Health Care Case Study: Financial Statements Essay

Abstract â€Å"An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success,† (Covey. 2011). Financial management within a health care organization is crucial to the success and stability of the organization. In this summary financial information on Patten Fuller Hospital will be revealed. Specifically, the differences between audited and unaudited statements and reporting on the hospital’s ratios will be included. Information related to the relationship on revenue sources and expenses will include how the hospital revenues and expenses are grouped for planning and control. Audited and Unaudited Differences During the years of 2008 and 2009 the Patton-Fuller Community Hospital’s balance sheet had some differences with the patient accounts of about $1,000,000. The discrepancies between the two amounted to $1,000,000; these discrepancies would be the audited statement that equaled to $58,787,000 and the unaudited statement in 2009 that amounted to $59,787,000 (Patton-Fuller Community Hospital, 2011). Then there were discrepancies on the Statement of Revenue and Expenses of about 1,000,000 during 2009. The discrepancies between the two that amounted to $1,000,000 would be the audited statement that equaled to $14,797,000 and the unaudited statement in 2009 that amounted to $13,797,000 (Patton-Fuller Community Hospital, 2011). The net income for the audited statement is 373,000 and, the unaudited is 627,000. Effect’s of Revenue Sources on Financial Reporting A company’s revenue comes from a variety of sources, including the sales of goods interests on loans, and income from renting or leasing. Accountant’s first record revenue in informal accounting ledgers to track capital as it comes into the company. Information ledgers are transferred to more formal,  official financial statements. The income statements, balance sheets, retained earnings statements and statements of cash flows are the four basic types of financial statements affected by revenue sources. Revenues and Expenses Grouped for Planning and Control The hospitals revenues and expenditures are plans and cohesively to track revenues and expenditures efficiently. The two main categories of revenue are, nonrevenue producing, and revenue producing. The nonrevenue producing services have two subdivisions, general services, and support services. General services are services, such as maintenance, and dietary. The support services are administrative costs relate to employee services, such as salaries, and employee welfare services. Revenue producing has two groups: nursing services and other professional services. Nursing services has five cost centers ranging from the intensive care units to the operating room. Professional services have 15 cost centers, such as emergency room and pharmacy. These cost centers correlate to specific expenditure categories. Expenditure grouping is separate into two categories, diagnoses, and procedures. Most revenue in health care organizations is either diagnoses or procedures. Major diagnostic categories (MDCs) group costs with a 27-classification system for diagnosis-related groups (DRGs). Each DRG represents a category of the services for patients. This classification assigns procedures provided to patients with current procedural terminology (CPT) codes. â€Å"CPT codes represent a listing of descriptive terms and identifying codes for identifying medical services and procedures performed† (Baker & Baker, 2011, p. 44). Conclusion Discrepancies were found in three areas between the audited and unaudited statements. The differences between the statements were vast with patient accounts showing a $1,000,000 difference, the statement of revenue and expenses showing a $1,000,000 difference, and a net income difference of $254,000. Corporate revenue comes from many sources. Revenue is reported on various financial forms like income statements, balance sheets, retained  earnings statements, and cash flow statements, which are the four basic types of financial statements affected by revenue. Different categories and services exist to group revenues and expenditures into cost centers that correlate to different DRG’s. DRG’s break down the procedures into CPT codes identifying the services and procedures for compensation. Reference: Baker, J.J., & Baker, R.W. (2011). Health care finance: Basic tools for nonfinancial managers (3rd ed.).Jones & Bartlett. Covey, S. (2011). Inspirational Quotes for Business: Empowerment and Delegation. Retrieved from http://humanresources.about.com/od/workrelationships/a/quotes_empower.htm Patton-Fuller Community Hospital, (2011). Annual Report 2009. Virtual Organization Portal. Retrieved May 27, 2011 from University of Phoenix

Analytical Ethical Problem Solving Essay

Ethical dilemmas make us question out moral beliefs and theories, search for an understanding of what is going on below the surface.1 Klempner, G., (2008). Scenario: ‘Sally has spent the last six months working as part of a team that has developed a piece of software to control a widget grinding machine. The software is due to me completed with one week but Sally knows that it will take at least one month to fully test the software. Sally accompanies her boss, Liz, at a meeting with the client who commissioned the software. The client has just landed an important order, and s anxious that the software is delivered and installed on time. At the meeting, Sally’s boss says to the client, â€Å"Sally and the rest of the team have done an excellent job on the software. It has all of the functionality you asked for and it will be delivers and installed next week. Isn’t that right sally?† Sally knows that the software may still contain bugs that could cause the machine to malfunction and be dangerous to its operators. If Sally contradicts her boss, in form to the client she knows it will be the end of her career with that company – a well paid job that she enjoys. What should she do?’2 University of Ulster (2009). In the scenario sally face an ethical dilemma between principle and consequence. In a matter of principle the ethical theory of deontology can be used, where Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in an essay stated that it is one’s moral duty to tell the truth regardless of consequence. Deontology also uses the golden rule; therefore as a deontology rule Sally should defy her boss and tell the client the truth despite possibly losing her job. However in a matter of consequence the ethical theory of utilitarianism coined by John Stuart Mills (1808-73) is used where the general act will promote the greatest happiness. In telling the truth Sally is morally happy with herself but runs the risk of losing her job. However Liz is unhappy as she looks like a liar and the company is deprived of income. Also the client may be disappointed and unhappy. On the other hand if Sally agrees with Liz she makes her boss and the client happy but not herself ethically although she gets to keep her job. In this scenario it is difficult to define what is â€Å"right† from what is â€Å"wrong†. It allows for ethical theories to be discussed in a logical way. Within this dilemma there is a penumbra. In an 1873 article on the theory of torts, Justice Holmes used the term penumbra to describe the â€Å"gray area where logic and principle falter.† (178 Mass. 472, 476–77, 59 N.E. 1033, 1034 [1901]).Therefore it can be easily said that generally a penumbra is an uncertain area of law. Also according to an article entitled â€Å"Obama’s Dance of Deceit – The Penumbra of Truth and Lies†, a penumbra has been used by The Supreme Court to describe privacy rights that are not explicitly found in the Constitution.

