Principles and Practices of Leadership and Management Assignment

Principles and Practices of Leadership and Management - Assignment Example For being a good leader, a person must have certain leadership traits such as honesty and integrity, ability to delegate, written and oral communication skill, sense of humour, confidence, commitment, positive attitude, creativity, intuition and the ability to inspire. Part 1 SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis as provided below has been based on actual work experience and 360 degree feedback. Strengths I have good team work and organising capacity according to my self-assessment and the feedback from my peer group and superiors. I also possess a good deal of creativity as well as commitment. In group works, I can develop my own ideas and I also have the ability to assign work to other members by making sure that each will enjoy the work assigned to them. I am quite familiar with technological advancements in networking and specialised software. This is an era in which so many technological innovations have come up, so it is necessary that I remain updated with current changes. At all ti mes I try to maintain the values of honesty and integrity towards life and different situations in the workplace. The value of time is of high significance to me and I acknowledge this fact through timely execution of the tasks assigned to me. I am confident that I can complete all tasks assigned to me on time. ... I am a very serious person by nature, so I lack the tactics of effectively handling situations through humour and friendly communication. Moreover, I am an introvert and feel nervous when I talk to or interact with strangers. Opportunities My overall talents will enable me to work in any multinational company anywhere in the world and I feel very confident and proud of myself. Besides, a number of other opportunities are available in the publicand private sectors. This is mainly because of the increasing advancements in the technological field. In the case of an organisation, since I am familiar with the new technologies, it is easier for me to get a job in that company since companies look for technologically updated leaders. Likewise, for performing day to day activities it is very important to know the updated technologies. Threats As far as I am concerned, stiff competition is the main threat in the modern day for people in leadership positions. Though I possess reasonable skills in written communication, I feel my lacking in oral communication skills, at par with my technical skills, may affect my career as a leader adversely. The primary interaction while being considered for new job positions involves interviews, where I may encounter problems due to my lack of oral skills, and this may limit my chances. Critical Evaluation of SWOT Analysis A leader should have certain basic qualities in order to excel in his position and to influence his followers. Every person does not necessarily possess all the required traits or skills, which make the task of leadership effective. By analysing my SWOT analysis on the basis of practical experience and 360 degree feedback, I have reached certain conclusions. The creative ability along with

Are the Challenges Facing Contemporary Africans the Product of Research Paper

Are the Challenges Facing Contemporary Africans the Product of Internal or External Historical Forces - Research Paper Example This despite a lot of efforts being channeled towards solving these problems, a lot of foreign aid is used to help these particular societies. Even though many non-stake organizations put of attention towards trying to solve these problems, still there are a lot of challenges. The main problem remains as the most potential strategies to salvage Africa from the problems; what or when will Africa much other continents social, political and particular economic strength? Many African scholars such as Ngugi wa Thiongo and Chinua Achebe1 have always associated the problem facing the African continent today as a result of the coming of Europeans to Africa. The introduction of western culture and civilization, which according to these writers brought the continent to its knees and began to creep into Africa when foreigners mainly Europeans started arriving into the continent. They criticize Europeans as having the quest to impose imperial ideologies and pilfering African resources, and it is this foundation that African scholars fill continued to infiltrate the continent even after independence. In the 21st century, the following are some of the principle challenges facing Africa as a continent. External Factors Economic constrains The economic effects laid down by colonialism continue to be felt by the five million inhabitants of Africa. Many African scholars such as Dr Ibrahim Farah do maintain a strong feeling that colonialism should be viewed as a progressive integration of Africa into the world capitalist system where it was given the role of producing raw materials for the western industrial products. This colonial economy also diverted Africa societies to divert Agriculture to production of primary goods and cash crop which have led to the continuous hunger situation in the continent. Africa elites blame the colonial economy for encouraging Africa to produce ''more of what was needed least rather than more of what was needed most'', this is what explains why Afr ica has continued to sink into the balance of payment deficit e because the income they fetch from their exports is far much less than the revenue they spend on imports2. Rodney goes further to echo the same sentiments when he argues that the systematic corrupt enterprises established by the colonies to expropriate African natural resources to Europe. This facilitated what is today seen as under-development of Africa while it engendered the development of Europe. It is how the colonial master led to the re organs action of African economy that has today altered the manner in which people produce, consume and create things within the continent-colonialism came with new-liberalism a phenomena that seeks to enforce the principle law of demand and supply that is forces of demand and supply should be left to make the leading role in the market structure distorted the African way of life, which was communal and appropriate for the African setting. In addition this system substituted it wi th liberalism which was foreign and in this case alien for the African societies. Socially, colonialism as an external factor responsible for the problems facing African continent today greatly affected the close knit family structure and fragmentation of social relation. Colonialism is also responsible for urbanization that led to rapid exodus of masses from rural areas to urban centers. This had two

