Leadership Style and Performance Essay Example for Free

Leadership Style and Performance Essay An overview of the topic of leadership styles summarizes that the existing studies on how performance is affected by leadership style is separated into important phases. Early studies on leadership (frequently categorized as ‘trait’ studies on leadership) concentrated on identifying the personality traits which characterized successful leaders (Argyris, 1955; Mahoney et al. , 1960). According to them successful leaders are ‘naturally born’ and those they have certain native characteristics which distinguish them from non-leaders (see Stodgill, 1948). However, there was significant difficulty in validating these characteristics led to widespread criticism of this trait approach, signaling the emergence of ‘style’ and ‘behavioral’ approaches to leadership (Stodgill, 1948). Style and behavioral theorists shifted the emphasis away from the characteristics of the leader to the behavior and style the leader adopted. The primry conclusion of these studies is that adoption of democratic or participative styles by leaders are more successful (see, for example, Bowsers and Seashore, 1966). In this sense, these early studies are focused on identifying the ‘one best way of leading’. Similarly to trait theories, the major weakness of style and behavioral theories is the ignorance of how important role situational factors play in determining the effectiveness of individual leaders (Mullins, 1999). It is this limitation that gives rise to the ‘situational’ and ‘contingency’ theories of leadership (for example, Fiedler, 1967; House, 1971; Vroom and Yetton, 1974) which shift the emphasis away from ‘the one best way to lead’ to context-sensitive leadership. Although each study emphasizes the importance of different factors, the general tenet of the situational and contingency perspectives is that leadership effectiveness is dependent on the leader’s diagnosis and understanding of situational factors, followed by the adoption of the appropriate style to deal with each circumstance. However, recent studies on leadership have contrasted ‘transactional’ leadership with ‘transformational’. Transactional leaders are said to be ‘instrumental’ and frequently focus on exchange relationship with their subordinates. In contrast, transformational leaders are argued to be visionary and enthusiastic, with an inherent ability to motivate subordinates. Although the brief summary above indicates that research into leadership has gone through periods of skepticism, recent interest has focused on the importance of the leadership role to the success of organizations. Fiedler (1996), one of the most respected researchers on leadership, has provided a recent treatise on the importance of leadership by arguing that the effectiveness of a leader is a major determinant of the success or failure of a group, organization or even an entire country. It has been argued that one way in which organizations have sought to cope with the increasing volatility and turbulence of the external environment is by training and developing leaders and equipping them with the skills to cope. These claims are based on the assumption of a direct link between leadership and organizational performance. This assumption requires critical review. Widely celebrated cases of a direct leadership–performance link may be found in numerous anecdotal accounts of improvements of company performance attributed to changes in leadership (see, for example, Nicholls, 1988; Quick, 1992; Simms, 1997). However, empirical studies into the links between leadership and performance have been lacking. One notable exception is the detailed study of the impact of leadership on performance in the somewhat surprising context of Icelandic fishing ships. Thorlindsson (1987) suggests that variations in the performance of different fishing ships, under identical conditions, can be accounted for by the leadership skills of captains. Over a three-year period, Thorlindsson revealed that the leadership qualities of the ship captains accounted for 35 to 49 per cent of variation in the catch of different crews. Other studies which examine the links between leadership and performance coincide with the re-emergence of the ‘one best way to lead’ debate. Of particular relevance is the resurgence of interest into charismatic leadership, which is frequently referred to as transformational leadership (Bass and Avolio, 1993). A number of researchers theorize that transformational leadership is linked to organizational performance. Conceptually, it is argued that the visionary and inspirational skills of transformational leaders motivate followers to deliver superior performance. In summary, much of the above evidence presented as supporting the claim of a leadership–performance link is anecdotal and frequently over-concentrates on the ‘transformational’ role of leaders in corporate successes. It would appear that few studies have responded to the observation of Porter and Mckibbin (1988) that much of the research reported as supporting this claim is either inconclusive or empirically suspect. The limited or inconclusive character of research findings in this area suggests the need to investigate further the nature of the relationship between leadership and performance. Several different categories of leadership paradigms have been suggested by various researchers. For example, Bass (1985) stated that there are four dimensions of transformational leadership, three dimensions of transactional leadership, and a non-leadership dimension of laissez-faire leadership (Bass, 1985). Avery (2004) suggested categorizing leadership into four leadership paradigms, while Goleman (1995) prefers six leadership paradigms. Despite Bass’s (1985) model being acclaimed as making a major contribution to leadership, his theory has been criticized for various reasons (Yukl, 1999). One criticism is that his model overemphasizes the importance of one or two leadership paradigms (e. g. transactional and visionary), omitting the classical and organic paradigms Bass asserts that visionary (transformational) leaders are nearly always more effective than transactional leaders, but others (e. g. Judge and Piccolo, 2004; Wallace, 1997) dispute this. While this in itself does not invalidate the concept of visionary leadership, Bass attributes more to visionary (transformational) leadership than perhaps he should. As Avery (2004) suggested, both transactional and visionary leadership are valid forms of leadership, but visionary leadership may be applicable more broadly, including in situations where there are insufficient resources for the manager to rely on supplying external rewards (Judge and Piccolo, 2004), or where the situation is complex and ambiguous, and relies strongly on follower knowledge and commitment. Avery suggests that there are other situations in which transactional leadership is the appropriate form of leadership, such as when followers are unwilling or unable to commit to the leader’s vision. In contrast with Bass’s (1985) model, Avery’s (2004) paradigms provide a broad basis allowing