Theological Inquiry Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Example

Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel Essay The Holocaust is without doubt the greatest human tragedy of the twentieth century. The literature surrounding Holocaust speak of the profound alienation of personality and loss of divine faith experienced by those affected. Those who survived to record these experiences are both lucky and unlucky. They are unlucky in that they had to continue to live the rest of their lives with tormenting memories and unanswered questions about human nature and God. Elie Wiesel is one such survivor, whose post-liberation life would be filled with mental anguish. In his seminal book Night, first published in Yiddish in 1955 and later appeared in English in 1960 we evidence how his faith in God as well as faith in humanity is challenged by the grave circumstances faced in German ethnic cleansing operations. The following passages will analyze how Wiesel’s faith in God and humanity is shaken to the core in the face of compelling circumstances and consequences. In a poignant passage in the poetically assembled book, Wiesel notes how, at one point during the life in the ghetto, taking care of his ailing father becomes burdensome. Already weakened by severe malnutrition and mental disorientation, his mind loses perspective and emotional connection with his father. He simply does not have the resources of empathy and solidarity to be able to care for another human. It makes him lament the forceful encampment that was the beginning of the great long ordeal: â€Å"Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.† (Wiesel, 1960) We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Theological Inquiry: Night by Elie Wiesel specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer In a tragic turn of events, his father would be beaten to death by German guards, just two weeks before American army liberated his camp. Wiesel could hear the final shrieks of pain from his father from his slot in the upper deck. But he could not venture a thought or an action to mitigate his suffering. Even sacrificing his own life for his once beloved father was beyond him. This is a key passage in Night, for it reveals how the Holocaust had stripped the humanity of the victims as well. The â€Å"loss of humanity† with respect to the Holocaust, is thus, equally witnessed in the perpetrators and the victims of the great crime. Hence, much in contradiction to preaching in the covenant, Wiesel fails to take care of fellows of his community, most notably his father. But Wiesel’s is not the universal case, for there are those exceptional individuals who could must spiritual and physical resources to offer themselves in service to other weaker members of the ghetto. T his difference in behavior is not a consequence of moral convictions or volitional choices of the ghetto inmates. Rather, they just showcase the manifest act of God through the lives of the faithful. The following passage highlights how the inmates of the ghetto encouraged each other during grave times: â€Å"There’s a long road of suffering ahead of you. But don’t lose courage. You’ve already escaped the gravest danger: selection. So now, muster your strength, and don’t lose heart. We shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves. Hell is not for eternity. And now, a prayer – or rather, a piece of advice: let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive.† (Wiesel, 1960) Elie Wiesel’s was brought up in an orthodox Jewish community that gave emphasis to religious observance and faithful understanding of the scriptures. This pre-eminence to God and belief in His benign will would be challenged to the core as Wiesel and other Jews are pushed ever further into the systematized abyss. But, instead of abandoning his faith completely, Wiesel gets new illuminations into his faith. In many ways, the experiences in the ghetto were part of a process of intimate acquaintance and assimilation into the essence of Judaism. Wiesel’s faith in God and the dictates of the covenant are neither weakened nor strengthened, but rather transformed into an understanding that is closer to the truth than what he began with. This is not to say that there were no moments of doubt and confusion in his mind. For example, at one point he asks, â€Å"Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because he kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death?† (Wiesel, 1960) But these doubts served as precursors to a higher truth, that he was erstwhile not privy to. Hence, Night is a book full of troubling thoughts and questions for the faithful. Just as Elie Wiesel had undergone a severe examination of his faith, the illumination at the end of this process is a great reward. As Wiesel reminds the doubtful, that for all the great turmoil of those who perished and those who survived, there is a purpose not easily accessible to rationality. The survivors also have the responsibility to perpetrate the truths they came to understand through their memories: â€Å"For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.† (Wiesel, 1960) Reference: Wiesel, Elie (1960). Night. Hill Wang, 1960, (translated from the French by Stella Rodway), ISBN 0-553-27253-5.

