The People of Rajasthan

The People of Rajasthan When this magnificent beauty Rajasthan entails into our minds, the very first visual of this grand state comes with the images of iridescent lights and a wide variety of energetic folk dances and enthusiastic music it also reminds us of the desert- stretches, the forts, palaces, the mighty warriors, and royal robes of the rajas and maharajas. Thinking of this princely state also memorises us through the magnificent beauty which is established through the architectural wonders of havelis. The word Rajasthan literary means the abode of kings. Its pre-independence name Rajputana meant the homeland of -the mighty Rajputs. An energetic and a vibrant state where royal glory and tradition meets the colors of this world, contradicting the vast area of desserts and sand lies a perfect blend of people, culture, tradition, music, architecture, cuisine all in one pot. Rajasthans vast ocean of sand is contradictory to the colourful and vibrant culture and tradition it possesses. Growing generatio ns have seen their cultivated culture of music, art and dance through ages. A vast and wonder-laced state with treasures more sublime than those of fable, the Land of the Kings paints a bold image People of Rajasthan There is always an inadequate knowledge of the place without knowing its people. Rajasthan is an anthropological mixture of people who come from varied variety of ethnic, economic, religious, social and cultural background. In the ancient times the caste of the person determined their profession. As times have changed it slowly has adopted a birth based caste system. Many caste and sub-caste reside in this grand state of Rajasthan. The warriors of the clan are the Hindu Rajput constitute major portion of the residents of Rajasthan. The Brahmins and the vaishya also form a part of it. The population also consists of the muslims, Sikhs ,jains and sindhis. Major portion of the livelihood of the tribes like Jat, Gurjar, Mali arises from agricultural based activities. Other are free to choose their profession by will. The dresses and the ornaments used and worn by the folks are greatly influenced by their caste, economic status, climate profession and also history. Culture of Rajasthan Music and folk dances of Rajasthan The living soul of the people lies in there folk music and dance which also add a glamour in their hard lives. People in this state are very fun loving and energetic. They have highly cultivated classical and folk dances which have been a part of their culture for growing generations now. Folk music flourished due to the kings of Rajputana who embodied music in their courts. The music constitutes different flavours of folk music, the hymns and prayers in praise of the Lord, the magnificent stories of the chivalry of the mighty Rajput emperors, the local folk dances and songs in praise of the rain God. The vibrant gay colours of the attire totally contradict to the backdrop of the plain coloured desert and invoke the feeling of engaging in the dance. All the traditionally based old dance forms are still practiced religiously. Some of the peculiar dance forms are kaibelia dance, Ghoomar dance, Chari dance, Kacchi -Ghodi , fire dance and terah taai. Other types of dances are enforsed during different occasions. Art and Craft of Rajasthan This state is well known for textiles, semi precious stones, handicrafts, traditional and colourful art. The local furniture has complex carving and bright colour. There are many prints like block prints, tie and die prints which are the major products which are exported from Rajasthan. The blue pottery in Jaipur is particularly famous all over the world. We are aware of how much this beautiful state has to offer to tourists. We have however chosen something very different and rare for our DIP research  project. We all know that havelis are architectural monuments built by the rich merchants and traders to show off their wealth, and built by the well  to do families in the 17th and 18th century to protect themselves from the extreme climatic conditions, in the region known as Shekhawati. In the semi arid dessert regions of Shekhawati, the day would be boiling hot and the nights would be as cold as freezing ice. The land and its people This region of Shekhawati lies roughly between Jaipur, Delhi and Bikaner in the state of Rajasthan. There is little of industrialization that takes place in this region and farming is poor. Some families leave this region due to failure in financial gains, but they return back to their birthplace: either for retirement or to settle down again. Among the few of them that return are the Rajputs, the Shekhawats (whose ancestor gave its name to this land). The Shekhawati region, unlike most other parts of Rajasthan was never a single kingdom; it remained a loosely held conderation of feudal principalities. The Shekhawati land, is known for its frescos. What sets this region completely apart are the eye-striking beautifully made frescos. This part of the desert was once a part of Aryavat, the land of the Aryans who spread too a great extent to the northern part of our country. Aryans, were the community that composed their sacred texts, the oldest in the world, which are the VEDAS here. It would also be interesting to know that archaeologists have found remains of sites contemporary with the Indus Valley civilization dating all the way back to 200 BC. Our topic for this research project is: Comparative study of architecture of Havelis and their impact on society today. This topic of the architecture of havelis has indeed interested us as a group and we would love to explore this aspect of Rajasthan. It has a massive huge number of ancient havelis situated in the region of