The Main Elements Of Plato s Cave - 1152 Words

â€Å"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light† – Plato In this paper the main elements of Plato’s cave will be described along with a short explanation of Plato’s theory of forms, which is what the cave allegory is attempting to address. A brief description of the plot of the movie â€Å"The Island â€Å"will follow. This will be followed by an explanation of how the movie correlates to the elements of Plato’s cave. Finally, the conclusion will discuss what Plato was hoping to achieve with the cave allegory. Over the course of many years Plato, the great Greek philosopher, wrote in his dialogs about his beliefs about reality. His theory of forms was meant to answer metaphysical questions such as what exists; what is real? According to Ian Bruce â€Å"the theory basically postulates the existence of a level of reality or world inhabited by the ideal or archetypal forms of all things and concepts. Thus a form exists for objects like tables and rocks and for concepts such as beauty and justice.† Plato discusses how objects and concepts change over time (what our senses perceive), and also how all objects and concepts have a â€Å"form† or basic essence which transcends time. Reality for Plato is the form of an object or concept. The cave allegory attempts to explain Plato’s theory of forms. In Plato’s cave prisoners are seated and shackled so they cannot move their heads from side –to- side. TheyShow MoreRelatedExplain the Criticisms of Platos Theory of the Forms.1584 Words   |  7 Pagesworld of forms. This world, to Plato, is more real than the one we live in. His theory is shown in his Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic, Book VII), where the prisoners only live in what they think is a real world, but really it is a shadow of reality. According to Plato, to the prisoners in the allegory and to humanity in the material world truth would be literally nothing but shadows and he believes us to be as ignorant as the people in the cave. Plato followed the belief that in orderRead MorePlato Vs Aristotle On Politics And Philosophy1899 Words   |  8 PagesPlato versus Aristotle Plato and Aristotle, two philosophers in the 4th century, hold polar views on politics and philosophy in general. This fact is very cleverly illustrated by Raphael s School of Athens (1510-11; Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican), where Plato is portrayed looking up to the higher forms; and Aristotle is pointing down because he supports the natural sciences. In a discussion of politics, the stand point of each philosopher becomes an essential factor. It is not coincidental thatRead MoreThales : The Milesian Philosophers Essay1960 Words   |  8 Pages This is where Anaximander chose an element that was unobserved, and undefined, and he called this element ‘apeiron’. Just like water, it would make be the main source of all things and it would be different from the four main elements; water, earth, air, and fire. Apeiron translates into inf inite or boundless. Lastly we have Anaximenes who did agreed with Thales that everything was in made of one traditional element, and he believed that this one element was air rather than water. He also createdRead More Matthew Arnold versus Aristotles Poetics Essay examples3833 Words   |  16 PagesThe value of imitation: a vision of Aristotles Poetics Aristotle wrote his Poetics thousands of years before Matthew Arnolds birth. His reasons for composing it were different from Arnolds reasons for using it as an element of his own poetic criticism. We can safely say that Arnold was inclined to use the Poetics as an inspiration for his own poetry, and as a cultural weapon in the fight for artistic and social renewal. Aristotle, by contrast, was more concerned with discovering general truthsRead MoreRealism and Film Form1980 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"civilization†, and eventually art, and what translates into human’s metaphysical desire to perpetuate existance beyond death. The argument of immortality as a determination for ancient and modern art as well as civilastion is developed by Stephen Cave in his book â€Å"Seeking immortality† through four narrative paths, for which he establishes the following starting point: All living things seek to perpetuate themselves into the future, but humans seek to perpetuate themselves forever. This seeking—thisRead MoreThe Evolution Of Music Throughout Ancient Egypt And Mesopotamia2480 Words   |  10 Pageshistory to complex instruments and systems later in time. Any way it was produced, the role music played was one of the most important in ancient societies. The earliest sign of music was discovered in architectural sites of Mesopotamia. Some of the main evidence that music was an important part of Ancient Mesopotamian society was writing about it found on ancient stone tablets. So far, ten tablets with writings concerning musical scales have been found in sites around Ur and other ancient cities suchRead MoreLiterature Review Internet4548 Words   |  19 Pagespublic schools. People had high expectations for educational use that were not attained. This low level of development continued though the 1960s, 1970s (the PLATO system) and the 1980s. Also in the 1980’s, Papert developed the Logo programming language and children learned to develop simple