Psycho Cultural Conflict Theory

Psycho Cultural Conflict Theory According to the psycho-cultural conflict theory, identity is the most important need in the hierarchy of human needs and, when denied, results in violent conflict. The satisfaction of ones basic needs is intricately related to his/her identity. The Psycho-cultural Conflict Theory is similar to the Primordial approach to ethnicity which emphasizes the fact that peoples ethnicity (identity) is deeply rooted in their past. Irobi (2005) argues that memories of past traumas magnify peoples anxieties. This is as a result of ethnic identity which produces fear, hatred and, consequently, ethnic conflict among two ethnic groups which have a history of ethnic discrimination and stratification. Irobi posits that when an ethnic group has a history of being stereotyped and discriminated based on their ethnic identity from another group, it results in violent conflict since ethnic identity remains part and parcel of the entirety of an individual. Ethnic groups which have been discriminated against and stratified into lower class citizens always habour a feeling of marginalization of their identity and this produces strong feelings of hatred and resentment towards the other group which did the discrimination. This is what Richardson Jr. Sen (1996) call victim mentality. Irobi (2005) criticizes the inadequacy of modernization theory which holds that modernity will result in the dissolution of ethnic affiliation. H e observes that ethnicity is fixed and part of the identity of individuals and groups. Therefore, any marginalization of an ethnic group or discrimination against it based on ethnicity will receive strong resistance (conflict). This is particularly seen in the mobilizing role of ethnic identity. Psycho-cultural conflict theorists like Ross (1997) and Horowitz (1998) believe that conflicts which are caused by identity are usually dangerous, violent, intractable and highly protracted, and often very difficult to resolve. This is because identity which is at the centre of the conflict, is an unshakable sense of worth, which makes life meaningful and includes the feeling that one is physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually safe (Faleti, 2006, p. 51). When this feeling of safety (identity) is threatened, there is a defensive reaction aiming at protecting this at all costs and the result is violent conflict which becomes a matter of life and death. This tends to affect development since violence is perpetually continued affecting productive sectors of local economies. The psycho-cultural theory of conflict argues, therefore, that resolving this type of conflict is usually very difficult and tends to defy any resolution mechanism. There is always constant outbreak of violence with such conflicts despite attempts at resolving the conflict. Their resolution takes long and sometimes, it is not possible to talk of resolution, but management. This is because the issue of ethnic identity is uncompromising and its denial is a complete affront to the groups very existence. The outbreak of consistent violence as a result of this type of conflict makes life and security fragile, thereby affecting human well-being and development. Thus, the link between ethnic conflicts, their resolution and development is clearly seen. Due to the deep-seated, protracted and intractable nature of conflicts based on identity (ethnic conflict), their resolution remains very difficult and takes very long, and this produces strings of violence thereby affecting meaningful develop ment. Seymour (2003) therefore emphasized that identity influences the process of conflict and must not be overlooked when attempting to understand the origins of conflict and when planning its resolution. The psycho-cultural conflict theory has been heavily criticized by many scholars. The theory has been criticized for attributing the main basis of conflict and violence to identity based on ethnicity. Critics are quick to point out that there is a tendency for many people to label any conflict as ethnic identity based when that conflict exceedingly has a different cause (Tonah, 2007). Bowen (1996) contends that those conflicts which are said to be based on ethnic identity are products of modern politics. He argues that although people have had many identities for long, which are based on their culture (ethnicity), these people only began to see themselves as members of vast groups, opposed to each other only during the modern period of colonization. Bowen (1996) mentioned that the Rwandan, Burundian and Bosnian conflicts are politically based conflicts rather than ethnic identity conflicts, but these conflicts later assumed ethnic identity dimensions. Osaghae (2005) also argues that what is seen as ethnic conflict is not so, but elite manipulation of people to gain advantage of their political and personal ambitions. Ethnic identity, to him, is elitist manipulation of ethnicity to gain control over political power and what is seen as conflicts emanating from ethnic identity are not at all, but politically based conflicts. It is possible for elites to manipulate a group of people against each other. It is even possible for conflicts in some parts of Africa and other places to take ethnic dimensions even if the initial cause of the conflict is political, resource, religious or any other cause (Tonah, 2007). Ernest Penan (cited in Bowen, 1996) believes that ethnic identity is constructed by intellectuals for their personal interests and that ethnic identity is a set of ideas rather than peoples values in conflict. Chandra (2006) believes that ethnic identity does not matter or has not been shown to matter in explaining most outcomes of violence. Fearon Laitin (2000) also argue after an enquiry into the relationship between ethnic identity and violence that the mere observation that ethnic identities are socially constructed is not so. In conclusion, the Psycho-cultural Theory simply argues that identity based on ethnicity explains the main reason for conflicts in society. The weakness of the theory makes it imperative for this study to be able to properly identify the sources of ethnic conflict in the Bawku Traditional Area in order to devise appropriate resolution mechanisms to them. Conceptual framework It remains evident that development is meaningfully achieved through the existence of peace. Peace here refers to the absence of violent conflict and effective conflict resolution which both border on security. Ethnic conflicts, very often, are intractable conflicts which involve values, claim to status, identity, deprivation of needs and external factors such as political infiltrations (Coleman, 2000). Thus, ethnic conflicts are often protracted and remain very difficult to resolve and their continuous existence poses danger to local level development and they tend to seriously hinder security which is needed to ensure peace for development. Ethnic conflicts as shown in Figure 1 primarily result from past historical and colonial experiences which are further exacerbated by factors like lack of access to power, resources and ethnic marginalization/stereotypes which are magnified by peoples struggle for their ethnic identity. The continuous ethnic polarization through these factors leads to violence (conflict) which results in low investments in local economic activities/commerce, decreasing agricultural, educational and health standards, insecurity, high dependency ratio, loss of lives and low incomes for individuals and families. The end result of all these, as seen in Figure 1, is decreasing levels of socio-economic development. The effective resolution of ethnic conflicts can have positive implications for development. Schoeman (1998) argues that a society in which people are secure (when violent conflict is properly resolved or is absent), will: Enable people to develop their communities; Enable people to be architects of their own lives; Enable people to come together to pursue economic and other development; and Enable people to participate in the development of the society. In resolving ethnic conflicts , one needs to focus on satisfying the basic needs which have been deprived (UN DESA, 2001) and also creating a proportional equality in deep-rooted cultural and identity issues (Richardson Jr. Wang, 1993) using third party intervention and inter-group cooperation (Horowitz, 2000; Lipchitz Crawford, 1995). All of these can be done by effectively engaging the conflicting parties in mediation, inter-group dialogue and third party intervention using indigenous methods. Issues which are mostly root causes of conflict when tackled properly results in effective conflict resolution thereby trickling down to sustainable peace which has implications for local development. Effects Core Problem Low Investment due to insecurity Destruction of Property and infrastructure General Insecurity Low Agricultural Production Low commerce Refusal to accept posting Low Income Decreasing Educational and Health Standards Retarded Development Ethnic Conflict High Dependency Ratio Low Income Loss of Lives Low Income Poverty Struggle for Ethnic Identity Lack of Access to Power. e.g. Chieftaincy and Political Connections Past Historical and Colonial Experiences Ethnic Marginalization Causes Lack of Access to Natural Resources. e.g. Land Decreasing Levels of Social/Economic Development

Causes Of Mental Health And Bullying In Prison Criminology Essay

Causes Of Mental Health And Bullying In Prison Criminology Essay Prisons as places of deprivation of liberty have existed since time immemorial, yet prisons as we know them today places where offenders are sent by the Criminal Justice System as a punishment for their behaviour -are a product of the industrial age (Maguire et al, 2005). Ideally the reason behind the imprisonment is according to Section 142 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (cited in Elliott and Quinn) to punish ,deter and rehabilitate the offender . The main aims of these three areas is concerned with the recognition that the criminal has done something wrong. It then locates them in an institution which by taking away their freedom, is designed to deter them from further offences upon release, punish them for the offence already committed, and then tries to rehabilitate them, so that they are less likely to commit further offences upon release, either because they learn to see the harm they have caused, or because, through education and training, they find other ways to spend thei r time. The process of rehabilitation would change them into law abiding citizens. What is more it is believed that it would persuade other potential criminals that such activates are not beneficial in other words it would