The Competitive Advantages of Apple Inc Literature review

The Competitive Advantages of Apple Inc - Literature review Example John Wiley & Sons. 15 Bibliography 17 Literature Review Interrelationship between Leadership and Organizational Commitment In the year 1993, Drucker had mentioned that the performance and quality of the managers are significant influential factor to decide organizational success. A company without effective leadership would not be able to transform the internal resources to its competitive advantage. It would not be denied that there is a close relationship among the leadership style and organization development. In the year 1990, Bass made one study in which it was pretty observable that around 45 % to 65 % of the total factors which are responsible of causing either success or failure would be decided by the organizational leaders. Definition of Leadership Leadership is an ability to persuade any group towards the attainment of goals. In the year 1964, Tannenbaum and others have considered leadership as an influential factor in human relations. Leadership is an attribute guiding a group of people to achieve preset goals through communication. According to Fiedler, leadership can be assumed to be a type of relationship to make the group members work together and achieve common goal. Rauch and Behling in 1984 and Hsieh in the year 1993 considered leadership as a process to influence any group to approach the goals. Theories of Leadership Since twentieth century, a number of theories and literature had been introduced to prove different standpoints. Four major perspectives had been shown through these theories. Some of the theories are articulated in the later segment (Wu et. al., 2006, p.438- 440). Trait Theories According to Stogdill (1963) and Davis (1972), a successful leader must posses certain personality traits. Behavior Theories In 1957, Halpin and Winer had introduced two dimensions, initiating consideration and structure. Following the same, a number of studies conducted by Stogdill, Likert and Kotter also introduced certain behavioral attributes of le adership. Contingency Theories In the year 1967, Fiedler has introduced the contingency model of leadership. In the year 1971, House came up with a path-goal theory by extracting details from the research carried out by Ohio State University as well as the expectancy theory of motivation. In the year 1977, Blackchard and Hersey introduced situational leadership theory considering two leadership sides in terms of relationship behaviors and tasks and mix and matching the intensity of these two to come up with specific leadership types: selling, telling, delegating and participating. As per Contingency theory, the leaders of any group are required to opt for an appropriate leadership style considering the readiness of the following group. The selling style can be effective for willing but unable subordinates; while, the telling styles can reap good results for the unwilling and unable followers. Leaders usually use participating style when his or her followers are willing but unable. T he delegating style seems to be good for followers who are able but unwilling to do the tasks (Wu et. al., 2006, p.438- 440). Non Charismatic Theories: These theories include the theories on transformational and transactional leadership styles. These two are pretty well known in the arenas of leadership theories. According to the transactional leadership theory, both superior as well as the subordinate would influence each other to derive value of that exchange. Transactional leader

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Annotated Bibliography

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia - Annotated Bibliography Example The researcher of this essay aims to analyze and discuss studies, that were conducted by the researchers on the subject of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia disease, that is a cancer that mainly attacks the bone marrow and arises from cancerous and immature white blood cells called lymphoblast. The two subtypes of lymphocytes are T and B cells. The authors of the studies, that were discussed stipulate that 80% of acute lymphoblastic leukemia arise from immature B-lymphocytes. The disease is most prevalent in children; nevertheless, it has also increased in elderly populace mostly of ages 60 years and over. The main symptoms of acute lymphoblastic leukemia are buildup of the abnormal and immature white blood cells within the bone marrow and blood. Blast cells collect out of the normal cells within the bone marrow thus lowering blood counts. The disease results to decrease in normal white cells making an individual to be susceptible to infection such as sinuses, bronchitis, and pneumonia. T he main signs are; enlargement of the lymph nodes within the neck and arms coupled with enlargement of the spleen. This journal also describes the treatment options for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is treated by multiple chemotherapy drugs via mouth or via special intravenous line that is normally placed within a vein in the arm or chest and maintain for several months. According to Knowles, the chromosomes that lead to the development of Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia is sill not known today.