programming skills (LeFrancois, 2006). By the mid 1980’s, computer use in the schools had expanded to 40% of United States elementary schools and almost twice that in the high schools. By the mid 1990s, computersRead MoreOrigin of International Law5357 Words   |  22 Pagesin the past it has been living in caves, as the time passed man gradually became civilized and started living in communities. In past there were no laws and rules to be followed by the human being. In the long march of mankind from the cave to the computer a central role has always been played by the idea of law- the idea that order is necessary and chaos inimical to a just and stable existence. Every society has a framework of principles to develop. Law is element which binds the members of communityRead MoreThe Implication of Paulo Freires Banking Concept to the 8.4.4 System of Education in Kenya9634 Words   |  39 Pageseffectively there must be a cadre of competent teachers who have the zeal to see the learners fully grasp the contents presented and a curriculum which is convenient to the learners. Education is imparted to learners so as to bring them out of the dark cave of ignorance to the bright side of liberation. It is from this reason that the learner is taken through education so as to enhance his own development. Someone is considered to be educated if he has spent a number of years in school and has, as a resultRead MoreColombian Folklore5889 Words   |  24 Pagestraditional  folk tales  and stories about  legendary creatures  which are transmitted orally and kept for next  generations  to come. Some of them are common with other  Latin American  countries. The Colombian folklore has strong influe nces from  Spanish culture, with elements of  African  and  native American cultures. ------------------------------------------------- [edit]Relevancy This folkloric entities are present in the  carnivals and festivals  countrywide. The â€Å"Desfiles de Mitos y Leyendas† (myths  and  legends  parades)

Fahrenheit 451 Hero Journey - 1742 Words

Shafee Syed-Quadri Ms. Rooney English 10 H/ P6 29 September 2017 The Journey of a Fireman It was a pleasure to burn† (Bradbury 1). This quote represents the protagonist, Montag’s initial perspective of fire. Montag was content with his life and his job in this scene. However, all of this was to change. In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian fiction Fahrenheit 451, Montag lives in a society where reading books is illegal. Montag’s job as a fireman is to burn books and anyone who owns them. After an interesting encounter with Clarisse, Montag realizes that he has been fooled all his life. He realizes that books hold an infinite amount of knowledge. This novel follows Montag’s journey and crusade to learn the wonders books hold. From the call to†¦show more content†¦As deliberations whirl through his mind, Montag finally feels a sickness and discomfort. â€Å"How rarely did other people’s faces take of you and throw back to you your own expression, your innermost trembling thought?† (8). This illustrates that Clarisse brought a rumination out of Montag. Montag no longer is at ease with his line of work. This event represents the call to adventure for Montag as Clarisse made him ponder for the first time in a long time. The scene following portrays the crossing of the threshold into a new world for Montag. Montag, now confused and disconcerted, enters his new world. The crossing here is symbolized by the entrance through a doorway. â€Å"He opened the bedroom door† (9). The threshold scene in many books and movies is exemplified by the physical crossing of some sort. It may be portrayed by the action of entering a portal, boarding a plane, or getting on a boat to another land. Here, the physical object was a doorway. The paragraph following exhibits a distinction in descriptive terms compared to the scene with Clarisse. In his encounter with the 17-year-old girl, the words â€Å"slender†¦ milk-white†¦ gentle†¦ and whispered† (3) were employed. In the sce ne when Montag enters his bedroom, the phrases â€Å"cold, marbled room†¦ complete darkness, not a hint of the silver world outside†¦ the chamber a tomb-world where no sound could penetrate† (9) were used. In terms of illustrative usage,Show MoreRelated`` Fahrenheit 451 And The Sniper ``1643 Words   |  7 Pagesthe definition of a hero can be very elusive. Many kids believe that heroes have to be athletic and robust, but as they grow up, they realize a hero s actions and thoughts can be more influential than their physical abilities. It can be difficult to determine what elements make up a hero. However, by examining heroes in different stories, the elements of what makes a hero can become clearer. Classic heroes in The Odyssey can be examined, along with the heroes in Fahrenheit 451 and The Sniper. ByRead MoreEssay Fahrenheit 451707 Words   |  3 Pagesto create the Heroes journey, and make it take on a much greater meaning than the reader or Hero had previousl y believed. For example, the fireman Guy Montag originally he had wanted to be able to understand his own life, and the paradoxes in it, with the help of the books he was secretly saving from the other firemen. Montag can be considered the Hero in Fahrenheit 451, although most of his steps toward his goals are uncoordinated and clumsy. In the time that Fahrenheit 451, had