Justifying the Patriots Act Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Justifying the Patriots Act - Research Paper Example Before delving on the validity and appropriateness of the Patriot Act, it is a must to take a stock of the typical American mindset and way of thinking. The opposition garnered by the Patriot Act could only be well understood when it is placed aside the essential American ethos and the values and norms that are dear to Americans. America is a nation that is devoted to the values of liberty and strongly shuns any law or arrangement that takes something out of the rights and privileges extended to the masses by the constitution of the United States of America. Though the detractors of Patriot Act abhor it as an intrusion into the privacy of the common Americans, a more balanced and sane approach towards this legislation establishes beyond doubt that it is a law that is pivotal to the security and safety of the United States of America (Browne 1). Before trying to wrest any strong opinion regarding the appropriateness and validity of the Patriot Act it is important to understand the tim es in which this legislation was conceived and the things it intended to do. The USA PATRIOT Act was act of the US Congress that was signed into law on October 26, 2001. It goes without saying that the Patriot Act was a response to the mayhem caused by the 9/11 terrorist acts and intended to safeguard the life and property of the American masses. As the full form of the Patriot Act that is Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act suggests, the purpose of the Patriot Act was to strengthen the arms of the America law and order agencies and the intelligence community by endowing to them a range of powers and possibilities. It is really worthwhile to delve on the provisions brought into existence by this act. The Patriot Act intended to safeguard civil liberties. It allowed the Secret Service to establish a nationwide electronic surveillance system and provided for the confiscation of the property of foreign persons engaging i n terrorist acts (Department of Justice 1). It widened the potential of the intelligence services to conduct surveillance on the terrorist elements, without being subservient to the consent of the courts (Department of Justice 1). This act intended to curtail the financial power of the terrorist groups and stressed a stronger border security (Department of Justice 1). The National Security Letters (NSL) provision of this act allowed access to the paper work related to the suspicious citizens, to the intelligence agencies (Department of Justice 1). It facilitated an enhanced sharing of information and inputs between the intelligence agencies and had provisions for extending compensation to the victims of terrorism (Department of Justice 1). The Patriot Act also brought in a range of crimes within the ambit of what is broadly defined as acts of terrorism (Department of Justice 1). The overall purpose of the Patriot Act was to bring about the sweeping changes that not only armed the la w and order institutions and intelligence agencies with the teeth they needed to wage a pragmatic war on the terrorist gro

What Does It Take To Lead Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What Does It Take To Lead Change - Essay Example It is the process of exploring one's own self-evaluation, thinking whether the way they acted in a particular situation is correct or not. Reflecting on one’s own actions is important for business development. It is a must to improve our communication style, clarify our expectations and put into practice the various theories learnt. In fact there are many programs like the Ignatius exercises which use role modelling to focus on various critical issues, kindle the emotions of a person, get a response and help them reflect on the same. These exercises give a person a chance to act with more maturity and calmness if they face the same problem in real life (Moberg & Calkins, 2001, p. 257 - 270). The project we selected to do was ‘Eliminating Job Satisfaction’. Our team believed it will help us to understand the work environment in the corporate industry better and enable us to act as better managers because we will get to know what different types of workers expect fr om their management and superiors. My group project enabled me to talk to various types of people. What we found out was that, nearly half of the people excelling in today's corporate world do so because they did not have a chance to excel in their field of choice. I realized the meaning of the word 'identity workspace' (Petriglieri & Petriglieri, 2010, p. 44 - 60) only by working in this project. The experience made me wonder if these people are so productive and capable in a field they have no like or dislike, how much they would contribute if they were only given a chance to work in their field of choice. Surely, the world would be a much better place with many more inventions then. The aim of our project was to reach out to at least a few people who are totally dissatisfied with their job and make them pursue their passion for their own happiness and the betterment of their passionate field. My team attended a workshop at the end of the project, which enabled us to reflect on wh at we have done so far. I got a chance to reflect on several incidents which took place throughout the project. The workshop instilled in me various reflections regarding the way I communicated to my peers, how I failed to make them understand some of my views and how I acted as a self-elected leader in some instances. The workshop did not teach us anything new, but helped us reflect on the way we acted throughout the project and question ourselves what would have been the outcome, if we have acted differently. There is a general notion that management studies will not be much useful, if a person does not have prior management experience. The idea was stressed by Mintzberg (2004) in his work. No matter how many hours you study volumes and volumes of management theories it isn’t equivalent to one day's experience of managing a team in the real world. Managing this project helped me understand this practically. I tried in every possible way to help my team but it only resulted in building more tension within the team. â€Å"Communication within a group deals with the spoken and the unspoken, the verbal and the non-verbal, the explicit and the implied messages that are conveyed and exchanged relating to information and ideas, and Feelings† (Group Dynamics, 2004). I understood where I went wrong and how communication was limited in our team while playing the reflective exercises in this workshop. I strongly felt the way I acted