Enron, the smartest guys in the room Essay

Enron was one of the biggest scandal of all time in the stock market. The three main guys leading the pack was Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Andy Fastow. The company was not making profit so they decided to do â€Å"future value accounting†. This was shown to shareholders so they can spend money and invest in Enron. The future value accounting just shows a list of future profit that was predicted. What actually happened? Why it can happen again? What can be done to prevent it? and What is now being don’t to prevent it? These are the question that will be answered and explained. What actually happened? Andy Fastow was the one who created several smaller companies that would hide the losses Enron had made. Enron showed that they were making great increases in the stock market and others wanted a piece of that. They even convinced their own employees to buy stocks. Enron wanted to hide their scandal so bad that they paid investment company to fire the employee that had any concerns. Enron was behind the California Energy Crisis and made billions off the state. They had the power plants shut down and resold energy for much higher and made outrageous profit. Their company got so big within a short amount of time, but so did their losses. It was getting much harder for them to hide the scandal as their company progresses. A writer at Forbes magazine was the one who started the collapse of Enron. She released an article and what Enron was truly doing and it went downhill from there. Jeffrey Skilling bailed on the company and sold all his stocks and left Ken Lay and Andy Fastow to run the company. Enron eventually collapsed and all the employee lost everything. Jeffrey Skilling and Andy Fastow were sent to prison for the scandal and Ken Lay passed away after the trials. The main thing that can be done to prevent another Enron scandal is the involvement of the investors themselves. The stockholders need to know about everything and anything that goes on in the company they are investing to the best of their abilities. Management and the Board members also play a very big role in avoiding another Enron. They are the one to keep track of the funds coming in and out of the company. Calpers are the current members that watch over the investors money and make sure everything is where they’re suppose to be. Regulators are also important in having strict regulations for companies, but lenient enough so there is room for competition. The Enron Scandal can happen again if a company is using the â€Å"future value of accounting†, but with the new check and order that is set up, it is very unlikely it will happen. These new check and order are very strict and precise on company so that they can prevent another major scandal. Audit committee’s have the right to access the company’s financial statements and have the company cooperate with them at all times. The reason why Enron got away with their scandal for so long was because they had their own audit committee â€Å"checking up† on them. There is no way to completely prevent another scandal, but a scandal as big as Enron will surely not happen again. In the end, check and balance comes in to play to keep any company from pulling a scandal as big as Enron. Because there was a loose leash over the company, Enron took advantage of that to the max and scammed every investor for their money. Now the lesson has been learned and companies are being regulated and watched for the best of the investors.

Negative Leadership Behavior Essay

Negative Leadership Behavior Bad leadership experiences can be both a bad experience and a learning experience. We have all had bad experiences with leaders and we should use these experiences to help us grow and become good leaders. Poor leaders tend to be focused more on themselves than on their employees and this will cause employees to lose trust in their leader and to disregard their leader’s guidance and advice. A lot of companies suffer because of poor leadership and leaders not utilizing their employees properly. A company can still be successful even if it has poor leadership from what I have experienced, but the success is usually short lived. A company will not reach its goals or stay on top with poor leadership. My personal experience with poor leadership would be when leaders fail to recognize their team member’s individual talents and give the right assignments to the right people (Simonton). I was working at Staples as their Easy Tech Associate and the leadership there was terrible. The mangers were lazy and one had just turned 21 years old with the mind of a 13 year old. They would assign people tasks and walk away without explaining anything or showing them what they wanted done. My boss was terrible at his job and couldn’t fix a computer to save his life. There were several times where he made customers promises that he couldn’t deliver on and I would have to come in and save him. He was very unorganized and every time I came into work I had to hunt things down that I needed and play find the paperwork for computers that were there for repair. It made my job harder having to clean up after him and kept me from getting things done that I needed to do. It seemed like I had to go behind everyone that worked there because nobody seemed to know what they were doing. This is why I eventually quit. My poor leadership experience at Staples really addressed several poor leadership characteristics. The management team showing a lack of energy and desire by not caring if anything got done right or got done at all. They set low goals for themselves so that they could feel like they were accomplishing something, but would try to pawn off the real work onto their employees. They wouldn’t listen to any ideas from their employees because they felt like they knew it all. This one was very hard for me because I can’t stand working for someone that I am smarter than, but they think they are smarter than me. The leaders there also lacked any type of true leadership skills or any real skills at all (AG Careers). I couldn’t sell anything unless I would be there to do the work. Almost every time I came to work I had to deal with an irate customer because my manager failed to do what he had promised them. Poor leadership not only makes the employees suffer, but the company suffers as well. To fix this problem, Staples should pay more attention to who they put in leadership roles and what assignments that they give to employees. They could listen to their employees more and do a better job at addressing their employees concerns an suggestions. The management team should take more time to show employees how to properly do things so that they are done right the first time and no one has to go after them and fix it. The management team could also do a better job at leading by example. If the managers did their part, this would entice the employees to work harder and the store would be in so much better shape (Simonton). Staples could also provide extra training for their managers to help point out their poor leadership qualities and show them ways to address them to turn them into good leadership qualities. Conclusion The poor leadership that I experienced at Staples didn’t make me think badly of the people I worked with, but it did make Staples as a company look poorly organized. Bad leaders don’t just make themselves look bad, they make the company look bad as well. It is just as important for a company to address bad leadership qualities as it is good leadership qualities. When good leadership practices are exercised, employees will take pride in their work and whatever the leaders put into it will be multiplied by how many employees that they have. In order for a company to be successful and stay successful, they have to have a good strong leadership team. Without good leadership, they are like a ship at sea with no paddles or motor, they will just drift around or sink instead of getting to their destination. References: AG Careers. (n.d.). The traits of good and bad leaders. Retrieved from http://www.agcareers.com/newsletters/the_traits.htm Dodd, D. (2004, January 1). On the road of experience: Seven observations on leadership. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/road-experience-seven-observations-leadership Goodell, R. (2012, October). Characteristics of a poor leader. Retrieved from http://www.wjmassoc.com/insight/characteristics-of-a-poor-leader/ Simonton, B. (n.d.). Good leadership vs. bad leadership. Retrieved from http://www.bensimonton.com/good-vs-bad-leadership.html

Progressive Movement and the New Deal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Progressive Movement and the New Deal - Essay Example Social and economic change was not only necessary but vital towards the success of America itself as the government was extremely ambitious to implement these reforms. While recession continued to haunt countries worldwide, the progressive movement and the new deal established a solid ground for fundamental change. The progressive movement and new deal were similar because they introduced new programs, embedded reform and paved the way for greatness for the nation. The progressive movement and the new deal in essence were similar in many ways. First and foremost was the fact that it halted the progress of rebellion that was about to up heal during the industrial era. The progressive movement introduced new economic programs partly due to the fact that the muckrakers quest to address the ills of the society that were ruining the nation. The effort to improve society was a major push that was new to the nation as key issues such as reforming working conditions and assisting the mentall y ill people challenged the whole notion of old traditions. The era of progressivism movement can be Progressivism at its best aimed to remove corruption by imposing child labor laws, addressing lynching based on racism, and removing politicians that were involved in illegal business practices. At the local level, progressivism continued to display brilliant signs of reform as the construction of schools was pushed, political machines were dissolved, and politics was addressed in an efficient manner. Similarly, the new deal, was a focal point of domestic reform. Roosevelt’s New Deal was considered of two phases that were planned to recovery and relief. The first phase concentrated on to heal society from Great Depression through different channels. Acts such as the Agricultural Adjust Administration clearly boosted agriculture reform. Bank reform occurred in Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which installed a limit and tightened finance regulations.  

Clean Water Act regulate oil spills in the United States (LAW) Essay

Clean Water Act regulate oil spills in the United States (LAW) - Essay Example e section of CWA that prohibits the discharge of threshold amounts of oil or hazardous substances into navigable waters of the United States is Section 311(b)(3) (Oil Spills/SPCC 1). Section 311(j) of CWA reduces the chances of oil spill and prevents the accidental release of stored oil in navigable waters by mandating facilities to prepare Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) plans by storing oil in significant quantities (Oil Spills/SPCC 1). The SPCC plans must be in accordance with the National Contingency Plan (NCP) (Chapter Eight 4). For facilities that have a greater risk of oil spills from storage are required to develop plans to respond rapidly in case of oil spills and clean up. The SPCC plans have to be implemented by the facilities that have the total oil product storage of aboveground greater than 1320 gallons or underground more than 4200 gallons or aboveground storage of more than 660 gallons (Pollution Control 4). The SPCC plans must be in agreement with 40 CFR 112.7 and reviewed and certified by Registered Professional Engineer (Pollution Control 4). It must be reviewed by the facilities every three years or every time there is a change in the operator (Pollution Control 4). The copy of SPCC plan must be available with the operator who is attending 8 hours/day (Pollution Control 4). Periodic training must be provided to facility personnel, operator, and management for the spill prevention and response to oil spills (Pollution Control 4). Above storage tanks more than 660 gallons must be provided with secondary containment (Pollution Control 4). Appropriate cleanup equipments must be used to prevent oil spills from reaching navigable waters (Pollution Control 4). For drained water from the diked areas, a control valve must be used to lock when in use (Pollution Control 4). In case of oil spill or discharge in navigable water or in waters of contiguous zone, it must be brought to the notice of management authority of the United

