Militia in the War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Militia in the War of 1812 - Essay Example In addition, many on the western front believed that Britain was involved with Native Americans in the attacks upon settlers Confrontation seemed inevitable, and coincident with a declaration of war was the fact that most of the political power resided in the South and the West; The same people who were anxious to go to war with Britain were also the ones whom the president needed to support him in what was, after all, the year of the presidential election. War was almost certain under these conditions. That does not mean, however, that the American states were prepared for war. Many authors agree that the constitution was fearful of creating a large standing army, and for this reason relied upon the citizens to form militias in times of crisis: " The actual standing army was tiny, with the Office of the Chief of Military History calculating that army at about 11,744 men. As a consequence of this small number, the defense of the united States was very dependant upon militia armies raised by the states. As many of the militias held by individual states were disorganized and chaotic, "Many states had to recreate their militia from scratch once war was declared in June 1812". Therefore, one of the reasons why different states had different militia was partly dependant upon the state of this army before 1812: where the militia was in good repair, the state could mobilize these units effectively; where they had fallen into disrepair, the 1812 militia was usually ill-trained and ill-equipped. How these militia were created and maintained was very much dependant upon the individual states. Many of them were opposed to these raised armies being taken away from their state of origin, as a proclamation by the Governor of Vermont in 1813 demonstrates: It appears, that the third brigadeof militia of this state, has Been ordered from our frontiers to the defence of a neighbouring Statewhereby an extensive section of our own frontier is left, In a measure, unprotected, and thegood citizens thereof are put In great jeopardy (Chittenden, 1813) The federal governments were unwilling to put large numbers of their men at the disposal of the National government, and especially, they did not want to see their troops moved out of their province in order to defend another state. There were other reasons why federal states might be unwilling to put up large militias. While many of the Western states wanted the war, states such as New England actually sided with England, and "Massachusetts Governor Caleb Strong even attempted secret negotiations with England with a planfor New England to secede from the Union" (Lutins, 2007). So the second reason for differences in the militia is the differences in support (or lack thereof) for the war. Both of these reasons were also interacting with the great problem which the United States had with federal governments, which is the reluctance of the States to grant power

Feminine Psyche in The Odyssey Essay -- The Odyssey Feminine Psyche Es

Feminine Psyche in The Odyssey The Odyssey has much to teach us about the feminine psyche. The feminine psyche is the way that the female mind and soul react to and process situations. Females are generally faithful, giving, and respectful to their mates. We have an insight into the feminine psyche in several things that Penelope does. The weaving and unweaving of the shroud and the test of the bed are two examples of the way Penelope thinks. She does what is thought to be her duty to her husband to resist the suitors and remain faithful and loyal to her husband. Homer reveals the feminine psyche in Penelope, a loving and faithful wife to Odysseus. She was loyal to Odysseus the entire time he was away on his journey, and even when it appeared that he would not return she still had faith that he would. Penelope resisted the advances of the suitors because she loved Odysseus and could not see herself with another when he could still be alive. She was smart and cunning when it came to resisting the suitors. Penelope shows us an insight to the feminine psyche when we learn she has avoided having to choose a new husband by telling the suitors she would choose a one of them once she finished the shroud she was weaving for Odysseus’ father. Penelope worked all day on the shroud and would unravel the weaving by candlelight at night while the suitors slept. This shows her dedication to Odysseus and that she does not want to tell the suitors no and be disrespectful to her ...

