Leadership Styles and TQM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership Styles and TQM - Essay Example To begin with, it is important to understand these concepts. Chew (2010) defines leadership styles as the approach and way in which direction are provided, people are motivated, and plans are implemented within a given organization or setting. Also, leadership styles can refer to how a person (a leader) plays his or her leadership role; that is how he or she treats others, make decisions, and interacts with others (Northouse, 2011). In other words, leadership styles are about how a leader behaves, his/her experience, decisions, personality, actions, and philosophy. On the other hand, TQM is defined as an approach that aims at improving performance and quality that exceed and meet the expectations of customers of the organization Rawlins (2010). According to Evans and Lindsay (2010), TQM refers to a management philosophy or approach that is integrated for constant improvement of the quality of processes and products of an organization. In regard to leadership styles, there are several styles. However, most of these styles can be grouped into three major categories namely; authoritarian or autocratic style, democratic or participative style, and delegative or free reign (Schein, 2010). In authoritarian style, all or nearly all the decision making processes and powers are centralized to the organizational leader; there is very little or no contribution at all from the subordinates. Participative leadership involves participation of both the leader and subordinates in decision making; the decisions are not unilateral but rather collaborative (Schein, 2010). Lastly, a delegative or free rein style of leadership where the leader transfers responsibilities and authority to others who may often be the subordinates. It is based on the belief that a single person cannot do everything and has to set priorities and delegate certain tasks and subordinates are sometime free to decide their own methods and policies (Northouse, 2011). It is also crucial to understand TQM in de tails. Evans and Lindsay (2010) explain that TQM achieves its objective through integration of processes and all quality- related functions throughout the organization. According to Rawlins (2010), TQM is guided by a number of principles. These principles include; customer focus, employee involvement, continuous improvement, executive management, decision making, organizational culture, methodology, and training. Rawlins also argues that TQM involves costs that are essential in yielding better results for the organization. They include; failure costs, appraisal costs, and prevention costs. It is in the light of the above that the relationship between leadership styles and TQM can be understood and be explained. Pauleen and Gorman (2011) observe that the two concepts are fundamentally different but related especially in regard to operations and management of an organization towards achieving the set goals and objectives. As noted from the above explanations of the two concepts, they differ in meaning and functions. However, they relate in a number of aspects. First, application of these aspects in the organization is aimed at achieving organizational goals and objectives (Ivancevich, 2011). Secondly, they are both functions of the organizations that are necessary for the proper

Music's importance in Japanese History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Music's importance in Japanese History - Essay Example Music has a great significance in the Japanese history because has helped keep the historic moments about the state of Japan. The message in these songs is all about Japan and is considered to be informative and preservative as while. This is through various songs that are considered more important for their contents. These songs talk about how Japan came up, and they create attention of many when sang. The prehistoric songs impacted positively in the history of Japan because they are the first chronicles of the new state. These songs also became the tradition of imperial counts.Many musical and poetic verses and images have influenced the development of modern music and have been incorporated in the present music styles; this gives a reflection of the history of Japan. The musical and poetic verses and images keep the past about the state in details and recurrences in their use helps in transferring of the historic moments of the country from one generation to another. This helps in historical socialization of individuals who are born in Japan.Music helps express the past activities of the state of Japan. It was central in the prose work in the ancient Japan. This was through the dances that rose by the influence of music tones and rhythm. The dances of Gagaku, flute, koto and biwa lute run through the background of the classical novel which gave the story of Genji Monogatari which was based on a great lover in the imperial. This shows that music led to those dances that passed information in a different context.

