Introduction Leadership Research Effective leadership is paramount to the success of any corporation. On a daily basis, managers at all levels are required to make leadership decisions to accomplish company objectives. Effective leaders, at a minimum, must be able to motivate employees and quell conflicts. Companies such as Kellogg's, Dell, Jet Blue, Macy's, the U.S. Amy, HP, OMX, and the University of Minnesota span a wide range of industries and will serve to illustrate the importance of leadership. Comparisons will be drawn and contrasts highlighted to show how leadership can be applied and molded to fit any situation regardless of industry, company culture, or personalities. Compare and Contrast Every organization has goals identified and use managers to help reach them-and the eight companies researched are no different. Each company was after one thing-greater power. Power can be loosely defined as the ability to bring about change (Beyond Intractability, 2007)

When Dick Cheney "was presenting the rough game plan and sequence" for the invasion of Afghanistan with timing that was "totally up in the air," Colin Powell pressed for a more definite strategy (Woodward, 2002). As Woodward points out in Bush at War, the former Secretary of State advocated a clear-cut plan when addressing the attacks of September 11. His views on how the United States should pursue a military strategy and especially his views on Iraq would isolate Colin Powell, ostracizing him from the rest of the cabinet. Yet Powell noticed that the administration was developing a politically expedient response without developing an effective strategy. Because of his differing views and his candor, Powell has been called a "reluctant warrior," (Woodward, 2002, p. 331). Often his views clashed considerably with those of the administration and he has allegedly launched severe verbal attacks at the administration (Bright, 2004). Basing his beliefs on 35 years of military experience incl

This work will attempt to address corporate social responsibility and the actions of Firestone, with regard to recent ethically questionable decisions. The work will touch on the most recent recall and eventual reparations awarded injured parties as a result of Firestone tire failure. The work will also identify the key ingredients that make such a failing possible in the long term through a look at the source of ethical (or unethical) decisions making. The core of the problem, according to many experts and by this writer is that profit is valued above safety and that the corporate climate as well as it support networks, such as law and education value secrecy rather than full disclosure when the potential for profit loss is projected. Scientists, CEOs and even line workers are implored to remain silent through overt and subtle coercion, even when they are aware of safety concerns and industry relies heavily on the time lag between the introduction of a potentially unsafe product an

Kellogg's-Merging an Acquisition Kellogg's entered the fruit snack market in 2003; the company is generally known for its breakfast cereals, including such stalwart brands as Corn Flakes. As with InterClean, the company added fruit snacks to its product line and then made an acquisition announcement within a very short period of time related to the new product line. Where InterClean did this with EnviroTech and its expertise in services, Kellogg's did it with fruit snacks and its acquisition of the fruit snack division of Kraft Foods for $30 million ("Kellogg," 2005). Kraft marketed some of its fruit snacks under well-known brand names that included Nabisco, Capri Sun and Jell-O. However, when Kellogg's made its acquisition, it did not acquire these names; they remain with Kraft which uses them for other products. Instead, Kellogg's purchased the facilities and resources that Kraft used in order to manufacture fruit snacks. Kellogg's also gained access to the Kraft distribution network; this might be similar to Kellogg's own distribution network for its core products as well

The great geographical discoveries of the 15th and 16th centuries inaugurated the ascension of Europe as the catalyst behind the development of the modern world, helped spread Christianity on a global scale and led to the formation of the first colonial empires, namely those of Spain and Portugal. Between 1450 and 1550 several naval expeditions were organized at the orders of the kings of Spain and Portugal. These expeditions resulted in significant discoveries on the part of European explorers: America, central and south Africa, the shoreline of India, South-East Asia and the Far East. These expeditions were planned and organized efforts, based on strong resources of human energy and material support. The main incentives behind these discoveries were the spread of Christianity - by force where necessary, the need for gold, spices, silk and other precious resources that were not available in Spain or Portugal, as well as the search for glory and a spirit of adventure. Until the beginn

