Baseball and the Changes made in 1968 Essay Example for Free

Baseball and the Changes made in 1968 Essay Baseball is America’s most favorite past time. It is America’s national sports. Among the non-contact sports being played today, it is the most popular and widely played around the globe. Since contacts are less baseball players get to play more games and eventually seasons compare to their baseball and basketball counterparts. Baseball owns style and uniqueness is what makes the game more special and closer to the heart of the people of America. It is the only sport with exception to softball, which traces its origin and roots to baseball – in which the defense starts play by putting the ball in play. The success being enjoyed by baseball as America’s most favourite past time can be attributed to the excitement and fun the way games are played through the years, from minor to major leagues. The techniques and strategies employed by coaches, team owner, players and sport’s organizer to uplift quality of games, all add color and spice to an already colorful sporting event. The sight and sound inside the ballpark are things to behold as players continue to provide entertainment to every spectator. From the first time baseball was invented and developed, the game had undergone and seen several and important changes and facelift all for the improvement of the game’s quality and for the purpose of bringing the game closer to the public. It is no secret that several changes that are made in baseball’s rule and guidelines are results of the growing clamour made by casual and serious â€Å"faniacs† (fans and maniacs alike). By adapting these changes games are played more interestingly and competition became tougher as games are now dictated and rely heavily on the shoulders of every batter (Newell). The game has now evolved to a batter’s dominated game. With the changes in the existing rule efficiency of pitchers was limited. By limiting effectiveness of pitchers more hits are made, eventually yielding to more runs scored and homeruns being made. The committee’s action emphasis the growing important they put on hits, run, homeruns and offense as they try to bring attendance back in on ball parks. Thus, a new phase in baseball history opens up as fans and spectators go frenzy with every swing of the bat. With the major transformation of the game from a pitcher’s dominance to a batter controlled and dictated tempo, it is fitting and necessary to understand the changes that are made that swing the tide to the offensive teams’ favour. It was in 1968 when major league officials, organizers and experts started re-evaluation of existing baseball rules that govern the sports. One of the rules the committee focus and re-evaluated was the scoring of homeruns in the ninth inning or bottom of extra inning. Prior to the 1920 season, homeruns that propel winning run of runners ahead of them were not considered homeruns and will only be scored as a singles, doubles or a triples depending on the base occupied by the runner ahead of the player who made the homerun (Titlebaum). For example, if a runner is positioned on the second base, bottom of the ninth inning, and his teammate hit a home run the batter would only be credited with a double. His score would depend on the number of bases needed by the runner to advance in order to complete the winning run. In 1968 the special committee restore the homeruns that were lost due to the above mentioned law (Titlebaum). This was the first step made by the committee that slowly shifted the dominance from the pitchers to the batters. The year 1968 was also known to baseball fans as the â€Å"Year of the Pitcher†. It was in this year Robert â€Å"Bob† Gibson dished out the lowest ERA ever made in the 20th century. Gibson who played for the ST. Louis Cardinals was widely known as one of the most dominant and prominent figure of a pitcher in his era. It was during that year the he compiled an amazing 1. 12 ERA, whish was the most dominant performance of a pitcher in a season (Schell). He also completed 28 games out of his 34 as the starting pitcher in which 13 of them were shutouts (Schell). In 28 starts he never allowed a single run. Tim McCarver, Gibsons long-time catcher in St. Louis once quoted I never went to the mound when he was pitching. What is a catcher going to tell someone like him how to throw a pitch? † (Schell). The dominating performance of pitchers in this year led by Gibson, prompted league officials and organizers to make changes in able to help hitters and thus creating an era of an offense minded games. The influx of pitching talents during the 1968 was one of the reasons why pitchers dominated the game. Gibson wasn’t alone in dominating the ’68 season. There was Danny Mclain which was Gibson’s opponent in the World Series, which poser a pretty impressive number with his 1. 96 ERA (Schell). Apparently the figure was only good for fourth ranked in the American League behind Dave McNally with 1. 95, Sudden Sam McDowell’s 1. 81, and Luis Tiant’s 1. 60 (Schell). With the abundance of talent coupled with scarcity in hitting talent the Year of the Pitcher was born. Due to this abundance of pitching talent, organizer provides batters the leverage they needed to slug it put with the highly touted and remarkable pitchers. Thus, in order to resolve this problem officials change the height of the mound. From 15 inches in 1968, the mound was lowered to 10 (Newell). For this reason the environment has become friendly to hitters as strike zone has become smaller. Pitchers then have to be more perfect with their throws and batters can wait more patiently, unlike before when strike zones was enforced from the height of the batter’s armpit to the level of the knees. With this strike zone, pitcher like Gibson giving big, riding fastballs can easily eat the offense alive. As a result of this change the occurrence of players being out because of â€Å"easy outs† has declined. Furthermore, higher pitching mounds favour pitchers as it means more leverage for them. With the advantage in altitude, pitchers can put more downward velocity and spin to the ball making it more difficult for the opposing team to hit the ball. For the next few years attendance in ball parks increases as offense dominated baseball. Today, offense has dictated the flow of the games. Fans love watching games loaded with offensive actions. Pitchers too found it hard to dominate games, unlike before because of the fatigue and beating they obtained throughout the year. They play more games today. The inclusion of aluminum bats also increased the capacity of hitters to make homeruns. The changing of laws in 1968 has great impact on the field of baseball. The changes made define modern baseball. Work’s Cited Page Newell, Kevin. Five Game-Changing Moments in Baseball. Scholastic administrators (2005). Schell, Michael J. Baseballs All-Time Best Hitters, How Statistics Can Level the Playing Field. Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Press, 1999. Titlebaum, Dr. Peter. Rule Changes in Baseball: Spring Training Never Ends sports media (2006).

