WSJ Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WSJ - Assignment Example In certain cases, companies try to enjoy some sort of relaxation from the government when they ignore the legal regulations. The article provides evidence of few companies that fell under the scanner (Palazzolo, 2012). Companies often have to face penalties when caught under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The problem of bribery has spread to every sort of industry. The article provides evidence on the diversity of the problem. The companies have to make arrangements for funds to conduct the investigations. The time requires for the companies to tighten up the control of subsidiaries. The companies have to face financial crunch as the expansion process suffers due to lack of funds. A major proportion of funds are channelized to conduct the investigations; the resultant being dwarf companies. The companies involve themselves in such type of investigations and handover the documents to the government with the hope they might be exempted from the penalties or will be charged with lighter penalties. The companies of the U.S. are leading on the list of companies under bribes case. To deal with the problem, companies will have to engage themselves in taking some appropriate measures. The anti-bribery policies of the organizations shall provide the guidance on the process of conducting the business in fair fashion. The anti corruption program compliance shall take into consideration the numerous reporting and certification controls on monitoring. The program can encompass a critical education component which can be web based, as well as in-person training. In order to raise the overall awareness, anti bribery audits can be conducted on a periodic basis. Such audits will detect the potential misconducts and any ignorance of the laws of corruption or the policies of the organization. The organization needs to assess all the business units for the associated risks in corruption. The audit can be

Future of Physical Geography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Future of Physical Geography - Essay Example There are, also, other meteorological factors that make up the climate for a certain region and causes variations over a period of time. There are several different theories used to determine and study climate changes over short and long periods of time. The Thornthwaite system uses the study of temperature and precipitation as well as studying animal species, their diversity and how it impacts climate changes. The Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic system focuses mainly on the origin or air masses that make up the climate of a certain region. Paleoclimatology is the study of ancient climates. Since education and study of climates was not prevalent until the 19th century, this type of climate study uses non-biotic evidence such as sediments found in lakebeds, ice cores, tree rings and coral. Historical time spans show that there are a number of variables that determine climate which include, latitude, altitude, percent proportion of land to water, and the location to oceans and mountains. Another factor that plays a role and is more regional, are warming of the oceans and how the heat is distributed between land and water Also, density of vegetation and how it affects solar heat absorption, retention of water, and rainfall regionally. Alterations in atmospheric greenhouse gases determine the amount of solar energy retained by our planet. This, in turn, leads to global warming or cooling. There are many variables that determine our weather, and they all interact with each other in various regions to produce differing climates. In the next few paragraphs I will break down the different climates and show their characteristics. Differing climate range from the moist dampness of the rain forests to the dry air of the deserts, and others in between. The rain forests are typically characterized by high rainfall. This area averages between 69 inches and 79 inches of rain per year. The temperatures in this climate average also around 64 degrees during all the months of the y ear. A Monsoon is a seasonal prevailing wind, which can last for months at the time. It usually is the onset of a regions’ rainy season. The areas known for this climate are North America, South America, the lower Saharan Africa, Australia and Eastern Asia. A Tropical Savanna is a grassland biome located in a semi-humid area of subtropical and tropical latitudes. The average temperatures in these areas are 64 degrees year round. The rainfall in this type of area averages 30 to 50 inches in a year. This type of climate is also found in India, Malaysia, Australia and some northern parts of South America. The Humid Subtropical climate zone is associated with large storms of winter snowfall and rainfall. However, most rainfall during the summer months consists of thunderstorms and a few tropical cyclones. These climatic areas are located roughly between latitudes 20 degrees and 40 degrees away from the equator and on the east side continents. A Humid Continental climate is charac terized by variable weather patterns and large variance in seasonal temperatures. These areas usually see temperatures averaging 50 degrees in the warm months and 26.6 degrees in the cooler months. An Oceanic Climate is most often found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of the entire world’s continents. This type of climate can be found also in Australia and characterized by heavy rainfall year round. Hot, dry summers and cool

Research Study on Gender Bias in Education Essay Example for Free

Research Study on Gender Bias in Education Essay These instructions were used as a form of deception to prove my hypothesis. My hypothesis was that women would be more affected by this deception than would the men. My results proved otherwise. Results showed there was little difference in the way the women and men performed on these tests on either version. The ANOVA testing showed these clear results. Does Performance Reflect Success? Gender biases are present in the American culture. Women are put in a stereotype as the one to stay at home cleaning and cooking while men are believed to have to bring home the paychecks. How we live though is not the only area with gender biases. There are biases when it comes to sports, who can do what jobs and even education. Women are believed to be better at the education aspects having to do with words and comprehension while men are believed to be better at numbers or math. In the research world there is much controversy on whether the bias presented is true or not. Researchers have not been able to support this belief or disregard it due to the many conflicting results. A study done with the purpose of determining whether gender expectations still exist in present time, resulted in the idea that more and more genders are becoming equal in education (Jordan 2008). It was found that both sexes are more likely than ever to complete their high school education and even be able to obtain higher degree. The study also showed the gender gap in scores on the National Association of Education Progress becoming more and more narrow over time. Jordan does not refute the idea of gender bias in education but supported the idea that it is diminishing. These two researchers on the other hand, Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005), have studies supporting their beliefs that gender biases in teaching are simply a myth. Both constructed research to support the idea that neither females nor males perform differently according to gender expectation or that these gender expectations are implemented at all. Fisher more, specifically, researching in math and Johnston in math and education. Chapman (2012) and Goetz (1996) though, both have studies that seem to prove otherwise. Chapman conducted a study, in Canada, which lead to the belief that gender discrepancies in teaching and education focus more positively on females. Chapman believes males are the ones taking losses in education expectancies. Goetz on the other hand, researched and came up with results which led him to believe American educators focus their attention more on males allowing them a positive advantage. After learning so much from previous research it can be accurately inferred that the gender bias in education does exist. A psychologist, Ghandi (2006) stated in his study the truth behind the bias. He used this truth to conduct a study in which he found that women not only believe the bias but are subject to it when they are told they will fail due to their gender. This particular study is what laid down the foundation for my research study. All of the above researchers knew the biased existed and all tried to support it or disprove it. This research project has one purpose; to find out not if gender biases exist but whether women are affected by these gender based expectations more than men. In many colleges and universities women are very comfortable with their gender; they are powerful, and successful. There are clubs devoted to women’s sexuality, success, and even fashion senses. There are awards given to women who have gotten superior grades, been offered great jobs, or are simply a success. Knowing this, what I want to learn is whether these women who are so highly praised and allowed the same success as men are still subjects to gender based expectations, more specifically in learning and education. In my study I will be deceiving the participants into thinking that only women will be successful in this study or to another group I will be saying only men will be successful. The way this will be done is by using simple high school level math tests. Before he test I will be falsely informing half of my participants (equal number of females and males) that only men will pass this test, and then I will repeat this with the other half of my participants but falsely informing them of the opposite. The fact that I will play on women’s vulnerability will allow me to learn whether these very empowered and successful women will still be so after being told th ey will fail before even trying. My hypothesis is that these women will be affected by such a statistic and depending on the false statistic they get, they will fulfill it. Methods Participants Forty eight undergraduate volunteers (24 males and 24 females) from Bryant University took part in this study. The average age of participants was recorded at 20. 22 years (SD=1. 