The Crucible Character Analysis - 1613 Words

American playwright and theatrical figure in the twentieth-century, Arthur Miller, once said, â€Å"Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.† Though he did not include this quote in the context of his famous work, The Crucible, his wise words can also be relevant in this play. The play takes place during the era of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. In his composition, he includes the story of Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, a married couple living outside of Salem in the time period of the trials. Abigail Williams, the family’s servant, has an affair with Mr. Proctor, which becomes a greatly kept secret before prior to the events of the play. Proctor then fully experiences the consequences of betraying his wife, which include shame of betrayal and fear of†¦show more content†¦Even though the couple has experienced struggles throughout their relationship, Elizabeth’s love for her husband prevails over her anger of him cheating. Abigail’s intentions oppose Eliza beth’s, because the connection between John and Abby is only based off of lust. Because Abigail loves the idea of John loving her, she will do everything she can to rekindle their short-lived relationship: â€Å"I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! †¦ You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me!† (Miller 30). Because Abby knows that John Proctor once came to her, she continuously wishes for their affair to continue. The naà ¯ve teenager does not know how to cope with being unwanted by her lover, and succumbs to jealousy and rage. Along with her anger and envy, Abby is vulnerable and desperate for John Proctor to love her and want to be with her again. She says to him, â€Å"I am waitin’ for you every night† (Miller 28). Abby begins to feel enraged that John Proctor rejects her, and takes her anger out on Elizabeth. This leads to Abigail praying for the death of Elizabeth Proctor and seeking revenge on her for being loved by John. We learn that Abby’s jealousy consumes her, and inevitably causes her to resort to sabotaging the couple’s relationship with her lies. It is said that the key to a lasting relationship is honesty. Though John Proctor disobeyed this commandment of loveShow MoreRelatedThe Crucible Character Analysis773 Words   |  4 Pagessomething that will lead a man to shame and destruction. In The Crucible this happened to one of the main characters, John Proctor, which also is the one of the Tragic Hero in the book. The Crucible is about when some town people in Salem was accused of being witches after four girls were found dancing in the woods. After 200 people were accused of being witches in 1963, 20 people were either hung or crushed by many stones. In the Crucible John Proctor, the tragic hero had a weakness as pride eventuallyRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis1126 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Cru cibles, written by Arthur Miller, there were many themes present throughout the storyline. One theme existing throughout the play pertains to many characters preserving their reputation rather than conforming to society. In the play, many characters were prosecuted for witchery because of girls such as Abigail Williams accused them of doing so. During this crisis in Salem, three characters in particular remained rightful and truthful in order to preserve their established reputation inRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis1075 Words   |  5 Pagesprovide a source of conflict for a story. Author, Arthur Miller instills villain qualities in one of his main characters, Abigail. The Crucible is a story written about the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail is the main character in charge of accusing men and woman of being with the devil. Abigail’s traits mirror those of various Disney villains. Abigail’s omnipotent power throughout The Crucible reflects Maleficents talent. Maleficent is the most powerful fairy that uses magic to harm others due toRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis736 Words   |  3 PagesIn Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the people of Salem, Massachusetts experience several â€Å"bizarre supernatural events† that really highlight these characters’ morality. A morality play is a kind of drama with personified abstract qualities as the main characters and presenting a lesson about good conduct and character. The Crucible dramatizes good and evil to give rationale of these characters’ true intentions. The â€Å"good† characters in the play are portrayed as Reverend Hale, Elizabeth, Mr. ParrisRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis783 Words   |  4 Pages â€Å"If you take care of your character. Your reputation will take care of itself†(Dwight Lyman Moody). In the book The Crucible, the reader gets to know several characters. As you continue through they find out information on more of the characters but three specific ones stand out because of their actions when trying to save their reputations. John Proctor, Reverend Parris, and Judge Danforth are all involved with trying to fix issues but end up trying to save their reputation because Parris catchesRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis Essay879 Words   |  4 PagesThe Crucible Character Analysis In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor, the protagonist, is a farmer in his middle thirties. The author gives little to no detailed physical description of him, but from Proctor’s speech, we can still picture him as a strong and powerful man who is able to keep every situation under the control, the kind of personality which earns him deep respect and even fear from the people in town. On the other hand, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, plays an inferiorRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis771 Words   |  4 PagesThe Crucible In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams will do whatever it takes to win John Proctor over Elizabeth. Abigail is known for stirring up trouble. Will she win? In The Crucible, Abigail Williams is the villain of the play. She is manipulative towards her friends and the townspeople and causes people to die. Abigail is the reason for the start of the Salem witch trials. In Act One of The Crucible, Abigail has an affair with John Proctor. Abigail, her friends, and TitubaRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis1195 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, the characters have an innumerable amount of concerns for their own reputation. This is an immense theme represented throughout the entire play. The characters are too drawn into the sake of keeping the good of their name. In The Crucible, characters such as Reverend Parris, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren are highly drawn to their reputations. This affects the way they act because i t brings their actions into play. Their situations are similarRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis783 Words   |  4 PagesThe greater the tragedy someone witnesses the more sympathy the will have for any tragedy no matter how small. In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Proctor is put Faced with multiple tragedies. Even though John Proctor starts out as narcissistic and apathetic he starts to become more empathetic to all people and their problems because situations where it is difficult to not feel empathy made him realize it’s the right thing to do. In the beginning of the book Proctor doesn’t care muchRead MoreThe Crucible Character Analysis811 Words   |  4 PagesThe play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This time in Salem, witchcraft was suspected of almost everyone in the town. Preserving one’s reputation becomes recurring concept throughout the play. The witchcraft accusations are usually made by people that have a biased view against others, which is why everyone tries to make sure their reputation looks well with the rest of the town. This concept is proven through the characters of John Proctor

