W3 Asign2 Strategy Map & Balanced Score Card Essay

W3 Asign2 Strategy Map & Balanced Score Card - Essay Example (Cokins, G., 2013) Using these two tools, this paper will attempt to identify the KPIs for Rotor-Rooter, a plumbing company that is based and provides services primarily in the United States. It was difficult to identify the KPIs for Roto-Rooter because aside from company-owned operations in the United States they also have independent contractors and independent franchises locally and internationally. (Roto-Rooter, 2014) Since the writer is of the belief that the independent contractors and franchises should probably have their own KPIs, this paper will focus on the performance of the company-owned branches. As mentioned earlier, this tool presents the objectives and KPIs needed to meet those company goals. For this company, the key indicators of performance start with, under Learning Growth, enhance technical skills for all Level 1 employees and improve managerial & administrative skills for Level 2 employees. I think these are important because Rotor-Rooter’s business requires its employees at these levels to practice technical skills to complete their work and organizational skills and management skills to coordinate with their many branches, franchises and contractors, respectively. For the Learning Process stage, the KPIs are to implement training programs for current and new employees and to implement management training programs to meet the objectives at the first level of the map. For the Customer Level, the KPIs are to attain customer retention at 100%, to continue providing quality service, and to provide after sales service. Finally at the Financial Stage, the KPIs are to increase revenue and to increase productivity. A balanced scorecard contains individual KPIs with a predefined target measure, and KPIs that are project-based and process-based. (Cokins, G., 2012) For Roto-Rooter, the balanced scorecard will show, as KPIs for the managers and employees, target outputs with

To what extent is substantive equality promoted through the Human Essay

To what extent is substantive equality promoted through the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010 - Essay Example Second, the convention responded to the growth of Communism in Eastern Europe by protecting the member states from communist subversion. The constant reference to values and principles became norm within the Convention as it was deemed â€Å"necessary in a democratic society.† The Convention was drafted in 1950 by the Council of Europe, however, did not go into force until September 1953. This Convention established the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears cases from persons who feel their rights have been violated under the Convention by a state party. Any state party judgements are binding on the states concerned and they are obligated to execute them. Executions of judgements are overseen by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Particular discretion is used to ensure that payment amounts awarded by the Court to the applicants are received in compensation for damages sustained. The establishment of an international Court to protect individua ls from human rights violations is a very innovative feature. This innovative feature gives the individual a very active role on the international field. Tradition will show that only states or members are considered participants in international law. However, the European Convention remains the only international human rights agreement that provides this high degree of individual protection. Parties of the state can take cases against another state party to this Court, but this power is seldom used. Ten members originally joined as members in 1949. After the fall of the communist regimes in 1989, several states from Central and Eastern Europe became members. There are currently 33 members. Several other countries or States have been granted observer status including the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan. The ECHR consists of Eighteen Articles covering fundamental rights with respect to respecting rights, life, torture, servitude, liberty and security, fair trial, retrospect, privacy, conscience and religion, expression, association, marriage, effective remedy, discrimination, derogations, aliens, abuse of rights, and permitted restrictions. The Court also must abide by its five established protocols. The European Court of Human Rights historically has a distinguished track record. The Court judges thousands of cases every year and its opinions are internationally cited. Historically the Court’s jurisprudence on equality was based on a formal concept of equality. However, in recent years the ECHR has started to give equality more of a substantive content. Its â€Å"weak equality jurisprudence resulted from the limitations of ECHR, judicial procedure, and a formal concept of equality.† Article 14 of ECHR applies only specifically to the enjoyment of conventional rights. â€Å"The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  As far as procedure, o nly alleged victims can apply for complaints (excluded from states), and they first have to exhaust all other domestic remedies in their perspective states. The Convention furthermore was reluctant to draw inferences of discrimination from statistics. However, the most limiting factor was the ECHR’s formal concept of discrimination, which focused on direct discrimination. Recently the court has had some difficulty with cases involving covert discrimination or