13). No cultural or ethnic backgrounds were recorded. With help from different psychology professors a general description was given out within psychology classes and volunteers were recruited. To these participants in particular extra credit was allotted. The rest of the participants were recruited through word of mouth and e-mail in which they were once again given a general description of the study and asked whether they would be willing to volunteer. Each participant was tested individually and required approximately 15 minutes to complete study. Materials The study consisted of participants completing a standardized math test, four survey questions, and a deceptive article which can all be found in the appendix. The math test was found in an SAT math test practice site. This math test worked as the channel for the dependent variable (result on the test). The survey questions asked were simply used for collecting information. The questions did not ask sensitive information or anything that would put any participant at risk. Finally, the short article was written by myself and is completely fictional. It falsely informed the participants on information regarding SAT tests and reported false statistics on men outperforming women for half of the studies and the opposite for the other half. This was used as the deception part of the research which inconspicuously provided the participant with the independent variable (whether females or males pass this test) Procedures Forty eight students were recruited (24 females and 24 males) from Bryant University as the participants of my study. They were all recruited through psychology classes in which Professors gave a brief overview of what my study entailed and from there proceeded to recruit. The participants recruited in such a manner were rewarded with extra credit points in their class. The rest of the participants were recruited through word of mouth and group e-mails. With each participant recruited I have a brief explanation of what the study was comprised of, what it entailed, and more specifically what each participant would have to contribute. Once I recruited all participants which were necessary I began the research itself. At the start of their participation, each participant was handed a consent for in which they were asked to read thoroughly and if they agreed to the terms and conditions they were to sign and date. In the consent form participants were informed of their ability to leave the study at any time, their entitlement to any information and debriefing, on the confidentiality of the study and many more safety factors. To show the validity of the form I signed and dated on the same page each participant did right in front of them. Each participant agreed to the consent form allowing the study to continue. Once the consent form process was finished I would hand each participant the study packet. At this point they were told that each study was to be completed alone. The packet started off with an article which was entirely false and used to deceive each participant. On it there was made up information on the performance of genders on the SAT test throughout the past years. Each participant was informed that they would not be able to continue with the packet if they did not read these instructions. Once the instructions were read each participant could continue to the next section which consisted of the survey questions. These questions were purely used to collect data for analysis. Once the second part was completed each participant would continue on to the math portion of this study. The math portion of the test was a high school level standardized math test previously tested by college level participants. Each participant completed the math portion and would come to me to hand it in. when each individual would approach me I made sure to let them know the true nature of the study and informed them of the deceit. It was very important that no participant left the study with the false idea of one gender outperforming the other. I made sure each participant was thoroughly debriefed and had any questions they had answered. Results The data were analyzed using an ANOVA with the alpha level set at . 05. The main effect of gender participation was not significant, ? (1,44)=. 12, p=. 73, ? 2=. 003 and the main effect of gender test taking was not significant, ? (1,44)=. 00, p=1. 0, ? 2=. 00. However, the interaction between the gender participation and gender test was marginally significant, ? (1,44)=2. 97, p=. 9, ? 2=. 06. Figure 1 shows a cross-over interaction in which the two variables almost perfectly interact. My hypothesis stated that women’s scores would be more affected by the test gender and the deception then would the men’s. The results of the tests did not vary according to the gender of the participant or gender of the test. My hypothesis was not supported by the above da ta. There was, however, a notable factor in the results and the fact that they were similar in score for both genders. Discussion No significant main effect for test gender or participant gender occurred in this study. When taking a math test right after reading a deceitful article about the tendency of males or females to outperform the opposite sex, neither gender’s score seemed to be affected. This particular result is not what I predicted in my original hypothesis. Straying away from my belief that women would underperform the men once they were deceived into believing they would be outperformed, the results disproved my hypothesis. This outcome is consistent with the research of Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005) in finding there is no significant gab in the performance of females and males in the subject of math. The results are not consistent though with those findings by Ghandi (2006) a researcher whose findings state that women do poorly on math when they are told their gender is to blame. Some factors which may have led to the inconsistency between my hypothesis and my results can be attributed to the limitation when conducting this research. Being part of such a small university, my research was very limited in the sample size it could use. Three thousand undergraduate students was a small population to choose just forty eight participants from. This also lead to what I believe was a biased sample since each and every participant was also my friend. The fact that the participants had a relationship with me could have caused an over performance level which would not usually happen. Some internal validity which should be looked at was the fact that many variables were simply not recorded. These factors include the race and ethnicity of the participant, whether English was their native language, if they understood the deceiving article in the start, and whether they understood every question asked in the math portion. Another internal validity factor is the way in which data was recorded. If this study were to be repeated, observation should definitely be an alternative way of recording data. There was so much happening as I observed each and every participant complete my study. Participants would get frustrated or smile the whole way through. Sometimes they would try to help each other out when I looked the other way or simply just guessed the answers since they did not want to be taking a math test. Using a standardized that does not give anything in return to these participants, should not have been my only source of data since it was not the best way to find results. Regardless of the limitations, new studies and research in the field of gender differences in education have resulted with outcomes very similar to mine. Although my hypothesis was not supported, the consistency it has with the studies of Fisher (2008) and Johnston (2005) only come to show that this study will be supporting much research in the psychology world. My results will be one more way to support the idea that there is little or no difference in gender performance in math. In addition to replicating my results, future research might extend the finding by examining other subjects in the world of education. Expanding the testing to be possibly in language, critical thinking, sciences and also math may give a better understanding on whether there is a discrepancy in women’s performance when they are told they are going to fail. Future research might also want to expand their sample by moving to younger generations in school, possibly in igh school, and older generations in and out of school. By doing so the outcome may result more accurately and allow a better understanding of the prediction. In conclusion, gender performance on standardized math tests do not have a direct link to the subject or the belief that one gender will outperform the other. After testing 48 participants (24 female and 24 male), giving each the same exact standardized math test but deceiving each to think they would outperform or underperform the opposite sex, no gender seemed to truly outperform. Each gender resulted close to equal. The results did not support my hypothesis but it led the way to a new hypothesis and a completely new approach to this study. References Goetz, J. (1996). In Education Expert: Classroom Gender Bias Persists. Cornell Cronicle. Retrieved from http://www. news. cornell. edu/chronicle/96/4. 25. 96/gender. html. Jordan, J (2008) The Myth of Gender Bias in School. Retrieved March 8, 2012. From http://www. parentdish. com/2008/05/20/the-myth-of-gender-bias-in-school/ Fisher, M (2008) Study: No gender differences in math performance. University of Wisconsin-Madison News. Retrieved from http://www. news. wisc. edu/15412 Johnston, T (2005) No evidence of innate gender differences in math and science, scholars assert. Stanford University News. Retrieved from http://news. stanford. edu/news/2005/february9/math-020905. html Gandhi, U. (2006) Gender bias in math skills doesn’t add up, scientists say. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www. theglobeandmail. com/news/technology/science/article197902. ece Chapman, A. (2012) Gender bias in education. Research Room. Retrieved from http://www. edchange. org/multicultural/papers/genderbias. html Table 1 Cross over interaction [pic] Appendix Survey questions Male/ Female (circle one) Date of Birth __________ Anticipated graduation year __________ Have you ever taken a standardized test (example: SAT) Math questions (standardized test) http://www. majortests. com/sat/problem-solving-test01 1. Of the following, which is greater than ? ? [pic]A. 2/5 [pic]B. 4/7 [pic]C. 4/9 [pic]D. 5/11 [pic]E. 6/13 2. If an object travels at five feet per second, how many feet does it travel in one hour? [pic]A. 30 [pic]B. 300 [pic]C. 720 [pic]D. 1800 [pic]E. 18000 3. What is the average (arithmetic mean) of all the multiples of ten from 10 to 190 inclusive? [pic]A. 90 [pic]B. 95 [pic]C. 100 [pic]D. 105 pic]E. 110 4. A cubical block of metal weighs 6 pounds. How much will another cube of the same metal weigh if its sides are twice as long? [pic]A. 48 [pic]B. 32 [pic]C. 24 [pic]D. 18 [pic]E. 12 5. In a class of 78 students 41 are taking French, 22 are taking German and 9 students are taking both French and German. How many students are not enrolled in either course? [pic]A. 6 [pic]B. 15 [pic]C. 24 [pic]D. 33 [pic]E. 54 6. If f(x) = Â ¦(x? – 50)Â ¦, what is the value of f(-5) ? [pic]A. 75 [pic]B. 25 [pic]C. 0 [pic]D. -25 [pic]E. -75 7. ( v2 v3 )? = [pic]A. 5 2v6 [pic]B. 5 v6 [pic]C. 1 2v6 [pic]D. 1 v2 pic]E. 1 8. 230 + 230 + 230 + 230 = [pic]A. 8120 [pic]B. 830 [pic]C. 232 [pic]D. 230 [pic]E. 226 [pic] 9. Amy has to visit towns B and C in any order. The roads connecting these towns with her home are shown on the diagram. How many different routes can she take starting from A and returning to A, going through both B and C (but not more than once through each) and not travelling any road twice on the same trip? [pic]A. 10 [pic]B. 8 [pic]C. 6 [pic]D. 4 [pic]E. 2 [pic] 10. In the figure above AD = 4, AB = 3 and CD = 9. What is the area of triangle AEC ? [pic]A. 18 [pic]B. 13. 5 [pic]C. 9 [pic]D. 4. 5 [pic]E. 3

Relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs

Relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs Introduction The topic of leadership has continued to be a subject of interest in the modern world both from practitioners as well as academics and the extensive research for decades has not exhausted the topic (Bennis W. , 2007). Leadership has an influence on all the facets of business. Organizations are often successful because of the set of relationships existing between the leaders and the followers. Through this essay efforts are made to apply relevant leadership theories in relation to Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc, one of the most commended leaders of recent times. An attempt is made to evaluate Steve Jobs leadership style using the following theories Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory (Hersey Blanchard, 1988), Transactional Leadership (Bass, 1985; Adair 1990), Transformational leadership (Goodwin, Woffard Whittington, 2001; Tichy Devanna, 1986; Yammarino Dublinsky, 1994, Bass, 1990)theory will be used. After reviewing the literature on leadership theories relevant to this case study, based on the frameworks it will be argued whether Steve Jobs can be considered as an effective leader. Literature Review Today leadership is the one of the most known management topic at the same time attempts to understand still represents a challenge. A single definition cannot encompass many aspects of leadership (Bennis Nanus, 1985:4; Pfeffer, 1977; Kenny Zaccaro, 1983; Lord, DeVader, Alliger, 1986; Kirkpatrick Locke, 1991). The various theories of leadership help to solve somewhat the ambiguity of the definition . One of the reason for popularity to the leadership topic is that leaders action or inaction can effect people, not only in the success of an enterprise, but also in social field i.e.a group, an organization or a larger entity or a nation. (Hollander, 1992) The review of literature shows the concept of leaders trait and characteristics in the earlier studies of leadership {Bass (1990); Curphy, and Hogan (1994);S. A. Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) ; Kenny and Zaccaro (1983); Zaccaro, Foti,et al., (1991) ; Ferentinos (1996); Howard and Bray (1988)} and later theories considering various contextual environment of leadership along with the followers (Hollander, 1992). The research on leadership has evolved from the great man theory to the trait theory to behaviourist theory to Situational theory to contingency theory to transactional theory and to transformational leadership (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, Dennison, 2003) Hersey Blanchard situational theory (McKenna E. , 2000) This model adopt consideration to relationship and task behaviour . It extends these two dimensions of leadership to four styles i.e. tell, sell, participation, and delegation. Maturity consists of two parts-job maturity and psychological maturity. Job maturity relates to technical knowledge and task-relevant skills. Psychological maturity relates to feelings of self-confidence and ability, peoples willingness to take responsibility for directing their own behaviour. Emphasis is placed on matching a style of leadership to the maturity of subordinates, and this relationship is important in determination of leadership effectiveness (Hersey Blanchard 1982). Tell : A task oriented and directive style where highly immature subordinates would be told what to do. Sell: A relationship oriented style where Subordinates on the low side of maturity, would be persuaded that a particular course of action is the most appropriate. Subordinates on the high side of maturity will be treated with a certain amount of consideration and support would be allowed to Participate in decision making . Delegation: where subordinates, highly mature will be considered capable of exercising self-direction and self control, and a high degree of autonomy. Most important in Hersey and Blanchards theory is the focus on truly situational nature of leadership and their recognition of the need for behaviour flexibility on the part of the leader (Yukl, 1981). Barrrow (1977) and Yukl (1981) argue that though the model is prescriptive for measuring leader style, style range, and effectiveness it merits much less favourable evaluations. The concept of task-relevant maturity that has been conceptually ambiguous. According to a study by Graeff (1983), it has internal consistency problems, substantial conceptual contradiction, problems with the conceptual definition of relationship behaviour and inconsistent arguments regarding the appropriateness of participative decision making contribute. Transactional and Transformational Leadership Transactional leadership occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of something valued; that is, leaders approach followers with an eye toward exchanging (Burns, 1978) In transactional leadership, leaders gain control of their subordinates through praise, intimidation and coercion. The transactional leader specifies the standards for compliance, and may punish followers for being out of compliance with those standards (Bass Avolio, 1997). Transactional models of leadership emphasize the implicit social exchange, or transaction, that exists between leader and followers as a feature of effectiveness. This transactional approach emphasizes a more active role for followers, with the potential for two-way influence, rather than coerced compliance (Hollander, 1992) According to Bryant (2003) Consequence of transactional leadership workers are not motivated to give anything beyond what is clearly specified in their contract. Workers may also choose to utilize their excess brain capacity by consulting or starting their own business if they are not challenged and rewarded for extra effort in the firm. The transactional leadership theory is known for its in-ward looking and self-satisfying feel, known to be most appropriate for a culture with stable conditions. (McKenna E. , 2006). Burns (1978) idea of the leader as a transforming agent has been applied to organizational leadership by Bass (1985) and Bennis and Nanus (1985) especially as a source of exceptional performance. The essential point is that the leader strives to go beyond the bounds of the usual to bring about a change in followers thinking that will redirect their action(Fiedler House, 1988). The central concept in transformational leadership theory is change and the role of leadership in envisioning and implementing the transformation of organisational performance (Bolden, Gosling, Marturano, Dennison, 2003) Transformational leaders create an atmosphere conducive to knowledge creation, sharing and exploitation. In particular, by using charisma, encouraging intellectual development and by paying individual attention to workers, transformational leaders motivate their workers to create and share knowledge. Transformational leaders inspire workers on to higher levels of innovation and effectiveness.(Bryant, 2003) Transformational leadership has been shown to have a positive relationship with performance.(Lowe, Kroeck, Sivasubramaniam) Despite the support that transformation leadership theory received there are still weakness which is identified by Yulk (1999) that is the transformational behaviours are found to be missing in Bass (1996) which are identified as inspiring (infusing the work with meaning), developing (enhancing follower skills and self-confidence), and empowering (Providing significant voice and discretion to followers). Authors (Bass 1985, 1996 ; Pawar Eastman, 1997; Pettigrew, 1987) are of the view that the situational variables which are missed may increase the likelihood of transformational leadership or moderate its effect on followers. Transformational leadership theory can have several detrimental consequences for the organisations as identified by (Harrison 1987; Stephens, DIntino, and Victor (1995); Porter, L. W., Bigley, G. A. 1997) first is that followers transformed to high degree of emotional involvement which makes them burn out their long-standing stress secondly, was being biased toward the top management, customers at the cost of others of the employees thirdly, different leaders with competing visions can create role ambiguity and role conflict. Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) argue that transformational leadership is unethical, it may appeal to emotions rather than to reason and it lacks the checks and balances of democratic discourse and power distribution. Yulk (1999) argues that the theory deals primarily with the leader follower behaviour and has given less attention at the group and organisational level. Part three Background to Case Study Critical Analysis In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apples subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since 1997. Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disneys board of directors. Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. With Steve Job , Apple commands a dedicated consumer base and is know for its premium brands like iPad, iPhone, iPod, iTunes etc . Apples success is known under Steve Jobs Leadersip. Although it is not easy to characterize Steve Jobs leadership style to any one particular theory, to evaluate his leadership style two theories of leadership will be used the Transactional and Transformational theory and secondly the Hershey Blanchards situational theory. Steve Jobs leadership style seems to be both transactional and transformational theory. According to Bass (1985) and Burn (1978) both these theories more complementary than being competitive. Steve Jobs as a Transformational Leader As per the above literature review, transformational leaders are charismatic, vision oriented, encouraging intellectual development of their followers, inspiring and motivating to higher levels of effectiveness. The aspects that strongly claim that Steve Jobs leadership shows signs of transformational leadership is his charismatic personality. According to Rakesh Khurana (2002) Steve Jobs, the New Age wunderkind of Apple revered for his sucess in introducing people to the personal computer that could gaurantee our freedom (Khurana, 2002). As Steve Wozniak , the co-founder with Jobs of the Apple , tersely noted : he can always couch things in the right words . Steve Job is described as heart and soul of Apple. (Patterson, 1985) What was visionary about Jobs approach -where he surely added value- was his evangelical zeal to show people the future potential of the product. With this vision as foresight has caused Jobs to be dubbed the priceless proselytizer.(Uttal, 1985) Cocks (1983) argues that Apples co-founder, Steve Wozniak, blodly stated that Jobs did not understand computers, and the actual design of the machine has been widely credited to Wozniak. But as Wozniak also said, it never crossed my mind to sell computers. It was Steve who said Lets hold them up in the air and sell a few. It was Jobs who insisted that the computer be light and trim, well designed in muted colors. Jobs likewise pushed his engineers to make machines that will not frighten away a skittish clientele. (Cocks, 1983) Butcher (1988) argues that Jobs a perfectionist, adn as the organsiation gre, many in Apple experienced this as intolerance and self-absorption. Steve Hawkins an employee said Jobs such a perfectionist that people can never please him , hes extermly ambitious , almost to the point of megalomania.(Butcher, 1988) Transformational leadership is about encouraging innovation, bringing about a change in the thinking of its followers and being visionary in implementing transformation in the organisation performance. Steve Jobs as a transformational leader is seen in his efforts to bring innovative digital technology to mass consumer so that they can open their wallet(Deutschman, 2001). Evidence of Steve Jobs vision in making innovation accessible was Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings (Young, 2005) In terms of motivation and inspiring employees to give their best of performance is a characteristic of transformational leadership . Evidence of Steve Jobs motivating and inspiring his employees is when Job when first spoke of any new idea to his employees not everyone thought it to be a successful product also at times the employees were not keen on working on such new ideas. But Jobs along with his employees was able to convert the innovative ideas into a technology which changed the way digital technology is used today . Whether it is the Macintosh computer or the newly launched ipad or iphone. It was Jobs leadership which motivated and inspired and Apple created the systems and structures that were able to convert knowledge into a valuable product. Job challenge engages his employees to reach nearly impossible goals(Bryant, 2003) (MCB UP Ltd, 2002). Job used inspiring speeches to keep his employees motivated and convey his innovative ideas to them(Harvey, 2001) Butcher (1989) agrues with an evidence by Steve Hawkins, employee of Apple puts it that most of the people werent good enough for him and would really be in a state of shock after encounters with Steve. Also Steve was very ambitious along with perfectionist and that caused a lot of trouble with moral. Young (2005) adds that apple employees were pushed to the best of their capability and performance and interactions with Steves were the ones which most of the employees feared. According to Peter Elkind (2008) Steve job has conflicting behaviours and he often had his subordinates to tears and in his angry temper he fires the employees. And yet the top management has worked with him for years and they give credit Jobs for the best job they ever did was only with him.(Elkind, 2008) Steve Job in an interview stated that he has really capable people and his job is to make the whole of his executive team good enough to be successors, so thats what hes trying to do, to push them he has aggressive visions (Morris, 2008). As an Evidence the discussion of Steve job with Morris (2008) sheds light to the criticism made by researchers Steidlmeier (1999); Yukl (1999) about the transformational leadership style in the literature review and steves transformational leadership style shows the unethical or unmoral dimensions of transformational leadership style. Also Steve jobs interactions are limited to the top management and he states that his job is to work with sort of the top 100 people, among the 20000 people at Apple. This shows his interactions are not closely related with the majority of his employees. (Morris, 2008) Steve Jobs as a Transactional Leader In addition to the above arguments about the leadership style of Steve Job. Bryant (2003) is of view that Job exhibited a combination of transformational and transactional leadership style and this helped him sucess in Apple. According to Bryant (2003) Job when visited the Xerox Parc and he took a vision of how future computers should operate. And he made his employees create the systems and structures in his company Apple where knowledge was converted into valuable products e.g. the Macintosh personal computer. The transformational leadership style was used in his vision to change the way personal computer will be operated in future and transactional leadership style was used when he incorporated his vision into reality by making his the products with the help of his employees. In an interview with Morris (2008) Steve talks about his role in the company is to recruit at the same time focus on its strategy and manage the whole business from different departments and people of the company and this is a characteristics of a transactional leadership style. Hersey Blanchard situational theory applied to Steve Jobs Steve Jobs leadership style is more reliant on his followers skills and capabilities. The Hersey Blanchard situational theory model emphasis on matching a style of leadership to the maturity of subordinates this relationship shows the determination of leadership effectiveness as mentioned in the literature review. The way job leads and his style relates to this theory . The delegating style M4-S4 is evident from Steve interview with Morris (2008) where he says that if he has hired good people and they have potential he would give them a business and left them run on their own and when a good idea comes, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it . The participating style M3-S3 of Hersey Blanchard situational theory is where Jobs talks about the way he takes a new idea to his employees is the environment of excellence and how his employes are self motivated , he does coach them at first and inspires them and then the employees surprise him time and again with the best of their performance (Gendron, 1989). In aanand2010-08-29T23:01:00 Did not get this para. Review it televsion interview (Cringely, 1996) Steve jobs telling style M1-S1 was evident Where he argues that he is committed to the vision and rather than for money and that he has been there always for the ultimate good of the company and there has been cases where they stopped their internal work and people did not like it and but he got a better deal for the company . this radical nature of dealing with things shows he used telling style of the Hershey Blanchard theory. Conclusion: personal reflection and recommendation In contrast to Steve Job, the managing director at my work place was a person who believed in group work at the same time allowed creative talent and ideas from each person. He involved employees in the decision making and took individual views on various projects of the company. The success of Apple following return of Steve Job is credited to the effective leadership Steve has used. The review of the literature and the theories applied to Steve Jobs and my personal experience has opened my mind to areas where Steve style of leadership can progress and can be further developed. According to Bass (1985) Leaders are central to the process of creating cultures, structures and systems that fosters knowledge creation, sharing and cultivation. Certain Industries have faster rates of technological, higher level of regulation and higher competition levels and these factors impact the leaders of the organisations (Bryant, 2003). Hence, a lesson learnt from leadership is that a leader can judge the situation and can adapt different style of leadership and this makes a leader more effective and efficient. In Steve jobs style of leadership a soft approach adopted with his employees will prove him to be more affective. Because his job involves handling people who are highly knowledgeable in the field of technology, being soft on his employees or benevolent leadership can help him get best of their performance and in return profit from his human resources and realise his vision.

Social Roles in Society Essay -- Sociology Psychology Essays

Social Roles in Society Social psychology, as defined by the Microsoft Bookshelf, is the branch of human psychology that deals with the behavior of groups and the influence of social factors on the individual. Social roles are one of the many sub - categories of social psychology. I believe social roles to be the way we, as individuals, act in certain situations; such as home life, educational and economic statue, peer groups, etc. The Prison Simulation by Haney, Banks & Zimbardo is just one of the vast studies in this area. In this study we will see how people take roles in life, and in simulated life situations. Social roles are not fictitious, it is in fact a very real occurrence that many people deal with ever day, whether it be with them selves or with other individuals. The Prison Simulation, studied by Haney, Banks & Zimbardo is quite impressive as to how extensive the study actually is. Due to lack of length in this paper the synopsis dealing with this study will be brief. The experiment consisted of 24 voluntary men who were divided into two groups: Guards and Inmates. Both groups were given uniforms to encourage their roles in the prison scenario. The subjects immediately began to take on rolls as to how they thought they should act. The prison had a much greater impact on all persons than could have been anticipated. The study was supposed to last 14 days, but due to extreme emotional depression the study ended after 6 days. In the spring of 1998, my Law a...

