Faustus and Conflict Essay

Christopher Marlowe’s play â€Å"Doctor Faustus† presents a story that is filled with various forms of significant philosophical conflict. While, on the surface, the play is intended to focus on the â€Å"form of Faustus’ fortunes,† the scope of the play includes commentary on several other important themes (Prologue.8). Marlowe uses Faustus’s position to demonstrate a sharp contrast between the values of the medieval time period with the developing values associated with the Renaissance movement. Faustus’s story shows a direct conflict between the traditional and the modern in its form, its ideology, and its view of religion. Since Marlow maintains an ongoing struggle between these various elements throughout the play, a struggle also exists between the tragic and comedic elements of the story. Marlowe’s ambiguity toward the primary direction of the play creates a situation in which the ultimate purpose of the play’s comedic scenes remains uncertain even after Faustus’s final moments. The content of Faustus’s story superficially focuses on Faustus’s struggle to maintain control over the destiny of his own soul. Faustus’s desire to become â€Å"a mighty god† leads him to make a deal with Lucifer, in which he exchanges his soul for twenty four years of demonic power (1.62). Throughout the play Faustus struggles with repentance and disbelief, and he is eventually condemned to Hell for his actions. Symbolically, Faustus’s story is more appropriately a representation of the struggle, evident during Marlowe’s time period, between the traditional ideas of the medieval period and the modern ideas of the Renaissance. This conflict is evident within the first few lines of the play. Marlowe begins the play by having Faustus announce that he has given up on the traditional schools of thought, such as the study of religion, law, and medicine. Instead, he plans to study â€Å"that damned art† of necromancy or black magic (2.29). While traditional medieval thought encouraged the unquestioning acceptance of ancient philosophy, Renaissance thought encouraged experimentation and a rethinking of previously accepted beliefs. While Faustus’s actions may show his support of these Renaissance beliefs, his ultimate demise suggests that Renaissance thought may also be imperfect because it does not include a belief in God. This dualism between modern and traditional thought is also evident in the structure of the play. Marlowe employs elements that would be common in most traditional plays, such as the use of a chorus. He also uses mythical comparisons, depicting Faustus as another Icarus, a man who will eventually â€Å"mount above his reach† (Prologue.21). Faustus is also depicted as a tragically flawed character. Faustus is portrayed by the Chorus as being â€Å"swollen with cunning† (Prologue.20). Like Achilles, Hercules, or other traditional Greek heroes, Faustus has a character flaw that will mostly likely lead to his demise, but the eternal damnation of Faustus, to the Elizabethan audience, would be the equivalent of damning great Greek heroes, and thus creates artificial traditional expectations of the play. Simultaneously, Marlowe also ignores many of the important characteristics of traditional tragedies. While most tragedies depict historically important characters, Faustus’s story is a tale of an ordinary man, not of the â€Å"courts of kings† or the â€Å"pomp of proud audacious deeds† (Prologue.4-5). By focusing on the common man and also by writing in blank verse, a style that was uncommon during this period, Marlowe breaks away from the traditional expectations of a tragic play. Faustus’s view of religion also constantly vacillates between a traditional acceptance of Christianity and a modern rejection of it. When Faustus initially reads that â€Å"[t]he reward of sin is death,† and that â€Å"[i]f we say we that we have no sin, / We deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us† he suggests that Christianity is a futile endeavor and decides that â€Å"What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu!† (1.40-43, 48). He mistakenly characterizes Christianity as being based on punishment rather than on forgiveness, a mistake that he repeats throughout the play. Later, he believes his heart has become â€Å"so hardened† that he â€Å"cannot repent!† (5.196). While he initially suggests that Hell is nothing but a fable, Faustus’s religious convictions continue to grow. Upon seeing Lucifer and Mephistopheles, he cries out, â€Å"O Faustus, they are come to fetch thy soul!† and even murmurs â€Å"Consummatum est,† meaning â€Å"it is finished,† which were Christ’s dying words on the cross, after signing his deal with Lucifer (5.264, 74). In this manner, Marlowe remains ambiguous throughout most of the play as to his position on the various conflicts he has depicted. For the audience, Faustus position as a modern man and Marlowe’s portrayal of religion remain in doubt. For this reason, the comedic scenes also remain ambiguous throughout the play. The audience remains uncomfortably unsure as to whether the comedy is intended to garner support for Faustus as the ultimate hero of the story or to mock Faustus by foreshadowing his own demise. The conclusion of the play demonstrates that the comedy depicted in the play, in addition to its theatrical purpose of providing a comedic interlude, provides a critical depiction of Faustus’s fall from grace. One of the first comedic scenes in the play occurs when Faustus asks the demon Mephistopheles to reappear in the habit of a friar since â€Å"[t]hat holy shape becomes a devil best† (3.26). While the depiction of a devil in the garb of a Catholic friar would have undoubtedly been hysterical to Marlowe’s staunchly Protestant audience, the scene also carries significant meaning. By having Mephistopheles disguise his true figure, Faustus, despite his fearless speech, seems unable to stomach the true nature of Hell. Even when Mephistopheles seems to warn Faustus that his own â€Å"pride and insolence† have forever barred him â€Å"from the face of heaven† and that he is now â€Å"tormented with ten thousand hells,† Faust clings to his own diluted version of Hell (3.67-68, 79). He delusionally envisions Hell as a continuation of an earthly existence, and criticizes Mephistopheles for his lack of â€Å"manly fortitude† (3.85). The comedy within the play is continued by the antics of the characters Wagner, Robin, Rafe, and the Clown. Most of these comedic actions seem to foreshadow Faustus’s own downfall. The first depiction of Wagner and the Clown mirrors Faustus signing his soul over to Lucifer. During this scene, Wagner convinces the Clown to become his servant for seven years, and the Clown jokes about how he would sell his soul for a shoulder of well-seasoned mutton. While represented in a comedic fashion, this scene foreshadowing the triviality of the power Faustus has obtained in exchange for his soul. As suggested by Mephistopheles’s unwillingness to discuss things that are â€Å"against our kingdom,† Faustus soon discovers that there are severe limitations placed upon the power wielded by Lucifer and his minions (5.247). In another comedic scene involving these characters, Robin, the stable hand, and Rafe steal a cup from a tavern and are pursued by the tavern wine-maker. Robin summons Mephistopheles to frighten the vintner, and is chastised by the demon for being summoned for a practical joke. Mephistopheles threatens to turn the two men into a dog and an ape. While Mephistopheles is obviously angered by the triviality of Robin’s request, his anger also reflects his own suggestion that Faustus abandon his â€Å"frivolous demands† (3.81). This scene foreshadows how Faustus will eventually abandon his own lofty goals and will also use his power primarily to play practical jokes. Much of the comedy in the play is related to the digression of Faustus’s goals and the ways in which he employs his power. Faustus begins the play with many lofty goals. With his powers, Faustus plans to have spirits bring him jewels from around the world, teach him vast secrets of the universe, and make him king of Germany. He planed to change the course of the Rhine River and remake the entire map of Europe. Initially, Faustus appears to be on the path toward reaching these goals. Wagner tells how Faustus has ridden through the cosmos on the back of a dragon learning the secrets of astronomy from Mephistopheles. But Faustus quickly losses momentum, and, upon reaching Rome, decides to use his power to play practical jokes on the Pope. While this idea would, once again, be extremely funny to Marlowe’s Protestant audience, it represents the beginning of Faustus’s digression. As time progresses, Faustus’s audiences also decrease in their level of importance. Following his time with the Pope, one of the most influential figures during this time period, Faustus meets the German Emperor Charles V, who is also an important figure but not as important as the Pope. During this meeting, Faustus, unable to fulfill the requests made by Charles due to more limitations on his powers, embarrasses a disrespectful knight in the King’s court by placing antlers on his head. This digression continues as Faustus final audience is with a simple nobleman and his wife. Faustus’s display of power consists of fetching out of season grapes for the nobleman’s wife. The comedy during these scenes primarily includes a practical joke Faustus plays on a horse-courser. Like Robin and Rafe’s practical joke, Faustus now uses his power to play jokes on people his has already angered. Like many other aspects of the play, the comedy depicted by Faustus’s gradual demise also remains ambiguous. For many, this demise can be seen as a failure in Renaissance thought. Faustus’s search for power and knowledge has left him disconnected from God, the ultimate source of both. By not including God or morality in his search for truth, Faustus has become corrupted by the influences of power and no longer retains his somewhat nobler purposes. But Faustus also simultaneously fails in his attempts to incorporate a more traditional view of religion into his life. He recalls that â€Å"Christ did call the thief upon the cross,† believing that he too will be brought into paradise. Faustus, particularly during his last hours on Earth, seems to exhaust every possibility of incorporating religion into his life. He offers to make deals with God, begs for mercy if not redemption, and even turns to Helen of Troy, a representation of feminine virtue or Mother Mary, for reprieve. Faustus’s condemnation demonstrates how Faustus has been simultaneously failed both by traditional religion and by the beliefs held by modern Renaissance thinkers. In conclusion, the comedy within this play serves a variety of purposes. Like many of the other elements in the play, the comic and tragic elements seem to struggle with one another throughout the play. This struggle is also seen in Faustus’s struggle between Renaissance thought and form and a more traditional view of life and religion. When coupled with these various forms of conflict, the comedic scenes within â€Å"Doctor Faustus† cause the play to constantly waver between tragedy and comedy, leaving the audience without any knowledge of how the play will ultimately end or of the true meaning of the play. Most of the comedy seems to mock Faustus’s decision to embrace a modern philosophy toward life, but, when religion ultimately fails him as well, Faustus seems to be a completely hopeless representation of man. The play’s comedic scenes are another method, employed by Marlowe, to create confusion and veil the true significance of the play.

