Prosopography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Prosopography - Assignment Example They also have a traditional leadership structure, where there is a council of religious leaders, specifically men, who makes decisions on behalf of the entire community. Additionally, this community tends to grow apple trees, cherry together with significant amounts of wheat. Majority of the Druze family tend to grow their own fruits, vegetables and bake their own bread. Druze women traditionally dress in long blue or white dresses with a white headscarf, while their men had abandoned their traditional modes of dressing, specifically the shirwal and grow moustache (Gordon, 12). Their houses are scarcely furnished, with a characteristic low wooden table and thin cushions lined against the walls. Their language has an Egyptian origin; their language can easily be recognized due to the fact that they have a sharp pronunciation of the letter â€Å"q†. Basically, the life of Druze man revolves around his family and attendance of religious meetings on every Thursday night. They hav e a high sense of hospitality in their culture and tend to visit each other in their homes (Gordon, 14). In regard to divorce, it is a rare action among the Druze; however, men may initiate divorce when a wife fails to bear children. Consequently, the Syrian Druze has a unique religion, which can be traced back to Egypt; in most cases, their Druze religion has been disavowed by Muslims (Gordon, 16). The Community had a positive relationship with the Assad regime, basically owing to the fact that Assad managed to seek tremendous support from the minority communities; however, currently the community is torn in between supporting Assad and the Islamist extremists. Some of the Druzes has claimed that Assad failed them by not providing them with weapons to protect themselves from the Jabhat Al-Nusra attacks (Gordon, 22). The Druze of Syria are poorer as compared to other minority communities; this has been attributed to the fact that they have spent many years on war issues rather than

Women must demonstrate male characteristics in order to succeed as Essay

Women must demonstrate male characteristics in order to succeed as leaders and must cast aside feminine qualities - Essay Example Women must demonstrate male characteristics in order to succeed as leaders and must cast aside feminine qualities Not all researchers or organisational practitioners support the ideology of domination and assertive behaviour as being vital to gaining followership, with some offering that effective leadership consists of such behaviours as compassion, nurturing and helpfulness. At the sociological level, again based on long-standing cultural distinctions between typical male and female behaviours, such leadership traits are largely associated with the feminine personality. In order to fully understand whether women can maintain their innate, feminine attitudes and personality traits, it is necessary to examine the conceptions of what constitutes successful leadership. This essay examines the distinctions made by many in society and within the organisation of what comprises typical male versus female behaviours and how these traits translate into positive leadership capability. Based on the research findings, this work will illustrate that in order to gain followership as a leader, women must aban don their feminine qualities and utilise male-oriented strategies even if such philosophies conflict with inherent personality factors. One can first make the argument that there are distinct biologically-driven differences between the male and female that determine social conceptions of gender. Campbell (1989) offers research describing the differences between male and female brain structure in which the female maintains distinct hemispherical structures known to be related with superior verbal and linguistic skills. Male brain biology, in opposite accord, is structured in a fashion known to support aggression and assertiveness (Gorman 1995). Science supports that women are more likely to be passive, inherently, than their male counterparts based strictly on the genetic differences between the sexes. Science would seem to support the notion that women must make radical adjustments to their innate personality traits if they wish to adopt male-oriented characteristics in the role of organisational leadership. However, there is much more to the debate when attempting to explain the difference between sex and gender. Ac cording to Oakley (1972) gender is a socially-constructed concept deeply engrained in time-honoured cultural values and principles. Gender is â€Å"constructed through situational and institutional processes† and such beliefs can be regularly subject to change and variable among international cultures (Oakley 1972, p.41). In most Western cultures, as one relevant example, distinctions between men and women are made under social identity theory, a psychological model which iterates that one builds their own self-concept based on membership within a relevant social group (Hogg 2001; Turner and Oakes 1986). If the dominant group prototype suggests that the female gender should maintain such characteristics as submission, empathy or nurturing behaviours, compliance with the social ideology of male versus female attitude and personality becomes a sociological consideration and is

