Prisoner Without a Name Book Review Essay Example for Free

Prisoner Without a Name Book Review Essay Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a number is a melancholy novel that expresses Argentina’s terrorist state. Jacob Timerman, a well respected man of Argentina, an editor of a well know Argentinian paper, La Opinion, tells the audience his story of the terrorist state of Argentina from 1967-1978. His gripping novel both describes his personal experience being kidnapped by terrorist, while he tells us about the condition of the terrorist state of Argentina. His book is important because it tells a first hand account of the fear, the distrust, and the mere insanity of conditions in the country of Argentina during its darkest time. In Timerman’s first chapter, he opens by describing how he lives (though being locked up in a cell is not living) while being locked away in an unknown location (p.g. 4). He first describes his own â€Å"cell†. He is extremely descriptive and the reader can feel as though they are in his small, narrow, cold, wet cell. He tells his audience of a little crack in the wall, his only ventilation and only source of light, in such little detail, yet the reader can understand his isolation from light, the outside world, and his family. Timerman describes the crack as a â€Å"faint glow, night and day, eliminating time† which represents his unwilling determination and hope for freedom. Timerman’s first chapter also gives the reader a sense that through all the events he has under gone, he still remains the same strong willed person (under the circumstances) he was as he is described in the rest of the book. In addition to he crack in the wall, Timerman describes an encounter with another prisoner when the eyehole of his cell accidentally left open by the guards. He describes his encounter with such passion and emotion, yet they do not say anything,, only stare at each other. Timerman describes how their movements, their eyes blinking, represented emotion and passionate communication between the two of them. For in these conditions seeing someone who is in the same situation and somehow communicating with them was extraordinary for Timerman. This encounter that he describes is an important aspect of his book, in that it represents an encounter with another person struggling through the same pain, and same tourture that he is experiencing. This can be looked at as a simile towards the conditions in the country of Argentina. After Timerman describes his torture and isolation while under imprisonment, his next chapter tells us about the chaos that has under gone in Argentina, and her government. He explains to the readers that there are two sides in this civil war between the two parties of government, and describes all of the violence that has occured as a by-product of this war. He tells us of his encounters with the hysteria before he was kidnapped, and the disarray that was upon Argentinians. Timerman uses a quote by Luis Borges that was very interesting and nsightful, claiming that â€Å"the Argentine is not a citizen but an inhabitant; that he lacks an idea of the nation where he resides , but views it as a territory†¦Ã¢â‚¬  which is an understandable view. The people of Argentina, as Timerman describes, are scared of their government and the terrorism that is upon them. Timerman describes Argentina is such a state that there is no government, and, that the government is corrupt and that there is no trust authorities. Timerman, throughout the book, tells about mothers, fathers, relatives, and friends coming to La Opinion asking to write a letter about their loved one going missing, yet he further explains in almost every instance, that he could not do anything about it because it could get him executed. Timerman, throughout the book, always described his reasoning and perspective, in that, he said he wanted to help those people that came looking for help, yet he was already pushing his luck writing articles that no other paper would dare to write. Timerman tells the read that during his position as editor at La Opinion he received many death threats and hostile remarks due to his articles in his paper being to left sided, or too right sided political view. Yet Timmerman tells the reader that his intensions where not to support either side, but to write about the truth about what was going on in Argentina. He also wanted to stop this terrorism and find a way to halt this insanity. Timermans book does an amazing job at telling two stories, his story of survival during imprisonment for multiple years, while also telling the reader about the irrationality and absurdity of Argentina’s â€Å"government†. Though the book takes place in Argentina, those who read it will understand the universal application. It could happen else where, and that is why it is an important book to read, understand and take in. Timerman, in his book, is a witness for the rest of us.

