The Bible: An Eternal Canon

The Bible: An Eternal Canon When one thinks of the word Bible, it evokes images of revelation at Sinai, full of lightning and thunder, where an awestruck nation received the ten commandments. It conjures images of Isaiahs soaring prophecies, the anguish of Esther, and the courage of Daniel. However, despite the history within it, the Bible is not a history book. One who turns the pages and reads the ancient words will find promises of the rewards that await those who do good and the punishments that come in the wake of evil. The Bible is a roadmap to living life wisely; it gives advice and guidance, comforts the aggrieved and inspires the crestfallen. It illuminates events and helps place them in perspective. It is not an old storybook and not just a book of law but rather a compilation of the periods and people whose actions hold relevant lessons to be learned, even thousands of years later. When they compiled and finalized which books would be included in the biblical canon, it was understood by the ancient Jewish authorities that it was to be a guide for generations on how to live life. A central part of Judaism is the study of Torah in order to learn and adhere to the laws and way of life that is expected by God, as it says in the book of Joshua this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success[1], meaning that one who studied the Bible would glean from it what the correct thing to do in their own life was and therefore, would find success. As such, while there were likely other books written, and certainly there were many other prophets and prophecies experienced, before the redaction of the biblical canon began, not everything was worthy of eternal inclusion. A crite rion for inclusion was that each book chosen by the ancient Jewish authorities was a selection which provided teachings, be they ethical or moral, that would be applicable and relevant for all future generations, regardless of time and place. If the Jewish authorities did not feel that it would still be relevant to be studied by future generations, regardless of how interesting it may have been, they did not include it. The biblical canon is meant to shape people. It is logical to believe that the Creator of the Universe provided man with a code of conduct, as it says God insist[s] that His worshippers live up to strict standards of ethics and morality[2]. God, through His actions, displayed the moral and ethical path that one should strive to emulate. When the ancient Jewish authorities compiled the biblical canon, it was clear that they were including the books that presented examples of upright and holy behaviour that future generations should strive to emulate. The biblical canon also endeavours to bring people who read its ancient pages closer to God. The books included in the biblical canon were selected with the intention that these timeless words would have an impact on all future generations and would still create a framework for a relationship with God, even thousands of years later. Another of the criteria for being included in the bible was that the works be composed during the era of prophetic revelation; that is, no later than the time of the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the returned exiles from Babylonia[3]. Books and prophecies that emerged after this cut-off date were not included in the biblical canon. It is for this reason that the Books of the Maccabees were not considered for biblical inclusion, since they were written after the period of prophetic revelation had ended. An opinion as to why this was the cut-off date for inclusions is that it was believed that no addition would be on the holy level of the books originally included in the bible. This is because the era of divine prophecy had concluded. There was also a feeling of being post-biblical Jews, meaning they felt that no matter how good a proposed new book for the Bible was, it did not matter since the Bible was closed for new additions. However, there is evidence that as late as the second century CE there was an ongoing debate occurring regarding certain books that had originally been included in the biblical canon that some rabbis believed should be removed. This debate is displayed in a Mishnah where the books Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are discussed with the concept of ones hands becoming impure following contact with these holy books.[4] A difficult concept to understand, the essence of the idea is that if holy books make ones hands impure, they would be handled more delicately, and the very few hand-written copies in circulation at the time would be protected from too much use. An additional explanation for this idea, is that there was holy bread that people would place next to the holy books, thinking that since both were considered holy it was an appropriate thing to do. However, it was found that rodents nibbling on the food would also gnaw on the scrolls, thereby damaging them. Therefore, the rule was put in place to prevent damage to the books. The debate regarding this rule with respect to Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs in this Mishnah is whether the two books mentioned render ones hands impure, meaning are they considered holy like the other books that compile the biblical canon. The Mishnah brings several differing opinions on the subject, and it is clear that while both books remain in the Biblical Canon and are considered holy like all the others, there was, at some point, a debate about whether they should have continued to be included. It is evident that the ancient Jewish authorities recognized the centrality of the biblical canon to Judaism and took the task of compiling which books were appropriate for inclusion very seriously. Working with an understanding that the collection of books they were putting together would be studied intimately and thoroughly for thousands of years, they made the decision that only those books whose stories had applicable lessons for future generations would be included. Potential volumes that told of times where no lasting life instruction could be gleaned were dismissed. Materials that did not help to further ones relationship with God were also dismissed, since a key component of the biblical canon is to bring individuals closer to God as well as to teach individuals what God expects from them, ethically and morally, through Gods actions in the bible. A final criterion for inclusion in the biblical canon was the time in which an event happened. If the book was written after the er a of revelation had stopped, it was automatically disregarded since the biblical canon was closed to new additions that were not divinely inspired. The ancient Jewish authorities and their rabbinic heirs did not subscribe to the New Testament or the Koran because they did not agree with the belief that those books were of divine inspiration. Thus, their criteria for inclusion was intended as a protection against future man-made and human-inspired works that potentially negated or contradicted the precepts of the Torah. In sum, the ancient Jewish authorities were aware of the tremendous responsibility of compiling a canon of books that would be relevant for future generations and would hold strong the ideal of emulating Gods ways with fealty and steadfast allegiance. With that in mind, they established detailed criteria to follow to ensure that even thousands of years later, an individual could open these books to look in the creased pages of time to reveal eternal knowledge and wisdom of how one can transform their experience of life today. References Segal, Eliezer. Introducing Judaism. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2009 [1] Joshua 1:8 Bible RSV [2]Segal, Eliezer. Introducing Judaism. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2009, 147. [3] Ibid. 15 [4] Mishnah Yadayim 3:5

