Red Clouds Revenge Essay -- English Literature Essays

Red Cloud's Revenge Red Cloud’s Revenge is a historical novel about the grim recollection of detailed events and days/months before the showdown between the US Cavalry & Sioux Indians on the northern plains of 1867. Fetterman, Brown & Grummond rode out ahead of seventy-eight soldiers that day on December 21st 1866. In hopes of driving out some Sioux Indians and bring some scalps home. Many soldiers’ guard was down when Fetterman’s entire force disappeared over Trail Lodge Ridge. None of them were ever seen alive again. Seven months after the tragic bloodshed of the Fetterman Massacre by a band of Lakota; Sargent Seamus Donegan was stationed near Fort Phil Kearney recovering from the horror and bloodbath in which he participated. Several Sergeants searching for him after the Fetterman Massacre directed orders in expectation of Donegan. Traveling along the Bighorn River/Mountains to Fort C.F. Smith, two thirds away from his destination Seamus along with the small camp he stopped at was attacked by a band of Lakota Indians. Narrowly escaping with his life, Donegan set off again to Fort C.F. Smith and fatefully stumbled upon James W. Thompson’s path. Private Thompson told Donegan that Chief Iron Bull requested his presence at sundown. After his encounter with the Crow Indians and discussions of peace/alliance with Chief Iron Bull, Thompson then took Seamus to Fort C.F. Smith by horseback. Several silent days following Donegan’s arrival, his long time frie...

Canterbury Tales Comparison :: essays papers

Canterbury Tales Comparison "If gold rusts, what shall iron do" (502)? This question seems to be the basis of the comparison between the parson and the reeve. One, a good man on the inside and out, the other, a wonderful fascade to hide his true personality. Althgough completely different, one tries to imitate the other to make himself appear a good man. The parson embodied what a preacher of the Lord should be. He was honest, kind, truthful, "benign, and wonderfully diligent" (485). Although he was a righteous man eh did not belittle or condemn those who were not as holy as he was. However he woudl highly scold those who were "obstinate" (523). He was a man who practied what he preached and led people not by his words, but his good actions. He would even give the poor parishoners some of his own moeney and possessions. He felt that it was imporrible "to find a filthy shepherd and a clean sheep" (506) and that if he was a priest (a man who is closer to God than most) is corrupt, then how could he expect his parishoners to be honest? There is no counter representation for the parson because with all of the good deeds he has done for others, when Chaucer says he believes "there is not better priest anywhere" (526) he believes it to be true, and so does the reader. The reeve was a thin, "choleric" (589) man. He was very clever and wilely, and could not be tricked by other. He was very knowledgable about about predicting what the yeild of his crops would be. Most people were afraid of him and he had a plesant home in a meadow. It would seem that he would have a sort of unhappy dreary home, but that was not the case. A lot of his master's properties were under his control and power, and he tricked his lorfd into getting most things. He would lend and sell the lords own properties back to him, and he privately had more riches than his lord. He also learned the trade of being a craftsman and a carpenter at a young age. However wicked the reeve may be on the inside, he tries to make others see him as a good man.

Atmospheric Oxygen, Giant Paleozoic Insects and the Evolution of Aeria

Animal gigantism was prevalent during the Carboniferous period of the Paleozoic era. Gigantism in flying insects occurred in abundance; however, arthropods, such as arthropleurids, also experienced gigantism. Arthropleurids existed during the Paleozoic era and were the largest land dwelling arthropods in the history of the Earth. 1m long millipedes are classified as arthropleurids. Amphibians such as the terrestrial labyrinthodont amphibians also became gigantic during the Carboniferous period. Large amphibians reached body lengths of up to 2m. However, these amphibians are limited by respiration through the skin, which is known to restrict maximum body size. The wingspan of a certain extinct dragon fly exceeded 70cm and the wingspan of late Paleozoic Paleodictyoptera was between .9-43cm. There are a few hypotheses that have been aimed at explaining the gigantism during the Paleozoic era. Some are predatory defense and enhanced flight performance. However, the most plausible is the idea that the oxygen increase in the atmosphere caused the increase in body size. Increased oxygen partial pressure caused an increase in diffusive flux in the tracheal system. This led to the adaptation of the bodies of insects, amphibians, and arthropods to the new environment. Carboniferous - is a major division of the geologic timescale that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 Ma (million years ago), to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 Ma (ICS 2004). Geological records of atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide Since plants have been able to survive on land by carbon dioxide fixation, also known as terrestrializaion, the earth’s atmosphere has undergone a ... ...f terrestrial arthropods with diffusion-limited respiratory systems is consistent with the levels of atmospheric oxygen. (This can be seen in the charts included in the article) A second peak of insect gigantism appears to occur in the Cretaceous period when the atmosphere was also hyperoxic, or contained a high concentration of oxygen. References Orr, W. C. and Sohal, R. S. (1994). Extension of life-span by overexpression of superoxide dismutase and catalase in Drosophila melanogaster. Science 263, 1128–1130. Tyler, R. H., Brar, H., Singh, M., Latorre, A., Graves, J. L., Mueller, L. D., Rose, M. R. and Ayala, F. J. (1993). The effect of superoxide dismutase alleles on aging in Drosophila. Genetica 91, 143–149. Withers, P.C. (1981). The effects of ambient air pressure on oxygen consumption of resting and hovering honeybees. J. comp. Physiol.