Shekhawati, where we plan to visit and study and carry out an  analysis of the different havelis The comparative study will be based on the  Architecture of the haveli The interior (frescos, murals, paintings, inscriptions The exterior (sculptures, doorways, bhaitak -seating area, hathi pol-entrances The way it has been constructed (Muslim, Hindu , Brahmin, Rajput) If the Haveli has been constructed keeping in mind the Vaastu (which will not be the same for the havelis that are owned by a different caste If the haveli has been constructed according to the climatic changes The materials that were used to construct the havelis According to us, this topic has a lot to offer to us because each one of us in the group have been interested in the tiny minute details of   havelis. Havelis do differ from one another on a very huge scale even though they are not always thought of as the same kind. Where we plan to go, which havelis? We first plan to visit an area known as Fatehpur. This town is well known for its really high quality of frescos. The havelis we plan to study here are: Gopiram Jalam haveli. Nand lal Devra haveli. Jagannath Singhania haveli. Our next town of visit will be a region known as Nawalgarh. A town where one can witness a mix of Rajput and European architecture. The havelis we do wish to analyze in this region are: Radheshyam Murarka haveli. Pannalal Mansingka haveli. This brings us to an interesting question, what exactly are Havelis? Haveli as a term used commonly has its named derived from a long traced back Arabic origin of the word `hawoleh meaning partition.   a related word `hawaleh has a slightly different meaning which is `all round or `round about. Through the ages the word havelis has taken  different forms. Though for Persian it had the same meaning as the word hawaleh but with the mughals arriving the word havelis changed into being a partition to a piece of land (this is very similar to the word estate whcich is used in the English language). Since the beginning of the origin of the havelis its definition is only limited to the physical characteristics which makes it inadequate. So far the  closest definition of the word haveli is given by the prince of Whales museum, Mumbai. A havelis generally means a mansion. But in totality, it  symbolizes generation who articulated their life style that includes architecture, customs and manners, `of course arts, crafts and music. The  havelis however are the official residences of umraos, princes, thakurs and others such as dhabhai, purohit and sethji who were given a special  status by the rana. Havelis has an official recognition The term HAVELI is an essentially north Indian concept, and the Persian term implies an enclosed space. The havelis were not just built for residential purposes. Their construction increased on a massive scale, because they were in a way known as objects of self-esteem, in a race to score against each other. They got more lavish and they also borrowed elements of Indo-Saracenic architecture that was standing out among the principal British settlements. Havelis in Rajasthan was primarily developed in 16th century to differentiate their life style from common people. The 2 broad classifications of  havelis in Rajasthan were- Rajput havelis and Marwari havelis while the other havelis were mainly based on the caste and occupation. Accordingly  there were havelis of the Brahmin caste, Muslim havelis, and havelis of other Hindu sub castes. A basic identification of havelis in any medieval  town of Rajasthan is possible by identifying the original owner, his official status, architecture, paintings on the walls of the havelis, sculptures  interiors, etc;  

America - Argumentitive Essay :: essays research papers

Argumentative Essay â€Å"That Australia Should Resist American Influence† - Against For over 50 years now, the United States of America have been a source of inspiration for the people of our great nation. We watch their TV shows, listen to their music, eat their food, and this is all before we leave for work in the morning! Like it or not, America has had a positive influence on Australia, and their is no reasonable explanation to support an abandonment of it. Sure, people may choose to argue that Australia is a country that can stand on it’s own two feet and make it’s way up the world’s political, social and economic scale on it’s own, that is a childish fantasy. To resist American influence is in no way possible or even feasible. We have an extremely high import rate from America. Where would we be without our weekly dose of ‘Friends’ or ‘Chicago Hope’? What childhood wouldn’t be complete without memories of Coca-Cola and bubble gum? It is not just the petty things we ferry in that we can thank America for. Where would our small business community be if it weren’t for American franchises such as ‘Dominoes’ and ‘Baskin Robbins’? Where would out large businesses be without the aid of computer technology, which was so kindly invented by Mr. Bill Gates? If we stand back for a moment and take a long hard look at the things we make use of every day, wouldn’t it be fair to say that at least 80% of them have American foundations? To give these up at the drop of a hat, so we can demonstrate our originality is ludicrous. We would have the world laughing in our faces, due to our naivetà ©. It is a nice thought to be completely independent, but the re is no chance of it happening in the near future. But, for arguments sake, let’s just say we did, where would we be? Australia has had moments of brilliance, but on a whole, we are fairly quiet folk. When we have had the pleasure of being the center of attention, it is usually because we have made some fangle-dangle movie that takes the mickey out of ourselves.

