Leadership Styles and TQM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership Styles and TQM - Essay Example To begin with, it is important to understand these concepts. Chew (2010) defines leadership styles as the approach and way in which direction are provided, people are motivated, and plans are implemented within a given organization or setting. Also, leadership styles can refer to how a person (a leader) plays his or her leadership role; that is how he or she treats others, make decisions, and interacts with others (Northouse, 2011). In other words, leadership styles are about how a leader behaves, his/her experience, decisions, personality, actions, and philosophy. On the other hand, TQM is defined as an approach that aims at improving performance and quality that exceed and meet the expectations of customers of the organization Rawlins (2010). According to Evans and Lindsay (2010), TQM refers to a management philosophy or approach that is integrated for constant improvement of the quality of processes and products of an organization. In regard to leadership styles, there are several styles. However, most of these styles can be grouped into three major categories namely; authoritarian or autocratic style, democratic or participative style, and delegative or free reign (Schein, 2010). In authoritarian style, all or nearly all the decision making processes and powers are centralized to the organizational leader; there is very little or no contribution at all from the subordinates. Participative leadership involves participation of both the leader and subordinates in decision making; the decisions are not unilateral but rather collaborative (Schein, 2010). Lastly, a delegative or free rein style of leadership where the leader transfers responsibilities and authority to others who may often be the subordinates. It is based on the belief that a single person cannot do everything and has to set priorities and delegate certain tasks and subordinates are sometime free to decide their own methods and policies (Northouse, 2011). It is also crucial to understand TQM in de tails. Evans and Lindsay (2010) explain that TQM achieves its objective through integration of processes and all quality- related functions throughout the organization. According to Rawlins (2010), TQM is guided by a number of principles. These principles include; customer focus, employee involvement, continuous improvement, executive management, decision making, organizational culture, methodology, and training. Rawlins also argues that TQM involves costs that are essential in yielding better results for the organization. They include; failure costs, appraisal costs, and prevention costs. It is in the light of the above that the relationship between leadership styles and TQM can be understood and be explained. Pauleen and Gorman (2011) observe that the two concepts are fundamentally different but related especially in regard to operations and management of an organization towards achieving the set goals and objectives. As noted from the above explanations of the two concepts, they differ in meaning and functions. However, they relate in a number of aspects. First, application of these aspects in the organization is aimed at achieving organizational goals and objectives (Ivancevich, 2011). Secondly, they are both functions of the organizations that are necessary for the proper

Introduction to the History of western art Essay - 1

Introduction to the History of western art - Essay Example In trying to keep with the spirit of humanism, artist of the early renaissance tried as much to show a lifelike human forms with accurate proportion and realistic expressions and clothing (Johnson, 2005). For example a woman of the Renaissance, like a woman of the middle ages, were never given any political rights and were treated to be legally subject to their husbands. Women of all classes were required to perform, first and foremost, the tasks assigned to a housewife. For thousands of years women had very few economic, legal, or political rights and, in theory were expected to be submissive to their fathers or husbands (Hartt et al, 2011). Women were restricted to traditional gender roles, which forced them to remain in the domestic or private restriction of a community. Women’s roles as daughters, wives, or mothers were therefore considered their most important function in a community (Johnson, 2005). For the high class members of society, the reproductive ability of a wom an was an extremely significant determinant of inheritance and maintenance the family line (Hartt et al 2011). Through all classes of society, the social system of patriarchy evolved as the primary way to regulate women’s behavior and maintain social control (Slovely et al, 2001). Although women were often depicted in Renaissance art or literature, the cultural advancements and political developments that emerged from the Renaissance overwhelmingly neglected women (Johnson, 2005). The Renaissance brought a renewal and rebirth of intellect, culture, art, and social advancement that was seemingly only advantageous to men. Women continued to be deployed in communities only for the advantage of men, as daughters who could potentially help the family through an advantageous marriage, or as wives who took care of the home and produced children to help work on the farm or to carry on a family name (Hartt et al, 2011). The behavior of women were also an important indication of the social

Gerontological Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gerontological Project - Research Paper Example Tertiary prevention goal involves creating realistic short and long-term goals for healthy weight loss with the active participation from the patient. For this patient, pain is an issue that will prevent her from engaging in any exercise regimen and thus it has to be dealt with first. Chronic pain occurs in 25 to 86% of the elderly population and leads to â€Å"falls, deconditioning, malnutrition, gait disturbances, and overall slow rehabilitation† (Herr, 2002). Managing pain is a multi-dimensional process that involves pharmacological and non-pharmacological management (Herr, 2002). According to Messier et. al (2004), a combination of exercise and weight loss resulted in improved physical activity and reduced pain in overweight elderly with knee osteoarthritis. The exercise program that this patient can safely participate in could involve exercise three days per week, which consists of â€Å"an aerobic phase (15 minutes), a resistance-training phase (15 minutes), a second ae robic phase (15 minutes), and a cool-down phase (15 minutes)† (Messier et. al, 2004). Motivation and a desire to change are key components in the initiation of and continuity in an exercise program.