Introductory paragraph and online worksheet Essay

I am number three of four children in the family line up, the first and only to go to college. My parents always have been supportive of my going back to school because they did not even finish elementary school. My career plan is to become an Elementary School Teacher or a Marriage and Family Therapist. I am currently working on getting my bachelor’s degree in psychology, possibly a master’s degree in education or counseling. University of Phoenix was one of my first school choices, I loved that I could focus on one class at a time and be able to work full time. The tools available to a University of Phoenix student are amazing; build a career plan, do job market research, online library, personality tests, and much more. My competencies helped me to see what my strengths and weaknesses are such as innovating, writing, adapting to change, and coping with pressure. Once I completed the career interest profiler, I was not surprised to see that my results encouraged me to be a teacher or a therapist because I am interested in that.

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Research paper over positives and negatives of war bonds during world

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GENETICS - Essay Example Myra was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 48, indicating that it is likely that her cancer was sporadic rather than inherited, however this does not rule out the possibility of the cancer being heritable. In contrast, her mother died from cancer at a ‘young’ age, which suggests the possibility that this was an inherited susceptibility. The fact that there is a chance that the susceptibility may have been inherited means that I would have raised the possibility of a referral with Myra on the basis of her family history alone. The presence of a defective gene, which can be passed from parent to child, results in the child having up to an 80% probability of getting cancer at some point in their lifetime . There are many benefits to genetic counselling, including an increased understanding of whether the disease is inherited and what the chances that offspring will inherit it are . Many different things are inherited genetically; a child may inherit his mother’s bl ue eyes, or his father’s nose shape as well as the susceptibility to a particular disease that is present on his father’s side of the family. ... Many people consider that a child is ‘more like his mother’ or ‘more like his father’ based on their physical appearance. However, while this is a common belief it is not true, children inherit approximately half of their DNA from their mother and half from their father (only approximately due to the presence of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA) . Consequently, while the gene for breast cancer susceptibility (such as BRCA1 or BRCA2) may have an increased likelihood of being inherited with a feature of appearance such as hair colour, there is no basis for believing that a child has an increased likelihood to inherit susceptibility because of the presence of particular physical characteristics. Individuals have a wide range of beliefs about the origins of disease, many of which do not agree with the known scientific basis. These beliefs are based on factors such as prejudice, tradition and ignorance of the scientific basis for inheritance. Some factors t hat are often considered to be causative of disease include education, economic class, and weight . Consequently, Myra attributing the similarity in physical characteristics to a similarity in disease susceptibility does not have strong scientific basis, however, matches trends that are seen in the population, especially among lay people. Scenario Two Being able to work with colleagues and patients who have different cultural beliefs is an important part of nursing, especially in modern society. It is not enough to promote our own, predominantly Westernised, views on the rest of the world without considering their viewpoints and different expectations . In recent years, there has been a trend towards increasing cultural awareness and the development of cultural

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Gezi Park Protests in Turkey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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To analyze the process of Argos' shopping design and supply chain, and Essay

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Recruitment and Selection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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Roman Aqueducts and Architecture Essay Example for Free

Roman Aqueducts and Architecture Essay Rome had many famous achievements. The two different ones that I found most interesting to me were the aqueducts and architecture. Till this day, it is still unknown when and where the first aqueduct was built. Roman Aqueducts Person in charge: The first person in charge of the Roman waterworks in 33 B. C was Marcus Agrippa. What they are: They are channels that run through the water, that are conducted to the place where it is being used. The tunnels were dug through the rocks and other canals that are in the earth. Materials that were used: Some of the materials that the Rome used to build the aqueducts were: masonry, concrete, cast iron, steel, or wood. If the gravity was working the greatest, they would use pumps to push the water through. Facts: There would be much more aqueducts built when the cities were growing. When there were dry lands, the aqueducts would also supply the water, so the crops could be watered. Rome was known to have a lot of aqueducts and was the only city with a good water supply. Nine total aqueducts were said to supply 85 million gallons of water a day to the cities or where it was needed. Years later five more aqueducts were built. In Rome, 200 cities had aqueducts. Roman Architecture Most famous buildings they built were: They were post and lintel, but they were limited in the weight it was to carry, and the span between the supports. Facts: The Roman Architecture changed all this and advanced this by introducing new methods of architecture; The Columns and The Arches. With these methods the romans were able to construct bigger temples and buildings than ever before. They built three types of columns during their long history, but the most basic column that they built was called the Doris Style. The features they used were not perfect or even looked good, but they served a good purpose. The arches they used gave the power to amaze and glorify, but also the main use was the immense support. The Pantheon was the largest dome built for eighteen centuries. Their idea of the arch was too extended in the middle ages with the barrel vault and different types of vaults which was the central theme of the Romanesque and Gothic Cathedrals. To construct the arches they used cement, which this helped the Romans expand their building. When they built the Coliseum, they used concrete along with their arch system when they were building it. Using this method they were able to build a four story high stadium, which was able to seat 50,000 people. . (UNRV History) A famous Roman aqueduct, the Pont du Gard near Nimes, France, stands as a reminder of one of the worlds greatest empires. At its peak of power, in the A. D. 100s, the Roman Empire covered about half of Europe, much of southwest Asia, and the north coast of Africa.

History of enlightenment Essay Example for Free

History of enlightenment Essay (1) Newtonian theory vs. Einstein and Heisenberg The Newtonian theory refers to the work of one of the earliest scientists known as Isaac Newton who stated that, the laws of nature (gravity) controlled the stable movements of objects and also maintained the delicate balance that holds things firmly to the ground. However, since then this theory has been subjected to many conflicting philosophical views and opinions that have either challenged or supported it. The emergence of Albert Einstein and his genius in physics, for instance, gave way for heated debates about the credibility of the Newtonian theory of natural law and gravity. Albert Einstein in his proposed theory of relativism helped to extend Newtonian dynamics to include motion at speeds of approaching than that of light. This new additional clause on the initial theories of gravity saw the revolutionary perception of the effect of motion on gravity. The new findings led to the disputation of the absoluteness of Newtonian theory in that, Einstein discovered some faults that made the Newtonian theory incomplete and questionable. Einstein was able to learn that some elements such as time, mass, energy, space, and even matter are not necessarily absolute in themselves, they can therefore be measured or altered by a person depending on the nature of his/her study variables. [Nick Strobel, 2001] Warner Heisenberg later emerged to add his findings on what he called â€Å"quantum† mechanics that described motion on a subatomic scale. In his findings Heisenberg, asserted that the universe was full of uncertainties that made it not an obvious phenomenon to ever understand. â€Å"The more precisely the position is determined the, the less precisely the momentum is known at this instant, and vice versa† The work of these two scientists heralded the genesis of new studies that sought to provide insights on initially abstract theories, the Newtonian one included. [Mr. Edmondson, 2000] (2) Social Darwinism and Hitler The theories of social Darwinism, provided for a healthy competition among individuals, groups, nations, and the global world as a whole for purposes of achieving social evolution amongst human societies. Social Darwinism is a derivative from the Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Natural selection according to Darwin is the process of speciation in populace that is brought about by competition between individual mortals for limited resources a phenomenon called, â€Å"survival for the fittest†.   [Johnson, D. Paul, 2008] In his book, â€Å"Main Krampf† Hitler expresses acknowledgement of both the principals of social Darwinism and natural selection, this he exhibits by asserting that the world should be classified to people’s ancestry, a classification that will involve with some people being placed on higher classes than others, he quoted the example of Germany Aryans as more superior than the blacks, Jews, and gypsies as belonging to a lesser class. Again, Hitler is seen as acting beyond the dictates of social Darwinism or even the principal of natural selection with his racial attitude towards the Jews whom he accuse of abetting racial dilution tactics in order to bring about equality. His perception of social Darwinism and natural law was about the political, social, and economic struggle between the mainstream Aryans and the minority Jews. His racialism attitudes led him to the gassing and brutal murdering of millions of Jews as a way of satisfying his own â€Å"social Darwinistâ €  theory. [Mein Kampf, 1939] (3) Sigmund Freud vs. John Locke According to john Locke, â€Å"self† is the conscious thinking thing which is in itself reasonable or conscious of pleasure and pain and proficient of cheerfulness or melancholy, and so is concerned for itself, as far as that awareness extends. In other words to him self is a character awareness and self thoughtful awareness that is fixed in the body.   [Locke, Essay, 1997] In his work â€Å"some thoughts concerning Education† he indicates it is education that fills the rather â€Å"empty human mind†, by asserting that out of the ten men he meets with nine of them are what they are, morally upright or morally rotten, useful or not, good or evil, chiefly due to their education. [Locke, Some Thoughts, 1996] Further he argued that little and almost insensible impressions we make when we are young having lasting impacts to ourselves simply due to the fact that they were the foundations of the self. [Locke, Some Thoughts, 1996] On the other hand Sigmund Freud differed vehemently with Lockean theory in that he argued that human beings behavior is controlled largely by their unconscious minds. He argued that the understanding of conscious thoughts and behavior is determined by revisiting the unconscious mind. He developed â€Å"repression† as key factor that determined unconscious, out of belief that far many people repress painful memories into their unconscious minds. He further clarified that the very process of repression took place within an individual’s conscious mind but rather in the unconscious one, and therefore many people are unaware that is happening on them. [Barlow DW, Durand VM, 2005] Finally Freud stubborn stance on the unimportance of both education and treatment to the alleviation of violence or suffering can be attributed to his changing of the system of unconsciousness and modeling it into the concept of Ego, super-ego, and id.   Super ego is ability to psyche ones morals and not taking in to account circumstantial morals situations, while Id was derived from William James early works. It is in light of this that Freud vehemently disputed the notion that the success of the population relied on education.   [Barlow DW, Durand VM, 2005] Freud model of mind has been a great challenge to the enlightenment model of rational agency which then was a core element in modern philosophy.

