Analyse and evaluate Shakespeares use of soliloquy in presenting the developing character of Hamlet Essay Example

Analyse and evaluate Shakespeares use of soliloquy in presenting the developing character of Hamlet Essay Example Analyse and evaluate Shakespeares use of soliloquy in presenting the developing character of Hamlet Paper Analyse and evaluate Shakespeares use of soliloquy in presenting the developing character of Hamlet Paper Essay Topic: Hamlet Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a drama performed between 1599 and 1601. Hamlet is a fusion of many themes, which bond together to form a complex, ambiguous play. Hamlet, simplified, is the story of a man brimming with vengeance, trying to avenge his fathers death which was caused by his uncle, Claudius who then marries Hamlets mother, Gertrude. The death of his father is a tragedy in itself. Perceptions of tragedies differ from individuals perspectives; anything can be a tragic as long as it takes the right composition or form. Calamitous situations weaved with anguish and despair in addition to the possibility of destruction and heartbreak are some of the most common elements employed by tragic writers. Dominant features of a tragedy also include the protagonists downfall, usually a consequence of their hamartia. This is evident in Hamlet. Hamlet, the protagonist encounters anagnorisis due to his hamartia, ultimately leading to death of most of the cast. The complexity of Hamlets character is a mystery to the audience but through soliloquys, William Shakespeare shows the audience Hamlets feelings and thoughts and how they develop. Soliloquies give the audience a chance to connect with the character as it gives the audience a chance to see the character unleashing their inner thoughts. This will lead to the audience being aware of the true identity of the character making it easier for them to comprehend and understand the true depths of both the story and character. Soliloquies are a vital tool used in Hamlet to understand the true insight on Hamlets character. Hamlet freely expresses his inner thoughts through soliloquies, this is the only real time the audience are aware of Hamlets feelings. Also, it gives the audience a chance to try to understand Hamlets complex character. This dramatic device is a key value in understanding the character of Hamlet and how he develops. Hamlet is portrayed by Shakespeare as a complicated individual. He is an enigma wrapped in a paradox. He is a walking contradiction, full of strong emotions just waiting to be unleashed. He is both melancholic but strong willed, even though his greatest weakness is his indecisiveness. He wallows in his grief wanting to take action but never seems to be able to. He is an incredibly articulate and genius character full of wit and intelligence. He is the definition of Aristotles tragic hero. His ambiguity is a conundrum. His personality develops as the play goes on, making his character traits more apparent. We first become aware of the true thoughts of Hamlets character in his first soliloquy. In Act 1 Scene 2 we are met with his mental state. Hamlet is full of grief; he is trying to come to terms with his fathers death but is met with more difficulties. His mother has re-married; she has re-married to his uncle. In this first soliloquy, Hamlet shows signs that can be applied to the aspects of the oedipal complex as part of his character. These soliloquiess aid us in understanding the true depths of Hamlets mind and thought process. The dominant cause of Hamlets grief is his mother re-marrying. He is disgusted that his mother has moved on so quickly and he believes the relationship is incestuous. With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good. / But break my heart, for I must hold my tongue. (1. 2 . 157-9). However, Hamlet feels he shouldnt intervene and must hold his tongue. Hamlet at this point seems to be more concerned over his mothers affairs rather then his fathers death. Hamlet doesnt discuss how he is feeling about his fathers death. This fits the traits of the oedipal complex. Hamlet is aware his father is dead, subconsciously Hamlet believes now that his father is gone he can have his mother all to himself. However, he is met with a difficulty: Claudius. Hamlet feels great anger and towards Claudius which also fits in with the oedipal complex; hating the father, in this case hating the spouse of his mother. In this soliloquy Hamlet is full of negative emotions, he is showing melancholia, along with anger and frustration and grief too. Now that his father has died he sees no point in living, the world around him seems meaningless. He states How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world! the world around him no longer has a use to him. Nothing has a purpose to him. He compares the world with a weeded garden. tis an unweeded garden, /That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature. The words are showing that Hamlet feels the world is corrupt and rotting, and it is also a gross place. He realises that everything in the end will turn bad, and rank. He seems to think everything around him has decayed and nothing will really flourish anymore, everything he was comfortable with has just been taken away from him instantaneously and he doesnt seem to think anything will get better. Hamlet in contrast to Claudius sees his father as amazing. He thinks his father was excellent and now that Claudius is taking his place so quickly and his mother hasnt even had time to grieve, he finds that unbearable. O, God! beast, that wants discourse of reason, / Would have mournd longermarried with my uncle Hamlet think that even an animal would have mourned longer then what his mother did. He feels as though she is moving on too quickly. Hamlet seems to be trapped in the memory of his father, he doesnt seem to be completely grief ridden but it seems like he wants to reminisce his fathers existence. He wants to be close to his mother too, and he feels like its her duty to mourn. Going into another relationship so abruptly leaves Hamlet feeling as though she felt nothing towards her father. Hamlet believes all the tears she cried for him must therefore be fake. Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears/ Had left the flushing in her galled eyes She doesnt deserve to mourn, in Hamlets eyes. Hamlet at this point in the play is experiencing melancholia. He is grieving and is faced with more problems. This soliloquy helps us understand what Hamlet is feeling about the situation. Hamlet at this point is still an enigmatic character although he is showing his frustration quite clearly; he is yet to act upon his feelings and is trapped within his mind. Although he is feeling great annoyance towards the whole situation he hasnt confronted his mother about it yet. As the play progresses Hamlets character traits become more apparent. His indecisiveness is demonstrated in this soliloquy. He is confused about life and is contemplating suicide in Act 3 Scene 1 (lines 56-89). He is debating two possible scenarios; to live or to die. To be or not to be. This soliloquy unlike his other soliloquies is quite a thorough, thought out one. He is not in complete despair or anger, he is calm. Hamlet starts a philosophical speech on the good and bad sides of living. Hamlets predicament is that he is so unhappy with living; he just doesnt see the point of existing anymore. He is speculating whether death would actually be better then living. However, Hamlet is also acknowledging the fact that as he hasnt experienced death before he doesnt know how it is going to be like; he is not sure if he wants to take the chance and die; it could be a lot worse then living. If Hamlet does commit suicide there is no coming back. Shakespeare uses interesting phrases to create a vivid image in the audiences mind. Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, by comparing his situation to a sea of troubles creates an image in the audiences mind. This line can also demonstrate the physical representation of his mind. Like a sea of troubles everything is crashing inside him, nothing is going the right way. He wants to fight his despair but he doesnt see the point. He is thinking to maybe take the risk of suicide To sleep: perchance to dream. Perhaps if he died, he wou ld take the chance of falling into an eternal slumber, to dream to be at peace. However, he does realise that no-one can come back once they have taken their lives. The undiscoverd country from whose bourn/ No traveller returns. He is not willing to take the risk at this point. Hamlet associates death as a peaceful concept. He uses positive words to describe it. To sleep, to dream. As his life is filled with torment he sees death as an escape, to fall asleep and never wake, to live in a fantasy and dream. This soliloquy is showing us the paradox of Hamlets situation. He is required to kill Claudius because his father has told him to do so. But he also has his mind bent towards suicide. The 6th commandment prevents Hamlet from killing Claudius. Killing ones self is also going against the commandment. Also, Hamlet realises that if he does kill Claudius his outcome may be sentenced to a life time in hell. He doesnt really take this into consideration and really wants to kill Claudius and avenge his fathers death. He is stuck between two things, to listen to his father and kill Claudius and end up going to hell or let his fathers death go unpunished in this life. This is mentally eating up Hamlet. Since Hamlet is a firm believer in Christianity he should realise that Claudiuss crime wont go un punishable but he still feels obliged to avenge his fathers death. He is stuck in the situation. Hamlets mental state is not stable. He is always changing his moods abruptly and his soliloquies show his instability. His character at this point is reaching a climax. So far he hasnt acted upon filling his fathers wish although he really wants to do so. His indecisiveness has prevented him to do so. Although opportunities to do so have arised, he didnt take them. Hamlet finds a perfect chance to kill Claudius. But he thinks Claudius is praying. In the fourth soliloquy he expresses his thoughts on this (Act 3, scene 3 lines 73-97). Claudius is praying for forgiveness for what he has done. Hamlet believes if he kills Claudius now he will be forgiven and sent to heaven. Hamlet does not think this is the right moment to kill him now because his heinous crime will go unpunished, he wants Claudius o suffer for what he did. A villain kills my father; and for that / I, his sole son, do the same villain send / to heaven. Hamlet feels like its his duty to avenge his fathers death as he is the only son. He thinks if he kills Claudius now, his crime will go unpunished. Hamlet wants to ensure Claudius gets what he deserves: damnation. He feels like it is his duty to fulfil this. Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven, / And that his soul may be as damnd and black / As hell, whereto it goes. He wants to make sure there is no way Claudius will go to heaven. O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. This is not something Hamlet sees as revenge, but something he must do, something compulsory. These three soliloquies demonstrate Hamlets character and it shows his character development also. They portray his indecisiveness; he doesnt know when to kill Claudius. As he leaves it to the very end to take action the play ends in tragedy, naturally. He becomes more and more aware of his duty and feels the need to have to take Claudiuss life. Although Hamlets character seems to feign insanity by the end of the play Hamlets negative mind is definitely over powering him which leads to his mental breakdown. The soliloquies are successful in showing this as the audience get to see the slow progression of his insanity and how his character fully develops.

