Sunday, January 26, 2020

Interrelationship between Human Rights and Natural Law

Interrelationship between Human Rights and Natural Law In the second half of the 20th century, the growth of interest in human rights has been accompanied by a revival in natural law. Consider why this should be so, critically exploring the interrelationship between human rights and natural law; and also, by using concrete examples, critically assess ONE or TWO theories that critique human rights with particular emphasis on the grounds for such critique. Word count: 5293 words (body) + 504 words (footnotes) = 5,797 words (+ 962 words bibliography, not including list of reports referred to) There is an assumed correlation between what is good and what comes naturally. For example, parental affection, heterosexual love and support for the elderly are all natural concepts, and therefore, arguably, good. Anything that ignores or distorts human nature is bad[1]. Legislators and lawyers have referred to naturalistic arguments in the past, particularly where the issues at stake are those not already covered by legal precedent[2]. Harris notes that the jurists who developed the law of the Roman Empire frequently made references to the nature of the case as a basis for dealing with matters not covered by previous authority. The compilers of the Corpus Juris used the word ‘naturalis’ as a tag to distinguish natural obligations from their counterparts in the Jus Civile[3]. More recently, in Corbett v Corbett[4], a judge held that a marriage between a man and a person who had undergone a sex change was a nullity because it could not fulfil the natural, biologically determined consequences of marriage[5]. Such lawyer type references to the natural helped evolve the concept of natural law. Classically, natural law is â€Å"right reason in agreement with nature†[6]. It is â€Å"universal and immutable†[7], â€Å"unchanging and everlasting†[8], available at all times and in all places to those whose responsibilities include enacting and developing the law. It is a concept of justice so far as it is there to right wrongs and properly distribute benefits and burdens. It is also a higher law, in that it is superior to any law created by a political authority: it is not possible to be freed from its obligations by â€Å"Senate or People†[9]. Natural law determines whether or not ordinary laws are morally binding on subjects. The rules of natural law are not created by anyone, but are instead discoverable by reason. Since all men have natural essences, or ends (just like in nature, to become an oak tree, for example, is an end for an acorn[10]), knowledge of those qualities allows us to draw conclusions by rational steps about what justice requires to best fulfil man’s ‘end’[11]. Although some natural law philosophers have cited God as the basis for the existence of these natural laws, the theory does not fail if God is taken out of the equation. Even if God does not exist, it is through that natural law would â€Å"have the same content†; and just as God cannot cause that two times two shall not be four, so he cannot cause the intrinsically evil not to be evil[12]. According to Acquinas, human laws derive their legal quality and power to bind in conscience from natural law, guided by a reasoned assessment of the common good. The content of the law is deducible from the first principles of natural law, which include, for example, that one should ‘do no harm to no man’. Any apparently conflicting law is a corruption of the law and so is not binding[13]: in the Seventeenth Century, when it was still accepted that the Courts could hold invalid any Act contrary to natural law, it was said that â€Å"even an Act of Parliament made against natural equity, as, to make a man judge in his own case, is void in itself†[14]. Intrinsic to the concept of natural law is the fact that humans have rights ascribed to them that they possess merely by virtue of being human[15]. They follow directly from the necessary ends fixed by human nature, that is â€Å"from the single fact that man is man†[16]. Schneider describes the basic human rights as â€Å"the right to existence or life, to personal freedom, to the pursuit of perfection of moral and rational life, to the pursuit of eternal good, to keeping ones body whole, to marrying according to ones choice and raising a family, and to free associations†[17]. Whilst not all would agree exactly on what set of rights follow directly from what is ‘natural’, these arguments have been used throughout history to support action taken when ‘natural rights’ have been infringed. The American Colonists justified their overthrow of British rule in 1776 on the basis that the government had impaired their rights to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’, claiming that it was ‘self evident that man was endowed with such rights’. Indeed, that phrase is the cornerstone of the American Declaration of Independence which states: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness†[18]. This is an adaptation of the phrase used by John Locke, who believed that â€Å"the state of nature has a law of nature to govern it which obliges ev eryone. And reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought harm another in his life, health, liberty and possessions†[19]. During the 19th Century, natural law theory lost a lot of its influence as positivism, materialism, utilitarianism and Benthamism became dominant. In the 20th century, however, particularly towards the second half, natural law theory received new attention[20]. This can partly be attributed to peoples’ reaction to the rise of totalitarianism: dictatorships such as those held by Hitler in Germany and Stalin in the USSR, based on terror and on mass support mobilised behind an ideology prescribing radical social change[21]. Such dictatorships are linked to the other factor that can be attributed to the rise in interest in natural law: an increased interest in human rights throughout the world[22]. In particular, the barbarism of the Second World War moved the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which, whilst not legally binding, urged member nations to promote a collection of human, civil, economic and social rights. The Asse mbly called these rights part of the ‘foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world’. These words are echoed in the preamble to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984[23], which has been signed by the United Kingdom, Spain and Chile and by over 100 other nations in acknowledgement of a â€Å"clear recognition by the international community that certain crimes are so grave and so inhuman that they constitute crimes against international law and that the international community is under a duty to bring to justice a person who commits such crimes†. The preamble acknowledges that â€Å"recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world† and recognises that â€Å"those rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person†[24]. So natural law theory has been frequently cited by lawyers and forms the basis for many of our human rights conventions and agreements. Throughout history, certain ‘inalienable rights’ have been afforded to human beings simply by virtue of them being human. As well as the American Declaration of Independence and Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations, both of which we have looked at, the English Bill of Rights (1689), the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), and the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States (‘the Bill of Rights 1791’) all contain similar references. Natural law enables us to identify which ‘basic goods’ should be fundamental and unchangeable; in contrast to positive law, which is human-made, conditioned by history, and subject to continuous change[25]. Further, philosophers endorsing natural law theories have argued that the basic goods that natural law identifie s enable us to have objective knowledge of morality: and that they are sufficiently precise to rule out many kinds of injustice[26]. But natural law theories have attracted much criticism from other philosophical schools of thought. Jeremy Bentham for example, states: â€Å"Right is the child of law; from real laws come real rights, but from imaginary law, from laws of nature, come imaginary rights. ‘Natural rights’ is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptable rights, rhetorical nonsense nonsense upon stilts†[27]. Bentham thought that the way judges insisted upon relying on natural law to justify their decisions was merely to ward off criticism of the law: he believed that judges stretched the notion of rights to the point of vacuity[28], and that what they appealed to as the basis for their decisions involved no publicly assessable reasons whatsoever[29]. For Bentham, natural law theory was no more than a cloak of mystery used to clothe the exercise of unfettered discretion; and an unwritten law based on the general dictates of natural reason was a mere metaphor and convenient fiction, whe re the real basis for the decisions being made remained elusive[30]. Such an approach was inconsistent with how matters should proceed in a democratic society since, where the law is open to question, â€Å"unless citizens are able to know what the law is and are given a fair opportunity to take its directives into account, penal sanctions should not apply to them†[31]. It is, of course, abhorrent to the rule of law that judges should be free to render decisions that reflect their personal or social biases[32] and there is common agreement in modern times that Courts are better suited to resolving disputes by reference to what the law actually is than for getting involved in the creation of legalisation itself[33]. â€Å"The existence of law is one thing; its merit or demerit another†[34]; and judges are not concerned with the latter. Bentham was a utilitarianist: he believed that the fundamental basis of morality and justice was the requirement that happiness or goodness should be maximised. There