Whistling Vivaldi

The book gets its title from a story a black New York Times writer, Brent Staples, told Steele about how he ad to whistle Vivaldi anytime he walked on the streets of Hyde Park a suburb of Chicago so he wouldn't look violent to the dominantly white people who lived on that part. Staples who knew he had a social identity because he was black used the whistling to steer through that part of his daily life.Identity contingencies are the things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity. Stereotype threat in the book, from my understanding can thus be defined as when a person finds himself/herself in situation or circumstance where his or her performance/behavior consciously or unconsciously is affected usually by negative stereotypes.A typical example was the Golf experiment in the book where Jeff stone and his team using typical stereotypes about whites been less naturally athletic than blacks and blacks been less intelligent than whites as the experim ental variables was able to prove how the performance of the white students at Princeton University was reduced when they were told they were been tested or their natural athletic ability and how the same thing happened to the black students when they were told they were been tested for their sports strategic intelligence.The 2nd experiment Steele describes was the experiment in which a third grade teacher Jane Elliot trying to teach her students the importance of the life and works of Dry Martin Luther King identified eye color as the basis Of been smarter, cleaner and been well behaved. This experiment exemplified how an identity and stereotype affects a person's way of thinking and ability.

Management and Negotiating Conflict Style Essay

1. Hastings had a reputation of being hard headed, and not being able to take criticism. He used the autocratic style to push for his ways of doing things. They said he would sometimes embarrass employees, and roll his eyes at them. And when they had an idea he might call their ideas â€Å"dumb ideas†. He was so bad at this he actually established the nickname â€Å"Animal†. Hastings was young when he developed Pure Software, after establishing it he realized he didn’t like the man he had become or the business he had created. He sold Pure for $750 million and changed his ways when he moved on to his new company Netflix. At Netflix Hastings was a new man; he changed his use of communications in sending and receiving messages in many ways. At Netflix, Hastings was much more kind and open to new ideas. He changed his way of talking to employees and you can tell by the rise in stock and Hastings being named Businessperson of the year in 2010. 2. He changed his use of feedback by listening to his employees and thier ideas, and when he didn’t understand he would say, â€Å" help me understand your idea, tell me why this will work.† Instead of just rolling his eyes and acting high and mighty like he did and his previous company Pure. 3. Hastings coaching style at Pure was poor; he wanted to change that when he created Netflix. He defiantly improved his coaching guidelines in the following ways; He started giving praise and recognition, not criticizing, and giving specific and descriptive feedback. 4. I feel Hastings used two different styles one at Pure and one at Netflix. I feel the style he used at Pure was more of a Forcing Conflict style. When I read the case I got the impression that Hastings didn’t care what his Pure employees thought about him it was more of a I win you Lose attitude which is what the Forcing Conflict Style is all about. With Netflix on the other hand I feel like he went for more of the Negotiating Conflict Style the more I win some, you win some. He cared more about his employees and how they felt. That is just my opinion but I guess if I had to pick just one style he used in both of them I would pick the Forcing Conflict Style because Hastings still ran a tight ship and at the end of the day he was always going to end up a winner. 5. The Conflict  management style used by Netflix was Collaborating Conflict Style. It is the best solution agreeable to all parties. Joining forces with Epix was a good deal for both of them. That’s why I feel the Collaborating Approach was the style used. 6. I am currently a Netflix user; I have been for many years. They are getting better and better every year. I really have no complaints, they have every show that I like to watch, and it is always very quick for me. I think the price is fair, and they let you watch it on every device you own. I as a customer have absolutely no complaints. 7. I think the Group Level of Analysis was used. This level focuses on the relationship between the leaders and the collective group of followers. They focus on how a leader contributes to group effectiveness. Hastings used the Management paradigm by being concerned with stability, and finding out the best way to get the job done. He was able to lead through others, and create favorable conditions for success. He was a very successful leader too; there is no good manager that is not a good leader as well.