deter people from committing further crime ( Elliott and Quinn,2008). While in theory such an idea seems to perfectly fit the purpose of punishment, in practice significant amounts of negative experience such as intensive growth of bullying and mental health problems, are present within the prisons environment, together with overcrowding and poor living conditions, failing to deliver the successful processing of such a plan (Elliot and Quinn, 2008). The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast causes of mental health and bullying in prison, as well as detect any, if possible, links between bullying and mental health among prisoners Farrington defined bullying as the repeated oppression of a less powerful person by a more powerful one. He claimed that it usually includes three different elements. The first element includes physical , verbal or psychological attack with intent to cause harm , fear or distress . The second is an imbalance of power , where a more powerful person is oppressing the less powerful one, and thirdly it includes a continuous series of incidents between these same people over some period of time. Mental health is defined in Section 1(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983 as Mental illness, arrested or in completed development of mind, psychopathic disorder and another disorder or disabilities of mind. Although as shown above there is a huge difference in what constitutes bullying and mental health, there is no doubt that both of them can be caused by similar factors such as social and environmental causes (for example overcrowding) , physical causes and psychological causes(Ireland,2002; WHO, 1998). The physical environment in prisons such as overcrowding, quality of accommodation, availability of contact with friends and family, lack of stimulation in the form of activities , may have an impact on the prisoners mental health as well as contributing to the development of bullying in prison. According to Maguire et al. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) the imprisonment rate in England and Wales is the highest in Western Europe, and according to the official prison statistics for England and Wales the total prison population has increased from around fifty-one thousand in 1995 to over eighty-four thousand in 2009. What is more overcrowding in prisons may lead to increased depression, stress, boredom and nervous breakdown, leading to serious breaches of prison discipline, violence and riots. The cause of prison overcrowding and an increase in the prison population is a result of a greater number of convictions and the absence of the availability of prisons places. Further equally important factors are change in criminal justice policy, tightening of sanctions, resulting in longer prison sentences. Reducing funds for the prison also indirectly cause aggression among prisoners.(though less  staff,   causing  tension  among  overworked  staff, which then affects the inmates). Prisons have a limited capacity, and the prisoners have certain rights that should not be violated. Factors such as lack of liberty, as in many of the prisons where prisoners are locked-up for twenty three hours a day, lack of, or limited, communication with friends and family , usually without any privacy, all contribute to the problem. What is more, prisons take away the prisoners free will. They can no longer freely decided where to live, with whom to associate and how to fill their free time and must follow the discipline imposed by prison rules and prison officers. Physical causes such as their individual characteristics or biological make-up may have some influence on the causes of bulling and mental health in prisons. According to Ireland (2002) prisoners mostly come from social environments where emphasis is placed on toughness and the ability to protect oneself and when entering prison these characteristics are magnified. However such behaviour while being in prison may be linked with bullying other usually weaker and disturbed inmates ( Irleand, 2002) According to Farrington (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) the people who tend to bully are more likely to have children who will be bullies, and people who tend to be the victims of bullying tend to have children who will become the victim of bullying. The same may apply to prison inmates who tend to be weak, with low self-esteem and with a low capacity for coping with the prison environment and they are more likely to become victims of bullying than people who are characterized as strong , confident and agg ressive. Also individual genetic make-up might put some prisoners more at risk than others to suffer from mental illness or become victims of bullying because they are less able to adapt or cope with certain environments or they become one of the bullies as they possess the physical skills which give prisoners the ability to bully others physically , verbally or indirectly. Moreover those suffering from any injuries while being in prison, which may have been caused by being involved in a fight with another prisoner, can also experience changes to their personality and in some cases may cause the beginning of schizophrenia, psychosis or self harm. Psychological factors such as a prisoners emotional and mental state of mind , especially when the prisoner has experienced any form of physical