360 Degree Feedback In Developing Leadership Skills Management Essay

360 Degree Feedback In Developing Leadership Skills Management Essay There is a great deal of controversy about the relevancy of using 360-degree feedback as a tool to develop leadership skills. Some view 360-degree feedback as a collaborative tool, a tool offering a more balanced circle of feedback based on the assessments of superiors, peers, and subordinates. These views lead me to wonder, how effective can this tool be if it does not factor in leadership styles and the potential for bias based on popularity? Will personality and popularity play a role in the assessment? Though extreme, there is some merit to my position. This realization guided me to my decision that 360-degree feedback is an effective tool to provide self assessment and can also be used to enhance performance measures during annual counseling such as leadership, communication, and mission effectiveness. Background The underlying theory of 360-degree feedback asserts that an assessment received from multiple sources provides unique and meaningful information to the recipient. Rapid growth of its use was fueled by the need to adapt to a changing human resources management environment and by numerous studies that supported the effectiveness of multi-source ratings in post-feedback management development. A significant complaint of the traditional performance appraisal system voiced by services is that feedback is generally one-sided and can lack objectivity. In the 1940s, the Army implemented a tool called the multi-rater system, also known as the multisource assessment process.  [1]  The multi-rater system allows a persons evaluation to encompass reviews from not only a rater, but also a persons subordinates, peers, clients, and organizational hierarchy. This allows a reviewer to get a more complete picture of a person and removes a singular rater from being able to determine the fate of a career. If an officers boss dislikes a subordinate, but he gets top marks from everyone else, it puts the bosss review in context, and would likely generate questions from the senior rater over the rating ability of the boss. In 2006, the Navy tested a prototype model of the 360-degree feedback process in the Surface Warfare Community. Similar to Army results, the Navy prototype showcased a strength of the 360-degree feedback process is its ability to provide varying perspectives of raters. The Navy prototype findings also emphasized that a supervisor cannot observe all the interactions, strengths and opportunities for improvement of his subordinates for evaluation reports, especially if the span of control is broad.  [2]  So why should the supervisor be the only person to provide performance feedback? Discussion A major advantage to the 360-degree feedback process is that it provides an opportunity for people with whom a person comes into frequent contact to offer feedback. This is an important consideration because the rater should be the person that has observed the employee on a frequent basis. It would be unfair and impractical to ask a rater for input when the opportunity to observe an employees skills, talents and abilities have not been provided on a regular basis. Lets look at two examples of 360-degree feedback in action; first lets look at an Army Captain who serves as a signal officer in an infantry battalion. His rater is the Battalion Executive Officer, a combat-arms officer, who does not know much about communication other than how to operate a radio. If the signal officer performs his job well, the XO will likely give him a reasonably favorable review on a traditional Evaluation Review. Now lets use a 360-degree feedback process and involve his higher-echelon counterpart, the Brigade S6 Officer, who is a Major and a signal officer, who gives the Captain an excellent rating based on his technical proficiency. If we involve his section, they can comment on his leadership, management style and his ability to explain complex technical issues in plain English. His peers in the battalion, other captains and the company commanders, all give him high marks for working with them to resolve communication issues. Now the 360-degree feedback proces s is given to his senior rater, the Battalion Commander, who now has a more complete view of this officer and how he has performed based on additional feedback from numerous sources, rather than the traditional counseling from one rater that would have communicated a generic, but reasonably positive review. Another example of how this method is beneficial is to look at an Army infantry platoon leader, a 1st Lieutenant, who routinely sucks up to his company commander, volunteers his platoon for the toughest assignments, scores expert in marksmanship and fitness and has impressed the battalion commander in a field operation. This 1st Lieutenant would normally excel in the traditional counseling process, because his rater and senior rater have the impression that he is above and beyond the standard. Using the 360-degree process, lets say his platoon sergeant reports the 1st Lieutenant delegates much of his work to him and leaves work as early as possible. Some of his squad leaders complain that they always get stuck with volunteer duty while the 1st Lieutenant is off somewhere sleeping. His fellow 1st Lieutenants do not like the guy and view him as a show-off. When this review hits the senior raters desk it will give him a very different view and provide more insight than the traditional c ounseling report would provide. The above example showcases that when feedback comes from many sources, its more difficult for a person to brush aside constructive criticism and rationalize that the boss just has it in for me. If several people suggest that a leader needs to improve verbal communication skills, chances are high that this is indeed a necessary area for improvement. Another advantage of the 360-degree feedback process is that it is designed with a leadership focus in mind. Sometimes its difficult for individuals to understand the impact that their behavior may have on others. However, if they receive direct and frequent feedback on how their behaviors affect others they are more likely to be attentive. Studies show that the 360-degree feedback process is particularly strong when joined with an action plan developed by the person receiving feedback and shared with those providing the feedback. The action plan demonstrates the feedback was heard and the suggestions will be put to use as soon as possible. Studies also strongly suggest that each person receiving feedback, especially for the first time, should have a coach to help assess the comments and help to develop the action plan.  [3]  I recommend the 360-degree feedback process be coupled with competency-based job descriptions; this aids in placing an individual in a position based on the competencies of the position and it ensures the individual is evaluated on those same competencies. Now looking at 360-degree feedback from the perspective of what we learned in seminar about leadership styles. The trait theory assumes people are born with inherited traits and that some traits are particularly associated with great leaders. For instance, there is a scene in the highly-acclaimed and offbeat 1949 World War II film, 12 OClock High, in which Army Air Corps Colonel Keith Davenport, played by Gary Merrill, is the commander who becomes too close to his flyers and eventually cracks under the strain of seeing one of them commit suicide. Colonel Davenport portrayed significant traits to be successful as noted in the trait theory (willing to assume responsibility and alert to social environment). If he was assessed using the 360-degree feedback model, he would have received rave reviews from his supervisor, peers and subordinates based on his leadership style, but if evaluated on technical proficiency he would receive low marks due to the squadrons inability to perform precis ion daylight bombing. Major General Frank Savage replaced Colonel Davenport and pounded discipline and accountability into the squadron, and managed to get them back in the air with a new level of success. If General Savage was given the 360-degree feedback assessment, his rating would have surely required him to make an adjustment in his tough leadership style. This was evident by the number of transfer requests received from the pilots and the short fused IG inspection to assess squadron morale. General Savages tough leadership style ultimately proved to be successful with a significant increase in putting bombs on target as required for mission success. General Savage also projected many of the traits that are considered necessary to be a successful leader such as decisive, dependable, assertive, dominant and persistent. 360-degree feedback is not a substitute for managing poor performance. Instead it is a tool that can be implemented to help employees gain a rich, accurate perspective on how others view their leadership skills, interpersonal style and mission effectiveness. 360-degree feedback should not replace leaderships assessment and evaluation of performance. This is an important point because leaders may be tempted to use 360-degree feedback as a tool to facilitate behavior changes in poor performers. Rather than manage an employees day-to-day performance, leaders may view the multi-rater feedback process as a panacea. Although feedback from a 360-degree process can stimulate self-awareness, it cannot replace direct communication between an employee and his or her superior. An organization should exercise great care in implementing a 360-degree feedback system because unfamiliarity with a person, differences in job and task characteristics, differences in rank, and cognitive differences betwe en an employee and rater can distort assessments. Leaders should also be mindful not to view the 360- degree feedback process as a special event, using it once as part of a training or coaching session. If leaders make this mistake, the goal of ensuring that feedback is incorporated into continuous improvement plans will not be accomplished. Counter Argument To counter my thesis, I must mention that there are potential pitfalls that deal with trust and confidentiality. The key to overcoming pitfalls are to inform everyone of the plan and to stick to it. Additionally, privacy to recipients, and confidentiality to raters regarding the feedback they provide, is an absolute must. As previously described, the tricky part is that we are nearing the line of subordinates possessing the capability to directly influence a leaders career. While 360-degree feedback is not a panacea, impact from any of the above risks would likely be minimal at best with todays motivated, quality all-volunteer force. Nevertheless, it would make sense to establish safeguards wherever possible. Looking at the big picture, the benefits of 360-degree feedback far exceed the pitfalls that can be remedied with careful implementation and changes in organizational culture. Despite the benefits of 360-degree feedback, there are several potential risks which weaken its validity and effectiveness. The most common risk is wrongfully assuming that using feedback from multiple sources will compensate for intentional or unintentional distortion ( i.e. lying). The truth is that feedback collected incorrectly increases rather than decreases the occurrence of error; thus, destroying the credibility of the results. Conclusion I believe that 360-degree feedback should be incorporated into performance measures more specifically leadership, communication and mission effectiveness. The 360-degree feedback program is an excellent performance feedback tool and should be designed for counseling purposes only. There are a couple of ways to regulate the use of this information. The first way is to introduce this technique as a leader developmental tool. Initially, the services could use the train-the-trainer model at the deck plate level, while incorporating it into its school systems. This method will train all leaders and supervisors in the proper use. Given that all leaders have supervisors, I do not envision significant difficulties. I strongly believe our current leader development system can provide leaders for the future force; however, I strongly believe we can improve the system to make leaders more self-aware and thereby more effective. By implementing the 360-degree feedback method into our system, we w ill grow leaders who will win the many literal and figurative wars this nation faces in the future.