Changing Roles Of Nurses Nursing Essay

Changing Roles Of Nurses Nursing Essay The role of nurses has grown considerably in the last decade in accordance with the rapid changes in technology, as well as political and socio-economic developments. The perioperative practitioners play a significant part in this all nursing profession. However, the role of perioperative nurses considerably changes in the operating theater for a variety of reasons. For instance, the diverse regulations and rules clearly explain the role of these nurses in the operating room. In addition, from the viewpoint of legal, moral, and professional perspective, the role of nursing within the perioperative landscape has come many challenges. The changing environment dealing with professional accountability and its effect on the scope of nursing practice has emerged. According to Boss (2002), the changes in the nursing roles over the years have been influenced by several guiding codes; Code of Professional Conduct (UKCC 1992) and Code of Professional Conduct. These changes include the whole arena of developing roles in perioperative nursing which include working as advanced scrub practitioner (ASP). Dowling (1996) explains that these new functions of nurses deal with principles like meeting the needs of patients, giving an all rounded, complete care as well as developing needed skills. In addition, responsibility and accountability are essential skills are required in this field. Nurses who serve as ASP have several issues to content with such as independence, professional accountability, and duty to care in addition to legal issues. Of late, nursing has developed into all the functional activities which arose as a result of the technological, socio-economical and political changes. The ASP is part of all this nursing activities since their roles always vary for several reasons in the operating theater. For instance, different regulations and rules always define the roles of the ASP nurses who operate within the theatre are generated differently. In the ethical, legal and professional perspectives, the ASP preoperative environments have many new challenges which must be addressed on a daily basis. The ever changing boundaries of professional responsibilities and their influence on the practice have emerged. The clinical and practice influence has influenced the academic, professional and academic development of the Scrub Theatre practitioners. The Advanced Theatre Scrub Practitioners are personally accountable for their practice and must always work in a cooperative and collaborative manner with the healthcare professionals and other people who are involved in provision of care, respect and recognize their contributions to the care team. For the Advanced Theatre Scrub Practitioners to be successful in their careers, they must be effective and always work towards achieving a certain goal. The Advanced Theatre Scrub Practitioners provide the nursing care to the patients in a perioperative environment and they also deal with the technical and instrumentation equipment that will be used during the whole process. Emotional labor is always very crucial for both the nurses and the ASP and it ahs been established to be very important in the nursing profession. In the Operating theatre, the ASP have to consider two major areas in their work which include one, to keep the surgeon dealing with the patient happy and the second, not to upset the surgeons. The second point is a big reminder that if the ASP can make the Surgeon jovial and happy, then they will be very sure that they will not upset the surgeons. It is highly recommended that the ASP maintains the emotional labor with the co-employees rather than the patients. The roles of the healthcare professionals have changed considerably over the years and the nurses have been particularly affected. These changes have arose because of the code of professional conduct, the code of professional conduct and guidance. These changes have affected the whole area of the perioperative nursing such as the Advanced Scrub Practitioner who was formally known as the First Assistant. The Advanced Theatre Practitioners always have many issues to contend with which includes the duty of care, autonomy and other legal and professional accountability. The development of the extended roles like the Advanced Scrub Practitioner has also created dangers that the nursing profession could end up in a very bad state of confusion. Nurses therefore have to be aware that accepting the roles of the ASP issues which include underpinning education of practice and development and the high standards of care that the patients require and deserve are considered in the requirements of the governing bodies and the healthcare management. The roles of the ASP therefore must be undertaken by a very competent and qualified practitioner who should have received the renown training of this role and aware that the care of the patient is paramount before anything else. Therefore, the role of the ASP gives the nurse who acts in this capacity a chance to provide a very holistic care to each and every patient. The PCC Act of 2003 therefore clearly states that the duties of the ASP do not at any cost involve any surgical interventions. The role of the ASP doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t require extended practice but instead the role is already established into the theater nurse role and as such, it doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t require any specific training. The roles of the ASP therefore require some specific training competencies and needs and that this role should be clearly states in the contract employment and job description of the people who undertake this practice. The NMC (2004) in their code of professional conduct didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have any objection for the practitioners to develop the scope of their practice but instead requested that the ASP concerned be competent for the jobs and always be mindful of the professional and personal accountabilities that they bear for their actions. As such, there are several points in the code of NMC which refer to autonomy when considering the professional practice of the ASP. The ASP should be able to support and protect the health of the individual patients and the clients. Another role was that the ASPs were professionally accountable for their actions and therefore they should be responsible and answerable for their omissions and actions regardless of any directions they get from the other professionals. Another point was that the practitioners should able to realize their strengths and weaknesses so that they can be able to protect the patients who are under their care. The specific duties and specifications of the Advanced Scrub Practitioner will therefore include but are not limited to: Performing skin preparation prior to surgery of the patients. Draping. Performing tissue and skin retraction. Handling of the tissues and manipulation of the organs so that they can be prepared for exposure or access. Handling the instruments which will be used in the surgery. Enhancing the communication channels between the ward, the theatre and the patient and even performs preoperative assessment and offer postoperative care evaluation for the patients. They are responsible for the application of indirect electrocautery under the supervision of the superiors. They are responsible for the use and maintaining of the specialized surgery equipment in their areas of working. They are required to perform the male and female characterization and also cut off the ties and sutures. The ASPs should assist with haemostasis so that to secure and maintain a very clear operating field. They are responsible for holding the camera so that there is invasive access surgery to the patients. The ASP should assist in positioning the patients and also conduct a tissue viability assessment. They should handle the tissues and manipulate the organs for access or exposure. It is therefore important to note and be aware that the role of the ASP is extended which requires validated training and those they are obliged for the maintenance of the high standards while bearing in mind the protection and support of the patients in a professional and accountable manner. On the other side, it is also worthy noting that although the use of technology can help in the optimum care of the patients, there should be a very strong need for interaction between the surgical patients and the perioperative practitioners.

The Death and Dying Beliefs of Australian Aborigines :: Aborigines American Indians Religion Essays

The Death and Dying Beliefs of Australian Aborigines   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although the Aborigines are often classified as a primitive race whose religion is based upon animism and totemism like the American Indians, the Aboriginal funeral practices and beliefs about death have much in common with other cultures. This paper will discuss the death and dying beliefs of the Aborigines that share a common thread with many popular religions of today. Aboriginal beliefs in death and dying are original in that they combine all these beliefs in a different way. The purpose of looking at the commonalties is to examine the shared foundations of all religions by investigating the aspect of death and dying in a very localized and old set of beliefs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As in many religions, Aborigines share a belief in a celestial Supreme Being. During a novice's initiation, he learns the myth of Daramulun, which means â€Å"Father," who is also called Biamban, or â€Å"Master.† Long ago, Daramulun dwelt on earth with his mother. The earth was barren and sterile. There were no human beings, only animals. Daramulun created the ancestors of the tribes and taught them how to live. He gave them the laws that are handed down from father to son, founded the initiation ceremonies and made the bull-roarer, the sound of which imitates his voice. It is Daramulun that gives the medicine men their powers. When a man dies, it is Daramulun who cares for his spirit. This belief was witnessed before the intervention of Christian missionaries. It is also used only in the most secret initiations of which women know nothing and are very central to the archaic and genuine religious and social traditions. Therefore it is doubtful that this belief was due to missionary propaganda but istruly a belief of the Aborigines (Eliade, 1973).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another belief that is reminiscent of the Christian faith is that death came into being only because the communications between heaven and earth had been violently interrupted. When Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, death came into existence. This belief of the origin of death is common to many archaic religions where communication with heaven and its subsequent interruption is related to the ancestor's loss of immortality or of his original paradisal situation (Eliade, 1973).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Australian ritual re-enactment of the â€Å"Creation† has a striking parallel in post-Vedic India. The brahmanic sacrifice repeats what was done in the beginning, at the moment of creation, and it is only because of the strict uninterrupted performance of the sacrifice that the world continues and periodically renews itself. It is only be identifying himself with the

Othello’s Diversity of Imagery Essay -- Othello essays

Othello’s Diversity of Imagery  Ã‚        Ã‚   The diverse imagery found in Shakespeare’s drama Othello represents a world all by itself. And this world of imagery contributes to the prevailing sentiment of pain and suffering and unpleasantness.    There is no shortage of imagery in the play; this is for certain. Critic Caroline Spurgeon in â€Å"Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us† sorts through the plethora of imagery in the play:    The main image in Othello is that of animals in action, preying upon one another, mischievous, lascivious, cruel or suffering, and through these, the general sense of pain and unpleasantness is much increased and kept constantly before us. More than half the animal images in the play are Iago’s, and all these are contemptuous or repellent: a plague of flies, a quarrelsome dog, the recurrent image of bird-snaring, leading asses by the nose, a spider catching a fly, beating an offenceless dog, wild cats, wolves, goats and monkeys. To these Othello adds his pictures of foul toads breeding in a cistern, summer flies in the shambles, the ill-boding raven over the infected house, a toad in a dungeon, the monster ‘too hideous to be shown,’ bird-snaring again, aspics’ tongues, crocodiles’ tears, and his reiteration of goats and monkeys.’ In addition, [. . .] . (79)    The play’s imagery is oftentimes reflective of the fortunes of the protagonist. As the Moor’s status declines, the quality of the imagery in the play declines. In The Riverside Shakespeare Frank Kermode explains the relationship between imagery and Othello’s jealousy:    It is very important to see that Othello’s self-estimate – â€Å"one not easily jealious, but, being wrought, / Perplexed in the extreme† (V.ii.345-... ...rizona Quarterly (Spring 1956), pp.5-16.    Kermode, Frank. â€Å"Othello, the Moor of Venice.† The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974.    Mack, Maynard. Everybody’s Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1993.    Muir, Kenneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Spurgeon, Caroline. â€Å"Shakespeare’s Imagery and What it Tells Us.† Shakespearean Tragedy. Ed. D. F. Bratchell. New York: Routledge, 1990.    Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.            

