The Second Battle of Bull Run Essay Example For Students

The Second Battle of Bull Run Essay The year is 1862, during the Civil War. My name is Jack Taurance and I am eighteen years old. I am a soldier that has to fight in the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. The battle is going to take place in my hometown of Manassas, Virginia. I cannot wait. It is going to be so great I have heard that the 1st Battle of Bull Run was hell, but this one wont be. Itll be great because Im in it and I am fighting for my country and the people of Virginia. I am proud to be a part of the Confederate Army. We will write a custom essay on The Second Battle of Bull Run specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now August 27, 1862: Today is the first day of the battle. Im excited beyond imagination; I cannot express my feelings right now. Robert E. Lee, the general of the Confederate Army, has told us to get in our fighting positions. I am next to older men that have fought in other battles, and they tell me not to be so excited for war is a terrible thing. Seeing as this is so new to me I shrug off their words of wisdom and continue with my merry thoughts. The men next to me tell me I need to listen to commands and stay focused at all times, or I will loose my life. We began to march towards the Union Army. On the way, I heard loud explosions all around me; the Union Army was using cannons and mines to defend themselves. The men around me began to shoot their riffles, so I did the same. There was yelling and firing all around, it seemed as though we were surrounded. The noise was so intense I felt it throughout my body. We were in the war; it was nothing as I expected. There was death all arou nd me. I dont think I have ever been more scared in my life. I was not mentally prepared to see what I saw nor was I physically prepared to do what was expected of me. Still I stayed brave, I didnt let any of my emotions pour through, for if I did I would never have been able to continue. August 28-30, 1862: The second and third days of this war were complete hell. There was so much action during theses days. I couldnt believe it!! There was more blood, guts and body less appendages just lying around than I could have ever imagined. Seeing all this made me hope that my blood would never be mixed with sea of nameless faces that was apparently growing. The fighting was so intense and there was so much pressure I just couldnt handle it. There were times when we would be running towards the Union Army and people would be dropping like flies, all of them were dead. It is my hope that they died instantly and not from being trampled over from all of us. Sometimes I would fall because I thought I was shot, but it turned out that I would just hear the noise and become so shocked that I would become paralyzed with fear, and no longer be able to move. Because of this reaction I ended up with cuts and bruises all over me, I cant explain how awful this felt I wanted to die each mi nute. The worst feeling was when I shot and killed another human being, no different from me. Seeing another person die because of me was dreadful. Soon after, though, it became second nature to me; killing to survive. I killed many men. Our task for the war, given by General Robert E. Lee, was to regain almost all of Virginia. We had completed our mission successfully, the South had won. .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .postImageUrl , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:hover , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:visited , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:active { border:0!important; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:active , .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u7fca87f20b4e43b4d71888663f1240bd:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Maude Gould and Ann Lahiff EssayThis is the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life. I thought fighting would be fun and easy. I never thought it would effect me the way it did. I am proud that I helped the Confederate States of America win this battle, but I am sorry for all those that have died. All that died by my hand and all those that died by others hands. May God forgive us all. Bibliography:

Mount St. Helen Essays - Volcanology, Plate Tectonics, Free Essays

Mount St. Helen Essays - Volcanology, Plate Tectonics, Free Essays Mount St. Helen Mount St. Helen is a volcano located along the Cascade range which is a volcano chain stretching from Northern California to British Colombia. It now stands at a height of 8,364 feet above sea level. Mount St. Helen was on of the smaller eruptions of five major ones in Washington State. It?s elevation before the eruption was 9,677 feet high. On March 29, 1980 after a period of one-hundred and twenty-three years of inactivity a earthquake under the volcano quaked, and seven days later a pheartic (steam) explosions began. As magma pushed up from beneath the earth?s surface, the north side of the mountain developed a bulge. Angle and slope-distance measurements indicating that the bulge was growing at a rate of 1.5 feet per day (Lyn Topinka Page 2). By May 17 the volcano?s north-side had been pushed upward and outward 450 feet (Lynn Topinka Page 2). On May 18,1980 at 8:32 a.m. Pacific daylight time a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook Mount St. Helen. The bulge on the North side of the mountain gave way in a gigantic rock slide releasing pressure and triggering a major rock and pumice eruption . At thirteen hundred feet the peak collapsed and as a result 24 square miles of the valley was filled with rock and debris. From that rock slide 250 square miles of timber, recreation and private lands were demolished from the lateral blast. For more than nine hours the volcano spit vigorous ash in a large plume. Eventually the plume reached 12-15 miles above sea level. The plume went eastward at about sixty miles per hour. By noon the plume of ash had reached as far as Idaho. By the 19 the eruption was over. Now the volcanoes elevation is only 8,364 feet above sea level before the eruption it was 9,677 feet above sea level knock off a whopping 1,313 feet off of the top of the mountain. Now it has a mile wide horseshoe shaped crater on the northern side of the mountain. From the eruption noticeable ash fell in eleven states. The total amount of ash that fell was .26 cubic miles or enough ash to cover a football field to a depth of 150 miles(Lyn Topinka Page3). From the landslide 2/3 cubic miles of debris was deposited in the valley that enough to cover Washington DC fourteen feet thick.