Case Write Up Barbara Wilson Essay

The main challenge of Barbara Wilson as a Regional Sales Manager is to deal with the drop in growth of sales and earnings of the Food Mix Company. She is supposed to provide some ideas to increase the growth of sales. Here for she needs the help of the District Sales Manager and the Sales Representatives, but unfortunately she just got vague answers from them and didn’t receive valuable feedback. That’s why Barbara is not able to keep up or increase sales in her area. One of the main reasons for her problem is the communication between Barbara and her team. The team doesn’t trust her, they don’t see her as one of them, that’s one of the reasons, why they don’t try to help her with providing ideas for the sales growth by sharing their knowledge. Another cause for the problem of Barbara is the structure of the Food Mix Company (FMC). Employees, who have a long work experience (for example 18 or even 36 years) on the same job at FMC don’t get promoted, instead they have managers, like Barbara, who are much younger and well-trained, with few years of work experience and little knowledge about market characteristics and field work. This is frustrating for the employees and doesn’t support a good relation between them and their managers. Another reason for Barbara’s problem lies is the motivational system at FMC. The reward in the form of a bonus is always paid at the end of the year and depends on completing the yearly target, which is defined by the top of the performance from last year. The sales team is not motivated for an outstanding good performance, because this will raise the target for the next year. That’s why, they try to keep the information about the new market segment (older people) as a secret and hide this important strategic information from the top management. They don’t realize the importance of this information for helping to find a solution for decreasing sales. One option for Barbara to handle these problems is the improvement of the communication between her and the team. She should try to build trust by showing interest in the work and problems of the sales representatives and show them, that she is one of them, for example by spending time with the sales representatives on team meetings, workshops or joining them in the field. By spending more time with her team, Barbara would recognize the existing problems and could try to solve them by talking to the top management and find a better way for the motivation system. Another benefit of improving the communication between Barbara and her team is the chance in improving the intelligibility of the team for the strategies and problems of the FMC, so they would understand the importance of sharing their knowledge.

