Job Satisfaction in MNCs

Job Satisfaction in MNCs Job Satisfaction in MNC Introduction Job satisfaction is one of most important fields of study in the subject of human resource management. This important role of job satisfaction function leads the way in assuring high level of job satisfaction among the employees. Job satisfaction function of any HR vertical of an organization is primarily responsible for productivity of employees and the employee turnover. Since these two aspects can make or break the organizations performance in all areas, it requires attention from top management. Job satisfaction function generally is part of the HR vertical with a clear mandate of motivating employee and continuously striving for higher employee job satisfaction through introduction of new policies and frameworks. The topic forms an integral part of organizational effectiveness and that has instigated me to choose this topic of job satisfaction. I shall try to study the existing literature on job satisfaction and will choose multinational companies to study their varied job satis faction strategies and make analysis. Job satisfaction function is a vast topic and cannot be completely covered in this dissertation. Various researchers have already published their research articles on this subject. I shall be developing on it through understanding the different strategies used by MNCs in todays business environment for maintaining better levels of job satisfaction. Job satisfaction as stated earlier is a complex topic and hence i will try to break it down to simpler and more realistic frameworks to understand the thought process of an organization to ensuring better job satisfaction amongst its employees. According to Wood (1973), â€Å"job satisfaction is the condition of contentment with ones work and its environment, denoting a positive attitude.† Locke (1976) stated that, â€Å"job satisfaction could be viewed as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences.† In other words, it can also be stated that, â€Å"job satisfaction was simply a function of the degree to which a job provided the worker with positively values outcomes.† Wanous (1980) said that, â€Å"job satisfaction was a match between a persons need and the reinforcement received from work performed in an organization.† The HR vertical of any organization shall try to achieve higher levels of job satisfaction through various techniques like awards program, job rotation, internal promotion scheme, family tours and training processes. There is no destination to achieving job satisfaction but the journey is perpetual in nature. Continuous improvement is the name of the game in achieving relatively good job satisfaction amongst the employees. The measure of job satisfaction can only be achieved through comparison in similar industries and through the employee turnover and productivity data. Job satisfaction is one of the most widely discussed and enthusiastically studied constructs. However, job satisfaction is among the most difficult constructs to define. A review of literature shows that constituted definitions of the construct vary from one researcher to the next. Wood (1973) describe the job satisfaction as â€Å"the condition of contentment with ones work and its in my mind, denoting a positive attitude†(p.8.). Locke (1976) stated that job satisfaction could be viewed as â€Å" a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences.† (p.1300) there are several reasons for studying job satisfaction. â€Å" Organizations major job satisfaction primarily because of its presumed direct relationship to the short-term goals of cost reduction through increased individual productivity and reduced absences, errors, and turnover.† (Cranny et al, 1992). Levels of job dissatisfaction have been found to be related to job turnover, absences, and tardiness. Turnover rates have been the most consistent major associated with job satisfaction. The potential negative consequences of employee turnover in terms of the impact of organizations. Negative effects of job turnover can include: increased costs to recruit, select and train new employer; demoralization of remaining employees; decreased social relationships among employees; negative public relations; disruption of a hi-fi and two-day activities; and decreased organizational possibilities to pursue growth strategies. In fact, several researchers reported a significant relationship between absenteeism and job satisfaction. According to Lawler (1977), â€Å"the research evidence clearly shows that employees decisions about whether they will go to work on any given day and whether they will quit as affected by their feelings of job satisfaction. All the literature reviews on the subject have reached the same conclusion. The fact that present satisfaction influences future absenteeism and turnover clearly indicates that the commercial direction is from satisfaction to behavior.† The literature also reveals that there is a coalition chip between job satisfaction and variables such as achievement, recognition, the word itself, responsibility, advancement, policy and administration, supervision, salary, interpersonal relations, working conditions, EH, Ted Newell, educational level, job activities, and gender. The Purpose of the Study The purpose to choose this topic is to analyze the importance of job satisfaction in Multi National Companies (MNCs). The reason to go for MNCs is the increase in the shift over of the employees for future growth. The shifting, thus, includes the satisfaction in the given job role. Through my research, I will try to analyze the causes and effect relationship between the employee and the factors behind job satisfaction in a given MNC. Aim of the Study The main aim of the study is to investigate the remains leading to negative and positive job satisfaction in a MNC. The Objectives of the Study The key objectives of the chosen topic are: 1. Estimating the causes of employee attitudes. 2. Adjudging the results of positive or negative job satisfaction 3. Measuring the employee attitude 4. To assess facet-specific levels of job satisfaction 5. To measure general job satisfaction, Literature Review There are several reasons for studying job satisfaction. â€Å"Organizations measure job satisfaction primarily because of its presumed direct relationship to the short-term goals of cost reduction through increased individual productivity and reduced absenteeism, errors, and dissatisfaction has been found to be related to job turnover, absenteeism and tardiness.† Turnover rates have been the most constraints measure associated with job satisfaction (Atchison Lofferts, 1972; Brayfield Crockett, 1955l Dawis Lofquist, 1981). Mowday (1984) recapitulate the probable pessimistic significance of employee turnover in terms of the impact on organizations. There are various impacts of pessimism in job satisfaction on the turnover of the company such as: * Increase in the recruitment cost. * Recruiting new employees and then training them as well. * It can lead to reduced social relations ships among employees. * No or only few public relations. * Reduction in companys prospects which can hamper the growth. According to Lawler (2005), â€Å"the research evidence clearly shows that employees decisions about whether they will get to work on any given day and whether they will quit are effected by their feelings of job satisfaction. The fact that present satisfaction influences future absenteeism and turnover clearly indicates the causal direction is from satisfaction to behavior†. There is a correlation between job satisfaction and variables such as achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, policy and administration, working conditions, supervision, job activities and gender. Research Methodology Saunders et al (2005) â€Å"Research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure†. The research to be followed is a step-by-step process. This makes the entire research process systematic. Only primary research shall be used to draw inferences. The sources used shall be of international repute and will be trustworthy. The main source will be case study and also some books, journals, articles and publications including Internet sources. Literature review Job satisfaction in regards to ones feeling or state of mind regarding nature of their work. Job can be influenced by variety of factors like quality of ones relationship with their supervisor, quality of physical environment in which they work, degree of fulfillment in their work, etc. Positive attitude towards job are equivalent to job satisfaction where as negative attitude towards job has been defined variously from time to time. In short job satisfaction is a persons attitude towards job. Job satisfaction is an attitude which results from balancing summation of many specific likes and dislikes experienced in connection with the job- their evaluation may rest largely upon ones success or failure in the achievement of personal objective and upon perceived combination of the job and combination towards these ends. According to pestonejee, â€Å"Job satisfaction can be taken as a summation of employees feelings in four important areas.† These are: 1. Job-nature of work (dull, dangerous, interesting), hours of work, fellow workers, opportunities on the job for promotion and advancement (prospects), overtime regulations, interest in work, physical environment, and machines and tools. 2. Management- supervisory treatment, participation, rewards and punishments, praises and blames, leaves policy and favoritism. 3. Social relations- friends and associates, neighbors, attitudes towards people in community, participation in social activity socialibility and caste barrier. 