The Social Convention Of Death In Literature :: essays research papers fc

Our environment dictates how we live our lives and how we handle situations. Our environment also dictates how the people around us handle our death. Death is one important social convention of a society depicted in The Call of the Wild, Garden Party, the Great Gatsby, Bone, and Dulce Et Decorum Est. Death and the handling of death is a social convention portraying values and ways of living in two main ways: â€Å"respect† of the body and acceptable manners to die such as through violence, illness, caring, etc. In the Call of the Wild, by Jack London, death is a game where survival is a tactic, kill or be killed (manner of death) and the body is a trophy (â€Å"respect† for the body). For example, â€Å"He [Buck] was ranging at the head of the pack, running the wild thing down, the living meat, to kill with his own teeth and wash his muzzle to the eyes in warm blood.† (London 49). This game Buck played with the other dogs was a challenge of who will catch the snowshoe rabbit. It shows a twisted regard for life. Buck wanted to wash his nose in the rabbit’s blood to smell the kill. In this game, the only respect for life is the trophy that the body will make in death. Another example of the game is â€Å"From then on, night and day, Buck never left his prey, never gave it a moment’s rest, never permitted it to browse the leaves of trees†¦ Nor did he give the wounded bull opportunity to slake his burning thirst in the slender trickling stream they crossed.â₠¬  (London 95). Buck played with the bull’s fear and he showed no mercy. He showed no respect, he gave the bull no honor and the bull finally died of exhaustion, falling over, only to become Buck’s prize that also fed him. â€Å"For a day and a night he remained by the kill [moose], eating and sleeping, turn and turn about. Then rested, refreshed and strong,† (London 96). Buck nourished himself off the bull and became stronger and more resilient. To eat Buck must hunt his food in the uncaring wild, it was his only choice for survival. The game that Buck played with life did not always give respect to the dying, though this seemed necessary to his survival, giving the deaths more acceptability as a source to nourish the winner of the game.

