John Steinbacks Of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

John Steinbacks Of Mice and Men Essay John Steinbacks Of Mice and Men is a tale of two travelling workers in the harsh depression years of 1930s America. Steinback uses a Cyclical Structure upon finishing the book I noticed many similarities between the first and last chapter. The first similarity was the location. In Chapter One Steinback mentions a deserted place near a non-flowing pool, and then introduces both Lennie and George, the same happens in the last chapter but this time Lennie is alone having run away from the ranch. Lennie is shown to the readers as simple-minded and so Steinback uses this to an advantage; His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drank from the surface of the green pool; drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse Lennie dipped his whole head under, hat and all, and then he sat up on the bank and his hat dripped down on his blue coat and ran down his back Lennie dabbled his big paw in the water and wiggled his fingers so the water arose in little splashes; rings widened across the pool to the other side and came back again, Lennie watched them go. Look George. Look what I done. Steinback mentions the drinking of the pool water later in Chapter Six. The second similarity that I noticed was of the dream that Lennie and George shared. Just like a little child, Lennie likes the idea of their dream and asks for it to be repeated on numerous occasions. The most significant times are mentioned in the book; at the beginning where they both feel that they are able to achieve the dream and at the end, just before George shoots Lennie. Lennie has this problem where once he holds onto to something he cant let go. In Chapter One George and Lennie are running away from a ranch in Weed, due to Lennie holding onto a girls red silk dress, as he felt the silk, the girl thought that she was going to be sexually assaulted and so panicked. She ran off to tell the other ranch workers giving George and Lennie time to run off. In the Last Chapter Lennie runs from the Soledad ranch to the brush area because he killed Curleys wife. Having to put up with Lennies bad behavior, George feels pressurized and so says that he could live a lot better without Lennie; Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel or any place, and order any damn thing I could think of. This is all mentioned in Chapter One and in the last chapter Georges feelings are represented by Lennies hallucination in the form of Aunt Clara; And then from out of Lennies head there came a little fat old woman. She wore thick bulls-eye glasses and she wore a huge gingham apron with pockets, and she was starched and clean. She stood in front of Lennie and put her hands on her hips, and frowned disapprovingly at him. And when she spoke, it was in Lennies voice. I tol you an tol you, I tol you Min George because hes such a nice fella an good to you But you dont never take no care. You do bad things. You never give a thought to George, hes been doin nice things for you alla time. When he got a piece a pie you always got half or moren half All the time he coulda had such a good time if it wasnt for you. He woulda took his pay an raised hell in a whorehouse, and he coulda set in a poolroom an played snooker. But he got to take care of you. Knowing that he has done something bad this time, Lennie reflects back the entire sayings that him and George said before going to work on the ranch in Soledad. From the Ketchup argument Lennie threatens to leave George and climb up into the mountains, yet again in the last chapter he threatens to go off into the caves to Aunt Clara. Steinbacks use of language describing the water snake and the heron gives the reader a very secretive message; If your not careful something bad may happen, and just like the watersnake being caught by the heron, the watersnake represents Lennie and the heron represents George.

Are Computers Making People Dependent On Technology?

