...SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY Spotlight ARTWORK Artist Name, Artwork Name, year Description of materials, size Name of show if available, location 70 Harvard Business Review May 2011 PHOTOGRAPHY: JORDI PLAT; XAVIER VEILHAN/ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY, NEW YORK HBR.ORG ARTWORK Xavier Veilhan, The Big Mobile, 2004 Metallic structure, 25 spheres in PVC with diameters from 29.5" to 137.8" Exhibition View, 3rd Biennial of Contemporary Art of Valencia The Power Of Small Wins Want to truly engage your workers? Help them see their own progress. by Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCTIVITY WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. It turns out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson’s 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, “Our first...
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...WHAT IS THE BEST WAY to drive innovative work inside organizations? Important clues hide in the stories of world-renowned creators. ItturnS out that ordinary scientists, marketers, programmers, and other unsung knowledge workers, whose jobs require creative productivity every day, have more in common with famous innovators than most managers realize. The workday events that ignite their emotions, fuel their motivation, and trigger their perceptions are fundamentally the same. The Double Helix, James Watson's 1968 memoir about discovering the structure of DNA, describes the roller coaster of emotions he and Francis Crick experienced through the progress and setbacks of the work that eventually earned them the Nobel Prize. After the excitement of their first attempt to build a DNA model, Watson and Crick noticed some serious flaws. According to Watson, "Our first minutes with the models…were not joyous." Later that evening, "a shape began to emerge which brought back our spirits." But when they showed their "breakthrough" to colleagues, they found that their model would not work. Dark days of doubt and ebbing motivation followed. When the duo finally had their bona fide breakthrough, and their colleagues found no fault with it, Watson wrote, "My morale skyrocketed, for I suspected that we now had the answer to the riddle." Watson and Crick were so driven by this success that they practically lived in the lab, trying to complete the work. Throughout these episodes, Watson and...
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...Voting Power Before you begin: Read the parts of Units 12A and 12B of the textbook that deal with U.S. presidential elections and voting power. Answer the following questions: 1. Before examining the real U.S. presidential election system, we consider a hypothetical country with only six states. The population of the states and the number of delegates each state sends to Congress are shown in the following table. State | Population (millions) | Number of delegates/electors | Electors/millions of people | Utopia | 4.5 | 11 | 2.44 | Verity | 10.5 | 19 | 1.81 | Windfall | 3.2 | 9 | 2.81 | Xanadu | 0.5 | 3 | 6 | Yorkshire | 8.0 | 17 | 2.13 | Zodiac | 1.5 | 5 | 3.33 | Assume that for national elections each state has a number of electors equal to its number of delegates. Does a voter in one state have the same amount of influence (or the same voting power) as a voter in another state? One way to answer this question is to compute the number of electors per person for each state. To make the numbers come out nicely, compute the number of electors for each million people in each state. Place these numbers in the last column of the table. 2. Based on the calculations in (1), do the voters in each state have the same voting power? Which state has the greatest voting power (electors per million people)? What state has the least voting power? Ans: Voters in each state do not have the same voting power. Xanadu has the greatest voting power per million...
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...Discuss the view that monopoly power is the natural result for firms who ‘win the game’ of competition? Monopoly power or market power is the ability for a business to earn high levels of profit by being able to choose their pricing strategies in their market and being able to raise to what they want in the same market and don’t have to worry about to losing costumers if they have true monopoly power then price still shouldn’t effect there demand. Being a monopoly means they are the only supplier in that market. They are able to keep their prices high for a sustainable amount of time. There are only certain companies that are able to higher prices for measurable periods of time these companies have little or no competition in the market so that by increasing the prices wouldn’t mean a loss of costumers and income because there is no competition in there market. It lies at one end of the spectrum of perfect competition it means that there is only one seller in that market that they are able to be the dominant firm and exert a considerable amount of power. (William J. Baumol EconomicsPrinciplesP264-269) There are no preliminary assumptions about the bargaining power of any of the players, and, in particular, no player is assumed a priori to have any price setting power. Provide general core results for monopoly, and their results suggest the following conclusions. First, if the seller has the capacity to supply all of the buyers, the outcome is almost completely...
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...Electoral College Alan A. Garcia GCC On the first Tuesday of November, the US citizens cast their ballots for the upcoming president. All of the votes go towards a state elector which then casts the vote for the state. There is a total of 538 electoral votes and in order for a presidential candidate to win the election, they must gain majority of the votes, at least 270 electoral votes. “A state's number of electoral votes equals the number of the state's Congressional delegation (2 Senators + the number of Representatives)” (Vote Smart, Paragraph 5). The ballots go to a block of electors, which pledge to vote for what the majority chooses. There are many flaws to the Electoral College, as well as positives. The Electoral College is used to distribute power from heavily populated states, which helps out small states such as Wyoming, a small state that only counts as 3 electoral votes, compared to...
