KBR Leadership Essay

KBR Leadership Essay Leadership and the leadership style used by the company and its relationship with the leadership theories: Leadership style in given organization is quite simple, open and goal focusing. Targets are given to functional and cross functional teams managed by team leaders, in team works every one has right to participate in decision making process, every team member can explain his opinion openly. Leader of the teams are expertise of their fields they better know how to overcome different problems. Leaders in this organization are responsible to maintain discipline, ethic and integrity in team and team work. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of leaders. Power distance is quite low in this organization as every one works for common goal, it is not difficult to communicate to leaders or seniors of the teams as vertical communication is open and honest, team members have good level of contact with their leaders and leaders are easily approachable. Leaders in this organization are used to of motivating their team members by trusting in them and expecting right job from them. Most of things are clear to team members as leaders dont hide things from them and try t o keep transparency in operations. Leaders expand the description of jobs by giving team members a variety in tasks and usually jobs are open ended. This style of leadership let the personnel progress and gives freedom for decisions making. Relationship with leader ship theories: Leadership in this organization includes a part of Fiedlerss leadership contingency theory (1960s) least preferred co-worker scale and situational control, in which leadership style is measured between task motivated leadership and relationship motivated leadership, leadership style of given organization is in between as it is target oriented and relationship motivating as well. In relation to situational control leaders in this organization are well aware of outcomes of their team members actions and decisions. Leadership in KBR is also near to Houses path-goal leadership theory which focuses on four leadership behaviours directive leadership, achievement -oriented leadership, supportive leadership and participative leadership. as path-goal theory says that key function in leadership is to adjust yourself according to situation in KBR leadership is more flexible, have a lot of experience and are more responsible so KBR is quite near to this theory and supportive leadership that focuses on developing good relations with subordinates and friendly work climate, in KBR leaders motivate the team members and seniors are approachable and other things discussed above made leadership in KBR quite supportive. KBRs leadership also follows the achievement -oriented leadership which emphasize on setting targets for subordinates and showing confidence in personnels abilities. In KBR leaders after assigning tasks to their team members expect right job from them it makes KBRs leadership achievement oriented. In participative leadership behaviour of leader is to involve subordinates in decision making and in KBR it provides bases to leadership. Transformational approach of leadership is also quite near to KBRs leadership as followers in KBR are motivated to go beyond job description and work for common good. Source of organizations culture and its implication on the workforce and organization performances: Morris W Kellogg is the saga of the company, means that he started the story of KBR and his story provides a lesson to whole organization members and gives foundations to culture of organization. Management philosophy of organization is based on commitment to health and safety and discipline. Individuals in organization have open and honest relationships there is good communication between all levels of management, in relationships mutual respect is always there. Most of things are transparent before everyone in organization, at all levels individuals are responsible but top management has more responsibilities Organization struggling to sustain integrity and specialization. work is divided among different specialized teams individuals at all levels have freedom of decision making and providing opportunities to grow to staff are is part of organizations culture. Organization always attracts talented graduates and specialized people as specialization is a part of organization culture. Organizations culture emphasis on going beyond customer‘s expectations. Organization delivers quality services to its customers. Organizations staff lives near the project location to better understand the situation. Organization works to innovate new things to expand its divisions and operations. Organizations culture causes a good relationship among whole work force. It makes the workforce to struggle for specialization and integrity. It causes exploring new things. whole work force has to obey the discipline and ethics. Communication among force needs to retain the mutual respect factor. Organizations culture is best fit for its operations, it helps to give maximum performance and achieve organizational goals. Culture of organization helps in continuous improvement, integrity and specialization. It provides motivation to individuals. Organizations culture moves the organization towards functional