Much Ado about nothing Essays

Much Ado about nothing Essays Much Ado about nothing Paper Much Ado about nothing Paper Essay Topic: Much Ado about Nothing Much Ado About Nothing was written in 1600 by William Shakespeare. The play is set in Messina, Sicily however it shows typical English comedy characteristics for that time. I find this unusual because not many people travelled far from home. Relationships are shown in various ways throughout the play using themes such as love, romance and patriarchal society. The main relationships which are portrayed are between Hero and Claudio and Beatrice and Benedick. Act two scene one is the masked ball. Conversations take place between a number of couples; this makes the scene seem lively and gives a sense of movement. The character Beatrice is attracted to Benedick. However Shakespeare confuses the audience by having Beatrice pass insults to Benedick, masking her real feelings. Beatrice says to Benedick why he is the Princes jester, a very dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders. Beatrice is teasing Benedick so that her real feelings towards him are concealed. Don John appears to deliberately try to cause problems in the relationship between Hero and Claudio by claiming how canst thou cross this marriage? Don John is showing his distaste for the marriage his brother arranged. This is because Don John is jealous of his brothers higher status and success. Because he is illegitimate, he does what he can to cause problems for his brother and his friends. Act four scene one, the wedding scene, starts with the marriage of Hero and Claudio, who are genuinely in love. However the wedding does not go as planned as Claudio was tricked by Don John into believing Hero had not been faithful the previous night. Claudio reveals his cruel side by making this fact known in public at the wedding, disgracing Hero and her family. He adds further insult by saying give not this rotten orange to your friend; this is a metaphor claiming Hero is rotten on the inside but outwardly she appears sweet which adds to the continuing theme of appearance versus reality. Claudio also calls her an approved wanton which literally means prostitute. Hero attempts to reclaim her innocence by answering I talked with no man at that hour, my lord but otherwise does not defend herself. This is in keeping with the behaviour of women at that time who were expected to be passive and submissive. Leonato chooses to believe the accusations; he shows no mercy for his own child and wishes her dead by stating death is the fairest cover for her shame that may be wished for. This shows that father/daughter relationships werent as relaxed as they are now as the daughter had everything planned for her by the father. Also the quote shows that language was much more dramatic in Shakespearian times. This also reminds us of Shakespeares Romeo Juliet where Juliets father Lord Capulet was quick to disown her as soon as she went against his word. Further on in act four Benedick says to Beatrice I do love nothing in the world so well as you and eventually despite her protests against marriage and relationships, Beatrice acknowledges her concealed love for Benedick by saying I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest. Beatrice then demands that Benedick Kill Claudio in revenge for the shame inflicted upon her cousin Hero. When Benedick refuses she claims that he does not love her and that they can only be friends. Beatrice was testing Benedick to find out how far he was willing to go to prove his love for her. This also shows the extent people had to go to in those days to uphold family honour. Also in this scene Beatrice declares O God that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market place. The quotation shows her distaste for Claudio and what he did to her cousin and that she wants Claudio to be humiliated publicly just like Hero. The quote also shows that it was not considered a womans place to disagree with a man. She repeats several times her wish to be a man which highlights the lack of power women had. Shakespeare has shown that in Much Ado About Nothing the play has a moral context in which women were required to be maidens at marriage. Shakespeare has used some poetic language, particularly in declarations of love between characters; he does this by changing between verse and prose. There is also irony and humour in the form of Beatrices disapproval of marriage, which completely changes when the relationship between her and Benedick grows. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Other Poets section. Download this essay Print Save Top Heres what a star student thought of this essay 4 star(s)

Paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 39

Paraphrasing - Essay Example During the process of decision-making, there is evidence to the effect that there was a lack of delegation and communication among the health professionals. However, there was a demonstration of prioritization as a nurse bought a tracheostomy set. That was a show of decision-making on the part of the nurse. Unfortunately, the nurse was ignored. There was an insufficient number of health professionals present in the room. There were just three experienced anesthetists present. That hampered decision-making as they were not able to consult with other medical officers or nursing staff. Time had a big impact on the outcome of the situation. In the beginning, when there was a sudden decrease in the patient’s oxygen levels, time acted as a limiting factor. Although it was beyond the health professionals’ control, they failed to maximize on the little time they had. That played out in the gravity of the outcome for

Organizational Culture Procter & Gamble Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Culture Procter & Gamble - Essay Example The recruitment process at the company deploys innovative elements that help candidates implement self-assessment during the testing process (Recruiting Blueprint). Further on, the company philosophy declares equal opportunities for open positions and supports promotion from within, through on-the-job, formal and on-line training programs. P&G's corporate values can be found on its international website (Careers Global). These are leadership, Ownership, Integrity, Passion for Winning, and Trust. To me the most appealing aspects of the corporate value system are leadership and passion. In my opinion strive for leadership and passion are values a person is born with, but need to be developed and guided and this requires a proper corporate culture. P&G promotes these principles through strategic focus on work, dedication to innovation, and by valuing "personal mastery". Further on, integrity and ownership mean that individual and company interests are one and the same, which makes P&G's employees and associates owners of the company successes. Most of the company's products are manufactured in company owne... 486), namely: Attention to detail Most of the company's products are manufactured in company owned facilities (Sustainability Report, 2004). Being a consumer products manufacturer, details are important, because they create value for P&G's customers. Innovation Central to P&G's strategy is the company's capability to develop and introduce new products within short time limits (Ball et al, 2005, p. 450). Annually the company spends nearly $2 billion on R&D in 150 science areas (Huston et al, 2006). People orientation The power of people at P&G is focused on the following statement by one of the company's former CEO's: "[] But if you take away our money, our buildings, and our brands, but leave us our people, we can rebuild the whole thing in a decade" (Recruiting Bluepring). Aggressiveness Aggressiveness and competitive spirit is promoted through the stated values of "leadership" and "passion for winning". 4. Does the organization you identified have a strong or weak culture Explain. Is this culture ethical, customer-responsive, or spiritual Being a global employer to 98,000 people in 80 countries (Company Profile) is not an easy task. It requires wise management of people and processes, and a strong organizational culture. In my opinion P&G's culture is strong, because it promotes the same core values and principles in all its subsidiaries. Strong sustainable culture is sustained through strong selection practices worldwide; strong P&G's brand name, universal English language for internal communication, a Worldwide Business Conduct Manual (Sustainability Report, 2004) and other tools. When analyzing the culture, I can define P&G as a customer-responsive culture. There are many aspects that

