The Virtue of Discrimination Essay examples -- Virtues Discriminate Es

The Virtue of Discrimination Discrimination is a word that has taken on a negative connotation in today's society. Since the beginning of the equal rights movement, the perceived meaning of the word discrimination has shifted from that of a useful virtue to one of an insulting, derogatory word. Robert Keith Miller wrote an essay for Newsweek in the summer of 1980 that focuses on the discrepancies in the use of the word discrimination. â€Å"Discrimination Is a Virtue† points out the differences in the dictionary’s definition of the word discrimination and the perceived societal definition of the word. Miller explains the confusion of the word discrimination with the words discriminate against and worries that discrimination may be forever viewed as a fault rather than a virtue. He encourages his readers to not discriminate against individuals or groups, but to remember that there are still distinctions to be made (86). Robert Keith Miller presents a convincing argument for the necessity of discrimination by using a comparison and contrast argument to appeal to the readers emotions in his article â€Å"Discrimination Is a Virtue†. Robert Keith Miller was a writer for Newsweek in 1980. As a writer for a nationally renowned magazine, he can be trusted as a professional journalist. Miller writes his article â€Å"Discrimination Is a Virtue† for the readers of Newsweek. The audience of the magazine are predominately educated professionals in society. They are the very people that he is attempting to remind of the true definition of discrimination. Millers audience is intelligent enough to be able to realize the differences in â€Å"discriminating against† and â€Å"discrimination† but may be unaware of the problem this confusion is causi... ...then and personalize those points. His comparison of the dictionary’s definition of discrimination and society’s understanding of the word illustrate the contradiction at hand. The examples illustrate the need for discrimination in today’s society. He reminds us, even with the title of the paper, that discrimination once was and still should be an esteemed virtue. The use of discrimination in our decision making and policy’s is necessary for them to be as effective as possible. While this article was written over twenty years ago, its message is still relevant for today’s Newsweek readers. Discrimination is a virtue that each of us could use a little more of. Work Cited Gruber, Sibylle, ed. Constructing Others, Constructing Ourselves. Dubuque: Kendal Hunt Publishing Co, 2002. Miller, Robert Keith. â€Å"Discrimination Is a Virtue.† Gruber 85-87.

Pope Leo XIII-Rerum Novarum Essay

Encyclical is a letter from a Christian leader, particularly the pope, which is intended for general distribution among churches. The tern originally applied to some of the letters written by Saint Paul and early church writers called Apostolic Fathers that were sent to many churches. After the time of the Apostolic Fathers, bishops wrote encyclicals to the churches in their care. In modern times, encyclical has come to mean a letter written by the pope to Roman Catholic churches throughout the world. These letters have addressed such topics as church teachings, church discipline, current social and moral issues, peace, the rights of workers, and the plight of people living under oppression. Pope Leo XIII With the election to papacy by Leo XII in 1878 comes a new age in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. His reign was the second longest in papal history. Only Pius IX served longer. Leo wrote many encyclicals. One of the most famous was Rerum Novarum which he wrote in May 15, 1891. The aforementioned encyclical upheld the rights of labor. Pope Leo XIII sought to convince liberal administrations that it is possible for the church and the state to live in harmony. During his papacy, particularly intense anti-church feelings were expressed by Italy, France, and Germany. The pope was successful in reducing the liberal administrations limitations against the church. However he was a failure in Italy and France. If truth be told, in 1880, new anti-church laws were submitted by the French government. Such laws eliminated the church from several other areas of French lifestyle, prohibited religious education in academic institutions, and banished religious orders from the country. On the other hand, in Italy, oppositions against the church were expressed by both the government and its citizens. The pope started a new policy of maintaining an open communication between the church government and the daily life of the Catholics. To achieve this end, he authored several writings addressed to the Catholic community. His pronouncements covered different subjects ranging from the relationship between the state and the working class, theology and church decrees, Bible teachings, and philosophy. Rerum Novarum was his most important statement on social questions. Leo was open to new forms of government, but he still remained suspicious of democracy. In a letter to United States Catholics in 1895, he warned against seeing the American separation of church and state as an ideal for all nations. In 1899, he addressed another letter to the American church condemning Americanism, a movement that had many followers in France and Italy. It was an adaptation of such American concepts as religious liberty and the need to adjust the presentation of Catholic teachings to modern ideas and practices. Leo was born in Carpineto, Italy, near Rome. His given and family name was Giocchino