(Lynn Topinka, Page 4) Mount St. Helen is said to have caused the most damage (Mattox Page 1) a total of 1.6 billion dollars of damage was caused by the blast from the volcano. That figure comes from losses due to home and road cleanup, damage to agriculture, timber, roads, bridges, fisheries, houses, sewer treatment plants, and the dredging of rivers.(MattoxPage1). 57 people were killed or still missing (Topinka Page1) More than 100,000 acres of were demolished by the blast of that 100,000 acres include 41,000 acres of national forest,(Scooner Page1) also over four billion feet of usable timber became unusable that?s enough lumber to build 150,000 homes.(Topinka Page3) Nearly 135 miles of river channels were effected by the volcano and more than 185 miles of roads and over 200 homes were destroyed. (Topinka Page 5) Now over 9.5 million tree seedlings have been planted to replace the ones destroyed by the blast and of those 70 percent of those have survived(Scooner Page 1)some already growing twenty feet high(ScoonerPage1). The fish and wildlife have received considerable attention since the eruption. The heavily hunted Elk have shown that the restrictions after the eruption have helped the repopulating of them returning to the pre-eruption population within five years. Also the Samon and trout have returned to there population since the eruption. Stream temperatures have exceeded there legal threshold population in most years since the eruption. (Sconner Page 1) Now the United States Geological Survey has established both a continuos twenty-four hour and periodic monitoring programs to study and predict future eruptions Mount St. Helen. (Lyn Topinka). They also setup a seismic station near the dome of the mountain. The University of Washington State in conjunction with the US Geological Survey now monitor it.

Critique and Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critique and Analysis - Coursework Example Dancing in public is a challenge to many students. The teacher assures the student that by listening and following the lesson they will not have to worry about dancing in public. They get the assurance that if they listen they will be able to impress their fellow student and dates. How to act in public so as to impress others and to avoid embarrassing oneself are is a key challenge to while learning how to behave in social spheres. Therefore, the teacher’s choice to use these factors to motivate the students to listen was an effective teaching skill. It was an effective choice because it addressed an issue the students faced. I would suggest a situational example to emphasize further the importance of the lesson. The lesson was well organized. The introduction shows the intended plan to achieve the goal of the lesson. The body is well organized and systematic. The students start by learning what rhythm is and how to recognize it in music. They then learn about movement and eventually how to incorporate rhythm and movement to make a dance. The conclusion restates the purpose of the lesson and relates it to an actual event in the lives of the students. The systematic organization was effective. The teacher involves the student actively from the introduction of the lesson by asking the students questions. The teacher keeps asking questions through the lesson to determine if the students understand the topic. To ensure participation, the teacher applies a random sampling technique. The lesson also involves a class dance routine involving all the students. The teacher’s techniques were effective in involving the students in the lesson. Particularly the dance routine that the students had to learn. The random sampling technique used to ensure participation was effective since it keeps the students alert and aware that they all had to participate. The teacher chooses to

Stevie Wonder's Misrepresented People Research Paper

Stevie Wonder's Misrepresented People - Research Paper Example Most of the African Americans were subject to â€Å"forced labor† (Boundless Learning 178; Butler 126). They were literally deprived of having the opportunity to gain access to proper education but also to get some decent paying jobs, attend churches, enter a hotel, have the right to vote, or to even participate in politics (Tischauser 86). Due to hatred, most of the African Americans were also not allowed to reside in the West (Tischauser 86). Back then, only 8% of the African Americans were treated as free (Boundless Learning 178). Instead of receiving formal education in schools, most of them were taught by the Muslim people. During the 17th century, the Europeans did not only enslave the African Americans but also â€Å"committed genocide against indigenous Americans† (Zach 169). â€Å"In the so-called â€Å"Land of God† My kind were treated hard. From back then until now I see, and you agree— We have been a misrepresented people† (2) â€Å"Fro m back then until now Just see my family tree; We have been a misrepresented people. We have been a misrepresented people.† (3) The second and third stanza expresses the idea that God created all human kind equally; yet they were treated badly by other race because of their â€Å"skin color† (Tischauser 86). ... (4) The fourth stanza talks about the development on how the African Americans were made free from forced slavery. In relation to Berlin’s Freedom Project, the African Americans became active in fighting for their â€Å"liberalization† and â€Å"emancipation† (Barney 56). After the African American soldiers went through a series of civil war, the African Americans had finally won their freedom from slavery (Barney 56). In fact, the civil war back then became a significant part of the American Revolution which has lead to the development of the concept of democracy and equality (Alexander and Rucker xxxiv). It was in the 20th century when the African Americans had finally had a complete freedom from their past. It was also in the 20th century when the African Americans were free to speak out their thoughts and ideas. â€Å"But while I prayed to God My moms and pops got whored. From back then until now You’ll see our history; We have been a misrepresented p eople†. (5) â€Å"From back then until now Just see my family tree; We have been a misrepresented people Yes, we have been a misrepresented people†. (6) â€Å"Though we march across time, A sea of victories, We have been a misrepresented people†. (9) The fifth, sixth, and ninth stanza strongly suggest that no matter what the African Americans do, there are still some people around the world who looks down on them. Over the past few decades, the African Americans have fought for their freedom and equal rights as human beings. Yet, despite winning a lot of victories over their freedom, some of them are still experiencing inequality and racial discrimination. All these are very much evident with the kind of job and educational opportunity that majority of the