Othello :: essays research papers

Without Trust, Love Cannot Prevail   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Trust can be defined as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something (Webster’s 1246). In life many people are faced with the decision on who or who not to trust, especially in the realm of love. Trust is one of the main factors needed to determine a healthy, loving relationship. In William Shakespeare’s Othello, the main character Othello is unable to trust his new bride Desdemona. In act one, scene three, Desdemona professes her love for Othello in front of her father, as well as the court. Regardless of Desdemona’s professed love for Othello, Othello fails to see her honest love and becomes blind of her devotion for her husband, when he should have had trust. Since Othello failed to have confidence in himself, when it pertained to love, he failed to have confidence in his wife and marriage, which led Othello to not trust his new bride. In society today lack of trust in one’s partner is able t o ruin a good relationship just as Othello did with his new marriage. Trust is a key factor in a healthy relationship, without it love is unable to prevail.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In act one, scene three, Othello calls in his new bride to allow her to speak on behalf of their relationship. Without hesitation Desdemona speaks on behalf of herself and her love for her husband.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"That I (did) love the Moor to live with him   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My downright violence and storm of fortunes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  May trumpet to the world. My heart’s subduded   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even to the very quality of my lord.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I saw Othello’s Visage in his mind,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And To his honors and his Valiant parts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Did I my soul and Fortunes consecrate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So that, dear lords, if I be left behind,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A moth of peace, and he go to the war,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The rites for why I love him are bereft me   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  And I a heavy interim shall support   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By his dear absence. Let me go with him.† (Shakespeare 45, line 283-293). Desdemona professed her love for Othello in front of her father and the court. By doing so she reinforced the fact that no magic or mystical powers were used and she explained how she went with Othello freely, by doing so she redefines her own status as Othello’s wife (Calderwood 29). By confessing her love, Desdemona is presenting to Othello her faithfulness to him because she is allowing all of them (those in the court) to know about her love, which should allow Othello to see her love for him is real and that he is able trust her and love her.

Looking for Alibrandi Sumary

chapter 29 summary Josie at speech night. Speech night was a very emotional night, the HSC was almost over and it would be the last time that they would be wearing their uniform. â€Å"I’m only Dux because I didn’t want you to be† she told me. When josie went to the ladies she bumps into Ivy and they start to talk to each other about how close they were to john and that they didn’t know what could have caused him to commit suicide, in the end Josie and Ivy hug each other and Josie tells Ivy that if they ever go to the same university that if they bumped into each other they would go out for a cappuccino.In this chapter we get to see that Ivy and Josie can get along when they choose to be and even though they had there ups and downs they still ended up as good friends, just the way that john hoped it would be like. chapter 28 summary Josie is hit with a shocking surprise.When Josie went to school the next day she sees Ivy sitting on the stairs holding her h ead in her hands and Josie asks her what was wrong then Ivy tells her that John was dead but Josie thought that it was a joke when Ivy told her but then when she saw anna come up to her and hold her in her arms and say that she was very sorry josie had to go to the ladies room and she vomited and then when she was done she fell to the ground and she felt like she wanted to cry but she couldn’t because she was so angry. â€Å"he killed himself. â€Å"He swallowed tablets and they found him this morning. † â€Å"For God’s sake, josie, he’s dead, my father wrote the fucking autopsy report. † In this chapter we get to see that josie and ivy have so much in common because they both loved john and they both cared about him so much, we also get to see that josie has a lot of fear in her because she is to scared to die and she never wants her family to die because she loves them so much. chapter 27 summary Josie goes to watch her cousin robert play at his rugby union game.While at the game josie bumps into john who was also watching the game and asks josie what she was doing at the game, she said that she bribed her cousin because if she went to his game he had to take her to the St. Anthony’s graduation. â€Å"Oh yes, where only the privileged can attend. I promised Ivy when we were about twelve I think. † In this chapter we get to see that josie and john get along very well and that they both like each other but they were both to shy to tell each other that they did when they were younger. chapter 26 summaryJosie forgives her grandmother for doing what she did over thirty years ago. â€Å"your grandfather francesco treated me like one of his farm animals. † Josie and her friends were going to go to Anna’s to do some last minute studying for the HSC but when the bus came Josie say’d to her friends that she would miss out and instead she went to her grandmothers house. When Josie got to her grandmo thers house she gave her the biggest hug she has ever given and she cried her guts out, when they sat down in the living room Josie asks why?And then her grandmother tells her more of what happened and because of that she starts to resent her nonno a bit because of what he did to nonna katia. In this chapter Josie learns that her grandmother had dreams like her and that she did what she did because she was angry with francesco and only him because he had left her alone for so long. chapter 25 summary Josie  and her family celebrate her mothers birthday. Josie lets her mother go to her cousins house and stays at her grandmothers house and then she blows her top off at her grandma and finds out that marcus sandford is her mother’s father and not her nonno.In this chapter we get to see that Josie dislikes her grandmother for doing what she did and she has been telling her that australians are bad and she should go out with an italian man instead. chapter 24 summary Jacob wants to meet Josie's grandmother. When Josie and Jacob are walking down the stairs she sees her grandmother and Jacob tells Josie that he wants to meet her because he thought it would be nice but Josie repeatedly says no because she has just earned her grandmothers trust again and she doesn't want to lose that. â€Å"My grandmother wouldn't understand, jacob. give it time. he was brought up in a different time and place . i know it's hard enough for you to understand. It's hard enough for me. † In this chapter we get to see that Josie feels kind of ashamed of her grandmother because her grandmother always to carry on with her family tradition. we also get to see that Josie and Jacob don't always have the right things to say to each other. chapter 23 summary Josie gets to understand her grandmother more than she has ever before. Josie learns that her grandmother was a very lonely person when she moved to australia because nonno had to work and he worked on the cain farms when they lived in Queensland. He came to see me though. he said that it would his heart if i would leave. i could see it in his eyes. but if i stayed i knew i would break my heart. † In this chapter we get to see Josie and her grandmother really close to each other, we also get to see that Josie is interested in what her grandmothers life was like when she first moved to Australia. chapter 22 summary Josie and her mum have a splurge day. they decided to go to one of the harbourside restaurants and although the weather was cool, it wasn't wet enough to ruin the view. â€Å"he's ultra cool, you know.Not cool as though he drives a sports car and dresses trendy, but he's a cool guy, he's up front. No bull. † â€Å"take things slowly, and they will work out. † this chapter reveal that christina was treated very badly by her father when she was pregnant and even before that, he called her every name under the sun, a tramp, a slut. he even hit me across the face and even hit my mother. chapter 21 summary Josie goes to the movies with John Barton to see Macbeth. While at the movies they bump into Jacob and he tries to have a go at John because Josie and Jacob are going out, but in Jacobs eyes that s not what it looks like. Well,, for your information, Miss Intellectual, we're studying Macbeth at school and that's what i'm going to see tonight,so never ever presume what i like and what i don't like. † In this chapter we get to see that Jacob gets jealous when Josie goes out with other friends that are boys, we also get to see that they both can get pissed of very easily with each other. if Josie had the option to go out with John and not Jacob she would but the only thing from stopping her is that he isn't that fun as Jacob but he shares so many things in  common with Josie and Jacob doesn't. chapter 20 summaryJosie is put in charge of keeping an eye on he little students at St Martha's on their annual Walk-a-thon that they have every year to celebr ate St Martha's day. While Josie is supposed to be looking after the slow people she instead goes with her friends to see Trey Hancock at the Sebel Town House. The next day Sister  Louise calls the girls into her office but dismisses three of them and tells Josie to stay behind. â€Å"Ivy doesn't have â€Å"one offs†. She's   responsible from the moment she walks into school till the moment she walks out. † â€Å"You were voted school captain but i gave the job to Ivy because she'd do a better