Evaluation of five sites Essay Example for Free

Evaluation of five sites Essay The first website which I have chosen to do an evaluation on is a mobile company called, Vodafone. www. vodafone. co. uk The purpose of this website is to give Vodafone customers a chance to see the new deals the company have to offer, and to view the latest mobile handsets on the market. I my first impression of this website, is that it is very basic and easy to understand. The website designer has kept the theme of grey and red colours, throughout the whole website. I feel that this gives the feeling to the users a sense of professionalism. The website is full of hyperlinks which are quite easy to follow as, they are marked quite clearly. The website has been divided into six sections, but to view most of these you must register your details. By registering your details you are entitled to access free monthly web texts, and also you may be able to receive free registering credit. These offers are highlighted quite clearly on the website these make it appealing for the user to continue to brose the website. This will then entail the users to become a regular user of the Vodafone services. To conclude I feel that this website is quite appealing and I feel that the use of colour is just right, as too much colour may lead users to think that the website is designed for younger use. I liked the website because, it had attractive special offers to regular computer users and Vodafone customers. Overall I give this website a rating of 9/10. My second evaluation is on the website for the television soap, Eastenders. Here is the homepage of the website: This website is designed to provide viewers of the latest storylines, information on the soaps charters and also there are games for those to have a better understanding on what is going on the weekly soap. My first impression of this website is quite different to that of the Vodafone website. I feel now after viewing the graphics to this, the Vodafone website is quite plain. I feel that this homepage would be very appealing to people of all ages whom are interested in the daily soap. There are many different hyperlinks which lead into a series of completely different areas of the website. These different areas include, backstage knowledge, games, latest storylines and competitions. These are quite easy to access and are marked very clearly for anyone who visits the website for the first time. The colours, which have been used, are very imaginative, and very eye catching. In the background it has a picture of one of the leading ladies who is taking part in this weeks biggest storyline. This makes the user feel interested in what is going to happen in the next episode; therefore they stay to view the link. Overall I think so far out of the two website I have viewed that this would appeal most to me as a regular user of the Internet and its services. The third website which I have chosen to evaluate is a well-known music television programme called, cd: UK www. cduk. com It is designed to show viewers what goes on behind the scenes, up and coming venues and dates, information on the weekly stars which appear on the show, and the latest music charts in UK I found that this website was very eye-catching, with bright colours and imaginative. But the first thing that I noticed was the unnecessary icons in which the web designer has included. Users are able to change the background colour of the website which really in no use or in connection with the website or what it is about. Also to view the comments, which the readers have written there, is a very awkward scroll that you have to use. I feel that young sers or those with disabilities would not very easily use this, as it is not marked clearly on the page. On the other hand I feel that the graphics are quite good once you find your way around them though its hard to find your way around. I feel that this website could be improved a lot if the scroll bar was presented in a more simplified manner to make it user to access the information. Also if unnecessary things such as colour changes were not on the homepage would make this more appealing to older Internet users. My fourth evaluation is on a movie website, www. harrypotter. com: My first impression of this website is that it keeps the theme of ancient drawings and colours throughout the website. Which I feel is quite relevant to the movie. There is plenty of hyperlinks, which gives many clips form, the actual movie, which for those who havent seen it would be encourage doing so. I think that the graphics here are particularly good, again with an ancient feeling. I found that this was quite simple to use, and I could make my way around the various links very easily. By simply clinking on the enter link, you are able to take a look inside the castle in which the movie is based inside, which has very detailed graphics which, I feel are very impressive. Also again there is a message board for the viewers to post their comments about the website. Overall I think that this website has had the best graphics so far, and is quite interesting for the viewer to browse through. I dont think that I could point out any main features that could be improved as, I was very impressed with the whole website. My fifth and final evaluation is on the website.

