Thursday, October 31, 2019

Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Motivation - Essay Example As a direct impact of the competition between the firms, in various markets, various new economies and markets are emerging. These new markets and economies are providing the companies across the world with a significant amount of future growth potential because of their consumer needs as well as the consumer needs of the masses. However, the opening of the global markets has also led to the increase of risks in the business environment as well as spillover effects arising from slow economic growth in countries around the world. The macro and micro economic developments of nations and continents around the world are highly affecting the business scenario around the globe and making the companies go for sporting a lean cost structure. This approach of the companies to downsize staff in an attempt to cut costs is having a toll in the minds of the employees of the company, who gets increasingly worried regarding the process of thinking of ways for maintaining a sustainable lifestyle rat her than losing his job. So, naturally it can be said that the entire business scenario is playing a major role in the process of affecting the moral of employees, thereby hampering their productivity at the workplace. Theory 1: McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory In an attempt to tackle the issues related to handling of the declining levels of motivation, there are a large number of motivational theories that have been discussed and analyzed by the human resources experts around the world. In a measure to increase motivation of the employees, the human resources managers and employees of various organizations focus on implementing the motivational practices in the workplace. One very important theory of motivation is the achievement motivation theory by David McClelland. This theory essentially highlights three important factors like the needs for achievement, need for power as well as need for affiliation (Aswathappa, 2005, p. 364). Need for Achievement This particul ar need brings into focus the need of the human being to excel in their field of work and thereby focus on setting a bench mark of quality standards for others. The existence of this need is high among employees who gain tremendous satisfaction through the fulfillment of their personal goals. Need for Power This particular point reflects the needs of a person in regards to having the power of authority for making decision and recommending the course of future actions for an organization. The subjects with a high on power need garner satisfaction by having the positions of influence and control of the physical as well financial and human resources in the organization. Need for Affiliation It can be said that the individuals apart from the achievements and power based needs also has a significant amount of need for affiliation and recognition. As a matter of fact, the subject will gain satisfaction by the process of interacting with others as well as working in a friendly environment. Theory 2: Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Motivation With the rise of

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Management Information System Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Information System - Case Study Example It becomes more personalised and gives the customer more accurate information. Making the whole service contract process friendlier and quicker is one way to help gain more service customers because it should result in the sale of more of these contracts. The company wants to automate its entire application process to speed up everything for both APCO and its customers and to eliminate much of the reliance on paper documents. Extract the information as easily as possible, without a lot of IT over- head Use the Internet as a Channel to achieve the above goals Information systems and business strategy now align with each other to deliver Strategic information systems. Such systems deliver Computer system at any level of an organisation; changes goals, operations, products, services, or environmental relationships and helps organisation gain a competitive advantage The Internet is changing the role of information systems in organisations. The Internet is capable of dramatically reducing transaction and agency costs. Businesses are rapidly rebuilding some key business processes based on Internet technology. Internet technology becoming a key component of IT infrastructure. The need of the hour was to have a new Sales Management system and a Claims Processing System that would allow APCO to manage sales more efficiently and process claims with limited overheads and maximum efficiency and modify business processes to align to the new information processing systems. The systems need to use the Internet as a delivery channel to deliver maximum benefits to the new business processes structured around this channel. Both these above systems are Operational level systems. As a first step APCO wants to introduce a comprehensive electronic document- management (or... The Internet is changing the role of information systems in organisations. The Internet is capable of dramatically reducing transaction and agency costs. Businesses are rapidly rebuilding some key business processes based on Internet technology. Internet technology becoming a key component of IT infrastructure. The need of the hour was to have a new Sales Management system and a Claims Processing System that would allow APCO to manage sales more efficiently and process claims with limited overheads and maximum efficiency and modify business processes to align to the new information processing systems. The systems need to use the Internet as a delivery channel to deliver maximum benefits to the new business processes structured around this channel. Both these above systems are Operational level systems. As a first step APCO wants to introduce a comprehensive electronic document- management (or content-management) system.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Death Anxiety and Stress Levels With Different Age Groups