structure to get maximum integrity. Explore how the culture of the organization has impact on both the leadership and the organization structure of organization? Organizations culture plays an important role in providing bases to leadership. The leaders in organization takes the culture along and transfer it to subordinates major things in leadership which are from culture are integrity ,specialization, development of good relationship, work for crossing the customers expectations. Given above characteristics impact leadership style it makes leadership more cooperative. Leadership in KBR also opens door for innovation which is one of basics of firms culture. Transparency factor of culture makes the leaders to discuss things with subordinates openly, innovation factor of culture makes the leaders to let the subordinates go beyond their job description. For specialization leaders must be expertise of their fields. Element of honesty prevent leaders form politics. Element of the relationship building makes the leaders work with teams. Many things of culture also have affect on structure of company as honest relation and mutual respect and communication all these things give dimensions of low power difference, small hierarchy and flat structure to organization. Factor of specialization has divided the firm in many business units to bring maximum quality and specialization Need of specialization causes the organization to develop a set up to attract talented graduates, expertise towards the company. To create this attraction organization gives opportunities to personal progress and freedom of decision making and goo reward system specialization also divides the organization further business units. Due to specialization organization is gradually moving towards matrix structure which is more expensive and complicated but is necessary to meet the organizational and cultural needs Shareholder and employee benefits make the organization to give employees opportunities to grow and make profits for share holders. Relationship element of organization divides the management in few layers to built strong relationships The issue of motivation theories the motivational policies used in the case and its impact on individual and organization performances: KBR has developed a motivating culture for its personnel, there is a small distance between the upper management and the lower management, vertical and horizontal communication is not complicated ideas can be shared, team leaders always there to motivate and help their team members, most of things are transparent before employees as they are trusted by their seniors all these things motivate them and make them feel that they are part of organization besides this jobs has been designed to motivate the personnel, they have freedom to make decision and they can identify and solve the problems by their own judgment, challenging goals are give to staff member according to their specialization which motivate them to make difference there is a strong relationship between senior management and the subordinates, all above elements motivate the staff and make them feel that they are like a family and have power and freedom to some extend they know that their actions can influence the organizat ion, in future they have many opportunities to prosper on the bases of their work and there is no typical strict boss on them. Motivated staff ultimately leads the organization towards efficiency and success. As jobs do not have strict boundaries so there are more chances of exploring new things that enables the firm to have new ideas. Organizations motivating strategy develop loyalty in employees and it also attract talented graduates towards the organization as they see opportunity to grow and talented staff plays an important role in organizations achievements. Motivation strategy of this company follows rules described in Alderfers ERG theory which focuses on existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs and it also follows the acquired needs theory which emphasize on achievement , affiliation and power needs. And KBR has opportunities to grow, strong relationship with employees and challenging jobs to make achievements all these things bring firm near to these theories. KBRs strategy is also near to two-factor theory of Fredrick Herzberg. this theory shows certain factors which play an important part in motivating and providing job satisfaction to employees these factors are given below in diagram, according to this diagram KBR has most of job satisfying factors in its strategy. (Organizational behaviour Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, 2000, page: 114) The nature of team, its structure and how it has impact on organization performances: KBRS management structure is flat and has few layers of management organization has adapted functional structure for its project in which teams work under specialists leadership and all members struggle for common goal as all are accountable for it. In teams all members have good relationship with each other mutual respect is always there every team member has god level of contact with seniors all members have efficient communication skills role of every team member is clearly described and he also has a freedom to some extent. All key tasks are given description team