The HC Bridge Frame Work

The HC Bridge Frame Work â€Å"The traditional HR paradigm defines HR contribution as supporting organisation goals through aligned HR services, policies, practices, and programs†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). Typically, this HR paradigm is combined with the traditional definition of organisations success. The result is an emphasis on reducing risks of costly legal actions in HR process such as reducing cost per hire, time taken for training, HR staff per employee and the client satisfaction with HR practices. The best example is measuring return on investment of HR programmes, such as showing that improved sales knowledge which are offset by training costs, leads to increase in sales. â€Å"The traditional HR paradigm of service delivery is also typically how HR connects to sustainability†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). For example, the ILO declaration urges the elimination of child labor, employment discrimination and promotion of free association and collective bargaining. â€Å"The UN Global Compac t adds that companies should protect internationally proclaimed human rights abuses†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). HR programs such as performance management, selection and training can reflect upon respect for collective association rights and reward not only economic performance, but also community involvement. HR can measure sustainability-related knowledge, behaviors and motivations, and employee health and safety. Such measures are often reported in corporate sustainability or social responsibility while reporting to the investors. â€Å"While this is important, but the HR paradigm is still traditional-applying sustainability to the policies, practices and activities within the HR function†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). â€Å"HR has struggled to define what it means to be ‘strategic. The answer can be discovered not only in benchmarking HR organisations, but also in benchmarking the evolution of more mature strategic functions such as finance and marketing†, (Bodreau, et al., 1997, 2003). The decisions on marketing focuses on decisions about customers and the finance decisions focuses on money and cash flows, so a decision on talent should enhance decisions about talent, both within and outside the HR function. The finance decisions are not always generally made by the finance department, the decisions are made by managers across the organisations. These finance decisions is different from accounting but accounting still remains as a critical professional practice. â€Å"Todays HR is similar to accounting. It is and will remain a critical and important professional practice†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). Yet, we still lack a well developed decision science for talent. It is increasin gly important to enhance talent decisions, including structures, behaviors, capability, learning, collaboration and shared culture. â€Å"In several companies, we have labeled it talent ship, because it focuses on decisions that improve the stewardship of the hidden and apparent talents of employees†, (Bodreau, et al., 2005). Any decision science will involve one element i.e. the logic, which connects decisions about the resource to organisations success. In finance though the formula for return on investment produces a number but it is important to know what factors are relevant to financial decisions. Similarly, a talent decision science requires showing factors those are relevant to make talent decisions. Boudreau and Ramstad created a model, the HC BRidge Decision frame work, which outlines the logical connections supporting talent ship. The HC BRidge framework is based on 3 anchor points efficiency, effectiveness and impact-that are common to all business decision sciences (see Figure-1). Efficiency The efficiency anchor point focuses on the resources that are used to deliver HR practices. Typical indicators of efficiency would be cost-per-hire and time to fill vacancies. When applied to sustainability, efficiency would focus on resources used to bring HR practices in to compliance that reflects upon community environment and social goals. Effectiveness The effectiveness focuses on the HR policies and practices that affect the talent pools and organisation structures to which they are directed. Effectiveness also refers to the outcomes of HR policies and practices on human capacity and the resulting aligned actions of the target talent pools. Impact Impact illustrates the fundamental differences revealed by a focus on talent decisions, beyond simply HR service delivery. Impact asks, â€Å"How do differences in the quality or availability of different talent pools affect strategic success?† Impact can deliver surprising results by using the traditional financial definition for success. HR investments, which had been relatively ignored can make a bigger difference in the talent pool affecting product development and thus offering improvement opportunity. Talent Management A review of the talent management literature reveals that their is a degree of debate as to the conceptual boundaries of the topic. Aston and Morton (2005: 30) noted that there â€Å"isnt a single consistent or concise definition† of talent management. â€Å"Lewis and Heckman (2006)identified three key streams of thought around the concept of talent management. First, those who merely substitute the label talent management for human resource management. A second strand of literature emphasises the development of talent pools focusing on â€Å"projecting employee/staffing needs and managing the progression of employees through positions†(Lewis Heckman, 2006: 140). The third stream focuses on the management of talented people†, (Collings, et al., 2009). Studies in the first part, which merely substitutes the label talent management for human resource management, limit their focus to few particular HR practices like recruitment, leadership development and succession planning. The contribution of this particular literature is limited beyond the strategic HR literature, as this relates largely to a rebranding of Human Resource Management. In the second part, by adopting a narrow focus, the literature builds on earlier research in manpower planning or succession planning. Studies in this tradition, at least provides a degree of differentiation as to what talent management is vis-à  -vis HRM. In the third part, literature argues that all roles within the organisation should be filled with â€Å"A performers†, referred to as â€Å"top grading† (Smart, 1999) and emphasises the management of â€Å"C players†, or consistently poor performers, out of the organisation (Michaels et al., 2001). â€Å"While the third approach is highly influential, we recognise limitations to this approach and argue it is neither desirable nor appropriate to fill all positions within the organisation with top performers. Equally, if the talent management system is applied to all of