Directors Duties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Directors Duties - Essay Example Directors exercise these powers by passing resolutions at board meetings. In the prevailing scenario where Wendy and Greg are directors of the block Ltd, there is a breach of directors' duties. Therefore the directors will be held liable for their acts. In this regard there is breach of:- The directors' of a company are expected to perform their functions with reasonable care and attention. They must discharge their duties and obligations with skill and diligence as expected from a reasonable person of his knowledge and experience. They (directors) are however not liable for bonafide error of judgment as observed by Romer J. in Re City Equitable fire insurance company 3. In this case the company collapsed due to bad investments and bad debts and misappropriation caused by fraudulent acts of a director. The company suffered a loss to the tune of 1,200,000 are eventually was ordered to be would up. The director was convicted for his fraud and negligence. He was however acquitted in appeal because of an exception clause in the articles to hold directors liable only for gross negligence. In Jorchester finance Co. Ltd v. ... hat the duty of care extends uniformly to all directors whether they are executive on directors of a company were held liable for the loss caused to the company due to their negligence in signing blank cheques which enabled the executive directors to enter the amount as they pleased in those cheques _______________ 3. Dr. H.V. Paranjape, Company law, 2000 4. Wardman, K. Abbott, Business law, 2001 . As regards the standard of care and skill expected from directors in performance of their duties, courts seem to unanimously agree that it is that of a reasonable person who with the same knowledge and experience would exercise in the situation. However, a distinction has been drawn between the standard of care and the standard of skill. For assessing a standard of care, the test of objective, while for the standard of skill is subjective. In this regard Wendy and Greg never exercised duty of care and skill. We are told that at the general meeting they failed to take suggestions of Kirstein and other Shareholders who were concerned about the company's expansion yet there was a fall in apartment prices. Further Greg's order of 50,000 from Alfonzo was not in good faith since name of the directors or shareholders was informed of the loan. Therefore the two directors Wendy and Greg lacked the duty of skill and care towards the company. b) Fiduciary Duties The duties of good faith and honesty arising out of fiduciary the fiduciary relationship between the director and his company are analogous to those of a trustee. The law imposes these duties upon the directors so that they are not allowed 'capitalize strategic position in the company to serve their own interests5' The Australian, uniform Companies Act has incorporated statutory provisions containing an explicit

To what extent can personality traits predict a persons leadership Essay

To what extent can personality traits predict a persons leadership abilities - Essay Example To begin with, it is important to explain why Hitler was a bad leader. He certainly was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. That in itself is bad. But we know above all that Hitler was a bad leader because he left his country in ruins. He, more than anyone else—including the allies—was the reason that Germany was a divided, destroyed country in 1945. His erratic, haughty, and morbid personality could have predicted that terrible result (Robertson 1963). To begin with, history is important to putting Hitler's personality into perspective. World War One was a disaster for Germany. Many say that the war began as a result of German aggression ended with a German defeat. The winners of the war, Britain and France, were not in a mood to forgive after the terrible destruction of previous four years. They wanted maximum reparations from the German people for their losses during the war. That is why they chose to impose the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was dest ructive for the German economy. Into this mess came Hitler, promising a revival. He promised a new Germany that would last a thousands years and would be a guiding light to the world. What type of man was he? Hitler was a failed painter. He came from a background that was not very good. He behaved erratically and had trouble making good relationships with people. He had grandiose ideas about himself, but throughout his life until that point had been a failure in everything he did. These were not the personality traits one looks for in a leader. Usually, people seek leaders from good background, who have confidence and credentials. Hitler managed to appeal to people because he blamed other people for Germany's suffering. He told Germans that they were not responsible for the tragedy that had befallen them. He told them to look elsewhere. He said he would lead them out of the wilderness (Robertson 1963). This was all very appealing. He was able to take over by force based on this argu ments. Rather than revolt against him, Germans accepted him as their leader. But what his personality and his qualities gave to the German people was more death and more destruction. Because of his erratic personality and poor qualities, he made multiple mistakes in starting and prosecution the Second World War. His actions led to a new and this time total defeat for the German nation. He was the worst kind of leader and many of his personality qualities would have predicted this. Among the most serious mistakes Hitler made based on his personality was attacking the Soviet Union in 1941. The truth is that one of his main personality qualities was paranoia: this is not a good quality to have in a leader. He suspected everyone around him at all times, including the leaders of other countries with which he made deals, such as Stalin. Since the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, Hitler had been on a roll, winning success after success. He had successfully taken over Czechoslovak ia and Austria, and he had done what seemed impossible: the invasion of Poland and France. His western front could be threatened only by Britain, which was in no position to do so. His major concern was with the Eastern front. That was not a problem because he had made peace with Stalin in what was called the Ribbentrop-Molotov compact. This had divided Poland. The truth was that Stalin didn't care what Hitler did to Europe. Stalin didn't care if Hitler took the whole continent so long as there was peace between the two