Explanation as to why projects fail Essay Example for Free

Explanation as to why projects fail Essay Lack of staff expertise Having the right members of staff is very crucial when running a project. Project mangers have to be extremely careful when employing members of staff, hiring people that do not know how to use tools during the development of a project can result in time consumption. Going over the budget If the project manager wastes more money then necessary, then how their project going to be able to continue, how will members of staff get paid, and where are they going to get the money for the tools that are needed. Project managers have to always be wary about how much money is being spent and to always keep track of their budget and avoid spending too much money. Insufficient details from client It is extremely important for the project manager to find out as many details as possible in order to create the product for them. If there are not enough details and the product is made, the client may not be satisfied and therefore the project has failed as well as the project manager. There are projects out there that do not give enough requirements which have led to cases where the developers of the project having no input from the client, and create a project that they believe is needed without them knowing anything about the business itself. When the project has then been given to the client, business users will then say that it does not do what is needed to be done. This is also connected to a lack of user involvement; a user has to always know exactly what they want and have the ability to specify it precisely. Not enough proper time to research and plan Before any project starts, planning has to always be taken place in order to prepare for the unexpected so that we can react quicker minimising any problems as much as possible. But if not enough time has been given to properly plan and also to research a product, that will only increase the risk of the project failing. Using the wrong kind of tools There are many different kinds of softwares that can be used for many different kinds of things. Using the wrong software can be almost impossible or difficult to do the project. For example to create a spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel will be needed. But if Microsoft FrontPage is provided, then it would be impossible to create the spreadsheet because FrontPage is used to make websites and WebPages, not spreadsheets. They can over-run (passed the deadline) If a project has passed its deadline, it has failed and the client will probably not be able to afford the project any longer and will terminate the project. Projects can pass the deadline simply because certain problems may have been very difficult to overcome and therefore time-consuming. Other things can also include members of staff not working full time or not working properly in the project. Poor communication People have to communicate with each other in order to know what is happening and what is going on. If people do not communicate with each other then how they will know if they are doing everything in the correct order and if everything is working perfectly in order for them to continue. It is extremely important that members of staff tell each other when to apply certain things or when to start creating little bits in order to make the project. Lack of User Involvement Everyone that has been hired to carry out the project must always be involved so that project can run as smoothly as planned. A lack of user involvement can prove to be fatal for any kind of project. Every user has to be involved otherwise nobody in the business will be committed to a system and may be also hostile to it. In order to have a successful project every single user has to be involved from the start of the project and continue to be involved throughout the whole development. Changes in the requirements. While a project is being developed, what can sometimes happen is that the client can suddenly decide to add more details to the production of the project, because of this happening many projects has failed simply because there was not enough time to finish the project due to the amount of time that it took to add those extra details. Long or Unrealistic Time periods Sometimes clients give project managers a ridiculous amount of time to finish a project when it is impossible because there maybe few members of staff, or not enough money to pay for tools that are needed to create the project. Project managers have to plan carefully how much time is needed to create a whole project, a manager will have to take in consideration how much members of staff are needed and for how much time. Managers have to also be aware of any unrealistic time periods, for example for a product to arrive or a specific tool or software. Waiting for tools to be delivered could take a week or more which could have an impact over the whole project. It is recommended that project managers review all project plans so that they will be able to see if they are all realistic before they proceed with anything. Poor Testing People that are developing projects will have to carefully test them and also test to see if it meets the business requirements. But testing can sometimes fail because of many faults, these can include:   Poor requirements   Tests not done properly or not at all   Trained users that do not know the purpose of the system   Insufficient time to perform tests as the project is late Bad decisions being made This can involve wrong decisions that have been made by the project manager. Bad decisions can normally happen if no planning has taken place and the project manager does things without any meaning or thinking about it, managers will need to carefully make any decision. An example of this could be hiring more staff then needed or buying more softwares then needed for the project. Reference details: http://www. adaptivepartners. com/projfailb. htm 22/09/09 http://www. coleyconsulting. co. uk/failure. htm 22/09/09 http://www. carlosconsulting. com/downloads/Reasons_why_projects_fail. pdf 06/10/09.