Sports Marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sports Marketing - Assignment Example Sports marketing takes different forms. For instance, television networks sell airtime during main sport events. Marketers buy advertising spaces in stadiums to put their advertisements. Famous athletes also sell their images to marketers as celebrity endorsers. Sport is used to reach specific segment of a population. In most cases, the target market is men. This is with exception, however, from women sports such as netball and figure skating that attract female audience (Marketing Schools). Marketers choose to use sports for marketing because they find already developed market. They take advantage of the devotion and popularity that fans have towards their sports men and teams. It is assumed that marketers gain instant credibility in the fans minds if the marketer associates with the fans’ team or favourite sportsman (Marketing Schools). The marketer is considered a sponsor since the revenue goes to the team. Coca Cola Company for example, is always associated with Olympics (Fullerton & Merz p. 91). One disadvantage with sports marketing is that advertisements may be overlooked. This is because the sports marketing industry is so large, and there are very many advertisements. To avoid this and ensure effective brand marketing, a comprehensive marketing plan has to be developed. The plan encompasses estimations of resources and budget needed, time frame for the campaign, marketing objective, and the target audience and how they can be reached. The marketer needs an analysis of the entire marketing landscape to identify the most promising opportunities. Based on research findings, creative professionals will put types of advertisements that are in line with what the company wants to achieve. Brand marketing requires efficient market research. The professionals have to work hard to ensure the content of the adverts, connect the product and the sport. The adverts have to speak to the target population (Marketing Schools). This also helps in reducing ego

Homestasis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Homestasis - Essay Example The urinary system consists of kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder and urethra. The metanephric kidneys in humans filter the blood and forms urine which is carried by the ureters to the urinary bladder where it is stored till it is passed out through the urethra. The reflex of voiding urine is known as micturition. If the urine content of the urinary bladder reaches more than 300ml, the reflex of micturition is triggered. The urine that is primarily formed by the kidneys is highly dilute and contains a lot of salts and other substances which are beneficial and useful to the body. The urine needs to be concentrated and the salts must be reabsorbed else all of the water and important salts would be excreted leading to salt and water imbalance in the body. This is where the role of the kidneys comes in. The fact is that the structure, function and location of the kidneys help in maintaining homeostasis in the human body. It was in 1902 that Hober coined the term osmoregulation; Osmoregulation is a collective of a number of processes that regulate water content, volume and movement. Each kidney is made up of about 1.25 million nephrons which are the prime functional units of the kidneys. It is the structure of nephrons that play the most pivotal role in maintaining the homeostatic balance of the body. The structure of the nephrons is complicated and consists of three major parts- Renal corpuscle (Bowman’s capsule and Glomerulus), Nephric Tubules (PCT, Henle’s loop and DCT) and Collective tubule. Each of the parts of the nephrons play important role in formation of urine and maintaining internal chemical balance. Bowman’s capsules act as Ultrafiltration and filters out water and other substances from the plasma as the blood flows through the glomerulus except for the blood cells and plasma proteins. The glomerulus filtrate so formed passes through the tubules. During this

Relationship between the physical body and the technology Essay

Relationship between the physical body and the technology - Essay Example Relationship between the physical body and the technology â€Å"The nineteenth century demanded the functional specialization of man and his work; this specialization makes one individual incomparable to another †¦, however, this specialization makes each man the more directly dependent upon the supplementary activities of all others† (Simmel, 1903). Surveillance strategies were enacted to negotiate pay or to track wages. This dictated the impersonal ordering of the clock, engendering feelings of alienation as the individual perceived themselves different from, yet the same as, their co-workers, yet had no room to explore this difference. Explorations into this mechanized realm produced the phantasmagorical, characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtapositions. Through this imagery of the Dada, Surrealism and Letterism movements, the Situationists Movement arose, providing â€Å"their critique of modern culture, their celebration of creativity, and their stress on the immediate transformation of everyday life† (Marshall, 2000). ‘Everyday’ life, they maintain, deadens the mind into numb acceptance, while exploration of the surreal awakens subjectivity. This led to the concept of psychogeography as part of the system of unitary urbanism or â€Å"the study of specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals† (Situationnise Internationale, 1958).

Bullwhip Effect in Retail Supply Chains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Bullwhip Effect in Retail Supply Chains - Essay Example Supply chain management (SCM) then includes all the methods, systems, people, and resources that help improve processes and organisations throughout the supply chain. SCM involves close working together of all companies in the chain. Simchi Levi et al. (2004) classify SCM into two categories: configuration, which is related to basic infrastructure (hardware, software, transport, etc.); and coordination, related to the way the supply chain operates. Configuration issues include decisions on choosing suppliers, outsourcing activities, and policies for purchasing, decisions on production, site location, capacity; distribution channels, retail locations, and transportation costs and issues. Coordination issues include decisions on material flows throughout the chain, how information is exchanged, and payment systems. This shows how complex supply chain management is because it involves many functions and geographic areas. Design and execution are therefore difficult and need to be managed for the supply chain to move with efficiency. An example is shown in Figure 1 (Gereffi, 2002) for retail apparel which links cotton and synthetic fibre manufacturers, textile mills, apparel manufacturers, and retail outlets from all the five continents. If one link in this chain breaks, e.g., the container ship with the raw material supply of African cotton gets lost at sea, the whole supply chain can break down and thousands of clients of Marks & Spencer will have to party using last season's fashion. Supply Chain, Meet Bullwhip What is known as the "bull-whip effect" can be described as follows: the farther away from the customer a supplier is along the supply chain, the higher would be the difference between what is really needed from what is ordered. The term was coined by Lee et al. (1997) based on observations and descriptions made by supply chain professionals at Procter & Gamble (P&G). They noticed that whilst the number of babies and the demand for nappies were stable, the orders coming from retailers and wholesalers for Pampers deliveries, P&G's best-selling nappies brand, fluctuated dramatically. And as they went further down the supply chain, starting with the orders made by P&G from the suppliers of the components that went into a nappy - plastic, cotton, and so on - they noticed even wilder fluctuations. On a graph, they noticed that these fluctuations were similar to the way the amplitude of a whiplash increases down the length of the whip once it is cracked. Thus was born the phenomenon known as the Bullwhip Effect. Figure 2 shows this phenomenon in action, using data

Development finance and funding Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Development finance and funding - Essay Example if not irrational housing underwriting, increased unemployment and retrenchments, reduced compensation, a high price correction, tax credit for first time home buyers, rising foreclosures, decline of appraisal quality, expanded market times and a number of other challenges (Yudelson, 2009, p.45). The increased level of sales in the latter half of 2009 was encouraging; a recovery in housing department was later attained in 2012 by an increased employment rates and greater consumer access to credit. The number of sales jumped as inventory declined. The co-op sales in 2008 increased at an incredible rate of 28.3%. This level of sales is more than 3 times of the first quarter of 2009 which is considered then low point of market activity tipping in the fall of 2008. There is a consistency with the 10 year quarterly amount. The diminishing in the level of inventory in the market is attributed to the robust level of sales in the last quarter of 2009. The monthly absorption rate fell to 7.3 months due to the higher number of sales and lower inventory. The fourth quarter of 2009 represented 51.1% of all apartment sales which was an increase from 43.2 in the previous year (Miller, Spivey, & Florance, 2008, p.51). This represents a significant change for the same period a decade ago when the market shares of co-op sales were way below that. Of the total c-op stock, 97.3% were considered resale listings and 2.7% comprised of new development of condo-ops apartments with condo rules. These sales have led to a steady development of commercial property in the Manhattan region (Abbey & Richards, 2009, p.23). The increase in the number of market days as listing discount jumped. The average days on market was 151 days a decrease from the previous 152 days in 2008. Listing discount continued to increase reaching a mark of 18.3% as compared to 4.5% in the previous year. The combination of increasing number of sales and decreasing inventory suggested that the amount of remaining

The method that supermarkets can employ Essay Example for Free

The method that supermarkets can employ Essay One method that supermarkets can employ to keep a competitive edge in the market share while competing with the larger supercenters is to appeal to the information-savvy customer by installing new technologically-advanced equipment. Examples of these include electronic shelving labels that are linked to backroom computers and automatically update price changes. Changes in pricing are updated automatically, thus delivering ethical information to the consumer in a timely fashion. Another way of keeping customers happy, and thus repeat customers, is updating customers’ hand-held devices or mobile phones upon entering the store with updated information about current specials, providing the consumer with relevant and valuable information. Another strategy is to employ customer relationship management solutions and loyalty programs. Research has shown that for most supermarkets, the top 30 percent of supermarket’s customer base accounts for 75 percent of their sales. Effective customer relationship programs will find ways to best appeal to the top 30 percent of their customers, and brainstorm ways to nourish and strengthen consumer relationships. As technology advances, many supermarket chains are discovering that their current Point-Of-Service (POS) technology is antiquated. The older technology will cripple supermarkets from gaining a competitive edge on the market share. Therefore, successful supermarket chains must maintain newer operating systems, with â€Å"plug and play† capability, that offer flexibility, self-management, self-diagnosis, and self-correction. The newer technology will offer a better shopping experience for the customer, and a competitive advantage for the retailer. Staying above the technology curve keeps consumers ethically informed of price changes and current inventory, and keeps a culturally diverse population happy with up-to-date information delivered in a relevant and sophisticated fashion. In 2002, the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council commissioned a study of emerging trends in the supermarket industry. One finding indicates that supermarkets are increasingly tapping into the growing potential of America’s ethnic grocery shoppers. Supermarkets are implementing marketing and merchandising strategy to appeal to targeted groups of African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans, which comprise 1/3 of the total American population. This report, titled, â€Å"Grow with America: Best Practices in Ethnic Merchandising,† is filled with over 120 interviews with business owners and managers of chain supermarkets, independent grocery stores, food distributors, and food manufacturers. The study revealed that part of capturing the market share of grocery consumers is targeting and appealing to ethnic customers. Capturing the demographics of consumers can be successfully integrated into the customer relationship management policy of the supermarket chain or independent retailer. A few successful programs that supermarkets are currently using to appeal to the ethnic shopper are customized product assortment, strategies in merchandising, creating a store culture through signage, community outreach, language, community relations strategies, maintaining diverse staffing, and cultivating a diversity philosophy. This study was produced by a leading ethnic marketing research company and a marketing consulting firm specializing in ethnic markets. Together, these two companies conducted extensive research over the course of one year to compile existing research and interview leading executives and merchandisers in the supermarket industry.