Barbara and Electra Case Study

Question(1):How might top management have done a better job changing Elektra Products into a new kind of organization? What might they do now to get the empowerment process back on track? Analysis of the case study Main issues – 1. Declining of Market shares 2. Few new product ideas or far between 3. Poor staff relationship 4. Low staff morale Weaknesses- 1. approach in change management 2. Organizational culture 3. creating problem solving team 4. the process of employee involvement and empowerment 5. the facilitation by Martin GriffinThe attempt to do staff empowerment is a nice try but it alone is not the complete solution for the root cause of the problems. In order to reach to the solution of all these issues, they have to find out what are the underlying causes of these issues. The newly hired Martin Griffin mentioned in the opening speech that â€Å"As we face increasing competition, we need new ideas, new energy and new spirit to make this company great. And the sourc e for this change is you—each one of you. † Though he mentioned that each of the staff is important, he failed to allow everyone actively participates and play important role in the program.He neglected the importance of each and everyone’s contribution and effort to the program. He should have made understand what does it means by employee involvement and empowerment; how it will help the company solves the issues and, the ways to do and requirements for the staff involvement and empowerment program. It was worsen when the main facilitator, Martin Griffin, had excused from the session at the time Barbara and team enthusiastically presented their innovative ideas to department heads. The facilitator also fails to aim what kind of outputs he expects at the end of the session.For the successful empowerment program, the organization structure and its enabling environment is very critical. Trust building is very important part of the program especially in this situat ion where staff relationship and morale is poor. It is not only important for the top management level but also the department heads or managers from all other departments are important to accept the concept of staff involvement and empowerment. As the company is on its way of changing to a new era, every staff will have different perspective of interest on how it will affect their current roles, responsibilities and job security.All of which are worth to take in consideration in managing the change process. The managers are not so sure why they require these changes as they have been doing well in the past and they believe they can do it again. On the other hand, every staff has a different management theory and surely they are not on the same page with other management staff or with the company’s current management. It is quite critical to ensure that every management staff equipped with relevant knowledge and skills that will contribute the company’s strategic goals .The staff must have a common understanding of the organizational value, culture, strategic goals and how the empowerment process will add on the success of the organization. Instead of creating problem solving team with managers selected by top management, allow all managers to voluntarily work as cross-functional teams and come up with innovative ideas and opinions. By doing so, each team will have a representative from each specialized departments who has his or her own perspective and issue on the ideas.Contribution from different expertise and background will provide the ideas reach wider scope and reality. Then, each team should discuss the ideas with other teams which may require some modification and negotiation process. If everyone satisfies with the ideas, the staff involvement will be improved and the ideas will become action. It is natural that someone could resist the ideas or changes made by others. But if they are put in a position to be part of a cross-functional tea m that needs to come up with an innovative idea, the discussion environment among the team will tend to be more constructive.In addition, since the company is to undergo a big change, the top management should have implemented a good change management strategy and plan. They should also prepare a communication strategy and plan to inform the staff accordingly. So that it will be clear what is going to happen, why, how and who will be responsible in the change process. The communication strategy and plan is also important as the staffs are very concerned with the change and restructuring process.If the staffs are not well communicated about the changes, the restructuring with many rumors will encourage the staff leaving the organization and looking for a new job which will be a lost the trained and skillful human resources of Elektra. Recommendation to top management in changing Elektra to a new kind of organization and to get back empowerment process on track: * Ensure all staff und erstands what are the vision, mission and strategic goals of Elektra. * Recruit or train staff to ensure the organization is equipped with necessary skills for change management. For eg.Hire a skillful and experienced facilitator who can give time and have a sound facilitation plan. A good facilitation plan must aim some specific objectives, processes of facilitation and expected results * Make sure that everyone understand what empowerment is and why it is important and how it will contribute to the vision, mission and long-term strategic goals * Remove the process of selected problem solving team in an attempt to change Elektra and instead make them voluntarily participate in the cross-functional team which includes representative from each department, different backgrounds etc. Facilitate the department heads/managers to address the underlying causes of each problems in their sector from their perspective and reflect their past experiences * Group the causes and brainstorm all th e managers what should they do to reach a solution to these problems so that they understand and practically involve in the change process * Create an organization structure that will encourage enabling environment and culture for the