Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the hidden data of communication such as human feelings, egos and emotions at the workplace resulting into conflicts. It emphasizes the need for independent thinking, (i.e. avoid being instigated by others) and also on the active listening skills that can minimize conflicts. It also outlines the need to separate personal emotions from professional activities.
Design/methodology/approach – It provides a detailed case study in an organization where Susan has the attitude of ‘I am the boss’ and Ron has the attitude of ‘So what?’ resulting into conflict in the workplace.
Findings – The case study highlights the need to communicate with each other rather than developing filters in their minds. Those who work in organizations should not act under the influence of others and they should not misuse their official authority. It concludes that those who are in superior position should open up their minds and set the process of dialogue before taking any extreme action such as humiliating or silencing their subordinates. It provides a few takeaways for working executives to prevent conflicts based on human emotions and feelings.
Research limitations/implications – It outlines the analysis and interpretation of the author. It presents several solutions by looking at the issue from multiple perspectives. It helps the readers to develop their thinking, analytical and creative skills.
Originality/value – The main contribution of this case study is to add value by narrating the incident sequentially thereby creating curiosity among the readers. It provides new perspectives and the real reasons for conflicts at the workplace.
Keywords: Communication and conflict, Conflict management, Hidden data of communication, Personal and psychological conflict, Workplace relations.
Target audience: HR professionals, Researchers, General Managers, Academics, Students and Consultants.
Article Type: Case Study.
Word count: 2430
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“Never look who is right and wrong. Always look what is right and wrong.” – Prof.M.S.Rao, Corporate Trainer in Leadership Development.
When you look at individuals there will be involvement of egos and emotions. In contrast, when you look at the issues there will be no individual preferences and prejudices. Better judgment prevails.
Susan was working in a multinational company in India as a Human Resource (HR) Manager. Her role was to recruit the candidates for the company and to ensure smooth functioning of office administration. She was a smart worker and built reputation for herself from superiors for the last five years. The top management also respected and consulted her on crucial decisions. She did not talk to anyone unnecessarily at the work place and she meant business. She was 32 years old. She was bold and beautiful. She was polite and well mannered. She was a woman with strong character. But she was stubborn by nature. However, it was rumored within the organization that she was divorced by her husband because of arrogance and stubbornness.
Ron joined in the same company who was hard working and was yet to prove his abilities and establish his credentials. Before joining this organization, he had 18 years of industry experience in several companies and he was 39 years old. As per the rules of the company, Ron had to work with Susan initially for some period. He was a hard worker and rose from ranks. He learnt bitter lessons in his life and knew the value of life. But he was adamant by nature. Both Ron and Susan respected each other and had been working together.
Susan was introvert, by nature, and rarely mingled with other employees. At the same time, she never kept ill will against anybody. She was a principled woman with worldly experience. She was combination of education, intellect and beauty with grace which was a rare combination for any woman. She was good at heart and helpful. Seeing the close and cordial relations between Susan and Ron, a few people working in the office felt jealousy. Since Susan rarely socialized with others and her cordial relations with Ron upset a few of their colleagues especially two female colleagues - Ann and Beth.
Ron also never socialized with anyone as he believed in his office work although he was an extrovert by nature. Ron initially moved closely with a colleague by name John. But John started speaking ill of Susan to Ron which Ron did not appreciate. John said that Susan was a divorcee and her husband divorced because of her arrogance. He also said that Susan was a woman of weak character. Gradually Ron distanced himself away from John who tried to settle his scores with Susan as they worked together in the past on a project. Ron was basically an independent thinker and never paid attention to such negative comments and he followed his heart rather than looking things from the mind of others. Ron did not appreciate negative things being talked by John against Susan whom he respected from the core of his heart.
Ron’s gelling with Susan cordially upset a few and especially two female colleagues Ann and Beth. They tried to create rift between them by talking ill of Susan with Ron. Ron never liked to entertain negative people and was totally against office politics. Since their strategy failed to work, they attempted to poison the mind of Susan who initially resisted the same. Gradually Susan stopped talking to Ron and the latter did not know the reasons but Ron sensed some problem. However, he interacted with Susan in the same way to keep the things going on smoothly. Since Susan began neglecting Ron, he also began concentrating on work and avoided Susan totally except whenever there was need for official interaction and communication.