Portrayal of Women in Homers Odyssey Essay -- Homer Odyssey womody

The Portrayal of Women in  Homer's Odyssey In the first section of Odyssey, mortal women are presented to us as controlled by the stereotypes and expectations of the culture of the day, and it is only within that context that we can consider the examples Homer provides of women to be admired or despised. He provides us with clear contrasts, between Penelope and Eurycleia on the one hand, and Helen and Clytemnaestra on the other. In Penelope’s case, it is made clear that her freedom of action is strictly controlled. Antinous feels free to advise Telemachus that as Odysseus is assumed dead, it is expected that Helen will choose another husband, or her father should do so for her. Telemachus does not challenge the logic of this, merely attacks the suitors’ behaviour and questions whether Odysseus is dead. And so Penelope is reduced to using the passive and ‘feminine’ defences of keeping the suitors waiting for a decision, and resorting to the subterfuge of weaving and unweaving her loom daily. We also witness Penelope being ‘put in her place’ by Telemachus when she comes do...

Al Capone :: essays research papers

By all accounts, Alphonse did well at school until the 6th grade, then at the age of 14 he was expelled for retaliating against a female teacher who hit him. Following his expulsion, the Capone family decided to move neighbourhoods - a chance move that would have a huge impact on Al's criminal future. Just round the corner from Capone's new home was the headquarters of gentleman gangster Johnny Torrio's East Coast operation. And like many boys in the area, he became involved in running errands for Torrio, just to earn a little extra money. Despite his involvement with Torrio and street gangs, Capone continued to work and support his family. However, when Torrio moved to Chicago, Capone was left open to some bad influences. At the age of 18, Capone was hired by an aggressive gangster Frankie Yale to work in his bar, the Harvard Inn. It was an incident in the Harvard Inn that earned Capone his nickname "Scarface". One night local gangster Frank Gallucio was drinking with his sister at the Harvard Inn, when Capone approached the young girl to pay her a compliment. Gallucio took offence to the young punk and began a brawl with Capone, it was during the scuffle the older man pulled a knife and cut Capone's face three times - Scarface was born. In early 1918, the career of Capone took another unexpected turn when he met the other most influential person in his life - his future wife Mae. Later that year, on December 4th, Capone became the proud father of Albert (Sonny) Francis Capone - Johnny Torrio became the godfather to his son. Such a dramatic change in lifestyle made him reconsider his career, and he resigned from the Harvard Inn and went to work for a construction firm as a bookkeeper. Chicago's underworld beckons In January 1920, the 18th Amendment of the Prohibition Act came into force, which made the brewing, distilling and distribution of alcohol completely illegal. The Prohibition era had begun, and Chicago's criminal underworld, including Johnny Torrio, was well prepared to make bootlegging illegal alcohol an extremely profitable business. Back in New York, Capone continued to concentrate on his legitimate career right up until the end of 1920 when his father tragically died. Without this strong parental figure, he resumed contact with Torrio, who had built up an influential racketeering empire in Chicago. It wasn't long before Torrio invited him to join him, and within a few months, Capone's life took a drastic turn that would change his destiny forever.