Deception Point Page 5

Rachel nodded. She was both. Four minutes later, Rachel Sexton exited the NRO and climbed into the waiting helicopter. Before she had even buckled herself in, the craft was airborne, banking hard across the Virginia woods. Rachel gazed out at the blur of trees beneath her and felt her pulse rising. It would have risen faster had she known this chopper would never reach the White House. 5 The frigid wind battered the fabric of the ThermaTech tent, but Delta-One hardly noticed. He and Delta-Three were focused on their comrade, who was manipulating the joystick in his hand with surgical dexterity. The screen before them displayed a live video transmission from a pinpoint camera mounted aboard the microrobot. The ultimate surveillance tool, Delta-One thought, still amazed every time they powered it up. Lately, in the world of micromechanics, fact seemed to be out-pacing fiction. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) – microbots – were the newest tool in high-tech surveillance – â€Å"fly on the wall technology,† they called it. Literally. Although microscopic, remote-controlled robots sounded like science fiction, in fact they had been around since the 1990s. Discovery magazine had run a cover story in May 1997 on microbots, featuring both â€Å"flying† and â€Å"swimming† models. The swimmers – nanosubs the size of salt grains – could be injected into the human bloodstream a la the movie Fantastic Voyage. They were now being used by advanced medical facilities to help doctors navigate arteries by remote control, observe live intravenous video transmissions, and locate arterial blockages without ever lifting a scalpel. Contrary to intuition, building a flying microbot was even simpler business. The aerodynamics technology for getting a machine to fly had been around since Kitty Hawk, and all that remained had been the issue of miniaturization. The first flying microbots, designed by NASA as unmanned exploration tools for future Mars missions, had been several inches long. Now, however, advances in nanotechnology, lightweight energy-absorbent materials, and micromechanics had made the flying microbots a reality. The true breakthrough had come from the new field biomimics – copying Mother Nature. Miniature dragonflies, as it turned out, were the ideal prototype for these agile and efficient flying microbots. The PH2 model Delta-Two was currently flying was only one centimeter long – the size of a mosquito – and employed a dual pair of transparent, hinged, silicon-leaf wings, giving it unparalleled mobility and efficiency in the air. The microbot's refueling mechanism had been another breakthrough. The first microbot prototypes could only recharge their energy cells by hovering directly beneath a bright light source, not ideal for stealth or use in dark locales. The newer prototypes, however, could recharge simply by parking within a few inches of a magnetic field. Conveniently, in modern society, magnetic fields were ubiquitous and discreetly placed – power outlets, computer monitors, electric motors, audio speakers, cellphones – it seemed there was never any shortage of obscure recharging stations. Once a microbot had been introduced successfully into a locale, it could transmit audio and video almost indefinitely. The Delta Force's PH2 had been transmitting for over a week now with no trouble whatsoever. Now, like an insect hovering inside a cavernous barn, the airborne microbot hung silently in the still air of the structure's massive central room. With a bird's-eye view of the space below, the microbot circled silently above unsuspecting occupants – technicians, scientists, specialists in numerous fields of study. As the PH2 circled, Delta-One spotted two familiar faces engaged in conversation. They would be a telling mark. He told Delta-Two to drop down and have a listen. Manipulating the controls, Delta-Two switched on the robot's sound sensors, oriented the microbot's parabolic amplifier, and decreased the robot's elevation until it was ten feet over the scientists' heads. The transmission was faint, but discernible. â€Å"I still can't believe it,† one scientist was saying. The excitement in his voice had not diminished since his arrival here forty-eight hours ago. The man with whom he was talking obviously shared the enthusiasm. â€Å"In your lifetime†¦ did you ever think you would witness anything like this?† â€Å"Never,† the scientist replied, beaming. â€Å"It's all a magnificent dream.† Delta-One had heard enough. Clearly everything inside was proceeding as expected. Delta-Two maneuvered the microbot away from the conversation and flew it back to its hiding place. He parked the tiny device undetected near the cylinder of an electric generator. The PH2's power cells immediately began recharging for the next mission. 6 Rachel Sexton's thoughts were lost in the morning's bizarre developments as her PaveHawk transport tore across the morning sky, and it was not until the helicopter rocketed out across Chesapeake Bay that she realized they were heading in entirely the wrong direction. The initial flash of confusion instantly gave way to trepidation. â€Å"Hey!† she yelled to the pilot. â€Å"What are you doing?† Her voice was barely audible over the rotors. â€Å"You're supposed to be taking me to the White House!† The pilot shook his head. â€Å"Sorry, ma'am. The President is not at the White House this morning.† Rachel tried to remember if Pickering had specifically mentioned the White House or whether she had simply assumed. â€Å"So where is the President?† â€Å"Your meeting with him is elsewhere.† No shit. â€Å"Where elsewhere?† â€Å"Not far now.† â€Å"That's not what I asked.† â€Å"Sixteen more miles.† Rachel scowled at him. This guy should be a politician. â€Å"Do you dodge bullets as well as you dodge questions?