Reflective Journal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflective Journal - Research Paper Example Below are different leadership theories that I thought are most important for the understanding ofthis subject (Bolden et. al, 2003): 1. The Trait Approach to Leadership: This theory is adopted from the Great Man theory which suggests that leaders are exceptional people having innate attributes which ultimately make them a leader. According to this theory some of the traits most common in leaders are: friendliness, motivation, doing group tasks, emotional control and many others (Ricketts, 2009). 2. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y Manager: According to him, Theory X managers dislike work and would try to avoid it and that they will have to be forced to work. Whereas Theory Y managers exhibit passion for work, self-direction and self-control to achieve goals. 3. The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Leadership: This model is based on situational perception of leadership. In my opinion a true leader can be identified when he or she is in a difficult situation. The theory states that there are two styles of leadership-Directive (one-way communication) and Supportive (interactive and mutual decision-making). The normative decision model was put forward by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton in 1973 and in the later years it was being modified by Victor with the collaboration of Arthur Jago. The theory states that the situational factors play a more important role in the decisions that are being taken by a leader than the leadership behavior he / she has adopted. The theory talks about five different sets of strategies. Two of the strategies are of autocratic styles, two from the consultative styles and one from the group decision makings. The personality of the leader plays an important role in achieving excellent leadership and perfect decision-making in the job market. Some of the traits that are important for good leadership at work are: Vision: One role of the leader is to communicate the vision and

Service Operations Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Service Operations Analysis - Assignment Example A.1 Timeliness - It is valuing the precious time of customers as visitors to the branch. Customers find it hard to spend unnecessary time from their daily hectic work routine. The guard at the entrance opens the glass gate for you to enter the bank premises without delay. You find that customers are being attended to deposit cash through many windows. Without any delay, you proceed to the window where only one customer is ahead in the line to deposit cash. With-in next minute, your turn comes and it hardly takes two minutes for you to come out of the bank after depositing the currency. A.2 Incremental Flow - It is serving the bank customers by politely asking them the nature of work required by the customer – whether it is a bearer check to be cashed or operating a bank safe locker box by the enquiry desk executive. As the business was operation of the safe locker box, the enquiry desk led the customer to the table for the desk executive to request the customer to be seated until the bank personnel operates the bank keys and requests the customer to use the customer key to open the locker. A.3 Anticipation - It is before-hand knowledge of the difficulty to be faced by the customer in the Bank of America. Due to internal setting changes, blank booklets of check depositing slips were kept at a desk away from the view. A relationship official of the bank was roaming around to find any such customer problem and guide the customer. A.4 Communication - Customers receive the services by making online requests. If a customer makes an online request for the new check book, it is delivered without any postal cost to the customer at customer premises. A.5 Customer feedback - It is requesting the customer on the website to share experiences so that improvement in services could be made. The bank has hired an agency to send visitors on mystery shopping to get unbiased opinion on its services. A.6

The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom Essay

The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom - Essay Example Seibert’ book presents a number of interesting people and unsung heroes before it readers. Among all of them, one person that particular catches the interest is Calvin Fairbank. Fairbank lived in an affluent family that was 'assigned' with two slaves. As these slaves did all the housework, once he got the opportunity to listen to the slave-woman's tale of sorrow, which kindled anger in Fairbank. Once when he was in charge of a raft of lumber, he saw a woodsman who was going to be a slave very soon. Fairbank took him on the raft and helped him. Along with o an old slave woman with 7 children, he helped this man escape by taking them to a secure location on his raft. However, this met with a lot of issues because Fairbank was charged with helping the slaves help and was sent to the penitentiary. Before he was released, the Fugitive Slave law was passed, but this did not prove to be a deterrent to his ideas. According to him, 'I resisted its execution whenever and wherever possib le'. He continued to help the slaves escape. This landed him in the prison again and he spent more than 17 years of his life in the prison, where some phases were filled with physical and mental torture. Through his strategy of using disguises and helping people hide, he played pivotal part in making the life better for many slaves. One of the very interesting events in the book is about how the disguise was used as a very effective technique to help the slaves escape quietly without the threat of being caught.... Fairbank lived in an affluent family that was 'assigned' with two slaves. As these slaves did all the housework, once he got the opportunity to listen to the slave-woman's tale of sorrow, which kindled anger in Fairbank. Once when he was in charge of a raft of lumber, he saw a woodsman who was going to be a slave very soon. Fairbank took him on the raft and helped him. Along with o an old slave woman with 7 children, he helped this man escape by taking them to a secure location on his raft. However, this met with a lot of issues because Fairbank was charged with helping the slaves help and was sent to the penitentiary. Before he was released, the Fugitive Slave law was passed, but this did not prove to be a deterrent to his ideas. According to him, 'I resisted its execution whenever and wherever possible' (Siebert, 1898, p. 159). He continued to help the slaves escape. This landed him in the prison again and he spent more than 17 years of his life in the prison, where some phases wer e filled with physical and mental torture. Through his strategy of using disguises and helping people hide, he played pivotal part in making the life better for many slaves. One of the very interesting events in the book is about how the disguise was used as a very effective technique to help the slaves escape quietly without the threat of being caught. Mr. Sidney Speed of Crawfordsville narrates the incident when a mulatto girl was about 20 years of age reached their home. As the level of vigilance was very high, they could not move her despite many efforts. The owners of this slave were searching for her all across the place. When they got the right opportunity, she was taken to a coloured man's house to devise a plan of escape. There, she was disguised in a dress of silks and