The implementation of strategic change at Microsoft Canada

The implementation of strategic change at Microsoft Canada The Organization Development literature has directed appreciable attention at in being able to lead and manage change. The major portion of the material is highly normative, advising managers about how they should be planning and implements organizational changes. For example, one study suggested that successful managers in ceaselessly changing organizations should first; provide clear responsibility and priorities with extensive communication and freedom to improvise. Second, explore the future by experimenting with a wide variety of low cost probes; and thirdly, link current projects to the future with predictable intervals and choreographed transition procedures. Traditionally the main focus of change management is on identifying sources that resist change and offers ways to overcome them. Most of the recent contributions have been challenging the focus on resistance and have shifted the aimed at creating vision along with gaining political support for them, and managing the trans ition of the organization toward them. The various ways in which managing change can be classified are in figure below. MOTIVATING CHANGE Creating Readiness for Change Overcoming Resistance to Change CREATING A VISION Describing the Core Ideology Constructing the Envisioned Future EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT DEVELOPING POLITICAL SUPPORT Assessing Change Agent Power Identifying Key Stakeholders Influencing Stakeholders MANAGING THE TRANSITION Activity Planning Commitment Planning Management Structures SUSTAINING MOMENTUM Providing resources for Change Building a Support System for Change Agents Developing New Competencies and Skills Reinforcing New Behaviors Staying the Course The above mentioned activities contribute a lot to effective change management and have been listed in the order in which they usually are performed. The first amongst the activities involves motivating change and also includes creating a readiness for change amongst the members of the organization and which indeed helps them to address resistance to change. Initially motivation is a critical issue for change process because a lot of evidence indicates that people as well as the organizations want to preserve the status quo and are willing to change only when there are strong powerful reasons to do so. The next activity is considered with creating a vision and is closely alignment with leadership activities. The vision has the sole purpose of providing a purpose and lay out for change and it describes the desired future state of the organization. The next activity involves the task of developing political support for the change. Organizations of all kinds are composed of powerful ind ividuals as well as groups that can either block or promote change, and it is the task of the leaders and the change agents to gain the support and permission of the higher authorities in order to implement changes. The fourth activity is concerned with managing movement from the current state to the desired level in the organization. It involves designing a plan for managing the change activities as well as planning particular management structures for working of the organization during this transition. The next and the final activity involve sustaining the flow or momentum for change so that it is being able to be carried to completion. The final activity includes task such as providing resources for implementing the changes, building a support system for change agents, developing new competencies and skills needed to implement the changes. Unless man-to-man are motivated and bound up to change, unfreezing the status quo will be very difficult. Without vision, chances are there th at change will be disorganized and diffused. Along with the fast moving pace of global, economic, and technological development change becomes an inevitable feature of the life of the organizational. But change that happens to an organization externally by the environment is quite different from the change that is planned and incorporated by the members of the organization. The main motive of Organizational development is to bring in changes in the organization in a planned manner so as to be able to increase its effectiveness and this organizational change is usually initiated and implemented by managers, with the help of professional OD practitioners. Conceptions of planned change have tended to focus on how change can be implemented in organizations. In order to implement change in any organization, certain frameworks are used as models that describe the activities that must take place to initiate and carry out successful organizational change. Let us now discuss change that Microsoft Canada tried to implement in its organization by implementing Strategic Change. MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE AT MICROSOFT CANADA Microsoft Canada is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation responsible for the service, marketing and the sales of the full range of software products, including the Windows operating system, the office productivity suite, a variety of Net products, and the Xbox game console. The organization marketed to a variety of segments, such as software application developers, small and medium business and large enterprises, through a broad range of partners that worked directly with the client organizations to install and optimize the software used. A small service organization provided consulting support to clients with the partner. Before 2001, Microsoft Canada had been part of North American subsidiary. Under this structure, large US market was clearly the focus of attention from Microsoft server, desktop, other software products. However, Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under developed. It had a different mix of customers that did a United States, different competitors and different growth opportunities. Moreover, software sales and personnel computers shipments as a percentage of markets size and growth were below worldwide averages. These differences, Clegg argued warranted a specialized strategy. As the fiscal year ended Clegg and his newly appointed Director of Strategic Planning, Sandra Palmero, wanted to cease the opportunity to define a uniquely Canadian strategy. Before becoming Director of Strategic Planning, Palmero had been Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications in Microsoft Canada. There with Richard Reynolds, her Senior Marketing Manager, they had planned and implemented a participative process of strategic planning. Sandra conducted the OD practitioner who had worked with them and contracted to design and implement a Strategic planning process for the Canadian organization. Over a 2 month period, Sandra conceived of a series of workshops involving the Canadian leadership team. This team represented a broad cross section of the organization including representatives from legal staffs, human resources, service business and Microsoft consultant, marketing managers, customer support and managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business