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...first written it was made to simply limit majority rule and give eqaul amount of power to the minority. The national goverment was originally built closely tied to citizens because of the House of Repesentatives. The House of Representatives was made to give citizens an equal say in the legislation of the United States. Unlike in the Senate, members of the House are elected by the people of the United States giving citizens a say in govenment affairs. One of the major aspects of the national goverment that is tied to citizens is the short term lenght and frequency of elections of people holding an office in the goverment. With the short term lenght and frequency of elections citizens are constantly contributing to what is going on in the nation by voting on who will be the best candidate for a certain office. A third reason the national goverment is closely tied to citizens is that the House of Representatives represents small member districts. This causes there to be close to equal say for everyone in a state to elect someone to represent thier ideas and views without on group of people having an uneqaul say. The United States Constitution was also made to limit the power of the majority . The first way this is done is though the separation of powers. The federal goverment is broken down into three main branches, the executive, legislative and judicial branch. Having these separation of powers allows for check and...
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...above average small forward. Small forwards are without a doubt the most important position in basketball due to their great dominance. A great small forward will be able to lead you and your NBA team to the championship due to their great versatility. This has been demonstrated to us many times in history. For example, the past thirty teams to win the championship have had the best small forwards. Every position in basketball is important, but the small forward is continually the most influential player on the court. Small forwards are the most versatile players in the NBA. The reasons why a Small forward is so versatile is because on average they are around 6’8, which is very beneficial for all the things they need to do. They are right in the middle of the other positions because of their height and skills, meaning they do just about everything on the court. Small forwards need to have the ability to dribble around defenders to score, as well as having the basketball IQ and ability to pass the ball to open teammates. A small forward is such a versatile position in basketball because they share qualities of each other position. Just...
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...would mean that literally, most votes wins. An example of a PR system is AMS; Additional member system; or STV; Single Transferrable vote. AMS is a hybrid system and only 1/3rd of the seats are elected via PR. This also uses the list system, in which voters choose between parties and not candidates. Highlight 3 arguments against plurality systems One disadvantage of FPTP is that the results produced can be unrepresentative of the public’s opinion. This is because parties can win and lose simultaneously due to having a higher percentage of the vote, but not gaining more or less seats than their nearest competitor. An example of this is during the 1951 elections, where labour had 48.8% of the vote and conservatives had 48%. Even though by percentage labour had one, conservatives gained 321 seats and won the election, whereas labour only got 295 seats. Another disadvantage of plurality systems and FPTP is that it discriminates against small parties. Historically, few small parties have done well under this type of system. In the 2015 general elections, UKIP needed a minimum of 3.8 million votes to gain 1 seat, whereas labour and conservatives both needed between 30,000-40,000. Another example of this is in the 1983 general elections in which labour had 2.2% more of the vote than liberal democrats but still gained 186 more seats. This is usually because smaller parties do not tend to have concentrated support and therefore they do not win seats, which was shown in the 2015 general...
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...The president is not elected by a popular vote of the United States, but is elected the Electoral College. The framers of the Constitution did not want to put the election of the president directly in the hands of the people of the United States, so they created the Electoral College. The Electoral College is broken down by state, essentially creating 50 separate elections for the president. Using this method of election for the president, could make it possible that a candidate to be elected without earning a popular vote. The Electoral College is an outdated system that was first established to protect smaller states, but now favors larger states throughout the country. The founders of the United States had different opinions on the way...
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...It looks like the founders of the Electoral College thought we aren’t smart enough to choose our own president. Therefore, they created the Electoral College to balance the power of large and small states. It was also created because the founders believed a charismatic tyrant could manipulate public opinion and come into power. So should we get rid of the indirect method of electing the president that is currently being used? I think so yes. The Electoral College should be abolished for three main reasons. It is undemocratic because it doesn’t fairly represent the will of the people; it hurts third parties by giving the two-party system too much power; it gives small states to much power. The Electoral College is undemocratic and every...
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...protect us from one person/group gaining absolute power. In May of 1787 in Philadelphia, James Madison and his fellow delegates was challenged to make a strong government that served the needs of the nation, but also didn't create any form of tyranny.So how did the U.S constitution prevent all of the power going into one person's hands? Well the goal of the constitution was to hold the states and people together with out letting any one have complete control. Another word for this is tyranny. They are 4 different ways the constitution helps guard against tyranny. These 4 things include federalism, separation of power, checks and balances, and the big states-small states compromise....