Death Anxiety and Stress Levels With Different Age Groups q Introduction This research will be about studying the relationship between human’s age group with life stress level and also death anxiety. According to Peter, Cant, Payne, O’Connor, McDermott, Hood, Morphet and Shimoinaba (2013), death anxiety is the morbid, abnormal or persistent fear of ones own death or the process of his/her dying. Death anxiety is also a feeling of dread, apprehension or anxiety when one thinks of the process of dying. According to Angela Morrow (2011), stress is the bodys reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. Terror Management Theory (TMT) was proposed in 1986 by social psychologists  Jeff Greenberg,  Tom Pyszczynski, and  Sheldon Solomon. The theory was inspired by the writings of cultural anthropologist,  Ernest Becker. The basic idea of the theory is that humans are motivated to control their potential for terror inherent in the human awareness of vulnerability and mortality by spending in cultural belief systems that imbue life with meaning, and the individuals who subscribe to them with self-esteem. Since its inception, the theory has generated empirical research into not just the nature of self-esteem and prejudice, but also a host of other forms of human social behavior (Cox and Arndt 2006).Self-esteem is showed to be an important anxiety-buffering function in the face of death-related thought, leading individuals with high levels of self-esteem to exhibit attenuated mortality salience effects. Thus, an attorney concerned with mortality salience-related factors which advers ely affecting his or her case may want to use pretrial surveys to identify and challenge jurors who show to be experiencing situational or dispositional factors that could be associated with low self-esteem (Lieberman and Arntd 2009). General Adaptation Syndrome was founded by Scientist Hans Selye(1907-1982). He showed 3 phases what the supposed effects of stress has on the body which was alarm stage, resistance stage and exhaustion stage. Throughout his work, he developed the theory that stress is a main cause of diseases because chronic stress causes long-term chemical changes. He observed that the body would respond to any external biological source of stress with a predictable biological pattern in an attempt to restore the body’s internal homeostasis. This early hormonal reaction is yourfight or flight stress response and its purpose is for handling stress very quickly! The process of the whole body’s struggle to maintain equilibrium is what Selye had termed, the General Adaptation Syndrome. Pressures, tensions, and other also stressors can greatly influence your regular metabolism. Selye determined thatthere is a limited supply of adaptive energy to deal with stress.That amount declines with c ontinuous exposure. (Richard J.) (2008). Therefore, our research statements would be â€Å"do different age group influence one’s stress level?† and â€Å"do different age group influence one’s death anxiety? Aim: To study the death anxiety and stress level with different age group. Variables: Independent: Age groups (Young adulthood, middle adulthood and older adulthood). Dependent: Stress level and death anxiety level. Hypothesis: As age level increase, the level of death anxiety increases. As age level increase, the stress level increase. Literature review A study by Harrawood, White and Benshoff(2009) was conducted to examine the relationship between the level of death anxiety among a national sample of United States funeral directors with varying levels of death exposure, age, and sex among 203 funeral directors working in the United States. The main results showed a significant but weak negative relationship between levels of death anxiety and the participants’ reported number of funerals attended per year. One of the limitations of this study is that conducting a survey through mail is not the best method because the researchers cannot be sure that the survey packets will be received by the participants. The recommended method would be interviewing the participants personally. Another relevant study by Chan and Yap (2009) was aimed to examine the influence of religion, religious orientation, gender, and age on death anxiety in a culturally diverse country like Malaysia. In this study, there were 320 participants ranging in age from 17-70 years. The results supported hypothesis C which is female participants would have lower death anxiety and death anxiety levels would not differ between young adults and older adults. However, it is stated in the research paper that participants recruited were obtained from the Klang Valley area. Limited in only one area is not a good sampling method, because the population outside of KlangValley is not included, therefore it would influence the results. A study by Mroczek and Almeida (2004) was conducted to examine whether stress reactivity becomes stronger or weaker with age. There were 1012 participants ranging in age from 25-74 years were took part in this study. The main results showed that there was a stronger association between daily stress and negative affect for persons high in neuroticism as compared to those low on the trait. In addition, there was also a stronger association between daily stress and negative affect for