inclu ding enterprise customer, small and medium business, the Microsoft Network and the Xbox. The strategic analysis phase consisted of preliminary work by several members of the Canadian leadership team as well as initial exercises during the first workshop. Member of Canadian Leadership team each prepared an analysis of their respected areas of responsibilities. For example, the enterprise sales manager provided historical growth rates in the revenue, developed forecast for market growths and Microsofts share, described current levels of Customer satisfaction and technology road map of products being developed by the Redmond headquarters organization. In addition to this specific analysis, Sandra contracted with a market research firm to provide overall description of Canadian information technology market. Finally a competitor analysis was performed to develop and understanding of likely strategies, goals, and initiatives from key competitors such as IBM, Sun Micro System, and Oracle as well as competitive threat posed by the Linux Operating System Software. During first workshop the Canadian Leadership team used the pre work data to perform an environmental scan. They discussed, debated, and ultimately came to some agreements about the trends affecting the organization. Based on that scan, the group engaged in a vision and value formation exercise and set out an initial list of short and long term goals. These activities let to several important decisions for new marketing organizations. For example, the vision and values exercised produced important insight about what the Canadian organization stood for, its uniqueness compared to the marketing subsidiaries within the Microsoft Organization, and its strengths in competing as a Canadian organization. The values also informed discussion about future goals and strategy to achieve them. Importantly, the Canadian leadership realized that customer loyalty would and should become a driving force for the organization. This realization led to passionate discussions about the relative emphasis i n the organization on revenues versus customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also led to development of Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) that the members of the Canadian Leadership Team believed would be challenging but achievable. The first workshop ended with a number of assignments, unresolved issues, and excitement about the future. In between the first and second workshops, members of the Canadian Leadership Team worked with their own organizations. Issues, decisions and questions that were addressed within the Canadian Leadership Team were discussed throughout the organization. The most important discussion concerned the Big Hairy Audacious Goal and the relative emphasis of revenues and customer loyalty over the short and long term. A consensus began to emerge that the right and proper strategy for Microsoft was to argue for a slower growth rate in revenues the short term, invest in customer satisfaction and then leverage that loyalty for a more secure stream of revenues in the future. Frank Clegg took this idea to the executives in Redmond and discussed the implications of this strategy, including revenue projections, risk involved, the budget implications, and how the strategy aligned with corporate and other marketing organizations initiatives. The result of these conversations became the subject of opening discussions at second workshop. The cautions but positive support from the corporate organization allowed the Canadian leadership team to move forward on its strategic intent. In second workshop, the organizations mission and values were finalized; year by year revenue goals were agreed upon to achieve the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and these goals were broken down and assigned to specific groups and managers. Finally, key customer and partner loyalty programs were established and outlined. Ownership for different initiatives was assigned and a strategic change plan originated. Frank Clegg pressed the group on its decision to emphasize customer loyalty and challenged the group with several scenarios that tempted them to trade off satisfaction for revenue. These scenarios helped fix the Canadian leadership teams commitment to their strategy. The important part of the strategic change plan that came out was a discussion and decision to tie the individual performance appraisals of Canadian leadership team as a whole also staked their end of fiscal year bonuses to the achievement of customer satisfaction, instead of revenue goals. The strategic change efforts at Microsoft Canada are important for few reasons. First, the Canadian organizations realization of the benefits of customer satisfaction and loyalty was influential in moving the larger Microsoft Corporation to examine its values in this area. Business Week reported on the changes Steve Ballmer was making in the organization; they reflected the increased importance of customer loyalty in Microsofts strategy and structure changes. Second, the organization learned how to organize a strategic planning effort. In the second year since this effort began, Sandra Palmero did built a stronger strategic planning organization and taken more and more responsibility for driving the strategic planning process. Even as the corporate Microsoft organization was making important changes in its reporting structure, business process, financial systems, the Canadian organization was able to adapt using its own resources and knowledge. Finally, the Big Hairy Audacious Goal h as become an institutionalized part of the organization that drives thinking and decision making in the organization. In context with the case in hand we are suppose to work on a few task related to the case in hand. Firstly, let us discuss the history of the organization in hand, which is Microsoft Canada. Microsoft Canada Inc. was established in 1985. It is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. the worldwide leader in services, software and solutions that help inhabit and small business realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. It has its headquarters in Mississauga and has nine regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software- anytime, anywhere and on any devise. Secondly, let us now discuss the circumstances that led the organization to undergo strategic change. Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under developed and it had a different mix of customers. Thus it demanded for different co mpetitors and different growth opportunities. Another circumstance was that the percentage of markets size and growth of software sales and personnel computers shipments were below worldwide averages. These circumstances demanded a specialized strategy. Thirdly, the type of change that was implemented in the Microsoft Canada was basically strategically. The change has been incorporated in such a way that every aspect of the organization starting from legal staffs, human resources, service business and Microsoft consultant, marketing managers, customer support and managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business including enterprise customer, small and medium business, the Microsoft Network and the Xbox were taken into consideration. The senior members of the organization have tried its best to formulate and design the strategically change in such a manner that it helps Microsoft Canada to increase its percentage market share and gain better growth. Fourthly, in orde r to incorporate the strategically change into the organization the involvement of every member of the organization is very necessary. The strategically change was initiated by Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada and Sandra Palmero, Director of Strategic Planning. Sandra Palmero along with Richard Reynolds, her Senior Marketing Manager, had crafted and implemented a participative process of strategic planning. Sandra conducted the OD practitioner who had worked with them and contracted to design and implement a Strategic planning process for the Canadian organization. Fifthly, the methods used in implementing the strategically change were basically workshops, assignments and discussions of issues related to work. Canadian Leadership Team was formed by members of various departments of the organization that were focused on developing and implementing strategically change in the Microsoft Canada Organization. During the first workshop the Canadian Leadership team used the pre w ork data to perform an environmental scan. They discussed, debated, and ultimately came to some agreements about the trends affecting the organization. Based on that scan, the group engaged in a vision and value formation exercise and set out an initial list of short and long term goals. These activities let to several important decisions for new marketing organizations. The Canadian leadership realized that customer loyalty would and should become a driving force for the organization. A consensus began to emerge that the right and proper strategy for Microsoft was to argue for a slower growth rate in revenues the short term, invest in customer satisfaction and then leverage that loyalty for a more secure stream of revenues in the future. In second workshop, the organizations mission and values were finalized; year by year revenue goals were agreed upon and these goals were broken down and assigned to specific groups and managers. The important part of the strategic change plan that emerged was a discussion and decision to tie the individual performance appraisals of Canadian leadership team as a whole also staked their end of fiscal year bonuses to the achievement of customer satisfaction, rather than revenue goals. Steve Ballmer increased the importance of customer loyalty in Microsofts strategy and structural changes and also the organization learned how to organize a strategic planning effort. Microsoft organization has made important changes in its reporting structure, business process, financial systems; the Canadian organization was able to adapt using its own resources and knowledge. Big Hairy Audacious Goal has become an institutionalized part of the organization that drives thinking and decision making in the organization. Finally, the main changes that have been seen in the performance level of the employees getting better along with rise in the percentage of market share which led to its growth both internal as well as external. Also, the Canadian Leadership Team and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal was permanently incorporated in the structure of the organization. (b) Strengths of Bureaucratic organizations are as follows: Higher level of consistency is maintained in decisions and implementation of projects. The control exerted by the head quarters or top level management ensures that the systems and delivery of services to the beneficiaries are in line with the laid down procedures. The major and important final decisions made by top management, considering various perspectives of organization. In this aspect the powers and interests of various stakeholders also taken care in delivering the final outcome. Another benefit is better cost control and management. Weaknesses of Bureaucratic organizations are as follows, The higher level of bureaucracy leads to lack of innovation and development in the organization, which leads to loss of competitive advantage in certain circumstances. Another disadvantage is that higher the structure and communication ladder impedes the speed of communication and decision making, and speed of response in emergency situations. The motivation of employees drops because of the lower level of delegation of duties and responsibilities and lower empowerment.. What must be realized is only that the strait jacket of bureaucratic organization paralyzes the individuals initiative, while within the capitalist market society an innovator still has a chance to succeed. (c) Managing change is an inevitable part of Organizational Development. Organization Development is about how people and organizations function and how to get them to function better. The field is based on knowledge from behavioral science disciplines such as psychology, social psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, organization theory and management. OD programs are long-term, planned, sustained efforts. Various definitions of OD are: Organization development refers to a long-range effort to improve an organizations problem solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral-scientist consultants, or change agents, as they are sometimes called. (Wendell French) Organization development is a system-wide process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention, and evaluation aimed at (1) enhancing congruence among organizational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture; (2) developing new and creative organizational solutions; and (3) develop the organizations self renewing capacity. It occurs through the collaboration of organizational members working with a change agent using behavioral science theory, research, and technology.(Michael Beer) Thus, Organization development is a system based and wide application that transfers behavioral science knowledge to the planned improvement, and reinforcement of the process that lead to effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. All OD programs have three basic components: diagnosis, action and program management. The symptomatic component represents a uninterrupted collection of data about the total system, its subunits, its processes, and its culture. The action component consists of all the activities and interventions designed to improve the organizations functioning. The program management component encompasses all activities designed to ensure success of the program. The process of Organizational Development is quite complicated and the completion of the change process consumes a lot of time with a minimum of one year and sometimes keeps indefinitely. There are different approaches to the process but the usual process consists of seven steps, which are initial diagnosis, data collection, data feedback and confrontation, action planning and problem solving, team building, inter