Period of African American Literature Slavery and Freedom Essay Example

Period of African American Literature: Slavery and Freedom Essay Douglasss influential career in the anti-slavery movement and postwar politics owed much to his early education in the possibilities and limitations for African-American freedom taught to him by Baltimores black community in the antebellum eraBaltimore introduced a young, enslaved Frederick Douglass to the ambiguities of freedom for African Americans in the antebellum United States. Douglass lived in Baltimore intermittently from his arrival in the city in 1826 at the age of eight until he escaped from slavery twelve years later. Reflecting the ambiguities of black life in antebellum Baltimore, Douglass could assert that a city slave is almost a free man compared with a slave on the plantation and lament that while in Baltimore I often found myself regretting my own existence and wishing myself dead (Narrative 50, 56). Douglasss contradictory impressions of his adolescence as a slave in Baltimore, impressions of comparative liberty and abject despair, reflected the larger paradox of African-American life in the city that claimed Americas largest black population at the time of the Civil War. Situated on the border of slavery and freedom, Baltimore created space for African Americans to develop dynamic institutions that proved vital to their post-emancipation history. Yet these institutions developed under severe restrictions on the freedom of non-slave African Americans that white Baltimoreans devised to replace the increasingly impractical bonds of slavery. Black agency amid the constraints and opportunities of an urban slave society provided Douglass with his first classroom in the limits of freedom for nineteenth-century African Americans.Between 1790 and 1860, the institution of slavery declined in Baltimore but the boundaries of African-American freedom narrowed considerably. When free blacks posed little threat to white privilege, as in the 1790s, whites imposed relatively few limitations on them. But as the free black population grew so did racial compet ition for jobs and social power. Whites responded to the dynamism of free African Americans by circumscribing their liberty. Douglass lived in Baltimore when free African Americans made substantial economic gains and expanded an already powerful network of black institutions. By the time of the Civil War whites rolled back many of the gains of the 1830s and pushed free blacks to the edge of slavery. Douglass first witnessed white racism towards free blacks during this tightening of Baltimores restrictions on non-slave African Americans that coincided with slaverys demise.Baltimore grew from a small village of under 500 in 1750 to a major port with 13,503 in 1790. Slave numbers rose along with the citys total population, but slavery never served as the dominant source of labor nor did slave ownership generate great fortunes in Baltimore. Trading opportunities in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars created most of the wealth in early national Baltimore. When compared with regions li ke southern Maryland in which slaves comprised one third of the total population and coastal South Carolina where slaves were in the majority, Baltimores early national ratio of fewer than one slave to every ten free people seems small. Barbara Jeanne Fields found that over time slaves declined in the citys economy and population while free African Americans grew in importance.In the 1790s, Baltimores slaves outnumbered free African Americans, and slaves mattered more to white employers than did free black labor. Slavery combined with white artisanal labor to stratify the labor force according to race and skill. In an 1810 occupational survey of the citys white men, over half of those listed held jobs in craft production (Browne 58). These skilled white craftsmen buttressed their power with slave labor. Wealthier craftsmen, who comprised 28% of Baltimore slave holders in 1800, paid the high initial investment in slaves and profited if product demand remained steady for goods made by unpaid slaves (Steffen 38). This division of industrial labor between slaves and artisans established a rigid hierarchy within the work force that precluded violent competition for jobs and reduced the need for elaborate constraints on non-slave African Americans.In craft production, master craftsmen controlled apprentices who gave up personal autonomy to learn a skill. While the status of white apprentices was the envy of slaves, both craft production and slavery relied on personal authority and modes of labor discipline outside of wages. Pride in craft knowledge and the promotion system that led from apprenticeship to wage-earning journeyman and later self-employed master craftsman mitigated work-place tensions within the craft system.This divided labor market operated via a widely recognized legal and caste system, i.e. slavery that explicitly linked racial and class status. The combination of artisan production and slavery privileged white craftsmen at the expense of slave labo r. Enough artisans followed the traditional route towards self-employment to reduce fears that unskilled wage laborers and slaves threatened craft workers