Leadership Effectiveness - 2352 Words

The term leadership has been evolved and expanded over several decades. Researchers, theorists and writers have documented definitions and schools of thought on the leadership. The controversial issue has lead to pervasive concepts of leadership effectiveness and ineffectiveness which has bolstered the views on which leader unequivocally meets the requirements. Walker (2011) elucidated that leadership approaches though different in dimensions and characteristics play a pivotal role in conceptualizing how to improve on ones leadership practices and further, how followers understand and interpret their leaders’ style. Walker also opined that over myriad of decades, leadership approaches more or less chronologically progressed from trait†¦show more content†¦Lunenberg and Ornstein (2012) highlighted the results of this study showed that subordinates preferred the democratic leader since they were able to participate in the decision making process. Further, their input was valuable to the growth and development of the organization. Lewin et al noted that subordinates surprisingly opted for the laissez-faire leader rather than the authoritarian since the rigidity of the authoritative leader stimulated aggression and frustration. The ultimate result was that the performance levels under the auspices of the authoritarian leader ship was marginally higher that the democratic leader. However, subordinates had a proclivity for the democratic leader. Lussier Achua (2009) postulated that â€Å"with the shift in paradigm from management to leadership, the leadership style of effective managers is no longer about autocratic, but more democratic†. This shift is as a result of the Iowa studies. Premised on the results of this study, it is evident that authoritarian leadership despite the heightened frustration levels it emits had a positive outcome. I believe that when subordinates are however morphed in the institutions goals and are intricatelyShow MoreRelatedLeadership Effectiveness Of A Managers Leadership1652 Words   |  7 PagesWebster dictionary, leadership comprises of condition, quality, dignity, art, and skill. Therefore, leadership is a combination of all these mentioned factors that describe personality. Hence, it can be defined as â€Å"the measure of a leader’s conditions† (Avey et al-, 2012, p. 22). This may include any task or role of a manager in an organizational setting. The quality of a manager’s leadership makes a remarkable difference in the overall outcome of any task. Leadership effectiveness shows â€Å"the specificRead MoreThe Role Of Leadership Effectiveness1174 Words   |  5 PagesIn any organization, the role of leadership effectiveness depends on either if he/she has total controls of the decision making process and supervises work done in the group called autocratic leadership style (Greenberg, p.456), if the leader has minimum supervision and allows group participation in decision making known as delegation leadership style (Greenberg, p.456) and lastly a leader who prefers half of each styles called participative leadership style. (Greenberg, p.456) Given the complexityRead MoreA Theory Of Leadership Effectiveness972 Words   |  4 PagesFred Fiedler introduces the world Fiedler’s Contingency Theory in his â€Å"A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness† in 1967. According to Leadership centra.com, Fiedler’s contingency theory is one of the contingency theories that states that effective leadership depends not only on the style of leading but on the control over a situation. Fred Fiedler believes there are two types of leader; the first type of leader is task-oriented leader. A task-oriented leader is concerted on completing the job andRead MoreLeadership Effectiveness Of A Manager1688 Words   |  7 PagesWebster dictionary, leadership comprises of condition, quality, dignity, art, and skill. Therefore, leadership is a combination of all these mentioned factors that describe personality. Hence, it can be defined as â€Å"the measure of a leader’s conditions† (Avey et al-, 2012, p. 22). This may include any task or role of a manager in an organizational setting. The quality of a manager’s leadership makes a remarkable difference in the overall outcome of any task. Leadership effectiveness shows â€Å"the specificRead MoreDeveloping A Leadership Effectiveness Of Japan1468 Words   |  6 PagesDeveloping a Leadership Effectiveness in Japan Leadership around the world has different meanings based on the cultural believes and values of every culture. A general definition for leadership can be defined as the ability to influence and guide followers. Leadership takes place in many roles, functions, and aspects of life. There are great and bad leaders in the world; great leaders use power to influence and motivate people in different aspects, and bad leaders use destructive power to damageRead MoreThe Effectiveness Of Different Leadership Styles Essay1436 Words   |  6 PagesComparing the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. Leadership is important to a company’s productivity. The methods and manner that a manger uses to encourage employees towards the achievement of the companies objective is mean by leadership style. There are basically four types of leadership styles 1. Autocratic leadership style Figure 1 (Autocratic-leadership) AutocraticRead MoreEthics, Leadership And Team Effectiveness1215 Words   |  5 Pagesaddresses qualitative and quantitative research relating to ethical leadership and core job characteristics, organizational culture on team interaction for team effectiveness, employee’s participation in decision making with leadership encouragement of creativity, team cognition as it relates to performance in strategic decision-making teams, emotional intelligence and team effectiveness, cross-level influences of empowering leadership, and decades of research on national culture in the workplace. Read MoreLeadership Effectiveness: Style and Ethics800 Words   |  4 PagesLeadership Effectiveness: Style and Ethics Culture is a powerful force in organizations. Leaders must build and share a vision with followers which is ripe for the culture and current climate. Leaders must also recognize when an organization’s culture no longer supports the mission. Target Corporate Target is a corporate pillar in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Target’s mission is, â€Å"to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovationRead MoreThe Effectiveness Of Situational Leadership Theory941 Words   |  4 PagesThe Effectiveness of Situational Leadership Theory Leaders must face various situations effectively. How leaders address the situation is an area of leadership with a lot of theories and research. One of those theories is Hersey-Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory. â€Å"Situational Leadership Theory proposes that effective leadership requires a rational understanding of the situation and an appropriate response† (McCleskey, 2014, p. 118). The Life Cycle of Leadership was the original term for Hersey-Blanchard’sRead MoreLeadership Effectiveness and Business Management792 Words   |  3 Pagesrole is very crucial in an organization. The success of organization depends upon manager’s ability in utilizing the resources for achieving the pre determined goals. Leadership Leadership is a process of lead the people through inspiration and motivation in order to achieve the group or organization goals. Leadership effectiveness helps to increases the firm’s ability in order to meet the new challenges. Leader is a person who influence his followers, inspires them in order to get the desired common

