A Way Of Life essays

A Way Of Life essays "A way of life." Many people use this expression as a way to talk about their subsistence and how they perceive their everyday life. What they fail to recognize, however, is the fact that their way of living is connected in a much broader category than they think. Anthropologists study these categories broad, narrow, present, and past to try and find out what exactly a "way of life" was for individual cultures. By studying these cultures Anthropologists try and deduce different methods of survival. They have also discovered a few major social institutions that all cultures have a common bond together. These social institutions are the basis for which culture is founded. In order for a culture to become distinct from other cultures it has to apply different rules and change around these institutions. Anthropologists use these social institutional changes to understand the development of a culture and their way of being. They research these processes through fieldwork mostly. By using fieldwork as a means of research they can directly observe, interview, survey, and then analyze the situation. This gives them the advantage of seeing with their own eyes what happens within a culture. Fieldwork and the analysis of the fieldwork will be the basis on which this paper will investigate the social institution of subsistence and economics among a subgroup of our culture. One of the defining aspects of culture is subsistence. Through subsistence you can find out how a culture has survived or what they did wrong that caused them to become extinct. This is based on the fact that a group has to adapt to their environment for the basic elements needed to survive. These basic elements are: food, shelter, technology, and clothing (clothes are necessary in some environments). How a group utilizes their environment places them into one of the four categories of subsistence styles. These four known categories are: hunting and gathering, fish...

Definition and Examples of Business Jargon in English

Definition and Examples of Business Jargon in English Business jargon is the specialized language used by members of corporations and bureaucracies. Also known as corporate jargon, business-speak, and bureaucratese. Business jargon typically includes buzzwords, vogue words, and euphemisms. Contrast with plain English. Examples and Observations Hes successful in interfacing with clients we already have, but as for new clients, its low-hanging fruit. He takes a high-altitude view, but he doesnt drill down to that level of granularity where we might actionize new opportunities.Clark winced. I remember that one. I think I may have had a minor stroke in the office when he said that.(Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014) The Poisonous Spell of Business Jargon The next time you feel the need to reach out, touch base, shift a paradigm, leverage a best practice or join a tiger team, by all means do it. Just don’t say you’re doing it.If you have to ask why, chances are you’ve fallen under the poisonous spell of business jargon. No longer solely the province of consultants, investors and business-school types, this annoying gobbledygook has mesmerized the rank and file around the globe.Jargon masks real meaning, says Jennifer Chatman, management professor at the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. People use it as a substitute for thinking hard and clearly about their goals and the direction that they want to give others.(Max Mallet, Brett Nelson and Chris Steiner, The Most Annoying, Pretentious And Useless Business Jargon. Forbes, January 26, 2012) Laser-Focused At companies ranging from children’s book publishers to organic-food purveyors, CEOs are increasingly training powerful beams of light on their targets. The phrase laser-focused appeared in more than 250 transcripts of earnings calls and investor events this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, on pace to eclipse the 287 in all of 2012. It’s business jargon, says L.J. Rittenhouse, CEO of Rittenhouse Rankings, who consults with executives on communication and strategy. What would a more candid disclosure be? We are focused. What does a laser have to do with it? . . .David Larcker, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who has studied deception on investor conference calls, says that when executives start using a lot of jargon, it makes you wonder about the believability. Rittenhouse, who analyzes shareholder letters for an annual report on CEO candor and reviews about 100 conference-call transcripts each year, has found that companies that use fact-deficient, obfuscating generalities have worse share performance than more candid companies.(Noah Buhayar, The CEOs Favorite Clichà ©. Bloomberg Businessweek, September 23-29, 2013) Business-Speak In an infamous December 2012 press release, Citigroup announced that it would begin a series of repositioning actions that will further reduce expenses and improve efficiency, resulting in streamlined operations and an optimized consumer footprint across geographies. Translation: 11,000 people would be repositioned out the door.Business-speak, with its heartless euphemisms and empty stock phrases, is the jargon that everyone loves to hate. . . .For several years, Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, has been keeping an eye on the words and phrases that are condemned as business-speak, and he has noticed that as much as mission statements and deliverables, what gets under people’s skin are expressions like impactful, at the end of the day, and low-hanging fruit. As he has investigated these expressions, he noted in a post last month on the blog Language Log, he has found that they are as common in sports, politics, social science, and other spheres as th ey are in business.