Comparing Advertisements by Garnier and Neutrogena Essay -- Adverts, C

We are surrounded by advertisements which be found on the television, radio, newspapers, magazines, street hoardings, taxis, buses and through the post. Everything we purchase or watch is advertised. This is a technique used to persuade people to buy their products. Companies use the power of persuasion to lure their target audience into buying the product being promoted. Advertisements are used to make the audience believe they need the product being marketed. Some advertisements are more successful than others and I intend to investigate why, using two examples which promote skin cleansers one by Garnier and the other by Neutrogena. The first advertisement I will anatomise is the Garnier. The Garnier advertisement takes up an A4 page in a magazine. The main picture takes up approximately 60 percent of the page which makes it stand out and shows it is an important ingredient to making the advertisement efficacious. The main picture is split up again but it is not a 50/50 split it is more like 40/60. The smaller picture shows the girl applying the product to her face and the larger picture shows the outcome of using the merchandise. The picture of the product application is smaller as it does not show you how well the product works or what the end result is which is most important. The larger section is of the girl after application, the girl is very beautiful with clear skin, and this may make the target audience want to buy the product because they have the aspiration to have the perfect skin she does. On the picture in white writing is "GENTLY CLEASNSES PORES DEEP DOWN." "LOOK, THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE." it is divided on the two ... ... preferred the Garnier; the reason is it is straight to the point and aesthetically pleasing it is very fresh and informative without the need for a whole chunk of text explaining who uses it, the product speaks for itself. The reason I disliked the Neutrogena advertisement is that its too busy and also it has too much text which will not appeal to its target audience as most teenager do not pay attention to the text on advertisements. At first glance the Neutrogena looks like an article and once read tells you about the life of a dancer which will not really interest many people, even though the point is that the pore range is quick and easy to use there is no need to explain the history of the users life. Therefore to conclude my essay I came to find the Garnier advertisement is a better campaign than the Neutrogena.

Raising the Mammoth :: Animals History Ice Age Essays

Raising the Mammoth Back in the spring of 2000, a documentary was broadcast from the scovery channel show on television, which millions tuned in to watch. This particular segment was dedicated to a recent discovery and excavation of a woolly mammoth found in the Siberian tundra of Russia. The expedition was headed by scientist, Bernard Buigues. This individual has organized over 20 different expeditions to the Siberian tundra of Russia, which made him highly qualified. Along with other colleges, Bernard successfully excavated a frozen, fully in tact, woolly mammoth that is said to be over 20,000 years old. (Head scientist: Bernard Buigues) What is a woolly mammoth? A woolly mammoth is a similar ancestor of the African and Asian elephants of today. It belongs to the same mammal classification known as proboscidenas, or mammals with long trunk like noses. Both of these breeds come from the same family tree but are distinct cousins. As you can see the woolly mammoth had fur all around it to protect it from the frigid Artic weather conditions of the ice age when it was around. These animals were travelers and like there cousins could be found in every continent besides Australia and South America. Not all looked alike but where classified together because of the trunk like nose characteristics. These animals would spend much of there time dedicated to eating and supporting their massive body weight. They were not carnivores but plant eaters. One woolly mammoth would eat up to 200 pounds of food a day to sustain it's self. It would dedicate up to 20 hours a day grazing on the fie lds and eating herbs, shrubs even parts of trees as it's diet. Because of their massive size the woolly mammoth really had no predators. Their huge tusks and ability to move with a deadly strike made them bullies of their ice age. A few would be taken down only due to old age or young lives but not as a mature adult. The woolly mammoth did live to a good age without many worries but with a huge appetite. The mammoth that was discovered in the Russian Siberian tundra was exactly this. So what is in the future for such a remarkable creature?