Business Decision Making Free Essays

string(84) " greater trust and loyalty among dyad members \(Cogliser Schriesheim, 2000\)\." Leadership in today’s organizations is a tough business. Organizational leaders face a number of significant challenges as their jobs, and the world around them, become increasingly complex (Zaccaro Klimoski, 2001). Trends such as organizational â€Å"delayering, † rapid technological advances, the proliferation of teambased organizations, and increased employee empowerment require that leaders adapt their techniques and styles of leadership to meet these new challenges. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Decision Making or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the face of all these changes, researchers and management education specialists are working to find methods to develop more effective leaders. Old techniques of development are criticized and questioned, and new techniques are created—often before they are adequately tested and thoroughly understood. New techniques can become instant â€Å"fads. † In recent years, there has been an explosion of interest in leadership. The bulk of research efforts has gone into trying to understand leadership—how it operates— and into identifying the characteristics of effective leaders. Although interpersonal relationships have always held importance within the organizational literature (Blau, 1964), a focus on relational perspectives is recently experiencing renewed interest in organizational behavior and leadership research (Day, 2000). According to Hunt and Dodge (2001), relational perspectives are at the forefront of emerging leadership thrusts. A relational focus is one that â€Å"moves beyond unidirectional or even reciprocal leader–follower relationships to one that recognizes leadership wherever it occurs, is not restricted to a single or even small set of formal or informal leaders, and in its strongest form, functions as a dynamic system embedding leadership, environmental, and organizational aspects† (Hunt Dodge, 2001, p. 448). An area of research that speaks directly to leadership development, as defined by Day (2000), is Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory. Researchers working with this leadership model have been investigating the value of developing effective work relationships between managers and subordinates for the past 30. During this time, LMX has shown the value of high-quality relationships and the problems associated with lower quality relationships. The purpose of this work is to discuss LMX theory, research, and practice on leadership development. The paper begins by briefly reviewing the value of relationships from a social capital perspective and then defines leadership relative to relationships. Leadership is engaging in behaviors that create change, and creating change requires influence. To be leaders, therefore, individuals need to have and effectively use influence. Influence is the power to affect others: the ability to produce outcomes due to some personal characteristic that gets others to follow. By definition, influence is inherently interpersonal. Influence takes place within the context of interpersonal relationships. According to relational leadership theories, influence comes from relationships. Relational perspectives in leadership view leadership as generated through mutual influence that results from the development of trust, respect, and obligation among dyad members. LMX theory describes this influence as being created through stages of relationship building. Individuals begin at a â€Å"stranger† stage, get to know one another through testing processes, and as a result of the testing process, either progress to an advanced stage of leadership development (e. g. , partnership) or remain at lower levels of relationship development (e. g. , acquaintance or stranger). Those who attain more advanced stages of relationship building—and thus develop more effective relationships with interdependent others (e. g. , managers and other higher-ups, subordinates, peers, clients, external constituents)—are able to more effectively perform their roles. More effective, or high-quality, leader– member exchanges are described as leadership rather than as supervisory relationships. High-quality relationships are considered mature partnerships based on respect, trust, and mutual obligation for one another (Graen Uhl-Bien, 1995). These relationships go beyond the formal contract and generate personal power (i. e. , influence given by the other), rather than position power or authority. They are also characterized by willing followership, meaning employees are driven by intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic motivation. As a result, dyad partners (i. e. , individuals engaged in an exchange) act because they want to, not because they have to. Research on LMX shows that more effectively developed relationships have significant and positive associations with performance, organizational commitment, employee citizenship behavior (i. e. , extra-role behavior), job satisfaction, delegation and participation in decision making, and enhanced career development opportunities. These relationships are negatively related to turnover, job problems, and role conflict and ambiguity. The benefits of high-quality relationships come from relational resources they create. Such resources include durable obligations (e. g. , arising from feelings of gratitude, respect, and friendship), network contacts and connections (including privileged access to information and opportunities, social status, and reputation of influential others), and the ability to have open information exchanges with those around them (Nahapiet Ghoshal, 1998). Relationships that do not develop so well are considered lower quality. These relationships are not as beneficial for the individuals involved or for the organization as a whole. Lower quality relationships are described as contractually defined, formal exchanges based on limited trust and in-role interactions (Uhl-Bien et al. , 2000). These types of relationships generate management rather than leadership. They are characterized by lack of mutual respect, formal downward communications, little mutual understanding, limited support and commitment for one another, and no mutual obligation (i. e. , a â€Å"stranger† relationship). Findings have shown that lower quality relationships are negatively related to satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors, and commitment, and are positively related to turnover. Thus, based on relational leadership theory, effective relationships may generate mutual influence and understanding that allow leaders to more effectively perform their roles. In contrast to hierarchical and leader-dominated perspectives on relational differentiation, the goal and responsibility of leadership should be to work to develop effective relationships more broadly with interdependent others, rather than with only a group of â€Å"trusted assistants†. Drawing from the foundations established by Day (2000), leadership development needs to be considered (a) beyond hierarchical notions of manager–subordinate relationships, (b) as the responsibility of both members of the dyad (rather than leader-controlled), and (c) with allowance for more variability in what is considered a high-quality, or effective, relationship. A high-quality exchange is characterized by positive leadership