Ghana The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah - 568 Words

â€Å"Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah† is a book based on the life, struggles and achievements of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. In the book the author who in this case is the main person the book is about gives an indebt revelation of his childhood throughout his primary education, life overseas, challenges faced as an educated African man and shifted to his political journey. Although â€Å"Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah† was his major book because it ties in his whole life experience, he wrote various books such as Africa Must Unite, Class Struggle in Africa, Selected Speeches, and The Struggle Continues. According to Henry Kam Kah Nkrumah stated, â€Å"We must unite for economic viability, first of all, and then to recover our mineral wealth in Southern Africa, so that our vast resources and capacity for development will bring prosperity for us and additional benefits for the rest of the world. That is why I have written elsewhere that the emancipation of Africa could be the emancipation of Man.† In this statement, one realizes that Nkrumah knew that the benefits of unity were many and included the recovery of the massive mineral wealth of the continent to benefit Africa and not those who wanted to exploit them. The book entitled Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah was first written in Ghana on 6th of March 1957. Since this book was written and published on Independence Day of Ghana, its analysis fulfils the ultimate aspirations of African people. Upon writing theShow MoreRelatedEssay William Edward Burghardt Du Bois or W.E.B. Du Bois3534 Words   |  15 Pagesshould be treated as a war criminal. After spending six months in disgrace and paying $35,150 for his defense, the government dismissed its case against him. The old man was freed and declared himself a communist 12 years later at age 93, dying in Ghana, a country that loved him. It was a sad end for an intellectual giant whom Kim Pearson, a professor of journa lism at The College of New Jersey who teaches a class on Du Bois, calls, the premier African American intellectual of the 19th and 20th centuriesRead MoreBible Versus the Toran12356 Words   |  50 Pagescrimes against black Americans. His detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been called on of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history, and in 1998, Time named The Autobiography of Malcolm X one of the ten most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century. Malcom was born in Omaha, Nebraska. The events of his childhood, including his fathers lessons concerning black pride and self-reliance, and his own expericences

Analysis of Poes Successes and Failures in Poetry and...

An Analysis of Poes Successes and Failures in Poetry and Fiction Edgar Allan Poes career may have been a failure considering what he set out to do, but he did achieve some success and notoriety in his own lifetime. His most successful poem was, of course, The Raven, a piece he composed to satisfy popular taste. But some of his short fiction was popular as well. As an editor and publisher, however, Poe did not quite achieve the greatness he sought. His legacy grew only after his death, thanks to his literary executor R. W. Griswold, who won more permanent attention for him after his death by exaggerating his neurotic debility and inherited dipsomania to make him an almost Satanic figure (Bradbury 206). This paper will examine Poes poetic and short story successes and failures, and show how he was not quite the Satanic figure that the reading public preferred to imagine him to be. Poes own life is as full of melancholy and darkness as his many tales and poems. Perhaps the greatest example of his failure as a literary man, however, is found in his inability to achieve any form of stable income through his work with literature. This, of course, is no indication of his literary merit. Neither Herman Melville nor Nathaniel Hawthorne, contemporaries of Poe, had much financial success as novelists but their places in the canon of American Literature is firmly secured; and so too is Poes. Born in Boston, Poes life kept mainly to the Eastern Coast (he died inShow MoreRelatedCommon Themes of Edgar Allan Poe3152 Words   |  13 PagesAn Analysis of the Common Themes Found in selected works of Edgar Allan Poe A Research Presented to The faculty of the English Department In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in English IV By March 2010 Acknowledgement The researcher would like to thank the following people who help and give guidance to make this project To the Project adviser and the home room adviser of the researchers, who gave his outmost patience and time to check the drafts and format of eachRead MoreCommon Themes of Edgar Allan Poe3166 Words   |  13 PagesAn Analysis of the Common Themes Found in selected works of Edgar Allan Poe A Research Presented to The faculty of the English Department In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in English IV By March 2010 Acknowledgement The researcher would like to thank the following people who help and give guidance to make this project To the Project adviser and the home room adviser of the researchers, who gave his outmost patience and time to check the drafts and format of each part of this very

Hard Times as a Novel of Social Realism Is Wholly Unsuccessful Essay Sample free essay sample