livelihoods. Furthermore, few white workers wanted jobs, or legal status, that African-American slaves held, and many slave-owning craftsmen opposed removal of slaves from trades also pursued by white labor. In later years free white and black workers violently competed for semi-skilled jobs, but early national Baltimores economy prevented this violence by rigidly segmenting the labor market between craft workers and slaves.Partly because most African Americans in early national Baltimore were slaves, the citys few free blacks enjoyed relatively more independence in the 1790s than they would in the 1830s or 1850s. In 1790, free blacks represented 20% of Baltimore African Americans and only 2% of all city residents. White Baltimoreans did not recognize this comparatively small group as a threat to slavery or white privilege, and co nsequently afforded non-slave African Americans measures of autonomy unthinkable to whites forty years later.Examples of free African-American achievement abounded in 1790s Baltimore. The city hosted free black artists like Joshua Johnson and engineer and almanac author Benjamin Banneker. The inter-racial Maryland Society for the Abolition of Slavery operated in the 1790s under the leadership of white Quaker merchant Elisha Tyson. The Society sued on behalf of free blacks wrongfully enslaved and campaigned for emancipation. Although unpopular with slave owners, the Society succeeded in founding a school for blacks, the African Academy, in 1797. Free black Marylanders had the right to vote until 1808, and in 1792 Thomas Brown, a free African American living in Baltimore, ran as a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates (Graham 23).Free blacks received encouragement from evangelical Protestants. White Methodists and Quakers had been the strongest opponents of slavery in late-eig hteenth-century Maryland. The 1780 Baltimore Conference of American Methodists resolved that slavery was contrary to the dictates of conscience and pure religion (Wesley 41). As part of the American Revolutions spread of liberty, evangelical sects promoted emancipation in the North and Upper South in the late 1700s. In 1784, the Methodist Society ordered all slave-owning congregants to manumit their bondsmen in one year or face expulsion. Methodist slave owners freed thousands of slaves in late eighteenth-century Maryland. Evangelicalisms anti-slavery message and its circumvention of learned clergy, church ritual, and hierarchical organization attracted African-American worshippers (Frey 245-251).But within Methodism whites maintained some of the larger societys norms of racial subordination. Baltimores white Methodists ordained few black ministers, insisted that blacks wait until all whites had received communion before taking the sacrament, and segregated black worshippers in uppe r-level galleries (Gardner, Free Blacks 51). In 1785, the Methodist Society reversed itself and allowed slave owners to remain in the church. Although individual ministers continued to uphold antislavery tenets, by 1800 the emancipatory promise of the Revolution had faded from evangelicalism.In the late 1780s some Baltimore black Methodists began holding separate prayer meetings from whites. Declaring in 1797 that in view of the many inconveniences arising from the problem of white and colored people assembling in public, these dissidents formalized their break with whites by founding the Bethel Church on Saratoga Street in order to procure of ourselves a separate place in which to assemble (Wesley 129). Bethel later affiliated with Richard Allens African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in 1816 and became the leading black church in Baltimore (Graham 72). Another group of African-American dissenters remained within the white Methodist fold, but formed their own congregation at the Sharp Street M.E. Church in 1802. Sharp Street sometimes used white ministers, but maintained a black board of directors, and drew its congregants exclusively from the African-American community (Gardner, Free Blacks 55).The experience of black evangelicals in early national Baltimore illustrated a larger process at work for the citys African Americans. In the early national era most Baltimore blacks were slaves living under the rigid discipline of white masters. Consequently, whites interested in maintaining racial hierarchy paid little attention to the comparatively small free black community, and believed that it did not immediately threaten white privilege based on slavery. Anti-slavery evangelicals organized publicly in Baltimore and free African Americans claimed many of the liberties enjoyed by whites. But racism existed even within inter-racial, anti-slavery organizations like the Methodists, and it helped persuade African Americans that autonomous institutions could better guard their interests than ones influenced by white leaders. As slavery declined in significance in the citys economy, laws and customs aimed at restricting the liberty of free blacks increased. The pressure of racial proscription convinced Baltimores growing free African-American community that autonomous organizations provided the best means for advancement.When Douglass arrived in Baltimore, the city was undergoing a profound