Sound on the Web :: Websites Internet Technology Computers Essays

Sound on the Web Transcript Using sound on the internet can greatly benefit and enhance a webpage (Teachernet). Sounds, rather they be background, core content, or music, create mood, theme, and help define the usefulness of the site (Farkas 94). Sounds can serve as core content. Sound can be used to introduce a site; either by music or a narrated welcome (Farkas 95). Narration can also serve as the content, like this site, or to help the viewer navigate the site and help the user make choices once viewing the site (Teachernet). Sounds can also be background noises. Rather these sounds be music, sound effects, or narration, background noise can help the user by reinforcing the website’s content (Teachernet). Narration is a very common way of adding sound to a webpage. As stated before, it can be used to welcome or introduce users to the website and can also give directions about how to use the website or inform or teach (Teachernet). But beware, using narration can be tricky. When using narration, one must be aware of the quality of sound that is being produced. As Farkas and Farkas state, â€Å"There are great differences in voice quality.† Some people may have a good speaking voice, but when recorded, it may not be clear, sound correct, or even be audible. Farkas and Farkas suggest that when using narration find a â€Å"trained† narrator, a drama, or communications student to narrate. Typically, these people have been coached on how to speak clearly and how to use techniques to record content well (Farkas 95). However, in some situations this may not be the case. If you or a certain person is required to do the narration, be sure to practice and work on the content to fit your or their particular speaking and recording style (Farkas 95). Supplemented sounds are typically background noises. These noises can be used to reinforce ideas, reward users, provide context or help explain ideas (Teachernet). By providing sound to accompany graphics, the user is able link a graphic with the context it is presented in. Using sound in this manner would either help explain the graphic or the function of the graphic within the website (Teachernet). If sound is used in a navigational sense, the sound could alert the user as to where to go on the page or what they have already chosen to do. Also, sounds can help explain ideas or teach concepts (Teachernet).

Gothic horror Essay

All three stories are based on the Victorian era, they are all examples of Gothic horror. Gothic horror is shown to scare the the reader. the gothic era normally has a typical ghostley setting, it has to be mysterious and nothing is explained or even described! â€Å"Most gothic novels are tales of mystery and horror intended to chill the spines and cradle the blood. They contain a strong element of super natural†. Most gothic has alot of tension. There is an even stronger build up of tension in short stories. There three stories show elements and forces beyond an individuals control, Starting off with the ‘tell tale heart’ where here shows that the narrator is mad and signs of schizophrenia as he thinks he is hearing thing, â€Å"above all was the sense of hearing acute† narrator is also questioning the reader which makes us guess hes going mad. The narrator never pretends to be innocent, fully admitting that he has killed the old man because of the victims pale blue, film-covered eye. Then when he kills the old man dued to paranoia, he starts to hear old mans heart beats which makes him confess his wrong doing. The ‘red room’ we can infer that the narrator firstly shows eagarness and confidence â€Å"you will show me to this haunted room† his mppd starts to swing into a different emotion as he shows fear â€Å"the memory of that story gave me a suddden thinge of apprehension†. Finally he becomes a shrieking wreak and admits it was fear that haunted him. In ‘Confession found in a prison we all gather that the narrator is ill and suffering from paranoid and madness, this is shown by when killing the boy who looks at him at the same way his mother mad. This story being in first person gets the reader into the mind of the character and tells them his emotions and how he feels in the situation. The story starts with the narrator explaining, â€Å"this is the last night I have to live† This sentence draws in the reader with curiosity as to why it is his last living night. The victorians found alot of intrest in the human brain as they knew more about it dued to science, they used to lock away insane, disability and single women with children, they were never realeased, many people were tortured to be ‘cured’. The setting in the red room is set around the room, we know its old as it â€Å"creaks on its hinge†. The red room isn’t explained about much which makes the room mysterious. This settng would be frightening as paranoia would be as it would be if it was silent and dark so the slighest of sound could scare the day lights out of you. â€Å"i walked down the chilly, echoing passage†. This would frighten the reader as â€Å"chilly† shows ge is cold. â€Å"echoing† shows he is alone. He must scared as he can point out every second that happens. The writer emphasises many aspects of the place where the supernatural tale could take place. The tell-tale heart is mainlysetted in the old mans bedroom. This room is scary as the writer uses alor of suspence to get you frightened â€Å"you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily until at length a simply dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the creavile and fell upon like the vulture eye†. This actions are very slow and meliculous, he is worried about every tiny detail â€Å"upon the eighth night i was more usually cautious in opening the door’ and when i had waited a long time, very patiently, with out hearing him lie down†. Confession found in a prision is set in a prison but the murder was set in the house. The short story ‘Confessions found in a prison’ shows the narrator to be a paranoid and obsessive character, this is shown when the narrator watches the spot where the child is murdered for a whole day. The reader can also see his conscious playing on his mind as he dreams that he did not kill the child, but wakes in ‘dreadful agony’ realising that he had murdered the child. I Think ‘confessions found in a prison’ makes the most fear for the reader as a child is murdered by his guardian, this story is very disturbing as the murder is made by somebody who is supposed to love and care for the child. These three short stories, if modern to this day, could still create fear in many readers today. Many books with the same storylines are still popular with today’s generation and are just as spine chilling and blood curdling as they were in the Victorian

