Leaders Make a Real Difference in an Organisation’s Performance free essay sample

Within these qualities over history great leaders have developed detailed theories that are constantly being utilized within successful corporations today. Amongst these are Trait theory, Behavioural theories and also the Situational contingency theories that were used to represent successful leadership qualities. Great leaders become highlighted in times of oppression, utilizing their talents to move forward and have solid control of their organisations, in turn developing positive organisational performance. Through past generations leadership had developed to the ultimate success it is today. Through multiple theories, leadership has moved to the point where it now has a factual impact on organisations performance. The contemporary management theories are used in numerous ways of motivating, creating opportunity providing inspiration and resulting in a definite increase in organisational performance. This is evident in today’s society, through a minimal view of coaching sporting teams to the operations of large corporate groups such as Wesfarmers. Creating opportunity, Throughout history, it has been clearly evident that a great leader’s input shall reflect with a great performance output, thus developing opportunities for individuals to accomplish their maximum potential. We will write a custom essay sample on Leaders Make a Real Difference in an Organisation’s Performance or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page â€Å"Leaders create opportunity for individuals within their sphere of influence† (urbanfoot. ca, 2009), opportunity being a set of circumstances that makes it potentially possible to achieve anything from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards. This creation of opportunity manifests itself across the globe in large and small organisations. In contemporary society it is shown by leaders within sporting clubs, the success of the best AFL clubs are built on a hierarchy of leaders, club captains, coaches, and trainers. They are all striving to create opportunity for young potential players. Essendon football club’s great success over the past numerous decades have been because of the major influential leadership role James Hird has played within the club. James Hird leading his club by being captain through two premierships and is now today still leading the club by coaching. His career of captain assisted with the creation the opportunity for the club leaders today and now he is continuing his leadership role by coaching the team, it is evident with his club involvement there is a definite outcome of organisational performance. As well as leading through creating opportunity, great leaders strive to inspire others within their environment. Inspiration, Leaders aim to inspire individuals within their vicinity to pursue the outcome of organisational performance. This constant attempt to provide inspiration is strongly shown by our world’s best leaders that are driving the powerhouse of our world’s economy. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Phil Knight, founder of Nike and Richard Branson founder of Virgin Group, these individuals are amongst many others that are part of the world’s most inspirational leaders. These people have founded some of the world’s biggest corporations by their profound ability inspire. Richard Branson went from developing a school newspaper called Student to operating one of the world’s most complex conglomerates know as Virgin Group. Branson’s life motto is to ‘have fun’ this is reason to his positive eccentric personality that reflects to inspire others around him. Lead by example† this phrase is used throughout human life to portray inspiration on others, through creating an inspiration on others leaders are assisting to motivate. Motivation, Motivation is a key part of a great leader’s success in achieving organisational performance. Motivation is referred to as â€Å"the forces within an individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of effort expended at work† (Wood, J. et al, 2010). Motivation on individuals is reflected by successful leaders, through multiple different theories. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory identifies high order needs and low order needs† (Wood, J. et al, 2010) this details a pyramid that highlights the work motivational needs of individuals, including psychological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation. This research has contributed to the success of leaders in motivating and achieving ultimate organisational performance across large contemporary organisations. In many of today’s organisations leaders commonly motivate employees through the use of offering extrinsic rewards, â€Å"positively valued work outcomes† (Wood, J. t al, 2010), this may range from Christmas bonuses to simply allowing the use of a company car. Through the use of extrinsic rewards individuals are motivated to produc e their maximum performance. It is evident in KPMG, one of the world’s largest consulting firms; the use of leaders providing employees with extrinsic rewards motivates employees to achieve their full potential. KPMG provides employees with an annual bonus fluctuating on the employees yearly work effort. In doing so employees are determined to work to achieve a high constant overall organisational performance. Individuals that utilize the use of their leadership talents; creating opportunity, inspiring and motivating individuals will evidently result in reaching an optimum level of organisational performance productivity. Throughout