Religion and Theology. Hinduism and Buddhism Assignment

Religion and Theology. Hinduism and Buddhism - Assignment Example It was not until the 19th century when the British colonial administration in India started referring to Hinduism as a form of religion. Hinduism was used as a description for the various religious beliefs and practices of the majority of Indian people (Rinehart, 2004). Despite the dynamics that he religion has undergone, the religion is believed to be more than 4000 years old, tracing bhack to the early Indian valley civilization. Traditionally, the religion is believed to be timeless, as the old people found it in practice. Fundamental spiritual beliefs Hindus believe in in one Supreme Being according to their traditions is both imminent and transcendent. According to the Hindu religious beliefs, the Supreme Being is both their creator and is of Unmanifest reality who deserves their respect (Rinehart, 2004). The Hindus believe in the divinity of the four Vedas, which are the oldest and most ancient elements of scripture in the world. Further, they venerate the Agamas as revealed in an equal measure. They treat these as primordial hymns of God which forms the bedrock of Santana Dharma, a form of an eternal religion. According to the Hindu beliefs, the soul reincarnates, evolving through many beliefs. However, the reincarnation trend stops after the resolution of all karmas. They also believe in moksha, which is the liberation from the rebirth cycle that takes place after the end of the reincarnation process. Since the process is continuous and evolutionary in every soul, not a single soul can be denied of its destiny (Fisher, 2014). Spiritual Practices of Hinduism In Hindu, an individual’s personal spiritual practice is referred to as sadhana which is used to refer to the means of accomplishing individual goals. It recognizes adhikara, which means that every person holds a very unique position in life that is different from that of other people. Therefore, God exists in different forms, which gives people the freedom to feel attracted to one God and lea ve the rest. Similarly there are different forms of yoga, just like there are different forms of God, which are not similar to one another. Therefore, the Hindu spiritual practice varies from one person to another. Spiritual practices to the include prayer, meditation, going on pilgrimage, bathing, fasting, practicing acts of charity, chanting mantra, reading of the scripture and performing ones’ daily work. How Hindu is practiced today Many Hinduism traditional practices have remained to date (Fisher, 2014). However several adjustments have been made to suit the religion in the modern context. For instance, in schools years, Brahmacharga is a common practice that focuses on instilling knowledge and developing the character of the people. How Hindu is practiced around the world Due to immigration to different parts of the world, the Hindu religion and its practices have also spread all over the world to areas such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Fij i, Mauritius, among others. Rinehart (2004) points out that the various practices of the religion practiced in these areas include sadhana, which is an individual practice of cultivating spirituality and Japa, which is a silent or an audible practice of repeating a mantra. Buddhism Origin It is believed that Buddhism originated from the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who was known as the Buddha in the years between ca 624-544. In his teachings, Gautama was opposed to the idea of man having an immortal soul. Moreover, his teachings did not touch on any Supreme Deity. In his teachings, Buddha insisted that man could overcome greed, hatred and delusion to attain enlightenment practicing the Four Noble Truths and

Organizational Development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizational Development - Assignment Example Advocates of TQM hold that the goal of customer satisfaction is achieved through top management commitment to creating an organizational climate that empowers employees and focuses all efforts on the goal of customer satisfaction. A positive relationship between leadership and commitment, and employee empowerment (leading to job satisfaction) with customer satisfaction is assumed. Both the trade and academic literatures on TQM suggest many different top leadership strategies and practices for empowering or involving employees in quality-related decision-making processes. However, few empirical studies, outside of the Malcolm Baldridge Award program, have been done to sufficiently document these relationships and to determine which of the many suggested strategies and practices are effective in bringing about the intended results (employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and superior customer satisfaction). The objective of this study is to provide empirical assessment of the assumed relationship between top management leadership and commitment, employee empowerment, job satisfaction, and customer satisfaction. ... Another objective is to provide empirical assessment for the TQM-based literature. Literature review In almost all of the TQM literature, employee involvement, empowerment, and top management leadership and commitment are identified as crucial elements of a successful TQM program (Bowen, Siehl, & Schneider, 1989; Brower, 1994; Camp, 1989; Deming, 1982; Mendelowitz, 1991; Roberts, 1994; Senge, 1994). Lawler (1994) referred to employee empowerment as one of the most important tenets of TQM. Thomas and Velthouse (1990) define empowerment "as intrinsic task motivation that manifests itself in four cognitions reflecting an individual's orientation to his or her work roles." By intrinsic task motivation, they mean "positively valued experiences that an individual derives directly from a task that produce motivation and satisfaction." The four cognitions they identified are meaningfulness, competence, impact, and choice. Meaningfulness is the value of the task goal or purpose in relation to the individual's own ideals or standards, and competence is the degree to which a person can perform task activities skillfully. Impact, on the other hand, is the degree to which behavior is seen as making a difference in terms of accomplishing the purpose of the task, while choice is the causal responsibility for a person's actions. A more operational-level and process-oriented definition of empowerment was offered by Bowen and Lawler (1992). They define empowerment "as sharing with front-line employees information about an organization's performance, information about rewards based on the organization's performance, knowledge that enables employees to understand and contribute to organizational performance, and giving