‘Hard Times’ is a novel based on a short visit made by the writer Charles Dickens to a town similar to ‘Coketown’ called Preston. He made this journey in an effort to place the societal job of the development of mill workers. Dickens was sensitive to the societal maltreatments which pervaded the Victorian society and so with an attack of a useful denial of human imaginativeness ; he used the mills of the fictional Coketown and juxtaposed them with the contrasting. inventive and eccentric universe of Sleary’s circus. ‘Hard Times’ therefore trades with a scope of societal issues including divisions of a on the job category. rights of the ‘common people’ to prosecute in notional amusement or amusement and most of all an instruction for the less fortunate in this society. David Lodge in his essay suggests that the fresh ‘manifests its individuality as a polemical work ; a review of mid-Victorian industrial society dominated by philistinism. acquisitiveness and ruthlessly competitory capitalist economics’ ( Lodge. 1969 ) . In the clip of Dickens’ authorship of the fresh these qualities would hold been represented specifically from the Utilitarian position. Dickens represents the industrial society with his fictional ‘Coketown’ puting. Coketown is emphasised as a ‘city of fact’ which introduces the agencies of a unfavorable judgment or onslaught on the useful rules. The dwellers of this town deficiency individualism and freedom. coercing them to go merely merchandises of a mercenary society. The accent on fact is repetitive within this community and is drilled into the heads of everyone within it. In schools all kids are taught merely facts and non to allow themselves be drawn into imaginativeness or ‘fancy’ . Dickens was required to compose Hard Times in 20 subdivisions to be published over a period of five months in his magazine ‘Household words’ . He has filled the novel with his ain doctrine and symbolism. Dickens expounds his doctrine in two ways: through consecutive third-person expounding and through the voices of his characters. As a novel of societal pragmatism. his attack to world is allegorical in nature ; his secret plan traces the consequence of rational instruction of ‘cold difficult fact’ on Gradgrind’s two kids and the effort to implement this government of learning merely fact without any hint of illusion or imaginativeness on the kids of the school. He highlights two jobs in the text of his novel ; the most of import one is that of the educational system and what divides the school of Facts and the circus school of Fancy. Cissy is taken from the society in which she is able express herself and placed in a restricting society where she is made to stamp down her cognition of the notional word picture of the circus. This shows that the positive facets of society can non be destroyed easy. Fancy. imaginativeness. compassion and hope will neer vanish as they are an indispensable portion of human nature which dickens conserves in such characters as Cissy. Rachael and Sleary. The struggles of the two universes of the classroom and the circus represent the grownup attitudes toward life. While the classroom dehumanizes the small bookmans. the circus. all fancy and love. restores humanity. Dickens shows this contrast between the two separate universes persuasively in ‘Hard Times’ . The unfavorable judgment which could be made on this component of conveying the two wholly contrasting societies ; the capitalistic life style and the lives of the workers would be improbable to co-occur with each other. It is unrealistic of this clip to visualise a alteration in the society towards a more positive result. The 2nd job trades with the economic relationships of labour and direction between the workers and the foremans. In this we see that Dickens lets the educational system be dominated by. instead than function. the economic system. His doctrine. expounded through his characters. is best summarized by Sleary. who says that people should do the best of life. non the worst of it. Dickens therefore offers the circus in the novel as a redress in one sense. The character who leads the circus. Sleary. could be perceived as an solution to the job. In his address ‘People mutht be amuthed. They cant alwayth be larning. nor yet they cant alwayth be working. they aint made for it’ . He speaks out against the industrial leaders of instruction. Gradgrind and Bounderby. Their position of life is entirely materialist indicated by their methods of learning. or instead enforcing facts upo n anyone and everyone. This perceptual experience of life can and will be really confining and is portrayed by Dickens throughout the fresh screening how disastrously this manner of life can neglect. ‘Now what I want is facts. learn these male childs and misss facts and nil else. ’ Dickens purpose in this line of action could be to discredit the policies of this instruction method. The characters in Hard times are all what would be termed ‘flat’ . There is no development. In the debut of a character. the most outstanding facets are elaborate such as Bounderby’s ‘Large brown protuberant eyes’ and there is an indicant of the background of the character. nevertheless this debut is held throughout the novel and lasts until the terminal of the narrative. The reader is given a psychological portrayal of Bounderby for illustration as a ‘self-made adult male. ’ He is an single capitalist and arguably Capitalism personified. Dickens portrays the lone favourable quality of this character to be that he has dragged himself from the destitute society in which he was born. to the adult male he has become. However we find subsequently o n in the novel that this has been a prevarication. a notional word picture of what he wanted the universe to believe. Bounderby did stand for the opinion categories and the businessperson of the present. although when we learn that he has lied and was brought up in a happy loving place by his female parent he loses his land. Devils can be commended for the portraiture and representation of the leaders in his onslaught on capitalist economy. However Dickens is on less secure land with the character of Stephen Blackpool. It is questionable whether Dickens could portray such a serious topic accurately given that he learned of the ailments of this society through a short visit to a town seized by the industrialization. Dickens does look to understand the place of the leaders. those being Bounderby and Gradgrind. in society nevertheless he is on less