Impact of Teleworking on Innovation

Impact of Teleworking on Innovation This study seeks to explore the relationship between high-tech firms, innovation, and the teleworking trend. Specifically, an examination of the high-technology sector in the UK is provided, followed by explanations of teleworking, innovation, and high-tech firms as they relate to the scope and focus of this study.   The above is based on published findings of empirical research and published reports.   This study then considers how teleworking has impacted innovation at the Intel Corporation, a leading manufacturer of semiconductors who allows employees in certain positions to telework part or all of their workweek.   Innovation and impact are considered at an overall corporate level, rather than at an individual level. Findings of this research indicate that teleworking one to two dayseach week has no discernibly negative impact on innovation, and mayactually enhance innovation, provided systems to encourage andfacilitate innovation are in place.   Implications for organisationsentering the teleworking arena and the sector as a whole are followed by recommendations for high-tech companies and for future research. Teleworking is a cultural trend in much of Europe and the Americas.   While it provides many plusses and a few minuses to theindividual teleworkers, its impact on organisations and particularlyinnovation at those organisations has not been sufficiently explored.  This study seeks to consider the impact teleworking has onorganisations, specifically high-technology organisations, and theirability to generate, initiate, and implement innovative products,processes and administrative ideas. A review of previously published findings related to teleworking,innovation, and high-technology is provided, covering these topics ingeneral.   The focus of the study then narrows, addressing organisationsthat both use and produce high-tech products or services, and finallyconcentrating on innovation in the computer hardware and softwaresector.   Ideas and conclusions from these studies are then combinedwith information from Intel Corporation, a leading manufacturer ofsemi-conductors and similar computer products, to analyse the specificimpact of teleworking at Intel.   It is hoped the conclusions drawn from Intel’s experiences will beuseful to other high-tech firms practicing or considering teleworking,as well as encourage others to pursue related research. High-technology has evolved in the past thirty years from something outof a science fiction novel to part of the average Britain’s everydaylife.   The UK contributes over 5% of the world’s research anddevelopment, although it has less than one percent of the world’spopulation.  Ã‚   The UK additionally has the larges software and computerservices sector in the EU, and a significant semiconductor industry(Anon 2005).   From Bristol, at the end of the M4 hi-tech corridor, toSheffield, where software has replaced steel, to the hi-tech centres inCambridge and Hertfordshire, high-tech is replacing and revitalisingthe declining UK industrial sector. It is important to note that the high-tech sector differs in severaldistinct ways from other sectors of the economy.   First, the speed atwhich technology changes is simply unmatched in other productionsectors.   This requires not only constant innovation in product, butconstant innovation in the process and administrative arenas as well(Edquist 2003).   Property rights considerations have starkly differentapplications in high-tech organisations.   If companies wait until theirnew ideas were licensed or patented before progressing into production,the market will likely pass by them and their product before it evenmoves into sale (Cohan 1997).   High-tech organisations are also morelikely to share information and partner on products, particularly intheir non-core technologies, and share the profits with another firmrather than miss a market entirely (Edquist 2003). The local high-technology sector differs in some ways from that inother countries.   The UK has historically lagged behind the UnitedStates and Japan in its ability to move a product from idea toproduction in the high-tech arena.   UK firms, unless part of aninternational company who mandates certain practices, have not made asmuch effort to design intra-organisational systems to encourageinnovation (Surrey 2004).   In a study by the University of Surrey,Ellie Runcie stated that after studying UK and U.S. high-tech firms,she found UK organisations have â€Å"often no discussion at all is made ofthe role of user research in innovation† (Surrey 2004).   This is aconcern regarding the UK high-tech sector that needs to be considered. The UK also has a lower per-capital computer literacy and computer use,particularly in the home sector, than most other high-tech nations.   Ona more positive note, the UK government has launched a campaign toincrease computer literacy and home computer use.   Intel, BT, andMicrosoft are the three major organisations working with the OeE, DTIand DfES on this campaign (Intel 2004). One of these leaders from the high-technology sector, the IntelCorporation, will be considered in greater detail.   Although aU.S.-headquartered firm, Intel has facilities in several places in theUK, as well as worldwide.   Intel is a major manufacturer ofsemi-conductors and computer processors, and will be used as an examplein this research of how teleworking can contribute to innovation in thehigh-tech environment. As this study considers the topics of teleworking, innovation, andhigh-technology, it was felt necessary to define and set parameters foreach.   The following literature is considered in the scope of thisresearch, with specific delineations of the three main study componentsoutlined in detail.   We have recently entered an important new phase in the ongoinginformation technology revolution. It is difficult to pick up abusiness magazine or newspaper today without reading about anorganisation offering teleworking and virtual offices for remoteworkers. There has been fair media coverage in how companies haveembraced the idea of teleworking, including the likes of ATT,Ernst and Young and IBM.   A monthly magazine is even devoted toâ€Å"today’s flexible workplace,† Telecommute, published by the nationaltrade organisation, the International Telecommuting Advisory Council(ITAC). Part of a general trend towards remote work, teleworking is a naturalresult of the information revolution, fuelled by the growth ofknowledge work and the rapid advance in technology.   The trend isconsistent with predictions made by futurist Alvin Toffler in his 1980book The Third Wave, that the location of work would outgrow typicalsites such as offices or factories, and begin to take place in alllocations. Teleworking is especially becoming popular in high-technologyorganisations.   During my work placement at Intel Corporation, I wasalso exposed to various team members teleworking from home one to twodays per week. While this trend is popular with employees, it behovestoday’s high-technology company to consider the impact of teleworkingon innovation.   This sector of the business environment is particularlydependent on innovation to remain viable, and it is important,therefore, that the initiation and implementation of innovation not besacrificed to worker preference. Examination of various sources reveals a lack of consensus as to thedefinition of teleworking, or as it is sometimes called,telecommuting.   ‘Teleworking’ is more common in European literature,while ‘telecommuting’ is more common in but not limited to Americanliterature.   Unfortunately, this lack of a universally accepteddefinition of teleworking causes problems academically; as either termcan be used to mean ‘home-working’, ‘working-at-a-distance’, ‘off-siteworkers’, or ‘remote-workers,’ it hinders the ability to comparefindings from different sources. Therefore, it is necessary to chooseand define a single term before proceeding. The term ‘telework’ is generally preferred on this side of theAtlantic, and will be used here.   Huws, Korte, and Robinson (1990)define telework as work â€Å"which is independent of the location of theemployer or contractor and can be changed according to the wishes ofthe individual teleworkers and/or the organisation for which he or sheis working† (10).   Olson (1988) argues, â€Å"the term telework is used torefer to organisational work performed outside of the normalorganisational confines of space and time, augmented by computer andcommunications technology. The work is not necessarily performed in thehome (77).   The EU holds that ‘telework’ â€Å"covers a range of new ways ofworking, using the telecommunications as a tool and, for at least partof the time, outside a traditional office environment (EuropeanCommission, 1996, 11).   Jack Nilles defined telecommuting as â€Å"an arrangement that entailsworking outside the conventional w orkplace and communication by way oftelecommunications or computer-based technology (Bailey and Kurkland,2000).   According to The American Telecommuting Association, 2002,telecommuting is â€Å" replacing or supplementing physical travel to theoffice by using modern telecommunications equipment to bring officeresources to the employee. While computers serve to augmenttelecommuting, it is possible to telecommute with only paper, penciland telephone.† Distilling the above into a workable definition, important elements of telework for the purpose of this study include: à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   the person doing the telework is an employee of the organisation for which she or he works à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   computers and communication technology are used à ¢Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   it is not necessarily performed in the home, but does occur outside a traditional office environment Telework is therefore defined as any substantial part of an employee’swork performed by employees that is physically separated from thelocation of their employer using information technology (IT) foroperation and communication.  Ã‚   Three groups are affected by teleworking:   the employers ororganisations, the individual teleworkers, and society as a whole.  Benefits and drawbacks to individual teleworkers vary greatly fromperson to person, and are difficult to evaluate.   Benefits to societyare primarily environmental, as reduced commuting decreases pollutionand reduces transportation-related injury.   This study will thereforefocus on the affect of teleworking on the employer or organisation.  Areas of benefit include increased productivity and financialadvantages.   Drawbacks security concerns, management issues, andreduction in interaction and exchanged of ideas.   Each of thesebenefits and drawbacks will have impact on innovation inhigh-technology environments. INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY According to The American Telecommuting Association, various surveyshave documented teleworking employees’ productivity gains of up to 60%(1992).   They claim that extra productivity is consistently clocked at10-15% in nearly every study in the past two decades.   The SocialMarket Foundation (2004) argues that teleworking can increaseproductivity by up to 30%. They further claim that the more than twomillion UK workers now regularly telecommute with employees use thetime saved from commuting and meetings for extra work.   Huws (1992),Salmon and Shamir (1985), Caudron (1992), and Metzger and Von Glinow(1998) all report indications of improved productivity, reliability andwork quality among teleworkers. The increase in employee productivity resulted from teleworking isalso supported by G. E. Gordon, who claims there are a variety ofreasons for increased productivity in employees who telework.   Theseinclude decreased time spent commuting to work, fewer distractions inthe workplace, and giving telecommuters the opportunity to better matchtheir work times with their peak productive periods.   He notes thatproductivity gains ranging from 15-30% are common with such programs(Gordon 1986). Employee motivation is another cited reason for improved productivity.  Employees perceive being the ability to telework as an indication thattheir employers have sufficient trust and faith in them to workindependently.   It could also be argued that teleworkers in fact workharder than non-teleworking employees as they feel the need to prove totheir office peers that they are not indolent as a result of working athome without supervision. Teleworkers may also feel the need to workharder to achieve promotions (). However, various theorists argue that some employees find that becausethey have their work resources at home, they tend to work more. Thiscould interfere with family life.   In addition, telework can be viewedas an intrusion of the workplace in the home. The office at home is aconstant reminder of work.   There is the real problem of definingconcrete working hours when the distraction of home life is a constantpresence.   Working hours and social versus home time can becomeblurred.   Another form of intrusion is when family members or socialinterruptions constantly disrupt teleworkers from completing work.  This may add extra pressures and stress.   Teleworking employees whoexperience such disruption and time management issues may actually havedecreased motivation and productivity due to these outside factors.  Therefore, it is important that employees exercising their option totelework draw strong boundaries that will enable them to workeffectively.   Guidance from t he organisation and possiblity sometraining in effective teleworking should be included by an organisationemploying teleworkers. Smith (1997) suggests telecommuting reduces absenteeism amongstemployees.   For example, employees who may feel too ill to complete afull day and commute, may be well enough to work a partial day.  Individuals are more likely to continue working even when feelingunwell due to being in a more comfortable and relaxed work environment,i.e. their home.   Smith counters that teleworkers often havedifficulty, especially at first, with separating home and work time.  This increases if children are in the teleworking location, most likelythe home.   However, adjustments are usually successful in the long term. Further, the Bureau of Labour Statistics reports that businessproductivity, the measure or output per work hour, has risen 2.8% since1998.   This correlates positively and directly with an increase inteleworking. Teleworking has been perhaps, therefore, most effective inincreasing productivity. Clearly, these human resource managers are very satisfied with theirprograms a nd believe their telecommuters are satisfied as well.   Ifhalf of the firms included in the above research are reporting morework done at a better quality in comparison to the traditional workforce, there must be considerable merit to teleworking increasingproductivity. FINANCIAL SAVINGS Teleworking can also save firms money in a number of ways.   It providesthe employer with an expanded pool of potential employees. The skillsof employees with commuting difficulties, childcare conflict,disabilities and geographical barriers employees are all made availableto the employer who adopts the telecommuting practice.   Smith (1997)supports this, claiming teleworking offers attractive workingconditions, which aid in the recruitment and retention of skilledemployees and help to reduce voluntary separation of key employees.  This represents considerable savings to the employer in terms ofreduced hiring and training costs. Reduced overhead is another financial benefit.   Teleworking reducestime and travel costs for meetings, conferences and training thusminimising organisational overheads.   Individual teleworkers alsobenefit from reduced costs in transportation, clothing, childcare, andreduced absenteeism.   Teleworking can also help firms remain in the same location and avoidfuture relocation to larger premises.   