Science in Mechanical Engineering

For someone who has always seen himself as lesser superior than others; for someone whose confidence is always behind the scene; for someone who has never really seen himself any bigger than a green pea; for someone who has acquired numbers of rejection which, apparently, outnumbered number of acceptance from people around him; for someone who used to just exist – just exist – who would have thought it would come to this point? Review I cannot consider my life as an extraordinary this world had ever had. Each person has a story to tell and I must say mine is not really something different.While some people spend their lives with lots of colors around them, some just do not – and as much as I hate to admit, I spent many years of my life belonging to the second group. I go with flow and that has always been the case. It goes this way: I knew I need to attend school and so I did. I have to do well in school or else I will suffer from all the criticisms – the usual criticisms. It is never easy to live in other people’s expectations to the point that it is what they want that drives you. It is your body under their minds. I can now imagine how pathetic that was.All the while, though, I do not think I was as inspired as the rest of the class was. I did not make lots of friends from school. No big deal! But there were times when I also deal with thinking of the reasons for the ‘empty’ life. Those days would usually end with me getting no answer than ‘It must be me†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Although I acknowledge the fact that each of us has our own set of preferences and all the while, I lived in the thought that I just prefer to live my life like this – lonely, detached, alone. It was tiring when you care for no one and more when no one cares for you.This probably exhibits the self-centered approach known to men. My being careless about others exhibits my being self-centered while others being self-centered is signifi ed by how I saw them treating me. I started my career as an advocate of science and technology. Yes, my first degree was Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I used to get fascinated with breakthroughs science gets to offer – all those inventions and advances in technology. Awesome! Hale great! Breath-taking! Fantastic! All those praises†¦ Nothing can beat the feeling of having invented something out of nothing.Or the feeling of being the one to drastically improve the current state of something for the benefit of people around the globe – it is always satisfying! Or so I was told. But who could tell it was not really a career of choice? I was one of those high school graduates who do not really know what they want to happen in their lives. And so, without any particular basis, it was Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering that I ended up with. Not a bad call anyway. I am aware of the good future this field has to offer. I have known of lots of pe ople who have succeeded in this career and, yes, that is, somehow, something to look forward to.I, at least, had this driving force to continue with my study. Fair enough to push me to strive harder and harder. I just told myself I need it or else I will end up with nothing. Although I appeared to be so passive all the while, in my heart I know I long for something. That something, however, is unknown. I do not know if I am just one those people who experience wanting something they do not exactly know what or looking for something they do not know, for sure, if existent. Can you just imagine how if feels to be in the dark? Be somewhere without any clear direction? They say that every little thing just takes a little of getting used to.Oh, well, probably, as I seemed to have been used to the feeling of being lost. It was sad but true. At this point in my life, I can never consider this as self-centeredness as I cannot even put myself at the center of everything. Myself was put on da rk – not in the center but in the darkness. Despite the lack of light in my life, I never questioned the existence of the Great Someone Up There. I perfectly know he is there. I do not recall how often I scream for His help. Maybe not that often but, of course, I do. I do and in my heart, I know I am not essentially alone all the while.However, there are moments when I tend to question the number and quantity of challenges facing me. There seems to be imbalance in load allocation. How come I am so lost while others follow certain direction? How come I do not know what I want in life while others are so certain of what they want in theirs? How come I do not seem to possess enough reason to be happy and complete. I often envy happy and satisfied people, I must admit – but I do not harm to them. I just envy them, that is it. And more often than not, I wish I were in their shoes. I even envy my own family members who seemed to find satisfaction in this life.Self-centered, I was, that time. In all the insecurities I have inside, there were times when I ask myself if this is something I caused. What is that something I failed to do? What is that something that I can probably change to make a difference? What could be missing? I have heard of success stories about people who started with nothing and ended up having the life they have always dreamed of. Can I not be one of them? My concern is never monetary. I did not wish for the whole world. I just want a piece of it – a piece of it where I can enjoy life to the fullest.I did not ask for extravagant things. What would a loner do with those? I doubt if anybody could really enjoy everything alone. I did not wish for fame. I have lived my life not having the attention of the whole world. I just want some compassion and feeling of belongingness. I did not wish for power as I have never ever seen myself mandating others or controlling the world. It could be that I long for power but that power is the power to appreciate and enjoy life, the power to make people see me as a sensible being worth the company, the power to contribute to the ‘real’ things in this world.In short, I was never a materialistic type. There are things I lack from within and that is something I longed for to fill in. Looking at these things now, it was all, I – I – I. I was so I-centered. Self-centeredness, however, can be seen positively or negatively. Realization should start from oneself. Otherwise, there is no way one can share himself to others. There is no way sharing yourself if you are now whole. In this way, self-centeredness can be seen as a first way in building or trying to build relationships with others.I used to have a, so to speak, very narrow view of things in life. I exist. I have to live. I have to survive. I used to find the question, â€Å"What am I here for? † or â€Å"Why do I exist? † as cliche that should have been buried decades back. Come o n! You are here because you are here and there is just nothing you can do about it! It is not a problem needing solution. It is just a situation that you have to live with. You are left with just two options – either you continue to exist or you end your own existence. Is that something needing some sort of profound thinking?!Life is as plain as that. You just have to go with the flow. I was never a person of confidence. I could not care less of what others might be thinking of me. Why would I? Could they care for me any better than that? I doubt†¦ I am just me. With or without me, the world would still revolve around the sun. With or without me, people from any part of the globe would still have 24 hours in a day. With or without me, things still go precisely the same way as they do when I am here. I am a nobody to ever have the notion I mean something – that I am myself and this person counts.As I started to look back, where did it all start? Where and when did I ever acquire this feeling of inferiority and lack of self-worth? When did I start to â€Å"kill† myself? After some self-scrutiny, these questions led me to this answer – the number of rejections I got from people around me. I was ignored for more than once, not just twice, far more than thrice, and to say it is four times is an understatement. It is never easy to be ignored. It is a feeling I would not want myself to dwell with – not anymore. As some people say, any attention is better than none.And indeed, any attention is better than the countless rejections my past gave me. Life has never been that kind to me. All those moments when I wanted to say something and no one seemed to be interested to even turn a head to look at who is talking; all those moments when my eyes could not speak more of what I feel inside and yet no one seemed to notice; all those moments when the only resort I can think of is to walk and walk and walk until my life ends; all those m oments when all I wanted is to disappear from everybody’s sight; all those moments contributed to the me that I used to be.In which case, the concept of containment applied in me. It was during this time when I tend to control and keep all emotions to myself, given the assumption that no one will listen and no one will care. My life went on and on and on. I learned to care for myself and for myself alone as I do not want to meddle with any other people’s lives. Why would I? Is it not that for so long I am with myself and myself alone? Is it not that for so long, I could not seem to find anyone beside me? Who ever said, â€Å"No man is an island? † I used to be an island and that is something I can attest.Until this very day came – I happened to come across (accidentally or probably it is fate’s planned way) with this certain book entitled, â€Å"Teach Only Love†. I am not a bookworm, definitely. No, unless it is an Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics book. I cannot exactly recall what is in that book that made me read it through. It was not me that is for sure. Nonetheless, the next thing I know is I finished reading that book. This is not normal. This must be something. And, indeed, it was. Why? Because reading that book had been the key to discover the other self I have.Yes, and it surprised me much more than any reader of this essay could ever imagine. What about this â€Å"magical† book? Nothing special at first glance†¦ It is a simple, plain, ordinary book that discusses the importance of our every word and every deed. It emphasizes that what we are today is basically an aftermath of what we said and did yesterday. I then started to look back at my past once more – the past that does not possess any allure to be revisited if not for the purpose of wanting to see myself mourning for the nth time. After reading this book once, I must admit something in me felt a slight change in perspective.But I was in denial. It is just a book – a fantasy created by someone, a perspective shared to others hoping there will be people to buy the ideas. â€Å"Count me out†, I told myself. But this book seemed to have a magical and magnetic property that made me want to read it over again. And so I did. This time, I cannot seem to put myself in denial as I did the first time. And yes, it opened my eyes in more than just one way. How could this certain piece of something, non-living, non-speaking, can speak of the things I have never heard from anyone in my life?How could this piece of bound paper wake me up from the long sleep I have been? How could it be? These are the questions reining my head for days and days. I got tired of seeking for answers. And then came the answer – if that non-living thing happened to show the life out of me, I can do far better than that. If this thing that does not have a mouth spoke to me of million things, how better could someone with mout h do that? If this thing that does not have a hand touched me in a unique, special way that no one has ever done before, what more could my able hands do?If this thing without eyes saw me the way I have always wanted to be seen, how better could these bright eyes of mine see those who are in need of my attention? If this thing without ears heard me like I was never listened to before, what more could these ears of mine do to those people who need people to listen as they confess? If this thing without shoulder happened to offer me a cradle of comfort, what more could this broad shoulder of mine offer those who need some rest? And if this thing without a heart happened to feel me, how can my heart not feel what other people have to express?It is this moment when I finally decided to stop asking why but to start thanking God that for millions of wandering souls we have in this world, I was given the chance to come across this book that opened millions of wonderful and worthwhile possi bilities. And so the confession above justifies the need for me to shift my profession from Mechanical Engineering to Counseling Psychology. These are far apart degrees and, yes, I did not see myself engaging in counseling. No, not even in my wildest dream. But this is not a dream. Yes, I am living in reality and the reality is that this is the vocation of choice.This is where I find myself, my heart. This is where I belong. It is true what the â€Å"magical† book says – that it is from your past where you draw your present. If not for the thousands of rejection, if not for the feeling of inferiority, if not for the lack of self confidence, I do not really think this book would have as much effect on me as it had. What is in counseling that truly entices me? It is not the feeling of recognition. It is not the money behind every consultation. It is not to make a living. It is to live and to let others appreciate how wonderful it is to live. Experience, indeed, is the be st teacher.I know the feeling of being neglected. I experienced lots of it. And this leads me to wanting to help people feel important, feel needed, feel worthy. I know the feeling of losing self worth and so I love to boost people’s confidence in themselves. I love to see people seeing their value as a person and claiming it as theirs. I love to see people loving themselves. But going through all these things, all these aspirations for others required lots of self realization. I had to learn to love myself first. It is true that you cannot share something you do not possess in the first place.How can I share love and confidence when I do not have it myself? I started with loving myself unconditionally, being proud of myself like I have never achieved anything before, and looking myself at the mirror with the courage to say, â€Å"This is me and without me, the world will never be exactly the same again. † When I finally learned to appreciate my own self, that was the time I started to see others in the way they should be seen – no prejudgment, no bias, no unjust feeling. This is where I started to realize the positive side of being self-centered.I took time to stabilize myself and when the time came, accidentally or planned, that I can tell myself I am whole, was the time I can start reaching out to others. Therapeutic relationship with others is where the essence of counseling relies. You have to build that kind of relationship to be able to counsel who are in need of help. When is it therapeutic? When you can ease others’ pain and when you can hear others’ grief without literally saying it. It is when your relationship with people tends to make those people feel relieved of their burden. It is the talent that no book can actually teach.This is the spice of counseling career. The theories behind help, but the counselor’s approach to practice it can never be assured by the theories. Person-centered counseling is when you put the person you are counseling as the central consideration in every word you will say, in every piece of advice you will give, and in every gesture you will show to the patient. The person being counseled would want it done that way. Well, to start with, he seeks counseling to be paid with attention that he wants to get, to get the understanding that no one seems to give him.The counselor should be able to give that. The central purpose is to make the person being counseled feel healed of the burden. As Jennie Rowden once said, â€Å"The best thing about counseling psychology is the face-to-face client work; it’s a real privilege to share in a complex process of change and deeply satisfying on a personal level. But I do so many other interesting things as well as therapy; with the research, supervision and the teaching and training of others, my job is endlessly fascinating and evolving. † And I share this same gratitude towards this vocation.It is more satisfy ing than having solved the most complex mathematical problem and far more complex than having invented a machine that could make the car fly. I am not saying these are fancy things. Let us just say, to each, his own. And this something that I won right now is something I will always be proud of. I claim the right to own it and be proud of it. Looking at my self now, I am far more self-directed than I was at a younger age. It is my responsibility to help others see the light of path and to be able to do that, I know I have to see the light in my own path first.It is a must for counselors to have interest in understanding people’s interaction with others and with the social environment. Understanding people’s perception is also mandatory. These things can be too challenging and too complex and only those are whole-heartedly interested can bear the complexity. Prominent areas needing focus are motivation, thought, attention, sensory, and perception. One of the most import ant things a counselor should never take off the mind is the confidentiality of the story or revelation of his patients.Opening someone’s life to a person who is not even a relative or a friend is never a simple thing. The counselor should keep the trust and confidence of the patient. Sharing one’s life is never easy, especially if what you have to share is something not-so-wonderful. But who ever define what is wonderful and what is not? As I come across this vocation, I realize, appreciation of something starts it all. When you learn to love what you have, you will see you need not have anything else. The chance to touch someone’s life, in a way or so, is one blessing I will not forsake.As I walk down the road, I wish my simple talk can speak of the things the lesser fortunate being would want to hear; my simple touch, I wish, could give them the comfort and shield they need; my simple smile, I pray, could bring them joy and hope that tomorrow is another day. There are people asking me what could have been – if I pursue the Engineering career†¦ As for me, I do not see this as a question needing answer. But then, I answered, â€Å"I do not really know. The only thing I am sure of is that had I not choose this vocation I am currently in, I may not feel this very light spirit in me.It could be that I will deal with problems of people in the world in addition to my own, but that is where the beauty lies. God gave these people challenges to work on, to give people like us opportunity to enlighten and uplift others’ souls. It is never easy but it is always true, always real, always sincere. † Looking myself in the mirror now, I still look the same but I see a completely new individual within. It was a total change – something I love. My past taught me a lot of lessons and although life has never been too kind for me then, the sacrifices that past brought me served as the inspiration in my life today.If not for this sad past, I doubt if I can see my life the way I see it now. Every bitter past, indeed, has sweet beginning if we only welcome the possibilities, if we only keep open arms for all the new changes. Fear is but a natural feeling. But to let oneself be drowned in it is another thing. The line, â€Å"I was left with no choice,† does not apply, I now believe. We are always given choices. The pick is ours. Sometimes we want something yet the apprehension is there and we let the apprehension rule. Realization does not have age limit.There are very young bloods who are very positive with their viewpoint in life. There are people old enough to realize things they should be doing and yet not doing anything. Maturity, indeed, does not come with age. It comes with the exposure in life. It comes with faith. It comes with the mindset brought by home. It comes with everything that happens in our lives if we only see things in right perspective. Each day is a new beginning and in each m orning I wake up, I thank God for the night that passed and pray that for this day, I inspire and counsel a soul.If I will ever change someone’s viewpoint, from dim to positively clear, that is when my day would become worthwhile. That is when I can tell it was never a waste and this day is something I am proud to tell God. In every talk that I do, may it be counseling or casual talk with friends, I know it is not them who learn from me. Talking is always a mutual thing. You learn from one another. No one can tell he knows everything. The same line, when uttered by two different individuals, may mean different. Why? Because it is not solely the words but the feelings and meaning behind the words.That is why talking about the same thing with different people results to a definitely wider perspective. It is not the subject matter, it is the people talking. It is not about the language used, it is the feeling behind every word. It is not length nor it is the brevity of the talk, it is the sincerity behind every statement. It is not important if the words are pronounced correctly or not. What is important is the openness of one another to talk and the willingness to feel and listen. There are, indeed, things no textbook can teach. There are things you can only learn as you get through it.I now know the answer to my questions and the answer is that I had to experience all those to experience what I am experiencing now. That may be the only acceptable answer and I do not really intend to search for more. Life is so simple if we only know how to really live it. Life happens but once. I might have spent many years of it in a not-so-wonderful way but it life does not lead back. It only moves forward. And so I should. No one should really wallow about the misfortunes in life, as there is no such thing. There are instances – some are happy while some are not.But those that are not are not really misfortunes if we are to scrutinize. Those are just Godâ€℠¢s means to prepare us. He does not teach us how to see things. He can only provide us with tests that can help us see things the way He wants us to. Our God is never a spoon-feeding, pampering God. He is a just God who gives comprehensive examinations where we can learn great lessons if we only listen. The world is a very huge venue to learn. This life is a very comprehensive exam to pass. The beauty is when we learn to appreciate the class – when we go to it not because it is mandatory to go to it but because we love to.ConclusionIf anybody would ask me now if I regret giving up my first degree to pursue counseling, I will answer, â€Å"The sad past led me to a wonderful today. Every bit of failure and pain did not really lead me to regretting anything because in each of those, I learned. And in each of those, I grew – not just as a person for myself but as a person for other people. † And now, I no longer find the question, â€Å"What do I live for? † mushy. I can tell, with chin up, I live for others to appreciate their lives. I do not just exist. I live. I continue to learn through others with high hopes and belief that they also learn from me. ?