processes that are indicative of a social exchange, such as increased subordinate job latitude and influence in decision making, more open and honest subordinate communication with the supervisor, and greater trust and loyalty among dyad members (Cogliser Schriesheim, 2000). You read "Business Decision Making" in category "Papers" Low-quality LMX relationships are more economic or transactional in nature, and dyadic behaviors rarely progress beyond what is specified in the employment contract. With regard to leadership development, those subordinates interested in leadership development receive it as part of the relationship contract. Those that are not interested in becoming leaders do not receive leadership development as part of their psychological contract and receive a different allocation of on-the-job training. Effective organizations have units that are tied together, through â€Å"linking-pin† positions, where members in these organizations become more aware of problems at lower levels in the system and coordinate activities efficiently through accurate flows of information, influence, and resources among the units involved. The persons occupying these linking-pin positions are integrated members in two or more groups and play the role of both supervisor and subordinate. Graen and his colleagues explored the effectiveness of the LMX relationship between incumbents of linking-pin positions and their supervisors and the behavior, attitudes, and treatment of lower level members (Graen, Cashman, Ginsburgh, Schiemann, 1977). They found that the quality of LMX of the linking-pin incumbent was related to the quality of working life of the followers who reported to the linking pin. When subordinates develop high-quality exchanges with their bosses, they receive greater influence, latitude, support, and attention from their bosses, and they experience a more desirable situation overall. These researchers continued by pointing out that the quality of members in a higher dyad (hierarchically) contributed to the quality of life of members in hierarchically lower dyads. The LMX model clearly has utility for its application to leadership development. Empirical studies have supported the relationship of high-quality exchanges with positive organizational outcomes, and the broader leadership literature supports the cascading or waterfall effect of the supervisor’s leadership behavior impacting the subordinates. There is a clear need for methods that more effectively socialize junior managers for executive positions. Dyad-level coaching may be one of the most effective means for transmitting organizational culture, thereby promoting the organization’s core values. Dyad management development has not been utilized to the full extent possible to leverage the potential of the pool of executive talent. The LMX literature says that LMX differentiation, in which leaders have higher quality relationships with some subordinates and lower quality relationships with others, occurs because leaders do not have time (or the need) to generate highquality relationships with everyone. Therefore, they develop a group of trusted assistants to help them perform the work of the unit. These trusted assistants would supposedly be the best or most reliable employees in the unit. Twenty years after the inception of the theory, Graen and Uhl-Bien (1995) argued that the creation of â€Å"in-groups† and â€Å"out-groups† within work units is not beneficial, and that instead leaders should strive to develop high-quality relationships with all subordinates. They do this by â€Å"making the offer† of high-quality relationships to all and then through testing processes, different quality relationships result (Uhl-Bien et al. , 2000). This perspective allows for the fact that all relationships may not (and likely will not) reach high quality, but at least the dyad members both take part in how the relationship develops (rather than the leader determining who will be the trusted assistants) and have the opportunity to create a high-quality relationship. This perspective also recognizes that a focus on differentiation rather than on high-quality relationships offered to all creates tremendous opportunity for lost potential in organizations. When individuals are not fully committed (or are dissatisfied), they will withdraw discretionary behaviors that benefit others or the organization (e. g. , helping, altruism, civic behaviors). These discretionary behaviors are beneficial to the organization, and as a result, much attention has been given in the literature to determining when and how individuals engage in these behaviors. Instead of LMX differentiation, therefore, goal should be for individuals to strive to have influence with one another (and with higher-ups). With the support of a relationship, individuals are freer to open up and provide one another with more accurate and complete information (Avolio, 1999) so they can provide the â€Å"real† information (the â€Å"real† story). This goes both ways: with a good relationship comes reduced filtering (holding back) of information, both up and down the hierarchy. It allows individuals to share with one another the hard truth. Too many leaders do not have good information, and too many hold back in being truthful with their subordinates. If to extend this beyond managers to leaders more broadly, then organizational members need to be comfortable with providing information to one another, and this comes with having effective work relationships. Remembering that effective leaders are defined as those who use influence to create change, individuals’ abilities to be effective leaders are directly related to their ability to have influence in the organization. Since effective work relationships can extend individuals’ influence networks, those who have more effective relationships with others will likely have more opportunity to gain and use influence. Therefore, leadership effectiveness is likely enhanced by the ability to build effective work relationships with a broader range of interdependent others. In a study of communications within Leader-Member Exchanges, Schiemann ( 1977) found that those members with relatively higher quality LMXs communicated more frequently with their managers about administrative and technical matters than did members with relatively lower quality LMXs. These results were cross-validated on a holdout sample of managers. Apparently, there is much more communication in higher quality LMXs than in the lower quality LMXs. Thus, effective communications are an important aspect of the development of high-quality LMXs. Flauto’s (1999) study is in response to the global question, â€Å"How are communication and leadership linked? † This study drew subjects from a variety of organizations in Ohio, eastern Indiana, northern Kentucky, and western West Virginia. Twenty to fifty subjects were drawn from each of nine organizations. Organizations participating in the study were two financial service organizations, a retail sales organization, a military unit, a subsurface coal mining organization, a suburban police department, a rural bank branch, a local post office, and a food service organization. Transactional and transformational leadership were measured using subscales of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). A six-item, three-factor subscale was created for the transformational leadership dimension and a four-item, two-factor subscale was created for the transactional leadership dimension. Subjects responded to each of the behavioral anchored items by selecting one of five responses that applied to their leader. The leader-member exchange dimension was measured by a subscale consisting of the six items of the LMX-6 