Global Issues in Strategic Management

What is strategic management? Global Strategy is just one part of the larger subject of Strategic Management. Typically in many strategic management textbooks, International and Global Strategy appears as one of the chapter alongside many others – for example, it's chapter 19 in my book. Take the Blackberry RIM range of mobile phones. This Canadian company has been very successful, so far, in terms of its international and global strategy.But it began by using the basic principles of strategic management – customer focus on the business customer, competitive advantage through its focus on the easy email access, resource-based analysis based on its patented technology – rather than anything specific to global strategy. But then Blackberry RIM added a global strategy – for example, its co-operation with the Reliance mobile network in India shown right – to add to the basic strategy. What this means is that many of the basic principles of Strategic Man agement – customer focus, competitive advantage, resource-based analysis, etc. are also fundamental to the development of International and Global Strategy. The purpose of this section of the website is therefore to offer a brief summary of some of the main elements. Clearly, it is not possible to cover all the material set out in an 800-page text. Here, we highlight some key areas and principles. First, we summarise the two main strategic processes – prescriptive and emergent – and mention some of the background theories that underpin them.Second, we present video summaries of some selected chapters from my book StrategicManagement 5th Edition which explore the main areas in more depth. You may like to know that the four previous editions of the book were called Corporate Strategy: we changed the title for the fifth edition to reflect changes in strategy thinking since the publication of the first edition in 1997. Background to strategic management development In reality, strategic management is a relatively young subject.It has its roots in the economic and social theories of the 1930s and 1940s – perhaps even earlier. But it only really began to emerge as a separate topic in the 1960s and 1970s. Even today, there is only partial agreeement on the fundamental principles of strategic management with many views, ideas and concepts. This makes the topic interesting and challenging. But it also means that there is no fully accepted body of knowledge unlike, for example, mechanical engineering or organic chemistry.According to one recent authoritive survey amongst academic strategists (Nag et al,Strategic Management Journal, 2007, Vol 28, pages 935-955), there are two main streams of thought related to strategic process: prescriptive (or intended) strategic processes and emergent strategic processes. The authors produced the following definition from their survey over the period 1983-2004: ‘The field of strategic management deals with the major intended and emergent initiatives taken by general managers on behalf of owners, involving utilization of resources, to enhance the performance of firms in their external environments. ‘

A Tragedy Averted

On the 2nd of November, year 2006, an almost-tragic event happened in the roads of Kalipayan, here in Tacloban City. I was in the 6th grade at the time and it was All Souls’ Day. My relatives and I went to the cemetery to visit the grave of my late grandfather, who passed away in June of the same year. We arrived there in the late afternoon. After offering prayers for the eternal repose of my grandfather, as well as exchanging stories with my cousins and aunts, my mom decided it was time to go home. It was already getting late, the time indicating it was almost midnight. We waited for several minutes for a jeepney to come and when we were able to get one†¦ The vehicle was moving at moderate speed and everything was going well. My mom was busy conversing with my aunt about important matters when the jeepney came to a halt, letting a passenger off near the bend on the road. All of a sudden; a man, out of nowhere, snatched my mom’s bag and immediately jumped off the vehicle. It seemed like time was stopped and everyone was left in a trance. Not wasting any more precious time, I jumped off the vehicle and chased the snatcher – who was carrying a small knife – until I came to a dead end. I got a little frightened for the path where the snatcher ran off to was narrow and looked like a ledge and one small step would have led me drenched in the water. I ran back to the main road and finding relief in the presence of light posts, I jogged to a walk and tried to catch my breath. Going back to the jeepney where my mom, sister and aunt were waiting – all the while anxious about my sudden departure – I found men and bystanders gathering around my mom’s bag. Turns out, the snatcher dropped the bag and only stole my mom’s mobile phone and didn’t touch the other paraphernalia in the bag. Thankfully, my mom was pretty clever in keeping our passports and other essential things in a plain-looking plastic bag. The snatcher probably thought it was just trash and decided to discard it. We went back to the jeepney and arrived safely in our house. My sister was in a state of shock while my mom was truly grateful for the essentials that were left unharmed. I was mainly disappointed that I wasn’t able to catch the criminal but nevertheless thankful that I was given enough courage by God to chase the snatcher and got out of that situation without facing any threat or danger.