Rising College Costs

The cost of college has been considerably rising over the last few decades. This development has made it harder for students to complete their college education smoothly. How these rising costs affect Americans is a constantly debated subject. The media, politicians, and other stakeholders have made this subject a major debate topic.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rising College Costs specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, when President Obama was campaigning, he made this issue a major campaign item. Statistics indicate that the rate through which college costs are rising is three times more than that of inflation. This means that many students have to struggle to finish their college education and even when they do, they have to deal with several unpaid loans. This rise in college fees affects students in many ways. This essay seeks to investigate some of these effects. The rise in college costs is hind ering most students from pursuing higher level degrees. Instead, many students are opting for the more cost effective two year colleges. Statistics indicate that there has been increased enrollment in two year colleges over the last few years. This is because entry to middle and higher level colleges is proving to be an uphill task for most students. Others are only seeking to join the higher level colleges after their two year colleges have provided them with a job. Another result of rising college costs is that when most students leave college it is harder for them to buy homes. This is because by the time most students leave college; they have already accumulated huge amounts of money in debt. This in turn makes it harder for them to start saving money for a house when they get employed. A survey conducted sometimes back indicated that only fifty seven percent of people between the ages of twenty five and forty four own houses (Choy 23). Two decades ago this number used to be hig her. This shows a probable connection between rising college costs and a decrease in house ownership.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Students are getting into careers without necessarily having to train for them. Previously when someone wanted to start a business, he/she first joined business school in order to get the necessary training. Nowadays when young people want to get into a career, they are either just diving in or seeking alternative training. For instance, there are people who seek attachment to mechanic shops and they end up with the same skills a trained motor engineer has. This is mostly because of the prohibitive fees that come with college training. Socially, young people are delaying to start families as a result of the high college costs. The debts that come with a college education take time to offset. This means that other social engagements that require money li ke marriages and weddings are being delayed until one is financially stable. Around sixty five percent of college students leave college with debts (College Board 4). Out of these, twenty five percent have debts exceeding twenty five thousand dollars. When these facts are put together, it means that some college graduates may be forced to forego weddings or even starting families. High college costs do not have only negative effects. One positive thing about them is that they are adding value to college education. Major colleges in the country are receiving a record number of applications every year. This is because college education is changing some students’ lives. The high costs of college education ensure that the quality and integrity of college education is maintained. If college education was cheap, it would be easy to obtain. This would then translate into its depreciation. In addition, because of the high value of this education, it is easier for college graduates to negotiate for better remuneration. Many college graduates are pressured by circumstances to obtain jobs fast. This is because most of the times they have debts to start paying. When they lack the luxury of waiting for a good job, it means that they take up whatever job they can get.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Rising College Costs specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This situation translates into many college graduates working in careers that are outside of their training. Sometimes due to frustration, college graduates end up taking careers that do not require a college degree. This decision is usually a painful one for most college students. The rate of college completion is falling. Many students are not able to complete college due to these high costs. A study conducted to investigate this issue indicated that only about a quarter of those students attending college on a part time basis end up graduating. This group is mostly consisted of those people who are working and studying at the same time. Moreover, higher college costs are making it harder for students from low income families to complete college (Ruppert 46). In fact, most people are of the opinion that college education is an affair of the middle and upper classes. In conclusion, high college prices affect students and the youth in various ways. Although rising college fees seem to be a natural progression, stakeholders should act to balance its effects. This is because higher college prices seem to have more negative effects than positive ones. Works Cited Choy, S. P. Access persistence: Findings from 10 years of longitudinal research on  students, Washington, DC: American Council on Education, 2002. Print. College Board. Trends in Student Aid, Washington, DC: Author, 1998. Print. Ruppert, Samuel. Closing the College Participation Gap: A National Summary, Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States, 2003. Print.Adve rtising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This essay on Rising College Costs was written and submitted by user Jaelynn W. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Timkens Case Study Market Entry at Romania Essay Example

Timkens Case Study Market Entry at Romania Essay Example Timkens Case Study Market Entry at Romania Essay Timkens Case Study Market Entry at Romania Essay TIMKEN CASE STUDY1Doan Thi Thu Ha Timken was known as a leading manufacturer of highly engineered bearings and alloy steels and famous for its tapered roller bearings with over 200 types in more than 30,000 sizes. It was also the market leader in mechanical seamless steel tubing and shipped more than one million tons of premium alloy steels annually. Timken was located in Canton, Ohio. However, its operation was not limited in Ohio but in twenty-five countries and employed over 20,000 people worldwide. In the early 1990s, Timken intended to take the U. S model to Europe with some customization for the local market and focused on case-carburized tapered roller bearings. In early 1997, Timken reviewed its strategy with specific aim for the European market: to gain market share, to lower its cost structure and to increase production capacity. It also addressed three segments: small bearings for automotive and light industrial markets, medium bearings for construction equipment and large bearings for process and other heavy industries. As Timken Polska fulfilled the small bearings plant requirement and Gnutti Carlo S. p. A. in Italy provided a medium-sized bearings plant, Timken had to search for a large bearings plant in Central Europe that would provide the company with low-cost manufacturing capacity. Rulmenti Grei in Romania could be the potential choice for Timken ¶s large bearings plant. Rulmenti Grei offered valuable assets from market share, equipments to skill engineers to help Timken to crack the European industrial bearings market. This acquisition would be consistent with Timken ¶s strategy of gaining market share, improving cost structure and increasing production capacity. However, Timken might face the difficulties of Romania ¶s political instability and the numerous operational challenges of integrating the plant into Timken ¶s global organization. Furthermore, as Rulmenti Grei produced a variety of bearing types, this investment could lead to the change in its century-corporate culture of focusing on tapered roller bearings. Timken also had to consider the acquisition cost and the additional investment they would undertake for plant upgrades and expansion. The merits of an acquisition of Rulmenti Grei and the risks for Timken According to the ranking system of Timken, Rulmenti Grei seemed to have a good assessment First, Rulmenti Grei had been a big manufacturer producing over 1,200 types and sizes of bearings including tapered, cylindrical, spherical, and ball bearings. Although tapered roller bearings currently represented only 18 percent of production, this proportion could be increased by retooling its equipment. Second, Timken was familiar with much of Grei’s equipment as It was made by an American machine builder. Third, the employees of Rulmenti Grei seemed to have high education and many of them had technical degrees. Furthermore, many professors spoke English fluently. Therefore, Timken could easily bring it up to US standards. Skilled talent is hard to find and difficult to retain. Local companies usually take advantages of this as they understand the culture, the behaviors and the expectation of local people to build up a strategy to attract talents (Bhattacharya, 2008). Thus, acquisition a company with impressive workforce could strengthen Timken’s competitive ability. Rulmenti Grei was considered as the good candidate for the company’s three-plant plan. It could offer Timken an opportunity to establish a stronger competitive position in the European industrial bearings market and to lower manufacturing costs across its heavy bearings business. It is said that local companies often win in the price war while the organizational processes and cost structures of many global companies make it difficult for them to sell products and services at optimal price points to satisfy both global, glocal, local and bottom customers (Khanna, 2006). Therefore, having effective cost structure would be the great advantage for Timken to become more competitive not only in Europe but also globally. Although Timken had several plants in Europe, their operation was less effective than those of competitors. With this acquisition, Timken could break into and dominate the European market and use it as the leverage to be the leader in bearing industry. However, the investment was not without risks. There are four types of risks in international business called cross-culture risk, country risk, currency risk and commercial risk. Cross-cultural risk refers to a situation or event where a cultural miscommunication puts some human value at stake. Country risk describes the potentially adverse effects on company operations and rofitability holes by developments in the political, legal, and economic environment in a foreign country. Currency risk is the risk of adverse