or sexual abuse or there have been any other potentially traumatic events in the past can affect his behaviour in prison. While there is a huge proportion of prisoners suffering from such trauma prior to imprisonment, many will experience such trauma as an effect of imprisonment (Crighton and Towl, 2008). Generally prisons are harsh places , where discipline and routine are the essence of daily life causing being in prison to be a stressful experience . Additionally according to (Crighton and Towl, 2008) prisoners appear to be at a high level of risk with factors associated with poor traumatic responses from childhood onwards. . Psychological factors especially emotional responses (Irleand, 2002) in terms of bullying will probably be heightened for the victims . Prisons can be aggressive and threatening environments especially for the first time prisoners . They may be fearful of what may happen to them. Undeniably fear is seen as a necessary component in definitions of bullying in the prison environment. Moreover fear may impact prisoners other emotions such as anxiety, nervousness and feelings of unimportance which may display behaviourally through self harm or social avoidance. Despite the similarities in causes for mental health and bullying in prison we can also see differences . One of them is unquestionable the difference between the definition of mental health and the definition of bullying. Likewise once in prison , prisoners enter a highly structured social environment that negotiates for power and dominance, where dominance over other weaker inmates is one way of gaining acceptance , satisfaction , status and respect among other prisoners. Hence bullying is often seen as a normal part of prison life that helps to gain this dominance over other inmates. Furthermore bullies who remain at the top of the hierarchy among other inmates, through their dominance will often get other prisoners to run errands and do jobs for them which are against prison regime, and so they can remind unidentified and hence will not be punished . While the condition of an individuals mental health consists of a number of different factors and elements. mental health is primar ily our resistance to all of our difficult situations , events, phenomena and our emotional and psychological survival partly depends upon an individuals ability to tolerate the deprivations of prison. Additionally according to Viggiani (2007) most prisoners come from the poorest or most socially excluded tiers of society and often have the greatest health needs. Prison may therefore be the worst place to send them given that, in the main, they are likely to be highly vulnerable or susceptible to poor health, hence mental disorders. Mental disorder may also be the cause of committing the offence, and hence imprisonment. As Rubin (1972:398 cited inà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) says certain mental disorders are characterized by some kind of confused , bizarre, agitated, threatening, frightened, panicked, paranoid or impulsive behaviours and as a consequence they may lead to inappropriate , anti-social or dangerous acts. Individual mental health may be managed and treated either by medication or di fferent treatment programs (handbook), while in order to prevent bullying prisons should focus on making changes to the prisons environment which would include changing the supervision of the prisoners area, increased security for controlling and monitoring, educating staff and prisoners about bullying, improving communication between prison staff, or even increasing the stimuli for prisoners. This include raising the number and qualities of activities and programs available for prisoners. Undoubtedly, despite the similarities and differences between bullying and mental health, one may lead to the other ( Ireland, 2002; Farrington,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.) . As mentioned above bullying constitutes aggressive behaviour in which an individual manipulates and dominates others in order to obtain a goal, whether it is social or material. In order to classify the behaviour as bullying it must represent repeated and unprovoked acts of aggression , which include physical , verbal or psychological attack (Irleand,2002; Farrington, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.). Indeed bulling can cause immediate harm and distress to victims and have negative consequences on their mental health. Victims may feel psychologically or physically distressed and experience pain, and prisoners who have been the victims of bullying may experience a range of feelings such as anger, fear, anxiety ,paranoia , distress, hopelessness or depression (Ireland,2002) which can lead to avoidance, social isolation and therefore mental illness in prisoners. In conclusion despite the idea that prisons should rehabilitate and change offenders into law abiding citizens, we can see that prison is a modern form of slavery no matter what its ideological justification is. Prisoners mental health and bullying is a growing problem in prisons . Instead of rehabilitating and changing prisoners into well managed and well behaved citizens, in many cases it changes them into more aggressive and troublesome inhabitants very often with physical and mental problems, which makes it harder for them to reintegrate with the society and with present times.

