T-Mobile Corporation Essay Example for Free

T-Mobile Corporation Essay T- Mobile is the German mobile network operator whereas â€Å"T† stands for Telecom and Team and is world’s sixth largest mobile phone service provider. It provides range of services to customer in form of voicemail, messaging and email to WAP and mobile office solutions. Despite its success, it is related to several major problems and issues, and most of them are related to network problems. Problems and issues related to T-Mobile: The major complaint of the user is that they are facing the problem of dropped calls. T-Mobile is aware of this problem and is not responding in proper way towards the problem. They are even unable to solve the problem in spite of knowing the fact that customers are facing problem. The customer representative does not want to note the complaint even when he is aware that company is doing mistake. In addition, it has shortest average tenure as compared to other service provider. The option to switch to other brands in front of consumers has increased manifolds in the recent years, which is the greatest problem. T-Mobile received highest rank from their subscribers in customer service but in recent years, it is providing weak customer service. In a very famous incident or case of Paris Hilton, it was found high tech wireless T-Mobile was taken over by the hackers; this denotes that T-mobile lacks in the field of providing security and authenticity to the customer. Solutions related to the problem faced by T-Mobile: As we know that T-Mobile is one of the leading mobile telecommunications companies and covers the fastest growth, therefore, some amendments are required in its system to get back its reputation. †¢ At first, T-Mobile needs to hire large number of call centre staffs who prepare the company to face recruitment challenges. Earlier, corporate Intranet and agencies were used for internal recruitment and external hires respectively. Therefore, reduction in recruitment expense was required. To solve this problem, company should incorporate alternatives such as Microsoft access database or paper filing system for the management of entire recruitment process. †¢ It also needs to lower the cost and to provide constantly best service than other service provider to occupy large part of market share. †¢ To expose the leading-edge image of the recruitment process, improvements are required in an on-line application process, not only to support corporate identity, but also to provide applicants with more information and a clear course of action. †¢ One of the greatest challenges faced by applicants was the understanding of recruitment process- especially tracking. This process was very complex and slow, as it required series of functions to be performed by different departments; this required large amount of administration and management time. This problem can be overcome by adopting Peopleclick’s web-based recruitment management solution because it follows centralized and standardized process to help reduce cost. In addition, peopleclick (global Total Workforce Acquisition provider) would move strategic shift from agencies to e- Recruitment. It facilitates the company with improved technology, reduced costs and quick and easy access. †¢ To gain customers attention, BPM solutions are required because it helps in establishing a unique insight into people-to-people, people-to-application and application-to-application interactions that constitutes business process. Who is the change going to affect, How will it affect them and How will it affect the company? With the help of above-mentioned solutions, prominent breakthroughs have been observed in several aspects of the company. T-mobile group is fully integrated which made its financial backing and has been renamed to T-mobile Czech Republic. It has provided a portfolio of services to the customers in all countries on a unified basis. The strategy of comprehensive customers care has helped in regaining popularity. This is evident by looking at the record of admitting 400 new clients only in one year. Tangible/Intangible benefits of T-mobile With the introduction of several amendments , T-Mobile kept its position with a market share of 46.2% and over 4 million subscribers at the end of 2004. Gross additions to tangible and intangible assets together with higher investments in subsidiaries and associates (eg, T-Systems Hungary purchased an additional minority stakes in Stonebridge) and partly offset by increased proceeds from real estate sales. Rebranding of Westel to T-Mobile Hungary was a real success. T-Mobile once again, was able to maintain its leading position in a highly competitive market with 46.2% market share. The customer base exceeded 4 million at the end of Q4 2004. The postpaid customer increased to 28.9% of the total customer base as compared to 26.1% at the end of year 2003. With introduction of new packages, a slight increase in usage was seen and the pressure on the employees was drastically reduced. Pros and Cons of T-Mobile: T-Mobile has smallest coverage areas in respect of all national carriers because it more new in comparison to other carriers. It is one of the two U.S carriers that have not launched its Third Generation network. Upgrading of network allow T-Mobile to provide facility to users to download internet content in more effective manner. Many benefits are also provided to the subscriber of T-Mobile by making availability of free phones after rebate and discount price. For eg. The Blackberry Pearl is the thinnest, lightest BlackBerry produced so far. Main features include a digital camera, a built-in music player, Bluetooth. Plus, a more accurate and faster QUERTY keyboard to get things done! Exclusive Pricing! T-Mobile also provides prepaid cell phones called as to Go Phones, which gave an offer of national and regional calling, and they do not require any credit checks or contracts. Conclusion: As we all known T-mobile is one of the leading service provider company to all the subscribers in U.S.A and Europe and its has some special features which makes it easy to stay connected and. It provides number of multiple facilities to its users in form of cameras with video pictures, Bluetooth connectivity, plus EDGE, Wi Fi and extra speed that need to access internet network. T-Mobile is a smart phone with excellent device and very attractive, powerful and effective display. Thus with the implementation of above stated recommendations it may attain much higher level. REFERENCE Referred to sites:- 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile. 2. http://www.gartner.com/teleconferences/attributes/Americas wireless market overview. 3. http://www.peopleclick.com/clients/tmobile.asp/ people click. 4. http://www.the-cell-phone-advisor.com/t-mobile.html/pros and cons of T-Mobile wireless service. Dated on 10th July 2007

Situations and styles of leadership | Free essay | Management essays

Situations and styles of leadership | Free essay | Management essays Introduction Leadership has been the topic of discussion and research in the Organizational Behavior literature. A great collection of different theoretical framework has been developed to make out elements of leadership. Incessant self assessment, learning, guidance, experience and never ending process of self-study develops good leaders in a society. Many companies are facing high turnover, absenteeism, low morale among employees and many other such issues related to the job environment. For all these problems companies need proper effective leadership. The purpose of this paper is to have an in-depth insight on the major research findings of an effective leadership styles and situations and their role in organizational performance by reviewing the research literature. In this review paper organizational performance is being judged by the motivational level of the employees and job satisfaction factor. So this review paper gives a clear insight concerning (the theories of leadership) factors that boost leadership among employees which is then linked with organizational performance. This review paper will help managers to look at the major concerns which lead to great leadership and how to handle challenges and unexpected situations occurring in an organization. Effective leadership can be expressed where leaders influence group members, followers or subordinates in a way that this will help them to achieve common goals. Leadership and its Meaning: As this world is changing so is the definition of leadership. Over the years leadership has been described according to the circumstances. Effective leader is the one who is able to match his level of skills to the maturity of the subordinates. The word has been defined in so many terms that giving a single definition will not be justified. In order to understand the true meaning of leadership one has to study the topic itself thoroughly. Todays world is so complex and fast changing that we cannot just stick to one definition of the leadership. As the competition from the other firms comes in the organization so the ideas, so they broaden the meaning of what leadership is. As described by Thomas B. Allen (1988); the word leadership refers to a process of social influence, in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. A more apt and inclusive definition with regard to followers comes from Robert J. House (1996) who states that lea dership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen. Another definition comes from literature which states that effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals. Kirkpatrick Locke (1991) suggested through their study that effective leader is an individual with the capacity to consistently succeed in a given condition and be recognized as meeting the expectations of an organization or society. The analysis suggests that effective leadership can have positive impact on overall performance. Effective leadership can be described as giving a vision to the team-members and developing the path for the followers to achieve the maximum output. In order to gain high level of organizational performance leaders have to adopt new, innovative and challenging techniques to guide, motivate and manage the subordinates. Leadership is all about performance of the subordinates, groups, and organizations; good leadership promotes valuable group performance which in turn leads to high growth and expansion of a firm. A leaders background, life experiences, and daily communications define his or her leadership style. The difference between a good leader and a great leader is his or her ability to adapt to change. In an organization usually leaders and subordinates work together to understand the behavior of each other and try to manage their behavior to produce more beneficial results, Davis RV Tim Luthans. F (1979). According to Avery, G.C. Jing F.F. (2008) due to the complexity of leadership it is broken into five different perspectives: competency, behavioral, contingency, transformational, and implicit. Leadership is a method by which an individual persuades other people in a group to achieve an objective and leads the organization in a way that makes the team members interconnected and coherent. Bass (1989 1990) explains three types of theories of leadership. According to him there is a trait theory which states that in some people have in born traits which lead them to become a leader. Se cond theory is great event theory which is related to the crisis or important event. It states that sometimes some major events or crisis leave their marks on an individual personality which may bring out leadership qualities in an ordinary person, making him an extraordinary leader. Third is Transformational leadership theory which is most widely accepted theory of recent years. In it people by choice prefer the path of becoming leaders through learning and proper education. Leadership has certain set attributes like values, ethics, belief, knowledge and skill etc., which if followed properly can make an