Research Paper: Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Team

History
Husker football began play in 1890, with a 10-0 victory over the Omaha YMCA on Thanksgiving Day, November 27. During the early years of the program, the team had a number of nicknames: "Bugeaters", "Tree Planters", "Nebraskans", "The Rattlesnake Boys", "Antelopes" and "Old Gold Knights"; "Cornhuskers" became the sole nickname used around 1900. Nebraska has claimed 46 conference championships and part or all of five national championships: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, and 1997. This marked the first time since Notre Dame in 1946-49 when a team won three national championships in four seasons. Nebraska posted a 60-3-0 record between the 1993-97 seasons. No team has come close to breaking this record.[citation needed] Famous former Huskers include Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch. Rodgers was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and for the new millennium he was voted the team's "Player of the Century"; his Cornhusker jersey (No. 20) was retired. Rozier was likewise inducted into the hall in 2006. Other Husker players and coaches who are members of the College Football Hall of Fame include: Forrest Behm, Bob Brown, Guy Chamberlin, Sam Francis, Rich Glover, Ken Hunter, Wayne Meylan, Bobby Reynolds, Dave Rimington, George Sauer, Clarence Swanson, Ed Weir, Dave Noble, and coaches Dana X. Bible, Bob Devaney, Biff Jones, Tom Osborne, Eddie "Robbie" Robinson, and Fielding Yost.The most notable rivals of the Cornhuskers are the Oklahoma Sooners and the Colorado Buffaloes. Nebraska and Oklahoma regularly battled for the Big Eight Conference title until 1995 when the conference became the Big 12. Out of the Big Eight's 89 year history, Nebraska or Oklahoma won or shared the conference championship 71 times. The Cornhuskers and Sooners also played several games during the 1970s and 1980s that decided the national championship.
The Husker defense is known by the nickname of the "Blackshirts." Depictions of the Blackshirts often include a skull and crossbones. This nickname originated in the early 1960s and continued as a reference to the black practice jerseys worn by first-string defensive players during practice. This tradition developed when Bob Devaney had Mike Corgan, one of his assistant coaches, find contrastive jerseys to offset the red jerseys worn by the offense in practice. Further credit is given to George Kelly, Devaney's defensive line coach until 1968, who frequently referred to the top defensive unit by the name; eventually the rest of the coaching staff caught on, while the first mention of the Blackshirts in print was not until 1969. Since the 1994 season, Nebraska's home games have always opened with the Tunnel Walk. Before the team enters, the HuskerVision screens light up with a burst of computer animation, and "Sirius" (an instrumental by The Alan Parsons Project) blares from the speakers. Accompanied by cheers from the crowd, the Huskers take the field. When the Cornhuskers play at home in Memorial Stadium, the stadium holds more people than the third-largest city in Nebraska. They currently hold the record for the most consecutive sold out home games, which celebrated its 285th occasion when they competed against the Ball State Cardinals on September 22, 2007. The sellout streak dates back to November 3, 1962 during Bob Devaney's first season at Nebraska. The Huskers lost the first game in the current streak, a Homecoming game, to Missouri 16-7; 36,501 fans were in attendance.
Coaching
The coach who brought about the most wins in Cornhusker history is Tom Osborne, who led the team for 25 seasons, from 1973 to 1997; his final record at Nebraska was 255 wins, 49 losses and 3 ties. During his tenure, the team won three national titles, including one in his final season. Osborne-led teams won at least 9 games every season and 5 times managed to win 12 or more. By the time he was finished the Nebraska coach had compiled a winning percentage of 83.6%, a higher rate than those held by Bobby Bowden, Paul "Bear" Bryant, and Joe Paterno. After retiring from the Cornhuskers, Osborne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's Third Congressional District in 2000. Osborne's handpicked successor was Frank Solich, a Nebraska assistant coach and former player. Solich had coached freshmen from 1979-1983 and running backs from 1983-1997. This was following in a tradition because Osborne had been a long-time Cornhusker assistant before Devaney chose him as his successor. Like Osborne, Solich also had big shoes to fill. In his first season, the team got off to a 5-0 start before falling to Texas A&M 21-28. The team went on to a 9-4 record ending up with the most losses since the 1968 season. Over the next three seasons Solich produced better results: 12-1 in 1999 and 10-2 in 2000. The 2001 season looked to be a special one with Heisman candidate Eric Crouch at quarterback.
Winning Tradition
For more than a century, the legacy of Nebraska Football has been growing. From its humble beginning in 1890 – when two games made an entire schedule – to 2007, where an established, nationally prominent program enjoys a rich history of success, Nebraska’s student-athletes have entertained and excelled on all levels. Five national championships and more than 40 conference titles highlight the accomplishments of one of college football’s most storied programs. There have been Heisman winners and Outland Trophy recipients, a nation-leading number of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, a Big 12-leading graduation rate and many professional football stars. But underlying all of the countless accolades is an organization that does not rely on wins and losses as the final indicator of excellence. Nebraska Football is much more than talented athletes and coaches taking the field to play a game – it is a family. The fans, support staff and student-athletes are all Dedicated to Excellence through Tradition, Teamwork and integrity. It is this commitment on and off the field that makes Nebraska unique and assures that the rich tradition of the Huskers will keep growing for years to come.
Cornhusker Nickname
Before 1900, Nebraska football teams were known by such names as the Old Gold Knights, Antelopes, Rattlesnake Boys and the Bugeaters. In its first two seasons (1890-91), Nebraska competed as the Old Gold Knights, but beginning in 1892, Nebraska adopted Scarlet and Cream as its colors and accepted the Bugeaters as its most popular nickname until the turn of the century. Named after the insect-devouring bull bats that hovered over the plains, the Bugeaters also found their prey in the Midwest, enjoying winning campaigns in every year of the 1890s until a disappointing season in 1899. After its first losing season in a decade, it must have seemed only fitting that Nebraska move in a new direction, and Lincoln sportswriter Charles S. (Cy) Sherman, who was to gain national renown as the sports editor of the Lincoln Star and help originate The Associated Press Poll, provided the nickname that has gained fame for a century. Sherman tired of referring to the Nebraska teams with such an unglamorous term as Bugeaters. Iowa had, from time to time, been called the Cornhuskers, and the name appealed to Sherman.
History of Memorial Stadium
Nebraska’s continuing NCAA record of consecutive home sellouts reached 282 with seven home sellouts in 2006. The Huskers unveiled the newest additions to Memorial Stadium before the 2006 season. More than 6,500 seats were added to the stadium's North end, along with a massive HuskerVision screen and Skyline Suites. The additions sit atop Nebraska's new Osborne Athletic Complex, which houses the Huskers' technologically advanced athletic medicine facility, massive weight room, and sparkling new football locker room, football offices and administrative offices. The first phase of the project also provided the Huskers with a second indoor workout facility, the Hawks Championship Center. The additions pushed Nebraska's capacity above 80,000 for the first time, and in the 2006 season finale, a Memorial Stadium record crowd of 85,800 witnessed the Huskers' triumph over Colorado. Nebraska's average home attendance for 2006 was a school-record 85,044, as nearly 600,000 fans watched the Huskers in Memorial Stadium last year. Overall, nearly 1.1 million fans saw the Huskers in person last year.
Tunnel Walk Tradition
The Tunnel Walk, which began in 1994, has become an integral part of Memorial Stadium's game-day experience. It was created as a way for fans to share in the excitement of the team emerging from the locker room, something only a few could do before HuskerVision's cameras and big screens came to Memorial Stadium. The sounds of the Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" and the roar of the 85,000 frenzied fans rock the stadium as the Huskers burst through the locker room doors and into the tunnel on their way to the Memorial Stadium FieldTurf. The players emerge through the Tunnel Walk Gates located in the northwest corner of the stadium. The gates are guarded by members of the Nebraska National Guard service units and opened by specially selected service men and women each game. From 1994 through the 2005 season, the Tunnel Walk began in the former varsity locker room in the South Stadium, and the Huskers burst onto the field from the southwest corner. With the completion of the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex in the summer of 2006, Nebraska's locker room returned to its original home in the North Stadium, causing the shift in the Huskers' entrance from the southwest corner to the northwest corner of the field. Wall walking down an interior hall in the Osborne Complex toward the field, the Huskers are led by Head Coach Bill Callahan, and all raise their hands to touch the lucky horseshoe that hangs above the door as the Huskers leave the North Stadium. The same horseshoe hung in the South Stadium tunnel, and before that the horseshoe hung above Nebraska's locker room entrance in the original North Stadium.
Greatest Fans in College Football
The Sea Of Red
The very entrance at Memorial Stadium welcomes Husker fans with the following phrase: "Through these gates pass the Greatest Fans in College Football." Nebraska football fans are perhaps the most loyal in college football. Entering the 2006 season, Nebraska owned an NCAA record streak of 275 consecutive sellouts at Memorial Stadium. Although the Huskers added more than 6,000 seats to the stadium before the start of the 2006 season, Nebraska received approximately 15,000 requests for the new seats, ensuring that the sellout streak would continue in the years to come with capacity crowds reaching more than 80,0000 at Memorial Stadium. Nebraska's football fans have been given the distinguished title - "The Sea of Red" - as waves of red-clad Husker fans follow Nebraska at home and on the road. In fact, the entire state follows the Huskers, along with an ever-growing national fan base, packing Memorial Stadium for every game since 1962. Husker fans bring their show on the road as well. More than 60,000 red-clad Huskers trekked to Pasadena for the 2002 Rose Bowl, and in 2001, more than 30,000 Huskers swarmed South Bend for a matchup with Notre Dame.
Spring Game Crowds
Perhaps the most impressive measurement of the support Husker fans give to the Nebraska football team comes from its Spring Game attendance. Over the past three seasons, more than 182,000 fans have flocked to Memorial Stadium to watch NU’s final practice of the spring, including a record 63,416 fans in 2005. The Huskers have averaged nearly 61,000 fans per Spring Game over the past three years to conclude spring practice. By comparison, seven of the Big 12 schools drew fewer than 15,000 fans for their 2006 spring games.
Fan Day
Another Husker tradition is Fan Day which attracts nearly 10,000 fans annually to Memorial Stadium during fall camp. Every Husker player and coach signs autographs and takes pictures with fans in a tradition that dates back more than 30 years.
New Traditions
One of Nebraska’s newest traditions began in 2005, when the Huskers joined the student section in singing "There is No Place Like Nebraska" after each victory.
Economic Impact
Direct Impact
Most athletic department expenditures were associated with economic activity in Lincoln during the 2004-2005 fiscal year. A portion, however, was not. For instance, $6.6 million of expenditures were debt service payments. Debt service expenditures go to finance past projects rather than current economic activity. We also exclude recruiting costs, which are approximately $1.0 million, because a significant portion of this spending will occur in other states. Excluding recruiting costs is a conservative assumption, because a portion of this spending does occur in Lincoln. We do include payments for team travel. While much of the travel expenses by the University of Nebraska teams would go out of state, these would largely be compensated as opposing teams playing in Lincoln spend part of their travel budgets in Lincoln. Excluding debt services and recruiting leaves $49.2 million in current expenditures for the 2004-2005 fiscal year. A portion of this $49.2 million in current expenditure is excluded from the direct impact of athletic department operations. This is done because some department revenue originates from within the Lincoln metropolitan area, including the ticket purchases, donations tied to ticket purchases, and concession spending of Lincoln area fans. This conservative approach is tantamount to assuming that all Lincoln area fans would spend their income elsewhere in Lincoln if not at University of Nebraska home games, presumably on other types of local recreation or entertainment. In reality, of course, Lincoln area fans might have spent some of that money attending sporting events in Kansas City or Omaha or taking vacations.