Behavioral Approach To Leadership Management Essay

Behavioral Approach To Leadership Management Essay The focal point of thuis chapter will be on theoretical developments made in leadership literature with the way of time by the advocates. Hence, the existing chapter will be divided into four major parts. In the first part, trait approach to leadership will be described. In the second part, behavioral approach to leadership will be discussed. Third part will be devoted to contingency approach to leadership. In last and fourth part, cutting-edge approach to leadership will be presented. Trait Leadership Theory: Leadership consists of leaders, followers and situations, but trait approach only focuses on leaders. Trait approach was one of the first systematic attempts to study leadership in which research started by focusing on leaders traits that differentiate between leaders and non-leaders. Trait theory assumes that people are born with inherited characteristics. In other words, leaders were born, not made and leadership is rooted in characteristics of leaders. This assumption that leaders are born not made was taken from Great Man Theory. The underlying concept of this theory was that leaders are from upper class. Great Man theory was named so because in those days, leadership was thought of primarily as a male quality. Stogdill studied more than 124 studies conducted between 1904 and 1947. Stogdill (1948) stated that the aspect allied with leadership could be categorize under six broad directions: capacity (intelligence, alertness, originality and judgment); achievement (scholarship, knowledge); responsibility (reliability, inventiveness, determination assertiveness, self-assurance and the desire to excel); participation (activity, friendliness, teamwork, flexibility and absurdity); status (socioeconomic position and popularity) and situation (status, ability, wants and wellbeing of followers, objectives to be accomplished). Bryman (1993) also talk about the principle that there are distinct attributes that distinguish a leader from a non-leader, these being physical features (height); personality factors: (extroverted); and ability related characteristics: (speech fluency). Trait theory offers no explanation for relationship between individual characteristics and leaderships. This theory did not consider the impact of situational variables that moderate the relationship between leader traits and measures of effectiveness. As a result of lack of consistent findings, linking individual traits to leadership effectiveness, empirical studies of leaders traits were largely abandoned in 1950s. Behavioral approach to Leadership: In beginning of 1950s, focus of leadership research shifted away from leader traits to leaders behaviors. Purpose of this research was that the behavior exhibited by the leaders is more important than their physical, mental, emotional traits or internal state. Behavioral theories differentiate between effective leaders from ineffective leaders. Behavioral theories of leadership are based on the belief that great leaders are made, not born. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through training and observations, thus, anyone can become a leader if they want to. Leadership is composed of two general kinds of behaviors: task behavior and relationship behavior. Task behavior focus on goal accomplishment and help subordinates in achieving their behavior while relationship behavior help subordinates to feel comfortable at workplace. Central focus of this approach is to examine how leaders combine these two types of behavior in order to make subordinates to put their efforts to reach a goal. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the behavioral approach. Some of the first studies were conducted at Ohio State University in late 1940s. At the same time, another group of researchers at Michigan University were studying leadership functions. These studies sparked hundreds of other leadership studies and are still widely used. The Ohio Studies: Group of researchers at Ohio studies analyzed how a group of individuals acted when they were leading a group or organization. For this purpose, complete questionnaire about leader was developed on that questionnaire, subordinates had to identify the no. of times their leaders engaged in certain kind of behavior. Questionnaire was composed of 150 questions and was called the Leader Behavioral Description Questionnaire. (Hemphill and Coons, 1957). Questionnaire was distributed among military, manufacturing companies and educational institutes. The result showed that the certain clusters of behaviors were typically of leaders. Researchers found that respondents responses on the questionnaire clustered around two general types of leaders behavior: Initiating Structure and Consideration (Stogdill, 1974). Initiating Structure sometimes called task-oriented behavior, involves planning, organizing and coordinating the work of subordinates. Consideration involves showing concern for subordin ates, being supportive, recognizing subordinates accomplishments, and providing for subordinates welfare. Many studies have been conducted to determine which style of leadership is most effective in a particular situation. In some contexts, high consideration has been found to be most effective, but in other situations, high initiating structure has been found most effective. Some research has shown that being high on both behaviors is the best form of leadership. The University of Michigan (1961 1967): The Michigan leadership studies took place at about the same time as those at Ohio Studies. The focus of the Michigan studies was to determine the principles and methods of leadership that led to productivity and job satisfaction. The studies resulted in two general leadership behaviors or orientations: an employee orientation and production orientation (Likert). Leaders with an employee orientation showed genuine concern for interpersonal relations, while those with a production orientation focused on the task or technical