Nursing Servant Leadership Paper Essay

As we develop into leaders, one of the things we need to know is what it means to be a servant leader. Today such examples are greatly lacking. Servant leadership is a choice by a leader to follow the example of The Jesus Christ and The Mother Teresa and lead by serving, becoming a bondservant and giving his life for others. Servant leadership is an inner attitude of the heart by which a person chooses to place himself or herself under the leadership of Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa. Christ often invited people to follow him. Some followed and many did not. One of the things to understand is the difference between obedience and submission. A person in authority or general leader in our present society can command for obedience. Submission, on the other hand, is a choice by the follower to choose to follow a leader, and also an inner attitude of the heart can never be commanded. Some chose to submit to Christ and followed him. Many chose not to submit to Christ and followed other religious leaders. Christ gives us the freedom to make the choice not to follow or submit. Most religious leaders out there serve the people and community first. The characteristics of a servant leadership as seen by Robert Greenleaf are â€Å"listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building the community.† (Greenleaf, 2002, p. #19-25) The first and most important characteristic of an excellent servant leader is listening. A servant leader always listens to the concerns of his/her co-workers, staff members, or patients and tries to find the most appropriate or the best solution to a problem. Leaders have traditionally been valued for their communication and decision-making skills. Although these are also important skills for servant leaders, they need to be reinforced by a deep commitment to listen intently to others. By listening intently, servant leaders seek to identify the will of their group members and help to clarify that will. For example, Mother Teresa had always listened to the concerns and conditions of the poor and needy people; therefore, she dedicated her life into servicing and taking care of people who needed help and fulfilled her main purpose in life by believing that, â€Å"Service to human is service to God† Listening is essential to the growth and well-being of a servant leader. Second, empathy is another important characteristic of an excellent leader. A servant leader strives to understand and empathize with others. People need to be accepted and  recognized for their specialty and uniqueness. An excellent servant leader assumes the good intentions of co-workers and colleagues and does not reject them as people, even when one may be forced to accept certain behaviors. For example, Mother Teresa said that, â€Å"The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted.† We can see Mother Teresa in her missionary work because she had established orphanages, leprosy outreach clinics, shelters for the homeless, the poor, the disabled, and the blind. Third, healing is one of the most vital characteristics of an excellent servant leader. One of the greatest strengths of servant leadership is the potential for healing one’s self and one’s relationship to others. Many people have broken spirits and suffered from a variety of emotional hurts. Although this is a part of being human, servant leaders recognize that they have an opportunity to help those with whom they come into contact. For example, Mother Teresa showed her empathy toward the diseased and hungry people by providing them with bandages, medicine, and nutritious food. Fourth, a crucial characteristic of an excellent servant leader is awareness. General awareness, especially self-awareness, strengthens servant leaders. Awareness helps one to understand issues involving ethics, power, and values. It lends itself to being able to view most situations from a more integrated, holistic position. For example, Jesus Christ had cured many people who were suffering from leprosy and gave life to many dead people, but he told them not to tell anyone because Jesus Christ knew that only he could make miracle happen, and if rumor had spread about his miracle, then his work of service would be opposed by other religious leaders. Fifth, another important characteristic of servant leaders is reliance on persuasion, rather than using one’s positional authority in making decisions within an organization. A successful servant leader seeks to convince others, rather than giving orders to their workers to follow his/her decision. This particular element offers one of the clearest distinctions between the traditional authoritarian model and that of servant leadership. A servant leader is effective at building harm ony within his/her group. For example, Mother Teresa had persuaded others to help her eradicate the poverty and diseases by providing medicine, bandages, food, and clothes to people who needed them. The sixth characteristic of an excellent servant leader is conceptualization and foresight. The ability to  look at a problem from a conceptualizing perspective means that one must think beyond day-to-day realities. While a traditional leader is more likely to be consumed by the need to achieve short-term operational goals. A servant leader, instead, stretches his or her thinking to encompass broader-based conceptual thinking. The ability to conceptualize is also very closely related to the ability to have foresight. Foresight is a characteristic that enables the servant leader to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequences of a decision for the future. For example, Mother Teresa knew that although she followed Catholicism, she should not preach her religion to people since it would be opposed by the Hindus because they would think that Mother Teresa was converting them from Hinduism to Christianity, and the government of India would stop her service to humanity. The seventh essential characteristic of an excellent servant leader is stewardship. As per definition.com, the stewardship is defined as, â€Å"holding something in trust for another.† Stewardship means an institution in which CEO, staff members, and trustees all play significant roles in holding their institutions in trust for the greater good of society. Servant leadership, like stewardship, assumes first and foremost a commitment to serving the needs of others. It also emphasizes the use of openness and persuasion, rather than control. For example, Mother Teresa used her ability of persuasion to tell others to help her in the noble cause and invited decision of every individual to give better care and services to diseased and poor people. The eighth and essential characteristic of an excellent servant leader is a commitment to the growth of people and building community. Servant leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their contributions as workers. A servant leader also recognizes the tremendous responsibility to do everything in his or her power to nurture personal and professional growth of employees and colleagues. In practice, this can include actions such as making funds available for personal and professional development, and encouraging workers to be involved in decision-making. Servant leaders also seek to identify some means for building community among those who work within a given institution. Servant leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions. For example, Mother Teresa had persuaded others to help her with raising  funds to establish clinics for people with diseases and to buy clothes, slippers, and food for poor people. By doing this, she had built a better community within society in many countries of the world. At last, I would like to conclude that servant leaders seek to involve others in decision making, and servant leadership is strongly based on ethical and caring behaviors. It also enhances the growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of organizational life by employing the characteristics like listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, and commitment to the growth of people and building the community. Indeed, servant leadership offers great hope for the future in creating better, more caring, institutions.

Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development

Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg outlined one of the best-known theories addressing the development of morality in childhood. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, which include three levels and six stages, expanded on and revised the ideas of Jean Piaget’s previous work on the subject. Key Takeaways: Kohlberg's Stages of Moral Development Lawrence Kohlberg was inspired by Jean Piaget’s work on moral judgment to create a stage theory of moral development in childhood.The theory includes three levels and six stages of moral thinking. Each level includes two stages. The levels are called preconventional morality, conventional morality, and postconventional morality.Since it was initially proposed, Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for overemphasizing a Western male perspective on moral reasoning. Origins Jean Piagets two-stage theory of moral judgment marked a divide between the way children younger than 10 and those 10 and older think about morality. While younger children looked at rules as fixed and based their moral judgments on consequences, older children’s perspectives were more flexible and their judgments were based on intentions. However, intellectual development doesn’t end when Piaget’s stages of moral judgment ended, making it likely that moral development continued as well. Because of this, Kohlberg felt Piaget’s work was incomplete. He sought to study a range of children and adolescents in order to determine if there were stages that went beyond those proposed by Piaget. Kohlberg’s Research Method Kohlberg utilized Piaget’s method of interviewing children about moral dilemmas in his research. He would present each child with a series of such dilemmas and ask them their thoughts on each one to determine the reasoning behind their thinking. For example, one of the moral dilemmas Kohlberg presented was the following: â€Å"In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her†¦ The druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about†¦ half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: ‘No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.’ So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife.† After explaining this dilemma to his participants, Kohlberg would ask, â€Å"Should the husband have done that?† He then continued with a series of additional questions that would help him understand why the child thought Heinz was right or wrong to do what he did. After collecting his data, Kohlberg classified the responses into stages of moral development. Kohlberg interviewed 72 boys in suburban Chicago for his study. The boys were 10, 13, or 16 years old. Each interview was approximately two hours long and Kohlberg  presented each participant with 10 moral dilemmas during that time. Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Kohlberg’s research yielded three levels of moral development. Each level consisted of two stages, leading to six stages in total. People pass through each stage sequentially with the thinking at the new stage replacing the thinking at the previous stage. Not everyone reached the highest stages in Kohlbergs theory. In fact, Kohlberg believed that many didn’t move past his third and fourth stages. Level 1: Preconventional Morality At the lowest level of moral development individuals haven’t yet internalized a sense of morality. Moral standards are dictated by adults and the consequences of breaking the rules. Children nine years old and younger tend to fall into this category. Stage 1: Punishment and Obedience Orientation. Children believe the rules are fixed and must be obeyed to the letter. Morality is external to the self.Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange. Children begin to realize that the rules aren’t absolute. Different people have different perspectives and therefore there isn’t just one correct point of view. Level 2: Conventional Morality A majority of adolescents and adults fall into the middle level of conventional morality. At this level, people start to internalize moral standards but not necessarily to question them. These standards are based on the social norms of the groups a person is part of. Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships. Morality arises from living up to the standards of a given group, such as ones family or community, and being a good group member.Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order. The individual becomes more aware of the rules of society on a broader scale. As a result, they become concerned with obeying laws and maintaining the social order. Level 3: Postconventional Morality If individuals reach the highest level of moral development, they start to question if what they see around them is good. In this case, morality stems from self-defined principles. Kohlberg suggested that only 10-15% of the population was able to achieve this level because of the abstract reasoning it required. Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights. Society should function as a social contract where the goal of each individual is to improve society as a whole. In this context, morality and individual rights like life and liberty may take precedence over specific laws.Stage 6: Universal Principles. People develop their own principles of morality even if they conflict with society’s laws. These principles must be applied to every individual equally. Critiques Since Kohlberg initially proposed his theory, many criticisms have been leveled against it. One of the key issues other scholars take with the theory centers on the sample used to create it. Kohlberg focused on boys in a specific United States city. As a result, his theory has been accused of being biased towards men in Western cultures. Western individualist cultures may have different moral philosophies than other cultures. For example, individualist cultures emphasize personal rights and freedoms, while collectivist cultures emphasize what’s best for the community as a whole. Kohlberg’s theory does not take these cultural differences into account. In addition, critics like Carol Gilligan have maintained that Kohlberg’s theory conflates morality with an understanding of rules and justice, while overlooking concerns such as compassion and care. Gilligan believed the emphasis on impartially judging conflicts between competing parties overlooked the female perspective on morality, which tended to be contextual and derived from an ethics of compassion and concern for other people. Kohlberg’s methods were also criticized. The dilemmas he used weren’t always applicable to children at the age of 16 and under. For example, the Heinz dilemma presented above might not be relatable to children who had never been married. Had Kohlberg focused on dilemmas more reflective of his subjects lives, his results may have been different. Also, Kohlberg never examined if moral reasoning actually reflected moral behavior. Therefore, it’s not clear if his subjects’ actions fell in line with their ability to think morally. Sources Cherry, Kendra. â€Å"Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development.† Verywell Mind, 13 March 2019. https://www.verywellmind.com/kohlbergs-theory-of-moral-developmet-2795071Crain, William. Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications. 5th ed., Pearson Prentice Hall. 2005.Kohlberg, Lawrence. â€Å"The Development of Children’s Orientation Toward a Moral Order: I. Sequence in the Development of Moral Thought.† Vita Humana, vol. 6, no. 1-2, 1963, pp. 11-33. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1964-05739-001McLeod, Saul. â€Å"Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.† Simply Psychology, 24 October 2013. https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html

Geography- Interconnections and Biomes Essay Example

Geography Geography- Interconnections and Biomes Paper Geography- Interconnections and Biomes Paper Boomers are regions of the world with similar climate (weather, temperature), animals and plants. There are terrestrial boomers (land) and aquatic boomers (water). Boomer Tundra: Location- Regions south of the Ice caps in the Arctic. In North America, Northern Europe and Asia. Climate- Short cool summers and long freezing cold winters. High winds. Adoptions- Thick fur to survive during winter and found places to hibernate during winter. Plants- Lichens mosses, grasses, shrubs. Animals- Artic Fox and Polar bear Special Facts- Plants in Tundra regions tend to be small and stunted due to the year mound freezing and thawing of the poor soil. Boomer Desert: Location- On the western side of Earth, Including, Asia, Africa, and Australia Climate- Really, really dry. Little to no rainfall at all. Adoptions- Animals need to go for long periods without or with little water. Plants- Barrel Cactus and Desert spoons Animals- Dingos, Kangaroos, Camels Special Facts- Although the daytime temperatures of the desert boomer are very hot, they can get very cold at night. All the major boomers: Polar lands, Tundra, Boreal forest. Mountain vegetation, Temperature forest, Grasslands, Desert and Tropical forest. Why is there such an abundance of life in a rainforests? This Is because abundance of life is due to Ideal growing conditions In the forests. Why Is the grasslands boomer Important for human populations? The grasslands boomer is important to human population because it has the ability to grow plants and provide animals with a place to live, it provides most of the worlds foods and fiber, for example, animals provide meat and milk and plants provide rice and vegetables. Food security: What Is food security? Food security is a state where all people at all times have access to enough safe, atrocious food to sustain a healthy life. For a person, community or country to have a secure food supply they must have three things: Food availability Food accessibility using food appropriately. People who do not have food security suffer from hunger and Illnesses related to lack 000, sun as malnutrition Food availability: Food availability means people have enough food of appropriate quality available on a consistent basis. : Food accessibility: Food accessibility means physical and economic access to food. That is, there needs to be enough food available and it must be in reach of those who need it. Using food appropriately: Appropriate use of food means using food safely and applying knowledge about nutrition, clean water and sanitation when preparing