Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Personal Narrative My Life Story - 1043 Words

My love story is full of feelings of sweetness, bitterness, sourness, and saltiness, but, in my mind, memories of the day that my husband left me alone in Viet Nam still engraved in my mind. The fear of losing someone I have treasured created a storm in my chest. Struggling with many obstacles, choosing in many options, preparing for a new future lead my life to my situation at this time. I also made a storm in my husband’s chest too. Or to go back: My husband immigrated to the United States with his family 7 years ago. It was the hardest time for him when he faced many obstacles in America without helps from family or friends. Working from early morning and coming back home late at night, he did work hard but his wage was low. His stint†¦show more content†¦When I ready went to work at 7 a.m, the phone rang, he said cheerfully and he didn’t know that I was in a bad mood. â€Å"Hi honey, what are you doing? I had a good news for you† â€Å"Ready to go to work,† I answered. â€Å"Do you miss me?† I was silent for a moment, I answered in a perfunctory way â€Å"Um† â€Å"What happened to you?† He started to ask me with caring attitude â€Å"nothing† â€Å"really?† â€Å"um† I repeated â€Å"It was still ok last night, What happened to you?† he continued asking me with a bigger voice Annoyance came to me. I screamed on the phone â€Å"nothing. Stop asking me!† My voice became bigger as I want to do something bad with him. I started saying something unreasonably with him â€Å"what did you do? You don’t know how much I worried for you when you didn’t call me in the early morning. Everything you can do for me is just calling. How can you take care for me even though you cannot make a call at the right time†. I realized that I was immediately unreasonable when I stop saying that. He was silent and I hear a strange voice on the phone. I realized he said while he was crying like a baby â€Å"I got an interview for a better job and I did it†. He hangs the phone and what I heard at that time is â€Å"Tut tut...† I dropped my handbag and I tasted something salty on my lip. The tears, covered my face. I felt guilty with what I just did. I calmed down and called himShow MoreRelatedPersonal Narrative Story In My Life968 Words   |  4 Pagesan incredibly normal summer day. The sunlight on my skin was a euphoric distraction from the everyday stress of my life, the sound of the waves coming off Norway Lake a rhythm that nearly had me sleeping. The sand stinging my back and legs was a cruel reminder that the nirvana I was experiencing only came from forgetting what was really going on around me. My best friend Justin was going to be showing up soon. I had to work later that night, and my mother had a court date early in the morning theRead MorePersonal Narrative : The Story Of My Life935 Words   |  4 PagesI woke up on a cold, torn up mattress. I try to stand up, struggling since I was tied to the wall behind me. My head was throbbing and my wrists and ankles burned from the rope. That s when I heard you walking down the stairs. My heart was pounding out of my chest. You then slowly unlocked the cage. For the first time I couldn’t save myself. You leaned over me, you stunk of stale cigarettes and booze. I knew I could survive the things you would do to me, I just didn’t know if I could ever get outRead MorePersonal Narrative : The Story Of My Life1953 Words   |  8 Pagesnow I could see the light reaching for my hands. I felt that someone has finally helped me to wash away the suffering I ve been through. Pray and continued praying until this war against me and the devil is over, forever more. I believe in every problem there s always a way. This loud voice is screaming in my head. How are you feeling? Are you okay?. She asked me with that soothing voice in hers. I haven t heard that soft voice in my entire life since my suffering and depression. As she keptRead MorePersonal Narrative : My Life Story2268 Words   |  10 PagesMy life story: †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨My life story begins on April 25, 1975. †¨I was the first born daughter to Larry and Debbie Goss in a small town called Fort Payne Alabama. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Looking back over my life I ve known from a very small age that God has a great plan and a purpose for my life. I can also see how the enemy has tried to destroy that purpose from the beginning. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨On April 25, in a little county hospital my mother is taken to the hospital to deliver there first child. Little did she know the pain and agonyRead MoreNarrative Is The Root Of Some Fields1510 Words   |  7 PagesNarrative is the root of some fields which includes education, rhetoric, literature, religion, law, history: culture (Wilson, 1989). I t can be seen as a tool to create traditions and symbols as means of communication and it is a source to understand and strengthen the identity of the organisation (Kroeze and Keulen, 2013). As a conceptual theme, narrative becomes a self-conscious system and a reflexive field. In other words, the role of narrative in personal lives is to show how it can be utilizedRead MoreIllness Narrative Essay929 Words   |  4 PagesMy Illness Narrative Sharing and listening to the illness narratives in class is an experience that I do not think I could ever forget. Listening to people share their raw emotions and stories of struggle and illness was eye opening, My own illness narrative could be described as a quest narrative and more specifically an automythology. This is because as I stated in my presentation, I became a better person, adopted skills that helped me deal with my father’s illness, understood what it is likeRead MoreThe Narrative Theory / Paradigm1477 Words   |  6 PagesThe narrative theory/paradigm states that everything we do can be laid out as a story (Fisher, 1984). The main points of the theory/paradigm are the following: humans are essentially storytellers; decisions that humans make are based off of good reasons rather than proof; what we do and how we think is swayed by accounts of history, biography, culture and character; our rationality is determined by our sense of probability (the coherency of the narrative) and narrative fidelity (whether the storyRead MorePersonal Commentary On The Lives Of People Different From Ourselves1454 Words   |  6 Pagesunderstand the way someone else sees the world. This is why personal narratives are such an important piece of writing. They allow us to gain an understanding of things that we may never experience ourselves. This allows us to gain insight into the lives of people different from ourselves. By listening to the life stories of other people, we learn to better communicate with others. Every human on this planet has a unique and distinct story that defines who they are. This becomes most true in regardsRead MorePatient Narratives1708 Words   |  5 PagesNarratives or stories have been used throughout the history of the human race to allow and help people to express themselves in ways that promote personal growth and enhance physical well-being. Even in the simplest of contexts, narratives are a core factor in the advancement of the humanity/society and all of its facets. An illustration of this can be seen in the transfer of a family s lineage, history, and values from generation to generation. This allows for the recipient of this informationRead MoreStructure of Personal Narrative797 Words   |  4 PagesCLRC Writing Center Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay â€Å"Narrative† is a term more commonly known as â€Å"story.† Narratives written for college or personal narratives, tell a story, usually to some point, to illustrate some truth or insight. Following are some tools to help you structure your personal narrative, breaking it down into parts. The â€Å"Hook† Start your paper with a statement about your story that catches the reader’s attention, for example: a relevant quotation, question, fact

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

A1 Jet2 - 2241 Words

A1. Good company citizenship goes beyond simply meeting the letter of the law. A socially responsible company should be aware of the effects its decision-making has on the community around it. This is illustrated in part â€Å"A† of the unanimously adopted policies of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Virtual Conference, the Regional Expert Group Meeting on Integrated Environmental Considerations into Economic Policy Making Processes, Bangkok, 20-24 July 1998. â€Å"The need and benefits of integrating environmental considerations into economic policy making processes: 1. Both economic development and protection of the environment are critical for sustainable development. The environment is not an isolated†¦show more content†¦Leaders can begin by establishing a systematic approach to ethics so when ethical issues do occur; the organization’s actions to address them match its core values. To do this, leaders should identify and discuss specific ethical challenges, determine how to approach them, and provide practical insights to help maintain and enhance ethical performance. For the organization to grow its ethics, leaders should follow these guidelines: * Be Ethically Conscious – Have an appreciation for the ethical dimensions and implications of one’s daily actions and decisions. * Be Ethically Committed – Be completely devoted to doing the right thing. * Be Ethically Competent – Demonstrate that you have the knowledge and understanding required to make ethically sound decisions. * Be Ethically Courageous – Act upon these competencies even when the action may not be accepted with enthusiasm or endorsement. * Be Ethically Consistent – Establish and maintain a high ethical standard without making or rationalizing inconvenient exceptions. * Be Ethically Candid – Be open and forthright about the complexity of reconciling conflicting values, be willing to ask uncomfortable questions and be an active, not a passive, advocate of ethical analysis and ethical conduct. * Make it everybody’s responsibility – Sustainability today parallels where quality was a few decades ago – a bolt on system of checks and balances. Then the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement cameShow MoreRelatedJet2 Task 22611 Words   |  11 PagesJET2 TASK 2 1 JET 2 TASK 2: Financial Analysis Theo Adams Western Governors University MBA Program JET2 TASK 2 2 (A1) Budget Concerns Investopedia defines Budget as an estimation of the expenses and revenues over a specific future period of time. Budgets can be