Leadership Essay Example for Free

Leadership Essay Vice Principal Mr. Leonard Curry entered the main staffing office of the Academy and ordered a young teacher to get out into her class. Her quiet gentle response was, ‘I do not have a class now, sir.† â€Å"What!’ was his rebuttal insisting that the schedule had been changed and it was her period to be teaching a 10th grader’s Biology class. She replied by asking if it were ethical for her to be informed in such a manner pointing out that   a memo is the acceptable mode of transmitting such changes. This was followed by a gentle explanation she wanted to perform her duties without conflict. Further he said that it was her responsibility to check out changes on the teacher’s assignment notice board from time to time. She reiterated that that was an unconstitutional approach since it was not stated like that in the bylaws of the school. They continued to argue with the principal threatening her with suspension for insubordination had she not complied. A disciplinary report was eventually filed for insubordination and disobeying the rule of law. Impact on credibility—Principal-Mr.Cury displayed a tendency towards an autocratic leadership style. Once how to address the issue was lawful inscribed in the bylaws stipulating a particular way to inform about staffing changes it had to be adhered to. It would appear that the young teacher reminding him of it antagonized the situation. This is a challenge to his credibility. Communication-It is clear that there was a change of command in terms of communication. The principal seemed to have erred. His reaction is to blame the young teacher for his mistake by imposing a penalty on her for his mistake. This is often a management strategic adopted in a autocratic culture. Power of influence—in this situation the power of influence lay in the position or status of principal. The principal used it to make himself look respectable while casting blame onto unsuspecting immature teacher.