Level Of Immigration In London Sociology Essay

Level Of Immigration In London Sociology Essay Immigration is a topic that not every individual would like to discuss, but its an issue that we hear and see every day. There is a high increase in immigrants entering the United Kingdom from European Union countries. Immigration is a subject thats difficult to collect detailed data from as there is a lack of official statistics or evidence. As already mentioned, there are many immigrants from European countries but there are also immigrants entering London from many other countries (non-european). This depends on various reasons, as some may enter a specific country in order to escape from danger in their existing place or to claim asylum. So how do we know if immigration good or bad for the UK? I have conducted an ananymous interview and will use it to critically reflect on the journal article Immigration and Social Cohesion in the UK. The article mainly focuses on the negative aspects of migration in regards of population dimension. In this essay I will mention a few benefits tha t have been brought into London through immigration. I will make arguments in regards of economical and social benefits to the area. Ill be arguing against the journal article and will announce positive aspects and my own view of migration. I will use the answers given by my interviewee and also use some external secondary data. What is immigration? People who move from one nation to the other without being citizens to that specific national state are called immigrants. This is the movement of immigration (ImmigrationAssist, Undated). Immigration is an arguable topic in London as there are both, positive and negative aspects to it. I think that there are more positive aspects to immigration in London rather than negative aspects. London has become a popular place of immigration. People started migrating to London after the second world war (Migration Information, 2009). Immigrants are viewed as people who take over on jobs and houses and leave nothing for the existing citizens (Interview, Line). Criticisms of immigration to consider is that social solidarity gets weaker and secondly that immigrants do not adopt the culture and values shared in Britain, but rather express their own values within London. Immigration is viewed as a cultural eraser. Moreover the UK has a policy framework which prevents racial di scrimination and therefore allows minorities to be visible within the country. Immigration levels have been constant from 1990 onwards (The Guardian, 2001). However, today London is receiving an unimaginable rate of immigrants. Recently, there have been great arguments if there should be a limit introduced to immigration in London. Before attempting to give your own opinion it is important to consider both; negative and positive aspects of the topic. To announce it more accurately I think that it is difficult to maintain both sides at an equal level or to make a fixed statement for or against the matter. We, as the public have opinions about the limitation on immigration so do politicians. Let us consider some if these views. One of the main view is that the country is getting over populated. One of those over populated places in Britain is London. At present times there is a population number of 65 million people within London, however predicitions claim that within 70 years the population number will rise up to 108 million people (BBC, 2011). This means that immigrants will need houses to live in. The government is therefore building as many houses as possible. This means that the government is spending a lot of money on resources. Well end up having less countrysides but a higher level of pollution as houses increase. If there was a limit set to immigration, the government wouldnt need to spend money on building houses (Policy Network, 2013). Not everyone has the same view about immigration, every individual has a different thought about it. Some of us certainly believe that it is better if we closed our borders in order to decrease the level of immigration (Gov.uk, 2013). But what do we gain from limiting the number of immigrants entering the country? The common perspective of immigration is that immigrants enter the country in order to obtain social benefits, which my interviewee also thought of (Interview, Line). However, immigrants do not possess the knowledge of the native language that is being used in the country, as they come from a different culture with different religions and different languages. These differences can lead to serious problems, such as violence. Dishonest immigrants enter the country in order to sell drugs or to carry out illegal activities. This is not a subject to be concerned about in London as much as it is in the United States. On the other side, people view immigration as something positive, as I do. Immigration allows the society to be more diverse in terms of culture and religion. It is important to know the differences between various cultures, as it builds knowledge and may erase the issue of racism. Some believe that jobs are the countrys private property, whereas others claim that immigration is a key to spread a better economy to less developed countries. Immigration can therefore be announced as a tool that helps to overcome world property. Immigrants are known to be the most hard working and intelligent workers within the country. Its an advantage to them as immigration allows to express talents and skills to another country (Independent, 2009). Previous census results show that London has completely changed. The results clearly show that the number of immigrants entering Britain has gone up by 3 million. However, politicians claimed that this was not an issue to worry about. Moreover the 2011 census shows that London is now a place of multiculturalism; which means that the amount white population has decreased to a very low level (ons.gov.uk, interactive, 2011). This has also been mentioned in the dailymail, It is believed to be the first time that British whites have become a minority in any region of the UK (Dailymail, 2012). This certainly means that the country has a very low percentage of white population, however the population size seems to increase as the years go by. This is an outcome due to immigration. However, it is important to take into account that immigrantion is a not a bad thing itself. Immigration introduces many advantages to London, which can be gathered from the talents and ideas that have been brough t into the country through immigration. It was stated that English is a language that was made up of many foreign languages in Britain decades ago. Through immigration we see an increase in population and culture which has a positive impact on the society. Economically, the increase in population expresses the filled job positions within London, which allows an increase in tax input and therefore benefits institutions such as schools. However, a House of Lords report stated that immigration does not benefit London at all; Minister Liam Byrne says migration has added ÂÂ £6bn to the economy (BBC article, 2008). It does lead to a greater economy which is shared with a greater society which leaves us with nothing. My interviewee, stated that it is not fair on the existing population, as they work very hard to achieve. I certainly go against her saying as people dont move out of one country to another just for the fun of it but for various reasons. The reasons could be the desire for a better living, such as good education al and job opportunities. Its not easy to adopt a new athmosphere, and to seperate from family members and friends. Just like any other place, London expresses that it contains racism to some extent. Even though we think that legal immigrants are treated fairly, there are still people who discriminate others as they possess different values and norms. The BBC news magazine announces, for the most part legal immigrants are treated fairly but there are still racists out there, just cause someone is speaking a different language they start discriminating them (BBC Does Britains sense of fair play attract immigrants?, 2010). Illegal immigrants, however are treated not as fair as legal immigrants. Yet they are illegal residents, but they are here for certain reasons, such as the ideology of having a better life. This shows that London is a place of opportunity and freedom (BBC Does Britains sense of fair play attract immigrants?, 2010). The article also mentions that when people see someone from a different ethnic group, they tend to assume that they are illegal immigrants, when in reality they could b e legal UK citizens. The view is that London has economically benefited from immigration as the new workers (immigrants) agree to take over on low paid jobs, which the existing population may not desire to opt for. Another reason is that the new workers allow the defeat in skill shortages within London. A recent home office research (Glover et al, 2001) states that there has been very little attention in force towards migration within the United Kingdom, Immigration has been a market driven response to supply and demand, rather than policy-driven. Theres no solid solution for the increase of immigration in London, but there are some ways that could be used in order to reduce the amount of immigration. We already have security barriers at all British borders, although they are not strong enough. As I have already mentioned a method is to make those barriers stronger to prevent the high income of immigrants, this means that borders should be checked more frequently and strictly. There are actions taken at the border crossing, The final set of recent immigration policy changes are designed to reinforce security at the border (Focus Migration, undated). The British police should be more aware of illegal entrance into the United Kingdom, and should therefore check immigrants if they have the correct documents to enter the country. The police should also be able to arrest those who enable immigrants to cross countries illegally. My interviewee stated that the government should take some action to decrease the amount of immigration, by providing a lower amount of benefits. To conclude, it seems satisfactory to state that there are social and economic benefits and disadvantages to the UK through immigration, as migrant workers who recently entered London have brought such changes. The pressure on public services has been held responsible on immigration, moreover it is the government that was unable to set additional income into such services while obtaining the advantages of economic growth and greater tax profits. It is very difficult to follow an open-door policy (the scheme of allowing equal business opportunities to all countries) without supplying any help to the community to deal with a greater population level. Immigration can be beneficial if the rate of immigration is maintained to a certain level and if the government fulfills the needs of the population. UK Borders should only be opened up to those who are hard working and who are in real danger. It is for certain that the immigrant population within London will change our lives by creating m ore diverse alterations to the country. Word Count: 1,854 Interview transcription: Carried out on 12th April 2013 Q: Hi, how are you? 1. Alicia: Hiiii (big smile on face), not too bad actually, its just the weather thats irritating. Q: Let me just quickly explain what this is about, I will interview you and see what your opinion about immigration is. Im doing this for an academic purpose and will use this interview for a critical reflection on an artical. I will not collect any personal details from you, as this interview remains anonymous. Is that okai with you? 2. Alicia: Yep, deffoo. Q: Do you mind if I take a maximum of 15 minutes of your life? 3. Alicia: Haha, thats not a problem. I dont mind helping people you know. Q: Whats your favourite town within London? 4. Alicia: Wembley. Q: If you were to come from Wembley today, why would you get here, all the way from Wembley to Stratford? 5. Alicia: I like shopping, and Westfields is wow, it has a variety of shops. I dont mind travelling, 6. its way better than sitting at home, hehe. Q: How would you get here? 7. Alicia: I took the train. I drive but dont own a car yet. Im still looking for a part time job, coz I 8. dont want my parents to get me a car. If its something for me then it should be from my 9. own money. Q: Okai thats a sweet idea. Would you be able to list any difference between Wembley and Stratford? 10. Alicia: Erm, no. Q: Why not? 11. Alicia: Both places are pretty much multicultural. Erm, you can see people from everywhere, 12. erm you know like, ehhm, you see asians, whites and blacks, sorry Im not trying to be racist 13. here, just answering the question. Q: Interesting, do you prefer this country to remain multicultural? 