In Chapter VI, who did the horrors of slavery affect the most Douglas, Essay

In Chapter VI, who did the horrors of slavery affect the most Douglas, Mr. Auld or Mrs. Auld - Essay Example Mr. Auld and Mrs. Auld were Douglass’s masters and Mr. Auld deprived Douglass of the right of learning to read and write which he termed as completelymisplaced Douglass (2013). Douglass had to bear with Mr. Auld’s insults, and in a section of the chapter, Mr. Auld stated that niggers should not be allowed to learn, because the overall consequences of teaching a nigger would be independence. Douglass had to put up with constant abuse from his master which completely went against his rights as a human being. Douglass’sperception of education was centered on the fact that education was a form of freedom. He did not only have to put up with the poor treatment which allowed him little or no access to vital amenities, but Mr. Auld’s new approach completely denied him the right to knowledge. Douglass experiences around the neighborhood which were graced with the images of emaciated beings in the form of Mary and Henrietta who were enslaved at the Hamilton residen ce. Such experiences must have affected Douglass’spsychology due to the uncertainties that he had to grapple with in relation to his survival and

Doctrine of Mistake in Common Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Doctrine of Mistake in Common Law - Case Study Example In some other cases even when the contract is valid in law, it may be rendered voidable in equity on the ground of mistake. The general thinking used to be that mistakes could not be operative in law until in case of Kleinwort Benson v Liverpool City Council3 when the House of Lords declared that this rule is not part of English law. Treitel4 has considered the laws relating to mistake under five headings: Common Mistake; Mutual Mistake; Unilateral Mistake; Mistake as to Identity; Mistake Relating to Documents. While commentators are not agreed as to the classifications of Mistake, Treitel5 in his book; The Laws of contract, 11th edition, deals with Mistake by contrasting Mistake nullifying consent (Parties reach agreement which is based on a fundamental mistaken assumption) with Mistake negativing consent (Where mistake prevents the parties from reaching an agreement e.g. where they intend to contract about different things). Some commentators have gone on to divide mistake into two parts, that is, common mistake shared by the parties, and mistake in communication. In a common mistake shared by both parties, although both parties apparently in agreement, have entered into the contract on the basis of a false and fundamental assumption. It is called common mistake since both parties make the same mistake. The contract is not necessarily void at law in these circumstances. In the case In the case of Bell v Lever Brothers Ltd.6, definition of common mistake in contract law was made. During March of 1929 the Niger Company, which dealt in trade in the western African area, was merging with a rival company and wanted to get rid of two employees Mr. Bell and Mr. Snelling, who were hired as chairman and vice-chairman of the company. Chairman D'Arcy Cooper on behalf of Lever Brothers7 made a deal with Bell and Snelling to leave the company in exchange for a sizable compensation (a "Golden handshake8"). At the time of the agreement both parties believed that the employment contract had not been breached and thus the company would not have been able to terminate Bell and Snellings' employment under any other circumstances. It was later revealed that there was in fact grounds for termination at the time of the agreement as Bell and Snelling had used their positions to make a secret profit for themselves. Lever brought an action claiming recission of the compensation agreement because of mistake of fact. At trial the jury found that Bell and Snelling's illicit dealings breached the employment contract and that if the Lever Brothers had known they would not have entered into the agreement. Furthermore, the jury found that at the time of the agreement Bell and Snelling did not have in mind their illicit acts. Lever Brothers pursued the case vigorously as it considered the behavior of Bell and Snelling simply unacceptable. To appreciate this legal battle you have to understand the background of the personalities involved. Francis D'Arcy Cooper - a senior partner with his uncle's accountancy firm Cooper Brothers and staunch Quaker9 - became chairman of audit client Lever Brothers in the early 1920s. He was hired by Lord Leverhulme10 when the banks were threatening to call the loans on the company due to devastating losses incurred by the newly acquired Niger Company that crippled Lever Brothers. Cooper arranged financing from Barclays Bank under the

Nonverbal Communication In Negotiations Cultural Studies Essay

Nonverbal Communication In Negotiations Cultural Studies Essay Cultural specific studies have focused attention on cultural and communication practices in specific countries, while conflict resolution and negotiation studies have integrated intercultural communication in their theories. Studies have identified factors influencing intercultural business communication which include effects or emotions and non-verbal behaviour. The earliest of these comparative theoretical and applied studies reflected in the conditions existed in the early stages of globalization following world war two. During this period complex international business transactions could be channeled through fully bilingual specialists who provided translation and interpretation services, while simple communication exchanges such as obtaining and fulfilling sales orders could be processed through routine channels. These transactions did not impose the same communication requirements as do the interactive and intercultural communication channels of the present day of international business communication environment. Since 1960s, language studies traditionally emphasized verbal and written communication, however in the recent times more research studies seriously began to consider what takes place without words in conversations, in instances were verbal and nonverbal communication meets (Hartley Bruckham, 2000). The research would start by discussing problems of communicating across social boundaries and then define and discuss some of the concepts associated with non verbal miscommunication in cross cultural meetings and negotiation. Then it would also focus on both verbal and non-verbal communication factors and consider how much scope there is for ambiguity and interpretation. If it can be anticipated how other people will interpret to what we say and do, then our communication can be made more effective. We also need to bear in mind that communication is not just the transmission and reception of information. No matter how carefully we feel we have encoded our message, we need to be aware of all the factors which can influence how other people will interpret our behaviour. The research would also address how cultural factors affect cross-cultural communication and explain in bridging cultures, and some strategies they can use to overcome cross-cultural communication problems. Nonverbal