group development and evaluation and follow up. organizational development process The following steps are vital steps taken into consideration while implementing any alternative forms of organizational development: Communications patterns, styles and flows. Goal setting. Decision making, problem solving, and action planning. Conflict resolution and management. Managing interface relations. Superior- subordinate relations. Technological and engineering systems. Strategic management and long-range planning. Vision/ Mission formulation. Organizational learning. Task 2 (a) The key stakeholders in Microsoft Canada can be people from any of the departments and levels of the organizations. But in general, the following people are the stakeholders of Microsoft Canada: Financial analysts Business analysts Forecasting or sales individual contributors Controller IT specialists and administrators. Legal staffs Human resources Service business and Microsoft consultant Marketing managers Customer support Managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business including enterprise customer. Etc. (b) As discussed already it has been seen that the above cited stakeholders are the main members of the Canadian Leadership Team and plays a very significant role in the successful formation and implementation of Strategically Change in Microsoft Canada. The stakeholders, most of whom are also the members of the Canadian Leadership Team have played important role in the workshops, assignments, and discussions that was basically done to decide upon implementing new strategically changes required by Microsoft Canada to achieve its long term and short term goals. Also in the beginning of this report we have discussed three different models that are usually used in any organization as models for implementing and managing change, which are, Lewins Planned Change Model, Action Research Model and Positive model. After going through the entire case in hand it is seen that the Action Research Model best suits the procedure in which implementation of strategical change was carried out in Microsoft Canada. As the Action Research Model of change suggests, Microsoft Canada firstly, identified the problem that the organization was facing and having done that it was discussed upon by the experts of the organization and data was gathered from various sources to analyze the problem in order to be able to provide with the best possible solution. Finally, The Canadian Leadership Team acted as the Action team that helped to implement the solutions and bring in the Change in Microsoft Canada. Thus, the above report is a good example of implementing and managin g change in an organization. Task 3 (a) UnfreezingLewins Planned Change Model Refreezing Movement Action Research Model Data Gathering after Action Action Joint Action Planning Joint Diagnosis of Problem Feedback to Key Client or Group Data Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis Consultation with Behavioral Science Expert Problem Identification Positive Model Design and Deliver ways to create the Future Envision a Preferred Future Discover Themes Inquire into Best Practices Initiate the Inquiry There are various types of change that an organization may implement. (b) It is often remarked that the only constant thing in the world is Change and having said that in todays so fast moving world and economy, every organization needs to implement change in its working structure and structure to be able to cope up with the changing environment. Today, organizations basically go for a change in order to be up to date with the current world and also are able to cope up with the increasing competition. Change suiting to the organization helps the organization to attain better brand name and a increased market share. Also change in the structure and working environment usually helps the organization to provide its employees to be happy and satisfied working in the organization and give maximum effective result to the output of the organization. Thus there may be a number of reasons that might have led to any organizations decision to implement change in the organization. In case of Microsoft Canada, Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under-developed and it had a different mix of customers. Thus it demanded for different competitors and different growth opportunities. Another circumstance was that the percentage of markets size and growth of software sales and personnel computers shipments were below worldwide averages. These circumstances demanded a specialized strategy. Thus this was the major reason that led Microsoft Canada to decide to implement Strategic Change in the organization.

Great Expectations as a Victorian Serial Novel :: Great Expectations Essays

  Ã‚   The average Victorian serial novel spoke about the sort of lifestyle nineteenth-century readers wanted for themselves. Charles Dickens was a talented novelist known for skills in serial writing. It was he who made the serial popular again after its near death from the crisis of the English tax. A serial is an ongoing story told over time in monthly or weekly installments. Great Expectations, in serial form, is a novel that was printed in weekly installments in Dickens's magazine, All Year Round. In its analysis it has proven to live up to true serial form.    In the serial form of Great Expectations there are two chapters in every weekly installment and seven chapters in each monthly installment. The entire novel consists of nine monthly and thirty-six weekly installments. In most serials there is more than one plot line in each installment. In Great Expectations this holds true. In both the weekly and monthly installments the plot lines seem to shift from chapter to chapter. So, although there is only one plot line per chapter, there are multiple plot lines in every installment. The nineteenth-century serial was meant to be a continuing story with each and every installment, in the sense that the interruptions do not seem like drastic cutoffs from the story. Each installment seems to end one part of the story nicely while still keeping the reader guessing and waiting for the next installment to pick up where the last one left off. The pick-ups of installments are individual beginnings that follow the plot line of the previous installment . A pattern that seems to follow with each installment is that the ending of an installment closes a chapter, while the pick-up of a new installment begins a new chapter. A second pattern is that each installment does not include a complete plot line, such as beginning-climax-ending. The complete plot line seems to expand over the course of the entire novel.    Publishing played a major role with the serial novel. The popularization of the serial came about when the English tax was proposed. Newspapers and magazines used bigger sheets of paper to avoid the tax and used serials to fill up this extra space. Many serials of the nineteenth-century were not published alone but in newspapers and magazines. Included with them were advertisements and illustrations. In serial form Great Expectations included illustrations within the novel.

