Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Essay Example His stepmother gave birth to seven children, three in Ecton and four after they had immigrated to Boston. However, after the demise of his mother, his polygamous father married a second wife, Abiah Folger, who bore ten children, bringing the total number of siblings to seventeen. This was at a time when America was a colony of Great Britain. As a result of the abject poverty that had ravaged the British colonies during this time, and bearing in mind the many siblings in the family, Benjamin attended Boston Latin school, a clergy school for a couple of years and was forced to end his studies prematurely due to lack of money. Contrary to this, his passion for acquisition of more knowledge, like all his brothers, grew by the day due to interest in books and the zeal for writing. Though his father had been against it from the start, he finally gave way after realizing his son’s undying enthusiasm for writing and the expense of college education, (Woodworth, 1). He finally took him to a school for writing and arithmetic where he really excelled in the former. Realizing he could not further his sons education, his father absorbed him into his tallow-chandler business newly acquired profession in New England. This sharpened his guidance skills especially when they went to forays with the boys in the sea. His zeal for reading grew by the day. All little money he got was spent on books with some of his first collections being John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress and R. Burton's Historical Collections.(Woodworth, 3) The inception of a printing business by his brother James on his return to England further exposed him to a variety of books. He was made his apprentice and through this, he made many acquaintances like Mathew Adams, a resourceful businessperson, who exposed him to variety of books in his library collections, majorly poetry. His writing skills improved immensely for example when he wrote his first poetry of The Lighthouse Tragedy .This was further enhanced by acquisition of the book, Spectator and the inception of his brothers first newspaper, New England Courant, which he secretly contributed to under the disguise of Mrs. Silence Do-good. These articles attracted a lot of publicity in town and he eventually broke ties with his brother after he discovered the popular correspondent was his brother (Woodworth, 3) His journey to Philadelphia saw him work in different printing shops where he nurtured the idea of starting his own printing firm. With support from Sir William Keith, the then Pennsylvania governor, to travel to London to acquire printing gear, he would later establish the notion as unworthy of consideration (Woodworth, 21). However, he made several acquaintances like Charles Osborne, Joseph Watson, and James Ralph, all lovers of reading (Woodworth, 69). With the absence of forthcoming prospects, Ben went back to Philadelphia and established, together with other aspirants and tradesmen, a group called Junto with the noble inte ntion of bettering their community. This was done through excellent ideas that led to building of the library company of Philadelphia (Woodworth, 188). The pooling of enough resources from the junta group saw him begin his life of political lobbyism. Together with his trusted associate, Hugh Meredith, they established their first printing house in Pennsylvania. This led to the publication of their first newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette. Through his diligence and unremitting obsession for freedom

Exam Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Exam Questions - Essay Example Line managers maintain the arduous role of ensuring that employees are achieving performance targets, focusing on proper planning, scheduling and generic supervision to ensure compliance to corporate policies. However, when line managers take on the role of providing HR assistance, they become much more psychologically involved with employees to improve their dedication and motivation. Consider an organisation with a structured production system governed by traditional line management. In the role of HR provider, the line manager goes beyond the work schedule and efficiency measurement, becoming a strategic partner with the human resources division to create value rather than merely productivity. Research in human resources identifies that employee empowerment is one of the most fundamental methods of gaining their commitment and motivation. Empowerment strategies give employees more flexibility in taking active roles in corporate decision-making, thus giving employees a perception o f control and prestige within the organisation. According to Yusoff (2008) when employees are granted more authority, it becomes easier in the long-run to ensure discipline and control. Line managers have the most frequent contact with employees and thus act as the intermediary for team development. Line management has more intimate knowledge of employees’ attitudes, lifestyle preferences and skills capabilities than that of the HR manager due to their close proximity in the production (or non-production) environments. This gives line managers a unique ability to utilise many different HR theories to ensure that they become more like coaches or mentors than simply authoritative line managers to assist in developing employees’ core competencies. For instance, in a production environment, there is a constant demand for change. Change comes in the form of new technology implementation or systems process restructuring in order to meet cost or strategic-based performance or output goals. The line manager acting as an HR facilitator can become more active in training provision, giving employees hands-on tacit knowledge that can be transferred for better organisational learning and knowledge exchange. According to Bambacas and Bordia (2009, p.225) when training is provided that is perceived as being non-transferrable to another business, it becomes too costly for the employee to leave in pursuit of different employment. Traditionally, the HR manager handles the process of developing and implementing training packages. However, when involving the line manager, the management team can provide a distinctly different element to ensuring employees have the knowledge and skills to accept and embrace changes in the work environment. Line managers hold intimate knowledge of the systems that drive organisational productivity and can thus take this self-contained, tacit knowledge and disseminate it directly through concrete and applied training; something not ach ievable with the HR manager who is not personally familiar with operational systems. The line manager empowers employees, establishing a sense of group belonging in the team, constantly reinforcing that uniqueness of the training packages to gain a psychological advantage over employees. By using both line