In fact, Susan touched the subconscious mind of Ron. As a result, Ron began thinking about Susan oftenly and deeply. Ron was not able to concentrate on his work properly. At heart, Ron was thankful to Susan as she helped him to groove within the system. He developed admiration towards her but never revealed to others at the workplace even to Susan. In brief, Susan touched the heart of Ron.
One day, Susan told Ron to collect resumes from the candidates who came in for walk-in interview. Ron got up from his cubicle and asked her whether to hand over the same to Senior Manager - Rick. She said, “Yes”. Ron was energetic by nature; he rushed immediately to get the resumes and collected from the candidates. Subsequently, Ron rushed to the Senior Manager and handed over the resumes and had conversation with him for some time and came out from the room.
Susan who was waiting outside the Senior Manager’s cabin took Ron to nearby room with anger and shouted at him. Both had heated conversation for some time which is mentioned below:
Susan questioned Ron, “Who told you to hand over the resumes to Senior Manager?”
Ron replied, “When I asked you, you told me to hand over to Senior Manager. Therefore, I handed over to him.”
Susan shouted, “You rushed inside the room. But I told you to hand over to Jim.”
Ron said, “You told me to hand over to Senior Manager. Therefore, I handed over to Rick.” And he added, “Why do you make it a big issue?”
Susan shouted, “You did not listen properly and your behavior is not good”.
Ron did not want to hurt her and asked, “Ok! Tell me, in which way my behavior is bad? I will change my behavior.” He added further, “You keep something else in your mind and talk something else outside. I don’t like this. I am straightforward. I respect you a lot from the core of my heart. But every time, you listen to negative people and rush to wrong conclusions about me.”
Susan said, “Stop talking all that! Next time don’t repeat like this.”
Ron pacified, “Ok! I will not do like this. But it all happened due to your miscommunication and let us close the issue here itself.”
Ron finally said, “I am sorry if there was any mistake on my part”
Susan cooled down her temper and said, “Now you go outside the cabin.”
Ron left the cabin puzzled and shocked. It was first time in his life a woman took him to task for none of his mistakes. Since he respected Susan he didn’t like to hurt her in any way by arguing with her.
Outside the cabin, a few office friends enquired Ron to find out what had happened inside the cabin. He did not reveal what really happened inside the room as he was basically a confidential person by nature.
After 15 minutes, Ron called Susan telephonically and explained clearly that things went wrong due to improper communication. He once again apologized her for the incident. Susan said that she was in a position to take action against him but said that she would not initiate any action against him. Ron asserted that he was not concerned for any kind of action but concerned if Susan was hurt.
The incident depressed Ron for many days as he failed to understand where he went wrong. He was not worried about the incident but more worried as he liked Susan very much. It disturbed his peace and sleep. He sought an appointment with Susan several times to communicate the same but the latter never gave such an opportunity.
Questions to Ponder:
Was it a conflict? If it were a conflict, what led to this conflict?
Was it due to clash of egos or emotions or feelings or miscommunication?
Who was responsible for this conflict - Susan or Ron or both Ann and Beth?
Was there anything hidden between these two personalities?
Did the real issues come up or anything still hidden between these two personalities?
What were the other hidden reasons, if any?
Case Study Analysis:
In any communication, there has to be feedback whether the receiver has understood the message. In this case, Ron rushed to hand over the resumes without taking clear confirmation from Susan. It was mistake on the part of Susan for not taking feedback after her communication. Whatever it may be, it is not an issue worth to become a conflict. There are hidden data of communication such as feelings, emotions and egos which have not been clearly expressed by Susan. Both Susan and Ron developed filters in their minds. In fact, both are equally responsible for this conflict.