Mexico`s Megalopolis` by Jonathan Kandell

Nowadays, the city of Mexico is one of the largest megalopolises, with enourmopus population density and industrialization rates. Jonathan Kandell in his book ‘I Saw a City Invincible’ provides a wonderful historical excurse in terms of urban, technological and social development in the city. The issue of migration was particularly obvious between the 1940s and the 1970s, when the inhabitants of small towns and rural areas suddenly began to move into the city, searching for their fortunes at factories and plants. As Kandell notes, â€Å"Factories, commerce, and service jobs sucked in hordes of rural migrants who swelled Mexico City’s population from 1. 5 million in 1940 to 8. 5 million in 1970† (Kandell, p. 183). Furthermore, the author describes the stuggle between time-honored Latin American values and globalization trends, brought by the country’s nearest neighbor, the United States. The phenomenon of tourist infrastructure also emerged under American influence: the new cafes and traditional cuisine restaurants were being adjusted to ‘American demands’ and standards (p. 184). In sociopolitical meaning, the country in that period was literally obsessed with social radical views: â€Å"Revolutionary slogans continued to exalt the ideals of land for the rural dispossessed, living wages for the proletariat, and a determinant voice for the state of economic affairs† (ibid). The ambitiousness of Mexican politicians enjoyed stable and sustainable growth between the 1940s and the 1970s, parallel to the growth of ordinary Mexicans’ aspirations, as increasingly more citizens sought rapid career and social protection in the capital. In reality, the needs of majorities were satisfied: there was a plenty of work, due to the development of service and mass-communications spheres, in which females, traditionally marginalized as reliable employees, got an opportunity to find themselves. Due to the fact that by the 1960s, the average Mexican urban family contained no unemployed members (except children), household incomes were growing proportionally to the overall economic and political progress. Nevertheless, the metropolis also experienced certain problems, such as housing crisis: â€Å"In the 1940s and 1950s most migrants settled first in the old downtown tenements [the so-called’ vecindadez] abandoned generations before by the middle class† (p. 185). These quarters seemed completely distinct dimension that in the course of time obtained a kind of autonomy, as such miniature settlements had their local factories, shopping malls, saloons and bars and, certainly, their own markets, which appeared the centers of social life, peculiar ‘offspring’ of Ancient Roman forum or Greek agora. Kandall provides a description of the typical vecindad: â€Å"†¦Tepito was now populated mainly by artisans, vendors, factory laborers, unskilled workers, waiters, office clerks, messengers and porters†, who earned about $20 per month (p. 85). Notwithstanding the rapid economic development, the migrants’ well-being had been very limited up to the 1960s: due to the fact that flat rent was unjustifiably high, the families huddled together in small windowless apartments and could afford meet only once a week. Another apparent trend in urban development was the gradual growth of small enterprises, to which local governments de legated their responsibilities for food, health facilities and education. Nevertheless, the main institutions remained bureaucratic and centralized, so private capital hadn’t enjoyed considerable flow until the end of the 1970s. Due to the fact that the factories of Mexico City were controlled by local authorities, so the working-class suffered from poverty and lack of dwelling conveniences: â€Å"[only] In 1977 Jaras’ dwelling [situated in the typical working-class ‘reservation’] was legally connected to the municipal electricity grid and water system† (p. 90). The present-day ecological catastrophe, notable in Mexico City, is rooted in the negligence, demonstrated by government as well as local enterprises: â€Å"The primitive recycling of garbage, often carried out illegally by small businesses that are unsupervised by the municipal authorities, poses serious health hazards to the population at large† (p. 192). The author notes that the ‘garbage problem’ had remained extremely sharp up to the end of the 1980s. In addition, Kandall addresses the progress of charity and human services: affluent urban entrepreneurs contributed to the development of local communities in the best Mexican traditions: ‘He sponsored local soccer teams, supplied the uniforms and built for playing fields, which he named Rafael Sports center† (p. 194). On Gutierez’ example the author shows businessmen’s [caciques] bourgeois ambitions: after the establishment of the enterprise, they normally tried to penetrate into the city’s or national political arena, so their charity was nothing more than well-planned PR. Human services, although popular in Mexican culture, were institutionalized only in the 1970s, since the religious traditions prescribed that urban dwellers helped their neighbors and compatriots on the voluntary basis, Mexican cultural collectivism was extremely noticeable in the working-class quarters. With beginning of the 1980s, the country was paralyzed by environmental accidents like earthquakes, but the government appeared incapable of handling the resulting problems in a proper way: â€Å"The small parties of left and right were unable to claim the loyalty of potential dissidents†, whereas the young volunteers seemed the major rescuers, which means, Mexican urban citizens were always ready to support each other, and in spite of the pessimistic ending of the article: â€Å"Throughout its existence the city has been scourged by war, social upheaval. Plague, flood, earthquake† (p. 201), its overall context shows that social problems and emergencies haven’t managed to separate the city dwellers, but rather have united them and created a powerful humanistic basis for the reinforcement of Mexico City.