behaviours unintentional, beyond the words, can be interpreted by a receiver as having meaning. They either accompany verbal messages or are used independently of verbal messages. They may affirm and emphasize or negate and even contradict spoken messages. They are more likely to be used unconsciously and spontaneously because they are habitual and routine behaviours. There are seven key elements of Nonverbal Behaviour which include gestures, body moments, facial movements, eye contacts, postures, vocalics and haptics. Gestures, body moments, facial movement and eye contact are combined in the kinesics code, which vary culturally, also referred to as body language. The study of this caters to traditional linguistic principles to the parts of the body particularly the face, hands and arms or body as a whole. It also addresses posture in standing and sitting as well as with eye and facial expressions such as the arching of eyebrows or rolling of the eyes. Vocalics refers to a ll vocal activities other than verbal context, also called the paralanguage. Paralanguage may be expressed consciously or unconsciously and it includes the pitch, volume, and, in some cases, intonation of speech. Sometimes the definition is restricted to vocally-produced sounds. The role of Haptics focuses on touch as an element of communication and is very much a function of culture. It can vary from touch and the frequency and intensity, like many other roles of non verbal communication. The communication environment consists of physical environment and spatial environment. Secondly, there are the communicators physical characteristics like physique general attractiveness, height, clothes and other accessories. Here I would wish to bring into focus an incident which I had observed on television. When Americans go for negotiation to Saudi Arabia, the female members accompanying the team would always wear a full body cover named Abhaya (not Burkha). But recently when Indian Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh visited Saudi Arabia, Mrs.Manmohan Singh who accompanied him did not wear that. So looking at this incidence and by carefully observing, it can be said that there was a wrong cultural assumption from the Indian think tanks whereas even Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, did wear them during their respective visits. By wearing them is like respecting the feeling of Saudis, so here its the miscommunication made and the body language is like I dont care attitude, the opposite party can interpret it in that way. India is going there and its equally important for both countries, especially more for India, by doing this India is putting them in a wrong position right at the beginning itself. An another instance is when I was watching NDTV, a popular Indian news channel, there was a discussion with two leading political parties of India namely UPA and Left, which also included prominent news reporters. The discussion was regarding the past performance of the newly elected government. Usually a discussion of this kind can heat up at any time without warnings because thats how the Indian political scenario works. As expected, there was a hot exchange of words between the representatives of the parties who were sitting in close proximity. It was surprising to note that the opposite partys gesture by touching the hand of the other party member, couple of times to ease the tension. In Indian culture, this gesture is commonly used in easing tensed situation and making the opposite person calm during a meeting or discussion. A soft touch in the hand is considered as a humanitarian way of showing that there is no intension to start a fight (usually these gestures can be seen done my males) thereby avoiding the situation to get worse. This happens between people of Indian origin and in an Indian context; understanding and acting these small gestures can win a situation or even stabilize it. But in general, Asian cultures tend to discourage touching outside of intimate situations whereas certain other cultures like US allow cross-gender touching while same-gender is less acceptable. These rules change in Japan, where women are frequently seen holding hands but not men. In the Mediterranean, it is common to see men holding hands or touching in public but not women. So an awareness of these local norms is important and would help negotiators for better cross cultural negotiations. The use of space is called proxemics, and the use of time is chronemics. Environment involves the communicative value of the physical space. Unconsciously, we all keep a comfortable distance around us when we interact with other people. This distance has had several names over the years, including personal space, interpersonal distance, comfort zone, and body bubble. This space between us and another person forms invisible walls that define how comfortable we feel at various distances from other people. Business people, for example, assume significant meaning about desk size; its commonly assumed that the important people of companies occupy the top most floors of the company. Artifacts likewise is connected with communicative aspect of objects visible in a room such as art or possessions, these may be personal indicative of status of revealing lifestyle. In some societies much meaning is presumed by ones choice of automobile. Artifacts certainly play a role in cultural significance. For instance in many Western countries, pet shave great emotional significance; among many Arabs rugs are prestigious. It should be further emphasized that these codes do not usually function independently or sequentially, rather they work simultaneously. Moreover, nonverbal behaviour is always about sending messages. We cannot communicate without using them even though at times these messages are ambiguous. This wide range of nonverbal behaviour serves various functions in all face-to-face encounters (Gesteland, 2002). For instance at a companys important social meeting, the general manager is introduced to several new employees whom he has not met. Having greeted them with a dominant handshake, he stands at the social distance from the new employees. Knapp Hall (1997) claim that leaders and dominant personalities tend to also choose specific seats but seating position also can determine ones role in a group. Johnson (1993) says that choosing where to sit even if it means moving a chair or even deciding whether to sit, is significant. Anderson (1993) states that leaders and powerful people take up more space than others do. By taking up more space, they appear to be taking charge. Conversely, after shaking hands with the boss, the new employees take full or partial arm-fold gestures because of their apprehension about being in the presence of the companys top man. Both the general manager and the new employees feel comfortable with their respective gestures as each, is signaling his status relativ e to the other. A study conducted in the United States brought to light that, in more than 93 percent, the messages is transmitted by the speakers tone of voice and facial expressions; only 7 percent of the persons attitude was conveyed by words. Probably its a fact that we express our emotions and attitudes