5.11 一篇有跑题倾向的文章。。

angeikimUID：4857

Issue43
"To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."

这个题目也是GRE WRTING的题目中经常出现的一个部分：LEADERSHIP。Knowledge and understanding，Skills and ability communication，Teamwork，Visioning(insight)，Risk taking，Value in others: recognition and encouragement，是leadership的几个最主要的方面。
这个题目可以从两个方面来考虑，第一个是：这个题目的主语a public official有个定语：an effective leader.但是，一个public official是不是必须要是一个leader呢？第二个角度可以从leader的基本quality来分析，是不是题目提出的两个方面是最重要的方面。
我暂时就想到这两个方面来conquer这个题目，其他方面大家可以继续展开讨论一下。欢迎跟贴[/COLOR]

现在来看看这个文章是从哪个方面来分析的。
Whether successful leadership requires that a leader follow high ethical and moral standards is a complex issue--one that is fraught with the problems of defining ethics, morality, and successful leadership in the first place. 作者首先来怀疑了题目中的ethic,moral的定义，是从我刚才讲过的第一个方面来着手的。In addressing the issue it is helpful to consider in turn three distinct forms of leadership: business, political, and social-spiritual. 要分成三个方面来讲这个leadership在不同领域内的不同定义和作用，这个是个比较好的凑字数的方式，可以借鉴:p

这个段落没有开门见山的非常明确的提出自己的观点，但是作者有提自己关于题目的ethic,moral方面的质疑要来个对题目的更详细的阐述和分析。中规中矩，但是句式和用词还可以，跳出了4分的高度。

In the business realm, successful leadership is generally defined as that which achieves the goal of profit maximization for a firm's shareholders or other owners. 从商业方面来define 这个leader。Moreover, the prevailing view in Western corporate culture is that by maximizing profits a business leader fulfills his or her highest moral or ethical obligation. 引入了在商务活动中 moral ,ethic 的含义。Many disagree, however, that these two obligations are the same. Some detractors claim, for example, that business leaders have a duty to do no intentional harm to their customers or to the society in which they operate--for example, by providing safe products and by implementing pollution control measures. Other detractors go further--to impose on business leaders an affirmative obligation to protect consumers, preserve the natural environment, promote education, and otherwise take steps to help alleviate society's problems. 都是不同意见的陈述 Whether our most successful business leaders are the ones who embrace these additional obligations depends, of course, on one's own definition of business success. In my observation, as business leaders become subject to closer scrutiny by the media and by social activists, business leaders will maximize profits in the long term only by taking reasonable steps to minimize the social and environmental harm their businesses cause. This observation also accords with my personal view of a business leader's ethical and moral obligation.
看到了这里我开始怀疑我对public official 的认识了，自己的理解是：官员，但是感觉作者在这里写的是公众人物public figure的意思。。。讨论讨论？
个人认为，这个文章有跑题的嫌疑。

In the political realm the issue is no less complex. 开始了政治角度的阐述分析。Definitions of successful political leadership and of ethical or moral leadership are tied up in the means a leader uses to wield his or her power and to obtain that power in the first place. One useful approach is to draw a distinction between personal morality and public morality. In my observation personal morality is unrelated to effective political leadership.在这里出来了自己的观点，认为道德和political leadership无关。 Modern politics is replete with examples of what most people would consider personal ethic al failings: the marital indiscretions of President Kennedy, for instance. Yet few would disagree that these personal moral choices adversely affected his ability to lead.

In contrast, public morality and successful leadership are more closely connected.开始写道德和作为一个公众人物的联系和必要性了。后面是举例。 Consider the many leaders, such as Stalin and Hitler, whom most people would agree were egregious violators of public morality. Ultimately such leaders forfeit their leadership as a result of the immoral means by which they obtained or wielded their power. Or consider less egregious examples such as President Nixon, whose contempt for the very legal system that afforded him his leadership led to his forfeiture of it.反面教材。 It seems that in the short term unethical public behavior might serve a political leader's interest in preserving his or her power; yet in the long term such behavior invariably results in that leader's down- fall that is, in failure. One must also consider a third type of leadership: social-spiritual. Consider notable figures such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, whom few would disagree were eminently successful in leading others to practice the high ethical and moral standards which they advocated.
However, I would be hard-pressed to name one successful social or spiritual leader whose leadership was predicated on the advocacy of patently unethical or immoral behavior. The reason for this is simple: high standards for one's own public morality are prerequisites for successful social-spiritual leadership—终于找到了，这个作者对public official的理解.[/COLOR]

In sum, history informs us that effective political and social-spiritual leadership requires adherence to high standards of public morality. However, when it comes to business leadership the relationship is less clear; successful business leaders must strike a balance between achieving profit maximization and fulfilling their broader obligation to the society, which comes with the burden of such leadership.

这个文章，看的我头晕。。昨天就没看下去所以今天才贴了出来:p
个人感觉：这个文章有跑题的倾向，虽然不太远，因为对题目的理解不确切，我认为作者把握的扩展的方向刚好是相反的。如果先写对political leader的部分然后再扩展到商业然后进行合并和对比会更好些。现在这个作文，我个人的看法就是：结构松散，对我这个READER来说，unattractive.
虽然语言和措辞都不错，但是由于结构上的问题，分数不可能很高了 [/COLOR]
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angeikimUID：4857

Author  Topic   
Nish
Chugging along...