The audience in Act 1 Scene 1 of A Taste of Honey Essay Example for Free

The audience in Act 1 Scene 1 of A Taste of Honey Essay How does Shelagh Delaney establish the relationship of the main characters for the audience in Act 1 Scene 1 of A Taste of Honey? The first scene is probably the most important scene of all, as it tells us about the nature of the characters and their attitudes. The first words of the play that are stage directions play a big part. The quote the stage represents a comfortless flat . . . . . the street outside. Jazz music this tell us about the time in which they lived which was post war Britain from the jazz music. Jazz music is associated with the blues that was music about being down on your luck which was popular at these times. Mentioning that they lived in Manchester also gave a feeling of their surroundings. In Manchester at this time of the play there would have been few people of other ethnic origins as opposed to 1 in 20 British citizens being African, Asian or Caribbean origin in the 1990s. Also in that day and age it was only a tiny minority of the population on which were single parents. This would be the most important scene because it gave us an idea of what Helen and Jo are like. It tells us what there attitudes are and what sort of relationship they have. Helen reacts differently to Helen at the first impressions of the flat. While Helen is making the flat sounding a lot better than it actually is to make her feel a little bit better so she doesnt feel like a failure, Deep down inside she knows she is. Helen about the flat when she says Whats wrong with this place? . . . . . Anyway it will do for us. Jo hates the flat and expresss her feelings when she expresss to her mother I dont like it which are also the first words Jo, says in the play. Also Jo keeps pointing out faults to the flat like the roofs leaking and I bet itll smell trying to persuade Helen that the flat she had taken was a dump. You could say that Jo is pessimist and Helen is an optimist when it comes to attitudes to the flat. The setting of the flat is very depressing and greatly affects the characters of the play and brings them down. From the descriptions of the characters there are all the things people dont want to live near such as the gasworks, the slaughterhouse, tenements and a cemetery. Also when they arrive in the flat its raining which I think reflects how the characters are feeling and how low they are at the time. In the time Jo and Helen moved into the flat it was post war Britain and everything was being spent on buildings that needed restoring from the bombing during the wars. This meant that very little money was being spent to improve the condition of housing. The state of the flat affects Jo and Helen causing tension and most arguments nearly always start from living conditions of their flat. The flat also represents the chain of their life. They move from one run old flat to another that we find out when Jo says, Every place we find is the same which shows they are in a cycle they cannot break. Jo and Helen are mother and daughter, but as a reader its more of a sister relationship. Helen isnt a supportive mother and puts Jo down when she can which we find out when she says The way she bangs about! I tell you, my heads coming off. In the play there is one part where Helen offers to pay for Jo to go to Art School. Even though she says Have you ever . . . youll soon learn I dont think she means it and follow through with promises. They talk to one and other like they have no respect for each other. Jo doesnt show respect to her mother because she sees no reason to, after all, what has Helen ever done for Jo? Helen also doesnt care for Jo, as she never shows any affection to Jo at all when Jo says, Youve certainly never been affectionate with me. If Jo and Helen werent mother and daughter I think they wouldnt want to know each other if they had the choice. Its almost as if they had been forced together. The most likely subject to cause arguments is the state of the flat and how they actually treat each other. Also Shelagh Delaney uses humour, as in the form of sarcasm which relieves the tension of the atmosphere of the play and gives a little bit of light relief which Helen expresses when she says Why, have we run out of cemetery space? . . . When were gone. There is also a lot of jealousy between Jo and Helen. Jo is jealous of Helens men because she always shows affection to them rather than her. Also Jo once said I used to like one of them fancy men which also shows jealousy because Helen was hanging round him and never noticed Jo. Helen is jealous of Jo because she is young. When they first enter the flat Jo is a lot more organised than Helen and takes over the mother role because straight away she looks for sufficient heating God! Its freezing! Isnt their ant sort of fire anywhere, Helen? Also she puts a scarf round the light as a lampshade to make the room feel better with a softer light. To these characters the audience would feel tension as soon as they had walked through the door. But Shelagh Delaney tries to relax the mood with added sarcasm. When Peter enters he is presented as a brash car salesman, cigar in mouth, and from his dialogue we find he is a very selfish self-centred man. He doesnt care about anyones feelings when he says, Why dont you go home to your father? . . . Too bad to Jo that is a very sensitive issue to her, because of the fact she doesnt even know who her father is. He also tries to drag her to the pub knowing full well she that wasnt feeling well. When Peter is present she always she always wants to be there to get her mothers attention as a way of being spiteful to her. Helen acts as if Peter is an unwanted presence and tries to push him away at every advance he makes on her. But in the end she quite likes him as we find out when she says, Well, you certainly liberate something in me. And I dont think its maternal instincts either. The relationships in the first scene are very clear between Jo and Helen as we find out from the first time there is introduced. They fight as soon as they walk through the door of the flat. They both hate each other but in the end they care for each other. The relationship between Helen and Peter isnt that clear as it mentions little history, but from what Helen says hes not very nice person. We do find out that Helen had tried to escape from Peter when she says, How did you find my address. Its also clear that Jo doesnt like Peter as she tries to ruin Helens relationship with Peter. Also we know that Peter isnt interested in Jo and we find this out as Peter doesnt show any consideration to Jos feelings.