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Professional and technical communication - Essay Example It is also concerned with alleviating human suffering. The purpose of the website is to create awareness of IFRC to the people who are affected by disasters. In order to do this, people must have clear knowledge of what IFRC is. It tries to ensure that the people’ vulnerability to hazards is eliminated or reduced. It might be possible to predict some disasters like the floods, tsunamis or hurricanes but not others like earthquakes. By fully analyzing the climate, people can be able to predict some of the weather related disasters. Climate automatically increases the intensity and frequency of disasters related to weather. The purpose of the international federation is to reduce the impact of these disasters to people who are affected by them. The federation comes up with the effective prevention methods and strategies that that saves lives of the victims. It has built a culture of prevention which is not easy in any way. In involves a lot of sacrifice. They use certain information to analyze the risks and the existing capacities of the community which help to reduce people’s vulnerability to most likely disasters. This helps to resume their lives and make them survive after disasters. IFRC works with realistic and set objectives called Millennium Development Goals. The achievement of these goals will totally be dependent on the government’s willingness to support the federation in consultation of the affected people. This means that the government must work with the representatives in different communities. The federation will want to have international diplomacy and relations with government and other stakeholders to make it clear that it sees consistency in the humanitarian. Another issue that will be prominent is how the movement and its individual part relate to the outside world. This is the way its own multi-stakeholders work reflects its own multi-consistency

Natural Resource Curce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Natural Resource Curce - Essay Example Likewise other OPEC countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also lower GNP figures. As a whole, OPEC countries have less GNP per capita from 1965 to 1998 compared to countries that do not have sufficient resources (Ross, 297-322). The reasons behind these surprising results could be many including the wrong management of resources by the government, non competitive business environment, and inefficiency of overall economy. A brief explanation about the conflicts of the Natural Resources and the policies to reduce these conflicts will be discussed in this paper. Natural Resource Curse The phenomenon of the natural resource curse came into existence after numerous studies stated that the resource oriented countries were constantly producing insignificant GNP per capita as compared to the countries that lacked resources. It was not only the economy that was lacking but the resources dependent countries were found to be malformed with more corruption, spontaneous conflicts betw een the people and the government, higher poverty rates, and inappropriate management of the government (Gibbs, 35-40). Oil, minerals, gold, cotton and other gemstones are the natural resources that mainly cause conflicts. ... Furthermore, such wealth always results in domestic grievances which are the major cause of civil wars. This is what the phenomenon of natural resource curse is all about – the greater the natural resource wealth, the lower will be the economic growth and development. Let’s now briefly discuss the effects and causes of the Natural Resource Curse Effects of the Natural Resource Curse The countries that are facing natural resource curse are mostly associated with the following problems that results in low economic growth and development. The internal conflicts of the country The natural resource curse has been a major reason for internal conflicts of the country. It has been studied by various researchers that the region of the country that is highly resource oriented consists of certain groups that are openly asking for their share every now and then. But such conflicts are minor as compared to the conflicts that are taking place within the government ministries. The peo ple that are in power are unable to firm unity amongst each other and are more interested in having the authority over the allocations of the budget. This is where the collapse of the government takes place thereby resulting in insignificant progress. The outcomes of such conflicts could be very damaging for a nation as it can seriously affect the economic growth of the country. According to a research, the countries that have lower percentages of exports of gross national products are involved in less amount conflicts as compared to the countries with higher percentages of exports. Lack of Human rights and Resources One thing that has been a hot target of the natural resource curse is the education for people in resource

Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes Essay Example for Free

Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes Essay Politics should be the application of the science Of man to the construction of the community Explain this remark and discuss what reasons there might be for thinking it is not trueIn this essay I intend to examine the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes, in particular their ideas relating to the science of man, and attempt to explain why their ideas prove that it is not possible to construct a science of man. I will also briefly mention the philosophy of Donald Davidson in regards to a science of man. The theories of Hobbes and the contemporary socio-biologists attempt to recognise how man works and on that basis build a society. Hobbes wished to be seen as the inventor of the science of politics (Sorrell, p45) He went about this by looking at the psychology of man and discovering that man is a mechanism. Hobbes wanted to understand mechanics. He wanted to look at why men live the way that they do in society and therefore, breaks it down. By doing this he discovered that people are cogs in the social machine. Therefore he wants to examine this cogs to achieve an understanding of the social mechanism, and does this by looking at the psychology of the mind. Hobbes is both an empirist and a materialist. Empirists believe that sense gives all knowledge. Generally, they do not believe in astrology, god, electrons etc. Their philosophy is summed up by saying that all things that give true knowledge can be sensed. Materialists believe that all things in existence are physical matter. In other words, the soul and the spirit do not exist. Therefore Hobbes believes that thoughts are material, that they are caused by sense and vice versa. Tom Sorrell suggests in his essay, entitled Hobbes scheme of the sciences, that rather than have knowledge of how the mechanics of the minds passions work, a more successful way of gaining political knowledge is to understand what these passions cause. They cause various degrees of action, with the possessor going to various extents to achieve what they want. In chapter six of De Corpere, Hobbes makes a connection between the knowledge of the principles of politics and the knowledge of the motions of the average human mind. Hobbes account of political science is an idea of what man must do if his goal is self-preservation. These ideas are not what mankind will do but what it will have to do, in a rational way, to form a political civilisation. One would assume that as Hobbes identifies both a natural science (that of the work of nature), and a civil science that of the common wealth (which makes laws and wills), he would suggest that they are parallels which, in political philosophy, work together. However, there are a few problems with Hobbes theory. Hobbes suggests that a monarch makes a better sovereign than an assembly. Yet, surely he would not agree that a monarch who is not dedicated would be better suited than a group of thoughtful representatives. A politically secure society is built up from its people. Hobbes believes that these people all have one motivation; self-gain, or to be more precise self-preservation. Hobbes suggests that there is a link between voluntary motion and vital motion. He goes on to say that senses work together with the vital motions to produce that which is voluntary, i.e. an endeavour. These endeavours can be categorised in two ways; attractions and aversions. An example of an attraction is to pick up a piece of cake because it looks good. That of an aversion is to run away from a dog because you are scared of dogs. As it is possible to see these actions are derived from the senses, again agreeing with Hobbes empirist theory. Endeavours are the small motions within man which occur before he walks, talks, runs or carries out any other voluntary motion. These endeavours are so small that they are undetectable. By understanding why men act the way that they do, it is easier to come to a conclusion as to how society should be structured. However, the idea that the existence of a science of man can be questioned suggests that society can be constructed without it. This is due to the fact that many psychological and political theories are founded on the basis that there is a science of man. Without this science of man these theories are in turn questioned and therefore cannot be viably backed as reasons for the construction of the community. Another prolific philosopher whose arguments should be taken into account is Rene Descartes. Descartes thinks that we, as humans, are made up of two separate substances. The body is the physical stuff and the mind the res cogitans (thinking thing) purely mental stuff. The res cogitans can will your body to move. The difficulty with Descartes theory is that the mind and body interact; if you pour boiling water on you hand, you will feel pain. Again we have to take into account voluntary and vital motions. A voluntary motion is me moving my arm. A vital motion is my arm moving. I move my arm because I want to; but I may not necessarily want it to be moved. This can happen for a number of reasons. It may be possible that I have a muscle spasm in my arm or that somebody moves it. All of this suggests that for Descartes theory to be correct there must be some kind of connection between a material substance (the body) and an immaterial substance (the mind). However, we will find it impossible to understand the idea of a science of man if we cannot understand how the two substances interact. Therefore, again, we have no proof that it is possible to build a political philosophy on the basis of a science of man. On p213 of Davidson , we find an explanation of monisms and dualisms. Theories are thus divided into four sorts: nomological monism, which affirms that there are correlating laws and that the events correlated are one (materialists belong in this category); nomological dualism, which compromises various forms of parallelism, interactionism and epiphenominalism; anomalous dualism which combines ontological dualism with the general failure of laws correlating the mental and the physical (cartesianism). And finally there is anomalous monism which shows an ontological bias only in that it allows the possibility that not all events are mental, while insisting that all events are physical. The final position is that which Davidson himself follows. Davidsons argument suggests that the psychology of man does not follow any causal laws. Therefore, it is impossible to impose any rationality on theories involving the mind. These anomological psychological states are defeasable. They are defeasable because it is possible that by adding another condition to the situation the expected behaviour changes. Therefore it is impossible to agree with any political philosophy that involves the necessity of a science of man. What is easily discovered is that there are many different political philosophies and many different concepts as to what is a science of man. Philosophers such as Hobbes and his counterparts, Mill and Marx, possess the shared assumption that political philosophers must accept the political opinion that they are arguing for. They all think that rational agents must accept their arguments yet they all have different arguments. They all believe that for a successful political structure human nature cannot be ignored, if the structure is to command respect. As I have shown, Descartes and Davidson on the other hand, believe that a science of man is impossible; Descartes because he believes that our minds are immaterial and Davidson because mans behaviour follows no causal laws. All of this shows us that trying to interpret mans actions and apply them to a science is an impossible conquest. Man is too complicated a mechanism to understand and therefore political philosophy, for a sensible and rational social structure, must be founded on another basis.

