Bravery And Heroism Essay

Bravery And Heroism Essay Introduction: Humans have been attracted by tales of bravery, heroism, courage from time immemorial. It is something in out bent of mind which makes us admire the absurd, makes us stand up take note of something which on the first look looks crazy, but on further analysis throws up a story of grit and determination. It is this human infatuation with the macho persona that made psychologists behavioral scientists delve deeper into the behavioral attribute which mirrors this all: bravery. Bravery can be simply defined as being brave or possessing displaying courage. In heroic parlance, its being able to face deal with danger or fear without flinching or batting an eyelid. Also known as Courage, fortitude, will, and intrepidity its been associated with various characters both in mythology business parlance. But its not just their domain; the common man in his life time comes across various such situations more often than not displays varying degrees of bravery grit. It is this common man that I am interested in. Being brave doesnt mean being fearless it rather means a person does what he should do, despite the literal Damocles sword on your head. It is not much for human fancy but for the very fact that bravery is an attribute very necessary for the smooth functioning of the human world today, has heightened its importance for psychologists. You take the case of a policeman standing up to criminals, naxals, or the common man in an office refusing bribes or the case of a woman braving chauvinistic males to rise up the corporate ladder, in all these cases we find how the world survives because of a few individuals who find inherent courage to brave odds and emerge successful. It suffices to say that bravery as a behavioral trait is highly alluring, and people tend to look in awe at those who visibly possess it, but what we should realize is bravery is something which is inherent comes in differing forms origins; hence its study has to encompass all such factors. Bravery in its various forms after all keeps us going, keeps this world inhabitable. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Bravery is a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear, but one often misconceived notion of people is that being brave means being fearless. Being brave doesnt me you dont fear the adversity; it means you have the strength of will to overcome whatever fear you have. Bravery as a concept can apply to a fairly large number of instances, therefore a quick classification of bravery will help us look at its various aspects in greater detail: Physical bravery: It entails acting or doing something in spite of possible harm that can occur to ones body. The heroic stories of the past or the instances where we act for our beliefs even in the face of physical danger are a typical example of this. Moral bravery: It involves acting in a manner that will enhance or reinforce ones beliefs to be good and true. This basically is in face of social disapproval and other forms of backlash. In todays world, it symbolizes standing up against the over jealous khaps or the moral police. Psychological bravery: It deals with acting against ones own natural urges inclinations, facing our inner demons overcoming them. This generally doesnt have any societal moral implication. Examples of this can be overcoming ones addictions like drugs, tobacco addictions etc.; getting over irrational anxieties forms of parasitic relationships. Basing on the above we reach at a working definition of bravery as: Bravery is a behavioral trait which allows us to overcome our inhibitions, our inner fears gives us the strength to do what we feel is right, irrespective of any form of backlash. It is something which imbibes in us a sense of self-belief which can make us scale mountains do things which we believed we never could. Review of Literature: Instances of bravery have been documented in various books relating to wars corporate moves. Number the stars which won the Newbery Medal in 1990, tells the story of two ten year old girls, whose homeland is occupied by Nazi Germany during the second world war, it documents the hardships they faced the courage shown by their parents in shielding one of them(who was a jew) from the nazis. Broadly it describes the condition of the entire Danish countryside. It is a story of grit determination shown in face of unfathomable risk. [1] In the corporate world we have the example of Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit. He is a true visionary, brave man who took over as the head of citi group during the credit crunch period. With steely resolve, Pandit wrote down billions of dollars, closed scores of branches, jettisoned parts of the business, cut dividends, and slashed jobs. He wasnt done yet. Next, he tapped the sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf and Asia for nearly $30 billion, set up a new risk-management team. He also cut the banks exposure to the risky sub-prime market. All these measures were never easy to take, some unpopular others highly risky, it needed a man of steely character, Mr. Pandit was just that. [2] Matterhorn, is about a company of Marines who build, abandon, and retake an outpost on a remote hilltop in Vietnam. The story is told from the point of view of a young second lieutenant, Mellas, who joined the Marines for confused and vaguely patriotic reasons that are quickly left in tatters by military incompetence.