Religion :: essays research papers

RESPONSIBILITY: By completing the reading assignments in a timely manner, you can have comments and questions ready for class in order to receive credit for class participation and to review for exams. Come to class prepared to make at least one comment. If occasionally you find the materials hard to understand or slow to read, let me know at the beginning of class so that we can discuss the style and the structure of the works for a clearer grasp of the writers’ ideas. Have questions ready to ask on those days so that we do not become frustrated by my trying to generate discussion about materials that have left you puzzled for whatever reason. All that I require proves a genuine attempt on your part to complete each assignment; such preparation will prevent the course from becoming a total lecture class. An excellent strategy to assist you in class participation and in studying for exams involves your making margin notes in your texts and on the study guides. Mark favorite or important passages; keep a summary of the plot and the characters at the top of each page. Jot down your questions and/or mark puzzling passages. Although Humanities does not require composition as a prerequisite, still as college students, you should have sufficient writing skills to express your ideas clearly and correctly. While I do not deduct for writing skills errors, frequent grammatical, spelling, usage, and/or punctuation errors can hurt your scores by interfering with the meaning of your sentences. I cannot credit you with what you do not say. Use spell check, grammar check, and your own proofreading skills to make sure you submit what you really mean. As a courtesy to any reader, you should always proofread your handwritten and your keyboarded work. INTRODUCTION TO THE HUMANITIES—FALL 2005 LEWIS—3 INCLEMENT WEATHER: Tune in to the area radio and/or television stations for updates about school closings. But, in any case, use your judgment of the roads you must travel. Just call or email me so that I know you are in a safe place. Try www.iowaroadconditions.com for road conditions. CLASSROOM CONDUCT: Each student has the obligation to use class time for learning. If a student’s conduct interferes with the education of others in class, that student could receive a request to leave class, with other consequences as well. LIBRARY ACCESS: Your WITCC library barcode and your current registration slip will allow you access to the Sioux City Public Library, the Morningside College

charant Character Changes in Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

Character Changes in Antigone In Sophocles' Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters' attitudes change from close-minded to open-minded. It is their close-minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultimately to a series of deaths. In the beginning Antigone is a close minded character who later becomes open minded. After the death of her brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. He decides that Eteocles will receive a funeral with military honors because he fought for his country. However, Polyneices, who broke his exile to " spill the blood of his father and sell his own people into slavery", will have no burial. Antigone disagrees with Creon's unjust actions and says, " Creon is not strong enough to stand in my way." She vows to bury her brother so that his soul may gain the peace of the underworld. Antigone is torn between the law placed against burying her brother and her own thoughts of doing what she feels should be done for her family. Her intent is simply to give her brother, Polyneices, a proper burial so that she will follow "the laws of the gods." Antigone knows that she is in danger of being killed for her actions and she says, "I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me." Her own laws, or morals, drive her to break Creon's law placed against Polyneices burial. Even after she realizes that she will have to bury Polyneices without the help of her sister, Ismene, she says: Go away, Ismene: I shall be hating you soon, and the dead will too, For your words are hateful. Leave me my foolish plan: I am not afraid of the danger; if it means death, It will not be the worst of deaths-death without honor. Here Ismene is trying to reason with Antigone by saying that she cannot disobey the law because of the consequences. Antigone is close-minded when she immediately tells her to go away an d refuses to listen to her. Later in the play, Antigone is sorrowful for her actions and the consequences yet she is not regretful for her crime. She says her crime is just, yet she does regret being forced to commit it.

Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities

Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth† it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units. Volkswagen of America: Managing It Priorities Matulovic who is the chief information officer of Volkswagen of America (VWoA) has a tough decision to make. Volkswagen’s subsidiary launched a new process for allocating budgets across the business. With the new process, they have derived at a list of approved projects that no one is happy about. Calls came flooding through to Matulovic with an informal request to insert an unfunded project into the IT department’s work plans. VWoA had projects requiring $210 millions and the parent company of VWoA (Volkswagen Group, VWAG) budgeted only $60 million. In choosing the right projects to fund was a process that consisted of three phases: Phase 1-Calling for projects, communicating process, and identifying dependencies, Phase 2-Formal project requests for business unit, and Phase 3-Transforming business unit request into enterprise goal portfolios. Phase I was able to reduce and re-categorize projects because business units realized that many of their initiatives were very similar to other initiatives throughout the company which lead projects to become grouped together into common enterprise projects. This phase identified dependencies among projects. Therefore, without completed projects, the other projects could not be started. This phase also involved members becoming exposed to information about proposed initiatives across the company which gave them a greater understanding and appreciation of different business units. This helps migrate away from the current silo thinking and start focusing on initiatives in an enterprise-wide level. At the end of this phase, the proposed $210 million was simplified