Violence Against Women In India Essay Example for Free

Violence Against Women In India Essay On December 16, a 23 year-old woman in Delhi, was gang-raped and almost left for death by six men in a moving bus. More shocking this was the 636th rape in Delhi in 2012, according to the â€Å"reported† figures available with the National Crime Records Bureau. In Bangalore, two days after the Delhi rape, a girl was pulled into a shop in her own neighbourhood and raped by the owner, while his friends kept watch. India was never very safe for women, but of late there seems to be a flagrant disrespect that is governed neither by societal nor legal norms. It seems to be simply up to the men to perpetrate violence and for women to safeguard themselves as best as they can. The police are too biased to be effective. Tehelka magazine’s sting operation in April on senior police officials in Delhi-NCR, revealed that more than half chose to blame rape victims. ‘Unless a woman is fully covered from head to toe at all times, she wants men to rape her’, declared Arjun Singh, SHO of Surajpur Police Station. With such attitudes, it is not surprising that victims are reluctant to enter our police stations and that most attacks go unreported. Technology also assaults our senses every hour. Mobiles share salacious details while TV stations broadcast them like prime time entertainment, instead of using the space to condemn or discuss such matters seriously, thus becoming active participants in gender injustice. Social divides These crimes against women are part of a wider change where reactionary forces are becoming dominant. Globalization seems to have narrowed the space available for women even further by creating economic and social divides that provoke a conservative backlash from those who feel left out. According to eminent Kannada writer Vaidehi, violence against women is as old as the Mahabharata. But the rapid changes in our society seem to be escalating the scale of this violence. Says William Dalrymple in the introduction to his fascinating book, Nine Lives, â€Å"The speed of development is breathtaking: the sort of construction that would take 25 years in Britain, comes up here in five months. So extraordinary is all this that it is easy to overlook the fragility and unevenness of the boom. Within twenty minutes of leaving the Gurgaon headquarters of Microsoft or Google Asia, cars and trucks are beginning to give way to camel and bullock carts. This is a very different India indeed.† And it is this different India – whether in Karnataka or Maharashtra or Haryana that the new India needs to comprehend rather than ignore. Sharat Chandra Srivastava, violinist who performed at the GirlCott show, feels the mutual mistrust comes from the replacing of community norms by a highly individualised society. Agrees Sufi musician Rabbi Shergill, â€Å"I wish there were more neutral cultural spaces where the two (worlds) could’ve interacted a little more naturally. Gurgaon had a functioning society before we got there. The malls, pubs, multiplexes just seemed to look down on it; it seemed to grudge people their draw in the great lottery of life. You don’t just barge into someone’s house and act all loud. I’d like to see the discourse move to the countryside where the eve-teasers come from and start a genuine dialogue. â€Å"What do you dislike about us?† But before dialogue can emerge, basic safety needs to be in place, with secure public transport, and open, well-lit public spaces. Gurgaon shows a horrific crime graph and its Mahatma Gandhi Road, connecting the many malls and swanky housing estates, is now called the Rape Mile. Women returning from work carry pepper spray; the streets are dimly lit and deserted by evening. Only 3,286 cops cover the vast urban sprawl. And nobody takes responsibility when anything goes wrong. Says Richa Dubey, who initiated the successful Gurgaon GirlCott campaign in April, â€Å"We are trying to get back a sense of collective responsibility. This is where we live and work, we all need to work to make it safe.† The GirlCott, provoked by the kidnapping of a Sahara Mall employee on her way home, decided to hit the commercial complexes where it hurt by a â€Å"no safety, no money† shopping boycott, and firmly put the spotlight on how the urban dream of Gurgaon had turned into a nightmare for its working professionals. A host of citizens and organisations including Whypoll (maps unsafe places), Breakthrough (Bell Bajao), Indian Institute for Human Settlements, and Jagori, came together at GirlCott and are now working on a long-term plan for safety. As the Citizens Collective Against Sexual Assault says, Women have a right to be safe – In homes, on streets, in buses and in workplaces.

Impact Of Performance Management On Organizational Success Commerce Essay

Impact Of Performance Management On Organizational Success Commerce Essay The concept of Performance Management is an important HRM process that provides the basis for improving and developing performance and is the part of the reward system in its most general sense. Performance management is a systematic process for improving organizational performance by developing the performance of individuals and teams. It is a means of getting better results by understanding and managing performance within an agreed framework of planned goals, standards and competency requirements. Performance management is: A process for establishing a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved, and an approach to managing people that increases the probability of achieving success. (Weiss and Hartle, 1997) Performance management can be defined as a strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained success to organizations by improving the performance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors. (Armstrong and Baron, 1998) Performance management is all about improvement-synchronizing improvement to create value for and from customers with the result of economic value creation to stockholders and owners. The scope of performance management is obviously very broad because performance management must be viewed at an enterprise wide level. Organizations work more effectively when the goals and objectives of the organization, those of the smaller work units and the job responsibilities of each employee are all linked. When people in the organization understand how their work contributes to the success of the company, morale and productivity usually improve. The aim of all the parts of the company is the key to making these links clear to everyone. (Robert Bacal, 1999) Performance management has three distinct components defined by Banks and May, 1999 that are following: The first component consists of the definition of performance which includes organizational objectives and strategies, the second component is the actual measurement process itself and the third component is the communication between supervisor and subordinate about the extent to which individual behaviour fits with organizational expectations. Many of the components of performance management have been recommended for years as valuable to performance assessment. The importance of performance management is that the process combines most of these suggestions and adds the overlay of the strategic importance of various performance areas. (Frank Conte, 2009) RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJECTIVES The objectives of a research project summarise what is to be achieved by the study. Objectives should be closely related to the statement of the problem. Properly formulated, specific objectives will facilitate the development of the research methodology and will help to orient the collection, analysis and utilisation of data. For example, realizing the two keywords performance management and organization success, it is important for this research study to have a particular organization that will focus in determining impact of performance management on McDonalds success. The research objectives are the goals to be achieved through the research. The Research should always be based on pre-decided questions. These questions help to focus on the research objectives. The first step in any research is defining the problems to be studied and the questions to be asked. (Campbell et al, 1982) A good research question defines the focus of your research project. It helps readers to know the specific subject matter you will be addressing. It can set boundaries to help you figure out where to go next and defines which data you need to collect and which methods you will use to access and analyse your documents (Hung Popp, 2009). Research question needs to be answerable by the kind of study researcher could actually conduct. The researcher doesnt want to pose a question that no feasible study could answer, either because the data that might answer them could not be obtained. (Maxwell, 2005) In the research the following questions will be answered: What is Performance Management? How is it achieved within McDonalds? What is meant by organizational success? How is success affected by the impact of performance management? What are the positive and negative impacts of performance management on an Organization? LITERATURE REVIEW Literature reviews or searches are essential steps in any research project. They often focus on articles in academic journals although textbooks may also be consulted. Performance management is a term, which is widely used in organizations and in particular by human resource professionals. A generic definition is that it is about applying processes, techniques and systems which maintain and improve individuals performance whilst simultaneously aiming to improve the performance of the organization. ( Hale Whitlam, 2000) From the HR field Armstrong and Baron highlight the importance of performance management being strategic, integrated (vertical, functional, HR integration and integration of individual needs), concerned with performance improvement and development. The principle of setting goals for individuals which are linked to organizational goals has a long history, evolving from merit rating to management-by-objectives (MBO- first coined by Peter Drucker in 1955), through Lockes Goal setting Theory of 1968 (Greenberg Baron, 2000) and finally to performance management, which became a recognised process in the 1980s (Armstrong Baron, 2002). Philpott and Sheppard (1992): The fundamental goal of performance management is to establish a culture in which individuals and groups take responsibility for the continuous improvement of business processes and for their own skills and contributions. As stated by Hartle (1995), Performance management should be integrated into the way the performance of the business is managed and it should link with the other key processes such as business strategy, employee development and total quality management. Performance staff members are at all times faced with the test of building agreement as to which workloads are supposed to be treated the best, and categorizing which workloads should be acceptable to experience a constrained setting. Once agreement is attained, the essential tools and measurements have got to be in place to decide if the prioritized workloads are meeting definite goals. Literature reviews of various academic journals and text books written by different authors are very helpful in conducting the research and supporting the research findings with the opinion and point of views of different authors. Performance management of employees is an important element of HR processes in the successful organizations (Burnes 2004). Performance management is a concept which emphasize on the continuous improvement on employees performance which has a good impact on the productivity of the organization in the long run. Effective performance management of employees is very helpful in order to achieve the strategic business objectives (Caldwell 2002). HR managers of successful organizations consider the implementation of performance management process essential for the business growth and development. It also helps the employees to improve and develop their own skills (Chen 2003). Most of the employees working in the organizations want to grow in their field; the supervisors during the performance management process can guide their subordinates which is helpful for them to overcome their professional weaknesses and improve their skill essential for their professional growth (Cherry 1993). The process suggests a complete career growth plan for the individuals by enhancing their performance in a professional business environment. However, it is important that performance management process should be implemented in a way that it should also improves the overall performance of the business by using different business processes like total quality management. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT A BRIEF OVERVIEW Performance Management is a method for creating a collective understanding regarding what is to be accomplished and how it is to be accomplished. It is an approach to supervising people that raise the likelihood of reaching success. The performance management process helps the managers and supervisors to provide feedback to the employees regarding their current performance at job and expected level of performance (Covey 1991). It provides clear direction to the employees about management expectations regarding their performance. The compensation and rewarding system is also established based on the performance of the employees over the period of time. It also assists the organizational leadership to identify the training needs of the organization and resolve the performance related issues. It provides opportunity to the managers to set the performance expectations and keep proper tracking of the employees performance (Doorewaard and Benschop 2003). The supervisors and managers can me asure the performance outcomes by comparing it with the performance expectation and performance appraisal can be done on the basis of this exercise. However, it is important that management should adopt the performance management practices that are consistent with the business operation requirements and objectives of the organization (Drumm 1999). An effective performance management process starts with defining the performance objectives which includes tasks and results which needs to be accomplished. It is important for the management to communicate the objectives to the employees in order to get the desired results (Francis 2003). Planning is also an important part of the performance management process. Planning includes making clear to the employee how they assist the organization to accomplish its objectives. Work together with the employees to clarify the performance standards and make sure that there is accountability at every stage. Employees should be made to comprehend the accountabilities and expectations regarding their job. Clarify the behaviours which are required from them and why. Explain them that they are accountable for taking an active role in running and judging their performance all through the year. Effective communication methods could be adopted for this purpose because if the objectives and tasks have not been communicated to the employees, they will not be able to perform according to the expectations. Once the tasks has been communicated and employees have started putting efforts in order to achieve those tasks then continuous performance reviews are very essential to advise employees about their ongoing performance and management expectations. Feedback is considered to be the most critical step in performance management process (Gibb 2001). Give frequent informal coaching. It involves acknowledging the good work that the employee is doing and helping out the employee to perform up to the mark. Discover ways through which the employee can grow and improve, and work together to generate development plans. Rapidly communicate novel opportunities and adjustments that affect the employees job. Name clear actions that the employee can implement so that suggestions offered are co ncrete. Formulate informal observation notes (perhaps on a calendar) whenever the employee performs a good job, make and implement development plan. These observations will assist supervisor while reviewing the performance of employee and filling the performance appraisal form. The supervisor can also note down praise or complaints from consumers concerning an employees work (Hale 2000). The manager and supervisor can use all saved notes regarding the employees performance and evaluate their performance on accountabilities and behaviours. The supervisor can invite the employee for feedback with reference to how they performed throughout the year. They may perhaps remind the supervisor of particular occasions of good performance or troubles outside their control that harm their capability to do their job well. After completion of the performance appraisal forms talk to employee about ratings and remarks. The most important step in this process is to recognize and reward the employees for their good performance because it will not only motivate employees to go extra mile to meet the goals but also increases the loyalty of the employees. In the modern business worlds loyalty of internal customers has been an important concern for the HR managers because if employees dont feel ownership of the work they will never put their 100% efforts for the success of the business (Huang 2001). Therefore, it is important for the organizational leadership to recognize the employees for their efforts and compensations should be made on the basis of employees performance and efforts because if employees are compensated and rewarded on performance basis then it will create an atmosphere of healthy competition within the organization essential for individual and organizational growth (Hunt 2003). Training and development of people is also an important step in performance management process which helps to improve the skills of the employees according to the job requirements (Hyland and Verreault 2003). The value of employees and their progress all the way through training and education are key features in shaping long-term profitability of a business. If you appoint good quality employees, it is likely to spend in the development of their skills as they can enhance the productivity. Training is mostly thought to be for new employees only which is a wrong perception because continuing training for existing employees facilitates them to adjust according to the varying job and business requirements because external environment is changing on continuous basis and it is essential to develop and train the employees according to the latest system and processes in order to increase the efficiency of the business and maintain the market share (Johnson and Scholes 2002). An important step in performance management process is to link the individual objectives with the business objectives and directing the efforts of the employees towards the achievement of those objectives. Here comes the role of the immediate supervisor of an employee who can direct the employees efforts towards accomplishment of specific objective and make the employee feel that his efforts are important for the growth and success of the business (Kane and Grant 1999). At the end of the process it is important to ensure that individual efforts should be directed towards meeting the organizational goals. It needs to be determined the contributions of each team towards tasks achievement. This is also helpful in defining the future human resource policies and strategies. These approaches may help to improve organizational performance depending on if they are put into practice at length and stay alert on managerial outcomes. Some of the following, e.g., organizational learning and knowledge management, might be interpreted more as movements than organization performance strategies because there are wide interpretations of the concepts, not all of which include focusing on achieving top-level organizational results (Liao 2005). Nevertheless, if these two notions are instilled from corner to corner of the organization and focus on organizational outcomes, they can add strongly to managerial performance. On the other hand, the Balanced Scorecard, which is purposely intended to be inclusive and focused on organizational results, will not develop performance if not applied from a strong design. THEORIES OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT The fundamental structure of performance management is drawn from basic principles of well-established motivational and learning theories. These theories are underpinning of performance management in this research proposal. Goal theory was developed by Latham and Locke (1979) who highlights four mechanisms that connect goals to performance outcomes: They direct attention to priorities; They stimulate effort; They challenge people to bring their knowledge and skills to bear to increase their chances of success; The more challenging the goal, the more people will draw on their repertoire of skill. This theory underpins the emphasis in performance management on setting and agreeing objectives against which performance can be measured and managed. Control theory focuses attention on feedback as a means of shaping behaviour. As people receive feedback on their behaviour they appreciate the discrepancy between what they are doing and what they are expected to do and take corrective action to overcome the discrepancy. Feedback is recognized as a crucial part of performance management processes. Social cognitive theory was developed by Bandura (1986). It is based on his central concept of self-efficiency. This suggests that what people believe they can or cannot do powerfully impacts on their performance. Developing and strengthening positive self-belief in employees is therefore an important performance management objective. Clayton P. Alderfer (1972) devised ERG theory of human needs that explained three primary categories: Existence: This is akin to physiology and security needs in Maslows hierarchy of needs. It is concerned with fulfilment of basic requirements like food, shelter and clothing. Relatedness: It is related to needs like interpersonal relationships, acceptance as a member in a group/society and family relationships. Growth: This need involves people finding the opportunities to be what they are most fully and to become what they can. Expectancy theory developed by Porter and Lawler (1968) and it states that motivation will be high when people know what they have to do to get a reward, expect that they will be able to get the reward and expect that the reward will be worthwhile. So this theory leads to the performance management. Equity theory demonstrates the importance of perception in motivational behaviour of employees. The central theme of this theory is that satisfaction as a consequence of job performance is contingent upon the perception of equity. Stacy Adams (1965), who was given credit for development of this model, had brought recognition to the issue of equity in performance management. As we know literature review is the major part of the research project. So, it is necessary to know what has already been covered and the theories that have been developed to provide leads and reference points or as the basis for a grounded theory. METHODOLOGY Methodology usually refers to the general approaches to research, while method refers to techniques for gathering evidence (Gancian 1992). Therefore Methodology is a theory and analysis of how research does or should proceed (Harding 1987). Methodology is that how to apply the methods in the research. In my research, the methodology will be based on both, qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. The qualitative research aims to generate insights into situations and behaviour so that the meaning of what is happening can be understood and it is often a useful tool to discover research questions. Quantitative research is empirical-based on the collection of factual data that is measured and quantified and in other words it is the link between cause and effect. The proposed methodology will include both primary and secondary data collection techniques. Data collection techniques will include comprehensive database research, highlighted data, surveys, supplemental intervie ws. By using the case study in research, the concept will be better understand. The analysis of this research is qualitative which is used to highlight the different patterns and make it easier to understand. In this research, the case study will be on McDonalds. The structure of research is based on literature review. (Saunders et al 2008). INTERVIEWS: Interviews are an important research method. Interviews are basically qualitative but they can become more quantitative by the use of content analysis. The advantages of interviews are that they obtain information directly from the people involved in the area that is being researched and can provide insights into attitudes and perspectives. It gives opportunity to give information of research to interviewee so he/she can give relevant information (Zikmund, 2003). The interviewer is an integral part of the investigation. (Smith, 1983) SURVEYS: Surveys obtain information from a defined population of people. They provide more powerful data than other methods by using a combination of questionnaires and interviews and possibly focus groups. (Zikmund, 2006) states that the main purpose of survey in research is to collect primary data, which is assembled specifically for the research. CASE STUDY: A case study is a description or history of an event or sequence of events in a real life setting. Case study protocol sets out the objectives of the research, how the case study will support the achievement of those objectives, including the evidence required and how the work of producing the case study will be conducted. This methodology covers sources of evidence such as interviews, observations, documents and records. The use of multiple source of evidence, each with its strengths and weaknesses, is a key characteristics of case study research.(Gillham, 2000) DATA ANALYSIS: The data collected through interviews, surveys and case studies will be continuously analysed. Doing data collection and data analysis, according to Merriam (1998) is the right way to do it in qualitative research. It is helpful, as it enables the researcher to focus and shape the study as it proceeds, through consistent reflection on the data and attention to what the data are saying (Glesne, 1999).

