Thursday, March 12, 2020
Idioms and Expressions With Do
Idioms and Expressions With 'Do' The following idioms and expressions use the verb do. Each idiom or expression has a definition and two example sentences to help understanding of these common idiomatic expressions with do.à Do a Double Take Definition: look twice at someone or something because you are surprised She did a double take when he walked into the room.Did you see that man do a double take as he looked at the price? Do a Number on Someone Definition: trick someone, cheat someone, hurt someone very badly Im afraid she did a number on him when she broke up.That guy did a number on John to the tune of $500! Do an About Face Definition: turn around, return to where someone came from Id like you to do an about face and go clean your room!As soon as I got to work I realized Id have to do an about face because Id left my briefcase at home. Do Away With Something Definition: prohibit something, make something not availableà They tried to do away with coffee in some cultures to little success.Anytime they do away with something people want it even more.à Do Justice to Something Definition: do successfully and with honor, complete in a befitting manner I think that painting doesnt do justice to him.Alice really did justice to the presentation.à Do Oneââ¬â¢s Duty Definition: complete a responsibility, do something that is expected of you Remember to do your duty by honoring your parents.Ill do my duty but nothing more. Do Ones Part Definition: do something that is required of you, join in doing something that requires many people He feels that volunteering is doing his part.Do you part and get along and youll have no problems here. Do or Die Definition: complete a task or utterly fail Its do or die time now. Were getting married!Well John, its do or die. Lets go! Do Someone Goodà Definition: be beneficial for someone I think taking the week off will do you good.She told me a massage would do me good.à Do Something Over Definition: repeat an action often because of a poor start Lets do that over! I wasnt concentrated enough!Id love to do college over if I had the chance. Do Someone Proud definition: do something so well that another person is proud of you David did his father proud throughout his successful life.I think youll do your family proud this year.à Do Someones Heart Good Definition: be good for someone emotionally I think listening to some classical music would do your heat good.Getting straight As did her heart good. Do Something by Hand Definition: build something on ones own He built his house by hand.I created that desk by hand.à Do Something in Vain Definition: do something with no reason or chance at success Peter feels his doing the job in vain.Never feel youre doing something in vain. Theres always a reason. Do Something on the Fly Definition: do something quickly without thinking I did it on the fly, its nothing special.Lets do it on the fly. It wont take long. Do Something on the Run Definition: do something while on the way to somewhere else We did it on the run while on the way to Arizona.You can do it on the run. Lets go! Do Something on the Sly Definition: do something without having other people notice She did it on the sly. Her husband never had a clue.He made lots of money by doing it on the sly. Do the Honors Definition: do something like cutting a cake, or giving a speech that is an honor Id like to let your father do the honors.Ill do the honors and toast to happy and long life! Do the Trick definition: complete the task, function as a solution I think this pen will do the trick.Youll come up with something to do the trick. Do You Read Me? Definition: question asked usually in a stern manner to ask if someone understands Well have no more talk! Do you read me?!Thats enough. Do you read me?
Sunday, March 8, 2020
How Has Tourism Changed Hawkshead Essays
How Has Tourism Changed Hawkshead Essays How Has Tourism Changed Hawkshead Essay How Has Tourism Changed Hawkshead Essay Essay Topic: Our Countrys Good Hawkshead is located in the Lake District, in the North West of England. It is a small village, home to many retired or second homeowners. The village receives its main source of income through tourism. This becomes evident after spending even a short while in Hawkshead, as there are numerous amounts of Bed and Breakfasts located in and around the village. Tourists come to Hawkshead to admire the scenery, to take long walks or more generally they come to escape from their busy lives and relax for a weekend. Hawkshead is located on a rural hilly landscape (much of which is used for farming) and is an extremely beautiful part of England.Here are some maps to show the location of Hawkshead, all maps are obtained from the website www.multimap.com.The first map shows the location of Hawkshead in the Lake District.The second map shows the location of Hawkshead in the NorthwestThe last map shows the location of Hawkshead in the United KingdomThere are many forms of transport to reach Hawksh ead, the most accessible are by car or ferry. To drive to Hawkshead from Southport it takes on average an hour and forty minutes, but depending on traffic it can differ. To drive from major cities such as Liverpool it takes around two hours and from Manchester it takes about one hour forty-five minutes. These times were obtained from the website http://rp.rac.co.uk/routeplannerTourists visit Hawkshead for its beautiful scenery, quaint stone cottages and its general relaxed atmosphere. Most of the cottages were built in the 15th century, but have been updated and have received lots of necessary maintenance work since then.One of the biggest changes that have affected Hawkshead is that it has become a national park. Hawkshead and the surrounding area