India
41 Posts
Posted - 2002 Nov 29 :  03:13:50     
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043 "To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards."


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By definition a public official is a person holding an office and position of authority . A public official may remain just a public official i.e. he may hold an office , but whether he can be an effective leader depends on whether he maintains highest ethical and moral standards. An effective leader is someone who himself practices and thus inculcates in his followers, rules , conforming to the standards of conduct of his profession .

An official has to deal with people all the time with respect to jobs being done . Also he has to lead a team of members or an office in the process. All the people who deal with him, whether those working under him or the common people , look up to him. He has responsibilities that he has to fulfill. Such an official needs to be exemplary by setting moral standards . This is because a good leader should act as a motivator and the best motivation to adhere to rules and regulations can be provided by a leader if he practices the regulations himself.

When a leader sticks to his moral principles he is devoid of negative factors such as guilt, shame, embarrassment . Such a leader will always be positive in his approach. Positive attitude is infectious . If an official is true to his job and his moral values , he can create a trend in an office where everybody would like emulate him.. A leader should thus be ethical and forceful in his approach since the personality and reputation of the association that he belongs to, flows from him. Thus he will sow the seeds for a better , moral and ethical society .

A leader of integrity should never try to knowingly deceive his constituents at any time. He should always be open and honest. The leader must consider what is best for his community. This means disregarding his own personal interests. When society looks at whom they want as their leader there is a certain criterion, one must meet. In that criteria are the ideas of trust, honesty, and morality.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was considered a great leader and a man of high integrity. He was well-respected and held in very high regard on a national level. He was trying to stimulate change for a large population. His morality and integrity made Martin Luther King, Jr. the effective leader that he was.

There are some cases like that of President Clinton which would suggest the otherwise. Although he was involved in the Lewinsky Scandal , he was considered to be an effective leader. But immorality is very infectious and could creep into the system very quickly . Thus people who would not support my stand could have Mr. Clinton as an excuse for being effective without being a man of morals and integrity. If moral values are compromised by leaders or if they are found to be involved in scandals , their image is smeared in the eyes of the people . Their decisions are scrutinized and their motives will be doubted. This would lead to ineffective leadership. He could have been a more effective leader if he would not have been involved in such a scandal. He admitted his mistake and finally he ,too stuck to morality to salvage his lost pride .

Today, in every field there is tremendous competition, greed, corruption , red 杢apism , violation of rules to get jobs done easily : we hear about these in news everday. It is very easy for an official to be lured by the benefits like that of making easy money by facilitating some jobs and breaching some procedures. And if a leader takes a lead in such activities rather than following the right procedures and sticking to his moral and ethical principles, in the process he might encourage others to do so.

Thus , in my conclusion I strongly support the view that public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards and by doing so he can become an effective leader as he sets the right example for others and could be seminal in setting a platform for a morally upright society.


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angeikimUID：4857

I'm new! Be nice to me!



1 Posts
Posted - 2003 Feb 13 :  05:05:15     
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It is my second issue. it took me 5 hours! But I think I haven’t proved my opinion clearly, and my essay is lack of fluency. I need your help and commitments.thank u!
043 “to be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards”.
In my opinion, it is too quibble to require a public official to maintain the highest ethical and moral standards. An effective leader is generally a person who can manage an organization well and fulfill the demanding of the members he leads, not a saint.
On one hand, we should admit that high ethical and moral standards are probably one of aspects to judge an effective leader. Track back to the history, we can find many famous leaders with high ethical and moral standards. For example, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy etc. they were well known not only because of their marvelous contribution to their nations but also for the good reputation they built. It is the highly ethical manners lead them to serve the people the led in the correction direction. On the contrary, Adolph Hitler, who maybe can also called an effective leader of Germany in World War 2. He conquered half of the Europe and decimated thousands of Jaws with Nazi army, caused great damage to Jaws and the world due to his prejudice and lack of ethical standards. That is what a saying said “more powerful, more dangerous” since the manipulator is wicked.
On the other hand, I do agree that the high ethical and moral standards are important, but ethical standards are not the only way to judge whether a leader is effective or not. An effective leader should have the capacity of managing a group of people to cooperatively achieve the organization’s goal, the charisma that the people he lead is always ready to work for him, and maybe he can facilitate other peoples achievements rather than only develop his own triumph as well. All these merit besides ethical standards are an effective leader should have, especially the former skills, which makes the leader a real leader. The leader with only high ethic but do not to promote the progress of the organization he lead is just an ethical example, not a leader.
Finally, the effective leaders are also human beings. None of human beings could be perfect, anyone makes mistakes some times, as a famous saying goes “to err is human”, so does the leader. But a few flows such as some personal affairs would not efface the splendid achievements they make as an effective leader. Bill Clinton—the former president of America—is the best evidence. Despite the sex scandal and his perjury in court, which nearly resulted in his impeachment, there is no doubt that he is an effective leader in the eyes of American people. He has fight back the economic recession in the U.S. and promoted peaceful progress in Israel-Palestinian relationship. All of these great achievement to U.S. even the world persuasively prove him as an effective leader. Every one has his/her own pettiness; the leader is not exception either. Hence as long as within his/her people’s tolerance, some flaws on ethic can not prevent him/her to be an effective leader.
In conclusion, as long as supported by the people he/she serves, the public official does not have to maintain the highest ethical and moral standards, but to do so will make them more admirable.