individual a good leader. Robert D. Rossel (1970) in his paper argued that there are two kinds of orientations, instrumental and expressive, attached to the effective leadership in an organization. According to him, leadership orientation depends on the nature of organization. Different organizations require different kind of leadership orientation among supervisors and managers. He further stated, if we take an example of organizations like mental hospitals, prisons etc where the environment is more segregated and isolated, the most successful leadership will be informal and expressive. Whereas formal and instrumental leadership will be required in organizations dealing in production and service side. Author explained the instrumental orientation to leadership as one which is more task oriented, the main focus of such type of leadership in an organization is to motivate team members, to maintain product quality. While, expressive orientation to leadership is all about getting along with the group members and the conduct of perverseness, and inattentiveness in leadership may interfere with the goals of organization. Author stated that the orientation to leadership also vary depending upon the labor commitment required for any particular organization. According to the findings of this paper, this can be affirmed that organizations where there is a high labor commitment demonstrate a very definite instrumental orientation in top management (F-Ratio 2.39, Mean 1.25) and an expressive orientation in lower supervisors (Mean -0.17). In terms of superior performance, effective leadership leads to people who find fulfillment in their jobs, work with enthusiasm passion, and perform quality work, with innovation and creativity. Effective leaders need to be able to endorse ideas and concepts as well as promote ideologies. Another quality seen in efficient leaders is how they can shift their groups attention towards the goals and objectives at hand by providing strategies regarding how to achieve the desired goals. They not only provide the physical resources required for the job such as tools and administrative or technical assistance, but also the psychological ones such as motivation, education and understanding. The most efficient leaders can also adapt to different environments according to the need of the hour and provide their workers with all the support and attention they require in order to successfully fulfill the task at hand. Hogan Kaiser (2005) defined leadership as a process of team building in which every member work well according to the set rules defined by the leader to outperform the competition. They further elaborated regarding the conventional definition of leadership over time, which defined leadership as the person who has the ability to influence others can be a leader but according to the author group performance should be the measure of leadership. They stated that in order to judge and assess the leadership one should look at the team performance. Three implications of this view should be noted. First, leadership involves influencing individuals willingly to contribute to the good of the group. Second, leadership requires coordinating and the guiding group (by adopting the most appropriate way) to achieve its goals. Finally, goals vary by organization and their life cycles. Leadership is the most essential item required for creating a team out of a group of individuals. One of the most im perative qualities of a good leader is that they can make individuals on team a single unit leading to synergy. Effective leaders can convince their team members to concentrate on their role within the team rather than their individual goals. An indicator regarding the success of a leader is the success of his or her followers. The key difference in explaining the long term performances of the firms is mostly attributed to an exceptional leadership. Superior performance is achieved when an organization is generating the maximum level of profitability possible with the help of three key determinants; efficiency, adaptations, and human resources. A business environment is more likely to succeed when it has people with high levels of skills, commitment and mutual trusts. Many times leaders performance is constrained with respect to the nature and size of an organization. Each leader performs within the set limits of an organization, which actually hinder the real outcomes. In other wor ds, the structure and size of a firm basically depicts the extent of leaders performance. Organizational Performance In order to understand the meaning of organizational performance first we have to look at the definition of organization. Aldrich (1979) in his book organizations and environment explained organization in three ways a) goal oriented; b) boundary maintaining, and c) activity system. By goal directed he means that the end objective of all organizations is to earn profit and to maximize the wealth of shares holders. Members of an organization behaves as if they have some defined goal, all of them work to achieve some specified purpose. This means members of an organization are task-oriented do not merely work for social interaction. Goal-directed behavior and deliberate design of activity systems distinguish organizations from other groups, such as families, friendship circles, audiences and mass publics. By boundary maintain he meant that organizations have defined clearly among the members of an organizations and non-members. And all members of an organization work collectively under the supervision of some authority to obtain defined goals. Activity system can be described as a system in an organization where all members are assigned some activities to achieve some predefined goals within boundary of an organization. The major component of effective organization is having a talent management team, which will be headed by a leader. Organizational performance need to be studied in relation to the status of employee satisfaction to assess how good the firm is doing in the market. In order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of an Organization one has to look at the performance of the workers. Employees perform best when they are highly motivated resulting in increased number of customers and high growth rate. Thomas. B. Alan. (1988) entailed through his study that organizational performance is highly variable term. He further argued that organizational performance depends on various kinds of factors such as leaders styles and behavior, leader-subordinate relation, firm size etc. which definitely has a great impact on the performance of a firm. One of the main reason behind this is that assets like leadership behaviors, organization culture, skill and know-how, and motivation are seen as the most important factors of strength in those firms which involve group, procedures and organizational performance, Avery, G.C. Jing F.F. (2008). Therefore, leaders and their leadership style influence both their subordinates and organizational outcomes. Organizational performance increases if the employees are highly motivated and satisfied with team leader and their work. As per Ohio State University research successful leadership has two behavioral dimensions which play very important role, a. Consideration: in this kind of behavior leader of a group is concerned about the team members. This aspect of leadership is linked with leadership traits of kindliness, discussion with subordinates, appreciation and respect of team members and supportiveness, b. Initiating Structure: this type of leaders behavior is more towards work done. They are more concerned about work and task. Leaders who fall into this category of style are much planned, coordinated, and clear about their goals, criticize poor work, and always pressurize subordinates to work more effectively. Leadership Styles Effective leadership involves the study of different styles of leaders. The literature suggests that some types of leadership styles are preferred over others. This is especially true under different working conditions as well as the subordinates relation with the leader. Rotemberg. J.J Saloner. G. (1993) concluded through their study that leadership style of a firm is selected by the stakeholders to maximize the ex ante profits. According to their study the leader of the group (team Manager) exercises his power in different ways. They considered leadership styles as; a) Locus of control, internal locus of control in which leader feels whatever happens is because of their own strategies and actions, external locus of control in which they feel environment is responsible for whatever happening in their lives, b) Flexibility, few leaders are flexible and they are open to new ideas and thoughts, whereas some leaders have been identified as rigid. CEOs whose style is more rigid tend to lead firms with fewer innovations and do not delegate easily. Leadership style includes not only motivating and providing direction to the people but also implementing the plans. The needs of the employees play an important role in identifying the approach that a leader uses. An often overlooked quality within leaders is helpfulness. They not only need to encourage teamwork but also provide all sorts of support required to their team members. Studies also suggest that there is evidence that states considerate leaders tend to perform better. Leaders need to use multiple approaches while dealing with their subordinates, some of which include relationship development, training and professionalism of subordinates and time allotments. The three well known styles of leaderships are authoritative, participative and delegating, James D. Boulgarides William A. Cohen (2001). Authoritative: This is a style where the leader is in complete control and orders his subordinates regarding their duties without any consultation from them. This style is not very popular with the subordinates and is only effective if the leader has complete knowledge regarding the subject as well as definitive plans regarding how to execute the project. This style is looked down upon and should only be practiced on the rarest of occasions when time is of the essence. It can be used within certain limits if the subordinate is unfamiliar with the job in order to guide them more effectively. Participative: This is the suggested style of leadership within organizations as it makes sure all the involved parties are taken into account while making decisions. It is used when the leader knows about the final goal but wants to discuss the different options regarding procedures required to complete the goals. In this style the subordinates are informed of the goal by the leader and then an interactive discussion is carried out regarding how to achieve the stated goals. Even though all the subordinates are taken into consideration the leader remains in firm control and is the one who determines the plan of action based on the input provided by the subordinates. This style is mutually beneficial and ensures an environment of teamwork which leads to better performance. Delegating: This is when the leader leaves the decision up to the subordinates. This style is usually used when the employees are more informed regarding the subject than the leader and can analyze the situation better and come up with a better plan regarding what needs to be done. Even though the employee is the one taking the decision, it is still the leaders responsibility. The leader still has to delegate tasks in this style. This style is only suggested when the leader has complete confidence in the ability of his subordinates. Davis. R.V.Tim Luthans. F. (1979) envisioned a model consisting of four basic styles called the decision style model. These styles included Directive, Analytic, Behavioral and Conceptual. Directive: This is an autocratic style which is usually adopted when the leader has a need for power. Such kind of leadership style is more effective in situations where subordinates are ill informed or ill equipped for the task at