Why collaboration is so important in decision making in institutions Essay

Why collaboration is so important in decision making in institutions of higher learning - Essay Example It is interesting, for instance, to read Bennis (1959) from the late 1950s; he was speaking of a radical shift in thinking about leadership which we take for granted today. Likewise with Heifetz (1994); his earliest writings contain the seeds of ideas, the beginnings of investigation into a powerful theory on adaptive leadership. Interviews with these thinkers were sought out as primary sources for this essay in order to touch upon what they are saying outside the boundaries of their seminal works (Bielaszka-DuVerney, 2009; Brennan, 1998; Gary, 2005; Kezar, 2008). These two theorists’ ideas dovetail with each other to paint a picture of how leadership fits into the most collaborative â€Å"business† in existence: higher education. Stakeholders, decision makers, and leaders in higher education come from all walks of life and all kinds of experiences. The second part of this paper explores the concept of â€Å"diversity† in depth, and attempts to define what diversity should mean to collaborative groups at institutions of higher learning. Gloria Ladson-Billings’ framework (2006; 2005; 2001; 1996) informs the discussion along with a multitude of others who have opinions on the subject. Both the idea of diversity and the various ways a collaborative group should approach it are fuzzy; encouraging surface diversity is not as effective as demanding deep diversity. Finally, the role of new technologies in forming and maintaining collaborative groups is an important consideration. The third section of this essay touches upon ways Web 2.0 makes life easier (and harder) for groups, and defines some perhaps unfamiliar terms. Technology is automatically out of date when it is released, or a new cutting edge product comes along which seems like the answer to everyone’s prayers. I believe the current suites of collaborative tools are excellent in some ways

Business A formal report Law on Pollution Accounting Essay

Business A formal report Law on Pollution Accounting - Essay Example *GEO Year Book 2006. United Nations Environmental Programme. 16 Apr.2006.http://www.unep.org **Poverty Resource. World Resources Institute. 16 Apr.2006. Our minimal awareness and response have produced a number of treaties, protocols, laws and monitoring agencies. But why then the Ozone hole is expanding Why Global-Warming is increasing Why species are, increasingly, afflicted by pollution in it's various forms Let us blame it on business houses and governments. Nature, in it's myriad forms, is exploited ruthlessly for 'materialistic economic benefits'. Society is the ultimate sufferer. How to stop the further decline and start our response more effective and pronounced The answer lies in "Pollution Accounting". This is the way we should make the business houses and government agencies absolutely transparent, responsible and answerable to the common man of the society, in the matters of environment and pollution. 'Pollution Accounting' is as good as financial accounting. It reflects the activities of business in relation to environment and pollution. It records, also, the role of government and it's agencies. The 'Pollution Accounting' reflects 'liabilities' and 'assets', as how a financial accounting does. 'The liabilities' must record how the business activities degraded and polluted the environment. What are all the negative impacts on the society should also be recorded under liabilities. Any legal case, pending or over, in relation to pollution and any ongoing investigation, by government agencies, related to environmental degradation should also be recorded. The data must be provided in 'real' terms and in monetary terms also. 'The assets', in 'Pollution Accounting", must include the internal and external...This is the way we should make the business houses and government agencies absolutely transparent, responsible and answerable to the common man of the society, in the matters of environment and pollution. 'Pollution Accounting' is as good as financial accounting. It reflects the activities of business in relation to environment and pollution. It records, also, the role of government and it's agencies. should also be recorded under liabilities. Any legal case, pending or over, in relation to pollution and any ongoing investigation, by government agencies, related to environmental degradation should also be recorded. The data must be provided 'The assets', in 'Pollution Accounting", must include the internal and external activities of the business aimed at improving the environment and curtailing the pollution. It must reflect the tangible and intangible benefits of the pollution control activities. The asset side should also include any proposal, to be taken up by the business, to improve the environment. The data must be provided in 'real' as well as in monetary terms.

The Modern Temper by Lynn Dumenil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Modern Temper by Lynn Dumenil - Essay Example This stage of history is claimed by the author to have established â€Å"the central motifs that have shaped the modern American temper.† While she acknowledges how important the role is of World War I being a tool or process of making the ‘roaring twenties’ happen, Dumenil does not believe in the common knowledge which infers that World War I is hugely responsible for such an outcome on which various aspects of change in American society, politics, economy, and culture are embedded. To her, it seems that the main source points to the major events of the industrial revolution as well as the consequences of a rapidly industrialized culture within a capitalist society. This is to say that World War I serves only to polish the results in the overall image of progressive economy or the idea of prosperity which caused population to shift from rural regions to urban locations believed to possess centers of commerce and adequate employment to support good living standards. Among a number of trends which are quite vivid in her investigation of the 1920s, the expanding bureaucratic form of government is prominent yet somewhat notorious for yielding to excessive power which had stirred general distrust across the nation. By noting how a U.S. representative kept an argument about daylight-savings time in a wartime program, Dumenil demonstrates how federal laws are exercised even in handling petty matters of politics, sarcastically reacting â€Å"we might soon have laws passed attempting to regulate the volume of air a man should breathe, suspend the laws of gravity, or change the colors of the rainbow.† Alongside the increasing state of bureaucracy emerged urban liberalism and pluralism in America’s heterogeneous society. Coupled with a mass-consumer culture, this led to unequal distribution of wealth so that social movements which influenced different religious, ethnic, and cultural groups were