[3] One of the ten most famous battles of the world. A handful of Sikh soldiers- 21 to be exact of the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment (then XXXVI Sikh) formed part of the British Indian Army and fought thousands of Pathans in the North Western Frontier Province (now Pakistan). All 21 Sikh soldiers died in the battle as they fought to the last man and last bullet; but they did not yield even an inch of ground that they were defending. On learning of this glorious, gallant and unparalleled action, members of both houses of the British Parliament rose in unison to pay homage to the great Indian soldiers. Each one of the 21 soldiers was posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, the highest British gallantry award then given to Indian (equivalent to the Victoria Cross awarded to the British). [4] Courage (shauriya) appears as one of the ten characteristics (lakshana) of dharma in the Hindu Manusmruti. Islam also presents courage as an important factor in facing the Devil and in some cases Jihad to a lesser extent. Courage is the self-affirmation of being in spite of the fact of non-being. It is the act of the individual self in taking the anxiety of non-being upon itself by affirming itself in the anxiety of guilt and condemnation. Every courage to be has openly or covertly a religious root. For religion is the state of being grasped by the power of being itself. [5] Empirical Study and Generalization: I have followed the interview approach to study the behavioral traits of a few of my friends. I picked the people to interview on the basis of a few past events, in which they exhibited bravery in one form or another. Each interviewee had a different tale to tell, we will analyze their cases as we progress. The basic questions which I put to them involved a gamut of objective short answer questions. Their responses were dully noted. The following is the list of questions that I put to my interviewees, some of the questions differed in language when put to different interviewees. Due to paucity of space I wont delve into the details of their cases. Did you experience any form of an internal drive to act? Was it because of the closeness with the person or was it a general sense of wrongdoing that drove you? Were you certain of success before you acted upon your belief? Would you describe yourself as fearless? If no then how come you overcame the fear of failing? Did you factor in the possibility of a backlash or any negative impact on your future? If you knew that the party was wrong in picking up the fight would you have still saved them or would you have taken the moral high ground stepped back? Do you believe in taking risks? Do you think your above trait has had an influence on your life, (success or the lack of it etc.)? When going on a leisure trip you find a person seriously wounded people around him/her having a verbal duel, would you rush him/her to the hospital try to solve the verbal duel 1st mind you own business Respondent no. 1 Case Prologue: My friend Mr. X had been to a restaurant in Gurgaon along with his friends. There they saw a couple was being denied entry into the restaurant for no good reason and the manager was even misbehaving with them. All of a sudden the manager summoned the bouncers who manhandled the couple and were going to bash them up. My friend X, along with his pals interfered, they were outnumbered, but eventually they managed to save the couple. In the process though, X got a few blows was injured. Interview Findings: I will jot down the pertinent findings from the interview with Mr. X I found that X intervened to save that guy because he believed that it was a case of injustice that someone should rise up to the occasion, since such an incident can happen to nearly anyone. X didnt know if he would succeed in saving the couple, but he knew if he tried it would make a difference. X realized that in process of rescuing the couple he his friends might get physically injured or face legal hurdles. I found that X didnt think of himself as someone who was born fearless, X believed that his sense of right wrong egged him on. X was basically a risk taking person, he felt that his risk taking nature had helped him overcome his inner demons. Respondent no. 2 Case Prologue: This person, Mr. Y, was a student of engineering, in a NIT. In his final year, a friend of his (Mr. A) was accused of cyber-crime data theft, he was heavily penalized by the institute Disciplinary Committee. Mr. Y along with his other friends decided to protest this. They managed to get their entire batch together sat on a silent protest. The sheer magnitude of the protest made the Director of the institute take note. After speaking with Mr. Y his friends, he convened a meeting of the Disciplinary Committee, and after a long-stretched process of reinvestigation Mr. A was found guilty of a minor offence, the penalties were reduced proportionately. Interview Findings: The following are my findings from my interview with Mr. Y which are pertinent to us: I found that Y acted not just because he could empathize with his friend, but because he believed that the ruling was flawed, having not considered the evidences properly. Y didnt know if he could make any difference to his friends condition, but he wanted to make the college administration aware of the real case. He believed in a just trial. Mr. Y knew pretty well that by making a stand, he and his friends risked being singled out the college administration could victimize them through unfair gradation etc. but they went on with their plan. Mr. Y defended his friend since he knew that the case against him was amplified in nature, the punishments the charges were disproportionate. Had Mr. A actually been guilty of all the charges, Y would never have taken up his case. Mr. Y believed that it they had been pushed to the limit by the administration. He felt that it wasnt their inherent fearlessness but the fact that pushed against the wall he his friends didnt have a choice but to act. I found that Mr. Y wasnt always a risk taking person, in fact he even narrated how not taking a risk had affected his career, but in this situation he made an exemption. Respondent no. 3: Case Prologue: My friend Mr. Z was out with his girlfriend, they came across a case of eve-teasing, wherein a bunch of miscreants were misbehaving with two girls. The general public was aloof to their plight. But Z intervened tried rescuing the girls, in the ensuing tiff Z got injured, but seeing his courage the people around the scene also intervened they chased away the miscreants. Interviewing Z was quite an eye-opener, since he had risked not just his own safety but also the safety of his girlfriend to rescue to unknown girls. The findings are as follows: I found that Z acted since he was both disgusted with the behavior of the bunch of guys, and the public which was turning a blind eye to the plight of the helpless girls. Z knew that public follows a herd mentality, he knew that if he took a stand the people around will follow sooner or later, luckily for him they joined in soon. Z wasnt sure if he could take on the miscreants single handedly but he nevertheless wanted to give it a try. Mr. Z knew that getting engulfed in this issue might risk not just his safety but that of his girlfriend also. Mr. Z believed