members need to be flexible teams are ready to accept any challenging task all teams working for same project have interaction with each other and work together to satisfy customer by delivering services beyond expectation. this structure of is according to day- to -day business needs of organization. Now company is gradually moving towards matrix structure in which cross functional teams consist on expertise from different functional departments utilize maximum of their skills to achieve organizational goals. KBRs structure helps it to achieve perfection in services as specialists teams work on projects assure quality and helps to sustain quality this functional structure also help the organization to meet its day to day requirements. Team work gives guarantees clear performance objective and enhances creativity in organization that plays an important role in going beyond expectations Cross functional teams bring an increase in work speed, provide broader information and struggle to sustain integration. All these things cause a perfection in lesser time that take the firm towards customer satisfaction. How effective do you think company approach to people management will be in ensuring improved results and enhancing the change management process? KBR has developed its structure to deliver services efficiently to its customers in all conditions, this structure also enables to work for the benefit of its shareholder, employees and communities the organization serve. In KBR the chain of command is small there are not many layers in hierarchy of management span of control is larger in this organization. A few layers cause a decrease in distance between upper management and lower management, individuals are not answerable to many bosses. Staff at upper management level has more responsibilities individual at upper level are expertise of their fields company also hire fresh graduates in its lower management and training is given to them so a new person can be a part if this organization at any level but new staff member has to show performance in 12 months probationary period .All individuals in KBR are given a degree of freedom to make decision. Every single post has an opportunity to progress and prosper personally. Jobs are desi gned to continue the learning process and exploring new things. Because of few management layers it is easy for upper management to control the subordinates as they can directly contact them and they can be informed with the staff problems and it also cause a motivation in staff as they can easily approach their seniors. This structure also help in unity of command besides this a few layers of management cause a decrease in cost and time. In horizontal structure organization is a functional and matrix organization and this structure leads towards clear targets and specialization. All individual selected for the organization have quality of adaptability so any change can be easily adapted. Because of few layers in management it is easy to bring a change. As company is changing towards matrix structure which is quite near to functional structure so it is easily acceptable. Problems caused by change can easily be known to upper management and can be solved and all conflicts can be removed. Explore the way individual and organization behaves liking this with relevant theory that you are familiar with how would this impact on any the organizations change process: Individuals in KBR are flexible, technically competent they use their own judgment in understanding the things and the have good interpersonal skills. Employees in KBR expect growth and reward for their work. All these traits bring KBR,s staff near to following theories. Self monitoring: According that individuals have ability to adjust their behaviour according to situation. Maglino and associates: this theory focuses on four points. Achievement, helping and concern for others, honesty and fairness (Schermerhhorn, Hunt, Osborn, seventh edition, page: 72) Varooms expectancy theory: According to this theory motivated staff believes that effort will yield acceptable performance performance will be rewarded the value of reward is highly positive Companys first priority is to satisfy the customer and after for that company focuses on financial responsibility, accountability and discipline there is no compromise on health and safety. Organization also focuses on ethics and integrity. Company struggles for continuous improvement and grow globally company has been opening new business units and innovating new things. Organization trust in its staff and right job is expected from them. Companys behaviour has relevance with following theories. High performance management theory covers all characteristics of KBR. Core points are given below Total quality management: total commitment to high quality results continuous improvement and meeting customer needs. Empowerment: allow individuals to make decisions that affect them or their work. Intellectual capital: total knowledge, expertise and energy available from organization members. Employee involvement Integration Organizations and individuals behaviour has a positive impact on the change process as the given above characteristics shows that individuals and organization is ready to accept change and this change is also a part of