Transnational Mgt. Case Analysis :: essays research papers

Problem Statement   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company is a highly successful consulting firm worth over 1.8 billion dollars. However, its leader Rajat Gupta wondered if the company could better utilize the knowledge of its employees to better serve its worldwide clients. It was obvious that McKinsey & Company had a strong base of core competencies among its employees, but Gupta was unsure if knowledge development was meeting its clients’ needs in an information and knowledge driven age. Clients hired McKinsey & Company expecting leading edge information from to assist them in their decision-making processes. Gupta felt a process was needed to develop, capture, and leverage this information which he considered an asset to the company. So, the task lay before them on how to accumulate and store the information quickly and make it readily available to consultants on a global scale. List of Symptoms †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company desired to provide state-of-the-art knowledge to its clients but currently had no means of measuring exactly how well they were doing in developing their knowledge. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Employees were not being properly developed for the new direction of the McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company still had the ability to provide excellent advice to its Clients. However, they were not as prepared as their competitors for dealing with the upcoming technologies of the future. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company had experienced rapid growth. McKinsey & Company had 3,800 consultants in 69 offices worldwide. In its present state, the large number of employees and offices it managed actually hindered McKinsey from effectively performing its operations worldwide. Essentially, McKinsey & Company had become too large for itself under its current architecture. Alternative Solutions   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  McKinsey & Company did not desire to rest on its laurels and remain content with the status quo, rather they aggressively sought out to find answers to their dilemmas. They realized that being a 1.8 billion dollar company did not come easily and also that without modifications they would not remain in their top position in consulting. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (1) McKinsey & Company must implement a system of knowledge management in which the entire organization is able to benefit from the sharing of knowledge between employees. This will allow the company to benefit internally. Alternative Solution One: (2) In order to measure the results McKinsey & Company must revisit their goals to develop, capture, and leverage their knowledge to better serve their clients. Alternative Solution Two: Know the audience to be measured and what benefits they seek from their relationship with McKinsey & Company.

