Abstract This paper analyzes and examines Max Weber?s, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism". The paper goes on to discuss Weber's views concerning bureaucracy and finally examines how capitalism, charisma, and Protestantism affect bureaucracy.
From the paper:
?Although Weber believed that bureaucracy has several advantages, the main one being efficiency in attaining goals, Weber also noted the dysfunctions of bureaucracy in terms of the impact that it had on individuals. For example, while impersonality is important to attaining and maintaining the efficiency of an organization, it is dehumanizing because it views individuals as just another cog in the machine.?
Abstract CVS is a retail corporation that sells prescription drugs and general merchandise products. This paper presents an overview of the company, including its corporate structure and history. The paper then discusses CVS's strategic goals and objectives, including its impressive community involvement plan. Finally, the paper concludes with overall highlights of the company's operations before providing financial statements for both CVS and its prime competitor, Walgreen's.
From the Paper "CVS has also improved its company strength from all areas of the business. Most notable is the operating income increased from $700 million in 2001 to $1.2 billion in 2002, return on equity increased from nine percent in 2001 to 13 percent in 2002, and return on assets increased from five percent in 2001 to almost eight percent in 2002. This reflects the strong growth from the company, improving their inventory controls, expanding into new markets, opening new stores in existing market areas and marketing to the baby boomers, which is the largest user group in the U.S."
Abstract This paper examines how the era of improving business management through the acquisition of new equipment or designing a new manufacturing process seems to be drawing to a close and how the global economy, which is increasingly based on knowledge and knowledge management (KM), is becoming more dependant on the way in which people can work together, rather than the way in which cogs in a machine interact. It explores how the digital, global economy has allowed businesses to diversify their approach to managing people and how the individual in the company has slowly become recognized as possessing just as much value, if not more, than the machinery or computer equipment with which he works.
From the Paper "According to Tony Morden, issues of effective management are being tied to international culture. Both elements, which can be unique expressions of an individual organization or culture, are understood to be affectively related to the commitment of the individual to their organization. Morden quotes research by Hofstede, Hampden-Turne and Trompenaars who are "contributors to the rapidly developing body of experience and knowledge about international culture and management" their work supports an understanding in which ?cultural interpretation and adaptation are a prerequisite to the comparative understanding of national and international management practice."
Abstract This paper examines the right to freedom of speech and discusses the threats to its protection throughout the history. The paper maintains that regardless of the source of threat -- whether academic, police or corporate -- the freedom of speech is essential to an open society and must be protected, regardless of public opinion. The paper cites several recent examples of such controversial speech, including by Professor Ward Churchill, who compared the victims of 9/11 to cogs in Hitler's war machine.
From the Paper "The guarantee of free speech is both a sign of an open society and a protection that distinguishes the United States from other, less open societies that offer their citizens no such protections. Freedoms guaranteed United States citizens based on the First Amendment include freedoms of "speech; press; religion, assembly and petition" ("About the First Amendment"). Further, "Without the First Amendment, religious minorities could be persecuted, the government might well establish a national religion, protesters could be silenced, the press could not criticize government, and citizens could not mobilize for social change" ("About the First Amendment"). Freedom of speech also protects movies, videos, song lyrics, advertisements, and other communications that may not be to everyone's taste. The alternative to freedom of speech is government censorship. As Wikipedia points out, however ("Freedom of Speech"): "The philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville observed that people may be hesitant to speak freely not because of fear of government retribution but because of social pressures." That is, when an individual states an opinion that is not mainstream, or is considered unpopular, he or she might be subjected to peer pressure to change or retract the opinion; community rejection; disdain or ostracism, or even threatening or violent reactions from others. As Tocqueville correctly predicted, the fear of such reaction to the exercise of free speech, on the part of many individuals, even with the free speech protections granted by the U.S. Constitution, often functions as a sort of self censorship."
Tags: first, amendment, constitution, speech, protection, fire, in, a, crowded, theater, civil, liberties
Abstract Karl Marx defined alienation as the process of the working man becoming only a cog in the machinery of production. This paper examines claims that this concept of alienation was actually put forth by Friedrich Engels first and only later expounded upon by Marx. It traces the progression from papers by Engels to the "Communist Manifesto" and shows that while Marx is believed to be the main author, actually Engels supplied much more of the economic theory.
From the Paper "In the year 1848, Western society was 'enlightened' through the introduction of a new ideology put forward by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, proponents of the political treatise "Communist Manifesto." In it, the authors proposed and expounded on the issue of socialism as the new revolutionary movement that served as the antithesis of the principles of capitalism and eventually, modernism. The socialism-capitalism dichotomy was discussed based on the antagonistic relationships that emerged out of the unequal opportunities given to people at each point or stage of the socio-economic history of humanity. Thus, Marx and Engels posit that throughout history and until capitalism, human society has been in the "history of class struggles," wherein there existed inequalities among "[f]reeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman...oppressor and oppressed, stood in constant opposition to one another, carried on an uninterrupted now hidden, now open fight...""
Abstract Arguably, the development and evolution of the team paradigm in the modern workforce is the greatest management development in the last fifty years. The paper shows that the team paradigm has literally meant that businesses no longer treat individual workers as cogs in a larger machine or even relegate workers to secondary status behind expensive machinery and new technology. Instead, the team paradigm has proven to be most effective at not only motivating the human side of any business, but also in helping businesses in all fields maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly complex economic climate.