staff so that they can use their abilities and energies which can then lead to job satisfaction, motivation, commitment by employee. Implement a change management strategy and plan that will ensure the process is on track ( what, why, how and by who throughout the change process) and how it will be sustained. * Identify the transformation leadership team to steer the change and operational leadership team to manage the day-to-day deliverables. * Set a time frame for the change process to reach its goal as to ensure the urgency of the change and effectively response to the continuously evolving environment and available opportunities. * Make your strategy and plan be flexible, daptable, acceptable by all stakeholders and suitable for your company and op erational environment so that the plan will be realistically implemented. * Implement a communication strategy and plan to ensure staff received relevant information with regards to the changes which will reflect their interests. * Ensure that the road map and milestones are carefully prioritize and aligned to reach strategic goals so that the manager can monitor and manage the success or failure in each step towards the strategic goals. Set your operating values in trying to achieve the goals that employee understand what the organization expect and values what kinds of behavior and attitude. * Organize programs and trainings that could enhance the leadership, shared value, cooperate culture and trust building * Build capacity of the staff to gain necessary skills and knowledge in implementing staff involvement and empowerment program Questions (2): Can you think of ways Barbara could have avoided the problems her team faced in the meeting with department heads?The problems with th e department heads are due to the lack of cross-functional contribution, communication, mind-set, role and planning. It could be possible for Barbara to handle the situation by; Barbara and her team should have considered the impact of their ideas and possible response by concerned departments. If Barbara has carefully analyzed what could be the challenges of their ideas, she would have prepared for a back-up or contingency plan to negotiate the departmental heads. By this way her team will have full confident on their own ideas and the department heads will feel confident that the plan was crafted carefully.Barbara should open her mind by accepting for their active feedback with thanks as this is a good opportunity to turn the different department heads in the process. She should have faced the resistance and brought up the concern from each department heads. So that and she can start a cross-functional team to brainstorm the more realistic ideas looking from different perspective. Barbara should explain that the ideas shared by her team are only part of the solution to these problems within their scope and the team requires feedback and opinion in a wider scope from other departments.And before Martin Griffin leaves the workshop, she has to confirm with him that when will be the next workshop to hear feedback from Martin griffin about her team’s presentation. So that when the department heads resist and debate on the new ideas, she can note down the issues raised and let that the feedback from the department heads will be thoroughly discussed in next workshop. By doing so, the department heads will feel they also have a role in the process and Barbara got time to do a plan and consider possible solution to the issues so as to move forward the process.Questions (3): If you were Barbara Russell, what would you do now? Why? If I were Barbara Russell, I will work out to keep motivate my team. I will appreciate the team for their effort and contribution to ward the company. I will make sure the team understands that for our ideas to be stronger, more realistic and practical for all of us, we need to look our ideas from various aspects as we have experienced that various departments have their own issues on our ideas.So, in order to successfully implement our ideas, we need collaboration and commitment from all other departments that we must find ways to solve the concerns of other departments. As working within our own team will limit our expertise and other resources, we require contribution of expertise from different sectors. We must find out a way to get support and collaboration from different departments. I will encourage my team to revisit our ideas, gather information from all departments, try to open our mind to accept, and respect the others’ perspective and ideas.I will discuss with Top management and Martin griffin about our team’s ideas, several issues raised by the department heads. I will reflect my experi ence during the presentation of our team’s ideas, expectation of other staff, feeling and concerns of other departments. I will discuss ways to allow all departments to work together as a whole and discuss what specific strategy and plan should we implement to manage the change process to ensure achievement of our strategic goals.

How Popular Culture Affected Contemporary Christian and Worship Music - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2169 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/07/03 Category Culture Essay Level High school Tags: Pop Culture Essay Did you like this example? It is important to note that Contemporary Worship Music (CWM) is often seen as a sub-genre of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) however both intertwine and throughout history have developed along a similar path. Popular Culture’s influence on both types of music can be grouped together because artists can be easily found to cover both of these genres. Only in the last few decades has CCM and CWM become a world wide industry. Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is a genre which is constantly changing and adapting its sound and approach to the music industry. Sounds adopted from Popular Music In the 1950’s and 1960’s, white evangelical leaders condemned rock and roll music. If one jumps 50 years later the CCM industry is a multi-million pound industry which is still growing to this day. It is important to add that this isn’t the first dramatic change in approach in the 20th century. Black Christians in America had a development in the earlier decades of the 20th century with the growing influence of popular culture on their worship. Afro-Pentecostalism incorporated European hymnody, black spirituals, blues and jazz. Afro-Pentecostal artists were at the forefront of establishing and advancing what is now black gospel music. This immersion of black gospel music acted as a precursor for what was about to happen with Christian Worship Music. In the 1980’s the Vineyard Fellowship, led by John Wimber began worshipping with influences from rock music and the worship band would use standard rock instruments as their basic set-up during times of worship . By the late 1980’s and early 1990’s this musical format began spreading across America and later on across the world. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "How Popular Culture Affected Contemporary Christian and Worship Music" essay for you Create order In his dissertation on the history of christian worship music in modern america, Wen Reagan states that the answer to how rock music made its way from being condemned to an intrical part of CCM and to church services is based around five different categories: ‘historical, demographic, theological, economic, and technological’. The Jesus People Movement in the 60’s was countercultural to the hippie movement and were reaching out to hippies who brought their guitars along to services and after they had established this, young people began writing new songs for the church with their influence of rock music. Reagan also states that ‘The emphasis lay on the exciting freshness of new songs and the belief that God was providing a new message through the music.’ This ‘freshness’ was attractive and even the evangelicals who had condemned rock music were softening their views when they saw this vibrant new music emerging. In the 1980’s as th e Vineyard Fellowship, led by John Wimber, emerged ‘Songs had no set ending and could be adapted to respond to the energy of the congregation and the cadence of the pastor.’ In the 1990’s, Record Labels and distribution companies, specific to CCM, began to pop up and by the 2000’s Christian music began to move into arenas and much larger venues. ‘The import of contemporary musical forms into the church has challenged the sermons preeminence in the liturgy as congregants are drawn to the affective power of rock music (contemporary worship music), its ability to create a powerful, emotional experience of quiet intimacy or loud, celebratory joy with God.’ Wen Reagan. The Vineyard Fellowship pioneered the growth and development of worship music, as it became such an important part of not only church services but of people’s daily lives. Their music was very simple and this was because the simpler the song, the more the congregation could engage and proclaim the words as truth. Music became a tool to lead people into intimacy with God. Travis Reginald Joseph Doucette writes in his thesis for Senior Honours that ‘In an effort to reach lost people and speak in relevant musical language, modern worship music found a home in churches embracing charismatic theology.’ Doucette explains it well with the phrase ‘relevant musical language’. Worship isn’t supposed to be something confusing and hard to listen or sing along to. It is supposed to be accessible for anyone to engage in worship. Sociological situations in the 60’s and 70’s The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time of massive social change which dramatically affected popular culture and the music industry and these two decades were home to many new genres. The counterculture in the 1960’s is difficult to break up into sections because the project aim for many people, involved in the re-shape of culture, was to merge politics, society and culture together. George McKay, in his book on the social and countercultural 1960’s in the USA, talks of radical culture and lists the things involved in the huge change of the 1960’s. ‘music, ways of living, youth and other social movements,’ The younger generation pioneered lots of the changes in society through protesting and there seemed to be a generation gap growing. The emergence of a drug culture played a part in the rise of the hippie movement. The hippie movement were also drawn to meditation, the occult and Native American spirituality and incorporated that into their lives. The movement however faced problems including overcrowding, crime and sexually transmitted diseases. A new wave of hippies began to pop up called ‘Jesus-Freak’ evangelists who encouraged people to follow Jesus Christ and forsake drugs and promiscuous sex. After integrating with a local baptist church, Ted Wise and other ‘Jesus-Freaks’ started a movement of people called ‘Street Christians’ with Pastor John MacDonald who created a coffeehouse called ‘The Living Room’ to help Hippies who were becoming homeless, hungry and sick. As this was going on in the late 1960’s others in the same area, near Haight-Ashbury where the hippies were pouring into, were beginning to preach on the streets. This grew at a rapid pace and by 1969, the interaction between hippie christians and evangelicals was happening all over the United States. The youth were drawn towards the Jesus People because they were very enthusiastic about the use of folk, rock and pop music. This was not the case in terms of the traditional church. In Fact the traditional church frowned upon the use of popular music and the integration of popular cultu re and Christianity. By the late 1970’s the Jesus People movement died down as that generation got older and ran out of steam but effect of the movement was enormous in terms of Christian music and the development of the evangelical church. The movement changed evangelical Christians attitude towards popular culture and the up-beat and rock influence of the Jesus people practically created the Contemporary Christian Music industry. As the years rolled on hymns, choirs and organs were replaced by worship bands and electric guitars. The Vineyard Denomination trace their roots back to the Jesus