Leadership Styles and International Teams Essay

â€Å"The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers† Peter Drucker This definition, from Peter Drucker has been a great inspiration source. It generates a lot of interrogations and guides us all along this document. It’s brief, clear and amazingly relevant. How to define a leader without thinking about the persons who permit to consider them as leader? It’s sometimes difficult to understand how some leaders became such important because of our disagreement with their idea, or actions. Dictators are the perfect example to illustrate it. There were, and are a â€Å"kind† of extreme Leaders. But we have to recognize their extraordinary charisma and skills to rise crowd. Technically speaking, they can be considered as model even if they abuse of this personal power to satisfy their own desires and needs (regardless laws and needs of the many). But this ethical problem brings us another question, what’s the difference between an efficient and a good leader? We think it’s only a question of moral and an efficient leader can’t be consider as a good one historically speaking. More generally, leadership implies influencing employees to voluntarily pursue organisational goals. Thanks to his charisma, a leader is able to achieve goal (or to make them achieve by others) whereas a manager is able to, thanks to his knowledge and his capacity to organize. But it’s also possible to be both of them, because managing is a skill that everyone could acquire. Not Leadership, which is a quality issued from your personality. So we have to question ourselves: What is a good leader? And try to become the best as possible thanks to your personality? Firstly, we are going to present the different leadership styles management we grouped in 6 categories. Then, we are going to study how to be a good leader in an international team context and finally the particularities of leading an international team. I/ Leadership styles 1. Autocratic leadership styles The leader defines roles and tasks; he takes unilateral decision without consulting any members of the team. He imposes actions to be taken. He expects immediate execution without objection. The autocratic leader doesn’t care about others’ opinion or suggestions. The leader decides for everything and everybody has to execute his decisions. Moreover he keeps as much power and decision-making authority as possible. This is a one-way communication: â€Å"I tell, you listen†. Skills used for this leadership style: influence, performance and initiative When to use autocratic leadership style? * When quick decisions need to be taken or there is a limited time for decision making. For example a competitor rival decided to launch suddenly its new product * When there is no need to team agreement * When high-level of management is needed and the need of motivation is not critical. * When new and untrained staff does not know which tasks to perform or steps to follow in the company. In fact sometimes the company hasn’t got time to form an employee or to explain to him what he has to do exactly in the firm What are the limits of the autocratic leadership style? * Employees are expecting to simply follow the orders, and they are not given any explanations. * Employees have little opportunities to give suggestions even if it is for the welfare of the organization. * Passive resistance of the team: disinterest, disagreement. Lack of motivation and desire. * Some people tend to use this style for yelling, using demeaning language, and leading by threats and abusing their power. * Sometimes this is not the authoritarian style which is used but unprofessional style called â€Å"bossing people around† which is worst and abusive and has no place in a company Example : The autority of Chritine Lagarde Christine Lagarde, 56 years old and currently director of the International Monetary Fund, is classified 9th in the ranking of women with the greatest  power in 2012 according to Forbes Magazine. She is now the woman of power par excellence, she is recognized by all for her natural authority, intelligence and effectiveness. She presides over the destiny of many countries. Christine Lagarde is not afraid to confront the economic crisis and to take important decisions, this is why she has got the surname of â€Å"Iron Lady of the global economy.† 2. Coaching leadership styles The coaching leader defines employee’s roles and tasks but he considers all their inputs and suggestion. He asks for ideas before he makes the final decision: a team engaged with feedbacks a good way to develop team members. The coach spends time with his employees and helps them to develop their strengths and skills, in line with their career. He seeks individual autonomy and building competent teams. This can have long-term benefits for the company, the leader and also the employees. This is a two way communication style between the decision of the coaching leader and the suggestions of the employees, the goal is to help and assist employees Skills used for this leadership style : Listening skills, development of others, awareness of emotions, empathy When to use the coaching leadership style? * Help an employee to improve his productivity, to develop his resources, to be more effective in autonomy. * To create a team and accelerate the performance of this team in the future * To increase the organization’s productivity, growth and the business results in a long term period * To provide guidance and to develop a long-term strength because if the employees receive the right support, the right help, it will be positive for them and for the leader. The company will be more effective What are the limits of the coaching leadership style? * Difficult to implement * It does not provide immediate results. * This style is difficult to implement because it is a guideline but at the same time the employee has got autonomy * This style does not work with employees who expect a precise list of tasks to execute (and therefore expect the micro-management) We did a case study of the coaching style of Richard Branson and his company : The Virgin group. It is set out in the Annex. 3. Participative leadership style This style involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process. The leader wants to create a team with his employees without hierarchy. He encourages the staff to participate at the decision making process : â€Å"What do you think?†. The leader keeps staff informed about everything that affects their work. He can organized some brainstorming to reap ideas or criticism a project. Moreover this style enhances the creativity and the innovation; it allows the company to benefit from collective intelligence. Using this style is a sign that the leader respect his employees, it allows them to become part of the team and allows the leader to make better decisions. If there is a problem, the staff will be involved in the solving process: â€Å"Let’s go to work together to solve this† Skills used for this leadership style: Teamwork and collaboration, conflict management, influence, empathy When to use democratic style? * Leaders want to encourage team building and participation. * Leaders want staff to be involved in decision-making and problem-solving processes. * Leaders want to provide opportunities for personal development and job satisfaction. * If the team must agree with a decision and is responsible for the outcome. * When the leader needs to use the skills and knowledge of his team in order to come up with decision. * When the leader is new and wants to have information on his team. What are the limits of the participative leadership style? * It is inefficient when it comes to getting quick results * It is inadequate in times of crisis * An employee very efficient can be impatient waiting the opinion of the community to proceed, and in contrast: evasive employees, who prefer not to be involved, may create problems. * Participative time consuming process of decision-making and today â€Å"time is money† Example : The participative style of Steve Jobs Jobs believed in his employees’ creativity comes from spontaneous meetings : â€Å"You run into someone, and ask what they are doing, you say ‘Wow,’ and soon you are cooking up all sorts of ideas†. Steve Jobs infused Apple employees a belief that they could accomplish anything, he enjoyed working with teams who trusted in themselves, who saw themselves as winners. He believed in team’s collaboration. Moreover he commented that â€Å"if a building did not encourage innovation, you lose the magic sparked by serendipity† 4. Laissez-faire/Delegating/ Free Rein/Hands off Styles Style Description: Laissez-faire leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to make decisions concerning the completion of their work. Team members control the day-to-day decisions and involve the leader when needed. It is key that the team understands when to get the leader involved. It requires the leader to trust people and their skills, and give the maximal freedom to team members. It allows followers a high degree of autonomy and self-rule, while at the same time offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-faire leader using guided freedom provides the followers with all necessary materials to achieve their aims, but does not participate in decision making directly unless the followers request. It is said that the Laissez-faire leadership style, or we may call delegating/free rein/hands off styles, may be the best or the worst leadership style. If the leader just simply follows the meaning of â€Å"hands-off†, doesn’t involve participation or intervention at all, when he /she leads his or her followers, this style of leadership might become the worst. The two words laissez-faire and leadership are absolute direct opposites. The French term laissez-faire was originally used relative to mercantilism, and is defined in economics and politics as an economic system that functions best when there is no interference by government, and is considered a â€Å"natural† economic order that procures the maximum well-being for the individual and extends to the community. Leadership is defined as an interactive process that provides needed guidance and direction. Leadership involves three interacting dynamic elements: a leader, a follower(s) and a situation. The leader’s role is to influence and provide direction to his/her followers and provide them needed support for theirs and the organization’s success. This free leadership style is based on the premise that the leader and the team have a common goal, have a close and reliable relationship. Through the free leadership style, leaders show a high degree of trust and recognition to the team members, including loyalty and professional skills. Thus, the enthusiasm for the work of the team members is stimulated, and the team can work efficiently. Therefore, the primary factors that affects this leadership style, is the relationship between the team leader and members. When the team shares the same target and the common direction, and the leader has full confidence in his/her own team members, it may be assured to the team members to have free rein to carry out the project and the free style of leadership can be possible to be applied from the beginning to the end. When the members and the leader do not have a unified goal, or the team does not have a common direction or the same target to reach, the team members will take advantage of thi s free style leadership for its own sake, harming the interests of the whole team or making a violation of the leader. Because the free rein leadership style gives high degree of autonomy to the team members, and it is an expression of trust in the team members, including the affirmation of loyalty, expertise etc, once the atmosphere of freedom is broken in the leading process, or the relationship between the leader and the team was broken, there will be conflicting, affecting freedom leadership style until the relationship is restored again. Therefore, the implementation of the free style of the leadership, attention should be focused on that the goal is the same, as well as a close relationship with team members. Suitable Group: When the team is highly capable to analyze de situation and have a clear idea of the situation to be taken in a particular situation. * For example, this style can often be found in teams of professionals, such a team of doctors or engineers, as they form to achieve a goal or solve a problem. * When a close monitoring of a decision is not necessary. * When leaders have full confidence in team members. Unsuitable Group: Not suitable for employees with lower-skills and experience. Free members who are free to take their own decisions can lack of motivation. Moreover, there is no way to check if they do the right thing, this can lead to poor productivity. Decisions can have negative impact on the whole result. 5. Psychological Leadership Style Style Description: Leaders of this style occupy a special position in any group. A psychological leader motivates group, encourages and supports his /her group members, and takes care of the emotional needs of group members. For example, in a sport team, when a member begins, the leader might ask, â€Å"How do you like to be supported? Would you like us to be verbal with our encouragement? Would you like us to be quietly attentive and add our ideas when asked? Or what?