history within these abilities leaders have developed several theories to manage the way it is put into practice. Through the past centuries leaders have always played a pivotal role in the triumph of groups, from the times of Genghis Khan, Napoleon and even Hitler, their efforts have exemplified how great leaders can make a major difference to organisations. All leaders tend to have different styles when it comes to commanding their subordinates and as time has progressed they have been categorized into different approaches and theories. The first theory to be thought up was known as the trait theory, and as the years moved on different studies and research was conducted to the point where different types of leadership are studied. Trait Theory, The trait theory which identifies different traits between leaders and followers, and assumes that leaders are born not developed. The trait theory takes into account physical and mental attributes of people that appeared to be more successful leaders. This theory took into account things such as height, weight and personality, and rather than study each of those in detail, these characteristics were recognised in effective and ineffective leaders. Therefore people could be able to predict if a person was a worthy or unworthy leader, although due to the studies being conducted as early as 1900 there was never any real recording s of evidence. Also there were never any real set of traits that defined a good leader, in other words there was no benchmark, which made it difficult for people to understand the theory as there were great leaders that had different characteristics. For example Hitler had different traits and characteristics to Nelson Mandela, Hitler was considered hard and persistent whereas Mandela was a visionary. Although it is certain that the trait theory set the trend for years to come. Behavioural Theories, The trait theory laid the foundations for what was later known as the behavioural theories; this included the Michigan and Ohio State studies. The behavioural theories compliments the flaws of the trait theory as it is more action based rather than only taking natural aspects into consideration. The Michigan studies showed that there are two types of leaders, employee-centred supervisors and production-centred supervisors. Employee-centred supervisors are leaders who look out for their workers and try to keep them emotionally happy by showing genuine interest in the wellbeing. Whereas production-centred employees are mostly concerned about getting the work done and meeting figures, rather than looking out for the welfare of their workers. Research has shown that employee-centred managers were found to have more efficient and effective groups than production-centred supervisors. The Ohio State studies which are very similar to the Michigan studies showed that leaders had two main dimensions, consideration and initiating structure, which can be related to employee-centres supervisors and production-centred supervisors respectively. Although the results from this study showed different results as the supervisors who received the best output from their employees showed a high amount of consideration and initiating structure. Situational contingency theories, The next sets of theories to be developed were the situational contingency theories, which came about in the 1960’s. These theories involve leaders that can adapt to the situation they are place in, for example Fiedler’s theory predicts work group effectiveness and how it depends on a match between the leader’s technique and the difficulties of the situation. Fiedler also considered the amount of situational control a leader has, which is how well a leader can determine the result of a groups actions and the course the will take on the way. Of course Fiedler was not the only person to come up with situational theories, there was also; Robert House, Paul Hersey, Kenneth Blanchard, Steve Kerr and Jonathon Jermier, but for the purpose of not repeating similar information they will not be discussed. It is fair to say that over the years leadership theories have changed with the times. The trait theory was effective for organisational performance as it helped identify leaders before they even took on a leading role, and although today that might seem politically incorrect, it’s what was suitable for the times. The behavioural theories in the late 1940’s had a great effect on organisational performance because people started to take into account the actions of their leaders and the different effect that certain actions would obtain. The Situational theories took another step into understanding the effect that good leaders can have on organisational behaviour by interpreting the how leaders manage the situation and whether or not they can mould to new and different challenges. As leadership theories have evolved, only the strong have survived, and the recent global financial crisis has provided great challenges for leaders to portray their successful qualities. Leadership is a quality that has grown in human culture over thousands of years and within the past century economies have taken significant falls highlighting the choices great leaders have made to sustain organisational performance through this time. Two significant downturns in history shook the world economy, the great depression of the 1930’s, Franklin D Roosevelt’s leadership qualities particularly exceled through this period and the global financial crisis saw absurd leadership talents ChemChina. These flairs in leadership talent depicted the difference it can asset on organisational performance. Global Financial Crisis ChemChina In 2007 the world economy fell into the deepest trough in decades, this is known as the global financial crisis, it was considered the worst financial crisis since the great depression in the 1930’s. The global financial crisis saw the collapse of multiple investment banks across the United States of America and developed a ripple effect that was felt by economies across the globe. Great leaders stood out through this period powering their companies without feeling the effect of the economic down turn. One company in particular that continued a sustainable growth in organisational performance is ChemChina. While millions of companies were collapsing and on the verge of insolvency ChemChina’s prime operating income multiplied seven times, total assets increased by 133. 