more nonverbally than verbally. There are however nonverbal differences across cultures that may be a source of confusion for foreigners. For example, expression of sadness, in culture such as the Arab, grief is expressed openly but this is just the opposite in the case of other cultures like the Asian. Here the general belief is that it is unacceptable to show emotion openly, whether its sadness, happiness or pain. Negotiation is a broad conflict management process involving discussions between and among individuals who are interdependent and need to come together for a decision or course of action; frequently associated with the need to compromise effectively (Shockley-Zalabak, 1988, p. 247). Negotiation consists of two distinct processes: creating value and claiming value. Creating value is a cooperative process whereby the parties in the negotiation seek to realize the full potential benefit of the relationship whereas claiming value is essentially a competitive process. The key to creating value is finding interests that the parties have in common or that complement each other, then reconciling and expanding upon these interests to create a positive situation. Parties at the negotiating table are interdependent and their goals are locked together. A seller cannot exist without a buyer. The purpose of a negotiation is a joint decision-making process through which the parties create a mutuall y acceptable settlement. The objective is to pursue a win-win situation for both parties. Sun Tzu once wrote: Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster. It is perhaps a bit extreme to compare a business meeting to a battle and a business partner to an enemy but the main principle still holds. In order to be reliably successful in business you must understand both yourself and your partner. This understanding will enable you realize what makes your corresponding person tick, and thus understand how he is likely to react in a given situation. In order to gain the full advantage of this knowledge, it is also necessary to understand oneself, both so that one can accurately grasp in what areas the other party is similar or dissimilar, and in order to accurately see how your counterpart is likely to view you. Hill (1998) mentions cross-cultural literacy, and defines it as an understanding of how cultural differences both across and within natio ns can affect the way in which business is practiced (1998:66) If we consider the fact that negotiating with our fellow citizen is not an easy task due to many individual differences, it would be reasonable to suggest that negotiating in a cross cultural setting with people from different cultural boundaries may be even more difficult. The way we perceive and create our own reality may be completely different to our counterparts way of thinking, behaving and feeling. Its also a fact that gaining knowledge of different languages is not enough to face and solve the problem. Language is a cluster of codes used in communication which, if not shared effectively, can act as a barrier to establish credibility and trust. Nations tend to have a national character that influences the type of goals and process the society pursues in negotiations. This is why specifying and understanding cultural differences is vital in order to perform successfully in inter-cultural communication. As we better understand that our partners may see things differently, we wil l be less likely to make negative assumptions and more likely to make progress during meetings and cross cultural negotiations (Zieba, 2009). Japanese negotiators are known for their politeness, their emphasis on establishing relationships and their indirect use of power. Japanese concern with face and face-saving is one reason that politeness is so important and confrontation is avoided. They tend to use power in muted, indirect ways consistent with their preference for harmony and calm. In comparative studies, Japanese negotiators were found to disclose considerably less about themselves and their goals than French or American counterparts. Silence and pauses in conversations are normal. Two can strategically use breaks in conversational flows even in situations where they could process information faster and send messages sooner. In essence the period of silence provide a twofold advantage of reducing the possibility of introducing unproductive and destructive commends into conversations and providing breaks for reflection, designation of ideas and planning of communication strategy and tactics during negotiations. Thes e are consistent with the norms of Chinese and Japanese, however westerners might have discomfort in the same situations. They are very formal and polite and place great importance on proper protocol. They are also concerned with proper etiquette. British negotiation behaviour is characterized by the soft sell and their culture is relatively high in context. Americans usually like to get down to business quickly in a meeting which may lead to people from Chinese and Japanese cultures being offended. In spite of that, the discussion mostly proceeds at a much slower pace than US business people are accustomed. The Chinese uses high context speech and therefore use a lot of non-verbal cues to communicate. They may use feelings of guilt, shame and obligation to get certain kinds of concessions whereas Americans use less risk taking tactics to misrepresent in order to gain more information. In general, most Westerners expect a prompt answer when they make a statement or ask a question ra ther than long pauses and silence (Weiss, 1992). This form of Kinesic messages shows that even if one keeps silent, one is still conveying messages. Knapp Hall (1997, p. 332) state that The face may be the basis for judging another persons personality and that it can (and does) provide information other than ones emotional state. They found that how something is said is often more important than what is being said. In addition, Anderson (1993) suggests that people perceived as powerful, shift their position occasionally, making themselves appear in charge. However, the rise in the global business trend and cross cultural meetings has paved way for the Chinese and Japanese professionals in doing business with the West with relative ease and have shown tendency to modify their behaviours to accommodate west. Nonetheless, doing business in Japan necessitates preparing oneself by understanding areas such as business culture, business etiquette, and negotiation meeting protocols. For instance, bowing your head is an integral part of J apanese culture. It is used for greeting at beginning and end of the meetings to show gratitude or used in other occasions to express sympathy or to apologies but a Westerner would not be expected to bow and will most likely be greeted with a handshake combined with a slight nod of the head (Nelda Spinks 1997). The French, expect everyone to behave as they do when doing business which includes speaking their language. Negotiations are likely to be in French unless they occur outside France. The French enjoy conversation for the sake of conversation but they are also very pragmatic about details of the proposed agreement during negotiations. They are