(Joshua J. Friedman, Jargon: It’s Not the Business World’s Fault! The Boston Globe, September 15, 2013)Dharmeshs culture code incorporates elements of HubSpeak. For example, it instructs that when someone quits or gets fired, the event will be referred to as graduation. This really happens, over and over again. In my first month at HubSpot Ive witnessed several graduations, just in the marketing department. Well get an email from Cranium saying, Team, Just letting you know that Derek has graduated from HubSpot, and were excited to see how he uses his superpowers in his next big adventure!(Dan Lyons, Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble. Hachette, 2016) Business-Speak in Higher Education As universities are beaten into the shapes dictated by business, so language is suborned to its ends. We have all heard the robotic idiom of management, as if a button had activated a digitally generated voice. Like Newspeak in Nineteen Eighty-Four, business-speak is an instance of magical naming, superimposing the imagery of the market on the idea of a university–through ‘targets, ‘benchmarks, time-charts, league tables, ‘vision statements, ‘content providers. We may laugh or groan, depending on the state of our mental health at the thickets of TLAs–three-letter acronyms, in the coinage of the writer Richard Hamblyn–that accumulate like dental plaque. . . .The code conceals aggression: actions are undertaken in its name and justified by its rules; it pushes responsibility from persons to systems. It pushes individuals to one side and replaces them with columns, boxes, numbers, rubrics, often meaningless tautologies (a form will ask first for ‘aims, and then for ‘objectives’).(Marina Warner, Learning My Lesson. London Review of Books, March 19, 2015) The Epic Poetry of Modern Business Jargon is an invaluable tool in massaging meaning for marketing purposes. Investment is a particularly fertile field. Promoters may describe a start-up with no customers as pre-revenue, optimistically implying that sales are inevitable. Hoped-for turnover will be projected in a business plan, a document used for raising finance and scrupulously ignored thenceforth.Terminology that deflects criticism while bestowing spurious professionalism is essential to the manager. Hence the phrase Im outside the loop on that excuses knuckle-dragging cluelessness. Im afraid I dont have the bandwidth is a polite way of saying: You arent important enough for me to help you. And It is my understanding that . . . allows the speaker to assert vague suspicions as solid facts...Jargon is the epic poetry of modern business. It can turn a bunch of windbags in a meeting room into a quick wins taskforce. I once asked a handyman toiling in an office doorway whether he was installing a wheelchair ramp. No, he said solemnly, its a diversity access feature.(Jonathan Guthrie, Three Cheers for the Epic Poetry of Jargon. Financial Times, Dec. 13, 2007) Financial Jargon: Reversification The images and metaphors keep doing headstands. To bail out is to slop water over the side of a boat. That verb has been reversified so that it means an injection of public money into a failing institution; taking something dangerous out has turned into putting something vital in. Credit has been reversified: it means debt. Inflation means money being worth less. Synergy means sacking people. Risk means precise mathematical assessment of probability. Noncore assets means garbage. These are all examples of how the process of innovation, experimentation, and progress in the techniques of finance has been brought to bear on language, so that words no longer mean what they once did. It is not a process intended to deceive, but . . . it confines knowledge to a priesthood- the priesthood of people who can speak money. (John Lanchester, Money Talks. The New Yorker, August 4, 2014) Greenspans Fed-Jargon A special area of financial jargon is Greenspeak, the terms and phrases of Federal Reserve Board Chairman [1987-2006], Alan Greenspan. For decades a small group of economists known as Fed-watchers, pored over the statements made by the Federal Reserve, looking for indications of changes in Federal Reserve policy. Today, almost every investor and business person in the U.S. listens to the latest Fed pronouncements. From his 1999 description of the technology stock market as irrational exuberance, to his considerable period, soft patch, and short-lived descriptions of the economy and monetary policy in 2003-2004, the words of Alan Greenspan [became] common in American business jargon. (W. Davis Folsom, Understanding American Business Jargon: A Dictionary, 2nd ed. Greenwood, 2005)

From your initial lectures and seminars write a paragraph or two (Max Essay