made for a group of people, family, person, country, business, government, organization or anything else that makes or spend money. The budget is a micro economic concept that shows the trade-offs made when one good is exchangeRead MoreJet2 Task 22187 Words   |  9 PagesJET2 Task 2 A1. Concerns There are many concerns with the budget planning for Competition Bike. From year 2006 to 2008, Competition Bike experienced a 13.3% increase in sales. In year 9, sales are projected to increase to 3510 units to give sales revenue of $5,247,450. This is a bold increase after 3400 units sold in 2008 and 4000 sold in 2007. I do not think the sales will be as robust with the economy rebounding. Sales projections should be 3425 with net sales at $5,120,375. Since theRead MoreCompetition Bikes3719 Words   |  15 Pagesï » ¿Financial Analysis JET2 Task 3 A1. Capital Structure Recommendation A sound capital structure needs to be in place for Competition Bikes to maximize its shareholder return and expand. A good capital structure would ensure adequate funding and future business stability. However, adequate funding involves capital financing which also has its own risks. If bonds are issued, the company would have to pay interest on them but if sales projections aren’t met, this could have a huge negative impactRead MoreFinancial Analysis Task #57193 Words   |  29 PagesFinancial Analysis Task #5 July 3, 2014 A1. Key Points Custom Snowboard Inc. CFO Report: Custom Snowboards Inc. has found a lot of success both in the United States and overseas. Their products are so popular the company is considering an expansion into Europe to better serve their international customers and expand their brand to a new market. However, all the risks of a very expensive expansion must be considered as well as the benefits needs to be reviewed. The key points that mustRead MoreExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 Pageshas a phenomenal skill in helping new acts hit the big time. The more successful it became, the more people wanted to become associated with it. . . . When making an investment, you have to be totally comfortable and conï ¬ dent that you are backing an A1 team. With James we found the perfect deal. James is the sort of person VCs [venture capitalists] can make money out of.4 The Ministry established a distinctive logo and brand and invested heavily in club facilities and sound equipment. It was a

Monday, December 9, 2019

Executive Leadership in Practice Modern Times

Question: Describe about the Executive Leadership in Practice for Modern Times. Answer: Introduction In the modern times, the organization operates in the competitive market due to which implementation of leadership in the workplace becomes necessary. The employees in the organization require the guidance of some leader in order to direct, motivate and innovate them. The leadership further helps the organizations to compensate the employees fairly and in a timely manner. The leadership allows the managers of the organization to establish a deeper relation between the company and its clients. The employees are able to engage themselves in the important projects that increase the productivity of the company. The corporate culture of the organization can be nurtured in a positive manner that creates loyalty and retention of the employees. Thus, it can be stated that the leadership plays a very important role in the organization in developing and achieving the organizational growth. In this particular study, the literature review is done on the leadership of the organization that highlights the various strategies of the leaders that can be implemented in the global market. The strategies of the leaders in the organization are also discussed to understand the various leadership styles that are effective for the organization. The action plan of the organizational leadership is studied in the project to understand the leadership and in its implementation within the organization. Further, the limitation of the action plan is also discussed so that the organization can implement effective strategies to overcome the limitations of the action plan and the challenges of leadership. Literature review Strategies of a leader in the global market A leader can be defined as the one who is understanding and possess broad mind to accommodate different kinds of people with different mindsets and different cultures. In the international market, along with understanding the economy of the global market, there should be understanding of the culture of various countries with whom business transactions would be done. To work in the global market, there is a requirement of cross-cultural leadership among the employees in the organization. Cross-cultural leadership is defined as the quality of a leader to quickly understand the requirements of the people from another country and understand their work culture so that the employees could perform accordingly (Caligiuri and Tarique 2012). The leadership attributes need not be present only in the leader but also among the employees who are working in the organization. However, it is the duty of the leader to teach the team members the need of cross-cultural leadership No culture is similar i n the global market. At times, the difference in culture affects the business transactions among the companies that are working in the global market. A leader who has a thorough knowledge of cross-sectional leadership will first focus on the work culture of the people who are operating in the international market. Eventually the leader will try to conditions the employees to learn and understand the importance of the culture and way of working of the people from various countries. Once good relationship will be built among the employees of different companies, it will be easier for the employees to carry out their job accordingly. Strategies of a leader in the organization In an organization, the leader should communicate with the employees in the organization to tell them about the mission and vision of the organization. The leader should first be clear about the objectives of the organization and then make the employees understand the reason why they are important to the organization and the organization is important to the employees. Once the employees will understand the mission and vision of the organization, they will be able to understand the reason they are working in the organization and will work hard to strive for perfection. The main role of leader in an organization is to help the employees develop their career in the organization. The leader in an organization should follow a transformational leadership. The leader should make the employees to give their ideas in the process of the organization (Garca-Morales, Jimnez-Barrionuevo and Gutirrez-Gutirrez 2012). Once the employees will get involved in the decision-making process, they will come up with various problem solving techniques that will help the organization in the end. Once the employees will see that, their decisions and the perspectives matter in their organization they will take interest in carrying out the job in the company. In addition to this, employees will come up with innovations in the products as well as the operations in the organization. The innovative ideas will help the company to introduce new products and gain more business from the market. Strategies of a leader in the work group When a person is playing the role of leader in work group the main concern for the person will be team building and maintaining cohesion among the employees. An individual can carry out a task well. However, the main changes lies in the fact that the members will be able to gain success once they are working in a group. The employees need to understand the seriousness of the job and the benefits of working in a group. A problem will have more than one solution and they will be free to choose the best solution for the problem. However, problems may arise among the group embers. It will be the duty of the leader to solve the issue, thus, the democratic leadership style would be best for a person who is looking after an entire group. The democratic leadership will help the individual to keep a check on the employees as well as give them freedom to perform well (Bhatti et al. 2012). The role of a democratic leader is to help the m employees to solve their problems among themselves. In th is way, the employee will be independent to solve the daily issues of an organization. The main aim of a leader to is to make more leaders out of the work group. Once the employees will learn to solve the problems themselves, the company will get more leaders from the employees who are working in the organization. Thus, implementing a democratic leadership strategy will help the leader to look after the employees. Strategies of a leader as an individual As far as the individual leadership is concerned, a person should not only focus on developing the skills as a leader but should also give a proper check about self that will help the individual is following the right track of being leader. The best way to assess individual leadership is a self-assessment test (Hargreaves and Fink 2012). Self-assessment test will help the individual to understand whether the person is following the right track of being leader. The idea that should follow to become a good leader is to think of the development of other people and not only the development of the group. Team building should be a concern for the leader but while building a team, a leader should not forget the development of the employees as an individual. As an individual, the leader should keep a check whether the team members able to develop their personal skills. A leader should not overlook an individual for the sake of group. As an individual, a leader should be updated with latest t echnologies in the market. A leader should be able to update the organization as well as the group about the technology and should be able to implement the technology in their work. The individual should be alert with the latest happenings in the society and the market so that the person will be able to guide the team members well. Leadership philosophy and leadership action plan Introduction Need For The Strategic Plan An efficient action plan helps in framing the ideal situation of the firms, in order to frame the ideal business structure (Tannenbaum, Weschler and Massarik 2013). It provides the company with a pathway, that is feasible in framing the course to be followed by the organization to raise their productivity and efficiency of production. How the Plan Was Developed In order to frame an