an organisations employees (i.e. including poor performers as well as top performing employees), it is difficult to differentiate talent management from conventional human resource management†, (Collings, et al., 2009). In addition to the above three streams, (Boudreau and Ramstad, 2005) and(Huselid et al., 2005) identified a fourth stream that emphasises on the identification of key positions that had the potential to impact the competitive advantage of the firm. The starting point here is to identify the key positions rather than talented individuals. â€Å"Therefore, as noted above, we view an organisational talent management as activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organisations sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organisation†, (Collings, et al., 2009). Over all we can say Talent Management is getting the right people in the right jobs at the right time. Talent is also defined as â€Å" Talent is seen in individual terms comprising ‘a sharp strategic mind, leadership ability, emotional maturity, communication skills, the ability to attract and inspire other talented people, entrepreneurial instincts, functional skills and the ability to deliver results ( Michaels et al., 2001, p. X)†, (Martin et al., 2009). Approaches towards Talent Management Talent management requires a new mind set among business leaders mainly because talent being so mission critical in todays world should not be left alone only to HR departments, instead the organisations board of directors should directly support and make talent as a core element of the work (See Table-1). Table-1, The new talent mindset. Old HR mindset New talent mindset The vague leadership and HR rhetoric of ‘people being our most important asset A deeply held conviction that talented people produce better organisational performance. The responsibility for people management lies with HR. The responsibility for managers to do all they can to strengthen the talent pool. Small-scale and infrequent programmes for succession planning and training managers in acquiring and nurturing people. Talent management as a central component of the business and part of the ongoing role of senior leaders. Managers have to work with the people they inherit. Managers constantly taking active and bold steps to attract and develop their talent pool and actively manage low performers. Source: Adapted from Handfield-jones et al., 2001 The organisations to become top performers should not only follow new talent mindset but also they should implement the three main elements of a talent management approach. (See Table-2) Disciplined talent management, by developing managers and matching them with the right jobs also rigorous and continuous assessment of employees. Creative recruitment and retention of employees through refined and meaningful employee value propositions. Executive development, using coaching and mentoring. Table-2, Three elements of a talent management approach. Danger signs Signs of progress Signs of achievement Disciplined talent management A focus only on obvious successors in succession planning exercises Some discussion of incumbents performance Clear identification of A, B and C performers in each talent pool Lists of high potential people, but little action Consultation of list when vacancies occur Written action plans for each high potentials development and retention Belief that there are no poor performers Admit that there are likely to be some, but avoid doing much about it Act decisively on poor performance by improving or replacing them Hold no one accountable for talent management except for HR Evaluate managers on how well they manage their staff Hold leaders directly accountable for developing their talent pool Creative recruitment and retention Empty rhetoric about being a good employer to work for Think about EVPs for each type of talent Understand the strengths and weakness of the EVPs for each type of talent and plan to strengthen them Hire only at entry levels and grow only from internal hires Occasionally bring in senior or specialist people from outside Recruit a steady flow of talent at all levels Go to the same sources for recruiting talent Experiment with new sources, but look for similar backgrounds Creatively tap new pools of talent, looking for essential capabilities Have high and consistent attrition rates among managers Analyse attrition data by department and type Know the attrition rates of A, B and C performers and understand why they are leaving, performing or underperforming Thoughtful executive development Leave the job assignments of managers to the manager who hires them Suggest some candidates from the high potential list or job posting systems Involve leadership teams on every assignment decision, seeking to optimise these across the company Recruit most qualified candidate with no discussion of development Stretch people, but not in the context of any development plan Thoughtfully consider the development needs of each assignment and the development needs of each candidate Assume that the best way to develop people is by throwing them in at the deep end Provide formal feedback through appraisal once a year Embed candidate feedback and coaching into the routines of the organisation and the jobs of leaders Invest in training driven by top-down assessments of candidates and then only in response to immediate needs, threats or crisis. Offer regular but basic programmes for management development and leadership, usually off-the-job Offer integrated management/leadership learning programmes for each transition point of managerial careers Source: Adapted from Handfield-jones, WWW.handfieldjones.com/diagnose/index.html (28 February 2006) Another similar approach to talent management is found in the four categories of employees that make up a ‘talent value chain (Rosen and Wilson, 2005; Zingheim, 2005). This approach can also be referred to as segmenting the employees within the organisation. The segments are as follows: The Super keepers: They are that 3-5% of employees who consistently demonstrate superior performance in ways that reflect the core values of organisation and also help others to do so. The Keepers: They are 25-30% of the organisation who exceed both performance expectations and in the demonstration of core competencies. The Solid citizens: They consist of 65% of employees who meet normal expectations of the job and sometimes they exercise leadership in some situations. The Misfits: The 3-5% of people who continuously underperform and does not meet the requirements of job skills. After identifying the segments we have to follow a process called as Talent Management process (TM process) (see Figure-2) Source: L.A. Berger and Associates Ltd. A handbook of talent management 2004 Competency Models Competency models helps organisations avoid business problems and thus enhance their business. We shall see this by looking at each and every available model. Daniel Golemans emotional intelligence model: Goleman in his model uses the research of David McClelland and his colleagues at McBer and Company. He ties that with modern theories of brain functioning that shows how these characteristics work and why they are important. He also shows that because these characteristics are tied to the brain, people are capable of developing and learning these characteristics. Goleman proposes that emotional intelligence is shown in four areas: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management and relationship management (see Figure-3). Aspects of emotional intelligence. Self Awareness Emotional Self-Awareness Accurate Self-Assessment Self-Confidence Social Awareness Empathy Organisational Awareness Service Orientation Self-Management Emotional Self-Control Transparency Adaptability Achievement Initiative Optimisim Relationship