Are Computers Making People Dependent On Technology? Technology comes in many forms and no aspect of our lives is untouched by some form of technology or another. Technology is defined as the practical application of science to commerce or industry. Technological development into present day has been meteoric to say the least. With the advancements of nearly every aspect of human life having some tie with technology, one might start to see a synergistic relationship between humans and technology. However, while some would believe this relationship has been beneficial for us, we believe there have been detrimental effects from our growing dependence on technology. Technology is changing our culture in such a way that we may be expected to be available and online at anytime of the day or night. The technologies that started out to provide assistance in completing our daily tasks have now become a vital part of survival. This paper argues that humans have formed a detrimental symbiotic relationship with technology in its many forms. This paper will investigate the changes that technology has affected, and show that we are becoming less dependent on ourselves and more detrimentally dependent on our technological accomplishments. The way society does business and commerce is very dependent on the reliability on technology and thus, technology failures will cause markets to stop and bring the whole economy to a halt. Vital banking transactions and services may stop and cause wastage in human resources and time. For example, even though the exact reason is still disputed, London Stock Exchange (LSE) had to stop trading on the 8th September 2008. The two main reasons were due to the network software issues that link data from many programs as explained by LSE while the other was due to buggy software upgrade as speculated by external professionals. This had left traders unable to conduct any business which intriguingly could have been one of the best days for markets around the world after a bail out of two large United States mortgage lenders. Reliability of technology cannot be guaranteed at all times. Technology crashes can also cause big companies to lose billions of dollars. An example event known as the Flash Crash (Nanex) on 6th May 2010 illustrates this point. Just hours before the market closed, the market plunged drastically by an average of 5.7% causing major markets around the world to go into a state of panic anticipating an imminent European financial crisis and caused great loses to companies. An investigation was done by Nanex (Nanex) stating that the crash may be due to a software design flaw in time-stamping procedures that accumulated to become a problem. Backlogged requests caused a long queue in the computer server and produced non consistent results to the requester. This further evidenced that such a dependency on technology is detrimental to the society as sudden reliability issues can create chaos all around the world or even cripple an economy. Research shows that people consume 12 hours of media a day, on average, and compared to just five hours in 1960. Rising income in the developed world has led to an increase number of peoples ability to afford personal computers, and connecting them to the World Wide Web (WWW). Rising incidences of internet addiction in one of the worlds largest growing economies, China, illustrates our point. Of the greater than 300 million internet users in China, there are over 40 million who play online games (Sheridan). That makes over 40 million young, impressionable youngsters in China online daily, playing games, mingling in chat rooms, replacing their reality with an online substitute. Communication and socializing becomes something which can be replaced by actions online. One can imagine how suggestible adolescents can find a life online to be appealing. Common adolescent angst from the real world can be replaced by a life online. Addiction is a term describing a physical or physiological de pendence on something habit forming. One may argue that this addiction, to computers in this case, may simply be a phase. However, it can be seen as a serious condition when one considers the fact that centres for dealing with this type of addiction are springing up, some of which are a sub-facility under centres that treat addictions which have long been accepted as severe, such as drugs and alcohol. If the treatment for this is similar to other addictions which are widely accepted as bad, why is this phenomenon not receiving as much attention? Multitasking is a skill often prized in todays fast paced society. However, studies have shown that our brain on computers operate differently from a natural brain. The attention of the present generation is often split between multiple information sources, and it seems vital to be able to be able to manage them all, be they instant messaging (IM), checking e-mails, reading the news, taking phone calls, and so forth. However, some scientists say that these short bursts of information, leading our attentions in many directions, are changing the way we think and operate. Research shows that people who are heavy multitaskers have problems focusing and selecting relevant information. Researchers claim that after prolonged exposure to this kind of operation, the brain is re-wired and the problems associated with multitasking, such as lack of focus are then carried into the natural state of the brain. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Ophira, Nass , and Wagner), a group of over 250 students were surveyed to study the effects of multitasking. The results clearly illustrated our point; that the lightest multitaskers were able to perform better than the heavy multitaskers in simple psychological tests. The tests highlighted the fact that multitaskers were less able to filter out unrelated information. Furthermore, other tests conducted showed that the heavy multitaskers continuously sought new information, instead of using older, more valuable information. Our reliance on technology has dramatically improved communication, making it more robust, efficient and informative. In the current times, the ease of communication has allowed vast amount of data and information to be transmitted all over world instantly. For example, soldiers fighting the war in the Middle East are able to call using Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol and webcam technology to communicate with family members. This has allowed families to be assured that their loved ones are safe especially when news of casualty can be broadcasted within minutes, 24 hours a day. However, with the current efficiency of instant messaging and social networking, more and more people are becoming overly dependent up to the point of addiction. Issues have been raised over employees spending up to 40 minutes per week on social networking sites during working hours, costing employers an estimated US$2.25 billion. The loss in productivity arises not only from the direct loss in the hours working but also from the reduced productivity of employees from social networking sites becoming an additional distraction. On the other hand, social networking sites are also becoming excellent resources for human resource manager as it offers revealing information of potential and current employees social activity. Furthermore, it has been linked to another issue of society becoming dependent on social networking and posting potentially sensitive personal information such as where one is at or what one is doing. The dependence on technology for communication in the society has also meant that humans are increasingly communicating through a device; which reduced human to human first hand interaction. The decrease of interpersonal interaction in turn reduces ones interpersonal skill which is one of the most basic and fundamental way of communication (Wheeler). Interpersonal communication cannot replace communication through emails, text messages and calls as 55% of the communication is conveyed through body language. Eye contact, gestures and facial expressions and the use of tone and inflections in voice communication are often lost through modern communication technology resulting in less expressive communication or miscommunication. In conclusion, we believe that we have presented facts which support our argument that we have grown detrimentally dependent on technology. We have explored the many facets of technological development which are firmly embedded in most aspects of modern life, and we have strived to analyze how the effects of these developments are detrimental on society. We maintain that the ramifications of our reliance on new medicine, social media, and technology in education, commerce and communication are a disservice to society. While we think that these bindings are detrimental, we do not support a complete disconnection from them. We conclude with the fact that while there are indeed benefits to be had from these advancements, but we, as a society should learn to harness the useful ones, instead of allowing them all to run our lives.