are three basic elements to this theory. We will examine the three elements in the context of a moral dilemma – the use of organs or tissue from a deceased person without the consent of their parent or relative. The first element to consider is that the rightness or the wrongness of an action, which depends upon the consequences it produces. In this context, the failure to obtain parental consent, perhaps also with an element of intentional deceit in obtaining the organs or tissue, may be outweighed by the potential research benefits that may be afforded society, such as decreasing mortality rates and the potential development of new treatments for disease[35]. The second element establishes a claim with regard to who is to be considered when estimating what the likely consequence of the act will be[36]. The logic behind this principle being the promotion of the aggregate welfare or the maximisation of happiness[37]. Taking this into context, medical staff would need to balance the potential pain and suffering of the parents or relatives of the deceased at the discovery of the retention of organs, with the claim society has on the benefits that are made as a result of the retention[38]. The third element makes a claim as to what makes a good state of affairs good and a bad one bad. In our context, failure to use organs or tissues from a recently deceased person for research and education (regardless of parental or other consent) must be weighed against the possible benefits that such use could bring to society. Failure to use the material would be classified as being a bad state of affairs, whilst its subsequent use, regardless of how the material was obtained, would be viewed as being a good one[39]. This method of reasoning appears to be very powerful in comparison with natural law theory, as it requires no religious faith or explicit moral code[40]; natural law theory in contrast would simply claim that the organs should not be used because the human has some inherent right to dignity and completeness by virtue of them being human. The medical profession sought to rely on similar principles to justify their exclusion of families from the decision-making process in the organ retention scandals brought to public attention by the Bristol, Kennedy, Redfern, CMO and Isaacs Reports[41]. The response to this was that to exclude relatives from such decisions relating to their loved ones would undermine family autonomy, and would be â€Å"objectionable, unethical, paternalistic and reflective of a stance no longer acceptable in contemporary Western medicine†[42]. It is clear that natural law theories are the basis for reasoning behind our development of the law of human rights that we see today. But the use of such theory as a basis for human rights is problematic because, firstly, there is no common agreement on what is ‘good’. The basic human goods mentioned earlier that Schneider identified were not available to all persons during Schneider’s lifetime, and indeed it is not until recently that some have been secured by the law today. Schneider thought that marrying according to ones choice was a right that humans should have by virtue of being human, but only recently by the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which came into force on 5 December 2005, same sex couples have been allowed to marry in the United Kingdom[43]. Before that time, everyone did not have the right to ‘marry according to one’s choice’ because same sex-couples could not marry. Even now, there are some restrictions on who can get married à ¢â‚¬â€œ for example, a marriage solemnised between persons either of whom is under the age of 16 is void[44]. Similarly, as Bentham asserts, men are not really ‘free’ and there is no real freedom. Bentham states: â€Å"All men, on the contrary, are born in subjection, and the most absolute subjection the subjection of a helpless child to the parents on whom he depends every moment for his existence. In this subjection every man is born in this subjection he continues for years for a great number of years and the existence of the individual and of the species depends upon his so doing†[45]. Secondly, even if certain fundamental rights can be agreed upon, conflicts arise between the fundamental rights of one person and another. The obvious questions that arise from these issues are, how do we determine what fundamental rights should be available to all persons? How do we decide on the level of state interference that is ‘right’ when it comes to people making choices? And, where ethical decisions are at stake, how do we effectively balance the fundamental rights of one person against another? For example, with reproductive technology, couples may use screening to avoid implanting an embryo identified as having genetic predispositions towards disease. They may also select the sex of their baby, or even identify if their embryo has the right tissue match to make it a compatible donor for another family member[46]. It is extremely difficult to decide how far the state should restrict such reproductive choices using natural law theory alone. The rights of the parents, the unborn child and the potential beneficiary of a donor, must be considered: all of which we may argue have a set of inherent right s afforded to them by virtue of them being human, but whose rights should prevail? Even if such choices can be agreed on now, Bentham points out that future governments may not have honesty to be trusted with the determination of â€Å"what rights shall be maintained, what abrogated what laws kept in force, what repealed†. Similarly, future subjects â€Å"will not have wit enough to be trusted with the choice whether to submit to the determination of the government of their time, or to resist it.†[47] There can be no agreement on the fundamental ‘goods’ and even if an agreement is reached, it may be that those in power in the future will change their decision as to what rights are inherent. It may also be that those subject to that power do not agree on the decisions that have been made for them. Because natural law makes no reference to anything (the right is just based on is inherently deducible from what is natural) and there is no real marker by which to measure decisions and laws, these cannot be immutable. Further, even if natural law theory is successful in identifying inherent rights that we can agree on, it does not state what limits there are in enforcing morally legitimate directives[48]. This begs the question: if a person has an inherent right by virtue of being human, how far can they go to enforce that right? The actions of Dr Martin Luther King demonstrate how far some have gone: King protested against segregation laws which he claimed violated natural law, and as a result he urged civil disobedience, which entailed violating the law[49]. A person held in captivity might for example need to go so far as to encroach on other people’s inherent to protect their own: in order to protect their right to life and freedom, a prisoner may have to kill their captor to escape. Bedau, in fact, suggests that Bentham misses the opportunity to make a further attack on natural law theory because of this lack of reference to what a citizen should do if their rights are encroached upon, the absence of which could be viewed as a â€Å"tacit invitation to insurrection, violence and anarchy†; since it is â€Å"hardly surprising that believers in â€Å"natural and imprescriptable rights might use direct and violent measures in an effort to secure those rights†[50]. The act of citizens using violence to secure their natural rights which encroach on others’ natural rights is an issue of balancing. There are many other scenarios where balancing respective rights are a problem: abortion, for example, could be seen as the murder of innocent lives that have inherent rights as human beings. Per natural law theory, laws that permit abortion must be invalid and Doctors who conduct abortions must be murderers. Arguably then, the execution of abortion doctors is a legitimate defence of others, and perhaps also a justified punishment for their evil behaviour and violation of natural law principles[51]. But to deny abortion is encroaching on the mother’s ‘natural’ rights of freedom and autonomy. These are arguments that are ongoing today. Bentham proposes that the whole concept of natural rights is flawed: there are simply no such things as natural rights. Rights anterior to the establishment of government do not exist; neither do rights that are opposed to, or in contradistinction to, legal rights. The expression, according to Bentham, is merely figurative; and as soon as one attempts to give it a literal meaning, it leads to error[52]. As well as attacking the use of natural law reasoning by judges, Bentham gives sound logic for his disapproval of the theory. First, men who have lived without government, live without rights: and such men are part of ‘savage nations’, with no habit of obedience and therefore no government; no government and therefore no laws; no laws and therefore no rights; and consequently, no security, property or liberty against regular control. Bentham argues that (since life without government brings unhappiness and savagery) we have a want for happiness and therefore a want for, and a reason for wanting, such rights. But â€Å"reasons for wishing there were such things as rights, are not rights; a reason for wishing that a certain right were established, is not that right want is not supply hunger is not bread.