unexpected fluctuations in exchange rates. Commercial risk refers to potential loss or failure from poorly developed or executed business strategies, tactics, or procedures (Boter Wincent, 2010). Investment in Rulmenti Grei , Timken might face the salient risks of political and economic instability. Romania’s economic growth was slower, inflation was higher, and the labor force was more volatile. Furthermore, there might be a risk of re-nationalization. It is said that economic risk analysis tells corporate leaders the ability of a particular country to pay its debt while political risk analysis tells them whether that country will pay its debt. Political risk measures the stability of individual countries through the combination of four factors: government, society, security, and the economy (Bremmer, 2005). However, the most important risks Timken faced were operations. Besides, the plant was struggling and lack a broad sales base outside Central Europe. Moreover, it sold most of its bearings to Romanian and Russian steel mills, whose business was in decline. An inability to make change rapidly could result in the need for Timken corporate to subsidize the Romanian operations for some time. Operating and organizational issues In order to gain broad acceptance of its product outside Central Europe, Timken need both technical and marketing expertise. First, Timken needed to improve the product to Western European standards. It would be difficult as steel quality was low, and the equipment was in disrepair. Even FLT where the technology and processes were relatively simple as it manufactured only tapered roller bearings, it had taken eighteen months to bring product quality up to Timken standards. Therefore, it would be impossible for Rulmenti Grei which had over 1,000 part numbers for four different bearing types to achieve Timken-level quality in six month. Further more, if Timken wanted to increase the proportion of tapered roller bearings production, new heat treatment equipment and workforce education in tapered roller manufacturing skills would be required. Besides, Timken needed to improve not only technology, technology but also raw materials to produce case-carburized bearings for industrial market with total additional investment of at least $8 million which was not a small figure. To bring Rulmenti Grei up to Timken’s quality was difficult but to convince potential customers that the product was of high quality and met their standards was also a big concern due to the fact that Western companies generally matched Central European manufactured bearings with poor quality. Applying Timken brand on these bearings producing to Western standards could help to gain the customers’ confidence. However, if the quality was not well controlled, it could damage Timken’s image and lead to a huge loss. Another issue was about what Timken would decide with other bearings that Rulmenti Grei was producing. If Timken decided to continue to produce these types of bearing, it might need to consider how to sell them and how to change its century-old corporate culture of producing tapered roller bearings. If Timken continued to focus only on tapered roller bearings, investment in equipment, technology and human resource must be high and the investment project would take a long time. Conditions to secure in framing the proposal and what the Romanian Government looked for in a winning proposal The Romanian government assessed the proposals based on the scoring worksheet including the acquisition price, future investment, and environmental remediation. Bidders were asked to nominate their acquisition price for 50. 99% of Rulmenti Grei which was for sale from a minimum of 183. 72 billion lei. In addition, bidders were required to indicate how much additional investment they would undertake for plant upgrades and expansion, and also what they would spend on environmental remediation. Romanian Government also expected bidders to put forward other more qualitative dimensions which could be influential in the final decision. Understanding the expectation of Romanian Government to satisfy them was the key element to win the acquisition. When a government was calling for an investment, of course they wanted an outstanding investor which had ability to drive the company successfully with a long-term investment not only for that company but also for society. Therefore, Timken would mention clearly in the proposal about its competitive strength and future development ability. In addition, Timken would focus on what Timken could do for the Rulmenti Grei as well as Romanian society such as a detail plan to make Grei become the biggest manufacturer in Europe which could bring thousands jobs for Romanian people by applying new technologies and processes. This investment would contribute much to Romania ¶s economic and technology as well as shorten the distance between Romania and other developed countries in Europe. Furthermore, Timken would show its investment in environmental protection and other activities to improve the Romanian environment, education, and living standards. Last but not least, Timken should also consider to nominate the appropriate acquisition price as it would be very difficult to win if its nominated price is much lower than that of other competitors. Furthermore, Timken could even ask for some commitment from Rumanian Government for a stable law in bearing industry or even a favorable treatment for Timken to ensure the sustainable growth especially in the first stage of investment. Proceed with a proposal or not? Globalization is said to be a double-edged sword (Bhattacharya, 2008). For all the pros and cons of this acquisition, the trade-off between benefits, costs and risks should be taken into consideration. However, one of the reason why Timken had not cracked the European market was its lack of competitive production capacity and a strong local presence on the continent, which was the home field of its two largest competitors, SKF and FAG. Although Timken had several manufacturing plants in Europe, the plants were low scale and less efficient compared to those of its major European competitors. Therefore, if Timken chose not to proceed this acquisition, the company would still need to secure low-cost manufacturing capacity some wherein Europe to build a platform to win European market. With its advantages as mentioned above, Rulmenti Grei was the best choice to support Timken ¶s mission, so taking this chance would open a new world of success for Timken. Moreover, SKF was keen on acquire Rulmenti Grei soif Timken did not take this chance, the distance between SKF and Timken might be lengthened and Timken might lose its competitive ability in Europe. Then, increasing European market share would be a big problem of Timken. Proceeding the proposal would be the lucid decision, however, the problem was how to analyze the risks accurately and mitigate them effectively. For example, as politics never stops moving, risk analysts must be able to follow a nations story as it develops with information gathered from journalists in the local and foreign press, current and former midlevel officials, and think-tank specialists (Bremmer, 2005). To mitigate the political risks, companies can maintain the good relationship with the government or become part of the country ¶s infrastructure or use local R, etc (Boter Wincent, 2010). In addition, companies can buy insurance for political risks such as the expropriation of property, political violence, currency inconvertibility, and breach of contract (Bremmer, 2005). However, it is worth remembering that though instability translates into greater risk, risk is not always a bad thing. Political risk in underdeveloped countries nearly always carries an upside because such nations are so unstable that negative shocks can do little further damage. (Bremmer, 2005). For the operational risk of not achieving Timken ¶s quality, Timken could mitigate it by controlling the materials, applying the qualified technologies, equipments, processes and management. The most importance is to prepare an accurate plan and try to apply these things as soon as possible. Expand its product line in response to European customer demand or not? In contrast to U. S where customers sought out specialty manufacturers for each bearing type, European customers preferred to buy all their bearings from a full-line producers. Thus, remaining a specialty manufacturer limited Timken’s potential market. Besides, Timken’s competitive position was also impacted by the lack of a full metric line for its bearings. In order to satisfy local demand, it would be necessary to expand its product line to compete with both local companies as well as international rivals. Each market often turns out to be unique because customers ¶ needs and tastes are idiosyncratic. Local companies are often the first to realize that and to build businesses. They are not constrained by existing products or by preconceived notions about customer needs. They customize products and services to meet different consumer requirements, and they initially go after economies of scope while many global companies find it costly and cumbersome to modify their products, services, and communications to suit local tastes. Global companies often end up occupying small, super premium niches (Khanna, 2006). When a business begins, it usually has only one product to satisfy a small group of customers. However, when it becomes famous, it is the time for it to develop something new to offer the customers. A broad product line and wide customer base may be the keys to success in tough times (Levine, 2001). The first advantage of product diversification is the increase of market share. By offering different products, company can satisfy a wide range of customers and enlarge its market share. Consequently, its revenue will increase and its brand will be known more wider and will be mentioned more frequently which leads to the higher brand value. Furthermore, this strategy also helps reduce overall business risk by offering products in a variety of customer categories to avoid having all eggs in one basket (Acevedo, 2009) and provide quick movement away from declining activities. LIST OF REFERENCE Acevedo, L. 2009. Product Diversification Strategy, Ehow website, retrieved [2010-11-17]. Bhattacharya, A. K. and Michael, D. C. 2008. How Local Companies Keep Multinationals at Bay. Harvard Business Review, 86(3): 84-95. Boter, H. and Wincent, J. 2010. Managing Networks and Internationalization  ± Lecture 2, UmeaSchool of Business. Bremmer, I. 2005. Managing Risk in an Unstable World. Harvard Business Review, 83(6): 51-60 Khanna, T. and Palepu, K. G. 2006. Emerging Giants. Building World-Class Companies inDeveloping Economies. Harvard Business Review, 84(10): 60-69. Levine, B. 2001, Diversify And Prosper, Electronic News (10616624), Vol. 47 Issue 25, p2. Mackenzie, S. 2003. The Timken Company: Market Entry Into Romania (A) Case Study,Stanford Graduate School of Business.