Scholars have been debating Europe's rise to power for centuries. In the earliest history, it was due to God's will. Then, many promoted the race theory. Now, the argument comes down to a combination of environment and culture says Harvard historian David Landes. He argues that argues in his books Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor and The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe From 1750 to the Present that Europe has been more progressive than all other civilizations for thousands of years at first because of a number of different factors, including geography (climate), sociology, anthropology and culture and economics. Landes cites several reasons for his argument (xxi): better climate, soils, topography, natural vegetation, health, nutrition, reproductive habits, values, politics, institutions (family, church, market, state, city,) inventiveness, innovativeness, and venturesome spirit. In

The Cultural Revolution that took place in China can be considered to be one of the most important experiences of the 20th century. It represented the result of a series of contextual events that marked the emergence of the phenomenon, and in its turn, it influenced the future evolution of events, to this day. In order to proper understand the complexity of the issue, it is important to analyze the event from a historical perspective. At the same time however, although the approach is chronological, there are essential issues that must be stressed out. Therefore, the events that took place in the late 1960s and the first half of the 1970s had important internal and external causes that should be pointed out for a comprehensive perception of the historical context. Next, the logical evolution of the paper focuses on the actual manifestations of what became known as the "Great Cultural Revolution". Finally, aiming to offer a complex image of the entire political, economic, s

This paper will include from an observational vantage things associated with people of a different race, ethnic, cultural, gender and social class background. It will detail what the author expects to find, based on pre-existing assumptions and understandings of how one's background, including their walk, talk, and interactions with others may influence their demeanor and how common interactions or behaviors exist between individuals of differing groups or backgrounds. Specifically the author will combine information gathered from a brief literature review with observations of a large minority culture within the United States, that of the Hispanic/Latino "minority majority," thus called because within the United States this culture and race represent the largest minority in the U.S. today. Hispanic & Latino Cultures This paper focuses on Hispanic and Latino cultures, since much work has been done in the field of psychology, social sciences and cultural diversity reg

Andrew Gumbell, the U.S. correspondent for the United Kingdom's Independent newspaper, and Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 911 are similar in that they both discuss the role of fraud in American elections. The difference is that whereas in Fahrenheit 911, the fraud examined is that of the 2000 Presidential elections, with an argument that this is a new phenomena in American politics, Steal the Vote shows that fraud has historically been part of our election system. Gumbel traces the role of election fraud in American elections from the eighteenth century to the present. He focuses on the Hayes versus Tilden election of 1876, the vote buying that was prevalent in the Gilded Age, and the history of black disenfranchisement that has been rampant in post-Reconstruction South. The final part of the book highlights the 2000 and 2004 elections. According to Gumbel, the Florida election issue of 2000 and the resulting decision by Supreme Court Justice Scalia in Bush v. Gore is

Mario Livio's book The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number (2002) chronicles the history, not of a person, thing, or concept, but a number. However, this number or notion of proportionality or the 'Golden Ratio' has been invested with such cultural, emotional, and religious importance it has taken on a character in and of itself. Philosophers and poets have used the idea of proportional perfection in the universe to justify the aesthetic behind their works and also to prove the existence of God. Deny the Golden Ratio, and deny the idea that aesthetics or religious principles exist independently of human craft and culture. Phi has fascinated mathematicians for centuries, but it is less famous than its similarly named cousin Pi, which and even inspired a holiday (3.14, March 14th or 'Pi' day). So what exactly is Phi? Although 3.14 may be more famous, phi may be, according to Livio, "even more fascinating," and have a m