of Hawkshead (the Lake District) is all part of a national park. The Lake District became a national park in 1951. This is because it was seen as a beautiful part of the countryside, and therefore needed to be protected to ensure that it would stay in the same condition, and would not be ruined as many other parts of the Britain have been. The Lake District has been put under the protection of the national park, so that the community and tourists alike can all visit the Lake District and enjoy the peace and quite along with the preserved natural beauty.In recent years Hawkshead has been visited more often than ever, this is mainly due to the fact that more people have better jobs and a higher salary, which therefore means they can afford to go on more holidays, and better day trips. Also tourism has increased throughout the world as it has become easier and quicker to travel, think of the Euro Tunnel, which can get us to France in half an hour. This makes it much easier for tourists to get around and to visit places further away.MethodologyI have used five different methods to investigate how tourism has changed Hawkshead. The first method I used was in the form of a questionnaire. This is a primary data collection technique. I used this method to find out what the residents of Hawkshead and the tourists that visited Hawkshead a number of times thought about the question How Has Tourism Changed Hawkshead? I also used my questionnaire to see out of the twenty people I asked how many of them were tourists, by doing this we could then compare the amount of tourists with the amount of residents and see whether we asked more of one than the other. We used our questionnaire to obtain some primary data as it was an easy clear way of collecting detailed information about peoples views of Hawkshead.Before going to Hawkshead, my group made up our own original question to ask in our questionnaire, it was; do you feel Hawkshead has changed since your last visit? We chose this question to find out about tourists opinions, but most of the tourists we asked had not been to Hawkshead before and therefore could not answer this specific question, if we were to repeat this investigation we would choose a questio n that could be answered by everyone and would therefore give us more data to work from. We also tried to survey different age groups but most of the people walking around seemed to be around the same age.When we were in Hawkshead carrying out our questionnaire we stood by a fairly busy street so we would have enough people to ask our questions to. Some people in my group suggested standing outside the tourist information centre, but we realised this would make are results bias as we would questionnaire more tourists than homeowners and as a results not obtain a good range of data. We spoke to 4 residents, 2 second home owners and 14 tourists and asked them our questions. We asked anyone as we wanted to obtain fair data and instead of asking all the residents or all the tourists we ended up asking a mixture of different people.For a tiny quiet village experiencing some very wet weather it was surprising how many people were actually out walking along the streets, the rain was not pu tting people off going out, as proof, you could witness the many tourists clad in brightly coloured plastic anoraks walking along in the rain seeming to quite enjoy being outside in the bad weather. We completed are questionnaire around 11:30, as people were making there way out to eat lunch, and for that reason it was quite busy when are questionnaires were completed.These are the questions I asked in my questionnaire, for each question I will explain why we used them and what the possible answers obtained could tell us:1. Are you a tourist, resident or second home owner? I asked this question so I would be able to see out of the 20 people I questioned how many of them were tourists, if there were a lot of tourists compared to residents and second home owners this would tell us that generally more tourists visit the village than people that have homes near it.(Questions 2, 3, 4 and 5 only apply to tourists.)2. Please name your home town. By asking the tourists to name there home to wn we are able to see the range of places people have travelled from and how far people are willing to travel.3. How long is your stay in Hawkshead? I asked this so we would be able to find out what the how long people usually stayed for.4. How did you travel to Hawkshead today? By asking this we could find the most popular mode of transport used to get to Hawkshead. From this we would be able to investigate further things such as do tourists pollute Hawkshead by travelling by car rather than on public transport.5. What do you find attractive about Hawkshead? I asked this to find out what Hawksheads best assets are, and to understand more what people travel to Hawkshead for.(Questions 7 and 8 only apply to home owners)6. How long have you lived in Hawkshead? By asking this question we can discover whether most residents are new to Hawkshead or have lived there all there lives. This would show whether Hawkshead has become more popular over the years.7. In your opinion what effect do tourists have on Hawkshead? This question was asked so we could receive residents views on the positive or negative things the tourists bring to Hawkshead, this would show us whether the residents were in favour of tourists visiting Hawkshead.