerned is that of the new health care bill which excludes certain state members from paying the same taxes as the other states. If equality is a social obligation which the government stands to promote the health care bill clearly does not authenticate that line of thought (Mcdonald, 1999). Unemployment, according to the Fortune is right now the No.1 issue in America, with the unavailability of jobs being a key concern along with employer’s inability to find workers they want. Even then the government fails to address this issue when presenting their jobs agenda to the nation. This was seen as a key missing element in the American Jobs Act. A shocking perspective of this situation roots from three key reasons due to which the Defense Department has found about 75% of American citizens between the ages of 17 and 24 who are not qualified even to serve in armed forces being; inadequate education, criminality and physical unfitness. Three shocking aspects that further signify the failure of the American government to come up with effective education reforms, social controls and providing adequate health facilities. A society in which the basic needs of each individual are not lived up to leads to social deterioration and unrest of the community as a whole. The Pentagon highlights the fact that there are 26 million young adults who are incompetent, unhealthy and undereducated individuals to be able to live up to professional and technologically advanced requirements (Colvin, 2011). How then can the government live up to its ‘We

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing - Case Study Example This should be made possible by ensuring that the prices offered by all the dealers are equal through auditing process (Kourdi, 2009). The company needs to make a thorough auditing of all the dealers to ensure that none of them sells the product either above or below the recommended company price of $12, 000. Customers must be made to understand that they can only get good after-sale support services from the local dealers and not the distant dealers. The dealers may be connected to a digital sale receipt program that allows them to enter sales records and prices offered on the product. The same information should be reflected on the receipt given to the customer (Frasco, 1991). The company’s technical team must also follow up with the program to ensure that fabrication of data is made impossible. Steve Marsh can adopt rebranding of the PSX-360 product. The rebranding of the commodity entails a number of aspects. As it can be revealed that the external dealers are the main cau se of deteriorating sales to Steve’s organization. The audio industry in which Pro-Audio operates seems to be taking the structure of a monopolistic competition where there are several numbers of sellers who are competing on same commodity or service. In this case, there are both first and second movers in quantity and price. All dealers have been identified to enjoy benefits of second movers (Gopalakrishnan, 2007). They have adopted high discounting techniques that have led to deteriorating sales in Pro-Audio. Consequently, the external dealers have led to the deterioration of the PSX-360 image within the market. Product rebranding entails changing on the products attributes such as color, name, adding aspects of the PSX-360 functionality, logo, advertisement themes and strategy that its marketers use in selling the product (Gopalakrishnan, 2007).  