Philosophy of Benedict Spinoza Essay

If one were to make a list of iconoclastic and radical thinkers, Benedict Spinoza would rank high. His great and enduring work, Ethics, continues to have renewed impact, currently among environmentalists and ecologically minded thinkers. Spinoza wrote numerous philosophical, political, and religious criticism works. His efforts consistently express a mind set in favor of religious tolerance and in opposition to traditional religious orthodoxy. In his two major works, Tractatus Thologico-Politicus and Ethics present interpretations of spiritual concepts that continue to offend some religious believers and provide an avenue of belief for those who aver traditional religion. Born in Amsterdam on November 24, 1632 in a jewish community and died in The Hague on February 20, 1677 at the age of 44. Latinized his given name Baruch(blessed) using the form Benedictus. Spinoza lived an outwardly simple life as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions. The family inheritance he gave to his sister. On 27 July 1656, the Talmud Torah congregation of Amsterdam issued a writ of cherem (Jew)/Herem(Hebrew), a kind of ban, shunning, ostracism, expulsion, or excommunication against the 23 year old Spinoza. Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important cosmopolitan centers where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. Some possibility of free thought and shelter from the crushing hand of ecclesiastical authority. Most significantly, he came into contact with so-called ‘free-thinking’ Protestants – dissenters from the dominant Calvinism – who maintained a lively interest in a wide range of theological issues, as well as in the latest developments in philosophy and science. In order to discuss their interests, these free-thinkers organized themselves into small groups, they called colleges, which met on a regular basis. Spinoza may have attended such meetings as early as the first half of the 1650? s, and it is most likely here that he received his first exposure to Cartesian thought. His intellectual horizons were expanding and he was experiencing a restlessness that drove him to look further afield. It was at this time that he placed himself under the tutelage of an ex-Jesuit, Latinist,a medical doctor, Franciscus Van den Enden, who was notorious for his allegedly irreligious cast of mind, a passionate advocate of democratic political ideals. Spinoza’s increasingly unorthodox views and, perhaps, laxity in his observance of the Jewish law strained his relations with the community. Tensions became so great that resulted in his excommunication . Most Important works a) Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrate (simply, Ethics) b)Tractatus Theologico-politicus c)Brief Treatise on God, Man and His Happiness d)Tractaus de intellectus emendation e)Cogitata metaphysica Philosophy A . Against dualism â€Å"God is the infinite, necessarily existing (that is, uncaused), unique substance of the universe. There is only one substance in the universe; it is God; and everything else that is, is in God. † Spinoza believed God exists and contends that â€Å"Deus sive Natura† (â€Å"God or Nature†) is a being of infinitely many attributes, is abstract and impersonal. As a youth he first subscribed to Descartes’s dualistic belief that body and mind are two separate substances, but later changed his view and asserted that they were not separate, the universal substance consists of both body and mind, that it is a single identity there being no difference between these aspects. He contended that everything that exists in Nature (i. e. , everything in the Universe) is one Reality (substance) and there is only one set of rules governing the whole of the reality which surrounds us and of which we are part. Spinoza believes that: 1)a God that does not rule over the universe by providence, but a God which itself is the deterministic system of which everything in nature is a part. 2)God would be the natural world and have no personality. 3)To see God or Nature as acting for the sake of ends—to find purpose in Nature—is to misconstrue Nature and â€Å"turn it upside down† by putting the effect (the end result) before the true cause. 