14. Alicia: Yehh, curse I do. Its cool how we connect with people from different backgrounds. 15. Not only Wembley and Stratford but all over London. I would say that London has people 16. from all over the world. Q: What do you think, could be the reason for multiculturalism in London? 17. Alicia: Im actually not sure you know. Erm (pause), Im really not sure, maybe coz there are 18. better welfare services here..I think. Q: Would you say that immigration has an impact on multiculturalism? 19. Alicia: Oh yh, actually thats something to think about. Personally, Im from Germany. I was 20. born there and spent 13years there. Originally Im of a Pakistani background. I think there is 21. something about the government that makes immigration easier, coz in Germany you rarely 22. meet any people from different places. Immigration must be the reason, there must be 23. many people like me who migrated from other places to the UK. Q: What do you think about immigration? 23. Alicia: Erm, it actually doesnt matter of where youre from, but its good to do it legally 24. rather than illegallyhehe (quiet laughter). Q: Why do you say that? 25. Alicia: Well, illegal residents will of course call their children or relatives over and will opt for 26. benefits and free food and all that. Its so not fair on us, coz we might end up being in a 27. position of hardship.(Quite tensed, forehead creased) Q: What do you mean by hardship, do you mind expanding? 28. Alicia: Its just you know, there is always a time where we might end up not getting 29. jobs..erm, basically well be jobless. We grow up in this country, and do everything legally, 30. and you know work hard to get into a decent job. That cant be taken away from us by illegal 31. immigrants. Its seriously not fair on the ones who work their bottoms off. (Smile faded, head still creasedpretty much into the questionnaire) Q: But dont you think that people may settle here due to their personal reasons? 32. Alicia: Well yeah, erm I know some people who came over coz they have some war or some 33. sort of problem going on in their place. Q: Dont you think that they work really hard too, to remain in a safe place? 34. Alicia: Hmm (seems tensed) Q: Do you think that immigration and population growth go together? 35. Alicia: I think so, the more migrates we have the higher the population will be. Q: Is that something bad or good? 36. Alicia: Id say bad, coz well run out of houses to live in haha, Im kidding, but as I said well 37. experience hardship. Q: So dont you think that there are any good aspects to immigration? 38. Alicia: There are, as I said we connect to people who are of a different background. I would 39. say(little pause), say that immigration makes us learn different cultures. Erm, its kinda like 40. getting to know different values and life styles, were basically learningerm increasing our 41. knowledge. There could also be an opportunity to learn different languages. Q: So youre saying it allows cultural exchange? 42. Alicia: Er yeah, hehe. Q: Is that the only positive aspect or do you have more to add? 43. Alicia: I would say that London is more welcoming than Germany. Erm immigration shows that the country is treating people fairly, whatever their background. (Big smile) Q: Thats a really nice thought.

Hamlet- The Role Of Women Essay -- essays research papers

Today women have many rights. We can vote, work, and even voice our own opinions. In the past women were seen as mothers and housekeepers, always taught to respect, listen, and serve there husbands or the man of the house. In those days this was considered normal, therefore women had no choice but to obey and do as they were told. In Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays a similar relationship between women and men. He allows men to hold the higher position in the causing, them to treat women as lesser people and believed that women should listen to them and do as they were told. Ophelia a young women in Hamlet, she represents how women are treated. Ophelia obeys several different men in the play. One of the men is Hamlet. Ophelia is sixteen much younger than Hamlet, Hamlet is twenty one and in college. The Maturity of each persons mind depends on there age. Ophelia is a woman who has been taught to believe and listen to men such as her father. When she is now faced with wether to believe Hamlet or doubt his love for she once again she disregards her feelings and trusts Hamlet. Hamlet pursued Ophelia, he saw a young women whome he could satisfy him self with. In the play Hamlet does not court ophelia the only place they are together is in Ophelia’s bedroom "He hath, my lord, of late made tenders Of his affection to me"(pg 17 line 99). Hamlet visits her bedroom at night and makes love to her. Ophelia believes this a relationship but is too young to know what a real relationship is. Hamlet writes her letters to make her believe that letters are a representation of Love. Ophelia did not refuse Hamlet everything that Hamlet wanted from Ophelia he got. She stops thinking for herself and allows men to think for her. Ophelia allows Hamlet to "make love to her" because Hamlet wants to. Men in those days had a great deal of power. Women were not thought of being much more than lovers and house keepers, there minds belonged to there men. Ophelia does not know wether the relationship was ever real. Hamlet is another man controlling her to make her believe that he really loved her. like her father, he can control her mind and make her believe what he wants her to. Another man she obeys is her father, Polonius, Lord Chamberlain. In the play she believes her father has her life in his hands, she will never d... ...ow her how wrong it is but it is a s though she can not see through her own eyes she agrees with Claudius and repeat whatever his oppinions are. Queen. I doubt it is no other but the main, His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage (pg 39 line 56). Here the queen does not care whether her own son is hurt by her marriage. She seems to be heartless when she should be full of heart warming feelings. As a women in the play she allowed Claudius to instill his views in her. And just like Ophelia she subdues her feelings and allows a man-Claudius- to make his opinion an feelings hers. In making Hamlet I believed that Shakespear gave men the higher position in the play. Such as the title of the book Hamlet who is also the prince in the play. Most of the main characters in the play are men. The role of the women in the play existed in all the characters in the play. Women were portrayed as slow, weak, neurotic characters who were easily led astray and were easily controlled. Maybe Shakespear did not believe in women as strong characters due to the age he lived in but, now in the year 2000 this is un heard of.