Enron And The Decision Making Factor Essay

Introduction – Students, analysts and critics of modern business practice will always consider the colossal Enron collapse as an important text book case about how a lot of different things inside the company can trigger a nearly overnight downfall of a once prestigious company. If there was any Cinderella story in the world of blue chip trading and high portfolio business, Enron was the ultimate opposite, if not the witch herself who was killed by her own lethal potion. The Enron collapse resulted in the formulating of many different opinions pointing to the many different possible reasons why Enron – with all the promise and potential that it has a few years before it went south – made the nosedive that made it one of the worst disasters in the history of trade, commerce and business. There is no doubt that most of the opinions that surfaced explaining the reason why such an eventuality befell Enron placed the blame on the wrong things that the top management echelon did for the company; they are after all the one which is responsible for the present and the future of Enron. Critics looking at the Enron debacle scrutinized what happened leading to the collapse using many different perspectives and considering many different factors, both in the professional capability of the company’s leaders as well as the impact of the surrounding factors beyond Enron’s control. One of the most important facets in the debate regarding the fall of Enron is decision making. Evidently, a lot of wrong decisions were made, with one every wrong decision acting as a building block that eventually became an insurmountable wall of consequences all borne out of wrong or faulty decision making processes that yielded results that did the company more harm than good. Indeed, the decision making linchpins significant to the establishment of the case that the Enron collapse was due in some extent to the decision making aspect of the leadership strata of the company can be identified easily as it is scattered throughout the timeline of Enron’s very near and not so distant past leading to the eventual fall of the company that hid behind the facade of the building the ugliness created by the qualities of its leaders that caused the chaos that burned down Enron down to meager, worthless ashes. This paper will pick the significant moments wherein the decision making capabilities and abilities of its top management leaders were at play and use these moments to establish the ethical and other considerations coming to play during the analysis of the decision making efforts of the leaders and why the outcome of such exercises led to the fall of Enron and not towards the company’s betterment, which is the main task of the company’s top executives. The paper will utilize these occasions to stress its argument regarding the role of effective, ethical and sound decision making of top executives leading to either the success or bankruptcy of companies, in this case that of Enron, and discuss key aspects of this line of thought. The paper will not criminalize the actions of the executives of Enron; rather, it will infuse inputs from other professionals regarding important aspects in the discussion of corporate decision making (ethics, result-orientation, etc). Background – Various angles have already been explored by many different individuals every time the topic of analysis is Enron and its collapse. Because of this, the paper is moving to focus on an aspect that is focused more on Kenneth Lay and the rest of his top executive clique’s personal characteristic that could have played an important role in the outcome of Enron’s operation. Decision making is both a personal characteristic as it is a professional credential, even an asset. Some people are being paid handsome amounts of money for their ability to transform decision making moments into an opportunity that provides a positive result and expected outcome for the company. Ehringer (1995) puts it simply: ‘The ability to make good decisions is the defining quality of our lives’ (Ehringer, 1995, p. 1). When Lay, Skilling, Fastow and other Enron bosses were placed in their respective positions, they were expected to exercise a high level of intuitiveness, business acumen and professional foresight so that every decision making opportunity is met with the company’s best interest long term and short term in mind. They were where they were because those who placed them there believed that they can make decisions to which the company can benefit from. When Enron collapse, many people and organizations criticized the questioned the decision making capabilities of the top executives – was the collapse an effect of the result of the decision that they made? Was the decision made putting the benefit of the company and the employees first, or are the decisions shaped so that it benefited them first? How bad was the breach in the ethical considerations that a professional should take every time he or she makes a decision that puts the future of the company on the line? These are just some of the questions that may also be present in the minds of those who followed the Enron case. Sure there were varying degrees of deception and fraudulent acts from the part of many select individuals who sinned against Enron and its employees, but these cases would have been minimized or even averted altogether if the important decision making privileges was limited to a select few, or if the future-altering decision making capability is disseminated largely among a huge group of people that can provide a check and balance system for Enron. Roberts (2004) explained that ‘ if it is possible for others to make the decisions for a unit, then new options arise to design the decision-making process as well as the incentive schemes to get better performance on both dimensions. For example, the design might specify that a decision about a project arising in one unit that affects another would be implemented if and only if both units agree to it,† (Roberts, 2004, p. 51). Enron is an energy trading firm which was performing well in the early part of its existence. By the start of the 21st century, the problems that the bosses were trying to hide from the public and from the employees started to stank. Soon, events unfolded like dominoes falling one after the other as a consequence of information spilling out into the public’s attention. Before 2004, the public already had a clear idea about how Enron bosses were supposedly the one responsible for the defrauding of the employees and their company shares and other benefits, as well as the one responsible for the bankruptcy of Enron. One by one, key company officials stepped out of the light and implicated a new name, which will in turn implicate a much bigger name, until the dragnet sent out to see who was accountable for the fraudulent acts in Enron caught its top bosses, including Lay, Skilling and Fastow. Many individuals faced criminal charges, and many more simply went home not just jobless but are robbed of lifetime investments which Enron bosses manipulated and soon lost because of the wrong decisions they made on how to run the company and make it prosper and grow. Examples of how Enron management made wrong decisions during decision making moments abound in the history of the company. Take for example what happened in 1987 – instead of declaring the $190 million loss the company experienced, they concealed it instead, leading to criminal charges. This habit of Enron for opting to conceal losses instead of declaring it became a dangerous vice; when Fastow was aboard Enron, the same outlook affected the decision making of Enron, leading to increase in pile of cases wherein Enron through its top management consciously made actions that defraud the employees and the public. There was also the case of poor public relations by Enron which fanned the flames of panic that removed any possible opportunity for Enron to remedy the financial situation without creating hysteria that saw many stockholders selling their stocks due to the continued falling of the stock value of Enron. Statement of Problem – The most important decision that Enron’s executives faced was not the decision on whether or not to publicly announce about the bankruptcy; in fact, there was no decision making factor during that instance since the predicament of the company has already been decided regardless of what the top executives might have opted for: they were flat out broke and the public needs to know about this, that was the situation. The true decision making moment for Enron’s bosses was the time when they were deciding what the best option to take is with regards to the financial aspect of the company, including taxes, earnings and financial loses. It was a matter of facing a decision making task that provided the Enron bosses with two options – to do the right thing, or to opt for something that is morally and ethically inappropriate. The decision reached in this particular decision making instance was laced with the hope that the option they took would be free from serious repercussions and give them enough time to fix it all up again. Unfortunately for Enron, things did not work out as planned, and the criminal liability of the Enron bosses stemmed from the fact that they decided to do something which they consciously knew was detrimental to the welfare of the Enron company and its employees. During that particular instance, Lay could have opted to do the right thing and faced the consequences – by coming clean, he may have a more sympathetic public to support him in whatever efforts he may wish to undertake to revive Enron, and not be faced with the collapsing stock value since those who can sell theirs sell it in a frantic phase to rid themselves of the stock of the company which is nearing imminent bankruptcy. This showed how the people do not give second chances to those who squander their decision making privileges by making decisions bereft of the consideration of the good of the greater many. Decision making – John Hintze (2006), in his discussion about making smart decisions during decision making, used the case of the Enron collapse to open his discussion and establish the fact that problems are something that is foreseen, something that happened nonetheless owing to bad decision making. Hintze wrote, ‘should we have seen 9/11 coming? What about the Enron collapse? The Signs were there; people pointed them out, but the appropriate steps were not taken by those in a position to do something. Why is this? Politics? Greed? Those certainly contributed, but there was something else at work here, too: A failure of common sense in decision making’ (Hintze, 2006, p. 123). Enron: Bad decision making – Nothing can prove more about how bad the decision making went inside Enron camp more convincingly than the fact the company transformed from prosperous to poor overnight. This was the general characteristic of Enron through the traits shown by its leaders that reflect the Enron personality. There were earlier discussions in the paper about snippets on instances pointing to Enron’s penchant for making bad decision or for going to the resolving of a problem utilizing an option that is more questionable. Fox (2004) explained that ‘Enron believed that its expansion into international projects were positive initiatives simply because they put the company in more potential markets. In truth, Enron made bad business decisions that weren’t supported by the deal’s economics. The bad business decisions piled up, stretching from India to Brazil, pressuring the company to do something about its finances’ (Fox, 2004,p. 307). At least at this point, Fox is not pointing at the unethical aspect of the Enron decision making machinery, just the fact that they made decisions that were bad for the future of the company, but not to the extent of deliberately sabotaging the company or putting the company in danger with all known risk for personal gain. For Fox, it was a bad call plain and simple. But the matter of the fact is that not everyone sees it the way Fox does, and there are those who believe that there were ethical breaches in the decision making in Enron among its top bosses. The (absence of) Leaders in decision-making – Decision making in retrospective is one of the common line of thinking used when investigating events that led to growth or debacle. It is because decision making played an important part in shaping the future of the company; it is here where the foundation, or lack of it, was created via the decisions the bosses made or failed to make. To trace the problems or mark significant actions resulting from decision making which eventually resulted to either the success or failure of the company, it is not only the decision making events that are looked back to; the persons that made them were also put under the microscope, and among the qualities scrutinized is their decision making ability and their other characteristics that affect their decision making attitude and behavior. Professionals debate about the idea of a good decision, a bad decision, good intentions and bad intentions and how the good and bad effect that comes into play afterwards account for the overall accountability of a person wielding the power to make decisions that will have a tremendous impact on the future of the company, something which happened in Enron via Lay, Skilling, Fastow and the rest of the top figures of the company. Acuff (2004) explains that ‘if they make a decision that might not have been the decision I would have made, and they come and talk to me about it, we look at it and discuss it. There are a lot of different ways to skin the horse. I don’t go saying my idea is the only one that will get you where you want to go. I hold people accountable for good decision-making. If a bad outcome results from a bad decision – that’s a problem. But if a bad outcome results from a reasonable decision, then that’s business, and it could happen to anyone† (Acuff, 2004, p. 87). This was the predicament of those who are trying to evaluate the decision making actions of Enron top executives – did they make decisions, even bad decisions – with the sake of the company in mind, and gambled with their careers because they know that if their plans and actions go well, it is extremely beneficial for the company, in a very Machiavellian approach towards getting things done regardless of the means by which they did it, or were they just plain guilty of fraudulent actions? People who are burdened by the decision that impacts a lot of people is not always amenable to taking the high and moral grounds, that is why the adage about the end justifying the means, about getting things done at what ever cost, about delivering against the odds became popular because of people like the Enron bosses who (probably) acted upon their decision making duties by risking what can be a popularly bad decision. Indeed, it may be easy or even convenient for most people adversely affected by the Enron collapse to attribute the colossal corporate debacle to the top management figures of the company by criticizing their decisions as well as their faculty for sound decision making. While it is true that Enron’s top executives are responsible for the collapse of the company, it is not that easy to measure the level of ethical decision making attributes of Enron’s top brass. Goethals et al (2004) pointed out that â€Å"the complexity associated with ethical decision making and behavior, especially as it applies to leadership and the workplace, makes the construct extremely difficult to research†, adding that â€Å"Measuring an individual’s level of ethical decision making is challenging, particularly because the measurement instruments that are available have problems with priming and social-desirability effects; that is, questionnaires or other similar modes of data collection cue respondents to give answers that they believe are socially acceptable rather than answers that truly reflect their own actions or opinions (Goethals et. al. , 2004, p. 461). † Proof of which is the fact that all of these executives in question are career corporate leaders even before they joined Enron; their credentials played an important role regarding their selection for a corporate position as high as theirs. Because of this, as well as the factors that affect the credibility of the ability for identification of the real public pulse regarding the persons involved in the issue, ethical decision making levels of the persons involved is hard to ascertain, making claims for questionable ethical decision making consideration of the people lose important ground and stand on insufficient set of stable legs for proof and justification. Still, there are those who believe that the level of ethics that influences the decision making capabilities of the Enron bosses are without a doubt questionable, and this includes Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins who was quoted in the book edited by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn B. Bronstein. In the article, it mentions about how Swartz and Watkins â€Å"blame Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, and other company executives for privileging greed and arrogance over ethical business decisions† (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, p. 79), the gist of the published work co-authored by the two individuals. Nalebuff and Ayres (2006) wrote that ‘the problem often arises because people ignore the costs and benefits that their decisions have on other people. We call this approach â€Å"Why don’t you feel my pain? † The more technical term for these effects is externalities. Decision makers who ignore externalities are bound to make bad decisions† (Nalebuff and Ayres, 2006, p. 67). This explanation greatly tarnishes the ethical value of the decision making ethics of Enron bosses because it shows that they are prone or inclined to make decisions even if the result of such decisions lead to negative effects that other people will experience. Niskanen (2005) believes that Lay, one of the top bosses of Enron, â€Å"should be judged on the basis of his personal actions, directions to subordinates, or the actions of subordinates that he implicitly condoned by knowing about it without attempting to correct – not on the basis of what he should have known† (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Lay’s condoning of actions is a result of a personal and professional decision that he made – or failed to make – and because of that, Niskanen believes that Lay is answerable for any criminal charges that would result from that particular action (or inaction). Watkins was thinking of the company and its employees and their future and hers as well, when she made the decision to let her superiors, particularly Lay, know about the possible accounting problems and the making public of the current and real financial and trade status of the company. This clearly illustrates the difference in ethics when it comes to decisio n making. Decision making, ethics and public perception – Decision making in business is not merely a power or a privilege that one can use at will without thinking of the consequences that might happen should the decision resulted into something that is considered as adversely negative and detrimental to the welfare of the employees, their jobs and the company they work for. Those who are provided with such amenity to go along with their job description should consider that it is also their responsibility to make sure that their employees and subordinates do not think that they are squandering away their decision making privilege and everything that goes along with it. This was the prevailing attitude or outlook of the Enron employees especially nearing the imminent collapse of the company. The absence of ethical consideration resulted to the losing of the credibility of the bosses of Enron because they were not careful with how they undertake their decision making tasks. While bankruptcy is something that is very difficult to accept and impacts greatly in the lives of the employees especially the rank and file blue collar workers, there is a sense of adding insult to injury during occasions wherein the employees are starting to realize that all of the unfortunate things that happen in the company and in their careers are all a result of the faulty, incompetent and unethical decision making of the top management echelon and not because the company was helpless in the onslaught of a devastating economic problem, like how companies closed down during the Great Depression despite the efforts of American businessmen to keep the different industries alive and breathing. During the collapse of Enron, the US is experiencing a very stable economy far from that which characterized US economy during the Great Depression, and is shielded securely from the impact of whatever it was that was happening in the global economic and business landscape, and so during the Enron collapse, the collective finger was pointing an accusing index digit to Enron bosses and majority of the cause of their indignation originates from the sloppy decision making capabilities of Enron bosses who lost their credibility the moment they lost Enron. Brazelton and Ammons (2002) wrote in the book they co-wrote: â€Å"The Ethics Resource Center conducted a survey in 2000 in which it learned that 43 percent of respondents believed that their supervisors are generally poor examples of honest managers, and the same number were pressured to compromise their own integrity or that of their organization during decision making. The survey also identified a strong connection between employees’ perceptions of their supervisors and their own ethical behavior (Brazelton and Ammons, 2002, p. 388). † Enron decision making: the two-pronged factors – It can be pointed out that one of the problems that happened to Enron is the ineffective of decision making among top executives – first, their top executives failed to make correct decisions when they are required to do so, and second, Enron was not fully complimented with a set of professionals which could have contributed to the decision making process, and in the process provided the possibility of infusing new or different ideas that could have altered the outcome of the decision making process. Fitzpatrick and Bronstein (2006) did not look exclusively on Enron’s bosses and the decisions they made in the management of Enron and the company’s money and asset, rather, the two editors focused on the absence of a key top management personnel and took the presence of such a void as a sign that Enron is not even prioritizing the welfare of the company and its employees. The book Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy, which includes the Enron case as one of the important case studies to point out the importance of the role of public relations, explains that â€Å"perhaps the governance of these companies was such that they did not care about their publics, and did not want the advice of senior-level public relations officer playing an active or dominant role in organizational decision making† (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, pg 179). Conclusion – Niskanen (2005) summed up the Enron case on its characteristic of thriving in bad decisions made by its corporate leaders by saying in the book that ‘the most important lesson from the Enron collapse, however, is that Enron failed because of a combination of bad business decisions, not because its accounts were misleading’ adding that ‘the major business decisions that most contributed to its collapse were a series of bad investments, most of which were in the traditional asset-rich industries; the failure to reconcile two quite different business models; and the decision to focus management objectives on reported revenues and earning rather than on the present value of future cash flows’ (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Are they poor in decision making, or was the decision making adversely affected by other concerns and priorities outside of Enron that the results of the decision made for Enron looks like those who made the call did not even think about how this course of action will affect Enron? There are no sufficient proofs to point that the case was the latter; for a company that became seventh all in all in the Fortune 500 at least once, it is unthinkable how there will be conscious efforts to sink the company by making wrong decisions, deliberately or not. The point of the paper is not the assertion of the guild of Skilling, Lay or even Fastow, it’s the establishing of the point that decision making, when not handled properly, can turn even the most profitable company into a nose-diving wreck in a short period of time, that decision making plays an important role in how a person defines his or her life and how he or she leads a company and that because of these factors, no one should have an excuse why decision making was taken lightly and without much thought or care. All the people can see is a group of people who made wrong decisions several times, the resulting web and how they got trapped in that web, that is assuming that there was no malice or hidden agenda that the bosses perpetrated in lieu of Enron’s collapse. In the end, only Lay (now deceased) and the elite circle of the Enron executive clique will be the ones who would really know about the truth regarding ethics and the decision making in Enron leading to the collapse of the company. Many would ask, and some would presume, the reasons as well as the level of guilt of these leaders when it comes to breaching the ethical requirements needed when undertaking decision making for a company. Regardless, the decisions they made created far reaching ripples and altered the lives of many individuals who invested not just their time, strength and life’s savings into the company but as well as their but as well as their faith and trust, which are not in shattered pieces because of the bad decisions that Enron executives made. Crawford (2006) further elaborated on the pointed by explaining that ‘bad decisions by a major company, however, cause major disruptions for all of the company’s stakeholders’. He pointed at the case of Enron as one of his examples, saying that ‘the Enron disaster, as one example, certainly had devastating impacts on the lives of most of Enron employees (including the middle managers and professionals who invested in the company-sponsored Enron 401[K] plans) and also caused suffering for many individual investors who purchased Enron stock on the open market. Thousands of other Enron stakeholders, including Enron’s suppliers and customers, also suffered,’ (Crawford, 2006, p. 26). Indeed, Enron’s decision making had a hand in how the company turned out to be.