Role Of Financial Markets In A Modern Economy

Role Of Financial Markets In A Modern Economy This essay examines the assumption, that a large financial sector consistently benefits the real economy. It has been acknowledged that the financial sector, not to mention some of its components, may sometimes become too large. It can end up posing a threat to both economic and financial stability, so the essay develops our understanding of where the optimal threshold lies. The regulatory measures and addresses the problem best: namely, preventing the financial industry from becoming too large and taking excessive risks, leading to the emergence of bubbles, and to the production of complex and dense financial instruments. And we should avoid imposing restrictive measures that will prevent the financial sector from channelling resources towards productive opportunities. In doing so, we need to make sure that our measures target non-traditional financial markets as much as traditional banking, in order not to encourage regulatory arbitrage and a return to business as usual outside the auspices of regulators. Financial innovation can impose a threat to both economic and financial stability, so we have to enhance our understanding of where the best possible threshold lies in determining the size of the financial systems. There is an emerging consent that while financial markets are generally conducive to economic growth, in the run-up to the recent crisis they were operating on an extreme scale. This essay will converse around four main points: firstly that efficient financial markets enhance growth, however, if they grow too large, then they may lead to a misallocation of resources and cause costly crises. Secondly, facts will be presented showing that in the build-up to the crisis, the size of the financial sector outgrew its trend. Thirdly, identification of some of the main reasons why this occurred and argued how to avoid that such imbalance again. To this end, regulation and supervision can play an important role. Lastly, while ensuring that the financial sector does not grow beyond its optimal size, the new regulatory framework should not reach the point of financial domination. The knowledge from recent industrialised countries has relatively claim, that deeper financial markets improve economic efficiency, lead to a better allocation of productive capital, and increase long-term economic growth. However, the frequent financial shocks associated with dynamic financial industries, and in particular the recent economic crisis, also highlight the role large financial markets play in downside risk. This mutually shows that there is a trade-off between a highly vibrant financial sector and the overall stability of the financial system. (Ranciere, R., Tornell, A., and F. Westermann, 2008) The first part of this essay will argue the aspects of the financial sector which can give us key insights into this trade-off is its size. When reasonably large, financial markets promote economic efficiency by recognising productive opportunities and transforming savings into the investment vitally to finance those opportunities. However, when they become too large, relative to what is implied by economic fundamentals, problems like financial complexity, poorly understood financial innovation, flock behaviour, and endogenous risk-taking to name just a few suddenly outweigh the benefits. The recent financial and economic crisis is a stark example of that. The pre-crisis period was characterised by the growing size, complexity and connectiveness of financial markets, with ensuing unfavourable effects on the global economy. In order to address the problem, regulatory measures are being taken to impose limits on the tendency of the financial sector to create downside risk. But a fine balance needs to be reached: these measures must be effective but not penalizing; they need to address the core of the problem without excessively limiting the ability of financial markets to sustain economic growth. Before going on the second point, it is perhaps useful to explain why we still need a large and dynamic financial industry. In general, deep and efficient financial markets improve economic performance both by raising the level of growth and by allocating productive capital more efficiently, ultimately generating benefits for the society as a whole( Rajan, R., and L. Zingales, 1998) . The difference is particularly noticeable when it comes to the financing of innovative ideas, where the much larger US venture capital industry has been credited over the years with the emergence of whole new industries and such innovative corporate giants as Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Google. All this leads us to the second point of the essay, which is how the size of the financial sector outgrew its trend. Most economists think the relationship between finance and growth as one in which more is better. However, the recent crisis has revealed that a financial sector which goes beyond a certain threshold (or breaking point) can harm the economy and society as a whole. In particular, an oversized financial industry tends to intensify information asymmetries, moral hazard problems, and the hunt for yield, leading to excessive risk-taking and over-leveraging of the system. The events of 2007-2008 suggest that when financial sectors are too large, the allocation of resources may become inefficient. Numerous examples of misallocation were associated with the credit growth of the early 2000s as well, of which the expansion of the US sub-prime mortgage market is just the most obvious one. We can think of examples in Europe too for instance, growth in Spain relied for years on an ever-expanding real estate sector fuelled by increasing borrowing.( Popov, A., and P. Roosenboom, 2009) After discussing the negative penalties on financial stability and economic growth that a too large financial sector can generate, in this section I will analyse available evidence to show that the financial industry as a whole has grown to a sub-optimal size. It is important to note that this is not due to rising compensation in traditional financial sectors like credit and insurance, but due to the large increase in compensation in non-traditional financial activities like investment banks, hedge funds and the like (Figure 1) below. This is another reason why any changes to the regulatory environment aimed at preventing systemic crises in the future will have to deal not just with the traditional banking sector, but with the so-called shadow banking sector as well. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether the crisis has imposed discipline on the financial sector. In theory, one would have expected the crisis to have resulted in, for instance, a new bonus structure with smaller rewards for short-term behaviour, less proprietary trading and more trading on own resources, greater aversion to the accumulation of debt, etc. To find possible remedies to the excessive size of the financial sector, it is important to understand the factors that have allowed it to grow too big, which leads us to the third part of the essay. As mentioned before, one obvious reason is excessive profits. Not only did rapid financial innovation enable Wall Street to encourage risk-taking through record pay, but this process also diverted human resources away from more traditional productive occupations towards the shadow banking system. Of course, an equally important reason for the increase in the size of the financial sector is the global accumulation of savings over time. It has been argued that the pre-crisis boom in US real estate and securitisation markets reflected high foreign demand for safe US assets resulting from excess world savings in the context of persistent global imbalances.( Caballero, R., and A. Krishnamurthy, 2009) According to this interpretation, foreign asset demand not only pushed down the risk-free interest rate in the US but also compressed the risk premier on risky assets. The low cost of financing, in turn, fostered an increase in the level of leverage of the domestic financial sector which exacerbated systemic risk While the recent increase in the profits of the industry was certainly due to improved financial innovation and technology, it can also be attributed to the higher risks that the financial sector undertook.(Biais, B., Heider, F. and M. Hoerova, 2010)By limiting these risks, it will be possible to reduce the size of the financial sector as well. For instance, suppose that risks decrease because of limits to leverage. This may imply that profits will go down as well. As a consequence, the financial sector will attract fewer resources, private capital will flow to more profitable industries, and its size will decrease. A natural question is how the new regulatory framework will affect economic growth. This question will answer the final part of the essay. It is necessary to ensure financial stability and restrain excessive credit, at the same time this process should not go too far and impair economic growth. There is substantial macro level evidence that the depth of the credit markets measured alternately as liquid liabilities and commercial bank credit to the private sector is associated with higher economic growth. (King, R., and R. Levine, 1993.) Changes in the supply of credit, both in terms of volumes and credit standards, have been shown to have a significant effect on real economic activity through business lending; the evidence is stronger for the euro area than the US. Studies that have gone into the mechanisms of this effect have generally concluded that the positive effect of credit markets on growth comes from reallocation of investment from dying to booming sectors, from higher rat es of new business entry, and from higher growth of industries consisting mainly of small firms. As I mentioned above, the expansion of sub-prime lending clearly imposed a negative externality on the whole economy, and so in hindsight regulatory measures that would have prevented such credit expansion could in fact have been beneficial. To summarise, capital requirements, and leverage ratios serve well to illustrate the trade-off between stability and growth as mentioned at the beginning. The examples provided earlier show that the costs incurred when an oversized financial system unwinds are very large and outweigh any pre-crisis gains. Therefore, practical regulatory actions are to restore the balance between stability and growth is perfectly justified. Conclusion Financial markets are central players in a dynamic modern economy, channelling resources from savers to borrowers and allocating them to productive investment opportunities. At the same time, our experience in the past decade has highlighted the dangers of allowing financial sectors to become too large. In doing so, negative developments like the hunt for rents, the propensity to herd and create bubbles, the misalignment of incentives, and the production of complex innovative financial instruments may outweigh the benefits of finance. Given the obvious negative impact of an excessively large financial industry, we keep asking ourselves whether limits should be imposed on the size of the financial sector itself. It must be clear from the evidence that has been presented that the answer to this question is yes. However, it is also essential to make sure that we do not repress financial markets to the point of jeopardising their contribution to growth. Therefore, the measures outlined are aimed at making the industry safer rather than weaker, and should not be considered punitive. Their goal is to re-direct the financial sector so that it avoids embarking on unsustainable patterns. These actions are aimed at commercial banks as well as at non-traditional financial players to make sure that excessive risk-taking is not taking place outside the auspices of regulators. Ensuring that the financial sector is large enough to strengthen the economy while not being too large is a task that we take very seriously. There is a clear trade-off between economic growth and financial stability, and it is a difficult but critical task to strike a good balance, ensuring that we end up neither with too little growth nor with too little stability.