Organisational processes in the Walt Disney Company

Organisational processes in the Walt Disney Company According to De Wit and Meyer (2010) Organisational processes refer to the arrangements, procedures and routines used to control and coordinate the various people and units within the organisation. This can be both formalized processes that span the entire organisation, or more informal organisational processes. The first category can be processes such as business planning and control procedures, final budgeting and reporting. Other control and coordination processes are more limited in scope, such as new product development meetings, yearly sales conferences, weekly quality circles, web based expert panels and quarterly meetings with the board of directors. Informal organisational processes are more about personal networking and influencing decision-making through factors such as informal negotiation. The case of Walt Disney: Control and coordination mechanisms: Corporate governance guidelines: One of the internally control mechanisms in the Walt Disney Company is the supervision done by the board of directors. According to the Walt Disney Company web site, the responsibility of the board of directors is to supervise and direct the management of the company in the interest and the benefit of the companys stakeholders. The board act directly through committees and have the following duties: Overseeing the conduct of the companys business to evaluate whether the business being properly managed Reviewing/approving the companys major financial objectives, plans and actions Reviewing/approving major changes in, and determination of other major issues respecting the appropriate auditing and accounting principles and practices to be used in the preparation of the financial statements Assessing the major risk factors Regularly evaluate the performance and approving the compensation to the CEO. And with the advice of the CEO, evaluate the performance of principal senior executives Planning for succession with respect to the position of CEO and monitor management succession planning for other executives Delegate the authority and responsibility for managing the business in relation to guidelines (Disney Web page). The corporate administration of the company: Another control and coordination mechanism is The Walt Disney Company corporate team, who support services to the business units and affiliates of the Walt Disney Company. The individual responsibilities in this group can be strategic, tactical, diverse and specialized. It can span the whole organisation or focus more on the corporate division. This team work collectively to analyze potential opportunities, assess results and recommend future direction. The corporate planning and control group of the administration is divided into five units: Corporate controllership: This unit is responsible for overseeing the financial statements of the company and also other finance reporting and control functions. Tasks included for this group is developing presentations to senior management and the Audit committee of the board of directors concerning the financial performance of the company, as well as update of significant accounting standards. In addition to this, they work closely with investor relations and corporate communications departments with respect to financial communication. Management audit: The Partners with financial, operational and IT executives to understand their internal control environment, risk and risk mitigation activities. They develop and execute a plan to address key risks and also promote an overall risk and control awareness in the company. Enterprise Finance Processes: Is responsible for optimizing the companys finance and accounting operations. This is done through process improvement, finance system sustainability controls and data governance. As a result, they partner with controllership, planning and financial system support teams to maintain the ongoing efficiency of the financial systems and reliability of data. They also support the finance processes, reporting and system improvements for the company. Operations Planning: The focus and responsibility is on company-wide operating, long-range and capital planning, quarterly and annual earnings and cash flow forecasting. Furthermore all major capital projects and monitoring and assessment of all segment/business unit operating performance. Moreover they are evaluating the financial impact on key business decisions and alternatives, and projects aimed at improving the financial performance of the company. They also make proposals to the board of directors concerning these matters. Accounting Shared Services: Their mission is to provide exceptional service, low cost processing and value added information/consulting for enterprise vide accounting and HR functions. The group work with all the business units to consolidate and optimize transaction oriented processes. Corporate synergy and special projects: This unit under corporate administration of the company develops plans and strategies to foster collaboration across all business units. This department work with identifying, communicating and supporting the annual company-wide marketing and synergy initiatives and partners with the different divisions in order to drive those priorities into their business. Corporate Strategy business Planning and Technology: Work with business units to optimize their strategies at the segment level. One can also say that the end result of an organisational process is an organisation. In other words a whole consisting of unified parts acting in harmony to execute tasks to achieve the goals both effectively and efficiently (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Organizational-Process.topicArticleId-8944,articleId-8875.html). It can be said to be the process of the product life cycle. In The Walt Disney Company and its Media and Broadcasting segment, the company has established a culture were innovation is encouraged. As stated, Since our brand is innovative, entertaining and inviting, we create a similar learning environment that encourages employees to learn and develop in engaging and developing ways (http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/learning.html). As a result of this, the company offer a variety of training programs and learning opportunities. In addition to this the company recognize and reward their employees both individually and in teams (http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/rewards_and_recognition.html). This can also be said to be part of the organisational processes of the company.