Current event summary Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Current event summary - Assignment Example The first step is to identify the key players and target the one who are most important and the one who are at the risk of leaving. They can be offered both financial as well as non financial incentives modified according to their requirements. According to the article, it is important to find out the hidden gems where the HR and the line managers would work together when the changes takes place. These will certainly help the companies to identify the talents that are hidden within the company. It can be fundamentally disagreed with the article as when the changes takes place, retaining of not only the key performers is essential but also the normal performers or the average performers is very important as they may also play a crucial role in the long run of the organization’s fortune. Moreover throwing of financial incentives does seem to be the best way of retaining the employees. Though, utilization of this method can in turn de-motivate the other performers. It may at times turn out to be an improper utilization of financial resources of an organization. There are other ways through which the employees can be retained during such difficult times and it would also maintain aid in maintaining a balance between the key performers and the others. The main reason behind choosing this article was that employee’s retention is a major problem that is faced by almost all the companies during the times of restructuring. The article helps to provide proper understanding of what can be done in order to maintain the talents in the organization. It also highlights the importance of the normal performers in supporting the changes. Such change often makes the employees nervous and frightened. Therefore it is utmost important to win the hearts and minds of the participants and also those who are associated with the change process. Although an employee’s

Eddie and beatrice created and sustained Essay Example for Free

Eddie and beatrice created and sustained Essay Throughout the play Beatrice and Eddie have contrasting views about various issues.Eddie has strong veiws on masculinity which leads him to reject effeminate behaviour and be aggressive when he is challenged. Beatirce on the other hand is a more laid back personality. Miller uses this friction between husband and wife to create and sustain tension by making the issues gradually more serious as the play progresses At the opening of act one, Eddie and Cathrine appear to be almost flirting. (Eddie is pleased and therefore shy about it.)This type of relationship is surprising because Cathrine is Eddies niece and proves to be a source of friction between Eddie and Beatrice. This is openly shown at the end of the play when Beatrice tells Eddie you can never have her.  Further disagreement comes from Eddies protectiveness of Cathrine. He feels that as an uncle it is his duty to protect her from the world; he tells her that her revealing clothes attract unwanted attention, and he is not keen for her to get a job. Beatrice thinks that Eddie is over protective of Cathrine and convinces him that she is old enough. Look, you got to get used to it, shes no baby no more. Miller continues to increase the tension between Beatrice and Eddie when later they begin to argue about Rodolpho; his sexuality and his relationship with Cathrine. Eddies affection for Catherine leads him to dislike Rodolpho and find faults in him, at every opportunity. He interprates Rodolphos effeminate behaviour ( singing, cooking and stiching dresses) as homosexuality and tells Cathrine that Rodolpho is decieving her, in order to gain an American passport ( Rodolpho is an illegal immigrant ) . The tension in the play is fueled further as Beatrice openly tells Eddie that he is being too protective of Cathrine and harsh on Rodolpo. Miller uses these arguments to create a sense of mounting tension between the couple as the arguments become gradually more serious.This climaxes when Beatrice asks Eddie to forgive Marco for acussing Eddie of turning the two imigrants in. This argument is very heated and long before a lull when Marco appears.  MARCO: Eddie Carbone!   all stand transfixed for an instant  Miller uses this to create the effect of a fuse reaching its end before the explosive finale of Eddies death at the hands of Marco.At this point Miller turns the tables on the relationship between Eddie and Beatrice. EDDIE: Then why of B!  BEATRICE: Yes, yes!  EDDIE: My B!  (He dies in he arms..)  This shows their ultimate unity.  Miller could be trying to sustain the tension by showing the audience that Eddie refuses to acknowledge his attration to Cathrine upto his last breath.  As this play is a tragedy reminiscent of the Greek style, Miller could be trying to redeem the tragic hero by showing that despite all of Eddies shortcomigs, he is ultimately devoted to and in love with Beatrice.