† The pilot did not answer. It took less than seven minutes for the chopper to cross the Chesapeake. When land was in sight again, the pilot banked north and skirted a narrow peninsula, where Rachel saw a series of runways and military-looking buildings. The pilot dropped down toward them, and Rachel then realized what this place was. The six launchpads and charred rocket towers were a good clue, but if that was not enough, the roof of one of the buildings had been painted with two enormous words: WALLOPS ISLAND. Wallops Island was one of NASA's oldest launch sites. Still used today for satellite launches and testing of experimental aircraft, Wallops was NASA's base away from the spotlight. The President is at Wallops Island? It made no sense. The chopper pilot aligned his trajectory with a series of three runways that ran the length of the narrow peninsula. They seemed to be heading for the far end of the center runway. The pilot began to slow. â€Å"You will be meeting the President in his office.† Rachel turned, wondering if the guy was joking. â€Å"The President of the United States has an office on Wallops Island?† The pilot looked dead serious. â€Å"The President of the United States has an office wherever he likes, ma'am.† He pointed toward the end of the runway. Rachel saw the mammoth shape glistening in the distance, and her heart almost stopped. Even at three hundred yards, she recognized the light blue hull of the modified 747. â€Å"I'm meeting him aboard the†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Yes, ma'am. His home away from home.† Rachel stared out at the massive aircraft. The military's cryptic designation for this prestigious plane was VC-25-A, although the rest of the world knew it by another name: Air Force One. â€Å"Looks like you're in the new one this morning,† the pilot said, motioning to the numbers on the plane's tail fin. Rachel nodded blankly. Few Americans knew that there were actually two Air Force Ones in service – a pair of identical, specially configured 747-200-Bs, one with the tail number 28000 and the other 29000. Both planes had cruising speeds of 600 mph and had been modified for in-flight refueling, giving them virtually unlimited range.

HR Team Project

This theory is bas De on effort and performance, which ultimately determines the outcome of a task o r duty. When looking at Top Expectancy, we see a clear correlation between the effort level f the employee and performance level. Pertaining to the Top expectancy, students in the case reached this low point of motivation because after putting in as much off rot as possible in the line situation, they realized that all the effort they put would b e sabotaged by the other foreign workers in the line.Thus, making the employee feel as if t here best efforts will never get them to the performance level needed to complete the j bob. This case situation also connected to Photo expectancy, which connects a specific perform menace level to a certain outcome. The specified outcome of the line was to remove a d stack the ketchup bottles quickly as possible without any boxes falling off the line. The s dents felt that at any performance level the outcome would still result in crates fall Eng off the line due to the counterproductive actions of the foreign workers.The probably tit of success was solely in the hands of the foreign workers, thus making the studs ants feel unmotivated to complete the job because the outcomes did not reflect their e efforts. The Students smashed the bottles in retaliation because they knew that the bottle s would be damaged regardless of their performance on the line. In the moment of anger r, the students page 2 wanted to feel in control, and thought that if the bottles were to break, it woo old feel better if they did it instead of the foreign workers. Another component of the expect Nancy theory is Valence.An employee may see the outcome as desirable or undesirable (La imbiber, 2010). In the academic journal, valence is connected to the expectancy of the employee through Individual perceptions. Due to the strenuous work and the negative work cue True of line duty, the students had an undesirable perception of the working envier moment. This is another factor that led to the destruction of the bottles. 2) Identify Ramie's leadership style using the Behavior Perspective of Leadership Give examples of his behavior from the case to support your answer.If Rah m had been a Transformational leader what would he have done to change the way things were happening on the bottling line? 2. Ramie's leadership style using the behavior perspective of leadership is the directive leadership style. The way Ihram performs his job such as trying to effectively manage the plant and fulfilling his duties can be supported by the directive leadership style. L adders that take on this type of leadership â€Å"assign specific tasks,sets goals and deadlines,clarify w Ark duties and procedures,define work procedures and plan work activities. (Machines & Steel n 2012,peg. 333) One of the ways Ihram portrays the style of directive leadership is whenever t he jobs had changed , he would give written instructions and descriptions as to what is ex pe cked of them. † Upon arrival they met Ihram, the Plant Manager, who gave them a set of job Instructions, which took all of 5 minutes and directed them to George, the lead oven operator(co k) if they had any additional questions. â€Å"(case study)Ihram always dealt with introducing them t o the work area and page 3 giving written job descriptions.Whenever Ihram was not in the working work ins area, he would have an employee who was to work as a supervisor in the area. The supervisor RSI were assigned so that they would be mentors to the new employees, and to clarify or listen to a NY concerns the employees