† In other words, simply stating that we are free because we want to be free, does not make us free[53]. Bentham points out that something which has no existence cannot be destroyed – and if it cannot be destroyed, it cannot therefore require anything to preserve it from destruction[54]. So for example, freedom does not exist and so we can’t destroy it; and since we can’t destroy it we don’t need to protect it from destruction by creating and being signatory to conventions like the Declaration of Rights which he attacks. To seek to do so is dangerous because as soon as a list of those natural rights is given, they are expressed to represent legal rights; but no government can abrogate or uphold them because they are a fallacy. They are not something we can rely on because they are non-existent. We have already examined Bentham’s alternative to natural law. Bentham’s model sees the virtue of the law expressed not in terms of morality, but instead, in efficiency: the greatest good of the greatest number, secured not by different decisions taken by different officials who rely on their own diverse judgements, but by detailed policy schemes whose complex consequences can be carefully considered in advance, laid down in detail, and enforced to the letter. Where in contrast moral tests are used to determine the law, which allow citizens and officials to disagree about what morality requires and to substitute their own judgement about what standards have been established, the consequent disorganisation will produce chaos[55]. Applying Bentham’s logic, the law is whatever the sovereign ruler or parliament has decreed. That Ruler or Parliament, in turn, restricts individuals only so far as is necessary to enable the law to maintain every other individual in the possession and exercise of such rights; and the law is consistent with the greatest good of the community that he should be allowed. The marking out of boundaries is the job of the legislator, and should not be left to any individual, such as the judge, to make ‘occasional and arbitrary’ decisions[56]. But utilitarianism does not necessarily hold the answer to the shortcomings of natural law theories. Since it promotes the idea of the greatest good for the greatest number, this implies that someone should be in charge, with the authority and duty to sacrifice any one person’s property, liberty, and life, for the greater good. It also assumes that the person in charge has the capacity to make those decisions selflessly and to correctly weigh the interests of one person against another. This may not necessarily be the case; and the decisions and actions made could be as ‘occasional and arbitrary’ as those made by supporters of natural law theory. Further, because the decisions are made by those in power, the decisions will become part of the law; and so they are harder to change where they seem unjust; in contrast to natural law theory where natural law (usually in the form of human rights law and conventions) is used to challenge existing laws. A further difficulty is that the greater good approach ignores the individual. Any one person is expendable for the greater good: and so, for example, it is difficult to make a convincing utilitarian argument that rape should be unlawful. Without a moral basis, spiritual basis or teleology for rights, there is an increased risk of materialist or secular ends justifying the means, thereby leading to disregard for individual welfare[57]: laws made for the greater good, based on this logic alone and ignoring reference to a moral code, can be brutal to the individual. Morality is, arguably, a valuable accompaniment to the law: it judges law, and moral attitudes shape the law. Law has moral ambitions; and morality may bear on the validity of law[58]. Bentham’s approach has yet further practical problems, with the stance that judges and such individuals may not interfere with the law, or expand it in any way. Firstly, whilst the law may be set out in great detail, the way it is applied by each judge is not entirely certain. Judges are humans and subject to human imperfection. Secondly, the law will never be able to cover every scenario in every detail as Bentham describes. There will always be some legally unregulated cases in which on some point no decision either way is dictated by the law and the law is accordingly partly indeterminate or incomplete. In such instances, the judge has to exercise his discretion and make law for the case, by expanding the application of existing principles, rather than merely applying already pre-existing settled law[59]. Perhaps a better solution, although not perfect, will draw inspiration from both natural law theory and Bentham’s theories of utilitarianism. Laws, for example, believes that the search for a good constitution of rights is an exercise in moral philosophy: and necessarily involves a reflection on how people in society ought to live. As a constitution of rights exists for the benefit of individual citizens, the primary task will be to identify the essential needs and requirements of mankind. This need not be by reference to purely moral arguments, and need not ignore the needs of the individual when considering the greater good. According to Laws, it starts with the Kantian perception that the individual is an end in himself, never a means. From this, we can generate a constitutional model that prevents the human tendency to interfere with others to the extent that their ability to act autonomously is undermined. The creation of rights to protect autonomy will protect individual s from such interference. Therefore, autonomy â€Å"gives rise to rights†[60]. For this model to work, Laws believes that there must be an institution capable of enforcing the autonomy-protecting rights against the powerful, and especially the government. This institution, he believes, is the Courts. Such a model for human rights does not abolish altogether the difficulties that arise from natural law theory. One still has to agree on the ‘essential needs and requirements’ of mankind. But if one assumes for a moment that not they, nor anyone else, is in a position to state what those needs really are, then the only solution is to allow every individual to decide for themselves that their needs are. Restricting autonomy only to the extent where it encroaches on other people’s autonomy will allow this. It takes away the requirement that there has to be some higher moral order and allows each individual to make the decisions for themselves. This addresses one of the fundamental flaws of natural law theory. Natural law, as we stated, assumes man has an ‘end’ and that rights should be put in place to help him achieve that end. But man does not necessarily want to achieve that end: perhaps instead he wants to terminate his life before he reaches that en d. Human rights in the UK and Europe do not permit him to do so: to protect him from himself. But man is equipped with skills of reasoning, and reason, unlike natural growth, is â€Å"constituted by deliberative qualities like, reflection, analysis, prudence, principle, coherence and consistency. In a way therefore reason is precisely the opposite of a natural quality†[61]. Man may reason that he doesn’t want to follow what is natural, and ought to be permitted not to do so, provided his actions do not directly affect the choices of others. This is somewhat along the lines of John Mills’ harm principle, which denotes that: â€Å"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant†[62]. Of course, no man is an island[63] and our conduct necessarily involves interaction with others[64]; this is what makes the model imperfect, because it is simply theoretical and not practical. The degree of autonomy we could be afforded without affecting others in our actions is minute. But it is a starting point for considering what human rights should be enforced, and it gets around some complicated ethical problems (such as that of abortion, since autonomy must be restricted to prevent the taking of life of the unborn child, who would have no opportunity for autonomy at all if it were not). Bentham’s greater good theories are not entirely redundant, as in a balancing of autonomous rights question (such as where an organ is available for transplant but the relatives will not consent), the autonomy of the live person, dead person, relatives and medical professionals will still need some form of assessment. The action permitting the greatest autonomy (i.e. the transplant taking place or the unborn life surviving) should perhaps prevail. In conclusion, whilst we have seen a progressive inclusion in human rights into constitutions since the eighteenth century, the upholding of those rights has hardly been a success[65]. The aftermath of the Second World War, which saw the violation of human rights on a massive scale, and the rise in totalitarianism, has spurned a growth in interest towards establishing the security of such rights. In formulating what rights should be included in various conventions, there have be

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Citizens United Case