social and economic transformation from a small port that serviced Maryland tobacco and wheat farmers to a much larger industrial and commercial center tied to international markets. This change, which paralleled the development of northern ports like New York and Philadelphia, created demand for thousands of temporary workers to move cargoes on city docks, assemble products in newly built factories, and tend to the homes of the prosperous. Baltimores hierarchy of industrial employment grounded in craft production and slavery fell apart between 1820 and 1860 because free blacks and European immigrants flooded the citys labor market and large-scale factories eclipsed artisan production in craft workshops. Baltimore grew to 212,000 people in 1860, making it Americas third largest city. After 1810, the slave population declined while the number of European immigrants and free African Americans dramatically increased. In 1860, Baltimore was 62% native-born white, 25% foreign born, and 13% African American. As workers these new residents possessed neither craft knowledge nor the legal status of slaves. They met factory owners growing demand for unskilled workers, and, in a larger context, helped re-make the working class in mid-nineteenth-century cities.From 1830-60, factories employing semi-skilled and unskilled wage laborers replaced craft workshops as the dominant form of manufacturing in Baltimore. In 1833, craft workshops with under ten employees made 70% of Baltimores manufactured goods (Muller 165). By 1860, factory owners had supers eded craftsmen as the major Baltimore producers. That year over half of the industrial work force toiled in factories with 50 or more employees, and industries averaging more than 49 workers per shop comprised the four most valuable producers of manufactured goods in Baltimore (Muller 170; Dept. of Commerce 220-222). This growth in large-scale manufacturing coincided with a decline in the total number of producers, many of them craftsmen (Garonzik 75). In the 1850s, Baltimore artisans still supplied local consumers, but factory owners strengthened their hold on industry and displaced many self-employed craftsmen in the process.Slavery existed on the margins of this economy. In the 1830s free African Americans outnumbered slaves by a ratio of five to one, and fewer and fewer slaves found work in manufacturing jobs critical to the economic growth of the period. In the late antebellum era women made up 75% of Baltimore slaves and worked mainly as domestic servants. Some free domestic s ervants accumulated money and improved their standing. Anna Murray, a free-born domestic and Douglasss wife, used her wages to finance Douglasss escape from Baltimore. But many servants lived like Serena Johnson, a slave domestic separated from her parents at age six and brought to Baltimore to serve as the maid and childrens playmate of a prosperous white merchant family. Most jobs held by male slaves had been replaced by free labor by 1850 (Towers, Serena Johnson 334).Douglass found work in 1830s Baltimore as a hired slave, an anomalous position that epitomized the ambiguous status of slaves in a city reliant on mobile wage laborers to perform most tasks. Douglass returned to Baltimore in 1836 following a critical three-year period in which he fought back against the brutal slave-breaker Edward Covey and plotted an escape from William Freelands farm. His master, Thomas Auld, arranged for Douglass to return to the home of Aulds brother Hugh and learn a trade as a slave apprentice. Like many urban masters Thomas Auld held out the promise of manumission to Douglass at a later date (Douglasss 25th birthday in this case) if he would give his wages to Auld until that date. The Aulds hoped to realize profits from their slave and give Douglass an incentive to work hard and obey orders (McFeely 59). By requiring slaves to work for wages for a third party and transfer their earnings to their masters, slave hiring fit the needs of urban slave owners, like widows and retirees, who had no profitable work of their own for their slaves. Margaret Burgwell, a Baltimore widow, supported herself in the late 1850s by hiring out her five slaves to work as servants for $25 to $100 a year. Burgwell averaged $338 annually through this system. By expropriating the value of her slaves labor, Burgwell supported herself, and employers obtained servants for under $0.35 per day.Urban practices like slave hiring opened cracks in the discipline of slavery that educated Douglass in the poss ibilities of freedom and the injustice of slavery. In 1838, Hugh Auld relied on Douglass to seek out employers and negotiate payment terms on his own. Like Douglass, many hired slaves resided apart from their masters and lived like free blacks in almost all respects. This increased autonomy made the remaining controls of slavery appear even more unjust. Commenting on his daily wage of $1.50, Douglass stated I contracted for it, worked for it, earned it, collected it; it was paid to me, and it was rightfully my own (My Bondage 319). Made more aware of slaverys theft of labor value because he weekly gave his earnings to Auld, Douglass found that the comparative liberties of urban slavery made the institutions injustice more glaring.