hand. The model focuses on technical decisions and leaders do not consult and take very less advice from the subordinates. The leaders who practice this style are very performance oriented and therefore they operate with a lot of control. They tend to be aggressive and tend to achieve their desired results by hook or by crook. They also tend to have very dominating personalities. Analytic: This type of leader is a lot less authoritative than the directive type of leader and has more tolerance for ambiguity. They also tend to have more approachable attitude as they tend to want input from everywhere before reaching a decision. This style is best suited for the ability to cope with new situations which is why this system is an efficient problem solver. These leaders are usually not too hasty with decisions and take their time in evaluating all their options. Conceptual: This style uses data from various sources and analyzes all possible solutions with great details and looks at each and every alternative. It is quite similar to the behavioral style. The relationship between the leader and his team is one of openness and trust. The leaders are usually idealists therefore ethics and values play a key role. They have a long range focus and have high amounts of organizational commitment. They are usually understanding towards their team and adapt well according to different situations. They tend to like to have less control and tend to encourage a team effort and participation on an equal level. They want to see their team develop as a whole and even though they are achievement oriented they value independence as well. Behavioral: The managers who practice this style of leadership are highly concerned with their workers well being and tend to be a great source of support for their employees as they are highly people oriented. They are very open and easy to communicate with. They are also willing to compromise more and can be persuaded and welcome suggestions. All these qualities show that they tend to have lost control. They aim to be accepted and liked and avoid conflicts. They have a low data input. Hunt. J. G. (1971) discovered through his study that an ineffective leader leads to conflicts on multiple levels as well as a highly uninviting work environment both of which lead to organizational inefficiency. The overall environment becomes negative as employees do not take their managers seriously and through study it can be concluded that leadership requirement at different levels of management may vary markedly. It seems likely that when a leader has enough knowledge of two different types of management level then they perform better as compare to managers who have knowledge of only one management level, but definite kind of knowledge is likely to be dependent on various kinds of situations. Many managers use penalties which instill fear of mistakes within the employees. Authoritative leaders may cut days off, yell and demean their workers and abuse their power. They feel that intimidating their employees and increasing their authority will lead to more productivity however wha t happens is that there is more tension, employees become scared, morale falls and the organizational performance is affected. The autocratic style of leadership is greatly discouraged within organizations and should only be used when dealing with new employees who are unfamiliar with the organizational culture as it does not work well with the more experienced employees as suggested by research. A separate style of leadership is a laissez-fare style in which the leader does not manage his employees and only guides them. This happens only when the employees themselves select an informal leader for guidance. All these different styles of leaderships are suited to different environments. A behavioral style might be very successful in a certain environment yet might fail abysmally in another so a good leader adapts to these different environments with different styles. Therefore not all leaders are successful in all environments which is why certain leaders are chosen for certain situations. Spillane. J.P., Halverson R Diamond. B. J (2004) proposed this approach is not a viable option in the current day scenario as there is constant change. He suggests that leaders should now be chosen for their ability to deal with a wide range of tactics and that leaders should become more efficient in applying tactics rather than approaching different styles of leaderships. He also states that extremes of flexibility and rigidity are the least efficient styles. According to Fielder (1967) almost anything is easier to change than a managers style which is why a leader should not pretend to be something they are not. Leaders who act as facilitators are most liked among the followers and are most easy to understand. Flexible leaders also tend to adapt more easily to new situations compared to rigid ones. Efficient Flexibility doesnt mean a change in personality, all it is, is a change in tactics. Situational Leadership The objective of this review paper is to explain effective leadership in different situations and its role in a firm. It is essential to elaborate few theories which have substantial importance in Organizational Behavior literature. Situational leaders are those who can coordinate, guide, handle and direct his team members in all kinds of known and unknown situations (situational factors). There are few aspects which lead to situational decisions such as motivation and capability of followers. This, in turn, is affected by factors within the particular situation. Another factor which may affect leaders behavior is the relationship shared between followers and leader. According to the situational theory purposed by Hersey and Blanchard (1969) leader should be able to motivate his followers in order to make them perform their task efficiently and effectively. Leaders should work in a way that they will motivate their followers and increase their development level. On the basis of these lines they have come up with four leadership styles that are consistent with the four development levels for followers. 1) S1: Telling / directing: when in a team followers are unable to understand the task and afraid to perform their duties then the leader will guide and coordinate them properly. Leaders in this situation identify the real problem occurring to the follower and try to solve it. Leaders uphold the position of boss so that all assignments will be done properly within time. 2) S2: Selling / coaching: when the follower is able to understand his task to some extent and he looks confident in this, then telling him will be equal to discouraging them. So in this type of situations leaders have to guide his team members very carefully and instead of telling, the leaders have to sell the techniques of working, explaining and clarifying decisions. First two styles are more leader oriented. 3) S3: Participating / supporting: when followers can perform and they dont show the results then leaders have to be very patient and deal this situation with expertise. Leaders should find out different ways to motivate the followers and if reasons of not showing performance would have been found then leaders should tackle them properly. 4) S4: Delegating / Observing: in this type of situations followers know their jobs and they dont need any guidance but still its important for leaders to keep a check on the performance of the followers in order to ensure that everything moving according to the set plan. Bruno Leo F.C. (2006) explained the profile of leadership styles of Brazilian supervisors or CEO based on the situational leadership styles purposed by Hersey et al (1969). In his paper he elucidated that results showed that most of the executives are seen accepting the styles S2 (48.29% frequency distribution) and S3 (28.60% frequency distribution). So this shows that they have capabilities of working with followers of average level of willingness. Though they sometimes face problems regarding discipline and work with groups. Management theorists of the past tried to discover the best form of leadership for all situations however modern day researchers have realized that different environments lead to a significant impact on the effectiveness of a leader. Fielder (1967) carried out extensive research regarding how different situations affect leadership effectiveness. According to his research the relations motivated manager is most effective where the leader doesnt need much power whereas the task related manager performs well when his relations with his employees are good and when he has a strong control. In an unfavorable condition neither of the leaders would be effective so an alternative solution would be to replace the leader. In order to provide a solution for the style-situation issue Vroom Jago, Arthur. G (2007) found an approach that dealt with the interaction between the leader and his subordinates. The model suggested that situation played a great role for a style to be effective. It also concluded that subordinate motivation and technical effectiveness play a key role in sharing of leader power and if neither of these are important than the leader himself takes the decision. If motivation is low but technical difficulties are still important then the leader tries to gain more information and if technical difficulty is not important and motivation is high then delegation might be the answer. Lastly if the problem level is high and a need for acceptance is present then the decision is shared within the group. This shows that there is a consistency in the behavior in different situations. Sometimes interpersonal behavioral patterns are also transferred when work performances change in order to meet ne w requirements. Different task demands also lead to changes in leaders. Another point of view regarding styles of leaders is one of Fiedler (1974). Fenwick F Jing, Avery, G.C. (2008) found out trough their research that it is very difficult to define the relationship of leadership-performance. After doing concentrated research they accepted the four leadership paradigms as a tool of measuring the concept of leadership, (visionary, transactional, classical and organic paradigms).Avery (2001) identified 13 indices to measure these above mentioned leadership paradigms out of which 9 were used in the research of Fenwick F Jing, Avery, G.C. (2008). Many researchers who are constantly working on defining the leadership concept in groups have been able to link it with functional approach. In functional approach the main target of a leader is to get the job done and increase the level of performance. Thus, in such kind of approach leader ensures that every task should be completed in time. All team members actively participate in order to accomplish the task. The main objective of a leader behind this approach is to complete the functio ns, while leadership can be categorized as a way of problem solving achieved by common responses to social problems. In order to understand the functions four broad types of functions have been identified: 1) well informed and structured team, 2) proper use of information in hand to solve the problems, 3) managing and control human resources, and 4) proper usage of resources. Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Klein, C., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., Halpin, S. M. (2006). Several studies show that the leader faces few obstacles regarding the organizational life cycle. There are five different stages of an organization and the changes which include, changes in management focus, organizational structure, top management style, control system and reward emphasis. Things that added to these changes and made the decision process harder included the size and age of the organization, its stage of evolution and the growth rate of the industry. Substantial numbers of management scholars have debated the effectiveness of leadership styles, behaviors and situations when selecting measurements of performance there is a correlation between financial performance and customer satisfaction. Several reasons indicate that there should be a relationship between leadership and performance. The first reason relates to practice. Todays intensive, dynamic markets feature innovation-based competition, price/performance rivalry, decreasing returns, and the creative destruction of existing competencies therefore effective leadership behaviors can facilitate the improvement of performance when organizations face these new challenges. Lumijà ¤rvi.I. (2007). Understanding the effects of leadership on performance is also important because leadership is viewed as one of the key driving forces for improving a firms performance. The Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness In this section contingency theory has been described which was actually originated by Fiedler. Fiedler. E. Fred (1972). Contingency theory helps executives and leaders to motivate and guide their followers in order to get better results for an organization. This theory is all about how leaders lead their groups in different situations, which predict followers capabilities and behaviors. There are few similarities between Contingency theory and situational theory. Former deals with the ability of leaders and see how they handle their followers to achieve high organizational performance in all kinds of situations. Also there is an important difference between the two theories. Situational Theory is more focused towards the behavior of the leader, depending upon the situations (often about follower behavior); whereas contingency theory talks about the bigger picture and it embraces group aspects about leader competence and other variables within the situation. This model was purposed by Fiedler in (1964) and (1974). According to this model they have explained two categories of motivational oriented leaders i.e. one is the task-motivated leaders and second category is relationship- motivated leaders. Author described that whenever some unexpected situation occurs in an organization both types of leaders react or respond to the situation differently. Many researchers have worked on this model and proves that leaders with task-motivated orientation mostly perform effectively in all types of situations, whereas leaders which fall into the second category (relationship-motivated) perform best in situations in which their control and influence is moderate. They further elaborated that leaders performance is l Management Leadership Styles: Tesco Management Leadership Styles: Tesco Executive Summary The retail organisation whose management and leadership styles will be investigated is ‘Tesco PLC. One will be analysing the management and leadership styles that are currently used by Tesco and whether these styles are effective, and also recommend if they could change or adopt any new styles which may be of more benefit to them. 1.0 Introduction Tesco PLC is one of the leading retailers in the United Kingdom and one of the largest food retailers in the world. Tesco has diversified by also selling non-food goods, such as electrical and also clothes in their stores. The initial size of the company indicates that the types of management and leadership styles and the way these are handled are crucial for the success of this firm. Similar to most companies, the management and leadership styles adopted within Tesco are likely to have continuously been adapted in correlation with the growth of the company over the years. Although the current management style has evidently been successful here in the UK, it is highly likely that they would not be able to use this same management style in certain countries overseas, namely Japan and China. The primary reason for this is due to the different cultures and values which have been adopted by these respective countries and this is something that will be taken into account. The management and leadership styles analysed below, are approaches which are likely to be implemented by Tesco. 2.0 Management Leadership definition Management is the organisational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing recourses, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results (Stuhlman Management Consultants, 2007). Boddy (2005) defines management as ‘the activity of getting things done with the aid of people and other recourses. Mintzberg (1973) makes this definition even simpler by stating, ‘if you ask a manager what he does, he they will most likely tell you that he plans, organizes, coordinates and controls Hannagan (1995) states that ‘Leadership can be seen as performing the influencing function of management, largely involved with establishing goals and motivating people to help achieve them. Leaders decide ‘where we are going rather than describe ‘how we are going to get there. House (2004) states that leadership is ‘the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members. For a manager to make his/her subordinates work effectively, the have to be motivated. Motivation is a key factor that must be held by a manager or a leader because; a de-motivated workforce leads to lower productivity. A manager keeping his workforce motivated is ensuring that his/her subordinates are working at a high level of productivity. Masterson and Pickton (2004) define motivation as ‘†¦the complex relationship between needs, drives and goals†¦ It is therefore ideal for a manager or leader to identify the needs, find out what drives workers, and subsequently, set them goals. 3.0 McGregors Theory X and Y One of the most influential theories on the understanding of leadership is created by the work of Douglas McGregor (1960) in developing theories X and Y. He believed that managers took two different views of their subordinates and conducted practices that would best suit their assumption of the workers they were in charge of. Theory X managers, take the thinking that people dislike work, and only work as it is a necessity for survival. They perceive workers to be lazy people who want to avoid responsibility, who lack ambition and would prefer to be directed, rather then use initiative to take roles of responsibility. Mainly, these managers believe people want security from there jobs, therefore the managers take a very directive approach to leadership and are very strict and controlling with their subordinates. Organisational goals already established and workers are pushed in a certain direction so that these goals can be fully achieved. On the other hand, Theory Y managers take an immensely different view to the theory X style of management. Theory Y managers believe that people see work as a daily occurrence and actually accept and strive to have some responsibility. They believe that if workers are in the right conditions, they will work hard their own will, helping the organization achieve the set out goals, and in return, being rewarded for this hard work and effort. In this scenario, managers will work together with subordinates, deciding work objectives and by developing strategies designed to achieve these goals. They will encourage team working and also delegate decision making when and were possible. In relation to Tesco, the management are likely to take a theory X approach in running their organisation. Due to the enormity of the number of subordinates a manager is likely to be in supervision of, it would be almost impossible to use the latter approach. Furthermore, the tasks needed to be carried out by workers do not require many skills, for example shop floor duties such as shelf stacking, checkouts and sales assistants carry out basic duties. As a result, these workers would need constant supervision and direction to ensure consistency and continuity in order to achieve the firms goals. Therefore, for Tesco, a theory X approach to management in their stores is the most effective management style. 4.0 Ohio State University Model The initiating structure is the pattern of leadership behaviour that emphasises the performance of the work in hand and the achievement of production or service goals. Boddy (2005) states ‘This behaviour involves the managers concern for directing subordinates in order to achieve production targets. It is a task-oriented approach, where managers tend to be highly directive and emphasise completing a task according to plan. This behavioural approach to leadership relates to Tesco in that, managers at Tesco are more concerned with getting the job done and reaching store targets rather then taking a ‘consideration dimension which involves more the concern for people. Boddy (2005) states that typical behaviours included: Allocating subordinates to specific tasks Establishing standards of job performance Informing subordinates of the requirements of the job Scheduling work to be done by subordinates Encouraging the use of uniform procedures 5.0 Blake and Moutons Management Grid ‘The management grid identifies a range of management behaviours based on various ways that task-oriented and employee-orientated styles can interact with each other. When looking at Appendix 1, in relation to Tesco, the management would identify themselves mostly to an Authoritarian management style (also known as produce or perish style), which has a high concern for production and efficiency and concentrates less on people. They take a task oriented approach which takes in hand the needs of the task in hand rather then the wants of subordinates. This is again, similar again to the Theory X approach stated approach, and is effective to Tesco where there is a larger amount of lower-skilled employees. 6.0 Herzberg Two Factor Theory Herzberg was interested in discovering how need satisfaction occurs in a workplace and the impact of motivation on behaviours and attitudes. Fincham and Rhodes (2005) stated that Herzbergs two factor theory involved, firstly the ‘motivators and secondly the ‘hygiene factors. Hygiene factors involved supervision, salary, work environment, company policies and relationship with colleagues. The absences of these were seen as dissatisfying aspects of a job which can affect the morale of workers. Herzberg stated that this is followed by several motivators, which include; responsibility, achievement, promotion and recognition. In relation to Tesco, subordinates of the managers such as shop floor employees, are unlikely to achieve the motivators stated by Herzberg, therefore are likely to be dissatisfied and de-motivated in their jobs. This can be very negative for a firm like Tesco as a de-motivated workforce is obviously more unproductive then a motivated workforce. Taking thi s into thought, it is vital for managers to tackle motivational issues of the workforce and see that the hygiene factors of employees are met, making it an effective approach to adopt. 7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations All in all, the evident success of Tesco shows that the management and leadership styles they are using are immensely successful. Management styles used such as the Theory X approach and authoritarian management are undoubtedly operating well. However, a 2007 DataMonitor Company report based on Tesco states that Tesco are looking to diversify into foreign countries such as Japan and China, and as a result, they may well have to reconsider the management and leadership strategies which they have in place. The reason for this is that the world of work differs in Japan and China compared to that of the UK as they place a large amount of emphasis on Total Quality Management (TQM), also know as Kaizen. This is a well renowned strategy in these countries and has become some what of a norm for workers there. As a result, it maybe wise for Tesco to implement a similar strategy to adopt and emulate already successful strategies used in Japan and China. Total Quality Management ‘is an op erational philosophy that stresses commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, TQM is committed to quality and excellence and to being the best in all functions. Hunger Wheelen (2003) state that in order for TQM to succeed in a company, ‘the program usually involves a significant change in corporate culture, requiring strong leadership from top management, employee training, empowerment of lower level employees (giving people more control over their work), and teamwork. In order for Tesco to implement such a strategy, they may have to discard the autocratic management approach and may have adopt a more democratic style of management, in which the ‘wishes and suggestions of the members are incorporated into those of the leader, as stated by Huczynski and Buchanan (1991). Although it may be hard to change from a management style which has been ever so successful for the firm, it may be crucial to adopt a new strategy in order for Tesco to be successful in their foreign ventures. 8.0 References Academic Textbooks Boddy, D (2005). Management: An Introduction. 3rd Edition. Essex: FT Prentice Hall. House, R; Hanges, P; Javidan, M; Dorfman, P; Gupta, V. (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks Hannagan, T (1995). Management Concepts and Practices. 2nd Edition. London: Pitman Publishing. Hunger, J; Wheelen, T (2005). Essentials of Strategic Management. 3rd Edition. Essex: Pearson Education Inc. Huczynski, A; Buchanan, D (1991). Organizational Behaviour. 2nd Edition. Hertfordshire, Cambridge University Press. Fincham, R; Rhodes, P (2005). Principles of Organisational Behaviour. 4th Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press Mintzberg, H. (1973) The Nature of Managerial Work, Harper and Row, New York Masterson, R; Pickton, D (2004) Principles of Marketing, Berkshire, McGraw Hill Lecture Notes Meyer, M: CORP 2463, Week 4 Lecture Notes: Leadership, Influence and Power (2007), De Montfort University