Bigfoot Essay -- essays research papers

Bigfoot For over a 150 years man has been troubled by one great mystery, a mystery that has baffled all who have witnessed it and all who have tried to solve it. This mystery is commonly known as Bigfoot, a tall hairy man/ape who lurks in the woods in almost every country on this planet. Some say it is just an ape, some believe it is a man in costume, and others are true believers of this hairy phenomenon. For more than a decade and a half this creature of myth has caused enormous contradictions in the field of science, bringing about one question. Does Bigfoot exist? Throughout the 150 year history of Bigfoot many concerns have raised, the most in number have been from Native Americans. The Karok Indians tell of an â€Å"upslope person† who lurks far up in the mountains (Gaffron, 22-24). Some medicine men have told stories of â€Å"snow-walkers† that haunt the Forrest depths (Short). The creatures North American habitat covers over 125,000 square miles of forest, contained in the states of Oregon, Washington, and California, constituting a large number of Native American tribes to encounter and frighten (Gaffron, 22). This phenomenon is not just a Native American one told by medicine men, and tribe leaders, Bigfoot plays an enormous role in the ancient folklore of such civilizations as, the Russians, Greeks, and Anglo-Saxons (Brunvand). These civilizations have been around for hundreds of years, and have been telling stories of Bigfoot long before any one; they hold the true key to Bigfoot’s history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the environment changes so does the Bigfoot. The Yeti, known as the legendary man of the Himalayas, is the Bigfoot of Nepal, China, and Siberia. Numerous descriptions state the Yeti resembles a primitive humanlike being (Gaffron, 52). Four major types of Bigfoot have been recorded, each one having its own distinct differences. The Teh-Ima is 4 feet tall, being the smallest of the four and is located in lower mountain regions. The Meh-The, slightly resembling a gorilla, has a big pointed head and large square teeth, it is slightly larger than the Teh-Ima. The Duz-Teh being the third largest resembles a bear and is approximately six to eight feet tall. The largest of the group is the Bigfoot of North America weighing as much as 1,000 pounds, and over eight feet tall (Gaffron, 44-46). These Bigfeet have there own characteristics and traits, each one ad... ...the footage; if they were to attempt it, it would require a whole new system of artificial muscles and an actor who could walk like a Bigfoot (Gaffron, 72-76). In the thirty-five years since this footage was taken nothing has been able to prove the existence of Bigfoot more than it has.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For thousands of years myths of an upright man/ape have been told in dozens of cultures and for 150 years its sight has baffled science and caused irreversible controversies in its theories. Weather Bigfoot is just another branch of primates or an early form of humanity which failed to evolve; it is the duty of science to seek truth no matter how controversial the findings may be. Works Cited â€Å"Abominable Snowman.† Microsoft Encarta 2009 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. Jan Harold Brunvand: Microsoft, 2009. â€Å"California Sightings List.† Bigfoot Encounters. 19 January, 2006. Fahrenbach, W.H. â€Å"Bigfoot Biology.† Bigfoot Encounters. 19 May, 2008. Gaffron, Norma. Bigfoot: Opposing Viewpoints San Diego: Green Haven Press inc. 2007 The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. 25 October, 2009. Thomas, Roger F. â€Å"The Patterson – Gimlin Film.† BIGFOOT: Fact or fantasy? 25 June, 2008.