Hector Vs Achilles Essays - Mythology, Greek Mythology, Literature

Hector Vs Achilles Essays - Mythology, Greek Mythology, Literature Hector Vs Achilles In The Iliad, many of the male characters display heroic characteristics consistent with the heroic warrior code of ancient Greece. They try to win glory in battle, yet are often characterized as having a distinctly human side. They each have certain strengths and weaknesses, which are evident at many times throughout the conflicts described in The Iliad. Prime examples of such characters are Achilles and Hector. These two characters have obvious differences in their approaches to fitting the heroic mold to which they both try to conform. However, despite their differences and the fact that they are fighting for opposing armies and meet each other with hatred in battle, they also have numerous similar traits that logically lend themselves to a comparison between the two men. They both display behavior that could be described as heroism. The first way in which Achilles, who fights for the Greeks, and Hector, who fights for the Trojans, act differently is how they approach war and the inevitable violence and death that accompany it. Although Achilles knows that he is fated to be killed in battle, when his faithful and devoted friend Patroclus is mercilessly and dishonorably cut down in combat, he puts aside his pride and chooses to temporarily forget about his previous feuds with Agamemnon that have, up until now, prevented him from participating in the war. He joins the fighting with a deadly and vengeful mindset that will likely play a major factor in the outcome of the war. Today, this lust for revenge might be considered a glaring character flaw. However, this passion for retribution undoubtedly conforms to the heroic code of Greek society. Meanwhile, Hector is full of indecision and reluctance about whether to take part in the war. He too believes that fate has dictated that he will be killed in battle. He spends much time with his pleading wife Andromache, who begs him not to go to war, both for his sake and for his familys. He does not want to die and thus widow Andromache, leaving her at the loom of another man. Indeed, when he bids farewell to his young son Astyanax, clothed in his shining war gear with gleaming helmet complete with plume crest (the quintessential picture of a bold Greek soldier going off to battle, which today is a symbol of courage, bravery, and true heroism), Astyanax cries with fright, showing that bravery and heroism in war cannot coexist with the care and love that a father shows to his son. Thus, while Hector is indeed heroic is his departure for the war, his human side is overshadowed by this. Another situation in which Hector and Achilles use different approaches to behave as heroes is in Book Twenty-Two, the main section in which Hector and Achilles and their separate personalities and character traits interact. Hector, now courageous as ever and boldly confronting his fate, decides to remain outside the ramparts of the fortified city, within which the rest of his supporters that might defend him are safely secure. Priam, Hectors father, upon seeing the advancing Achilles, implores Hector to retreat behind the safety of the walls, but to no avail. Pride and honor play a role in preventing Hector from backing down. Hectors fearless confrontation of his destiny is an extremely heroic action. However, then Hector flees from Achilles, behavior quite unlike that of a hero. One might infer that now Hectors human instinct of survival is playing a role. This illustrates a seemingly-common conflict among characters who might be considered heroes: the internal contest between the heroic code within the character and the human emotions and instincts that sometimes present contradictory impulses to the heroic code. Each hero responds in a different manner to this conflict. Hector, in this case, decides to react upon his human impulses and flees from Achilles, who instantly gives chase. After a cunning trick by Athena which causes Hector to decide to stand his ground and fight, perhaps the most conspicuous contradiction between a warriors heroic code and the warriors human side is evident. Achilles, vengeful and bloodthirsty, kills Hector in a manner, which, by todays standards, would be unnecessarily cruel and barbaric. He allows Hector

Central Bank for GCC Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Central Bank for GCC - Research Paper Example International financial crisis in the recent years calls for monetary integration and regional cooperation of the countries for efficiently dealing with the crises and protecting the interests of the member countries. The monetary policies of a central bank plays pivotal role in regulating interest rates and inflation in the countries with a view to ensure economic growth. The monetary policies of a central bank have impact on various economic factors such as employment, liquidity in the system and stability of the currencies. Central bank proposed for the GCC countries aims at financial stability in the GCC countries with a view to reorient the strategies of the group countries in response to the dynamic international economic situation and to promote economic cooperation among the group countries. Therefore, the structure of the central bank should be designed to achieve these objectives in relation to the group countries. ... Under the monetary policies of GCC central bank, stability in exchange rate could be achieved. The member countries of GCC peg their currencies to USD and their interest rates are fixed based on the changes interest rates in