africa Essay -- essays research papers

African Cultures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa. There are more than 800 languages spoken in the continent of Africa. Most Africans speak two or three languages, their primary language, or â€Å"mother-tongue†, and a second or third language to communicate with people from other close by areas (Fetzer A-102). African languages are broken up into four individual categories: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khosian. The most commonly heard two categories are Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. Both of these groups can modify the meanings of words by the tone of the speakers’ voice. Niger-Congo languages are spoken of the people in West Africa, below the Sahara desert, Southern and Central Africa. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken mainly in Central Africa. Afro-Asiatic languages are mainly spoken in Northern and Northeastern Africa. This group includes Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and Arabic. Khoisan languages are spoken mostly in Southern Africa by Bushmen, members of traditionally roaming hunting people, and Hottentots, members of pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa. Khoisan languages are communicative through clicking sounds (Fetzer A-102). Some South Africans speak Afrikaans, a language that was developed from Dutch. Europeans in African speak Portuguese, French, and English (Fetzer A-102). English is becoming very recognized in the countries of Africa. The 1991 South African Census concluded that 45% of the people in South Africa have a speaking knowledge of English. It also concluded that 10% refer to English as their â€Å"mother-tongue†. The most common languages in South Africa are Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu, and Swahili (African Languages). Zulu is one of nine Bantu languages spoken in East Southern Africa. Approximately 8.8 million people speak t... ... language of Africans (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ceremonies are held when someone changes their social status and social relationship with those in the community. There are about six ceremonies in ones life. The first is their birth, the second is their maturity, third is their marriage, fourth is their child bearing, fifth is their elderliness, sixth is their death. Ceremonies are simply socially approved methods of participating in pleasurable events (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africans view body modifications as beauty. Body modifications, such as piercing, have been practiced in Africa for centuries. People there believe that one is not fully human and cannot be distinguished from animals if not pierced. Piercing is brought with royalty and portrays courage of a person (African Cultures Piercing). African cultures are different from any other culture in the world. The languages of Africa are unique in their own way. The arts of Africa are beautiful and different from any other arts in the world. African people are creative and like to express their individuality. Africa is a very original continent with lots of culture. africa Essay -- essays research papers African Cultures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa. There are more than 800 languages spoken in the continent of Africa. Most Africans speak two or three languages, their primary language, or â€Å"mother-tongue†, and a second or third language to communicate with people from other close by areas (Fetzer A-102). African languages are broken up into four individual categories: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and Khosian. The most commonly heard two categories are Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan. Both of these groups can modify the meanings of words by the tone of the speakers’ voice. Niger-Congo languages are spoken of the people in West Africa, below the Sahara desert, Southern and Central Africa. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken mainly in Central Africa. Afro-Asiatic languages are mainly spoken in Northern and Northeastern Africa. This group includes Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and Arabic. Khoisan languages are spoken mostly in Southern Africa by Bushmen, members of traditionally roaming hunting people, and Hottentots, members of pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa. Khoisan languages are communicative through clicking sounds (Fetzer A-102). Some South Africans speak Afrikaans, a language that was developed from Dutch. Europeans in African speak Portuguese, French, and English (Fetzer A-102). English is becoming very recognized in the countries of Africa. The 1991 South African Census concluded that 45% of the people in South Africa have a speaking knowledge of English. It also concluded that 10% refer to English as their â€Å"mother-tongue†. The most common languages in South Africa are Xhosa, Tswana, Zulu, and Swahili (African Languages). Zulu is one of nine Bantu languages spoken in East Southern Africa. Approximately 8.8 million people speak t... ... language of Africans (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ceremonies are held when someone changes their social status and social relationship with those in the community. There are about six ceremonies in ones life. The first is their birth, the second is their maturity, third is their marriage, fourth is their child bearing, fifth is their elderliness, sixth is their death. Ceremonies are simply socially approved methods of participating in pleasurable events (African Individuality).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Africans view body modifications as beauty. Body modifications, such as piercing, have been practiced in Africa for centuries. People there believe that one is not fully human and cannot be distinguished from animals if not pierced. Piercing is brought with royalty and portrays courage of a person (African Cultures Piercing). African cultures are different from any other culture in the world. The languages of Africa are unique in their own way. The arts of Africa are beautiful and different from any other arts in the world. African people are creative and like to express their individuality. Africa is a very original continent with lots of culture.