very much individualists and have a sense of pride that is sometimes interpreted as supremacy. They follow their own logic, referred to as Cartesian logic, when negotiating. These logics are based on principles previously established. It proceeds from what is known, in point-by-point fashion, until agreement is reached. Protocol, manners , status, education, family, and individual accomplishments are keys to success when dealing with the French. The French prefer detailed, firm contracts. They enjoy conflict and debate and will interrupt even the opening presentations with arguments of little or no relevance (Moran and Stripp, 1991). It is widely acknowledged fact that people from different countries tend to communicate in different ways. We argue that these differences are more related to different communication cultures than other differences. Being aware of these differences usually leads to better comprehension, fewer misunderstandings and to mutual respect along with the prospects of success and benefits in negotiations and cross cultural meetings (Janosik, 1991). The key to successful nonverbal cross-cultural communication is that one must be experienced, motivated, knowledgeable, skilled and competent communicator in the global marketplace. These factors are interrelated and a deficiency in one would impacts at least one of the other factors. The more the deficiency is reduced there is more likelihood of achieving a high level of cross-cultural communication. Spitzberg (1991) points out in his model of interpersonal communication competency that, there is an additive effect of these factors resulting in co mmunication satisfaction, perceived confirmation, and conversational appropriateness and effectiveness (p. 22). However these may not be true in all cases. For example, I would like to point out a particular instance from my personal experience wherein a subject becomes more important or more influencing factor in a face to face space negotiation, the subject is something slightly different than a pure technical one. If I am trying to create a thinking process or an idea or an ideology, I would like to spread that and make others understand, which is really important. So my aim would be to make others understand my thinking process, and to do that, I better do my homework properly and know exactly what others think, hence this topic is more valid in such context. When the negotiation is highly technical then all these dont make much difference because technical things are tangible. For example, if we say we would like to export one ship of rice to Kenya, the quantity of rice that can go to that ship load is tangible and the product in talk is also tangible as we can specify the type of rice. H ere, the negotiation is only about the final loading price for that particular merchant, so whatever language we talk (say I know everything about Kenya, I have hired a secretary for that and I have done everything for that) it work only if its feasible for me hence its pure technical. TATA motors was trying to sell their cars and trucks in Africa region but finally succeeded only in selling trucks because the tertian needed in that region is almost same as that of the Indian region. So there the buyer was only interested in the efficiency of the truck and the total maintenance cost, rest all was of least importance. For instance, consider an advertisement of any car in the daily, they are also communicating. We can see that some of these advertisement are related to festive moods like Easter so by means of picture, it is trying to relate us to that particular festival which helps us to get connect faster and thereby leading to buy the content. So here the language they use is a vis ual one. Another example is say early morning a person is ready to go for negotiation and finds that he has forgotten to take the thoughts and has the habit of sweating (sweating here indicates nervousness in a sense). Now imaging the condition of that person, he going to attend a important meeting, he will be biased because of the sweat and his body language would be completely wrong because of this irritation factor which is definitely going to affect his meeting. His conversation would be influenced by this irritation factor and there is a possibility that other members might misunderstand his body language or it could even be medical problem or a digestion problem or it could be something like a pillow given in the hotel. Instead of a soft pillow the person would have got a hard one and say that person has a spontaliaties problem, he would have a very bad night of sleep and this would reflect in his gestures. So its always not correct to say that one can understand and interpret the body language rightly, even if he has enormous experience and skills relating to it, as according to the above example, under such circumstances it would be very difficult to communicate in proper body language and even verbally may not be saying what he intended to say. Sometimes persons would be forced to do things they are not aware of because of various other factors related to it. It is not a pure science where oxygen and hydrogen combined together gives water, in any instance. In a positive sense, everything could hype a person up like the food that he had last night or the drink that he had or the company that he had, so there again he is not projecting his real self. The next day when he goes for a negotiation his spirits are high which also could be misread and misinterpreted by the opposite party. The opposite party would think that the person is much interested in the business or negotiation but the reaction would only come later, seeing him in high spirit, the opposite party would start in a entirely different way from what he had prepared earlier. As human beings, we act on the basis of our perceptions and beliefs. So if we have a particular view of human communication, then we will act on that view. If we have a faulty view, then our behaviour may cause problems. The behaviour of humans is bundled up by different complex set of factors from individual personality, the social context their respective cultural values. Negotiating behaviour can vary depending upon various other aspects from the age of the participant, class, religion and character, its complexity gives nuanced explanations (Hartley Bruckham, 2000). This is a classical example to show how different cross cultural non verbal signals are misread, the cost of it being delays and missed opportunities. This case comes during the early days when the American diplomats attended a meeting of US -China reconciliation. Cohen (1991) points out that U.S. observers entirely missed the most significant Chinese signal of reconciliation of all in the 1970-71 periods. In October 1970, Chairman Mao invited an American author and journalist to stand next to him at the Gate of Heavenly Peace. While this gesture seems obscure to American diplomats and hence they did not respond to it, the symbolism was clear to the Chinese, who expected a significant response. These gaps in nonverbal gestures created friction among these two nations, if addressed in its rightful instance could have brought out fruitful results beneficial to both nations.