4. Personal adjustment-health and emotionality. Job satisfaction is an indicator of employee productivity and employee behavior at work. This may include inter employee relations, pro-activeness of employee, employee absenteeism no. of feedbacks from employees. These all factors are a direct measure of employee satisfaction of the job. The direct correlation has been established by earlier researchers and moreso there is logical evidence to it in any business or industry. The higher levels of job satisfaction is evident in an organization through lower absenteeism rates, low employee turnover, high employee productivity , proactively level of employees, labor unrest issues and participation in managerial decisions. Obviously, every organization desires for higher levels of employee job satisfaction; however it is a long drawn process with continuous improvement and direct focus from the senior leadership team of the organization. Job satisfaction cannot be used interchangeably with organizational morale; which the possessions of feeling have being accepted by and belonging to a group of employees through adherence to common goals and confidence in desirability of these goals. Morale is the by-product of the group, while job satisfaction is more an individual state of mind. DEFINITIONS OF JOB SATISFACTION Different authors give various definitions of job satisfaction. Some of them are taken from the book of D.M. Pestonjee â€Å"Motivation and Job Satisfaction† which are given below: As per Weiss, â€Å"Job satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable, emotional, state resulting from appraisal of ones job. â€Å"An effective reaction to ones job.† For Blum and Naylor, â€Å"Job satisfaction is general attitude, which is the result of many specific attitudes in three areas namely†: 1. Precise occupation features. 2. Personal distinctiveness 3. Group association exterior from the work According to Glimmer, â€Å"Job satisfaction is defined, as it is result of various attitudes the person hold towards the job, towards the related factors and towards the life in general.† Job satisfaction is defined as â€Å"any contribution, psychological, physical, and environmental circumstances that cause a person truthfully say, I am satisfied with my job.† Mr. Smith stated, â€Å"Job satisfaction is defined, as employees judgment of how well his job on a whole is satisfying his various needs† According to Locke, â€Å"Job satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable or positive state of mind resulting from appraisal of ones job or job experiences.† HISTORY OF JOB SATISFACTION The term job satisfaction was brought to lime light by hoppock (1935). He revived 35 studies on job satisfaction conducted prior to 1933 and observes that Job satisfaction is combination of psychological, physiological and environmental circumstances. That causes a person to say. â€Å"I m satisfied with my job†. Such a description indicate the variety of variables that influence the satisfaction of the individual but tell us nothing about the nature of Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction has been most aptly defined by Pestonjee (1973) as â€Å"a job, management, personal adjustment social requirement. Morse (1953) considers Job satisfaction as dependent upon job content, identification with the co., financial job status priding group cohesiveness.† One of the biggest preludes to the study of job satisfaction was the Hawthorne study. These studies (1924-1933), primarily credited to Elton Mayo of the Harvard Business School, sought to find the effects of various conditions (most notably illumination) on workers productivity. Hawthorne Studies It is considered to be one of the best researches done on the job satisfaction. It was conducted by Mayo, Roethlisberger Dickson during the late 1920s and early 1930s at the Western Electric Company. Western Electric Management enlisted the help of Harvard business School professor is Elton Mayo, F.J Roethlisberger, and William Dickson, to help increase the output of workers assembling telephone release. The research started out as an investigation of the effects of physical working conditions on worker productivity, but ended up very differently. Mayo, Roethlisberger Dickson originally begin experimenting with the amount of lighting, expecting that productivity would rise as elimination increased to an optimum level. However, the hypothesis that productivity would write just as elimination increased to an optimum level was strongly disapproved why, after several experiments in large departments of the plant, it was discovered that changes in productivity occurred quite independently of B level of elimination. Mayo, Roethlisberger Dickson then started experimenting by introducing rest pauses of different lengths and different frequencies during the work day, supplying coffee breaks at various points in the day, and shortening the length of the world today at the work week. The results of the second part of the experiment were more amazing there was an upward trend in output, regardless of the introduction or withdrawal of rest periods, lunches, coffee breaks, shorter workdays, or shorten workweeks. Furthermore, avoid the experiment ended after a year, and the original conditions of work were restored in all previous privileges withdrawn,† the daily and weekly output rose to our point higher than at any other time.† (Mayo, 1933, pp.62-63) In addition, morale among the relay assembly room workers improved dramatically. There was a sharp increase in the amount of socializing among workers after ours. Moreover, absenteeism decreased 80% (Roethlisberger Dickson 1939). According to Dawis Lofquist (1981),† the Hawthorne studies have been credited with limiting research into the causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.† These researches eventually illustrated that original alterations in job situations provisionally enhanced efficiency (called the Hawthorne Effect). It was later found that this increase resulted, not from the new conditions, but from the knowledge of being observed. This finding provided strong evidence that people work for purposes other than pay, which paved the way for researchers to investigate other factors in job satisfaction. Scientific management (aka Taylorism) also had a significant impact on the study of job satisfaction. Frederick Winslow Taylors 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management, argued that there was a single best way to perform any given work task. This book contributed to a change in industrial production philosophies, causing a shift from skilled labor and piecework towards the more modern approach of assembly lines and hourly wages. The initial use of scientific management by industries greatly increased productivity because workers were forced to work at a faster pace. However, workers became exhausted and dissatisfied, thus leaving researchers with new questions to answer regarding job satisfaction. It should also be noted that the work of W.L. Bryan, Walter Dill Scott, and Hugo Munsterberg set the tone for Taylors work. Some argue that Maslows hierarchy of needs theory, a motivation theory, laid the foundation for job satisfaction theory. This theory explains that people seek to satisfy five specific needs in life physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization. This model served as a good basis from which early researchers could develop job satisfaction theories. Maslows hierarchy of needs Abraham Maslow, in a classic paper published in 1943, outlined the elements of an overall theory of human motivation. Maslow viewed human motivation in terms of a hierarchy of five needs: psychology: needs; safety need; belonging there is an alarm needs; S team needs; and, the need for self actualization (Maslow, 1970). According to Maslow, 1970, in the majors are motivated to fulfill whichever need was pre-portend, almost fourfold, for them at a given time. The pre-potency of the meat depended on the EBV twirls current situation and recent experiences. Starting with physical needs, which were most basic, each meat must be at least partially dissatisfied before the Indian visual experience to the desire to satisfy a need at the next higher level. Maslows need hierarchy is illustrated in 1. According to Sergiovanni (1984) and Davis and Newstrom (1989), physiological needs more likely to serve as motivators among workers in todays society, as most jobs issue or the fulfillment of physiological needs, such as food and shelter. However, higher level needs (belonging is and loved needs, S team needs, and the need for self actualization) may influence levels of employee motivation (Davis Newstrom, 1989). Levels of job satisfaction: Level can be defined as an extent, major, or degree of achievement. Job satisfaction is a difficult construct a defined. Job satisfaction can be defined generally as the degree to which individuals feel positively or negatively about their jobs. 2.3 IMPORTANCE OF JOB SATISFACTION Ø Job satisfaction is an important indicator of how employees feel about their job and a predictor of work behavior such as organizational, citizenship, Absenteeism, Turnover. Ø Job satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variables and deviant work behavior. Ø Common research finding is that job satisfaction is correlated with life style. This correlation is reciprocal meaning the people who are satisfied with the life tends to be satisfied with their jobs and the people who are satisfied their jobs tends to satisfied with their life. Ø This is vital piece of information that is job satisfaction and job performance is directly related to one another. Thus it can be said that, â€Å"A happy worker is a productive worker.