Leadership Characteristics

Leadership Characteristics Executive summary: Since early beginning of the last century, the leadership has emerged as an important issue in the business regard of the dramatic transformation in the world economy. Thus far, the following report represents an attempt to shed the light on the leadership issue. In order to provide a hint of the leadership meaning, the report will demonstrate brief idea about some of the leadership theories which perceive the leadership skills form different view.The report then will identify certain characteristics that should be attained in the personality of the leader which ensure his successful. The requisite of the contemporary leadership skills has appeared at the latter part of twentieth century, regard of the globalisation phenomenon as well the rapid development in technology; which resulted in the increase of the competition. As the knowledge does not stop, leaders require training and development, thus, the report will also investigate the pr ocess of leadership development. 1Chapter One: Introduction: Throughout the last century and insofar the 21st century, the mankind has undergone dramatic transformation in the whole domains, and the individuals needs and requirements significantly expended, however, many people managed to maintain successfully their life and obtained the benefit of this change, while others could not cope with this change, which resulted with dissatisfaction and pessimistic view of the life.Significant amount of researches and investigations have been done in order to identify such a pattern or a process that can raise the performance of human beings, thus the concept of leadership appeared as a critical requisite for any entity, including an individuals, family, organisations or even countries. In the early part of 20th century, ‘Freud (1927) in his famous book theCivilisation and It Discontents, he approached the leadership issue when he said that groups of individuals need leaders to provid e them with an identity and sense of purpose’ (Higgs, 2003) With the rapid transformation in the world, the competition has become more aggrieve, and organisations urged to deal with this rapid change and the continue development has become an urgent need for the company prosper and survive. Hence, Leadership issue was put under the limelight as an important process for the company sustainability.Although there have been momentous efforts devoted to investigate the leadership issue including theories, definitions and identification for its characteristics, till now there is no complete agreement about the notion of leadership, since these different suggestions and concepts approached the leadership from different perspectives. The following report embodies an attempt to shed the light on the leadership issues, throughout quick review of the leadership theories, and examine the leadership characterises in both the 20th and the 21st century, before dissect the reflection of the personal-experience on the leadership characteristics Chapter Two: Leadership Theories: Due to the importance of the leadership issue, many theories have been emerged throughout the time, each theory tackles with the leadership from different perspectives and aspects, and one can not determine whether this theory right and others are wrong; however the main theories of the leadership are: †¢Trait Theory: this theory defines specific characteristics which are existed in the successful leadership such as attitudes, personality, intelligence and decisiveness, regardless of any consideration of other assisted factors such as team work and the internal and external work environment.However, there are two criticisms for this theory. â€Å"The first, it doesn’t specify what the most important leadership characteristics are, and the second, it ignores the contribution of the others. † (Dessler, 1976) †¢Behavioural Theory: it approaches the leadership from another pe rspectives, it dissects the achievement of leaders and the outcomes of their contributions within the organisations. The remarkable differences between the trait and behavioural theory are that the last one emphasises on oth the accomplishment of the task as the main indications for the leader success, and employees’ satisfaction, †¢Situational leadership: According to this theory, the effectiveness of the leader is significantly correlated with situational factors which restrict the performance of the leader positively or negatively. In other words, â€Å"the efficiency of leader’s skills or traits are determined by the situation in which leaders exercise leadership† (Dessler,1976), These factors are: -Follower’s contributions. The availability and the utilization of the resources. However, creating the harmonisation and the collaboration between the situational factors and the leader are essential to determine leader’s effectiveness. †¢ Contingency Theories: basically, the assumption of this theory, that the behaviour of the leader can not be standardised, instead, the leader should consider situational factors. The success of the leader in this theory is measured by the ability of leader to adopt such a style to achieve certain task with a consideration to the followers.This theory was the beginning of new view of leadership; based on this assumption other contingency theories were emerged such as, Fiedler’s concept of situational favourability (1967), which defined position power, task structure and leader-member relation, as the main factors that determine the effectiveness of the leader’s style. Path-goal is another theory (House and Mitchell 1974) which assumes that the leader has a significant contribution on the follower to enable them to achieve their objectives. Horner, 1997) †¢Transactional theories: it assumes that since the task and responsibilities have been identified, the leader ha s a full right to do whatever it requires to achieve this task. This theory depends on praise and rewards as motivation system for followers, meanwhile, punishment is used to ensure the abidance by the roles and the request of the task. However, this theory is criticised as it assumes