In January 2008, Citizens United released a documentary that was critical of Senator Hilary Clinton and planned to run commercials of it at that time. However, through the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also known as the McCain-Feingold Act which â€Å"prohibits corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for speech that is an ‘electioneering communication’ or for speech that expressly advocates the election or defeat of a candidate†, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the commercials violated the act.The case was brought up to the Supreme Court and would be one of the more important cases about the First Amendment with a controversial decision. On March 24, 2009, the Supreme Court took oral arguments from Malcolm Stewart, then Deputy Solicitor General representing the Federal Election Commission. He pointed out that with the current laws in place for the campaign-finance s ystem, even a book that had the same content as the documentary would be banned. An even more disturbing point that Stewart made was that the government could ban a book that has just one sentence about candidate advocacy.This caused the Supreme Court to ask the parties to reargue the case due to two cases that Stewart used: Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a statute that prohibited a corporation to use its funds for or against a political candidate, and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, the decision that upheld the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold law. The reason for rearguing the case was to determine if they, the justices, should overrule those two decisions. The court reversed the ruling from the lower court and overruled Austin v.Michigan Chamber of Commerce and partially overruled McConnell v. Federal Election Commission. The overall ruling was 5-4 with Justice Steven’s dissent that was joined by Justice Breyer, Ginsberg, and Sotomayor. Justice Ke nnedy, part of the majority opinion, believed that â€Å"If the First Amendment  has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech. † In general, the Justices in the majority opinion believed that the case was based mostly on the First Amendment.Due to freedom of speech, corporations, whom the Justices believed were counted as individuals, could not be denied their right to voice out their opinion on running officials. The justices that favored the ruling brushed aside the warnings that might result in overturning the lower court’s decision. The dissenting justices warned that treating a corporation’s right to speech to be the same as an individual human was dangerous. However, eight of the justices agreed that Congress can require corporations to disclose how much they spent and to have disclaimers in the absence of facts.Chief Justice Roberts, one of whom that was part o f the majority opinion, believed that â€Å"the important principles of judicial restraint and  stare decisis  implicated in this case† had to be addressed. He believed that overturning a past decision, such as Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, in certain circumstances were necessary. Roberts stated that cases such as segregation and minimum wage would not be as of what they are today if it were not for judicial activism. Justice Stevens wrote a passionate dissent that was joined by the other three Justices who opposed the ruling.He stated that the Court’s ruling â€Å"threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. † Because corporations and the general public could now spend unlimited money to promote or demote politicians who are running for office anytime, Stevens fears that it would cause an large disturbance in the election process. Although the majority opinion did not touch the laws about direct contribution to the candidates, part of the argument was whether a direct contribution versus an indirect contribution was the same thing.The time between the case being introduced to the Supreme Court until the official ruling of the case created a large amount of publicity and different opinions. President Obama believed that the decision gave the corporations too much power to influence the election process. However, other politicians such as a Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, believed that the First Amendment applied to corporations which would let corporations to voice out their opinions on campaigning officials. The fundamental question here is whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v.Federal Election Commission a good decision or a bad decision. I personally feel that the arguments from both sides were valid. The fact that Congress essentially denied a form of free speech from a corporation is unconstitutional in m y opinion. However, my opinion in corporations becoming involved in political campaigns where they might have a large impact on how people view a certain politician is that it is not fair. I believe that the decision made by the Supreme Court was good in part of retaining the First Amendment’s freedom of speech but bad in part of the campaigning process for politicians.The decision gives too much power to a corporation versus the general public. If a corporation was allowed to spend without limit in the elections, politicians could strategically support a topic that the corporation would benefit from. This would result in the corporation to have the power to directly contribute in the campaign by running their own ads that promotes the politician. Campaigning would then become a war of getting the support of many of the biggest corporations. This gives too much power to the corporations and essentially removes the voices of the general public.As Obama pointed out in his state of the union address in 2010, it would also give the power to foreign corporations to help fund a certain election. I strongly oppose any kind of foreign involvement in any political activity in the United States. With the potential of candidates to â€Å"sell-out† to corporations would just ruin the whole election process. With the potential of unlimited spending of corporations, not only would they be allowed to endorse a political candidate, but they would also be able to attack candidates such as the documentary made by Citizens United.With the current campaigning process, political candidates have created attack ads that give negative images of an opposing candidate. Now that corporations can voice their opinions, there may be an increase of these attack ads. Through an ethical standpoint, it ruins the integrity of the election process. The election process would not just become a fight between politicians to gain support from corporations but also a fight of who can de stroy another candidate’s image to the public.It not only defaces the opposing candidate, but it shows how dirty a politician can be. The election process turns into an all-out fight between candidates who would deploy such a tactic. With the inclusion of corporations now, it would worsen the current state of the campaigning process. I see why the Justices would overrule the lower court’s decision due to the First Amendment. The argument made by Malcolm Stewart definitely gave the impression that the law was too restrictive in such a way that it banned any forms of view from a corporation of a political candidate.I would agree with how the law would be unconstitutional through Stewart’s argument; however, I would oppose it through an ethical view. A poll conducted by Washington Post showed that eight in ten poll respondents opposed the decision made by the Supreme Court. William Rehnquist, a former Supreme Court justice, also opposed the decision made by the cou rt by joining the dissent made by Stevens. Sandra Day O’Connor, also another former Supreme Court justice, made a point that the checks and balances on campaign spending were demolished. However, O’Connor was an author of McConnell v.Federal Election Commission. The Supreme Court’s case about allowing the Westboro Baptist Church to protest at military funerals is similar to this case due to both cases involving the right to free speech. In both cases, the general public did not like the ruling; however, it made sense constitutionally. There may be alternatives that Congress can take in battling the problems of corporations being involved in political campaigns. Although the court overruled it, I believe that there should be some sort of regulation on how much a corporation could spend on a candidate.Instead of limiting the corporation’s freedom of speech, why can’t we limit how much they can endorse a candidate? One can argue that money is not spee ch, so limiting the amount a corporation could spend would be constitutional. Another way to tackle the problem is to let shareholders decide on the political expenditures made by a corporation, as Great Britain does. This would let a larger majority decide on what the corporation would do for political expenditures. However, even though it is still a larger pool of people, they probably will still act in the interest of the company due them be driven by profits.Now that the court has made its decision, corporations can now spend as much as they want on politics. Many problems would arise due to this; however, it would still be constitutional. I believe that the decision of overruling Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and partially overruling McConnell v. Federal Election Commission was good due to following the First Amendment. However through a practical stance, it would create a large possibility of corrupting the campaigning process. Bibliography Eggen, Dan. â€Å" Poll: Large majority opposes Supreme Court's decision on campaign financing.   Washington Post17 February 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/17/AR201 0021701151. html;. Hasen, Rick. â€Å"CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' CONCURRING OPINION IN CITIZENS UNITED: TWO MYSTERIESCHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS' CONCURRING OPINION IN CITIZENS UNITED: TWO MYSTERIES . â€Å"Election Law Blog. N. p. , 23 January, 2010. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://electionlawblog. org/archives/015118. html;. â€Å"High-Court Hypocrisy. †Ã‚  Newsweek. 22 January 2010: n. page. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. thedailybeast. om/newsweek/2010/01/22/high-court-hypocrisy. html;. Liptak, Adam. â€Å"Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending LimitJustices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit . †Ã‚  New York Times  21 January 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://www. nytimes. com/2010/01/22/us/politics/22scotus. html;. Liptak, Adam. â€Å"O’Connor M ildly Criticizes Court’s Campaign Finance Decision. †Ã‚  New York Times  26 January 2010, n. pag. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. ;http://thecaucus. blogs. nytimes. com/2010/01/26/oconnor-mildly-criticizes-courts-campaign-finance-decision/? p;. Robert, John. â€Å"Roberts, C. J. , concurring. † n. pag. Legal Information Institute. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. law. cornell. edu/supct/html/08-205. ZC. html;. Scalia, Antonin. â€Å"Scalia, J. , concurring. † n. pag. Legal Information Institute. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. law. cornell. edu/supct/html/08-205. ZC1. html;. Smith, Bradley. â€Å"The Myth of Campaign Finance Reform. â€Å"National Affairs. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 Feb 2012. ;http://www. nationalaffairs. com/publications/detail/the-myth-of-campaign-finance-reform;.