continuous improvement so flexibility adaptability continuous improvement struggle for high quality integrity all these things enables organization and individuals to accept and implement the change. Explain how the company has managed it change process and how it has benefited from this management process: Company implemented planed change strategy, in planed change organization followed the rational persuasion process in company used facts, special knowledge and rational arrangement to create change. Companys management system helped the company to implement the change as companys management ensures flexibility adaptability and because the management process is simple that is why it is easy to implement a change, few layers of management help to minimize the change cost and time it also decrease the probability of resistance to change. Firm is already working for specialization and integration and change will assist the firm in it. As management system gives reasons to change, the quality information, security, retention of power, good resources and good timing all these things makes the organization to accept the change Recommendations for future improvement: Let individuals clearer what exactly need to do to get desired reward Shift few more responsibilities on the shoulders of subordinates and more specify their jobs. Create a sense of urgency For teams facts and information should be given on regular bases Discuss companys high performance standards with staff Provide a variety in rewarding Let the individuals know how well they are working Make a real understanding of what firm stands for Make a good understand sense of informal rules and expectations so individual understand what is exactly expected of them Create a warmer interpersonal environment between upper management and lower management Staff at lower level must given performance feed back on regular bases Involve more subordinates in managerial decision making Link the team results to organizational outcomes Evaluate team and each individual members performance Make the culture more strong with rites, symbols and rituals Let the staff develop their own view how to develop tow ards organizational goals Increase decentralization, participation and create more decrease in rigidity Subordinates should be informed about the coming fears Conclusion: KBR is a big company rapidly growing globally. The company is enhancing its operations efficiently and quickly, business is divided in sub business units company is continually increasing its business units, company is conducting business by keeping its culture along. Structure of the organization is flat there are quite few layers in management which make management process easier, horizontal structure of organization is functional now firm is moving toward matrix structure. leadership of organization is motivating and communication between all levels of organization is quit easy. Most of responsibilities are on the shoulders of senior management .Senior management must has an understanding with the following areas of responsibility Provide strategic and operational leadership Develop and motivate others Be approachable and open to ideas Display honesty and integrity Individuals at all levels have freedom to make decisions and at all levels opportunities to grow are given, a new mem ber can enter in firm at any level. Every new person must have following traits Technical competence Strong oral and written communication Relationship building and team work Planning and organizational skills Adaptability Policies of organization attract talented graduates and specialists

3 Poems

Republic of the Philippines Tarlac State University COLLEGE OF EDUCATION Villa Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City 73 Poems (A Stylistic Analysis) In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements In the course EM9 Introduction to Stylistics Submitted to: Mr. Christopher Ronn Q. Pagco Instructor [1] (listen) this a dog barks and how crazily houses eyes people smiles [5] faces streets steeples are eagerly tumbl ing through wonder ful sunlight [10] – look – selves,stir:writhe o-p-e-n-i-n-g are(leaves;flowers)dreams ,come quickly come [15] run run with me now jump shout(laugh dance cry sing)for it's Spring [20] irrevocably; and in earth sky trees :every where a miracle arrives [25] (yes) you and I may not hurry it with a thousand poems my darling [30] but nobody will stop it With All The Policemen In The World (E. E. Cummings, 73 Poems) Introduction Stylistic is very different from studying literature. That is why it is really difficult to do a stylistic analysis than to do a literary an alysis. Because when doing a literary analysis, you just focus on the elements of the story and the theory being used. It is totally different when doing a Stylistic analysis, which you should always be based on facts. That is why doing a stylistic analysis is really factual and complicated. In doing a stylistic analysis, we try to explain how the words in the text create feelings and meanings. I will be analyzing the 73 poems of E. E. Cummings. I will show you the stylistic features of the poem. Edward Estlin Cummings was born October 14, 1894 in the town of Cambridge Massachusetts. His father, and most constant source of awe, Edward Cummings, was a professor of