to a list of projects that required $170 million. Phase 1 was a critical starting point in aligning all business initiatives and trimming down projects. With the list in hand, we now step into Phase 2. During Phase 2 each business unit was required to classify each proposal into the type of investment (stay in business, return on investment, and option-creating investment) and technological application type (base-enterprise IT platform, enterprise applications, and customized point solutions). These classifications would influence how particular investments would be treated in the selection and prioritization process. Business units had to rank projects by priority and associate projects with enterprise goals. There was criticism that projects were reclassified as enterprise, but they really weren’t enterprise projects. The is because business units had to think of ways to associate their project with enterprise goals to improve chances of funding since the stay in business projects were given high priority, then the enterprise projects and finally individual business units. So if your project wasn’t a stay in business or enterprise project then the business units were tempted to reclassify their project to an enterprise project instead of a business unit. This built frustration as managers are looking for their own funding but don’t have the overall view to properly prioritize which lead other projects get the funding. Finally, Phase 3 consisted of ranking business unit goals based upon enterprise goals/needs. The key concept of governance is to align organizational activity with corporate goals and strategy. The assessment of the new process is to align business goals with enterprise goals and fund the top priority projects that would support the next round of growth goal areas. The NRG program is the readiness program called â€Å"Next Round of Growth† it was aimed to define the goals, functions, and organizational changes required to support and enable the new global product diversification strategy. The Next Round of Growth Enterprise Goal Areas is to support expanded product portfolio which is customer loyalty, new vehicle value, pre-owned vehicle business, stable infrastructure, and optimize supply flow. In order to reach a final project list, VWoA had to simplify and categorize projects, assess their business impact, and distinguish their alignment with goals all while making trade-off decisions. The process is an improvement over the old process since the business units were required to prioritize based on the enterprise-wide goals instead of their own business unit. It also avoided the less organized and less centralized method in prioritizing projects. The new process led business units to work together and make decisions that would affect their unit using the overall company strategy. They would also recognize other business unit’s priorities and provide a greater appreciation of their business unit and the work that they do. This helps alleviate other business units ranking their initiatives as more important than another. As this being a new process at VWoA, this process failed to capture and fund the supply flow project. The unfunded supply flow project revealed a flaw in the new process system. The supply flow project did not get funding because it was recognized at the global level and not at the VWoA importer level. The loss of funding would constitute a major setback for globalization initiatives based in Germany so this particular project must be funded somehow and Matulovic had to think of options on how to make this happen. The recommendation at this point is to remain focus on the most important strategic goals of VWoA and proceed funding all projects in the final project list in the top-ranked portfolio. He should not take funding from other funded projects to try and help fund the supply flow project. That would lead to intense push back and affect working relationships since projects which are important to VWoA’s strategic goals will be neglected. He should also not leave it to the supply flow area to work out what to do about this project because that decision would lead to a project waiting to fail. Dumping a project on them to figure out, without the proper resources is nearly impossible to successfully complete. Re-opening the new prioritization process that took nearly 3 months to complete is unnecessary and wasted time. The process will not have to be reopened, rather to find alternative sources for funding to proceed with the supply flow project. Due to the global reach of the project, it is unreasonable for the project to be funded solely by VWoA, but rather allocating the funds under the parent company or among all companies under the umbrella of the parent company, Volkswagen Group. Volkswagen Group sets the budget at VWoA and several organizational entities at VWoA would play a role in controlling which projects are funded. There are four specific teams involved in this process: the ELT (Executive Leadership Team), the ITSC (IT Steering Committee), the PMO (Project Management Office), and the DBC (Digital Business Council). If they are unable to find alternative funding then they should consider this project as an exception or special condition to figure out a way to fund the project. This is common where successful businesses continuously create new opportunities which cannot be covered by existing IT decisions. Matulovic should reach out to the supply flow group in Germany to present and communicate the different options for alternative funding and the importance of funding the top-ranked portfolio and the supply flow project and get them involved in the solution process. In managing IT priorities in the future, there needs to be a change in the new process to include support and recognize the global level projects and not just at the VWoA level. This ensures other vital projects don’t fall through the cracks like the supply flow project in this case study. The Volkswagen Group should reevaluate that proper funding is allocated for both the VWoA and global level initiatives. Matulovic’s fellow executives that communicated the concern of unfunded projects were involved in the decision making process and if they thought these goals didn’t align with the company’s goals, then they should have voiced their concerns to the process teams, ELT,ITSC, PMO, and/or the DBC, not to Matulovic. The expectation of all VWoA’s employees should be in support of the company’s overall strategic goals, not just their own business units.

