Becoming an Effective Leader

Becoming an Effective Leader After serving in the Navy for 20 years, I can honestly say that being a manager does not make you a leader. For me, there is a big difference. An effective leader is someone who can motivate people to do things that they would not normally do by themselves. Furthermore, what makes a leader great is their ability to bring out the best in people no matter what the situation may be. After watching the movie, 12 Angry Men, I will present to you in this essay how different leadership styles displayed by three prominent jurors were both ethical and unethical. Additionally, I will show how the consequences of these leadership styles affected the other people in the room regarding the guilt or innocence of a young man and conclude with what can be learned about leadership from these very men. To be an effective leader, it must start from within oneself. Hence, to be an ethical leader, one must be an ethical person first. By combining this class to what I already knew about being a leader, it strengthened my values and my conviction of effective leadership, and that is allowing your people to grow and be successful. Leadership is not about my way or the highway, that is a dictatorship. Leadership is about valuing you people and seeking their contributions. In the movie, this was not the case with jurors #3 #10, which demonstrated the most unethical leadership style for that situation, the authoritarian. Although there are times when authoritarian is needed and will work, in a jury deliberation is not one of them. These men had one goal, and that was to impose their beliefs and convictions upon others in the room, especially the jurors who were easily manipulated. These two men allowed their biased views to prevent them from doing their civic duty which leads to their attempt to indoctrinate the other jurors into thinking like them; they refused to listen to reason or consider any reasonable doubt presented by the other jurors. In chapter eight, Bowie wrote about this unethical leadership style and how Burns rejects what #3 and #10 were doing to the followers in the room. Bowie writes, [Burns] rejection of the indoctrination shows that he respects the autonomy of the followers, (Bowie pg.142) whereas #3 #10 do not. When it comes to pe ople in any situation, self-worth and self-respect are vital to ones autonomy and should be respected by other people. In the movie, juror #3 #10 routinely use unethical authoritarian leadership to prevent other jurors from having any capacity to decide for themselves. By doing so, it gives way to Fonda and his ethical leadership style. To be an effective leader, one must influence followers to work towards a common goal regardless if it is a company, a sports team, or a murder trial. In my experience, how this is achieved is through empowerment of your people. By doing so, you create an ethical environment that allows the people to grow both professionally and personally because they feel that they are part of the team. When it comes to human nature, everyone wants to belong and feel important in some way, that is why you praise in public and reprimand in private. When you value the opinions of people, it creates a high degree of respect within the group that brings out the best in people. That is why Henry Fonda was such a great ethical leader. He sat quietly and listened while observing how the others acted and what they said. By sitting quietly, Fonda noticed that only three people were doing most of the talking and how they were trying to persuade the other jurors. In Fondas case, he brought forth a different p erspective, one that was unbiased. In fact, he repeatedly stated that he has no idea if the boy was guilty or innocent, but it was his social responsibility to ask questions to determine that answer. He was not going to allow other individuals to persuade him or his ethical beliefs.ÂÂ   In fact, when he asked the other jurors, who felt pressured by the authoritarian group what they thought, he was demonstrating effective leadership. By valuing their opinion, he empowered them to open up and provide their perspective, and by doing so, he made them feel important which in turn made them more willing to contribute. For example, Juror #9, Joe Sweeney is the one that provided critical information, the eyeglasses, that no one had ever thought as being relevant or important, turned out to be the key to finding the boy innocent. If it were not for Fondas ethical leadership and belief in autonomy, Juror #9 might not have spoken up like he did. Fonda use of transformational leadership he lped the other men look at the case from a perspective of serving justice by appealing to their higher values. His goal was simple, bring everyone onboard so they could deliberate through participation. By doing so, he explains that the jury should have some form of human dignity and use rational moral decision making to collaborate to determine the boys fate. By doing so, he empowers the weaker jurors to voice their opinion. In regards to the consequences of the two leadership styles, Fondas ethical leadership style inspired others to stand up for what was right and not give in to the pressure of others. For me, the one juror that was most inspired by Fonda was George Voskovec, juror #11. When Voskovec finally had enough, he began to stand up against the authoritarian figures because some were not taking this deliberation serious, telling them that it is our civic duty and social responsibility to listen to all the facts and give a fair verdict, not one based on biased prejudice. Fondas inspiration ignited a flame within Voskovec, and that erupted into an inferno that eventually spread throughout the room and gave the men an ability to perceive ethical truths during a chaotic experience. However, this was not the case for jurors #3, and #10, their unethical authoritarian leadership style and outright bigoted views that were once unchallenged by most of the group were eventually smothered like a cigarette . The once calm and timid jurors that were easy prey for the authoritarian leadership at the beginning of the film could not be pushed around anymore and turned their backs on juror #10 and left him cowering in the corner like a scared little boy. When it comes to this movie and what we can learn about leadership and ethics, it is simply, understanding the leader and follower relationship that exists between these two entities. Henry Fondas character showed us that transformational leadership is an excellent example of combining leadership and ethics because it holds people they lead to a higher standard and expects more from them. By being an ethical leader, you inspire people to do great things even when they do not think they are capable, and in doing so, these subordinates become leaders themselves who learn to share information and ideas. Additionally, this movie shows us that leaders do not have all the answers, such as the case with the glasses. This evidence did not originate from Fonda; it took someone else to bring up the information. What this shows is the more ideas introduced into a situation through group discussion leads to a better decision-making process. For this to happen, it takes an ethical leader to allow other people to provide their perspective. By doing so, people feel empowered and valued. Finally, the movie shows us that to be an ethical leader your intentions must be ethical in nature when you allow your biased views to dictate your actions and beliefs you end up with leaders like juror # 3 and # 10. Work Cited Bowie, N and Werhane, P. (2005). Management Ethics. Oxnard: Blackwell Publishing