for different forms of leadership that have evolved at different times and in different places. The paradigms are useful for showing that there is no single best way of thinking about leadership, rather that different kinds of leadership reflect social and historical roots. Avery’s paradigms allow leadership to depend on the context, respond to organizational needs and preferences, and involve many interdependent factors that can be manipulated (Bryman, 1992; Shamir and Howell, 1999; Yukl, 1999). Avery (2004) proposes 13 indices to differentiate between her four paradigms: classical, transactional, visionary, and organic. The nine indices included in this review are decision making, range of staff’s power, power distance between leader and the staff, key player of the organization, source of staff’s commitment, staff’s responsibility, situation of management and leadership in the organization, situation of diversity in the organization and situation of control in the organization. These nine criteria are considered more relevant for differentiating the four leadership paradigms than the other four criteria. Each paradigm is discussed in turn, including the distinguishing characteristics using the above nine criteria. Classical leadership is probably the oldest paradigm with its origins in antiquity, and is still used in contemporary organizations (Avery, 2004). This paradigm reflected the prevailing view in the business literature until the 1970s when the human relations movement led to more of a focus on followers and their environment. According to Avery (2004), classical leadership refers to dominance by a pre-eminent person or an ‘elite’ group of people. This leadership can either be coercive or benevolent or a mixture of both. This happens because the elite individual or group commands or maneuvers other members to act towards a goal, which may or may not be explicitly stated. The other members of the society or organization typically adhere to the directives of the elite leader, do not openly question their directives, and execute orders largely out of fear of the consequences of not doing so, or out of respect for the leader, or both (Avery, 2004). Classical leadership has some limitations. The first occurs where the leader cannot command and control every action, particularly as situations become more complex and beyond the capacity of one person; or when additional commitment from followers is needed to get a job done, such as in reacting to changing circumstances; or when ideas about leadership change and followers no longer accept domination, or follower commitment starts to wane for other reasons. Another limitation is that this paradigm often relies on the idea of a ‘great person’, implying that only a select few are good enough to exercise initiative, and this belief can encourage followers to deskill themselves nd idealize the leaders. Followers then seek and hold little power, leave the leader accountable for organizational outcomes, and make relatively little contribution to the organization (Avery, 2004). According to the nine distinguishing indicators, under the classical leadership paradigm leaders normally use an autocratic style for making decisions, involving followers in the decision making process never or very little; they do not empower followers. Followers have almost no power in the organization and as classical leaders tend to be highly directive, followers can be unskilled. The source of followers’ commitment comes from their fear of or respect for the leaders; the technical system becomes more regulating; the operations in the organization become more routine and predictable; and the organization is highly controlled by the leaders (Avery, 2004). A transaction or exchange process is the basis of the commonly employed transactional leadership paradigm (Evans and Dermer, 1974; House and Mitchell, 1974). The transactional leader recognizes subordinates’ needs and desires, and then clarifies how those needs and desires will be met in exchange for subordinates’ work. By clarifying what is required of subordinates and the consequences of their behaviors, transactional leaders are able to build confidence in subordinates to exert the necessary effort to achieve expected levels of performance. According to Judge and Piccolo (2004), three dimensions of transactional leadership are contingent reward, management by exception-active, and management by exception-passive. Contingent reward is the degree to which the leader sets up constructive transactions or exchanges with followers. The leader clarifies expectations and establishes the rewards for meeting these expectations. In general, management by exception is the degree to which the leader takes corrective action on the basis of results of leader-follower transactions (Judge and Piccolo, 2004). As noted by Howell and Avolio (1993), the difference between management by exception-active and management by exception-passive lies in the timing of the leader’s intervention. Active leaders monitor follower behavior, anticipate problems, and take corrective actions before the behavior creates serious difficulties. Passive leaders wait until the behavior has created problems before taking action (Howell and Avolio, 1993; Judge and Piccolo, 2004). According to Avery (2004, p. 34), under the transactional leadership paradigm, leaders adopt a consultative style for making decisions. They engage in different degrees of consultation with individual followers, but the leaders remain the final decision-makers. Leaders do not very often empower followers, and followers have very low power in the organization apart from being able to withdraw from or contribute more of their labor. Compared with classical leadership, under transactional leadership the source of followers’ commitment comes from the rewards, agreements, and expectations negotiated with the leader rather than from their fear of, or respect for, the classical leader. The technical system becomes more regulating, the operations in the organization become more routine and predictable, and the organization is mostly highly controlled by the leaders. Avery (2004) argues that under transactional leadership, the followers’ knowledge base can be somewhat higher than under classical leadership. Compared with classical leaders, transactional leaders require staff somewhat more skilled on specific tasks. In the last three decades, visionary (transformational, charismatic) leadership has received increasing attention (Bass, 1985, 1998; Burns, 1978; Conger and Kanungo, 1987; House, 1977). It added a new dimension to organizational studies, namely the visionary aspect of leadership and the emotional involvement of employees within an organization. The basic notion is that a visionary leader can create an impression that he or she has high competence and a vision to achieve success. Subordinates are expected to respond with enthusiasm and commitment to the leadership objectives, and may be recruited because they share the vision. Bass (1985, 1998) developed a theory of visionary or transformational leadership whereby the leader inspires and