How to Give a Great Group Presentation

How to Give a Great Group Presentation No matter how much you plan (or hope) otherwise, its nearly impossible to make it through your college career without having to do some kind of group presentation. Whether its for an introductory course or your senior seminar, group presentations are part of everyones college experience. And nearly everyone has had a bad experience working and presenting as a group. So just what you can do to make sure that your required group presentation is one to remember in a good way, of course? Step One: Make Sure Everyone Carries Their Own Weight Easier said than done, though, right? This step is the most critical but also the most challenging. From the beginning, however, it can be helpful to outline what everyone will do from start to finish. That way, if someone starts to slack off, its clear whats happening and you can discuss it with the group member, discuss it with the rest of the group or, if necessary, discuss it with the professor. Unfortunately, too, even if people try to pick up someone elses slack in a group, that discrepancy inevitably becomes apparent during a group presentation. And the last thing you want is someones laziness sabotaging your entire groups work, from start to finish. Step Two: Schedule Deadlines and Rehearsals in Advance As a college student, it can be incredibly difficult to manage your time. And no matter how hard you might try, things inevitably end up happening that prevent you from planning well in advance. However, since you know the unexpected always threatens to happen, plan as much as possible as early as possible. At your first group meeting, set a timeline for when things will be done. Schedule group meetings, deadlines, and rehearsals well in advance. In essence: dont plan to cram by scheduling an all-night stress fest the night before. Even if everything goes smoothly during your work session, everyone will be exhausted the next day. And tired group members are much more like to make errors and otherwise self-sabotage the group presentation everyone worked so hard to put together. Step Three: Present Together and Cohesively If youve been assigned to deliver a group presentation, make sure youre having different people present one main presentation, not having different people present different presentation. (And no, having everyone split going through the Power Point slides doesnt count as cohesive.) How can your groups material best be delivered? What presentation strengths do your group members have? What goals must you meet during your presentation? Whats the best way for everyone to come together to make sure those goals are met? Step Four: Have back-up (like an understudy) for each part of the presentation. If youre putting in the effort to have a great group presentation, dont let fate get in the way of all of your efforts. Even if youre dividing up your presentation, make sure at least one other person can serve as a backup presenter for every part of your delivery. Even if everyone is carrying their own weight, you never know who is going to get unexpectedly sick or face a family emergency. If you, as a group, can all sub in for each other, youll not only work to prevent unexpected disaster when it comes to your grade, but youll reinforce your own mastery of the material (and its delivery). Step Five: Do at Least One Rehearsal You may think you can just briefly mention what youre going to cover in the presentation and then be good to go. And while this can be helpful, you might surprise yourself by realizing what you can learn by doing an actual run-through. Even if you think youre being clear, your fellow group members can provide positive, constructive feedback about where and how you can improve. And while that may seem temporarily uncomfortable, its a lot easier to deal with than the permanence of a bad grade. (Side note: When doing your rehearsal, talk about what each person will be wearing. You dont want some members showing up in formal clothes while others show up in shorts and flip-flops.) Step Six: Remember that Everyone is Presenting the Entire Time The main aspect of a group presentation is that the group is presenting the entire time. This means that, even if your part is over, you dont get to just sit back, secretly check your phone, and stop paying attention. Everyone in your group needs to remain attentive, alert and engaged during the entire delivery. In addition to making your overall presentation look better (your professor, after all, will inevitably notice if your entire group stops paying attention by the time the last presenter is up), youll be better equipped to step in if someone is struggling or to answer questions if and when they arise. Step Seven: Celebrate Afterward! Group presentations are such a pain because, well, theyre such a pain. They take a lot of hard work, effort, coordination, and teamwork. Consequently, celebrating afterward is most definitely in order. Rewarding yourself as a team can be a great way to make sure your group presentation experience is one to remember in the positive way youd hoped.

Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Business - Essay Example The amount of problems with this agreement are staggering, but a few should suffice. First: Its not a â€Å"free trade† agreement. There is certainly an argument to be made for the idea of more liberal international markets that allow economies to start converging towards a global price and wage. But this is not what is happening. â€Å" Certainly, today, so-called "free trade" is in fact very much managed trade. I urge people to read, as I have, so-called "free trade" deals--they are densely-packed huge volumes of text that set out protections for capital and investment (particularly, intellectual property and patents). And no one I know opposing these disastrous, middle-class killing trade deals is against trade. They are not "protectionists"--they are people who want trade based not on corporate rights but on trade that creates a floor for wages around the world and boosts community standards, not tries to make a buck on the undercutting of standards† (Tasini, 2010). The enforcement of the agreement is also a joke in bad taste. Just like NAFTA ended up undermining OSHA standards in America and harming Mexican workers, the enforcement regime of the CLC failing entirely, so too will the South Korean FTA fail to protect the law. Bybee, Roger. â€Å"Obama’s India Trip Aimed at CEOs, Not U.S. Workers†. In These Times. November 9, 2010. Retrieved 2/15/2011 from http://dissentingdemocrat.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/obama’s- india-trip-aimed-at-ceos-not-u-s-workers/ Tasini, Jonathan. February 10, 2010. â€Å"Free Trade": The Capitulation Continues, Middle Class Weeps†. Working Life. Retrieved 2/15/2011 from

Learning Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Learning Plan - Essay Example On the other hand, many patients presenting in to the emergency department may not have that serious a clinical situation. However, an emergency nurse should be equipped with knowledge, expertise, learning, and clinical skills to handle these alone at her level. There are several varieties of patients that may attend emergency department seeking care. Of these certain categories of patients may need immediate nursing or physician care since they may be potentially life-threatening. These include airway compromise, cardiac arrest, severe hemodynamic shock or compromise, injury or cases of multiple trauma, or altered level of consciousness. Certain other cases are also emergent, but may wait for some time. These are patients sustaining head injuries, severe trauma, lethargy or agitation, conscious overdose, severe allergic reaction, chest pain, chemical exposure to the eyes, severe back pain, gastrointestinal bleeding with unstable vital signs, cerebrovascular accidents with deficits, severe asthma, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea with dehydration, acute psychotic episodes, fever in children, severe headache, severe acute pain of any origin, neonatal diseases, or sexual assault (Fry, 2008). Nurses may encounter cases of head injury pres enting in an alert state but with vomiting, mild to moderate asthma, moderate trauma, cases of abuse or neglect, GI bleeding with stable vital signs, and patients with history of seizure who are alert on presentation. Many other conditions are trivial, which can be really very efficiently treated by the emergency nurses, and these include alert head injury without vomiting, minor trauma, vomiting or diarrhea without dehydration, earache, minor allergic reactions, foreign body in the cornea, and chronic back pain. There may also be cases of sore throat, cases with minor symptoms, or chronic abdominal pain (Schriver et al., 2003). Anticipated Nursing Role To be able to deliver competent care, being a registered nurse, the emergency nurse must be able to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate nursing care alone or in collaboration with the emergency physician in order to achieve the goals of care and health outcomes in such patients. This must be either independent or interdependent care delivery within the framework of accountability and responsibility (Hageness et al., 2002; ANMC, 2004). Where possible, according to competency standards, the emergency nurse would also deliver education in order to promote and maintain health with a preventative approach. The nurse would demonstrate critical thinking and analytic abilities for care decision making and would demonstrate satisfactory knowledge base. She would be able to appraise her own knowledge and learning in order to engage in professional development through a pathway of evidence-based care (ANMC, 2004). From this angle, an emergency nurse has certain roles while delivering care to a patient presenting into the emergency department. The initial action is assessment, and a systematic and methodical assessment process through primary and secondary surveys enable the nurse to identify and prioritize the needs of such patients. The primary assessment consists of a rapid

Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application

Foucaults Theories of Autocrats: Management Application In Discipline and Punish (1977) Foucault comments that a stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly with the chains of their own ideas. How is this comment relevant for a discussion of work in contemporary organisations? French philosopher, Foucaults analysis and ideas are equally used in the contemporary management of companies and organisations. In this essay, I will analyse how his ideas in relation to the changes in the western can be used in the contemporary management of institutions and other managerial positions. Throughout the essay, the research will majorly focus on how autocrats treat their slaves by subjecting them to iron chains. Enchaining by the iron would, in this case, mean how the current leaders and managers subject their juniors to duties and implementation of policies and strategies that were not agreed upon by the employees without considering their contributions towards the formulation od the duties, therefore, considered as imposed by the leaders and managers. Equally, this essay will also evaluate how true politicians, competent and good managers, binds their junior in the chains of their ideas., The chains of their ideas would be taken to refer to either the policies, strat egies and terms and conditions that are passed upon the agreement of all the stakeholders or the ideas that would be proposed to the firm by the junior employees. Michel Foucault in his Discipline and Punish book used the term despot to refer to a person who dictates how things would be done without taking into account the contributions of his or her subjects. A despot, in this case, is more than just a dictator, rather, a person who does not respect the opinions of others. In his context, Foucault posited his ideas in relation to his analysis of mechanical and social changes that were behind the changes that were posed to the Western disciplinary system majorly based on the historical French documents that were accessed (Foucault, 1977). His analysis was majorly based in the hospital, school, camps and prisons through an in-depth evaluation of how torture, punishment, imprisonment and discipline. In his evaluation, the concept of torture is subjected to the suspects in two ways; one of the major incidents where torture was applied was during the process of investigating the suspect. During the investigation, the suspect was subjected to tortu re. Inflicting torture to the suspects compelled him or her to provide evidence. In case, torture failed to compel the suspect to produce evidence ascertaining his or her guilty; innocence was pronounced. The second incident where torture was applied was during the punishment of a crime offender with the aim of correcting him or her (Foucault, 1977). To begin with, in the contemporary organisational management, despotic leadership is bound to reduce the organisations productivity. In the operation of an organisation, an autocratic manager may not have strategic ideas and insights on how to manage the organisation (Howard, 2007). The employees under him or her may have these strategic ideas on how to operate the organisation in a manner that would increase the productivity and therefore, growth in the long run. To the disadvantage of the firms growth and productivity, the despotic manager does not take into consideration the proposals of the junior employees, in fact, he or she discourages them from challenging his ideas at all costs. As a result, he or she imposes the ideas and proposals to his or her junior employees for implementation regardless of the consideration of the impacts, both positive and negative; they would pose to the firm (Howard, 2007). The failure of the manager to count on the ideas and the opinions of the jun ior members of staff may amounts to the implementation of wrong strategies on account that they are not subjected to scrutiny by the implementation team. For instance, for a marketing organisation, the manager may impose old-fashioned marketing ideas for implementation by the junior employees. Based on the fact that the strategies were not subject to questioning or assessment by the necessary stakeholder, the junior members of staff would implement the imposed strategy which would serve no purpose for the firm. The manager should put into consideration the emerging trends in management, such as a rise of technology. His junior members of staff may be conversant with the technology-based ideas. Thus, their contribution would be beneficial to the organisation. As commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, refer to an autocratic manager constrains his slaves in iron chains. In this case, imposing foreign ideas to the team of implementation without their stake in deciding on which strategy serves better for the organisations goals and objectives would be likened by the act of constraining the slaves in iron chains which, they have no knowledge on how to