Ethics and Organizational Development essays

Ethics and Organizational Development essays "For many organisations 'ethics' is something to be defined and managed by senior executives." Consider the arguments for and against this control-oriented position. In today's world it is all too prevalent to see more and more people hungry to gain success at an ever-increasing rate. Modern culture can and indeed is labelled 'greedy' and 'thoughtless'. Through my relatively short time spent in business, I have encountered many of these types of people. But who are they hungry for? Who benefits from their thoughtlessness, and why do they do what they do? More importantly, who is to blame when things don't go according to plan? These are all questions asked constantly in the business domain, questions that often seem to include the word 'ethics' in their answer. Whether we look to consequentialism and always consider the outcome of a particular action, or conform to a more deontological form of ethical thinking and focus on always acting in a manner that seems 'right', I believe that a person cannot always be 'ethical', all of the time. If it were that easy, ethics would be a very small area of study. So what does the word 'ethical' mean? To me, it is to take into account every aspect involved in any given situation, peoples' feelings, thoughts and well-being, both now and in the future, and act as best one can to achieve the most satisfactory outcome for all concerned. From my viewpoint, acting in an ethical manner comes from each and every individual, each having learned from the environment in which they have grown and developed. Should the judgement, therefore, always be left to the individual? This is certainly not the case, as more and more organisations in the business world develop codes of ethics that they expect each member to follow. This definition and management of ethics can be seen as a control-oriented position. This control paradigm for organisational ethics is largely concerned with extracting the best possib...

Text and Driving Stop Doing That. For Real.

Text and Driving Stop Doing That. For Real. This weekend I participated in a workshop in Soft Addictions. I expected to focus most of my energy on my sugar addiction, which has been a struggle for me for as long as I can remember. While I did spend some time and energy examining that habit, a different addiction came to the foreground as the weekend progressed: Texting While Driving In the workshop, we were divided into groups of six. When I admitted to them that I texted while driving, one of my group members looked at me with a heartfelt gaze and said, â€Å"Stop doing that. For real.† Later in the weekend, I found out that he texts while driving too- as did every one of the six people in my group. According to the NHTSA, if you’re traveling at 55mph and take your attention away from the road for 5 seconds (the minimum amount of time it takes to check your phone), you will travel the length of a football field without looking at the road! Texting while driving makes a crash up to 23 times more likely. In comparison, dialing makes a crash 2.8 times more likely and talking or listening makes a crash 1.3 times more likely. And while 34% of American drivers say they have texted while driving, I’m sure the number is much higher. In my workshop this weekend, at least two out of 35 participants had been in car crashes which were their fault and had resulted from their texting while driving. And at least one of them did not stop the habit. I started to get real about my own addiction to texting while driving and the true level of risk I’m taking every time I do it. And when it was time to choose one of our addictions and write a â€Å"Dear John† letter to the addiction bidding it farewell, I chose texting while driving as my target. Here’s the poem: Texting while driving, you kept me connected. I’m addicted to you. It’s like I’m infected. Despite all the stories of death and of gore, My phone seems to call to me†¦ LOOK AT ME MORE!! Well, starting right now, I choose to connect To my learning brain rather than gadgets electric. I’ve got options – like language CDs. Books on tape. That message that dinged me? It simply can wait. I yearn to connect†¦ but for that I must LIVE. And texting while driving? You’ve just gotta give.    Brenda Bernstein, November 14, 2014 On the way home from the workshop, I called a friend before starting to drive. When I hung up the phone, I saw that I had emails and messages I could read if I wanted to. I noted my impulse to pull down the menu that would allow me to read my emails, and, instead of checking the messages, checked the impulse. It felt scary and good. If you are a fellow driver while texting, please take a good look at what you’re putting at risk: not just your own life, but the lives of the drivers and passengers around you. Especially as the holidays are approaching- a time when many of us will be driving to see family and friends- let’s make a commitment to kick one of our most dangerous addictions, and DRIVE SAFE. Category:Life and LeadershipBy Brenda BernsteinNovember 17, 2014 3 Comments Scott says: November 17, 2014 at 8:57 pm I have seen this problem from two angles. My friend has a very busy life. Every time I ride as the front seat passenger with her! she is reading email or phone messages. Every single time! Its like they are driving blindfolded, I worry about a serious accident every time that I drive with them. She does it less because they know I will comment about it constantly. I have almost had first hand experience with texting and driving. Two years ago, I was almost rear ended when reading a text on Monona Drive at a stop light when the red changed to green. The car changed lanes and clipped by at fast rate of spend. Just like reading a book and driving would be stupid, this is equally dumb. Log in to Reply J. R. Hollingsworth says: November 18, 2014 at 8:37 am Texting while driving is not at all dangerous, if the passenger does it. Tell your friend that you will insist on your driving if she is texting, and be prepared to get out to make your point. Attorneys in accident cases love to discover that the opposing driver was texting nuff said. The real test is whether you have a smart phone, or it has you the same with any addiction. Log in to Reply Omar says: November 18, 2014 at 11:19 am Brenda, Thanks for sharing this. This is a really important issue, and I now find myself checking the impulse to look at my phone. If I cant let it go, Ill have to wait till the next exit to pull over. Thanks again, Omar Log in to Reply