had related to the job. However, in the case of the students that joy indeed neither was the supervisor willing to listen, nor was the plant manager who said to deal the pr bobbles on their own. Ihram also demonstrates directive leadership through the aspect of not willing g to listen to employee problems and concerns. The student said that while they were pale eased to be working at the plant, they had concerns about how George was treating them. Ihram t hen went into a long explanation about his management philosophy and how he felt it was m ore effective this ‘hands off policy' has served him in managing the plant I† (case study) Ihram did not care about listening to the concerns of the employees and to be supportive of them. He believed that all employee were mature and responsible adults, therefore the problems they h d with other employees Were to be solved by themselves.Getting Ihram involved in problem ms that employees had between each other felt as if he was treating them like children-Therefore it was suggested to the students that any concerns with George or any other employees should did erectly dealt with the person to get a solution. Hence, under the behavioral perspective of leaders hip Ihram best portrayed the directive leadership through his work performance. If Ihram was to be a transformational leader the way he was man aging the Pl ant would have been a more welcoming and positive environment.Transformational lea deer motivate employees to achieve the organization's vision. â€Å"Transformational leadership raises the level of human conduct and ethical aspiration of both leader and follower. It alters an d elevates the Page 4 motives, values, and goals of followers through the vital teaching role of lead reship, enabling leaders, and followers to be united in the pursuit Of higher Kerr ashcan. 201 3, peg. 1 2) A positive environment would have been formed in the company with employees being approachable and having freedom to suggest their opinions. F Ihram was to f allow ramifications leadership, he would have changed the attitudes of employee sees who were working on the bottling line. Being an ignorant leader has led to employees be ins disobedient. The machine operator had been rude enough to change the speed the mach en was at frequently. â€Å"Very quickly, however the two realized that the se two women had a relatively low opinion of seasonal workers and they apparently experienced considerable delight in VA raying the speed of the line. They could increase speed sufficiently to make it impossible for Robe art and Bill to remove and stack every case of ketchup. Case study) Ihram should have bee n able to come up with a solution to the concerns that students had With the operator if he was t o be a transformational leader. Also if this leadership style was used the students w loudly it hesitate to ask questions and raise their concerns to him about working in the company. In addition,the bottling line wouldn't have faced problems such as Robert and Bill throwing t he bottles against the wall if the transformational leadership style was followed. It can be under stood that for every action there is a reaction and in this situation it causes a harmful work environ moment.According to David Conrad it is said † the more connected managers are, the better they can und erstand what motivates members of their team, analyze what's really going on, and find sol suctions that meet the needs of their people and their company. † (Conrad, 2014) These are truly the steps that should have been taken by Ihram if he were to be a transformational leader who once auroras his employees to work together for the company. By meeting the needs of people e and finding Page 5 solution to them will allow employees to have a positive feeling about the woo receptacle and will decrease any levels of employee absenteeism.However, this is not the case of the Plant due to Ramie's directive leadership style but if Ihram changes his style of leading the Plant ,it will benefit both him and the employee. 3) Identify and describe (a) the sources of conflict The Students experienced conflict that ultimately led to their termination. The sources of conflict for the students started with the poor communication of Ihram, who explained the tasks and duties too quickly and didn' t introduce them to the other worker RSI. This created a social divide between the students and the other workers.Also, the workers had mix of incompatible goals and differentiation because the goals of the force gnu workers were counter productive, and the students had goals of increasing productivity y. These opposite goals and beliefs created tension between these two groups. The for sign workers have a negative perspective on seasonal workers, which conflicts wit h goals of production and decreases employee interest. † the prevailing perspective in c inflict management relies on the implicit assumption that employee interests should d be subordinated to the demands of production and authority† (Gross et al. 2013) Their interests and beliefs did not coincide with the production environment, which relies on efficiencies and productive actions. Page 6 Lastly, a prominent source of conflict was the use of ambiguous rules. The am bigamous working environment gave the fore ign workers the opportunity to interfere WI the the students work. There are not rules implemented to keep the line at a certain s peed. (b) the conflict management styles used by the students and the permanent staff. The conflict management style used by the students toward George was prop elm solving.Although they began to avoid the problem, they soon realized that they had t do something about the issue. The students used the problems solving style with George by attempting to solve the issue through a win win