Good parenting advice for first time parents

Good parenting advice for first time parents Being or becoming a parent is one of the most challenging, yet most natural things people may face during their life. A first-time parent may feel overwhelmed by the situation, therefore it is important to learn from other parents and research carried out in this area. This essay will look at some of the most important pieces of advice that a good parent can have, which will hopefully lead to a good parenting. First it will outline more about what it means to be a parent. Secondly it will specify different theories of child development. Then it will look at attachment and the Internal working Model and why secure attachment is important in early childhood. And finally it will look at first relationships and how infants experience distress. A parent is someone who has a responsibility to raise and guide a person from child, to adolescent, all their way up until their offspring is an adult. Parents are important, because they are the main example for their child on how to interact with the world and how they should lead their life. A parent is a bit like a rules book or instruction manual, on how to live life, for a child. Good parenting is difficult to define, as one definition does not fit all, however it refers to finding a good balance within all aspects of how to be a good parent. Many successful people are often heard praising their parents and upbringing for their success; this could be due to a result of good parenting. If there is good, there must be bad parenting. Many criminals state that abusive or poor parenting is a cause for their behaviour. It is also important to realize that parenting has changed over the last 50 years, and that the term and expectations of a parent differs not only over time, but also culturally and socially, therefore what one can see as good parenting, can other dissaproof. (Oates, Lewis and Lamb, 2005) There are different theories of child development, and each of them focuses on different aspects of development. Psychoanalytic theorys central stage is to put importance to early period of childhood, as that influence the development of adult personality. Freud stressed the importance of childhood events and experience. He saw child development as series of psychosexual stages, where each stage played a role in adult personality. (Oates, 2005) Another theory is cognitive theory, which argues that development of interactions from birth leads to the emergence of language. Piaget saw children think differently from adults, and as a first person, he saw children play an active role in gaining knowledge of the world. Behavioural theory looks at how environmental interaction influences behaviour; development is shaped by reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli or reinforcement. Theory which looks at early relationships is Social theory, where Bowlby (1988) argues that early relationship s with caregivers play a major role in child development and continue to influence social relationships throughout life. The way in which newborns create new attachments and form their first relationships is very important. This is because these attachments and relationships could potentially provide the blue print for that person for the rest of their lives. Therefore an important bit of advice would be to provide lots of healthy attachments for babies early on in their lives. An attachment is something that we have a close bond to or a special relationship with. This can be with an object or a person. Bowbly (1988) believed that attachment is vital to make healthy attachments, not only one, but a variety, as this could lead to a more developed Internal working model (IWM). An IWM is made up of three parts; the model of self, model of the other and the relationship between these. The first experiences which babies have build their IWM, and this is what they use to approach new ideas and situations with. Therefore this model helps them to use this prior knowledge of attachments when they are in new sit uations with a different objects or people. A healthy attachment is a long-term, stable relationship between a child and an object or person, in this situation a parent. It is important for the child to make strong healthy attachments with not only parents, but also with other people, such as their grandparents or caregivers. The more relationships the baby has, the better outcome for the childs IWM, it also leads to healthy emotional development. Ainsworths Strange Situation (1978) experiment created four types of attachment, that a childs IWM can take. The four types are insecure-avoidant (Type A), securely attached (Type B), insecure-resistant/ambivalent (Type C) or disorientated/disorganized (Type D). The Strange Situation experiment examines attachments and its developmental consequences. The experiment looks at the behaviours and actions of a child, when they have been separated from their parent and then when reunited. Ainsworth noticed that it was when the child and the parent were reunited, that a childs type was most evident. Mothers of secure infants respond to all of their childs emotions, therefore the infants learn that all emotions are valid in relationship. When reunited the child found easy to be comforted by its mother. The avoidant infants show only few emotions, which are mostly negative. The mothers are unresponsive to most of the emotions, especially the negative ones. Therefore these infants learn to hid e their emotions. At the reunion, these children avoid interaction with their parents. Mothers, who respond only to distress responds of their infants, tend to have ambivalent infants. These infants learn that negative emotions get the attention of their mother and that these emotions are the valid ones in the relationship. These child children will seek contact and interaction at the reunion, but when it is offered, they reject it. These results showed that important factor of developing infants different types of IWM can be influenced by their mothers