food. Threats to Food Security: Threats to Food Security? Food security depends on a number of factors. In some places, these factors are in a state of flux, and food security is under constant threat. The main factors that come into play and put food security at risk are: water scarcity; climate change; threats from non-native plants, animals and insects; competition for land; the use of land for fuel instead of food; and armed conflict. Water scarcity: Water scarcity is the lack of access to enough safe water. The supply of clean, safe water is important not only for people to drink, but for the safe growing of crops for food. Climate change: Climate change refers to long-term changes in weather events and patterns worldwide. The effects of climate change, such as, rising global temperatures and changes in levels of rainfall, could heavily put the security of food to risk. As there wont be ideal amounts of rainfall or the ideal temperatures for certain crops to grow. Animals on the other hand, might not be able to cope with the rising temperatures. Threats from non-native plants, animals and insects: The introduction of non-native plants, animals or insects into an area can have devastating effects on the natural environment. This, in turn, can develop into a situation where food security is put at risk. Competition for land: In many places around the world, agriculture is being threatened by competition for land. Food security may come under threat by people or corporations who want to use land for purposes other than growing food crops. The use of land for fuel instead of food: The biggest emerging threats to food security in recent years has come from the Roth in the amount of land being used to produce crops used to feed cars, not people. Armed conflict: Armed conflicts have the potential to affect the food security of entire regions and may even result in famine. In armed conflict, food may be stolen from the local people by armed forces, land used for growing food crops may be destroyed, or the who would normally farm go off to fight. Supply chains: What is a Supply Chain? A supply chain is simply the Journey of a product from its source to the consumer and then its disposal once used. There are 5 stages in this process, extracting or rowing raw materials, maturating, Illustration, consumption Ana waste. Extracting or growing raw material- All consumer goods begin as raw materials. They are dug from the ground, grown in farms and forests or taken from rivers and oceans. Raw materials include substances like oil, wood, water, metals and minerals. Manufacturing or processing- Most raw materials are processed in some way to transform them into useful consumer products. This may be as simple as washing, sorting and packaging tomatoes or other foods from farms, or it may be a very complex and intricate series of processes. Distribution- The manufactured goods must be transported to the consumer. The largest volumes of goods are moved by ships but planes, trains and trucks are also used. Goods are often taken to warehouses for storage and then to shops where they are accessed by the consumer, who then transports them to the place they will be used. Consumption- The use of goods and services is known as consumption. Waste- After we are done with goods some are treated and recycled, others are simply dumped. Tourism: There are 4 types of tourism, recreational tourism, historical tourism, wilderness tourism and costumers. Recreational tourism: In recreational tourism, tourists travel to have a good time, to relax, and to enjoy the attractions and activities on offer in the places they are visiting. Many recreational tourists spend their time relaxing on the beach, eating in restaurants, shopping or attending shows. (Hawaii or Bali) Historical tourism: Historical tourists are generally interested learning more about important events that may have taken place in the past, by visiting the places where they happened. They visit important buildings, view artifacts and monuments and sometimes listen to stories from local experts. England, France, Rome) Wilderness tourism: Wilderness tourists enjoy the challenge of visiting wild places such as the Amazon rainforests, Antarctica or the Himalaya. These travelers enjoy the remote lands, rugged landscapes and challenging weather conditions. (Himalaya, Amazon, Antarctica) Costumers: Couturiers travel to natural areas that are relatively undisturbed, and possibly fragile, to learn more about these special places in a socially responsible manner. Couturiers try to minimize their impact and avoid damaging the environment in which they travel. They may even aim to improve the wellbeing of the land and those hat live there. (Chile or Great Barrier Reef) Interconnections: Interconnections- A connection to the world by trade, tourism, transport technologies and communications. How every place/ person on Earth is connected to every other place/ person? We are connected by trade, social media, technology, internet, online shopping and anything that connects us with the rest of the world. We are connected by technology ad evolution as we are advancing our knowledge of the world. We are connected to the world where we are connected to countries that have resources that we require.