unchain themselves. Constraining the slaves into iron chains would serve no better reason for the despot because they iron chain would weaken their effort and ability towards serving their master. Second, autocratic management lowers the morale of the employees in the organisation. In this case, there are two types of employees. To begin with, the employees who are ready and willing to conform to the directives issued or imposed by the management. To this type of employees, it does not matter how beneficial the policies or strategies may be to the firm, therefore; they are loyal to the organisation regardless of the direction of may be taking concerning growth. The second type of employees are the employees who are concerned with the operations of the firm. Despite working for pay, these types of employees are concerned about the impacts of the strategies that are imposed by the management may pose to the organisation. Therefore, in a situation where the management has proposed strategies that may hurt the reputation and the performance of the organisation, they would challenge the strategies and propose the alternative strategies that would help the organisation regarding inc reasing the productivity and the growth of the firm. In the context of an autocratic leadership, the concerned employees would try to challenge the policies and strategies to the management and perhaps propose the alternative following their analysis of the situation. As usual, a dictatorial manager would reject their challenge and proposal and in fact, discourage them from challenging his or her in the future (Depaul, 2008). In some cases, the manager may issue sacking or dismissal threats to them. In such a case, the concerned employees morale would be lowered. In some cases, they may even resign to seek a better workplaces that would appreciate their contribution to the firm through encouraging their opinions whether challenging or supporting the proposed strategies. Working with the employees whose morale is lowered by the organisational culture significantly reduces the productivity and the reputation of the firm. Employees whose morale is low would have no motivation of workin g towards the organisational goals and objectives, rather, they would only conform to the imposed strategies (Depaul, 2008). In this case, the employee with low morale would be working for the organisation just because they need to earn a living. As commented by the Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his slaves to the iron chains which serves him to his disadvantage. The slaves are likely to be demotivated in serving their master, owing to the harsh working conditions. Third, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot enchains his or her slaves to the iron chains. In this case, the slaves are not encouraged to make a proposal on the best ways of enchaining. Communication is thus, is a one-way type in disseminating information. In the contemporary organisational management. The employees and the employer are two important stakeholders that determine the success of the firm. The communication between the two levels ensures that the employees are presented with a platform to air their feedback towards the policies or strategies proposed to them by the management. In the context of a dictatorial management, communication is in a one-way structure. Communication applies only when the manager wants to impose or to give directives to the junior employees. The structure of communication, does not allow the employees to give their feeling, opinions, and feedbacks towards the implementation of the strategies that have been proposed and mostly, the feedback th at may appear to challenge the decision made by the management. Therefore, the management loses touch with the junior level or management (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The management may never learn about the negative impacts of the strategies and possible occurrence of a failure in the management in the future. In case, the employees may need to something from the management as an additional requirement for the implementation of the policy or strategy; the management may appear either reluctant or directly reject the request. There lacks a mutual relationship between the employees and the management. Instead, the organisation faces a power relation problem that in, this case, skewed towards the management. Unfortunately, the management works towards discouraging a possible equilibrium of the power relation between the two levels. In the long run, the organisation is bound to perpetually suffer from management challenges and perhaps a collapse in the future resulting from perpetual losses . Contrary to a stupid despot, Foucault commented on how a true politician should behave. In his comment, he posited that a true politician binds his slaves more strongly with the chains that come with their ideas. In this case, enchaining the slaves in their ideas would contemporarily mean managing the slaves, according to the management and ideas that they propose. Instead of grilling them with iron chains, a true politician should enchain them with their ideas to ensure that they are beneficial to him. Logically, if one manage people according to their ideas, despite being their boss, he or she will benefit from their labour owing to the increment in their morale based on the appreciation of their ideas in managing various situations. Therefore, both the organisation and the employees would equally benefit. Managing people according to their ideas reduces the communication gap. Through managing the people according to their proposals and ideas in the contemporary organisational management, the organisational manager creates a working environment that encourages the contributions of the employees at any point in the course of management (Iqbal, Anwar Haider, 2015). Therefore, the employees feel free with the management to contribute their ideas in the firm management whether it opposes or supports the strategies proposes by the management. Logically, the proposals may not necessarily be the best in the organisational management regardless of the position of the proposer. The reduction of the communication gap thus, creates a platform that encourages the discussions from all the stakeholder on what is the best for the firm (Tatnall Davey, 2015). The input of all the stakeholders is likely to come up with the best strategy that would ensure organisational growth and increase the reputati on and the productivity of the firm. Additionally, the reduction of the communication gap creates a platform where all the employees can easily communicate with their manager regardless of their job position. In this case, the management levels would easily learn about the challenges that are faced by the junior level employees, thus, resolving them as soon as they arise. Managing employees in the context of the organisational management, according to their ideas and opinions is, hence, beneficial for the organisational growth. Similarly, the management that appreciates the contribution of all employees in an organisation significantly reduces the employee turnover. In an organisation, most employees despite working with the aim of earning a living, they also work to develop their career (Valcour, 2014). An organisation that appreciates the contributions of the employees regardless of their position at the organisation motivates the employees towards working to develop their careers. Employees would feel motivated if the organisation has implemented his idea as part of the solution to a certain problem or as a strategy to maximise their output and minimising the inputs. In the long run, appreciating the contributions of the employees and the act of involving them in making critical decisions for the organisation enables them develop loyalty towards their employer. For an employee who has been hardworking and has been contributing positively regarding the strategy, formulation may be promoted from one job po sition to another. In this regard, the employees will have advanced his careers at the firm. The loyalty reduces the extents of employees resigning and dismissals due to a mutual relationship between the two levels of operation. Notably, managing the employees in their ideas creates a concept of teamwork. One of the ideas in which organisations should strive to achieve is the culture of teamwork. Through teamwork, the organisation is in a position to solve complex managerial situations. Through teamwork, the employees can combine their knowledge, skills, techniques regardless of their positions in the organisation and come up with the best strategy that would enable the organisation to solve the problems that are faced. In the context where management encourages works within the principles of democracy, employee develop loyalty towards the organisation; therefore, they are ready to work with other employees regardless of their level in the rank of job positions to contribute to the ultimate success of the organisation (Rosen, 2014). Unlike in the management context where the manager has the final say, the democratic organisational management encourages the employees to contribute to the ideas to the manageme nt or hold discussions within themselves or together with the levels of management to come up with the best ways of managing certain situations. It should be noted that in the context of a dictatorial leadership, there is often a cycle of a dictatorial level of management. For instance, most of the levels of management receive directives from the senior management for implementation. Therefore, even if the junior level employees who are expected to implement that strategy report negative impacts to their immediate boss, he or she cannot report back to the senior manager because he or she would not take the challenge. Therefore, organisational management should encourage democratic leadership that creates an enabling environment for teamwork. In conclusion, as commented by Foucault, a stupid despot who, in this case, is the organisational manager enchains his slaves with the iron chains, therefore, barring them from serving him efficiently. On the other hand, a true politician chains his or her employees with their ideas and opinions which, hence mean that he manages them according to their ideas. In the contemporary organisational management, there are two types of organisational leader just as posited by Foucault in his stupid despots and true politicians analogy. The two types of organisational managers are dictatorial and democratic. Majorly, democratic management is advantageous to dictatorial management. Through democratic management, the employees are empowered to make their contributions to the management on how they believe the firm would achieve the goals and objectives. In this case, the management creates a platform of contribution, therefore, it is an inclusive type of management. Dictatorial management, on t he other hand, is a scenario where one man runs the show. Most of the employees are discouraged from making their contributions which to a larger extents affects their morale negatively, thus, reducing the productivity of the organisation in the long run. (Word count:2502) References (Sr), B. H., 2007. A Study of Teacher-perceived Differences in the Leadership Styles of African-American and Caucasian Principals. 