sensitivity to their infants emotional communications and emotions. (Ainsworth, 1969) Child with secure attachment feels worthy of his parents attention and love, and can gain comfort from this feeling when they are separated, and has confidence that his parent will return. According to Meins et al. (2001), parents, who treat their infants as persons with their own feelings and thoughts, contribute to their secure attachment. Bowlby (1988) argues that is important to have secure attachment, because these children might approach a relationship with more confidence than someone who has insecure attachment. The attachment theory puts forward that an infant who has a secure attachment with one or both parents will be able to use them as a secure base in which to explore their environment. This is because their IWM represent that of their parent figures. An example of importance of secure attachment and how IWM works can be seen in the programme by Dr Acquarone (2006). Marni had problem with her sleeping habits, she woke up through the night and needed her mother to comfort her. She had formed an attachment to her mother, as she feels secure with her, but as Dr Acquarone suggested, Marni has not formed a sufficiently stable internal working model for her to use as a source of comfort when her mother is not available. Therefore Marni needs to find and develop an attachment to a substitute transactional object, which will help her in this situation. It is important to remember that the baby is also a person, how a parent relates to the child in the early life will have a direct influence on its future. Throughout our lives we have many relationships. As people are predominately social, it is important that they learn how to make good strong relationships. It is important to make relationships not only for our physical needs, but also for our psychological development. Humans first relationship is very important. Winnicott (1964) stated that there is no such thing as a baby if you set out to describe a baby; you will find that you are describing a baby and someone. A baby cannot exist alone, but is essentially part of a relationship. (Winnicott, 1964, p.88) The caregivers are providing the physical needs for the baby; such as food, warmth and support, furthermore they are providing the opportunity for the baby to form a relationship with them. As part of a good relationship, it is important that an infants and an adults social in teractions fit well together, this is known as meshing. Oates (2005) assumed that meshed interactions between mother and infant can give the infant the unique experience of taking part in a dialogue, which also provides the experience of relatedness. Therefore mashing is very important, because interacting with infants provides an opportunity for the infant to recognize what his/her behaviour means, and how others respond to it. However, infants are very sensitive to their mothers responsiveness, as can be seen from Murray and Trevarthen (1985) study. Infants who were interacting with their mothers through a video link, where the live link was replaced by a delay or replay of the recording, made the infants distressed, as the mother was not corresponding to the infants needs properly. Shuttleworth (1989) assumed that distress is a crucial experience in infancy, which should not be avoided as it creates intimate contact between mother and baby. Each parent deals differently with distressed baby. Winnicott (1965) stated that it is very important for mother to be emotionally available to her infant to build up a system of two-way communication. He also believed that infant should be allowed to experience tolerable frustration as this leads to a healthy development of independence and sense of self. Therefore he challenged the term good mother, as he sees good mother as someone who allows just the right amount of delay in meeting the infants needs. Studies were done on what is the best to do with distressed babies. For example Ainsworth and Bell (1970) found that babies, whose crying was ignored early, were later crying more frequently than babies whose mothers responded quickly to their babies needs. These findings agree with attachment theory, where the idea is that mother respond immediately to her babys needs. However not all studies have same results. Some suggests that baby cries more frequently if the mother responds too often, this agrees with Social learning theory. In the study of Clarke-Steward (1973) on 11, 14 and 17 months old babies was found that mothers who respond promptly to distress infants were among the least fretful. However, when the results were examined separately in gender, the girls were the most and the least fretful even their mothers were very responsive to their signals of distress. This results support the predictions of both social-learning theorists and attachment theorists, which examples were mentioned above. Being a first-time parent can be a very challenging and difficult period in a persons life. Therefore it is vital that help is at hand. This has lead too many theories on child development. Parenting style is an important factor, and each parent must do what they feel is best for their child. This essay has identified some theories and examined research that explores attachments and relationships. It suggested that communication is very important between the mother and her infant, and that communication and attachment has an influence of the emotional development of the child. These would be important bits of information to pass on, because looking at these theories puts being a first-time parent into perspective. They demonstrate how the actions of the parent will have an effect on the baby possibly for the rest of his life. Primary relationships and attachments create the life blue-print for that baby. Obviously mistakes happen and parent cannot be a perfect all the time. So along with the advice in any parent help book or any research carried out, it is important for the parent to just do their best no matter what happens. Word count: 1981