History and Chronological Order

Gunfire and Brickbats: The Great Railway Strikes of 1877 In this article Gunfire and Brickbats, Gerald G. Eggent shows the significant history of the railroad strike and went through the workers and company owners. The main reason of this article was to show the conflicts and resolution of the strike that occurred at the time. Also the article show’s how the strike made many suffers economically and how the country suffered. Many readers do not understand what they read but this article will be very difficult to forget.The article’s thesis is on why and how the workers lead to the strike and also what they had to endure during the process of the strike. There were very terrifying violence’s that occurred at the strike. It shows how stubborn the workers were that they didn’t give up as easy, but it also explains on how little powers the workers had compared to the company owners. This strike was very popular and had spread everywhere in the country, includi ng westward. This also shows how immigrants affected this strike. Like labor workers and the Chinese workers were targeted to do so.As well it was a concern to see that the government didn’t really care anymore. Eventually the strikes did lose to the poor imbalance but they did change the views of workers. After the strike the government helped both labor and capital. This article contributes my understanding of the historical period on the strike of 1877. After reading this article, I gained more knowledge and more descriptive events of the timeline. For example, how badly people needed jobs and the struggle they were going through. Articles like these are really the ones who teach everyone more precisely.In addition, this article was a perfect time to been given out, because this follow’s the timeline of the reading. This article has many strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses are very weak, in other words weren’t that bad. One weakness was that the writing was too formal and hard to understand certain statements. Strength was the chronological order, and how everything was given out was just amazing. All the writing in this article was in control and it backed everything up. In conclusion, Gunfire and Brickbats was an odd and wonderful strike.

Of Kind and Cruel Fates Essay

Irony, in its essence, is the humor of contradiction. It is contradiction, in the sense that where we would expect events to lean on one way, events instead completely take the opposite direction. A crude example would be where a string of freak accidents occur at a factory where the manager is showing off to his potential clients that his company is â€Å"accident-free†. Irony is humorous because if one saw it with impartiality, one would find it funny. Having a car accident right after a road is â€Å"improved† to avoid further accidents, would be funny. To study irony further, one could study an average person’s sense of humor. While as a child, he may delight in the curiosities of the environment, eventually he becomes adjusted to seeing it everyday, and eventually his enjoyment of it fades. Humor takes on a different characteristic for him. There is the slapstick comedy, where he finds the antics of the performers as funny and absurd, and there is the situational comedy, where he finds funny ordinary people falling to ridiculous situations. The common thread to this humor is that it attacks at something. Whether it is to ridicule a person behaving out of the social norm (as the slapstick), or to ridicule a person’s belief or principle that is generally viewed as absurd (the parody), the higher the degree of abuse at the object of humor, the funnier. Irony, then, is humorous in the sense that it attacks something, through its contradiction. As an impartial viewer, we may find funny things that we know to be true as envisioned by the ironic set-up, but which is obscured in the minds of those who are involved in the irony. Humor moreover has intrinsic values it seeks to instill to its impartial witnesses, and consequently irony occurs as some way to inform the viewer of a cosmic lesson. We can delve in this further through the study of three stories, Tartuffe, The Princess of Cleves, and Nathan the Wise. There are several ironic situations that occur throughout the play Tartuffe. The story revolves around a household scandalized by having its head (the father) entertain and welcome as part of the family a man who openly and vocally shows his displeasure at what he deems as vices borne by the various members of the family and the house. One of the first ironic situations occurs with the son, Damis, who hides in the room while Tartuffe has a private conversation with his mother, Elmire. His intention is to unmask Tartuffe to his father as a hypocrite and get him out of the house (Moliere, 39-46). When he finally sees evidence of the man’s scandalous behavior towards his mother and reveals it to his father, not only does his father not believe (owing to the hypocrite’s skillful use of words), but has Damis instead kicked out and even encourages Tartuffe to continue his scandalous behavior towards his wife, in order to spite his family (47-51). The humor in the situation centered on how big a fool the father was to believe in Tartuffe’s virtue, and an even bigger fool not to see the truth when it is right in front of him. This is further stressed in the next ironic situation, where after Orgon (the father) finally realizes the extent of his friend’s deceit, he tries to tell his mother, who was also fooled by the hypocrite. For all his