scale. The LMX-6 scale contains items that measure the three factors of leader-member exchange. Responses are on a five-point Likert-type scale. The relationship is the highest among all of the variables in the study. This finding supports the conclusions of Day (2000) that communication attributes can distinguish between levels of leader-member exchange quality. The finding also fits into the theoretical framework of the leader-member approach to leadership that requires successful communication exchange in order to form the â€Å"in-group† relationship that characterizes high quality leader-member exchange. The communicative competence of the leader, and its affect on communication effectiveness as evidenced by member perception of leader-member agreement, appears to be a necessary precondition for a high quality leader-member exchange relationship. At the lower levels of communication competence, high quality leader-member relationships do not exist. The leader displays charisma by communicating enthusiasm and providing a model, shows individual consideration by direct interaction and providing tailored assistance, and stimulates intellect by communicating ideas. Day (2000) defines transformational leaders as leaders who use rhetorical skills to establish a common vision. Not surprisingly, members report a high relationship between transformational leadership and communication competence. In the least squares hierarchical multiple regression analyses, transformational leadership is the best single predictor of communication competence. Transformational leadership is of high quality when the leader exhibits high communication competency. Dyads with high communication competence and low transformational leadership and dyads with low communication competence and high transformational leadership do not exist. Leadership, however it is theoretically or operationally defined, is a social process and involves a relationship between individuals. This social process and this relationship are enacted through communication. These sessions were conducted with all participants in the treatment group. Before and after results, in terms of performance, were compared for this group and for other groups from the department, which were not exposed to the LMX treatment. Productivity increases measured in terms of the quantity of cases handled showed a significant advantage in favor of the group that was trained in LMX. Furthermore, this gain was primarily a function of effects that occurred in a high–growth need group of subjects. This latter index was included in the study because a job enrichment treatment based on job characteristics theory was introduced, along with the LMX treatment. Any job enrichment effects per se, however, were negated by certain policy changes that were introduced by the organization unknown to the experimenters; thus job characteristics theory was not, in fact, tested. A subsequent publication, based on data from the same context, was aimed at determining whether low or high initial LMX subjects were most responsive to the treatment effects. The results clearly indicated that the low LMX subjects responded most positively to the treatment in terms of both the quality of their leader–member exchanges and the quantity of their productivity. Another report on this project substantiates the moderator effects of growth need strength, but makes no mention of the finding that low– quality leader–member exchange translates into greater productivity with the appropriate training. This latter result is most consistent with theory in that it means that dyadic partnership building applied across the board should result in both low– and high–quality dyads initially moving with training to high–quality relationships. However, if growth need strength is a moderator of the training effect, one would anticipate that it would also moderate the initial dyadic choices as well. In such an event low–quality dyads would not contain many high– managed strength people and thus would offer little potential for upward movement. This seeming contradiction is neither explained nor even confronted. Growth need strength is not a component of the theory as stated in comprehensive forms. Research on LMXs illustrates the importance of leader-follower relationships. The point here is simply that 30 years of research on LMXs has conclusively demonstrated the effect of exchange quality on a number of important organizational outcomes. Specifically, in a meta-analysis of this area of leadership research, Gerstner and Day (1997) found that the quality of the LMX was significantly related to job performance, satisfaction with supervision, overall satisfaction, commitment, role conflict (negative relation), role clarity, member competence, and turnover intentions (negative relation). After reviewing the extensive LMX literature, Gerstner and Day’s conclusion was â€Å"we view the relationship with one’s supervisor as a lense through which the entire work experience is viewed† (p. 840). However, although LMX offers evidence to support the value of relational approaches to leadership, many questions still remain about key issues related to leadership development. In particular, a question that needs to be addressed in LMX research is: what leads to development of higher and lower quality work relationships (e. g. , antecedents to LMX)? Although past research has investigated antecedents to LMX, a clear picture of what these are and how they operate still has not emerged. References Avolio, B. J. (1999). Full leadership development: Building the vital forces in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York: Wiley. Cogliser, C. C. , Schriesheim, C. A. (2000). ‘Explori ngworkun itcontex tand leader-membe rexchange: A multi-level perspective. ’ Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21 (5). Day, D. V. (2000). ‘Leadership development: A review in context. ’ Leadership Quarterly, 11. Flauto, Frank J. (1999). ‘Walking the Talk: The Relationship between Leadership and Communication Competence’. Journal of Leadership Studies. Graen, G. B. , Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). ‘Relationship–based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multidomain perspective. ’ The Leadership Quarterly, 6. Hunt, J. G. , Dodge, G. E. (2001). ‘Leadership d? eja vu all over again. ’ Leadership Quarterly, 11 (4). Nahapiet, J. , Ghoshal, S. (1998). ‘Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. ’ Academy of Management Review, 23 (2). Zaccaro, S. J. , Klimoski, R. J. (2001). The nature of organizational leadership: Understanding the performance imperatives confronting today’s leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. How to cite Business Decision Making, Papers Business Decision Making Free Essays The methodology for this report will focus upon both primary and secondary research methods which will be used to obtain the opinions of the asked passer. Needled et-al (2003) states that primary research mainly consists of data collected by an organization, or individual, for their own purposes and are generally collated first hand from ‘the horses mouth’. Needled (2003) offers the opinion that the main methods of collating primary research are through conducting face to face Interviews, telephone interview, questionnaires and through direct observations. We will write a custom essay sample on Business Decision Making or any similar topic only for you Order Now Primary data can be either qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative research data tend to be more explanatory whereas quantitative is generally more descriptive. The main part of the research for this project will consist of one primary method, survey. The survey questioned