Abstract The writer proposes that all good mentoring results in improved relationships between mentor and trainee. The paper examines how, in a bureaucracy as large as the Department of Defense, mentoring may be particularly important so that valued employees do not feel like only a small cog in a large machine. The paper explores how, when employees know that the work they do is important and valued by those around them and above them, job satisfaction is likely to increase. The paper concludes that mentoring several people at once can be one way to diminish the depersonalizing aspects of working within a large bureaucracy and result in increased efficiency.
From the Paper "One difficulty with this approach is that it may be startling to employees who have experienced mentoring elsewhere and have a different perception of what mentoring should be (Perrewe & Young, 2004). However, establishing this group approach could be part of the mentoring and training process itself. While even in government it is important to have ties outside one's department, in complex contract work, a manager must rely on his or her employees to be able to work together as a team within that department."
Abstract In this article, the writer analyzes Charles Dickens' novel 'Hard Times' and notes that it is constructed around the opposition between fact and fancy. The writer points out that Dickens criticizes the nineteenth century materialist and utilitarian philosophy, which had turned man into a simple cog in the large machine of the society. The writer maintains that the book is, at the same time, a social and a philosophical critique. The writer relates that Dickens denounces the political economy and the law system of the age, which were only concerned with raw facts and statistics, not minding the poverty and the hardships of the working class individual. The writer concludes that Dickens completely demolishes the materialist and reductionist philosophy of his age, showing the absurdity of cultivating nothing but the totally inhuman ideas connected with fact and palpable reality.
From the Paper "The emphasis on the name is significant, as the character sees himself as a sort of epitome for the mechanic philosophy. He is constructed as being directly related to the philosophy he represents. Gradgrind shapes himself thus as to fit perfectly in the general mechanism of the world. Personality, no less than life itself, is based entirely on facts. Everything, including a human being, has a precise definition according to Gradgrind, who seems to imply that "Thomas Gradgrind" is only another name for definitions, calculations and demonstrations."
"There are many metaphors in the novel that support Dickens' characterization of Gradgrind."
Abstract The paper looks at the previous classical management style where there was no room for human creativity, motivation, personal input or teamwork. The paper contrasts this to today when management can no longer see human beings as objects or cogs in a wheel that can be mechanized like machines. The paper discusses present-day management styles and concepts and their stress on teamwork, crossfunctionalism, empowerment and motivated performance.
From the Paper "Over America's history, views on what business management should entail have changed continuously along with the advancement of technology. In this paper, management is defined as those individuals who ensure that the strategy of the company is carried out. When industry first began in the 1890s during the Industrial Revolution, it was not surprising that the management style, known as "classical," was based on developing systems for inventory control, scheduling, production and human resources, since the managers at that time period were primarily engineers whose main goal was to keep order in the workplace for production purposes."
Abstract In this article, the writer discusses that, in the work 'The Fall' by Albert Camus and 'Waiting for the Barbarians' by J.M. Coetzee, there is a consistent theme of guilt. The writer notes that guilt pervades the minds of the main characters in the novels as a pervasive conflict of character. The writer maintains that each main character attempts to reconcile his guilt with regard to his inner desires and outward actions and does so with ruthless self-loss. The writer discusses that each of these novels is contentious of the human condition and the main characters range between absolution for inaction and action in a corrupt human system and the allowance of guilt and punishment for the same. The writer concludes that neither character truly comes to or even really seeks true forgiveness, even from himself as both go about their daily lives realizing over and over how cruel the human system is and how each one of us knowingly and unknowingly becomes a cog in the wheel of human cruelty and destruction.
From the Paper "The Magistrate is seeking self resolution and absolution by choosing not to witness the bloodthirsty destruction of these prisoners at the hands of the imperialists. He has decided to save himself the grief and absolve himself from further blame by refusing to allow the spectacle to burn into his memory the nature of the system he supported and aided for so long. The magistrate is the purest example of the imperialist "going native" as has occurred in so many other real and imagined situations, where the innocent and ambitious person is blindly led by the convictions of their corrupted system to seek out fortune in a foreign land and then comes face to face with the more similar than different faces of the "natives" he is bound to expel, kill and control.
"His ideas pervade him as he endures the public humiliation of torture and thinks about the ways in which he and his administration will be remembered. The resolution is that there is not great memory for the man and he wonders why he objects to public spectacles, like that of his own public hanging, which he is currently enduring."
Tags: corruption, self, destruction, conflict, of, character
Abstract This paper paper focuses on Chapter 7 of Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" to illustrate how Schlosser attempts to dissuade people from consuming fast food. The paper describes Schlosser's political discussion of sub-standard workers, the way he heightens readers' sense of disgust and his method of utilizing effective imagery, that all contribute to the way he gets his message across. The paper concludes that Chapter 7 of "Fast Food Nation" sets an effective tone for the rest of the book, which completes some of the ideas, and turns imagery used into concrete examples.
From the Paper "American culture has been shaped by the media and retailing industries. In the hustle and bustle of today's world, convenience has taken priority over what had been a health conscious society just a few decades ago. This lethal combination has combined to assign this country a label of becoming one of the most overweight, sedentary nations known to date. While television has seemingly been a cause for Americans to become the best versed on shows such as "Dancing with the Stars" and "Extreme Makeover," the result of being bombarded with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials have rounded out the all-American excuse. In the seventh chapter, "Cogs in the Great Machine" Schlosser utilizes all of the human senses in attempt to turn the world into vegetarians. Throughout Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser uses a sardonic tone to scold people for their daily fascinations with the hamburger, hot dog, or any other couch potato fantasy."