(Lastly are group created our own question which was ;)8. Do you feel that Hawkshead has changed since your first visit? We asked this to see whether people could recognise the changes that tourism may have created.My second technique was to carry out a landscape evaluation this shows whether certain characteristics of the village can benefit Hawkshead or not and it shows us whether the fact that tourists visit Hawkshead effects the overall look of the village. This technique is also primary as we are collecting the data first hand. For this landscape evaluation we surveyed three different places; the car park, the centre of the village, and the bypass road that goes around the village. We looked at the different factors below and gave them a s core from + 4 to -4.1. The attractiveness of the buildings2. The car park facilities available3. Toilet availability4. The pedestrianised village centre5. The well kept gardens and hanging baskets6. The shops for tourists7. The shops for locals8. The narrow pavements9. The coach parking facilities10. The cost of parking11. The bypass around the village12. Whether the modern buildings fit in with the rest of the villageThe advantage of using this method is we are evaluating each part of the village, using a scoring system makes it easy for people to understand and shows the results clearly. The disadvantage is the information is based on my opinion and therefore is subjective to other peoples views and opinions. The information we collected from this enquiry is useful as we can clearly see the things that have been affected more than others as a result of tourism.The third technique I used was a land use survey. We were provided with a map of Hawkshead and had to shade in the differe nt functions of the buildings, we used a colour key to do this. This technique is a primary data collection. The main advantage of this technique is it is really clear to see what the functions of each buildings are. The disadvantage is it doesnt give much information other than what the functions are. It would be better if we had an old land use survey from say 50 years ago so we could compare the amount of holiday homes and bed and breakfasts found on each map. This would show us whether tourism had increased or not.My fourth technique was a building transect, although this was a time consuming enquiry I think this is a good way to collect evidence that houses in the village have changed or been restored. We walked from south to north through the village noting down whether the houses were modern (after 1945) or old (before 1945) and what the obvious changes on each houses were. We did this for 25 houses. We only chose to do a transect of the village rather than the all of it as w e wanted to concentrate on the main street were most of the tourists where, and were the main shops could be found, also we wouldnt of had enough time to evaluate the whole village. This again is a primary data collection as we collected the information ourselves. This information is not subjective as it is based on facts, if the house is newer than 1945 it is therefore modern, this is a fact.At first it was difficult in some cases to know whether the houses were old or modern but as we surveyed more and more it became easier to know what to look for, e.g. if the guttering was U.P.V.C it would tell us the house was modern or had been updated, if the lintels on the windows were stone it would mean the house was old, we also looked at the changes that had occurred on purpose to increase the look of the property such as hanging baskets and outdoor lights this could be to make the village look better for tourists.This tells us the specific things that have changed about Hawkshead, and f rom this we can decide whether some of these changes have been an effect of tourism such as some of the new buildings were public toilets, they were most likely built to cater for the tourists needs, also in the village there is a tourist information centre, this was built specifically for the tourists. We can also understand whether the changes have damaged or benefited Hawkshead, by looking at what the changes are, e.g. if the function of the buildings have changed. One of the buildings we looked at had been changed into a bed and breakfast, the outside of the building was still in keeping with the theme of the village, but instead of staying as a house, the person running the bed and breakfast was taking advantage of the growth of tourism and was earning money from it without damaging the look of the building in any way. This is a good example of why Hawkshead benefits from tourism; as it keeps the local economy going.The fifth technique I used was my own original idea; I decided to look at how many bed and breakfasts, hotels etc. could be found in Hawkshead. By doing this I am able to see how important tourists are to Hawksheads local economy then compare the amount of places that tourist can stay in Hawkshead with the amount of places there are to stay in Formby, a village slightly smaller that Hawkshead but with tourist attraction such as the beach and the red squirrel reserve. By doing this it would be evident whether Hawkshead was a good attraction for tourists by the amount of places there are to stay and if there were more places for people to stay in Hawkshead than Formby we would know that Hawkshead is a tourist town. I have made a table to show my results. As I obtained my results from a website the data is secondary. It is not subjective as the data I acquired is factual.HawksheadFormbyHotel60B;B31Guest houses30Self-catering cottages32Caravan sites22These results were obtained from www.information-britain.co.uk and www.touristnetuk.comFrom these results it is evident that Hawkshead is a tourist town and they obviously have the need for so many places for tourists to stay, therefore you would say Hawkshead is a tourist town. Obviously the hotels and B;Bs etc. were never always used for this function. I would guess that most of these hotels etc. have been built purposefully for tourists or the buildings have changed there functions, to suit the needs of the