The Role of Business Education in Secondary Schools Essay -- essays pa

The Role of Business Education in Secondary Schools Education and Vocational Education have many roles in today’s schools. Vocational education focuses on the future employment of the student, by using practical application. Vocational education gives students the opportunity to learn with hands-on experience. This can help in several areas of gaining an education. Most notably, this gives the student the opportunity to find out if this is what they want to do. Students will get a real-world experience very early on in their education. This experience can greatly enrich a student’s education by giving them the opportunity to become involved in activities that are relevant to their lives, therefore, becoming a source of motivation. Education provides these same experiences to a certain extent, but the connection to real-world experience is much less defined. I believe it is the obligation of an educator to help create lifelong learners out of our students. Three key elements need to be present for this to take place. Confidence, relevance and motivation must all be present. Students need to have the confidence to try and succeed, or try and fail. This may sound like a trivial example, but I believe it is essential to success. Without knowing and understanding failure, students will not be able to appreciate success and what it takes to succeed. Confidence will be gained through the trial and error that takes place in the successful business educator’s classroom. Rele...

ronald reagan: a true american hero Essay -- essays research papers

Reagan: A True American Hero†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"We will continue our quest in space. There will be more flights and more space shuttle crews. And, yes, more volunteers.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  -Ronald Reagan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ronald Reagan, viewed by some as a true American hero, was as stupendous as presidents can be. His dramatic speeches and down-to-earth personality made people proud to be American. Ronald Reagan seemed more then American. He was a patriot. Ronald Reagan cared deeply for the American people as well at their values. Our nation now felt, with Reagan’s assistance, united. After a nation torn apart by the specter or war, Ronald brought the people together again. However, disaster can unite or divide a country. At a difficult time, when the Challenger exploded, Ronald Reagan inspired his nation to realize that we are modern day explorers, and disaster may be the price that must by paid.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Certain elements in Ronald’s life prepared him to be an effective ruler at a critical time. Reagan did not start out as a man of politics. In fact, he made his debut as an actor. Although he never made it to Hollywood, he would often appear in grade â€Å"B† romance films (Fox V. 73-80.) In his early years of politics, 1964 to be exact, Ronald supported and rallied for Barry Goldwater, a republican presidential candidate. It was a strange twist of irony, because at the time, Reagan was an ultra liberal. This may have come from the preposterous fact that Reagan knew very little about politics. It was said that Barry Goldwater drew Reagan to the more conservative side of politics. When Reagan finally began to get enthralled with politics, he ran for governor of California. He got elected in 1966 (Fox V 90-103.) Since Reagan was very liberal in a turbulent time, he used superflous police force in events which he deemed â€Å"riots.† Because of this, he was an outcast by the minority community. Since Ronald Reagan was very liberal, he had an open mind to influences. In his early acting years, he was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, where he learned small-scale government procedures (Fox V. 73-80.) Reagan was also a supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who... ...h. Patriotism is soaked in his speech. He continues mentioning how the nation must mourn their loss. Reagan acknowledges the obstacles and the challenges the crew overcame. He then mentions the names of the perished crew to commemorate their death. He then gives an apology to all the school children who witnessed the tragedy on live TV. He assumes his people from the space program have nothing to hide, and will continue to thrive in the public. I feel the president prescribed the remedy of patriotism in his speech. He wants America to be proud even in the face of danger. The people ate this up and generally agreed with it. (Speech)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reagan’s speech was to go down as one of history’s best. Ironically, it wasn’t written by him. It was composed by Peggy Noonan, one of the White House’s best speech writers. On a personal note, I feel this speech gave a beacon of hope to a nation in need. It captivates the nation’s disaster and made the burden seem less. In the end, Regan was one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. Even when hes not with us anymore, the effects that he left, both positive and negative, will dwell in the belly of our nation.