Vincenzo Pecci. Rerum Novarum The expansion of factories and industry in the nineteenth century created a class of wealthy owners, a class of industrial workers, and a host of new social problems. The socialists proposed that the state should take over the factories from private ownership. In this official papal statement, Pope Leo XIII sought a middle ground, recognizing the oppression workers could suffer but rejecting the abolition of private property as a solution. In the Catholic tradition, Pope Leo XIII thinks of a job primarily as a way to support one’s family, not as a calling in itself – and this may be a more realistic approach to factory work. Rerum Novarum is conservative on issues of the father’s place in the family, but it was and is radical on issues of labor and capital. Rerum Novarum is the magna carta of Catholic social endeavor. Subtitled as â€Å"On Capital and Labor,† this encyclical expressed the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the labor tensions and social instability which have emerged in the advent of industrialization and ultimately marked the beginning of socialism. The Pope articulated that the function of the state is to maintain social justice by upholding the rights of the citizens, while the church must make a stand on social concerns to demonstrate proper social principles as well as to guarantee class harmony. Leo XIII reiterated the church’s ancient teaching concerning the central value of the rights to private property, but acknowledged, in one of the most popular passages of the encyclical that moral considerations must temper the free operation of market forces. Even while Rerum Novarum adheres to position of the conventional teaching regarding the duties and rights of property and the employee-employer relationship, it employs the ancient teachings particularly to current conditions. Describing the plight of the working class as an introduction, the encyclical then disputes the false Socialist philosophies and protects the right of private ownership. The real solution, as prescribed by the pope may be obtained through the united action between the employee, the employer, the state, and the church. The church as it should be is concerned in the social matter because of its moral and religious outlooks. The state, on its part has both the duty and right to interfere in the name of individual and social welfare and justice. Moreover, the workers and their employers should coordinate in separate and joint relations for their common protection. All of these were laid out with substantial details to address the main issues and interactions of social and industrial life. Further identifying the Catholic Church with labor, while vehemently criticizing socialism, Pope Leo XIII released the first of the social encyclicals. In 1891, eight years after the death of Karl Marx, Pope Leo XIII begins this encyclical by describing the industrialization in terms consistent with socialist analysis. In describing this process of industrialization, Pope Leo XIII clearly sympathizes with the plight of the common laborers who must sell their labor in exchange for less than a just wage to owners of the means of production who are not equally compelled to enter this contractual relationship. He recognizes that workers must unite and organize if they are to restore the power imbalances between laborers and the owners of the means of production. He clearly rejects a socialist revolution; instead, he calls for reforms that would mitigate the negative effects of the free market. He argues that socialism is misguided for at least two reasons. First, he states that the socialist cure, eliminating private property, is unjust for those owners of the means of production who have acquired their property through legitimate means. Second, workers would actually be worse off, he argues, if in the name of justice they lost their freedom to use the fruits of their labor as they pleased. Perhaps, no other proclamation on social concerns reached a wide audience or enjoyed broad influence. Rerum Novarum inspired an extensive Catholic social writings, as many non-Catholics regarded it as one of the most sensible and explicit pronouncements ever made concerning the issue in question. At times dismissed as vague, this encyclical is as precise as any text could be written for a number of nations in varying levels of industrial progress. Even while Rerum Novarum had formed a part of the established Catholic teachings for several years now in no way had it ever been expressed with distinct articulation and authority. Over the years, humanity has come towards a realization of how hard it is to describe the complete requirements of justice in terms of wages, a continuously growing number of persons turn to the message sent by the pope as the most successful and valuable principle of industrial justice that has ever been expressed in recorded history. The significance of Rerum Novarum lies in its clear depiction of the troubles confronting the urban poor during the 19th century. Also, this encyclical was remarkable for its condemning open capitalism. One of the solutions it recommended were the creation of trade unions as well as the introduction of collective bargaining, chiefly as a substitute to state intervention. It also acknowledged that the poor deserves to be considered when addressing social concerns. Such consideration is stressed by the concept of â€Å"preferential option for the poor† which is a contemporary Catholic principle. God’s special preference for the poor was initially expressed in Pope Leo’s Rerum Novarum.