Brave New World and Political Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Brave New World and Political Theory - Essay Example Huxley draws inspiration from many great political thinkers as well as his own understanding of human nature. The idea of Hobbes, Mills, and Aristotle all inform Huxley’s understanding of the best and worst possible results of different styles of governance, allowing him to create a fictional novel illustrating the dangers of utopian thought carried to the extreme. Hobbes, in his essay â€Å"Of the Natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning Their Felicity and Misery,† holds some paternal notions concerning the liberty of individuals. This and other ideas of his seem to inform the misguided government of Brave New World. Hobbes begins with the statement that men are essentially created equal. Although they may excel in one arena or another, the individual’s strengths are not so great that other influences of civilization do no level the playing field. Huxley utilizes this philosophy with his aphorism that all men are biologically the same. According to Hobbes, the natural state of man is an inclination toward violence, as this is the only way to wrest from another that which is desired but cannot be shared. Therefore â€Å"during the time that men live without common power to keep them in awe they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war, as it is of every man, against every man† (Hobbes 12). In other words, Hobbes does not trust men to act with regard to others unless compelled by fear of retribution from some authoritative figure. This mirrors Huxley’s government, which sees the individual as a child who is not expected to think or behave except as â€Å"hypnopà ¦dia† (Huxley 16) has taught them. It is the basis of patriarchal thought, for only in a society where individuals cannot be trusted to behave can a government rationalize the removal of personal rights. Aristotle believed that a benevolent monarchy would constitute the perfect government. However, he relegated this