American Civil War Blunders and Diplomatic Failures Essay -- Union, Co

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." --Bertrand Russell In the middle of the 19th century the United States was engaged in one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the nation known as the American Civil War. The U.S. was at war with a first time enemy known as the Confederate States of America. The southern states had succeeded from the Union and with the battle of Fort Sumter, the war had begun. Both the Union and the Confederates had one goal in mind, respectively. For the North it was to defeat the rebellious states and bring them back into the Union and for the South it was to achieve recognition as an independent country from abroad. The war lasted four years and resulted in over one million casualties including over 600,000 deaths for both sides combined. This was all due to the fact that the North and the South would continue to make mistakes through the four years that would lead to the prolonging of the war. Actions taken by both the Union and the Confederacy resulted in the hurting of their diplomatic goals abroad, thus hurting the ultimate achievement of their goals. One of the first steps that the Confederacy took to hinder its goal of independence would actually happen several years before the start of the war. With the possibility of a conflict with the northern states looming largely in the minds of the citizens in the southern states, precautions began to be put into place. With this, the idea of what would later become known as the King Cotton policy was beginning to be accepted. In a speech given by a former Senator James H. Hammond of South Carolina in 1858, Hammond described the importance of the southern crop and that a lack of cotton being exported would do much more damage... ...ssed November 22, 2013. http://www.history.com/topics/cotton Dattel, Gene. "THE SOUTHS Mighty Gamble on King Cotton." American Heritage 60, no. 2 (Summer2010 2010): 12-16. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2014). Eicher, David J. The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 344. Hammond, James. Selections from the Letters and Speeches of the Hon. James H. Hammond of South Carolina (New York: John F. Trow & Company Printers, 1866), 311-312. Hoptak, John D. The Battle of South Mountain, (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011), 16-19. Prime Minister Palmerston, letter to Queen Victoria, December 5, 1861. "The Emancipation Proclamation." Emancipation Proclamation (Primary Source Document) (January 7, 2009): 1. Points of View Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed December 7, 2014).

Porters Five Forces Us Airlines Industry Case Study Essay

The year 2011 was another dismal one for US airlines in terms of financial performance. Despite an increase in both passenger numbers and revenues for the year, profits were down on 2010. In total, US airlines earned net profits of about $0.4 billion, representing a net margin of less than 1%. The dire financial state of the industry was underlined by AMR (the parent of American Airlines) entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2011. This ended AMR’s distinguished record of being the only one of the major legacy airlines to have avoided bankruptcy. In 2005, Delta, United, Northwest, and US Airways had all fi led for bankruptcy protection. The early months of 2012 offered little hope of improvement. Airline revenues were up by 8.2% during the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter of 2011. However, as a result of higher costs, net income was down by 73.6%: net margins had deteriorated from –3.2% to –5.2%. 1 The woes of the US airline industry during the 21st century were typically attributed to the triple-whammy of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the high price of crude oil, and the 2008 financial crash. Certainly, each of these was a powerful force in boosting costs and depressing demand. Yet, the financial problems of the US airline industry predated these events. Even during the generally prosperous 1990s, the US airline industry had been barely profitable. Outside the US, the state of the airline business was little better. The IATA, the worldwide association of airlines, showed that the global airline industry had consistently failed to earn returns that covered its cost of capital

Japanese and American Business Behavior

Management sciences have long identified that there are many forms of business behaviors. Different organizations from different cultures tend to run their business in different manners, this include decision making activities, problem solving, future forecasting, and other issues within a business.The differences do not stop on the organizational level, managers of different cultures generally has their own personal style of managing their subordinates. These differences are interesting to study because of the increasing phenomena of globalization.II. Research BackgroundII. 1. The Need to Study Business StylesDifferent companies within different cultures previously have no need compare their business styles with those of foreign companies. However, with the rising of globalization and international competition, corporations are derived to take account of business cultures from all over the world. This is necessary in time where they have to make connections with foreign business in order to grow or survive. Furthermore, some business behaviors might be better suited in their local environment but contributes poorly within the global environment.There are times where changes of culture from local to global culture are necessities. Thus, to compare one business style to another is almost a common activity for economist and businessmen today.II. 2 Why Study Japanese CultureAsian economy has always been a matter of intense discussion among American scholars. There are predictions from many economist and observers that Asia will be the center of economic growth once the world has entered the new millennium. Although these predictions have not come through as expected, the rapid development of Asian economy is still an important event in the history of world’s economy.Let us take Japan as a representation of the strength of Asian economy. Japan produces some of the most innovative and highest quality products in the world. Since 1970’s, Japanese automa kers have been intensely competing with US automakers. Some even believed that they have exceeded the US automakers in some respects. The British motorcycle industry, which once considered as the one who brought the’ golden age’ on motorcycle industries has been wiped-out almost entirely by the presence of Japan’s futuristic motorcycles in their local soil.In fact, today, we have seen that Japanese culture is everywhere in the world. Many Americans today are fans of Japanese products since they were children. Japanese products have undeniably infiltrate US social and economic life in the most significant way. The popularity of Kill Bill, Iron Chef, Power Rangers, Hello Kitty, and Anime describes the strong presence of Japanese culture in the United States. Furthermore, American businessmen are today learning Japanese business style, more than just to communicate with their Japanese partners, but also to enhance their efficiency in doing business.The acknowledgem ent given to Japanese culture and their influence is overwhelming in many parts of the world (Palmeri, 2004). The popularity of Japanese culture in most parts of the world brought upon an interesting question for American business people. What are actually the differences between Japanese business behaviors and American business behaviors? Furthermore, the ability of Japanese businessmen to do what Americans cannot bring