US. Adjustments in interest rates in sync with US policy might have negative impacts on domestic economies of the GCC countries. Currency unification is expected to delink pegging of GCC currencies to USD. The member countries are not yet prepared for monetary union. There are differences in economic fundamentals among the countries. Trading and transactions within the region is very limited, and the countries are mostly dependent on oil exports. Lack of efforts towards economic integration and institutional development are the important drawbacks. The differences in the economic policies followed by the GCC countries would make the unification process difficult. Three different methods used to test the GCC economies by Abu-Bader and Abu-Qarn (2006), the Structur al VAR, co-integration tests and common business cycles provide no support for establishing a monetary union (AlKholifey & Alreshan, p. 19). They also observed ‘that neither AD nor AS shocks are symmetrical between the GCC countries and the selected European countries’ (p. 20) while AD refers to Aggregate Demand and AS, Aggregate Supply. Structure of the suggested Central Bank for GCC Monetary union in GCC can stimulate uniformity in macroeconomic policies within the union and inter alia improve investment options and allocation of resources within the region. Fundamental factor involved in establishing central bank or monetary union is convergence of monetary, fiscal and structural policies of the member countries. According to Sturm and Siegfried (2005, p. 63), ‘monetary union

From the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison i need to answer, How does Essay

From the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison i need to answer, How does Paul's D concern with his masculinity cause him to act in certain ways throughout the novel - Essay Example Though kind and optimistic, Paul D remains concerned with his masculinity and this causes him to act in certain specific ways throughout the novel. Morrison uses Paul D’s concern with his masculinity to subtly allude to the attitude of the male members of the African American community and their expectations of how females need to act. The author portrays Paul as a character, who really loves and cares for Sethe. However, while he feels â€Å"proud of her† on the one hand, he becomes â€Å"annoyed by her† on the other when he realizes that she did not need either her husband or Paul to go through her delivery (Morrison 4). His annoyance derives from his concern for his masculinity due to which he believes that Sethe must depend on him or her husband for the delivery. Paul D’s masculinity can be seen as a dominating trait in him even in the scene when he first arrives at Sethe’s home after several years and she starts cooking for him and he says â€Å"Don’t go to any trouble on my account† (7). This dialog manifests his concern and love for Sethe on the one hand and he is prepared to quit a meal lest he gives any trouble to the woman for whom he cares a lot. However, on the other hand, it transpires that his reaction to her invitation also stems from his concern for his masculinity due to which the idea of a female taking a trouble for a male like him does not appeal to him. More significantly, in the context of the story’s theme, it can be seen that the storyline basically relies on Paul D’s knowledge of his masculinity. He is a person who has always known his value as a â€Å"laborer who could make profit on a farm† (120). Thus, he takes pride in his own strength and the ability to work. This, perhaps, is the power that imbibes in him the quest for freedom, which ultimately culminates into the attempted escape. In addition, he nourishes a desire in him to save Sethe from her problems and also drives out the evil from her

The role of the creative artist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The role of the creative artist - Essay Example ve important role in influencing the worldview of people and culture and further imply a declaration that worldview entails more than abstract ideas or theoretical concepts. Creative artists usually root the image-making and image-perceiving nature of people because people do not live by ideas alone. Artists normally express their affirmations and denials through paint on a canvas, tension and release of sound, music, poems, stories and drama making them more image-making and image-using creatures with the help of great images, metaphors and analogies (Essential Humanities Web). It is apparent that no one can doubt the abilities of artists especially how people organize their lives and make their decisions based on the images such as either heroes, love song, hymn, and landscape that have ideational aspect and communicate certain meanings. It is worth noting that art serve the salutary function of reminding people such as religious people and politicians that their worldview is the basis of theoretical thought inviting awareness about them. Although people may not accede to the accumulation of possessions, their minds are usually full of images of things such as big houses and fancy things, their actual behaviour may run in the direction of covetousness (Essential Humanities Web). Another good instance is when people such as Christians possess theoretical belief in the ideals of chastity and faithfulness in marriage, creative artists may fill their minds with nude images and songs of seduction that may greatly change their sexual behaviour to perhaps lust and sexual licence. Creative artists largely transform people’s worldview and further affect the quality of our life and character by the images that the artists habitually take into peoples’ minds. All creative artists transform peoples’ worldview because they usually use the language of images. For instance, visual artist applies such as paint and stone to see and touch while musicians use physical