Sociology and Political Science at Harvard University. In 1900, Edward left Harvard to become the ordained minister of the South Congregational Church, in Boston. As a child, E. E. attended Cambridge public schools and lived during the summer with his family in their summer home in Silver Lake, New Hampshire. E. E. loved his childhood in Cambridge so much that he was inspired to write disputably his most famous poem, â€Å"In Just-â€Å". Not so much in, â€Å"In Just-† but Cummings took his father's pastoral background and used it to preach in many of his other poems. In â€Å"you shall above all things be glad and young,† Cummings preaches to the reader in verse telling them to love with naivete and innocence, rather than listen to the world and depend on their mind. Attending Harvard, Cummings studied Greek and other languages. In college, Cummings was introduced to the writing and artistry of Ezra Pound, who was a large influence on E. E. and many other artists in his time. After graduation, Cummings volunteered for the Norton-Haries Ambulance Corps. En-route to France, Cummings met another recruit, William Slater Brown. The two became close friends, and as Brown was arrested for writing incriminating letters home, Cummings refused to separate from his friend and the two were sent to the La Ferte Mace concentration camp. The two friends were finally freed, only due to the persuasion of Cummings' father. E. E. Cummings experimented with poetic form and language to create a distinct personal style. A Cummings poem is spare and precise, employing a few key words eccentrically placed on the page. Some of these words were invented by Cummings, often by combining two common words into a new synthesis. He also revised grammatical and linguistic rules to suit his own purposes, using such words as â€Å"if,† â€Å"am,† and â€Å"because† as nouns, for example, or assigning his own private meanings to words. Despite their nontraditional form, Cummings' poems came to be popular with many readers. Stylistic Analysis Before I start the analysis itself, let me tell first my initial interpretation of the poem. This is my general interpretation of the poem. 73 poems is a book which is a collection of poems by E. E. Cummings. It has 73 pages and each poem does not have any title. The poem that I will be doing a stylistic analysis is found on page 63. The fact the E. E. Cummings did not make or put a title in each poem gives the reader the permission to give their own title. So for reference, I will use the word ‘Spring’ as a title. Since, it is the first word in the poem written in capital letter. Cummings’ poems are difficult to interpret because they contain striking irregularities. Many of E. E. Cummings poems that I have read appear to all the joy and new things it brings in life but other works symbolizes negativity to mankind. ‘Spring’ is a reference for a new life. It is a beginning. I have related it in the life of everyone. After the winter which can be a symbol of problems and struggles, we people are happy in the fact that spring is coming which can be a symbol that every problem has its ending and solution. When you are somehow forgetting God and not putting Him in the center of your life, it is like everything is wrong. But when you put Him in the center of your life, everything seems alright. When everything goes wrong just keep your faith. You will feel blessed and at ease at all times. And this new life with the Lord is ‘Spring’. I came up with this interpretation by merely looking at the words and by reading beyond the lines. Linguistic Stylistic Features I easily noticed that the poem consists of many nouns and verbs. NOUNSMAIN VERBSADJECTIVESADVERBS doglistenwonderfulcrazily housesbarkseasily yestumblingquickly peoplelookirrevocably smilesstir faceswrithe streetsopening steeplescome (2x) sunlightrun (2x) leavesjump flowersshout dreamslaugh earthdance skycry treessing miracleis poemsarrives policemenhurry worldstop 192114 The nouns are mostly concrete and only two are abstract (dreams and miracle). Nouns that are related to nature are dog, leaves, flowers, earth, sky, trees, miracle and world. Nouns that are related to human are houses, eyes, people, smiles, faces, streets, steeples, dreams, poems and policemen. There are no neologisms and no morphological deviation which Cummings is fond of using. It makes use of directive verbs which addresses to another person such as (listen, look, come (2x), run (2x), jump, shout, laugh, dance, cry and sing). The most striking aspect of deviation in ‘ Spring’ is the constant use of lower case letters instead of capital letters which is known as the graphological deviation. It is very typical of Cummings’ poems so I will no longer give significance to it. Cummings’ desire is to break the normal convention. The effect of graphological deviation is to foreground the words which are written in capital letters. Since ‘Spring’ is the first word which is written in capital letter, I can say that it plays a big role in the meaning of the poem. Some of the words are really written in a strange manner. In lines 7 and 8, Cummings divides the word tumbling so that the progressive morpheme –ing appears on a separate line. In these lines, the verb appears to tumble from one line to the next. I think it is a way for us to understand the