From your initial lectures and seminars write a paragraph or two (Max 300 words) explaining your understanding of Organisational behaviour in businesses today - Essay Example In identifying appropriate strategic approaches organizations implement SWOT analyses; SWOT represents strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In addition to these strategic elements organization behavior also involves developing an overarching mission statement. This functions to speak to the organizations core goals and values. Another key aspect of organizational behavior in businesses is management. Management considers the companys mission statement and strategic directives and works to achieving these goals through attention to efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. Within the organizational element of management is the question of what constitutes effective management and how it can be achieved and maintained. In these regards, Drummond is particularly effective in articulating one of the predominant organizational conflicts, â€Å"The fundamental problem of management is that organisational & individual objectives differ.† Within management organizations utilize specific approaches to management that have been categorized by researchers. These include the classical approach, the human relations approach, the scientific approach, and the systems and contingency approach. All of these approaches have strengths and weaknesses with a great number of challenges being levied at either their over or under emphasis on human or efficiency concerns. In an effort to bridge this organizational gap, the systems and contingency approach was

Working with the New Millenials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Working with the New Millenials - Essay Example Case facts revealed that new millenials have tendencies to question everything, demand explicitly clear and consistent expectations, are primarily family oriented and earn to consume immediately as their very philosophy embodies living for the moment. Likewise, the facts indicate that new millenials want flexibility and working in a virtual environment where they can wear casual clothes and come at a time they please. Therefore, rather than restricting their movements, organizations can focus on providing flexibility in work, as long as explicitly stated goals and objectives are attained. Organizations should encourage their creativity and innovativeness and evaluate performance using Management By Objectives (MBO) that would determine progress and discuss meritorious increases depending on performance and attainment of goals. As confirmed by Heathfield (2012), there are some guidelines to manage millenials, to wit: (1) effective provision of structure, leadership and guidance; (2) e ncouraging â€Å"the millennial's self-assuredness, "can-do" attitude, and positive personal self-image† (Heathfield, 2012, p. 1);

The Effects and Causes of Fetal Alcohols Spectrum Disorders Essay Example for Free

The Effects and Causes of Fetal Alcohols Spectrum Disorders Essay Drinking while pregnant is a bad decision. Sometimes the child will result in certain health problems, and at times they will be perfectly healthy. The effects are referred to as FASD (Fetal Alcohols Spectrum Disorders). FASD can take form as many various effects. Many people are aware of these effects but they do not realize that moderate alcohol exposure to the fetus can be just as harmful to the baby as frequent exposure. Though this might leave some people thinking that some pregnant women do not realize their pregnancy for many weeks after conception, and how might they know when no to drink. Well, the women who are trying to become pregnant or women who think they may be pregnant should not drink at all. This is due to the possibilities of pregnancy. (March) When women first get pregnant only about 40 percent of the women notice the pregnancy right away (CDC). Studies by the CDC have published that with each live birth in the United States 0.2 – 1.5 out of 1,000 of those births are babies with FASD effects. In a period of 15 years it has been noted that 1 out of 8 women have admitted to drinking during their pregnancy (CDC). This just shows how unaware mothers are of their drinking’s lasting effects on their children and the strain these effects will bring to their families and friends. There are various symptoms, referring to health, of FASD some of the more major according to the Mayo Clinic are heart defects, slow growth before and after birth, problems with sight and hearing, learning deficiency, small brain size, joint and bone deformities, balance and coordination errors, sleep problems, mental retardation, short attention span, and issues controlling anxiety and impulsive behaviors. Some of the visible effects of FASD are a small head size and facial flattening (MC). The causes are simply stated, easily understood, but yet people do not always agree with them. To make the situation more easily understood, we can say that when you drink the alcohol goes into your bloodstream as a form of energy; the blood is shared amongst you and your unborn child. Therefore the baby gets alcohol into its blood and its slow metabolism cannot handle the amounts of alcohol that an adult woman can. This process also causes the oxygen to moves very slowly into the fetus and therefore the organs cannot get enough oxygen to grow properly (MC). It is known when the baby is most likely to be harmed and where development is risked during the stages of pregnancy. In the first three months of the pregnancy the baby is most likely to have facial deformation, and in the remainder of the pregnancy, the baby is at risk of growth of the central nervous system. When pregnant it is unknown how much alcohol consumed that it takes to cause risks to your baby. It could range differently with the woman’s metabolism, health, and age. Seeing that it is unknown of the amount for risks, it would just be safer to not drink at all while pregnant or if you might be pregnant (MC). If your baby has FASD it will not be evident until the birth, unless you tell your doctor that you have drank and he can check for signs and symptoms in the fetus. The signs that can be noticed while the baby is in the womb are small changes in growth, strange facial features, heart deformities, and all around behavior. This is to say that your FASD baby will be unplanned for and that you are always at risk if you have drank. There has been no