that he was quite a fearless person, but he didnt believe in taking random risks, rather he was more of a pragmatist. Generalization: My interviews gave me an insight into the thinking process of the common man, who could don the colors of the superhero save the day for another commoner. In reality he wasnt someone of superhuman strength but someone who: Had a realistic sense of wrong right. Acted on his belief didnt shriek away from making a stand Wasnt by definition a risk loving person Was a person who factored in the pros cons of a situation, but invariably decided to back his beliefs Empathized with the person facing the repression. Findings of the study and Generalization: The findings of my study gave me a holistic idea of the situations which invoke behavioral traits mirroring bravery in us. I will analyze the findings of my study in the following lines, and try to relate it to the various aspects of bravery. After going through the responses, I found that the most prevalent forms of bravery are Physical Bravery Moral Bravery Psychological Bravery though important is something which I didnt directly find in any of my test subjects, but I believe that this form of bravery is something which we all exhibit in our daily lives. When we get over the anxiety of the future, we in some forms exhibit this, when we get over our fear of water try to swim we exhibit this. On basis of my interview the following components of bravery came up: Empathy: The test subjects realized the pain stigma that the party being subjected to repression underwent; their empathy drove them to act. It wasnt sympathy or pity; it rather was the tacit realization that such a misfortune can beset them also. Clarity of thought: I found that in all of the cases, the respondents had a clear picture of what is right what is wrong; they took the initiative because they believed that the other person was being wronged. Self-belief/Confidence: All the respondents were to some degree or the other confident of their abilities. They believed in themselves hence backed themselves up. It was never a half-hearted attempt. Risk appetite: I found that the risk taking ability of the person didnt have a direct correlation with his readiness to exhibit acts of bravery. Hence this shatters the age old belief that brave people are those who are most comfortable with taking risks. Fearlessness: Though important, I found that being brave doesnt mean being fearless, its just that certain situations bring about a reaction in the subjects which makes them appear fearless. But its just the strength of their inner conviction, not fearlessness which makes them act. Pragmatism: I found that todays brave were practical about the approach they followed, they measured the pros cons of the situation and acted in a manner which would ensure the success of their mission best. They followed the more realistic path even if it were the less glamorous. Implication of Group work: As we can see, bravery or the lack of it influences the way a person behaves in public to a great extent. I believe when in a group the following implications arise: Groups tend to give the individual a sense of security, as in case of respondent 1, I think being in a group had its effect on his decision to act. A brave person, I feel is an asset to have in your team for he/she would be an ideal team-mate, one who is confident yet composed, one who is there to hold the group together in case of any external threat or danger. Brave individuals dont shriek away from taking the charge, making them ideal leaders. On an individual level I believe, being brave increases a persons appeal enhances scope for future benefits. Brave individuals are generally well known this in turn gets them their group the kind of visibility which can be leveraged for their benefit. One negative of an overtly brave individual maybe that he/she might get the group involved in a potentially unsafe situation, as in case of respondent 3, even though not a case of group behavior, Mr. Z could have unknowingly landed his girlfriend in trouble. Contribution to OB: The above study of bravery is one of its kind, having studied bravery in a qualitative basis I could arrive at working model to define bravery of a person. As can be seen I could find that there is a correlation between bravery a few other traits viz. Empathy Clarity of Thought Self-belief Pragmatism Using these above traits we can arrive at a bravery scale for a person, this could help various organizations like the police force or private security organizations etc. in their selection process. I believe a more detailed study which involves a greater number of people as its sample, can further clear the doubt regarding the fearlessness trait bravery. Also I feel a study can be undertaken to study psychological bravery in a select population like inhabitants of a drug rehabilitation camp etc. Conclusion: After having studied the behavioral trait of bravery in detail, after having considered its various forms manifestations, I realize that a lot of people exhibit it in their lives in varying proportions. Not every form of bravery is noticed, not every form of it documented, but starting from the woman who fends of eve-teasers to a corporate CEO who takes charge of a troubled giant in times of a downturn, we have brave people whose constant vigour zeal keeps the world running. Bravery is a highly preferred behavioral trait; it is something which keeps the world going. It is something that we seek in all the people around us, it is the difference between an entrepreneur a wannabe entrepreneur, and it is the key to achieve success in any form of activity in life. We can correlate the success of an idea to the amount of courage put in by its proponents, ceteris paribus. On the whole I can say the above study has helped me arrive at a definition of bravery which I feel encompasses most if not all aspects of it: Bravery is a behavioral trait which allows us to overcome our inhibitions, our inner fears gives us that strength of conviction to do what we feel is right, irrespective of any form of backlash. It manifests itself in face of physical, moral, psychological danger. Brave people have been instrumental in bringing about the greatest changes in our lives, I believe the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jack Welch, Winston Churchill were brave enough to face their demons succeed.