passers within Princess to determine what they think about the Princess. This method has been chosen as it is easy method to collate considerable data and it is a relatively cheap method of collating the data. To ensure response rates were high, the passers were asked face to face. I have chosen to opt against a paper based System as Needled et-al (2003) offers the argument that response rates to costal systems are often as low as 30% and I feel this method may introduce bias to the overall conclusion. There the alternative option of personally distributing and collecting the surveys for which Sweeten (2002) claims can increase the response rate to almost 70%. However given the short timescales for the project I only intend to sample the views of 20 people. Questionnaires are quite popular when collecting data, but are difficult to design and often need many drafts before having a final questionnaire. These drafts are called pilot questionnaires. Again because of the given short time call I was only able design one pilot. It emerged that the questionnaire was too long. The final questionnaire was then amended by the KISS theory’- keep it short and simple. Random sampling was used as non random sampling is impracticable and often very costly in terms of time. After collecting the primary data, the data was then exported into Microsoft Excel to provide a more professional presentation for this document in providing professional graphs and findings. Secondary research All methods of data collection supply quantitative data (numbers, statistics) or qualitative data (usually words or text). Secondary data is data that has already been collected by someone else for a different purpose as the investigator. Main methods that is used to for the collection Of secondary data: Data supplied by a marketing organization Annual company reports Government statistics / surveys Academic surveys Company data (payroll details, minutes of meetings, accounts of sales of goods or services) Whilst theory is a crucial factor in academic learning and organizational success leading academics offer different views on it effectiveness. Saunders et-al (2003) explains that secondary research, especially academic journals, re the most important source for any research because they are evaluated by academic peers prior to publication therefore generally of good quality. Gharry (1995) offers the opinion that secondary research is has there are major advantages of secondary research mainly through savings in time, money and resources as academic literature from various sources is widely available and easily obtainable. However Needled et-al (2003) warns that the information may not always be of good quality, may not represent the whole picture and the research could be out of date. These opinions were considered whilst conducting the literature review. After having contacted the Princess press department the result was that due to the fact that the Princess is a new development, secondary data was not available. Rest Its The layout of the questionnaire was divided in three parts – introductory questions, main questions and final questions. Topic: What do you think of the Princess development? Number of questioned people: 20 Introductory questions The introductory questions are of assistance to find out general information about the questioned person. 1. Gender 2. Age group 3. Employment status 4. Marital status Main questions Main questions are in place in order to gather information about the topic of the question naira. 5. Purpose of the visit 6. Preferred time to visit 7. Does it meet expectations? 8. What were the expectations? 9. Affect on Setter’s other high street retailers and restaurants 10. Overall affect of the Princess Shopping Centre to Exeter Final questions The final questions help to calm down and relax from the main part. It can also seen as fun part. 11. Favorite new shop 12. Favorite new restaurant/cafe The Upper Crust Memo To: Quality Control Manager From: Tugboat Vic Sicken c: Date: January 31, 2015 Re: Result of samples 65 loaves of bread with a weight range of 780-830 g Average weight (mean) of loaves 804. 74 g The middle loaf (median) weighs 804. 9 g The most common (mode) loaf weight is 804. 9 g The Standard deviation of each loaf is 9. G The weight of the lower quartile is (IQ) is 798. 48 g Q = Median = 804. 9 g The weight of the upper quartile is (Q) is 811. 1 g The intrauterine range is 12. 62 g Box + Whisker plot Due to wastage we lost 805 loaves Task 5 Correlation The correlation is one of the most common and most useful statistics. A correlation is a single number that describes the degree of relationship between two variables. If points in scatter diagram cluster close to the line then there is a strong correlation in place and if points are more widely scattered the correlation is weak. Positive correlation If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with an increase in the other then this is known as a positive correlation. An example would be height and weight. Taller people tend to be heavier. Negative correlation If an increase in one variable tends to be associated with a decrease in the other then this is known as a negative correlation. An example would be height above sea level and temperature. As you climb the mountain (increase n height) it gets colder (decrease in temperature). No correlation A zero correlation occurs when there is no relationship between variables. The picture below shows a guide to the strength of correlation Strengths of correlations 1 . Correlation enables the researcher to examine naturally occurring variables that perhaps unethical or impractical to test experimentally. For instance, it would be unethical to carry out an experiment on whether smoking causes lung cancer. 2. Correlation enables the researcher to clearly and easily see if there is a relationship between variables. This Can then be displayed in a replica form. Limitations of correlations 1 . Correlation is not and cannot be taken to imply causation. Even if there is a very strong relationship between two variables we cannot assume that one causes the other. For example suppose we found a positive correlation between watching violence on T. V. And violent behavior in teenage years. It could be that the cause of both these is a third (irrelevant) variable – say for example, growing up in a violent home – and that both the watching of T. V. And the violent behavior are the outcome of this. . Correlation does not allow us to go beyond the data that is given. For example suppose it was found that there was a relationship between time spent on homework (112 hour to 3 hours) and number of G. C. S. E. Passes (1 to 6). It would not be correct to conclude from this that spending 6 hours on homework would be likely to generate 12 G. C. S. E. Passes 5 A + B. Rest It: The older the car gets (increase) the less is it worth (decrease). The scatter diagram above shows that the correlation is stronger after the first two years. There is no straight line relationship. The points on the graph with couple of exceptions form a curve which suggests it is not a linear relationship. The explanation of partial in the correlation result means that it is not 100% correlated because of other factors that influenced it. Coefficient of determination: 65. 61 % of the behavior of y is determined by x + 34. 