Four Paired Stocks Worth Watching This Week Essay

Four Paired Stocks Worth Watching This Week - Essay Example However, at least three things mitigate this news. One is that the FDA is not compelled to heed the advice of its panels. Two is that pronouncements by spokespersons of the FDA point out that the recent panel recommendation summarized above is not likely to have an impact on existing applications for drug approval. This means that the applications for approval. Three, consensus wisdom from insiders is that at any rate, the two companies already have in their possession a wealth of existing, prior to approval clinical data on human trials involving measuring the impact of their respective medications on strokes and heart ailments, and can comply with the recommendations of the FDA panel if necessary, without resorting to new, pre-approval clinical trials. All these taken together means that while on the surface, the FDA panel recommendation seems to be somewhat of a drag on the approval train for Vivus and Arena, the reality, especially with the announcements of the FDA spokespersons hinting that the approval processes have a slim chance of being derailed, is that both companies are probably in for a rosy future as far as the approval process is concerned, at least at the moment. Indeed, in reaction to the news on the recommendation of the FDA panel, the stock prices of both Vivus and Arena rose (Edney and Larkin; The Fly on the Wall). This joint rise in the stock price underscores market perception and underlying market and research dynamics that couple the two stocks and make of the two a stock pair worth watching. Moreover, the two are locked in a tight race for billing and for first-mover, as well as for the corollary financial rewards, to get to market with their respective medications for obesity. It is interesting, looking at the stock price charts over the last six months, how in recent weeks the fate of the two stocks seem to have coupled even more tightly. Vivus shares spiked fifty percent in early February of 2012, and has plateaued at a level of arou nd US 20 dollars a share. Following this trend, Arena shares spiked 50 percent in early March, plateauing so far at around US 3 dollars a share. It is interesting to see how further milestones and market development for the two firms will reflect on their respective share prices (Edney and Larkin; The Fly on the Wall; Google Finance (a); Google Finance (b)). The market is on a keen lookout for key approval milestones for the two competing medications from the two firms. The drug Qnexa by Vivus seems to be ahead of the pack, with positive news coming from an FDA panel on February 22 of this year which weighed risks against benefits and found that the drug's risks were dimmed by its benefits. The FDA may or may not heed that panel finding, and at any rate come up with a decision on Qnexa by April 17 of this year. Lorcaserin, which was developed by Arena, is set for an FDA panel scrutiny by May 10. The FDA will then, by the 27th of June of this year, make its decision on the latter dru g. The consensus is that positive news for Qnexa/Vivus ought to translate to positive news for lorcaserin/Arena,

Monopoly Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Monopoly - Research Paper Example This paper will explore the various barriers to entry in a monopolistic market structure. Discussion The primary method of discouraging businesses to operate in a monopolistic market is to create deliberate entry barriers in the form of trade barriers. Market regulators may decide to discourage new business entry by placing restrictions on licenses, tariffs, currency movement and by providing existing businesses with subsidies. Typically, trade barriers are taken into consideration in terms of international trade only (Hans, Dahringer, & Leihs, 1999). Governments are known to create entry restrictions through licensing restrictions whereby new businesses are not issued licenses to operate inside the market. For example, the defense industry in the United States is highly protected by the government, as foreign operatives are not issued licenses to operate in the same market. In addition to these licensing restrictions, governments may choose to restrict import and export licenses in order to keep a monopolistic market intact. Legal entry barriers are analogous to trade barriers. Governments employ various forms of laws to ensure that new businesses are unable to enter the target market. ... or example, a number of Islamic countries discourage the production of alcoholic products in their borders by complicating the launch of new alcohol manufacturing businesses (Blinder, Baumol, & Gale, 2001). In addition to legal and trade barriers, another entry barrier employs technological and copyright methods. The presence of copyrights and trademarks related to certain products means that new businesses cannot enter business segments protected in this fashion. Typically, copyrights and trademarks are employed to protect businesses that are unique in terms of content such as music, books, films etc. However, copyrights and trademarks are also employed to protect other businesses where new entrants could emerge such as pharmaceuticals. If a pharmaceutical company owns a certain patent for medicine, then only that business can produce the subject medicine. Other businesses may also acquire the formula but cannot produce due to copyright and patent restrictions. Monopolies emerge in markets where resources are scarce and controlled by one or a select few businesses. Perhaps, the most telling example of such monopolies is the production of oil and gas in the Central Asian region. Oil and gas resources are scarce around the world and businesses are trying to shift to newer sources of oil and gas present in Central Asia. However, these resources are controlled by the local governments and existing businesses that do not allow new businesses to enter the market. The control of these scarce resources by a few select businesses means that the emerging market structure is a monopoly (Hirschey, 2000). In a similar manner, large sunk costs discourage new businesses from entering the market. Sunk costs represent investments that cannot be recovered in case the business has to