The Bureau of Business Research estimated
They estimated that 43% of fans attending football games and 59% of fans attending men’s basketball, baseball, and volleyball games live in the Lincoln metropolitan area. Combining these figures, spending by Lincoln metropolitan area fans on tickets and concessions and donations tied to ticket purchases accounted for 28.3% of all athletic department revenue. 71.8% of revenue came from sources outside of Lincoln. The direct impact of the athletic department on the Lincoln metropolitan area economy is 71.8% of $49.2 million or $35.3 million. The direct economic impact of worker earnings is adjusted by the same proportion, as is direct employment. The same approach also can be used to estimate the direct sales tax impact. The University of Nebraska athletic department paid just over $1.7 million in state and local sales taxes in 2004-2005 due to ticket, concession, and other taxable sales. One-fifth of these taxes are paid to local government. The local share of this amount is $343,000. The direct local sales tax impact is 71.8% of $343,000, or $246,000. As indicated earlier, 73% of athletic department expenditures were due to the football team. The direct impact for football is 73% of the direct impact for the athletic department or $25.8 million. The football team accounted for just less than $1.5 million in state and local sales tax payments, yielding local sales tax revenue of 298,000. The direct local sales tax impact is 71.8% of this total or $214,000.
Economic Impact of Additional Home Football Games
Note that these annual impact estimates were based on the 2004-2005 fiscal year, a season when Nebraska hosted only six home football games (plus the Spring Game). In future years, Nebraska will always host seven home games and will possibly host eight home games. As a result, the athletic department’s economic impact will be even higher in these future years. We estimated that additional economic impact based on the expected increase on fan spending from an additional 78,000 fans at each additional home game. We also consider the impact from earnings of event and concession workers at each additional game, but we conservatively assumed no other increases in athletic department expenditures despite increased revenue.
• The economic impact would have been $5.5 million more, or $119.8 million a year, if Nebraska hosted seven home football games.
• The economic impact would have been $11.1 million more, or $125.4 million a year, if Nebraska hosted eight home football games.
Economic Impact on State of Nebraska
The UNL athletic department has a statewide impact on the Nebraska economy. While we are not able to break out the impact for specific communities such as Omaha, this section of the report presents a range of estimates of the statewide economic impact based on alternative assumptions about whether ticket purchases, game day spending, and donations by fans who live in Nebraska create an economic impact on the state. The  finding is that the annual statewide economic impact on Nebraska was between $48.0 million and $155.1 million during the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Note that this estimate only included the spending of fans that attend UNL games and did not include the spending of fans who gather to watch the game in homes or in restaurants throughout Nebraska. We estimate economic impact first under the conservative assumption that ticket spending and donations tied to ticket purchases and off-site spending from fans who live in Nebraska does not contribute an economic impact to the state. This was the same conservative assumption made for fans from the Lincoln area when calculating the economic impact of UNL athletics on the Lincoln metropolitan area.
This approach assumes that all fan spending (ticket purchases, donations tied to ticket purchases, concessions, and off-site spending) for attending UNL home games would have been spent in Nebraska in any case, presumably on other recreation and entertainment. We also provide a second impact estimate under an optimistic assumption. In that scenario, we assume that all spending and donations from fans living in Nebraska contributes to an economic impact for the state. In other words, fans attending UNL home games would have spent all of their money out of state if not spending it at UNL home games. For example, fans that live in Nebraska would have instead spent money attending sporting events in Kansas City or during out-of-state vacations. Reality lies somewhere between the conservative and optimistic assumptions. If attending UNL home games were not an option, fans likely would have directed a portion of their ticket purchases, game-day spending, and donations toward other recreation and entertainment within Nebraska and a portion out of state. The precise portions are uncertain, however. Results therefore will be presented in a range. At the low end of the range is the impact under the conservative scenario, while at the high end of the range is the optimistic scenario.
Marketing Overview
A revenue stream that continues to flow for the Nebraska Athletic Department is from the revenues generated by the Huskers' Athletic Marketing Office. Those funds, coupled with an increase in private donations and licensing royalties, have helped the self-supporting Athletic Department excel. The overall marketing and promotions philosophy of the Athletic Marketing office is to increase attendance and support for all athletic events by providing an entertaining collegiate atmosphere, while generating revenue opportunities and ticket sales. The focus is also geared toward activities and events, which create a traditional collegiate atmosphere and communicate the overall quality of the highly successful NU athletic program.
Corporate Sponsorships
The Athletic Marketing Office has created many long lasting, well-respected relationships through corporate sponsors. In 1992, the Athletic Department launched a sponsorship program which enabled corporations and businesses to support the Huskers while receiving valuable advertising exposure at NU athletic events. This popular program, which involves all sports, has become a revenue fountain for the department. Alltel, First National Bank, Pepsi and adidas are some of the largest contributors to the Nebraska Athletic program. Sponsorship packages can include a combination of premium tickets, use of logos, parking, event signage, company logos on program covers and/or public address announcements during athletic events. Businesses utilize these packages to entertain clients, reward their employees and take advantage of the exposure.
HuskerVision and Marketing
In order for HuskerVision to become a Memorial Stadium reality and to maintain it today, the Athletic Marketing Office was given the charge of selling sponsorships to pay for the replay boards. The first collegiate football team to have instant replay boards at an exclusive college venue, Husker fans have thoroughly enjoyed the two 17 by 24 foot screens placed in the southeast and northwest corners of Memorial Stadium. The cost of the system was paid for entirely by commercial sponsorships sold by the Athletic Marketing Office.
Football Sponsorships
A successful football team provides ample opportunity to generate revenue within its playing venue. In 1995, the Athletic Department brought the sale of scoreboard signage and game day packages in-house, which made the Athletic Marketing Office responsible for the sale of those packages. That move allowed the department to work directly with the sponsors and maintain a clean, uncluttered look in Memorial Stadium, thereby maximizing revenue for the scholarship fund and increasing the revenue for the sponsor.
Husker Nation Pavilion
The 2003 football season marked the beginning of the Husker Nation Pavilion, which has become a new tradition on Husker Football game days. The Pavilion, which takes place on the Ed Weir Track, just northeast of Memorial Stadium, is the largest pre-game tailgate in college football. Husker fans can enjoy many activities before each football game including the live pre-game radio broadcast, a live band, the Kids Zone, Husker Power testing, many food vendors and other new exhibits and events every game day. The Athletic Marketing office is the main operator behind the Husker Nation Pavilion, setting up the Pavilion each week and coordinating the entertainment and events taking place each game. The Pavilion is also the place for corporate sponsors to host their own tailgate party before each game in a reserved tent. Through the Athletic Marketing office and the Athletic Ticket Office, corporate tent packages are sold and allow many groups and organizations to become official sponsors of the Husker Nation Pavilion. Tent packages include a reserved tent spot at the Pavilion, a complete catered meal, tickets to the game and game day programs.
Olympic Sports
While a great deal of time and effort continues to be spent developing comprehensive corporate sponsorship programs for football and men's basketball, the Athletic Marketing Office also strives to develop promotional and marketing plans for all Husker Olympic sport teams. These plans are similar in nature to the football and men's basketball plans and includes program ad sales, event tickets, promotions, etc. The cooperation between the coaches, student-athletes, ticket office, sports information office, business office and development offices make it possible to produce promotions which increases attendance at these sporting events.
Red Zone
One of the most visible and highly successful additions created and implemented in 2000-2001 by the athletic marketing office was the Red Zone. The Red Zone consists of men’s basketball student season ticket holders with seats behind the baskets on the A-level. When students pick up their season tickets they received a Red Zone t-shirt and are required to wear it to every game in order to sit in the A-section. The Red Zone has been a huge success by increasing student season ticket sales significantly and creating a great basketball atmosphere. The upcoming year will bring new additions to the Red Zone launching it into one of the best Men’s Basketball student sections in the country.
Interns
Several part-time undergraduate students serve as interns in the marketing office. Each is assigned a specific sport to create and implement promotional plans for that particular sport. These students are a very important part of the marketing office's workforce and make a great impact during their four to six semester terms. The experience they gain has proven valuable as many have gone on to work in the professional ranks including positions with the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Colorado Rockies, Sioux City Explorers and Sioux Falls Canaries.
Event Marketing
The marketing office is not only responsible for planning events and finding corporate sponsors, but is also actively involved as the actual events take place. Marketing staff is present at almost every sports event held at home. At home events, corporate sponsors are hosted in the Hospitality rooms, which are available for sponsors before and during every Men’s and Women’s basketball games. Sponsors are treated to a catered meal, game day programs and refreshments to make their game day experience one of a kind.
Cheerleaders and Yell Squad
Starting in 1997-98, the Athletic marketing office took over all responsibilities for the Spirit Squad in order to coordinate game day atmosphere in a more efficient way. The Spirit Squad can be broken down into these Varsity cheer squads: has two Varsity cheer squads, the All-Girl and Coed Yell Squad and Varsity dance team (the Scarlets), and two mascots (Herbie and Lil’ Red). The Spirit Squad promotes the athletic, fun atmosphere and provides support for athletic events. During an academic year, the spirit squad members make more than 200 appearances at athletic, philanthropic, community and state events. Members of the Spirit Squad condition and practice 10 to 20 hours per week. A major focus of the Spirit Squad is education. Collectively the current members hold a 3.2 grade point average. The yell and dance squads both earned top 10 honors at their collegiate national competition in 2000. The yell squad finished eighth, while the Scarlets Dance Team finished second in Division I-A. Nebraska's Lil' Red mascot finished fourth at the 2000 NCAA national championship.



