protestations she does not believe him until she sees it herself (Moliere, 68-71). The irony is that where he once ignored the loud protests of his family, likewise his mother does not believe him, even for his loud protests. The final ironic twist, however, turns out for the good as the hypocrite Tartuffe, having been unmasked and set his plans for revenge, intrigues on the King and plans to have them all arrested, only to have him as the object of arrest, as the King was â€Å"wise† to his intrigues (77-80). The play has these alternating reversal of fortunes, and its ironic humor attacks two things: that blind faith without reason in open Virtue is folly, and that any malice masked in virtue never remains unpunished. A more tragic tale of irony is that of the Princess of Cleves. Introduced to a court as Madam Chartres, she wins the affection of the Prince of Cleves, who endeavor to marry her despite the protests of his father; she falls, however for someone else, the Duke Nemours (Lafayette, 15-17). The story then centers around him trying to find the opportunity to confess his love, and she, now married, desperately tries to stave off his affections while suppressing hers. We do not see the irony unfold until the very end: the Princess anguishes over her affection for the Duke throughout her marriage, but following the death of her husband suddenly she has a change of heart and is convinced that her husband was a far better man than the Duke (101-107). It is only after the husband dies and they finally have an opportunity to be together does she decide not to be with the Duke. The irony here attacks the notion that love borne from adulterous intention will eventually bear fruit. It might have been attack towards the growing acceptance of the public towards the notion of infidelity, (almost every character is involved in an affair with someone else) and their giving it idealistic fervor. The Princess of Cleves, despite the best of her intentions, continued to bear her love to someone else, and pined for that other person, and consequently, in her husband’s death she realized her folly too late, and chose to suffer the rest of her life in that guilt. Nathan the Wise has such a complicated string of ironies, that one who skims through even the slightest of details would not appreciate the ironies that eventually occur. Originally, the story of the Jewish merchant Nathan centered around the Muslim conqueror Saladin trying to fool him out of his money—and this tale has found itself in the pages of Boccaccio’s Decameron. Nathan answers so skillfully that ironically it was Saladin who was put to shame by his own question and humbled before the Jew (Lessing, 90-97). This story is, however, expanded by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and this encounter between the Egyptian conqueror and the Jew becomes the main theme. The tale then revolves around a Templar, who was pardoned by Saladin for the reason that he resembled the conqueror’s brother (Lessing, 36); the consequences of his rescue of a Jewish maiden (and subsequent encounter of the grateful surrogate father Nathan), and the intrigues of the Patriarch who would have him either kill Saladin or turn over Nathan, who he found had raised a Christian child to the Jewish faith (the same Jewess he rescued) (37-40). The irony, from an impartial point of view, might have been to some degree absurd. The Templar, in almost the fashion of Oedipus, tries desperately to seek the truth, and unmask what he sees in his prejudice as malice committed by the Jew Nathan (Lessing, 109-127). And, also in the fashion of Oedipus, not only does he discover that the girl he was trying to save (and hope to marry) was his sister, but Saladin who he would have killed had he agreed to the Patriarch, was his uncle after all (165-172). The irony also hits Saladin, as his pardoning the Templar Conrad because he looked like his brother, redounds to the truth that Conrad was his brother’s son. While the ironic twist might seem ridiculous to the trained eye, in the sense it fits to the lesson first imparted by Nathan to Saladin: that all men are equal before God, regardless of Faith. This is a happier chide at the Medieval sensibility of hostility between Faiths. Irony is humorous, because we find that the contradiction it creates makes sense. We might have felt our sensibilities offended when we saw that the Princess of Cleves did not end up with the Duke Nemours, but the cosmic twist was to show to us that infidelity was wrong. We would have preferred that the Templar should have instead ended up marrying the Jewess, but the irony was there to impart the lesson that prejudice has, after all, no place in the world. We sometimes do not find ironic circumstances that funny, as if we lived the life of Duke Nemours or became as aghast as the Templar Conrad. But eventually, we will learn that the contradiction was to impart to us that our plans may go completely the other way, because they may not have been right in the first place. And, the wiser we become to this truth, the more we will realize that irony, though it might strike sad for us, has a reason. The better we accept this, the more we will be prepared to just take a step back, take a view of the bigger picture, and laugh. WORKS CITED Lafayette, Madame de. The Princess of Cleves. New York: Project Gutenberg. 27 Sept. 2008 . Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan the Wise. New York: Page, Curtis. Project Gutenberg. 01 Mar. 2003. . Moliere, Jean Baptiste. Tartuffe. New York: Project Gutenberg. 26 Oct. 2008. .