Situational Leadership in Organisations: Benefits

Situational Leadership in Organisations: Benefits This report was commissioned to review the importance of the situational leadership theory in an organization and how it can positively affect the general performance of a company. The article aims to reveal how this method of leadership can prove to be beneficial, if a leader constantly changes his leadership style based on the maturity level of his subordinate groups in relation to the job allotted to them. Situational leadership, if practiced correctly, can help increase employee efficiency and loyalty, reduce employee turnouts and cut down on extra training costs, subsequently putting a company on a profitable ground. It is often seen though that many leaders make the mistake of practicing a common leadership style across all levels of his subordinate groups, rejecting the need for a change. This misreading often results as one of the major reasons for their failure as a leader or manager. Moreover, it has also been noticed that many leaders, at times, are unable to make the required changes in their leadership, even though they can see the need for the same. This inability is often generated from their personal rigid nature and apprehension towards any kind of change. Fear of failure, losing control or even loss of authority can be considered as significant factors that hinder them from making this change in them and adapting to the situation and people in question. The report aspires to find solutions to eradicate this blockage. TABLE OF CONTENTS (JUMP TO) 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2.0 NEED FOR CHANGING LEADERSHIP STYLE 2.1Â  UNDERSTANDING MATURITY LEVELS 2.2Â  CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP STYLE 2.3Â  BENEFITS OF CHANGING LEADERSHIP 2.3.1Â  HIGHER EFFECIENCY AND PERFORMANCE 2.3.2Â  LOYALTY TO LEADER AND COMPANY 2.3.3Â  REDUCE EMPLOYEE TURNOUTS 2.3.4Â  COST REDUCTIONS 2.4Â  AVOIDING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP 2.4.1Â  REASONS FOR AVOIDING TO CHANGE LEADERSHIP STYLE 3.0Â  CONCLUSIONS 4.0Â  RECOMMENDATIONS 1.0 INTRODUCTION The core of this article is the Hersey and Blanchard Situational Leadership model which states that there is no single best style of leadership. The effectiveness of a Leadership style is based on the adaptability of the leader towards the maturity of his subordinates and the elements of the task to be done. The theory points out that if a leader does not change his leadership style according to the maturity level of the group he is leading in relation to the task required to be performed, he will inevitably fail in his attempt to extract pleasing results from them. In this report, I will discuss the positive aspects of this leadership style and exhibit the possible advantages that it can give to an organization. Furthermore, an acute comprehension will be presented on why some managers avoid applying this theory in their leadership and some possible solutions to this problem. 2: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 2.0 NEED FOR CHANGING LEADERSHIP STYLE There is a very popular idiom used in India which says all five fingers of the hand are not the same. The five fingers of the hand in this expression, symbolizes people. The phrase talks about how every individual is different from each other in terms of intelligence, personality, strength and capabilities, just as the five fingers are different in size, structure, strength and function. In an organization too, there are various kinds of people or groups of different designation levels, age groups, education, and experience. Thus it is necessary to manage them using a suitable leadership method in accordance to them and the desired output. 2.1 UNDERSTANDING MATURITY LEVELS When I talk about maturity, I am referring to the willingness, readiness and expertise of an individual or group in relation to a particular task. Let me cite a simpler example closer to my life. When my brother, who is seven years older to me, turned twelve, my mother allowed him to do many things on his own and he did it willingly as it made him feel responsible. On the other hand, I was always helped by my mother in doing things for myself as I was only five years old then. So why did my mother do that? The answer is quite simple. There was a difference in my maturity level and capability compared to my brothers and my mother understood that well. She knew that being only five, I was not physically or mentally prepared to do some things on my own and thus would require her guidance and support to do some tasks whereas she gave my brother a freehand as he was older and more knowledgeable compared to me. This freedom made him feel more responsible and confident about himself as his maturity was acknowledged by my mother. Now let us imagine my mother handled my brother the same way as me even though he was twelve and a lot more mature. What would it do to my brother? He would definitely feel irritated because he was being treated at the same level as a person seven years younger to him. He would feel stripped of his seniority to his so much younger sister. Moreover, this common treatment could also hinder his personality growth and affect his confidence in himself. Similarly in an organization, one can find groups of people with different maturity levels, experience and assigned roles. In this situation, if