The Racial Wealth Gap Between Blacks And Whites

The Racial Wealth Gap Between Blacks And Whites Slavery and segregation played a major role in the amount of racism and inequalities in America. During slavery times, Whites had the power to purchase Blacks and land. If the Blacks were fortunate enough to be able to accumulate the money, they were able to purchase their and their families freedom. (Oliver and Shapiro 278, 1995) However, this seldom occurred due to the fact that it was very hard for Blacks to gain any money while in slavery. During the Jim Crow segregation in the south, there were laws prohibiting Blacks from operating businesses on an open market, meaning that they were not allowed to sell their products to Whites. (Bobo and Smith 187, 1998) They were at a disadvantage because they could not make the profit that they deserved simply due to their skin color. After the segregation, Whites were still not willing to help out and purchase from Black businesses. Because of this, Blacks were forced to focus mainly on selling to the Black community. Since the Blacks were very limited on what they could sell, this caused them to be more like a consumer than an owner. Since past generations of Blacks had to endure this racism and inequality, their poverty has been passed down from generation to generation; families have been unable to or struggling to get out of the debt of their ancestors. Each disadvantage that the Black community as a whole has had to endure has accumulated over time creating the sedimentation of inequality. Whites have gained more advantages over time simply resulting from the disadvantages that the Blacks have gone through. The restriction of access to schools, jobs, healthcare, and public services are products of segregation. The freedom of choice restricted from the Blacks has been legally sound while progressing through the centuries but has always been immoral. In 1988, only 50% of White Americans favored a law prohibiting racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals. (Farley and Squires 221, 2005) Housing policies, programs, and practices have played a large role in the gap of wealth between Blacks and Whites. In 1939, the FHA manual prohibited granting loans to families due to race. (Fischer 140, 1996) This meant that they didnt want to disrupt the racial integrity of a neighborhood. They wanted neighborhoods to be occupied by the same racial and social classes to retain stability. During the 1940s, the FHA recommended that developers use covenants that were racially restrictive to protect from people of color. (Fischer 140, 1996) Because of this, Blacks and other people of color could not b uy homes in most of the neighborhoods that Whites lived in; the middle class communities. In the 1940s, the government began helping families buy homes by backing the loans. In order to get a loan, the house had to be in a neighborhood that was in the top two of four categories. The assessors used a red pen to circle the neighborhoods that fell into the bottom two categories. This was called redlining, and the neighborhoods that fell into these bottom categories were primarily Black neighborhoods. These neighborhoods were ineligible for the loans which caused racial segregation throughout cities. Also, Blacks could not buy homes in the most affordable neighborhoods. Public housing projects were built in the redlined communities. The 1949 Housing Act was a renewal program that was aimed to get rid of the inner city ghettoes, and to remove many people from their homes by condemning them, forcing them into public housing. The majority affected by this were Blacks. The Whites then began to leave cities and move to the suburbs, bringing the middle-class jobs with them. Racially restrictive covenants were ruled illegal in 1948, yet they were not enforced by the FHA until 1950. (Fischer 141, 1998) This meant that communities were able to segregate based on color without issue. Once racial segregation was made illegal within neighborhoods, White Flight became an issue. White flight was when White families would leave neighborhoods when a person of color would move in because they thought that they would lower the property value and the overall value of the neighborhood. Although this was legal, the morals behind it were cruel and unethical causing racism to spread more and causing the gap to widen. The media and the overall sense of racism within communities played a large role in the gap of wealth and social standing between Whites and people of color. The media has often portrayed Blacks as lazy and not wanting work. Also, in many cases the media has portrayed Black women as welfare reliant, wanting to have babies to receive welfare checks. This was because of AFDC, a welfare program that seemed to give incentive to women to have children so that they could gain more welfare benefits. (Week 5 6 PowerPoint, slide 54) AFDC also was only available to single parents which caused the split of many Black families because of their need for money. However, the fact that Black women were believed to take advantage of this was a racial stigma spread by the media. This has caused the people and viewers to grow to learn these racist and biased opinions. Although the act of being racist can be the belief that one race is superior to another, it can also be colorblind. This means that ther e is a direct avoidance and acknowledgement of race. If one is a Colorblind Racist, they neglect that there have been and still are inequalities that need attention. (Silva 132, 2001) Nowadays, people may believe that they are not being racist if they completely rule out the fact that there is race, which causes them to not pay attention to the fact that there are racial inequalities. Presently, there are still many racial inequalities contributing the gap in wealth between Whites (and in some occasions Asians) and people of color. These issues still need to be addressed in order to lessen the gap. Another type of racism that is contributing to the neglect is Laissez Faire racism where excuses are made to try to justify why the injustices are still present. The structures of investment opportunity the racialization of the state attribute to the tremendous inequality in wealth between Whites and people of color. Structural racism is embedded in social structures such as laws and poli cies. New Deal legislation such as Social Security systematically excluded Blacks in the earlier years. As welfare recipients became viewed as primarily Black and undeserving, welfare benefits became political targets and antipoverty programs were cut. TANF was a state-funded welfare program that gave the state control of who is eligible to receive welfare. This enabled the state to be racially selective and caused families to deplete all resources to gain aid. The gap of wealth between Blacks and Whites has been prevalent for centuries. The past events and laws have contributed to the current racial inequalities. Slavery and segregation, housing sales and restrictions, and state-funded welfare all add to the current state of discriminations and imbalances of race in our communities. If these issues were assessed more accurately and unbiased, we could potentially close the gap between Blacks and Whites and finally have an equal society.

Grevious Grendel (Beowulf)

