War of the Gods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

War of the Gods - Essay Example War of the Gods This paper will examine the use of religious ethics to define a just war and the application of such ethics during the Holy Wars of the Crusades. Monotheistic traditions, such as Christianity and Islam, often use their religious doctrines to find a justification for wars. These doctrines, in the Just War Theory, outline in detail when the use of force can be justified to resolve conflicts, from whom they should attain the blessing that such a use of force is recognized as necessary in the eyes of God, and to what extent the force should be employed. The primary focus of the just war tradition is to attain and confirm approval from God. In both religious doctrines, God-referred to as Allah in Islam-has confirmed the ideals that the use of force by His followers is a righteous and just action; this use of force often serves to control aggressions or perpetuate continued growth and spread of the Faith. In the case of the Crusades, justification came to Christians and Muslims alike from their respective Gods for the perceived need to control the Holy Land of Jerusalem. These doctrines and the actions they perpetrated during the Crusades can be seen from both sides of this series of Holy Wars. August (1921) reveals such justification when the Christians sought to recapture Jerusalem. The fact that Christian soldiers were told they would be successful if God willed their victory directly preceding their accomplishment further confirmed that they were fighting a just war. Additionally, even if only by coincidence, the timeline in which these events took place were construed as signs from God that this war was just and approved; and that God would work with these soldiers and secure their success. This acknowledgement served to increase morale amongst the soldiers and justify future acts of aggression in the name of the Christian Crusades. On the other side of this initial victory of the Christians, the Muslims also received blessings and encouraging sign from Allah. Muslims believed so deeply in the signs and the need for Divine approval, that any losses were perceived to be punishment for sins. None, or few, were mindful of the Lord, or of such work as was needed to capture the city; nor did they take heed to beseech the Lord's favor. And thus we not recognize God in the midst of our affliction, nor did He show favor to the ungrateful. (August 9-10) Essentially, while the Christians remained mindful of the signs that appeared to be sent from God, they saw continued, if intermittent, success in their plights during the Crusades. In contrast, the Muslims believed that the early Christian victories were the result not of God favoring the Christians and

Norton Lilly International Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Norton Lilly International - Case Study Example However, the growth in the company was not without consequences given that such growth had not been well entrenched in the company's culture as asserted by (Burton and Gamble 369). Consequently, operational efficiency did not match the agency's growth path leading to losses in 2006. Following the loss in 2006, the agency hired James Burton to double as the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Finance Officer given his professional qualifications as a Certified Public Accountant who had been consulted by various organisation that sort to achieve growth (Burton and Gamble 368). The agency's mission is to restore operational efficiency thereby helping to increase its profitability. The company sort to achieve this mission by pursuing growth which would see it double its size (Burton and Gamble 368). In addition, the agency had an objective of ensuring smooth transition as it was at the verge of being passed over to the next generation of in the family (Burton and Gamble 368). Basically, t he company wanted to have a turnaround strategy which would ensure both operational efficiency and profitability. Crafting of the strategy In first stage of the endeavour to bring about efficiency at the agency required development of a strategy. The strategy was based on ensuring the company achieves sustainable competitive advantage and could be based on five different perspectives that include; Dominant Industry Economic Features, Five Forces Analysis, Competitive Analysis, SWOT and PESTEL and Financial. Generic strategies may also form the basis for crafting a business strategy. A business can rely on a combination of perspectives or all of them. Based on the dominant industry perspective economic features, Burton first role in developing the strategy was to assess the business to identify the areas that could help the company get a strong foundation for execution (Burton and Gamble 370). Under this approach, core business areas are assessed and addressed given that they support other parts of the company. This is also in congruent with the competitive advantage approach which calls for one to assess the strengths and maximize on them to ensure achieve the mission set out. The crafting of the strategy execution was also based on PESTEL analysis which postulates that a strategy must assess the social perceptions of the people involved (Goodstein and Burke 5). Consequently, Burton understood that he was bringing change among a group of people who were equally competent and therefore he had to introduce ideas hat could be easily accepted and therefore he chose an incremental approach. The other components of PESTEL require the political, environmental, technological, economic and legal macro-environment within which a business is conducted given that they may affect its growth. In the strategy crafting, Burton noted that he could only achieve change through a gradual process as this would give the executive the confidence that such change will be bring tangib le benefits to the company. Moreover, Burton believed that gradual and logical business growth would help the company identify new ways of doing things. Executive Strategy After crafting a growth strategy, it has to be implemented to bring about sustainable positive change to the company. In such efforts, the company follows a series of activities which begins with organizational building, strategic leadership and resource allocation. The execution also involves addressing the organizational culture, evaluating and recognizing achievements and management of the operating systems of the company (Grudy 10). The first weakness addressed in the executive strategy