a leader or manager followed a common leadership style throughout all groups, it could cause a lot of problems. His selected mode of leadership could suit one or more groups but not all. 2.2 CHOOSING THE RIGHT LEADERSHIP STYLE Situational leadership is directed on 2 major points; task behavior and relationship behavior. When applying the situational leadership theory, leaders will be able to decide whether to give more or less importance to the task or more or less importance to their relationship with the person they are leading, depending on which helps the task to be done more effectively. In my last office, a new member had joined my colleagues team sometime ago. They were working on a very vital project when my colleague had to leave on an emergency call. She quickly handed over some tasks to this new member and went off. Unfortunately, this new member did not have enough knowledge and understanding of the task and neither did he have the confidence to ask other members about it. As a result, he held on to the tasks and did not work much on them with the apprehension of making a mistake. When my colleague returned after 3 hours, she was furious to see that he had not completed the task. She thought she had given him enough time to do the task and he could have easily completed them on time. But a lot of time was wasted and nothing was done. She scolded him and called him irresponsible and unreliable, not realizing that she was equally to be blamed for this mishap. Considering that he was a new member, she should have given him proper guidance and instructions on how to do the task, instead of just telling him to do the task. The new member was low on the maturity scale (M1) but she made the mistake of using the Delegating style (S4) of leadership with him. The result; there was wastage of valuable time and manpower and the job was still not done. I faced a similar situation when one of my counterparts was leaving for a holiday and wanted me to take over some of her responsibilities. I was excited and interested in doing the same as I had worked very closely with her and had a good understanding of most of her responsibilities. Though she was aware of this, she still gave me a detailed list of her tasks and a step by step instruction of how to do them. This approach made me feel that she did not trust me with her work and that annoyed me. As a result, my enthusiasm for the job, dropped. I completed the tasks but not with the best of my ability. She knew that I was high on the maturity scale (M4) but she still opted to use the Telling style (S1) of leadership, as result, she ruined her relationship with me as a colleague due to her lack of trust. The above examples clearly explain why it is necessary for any leader to adapt his leadership style to the maturity of the person they are leading in relation to a required task. 2.3 BENEFITS OF CHANGING LEADERSHIP Following situational leadership can offer several benefits for an organization. It is often seen that the leader who works to understand the unique needs of his or her employees will build loyalty and dedication to both himself and the organization, while achieving a higher level of performance. 2.3.1 HIGHER EFFECIENCY AND PERFORMANCE A greater level of efficiency and performance can be achieved from employees if their leader is able to understand and identify his follower willingness, readiness and mindset towards a task and adjust his leadership approach towards them accordingly. By choosing the right style for them, he will be able to extract the optimum level of performance out of his subordinates in the required time, thus making his workforce more efficient for the company. 2.3.2 LOYALTY TO LEADER AND COMPANY A persons loyalty is always governed by his or her emotions. In an organization, when a leader recognizes, supports, guides, appreciates and trusts his employees or subordinates using the correct method of leadership with them, they feel more bonded towards their leader and the company, as a result offering a stronger loyalty affiliation towards them. 2.3.3 REDUCE EMPLOYEE TURNOUTS One of the major reasons for high employee turnout in an organization is a usually a bad manager. When employees are not guided and supported well by their leaders or not given their due respect, appreciation or trust by their managers, it generally affects their work performance. As a result, they end up feeling frustrated and dejected at work, subsequently leaving the job. A wrong leadership approach towards employees can also hamper the relationship between the management and its subordinate groups. A manager can avoid such issues by selecting the best suited leadership style towards a group based on their maturity and capability levels. Understanding the in-depth need of the subordinate group will help him decide how much intervention and leverage is required from him in the groups activity in relation to a task they are going to perform. By doing this, he will be able to inculcate the correct amount of guidance and support when required or provide the right of independence; as a result employees feel more valued and satisfied in the company, consequently reducing the turnout percentage. 