secure land on the function of Stephen as a victim of societal subjugation. The intent of the novel is apparently to demo the resistance between ‘fact’ and ‘fancy’ and that both are needed to do society a better topographic point. In the instance of Stephen. the affairs which are responsible for his ruin are more personal instead than a consequence of the milieus throughout his narrative. He falls in love when he is already married to an other adult female. Dickens does non travel into any item of the ‘day to day’ modus operandi of the workers in the mills nevertheless it would take more than a short visit to the work stoppage scene in Preston to be able to dramatise and accurately portray this in any deepness. It is hence important that non in any fortunes in the novel does Dickens try to travel into this item. Although Dickens does look to understand the places of the leaders. when it comes down to the workers it is apparent that he is non accurately portraying the place of the workers. In the address by Slackbridge which begins ‘Oh my friends’ it could be suggested that it is improbable that the leaders would hold spoken to the workers in this manner. Dickens seems to hold intentionally falsified in a sense the nature of the Trade Unions and the leaders. Dickens’ statement overall in difficult times is that Utilitarianism consequences in detrimental poverty of the moral and emotional life of an person. He was opposed to the beliefs that sustained the ‘lassez faire’ attack to societal jobs. Dickens believed in the imaginativeness and humanistic disciplines. He besides uses symbolism in the novel in order to stress the obtuseness in comparing with the peopl e of each society. Dickens’ symbolism takes such signifiers as Coketown’s being a ‘brick jungle. strangled in sameness and smoke’ . ‘the burping mills as elephants in this jungle’ . ‘the fume as unreliable snakes’ . and the kids as small â€Å"vessels† which must be filled. His symbolism besides becomes allegorical as he utilizes scriptural intension in showing the moral construction of the town and the people. In add-on to dialogue. consecutive narrative. and description. Dickens employs understatement to convey through sarcasm the societal. economic. and educational jobs and to suggest solutions for these jobs. His frequently bantering statements equilibrate the horror of the scenery by the absurdness of wit. based on both character and subject. Hard Times is criticised for foregrounding the societal issues although offering nil to propose a solution to the jobs it addresses. The narrative screens a scope of issues including instruction for the hapless. category divisions. and the rights of the common people to amusement. Human relationships are contaminated by economic sciences and devils. In his expounding of the counter representation being the circus it is apparent that with such a strong deduction of the industrial community of Coketown. there is nil which is strong plenty to oppose it. In a manner. Dickens goes against his ain statement towards when stand foring the circus because h e mentions that Sleary is ‘stout and alcoholic’ . These fortunes go against his descriptions of the circus troupes ‘gentleness and puerility. It can hence be suggested that there is nil in the novel which is capable of countering the appendages of the system exemplified by Bounderby and Gradgrind. Mr Sleary’s universe is one of acrobats. tight rope Walkers. bareback riders and in fact all of the merriment of a carnival. The circus is idealised through the people in the society which is a blunt contrast to Coketown. where the people are determined by the desolation of society. It could hold been more effectual if Dickens had hence narrated a twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours representation of each society. particularly in the circus as it would hold made a more significant statement against the industrial based Utilitarianism and its extensions to political relations. In malice of the minor insufficiencies of the novel it does portray figures as singular for their degree of individualism ; nevertheless they serve th e subject which is capable of prosecuting serious attending. It is non merely industry which is under inquiry in ‘Hard times’ but the doctrine which operates in the procedure. When Louisa. Gradgrind’s girl whom he has ruined through his insisting of fact garbages to fall foul to visualize when she is proposed to. she asks her male parent what to make in the state of affairs. It is merely at this point that the system of instruction becomes questionable to Gradgrind. He tells Tom. his boy ‘your sisters preparation has been pursued harmonizing to the system. ’ Overall. in looking at the ways in which Dickens has created the kingdom of fancy versus fact in ‘Hard times’ . he does turn out that illusion is indispensable for the felicity of world and in this regard it is a morally uplifting novel. His place is as a societal observer assailing the useful rules. which exerted a profound influence on novelists who were to come subsequently. Some of his concerns with the ‘Condition of England’ were subsequently dealt with by other novels such as those by Martin Amis and Zadie Smith. It is hence non unsuccessful given that Dickens was non seeking to alter society. but his purpose was to do the societal issues known and to do people witting of them. which proved effectual by others taking on the topic and spread outing it in th eir ain manner. Kate Flint. writer of the new debut to Hard Times argues that the fresh defies easy classification. which is true. The novel is profoundly preoccupied with childhoods and household life although filled with insolvable tensenesss and contradictions. Bibliography Dickens. . . . 1995. Hard Times. London: Penguin Classicss.Lodge. . . . 1969. The rhetoric of Hard Times. Edward Grey edition 20th century readings of Hard Times ed. s. l. : s. n. Wheeler. . . . 1994. English Fiction of Victorian period 1830-1890. New York: Longman publication.