extensive strategic planning system for my self-owned company, TBL private limited, that belongs to the repairing sector. They mends the damaged parts of the cars. The people associated with the company helps in providing their customers with perfect services and products that raises the demand of the products. With the aim of being the high rated company in Australia, the action plan was developed by the company. This would help the company to analyse the current market situation and frame the efficient structure of the organization. The aim of framing the strategic plan could be financial aid, human capital, physical capital, intellectual capital, or developing a new process. The Environmental Scan Organizational History and Structure The organization is a five years old company, that has provided some perfect services and products to its companies. Its accident repair business works with a variety of business works including manufacturers, insurance companies and fleet management companies. They aim at delivering the high level service. The External Environment The legal procedures associated with the framing the company is quite easily set. The countries needs to fulfill some of the basic needs and criteria that would provide the company to expand its business all over the country. Currently the company has been operating limited only to queensland . In order to compete with the other companies of the same industry, expansion of the company is needed. There are various companies that have framed their business in the country, thereby, raising the competition of the market. TBL being one of the most efficient company which handles the order of their clients, it must maintain the par at which their services must be maintained. The Organization In order to raise the market share in Australia, TBL has to formulate an efficient structural plan, that would aim at providing the best services to the customers in the market. They have to adopt the expansion plan in Australia, that would help the company in gaining the customers all over the country. Along with repairing of the damaged parts of the automobile industry, the company has also aimed at providing its clients with license agreements and royalties (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). This could be achieved from the company by forming a collaboration of the with another company that is well acknowledged by government and helps in providing the customer with legal insurance and development schemes. Organization Values, Vision And Mission Values Or Operating Principles The value associated with the firm is that the company must provide its customers with the perfect services and products, that would help the company to improve their market share thereby raising the demand for their products and services. The basic operating principles should be such that customer must be the first priority of the organization and secondly the company must aim at improving their demand structure. Vision Vision of the company is to be the top rated company in automobile repairing industry which provided the best service in the society along with license and royalties to the customers. They aim at expanding their business all over Australia and thereby gain the maximum demand for the products and services of the organization. Mission The mission of TBL private limited, is to maintain the ethical framework of the organization, along with provd9ing the best services provided to the customers of the country. They aim at maintain the honesty, integrity and the quality of work provided. They aim at always telling the truth to the customers, thereby keeping them well informed regarding the goods and services provided to the people. They aim at always doing the right thing, and immediate steps must be taken to rectify the errors made (Ubben, Hughes and Norris 2015). The quality of work is very important to raise the standard if work for the people. It is quite important to frame the efficient strategic system, which would help in fulfilling the mission of the company. Goals and Strategies Planned Accomplishments By far, TBL private limited has been able to expand their business to most of the areas of Australia. They have been able to expand their business well and are planning to associate with the BSI trademark certification house, that would help in providing the companies with the authority to issue the licenses and royalties to the owner of the cars. Strategies One of the main strategies to be followed by the organization is to set up an efficient management plan ensures the efficiency of the system. It includes standard methods of doing various things, and where these methods would operate . The management system must depend on a number of factors such as the goal of the organization, the steps needed to run the organization, degree of freedom needed by people at all levels in order to do their jobs well, resources available to carry out the management plan, and how well does the management plan fits in the philosophy and mission of the organization . Collaboration with the BSI trademark company must be initiated , promotions for the services being provided by the TBL private limited must be done and it should aim at providing the best functions to its customers. Monitoring and Review Monitoring In order to monitor over the efforts being given by the employees, whether the strategies are being carried out efficiently or not, there must be an establishment of an efficient monitoring group that would keep an eye on the work done by the people of the company. It would monitor the system at each step of the action plan, thereby being confident over the strategies being undertaken by the company. It is quite important to frame an efficient monitoring system in order to overcome the difficulties and hurdles to be faced by the company, thereby, achieving the visions and objectives of the company. Plans for Reviewing and Refining the Plan In order to frame an efficient monitoring system, that would review and refine the action plan stated and framed by the company, there must be recruitment done for the employees of the management position. These people would assist the owner in remarkably framing the action plan that would implement various strategies in achieving the companys objectives. Any unethical or misfit strategies that are against the principles or mission of the company, could be reframed and refined by these board of directors. Annual Plan The yearly action plan for the TBL Private Limited Company must be framed using the Gantt Chart. Primary activities Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Listing the principles and objectives of the company Framing the strategies of the firms Gaining knowledge regarding the market of automobile repair industry. Create the opportunities and threats prevailing in the environment. Recruit people in the organization Perform the division of labor based in the experience and qualification Form the board of directors that would monitor the action plan. Form an alliance with the BSI trademark company. Promote the company all over Australia Collection of yearly sales of the company Calculate the revenue generated and profit margin of the economy. Analyse the break even situation for the company. Figure : annual gantt chart (source : as created by author) Management and Institutional Development Governance In order to frame an ethical framework of the organization that works according to the strategically implemented action, there must be certain rules that should be adopted by the organization. TBL private limited has some of the important organizational rules such as : Maintaining the discipline of workplace Being honest and dedicated to work There must be an essence of honesty and feasibility while dealing with the customers. Formation of alliance with companies to raise the profit of the organization. Keeping in mind, the objectives, mission and vision of the organization, that would help in raising the productivity of the organization. Reflection By being the owner of TBL private limited, it was quite important for me to be self aware. An effective management and leadership qualities depends upon the amount of sel awareness structure of an individual. I have worked hard to understand my strengths an weaknesses. It has helped me to understand the attributes in me that would help me to gain confidence and assurance of others, and those attributes which may harm my personality, hence it needs to be rectified. It was quite important for me to formulate the planning and strategies that would be implemented in the organization, in order to assist the company for future success. It is quite important, being a leader, to win the assurance and trust of the employees of the organization. This would help in gaining the loyalty from the workers, and these workers are the first one to create an interaction with the customers of the organization (Northouse 2015). I had maintained integrity as a leader, as it helps in creating a matter of value of my words and perceptions that I hold in order to foresee the future of the organization. With the aim of expanding my business all over the country, it is quite important to maintain my integrity in what I speak and what I assure people associated with the organizations. The stakeholders of the organizations must be confident enough to deal with the organization. This can be only perceived when the owner or the leader of the organization has a maintained integrity as an important attribute. In order to take the division of raising the market share of my organization in a broader scale, it is quite vital for me to form alliance with a well developed organization that helps in maintain the standard of, my organization. The selection of a perfect company for collaboration had been taken by me, where BSI trademark company had been selected. This has helped in providing an additional facility of insurance and royalties to the car owners and customers of the organization, thereby, creating a differentiated product for the organization. I have overcome various hurdles in the organization, such as threats of substitutes, competition from other organizations , strategic failure and even failure of framing an action plan. These attributes have made me understand, rectify and try more better implementation of plans for the firm. It has provided me with the experience and confidence to proceed further amongst all the difficulties faced. Demonstration of leadership Leadership can be defined as the art that are used by the experienced and expert people to make others do something effective for the group. Leadership is important