|
| Fred L. Wilson, Ph.D. |
| 4022 Townview Lane |
| Suite 2092 |
| San Angelo, TX 76901 |
| (915) 223-9325 |
| e-mail: fwilson@airmail.net |
According to Houp, Pearsall and Tebeaux (1995), there are times when people such as managers have to make choices between alternatives. To make these choices more meaningful they should be made by comparing each alternative against common standards, or criteria. For your comparative paper you must compare and contrast two approaches to management, based on the works of two of the theorists listed in ELM/FSM 300/301. Specifically, you are to consider:
Controlling Controlling is an area in which these styles differ. According to Daft (1994), Theory X relies on the centralization of authority and very close personal supervision for control. In addition, quality control departments are responsible for monitoring or controlling various areas of performance. In order to determine whether or not workers are performing at least up to minimum standards, quality inspectors make periodic checks. Quality control is not the responsibility of the worker. On the other hand, MBO uses the very specific technique called employee performance appraisal for control which allows both managers and subordinates to determine whether or not subordinates have reached the goals jointly set by them for a certain time period. If they have not, corrective actions can be taken to produce the desired results (DuBrin, 1986). Farther along the continuum of employee involvement in the control function is total quality management (TQM). In TQM the responsibility for control rests with the workers rather than the managers. Quality control circles allow employees who are the most familiar with the job to meet and discuss problems and devise ways to resolve them. Members of the quality circle are given the freedom to collect and use statistical data to measure attainment of performance goals (Daft, 1994).
Issues of womanhood unite Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth. In Jacob's autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, she recounts horrible atrocities committed against her during her enslavement. However, she does not allow the reader to dehumanize her or to become desensitized by her plight. Instead she uses this account to persuade the reader of both her humanity and womanhood. Similarly, Sojourner Truth's speech, "Ar'n't I a Woman," of 1851 (Truth, 1851), works to impress upon the reader (and listener) that not only is she a person but a woman as well. Truth and Jacobs use different methods too express the same theme; equality for blacks. Jacobs manifest her womanhood by embodying the virtues in the cult of true womanhood. Truth, however, contradicts these virtues. By exemplifying a strong sense of character and strength, Truth impresses upon the reader her humanity and her womanhood as well. Jacobs illustrates her womanhood by embracing the cult of true womanhood to prove her womanliness to the readers. She particularly identifies with the virtues of, piety, purity and motherhood. When offered a method of escape from her captivity, Jacobs declines due to the objections of her Grandmother. "Her (Grandmother) excessive fear was somewhat contagious. . . I was grievously disappointed, but I promised too relinquish my project," (Jacobs, p. 232). Here, Jacobs illustrates her willingness to sacrifice for her family and heightens the empathy that she receives from the reader. Jacobs remarks that, "I had resolved that I would be virtuous, though I was a slave." (Jacobs, p. 221). The idea of purity is well ingrained in the precepts of the cult of true womanhood. By expressing her desire to be "virtuous" Jacobs humanizes herself. Jacobs depicts her existence in the "loop hole" as dreary and unbearable but more tolerable than the shackles of slavery. The characterization of her existence allows the reader to see that the center of joy in her life is her children. "I heard the merry laugh of children and presently two sweet little faces were looking up at me, as though they knew I was there and were conscious of the joy they imparted." (Jacobs, p. 228). This passage conveys the image of Jacobs as a mother-woman and allows white women to further identify with her plight. Jacobs uses piety, purity and motherhood to appeal to white woman and establish empathy for her circumstances. By personifying virtuousness Jacobs established herself as a person, a woman and a mother. The purpose of the empathy created by her narrative was to impress upon the reader the dangers that women were susceptible to in slavery and enrage white women into action. Virtuous women need protection and throughout her narrative she proves herself to be a virtuous women, therefore, she should receive protection as well. Truth discards the idea that women are fragile, their place is in the home and that they lack the intelligence of men. She attempts to combat the ignorance and intolerance she encounters by identifying the arguments and stereotypes that exist and then points out their flaws. Truth goes a step beyond Jacobs because her message is not just that of abolishing slavery, but of abolishing inequality between the sexes. Truth's remarks are an attempt to combine the abolitionist and feminist movement. Jacobs sought to be understood with in the confines of the definition of a woman. Truth sought to redefine true womanhood and to be understood in this context, having equality across racial and gender lines. Sojourner Truth comments on the percepts of the cult of true womanhood and rejects them as a standard also by which to measure womanliness. In Truth's "Speech to the Women's Right's Convention in Akron, Ohio," (Truth, 1851) she rebukes all these ideas. Truth remarks, "I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and can any man do more than that?" (Truth, p. 198). This passage depicts a woman in a role other than servile wife and docile mother, casting dispersions on the idea that a woman's place is in the home. Truth was in the field. "I can carry as much as any man eat as much too. . . I am strong as any man. . ." (198). This statement breaks the idea of women as fragile creatures and illustrates a physical strength of character. Truth addresses the idea of man's superior intellect by saying, "if a woman have a pint and a man a quart - why can't she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we'll take too much - for we can't take more than our pint'll hold." (Truth, p. 198). This statement dares men to prove their stereotypes about women by giving them rights. Truth's statements are a challenge to those listening to take up the cause of equality and a chance for women to prove their own equality. This reinforces the image of Truth as the Libyan Sibyl. Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth work to increase racial understanding by recounting personal experiences that help enlighten and whites as to the struggle of slave women. These women courageously fight against the chains of oppression to increase awareness of the plight of slave woman and the free woman, thus giving voice to a highly repressed minority and uniting the fight of the slave and free woman under the umbrella of universal womanhood.
Jacobs, Harriet A. (1861; reprinted with comments, 1987). :Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (ed. Jean Fagan Yellin). Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press. Truth, Sojourner (1989). "Ar'n't I a Woman," Speech to the Women's Right's Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851," in Yellin, Jean Fagan. Women and Sisters: The Antislavery Feminists in American Culture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Off-Campus Academic Programs