Principles and Foundations of Physical Education Essay

Principles and Foundations of Physical Education - Essay Example This undergraduate Physical Education program aims at enlivening and educating youth for Holistic Lifestyles(Carroll,1994). This mission is achieved holding on to beliefs expressed in the following statements. Physical Education will challenge and strengthen the self. It is a continuous process and has physical, mental and social domains. It recognizes the equality of all. It believes in investing in the participants so that they can get the returns. It believes that total quality can be achieved through competent instructors, infrastructure and technology. Philosophy of sports is not a static idea. Different peoples had difference approach to sports. The Greco-Roman world wanted wellness with physical skill in the sports training. War was somewhat regular in their experience combat involved physical skill in success and survival. The association of character formation with physical training was not their primary aim.In fact compared to the Greeks , the Romans somewhat neglected physical education for their elite: "In significant contrast with common Greek practice, the Romans of the Republic neglected to provide youths with an organized system of Physical education".(Lee Too,2001) However, they knew, physical training imparted moral lessons: obedience, discipline and patriotism. In brief they had a philosophy of physical training suited to their needs. The meaning of Philosophy is not static. In the modern sense philosophy is dedicated to finding general principles in local circumstances. In the American context the meaning of philosophy derived from the reflections of great philosopher John Dewey. "This new physical education was grounded on the philosophy of education of American philosopher John Dewey, which emphasized learning-by-doing rather than rote learning and dogmatic instruction. Dewey also stressed that education must be an exploration of thinking and reflection, an interaction with and an environment for learning, and must be democratic where all share in a common life that provides associational settings."(Sage, 2003, p. xi)Prior to the twentieth century physical education programs in colleges were aimed contributing students health. Instructors in pre-1900 programs were usually medical doctors or individuals holding certificates from department of education. After 1900 there was increasing tendency to insist on a ba rralaureate degree for a physical education trainer. This tendency continued and with the end of war more fund was available for sports in colleges and this also gave an impetus. Eventually the global interest in sports promoted also by the media a sports culture became part and parcel of education. Education Aims of Undergraduate Physical Education In the present program the target group is the undergraduate students. Educational aims at each stage of education are different. This applies to also to physical education. "What may be true of the play of children is not necessarily true of the sport which interests those a dozen or so years older. The sport of men and the play of children are distinct from one another in structure. They have different aims

Technology - Voice Recognition Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Technology - Voice Recognition - Essay Example The historical development of speech recognition technology spans at least 50 years. These years can be divided into decades, which most researchers would identify as generations. The 1950s and the 1960s was the period of first generation speech recognition technologies. The market condition for the technology during and immediately preceding periods was not favorable because it was only during the latter part of the 1990s when the technology became cheap and made available to many consumer markets. The late 1960s through the 1970s saw the second-generation technology; the late 1970s through 1980s were for the third generation and so forth. One of the earliest speech recognition technologies include the system for isolated digit recognition developed by the American company Bell Laboratories as well as the technology developed by RCA Laboratories that recognized distinct syllables spoken by a speaker. (Chen and Jokinen, 2010, p. 2) These technologies, including the succeeding attempts of various laboratories were classified as Automatic Speech Recognition or ASR systems, which are primarily based on acoustic phonetic systems. The second generation technologies entailed several breakthroughs. Most of the systems developed used dynamic programming methods such as the Viterbi algorithm, which became indispensable technique in ASR. (Chen and Jokinen, p. 3) Many companies began developing their own speech recognition technologies such as IBM and others companies overseas such as Japan and the then Soviet Union. By 1980s, the third generation has already perfected technologies that that could recognize a fluently spoken stri ng of connected word in addition to the development of various other models such as the statistical modeling and the continuous speech recognition concept developed by DARPA. (p. 4) From the 1990s to the present the development became robust as other technologies that