increasing interest in studying the popular culture. Within this paper, I am comparing two of the world’s most popular business styles, the American style and the Japanese style.There will be discussion on differences, similarities and some comparison of which has the advantage over certain situations.III. Research QuestionAs mentioned above, the strength of Japanese culture astonished economist from all over the world. With the increasing case studies where Japanese businessmen outperform others in international market, there is an interesting question of wh ether Japanese culture could have exceeded the dominating culture of the world (Americans). The implied research questions in the elaboration above are:‘With respect to its Strengths and Weaknesses, is Japanese business culture more suitable for business advancement and development than the American business culture? ’ In order to answer this question, a sufficient elaboration regarding both business cultures is required. The elaboration should lead to a comparative analysis regarding both business cultures. Based on book, journals and articles on Japanese and American business culture, I will divide the comparative analysis into several chapters focusing on different ways to compare the two business cultures.A concluding statement will be made to summarize the comparative analysis in the end of the paper. IV. Organizational Management StylesIV. 1 Roles and DecisionMaking In terms of managerial styles, American companies tend to be financially oriented and value autonom y. In a typical American company, the role of each employee is clearly defined and the employee is fully responsible for the activities assigned to him/her. Decisions generally come from individual authority, and the company usually makes clear definition of who is entitle for making what kinds of decisions (Engel, 2000).The Japanese style of management however, has a rather contrast approach. Japan companies (or Japanese style companies) has a more intuitive approach to management. Most of the employees have undefined roles and they are most likely to be assigned as teams to work together for group goals. Decisions do not come from a single person, but rather as a collective process involving many voices. However, when it comes to managing overseas, Japan companies seem to be more centralized that US corporations.For instance, if a Japanese company has an affiliate in US soil, their necessities focus on detailed communication across the Pacific. Generally, such communication is dom inated by Japanese employees, excluding many of the American employees from the managerial process. Furthermore, the US affiliate will most likely diminish in its ability to act independently. These issues created significant concern for American employees working for Japanese companies.IV. 2 Strategic PlanningIn strategic planning, Japanese companies seem to have a considerably different approach to Americans.For instance, while formulating a strategy, Americans are more-top-driven in their approach. They prefer to design changes and speed up evolution. This is in contrast with the Japanese who prefer to allow things to evolve from the bottom (Fiedler, 1965). American business people tend to finalize strategies quickly, sometimes without taking account of several issues and factors. They generally prefer to spend more time correcting the strategy in the implementation stage. The Japanese, on the other hand, tends to hold more careful discussion of what might go wrong and find their solutions.It is not until an all round agreement is achieved would the strategy be implemented. Many believe that the Japanese take more time to execute a plan and that is simply unacceptable. On the other hand, there are those who believed that the Japanese way is better, because they do not force the process. They allow everything to be in place, and when it does, they implement it quickly. Another argument in awe of the Japanese business culture is the fact that most Japanese managers prefer to look into the roots of the problem before making decisions, judgments and strategies.The American straightforward approach often result casualties of innocent workers being fired because management cannot see the root of the problem. This judgmental behavior is efficient, but not effective. Decisions are delivered in faster amount of time but less accuracy and depth of analysis. Japanese managers prefer to solve the problem first before looking for someone to blame. This culture evolves i n a manner that allows employees to feel shame even before they were even accused of misconduct. Mutual understanding and commitment to corporate goal is what fueled the Japanese strategy-machine to work.IV. 3 Employment and Personnel ManagementIn terms of employment, many writers indicated that Japan companies have distinctly unique system of ‘lifetime employment. Japanese companies are given credit by many for their ability in fostering loyalty and encouragement of their employees. Nevertheless, this is domestic in nature, and the system generally turns weak, once the companies enter international realm. Most of the modern nations found the Japanese employment system demands things that little (except Japanese people) would tolerate.Analysts indicated that these demands come from the lack of external labor market. There is not much choice for Japanese labor and employees in terms of employment. Thus, they tend to go along with every terms of the company, once they have signe d their contracts (Hersey, 1972). In foreign lands, Japanese companies who find that their system of employment is large unacceptable by non-Japanese, generally come up with an unfortunate solution. They would decide that the non-Japanese is to be hired under separate employment categories with little advancement opportunity or job security.IV. 4 Thickness of CultureOpening to new culture has been recognized as one of the popular traits of American business style. Corporations generally have a strong statement of their culture, but with a sense of flexibility and openness for new people and subsidiaries. Many writers consider this as advancement over other developing business cultures around the world. The Japanese on the other hand, develop a very ‘thick’ sense of corporate culture in each of their working generations. This strong sense of culture evolves from the fact that most Japanese employees work together for as long as a lifetime.Even a Japanese new entry would have difficulties in tuning-in to the corporate culture if they join in mid-career. Because of this tendency to form a strong bond among Japanese employees, Americans working within these companies generally experience numerous frictions and frustrations because they fail to understand the ongoing culture in the company (Kopp, n. d).V. Personal Leadership StylesV. 