the behaviour of a human being is predictable without any consideration of the reflection of the environment. Transformational theories: this theory depends on the development of the vision and convinces the follower, in other words, the leader adopts the visions and does whatever it requires to encourage followers. In this case the leader will become an inspiration for followers and they create their relationship with them depending on trust. As it is clearly perceived, those theories tackle with the leadership from different perspectives. Since there is no enough room, the report will investigate the transformational theory. Transformational Theory: This theory was generated under assumption of peopl e follow a person who has vision and passion.He or she will inspire them to achieve the goal. Transformational leadership is the modern view of leadership that seems to match with the style of business leader in 21st century since the business competition; turbulence, unforeseen contingencies, and rapid change in technologies create such a momentous stress. Under this stress, the need for transformational leaders who are proactive is emerged as an important requisite to help follower to cope with the dramatic change. (Bass, 1997) The characteristic of transformational leaders is mainly embodied by their charisma; they inspire followers by their innovation and ability to create change.However, the success of charismatic leader is through a belief in themselves rather than others, while transformational leaders concern with other around them such as colleagues and employees. They are not narcissistic as charismatic. This style of leader will create an important transformation to both organisation and employees. Moreover, it may impact the strategy and the structure of the organisation. The power of transformational leader is not derived by the reward system or rules and regulation, yet it is obtained from an intangible value such as their visions and the relationship among others. Draft, 2002) According to Tichy and Devanna (Lussier, 1996), there are three main activities for transformational leadership. Recognition for the need of revitalisation: leaders should understand the urgent need of the organisation for transformation, in order to create such a sustainable resource of competitive advantage to maintain the company success in such a competitive environment. Creating a new vision: by having visualise in innovation and organisation changed, leader will be able to inspire and motivate others to reach the objectives.Institutionalising change: it is essential for transformational leaders to put an effort to convince others. Leaders need to advise and create tr ust among employees in the organisation in order to let them understand the idea of vision and reach the goal. The style of transformational leadership tends to match with the business world today since it is flexible and innovator. In addition, there are many business articles mentioned that workforce is the most important resource for organisation. Thus, this type of leadership takes into consideration of both business activity and relationship within organisation.These two factors pave the passage of the company success. There are several distinctions between those theories; nevertheless, they agree that there are certain characteristics should be attained in the leader to ensure the efficiency of his contribution. 3Chapter Three: Leadership Characteristics: 3. 1Leadership Definition: As there are many theories approached the leadership, there are also many definitions have been suggested for the leadership, some authors identify the leadership as a process to achieve groups/ org anisations goals, others see the notion of leadership as trait, transformation or even as management.However, the definition of leadership by Rost (1993) can be used to dissect this notion (8). He defines the leadership as an influence relationship among leader and followers who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes. According to Rost, leadership is: †¢Influence Relationship: the influence will be in both directions top-bottom and bottom-top. †¢Intend real changes: it means leadership includes substantial development in both leaders and followers. †¢Mutual purposes: both leader and followers agree about certain purposes which can be considered as missions or statements. . 2Leadership Characteristics: There is a view argues that leaders are born and other say it is a science can be taught, both of those views did not describe leadership accurately, â€Å"leadership is an art to be studied, practised, developed and lived. † (Scott, 1996) There ar e certain characteristics that determine the effectiveness of leadership and shape the performance of leaders: 1. Communicative: the importance of this skill, that it provides the leader with an ability to deliver precisely the ideas, visions and objectives required to be achieved.However, it is crucial to understand that the communications include the flow of data and information in two sides, top-bottom and bottom-top. Leaders have to consider sharing the ideas and unleash the contribution of employees, since occasionally, employees come up with innovative suggestions that might enhance or develop certain objectives. 2. Rewards and recognizes achievement: express the appreciation for others efforts, has a vital role as a motivation. Leaders could achieve that by financial rewards or even by praise the follower.Sometime simple gestures such as approving nod, thumbs- up or even quick comment like ‘great job’, ‘you are doing well’ is enough to encourage foll owers to improve their performance and productivity. 3. Genuine interest in others: it is undeniable fact that financial rewards have a significant influence on followers; meanwhile, there are other motivations that should be attained. The leader should recognise the emotional support for followers since it creates loyalty.Genuine interest does not require a lot of efforts; it might be expressed by asking about the personal health or family. For instance, in the company that I used to work, the owner asks employees about their general life before he asked about any other thing related to the work, this simple action was enough to motivate employees to work as they own the company. 