Engineering Products Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Engineering Products - Essay Example The theory developed by French and Raven (1958, p. 453) distinguished five bases of social power.   These are the reward power, the coercive power, the referent power, the legitimate power, and the expert power.   EP’s power policy is the combination of three bases, namely reward, coercive, and legitimate power.     The reward power is the leader’s influence on his followers exerted through the dispensation of valued rewards in return for compliance with instruction.   When EP established the pay plan and the new criteria for promotions, opening upward mobility to compliant managers, it was wielding the proverbial â€Å"carrot† and trying to court obedience to central policy.   Coercive power, on the other hand, is based on the administration of penalties or sanctions for non-compliance with instructions.   In EP, HQ wielded the â€Å"stick† in the form of sanctions and dismissals for managers who insisted on not abiding by HQ’s standa rdization policies.   HQ also introduced punishment in not allocating orders to plants perceived to be uncooperative with central authority. Finally, the exercise of legitimate (or position) power is based on the obligation of subordinates to accept instructions given by the leadership because of its position and title.   HQ used its legitimate power by employing control mechanisms such as: centralizing the decision-making functions on itself; changing the company’s structure to favour standardization; affording rewards and imposing punishments; training of personnel; and imposition of policies and rules (Hellriegel, D. and Slocum, J., 1978, p. 365 ). In EP, however, the changes in the organizational structure may be viewed as a benevolent attempt to gradually inculcate standardization through collaboration.   The manufacturing councils, the engineers’ International College, the internal consultants, and regular meetings of international HR specialists, were all meant to smooth out the transition from localized operations to a standardized system.  

Hardins Argument Concerning Lifeboat Ethics Essay

Hardins Argument Concerning Lifeboat Ethics - Essay Example He also illustrates this fact with the example of a farmer, who cannot allow any more cattle in his meadow than its carrying capacity justifies. He argues that if a pasture is open to all, the right to use it will not be matched by a corresponding responsibility to protect it and it is not possible to expect everyone to use it with discretion. "In a crowded world of less than perfect human beings, mutual ruin is inevitable if there are no controls. This is the tragedy of the commons." (Hardin) Therefore, Hardin establishes his concept of 'the tragedy of the commons' in a highly convincing manner with ample illustrations and explanations and he maintains that an important task of education today should be the creation of an acute awareness of the dangers of the commons. One of the most significant interpretations of the arguments of Hardin concerning 'the tragedy of the commons' was offered by De Young in his article "Tragedy of the commons", in which the author comes up with serious criticisms of Hardin's arguments. According to De Young, Garrett Hardin's concept of the 'tragedy of the commons' has been important in understanding how humanity has come at the brink of several environmental catastrophes. He maintains that the dangerous situations in human life are the creations of the innocent behaviors of many individuals acting alone.