take place, booksRead MoreFire And Water : Facing Your Fears And Crossing Your Boundaries1427 Words   |  6 Pagesstrength confidence and courage by every experience in which you stop and really take the time to stop and look fear in the face† (Eleanor Roosevelt) Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, and The Truman Show both present the trials but the overall triumphs of Truman and Montag and their journeys to victory. While exploring and pondering upon the text, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, certain themes appear that connect to The Truman Show which together suggest that knowing your fears and boundaries is certainlyRead MoreFahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury1234 Words   |  5 Pages451 fahrenheit After reading the book â€Å"451 Fahrenheit† I have come to the conclusion that in the story, Bradbury ties personal freedom to the right of an individual having the liberty of expression when he utilizes the issue of censorship in Fahrenheit 451. It plays an enormous role and is noted to be the most important theme. In the futuristic world of Fahrenheit 451, firemen start fires rather than extinguishing them. People of this society do not think independently nor do they have importantRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 4511633 Words   |  7 PagesBradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: Dissecting the Hero’s Journey to Dystopic World Each person has a perception of the world. People are capable of judging the place they live in, human beings often find it either satisfactory or not. Creative writers have displayed similar, albeit different worlds in their works. They are similar in the way they portray societies with varied amounts of good and evil which may be reflective of how we view our own. On the other hand, they can also be different, as creativeRead MoreA Summary Of Joseph Campbell And The Monomyth1562 Words   |  7 Pagesreferred to as the monomyth. Joseph takes the North American country through the understanding of how the Hero’s journey and the monomyth relate to one another. Campbells theory of a hero’s journey is that the human psyche strives to make a literal or figurative journey. That journey primarily involves traveling to dangerous place, to bring back an associate object that may save the hero and/or society. Mythologist suggests that every culture has a different belief system and a different way to thinkRead MoreRay Bradbury s Fahrenheit 4512532 Words   |  11 PagesRay Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a magnificent masterpiece written to aid in visualizing what a distant future dystopian society would look like; one in which everyone lives in the fast lane, technology is at its crowning, void of human relations and instant satisfactions, as well as gratifications, are constantly being pursued. The novel was written during the era where communism and the holocaust began to sprout. Mr. Bradbury, being a patriot of his country, feared that society was leaning towardRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 Essay2089 Words à ‚  |  9 PagesThe analysis of Ray Bradbury s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, shows that literature as books, education and alike is abused and criminalized in the hero’s reality, who is Guy Montag. The novel’s setting is when new things seem to have totally replaced literature, fire fighters set flames instead of putting them out, the ownership of books is deserving of the law and to restrict the standard is to court demise. The oppression of literature through innovation and technology can be analyzed throughRead MoreFire Does More Than Burn1943 Words   |  8 PagesThan Burn Raymond Douglas Ray Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction author. Bradbury was a favorited 20th- and 21st-century American genre writer, most famously known for his novel Fahrenheit 451. Set in the 24th century, Fahrenheit 451 tells the story of Guy Montag. At first Montag loves his job as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag soon begins to question the value of his profession and. Throughout theRead MoreFahrenheit 451 : A Trek3079 Words   |  13 PagesEmily Shea Professor Steinbrink AWR 201-P 09 Apr 2015 Fahrenheit 451: A Journey from Censorship to Literacy and Enlightenment Ray Bradbury’s seminal science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451 follows a future dystopia in which a government establishment has set up new rules for thinking and behaving, involving the abolition of books altogether. The world of Fahrenheit 451 features a government that has made reading and books illegal, with police (now known as â€Å"firemen†) tasked with tracking down books