Importance of intellectual property rights

Importance of intellectual property rights IMPORTANCE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS- Intellectual property rights are accepted all over the world due to some important reasons. They were essentially recognized for the acceptations of these rights are:- Provides incentive to the individual for new creations. Providing due recognition to the creators and inventors. Ensuring the material reward for intellectual property. Ensuring the availability of the original products. For economic growth and advancement in technology sector protection of Intellectual property protection is important. They are benefited for the growth of the business in the field of technology. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW INTRODUCTION INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Comprises of the following Laws:- The Laws relating to Trade Marks / Brands (Trade Marks Act, 1999), Property Marks The Laws relating to Copyright (Copyright Act, 1957) Artistic Work, Literary Work, Audio Video Records and Software The Laws relating to Industrial Designs (Designs Act, 2000) The Laws relating to Patents (The Patent Act, 1970) The Laws relating to Geographical Indications. The geographical Indications of (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 The Laws relating to Internet (Information Technology Act, 2000) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT INFRINGEMENT-An intellectual property infringement is the infringement or violation of an intellectual property right. Copyright infringement- Copyright-It is a type of protection which is given to the authors of original works including literary, dramatic, and musical and certain other intellectual works, which may be published and unpublished. Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the use of material unauthorised that is covered by copyright law, that violates one of the copyright owners exclusive rights, such as the right to perform the copyrighted work. It is also known as copyright violation. Patent infringement- Patent-It is issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. A patent is the right to the inventor for an invention. Patent infringement prohibition act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. By means of the licence permission may be granted. It is also known as patent violation. Trademark A trademark gives separate identity to the goods and services to make them distinguish from the others. It protects words, names, symbols, sounds. Trademarks can be renewed for forever or as long as they are going to be used. There is no need for registration of a trademark in the U.S. Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees. Infringement may occur when one party, the infringer, uses a trademark which is identical to a trademark owned by another party, in relation to products or services which are identical or similar to the products or services which the registration covers. An owner of a trademark may commence legal proceedings against a party which infringes its registration. It is also known as trademark violation. Objectives- To know the reasons infringement of the intellectual property rights. To know why to care about IPR? What the protection measures and provisional measures? Case related to Intellectual Property Right Infringement. Review of literature- Economic Effect of Intellectual Property Right Infringement There is a great effect of Intellectual Property Right Infringement .U.S companies suffer losses in recent years because their Intellectual Property Rights (trademarks, copyrights and patents) are not properly protected abroad. International Trade Commission data is collected from 244 US firms and the data is used to study economic effect of foreign infringement of US intellectual property rights in five sectors of industry. The profit and losses of US suppliers is much as compared to total profits, this implies that the losses are greater than the profits earned by suppliers who are infringing on rights, but that the losses may be least than the benefits to infringers and consumers. From Research it is pointed out that research results suggest that Lessing profits lost to infringers by one percent would require significant increases in identification and enforcement costs. RESEARCH METHODOLGY- TYPES OF DATA USED-Secondary data SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA- Data is collected from the journals, Newspapers, Internet CAUSES OF INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT Too much cost of Research and development. Globalisation Litigation delays in implementing ip rights and award of damages Software piracy WHY CARE ABOUT IPR- Patents are benefit to the owner of the IP and it add importance to industrial as well as business concerns , discoveries and provide incentives for private sector investment into their development. They all should have separate Research and development center. Globalization and advancement of technology has played an important role in intellectual property protection for small and medium sized enterprises. The intangible nature of intellectual property creates challenges for those businesses, to protect their inventions, brands, and business in foreign markets. Intellectual property protection is necessary to the success of biotechnology companies. For these companies, the patent system serves to encourage them for the development of new medicines and diagnostics for treatment and monitoring diseases, and agricultural products. HOW TO OBTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT INFRINGEMENT OF TRADE MARK / COPYRIGHT The best way to get information about the piracy of trade mark / copyright is companies marketing strategies. The best alternative is engagement of detective agencies on contractual basis, which have their own other network. By surveys in major metropolitan cities of India, the information can be obtained about the infringement / piracy of goods and these surveys will lead to and result in the identification of manufacturing, go downs, distribution network. JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN INDIA The Indian judicial system is independent from executive / government and it is creation of Constitution of India. It is mandatory to obey the orders of the Courts in India by Central State Governments and any non-compliance of the order of the courts are taken as very serious and that may result in the fine and / or imprisonment. In India High Court and Supreme Court judgments has the force of the law. Even in the world the Indian Judicial System is one of the best legal systems which have codified laws and established procedures. REMEDIES AVAILABLE UNDER INDIAN LAWS CIVIL REMEDIES Injunction/ stay against the use of trade Damages can be claimed Accounts and handing over of profits For custody there is appointment of local commissioner/infringing material sealing. Under order 39 rule 1 2 of the CPC the application is filed. CRIMINAL REMEDIES Before the chief judicial magistrate the complaint is filed. Evidence of the infringement of the IPR. Under sec. 93/94 the application is filed. Search of infringing material is done by Police as per orders and directions given by the court. Lodging of fir and search under section. 156 of the criminal procedure code, 1973. JURISDICTION FOR FILING CIVIL / CRIMINAL LITIGATION Civil Cases- The jurisdiction for filing in a civil suit will include given facts and fulfillment of given conditions:- From where the cause of action has occrued? Where the violations of IPRs are taking place? Where the defendants work for gain? Trade Marks Act, 1999, it provides an exception, to registered trade mark and the registered Trade Mark owner can file a case with in court, from where the holder is carrying its business. The jurisdiction for filing a case depends on the activities of the defendants. There is no need to file a suit in different courts separately. PROTECTION AGAINST INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS INFRINGEMENT The infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) are by administrative procedures and legal proceedings. In civil liabilities, the infringer may ordered to stop the violated activities, eradicate the damage done, make public apologies and compensate for all the damages. In administrative measures, they include warnings in order to stop the violating activities, fines, and compensation for damages made. The interested parties go for mediation, when there is IPR infringement dispute arises. If mediation failed, or interested parties refused to abide by the outcome of mediation, legal proceedings may be instituted with peoples court. The interested parties may also request the relevant administrative authorities for actions. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS When an IPR infringement dispute arises, the infringed party may institute legal proceedings directly with the peoples court at the place where infringing activity takes place If an interested party finds that due to emergency or by any delay in stop the infringing activities may cause damages to his/her rights, he may, before instituting legal proceedings, request the peoples court to freeze the assets of the infringer. The peoples court will see to it that the infringer, if the infringer is convicted, he will be made to bear civil liabilities for the infringing act. The infringer will be prosecuted for his criminal liabilities where the case is so serious to constitute a crime. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES (a) Information and Proof to be Submitted When infringement of IPR dispute rises, the interested may request the administrative authorities and above at the place of the infringers domicile In order to make the request to the administration authorities, the interested party should have to submit a written proof of his right and evidence of the infringing act. (b) Processing by Administrative Authorities It is the duty of the administrative authorities to handle the dispute and they have to make decision whether the complaint will be processed within 15 days upon receipt of the request and they have to tell their decision to applicant. If the decision is negative, a written will be given to the applicant and if the decision given by the administration authorities is negative than the applicant will given an explanation in written form within 7 days. (c) Calculation of Compensation On the request of the applicant, the competent administrative may order the infringer to pay for damages? For infringing of copyright, the compensation amount is calculated according to the direct damages caused by the infringement and reasonable fees incurred by the copyright holder in investigating and stopping the infringing act. For infringing of trademark, the compensation amount is calculated on the basis of profits gained by the infringer through the infringement during the infringement period or the damages suffered by the infringed party during the infringement period. For infringing of patent, the amount of compensation is calculated according to the damages suffered by the patentee or the profit which is gained by the infringer through the infringement. Where it is difficult to determine the damages suffered by the patentee. It is also difficult to calculate that how much profit is earned by the infringer, royalty amount of patent may used as per calculation. (d) Dissatisfaction with Administrative Punishment Decisions Instituting administrative proceedings If the interested party is not satisfied with the punishment made by the administrative authorities than within 3 months from the receipt of the notification of decision, and apply to the local government or administrative securities at higher level for reconsideration of the decision. Instituting administrative reconsideration Within 10 days, the authorities should have to decide whether to handle the case or not. If the interested party is satisfied than within 2 months for reconsideration, a decision should be made on that basis. If the interested party is not satisfied with the decision on reconsideration than within the 15 days after the receivable of the notification of the decision, institute administrative proceedings with the peoples court. EFECTIVENESS OF LEGAL ACTION AGAINST INFRINGEMENT PIRACY It is practically very difficult to completely prevent piracy / infringement / violation of intellectual property rights as we know India is a very large country in geographical terms and densely populated country. There are own advantages and limitations of civil and criminal legal actions. Mostly piracy in India takes place in small scale industries, unorganized sector A separate suit has to be filed against each and every company / firm / individual in civil suits, which are filed against infringements, as the infringement by each pirate will amount a new cause of action, separate suits have to be filed against each of them. As compare to criminal remedies the civil remedies are easier. Due to publicity, campaigning the effectiveness of criminal remedies is more as compared to civil remedies. Any criminal action / prosecution is treated as a social stigma in India which leads to condemnation by the society. PROVISIONAL MEASURES The judicial authorities shall have the authority to order promptly and effectively provisional measures: to prevent an infringement of intellectual property rights from occurring, and in order to prevent the entry into the channels of commerce in their jurisdiction of goods, including imported goods immediately after customs clearance To preserve supportive evidence in regard to the IPR infringement. It is the right provided to the judicial the applicant has to give supportive evidences in order to satisfy themselves, and to order the applicant to provide a security or equivalent assurance which is sufficient to protect the defendant and to prevent abuse. The applicant needs to supply other necessary information for the identification of the goods concerned by the authority. If judicial authorities found that there has no infringement or there is no any threat of infringement of an intellectual property right, the judicial authorities has right that upon request of the defendant the applicant should have to provide compensation for any injury, damages to the defendant. REGISTRATION OF IPR IS NECESSARY OR NOT ot necessary in the case of Trade Marks Copyrights Yes, necessary in the case of Patent Industrial Design Geographical Indication REGISTRATION OF IPR CAN BE CANCELLED OR REVOKED? Yes If Fraud If there is Misrepresentation Against the rights of opponent If it is registered by the registrar by error. Registration is prohibit under some law Registration against public policy CASES- PIRACY RACKET UTV software and communications, producers of the film `Whats Your Raashee? has demanded a compensation of Rs 50 crore each from Adlabs Films Limited and UFO movies for piracy and infringement of copyright. It was movie of Ashutosh Gowariker and its masterprint was stolen from Adlabs .UTV send notice to Adlabs as the masterprint of the movie copied by illegal means. And it was sold to persons who done business of piracy. It caused a large damage. Stolen of masterprint was not an easy task, this was possible only by the help of some highly-placed persons which may be the employee of Adlabs. Only a highly authority person can get the prints and can made copies. UFO movies employee Rajesh Chowdhry was arrested in the piracy of the movie `Aage Se Right. This shows that the security system is not good and it does not provide any solid protection. The social service branch arrested two more employees of two private companies their names were Neerav Shah, he was the manager of Reliance big pictures and other one name was Nagda Kalapi , he was the head of overseas distribution of Shemaroo pictures. They both get a benefit of Rs 35,000 to 50,000 per film as per the inquiry done by police. IPR INFRINGEMENT REMEDIES IN USA The Brand owners which are settled outside USA faces IPR infringement within the United States. Most of the Europe brand owner mistook that the remedy to IPR infringement is only civil and criminal remedies are seldom used. Which is not so. US use many a remedies to deal with IPR infringement cases. Victim brand owners faces criminal remedy many a times in United States and this is true that many states deals much better with IPR violation remedy as compare to federal agencies. State prosecution requires much less investigations resources and results come faster as compare to other remedy used. To defend for your brand in US one need to register ones trademark with States Patent and Trademark Office, along with this it needs registration internationally and with USPTO too. Once an infringer is suspected it is given with a cease and desist notice which is another useful criteria. In this notice description should be there duly that verifies that the product was really infringed. As evidence the product that is purchased by the infringer should be produced. There are two main ways of prosecution in US. federal prosecution state prosecution Penalty is sometime higher in federal prosecution and sometime the same for both the prosecutions. During the investigation time it is the practice of infringer that he continues to flood the market with counterfeit merchandise .It costs as loss to the brand. So the prosecution should take less investigation time for the sake of brand owner and most of the time state prosecution takes much less time as compare to federal prosecution. Conclusion The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has social, economic, technological and political impacts. Rapid technology, globalisation and fierce competitions leading to protect the innovations from violations by the help of IPR such as patents, trademarks, service marks, industrial design registration, copy rights and trade secrets. But still there is infringement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Government is also taking measures to prevent them. There are laws regarding the prevention of Intellectual Property Rights Infringement. BIBLIOGRAPHY P Dalmia from IP IT Laws DivisionVaish Associates Advocates http://iprinvestigators.com/opinion1.html http://www.osec.doc.gov/ogc/occic/ipr.htm http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/ip.htm http://www.hktdc.com/info/mi/a/bgcn/en/1X002MHP/1/Guide-to-Doing-Business-in-China/8-3-Protection-Against-Intellectual-Property-Rights-Infringement.htm http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/mumbai/Piracy-racket-Producers-seek-Rs-100-cr-in-damages/articleshow/5048906.cms http://www.xing.com/net/markenrecht/general-343444/ipr-infringement-remedies-in-the-usa-18851544/18851544/

sports in the 1950s :: essays research papers

Sports in the 1950's Whether it's Mark McGwire breaking the home run record, Terell Davis breaking the rushing record, or superstars retiring, Americans have always had a fascination with sports. Sports have provided entertainment even before radio or television. Sports provided many things for the fans that watched them. Sports allowed communities to grow stronger and provided great athletes to look up to. With the arrival of television sports took on a whole new meaning. Being able to watch a game together gave the community a new way to bond, giving individuals a visual image of their favorite athletes. The television also opened up the industry of commercialization. Sports, televison, and merchandising on television became a combination that continues even today.The community in the 1950's was like one big family. Children played in the streets, everyone knew everyone else on the block, and sports created unbreakable bonds. Children and their fathers, neighbors, and even complete strangers could alwa ys talk about sports. As televison began to fill American homes, neighbors flocked to each others house to watch different events. Even neighbors who loved different sides crowded around the television to watch the event. Whether it was baseball, wrestling, golf, roller derby, or another sport, television allowed the community to grow closer. It is estimated that one sporting event drew an audience of 150,000 viewers. This is remarkable considering there was only about 5,000 television sets in American homes. That is about 30 people per set! Sports and television did more than just bring the community closer together. Sports on television became so popular that merchandising became a booming business. Whether at a game or sitting in the living room, authentic merchandise was a must for any fan. Much like the merchandise in Karal Ann Marlings book As Seen On TV, the merchandising industry exploited the people.

Dr. Charles Richard Drew Essay -- Doctors Medical Health Biography Ess

Dr. Charles Richard Drew Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3, 1904 in Washington, D.C. He was very athletic as a child. Charles attended Dunbar High School where he won letters in track, baseball, basketball and football. He won the James E. Walker Memorial Medal as outstanding all-around athlete. Charles attended Amherst College in Massaschusetts on a scholarship. He was named an all-American halfback and won the Thomas W. Ashley Memorial Trophy as the Most Valuable Player on Amherst's football team. He graduated in 1926 and received the Howard Hill Mossman trophy for his outstanding contributions to Amherst sports. Drew was always interested in science and wanted to pursue a medical career. He attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He participated in sports while in medical school and won many championships. He was captain of the track team and won the all-time top score at McGill in intercollegiate track competition. Drew graduated from McGill in 1933. That year he won the annual prize in neuroanatomy, the study of the structure of the nervous system, and the Williams Prize, passing an examination and scoring in the top five in his class. He interned at the Royal Victoria and Montreal General Hospitals. In 1935, he became an instructor in pathology at Howard University Medical School in Washington, DC. In addition to teaching, he was assistant surgeon at Freedmen's Hospital. In 1938, he was awarded a Rockefeller fellowship to...