Questions Essay Example

Questions Essay Question 1. You are a recently appointed Sales Manager for a manufacturer of small engines. The company has grown rapidly over recent years, but its profit margins have been declining and this is one of the key issues that you have been hired to address.After three months on the job, you have become aware that the company’s nine salespeople are focused on closing as many deals as possible regardless of whether they provide good solutions for customers. In addition, salespeople are discounting so much that your company’s margins are continuing to decrease. Clearly, your position as Sales Manager may be in trouble if this continues, plus your personal bonus is based upon achieving profit margin objectives.When you have discussed this with the salespeople, they indicate that in the past they have been encouraged to focus on sales volume and not the profitability of deals.Some changes are required otherwise the profitability targets of the organisation and your personal bon us will not be achieved. What steps do you undertake to resolve the situation and why do you undertake those steps?It is important for the Sales people to be able to have clear goals so that they may correspondingly direct their behaviour towards the achievement of these targets. If they have been accustomed to believing that they will have maximum pay-offs in increasing their sales volume, then they will continue to act as if this strategy will yield them maximum benefit. The first step I will do is to hold a general assembly which will focus on this change of mindset. I will clarify with them that it is profitability and not merely sales volume that will give both them and the whole unit maximum yield. This is consistent with the essence of expectancy theory.Expectancy theory supports the contention that people choose the behaviour they believe will maximize their payoff.   It states that people look at various actions and choose the one they believe is most likely to lead to th e rewards they want the most. This theory has been tested extensively. It has been found that expectancy theory can do an excellent job of predicting occupational choice and job satisfaction and a moderately good job of predicting effort on the job.   Expectancy theory implies that the anticipation of rewards is important as well as the perceived contingency between the behaviours desired by the organisation and the desired rewards.   The theory also implies that since different people desire different rewards, organisations should try to match rewards with what employees want (Weathersby, 1998). In other words, if the sales people realise that they will have more reward if they focus on profitability, then they will work towards this changed goal. What is important is to be able to effectively clarify what the goal is, why it was changed, and why it is crucial to achieve it.This change in mindset among the sales people may also be perceived as a change in the vision and its cla rification. It is important for me as a Sales Manager to have a clearly defined vision, both on the task and people sides of the business. This speaks of the effectiveness of their leadership, which is both people-oriented than task-oriented. All leaders have the capacity to create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and the ability to translate that vision into reality. Modern leadership literature frequently characterises the leader as the vision holder, the keeper of the dream, or the person who has a vision of the organisations purpose. If the Sales team is one in achieving a profitability target and they know the specific objectives that they have to hit to contribute to this overall goal, then I would be more confident that the overall goal of the team would be achieved.;Personal vision includes my personal aspirations for the organisation and acts as the impetus for the my actions that will link organisational and future vision. My vision needs to be sh ared by those who will be involved in its realization. Setting of a profitability target for the sales team is just one manifestation of visionary leadership, where a clear goal is identified – but I also have the responsibility to link this to more strategic organisational thrusts.;Question 2. You are the Sales Manager of an electrical goods distributor whose main customer base is electrical retailers. One of your most successful salespeople struggles to submit the weekly written reports that you require from all of your salespeople. This salesperson never submits the reports on time, you usually have to repeatedly request them and when they are submitted they don’t contain the customer information or sales activity information that you want. This also makes it difficult to keep these customer records up to date in the company’s CRM system and limits the ability of sales support staff to help manage these relationships. The rest of the salesforce submit these r eports, in hard or soft copy, on time and without complaint.What do you do about this issue and why?The first thing I will do as a Sales Manager is to hold a performance discussion with my salesman because of this poor work habit of delayed report submission. During the discussion, I would clearly state why we are holding the session and its importance. I would then allow him to express concerns about why he is always not punctual in churning out his reports. I will try as much as possible to still maintain his self-esteem despite the correction, and also to listen attentively to his concerns. At the end of the session, we should have concurred on the best course of action to be able to resolve the problem. We will then set a work plan, specifying who will do what and by when.The clarity of a goal is important – it needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. I should ensure that the goal of report submission comply with these criteria of well-defin ed goals / objectives. Moreover, I should also be able to show the linkage of this positive behaviour of goal submission to reward. If no such linkage is made, the salesman may not be motivated in attaining the goal set out for him. According to goals setting theories, employees set goals and those organisations can influence work behaviour by influencing these goals.   