This particular cost saving ishighly remunerative due to the increasing real estate prices in urbanareas today and the substantial cost savings in office space.   Peoplewho telework do not use office space and do not create overheads.   Evenin case of part-time teleworking space savings are generated.   This isevident at IBM, who is expected to save between 15 to 20 percent inspace requirements by taking away the desks of more than five thousandof its employees and telling them to work at home, in their car, or attheir clients’ offices (Swinton 2002). The claim that teleworking reduces organisational overheads is alsosupported by BT who introduced its â€Å"Workstyle 2000 flexible working†programme ten years ago.   The claim that the programme has saved them134m as a result of teleworking practices.   This includes reducing thenumber of employee desks in London from 10,000 to 3,000, saving  £6,000per desk per year.   There has also been a five% reduction in companycar mileage, resulting in fuel savings of  £9.7m this year alone.   BTalso reports a 20% increase in productivity and that 75% of alltelephone conferences are replacements of face-to-face meetings. Opponents of teleworking argue there are often some initial increasedcosts due to outfitting the teleworkers and making adjustments tocompany computers to accommodate them.   Ford (1995) claims thattelecommuting programs lead to extra costs. He claims that extra coststypically involve additional equipment requirements and funding theprovision of human reso urce services, training, fringe benefits, andrelocating. He continued to argue that the question of cost alsoincludes the equipment and space costs associated with telecommutingprogram and that telephones and electronic equipment cost more fortelecommuters than for traditional workers. It is important that hardware and software provided to teleworkersstarts out and remains uniform because this simplifies supportimmensely.   The required initial investment and length of time forpayback will vary sharply from company to company, however, with themost technologically advanced incurring the least upfront costs.   Giventhat high-tech firms are those under consideration in this study andthey have the most access to the latest and most efficient technology,it then follows that these expenditures do not detract from the savingsfor high-tech firms adopting or practicing teleworking. Additionally, many companies report current pressures on their supportdesk and according to Classe (2000) this will intensify by theintroduction of a remote workforce.   As teleworkers usually worknon-standards hours, longer hours of support cover may be required,which will confer additional associated costs to the employer.   Thecost factor for such support spread across a larger high-t ech companywill have little impact; the same costs spread across a smaller companymay be significant and should be considered a potential drain onresources that could support innovation implementation. SECURITY Security is a major concern for high-tech companies with teleworkingemployees.   Confidential information must be accessible to theteleworkers remotely, information that may range from a product indevelopment to a change in production methods to sensitive profiles offuture customer bases.   This makes the same information more accessibleto hackers and competitors; it is highly unlikely a company couldafford or an employee would want equal security measures on theirprofessional facilities and residences.   In addition, information used and generated by teleworkers willtypically be uploaded to a server for accessibility.   Others within thecompany then have increased chance of access, compromisingintra-company security. Eric von Hippel, however, in his study of knowledge location andinnovation solving, noted â€Å"conducting innovation-related problemsolving at remote sites need not compromise an innovator’s ability toprotect commercially important secrets† (1994).   While greaterpotential for security breaches exist, this in no way indicatessecurity need be compromised by teleworkers. MANAGEMENT One of the biggest problems for managers and staff involved withtelework is measuring and monitoring the work done by employees.Management recognise that it is easier to monitor the level of workdone by employees when they are in the office and managers often worrythat their staff will not work as hard from home.   Teleworking presentspotential issues with the ability to discipline telecommutingemployees, provide a career path, and provide promotionalopportunities.   Those in supervisory positions often see difficultiesin relation to mangers’ human resource management responsibilities(Werdigier and Neibuhr 2002). Ford (1995) also raisies the issue of the telecommutting impact on thesupervisors span of control.   Due to the workers being so spread out,Ford claims that many companies will be forced to reduce the averagespan of supervisory and will not have sufficent control to accommodatethe unique problems of telecommuters.   Ford suggests that another majoraspect of th e supervisory issue is the ability of the manager tocontrol distractions in the work setting and to ensure that theemployee does not become displaced from the informal help and adviceavailable through interaction with a work group. Clearly, managers of such programs need to be trained in remotesupervision.   In addition, they should recognise the possibility thattheir teleworking employees may not have adequate access to training,career and promotional opportunities.   More importantly, theseemployees may miss the informal information sharing that occurs in atraditional work environment.   This will be shown to have a significantimpact on innovation.    REDUCED SOCIAL INTERACTION AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE Social isolation seems to be mostly acknowledged by scholars as themost significant potential or actual drawback of teleworking.  Ã‚   Whilesome employees welcome the new freedom that comes with lesssupervision, others say they miss the camaraderie and socialinteraction that comes with face-to-face office operations.   However,this usually depends on the professional level of the employee.   Smith(1997) argues that the higher the level, then the more electroniccontacts and networks; hence, less social isolation is experienced. Video conferencing could help ease the psychological trauma that comeswith social isolation, allowing multiple numbers of people to converseand perform work together in an electronic version of face-to-facecommunication.   This may allow teleworkers to increase the humanemotion and communicational flexibility often lacking in electroniccommunication.   Social isolation also implies that for teleworkersthere is minimal peer availability for informal work relateddiscussions as one might get, for example, in a staff cafeteria atlunch times. In addition, teleworkers may lack the political connections and cloutto get innovations approved or funded.   With reduced opportunities tobuild relationships on the job, they are forced to propose or supportinnovation solely on the merits of the proposal (Werdigier and Neibuhr2002).   While this theoretically could be a positive result ofteleworking, in practice it reduces the chance of innovative input fromteleworkers being initiated or implemented. DECREASED KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE It could similarly be argued that the largest detraction of teleworkingon innovation in high-technology organisations is the reduction ofknowledge exchange from employee interaction.   Informal and proximitylearning is an ongoing opportunity for training in the traditionaloffice environment not available to teleworkers.   If both are in thesame location, an inexperienced worker can observe another moreexperienced worker and learn from this observation.   This is asignificant training tool for office-based or facility-based workersand one of the main ways knowledge is acquired and exchanged in anorganisation (Classe 2000). CASE STUDY BT The various benefits of telecommuting to the employer can be supportedby the findings of a study conducted amongst 2000 BT employees (2002).  The study revealed that enabling staff to work from home resulted inincreased company productivity and better employee health and qualityof life.   BT claimed that telecommuting saved them  £35m a year inaccommodation, recruitment costs and absenteeism and that teleworkerswere four times less likely to take sick days, averaging three days offa year compared with twelve for office-based staff. The study also revealed that almost 80% of teleworkers claimed to bemore productive thanks to reduced disruption, commuting time andstress, and greater flexibility about when and where to work.  According to Alison Garner, marketing manager for social responsibilityat BT making staff feel part of the BT community was key to theschemes success. Although a small number of teleworkers complain about increased workinghours, four out of five survey respondents claimed that teleworking isimportant or very important for their quality of life.   Almostthree-quarters described their work/life balance as good or verygood.   BT also maintained that its teleworking policies paid off interms of staff recruitment and retention. CASE STUDY – THE SUSTEL PROJECT The Sustel Project, created in 2002 by the EUs Information SocietyTechnologies programme, found that telework increases businessresilience since it allows work to be done when building operations aredisrupted by factors such as the weather. The Project also showed that the influence of telework on human capitaldevelopment, the personal competencies and skills needed to createwealth, was mostly positive.   Seven of the studies found that teleworkhad a significantly positive effect on internal communication andknowledge sharing, often due to the conscious implementation oftechnological tools during telework program deployment.   At theindividual level, the main financial benefit of telework was reducedcommuting costs, which almost all respondents saw as being greater thanthe increased cost of energy in their home. BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS – CONCLUSION At the present time there is a lot of controversy in both academic andpractitioner literatures with respect to how telecommuting affectsorganisation employees.   At one extreme, telecommuting is considered aflexible work arrangement that will solve a multitude of problems.   Atthe other extreme, authors have implicated telecommuting causing anumber of negative consequences including loneliness, isolation,exploitation and increased stress.   While there are a legitimate numberof potentially negative effects of telework, these effects can beminimized by proper program management. A balanced view is presented from Baruch and Nicholson (1997) andGoodrich (1990) who claim that the best output from telecommuting isachieved if it is conducted on a part-time basis. They argue,teleworking on a part-time basis can prevent or significantly reducethe social isolation of teleworkers. There are a number of benefits and drawbacks that should be consideredspecifically by high-tech organisations implementing teleworkprogrammes.   From a broad organisational perspective, the positives ofsuch a programme seem to outweigh the negatives.   However, the twodrawbacks of teleworking with legitimate effect on innovation in thehigh-technology sector are reduced political influence, and knowledgeavailability and exchange.   As these have been identified as ofgreatest impact, these areas will be focused on in this study.   As with teleworking, there are a number of different proposeddefinitions of innovation.   One of the most complete is offered byDamanpour (1996), who defines innovation as â€Å"the adoption of an idea orbehaviour new to the adopting organisation,† which usually occurs as â€Å"aresponse to changes in the external environment or as a pre-emptiveaction to influence the environment† (694).   Innovation is â€Å"departingfrom existing norms and practices,† and â€Å"requires risk taking†(Damanpour 1996, 698).   Edquist (2003) defines innovation as â€Å"newcreations of economic significance, primarily carried out by firms†(2).   Depending on the researcher, innovation is held to require either twoor four steps to implementation.   In the four-step model, theinnovative idea is first discovered or created.   This usually happenswith one individual or a small number of individuals working as ateam.   The idea is then presented to and accept ed by a decision-makingleader or body.   Initial adoption of the innovative idea by theorganisation is the next step, with the company allocating someresources to the development of the idea, such as pilots or testcases.   Implementation occurs when the innovative idea reaches broadacceptance within the organisation and becomes part of its regularproduct, process, or routine (Styles and Goddard 2004).   The two-stepcombines the first three steps of the four-step model under oneheading, initiation (Damanpour 1996). There are three types of innovation:   product innovation, processinnovation and administrative innovation (Edquist 2003).   Allcompanies, and small firms in particular, are more likely to innovatein the product arena, where results are tangible and measurable.  Larger firms will also innovate in process areas.   However, processinnovation is more difficult to implement than product, as it requireschange across multiple systems.   Administration innovation occurs mostfrequently in large, structurally complex companies, as it requires themost widespread changes to the organisation (Damanpour 1996).  Ã‚   Innovation within these three areas can be radical or incremental.  Radical innovation â€Å"produces fundamental changes in the activities ofthe organisation and represent a large departure from existingpractices† (Damanpour 1996, 699).   Radial innovation requires a largerknowledge base and free resources.   Incremental innovation is adoptedmore slowly, and produces less pronounced changes to organisationalsystems and activities. Innovation, therefore, is defined in this study as a change in theproduct, process or administration of an organisation; a new idea thatdeparts from existing norms and practices to respond to the firm’scurrent or future environment.   Innovation implementation requires knowledge, creativity, politicalsupport (within the organisation), and adequate resources.   Increasingany of the above or making the systems that control them moreeffective, therefore, has a positive effect on innovation.   Asinnovation requires both change and risk, companies will only undertakeinnovation if it is perceived as necessary to their survival or can beshown to have financial incentives.   Recognizing the forces driving the organisation to innovate isimportant.   For example, environmental uncertainty and environmentalcomplexity both contribute to increased innovation.   Uncertainty aboutthe future leads directly to a concerted effort to increase knowledgebase and exchange.   This influx of information then leads to increasedinnovation (Damanpour 1996).   This is especially evident inhigh-technology firms, where a market leader product today may becompletely obsolete by next year.   Definite, articulated identificationof the need for and support of innovation within the organisationgreatly enhances the chance of implementation of an innovative idea. Similarly, development or adjusting organisational systems to encourageand support innovation increases the chance of innovative success.  Damanpour found that â€Å"large organisations can facilitate theimplementation of innovations by adopting more flexible structures andorganising themselves into smaller units† (1996, 700).   Creation ofinnovative ideas is more likely in complex organizations, where thereis a larger knowledge base and an increase in knowledge exchange(Damanpour 1996).  Ã‚   However, larger organisations are less likely tomove innovative ideas to implementation as they are typically moreformalized, with lower managerial incentive to innovation (Hitt,Hoskisson and Ireland 1990).   An example of this is IBM, which made a sy