activates subordinates to perform beyond normal expectations. According to Avery (2004), visionary leadership has limitations, even with the current literature’s overwhelmingly positive view of it. Nadler and Tuschman (1990) pointed out that the unrealistic expectations followers often place on visionary leaders can create disappointment if things do not work out. Followers can become dependent on visionary leaders, believing that the leader has everything under control. Also, innovation can be inhibited if people become reluctant to disagree with a visionary leader. Avery (2004, p. 39) distinguishes the visionary leadership paradigm from the other three paradigms as follows. First, leaders employ a collaborative style for making decisions. They share problems with their followers and seek consensus before the leaders make the final decision. Visionary leaders empower their followers, giving followers a much higher level of power in the organization than classical and transactional leadership. This is essential because the leader needs the followers’ input and commitment to realize his or her goals. Followers of visionary leadership need sufficient power to work autonomously towards a shared vision. The source of followers’ commitment comes from the influence of the leaders’ charisma and/or the shared vision, the technical system becomes still more complex, operations become more uncertain and unpredictable, and the organization is jointly controlled by the leaders and their followers. Regarding the followers’ knowledge base, visionary leadership requires skilled and knowledgeable workers who are attracted to, and share the leader’s vision, and can contribute to realizing the vision. The fourth paradigm, organic leadership, is relatively new to organizational studies. Recently introduced by Drath (2001) and expanded by Avery (2004), organic leadership is likely to blur the formal distinction between leaders and followers. This paradigm relies on reciprocal actions, where team members work together in whatever roles of authority and power they may have, not based on position power (Hirschhorn, 1997; Raelin, 2003; Rothschild and Whitt, 1986). Employees become interacting partners in determining what makes sense, how to adapt to change, and what is a useful direction. Rather than relying on one leader, organic organizations are likely to have many leaders. Multiple leaders are valuable because as people cope with heterogeneous and dynamic environments, the knowledge and issues become too complicated for only a few leaders to understand (Avery, 2004). Organic leadership allows for people with different degrees of expertise on current issues to emerge and be accepted by the group as leaders. In addition, under organic leadership, there may be no formal leaders and the interaction of all organizational members can act as a form of leadership, held together by a shared vision, values, and a supporting culture. Under this paradigm where an organization has no formal leadership structure, an integrator role may emerge to actively link together the many parts of the organization (Avery, 2004). The emphasis is on emerging leadership rather than on people being appointed to leadership positions. However, Kanter (1989) argued that the downside of organic leadership that advocates autonomy, freedom, discretion and authorization may result in loss of control and greatly increased uncertainty. It is important to recognize that organic leadership is about generating a form of self-control and self-organization, where people have a clear sense of purpose and autonomy within a particular context (Meindl, 1998). This idealized organic leadership paradigm requires differentiating from classical, transactional, and visionary leadership concepts by not relying on formal leaders. Furthermore, the enterprise has to trust in the capacity of its members to solve problems and make decisions in the interests of the organization. This idea clearly relies upon self-leading organizational members (Avery, 2004). According to Avery’s (2004, p. 39) distinguishing characteristics, under organic leadership an organization adopts a mutual agreement style for making decisions. Decisions need not be unanimous but can be based on consensus. The members have a high degree of power as a result of this shared leadership. Accountability and responsibility are shared as well. The source of followers’ commitment is based on the values and visions shared by all the members in the organization; a strong, shared culture; a technical system that is highly complex; operations in the organic organization become more self-organizing and unpredictable; formal control is provided by peer pressure and group dynamics, and a shared culture, vision, and values. Members are self-managing. Organic leadership seems particularly appropriate for professional and knowledge workers in dynamic, chaotic situations. This leadership paradigm relies on attracting and retaining highly trained and knowledgeable staff with self-controlling capabilities.

Sylvia Plath And Her Poem Daddy

Sylvia Plath And Her Poem Daddy Sylvia Plath was an American poet and novelist, but also a mother, teacher and wife (Plath, p.2). She was born in Boston Massachusetts on October 27, 1932 (Ibid, p.2). Her mother Aurelia Schober Plath was a first generation American of Austrian descent. Her father Otto Emile Plath was an immigrant from Grabow, Germany (Ibid.). Sylvia Plaths father died of complications of diabetes on November 1940 a month after her eighth birthday (Wikipedia.org/Sylvia Plath). Sylvia Plaths father was not a German Nazi, as readers of the poem Daddy are made to believe. Otto Plath was a distinguished professor of biology and German language at Boston University (Plath, p.3). He was known throughout the world as an authority on bees as well (Ibid.). In Sylvia Plaths poem titled Daddy, a theory exists the poet speaker is addressing both her dead father, but for the most part her husband and father figure, English poet Ted Hughes. To understand this theory, one must recall the meaning of the Oedipus complex as well as the Electra complex. The Oedipus complex is defined as a transition in a male childs life, where the child has a psychological desire to sleep with the mother and kill the father (From Sigmund Freud). The Electra complex, on the other hand, states that a female child has a romantic desire toward the father and rejection of the mother. Psychologically, as an adult, the female looks for a husband that provides the father figure for her; that is, a man that will takes over all the roles of the real father (From Sigmund Freud). The poem Daddy by Sylvia Plath is a fantasy poem rebuking not her dead father but the father figure in her husband Ted Hughes. The poem, Daddy, was written on October 12, 1962 before Sylvia Plath committed suicide (Wikipedia). Almost all of Sylvia Plaths poems were written during the second part of the feminist struggle of the 60s and 70s (Wikipedia.org/Feminism). The poem was posthumously published in a collection of poems under the heading of Ariel, which was submitted with a Forward by her daughter