4 billion Yuan and total profits escalated an increased 12 times over, Ren Jianxin the president of ChemChina’s outstanding leadership qualities were the main motive behind the relentless accomplishment. The massive operational increases in production were due to major â€Å"innovations in organisation, institutions and technologies involving changes in their way of thinking, philosophies and producti on technologies and processes†. (Ren Jianxin, 2009) All this required an overall development in their way of leadership, in turn a successful corporate transformation thus organisational performance. 930’s Great Depression Franklin D Roosevelt The great depression which hit the world through the 1930’s affected the world on a scale that had never been seen before. The depression started in America when stock prices started to fall, and on October 29, 1929 the stock market crashed and the effect spread globally. The effect this had on the world was far worse than anyone could have ever imagined causing people to commit suicide, die of starvation and start their lives over in a new world. Out of this came one of the world’s greatest ever leaders, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who dragged America and the rest of the world out of the depression. Roosevelt took over as president in March of 1933 and re instilled hope back into the American people by promising action and in his first address to the people he said one of today most famous quotes, â€Å"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself†. Roosevelt decided that to get the country out of the position they were in he had to adopt policies that were frowned upon, such as creating deficit budgets, which for the times were unheard of. When Roosevelt pulled the American economy back to its feet he was rewarded by being elected for four successive terms. Roosevelt proved how one great leader can have a major effect on a group of people and that it is not impossible to come back from the dead. Financial crisis’s at any time cause a great amount of angst in the around the world, and it takes very special people to lead corporations, governments or even countries out of these fatal situations. ChemChina and Roosevelt were both innovative in their styles and led their respective organisations either to new great heights or just simply out of a great depression. Throughout the times Leaders have always come under scrutiny from their critics, although one does not attain criticism without achieving. Without Leaders providing their qualities to inspire, create opportunity and motivate, organisations would have a lack of soul and would be forever falling in a negative style.

A Rationally Essay Sample With a Concentration

A Rationally Essay Sample With a ConcentrationA Rationally Essay Sample with a Concentration is a brief, to the point summary of the main ideas presented in the essay. It can be written for just about any reason, from curiosity to learning a new idea. The problem is that most teachers don't use this, because it's short, simple and less complex than a full essay. So, how can you improve your grade in a class with a short essay?It's not difficult to write an essay. In fact, the most basic essay is actually very similar to a logical essay, with just some minor changes made to make it more interesting.If you find yourself writing a sentence or two longer than you need to be, change the structure of your essay by adding an objective sentence, an introduction, a conclusion, and a conclusion. This will bring your essay to the correct length. Start with your objective sentence.Your objectives are the keys to succeeding in an essay. You're using them as key ingredients and can use them to cha nge everything from the depth of your topic to the structure of your argument. An example of this would be to turn your sentences into questions, which would then open up the rest of your essay. You would learn to see your ideas, and ask yourself, 'What is the value of this idea?'Since you are now taking action, your essay's value will grow. That is, if you learn to keep your reader focused on the idea that they are trying to get across.Make your sentences read more like questions, like a conversation with yourself. Turn your sentences into an argument, using your question to motivate the reader to your points. Your objective sentence will make sure you have a clear path from beginning to end, and you can find out what is behind those questions.Use your study period to review your essay, and see what is in your head. If you need to, rewrite it completely, but that will take time. The key is to get your head in the right place.Use your study time to see if you are really getting it r ight, and make sure you are learning from your mistakes. Put in the effort, it will pay off.