Susan has the attitude of ‘I am the boss’ and Ron has the attitude of ‘So what?’. Probably Susan lacked independent and original thinking as she was under the influence of Ann and Beth who were litigants and did not like Susan gelling well with Ron in the initial probationary period. Finally, both Ann and Beth were successful in separating both Susan and Ron by flaring up the issue. In contrast, Ron was not influenced by the negative comments made against Susan by John such as she was a divorcee and she was a woman of weak character with lot of arrogance. Ron was intelligent enough to smell the differences John must have had with Susan as they collectively completed a project in the past. Ron, being an experienced person knows that some differences must have cropped up between both Susan and John while execution of project. Ron was good by nature as he did not like the badmouthing of Susan by John. Right from the beginning Ron had good impression about Susan. Ron never hurt Susan although he was humiliated by Susan in the cabin. Ron was always defensive while Susan was offensive. It shows Ron’s character. Ron was also a gentleman as he did not carry forward the negative comments made by John to Susan. However, Ron was also at fault as he mixed his personal emotions with professional activities thus weakening his position within the organization.
In fact, something bugged Susan that resulted into sudden outburst and thus humiliating Ron. The solution lies only when both Susan and Ron come together and take a relook at the issue and communicate with each other. It not only removes the barriers but also builds the bridges between both of them. It helps in better relations and ensures peaceful working environment.
In any conflict, the real reasons usually don’t surface. Besides, it is very difficult to probe the heart of a woman. Probably Susan was influenced by two negative colleagues Ann and Beth as she lacked independent thinking. She looks like an intellectual fool as she was easily instigated by both Ann and Beth. In brief, Susan was a puppet and Ann and Beth were puppeteers.
It is also a classic example of emotions playing a crucial role in deciding professional relationship. In any working environment, people of opposite sex often develop soft corner and admiration for each other. Same thing happened between Susan and Ron. It seems Ron and Susan like each other internally but they failed to express themselves properly.
At the instigation of Ann and Beth, Susan being a senior succeeded in silencing and humiliating Ron by misusing her official authority as she might have read the signals of Ron’s body language as he liked her. There is also a possibility that Susan made Ron a scapegoat to protect her professional image built over for the last 5 years within the organization. When Ron apologized once again just after the closed door cabin conflict, Susan’s threat of initiating action against Ron was an indication of her superiority complex (bossism, of course, not sadism) and stubbornness and also growing insecurity within herself.
They should keep their personal emotions and feelings away for making the working environment conducive and productive. The attitude of ‘tit for tat’ is no solution for managing the conflicts within the organization. Probably it was the reason why Ron apologized and came out of the cabin after heated arguments. He was intelligent enough to apologize and to come out the cabin, else Susan might fix Ron on sexual harassment case as she was not at all in a mood to think independently and also she was poisoned by Ann and Beth who vitiated the working environment by badmouthing and bringing politics within the organization.
John told Ron that Susan as a woman of weak character with lot of arrogance and it was rumored within the organization that Susan was divorced by her husband due to these reasons. However, Ron did not pay heed to John as it was Susan’s personal matter; if it happened to be true. Ron looked Susan from a very positive perspective like a woman who has huge potential and a long a way to go in her career. Ron was also the kind of person who separates personal matter from professional matter. As Ron distanced John for badmouthing against Susan, Susan too should have distanced from the badmouthing and litigant colleagues. If it were done so, the conflict could have been averted.
It becomes obvious from the case study that Ron is ENTJ (Extravert, Intuitor, Thinker and Judger) type while Susan is ISTJ (Introvert, Sensor, Thinker and Judger) type as per the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). Therefore, it is a clear clash between ISTJ and ENTJ.
Key Learnings:
Both have many similar qualities such as avoiding organizational politics, not meddling into others’ activities, being disciplined and dedicated professionals and confidential (not revealing their inner feelings to others). They both are like poles and repel and only way they attract with each other is that they belong to opposite sex. In fact, both Ron and Susan could make as an excellent team if they come together and it helps the organization as well.
It is essential to emphasize here that personal human weaknesses should not overtake the professional activities. It is also improper to exploit the weaknesses of human beings to establish superiority. If it were so, such conflicts would arise.