Essay --

The fundamental theme in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest involves society's destruction of individuality. People who refuse to conform to the social standards face ridicule and judgment. Kesey develops this theme through his use of mechanical imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. The novel takes place in a mental hospital, the narrator, Chief is a patient in the ward who suffers from vivid hallucinates. When McMurphy, a spirited character arrives at the ward he begins to question the humility of the hospital, his criticisms of the hospital spark a rebellion amongst the other patients. McMurphy teaches the others to think and speak as individuals and to be themselves despite others judgements. As Nurse Ratched sees the usually powerless patients find power in numbers she decides their leader, McMurphy must be eliminated if she wants to maintain control. She eventually has McMurphy lobotomized leaving him in a vegetable state. In the end Chief runs away fro m the hospital deciding to no longer live his life under the oppressive rule of doctors and nurses. After being inspired by McMurphy’s free thinking ways Chief decides that living a life dictated by society is not a quality life. Throughout the novel Chief continually describes the people and things around him being machines, these machines however are not real. Chief gives a disclaimer very early on â€Å"But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen†(Kesey 8) acknowledging that the machines he describes could be results of his hallucinations. However these hallucinations are extremely relevant and should not be discounted. â€Å"Hallucinations provide metaphorical insight into the hidden realities of the hospital and should not be overlooked simply because they did n... ...to do your thing, not unless it happens to be their thing, too. It's a laugh, Goober, a fake. Don't disturb the universe, Goober, no matter what the posters say† (Cormier). Jerry is stating that it is better to fit in and conform than to rebel. Don’t disturb the flow of society. Interrupt its progress and get destroyed by its mechanical properties. Jerry and McMurphy were both different, they never fit in with others around them. In the end Jerry and McMurphy paid ultimate the price. If you disturb the way society works you must face the consequences. The combine wants everyone to fit in and play a specific part. Power figures like Nurse Ratched are there to enforce the rules. Society could stop this destruction but taking a stand against the machine is difficult when done alone. In conclusion the destructive tendencies of society is a tragic part of everyday life.

