The Enlightment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

The Enlightment - Essay Example The current research looks at ideals of nature and human potential, absolutism and forms of government, as they are related to Enlightenment models, which were a challenge to the Old Regime. Later ideal government structures of the Enlightenment were more about the people than the divine monarch. â€Å"Supposed innate qualities, such as goodness or original sin, had no reality. In a darker vein, Thomas Hobbes portrayed man as moved solely by considerations of his own pleasure and pain.† (Enlightenment, 2008). There were light and dark sides to this decrease in absolutism. The Enlightenment represented a shift in the form of nature from being totally based on the idea of absolutism of divinity to a paradigm shift from the Old Regime. What many Enlightenment thinkers did was to refine the whole concept of nature-as-absolute, and change it in a way that represented less absolutism. A paradigm shift occurs when the accepted notions about a given subject or theory (absolutism in this case) become disfavored, in the favor of a new way of doing things or a new notion of the way in which things are done. This creates tension as supporters of the old paradigm are often polemical against the new paradigm during the process of change or paradigm shift. In terms of humanity’s successful attempts to control nature, and both of these things are seen as being positive by the various Enlightenment philosophies. The Enlightenment seems to also reserve a lot of praise for those things which are not found in nature, but rather which represent culture and art. Th is is a reflection of what the Old Regime may have been experiencing in terms of an agenda to install Enlightenment ideals of science, rationality and reason being paramount in terms of their opposition to nature and emotion which may be more spontaneous. The idea of the fall of absolutes shows in Enlightenment ideals in many ways, particularly in the appreciation of reason over emotion and the attention to

Change in Management and Leadership Style Essay

Change in Management and Leadership Style - Essay Example This essay examines the leadership and management structures within the company’s human resource approach to the establishment of Virgin Galactic business venture. Leadership and Management The main human resource related issue within the Virgin Atlantic structure is the company’s approach to the Galactic Project. The Galactic Project is the company’s mission to establish commercial trips to suborbital space stations. The mission began in 2004 and has been in development since this period. The spacecraft flights are intended to be robust and affordable to the extent that they can take passengers in a relatively affordable way ($200,000 per passenger). The space flight will overlap the Earth’s atmosphere in a suborbital way flight. Passengers will experience a brief period of weightlessness – 6 minutes – where passengers will be able to detach themselves from their seats. In considering the key business challenges within this organizational pr ogram, it’s clear that there are a wide variety of leadership and management elements that must be considered. While a comprehensive articulation of these elements would require an analysis as large scale as Sir Richard Branson’s space flight operation, this report functions to consider the issue from an overarching perspective. Within this context of understanding, the first major consideration is the Virgin Galactic overriding business structure. In examining this element, the Burke Litwin model of organizational change is implemented in gaining a greater management understanding. In terms of the Burke Litwin model, there are twelve major organizational areas of consideration, with management structure being an important area of concern (Burke 2011). The Virgin Galactic management structure is currently noted as consisting of CEO and President George Whitesides, Stephen Attenborough as the Commercial Director, and Jonathan Firth as the Director of Operations & Projec ts (‘Our Team’ 2010). Another prominent aspect of the Burke Litwin model is the investigation into organizational culture. In terms of organizational culture Virgin Atlantic has gained a reputation for both innovation and efficiency. In addition to these elements, perhaps because of its flamboyant president, the company has also gained a reputation for sensationalism (Manning 2011). While such an organizational culture creates a progressive and creative atmosphere, for the implementation of large-scale experimental practices one can argue that such a practice is detrimental to company success. The Burke Litwin model also considers the nature of the external environment. In these regards, this specific business challenge faces competition from a number of competing space airliners. There is also concern over increased government regulations. Another major business analysis model is the McKinsey 7S Framework. This framework considers the interaction of seven components to , â€Å"Improve the performance of a company† and â€Å"Determine how best to implement a proposed strategy†. Within the context of this analytic tool are the hard elements of ‘strategy, structure, and systems’. Currently, the business venture’s organizational structure functions within the Virgin empire, yet involves a partnership with aerospace designing firm Scales Composites. Similarly, CEO and President