My Story :: Personal Narrative

As I begin this assignment, I really don’t know what to write. Should I begin with how I was born and rise up in a country that is far away from American? Maybe talking a little bit about my background will help my classmates get to know who I am, and that is the least thing I can do now. I was born in Saigon City, Vietnam, a country located in Southeast Asia, within a big family. My parents have five elder brothers, two sisters before they have me. I had problems after my birth; a little disorder (nothing serious) in my brain caused me some troubles and worry to my parents. It took three years to be cured through continuos visit to my doctor in Saigon City. Those days were really difficult not only for my parents and me, but also for the whole family too because I was submitted to terrible exams according to my age. My family thought that I wouldn’t be able to grow up like other normal kids. However, with the praise of every member in my family, I was healthy after all .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By the time I was ready for kindergarten, my two elder brothers allowed to come to the United States to study aboard. This was a big change in my family because my parent wanted to save money for my brothers’ education. Therefore, they sold our house and asked my two elder’s sister to help them with our family business instead of going to college. The clearest thing I remember about this issue was my sisters not happy with this decision. However, in my country, the idea of women with high education isn’t expected as compare to men. Therefore, I think it is the tradition that effects my parent to decide this way. As for me, I continue to grow through school and the love of my parent. In the school I spent wonderful times with my friends. I used to participate with my group in mom’s day every year dancing. At the same time, I also started to go to my ballet classes. First my mother sent me because she wanted, and when she decided to put m e out of my classes I asked her not to do that. According to my mother, I quit everything to go to my ballet classes, and never I refused to go.

Slaughterhouse Industry Essay -- essays research papers

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Industry Study Project Description A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Basic Project Information B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Project Location C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Project Rationale D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alternative E.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Description of Project Phases F.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Baseline Environment Condition G.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impact Assessment and Mitigation H.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Environment Management Plan I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Proposal for an Environmental Monitoring and Guarantee Fund Attachment of Annexes A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Photos or Plates of Proposed Project B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impact Areas, Affected and Communities C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maps of the following Scale D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Permit to Operate Certificate E.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  E. Result of Physical and Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastewater PROJECT DESCRIPTION Davao City slaughterhouse is located at Ma-a, Davao City. The operations are limited to the night shift. The delivery of animals will start at 1:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon. The whole morning will be utilized for cleaning the area. The 2nd shift will start at 9:00 in the evening up to 5:30 in the morning. It employs 48 workers of which 25 are regulars and 23 are contractual. This contractual will do the maintenance and the manual slaughtering of animals. Currently the number of hogs, cattles and other animals slaughtered are as follows Hogs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   200 to 250 heads Cattle  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   30 to 40 heads Chicken  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   none ( chicken slaughterhouse is out of order) Goat  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   20 to 25 heads The number of heads slaughtered everyday does not level of with the number of kilos meat sold in the public market. In short there are hogs and cattle slaughtered privately. The following are the charges per head for the service rendered: Hogs  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  P91.11 per head Cattle&nbs... ...ication Plan †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Organize and conduct information, education and communication ( IEC ) activities on integrated Solid Waste Management Program such as recycling, Re-use, composting, sanitation, proper collection and disposal of solid. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Properly brief or orient the Project Administrator and beneficiaries about the EEC conditions, commitment and agreements made about the project. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Support continuing government efforts to promote environmental sound Slaughter House project. I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Proposal for an Environmental Monitoring and Guarantee Fund A slaughterhouse of this size requires regular environmental monitoring. To do this, it has to undergo environmental impact assessment to determine whether there is violation of the mitigating measures. To achieve this, a respectable budget should be included in the maintenance and operating cost to answer for many defects that may result to environmental disaster, this budget should be on regular basis to include hiring in contractual basis environmental engineer.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Gossip and People