Nature Essay -- Orangutans Primates Animals Essays

Nature "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts, also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth." - Chief Seattle The love I have for orangutans comes from an early age. Like most little sisters, my older brother ruthlessly teased me. When I was a baby he would make me mimic funny faces and stick my hair up on end. He said I looked like an orangutan. His teasing continued, but instead of getting mad, I became interested. I began taking a look at these creatures and soon discovered that being compared to one wasn't completely wrong. Actually, orangutans have 97% of the same DNA as humans. So maybe my brother's teasing was not that far off, not that I'll mention that fact to him anytime soon! Orangutans are part of the Great Ape group that are the closest animals related to humans. Orangutans are unique in the ape world in that the other three types, gorillas, chimpanzees, and baboons, are all from Africa. Orangutans are the only apes to come from Asia. Another distinction of the orangutan is their hair, which is bright reddish brown instead of light brown or black like the other species. However, probably the biggest difference is that orangutans are the only arboreal apes. This means that they live primarily in the trees, while the other apes move along the forest ground. In fact, they are the largest animals in the world to dwell in trees. Orangutans used to live as far away as Thailand and Cambodia, but due to human encroachment, they are now only found in the wild in two of Indonesia's islands, Sum... ...f destruction humans have caused to this species. This is especially hard to understand when seeing what close connections humans have with them. It does not take a lot of time spent watching these animals to fall in love with them. While sitting and observing the orangutans at the Denver Zoo, I was amazed at the joy they brought to other visitors, adults and children alike. By slightly modifying our behavior and lifestyle, we can make a difference in the lives of these animals so that they can be seen not only behind glass at zoos, but in their rightful homes among the trees. Researched Sites Balikpapan Orangutan Society-- www.orangutan.com Orangutan Foundation International- www.orangutan.org Lecture Notes Smits, W. (2002, October 28). Saving the Orangutans. [Lecture]. In Lecture Series: Endangered Species. Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Plastic money Essay