Article; Train Fares Essay

Train fares go off the rails. Are train fares becoming affordable for only the rich? Travel is ridiculously expensive: bus train or taxi, but especially the train. As trains are used by many people for various reasons to travel: to and from work; to and from school; to and from visiting family or holidays. They are used daily, and can be used by anyone any age, to anywhere they need, and this is why trains shouldn't be so expensive.Trains are know as being the quickest,most efficient type of transport, as they travel through many different towns all over the country, and because they have professionals driving them already, they allow you to work on the move- something you can't do whilst driving. But the train isn't as great as they make it out to be, Dan Lane a business worker who travels by train to get to work everyday quoted ‘The price of a train ticket is absolutely ridiculous, I have to pay at least ? 200 a month to travel to and from work. I don't really earn alot, and most the money I do earn is mostly spend on buying more train tickets.I Could travel by car for a cheaper price, but i cannot afford a car, and I don't have a drivers licence. † Great Western obviously don't think the prices are enough, so keep rising them more. On average they earn ? 2 billion a year, but want more. High rail fares at peak times could be adding to ‘social exclusion' as the high prices are barring poorer people from using trains because they cannot afford a ticket; Because poorer people are less fortunate to use the train, they could be forced on dependence of cars, but to some could still not be accessible.As they are employed in different towns, they will need to find a way of transport, so many rely on using the train, but could be finding it difficult to pay to use it everyday. Train fares are highly expensive, and still rising to outrageous prices. Some are even finding it too much to pay for; housing, food, children, families and paying up to ? 200 on fares, they could end up finding theirselfs with very little money.If train fares continue to rise, and stay unable to keep affording tickets, it could consequence to them being forced either out of work because of unable access to get their destination, or forced out of their homes because they could end up unable to afford to live their any more. On the subject of ridiculous prices- Great Western made a ? 2 billion profit last year, -No wonder! Prices rose by an outrageous 50%. These rises in price could be the reason families have to relocate or change jobs- because the new locations could make their transport a whole load cheaper and quicker.Many people like visiting their families or friends, and may have to use the train to get their, which could be a problem because transport is essential and they could simply not afford it. Great Western managers don't realize they are preventing people from seeing: family, friends, going to work, or going to school. They only care about making the money, they don't care about their passengers. Some people simply can not afford the ridiculous price of just 1 train ticket. This year has flew by, leaving Christmas very soon.This means that people will be traveling to towns to do their Christmas shopping, which they need their money for, not to spend on a little piece of paper. Also people struggle to afford Christmas because they need to use the train to visit their families all over the place. John Lunton, 60 who is retired is angry with what is going on with the prices and wants to do something about it. â€Å"The prices when I was a teenager is what the prices should still be now, as they were reasonable. The prices have over doubled since then and I think it is absolutely ridiculous.I need to travel because I have Grandchildren and other family all over Britain, and I would like to see them over Christmas. Sadly, I cannot afford to travel to see all of them, but if I do choose to, then it would result in me not looking after myself by not eating, because I will need the money to travel. † A major problem with trains, is how managers allow them to get so overcrowded,which could be bad for others health, some people are claustrophobic so it could be bad for their health. Also trains are dirty and their is litter all over the floors, there are security cameras but they don't seem to help with anything at all.Trains are sometimes late and delayed, this shouldn't happen, as people need to get to work and if the train is late, and results in them being late for work, it could cost them their job. Trains show absolutely no sign of improvement for the conditions and them being on time, but which they should. Do the government care about their passengers and wasting their money? I think not. As long as their making their nice, big comfortable profits, they don't care who their passengers are, and how much they charge them.In my opinion, I think that the prices should be lowered to suit the co nditions of the trains, which would be quite low, but would result in them not making as much money. Oh no, What a shame! I'm not surprised that British citizens complain about the prices of train fares, as Britain has the highest price of train fares in the whole of Europe. The railway has been described as being a ‘rich mans transport' because it is becoming affordable for the rich only. An example of the ridiculous prices is from Exeter to London– The price of a single way journey is ? 130 minimum price. this shows how outrageous our county is getting.Many people have described ‘First group' as being ‘Worse group' and some people have even be complaining. So why are train fares so expensive? to get money for themselves, not caring abut other peoples money, as long as they have as much as they desire. Trains are used by many people for various reasons, therefore the prices should be reduced. but if the rising prices continues, they could lose customers, de scribed as ‘price increase= Passenger decrease. ‘ So if they want to maintain the high number of customers they are currently obtaining, they should either: lower the prices or stop rising them.