Outline and Analyze the Challenges Facing Mellon Investor Services Essay

Assignment Task Outline and analyze the challenges facing Mellon Investor Services in their organizational redesign and assess how well the company have dealt with those challenges in how they are approaching and managing the change. Delong, T. and Vijayaraghavan, V. (2002) Mellon Investor Services (ECCH case reference 9-402-036, Harvard Business School) Introduction Mellon Investor Services (â€Å"MIS†) is an investment management and investment services company, focused to help clients manage and move their financial assets and succeed in the rapidly changing global marketplace. Between 2000 and 2001 MIS underwent a substantial organizational redesign, which will be critically considered in this essay. Wittington and Mayer (2002) suggest that organizational performance is driven by the company’s ability to redesign structures frequently, however the change requires participation of people leading the change i.e. agents, organizational structure that welcomes the change and appropriate managements styles. The Chief Financial Officer of MIS, Jim Aramanda led the company for few very successful years, during which MIS was providing new offerings for transfer agent services including issue services, employee plans and direct services, broker / dealer services. The company had five years of successful growth and MIS was meeting and exceeding its financial goals. In Autumn of 2002 Aramanda’s became concerned for the successful future of the company and he recognised few areas that required closer attention: †¢different business units were not consolidating their offerings and taking advantage of various products, which resulted in two Requests For Proposal coming from one client whereby both RFPs were replied to separately, as opposed to a combined and unified response, †¢current successful offering of core products did not guarantee that MIS would grow in future, †¢MIS staff were not building long-term relationship with the clients therefore business opportunities may not be spotted in good time, †¢requirement for new measures of performance and progress, †¢lack of focus on hiring and rewarding talented people, †¢lack of focus on product development, which was manifested in product being offered by the sales department without confirmation that the product may actually be delivered to the clients, †¢Some of the groups, such as technology, were too achievement oriented without being focused. In order to address the above concerns and mould the company to his new vision, Aramanda hired a number of experienced consultants to support his structural redesign of MIS. Aramanda realised that the change would also involve a dramatic shift of vision and attitudes to introduce new systems and subsystems, with the likely result of clash of wills. Buchanan & Badham (2008) argue that such a change can be successful if it involves one person influencing the organization according to their values, and Aramanda had the clear vision and skills to gather a team of knowledgeable people to fundamentally amend and adjust MIS future capabilities. The change that MIS underwent could be classified as ‘strategic’ or ‘transformational’ (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010) and it aimed to redefine the boundaries, methods of problem-solving and doing business in the company. Aramanda acted on his vision in a very organized manner, as he instantly hired experienced, independent and talented consultants, Mary Davis and Jeanne DiFrancesco, and empowered them to accurately assess how the change should be conducted whilst keeping disruption of the day-to-day business activities to the minimum, design a four-phase project that was consistent with Aramanda’s aggressive deadlines, and work alongside all business units to manage the organizational change smoothly and efficiently. Although the organizational change instigated by Aramanda and facilitated by the consultants proved a great success, there were certain areas that should have been dealt with differently. The main challenges I have chosen as a topic of this assignment included overall communication, dealing with resistance to change and managing relationships. 1. Communication Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that many managers do not pay attention to communication when implementing change, which may increase employee absenteeism, turnover and low productivity. Furthermore, some of the reasons for employees’ increased expectation during the change process are availability of information through the internet as well as employees’ anticipation to contribute ideas and be kept informed. If these expectations are met, employees feel valued and therefore are more likely to be committed to the company and perform better at their work. Aramanda wanted to be supportive of a certain degree of open communication culture, which was manifested by a requirement for the employees to nominate their colleagues for newly created job posts. This approach was also constructed to represent Aramanda’s interests and to manipulate employee attitudes and behaviours. The nomination process aimed to take advantage of knowledge in the network or informal skills that perhaps could have been difficult to be evaluated by an outsider. The outcome however proved to be different than anticipated, as it created a negative feeling amongst the employees. Furthermore, one of the reasons for hiring consultants in the first place was to take advantage of their