Insight
Essays

Cystic Fibrosis in the Modern Era disease that steals a childhood, adolescence and adulthood in an assault on the lungs and other vital organs that cause every living action to revolve around the diagnosis, care, and…

The movie "What Women Want" is a comedy that paralleled in a comedic way, the differences and similarities in male and female relationships. The communication concepts present in the movie included self disclosure, relational development and personal space as exemplified in the male to female interactions in the movie. Following is a critical review of the movie's communication styles as compared to the interpersonal communication theories applicable to relational development, self disclosure and personal space.

This is a book review of the book, Abraham: a journey to the heart of three faiths, by Bruce Feiler. The paper gives a synopsis of the book, which involves Feiler traveling through the Middle East and discussing Abraham with Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders. It explores some new facts revealed by studying the book. Finally, the paper concludes with criticisms of the author's work, and suggestions for what he could have done to make the work more relevant.

Nike's strategic direction when analyzed using the Ansoff Matrix and the Boston Consulting Groups' Growth/Share matrix strategic market planning frameworks illustrate the company's increasing reliance on branding,…

During the 1950's, the Health Belief model (HBM) was developed from the field of social psychology. The theoretical framework offers an explanation of why individuals are motivated to participate in preventive health behaviors. The model has five perception constructs of susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action. In this setting the HBM predicts what prevention behaviors diabetic patients will engage in to avoid foot pathology and ultimately amputation. Current research indicates that the Health Belief Model (HBM) is the most common model used to study health- related behaviors. According to Ganz, Rimer, and Lewis (2002) an assumption of this model indicates people are more inclined to demonstrate disease prevention activities when they perceive (a) an increased susceptibility to the illness; (b) the illness is severe; (c) the actions are valuable; (d) the behavior has few obstacles; and (e) are prompted to execute the actions.

In a manufacturer's quest to manage its supply and demand chains, one simple word aptly portrays a certain, common, contemporary concern that a company can count on having to cope with - uncertainty.

The likeability of a manager will determine how effective they are on transactionally-oriented tasks while also being a very accurate predicator of hwo effective they will be in more transformational roles in an organization. The intent of this analysis is to define likeability from a leadership standpoint, illustrating how this aspect of a leader's personality must be authentic, transparent in approach and genuine in how a leader earns and keeps the trust of subordinates, peers and superiors. A likeable person is by definition one that is known for their friendliness or the ability to create an ongoing dialogue that includes a significant level of self-disclosure and ability to communicate with accuracy, clarity and honesty (George, 1995). A likeable leader is one that has the ability to combine friendliness, relevance of communication to others, empathy or the capacity to feel what others are also feeling ands enunciate those emotions, all unified by a very strong level of authenticity, integrity and realness (Gabriel, Griffiths, 2002). All of these factors together define a likeable person, and add in the willingness of a leader to self-sacrifice, create and stay consistent with roles in an organization that capitalize on the unique strengths of an associate, and a strong foundation of transformational leadership begins to emerge. One of the key findings of this study is that to the extent a manager has the ability to create and sustain a high level of trust with subordinates is the extent to which they are able to also sustain transformational leadership in a team. While leaders have varying levels and depths of skills that contribute to their ability to be transformational in the scope of their work, those with demonstrated high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) combined with the four foundational aspects of transformational leadership skills consistently have a higher level of likeability than their more transaction-oriented counterparts (Gabriel, Griffiths, 2002). In evaluating if likeability leads to greater leadership performance, a model of proposed Likeability and Organizational Transformation has been created and is presented in this analysis. The existing body of research indicates that likeability is one of the foundational elements of effective transformational leadership, yet it does not exist in isolation. The accumulated research completed for this study indicates that likeability of a leader is highly correlated to their level of EI. The dimensions of EI have a direct, predictive effect on how likeable and effective a leader will be. Another finding from this analysis is that likeability by itself does not guarantee a leader will be effective; it is only their ability to translate EI-based skills in conjunction with a very strong foundation of transformational skills that they are able to accomplish challenging goals and propel an organization to fulfill its shared vision. This study also concludes that likeability is also not essential for success either, as the many examples from leaders and CEOs renowned for being very difficult to work with who have propelled their organizations to leadership positions in their industries. Larry Ellison of Oracle, known for being exceptionally demanding and for creating a culture of mistrust and intense internal competition is not likeable according to the dimensions of the research completed for this study. He is however exceptionally effective in driving his organization to attain its vision and mission. What this study has found is that when the triad factors of Emotional Intelligence (EI), trust and transformational leadership are combined, leaders increase the propensity of being liked. These three factors combined provide leaders with a solid foundation of being effective in their roles as well. Likeability does not assure results however. Figure 1, Analysis of Key Factors of Likeability, shows how these three factors must be balanced and in proportion to each other in a leader's management style to be effective. Deficiencies in EI for example could lead to a very collegial work environment yet the leader would not know how and when to define tasks and key strategies to accomplish objectives over time. All three must be balanced in order for a catalyst of continued progress to be formed and stabilized within an organization.

The issue of women in literature dates back to the earliest written word, and in "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf presents a multifaceted look at the presence—and, more importantly, the absence—of women in this art form, focusing on women as the subject of the art as well the creator through historical, sociological, and economic lenses. It is important to look at these topics from Woolf's perspective and analyze their relevance then and now.

The industrial age, transactional, transformational and situational leadership models emerged from the unique needs of organizations to optimize their workforces to the tasks needed to accomplish strategic goals.

Cryptography was a very important element in the results of both World War I and II. While it has been used for centuries for a variety of purposes, cryptography in its currently known forms was first developed during…