Cultural Similarities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Similarities - Research Paper Example This paper shall assess the similarities between the African Americans and the Asians, what makes me feel at ease whilst interviewing a person of Asian origin, an assessment of the positive traits and attributes that person displays and finally discuss the changes I would have instilled in the Asian if given a chance to be friends. Being an African American, I selected Asians, for the reason that, we have both undergone discrimination from persons of the European culture since time immemorial. As evident in the work of O'Neil, Asians and Europeans have been through racial tensions; thus, the theme has been of interest to both sociologists and psychologists. Of essence, the individual in question struck my attention, as he was concerned with the kind of treatment they received during their stay in the country. I developed a form of attachment to him, as I in numerous instances, identified myself with the kind of treatment and racial discrimination that he was experiencing. According to O'Neil, African Americans and Asians share similarities in terms of assimilation and acceptance in the society. This explains why a majority of them do not intermarry especially with the Americans. With constant rejection by the society, O'Neil explains the reasons behind constant tension between the two races and the Americans. In this case, the ethnic symbols clearly explain the distinctness between Asians, Americans and African Americans. It is these ethnic symbols that create a form of ethnic unity by the other ethnic groups, as they share the same pleas as ‘outsiders’. This grouping creates a form of boundary maintenance between the ethnic groups. The same applies for Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, and European Americans. I was at first not at ease in the course of my meeting with my interviewee, since he looked held back and I could barely make out the reason behind it. Later on, I realized that my interviewee shares the same outlooks as I do. My interviewee was open, and happened to be very saddened with the racism in the country. In fact, what made me more at ease with him is that he was happy to share his sentiments with me, and was more of the main speaker in the conversation. With this frankness, I realize that the Asians are also affected by the discrimination in the society. As the discussion ensued with my interviewee, I realized that he strongly upholds the virtue of close and strong family ties. As Fong (2002) also emphasizes, family ties differ between the Asians and Americans. My client evidently explains to me how wrong it is for him to leave his family and become independent as they believe in close family ties. In relation to my client, this allows the younger generation to learn from their seniors while in the same family unit. Extended families are very vital for the Asians. I admire and support the fact that Asians are social beings as opposed to the Americans who live as individuals. My client was keen to mention how they pay attention to other persons and I realized that Americans are too individualistic. Despite the fact that Asians have been treated with a lot of discrimination, it is evident that my client is comfortable with his personality and compares himself with the whites as an equal. It is his high self esteem that motivated me, as prior to our meeting I always held the perception that the Whites were superior to Asians.

Does Global warming exist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Does Global warming exist - Essay Example Global warming usually occurs when greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide is trapped in the atmosphere thus causing a thickening blanket that traps the heat from the sun, making the planet earth to warm up continuously over a period of time (National Research Council (U.S.), 2010). There is clear evidence that there has been a marked change in the composition of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that currently stands at 390 ppm and even higher levels have been recorded at 400ppm at Mauna Loa, Hawaii in May 2013. It can now be proven that the average global temperature has undergone a change of about 1.4 °F in the last one hundred years (National Research Council (U.S), 2010). While the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that, the period between years 2000 and 2010 was the warmest on record with 2005 and 2010 being the warmest (Giese, 20113). Scientists also project that Earth's average temperatures will raise between 2 and 12 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100 which will be disastrous to human life and all the animal life on the planet earth (National Research Council (U.S.), 2011).The rise in the global temperature has been shown through the changes in weather and ultimately the climate of regions such as changes in rainfall pattern and intensity. The oceans, seas and glaciers have equally undergone changes while the oceans have become more acidic, the glaciers and ice caps on mountains and the Polar Regions have melted while the sea levels have risen (United States. (2010). These changes can be attributed to climate change have been due to human activities and natural variations in the weather and climate of a place. It is important to observe that the earth goes through a natural cycle of cooling, warming that may be attributed to factors such as changes in solar system, and acts such as volcanic activity and these cannot be the only explanation for the rise in temperatures (U.S. Global Change Research Program and Karl, 2009).   According to the National Research Council (U.S) (2010), the biggest cause of the increase in the global temperature of the earth is the trapped greenhouse gases in the air that trap the warmth leading to heating. This has been proven using satellite technology to measure the fluctuations in the energy from the sun; scientists have proven that the sun’s contribution is minimal as compared to human activities. The upshot of this is that the increase in temperatures currently experienced globally is due to the warming properties from greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that trap heat in the atmosphere. The increased concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere that also aids in the trapping and retention of the excess greenhouse gas emissions. Because water vapor is a greenhouse gas, it leads t o further warming through a