orientation. However, George completely dismissed their concerns, which should have signaled the student s to use a forcing style due to the unethical behavior. When the students were at the line e, they used a compromising style to solve the issue. They proposed to use hand signals to communicate to the foreign workers. They striver to achieve a mutual gain in order to keep a consistent flow in the line.The students attempted to build a trust wit h the reign workers by mak ing conditional promises. After this failed, the student s avoided the situation and retaliated by breaking the bottles. (c) Select the Structural Approaches to Conflict Management that might best help resolve the conflict on the bottling line. Gives reasons for your choice. In order to improve the line, structural approaches to conflict management SSH old have been implemented. The management staff should emphasize subordinated goals t o Increase Page 7 cooperative thinking.When everyone has the same ultimate goal, the worker s will work together to achieve the higher main goal of the operation. If the students and the permanent workers emphasized the subordinated goals of the organization, there would be less competitiveness between the two groups of workers. Improving communication and mutual understanding is also an approach that t could resolve this conflict. The loud production environment and quick pace made it very h art for the student workers to communicate with the foreig n workers. Also, the language barrier didn't help the situation either. ROR to starting the job, Ihram should have TA ken more time for the foreign workers to meet the student workers and assist them wit engage barrier. After the conflict occurred, the students should have tried t o find a quiet space to attempt to discuss the problem with the foreign workers. This s essential in creating a mutual understanding of goals. The students need the foreign w errors to know that they are serious about completing the tasks and duties, and want t o work together instead of compete. 4) (a) Identify and discuss the sources of power used by the permanent staff and the students in the case.Page 8 The sources of power identified in this case can be seen between three differ .NET parties. The iris is between the three newly hired workers John, Bill, and Robert and Rah m. Ihram is the plant manager of H. J Heinz, he provides the students their job instructions . After giving instructions, he leaves almost immediately but what is seen is that John, Bill, a ND Robert listen to the plant manager on the given job instructions. Ihram is seen to have e coercive power which is defined as â€Å"the ability for a manager to punish subordinate. (textbook) When Ihram catches Bill throwing the case against the wall, he exerts his core give power and fires both Bill and Robert. According to Mollification's article he states the t too much coercive power has a negative impact on employees job satisfaction† â€Å"Most SC hollers in management and psychology believe that using coercive power (punishment) as a means to influence subordinates and staff has much more negative effects than positive e, due to its adverse physical and mental effects† ( Anomalousness et al , 2014) The second is between John, Bill, and Robert and George, the lead oven opera tort (cook).George is seen to have legitimate power because he is simply of a higher working position informally because he is a p ermanent staff. Also, George partially has coercive power because he threatened the three students to make work harder for them if the eye talk to Ihram again. The third relation is between Robert and Bill's relation with the woman who w ere operating the conveyer belt. They display a small level of expert power because as perm anent staff, they are have the knowledge and know how to speed up the line.They used t his knowledge Page 9 in a negative way and made the boys work harder when they increased the s peed of the conveyer belt. Which led to Robert and Bill them fired (b) Identify and fully describe two influence tactics that the student might have used to improve the way they were being treated by the permanent staff. Two influence tactics that the students could have used to improve the way the eye were being treated is by persuasion and upward appeal. Persuasion would be a strong TA stick to use by stating a logical arguments, and emotional appeals.John, Bill, and Robert cool d have tried to talk to George about their financial situation and tell him how his stereotyping them as â€Å"rich college kids† is completely wrong because if they were rich, why would they b e working for H. J Heinz during their summer vacation? Additionally, when Robert and Bill w ere facing robbers with the woman operating the conveyer belt and speeding it up ran dimly, they should have talked to their coworkers right away and tell them to stop.The SE condo tactic the boys could have tried was upward appeal. This approach deals with gaining s purport from higher authority. They could have reported this childish behavior coming fro m the woman working the conveyer belt to higher management and speak to Ihram. If Rah m doesn't help, then they should have reported this mistreatment to the HRS department and seek help from there. 5) Use the Communication Process Model and the Barriers to Communication ( Noise) to fully explain why communication broke down on the bottling.Pa ge 10 5. The communication break down in bottling will be supported by both the com ammunition process model and barriers to communication. Based on the communication process model there had been a communication break down since their was low proficiency in the communication channel, the codebooks had not been similar and some employees did not ha eve sufficient experience in encoding the messages.