Frieda Hughes Plath (Plath, p. 16). That collection of poems contained in the Ariel collection made Sylvia Plath a household name (Ibid.). In her poem Daddy, Plath uses the Holocaust as a pivot point to rebuke her husband and father figure, and laments her father who died when she was eight years old. Listening to Sylvia Plath read her own poem Daddy, the listener detects a childs tone filled with considerate, unselfish love and affection when she reads and pronounces the word Daddy. The listener also detects the difference in tone when she recites the rest of the lines in the poem. The tone is more harsh and filled with hate, rage and anger (YouTube, http://www.youtube.com). The form of the poem is Free Verse with sixteen Cinquain stanzas. The poem also contains intermittent iambic verse throughout with no continuous pattern. The use of metaphors, symbolism and similes, throughout the stanzas gives the poem a semblance of balance. The entire poem in itself, however, is a metaphor. The speaker uses the first person descriptive voice. The theme of the poem is feminist in nature; that is, a female persona climbing to freedom from dominance of the father figure. She desires to be free from male domination, authority and control in order to be able to have the right to be her own persona. The mood of the poem is conversational (Aird, p. 82). The poem does not follow a rhyming scheme, but it does follow a nursery rhyming type of sound throughout the poem. In addition, a rhyme oo sound is predominant on the first Cinquain stanza as well as on the last stanza of the poem (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 1-5 and 76-80). Examples of internal rhyme are in lines, 1, 23, 49 and 50. An example of alliteration exists in line 49. There are various repetitions in this poem as follows: You do not do, you do not do (Ibid. Line 1), Of wars, wars, wars. (Line 18), Ich, ich, ich, ich, (Ibid. Line 27 which means I want to, I want to). In addition, An engine, an engine (Ibid. Line 31), And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack (Ibid. Line 39), Panzer-man, panzer-man, O Youà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ (Ibid. Line 45) And get back, back, back to you, (Ibid. Line 59). Also Daddy, daddy, you bastard, Im through. (Ibid. Line 80) The speaker used figurative language throughout the poem. In addition, there are several similes in (Ibid. Lines 3, 32, and 34). The speaker uses hyperbole in lines 6, 11, 12, 49, 62, 69, 72, 73 and 76. Figurative language as an apostrophe is included in lines, 8, 9, 10, 46, 70, and 72. In addition, personification is included in lines 8, 10, 11, 36, 37, 46, 54, 62, 70, and 72. The imagery used by the speaker is relevant to sight, sound and touch, and it is void of smell and taste. The imagery of sound is present in lines 5, 16, 28, 34, 67, and 70. The imagery of sight is present in lines 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 32, 36, 43, 44, 52, 57, 61, and 76. The touch imagery is present in lines 25, 26, 62, and 78. In the first stanza of the poem Daddy, Plath opens the poem with the affirmation that she no longer accepts the hurtful marriage by saying, You do not do, you do not do (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Line 1). She further claims that she will no longer be bound to the darkness and forlornness of her father figure husband by saying, Any more, black shoe / In which I have lived like a foot (Ibid. Lines 2-3). She feels she has been held captive in a marriage that has gone sour and she has had enough. She agrees to divorce her husband and as a result, she is not restricted to the confines of a bad marriage. Even though she faces economic difficulties, it does not matter since she had been under those circumstances before as she says, For thirty years, poor and white. (Ibid. Line 4) In the second stanza, Sylvia Plath decides to accept her fathers death. She claims he had died before she had a chance to show her love for him (Ibid. Line 7). Her fathers dead body was placed, perhaps, in a body bag as she remembers; was heavy and filled with kindness, goodness and love as she says, Marble-heavy, a bag full of God. (Ibid. Line 8) In the third stanza, she remembers the place where her father was placed after his death. She had hopes her father would come back to her as she proclaims, I used to pray to recover you. (Ibid. Line 14), and she cries aloud, Ach, du. (Ibid. Line 15) hoping for her wish to come true. In the fifth stanza, Sylvia Plath refers to the many extramarital affairs her husband and father figure had. She is not sure who he loves, but she does not confront him since the thought of it was perhaps more hurtful than the action itself. In the sixth stanza, she makes a vivid portrayal of her suffering from her painful marriage and father figure by fantasizing of being à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦stuck in a barb wire snare. (Ibid. Line 26) In the seventh stanza, Sylvia Plath feels her father figure pushed her away as if an engine that has drove her to the brim of her fantasy of being a Jew persecuted by the German Nazis. An engine, an engine // Chuffing me off like a Jew. (Ibid. Lines 31 and 32) The circumstance surrounding her unhappy marriage makes her compare herself to a Jew being sent to the first Nazi concentration camp (Wikipedia.org/ Dachau concentration camp), or to the extermination camp in Auschwitz (http://en.wikipedia.org /Auschwitz concentration camp). The least she could expect from her father figure, was to be sent to the Nazi Belsen concentration camp to be exchanged for German prisoners of war held (http://en.wikipedia.org /Bergen-Belsen concentration camp) overseas. In the eighth stanza, Sylvia Plath considers herself an Aryan Gypsy which in à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦the Nazi minds there were contradictions between what they regarded as the superiority of the Aryan race and their image of the Gypsies Like the Jews, Gypsies were singled out by the Nazis for racial persecution and annihilation. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org). Sylvia Plath enhances her belief of bad luck and the fantasy of being an Aryan Gypsy by mentioning the Taroc game cards as she says, And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack / I may be a bit of a Jew. (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 39 and 40) She mentions the Taroc pack twice, once to reference her destiny of her bad luck with her husband and the second to reference the destiny of bad luck with her father figure. Regardless, she still considers herself à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦a bit of a Jew. (Ibid. Line 40) In stanza nine and ten, she compares her husband and father figure to Adolf Hitler, With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygook. / And your neat mustache / And your Aryan eye, bright blue. // Not God but a swastika / So black no sky could squeak through. / Every woman adores a Fascist, / The boot in the face, the brute / Brute heart of a brute like you. // (Ibid. Lines 42-50) There is a correlation between the figure of Adolf