Employee Relationship and Cultural Intelligence †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Employee Relationship and Cultural Intelligence. Answer: Introduction: An in-depth reading of the JKL industries would show that the poor diversity and networking condition. The case study reveals that the main business of the company consists of selling medium sized trucks. forklifts and ancillary parts. The company is shifting into overseas operations and looking forward to close its rental to strengthen the former business. This new business requirements of JKL would require the company to undergo a rapid change which has made it important for management to gain employee support. The employees suffer from lack of cooperation from the leaders and as a result did not trust them. The managers were not sensitive towards the cultural sentiments of the subordinates. This resulted in hostility among the managers and the subordinates and the latter used avoidance method to avoid conflict or confrontation with the former (Cascio 2018). The networking within the company was very weak due to this lack of understanding and trust. This resulted in weak communicat ion and business network with the external stakeholders which prevented the company of taking advantage of the business opportunities arising in the market. JKL is an Australian trucking company based in Sydney selling small and medium sized trucks and their spare parts. The mission of the company was to enhance the value of the customers and investors by the performing highly in the trucking market. The vision of JKL is to develop the potential of its human resources to ensure high organisation position in the market. The value of the company are high performance, value maximisation of stakeholder groups like invertors, employees and customers. The company also sought to bring about diversity management and sustainability in its business operations (Rice 2015). JKL industries worked in three business areas namely, sale of small and medium sized trucks, offering trucks on rent and providing aftersales services to its customers like spare parts. The company had a tall organisational structure under the leadership of the managing director who supervised the operations manager and finance and administration manager. The HR Manager and the senior business partner and the branch managers reported to the operations manager. The finance and accounts manager oversaw the operations of the accounts manager who in turn supervised the accountants. The branch managers oversaw the operations of the three lines of business namely sales, services and rentals under the leadership of their respective managers. The sales managers, the service managers and the rental managers had individual reporting departments (Trax, Brunow and Suedekum 2015). The financial requirements of JKL industries is $ 13 million. The policies of the trucking company showed that it had well laid organisational policies like risk management policies and diversity management policies. However, in contrary to following these policies, the managers were not sensitive towards the sentiments of the employees. The internal policies of the company showed lack of communication between mangers and their subordinates. The reason for these lacks of network, communication and prevalence of conflicts among managers and employees could be attributed to the tall structure of the organisational which prevented smooth flow of information within the company (Barak 2016). The given situation mentions that JKL Industries have both Christian and non-Christian employees. The situation presents that the non-Christian are suffering from sense of lack of belongingness due to lack of accommodation for them on the eve of Christmas. The anti-discrimination policies and equal opportunity policies of the company seek to enforce equal opportunities for all employees. The policy open with the information that the company values diversity among employees and look forward to create an organisational sans discrimination. The second piece of policies which upholds diversity management in the company is that all the employees can apply for training irrespective of their cultural backgrounds, age or any other discriminating grounds (Kraidy 2017). The policies JKL follows regarding anti-discrimination with the organisations follows the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The act enforces equal opportunities to all the people living in Australia in the areas of profession, business and acquiring properties. The act overrules any state law that promotes discrimination in any form. Policies and processes prevailing in the organisations can contribute towards building of cultural diversity, ethical relationship among employees and strong inter-employee relationships. The anti-discrimination policies encourage managers to treat their subordinates equally and promote cultural diversity within the organisation. For example, the organisations can make facilities for non-Christian employees during Christmas. This would promote sense of importance among the non-Christian employees as well and enhance their relatedness to the organisations. This would create stronger bonds among the both the Christian and non-Christian employees which would ultimately lead to high organisational performances (Cahn and Abigail 2014). A change that be made within the policies, processes or communication to promote cultural diversity within JKL Industries is celebration of non-Christian festivals among the employees. This step would enable the non-Christian employees to relate to the organisation. The teams like the apex managers and the middle levels managers should be approached for approval regarding inclusion of non-Christian festivals within the organisation. The higher level managers can be communicated about the suggestion by holding meetings and sending them formal email (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The potential problem which can be anticipated