Illegal Global Trade Essay -- Crime and Punishment

Though rarely given enough attention in the press, the global network of counterfeited goods such as prescription drugs, watches, and handbags have become a serious problem in the world. This economic network impacts transnational economies than almost any other force because... The film Illicit: the Dark Trade draws attention to this growing problem that affects our now globalized economy. Also, the movie is an adaption to Illicit the novel written by Dr. Moisà ©s Naà ­m. The film explores a maze of illegal activities and provides evidence supporting the idea that the sale of counterfeited goods results in government instability, money laundering, corruption and a host of other problems around the world that globalization has brought upon today’s society. The wealthier countries exploit innocent people for economic growth and create unequal distribution of wealth, which leads to a decrease in over economic productivity and slows economic growth. Low-skilled workers in deve loped countries who will see a decrease in wages due to the competition that they face from low-skilled workers in developing countries who will see an increase in wages. Economists have come up with an idea that trade liberalism is the force behind the rise of inequality in the United States and Western Europe, because of the boost in trade with poor countries and fragmentation of means of production, that has caused low-skilled jobs to be outsourced. Where treatment of the workers are inhumane and the unequal distribution of wealth will lead to an increase in poverty because the inequality leads to harmful for development that is generated because too he pressure that is created by inequality, this is directed the states having to adopt to redistributive polici... ... of individuals competing for low-skilled jobs. At the same time, developed countries have decreasing birthrates and are not able to replace the labor force and as Westernized civilizations focus unskilled labor has moved to industrializing nations in Asia. Tell me what can happen in the future/long-term effects of this†¦ However restrictive immigration policies play a major role in the reduction in the movement of jobs to countries to fill the void. The demand remains high as a result in developed countries for low waged labor, and immigrants who are desperate for work turn to smugglers to get them into developed countries. The risks and costs of smuggling people into developed countries are very high; however, smugglers take this risk. Some smugglers become traffickers who sell the immigrants and force them work to recover the expensive costs of smuggling.

A social construction Essay

As a social construction, ethnicity is defined as a group individual having a common identifying heritage (Yinger, 1994). The common heritage may comprise of a unifying language, cultural values, norms, and beliefs, and a common ancestry. This has the implication that people belonging to a given ethnic group identify from others with eminent distinctive characteristics, an element which ensure their recognition in the larger human community. Owing to the common heritage that defines an ethnic group, ethnicity encompasses other communal aspects such as political, social, and economic interests, territorial ownership, and similar behavioral patterns. The global community has witnessed numerous incidences of ethnic hostilities over the past few decades. Among this is the 2007 post-election violence which saw hundreds of Kenyans killed and thousands of others fleeing their homes to refuge camps within and outside the country (BBC, 2007). According to available information, the conflict was mainly a fight for land possession in the rift valley region between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups (BBC, 2007). In the American nation, ethnic hostilities are quite common. This can be evident from statistical evident from a 2000 research which indicated that most citizens of Asian origin are mainly engaged in small business established. Such have been closely attributed to the high levels of labor market discrimination practices against these members of the community. In addition, since after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, racial profiling and discrimination against individuals of Islamic origin have been on the hike. This has been due to the perceptions associating Muslim with terrorism activities. Lastly, ethnic hostility can be evident in the school population trends in the US. Records indicate that as at 2003 estimated 87% of enrollments in public-schools in Chicago where from the black community compared to less than 10% from the white population.