Management Developing others Inspirational Leadership Influence Change catalyst Conflict Management Teamwork and collaboration Source: Goleman, Daniel, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, 1998 Building Models for Job Families: Finding the right project management competencies for a financial service company would had been the upmost priority but it will not solve the whole issue. There is another approach to competencies that is especially useful when looking at specific functions. This involves finding the right set of skills that people should have in order to perform a job (see Figure-4). After following through this process as shown in Figure-4, a company should be able to find the right talent for the job and thus can improve its returns on that particular project. The top managment should play a very important role in implementing this kind of model for executing specific tasks. Building Models of Leadership: Using the Management Team There are three connected methods management groups can use to build a model for competencies that they agree should drive leadership or key roles in their company (see Figure-5). Figure-4 illustrates that firstly managers can use a list of characters and come to a consensus that which of these in the list is most necessary for companys success. If they had to choose only a limited number of people, they have to decide, which of these differentiate the best performers from average performers, they should also make a point on devastating impact they would create if not considered for the job. Secondly, management team can decide upon the key requirement for the role and make a matrix and map out critical competencies and later decide upon which individual can fulfill their accountabilities in really super ways. Alternatively, a management group could agree upon key accountability for the role, answer the question, â€Å"what attributes, characteristics, skills or competencies will enable the person in the role to perform this accountability in an outstanding manner?† This list of attributes will describe someone who is displaying that competence in an outstanding way. Thirdly, the group of managers should think concretely about whom they see as top performers and then keep a image of them in their mind. They then take some others who are typical performers but not below average and form their picture in their mind. Then chart out the differences that top performers create in accordance with typical performers. See what makes them outstanding? What motivates them? The managers should not only focus on results but also on what top performers are doing. After this exercise, the management can come out with one particular key player who can satisfy all their requirements. Also this exercise is not a step by step procedure; managers can take any one it and access it accordingly. Behavioral Benchmarking When organisations face changes or new situations, they often tend to rigorously study their best peoples actions, their behaviors, how these best people compare with others in the organisation or with people in different companies. Behavioral benchmarking is probably the most recent evolution from the competency approaches that spurred on all the attention to this area. Competency models used in any of these approaches are fundamental underpinnings of human resource systems. Organisations have different styles for describing their recruiting methods, training requirements, or criterias for promotions. Using a common competency model, companys can create a common language through which all of these organisational initiatives can converge. Principles of Talent Management After knowing about Talent management and the competency models involved in talent management it is far more necessary to know the risks which are being involved in talent management. The main problem which companies faces is â€Å"How to quickly respond to the changes in a competitive environment customer demands, innovation, regulatory factors, and quality standards which is marked by less predictable product markets and the pressures to have a financial returns for every set of uncertainty?† The risks involved in Talent management are mainly the mismatch between people and skills and the cost of losing your talent. Capellis four principles can be seen as the utilisation of HR performance management and succession planning practices within firms to overcome the above two risks mentioned. The important new contribution is the use of techniques from operations management and business forecasting to guide the choice of practices and organisational processes. Principle 1: Make and Buy to manage risk A deep bench of talent is expensive, companies should workout their estimates of their requirements and plan to hire from outside incase of any shortfall. Some positions may be filled easily from outside, so the companies must carefully assess about deploying their precious resources in development. For e.g. Think of situation where the supply chain fails down. We need to work out the immediate costs, the repair costs and the replacement costs. We should also answer the following questions: How long will it take to get new talent? The longer the talent is needed, easier to make investments in internal development payoff. Is there a hierarchy of skills that will enable you to learn through internal development? The more it is the easier to develop talent internally. How important is it to keep your culture? Especially at the senior level, outside people carry different norms and values. How accurate are your forecasts? Less certainty about forecasts, greater the risk and cost of internal development. Can you estimate mismatch costs? How can you estimate the demand for talent? Principle 2: Uncertainty in Talent Demand Uncertainty in demand is always present and smart companies find ways to adapt to it. One approach would be breaking up the development programmes in to shorter units and bringing all the functions together in a short duration say 18 month course that teaches general management skills and then send them back to their own departments to specialise. Another option would be creating talent pool that can be allocated as needs arises in the business units. The business approach would be: Use of models to estimate growth of talent requirements. Estimating the cost of hiring from outside but reducing the chances of promotion within. Estimate the costs of the time lag effect. Supply of labour always behind market demand. Design a development programme. Consider the problems that occur in a decentralised organisation. Should there be lots of different programmes or a corporate format? The first can be inefficient. The second costly if managers try to hide their key performers. Delays occur because of different time scales of different programmes. Managers end up waiting for specific development opportunities. Principle 3: Improve the Return on Investment in developing employees. The main problem is that employees want to acquire both firm specific but also general industrial and occupational skills. If the organisation is able to retain its employees then this is not a problem but in todays market scenario companys are seeking experienced people. One way to improve the payoff is to get employees to share in the cost of development that is asking them to volunteer on assignments. Another approach is to maintaining relationship with former employees, hoping that they might return back someday thus bringing back the investment and the skills. Third approach would be on reducing costs by mixing organisational and occupational learning with development, this would involve: Identify competencies associated with successful managers and identify assignments that will require their use. Learning from peers and colleagues. Training before