1 Types of LeadershipWithin this chapter, I will elaborate several types of leadership styles. Within each style there is an assessment of how Americans or Japanese favor the style. The types of leadership are: ? Directive LeadershipCompanies whose managers are accustomed to stress direction to subordinates are those of the directive leadership style. This style became famous in the United States, but it is now declining in frequency. Many stated that this style is currently most dominant is Asian countries. However, the Japanese seemed to be excluded in this particular category.Participative LeadershipThis style pursues c lose teamwork as a path to success. The Japanese are the symbol of this particular leadership style. Americans very seldom practice this type of leadership.Empowering LeadershipThis type of leadership is a brand new trend in America.It stresses on delegating responsibilities to subordinates and retain their passion in doing the best for the company. American Giants today are proclaiming themselves to be practicing this type of leadership. However, many Japanese multinationals (like Sony Corp. ) have this type of leadership style within their corporate philosophy. ? Charismatic Leadership Many CEO of multinationals have what is called human magnetism. It is the ability to gain trust from others to do what is needed for the company. These leaders usually exist within national boundaries. Their charismatic power seldom breaks through the limits of their culture.This type of leadership was dominated by Americans; however, their numbers are significantly reduced by as many of US companie s go global. More of them exist within the Japanese local culture now. (Cotter, 2001)V. 2 Family Succession LeadershipAccording to HBS (Harvard Business School) professor, D. Quinn Mills (2005), Japanese and other Asian companies are noted to pass down their line of leadership to family members. This is similar to the conduct of some of the largest American companies. However, it is more popular in American business culture that firms are run by professional managers and replaced by another professional manager.In American business culture, better companies generally have advance programs for developing executives within the firm. The next CEO will be chosen among them. There are also American companies who hire external CEOs without any familiarities of the company. This behavior is generally derived from the need to excel in growth or recovery. Despite the fact that several Japanese companies exceeded the Americans in terms of efficiency and profitability, many scholars still beli eve that the Japanese business style is only a stage of development which will finally lead to the American business style.These scholars argued using the leadership succession styles. They mentioned that the family succession culture was once a common practice among US companies. However, it was then replaced by the professional management succession line which is considered the latest piece of the evolutionary line. These scholars mentioned that it is possible that Asian firms will follow this evolutionary path in the future.V. 3 Political ConnectionsIn Japan and other Asian countries, it is more apparent that the success of a company depends to the intensity of its relations to political and social leaders of the environment.Japan and other Asian countries have developed a belief that connections to important people are crucial for the survival of their business. Quite contrast, the CEOs in America often have no direct connections to top politicians. The government only has autho rity at an arm’s length and business affairs are done by business people. Nevertheless, this does not include exceptions where older and powerful American companies take advantage of their political connections to enhance their success. The percentage of these companies is very low compared with Asian companies (Kopp, n. d).VI. Communication PatternsJapanese and Americans share some of their traits in terms of communication. Both of them are superpowers who held high their own culture. Americans and Japanese are known for their lack of knowledge over other languages. Few Americans speak and read foreign language enough to do business with people who do not understand English very well. Similarly, Japanese businessmen tend to be uncomfortable in detailed business discussion using English and English-language documents. Some other traits they share are their lack of experience in dealing with foreign people.Most of them lack the skills necessary to overcome cross-cultural chall enges (Kenna & Sondra, 1994). Japanese and American communication also has significant differences in their communication patterns. American business people tend to be more direct opened and values discussion. The Japanese style is on the other hand, more vague and roundabout. Much of the meaning is stated in nonverbal cues and subtle nuances of toning and wording. Different from Americans who viewed debate and challenging discussion as a positive trait, the Japanese tend to avoid them and viewed them negatively (Kenna & Sondra, 1994).VII ConclusionThe comparative analysis points out to several conclusions. The Japanese business culture is apparently very strong around its people. However, when their business expands to foreign lands, the power of their culture is either reduced, causing the lost of certain competitive advantages, or tightened, causing lack of collaboration to the surrounding environment. One of the reasons of Japanese rapid expansion into the international world is its unique managerial style. Successful Japanese companies have the ability to generate powerful motivation among its employees, thus, increasing corporate profitability, creativity and quality management.In this respect, the Japanese business culture has a significant advantage compare to the American business culture. The American seems to have superior business philosophy compare to the Japanese. Its ‘opened’ communication pattern and the lack of need for political connections and family ties provide high level of flexibility which supported expansion and business evolution. However, the quick decision making processes, the top-down evolution methods, and the impersonal relationship of its employees created a lack of strength in American managerial structure.Because of these, there are more strategies in the American culture that do not reach their goals, and more employees become left behind by the quick evolutionary stages. In this respect, the Japanese culture al so presents a favorable behavior for business evolvement. As a final conclusion, despite the fact that each business culture has their own strengths and weaknesses, this paper reveals a strong agreement that Japanese business culture has a significant advantage over the American business culture.A further study however, needed to be done over each and every aspects mentioned above in order to provide a more detailed explanation of how each culture excels or diminish within those respects.BibliographyCotter, Colleen. 2001. Lonely Planet USA Phrasebook: Understanding Americans and Their Culture Engel, Dean. 2000.Passport USA: Your Pocket Guide to American Business, Customs & Etiquette Fiedler, Fred E. 1965.Engineer the Job to Fit the Manager. Harvard Business Review. Vol. 43 Hersey, Paul. Blanchard, Kenneth H. 1972.Management of Organization Behavior. New Jersey: Prentic- Hall Inc. Kenna, Peggy. Sondra, Lacy. 1994.Business Japan: A Practical Guide to Understanding Japanese Business Cu lture. McGraw-Hill Kopp, Rochelle. N. d. ‘The Rice Paper Ceiling’. ISBN 1-880656-51-5. Stone Bridge Press. Mills, D. Quinn. ‘Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique? ’. Harvard Business School. Retrieved June 2, 2006.Available at http://hbswk. hbs. edu/item. jhtml? id=4869&t=leadership Palmeri, Christopher. 2004.‘Is Japanese Style Taking Over the World? ’. Business Week Online. Retrieved June 2, 2006. Available at: http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/04_30/b3893091. htm,

Education Standards in Todays Society Essays