An argument in favor of pro choice abortion for women with unwanted pregnancy Essay Example for Free

An argument in favor of pro choice abortion for women with unwanted pregnancy Essay Abortion Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by the removal of a fetus or embryo before it is able to survive on its own. An individuals position on abortion is their own value system, most often there are two sides. Pro-life, which believe that a fetus should never be extracted and it is considered murder, and pro-choice. Pro-choice is the view that a woman should be able to choose for her own body and her own personal views. A woman should be able to choose herself if to get an abortion, someones religion should never change this. Also, an abortion can stop an unwanted birth, and are better legally done and regulated than done illegally. Religion is what most peoples reason for not believing in pro-choice. People believe that an embryo is considered a baby in the Bible, and that would be murder. But at what point is a fertilized egg considered a baby? In the bible, they continually state that no matter what stage, a woman who has a fertilized egg is pregnant with a child. Most medical websites state that after 8 weeks, the main organs begin to develop and work. Still, the abortion is required to be done in about 12 weeks. At this time, reflexes havent been developed and most tissues and organs havent finished development. This is not a child, these are living cells inside a human body.   People dont protest about exfoliating cells, so why cant women abort theirs? Abortion stops unwanted birth. Nowadays, people are stupid. Everyone makes terrible mistakes, like getting pregnant when they cant afford another mouth to feed, or havent graduated high school.   In extreme conditions, abortion can stop a woman giving birth to a child she didnt consent to. Abortion can be the best answer, even if it is hard to choose over other resolutions. Rape culture is a thing, there is one sexual assault every 107 seconds. A person who is in this poor situation may not want to have their child. But, it is up to the woman involved. If abortion is illegal, unsafe and unregulated ones will happen. A person doing this lacks the skills and safety that a trained professional has.   For example, an unsafe abortion may refer to an extremely dangerous life-threatening procedure that is in unhygienic conditions. The WHO states that there were 42 million pregnancies were voluntarily terminated in 2012. Of which, 20 million were unsafe. About 68,000 women die annually. Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by voluntary means. Pro-Choice is what should be allowed, and accepted everywhere. A womans body is her own, and she should be able to use her own value system to make her decision. Pro-Choice should not be discouraged because of religious beliefs. An abortion can stop an unwanted birth and is better legally done than illegally. Her body her choice.

The Catcher in the Rye :: essays research papers

The Catcher in the Rye   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Jerome David Salinger’s book The Catcher in the Rye the difficulties In Holden’s life sends you through a thrilling adventure through all Holden have been through. The short story Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut also shows the drama of a little girl named Ramona. Ramona has an alcohol addictive mother who thinks Ramona is in serious trouble. Ramona’s mother creates an imagery friend from Ramona to help her out with things and to keep her company while she is playing. In The Catcher in the Rye Holden does not have an imagery friend but he does have friends to talk to when he needs someone to talk to. Through all life’s unexpected happenings Holden and Ramona rose to the occasion or fell to the pressures. The book The Catcher in the Rye is centered on Holden Caulfield, a seventeen-year-old narrator and central character of the novel. He addresses the reader directly from a mental hospital or sanitarium in southern California. Holden begins at Pencey Prep, a private school in Pennsylvania, on the Saturday afternoon of the traditional football game with school rival, Saxon Hall. Holden finds himself in many unusual situations. He keeps running away from home and not even thinking of turning back. He went to New York one time to experience life there. Holden’s conflicts are like what Salinger had growing up. Holden lost a very important person to him, his brother. Salinger also lost many close family members too. In the end Holden is at the sanitarium in California. He doesn’t want to tell us any more. The whole story has only made him miss people, such as his brother. The short story â€Å"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut† was another short story written by Salinger. In Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, Eloise an alcoholic mother believes that her little girl Ramona is in serious trouble. She has a make believe friend named Jimmy who provides her with the entertainment that lacks in her neighborhood. Eloise once loved Walt Glass, who died over seas in an explosion. Seeking a love for replacement, she found Lew whose role in this story is that he once referred to Eloise's hurt ankle as uncle wiggily. In a drunken rage, Eloise forces her daughter to sleep in the middle of her bed. This is also related to The Catcher in the Rye and Salinger’s life in the fact that everyone has lost a loved one in their life.