action being done as an important concept in the poem. In lines 8 and 9, the word wonderful runs across the morphemes (wonder and ful). I can interpret it in two ways, the noun wonder and the adjective wonderful. There is astrong element of foregrounding in the last stanza (With All The Policemen In The World) since the words start in capital letters which make it stand out. There is also lack of phonological parallelism, obvious lack of punctuation and it follows the grammatical ordering which follows the rules of syntax. Perhaps, Policemen is used because they are the stereotype example of powerful people. There is also the second pronoun (you) in line 26 and it has an addressee referred to ‘my darling’ in line 29. Suggesting that there is a romantic relationship between the speaker and whomever he is referring or addressing to. Semantic Deviation In lines 12 and 13, (o-p-e-n-i-n-g/are(leaves;flowers)dreams). In line 13, leaves and flowers mean that they are physically opening. Dreams cannot actually open. It breaks the rule of subject-verb-object. It will be more appropriate to say the leaves and flowers are opening. It makes me arrive to the interpretation that the poet’s dreams are opening metaphorically. In line 2 (this a dog barks). The possible explanation of this is that this is used to show that the speaker is referring to a specific dog, but a is used to show that the speaker is not sure of the dog’s name. Grammatical Deviation Cummings used much punctuation where it would not be necessary. Example is in lines 12 and 13 (o-p-e-n-i-n-g/are(leaves;flowers)dreams). This phrase is being bracketed where punctuations are not needed. In lines 3 to 6 (how crazily houses/eyes people smiles/faces streets/ steeples are eagerly) and in line 22 (earth sky trees) groups of nouns are often run together without punctuation. Cummings split the progressive participle ‘opening’ into its component letters (o-p-e-n-i-n-g). The hyphens are used to express that opening of Spring is a long, drown out process and slow. The following line (are(leaves;flowers)dreams) contains no spaces between words and punctuation marks. Dynamic verbs such as in line 10 (-look-) which comes with hyphens on both sides, the initial verb in line 14 (,come quickly come) which starts with a comma and in line 11 (selves,stir:writhe) which is connected by a colon and lack of space which makes them foregrounded. Actions are foregrounded in different ways. In line 15 (run run) I noticed that there is repetition of words. In lines 16, 17 and 18 (with me now/jump shout(laugh dance cry sing)for) the verbs occur in unpunctuated list. Tense Most of the verbs are in present tense. The simple present tense are barks (line 2), is (line 9) and arrives (line 24). There are present progressive verbs such as are eagerly/tumbling (lines 6, 7 and 8) and o-p-e-n-i-n-g/are (lines 12 and 13). There are also progressive present participles (tumbling and opening) indicates the ongoing nature of action. There are also four adverbs of manner which convey sense of speed (quickly), excitement (crazily, eagerly) and inevitability (irrevocably). Sound Patterns I found the repetition of particular sound which is in the phonological order. There is a degree of phonological parallelism in each stanza except the last two stanza. There are 3 repetitions of vowel sounds. how crazily houses (line 3) eyes people smiles (line 4) steeples are eagerly (line 6) †¦wonderful sunlight (lines 8 and 9) , come quickly come (line 14) sing) for it’s Spring (line 19) Conclusion The effect of foregrounding is to make it unusually easy for us to understand the poem. Actually after doing the stylistic analysis of the poem, I never thought that the real meaning of the poem is very superficial because on my interpretation is something that is not explicitly shown. And knowing E. E. Cummings’ of poems most of them or maybe a lot of them entails deeper meaning which you as a reader should really think of the possible interpretation of the poem. And ‘Spring’ is an exception to that. Now that I have analyzed the poem stylistically, I am in the position to give the meaning of the poem. ‘Spring’ is an active and dynamic poem since most of the words express movements and it involves senses. The poem is to be address to a lover that nobody can stop the love that he feels for the love if his life. It is also to acknowledge the inevitability of the natural world. With All The Policemen In The World expresses that nothing or nobody is able to stop the progression of Spring or the poet’s love to his addressee. Reflection Essay â€Å"Am I able to do it? † that is the question that really tickled my mind and bothered me a lot. Stylistic analysis is a new endeavor for me. It is very far different from doing a literary analysis and critizing a literary piece which I am comfortable and confident in doing. When I am doing the analysis itself, I can say that the feeling is really vague. It is like I am on something and I do not know where and what to do. I do not know how to start. But as I am on the process of doing the stylistic analysis, I felt a part of me feeling fulfillment. The most important thing that I have learned in doing the stylistic analysis is discipline as how foregrounding is the corner stone of stylistics. Because I believe that discipline is