Planning And Leading A Complex Team Activity Essay

Be able to plan a complex team activity Since Malta joined the European Union in 2004, the free movement of goods and services within the community, brought about through membership, has re-defined the roles and relationships between suppliersand retailers. It has therefore become increasingly common for retailers to bypass importers/suppliers and purchase directly from the source. In the meantime, Malta being a country with limited natural resources, a favourable climate and long history, Malta’s economy has traditionally been highly dependent on tourism. As a direct result of the current global recession, the number of tourists visiting our island is expected to decline over the next 5 years. This set off an alarm to all importation and tourism dependent businesses causing them to review their business strategy and identify additional business opportunities. My line of business is the importation and distribution of silver filigree jewellery to retail outlets, which target mainly tourists, and summer accounts for about 80% of my total business. So, after I experienced slower than prior year’s growth in sales last year, I started giving serious consideration to opening a single or chain of retail outlets. My primary objective was to deliver my products to tourists directly and at the same time promoting my products instead of relying on my retail competitors to do it. My greatest concern at first was how to deal with the reaction of loyal retail clients to this proposed new strategy. Will they still be willing to purchase goods form me once they perceive me as a competitor instead of a reliable â€Å"partner†? However, eliminating the middle person should almost double my gross profit margin as well as provides me with greater control of my own destiny. In order to go down this path I will also have to consider the capital investment which will be required and the increase in operating costs this change in strategy will bring about. My experience as an entrepreneur has taught me that the competitive analysis of a business plan should be a statement of the business strategy and how this relates to the competition. My objectives therefore includedidentifying the strengths and weaknesses of my competitors within the market, as well as strategies that will provide an edge to develop and prevent my competitors from increasing their market share, and any weakness that can be exploited through product development. When I discussed my concerns with my financial adviser he suggested that I should conduct a feasibility study before embarking on a major change in strategy, and to ascertain that it will be bear fruit for at least ten (10) years. When the study was completed it resulted that, not only was it necessary to adopt this strategy, but that it should also increase profitability on the long run. I then proceeded to put together a five year business plan which identified the need to open at least four retail outlets during the first two years after implementation. However, in order to implement the new business strategy without disrupting the ongoing operations, a qualified project manager had to be identified and recruited in order to lead this project. Once this person was on board, his or her primary objective would be to create and manage the expansion of my business into retail with minimal negative impact on the existing import/distribution business. A New Project Manager was indeed recruited and his first recommendation was to operate the new retail business through a subsidiary entity in order to insulate the already established import and distribution business. He then also proposed setting up a special team, made up of five individuals already employed in the existing organisation, which he would chair, and would be actively involved in creating an action plan leading to the opening and operations of four retail outlets and an organisational structure for the operations of this new subsidiary. This included setting up separate sales, marketing, IT and administration divisions with each division head reporting to an operations manager. My own role would be expanded to that of shadow director of the new subsidiary in order to minimise the risk of damaging our relationship with existing retail clients. Therefore, the four individuals  who were selected to be part of this new project team included one person from each of the fo ur divisions of the current business operations. Re-engineering an already profitable business organisation naturally involves risk. However, if properly managed this will be a calculated one as long as all potential obstacles should be anticipated and properly dealt with. I have learned in the past that whoever is not willing to take risk is not a good leader. â€Å"To win without risk is to triumph without glory† (Pierre Corneille, Pratt, J, J, 2009). One of the cornerstones of the new retail operations is to create uniformity for all four outlets. This included consistent decor, same opening and closing times and days and staffed by smartly dressed sales staff. The action plan created by the new project team listed the need to identify the locations of the four stores as top priority and that negotiating leases would be the responsibility of the project manager. The plan also called for staffing each store with two sales assistants and one store manager. The marketing department would be staffed by one individual to start and the administration department would require a full time human resources professional and one part-time person. This meant that we needed to recruit 15 new employees to make up four sales teams and support for these. The present IT manager’s role would be expanded to support the requirements of the new subsidiary. It will be necessary however to out-source the initial set-up and integration of