Organizational Behavior, Motivation and Conflict Management

Organizational Behavior, Motivation and Conflict Management Organizational behavior is the analysis and application of information about the peoples’ actions in an organization (McCuddy, 2011). The purpose of organizational behavior is to build a healthier relationship by achieving human, social and organizational objectives (Romando, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior, Motivation and Conflict Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, managers study the behavior of the organizations to understand how people are motivated because motivated employees are indispensable to a company triumph while unmotivated employees cause conflict (McCuddy, 2011). Motivation is an internal drive that accounts for persistence of efforts at work while motivation theory is the process that describes what triggers and direct human behavior (Romando, 2010). There are three categories of motivation theories and they include content, process and reinforce ment theories (McCuddy, 2011). Content theories focus on internal factors that direct a human behavior, process theories focus on the thoughts of people that direct their behavior while the reinforcement theories put an emphasis on controlling behavior by manipulating its consequences (Romando, 2010). Content theories strive to satisfy the people needs and they include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, ERG theory, two factor theory and acquired needs theory (Romando, 2010). Maslow’s theory has categorized needs into five levels in order of priority as physiological, safety, social esteem and self-actualization while ERG theory has classified needs into existence, relatedness and growth needs (Romando, 2010). Existence needs are the desire for physiological needs; relatedness needs are the desire for a good relationship while growth needs are the desire for personal development (Romando, 2010). On the other hand, two-factor theory suggests that hygienic factors in wor k place lead to job dissatisfaction and they include status, security, supervision and policies while motivator factors affect job satisfaction and they include achievement, growth, recognition and responsibility ( McCuddy, 2011). Moreover, acquired needs theory categorizes needs into achievement, affiliation and power needs (McCuddy, 2011).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In an organization, managers strive to meet the needs of employees from physiological level going upwards because employees whose needs are satisfied are highly motivated to produce more ( McCuddy, 2011). Additionally, a balance between hygienic and motivation factor promotes a conducive working environment (Romando, 2010). For instance, in an organization where the salary is high and employees are responsible for whatever they do productivity is high (Romando, 2010). The process theories of moti vation include Adam equity theory and Vroom expectancy theory (Romando, 2010). Equity theory outlines that people measure fairness of their work outcome in relation to others and besides, felt negative inequity is when an individual feel that he has received less than others in proportion to work input while the vice versa is felt positive inequity ( McCuddy, 2011). Therefore, in order to motivate employees, a manager should deal with the equity comparison by recognizing that comparisons are inevitable thus communicating a clear evaluation for any reward given (Romando, 2010). According to Vroom Expectancy theory, the motivation of a person is a function of valence, instrumentality and expectancy (Romando, 2010). For instance, in an organization motivation is low in the absence of the three functions while it is high when valence is positive and expectancy and instrumentality are high (McCuddy, 2011). Therefore, managers should strive to have a positive valence and a high expectancy and instrumentality in order to motivate the employees. Reinforcement theories of motivation include classical conditioning and operant conditioning (McCuddy, 2011). In classical conditioning, learning occurs through conditioned stimuli while in operant conditioning learning is through consequences of behavior (Romando, 2010). For instance, in classical conditioning an employee may hear his boss criticism and loose psyche for work and the same behavior is repeated every time the criticism is heard ( Romando, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Behavior, Motivation and Conflict Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the other hand, in operant conditioning, an employee may work overtime and get praise and as a result, he will be motivated to work overtime (McCuddy, 2011). Therefore, a manager should facilitate behavior that results in pleasant outcome because its repetition is possible, as t he employees are motivated (McCuddy, 2011). Proper management of conflict creates collaboration in the work place while unmanaged conflict creates division therefore; managers need to be familiar with conflict management strategies used in the work place (Heathfield, 2009). Conflict management strategies include avoidance, compromise, compete, accommodate and collaborate (Heathfield, 2009). According to avoidance strategy, confrontation of the conflict does not take place and the conflict resolve on its own (McCuddy, 2011). On the other hand, compromise strategy involves considering the opinion of both parties and the solution sought is acceptable to both parties (Heathfield, 2009). Furthermore, competition strategy entail meeting one’s own needs no matter the cost and it is a win and lose strategy that is important when the relationship with the other party is not significant (McCuddy, 2011). Besides, accommodation is a strategy that allows the fulfillment of the other perso n needs at the expense of one’s own needs (Heathfield, 2009). Finally, collaboration strategy involves acknowledging the differences between both parties and finding a common solution (McCuddy, 2011). Although the above conflict management strategies are important, collaboration and confrontation work best in the organization. This is because the two strategies involve both parties working together to find a solution (Heathfield, 2009). As a result, the solution reached is acceptable to both parties and this reduces the chances of occurrence of another conflict that can be due to dissatisfaction of one party (McCuddy, 2011). References Heathfield, S. (2009). Workplace Conflict Resolution: People Management Tips. Journal of Management Studies , 43 (89), 117-123.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More McCuddy, R. (2011). Organisational Behaviour and Motivation. Journal of Public Adminstration, Research and Theory , 345 (174), 179-190. Romando, R. (2010). Motivation Theory in an Organisation. Journal of Management , 786 (46), 45-60.