† 2.4 Job Satisfaction: Importance to worker organization Job contentment and work-related achievement are main factors in individual satisfaction, self-worth, sense of worth, and self-development. To the employee, job satisfaction brings a pleasant expressive state that can often lead to a affirmative work attitude. A pleased worker is more likely to be imaginative, flexible, innovative, and dependable. For the organization, job satisfaction of its workers means a work force that is enthused and dedicated to high quality performance. Augmented output- the quantity and quality of output per hour worked seem to be a by creation of enhanced class of working life. It is vital to note that the literature on the association between job happiness and output is neither definite nor consistent. On the other hand, research dating back to Herzbergs time (1957) has shown at least low association between high confidence and high efficiency and it does seem logical that more satisfied workers will be likely to add more worth to an organization. Discontented employees, who are stimulated by fear of loss of job, will not give 100 percent of their effort for a very long time. Although apprehension is a powerful motivator, it is also a brief one, and also as soon as the threat is lifted performance will decline. Employment satisfaction profits the organization and includes reduction in complaints and grievances, employee absenteeism, work force turnover, and termination; as well as improved regularity and worker morale. Job liking is also linked with a improved work force and has been found to be a good pointer of prolonged existence. Even though only slight connection has been found amongst job satisfaction and productivity, Brown (1996) writes that few employers have discovered that satisfying or delighting work force is one of the most important prerequisite to satisfying or delighting customers, thus ensuring the growth of â€Å"bottom line† of the organization. Job Satisfaction: Employees Responsibility If job contentment is a worker advantage, certainly the employee must be talented to add to his or her own contentment and comfort on the job. The following suggestions can assist an employee to find his or her own satisfaction at job: search for opportunities to display skills and aptitude. This repeatedly leads to even more demanding work and higher responsibilities, with assistant increases in salary and other recognition and rewards. * Build up extraordinary communiquà © skills. Companys value and rewards excellent reading, listening, writing and speaking skills. * Be acquainted with more. Obtain new work related information and skill that helps you to complete job more economically and effectively. This will take off monotony and often gets one noticed. * Reveal creativity and initiative. Merits like these are respected by most companies and often come with in recognition as well as improved responsibilities and promotions. * Initiate teamwork and man management skills. A big part of job related achievement is the aptitude to work well with others to get the job done. Accept the diversity in people. Accept people with their differences and their imperfections and learn how to give and receive criticism constructively. See the value in your work. Appreciating the significance of what one does can lead to satisfaction with the work itself. This help to give meaning to ones existence, thus playing a vital role in job satisfaction. Learn to de-stress. Plan to avoid burn out by developing healthy stress management techniques. FACTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION Hoppock, the earliest investigator in this field, in 1935 suggested that there are six major components of job satisfaction. These are as under: The way the individual reacts to unpleasant situations, The facility with which he adjusted himself with other person The relative status in the social and economic group with which he identifies himself The nature of work in relation to abilities, interest and preparation of worker Security Loyalty Herzberg, mausaer, Peterson and capwell in 1957 reviewed more than 150 studies and listed various job factors of job satisfaction. These are briefly defined one by one as follows: 1. Intrinsic aspect of job It includes all of the many aspects of the work, which would tend to be constant for the work regardless of where the work was performed. 2. Supervision This aspect of job satisfaction pertains to relationship of worker with his immediate superiors. Supervision, as a factor, generally influences job satisfaction. 3. Working conditions This includes those physical aspects of environment which are not necessary a part of the work. Hours are included this factor because it is primarily a function of organization, affecting the individuals comfort and convenience in much the same way as other physical working conditions. 4. Wage and salaries This factor includes all aspect of job involving present monitory remuneration for work done. 5. Opportunities for advancement It includes all aspect of job which individual sees as potential sources of betterment of economic position, organizational status or professional experience. 6. Security It is defined to include that feature of job situation, which leads to assurance for continued employment, either within the same company or within same type of work profession. 7. Company management It includes the aspect of workers immediate situation, which is a function of organizational administration and policy. It also involves the relationship of employee with all company superiors above level of immediate supervision. 8. Social aspect of job It includes relationship of worker with the employees specially those employees at same or nearly same level within the organization. 9. Communication It includes job situation, which involves spreading the information in any direction within the organization. Terms such as information of employees status, information on new developments, information on company line of authority, suggestion system, etc, are used in literature to represent this factor. 10. Benefits It includes those special phases of company policy, which attempts to prepare the worker for emergencies, illness, old age, also. Company allowances for holidays, leaves and vacations are included within this factor. 2.7 REASONS OF LOW JOB SATISFACTION Reasons why employees may not be completely satisfied with their jobs: 1. Conflict between co-workers. 2. Conflict between supervisors. 3. Not being opportunity paid for what they do. 4. Have little or no say in decision making that affect employees. 5. Fear of losing their job. 2.8 EFFECTS OF LOW JOB SATISFACTION 1. HIGH ABSENTEEISM Absenteeism means it is a habitual pattern of absence from duty or obligation. If there will be low job satisfaction among the employees the rate of absenteeism will definitely increase and it also affects on productivity of organization. In the above diagram line AB shows inverse relationship between job satisfaction and rate of turnover and rate of absenteeism. As the job satisfaction is high the rate of both turns over and absenteeism is low and vise a versa. 2. HIGH TURNOVER In human resource refers to characteristics of a given company or industry relative to the rate at which an employer gains and losses the staff. If the employer is said to be have a high turnover of employees of that company have shorter tenure than those of other companies. 3.TRAINING COST INCREASES As employees leaves organization due to lack of job satisfaction. Then Human resource manager has to recruit new employees. So that the training expenditure will increases. Key parameters for Job Satisfaction 1. Training and Job Satisfaction- Most of the literature in this area has focused on the impact of education and skills on job satisfaction rather than the effect of training as such. The relationship between skill acquisition and job satisfaction is not straightforward. First, there is the distinction between general and specific skills. The portability of general skills may raise job satisfaction as it is easier to move to other jobs where satisfaction is higher. In contrast, specific skills bind the worker to the firm and may reduce satisfaction by creating a barrier to exit as workers will lose a portion of the return on such skills if they move. This leads on to the question of the matching of individual skills and levels of education with job requirements. If workers are mismatched in terms of skill and education requirements, this may lower job satisfaction, as evidenced in the earlier literature. In one of the few studies to focus on skilling, Allen and van der Velden (2001) differentiated between education and skill mismatches, finding only a weak relationship between the two. Importantly, they found a significant negative relationship between skill mismatch and job satisfaction, while the link between education mismatch and job satisfaction was insignificant. Training may influence workplace performance directly by raising output per worker, or be measured indirectly through its impact on the wage on the assumption that this is equal to the marginal productivity of labour. However, this will not be the case if there are imperfections in the product or labour markets. The nature of training has been examined in a number of studies. Thus Barrett and OConnell (1998) found that specific training had a bigger impact on wages and productivity than general training. Mason et al. (1996) found that both value added and product quality were higher where workers were trained to take charge of several production lines at once. Cosh et al. in a series of papers (1998, 2000 and 2003) found that training had a strong and significant effect on employment growth in small firms when it was undertaken regularly rather than on an ad hoc basis. Especially for larger firms there was also an association between intensity of training and profitability. Training may also stimulate innovation in the workplace (Bartel and Lichtenberg, 1987). Therefore it is doubtful whether different types of training impact either equally or positively on performance. Finally, training can have an indirect effect on performance if it increases job satisfaction by, for example, making it easier for employees to perform the job or feel more valued (as in Akerlofs 1982 conceptualisation of the labour contract as a gift-exchange). Petty et al.s 1984 meta-analysis confirms such outcomes. In contrast, if workers feel dissatisfied they may react in a number of ways (Farrell, 1983): through a sense of loyalty they may stick it out; use a voice mechanism (Freeman, 1978, Freeman and Medoff, 1984); neglect their responsibilities to the employer by absence, lateness, striking or reduced effort (Akerlof and Yellin, 1986); or exit (Jovanovic, 1979, Burdett and Mortenson, 1998). 2. Quits and Job Satisfcation- Until recently there had been