Medgar Evers

Medgar Evers Medgar Evers was a civil rights activist whose life was cut short due to the racism and discriminations towards blacks in his time. Medgar Wiley Evers was born on July 2, 1925, near Decatur, Mississippi. He grew up on a small farm that his father owned along with 5 other siblings. Evers strived to get his diploma by walking 12 miles to and from school every day, until 1943, when Evers was inducted into the army along with his brother Charles Evers. He fought during WWII he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1946.He returned home and two years later he started to attend Alcorn College majoring in business administration. He was very active people in college a member of the debate team, the school choir, football team, track team, and was also the president of his junior class. He was listed in the â€Å"Who’s Who in American Colleges. † He received his BA degree a year after he married Myrlie Beasley and they would later have 3 children. They moved af ter Evers found a job as an insurance salesman in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.He and his brother Charles Evers were apart on the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL) where he helped organize a boycott of public restrooms that blacks couldn’t use. Medgar tried to enroll into the University of Mississippi Law School in which he was rejected. He filed a law suit against the University as an attempt to defy segregation in the school. The NAACP later chose Evers to be their first field secretary to represent them. Evers attempted to desegregate the University of Mississippi by trying to enroll James Meredith an African American.Meredith was later accepted in the University of Mississippi which lead to a riot on campus leaving two white men dead. Evers also investigated the murder of Emmett Till and supported Clyde Kennard, all of these event lead to more hatred towards him from the whites. He was becoming a target to many white supremacists he came across many problem and alte rcations and still remained non-violent. On May 28, 1963, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into his house and he was almost run over by a car after he was leaving from the NAACP office.But a day after president JFK’s speech to support civil rights Evers was shot in the back. He was shot by a member of the KKK and also white supremacists named Byron De La Beckwith. Beckwith was tried for Evers murder two times and both trials ended with no verdict so he wasn’t sentenced. But, the third times he was tried he was found guilty and sentenced life in prison in 1994. It took 31 year for Evers murderer to be convicted of a murder due to racism and discrimination. In addition, Evers was later honor when they named a college after him in Brooklyn, New York in 1969.