cure found for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and most of its effects do not ware off with time. A cure for one of the more major signs, heart disorders, can be surgery. And if you have a learning disability that does not leave you mentally impaired, a special learning course in school will usually be very helpful. And with all the stress of the effects the parents may need counseling to cope with their mistakes and child’s behavior (MC). If FASD is evident before the age of six, medication can usually be provided to help with mental and social abilities (CDC). If you’re a parent with a child who suffers from FASD it is good to treat them as any parent would treat their child. Some of the things you can do to help them cope are giving them chores, teach them skills for daily living, teach them to hold their ground and stand tall, reward their good behavior, and teach the child daily routine (MC). If a child is not diagnosed with FASD they might still have fetal alcohol effects (FAE). FAEs consist of two types the first being Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopment Disorder (ARND). ARND is the collection of metal problems a child can have without collectively having FASD, a child with ARND is bound to struggle in school, be impulsive, low memory mass, short attention spam, and bad deciphering skills. The other FAE are Alcohol-Related Birth Defects (ARBD). These are the deformities in the skeletal system due to drinking while pregnant. The deformities may be include in these areas of the body heart, kidneys, bones, and the whole auditory system (FAE). On of the more heard of FASDs is FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). FAS can lead to Fetal Death which is the most severe result in drinking while pregnant. But usually these people just experience face abnormality and growth problems. Some of the distinctive face abnormalities are a thin vermillion border, smooth philtrum, and small palpebral fissures. A child with FAS has a very hard time getting along with others and making friends (CDC). Children with FASDs often need extra help with simple tasks like walking, talking, and associating with others. These skills can be improved with special counselors at a young age, from birth to three years of age. This counseling is extremely important, so if it is noticed that the child has effects of FASD talk to your doctor immediately. The doctor might also recommend that the parents go through daily speech routines with their child. These routines will help the child reach their full potential and help them more as they reach high school age. As the child ages it is most often necessary for them to be in a special education class. A stable home life is a necessity for FASD cases. Children with FASD have a higher emotion to their surroundings, so moving frequently can cause mental breakdowns and tantrums. Therefore it is important to have a loving household and to care for you child with a great deal of attention. Help can also come from the community and friends to keep the child’s self esteem high and gleaming. And a high self esteem will help the child grow and keep them from criminal activity, dropping out, and unemployment (CDC.)Â  When your child has FASD they still need the same medical attention as a child without the sideffectts.

Contingency Theories of Organizations

Contingency Theories of Organizations Part 2 OB: What is the core argument of contingency theories of organizations? Discuss giving examples from at least one such theory. Evaluate the claims of this theory and assess its relevance for organizations today. Organizations operate in many different environments and it is vital to assess how they influence their structures. Effective and efficient organizing has become increasingly important in the modern world characterized by rapid changes. Contingency approaches emphasize that in order for organizations to succeed they must adopt a structure suitable for the environment in which they operate. There are many forms of contingency theory. In general, contingency theories are a class of behavioral theory that claim that there is no best way to organize a corporation and the organizational structure of the company. An organizational or leadership style that is effective in some situations may not be successful in others. Therefore, the best way of organizing the company, is contingent upon the internal and external situation of the company. External environments influence organizations in a varied number of ways. Critical external factors include, but are not limited to, the size of the organization, labor markets, availability and cost of capital, competitors, governmental laws and policies, managerial assumptions about employees, strategies, technologies used, etc. The main ideas of contingency theory are: * There is no universal or one best way to manage * The design of organizations and its subsystems must fit with the environment * Effective organizations not only have a proper fit with the environment but also between its subsystems * The needs of an organization are better satisfied when it is properly designed and the management style is appropriate both to the tasks undertaken and the nature of the work group. Several contingency approaches were developed simultaneously in the late 1960s. The emergence of the theory was the result of criticisms of the classical theories such as Webers bureaucracy (Weber, 1946) and Taylors scientific management (Taylor, 1911) which had failed because they neglected that management style and organizational structure were influenced by various aspects of the environment: the contingency factors. The contingency