Pros And Cons Of Credit Cards English Language Essay

Pros And Cons Of Credit Cards English Language Essay Nowadays credit cards are of great convenience. Credit Card is a kind of bank plastic cards, which is tied to the personal account of the bank, which bank offers the customer with a credit line without filing liens and guarantees. AS a fact, to get a credit card is more complicated than a debit card as a credit card means the loan. Typically, a credit card issued by a commercial bank to obtain consumer credit for any urgent needs of the client, as this is the easiest option of processing the loan and the original amount of the credit facility is generally not very high. Credit card should be used wisely and cautiously. The main advantage of a credit card is the use of the credit funds. If people receive a consumer credit, they must pay interest on a loan. A credit card is a convenient way to pay for the goods and services. As a fact, nowadays people pay no more attention to the cash money, as they have credit cards. If a person does not like to ask to borrow money, banknote may be fall-back option in case before the wages are not enough money. A credit card is absolutely indispensable when booking a hotel or car rental. In such cases, the correct amount is not deducted, but only blocked on the clients account. Interest on the amount of lockable is not charged. As disadvantages, there can be attributed the restrictions set by the bank for cash. The disadvantage of credit cards is that not all outlets accept credit cards to pay for their goods or services, but all more or less large retail chains can pay by credit (and debit) card. With a credit card, you can withdraw cash using the ATM network of an y bank. True to withdraw cash on credit cards have limitations, but you can always get the remaining amount to another ATM or in the same, by entering your card and pin code again. [1] In the banks, credit card processing practiced as part of the contract to the target consumer loans, for example, when you make a loan to purchase home appliances. In the loan agreement the conditions for issuing credit cards are specified and the whole mechanism of its transmission to the client, for example, after full repayment of the first loan. Often there are situations when people get credit cards in the mail, it is outraged, believing that the bank simply imposes his card. And not to fall into such an awkward position should carefully read all the terms of any credit agreement are signed. [5] The money people all over the world spend using credit cards, does not actually exist. It should be noted that the money has gone virtual and there are a lot of cases of cheating and hacking of the credit cards, as the whole system is not perfect. As a fact, credit does not do any good, as there emerge many different problems caused by the credit cards and the taken credit, when people purchase a lot and become shopaholics. Consequently, nowadays to survive and to live comfortable life, people us credit cards to buy different things, from a pen to a flat with the help of a credit card. For that, everyone needs a stable highly paid job to cope with the difficulties arising. And many people live in debt while shopping constantly and purchasing plenty of unnecessary things. Debt is the latest concern in our society and there should be found a solution to the way of spending money. Individuals and governments are struggling to cope with the debt and offer different options to solve the problem. Also, marketing credit card companies have had to stop towards high school and college kids in order to help keep them out of debt before graduation, as there is very high percentage of people living in debt and have no way out. Nowadays it is a severe problem for the people all over the world, who use credit cards and who constantly have a temptation to purchase goods, even if they dont need them. And especially thi s problem is about adolescents who do not work yet and already have an access to the credit cards. [3] Either way it should be remembered that buying goods with the credit card, we hereby affirm the agreement to buy the goods at a price much higher than the real price of the product itself is. This is called I want it now, that further includes paying more for the goods. It remains only to compare the size of this proportion with the rate of inflation. Everyone knows that credit stimulates consumption and, consequently, production. But any loan borrower must provide certain guarantees on their credit obligations. Excessive credit entails a chronic excess of the rate of consumption over the pace of increase in income of the loan borrowers and, therefore, guarantees taken credit obligations. Imagine for a moment that all that you are using was purchased on credit. The car, which you navigate to work and shop, as well as TV, refrigerator, furniture everything bought on credit, and often this is added to the most important apartment on credit. Your only guarantee your monthly salary. O f course, you have no savings, because almost all of your wages goes to pay for the credit for those things that you use. Such loans are called sub-prime. This is the way most Americans live. Now imagine for a moment that you or someone from your friends lost their jobs. The next day in front of your house there would be a queue of creditors to declare the guarantee or to pay obligations. You are nervously looking for decent jobs with wages sufficient for your monthly payment obligations. If you do not pay for the credit on time, on your account penalties are applied. In the worst case, your property is started with a hammer. But imagine this same situation, but only on a global scale. You cannot pay off the loan, your property is auctioned, but no one at the auction would buy it, because the neighbors of your neighbors would be in exactly the same situation. Automatically starts the crisis in the banking sector, falling demand, and, of course, there comes a decline in production. [ 2] Time flies very quickly. Think about it: not so long ago, buying something on credit could safely assume status act. Now buying on credit is a commonplace, routine activity, nothing to do with the advance. All kinds of people do it, often without thinking about consequences. It is no secret: take credit when you do not have enough money to have the right to pay the entire purchase (for the washing machine, a car or a new apartment). So from a rational, practical point of view a credit is a direct alternative to hoarding. Credit stimulates consumption, and thus serves as an additional battery for the production. Credit is just the ideal solution for implementing the words I want it right now. But the total loan creates the illusion of an exaggeration of your financial opportunities. Some people are so accustomed to use credit cards that they often fail to notice how quickly their red account balance reaches the size of the monthly salary. [4] Today it is too difficult to stay away from the banks and credit, since we live in an age of capitalism. And if we live, therefore we adopt the rules of the game that the banks set. Banks rule the world nowadays. If you want an apartment take the credit, you want the car take the credit, you want a great vacation you are welcome! Take a credit voucher. And if you save for the same things without taking a credit, is there any sense to rejoice over it in old age? Credit for today for the majority nowadays is both the way out and the prison Interest loan lately is very crucial. Now with a credit card a person can buy almost everything from simple TV and mobile phone to a car, apartment and a country house. There is no dispute that credit is extremely convenient and profitable invention of mankind. But, as says the popular proverb, every cloud has a silver lining. And vice versa.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay -- Steinbeck Mice Men Essays

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Relationships are essential in everybody's life. Having no real friends makes life dull, dark and lonely. Loneliness is a big theme in Of Mice and Men, George and Lennie are set apart from Slim, Crooks and Candy. They have something unique a special bond with each other. Each character influences, plays a role to the other characters. Steinbeck's portrayal of the men's relationship seems minimal, but is in fact monumental. The setting of Mice and Men takes place on a ranch where George and Lennie meet Slim, Candy, Crooks, Carlson, Curly and Curly's wife. Although the story takes place over a three-day span, all the characters make a relationship with one another. One relationship is between George, Candy and Lennie. Candy a lonely man, is pressured into having his dog shot he confides in George about his regret. In return, George tells them of their dream. Now they have a bond, and share a goal that is within grasp. Candy is a true friend he helps during a crisis in a minute you come out and tell the guys about her, and I'll co...