Mars Attacks! Review Essay

Review of Mars Attacks! Mars Attacks! is Tim Burton’s clever thought at a martian invasion on the United States of America. After their landing, they easily took advantage of the governments trust, understanding, and compassion. Human beings, especially Americans, show just how ignorant and unpredictable they can be. However, their stupidity paves the way to their survival with a little bit of a population remaining. Source Materials: The constant struggle between war and politics makes this movie a classic bumbling mess of emgo fighting over what they consider to be right. The 1950’s science fiction focuses on how these peoples egos were created in a time of growing personalities. Genre: Parody Science Fiction portrays humility at the expense of American’s under the superior mind of the martians. Ultimately giving the upper hand to the human race for a reason that could not even be fathomed by mankind. Star Personas: The film is shown through the eyes of powerful figures from Nevada to Washington D. C. Everyone has an opinion and the best idea with how to deal with the martian invasion. A poor kid from that gets no attention within his society turns out to be the hero of the film. Technology/CGI: Used strongly throughout the entire movie, because anything that had to do with the martians was created by CGI. It was used to give a feel of abstract science fiction and not just a battle for superior intelligence. Plot: Told from a variety of different viewpoints and the advantages and drawbacks that went along with them. Everything comes together in the end to make it a bittersweet happy ending for all of those still left alive.

Kirk Arnold

Kirk Arnold effectiveness as a manger and leader comes from the character and her management style. More than the skills or previous experience she has with other companies, her work ethics, manner and her interactions with other people in the company establishes confidence and admiration. This suggests that though she is goal-oriented person, she also recognizes the importance of building relationship and work partnerships within and outside the organization What could she do better? Considering the developing challenges in the industry Nerve Wire ranging from the slowing down of the economy and the intensification of competition, relationships with clients and other industry partners can be further developed. Arnold has already apparently recognized this need and has incorporated it significantly in her priorities and schedule. What aspect of her management style do you think contribute to her effectiveness or ineffectiveness? One key aspect that has contributed to the success of Arnold’s management in the company is her work ethics which are recognized by both her peers and subordinates as exemplary. She has established a reputation for directness, objectiveness as well as a willingness to work: suggesting that she doesn’t consider her position as a privilege but as a craft. Is her style well-suited to the current situation at NerveWire? In what other situations might it be effective? In what situations would it be ineffective? Her style of management, direct but responsive, suits the nature of NerveWire’s business. Since the company is consulting and systems development, there is a need to recognize particular requirements and unique business perspectives of clients. Unlike consultancy for operational or repetitive business concerns that would not creative thinking as much, Arnold thrives in NerveWire’s environment because it allows her to apply her experience and skills, as she designs it, in innovative settings. In what way is your own style like Kirk? In what way is your style different? Like Arnold, I recognize a challenge in trying to view problems in a new way and developing new perspectives and strategies for problems. Also, that though there are technical or operational requirements that need to be taken into consideration they should not be viewed as limitations. Unlike Arnold however, there is still a lot to be developed in my mentoring or coaching skills. Most likely, this aptitude can be further developed as I gain more experience and work with more people. Malcolm Frank. In what way is Malcolm effective? Malcolm Frank effectivity comes from the fact that he is capable as an executive as well as managing other executives. In his interview, he points out that the challenge of working with brilliant people is how to be able to channels their skills and experience productively and how to manage and resolve conflicts What could he do better? He can be more directly involved in building relationships with the various stakeholders of the company to be able to asses their perceptions on the directions of the industry and in general, the economy. This will allow him the context needed to examine scenarios that the company will face. Similar to Arnold, he has also recognized the need to build these relationships personally as reflected in his own priorities and schedule. What aspect of his management style do you think contribute to his effectiveness or ineffectiveness? The most critical to Frank’s effectiveness is his confidence in the organization and its executives without being threatened or having reservation in directing them to the company’s objectives. In doing so, he is able to develop an atmosphere that maximizes the skills and potentials of the organization, highlighting the importance cooperation and organizational development and effectiveness. Is his style well-suited to the current situation at NerveWire? In what other situations might it be effective? In what situations would it be ineffective? Frank is suited to Nerve Wire because he is able to exert his authority positively. However, this success is because Frank manages and organization that has positive sense of competition and strong organizational relationship. For NerveWire and similar organizations where there is high level of pressure and a significant collection of assertive and creative people, this is an essential skill to maintain the cohesiveness and cooperation of a group. In what way is your own style like Malcolm and in what way is your style different? Like Frank, I recognize and appreciate the need for expertise, knowledge and experience as well as an environment were can they can developed positively. In doing so, people will be able to work effectively with each other and increase the overall potential and capacity of an organization. . At the same time, I recognize that this degree of confidence in my work and managing the work of others has to still be honed by experience and training. Â  