Hitler and her husband and father figure whom also had extramarital dealings with other women. In addition, Ted Hughes was over six feet tall and always dressed himself from head to toe in black (Ted Hughes: An Introduction, Ann Skea). In stanza eleven, the symbolism for blackboard stands for dualism. On the one hand, Sylvia Plath sees her loving and missed father and on the other, she sees her father figure and husband. She sees her father as having a cleft in his chin instead of his foot. On the other hand, the dual figure she sees is that of her husband and father figure having a cleft in his foot much as a devil has. The eleventh stanza states, You stand at the blackboard, daddy, / In the picture I have of you, / A cleft in your chin instead of your foot / But no less a devil for that, no not / Any less the black man who // (Strand and Boland, pp. 274-276, Lines 51-55). She continues addressing her husband and father figure in stanza twelfth by saying, Bit my pretty red heart in two. / (Ibid. Line 56). Also in the twelfth stanza, Sylvia Plath claims she was ten years old when her father died. Several years later, she tried to commit suicide but was unsuccessful. She had hoped to be back with him and would have been satisfied even if there were no flesh left in his bones. She says in part, I was ten when they buried you. / At twenty I tried to die / And get back, back, back to you. / I thought even the bones would do. // (Ibid. Lines 57-60) In stanza thirteen Sylvia Plath refers to the failed attempt at suicide. She claims they were able to save her and thereafter she decides to make a model of her father; her father figure as she says, But they pulled me out of the sack, / And they stuck me together with glue. / And then I knew what to do. / I made a model of you, / A man in black with a Meinkapmf look // (Ibid. Lines 61-65) In stanza fourteenth, she refers to the rack as the wedding bed and having sex with her father figure after she accepted the marriage vows. Later she realizes the marriage is not working and agrees to dissolve the marriage. She decides not to agree to any calls for reconciliation, and refuses to listen to any communications coming from her father figure. She confesses to her father that her life is over with her father figure as she says in the fourteenth stanza, And a love of the rack and the screw. / And I said I do, I do. / So daddy, Im finally through. / The black telephone off the root, / The voices just cant worm through. // (Ibid. Lines 66-70) Stanza fifteenth is an affirmation that Sylvia Plath has accepted the departure from her marriage from her father figure much as she has accepted the death of her father. Sylvia Plath says, If Ive killed one man, Ive killed two (Ibid. Line 71). She refers to the father figure as a vampire whom has drained her lifes happiness for the seven years she was married to her husband and father figure. She says, The vampire who said he was you / And drank my blood for a year, / Seven years, if you want to know. / (Ibid. Lines72-74) In the last line of the fifteenth stanza, she tells her father he can now rest in peace, Daddy, you can lie back now. (Ibid. Line 75) In the sixteenth and last stanza, Sylvia Plath continues with her fantasy and is able to get rid of the vampire father figure, Theres a stake in your fat black heart (Ibid. Line 76). Sylvia Plath comes to a certain end in her life and tells her father people did not like her father figure. People knew the father figure was to blame for her failures by saying, And the villagers never liked you. / They always knew it was you. / Daddy, daddy, you bastard, Im through. // (Ibid. Lines 77-80) It is important to notice the uppercase D when she addresses her father and the lowercase d when she addresses her father figure. (Ibid. Line 80) Sylvia Plath continued her fantasy of being persecuted as a Jew by the German Nazis, and in particular by her father figure, to the end of her life. In her poem Lady Lazarus, she mentions the many times she tried to commit suicide, but was not successful. Before the first publication of the novel The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath carried with her to the end of her life, a correlation of being a persecuted Jew by her father figure. She committed suicide by turning the gas on in the oven of the house and symbolically placed her head inside the oven. She succeeds in killing herself on the 11th day of February 1963 (Aird, p. 13). Sylvia Plath was thirty years old (Ibid). Before carrying out her suicide, she placed a large bottle of milk in each of her childrens cribs and covered the bottom of the door leading to the childrens room with wet towels. The wet towel would prevent the gas from seeping into their room and keeping them from dying as well (wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia Plath). The next day an inquiry ruled her death was a suicide (Ibid). In her novel, The Bell Jar, which was first published under the pseudonym of Victoria Lucas, Sylvia Plath tells in a semiautobiographical story about her unhappiness. The novel enumerates the various conflicts in her life including her complex mental illness. Even today, Sylvia Plath has many fans. The gravestone, which bears her name, is found in Heptonstall churchyard in England (Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia Plath # cite note). Some of Plaths supporters who have chiseled the name Hughes off it have repeatedly vandalized it. This practice intensified following the suicide in 1969 of Assia Wevill, the woman for whom Ted Hughes left Plath, which led to claims Hughes had been abusive toward Plath (Ibid). Ted Hughes died October 28, 1998 (Skea, Ann); it seems to be ironic, and perhaps symbolic that Ted Hughes died sixty-six years later and a day before Sylvia Plath birthday of October 27. According to [The] Dictionary of Literary Symbols, the number 666 is considered an imperfect number an d the famous number of the beast; that is, the devil (Ferber, p.141).

Transitioning a Child To Daycare Essay -- Child Development

When a parent leaves their child off at a daycare, they often wonder why their child who was happy and content before they arrived cries and screams when their parent leaves to go to work. This is a very hard transition for infants, which is why it's our job as infant toddler teachers to make the transition as comfortable and relaxing as possible. The reason children feel this way when their parents leave is because they are in what Piaget calls the sensorimotor stage, and are in the beginning of object permanence meaning that an infant realizes something is their even though they cannot see it. This is very important because, before an infant can experience object permanence often refereed to as separation anxiety, they only think about what is in their view at the time, therefore they think about the present rather than the future. The infant feels like the parent left them with a stranger, and they are not coming back. As a teacher you can help decrease this by communicating with the parents, and allowing the infant to get used to the environment, and asking parents not to s...