Riwt 1

RIWT1 Crystal Jorgensen Task 1 03/19/2013 SID:000187304 Lets take a journey. A journey back to a time and a place that is unknown to us without the history and expression of Literature and Art. These moments are the expression of color, the fine detail, the heroics, and the stories that bring us to our current and most knowledgeable time in literature and the arts. Neoclassicism and Romanticism are two very important time periods in the literary movements in English literature that helped shape our way of life today.Although these time periods are recognized as very opposite they share many similarities and we continue to learn and grow from them. Lets go back†¦ To a new era, widespread and influential for paintings and the other visual arts, a reaction against the sensuous and frivolously decorative Rococo style that dominated European art from the 1720s on. Beginning in the 1760s, Neoclassicism arose, reached its height in the 1780s and ‘90s during the French Revolution and lasted until about the 1850s.Neoclassicism was impacted by the exploration and excavation of the buried Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii; the excavations of which began in 1738 and 1748, respectively. It was because of these â€Å"new† discoveries that people wanted to revive the past and took interest in the classical forms and ideas that started the neoclassical era. It was the combination of new and â€Å"classical† that made artist want to convey a serious moral such as justice, honor, and patriotism. Ideally, this style portrays an array of knowledge so vast that it leads to enlightenment.The Neoclassical style sees nature is defined as human nature and that society is more important than the individual. In summary, Neoclassicism focused on Greek and Roman history and was inspired by Classical Rome, patriotism, courage, and honor. The best-known painter of the time was J. L. David who painted â€Å"Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard,† just one o f many amazing paintings in that time. The technique used in this era is a stressed drawing with lines, not color; no brush strokes. The tone set is calm and rational but at the same time play the role to provide inspiration and be morally uplifting.Neoclassical artist value order and solemnity and it can be seen throughout their paintings. Inspired by the classics, touched by a revolution, and enforced order we have the â€Å"new† classics. Neoclassicism. Now lets get into the hippie era of the 18th century†¦of free love, peace, and saving the trees. No not really. Romanticism was much more than that it depicted a much deeper heightened since of feeling and euphoria. If it made you feel good and happy you would focus on that and that’s all that mattered. But that is still not all; romanticism was a time for passion, any kind of passion whether it was good or bad.Inspired by the medieval, baroque eras, and the middle and Far East regions of the world. Romanticism started in the late 18th century and continued into the mid 19th century. The characteristics that follow the romantic era is one of a deepened appreciation of the beauty for nature; and exaltation of emotion over reason and intellect; a heightened sense of human personality, moods, and mental potentialities. The romantics were very occupied with the exceptional figures, such as the hero or genius and focused on their inner passions and struggles.A couple of the best known artist of the time were Eugene Delacroix and Theodore Gericault, the artists were viewed as a supreme individual creators, their creative spirit was more important than strict rules or traditional procedures; the emphasis on imagination was a gateway to experience spiritual truth. With national and ethnic origins there was an obsessive interest in folk culture and the medieval era, which triggered a special liking for the exotic, mysterious, weird, the remote, the monstrous, diseased, and the satanic.The role of t he art was dramatic it was to carry the viewer away with its unrestrained, rich color, and visible brush strokes. Neoclassicism and Romanticism are in fact to very different eras. While to neoclassical era wanted to re-invent the classics, the romantic era wanted to expressive in every form not holding back restraint on the mere idea of being bound by the old classic rules. But this doesn’t stop them from having similarities either. They both were on a spiritual mission; the art itself wants to portray knowledge and enlightenment for neoclassicism and romanticism wants you to experience spiritual truth.Although these eras are on very opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the arts they both wanted to find a new spirit of the time, to change it for the better. Like J. L David’s painting â€Å"Napoleon Crossing the Saint Bernard† is very lifelike and perfect not being able to see the brush strokes but making the feeling of nobility, strength, and honor ver y present in his work. This particular piece is a perfect example of the time being right after the revolution.Eugene Delacroix’s painting â€Å"Liberty leading the people† This is such and amazing piece of art as well and although you can see more brush strokes it is also such a great example of the time. Delacroix is able to put so much detail and really paint the emotion of freedom and leadership. Both these painting depict a transformation, a want for change. The interesting thing is in those brush strokes, neoclassicism believed they needed to have that perfectionism it showed order, restraint, and rationalism; whereas, romanticism felt that the brush strokes needed to be seen so as to show emotion, passion, and life.Both of these eras were very influenced by different eras like with neoclassical they wanted so desperately to get out of the Rococo style; is was the Age of Enlightenment; and it was right after the revolution. Neoclassical was very impressed and ins pired by the classical era and made something old, new again. Romanticism was influenced by neoclassicism it was inspired as a revolt against social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and was partly a reaction from the industrial revolution.Although, these eras seemed to influence each other in ways a teenager would want to try to change the rules at home. These eras very much influence our history, knowledge, learning, and inspiration today. Works Cited http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/508675/Romanticism http://www. buzzle. com/articles/romanticism-characteristics-of-romanticism. html http://www. buzzle. com/articles/difference-between-romanticism-and-neoclassicism. html http://lilt. ilstu. edu/jhreid/neoclassicism. htm http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Romanticism