4)Nor does God perform miracles, since there are no departures whatsoever from the necessary course of nature. The belief in miracles is due only to ignorance of the true causes of phenomena. If a stone has fallen from a room onto someone’s head and killed him, they will show, in the following way, that the stone fell in order to kill the man. For if it did not fall to that end, God willing it, how could so many circumstances have concurred by chance (for often many circumstances do concur at once)? Perhaps you will answer that it happened because the wind was blowing hard and the man was walking that way. But they will persist: why was the wind blowing hard at that time? why was the man walking that way at that time? If you answer again that the wind arose then because on the preceding day, while the weather was still calm, the sea began to toss, and that the man had been invited by a friend, they will press on—for there is no end to the questions which can be asked: but why was the sea tossing? why was the man invited at just that time? And so they will not stop asking for the causes of causes until you take refuge in the will of God, i.e. , the sanctuary of ignorance. (I, Appendix) B. Humane vision â€Å"Everything must necessarily happen the way that it does. Therefore, humans have no free will. They believe, however, that their will is free† Spinoza was a thoroughgoing determinist who held that absolutely everything that happens occurs through the operation of necessity. For him, even human behaviour is fully determined, with freedom being our capacity to know we are determined and to understand why we act as we do. So freedom is not the possibility to say â€Å"no† to what happens to us but the possibility to say â€Å"yes† and fully understand why things should necessarily happen that way. This illusionary perception of freedom stems from our human consciousness, experience and our indifference to prior natural causes. Humans think they are free but they ? dream with their eyes open?. For Spinoza, our actions are guided entirely by natural impulses. This picture of Spinoza’s determinism is ever more illuminated through reading this famous quote in Ethics: ? the infant believes that it is by free will that it seeks the breast; the angry boy believes that by free will he wishes vengeance; the timid man thinks it is with free will he seeks flight; the drunkard believes that by a free command of his mind he speaks the things which when sober he wishes he had left unsaid. †¦ All believe that they speak by a free command of the mind, whilst, in truth, they have no power to restrain the impulse which they have to speak. † Thus for Spinoza morality and ethical judgment like choice is predicated on an illusion. c. Politcal Philosophy â€Å"Every man may think what he likes,and say what he thinks. The real disturber of peace are those who, in a free state, seek to curtail the liberty of judgement which they are unable to tyrannize over. † Spinoza’s reputation as a political thinker is eclipsed by his reputation as a rationalist metaphysician. Nevertheless, Spinoza was a penetrating political theorist whose writings have enduring significance. In his two political treatises,has it’s main purpose the defense of free expression, Spinoza advances a number of forceful and original arguments in defense of democratic governance, freedom of thought and expression, and the subordination of religion to the state. On the basis of his naturalistic metaphysics, Spinoza also offers trenchant criticisms of ordinary conceptions of right and duty. And his account of civil organization, grounded in psychological realism, stands as an important contribution to the development of constitutionalism and the rule of law. There is also textual evidence for the view that Spinoza does not reject other forms of government in favor of democracy. One of the central aims of A Political Treatise is precisely to demonstrate how different forms of governments can meet the fundamental political value of stability. For example, Spinoza explains that, historically, monarchies have enjoyed the most stability of any form of government (PT: VI:317), and that their potential instability results from the divergent interests between the sovereign and the citizens. In light of this, Spinoza advises the sovereign to act in his or her own interests which is to act in the interests of the citizens. In the case of aristocracy, instability is said to result from inequality of political power among the ruling aristocrats, the remedy for which consists of equalizing such power as far as possible. Spinoza’s considered thoughts on the stability of democracy were interrupted by his untimely death, but while he thought it most consistent with freedom, he nevertheless regarded it as the most unstable of all political forms. Indeed, Spinoza comments that democracies naturally evolve into aristocracies, and aristocracies naturally evolve into monarchies. At least on one understanding of â€Å"natural,† democracies may be interpreted as less natural than aristocracies and monarchies (PT: VIII: 351). To understand ends, sources, and justification of political authority, one does well to begin with the Conatus Principle and the associated psychological axioms employed by Spinoza. The source of problems for Spinoza’s political theory, specifically the moral notions of â€Å"contract,† â€Å"rights,† and â€Å"obligations† can also be traced to his view of human nature.