Leadership. Big Five personality traits Essay

After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define leadership and contrast leadership and management. 2. Summarize the conclusions of trait theories of leadership. 3. Identify the central tenets and main limitations of behavioral theories. 4. Assess contingency theories of leadership by their level of support. 5. Compare and contrast charismatic and transformational leadership. 6. Define authentic leadership and show why effective leaders exemplify ethics and trust. 7. Demonstrate the role mentoring plays in our understanding of leadership. 8. Address challenges to the effectiveness of leadership. 9. Assess whether charismatic and transformational leadership generalize across cultures. I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep. Talleyrand Private Equity’s Poster Boy If it’s true that â€Å"Nice guys finish last,† there is no better proof than Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, who says his mission in life is to â€Å"inflict pain† and â€Å"kill off† his rivals. â€Å"I want war,† he told the Wall Street Journal, â€Å"not a series of skirmishes.† And win in business he has. In 20 years, he has made Blackstone one of the most profitable—and most feared—investment groups on Wall Street, with assets approaching $200 billion. Though these are not easy times for any investment bank, Blackstone has largely avoided the pitfalls of subprime mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. Some of this strategy might be considered good fortune—Blackstone invests much more heavily in commercial than in residential real estate. However, some credit is due to Schwarzman’s foresight. As he notes, â€Å"We were cautious in the so-called golden age. We were the least aggressive of all the big firms in the first half of 2007. We were very concerned about the high prices of deals and the vast amount of liquidity fuelling the boom. . . . Things always come to an end, and when they do they end badly.† Not only is Schwarzman smart and driven; he likes  the attention his success has drawn. When he turned 60, his birthday party might have made Caligula blush. The affair was emceed by comedian Martin Short. Rod Stewart performed. Marvin Hamlisch put on a number from A Chorus Line. Singer Patti LaBelle led the Abyssinian Baptist Church choir in a song about Schwarzman. Who staged this event? Schwarzman himself! When Blackstone executives prepared a video tribute to him to be played at the event, Schwarzman intervened to squelch any roasting or other jokes played at his expense. Schwarzman owns residences in Manhattan (a 35-room Park Avenue triplex, for which he paid $37 million), in the Hamptons (a Federal-style house, for which he paid $34 million), in Palm Beach (a 13,000-square-foot mansion, which, at $20.5 million, is the slum of the bunch), in Saint-Tropez, and in Jamaica. â€Å"I love houses,† Schwarzman says. The New Yorker called him â€Å"the designated villain of an era . . . of heedless self-indulgence.† As you might imagine, Schwarzman is not the easiest guy to work for. While sunning himself at his Palm Beach estate, he complained that an employee wasn’t wearing the proper black shoes with his uniform. On another occasion, he reportedly fired a Blackstone executive for the sound his nose made when he breathed. Given his success, his lifestyle, and his combative personality, you might imagine Schwarzman is immune to the ridicule, resentment, and criticism he receives. â€Å"How does it feel?† he asked, and then answered his own question: â€Å"Unattractive. No thinking person wants to be reduced to a caricature.†1 As Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman shows, leaders often are not like other people. But what makes them so? Intelligence? Drive? Luck? A certain leadership style? These are some of the questions we’ll tackle in this chapter. To assess yourself on another set of qualities that we’ll discuss shortly, take the following self-assessment. In this chapter, we look at what makes an effective leader and what differentiates leaders from nonleaders. First, we present trait theories, which dominated the study of leadership up to the late 1940s. Then we discuss behavioral theories, popular until the late 1960s. Next, we introduce contingency and interactive theories. Finally, we discuss the most contemporary approaches: charismatic, transformational, and authentic leadership. But first, let’s clarify what we mean by leadership. Self-Assessment Library: What’s My Leadership Style? In the Self-Assessment Library (available on CD and online) take assessment II.B.1 (What’s My Leadership Style?) and answer the following questions. 1. How did you score on the two scales? 2. Do you think a leader can be both task oriented and people oriented? Do you think there are situations in which a leader has to make a choice between the two styles? 3. Do you think your leadership style will change over time? Why or why not? What Is Leadership? 1. Define leadership and contrast leadership and management. Leadership and management are often confused. What’s the difference? John Kotter of the Harvard Business School argues that management is about coping with complexity.2 Good management brings about order and consistency by drawing up formal plans, designing rigid organization structures, and monitoring results against the plans. Leadership, in contrast, is about coping with change. Leaders establish direction by developing a vision of the future; then they align people by communicating this vision and inspiring them to overcome hurdles. Although Kotter provides separate definitions of the two terms, both researchers and practicing managers frequently make no such distinctions. So we need to present leadership in a way that can capture how it is used in theory and practice. We define leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals. The source of this influence may be formal, such as that provided by managerial rank in an organization. But not all leaders are managers, nor, for that matter, are all managers leaders. Just because an organization provides its managers with certain formal rights is no assurance they will lead effectively. Nonsanctioned leadership—the ability to influence that arises outside the formal structure of the organization—is often as important or more important than formal influence. In other words, leaders can emerge from within a group as well as by formal appointment. Organizations need strong leadership and strong management for optimal effectiveness. We need leaders today to challenge the status quo, create visions of the future, and  inspire organizational members to want to achieve the visions. We also need managers to formulate detailed plans, create efficient organizational structures, and oversee day-to-day operations. OB Poll: Confidence in Business Leaders Falling Source: Based on Edelman trust Barometer 2008 (http://www.edelman.com/TRUST/2008/TrustBarometer08_Final.pdf) Trait Theories Summarize the conclusions of trait theories of leadership. Throughout history, strong leaders—Buddha, Napoleon, Mao, Churchill, Roosevelt, Reagan—have been described in terms of their traits. Trait theories of leadership thus focus on personal qualities and characteristics. We recognize leaders like South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and American Express chairman Ken Chenault as charismatic, enthusiastic, and courageous. The search for personality, social, physical, or intellectual attributes that differentiate leaders from nonleaders goes back to the earliest stages of leadership research. Early research efforts at isolating leadership traits resulted in a number of dead ends. A review in the late 1960s of 20 different studies identified nearly 80 leadership traits, but only 5 were common to 4 or more of the investigations.3 By the 1990s, after numerous studies and analyses, about the best we could say was that most leaders â€Å"are not like other people,† but the particular traits that characterized them varied a great deal from review to review.4 It was a pretty confusing state of affairs. A breakthrough, of sorts, came when researchers began organizing traits around the Big Five personality framework (see Chapter 5).5 Most of the dozens of traits in various leadership reviews fit under one of the Big Five (ambition and energy are part of extraversion, for instance), giving strong support to traits as predictors of leadership. The personal qualities and characteristics of Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, make him a great leader. Branson is described as fun-loving, sensitive to the needs of others, hard working, innovative, charismatic, enthusiastic, energetic, decisive, and risk taking. These traits helped the British entrepreneur build one of the most recognized and respected brands in the world for products and services in the business areas of travel, entertainment, and lifestyle. Jason Kempin/FilmMagic/Getty Images, Inc. A comprehensive review of the leadership literature, when organized around the Big Five, has found extraversion to be the most important trait of effective leaders6 but more strongly related to leader emergence than to leader effectiveness. Sociable and dominant people are more likely to assert themselves in group situations, but leaders need to make sure they’re not too assertive—one study found leaders who scored very high on assertiveness were less effective than those who were moderately high.7 Unlike agreeableness and emotional stability, conscientiousness and openness to experience also showed strong relationships to leadership, though not quite as strong as extraversion. Overall, the trait approach does have something to offer. Leaders who like being around people and are able to assert themselves (extraverted), disciplined and able to keep commitments they make (conscientious), and creative and flexible (open) do have an apparent advantage when it comes to leadership, suggesting good leaders do have key traits in common. One reason is that conscientiousness and extraversion are positively related to leaders’ self-efficacy, which explained most of the variance in subordinates’ ratings of leader performance.8 People are more likely to follow someone who is confident she’s going in the right direction. Another trait that may indicate effective leadership is emotional intelligence (EI), discussed in Chapter 4. Advocates of EI argue that without it, a person can have outstanding training, a highly analytical mind, a compelling vision, and an endless supply of terrific ideas but still not make a great leader. This may be especially true as individuals move up in an organization.9 Why is EI so critical to effective leadership? A core component of EI is empathy. Empathetic leaders can sense others’ needs, listen to what followers say (and don’t say), and read the reactions of others. As one leader noted, â€Å"The caring part of empathy, especially for the people with whom you work, is what inspires people to stay with a leader when the going gets rough. The mere fact that someone cares is more often than not rewarded with loyalty.†10