approach originated with the work of Joan Woodward (1958), who declared that successful organizations in different industries with different technologies were characterized by different organizational structures. In this essay I will discuss three influential contingency theories, those of Burns and Stalker (1961), Lawrence and Lorsch (1967) and Fiedler (1967). Tom Burns and Graham Stalker in their 1961 book, The Management of Innovation studied about 20 Scottish and British electronics companies operating in increasingly competitive and innovative technological markets. Their findings demonstrated that organizations operating in stable environments are very different from those which have to face a changing and dynamic environment. The authors have discovered that differences in the way firms approached change and innovation related to the values and mission of the firms. Burns and Stalker classified the firms into 2 categories on the basis of their managerial structures and practices: mechanistic and organic. The authors found that mechanistic organizations, also called bureaucracies, are suited for relatively stable environmental conditions. Such organizations are clearly programmed, strictly controlled and hierarchically structured. Often they do not have mission and vision statements, and instead depend on established rules for guidance, measuring success by the degree to which staff conforms to process and procedure. Organizational tasks are typically broken down into specialized activities. Individuals are responsible for their specific functions in a relative isolation from the overall organizational goal. The organic organizations are more likely to exist under unstable environmental conditions. Organic organizations are orientated towards results, have a flat organization structure instead of a hierarchy, and little structure in terms of process and rules. They focus on results and employees receive positive rewards for creative and pragmatic contributions. Given these conditions it becomes necessary to review and redefine the responsibilities, methods, inter-role relationships, and even goals on a continual basis. Burns and Stalker emphasized that each system is appropriate under its own specific conditions. Neither system was superior to the other under all situations. Since the 1960s much of writings in organization theories field is a constant debate between the machine/organ analogies, and attempts to develop growth models of how simple mechanistic forms can grow into the more complex organic forms. Another significant study to demonstrate the relationships between environmental characteristics and effective organizational structures was conducted by Paul Lawrence and Jay Lorsch (1967). They studied ten US firms in three separate industries (plastics, food, containers) that confronted varying degrees of uncertainty, complexity and change. The researchers found that successful firms in each industry had a different degree of differentiation. The firms operating in uncertain, complex, rapidly changing environments had more highly differentiated internal structures: sales, production and RD departments. Such organizations require the greater need for suitable mechanisms for integrating and resolving conflicts between ranges of segments. Successful firms in more homogeneous and stable environment were more formalized and hierarchical in their forms. Authors concluded that successful firms must have internal structures as complex as environments in which they operate. This seminal work of Lawrence and Lorsch refined the contingency theory by demonstrating that different markets and technological environments require different kinds of organizations, and that subunits or functional departments within an organization might be managed in different ways, due to variations resulting from their sub-environments. Their view is ecological those organizations that can best adapt to the environment will survive. Managerial leadership has influenced organizational activities in many ways. These influences include motivating subordinates, budgeting scarce resources, and serving as a source of communication. Contingency theories of leadership argue that no single leadership style is effective in all circumstances, but the leadership styles are contingent on the organizational and situational context. Fred Fiedlers theory (1967) is the earliest and most extensively researched is also known as contingency model of leadership effectiveness. Fiedlers ideas originated from trait and behavioral models by stating that performance of the group is dependent on the leaders psychological orientation and on three contextual variables: group atmosphere, task structure, and leaders power position. The contingency model underlines the importance of both the leaders personality and the situation in which that leader operates. The first major factor in Fiedlers theory is known as the leadership style. This is the consistent system of interaction that takes place between a leader and work group. In order to classify leadership styles, Fiedler has developed an index called the Least-Preferred Coworker (LPC) scale. To get an LPC score a leader is asked to think of co-workers with whom he/she has ever worked and choose the one with whom the work was the most difficult. Then this person is rated on a number of eight-point bipolar scales (friendly/unfriendly, hostile/supportive, etc.). The responses to these scales are summed and averaged: a high LPC score suggests that the leader has a human relations orientation, while a low LPC score indicates a task orientation. The second major factor in Fiedlers theory is known as situational favorableness