Succinctly, the conflict is the result of Ron looking at Susan positively and the Susan looking at Ron negatively under the instigation of her two negative colleagues. In fact, both were good by nature but the way looked at each other resulted into conflict. Therefore, Susan should reconsider Ron on a clean slate so that such conflicts could be averted in future.
To conclude in the words of Oscar Wilde, “Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.”
The End
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Why to Write a Failure Résumé? - Prof.M.S.Rao
"When I was young, I observed that nine out of 10 things I did were failures, so I did 10 times more work." - George Bernard Shaw
Robert joined in a research center as a researcher where he had to do extensive research in his passionate area of leadership and soft skills for authoring books. He found out a few triggers and authored a book. Unfortunately the book did not sail through as it lacked research depth. But he was not worried but analyzed the reasons for the failure. After thorough research he came to know the real reasons for debacle and tried again and succeeded in authoring a book on leadership which became a runaway hit. Likewise, we find many people like Robert who learns from failures and stage a smart come back.
Importance of Failures:
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely." - Anonymous
Failure is like a mother who teaches many lessons. As mother stands by you through thick and thin the failure always remains with you and teaches several lessons. In contrast, success is like a beautiful girl who may go away at any time. Everyone loves to taste success but nobody loves to face failure. People treat failure as a stigma. In fact, failure is a great teacher. It reminds you constantly not to repeat mistakes whenever you take up any challenge. Initial failures are blessing in disguise as otherwise people would remain complacent without churning any valuable takeaways throughout their lives.
The former American President Abraham Lincoln underwent several trails and tribulations throughout his life. He was a self educated man. He rightly quoted, “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” He failed several times. He failed to establish as a businessman. He failed in his love. He had nervous breakdown. After suffering several defeats in politics he rose to the highest position in America as the first Republican President. He failed differently but he was never dejected. He learnt lessons whenever he failed and moved forward thereby becoming stronger and successful. In brief, Lincoln lost a few battles initially so as to win a war finally.
Everyone Fails:
"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." - George Woodberry, Poet
The fact is that everyone fails in life. If anyone claims not having encountered failure probably s/he has not tried anything worth in life. We take several decisions in our lives. All decisions may not sail through smoothly. A few fall flat. It could be due to wrong decision making or could be due to the external forces and factors which are beyond human control. Therefore, here is a failure resume which minimizes failures and maximizes successes.
What is a Failure Resume?
“Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success ….” – John Keats.
Everyone speaks of success resume but here is an exception where failures are focused and we can name it as a failure resume. It is a document that lists out the number of times individuals have failed in their lives with an objective of key takeaways at the end. It should list out if there are any failures in the academic area such as failed to score high marks or failed to be a school topper. It should then focus on the failures in personal life. It could be about marriage, or career, or love or other debacles in personal life. Outline the failures in professional life. For instance, the examples in this category are inability to grow in career, inability to get along with colleagues or subordinates or superiors and inability to handle key challenges. Finally make a list of failures in your social life. Precisely, any failure resume should contain on four key areas such as academic, personal, professional and social life.
Once the list of failures is written in a resume format, then it is time to analyze why have you failed. You have to be impartial to make the exercise meaningful and successful. Were the failures due to dearth of your efforts or energies or due to the external forces and factors? If things went wrong due to your personal mistake it is time to pull up your socks. On the other hand, if it were due to external reasons beyond human control you don’t have to regret as most of the failures are the result of the same reasons. If you find that you have failed by repeating the same mistakes it is time to change your thinking and execution process. In contrast, if you failed differently, that means, you have tried worthwhile in your life and learnt lessons out of them.
Why a Failure Resume?
"Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable." - Coco Chanel
Life is full of highs and lows. We cannot take the things for granted with growing uncertainty and complexity arising out of rapid technological changes.
A failure resume makes you more humble as it is full of tumbles in your life. It makes you to think more logically, analytically and improves your decision making skills. It makes you to empathize with others especially who failed in life. It connects you with others sympathetically thereby building good relations. It enhances your maturity levels and keeps you cool and composed whenever you are faced with failures in future.