Business Plan for Concentric Network Corporation :: Business Management Web Hosting Essays

Business Plan for Concentric Network Corporation Concentric Network Corporation provides complete, easy-to-use Internet business solutions for small to medium-sized companies and customized Virtual Private Network and data center services for larger organizations. Concentric's portfolio of services for small to medium-sized companies includes high-speed DSL access, Web hosting and e-commerce. For larger organizations, the company offers dedicated Web hosting services and VPN solutions that enable an organization to securely and reliably communicate with its offices, mobile sales force, business partners, vendors and customers. Concentric offers a comprehensive portfolio of Web hosting and e-services for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as high capacity data center solutions for larger enterprises or Internet-centric companies. Concentric Web Solutions make it easy to do business on the Web and are engineered to grow with customers businesses as they expand. The ConcentricHostâ„ ¢ portfolio includes highly reliable Web hosting, e-commerce, domain parking and e-mail services for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses with services based on shared or dedicated NT and UNIX servers. The ConcentricHost line includes EasySite, the first template-driven Web site builder that comes complete with content, graphics and colors and enables customers to build a site with no HTML or Web design experience. Sites built with EasySite can also be easily upgraded to a full e-commerce store. Concentric for Small Business Server is a complete suite of Internet access and hosting services for Microsoft ® BackOffice ® Small Business Server customers. ConcentricCenterâ„ ¢ includes reliable and high-performance dedicated hosting, distributed server hosting, e-commerce and data center services for larger enterprises and Internet-centric companies. Concentric's Peak Protection service is ideal for companies that do not want to rely on a single hosting provider, Internet Service Provider, or an internal data center for hosting and data center services. The service intelligently balances traffic between Concentric hosting centers and other server locations while providing fail-over insurance. Concentric also offers complete programs for resellers from small Web developers to large telecommunication companies looking to resell co-branded or completely private labeled hosting and e-commerce services. Access Services: Concentric offers a full-range of high-speed dedicated access services to connect multiple, dispersed network sites, providing Internet, intranet and LAN access across a VPN. Most of these services have latency and throughput guarantees and are priced based on average usage. Options include FullChannel T1â„ ¢ and T3, FlexChannel T1â„ ¢ and T3, LECFrame Relay, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and wireless services.