Beware of Grievous Grendel! We have all heard of the great epic poem Beowulf; one of the first major works in English literature. Grendel is a monster in this epic poem, in which he terrorizes people. He is a huge, powerful descendant of the biblical Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. In the same way as Cane, Grendel was cursed and condemned by the mighty Creator. Grendel is envious, resentful and angry toward mankind. He may attack at any time, for no reason at all and there is no way to reach an agreement with him to make him stop what he is doing. He exists to devastate and to murder human beings.Grendel may be a part of fiction in this poem, but he also exists in real life. In modern life we can find the character of Grendel in natural disasters and human beings. A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where peop le came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years: Then, under cover of night, Grendel came o Hrothgar’s lofty hall to see how the Ring-Danes were disposed after drinking ale all evening; and he found there a band of brave warriors, well-feasted, fast asleep, dead to worldly sorrow, man’s sad destiny. At once that hellish monster, grim and greedy, brutally cruel, started forward and seized thirty thanes even as they slept; and then, gloating over his plunder, he hurried from the hall, made for his lair with all those slain warriors. Grendel turns up out of nowhere, kills, murders people, and then disappears. In modern life we deal with natural disasters in a similar way.There are earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and floods, which cause loss of life and property damage. A natural disaster comes without giving any notice, shatters homes, takes lives and leaves a population helpless with the ruins of its attack. People in modern civilization experience the same feelings as Hrothgar’s people, who were attacked for years and years; living in fear of horror, never knowing when to expect disaster to strike. Besides natural disasters, human beings can be Grendels themselves. Before going further into this topic, I would like to mention Freud’s Ego theory.According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child needs to be changed, the id cries; when the child is hungry, the id cries again. The id does not care about reality, or about the needs of anyone else; when the id wa nts something, nothing else is important.Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that people have needs and desires and that something being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It is the ego’s job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. Around the age of five the Superego develops.The superego is the moral part of us, which can sort right from wrong, and develops due to the moral and ethical discipline taught by our parents. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. If the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person’s life. If the sup erego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgemental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world.So when the ego is incapable of maintaining control of the id and superego, some kind of abnormality arises; here we meet the terrorists and murderers in modern life who we can compare to Beowulf’s Grendel. We never know when they will show themselves and their cruel intentions. But when they do appear in our lives, we suffer pain, become afraid and sad because of their actions. We know they are there and can’t stop them from doing harm to people. As a conclusion we can say Grendel is not fiction and he is not in the past.Grendel is still among us, keeping us afraid of what might come to harm us or our loved ones. When the next natural disaster will arise is a surprise and we’ll never know when an unhealthy person or group will decide to attack us. So be aware of grievous Grendel and be ready to suffer, because you mi ght be next in line! Leyla Doner Dugdu – 285533 – evening References: http://psychology. about. com/od/eindex/g/def_egostrength. htm http://www. betterlivingthroughbeowulf. com/? p=328 Beowulf, translation by Crossley-Holland, K. Grevious Grendel (Beowulf) Beware of Grievous Grendel! We have all heard of the great epic poem Beowulf; one of the first major works in English literature. Grendel is a monster in this epic poem, in which he terrorizes people. He is a huge, powerful descendant of the biblical Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. In the same way as Cane, Grendel was cursed and condemned by the mighty Creator. Grendel is envious, resentful and angry toward mankind. He may attack at any time, for no reason at all and there is no way to reach an agreement with him to make him stop what he is doing. He exists to devastate and to murder human beings.Grendel may be a part of fiction in this poem, but he also exists in real life. In modern life we can find the character of Grendel in natural disasters and human beings. A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where peop le came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years: Then, under cover of night, Grendel came o Hrothgar’s lofty hall to see how the Ring-Danes were disposed after drinking ale all evening; and he found there a band of brave warriors, well-feasted, fast asleep, dead to worldly sorrow, man’s sad destiny. At once that hellish monster, grim and greedy, brutally cruel, started forward and seized thirty thanes even as they slept; and then, gloating over his plunder, he hurried from the hall, made for his lair with all those slain warriors. Grendel turns up out of nowhere, kills, murders people, and then disappears. In modern life we deal with natural disasters in a similar way.There are earthquakes, tornados, volcanic eruptions and floods, which cause loss of life and property damage. A natural disaster comes without giving any notice, shatters homes, takes lives and leaves a population helpless with the ruins of its attack. People in modern civilization experience the same feelings as Hrothgar’s people, who were attacked for years and years; living in fear of horror, never knowing when to expect disaster to strike. Besides natural disasters, human beings can be Grendels themselves. Before going further into this topic, I would like to mention Freud’s Ego theory.According to Freud, we are born with our Id. The id is an important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the situation. When a child needs to be changed, the id cries; when the child is hungry, the id cries again. The id does not care about reality, or about the needs of anyone else; when the id wa nts something, nothing else is important.Within the next three years, as the child interacts more and more with the world, the second part of the personality begins to develop. Freud called this part the Ego. The ego is based on the reality principle. The ego understands that people have needs and desires and that something being impulsive or selfish can hurt us in the long run. It is the ego’s job to meet the needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. Around the age of five the Superego develops.The superego is the moral part of us, which can sort right from wrong, and develops due to the moral and ethical discipline taught by our parents. In a healthy person, according to Freud, the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id, not upset the superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation. If the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take over the person’s life. If the sup erego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals, would be judgemental and unbending in his or her interactions with the world.So when the ego is incapable of maintaining control of the id and superego, some kind of abnormality arises; here we meet the terrorists and murderers in modern life who we can compare to Beowulf’s Grendel. We never know when they will show themselves and their cruel intentions. But when they do appear in our lives, we suffer pain, become afraid and sad because of their actions. We know they are there and can’t stop them from doing harm to people. As a conclusion we can say Grendel is not fiction and he is not in the past.Grendel is still among us, keeping us afraid of what might come to harm us or our loved ones. When the next natural disaster will arise is a surprise and we’ll never know when an unhealthy person or group will decide to attack us. So be aware of grievous Grendel and be ready to suffer, because you mi ght be next in line! Leyla Doner Dugdu – 285533 – evening References: http://psychology. about. com/od/eindex/g/def_egostrength. htm http://www. betterlivingthroughbeowulf. com/? p=328 Beowulf, translation by Crossley-Holland, K.