hiring and then ‘promote and coach. Involving people in project work. Encourage working outside the organisation. Share the costs and connect development with retention. Try to ensure that you promote the right person on ‘economic ground. Principle 4: Preserve the investment by balancing Employee-Employer Interests. The main reason good employees leave an organisation is that they find better opportunities elsewhere. This makes talent development a perishable commodity. The key to preserving the investments made in developing efforts is by creating a balance in the interests of employees and employer by having them share in advancement decisions. Also to manage an internal market following things can be considered. Empowering employees to bid for jobs. Developing IT systems to match competencies with job requirements. Producing up to date information on what skills the company now requires in various job Identifying competencies for specific career paths. Conclusion The business environment is changing, more and more companies are going global. Corporate desicions should be rapid in order to prevent the competitors to take desicions. The search for talent is going to be a never ending process. With too many people in the higher management retiring in a very short period of time, HR department has a challenging job in filling these positions and thus keeping their companies competitive in this challenging environment. We have seen the traditional HR policies and the present HR policies, which emphasises more on talent ship. Companys have various competency models for identifying talents and methods for retaining them. Capellis four principles also help Companys to overcome the risks in talent management. With so much of available resources to the HR department and the constant management support in Talent management, in this process of talent hunt, are they neglecting the existing employees who are at the junior management level? The new policies in HR which emphasises on the Right man at the Right job at the right time will bring in more criticisms at the junior management level. In this present situation the companys are willing to invest more on junior management as the investment cost is very less when compared to the costs on higher management. The companies are looking to fill in the best talented people at this junior level. They train the junior management to become the future leaders, in this process if they do not find any one fitting in to the job position, there are more chances for that individual to be thrown out of the company. The chances to be thrown out are more for a existing employee. So what next to that individual? Will the company promise him a job; will they give him any benefits? If no, then how are they going to solve this issue, it just cannot be neglected. This is major challenge for the HR department in the coming years. Though Talent management helps companies to produce the best resources, the company should also learn to develop a resource which is not the best and make it best, as there is prediction in lack of resources for the future. References Arthur, 1994M.B. Arthur, The boundary less career: A new perspective for organizational enquiry,Journal of Organizational Behaviour15(1994), pp. 295-306. Arthur and Rousseau, 1996In: M.B. Arthur and D.M. Rousseau, Editors,The boundary less career, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1996). Arthur et al., 2005M.B. Arthur, S.N. Khapova and C.P.M. Wilderom, â€Å"Career success in a boundary less world,Journal of Organizational Behavior26(2005), pp. 177-202. Aston and Morton, 2005C. Aston and L. Morton, Managing talent for competitive advantage,Strategic HR Review4(5) (2005), pp. 28-31. Axelrod et al., 2002B. Axelrod, H. Handfield-Jones and E. Michaels, A new game plan for C players,Harvard Business Review, January(2002), pp. 81-88. Baterman and Organ, 1983T.S. Baterman and D.W. Organ, â€Å"Job satisfaction and the good soldier: The relationship between affect and employee citizenship,Academy of Management Journal26(1983), pp. 578-595. Batt, 2000R. Batt, Strategic segmentation in front-line services: Matching customers, employees and human resource systems,International Journal of Human Resource Management11(2000), pp. 540-561. Batt, 2002R. Batt, Managing customer services: Human resource practices, quit rates, and sales growth,Academy of Management Journal45(2002), pp. 587-597. Becker, Gerhart, (1996)B. Becker and B. Gerhart, ‘The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects,Academy of Management Journal39(4) (1996), pp. 779-801. Becker and Haunschild, 2003K.H. Becker and A. Haunschild, The impact of boundaryless careers on organizational decision making: An analysis from the perspective of Luhmanns theory of social systems,International Journal of Human Resource Management14(2003), pp. 713-727. Becker and Huselid, 2006B.E. Becker and M.A. Huselid, â€Å"Strategic human resource management: Where do we go from here?,Journal of Management32(2006), pp. 898-925. Blumberg and Pringle, 1982M. Blumberg and C.D. Pringle, â€Å"The missing opportunity in organizational research: Some implications for a theory of work performance,Academy of Management Review7(1982), pp. 560-569. Boselie et al., 2005P. Boselie, G. Dietz and C. Boon, â€Å"Commonalities and contradictions in HRM and performance research,Human Resource Management Journal15(2005), pp. 67-94. Boston Consulting Group, 2007Boston Consulting Group, The future of HR: Key challenges through 2015, Boston Consulting Group, Dusseldorf (2007). Boudreau, J. W., Ramstad, P. M. (1997). Measuring intellectual capital: Learning from financial history. Human Resource Management, 36, 343-356. Boudreau, J. W., Ramstad, P. M. (2003). Strategic HRM measurement in the 21st century: From justifying HR to strategic talent leadership. In M. Goldsmith, R. P. Gandossy, M. S. Efron (Eds.), HRM in the 21st century (pp.79-90). New York: Wiley. Boudreau, J. W. (2004). Organizational behavior, strategy, performance and design in Management Science. Management Science, 50, 1463-1476. Boudreau, J. W., Ramstad, P. M. (2004a). Talent ship and the evolution of human resource Management: From â€Å"professional practices† to â€Å"strategi

Sir Gawain - An Ideal Symbol of Chivalry Essay -- Sir Gawain and the G

Sir Gawain - An Ideal Symbol of Chivalry The chivalric code is a very complex, and perhaps somewhat foreign concept to a modern person. There are many rules and taboos that a knight must obey. Indeed, the very concepts of honor, love, and humility have been raised to the highest conceivable power, making it almost impossible for a mortal to become a true, perfect knight. Sir Gawain, in the passage [Norton, 1535-1622] of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, proves himself to be an ideal symbol of chivalry. One of the symbols of knighthood is a lady of knight's heart; knight's behavior with ladies is important in general, and Sir Gawain behaves as a true knight with the hostess of the castle. Another important side of being a knight includes the skill of carving an animal, and that is also described in the passage. One aspect of being a knight is choosing a lady of his heart. The knight is supposed to perform noble tasks in her honor, thus glorifying her name. Love is knight's inspiration for all of his actions, and when he thinks he has done enough glorious deeds, he comes back to his lady. If his lady is kind enough, she will marry him, unless she is already married. In the passage, the host's wife tries to seduce Sir Gawain. However, she is not the lady of his dreams, and since Sir Gawain follows the principle -- "to remember a knight is to reflect goodness in everything he does, for that is what makes a knight honorable, " he politely turns her offer down. It is possible that Sir Gawain refuses hostess' charms because he is afraid of her husband; however, with the whole story evolving around Sir Gawain's nobility, it is highly unlikely that this is a reason for him. Sir Gawain does this in a way that does not make the ... ... are riveting in their strict observance. The chivalric code is full of rules for the knight's conduct in any situation, one example of which is hunting and carving animals. There is, however, one central idea that every knight is a servant; a knight is the one who does only good in the name of love and never brings dishonor to anyone. In this second test, Sir Gawain proves to be a true knight when he is tempted by the hostess of the Green Castle. So far nothing can turn him from his path, for he is a true knight. SOURCES Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams, et.al. Volume 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993. 200-254. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Ed. J.R.R.Tolkien, E.V. Gordon. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1967. Online. Internet. Available HTTP: http://www.hti.umich.edu/english/mideng/index.html

