1. What kind of leader is Howard? Howard Wagner is the thirty-six year old son of Frank Wagner, Willy’s former boss, Howard now occupies the same position as his late father. Although Willy was the one who named Howard, Howard is forced to fire Willy for his erratic behavior. He felt Willy was a good sales man in his time, however Willy’s desperation and decline in standard of work lead to Howard finding him embracing and a liability and so he found himself having to fire him. Howard is preoccupied with technology.
The recorder incident for example shows that Howard was showing off his family and purchases in an almost friendly way to Willy, however this could also be interpreted to be a flaunt of Howard’s wealth. But, when Howard showed Willy the tape recorder, he constantly ignored Willy. Willy did not get a chance to talk, his words were not respected, and attention was not paid. Howard thought the machine was more worth his time than Willy; this must have made Willy felt terrible he realized he was not wanted. This shows Howard did not listen to and did not pay attention to his employees. Mangers and leaders must listen to their employees.
It is really important at the decision making. Howard inherited his position from his father, who built his company in part on Willy’s labor. But Howard sees as outdated the system of loyalty and personal connections in which Willy has put total faith. Throughout the conversation, Howard dropped obvious hints that Willy was of no importance to him; Willy was not treated like a man at all. Denial was evident when Willy was confronted with his boss, and the meeting between them also represented the end of Willy’s career. We also got a glimpse of how harsh the business world was, there was no place for sympathy.
Douglas McGregory’s theory X and theory Y Managers charts describe well with Howard’s X theory management. In present, we all can see 63 year old Willy has no future of sales in Howard’s firm. His desperation and aged thinking Willy wouldn’t motivate into new sales or new sales exploring. But Howard could have appreciate and value him for his service rather than fire him unethical way. Howard could have provide him an award and let him get retired or offer office work for less salary. When other salesmen hear or see Willy’s situation, they wouldn’t happy about this firm. They would think they will get treated same way as them.
On the other way Howard need to sell his products. That is his main accomplishment. He needs energetic salesmen like young aged Willy. As a leader Howard sees this. Meantime he sees old Willy is doing harm to his firm. Howard has the right vision. But he is not taking the right decision to solve the issue. 2. How is Willy his own worst enemy? In the end, Willy commits suicide. He dies in a car “accident”, an attempt to leave his life insurance money to his sons, so that they could succeed in life. He hoped that he could give something to them so that they would not turn out to be “failures” like him.
Willy is a simply a sad, pathetic man. Regardless of what is wrong and right, this man pursued what he believed was right till the very end, to me this is part of what a man is, if not a hero. Willy’s greatest character flaw is his faulty view of his over-inflated success. He spends too much time pretending to be much more then he really is and ignoring the reality of his life. This inability to cope with the real world eventually leads to his death. Willy was the source of his own depression and ultimate end, a very important trait of a tragic hero.
It was his individual actions that lead to his downfall, and his own fault that his life got so twisted. We know Willy made an error of judgment by pursuing the idea that reputation is more relevant than knowledge or education in an ever evolving, improving business world that has a high demand for work to get done efficiently. This could also be considered his fatal flaw if not his depression (living in the past). We know that his downfall was provoked by an external force; success through reputation no longer held true for a salesman due to the culture of business changing over the years, and Howard fires Willy.
While he achieves a professional understanding of himself and the fundamental nature of the sales profession, Willy fails to realize his personal failure and betrayal of his soul and family through the meticulously constructed artifice of his life. 3. What would you do if you were Howard, and had an employee like Willy? We believe the world is a rich and diverse place full of interesting cultures and people, who should be treated with respect and from whom there is a great deal to learn. We know that employing and managing diverse people gives us a more rounded and balanced organisation and makes us more adaptable to new situations.
This is not simply about gender, ethnicity, disability or age: it is about open mindedness, embracing non-conformity and creating balanced teams. Respect for individuals of all types will inspire loyalty in both employees and customers, which will have a direct line of sight to the achievement of business goals. We are a global organisation that understands our local populations and values the diversity of the markets that we operate in. We need to reach out to all parts of employment and customer markets, existing and potential, for maximum productivity and value.
It is by going beyond matters of compliance that valuing and managing diversity becomes a competitive differentiator, enabling us to leverage the opportunities that this can offer. 4. Why does tension develop between Howard and Willy? 5. How does Willy’s home life impact his work? This is how Linda describes Willy to her sons when Biff called Willy crazy “I don’t say he’s a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money; his name was never in the paper; he’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.
He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person. ” Willy’s actions are worse than his words. Throughout the play, Willy mentions his lonely life on the road. To alleviate his loneliness, he has an affair with a woman that works at one of his client’s offices. While Willy and the nameless woman rendezvous in a Boston hotel, Biff pays his father a surprise visit. Once Biff realizes that his father is a “phony little fake,” Willy’s son becomes ashamed and distant. His father is no longer his hero.
After his role model falls from grace, Biff starts to drift from one job to the next, stealing petty things to rebel against authority figures. Willy Loman was born in the late 1870s. (We learn that he is 63 in Act One). His nomadic father and family roamed across the country in a wagon. According to Ben, their father was a great inventor, but he doesn’t specify what sort of gadgets he created, with the exception of his hand-crafted flutes. Willy’s early adulthood, he meets and marries Linda. They live in Brooklyn and raise two sons, Biff and Happy. As a father, Willy Loman offers his sons terrible advice.
For example, this is what the old salesman tells teenage Biff about women: WILLY: Just wanna be careful with those girls, Biff, that’s all. Don’t make any promises. No promises of any kind. Because a girl, y’know, they always believe what you tell ’em. This attitude is adopted all too well by his sons. During her son’s teen years, Linda notes that Biff is “too rough with the girls. ” Happy grows up to become a womanizer who sleeps with women who are engaged to his managers. Several times during the play, Happy promises that he is going to get married — but it is a flimsy lie that no one takes seriously. Willy also condones Biff’s theivery.
Biff, who eventually develops a compulsion to steal things, swipes a football from his coach’s locker room. Instead of disciplining his son about the theft, he laughs about the incident and says, “Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative! ” Above all things, Willy Loman believes that popularity and charisma will outdo hard work and innovation. It is also said that others often suffer when a tragic hero messes up. In this case, Willy’s family has suffered a great deal. Linda, Biff, and Happy all witness his insane behavior due to his great character fault, and it drags and destroyes their family.