Growth Rate Flattens Essay

The reality of software development in a huge company like Microsoft – it employs more than 48,000 people – in that a substantial portion of your work involves days of boredom punctuated by hours of tedium. You basically spend your time in an isolated office, writing code and sitting in meetings during which you participated in looking for and evaluating hundreds of bugs and potential bugs. Yet Microsoft has no problem in finding and retaining software programmers. Their programmers work horrendously long hours and obsess on the goal of shipping product. From the day new employees begin work at Microsoft; they know they’re special and that their employer is special. New hires all have one thing in common- they’re smart. The company prides itself on putting all recruits through a grueling â€Å"interview loop,† during which they confront a barrage of brain-teasers by future colleagues to see how well they think. Only the best and the brightest surviv e to become employees. The company does this because Microsofties truly believe that their company is special. For instance, it has a high tolerance for nonconformity. Would you believe that one software tester comes to work every day dressed in extravagant Victorian outfits? But the underlying theme that unites Microsofties is the belief that the firm has a manifest destiny to change the world. The least consequential decision by a programmer can have an outsized importance when it can affect a new release that might be used by 50 million people. Microsoft employees are famous for putting in long hours. One program manager said, â€Å"In my first five years, I was the Microsoft stereotype. I lived on caffeine and vending machine hamburger and 20 hour workdays. †¦. I had no life. I considered everything outside the building as a necessary evil.† More recently, things have changed. There are still a number of people, who put in 80 hours weeks, but 60 and 70 hours weeks are more typical and some even are doing their jobs in only 40 hours. No discussion of employee life at Microsoft would be complete without mentioning the company’s lucrative stock option program. Microsoft created more millionaire employees, faster, than any company in American history- more than 10,000 by the late 1990s. While the company is certainly more than a place to get rich, executives still realize that money matters. One former manager claims that the human resources’ department actually kept a running chart of employee satisfaction versus the company’s stocks prices. â€Å"When the stock was up, human resources could turn off the ventilation and everybody would say they were happy. When the stock was down, we could give people massages and they would tell us that the massages were too hard.† In the go-go 1990s, when Microsoft stock was doubling every few months and yearly stock splits were predictable, employees not only got to participate in Microsoft’s manifest destiny, they could get rich in the process. By the spring of 2002, with the world in a recession, stock prices down and the growth for Microsoft products slowing, it wasn’t so clear what was driving its employees to continue the company’s dominance of software industry.

What Is Hemodynamics Definition and Explanation

Hemodynamics is the study of blood flow. It focuses on how the heart distributes or pumps blood throughout the body. The study of hemodynamics integrates a  number of sciences, including biology, chemistry, and physics. As the heart pumps blood through the blood vessels, it helps to supply oxygen to the organs and tissues of the body.  This process is vitally important so that the body can maintain itself. Problems with the hemodynamic system can cause serious health issues, the most common of which is hypertension. Key Terms Hemodynamics: the study of blood flowHeart rate (or pulse): the number of times a heart beats in a minuteStroke volume: the volume of blood pumped by a ventricle each time it contractsCardiac output: a measure of how efficiently the heart moves blood through the bodySystemic vascular resistance: the resistance the heart must overcome to successfully pump blood through the bodyBlood pressure: the force  exerted against blood vessel walls by the blood as it flows through them The Hemodynamic System The hemodynamic systems key elements include heart rate, stroke volume, cardiac output, systemic vascular resistance, and blood pressure. Heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times a heart beats in a minute. The stroke volume is the amount of blood pumped by a ventricle when it contracts. Based on pulse and stroke volume, we can calculate the cardiac output, which is a measure of how much blood the heart (specifically, the left or right ventricle) can pump per time unit. It is calculated using the following formula: Cardiac Output Heart Rate x Stroke Volume The average stroke volume for humans is 75 ml per heartbeat. With that stroke volume, a heart beating 70 times per minute will have a cardiac output roughly equivalent to the total volume of blood in the body. Cardiac output is thus a measure of how efficiently the heart can move blood throughout the body. In our normal daily activities, the output needs to be such that the body can distribute blood based upon the demands placed on it. Exercising is a common example of the need for increased cardiac output. Cardiac output is related to Ohms law. Ohms law states that the current passing through some conductor is proportional to the voltage over the resistance. Similar to a circuit, the blood flow pathway through the body is related to resistance to the flow exerted by the blood vessels. The systemic vascular resistance is the resistance the heart must overcome to successfully pump blood through the body. Cardiac output multiplied by systemic vascular resistance is equal to blood pressure. When cardiac output is impaired (e.g. due to heart failure), the body will have a difficult time managing its daily needs. A decrease in cardiac output results in a decrease in the oxygen available to the tissues and organs of the body. How to Increase Blood Flow Regular exercise is one of the most common and effective means of increasing blood flow. It is also important to stretch the body after sitting for prolonged periods of time. Simply getting up and walking for a few minutes after a long period of sitting will help increase the flow of blood through the body. Hemodynamic Monitoring The study of hemodynamics is vitally important since the body needs oxygen to function. In medicine, hemodynamic monitoring is used to assess this relationship between the cardiovascular system and the oxygen needs of the bodys tissues. Such assessments are designed to allow medical professionals to make proper decisions for their patients. Similarly, when these assessments indicate that a patient is having trouble meeting their own oxygen needs, they are classified as hemodynamically unstable. These patients are provided with mechanical or pharmacological support so that they can maintain the needed blood pressure and cardiac output.