impartiality and independence from office politics. Insufficient communication was also evident in Phase One of the organizational change, during which key services, products and activities of the business were analysed. The result was anxiousness amongst the employees, who being afraid of job cuts, would feel that they were disregarded and forgotten, which in return lowered their productivity until the process was complete. As outlined by Buchanan and Huczynski (2010), many companies operate within a range of open and closed communication climate. Open and honest communication leads to employees having realistic expectations, and closed and defensive communication creates an atmosphere of distrust and secrecy. Although Aramanda’s relationship with his superiors was commendable, as he had a very open working relationship with the consultants and his direct reports, the communication with his employees was not as successful. One of the reasons for this situation was a lack of Head of Corporate Communications, whose post was vacant until June 2001, therefore all information during the process of a change was not communicated to the staff. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) confirm that communication of ideas assists employees see the logic and need for change. The implication for MIS was that employees did not understand what was happening, therefore they were more unlikely to follow management decisions. Issues of communication also affected existing relationships with clients. One of the objectives of the organizational change was to evaluate every job function and employee in line with the new business strategy. This resulted in creation of new key groups, including new ‘business development’ team focused on growth and return on investment in new clients and ‘client management’ team whose assignment was growth and return on investment in existing clients. The new groups comprised of employees that had to move away from the relationships they took time and effort to establish with their clients. Before the change these relationships lead to more sales and generated more business through word of mouth. Furthermore, strong relationships improved the internal organization, morale, increased engagement and lead to greater satisfaction at work. By creation of new groups the above relationships were damaged or broken, which could have lead to a possible revenue loss caused by the impact that the organizational change had on the client satisfaction. 2. Resistance to change Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) confirm that change implies a positive experiment and creation of something new as well as a negative confrontation with the unknown through the deconstruction of familiar arrangements. Some of the MIS employees demonstrated unwillingness to accept the proposed changes, as they perceived them as threatening to the individual. The main causes of resistance to change were as follows: †¢Lack of facilitation and support Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) outline facilitation and support as most helpful, where fear and anxiety lie at the heart of resistance. At MIS some of the managers were not supporting their employees in new roles, as people were expected to continue to take care of their old responsibilities, therefore the new responsibilities had to take second priority. They employees were not given sufficient time to adjust to new jobs or recover after demanding period. †¢Low tolerance for change Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) stress that that people differ in their ability to cope with change and uncertainty, which may lead them to oppose even potentially beneficial changes. Kotter and Schlesinger (1979) agree that if the change is significant and the employee’s tolerance for change is low, he might begin to actively oppose the change for reasons he does not consciously understand. †¢Misunderstanding and lack of trust Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) argue that employees are more likely to resist the change if they don’t understand the reasons behind it. As outlined in the section above regarding lack of communication, it becomes transparent that MIS employees were not told what are the positive implications of change, therefore they believed the change might cost them much more than they would gain. This could be characterised by having a low level of trust between employees and managers and result in misunderstandings and increased perception of threat when change was introduced. 3. Networks and relationships Another challenge facing the organizational change of MIS was managing existing relationships and creating new networks. One of aims for the reorganization once MIS services and products and market needs were analysed, was to break down capabilities into building blocks and then to recompose the blocks to fit within the new strategy. In practice this meant changing the divisional structure of the organization from service-based to customer-based. The change from ‘squares’ to ‘squares and triangles’ caused a large power shift and a felling of unrest and injustice to many employees. In the new organization chart the ‘triangles’ comprised of market-facing professionals and were perceived as the ‘winners’. The triangles included new business development, client management, product management & development and business management & analytics units. A triangle holds its place as a symbol in the mathematics of ideal proportions and in the MIS reorganizational design employees chosen to become a part of new teams were deemed as ‘drivers’ having a superior status. This formal status was closely related to the leadership, generally accepted by the others with a power to influence and control other groups. On the other hand, the ‘squares’ represented all other employees in the company and were perceived as the ‘losers’ and ‘followers’ and deemed to have an inferior status. Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that lower status groups have less power and tend to be less influential, therefore employees actively seeking status in order to fulfil their self-esteem may experience personal dissatisfaction. Buchanan and Huczynski (2010) note that this method of implementing organizational change can cause confusion and increase employees’ level of stress. The MIS consultants hoped that by dismantling of social networks, new networks would grow very quickly. The presumption was made that the existing social networks used to compensate for the inefficiencies in the old system, so now they should accelerate the efficiencies of the new system. Some employees viewed this as a positive move, as it allowed transitioning some people to other teams to build communication and continuity based on their prior experiences in other business areas. This however had a more political aspect as many managers when switching roles from ‘triangles’ to ‘squares’ in their self-interest wanted to take the good people with them. In practice, whereby poor communication was also a contributing factor, the new social networks were not created as rapidly as anticipated and had a negative influence on employee engagement and work performance. Another reason for changing the divisional structure of the organization was MIS’ lack of integration. Child (2004) stresses that integration is a vital product of good organization, whereby different activities collectively create value. One of identified reasons for change at MIS was to consolidate their product offering to create more value for the customers. Although it is relatively easy to state the requirement for integration, it is not so straightforward to achieve it. The problem of integration presents itself most noticeably in the relations between functions that are responsible for producing services according to predetermined parameters established within the company, and functions that have to continuously adapt to the external environment. The organization cannot remained viable without this integration. Teams are one of the most commonly used means for achieving integration, however during the implementation of change at MIS these were taken apart under conditions of uncertainty and pressure. One of the signs that the integration needs were not sufficiently met by the new teams was conflict between departments, mainly between ‘triangles’ and ‘squares’. This situation would require ongoing monitoring to ensure that the conflict does not become persistent and threat overall teams’ performance. Summary As outlined above, the main challenges of the organizational change instigated by Aramanda included overall communication, dealing with resistance to change and managing relationships. The organizational change was possible due to a great contribution from the consultants, who appreciated that an organizational change is a complex process to dramatically adjust organization vision, structure and culture in a continuous effort to improve the performance. Reference list 1.Buchanan D., Badham R. (2008) ‘Power, politics and organizational change: Winning the turf game’, p. 9. 2.Buchanan D., Huczynski A.A. (2010) ‘Organizational behaviour’, pp. 329-330, 562-564, 570-573. 3.Child J. (2004) ‘Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practice; Chaper 4: Achieving Integration’, p. 81-82. 4.Kotter J. P., Schlesinger L.A. (1979) ‘Choosing strategies for change’ Harvard Business Review, March – April pp. 108-109. 5.http://www.bnymellon.com/about/index.html, accessed on 18 June 2012.

Psychology of Terrorism Essay

In his article, Vaisman-Tzachor (2006) discussed the most common misconceptions regarding terrorist profiling in forensic psychology. True, where effective forensic profiling techniques are absent, there is no place for effective counterterrorism strategies. In this context, the profiling criteria described by Vaisman-Tzachor (2006) are particularly interesting and important when applied to psychological profile of Osama Bin Laden. From the viewpoint of forensic psychology, and through the prism of Vaisman-Tzachor’s (2006) psychological criteria, forensic profiling of Osama Bin Laden should begin with the profound analysis of his personal background (age, educational background, ethnicity, socio-economic status, national origin and marital status, religious or social affiliations). Contrary to traditional (and probably, outdated beliefs), the national origin of Osama Bin Laden will play important, but not the primary role in creating the picture of his personality. Of course, â€Å"elements such as Arab ethnic or national background [†¦] are highly important in the list of the determinant variables† (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2006), but psychological profile of Osama Bin Laden seems even more consistent with the fact that he is unmarried, possesses sufficient material background and displays negative disposition to the non-Muslim society. Simultaneously, Osama Bin Laden does not match the criminal profile created by Vaisman-Tzachor (2006), where the likelihood