Constitutional Monarchy and the Third Way in UK

Constitutional Monarchy and the Third Way in UK A constitutional monarchy is a type of a constitutional government, where either an elected or hereditary monarch is a head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy where the king or queen is an absolute ruler not bound by the constitution. Most of the constitutional monarchs have a parliamentary system where legislation is passed and the monarch is the head of state with a prime minister as the head of government elected directly by parliament or appointed by the monarchy. This generally separates the official and head of state duties of the monarchy from party politics making the monarchy politically neutral thus can not vote. This provides political stability, continuity and national focus despite a change in government. The sovereign head governs according to the national laws and regulations stipulated in the constitution. However the UK does not have a written constitution but its governed by convections which are non statutory rules and are equally binding.   The monarch is advised by ministers who hail from parliament and it appoints the prime minister, approves legislation and confers honors. As a head of state the monarch is the head of the armed forces. The British monarch (the queen) today has two roles that of head of state and as head of the nation. As the head of sate for Britain she plays an important role in undertaking important constitutional and representational duties. E.g. opening of parliament, approving of the orders in of council, signing acts of parliament plus meeting and conversing with the prime minister and ministers concerning state matters. Other duties include those of representing the state of Britain to the outside world In relation to the government of UK that is headed by a prime minister. The British parliament consists of the monarchy as where the queen is the head, the House of Lords and the House of Commons-which posses the dominant political power hence always supports the government of the day. Her maje sty duties involve the opening of new sessions of parliament and addressing it through the queens speech. (Drafted by the government and outlines the government agenda), issuance of prorogue, dissolving parliament, assenting to bills and approving orders and proclamations through the Privy Council. Parliament can only meet without a royal summon if the sovereign head has died and parliament is not running. Other duties concern the devolve units of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. On April 10th 1998 the Northern Ireland assembly was formed as part of the Good Friday agreement. It has authority over all devolved responsibilities. The assembly has full legislative authority over education, agriculture, health, social services and on wealth creation. Scotland on the other hand has two parliaments. The Westminster assembly legislates on matters that touch on the whole UK as a state while the one in Edinburgh legislates for the devolved domestic matters. The legislation for legislation was taken from Scotland in 1707 and taken to London till the 21st century on September 1997 when the majority of the Scots voted for a Scottish parliament in a plebiscite. The parliament was official opened by the queen on July 1999 and the new building officially opened by the queen in 2004. It has jurisdiction over primary legislation on matters that concern education, police, environment, economic development law and sets the basic rate of income tax among others. The members of p arliament of the Scottish parliament take the oath of allegiance to the crown. The parliaments first minister is appointed by the queen and receives weekly report from the Scottish parliament. This is done under the statutory law that established the parliament. Waless power on legislation was devolved in 2006 where the Wales assembly has had power and authority to pass laws to address the local issues in Wales such as on health and education. These acts are passed without the approval of the UK-Parliament. These actions of devolution are clearly in line with the intension to bring the government closer to the people so as to be able to empower the people to be able to govern themselves more closely, a proposition that is in line with the third way philosophers in Britain. Socialism involves various economic and political theories that advocate for a collective ownership and administration of the means and factors of production as well as the distribution of goods and services through the state. The system has no private ownership of property. Its a step in the transition of the society between capitalism and socialism according to the Marxist theory. In socialism economic activity is carried out to maximize use value as opposed to exchange value. Socialist are antagonistic to capitalism which they view as concentrating power and wealth to a few elites and it exploits labor leading to formation of a stratified society (class). In recent years there is the notion of democratic socialism that is used to denote the democratic character of the socialist movement. It involves the active participation of the society as whole through workers management of the economy through ideals such as  Ã‚   democratic socialism. It proposes the radical reorganization o f the state through social and economic order through public ownership.   Neo liberalism on the other hand is about economic liberalization based on the neo classical economic theories. Which minimizes the role of the state in the economy  Ã‚   to maintenance of law and order and maximizes the private sectors role? The proponents of this school of thought are referred to as the leftist. Its major effect is seen through the rich growing richer and the poor growing poorer. Third way in UKs politics is about the renewal of the social democracy whose vision and mission is to move the state of Britain from the political limbo that it has been in between the leftist who favor the free market ideologies and the right those who favor the state.   There quest is a new form of political ideology that concentrates on adapting economies and the society in general to the forces of globalization (an advanced form of capitalism). Globalization- a step in capitalism development has resulted in inequalities, the misfortunes of social exclusion, isolation, despair, uncertainty, and politics of the extremes under democracy.   This has put pressure on the leftist to re think there stand politically and socially in these age of knowledge economy. Third way proponents advocate for new progressive values that has three premises i.e. the need for the government to promote equality, to all while safeguarding the underprivileged, a set of moral standards and principles t hat promotes mutual responsibility, while resisting the politics of entitlement and the politics of social abandonment. And finally it advocates for a new approach to governance that empowers the people to act for themselves. The party that was championing this was the new labor party under Tony Blair that shifted from its leftist position and won the British elections of 1997 with a landslide. hence the name new. Today its under Gordon brown. leaving the only leftist party to be the British Fabian society. Third way has been stated to be centrism where it has combined the traditions of the European democrats and the ways of the American economic liberals (proponents of the free market ideology) combining the new right approach to governance and Keynesian theories of economics. The government of the new labor party has been formulating its policies from a number of both leftist think tank bodies like the Fabian society and Demos plus neo liberal think tank bodies coming up with policies that touch on issues like welfare and work etc. This clearly shows that the third way was a compromise between the two. Reference Anthony G, 1998,  The third way: the renewal of social democracy  , Wiley-Blackwell.