Black people in the USA in 1945 Essay

Blacks in the USA in 1945 were not considered as equal; the treatment of people was based on their skin colour, a practice that had been going on for many years before, even after the Reconstruction of society after the Civil War in which the blacks were â€Å"liberated† from slavery. In theory, blacks were free to work and live where they wanted, but the figures at the time told a different story: by 1960, around 17% of the workforce of â€Å"white-collar† workers, i.e. professional, technical, administration, etc., were blacks, while the whites remained the majority at 47%. The â€Å"blue-collar† work, such as craftsmen, manual labourers, etc. – jobs that are renowned for needing less skill and education – had 40% of the workforce as blacks, and 36% were whites. Blacks just weren’t provided the education and qualifications to do the professional types of work due to separation of black and white facilities. Not only were they held back at g etting the higher-class jobs, they were paid less for the same work that whites did; in 1950, blacks earned about 53% of a whites wage. This figure remained the same over the next 20 years, with it rising 11% to blacks earning 64% of a whites wage. All over the USA, blacks were discriminated against in almost all areas of life, whether it is the law of the state, or just by the custom of the local society. After the abolishment of slavery, slaves had the choice of moving away from their former homes and having their own lives; unfortunately, many blacks didn’t have any money to move halfway across the USA to the northern states that had fought to free them. Those who did have the finance to travel rarely had enough money afterwards to sustain a good quality of life after they had moved. The custom of de facto came into play in some of the Northern states; ghettos and places where the majority of the population were black sprung up in towns and cities. Segregation by custom in the North was contrasted with segregation by law, or de jure, in the South- Jim Crow laws forbade blacks, for example, to enter white facilities, or sit on buses with whites, etc. Places where de facto was in force came up with other ways to separate blacks from whites to keep the Southern order of things; â€Å"red lining† was when banks were not allowed to give money for mortgages if they suspected it would be a risky investment- if a black family moved into a certain area, it would lower the prices of the surrounding houses. This  meant that places such as ghettos were built up, when the majority of the population were black. This type of segregation wasn’t by law, but by custom, blacks weren’t forced to live in â€Å"black† areas, but they felt pressured to live in certain places because of the practises such as red lining in effect. Although it is in the Constitution that everyone is equal and has the same civil rights, it is beliefs like red lining that push a wedge between races; it may not seem constitutional, but it is up to the Supreme Court in the USA to decide what is constitutional. They decided that slavery was lawful mainly due the fact that the Southern states economy was based on slavery; they were needed to produce cotton, the main export in the 19th century. Without them, the economy would have fallen apart. After the 13th amendment to the Constitution, slavery was no longer legal, but the Supreme Court still remained to overlook state laws that continued discrimination and practices that could be seen as worse then slavery- for example, the Ku Klux Klan were allowed to terrorise and lynch blacks, yet lynching was not made illegal. â€Å"The Supreme Court declared that the 14th amendment forbids states, but not citizens, from discriminating† (1) Separate facilities for blacks and whites were considered as the solution to the discrimination problem; the Supreme Court believed that the blacks were â€Å"separate but equal† when they were forced to use different buildings, transport, schools and hospitals then the whites. Since the Supreme Court approved laws and could declare them unconstitutional if they wanted to, they were the ones who the blacks has to convince if they wanted to change anything; in legal cases, the trial had to be taken to the Supreme Court to have any impact, since the State Courts were always going to be in favour of the Jim Crow laws. The Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) case was when Homer Plessy refused to sit in the â€Å"coloured† car of a train and sat in the â€Å"white† section instead. The case went to Supreme Court, and they ruled that Plessy was guilty and sentenced him to pay a fine or go to jail. This was considered the most shameful ruling of the Supreme Court in history; it shows the extent of the discrimination against blacks, even after slavery was abolished- even though Plessy was 1/8 black and 7/8 white, he was still considered as black in the eyes of the Louisiana law. Although many people thought that this ruling was  shocking, there wasn’t much that could be done, since they did not have a definite leader to show them what the do; everything that the movement did was relatively unorganised, with maybe one person leading the others. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Booker T. Washington tried to unite blacks under one leadership, but it did not work, because everyone has different opinion on what should be done about the discrimination problem. Dr Martin King Jr. was a black leader that advocated peaceful resistance; because of this, many whites accepted him because they knew that he would not cause violence, but blacks did not like this as peaceful protest could only take them so far- they felt that King was weaker then some of the other extremist black leaders, such as Malcolm X. King’s approach to fighting against their oppression wasn’t enough to keep the blacks following him; they preferred people who were willing to do more for the benefit of all blacks. Another leader who was thought as weak by fellow blacks was Booker T. Washington; he was accused of being an accommodationist to the whites, as he wasn’t campaigning for equal civil rights, he was concentrating on equal job opportunities- this wasn’t what the blacks were fighting for; they wanted to be free to do what the whites could do, not only in jobs but in other aspects of life too. The leaders of the movement were not united, therefore they were not strong- many leaders were critical of others, for example, W.E.B DuBois criticised Washington, saying that blacks cannot get social equality if they do not get political equality first. The New Deal is a phrase used to explain the actions taken after Black Tuesday when the US Stock market crashed to stop the effects of the Depression disturbing the lives of the public. Laws were passed to help stop the consequences of the Depression becoming a long-term problem; within the first hundred days, President Roosevelt passed a law that lowered worker’s salaries and pensions by up to 15%- a move that people did not like, yet it saved a lot of money for the government. Another act was passed that stated that the government could inspect banks before letting them open again so they could see if the bank was eligible to lend and hold money. This prevented banks lending out money that they did not have, therefore they did not losing money for their customers and wouldn’t have to close, as they  would have to have done if they did lend out money they didn’t have. The New Deal was produced so the government could help all of those that were affected by the Depression; this helped the blacks because they were some of the poorest people in the USA at the time, and as many as 8% of blacks were unemployed in 1955. For the blacks, the New Deal slightly improved their way of living as it was designed to help everyone without discrimination. Soon after New Deal was set up, the situation for blacks was improved socially by the outbreak of the Second World War. When the Americans were brought into the war, they needed as many men as they could to fight; blacks had regiments where they could join and be equal to whites, but they still were not allowed to belong to the same regiment as the whites- there were some who did, but they were rare, they normally belonged to an all-black regiment. At the end of the war, the blacks got more ambitious; they were allowed to fight for their country, but America wasn’t even grateful enough of them to let them be equal. This would have enraged African Americans since they had fought so hard to be a part of America, so the Civil Rights movement activity increased, which put pressure on the government to do something. The Nazi ideology also pushed the government into action, because what the Americans were doing to the blacks could be compared to the Germans discriminating against the Jews in Germany; the blacks realised this, so demanded equality, as they didn’t want the same to happen to them . In conclusion, the position of blacks in 1945 was not equal to whites: even after a century of supposed â€Å"freedom† from slavery, blacks were still treated as inferiors to whites. Laws and acts were in effect that encouraged the discrimination of blacks. Amendments such as the rights for blacks to vote and the rights for them to be equal were passed, but there were so many other laws that cancelled them out. Jim Crow laws in the South and practises such as â€Å"red lining† in the North made it impossible for blacks to be seen as equal politically, whilst rebellions by extremist whites and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan stopped blacks gaining any social standing or equality. Blacks were supposed to be equal, but by 1945, some may comment that the position of them was worse then slavery, as the blacks were on their own in  there poverty and discrimination; before, they had their slave owners who would clothe and feed them to keep productive workers- they would never be out on the streets as slaves, but as â€Å"free† people, they received basically no help. Things that whites took for granted, such as clean and good-quality facilities, and jobs that are fair and just are things that blacks counted themselves lucky if they managed to get any equality. People like Martin Luther King Jr. and W.E.B. DuBois tried to get equality, both through violence and peaceful means, but it didn’t have much effect to the political and social standing of blacks. The discrimination of blacks continued right into the 20th century, even up into the 21st century. It was slow going for the blacks’ right to equality, but actions by both blacks and whites ch anged things for the better. However, in 1945, blacks were not considered as equal, but as 3/5s of a human being. Bibliography: (1) http://www.alternativeinsight.com/Reparations-Slavery.html Field, Ron; â€Å"Civil Rights in America 1865-1980†; Cambridge University Press http://www.lawbuzz.com/can_you/plessy/plessy.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal

Maureen Frye at Quaker Steel and Alloy Corporation Essay

Frye made several mistakes with respect to her initial attempt to implement change, however there are wider company issues beyond Frye’s immediate control that also contributed to the failure of her initiative. Having seen her original memo attract criticism for its arbitrary nature, Frye failed to fully comprehend the reasons for the initial rejection of her proposal, when she proceeded with her January 1995 meeting with the DSMs. This is due to the fact that Frye did not properly understand the way in which the sales department worked. On page 7 it is mentioned that â€Å"Frye had not been able to spend as much time in the field as she had hoped†, while on page 9 Frye says â€Å"we gave them a rough outline of what we wanted done, and we expected the DSMs to follow through as they saw fit†. As a result of this, we speculate that she was unaware of the large degree of autonomy afforded to individual salespeople by the regional DSMs. In a scenario where there is ordinarily a large degree of autonomy, a â€Å"rough outline† presented to people who then have to pass on the concept to their respective subordinates is totally inadequate. Frye showed a complete lack of empathy with the changes involved for the sales force. She has not solicited widespread feedback on her proposals and from her position behind a computer analyzing cold hard numbers, she has entirely underestimated the change involved to the nature of the sales force’s work. Additionally she has made no effort to understand their motivations and frustrations. Frye does not appear to have engaged the General Sales Managers at all. By sidelining them in this way she removes their motivation to ensure correct implementation. She thus effectively discards what could be very effective resources that exert direct line responsibility over the employees who will ultimately need to implement Frye’s proposed changes. Finally, Frye was not properly empowered by her superiors and seems to have made no effort to address this. As evidenced on Page 2 the complicated â€Å"responsibility lines† that cut across departments meant that typically managers who joined Quaker from other companies found Quaker a â€Å"confusing place to work†. These complicated responsibility lines (Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 3) meant that Frye was not given explicit control over the people who would ultimately implement her proposals. â€Å"In the workplace, credibility grows out of two sources: expertise and relationships†[1] Coupled with the fact that Frye did not have established working relationships, this confusing structure meant that in the absence of explicit empowerment, Frye lacked the credibility to effect change. The two overriding themes that we have identified are that: †¢ Frye has demonstrated a clear lack of people skills. She has shown no understanding of the key motivators of the sales force and communication around implementation of her idea has been poor both in terms of content and its direction. †¢ Frye has been unable to exhibit leadership due to both a complicated organizational structure and her personal lack of established credibility due to lack of relationships. What would you do if you were Maureen Frye, at the end of the case? One standalone alternative that Frye could pursue is for Israel to send a direct order to his entire department asking that they comply with Frye’s proposals. This proposal benefits from the fact that Israel has direct line authority over the salespeople and is in a better position to monitor the implementation plan. This alternative however entirely fails to address concerns around soliciting feedback and ignores the â€Å"†¦generally accepted norm of influencing through persuasion and analyses rather than through formal authority†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .[2] Additionally this entirely underestimates the change for the salespeople, which Frye was initially guilty of. What is more, this does not address what appears to be one of the fundamental frustrations that salespeople have when dealing with large accounts, namely that the quality of service from the Technical Service department varies greatly depending on the salesperson involved. Thus, whilst Frye might see a change in behavior she may not necessarily see the desired result of higher sales due to lack of buy-in from the Technical Services Department. Another alternative is to try and implement her proposal while at the same time introducing a change to the compensation policy whereby salespeople would be remunerated based on a fixed salary plus a large variable component determined as a commission on sales revenue. This alternative however requires a radical shift in the corporate culture and its likely outcome of success is severely reduced by the fact that when talking about motivation of salespeople in the Chicago and New York offices, â€Å"All rated monetary rewards and incentives lowest on the scale†[3]. This solution also fails to address the problem of making sure that both the Sales and Technical Services departments are pulling in the same direction. Our favored alternative composes several elements: †¢ Frye needs to get the VP for Technical Services on board. This is probably most easily achieved by a meeting involving Salk, Bethancourt and Israel where all spell out their clear support for the project. †¢ Frye needs to obtain comprehensive feedback on her proposals from the sales force. She should do this by immediately visiting all regional offices and conducting interviews with the General Sales managers, all the DSMs and as many salespeople as possible. o The meetings between Frye and the salespeople should not be of a formal kind, but rather informal and friendly in order to properly develop a collaborative relationship. o If we assume that meeting each and every salesperson is impossible, then she needs to select the people she meets with on a strategic basis by choosing those who exert most influence on their colleagues. o She should clearly explain the rationale for her proposals in person and take account of any feedback provided and include in the implementation where possible. Feedback should not merely be point in time but should be ongoing. o According to the case, there is already one senior salesperson that is convinced about the project and has implemented the project to some extent and believes in its future outcomes. Frye needs to make good use of this senior salesperson because as we know, â€Å"credibility, along other lines can be built or bought.†[4] He can serve as a good liaison between her and the other salespeople, showing evidence that the project works and emphasizing to his colleagues the benefits based on his first-hand experience. o Given that monetary rewards are not a high priority Frye must emphasize that whilst they may have an initially fallow period in sales, the subsequent benefits from their time and effort will result in increased sales of a higher magnitude. Additionally she should emphasize that the interim period will also yield scope for significant satisfaction as they collaborate with clients in order to resolve their problems. †¢ In addition to seeking input from the sales force, Frye needs to further establish credibility with the sales force before asking them to implement her proposal. As a result of our first point, we believe she can do this by ensuring better cooperation from the Technical Services Department for all salespeople. In this way she â€Å"helps them see how they can get from here to there, by establishing some credibility and by giving them some reason and help to get there.†[5] †¢ There should be memo sent by the VPs for Technical Support Service, and Sales to their subordinates which: o Details Frye’s proposals and explicitly mentioning that she should be afforded all possible help in implementing her proposals. o Emphasizes that the company practices â€Å"a strong philosophy of providing customers with the best technical service and assistance available†[6] o Insists on each DSM providing a weekly progress report in order to ensure greater accountability. o Gives thanks to staff for their excellent performance thus far. By going through the points above we believe that Frye addresses the issues that we identified when answering the first question, namely: a lack of empowerment, a lack of understanding of the sales department, a lack of empathy and a failure to engage the General Sales Managers. The process however does not stop there. Close monitoring of the implementation is fundamental so that any deviation is identified and corrected appropriately in a timely fashion. Frye should ensure that she uses the need for monitoring as a way to gather continued feedback and comments and thus evaluate the change in sales behavior and its effect not only on sales but also on employee satisfaction. She needs to establish an ongoing and collaborative relationship and make sure that the sales force see her as an approachable colleague working towards the same company goals rather than as a demanding taskmaster. Frye needs to ensure that she has a contingency plan in place. We suggest that should there be complaints from the Sales Department in relation to Technical Services Department cooperation, Frye should escalate immediately to the VP in charge as well as Israel and Bethancourt. Assuming she continues to encounter resistance on the Sales side, this should be escalated to Israel for immediate action. Should the trial of Frye’s proposals be successful i.e. increase overall sales through a greater focus on large accounts, we believe that when rolled out to other products that a more formal relationship should be established between the Technical Services Department and the Sales Department. As part of this process we advocate a process of 360degree evaluation feedback where employees are ranked versus their peers. For Frye’s personal learning she must realize that â€Å"†¦feedback is not an interpersonal process where others tell one how they react to his/her behavior. It is rather a self initiated process where one examines the effects of one’s behavior on others† therefore once the implementation plan has been drawn up and executed, it would be valuable for Frye to request 360 degree feedback from all stakeholders engaged in the reallocation process and initiate a thorough self-assessment to address her areas of weakness.