older as compared to younger adults. In this study, researchers should also include the age population below 25 and above 74 of years in order to get a more comprehensive result. Lastly, a study by Birditt, Antonucci and Tighe (2013) was carried out to investigate whether enacted support (emotional or instrumental) varies by relationship quality and stress appraisals among middle and older adulthood. There were 152 participants(principal respondents, PRs)who had experienced recent stressful life events and 180 participants as their identified supportive ties ranging in age from 8-98 years were took part in this study. The main results showed that thehigh quality relationships tended to enact consistently high levels of support irrespective of stress appraisals whereas low quality relationships enacted higher levels of support when PRs were more highly stressed.In this study, researchers should increase the number of participants in order to get a more accurate result. Methodology Participant Participants will be approached and filter to 3 different groups, young adulthood (20-39 years old), middle adulthood (40-64 years old) and older adulthood (65-74 years old). Each group will consist of 20 participants. The participants will consist of both women and men. Materials (Questionnaire) The Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS) by Lonetto Templer was designed to determine one’s death anxiety level. It is a self-conducted 15-item scale where participants rate themselves on the true-false scale. The instrument is recorded by allocating 1 point to every item which is answered correctly and then will be summed up all the items at the end of the process. High scores on this scale show high death anxiety level while low scores indicate low death anxiety level. The TDAS has good validity whereby it correlated 0.74 with the Fear of Death Scale. Besides that the TDAS is capable of significantly unique between psychiatric patients who have high death anxiety level and a control group. The TDAS also has an internal reliability of 0.76 and a three-week test-retest reliability of 0.83. (Lonetto, R., Templer, D. I. (1983). (The nature of death anxiety.In C. D. Spielberger and J. N. Butcher (Eds.), Advances in personality assessment, Volume 3 (pp. 14-174). The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was developed to measure of the level to which situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful.It is a 14 item instrument that predicts both unbiased biological markers of stress and increased risk for disease among people with higher distinguished stress levels. For example, those with the higher scores (suggestive of chronic stress) on the PSS tend to be worse on biological indicators of aging, cortisol levels, immune markers, depression, infectious disease, wound healing, and prostate-specific antigen levels in men. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), designed to determine the level of situations in one’s life are appraised as stressful. The European Spanish version PSS (14-item) demonstrated adequate reliability (internal consistency, = .81, and test-retest, r = .73), validity (concurrent), and sensitivity. Additional data indicate adequate reliability (à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¡Ãƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  = .82, test-retest, r = .77), validity, and sensiti vity of a 10-item short version of the PSS (Remor, 2006). (Remor, E. (2006). (Psychometric properties of a European Spanish version of the perceived stress scale. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 86-93.) Procedure A total of 60 participants will be recruited randomly through random picking at Sunway Pyramid shopping center and at the same time select by presuming their age group in order to complete 20 participants per age group. Participants will then be briefed about the objective of this experiment and the instructions they need to follow. Next, participants will be given the first questionnaire by the researchers, which is the Templer Death Anxiety Scale (TDAS). In this section, participants are required to fill in their details as provided in section A (socio demographic) and proceed to section B which is the questions of the death anxiety questionnaire. Then, the researcher will collect back the questionnaires from the participants. After that, participants will be given the second questionnaire which is the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). In this section, participants are required to fill in their details once more as provided in section A (socio demographic) and proceed to section B whic h is the questions to assess their stress scale. Then, the researcher will collect back the questionnaires from the participants. Both questionnaires collected will be used for data collection to be then converted into results. Design Cross sectional method will be used in this research because age group division will be involved. It will be a study based on data gathered at one time from groups of participants who represents different age groups. Each subject will be measure and tested only once and the results give us information about differences between the groups. Discussion Limitation of the research would be the amount of participants. Therefore it doesn’t represent the whole society. Future researchers are recommended to recruit more participants to get a higher accuracy results. Other than that the way to approach participants as planned would be a little time consuming. It is also not that efficient. Future researchers are recommended to approach participants in a more efficient way. Reference Angela Morrow, R. (2011, 1 19).Stress definition. Retrieved from