4. Team orientation: the successful leader takes into account the importance of team-work; he gathers the followers and discusses with them the task or the missions.The leader listens to their opinion, stimulates their innovation, and finally creates the harmony required to achieve the task. This gives emp loyees more responsibility to improve their performance and productivity since they have significant role as decision- makers. 5. Visionary and idea-oriented: the long-term objectives are vital issue in the successful leadership agenda; he always seeks for new ideas and creativity. They consider the available competitive advantages and establish the stream of substantial competitive advantages.When Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (Dubai’s ruler) unveiled the growth strategy of 2015, it was unsurprising for many economists that the city had met its 2010 GDP target two years ago. Many people argue that Dubai is only a bubble and it would diminish after it consumes its oil. However, this completely untrue, nowadays, 74% of emirits GDP derives from real-estate, tourism and retail sectors (Kerr, 2007). The rapid strides of the development of Dubai is referred to the log-term successful visions of it rulers, and his ability to create new competitive advantages for the country instead of the oil.Similar to that in the business world, â€Å"Henry Ford by his long term vision as well as rational risk calculated he managed to predict the market and customer trend and made Ford on of the most successful organisation. † (Grint, 2000) 6. Decisiveness, responsibility and Integrity: although, it has been mentioned that followers should be involved in decision-making process, the leader is still the ultimate decision-maker depending on the ability to consider the right decision in the proper time.Since a decision has been made, the leader is completely responsible for the consequences of any possible risk, even if the leader is involved directly in the execution. Integrity is also very important, â€Å"leaders do not use followers as means to achieve their purpose in satisfying the shareholder; instead, they understand that their contribution should consider the whole stakeholders. † (Bowie et al, 2000) 7. Competence: the word of competence derives from innovation, training and development, accumulated experience, and the ability of the leader to learn.Since the leadership is an art, leaders have to consider the importance of shaping and the development of their skills; this should be attained by substantial willing for knowledge and self-development. Those characteristics are very important to be attained by the leaders because they have crucial impact on the effectiveness of leadership, moreover, the effective leaders manage to create synergy between their followers, and loyalty required for achieving certain objectives and tasks. 4Chapter Four: Leadership in the 21st Century:Since the latter part of twentieth century the world has witnessed dramatic change in the whole domains, â€Å"due to the rapid strides of technologies development, the spread of the globalisation phenomenon, demographic shifts, migration and the rapid degradation of social and natural capital – are creating opposing tensions. † (Connor et al, 2003, P. 59). Taking into account those challenges, the demand of leadership has been increased noticeably with an urgent requisite of organisations for framework that tates the new criteria of leadership. Some of these are an expansion for the previous characteristics of leadership and others are new, however, those could be summarised as: †¢Understanding the Culture Diversity: although the geographical barriers have been eliminated, the cultural barriers are still an enormous challenge for businesses. Leaders should be aware that doing business is different from nation to nation, and it is completely restricted by the national traditions and habits.For instant: In the USA, Innovations and achievements are considered as individual effort, hence, the influence of the individual recognition will be obvious in Human Resource Management of the American firms, individual reward system, appraisal and even in the job designed. While in China the individual efforts and innovation s are referred to the founder of the firm. In Chinese tradition the achievement are always referred to the collective units such as families, organisations, and the country. (Tsang, 2007) The misunderstanding in the communication is another consequence of the lack of culture appreciation.Many conflicts were occurred, contracts were rejected and negotiations failed at the last stage because of the lack of communication with other culture. Thus far, the comprehensive understanding for influence of the culture on business is vital, because the world has become more united under the umbrella of globalisation. †¢Strategic thinking: An organisation can not be considered as an individual entity, instead it is influenced by external factors, such as competitors, suppliers, customers, critical financers and fluctuation in the market demand.From this view the needs of substantial change in the corporate strategy emerges as an important requisite to enable the company to cope with change of the business environment. However, â€Å"the ways-of-thinking of the leader have continues impact on corporate reorientation. † (Hendry et al,1993). However, it is important to understand that strategic thinking is different from the strategic planning, â€Å"Mintzberg argues that strategic planning derives from strategic thinking† (Bonn, 2001, P63). The first aspect of the strategic thinking is observation and company knowledge.The leader observes the company daily life with its complexity and understands the drivers of the organisation performance and the influence of the external factors on this performance. The second aspect of the strategic thinking is creativity; it is the core of strategic thinking. The leader seeks the substantial development for his organisation; he identifies