39 % by other factors. The aim of regression analysis is to find out the values of parameters for a function that cause the function to best fit a set of data observations that it’s provided. In linear regression, the function is a linear (straight-line) equation. The equation and the table above show that the value of the car decreases by a constant amount each year after its purchase. The following linear function loud predict its value Value = price + departed*age Value, the dependent variable, is the value of the car, age is the age of the car. The regression analysis will determine the best values of the two parameters, price, the estimated value when age is O (I. E. , when the car was new), departed, the depreciation that takes place each year. The value of departed will be negative because the car loses value as age increases. However as we can see in the table after 12 years the equation gives a negative value. This would be not possible in reality. A car cannot be worth E-340. 06. The problem with the equitation is that it is not realistic. The equation is only correct in terms Of figures. E. The equation does not include the factors that can influence the price of a used car. It only considers the age of the car. However there can be several other factors that can influence the price of a used car. Mileage Color- In other words, some colors, like â€Å"ROI Yellow Pearl†, appeal only to a small segment of the population and brings down the car’s worth in many eyes Fuel type Engine size Transmission Number of doors Private or trade seller – Trade seller are always more expensive as trader adds profit on the actual value of the car. Previous owner – For example if a elderly person was the previous owner it is very likely that the car was only used for short distances (shopping, doctor consultations) On the other hand if the car was used at a driving school then it is very likely that the car was not treated well from the learners. F. Business decision makers need to find out very often the casual relationship between two variables. For instance, the relationship between interest rates and consumer expenditure. Furthermore a financial analyst may use regression and correlation to help understand the relationship of a financial ratio to a set of other var iables in business. Correlations can be helpful in business. Once a correlation is identified, organizations can determine if the correlation indicates causation. With this information, the company can develop methods to influence the correlation to the organization’s benefit. Task AAA. Total float The longest the start of an activity can be delayed from its earliest start time (EST) without delaying the project. Free float The longest an activity can be delayed from its EST without delaying the EST of any immediately following activities. By looking at the table, those tasks without a total float’ (I . E. Zero) are considered ‘critical’ and coincidentally are mound on the critical path. It is therefore important that these tasks are not delayed in order to complete the project on time as planned. Recognizing and integrating float is very important. For example, those tasks that do carry float may have resources (labor, capital, equipment, etc) that could be used elsewhere to complete other tasks quicker. Also, for those tasks that do carry float, any delays can be accepted. As the resource diagram below shows, 6 assistants are required for the job. Furthermore the whole procedure will take 25 days. After rescheduling the activities only 4 assistants are required. Apart from this the whole procedure will take 21 days. 70. Critical Path Analysis (CPA) is a planning and project management tool. It can help make sure a project is completed as quickly as possible, and resources used as efficiently as possible. The business is able to give the customer exact information such as finish date, required assistants. Furthermore, most projects come across with delays or something unexpected, so managers need to use tool such as CPA to monitor the project and take quick action to resolve any problems. This enables the business to avoid any delays and the consequential customer complaints. How to cite Business Decision Making, Papers

Role of E-commerce

Question: Write a report about the role of E-commerce in a business. Answer: 1. Introduction 1.1 Overview: As discussed by Githinji (2014), E-commerce is quick putting on ground as acknowledged whats more utilized benefits of the business standard. Most of the business houses are actualizing websites to improve the business and enhance the transaction process under one place. An online solution provider of online services can look at the catalog of service provided by the website and use the required service by contacting the administrator (Agarwal, 2015). The customer can make the payment for the selected service by the payment gateway used in the site with their debit or credit cards. A notification email is sent to the customer on confirmation of the payment on the selected service. 2. Overview of the website GreyTeak is good e-commerce site and it follows some factors for the customer reliability and customer satisfaction. The main feature of the GreyTeak website is that the navigation of the website is simpler, the customer can look at all the service provided by the website at a once. The services are shown in the very first layer of the site. The visitor of the site would need much less time to explore the website and thus saving the time and they can take their decision much faster than the other competiting websites (Patterson et al., 2013). The consumer can call on the provided number on the website if they face any problem in choosing the service provided by GreyTeak. The project is discussed briefly between customer service expert and the customer that helps the customer to choose the right service suitable for his project. 2.1 Positive and Negative aspects of the website: The positive aspect of GreyTeak website is that provides all the details of the company and the services they provide to the customer. The customer can have a deep review about the company and the informations regarding the company are given in the website in details (Brin, and Page, 2012). The customer can also contact the administrator by posting a query to the companys mail id or directly talk with the customer service expert and discuss about their project. The negative aspect of the website is that the website is too simple to attract the customer. The designer of the website has not understood the goal of the company, the important features of the store should separate the designs look and feelings but the website lacks in it (Morais et al., 2012). The administrator could be given more rights in the website but it misses those functionalities. 3. Stage of the website at present: GreyTeak is in e-business stage because according to e-business if the company uses all the opportunities provided by the internet to increase the business it is known to be in this stage (Tsiotsou and Wirtz, 2015). In this stage the internet acts as a channel between the client and the customer, the integration of ecommerce and e-business with the business strategy of the company is much important in the e business stage. 4. Hardware and software requirements for the website: ITEMS WEB SERVER (suggested) WEB SERVER (least) COMBINED WEB AND DATABASE SERVER (suggested) COMBINED WEB AND DATABASE SERVER (least) Processor 2 x 1.6 GHz CPU 1.6 GHz CPU 4 x 1.6 GHz CPU 2 x 1.6 GHz CPU HDD 1 x 360 GB of free space is suggested for the website. 