2nd ed. ProQuest: Michigan. DePaul, V. C., 2008. Creating the Intrapreneur: The Search for Leadership Excellence. 1st ed. Texas: BookPros, LLC. Foucault, M., 1977. Discipline and Punish. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books. N, I. N, A. S. . H., 2015. Effect of Leadership Style on Employee Performance. Arabian J Bus Manag Review open access journal, 5( 5 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 1000146), pp. 1-6. Rosen, N., 2014. Teamwork and the Bottom Line: Groups Make A Difference. 1st ed. Abingdon-on-Thames: Psychology Press. Tatnall, A. Davey, B., 2015. Reflections on the History of Computers in Education: Early Use of Computers and Teaching about Computing in Schools. 1st ed. Berlin: Springer Science and Business management. Valcour, M., 2014. If Youre Not Helping People Develop, Youre Not Management Material. [Online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/01/if-youre-not-helping-people-develop-youre-not-management-material[Accessed 22 March 2017]. Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman Richard Kuklinski: The Iceman INTRODUCTION At 7:00 he his awoke by the sound of his alarm clock. It was time to get his children ready for school. Richard Kuklinski walks down the staircase and sees his lovely family around the kitchen table. He kisses his wife Barbara on the check and continues to say good morning to his three children Merrick, Christin, and Dwayne. After getting ready, he drops his children off at their prestigious private schools and is off to work. To an outsider, it may seem that Richard has always lived an ordinary life. But little did they know, he was a deadly and notorious murderer. He thought of killing as a hobby and had absolutely no remorse for the horrible and cruel deaths he caused. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Early Life Richard had a horrific childhood. He was born at 222 Third Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, to a Polish family and was destined to live a hard and lonely life. His family was poor and highly dysfunctional. His father, Stanley Kuklinski, was a horrible, abusive father that Richard would only grow to hate. His mother, Anna, had no emotional attachment to any of her children at all. Violence was a daily occurrence in the Kuklinski household. Stanley would beat Anna and her children until they bled, and the gangs of the neighborhood were always causing fights with Richard. When Richard was just five years old, Stanley beat his older brother, Florian, to death. Richard vowed that he would one day kill his father and make him suffer the way he had suffered his whole life. Richard’s life was an uphill battle as he grew older. He was constantly teased at school and beaten up by boys in the town. He was forced to steal for food and many nights he went to bed hungry. He began stealing cars at the age of thirteen and found his only joy in life by reading crime magazines that he stole weekly. Inside, he was very lonely and grew up never knowing what love and friendship really meant. He was constantly tormented by a gang called â€Å"the project boys† and never had the courage to fight back, till one day when the fire in his eyes took over. Richard decided to go for the head of the gang, Charley Lane. He hated Charley almost as much as he hated his father and decided to grab a bat and hunt him down. When Richard finally found Charley he struck him in the head without hesitation. He went down like a ton of bricks and Richard became nervous. He checked for a pulse and there was none. He decided to throw Charley’s dead body in a pond under the Pulaski Skyway. Richard had killed for the first time at age thirteen. He felt powerful and invincible. He realized he liked killing. B. The Coming Up Roses Richard then developed vicious pastimes. He took great joy in the killing of animals. He would tie two cat’s tails together and hang them over a telephone wire and watch them claw each other to death. He also liked to put stray cats in the incinerator and watch them burn to death. A strong rage grew inside Richard and he yearned to kill more and more. He went from a weak, little boy to a dangerous man in just a few days. Richard was very eager to fight and often picked violent fights with men in bars. He was dangerous, willing to stab or beat anyone in his way. Word spread about his fearlessness and a gang called the Coming Up Roses was looking to invite him in. Richard gladly accepted and the five boys began to terrorize the city’s streets. The second man Richard killed was a cop named Doyle. He was very rowdy and a â€Å"loud-mouth,† Richard’s two least favorite qualities. The two men began fighting and Richard decided to leave the bar and wait for Doyle outside. Richard unnoticeably followed him to his car, where Doyle passed out drunk. This was Richard’s golden opportunity. He bought a quart of gasoline and poured in all over the car. Then, he lit a match from a safe distance and threw it on Doyle’s lap. Richard laughed as the car exploded and Doyle burned to death. The police investigated Doyle’s murder but found no suspects. The Coming Up Roses gang began committing more and more crimes and had accumulated a variety of guns, knives, and explosives. They began to receive attention from the De Cavalcantes, the most notorious mob family in New Jersey. A â€Å"made man† in the family, Carmine Genovese (also known as ‘Meatball’) decided to approach the gang. He had them over for dinner and asked them if they would be interested in killing a man for him. The gang agreed and gang member John Wheeler decided to be the gunman. The gang drove to Lincoln Park where the mark lived and saw him getting into his car. When it was time to shoot John became nervous and froze. Richard immediately took the gun and shot the mark in the head, driving away as if nothing happened. Meatball was impressed and began to give the gang a lot of work. They received a lot of money and began killing more and more. Richard decided to move out of his mother’s house and live with his new girlfriend Linda. Richard had grown to become very handsome and was towering over six feet tall. Linda was twenty five years old and liked Richard until he began beating her. Then she just began to fear him. Richard began to love killing people and the idea of â€Å"being able to decide when a man’s life ends.† He would walk through Manhattan and shoot the homeless men for fun. He killed them brutally: knives jammed into the brain, slitting the throat, tying a rope around their neck and hanging them off of his shoulder as if he was a tree. The police never suspected him of anything, and thought these bums were just killing each other. Richard was now a serial killer at only eighteen years old. One day, Albert Parenti, another made man in the mob and a friend of Carmine Genovese, approached Richard. He told him that two of his gang members, John Wheeler and Jack Dubrowsi, held up a mafia poker game and now had to die. He wanted Richard to do the job. Richard knew if he did not kill his two friends he would be killed himself, so he accepted the job and killed his two best friends. Linda became pregnant and Richard decided to marry her at City Hall, but Richard knew he did not love her. He had no emotional attachment to her or their child at all. Though he continued to commit various crimes, Richard’s business was slow. His boss, Genovese, was sent to jail and Richard was forced to search for new contracts. He contemplated killing his father, but Richard says â€Å"he could never find him.† On strange detail in all of Richard’s killings was that he would take any contract except killing a woman or a child. He said that â€Å"anyone who does doesn’t deserve to live.† III. KUKLINSKI’S KILLINGS A. A Contract Killer After he was released from jail, Genovese became Richard’s mentor. Richard was now a genuine mafia contract killer, making a living by killing â€Å"marks† for the mafia. Genovese gave him many brutal jobs and paid Richard to commit several murders. His first few killings from Genovese included a man in Chicago named Anthony De Peti for not being on time with his payments, a Cop named Jim O’Brian for tricking Richard into delivering heroine, and a mob boss named Arthur De Gillio. Genovese also asked for some special requests during the killings, for example, he specifically told Richard that after killing Arthur De Gillio he must â€Å"take all of his credit cards and shove them up his a**.