in the organization or in the group in order to achieve successful outcome of the activities. Being one of the leaders in the Ashley Furniture Industries, which is an Australian owned business, it is important to carry out leadership practices that help to achieve effective performance of the company. Todd Wanek, the president and the CEO of the company had assumed that there are certain responsibilities toward the company and its growing international operations. Since 2002, when Todd became the CEO of the company, the company witnessed sustained growth. This was possible due to the efficient leadership and vision of Todd. The main motive of Todd was to stay loyal and honest t the company and become the best furniture company in the market. As per his believe, establishing a proper workplace environment and strong relationship between the management and the employees can help to achieve the organizational objectives. Todd had deep passion for the organization and for improving the operations of the organization, the products and the services to ensure continuous growth and development. To increase the effectiveness of the company, the leader implemented democratic leadership in the organization. The democratic leadership style of the organization helps the employees of Ashley Furniture Industries to participate in the organizational activities and in the decision-making process of the organization. The democratic leadership helps the individuals to participate openly in the organization and thereby increases the level of motivation within the employees. Todd being a democratic leader has the responsibility to decide who is an effective member of the group and is capable of contributing in the process of decision-making. The democratic leadership allows the team members in the organization to share their thoughts and ideas and therefore Todd is able to obtain effective solution for the organization. Todd thus provides innovation in the activities that motivates the team members and the staff. The employees further feel more committed towards the work they perform and hence the performance level of the employees is increased (Johnston and Marshall 2016). As the members of Ashl ey Furniture Industries are skilled employees and are eager to share their knowledge with other members of the company, Todd found the implementation of the democratic leadership more effective. Nevertheless, Todd tries to provide adequate time to the employees to be adjusted with the environment of the organization so that they are able to contribute in the organization, help in the process of plan development and express their views regarding the best course of action. The efficient leadership of Todd Waner helped Ashley Furniture Industries to achieve a string brand name that in turn supported merging up with the Arcadia Furniture Corporation to increase the market base. The determination and the expertise nature of the leaders of Ashley Furniture Industries is the main driving force that helps the company to achieve a sustainable position in the market of the furniture industry (Hargreaves and Fink 2012). Experience Working in a team or leading a team requires skills to ensure that the assumed outcome of the activity is achieved. However, leading the team is one of the most difficult tasks, as it requires a lot of skill and hard work to ensure effective team performance. The greatest assets in the process of leading a team are not found in the technical tools but rather in the skills that helps to relate to the people taking part in the team. While working in a team, it is not always possible to ensure that the implementation of the skills takes the right direction. However, it is important for the leader to tackle the situation in a proper manner to avoid negative impact of the steps that has been undertaken (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). The team leader of the organization conducts the leadership in such a manner that the employees or the team members are never de-motivated. There are instances where the team members make mistakes, the leader uses the mistake as an opportunity to make imp rovements. The efforts of the team members are to be appreciated even if the effort or the success is a minor one. This allows the employees to become motivated and thereby input extra effort to increase the productivity. One of the other roles that the team leader needs to pay attention towards while leading a team or being a part of the team is that he or she is genuinely interested in the other members of the team. This helps to make the team members feel important. However, in the process of leading a team, the leader faces a number of challenges that might result in serious issues within the organization. The main challenges of the leaders are being clear about what the organization wants to achieve, responding to the agendas, handling the resistance, keeping the members engaged in the work, managing the negativity in the team and ensuring the right balance within the team. In reality, it becomes very difficult for the managers or the leaders of the team to get a clear knowledge about the requirement of the organization. Thus, the leaders faces challenges in making the team members understand their roles with the brief information they have regarding the goals f the organization. Moreover, the different individuals in the team have different level of expectation and hence it becomes difficult to win the satisfaction of the team or the individuals concerned in the team. In the opinion of Daft (2014), the resistance issue is sure to arise in the team even though all the safety measures have been implemented. Moreover, the leaders fail maximum number of times to make all the members of the team to participate actively in the activities. Thus, failure to engage the members causes loss of the organization in term of the productivity, employee and customer satisfaction. Every team experiences negativities, however, an effective leader needs to know the ways in which the negativities can be handled or dealt with. Conclusion Leadership is important in every organization as it helps the managers to enable systematic and effective management. Since the different organizations have different structure and nature of working, it is important for the managers to select the appropriate leadership style that will help to obtain the objectives of the organization. The implementation of strategies of leadership helps to achieve global market shares. The cross culture leadership supports the organization to operate in the global markets that are not similar to each other in terms of the culture. There are different leadership styles that are to be implemented in the workplace to ensure effectiveness and increased productivity of the organization. Moreover, the leaders of the organization also have individual strategies that help them to achieve the required balance in the workplace and therefore improve the quality of the organization. The leaders of the company are highly responsible for the productivity of the em ployees and the organization and therefore they need to be very efficient in playing the role of a leader. Ineffectiveness of the employees is often due to the ineffectiveness of the leaders that needs to be addressed effectively. The action plan regarding the leadership supports the organization to obtain the goals of the organization. The action plan of the organization helps the leaders and the team to become more committed towards their work. The companies have been successful in achieving the appropriate outcome by implementing effective leadership. In addition to that, the leading a team in the organization requires strategic implementation in order to overcome the challenges faced by the leaders. The leaders of the team need to have certain skills that will ensure effective leadership with the organization. However, it is also necessary to implement those skills effectively and obtain the appropriate results of the undertaken activities. Limitations The action plan which has been formulated by the TBL private limited has various flaws and limitation in the structure. The strategies adopted for the expansion of the company in order to raise the market share of the organization has been feasible only to a certain extent. It is not easy to formulate the plans for the expansion of business over the countries of the organization. This might create an important hindrance over the strategic action plan of the organization. With the legal issues to be suffered by the company, while expanding their business, it would be quite a hindrance to ensure the smooth functioning of the company. Forming an alliance with the company has been done by various other companies, who are in the same industry. Creating differentiation in the products of the organization would ensure the company to send products which are competitive in nature. Various substitutes of goods are developed each year, thereby raising the threat of entry of firms in the i9ndust ry. Yet, these issues could be rectified and reframed with the use of the monitoring and governance group of the organization, thereby enabling the company to achieve its aims and objectives. Reference Bhatti, N., Maitlo, G.M., Shaikh, N., Hashmi, M.A. and Shaikh, F.M., 2012. The impact of autocratic and democratic leadership style on job satisfaction.International Business Research,5(2), p.192. Caligiuri, P. and Tarique, I., 2012. Dynamic cross-cultural competencies and global leadership effectiveness.Journal of World Business,47(4), pp.612-622. Daft, R.L., 2014.The leadership experience. Cengage Learning. Garca-Morales, V.J., Jimnez-Barrionuevo, M.M. and Gutirrez-Gutirrez, L., 2012. Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation.Journal of Business Research,65(7), pp.1040-1050. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. and McKee, A., 2013.Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press. Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. and McKee, A., 2013.Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press. Hargreaves, A. and Fink, D., 2012.Sustainable leadership(Vol. 6). John Wiley Sons. Hargreaves, A. and Fink, D., 2012.Sustainable leadership(Vol. 6). John Wiley Sons. Johnston, M.W. and Marshall, G.W., 2016.Sales force management: Leadership, innovation, technology. Routledge. Northouse, P.G., 2015.Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications. Tannenbaum, R., Weschler, I. and Massarik, F., 2013.Leadership and organization. Routledge. Ubben, G.C., Hughes, L.W. and Norris, C.J., 2015.The principal: Creative leadership for excellence in schools. Pearson.