Effects on Performance Management

Effects on Performance Management and the Company when Nepotism and Cronyism is Present. Cronyism is Present. Whether deliberate or unintentional, workplace nepotism and cronyism threatens positive corporate culture as well as the company's overall performance management. Managers who give special treatment to their family members or their favorites decrease the morale of the other employees and do not pay attention to the areas of need that the employee may be facing in their Job performance.Finding yourself on the non-receiving end of desirable assignments can be rough-?especially when the recipient also lacks adequate employment lubrications. The organization being discussed is a relatively small organization; there are approximately twenty full-time employees and seventeen part-time employees. The organization serves adults with developmental disabilities on cite and in the community. They are a non-profit organization and rely on state funded money as well as fundraisers.Their p erformance evaluation they work with does not have any weight when considering raises or pay scale. There have been two directors in the last ten years and both directors suffered from performance management issues. However, since the latest director has been in charge the organizational culture is also changing rapidly. The previous director hired her daughter and the daughter's best friend. When both were hired neither had the required skills to perform their duties. They both rapidly moved up the ladder of success during the director's time.A couple of years prior to the director's retirement an â€Å"assistant director† position was created to train the upcoming replacement. She also happened to be a family friend. This friend had experience as a support coordinator and some college experience. After the new director took over, the entire center seemed to be recreated. The â€Å"daughter† was made a program manager and the â€Å"friend† was made a program ma nager. Once these positions were filled and time went on, cronyism became very visible among the center staff.The â€Å"daughter† had now been moved into an â€Å"invented position† since she was unable to perform her managerial duties, as told to staff, yet her salary and status seemed to remain intact. The â€Å"friend† however seemed to shine brighter daily and chain of command communicated regularly. The morale of the organization started falling and stories and complaints traveled quickly between staff. It was starting to be evident that the word â€Å"team† did not exist. If rooms needed assistance, coverage, or other types of conflict arose there was not anyone to come and offer support.The staff knew they had to call the program manager per chain of command but she was never available. After months of back and forth from trying to get answers from the director and when questioned, the program manager, who also happens to have tightened the bond of friendship with this director would lie and say it is handled or Just not show up when needed the staff began feeling like no matter how much they complained or tried fixing the situation the director valued the friendships more than the organizations culture all together.Every year when it is time to do performance evaluations the direct support staff would cringe. They all knew that no matter what was on the form that they signed it did not matter because â€Å"if† there was a raise to be given, it would be a standard 1%-3% across the board. The facts that the â€Å"mangers† actually had a larger salary increased their raises due to the percentage factor.This past year most staff filled out their own evaluations and wrote their own goal to work towards the following year and the managers Just signed off and passed to the director. The character of cronyism is proactive and dynamic. Goanna (1991) notes that loyalty has two true-hearted dimensions: emotional and behav ioral. The emotional aspect of loyalty results from gratitude. Since emotions are invisible, one's loyalty is evaluated through the behavioral dimension.In situations where loyalty is a highly valued characteristic, individuals tend to display loyal behaviors in order to receive positive evaluations and personal benefits, in this case no consequences for not being supportive to the program staff or not being held accountable for her lack of performance. Additionally, it may not be easy to distinguish between behaviors hat emerge from true-hearted gratitude and behaviors that result purely from â€Å"impression management. † That is why this definition of cronyism is based on the notion of perceived loyalty.The lower ranked employees are likely to play an active role. For instance, a program staff may want to influence the perception her supervisor by uncritically agreeing with the program manager on work or non-work related issues or by speaking highly of that program manager in the presence of the director of the center. (Deluge and Perry, 1994). This perceived loyalty plays a major factor when the yearly evaluations roll around. Since there is not clear Job descriptions or expectations in any area of the organization there would not be anything to effectively measure or evaluate.Popularity or convenience plays more of a role. When the evaluations rotate through the managers, they have many other things that rank higher in priority so it is usually rushed through and passed back to the director to file. In a healthy organizational culture personal relationships and loyalty, to a certain degree, may be functional and does not necessarily breed cronyism. Coffee and Jones (1996), argue that sociability, which refers to sincere approachability among members f an organization, raises morale, fosters teamwork, and promotes creativity.However, when the stress on relationships is so great that it is turned into strong in- group bias and when loyalty becomes un reserved, cronyism is likely to occur. There is a more complex system of social interactions that arise spontaneously as people associate with one another. Dissimilar to the formal structure, which accentuates official