An Analysis of Night by Elie Wiesel Essay

â€Å"One day as I was looking in a mirror, I didn’t recognize myself†¦I then decided that since everything changes—even the face in the mirror changes—someone must speak about that change. Someone must speak about the former and that someone is I. I shall not speak about all the other things but I should speak, at least, about that face and that mirror and that change. That’s when I knew that I was going to write.† Elie Wiesel in Conversation with Elie Wiesel â€Å"I owe them my roots and memory. I am duty-bound to serve as their emissary, transmitting the history of their disappearance, even if it disturbs, even if it brings pain. Not to do so would be to betray them, and thus myself.† Elie Wiesel, â€Å"Why I Write,† in Confronting the Holocaust: The Impact of Elie Wiesel One of the primary themes or messages Elie Wiesel said he has tried to deliver with Night is that all human beings have the responsibility to share with others how their past experiences have changed their identity and how those experiences affect others. Wiesel believes that, in order to understand the true impact of the Holocaust, survivors like himself must serve as messengers to current and future generations by â€Å"bearing witness† to the events of the Holocaust and by explaining how those events changed each individual’s identity. II-Pre-Writing assignment: Personal Inventories Before writing your autobiographical sketch, all students must complete 10 Personal Inventories that describe the important people, places, experiences, lessons, etc. in each person’s life. Since these inventories could include sensitive or private information, they will checked for credit but will not be read by anyone except the student who wrote them. III-Autobiographical Sketch Write a story about an experience that affected you deeply and ought to be known by others. The story can be written in prose, can be a poem, can be a short story, can be a song, or another approved form of written artistic expression. In writing that story, answer the following questions: Provide context: what was the year? how old were you? Where did you live? what were the circumstances surrounding the experience? Re-tell the experience from beginning (exposition, rising action) to end (climax, falling action, resolution): what happened? who was involved? when? where? why did it happen? Reflection: what were your thoughts about the story at the time it happened? what are your thoughts about the story now? Share the moral or lesson: how does your story relate to the way you see yourself and others? W hat did you learn? what lessons does your story teach others? The sketch must be typed, point size 12, and double-spaced. The story is due on the day of the final.

Night World : The Chosen Chapter 13

Rashel knew she had to stop the guard before he could make a sound. The vampires' mansion was on the farther cliffs, overlooking open sea rather than the harbor, and the music ought to help drown outside noises-but the greatest danger was still that they would be heard before the girls could get away. She launched herself at the werewolf, throwing a front snap kick to his chest. She could hear the air whoosh out as he fell backward. Good. No breath for howling. She landed with both knees on top of him. â€Å"This is silver,† she hissed, pressing the blade against his throat. â€Å"Don't make a noise or I'll use it.† He glared at her. He had shaggy hair and eyes that were already half-animal. â€Å"Is there anybody on the boats?† When he didn't answer, she pressed the silver knife harder. â€Å"Is there?† He snarled a breathless â€Å"No.† His teeth were turning, too, spiking and lengthening. â€Å"Don't change-† Rashel began, but at that moment he decided to throw her off. He heaved once, violently. A snap of her wrist would have plunged the silver blade into his throat even as she fell. Instead Rashel rolled backward in a somersault, tucking in her head and ending up on her right knee. Then, as the werewolf jumped at her, she slammed the sheathed knife upward against his jaw. He fell back unconscious. Too bad, I wanted to ask him about the client. Rashel looked shoreward, to see that Daphne, Annelise, and Nyala were on the pier with her. They were each holding a rock or a piece of wood broken from the jagged pilings of the wharf. They were going to help me, Rashel thought. She felt oddly warmed by it. â€Å"Okay,† she said rapidly. â€Å"Annelise and Keiko, with me. Everybody else, stay. Daphne, keep watch.† In a matter of minutes she and the boating girls had checked the boats and found two with features they thought they could handle†¦ and with fuel. Anne-lise had removed a couple of crucial engine pieces out of the others. â€Å"Took out the impellers and the solenoids,† she told Rashel mysteriously, holding out a grimy hand. â€Å"Good. Let's set them adrift. Everybody else, get yourself on a boat. Find a place to sit fast and sit down.† Rashel moved to the back of the group where Fayth had her arms around a couple of the girls who looked scared of setting out on the dark ocean. â€Å"Come on, people.† She meant to herd them in front of her like chickens. That was when it happened. Rashel had an instant's warning-the faint crunch of sand on rock behind her. And then something hit her with incredible force in the middle of the back. It knocked her down and sent her knife flying. Worse, it sent her mind reeling in shock. She hadn't been prepared. That instant's warning hadn't been enough-because she had already lost zanshin. She no longer had the gift of continuing mind. She had lost her single purpose. In the old days she'd been fixed on one thing-to kill the Night People. There had been no hesitation, no confusion. But now†¦ she'd already faltered twice tonight, knocking the werewolves unconscious instead of killing them. She was confused, uncertain. And, as a result, unprepared. And now I'm dead, she thought. Her numbed mind was desperately trying to recover and come up with a strategy. But there was a wild snarling in her ear and a trail of hot pain down her back. Animal claws. There was a wolf on top of her. Rudi had gotten loose. Rashel gathered herself and bucked to throw the wolf off. He slipped and she tried to roll out from under him, arms up to keep her throat protected. The werewolf was too heavy-and too angry. He scrambled over her rolling body like a lumberjack on a log. His snarling muzzle kept darting for her throat in quick lunges. Rashel could see his bushy coat standing on end. She felt fire across her ribs-his claws had torn through her shirt. She ignored it. Her one thought was to keep him away from her throat. Keeping an elbow up, she reached for the knife with her other hand. No good. She hadn't rolled far enough. Her fingertips just missed the hilt. And Rudi the wolf was right in her face. All she could see were sharp wet teeth, black gums, and blazing yellow eyes. Her face was misted with hot canine breath. Every snap of those jaws made a hollow glunk. Rashel only had one option left-to block each lunge as it came. But she couldn't keep that up forever. She was already tiring. It's over, she thought. The girls who might have helped her-Daphne and Nyala and Annelise were at the far end of the wharf or on the boats. The other girls were undoubtedly too scared even to try. Rashel was alone, and she was going to die very soon. My own stupid fault, she thought dimly. Her arms were shaking and bloodied. She was getting weaker fast. And the wolf knew. Even as she thought it, she missed a block. Her arm slipped sideways. Her throat was exposed. In slow motion she saw the jaws of the wolf opening wide, driving toward her. She saw the triumph in those yellow eyes. She knew, with a curious sense of resignation, that the next thing she would feel was teeth ripping through her flesh. The oldest way to die in the world. I'm sorry, Daphne, she thought. I'm sorry, Nyala. Please go and be safe. And then everything seemed to freeze. The wolf stopped in midlunge, head jerking backward. Its eyes were wide and fixed. Its jaws were open but not moving. It looked as if it might howl. But it didn't. It collapsed in a hot quivering heap on top of Rashel, legs stiff. Rashel scrambled out from under it automatically. And saw her knife sticking out of the base of its skull. Quinn was standing above it. â€Å"Are you all right?† He was breathing quickly, but he looked calm. Moonlight shone on his black hair. The entire world was huge and quivering and oddly bright. Rashel still felt as if she were moving in slow motion. She stared at Quinn, then looked toward the wharf. Girls were scattered all over, as if frozen in the middle of running in different directions. Some were on the decks of the two remaining boats. Some were heading toward her. Daphne and Nyala were only fifteen feet away, but they were both staring at Quinn and seemed riveted in place. Nyala's expression was one of horror, hate-and recognition. Waves hissed softly against the dock. Think. Now think, girl, Rashel told herself. She was in a state of the strangest and most expanded consciousness she'd ever felt. Her hands were icy cold and she seemed to be floating-but her mind was clear. Everything depended on how she handled the next few minutes. â€Å"Why did you do that?† she asked Quinn softly. At the same time she shot Daphne the fastest and the most intense look of her life. It meant Go now. She willed Daphne to understand. â€Å"You just lost a guard,† she went on, getting up slowly. Keep his eyes on you. Keep moving. Make him talk. â€Å"Not a very good one,† Quinn said, looking with fastidious disgust at the heap of fur. Go, Daphne, run, Rashel thought. She knew the girls still had a chance. There were no other vampires coming down the path. That meant that Rudi had either been too angry to give a general alarm or too scared. That was one good thing about werewolves-they acted on impulse. Quinn was the danger now. â€Å"Why not a good one?