aspects of the job. The supporters proposed that the more the leader is employee oriented, the lesser hell be production oriented and vice versa. He suggested that employee oriented approach results in the most positive outcomes. The Managerial Grid: The behavioral dimensions from early behavioral leadership studies provided the basis for the development of a two dimensional grid for appraising leadership style. One concept based largely on behavioral approach to leadership effectiveness was the Managerial (or Leadership Grid) development by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton (1964). The Grid helps to explain how leaders help organizations to reach their purposes through two factors: concern for production and concern for people. It closely parallels the idea and findings that emerged in the Ohio State and University of Michigan Studies. Concern for production refers to how a leader is concerned with achieving organizational tasks. Concern for people refers to how a leader attends to the people in the organization who are trying to achieve its goals. In grid, concern for production has been placed on horizontal axis and leaders concern for people has been placed on vertical axis. Leaders behavior was ranked on a scale of 1 (Low) to 9(h igh). The grid has 81 potential categories into which a leaders behavioral style might fall, emphasis was placed on five: authority compliance (9,1), country club management(1,9), impoverished management (1,1), middle of the road management(5,5), and team management(9,9).Researchers concluded that managers performed best when using a team management(9,9) style. It promotes a high degree of participation and team work in the organization a satisfied a basic need in employees to be involved and committed to their work. Team management approach cannot be affective in all situations. So leaders have to adapt their style according to followers ability. The assumption of the leader behavior was that there were certain behaviors that would be universally affective for leaders. Unfortunately, empirical research has not demonstrated consistent relationship between leaders behavior and leader effectiveness. The failure to attain a consistent relationship led to a new focus on situational influences. Like trait research, leader behavior research did not consider situational influences that might moderate the relationship between leader behavior and leaders effectiveness. Situational Leadership Theory: As the name of approach implies, situational leadership focuses on leadership in different situations. The premise of the theory is that different situations demand different kind of leadership. From this perspective, to be an effective leader requires that a person adapts his or her style to the demands of different situations. Contingencies theories gained prominence in 1960s and 1970s. Few of the situational leadership theories are discussed in next section. The Fiedler Model (1967): Fred Fiedler was the one who gave the first comprehensive contingency model. It specifies how situational factors interact with leaders traits and behaviors to influence leadership effectiveness. This theory proposed that effective group performance depends on the proper match between a leaders style of interacting with his or her followers and the degree to which the situation allowed the leader to control and influence. The theory suggests that the constructivity of the situation determine the effectiveness of task and person oriented leader behavior. Constructivity is determined by three things: leader follower relationship, task structures and the position power. Situation is constructive when followers respect and trust the leader, the task is highly structured and leader has control over rewards and punishments. To measure leaders style, Fiedler developed Least Preferred Coworker (LPC) Questionnaire. In questionnaire researcher used 16 pairs of contrasting adjectives like hardworking-not hardworking, friendly-unfriendly. Leaders were asked to think of a coworker with whom they had tough time and rate them on bipolar scale ranging from 1 to 8(8 describes positive adjective while 1 describes negative adjective out of the pair). Fiedler believed that you could determine a persons basic leadership style on the basis of the responses to the LPC questionnaire. Fiedler concluded that high LPC score shows that leader is people/relationship oriented while low LPC score means that leader is task oriented. Fiedler research indicated that leaders were more effective either in highly favorable situation or highly unfavorable situation while relationship oriented leaders perform better in moderate situations. Fiedler contingency has been criticized on both conceptual and methodological grounds. There was no discussion on the practicality of LPC and it is probably unrealistic to assume that a person cannot change his style in order to fit the situation. This theory does not take into consideration all situational factors. Despite its shortcomings, empirical research has supported many of specific propositions of the theory, the Fiedler model provided evidence that effective leadership style needed to reflect situational factors. Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership Theory (1969 1977): In contrast to Fiedlers contingency leadership model and its underlying assumption that leadership style is hard to change (trait theory). The Hersey Blanchard situational leadership model suggests that successful leaders do adjust their style (behavioral approach). Secondly, Fiedler define situation covering three dimensions namely leader-follower relationship, task structure and position power while Hersey and Blanchard defined situation as a function of followers maturity/task related maturity of subordinates. Followers maturity is indicated by followers readiness to perform in a given situation. Readiness is largely based on two major factors-follower ability and follower confidence. Situational leadership theory uses the same two leadership dimensions that Fiedler identified: task and relationship behavior. However, Hersey and Blanchard go a step further by considering each as either high or low and then by combining them into four specific leadership styles. The two-by-two matr ix shown below indicates the four possible leadership styles. High Participating Styles Share Ideas à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Followers able, unwilling, not confident Selling Style Explain Decisions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Followers unable, willing, confident Delegating Style Turnover decisions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Followers able, willing, confident Telling Style Give instructions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Followers unable, unwilling, not confident Low High Hersy Blanchard model map each leadership style to each maturity level, as shown below. Maturity Level Appropriate Leadership Style M1: Low Maturity S1: Telling/Directing M2: Medium Maturity, limited skills S2: Selling/ Coaching M3: Medium maturity, higher skills but lacking confidence S3: Participating/Supporting M4: High Maturity S4: Delegating To use this model, reflect on the maturity of individuals within team. The table shows which leadership style Hersey and Blanchard consider the most effective for people with that level of maturity. Unlike many other leadership theories, this approach does not have empirical research findings to justify and support the underpinning on which it stands. As a result, there is ambiguity regarding how the approach conceptualizes certain aspects of leadership. It does not explain how subordinates move from low development levels to high development level nor is it clears in explaining how commitment changes over time for subordinates. Also, the model does not clearly define how to match leader behavior from one situation to another (Draft 1999). Vroom and Jago 2007investigated that overwhelming focus of this theory was on one situational variable (the maturity of followers) and thus other important contextual characteristics within which interactions take place are ignored. According to assumption of model, followers maturity is taken as independent variable while task related leaders behavior is taken as dependent variable. However, it remains one of the better-known contingency theo ries of leadership and offers important insights into the interaction between subordinates ability and leadership style. Path-Goal Theory: Path-goal theory first appeared in the leadership literature in early 1970s in work of Evan (1970) and House (1971). Path-goal theory emphasized the relationship between leaders style and characteristics of the subordinates and work-setting. This theory was based on expectancy theory (Vroom 1964), which suggests that subordinates will be motivated if they think they are capable of performing their work (path instrumentality), if they believe their efforts will result in certain outcomes (expectancy) and if they believe that the reward for doing their work are worthwhile (valence). In this perspective, leaders behavior is dependent upon subordinates needs, desires and task characteristics. Therefore, path goal theory is designated to explain how leaders can help subordinates along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to subordinate needs and to situations in which subordinates are working. By choosing appropriate style, leaders can give rise specific motives related to task through rewards in order to achieve goals. House (1971) identifies four leaders behavior. These are achievement oriented, directive, participative and supportive. Leaders behaviors are contingent to the environment factors and followers characteristics. In contrast to Fiedlers view, a leader could not change his or her behavior, but House assumes that leaders are flexible. In other words, path goal theory assumes that same leader can display any or all of these leadership styles depending upon the situation. Path-goal theory proposes two classes of situational or contingency variables that moderate the leader -behavior outcome relationship: environmental/task characteristics that are outside the control of followers (e.g. task design, formal system of authority)- these have a major impact on the way a leaders behavior influence followers level of motivation. Second is subordinates/followers characteristics (e.g. locus of control, experience) these determine how a leaders behavior is interrupted by subordinates in a particula r work context (Northouse, 2007). Environmental contingency factors Task Design Primary Workgroup Formal System of Authority Leaders Behavior Outcomes Directive Performance Supportive Job satisfaction Participative Achievement Oriented Subordinates Contingence Factors Perceived level of task obtained Locus of Control Need for affiliation Authoritarianism Experience The theory proposes that leaders behavior will be ineffective when its redundant with sources of environmental structure or incongruent with follower characteristics. When followers needs are there, there is desire for leader intervention. Moreover, he described certain situations in which leaders interventions have positive impact and in which negative influence. It has been investigated that employee performance and satisfaction is likely to be positively influenced when the leader compensates for shortcomings in either the employee or in the work setting. However, if the leader spends time in explaining tasks that are routine tasks and are clear or when the employees has the ability and experience to handle them without leaders intervention, the employee is likely to see such directive behavior as redundant or even insulting. Based on these theoretical reasons, one can easily conclude that leaders intervention is dependent upon work settings. In some work settings leaders intervention is highly valued while in others have no value or even considered as negative. Later on, this notion became base for evolution of substitutes for leadership and followers need for leadership.