Plastic money is a term that is used predominantly in reference to the hard plastic cards we use every day in place of actual bank notes. They can come in many different forms such as cash cards, credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid cash cards and store cards. Introduction: A slang phrase for credit cards, especially when such cards used to make purchases. The â€Å"plastic† portion of this term refers to the plastic construction of credit cards, as opposed to paper and metal of currency. The â€Å"money† portion is an erroneous reference to credit cards as a form of money, which they are not. Although credit cards do facilitate transactions, because they are a liability rather than an asset, they are not money and not part of the economy’s money supply. Plastic money is the alternative of cash or the standard ‘money’. Plastic money is used to refer to the credit cards, debit cards that we use to make purchases in our everyday life. Plastic money is much more convenient to carry around as you do not have to carry a huge some of money with you. It is also much safer to carry it along or to travel with it as if it is stolen one can consult the bank whose service you are using and get it blocked hence saving your money from getting stolen or even lost. Plastic money or polymer money, made out of plastic, is a new and easier way of paying for goods and services. Plastic money was introduced in the 1950s and is now an essential form of ready money which reduces the risk of handling a huge amount of cash. It includes debit cards, ATMs, smart cards, etc. Nowadays even developing countries like India are encouraging the use of this plastic money more than cash due to these reasons. Furthermore these credit and debit cards also have plastic used in their making and that is where the name ‘plastic money’ has originated from. Anonymous In today’s materialistic world, every one is running behind money or you can say that the whole world is running behind money. In addition, these days, things have become costlier and with out hard cash it is difficult to make any outright purchase, if you are an impulsive buyer. Nevertheless, with ‘Plastic Money’, i.e. Payment Cards, you can do it without carrying any money on you. There is no burden of carrying a bunch of notes, no fear of loosing or forgetting the wallet at home. Welcome to the age of ‘Plastic Money’. Different Types of Plastic Money. Cash Cards – A card that will allow you to withdraw money directly from your bank via an Authorized Teller Machine (ATM) but it will not allow the holder to purchase anything directly with it. Credit Cards – Again this card will permit the card holder to withdraw cash from an ATM, and a credit card will allow the user to purchase goods and services directly, but unlike a Cash Card the money is basically a high interest loan to the card holder, although the card holder can avoid any interest charges by paying the balance off in full each month. Debit Cards – This type of card will directly debit money from your bank account, and can directly be used to purchase goods and services. While there is no official credit facility with debit cards per se, as it is linked to the bank account the limit is the limit of what is in the account, for instance if an overdraft facility is available then the limit will be the extent of the overdraft. Pre-paid Cash Cards – As the name suggests the user will add credit to the card themselves, and will not exceed that amount. These are usually re-useable in that they can be ‘topped up’ however some cards, usually marketed as Gift Cards are not re-useable and once the credit has been spent they are disposed of. Store Cards – These are similar in concept to the Credit Card model, in that the idea is to purchase something in store and be billed for it at the end of the month. These cards can be charged at a very high interest rate and can are limited in the places they can be used, sometimes as far as only the store brand that issued it. Advantages: You don’t have to carry cash. You can have your job’s check directly deposited into the bank. You can buy what you want without having the money right then to buy the item as long as you do not go over the card’s limit. In unexpected financial emergencies, cards can be used to pay for what you need. Wise use is beneficial to your credit report. Disadvantages: They encourage overspending You can get in too much debt, leading to filing bankruptcy. Cards often have extra or hidden fees and high interest rates. Using credit and debit cards puts you at higher risk of identity theft than using cash. Cards might be lost.

Racial Discrimination African American Adolescents ...

For this final research paper I chose to discuss racial discrimination and focus on content from an article entitled: The Inï ¬â€šuence of Ethnic Discrimination and Ethnic Identiï ¬ cation on African American Adolescents’ School and Socioemotional Adjustment by Carol A. Wong, Jacquelynne S. Eccles and Arnold Sameroff. This article focuses on the racial discrimination in schools and predicts how it may change academic and psychological functioning of African Americans and whether or not their ethnic identity can be related to such changes. Racial discrimination is an issue everywhere, but we see it in Chicago public schools towards the students considered minorities, which often times refer to the students of color. I will do my best to compare how African American students and other races are impacted academically and/or psychologically through what they experience at school from their teachers and peers—limiting how their home life influences their academic performa nce as well as psychology. Wong has focused his study on ethnicity and psychological development, one of many approaches and only a small portion of how ethnicity influences development; I will include some personal thoughts of mine as well as concepts I have learned from class and other readings. Some things to keep in mind when accessing a child and his/her performance in the classroom are social situations and psychological processes—including stereotypes, experiences of ethnic discrimination, ethnic identity, and