Product Development Process Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Product Development Process - Assignment Example The new vision of product development is that of an extremely disaggregated process with people and organisations spread throughout the world (Holmes 1999). At the same time, products are becoming increasingly intricate and multifaceted with typical electro-mechanical products requiring close to a million engineering decisions to bring them to market (Eppinger 1998). Even software products like Microsoft Word or Netscape require disaggregated, but coordinated processes involving hundreds of developers (Cusumano and Yoffie 1998). Competitive pressures mean that time to market has been projected as essential to new product success as has marketing's direction towards customer needs and customer satisfaction (Smith and Reinertsen 1998). Because products are marketed throughout the world, firms face the tradeoff between standardisation for cost reduction and variety for satisfying an extensive set of customers. This has stretched the need for marketing to look beyond the single product t o focus on the product platform (Moore, Louviere and Verma 1999). The Product Products are often referred to as anything -- object or service -- that can be offered to a market in order to satisfy a customer's want or need (Kotler et al. 1996; ENDREA 2001) and product development is made up of a wide-ranging and distinctive continuum of activities, which need to be cohesive and interrelated so as to achieve an adequate and an acceptable process. Ulrich & Eppinger (2003) stated it as the set of activities beginning with the perception of a market opportunity and ending in the production, sale, and delivery of a product. Aside from the activities, there are several components, such as design engineers or other practitioners, management and goal system, working means, tools and equipment, information system and environment, identified by Hubka & Eder (1992), which influence the product development process. However, product development work is even more complex, since there also are external aspects, facets that are not intrinsic in the organisation, to consider, like the market), legislation and society that affect the product development process (Blessing 2002). To support coordination and planning of all these activities and components, guarantee quality, identify possible problem areas or improvements, a suitable, well-defined product development process is needed (Ulrich & Eppinger 2003). Andreasen & Hein (1986) have inferred an ideal model for product development activities (Illustration 1). The Integrated Product Development model is based on the three elements -- market, design and production, and the results of their activities need to be unified. The market should be investigated and defined, and a product, which is intended to satisfy the market, should be designed and eventually manufactured by the second and third elements. Illustration 1 -- Model of Integrated Product Development (Andreasen & Hein, 1987) Ulrich & Eppinger (2003) likewise offered a model of integrated product development - a generic development process, which depicted the progression of activities or steps that marketing, design and

Contemporary Issues In Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary Issues In Marketing - Essay Example Industrial marketing is another contemporary marketing aspect. It entails changing the focus from the end products to capital goods. Industrial marketing utilizes advertising, promotion and communication to consumers in order to increase the sales. In the same way, companies are currently using social marketing as an avenue of generating benefits for members of the society. In order to reach customers regardless of their location, organizations adopt e-marketing that involve use of internet to market their products. This has been achieved through the advancement of technology in the contemporary world. Ethics in Coca-Cola Company Coca-Cola Company maintains corporate governance guidelines that depict the approaches adopted by the company in order to enhance corporate governance that is vital in meeting the needs of its consumers and employees. In order to ensure accountability and transparency in the company, Coca-Cola management team undertakes regular reviews of its system. The rev iew is also undertaken to achieve international ethical practises thus ensuring the company retains its leadership in the soft drink industry. Code of business conduct is one of the major aspects that are adopted by directors, employees and other associates in order to enhance integrity and honesty during the performance of their duties. Any time new directors or employees are hired by the company, they should study and understand the ethics concepts that are covered by the code. In this way, they effectively emulate the required ethical procedures during their duties. The company also has put in place Ethics & Compliance Committee whose responsibilities include administering the Code. Other duties of the... The paper work studies the aspects of social marketing as an avenue of generating benefits for members of the society. In the contemporary world, marketing has been influenced by various aspects that include technology development, customer relationship management, globalization and stiff competition. To ensure that companies remain competitive and the sales volume are increased, it is imperative to ensure that ethical issues are appropriately addressed during the operations of any company. Coca-Cola Company, the world market leader in the soft drink industry has portrayed effective ways of dealing with ethical issues. Despite the criticism that faced the company mostly from India, Coca-Cola has not been left behind as far as undertaking social responsibilities is concerned. This has resulted to creation of strong customer-company relationship which has seen the company sales increase over the years. Another essential marketing aspect that Coca-Cola has adopted is effective segmentat ion of its market. Meeting of its customer needs is an important aspect that Coca-Cola has initiated in its effort to win customer’s loyalty and trust. This has been achieved through segmentation of its market based on the location and behaviours of its customers among other aspects as depicted in the discussion above. Additionally, Coca-Cola has embarked on various strategies in order to improve its brand awareness. These include extensive advertisement of its brands especially via its website and other avenues.