New Media & International Communcation (Please refer to the Essay

New Media & International Communcation (Please refer to the attachment) - Essay Example The author is then able to describe how television and technology continue to evolve with self – generating forms through mediums such as new enhancements to movies and demands from individuals that are interested in watching the television. Opinion of Reading The main concept which Williams uses in the article is one which draws logical conclusions about the idea of technology and television and how it has evolved. The concept of television and technology becoming a natural part of evolution while meeting new needs in society can be seen and determined with the approach which Williams uses. The main point which can be seen as true, as well as the main strength of the reading, comes from the idea that this was the next step in technology and science. While there may have been components which were altered by inspiration or the desire to create something new, there were also several ideals which led to the evolution of technology with the television as the next step for society and specific needs. The second strength of the argument that Williams uses is by stating that this was a social concept that was based on natural evolution. The strength of the argument is one which can be noted by the demands in society which occurred before the television, specifically with the uses of entertainment, radio and other forms of technology which began to appear. From one perspective, these demands were created by social groups because of a desire to have something new. However, it can also be proven that the demands led to the idea of creating something new for entertainment which society could respond to for communication. From this perspective, Williams’ argument holds strength in showing that the television was a natural part of social evolution. While these two main points show strength in the argument, there is also a question of whether this can be considered natural evolution. If the television were never invented and didn’t become a demand in so ciety, then evolution may still have continued but with different devices. The concept of whether the social demand was a need and had to be created becomes the main weakness by Williams. The use of the television was created to build a response in society and to create new expectations with what technology could do. More important, it can be seen that the evolution was based on innovation and inspiration from different devices which had led up to the television. While the evolution was a natural ideology from past innovations and expectations of society, it was also created for new communication as one that was inspirational then built demand, as opposed to being the next evolutionary process in technology. The main weakness that Williams has with the idea of evolution can be seen from examples which are used today. The Internet is an example which shows how the evolution, while seeming natural, is also innovation that creates responses from social groups. The Internet boom from th e 1990s and to the present day was based on using more communication, faster technology and other approaches. Different portals are now used to enhance this. When looking at these portals, one can see that some are successful and

Project Management in IT Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Project Management in IT Industry - Essay Example An information technology project has four dimensions referred commonly as Four P’s. These four dimensions include people, process, product and project. People are the human beings used in the project activities. They are organized into effective teams, motivated to perform top quality work and coordinated to fulfill effective communication. Process is the methodology used for managing the activities and getting the tasks completed on time to achieve the set goals and objectives. Product is the needs of the customers constituted into tasks and positioned for action by the software team. Project is the IT enabled services or organization that enables success of the product, process and people (Ahmed 2009)There are three factors which are traded in the management of project. The first factor is time, second is cost and the third is performance. A project is successful only if it is completed on time, meets the performance requirements and it is well within the budget. There are three constraints in managing an IT project that impacts the quality; the project scope, time and cost. All the three constraints determine the quality of the project Appendix A gives illustration of trade-off amongst these three constraints to achieve the quality in the form of a triangle.It is not only important to manage project scope, time and cost but also it is essential to manage the project quality, communication and risks. Quality is the attainment of product or service as per defined specifications.... Product is the needs of the customers constituted into tasks and positioned for action by the software team. Project is the IT enabled services or organization that enables success of the product, process and people (Ahmed 2009) There are three factors which are traded in the management of project. The first factor is time, second is cost and the third is performance. A project is successful only if it is completed on time, meets the performance requirements and it is well within the budget. There are three constraints in managing an IT project that impacts the quality; the project scope, time and cost. All the three constraints determine the quality of the project Appendix A gives illustration of trade-off amongst these three constraints to achieve the quality in the form of a triangle (Ahmed 2009) It is not only important to manage project scope, time and cost but also it is essential to manage the project quality, communication and risks. Quality is the attainment of product or se rvice as per defined specifications. Communication is the exchange of messages amongst the project stake-holders. Risks are the uncertainties associated with the project scope, time and cost (Ahmed 2009) Scope Management Project Scope is the area of work bound by cost and time. The success of the project mostly depends on the understanding of the tasks to be included and excluded from the work-load of the project. It is therefore essential that the scope of the project or in simple words the work-load to be done in a project is well defined and properly comprehended (Warner 2010) Defining scope of the project is the first thing in project management. The quality, cost, time, risks and communication depend heavily on the description of project

An Analysis of the Film Mongol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

An Analysis of the Film Mongol - Essay Example The essay "An Analysis of the Film Mongol" talks about the film "Mongol" by Sergej Bodrov. The film presents the story of the rise to power of Ghengis Khan. In the discussion of the film, this essay will focus on five key points; the value of tradition and culture, the role of women, leadership, war strategy, and loyalty. Traditional and culture is at the heart of the film ‘Mongol’. At the beginning of the film, there is relative order in the country because the current Khans of the clans are strong. There is hostility between them and certainly, there is no sense of unity, but there is also no all out war. However, when Khan Yesugei is killed, things begin to unravel. It is interesting to note that he in fact killed as a result of a traditional ritual. There are certain rules which the clans respect and one of them is not to attack other clans when using a rest site. Yesugei’s clan rests in a spot where another clan has already settled. As per the usual custom, t he Khan of the rival clan sends a bowl of milk to Yesugei to drink and he returns the gesture of friendship. Unfortunately, the milk is poisoned and he dies shortly afterward. This is a breaking of the traditional code of conduct of the Mongols and it is significant in setting the tone for a future complete breakdown of tradition. When the Khan dies, it falls to Temudgin, his young son and the future Genghis Khan, to take over the clan. An older member of the clan does not respect this passing of leadership from father to son.

