Yorktown-American Revolutionary War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Yorktown-American Revolutionary War - Essay Example The actual war was is said to have begun on September 28 when American forces under the leadership of General George Washington together with its French-allied forces led by Comte de Rochambeau hatched a plan to attack the British forces together with its allies that had camped at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington and Rochambeau moved with their troops (about 3,000-armed soldiers in total) and joined others who had already settled in Yorktown making about 17,000 soldiersi. On arrival, the soldiers carried out lethal bombardments on the British soldiers who were immediately overpowered by the American and French soldiers led by Washington and Rochambeau. Washington made life difficult for the British troops by shelling them for a period of three weeksii. After succeeding in this phase of the battle, Washington together with Rochambeau began to work on the second phase of the war which began on October 11iii. The aim of this second phase was to extend the siege line. However, the Americ an troops were repulsed by the British troops that mounted a strong resistance. However, the American and French troops managed to capture quite a number of British redoubts and pushing some British rebouts further away. Fighting continued until October 17, 1781 when the American forces backed by French forces managed to surround the British forces in Yorktown.... The American troops under the leadership of Washington and the French troops led by Rochambeau are said to have been more tactical in their approach to the war than the British troops, which gave them an advantage of the British soldiersvi. In addition, the America troops and its allies, the French soldiers, had the advantage of numbers over their enemies at the time the war broke out in Yorktown. In this regard, the American troops outnumbered the British troops in a ratio of two to one. This is because there were a total of 17,000 American and French soldiers against only 7,600 British soldiers. Basically, this made it difficult for the British soldiers to continue with the war, particularly after a few minutes of the war led to the loss of about 500 British soldiers against only 80 American and 200 French soldiersvii. As a result, the British soldiers had no option but to surrender leading to their loss of victory in the revolutionary war. In the event that the British won the rev olutionary battle, probably America’s independence would not have come so soonviii. The attainment of America’s independence just a few years after the war clearly points to the fact that Americans actually won the revolution. After the British forces had lost the Yorktown battle, the British parliament decided that the country discontinue the battle against America and its allies for fear that it could lose the war which would put the country in a bad positionix. As a result, the king was compelled to accept the loss of the Yorktown revolution to America, its thirteenth colony. In fact, after losing the revolutionary war against America, Britain retreated

Henry Fayol's Management Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Henry Fayol's Management Theories - Essay Example The principles act as guide to thinking, practice, and represent the sum total of management truths. Fayol further simplified the fourteen principles of management into five including planning, organising, controlling, commanding, and coordinating. According to Fayol, organisations need to plan, document and schedule all industrial processes. Planning helps in smooth running of an organisation, which needs capital, work force, and time. Production is a long process that needs forecasting of resources, to provide them as and when required by different departments. After planning, organising functions allows materials to get to the right departments on time. Fayol suggested that personnel need direction and guidance in their work to increase productivity. The commanding function of management helps carry out this function. Coordinating function makes certain that personnel work together towards a single goal. The final management function Fayol’s suggests is the controlling func tion where managers evaluate their subordinates work to ensure that it is in line with the given commands. Despite many criticisms, Fayol’s theories still form the basis of management practices and teachings in the 21st century. Principles of Management and Competitive Strategies: Using Fayol to Implement Porter is an article by Yoo, Lemak, and Choi. The paper presents the usefulness of Fayol’s principles of management to Michael Porter’s current competitive strategies. According to Yoo, Lemak, and Choi, â€Å"Fayol’s principles of management provided and continue to provide a general management perspective for practicing managers and an instructional tool for academicians teaching in the field of management† (Yoo, Lemak, and Choi 2006, p.353). The adaptability of Fayol’s principles of management is possible because he views management as flexible and adaptable to every need and change. Porter’s competitive strategies theory posit tha t businesses should put into serious consideration policies that enhance quality products to sell at high prices in the markets. Competitive advantage occurs when a company produces differentiated products that make consumers willing to pay higher for them. A company gains competitive advantage on acquiring resources and ideas that make it perform at a higher level. Additionally, a company can gain competitive advantage by supplying similar products in the market but at a lower cost. Michael Porter’s theory of competitive advantage is in use by many companies today who want to operate at a higher level than their competitors do. Some researchers have ignored the work of Porter arguing that it requires different resources, tactics, corporate cultures, and atmosphere to implement. However, a closer examination of Fayol’s principles reveals that some of them can be matched to Porter’s implementation framework. Research done by Waren et al proves that eight of the f ourteen principles by Fayol fit in well in the implementation of Porter’s cost strategy of competitive advantage. These include division of work, authority, responsibility, unity of command, unity of direction, scalar chain, stability of tenure of personnel, and initiative. Three of these that will fit in the differentiation strategy include stability of