People movement. The Vineyard Denomination now have over 2,500 churches in six continents. During the 1960’s and progressing into the 1970’s there were numerous campaigns for civil rights, womens rights and gay rights. Small peace movements were energised by social activists and these small groups of students or activist grew into national marches, international campaigning, teach-ins on campus and many other large protests. The cold war, the Vietnam war and other political conflicts led to separation globally and at points things seemed hopeless. Lots of the push for social change came from the younger generation and American youth played a key role in the political protests if this era. The 1960’s and 70’s were a scary time for people in terms of politics and conflict. Along with protesting, people wanted to find an escape or a way out from the fears of the times which led to the youth experimenting with drugs and sex and other methods. This is where popular culture drastically changed and where evangelicals adapted, not because they were being changed by popular culture, but because they wanted to reach out to people who were surrounded by popular culture. One of the main ways the church did this was through music. This is why modern worship music and CCM can be so closely linked to popular music and rock music. Lyrical Content of Contemporary Christian and Worship Music It is important to remember CCM’s significance and individuality in the world of music. Where most art forms are marketed as a product, CCM is all about it being an activity something to join in with. Worship music is often portrayed as a congregational music and that the band who is leading the congregation is not performing but worshiping Jesus Christ. Obviously as popular culture progressed from the 1960’s so did worship music and Contemporary Christian Music. There are similarities in the lyrical content that run throughout the development of CCM and CWM however there are also many differences that can tie into the development of popular music but also relate to the decade of which any particular worship songs was written. The exception being hymns, that many contemporary christian bands and artists occasionally play during a time of worship. Even though there has been a massive development of the lyrical content in CCM in the last 60 years there is an overall residing theme that ties all of the music together. The word of God, The Holy Bible, is and will always be closely linked to Christian music. However CWM is a lot more lyrically based on the scriptures than CCM. Some Christians argue that CCM is so subtle that sometimes you cannot tell the difference between CCM songs and secular songs. For example, Todd Friel, a presenter on Wretched Radio, posted a video on youtube titled ‘Of course Ellen loves Lauren Daigle’. In this 11 minute long opinion piece he shared his views on, what was at the time, one of the top celebrity stories. Lauren Daigle, a CCM artist, topped the secular and Christian charts in the US in 2018 and appeared on the Ellen Show and sang one of her songs from her latest album. Ellen De Generes, the show host, praised the song by Daigle and Todd Friel argued that the reason Ellen loved the song so much, and allowed Lauren to perform on her show, was because the words were â€Å"written in such a way that the lyrics can’t be offensive† and he suggested that â€Å"no Christian can ever be fed by it† because of the lack of â€Å"robust theology†. This is a very one sided view as Friel misses a lot of details about Lauren Daigle and her performance. Many CCM artists write lyrics that don’t directly mention the words Jesus, God or Holy Spirit but are written in a way that reflects their personal journey with Jesus or that talks about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This makes the music a lot more accessible to secular audiences and also allows artists, such as Lauren Daigle, to perform at secular events and shows. The main point that Todd Friel missed is that CCM isn’t supposed to be just for Christians but is in fact a method of outreach and spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. Another incredible band, who write lyrics about God that secular audiences love singing along to, are Skillet. A Christian heavy rock band. They play at so many secular festivals and have a large following of secular audiences. Their songs such as Feel Invincible, Monster and Undefeated are all very popular and the lyrics are really powerful, written so that you wouldn’t realise they were singing about Jesus unless you thought about the lyrics and what they are trying to say in their songs. Contemporary Worship Music is seen as a lot more theological and is used more in church settings than outreach settings. The lyrics are insync with the scriptures and are often songs of praise, thankfulness, invitation, expectancy and surrender. Also, CWM is a lyrically based music because it is through the words that the congregation come together and worship the living God. Worship is also sometimes called sung prayer because it is praying to God through singing. During worship, followers of Jesus have deep encounters with the Holy Spirit where there is healing spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally and Christians believe that worship has the power to change things in their lives and in the lives of every single person who gives their life to Jesus and has a relationship with him. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the living God. Popular culture and popular music’s influence on Contemporary Christian and Worship Music has changed the approach to evangelism and sharing the gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ. The change in the sound and approach to worship music made worshipping Jesus more accessible and more congregational. CCM and CWM are now two world wide industries that are growing and becoming more widely accepted among the global church and secular audiences. Closing this piece will be a quote from John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement. â€Å"Show me where you spend your time, money and energy and Ill tell you what you worship.†