IT Security. Epworth Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IT Security. Epworth - Assignment Example The storage of information is at times prone to intrusion from the foes. It is at this point that the persons using the database have to ensure that there is utmost security of the stored information. Other trends in IT include such things as the use of wireless LANS (Stewart, Tittel and Chapple, 2011). This is one of the developments that are in IT. IT comprises of many contentious issues like the use of suites of security technology, reputation risk, online awareness and the wireless LAN technology. Task1 (Reputational risk) The chief officer for security at Epworth is the person concerned with the security of the firm’s information stored in the database. His claims that the system is robust against reputational risk are a heap of lies. This is because the database of the Epworth organization is accessible to any web server. The web server can directly access the web where the health care firm stores information concerning to the employees and the patients. This direct access is the one that makes me defy the fact that the reputation of the patients is safe. Secretive patient’s information storage occurs in the database (Honey, 2009). Therefore, the security officer’s remarks are not true. Current observations show that the fact that the database is accessible to all employees of the Epworth health care .This accessibility is the key to hacking of necessary information concerning the organization (Neef, 2003). ... An IBM analyst has recommended to Epworth a suite of security technologies aimed at database compromise and data loss prevention at a cost of $40,000 per year. This would ensure that the database information is free from falling into the hands of the enemy. Therefore, it would be beneficial to implement the suite because of different reasons. One of the reasons is the fact that the database information is exceedingly necessary to any firm. The cost of installing the prevention mechanisms may be high but the benefits are many (CDTM, 2007). Epworth would have the assurance that the security of information pertaining to their patients and workers is safe. Purchasing a licensed copy of the security suite is also particular because the firms can assure their patients that their details are safe. The other reason as to why this is necessary is that the cost of replacing the lost information would be more than the cost of installing the security kit (Whitman and Mattord, 2010). The installa tion of database security is necessary because the process of coming up with new details about patients is costly. Contacting and informing the patients about their account numbers and providing new cards would be exceedingly tedious. The last reason for the installation would be the fact that database compromise is up to 25%. Task 3 (online training of employees) If Epworth were to bestow me with the task of conducting online employee awareness, this would be a go ahead for the firm. On-line employee awareness and training course for safeguarding sensitive patient information is a practice that any firm requires. This would ensure that the employees are aware of the requirements

(CHILDREN'S RIGHT ) My Course is Iin EDUCATION Essay

(CHILDREN'S RIGHT ) My Course is Iin EDUCATION - Essay Example However, different International Conventions and Ugandan government have taken severe steps to prevent the unlawful induction of children in any kind of work either hazardous or un-hazardous that may have its adverse affects on their physical, mental and academic progress. These Conventions have tried their level best to create awareness among the different communities present in Uganda that child labor is a crime and people should refrain sending their children for any sort of economical activity. However, it is expected that with the passage of time and by creating awareness in the minds of Ugandan people, the government and the international agencies will overcome the problem of Child labor in Uganda for their own prosperity and development of the society which is highly important for them. ‘Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time.’- Grace Abbott Uganda is faced with severe poverty along with a low literacy rate. Poverty is the main cause of defragmenting the socioeconomic structure of any country. As a result, people in Uganda compel their children to earn and contribute with their families in order to sustain their living standards. Due to this reason, we can clearly observe a high percentage of children working under hazardous conditions to meet their basic needs (http://childvoice.jinja.eu/en/child-labor-in-uganda.). Child labor is an unlawful and immoral induction of young children which deprives them of better living conditions, right of education and the right of being known as the ‘most fragile humans’ in the world. Child can be defined as a human who falls between the ages of birth and youth. In legal terms a child is defined as a minor who is dependent on his caretakers for living and

Medicine during the revolutionary war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medicine during the revolutionary war - Essay Example The military was the most affected by undeveloped medical practices and poor knowledge on the field of medicine. They used to use branding iron to stop bleeding. Amputation was also very common and was somehow considered equal to what is an antibiotic currently. It was believed that, to stop an infection from spreading to the rest of the body from the part of the body that has been struck by a bullet or diseased, was to amputate it. Doctors tending to the military during that time had little concept of germs. They barely washed their hands or even their tools. They had an approach that curing a person mainly involved getting the disease out of the system. One of the common methods that were used was cupping. The doctors took a heated glass cup and placed it on the patient’s chest with an attempt to sweat out the disease. They also used a method called leeching. That is, they used leeches to suck out bad blood. Or they could simply cut the patient’s wrist and let them bl eed out an ailment. Dental hygiene was also a major issue during this time. People’s teeth were either black or yellow or missing altogether. They usually used twigs to brush their teeth. If someone can afford something better than twigs, they used a bone with pigs’ hair. A family could afford only one toothbrush which they had to share. Going to the dentist wasn’t very much necessary unless one is in deep and extreme pain. Alcohol was mostly used to ease the pain as a medical procedure. Pulling out a tooth could not have gotten any more literal. A metal object, whi

My worldview as a Christian Essay Example for Free

My worldview as a Christian Essay This essay is for the purpose of formally stating my worldview as a Christian and demonstrating how I perceive reality when it pertains to certain issues. While this will not have changed much from my original worldview outline, it serves to expand on the issues and give intelligent analysis to my beliefs. As this semester draws to a close, and I re-evaluate my worldview outline, I a consistency between my beliefs and those presented in the course material. After analyzing the major questions, I have been able to find academic support for each belief that I hold. The first question we were asked was ‘Who is God, and what is he like?’ my initial answer was that God is the creator of heaven and earth, the supreme celestial being that oversees and influences everyday events. As to His characteristics, I believe that he is absolutely just while being full of grace. He is absolute power, under perfect control. He has intense emotions, but perfect reactions to them. That is who God is to me. The second question was about humans, what they were, and what happened when they died. A human is a being created in the image of God, with capabilities for reason, and an innate understanding of right and wrong. When a human dies, they go to one of two places. Those who have chosen to follow God will go to heaven. Those who don’t will go to hell. The third question was ‘what is the nature of the universe?’ When I hear that, I have to ask what they mean by nature. I have to look around and say ‘is it the actual physical world, and how it fits into a bigger picture? I would assume so, and say that by nature, what God created was good, And was later polluted by sin. The most confusing question was ‘how do I know what I know, and how do I know it’s true?’ I know what I know because of what I’ve been told, and what I’ve experienced, and how I apply it through the filter of my faith and values. And I kn ow that I know because if I didn’t know that I knew I wouldn’t be able to analyze this question about knowing. The next question was the only one that my answer changed slightly. What is right and wrong, or does it exist? Right exists, but wrong is only the absence of right, not something in and of itself. And the only way we can discover it is through the experiences, of ourselves and others, and through the filter of God’s word. Is life pointless or is there a purpose? If we believe God creates us, we must believe that there is a reason. I believe my purpose is to help people through hard times, since I have gone through enough hard times that I can empathize with them. Each person has a unique attribute that helps them glorify God in some way. What core commitments are consistent with my worldview, and how do they impact my life? I’m still not exactly sure about what is meant by core commitments, but the actions and values that I hold myself to identify key aspects of my worldview. I would say that the things I do are very consistent with my moral and spiritual beliefs. My worldview is based a lot on faith, and I try to find reason for what I believe. I do need to evaluate if the beliefs that I have actually have base in reality, scientifically and morally. I have very strong beliefs and opinions, as a result of coming from a very opinionated family. My worldview is very consistent with the perspectives expressed in the coursework. I have a fairly weighty background in biblical studies from other schools, and so have been exposed to this subject more than the average student. As a result, my worldview has been shaped by what I have learned, and there were few if any contradictions between what I believe and what was presented. My worldview passes (to my knowledge) all of the four tests of a worldview. In the test of evidence, my worldview draws from personal experience and scientific reason, and assumes (if not proves) the existence of a God who embodies the characteristics I have identified. In the test of logical consistency there is no reason to doubt what I have seen or read, and I try not to act outside of my beliefs in a way that would cause any inconsistency to be evident. In the test of existential repugnance, it is possible to live the life that I am attempting to live in the ‘outside’ world. Anyone can live a moral life and follow specific rules about how we should govern ourselves, but not on their own. And the test of human nature is consistent with my belief on the nature of humanity. Nothing about humanity suggests that we are not designed by a higher being, and everything points to inherent value that other creatures do not and can not possess. My worldview affects everything about my actions, because I will not leave that frame of reference without changing part of my worldview. I cannot act outside of my worldview, because I will always analyze things based on what I assume to be right information, and will act accordingly. My worldview has stayed consistent throughout this course, and if it has changed at all it has been a subconscious change. I have had a good upbringing and a solid background in biblical studies, so I did not hear anything that was shockingly new or revolutionary. Cosgrove, M. P. (2006). Foundations of Christian thought: faith, learning, and the Christian worldview. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications. Strobel, L. (2000). The case for faith: a journalist investigates the toughest objections to Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: ZondervanPublishingHouse. Wilkens, S., Sanford, M. L. (2009). Hidden worldviews: eight cultural stories that shape our lives. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academi

