Epistemology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Epistemology - Essay Example Philosophers have come up with theories best to meet varied retail management strategies and aligning them with varied customers’ needs with time (Tsoukas, 2005). Douglas McGregor in his book â€Å"Human side of enterprise† acknowledged an method of making an atmosphere in which employees are encouraged through imposing, direction and control or integration and self-control which he called theory x and theory y. Abraham Maslow on the other hand developed a scientific management approach called Third force psychology. In retail management, organization of employees is of paramount importance due to their respective roles in running the activities of the retail outlet. They may range from cashiers, sales persons to assistants on technical aspects of the products and services. Customers’ needs on the other hand are varied and keep changing with time, seasons and preference. With McGregor’s theory, retail mangers need to ascertain the optimum transfer of autho rity and/or power to their employees incorporating Abraham Maslow’s needs and preference principles to help run the retail outlet smoothly. The two theories have similarities and differences of which can be viewed in a business perspective to assist in analysis of their concepts. In business core values, values like respect, commitment to personal and professional development and focus on friendly environmental practices and unwavering commitment to quality will match well with McGregor’s theory on employees’ motivation and control, and that of Maslow’s self-esteem, confidence, achievements and respect of others and by them. In developing goals, setting results expected of different employees of the outlet, the administration, financial segments and the outlet at large can provide a benchmark of realizing departmental efforts and capabilities and an insight about what requires change. This matches well with Maslow’s self-actualization pillar where molarity, problem solving, lack of prejudice and acceptance of facts which will be a product of the employees organization. In tem endorsed product line, the two theories are similar in that retail managers will need to assign employees to their best performing sections so as to align with the customers’ immediate wants. This is due to the fact that in endorsing a product line, employees need to intensively know their products and â€Å"think big† about the possible queries by expected customers and their respective answers so as to convince the customers. The two ideologies differ in the application to meet the employees need to change in their working conditions in terms of rules and regulations company aspirations and perspectives towards their development in one hand, and customers/consumers’ need of incorporation of their changing needs and preferences on the other hand. This calls for further study on retail management and analysis of ways to merge the man agement styles with the customer needs. For instance McGregor’s theory of authoritative, direction and control varies with the theory of integration and self-control in that there is no clear cut of the optimum type and level of authority to the employees to achieve maximum returns (Cooper, 1999). That is, if managers use the authoritative and control style, how would employees perform in relation to meeting the customers’ needs? On the other hand if management opts for integration and s

America and the Great War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

America and the Great War - Essay Example These alliances were of significance since they implied that some countries would be obligated to declare war in the event that one of their allies had declared war. In 1879, there was a dual alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary to mutually protect themselves against Russia and in 1881, Austria-Hungary signed an alliance with Serbia with the aim of stopping Russia from gaining control of Serbia. A year later, Germany and Austria-Hungary entered an alliance with Italy so that it could stop Italy from siding with Russia. Several other agreements and alliances were entered into including the Entente Cordiale on 1904, the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 as well as the Triple Entente of 1907, before Britain, France and Russia made an agreement not to sign for peace separately in 1914 (Mulligan, 2010). Some of the alliances were formed to ensure some nations do not become too strong while some were to make the nations in the alliance stronger and able to withstand any attacks. By the turn of the twentieth century, the British Empire had already extended through five continents while France was controlling expansive areas in the African continent. Nations required new markets as industrialism was rapidly rising. The size of land that was under British and French control escalated their rivalry with Germany, who had joined the scramble for the acquisition of colonies late only to gain small areas in the African continent. On the other hand, the escalating divide in the European continent resulted in an Arms race between the main nations and the German and French armies increased more than twofold from 1870 to 1914, with a fierce competition ensuing between Germany and Britain for master the seas. Germany introduced its own battleships and also developed a plan of action that entailed an attack on France via Belgium in the event that Russia attacked Germany. Nationalism implies