† In this leadership style, the leaders play the role of spiritual pillar. He/she is the team leader, team representatives, and even the role of technology source. They are supposed to be all-powerful, all-knowing, invulnerable, incorruptible, indefatigable and fearless. The Leader is responsible for failure or success. He/she is the superman/superwomen or the guilty. If the President of the United State shows weakness, sickness or fear, the effect shows themselves soon in the stock market, as well as in political cartoons and letters to newspaper editors. So the leaders need to have a high degree of personal charm and quality, attract team members to work around him. This leadership mode, the team leader is the charm of the team, the team members to be able to join the team under the team leadership to become the pride. Therefore, in this case, because of the charm of the leaders, the team was able to attract a large number of talents to enrich the team’s strength. The team will gradually grow under the leadership and guidance of the leader. In this team, the centripetal force of the team depends entirely on the personal charm and personal abilities of the team leader. The team leader is like a magician. He continues to attract the attention of the team members, and unites the team members closely. However, this model of leadership has such serious dependence on the leader that any wrong decision of the leader’s will result in the error of the team direction. Moreover, the excessive authority of the leader also causes that no one can supervise or correct the errors of the leader. What’s more, once the leader leaves the team, the entire team will face the situation of losing its pillar and vitality. For example, Steve Jobs for the Apple team is not only an  effective leader, but also a psychological leader. Early, Jobs’ personal creative spirit brought vitality to the whole team. Later, for the reasons of the Board, Steve Jobs left Apple. As a result, the Apple operating nosedived and even faced a closure. And then, Jobs was hired to Apple once again. Thanks to his leadership, i series products were developed, and Apple came b ack to life. Since the death of Steve Jobs’, Apple product ideas have been questioned, because Apple lost its original creativity and vitality. Suitable Group When members are â€Å"ready†, this is the most effective leadership style. For example, when employees already know their weaknesses and hope to improve their performance, the employees are aware of the need to cultivate new capabilities for self-improvement. Unsuitable Group: When the team members refuse to learn or refuse to change their work. As a matter of fact, this style of leadership has an influence on the mind of the team member. If the members are not willing to accept inwardly, it is impossible to make the style of leadership work. 6. Situational Leadership Styles Style Description: The situational leadership theory is developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. According to this theory, there is no single â€Å"best† style of leadership. Effective leadership is task-relevant, and the most successful leaders are those that adapt their leadership style to the individual, group or the situation. We can take some daily example to explain: because we know some people are always late, when we tell them the time to meet, we will make it earlier than others; on the first day of a new colleague, we try not to get angry with him/her, especially he/she is nervous. The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model contains two fundamental concepts: leadership style and maturity level. Leadership style According to this theory, the leadership style, or we can also call the behavior pattern, includes directive (task) behaviors and supportive (relationship) behaviors. – Directive (task) behaviors: lead members to achieve the goal in one-way communication, like a commander of the group. Using methods as below, 1. Provide direction guiding, pointing out the direction of the team effort 2. Setting targets & telling members how to achieve them 3. Using evaluation methods & time lines to help members to get correct information 4. Defining roles, assigning responsibilities to each group member – Supportive (relationship) behaviors: help group members in two-way communication, like a coach in the team, these behaviors may include: 1. Asking for resources, raise funds, gaining time for the group 2. Solving Problems for the group, including technical problems, social relation problems, etc. 3. Encouraging members, listening to their thoughts, paying attention to their emotions, boosting their moral. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard classified all leadership styles into 4 behavior types, named S1 to S4: S1: Telling – is characterized by one-way communication in which the leader defines the roles of the individual or group and provides the what, how, why, when and where to do the task; S2: Selling – while the leader is still providing the direction, he or she is now using two-way communication and providing the socio-emotional support that will allow the individual or group being influenced to buy into the process; S3: Participating – this is how shared decision-making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is providing less task behaviors while maintaining high relationship behavior; S4: Delegating – the leader is still involved in decisions; however, the process and responsibility has been passed to the individual or group. The leader stays involved to monitor progress. Maturity Levels According to the individuals or the group, the suitable leadership style is to be chosen. The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory identified four levels of Maturity M1 through M4: M1: They still lack the specific skills required for the job in hand and are unable and unwilling to do or to take responsibility for this job or task. M2: They are unable to take on responsibility for the task being done; however, they are willing to work at the task. They are novice but enthusiastic. M3: They are experienced and able to do the task but lack the confidence or the willingness to take on responsibility. M4: They are  experienced at the task, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. They are able and willing to not only do the task, but to take responsibility for the task. Developing people and self-motivation A good leader develops â€Å"the competence and commitment of their people so they’re self-motivated rather than dependent on others for direction and guidance.† (Hersey 91)[6] According to Hersey’s â€Å"the situational book,†[7] the leader’s high, realistic expectation causes high performance of followers; the leader’s low expectations lead to low performance of followers. According to Ken Blanchard, â€Å"Four combinations of competence and commitment make up what we call ‘development level.'† D1: employees are low in competence and high in commitment. D2: employees are described as having some competence but low commitment. D3: employees who have moderate to high competence but may lack commitment. D4: employees are the highest in development, having both a high degree of competence and a high degree of commitment to getting the job done. Advantages of Situational Leadership 1) The outstanding reliability. This model has been proved to be an effective method of leadership. Many enterprises tend to use this theory to train leader. 2) The situational leadership theory can be widely applied. It is developed for all types of team. Compared to other leadership styles, which focus only on a specific type of team, situational leadership theory has greater adaptability. 3) Situational leadership model is easy to grasp and apply. On one hand, the concept of situational leadership model is easy to understand, on the other hand, it can tell clearly what to do and what not to do in various contexts. 4) Situational leadership model emphasizes the flexibility of the leader. A successful leader knows how to adjust their leadership characteristics according to the characteristics of the team, to enhance the team’s efficiency. 5) Situational leadership model concerns not only about the leaders but also about the team members. The team members would be more confident and comfortable in their work. Disadvantages of Situational Leadership 1) In practice, it is not easy to classify the subordinates’ level. 2) How to match the actual style of situational leadership? Situational leadership model is just a general leadership style type. How to operate in practice to achieve the goal, it has not been specifically defined. 3) It is not mentioned, how much the demographics will influence the application of the different leadership styles. 4) Lack of support from the empirical analysis. So far there are just a few surveys or researches done to justify the assumption. II/Leadership Styles in Managing International Teams International: Managers as a team leaders How to be a good Leader that is the question? A leader is not a friend, not a tyrant but a fair man and a fair business man. His work consists in managing international teams, diverse cultures and personal differences. He has to distinguish himself as a reference, because working groups need leaders. Moreover, in a whole interdependent business world, Globalization has imposed as a global and required attitude and not only an economic reality any more. But there are different styles of leadership reflecting the diversity of the world. That is why, a leader has to find fundamental tools and establish a strong vision for successful leadership. He has to inspire, motivate and lead a whole team. And do not forget to adapt to different ideals to follow the same road map. It is an everyday-job. 1/ How are perceived Foreign Leaders? First to underline a global vision of Leadership, we need to know how are perceived foreign leaders in the different countries? Is everyone has the ability to be a leader? Is there only a global leader or a huge amount of domestic leaders? All these responses could help us to understand all the difficulty to be a leader and also the stake to be culturally savvy in order to manage an international team. Let us have a look on different domestic leaders: * In Gallic culture: A leader should be a strong authority figure with a high degree competence. * In French culture: The French follow a competent leader, the follow the highest position. The French managers are integrated within an authority network, pyramid of differentiated power  (hierarchical). * In German culture: Germans respect competence rather than personality with both individual work and collective work. Indeed creativity and rational outlook are essential for a career success mostly in an entity organized as a network of individual. * In American culture: Americans evolve in an autocratic system. They advocate worker participation in management decisions. * In Scandinavian culture: They need a participative Leader, Mostly for sharing data and information within the organization. * In Japanese culture: Japanese respect social positions, age and status. Indeed, Japan has a close proximity, and a culture built around the extended family (fundamental element of life in th e Far East) with symbols as the village, the rice field and so on. They points out the cooperative ethos of the East. Eastern culture allows people to play in any way that will benefit the team, encouraging the spirit and score goals. Japan for instance encourages innovation and enterprise with a shared vision of the nation. Communication and information sharing are cornerstones of the Japanese corporation through report for instance. * In British culture: Instructions disguised as request with a fairness attitude are crucial qualities for Leaders (interpersonal and subjective view in an organization where there is a network of relationships and where things get done through influence). * In Spanish culture: Courage and decisiveness with ability to solve issues are the best leaders’ requests. * In Italian culture: Personal relationships are fundamental (family model), recognizing personal confidence of the owner. In addition, The West prefers a culture based on smaller units, encouraged to think for them and to be self-sufficient, to encourag e competition. These differences are reflected in the management practices. Westerns need for hierarchical organizations with multiple layers of management perpetuating feelings of exclusion, isolation and competition. Westerners assign people through positions and tell workers what they can or cannot do whereas they argue that group cohesion is crucial to productivity and their systems of reward are based on individual effort, and appraisal systems viewed with cynicism because they are open to favoritism. They are Individualists and for them competitive culture prevails. 2/ What are Leaders’ tasks and Attributes to manage an international team? A leader has moved his/her perceptions of the game to win. He needs to know how to change in order to improve the efficiency of his/her team. And in the same time,  leaders have to assess his/her followers’ perceptions of the game’s boundaries, rules and definition of success, because conditions in the global market place are forcing reevaluating the meaning of teamwork, global partnership or e ven alliances. That is why leaders have to take into account the right signal. But how to read the right signals? Misinterpreting the wrong signal, they could lose business opportunities. That is why Observing, Searching and underlying cross-functional, cross-cultural issues in multinationals teams help improving team efficiency. Sometimes it requires other additional qualities: * Flexibility * Sense of humor * Patience * Sensitivity * Ability to check assumptions * Willingness to listen to others * Curiosity * Respect for difference * Trust in the ability of effective teams to outperform individuals It is more or less difficult according to leaders’ origins. Indeed for Americans it is really difficult, because they have different professional outlooks and backgrounds. And personal leading qualities are innate or acquired, sometimes, imposing to pay a role in order to achieve key requirements. Exposure to other countries can just as easily reinforce ethnocentrism as counteract it. International managers can learn many of the skills they need, which are the following and adopt key behaviors: a) Applying good judgment It is about becoming aware of diverse assumptions, spelling them out and checking to see if others share them. That is to say learn to confront without alienating, clarify without prejudging, give and receive feedback without being defensive, centralize information, belief, feel, perceptions and broadcast it. Moreover it requires checking behaviors and showing example, because Leaders have to be models. b) Reading cross-cultural cues It depends on high context gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice, nonverbal cues. It implies do homework on the culture in advance (dos and taboos), be prepared â€Å"spend hours in polite conversation before getting down to business in Japan or Mexico†. Indeed, that knowledge on different cultures is a bonus to capitalize on. Understand the difference between personal or cultural values, norms to adapt for Multinationals negotiations’ which differs according each corporate culture and history. Multinationals leaders have to develop ambiguity managing training courses and experience to be the most flexible as possible. They need to use their intuition and rationality to separate personal biases from probable facts. c) Finding a guide not to be manipulated but well-oriented A guide is a model figure that is followed. A Leader needs to be a guide and to the fit the corporation culture. It also infers sometimes becoming coaches or mentors, but not friends. Indeed a lack of proximity could reach a lack of efficiency and rigor. d) Reflecting as well as acting The international team leader has to be a model and act as one. Because of difference in players and game strategies they must make time to reflect as well as to act because they want long-run results. Moreover the mix of personnel is becoming increasingly international that is why they need to create an environment that rewards openness, frankness, engagement and teamwork. Do either one-to-one or group discussions to be more productive and have more creative results. The international team leader must decide when to use groups, how to compose them and how to orchestrate meetings so that power plays are controlled and personalities balanced. Adapting and changing, if necessary, from one-to-one management to an effective orientation in the global market place. HR staffs must build up their expertise to meet teamwork challenge. e) Modeling the process †Teamwork begins at home†. Leaders first examine their own internal capabilities and then buy or Make a flexible mobile cross-culturally competent team of professionals. f) Selecting the right people Through a set of international assignment criteria tailored to specific culture helps ensure success abroad, developing company-specific and country-specific personal profiles. g) Considering with shareholders Common decisions on the best objectives and elements for international human resources have to support plan through code signing. h) Training modification  With package courses leaders have to make sure people discuss their perceptions on what they actually see. Build the idea of differences because of gender, culture, organizations, age, personal learning styles. Indeed, when people work in groups, they need to make sure members are from a variety of backgrounds in order to cultivate diversity to teach people how to act and react without forgetting developing working rules that will allow each people equal air time. Furthermore, they have to encourage international managers to bring in actual team problems for discussion, role playing and reflection is substantial. Teamwork must be a driving value within the company and be appropriately rewarded. And HR Staff should develop an internal communication network, so that each employee is aware of how different teams work, what they accomplish and what knowledge and expertise they can share. Means as proper selection, training, support and incentives will get international teams outperform individuals. But how can we recognize the leader in any case? There is a practical test: take the right to apply sanctions, reward, put his/her veto, overriding individual’s decisions about corporation structure. i) Leaders’ Tasks (ability required):  * Simplify: Leaders have to resolve value conflicts among his/her followers. * Link action to vision: Leaders need to clarify and explain shared goals versus actions required in order to put a strategic and co-working framework. * Be different: Leaders must distinguish himself/herself from his/her followers (authority, hierarchy framework). They need to think to the answer of the following question:  « How do you see you leader?