Oaky Essays

Oaky Essays Oaky Essay Oaky Essay He was a silly man and he came from a silly town. On this day he encountered a box of Emeralds, but unknown to him they were Blood Emeralds! Okay, not knowing this tidbit ended up spending the Emeralds everywhere until one day he is arrested by the villager police for using these emeralds. In prison he got to meet all sorts of new people and even got a prison tattoo! In memory of his mother; this tattoo was put on him by warden, Jeremiah Bullfrog; He liked to tattoo the newbies. The tattoo looked like a cross between a pentagram, the number 37, a pigeon on fire and the Black Mesa symbol. This shape looked Just like his first macaroni art that his mom throw away, and now he lives happily ever after with a swarm of prison batches Or so we thought. To be continued After fifty-five years of being in prison okay decided to set out on an epic adventure to seek the great prophet Infinitum; Okay wanted to see if she had any idea who the real thief who stole those emeralds so long ago was. Okay decided at iris to head back to his home town went © to see if anybody he knew was still alive. As it was about a 5 day walk from Berrylike to his home he had to stop by the local trading post for some supplies. At the trading post Okay noticed that all the people looked sad he asked a young girl that worked at the trading post named Mafias why everyone looked so down. Mafias told him that their great Fuehrer Alarm raised the tax once again, now no one was able to buy the goods that they needed. This was a big problem for okay as he had little money to begin with.

Music Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Music Report - Essay Example She did a solo piece on her violin which she has been playing for the last three years. Being a student of Dr Rife, and considering that her instructor was present, she had to give a good account of herself. She started out on a pianissimo and the audience held their breath. The performance was quite amazing and by the time she hit the crescendo, the hall was in uproar. She played out the long notes beautifully. However, the student encountered one problem: nervousness. Maybe it was the presence of her instructor, Dr Rife, or the overwhelming audience. The burden of expectation clearly weighed down on her. Nevertheless, she was able to gather courage and improved her performance as the evening wore on. Then came Dr Rife and the Rhythm Kings Band. The band brought together great talents, including Dan Tobias on the trumpet, Pete Reichlin on the trombone, Pat Mercuri on the banjo and guitar and Lenny Pucciatti who was working the drums. Dr Jerry Rife played the clarinet. The various instruments combined powerfully to get the audience on their feet. The accompaniments balanced well with the vocals, especially in the band’s rendition of the spiritual, Down by the Riverside. The performance of the spiritual resonated well with the audience although the band gave it a feeling of jazz. This was something new, listening to hymn played in the jazz style. I loved this version of the hymn as it injected freshness into an otherwise drab song. The performance had its downside nonetheless. There were moments when the percussions were louder than the vocals. Consequently, it was not easy to make out the lyrics of the songs. There were also moments when the crescendos were so high that they were almost deafening. I generally dislike high notes as they interfere with my brain. I also dislike accompaniments that shroud vocals. I prefer music that is cool enough to allow even a conversation to take place. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the performances. They

Underwater Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Underwater Communication - Essay Example Underwater Communication The paper is aimed to present the different methods and forms of underwater communication.To communicate with the surface, the diver uses tools such as MK 12 SSDS, the MK 21 MOD 1, or the MK 20 MOD 0, both voice communications and line-pull signals. The voice communication is the primary means and the line-pull signals are used secondary tools of communication. For diver-to-diver communication, topside intercom, diver-to-diver hand signals, and slate boards are used (Dietrich, 1999, 6-19). The diver intercommunication systems are composed of diver’s earphones, microphone, the communication cable for each diver, the surface control unit, and the tender’s speaker and microphone. These systems allow the communication from the control station to a maximum of three divers. With voice correction circuitry feature, the system is the primary choice for tasks and activities that involve the need to communicate underwater. Another way of communication used by the divers is the li ne-pull signalling which is commonly a distinct pull or a series of sharp pulls on the line from the top to the diver. The said form of communication is based on the needs of the group and the objective of the activity, thus, most signals are established prior to the implementation (Dietrich, 1999, 6-19). Another type of underwater communication is the underwater acoustic communication. The technology works through underwater acoustic channels and is classified on the basis of the methods for compensating effects of multipath and phase variations. The underwater acoustic communication systems are divided into incoherent and coherent detection systems. The example of incoherent systems is the DATS or digital acoustic telemetry. Coherent digital receiver systems make use of specifically localized components to be able to achieve high data rates in the presence of ISI or intersymbol interference