Essay --

Social networking has become increasingly popular over the past few years, especially with many new media sites and apps being released. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedln are perfect examples of social media sites where people can post what they are doing and where they are at with pictures for the general public to see. Different companies and establishments are using social networking to check on their employees and to see how they carry themselves out side of work. Outside of our work and jobs, we represent the companies and establishments that we work for. Major companies and establishments want their employees to be responsible and act maturely when they are inside and outside of work. Employees are expected to hold the integrity of the company and their image. Sharron Smalls was a principal at the Jane Addams High School in Chicago, Illinois when a photo of her and another man drizzling chocolate upon themselves surfaced. Much controversy circulated over this case whether Sharron should be fired or still be able to keep her job. Margie Feinberg who is a spokeswoman fo...

Priestleys portrayal of Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls Essay

Consider the ways in which Priestley's portrayal of Inspector Goole and the way in which he carries out his investigation of the Birling family and Gerald Croft create dramatic interest? 'An inspector calls' was written in 1945 by J.B Priestley. The play is set in 1912 and centres on Arthur Birling, a prosperous manufacturer and his family, who are celebrating the engagement of their daughter, when they are suddenly and dramatically interrupted by the arrival of the police inspector. The inspector, investigating the suicide of a young working-class woman, uncovers each of the family's shameful secrets that link them with the young girl and her death. Priestley was a strong believer in socialism, opposing capitalism which exploits and degrades the working classes to benefit the rich. Priestley believed that whether we acknowledged it or not, we are all part of one big community and have the responsibility to look after everyone else, no matter who they are or what their status is. In 'An inspector calls' Priestley tries to highlight these beliefs and educate the audience on how they should treat one another. This message was particularly effective to the audiences of 1946 as, weary from the Second World War they were looking for change. The Inspector's quote of 'Fire, blood and anguish' refers to the 1st and 2nd World Wars, would have had great emotional impact on the audience and caused them to think more deeply into the play and Priestley's message. During the Second World War social classes were forced to mix, children were evacuated to where was safest and not according to class, all young men were forced to mix in the Trenches and on the Front Line, the women left at home were forced to all work in the factories together, al... ...ugh they are his social superiors. He is or need not be a small man but however creates an impression of massiveness and of purposefulness; this comes across in the whole atmosphere he creates. He uses many tactics such as the photograph and graphically detailed descriptions to shock both the audiences and the characters. By shocking the audience he can best get across his moral warning and by shocking the other characters he can best get them to open up to him and admit their wrongs. The Inspectors overall approach to the investigation is totally irregular, which creates dramatic interest and in some points emotional conflicts which create tension and keep the audiences attention. But even after he has left, he is still creating interest and tension as the characters try to decide whether or not he was a real inspector and in fact whether or not he was actually real.