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Sample Essay: Styles Of Management

Some people are better negotiators than others. How do the best negotiators behave differently from average negotiators? Researchers have been searching for factors that determine effective negotiation behaviors ever since the early research efforts to investigate negotiation began in the late 1950s (for detailed reviews see Bazerman et al., 2001; Thompson, 1990). Many have argued that negotiation behaviors are predicated upon conflict management styles (Kirkbride et al., 1991; Ma, 2006a; Volkema and Bergmann, 1995), however, surprisingly few studies have attempted to examine this relationship (Volkema and Bergmann, 1995), and even fewer have done so within a cross-cultural context. With the increasingly globalized world economy, cross-cultural studies of negotiation and conflict management styles have received more and more attention from both academics and practitioners (Gelfand and Dyer, 2000; Graham and Mintu-Wimsat, 1997; Tinsley, 1998). Sensitivity to cultural differences in negotiations becomes an important success factor for today's business. As a result, it is necessary to study whether conflict management styles predict actual behaviors during negotiation and, if so, whether such relationship exists within a cross-cultural context in order to understand the dynamics of international negotiations.
Conflict Managing Styles
Because problems and conflict occur widely in team-oriented organizations the way in which conflict is managed may determine the success or failure of team outcomes. Organizations are constantly relying on teams to increase competitiveness and solve conflict and so team members must be able to manage intragroup conflict effectively and constructively (Cohen & Ledford, 1994; Ilgen, 1999; Lovelace, Shapiro, & Weingart, 2001).
At a basic level, a conflict exists when confronting interests or incompatible activities exist between the parties involved in social situations (Deutsch, 1973). Thomas (1992) emphasized three basic themes underlying common definitions of conflict. First, a conflict exists only if it is perceived as conflict by the actors involved. Second, there is a level of interdependence between the actors such that they have the ability to influence each other. Finally, in any conflict, scarcity of resources (such as money, power, and prestige) may generate tensions among the actors.
Different theoretical models have been proposed to analyze the way in which individuals approach and handle conflict. Taxonomies and meta taxonomies have been anticipated using a unidimensional approach of cooperation and competition styles (Deutsch, 1949; Tjosvold, 1998), a bidimensional approach involving four styles of conflict management behavior (Pruitt, 1983), a bidimensional approach involving five styles (Blake & Mouton, 1964; Rahim & Bonoma, 1979), and even a tridimensional model of moving away, moving toward and moving against (Horney, 1945).
The most extended model is that of Blake and Mouton (1964) who proposed a bidimensional grid for classifying the modes in which individuals handle interpersonal conflict. These two dimensions relate to the extent that individuals show high or low concern "for production" and "for people." Later, Thomas and Kilmann (1974) and Rahim (1983), using this theoretical approach, redefined the dimensions as "concern for self and "concern for others." The "concern for self" dimension reflects the degree in which an individual tries to satisfy his/her personal concerns or needs. The "concern for others" dimension has the same meaning but is centred on others' needs or concerns. Combining these two dimensions, five different styles of managing interpersonal conflict are obtained.
The Dominating style involves high concern for self and low concern for others reflecting win-lose behavior involving efforts to obtain favourable solutions for oneself regardless of others. The Integrating style involves high concern for self and high concern for others, reflecting a collaborating style between the parties in conflict where individuals seek to exchange information, examine differences, understand the problem, and show openness to each other. An integrative solution that is acceptable for both parties is sought in this style which echoes the problem solving strategy proposed by Van de Vliert and Euwema (1994) as well as the approach to integration in group dilemmas proposed by Trompenaars (2004). The Avoiding style is related to low concern for self and low concern for others. This style is related with withdrawal behavior, hiding disagreement, and sidestepping confrontations with the other party involved in the conflict. The Obliging style reflects low concern for self and high concern for the other party in the conflict. This style is related to behavior that tries to satisfy the needs of others and make concessions during the course of the conflict. Both Obliging and Avoiding styles seek to reduce discrepancies between parties but in a very different manner. While Obliging shows a high concern for others and attitudes to accommodate and accept their wishes, Avoiding does not judge the other party as deserving any concern and thus it may hide higher levels of aggressiveness. The Avoiding style may also be used when there is a lack of awareness of interdependency and it may hide a lack of interest. Finally, Compromising depicts a moderate concern for self and for others. It takes a middle ground in solving conflict where both parties should "give something" in order to "take something" (Rahim & Magner, 1995, p. 123). This bidimensional approach of five styles has been widely supported (Chanin & Schneer, 1984; Goodwin, 2002; King & Miles, 1990; Lee, 1990; Rahim, Antonioni, & Psenicka, 2001; Van de Vliert & Kabanoff, 1990).
Common Backgrounds
If high performing teams are to be built, the way in which conflict is handled in teams is of fundamental importance. Highly interdependent contexts are defined by constant controversy. Controversy may be constructive or destructive depending on the cooperative or competitive goal structure of the team (Tjosvold, 1998). However, if other factors influencing behavior are considered, the way in which individuals manage conflict in a team may be determined by their personal preferences (Drenth, Thierry, Willems, & Wolf, 1984).
From this point of view, previous studies have related team role preferences to the exercise of control in interpersonal relations. Fisher, et al. (2001) found that some team roles showed a higher propensity to exert control than others. Shapers and Resource Investigators, for example, displayed behavior related to attempts to control more so than accepting control.
Similarly, team role preferences have been related to the cognitive styles that individuals possess while making decisions and solving problems (Aritzeta et al., 2005; Fisher et al., 1998). These studies, reported that team roles like Resource Investigator, Shaper, and Plant showed a positive relationship with an innovative cognitive style. While solving problems, individuals high in innovative cognitive style tend to manipulate problems and challenge rules and do not need consensus to maintain confidence in the face of opposition. High innovators are defined as abrasive, creating dissonance, unsound, and who are prepared to shock their opposites (Kirton, 1989). On the other hand, team roles like Team Worker, Completer Finisher, and Implementer show a positive correlation with an adaptive cognitive style. This style is described as being methodical, prudent, disciplined, conforming, and dependable. Generally, a high adaptor is a person concerned with reducing problems and seeking solutions in tried and understood ways. They are vulnerable to social pressure and authority and have a greater need for clarity.
Studies on control and cognitive styles show that different team roles can be differentially related to ways in which team members seek power in groups and approach problem solving. If a team role is related to exerting control behavior it is likely to be related to dominating conflict management behavior. Similarly, if control is accepted then avoiding conflict managing behavior will be more likely. The same can be said for different cognitive styles. As innovative cognitive style is defined by abrasive and shocking behavior, dominating rather than obliging behavior should be expected. In the same way, as adaptive cognitive style is defined by being conforming and dependable, avoiding rather than dominating styles can be predicted. Therefore, as team roles have shown to be differentially related to control behavior and cognitive styles, it can be expected that different team role preferences will also show different correlations with conflict management style.
The theoretical background developed above shows that both team role preferences and conflict management styles share common ground regarding the ways in which individuals relate to one another in a work team context. As conflict will occur in any team and as individuals have preferences regarding the way in which they approach work and interpersonal relations, it should be possible to predict how team role preferences relate to conflict managing styles.