The major concepts in the theory are intentions, performance standards, goal acceptance, and the effort expended.   These concepts are assumed to be the motivation.   Participation in goal setting should increase commitment and acceptance.   Individual goal setting should be more effective than group goals because it is the impact of goals on intentions that is important.   In goal-setting theory the crucial factor is the goal.   Tests of the theory show that using goals leads to higher performance than situations without goals, and that difficult goals lead to better performance than easy ones (Maczynski ; Koopman, 2000).   Although participation in goal setting may increase satisfaction, it does not always lead to higher performance.Second, I will also ensure that continuous monitoring and feedback transpires after we hold the performance discussion. I will coach him further if necessary until he is able to correct his poor work habit. A feedback system can be a form of reinforcement system and a motivational factor for management in promoting positive behaviour among employees. Following Skinner’s reinforcement theory, I can use the feedback system as a form of motivational lever in shaping my salesman’s behaviour and in helping him aim for higher goals. I can also provide incentives for positive behaviour.;It is important to provide feedback to the salesman to assess his or her strengths and weaknesses so that further training can be implemented. Although this feedback and training should be an ongoing process, the semi-annual evaluation might be the best time to formally discuss his performance, but performance coaching sessions across the performance period is encouraged.;Question 4. If you pay a sales person enough money you will have a well motivated sales person. Do you agree? Explain your reasons.While pay is an important consideration for most workers, there are more important considerations that affect an employees’ intention to stay with the organisation and to work optimally. My salesmen’s   intrinsic motivation will cause them to exhibit organisational commitment even as he realizes that the pay offered by the company is not necessarily the most competitive.   While this is the case, tt is important to ensure that their pay is equitable – while it is not the highest in the industry – since this is intricately related to the my salesmen’s sense of job satisfaction.I should also ensure that the rewards given to my sales people are equitably given. Equity theory suggests that motivated behaviou r is a form of exchange in which individuals employ an internal balance sheet in determining what to do.   It predicts that people will choose the alternative they perceive as fair.   In other words, my sales people should find that those who contributed more to goal attainment are also rewarded as much. That is, reward is a function of performance or merit.I realise that motivating workers well in these times of change demands a balanced combination of emotional and intellectual levers. Any manager should learn to use and combine as many needs, factors, modes of reinforcement, and outputs into their message as may be necessary to motivate their employees (Legge, 2005). As Sales Manager, I can become a good motivator by knowing two things well: first, which tool or level of motivation will work for each and every employee, and second, how to motivate and communicate effectively with the use of positive reinforcement. On the part of my company, management practices which can serv e as effective reinforcers include self-esteem work shops, flexible work arrangements, customized benefits packages, individual and team performance-based reward systems, among others. Each employee is different thus their motivating factors vary from one and other. My task should be to locate motivational factors of each individual or group in order to develop a motivational environment. This will assist the me in creating a better working environment enhancing productivity and job satisfaction.;Leaders and managers like myself are the ones that provide motivation and vision to any organisational undertaking. I should posses the capabilities, abilities, and skills of a leader in order to create a motivating, working environment. Only in having such effective and motivational leadership can the organisation be assured of a healthy, sustainable, and committed workforce.Word Count: 402ReferencesLegge, K. (2005). Human resource management: Rhetorics and realities. Anniversary edition. Basingstoke: MacMillan.Maczynski, J. ; Koopman, P. (2000). Culture and leadership profiles in Europe: Some results from the GLOBE study. In Koslowsky, M. ; Stashevsky, S. (eds.), Work values and organisational behaviour toward the new millennium. London: Macmillan.Weathersby, G. B. (1998). Leadership at every level. Management Review, 87(6), 5.