Essay on General Electric’s Revolutionary

Essay on General Electric’s Revolutionary Essay on General Electric’s Revolutionary Essay on General Electric’s RevolutionaryHistorically, GE was one of the leading companies operating in the energy industry of the US. However, in the course of time, GE progressed and diversified its operations. By the late 1970s, the company operated in different industries, but its performance was stumbling because after the economic and energy crisis of the mid-1970s, the company confronted substantial problems in its business development. In such a situation, the new CEO of the company, Jack Welch, became a true savior for the company, who helped the company to regain its position and improve its financial and marketing performance. In fact, Jack Welch was one of the prominent CEOs that helped GE to overcome the considerable downturn in its business development and regain its position in the US as one of the largest employers and one of the most successful companies.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jack Welch had extensive experience of work within GE, where h e started to work and kept progressing till he reached the CEO position. The personal experience of work at GE was very useful for the company because Jack Welch knew perfectly all the drawbacks and weaknesses of the company that prevented its fast and successful growth. The extensive experience and the understanding of GE, its organizational structure, its strengths and weaknesses helped Jack Welch to determine accurately needs of the company and elaborate the effective strategy that helped the new CEO to make a breakthrough in the business development of GE. The extensive experience of Jack Welch of work within the company became the cornerstone for his further work as the CEO of the company.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, Jack Welch focused on the elimination of bureaucracy within GE that contributed to the consistent improvement of the organizational performance and efficiency of internal business operations. From his past experience of work in GE, Jack Welch knew perfectly that bureaucratic barriers were unsurpassable and they prevented many perspective ideas from their successful implementation in GE. This is why he was aware of the negative impact of bureaucracy on the performance of the company. The elimination of bureaucracy within GE opened the way for the development of effective business policies and helped the company to improve its performance fast.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In fact, the development of GE under the lead of Jack Welch involved the consistent reduction of the personnel of the company accompanied by the refusal of the company from unprofitable outlets. As a result, the company sold out unprofitable businesses and reduced the staff that allowed to save costs and to optimize its financial performance. The enhancement of the business development occurred due to the focus on profitable businesses only. The company has managed to enhance its marketing performance through the increase of revenue s and decrease of financial losses. Unprofitable outlets of the company were unbearable burden for the company. The sale of those outlets allowed the company to decrease its financial losses and helped to use revenues from profitable outlets to invest into new projects and improvement of their performance.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jack Welch fired 10% of bottom managers annually to maintain the competition within the company and keep managers motivated to improve their performance constantly to stay within the company. This strategy was tough but it stimulated the growth of the company because GE managed to improve the financial performance and improve its marketing performance steadily.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition, Jack Welch contributed to the development informal, personal relationships within the organization that also helped to eliminate bureaucratic barriers and improve the communication within the company. The development of inte rpersonal relations and elimination of bureaucratic barriers within GE contributed to the improvement of the organizational culture. The improvement of the atmosphere within the company contributed to the improvement of the organizational performance. Employees worked better in the light of the shift from the organizational performance that was deteriorating because of high bureaucratic barriers to the effective organizational performance.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Furthermore, Jack Welch diversified the business development of GE by shifting toward financial services from traditional industries, where GE operated. The diversification of the company’s business performance contributed to the enhancement of the position of the company because the company could compensate financial losses in some branches of the company by revenues from others. New industries and new businesses opened wider opportunities for the business development of the company and expansion of its market share.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, Jack Welch became the CEO, who has managed to reform and reconstruct GE consistently, making it one of the leaders in the US market. Jack Welch became the CEO, who has managed to introduce effective methods of the business development. In such a way, the company has managed to regain its position in the market. Moreover, Jack Welch has changed the business development of the company and the corporate philosophy. As a result, GE became the company with the effective business development, organizational structure and overall improvement of its business performance.