solutions for the company problems and creates vision which will determine the future of firm. Thereafter, the strategic thinking of the leader establishes the implementation required to achieve the company vision.Sharing vision with others is another significant element for the strategic thinking successful, since it generates loyalty and encourage them because they participate in decision-making process. Jeffery Bezos the founder of Amazon is considered as an important example of a successful leader, in such a high competitive business sector like the online, where other companies struggle to cope with the rapid stride of technology, Amazon imposes itself as the leader of the online industries and especially the e- retailers, there is no doubt that the strategic thinking of Bezos is an ultimate key of the Amazon success.Bezos always has one eye on the future, in order to build the company long term objectives, however, his strategic thinking embodies by creating the Amazon vision and establishing the strategy needed to achieve the company objectives. Innovation is one of most important aspect of Bezos strategic thinking, since Amazon invests huge amount of mon ey to provide the world with amazing technologies such as Elastic Compute Cloud (ECC) to ensure that the company is still the leader of the dot-com race. Hof, 2006) Whenever the world doubts, if Amazon can fulfil its promise to revolutionise retailing, Bezos wonders the people with such an innovative idea to reinforce Amazon position as being the e-retailer leader. With his strategic thinking as well as his creative working-team, Amazon never stops building its substantial competitive advantages. Humanistic awareness: as workforce constitutes the most value asset of the firm, the leader has significant responsibility to ensure their satisfaction; considerable motivation system, training and development, praise, empowerment, participation in decision-making process are samples to obtain employees satisfaction. Since they have impact on employees’ productivity and innovation. However, employees’ retention reflects the level of their satisfaction, and appreciation for com pany leader. Learning and self-awareness: the leader has to have a profound knowledge about his organisation to be able to recognise its capability in order to create the vision and framework and means needed to achieve this vision, moreover, the successful leader is knowledge seeker to cope with rapid change in the business world. Self-awareness is another issue that leaders should take into consideration; they distinguish their weaknesses and strengths, and use the last one to eliminate the weaknesses to improve the effectiveness of their leadership.Hence, leaders empower their ability to inspire and unite employees around themselves to maintain the company performance. 5Chapter Five: Leadership Development: The increase of the competition in the business world urges organisations to search more for competitive advantages in order to be able to survive and conquer their competitors in such a hostile business environment. Nowadays organisations eventually start to concern about lea dership development and devote tangible efforts to improve efficiencies of its individuals.However, the leadership development program should be prepared comprehensively in order to attain its purpose. The 360 degree appraisal system is an important step to initiate this program, since it provides feedback about the employee performance from different resources which helps to determine the improvement required regard to his strengths and weaknesses. (Ladyshewsky, 2007). Thereafter, the priority of the leadership development will be for the higher level managers, regard to their expected contribution on their subordinates, yet the improvement of the subordinate should be in the leadership development agenda.The leadership development program should cover the weakness of the employees that has listed in the 360 degree appraisal; meanwhile, it should depend on modern techniques and case studies from other companies, rather than depending on the literatures and theories only. The final step in the leadership development program is the evaluation which derived from many criteria, such as the feedback of the program, the examination of the participant’s understanding, and the tangible outcomes that the company will acquire which is the decisive for the program evaluation. Leskiw et al, 2007) However, there is another view should be deemed in the issue of leadership development, individuals perseverance is ultimate criteria for development, leader should have enough credibility to admit there weaknesses and finds the appropriate strategy to mitigate the impact of this weakness, moreover, the leader should be knowledge seeker to obtain the benefit of the others experience. 6Chapter Eight: Conclusion: The leadership an old requisite in the human beings life, nevertheless, it has become a considerable obsession for the organisations, regard to the substantial transformation in the world business.Although the theories of the leadership are different, they agree th at there are several characteristic that should be attain by a person in order to be such a successful leader. Most of the leadership theories concern about the characteristic needed to reinforce two main things, creating competitive advantages and the workforce. As the workforce is the most important asset for the firm, the leader should consider employee alignment around the company objectives throughout the leader humanistic consideration as followers need inspiration, different kind of motivation in order to enhance their performance.Meanwhile, the leader should eventually find the resource of the competitive advantages. Due to the dissemination of the globalisation phenomenon as well as the rapid development in technology, organisations require new leadership characteristic to cope with change in the business environment. However, the new leadership characteristics have emerged from the need for crossing the culture barriers, since it is an enormous obstacle for organisation. 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