Students and working professionals should be asked to write a resume of failures and it should be submitted to the potential recruiters. Currently few recruiters pose questions related to failures during employment interview. The same can be extended to writing a failure resume and submitting to the potential employers. ‘Failure resume’ can be prepared at any stage of life. I could be during your academic life or professional life. There is no specific time for learning mistakes in life.
How to Write a Failure Resume?
Writing a failure resume is a four step process where in the first column; write down what are the major failures in your life. In the second column, mention why have you failed? In the third column, state how you have failed and finally in the fourth column outline the lessons learnt from these failures.
Conclusion:
"Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come." - Og Mandino
Writing a failure resume is essential to everyone. It is a kind of intrapersonal feedback for improvement and career growth. It provides several meaningful takeaways. As organizations encourage self-appraisals after joining, they should insist on a failure resume before joining in their organizations from their potential candidates for bridging the failure rate and broadening the success rate.
The End
Robert joined in a research center as a researcher where he had to do extensive research in his passionate area of leadership and soft skills for authoring books. He found out a few triggers and authored a book. Unfortunately the book did not sail through as it lacked research depth. But he was not worried but analyzed the reasons for the failure. After thorough research he came to know the real reasons for debacle and tried again and succeeded in authoring a book on leadership which became a runaway hit. Likewise, we find many people like Robert who learns from failures and stage a smart come back.
Importance of Failures:
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely." - Anonymous
Failure is like a mother who teaches many lessons. As mother stands by you through thick and thin the failure always remains with you and teaches several lessons. In contrast, success is like a beautiful girl who may go away at any time. Everyone loves to taste success but nobody loves to face failure. People treat failure as a stigma. In fact, failure is a great teacher. It reminds you constantly not to repeat mistakes whenever you take up any challenge. Initial failures are blessing in disguise as otherwise people would remain complacent without churning any valuable takeaways throughout their lives.
The former American President Abraham Lincoln underwent several trails and tribulations throughout his life. He was a self educated man. He rightly quoted, “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.” He failed several times. He failed to establish as a businessman. He failed in his love. He had nervous breakdown. After suffering several defeats in politics he rose to the highest position in America as the first Republican President. He failed differently but he was never dejected. He learnt lessons whenever he failed and moved forward thereby becoming stronger and successful. In brief, Lincoln lost a few battles initially so as to win a war finally.
Everyone Fails:
"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." - George Woodberry, Poet
The fact is that everyone fails in life. If anyone claims not having encountered failure probably s/he has not tried anything worth in life. We take several decisions in our lives. All decisions may not sail through smoothly. A few fall flat. It could be due to wrong decision making or could be due to the external forces and factors which are beyond human control. Therefore, here is a failure resume which minimizes failures and maximizes successes.
What is a Failure Resume?
“Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success ….” – John Keats.
Everyone speaks of success resume but here is an exception where failures are focused and we can name it as a failure resume. It is a document that lists out the number of times individuals have failed in their lives with an objective of key takeaways at the end. It should list out if there are any failures in the academic area such as failed to score high marks or failed to be a school topper. It should then focus on the failures in personal life. It could be about marriage, or career, or love or other debacles in personal life. Outline the failures in professional life. For instance, the examples in this category are inability to grow in career, inability to get along with colleagues or subordinates or superiors and inability to handle key challenges. Finally make a list of failures in your social life. Precisely, any failure resume should contain on four key areas such as academic, personal, professional and social life.
Once the list of failures is written in a resume format, then it is time to analyze why have you failed. You have to be impartial to make the exercise meaningful and successful. Were the failures due to dearth of your efforts or energies or due to the external forces and factors? If things went wrong due to your personal mistake it is time to pull up your socks. On the other hand, if it were due to external reasons beyond human control you don’t have to regret as most of the failures are the result of the same reasons. If you find that you have failed by repeating the same mistakes it is time to change your thinking and execution process. In contrast, if you failed differently, that means, you have tried worthwhile in your life and learnt lessons out of them.
Why a Failure Resume?
"Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable." - Coco Chanel
Life is full of highs and lows. We cannot take the things for granted with growing uncertainty and complexity arising out of rapid technological changes.