Most Valuable Asset Of A Company Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 925 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? The most valuable asset of a company is human resource . To be prosperous, a company has to make operative productivity a main goal. Human Resource Management (HRM) term has changed in a number of times through history. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Most Valuable Asset Of A Company Business Essay" essay for you Create order Across pre-historic periods, there continued consistent methods for selection of tribal leaders. The exercise of protection and condition as hunting was bypassed on from generation to generation. From 2000 B.C. to 1500 B.C., the Chinese used employee-screening techniques, and the Greeks used an apprentice system (History of Human Resource Management, 2010). During the late 1700s and main 1800s, because of the quick development of Great Britain, the United States evolved from an agrarian state to an industrial nation. This Industrial Revolution, developed a separate class of managers and employees in the factories (The Emergence of Modern Industrialism, 2010) .Labor unions were established to protect employees rights During 1790-1820. The Fair Labor Standards Deed of 1938, enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor,established combined minimum wage standards, youngster labor regulations, and increased wages for overtime. Both regulations and association theory instituted the antecedent for human resource association today. The main purpose of this research is to present the definition of Human Resource Management HRM from many theories in the history and also the meaning ,objective ,scope and function of Human Resource Management (HRM) Before studying about the meaning of HRM . Typically, the term of Human resource or sometime call Personnel mean the persons employed.The company or organization is the group of people who working for gold of the company. 3.1 Definitions of Human Resource Manangement (HRM) There are numerous definition of Human Resource Management.There is no universally agreed definition HRM. Some source is defined as a system of activities and strategies that focus on successfully managing employee at all levels of an organization to achieve organizational goals'(Byars Rue,2006) The level of productivity can vary by the skill levels the employees . The comprehensive set of managerial activities and tasks concerned with developing and maintaining a qualified workforce human resources in ways that contribute to organizational effectiveness. (DeNisi and Griffin, 2004) In it wide sense HRM can be used as the term means any approach to managing people like All those activities associated with the management of employment relationships in the firm'( Boxall and Purcell, 2003). Another definition which focuses on training in order to increase the ability and commitment of employee to enhance business performance , Storey ( 1995: 5) a distinctive approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural and personal techniques Guest (1987 ) and Storey (1992) defined term of HRM in 2 ways soft and hard HRM .The hard focused on senior manager , the decision making is quicker and more cost- effective workforce , concern about reducing the cost for example ; low salaries , cl ose supervision. On the other hand, The soft focus on improving the quality , commitment and flexibility of employee and enhance the commitment.Staff being treated nicely! The organization should balance the two ways of HR .For example if the company uses too soft approach staff when all staff benefits are added up , the cost of staff will increasing this is the disadvantage. As the debate of HRM has progressed more definition have additionally been given for example; high-commitment management (HCM) which use rather than soft HRM and for hard HRM there is strategic HRM use instead. The Matching Model is one of HRM model, developed by academic at the Michigan Business School,introduced the concept of strategic human resource using a set of HR policies and practices that are integrated with each other and with goal of the organization.Price ( 2004 : 45-46)the key area of HR policies and system is selection of most suitable people to encounter the business needs,perform ance in the pursuit of company objective.As you can see ,the matching model is closely associated along side the hard HRM.The deployment of employee to encounter the organization objective At Harvard University ,Beer et al .(1984) developed The map of HRM territory,the concept is there are a variety of stakeholders in the organization such as the government , a group of employee .This model focus on the prescriptive element of the benefit of stakeholder or employee. It likes the soft HRM and this model also developed a set of propositions that make the company more effectively.This displays an assumption that it is probable to balance the crucial integration associated alongside hard HRM with the softer HRM of high commitment practice. 3.2 As I mention about various definitions of Human Resource Management (HRM) before in section 3.1 in this section I will illustrate about HRM in my understanding .HRM refers to the practices , policies and systems that influence workers beh avior , performance and attitudes.Some time mean people practices . Figure 3 shows HRM practices or HRM strategic consist of analysis and design of work , HR planning ,Recruiting , Selection ,training and development , compensation , performance management. This is show that how HRM practice effectively support business objective and goals.HRM practice also increasing the organization performance by customer satisfaction and contributing to employees,productivity innovation and development of a favorable standing in the firms community. HRM can contribute to quality , profitability and other business goals including supporting and enhancing business organization. Human Resource Management in Context, 3rd edition.by David Farnham Published by the CIPD.Copyright  © David Farnham 2010 What Is Human Resource Management Jones Bartlett Learning, https://www.managementstudyguide.com/personnel-management-vs-hrm.htm https://tutor2u.net/business/people/hrm_hard_soft.asp