the corner stone for you to achieve something that you want. Discipline comes from the heart. I know that this is the reason behind why I was able to do my stylistic analysis. I have the heart and the passion in doing this. Patience is also a virtue that I have developed. Because doing a stylistic analysis is a long process. It does not stop on finding and noticing the foregrounded parts of the poem. You have to prove and say your piece of why and how that part of the poem is foregrounded. You have to go back to the lines on the poem many times. You have also to devote your time in analyzing the poem because you are basing your works on facts and not by merely looking the words on the poem. At first, I admit that I will be having a hard time doing it. But as I go through the process and making the first move, I found myself having fun and enjoying what am I doing. Doing a stylistic analysis is something that we should not be afraid of. In fact, it is an easy thing to do as long as you are guided with the correct steps to follow in doing the analysis. As I did the analysis of the poem, I found myself proud. Proud in the fact that, I finished my analysis with my own blood and sweat. It made me somehow feel that I am a certified sylistician even though it was only my first time to do a stylistic analysis. Upon finishing my analysis, I have reflected that stylistic analysis is like life. It is like the authors of poems. They write poems using their own perspective and style because that is what they like. Nobody is dictating them to do so. Another thing is that doing a stylistic analysis is a process. In this way, life also follows a certain process. A good example of this is that, when you want to achieve something, start from the basic step before you can go to a more difficult one, life is really a process, you cannot get want you want with just a blink of an eye. It is something that we should always work for. The stylistic analysis helped me in many ways. Not only on the virtues that I have developed, the discipline but also the academic value it taught me. It made me see the world of literature vividly. I can say that literature is really an interesting work of art. References: http://www. lancs. ac. uk/fass/projects/stylistics/sa1/example. htm http://famouspoetsandpoems. com/poets/e__e__cummings

Agricultural Policy of Bangladesh Essay

Agriculture is the dominant economic activity in Bangladesh and regarded as the lifeline of the Bangladesh economy. Its role is vital in enhancing productivity, profitability and employment in the rural areas for improving the wellbeing of the poor. As the largest private enterprise, agriculture (crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry) contributes about 21% of the GDP, sustains the livelihood of about 52% of the labour force, and remains a major supplier of raw materials for agro-based industries. Agriculture plays an important role in the overall economic development of Bangladesh. Agriculture is also a social sector concerned with issues like food and nutritional security, income generation and poverty reduction. Besides, it is the biggest source of market for a variety of consumer goods, including consumer durables particularly in the rural area. Hence, improvement in agricultural sector performance and acceleration in its growth are critical to reducing rural poverty. 1. 2 Agricuture sector encompasses crops, fisheries, livestock, and forestry sub-sectors. Separate policies on livestock, fisheries and forestry have been formulated by the respective ministries. In this perspective, Ministry of Agriculture has drafted this policy document in order to undertake and guide development activities in the crops sub-sector. As expected, policies aimed at crop production in the areas of reaserch, extension, seeds, fertilisers, minor irrigation, marketing, gender and HRD have prominence in this document. Since crop sector plays a major role in Bangladesh agriculture and gets the utmost importance in various agriculture related programmes of the government, this policy document for the development of crop sector is, therefore, entitled as the National Agriculture Policy. It is estimated that the agricultural land is declining by 1% per year and the land quality is deteriorating owing to degradation of soil fertility (e. g. nutrient imbalance), soil erosion and soil salinity. In addition, water resources are also shrinking. In order to produce more food for an increasing population, and raw materials for agro-industries, there is a need for increasing agricultural growth through higher productivity, including increased yield, agricultural intensification and diversification, and value addition. The overarching goal of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) matches with Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of achieving 50% reduction in the proportion of population living below the poverty by 2015. In addition to maintaining a sound macro-economic framework, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), entitled Unlocking the Potential National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (GoB, 2005), highlights the need for higher growth in rural areas, development of agriculture and rural non-farm economic activities as one of the four priority areas to accelerating pro-poor economic growth. In order to achieve the GDP growth rate of 7% per year, agriculture must grow by at least 4-4. 