from the senior managers is lack of approval to celebrate non-Christian festivals in the organisation. The case study mentions clearly that the senior managers lacked understanding about the cultural sentiments of the subordinates. One can infer in the light of this fact that the senior managers are most likely to oppose celebrating non-Christian festivals. The resistance of the team of senior managers regarding celebration of non-Christian festivals can be confronted by arranging a cultural training sessions for them. This strategy on one hand would promote cultural awareness among the managers and equality of treatment of employee irrespective of background within the organisation. The communication style to be adopted would be formal. The formal style of communication proved successful when the company adopted the decision to pull out of the truck rental market to concentrate on the truck sales market (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014). Building of strong communication network with external stakeholders like customers and internal stakeholders like employees would enable positive personal and professional relationship between them. For example, if a strong communication network is developed within the organisation, it would develop higher levels of understanding between managers and their subordinates. Moreover, this approach communication would enforce stronger relationship among the departments which would translate into higher customer services by the company. This high level of customer services would generate high revenue that would ultimately enable the company to pay high returns on investments to investors. The company would be able to pay higher employees, thus ensuring their professional development. Moreover, it would enforce higher coordination and understanding among the employees, thus enforcing healthy personal relationship among them (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016). However, the suggested networkin g channel should be formal like meetings and emails on official ids of employees which would enforce transparency as well. Managers join networks to deal with urgent situation like prevalence of lack of communication and conflict among the employees and their reporting managers. The networks are formal and the parties to the conflicts are trained to enhance their internal understanding. Trainings, meetings and mentoring development stronger relationship between managers and their subordinates in these situations. The networking built through training and mentoring pave ways better reducing conflict and enhance stronger coordination among employees and their managers, thus boosting overall organisational productivity (Karlsen 2015). Networking activity Person Schedule Description/Rationale of networking activity Accompanying seniors on client visits Sam and Alex 1 month This would enable developing understanding how to approach clients, deal with them, know their needs, how to adapt the companys products to their needs and ultimately convert them into customers Product training Sam 3 weeks Development of sound knowledge on the products Going on sales calls under senior supervision Sam and Alex 1 month Development of their own skills in customer relationship building and acquisition. Visiting existing clients for service and new business generation Alex 2 months Develop understanding of repeat business, gaining more in depth knowledge of client requirements, gaining references from clients etc. The role play of the HR business partners would be improving the organisational culture within JKL Industry. The case study mentions that the company is pulling out of the rental market to strengthen its position in the truck sales market. The business opportunity necessitates the company to acquire and retain talent to align them with the business strategies. The employees on the contrary suffer from insecurity which results in high employee turnover. The role of the HR manager in this case would be training the employees according to the new business requirements instead of making them feel insecure and ultimately leading to their resignation (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016). The strategic and operational plans of JKL Industries show that the goals of the company is to benefit its stakeholders like customers and investors. The objective of JKL Industries is to developing and enhance the potential of its employees to enhance the satisfaction of customers and ROI of investors. The main stakeholders of the company can be divided into two groups, external and internal stakeholders. The internal stakeholders consists of employees, middle level managers and apex management. The case study mentions the external stakeholders of the JKL Industries are the investors, customers, suppliers and the government. The customers of JKL can be divided into three groups based on its three business lines. The customers of the sales division are the companies using medium and small sized trucks like the logistics companies. The rental customers are once again commercial organisations which hire trucks to serve their business needs (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014). The servicing customers of JKL are the business organisations which buy spare parts and obtain servicing from them. This group also includes business