tourists. As a result this shows me that tourism has changed Hawkshead, and therefore I can use this data to back up my enquiry.Data InterpretationIn Hawkshead a lot of things have changed over the years. We are carrying out this investigation to find out whether most of these changes are due to tourists. This is what I found out from the information we collected.We carried out a building transect, from this building transect I could see that only 4 of the 25 buildings we looked at were new (after 1945.) I also found out that the 24 buildings that were old (before 1945) ha d been changed a lot. Here are examples of some of the changes that were made; plastic guttering, satellite dish, velux windows, repainted brick walls, new slate on the roof and one of the main changes that were obvious in the buildings we looked at was that most of their functions had been changed e.g. a large house had been changed into a hotel.There were also things in the village that made it obvious to see that things had been changed and updated. There were double yellow lines along the busy streets, which we know are put there to stop any parking along the designated areas. I think these are a new feature to the village and were probably put in place as more and more tourists started parking their cars along the streets. Also a car park has been created to compensate for the fact you are not allowed to park in the village, and to make a place for coaches to park.The village also has public toilets located right next to the car park; again I think this is mainly for tourists a s these would be unnecessary if Hawkshead didnt receive many visitors or tourists.We also carried out a land use survey, we labelled the pubs and restaurants, the buildings mainly for tourists, the shops, the hotels and B;Bs and the houses. We found that there were around 100 houses 2 shops and 2 pubs and restaurants, we also found that there were 6 buildings mainly for tourist plus the hotels and BBs which there were 18 of. So this means there were a round 1010 buildings that tourists probably wouldnt use, and 24 buildings that tourists probably would use. 24 buildings for tourists in one small village is a big amount and shows us that tourists play a key part in Hawksheads economy.Hawkshead is a slowly growing village with its population increasing steadily. More houses are being constructed on the edge of the village as the demand to live there is high. When we were in Hawkshead we didnt see any houses for sale.I think the reasons things are changing in Hawkshead is its increasin g popularity with tourists. Also it is getting more popular for elderly retired couples to move to Hawkshead or to buy a second home there. People have more money then ever before and so travelling or buying second homes is becoming more popular as people have more money to spend and a wider choice of places to go as transport has also improved. As Hawkshead relies on tourists to feed the local economy the village has to change to suit their needs and to keep the flow of tourists coming.This photo shows a Beatrix potter gallery located in the centre of Hawkshead. This is where Beatrix potter used to live, and now it is a gallery showing all of her original drawings and selling small ornaments based upon her drawings. This shop is purely for tourists and is one of Hawksheads biggest attractions.Most of the people we interviewed were tourists but there were 3 second home owners and 4 residents that we also interviewed. This tells us that on the day we visited there were more tourists out, which is unusual as it was raining and it was on a week day. This just shows how popular Hawkshead is if people are willing to visit in the rain!In Hawkshead there is a tourist information centre right next to the car park, which is good because as soon as tourists enter Hawkshead they can go straight to the tourist information centre and see what they can do in Hawkshead. This is only really useful to tourists as residents already know the activities available.As the car park is so large in Hawkshead this suggests that they receive huge numbers of tourists in one day. This is probably most likely in summer on a bank holiday. All the evidence suggests that tourists benefit Hawkshead but there probably are damages such as paths being worn away and excess litter and traffic pollution but overall tourists dont affect Hawkshead in a bad way.All my interviewees were from the U.K but some came from as far as London so it is obvious that Hawkshead has a good reputation and people are willing to travel a long distance to visit it. This is good evidence to say that Hawkshead is a worth while place to visit. If you compare question 4 (how far did you travel to Hawkshead today?) with question 5 (what do you find most attractive about Hawkshead?) we can see that most people travel a long distance to find village charm and peace and quite.In my landscape evaluation survey I gave the edge of the village and the centre of the village either 4 marks (greatly improves Hawkshead) 2 marks (improves Hawkshead) or 0 (does not affect Hawkshead) I did however say that the narrow effected Hawkshead little, as people had to walk on the road or squeeze past each other on the pavement, but if there were bigger pavements this would look odd and put of place so am I not sure about that one.I completed my own original piece of work which was to compare the amount of lodgings in Hawkshead with the amount of lodgings in Formby. From this data I could see that Hawkshead was a much more p opular tourist village than Formby as the amount of lodgings in Hawkshead was much greater than the amount in Formby. So my own original idea supports the other evaluations I produced in Hawkshead.I think the aims of the Lake District national park