job. In this chapter we find out that Josie was supposed to be school captain instead of Ivy, we also learn that Josie loves to do what her friends do and that she and her friends are trend setters for all the little people of St Martha's. chapter 19 summary Tomato Day! Josie and her family have a tradition that they have to make their own pasta and sauce to go with it, this is when the whole tomato thing comes into place every year on a specific day all the family comes tog ether and they pick tomatoes for the sauce, they squash them by hand and then cook them and then squash them again and then cook them one last time.Robert and I call this day â€Å"Wog day† or â€Å"National Wog day†. Nonna and Zia started to tell the story about Marcus Sandford and how he helped them with the garden while the men where at camp. â€Å"I thought that maybe by spoke to someone they would feel sorry for us and send us back one man. Maybe all our husbands. † This chapter reveals that Josie and her family get on very well when they aren’t fighting and telling others what to do and how to do it, we also get to see that Josie’s family loves to carry out tradition. chapter 18 summaryJacob surprises Josie by getting a car so they can go places instead of having to ride on his motorbike. â€Å"Tons of things ,† I said excited. â€Å"We could form a company. I’d be the theory part of the business and you’d be the practic al. † This chapter reveals that Josie believes that she can have a wonderful life with Jacob but at the same time she doesn’t as well because she doesn’t believe that she has chosen the right man for her. chapter 17 summary Josie gets to know her father more than ever over the holiday that they had together in Adelaide. â€Å"You sound like Mama†, I said, standing up through the sunroof.Josie enjoys the time that she spends with her father in Adelaide and meeting the rest of her family for the first time in seventeen years. This chapter reveals that Josie likes being with her father because she feels like she has known him for her whole entire life. When Josie gets back she sees Jacob on Saturday night and he tells her never to leave him again. chapter 16 summary Josie wags school on friday to go on a date with Jacob Coote. He leaned over and kissed me quickly. â€Å"what was that for? † i asked, embarrassed, but laughing. â€Å"I like the way you talk, I like the way you think. So much passion behind those bifocalled eyes.So much to say†. This chapter reveals that Josie is really opening up to Jacob and letting him into her life, and the same thing goes for Jacob he is letting Josie into his life and telling each other what they have done and what their families are like. chapter 15 summary Josie goes out with the girls to darling harbour after school, at the cafe` they see Jacob, Anton and four of their friends cramp themselves in to the booth behind them much to the dismay of Anna and Josie. â€Å"Listen, we’ll start over again, Okay, I looked into his clear green eyes which always seemed so warm and sincere no matter how bad he looked at times†.Eyes, my mother told me, never lie. This chapter reveals that Josie starts to like Jacob again even though he treated her like he did on their date to the movies. when Josie gives Jacob a second chance he asks her to wag school with him so they could go out on a proper date. chapter 14 summary Josie meets up with John barton again and give each other their pieces of paper with their emotions written on it. John talks to Josie about the fact that his father hates him at the moment just because he didn’t win the maths competition. My father was home when i got there this afternoon . Went through my mail. He owns m y life so of course he is entitled to open my mail,† he spat out bitterly. after John finishes telling Josie about what his father think s about him at the moment they decide to talk about the HSC and that they have to write what they are feeling at the moment and then they have to give it to someone else and then after the HSC the person that they gave the note has to ask them how they are feeling and read out what they felt before the test.In this chapter we are shown Josie’s feelings for John Barton again, we are also shown that Josie cares about what John does with his life and tries to help him with his pro blems. chapter 13 summary Josie goes out on a date with Jacob Coote but ends up spending the night with her father Michael Andretti. â€Å"Just because you had to meet my mother, you went and acted like a prick. Why? † â€Å"Okay, this is my proposition. How about you come work for me at the chamber? You can do photocopying and help the secretaries,† he suggested.Josie starts to dislike Jacob Coote because he was being a snob to her and her mother when he came to pick her up so they could go to the movies, when they got to the movies they started to have a fight and then Josie ran off and hid in one of the arcades and when she thought the cost was clear she ran out of the movies and started to walk home when she was being followed by a car, when it pulled up next to her she shouted at the driver saying that her father was a police officer and the person driving said actually he’s a Barrister, Josie jumps in the car and has dinner with Michael Andretti at a pizza place on Glebe point road.In this chapter we get to see a father, daughter relationship build and start to get strong we also get to see Josie’s true feelings towards her father, she feels that she wants to know him more but at the same time she doesn’t want to because what he did to her mother over seventeen years ago. chapter 12 summary Josie ask’s her grandmother to show her the photos of when she was young and her past. â€Å"I regretted it when i saw the look of glee on her face. Because the way Nonna makes my mother feel , I hate making that women happy. † Even hough Josie doesn’t like to make her grandmother happy she still tried to pay attention when she was telling her stories behind all the photos, Josie screeched when her grandmother told her that her first Australian friend was a hunk, but when her grandfather had found out that her grandmother had an aussie over about every day he got jealous and said she was never to see him again. I n this chapter we get to see that Josie tries to be nicer to her grandmother. chapter 11 summary Josie talks to her mum again and ask’s if she can go to the movies on saturday. Is that what all this buttering up has been all about† after telling her mother that she wants to go to the movies with Jacob Coote, her mother says that she will think about it. this chapter reveals that Josie has strong feelings for Jacob Coote more than ever because not only did he protect her after she as hurt by Greg Sims and she liked that he was being a protective person. chapter 10 summary Josie gets raped by Greg Sims and his posy. â€Å"He grabbed me by the front of the uniform and slobbered all over my mouth and i could hear Anna scream and pull me away while the bile rose in my throat†.Jacob Coote comes to comes to Josie’s aid while she is being forced upon by Greg Sims. In this chapter we are shown that not only can Josie be mean and cruel to other people, Jacob Coote c an also be just as mean and cruel to people. When Jacob drops Josie off she tells him that if he wants to go out with   her that he has to meet her mother, Jacob puts up a fight but in the end he gives in and ask’s her out to the movies on saturday night. chapter 9 summary Josie fights with her mum. â€Å"I don't like the fact that you're going out with him again. Josie doesn't like it when her mother leaves her at home alone just so she can go out with a guy, Josie doesn't want her mum to get married because she just wants it too be the two of them until they die. The chapter reveals that Josie loves her mother but she also doesn't want to hurt her by doing the wrong things. Josie has her moments with her mother every now and then, but they usually end up hugging each other or if it doesn't go well they don't talk to each other for a while. chapter 7 summary Josie goes to her grandmothers house because her mum is going out for the night. Oh God, Ma, I have to sleep in the same bed as her. She doesn't shave her legs. † Josie learns a lot about her grandmother that night that she sleeps over, she told Josie that she used to look exactly like her when she was her age, she also told Josie that she was forced to move to Australia with her husband and that meant that she would probably never see her family again. This chapter reveals that Josie starts to develop a stronger relationship with her. chapter 8 summary Josie brakes a girls nose. we are introduced to one of the beautiful girls Carly Bishop â€Å"they were all wogs. hey seem to be ever where,† she snickered. â€Å"I'm just the same as them and I'd appreciate you not going on about wogs every day. It offends me†   In this chapter we get to see a father daughter relationship develop between Josie and Michael Andretti. the chapter reveals that Josie does have feelings for Michael Andretti even though she told him to stay away from he he still came to the rescue when she called. chapter 6 summary Josie meets her father for the second time. â€Å"I don't want her,† he said flatly. oth Josie and Christina had a fight with Michael Andretti, first it was Christina who told Michael that they didn't want anything to do with him, then later on in the day Josie followed him into the lounge room and watched him look at all the photos that her grandmother had all around the place, Josie told him that if he ever hurt her mum that he would be in a lot of trouble. This chapter reveals that Josie feels anger and hatred towards Michael Andretti because he left her mum when she was young and didn't try to contact her since then. chapter 5 summary Josie goes to the regional dance.Jacob Coote gives Josie a ride home on his motor cycle even though Josie knows that if her mum found out that she did she was going to be dead or one of the people in another car saw her and recognized her they would tell her grandmother and she would tell her mother. â€Å"My mother will murder me†. â€Å"she'll find out alright†. this chapter reveals that Josie starts to develop a strong relationship with Jacob Coote. â€Å"do you know that I've been in this country my whole life and I've never spoken to an aboriginal†. chapter 4 summary Josie works with Poison Ivy at the debating night.We are introduced to John Barton. â€Å"To walk into the