The Benefits of Recycling Essay Example for Free

The Benefits of Recycling Essay Recycling is a vital factor in the future of our beloved home, Earth. If we want to keep our land green, prevent pollution, conserve natural resources and save our plants and animals, recycling is a key factor in doing so. Recycling reduces the amount of pollution going into earth. When products are made from fresh material, there are more pollutants being released into the air due to the extraction and processing. Using recycled material produces fewer pollutants and is better for the environment (Weber, n. d.). Recycling helps to reduce the amount of garbage being made. This means we are decreasing the size of our landfills. The less garbage going into our landfills, the less garbage we have to burn to ash. (Onsola, 2017). Landfills also create a liquid called leachate which occurs when debris disintegrates in the landfill and leaks through the waste which can pollute the land, groundwater, and waterways (Environment Victoria, 2013). When recycling, we can lessen the amount of greenhouse gases going into our environment (Knowledgiate Team, 2017). This can create multiple environmental problems. In 2005, Pennsylvania DEP stated that by recycling, it reduced greenhouse gases by 9 million tons of carbon dioxide. By recycling we reduce the need to combust fossil fuels. (Sherman, n.d.). To make sure we want our future generation’s air to be breathable. Another benefit to recycling is that it creates a sustainable amount of resources. When we recycle, we are turning old, used material into new, usable material. By recycling we save more resources, for example when we use virgin materials, it is coming from natural resources. Around 40% of our waste comes from paper. If we recycled our paper instead, we could save millions of trees and also lessen the amount of waste going into our environment. (DLCSRecycling, n.d.).When we cut down trees, it is for fresh pulp which will be used for first-generation paper. Instead we could use recycled paper which can very well be used to make paper which is just a good quality as the paper made from virgin material (Schenker, 2017). Our future generations will also need these resources, so instead of wasting what we have we should recycle. Lastly, another pro to recycling is that it saves wildlife. When we don’t recycle we are ruining habitats. For example, when we cut down trees for a paper we are destroying homes of wildlife. By not recycling we are also polluting many homes of animals. Green SC states that more than one million seabirds, 100,000 sea mammals, and 50,000 fur seals die yearly because of plastic litter that we humans put into the water (Lake, 2015). Turtles that eat jellyfish confuse plastic bags for food and then choke and die on them (Tay, 2016). We are messing up the ecological balance of ecosystems. This will also affect our food sources in the future as it may cause the extinction of plants and animals. By doing something as simple as recycling, we reduce the need for new material, saving nature from harm (Missimer, n.d.).