Juvenile Court System Essay -- essays research papers

Waiving juvenile cases to a criminal court is a complicated process, and may take some time in order to make the proper decision. There are a few different ways in which this decision is made. In some jurisdictions, the cases may be decided upon an intake unit within the court which then decides to process it formally or informally. Other jurisdictions may use another agency such as the prosecutor’s office, or a social service agency to decide whether the case should go to juvenile or criminal court. When a decision is made to transfer a juvenile case to criminal court, a judicial waiver is petitioned for, and the juvenile judge then has to make the decision whether the case should be criminally prosecuted. In some places though, the prosecutor has the legal right to make that judgment without involving the juvenile court, and send the case directly to criminal court.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When a juvenile commits the crime of homicide, I personally think that any offender 13 years or older should be tried in adult criminal court. I do understand that the juvenile may lack some mental reasoning or may even have some mental disorder, just as I think that anyone who commits violent crimes have this also regardless of age, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be still be tried in criminal court for the horrible crimes they committed. The only part of the sentencing I don’t agree with in convicting a juvenile is to where he is sent to prison. I do not believe th...

College Essay

I remember it clearly- that fourth period history class. Mr.. Reilly was pacing along the front of the classroom in such a straight line that he could have been only walking on the cracks of the title floor. Somehow he was trying to consider the best possible way to explain the relationship between society's proclaimed geniuses and natural talent in relation to the artists of the Italian Renaissance. We were studying the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo Ad Vinci as well as their significance in history.He began with the statues created by Michelangelo which led to the discussion about social interaction and mental capabilities of â€Å"geniuses† in modern and ancient societies. It was noticed that those with superior skills in one element such as art. Music or academics, usually lack the experience and expertise in social interaction or other elements of life. The conversation then proceeded to contemplate the idea that without proper encouragement and nourishment of these t alents, how are they ever supposed to flourish? T was with this question that he began to move into the main point of this lesson. â€Å"Who is the greatest artist of all time? † As Mr.. Reilly asked this of us, he began to unroll his tangled arrangement of fourteenth century maps that dangled from the white board the classroom and pointed directly to where modern day Russia is now. Again he asked the sleepy teenagers of his fourth period class as if there was a totally obvious answer. He said, â€Å"It is some little unknown farming working in the family fields. No one will know her name or remember her eave, but she had a gift.She sat under a tree and drew elaborate drawings of her surroundings until he was caught and made to return to the frills. She never had a chance. † Every person is special; they just need to guidance and power to prove it. What he said never really affected me until I got home that night and thought about the little girl; however, I knew in cl ass that day that what he was saying to us would become important in some way or another. The potential for greatness is in everyone. Without harnessing that greatness, no one would succeed. Everyone is special.This was a lesson most children learn, but for me, it never registered. â€Å"l am not good enough. How could I be special in some way? All I can do is trace a picture from my computer and, if done right, pass it off as my own work to my friends or keep just good enough grades in each class to keep my A average. How can there be nothing that was good at? Everything that I could do in life was mediocre. † had thought that nothing in my life was ever going to make me stand out from everyone else but honestly†¦ I was just afraid of being globed together with society and being lost in the public image.Afraid to stand apart from everyone else. Terrified that my life would continue to be nothing out of the ordinary. Too scared to try. That there was nothing about me tha t me special. Took only that four hours. Six minutes and thirty-two seconds to realize that all that insecurity did not matter. To think that there was nothing special about me was incorrect. That negative path of thought was wrong from foundation to delivery. I realized that what separated me from everyone else has always been my drive to be better, to try new things, to work harder than everyone else in the room.Art or music or academics may not be my strongest attributes in the game of life but that does not mean that the game can not be played. To be a â€Å"genius† or â€Å"talented† is supper overrated. I am me- perfectly imperfect. My love for languages and foreign cultures, blossoming into my goal of becoming an interpreter is my talent. This dream of pursuing a life engulfed in language, culture and history is what makes me similar to that little unknown farm girl. Without realizing it, my teacher gave me the spark I needed to pursue my goals. Surprisingly, th is revelation occurred in under five minutes. College Essay I remember it clearly- that fourth period history class. Mr.. Reilly was pacing along the front of the classroom in such a straight line that he could have been only walking on the cracks of the title floor. Somehow he was trying to consider the best possible way to explain the relationship between society's proclaimed geniuses and natural talent in relation to the artists of the Italian Renaissance. We were studying the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo Ad Vinci as well as their significance in history.He began with the statues created by Michelangelo which led to the discussion about social interaction and mental capabilities of â€Å"geniuses† in modern and ancient societies. It was noticed that those with superior skills in one element such as art. Music or academics, usually lack the experience and expertise in social interaction or other elements of life. The conversation then proceeded to contemplate the idea that without proper encouragement and nourishment of these t alents, how are they ever supposed to flourish? T was with this question that he began to move into the main point of this lesson. â€Å"Who is the greatest artist of all time? † As Mr.. Reilly asked this of us, he began to unroll his tangled arrangement of fourteenth century maps that dangled from the white board the classroom and pointed directly to where modern day Russia is now. Again he asked the sleepy teenagers of his fourth period class as if there was a totally obvious answer. He said, â€Å"It is some little unknown farming working in the family fields. No one will know her name or remember her eave, but she had a gift.She sat under a tree and drew elaborate drawings of her surroundings until he was caught and made to return to the frills. She never had a chance. † Every person is special; they just need to guidance and power to prove it. What he said never really affected me until I got home that night and thought about the little girl; however, I knew in cl ass that day that what he was saying to us would become important in some way or another. The potential for greatness is in everyone. Without harnessing that greatness, no one would succeed. Everyone is special.This was a lesson most children learn, but for me, it never registered. â€Å"l am not good enough. How could I be special in some way? All I can do is trace a picture