or environmental variable. This basically is defined as the degree a situation enables a leader to exert influence over a group. Fiedler then extends his analysis by focusing on three key situational factors, which are leader-member, task structure and position power. For leader-member relations, Fiedler maintains that the leader will have more influence if they maintain good relationships with group members who like, respect, and trust them, than if they do not. Fiedler explains that task structure is the second most important factor in determining structural favorableness. He contends that highly structured tasks, which specify how a job is to be done in detail provide a leader with more influences over group actions than do unstructured tasks. Finally, as for position power, leads who have the power to hire and fire, discipline and reward, have more power than those who do not. For example, the head of a department has more power than a file clerk. By classifying a group according to three variables, it is possible to identify eight different group situations or leadership style. These eight different possible combinations were then classified as either task orientation or relationship orientated. Several implications can be derived from Fiedlers findings. First, it is not accurate to speak of effective and ineffective leaders. Fiedler goes on by suggesting that there are only leader who perform better in some situations, but not all situations. Second, almost anyone can be a leader by carefully selecting those situations that match his or her leadership style. Lastly, the effectiveness of a leader can be improved by designing the job to fit the manager. For instance, by increasing or decreasing a leaders position power, changing the structure of a task, or influencing leader-member relations, an organization can alter a situation to better fit a leaders style. The following aspects can be considered as strengths of Fiedlers theory: it is predictive and supported by a lot of empirical research, it does not require that people be effective in all situations and provides a way to assess leader style that could be useful to an organization. However among its weaknesses are the fact that it is cumbersome to use, it doesnt explain what to do when there is a mismatch between style and situation and it doesnt take into account situational variables, like training and experience, which also have an impact in a leaders effectiveness. Finally, there is some doubt whether the LPC is a true measure of leadership style. In summary, the essence of contingency theory is that best practices depend on the contingencies of the situation. Contingency theory is often called the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“it all dependsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  theory, because when a contingency theorist is being asked for an answer, the typical response will be that it all depends. While this may sound simplistic, assessing the contingencies on which decisions depend can be a very complex. Contingency theorists try to identify and measure the conditions under which things will likely occur. Considering that organizations should attain both external and internal fit to achieve superior performance, at the same time, the processes of strategy formulation and implementation are not separable activities; there is a need for an integrative approach that incorporates both schools of thought. The appropriate management style and organizational structure depend on the environmental context of the organization concerned. The ability to manage change is now recognized as a core organizational competence. References: 1. Fineman, S., Sims, D. Gabriel, Y. (2005) Organizing and organizations , London, Sage. 2. Smith, M. J. (1984). Contingency rules theory, context, and compliance behaviors. Human Communication Research, 10, 489-512. 3. Burns, T., Stalker, M. (1961). The Management of Innovation, 3rd Edition, 1994, Oxford University Press 4. Lawrence, P. R., Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Organization and Environment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 5. Fiedler, F. E. (1964). A Contingency Model of Leadership Effectiveness. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol.1). 149-190. New York: Academic Press. Burnes, B. (1996), No such thing as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“one best wayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  to manage organizational change. Management decision, Vol. 34, Issue 10, pp. 10-18

Summary of The Spire

Jocelin, Dean of a medieval cathedral, has had a vision which he believes reveals that he must add a four hundred foot spire to the cathedral. The decision is a controversial one, especially as the work proves disruptive and the master builder, Roger Mason, discovers that the building lacks the requisite foundations to support the spire. Jocelin is insistent that faith will be sufficient and accuses the master builder of being timid, and of playing for time in order to keep himself and his men in employment. Jocelin is maintained in his belief that the spire will stand by the news that his bishop is sending a Holy Nail (from the crucifixion) from Rome to protect the spire. The cathedral's caretaker, Pangall, hates the disruption and the workmen's mockery which he suffers. There are early hints that he is impotent. Jocelin is horrified when he notices that Roger and Goody, Pangall's wife, are sexually attracted to each other. However, he realises that, if he does not intervene, their adultery will prevent Roger from leaving. Roger's wife Rachel reveals that she and her husband are childless because