† Indeed, followers need believing in a â€Å"winner†, sometimes without any sympathy synonymous with expertise and success managing multinational teams. We can emphasize that leaders distinguish themselves with the following drivers balancing between firmness and severity: *  Expertise: depending on experience, knowledge and understanding of the world. * Personal qualities: energy, persistence, memory and insight. * Track record: past performance, reputation and ability to dealing with a situation nobody had faced before. * Vision: Traduce the corporate strategy; broadcast the road map of the group integrating followers through his/her presence. That is to say put image on action, identifying key common values and beliefs in order to the whole team can fell involved in. Inspire that vision giving an identity of each one linking through staff loyalty, implying the same aspirations. The leader’s vision need to be promoted throughout the organization and sustained thanks to every-day actions, with change if required. * * Have a vision: learn to communicate a vision to people, your team can follow: * Communicate it * Believe it * Follow it * Model it * Be passionate: Passion is contagious: â€Å"take your passion and make it happen† * Be a great decision maker: be quick, committed, analytical and thoughtful. * Be a team builder: let one of your team members to take responsibilities, don’t micromanage and make you available if questions arise. * Be a life-long learner: the world is changing and new resources become available every day. Leader must be aware of new technologies and to share it with your staff. * Communicate clearly: remember you have diverse listeners, make sure you tell everyone in the same way, the same message. * Give an expect respect: to earn respect, give it, and get it. * Be knowledgeable: leaders must be aware of everyday changes in business and discuss about it within the team, answer to up-to-day questions/concerns. * Be organized in order your staff be. Be exemplary. * Be positive: think positive to motivate and work in a positive and efficient way. Conclusion: To sum up, we have defined a leadership profile. Leaders are individuals who help create options and opportunities. They help identify choices and solve problems. Leaders build commitment and coalitions. They do this by  inspiring others and working with them to construct a shared vision of the possibilities and promise of a better group, organization, or community. Leaders engage followers in such a way that many followers become leaders in their own right. The varied demands of an increasingly complex world often require that leadership be shared by many of the members of a group, in ways appropriate for different situations. Be Aware, Be different! III/ Intercultural management: Leading an international team The last half century has seen enormous change impacting the way we work. The world is shrinking with advances in information technology playing a crucial role in facilitating the global expansion of organizations. International teams are now a common phenomenon with many large organizations structuring their workforce according to function rather than geography. Successful organizations do not hesitate to move their talents around the world to ensure that they have the right skills and knowledge in the right location when necessary. But what does it take to manage such a culturally diversified and geographically dispersed team? What is an international team? The increase – both in organizational global mobility and in individual migration –means that, most large organizations now employ a multicultural workforce. It is not unusual to find traditional teams made up of members from a number of different countries. These team members work for the same organization and may share the same profession, but the fact that they do not share the same cultural background provides them with a different view of the world. As a result, they think and behave differently to each other. Virtual teams are also on the rise as international organizations embrace new technologies to enable geographically dispersed teams to work together cost-effectively and efficiently. This virtual and remote working of members from different cultures and across different time zones doesn’t come without challenges. Cultural generalizations It would be wrong to suggest that team members from one specific cultural background always behave in the same way. Of course, personality, upbringing, previous experiences and a host of other factors all impact their behaviors. Any team bringing different personalities and experiences  together can face frustrations and challenges. However, researches have shown that values and attitudes tend to differ according to one’s cultural background resulting in different work practices and behaviors. * Do team members prefer to work on individual projects or pool their ideas and resources? * Is it acceptable to show emotion during conflict? * Should they be expected to stay late or take work home in order to finish a project? * Is it ok to interrupt a meeting to take an important phone call? Members of different cultural groups will answer these and other questions differently. Academic researchers such as Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars have shown that cultural behaviors vary according to a series of dimensions on which we can place the countries of our colleagues. Key cultural dimensions include: * Hierarchy vs. egalitarianism * Groups vs. individuals * Relationship vs. task * Open vs. hidden displays of emotion * Degree of comfort with uncertainty and risk * Work/life balance * Attitudes to time and space * Attitudes to nature and the environment Understanding that individuals belonging to different cultural groups have varying attitudes to these dimensions can help us understand how and why our colleagues and team members sometimes do things differently. For example, a team member from a hierarchical culture such as India tends to be more deferent to their manager and expects approval for each piece of work before moving on to the next stage. Conversely, team members from more egalitarian cultures such as Australia or the USA are usually much more comfortable working autonomously. Management versus Leadership The purpose of management is to make people effective, motivate them, operate and communicate a strategic process. It is the hardest! Whilst Leadership is setting a new direction the entity will follow. Leaders are spearheads. Leadership complements management. But both deal with human aspects that require: self-awareness, to understand differences, accept and value them. This is a sum up of each one’s responsibilities: Leaders| Managers| * Cope with change * Set a new direction of that change * Align people * Motivate people by satisfying basics (human needs)| * Cope with complexity * Develop capacity to achieve its plans by organizing and staffing * Enquires controlling and problem solving * Budget and plan| Leading international teams: a Global Leader Definition proposed by Mendenhall and al in 2008: â€Å" Global leaders are individuals who effect significant positive change in organizations by building communities through the development of trust and the arrangement of organizational structures and processes in a context: involving multiple cross-boundary stakeholders, multiple sources of external cross-boundary authority, and multiple cultures under conditions of temporal, geographical and cultural complexity†. Managers of international teams need to take time to improve their own global cultural knowledge and sensitivity in order to understand the different expectations, priorities and behaviors of their team members. Intercultural training and/or coaching can help managers to develop the knowledge, skills and strategies to manage an international team more effectively. Taking the time to learn about other cultures and becoming more ‘culturally curious’ is invaluable for anyone new to managing an international team. The real challenge is to pre-empt challenges and frustrations that may arise in an international team and to harness the positives in order to create synergy from the culturally diverse team members. Managers may need to adapt their usual leadership style to maximize the potential of an international team. What has been successful with domestic teams may not always work as well with an international team. Planning, scheduling, trust criteria, expectations of delegation, feedback and regularity of contact will be viewed differently according to the culture of the individual. Good international managers need to adapt their style to take these differences into account. Managers also need to consider different ways of making team members feel valued as an important part of the team. For some cultures being valued as a person is not so  important as long as their work is respected. Other cultures are more holistic: they want to be liked by their manager and appreciated as a person and want to receive credit for the tasks they complete. So spending time getting to know team members is essential in the early stages in order to understand the skills and knowledge each individual brings to the team and how to bring out the best in each of them. When the manager form an international team, he needs to be clear and explicit and always uses documents ground rules and processes with input from all the team players to avoid ambiguity at a later stage. Good relationships between the team leader and members are essential but not enough on their own. Team members also need to get on well with each other, even if the team is geographically dispersed. Providing opportunities for team members to share knowledge and experience – whether through informal forums or more formal meetings, team building events or training programs – will allow the team to build rapport and trust, making it easier to work effectively as a unit. To finish, Global Leadership differs from Domestic Leadership. Indeed Domestic leadership lacks of connectedness. A global leader implies a global scope with a management perception, a relationship management and a self-management. It requires cultural sensitivity. A leader has to create relationship, hit the bottom line and merge a common vision and common goals. Global Leadership versus Domestic Leadership The increase of competent global leaders has become a key success factors in International Companies. Indeed, implement global strategies keeps on developing the number of constraints. Global talent leads to Global leaders and require understanding differences between global and domestic leadership stakes. Global leaders are distinctive in their scope, their mindset moreover they need to be culturally aware. The difference between global and domestic leadership infers additional complexity. In other words, Global Leaders need to cope with: * Multiplicity of issues across a range of diverse dimensions, for instance with different customers, legal procedures, regulation and competitors. * Interdependence among lots of stakeholders from different culture, countries that is to say with different polices, economies and environmental systems. * Ambiguity in interpreting relationships, cues and signals at the appropriate situation. * Flows in  terms of transactions, sharing information, v alues patterns and the last but not the least the organization structure. Ghemawat (2008), a Harvard Professor emphasizes the challenges of global operations linked with the complexity of operating abroad. He noted 4 difficulties: * Cultural issues as language customs, religion and ethnicities. * Administrative and political issues as laws, trading blocs or currencies. * Geographical issues as physical distances, time zones. * Economic issues as income levels, cost of natural and human resources, infrastructure or information. But Caliguiri, an expert in careers recognized in the Business area, in 2006 claimed the experience approach according to that global leaders distinguish through their researches and his or her definition of what leaders do through their tasks and positions. It is a ground approach, much more every day practical. He highlighted the following stakes to be a global leader: * Work with colleagues from other countries * Interact with external clients from other Countries * Interact with internal clients from other countries * Sometimes communicate using a second language * Manage and motivate geographically dispersed and diverse employees and teams * Develop strategic business plans on a worldwide basis * Manage a budget on a worldwide basis * Negotiate in other countries or with people of different nationalities * Manage foreign suppliers and vendors * Manage risk on a worldwide basis To conclude those leadership’s skills need to be assess to improve and develop talent and management processes. Because develop talented people and effective global leadership is definitively a competitive advantage for multinational companies. Different communication styles Good team work is all about good communication. Even in a monocultural team, frustrations can occur all too easily when messages are misinterpreted and communication breaks down. Individuals from different cultural backgrounds usually favor different communication styles varying in terms of directness, formality, and use of silence, non-verbal signals and the levels of information shared. A useful concept is Edward T. Hall’s ‘high and low context’, which illustrates how relationships impact communication and the balance between verbal and non-verbal communication. A ‘high context’ communicator will have a more indirect, implicit style and will rely more on the shared knowledge and experience than a ‘low context’ communicator. It is easy to predict a ‘low context’ team member’s frustrations with a colleague who seems unable to get to the point and ‘tell it like it is’. Asian cultures tend to be much more comfortable with silence rather than Western cultures in which it is more common to fill silences or sometimes to even talk over the person who is already talking. How does this impact an international team meeting and what can the team manager do to ensure that everyone’s opinion is heard? A clear agenda and meeting protocols are essential and the team manager needs to have the skills and awareness to interpret individual reactions and to guide the discussion to enable everyone