The Placement Of Blame By Homer s Odyssey - 1487 Words

The Placement of Blame Blame can always be placed several different ways, and the accused and accusers of situations battle this all the time in literature. In one text however, several arguments can be made for one side of this ever-present schism. In this particular book, more arguments can be made to assign blame to one side of the argument rather than the other. In Homer’s Odyssey, mortal men cause their own misfortune. One way mortal men cause their own misfortune is by disobeying Odysseus, their leader. They, Odysseus’ crew, did this several times, but two instances significantly stand out in the argument of assigning blame. Before reaching Thrinakia, the island of Helios, Odysseus told his men of the warnings he had received about†¦show more content†¦During his visit to the underworld, Odysseus was informed of one of his most formidable enemies: desire. Teiresias plainly told him that â€Å"if [he could] contain [his] own desire, and contain [his] companions†¦ [they] might all make [their] way back to Ithaca† (Homer 171). When they finally saw the island, Odysseus did feel the desire to stop at the island, but tried to heed the warnings he received. His men however did not feel the same way he did. His me pestered him until he felt they had â€Å"[forced him] to it† but in reality he was just making an excuse to give in to his desires† (Homer 193). After indulging in his (and his crew’s) desires, he thought they would soon proceed off the island, however this was not the case. While exploring the island, his food deprived crew came upon the cattle of Helios, and being starving, began to cook and eat them, even sacrificing a part to the gods. Odysseus was walking back to their camp on his own when â€Å"the pleasant savor of cooking meat came drifting around [him], and [he] cried out [his] grief aloud to the gods immortal (Homer 194). Once he smelled the meat he knew that the horrific actions that were predicted would come true. All these things happened because Odysseus’ crew did not follow the instruction of their leader and instead followed their desires, but an even worse fate comes true when they disobey the gods themselves. With the warnings he received from the gods and Teiresias the seer, Odysseus tried to

Civil Rights Heroes By Jonathan Kozol - 1504 Words

The names Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes, Jackie Robinson, Fannie Lou Hamer and Thurgood Marshall are all civil rights heroes, not to be forgotten. However, Jonathan Kozol reveals that the schools he has had experience with that are named after these civil rights champions are actually dishonoring the dead. Professor Gary Orfield indicates that schools that are comprised mostly of minority students, less than 1% white, are essentially â€Å"apartheid schools.† There is a reciprocal action, â€Å"To give up on integration†¦.requires us to consciously and deliberately accept segregation†(Orfield and Eaton, 20). It is noted that some of the reasons New York has this problem is due to government enforced school boundaries, housing segregation and non-enforced fair housing laws. Thus, the schools are named after the heroes in a show of respect and honor, yet their segregation is a dishonor to the namesakes. The racial isolation of the students le aves them feeling hidden, unwanted and inferior. This is a dishonor to those students and the people who fought so persistently for equal opportunities. Among other injustices, some schools in the South Bronx and other areas do not have basic essentials needed to conduct a safe environment ripe for learning. The apartheid schools are unsafe and underfunded, lacking enough rooms, chairs, play areas, libraries and enriching programs such as art and music. The funding disparity is saddening; with the Board of Education