Mathematics, argues H.E. Huntley in his book, The Divine Proportion (1970) can be beautiful. This is not a radical notion in and of itself. After all is not the discipline of mathematics all about imposing the neatness, simplicity, and proportion of numbers onto seemingly random sequences? All of these principles are considered intrinsic to great art through much of Western history, writes Huntley. The Western musical scale is tonal, or based upon harmonics that are pleasing to the ear. Most of the structures that we live within are proportionate rather than disproportionate in their shape, based upon the principles of architecture. However, what may be radical and controversial about Huntley's text is that the author claims that beauty exists as a principle that is external and transcendent to any individual human being's ability to create either equations or art. In other words, beauty exists in nature, and our notions of beauty and mathematical symmetry and proportion ex

Fiction is usually thought of as prose, while poetry is given a separate classification. Essays are a form of prose usually differing from fiction in that the essay is considered a real document and not a tale. The distinction among these three forms is not always that clear, and often the genres are deliberately blurred. For that matter, critics often find elements of one type or writing echoed in another. A writer such as Thomas Wolfe, for instance, is often cited for the poetic nature of his prose. Steinbeck wrote what are called the intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath in the form of essays on topics related to the larger fictional portion of the novel. Some poetry reads more like prose than what is thought of as poetry until the reader analyzes the interior tensions of the words selected and how they fit into the whole. In much modern fiction, the three elements may be used in various ways in the same work in order to achieve some purpose or to illustrate some concep

This paper presents a case study of two families who are linked by their children's medical needs. The writer explores the family dynamics, their children and the link between them. There were five sources used to complete this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze learning team participation and efficacy, including the success of teams, requirements and performance expected of teams as set forth in the learning team toolkit. The research will cover many aspects of team learning, including the benefits of working in a team, challenges of, stages of development, limitations and approaches to conflict resolution most likely to produce positive and accepted outcomes. The information prepared combines the facts and data gathered from the learning toolkit combined with literature supported by the learning toolkit.

1. The most intense event in terms of national interest is obviously the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. There are several explanations that place this event on top of the list. First of all, this is the first significant attack on US soil. All the other conflicts that the US has been involved in during its history have been fought on foreign ground, but this was an attack in the heart of New York and of Washington. Second of all, the enemy in this case is much more elusive than in the other examples, where it's much easier to identify the opponent, a certified enemy. With terrorists, it's difficult to identify who they are, where they are hiding and, especially, what are the appropriate and efficient instruments to fight them. The next level should be the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This can be partially assimilated with an attack on US soil, but the fact that it is dista

Rather than purely focusing on a child's sexual or neurological stages of development, like Freud and Piaget, Erik Erikson attempted to present a more holistic model for analyzing childhood development ("Piaget's Stages of Social-Emotional Development In Children and Teenagers,"1998, Child Development Institute). Erkison's approach is uniquely helpful for educators today. Erikson "describes the physical, emotional and psychological stages of development and relates specific issues, or developmental work or tasks, to each stage" (Patient Teaching, Loose Leaf Library: Springhouse Corporation, 1990). Ultimately childhood education is about setting tasks-setting tasks for the student to complete to facilitate understanding, and setting tasks for the teacher to become a quality educator. Erikson called the full range of his stages "eight stages of man" (or human being), taking his cue from Shakespeare's famous "All the world's a

Classic literature retains its significance regardless of when written. Generations come and go, and times change. However, specific human traits remain, despite the number of years that have gone by since the author wrote the novel. This is the case with Isaac Bashevis Singer's Satan in Goray. Originally published in 1935, the message in this book is as relevant today as it was seventy years ago. In seventeenth-century Poland a hamlet is rebuilding itself after being completely decimated in the Chmielnicki massacres against the Jews. The residents are understandably vulnerable to a professed Messiah, who promises them salvation but instead leads them into religious fanaticism and evil-worship. In today's society, where so many people are emotionally stressed and searching for answers, is it also possible that someone promising deliverance could gain power and develop a religious fanatical group? The novel takes place in the secluded Polish village of Goray in the year 1648