A failure resume makes you more humble as it is full of tumbles in your life. It makes you to think more logically, analytically and improves your decision making skills. It makes you to empathize with others especially who failed in life. It connects you with others sympathetically thereby building good relations. It enhances your maturity levels and keeps you cool and composed whenever you are faced with failures in future.
Students and working professionals should be asked to write a resume of failures and it should be submitted to the potential recruiters. Currently few recruiters pose questions related to failures during employment interview. The same can be extended to writing a failure resume and submitting to the potential employers. ‘Failure resume’ can be prepared at any stage of life. I could be during your academic life or professional life. There is no specific time for learning mistakes in life.
How to Write a Failure Resume?
Writing a failure resume is a four step process where in the first column; write down what are the major failures in your life. In the second column, mention why have you failed? In the third column, state how you have failed and finally in the fourth column outline the lessons learnt from these failures.
Conclusion:
"Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come." - Og Mandino
Writing a failure resume is essential to everyone. It is a kind of intrapersonal feedback for improvement and career growth. It provides several meaningful takeaways. As organizations encourage self-appraisals after joining, they should insist on a failure resume before joining in their organizations from their potential candidates for bridging the failure rate and broadening the success rate.
The End
Does Obama Deserve Nobel Peace Prize? - Prof.M.S.Rao
“Before you become a leader it’s all about you. After you become a leader it’s all about others. The path to your personal fulfillment is through them” – Kelvin Droegemeier
Barack Obama’s nomination to Nobel peace prize invited both bouquets and brickbats across the world. Is it because he is too young to receive the prize? Or is it because he is yet to prove his credentials? Did he win the award because of his star power or real power?
Obama is the third incumbent American President next to Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919) to bag this prestigious prize. He grabbed the attention of the world within a short time through his persuasion and oratorical skills. He is humble to admit the fact that “I don’t deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures who have been honoured by this prize.” A few opine that the award is premature. In fact, it is an award to an untried President to accomplish the unaccomplished goals. Everyone was surprised over his nomination including Obama himself who humbly admitted “I am both surprised and humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee”
About Obama:
There is nothing strange for the world to be surprised over the award when the recipient himself was surprised. But what matters most are not his age but his energy and enthusiasm. He rode to power with his oratorical skills rather political acumen. He is yet to prove his credentials as a President. Can the decision of the Nobel Committee be treated as a slap to his predecessor George W. Bush who was a war-mongerer?
Obama is blessed with both sagacity and intelligence. He is honest and humble to admit the fact that he doesn’t deserve to be in the comity of great leaders. He is a global leader. He is not the leader of America alone. While accepting the nomination he shared with the world citizens. He rightly put it as, “This award is not simply about the efforts of my administration; it’s about the courageous efforts of people around the world. And that’s why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity.”
Although he checked nuclear proliferation and became the pioneer of new climate in international politics he is yet to demonstrate his leadership abilities in several issues facing the world. However he is a ray of hope to mankind for preserving global peace and tranquility in the current context. He is a charismatic leader who is yet to evolve as a transformational leader for making difference to global citizens.
Does Obama Deserve?
“Only very recently has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention.” – Nobel Committee.
He removed the big brother attitude which earlier American presidents demonstrated to the rest of the world especially to the developing countries. He reached out to Muslims globally unlike his predecessor who antagonized Muslims by venturing into Iraq. The world appreciates his earnest efforts for global peace and security and also his concern for environment. He achieved several things silently and modestly.
It is unfair to criticize Nobel Committee for the decision whose intention is to promote global peace, prosperity and ecology. Perhaps Obama was the most visible nominee for the Nobel Committee. It was a practical approach based on ground realities. The committee weighed all the pros and cons before declaring the award. In the case of Obama it is very clear in the mind of Nobel Committee to impress upon the world that it is not the results but the efforts and energies that count in changing the world for betterment.
It is improper to judge a person based on age as people opine that it is too early for him to bag this prize. In fact, the prize is more of pressure rather pleasure for Obama as he is expected to execute lot more things. He has to focus on current economic turmoil as well. He has been repairing America’s relations with Muslims across the world, prioritizing in containing climatic changes and bringing Israelis and Palestinians into negotiations. However, his critics point out that he gives statements, promises and hopes but does not do anything concretely. It seems he should be more practical and realistic in his approaches.