Witchcraft Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Witchcraft - Term Paper Example Witchcraft as is evident from its name is related to witches who are interested in making use of supernatural powers for their purposes. Witches gain knowledge of witchcraft in order to practice it. People relate witchcraft with devil forces while different religions have contrasting views about witchcraft and witches. This paper analyzes witchcraft, its different forms, its practice, people involved and the similarities and differences present between different forms of witchcraft. Witchcraft as seen historically was not always devilish or evil as many people benefited by this craft. Witches were also famous for restoring people back to health, which can be regarded as an advantageous feature associated with witches (Moore and Sanders, 2001). Witches also facilitated people with their wisdom and knowledge by giving them solutions for their problems. Although the image of witches as evil and demonic is much more reputed as compared to their good image. Witches exist in different form s due to which, their delivered witchcraft is also different. Pocs categorizes witches into three categories which are magical witches, social witches and supernatural witches (1999). The witches who helped people through different ways were termed as magical witches or sorcerers as they healed people from their physical problems, worked as midwives and fortune-tellers (Pocs, 1999). Social witches were those witches who used to curse people and cause troubles for them for their disapproving actions and supernatural witches were those who made use of supernatural powers for disturbing people and worked as demons. Supernatural witches also connected the natural world with the supernatural world. (Pocs, 1999) In different religions, witchcraft is regarded differently. Islam categorizes witchcraft as devilish and mischievous and all the practices associated to witchcraft or any such category, are regarded as anti-Islamic. Similarly, Christianity also regards witchcraft as an anti-religi ous activity and condemns it profoundly. In both the religions, witchcraft is looked upon as heretic by its scholars. The people following the mentioned religions get frightened by knowing about witchcraft and associated people and try to annihilate it. It is believed that witches get united with malevolent forces and work against the religious people and the religion as a whole to injure it due to which, witches and witchcraft are completed rebuffed in both the religions (Thomas, 1997). After knowing about witches or accused people practicing witchcraft, a major number of killings have come on the forefront historically describing the unapproved status of witchcraft in Islam and Christianity. In Christianity, witches are regarded as supporters of satanic deeds. Any work that is performed under the title of witchcraft is regarded as an anti-Christian work. Satan is thought to be working against Jesus due to which, any involvement in satanic works is again regarded as anti-Jesus (Tho mas, 1997). Christians because of their faith in Jesus and God pay attention to witchcraft as an activity that is against their religion. Like the followers of Christian religion, Jews, the followers of the religion of Jewish faith also regard witchcraft as an anti-religious activity. Such practices are linked with worshipping of gods and deities, which is a transgression from Jewish religion. To practice magic in Jewish religion is a crime as it relates to the rejection of the religion as a whole. According to the Judaism religion, witches should be punished and brought to death for their practicing the magic (Thomas, 1997). To learn about witchcraft

Reflective Journal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflective Journal - Research Paper Example Below are different leadership theories that I thought are most important for the understanding ofthis subject (Bolden et. al, 2003): 1. The Trait Approach to Leadership: This theory is adopted from the Great Man theory which suggests that leaders are exceptional people having innate attributes which ultimately make them a leader. According to this theory some of the traits most common in leaders are: friendliness, motivation, doing group tasks, emotional control and many others (Ricketts, 2009). 2. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y Manager: According to him, Theory X managers dislike work and would try to avoid it and that they will have to be forced to work. Whereas Theory Y managers exhibit passion for work, self-direction and self-control to achieve goals. 3. The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Leadership: This model is based on situational perception of leadership. In my opinion a true leader can be identified when he or she is in a difficult situation. The theory states that there are two styles of leadership-Directive (one-way communication) and Supportive (interactive and mutual decision-making). The normative decision model was put forward by Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton in 1973 and in the later years it was being modified by Victor with the collaboration of Arthur Jago. The theory states that the situational factors play a more important role in the decisions that are being taken by a leader than the leadership behavior he / she has adopted. The theory talks about five different sets of strategies. Two of the strategies are of autocratic styles, two from the consultative styles and one from the group decision makings. The personality of the leader plays an important role in achieving excellent leadership and perfect decision-making in the job market. Some of the traits that are important for good leadership at work are: Vision: One role of the leader is to communicate the vision and