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...“Eliminate the Electoral College” in The Huffington Post on September 27, 2012. People such as Edwards and Oppenheimer believe that the power lies with the general population and that the popular vote is the fairest way to elect a president. However, in our system, the power does not lie within the general population. In their article “Eliminate the Electoral College”, Edwards and Oppenheimer say, “The Electoral College is one of the most dangerous institutions in American politics today,” because of their disgust with the disregard for the general population. While I disagree with this because I think the electoral college system is fair and the states each have an appropriate number of electoral votes, the people who argue for the abolition of the electoral college also have values that guided them towards a desire to abolish the electoral college. By removing the electoral college, such people believe they are supporting the cause of the majority, which can be overstepped by the electoral college. While the electoral college empowers the smaller states like it was designed to do, it is evident that it disregards most of the people of the United States in some elections. Edwards and Oppenheimer discussed the feelings of those who have been disregarded when they said, “Every time that a candidate wins the popular vote but fails to win the presidency…it has caused the people to question whether the system is broken and the wrong person became president.” In 2000, President...
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...company's political climate. Employees and managers at a small business must work together to manage company politics and not allow these maneuvers to overshadow the formal hierarchy. Loudest Voices Win Those who show no fear in participating in company politics are able to establish the relationships necessary to gain a powerful voice in the decision-making process. This can provide employees with an opportunity to display important job skills, which can turn political influence in the company into very real promotions. According to CNN Money's website, those who attempt to remain above the fray miss out on chances to establish a leadership presence and influence the progress of company projects, including deciding which projects get endorsed. Circumventing Formal Hierarchy Company politics circumvents normally established hierarchy within a business. This means a lower-level employee can establish a connection with an executive and gain a voice in decisions she may not otherwise have an opportunity to participate in. She can influence the decision-making process informally to gain approval for projects that benefit her department and work to kill others that may not provide as great an opportunity to shine. This can lead to unrest within the formal managerial hierarchy if other executives and managers notice a lower-level employee exerting undue influence over project development. Politics Breeds Competition The informal power structure that company politics creates breeds competition...
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...Outline the argument that supermarket power is a ‘zero-sum’ game Basic necessities such as food are required for survival and we rely particularly on supermarkets and small businesses to make them available for purchase in contemporary UK. Power is a combination of influence control and/or dominance. Supermarket are to some extreme shaping our shopping choices by the variety they choose to stock and by seduction. Recent years have seen the supermarket gain a considerable degree of power by extending their ranges of goods and services, extending opening hours and expanding into local areas with superstores and convenience stores as well as on the High Street. Supermarkets expansion has resulted in the suffering and closure of many small local businesses. Dennis Wrong, Socioligist states that in a situation where the gain of one is equivalent to the loss of another so the net gain is zero, it is a ‘zero-sum’ game. This essay examines the relationship between supermarket power and a ‘zero- sum’ game. It shows how the supermarkets gain is balanced by the loss to others and outlines the ‘positive sum’ games of power. The concept of power is viewed in variety of ways by different groups, I feel this depends on the angle you are viewing things from. Contemporary UK has four huge supermarket chains, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco often referred to as ‘giants’ by the economy which indicates the level of power and dominance they have in the market. Every consumer has personal...
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...and Proportional Representation (PR) First Past the Post is the voting system used to elect MPs to 'seats' in Parliament. In this system 'winner takes all' and the system also usually gives a clear majority both in a constituency or at national level. This means that a candidate in a constituency only needs one more vote than the nearest rival to win the seat. This is similar to political parties in general elections as they only need to win one more seat in the House of Commons to have a majority. The advantages of using FTPT is there is very little chance of extremist parties being elected to Parliament under because they are unlikely to gain enough votes to come into power in any one constituency. Also, generally the results of elections using FPTP can be calculated quickly. So, this makes it easier to transfer power to another party if it becomes necessary. One of the main criticisms of FPTP is that the number of votes for a party in general elections is not accurately shown in the number of seats won. An example of this could be the 1997 election when the Conservatives gained 18% of the vote in Scotland but not one but didn’t win a seat. This is can be seen at constituency level, where the winning candidate may have only received one third of the votes cast. So, a government could be elected on a minority vote. This happened in 1974 when Labour won the general election on the number of seats they gained but the Conservatives had a larger share of the vote across the country...
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