positions in terms of authority and responsibility, the informal structure emphasizes people and their unofficial relationships (Newsroom and Davis, 1993).The informal system develops to fulfill needs that cannot be met by the formal system. Increasing informal relationships with the right people, which may include subordinates, peers, and superiors, can be a useful means of acquiring power Nouns, 1992). The coupled relationship between the superior and subordinate in the context of cronyism tends to be governed by their personal ties rather than assigned Job duties or responsibilities.These casual relationships may override organizational hierarchy and involve an element of â€Å"power-seeking,† where individuals exchange ore than friendship among themselves t o further individual goals that cannot be met through formal channels. Studies suggest that the mere act of categorizing people as â€Å"cliques† and out-groups have a tendency to result in favoritism (Teasel et al. , 1971; Turner et al. , 1983). Clique members are given high levels of trust, interaction, support and rewards while out-group members receive low levels of each and often denied valuable opportunities (Vehicle, 1997).These behaviors breed a competition among the staff that creates stress among the employees since they hank that if they are not a member of that clique or friendship they may not get any of the â€Å"rewards† they feel those clique members receive. Some examples of this description within the organization is when an instructor, someone with no authority, brings gifts or constantly offering flattering compliments to feel as though she is in the â€Å"clique† status and when an opportunity arises like a special outing or work opportunity that is praise worthy she usually gets it.The opposite end of the spectrum however is the employee that constantly goes above and beyond her jugular Job duties to help others and seems knowledgeable of her position gets constantly overlooked for promotions, raises, or passed by because she chooses to focus more in her Job rather than the social side of relationships. Personal loyalty toward the program manager or director is different from loyalty to the organization or organizational commitment.The director or program manager's cronies may not be committed to the organization as a whole. In fact, the increase of a deep sense of obligation toward the director or program manager may surpass connection toward the organization (Chem. and Francesco, 2000). An example could be that if the director leaves the organization, her cronies will try to follow suit. Being trusted supporters, â€Å"clique† members of a work unit tend to cultivate a feeling of gratitude towards the program manager or director.These same employees are likely to be pleased with their work due to the existence of receptive bonds in their working relationships. These same employees shared motivational factors and experienced less role-related stress like Job overload, insufficiency, ambiguity, or conflict. Unfortunately, out-group employees who do not possess these same connections seem to have lower Job distraction because even if they are the â€Å"cream of the crop,† their chances of climbing the ladder of success are slim.This has an antagonistic impact on their sense of self-worth as they become trapped in organizations that require friendships to â€Å"earn† promotions (Hurley et al. , 1997). This reason alone should be evidence enough that performance evaluations should be considered more serious than they are in this particular company. They are likely to feel a sense of inequality when they perceive that in-group members, regardless of competency, manage to be prom oted much faster than they do.It is not surprising to find that out-group members are more likely to file grievances (Coleman et al. , 1993). The clique group of employees is likely to show low commitment to the organization. This is where prominence on loyalty to the director or manager may transform into negative organizational performance when the directors personal goals struggle with those of the organization. Although cultural influence plays an important part here, the practice of cronyism, with its stress on loyalty toward management rather than the organization, greatly emphasizes such influence.When the company's strategic plan ND evaluation standards are stated to be practiced one way in the personnel handbook and the actual actions of the management staff proves otherwise the staff could view that situation as an opportunity to slack on their personal performance and not care whether or not the company actual succeeds or not. Obligation is related to organizational depen dability or the degree to which an organization is perceived to be looking after the interests of its employees in practices such as Job security and career development (Buchanan, 1974; Steers, 1977).Due to in-group bias, the hard work of out-group members is often unrecognized by their previous. Furthermore, out-group members do not experience the Job security and preferred rewards in-group members enjoy. They are often overlooked in terms of opportunities for personal achievement. While in-group members are delegated key roles in the organization, and the out-group members are merely assigned peripheral functions that are easily expendable (Change, 1999).Ingratiation, an attempt by individuals to increase their attractiveness in the eyes of others, is one particular rising influence strategy whereby ingratiation behaviors are driven by attempts to influence someone higher in the formal hierarchy of an organization Porter et al. , 1983). Loyalty is adored in cronyism; employees may openly reaffirm the manager's views and defend her appearance and prestige. They may also acknowledge the power distance in the hierarchy ladder and show their submissiveness in order to win the manager or directors heart (Fisher, 1977).The noticeable benefit associated with the in-group status encourages ingratiation behaviors. In addition to having impacts on individuals working in an organization, it can also greatly impact the clientele the