Jonah: A False Prophet or a Prophet with a False God? Essay -- Religio

Jonah: A False Prophet or a Prophet with a False God? The Jonah narrative is a story often told to children to emphasize that it is wrong to run from God and there is no way to escape from God. However as adults we see that there is more to the story. There are many ways to interpret the Jonah narrative and the character of Jonah. Readers may even read the story with an anti-Semitic view if they judge solely from their first impressions of Jonah. We see a man who flees, a man who is angry with God, and a man who pouts under a bush and wishes to die. From all this we may conclude that Jonah is selfish. If we read beyond the surface impression and pay careful attention to the narrative and Jonah's words and not just deeds, we see a more spiritual concern in Jonah's heart. He is not concerned about what people think of him but what people think of God. During Jonah's time, conditions were not very stable. Political, social, and religious disorder reigned in Israel. Syria had recently won a war and taken over Israel. The relationship between Jonah's homeland and Nineveh, the capital of Syria, were strained and bursting with animosity. Israel itself was in a state of turmoil, trying to adjust to the loss of their power and independence (Winard 538). In his article "Jonah: The Wayward Dove", Richard Stamp charges Jonah with extreme nationalism. "We see a rather obnoxious man who is disobedient to God and seems to be a bigoted nationalist of the worst kind" (Stamp 80). Jonah's frustration with God shows that he would rather see the destruction of more than a hundred and twenty thousand souls than acknowledge that God can be merciful to the foreigners of Nineveh. His anger over God's mercy towards this wicked city is used to ju... ...aracteristics in all his actions. Jonah is never concerned about what people think of him but what people think of God. Works Cited Fretheim, Terence E. The Message of Jonah: A Theological Commentary.Augsburg Publishing House: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1977 Martin, Hugh D.D. The Prophet Jonah: His Character and Mission to Nineveh. The Banner of Truth Trust: Highgate West Hill, London , 1958. Myers, Jacob Martin. The Book of Joel; The Book of Amos; The Book of Obadiah; The Book of Jonah. John Knox Press: Richmond, Virginia, 1959. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: (NRSV)Oxford University Press, 1991. Seiden, Chaim. "Why does Jonah Want to Die?" Bible Review 15 June 1999: 4. Stamp, Richard. "Jonah: The Wayward Dove" The Expository Times Vol. 111 Dec.1999:80-82. Winward, Stephen F. A Guide to the Prophets. John Knox Press: Richmond, Virginia 1969.