Effects of Food Pricing on Low and Middle Class Americans Essay

Effects of Food Pricing on Low and Middle Class Americans - Essay Example There is a growing the consensus about food prices increase, has been primarily occasioned by three key elements. Firstly, the changes in climatic conditions have been blamed for decreasing farmer's production in the United States. Because of global warming and environmental degradation, the extreme weather conditions have resulted in poor harvest due to reduced rains, harsh snowy conditions that destroy crops and inhibit dairy production in the North America. Consequently, food prices have continued to rise due to fundamental shifts in demand and supply in global markets. The increase in genetically modified foods has resulted in an increase of prices due to expensive technology employed. Besides, many food-processing companies have laid down expensive groundwork leading to high prices of canned food items (French, 841S). In America’s social life, the lower-middle class families are struggling just as the families living in poverty since they cannot be able to afford sufficient diet meals due to increasing pricing on such commodities. With the families not able to purchase enough food for the entire family, it results in food insecurity. Food security is widespread in any American societies living in lower-middle class and who have children (Grossmann and Varnum, 81). Since food price is an essential determinant of diet, it is then likely that these families are unable to feed on balance diet, and their nutritional status is compromised. It is not surprising that these families are only able to access, and buy lowest cost diets and these diets are the least unhealthy in the market. With high food prices in the market, such families are not able to meet their costs hence fail to buy the nutrients dense diets that they need. In the market, the diets that are composed of low energy density rich food products are expensive compared to the ones composed if refined grains with added sugars and fats (Powell and Chaloupka, 229). The increase in food pricing thus creates a barrier for the lower-middle income class of American citizens to access the nutrients dense diets.  

Research for Health Project Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

For Health Project - Research Paper Example The proposal aims at correcting the situation by suggesting various alternatives towards ensuring early HIV infection diagnosis among the Africans in UK. There is a need to access the various barriers that hinder. The research paper will also contain some research questions that the researcher will use in the field to come up with concrete findings in the study. The methodological chapter reviews some of the research techniques and designs that the researcher will use in addressing the qualitative and quantitative studies in developing the research. The section also gives the prelude on how data will be collected in the field as well as the sampling procedures that will be used in obtaining the desired population for the study. A detailed technique of raw data analysis and presentation is also indicated in the chapter. A literature search refers to an explicit and systematic approach to identifying, retrieving and managing bibliography of independent studies. The independent sources are obtained from published from sources, and the search aims at synthesizing conclusions, singling out future areas of research as well as locating information on particular topics. Today, a lot of technological advances are seen in the field of medicine as well as nursing. For instance, there are epidemics and new cases of diagnosis of some diseases worldwide. The current trends in the late diagnosis of HIV infection among the black Africans is a matter of concern in UK (Health Protection Agency, 2007). The issue poses a great concern to the government of UK to find out the primary cause of the late HIV infection diagnosis. Late HIV infection diagnosis among Africans in UK is a serious problem in the region. The problem of late HIV infection defines a situation where the CD4 cells count way below the minimum level of 350 cells/mm3 (Fenton, 2007, p.14). The late diagnosis hinders early access to

Research Methods - Dissertation Proposal (Balanced Scorecards - Why to Essay - 1

Research Methods - Dissertation Proposal (Balanced Scorecards - Why to go for it, how to develop and implement, how effective are they ) - Essay Example Norton in 1992, in an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review titled: â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard: Measures that drive performance.† This management strategy was devised in response to the fact that while most financial measures were able to track the past performance of a business, they were unable to effectively assess the intangible factors that contributed towards ensuring that the business retained a competitive advantage in the marketplace (Rutan 1996). The Balanced Scorecard is therefore a strategic measure of performance, not only from the financial point of view but from a more broad based perspective that also enables accurate projection of future goals and the degree of adherence of the business to those goals. The concept of performance measures was earlier developed by Peter Drucker as Management by Objectives (Birnbaum 2000:43-52). Employees in every department were to set out short-term objectives, which were to be achieved within a certain deadlin e. Companies such as General Motors and RCA Foods adopted this method of management, but it was found to be ineffective due to the failure to take into account the unpredictable human factor in actual practice. There are two underlying principles that drive the Balanced Scorecard. The first one is that adhering to strictly financial measures hinders a company’s ability to formulate long term value. The second principle is that what gets measured is what actually gets done. (www.tqe.com). Therefore, while the Balanced Scorecard retains traditional financial measures, it also includes such factors as customers, suppliers, technology, process, employees and innovation. Therefore, this strategy identifies four distinct areas that need to be analyzed: Kaplan and Norton advocate the design of a comprehensive set of develop a scorecard, to evaluate the status of the business and what needs to be done to improve or enhance the scorecard to make it balanced in all the four fronts