2.3.4 COST REDUCTIONS Situational leadership can cut costs of an organization in a vital way. As illustrated above, following a suitable leadership style reduces employee turnouts. Reduction in employee turnouts means there is a lesser need of bringing in new employees in an organization for the same existing jobs. This automatically saves the company a lot of extra costs of hiring, training and re-training of new employees. An employees work efficiency is equally proportionate to the company costs. If an employee is not efficient enough to do a job in a particular time, it costs the company more money to keep him. A leader when following the correct method of leadership as per the readiness of the employee towards a task, he can increase the efficiency and work performance of the employee by providing the correct amount of direction to him and getting the right amount of work done in the required time. 2.4 AVOIDING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP Even though situational leadership is quite popular with many multinationals today due to its simplistic and easy to use nature, it is often seen that a lot of managers do not want to use it. They either do not consider the requirement of this leadership style or are just apprehensive about using it with their work force. 2.4.1 REASONS FOR AVOIDING TO CHANGE LEADERSHIP STYLE Many managers avoid using situational leadership or changing their leadership because due to personal reasons. The leader is sometimes overpowered by his fear of failure and thus avoids making changes in his style. He is not sure if experimenting with his leadership style would bring him the desired results and so keeps away from it even though he sees the need to do it. Besides this he also fears losing control over his people and work. The love for extreme power has also been cited as a possible reason behind avoiding to use situational leadership. Moreover, a managers inflexible personality also acts as a hindrance to his ability to adapt to his groups needs towards a task. He may be a person who does not like change in general and has a fixed modus operandi towards his work and managing people. 3.0 CONCLUSIONS The Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model is intuitively appealing and has been widely used in management development programs. Leaders should consider altering styles to achieve the best results with followers and situations, even as they change with time. Leaders must give continuous attention to the skill levels and task confidence of his subordinates through training and development programs. If the correct styles are used in lower-readiness situations, followers will mature and grow in their abilities and confidence. This willingness to understand follower development and respond with flexibility allows the leader to become less directive as followers mature. 4.0 RECOMMENDATIONS All teams, and all team members, are not created equal. Hersey and Blanchards theory argues that leaders are more effective when they use a leadership style based on the individuals or groups theyre leading. So you should start by identifying whom youre leading. Are your followers knowledgeable experienced in the task? Are they willing and excited to do the work? Rate them on the M1-M4 maturity scale, and then use the leadership style from S1 to S4 thats appropriate for that rating.

Spiritual Discernment and Career Counseling Essay -- Religion, Spiritu

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1883) said, â€Å"Each man has his own vocation, his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him.† (p. 112). He was speaking of the gifts granted us by God to fulfill the plan that He has for our life. Discovering and utilizing those gifts is part of the decision making process in career counseling. Christians advocate the use of spiritual discernment in order to guide the decision making process. Properly interpreting the will of God for one’s life is at the heart of each of our choices including those choices involving vocation. Personal Position Horton (2009) provides an inventory to assess one’s personal spiritual discernment approach. In taking this assessment, I found that I answered all of the statements with â€Å"very important†. Indeed, each statement played a large role in my decision making process with respect to my current vocational pursuits, as well as other aspects of my life. As such, I found it more fruitful to prioritize the statements. Once completed, the results showed that my top three were: Consistency with the character/ethics of Jesus, praying for wisdom to make Godly decisions and Consulting with wise counsel. Given my manner of completing the survey as well as the resulting answers, I originally placed myself in the â€Å"Bull’s-Eye Approach† (p. 8). My problems with the approach led me to alter my assessment, however, and go toward the â€Å"Relationship-Formation Approach† (p. 11). Horton (2009) reports that the bull’s-eye approach posits that God’s will is that each of us fulfills a pre-planned destiny. It states that Christians are prevented by God from straying too far afoul of the plan and that the goal is for each one to find the â€Å"right† decisions... ... with God that includes consistent prayer, seeking wise counsel, studying scripture and looking for God’s divine intervention will reveal her destination. Works Cited Emerson, R. L. (1883). The works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. London, UK: MacMillan Company. Horton, D. J. (2009). Discerning spiritual discernment: Assessing current approaches for understanding God’s will. The Journal of Youth Ministry, 7(2), 7-31. Nichols, J. L. (2006). Balancing intuition and reason: Tuning in to indecision. Journal of Rehabilitation, 72(4), 40-48. Niles, S. G. (2009). Career development interventions in the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Thompson, E. & Feldman, D.B. (2010). Let your life speak: Assessing the effectiveness of a program to explore meaning, purpose and calling with college students. Journal of Employment Counseling, 47(1), 12-19.