Chivalry in Arthurian Legend Essay -- Medieval Times Knighthood Essays

Chivalry in Arthurian Legend Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary defines chivalry as "the system, spirit, or customs of medieval knighthood." As Leon Gautier, author of Chivalry, defines this "system" and "spirit" of knighthood by identifying rules of chivalry, two of which are well illustrated in Lanval, "TheWife of Bath's Tale," and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnel:" "Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word," and "Thou shalt be generous, and give largess to everyone"(qtd. in Chivalry). All three stories seem to suggest the predominant theme of a knight living up to his word. This is shown by the fact that, in each story, the knight's oath is taken very seriously, is treated as a contract, and is trusted implicitly. The generosity of the knight is also portrayed in these works. It is not difficult to see, given the moral overtone of these rules, that the Church had a great deal to do with defining the values of knighthood. "The Wife of Bath's Tale" and "The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell" both follow the story of a knight who makes a "rash promise" on which his life depends. Even under the most difficult of circumstances, these promises are kept. In the story of Dame Ragnell and Sir Gawain, King Arthur is described by the author as a knight who "bare away the honour, Where-so-evere he went"(9). Surely he must be held to any code of honor imposed on a knight! While on a hunting expedition, King Arthur is confronted by a fully armed knight, named Gromer Somer Joure. Arthur is alone, scarcely armed and unable to defend himself against Gromer, who is ready to take Arthur's life. In order to avoid instant death, Arthur is forced to swear to return, alone and "in this same arraye"(87... ...h, defend the king, his land and his people, and be courteous to the ladies. They were honest, distinguished gentlemen. When they gave their word, it was trusted without doubt. They were the epitome of chivalry. Works Cited: "Lanval." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume 1. New York: 2000. (127-140). "Merriam-Webster Online: The Language Center." Online. Internet. 2000. Merriam-Webster Incorporated. Available: http://www.m-w.com/ Price, Brian R. "On Knighthood." Online. Internet. 11/22/2000. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/7374/knights-2.html "Rules of Chivalry." Online. Internet. 11/11/2000. Available: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5266/chivalry.htm "The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Volume 1. New York: 2000. (253-280).

Motivation and Hygiene as Issues of Control Essay

Economics is usually considered a basically quantitative affair: numbers, charts graphs. It is rare that professional economists remember that there are real people under those pompous numbers, real communities and families who suffer if times get bad. Frederick Herzberg’s (1959) two level theory on worker satisfaction, while not specifically from the field of economics, is important in rectifying this imbalance: in general, Herzberg’s theory of motivation and hygiene is a qualitative set of ideas that speak not merely of numbers, efficiency and production, but also the qualitative nature of worker satisfaction and reward which is far more important than anything the numbers suggest. This paper will deal with a few ideas related to employee control and ownership over business and its relation to Herzberg’s variables in terms of worker satisfaction. First, the nature of the theory itself. Herzberg deals with the concepts of worker satisfaction through both motivation and hygiene. The former deals primarily with questions of satisfaction through what is to come: promotion, recognition, rewards, increases in pay. The latter is more quantitative, but still of immense qualitative importance: basic job security, good work environment and the expectation of future satisfaction (Herzberg, 1959). Herzberg’s findings show, insofar as immediate causality is concerned, that the former are key to satisfaction on the job. The latter are important, but only indirectly, they do not (in themselves) lead to any sense of job satisfaction, but any qualitative lowering of these variables can lead to substantial dissatisfaction. However this is stated, they are both of immense importance. Second, this paper must deal with the present economic crisis. The issues here involve the increasing debt of the American economy, as well as the American state. The present economic crisis can be summarized by the extension of credit far beyond the economy’s ability to repay. But this extension of credit came into existence in order to absorb excess production, as well as maintain America’s central role in the global economy as the â€Å"world’s marketplace.† All of this has led to an explosion of public and private debt, massive foreclosures, bankruptcy and, most important, a major threat to the integrity of the American dollar and America’s role in the world economy. As of 2009, this has meant that the US economy is in a period of contraction, as firms no longer have the ability to extend credit with any sense of the possibility of being repaid. Once the banks got the jitters over this, they sent signals throughout the economy that confirmed the contraction of credit: the lifeblood the modern economy for better or for worse, especially in the real estate market. Debt artificially inflated prices (including stocks), leading to an overvaluation far beyond the actual value of the commodities.   But, since the US market is the world’s largest and the savings rate the lowest, there is little to cushion such a accumulation of debt, and hence, it affected America’s major trading partners as well, leading to a global recession and indeed, depression. Now, third, the remainder of this paper will deal with the relation between Herzberg’s two level theory and the present depression. Unfortunately, this is where things get depressing, and the economists obsession with numbers that don’t have personalities start to make sense. Let us begin with the first level, that of motivators: Since, in general, this depression is based on the massive and irrational expansion of credit (and hence, debt), debt must be the first issue in dealing with motivators. If one has run up credit card debt and has seen the interest rate shoot up as banks seek to make up lost ground, the issue of default is a real one. This develops as a negative motivating factor that will not be made up anytime soon. One sees himself as laboring harder and harder while unable to keep up even with the interest in various debts: credit cards, homes, cars and luxuries such as entertainment systems. But just as important, if one is working just to finance debt, one can not also help but notice the fact that class differences in the western world are getting sharper and sharper. The wealthy classes can weather such storms, and in fact, may benefit from them, seeing their smaller competitors go into receivership. Hence, the first positive motivating factor is for class divisions to be reduced: the wealthy, whose practices helped bring the current crisis about, need to begin assisting labor in the payment of debts. While high profile cases such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett giving billions to their own charities that reflect their personal and corporate ideological positions, none of this high profile giving assists the rank and file laborer. It is possible that substantial profit sharing and employee ownership of businesses should be mandatory and guaranteed by the state in exchange for worker loyalty. The question of employee ownership (hence, disenfranchising the major stock holders) is an important one given the confines of Herzberg’s theory of motivators, since such an approach will provide a certain emotional boost, as well as solve the problem of employee recognition and promotion. Employee ownership and employee direction of business is essential to assist workers in paying debts and increasing job satisfaction, since they will be working for themselves. Jobs should become careers rather than merely slaving for a living. Giving workers a say in the day to day running of business and a financial stake in the firm itself is essential for increasing productivity. It will certainly come at the expense of the upper classes, but it is these classes that have benefitted from the long standing extension of credit that has fueled the western economic bubble.