http://dying.about.com/od/glossary/g/stress.htm Cathy, C., Jamie, A. (2008, 1 2).Terror management theory. Retrieved from http://www.tmt.missouri.edu/ Daniel K., M., David M., A. (2004). The effect of daily stress, personality, and age on daily negative affect.Journal of personality and social psychology,72(2), 355-378. JOEL.D, L., JAMIE , A. (2009, 7 1).Terror management theory and jury decision-making. Retrieved from http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2009/07/terror-management-theory-and-jury-decision-making/ Kira S., B., Toni C., A., Lauren, T. (2013). Enacted support during stressful life events in middle and older adulthood: An examination of the interpersonal context.27(3), 728–741. doi: 10.1037/a0026967 Laura K., H., Lyle J., W., John J., B. (2009). Death anxiety in a national sample of united states funeral directors and its relationship with death exposure, age, and sex.58(2), 129-146. doi: 10.2190/OM.58.2.c LI CHUIN, C., CHIN CHOO, Y. (2009). Age, gender, and religiosity as related to death anxiety. Lonetto, R., Templer, D. I. (1983). The nature of death anxiety.in c. d. spielberger and j. n. butcher (eds.).Advances in personality assessment,3, 14-174. Peters , L., Cant , R., Payne, S., OConnor , M., McDermott, F., Hood, K., Morphet , J., Shimoinaba, K. (2013). How death anxiety impacts nurses caring for patients at the end of life: a review of literature.7, 14-21. doi: 10.2174/1874434601307010014 Remor, E. (2006). Psychometric properties of a european spanish version of the perceived stress scale.The Spanish Journal of Psychology,9(1), 86-93. Richard, J. (2008).Hans selye’s general adaptation syndrome. Retrieved from http://www.essenceofstressrelief.com/general-adaptation-syndrome.html Appendix A Death Anxiety Scale Indicate whether each item is usually true or false for you most of the time. Scoring for death anxiety: T FI am very much afraid to die.T T FThe thought of death seldom enters my mind.F T FIt doesn’t make me nervous when people talk about death.F T FI dread to think about having to have an operation.T T FI am not at all afraid to die.F T FI am not particularly afraid of getting cancer.F T FThe thought of death never bothers me.F T FI am often distressed by the way time flies so very rapidly.T T FI fear dying a painful death.T T FThe thought of life after death troubles me greatly.T T FI am really scared of having a heart attack.T T FI often think about how short life really is.T T FI shudder when I hear people talking about a World War III.T T FThe sight of a dead body is horrifying to me.T T FI feel that the future holds nothing for me to fear.F Appendix B

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Square Deal: Social Reform to Avoid Disaster Essay -- essays resea

The Square Deal: Social Reform to Avoid Disaster   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  America at the turn of the century was a very different place than it is today. The industrial revolution had set into motion a series of events that empowered and enriched some and nearly enslaved others. Theodore Roosevelt’s â€Å"Square Deal† was a necessary response to growing social unrest. A severely unequal distribution of wealth along with poor living and working conditions were leading workers and capitalists to increasingly extreme means. By enacting a large body of legislation intended to set right the wrongs in society and using whatever force necessary, Roosevelt avoided what could have been a popular revolution of the working class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purpose of this essay is to develop a better understanding of Roosevelt’s â€Å"Square Deal†. An examination of historical events will provide a clear picture of the outlook in America during the time of Roosevelt’s presidency that led to the necessity of the legislation and presidential actions that characterized Progressive Party politics. Roosevelt’s response was nothing short of precisely what was necessary to remedy the social unrest that was overtaking the working people of America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As is the case with any major public policy, the â€Å"Square Deal† had its roots in beliefs set forth in the United States Constitution and the basic tenets of Democracy. Without support, large scale changes to the system go down in history as simply another idealistic effort. Roosevelt believed in his ideas and had a way of pushing policies through that resulted in sweeping changes that avoided catastrophe. Every conscious of the possibility of revolution, Roosevelt sought to avoid it by any means necessary.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beginning in the 1800’s, the face of America was changing. As the Industrial Revolution took a firm hold here and around the world, the everyday life of common Americans was affected in almost unimaginable ways. Between 1885 and 1945, a sweeping change was taking place throughout the world. Large scale mechanization as well as new modern modes of transportation and communication changed the way people looked at the world (Rowland, 1997, p. 14). As thousands of new jobs were created, a large scale urban migration began. People were leaving the far... ... 10, 2005 from SIRS Knowledge Source at http://www.sirs.com Pure Food and Drug Act. Retrieved on March 30, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ah_072600_purefoodandd.htm Rowland, P. (1997). Designing the modern world: the messages of objects, and design,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  shape our perception of the modern world. Carnegie Magazine, 8, 14+. Sherman Antitrust Act. Retrieved on March 30, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.bartleby.com/65/sh/ShermanA.html Thayer, W.R. (1919). The Square Deal in action.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Retrieved March 15, 2005 from http://www.bartleby.com The Interstate Commerce Act. Retrieved on March 30, 2005 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h921.html Wattenberg, B and Mazzetti, M. (1998). Rough riding into the 20th century. American Legion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Magazine, 28, 32-36.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Thursday, October 24, 2019