organisations using trucks of other companies as well (Goetsch and Davis 2014). The apex management and the HR manager of the JKL Industry should plan a peer guidance session for the employees to deal with their mounting insecurity. The following is the plan for role play for peer management guidance session: Activity 1: The managers and the subordinates should introduce themselves to each other. Activity 2: They should introduce each other to their cultures, traditions and perceptions. Activity 3: The HR department should hold training session about culture and other aspects. The training sessions should include brief about the major cultures and religions in the world. Action/Activity Time frame Person/s responsible Description of the strategy/tactic/rationale for action plan: Resources, if required Managers meeting with employees of their own department 1 day Departmental heads The managers would get to know about the attributes of their team members like their experiences, knowledge, cultural backgrounds and so on. Training rooms Managers meet each other 2 days Apex management Development of interdepartmental coordination. Meeting rooms Inter-departmental employee meetings 3 days Departmental heads Enhanced peer relationship Meeting rooms The HR manager should interact with each employee to know about the perceptions, capabilities and cultural background. He must advocate mutual respect among employees irrespective of designations and departments. He must plan social event between employees which would allow the employees of different culture interact and develop better cultural understanding among themselves. These steps would help in reducing manager and employee conflicts and create a calmer environment among employees in the organisation. The managers should be encouraged to develop a more receptive and cooperative attitude towards employees (Kraidy 2017). The HR manager at JKL Industry should adjust his personal style of communication to meet the emotional and technical needs of the employees. He should be cooperative and understanding to the needs of the employees. As far the technical aspects of communication are concerned, the HR manager at JKL should adjust his communication style to the needs of the individual employees. For example, for employees who are not very tech-friendly, the HR manager should opt for face-to-face meetings to deal with their insecurities (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016). The HR manager should ensure that the JKL follows the relevant legislations like Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Commonwealth). The next procedure which he can adopt to reduce and manage organisational conflict is that he should train the employees and enhance their skills. This would enhance their competencies that would enable them to perform highly, thus helping their managers to achieve high level department performances. The third procedure which the HR managers should adopt to minimise employee conflict is enhanced interaction and teamwork among employees (legislation.gov.au 2018). The HR manager should adopt the strategy of holding meetings with the managers and the employees to recognise the root causes of the conflicts between them. Then they must collaborate with each other to resolve or at least minimise the conflicts. The HR manager should collaborate with all the managers and their subordinates to develop an action plan to resolve issues like lack of cultural intelligence among the different teams as mentioned above. They should form a list of activities along with the time within they have to be achieved along with the person responsible and the description of tasks as shown in the appendix shown above (Hon, Bloom and Crant 2014). The role play of the HR manager at JKL should continue for a week. The place of the role play would be the training or any external venue arranged to enforce more social interaction between employees across departments (Zahariadis and Exadaktylos 2016). References: Barak, M.E.M., 2016.Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage Publications. Cahn, D.D. and Abigail, R.A., 2014.Managing conflict through communication. Pearson. Cascio, W., 2018.Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education. Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014.Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.. Hon, A.H., Bloom, M. and Crant, J.M., 2014. Overcoming resistance to change and enhancing creative performance.Journal of Management,40(3), pp.919-941. Karlsen, R., 2015. Followers are opinion leaders: The role of people in the flow of political communication on and beyond social networking sites.European Journal of Communication,30(3), pp.301-318. Kraidy, M., 2017.Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Temple University Press. Legislation.gov.au. 2018.Racial Discrimination Act 1975. [online] Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2014C00014 [Accessed 3 Apr. 2018]. Rice, M.F., 2015.Diversity and public administration. ME Sharpe. Trax, M., Brunow, S. and Suedekum, J., 2015. Cultural diversity and plant-level productivity.Regional Science and Urban Economics,53, pp.85-96. Zahariadis, N. and Exadaktylos, T., 2016. Policies that succeed and programs that fail: Ambiguity, conflict, and crisis in Greek higher education.Policy Studies Journal,44(1), pp.59-82.