to contribute. It is really important asking for individual updates or switching roles at each meeting so that different people lead or take the minutes are simple ways of ensuring that all voices are heard. Coping with conflict Successful international teams need to be comfortable with conflict and ready to resolve any disputes quickly. Cultural groups that place more importance on the group than on the individual are usually less comfortable with conflict as they value harmony and saving face. This is in contrast to those from individualist cultures who focus more on task than relationship and are usually open in expressing any disagreement. They don’t view disputes as personal but simply as something to be resolved in order to get the best results for the project or task. Example: French colleague who seemed to be extremely critical of his colleague’s presentation but then gave very good feedback to his manager afterwards. He was challenging his colleague to stretch his thinking and to explore other options and possibilities but this didn’t mean he thought it was a bad presentation. For a Western manager working with Asian team members it is important to allow them the opportunity to discuss any areas of conflict individually rather than in front of the team as this would potentially cause them to lose face or  induce others to lose face. So, the way leaders manage international teams, cope with conflict, organize and orchestrate team can depend on the organization of the firm and its cultural origin. Moreover, we can distinguish the Horizontal Leadership (Obama) and the Vertical Leadership (Sarkozy). Horizontal Leadership| Vertical Leadership| * Hierarchical organization * Mechanistic * Controlling resources * Chain of command * Span of control * Knowledge is power| * Flat organization * Organic * Sharing resources * Coordinating * Unlocking potential * Knowledge creation| Conclusion: Now more than ever, there is a great opportunity for international collaboration through international teams. Whether it’s a single project or a long-term assignment, by taking a proactive approach to recognize the potential challenges of international teams, organizations can reap the benefits and create an international structure that ensures that their top talents are utilized to the best of their abilities and efficiency. International team leaders need to step back from usual assumptions and methods and put themselves in the shoes of their colleagues from other cultures. Re-evaluating what has worked well in the past, taking time to understand the preferences of each team member and finding common ground for all, will help to form a united and effective international team. Be a global leader, manage an international team is definitively an every-day job dealing with the hardest: human factors. Conclusion So, we have seen how important the leadership in the actual world is. No matter what is its form, it’s generally a real pro for a team. Managing an international team is a hard task that leadership can simplify. It’s necessary to understand that Leadership styles management are listed and defined, but it’s complicated to give advice about how leading because the person you are in relation with will impact a lot your leadership style. It will sometimes be more efficient to be â€Å"autocratic† whereas it was useless in a previous similar situation. The leader, to be the best as possible need  to be a good manager and also mix all the different leadership styles in order to take the best from each one. Even if it’s pretty idealistic, this is the advice we would give in order to be a good manager. But is a good leader enough to manage an entire company? Tables des Matià ¨res â€Å"The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers†1 I/ Leadership styles2 II/Leadership Styles in Managing International Teams International: Managers as a team leaders12 1/ How are perceived Foreign Leaders?12 2/ What are Leaders’ tasks and Attributes to manage an international team?13 a)Applying good judgment14 b)Reading cross-cultural cues14 c)Finding a guide not to be manipulated but well-oriented15 d)Reflecting as well as acting15 e)Modeling the process15 f)Selecting the right people15 g)Considering with shareholders16 h)Training modifications16 i)Leaders’ Tasks (ability required):16 Conclusion:18 III/ Intercultural management: Leading an international team18 What is an international team?18 Cultural generalizations19 Management versus Leadership20 Leading international teams: a Global Leader20 Global Leadership versus Domestic Leadership22 Different communication styles23 Coping with conflict24 Conclusion:25 Bibliography, Videos sources and Study Case27 Bibliography, Videos sources and Study Case http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y47qRvPHoVU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPfRKu05bkQ&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptKNVsf7b9Y&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCtfV8tspho http://www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/culture-for-business-and-management/leading-across-cultures/index.php http://www.ehow.com/info_8210591_cross-cultural-leadership-styles.html http://www.legacee.com/Info/Leadership/LeadershipStyles.html Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H.. Management of Organizational Behavior 3rd Edition– Utilizing Human Resources. New Jersey/Prentice Hall, 1977 Blanchard, Kenneth H., Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness through Situational Leadership. New York: Morrow, 1985 Ronald Goodnight. Encyclopedia of leadership: Laissez-faire Leadership. Sage Publication, 2004 Study Case: Richard Branson Basic Example for Leadership 1. How it all began Sir Richard Branson is one of the world’s most eminent, creative, innovative and highly successful entrepreneurs of all time with a net worth of over $4.2 billion. Being the very epitome of a true business leader, he has gone through numerous difficulties to be able to found the Virgin Group, establishing a unique approach to leadership, which has attracted quite many followers all over the world. He has proved himself as the master of serial entrepreneurship, perfecting his one of a kind leadership style over the years. Born in 1950 and educated in Stowe in the United Kingdom, Richard Branson’s first business venture was setting up a Student Magazine at the age of sixteen. This was initiated after his final decision to drop out of school, most probably due to the hardships he had faced in his earlier childhood, caused by his having been diagnosed with dyslexia. However, despite Branson’s poor academic performance, in 1970 he founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, which later turned into one of the most well-known brands in the world. During the following years, Virgin Records was established, which signed such prominent artists as Mike Oldfield, the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones, etc. The Virgin brand continued to grow during the next decades as Branson expanded his enterprise by founding the  Virgin Atlantic Airways, and also starting a Virgin record label in America. With around 200 companies in over 30 countries, the Virgin Group has now expanded into leisure, travel, tourism, mobile, broadband, TV, radio, music festivals, finance and health and through Virgin Green Fund his company is now investing in renewable energy and resource efficiency. Moreover, in 2005, the Virgin Galactic, a space tourism company, came into existence, where the intention is to eventually reach orbital trips around the globe as well as go to the Moon. Branson has been named a â€Å"transformational leader† in the field of management, with his maverick strategies and his stress on the Virgin Group as an organisation driven on informality and information, one that is bottom-heavy rather than strangled by top-level management. 2. The unique personality behind the face of Richard Branson Being a great leader is not an easy task to be achieved, and there is a certain set of personal characteristics, which are intrinsic to Richard Branson himself and make him the unique entrepreneur he is. Firstly, passion is of essential priority for the successful fulfillment of various tasks. It is the quality, which gives you the stimulus to further improve the performance of your company and develop your business ideas. Hence, Branson should definitely be considered a real passionate leader due to his incessant striving for perfection and sincere commitment to contributing to people’s welfare. On the Virgin Group’s corporate website it is mentioned that the company is â€Å"giving birth† to other firms as well as â€Å"holding their hand† through their development, as this pinpoints the exceptional supportive attitude of the company towards its staff. Secondly, the next personal characteristic of paramount importance happens to be courage in the form of having the guts to take risks and initiatives. One emblematic decision of Branson – to switch bank due to poor support and advice for Virginia records – led to the company’s ultimate survival. Additionally, there are many examples of Branson, jumping into different ventures such as is the case with the space tourism-related Virgin Galactic. This enterprise was extremely risky and brave, yet very profitable as well. Despite the substantial uncertainty involved, Branson has showed several times he is excellent in risk management as well. When starting a new venture, he usually shares the risk with other investors, but also makes sure the risk is minimized doe each  party. Thirdly, creativity along with having knowledge of the business you are in is a combination of personal features, which are fundamental in being a great leader. There is no denying Richard Branson’s extraordinary creativity, given the variety of industries his businesses operate in. From airlines to record labels, he has managed to build a steady empire. What is more, he has a profound knowledge of not only the business he runs, but the existing competition as well, which has led to a constant incr ease in the company’s profits. Fourthly, in spite of having insight into different situations, it is also very important to be frankly motivated to do the right thing. Branson has shown the world his open and kind nature to create something he is proud of. Actually, he mentions this as his underlying philosophy of business – to do something for the sake of improving other people’s lives, not merely making money. Another positive feature of his – adaptability – has also helped him in achieving this task, as he is now engaged in numerous environmental initiatives and research. 3. Branson’s leadership style Management is about doing things right, leadership is about doing the right thing, says Peter Drucker. Sir Richard Branson has developed his outstanding leadership style through the years and has proved it actually works. It can be best described as participative leadership. He makes sure to involve his subordinates as well as other stakeholders in the decision-making process in order to be able to extract various constructive opinions, which would aid to the flourishing of the business. Branson himself outlines that one cannot be a good leader unless he genuinely likes people. As a result of this, his leadership style is based on a few very simple and down-to earth rules, and namely: * Smile. Everything gets much easier if you show a friendly face. * Have fun at work. * Believe in your ideas, employees and colleagues. As we can see, Branson puts a serious emphasis on human resource management. He strives to find people, who have innovative ideas and are determined to give 100% to achieve their goals. He insists that all of his employees should be company-oriented, sharing common values, co-operating with one another in their work to beat up competition. Consequently, the human  resource management system is built, so that the staff is constantly motivated and encouraged to improve his/her performance, being given certain benefits such as bonuses, profit sharing or any kinds of promotion available. 4. Branson’s leadership qualities A magnificent businessman, an inquisitive person, a truly caring human being, Sir Richard Branson possesses a set of leadership qualities, which only few entrepreneurs in the world have. It is his leadership abilities which make him stand out and have helped him build his empire of businesses. I shall mention the quintessential ones in order to analyze his image much better. First of all, Branson claims he has learnt his management skills through trial and error since founding his first business when he was sixteen. Nowadays, his main efforts are concentrated into achieving an effective time management. He divides his days equally between trouble shooting, new projects and promoting his businesses. He is regarded as a genius at handling and preparing PR activities and is never afraid of being in the limelight. Next, another skill of his is the ability to delegate work to his co-workers and management staff, leaving them to get a stake in the business and try to develop it as much as they can. He surely spends a great deal of time to build a certain business, but he also wants to recruit such people, who would be able to run it without him, thus taking a step back. Moreover, Richard Branson is famous for his belief that if one looks for the best, he will get the best. He is really precise when it comes to hiring potential employees. After a thorough selection has been conducted, he gets them to stay in the company regardless of the mistakes they may make. He is more likely to bring specific people into another venture where the person is more likely to perform well according to his/her capabilities, than just fire them. With his likeable personality and professional leadership style, Sir Richard captures everybody’s attention with his openness to people and devotion to their well-being. He considers failure as an unfortunate occurrence when leaders avoid the reality of business. What is one of his guiding principles is that one has to trust the people with whom he works and learn from their mistakes. Blame, bitter accusations and recriminations are pointless. Another leadership quality to be highlighted is Branson’s striving to bu ild tight interaction between managers and employees. He  encourages his staff to write to him with whatever suggestions they come up with, which would be of benefit to the future success of the company. He assumes that motivational strategies extend to innovative ideas, so he tries to listen to as many propositions as possible and offer his professional feedback. The development of a bond with his team is an essential part of his everyday work. Following this feature, Sir Richard also gives his all to inspire people to think as if they were entrepreneurs themselves, and to treat them as adults. He believes that in order to make workers perform better, they should be given more responsibilities, which inevitably activates their self-conscience. Last but not least, one of Branson’s main positive leadership characteristics is that he sees no one way to run a successful business, because what works well today, may not work at all tomorrow. This adds up to the point of trial and error mentioned above. Branson considers there are no strict rules to be followed – just do what you believe is the best for you. When one makes a mistake, he stands up and learns how to avoid it in the future. He wittily mentions that this is the recipe for success and above that it deprives one from the unpleasant want to scream at the sight of a bullet points list.