which usually affect the quality of communication. This is achieved through the use of special signal processing techniques to compensate other factors such as ISI. There are numerous methods employed and combined for application on goal-specific needs for underwater activities that require the acoustic communication techniques (Klemm, 2004, p.832). The application of underwater acoustic communic ation includes diving, underwater navigation in different types of vehicles and vessels, and even marine animals such as mammals. The underwater communication in mammals is similar to any other technology in underwater communication since there is a sender and a receiver of information. There are two types of underwater communication methods in mammals, one is that of a single sender and multiple receivers who reacts to the message and another is a complex exchange of information among different individuals. Common examples of the animals that utilize the method of underwater acoustic communication are dolphins and certain kinds of seals that use sonar for communication, navigation and hunting food (McGregor, 2005, 390). This method is also used by underwater vessels for navigation and exploration specifically in the deep waters. Sonar is a common means of communication in vessels. In the advent of technology though, other forms communication networks are established and used (Dietr ich, 1999). These forms of communication are included in the next classification. Wireless Underwater Communication Systems Wireless underwater commun

Issues in Scottish Curriculum Design Essay Example for Free

Issues in Scottish Curriculum Design Essay The way that any curricula is broken up into is two main ways; one being the curriculum in action, where the aims, content and experiences of the curriculum on paper are implemented in practice. The other is the curriculum on paper which is the ideology of what should be implemented in education across the board. The ideology in curriculum can be split up into four main categories. Most papers on this topic, agree to an extent what the four ideologies constitute of, but Schiro’s (2008) ideologies are the most commonly known. The ‘Scholar Academic’, the ‘Social Efficiency’, the ‘Learner Centred’ and the ‘Social Reconstruction’ ideologies are the four main categories explained in the Curriculum Theory that will be discussed in this paper in relation to The Curriculum for Excellence, the current curriculum in Scotland. The oldest of the four ideologies is the Scholar Academic ideology which focuses on the accumulation of knowledge and understanding. The aim of this ideology is to pass on the knowledge of certain disciplines (subject areas), to allow there to be future scholars in that particular area and therefore, further develop understanding. The academic disciplines are the result of the culture’s compiled knowledge and understanding of each area, and with this in mind, the purpose of education is to assist pupils to learn this knowledge. The next ideology is Social Efficiency. This is pretty dominant in our curriculum today and means to prepare the learner for becoming an efficient and contributing member in society. The learner’s objective is to learn certain skills that will in turn achieve certain objectives that benefit society (Lorrie A. 2000). The individual will learn a mixture of knowledge and skills that can be put together, therefore making the skills more efficient and more beneficial to society. The learner centred ideology focuses more on the needs and interests of the individual rather than the c ontent they are to learn. The idea behind this theory is that learning will take place due to the interactions between the individual and their environment, therefore being more down to the experiences rather than the content. The newest of these ideologies is Social Reconstruction. This is where the social reconstructionists are aware of the problems in society and see the job of the educator to correct these problems in the classroom, hoping that it will reconstruct their society as it is (Groenke, S. 2009). The focus of the curriculum would not be based on knowledge but more of values and opinions that would benefit the society and make it attain the greatest satisfaction of its members. In ‘Building the Curriculum 3: A framework for learning and teaching’ it has examples of all four of the classifications of the curriculum ideology provided by Schiro (2008). It has examples of Academic ideology as it discusses the importance of knowledge and the ability and opportunity to increase the depth of knowledge already acquired as it states â€Å"Throughout a young person’s learning there will be increasing specialisation and greater depth, which will lead to subjects increasingly being the principal means of structuring learning and delivering outcomes.