Discrimination Veterans in the Workplace Essay - 1619 Words

Running head: VETERANS DISCRIMINATION 1 Discrimination: Veterans in the Workplace xxxxxxxxxxx National University HRM-439 Professor xxxxxxxxxxxx 23 December 2013 VETERANS DISCRIMINATION 2 Abstract Discrimination against veterans and those who serve in the reserve forces of the United States is prevalent and is attempted often for veterans returning from war, deployments, and training. Discrimination can also be found in the hiring of veterans and family members of veterans. Seven signs of discrimination against veterans in†¦show more content†¦The case of Justin Slaby verses Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) . Justin Slaby lost his hand during a training accident as a Army Ranger in 2004. In 2011, after passing the requirements for the FBI academy, he was accepted into the academy. Shortly after his training began, he was removed from the academy by the instructors stating that he could not fire a weapon with his prosthetic hand. It was determined that the FBI discriminated against him since they claimed he could not safely discharge a firearm with his prosthetic hand. Since Slaby only fired with his dominate hand, this was a clear case of discriminatio n and the courts ruled in favor of Slabby. The court ordered that he be allowed to resume training. (Zapotosky, 2013) Second sign, many employers do not want to hire those serving in the reserves. They are concerned that the service member may be recalled to active duty or their required military training will take them out of the workplace for extended periods of time. In these situations, the USERRA proctects the service member (Ballman, 2012). The case of Vicent E. Staub verses Proctor Hospital supports USERRA’s protection. Staub was a Army reservist employed by Proctor Hospital. 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