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Theories of European Integration free essay sample

For many old ages, the academic survey of the European Communities ( EC ) , as they were so called, was virtually synonymous with the survey of European integrating. The ab initio modest and mostly technocratic accomplishments of the EC seemed less important than the possible that they represented for the gradual integrating of the states of western Europe into something else: a supranational civil order. When the integrating procedure was traveling good, as during the 1950s and early 1960s, neo-functionalists and other theoreticians sought to explicate the procedure whereby European integrating proceeded from modest sectoral beginnings to something broader and more ambitious. When things seemed to be traveling severely, as from the 1960s until the early 1980s, intergovernmentalists and others sought to explicate why the integrating procedure had non proceeded every bit swimmingly as its laminitiss had hoped. Regardless of the differences among these organic structures of theory, we can state clearly that the early literature on the EC sought to explicate the procedure of European integrating (instead than, state, policy-making ) , and that in making so it drew mostly ( but non entirely ) on theories of international dealingss. We will write a custom essay sample on Theories of European Integration or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the first edition of this volume, Carole Webb ( 1977 ) surveyed the argument among the so dominant schools of European integrating, neo-functionalism, and intergovernmentalism, pulling from each attack a set of deductions and hypotheses about the nature of the EC policy procedure. Similarly, here we review neo-functionalism and its positions about the EU policy procedure, and so the intergovernmentalist response, every bit good as the updating of # 8216 ; broad intergovernmentalism # 8217 ; by Andrew Moravcsik in the 1990s. In add-on, we examine more recent organic structures of integrating theory-institutionalism and constructivism-which offer really different positions of the integrating procedure and really different deductions for EU policy-making. Neo-functionalism Neo-functionalism In 1958, on the Eve of the constitution of the EEC and Euratom, Ernst Haas published his seminal work, The Uniting of Europe, puting out a # 8216 ; neo-functionalist # 8217 ; theory of regional integrating. As elaborated in subsequent texts by Haas and other bookmans ( e. g. Haas 1961 ; Lindberg 1963 ; Lindberg and Scheingold 1970 ) , neo-functionalism posited a procedure of # 8216 ; functional spill-over # 8217 ; , in which the initial determination by authoritiess to put a certain sector, such as coal and steel, under the authorization of cardinal establishments creates force per unit areas to widen the authorization of the establishments into neighboring countries of policy, such as currency exchange rates, revenue enhancement, and rewards. Therefore, neo-functionalists predicted, sectoral integrating would bring forth the unintended and unanticipated effect of advancing farther integrating in extra issue countries. George ( 1991 ) identifies a 2nd strand of the spill-over pro cedure, which he calls # 8216 ; political # 8217 ; spill-over, in which both supranational histrions ( such as the Commission ) and subnational histrions ( involvement groups or others within the member provinces ) create extra force per unit areas for farther integrating. At the subnational degree, Haas suggested that involvement groups runing in an incorporate sector would hold to interact with the international organisation charged with the direction of their sector. Over clip, these groups would come to appreciate the benefits from integrating, and would thereby reassign their demands, outlooks, and even their truenesss from national authoritiess to a new Centre, therefore going an of import force for farther integrating. At the supranational degree, furthermore, organic structures such as the Commission would promote such a transportation of truenesss, advancing European policies and brokering deals among the member provinces so as to # 8216 ; upgrade the common involvement # 8217 ; . As a consequence of such sectoral and political spill-over, neo-functionalists predicted, sectoral integrating would go self-sufficient, taking to the creative activity of a new political entity with its Centre in Brussels. The most of import part of neo-functionalists to the survey of EU policy-making was their conceptualisation of a # 8216 ; Community method # 8217 ; of policy-making. As Webb pointed out, this ideal-type Community method was based mostly on the observation of a few specific sectors ( the common agricultural policy ( CAP ) , and the imposts brotherhood, see Chapters 4 and 15 ) during the formative old ages of the Community, and presented a distinguishable image of EC policy-making as a procedure driven by an entrepreneurial Commission and having supranational deliberation among member-state representatives in the Council. The Community method in this position was non merely a legal set of policy-making establishments but a # 8216 ; procedural codification # 8217 ; conditioning the outlooks and the behavior of the participants in the procedure. The cardinal elements of this original Community method, Webb ( 1977: 13-14 ) continued, were quadruple: 1.governments accept the Commission as a valid bargaining spouse and anticipate it to play an active function in constructing a policy consensus. 2.governments trade with each other with a committedness to problem-solving, and negotiate over how to accomplish corporate determinations, and non whether these are desirable or non. 3.governments, the Commission, and other participants in the procedure are antiphonal to each other, do non do unacceptable demands, and are willing to do short term forfeits in outlook of longer term additions. 4. Unanimity is the regulation, asking that dialogues continue until all expostulations are overcome or losingss in one country are compensated for by additions in another. Issues are non seen as separate but related in a uninterrupted procedure of determination such that # 8216 ; log-rolling # 8217 ; and # 8216 ; side payments # 8217 ; are possible. This Community method, Webb suggested, characterized EEC decision-making during the period from 1958 to 1963, as the original six member provinces met alongside the Commission to set in topographic point the indispensable elements of the EEC imposts brotherhood and the CAP. By 1965, nevertheless, Charles de Gaulle, the Gallic President, had precipitated the alleged # 8216 ; Luxembourg crisis # 8217 ; , take a firm standing on the importance of province sovereignty and arguably go againsting the inexplicit procedural codification of the Community method. The EEC, which had been scheduled to travel to extensive qualified bulk vote ( QMV ) in 1966, continued to take most determinations de factoby unanimity, the Commission emerged weakened from its confrontation with de Gaulle, and the nation-state appeared to hold reasserted itself. These inclinations were reinforced, furthermore, by developments in the seventiess, when economic recession led to the rise of new non-tariff barriers to merchandise among EC member provinces and when the intergovernmental facets of the Community were strengthened by the creative activity in 1974 of the European Council, a regular acme meeting of EU caputs of province and authorities. In add-on, the Committee of Permanent Representatives ( Coreper ) , an intergovernmental organic structure of member-state representatives, emerged as a important decision-making organic structure fixing statute law for acceptance by the Council of Ministers. Similarly, empirical surveies showed the importance of national gatekeeping establishments ( H. Wallace 1973 ) . Even some of the major progresss of this period, such as the creative activity of the European pecuniary system ( EMS ) in 1978 were taken outside the construction of the EEC Treaty, and with no formal function for the Commission or other supranational EC establishments. Intergovernmentalism Intergovernmentalism Reflecting these developments, a new # 8216 ; intergovernmentalist # 8217 ; school of integrating theory emerged, get downing with Stanley Hoffmann # 8217 ; s ( 1966 ) claim that the nation-state, far from being disused, had proven # 8216 ; obstinate # 8217 ; . Most evidently with de Gaulle, but subsequently with the accession of new member provinces such as the UK, Ireland, and Denmark in 1973, member authoritiess made clear that they would defy the gradual transportation of sovereignty to the Community, and that EC decision-making would reflect the go oning primacy of the nation-state. Under these fortunes, Haas himself ( 1976 ) pronounced the # 8216 ; obsolescence of regional integrating theory # 8217 ; , while other bookmans such as Paul Taylor ( 1983 ) , and William Wallace ( 1982 ) argued that neo-functionalists had underestimated the resiliency of the nation-state. At the same clip, historical scholarship by Alan Milward and others ( Milward 2000 ; Milward and Lynch 199 3 ) supported the position that EU member authoritiess, instead than supranational organisations, played the cardinal function in the historical development of the EU and were strengthened, instead than weakened, as a consequence of the integrating procedure. By contrast with neo-functionalists, the intergovernmentalist image suggested that # 8216 ; the bargaining and consensus edifice techniques which have emerged in the Communities are mere polishs of intergovernmental diplomatic negotiations # 8217 ; ( Webb 1977: 18 ) . And so, the early editions of Policy-Making in the European Communitiesfound important grounds of intergovernmental bargaining as the dominant manner of policy-making in many ( but non all ) issue countries. Broad intergovernmentalism Liberal intergovernmentalism The period from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s has been characterized as # 8216 ; the stagnation epoch # 8217 ; , both for the integrating procedure and for scholarship on the EU ( Keeler 2004 ; Jupille 2005 ) . While a dedicated nucleus of EU bookmans continued to progress the empirical survey of the EU during this period, much of this work either eschewed expansive theoretical claims about the integrating procedure or accepted with minor alterations the theoretical linguistic communication of the neo-functionalist/intergovernmentalist argument. With the # 8216 ; relaunching # 8217 ; of the integrating procedure in the mid-1980s, nevertheless, scholarship on the EU exploded, and the theoretical argument was revived. While some of this scholarship viewed the relaunching of the integrating procedure as a exoneration of earlier neo-functionalist theoretical accounts ( Tranholm-Mikkelsen 