James Joyce. Araby

1. In Joyce's short story, the young narrator views Araby as a symbol of the mysteriousness and seduction of the Middle East. When he crosses the river to attend the bazaar and purchase a gift for the girl, it is as if he is crossing into a foreign land. But his trip to the bazaar disappoints and disillusions him, awakening him to the rigid reality of life around him. The boy’s dream to buy some little thing on bazaar is roughly divided on the callousness of adults who have forgotten about his request.And Dublin bazaar with alluring oriental-sounding name â€Å"Arabia† is a pathetic parody of the real holiday. 2. Although James Joyce’s story â€Å"Araby† is told from the first person viewpoint of its young protagonist, we do not think that a boy tells the story. Instead, the narrator seems to be a man matured well beyond the experience of the story. The mature man reminisces about his youthful hopes, desires, and frustrations.Because of the double focused narration of the story, first by the boy's experience, then by a mature experienced man, the story gives a wider portrait to using sophisticated irony and symbolic imagery necessary to analyze the boy's character. 3. Mangan's sister is the other central character in the story. The narrator shows us in ironic manner that in his youthful adoration of Mangan’s sister she is the embodiment of all his boyish dreams of the beauty, of physical desire and, at the same time, the embodiment of his adoration of all that is holy.Her image, constantly with him, makes him feel as though he bears a holy â€Å"chalice† through a â€Å"crowd of foes†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the Saturday evening throng of drunken men, bargaining women, cursing laborers, and all the others who have no conception of the mystical beauty his young mind has created in this world of material ugliness. 4. Joyce very clearly defined his creative task in the â€Å"Dubliners†: â€Å"My intention was to write a cha pter of the spiritual history of my country, and I chose the scene of Dublin, because this city is the center of paralysis â€Å".The opening paragraph, setting the scene prepares us for the view we receive of the conflict between the loveliness of the ideal and the drabness of the actual. Long monotonous periods, the rhythm and the threefold repetition of the word â€Å"blind† in the sense of impasse and blind create comic discrepancy between the title of the story and its beginning. 5. James Joyce uses dark and gloomy references to create the exact mood or atmosphere. Dark time of day (night) is used throughout the story and darkness is the prevailing theme.Joyce writes repetitively of the dark as a direct representation of the boy’s life. The boy plays in the dark, he hides in the dark, and he lives in the dark. The darkness is where he comes to an epiphany, and where he matures as a boy. The narrator's perception of the darkness causes him to reflect on his own is olation and loneliness. The nameless boy’s destiny is in the darkness of Dublin, and Joyce knows there is no escaping this. In the end of the story, the boy suddenly awakens to the bleakness of the humdrum life around him.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Banks Mat Review Essay

Robert Banks and Bernice M. Ledbetter believe the subject of leadership to be one worth exploring, and they do so in their book much to our profit. In this short book, Banks and Ledbetter begin by presenting the overall question they want to answer: Do Christians’ core convictions shape their views and practices of leadership or are they affected by wider cultural assumptions? [1]The book begins by exploring the many reasons for the increased interest in leadership today. The authors offer a plethora of reasons, not withholding the greatly increased pace of change, and they also set out some other factors for understanding leadership, including the comparison and contrast between a ‘leader’ and the qualities of ‘leadership’. Banks and Ledbetter take great care to ask challenging questions. This practice aids in the development of the book. In the opening chapters they begin by defining leadership as involving a person, group, or organization who shows the way in an area of life. [2] The authors also provide a strong distinction between management and leadership while also showing the importance of these two roles to work together. The foundation of the writing is supported by the claims towards the importance  of the study of leadership. Banks and Ledbetter continue on to explore leadership in a wider range of historical and Biblical contexts. They work from religious and Christian perspectives and work outward towards cultural influences. The authors share insight as it relates to the biblical, historical and contemporary perspectives, covering the accounts of the Apostle Paul, historical models such as the Benedictine tradition, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Pentecostal. They continue by exploring trait, contingency and transformational leadership. Chapters three and four provide the most specific writings on the topic of leadership. In these chapters Banks and Ledbetter draw attention to the raw spiritual, theological, and religious concepts of leadership. Here the authors conduct a case study of a significant author of leadership material, Stephen Covey. It is revealed that many readers are influenced by his Mormon faith without truly understanding or discerning the undertones.