Animal Rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Animal Rights - Research Paper Example In many ways, elements of this group wish that animal rights would be even further reduced due to the fact that animal rights are antithetical to their personal and/or political vantage point. Similarly, on the opposing side, there are those individuals that are deeply troubled by the way our current society disregards the worth and dignity of other life forms. In fairness, among this group as well exists zealots that would advocate for an extreme solution to such an issue such as all individuals becoming vegetarians to affect a positive change on animal rights worldwide. As such, as rationally and scientifically as possible, this analysis will work to lay out a moderate framework from which the author will attempt to explain and understand the relevant arguments that exist on both sides of this debate. The following provides a brief summary of some of the arguments that each side of this debate put forward: The individuals who campaign for a greater degree of protection and animal rights argue the following: - Due to the fact that eating meat necessarily entails the slaughter of an animal, it also entails grief, anxiety, and a high degree of suffering on the part of the animal - Raising animals for slaughter is an inherently callous practice due to the fact that those individuals that are involved in the process begin to become hardened to the hardships and suffering that these animals undergo during this process. - Evidence from a number of physicians and studies have concluded that a meat-eating is not necessarily beneficial to the health of those who eat it. It is verifiable that if the entire planet became vegetarian, the amount of food that would be saved from feeding cattle stock and chickens plus swine and all the other meat that a great deal of our food supply goes towards would be more than sufficient to feed all of those that go without food. The other side of the debate urges multiple levels of justification and rationalization for the killing of animals for many reason: Animals are by nature stupid and incapable of understanding what their role in life is therefore it is not necessary to respect their rights to the same extent that we respect human rights. It is moral and acceptable to use the animal for the needs of the human being if such a use helps the human being(s) to continue to live and thrive

Do Problems Exist In The Present U.S Electoral System Essay Example for Free

Do Problems Exist In The Present U.S Electoral System Essay The US presidential electoral system is in effect a two-stage decision system. In the first stage, the voters from every state elect a certain number of members of electoral college, who are pledged, de facto if not de jure, to vote for a certain candidate. In the second stage, the Electoral College elects the president. Let us try to evaluate the process critically as briefly as possible. Under Article Two of the United States Constitution, as amended by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, an Electoral College will elect the president. These electors are appointed by mechanisms chosen by each states legislature (prevailingly, by popular vote of the voters of each state). The individual who receives a majority of votes for president — 270 votes are needed for a majority — will be the president-elect of the United States; and the individual who receives a majority of electoral votes for vice president will be the vice president-elect of the United States. PRIMARY OR CAUCUS To start with, there were about 7 or 8 candidates for both the Republican Party (George W. Bushs party) and the same number for the Democratic Party (Hilarys party). So right now the US is in the primary election mode. Primary elections or caucus (that is what Iowa is called) is important because they will help eliminate candidates in both parties. The primary’s results are by the actual popular vote (if Hilary gets 20 votes and Obama gets 25 he would win that primary). However, a serious problem arises here. There are MANY valid political viewpoints, but you can only choose between two candidates. The primaries are the real election. A viable multi-party election system would be better. Of course, there are issues, but they are workable problems. ELECTORAL COLLEGE AND THE PROBLEM When you vote for a presidential candidate you are really voting to instruct the electors from your state to cast their votes for the same candidate. For example, if you vote for the Republican candidate, you are really voting for an elector who will be pledged to vote for the Republican candidate. The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state wins all the pledged votes of the states electors. Critics of the Electoral College system, of which there are more than a few, point out that the system allows the possibility of a candidate actually losing the nationwide popular vote, but being elected president by the electoral vote. Can that happen? Yes, and it has. AN ELABORATE PROCESS The United States is apparently unique among the worlds democracies in how the political parties determine the presidential nominee. The national political parties act like the owners of a franchise (the brand); state parties then operate within a set of national standards or guidelines. Violate those and you could lose your delegates, just ask the Florida Democratic party (the fourth most populous state in the country). Some states have primaries; others, caucuses. Some are open to all, regardless of party; others are closed to only those voters who have officially declared a party affiliation, noted on their voter registration cards. One might argue that this is federalism at its finest. The use of voting apparatus that mimics November elections, however, muddies the (separate) waters of nomination and election. References †¢ How the US electoral system works. http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3108011. ec †¢ US election issues. http://search. ft. com/ftArticle? queryText=us+election+systemaje=falseid=080101000130ct=0nclick_check=1 †¢ US political system and voting. http://usgovinfo. about. com/od/thepoliticalsystem/US_Political_System_and _Voting. htm †¢ Problems abound in the election system. http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/articl