from my computer and, if done right, pass it off as my own work to my friends or keep just good enough grades in each class to keep my A average. How can there be nothing that was good at? Everything that I could do in life was mediocre. † had thought that nothing in my life was ever going to make me stand out from everyone else but honestly†¦ I was just afraid of being globed together with society and being lost in the public image.Afraid to stand apart from everyone else. Terrified that my life would continue to be nothing out of the ordinary. Too scared to try. That there was nothing about me tha t me special. Took only that four hours. Six minutes and thirty-two seconds to realize that all that insecurity did not matter. To think that there was nothing special about me was incorrect. That negative path of thought was wrong from foundation to delivery. I realized that what separated me from everyone else has always been my drive to be better, to try new things, to work harder than everyone else in the room.Art or music or academics may not be my strongest attributes in the game of life but that does not mean that the game can not be played. To be a â€Å"genius† or â€Å"talented† is supper overrated. I am me- perfectly imperfect. My love for languages and foreign cultures, blossoming into my goal of becoming an interpreter is my talent. This dream of pursuing a life engulfed in language, culture and history is what makes me similar to that little unknown farm girl. Without realizing it, my teacher gave me the spark I needed to pursue my goals. Surprisingly, th is revelation occurred in under five minutes. College Essay Do we send students to college to grow personally and intellectually or strictly to develop work related skills? In your opinion what should be the purpose of a college education and what do you hope to gain from your personal experience? College is a big step for anyone, especially teenagers, who is still growing up. Unlike in high school where the main focus is the curriculum, college also focuses on developing personality. College is not about papers and tests; it is about growing personally and intellectually while developing work related skills to help in life. A college education involves more than books and tests.It should be an experience a student should never forget. At Southwestern University, the school motto is â€Å"Be Southwestern. † To â€Å"Be Southwestern† students have to be determined and focused. To â€Å"Be Southwestern† students have to be involved. During my visit to Southwestern University, I noticed that for such a small school there are so many opportunities available to learn in variety of environments and participate in campus life. At Southwestern University the campus life consists of music, plays, Greek life, athletic events, religious interests, and preparation for the study abroad program.I have never been out of this country, and one thing I like about Southwestern is the study abroad program. Personally, I have always wanted to go to Italy. Not just because I am in love with Italian food but because it’s so different from America. I want to go to a college that allows me to see the world and experience new things. A college education should help you meet your desire to explore and interact with the world around you. Another thing I like about Southwestern University is how much help is available for students from professors. I want to go to a college that has small class sizes and cares about me as an individual.Every Southwestern University student I’ve talked to has said the professors wil l know who you are, will always be available for assistance, and will always help you succeed. At Southwestern University, a student is not just a number. The professors there are dedicated to a student’s personal success. Instead of going to a tutor, a student can schedule a simple meeting with the professor to discuss theclass. A little help can go a long way. As a student at Southwestern University, I hope to continue to strengthen my sense of pride and leadership.I have played the game of softball my entire life and hope to continue to play competitively in college. In my college softball experience, I hope to gain a greater inspiration to push myself harder than ever before both, academically and athletically. I hope one day when I look back on my college career I can say that Southwestern made me the student-athlete I always wanted to be. Through my college experiences, I will see the world in a new perspective, developing new intellectual light in a variety of subjects , and engaging in challenging curriculum and discussions.I want to find out who I am and what kind of person I will become, and I strongly believe Southwestern University will help me do that. A college education should additionally develop an individual’s appreciation for history. I go to a high school that is starting to make its history; however, I want to go to a university that has its history already established. As the oldest school in Texas, Southwestern University has many traditions. I want to be able to engage in these traditions and perhaps help make some new ones while I’m there.I don’t just want to be a part of history – I want to make history. A college experience should be one of the best times in a person’s life. The professors, the activities, and the history of the school should help one develop personally and intellectually as a student. I know that my time spent at Southwestern University will make me stronger, confident, and a more independent thinking individual who is ready to face not only challenge of working environment but also whatever life throws at me.

Goal Setting and Time Management Essay

Learning to manage one’s time effectively and to set appropriate and reachable goals is important for becoming a successful student. Setting goals will help you to become more effective in your academic life and career, and balancing your goals every day will help ease stress. Each of us is motivated by something, whether it is the desire to excel academically, find a better paying job, or simply learn. This motivation is what helps gear us every day to do the sometimes difficult tasks we face on the road to success. By understanding our motivations, we can stay motivated to reach our goals even when we feel stressed or rushed. But how do we go about this? First, evaluate your motivation. What do you want to achieve by attending school? Why is achieving this important? Think on a larger scale and get more specific. For example, if your motivation is to start a new career, begin examining why this change is important to you. Do you want to make more money? Maybe it’s to provide a better lifestyle for your family. Do you want to work in a particular field? Why? Begin making a list of goals and personal motivations. Secondly, once you’ve evaluated why you want to achieve your goals, think about what the needs are to achieve them. Think in terms of a large, medium, and small scale. In addition, these goals might be set for the short-, mid-, or long-term. You must prioritize your goals by importance; larger goals can be divided into smaller goals. This will help keep your goals in focus and manage them so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Using the acronym SMART is a great way to keep your goals in focus. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. The goals you set for yourself, no matter how big or small, should be specific. Avoid making vague statements like â€Å"I’d like to do well in school.† Instead, define what well means and specify what that would look like. A specific goal would be â€Å"I’d like to maintain a 3.8 grade point average.