Conflict management style and negotiation
Scholars have been studying the best way to manage conflict, resulting in impressive literature on conflict management styles (cf. Thompson, 1990; Van de Vliert, 1997; Wall and Blum, 1991). The dominant conflict management model in this literature is the dual-concern model. Originated from the work of Blake and Mouton (1964) and further developed by many other theorists (e.g. Deutsch, 1994; Rahim, 1983; Thomas, 1976; Thomas and Kilmann, 1974), the dual-concern model has several variations, all of which assume that individuals choose different modes, strategies, or styles for handling conflict based on some variations of two primary concerns/interests — "concern for self" and "concern for other". These two dimensions define five conflict management styles: competing or dominating (high concern for self, low concern for other); collaborating or integrating (high concern for self and for other); compromising (moderate concern for self and for other); accommodating or obliging (low concern for self and high concern for other); and avoiding (low concern for self and low concern for other). The defined five styles reflect an individual's behavioral intentions when facing conflict situations (Womack, 1988). Subsequent studies suggest that the interrelationships among the constructs are consistent with those depicted in the model (Van de Vliert and Euwema, 1994; Van de Vliert and Kabanoff, 1990) and that the two dimensions provide the basis for choice of conflict mode (Sorenson et al., 1999).
Among the instruments developed for assessing conflict management styles, Hall's (1969) conflict management survey, Rahim's (1983) organizational conflict inventory, and Thomas and Kilmann's (1974) conflict MODE instrument have been used extensively in academic research, training seminars, and organizational intervention and development, yet few studies have linked the conflict management styles measured by these instruments with actual behaviors (Ma, 2006a; Volkema and Bergmann, 1995), which makes it difficult to assess the usefulness of these instruments in predicting actual conflict-resolving behaviors such as in business negotiation. This study will explore whether the conflict management styles measured by the Thomas-Kilmann conflict MODE instrument are valid indicators of behavioral pattern in business negotiation and further whether such relationship between conflict management styles and actual behaviors hold across cultures.
Conflict management has been defined as a culturally bound event (Hocker and Wilmot, 1991) and consequently, the relationship between conflict management styles and actual behaviors are affected by cultural values. The most relevant cultural dimension that is likely to affect this relationship is contextualism, also the dimension that has been widely examined in cross-cultural negotiation literature. Contextualism reflects the degree of sensitivity to communication context (Hall, 1976; Kirkbride et al., 1991). People from low context cultures, such as Canadian culture, use explicit and direct language, whereas those from high context cultures such as Chinese culture use implicit and indirect language in which words and phrases derive their meanings from contextual clues.
Negotiation behaviors and outcomes
Negotiation behaviors involves the dynamic interaction between negotiators by which the two parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree upon an exchange rate by resolving incompatible goals (Carnevale and Pruitt, 1992; Wall, 1985; Wall and Blum, 1991). Among other behaviors, first offer, assertiveness, and distributiveness have been found to play important roles during negotiations and thus have often been examined in numerous negotiation and conflict management studies (Barry and Friedman, 1998; Lewicki and Litterer, 1985; Greenhalgh et al., 1985). Their relationship with conflict management styles and with the negotiation outcomes will be examined in this study.
As one of the central dimensions of negotiation behavior, the level of assertiveness during negotiation has been examined and proved to be an important factor that affects negotiation outcomes and therefore its role in negotiation process cannot be overrated (Greenhalgh et al., 1985; Jaeger et al., 1999; Mnookin et al., 1996). Similarly, the level of distributiveness or "win-lose" intent of negotiation behavior has also been closely related to negotiation outcomes (Lewicki and Litterer, 1985; Lewicki et al., 1994). In this study, their relationship with conflict management styles will be examined.
The effect of first offer will also be investigated in this study. In any negotiation, the decision to put the first offer on the table is a double-edged sword (Barry and Friedman, 1998). To the offerer's potential disadvantage, an initial offer conveys information about aspirations and utilities (Rubin and Brown, 1975). Depending on the underlying structure of reservation prices, this information may reduce the range of potential agreements, to the disadvantage of the offerer. On the other hand, an opening offer may lead the opponent to perceive that settlements will favor the party making the first offer. This is more likely to happen when the first offer is an extreme one (Siegel and Fouraker, 1960). For example, a seller who initially demands a high price may induce the buyer to believe that the range of potential agreements is closer to the seller's reservation price than originally thought. Moreover, extreme initial offers can signal that the party making the offer is hard bargainer who will not be induced to retreat (Lewicki et al., 1994). When this occurs, the recipient of such an offer may moderate his or her negotiation objectives and be more inclined to offer concessions. Therefore, bargainers who make the first move may be better off starting with a relatively extreme offer, though there are limits to the effectiveness of extreme offers (e.g. offers so extreme that they discredit the bargainer who made the offer or reduce hope on the other side to the point of withdrawal) (Barry and Friedman, 1998).
Inclusion of the level of assertiveness, the level of distributiveness, and the level of first offer in this study shows an internal relationship among these variables. The level of assertiveness reflects the extent to which individuals are not afraid to express their needs/desires and willing to defend their own interests, while the level of distributiveness assesses the extent to which individuals believe the current situation to be a win-lose situation versus a win-win situation. The interaction of these two leads to choice of different approaches of conflict resolving or negotiating. The level of first offer sets a tone for the whole negotiation process, which is the manifestation of such choice.
Implications for management
The results of this study will have important implications for management practices. The first important implications is that negotiation researchers and practitioners cannot rely on self-reported conflict management styles to predict actual behaviors and therefore the training seminars and practice-oriented workshops should be adjusted accordingly since most of these interventions and organizational development are based on self-administered paper-and-pencil tests. Due to the difference in cultural contextualism the usefulness of the self-reported conflict management styles in predicting negotiation behaviors largely depends on the sensitivity to context clues. In low context cultures such as that of Canada, negotiators' preferred conflict management styles predict their behaviors very well, which indicates that practitioners can count on these styles to plan and prepare for business negotiation. In high context cultures such as Chinese culture, contexts play a much more important role in determining negotiators' behaviors, and therefore, negotiators should closely examine the features of negotiation tasks in order to make accurate predictions on negotiation behaviors.
The second implication is about the usefulness of high level of first offer. Evidence about the important role that first offer plays in business negotiation emerges from this study. The level of first offer is found to be the key process factor that predicts individual profits both in Canada and in China. This might be an important message to negotiation practitioners. As discussed previously, high first offer is a double-edged sword. Relatively extreme first offer can be favorable to the offerer as it sends a message that the party making the offer is a hard bargainer and thus the recipient of such an offer will be more likely to offer concessions, but too extreme offer will discredit the offerer to the point of breaking the negotiation. The current result supports an extreme first offer for obtaining the best individual results, which is encouraging news for the use extreme first offer in actual business negotiations.