Behavioral Genetics Essay examples -- Psychology

Is behavior learned? It is inborn? What of aggression, intelligence, and madness? There is a crucial relationship between the behavior of humans toward their own kind and the view of life they hold. Interest in behavioral genetics depends on wanting to know why people differ. According to Jack R. Vale, in Genes, Environment, and Behavior, recognition of the importance of hereditary influence on behavior represents one of the most dramatic changes in the social and behavioral sciences during the past two decades. A shift began toward the more balanced contemporary view that recognizes genetic as well as environmental influences on behavior. Behavioral genetics lies in its theory and methods, which consider both genetic and environmental sources of behavioral differences among individuals. Behavioral genetics is simply the intersection between genetics and the behavioral sciences. Behavior is a phenotype that is, an observable characteristic we can measure. On the other hand, behavior is not just another phenotype. According to Robert Plomin in Behavioral Genetics, â€Å"Because behavior involves the action of the whole organism rather than the action of a single molecule, a single cell, or a single organ, behavior is the most complex phenomenon that can be studied genetically. Unlike some physical characteristics, behavior is dynamic, changing in response to the environment indeed, behavior is at the cutting edge of evolution text, because its focus is on the complexity of behavioral phenotypes†(2). Obviously, there can be no behavior without both an organism and an environment. For a particular behavior, what causes differences among individuals? For example, what causes individual differences in c... ...al; Human Studies. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970. Print. Eaves, Lindon J., Judy L. Silberg, Joanne M. Meyer, Hermine H. Maes, Emily Simonoff, Andrew Pickles, Michael Rutter, Chandra A. Reynolds, Andrew C. Heath, Kimberly R. Truett, Michael C. Neale, Marilyn T. Erikson, Rolf Loeber, and John K. Hewitt. "Genetics and Developmental Psychopathology: 2. The Main Effects of Genes and Environment on Behavioral Problems in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38.8 (1997): 965-80. Print. Plomin, Robert, J. C. DeFries, and G. E. McClearn. Behavioral Genetics: a Primer. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1990. Print. Rothstein, Carson. Behavioral Genetics. Baltimore: John Hopkins UP, 1999. Print. Vale, Jack R. Genes, Environment, and Behavior: an Interactionist Approach. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. Print.

The Newfoundland & Labrador Essays -- Advertising

Travel advertisements are created to inspire. They are constructed to be visually appealing and intriguing, yet they must also maintain a distinct trace of the exotic. The embedded foreignness in travel advertisements spark curiosity, which in turn seeks to enlighten the reader’s sense of adventure. The advertisement coauthored by the Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Tourism (henceforth referred to as â€Å"NL Tourism†) and the Canadian airline WestJet is no exception. What sets this particular advertisement apart, however, are the elements of publication dynamics and design that combine harmoniously to sell an idea. The advertisement was published in travel section of Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, a newspaper that is circulated across Canada. The publication selection hints at the advertisement’s intended audience. It would be fair to deduce that readers of The Globe and Mail are fairly educated since The Globe often features analyses of issues that are of international importance. Readers are also perhaps middle aged, as newspaper is becoming an antiquated medium in society, and they are likely to have decent salaries, for the weekend edition of the newspaper costs $3.88 alone. WestJet and NL Tourism are targeting people with a healthy discretionary income. This is especially true considering The Globe is published in Toronto, which is a popular economic and financial centre of Canada. The advertisement size, a full-colour back page, is also intended to draw attention to the reader and possible onlookers. Finally, the advertisement’s publication date of Saturday, 25 Februa ry 2012, is also strategic. It comes at a time when people may be thinking about summer vacations and journeys to visit home. The sunny, placid overtone fe... ... way ticket, but suggests that perhaps a one way ticket is the only direction the reader needs. The passage in the fine print correlates to the idea of time zones and escape, further inviting the reader to discover the Province. Through tactical publication placement and quality visual aesthetics, the advertisement cultivates appeal. The idea being marketed embodies core concepts of the desire to travel: relaxation, exploration, and the regress to a more simple state of living. These concepts are promoted as what the reader deserves. Venturing to Newfoundland and the Conception Bay sunshine should be the priority of the reader after viewing the advertisement. The description on the uniqueness of place fulfills the impression that Newfoundland and Labrador is unconventional and alluring. In just three short hours from Toronto, the secluded bay awaits your arrival.