Bach :: essays research papers

The Baroque Age Johann Sebastian Bach Born: Eisenach, March 21, 1685 Died: Leipzig, July 28, 1750 Regarded as perhaps the greatest composer of all time, Bach was known during his lifetime primarily as an outstanding organ player and technician. The youngest of eight children born to musical parents, Johann Sebastian was destined to become a musician. While still young, he had mastered the organ and violin, and was also an excellent singer. At the age of ten, both of his parents died within a year of each other. Young Sebastian was fortunate to be taken in by an older brother, Johann Christoph, who most likely continued his musical training. At the age of fifteen, Bach secured his first position in the choir of St. Michael's School in LÃ ¼neburg. He travelled little, never leaving Germany once in his life, but held various postitions during his career in churches and in the service of the courts throughout the country. In 1703 he went to Arnstadt to take the position of organist at the St. Boniface Church. It was during his tenure there that Bach took a month's leave of absence t o make the journey to LÃ ¼beck (some 200 miles away, a journey he made on foot) to hear the great organist Dietrich Buxtehude. One month turned into five, and Bach was obliged to find a new position at MÃ ¼lhausen in 1706. In that year he also married his cousin, Maria Barbara. Bach remained at MÃ ¼lhausen for only a year before taking up a post as organist and concertmaster at the court of the Duke of Weimar. In 1717, Bach moved on to another post, this time as Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold in Cöthen. During the years Bach was in the service of the courts, he was obliged to compose a great deal of instrumental music: hundreds of pieces for solo keyboard, orchestral dance suites, trio sonatas for various instruments, and concertos for various instruments and orchestra. Of these, the most famous are the six concerti grossi composed for the Duke of Brandenburg in 1721, and the Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 exemplifies the style of the concerto grosso in which a small group of instruments (in this case a small ensemble of strings) is set in concert with an orchestra of strings and continuo. Of Bach's music for solo instruments, the six Suites for violoncello and the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin are among the greatest for those instruments.

Essay --

In the short story The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas, Ursula Le Guin illustrates a community that is joyous. However, the community is torn because the source of their happiness is due to the choosing of an unfortunate child that resides in a basement under of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas neglected and barely ever eating. Le Guin explanation that although the people of the community are very happy, they are also very well aware of what is providing them that happiness. He writes, â€Å"all know [the child] is there†¦ They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child’s abominable misery† (257). This unjust and cruel pun ishment this child must endure for the sake of the community causes an ethical dilemma that tears apart the community. The ethical dilemma forces the community to acknowledge their living situation and ask themselves: What is more important? Their happiness or this child? Thus, they must make a choice to either walk away from the life and community they have lived in for their whole life because their source of happiness is at the cost of a young boys life. Or, do they continue to live in Omelas and ignore the harsh conditions that this young boy is exposed to. In the story the boy is described as a six-year-old boy that is neglected, locked away in a dirty room, abused mentally and physically, and alone(Le Guin, 257). He barely has any fat on him because all he is fed is â€Å"hal... ...e law, it does not mean that it is right and that we should be so ignorant to reason. In this situation, I would not be able to live with myself knowing that this one little boy is not being fed, being kicked, and left alone to basically die for my happiness. That is completely unacceptable. I believe that while it is innate for us to settle for comfort, we should not live a life that needs abuses someone to accomplish something. According to the categorical imperative, one should abide what they ought to do because it manifests from the moral law. Thus, I would walk away from Omelas because all people are equal and I would not be able to view this boy as a means to my end, which is happiness. Also, if that is the only way for me to achieve happiness then it is not true happiness but superficial emotion that can easily be demolished if anything happens to the boy.