Friday, January 10, 2020

The Biggest Myth About Expository Research Paper Exposed

The Biggest Myth About Expository Research Paper Exposed Expository writing takes a sufficient amount of discipline. Social or technological procedure, understanding the way the movement of thought is managed through an essay has a profound effect on its general cogency and capability to impress. You might need an expert aid for it, so in case you need somebody to look at your grammar, just contact our writers, and your paper will be ideal! Writing an expository research problem may be an intimidating undertaking, but we can ensure it is simpler for you. Expository writing is also the most common sort of academic writing! There are a couple unique procedures for writing an expository essay. Writing an essay conclusion might appear an examples and straightforward step in the full essay writing task. Now you have a clearer comprehension of expository writing, you're prepared to compose your essay. Want to Know More About Expository Research Paper? Expository essays offer i nformation and analysis. Essays, naturally, are a standard sort of assignment, but even these arrive in a lot of distinct types, of which the expository essay is only one example. Have a look at the expository essay samples, which one can easily find online nowadays. If you aren't sure, you may always review expository essay examples for the suitable cue words. An expository essay outline presupposes a very clear structure, which isn't difficult to embody. There are lots of expository essay topics to pick from. There are lots of ways to write an outstanding essay, however all expository essays follow the identical essential measures. While an expository essay needs to be clear and concise, it may also be lively and engaging. Every essay has an identical structure, and you may never fail if your paper has a good introduction, a coherent principal body and a succinct conclusion. The body of the majority of essays is comprised of approximately 3 paragraphs. As with other essays, it is composed of an introductory paragraph, which contains the thesis statement, the major body paragraphs that demonstrate the statement, and a conclusion paragraph that summarizes all crucial points. The body paragraphs contain the key steps which you should take to finish the approach. If you're told to compose an expository paper that's devoted to Ancient Rome, it most likely means you need to choose 1 part of life in the Ancient Rome and describe it correctly. As a rule of thumb, it's advisable to restate every one of your principal points and end the entire paper with a probing thought. Your research on this aspect is likely to involve a small amount of groundwork so be well prepared. In reality, this write-up itself is an illustration of an expository writing style. Expository essay about global warming is among the most well-known topics students face each moment. Students lead busy lives and frequently forget about an approaching deadline. Some students believe they can't speak to a topic that they're still learning or are unfamiliar with, and it can be difficult to think of a topic which makes them feel comfortable. Therefore, many students and employees decide to purchase cheap essay rather than writing it themselves. New Step by Step Roadmap for Expository Research Paper The intention of any expository writing is t o reveal the characteristics of notions indicated in this issue. If your objective is to clarify something or maybe to shed light on something, you may want to consider choosing something you understand about, or, at the very least, you're interested in sufficient to pursue more information. An expository piece may still be creative in the feeling it leaves an effect on the reader. After you have gathered all of the necessary and appropriate material, you will have to get started organizing your suggestions and thoughts and putting an action plan into place in respect of the way to approach your essay. Working with a template will be able to help you structure your essayand will permit you to make a high quality paper to turn in. It enables you to make an outline and have a clearer idea of how to do your paper. Any issue which will be highlighted in the paper has to be fascinating to draw readers' attention and keep them interested throughout the entire bit of work. Leave yo urself enough time to have a look at your paper to see whether you've covered the fundamentals. Choosing our service, you will realize that studying can be simple if you gain from the aid of capable experts. Generally speaking, social science research, a scientific research, applies similar research methodologies the exact same as different forms of research like marketing research that's inherent with both quantitative strategy and qualitative strategy, clinical research that's emphasized on specific areas like pharmaceutical, chemical, health care research, and so forth. Moreover, without doing hefty research, students might want to understand how they can find with information to devote an expository essay. The Appeal of Expository Research Paper Many people think that your introduction is the most essential portion of the essay because it either grabs or loses the reader's interest. You should include things like all your research sources in a bibliography. Therefore, if you prefer to have nontrivial expository essay topic that demands thorough research, choose something which refers to a technological field of study. You could also do the research initially and then compose the essay, but this might result in some troubles.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Why dialogue is needed in organization - 1700 Words

Introduction Why dialogue is needed in organization? Dialogue is different from any other tool of the techniques it is method for problem-formulation and problem-solving technologies. Dialogue is essential for understanding culture and sub culture, for that instance organizational learning will probably depend upon such cultural understanding. Because of the high revolution seen in the technology and technological advancement its essential for an organization to accept the path of dialogue. There are many subunits had been formed in organization because of knowledge based information, geographies, market, product, and technology. So this subunits transform their subcultures. So organization have to require some mental models. And this†¦show more content†¦But decisive dialogues can not be duplicated. These factors constitute an organization’s most enduring competitive advantage, and they are heavily dependent on the character of dialogue that a leader exhibits and thereby influences throughout the organization. (ram cha ran 2001). Dialogue is not just a path of productive conversation but it also implies reflectiveness or positive response. It is not just improving the effectiveness of business and proving objectives but its create the relation between two parties eg. Stakeholder and owner, manager and worker, owner and manager etc. in dialogue â€Å"each person is participating, is partaking the whole meaning of the group and also taking part in it.† ( david bohm- 1996,p. xiii) When one time dialogue is in act than its possible to short the gap between two groups and cultures. Groups are interested for making fairness results in their given task through good conversation and by giving their different thoughts. ‘Dialogue encourages their participants to cut their stereotypes’. (daniel yankelovich 1999) Dialogue explore the self organizing theory in which individual have to act in a team for accomplish such objectives in way of culture. when individual being together they have specific ideas for making such communication. Dialogue is a way to get us awayShow MoreRelatedA Leadership Theory Based On Values And Teamwork1260 Words   |  6 PagesMoving an organization from stagnation in a new direction can be challenging. Leaders are often faced with a variety of employee commitment they must navigate and everything becomes enhanced when leadership is new. For leaders to lead a continuously changing organization they must establish a foundational leadership theory based on values and teamwork that fit within the organization and the leaders own skill set. Foundational Theories The leaders must understand how the world is changing in relationRead MoreThe Servant Leader By Robert Greenleaf1704 Words   |  7 PagesServant leader is a person who is trustworthy and in relationship with the followers. â€Å"Greenleaf began reflecting on why a person aspired to lead. Unconsciously, he had tapped into an ancient America Indian stream of thought in which a person’s intention – the why- was the central core from which all other actions flowed. In an individualist oriented society, people are taught that the why is generated by self interest. Leadership, for instance, is a prize people aspire to capture that brings privilegeRead MoreQuestions on Life Resort and Spa Case Study1331 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Life Resort Spa Q1. Identify some of your key decisions. Discuss how these have created on environment which encourages and sustains behavior and performance which aligns with the strategy, culture, structure and style of your organization (vertical fit). (250 words) Life Resort Spa is a green spa with an ecological focus. It has been designed to capitalize upon the new concern for environmental consciousness within the hospitality