regional   dance with John Barton would make me the envy of every snob at St Martha's†. This chapter reveals that Josie shows her feeling for just more than one particular boy. she likes to flirt a lot with boys that she hasn't seen for ages or just met. chapter 3 summary Josie hates to go to her grandma's house because its her family ritual only because her mum makes her. We are introduced to Josie's father Michael. â€Å"Michael! my heart began to pound at one hundred miles per hour and I could feel the hairs at the back of my head standing up on end†.This chapter reveals that Josie feels hate towards her grandmother because she sayed that the daughter's behaviour always reflects on how good the mother is. chapter 2 summary Josie speaks about AIDS at the ‘Have A Say Day'. Josephine has friends such as Sera, Lee and Anna, who influence her life greatly. We are introduced to Jacob Coote at the ‘Have A Say Day' â€Å"†¦. If your an outcast with your own kind, you'll never be accepted by anyone†. â€Å"No matter how much I hate Poison Ivy, I want to be in her world†. This chapter shows more about Josie's relationship with her friends and how she deals with her family life.For days I just couldn't help thinking about my father. I felt sick at the idea of meeting him, though at the same   time I desperately wanted to. chapter 1 summary The reader is introduced to the main character and narrator of the story, Josephine Alibrandi. as a reader we find out that Josie goes to St Martha's high school. The narrator is a typical teenager who worrie s about issues such as peer pressure and relationships with others and teachers. â€Å"My biggest problem though, is being at a school dominated by rich people†¦ ho i can't see having a problem in the world† This chapter shows how Josie feels insecure because she is an outsider. My Mother was born here so as far as the Italians were concerned we weren't completely one of them. Yet because my grandparents were born in Italy we weren't completely Australian. Whole Book Summary ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is a story about a young girl, growing up in Sydney in the nineties. The only side of life to create any hassle is that she is Italian, with an Italian mother, grandmother and father, somewhere, growing up in an Australian world.Throughout the book, she spends her entire year twelve either at her home or at her grandmother’s, school or suburban areas, learning about herself and making friends. The main character, Josephine Alibrandi, or Josie, is a feisty a nd head-strong seventeen year old. She received an English scholarship at the beginning of highschool to go to a strict, Catholic college, St. Martha’s. She is very intelligent academically and can achieve excellent grades when she applies herself. She is also the vice-captain at St. Martha’s to Ivy, an Australian favourite of all, whom she calls Poison Ivy.Most of her friends from primary school didn’t end up there, so she has made new friends, although most of the school is from the rich, Australian side of Sydney. She has only just introduced boys as a major part of her life, mostly involving Jacob Coote from the state school and forming a friendship with John Barton, from the Catholic boy’s school. Josephine was born illegitimately to a seventeen year old Christina Alibrandi. The father, a boy of the same age named Michael Andretti, had to move away to Adelaide with his family before she was born. There was a part of him that knew Christina had gone t hrough with the pregnancy, however he as scared and not prepared for a child. Michael had to come back to Sydney when Josephine was seventeen for his work as a barrister and bumped into Christina at a wedding. Michael Andretti is stern and serious. Even Josephine notes him as â€Å"a worrier†. They have separate lives, he has a good job and a girlfriend. By the end of the story, they have grown close and he had gotten her out of trouble many times, like when she smashed Carly Bishop in the nose with a textbook and when she was wondering the streets alone after she stormed out of her date with Jacob Coote.He begins his life with her by saying that he doesn’t need any ‘complications’ and that it is all going perfectly without an ‘obnoxious creation’. Eventually they get to know each other and Josey works at his law chamber and begins to consider changing her last name to Andretti. Christina Alibrandi, Josie’s mum, is supportive of her dau ghter and has raised her on her own for her whole life, with the occasional help of her mother. Jacob Coote said: â€Å"You [Josephine] come across all tough and fearless while on the inside you’re a softy. She [Christina] comes a across a softy, whereas deep down she’s tough and fearless. Christina can be strong and honest when she needs to be and will do what she thinks is right, like suggesting to her daughter, the first time she met Jacob Coote and he was acting like a pig, that she didn’t think it would be good to let her go out with him again. She also is known to compromise, in letting Josie go out with him after she saw he’d smartened up a bit. She is like Josie, a dreamer. She says herself, â€Å"I wasn’t a rebel Italian [when I had you], I was a naive Italian. † She’d give her very life for her daughter and she loves her mother very much, despite not admitting to it.Katia Alibrandi, known as Nonna to Josie, is the mother of Christina. She felt things too, just as her daughter and grand-daughter; she describes herself as a youth to have been a â€Å"gypsie†. When she was younger and came to Australia with her husband, she was alone in the outback with little knowledge of the language. She had the help of an Australian man, Marcus Sandford, who loved her dearly and would do things for her, seeing as her husband would be away on work. She did not pursue a relationship with him; people were talking as it was. â€Å"People will talk† is the quote that she practically lives by.The Italian community are known to ‘talk’. He came into her house one day and Christina was born nine months later. Marcus was going to take her away where nobody knew them, however, seeing as she’d defied her marriage so much, she at least had to stay with her husband. Her husband had lied to her all of these years, he could not have kids, however they stayed together. Nobody knew about Christinaâ₠¬â„¢s illegitimacy, Katia distanced herself from her because of it, until Josephine figured it out after finally taking interest in her grandmother, and she never told anybody.Katia and Josie develop a good relationship, even though Christina must never know. Katia was strong and has memories, even though she is old-fashioned, just like how she would never accustom herself to Josie’s Australian boyfriend, who she has no knowledge of. Jacob Coote is the captain of Cook State Highschool. He is â€Å"deep and meaningful when he wants to be† in the words of Josie. He is with the ‘in’ crowd at Cook High. He has his pick of the girls and is popular and athletic. Jacob bullied Josephine when she was younger, not her specifically, however that was how life worked.He then falls for her and defends her, he beats Greg Sims when he tries to rape her and his friends, her friend, in the McDonald’s car park where she worked before the law chamber. They go through their fights, however they have high prospects in their relationship by the end of the book. Jacob’s mum died when he was young. It did hurt him, however he tries to move on from it. He does think about it, sometimes, however he is contented in his life otherwise. He now lives with his dad, who drinks a bit, and has an older sister of about 24 years of age with her own family now.Of course he naturally has prejudices against John Barton. John Barton grows up in a prissy world and has all of the doors open to him. He does enjoy it sometimes, however it isn’t really what he wants to do with his life. He is expected to do well; while Jacob and Josie aren’t expected to get far, and he’s prefer that. Ivy Lloyd, or Poison Ivy, decides that she owns him. John does quite like Josephine though. He tries to be diplomatic with things, although he does not want to enter politics as everyone expects him to.By the end of the book, he commits suicide with a drug overdos e right before his year twelve exams. That ruined the story for me, made me cry. Ivy and Josie begin to accept each other, however they are hurt as he was a true friend to them both. I can almost relate to John Barton, not the suicide, however in means of having pressure on him and having to meet expectations. I can understand that, because it is so real. All of these characters are real and this story is only too possible. The Italian Empire, where â€Å"people will talk† is real. It is very humorous actually, because it relates so much to my own life.Illegitimacy being the end of the world, and how gossip can start in one place and everybody know. I understand the gender stereotypes and the important role of religion, in when Katia cannot leave her husband. It is fairly old-fashioned and stubborn, the things that Josie is restricted from doing, however that seriously is life, no doubt about that. You’d have to be there to know it, and I’m there. I’m a l ot like Josephine. I can see how things aren’t fair, however I am able to accept them because decisions are made for me for my own good. Josephine says, â€Å"No way, Mama. If you say no I’ll accept it. I also do think, like Josephine does, that the entire world is crumbling around me and I can be a little inconsiderate at times, accidently of course. I’m learning about myself and growing up, just as she is. Only I’m not in year twelve yet, and I’m not in a leadership role, as much as I like to be a leader. The story is basically about growing up, which can be a challenge in itself, however the main complication is that she is Italian in an Australian world as previously outlined. It creates expectations and a way of life that may have been ethical in Italy, however not so in Australia.Also, the Italians here haven’t modernised with the Italians back there. Things that seem ordinary here just won’t flow with the Italian community, th ings like widows and women with children marrying, and two unmarried people living together, problems that both Katia and Christina face, and that Josephine will too unless she can run from it as she says she will, â€Å"I’ll run one day. Run for my life. I’ll run to be free and think for myself. † There