5% per year (PRSP, 2005). This is presumably possible through an increase in agricultural productivity (for crops, horticulture, livestock, fisheries and forestry) based on modern agricultural technology and a supply chain linking farmers with consumers in the domestic as well as overseas markets. Small farms dominate the agrarian structure of Bangladesh. Therefore, performance of the sector greatly affects economic progress and people s livelihood. To reduce rural poverty 2 and improve rural livelihoods, it is necessary to recognize and to develop existing agricultural production system into a more dynamic and viable commercial sector. Agriculture has the potential to reduce food deficit as well as shortage of industrial raw materials, and also to generate employment opportunities with reasonable income, which will in turn help improve the standard of living of the rural people. The growth potential of most of the crops and other agricultural commodities are substantially higher than present level of production. 1. 7 Sustainable intensification and diversification of agriculture through technological change requires an efficient and productive agricultural technology system comprising agricultural research and extension. This needs to be supported by appropriate value addition and market linkages. Enhancing productivity, resource use efficiency, using cutting age science, experimental facilities and above all productivity and maintaining a reservoir of first-rate human resources to sustain knowledge-intensive agriculture has become critically important. The Bangladesh agriculture demands considerable scientific and technological input. Today s complex national and economic environment requires increase in the effectiveness of the public expenditure in research and extension system. Major challenges for the Bangladesh agriculture are to raising productivity and profitability, reducing instability, increasing resource-use efficiency, ensuring equity, improving quality; and meeting demands for diversification & commercialization of agriculture. 1. 9 The existing National Agricultural Policy was adopted in April, 1999. With the passage of time some issues and concerns have emerged in agriculture, in some cases with new dimension. For instance, dwindling agricultural resources, declining biodiversity, climate change, increasing frequency & intensity of natural disasters, increasing input prices, soaring food prices etc. require transformation of agriculture in such a way that would address challenges to meet demands. This necessitates the revision and updating the earlier document to make it relevant to the present agro-economic context. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of Agriculture Sector For developing of a pragmatic and effective and efficient national agricultural policy, it is a pre-requisite to gauge the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that are associated with the issues of policy interventions.

Our Youth have Questionable Role Models from the Music...

Many popular music artists today are looked up to for their songs, style, and personality. People in today’s society can be easily influenced and many have role models they look up to and aspire to be. A role model has qualities that affect young kids and also adults that can lead to either positive or negative influences. This can be somewhat of a dangerous thing considering the role model the people choose. While this can be something innocent, like singing along to songs or dressing with a certain style, it can also be something negative, like bad behavior, drug, abuse, and violence. Parts of society, mostly fan bases, condone all types of behavior by their favorite artists, no matter good or bad. This has a potential bad affect on†¦show more content†¦In January of 2013, Bieber was caught smoking marijuana in Newport Beach, CA. Not only was this illegal, but his fans reacted in such a deranged way of protest. They started a trend called â€Å"cut4bieberâ₠¬  on the social media site, Twitter. The young people were responding to Bieber smoking marijuana by cutting their wrists and taking pictures of their self mutilation to send to him. They were hoping this would get his attention to stop his illegal activities. It is so dark and scary how far his fans will go for him. Another incident happened in January of 2014 where he was arrested and charged for driving under the influence, drag racing, and resisting arrest without violence. After his arrest, his fans were fully supporting and standing by Bieber. They were creating a riot on the internet saying they wanted him freed from jail. The young fans kept making excuses for Bieber saying he’s only 19 years old and how he’s allowed to make mistakes because he’s young. Forgiving drunk and reckless driving instantly just because of someone’s social status is unacceptable. If another person drove drunk and put people in potential danger would these kids still start a trend on twitter to free them from jail? Probably not. They would be talking up a storm about how bad of a crime drunk driving is. Allowing Justin Bieber to get away with a potentially dangerous crime is seriously wrong. This shows