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility

Question: Discuss about theStrategic Corporate Social Responsibility. Answer: Introduction From time to time organizations are bound to respond to opportunities and threats that arise in the dynamic environment in which they operate. The modern workplace environment has emerged as quite challenging for organizations. There are several pressures to which Modern organizations continue to be exposed to, and on which they must compete. Businesses continue to come up with organizational responses to counter these opportunities and threats. Business pressures are the factors that affect business operations. This essay will focus on some pressures faced by organizations and remedies that businesses have to counter them. Corporate social responsibility. This is organizations responsibility for the impacts of its decisions and actions on the society and the environment. From their operations business are bound to impact on the environment and communities in a number of ways (Crane,2008). Corporate social responsibility has emerged as a factor for organization success or failure. From the increasing levels of community awareness, there has been a growing emphasis on businesses to act responsibly in their dealings, with organizations that are socially responsible becoming a favorite for many consumers. This and various others government legislations have put immense pressures on organizations to act responsibly for them to compete on the same level with their competitors. The stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility described by Edward freeman is focused on business stakeholders or the individuals who are likely to affect or be affected by business operations. This theory lays emphasis on t he obligations that can be imposed on organizations by these stakeholders, their rights with regard to the actions of an organization as well as their genuine claims on the business. In short, this theory focuses on how these stakeholders can control the operations of an organization (Chandler Werther, 2013). Organizations are therefore being pressured each day to minimize their negative impact and maximize their positive impact on the environment and the community. Strategies. Organizations or managers have at their disposal several strategies that they can put in place to meet the demands of their various stakeholders. Philanthropic responsibility requires organizations to come up with projects that support the welfare of the communities in which they operate (Lee Kotler,2013). Organizations can initiate education support programs such as offering scholarships to the needy members of the society in order to facilitate their education and their ability to transform their communities. Apart from education organizations can also support healthcare programs such as building community-based health centers as well as contributing funds towards other community initiatives. Organizations can also act responsibly by ensuring that their actions have minimal impact on the environment. They can do this by adopting recycling programs to minimize the wastes generated from business operations, the can also ensure that they minimize consumption of resources as much as possible to avoid affect the quality of life lived by the future generations as a result of depletion of natural resources. Organizations can also adapt usage of alternative sources of energy that do avoid depletion of natural resources and the subsequent negative impacts that come with it (Visser Institute for Corporate Culture Affairs,2010). Changing nature of the workforce. The needs of organizations workforce are increasingly becoming diversified. Among the demand that has been brought about by this diversification is the need for employees to be more empowered (Huq, 2010).While traditionally employees were seen as people who were to follow orders from their managers, modern workplace brought immense pressure on organizations to involve employees in decision making and view them as partners instead of subordinates. Employees want to be more involved in decision-making and other operations of the organization and because of this, there has been increasing pressure on organizations to empower their employees.(Wodden, 2009) views the implementation of empowerment strategies by organizations as an attempt to maintain a shared vision, institutional recognition, organizational support, knowledge, and learning. Employee empowerment involves giving employees power, information, reward, and knowledge and asserts that without th ese four there can be a hindrance of employee empowerment. According to Kanters theory of structural empowerment, leaders powers grow based on the leader's ability to share the power through empowerment. He further states that empowerment enables employees to make informed decisions and become more productive hence benefiting not only themselves but also their organization (Pettinger, 2012). Strategies. There are several strategies that organizations can employ to respond to the increasing empowerment demands at the modern workplace Employee training and development is one of the strategies that organizations have to meet these demands. Frequent training opportunities capacitate employees to go about their assigned duties and responsibilities with much ease and without having to consult their managers frequently. Employees require training to be equipped with the required skills for the assigned tasks. Apart from training, authority is also a strategy that can be applied to empower employees. There has been increasing demand for responsibilities followed by Authority from employees as a result of the diversifications at the modern workplace. Organizations/Mangers can ensure that that they give sufficient authority to employees to enable them to make decisions on how well they can complete their assigned tasks instead of concentrating all the authority at the top. Manager s can also make sure that they maintain a personal touch with their employees, encourage and constantly give positive feedback about their performance. This can be an effective strategy to empower them and develop them professionally. As noted by expectancy theory, managers can also build confidence in their employees to make them more productive and improve their job satisfaction (Rainer Cegielski,2011). Conclusion In conclusion, there has been increasing pressure on organizations regarding their interaction with both their internal and external environments. These pressures can contribute to the failure or success of organizations depending on how they are able to handle them. Organizations that are socially responsible have continued to enjoy more fruitful interactions with their stakeholders while the pressure to be socially responsible has continued to increase for those that are not. Changing nature of workforce has also made it necessary for organizations to devise appropriate strategies such as empowerment in order to reduce employee turnover and improve productivity. Reference List Chandler, D. B., Werther, W. B. J. (2013). Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders, Globalization, and Sustainable Value Creation. Crane, A. (2008). The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Huq, R. (2010). Employee empowerment: The rhetoric and the reality. Axminster, Devon: Triarchy Press. Johnson, P., Wood, G., Brewster, C., Brookes, M. (2009). The rise of post-bureaucracy: theorists' fancy or organizational praxis?. International Sociology, 24(1), 37-61. Rainer, R. K., Cegielski, C. G. (2011). Introduction to information systems. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley Sons Pettinger, R. (2012). Business studies for dummies. Chichester: Wiley. Lee, N., Kotler, P. (2013). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Visser, W., Institute for Corporate Culture Affairs. (2010). The A to Z of corporate social responsibility. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley.

Lorenzo Colbert Jr. Essays (637 words) - Americas, Structure

Lorenzo Colbert Jr. Speech Writing Assignment #1 Red Cross The emotions that I am experiencing after listening to the broadcast are confusion and frustration. I feel confused because the Red Cross is supposed to be an organization that is non-profitable. The confusion rises when I think of exactly where the money actually went. I am frustrated because we as a people look to Red Cross to assist us when needed not take advantage. It doesn't make sense how you take all of that money yet continue to let those in Haiti suffer and wait on the assistance the promised. The reporter sounded very credible. She provided endless facts to back up every statement she made. She also has used voice recordings to make her argument more trustworthy. I feel as if she knows exactly what she is discussing and has done an extensive amount of research. I can tell that she has dug deep to get the information about this faulty organization. The Red Cross spokesperson did not sound credible whatsoever. The spokesperson could not answer questions directly and deflected them with ease. The spokesperson also went in circles to answer questions so they would not s lip up and say the wrong thing on recordings. For the spokesperson to be a part of Red Cross, they did not sound very concerned about the ongoing issues in Haiti. The spokesperson only could revert back to one thing to support their end of the argument. The most disturbing thing to me about the broadcast was the information that Red Cross was withholding. Even though there were facts proving that they did not do what they said they would do, they were still in denial of what they were being accused. I can't believe that they would knowingly still let the people of Haiti suffer when they have more than enough resources to help. If Red Cross is not being truthful about what they say they are going to do, then what and who else are these non-profit organizations hiding from us. Based off what I heard from the broadcast, non-profit organizations are full of lies. They are manipulative and they deceive you into thinking they are for the greater good. They will take your money in surplus and only do enough to get the media attention then they will take the rest of the money for themselves. They don't have our best interest at heart at all. My knowledge of Red Cross has never been much but that they have been assisting people for a long time now. What I already knew and believed was that they were an organization that sticks their necks out for people in need of assistance. But after hearing the broadcast, I now know that it all just a disguise to acquire more money. Red Cross takes from people who would give their last to help others in need and doesn't use your money for what you intended on it going to. A. I will tell everyone I know who cares about assisting others. I would also inform everyone who donates to these non-profit organizations so they can know exactly what goes on behind closed doors. I'm willing to tell anyone with a heart and who cares. B. I would tell them because people need to become aware of what's really going on in our corrupt society. They also have the right to know where their money is actually going and not going. Information like this should not be shadowed and should be out for the world to see clear as day. C. The answer is self-explainable. People should know when they are being ripped off. Especially by the people they are actually putting their trust into.