industry. Customer satisfaction is a key aspect of theRead MoreKey Features of AL and CLT Approach1363 Words   |  5 Pagescompetence, socio-cultural competence and strategic competence) - Focus on both accuracy(form) and fluency (meaning) (Fluency is more important than accuracy) Syllabus-content and its organization -Linguistic functions = teaching units; -Sequence = ascending difficulty/complexity; -Teaching materials = dialogues - The teaching content is organized functionally. -content: relevant to learner’s need/ level and learning styles/strategies. -The teaching content would normally be organized: Read MoreReflective Paper Organisational Dialogue1447 Words   |  6 Pagesstatements, strategies, and—of critical importance to me—internal communication strategy, in so much detail. Gerard amp; Ellinor (2001) stress that authentic leaders need to practise and execute dialogue, and to me, this was what Brad and Simon were doing: showing their authentic leadership through dialogue. I thought this may have been purely for our benefit, but after four hours, beginning with introductory meetings and followed by interviews and a shop floor tour, it became apparent that managementRead MoreKate s Failures As A Leader992 Words   |  4 Pagesachieve success in their organization by gaining respect, trust, and loyalty from others that they are leading. These are transparent leaders and they lead from a perspective to successful achieve positive results, while also building great work relationships with their staff. Effective leaders do not practice dismissing the viewpoints of others that are trying to express themselves, but instead they embrace them. Problems are viewed as challenges for the organization that are also opportunitiesRead MoreRole of Communication in Ch ange Management1704 Words   |  7 PagesCOMMUNICATION IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT INTRODUCTION What is Change Management? Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization and on the individual level. It is a set of processes that is employed to ensure that significant changes are implemented in an orderly, controlled and systematic fashionRead MoreThe Importance Of A Community Development Practitioners1559 Words   |  7 Pagesare the oldest and most trusted form of communication process, but there are more research and theories of Verbal communication(Bosschaert, 2012). NVC can stand alone or integrate with a verbal message. NVC’s can evoke the opposite meaning to an organization s and/or community agencies policies and verbal communications]. NVC was said to also be more reliant on face to face interaction, however, technology has slowly hindered that slightly. The increase use of technol ogy also has interrupted deliberationsRead MoreA Liberation Psychology By Martin Baro934 Words   |  4 Pagesmeanining is to ignore the mulitiplicity of causes that may lead a person to vote, and the multiplicity of motives that can be hidden behind a vote for a givne party or candidate.† (pg. 71). Through this section of the book, baro is bringing the idea of why people in El salvador feel like they have the right to go out to vote but not control of what votes actually get counted for. For starters the people know for a fact that the voting polls are being riged, however how can they develop consciousness inRead MoreComeaus Fundamental Philosophy903 Words   |  4 Pagesï » ¿ Q1. Discuss the steps that Comau took to strengthen its project portfolio management process and its project management skills within Comau. Comaus fundamental philosophy regarding the project management process was that the company needed more rigorous standardization and quality benchmarking. Instead of just having a series of disparate divisions and projects, the company created a universal method and universal standards to which all projects had to adhere. This fostered greater unity of

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The National Organization For Women - 1516 Words

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American organization that works for women’s rights. It is made up of a variety of smaller organizations that are all banded together under a main structure. It has been around for a while, and has done many important things. It works on both political and social levels to achieve its goals, and though it’s not very well known, the National Organization for Women is a great organization that has done much to further women’s rights and equality. NOW is a women’s rights organization working to take political and social action to ensure equal rights between women and men. NOW is a feminist group, which means that it believes that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. Because of these beliefs, NOW is unafraid to have men as its members and welcomes them, since it recognizes men and women as equals (NOW, 2016). To work for its beliefs NOW uses electoral and lobbying work, as well as mass marches, rallies, pickets, and nonviolent civil disobedience. It is working for the rights of others as well. NOW fights for LGBTQ rights in employment and housing, as well as in other problem areas. NOW is trying to pass the Constitutional Equality Amendment as well, which ensure women’s rights politically. Overall NOW has a variety of goals that it is working to achieve to further equality. NOW has six main issues it works for. NOW supports access to safe and legal abortion, effective birth control and reproductive healthShow MoreRelatedEssay about National Organization for Women2246 Words   |  9 PagesNational Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest feminist activists’ interest group of United States that seeks to protect the individual rights of women. The influential success of NOW can be understood through following factors. Its’ concrete background; nearly half century worth of history as foundation; well structured organization; membership incentives; the function and approach of NOW/PAC and NEP; up to date Statement of Purpose; high priority to keyRead MoreNational Organization For Women : Interest Group Research Paper1030 Words   |  5 PagesNational Organization for Women: Interest Group Research Paper According to Bardes, Shelly, and Schmidt (2010), an interest group is â€Å"an organized group of individuals sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers† (p. 225). In America, our government is guided by interest groups who uses different techniques to try to persuade politicians to advocate for their beliefs. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is one example of the many interest group in America thatRead MoreThe National Organization for Women and the Struggle for the Equal Rights Ammendment1153 Words   |  5 PagesThis project will be over the National Organization for Women and the struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment. This topic will be a great way to learn about the background of how women fought for their rights, and how they gained them. This will be a great way to find out how the gender women established their equal rights. Womens rights are really important in todays society, so this will be a great way to learn a little mor e about how women came upon equal rights. Womens rights didnt justRead MoreCivil Rights : A Controversial Topic Across All Walks Of Humanity1339 Words   |  6 Pagesthe United States government to produce and enact their civil rights laws; today, rights for people of a sexual or gender orientation other than cisgender straight are being fought for. Two organizations that are still dedicated to current civil rights would be GLAAD and NOW – National Organization for Women. If one were to compare both GLAAD and NOW in terms of the causes they are fighting for and their history, both fight for the fairness the LGBT community, equality, and against violence; howeverRead MoreWomen Have Fought For Their Rights For Generations942 Words   |  4 PagesWomen have fought for their rights for generations. Women rights are something you as a women are entitled to do. The right to freedom of speech, the right to vote, work, get an education etc. The Seneca Falls Declaration is very distinct to The National Organization for Wo men movement they show some similarities in what women were allowed to do and how they reacted to these laws or restrictions. 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This may not sound like that big of a deal, but to the women of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the 1800s, women were not allowed to have a say in what was perceived to be a â€Å"man’s world.† They were expected to be mothers and housewives. Nothing more, nothing less. Women triedRead MoreThe Second Half of the Shaw Presidency982 Words   |  4 PagesShaw presidency the organization included many professional married women such as Susan Walker Fitzgerald, Bryn Mawr and Katherine Dexter McCormick (Franzen, 2008). The relationship among the women of the organization was strong and there were no core of officers during the presidency of Anna Howard Shaw. The success of the organization during Shaw presidency was perhaps because of her social position; she had high tolerance for discord. During Shaw presidency the organization had more connectionsRead MoreNational Womens Party1088 Words   |  5 Pages2010 APUSH, Period 6 Mr. Weber National Women’s Party The 1920’s was an era of cultural conflict. There were several attacks on people’s civil rights and it seems to have betrayed the very values that the United States sought to have. However, when the National Women’s Party was created, there were definitely some changes for women mostly and this organization helped influence women fight for their rights and has become a successful organization. The organization was formed particularly for theRead MoreThe National Woman Suffrage Association686 Words   |  3 PagesThe National Woman Suffrage Association was founded in 1869, one of the main suffrage organizations in the US during the 19th century. It was a unification of the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). The (NAWSA) became the parent that combined all of women’s suffrage small and stated organizations. It was one of the largest and most important suffrage organizations as well as being the pr imary promoter to womans right to vote. Women during