1 x 360 GB of free space is suggested for the software used for the website. Ram 4 GB Ram 2 GB Ram 8 GB Ram 4 GB Ram Recommended Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine Configuration Medium Basic VM Small Basic VM Large Basic VM Medium Basic VM Table 1: Hardware Requirements for Web and Database Servers (Source: Patterson and Hennessy, 2013) COMPONENTS NOTES Microsoft.Net Framework 4.5 It can be downloaded from the Microsoft official site Table 2: Software Requirements for All Servers (Source: Patterson and Hennessy, 2013) Components Notes Windows server 2012 R2 Windows server 2012 Windows server 2008 R2 Windows server 2008 Small Business server 2008 Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Windows Server 2003 R2 with service pack 2 or later Windows server 2003 service tools must be installed Windows server 2003 with service pack 2 or later Small business server 2003 R2 with Service Pack 2 or later Table 3: Supported operating system (Source: Patterson and Hennessy, 2013) 5. Formulation of an e-commerce implementation strategy: 5.1 Content strategy for e-commerce implementation: The analysis of the current appearance and contents of the website (Greyteak.com.au 2016), reveals the fact the organization is in need of a content strategy for an e-commerce implementation. As discussed by Chauhan and Pillai (2013), Content Strategy collectively addresses the management of the contents of a particular media including its planning and the continual development. 5.2 Need for content strategy implementation: The strategy is essential to provide a more lucrative experience for the clients or the visitors and for an extensive brochure for the services provided by Greyteak. The software development industry has just extended beyond the services to the overall management of the marketing strategies for the specific organization. The purpose of a website is to provide the relevant information of the services to the stakeholders and the visitors in an attractive manner. Therefore, the websites should first formulate the extent and design of the service information to be imparted to the visitors. According to Maity and Dass (2014), the content strategy directly benefits the website design of the organization. The effective strategy outlines the following- Analyze the visitor and the clients interest The content administered by the Quality Analytics Product reviews Distribution of information through multimedia 5.3 Content strategy in Greyteak: The primary strategy that Greyteak requires at this moment is to provide the visitors multiple interactive facets in their website. The website presents the information of all the services in an unattractive detailed manner. As argued by Tsai et al. (2012), the content severely lacks the multimedia that was necessary for the lucrative presentation of the information about the various services. Figure 1: Applications and systems management of Greyteak Source: (Greyteak.com.au 2016) 5.4 The strategy framework for Content management: Figure: Vital factors of Content management for a website in e-commerce Source: (Tips for Developing a Content Marketing Strategy 2015) 5.5 Key aspects of the Content management strategy: Figure 2: Key aspects of Interaction design for the content strategy management Source: (Halvorson and Rach 2012) User analysis: It is the study of the visitor demographics and knowing the point of navigation of the clients. It will strategize a better website design for Greyteak. Branding: It is necessary for creating a stand-alone experience for the customer in the competitive e-commerce market for the websites and development companies. Ergonomics: The evaluation of the human interactions with the machines or the website in this case is ergonomics, which will prove useful in this case. Content strategy: The elaborateness yet the compact nature of the information of the services will be a driving aspect of the Content management strategy. Visual attractiveness: The perfect blend of the text, color, design, spacing, with the appropriate use of multimedia creates better visitor experiences. Architecture of Information: The organization of the information and the navigation facilitates drive the content management. Market analysis: The evaluation of the competitors and the market value of the organization both for brick and mortar is a vital aspect. Requirement analysis: A lucrative design along with the most effective information is key element for the content strategy. Technology: A feasibility study for the ecommerce will maintain a scalable and customer oriented content management. 6. Hardware and software requirements for the Content Management Strategy for ecommerce: The software required for the Content Management implementation is IBM Content Manager Enterprise Edition 8.5 for the Linux Operating system. The Content Management software stores the content in then XML format for the management and reuse of the data to facilitate a flexible presentation for the website in the e-commerce. Operating system OS Minimum Hardware Bitness Red Hat Enterprise for Linux Advanced Platform Base IBM systems (Z) / x-86 64 bits Exploit and Tolerate Red Hat Enterprise for Linux Advanced Server Base IBM systems (Z) / x-86 64 bits Exploit and Tolerate Red Hat Enterprise for Linux Advanced Server 6 Base IBM systems (Z) / x-86 64 bits Exploit and Tolerate SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Base IBM systems (Z) / x-86 64 bits Exploit and Tolerate Table 4: Software and hardware requirements for the selected Content Management Software Source: (Www-969.ibm.com 2016) 7. Conclusion: In the modern era of business internet plays an important role, and thus the ecommerce websites have gained significant importance for the entrepreneur and the customers. The customers can avail a service from home or any other geographical location with the help of this ecommerce website. The consumers of most of the ecommerce websites make quick decision and thus the website design must be simple and attractive to convince the customer to take the service from the website. The design should be made in such a way that the products and the service are accessed easily by the customer. In this project the user has tried to keep the design of the website simple and to build the website various tools like Asp.Net, VB.Net, J# etc. are used. The information regarding the customer requirement and the other services are stored in the database. The report gives a clear view of the website and the technologies and tools used to design the website. The building of the project has helped in incr easing knowledge about Asp.Net and other tools required to develop an ecommerce website. References: Agarwal, D., 2015. WEB PERSONALIZATION AND RECOMMENDATION MODEL FOR TRUST IN ECOMMERCE WEBSITES FROM AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE. Brin, S. and Page, L., 2012. Reprint of: The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual web search engine.Computer networks,56(18), pp.3825-3833. Chauhan, K. and Pillai, A., 2013. Role of content strategy in social media brand communities: a case of higher education institutes in India.Journal of Product Brand Management,22(1), pp.40-51. Githinji, S.W., 2014.Empowerment of small and medium enterprises through e-commerce and mobile technology in developing countries: a case study of Kenya(Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi). Greyteak.com.au. (2016). GreyTeak Services. Halvorson, K. and Rach, M., 2012.Content strategy for the web. New Riders. Maity, M. and Dass, M., 2014. Consumer decision-making across modern and traditional channels: E-commerce, m-commerce, in-store.Decision Support Systems,61, pp.34-46. Morais, E.P., Pires, J.A. and Gonalves, R.M., 2012. e-Business Maturity: Constraints associated with their evolution.Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce,22(3), pp.280-300. Patterson, D.A. and Hennessy, J.L., 2013.Computer organization and design: the hardware/software interface. Newnes. Tips for Developing a Content Marketing Strategy. (2015). Nonprofit Communications Report, 13(6), pp.6-6. Tsai, J., Miller, M. and Strong, D., 2012.Systems and methods for managing interactive features associated with multimedia content. U.S. Patent Application 12/890,741.