† In addition, your goals must be measurable. As mentioned above, your goal must be specific so you know exactly what the manifestation of your goal will look like. You must also consider how you will measure if you’ve reached your goal. Using specific numbers or deadlines can help you measure your goals. Remember that your goals must be attainable. Setting goals that are impossible to achieve or have an unreasonable deadline will only be discouraging. Creating small, manageable tasks that lead up to a larger goal is the best way to stay motivated and achieve your goals. Setting goals that are not relevant to your larger goals or do not provide any sense of accomplishment is also counterproductive. If you have many small goals that relate to your home life, when all your larger goals pertain to your career, you may end up feeling discouraged and may not accomplish all you’d like to. Try to tie your goals to a timeline. If you do not accomplish a task in full by the end of your timeline, you can always continue with a new timeline, but providing a deadline for yourself will help keep you motivated and accountable. Once the goal is reached, use small motivators that are important to you to keep spirits high and moving toward your major goals. The small motivators can be something as simple as an ice cream sundae after a major project, or a nice dinner after completing a course. Whatever the motivator, make sure that it motivates you to keep at the task at hand. Remind yourself often of the goals you have set for yourself and the rewards you have set up along the way to keep it at the forefront of your thought process. Once you have your SMART goals, there are many ways you can note and keep track of your goals. Staying organized will help you reduce stress and track more easily. If you are organized and prioritize important tasks first, you can avoid the stress of having to constantly address issues and last-minute problems. Being organized can also help you avoid missing details or important information in a task, which could result in having to repeat the task or spend more time fixing an error. Use all tools available, including technology where appropriate, to help organize these goals. Today’s smartphones are a great way to organize your goals and keep track of the timelines set to accomplish them. They are with you all the time and allow you to make changes and updates quickly. More traditional day planners are another way you can stay organized with your goals. Whatever method works for you, stay diligent and you will find it beneficial to the success of your SMART goals. Spend quality time on a task and you will be less likely to have to fix it later on. Don’t spend your time making lists of daily tasks like brushing your teeth; instead, focus on tasks or goals you’d like to achieve. This can be daily, short-, mid-, and long-term goals. Break down your time into intervals, with time set aside for specific tasks. Leave time at the end of your day to address tasks that may have come up that are not in your schedule or to address tasks that had to be moved to accommodate an urgent matter. When determining what time to spend on what task or goal, it is important that you understand when you do your best work. If you are a morning person, consider scheduling more difficult tasks and goals around this time, rather than in the evening when you are tired. Maybe you do great work in the afternoons. Try to arrange your schedule so you can complete tasks around this time. Not only will your work quality be better, you will be more efficient in completing it. Some people choose to do a daily journal, noting their progress on each of their goals. Others might make to-do lists, which they can check off with each completed goal. In addition, you might find a calendar system helpful. Try out a variety of methods to see which works best for you. Sometimes a combination of methods might end up being best. There is no right way to track and manage your goals, but finding a method that works for you is important for success.

Leadership As A Charismatic Leader - 1495 Words

Today in society we see many leaders in this chaotic world we live in today. Leaders have to deal with tricky situations no matter the circumstances. Everyone including leaders desire to work in a drama free and less negative establishment. However, an effective leader must be able to with handle problems or issues. A leader have to learn how to adapt and adjust, guide their counterparts which leads to productive environment. Charismatic leader helps produces a pleasurable environment to create happiness which motivates subordinates... According to Andrew DuBrin charisma is defined as â€Å"type of charm and magnetism that inspires others; important quality for leaders at levels.† The qualities a charismatic leader must demonstrate: communication skills, passion, enthusiasm, and motivating skills A charismatic leader are very skilled communicators and communicate well to their superiors or subordinates on a deep and emotional level. Without communication there will may probl ems which can cause discombobulation in the workplace and involuntary lose employees. Based on Andrew Dubin â€Å"effective communication contributes to organization success such as keeping employees informed as what needs to be accomplished and identifying problems†. As a leader you want to ensure your employees is aware of the company overall purpose and what tasks are required enable success. If employees are not informed this can lead confusion. Everyone makes mistakes and things do happen. For an example,Show MoreRelatedCharismatic Leadership : A Charismatic Leader1603 Words   |  7 PagesCHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP In the current leadership era, Charismatic leadership is one of the newer leadership perspectives. This approach is based on the concept of charisma, which means â€Å"an inspired and divine gift†. 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The Backgrounds Of Uplifting Speeches - 1844 Words

The Backgrounds of Uplifting Speeches Everyone can change a country, nation, and even the world and become an important part of history. Those who think and believe they can change a country, nation, and world are often the ones who do. Civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr., and human rights activist and an American Muslim, Malcolm X are two great examples of people who thought they could make a difference in the world, and eventually did. This two great activists wanted to change the status quo, but in different ways. Martin Luther King Jr. used peaceful protests to accomplish his goal; Malcolm X believed in meeting violence with violence. Both of this great leaders wanted to advocate that blacks are important and matter as†¦show more content†¦Instead of accepting King’ speech and condemning Malcolm’s, it is essential to dig deeper into what made them different but in many ways similar. Everyone knows or have heard of Martin Luther King’s speec h I Have a Dream. In King’s speech, he stated that America is unware of the problem of black injustice. The blacks have not been free for a long time, and that they refuse to believe that. He quoted the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, which includes black men. Along with the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and the Bible were some of his inspiration behind his captivated speech that moved both blacks and whites. He vouched that there is debt in America’s bank, not the check, but the justice bank. The country is full of segregation and inequality, but no one realizes that. He addressed that this is the time to make justice available for all god’s children. King successfully expressed his opinions which emotionally affected his mixed audiences of blacks and whites. This speech was successful due King’s sensitive approach to his mixed audiences, ingenious use of style, and inspirational tone. He delivered his m essage with images that touched his audiences and at the same time gave them a glimpse of the future where blacks and whites live in harmony. â€Å"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners