Lincoln Vs. Davis Essays - Stateless People, American Civil War

Lincoln Vs. Davis Charles Beard, a noted historian said that the American Civil War was a conflict between industry and agriculture. Alexander Stephens, a southern statesman said that the war was about states rights. Horace Greeley, a northern newspaper man, and prominent abolitionist claimed the war was fought over the issue of slavery. Abraham Lincoln said it was a struggle testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. Lincoln said his paramount object was to save the Union, and if he could accomplish that by not freeing any slaves, he would free none; if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. What would have happened if Davis would have said that his paramount object was to save the Confederacy, and if he could accomplish that by not freeing any slaves, he would free none; if he could save it by freeing all the slaves he would do it; and if he could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone he would also do that. What if he would have taken the attitude that what he did about slavery and the colored race would be done to help save the Confederacy? Jefferson Davis was profoundly dedicated to the cause that he led. Many prominent Southerners, including Robert E. Lee, were troubled in conscience by slavery. Davis never manifested any qualms about either slavery or secession. His support of state sovereignty and the Southern way of life was based on deep conviction. When Lincoln composed the Gettysburg Address he did not talk much about the way most historians perceive the war. It was his perception...The men who had died at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, Balls Bluff, Big Bethel, Shiloh...had not given the last full measure of devotion to free the slaves, nor to establish a modern nation nor to create an industrial empire. They died for the Union, and beyond that for the idea of democracy, so that the ray of hope sent forth by the American Revolution would never dim (Stephen E. Ambrose). The issue of the Civil War was democracy. Lincoln saw to it that the North fought to insure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. The constitution drawn up at Montgomery defined the new government as the creation of sovereign and independent states. Davis subscribed to the principles of state sovereignty but he was far less provincial in his views than were many of his fellow Confederates. As the South's chief executive he was tremendously handicapped by the deep and pervasive attachment of Southerners to states rights(Bell I. Wiley). Davis was also handicapped by the excessive individualism which characterized the South's ruling classes. The individualism was a product of the plantation system. Each planter was in effect a petty sovereign and his exalted status tended to make him self-reliant, proud, resentful of opposition, and averse to teamwork. Great men are never cruel without necessity. In war as in politics, no evil, even if it is permissible under the rules, is excusable unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything beyond that is a crime. Men who have changed the world never achieved their success by winning the chief citizens to their side, but always by stirring the masses. The first method is that of a schemer and leads only to mediocre results; the other method is the path of genius and changes the face of the world (Napoleon Bonaparte). According to his contemporary critics, Abraham Lincoln's Presidential record was notable for his despotic use of power and his blatant disregard for the Constitution. Lincoln ordered thousands of arrests, kept political enemies in prison without bringing charges against them, refused these hapless men their right to trial by a jury of their peers, and ignored orders from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to release them. In his first few months in office he made the most direct violations

Six Sigma program Essays

Six Sigma program Essays Six Sigma program Essay Six Sigma program Essay What will be the benefits, costs and risks of the Six Sigma program and how will they be tracked and reported? Six Sigma is a program that is used to improve processes within the organization be it in administrative, clerical, manufacturing or production processes. Six Sigma is generally geared at defining goals and problems, measuring existing data and processes, analyzing problems and goals, improving processes or tasks and controlling how the problems will be resolved in the future. The benefits of Six Sigma include the improvement of operating procedures to ensure faster response time, quality products and services and better monitoring of performance and work outputs. The Six Sigma model can promise the said results and benefits because it provides a formula in which an existing processes is checked for consistency, efficiency and effectiveness, if it fails to measure to the existing industry standards it is revised and redesigned to match the best practices. In the event that there is no existing process, then Six Sigma will be used as a model or guide to develop one. Six Sigma also ensures that costs will be lowered because there will be less time spent in the process and more time to work on the actual tasks. The cost of Six Sigma is huge, the organization has to hire and maintain a consultant that would guide and train top management and middle management in the principles of Six Sigma. Moreover, each employee also has to be trained which can be costly since it would mean time away from work and training costs. Six sigma also has its own risks, it is not foolproof and some organizations may not be suited to it hence instead of improving the organization it may only mean disaster. Then Six Sigma with its highly structured model may stifle interpersonal relationships in the organization and may change the organizational culture. As with any kind of change, implementing Six Sigma is bound to be met by skepticism and fear by the employees that may affect how smoothly the transition to Six Sigma would be. Administrators and management will monitor how efficiently Six Sigma is implemented and whether the objectives for each project are being met. After a period of implementation the adoption of Six Sigma in several projects will be evaluated in terms of its benefits, costs and risks which will then be reported to the top management and board. It can be reported in terms of how goals had been met as compared to the previous performance, whether costs had been lowered and by what amount. How should the various functional areas in the organization be included in the Six Sigma initiative and what role should senior and middle management play in this change initiative? Since Six Sigma is a process model, it can be implemented in all the departments and work areas in the organization. A department may identify a problem or their goals which is being affected by an existing process. Thus, each department may be given the opportunity to practice Six Sigma, also, the middle manager can be the team leader in his/her department who oversees the process change as well as check if goals are being met. The senior managers can be the evaluating body in the sense that they will be the judge of whether Six Sigma had been adequately implemented. Middle managers become accountable for how well Six Sigma is implemented by the department while senior management will provide the support and control of the change process. What role should Six sigma play in corporate strategy? Six Sigma can also be employed in the formulation of corporate strategies. For example, Six Sigma requires that the leaders or managers of the organization first identify and define their goals. This would mean that the managers need to determine what are their goals and objectives for the company in the near future. After which, the managers need to measure and analyze their current position in the market, and whether they have the tools and resources necessary for the strategies that they are considering in order to meet their initial goals. After making use of internal and external data and mapping out what needs to be done, corporate strategies can then be formulated congruent to the existing data. In this way, the organization lessens the risks and costs associated with new corporate strategies. What are the human resource implications for deploying Six Sigma (e.g. employee selection, roles, organization structure, and reward systems)? Six Sigma is highly structured and it requires that key persons are designated as the team leader, as a Black Belt and such which means that human resource be able to match each employee to the roles and functions necessary to make Six Sigma work. This would mean that employee selection has to include measuring the ability of the employee to work within a structure and to follow protocol. The organizational structure would also be affected when Six Sigma is employed in an organization because the organization will then be working as teams or units specializing in a process, it may tend to flatten the structure or to become more diversified. The reward systems may also be changed because the performance of the employees would be measured in terms of how well they improved their overall output and if they fail to reach the standards then they would not be rewarded. If rewards were based on individual performance before Six Sigma then it would mean a total redesign of the rewards system of the organization. How will Six Sigma affect the innovative culture at 3M and is Six Sigma enough? 3M’s history had been dotted with innovation and it is the strongest point of the company bringing in sales, growth and market share. It is a diversified company which has depended on the ability of the RD department to churn out new products which made 3M the leader in its field. Six Sigma had been criticized to stifle creativity and it would mean less opportunity for innovation. Because Six Sigma focuses on systematizing procedures and cutting on costs and risks, creativity has no room to grow in this set-up. Six Sigma may work in terms of improving the processes of 3M especially in production, distribution, marketing and other procedural tasks however it should not be treated as a panacea. Six Sigma is not enough, it can be an excellent tool to improve how the organization performs but there are instances where it is not applicable. Six Sigma should be used in tandem with a culture and organizational structure that can support structure and procedures and at the same time leave room for creativity and innovation.

The Workplace Diversity of MNCs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Workplace Diversity of MNCs - Research Paper Example As from Catherwood Library (2010) â€Å"Workplace diversity is a people issue, focused on the differences and similarities that people bring to an organization. It is usually defined broadly to include dimensions beyond those specified legally in equal opportunity and affirmative action non-discrimination statutes. Diversity is often interpreted to include dimensions which influence the identities and perspectives that people bring, such as profession, education, parental status and geographic location†. Problem: Expatriate Recently most of the organizations who are working in different countries want to keep a good amount of diversity in the organization. That is the reason they employ people from different countries with different cultural background, language, religion etc. The organization has to deal with people and it’s very common that where there are individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, there are high chances that conflicts can arise at any time. The iss ue that women employees are lesser in number at the organization is also a diversity problem faces by many organizations. Because if there is no equal number of gender then business towards the better number of gender is going to happen and small least number of gender will be suppressed by the greater number and they will not feel comfortable working there. That is also in general not good for the organization. (Mor Barak, 2010, p.4) Diversity in the workplace mainly encircles people from diverse cultural backgrounds, language, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief and other values. Diversity is also reflected when people belong to variety of educational fields, work experiences, personality, socio-economic context, marital status etc. (Vissa, 2013) For instance, often in the European work culture, people address their seniors by their names without adding any â€Å"Sir† at the end of the name and this practice is regarded as friendly and warm by the p eople of Europe however the person belonging to Asian culture would find it insulting if his junior addresses him by name. Language also creates a major diversity factor, as it is considered to be the primary tool for communication. Most of the organization lack of proper number of and quality human resource staff to handle these issues. These are the problems regarding expatriate currently facing by most of the MNCs (Multi-National Companies). Solution: Using diversity in positive manner As we can see that the organization has introduced several policies supporting the diversity within the workplace therefore it is must for them to maintain a conflict resolution system. The organization should create an environment of tolerance and understanding in the team. They should also encourage the employees to adopt this mindset, to challenge their belief system and to be open-minded enough to hear each of the members’ view. It will help members realize that there isn’t only o ne way of thinking. The managers need to accept that they can’t make everyone think and act like they do (Esty, 1995, pp 12-14). They need to be attentive to verbal and nonverbal cues that might course tension.  Ã‚