Monday, December 16, 2019

Traditions of Scapegoating Found in Free Essays

Cresia Reese English 1020 Prof Sparks Traditions of scapegoating found in â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas† and â€Å"The Lottery† The various cultures that exist in the United States all have different ways to scapegoat a variety of people and cultures in society today; as depeicted in the fiction stories â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson and â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas† by Ursula K. Le Guin. In â€Å"The Lottery,† is a story about a community that has passed down a tradition of death by stoning for many years, this person would become the scapegoat of the community. We will write a custom essay sample on Traditions of Scapegoating Found in or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the story â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas†a community has a hidden secret which involves the captivity of one person who has to live a life of despair in order for a community to thrive. In comparing both stories to life as we know it today, we have found that there are traditions which have been passed down in our communities and eventually lead to a person to become the scapegoat of the community. How do our various cultures today allow passed traditions to use individuals as scapegoats just like we find in our fictions stories? The word scapegoat means, a person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place. The idea of a scapegoat applies to both stories in the same manner, a person is used as a scapegoat to uphold there communities. Both stories use traditions of there past ancestral history to use a person as a scapegoat to carry on the behaviors that were passed down to them via traditions. Shirley Jackson was an author who used a perfect example of scapegoat in her stories. â€Å"The Lottery† brings us to the scapegoat aspect of this story you see that the traditions in the community allows for another scapegoat victim every year, they are stoned to death in a symbolic process. Ursula K. Le Guin also used a scapegoat the hidden person to hold up a community and keep it from the dangers of the outside world. These traditions were passed down by the ancestors of the people who currently live in this place. Also in â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away rom Omelas† there are several people who have chosen to walk away from the hidden secret that was revealed to them and they did not wish to remain in that community any more. The hidden secret was symbolic as a scapegoat because without this person this community would have failed based on passed traditions. To compare the traditions of stoning a person to death and hiding a person to up hold a community are both forms of scapegoat. The scapegoat matters in both the stories and show that as human beings that we believe in history and certain traditions in our communities. Also people and things are used as scapegoats as passed down by traditions and as a symbolic way to forge ahead in life, so they do not hinder there communities. Why should the people in our communities not follow along with the traditions of the past? Because we feel that these traditions followed by our ancestors did not prove to be right and they should not be followed in the current times. When you think about the story â€Å"The Lottery† you have been thrown a curve ball, most people think about a lottery used in our current day and age where you have a slim chance of winning something good like prizes or money. We soon come to find out that a lottery in this story is all a sham; â€Å"At mid morning on a late June day a peaceful village crowd gathers on the square for the annual lottery. The procedures have been handed down over generations with little change. While in the harmless process of drawing lots the villagers reveal their excitement. Suddenly, when the winner is selected, the innocent game turns out to be a horrifying sacrifice: the winner is stoned to death for the welfare of the community. Such is the limited picture that could be given of Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’. (Schaub 1) As we find out in this story there is another thing that also stands out in this story and that would be the black box in this story. In the story the black box is used as a way to single out one person to be the winner of the said lottery. The black box is a symbol in the story of the way to reduce the size of a community. This is why they held the lottery each year they would b ring all the families together in the square and have them to pull a slip of paper from the box and eventually at the end of the gathering one of the residence in this community would lose there life. We can see that scapegoats are recognized in both objects and actions as we find in both stories â€Å"The Lottery† and â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas†. In â€Å"The Lottery† the pulling of a name from a black a black wooden box and then there was the death of one person at the end by being hit with stones. The character (Tessie Hutchinson) was one who was always ready to be the one to throw the stones, but when it came time for her to be the on being hit by the stones she felt that it was not fair and or right. â€Å"It isn’t fair’ she said. A stone hit her on the side of the head† (Jackson 218). You have (Tessie Hutchinson) who was very excited every year to be a part of the traditional lottery process and when it came time for her to be stoned she was the scapegoat in the traditional process. Then we move on to â€Å"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas† where there are several characters: one (the child) who was forced to be the scapegoat, and al the ones who walked away from the community (many people). They all chose to be free from the scapegoat act of holding this child to support the community which was free of all major problems that many communities face today. The issues today in different cultures, religions, and stories using people and things as scapegoats to uphold current and traditional believes. Moving forward to compare the scapegoats used in both stories to show how our traditions, which are passed down still eventually lead to people to being used as scapegoats in our communities today. â€Å"So that the lottery is to be understood as a modern representation of the primitive annual scapegoat rite† (Schaub 1). This information hits the nail on the head as the lottery process is a primitive act that we are not sure why this was even being done and it was never explained. In today’s society there are still several groups (cults, religious groups, clubs/organizations) that are secluded from most communities and societies today. We know some of these groups have different rituals and rules as to who and how you are allowed to become involved. These rituals most times come from traditions which were taught by the ancestors of the leaders or promoters of said cults and groups. The definition of a cult is listed as Sociology: A group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols or ideas. How to cite Traditions of Scapegoating Found in, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Team development at Fisher and Paykel

Question: Discuss about the Team development at Fisher and Paykel. Answer: Introduction Transforming a business has proved to be a difficult and tormenting task without introducing a problem. In most cases, the self-created issues revolve around underperformance of team. This issue can be avoided when the team that is established has a good leadership that can motivate the team members. Since teams have determined the success of many organizations, it requires the maximization of members potential. Many employers have emphasized the significance of working together and often seek services from people with the ability to embrace teamwork (Costa 2003, p. 617). Without a doubt, the business environment has become competitive and companies must maximize their resources if they have to sustain their operations. This brings into the fore, the aspect of teamwork that increases competiveness. The study conducted by Zakaria, Amelinckx and Wilemon (2004, p. 21) revealed that organizations use teamwork to improve quality, productivity, motivation, and utilize new technologies. Giv en the significance of teamwork, this article tries to discuss how teams without teamwork pose a problem for the people management. Teams without Teamwork Threatens people management Effective teamwork is beneficial to an organization that embraces broader collaboration, improved communication, and a greater sense of accountability. Managers must foster