isn’t really a resolution, except that Josie learns to accept who she is.She may still want to run, however, for the time being, she is happy with it. She even says that it will be a part of her forever, her nationality, and even if she dislikes it sometimes it will always make her who she is: â€Å"You can’t hate what you’re a part of. What you are. I resent it most of the time, curse it always, but it will be a part of me till the day I die. † Josie grows up, that is how it all works out. She learns more about the world around her, like the hardships that both her mother and her grandmother went through, and she becomes more aware o f the world around her.A major turning point is after the death of John, she suddenly realises that her life will always be what it is, and her deciding to get along with Ivy is another way of saying that she has gotten more mature, and that she understands. In the story, the way things progress, how relationships develop, and the steps that Josephine takes to grow up, all happen through the things that she encounters. She begins her journey at a public event where every school has to make a speech. Josephine represents her school, as Ivy is too busy talking to the Premier of the entire state.There she meets Jacob Coote and doesn’t really know what to think about him, however he is impressed by his speech on the vote. However, she hardly considers herself interested, despite everyone, including herself, finding him attractive. We then meet her grandmother and get a glimpse of her family life. She sees her father for the first time when he shows up at her grandmother’s house, however they do not converse, as ‘Nonna’ does not know who he is, and he’s only an old neighbour so far. There is inter-school debating and Josie talks to John Barton. He is friendly and Josie gets along with him well.They decide they will see a movie together for school. He would have been her ideal boyfriend. Ivy comes and steals him away, despite the fact that he is reluctant to go with her. He doesn’t get a chance to be with her at the school dance a while afterwards, being caught up with Ivy, seeing as he is in that crowd with her. Josie dances with Jacob Coote, who gives her a lift home on his motorbike, as much as she’d rather not ride on it. She finds out that his mother died when he was younger. He tries to kiss her, however she refuses, they agree that they are from two different worlds and he leaves on good terms with her.Next is Josie’s second encounter with Michael Andretti at her grandmother’s house. She speaks to him after her mother. Everyone is very clear that they want nothing to do with him. It is then that her grandmother realises who is and his relation to the family, at that, she decides she would not want to see him again, however she doesn’t cause a fuss. Josie stays with her mother overnight and learns more about her. She begins to take an interest after realising that her grandmother was a seventeen year old once too.She arrives at school and attends class where she overhears Carly Bishop bagging people of European descent, calling them ‘wogs’ as an insult. Josephine had taken it for years and finally had gotten sick of it. They argued and then Josie hit her with her ‘Concepts of Science’ textbook. She calls Michael Andretti, as he is a barrister to help her, seeing as she’d probably have been expelled and sued. He comes to her rescue, even though they’d agreed to never speak to each other again. On Friday, Josie speaks to Sister Loui se, the headmaster of her school, as scheduled.She realises that she does care and notices that she’s human, despite being a nun. Her mum goes out on a date for the first time. Josie and her grandmother are furious, however her mum has a good time and Josie accepts that. Whilst working at McDonald’s with her friend, Anna, Greg Sims, a boy who teased her as a child, enters with her friends. He would have been rude to her, however police came in to buy something so he leaves her be. They wait for her and Anna in the car park; they are ready to rape them both. Jacob Coote is just passing by with his friend, Anton, and he sees what is appening. He beats the living daylights out of Greg Sims. Anton takes Anna home, and they are quite fond of each other. Jacob takes Josie home. He asks her out, she considers it and decides to ask her mother. He agrees to meet her, only he’d never do that any other time and dislikes the idea. She talks to her mother who agrees to let h er go out with him. Curiosity gets the better of Josephine as she asks her grandmother to see photos and to tell her about her life. She finds out about how she met Marcus Sandford in a post office and he would help her, seeing as she was alone in the country.When her husband found out, he was furious and didn’t want to let her see him anymore. On Saturday, she goes on her date with Jacob. He is a pig to her mother in spite of the fact that he has to meet her. The date lasts ten minutes and she storms out of the cinema complex before even entering the movie. On the long walk home, her father is driving past and picks her up to go and get pizza. He tells her that ignoring her existence won’t make her go away and they begin to develop an understanding relationship. Her mother is not angry, only she isn’t too keen on Jacob Coote.Josie is enjoying her job at Mac Michael and Sons law chamber. Her joy is shattered when she has coffee with John Barton ant they talk abo ut life. He worries, her, saying things like, â€Å"I don’t think I want to live this life anymore, Josie. † She is extremely worried and they decide to write on a piece of paper the way they feel and keep each other’s so that they can read them after graduation. It gives him a little hope, however she is still extremely concerned. Josephine talks with her friends and tells them that she’d like to be a barrister when she grows up.Jacob Coote asks her out on another date. They decide they will wag school for it, not that she’d have ever dreamed of doing so in a million years. There won’t be any mother-meeting this time. They have a wonderful time and share in their first passionate kiss. On the mid-term holidays, Jacob gets a car. Her mum is supportive of them being together. There is the St. Martha’s Walk-a-thon. Josie leaves with her friends and is in major trouble with Sister Louise because it meant that the little kids were unsuper vised. She goes to see that movie with John and Jacob sees them there.They argue but they get over it. A couple of weeks later she is at his house for the first time. He would have liked to have sex with her, and she refuses it. After some conversation he accepts it. She finds out about Marcus Sandford being her real grandfather and promises not to tell if her grandmother accepts Michael Andretti. She talks to John Barton and he is cheery and happy and the day later at her year twelve exams she finds Ivy crying that he had killed himself. It is sad. She reads the note he wrote earlier that year and realises that it was what he wanted to do.She attends the funeral. Jacob was also torn up; he was taking it harder than Josephine. He felt had something in common with John, somewhere, and he’d experienced death before and this probably reminded him of his mum. Only now I realise that he was happy because he knew he would do it. He even said only the day beforehand, â€Å"Iâ€℠¢ve got my whole future planned out the way I want it to be and there is nothing anyone can do to take that away from me. † It is sad, but also a good thing in a sense. It is what he wanted. I think Josephine learns to accept it a little at the end.At the beginning of this book review, I though the ending was ridiculous and too sad. Now I understand more that it was really what John Barton wanted to do, kill himself. He was really looking forward to being able to run free, just like Josephine always said she’d wanted to do, even if that meant death for him. I like the ending, now I do. I now like that there was a challenge in figuring that out. Besides that, I liked that Jacob and Josephine ended up having a caring relationship and that they became incredibly happy. I like happily ever afters.Throughout the book, I enjoyed that they were always able to become friends again after a fight. It made the book a lot more exciting. I also enjoyed how the book exhibits how rela tionships developed throughout the novel. It was interesting to read about the way emotions develop between characters, specifically Josephine and her father. It was thrilling to read how they learn things about each other and accept each other in their lives, and the way that the Alibrandi’s become comfortable with him. It is also good to see how Josie takes interest in her grandmother and she can confide in her.I’d change the time she spends with her friends. I’d like them to have played a more prominent role, or not be included in the story, as they add little to the plot. It would’ve made me happy if she did not skip school. It just ruined a little of the part of her that I though resembled myself. I thought I’d have liked to change that John died. I now would not change that, it adds an important lesson for Josephine to learn on her journey of growing up. Death is something she had to learn to accept. However it could be in the blurb, it would ruin the story a little, although a warning would be nice for the light-hearted.I’d have liked if Melina Marchetta would elaborate more and explain how he saw his death was ‘running free’. I wouldn’t have understood if I hadn’t written this essay. I learnt more about death from reading this. That pretty much sums it up. I never saw suicide as a relief or an escape, although it apparently can be. I picked up on a few facts that I’d have found in a history book, they were another factor that kept me engrossed in reading. This would be a good book for somebody of European descent. It made it highly enjoyable for me as so much is only too true.It could possibly be aimed at someone a little older than myself, somebody who certainly has the insight to deal with suicide and not let it get to them. It has to be taken maturely, so possibly it would be a good story for the sixteen-and-up age group, however it does matter on the individual. ‘Look ing for Alibrandi’ by Melina Marchetta is an extremely wonderful book, definitely worth reading and re-reading. It gave me a lot, and I can understand why people made such propaganda about reading it. I rate it ‘I