The Cask of Amontillado Essays -- essays research papers

The Cask of Amontillado "I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong." With these ferverous words from the introductory paragraph of Edgar Allan Poe's Cask of Amontillado, the story of Montresor's revenge begins. Poe repeatedly stresses the need for revenge due to bitterness and resentment in Montresor's character towards Fortunato, but more importantly, stress is placed on revenge by which the victim realizes their injustice towards the redresser. Unfortunately, it seems that Montresor is denied this pure and encompassing revenge when his victim, Fortunato, during his last few minutes with Montresor, believes that his actions are a huge charade, and not the actions of a man scorned and seeking revenge. Although in burying Fortunato alive, Montresor is able to physically accomplish what he ultimately desired, he is left w ith an air of insatisfaction judging by his own definition of true and justified revenge. Poe shows the resentment Montresor feels towards Fortunato from the very first sentence of the story with, "The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge." It is never specified what this injury was to Montresor, but it was so obviously so heinous that Fortunato was not to be spared. Later in the story, M...

John Locke Government Essay

Without a civil society, all rules of order begin to break down. At this point, there really is no society present. Rather, there is anarchy and an anarchistic society is not one where the populace can be reasonably cared for and protected. John Locke puts forth many assessments in this regard. However, Locke also understands that the current state of society will often play a role in terms of how we react to it. In Richard II, we have a monarchy of a society that fails to be civil in a number of ways. Because of this, action is taken by certain members of the populace. This does raise questions regarding whether or not the actions of these characters in the play support or undermine the theories of John Locke as they relate to the civil society. A closer examination of the play will reveal answers in this regard. In the play, we see certain callous and decidedly not well thought out actions on the part of Richard II. In the early stages of the play, the king interferes in a dual between Bolingbroke and Mowbray. The former is banished for 6 years as a result of his actions with the latter is banished forever. This creates great animosity among Mowbray and his followers while also setting the stage for the creation of a serious enemy. Such actions are further compounded when Richard appropriates all the land of John of Gaunt for himself when the character passes away. Are such actions those of a ruler that professes to oversee a civil society? A great many arguments can be made that such actions are hardly noble in their intent and action. At the core of Locke’s writing is that there really is no such thing as a divinity among the kings that rule a particular land. In other words, kings are not divine beings that can impose their will on the populace in any way they see fit. There are various John Locke, Government, and RICHARD II – Page 2 reasons why Locke promotes such a notion. Firstly, he recognizes that kings are human beings and, hence, fallible as all humans are. This can lead to kings being self-serving as opposed to serving their subjects and the rule of law. When both of these components are ignored, the civil society breaks down. Also, it becomes impossible for proper governance to exist unless deep and serious thought is put forth towards the nature and role of ruling. So, when a king puts forth the attitude that all things are good because of his divine will, society runs the risk of collapsing. Why is this so? Mainly, it is because no logic is being employed by the ruler. Rather, the king believes all things decreed correct because the king is infallible. This does little more than set the stage for the collapse of the king’s rule as well as the collapse of the civil society. We can see this in RICHARD II in several ways. Richard slowly seems to lose his grip on proper rule and becomes a self-serving entity. During the events of the play, we learn that Richard’s kingdom is involved in a long, bitter, and protracted war with Ireland. As such, the need for making proper and accurate decisions is a must. Poor decisions can undermine the effectiveness of the war effort which, in turn, can lead to a collapse of the kingdom. Early in the play, Richard is accused of not properly managing the war effort as evidenced by his personal appropriations of Gaunt’s wealth among other improprieties. This sets in motion the idea that he must be disposed as the ruler of the kingdom. John Locke, Government, and RICHARD II – Pg 3 While all rulers will be criticized at some point, the most stinging criticism would be that the leader does not hold the fabric of society together. Rather, he contributes to the collapse of society. An argument of these sorts can be made towards the rule of Richard II. Of great concern to Locke is the notion that the population has a right to private property and that any government or ruler that infringes on private property is little more than a tyranny. In the context of RICHARD II, there is a ruler that has no respect for private property as evidenced by his unlawful seizing of land and wealth. This poses the question when a king acts lawless, is there any law to the land? Locke also was an avowed believer in the notion that government must represent the will of the people. Those governments that do not provide for the populace in such a way will run the risk of being legitimately overthrown by the motivated members of the populace. We see such events played out in RICAHRD II in many different ways. Ultimately, all the actions of King Richard promote the notion that he does not serve his subject. Rather, he serves his own personal goals with little regard for the life and property of those he is entrusted to care for. One could say that RICHARD II truly does provide a clear interpretation of the problems with government detailed in John Locke’s SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT. As such, it would be safe to infer that Locke would hardly approve of the way Richard II rules. Considering the downfall of the king in the play, Richard II would have been better served had be been guided by Locke’s philosophical approach to government.