Direct & Indirect Leadership

Direct vs. Indirect Leadership The term leadership is a word taken from the common vocabulary and incorporated into the technical vocabulary, of a scientific discipline without being precisely redefined. As a consequence, it carries extraneous connotations that create ambiguity of meaning (Janda, 1960). Leadership has been described as the â€Å"process of social influence, in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task†. Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people, i. e†¦ onformity, peer pressure and socialization. (Wikipedia). The military definition of Leadership is influencing people—by providing purpose, direction, and motivation—while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization. Getting people to do what you want them to do. It is the means or method to achieve two ends: operating and improving. But there’s more to influencing than simply passing along orders. The example you set is just as important as the words you speak. And you set an example—good or bad—with every action you take and word you utter, on or off duty. Through your words and example, you must communicate purpose, direction, and motivation (FM 22-100 Chapter 1The Leadership Framework). Military leadership could be different from the rest of the world. Most corporations, companies and jobs are not bound by and oath, some may be. But what they do have in common, you don’t get to pick your leadership style. In the army you were sworn by an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies foreign and domestic so help you God and obey the orders of those appointed over you. In others words you didn’t have a choice, to pick what style of leadership you wanted. Most military leadership is a form of direct leadership. Generals communicate with field Commanders through teleconference, e-mails and speeches updating and talk about rules and regulation that effect their immediate command. Reinforcing, the army mission, its values and goals. Commanders are different they provide direct and indirect leadership, they are the one’s closet to the ground solider. Examples of direct leadership include formations, inspections and motor pool visits. They meet with their chain of command on a daily basis, to discuss and update them on changes to policies and regulation. Ensuring that all rules and regulation are being followed according to Department of Defense (DOD) and Uniform Code of Military Justice addressing all concerns and issues under their Chain of Command. Examples of more direct leadership include memos too change to policy, speaking at New Solider Orientation and before field training exercise. A form of indirect leadership by a CEO is called â€Å"cascading† (Bass, Waldman, Avolio, & Bebb, 1987; Waldman & Yammarino, 1999; Yammarino, 1994), occurs when the direct influence of the CEO on immediate subordinates is transmitted down the authority hierarchy of an organization (e. g. , from the CEO to middle managers, to lower-level managers, to regular employees. In this case the United States Army, through their promotion system. The Army is looking to retain, recruit and promote soldiers’ whose attitude, values (you’re vs. Army), military knowledge and appearance stack up against theirs through the promotion systems. Military Leadership Development Courses schooling design educate, reinforce the leader to achieve excellence. The Leader of Character and Competence Acts: Valves, Be, Know and Do. Values are Loyalty, Selfless Service and Integrity. Be: loyal, mental, physical and emotional strong. Know: Interpersonal, Technical and Tactical skills. Do: Influencing, through communicating and decision making. Operating, executing and assessing missions/training. Improving, through team building, developing and learning (FM 22-100 Chapter 1 The leadership Framework Fig 1-1). The type of leadership depends on the type of organizations that you are in or working for. One leadership style do not fit every situation. Strengths and Weaknesses Direct: Strengths: Everyone knows who’s in charge. Leaders or Managers has all the power, employees has very little input. Weakness: employees have no input, everything is enforce from the top down Employees may not take any initiative Indirect: Strengths: Employees can brainstorm come up with different ideas on how to accomplish the task/mission. Weakness: Could be time consuming, no one can agree on how to accomplish the task No one wants to accept responsibility

Impact of the Russian revolution †Ideology matters Essay

I. BACKDROP: GERMAN IDEALISM AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARIES German philosophers in the 19th century were often â€Å"Idealists,† that is to say that they maintained that ideas have a force, power, and reality that is more â€Å"real† than that concrete, reality that so consume us in our daily lives. German idealism dominated the 19th-century Russian revolutionary movement from the Decembrist Revolt of 1825 until long after Lenin’s successful revolutionary coup that we call the October (or Bolshevik or Communist) Revolution of 1917. While I never want to downplay the central role of raw hypocrisy in human affairs, much of what we in the United States have interpreted as hypocrisy in the Soviet Union-the dissonance between the profound humanism of Marx’s ideas and the coarse violence of the Stalinist dictatorship-this hypocrisy can also be seen as the desperate attempt to coerce reality through the power of belief-through the power of the Idea. And one way to interpret the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was that the Soviets had lost their ability to convince themselves that the Leninist/Stalinist Idea had the power to transform reality into a better future. With the collapse of this self-justifying, central Myth that legitimized the Soviet experience, the Soviet Union died not with a bang but rather whimpered into Lev Trotsky’s â€Å"dust bin of history.† With this introduction, I would now like to offer three examples in the Russian Revolutionary experience where Ideas profoundly affected the future course of events. Only toward the end of the Twentieth Century have these effects begun to run out of steam. II. THREE EXAMPLES A. â€Å"MODERATE† SOCIALISM AND THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION OF 1917 The first example involves the reaction of moderate socialists to the February Revolution in Petrograd in 1917. Moderate Socialists, including the Marxist Mensheviks in contrast to Lenin’s Bolsheviks, had adopted a position that Russia was not yet ready for a Socialist Revolution; reading Marx’s Stages of History quite literally, they understood that the Bourgeois Revolution had to come first and had to take place under the leadership of the bourgeoisie. The working class movement thus had to be satisfied with playing the role of a party of the extreme opposition-the bourgeois revolution must come first and be developed, and the responsibility of the proletariat was to encourage this historical necessity. Real consequences flowed from this belief. When the women, workers, and soldiers of Petrograd spontaneously took to the streets in February 1917, it took only several days for them to overthrow the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. They then handed power they had won in the streets to their moderate socialist leadership-none of whom were philosophically or psychologically ready to assume the mantle of power. Consistent with their beliefs, the socialists in turn handed power to the bourgeoisie who established the Provisional Government. Not having the complete courage of their convictions, however, the moderate socialists also established the Petrograd Soviet which basically held veto-power over the actions of the bourgeois Provisional Government. This â€Å"compromise† established the period of â€Å"Dual Power† which was inherently unstable. In retrospect, it is amazing that the Provisional Government, amidst the catastrophe of World War I, managed to hold on to power until October of 1917 when Lenin’s and Trotsky’s Bolsheviks managed a coup d’etat to take power. Lenin, like his Menshevik cousins, was a Marxist, but his Marxism focused less on the determinist element of Marx’s Stages of History than on the ability of the individual to assert his will on history. For him, there was no need to wait patiently for the bourgeoisie to fulfill their historical duty at their own leisure; Bolshevism could force the pace. Lenin’s Will to Power and his belief in the power of the Idea to change reality made the difference between his success and the moderate socialists’ failure. B. LENIN’S IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM The second example of the power of the Idea concerns Soviet influence on the developing world. Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism in 1917, during the trials of the First World War and before the Bolshevik Revolution, to explain two crucial contradictions facing Marxists of the day. The first contradiction concerned the delayed outbreak of the promised world revolution. After all, it had already been sixty-nine years since Marx in the Communist Manifesto had proclaimed that â€Å"A Specter is haunting Europe-the specter of Communism.