Business Management And Leadership - Planning (U2DB) Essay

Business Management And Leadership - Planning (U2DB) - Essay Example Reachable goals are summarized to be specific, simple, significant, strategic, measurable, rational, tangible, written, shared, and consistent with your values. It is important for an organization to follow these guidelines. In line with this, United Way of America (2008) sets â€Å"three 10-year goals† specifying what their primary goal mentioned above: First, cut down the number of drop out students; second, cut down the number of families who have unstable incomes; and third, increase the percentage of healthy Americans in giving them access to health care benefits. These goals conform to the simple yet straightforward keys to succeed in their attempts to promulgate the cause of the organization. The United Way of America is an organization rapidly growing because they tap all the important sectors in the communities to help them reach their goals. â€Å"So we bring together people from all across the community–government, business, faith groups, nonprofits, the labor movement, ordinary citizens–to tackle the issues† (United Way of America, 2008). The organization knows how significant it is if peoples from all walks of life are able to help one another. It is not just the monetary aspect that can help achieving changing the lives of many. For United Way of America it takes the whole America to help its peoples to come up with solutions, and act out to win their

Private International Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words - 1

Private International Law - Essay Example In the resolution of cases of conflicts of law, problems arise when the different nationals have different rights and claims under their own laws, and at times the law of the place and the law agreed upon in a contract add a third or fourth consideration as to which set of laws shall apply in settling the case. There are three important determinations to be made prior to even beginning to address the substance of the case. The first is that of jurisdiction, and the second is the choice of law, and third is the matter of enforcement of the judgment. In this essay, only the first two shall be considered. Jurisdiction refers to the power to legislate or adjudicate with effect. It is the first question to be decided in a dispute involving a foreign element.1 Proceeding to hear a case without the proper jurisdiction is fatal to the case under that tribunal, and can only be remedied by a change of venue. The second important consideration is that of the choice of law. Once the English cour t has accepted and affirmed jurisdiction, it has then to determine what system of law must be applied to the dispute, pursuant to which the rights and liabilities of the parties shall be determined.2 There are two contexts of jurisdiction – territorial jurisdiction, and power jurisdiction.3 The first, territorial jurisdiction, pertains to the determination of which persons are within the reach of the courts of England, as claimed by English law. Contrary to the term’s implied meaning, this jurisdiction may extend beyond the physical boundaries of England and Wales (where this law is applicable), where English nationals over which the English legal system claims jurisdiction may sojourn outside the geographical territory of England and Wales. The second context in which jurisdiction may be taken refers to the power jurisdiction, that is, the situations and circumstances where the English courts may actually gain power to adjudicate a particular case involving persons wh o are within the territorial jurisdiction of the court.4 In order for an English court to gain competence over a case, said court should gain both territorial and power jurisdiction over the case. In private international law, the characterisation of issues subject of claim is the prerogative of the court of the forum.5 The case of Brian First claim: The consignment of biscuits from Bleagh Spa The claim of right in this case is one that arises out of contract. A contract of sale for Italian biscuits was drawn between Brian and Italian food supplier Bleagh Spa for the delivery of biscuits specified to be Italian. Instead, Bleagh had delivered Liechtenstein biscuits, which were unsuitable for the purpose for which they were bought, as such products should be sold in an Italian restaurant as Italian fare. This constituted a breach of the terms of the contract which specified the goods to be Italian. As such, Brian had a claim of right against Bleagh, one that constitutes a dispute of t he fulfilment of a contract that is of a commercial nature. . Jurisdiction As to the domicile of the parties, it is specified that Brian is domiciled in the U.K., being a British national and living within the U.K. as permanent resident. Bleagh Spa, on the other hand, is an Italian business organisation, and in the absence of other information, is presumed to be domiciled in Italy. The conflict of laws problem therefore arises between the