† (page 20, Building the Curriculum 3). From this quote we can relate the academic ideology through the concentration on developing knowledge further to specialisation in certain subjects, therefore being able to pass on the knowledge and allow it to grow from there. There are many examples of ‘The Social Efficiency Ideology’ in the paper as it focuses on health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes where the individual’s get the opportunity to gain skills that benefit the individual in life and work, but also the community around them. This is to help them become effective contributors in society: †¦support all children and young people in developing skills which they will use throughout their life and in their work, including the development of pre-vocational, enterprise and employability skills, personal skills, high levels of cognitive skills and the opportunity to put learning into a practical context. (page 15, Building the Curriculum 3) This example shows that the curriculum is aiming to encourage the learning of certain skills that will improve chances of employability and life skills that will help the young people settle into society and be able to play their part within it. The Curriculum for Excellence sees itself as being centred on the learner, and their individual needs. There are plenty examples throughout the paper of this ideology where the child is involved in what they are learning and setting themselves goals to achieve and having choice in what they learn within the curriculum, â€Å"All children and young people should experience personalisation and choice within their curriculum, including identifying and planning for opportunities for personal achievement in a range of different contexts† (page 17, Building the Curriculum 3). This quote shows that the idea of the curriculum is to give young people freedom to make their own decisions in what they are learning and at their own level. There are four capacities that make up the purpose of the curriculum that are described in this paper. ‘Successful learners’, ‘confident individuals’, ‘responsible citizens’ and ‘effective contributors’, are the capacities that the curriculum aims to enable young people to become. ‘Responsible citizens’ is a good example of The Social Reconstructive ideology as it explains how they will learn respect and about different cultures and how to behave responsibly within the community in all aspects (political, cultural or otherwise). As Building the curriculum states: †¦able to develop knowledge and understanding of the world and Scotland’s place in it, understand different beliefs and cultures make informed choices and decisions evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues develop informed, ethical views of complex. (page 22, Building the Curriculum 3) Here in this example, it shows that the curriculum wants to provide young people with varied knowledge so that the decisions they make in the future will help to create a better society. The idea is to teach them about values and respect so that they may make better informed decisions as to what is best for the society around them. Building the Curriculum 3 contains examples of all four of the ideology categories, but there are two that are most prevalent, ‘Learner Centred’ and ‘Social Efficiency’. Upon examining the evidence in more depth it seems that the ‘Social Efficiency’ ideology is the most dominant within this paper. Its main focus is on preparing and equipping individuals for future endeavours. For instance, the skills needed for future work prospects upon which Kridel’s (ed.2010) summary, of David Sneddon’s idea of social efficiency, explains the curriculum as a way to make individuals efficient for work. As discussed by Arnoldy (online), social efficiency in education is more for the benefit of the social economy than for the individual, but contradicting that theory in this paper, are the examples of learner centred ideology that is dotted throughout. Though, combining these two theories, Valades’ (online) talks about the idea that to help out society, educating young people to learn and improve their skills and capabilities to help the community in the future, is the way forward. From Building the Curriculum 3 and having summarised that the main ideology behind it is focusing on preparing the individuals to become more efficient and productive for contributing to our society, we can see that there will be some implication for teachers. Teachers who have been teaching for years under the same curriculum will struggle to accept the new curriculum, if it is as completely different way to how they have been teaching before. Although the main focus of the curriculum in Scotland has been focused on preparing individuals for the future, it has not been focused on the more individual level. This may cause implication for teachers as they only have specific allocated times to be with classes and it will be hard to offer each individual, the time and attention they need to develop specific skills to the point of being efficient. The teacher will have to focus more on the experiences and outcomes the learners are objected to, to develop the skills needed for the real world. This causes some problems as it depends highly on what the school can afford to give in ways of experiences, as most of these will probably be met outside of school. So, teachers need to find a way of achieving the outcome of making the individual a more effective contributor to society by combining what they learn in and outside of the classroom. This would be a task for teachers, as the environment each individual they teach will be different and this therefore means that the teacher will have to find a way to combine these different environments or find a similarity and focus on that. Building the Curriculum 3 has some implication for teachers, but the focus being on social efficiency means that in some ways there are not so many changes from the past as at least for the last hundred years the school curriculum has been focused on making learners that will have skills that will help them achieve objectives that will make the society a more efficient place. A Comparative Overview of the Curriculum Ideologies Chapter 6 http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/47671_ch_6.pdf (visited 29th dec 2012) Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education in the Neoliberal Era: Small Openings pp 3 Springer Netherlands, 2009 volume 6 Susan L. Groenke http://www.geocities.ws/rf_valades/index2.htm