Reference:

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Barry, B. and Friedman, R.A. (1998), "Bargainer characteristics in distributive and integrative negotiation", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 345-59.

Bazerman, M.H., Curhan, J.R. and Moore, D.A. (2001), "The death and rebirth of the social psychology of negotiation", in Clark, M. and Fletcher, G. (Eds), Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, pp. 196-228.

Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S. (1964), The Managerial Grid, Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX.

Calhoun, P.S. and Smith, W.P. (1999), "Integrative bargaining: does gender make a difference?", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 203-24.

Carnevale, P.J. and Lawer, E.J. (1986), "Time pressure and the development of integrative agreements in bilateral negotiations", Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 30, pp. 636-56.

Carnevale, P.J. and Pruitt, D.G. (1992), "Negotiation and mediation", Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 43, pp. 531-82.

 Deutsch, M. (1994), "Constructive conflict resolution: principles, training, and research", Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 13-32.

Fiske, A.P. (2002), "Using individualism and collectivism to compare culture — a critique of the validity and measurement of the constructs: comment on Oyserman et al. (2002)", Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 128 No. 1, pp. 78-88.

Gelfand, M. and Dyer, N. (2000), "A cultural perspective on negotiation: progress, pitfalls, and prospects", Annual Psychology: An International Review, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 62-99.

Graham, J. and Mintu-Wimsat, A. (1997), "Culture's influence on business negotiations in four countries", Group Decision and Negotiation, Vol. 6, pp. 483-502.

Greenhalgh, L., Nelsin, S.A. and Gilkey, R.W. (1985), "The effects of negotiator preferences, situational power, and negotiator personality on outcomes of business negotiations", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 28, pp. 9-33.

Hall, E.T. (1976), Beyond Culture, Anchor, Garden City, NY.

Hall, J. (1969), Conflict Management Survey: A Survey of One's Characteristic Reaction to and Handling of Conflict between Himself and Others, Teleometrics International, Conroe, TX.

Hirokawa, R. and Miyahara, A. (1986), "A comparison of influence strategies utilized by managers in American and Japanese organizations", Communication Quarterly, Vol. 34, pp. 250-65.

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Leung, K. (1988), "Some determinants of conflict avoidance", Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 125-36.

Leung, K. and Tjosvold, D. (1998), Conflict Management in the Asian Pacific: Assumptions and Approaches in Diverse Cultures, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

Lewicki, R.J. and Litterer, J.A. (1985), Negotiation, Irwin, Homewood, IL.

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Ma, Z. (2004), "West meets Muslim: comparing Canadian and Pakistani conflict styles in business negotiations", paper presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, New Orleans, LA.

Ma, Z. (2006a), "Conflict styles as indicators of behavioral pattern in business negotiations", paper presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Atlanta, GA.

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Oyserman, D., Coon, H.M. and Kemmelmeier, M. (2002), "Rethinking individualism and collectivism: evaluation of theoretical assumption and meta-analyses", Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 128 No. 1, pp. 3-72.

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Van de Vliert, E. (1997), Complex Interpersonal Behavior: Theoretical Frontiers, Psychology Press, Hove.

Van de Vliert, E. and Euwema, M.C. (1994), "Agreeableness and activeness as components of conflict behaviors", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 66, pp. 674-87.

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Womack, D.F. (1988), "Assessing the Thomas-Kilmann conflict model survey", Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 321-49.

Sample Term Paper: Dress Codes For Clothing

For many professionals, a dressier code means updating their wardrobes. Some companies work with retailers to refine their dress codes and help their employees make the transition. New York City-based business clothier Brooks Bros. holds seminars and fashion shows for firms with employees who are confused about new dress guidelines. In addition, about 200 companies take part in the retailer's Corporate Imaging Program, which provides a 20% shopping discount. For employees going from a casual dress code to a formal one or looking for work in the current environment, here are a few tips:

• Build on what you own. "Look in your closet and see what you have," says Geri Corrigan, director of public relations at Brooks Bros. For men, "It's easy to update your wardrobe with shirts and ties," and "women can update with sweaters and scarves."
• Stick with the basics. Corrigan recommends investing in 100% wool suits in neutral colors such as navy, gray, or black, which can take you through three seasons. Also, pay attention to fit. "Classic, but current" is the goal, she says.
• Get help. If you're unsure of what to wear, ask a knowledgeable salesperson or someone whose style you admire.

With more and more employees leaving suits on their hangers to don jeans for work, some employers are wondering whether "casual Fridays" have gone too far. Frustrated by workers' inappropriate office attire, some companies are shelling out thousands of dollars to bring wardrobe consultants into the workplace to enlighten employees about the dos and don'ts of corporate fashion. Employers are even teaming up with retailers to offer corporate clothing discounts and spending allowances to help motivate employees to put the "business" back in "business casual. “The business casual trend originated about 10 years ago in Silicon Valley, Calif., during the dot-com boom and gradually spread to other industries around the country, observers say. While the relaxing of workplace dress codes makes employees happy, it can be a double-edged sword for companies, according to Jill Bremer, a professional image coach and the owner of Oak Park, Ill.-based Bremer Communications.

Once companies break loose of the confines of the traditional suit, Ms. Bremer said, an increased number of clothing options creates more room to make mistakes. "Business casual is especially hazardous for women," she noted.” People show up looking too sloppy, or too provocative, especially in the summer time," Mary Lou Andre, president of Organization by Design, a Needham, Mass.-based wardrobe management and fashion-consulting firm, observed. “The pendulum is definitely swinging back to a more-conservative style of dress in the workplace," Ms. Andre noted. Indeed, there are some indications that employers are cutting back on casual dress codes. According to the Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resource Management's 2004 Benefits Survey-an annual study compiling data about company-sponsored benefits-57% of employers that responded sanctioned at least one casual dress day per week in 2004, down slightly from 60% of employers allowing that option in 2001. While causal dress was acceptable any day of the week among 51% of companies responding to the survey in 2001, slightly fewer-48%-permitted it in 2004.