have definitely been met. Hawkshead is a well managed and controlled part of the countryside. There are places that you can walk about with freedom and places that are being reserved for future generations to share the beauty of.Data evaluationI think my method was quite well thought out as all the results seemed to be accurate for the day we visited Hawkshead. I think that perhaps it would have been better to questionnaire more people as then the results would be more fair or maybe consider questioning the same amount of tourists as residents to compare their thoughts on Hawkshead, as then are results would be less bias. The results were probably affected quite a lot by the weather as it was raining at the time we carried out our investi gation which means there would have been less people around and the village would have been less congested than usual.To improve my experiment I think you would have to visit Hawkshead on a number of days such as a bank holiday as then you could find the average results, which would ensure that the experiment wasnt bias. If I went to Hawkshead in the middle of winter there would perhaps not be as many people visiting as there would be in the middle of summer. To help us carry out the land use survey map we could have obtained one from the local library which would have been more accurate. We also could have got one from 50 years ago to compare whether the amount of buildings for tourists had increased.I think the land use survey was the most useful data we collected as it shows the amount of buildings for tourists and this could easily be compared with past land use survey maps which would support our investigation even more as we could present a past map with our recent map and sho w that the amount of tourist buildings had increased.We investigated how the land had changed in Hawkshead and discussed reasons it has changed and in conclusion our investigation has shown that tourists do not damage Hawkshead much but are a great benefit to its economy.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Uncovering the blind spot article Research Paper
Uncovering the blind spot article - Research Paper Example 2). The process of solving a problem, for example, involves generative and analytical approach for understanding available solutions and their consequences before identifying the best alternative. The definition of critical thinking that include a reflective approach also corresponds to Scharmerââ¬â¢s elements of generative listening and the U theory of understanding inner environment towards informed decisions and actions (Marquis and Huston, 2009). The article therefore establishes a strategy for understanding a leaderââ¬â¢s inner environment towards effective leadership and decisions for solving existing problems. I for example, though subconsciously, applied the U theory to avert a work boycott by my team due to unmet demands by my organizationââ¬â¢s management. While the team had complained about poor work conditions and demanded managementââ¬â¢s intervention, the concerns were ignored. The team then met one morning and decided to boycott duty until their concerns were addressed. As the team leader, I isolated myself, analyzed the situation, and decided to persuade the team against the boycott and to outline to them the most appropriate strategy for solving the problem, an approach that averted the boycott. The articleââ¬â¢s authors identify a transition from the traditional organizational structure in which communication followed bureaucratic processes and initiated communication barriers across levels in organizations. Based on the authorsââ¬â¢ research, the traditional approach is rarely used and its application bears little success as compared to the new informal communication model that organizations are currently implementing. The authors further concludes that a shift from the traditional communication model is necessary due to emerging factors such as globalization, technological advancement, and new approaches to value creation and customers relation. Implementing the new communication model
Friday, February 21, 2020
Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 289
Assignment Example However, technological innovation is analyzed as a changing network of agents interacting in an industrial area and in an institutional infrastructure involved in generating, diffusing and utilizing technology. Technology innovation is the process that that brings improved and developed technologies widespread. The reason of technological innovation is to analyze and later develop a particular technology field in structures and processes that support it. The components of technological innovations are called structures. These are representations of the static aspect of the system as it stabilizes over time. They consist of technical infrastructures and artifacts where they are integrated. They also involve the techno-economic that includes the costs, reliability and safety. However, the designing of a cost- effective technological innovation has become quite a challenge as the world has become more interconnected (Graetz, 2013).There are two things that are clearly uncontested by economists. The first thing is the importance of technological innovations in relation to the economic growth. In 1957, Robert Slow demonstrated how significant economic growth per hour of work in the United State s in 1909 and 1949 could be attributed to the advances in technology (Graetz, 2013). Development of intellectual property (IP) is an essential element to national wealth building. Therefore, the government supports the advances in technology in the form of IP legal protection, providing loans and grants and guarantees to both the profit and no-profit making organization research institutions. In addition, they tax benefits for research and development for the innovations. In cases of a closed economy, the citizens and the residents will reap the reward to direct their taxes to spur. Studies have addressed the effects of increased research and development on employment pattern and