† she asked. â€Å"Because he damaged the merchandise?† She lifted her torn shirt away from her ribs. Quinn threw back his head and laughed. Something jerked in Rashel's chest, but she used the moment to change her position. She was right by the wolf now, with her left hand at the exact level of the knife. â€Å"That's right,† Quinn said. A wild and bitter smile still played around his lips. â€Å"He was presumptuous. You almost surrendered to the wrong darkness there, Shelly. By the way, where'd you get a silver knife?† He doesn't know who I am, Rashel thought. She felt both relief and a strange underlying grief. He still thought she was some girl from the club- maybe a vampire hunter, but not the vampire hunter. The one he'd admitted was good. So he's unprepared. He's off his guard. If I can kill him with one stroke, before he calls to the other vampires, the girls may get away. She glanced at the wharf again, deliberately, hoping to draw his gaze. But he didn't look behind him, and Daphne and the other stupid girls weren't leaving. Refusing to go without her. Idiots! Now or never, Rashel thought. â€Å"Well, anyway,† she said, â€Å"I think you saved my life. Thank you.† Keeping her eyes down, she held out her hand. her right hand. Quinn looked surprised, then reached out automatically. With one smooth motion, like a snake uncoiling, Rashel attacked. Her right hand drove past his hand and clamped on his wrist. Her left hand plunged down to grab the knife. Her fingers closed on the hilt and pulled- and the sheath with its attached silver blade stayed in the werewolf's neck. Just as she'd planned. The knife itself came free, the real knife, the one made of wood. And then Quinn tried to throw her and her body responded automatically. She was moving without conscious direction, anticipating his attacks and blocking them even as he started to make them. It transformed the fight into a dance. Faster than thought, graceful as a lioness, she countered every move he made. Zanshin to the max. She ended up straddling him with her knife at his throat. Now. Fast. End it. She didn't move. You have to, she told herself. Quick, before he calls the others. Before he knocks you out telepathically. He can do it, you know that. Then why isn't he trying? Quinn lay still, with the point of the wooden knife in the hollow of his throat, just where his dark collar parted. His throat was pale in the moonlight and his hair was black against the sand. Footsteps sounded behind Rashel. She heard rapid light breathing. â€Å"Daphne, take the boats and go now. Leave me here. Do you understand?† Rashel spoke every word distinctly. â€Å"But Rashel-â€Å" â€Å"Do it now!† Rashel put a force she hadn't known she had behind the words. She heard the quick intake of Daphne's breath, then footsteps scampering off. All the while, she hadn't taken her eyes off Quinn. Like everything else, the green-black blade of her knife was touched with moonlight. It seemed to shimmer almost liquidly. Lignum vitae, the Wood of Life. It would be death for him. One thrust would put it through his throat. The next would stop his heart. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Rashel whispered. She was. She was truly sorry that this had to be done. But there was no way out. It was for Nyala, for all the girls he'd kidnapped and hunted and lured. It was to keep girls like them safe for the future. â€Å"You're a hunter,† Rashel said softly, trying for steadiness. â€Å"So am I. We both understand. This is the way it goes. It's kill or be killed. It all comes down to that in the end.† She paused to breathe. â€Å"Do you understand?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"If I don't stop you, you'll be a danger forever. And I can't let that happen. I can't let you hurt anyone else.† She was aware that she was shaking her head slightly in her attempt to explain to him. Her lungs ached and there were tears in her eyes. â€Å"I can't.† Quinn didn't speak. His eyes were black and bottomless. His hair was slightly mussed on his forehead, but he didn't show any other sign of just having been in a fight. He's not going to struggle, Rashel realized. Then make it quick and merciful. No need for him to feel the pain of wood through his throat. She switched her grip on the knife, raising it over his chest. Holding it with both hands, poised above his heart. One swift downward stroke and it would be over. For the first time since she had killed a Night Person, she didn't say what she always said. She wasn't the Cat right now; this wasn't revenge for her. It was necessity. â€Å"I'm sorry,† she whispered, and shut her eyes. He whispered, â€Å"This kitten has claws.† Rashel's muscles locked. Her eyes opened. â€Å"Go on,† Quinn said. â€Å"Do it. You should have done it the first time.† His gaze was as steady as Fayth's. She could see moonlight in his eyes. He didn't look wild, or bitter, or mocking. He only looked serious and a little tired. â€Å"I should have realized it before-that you were the one in the cellar. I knew there was something about you. I just couldn't figure out what. At least now I've seen your face.† Rashel's arms wouldn't come down. What was wrong with her? Her resolve was draining away. Her whole body was weak. She felt herself begin to tremble, and realized to her horror she couldn't stop it. â€Å"Everything you said was true,† he said. â€Å"This is how it has to end.† â€Å"Yes.† Something had swollen in Rashel's throat and it hurt. â€Å"The only other possibility is that I kill you. Better this way than that.† He looked exhausted suddenly-or sick. He turned his head and shut his eyes. â€Å"Yes,† Rashel said numbly. He believed that? â€Å"Besides, now that I have seen your face, I can't stand the sight of myself in your eyes. I know what you think of me.† Rashel's arms dropped. But limply. The blade pointed upward, between her own wrists. She sat there with her knuckles on his chest and stared at a scraggly wild raspberry bush growing out of the cliff. She had failed Nyala, and Nyala's sister, and countless other people. Other humans. When it really counted, she was letting them all down. â€Å"I can't kill you,† she whispered. â€Å"God help me, I can't.† He shook his head once, eyes still shut. She was open to attack, but he didn't do anything. Then he looked at her. â€Å"I told you before. You're an idiot.† Rashel hit him under the jaw the way she'd hit the guard. The hilt of her dagger caught him squarely. He didn't move to avoid the blow. It knocked him out cold. Rashel wiped her cheeks and got up, looking around for something to tie him with. Her whole life was torn to pieces, falling around her. She didn't understand anything. All she could do was try to finish what she'd come here for. Action, that was what she needed. Thought could wait. It would have to wait. Then she glanced at the wharf. She couldn't believe it. It seemed as if at least a week had passed since she yelled at Daphne, and they were all still here. The boats were here, the girls were here, and Daphne was running toward her. Rashel strode to meet her. She grabbed Daphne by the shoulders and shook hard. â€Å"Get-out-of-here! Do you understand? What do I have to do, throw you in the water?† Daphne's eyes were huge and blue. Her blond hair flew like thistledown with the shaking. When Rashel stopped, she gasped, â€Å"But you can come with us now!† â€Å"No, I can't! I still have things to do.† â€Å"Like what?† Then Daphne's eyes darted to the cliff. She stared at Rashel. â€Å"You're going after them? You're crazy!† Looking frightened, she grabbed Rashel's hands on her shoulders. â€Å"Rashel, there are supposed to be eight of them, right? Plus Lily and Ivan and who knows what else! You really think you can kill them all? What, are they all just going to line up?† â€Å"No. I don't know. But I don't need to kill them all. If I can get the guy who set this up, the client, it will be worth it.† Daphne was shaking her head, in tears. â€Å"It won't be worth it! Not if they kill you-which they will. You're already hurt-â€Å" â€Å"It'll be worth it if I can stop him from doing this again,† Rashel said quietly. She couldn't yell anymore. She didn't have the strength. Her voice was quenched, but she held Daphne's eyes. â€Å"Now get somebody to throw me some rope or something to tie these guys with. And then leave. No, give me five minutes to get to the top of the cliff. Six minutes. That way maybe I can surprise them before they realize you're gone.† Daphne was crying steadily now. Before she could say anything, Rashel went on. â€Å"Daphne, any minute now they could realize that. Someone's bound to check the cellar before midnight. Every second we stand here could make the difference. Please, please, don't fight me anymore.† Daphne opened her mouth, then shut it. Her eyes were desolate. â€Å"Please try to take care of yourself,† she whispered. She let go of Rashel's shoulders and hugged her hard. â€Å"We all know you're doing it for us. I'm proud to be your friend.† Then she turned and ran, herding the others ^^ toward the boats. A moment later she threw Rashel two pieces of line. Rashel tied up Quinn first, then the werewolf. â€Å"Six minutes,† she said to Daphne. Daphne nodded, trying not to cry. Rashel wouldn't say goodbye. She hated that. Even though she knew perfectly well that she was never going to see Daphne again. Without looking back, she loped up the hiking trail.