The Civil War Plot to Burn New York City

The Civil War Plot to Burn New York City The plot to burn New York City was an attempt by the Confederate secret service to bring some of the destruction of the Civil War to the streets of Manhattan. Originally envisioned as an attack designed to disrupt the election of 1864, it was postponed until late November. On Friday evening, November 25, 1864, the night after Thanksgiving, conspirators set fires in 13 major hotels in Manhattan, as well as in public buildings such as theaters and one of the most popular attractions in the country, the museum run by Phineas T. Barnum. The crowd poured into the streets during the simultaneous attacks, but the panic faded when the fires were quickly extinguished. The chaos was immediately assumed to be some sort of Confederate plot, and the authorities began hunting for the perpetrators. While the incendiary plot was little more than a peculiar diversion in the war, there is evidence that operatives of the Confederate government had been planning a far more destructive operation to strike New York and other northern cities. The Confederate Plan to Disrupt the Election of 1864 In the summer of 1864, the reelection of Abraham Lincoln was in doubt. Factions in the North were weary of the war and eager for peace. And the Confederate government, naturally motivated to create discord in the North, was hoping to create widespread disturbances on the scale of the New York City Draft Riots of the previous year. A grandiose plan was devised to infiltrate Confederate agents into northern cities, including Chicago and New York, and commit widespread acts of arson. In the resulting confusion, it was hoped that southern sympathizers, known as Copperheads, could seize control of important buildings in the cities. The original plot for New York City, as outlandish as it seems, was to occupy federal buildings, obtain weapons from arsenals, and arm a crowd of supporters. The insurgents would then raise a Confederate flag over City Hall and declare that New York City had left the Union and had aligned itself with the Confederate government in Richmond. By some accounts, the plan was said to be developed enough that Union double-agents heard about it and informed the governor of New York, who refused to take the warning seriously. A handful of Confederate officers entered the United States at Buffalo, New York, and traveled to New York in the fall. But their plans to disrupt the election, which was to be held on November 8, 1864, were thwarted when the Lincoln administration sent thousands of federal troops to New York to ensure a peaceful election. With the city crawling with Union soldiers, the Confederate infiltrators could only mingle in the crowds and observe the torchlight parades organized by supporters of President Lincoln and his opponent, Gen. George B. McClellan. On election day the voting went smoothly in New York City, and though Lincoln did not carry the city, he was elected to a second term. The Incendiary Plot Unfolded In Late November 1864 About a half-dozen Confederate agents in New York decided to go ahead with an improvised plan to set fires after the election. It seems the purpose changed from the wildly ambitious plot to split New York City off from the United States to simply exacting some revenge for the destructive actions of the Union Army as it kept moving deeper into the South. One of the conspirators who participated in the plot and successfully evaded capture, John W. Headley, wrote about his adventures decades later. While some of what he wrote seems fanciful, his account of the setting of fires on the night of November 25, 1864 generally aligns with newspaper reports. Headley said he had taken rooms in four separate hotels, and the other conspirators also took rooms in multiple hotels. They had obtained a chemical concoction dubbed Greek fire which was supposed to ignite when jars containing it were opened and the substance came into contact with the air. Armed with these incendiary devices, at about 8:00 p.m. on a busy Friday night the Confederate agents began setting fires in hotel rooms. Headley claimed he set four fires in hotels and said 19 fires were set altogether. Though the Confederate agents later claimed they did not mean to take human lives, one of them, Captain Robert C. Kennedy, entered Barnums Museum, which was packed with patrons, and set a fire in a stairwell. A panic ensued, with people rushing out of the building in a stampede, but no one was killed or seriously injured. The fire was quickly extinguished. In the hotels, the results were much the same. The fires did not spread beyond any of the rooms in which they had been set, and the entire plot seemed to fail because of ineptitude. As some of the conspirators mixed with New Yorkers in the streets that night, they overhead people already talking about how it must be a Confederate plot. And by the next morning newspapers were reporting that detectives were looking for the plotters. The Conspirators Escaped to Canada All the Confederate officers involved in the plot boarded a train the following night and were able to elude the manhunt for them. They reached Albany, New York, then continued on to Buffalo, where they crossed the suspension bridge into Canada. After a few weeks in Canada, where they kept a low profile, the conspirators all left to return to the South. Robert C. Kennedy, who had set the fire in Barnums Museum, was captured after crossing back into the United States by train. He was taken to New York City and imprisoned at Fort Lafayette, a harbor fort in New York City. Kennedy was tried by a military commission, found to have been a captain in the Confederate service, and sentenced to death. He confessed to setting the fire at Barnums Museum. Kennedy was hanged at Fort Lafayette on March 25, 1865. (Incidentally, Fort Lafayette no longer exists, but it stood in the harbor on a natural rock formation at the present site of the Brooklyn tower of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.) Had the original plot to disrupt the election and create a Copperhead rebellion in New York had gone forward, it is doubtful it could have succeeded. But it might have created a diversion to pull Union troops away from the front, and its possible it could have had an impact on the course of the war. As it was, the plot to burn the city was an odd sideshow to the final year of the war.

Illegal immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Illegal immigration - Essay Example Proponents usually argue for illegal immigration stating various benefits that are received by the US while the others bring forth arguments on how it affects many sectors by adversely shaping the social, economic and political landscape (Ledbetter 46). It is important though to consider why immigrants leave their countries in the first place. There is no doubt that illegal immigrants benefit US in a variety of ways while also having negative effects; however, the issue lies in the net effect where the negatives far outweigh the positives. According to the Commission on Civil Rights (U.S.) there are roughly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States with Hispanic population taking 80% of total (28). On the other hand the total number of immigrants, legal and otherwise is more than 38 million meaning that the illegal ones hold a third. The same statistics show that by 2060 and at the current rate of immigration, the US will have an alarming total population of 470 million (49). Considering these numbers, it is important to appreciate some facts that form the basis of migration into the United States. Poverty from native countries. It is true that many people who risk travelling to the United States illegally aim at living a better life. The basis for this is poverty and most of these immigrants are from poor families in Mexico, Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe (LeMay 114). The global poverty situation is wanting and many developing countries contribute to mass immigration to the United States. What these people look for mostly are jobs which are in some countries terribly scarce whether one is well educated or not. Profit motive for US companies. Illegal immigrants due to their lack of work permits become quickly absorbed into industries and companies that offer them low wages in return. These industries do so to reduce on remuneration expenditure and offering of benefits like insurance which would otherwise