Storm Born Chapter Twenty-Four

Whatever snide comments Dorian and Maiwenn might make, Tucson is the best place in the world to live. Standing at the desert crossroads the following evening, I paused a moment to take in my surroundings before crossing over. Dorian's kingdom was certainly beautiful, but it just wasn't the same. It wasn't home. A soft wind cut through the dry air, ruffling my hair and whispering that spring would yield to summer soon. The breeze carried all the delicious smells of the desert, and I caught the sweet scent of mesquite – not the barbecue kind but the delicate perfume emitted by its fuzzy yellow blooms. Above me, the sun beat down without remorse, warning the weak to get the hell out. The tourist season tended to drop off with the sharp increase in temperatures, but I loved this time of year. And all around me, in this dry and unforgiving heat, I could feel the unseen water. It was in the saguaros and the cactus wrens and the mesquite trees' tap roots. There were even tiny bits in the air, despite the ostensible aridness. Everywhere there was life, there was water. Sensing it was second nature to me now. Calling it still remained a challenge. Closing my eyes, I let my mind reach through the boundaries and send me into the Otherworld. Practice really did make perfect with these transitions; they were effortless now, just like sensing water. My body slipped through, pulled toward the corresponding thin spot near Dorian's home. Before I could arrive there, however, I reached out toward the Slinky, using my stored essence as a magnet to pull me there instead of the road. Moments later, I appeared on Dorian's bed. â€Å"Presumptuous,† I muttered, swinging off of it and standing up. I picked up the Slinky and tossed it around, watching its rings arch and fall. â€Å"Is that you, my lady?† I heard a tentative voice call. Seconds later, Nia's young face peeked in from the other room. â€Å"His majesty is in the conservatory. If you'll follow me?† Wow. I'd never heard of anyone actually having a conservatory, outside of the game Clue. When Nia led me inside, I found Dorian standing in front of a canvas with a painter's palette and brush in his hands. Dorian, in the conservatory, with the candlestick, I thought. Er, paintbrush. He smiled when he saw me. â€Å"Lady Markham, you're just in time. Perhaps you can amuse Rurik. He's become terribly unreasonable.† I glanced over to the side of the room where Rurik, the massive warrior with platinum blond hair, sat on a delicate chaise lounge upholstered in lavender velvet. He wore full leather and copper armor, and the entire juxtaposition made me wince. â€Å"I don't mean to be unreasonable, your majesty.† He spoke through gritted teeth. â€Å"But sitting here and not moving – while in armor – isn't all that easy.† â€Å"Bah, you're whining. Most unseemly for a man of your station. Why, Lady Markham can stay still for hours – and in far more uncomfortable circumstances too, I might add.† Rurik glanced at me, both startled and pleasantly intrigued. â€Å"Don't move! Look back here.† Rurik's leer faded as he turned back toward his king. Dorian's canvas faced away from me, so I had no idea what his masterpiece looked like. I started to walk around and check it out, but he waved me off with the brush. â€Å"No, no. Not until I'm finished.† Shrugging, I pulled up another lavender chair – the entire room was that color, actually – and slouched into it. Dorian spoke without looking up from his work. â€Å"So what have you done today, my dear? Anything entertaining?† â€Å"Not really. Slept in. Banished a shade. I actually read for most of the day. Kind of lame.† â€Å"What are you reading? I really enjoy that one human's works†¦oh, I forget his name. He was very popular for a while. Shakemore?† â€Å"Shakespeare?† â€Å"Yes, that's the one. Has he written anything new?† â€Å"Um, not in, like, four or five centuries.† â€Å"Ah, pity. So what did you read about instead?† â€Å"The weather.† He paused midstroke. â€Å"And what did you learn?† â€Å"Storm-formation stuff. How water molecules build up and condense, how charged particles discharge to form lightning. Oh, and there was something else about high and low pressure, but I've got to go back and reread that. Kind of confusing.† Both men treated me to brief, blank looks, and then Dorian returned to his work. â€Å"I see. And do you think this will facilitate your learning?† â€Å"Not sure. But I kind of like knowing what the end result is supposed to be.† Silence fell as Dorian continued painting. Rurik persisted in looking miserable, occasionally sighing loudly to express his discontent. I'd never entirely forgiven him for the ice elemental thing, so seeing him suffer had its perks. Unfortunately, it grew boring after a while. I crossed my arms and slumped farther into the chair, catching his notice. â€Å"Sire, your lady's restless. I'm sure you have more interesting things to do with her. We can work on this another time. I don't mind.† â€Å"Nonsense. I'm almost done.† The first happy expression I'd seen since arriving showed on Rurik's face. It vanished when Dorian turned the canvas around to display his work. We stared. â€Å"Sire, am I†¦wearing a bow?† I cocked my head. â€Å"It does kind of look that way. But the rest†¦man, that's actually pretty good. I didn't know you could do faces so well.† Dorian glowed. â€Å"Why, thank you. I can paint you too someday if you'd like.† â€Å"It's a bow,† protested Rurik. Dorian glanced at the canvas, then back to the warrior. â€Å"It matches the chaise. I had to add it; otherwise you would have clashed.† Back in his bedroom, Dorian went through his usual motions, flinging off his silver-gray cloak and pouring a glass of wine. He drank some type of blush tonight. â€Å"Ready to start?† I nodded, sitting down in the chair in the middle of the room. As I'd said, I didn't really think the meteorology books would give me that much of an edge yet, but I felt more empowered after reading them. Like I was starting to take my training into my own hands. He took another drink of his wine, procured more cords, and approached me. Putting one hand on his hip, he surveyed me carefully, not unlike how he'd scrutinized his canvas. â€Å"That's a very pretty shirt.† I glanced down. It was a black tank top with a chain of red daisies embroidered near the top. â€Å"Hmm. Let's try this.† He abandoned the pastel-colored ties he held and replaced them with red and black ones. Placing my arms flat against the chair's arms, he wrapped each of mine down with black first, making X patterns. The style reminded me of the way a ballerina's slippers laced up. When that was finished, he went back over each arm with red. â€Å"These are more like ribbons than your usual ones,† I observed. â€Å"Or maybe sashes. Do you own, like, every possible form of constraint known to man?† â€Å"Nearly,† he said. â€Å"All right. Let's get started. The water's over there.† He indicated a table near the window where my old friend the pitcher sat, but I'd already known it was there. Settling as comfortably as I could in the chair, I stared at the pitcher and immediately let my mind reach out to the water. It flared like a beacon to me. Beyond it, I could sense all the other water in the room too. Me and Dorian, the wine, water vapor. I directed my attention to the pitcher's water. I can feel you, now come to me. But, as many practices had already demonstrated, wanting didn't make things happen. God, that pissed me off. I honestly didn't know how Dorian could stand waiting around through all of these sessions. It had to be boring as hell. I was bored, and I actually got to do something. Sort of. No, no. That was a bad attitude. Forget the boredom. Focus on the task at hand. Hours passed again. If Dorian was still awake – which I doubted – I knew he'd close off the session soon. The knowledge irritated me, but I understood. I was already feeling tired, my eyes bleary. I kept blinking a lot to regain focus and keep them from drying. I think that made me notice what happened next. â€Å"Dorian, look at the pitcher.† He sat up right away and followed my gaze. A moment later, he walked over and touched the pitcher, brushing his fingers along its side. Water quietly ran down the ceramic surface, pooling on the table's glass surface. A slow, delighted smile spread over his face. â€Å"You've seized it. It's listening to you. Now make it come farther – all the way out of the jug.† With tangible progress before me, my excitement grew. I thought hard about what I'd been doing, trying to repeat it. About a minute later, I could see water spilling down the sides of the jug, much faster and in greater amounts. The puddle on the table grew too full, dripping onto the floor. â€Å"I'm ruining your carpet.† â€Å"Never mind the carpet. Bring it farther.† I could hear the anticipation in his voice. Some logical part of me saw carpet as tough terrain to navigate, and the water's progress slowed. Soon, I decided, that was only in my head. The carpet had nothing to do with anything. Only my control of the water mattered. As soon as I made that leap, the water shot over the carpet in a curving rivulet, almost like a snake. It reached my feet, and I could feel it waiting for some further instruction. Only, I didn't know what to tell it. I simply wanted it to come to me. I'd barely given form to that thought when the water sprang up before me and hovered in the air. My mouth dropping, I watched it splinter into hundreds of drops. They hung there, suspended like strings of crystal beads. I gaped, fascinated, but had no idea what to do next. My grasp on them slipped away, and the drops disintegrated further into a fine fog. Seconds later, the cloud dispersed altogether, evaporating into the rest of the air. As they faded, so did the tingly, euphoric feeling racing through my blood. Neither Dorian nor I did anything right away. Then, I started laughing. And I couldn't stop. It was too wonderful. I wanted to do it again and again but had no more water. The wine would be too messy. An idea occurred to me. Sensing the moisture in the air, I sent my power out to the air right in front of me. Suddenly, tiny flecks of water condensed on my skin, like I'd been sprayed by a light mist. I laughed again. Dorian, grinning as broadly as me, walked over and ran his fingers over each of my cheeks. Touching his fingers together, he rubbed the water into his skin, almost as if testing it was real. â€Å"I did it.† â€Å"You did do it.† His eyes shone with unadulterated pleasure. You might have thought he'd been the one to do this. Funny that he should take such joy in this, I thought, when it was a paltry thing compared to his magic. He untied me and clasped my hands to help me rise. â€Å"I think a celebration is in order.† He poured another glass of wine and handed it over. We clinked our glasses together. â€Å"To clever pupils.† â€Å"With good teachers.† He took a sip. â€Å"Hardly. I actually slept most of tonight.† I laughed as I drank. â€Å"Do you†¦when you use your magic, do you feel something†¦I don't know, something good burning in you? Like pleasure or exhilaration†¦and not just from, like, mental satisfaction either†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I couldn't put it into words, but his face told me I didn't have to. â€Å"Yes. I know exactly what you mean. Wonderful, isn't it?† I drank more of the wine. â€Å"Yes. Yes, it is.† â€Å"Just wait. You've just had a sip of it. Once you come into your full power, you won't know how you did without.† I grinned at him. I felt so thoroughly pleased with myself and life, I could hardly stand it. When had I been this happy? Aside from being with Kiyo? And if I had this kind of reaction now, what would happen when I really moved into the big leagues? Dorian spoke of it like an addiction, but it sure sounded like a good one. Looking up, I saw his eyes all over me. He set his glass down and spoke in a soft voice, almost wonderingly. â€Å"You shine†¦did you know that? Power suits you.† He made me as happy as everything else in the world just then. Warmth built in my chest and radiated out through the rest of my body. I don't know how that feeling expressed itself on my face, but it must have conveyed something because he leaned over and kissed me. I could taste wine in that soft kiss, wine and heat. One of his hands pulled me against him while the other carefully removed my glass. Still pressing us together, he eased me onto the bed. I answered his sweet, taunting kisses with hard, demanding ones. It didn't take him long to adjust to this shift in style. He rolled me to my back and lay down on top of me, twining one hand in my hair to hold my head in place as an eager need suddenly filled his kisses. He consumed my mouth with them while his other hand slid unabashedly between my thighs, rubbing me through my jeans. My body arched up against his, and I felt an aching cry rise up in my throat, only to be lost in the pressure of his mouth on mine. I knew then it would finally happen. The dangerous allure of this†¦the exoticness of sleeping with someone who was still such an unknown quantity†¦it all enflamed me that much more. We would do this. We would come together, and I would give myself to him. Give myself to him. A tightness seized my chest, conflicting sharply with the burning pleasure in the rest of my body. His touch made me crave more, almost made me beg for it, and yet that angry part in the back of my mind was screaming again. It told me if I made this choice, if I deliberately chose to do this with him, then I was giving in to the enemy. I didn't really know who that enemy was exactly, but it didn't matter. The instinct pulsed through me, defensive and afraid. It warred against the rest of me, against my body's needs and even against my own conscious wishes. I knew and liked Dorian. Why couldn't I overcome that base fear? In some ways, the fear was titillating. I had a feeling if I could just get over that first crest of difficulty, the problems would go away. But damn it, that was a high peak to get over. And like last time, Dorian could feel my reluctance. He broke our embrace, almost jerking away from me. Before he turned his face from mine, I saw emotions I'd never seen before. Frustration. Unhappiness. â€Å"Dorian†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I said. â€Å"Dorian†¦I'm so sorry†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He rubbed his face with both hands and exhaled. His voice was flat when he spoke. â€Å"It's late, Eugenie. Too late for you to leave.