One way organizations are trying to prompt employees to improve their on-the-job look is by hosting wardrobe seminars, in which consultants give guidelines for business casual dressing, offer tips on selecting office-appropriate clothing and underscore the impact appearance can have on business. "It really helps for them to hear it from somebody from the outside, who can be objective and be the messenger," said Ms. Bremer, who has several regular corporate clients who invite her to conduct presentations for employees once or twice a year. On average, such seminars run between one and three hours, consultants say, with costs ranging anywhere between $1,000 and $4,000. Corporate business has grown exponentially over the past few years, they say, with typical clients being banks, real estate companies, pharmaceutical companies and law firms, among others. Many of the criticisms about inappropriate work wear are echoed among bosses. With female employees, they complain, the problems include revealing clothing, a lack of hosiery and open-toed shoes; with male employees, the problems include wrinkled and overly laid-back clothing. Moreover, employers are concerned that employees who are lazy about their appearance may approach their work in a similar manner, the consultants say.

Currently, more than 1,000 companies participate in the corporate discount, with about 155,000 employees enrolled. "We average about a 22% to a 26% participation rate" among companies that join, said Mr. Moseman, who noted, "reactivation rates have been very strong." Companies that are either corporate discount members or are in the process of joining the program also have available to them the option of free seminars, hosted by an RBA representative, on workplace dress for employees. Smaller companies may hold the seminars in one of the representative's stores while larger organizations can arrange for the seminars to be held in their own places of business.

Reference:

Companies enlighten workers to corporate fashion. By: Parekh, Rupal, Business Insurance, 00076864, 6/20/2005, Vol. 39, Issue 25

Crosby, Betsy. Atlanta, Jan2008 Supplement, Vol. 47, p32-35, 3p, 3c;

Sample Essay: Max Weber’s Theory

Max Weber (1864-1920) does not figure in the history of anthropology in the way Durkheim, Freud, or even Marx do because Weber made next to no use of ethnographic (or proto-ethnographic) materials in his work—indeed, few histories of anthropology make any mention of Weber.' Weber was trained in economic history, and his very large corpus of work is centrally concemed with historical processes in the great civilizations of the world. His historical sociology has, however, considerable relevance to an anthropology that has become increasingly historically oriented. David Gellner (2001, p. 1), in his introduction to The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes, writes, "The conjunction of 'Weber and anthropology' is sufficiently unusual to warrant justification." In this essay I seek both to offer such a justification and to show that whereas there may not be "Weberian anthropology," much anthropological work has been influenced directly or indirectly by the work of Max Weber. Moreover, there are good reasons, I believe, for rethinking Weber's work in light of contemporary anthropological concems. This article is about the influence of the work of Max Weber on English-speaking anthropologists. No effort is made here to assess the broader influence of Weber on the social sciences, especially in sociology and political science, where Weber has been and continues to be read more than in anthropology. I also consider only the English translations of Weber's work.


Weber's Sociology Of Religion And The Anthropological Study Of Religion
Weber's interpretive method is predicated on an assumption that is also fundamental to his theoretical approach. In a passage on "Religious Groups" in Economy and Society Weber posited that "the human mind... is driven to refiect on ethical and religious questions, driven not by material need but by an inner compulsion to understand the world as a meaningful cosmos and to take up a position toward it" (Weber 1963, pp. 116-117, emphasis added). Whereas much of the meaning that makes possible acting in the world derives from what Weber termed "tradition" (perhaps better formulated in terms of Bourdieu's habitus), there are experiences that render problematic conventional meaning. Parsons, refiecting on such "problems of meaning," observed that Weber postulates a basic 'drive' towards meaning and the resolution of these discrepancies on the level of meaning, a drive or tendency which is often held in check by various defensive mechanisms, of which the pre-eminent one here relevant is that of magic. But whatever the situation regarding the effectiveness of this drive, there is a crucial point conceming the direction in which this tendency propels the development of culture. This is that the search for grounds of meaning which can resolve the discrepancies must lead to continually more 'ultimate' reference points which are progressively further removed from the levels of common sense experience on which the discrepancies originally arise.

The 'explanations,' i.e., solutions to the problems of meaning, must be grounded in increasingly generalized and 'fundamental' philosophical conceptions. (Parsons in Weber 1963, pp. xlvii-xlviii). "Ultimate" meaning can never be attained through refiection and rationalization; rather, it can come only, Weber argued, through the nonrational acceptance of the dogmatic propositions embedded in the salvation ethic of a religion. Salvation the absolute certainty that the cosmos is ultimately meaningful—is more psychological than cogtiitive. "The quest of certitudo salutis itself has... been the origin of all psychological drives of a purely religious character" (Weber 1958a, p. 228). Geertz's (1966; 1973, pp. 87-125) "Religion as a Cultural System" starts with and elaborates on this Weberian position. Asad (1983; 1993, pp. 27-54) has strongly criticized Geertz's approach, and although this was not his intent, his criticism points to some important differences between Geertz and Weber. "(1) First, Asad (1993, pp. 30) points to Geertz's (1973, pp. 92) definition of religion as a "system of symbols" as entailing a confusion between symbols as an "aspect of social reality" (what I would term, following Weber, an aspect of social action) and symbols as representations of social reality. Weber, like Asad, saw meaning as embedded in social action, in Asad's (1993, pp. 32) words, being "intrinsically and not temporally connected."

Asad (1993, pp. 28) further criticized Geertz for adopting a modem post- Enlightenment Westem view of religion as having an autonomous essence separate from politics. Although this criticism might not be sustainable if one were to take into account Geertz's ethnographic work on Islam in Indonesia and Morocco, the point I want to make here is that Weber certainly would not make such a distinction. In "Religious Rejections of the World and Their Directions," for example, he wrote. The widely varying empirical stands which historical religions have taken in the face of political action have been determined by the entanglement of religious organizations in power interests and the stmggles for power, by the almost unavoidable collapse of even the highest states of tension with the world in favor of compromises and relativities, by the usefulness and the use of religious organizations for the political taming of the masses and, especially, by the need of the powers-that-be for the religious consecration of their legitimacy. (Weber 1958b, pp. 337-38) Weber maintained that from time to time in all societies in which religions with rationalized salvation ethics have evolved tensions develop between religious and political institutions: Every religiously grounded unworldly love and indeed every ethical religion must, in similar measure and for similar reasons, experience tensions with the sphere of political behavior. This tension appears as soon as a religion has progressed to anything like a status of equality with the sphere of political associations. (Weber 1963, p. 223)
I disagree with Asad's criticism of Geertz's predication of religion on the experience people encounter with fundamental problems of meaning. Geertz, who in this respect is very much following Weber, formulates these problems as ones in which "chaos—a tumult of events which lack not just interpretations by interpretability—threatens to break upon man: at the limits of his analytical capacities, at the limits of his power of endurance, and at the limits of his moral insight. Bafflement, suffering, and a sense of intractable ethical paradox are all, if they become intense enough or are sustained long enough, radical challenges to the proposition that life is comprehensible and that we can, by taking thought, orient ourselves within it—challenges which any religion . . . which hopes to persist must attempt somehow to cope" (Geertz 1973, p. 100, emphasis in original). Geertz (1973, pp. 109-10) went on to argue that the experiences of fundamental problems of meaning "drives" people toward "belief" in particular formulations of ultimate meaning that constitute what he calls a "religious perspective." Asad ignored, in his critique of Geertz's discussion of the religious perspective, the central point that "religious belief involves... a prior acceptance of authority which transforms" the experiences of problems of meaning (Geertz 1973, p. 109). Asad's failure to recognize or unwillingness to accept that problems of meaning, albeit always in particular manifestations, are universal led him to the untenable conclusion that religion, except in "the most vacuous sense," is not "basic to the structure of modem lives" (Asad 1993, p. 49)."(2)

One wonders how he would approach a study, to take only two presumably very modem societies, of the significance in America of the religious right in politics, the moral debate over abortion, or the proliferation of New Age religions or in Japan of the debate over the visit of a prime minister to a Shinto shrine, the attack on the Tokyo subway of a movement identified as a cult, or the moral debates over the use of organs of deceased persons, and so on. There is now a growing hterature that demonstrates well the persistence, resurgence, and transformation of religions in modem societies owing to the fact that although "science and technology, together are basic to the structure of modem lives" (Asad 1993, p. 49, emphasis in original), problems of meaning continue to impel people in modem societies towards religion.'(3) "My aim," Asad (1993, p. 54) wrote in the conclusion to his essay, "has been to problematize the idea of an anthropological definition of religion by assigning that endeavor to a particular history of knowledge and power... out of which the modem world has been constructed." This statement could very easily be used to characterize Weber's Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion.  Weber sought in this collection to undertake a comparative sociology of the relationship between the major salvation religions of the world (Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese religion, and Islam), the political economies of the societies in which large majorities of the populations found the soteriological practices of these religions compelling. Weber was always concemed with the distinctive "developmental history" of each of these religious traditions rather than trying to fit them into a procnistean mold of some essentialized religion.