The most common way people interact with each other is through gossiping. Many people who converse with others share information they heard that may either be right or wrong. Many people think gossiping is only bad but gossiping is just sharing opinions. People may think this because majority of the time gossiping leads to a rumor being spread that is full of lies. This can create a negative energy that would affect everyone involved. However when gossiping is consider good it’s known as just sharing your opinion. Even though many people do it there are many different reasons for gossiping.The most common way gossiping is used is for a negative purpose. For instance, people can use gossip such as lies to hurt someone else to either get revenge or they want to feel better about themselves so they use the lies to make someone else look bad. Even private information from secrets can be used as a weapon to hurt someone. A particular type of information spread through gossip is a r umor which isn’t known to be fully true but is then spread through people continuing to pass the information around. Most people who hear rumors don’t check if it’s really true and continue to pass it along.As it continues to be told to other people the rumor may be changed by either adding more lies to it or not all of the information is said. Violence is mainly the aftermath of bad gossiping which is the breaking point for most people. Although bad gossiping is a habit for most people there is gossiping that’s positive. Positive gossiping can be helpful for many people. This type of gossiping contains opinions that could actually help someone going through a rough time. Any type of news publicized for people to be updated on what’s happening is an example of gossiping that’s positive.

Findings research questionnaire Essay

The research questionnaire had essentially two parts. In the first part personal data of the customer in relation to banking practices was included. This was done to essentially categorize the customers in personal and corporate class. A summary of findings as a whole that is a combined view of both the banks of this part is as given below. The banking services most frequently used by the customers were deposits (64 %) followed by Credit/ Debit Cards (23 %). The selection of the bank by the customers was primarily based on location followed by the image and the services provided by the bank. This is indicated by the following percentages:- †¢ Nearest Bank to Residence – 34 % ? †¢ Nearest Bank to Office – 21 % †¢ ? Reputation of Bank – 15 % †¢ ? Overall Bank Image – 12 % ? †¢ Recommendation of a friend – 6 %. †¢ ? Reputation of Bank Staff – 8 % †¢ There was no alternative – 4 % ? †¢ Any Other Reason (Please elaborate) – Negligible Response. The response to the frequency of use of banking services has been combined for both the Banks and is tabulated as follows:- Frequency Personal Customer Corporate Customer Daily 8 % 61 %. 2-3 Times a Weeks 34 % 12 % Weekly 41 % 20 % Monthly 17 % 7 % It would be seen that most of the personal customers are weekly or bi weekly customers whereas the corporate customers are mostly daily visitors to the banks. This should enable us to cater for a greater expectancy of corporate customers in the bank, though cumulatively in numbers, it would be expected that more number of personal customers will be visiting it. Preferred mode of Utilization Mode Bank of China HSBC Personal Corporate Personal Corporate Internet 21 % 35 % 56 % 61 %. Physical 72 % 60 % 30 % 30 % Mobile Phone Banking 7 % 5 % 14 % 9 % It would be observed that there is greater use of the internet and mobile banking by customers of the HSBC as opposed to those of Bank of China. On the other hand it is seen that more number of corporate customers in both cases were using internet banking as opposed to personal clients, who relatively preferred physical banking. Mobile banking as a concept has taken roots, but it is being used primarily by personal consumers with HSBC once again providing higher figures than Bank of China. In the second part of the response to questionnaire, the experiences of the customers to physical and internet banking as well as banking with respective institutions has been covered separately for each bank. The analysis of the findings have been carried out in the next chapter. Experiences of physical banking The overall experience of physical banking has been tabulated in percentage for both the banks jointly for personal as well as the corporate customer. Bank of China HSBC The services were customer friendly 55 % 58 %. The services were timely 42 % 67 % The services were efficient 41 % 68 % There was adequate follow up of the services given 31 % 54 % The services are better than Internet 76 % 43 % There was a greater feeling of security than on the internet 78 % 55 % The services were more economical than on the internet 39 % 12 % My experience encourages me to continue with physical banking services 55 % 61 % Experiences of internet banking The overall experiences of internet banking are tabulated as given below:-. Bank of China HSBC The services were customer friendly 32 % 66 % The services were timely 47 % 85 % The services were efficient 41 % 76 % There was adequate follow up of the services given 32 % 59 % The services are better than physical banking experience 67 % 89 b% There was a greater feeling of security than physical banking 41 % 76 % The services were more economical than physical banking 91 % 92 % My experience encourages me to continue with internet banking services 81 % 93 %. Overall Banking Experience with Bank of China or HSBC, London The percentage responses for overall banking experience have been summarized as per Table below. BANK OF CHINA HSBC The bank is very customer friendly 54 % 67 % The services are very efficient 56 % 68 % The bank provides customized service to the customer 32 % 71 % The services are secure and ethical 67 % 81 % I will continue banking with the bank in the future 63 % 76 % Chapter 5 Analysis of Research

Pathological gambling intervention Essay

When looking at pathological gambling we ask ourselves how someone gets to the point of addiction. In that regard there are both internal and external factors, beahior and environment related aspects leading to someone’s impulsive urge to gamble. Speaking of which, impulsivity can be a direct factor of a pathological gambler, Impulsive people are naturally more prone to gambling problems because of their nature and personality. That is not to say that all impulsive people will develop gambling habits or problems but they could if the right factors were in play at the right times. Inability to control impulses and also inability to delay gratification are two major impulsivity-related symptoms of pathological gamblers (McCormick & Taber, 1988). Other behavior factors include, coping strategies, high stress levels, family history, gender as males tend to be more prone to this affliction and â€Å"Pathological gamblers have been known to also exhibit antisocial behavior which is related to the impulse control disorder causing antisocial behavior such as exhibited in antisocial personality disorder† (Slutske et al. , 2001). The environment one grows up in Also plays a valuable role in understanding gambling. It’s a common misconception that pathological gamblers are only those that are near major casinos. That can be a tendency but in todays society technology has opened the door to universal in gambling before impossible. With computers and the internet people are now able to gamble straight from their homes on sports, online poker, etc. This boom in technology has allowed more people, from more places and economic statuses and younger ages be able to easily get involved in gambling. Our group even met a professional gambler who would have all of his bets placed on his computer before noon and then do nothing the rest of the day. Technology has extended the reach of gambling to social circles that before may have not been affected. Predisposing, Reinforcing, Enabling Factors Predisposing factors are what set someone up with the highest chances of being a pathological gambler. An addictive personality makes anyone more susceptible as well as having addictions or just gambling itself run in the family. A persons level of impulsivity is also a huge factor, an impulsive person is more likely to give into reckless decisions and follow the activities that give a rush sensation. Impulsive people have problems with delaying gratification making addictive and compulsive tendencies stand out. †Pathological gambling is a problem of impulse control. The more accessible gambling is, the harder it is to maintain the control. †(3) Predisposing factors can also be socioeconomic status, does one have the funds to feed the addiction, or did one one grow up in rough situations and use gambling as a crutch or coping strategy, the factors are vast and varying. Environment as brought up by the last quotation can also be a predisposing factor. Does one have access and how easily plays into an addiction. The closer one is to gambling the more likely they will partake. That used to entail how close someone was to casinos or legal areas of gambling and in many cases still does as more areas are becoming gambling friendly and more funerals pop up in for example, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Missouri, However with technology and the internet, access has become easier for all regardless, of location, sex, race, or economic status. With gambling there are different stages, stages that can reinforce the behavior because despite popular belief many gamblers are reinforced even when they don’t win. â€Å"WINNING PHASE Here the gambler is winning more than losing, has achieved a minimum of one big win. This early big win, bolsters the confidence of the gambler, causing ego to inflate, superior thinking and feeling over other participants. The gambler in this phase begins to spend more time gambling, is gambling for and with larger amounts of money. Winning streak begins to wane, losses start. LOSING PHASE In the losing phase, the gambler begins betting even larger amounts. The gambler accepts the fact that these losses are part of the game. The gambler bets on the long shots, knowing chances are not good for winning, however will pay big if win occurs. The gambler is now losing more than winning. In an attempt to gain back the money lost, the gambler spends more time gambling. Gambler must frequently lie to family, friends, employer, even casinos to convince them that the gambler is still a happy person and all around good person. Deep financial troubles begin. Using lying techniques, the gambler is able to convince employer, family, etc. , of some type of cataclysmic disaster, which requires a borrowing of large amounts of money. Soon the gambler is using this bailout to gamble more. The gambler life has now become unmanageable, family life is increasingly difficult, with deterioration occurring. DESPERATION PHASE During this phase, the majority of the gambler’s time is preoccupied with gambling on all levels. The gambler has no control over the gambling, to alleviate the inner pain, the gambler gambles, knowing the odds of wining are gone, and it does not matter. Lying is out of control. The gambler has one focus and one goal†¦get money in which to gamble with regardless of costs. Family life has deteriorated to the point of non-existence. Illegal activity is now a norm. †(paraphrased from Journal of Addictive Disorders) These phases help explain the reinforcement of pathological gambling along with more well known factor such as the adrenaline rush, the gamblers fallacy, instant gratification and payout. Enabling factors help keep a pathological gambler stuck in their ways and should be avoided as much as possible. Enabling factors can include dwelling on regrets, the focus of could’ve beens. (Pathological Gambling Resources) Looking for quick fixes for gambling addiction can also end up making the problem worse, pathological gambling is an illness that needs in depth treatment and support to be overcome, not a quickfix as those never entail the lifestyle change necessary to change an addicts life. Excluding those afflicted from normal activities or interactions as punishment or a means to help is also a counter intuitive strategy, Addicts need love and support and pushing them away may only compound upon the problem. Furthermore â€Å"Enabling is when you do anything that helps the gambler to continue with his addiction. For example, if you pay his bills for him, lend or give him money, you become an enabler. If you lie to help him cover his lies, you are an enabler. Or if you offer ultimatums in order to control his behavior, you are an enabler. Even if you in any way, directly or indirectly, make it easier for him to continue with his compulsive gambling, you are an enabler. †(Nguyen) Just like an accomplice is guilty in a murder an enabler is guilty through association. Although these may relieve the problem temporarily in some situations, it is always adding to the problem and hurting the addict. Goals And Objectives Our goals are a little more long-term related and the objectives are more specific short term goals. We are focusing more on educational endeavors for the families and friends of the afflicted as this builds the supportive environment necessary to truly help pathological gamblers. Our goals will focus on creating an increase in awareness in the Austin area of pathological gambling, it’s causes and effects, on individuals as well as the community as a whole. We want to create larger supportive environment in the community through the families and friends of the afflicted primarily through educational and awareness increase regimes. As well as provide increase in overall education on the matter for the community, even those not directly affected. As previously mnetioned these goals are broad and wide reaching. Our objectives however are more specific. We want to introduce educational, communication and family based interventions for the increase in awareness of pathological gambling. We will also work with the community and families to ensure interventions are done correctly and effectively fulfilling the needs of the afflicted and their loved ones. Finally but not least in importance we want to gain access to funding and support that will help establish effective educational based, wide reaching and successful intervention programs and learning processes.