What Are the Characteristics of a Good Manager Essay Example

What Are the Characteristics of a Good Manager? Essay What are the characteristics of a good manager? By Carolien Toor Introduction Over the years I have worked in many various businesses; large as well as small, from stressful to peaceful environments and during good times as well as bad times. What I learned, through my experience from the various firms I worked for was the role the manager had in the workplace and how it affected me as an employee. When set this task I started to reflect how my past managers acted and how they got me motivated. Some managers succeeded and stayed focused even under difficult circumstances, while others made the workplace a difficult and confusing environment to work in. Why did some manager succeed far better than others when it came to motivation, organising and being a good manager even under bad times? What characteristics had the successful managers, which the others ones lacked? This is what I found when determining what are the characteristics of a good manager. Characteristics develops from the company’s context What makes an effective and good manager? According to Cheryl L. Harris, â€Å"understanding the context of the organization is extremely vital to determining the characteristics of a successful manager†1 (pg 1) and that should correspond to what kind of characteristics a manager ought to have to organize and develop goals and strategies for the company. I agree that Harris have a point that before choosing a manager we must consider the appearance of the company and aspects of management styles. We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Characteristics of a Good Manager? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Characteristics of a Good Manager? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Characteristics of a Good Manager? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Imagine if a manager, taking over Steve Jobs role as CEO of Apple, would introduce strict management style, new black suit dress code to the company. He’s characteristics would possible not fit to Apple’s ‘laid back’ culture. Also mentioned by Buckingham and Coffman2 â€Å"an employee’s perception of the physical environment is colored by his relationship with his manager and it is the manager’s task to build the company culture around the blueprint† (pg 4). This conclusion was drawn when investigating, in a large survey, mployee’s satisfaction, productivity and profitability at work in reflection to their manager. Managers, who communicated with the employees in crystal clear language and gave recognition for their work, were managers who had abilities to retain talented employees and built a strong workplace. Kathryn Vercillo3 lists self-motivation number one of the most vital characteristics, as a manager needs to understand t he basic goals of the business and develop own strategies to achieve these goals. I consider that managers who can recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and progress and develop these as well as ideas and strategies are managers who are very credible to develop colleagues and expand the business, since they see every opportunity to grow and learn. Crises- when strong characteristics appears and managers gets put to the test â€Å"In a crisis it’s far easier for the company to emerge intact if the CEO makes sure that all the employees know there is a crisis, what the management is doing about it, and what everyone must do to help. Louis V. Gerstner former CEO of IBM about clear and honest communication. (Who says elephants can’t dance, 2002, pg 285) There is a saying that when a man faces a crisis his true personality emerges. The impact of stress and uncertainty can make us act and think different than we normally do. Should not then the most significant features of what makes a good manager be most obvious and have the most importance on ho w to cope and handle a crisis? In the book Who says elephants can’t dance4 written by Louis V. Gerstner (2002), former CEO of the global IT service and product company IBM, tells us the story how he manage to save IBM from closure and make one of the most remarkable turn-around in business history. In 1993 IBM was a technical product company, selling computers but lost their relationship with customer, since the market kept changing and the company did not react. So when there is a crisis, it’s the manager’s job to inform the employees that there is a crisis and communicate how to end it with new strategies, new company model and culture. Gerstner described having that key characteristics such as flexible, excellent customers service and relations, outstanding leadership and communication skills and understanding in the company’s culture are vital qualities to move the company quick and fast in comparison to competitors, to motivate employees and create a strong relationship between customers and shareholders. Not only did Gerstner emphasized that the culture plays a necessary part to analyze how things get done in the company, but having the ability to see what was wrong with the culture and manage to adapt a new management style and culture in the company since 1970. As a successful manager, Gerstner managed turn IBM around (from having losses over $8. 1 billion 1993, till a profit of $ 7. 7 billion in 2003) thanks for outstanding leadership skills and being passionate about winning and push the colleagues not only to win but encouraging change. And I can only agree with Gerstner: â€Å"we love to work for winners and be a part of winning† (pg 238). Conclusion Looking back at the managers I have come across in my past jobs, the characteristics that good managers had that was highly appreciated by colleagues was having a manager who could guide, motivate, communicate, competitive, self-motivated and understanding the organisational context. Louis V Gerstner had some of the world’s most intelligent staff, knowledgably in all areas of their subject but without knowing the direction and vision of the company; the employees had no sense of motivation or vision on how to carry out their jobs. I believe one of the key ability of a good manager is being a team player and when a company faces hard times in the business one must work as a team, speaking the same language and being visible to your employees. As a conclusion of what characteristics makes a good manager I believe the workplace decides what characteristics a manager needs to have, and customers and the marketplace should decide what decisions a manger should take and how to develop its business. Bibliography Internet sources 1Cheryl L. Harris, Characteristics Of Effective Managers- Managerial Characteristics http://www. yramidodi. com/papers/managers. pdf 2010-10-23 2Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, First, Break All The Rules. What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently (Simon Schuster, May 1999) http://www. itcoaches. org/pdf/First%20Break%20All%20The%20Rules. pdf 2010-10-22 3Kathryn Vercillo, 10 Good Traits And Characteristics Of A Successful Manager http://www. hubpages. com/hub/10-Traits-of-a-Successful-Manager 2010-11-03 Books 4â€Å"Who says elephants can’t dance† Louis V Gerstner, HarperCollins Publisher, 2002