Data Protection Act 1998 Essay

The data protection Act 1998 came into force in 2000 and aims to protect an individual’s right to privacy in relation to their personal data. This includes things like the person’s medical information, information about their current employees, their address, pay, bank detail etc. Santander has to make sure the information of their employees is kept secret and no one can access it. Businesses like Santander need information about people to increase the chances of people joining them. They also need information about their customers e.g. their address, their home phone number, their occupation etc. so the information stored by business on database must be: Obtained fairly and lawfully Used for purposes stated during collection Adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the intended use Accurate and up to date Not kept for longer than necessary Processed in line with your rights Subject to procedures to prevent unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage to personal data Protected from transfer to an area outside the European economic area (EEA) unless adequate protection exists for that data in the area. Santander needs to make sure they follow all these laws or they can get prosecuted and their organisation can be closed down by the government for breaking the law. Santander needs to make sure all their employees obey these laws because if they break them then they are breaking the law. In order to make sure the employees working at Santander don’t break the laws, Santander provide them the information about these laws when they join to work for Santander and keep them up-to-date as the laws change. Freedom of information Act 2000: The freedom of information Act 2000 is a really important law. It provides individuals and organisations with the right to request information held by a public authority. This law came into effect in 2005. The public authority must tell the person asking for the information so the organisation or an individual if they (public authority) have the information or not and if they have the information then they must supply the information within 20  working days, in the requested format. Public authorities are the national, state or local government agency. The freedom of information Act 2000 does have exemptions to it for example if the cost of a request for information exceeds an appropriate limit, the public authority may decide whether a greater public interest is being served by denying the request or supplying the information. This law effect Santander because it can be used Santander to find important information about people, different trends etc. to increase the chances of peop le joining them. For example Santander can demand information about the statistics about people from public authority in order to help them sell their products. This law doesn’t affect the employees of Santander to much. This law doesn’t cause any conflict within the organisation so Santander doesn’t have to address it to much. Freedom of information Act 2000 can help Santander to persuade people to sell their items or what items to sell because they can get information about different trends or other statistics from the public authority which can show them what majority of people are like and what product they buy etc. For example the statistics about people who get life insurance after the age of 50 can help Santander sell life insurances because they will know what age group buy the most life insurance so they can target that age group and try to persuade them to join Santander. This is an important law which Santander can benefit from in order to progress faster as a company and make more profit. It doesn’t affect the customers or employees to much although in a way it does affect the employees, if Santander make more profit then they expected then they might give their employees higher bonuses. Computer Misuse Act 2000: This is a really important law because it prevents a lot of important things. The computer misuse act 1990 is a law in the UK that legislates against certain activities using computer for example hacking into other people’s account/system or misusing software’s to gain protected files. This means if someone tries to take another person’s personal file or hacks into their computer then they are breaking the law and can be prosecuted and jailed. The computer misuse Act is split into 3 different sections and these are: Unauthorised access to computer material. Unauthorised access to computer systems with intent to commit another offence. Unauthorised modification of computer material.  This is one of the most important laws for Santander to keep in mind because Santander has a lot of employees and this law applies to all of them. None of the employees can use another person’s information for their benefit or even look at it without a reason. If they do then they are breaking the law and will be sacked and reported to the police. In order to deterrent employees from looking at peoples information for their benefit, Santander sack anyone caught of committing this crime. It is really easy for people to commit frauds if they have other people’s personal information so this is another reason Santander has to make sure they handle people information carefully and they don’t send people’s personal information to other agencies and companies. If they do send their customer’s information to third parties without the customer’s permission then the customers can sue Santander. Santander has to make sure none of their employees commit any crime especially in regards to this law because it can lead to frauds being committed against their customer. Santander needs to make sure they take serious actions against anyone who breaks this law in order to deterrent people from doing it. This law protects the customers of Santander as well as the employees so it’s important. Health and Safety (display Screen equipment) Regulations 1992: This law is really important because it includes everyone associated with doing work on computers or other display screen equipment in Santander. Santander has a lot of people working on computers so this rule covers a lot of employees of Santander. This rule applies to employees who are a user of displace screen equipment, their work station have to be assessed with regard to the health and safety of the user. â€Å"The minimum requirements of the work station (i.e. display equipment, keyboard, software, accessories, disc drive, telephone, modem, printer, document holder, work chair, work surface or desk, etc. when provided are laid down in the Schedule. The scheduling of the work of a user shall be such that the work on the display screen equipment is periodically interrupted by breaks or changes of activity. Before a person is employed as a user that person has a right to have an appropriate eye and eyesight test carried out by a competent person. Such tests shall be available to users at regular intervals. Where normal corrective appliances cannot be  used when the operator is experiencing visual difficulties which reasonably may be considered to be caused by work on display screen equipment, the employer shall ensure special corrective appliances are provided.iâ€Å" When Santander recruits someone for a role which has the use of computers, they (Santander) should give them training regarding the appropriate health and safety to make sure they are safe whilst they do their job. In this rules a few things are covered such as: Equipment. Environment the person has to work. User/computer interface. Santander has to provide training for people who aren’t sure about how to operate stuff that includes display screens such as computer. This can be a expensive process for Santander because training sessions are expensive. On the other hand Santander can recruit people who are familiar with these regulation and rules in order to cut the costs of training them although it will be harder to find people like these because most of them have jobs. The more trained and experience Santander’s employees are, the faster the organisation will progress and the more profit they will make this is because if people know what they need to do then they will do it faster than people who struggle to do their role and need time to adjust or find the role hard. These laws mostly apply to employees in Santander so it is quite important for Santander to keep this law in mind and obey it. They need to make sure their employees are given proper health and safety guidance before they start and in addition Santander should regularly make their employees go to optician to get their eye sight checked. Santander have training sessions for people who aren’t familiar with these health and safety rules in order to make sure they don’t harm themselves while working.