† What had gone wrong? The second failure of the Marxist promise involved the inability of the world’s proletariat to prevent war and its rejection of internationalism for nationalism. It had been a common belief among those of all political stripes from the far right to the far left, that socialist influence on the proletariat had made a major European war impossible. One of the central socialist beliefs was that wars are fought for the benefit of capitalist profits. Now, with the spread of democracy and the entry of powerful socialist parties into Europe’s parliaments, the capitalists could try to provoke war to their heart’s delight but would find it impossible to vote war credits through parliament or to mobilize soldiers who, following their socialist leadership, would refuse to fight. These ideas evoke memories of the anti-Vietnam War poster: â€Å"What if they gave a war and nobody came?† Lenin’s ingenious answer to both questions came in his book, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. In it he argued that the concentration of production had transformed the capitalism of free competition into monopoly capitalism. The concentration of production also had dramatically increased the socialization of production. Big banks had changed from pure credit institutions into business banks and as such they dominated whole sectors of industry. Together the banks and industry were tied in with government. This coalescence of bank capital with industrial capital with strong government ties had led to the formation of a financial oligarchy that controlled large sections of the national economy. Share issues and state loans had increased the power and amount of surplus capital which flowed beyond political frontiers and extended the financial oligarchy’s control to other countries. The capital exporting monopolies had divided the world among themselves; international cartels formed the basis for international relations, and the economic division of the world provided the ground for the struggle for colonies, spheres of influence, and world domination. But once the world was divided up, the struggle had become one for the repartitioning of the world. Because the economic development of individual countries is uneven and sporadic, some were left at a disadvantage in this repartitioning. Imperialism represented a special, highest, stage of capitalism. The transition to a capitalism of this higher order was connected with an aggravation of contradictions, frictions, and conflicts. Monopolists assured profits by corrupting the upper stratum of the proletariat in the developed countries. The imperialist ideology permeated the working class. In other words, the burden of bourgeois oppression had been shifted from the shoulders of the domestic proletariat to those of the colonial peoples. In effect, the domestic proletariat had been bribed and they came to see that their material interests were tied up with colonial enterprise. Now, successful war to repartition the world in the favor of a particular nation made fighting war against fellow proletarians in other countries worthwhile. With his theory, Lenin seemingly had explained those two problems with Marx. The revolution had not yet swept the world because the potential revolutionaries, the proletariat, had been bribed by the illusion of short-term, material gains to forget their true, long-term interests. They had rejected their class-based internationalism for nationalism because wars fought to expand colonial holdings appeared to be in their material self-interest. Hence they did not prevent the outbreak of the Great War. This theory held long-term importance because Lenin, unlike Marx and Engels, did not see the revolutionary perspectives as centered uniquely upon advanced capitalist countries. After the Great War, in a period of â€Å"Capitalist Encirclement† the Soviets attacked â€Å"the weak link in the chain of imperialism,† the colonies. Political influence went to where the oppression was-the colonies. In the colonial and post-colonial world after World War II, given the absence of an entrepreneurial bourgeoisie with the will and capacity to transform existing conditions and to overcome the entrenched interests opposed to full-scale development, a gospel of competitive individualism seemed useless for modernization to those in the Third World. What appeared to be needed to get the underdeveloped country moving has been collective effort inspired by a national sense of political purpose. Only governments had sufficient capital, organizational skills, and commitment to make rapid development possible. Ideologically, therefore, the intelligentsia of such countries gravitated to one or another of the various socialist doctrines-something that in general might be described as state capitalism, that is, the state and not private individuals perform the entrepreneurial duties of gathering land, labor, and capital for productive enterprise. Socialist rhetoric disguised this crucial essence . For most of the twentieth century, Soviet Russia provided the model for those in the Third World who wished to rapidly modernize their countries. And rapid modernization was necessary for the sake of national prestige and independence. Russia’s success seemed obvious when we note that within forty short years Russia had risen from the ashes of World War I to defeat Hitler, to become one of the world’s two superpowers, and to be the first in space. Just as important as was this practical example was the vocabulary provided by Lenin. That Marx himself had had little to say to the underdeveloped world mattered little. I would argue that many Third World leaders, for two contentious examples Ho Chi-Minh and Fidel Castro, who led revolutions to assert national pride, independence, and prosperity, turned to Communism because Lenin had provided a vocabulary with a coherent explanation for colonial degradation and a means for asserting national regeneration. Additionally, of the major powers, the Soviet regime alone more-or-less consistently supported the aspirations of those wishing to throw off the oppression of colonialism and capitalism. Of course, today, the Communist model no longer holds the same allure it once did. C. TWO MARXIST HERESIES: LENINISM/STALINISM AND MUSSOLINI’S FASCISM The final example of the power of ideas generated during World War I involves the intimate, kissing cousin-relationship between Stalinist Communism and Mussolini’s Fascism. Despite facile assumptions, Fascism and Communism were not antipodes. Although their exact relationship remains difficult to define, there exist commonalties, as one author has pointed out: Fascism was the heir of a long intellectual tradition that found its origins in the ambiguous legacy left to revolutionaries in the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Fascism was, in a clear and significant sense, a Marxist heresy. It was a Marxism creatively developed to respond to the particular and specific needs of an economically retarded national community condemned, as a proletarian nation, to compete with the more advanced plutocracies of its time for space, resources, and international stature. Was this kind of self-awareness present as thinkers and politicians struggled to define these two ideologies as they co-developed earlier in this century? In fact, many did recognize that their common interests held much greater weight than did the Talmudic differences between Fascism and Communism. Arturo Labriola’s Avanguardia Socialista of Milan by 1903 had become the forum for Italy’s Sorelian syndicalist revolutionaries, who were struggling to make Marx relevant and against reformist socialism. Such luminaries as Vilfredo Pareto and Benedetto Croce graced its pages, followed shortly by a second generation of Sorelian theoreticians, who came to dominate Italian radicalism for more than a generation. Together they constructed an alternative socialist orthodoxy, which they believed was the true heir to classical Marxism. Clearly, their ideas were no more heretical to those of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels than was Lenin’s Marxism. By 1904 Mussolini, then a socialist agitator in Switzerland, had begun his collaboration with Avanguardia Socialista, a relationship he maintained for the next five years. The syndicalist contributors to the journal affected the future Duce’s intellectual and political development. Radical syndicalists like A. O. Olivetti innovatively argued that, under retarded economic conditions, socialists must appeal to national sentiment if their ideas are to penetrate the masses. For him, both syndicalism and nationalism were dedicated to increasing production dramatically. As long as Italy remained underdeveloped, the bourgeoisie remained necessary to build the economic foundation requisite for a socialist revolution. Olivetti spoke of a national socialism, because in an underdeveloped economy, only the nation could pursue the economic development presupposed by classical Marxism. When Mussolini took over as editor of the socialist paper, Avanti!, in December 1912, he attracted anarchists and even some rigid Marxists like Angelica Balabanoff, whom he took on as his assistant editor. Paolo Orano, who served on the editorial staff of Avanti!, along with other syndicalists like Sergio Panunzio, set the tone of that socialist paper. Mussolini also founded and edited