productive teamwork to make their work easy thus achieve organizational success. Van den Broek, Callaghan and Thompson (2004, p. 197) discuss how the organisation of call centre work into teams does not necessarily mean there will be teamwork. This situation threatens the people management culture and the manager must identify and fix it before it gets out of hands. In any labour process theory, the management must have a control over the workforce thus maximize their productivity. Unfortunately, the controls are never absolute, especially in the modern competitive business environment. Sometimes the managers have given the employees relatively high control in determining their engagement levels (Townsend 2007, p. 622). The employees work in different conditions but the aspects of teamwork seem to remain the same. In fact, in Australia, many organizations appear to be the subsidiary departments. The responsibility of managers remains obvious regarding control and decision-making. Townsend holds that teams have a positive impact on organizations (2007, p. 625). This is only possible in an environment where employees are empowered so that they can make strategic planning decisions in their teams (Mallon and Kearney 2001, p. 97). For teams to perform, they require some degree of independence and control. This involves delegating the powers to the team members based on the expanded competencies (Marks and Richards 2012, p. 232). Therefore, the team leader must focus on the attitudes and behaviours that can make the teams effective. Understanding the sociotechnical team structures seems simple and a common practice in the society. However, many companies have completely failed as they lose their focus during the establishment of teams. The findings of Ryan (2012, p. 266), shows that teams can emerge in various forms, times, or places. This means that the employees must be ready for different responsibilities depending on the circumstance. Yolk (2002, p. 5) argues that organizations can have teams without teamwork, especially when there is no issue for the teams to handle. In the case of the CallCentral highlighted by Townsend (2013, p. 114), every staff has call targets that he or she must meet. Unlike in other organization, the customer service representatives must determine their working pace because of the set targets. For instance, the representative has the pressure to monitor calls thus calling for the extra efforts. Yolk (2002, p. 4), the team leader would analyse the workload based in the historical orga nizational data. The teams in CallCentral can never determine their work volume and the timing of their performance. In most cases, these people have limited interactions with team members because of the nature of this task. The managerial approach and the work structure in the CallCentral are distinct and can only be compared to the lean production teams in the manufacturing industry (Townsend 2007, p. 626). The management approach used in this industry is determined by the information systems. Based on the findings of Van den Broek, Barnes and Townsend (2008, p. 257), there is a need for workers union to protect the interests, skills, and workload of call centre staff. However, the concern relating to workload can never be assessed and evaluated. The trade unions can only work on the wages, safety issues, and disciplinary disputes because the workload determination formula is unique. The teams in CallCentral lack control on various governance issues as the technology and management shape the decisions. The challenges the CellCentral workers experience is how to control their decisions (Mulholland 2002, p. 293). The aspects of bringing in the management and leaving everything to the technology to shape the issues are unfortunate. The situation is even complicated further because the physical space determines the team members. Most of these team members had distinct functional workstation s thus making the teams to work without teamwork as explained by Procter and Mueller (2000, p. 34). Hierarchy and bureaucracy affect the management of teams. For instance, the management controls the CallCentral staffs without considering the underlining issues. The manageable supervisory directions or coaching can improve the productivity and competitiveness of workers (Tarragona and Luca 2002, p. 24). In this case study, there is a low level of intra-team interactions because the functionality of every team depends on the allocated space. Since the management or supervisors use technology to monitor the productivity of the workers, the team members find it difficult to engage in objections or resistance. The coercive control, therefore, affects their daily activities (Marks and Richards 2012, p. 231). The panoptic surveillance is the tool the team managers use to monitor team members. This implies that any aspects of team autonomy are lacking thus affecting the performance of workers. They always work in fear because they know their manager is monitoring their work. The team structure and organization in CallCenter ensures there is a control and management of employees. This is achieved by establishing cultural or normative control over their actions as team leaders remain the agents of managers. Such working environment is intimidating thus scares many employees. By far and wide, the management has the responsibility to motivate and promote commitment even in a tedious environment (Callaghan and Thompson 2002, p. 233). Intimidating workers or staff into admitting the managers advances will make work difficult. The employees, for instance, can object any effort to use them as objects. As such, transforming the management inputs into actual outcome can be difficult and impossible. For example, workers can resort to mocking or use humour to undermine the pressures they felt from managerial authorities, customer pressures and technology (Townsend 2007, p. 630). Therefore, the company can only maximize the productivity of workers by empowering than controlling them. These issues render people management difficult. Key Issues in Maximizing the Benefits of Team and Teamwork Coercive elements promoted in a team could interfere with organizational performance. Although developing team structure is critical in maximize team productivity, introducing any element of coercion interferes with their performance (Yukl 7). For instance, the introduction of peer surveillance to monitor and control their actions is unfortunate. This traditional management method requires replacement. The CallCentral is an individualized environment that makes teamwork culture difficult to implement. For example, the team members rarely understand how they can influence the performance and work of their colleagues. Therefore, in an individualized environment, it is critical for an employee to maximize their productivity based on the ability. The management has created unconstructive competition by rewarding performance bonuses after reaching the performance indicators. Although offering incentives such performance bonuses is essential in motivating workers, it creates an individualized society where nobody likes teamwork (Van den Broek et al. 2004, p. 210). The team leaders must review their management styles to ensure they are in tandem with the circumstances at hand. It beat logic to find that the team leaders subjective measures are used to award the performance bonuses. This is a one-sided approach to performance appraisal because the inputs of workers should form the basis for assessment. Poor communication could be another issue in this situation (Thompson and McHugh 2002). In an environment where poor communication culture and system thrives, fostering teamwork is difficult. The managers should thus understand the significance of communication to avoid inhibiting team development and organizational success. Ego is an issue that can affect the performance of workers and teams. In the CallCentral, some members are obsessed with performance bonuses that can never support other team members. They value their general benefits thus making it difficult to establish an effective unit. Such team members with egos interfere with group dynamics as they disrupt the teammates work. Therefore, by working on the egos, the team members can check and work on the delegated duties. The aspects of unclear goals are evident in the CallCentral work. In most cases, employers or managers create achievable goals within the firm. In fact, these goals should be directed towards a certain project. The management should present these goals properly and clearly to make them achievable. Consequently, the staff members are just focusing on distorted job duties. Without proper management, involvement would make the performance of teams difficult. Managers should create teams based on the qualification and experience of staff members (Van den Broek et al. 2004, p. 210). However, when the management fails to join hands with the team members to executive the duties, such a leader threatens the teamwork atmosphere. Conclusion Based on the findings in this article, it is evident that teams define how projects, tasks, and activities are managed and organized in the modern society. Many global organizations have invested in different teams to achieve their competitive advantages. The incorporation of high-performing teams has made it possible for firms to make business strategies relevant to the market situation. 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