The two major international human rights issues discussed in this paper are: a)Women's Rights b)Anti-Personnel Land Mines Women's Rights John Lennon once wrote a song, which said, "Women are the niggers of the world..." The words, unfortunately, are an accurate description of the plight of women since times immemorial. The biological differences between the male and female human species have obviously been the root cause behind the traditional discrimination against women in most societies. The child-bearing ability and physically weaker bodies of the females have resulted in relegating them to a restricted role as mothers and wives. On the other hand, the male who did not have to suffer from the 'disadvantage' of bearing children and possessed greater physical strength, assumed the role of the 'provider' outside the home, and began to dominate the women. The widespread belief that women were intellectually inferior to men also contribute

"Pop culture" is a term given to describe all the various cultural elements found in any given society. These elements are often perpetuated through society's language, particularly the vernacular language. It encompasses everything, from daily interactions between people to the needs and desires of individuals and communities to the various cultural moments that surround our everyday lives within mainstream society. Further, pop culture includes such activities as cooking, clothing, fashion, consumption, entertainment, sports, literature, and especially mass media. It is often through the mss distribution of these things that creates pop culture, or, in other words, makes that particular culture "popular." In comparison, pop culture is often placed in contrast with the typically more exclusive and elitist high culture. Pop culture is something that is in a constant state of flux; therefore what was pop culture yesterday is no longer pop culture today. For this reason, pop culture

This paper presents an examination of advertising. The writer explores different styles of advertising and argues that advertising creates a consumer culture and has an impact on the culture's direction and path. There were four sources used to complete this paper.

In the late 1990s and the early years of the new millennium, the news was inundated with several corporate scandals as a result of accounting frauds or "cooking the books" by large American Corporations such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Xerox and others. The news was shocking enough and it brought Corporate America into the limelight since the deeds were caused not by ordinary rank-and-file employees but those at the helm of power, the C-level management. In some of these cases, there was a whistleblower or two and if it wasn't for these individuals, the bad deeds would have gone unchecked. The whistleblowers were at first pariahs of the corporate world and were often labeled as "shit-disturbers," "chain rattlers," "squealers," or "ungrateful and disloyal people." Whether the whistleblowers had altruistic or self-serving motives, the fact remains that whistleblowing is part of the check and balance of an organization to ensure that &

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the topic of cultural symbols and their importance to society. Specifically it will research the history of one of the world's most infamous cultural symbols – the swastika. The history of this notorious symbol is long and varied, and much of it has little to do with the hatred and violence that mark it today. The swastika is an ancient symbol used for decoration and ornamentation, but it has come to civilize the Nazis, one of the most brutal cultures on earth.

Although Rudyard Kipling was not the first Englishman to use the phrase: 'carrying the white man's burden," Kipling was one of the most eloquent British spokesmen in defense of the British Empire. Kipling is now regarded an apologist for the British Empire. He advocated the idea that colonization was a benefit to the "new-caught, sullen peoples,Half-devil and half-child" of Africa and Asia. Kipling stated in no uncertain terms that the West was a civilizing influence upon backward, inferior cultures that would be locked in previous stages of human development, were it not for imperialism. The West would "veil the threat of terror" of savage native leaders through its benevolent governing, selflessly fight "savage wars of peace" against oppressive native rulers, and finally "fill full the mouth of Famine/And bid the sickness cease." According to Kipling, the act of colonialization was not primarily done for the benefit of the colonizers (

This paper analyzes the payer source HMO-Secure Horizons by United Healthcare. Topics covered include the basic HMO plan, Medicare Part D or prescription drug coverage, Part A and Part B which cover routine preventive care and hospital coverage, and eligibility requirements to enroll in each of these parts of the plan. Also discussed are healthcare reform measures currently needed to promote even greater protection at an affordable cost to not just the elderly, but all citizens living within the nation.

This paper presents a security plan for the construction and opening of an Omni five star hotel in New York City. The writer explains the security blue print for the construction phase, the grand opening event and the day to day operations. There were three sources used to complete this paper.