Counseling Strategies Paper

Research indicates that the majority of individuals drinks less frequently and consume less alcohol when they do drink following alcoholism counseling, although short-term outcomes (e. g. 3 months) are more favorable than those from studies with at least a year follow-up. Positive outcomes yield benefits for alcoholics and their families, as well as leading to savings to society in terms of decreased costs for medical, social and criminal justice services.Reviews of counseling outcome for alcohol problems have developed from early efforts to summarize findings, to reports which derived outcome statistics, to more recent publications examining efficacy in controlled studies with data on cost effectiveness. Clearly, the literature suggests that a variety of approaches can be effective, some more than others because of the nature of the counseling and treatment and the intensity of the approach.The community reinforcement approach (CRA) attempts to increase clients’ access to pos itive activities and makes involvement in these activities contingent on abstinence. This approach combines many of the components of other behavioral approaches, including monitored disulfiram, behavior contracting, behavioral marital therapy, social skills training, motivational counseling and mood management. Some of the largest counseling effects in the literature have been associated with the community reinforcement approach (Miller et al. , 1995).Compared to more traditional treatment approaches, the CRA has been shown to be more successful in helping inpatient or outpatient alcoholics remain sober and employed. Although community reinforcement is a more intense treatment approach, it is consistent with the basic philosophy of several other effective approaches. The ability to establish rewarding relationships, to focus on changing the social environment so that positive reinforcement is available, and to reduce reinforcement for drinking are emphasized with the community rein forcement and other approaches.The key appears to be helping the client to find and become involved in activities that are more rewarding than drinking. To the degree that stress causes unpleasant physical sensations and associated dysphoric moods, it is a high-risk situation for excessive alcohol use. An important coping skill for clients to learn is how to use the physical and emotional signs of stress as cues to â€Å"stop, look and listen† and to try something to cope besides heavy drinking. Relaxation training is a fundamental coping skill in the repertoire of a person trying to avoid excessive drinking.It can help clients to reduce their anxiety and tension when facing stressful situations and minimize their typical levels of motor and psychological tension. Relaxation training can also assist a person to remain calm and to think clearly in circumstances that require effective problem solving and fast action. Many individuals believe in the tension-reducing properties o f alcohol, whether or not they are true, and, without an alternative means to relax, excessive drinking may be a person's only means of coping with painful sensations and unpleasant emotions.Relaxation training fosters general stress-reduction and can be taught to clients using various techniques that either reduce muscle tension, develop deep breathing skills or focus on the use of pleasant imagery (Monti et al. , 1989). In addition to relaxation training, both meditation and exercise have been shown to have similar stress reducing properties. Contingency management procedures assist clients to re-structure their environment to decrease the rewards associated with alcohol use and increase the costs of excessive drinking.The principles of contingency management are based on operant or instrumental learning approaches to human behavior. Contingency management techniques include providing incentives for compliance with alcohol treatment and positive reinforcement from spouses or frien ds for sobriety. This approach is combined with punishment, in the form of withdrawal of attention and approval contingent on the resumption of excessive drinking, and provisions for social support, recreational activities and vocational counseling.In recent years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of providing treatment for alcoholism that is tailored to patients' level of insight and motivation to work on their substance misuse. Rather than emphasizing direct confrontation of patients who deny problems related to their substance misuse, social pressure to acknowledge the evils of alcohol abuse and immediate endorsement of abstinence as a treatment priority, motivational approaches initially focus on relationship formation and harm reduction.While motivational strategies have gained some ascendance in the treatment of primary substance misuse, their importance has been even more rapidly accepted in work with individuals with comorbid disorders, whose psychiatric disorders are often inextricably tied to their use of alcohol and drugs. A useful overarching heuristic in work with all comorbid disorders is provided by the concept of stage wise counseling.The stages of counseling are based on the observation that people with an alcohol misuse problem who change their behavior over the course of treatment typically progress through a series of stages, and that each stage is characterized by different attitudes, behaviors and goals. By understanding a patient's current stage of counseling, counselor can optimize treatment so that it matches his/her current level of motivation, and avoid driving the person away from treatment by attempting interventions that are mismatched to his/her motivation.Four stages of counseling have been identified: engagement, persuasion, active treatment and relapse prevention (Mueser et al. , 2003). Efforts to change another person's behavior are doomed to failure if a therapeutic alliance has not first been establishe d. Therefore, at the engagement stage the primary goal of counseling is to establish a working alliance (or therapeutic relationship) between the patient and counselor. A working alliance can be operationally defined as regular contact (e. g. weekly) between the patient and counselor (McHugo et al. , 1995).Until this relationship is established, no efforts are directed at changing the substance misuse. A wide range of strategies exist for engaging the patient in treatment, including assertive outreach, resolving a crisis, attending to basic needs (e. g. medical, housing), and legal constraints (e. g. outpatient commitment). At the persuasion stage, the counselor has a working alliance with the patient, but the focus of the relationship is not on addressing the patient's substance misuse. Therefore, at this stage the patient is still actively misusing substances, or has only recently begun to cut down on substance use.The goal of this stage is to convince the patient that his/her sub stance misuse is an important problem, and to marshal motivation to begin working on that problem. Motivational interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2002) is one useful strategy for helping patients understand the negative impact of their substance use on their own personal goals. Persuasion groups (Mueser et al. , 2003), in which patients are provided with an opportunity to share their experiences with substance use with a minimum of direct confrontation or social censure, can help patients develop motivation to address their substance misuse.Commitment to work on substance misuse can be operationally defined as an actual reduction in substance misuse (McHugo et al. , 1995), or another change in behavior that is associated with a reduction in risk (e. g. ceasing intravenous administration of a drug). In many cases, the duration of these attempts may at first be inhibited by the self-control skills the patient can marshal: in these instances, re-engagement occurs in close conjunction wi th training in skills to deal with situations in which previous lapses occurred.Miller & Rollnick (2002) emphasize that commitment to change is a function of both motivation and self-efficacy or confidence in being able to change. As previously researchers like Bandura noted, past achievements are much more powerful influences on self-efficacy than verbal persuasion that is unrelated to past performance. The attention of patients is drawn to successful aspects of past control attempts, rather than to their ultimate failure to deal with the substance-related problems up to now.While a sense of self-efficacy tends to have limited generalization across performance domains, commitment to change may sometimes be aided by success in another domain, such as work-related skills that open up options for a viable substance-free life-style. Once the patient has begun to reduce his/her substance use, the motivation to work on substance misuse is harnessed, and the goal of treatment shifts to fu rther reduction of substance use or the maintenance of abstinence. Many of the strategies developed for people with a primary substance use disorder can be used with dually diagnosed patients once they reach the active treatment stage.Examples of interventions at this stage of counseling include cognitive-behavioral counseling to address â€Å"high-risk† situations, self-help groups, and social skills training to address substance use situations. Structured activities, such as work preparation or leisure pursuits that decrease opportunities for using substances and divert attention from substance use, can assist in development of substance control. In relapse prevention, the patient has achieved substance control for a substantial period (e. g. at least 6 months).The goals are to both guard against a relapse of substance misuse and to extend the gains made to other areas of functioning, such as social relationships, work and housing. Awareness of vulnerability to relapse can be achieved through continued participation in self-help groups, or individual or group work with substance misuse as a focus. The focus in the relapse prevention stage on other areas of functioning, such as relationships, leisure activities and work, reflects the belief that the better a patient's life is, the less vulnerable he/she will be to a relapse of substance misuse.References Miller, W. R. , Brown, J. M. , Simpson, T. L. , Handmaker, N. S. , Bien, T. H. , Luckie, L. F. , Montgomery, H. A. , Hester, R. K. & Tonigan, J. S. (1995). What works? A methodological analysis of the alcohol treatment outcome literature. In R. K. Hester & W. R. Miller (Eds), Handbook of Alcoholism Treatment Approaches: Effective Alternatives, 2nd edn (pp. 12–44). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Monti, P. M. , Abrams, D. B. , Kadden, R. M. & Conney, N. L. (1989). Treating Alcohol Dependence. New York: Guilford.Mueser, K. T. , Noordsy, D. L. , Drake, R. E. & Fox, L. (2003). Integrated Treat ment for Dual Disorders: A Guide to Effective Practice. New York: Guilford Publications Miller, W. & Rollnick, S. (2002). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change Addictive Behavior, 2nd Edition. New York: Guilford. McHugo, G. J. , Drake, R. E. , Burton, H. L. & Ackerson, T. H. (1995). A scale for assessing the stage of substance abuse treatment in persons with severe mental illness. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 183 (12), 762–767.

