Analysis
Essays

Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War Washington rules: America's path to permanent war is an indictment of the Washington consensus that positions the U.S. as the World's Big Brother and Policeman. Commencing with the Truman Administration, Bacevich traces the birth, development and maintenance of the Washington consensus built on a credo in which the United States alone must "lead, save, liberate, and ultimately transform the world," along with the "trinity" of global military presence, global power projection and global interventionism. Based on these two elements of credo and trinity, along with the complacency of the American people, the United States has spread its military might around the globe in a so-called "flexible response" thrusting us "into a condition approximating perpetual war" that is costing the country dearly in human and nonhuman resources. Bacevich then suggests solutions in the form of a new credo in which the United States becomes a model of the ideals set forth in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. He also suggests a new trinity in which America shifts from: a large professional military constantly prepared for war to more of a citizen-warrior force; use of our military for world domination to use of the military for defense and vital interests only; global occupation to withdrawal from areas in which the cost clearly outweighs the benefit. Bacevich's book is widely praised, though problems have been noted. Though chiefly praising Bacevich's book, Gary J. Bass takes issue with: at least one of Bacevich's severe analogies between our policymakers and possibly Hitler; Bacevich's exclusion of examples in which American leaders and the American public acted against the foregone conclusion of the Washington consensus. Gerard De Groot also praises Bacevich's book but believes that Bacevich's belief that the American public can change the current situation is too optimistic. In addition to the criticisms posed by Bass and De Groot, it appears that Bacevich's suggestion of eliminating our large, well-armed professional military is an invitation to a disaster that we were fortunate to miss during World War II. Finally, Bacevich's suggestion of defense-only and vital interest-only use of our military raises significant issues about what constitutes "defense" and "vital interest," as well as the important issue of who will decide what constitutes "defense" and "vital interest." In sum, Bacevich's book raises important perspectives and historical examples that compel the reader to examine and challenge the current Washington consensus; however, the book is also somewhat flawed and/or incomplete.

The launch of any new product is a highly collaborative, team-centric activity that requires the orchestration of efforts across many different departments. Leading a product introduction requires use of many of the skills and concepts of the Team leadership Model. The intent of this analysis is to use the concepts of the Team leadership Model, applying them to a product introduction, illustrates through example how key concepts and frameworks could be used for alleviating significant conflict between engineering and marketing. Based on this assessment it can be seen how powerful the Team Leadership Model is as a foundation managing team complexity and conflict when constraints of a project make shared sacrifices essential for team advancement. Analysis of the Product Introduction Using Team Leadership Analysis Creating a balance between the task, relational and environmental factors of a team is critical for overall team effectiveness to be optimized. In the case of a new product introduction, the task factors include entirely different perspectives and mindsets of priorities. The ability of a team leader to intermediate priorities across project teams and still accomplish a strategic goal is evidence of transformational leadership (Eisenbeiss, 1438). Marketing and engineering have significantly different priorities on a daily basis, yet during a new product introduction, both must combine priorities to ensure the product is successful. The conflicts of these two teams is significant, as engineering wants to invest every extra hour in adding new features or functions, even changing the appearance of the product. Marketing is interested in getting the product entirely defined and ready to be sold. Both teams want closure on product designs, yet the concept of just what closure is varies significantly between each. Internal team functions of task and relational requirements must be balanced to the environmental factors of team leadership for any team to achieve tis objectives (Bucic, Robinson, Ramburuth, 238). This focus on balance within the internal team was key to solving the inherent conflicts between departments. Both had a very clear goal of what a successful new product launch was, and both were highly committed, which is the relational part of the Team Leadership Model. The external factor of time being so critical, with the product introduction date announced to shareholders and the CEO guaranteeing the date, put immense pressure on everyone in the company to meet it. Only through the use of transformational leadership strategies including participative decision making and share vision of final outcomes, two best practices of the Team Leadership Model (Vandewaerde, 419) did the project succeed in meeting its deadline.

Product liability is an area of law in which any organization that either makes products (manufacturers) or distributes to the public (makes available) may be held responsible for potential injuries that may be caused…

Sunk costs are costs that have already been incurred. So for example if a company spent money on a marketing assessment for a new product, that would not be included in the decision to bring that product to market…

In his article, Timothy Williamson makes a number of severe criticisms against the discipline of experimental philosophy as described by Joshua Alexander in his book Experimental Philosophy—An Introduction. Williamson's criticisms are mainly directed at the vague definitions offered by Alexander for the terms by which he describes the scope of experimental philosophy. Another major point of criticism is the unsubstantiated claims by Alexander on the basis of which he paints experimental philosophy as a revolutionary change in the field.In his article, Timothy Williamson makes a number of severe criticisms against the discipline of experimental philosophy as described by Joshua Alexander in his book Experimental Philosophy—An Introduction. Williamson's criticisms are mainly directed at the vague definitions offered by Alexander for the terms by which he describes the scope of experimental philosophy. Another major point of criticism is the unsubstantiated claims by Alexander on the basis of which he paints experimental philosophy as a revolutionary change in the field.

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