Introduction Of Decision Making And Creativity Business Essay

Introduction Of Decision Making And Creativity Business Essay Decisions are the options made from two or more alternatives. McShane and Von Glinow (2010) defined that Decision making is a process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs. Effective decision making involves identifying, selecting and applying the best alternatives. People need to use all available resources to predict the outcome of each option and based on the outcome to choose the best alternatives for the particular situation. In the real world, people usually do not follow the rational model to make decision because there are many undefined problem and ambiguous alternatives. For example, people usually simply find an acceptable solution to solve the problem rather than find the most suitable one. Hence, some decision makers probably make decision based on bounded rationality, emotion and intuition. Framing and heuristics are the judgments shortcuts that people used to simplify the decisions. Anchoring and adjustment, availability and representative are the three types of heuristics. People can make choices more effectively by systematically assessing alternatives. Scenario planning is a method that used to forecast possible future. Scenario planning can helps to make the best future decisions before they occur. Furthermore, people can evaluate decisions in an effective way such as find systematic sources, establish a present level to abandon the project, minimize escalation of commitment and involve several people in the decision evaluation process. In addition, some leaders or company also involve their employees in decision making. Leaders and company have limited ideas or knowledge to make the best decision. Thus, they need to rely on employees to solve the problem in a more effective way as employees may have more innovative and multiple alternatives. Improvements on decision quality, defining problem more quickly, better solutions generated are the benefits of employee involvement. McShane and Von Glinow (2010) defined that Creativity is the development of original ideas that make a socially recognized contribution. Creativity also is the process of creating unique ideas or products that are useful to the organizations. Creativity allows and encourages people to think out of the box, which produce innovative and unique ideas for a particular task. Preparation, incubation, insight and verification are the phases of the creative process. Preparation means studying the information and skills that related to the problem. Incubation assists divergent thinking which means reframing the problem in a distinctive way and creates different approaches to the problem. Insight refers to the ideas in a vague form. The idea is worked into a realistic form in the verification phases. Organizational factors such as freedom, resources, learning orientation, organizational support and more will affect the creativity ideas. It is also means that a comfortable and supportive work environment will helps the employees to improve and produce creative and unique ideas. Besides, redefine problem, associative play and cross pollination are the activities that use to encourage creativity. Lastly, creativity in decision making can be said that looking for the novel and unique ideas which the elements in the ideas are previously unseen. Background of NIKE, Inc. NIKE, Inc. is the world leader in athletic apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories. To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world is the mission of Nike. Converse, Inc., Nike Golf, Hurley International, LLC and Cole Haan are Nikes wholly owned subsidiaries. (NIKE, Inc., 2011) Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight have met each other in 1957. In 1962, both of them have become partner and form Blue Ribbon Sports. They pledged $1000 and place order of 300 pairs of shoes in 1964. The first Blue Ribbon Sports retail store opened in Santa Monica, California in 1966. Bowerman and Knight have design and manufacture their own brands of athletic shoes. In 1972, the new Nike line of footwear was introduced and Field Trials were held in Eugene, Oregon. Blue Ribbon Sports was later changed to NIKE, Inc. in 1978. Nike Air Technology in Tailwind running shoes was born in 1979. In 1980, Nike becomes a publicly traded company. Nike had lost their position as industry leader in the middle of 1980. In 1987, Nike designed to regain the industry leader by using marketing and advertising campaign and differentiate Nike from its competitors. Nike build reputation by create inspiring ads with Just Do It as slogan in 1988. In 1990 to 1999, Nike had signed several individual players and national teams around the world and began to design footwear and apparel for golf and soccer. Now, Nike has continued to expand its business to China and become the official sponsor of the National Football League (NFL). 2.0 Content Decision making is a process of selecting from one or more alternatives with the purpose of moving toward some desired state of affairs. Moreover, decision making is a process that decision maker need to make choice from the available option or alternatives in order to achieve the organization goal or to arrive at a solution for a given problem. Decision plays an important role in the organization. If the decision maker does the wrong decision, it will influence the company productivity and profit. Therefore, the decision maker needs to do the rational choice decision. And decision maker can follow the rational choice decision process and do the right decision. First step is identifying the problem or opportunity. Decision maker needs to identify the problem or opportunity before do any decision. Problem is the gap between what is and what have to be. For example, there is a labor practices problem occurred in Nike as stated in Nike first Corporate Responsibility Report, after Nike identify and evaluate its problem and then they came up with ways to resolve the problem. Nike decided to increase training for both managers and employees in order to improve the productivity, reduce labor turnover and less sick leave. The decision made involved all level of the organization where the top management make the decision and the subo rdinates need to collaborate to achieve the companys goal. However the possible disadvantage of Nike to increase training for their current employees is that it can become very stressful to their employee. When an employee is stressed, their job performance goes down. Over-training in the workplace can be a waste of valuable resources such as training materials, hire or promote individuals to train their employees, and also need to pay for both the trainers and the trainees. During the extensive training sessions, employees may become bored and lose interest in what they are learning. Once an employee loses interest, much of the information being taught will not be retained and this will waste the employee time (Robertson). According to NIKE, Inc. (2011), Poor conceived overtime and sick leave policies can reduce employees work performance. If Nike does not regulate contracted overseas factories with overtime levels that are both required by local labor and health authorities, it can attract complaints from human rights organization as well as causing undue health problems to employees which can affect their work performance (Answers.com, 2012). Sick leave is a form of employment benefit in the form of paid time off for illness. However, Nike intends to increase productivity by initiating an Attendance incentives policy which encourage employees to attend for work but this may send the wrong message to the employees that attending to work even while they are sick would earn them credits. This can cause an employee to feel pressured to if they want to take sick leave even when they are seriously ill, which could result in significant health damage and increased health care costs for the company (Smith, 2013). Second step is choosing the best decision process. Decision process include programmed and non-programmed. Programmed is a decision that made in routine, repetitive, frequent decision and highly structured environment. In this decision making, they allow to set up a rule, policies and procedure to follow. In this decision making, they can follow standard operating procedures because of the highly structured environment. For example, to improve daily productivity, Nike has implemented lean manufacturing which is the foundation of how Nike enhances sustainable manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a system and continuous enhancement that target to deliver the highest quality product while reducing waste. Lean manufacturing can empower workers and teams. A significant increase in satisfaction of workers in factories is found after lean manufacturing is implemented. The problem facing by Nike when implemented lean manufacturing is hard to get support from their employees to follow and take orders. This can sometimes be difficult to attain as some employees who is resistive to changes. Lean manufacturing system requires a complete overhaul of manufacturing systems that may cause personality clashes, stress and refusal by employees who prefer old ways of doing things especially the older employees. Thus, it possibly will cause conflict among others in the work group. Lean manufacturing training is a constant ongoing process, and when first starting out it will takes a lot of time and effort on everyones part (Manufacturing Info, 2010). The time investment required to implement lean manufacturing system throughout Nike is one of the drawback. Successful implementation requires the participation and support from employees throughout the company to guarantee that the cells integrate well with one another (Deiterich, 2013). Due to lean manufacturing system are dependent on supplier efficiency, any interruption in the supply chain on production can be a problem that negatively affects customers. Delays in delivery can cause long-lasting marketing problems that hard to overcome and may cause problem of customer dissatisfaction (Wood, 2013). On the other hand, non-programmed decision is unique decision that requires a custom made solution. In this decision making, they mostly deal with unstructured environment and incomplete information. This decision making cannot set up a rule, policies and procedure to follow because this decision making is infrequent decision and unstructured environment. To solve the non-programmed situation, Nike have spent more than 15 years to deal with the contract factories on the issues of worker rights and protections, wages, living conditions for workers and the environmental impacts of manufacturing processes. Nike is setting high expectations for workers, providing training and tools to help factories to meet those expectations and accessing their performance. This approach able to create baseline standards, improved oversight and helped factories to move beyond compliance. In this case, certain issues continue to arise. Issues such as overtime, working hours and associated wages have made up the majority of violations found by audits of apparel, footwear and equipment factories. Nike spends a lot of time and resources to deal with these types of issues in the factories that are poor performing, while having less time to engage with the factories that are high performance. Therefore, Nike have evolved their approach to build relationships with contract factories and developed a new manufacturing vision (NIKE, Inc., 2011). Third step is developed and identify alternatives. After identify the problem or opportunity, they need to do the research. For example, they need to find the solution that can solve the problem they have already identified. After this step, they need to choose the best alternative among one or more alternatives. Next step is implement choice. They can implement the choice in the problem or opportunity. Evaluate choice is the last step, which they need to evaluate the choice or the decision outcomes. For example, whether the gap has narrowed or not or whether the problem have solved or not. Nike is doing well in identifying alternatives. To support the lean manufacturing system, Nike has provided resources to contract factories to support their transition such as training, coaching and technical assistance. This shows that Nike not only depends on the formal procedure like lean manufacturing but also finding other alternatives to improve the productivity. Although the contracted factory (owner and top level management personnel of factory) are being supported by Nike (monetary and other expertise resource), however, operational workers may not receive the fair amount of support from Nike and operational employees are sometimes not recognized as a valuable part of the business value chain. Some workers are unfairly compensated in return for their work and this can lead to a low self-esteem, lack of morale and reduced in productivity (Wilsey Lichtig). Problem identification challenges include perceptual defense, stakeholder framing, decisive leadership, mental models and solution-focused problems. Perceptual defense is ignoring information that threatens their self- concept. Stakeholder framing is stakeholder try to persuade decision maker that interest to problem or opportunity not important. Decisive leadership is decision maker do the decision making without enough analyzing the data. Mental model is an assumption and expectation that prevent people seeing unique problem or opportunity. Solution- focused problem is straight to the solution rather than do the investigation, analysis or identify the problem. Creativity is developing an original idea that makes a socially recognized contribution. Creativity in decision making can help the company solve the problem and get the new and useful alternatives. Creative work environment can motivating the work, encourage experimentation, tolerate mistakes, open communication and sufficient resources. Creative process model include four steps. First is preparation. They need to know the problem and do the preparation such as find the information or do the research or learn some skills that help in creative. Next is incubation. They put the problem aside but mind still working on the background. Third is insight. Suddenly they become aware of unique idea. They see or hear something and cause them suddenly to have a new idea. Last is verification. In this step, they need to evaluate their idea is good or not or benefit or costly for the company. Nike is playing well in creativity either in the shoes design or advertising. The shoes designer need to design the shoes to do three visual dialogues that are attract consumers with iconic design, clean and simple, engage them with craft that is holistic and catch them with the idea. The idea of barefoot shoes that designed by Nike is impressively creative. Nike concerns on the structure of the foot. They did pressure testing on the high-end athletes about what they are doing to make themselves better and also discover that they are usually training barefoot. That is the idea of barefoot shoes came from. Nevertheless, Nike also come out with interesting advertisement and won the Creativity Best 2012 as both the television and print categories is one of the years most innovative advertisers. Employee involvement is the degree to which employee influence how their work is organized and carried out. Different levels have different forms of involvement. In the lowest level, they do not know what problem is about in the company so they do not make the recommendation. In the middle level, they know what problem is happen in the company and they will provide the recommendation to do the decision making. In the highest level, they make the entire decision making process. They need to choose the best alternative among one or more alternatives and implement the choice and evaluate the choice. Higher employee involvement is better when the employees have relevant knowledge beyond leader and can help the leader solve the problem. Most employees would lack commitment if they do not involve. Company need encourage their employee involve in the situation because higher employee involvement means higher commitment of employee. Nike involved all levels of the organization in decision ma king. For instance, top managers determine their organizations goals, what products and services to provide. And middle and lower managers determine the production schedules, select new employees and other routine practices. The disadvantages of moderated employee involvement within an organizations decision making process are too many lines of communication and the potential for inconsistent decision making. When more employees have decision making ability, more communication is needed to make certain that decisions are consistent across the organization. This consistency is significantly important to brand recognition and consistency. Managers may need a long time to monitor decisions and activities with employee involvement to protect against negative consequences and to control the potential for chaos (Kokemuller). 3.0 Recommendation The rational choice paradigm can make several assumptions about the human capacity to process information. One of assumptions which are decision makers can process information about all alternatives and their consequence but normally this is not possible to happen in reality. They only evaluate a few alternatives and some of the main outcomes of those alternatives as well as the Nike. There are some recommendations on how those assumptions that being used by Nike can be applied more effectively in the coming future. Postdecisional justification gives people an excessively optimistic evaluation of their decisions but in reality it will bring the objective feedback to the company. There are four main reasons which are self-justification, prospect theory effect, perceptual blinders and closing costs explained that why people poorly evaluated their decision outcomes. These reasons make escalation of commitment look irrational. The first recommendation for Nike is to minimize postdecisional justification and escalation of commitment. This will ensure that the people who made the original decision and people who later evaluate that decision are different. The self-justification effect can be minimized by this separation of roles due to the person responsible for evaluating the decision is not connected to the original decision. In addition, the Nike can publicly establish a preset level at which the decision is abandoned or reevaluated. It is similar to a stop-loss order in the stock market, whereby the stock is sold if it falls below a certain price. The problem with this solution is that the situations are always so complex. This is because it is very difficult to identify an appropriate point to abandon a project. The next suggestion for Nike is to looking for a source of systematic and clear feedback. For an example, the phenomenally large cost overruns at Scotlands new parliament building might have been smaller if let say the Scottish government had received less ambiguous or less distorted information from civil servants about the true cost of the project during the first few years. The escalation of commitment happened in Scotland because of they do not see the problems soon enough. Lastly, the Nike can try to improve their decision evaluation process by involving of more people in their own evaluation. Besides that, co-workers of Nike can continuously monitor each other and they might notice the problems sooner than someone working alone on the project. Employee involvement offers these and other benefits to the decision making process. So that, Nike can identify their problems, choose the best alternative and implement their decision with the knowledge and multiple perspectives of employees of company. Other than that, we recommend Nike to use Theory Y by Douglas McGregor (1960) to help their employees improve their working performance and distress due to over training. Theory Y emphasize on participative management style. This theory assumes that employees effort in work is as natural as play and work. They are self-motivated, enjoy their work a lot, self-direction and always seek for responsibility. Nike should motivate their potential employees and helps them to develop their skills and capacities. Appraisal method such as provide promotion opportunities to employees with good performance. Motivated employees are more willing to help organizations to achieve goals. According to Comms study (Puvanasvaran, A. P.), there are five best practiced components can be used to solve the problem of lean manufacturing which are environment change, leadership, culture, employee empowerment and communication. Nike should help the older employees to understand how lean manufacturing system work, try to communicate and share clear information with them so that they can understand their company goal. Nike can assign some employees to guide those employees who are not familiar with the process. Moreover, we also recommend Nike applies values drive behavior to motivate and handle the problem of operational workers who did not get their return fairly. The component of justice and fair guidance are needed. Nike managerial leaders should practice ethical behavior by locating organization resources fairly. Resources such as people, capital assets, money should treated and distribute fairly. They treat the workers equally by giving them the amount they deserved to get. Another component is love and kindness. Workers should be treated kindly. When their effort on the job is recognized, they will put more effort and contribute more to the organization. In such way, the operational workers will increase productivity and self-esteem. To solve the problems of inconsistent decision making, Nike should use appropriate team decision making strategy. Normally ideas of high status people or people who should loudest will get attention by other members. Therefore, we recommend Nike to use nominal group technique to solve prioritizing issues such as which resources are the best for company project. It is a technique where all the members brainstorm their ideas without interacting with each other and discuss one by once at the final stage. It is useful in providing effective framework in choosing best option or ranking priorities. 4.0 Conclusion McShane and Von Glinow (2010) defined that Decision making is a process of making choices among one or more alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs. People usually do not follow the rational model to make decision in the real world because there are many undefined problem and ambiguous alternatives. McShane and Von Glinow (2010) defined that Creativity is the development of original ideas that make a socially recognized contribution. Creativity allows and encourages people to think out of the box, which produce innovative and unique ideas for a particular task. NIKE, Inc. is the world leader in athletic apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories. They assist every athlete in developing motivation and creativity throughout the world with using and promoting their products and brand name. Decision making style of the founders of Nike, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight has reflects the participative method in the company. Nike involved all levels of the organization in decision making. The employees who have relevant knowledge beyond leader and can help the leader solve the problem effectively. Furthermore, Nike is playing an important role in creativity which generates unique ideas or products that are valuable to the organizations. Neither in the product design nor advertising, Nike also has tried their best to exert unlimited creativity on it. The creative products and interesting advertisement that created by Nike has help them to produce sustained superior performance. Last, the integration of Nikes design, customer and marketing creates a strategy, which is effective and difficult for their competitors to imitate. Nike has provides clear objective and an environment, which promotes the development and sharing of innovative ideas throughout the world. (Total written words: 3785)