Conclusion:
It is a prize not only to Obama but for the entire mankind. He undoubtedly deserves this coveted prize. The award encourages multilateralism rather unilateralism that prevailed until recently before he became the President of America. His greatest challenge now is to convert his charisma into actions. America has to play a crucial role for preserving and promoting global peace and security. It is hoped that he will strive for global peace and leave a mark behind for future generations.
To conclude, it is an award not only for Americans but for the entire mankind. God bless Obama. God bless Americans. And God bless mankind.
The End
Barack Obama’s nomination to Nobel peace prize invited both bouquets and brickbats across the world. Is it because he is too young to receive the prize? Or is it because he is yet to prove his credentials? Did he win the award because of his star power or real power?
Obama is the third incumbent American President next to Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Woodrow Wilson (1919) to bag this prestigious prize. He grabbed the attention of the world within a short time through his persuasion and oratorical skills. He is humble to admit the fact that “I don’t deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures who have been honoured by this prize.” A few opine that the award is premature. In fact, it is an award to an untried President to accomplish the unaccomplished goals. Everyone was surprised over his nomination including Obama himself who humbly admitted “I am both surprised and humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee”
About Obama:
There is nothing strange for the world to be surprised over the award when the recipient himself was surprised. But what matters most are not his age but his energy and enthusiasm. He rode to power with his oratorical skills rather political acumen. He is yet to prove his credentials as a President. Can the decision of the Nobel Committee be treated as a slap to his predecessor George W. Bush who was a war-mongerer?
Obama is blessed with both sagacity and intelligence. He is honest and humble to admit the fact that he doesn’t deserve to be in the comity of great leaders. He is a global leader. He is not the leader of America alone. While accepting the nomination he shared with the world citizens. He rightly put it as, “This award is not simply about the efforts of my administration; it’s about the courageous efforts of people around the world. And that’s why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity.”
Although he checked nuclear proliferation and became the pioneer of new climate in international politics he is yet to demonstrate his leadership abilities in several issues facing the world. However he is a ray of hope to mankind for preserving global peace and tranquility in the current context. He is a charismatic leader who is yet to evolve as a transformational leader for making difference to global citizens.
Does Obama Deserve?
“Only very recently has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention.” – Nobel Committee.
He removed the big brother attitude which earlier American presidents demonstrated to the rest of the world especially to the developing countries. He reached out to Muslims globally unlike his predecessor who antagonized Muslims by venturing into Iraq. The world appreciates his earnest efforts for global peace and security and also his concern for environment. He achieved several things silently and modestly.
It is unfair to criticize Nobel Committee for the decision whose intention is to promote global peace, prosperity and ecology. Perhaps Obama was the most visible nominee for the Nobel Committee. It was a practical approach based on ground realities. The committee weighed all the pros and cons before declaring the award. In the case of Obama it is very clear in the mind of Nobel Committee to impress upon the world that it is not the results but the efforts and energies that count in changing the world for betterment.
It is improper to judge a person based on age as people opine that it is too early for him to bag this prize. In fact, the prize is more of pressure rather pleasure for Obama as he is expected to execute lot more things. He has to focus on current economic turmoil as well. He has been repairing America’s relations with Muslims across the world, prioritizing in containing climatic changes and bringing Israelis and Palestinians into negotiations. However, his critics point out that he gives statements, promises and hopes but does not do anything concretely. It seems he should be more practical and realistic in his approaches.
Conclusion:
It is a prize not only to Obama but for the entire mankind. He undoubtedly deserves this coveted prize. The award encourages multilateralism rather unilateralism that prevailed until recently before he became the President of America. His greatest challenge now is to convert his charisma into actions. America has to play a crucial role for preserving and promoting global peace and security. It is hoped that he will strive for global peace and leave a mark behind for future generations.
To conclude, it is an award not only for Americans but for the entire mankind. God bless Obama. God bless Americans. And God bless mankind.
The End
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