1991 ; Zysman and Sandholtz 1989 ) , Andrew Moravcsik ( 1993a, 1998 ) argued influentially that even these stairss frontward could be accounted for by a revised intergovernmental theoretical account stressing the power and penchants of EU member provinces. In other words, Moravcsik # 8217 ; s # 8216 ; broad intergovernmentalism # 8217 ; is a three-step theoretical account, which combines: ( 1 ) a broad theory of national penchant formation with ; ( 2 ) an intergovernmental theoretical account of EU-level bargaining ; and ( 3 ) a theoretical account of institutional pick stressing the function of international establishments in supplying # 8216 ; believable committednesss # 8217 ; for member authoritiess. In the first or broad phase of the theoretical account, national heads of authorities ( COGs ) aggregate the involvements of their domestic constituencies, every bit good as their ain involvements, and joint their several national penchants toward the EU. Thus, national penchants are complex, reflecting the typical economic sciences, parties, and establishments of ea ch member province, but they are determined domestically, non shaped by engagement in the EU, as some neo-functionalists had proposed. In the 2nd or intergovernmental phase, national authoritiess bring their penchants to the bargaining tabular array in Brussels, where understandings reflect the comparative power of each member province, and where supranational organisations such as the Commission exert small or no influence over policy results. By contrast with neo-functionalists, who emphasized the entrepreneurial and brokering functions of the Commission and the upgrading of the common involvement among member provinces in the Council, Moravcsik and other intergovernmentalists emphasized the hardball bargaining among member provinces and the importance of dickering power, bundle trades, and # 8216 ; side payments # 8217 ; as determiners of intergovernmental deals on the most of import EU determinations. Third and eventually, Moravcsik puts frontward a rational pick theory of institutional pick, reasoning that EU member provinces adopt peculiar EU institutions-pooling sovereignty through QMV, or deputing sovereignty to supranational histrions like the Commission and the Court-in order to increase the credibleness of their common committednesss. In this position, crowned head provinces seeking to collaborate among themselves constantly face a strong enticement to rip off or # 8216 ; desert # 8217 ; from their understandings. Pooling and deputing sovereignty through international organisations, he argues, allows provinces to perpetrate themselves believably to their common promises, by supervising province conformity with international understandings and make fulling in the spaces of wide international pacts, such as those that have constituted the EC/EU. In empirical footings, Moravcsik argues that the EU # 8217 ; s historic intergovernmental understandings, such as the 1957 Treaties of Rome and the 1992 Treaty on European Union ( TEU ) , were non driven chiefly by supranational enterprisers, unintended spillovers from earlier integrating, or multinational alliances of involvement groups, but instead by a gradual procedure of penchant convergence among the most powerful member provinces, which so struck cardinal deals among themselves, offered side-payments to smaller member provinces, and delegated purely limited powers to supranational organisations that remained more or less obedient retainers of the member provinces. Overarching the three stairss of this theoretical account is a # 8216 ; positivist model # 8217 ; of international cooperation. The relevant histrions are assumed to hold fixed penchants ( for wealth, power, etc ) , and move consistently to accomplish those penchants within the restraints posed by the establishments within which they act. As Moravcsik ( 1998: 19-20 ) points out: The term model (as opposed to theoryor theoretical account) is employed here to denominate a set of premises that permit us to disaggregate a phenomenon we seek to explain-in this instance, consecutive unit of ammunitions of international negotiations-into elements each of which can be treated individually. More focussed theories-each of class consistent with the premises of the overall positivist framework-are employed to explicate each component. The elements are so aggregated to make a multicausal account of a big complex result such as a major many-sided understanding. During the 1990s, broad intergovernmentalism emerged as arguably the taking theory of European integrating, yet its basic theoretical premises were questioned by international dealingss bookmans coming from two different waies. A first group of bookmans, collected under the rubrics of rational pick and historical institutionalism, accepted Moravcsik # 8217 ; s positivist premises, but rejected his spare, institutionfree theoretical account of intergovernmental bargaining as an accurate description of the EU policy procedure. By contrast, a 2nd school of idea, pulling from sociological institutionalism and constructivism, raised more cardinal expostulations to the methodological individuality of rational pick theory in favor of an attack in which national penchants and individualities were shaped, at least in portion, by EU norms and regulations. The # 8216 ; new institutionalisms # 8217 ; in rational pick The ‘new institutionalisms’ in rational pick The rise of institutionalist analysis of the EU did non develop in isolation, but reflected a gradual and widespread re-introduction of establishments into a big organic structure of theories ( such as pluralism, Marxism, and neo-realism ) , in which establishments had been either absent or considered epiphenomenal, contemplations of deeper causal factors or procedures such as capitalist economy or the distribution of power in domestic societies or in the international system. By contrast with these institution-free histories of political relations, which dominated much of political scientific discipline between the 1950s and the 1970s, three primary # 8216 ; institutionalisms # 8217 ; developed during the class of the 1980s and early 1990s, each with a distinguishable definition of establishments and a distinguishable history of how they # 8216 ; affair # 8217 ; in the survey of political relations ( March and Olsen 1984, 1989 ; Hall and Taylor 1996 ) . The first arose within the rational-choice attack to the survey of political relations, as pioneered by pupils of American political relations. Rational pick institutionalism began with the attempt by American political scientists to understand the beginnings and effects of US Congressional establishments on legislative behavior and policy results. More specifically, rational pick bookmans noted that majoritarian theoretical accounts of Congressional decision-making predicted that policy results would be inherently unstable, since a simple bulk of policy-makers could ever organize a alliance to turn over bing statute law, yet substantial bookmans of the US Congress found considerable stableness in Congressional policies. In this context, Kenneth Shepsle ( 1979, 1986 ) argued that Congressional establishments, and in peculiar the commission system, could bring forth # 8216 ; structure-induced equilibrium # 8217 ; , by governing some options as allowable or impermissible, and by stru cturing the voting power and the veto power of assorted histrions in the decision-making procedure. More late, Shepsle and others have turned their attending to the job of # 8216 ; equilibrium establishments # 8217 ; , viz. , how histrions choose or design establishments to procure common additions, and how those establishments change or persist over clip. Shepsle # 8217 ; s invention and the subsequent development of the rational pick attack to establishments have produced a figure of theoretical outgrowths with possible applications to both comparative and international political relations. For illustration, Shepsle and others have examined in some item the # 8216 ; agenda-setting # 8217 ; power of Congressional commissions, which can direct bill of exchange statute law to the floor that is frequently easier to follow than it is to amend. In another outgrowth, pupils of the US Congress have developed # 8216 ; principal-agent # 8217 ; theoretical accounts of Congressional deputation to regulative bureaucratisms and to tribunals, and they have problematized the conditions under which legislative principals are able-or unable-to control their several agents ( Moe 1984 ; Kiewiet and McCubbins 1991 ) . More late, Epstein and O # 8217 ; Halloran ( 1999 ) , and others ( Huber and Shipan 2002 ) have pioneered a # 8216 ; transaction-co st attack # 8217 ; to the design of political establishments, reasoning that legislators intentionally and consistently plan political establishments to minimise the dealing costs associated with the devising of public policy. Although originally formulated and applied in the context of American political establishments, rational-choice institutionalist penetrations # 8216 ; travel # 8217 ; to other domestic and international contexts, and were rapidly taken up by pupils of the EU. Reacting to the increasing importance of EU institutional regulations, such as the cooperation and co-decision processs, these writers argued that strictly intergovernmental theoretical accounts of EU decision-making underestimated the causal importance of formal EU regulations in determining policy results. In an early application of rational-choice theory to the EU, for illustration, Fritz Scharpf ( 1988 ) argued that the inefficiency and rigidness of the CAP and other EU policies was due non merely to the EU # 8217 ; s intergovernmentalism, but besides to specific institutional regulations, such as consentaneous decision-making and the # 8216 ; default status # 8217 ; in the event that the member provinces failed to hold on a common policy. By the mid-1990s, George Tsebelis, Geoffrey Garrett, and many others sought to pattern the selection-and in peculiar the functioning-of EU establishments, including the acceptance, executing, and adjudication of EU public policies, in footings of rational pick. Many of these surveies drew progressively on relevant literatures from comparative political relations, and are hence reviewed in the 2nd portion of this chapter. By contrast, sociological institutionalism and constructivist attacks in international dealingss defined establishments much more loosely to include informal norms and conventions every bit good as informal regulations. They argued that such establishments could # 8216 ; constitute # 8217 ; histrions, determining their individualities and hence their penchants in ways that rational-choice attacks could non capture ( see following subdivision ) . Historical institutionalists took up a place between these two