she finds sex makes her laugh. Jocelin climbs to the roof to inspect the work and finds it exhilarating. However, he has what is eventually revealed to be tuberculosis of the spine, and this illness gradually becomes worse. He is also increasingly troubled by sexual dreams relating to his own attraction to Goody. A pit has been dug in order for the master builder to look for foundations, and there is a crisis when the earth in it is seen to be creeping. The stones start to make a high-pitched whine and to splinter. Roger wants to stop work, but Jocelin forces him to continue. The result is that the anxious workmen become a mob and – as only later becomes apparent – they pursue and murder Pangall, burying his body beneath the cathedral pavement as a pagan charm to keep the spire from falling. Jocelin becomes increasingly obsessed with the spire, shutting out all other concerns. However, he feels guilty about Goody and tries to speak to her. When she sobbingly rejects his approaches, he climbs the spire to seek solace. It is revealed that Goody is pregnant. Roger becomes increasingly sullen and unpopular and the singing of the stones becomes worse, so that the master builder again begs Jocelin to halt the work. He paints a persuasive picture of the spire's collapse, but Jocelin resists and makes him continue. Shortly after this, Jocelin climbs the spire and witnesses Roger and Goody having sex. A steel brace is made and fitted to the spire. While this is going on, Jocelin secures a place for Goody in a local convent. But when Rachel discovers Roger's infidelity, she attacks first Goody, then Roger, and Goody dies in childbirth. Jocelin becomes more unwell and is tormented by remorse and sexual feelings, although he is relatively happy when helping the workmen. Roger becomes an alcoholic and has a breakdown. At midsummer, Jocelin realises that the workmen have left their work to attend pagan festivities. More Summary of Devil at My Heels The spire nears completion as the Holy Nail approaches. Jehan, Roger's second-in-command, now in charge of the work, miscalculates and damages the spire. An official from Rome, referred to only as the Visitor, interviews Jocelin and relieves him of his authority. In a raging storm, Jocelin climbs the spire and hammers the Nail in place, after which he has two mystical visions of Goody. Jocelin's aunt, Lady Alison, visits him and reveals that he was only appointed Dean thanks to her. The dumb sculptor, Gilbert, shows Jocelin that the pillars supporting the cathedral roof are not solid but filled with rubble. Father Adam reads aloud Jocelin's sermon describing his original vision of the spire. The process of Jocelin's disillusionment continues when Anselm – Jocelin's former teacher but now his junior as the Sacrist of the cathedral – denies that they were ever really friends. Jocelin goes to seek Roger's forgiveness, on the way having two mystical revelations inspired by an appletree and a kingfisher. He is briefly reconciled to Roger before the master builder becomes angry and throws him out. On the street, Jocelin is set upon by a mob. Nearing death, Jocelin has his effigy sculpted, and finally has several intimations which seem to explain his past experiences, and perhaps the whole of life itself. His dying thought is of the appletree, but the priest attending him, Father Adam, chooses to believe that Jocelin was in his dying breath murmuring the name of God. On one level this is a novel about the building of a spire upon a cathedral, the foundations of which are nothing but marsh and brushwood. It is about the resilience of those foundations against all odds; they hold a spire some four hundred feet high when, by rights, this shouldn't be possible. It follows the lives of a range of people involved in the building project, from the anonymous army of labourers who do the actual work at one extreme to the man who believes that God has chosen him to bring this work to a conclusion at the other. The spire stands at the end of the novel but it has destroyed the lives of Dean Jocelin, whose vision was the inspiration for its building; of Roger Mason, the master builder; of Roger's wife, Rachel; of Pangall's wife, Goody and the child she bears to Roger Mason. The reader is never confident whether the spire is the work of God or the work of the devil; what is clear is it is built upon human misery, upon argument and dissension within the cathedral's community, and upon the deceit of Dean Jocelin who holds high office in the church. As the spire reaches upwards the Dean feels its weight upon his back until he ends bent double; though he isn't aware of it, Jocelin suffers a crippling spinal disease – tuberculosis of the spine – which eventually kills him. Throughout the building of the spire he believes that the early physical manifestations of his condition are the visitations of his own guardian angel. The novel is also concerned with sexuality. It is about two men's desire for a simple woman who remains unaware of her own attractions; one, the Dean, suppresses his desires and suffers because of it, the other, Roger Mason, fulfils his desires, gets her pregnant and also suffers by it. Goody Pangall dies in childbirth; her husband is bullied mercilessly by Roger's men and finally driven cruelly to his death; Roger tries to kill himself and ends his day in madness; Rachel is left desolate, tending to her husband as if he were the baby they never had; Jocelin dies in both physical and spiritual agony. Finally the spire is left, a symbol but a very ambiguous one. Of the power of God to work miracles? Of a bargain with the devil? Or of the skill and endurance of man? Golding doesn't tell us.