† He was also told to break bones one by one to ensure the most pain in the victims. Richard’s killing empire expanded and he became affiliated with other mob families, such as the Ponti family from New Jersey, and the New York crime families. Because of his Polish ancestry, he was never able to become a made man in he mob, so he worked as an independent contact killer for all mob families. He was well-connected through Genovese and was raking in the money. Until one day, Genovese was shot. The murder remained unsolved and Richard was left to fend for himself. B. Barbara The contracts were no longer â€Å"rolling in† and he was forced to take a job at a trucking company. There, he met Barbara Pedrici, a beautiful Italian woman. She was 18 years old and Richard was now 26. They began talking and their boss became angry, knowing Richard was dangerous. He decided to fire him to protect Barbara. Unfortunately, his plan backfired. Richard asked Barbara out on a date and immediately fell in love with her, but he was still married to Linda. Fond of Richard, Barbara was angry that he was still married and he decided to get a divorce. They began seeing each other everyday and Barbara began feeling trapped by their relationship. Richard became violent and she was too afraid to break-up with him because she thought he would kill her. She soon became pregnant and Richard and Barbara married. Barbara knew he was violent but had no idea of his many brutal killings. He deiced to try and stay away from crime, in order to protect his family. But for Richard, this proved too difficult. Barbara’s uncle gave Richard a job in film lab, where he began pirating videos and eventually got into the pornography industry. He teamed up with his co-workers Paul Rothenburg and Anthony Argrila, who were supposedly â€Å"connected† to the mob. Richard owed them a lot of money and it didn’t seem as if he would pay it back soon. Argrila and Rothenburg became angry and decided to call their friend Roy DeMeo. Roy DeMeo was a â€Å"murder machine† and a picciotto in the Gambino crime family. C. Roy DeMeo One August day in 1973, DeMeo found Richard and confronted him about the money he owed his two partners. Richard, unaware of who DeMeo was and his mafia connections, gave him an attitude and told him to mind his own business. DeMeo left and returned minutes later with his â€Å"killing team,† Joe Guglielmo, Anthony Senter, and Joey Testa. Richard was surrounded with guns pointing at his head. He was armed of course but knew these men were for real. If he killed them, the mafia would kill him and his family. The four men knocked Richard down almost to a state of unconsciousness. Richard said, â€Å"they beat me good, but I knew if I fought back they’d kill me in an instant, so I just took it.† DeMeo realized Richard had a gun and admired that he didn’t use it. He took it as a sign of respect and courage. DeMeo and Richard talked over dinner at the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn, a popular mafia hotspot. Both apologized and DeMeo said he would like to do business with Richard. In essence, this event was Richard’s rebirth. He was able to quit his job at the film lab and survive on killing. He was making up to $40,000 for each mark he murdered. He would also enjoy making them suffer before their death and being able to kill them up close, so he could see the look in their eyes as they died. DeMeo and Richard were a murder dream team and they made the leader of the Gambino family, Paul Castellano, very happy. Paul also promoted DeMeo to a sgarrista, and gave him more and more power in the family. As DeMeo’s premiere killer, this in turn gave Richard more power. His deaths were notorious in the mafia families, and his methods of killing were brilliant and gruesome. He always knew where to hide the bodies and was never a suspect in any case. By this time, Richard had three children: Merrick, Christian, and Dwayne. No one knew about his business and he was well liked around the neighborhood. He seemed like an ordinary family man that would never hurt a fly. In most of the murders he committed, Richard never even knew the victims name. He only knew one thing – that they must die, and this was a good enough reason for Richard. Some of his most famous murders were: Richard Hoffman, Gary Smith, Paul Rothenburg, and Henry Marino. He also started to use poison to kill his victims and always carried around his favorite poison with him, cyanide. Through his business, Richard met another contract killer, Robert Pronge. Richard said, â€Å"The two most dangerous men I ever met in my life were Roy DeMeo and Bob Pronge. Pronge was a complete psychopath. At least Roy had some semblance of being normal, but Pronge was way out there†¦dangerous beyond belief far more dangerous than Roy.† Robert Pronge drove a Mister Softee truck, which according to Richard was â€Å"purely brilliant.† They became good friends and acted as if they had known each other for years. Together, they came up with diabolical ways of committing murders and making their victims suffer. This led Richard to his next murder. He had stalked the mark for weeks and finally attacked. He used a tazer gun and then continued to tie his hands and feet. He took the man and headed to the woods in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He took the mark to a cave filled with vicious rats and secured him to the floor. He took his knife out of his sock and began to cut his face, arms, and legs – just enough for the rats to smell the blood. Richard set up a video camera and left as if nothing ever happened. Two days later he returned to the cave and saw only stained leaves where the man was. He picked up his video camera and watched the video. He saw the rats flock to the victim and cover his entire body. He watched them rip off his flesh and eat them alive. He felt no remorse for the victim and decided to take the tape to DeMeo and the DeCavalcante captain who had ordered the job. They loved it and praised Richard for his work. They told him â€Å"if he was Italian they would sponsor him [to be inducted into the mafia] in a minute.† D. â€Å"The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall† Shortly After, Richard received the most important murder contract of his life – the killing of Carmine Galante, the head of the Bonanno family. He was â€Å"out of control† and killed nine Genovese sggaristas. Every mafia family plotted and worked together to plan his downfall. DeMeo knew this would be a great opportunity for himself and Richard so he made sure the plot was flawless. Of course, everything went perfectly as planned and Galante had two bullets in his head thanks to Richard. This infamous murder introduced Richard to more and more connections. He was now receiving contracts from Sammy â€Å"the Bull† Gravano, underboss of the Gambino family and original friend to John Gotti. Gravano now had a special piece of work to do and he knew Richard Kuklinski was the man for the job. They met in a small parking lot and Gravano told him the mark’s name was Peter Calabro from Saddle River, New Jersey. For Richard this was just another day another job and he completed the murder successfully on March 14, 1980. Afterwards, Richard found out Peter was cop and never trusted Gravano again. Richard became well respected in the Gambino family and became friends with the Gotti family. On March 18, John Gotti’s youngest son, Frank, was killed by a car driven by John Favara. Nervous, John kept driving and went to his home shocked and afraid. He knew his life was now over. He had just dug his own grave. Richard, the Gotti family, and a few other accomplices were sent to capture Favara and tortured him to death. They then stuffed his dead body into a Fifty-five gallon drum. IV. THE POLICE INVESTIGATION A. The Iceman Richard longed to create his own mafia and started his own breaking and entering gang. His partners consisted of Al Rinke, Gary Smith, Danny Deppner, and Percy House. This gang became a very important part of Richard’s life and ultimately would help cause his downfall. With the help of his gang, Richard received his nickname – The Iceman. Richard called his only life-long friend Phil Solimene to help him with murder of Louis Masgay. He had come up with the brilliant plan of freezing the body to slow the decomposition. By preserving the body it would then be impossible to trace back to the actual time of death. Solimene and Richard took his body and dumped it in an ice cold well in North Bergen. Though this seemed like a normal murder to Richard, it would have severe consequences. Solimemene had a big mouth and told Richard’s gang about the murder. They in turn told their wives and friends who told their wives and friends. Richard’s secrets had finally leaked out after almost 40 years. Pat Kane was a young state trooper and was deeply devoted to his new job. He was honest, forthright, and willing to put anyone behind bars who deserved it. In October of 1982, his boss called him to his office. There were over a hundred burglaries in northern New Jersey and one burglar in the gang had been captured. It was now Kane’s job to talk to him and see if his information is true. The captured burglar was Al Rinke, and he gladly named all of his accomplices in order to save himself. He told them his accomplices were Danny, Deppner, Gary Smith, Percy House, and Big Rich. He was not sure of Richard’s last name and did not know where he lived. Richard had always made it a point to keep all of his information a secret. Kane asked Rink to point out all the homes they robbed and Rinke willingly obeyed. By the end of their conversation, Kane had completed an indictment with 153 charges against the gang members. He watched the homes of Deppner and Smith but they had never returned. He realized this hunt for the gang would be very difficult and devoted all his time to finding them. Meanwhile, Richard was still doing well. He had completed fifteen murder contracts in the last month and his record was still as clear as crystal. He bough a garage-warehouse in North Bergen and an entire truckload of fifty-five gallon drums to store his victims. He started dismembering the bodies and tearing them apart at the joints. He liked this method and enjoyed leaving traces of a body all around New Jersey.