Saturday, February 8, 2020
The Impact of Technology in Business Dissertation
The Impact of Technology in Business - Dissertation Example 3.0 Literature Review 3.1 Impact of communication advancement on Business Despite the fact that the bigger companies have huge and dedicated information and communication technology departments, today, the technology levels the playing field to accommodate even the smallest companies (McKenney, Copeland and Mason, 1995). The smaller companies have a huge chance of surpassing the bigger companies if the smaller companies can use the ever increasing technology to their advantage (Johnson, 2009). 3.2 Impact of Databases to replace file systems in businesses A lot of technology has been applied in businesses today. For example, Database management systems are being used over the world in businesses. The database management systems replaced the old file systems (Atkinson and Draheim, 2010). This is probably one of the most widely used technology in businesses today. The database management systems are especially used in the accounting departments. Wang, 2014, suggests that businesses are solemnly driven by databases today. The better the database design, the more effective the business. 3.3 Impact of teleconferencing and home working Technology has changed how businesses operate is improvements in communications. With advances in communications, businesses can easily communicate with clients, suppliers and other important stakeholders quite effectively. This has led to increased productivity in the businesses. With teleconferencing for example, people can attend a meeting without necessarily being together in a physical room.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Healthy Snacks Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words
Healthy Snacks - Assignment Example Apart from that, the information that was stored in the systems was not available on timely basis which resulted in incorrect information about faulty credit prices. Another problem that can be identified in the sales process of Healthy Snacks was that it was following a very long sales process that eventually created certain errors. The sales team of the company delivered handwritten quotation to the customers and was indulged in making faxes of the duplicate copy of the quotation to the sales office. This process was found to be quite lengthy and was bound to create a lot of confusion. While filling of orders, the procedure has also been found to be very complex as there were tendencies of mishandling the products at the time of order filing from the warehouses. After acquiring a brief idea about the problems that have been observed about the way the sales force of Healthy Snacks currently takes and fills an order, it can be affirmed that it is quite essential to improve the overal l information sharing system of the company as there laid several problems associated with the existing information system. The existing information system which was currently being prevailing within the company tends to affect the overall sales of the company by a considerable level. The top management team of the company can either simplify the information process by creating a single information system that can be connected with all the department of HS or adopt as well as execute the approach of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in place of the existing system for boosting its sales and thus earn significant profits. It is highly recommendable to the top management of the company to implement ERP... The sales team of the company delivered handwritten quotation to the customers and was indulged in making faxes of the duplicate copy of the quotation to the sales office. This process was found to be quite lengthy and was bound to create a lot of confusion. While filling of orders, the procedure has also been found to be very complex as there were tendencies of mishandling the products at the time of order filing from the warehouses. After acquiring a brief idea about the problems that have been observed about the way the sales force of Healthy Snacks currently takes and fills an order, it can be affirmed that it is quite essential to improve the overall information sharing system of the company as there laid several problems associated with the existing information system. The existing information system which was currently being prevailing within the company tends to affect the overall sales of the company by a considerable level. The top management team of the company can either simplify the information process by creating a single information system that can be connected with all the department of HS or adopt as well as execute the approach of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in place of the existing system for boosting its sales and thus earn significant profits. It is highly recommendable to the top management of the company to implement ERP as it is regarded as one of the most efficient software programs that most of the company uses.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Truth in Management and Power Relationships Essay Example for Free