Financial Position of Gap Inc.

The gross margins have also Increased for fiscal 2009 here It was 40. 32 percent as compared to 2008 of 37. 5 percent and 2007 of 36. 1 1 percent. The operating margins also continue to grow for fiscal 2009 Gap had an operating margin on 12. 8 percent as compared to 10. 7 percent from 2008 and 8. 3 percent In 2007. Gap has also been able to grow Its cash not only each year but also 29. 4 percent of Its total assets as compared to 2008 where cash was only at 1. 7 billion and 22. 6 percent of total assets.Gap also has worked to reduce their debt down to ere by 2010 and they have done so, currently they have no long-term debt and 2. 3 billion in cash. The 2009 current ratio for Gap is 2. 19 as compared to 1. 88 in 2008, and 1. 67 in 2007. Gap is increasing their liquidity from year to year while net sales are still decreasing. Gaps merchandise inventory has also seen a decrease not only in value but also as a percentage of total assets 2007 Gap had merchandise inventory valued TTL . 57 billion and that represented 20. Percent. Inventory was 1. 50 billion and represented 19. Percent of total assets in 2008. In 2009 the merchandise inventory was 1. 47 billion and represented 18. 5 percent of total assets. The operating expenses for Gap have maintained constant from 2005-2009 when looking at them as a percentage of sales. The difference in percentage from year to year changed only by a few tenths of percentage. Income from operations however has increased since 2006 where it had fallen 29 percent from 2005.Operating expenses include the following: I payroll and related benefits (for our store operations, field management, striation centers, and corporate functions); I marketing I general and administrative expenses; costs to design and develop our products; I merchandise handling and receiving In dilutions centers and stores; I distribution center general and administrative expenses; I rent, occupancy, depreciation, and amortization for corporate facilities: and othe r expense (income). I gross margins previously stated. Gap had cost of goods sold at 59. 68 percent of sales in 2009 compared to 62. Percent in 2008 and 63. 89 percent in 2007. Gap has been working to drive their costs down and thus far have been successful. Cost of goods sold and occupancy expenses include the following: I the cost of merchandise; I I inventory shortage and valuation adjustments; I I freight charges; I I costs associated with our sourcing operations, including payroll and related benefits;

The need of Shield Law in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The need of Shield Law in China - Research Paper Example In accordance to this, if the journalists are threatened they are free to file a petition in the court with respect to federal prosecution as per the guidelines of this law (Pavlik 189-192). THESIS STATEMENT China’s media censorship has often been accused or alleged to be vague. Restricting the transparent flow of information, journalists or the reports are also reported to be imprisoned if the government believes that the news or the information is to compromise political benefits in China. Focusing on these issues, the thesis intends to reveal the need and the importance of Shield Law in China. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF SHIELD LAW Journalism in China represents a dominant as well as bias role played by the government with respect to media censorship. The problem related to journalism represents that the content as well as the communication of the news event to the general mass is staggering in the recent years with the emergence of increasing internet users (Schlesinger, â€Å" Challenged in China†). ... ersonalities acting in the chain of command of the governance system in China with the motive to stop the information from being conveyed to the general public. Thus, apparently, the prevailing situation within China related to journalism demands for a shield to protect the journalists and the informers from revealing any confidential information concerning the sources in a court under any circumstances (Schlesinger, â€Å"Challenged in China†). To be precise, Shield law represents the rules and the regulations that protect the reporters from being forced to unveil any confidential information in the court (Reporters Committee, â€Å"The Reporter's Privilege Compendium: An Introduction†). The implementation of Shield law therefore aims at providing a privilege to the reporters with respect to the disclosure of any information which can cause significant effects on the reputation of the other parties involved in the event reported. As the law states that a journalist or a reporter cannot be forced by law to reveal the information or the sources of the information, it is quite likely that influences in terms of restrictions from influential political parties will be reduced, and therefore, a proper flow of information can be maintained adhering to the rights of audiences to information. Shield Law further reveals that a reporter cannot be forced to testify the information that entails the news, sources and stories which directly or indirectly signifies the doings of a particular cohort. In addition, the implementation of the Shield law protects the journalists’ right to non-disclosure of information and sources of information even if the information has been revealed during dissemination of the story with respect to the source or information, on the grounds of

Impact on a Family Having a Child with Life Limiting Illness Thesis - 1

Impact on a Family Having a Child with Life Limiting Illness - Thesis Example Consequently, the number of children with terminal diseases continues increasing, raising the cost of their care at family and national levels. Â  Many research studies have been conducted to investigate the financial impact of life-limiting disabilities on medical care budgets of various countries, especially in the developed world. A study conducted by Michelson and Steinhorn (2007) in England investigated the palliative costs of managing various types of life-limiting disabilities on children. Though the study focused on particular standards needed to cater for patients suffering from a particular life-limiting disorder, it gave insights of financial costs that such life-limiting disorders have on families. Â  Majority of all life-limiting conditions require palliative care and in children, such care is concerned with controlling the symptoms and maintaining the good quality of life of the child for the uncertain period before the child dies (Michelson & Steinhorn 2007). Though the death of children with the life-limiting condition is usually expected, it is difficult to determine when and how such children will die. Therefore, caregivers of people with such conditions are faced with financial challenges of preparing the patients until death. EAPC (2007) noted that though children’s palliative care at national level supports children and young persons diagnosed with life-limiting conditions, the inclusion of children with other types of disabilities often puts an extra strain on the care of such patients. According to Chochinov (2005) majority of children, hospices depend on charitable organizations for funding which in most cases is short-term and inconsistent. Others rely on s hort-term grants and statutory funds that are similarly unreliable and as a result, most parents use vast resources to add life to the child is remaining years to supplement the funding for their children’s care. Â  

Histroy 101 Western Civ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Histroy 101 Western Civ - Essay Example The role of the Persian Wars in shaping the relationship between Athens and the other Greek city states First of all, the Persian Wars helped Athens to be a remarkable naval power within the Greek city-states. The Greek attempt to be free from the authoritarian rule of Persian rulers resulted in Persian Wars and the Greek victory in the end. Lim makes clear that â€Å"With Athens at the helm, the city-states brought under Persian control began to rebel, beginning a conflict known as the Persian Wars (circa 499-479 BC)† (41). Within this context, the Persians considered the Greek victory as insignificant. On the other side, the Greek city-states under Athens and Sparta considered that the victory in Persian Wars helped them to enjoy liberty. One can easily identify that the Persian influence among the Greek city-states, before the Persian Wars, was based upon despotism. But the Greek city-states were not ready to be under the Persian rule. To be specific, the Persian Wars can b e evaluated as the Greek attempt to be independent and democratic. Within this scenario, the role of the Persian Wars in shaping the relationship between Athens and the other Greek city states is significant. ... But this cohesion was not long lasting because Sparta was against the ultimate control of Athens over the Greek city-states. But the military and maritime supremacy acquired by Athens helped her to emerge as the most powerful city-state. For instance, the victories in Marathon, Plataea etc, helped Athens to be most powerful and influential. To be specific, the Athenian supremacy in land and water forced the Greek city-states to accept Athens as their leader. But this did not help much to reduce the scope of future conflict between Athens and Sparta. Later, the Persians made use of Sparta as a tool to destroy the unity among Greek city-states. In short, Persian Wars united the Greek city-states under Athens. Moreover, the Persian Wars paved the way for the formation of Delian League (alliance of Greek city-states against Persian invasion) under Athens. Why did the Persian Wars lead to the Peloponnesian War? As pointed out, Sparta was not ready to accept the leadership of Athens among the Greek city-states. This eventually led to the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between Athens and Sparta (say, Peloponnesian League). The victory in the Persian Wars did not extinguish the Spartan jealousy over Athenian supremacy. Within this scenario, the Persians considered the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta as a golden chance to instill hatred among the Greek city-states. Their idea proved to be successful because the Peloponnesian War wiped out the unity among the Greek city-states. The Persian camp exploited the conflict between Athens and Sparta to destroy the cohesion among the Greek city-states. To an extent, the Persian idea became successful because Athens and Sparta were never able to regain their previous status.