of a terrorist act is inversely related to the age of the potential terrorist; in case of Osama, his age is evidently associated with the growing terrorist experience and the increasing sophistication of his terrorist needs. Objectively, and truly for many generations of terrorists, Osama Bin Laden is fairly regarded a kind of a mythical figure, â€Å"who represents a messianic being to members of those national groups and social entities, who are disenfranchised by political, religious, or ethnic circumstances† (Vaisman-Tzachor, 2006), and this mythical figure works to establish closer ties and strengthen the existing terrorist identifications in his terrorist networks. In this context, Osama Bin Laden is a multifaceted image of the leader, whose criminality and respectability are uniquely combined to shape the new vision of a charismatic terrorist. Historical and sociocultural antecedents of September 11 The escalation of international violence and the growing anti-American moods have generated a set of questions regarding the historical and sociocultural antecedents of September 11. Objectively, a whole set of factors have contributed into the development of violent attitudes toward American nation, of which September 11 was the culmination; in this context, the continuous political commitment to â€Å"low intensity conflicts† and the self-declared pro-American ideology which lacks authoritarian rule and visible religiosity have become the two most important antecedents of the 9/11 attack. In his book, Michaels (2002) refers to the â€Å"low intensity conflict† scenario, to which American presidency adhered over the course of the last decades. The declaration of anti-terrorist ideals and the deceptive need for maintaining low intensity wars in the most problematic international regions was expected to strengthen the military power of the United States, and to ensure that America was able to respond to the most challenging social and military conflicts all over the world. What the United States had obviously overlooked was that the gradual military expansion might not have been favored by other nations (Michaels, 2002). Increased military spending combined with the overt rejection of treaty opportunities have formed the set of historical antecedents which led to the emergence of the new quality relationships between the two worlds – the Muslim and the orthodox. After the fall of socialism in the world, the rhetoric of the American hyperpower has literally doubled, and all visions of authority and power have since then been projected onto the U. S. (Werz, 2004). Given historically relevant anti-American attitudes, the multiplying American superiority has frozen the cultural difference between the two worlds. The social development in America has been colored with obvious secularization of the public opinion and the values, which the American nation has treated as its own (Werz, 2004). Thus, the events of September 11 have come as the culmination in the growing opposition against the militaristic attitudes of the United States towards its political and cultural superiority. Psychology of terrorism In the aftermath of 9/11 attacks researchers and psychology professionals have become increasingly concerned about the origins and the motives of terrorist attacks. The current state of empirical research is pressured by numerous prejudices and misconceptions that have grown as a result of the overt callousness of terrorist attacks. By turning terrorists into a group of abnormally deviant people, however, psychologists have seriously distorted the real image of a true terrorist. Silke (2004) is correct: we cannot be certain that terrorism is a kind of psychological abnormality, unless we are able to avoid bias and to promote objectivity in our judgments. It is difficult not to agree to Silke (2004) in that the differences in the current research of terrorism have become the results of our inability to explore and document primary information, and the impossibility to access primary sources of information about terrorists. â€Å"The risks involved for the potential researcher are considerable. Academic researchers have been threatened, kidnapped, attacked, and shot for attempting to research terrorism† (Silke, 2004). In our quest for better understanding of terrorist psychology, we frequently become the victims of our own psychological misconceptions. We still operate scarce and unclear (as well as unreliable) data concerning the major emotional and psychological issues terrorists face on their way to a violent act. Seeking sensations, we tend to neglect the role which primary data may play in developing and spreading a completely new vision of terrorism. With the scarcity of tools of psychological and sociological research which could be readily applied to terrorism, and bearing in mind an almost complete impossibility to access primary sources of data, it is unlikely that we will be able to produce a single relevant and the most objective psychological profile of a terrorist in the coming decade. References Michaels, C. W. (2002). No greater threat: America after September 11 and the rise of a national security state. Algora Publishing. Silke, A. (2004). Courage in dark places: reflections on terrorist psychology. Social Research, 71 (1): 177-198. Vaisman-Tzachor, R. (2006). Psychological profiles of Terrorists. Forensic Examiner, 15 (2): 6-17. Werz, M. (2004). Anti-Americanism and ambivalence: Remarks on an ideology in historical transformation. Telos, 129: 75-95.