Truth in Management and Power Relationships Essay Throughout history, philosophers have come up with their versions of the actual definition for ââ¬Ëtruthââ¬â¢. The Greek philosopher Aristotle had explained truth as ââ¬Å"To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is trueâ⬠[1]. Aristotle explains that truth can be described as that something that is definite and distinct in its own form, nature or identity. Another Greek sophist and philosopher Protagoras held the view that ââ¬Å"man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are notâ⬠[2]. According to him, every personââ¬â¢s opinion of truth is based his or her own perception of truth. In the famous Greek poet Homerââ¬â¢s epic Odyssey, there is one instance when the Greek hero Odysseus did not actually reveal the truth when he says ââ¬Å"I will tell you all the truthâ⬠[3]. In his epics, there are characters that hold back information or tell lies. In the present day management, we have to be cautious as to how we go about telling the truth to our subordinates or colleagues. There are multiple scenarios that we have to consider before revealing the truth. Sometimes, we may end up in situations whereby we have to cover up the truth to protect our integrity and position in the company or organization. Socrates, an Athenian Greek Philosopher once quoted: ââ¬Å"You, my friend, are you not ashamed of heaping up the greatest amount of money and honour and reputation, and caring so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of yourself which you never regard or heed at all? [2]â⬠We can relate to his quote in todayââ¬â¢s fast paced times, when in the quest for power, wealth and reputation, we tend to forget our very basic virtues of being righteous and truthful. I can quote an example of my personal experience whilst working in a semiconductor company where my supervisor and colleague were from Philippines. I used to have reservations initially in opening up to my colleagues and then as the months passed, I started confiding with my Filipino colleague regarding a couple of problems I had with the company management style and extremely long working hours. He then later betrayed the faith that I had in him when he passed on all the complaints over to my supervisor behind my back. Since then, the company management started to ignore my inputs and started giving me disapproving eyes at every meeting. The lesson we can learn from that was to ensure that certain truths however cumbersome they may be to carry around, we have to ensure that they stay hidden away due to the competitiveness and lack of trust among employees in todayââ¬â¢s management. The Greek philosopher Plato once said ââ¬Å"You should not honor men more than truth[4]â⬠but in todayââ¬â¢s world of management, the key areas of output and performance are valued more highly than the truthful principles at work. Power relationships play a very important role in management in the present day. These relationships have taken on a very aggressive dimension nowadays with the current crop of power hungry managers. In my opinion, we need to build such relationships with our colleagues as well as our superiors to firstly sustain ourselves for the long run and then to ensure that we maintain a steady progress throughout our careers. From my personal experience while working with my previous employer, I used to notice that my team consisted of mainly Filipinos, Indians, Malaysians and Chinese. They used to split up into their respective nationality groups and stay together always while doing work and used to provide assistance and useful advice only to their countrymen when in need. Those groups kept trying out negative organizational politics against each other to ensure that none of them could grow in the company so as to attain overall power. The organizational politics at my company even went upto the higher management where in the promotions were dedicated only to their respective countrymen and was not based on ability or performance. The higher management even had absolute control of the human resource (HR) department whereby the hiring of new staff was prioritized based on nationality of the hiring manager or supervisor rather than giving priority to the qualification and experience of the new recruits. Quoting from Plato, ââ¬Å"The measure of a man is what he does with power[4]â⬠, in management terms, his words signify that a true ability of a manager can only be determined by how he utilizes his power effectively in the context of an organizational environment. The Greek Philosopher Socrates had once said: ââ¬Å"Esteemed friend, citizen of Athens, the greatest city in the world, so outstanding in both intelligence and power, arent you ashamed to care so much to make all the money you can, and to advance your reputation and prestigewhile for truth and wisdom and the improvement of your soul you have no care or worry[2]â⬠. This quotation is apt in describing the insatiable need for wealth among the Athenians in those days for gaining reputation and prestige at the cost of their moral values like truth and wisdom. Socratesââ¬â¢ words can even be applied with respect to todayââ¬â¢s management style. In the current times, taking into account the fallout from the financial crisis and its impact on the organizations, managers get even more reluctant to follow the truthful ideologies and instead strongly engage in strengthening their power relationships with other hierarchical members within their organizations to establish a strong foothold for themselves in the industry. References: 1. Owens, J., Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics. 3rd ed1978, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. 2. Spillane, R. , An Eye For An I: Living Philosophy2007, Melbourne: Michelle Anderson Publishing. 3. Thiselton, A. C. , The New international dictionary of New Testament theology, ed. B. Colin. Vol. 3. 1978, Exeter: Paternoster Press. 4. Stavropoulos, S. , The Beginning of All Wisdom: Timeless Advice from the Ancient Greeks. 1st ed2003: Da Capo Press.
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