Social Efficiency Theory SAVE SOMETHING TODAY Rodrigo Valades visited 29th dec 2012 The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture Lorrie A. Shepard Vol. 29, No. 7 (Oct., 2000), pp. 4 American Educational Research Association http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/47671_ch_6.pdf Chapter 6 A Comparative Overview of the Curriculum Ideologies visited 29th dec 2012 Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies edited by Craig Kridel SAGE Publications Inc 2010 Pg 4-7 Curriculum Theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns, Schiro, M. (2008a) SAGE Publications, Inc Pg 199-245 Curriculum Theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns Second Edition, Schiro, M. (2012b) SAGE Publications, Inc Building the Curriculum 3: A framework for learning and teaching, The Scottish Government, 2008

The Apprenticeship of duddy Kravitz :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In society, most people have an obsession to some extent, these may include such things as a hobby – collecting antiques; or even as simple as having to have things a certain way. For others though, obsession has a different meaning, they might become obsessed with one special object, or possibly attaining a certain goal. They might go about achieving this goal no matter what the consequences to others might be. Mordecai Richler’s book the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, illustrates one such case of obsession, the title character, Duddy Kravitz becomes obsessed with his grandfather’s saying, â€Å" ‘ A man without land, is nothing.’†, thus starting Duddy on his quest to attain a piece of land. Throughout his quest, Duddy has no regard for the feelings or the relationships he destroys in the process, weather it in his family relations, business relations, or even his personal relations to those that are closest to him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Duddy was not born into money, his father, Max, was a taxi driver, and pulled in a low income. Max’s brother, Benjy had money and always played favourites with Duddy’s brother, Lennie by giving him money and opportunities. Duddy always had to struggle for his money, and in one his many struggles he borrows his father’s taxi cab, which is his only source of income, but does not return it for three days. He was delivering pin ball machines that he had sold. When he returns he finds his father is furious at him just taking off with the cab without permission. â€Å"They found Max at Eddy’s, and he was furious, ‘who do you think you are?,’ he said ‘that you can run off with my car for three days? Just like that.’† (Richler, 213). Duddy has a way of burning bridges with the people that he most needs, he only thinks of himself, and has no consideration for the feelings of others, even those who does not want t o hurt the most. Duddy’s grandfather, also known as the Zeyda, is Duddy’s mentor and the only person Duddy really looks up to, and the one he does not want to hurt, but ends up hurting him the worst. â€Å"‘Yvette came to see me.’†¦. ’she told me what you did,’ Simcha said, ‘And I don’t want a farm here.’ †¦. ‘I can see what you have planned for me, Duddel. You’ll be good to me. You’d give me everything I wanted. The Apprenticeship of duddy Kravitz :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In society, most people have an obsession to some extent, these may include such things as a hobby – collecting antiques; or even as simple as having to have things a certain way. For others though, obsession has a different meaning, they might become obsessed with one special object, or possibly attaining a certain goal. They might go about achieving this goal no matter what the consequences to others might be. Mordecai Richler’s book the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, illustrates one such case of obsession, the title character, Duddy Kravitz becomes obsessed with his grandfather’s saying, â€Å" ‘ A man without land, is nothing.’†, thus starting Duddy on his quest to attain a piece of land. Throughout his quest, Duddy has no regard for the feelings or the relationships he destroys in the process, weather it in his family relations, business relations, or even his personal relations to those that are closest to him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Duddy was not born into money, his father, Max, was a taxi driver, and pulled in a low income. Max’s brother, Benjy had money and always played favourites with Duddy’s brother, Lennie by giving him money and opportunities. Duddy always had to struggle for his money, and in one his many struggles he borrows his father’s taxi cab, which is his only source of income, but does not return it for three days. He was delivering pin ball machines that he had sold. When he returns he finds his father is furious at him just taking off with the cab without permission. â€Å"They found Max at Eddy’s, and he was furious, ‘who do you think you are?,’ he said ‘that you can run off with my car for three days? Just like that.’† (Richler, 213). Duddy has a way of burning bridges with the people that he most needs, he only thinks of himself, and has no consideration for the feelings of others, even those who does not want t o hurt the most. Duddy’s grandfather, also known as the Zeyda, is Duddy’s mentor and the only person Duddy really looks up to, and the one he does not want to hurt, but ends up hurting him the worst. â€Å"‘Yvette came to see me.’†¦. ’she told me what you did,’ Simcha said, ‘And I don’t want a farm here.’ †¦. ‘I can see what you have planned for me, Duddel. You’ll be good to me. You’d give me everything I wanted.