Music in People's Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music in People's Life - Essay Example VTI Ltd is generally into business that focuses on the active followers of music who normally make purchases of music records. Ironically, the fact that a person is an active follower of music does not guarantee that the person will be dogmatised to whatever a music company presents it with (Armenakis, Harris, & Mossholder, 2003). Mostly, these music consumers want dynamism and diversity in the way their businesses deal with it. It is for this reason that the all new form of music record trading, which is the online sale of music has become embraced by most lovers of music. There is no denying the fact that online sales make access to music easier and less expensive. There is also a lot of fun when it comes to how interactive and interesting the act of making purchases online can be. Due to this situation, a lot more consumers of music would be more comfortable doing business with companies that guarantee them these variables of services. The need for change at VTI Ltd. Change is not something that a lot of people embrace easily in organizational management and set up. This is because in most cases, people feel very comfortable with the systems they have been associated with and with feel that trying their hands on new ideas, programmes and systems would bring about an entire change in the organisational culture, which would in turn affect the way business is conducted within the organisation (Osborne & Brown, 2005). But as much as it is true that changes in key policies, programmes and systems could lead to changes in organisational culture, it is also true to argue that changes are generally needed when there is the need for a pragmatic reformation aimed at growth and development (Grundy, 1993). In the current case of VTI Ltd, the only justification for change is that revenues are falling and the company has not made any profits in the past four years. Clearly, any organisation that becomes plagued with such a situation must first look out for a course of cha nge to ensure that wrongs are corrected and the direction and focus of the organisation is placed in line with demand trend on the market (Hirschhorn, 2000). There is also the need for change because customers have changed their consumer behaviour towards the company. Yet again, O’Toole (2005) notes that when consumer behaviour changes towards an organisation, its revenues may either go up or down. But in this case, revenues are going down. Causes of change at VTI Ltd. There could be two major paradigms of causes of change for VTI Ltd, which are internal and external. Largely though, it can be said that the internal changes are quiet dependent on the external changes. This is said because it is realised from the case that the major cause of change is changes in consumer behaviour, which is quite an external phenomenon (Batt, 2002). There is also an external cause of competition, whereby the company is seen not to be proactively surviving the competition it is reaching from ke y competitors. In a situation where there is lack of competition, revenues will fall because competitors win over the available customers of a company (Baum & Rowley, 2005). Even more, changes in business orientation, which is also an external factor, could be counted as being responsible for the change. By this, reference is being made to how the music sales industry has adopted itself to a more technology based way of doing business, where electronic commerce has become the order of the day. Generally, these external factors have led up to internal causes such as organisational conflicts and struggle, which is seen between management and employees, and lack of employee satisfaction, arising from

To what extent does international trade explain the remarkable success Essay - 1

To what extent does international trade explain the remarkable success of the East Asian economies since 1945 - Essay Example Deng Xiaoping, at the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1978, criticized the Cultural Revolution and insisted that CCP should prioritize economic growth (Hess 22). This incident is widely recognized as the beginning of China’s financial reform period and undeniable economic wonder, as an outcome of which China became the second biggest and most vigorous economy in the world. This paper discusses the evolution of China’s financial reform. In 1978, Deng Xiaoping and his peers from the Party’s Central Committee gathered in Beijing and agreed that financial reform was the only solution to the political and economic problems confronting China (Tam 83). China, during that time, was an impoverished, strictly regulated agrarian economy on the brink of failure. The initial period of financial reforms was characterized by a marked growth of financial institutions. From 1978 to 1988, leading banks, including the central bank, were founded, as well as numerous financial agencies, credit cooperatives, and trust and investment firms at municipal, provincial, and central level (Zhu 1505). In 1983, two highly significant events occurred: first, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) took on the functions of a central bank; and, second, PBoC’s commercial banking operations were divided into four state-owned, autonomous banks, popularly called the ‘Big Four’— the People’s Construction Bank o f China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China, and the recently established Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Hess 25). Institution building began in the initial reform period with the formation of a two-level banking structure. In 1995, central banking experienced a new push when a new policy on the PBoC was implemented that provided the central bank the legal structure to function under the headship of the State Council in a market-driven setting (Riedel and Jin 79). At