Mental Freedom

Definition Essay- Mental Freedom It has been said that the mind is a powerful instrument and whatever the mind perceives, the body can achieve. Although these statements are used very often, the power that the mind holds is still underestimated in my opinion. Mental freedom means being able to express the constructive qualities of the mind easily and more understandably. These qualities include self-expression, analysis, responsibility, patience, etc. Though physical freedom is important, one should also remember that this physical liberty is almost insignificant without being mentally free.It is through this mental freedom that one can be able to have an open mind and be able to reach their highest potential. Also, being able to enlighten others and move forward as a community. However, this freedom is often overlooked because of the mindset of an individual, community or society on a whole. It is also not easily seen unless being contrasted by the term ‘mental slavery’ which is more commonly spoken about in society. The word mental means ‘of or relating to the mind’ and slavery means to be in a state of subjection.Slavery is also synonymous to the word bondage and emphasizes the idea of being controlled. Therefore, the phrase ‘mental slavery’ implies one’s thoughts being controlled by someone else and being forced to think the way that person does and not being able to express one’s personal train of thought. Being mentally enslaved is dangerous because it leads a person to eventually having a lack of individuality and readily accepting and believing what is told to them. In extreme cases, it may even lead to self-hate.When a person has this state of mind, it proposes many problems because it gives way to this person letting go of their culture, traditions, or heritage, and these are the qualities that allow society to be as diverse as it should be. One can almost say that mental bondage destroys a person p sychologically because they begin to lack, or no longer possess, originality. Having that lack of originality may be self-restricting as this is a quality that helps one to reach their highest potential.As the prolific and popular American writer, James F. Cooper, once said, â€Å"All greatness of character is dependent on individuality. The man who has no other existence than that, which he partakes in common with all around him, will never have any other than an existence of mediocrity. † Therefore, being mentally enslaved, or lacking that mental freedom, inhibits growth and causes one to create a mental prison for themselves, thus leaving no room for independence.Having that lack of independence may cause a person to be subjected to any kind of power from a majority, not necessarily because they hold the most legitimate viewpoints, but because they seem to be the strongest group. Henry David Thoreau, an American writer and philosopher best known for his attacks on American social institutions, believed firmly in the importance of independence, individuality and self-reliance.Thoreau spent a night in jail refusing to pay taxes in protestant of the Mexican War and disconnected himself from the American government ideologically to indicate his refusal of participation in their institutions. This was Thoreau’s mental freedom from the government’s view of slavery during the 1800’s and he was able to state this on paper when he wrote his essay Civil Disobedience which showed his objections against the actions of the government. Thoreau’s essay spoke about transcendentalism, a philosophy that shows the importance of mental freedom.This philosophy rejects the idea that knowledge can be fully derived from observations of the physical world or through the experiences of others, but rather through the individual examining how they came to know things. This idea targets the individual analyzing their own thought-process and focusing o n their own connections and experiences which can only exist through intuition and feeling, and not through the information or thoughts others try to feed them.According to this philosophy, through mental freedom, one should be able to gain self-reliance and individuality which is critical for people to find truths within themselves and live their lives through reason and not based solely on the opinions of others. Another famous writer whose work demonstrates the importance of mental freedom is Fredrick Douglass. However, in this case, Douglass was not only mentally enslaved but also physically a slave. In his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave, he tells his story of being born a slave and the struggle it took to really know what hat meant. As he gets older, he is taught an important lesson, the power of literacy, after his master forces his wife to stop teaching a young Douglass how to read. Fredrick Douglass then determines to continue hi s education by befriending white children and learning how to read and write from them. This is the point in his life where he realizes one can only be kept in slavery as long as they are in ignorance. Douglass then becomes mentally emancipated from the idea of him having to be someone’s slave and destines that he would no longer have someone control him.In the future, he is able to buy his physical freedom from his slave master and become a famous antislavery writer that tells his story about how he broke away from bondage and helps others still caught in its trap. From the story of Fredrick Douglass, one can see that just his refusal to accept himself as a slave and not be limited to what his masters wanted of him, he was able to reach his full potential and also enrich the lives of others who need to gain mental liberty. Also, his mental freedom led to his physical freedom.Through the experiences of Thoreau, Douglass and other daily examples in society, such as inner city teens limiting themselves by not going to college because they see it pointless if they are not as privileged as other children with well-paying jobs and careers, one can see how important it is to be mentally free and not create psychological prisons for oneself. Mental freedom means showcasing and expressing individuality and building up motivation and confidence within that individual.It also means exhausting the possibilities of restricting oneself to a point that someone else thought they should not pass and enlightening others on their way to exceeding those restrictions. An enslaved mind is like a blind person; they only know the world through the opinions of others around them, but unless that blind person decides to help themselves, or that person decided to be mentally free, then can they have their personal experiences that give way to a higher potential in life.