organization serves; cronyism also produces significant consequences at the group or organizational level. Personal feelings can seriously bias Judgment. Positive affect toward employees makes managers less likely to give them negative performance feedback. With this being said, incompetence among in-group members has a tendency to be hidden and covered up in the organization.Since in-group members are rewarded on the basis of loyalty rather than competence, they do not see the need to excel and may at best achieve average performance. Addit ionally, these same employees tend to channel their energy and attention to ingratiating themselves with the manager or director or other related political behaviors. This ultimately distracts the employee from completing their proper Job duties (Coffee and Jones, 1996). Talent, which would otherwise rise to the top, is blocked and stifled by lack of opportunity. This leads to talented people leaving the organization.The constant leeching away of talent inevitably weakens the strength of the organization (Redding and Whish, 1993). Finally, the quality of decision making is a victim of cronyism. Any leader who is surrounded by â€Å"yes men† is unable to benefit from the diverse perspectives, experience, and knowledge of their employees. Worse still, with stress on conformity, ideas are unlikely to be fined and improved through group discussion and debate. The result of having such differentiated treatment can cause hostility between the two groups, consequently harmfully affe cting their cooperation and sense of teamwork.Progressively, the relation between the in-group and out-group employees suffers as the unjustified practices continue, and the leader's cronies are perceived to be getting more benefits than deserved (You kill, 1994). Over time, the morale of the out- group will be eroded by their feelings of alienation, powerlessness, and inequity as favoritism of in-group employees renders the relationship between performance and reward less obvious (Preponderates and Topple, 1996). Cronyism stems from the fact that management is able to manipulate rewards and punishments for their employees.The greater their ability to do so, the greater is the personal dependence of employees on them. Missies, (1998) maintains that favored â€Å"clique† treatment may be reduced by making evaluation criteria explicit, objective, and public. To sum up, presence of competent managers and directors are likely to reduce crony behaviors. It is instinctual that comp etent managers tend to reward and promote competency among their employees. But, incompetent managers and directors would feel heartened by competent employees, and inevitably drive away competent employees (Bodleian and Ramekins, 1998).Preponderates (1993) notes that â€Å"yes men† tend to be concentrated among less able workers and among workers with less able managers. In conclusion, the organizational problem of nepotism eventually stemmed to accepted cronyism. By management allowing this to take place the employees began feeling resentment and the organizations moral dropped dramatically. In this particular organization, the clientele are the main ones affected by these behaviors to take place.

Lamb to the Slaughter: How Did Social Roles Allow Mrs. Maloney to Get Away with Murder

Amber Lopez Mr. Lopez AP English III February 4, 2013 Snapped: How Mrs. Maloney got away with murder In the short story â€Å"Lamb to the slaughter† by Roald Dahl, Mrs. Maloney gets away with killing her husband and nobody really suspects her of doing so because she's a woman. The setting and time period of the story plays a large role because this is still an era when men and women had gender roles. Mrs. Maloney isn't a suspect to her husband's murder because she had an alibi and one of the main reasons was she had the gender role of the typical house wife.In the story the detctives do not suspect Mrs. Maloney of killing her husband because her gender roles as a woman are being fragile, dumb, incapable of doing anything that needs physical force, does nothing but cook, clean, take care of the house, tend to her husband, and above all she is pregnant which helps her get away with murdering her husband. Mrs. Maloney is the typical house wife that always tends to her husbands ev ery need. When she kills her husband and the detectives come to her house to investigate his murder they do not expect her to have done such a thing.The detectives believed that her husband was hit behind the head with a heavy blunt object and her gender role being a woman let alone a pregnant woman help her get away with murder. Since she's a pregnant woman her gender role helps her seem fragile and weak Incapable of carrying a heavy object and exerting enough force to kill someone, so that's one of the reasons she gets away with murder. Another reason Mrs. Maloney gets away with killing her husband is that she basically worshipped him, she lived for him. Mrs.Maloney did everything she possibly could make her husband a happy man, the way it should be in those times. In the story it shows how much Mrs. Maloney loved her husband, and how she enjoyed being a house wife. The police officers and detectives notice that Mrs. Maloney seemed to be grieving over her husband's death, and they didn't know about Mr. Maloney's intentions on leaving Mrs. Maloney, so it makes her look less suspicous. Last but not least Mrs. Maloney was a smart woman, and created an alibi. Men in those times thought women were dumb, and they were also supposed to be virtuous and innocent.So when the detectives questioned her she had the perfect alibi. To men a woman could have never been able to do such a thing because they were too innocent, and since they were considered dumb they knew she would've been caught if they would have killed someone. In Conclusion, the gender roles of women played a large role in the story because it hepled Mrs. Maloney get away with murdering her husband. The detectives obviously had stereotypes about her being the typical house wife and she played along, so Mr. Maloney's murderer will remain a mystery. DUN DUN DUN