Apollo vs. Green Arrow

Apollo and Green Arrow/ Oliver Queen When I first learned about the Greek god Apollo in my Classical Mythology class, he reminded me of Oliver Queen. Oliver Queen is a character from one of my favorite television show called â€Å"Smallville†. He inherited a big industrial empire from his parents when they passed away. He was a playboy who did not care to give back to the society and only did what pleases him. One day, when Oliver was out on his boat, he was pushed overboard into the sea by an employee. After being marooned on an island, he learned to hunt and improved his survival skills.He later found a small settlement on the island and saw that some of the islanders were cruelly disposed of in a nearby well. It shocked him and he became focused on avenging their deaths. He resorted to making his own weapons and pursued the escaping men in the boats, who turned out to be drug dealers. His stamina and skills helped him overcome them, and was later able to turn them over to t he police. Oliver had his first taste of crime fighting then. He vowed to change the world for the better with the resources he had. He became a vigilante under the name of â€Å"Green Arrow†. â€Å"Comic Vine†) I think that Oliver Queen and Apollo seems so alike yet different at the same time. I believe that they will make a great comparison to each other. The very first and obvious similarity between Apollo and Oliver is that they are both skillful archers. Apollo is the god of Archery. When Apollo was still an infant, he claimed that the bow was his. (Mayerson 118) Oliver created his vigilante persona based on his skill and passion for arrows and bows. When he was marooned on an island, he improved his already talented archery skills.He made his own makeshift bow and arrows and used them to hunt to eat. With his refined archery skills, he later tracked down the drug dealers who were escaping in a plane. He managed to gain upper hand by shooting them down. Oliverâ₠¬â„¢s vigilante character â€Å"Green Arrow is considered by even the superhuman members of the Justice League to be the greatest archer in the world. † (â€Å"Comic Vine†) Oliver himself always said that Green Arrow never misses a target, not even when he was not looking at the target. Apollo and Oliver are also both full of wit and charm.Apollo is the God of Music. According to Mayerson, â€Å"the infant-god †¦ declared that the †¦ lyre would be his†. He later joined the other gods in Olympus and played the lyre them. Oliver is also very charming. In various episodes of Smallville I have watched, Oliver is often seen offering a glass of wine for a beautiful lady and impressing them with his charming personality. (â€Å"Smallville†) He is also sometimes seen playing the piano, where he intentionally lets people see the soft and refined side of him. Oliver have the kind of personality that is not easily forgettable.When he enters a room, he make s a great impression on everyone with his charm and wit. He converses with just about anyone and his conversations are usually laced with humor. Compared to other wealthy billionaires, Oliver has become very down to earth and he does not let his status in society and wealth hinder him from ridding the world of evil. (â€Å"Appointment in Crime Alley†) As very powerful and handsome men, Apollo and Oliver’s lives are filled with women and their love interests are numerous. Unfortunately, their affairs never last or are always cut short by another factor.Philip Mayerson explained in his book of various relationships of Apollo. Apollo’s first love Castalia changed into a spring of water. His next love Cassandra, a Trojan Princess, was cursed by Apollo himself. Sibyl was granted her wish of living as long as the grains of sand in her hand, therefore becoming just a voice. Daphne turned into a tree nymph. His wife Coronis was burned to death. While Oliver’s lov ers did not have brutal endings like Apollo’s, Oliver still went through various women. He was in a relationship with Black Canary when they were working together for the Justice League.He later came across Shado, a Japanese assassin who was killing the yakuza, and had an affair with her. Oliver was also seen kissing a girl named Marianne now and then. (â€Å"Scott McCullar's Green Arrow Compendium†) Throughout his first appearance in Smallville, Oliver was seen dating Lois Lane, the future wife of Superman. They had differences that cannot be overcome and their relationship ended. After that, Oliver seemed to rekindle with an on-and-off old flame Tess Mercer, who was also Lex Luthor’s, Oliver’s enemy, ex-wife. She is also very cunning and self-perseverative.She only cared for herself and fled when Oliver came into trouble. She later came back to be a good friend and support system for the vigilante team. Oliver also had flings with Betsy Braddock and Adr ienne Frost. Betsy Braddock was noticed by Oliver because she had psychic abilities. Oliver came across Adrienne Frost because she seemed to have telepathic abilities. (â€Å"Smallville Season 6 – 10†) Oliver’s fascination with these two ladies especially reminded me of Apollo and his †¦. Oliver’s latest and last known relationship is with Chole Sullivan and they have a child together.While there are many similarities between Apollo and Oliver Queen, there are also several differences. Apollo is the God of Prophecy; therefore he or his oracles are prophetic and can know what will happen in the future. While their answers are ambiguous, the oracle or the priests who interpret them still seemed to predict well enough. (Mayerson 124) Among the superheroes, Oliver is one of the few people without any metahuman skills. He compensates it by improving his skills as well as trying to predict and be more aware of possible threats. He does this by using the Wa tchtower, along with a team of superheroes.The Watchtower is ran by Chloe Sullivan, his then-friend and now-wife. However, the equipment and research is funded by Oliver’s very own Queen Industries, whose support is very crucial. The Watchtower allowed Oliver’s Justice League to assess any incoming supernatural problems and patterns, observe happenings in the world, and access almost any paperless trails. (â€Å"Watchtower†) In Classical Mythology in Literature, Art, and Music, Philip Mayerson states that Apollo is â€Å"a god of Purification, particularly from acts, such as homicide†. On the other hand, Oliver does not have a problem with stealing and murdering.It does not necessarily make him a bad man. Oliver decided use his improved archery skills to become a vigilante. This requires him to defeat and overcome opponents who were very similar to the man he used to be. He thwarts greed and corruption from hurting average citizens. He channels a modern d ay Robin Hood persona and constantly fights for underdogs. Since his days stuck on the island was full of misery, sweat, blood, and desperation, he came to understand the â€Å"testament to what it takes for someone to answer that wake-up call, change their ways, and fly straight. As straight as an arrow. (â€Å"Green Arrow†) While Apollo and Oliver Queen both went through various relationships and affairs, there is one major difference between them. Apollo dearly loved Coronis but was worried she might not stay faithful him. She did not, and he or his sister Artemis punished her transgression by setting her on fire. Apollo â€Å"regretted the hasty action, but it was too late. † (Mayerson 131) Oliver, on the other hand, was much luckier. After going through many obstacles together as a crime-fighting team, Oliver finally realizes his love for Chloe, who already seems to be in love with him as well.In â€Å"Warrior/ Super girl†, viewers can obviously see how co mpatible Oliver and Chloe are with each other. It was a beginning of a romance that changed their lives. They stopped hiding their feelings and kept no secrets. This lifted some weight off of Oliver’s shoulders since he does not have to hide his secret identity as Green Arrow from her either. Unfortunately, their relationship was tested with various situations, such as both of them sacrificing themselves into enemies’ hands and going far away to keep the other one safe. However, they just cannot stand to be apart from each other.During the episode called â€Å"Fortune†, they happily married in the tenth and final season of Smallville television series. Oliver tells her â€Å"You saved my life, Chloe. Both the myth and the man. † (â€Å"KSite TV†) There are many similarities and differences between the Greek god Apollo and the television show character Oliver Queen. Despite their various statuses situations, they both are powerful men, who went thro ugh many heartaches and obstacles. They are so different yet so alike. This is why I believe that Apollo and Oliver makes a very good comparison to each other.