Notes:
(1) Although Asad shows some familiarity with Weber, he does not draw on him to any significant extent. What is striking, however, is that Asad seeks to push anthropological work in the same direction as Weber In his introduction to Genealogies of Religion he wrote, "I am concemed with how systemacity (including the kind that is essential to what is called capitalism) is apprehended, represented, and used in the contemporary world" (Asad 1993, pp. 7) and "Modem capitalist enterprises and modemizing nation-states are the two most important powers that organize spaces today..." (Asad 1993, p. 8).
(2) It might seem curious that Asad should, thus, have contributed a most insightful essay on torture to a book entitled Social Suffering that is clearly concemed with exploring crossculturally what Geertz termed the "the sense of intractable ethical paradox" (Asad 1997).
(3) I cannot survey all the relevant literature on this subject but point to only two works that both take up the theme of problems of meaning in modem societies: Keyes et al. (1994) and Kleinman et al. (1997).

Reference:

Ferguson, Niall. Economic Affairs, Dec2004, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p37-40, 4p;

Patterson, Eric. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sep2004, Vol. 43 Issue 3, p345-362, 18p, 8 charts

Sharot, Stephen. Sociology of Religion, Winter2002, Vol. 63 Issue 4, p427-454, 28p

Keyes, Charles F.. Annual Review of Anthropology, 2002, Vol. 31 Issue 1, p233-255, 23p

Besecke, Kelly. Sociology of Religion, Fall2001, Vol. 62 Issue 3, p365-381, 17p

Swartz, David. Sociology of Religion, Spring96, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p71, 15p

Adriance, Madeleine. Sociology of Religion, Summer94, Vol. 55 Issue 2, p163, 16p

Research Paper: Britain Employment Law

Is discrimination based on religion or on race and ethnicity?
Religions with large numbers of visible minorities, such as Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, reported the most discrimination overall and research participants who belonged to these minority groups often identified a degree of overlap between religious and racial discrimination. Implicit or explicit references to racism were also common during the local interviews. Amongst Christians, black-led organisations were consistently more likely to say that their members experienced unfair treatment than Christian organisations generally. Many interviewees pointed to the artificiality of trying to separate religious and cultural identities. However, there were also claims of unfair treatment from white people of British descent with no outward, visible signs of their religion. This suggests that such treatment can be a response to the nature of someone’s beliefs and practices (for example, the hostility that is sometimes expressed towards groups that are often referred to as ‘cults’). In other cases it may be the strength of belief and its effect on behaviour (“the more active you are, the more vulnerable you become”) or the degree to which people seek to convert others. A number of interviewees pointed out that whilst there are those who see religion as an intrinsic or important part of their identity, the rest of society tends to think of religion as optional and may therefore assume that religious requirements can be negotiated.
Interviewees provided instances in which the rigid dividing line between religion and culture that is sometimes imposed by outsiders can prove awkward and divisive. For example, religious groups may have to present themselves as cultural groups in order to obtain local authority funding for the community services they provide. They feel uncomfortable about doing this, and people from religious organisations that are not associated with cultural minorities may feel discriminated against because they are unable to present themselves in this way.
What are the policy options?
Participants in the research favoured a comprehensive approach in which education, training, and a bigger effort to teach more about comparative religion in schools would all play an important part. This was in line with their repeatedly expressed views about the role of ignorance in fostering religious discrimination by individuals and by organisations in both the public and private sectors, and also with the view expressed in interviews that the media reinforce such ignorance and prejudicial attitudes. There was scepticism about voluntary codes of practice because these often prove ineffective. Research participants recognised that the law has both strengths and limitations and did not think it would suffice on its own. However, some changes in the law might be needed in order to “send the right messages about discrimination”. These could help if used judiciously and in conjunction with other approaches. The idea of legislation of some kind received most support from Muslim organisations and interviewees from ethnic minority groups.
In the local interviews, it was pointed out that the changes needed from employers and service providers were not necessarily expensive: quite small adaptations could be very helpful and sometimes it was as simple as trying to ensure that people were not made to feel awkward. There was a role for better guidelines and ‘worked examples’. It was felt that employers and educationalists, in particular, could do more to accommodate religious diversity, and in a less grudging way. In areas such as planning and funding, more ‘mainstreaming’ was required and greater acknowledgement of the services that religious organisations provide to their own – and sometimes to the wider – community. Those from the less well known and the less ‘mainstream’ religions stressed the need for more inclusiveness – for example when holding events or carrying out consultation exercises.
Background
In recent years, individuals and organisations from a variety of religious traditions have begun to argue that discrimination exists on grounds of religion and that it deserves to be taken as seriously as discrimination on other grounds. Until now, however, there has been little research into the nature and extent of religious discrimination in this country. Some claims of unfair treatment have been made by groups who are also likely to suffer discrimination on grounds of race or ethnicity, making it difficult (perhaps unrealistic) to disentangle one form of discrimination from another. On the other hand, some of those claiming religious discrimination do not belong to an ethnic or racial minority, or they quote examples (eg Islamophobia1 in the media) which do appear to be targeted more at religious belief and practice than at membership of an ethnic group or cultural tradition. The relative absence of law and policy that specifically recognises the possibility of religious discrimination has meant that people wanting to make formal claims of discrimination have had to rely where they can on other grounds (usually race or gender) even though they may feel that religion is the real basis of their claim. This report describes the results of the primary research undertaken by this project. It provides a resource for government, for communities, and for organisations of various kinds in assessing the evidence about religious discrimination.
Objectives
In commissioning the research in April 1999, the Home Office set the following objectives:
1. To assess the evidence of religious discrimination in England and Wales, both
2. To describe the patterns shown by this evidence, including:
• its overall scale
• the main victims
• the main perpetrators
• the main ways in which the discrimination manifests
3. To indicate the extent to which religious discrimination overlaps with racial discrimination.
4. To identify the broad range of policy options available for dealing with religious discrimination.
The final objective could include legislative options as well as other measures such as policy reviews, voluntary codes of practice, or training and education programmes. However, the legal context has been much changed since the inception of the research project by the incorporation into British law of the Human Rights Act and the Treaty of Amsterdam, and is likely to change further as case law develops. The Home Office has therefore commissioned a separate report which looks at the legal options in more detail2. The present report simply indicates the extent to which research participants thought some form of legislative change might be useful. Although the research concentrated on the views and experiences of people who identify themselves with a religion, this is not to ignore the possibility that secularists, humanists and agnostics may also experience discrimination on the basis of religion. Such experience also needs to be taken into account in framing policy in this area.
The Case Study
The media spotlight has recently focused on the issue of religious discrimination in the workplace. The education environment has been particularly under its glare following the suspension of the school teacher Aishah Azmi, and her subsequent tribunal claim. Ms Azmi, a teaching assistant in a West Yorkshire school, was asked to remove her niqab, a face veil worn by some Muslim women that leaves only the eyes visible, because pupils found it hard to understand her during English language lessons. The tribunal found that suspension of Ms Azmi did not amount to discrimination on religious grounds, although she was awarded £1,000 for victimisation because the school had not followed grievance procedures correctly.
OTHER HIGH-PROFILE CASES
There have been other, similar high-profile cases in the news recently. These include that of Shabnam Mughal, a legal executive who was asked to remove her niqab by a judge at an immigration tribunal in Stoke on Trent, because he could not hear what she was saying properly. Ms Mughal refused and her firm handed conduct of the case over to another advocate. Nadia Eweida, a British Airways ground crew member, sued her employer for religious discrimination after being told that she could not wear a crucifix unless she concealed it beneath her uniform. She lost her appeal. Whilst the law on religious discrimination is not new, having been introduced in 2003, the glut of recent cases has put the issue at the front of employers’ minds. For background and more detail on the law, see Education Law Update issues 36 and 62 (for back issues call 0845 450 6404).
DEALING WITH RELIGIOUS REQUESTS
Navigating the minefield that is workplace discrimination is difficult at the best of times, particularly where contentious and sensitive issues like religion are involved. So what should employers do when faced with requests for allowances to be made at work on religious grounds? This article will outline the legal background to religious discrimination law, and look at how to balance pupil and staff needs.
THE LAW
The law on religious discrimination is contained in the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003. These regulations prohibit discrimination on the grounds of a person’s religion or belief in the following forms: Direct discrimination: where an employer treats a candidate or employee less favourably than it would treat others, on the grounds of religion or belief. Indirect discrimination: where an employer applies a provision, criterion or practice equally to all staff, but this puts, or would put, a particular religious group at a specific disadvantage when compared to others. Such rules do not constitute indirect discrimination if the employer can show that they are a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Victimisation: where a current, prospective or former employee is treated less favourably than others in the workplace on the grounds that s/he has carried out a ‘protected act’.
Protected acts include:
o Bringing proceedings against the employer under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
o Giving evidence in connection with such proceedings
o Alleging that the employer, either directly or vicariously through one of its employees, has committed an act that would amount to a contravention of these regulations