† He stood up and stretched, and when he finally turned around, he'd once more cleared his face of its dark expression. His cheerful countenance was also missing; he simply looked tired. â€Å"I'll take the sofa in the parlor; you stay on the bed.† â€Å"No, I – â€Å" He gestured me off as he walked into the other room without a backward glance, saying only, â€Å"Take it. It'll be the best night of sleep you've ever had.† Elaborate French doors connected the two rooms. He closed them, leaving me to my own misery. I sat on his massive bed, attempting to sort out a tangle of warring emotions. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I make this work? I'd slept with guys I liked a lot less than Dorian. Why couldn't I cross this last line? Why keep fighting it? I blew out all the candles and torches in the room before taking off my jeans and sliding under the covers. Dorian was right. This had to be the most comfortable bed I'd ever been in. Unfortunately, there was no way I could sleep. I kept thinking about my magical elation, alleged desire, and subsequent breakdown. My body wanted him. My mind did too. Only my instincts still fought it. The world's most comfortable bed must have felt insulted over all the tossing and turning that followed. At least its size gave me all the fidgeting room I could want. My eyes grew accustomed to the darkness very quickly, and I could discern the shapes of furniture and corners in the partial moonlight. Outside the giant window, stars glittered – thousands more than I'd seen the night with the astronomers. We'd lost the stars in the human world, despite our success in reaching them. Humans and gentry were almost like two sides of a coin, each supplying what the other lacked. The answer to my problems with Dorian was a long time in coming, but come it did. It was still pitch black when I finally got up and padded into the adjoining room. The doors opened silently, and I paused upon reaching him. He couldn't quite fit on the sofa, so his legs dangled off the end. He still wore the same clothes and had pulled a flimsy throw blanket over his body. He faced the direction I stood, eyes closed. One hand draped above him, and his hair spilled onto his cheek, its fiery color indiscernible in the poor lighting. He was a king, with thousands of people who answered to him, yet he lay crammed onto this couch because of me. I had hurt someone I didn't think could be hurt. I stood there thinking about this in the still, dark room before finally kneeling down beside him. I tentatively reached out a hand, but his eyes opened before I made contact. â€Å"What's the matter?† he asked. He sounded alert, concerned. I couldn't talk right away. Silence pooled as thick as the blackness around us. He neither spoke nor moved as I deliberated; he simply watched and waited. â€Å"I want you to tie me up.† That was the great thing about Dorian. Most people would have hesitated or asked questions. Not him. He followed me out to the other room and promptly retrieved the same sashes he'd used earlier in the chair. I settled on the bed, unsure where to position my body, but he gently adjusted me. He started to extend my arms up over my head but then stopped. Moving his hands down to my stomach, he caught the edges of my shirt and gave me a questioning look. I nodded, and he carefully pulled it off and over my head. Returning to my arms, he raised them above me toward the headboard and tied my wrists together, still incapable of rushing his careful bindings. With the next sash, he bound my wrists to the intricate scalloping of the headboard and then used another to reinforce the binding. When he finished, my arms lay somewhat relaxed on the pillows above me, but my hands and wrists were tightly secured. Weirdly, something inside of me eased upon realizing I was trapped. The length of the tying process surprised me. I would have thought he would want to expedite things, but his patience seemed undaunted. He settled back on his knees and studied me, just as he always did after completing one of his tie-ups. Near darkness or no, I felt exposed in just my underwear and wondered if it was my naked skin or the silk sashes that so captivated him. Probably the combination of both. He slid off the bed and stood up so he could take his own clothes off. As they fell to the ground, more and more of his body was revealed. The moonlight caught his white skin, and it practically gleamed. He reminded me of some ancient Grecian or Roman statue, all marble and smooth lines. He crawled back onto the bed, looking down on me, and my heart started racing again. Shadows bathed him now that he was away from the window's full light, and he seemed larger and more powerful compared to me. I had no means of getting out of this unless I wanted to attempt some crazy kicking maneuvers. The time and tension stretched out between us. It made me anxious yet stimulated as well. Why the delay? Why wouldn't he touch me? Why did he just keep looking at me like that? Finally, he knelt by my feet and kissed my toes. Such a small touch, but it made my body shudder after all that waiting. He alternated between both feet, his lips caressing toes and ankles before steadily moving up my legs. Kiyo had done a similar physical examination during our first night together. I wondered if there was some sort of psychological or personality analysis you could make based on whether a guy started at the top or the bottom. Up, up. Dorian's mouth moved on. My pelvic muscles tightened in anticipation, and I felt wetness growing between my thighs. But then, he simply skipped past my underwear, continuing with my stomach. He ran his hands along the smooth skin, still taking his time, cautious around the healing fachan cut. When he finished there, he moved to my neck, bypassing my breasts. My neck was pretty sensitive too, and his mouth's intensity had increased. The sensation forced my breathing into anxious, ragged gasps, but a frustrated complaint slipped out nonetheless. â€Å"Why are you skipping all the good parts?† He paused, just barely lifting his lips from my skin. â€Å"Do you want me to go back?† I bit my lip. He was trying to make me dictate the terms here, but that wasn't what I wanted. For once, I didn't want the power here. That was why I'd asked to be tied up. I wanted the choice taken away from me. I stayed quiet. He returned to my neck, moving his mouth along my collarbone and shoulder, then up to my cheek and ears. Our lips soon came together again, and I tried to channel my eagerness and passion into that kiss, as I had done earlier. But now he kept himself just out of reach, just enough to tease but not fulfill. I shifted my body upward, touching as much of his as I could. That, too, he held slightly away. It was frustrating, and in my need, I forgot about who was supposed to be in control. â€Å"Okay – go back.† He complied as efficiently and quickly as he had to my initial bondage request. His hands and their delicate fingers cradled my breasts, holding them in place for his mouth. I closed my eyes and tilted my neck back, lost in those burning twirls of his tongue as he woke the nerves in my flesh and delicately sucked the nipples. When he finally broke away, I made a soft sound of protest until I realized where he went next. Looping his fingers through the sides of my panties, he pulled them down, stopping abruptly when they reached midthigh. For a moment, I thought it was more of his teasing until I suddenly grasped the situation. â€Å"It's, um, called a Brazilian wax,† I explained, voice still breathy. â€Å"Oh.† His own voice held wonder. â€Å"Oh my.† His fingers ran over that delicate area, both for sensuality and his own curious exploration. With a happy sigh, he removed the underwear altogether and carefully spread my thighs apart. Then, his mouth was upon me, his tongue running along that most sensitive of spots in one smooth motion. It was like a spark to a powder keg. My whole body bucked up as heat exploded throughout me, and I made some sound vaguely like a whimper. Both of his hands slid up and held me firmly in place, reminding me again that I'd given up the power here. That same conflicting mix of fear and need flared up inside of me, scared that he could do anything he wanted to me and half-hoping he would. When he grew convinced I wouldn't thrash anymore, he let one hand slide back to my thighs. His mouth had never stopped in its fervent feeding, and now his fingers moved in, pushing into me with smooth motions timed to work with his mouth. I moaned against his touch, my head thrown back and upper body arched. He had an uncanny knack for pulling back each time orgasm was about to occur. So, when he finally allowed me that release, it almost caught me by surprise. My flesh ignited, electric and glorious. I shivered as my muscles contracted, as that scorching ecstasy poured through my body. Even when that tide broke, he kept his mouth down there licking and probing until I begged him to stop, too overcome by the flood of sensation. He took his time in obeying the request, finally moving away and laying his body on top of mine. Every part of him pressed against me, hard and wonderful, and I writhed under him, yearning for more. He moved his hands back up to my arms, again firmly pinning me in place. His mouth crushed mine, forcing me to taste myself on his lips. Struggling did no good. When he released me from the kiss at last, his face moved only a fraction of an inch away from mine. â€Å"I know why you're doing this,† he said. â€Å"Why you wanted to be bound. It's because you want the decision taken out of your hands. You knew once you were here, there'd be no turning back. You wouldn't have to be burdened with the decision of willfully coming together with me. You would have no choice in the matter and hence relieve yourself of any guilt or anticipation.† He kissed my cheek and then lingered on my ear a little. â€Å"In a moment, I swear I can ravage and take you as much as you want, if that's what makes it easier. But your choices aren't gone yet. We can stop if you want. Or I can untie you. You can tell me you want this and join with me not in submission, but as an equal.† The words were on my lips. Yes, untie me. Make love to me. Fuck me. I want to be with you. I could have said any number of things to change the balance of power. I could have gained both control and freedom again. Yet, I said or did nothing. Maybe it was because it was the only way I could go through with this. Or maybe I just wanted it this way. Maybe I even enjoyed it. Regardless, I stayed quiet, and he read the answer in that. He rose up, looming over me. He was a conqueror, coming to collect, and I was a prize, open flesh waiting to be seized. That fear lurched up in me, and I thrived on it. It was delicious. Thrilling. I gave up my power. I gave myself to him. Almost on his knees, he spread my legs apart and pushed in. I screamed, almost more from mental than physical sensation, my arms straining uselessly against the ties. He filled me, punctuating each powerful movement into me with a soft grunt in his throat I thought even he wasn't aware of. I wanted to reach up and wrap my arms around him, pull him against me. But all I could do was lay there, lay there and let him push into me over and over, the enemy I'd somehow come to crave. He shifted his body so that he was completely on top of me, still moving urgently and possessively, save that now I had even less mobility than before. He held me down, grip tight. And me? I was all aching and burning flesh, letting him take whatever he wanted from me. I floated in a warm, liquid place. It was like being wrapped in golden silk, molten bliss spreading over my body. â€Å"I told you,† he said through his labored breathing. â€Å"I told you you'd come to me. And now†¦now I realize I could have simply taken you the instant I'd tied you up. You didn't need any of the rest. You've had this desire and never even known it†¦this desire to simply be had in any way your lover wanted.† He paused a moment, swallowing and catching his breath. â€Å"I'm right, aren't I? I could move you into any position I wanted, make love to you in any place I wanted, and you'd love every moment of it†¦.† I couldn't really manage any coherent answers, and most of my noises had lapsed into primal, unintelligible cries. All I wanted to focus on was us being together, the way it felt to have him pushing and rubbing, the way it must feel for him to be inside of me. I'd slid up on the bed; my head was practically in danger of hitting the headboard soon. Suddenly, he pulled out abruptly and hovered back over me. His eyes, dark in this light, watched me, and I sensed that laconic, playful expression on his face. Both of us panted. I waited for him to return, feeling irate at this interruption. I'd been on the verge of coming again. Somehow I suspected he'd known that. â€Å"What are you doing?† â€Å"Waiting. Waiting for you to tell me to keep going.† He wasn't being cruel or mean. He was teasing me, toying with me the way he so enjoyed among the people around here. â€Å"You fucking bastard,† I said. Somehow the profanity carried mild affection. He laughed. â€Å"Should I take that to mean you want me to continue?† â€Å"You know I do.† â€Å"Then say it outright. Unless you're going to get up and take me yourself.† â€Å"Did I mention you're a bastard?† â€Å"Tell me you don't want me to stop. Beg me. Beg me, and we'll do this for the rest of the night.† It was merely a game, another dimension of this power play and his dominance over me. And, much to my chagrin, it was a turn-on. â€Å"Please,† I whispered. â€Å"Please what?† â€Å"Please†¦don't stop. I want†¦I want you to keep†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Keep what?† I sighed. â€Å"I want you to keep fucking me.† He was back in me almost before the words had left my lips. I yelled out again as moments later, the delayed orgasm exploded in me. I shook and burned as that glittering sensation crackled through me. All the while, our bodies kept moving together. His face was near mine, watching with pleasure as I panted and struggled against a joy that was almost too intense. â€Å"I hate you,† I gasped out. He laughed and rained kisses down on my face. â€Å"No, you don't.† He was right.