[3] This continues with an exploration of other perceived authorities on the topic of leadership. One such study is of Laura Beth Jones, an woman writer with increasing influence as it relates to leadership. Chapter five addresses how to translate practices of leadership into individual context through the use of three basic yet important values: faithfulness, integrity, and a servant-like attitude. Exploration of these three traits is undergirder with discussion of authors such as Robert Greenleaf. He is one of many leaders who brought into popular leadership thinking the idea of ‘servant leadership’.The book closes by offering examples in the form of case-studies. These studies provide deeper insight into the foundational qualities of successful leaders over the span of several years and many different context. This offers the reader a broader view of leadership by showing its success in many different forms and context. CONCRETE RESPONSE While reading through each chapter I was challenged to consider the conflicts I have faced that came as the result of lacking a manager to accompany my leadership. As a pastor, I am a natural leader. I tend to seek out change while searching for ways to constantly make things better and more efficient. About two years ago I was in a conflict with several of the leaders in our church. The conflict revolved around our misunderstanding of  each others approach and roles in leadership. As an proponent of change, I was offended by their seeming lack of faith in pursuing a broader reach in ministry and our effectiveness in the community. As managers, they were more apt to move slowly and could only visualize the problems that would need to be addressed in order to achieve the vision that was laid forth by me. After studying the viewpoints of Banks and Ledbetter I can now see how we could have easily been on the same page and shared the same goal while simply looking from distinct perspectives. I have now began to wonder how many other relationships could have been mended by simply understanding the role that each party played. I have a tendency to assume that others will automatically view things in the same way that I have. This has often led to great disappointment or great feelings of being misunderstood. In this way my passion can easily become focused on the wrong thing and people could easily become the target of that passion. REFLECTION While the book does a great job of exploring the topic of leadership, because of the breadth and depth of the topic many questions remain. Taking into account the authors definitions of managers and leaders, how do the two roles successfully communicate their intentions to one another? It is very possible for the two roles to coexist with proper acknowledgment of one another. How do the two operate together effectively without disrespecting or disregarding the importance of each role. Also, how does one know which leadership style works best in a given context? Does it take an extended period of trial and error to discover the proper styles? How do followers or even managers respond to a constantly changing leadership style? This book could have been greatly improved with a more comprehensive study of the specified leadership topics. The writing feels much like a generic overview of very important topics. While well written and engaging, I am left wanting as it relates to determining how to not only incorporate the leadership styles but also choose the style that is most fitting. This book feels like a movie that ended too soon. Leaving readers wondering what do with the brief information provided. ACTION With a fresh view of the information given by Banks and Ledbetter, I now have the information needed to implement a healthier leadership style that includes a clarity of my role as an agent of change. This plan is broken into two distinct parts. First, to properly identify the contexts that guide the view of leadership within the leadership team of the church that I pastor. What types of leaders have they encountered in the past? Are they open to change or resistant to it? This objective will be accomplished through the scheduling of one on one meetings with each leader. These meeting will allow me the opportunity to engage each leader in a meaningful conversation about the leadership styles they are most comfortable with. With this information I will be equipped to better serve these leaders by communicating with them in a way that they are most likely to receive. This is based upon Banks and Ledbetters observation of the broad idea of leadership many people carry. Secondly, I will create a comprehensive list of the core beliefs that will guide our leadership team. For those considering becoming parts of our church, how do they know the values that determine our decision making as leaders? This list will answer that question. It will become the core values for current and even future leaders. This comprehensive list will incorporate biblical teachings from Jesus as well as the Apostle Paul’s qualifications from 1 Peter and the epistles to Timothy. By outlining these core values, we create accountability, an attribute that could also allow for congregants and members alike to feel more comfortable engaging with the vision of our church by being secure in the direction and the values that guide us. BIBLIOGRAPHY Banks, Robert and Ledbetter, Bernice â€Å"Reviewing Leadership: A Chriatian Evaluation of Current Approaches†, Grand Rapids, MI Baker Publishing Group 2004