Religion Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Religion - Coursework Example Smith further said that religion is indeed, nothing more than an outcome of the study of many scholars, who utilize it as a means to carry out analysis of various social aspects, otherwise, it does not exist outside the academic world. Smith’s generalization of religion as an academic myth is an overt expression of his association with the school of thought that negates the existence of religion in practical world. Another scholar who belongs to the same school of thought but came up with a more philosophical explanation of the reason of its people’s belief in religion is Edward Burnett Taylor who visualized the religion as an animated concept developed by humans in an attempt to conceive the physical world around them in a better way while Sigmund Freud said religion exists simply because people want to believe in it. (Anon., 2010). However, there are other scholars that do believe in religion and make reasonable arguments for the purpose of the existence of religion and acknowledge its role and impact in the society. One such scholar has been Mircea Eliade who believed in religion and expressed the opinion saying that religion is something too special to be limited to social, cultural or psychological concerns alone. (Anon, 2010). In addition to them, there have been scholars who simply referred to religion as an outcome of some phenomenon. For example, James George Frazer explained that religion surfaced when magic failed to address people’s longing for spiritual satisfaction. (Anon., 2010). Frazer said that the psychology of some people caused them to trust spiritual beings and seek help from them. This resulted in the formation of religion. An in-depth analysis of the opinions of various scholars in the history of literature suggests that many saw religion as a man made concept. A vast majority of philosophers and educationalists denies the belief in religion and refers to it as an animated

Critical Analysis of the problems facing manners Europe Coursework

Critical Analysis of the problems facing manners Europe - Coursework Example The challenges are often worsened even more with lack of knowledge about such differences or sensitivity to such differences, which may impact interactions and the manner in which business is done. Sometimes even those who do understand the significance of the national differences, often mistakenly their way of doing things is the best and most successful. Every country at least has some differences in the way business is done, human resource is planned, people are motivated, and even labour laws practised (Plessis, 2010:180; Mead, 2009). The varying values, behaviours, and beliefs that people hold are critical to the success of human resource management of an international business. This paper analyses the various human resource challenges and problems that Manners Europe faces in its Netherlands office. It will do so using various a numbers of theoretical frameworks such as Hall’s High Low context theory and Hofstede’s five dimensions theory to critically understand t hese problems. Case analysis Problems facing Manners Europe Based on the case experience of Manners Europe, it can be noted that the company division is faced with operational and people management problems. This can be attributed to the different ways that the Dutch carry about their business operations and the export of the parent company’s United States management style in the Netherlands business operations management. The key problems noted from Manners Europe situation include: Problems in motivational tactics used Problems in reward management Communication problems Problems in effective recruiting and retention of employees Problem with management style Problem as to whether a European or American as Tom Steiger’s successor These problems are as analysed below: Problems in motivational tactics used Different people value different things and it is these things valued that often impact the kind of motivation strategies. This implies that motivation is highly imp acted by culture as it is culture that impacts the values that people hold. It is imperative that what employee value and what motivates be clearly understood so that effective working motivation strategies can be employed (Hofstede, 2011). This denotes that in order to understand the problems as to why the pay for performance motivation tactics currently used in Manners Europe are not working it is imperative to understand what the Dutch value and what motivates them based on their cultures. Analysing case based on the Dutch culture using Gert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (Mead, 2009; Brewster, Sparrow, and Vernon, 2011), it can be noted that the Dutch are more individualistic persons who places prefer a loosely knit social network and place high value in taking care of their own needs and those of their immediate families only rather than groups. This is clearly noted in the employees’ emphasis on meeting their social needs and the needs of their families rath er than feeling obliged to meet the needs of the organisation (Verburg et al, 1999:397; Hofstede, 2011). The Dutch are less aggressive and competitive but rather place great emphasis on the quality of life and a good work life balance, and also place a high value on codes of beliefs (Tod, 2004:28; Hofstede, 2011). The business ethics between the Dutch and Americans are different. While