cantonments, concentrating on the effects of establishments over clip, in peculiar on the ways in which a given set of establishments, one time established, can act upon or cons develop the behavior of the histrions who established them. In its initial preparations ( Hall 1986 ; Thelen and Steinmo 1992 ) , historical institutionalism was seen as holding double effects, act uponing both the restraints on single histrions andtheir penchants, thereby doing the theory a # 8216 ; large collapsible shelter # 8217 ; , embracing the nucleus penetrations of the positivist and constructivist cantonments. their penchants, thereby doing the theory a ‘big tent’ , embracing the nucleus penetrations of the positivist and constructivist cantonments. What makes historical institutionalism distinctive, nevertheless, is its accent on the effects of establishments on political relations over clip. In possibly the most sophisticated presentation of this thought, Paul Pierson ( 2000 ) has argued that political establishments are characterized by what economic experts call # 8216 ; increasing returns # 8217 ; , insofar as they create inducements for histrions to lodge with and non abandon bing establishments, accommodating them merely incrementally in response to altering fortunes. Therefore, political relations should be characterized by certain interconnected phenomena, including: inactiveness, or # 8216 ; lock-ins # 8217 ; , whereby bing establishments may stay in equilibrium for extended periods despite considerable political alteration ; a critical function for timing and sequencing, in which comparatively little and contingent events at critical occasions early in a sequence form events that occur subsequently ; and path-depe ndence, in which early determinations provide inducements for histrions to perpetuate institutional and policy picks inherited from the yesteryear, even when the ensuing results are obviously inefficient. Understood in this visible radiation, historical institutionalist analyses typically begin with rationalist premises about histrion penchants, and continue to analyze how establishments can determine the behavior of rational histrions over clip through institutional lock-ins and procedures of way dependance. In recent old ages, these penetrations have been applied progressively to the development of the EU, with assorted writers stressing the temporal dimension of European integrating ( Armstrong and Bulmer 1998 ) . Pierson # 8217 ; s ( 1996b ) survey of path-dependence in the EU, for illustration, seeks to understand Pierson’s ( 1996b ) survey of path-dependence in the EU, for illustration, seeks to understand European integrating as a procedure that unfolds over clip, and the conditions under which path-dependent procedures are most likely to happen. Working from basically rationalist premises, Pierson argues that, despite the initial primacy of member authoritiess in the design of EU establishments and policies, # 8216 ; gaps # 8217 ; may happen in the ability of member authoritiess to command the subsequent development of establishments and policies, for four grounds. First, member authoritiess in democratic societies may, because of electoral concerns, use a high # 8216 ; price reduction rate # 8217 ; to the hereafter, holding to EU policies that lead to a long-run loss of national control in return for short-run electoral returns. Second, even when authoritiess do non to a great extent dismiss the hereafter, unintended effects of institutional picks can make extra spreads, which member authoritiess may or may non be able to shut through subsequent action. Third, the penchants of m ember authoritiess are likely to alter over clip, most evidently because of electoral turnover, go forthing new authoritiess with new penchants to inherit an acquis communautairenegotiated by, and harmonizing to the penchants of, a old authorities. Give the frequent demand of consentaneous vote ( or the high hurdle of QMV ) to turn over past institutional and policy picks, single member authoritiess are likely to happen themselves # 8216 ; immobilized by the weight of past enterprises # 8217 ; ( Pierson 1996b: 137 ) . Finally, EU establishments and policies can go locked-in non merely as a consequence of change-resistant establishments from above, but besides through the incremental growing of entrenched support for bing establishments from below, as social histrions adapt to and develop a vested involvement in the continuance of specific EU policies. In the country of societal policy, for illustration, the European Court of Justice ( ECJ ) has developed law on issues such as gend er equity and workplace wellness and safety that surely exceeded the initial outlooks of the member provinces ; yet these determinations have proven hard to turn over back, both because of the demand for consentaneous understanding to turn over ECJ determinations and because domestic constituencies have developed a vested involvement in their continued application. At their best, historical institutionalist analyses offer non merely the commonplace observation that establishments are # 8216 ; gluey # 8217 ; , but besides a tool kit for foretelling and explicating underwhat conditionswe should anticipate institutional lock-ins and path-dependent behavior. More specifically, we should anticipate that, ceteris paribus, establishments and policies will be most immune to alter: where their change requires a consentaneous understanding among member provinces, or the consent of supranational histrions like the Commission or the Parliament ; and where bing EU policies mobilize cross-national bases of support that raise the cost of change by reversaling or significantly revising them. Both factors vary across issue countries, and we should therefore expect fluctuation in the stableness and path-dependent character of EU establishments and policies. To take one illustration, the EU structural financess might at first glimpse seem to be an ideal campaigner for path-dependent behavior, much like the CAP. By contrast with the CAP, nevertheless, the structural financess must be reauthorized at periodic intervals by a consentaneous understanding among the member provinces, giving fractious provinces periodic chances to blackball their continuance. Furthermore, because the structural financess are explicitly framed as redistributive reassigning money from rich provinces and parts to hapless 1s, we see an uneven form of trust upon and support for the structural financess among member provinces and their citizens. The practical consequence of these differences is that EU authoritiess have been able to reform the structural financess more readily, and with less incidence of path-dependence, than we find in the CAP, which has so resisted all but the most incremental alteration ( see Chapters 7 and 9 ) . In amount, for both rational-choice and historical institutionalists, EU establishments # 8216 ; affair # 8217 ; , determining both the policy procedure and policy results in predictable ways, and so determining the long-run procedure of European integrating. In both instances, nevertheless, the effects of EU establishments are assumed to act upon merely the inducements facing the assorted public and private actors-the histrions themselves are assumed to stay unchanged in their cardinal penchants and individualities. Indeed, despite their differences on substantial issues, broad intergovernmentalism, rational-choice institutionalism, and most historical institutionalism arguably constitute a shared positivist research agenda-a community of bookmans runing from similar basic premises and seeking to prove hypotheses about the most of import determiners of European integrating. Constructivism, and reshaping European individualities and penchants Constructivism, and reshaping European individualities and penchants Constructivist theory did non get down with the survey of the EU-indeed, as Thomas Risse ( 2004 ) points out in an first-class study, constructivism came to EU surveies comparatively late, with the publication of a particular issue of the Journal of European Public Policyon the # 8216 ; Social Construction of Europe # 8217 ; in 1999. Yet since so constructivist theoreticians have been speedy to use their theoretical tools to the EU, assuring to cast visible radiation on its potentially profound effects on the peoples and authoritiess of Europe. Constructivism is a notoriously hard theory to depict compactly. Indeed, like rational pick, constructivism is non a substantial theory of European integrating at all, but a broader # 8216 ; meta-theoretical # 8217 ; orientation with deductions for the survey of the EU. As Risse ( 2004: 161 ) explains: [ I ] T is likely most utile to depict constructivism as based on a societal ontology which insists that human agents do non be independently from their societal environment and its jointly shared systems of significances ( # 8216 ; civilization # 8217 ; in a wide sense ) . This is in contrast to the methodological individuality of rational pick harmonizing to which # 8216 ; [ t ] he simple unit of societal life is the single human action # 8217 ; . The cardinal penetration of the agency-structure argument, which lies at the bosom of many societal constructivist plants, is non merely that constructions and agents are reciprocally co-determined. The important point is that constructivists insist on the constitutivenessof ( societal ) constructions and agents. The societal environment in which we find ourselves, # 8216 ; constitutes # 8217 ; who we are, our individualities as societal existences. ( mentions removed ) For constructivists, establishments are understood loosely to i nclude non merely formal regulations but besides informal norms, and these regulations and norms are expected to # 8216 ; constitute # 8217 ; histrions, i. e. to determine their individualities and their penchants. Actor penchants, hence, are non exogenously given and fixed, as in positivist theoretical accounts, but endogenousto establishments, and persons # 8217 ; individualities shaped and re-shaped by their societal environment. Taking this statement to its logical decision, constructivists by and large reject the rationalist construct of histrions as utility-maximizers runing harmonizing to a # 8216 ; logic of consequentiality # 8217 ; , in favor of March and Olsen # 8217 ; s ( 1989: 160-2 ) construct of a # 8216 ; logic of rightness # 8217 ; . In this position, histrions facing a given state of affairs do non confer with a fixed set of penchants and cipher their actions in order to maximise their expected public-service corporation, but look to socially constructed fun ctions and institutional regulations and inquire what kind of behavior is appropriate in that state of affairs. Constructivism, hence, offers a basically different position of human bureau from rational-choice attacks, and it suggests