Education Standards in Todays Society Essays Education Standards in Todays Society Essay Education Standards in Todays Society Essay Peter Broughan once stated Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave. In today’s society, a quality education being provided during the most impressionable years of a child’s life is essential to the development and success of our children. One of the most prevalent problems in our educational system today is the variation in the quality of education that children are provided. The quality of education tends to be a reflection of the affluence, or lack there of, in the communities that children come from. In order for a child to succeed in today’s society, a high quality, well balanced education is imperative. The curriculum, classroom size, resources, funding and management of the classroom are all factors that help contribute to and establish this educational quality. Former President Lyndon Baines Johnson passed several legislative acts between 1975 and 1976, which were designed to correct the many inequalities that existed in the public education system. As previously mentioned, these inequalities included the access to as well as the quality of education that poor and minority students received as opposed to their non-minority or privileged counterparts. As a result of these reforms, every child is now required to be enrolled in some form of public or private education, which is known as Compulsory Education Law. These laws worked well to insure that all children were enrolled in some sort of educational program, however, it seems to have fallen short in its goal to address the value of the education that is provided. Although compulsory education was implemented with the intent of creating all men equally, without the â€Å"quality† of the education being equal the very purpose of the law goes unserved. Compulsory educational laws mandate that a child be enrolled in an educational curriculum by a certain age ( age five to six in 32 states) and remain enrolled until age 16 in 26 states and 17 to 18 in the remaining states. Many officials argue that age should not be used as a measure of determining a child’s readiness to enter school and be successful. The issue that we need to keep sight of is that if children are allowed to enter school at younger and younger ages, many people may choose to enroll their children in school although the child may not be ready to learn from and be held to standards of a structured curriculum. In essence, without age limits imposed, the school system may eventually be used as a cheaper alternative to daycare. This increase in attendance would increase the need for additional teachers and resources as well as increase class sizes. These additional needs would eventually pose added stress to an already faltering educational system. Classroom size is one of the most critical components of a quality education. The number of students that are being provided instruction by a single teacher can affect how much each student actually learns in a number of different ways. A prime example of this is my daughter’s high school. Over the past three years, the number of children in one class has risen from approximately 22-25 children per class to nearly 40 students due to budget restraints and teacher lay-offs. With this increase in class size, my daughter has regularly complained of distractions by other students, discomfort due to the close quarters. She has also talked about the inability of the teacher to gain and maintain control of the class in a timely manner so that a descent period of instruction can be given. As a result, the children who are willing to learn are left to study independently or â€Å"wing it† on tests that contain material which the teacher was unable to cover during the class period. The larger classroom sizes also cause a child to be less willing to ask for extra assistance. In a more intimate setting a child may feel more comfortable in saying he or she does not understand. It may also be much easier for a teacher to notice that a child is struggling, even if the child doesn’t ask, and provide the individualized attention that a child may require. With larger classes also comes more conflict among students which may stem from cramped conditions or the disruptive behavior of some students. In addition to classroom size being an issue, a larger issue lies with the variance in curriculum. Some measures should be put in place to establish a common standard for things such as grading scales, text books used, and basic curriculum that is covered. If a child graduates from a high school which is known to have lower educational standards, this child is automatically placed at a significant disadvantage among his or her peers when applying to institutions of higher learning. In the American culture, success and development is generally defined by an individual’s education level, which leads to other things such as social status, and employment. Without a sound educational foundation, one generally cannot expect to secure a well paying, meaningful job. The problem with this measure of success lies in the lack of uniformity in the education system. For example, a child who attends high school in the state of California is required to have 120 credits completed and pass the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) in order to graduate. In contrast, a high school student in the state of South Carolina is required to have a total of 24 credits completed and pass the South Carolina High School Exit Exam. This difference in requirements poses a significant issue to children that may transfer from one state to another, such as dependents of military members. When a child transfers from California to South Carolina, as my daughters, did, many things get â€Å"lost in translation†. Upon transfer, my daughter lost three credits that were deemed â€Å"useless† by South Carolina’s education system and was forced to compensate for this by attending additional classes in an after school and online setting. In addition, she has also had to take the South Carolina High School Exit Exam despite the fact that she passed the California High School Exit Exam in during her sophomore year in California. Establishing a national common curriculum standard which all children have to master prior to graduating high school would essentially level the paying field when it cam to children applying to institutions of higher learning. It would also make it easier for colleges and universities to translate the various high school classes and grade levels that appear with each new applicant. If this cycle of inequality continues, many schools in underprivileged areas will continue to graduate students that lack the basic skills to properly function in society while schools in more affluent communities continue to turn out future leaders. Compulsory education helps to prepare children to be productive and functional members of society as well as teaching them citizenship skills as well as tolerance and cultural diversity which is needed for them to become functional and productive members of society. Although the thought of moving away from compulsory education may be alluring with the rise in home schooling and other means of alternative education, the real answer is not to deviate from the plan, but to improve upon it. Malcolm Forbes once stated Educations purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one. I believe that if a child enters and exits our educational system with the knowledge and confidence that he has been provided with an education that is just as valuable and thorough as his peers, we have succeeded in arming that child with the strength and confidence needed to succeed in all of his endeavors. Weaver, Reg. â€Å"Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization: Improving NCLB to Close the Achievement Gap. Senate Committee on Health, Education, and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and Labor. 13 March 2007. 06 Nov. 2010. Print. Compulsory Education. National Conference of State Legislatures. N. p.. n. d. Web. 06 Nov. 2010. ncsl. org/programs/educ/CompulsoryEd. htm Ivan Illich. â€Å"Deschooling Society. † Cuernavaca, Mexico. Nov 1970. Web. 7 Nov 2010. preservenet. com/theory/Illich/Deschooling/intro. html ETNI-English Teacher’s Network. Education Quotes. 20 Nov. 2010. etni. org. il/quotes/education. htm