Critique of Sartre’s Concept of “Existence Precedes Essence” Essay

Existentialism evolved as an attempt to come up with an authentic response to the existential angst of modern man in search of his identity and place in existence. Perhaps the very first existentialist thinker and philosopher in history, Socrates, put fundamental stress on the enquiry of the question â€Å"Who am I? † On the other hand, the twentieth century philosopher with whom the movement of existentialism is most commonly associated with, Sartre, says that with man, existence precedes essence. That is to say, there is no essence as such which man can discover inside his being. He has to create it, as it were, from nothing, through his efforts and choices. This is the central tenet of Sartre’s brand of existentialism. In a way, it sounds very pessimistic, but at the same time, such an observation can lead us to realize the freedom of man’s being, inspiring us to attain greater meaning in our lives. Sartre’s stance seems to be very heroic, and his attitude can fill us with new energy to act and create. However, as we shall see, considered purely on a logical and philosophical basis, his theory rings completely hollow, indeed as hollow as the â€Å"nothingness† he talks about. In his essay â€Å"Existentialism as Humanism† Sartre most eloquently sets out to clarify what exactly is meant by existentialism in the proper sense of the word. This he does with amazing simplicity, putting the essence of the philosophical system of which he is one of foremost proponents just in three words: existence precedes essence. If God does not exist, there is at least one being in whom existence precedes essence, a being who exists before he can be defined by any concept, and that this being is man, or, as Heidegger says, human reality. (p. 349) Sartre proceeds to explain us the meaning of these two concepts essence and existence and the two view points based on them, namely â€Å"essence precedes existence† and â€Å"existence precedes essence,† in a very lucid style. Sartre gives the example of a simple object, a paper cutter, to illustrate how in the case of this object essence precedes existence, and how it is the other way around in humans. To enter into a â€Å"conversation† with Sartre, however, I would like to provide the example of a simple machine here, a typewriter, to illustrate the same point. Like a paper cutter, a typewriter too is mass-produced, according to a predetermined model. Therefore, a typewriter is clearly an instance of essence preceding existence. Now let us take a very high power computer. This computer is as much mass-produced and made according to a preexisting model as a simple typewriter, here too essence precedes existence. However, whereas a typewriter can do only one thing in a fairly rigid manner, a computer can do a million things in an absolutely flexible style. A typewriter is like an animal, a one-dimensional creature. A powerful computer, on the other hand, is more like a human being, a multidimensional entity. An existentialist like Sartre could easily make a claim that in the case of typewriter, essence precedes existence, and in the case of the computer, existence precedes essence. But this is patently wrong. A computer is also made on a pre-existing model, as much as a typewriter is. The existence of a computer is also based on the premise of essence preceding existence as much as that of any manufactured object. Only, the specific nature of tasks it is going to perform depends on the software loaded unto it, and other ways it is programmed. The computer cannot just do absolutely anything, it has its limitations. Human beings too have their limitations, but within these limitations they have an immense choice and freedom to determine what they are going to do and what they are going to be. The statement that â€Å"Man is nothing but what he makes of himself† may sound very good in pep talk, campaign speech or inspirational poetry. But it could be plain absurd, when we consider its philosophical implications. Man has a given â€Å"nature† – his freedom, limitations and identity are defined by it. For instance, what can man think, achieve, or create without the enormous intelligence endowed to him. Man is intelligent, by nature – there is nothing man has done about it. He can further sharpen his intelligence and use it to the best of his ability, or stop using it and become stupid — only this much freedom and scope exists with man. Simply because such scope and freedom exists, one cannot claim that in human beings existence precedes essence. Existence preceding essence would imply that humans are nothing by themselves, that whatever they want to make of themselves they have to strive to become that. Sartre and other existentialists seem to be completely unfamiliar with any basic concepts of psychology. In fact if existentialism were true, there cannot exist any subject called human psychology. Because, according to Sartre, there is nothing like pre-existing human nature. Thus, there is no human nature, because there is no God to have a conception of it. Man simply is. Not that he is simply what he conceives himself to be, but he is what he wills and as he conceives himself after already existing – as he wills to be after that leap towards existence. Man is nothing else but that which he makes himself. That is the first principle of existentialism. And this is what people call its â€Å"subjectivity† using the word as a reproach against us. (p. 349) The assertion that â€Å"Man simply is† is simply delusional. I would not call this viewpoint by the term ‘subjectivity’, whatever it means. I would call it plain nonsense. If there is no human nature, then what are all psychologists studying and exploring? In fact, by the time of Sartre, there already was a William James, a Freud, and a Jung – not to speak of Pavlov, Watson and other behaviorists who equate man to an animal; the study of human psychology was very much diversified and in a rather mature stage. Yet, here comes Sartre and declares that man is free, that he can make absolutely anything out of himself just as he wills – almost magically, as it were!