Plato's ideas of a philosopher and its relevance in modern politics Essay

Plato's ideas of a philosopher and its relevance in modern politics - Essay Example They have important knowledge and are capable of achieving perfect one. They have the ability to educate the society with the truth due to the fact that they simply love wisdom and even just the thought of having it. They want to learn many things and it does not conceal the fact that indeed they love to acquire much more wisdom and they are more knowledgeable than any other. Regarding this, there are three important questions this essay addresses: Why, according to Plato, are philosophers considered useless by the general public? Why does Plato think that they are (potentially) useful? If the general public thinks that philosophers are useless, can they ever be useful? The metaphor of the ship â€Å"Imagine then a fleet or a ship in which there is a captain, who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, but he is a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, and his knowledge of navigation is not much better†1. In this statement, Plato tried to emphasize that someone who is able to lead should definitely has knowledge about everything he or she is doing. It is not just enough to have physical strength just like the captain in the metaphor as having characteristics such as being taller and stronger than any of the crew in the ship, but it is important that someone must be able to have perfect knowledge about its role in order to play it perfectly right in front of the public. Plato did not deny the fact that someone who has the responsibility to lead should have important physical characteristics to ensure strength and possession of ultimate power. However, what he wanted to stress out is the fact that knowledge is important because just like the captain of the ship, the entire vessels should head on to the right direction. In directing the vessel to the right direction, the captain should essentially have important background, experiences or knowledge about navigation. Most importantly, he has the ability to learn which is the thought strongly emphasized by Plato through the use of the body parts associated with learning such as the eyes and ears. Plato emphasized these basic parts of the body as important components in understanding things or everything about in the world. The general public â€Å"Now in vessels which are in a state of mutiny and by sailors who are mutineers, how will the true pilot be regarded? Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing?†2. This statement simply illustrates the general public’s treatment towards philosophers. In this statement, Plato regarded the general public as having argumentative attitudes towards correct ideals. It is presented in this situation that the general public has the freedom on how they would show their treatment towards philosophers in line with their role in directing people and leading them towards certain directions. The general public certainly does not want to make agreement with the philosopher when in fact he has the ab ility to think among any other and has the potential to lead and learn the knowledge about something else. Just like in the case of the captain in the metaphor of the ship in the â€Å"The Republic†, although he is definitely has the potential strength to lead the entire crew of the ship, Plato ironically wants to emphasize that someone remarkably needs to have knowledge and the right ideals about everything else as far as moving forward to the right direction is concerned. However, Plato just wanted to emphasize that the general