that establishments influence single individualities, penchants, and behavior in more profound ways than those hypothesized by rational-choice theoreticians. A turning figure of bookmans has argued that EU establishments form non merely the behavior, but besides the penchants and individualities of persons and member authoritiess ( Sandholtz 1993 ; J # 1096 ; rgensen 1997 ; Lewis 1998 ) . This statement has been put most forcefully by Thomas Christiansen, Knud Erik J # 1096 ; rgensen, and Antje Wiener in their debut to the particular issue of the Journal of European Public Policy (1999: 529 ) : A important sum of grounds suggests that, as a procedure, European integrating has a transformative impact on the European province system and its constitutional units. European integrating itself has changed over the old ages, and it is sensible to presume that in the procedure agents # 8217 ; individuality and later their involvements have every bit changed. While this facet of alteration can be theorized within constructivist positions, it will stay mostly unseeable in attacks that neglect procedures of individuality formation and/or assume involvements to be given endogenously. In other words, the writers begin with the claim that the EU is so reshaping national individualities and penchants, and reject positivist attacks for their inability to foretell and explicate these phenomena. Not surprisingly, constructivist histories of the EU have been forcefully rebutted by positivist theoreticians ( Moravcsik 1999 ; Checkel and Moravcsik 2001 ) . Harmonizing to Moravcsik ( 1999: 670 ) constructivist theoreticians raise an interesting and of import set of inquiries about the effects of European integrating on persons and provinces. Yet, he argues, constructivists have failed to do a important part to our empirical apprehension of European integrating, for two grounds. First, constructivists typically fail to build # 8216 ; distinct confirmable hypotheses # 8217 ; , choosing alternatively for wide interpretative models that can do sense of about any possible result, and are hence non capable to disproof through empirical analysis. Second, even if constructivists dopostulate hypotheses that are in rule confirmable, they by and large do non explicate and prove those hypotheses so as to separate clearly between constructivist anticipations and their positivist opposite numbers. Until constructivists test their hypotheses, and do so against prevailing and distinguishable positivist theoretical accounts, he argues, constructivism will non come down # 8216 ; from the clouds # 8217 ; ( Checkel and Moravcsik 2001 ) . Constructivists might react that Moravcsik privileges rational-choice accounts and sets a higher criterion for constructivist hypotheses ( since rational-choice bookmans typically do non try to prove their ain hypotheses against viing constructivist preparations ) . Many # 8216 ; post-positivist # 8217 ; bookmans, furthermore, difference Moravcsik # 8217 ; s image of EU surveies as # 8216 ; scientific discipline # 8217 ; , with its attendant claims of objectiveness and of an aim, cognizable universe. For such bookmans, Moravcsik # 8217 ; s name for confirmable hypothesis-testing appears as a power-laden demand that # 8216 ; non-conformist # 8217 ; theories play harmonizing to the regulations of a positivist, and chiefly American, societal scientific discipline ( J # 1096 ; rgensen 1997: 6-7 ) . To the extent that constructivists do so reject positivism and the systematic testing of viing hypotheses, the rationalist/constructivist argument would look to hold reached a # 8216 ; metatheoretical # 8217 ; impasse-that is to state, constructivists and positivists fail to hold on a common criterion for judging what constitutes support for one or another attack. In recent old ages, nevertheless, an increasing figure of constructivist theoreticians have embraced positivism-the impression that constructivist hypotheses can, and should, be tested and validated or falsified empirically-and these bookmans have produced a batch of constructivist work that attempts strictly to prove hypotheses about socialisation, norm-diffusion, and corporate penchant formation in the EU ( Wendt 1999 ; Checkel 2003 ; Risse 2004: 160 ) . Some of these surveies, including Liesbet Hooghe # 8217 ; s ( 2002, 2005 ) extended analysis of the attitudes of Commission functionaries, and several surveies of national functionaries take parting in EU commissions ( Beyers and Dierickx 1998 ; Egeberg 1999 ) , use quantitative methods to prove hypotheses about the nature and determiners of functionaries # 8217 ; attitudes, including socialisation in national every bit good as European establishments. Such surveies, undertaken with methodological cogencies and with a blunt cover age of findings, seem to show that that EU-level socialisation, although non excluded, plays a comparatively little function by comparing with national-level socialisation, or that EU socialisation interacts with other factors in complex ways. Other surveies, including Checkel # 8217 ; s ( 1999, 2003 ) survey of citizenship norms in the EU and the Council of Europe, and Lewis # 8217 ; s ( 1998, 2003 ) analysis of decision-making in the EU # 8217 ; s Coreper, utilize qualitative instead than quantitative methods, but are likewise designed to prove confirmable hypotheses about whether, and under what conditions, EU functionaries are socialized into new norms, penchants, and individualities. As a consequence, the metatheoretical gulf dividing positivists and constructivists appears to hold narrowed well, and EU bookmans have arguably led the manner in facing and-possibly-reconciling the two theoretical attacks. Three bookmans ( Jupille, Caporaso, and Checkel 2003 ) have late put forward a model for advancing integrating of-or at least a fruitful duologue between-rationalist and constructivist attacks to international dealingss. Rationalism and constructivism, the writers argue, are non hopelessly incommensurate, but can prosecute each other through # 8216 ; four distinguishable manners of theoretical conversation # 8217 ; , viz. : competitory testing, in which viing theories are pitted against each other in explicating a individual event or category of events ; a # 8216 ; sphere of application # 8217 ; attack, in which each theory is considered to explicate some sub-set of empirical world, so that, for illustration, utility-maximizing and strategic bargaining obtain in certain fortunes, while socialisation and corporate penchant formation obtain in others ; a # 8216 ; sequencing # 8217 ; attack, in which one theory may assist explicate a peculiar measure in a sequence of actions ( e. g. a constructivist account of national penchants ) while another theory might outdo explain subsequent developments ( e. g. a rationalist account of subsequent bargaining among the histrions ) ; and # 8216 ; incorporation # 8217 ; or # 8216 ; minor premise # 8217 ; , in which one theory claims to subsume the other so that, for illustration, rational pick becomes a sub-set of human behavior finally explicable in footings of the societal building of modern reason. Looking at the substantial empirical work in their particular issue, Jupille, Caporaso and Checkel ( 2003 ) find that most parts to the rationalist/constructivist argument utilize competitory testing, while merely a few ( see, for illustration, Schimmelfennig 2003a) have adopted sphere of application, sequencing, or minor premise attacks. However, they see significant advancement in the argument, in which both sides by and large accept a common criterion of empirical testing as the standard for utile speculating about EU political relations. Integration theory today Integration theory today European integrating theory is far more complex than it was in 1977 when the first edition of this volume was published. In topographic point of the traditional neo-functionalist/ intergovernmentalist argument, the 1990s witnessed the outgrowth of a new duality in EU surveies, opposing rationalist bookmans against constructivists. During the late 1990s, it appeared that this argument might good turn into a metatheoretical duologue of the deaf, with positivists disregarding constructivists as # 8216 ; soft # 8217 ; , and constructivists denouncing positivists for their obsessional committedness to parsimoniousness and formal theoretical accounts. The past several old ages, nevertheless, have witnessed the outgrowth of a more productive duologue between the two attacks, and a steady watercourse of empirical surveies leting us to judge between the viing claims of the two attacks. Furthermore, whereas the neo-functionalist/intergovernmentalist argument was limited about entirely to the survey of European integration,3 the modern-day rationalist/ constructivist argument in EU surveies mirrors larger arguments among those same schools in the broader field of international dealingss theory. Indeed, non merely are EU surveies relevantto the wider survey of international dealingss, they are in many ways the vanguardof international dealingss theory, in so far as the EU serves as a research lab for broader procedures such as globalisation, institutionalization, and socialisation. Despite these significant steps of advancement, nevertheless, the literature on European integrating has non produced any consensus on the likely future way of the integrating procedure. At the hazard of overgeneralising, more optimistic theoreticians tend to be drawn from the ranks of neo-functionalists and constructivists, who point to the potency for farther integrating, the former through functional and political spillovers, and the latter through gradual alterations in both # 1081 ; lite and mass individualities and penchants as a consequence of drawn-out and productive cooperation. In empirical footings, these analysts often point to the rapid development of new establishments and policies in the 2nd and 3rd pillars, and the increasing usage of the alleged # 8216 ; unfastened method of coordination # 8217 ; ( OMC ) to turn to issues that had been beyond the range of EU competency. Rationalist and intergovernmentalist critics, on the other manus, tend to be doubting sing clai ms of both spill-over and socialisation, indicating to the hapless record of Commission entrepreneurship over the past decennary and the thin grounds for socialisation of national functionaries into European penchants or individualities, observing that the Commission has proven to be a hapless stimulator of political spill-over in recent old ages. For these bookmans, the EU may good stand for an # 8216 ; equilibrium civil order # 8217 ; , one in which functional force per unit areas for farther integrating are basically spent, and in which the current degree of institutional and policy integrating is improbable to alter well for the foreseeable hereafter ( Moravcsik 2001: 163 ) .