Utopia from November 1913 until December of the following year. This bi-monthly review attracted many of the most important young socialist and syndicalist theoreticians, who helped Mussolini to develop his own ideas. In the final years before the First World War, many independent national syndicalists, including Panunzio and Ottavio Dinale saw war as progressive. Helping to put together the rationale for Fascism, they supported Italy’s fight with the Ottomans over Libya in 1911, and, along with Mussolini, they called for Italy’s intervention in the First World War. Many socialists now passed into Mussolini’s Fascist ranks, and syndicalists such as Panunzio, Olivetti, and Orano, became its principal ideologues. As early as October 1914, Olivetti in Pagine Libere spoke of an Italian socialism infused with national sentiment, a socialism destined to complete Italy’s unification, to accelerate production, and to place it among the world’s advanced nations. Over the next three years in L’Italia Nostra, Olivetti spoke of the nation as uniting men of all classes in a common pursuit of historical tasks; class membership did not align an individual against the nation, but united him with the nation. Patriotism was fully compatible with the revolutionary tradition of Italian socialism. By the time of Mussolini’s accession to power, Fascism had given clear evidence of its commitment to industrialization and modernization of the economy. Not only were the Futurists, Nationalists, and National Syndicalists agreed that maximizing production was the first order of business, but all also advocated urban development, the rationalization of financial institutions, the reorganization of the bureaucracy on the basis of technical competence, the abolition of â€Å"traditional† and nonfunctional agencies, the expansion of road, rail, waterways, and telephonic communications systems, the modernization and secular control of the educational system, and the reduction of illiteracy. What does this mean for Fascism’s relationship with Soviet Russia? Mussolini by 1919 was pointing out the absolute decline in economic productivity in Russia as proving its failure to recognize its historic obligations. He suspected that the Bolsheviks ultimately had to commit themselves to national reconstruction and national defense, that is, to some form of developmental national socialism as defined by Fascism’s former syndicalists. Speaking of the Bolshevik failure to comprehend their revolutionary necessities, Mussolini presciently predicted that Lenin had to appeal to bourgeois expertise to repair Russia’s ravaged economy. Bolshevism, he said, must â€Å"domesticate† and mobilize labor to the task of intensive development, something which could have been anticipated, because Marxism had made it quite clear that socialism could be built only upon a mature economic base. Russia, not having yet completed the capitalist stage of economic development, me t none of the material preconditions for a classic Marxist revolution. Russia was no more ripe than was Italy for socialism. Lenin, in the practical working out of his revolutionary government, did run headlong into many of these conundrums predicted by the syndicalists. In the months following his takeover, he had expected that the revolution in Germany would bail Soviet Russia out of its difficulties. Thus, while the first Fascists were organizing for a national revolution, the bolsheviks were still dreaming of an international insurrection. Lenin, changing horses, in 1921 proposed the New Economic Policy to replace the ideologically purer but failed War Communism. Like Fascists, Lenin now spoke of holding the entire fabric of society together with â€Å"a single iron will,† and he began to see the withering away of the state as a long way away: â€Å"We need the state, we need coercion†-certainly a Fascist mantra. After Lenin’s death in 1924, this logic culminated in 1925 with Stalin’s â€Å"creative development† of Marxism: â€Å"Socialism in One Country,† a national socialism by any other name. Mussolini suspected that Stalin might be abandoning true Communism. This, it seemed, might provide economic advantages to Italy, and to Mussolini it made sense for his country to build ships and planes for the Soviets in exchange for one-third of Italy’s oil supplies. For him the even more interesting possibility was that Stalin might be the true heir to the tsars and an imperialist with whom Fascism could see eye-to-eye. In 1923, the Duce predicted, â€Å"Tomorrow there will not be an imperialism with a socialist mark, but . . . [Russia] will return to the path of its old imperialism with a panslavic mark.† Mussolini convinced himself that Russian Communism was proving to be less revolutionary than was Fascism. The Duce and some of his followers considered it possible that the two movements were moving together closely enough as to be no longer easily distinguishable. Even dedicated Fascist party workers such as Dino Grandi, Mussolini’s foreign minister from 1928 to 1932, early recognized Fascism’s affinities with Lenin’s Bolshevism. He had taken at least part of his own intellectual inspiration from revolutionary syndicalism, and in 1914 he had talked of the First World War as a class struggle between nations. Six years later, Grandi argued that socialists had failed to understand the simple reality of what was happening in revolutionary Russia. The Bolshevik Revolution had been nothing less than the struggle of an underdeveloped and proletarian nation against the more advanced capitalist states. Not only Fascists made this sort of analysis. Torquato Nanni, a revolutionary Marxist socialist and an early acquaintance of Mussolini, as early as 1922 had anticipated these developments. He analyzed the common economic foundations of Fascism and Bolshevism, which produced the related strategic, tactical, and institutional features of these two mass-mobilizing, developmental revolutions. Both, he wrote, had assumed the bourgeois responsibilities of industrializing backward economies and defending the nation-state, the necessary vehicle for progress. Lev Trotsky, the organizer of the October Revolution, consistently, even mulishly, argued that Fascism was a mass movement growing organically out of the collapse of capitalism. He also rejected all notions of any sort of â€Å"national† Communism. Nonetheless, he too recognized a certain involution. â€Å"Stalinism and Fascism,† he said, in spite of a deep difference in social foundations, are symmetrical phenomena. In many of their features they show a deadly similarity. A victorious revolutionary movement in Europe would immediately shake not only fascism, but Soviet Bonapartism. (that is, Stalinism) He, however, refused to go as far as his sometime ally, Bruno Rizzi, who later argued that the assumption of similar developmental and autarchic responsibilities could only generate social and ideological convergence. He lamented, â€Å"that which Fascism consciously sought, [the Soviet Union] involuntarily constructed.† For him, the governments of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and even Roosevelt were lurching toward a global system of â€Å"bureaucratic collectivism,† a new form of class domination. Fascist theoreticians agreed with such convergence notions. By 1925, Panunzio claimed that Fascism and Bolshevism shared crucial similarities. Fascists noted that the Soviets had created an armed, authoritarian, anti-liberal state, which had mobilized and disciplined the masses to the service of intensive internal development. The supreme state generated and allocated resources, articulated and administered interests, and assumed and exercised paramount pedagogical functions. Thus, while the first Fascists were formulating the rationale for a mass-mobilizing, developmental, authoritarian, hierarchical, anti-liberal, and statist program guided by a charismatic leader, events had forced the Bolsheviks along the same course. Both intended to create a modern, autarchic, industrial system, which would insure political and economic independence for what had been an underdeveloped national community. With forced industrialization and â€Å"state capitalism,† the Soviets hoped to bring Russia all the benefits of bourgeois modernization. In the face of required austerity, to mobilize their respective populations, the Communists and Fascists alike supplemented economic incentives with pageantry, ritual, ceremony, and parades. All this, coupled with territorial aggression, completed a compelling picture of â€Å"systemic symmetry.† III. CONCLUSION I have presented three diverse examples of the impact of the Russian Revolution on subsequent history. There are other potential examples. I find it interesting that events so crucial to the twentieth century, now seem to be fading so rapidly in their influence. One real benefit of examining the Communist Revolution within the larger question of â€Å"how best to develop† is that the Revolution loses its sense of seminal criticality. For all the pathos surrounding the effort, it becomes just another interesting attempt at rapid development-a failed attempt at that. While I would happily argue that Marx still has relevance for us today, especially in his critique of capitalism if not particularly in his solutions, clearly Lenin and Stalin no longer do.