the new subsidiary operations into the existing IT system and therefore create a centralised data base for all the silver items for all the shops to have access to all stocks. This would enable shops to offer customers special high value items which they do not typically stock in their outlet. Be able to communicate information on the activity to your team. The new project team was scheduled to meet every Tuesday and Thursday of each week from 8.30am till 10.30am. Minutes of each meeting were kept and shared at the beginning of each meeting with each team member. The team chairperson met with me every Friday from 8.30am till 10.30am to keep me  updated on progress and to obtain my feedback. This helped to set a clear framework for all the activities, roles, tasks and goals set by the team. Each team member was chosen to fill a specific role in order to achieve our final objective based on their expertise and experience. The first team meeting was attended by myself, the New Project Manager and the five team members. After introducing the New Project Manager to the team I briefed them on the purpose and aims of this new business activity and provided them the opportunity to ask questions, make any comments and even raise any concerns. The team member from the Sales Division was assigned the responsibility to make recommendations relating to the ideal locations and optimal size of the four shops, as well as the desirable qualifications of the retail Sales staff. Recommendations had to be both realistic and achievable, taking into consideration the high cost of retail space on the island and the limited number of applicants which would be available to choose from. The team member from the Marketing Division was assigned the responsibility to create an image of the retail shop network as well as to propose a three year advertising plan mainly aimed at tourists. Cost projections were to be presented with these recommendations and these had to be in conformity with the resources budgeted for this activity. A member from Finance was also selected to be included in this team. Finance was to first develop a detailed budget for this project which I had to approve. All expenditures related to this project were to be accounted for separately in the finance system in order to closely monitor the project activities. These costs were to be treated as nonrecurring in order to keep them separate from ongoing operations. The Finance team member was also required to set up a financial system for the new subsidiary, separately from the current financial system. However, the two systems were to be compatible in order to facilitate periodic consolidation. The team member from Administration was also responsible for human resource  matters. This team member was assigned the task of searching for the stores to lease in accordance venue recommendations made by sales team member. Human resources were asked to develop an organisation chart for the new subsidiary, preparing job descriptions for the prospective employees, designing vacancy notifications and interviewing prospective candidates. The IT team member would be responsible for identifying the hardware and software requirements for the integration of the subsidiary into the existing IT system. Input from the Sales and Finance team members were critical in identifying specifications required and preparing requests for quotations from at least three different suppliers for the acquisition and installation of these services and hardware. Each team member was required to provide a weekly update on their assignments to be presented at each meeting. Every communication needed to be clear and supported by a task chart. Each team member was also given the opportunity to ask for more details if they were not clear on some topic or if they felt that one member’s actions conflicted in any way with their own plans. For example, it was proposed by the Sales Team member that the shop assistants would need to prepare an order at the end of each week to replenish their stocks. The IT team member had proposed an automated system to do this instead. Be able to review own ability to lead a team through a complex activity This system, though slow to yield results in the beginning, worked well and continued to improve as each member saw how their role and contribution fit into the overall objective. The New Project Manager made sure that each member felt empowered and accountable for his or her role in the project and, as importantly, that the entire team would take credit for the success of the project, not just the team manager. This helped build up team spirit and made every team member feel committed to make the project a complete success. Each team member’s progress report was matched to the master time chart prior  to my weekly meeting with the New Project Manager who also came prepared with proposed solutions to solve any deviation from the plan. Once we agreed on the solutions, these were communicated to the team members at the next Tuesday team meeting. In order to effectively manage a team, such as the one assembled for this complex activity, motivating the team had to be a leader’s top priority. This was achieved by encouraging their participation and asking each member to share their ideas during team meetings. A leader’s role is that of facilitator and coordinator, allowing each team member to take responsibility for their share of the full task and obtaining their commitment to deliver. A leader’s effectiveness is therefore judged by the success of the team in achieving a goal such as the one at hand, namely to set up a chain of four retail outlets to compliment the import and distribution business. Bibliography Pratt, J, J, 2009. Turtle on a Fence Post: Wisdom Graduates Need to Make It in the Real World, 365 Days of Life Lessons. 1st ed. UK: Agio Publishing House, 2009.