For victimisation to be established, it is not necessary for the complainant to have carried out a protected act. It is sufficient to establish that the employer suspected s/he did, or intended to do, any such act. Harassment: where an employer, either on its own behalf or through the actions of an employee, engages in unwanted conduct that violates an individual’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person.
IMPLICATIONS FOR EMPLOYER
So what does this all mean for the employer? Do employees have the right to express their religion and belief in any way they wish within the working environment? Thankfully for employers, no. A candidate or employee does have the clear right not to be discriminated against in the workplace. It does not take a legal expert to realise that an employee teased about wearing a turban at work is the subject of harassment, or that denying promotion opportunities because a staff member is of a different religion would be direct discrimination. But often, the potential for discrimination is much more subtle, and it is indirect discrimination that causes most of the problems within the workplace. Recently publicised cases involving the rejection of specific dress requirements are all about indirect discrimination. In each case, the employee’s argument has been that the employer has applied a provision, criterion or practice, i.e. a prohibition of certain items of clothing or jewellery that puts employees of a particular religion at a disadvantage when compared with others.
THE CASE OF THE VEIL
In the case of the Muslim classroom assistant, the practice applied was that employees responsible for teaching classes could not wear items of clothing that covered the employee’s face. This puts Muslim employees at a disadvantage when compared with other workforce groups, as it prevents them from wearing the niqab, which some Muslims believe is a religious requirement. At first sight, this appears to be discriminatory. But the law allows employers to defend an indirect discrimination claim by proving that the provision, criterion or practice in question amounts to a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
What is ‘a legitimate aim’
This is the crux of the issue. The school’s aim must be to give the children the best possible education, and any barriers to that aim should be removed. Ms Azmi’s school clearly believed that the niqab was a bar to that aim. The question is, then, whether the insistence on its removal was a proportionate means of achieving that aim. The tribunal in this case held that it was.
Proportionality
Of course, it is not only the wearing of religious dress or jewellery that can cause problems for employers. The regulations affect many other everyday workplace issues, such as requests for time off for religious holidays, and dietary requirements dictated by a person’s religion. The key in all of these situations is for an employer who receives such a request to consider carefully what aim it is trying to achieve, and whether the rejection of a request is a proportionate means of achieving that aim. Where the employer has given genuine consideration to a request, balanced the employee’s needs against organisational requirements, and considered any possible compromises, the company should be in a position to defend any claim in the event it has to reject the request.
RECRUITMENT POLICY
The other issue for the education sector is whether employers can enforce a policy of recruiting teachers only from a particular faith and rejecting candidates from other religious backgrounds. Provision is specifically made for this in the recently amended Education and Inspections Bill, as already mentioned. On the face of it, this appears to allow discrimination on religious grounds but this is not necessarily so.
‘Genuine occupational requirement’
The regulations do provide a specific defence to claims of direct discrimination in circumstances where being of a particular religion or belief is a ‘genuine and determining’ occupational requirement for the job. To rely on this defence, an employer must be able to establish that the alleged occupational requirement is proportionate in the particular case. Example: A recognised Church of England school may be able to insist that all of its teachers are practising Christians, thereby rejecting applications from candidates of any other religion. If challenged, the school would have to establish that one of the aims of the school was to actively promote the Christian religion amongst its pupils — and that this aim could only be achieved by employing practising Christians to teach in the school.
‘Genuine’ and ‘determining’
The occupational requirement must be genuine and determining, and be proportionate in the case in question. It will be necessary to consider the requirements of the job very closely. Religious discrimination is only likely to be lawful in cases of those involved in religious services, whose job involves teaching or promoting religion. Jobs that are ancillary to the religion are unlikely to be covered. The defence would not succeed, for example, in a claim by a Christian rejected for a secretarial post in a Muslim school. There is probably no occupational requirement for secretarial staff, cleaners or other support staff not responsible for the teaching or welfare of pupils to be of a particular religion.
The ‘specific’ or ‘religious organisations’ defence
There is a further defence against discrimination claims based on the occupational requirement for the job. This is known as the ‘specific’ or ‘religious organisations’ genuine occupation requirement defence. It applies where: an employer has an ethos based on religion or belief, and having regard to that ethos and the nature of the employment or the context in which it is carried out, being of a particular religion or belief is a genuine occupational requirement for the job. This would apply to spiritual posts in churches, mosques, synagogues and temples but it is unclear whether it would extend as far as a Roman Catholic nursing home, Halal butchers or Christian youth groups. As with the general defence, in order to rely on it, an employer would have to establish that it was proportionate to apply the occupational requirement in a particular case. This is likely to involve dealing with the potential adverse impacts of employing a person of a different religion and the damage this could have to the religious ethos or the organisation. The religious organisations genuine occupational requirement is broader, in that being of a particular religion or belief only has to be a requirement, not a determining requirement (i.e. decisive) as with the general GOR. This will make it easier for religious organisations to discriminate on the grounds of religion.
Legislation
A wide variety of views were expressed about the potential benefits or otherwise of law in tackling unfair treatment on the basis of religion in employment specifically. A white male, advice manager recalled that:…with age discrimination, we had a voluntary code. All studies show it’s not working. You’ll always have good employers who have the foresight of the advantages of overcoming stereotypes, who have imagination. A white, female, policy manager felt that “the lack of mainstream religious equality is a national problem” and that equal opportunities policies at the local level can offer a more comprehensive approach than the currently quite narrow framework offered by the Race
Relations Act:
It is probably time for the Race Relations Act be revised. It should include religion because it’s so intertwined. A professional stated that the successful implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act had been hindered by the absence of enforcement measures. This same interviewee expressed the view that unfair treatment on the basis of religion could be addressed through legislation, but also that employers were in particular need of being able to see, and to draw upon, examples of good practice from elsewhere:…you need to have champions who say “we’re doing it!” along with good practice guidelines and demands from the top. You need reporting, bench-marking data, peer group pressure – it shouldn’t require a lot of investment; often people are apt to say that they’d need too much money to do it... One male, Asian, advice professional commented on the way in which legislation can serve to empower people to stand up for their own rights. For example, although the Sex
Discrimination Act was thought to need further refinement:
Now you expect women to stand up. You don’t need a policy to say what the policy should say. They are aware of their rights. An employer might not have a policy statement on maternity leave, but if an employee is pregnant, you go find out what their needs are, and what needs to happen....Having a bank of documents is not enough or
necessary. A white, female, business development specialist observed that: You need worked examples for employers to draw on, especially if regulation is involved. Good practice examples are important, especially because they’re more comprehensible – and are especially germane as they tell start up companies to emulate and evaluate the good practices of their competitors, which is a good way to pass it along as part of good business.

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