The Relationship between Snowball and Napoleon in Animal Farm :: Animal Farm Essays

The relationship surrounding Snowball and Napoleon in George Orwell's Animal Farm tends to be on rocky grounds. Snowball, a clever pig, tends to be loyal, brave, and outgoing. These are just a few excellent qualities of a leader. Napoleon, a boar, on the other hand, is quite frankly rude, wretched, and full of greed. Both have had their share of leadership on the farm, yet both have had their share of conflict as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Snowball, Animal Farm's first and foremost leader, is and always should be well respected. He bravely fought at the battle of Cowshed, the first conflict between man and animal. He took wounds, he took control, and he spoke for the well being of the Animals. He conceived the great windmill that would supply the Animal Farm with electric power. All this for the prosperity of his fellow animal… until Napoleon stepped in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Napoleon was a leader who led with an iron fist. A fist he used to secretly abuse his fellow animal. He began by raising several ferocious dogs to aid him in enforcing his rules, laws, and expectations. Using them, he abruptly ended Snowballs reign by using the dogs to exile him from the farm. Shortly after, he halted the construction of the windmill. More often than not he would cleverly work his way around the seven commandments by altering them to his pleasure. For example, 'Now animal shall drink alcohol to excess.'; Or 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets.'; Napoleon grounded the rations of each and every animal. The farm slowly fell into a dark abyss with every wretched move Napoleon made.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What's worse, Napoleon came to constantly use Snowball to shift the blame on every small mishap on the farm. For example, when the windmill was first destroyed by the tornado, Napoleon blamed it on Snowball. Also, Snowball was blame for destroying farm property, mixing foods with weeds, and secretly conspiring with human, which was strictly prohibited by animal law. However, the accusations were never proven true, as Snowball was never heard from again since his expulsion.

The Grade Inflation Epidemic Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Grade Inflation Epidemic      Ã‚  Ã‚   It's June, and another graduating class is hoping, among other things, to achieve high grades. Of course, "high" is a subjective target. Originally a "C" meant average; today however, the expectations and pressures to give and receive "A's" and "B's" takes its toll on teachers and students alike. This nullifies the value of the traditional grading scale and creates a host of entirely new problems. The widespread occurrence of grade inflation seriously affects the credibility of secondary and post-secondary education in America.    The definition of an acceptable grade has changed significantly over the years. Grade inflation seemed to begin in earnest in the late 1960s after the bombing of Cambodia. Male college students who failed their classes would lose their deferments for the draft. Some professors gave higher grades so their students wouldn't have to go to war. The cause of the problem wasn't the compassionate professors, but the national policy of linking the deferments to academic success (Hambert).    Unfortunately, along with the astounding cost of college education, comes a pressure for students to compete for scholarship dollars. Faced with losing the means of paying for their schooling, students will go to just about any length to assure good grades. Often clear ethics and morals take a back seat when it comes to doing whatever it takes to pass a course with a good grade. Any teacher with a heart would reconsider a poor grade that would cost a student the funding to complete their education. While some students might earn terrible grades in History, they may make terrific doctors someday. It seems absurd for a grade to have the power to sabot... ...set up to serve - the student.    Works Cited    Dwyer, Victor. "Are We Cheating Our Kids?" Mc'Clean's Magazine 14 Mar. 1994: 44-54 Franey, Lynn. "Inflation Pumping Up Students GPA's." Spokesman Review 20 May 2001: A4+. Hambert, Craid. "Desperately Seeking Summa." Harvard Magazine May 1993: 36-40 Mattern, Elizabeth. "Officials Debate Grade Inflation." Daily Camera 25 May 2001 http://www.thedailycamera.com/buffzone/news/131grad.html Moore, Patrick. "Grade Inflation at Public Universities: Who Profits, Who Pays?" UALR I. May 2001. http://www.ualr.edu/~epmoore/inflation.html II. Pitsch, Mark. "States Seek Goals 2000 Aid for Existing Efforts." Education Week Vol. XIV (1994): 17+. Srinivasan, Kalpana. "Forum to Address Grade Inflation." Yale 25May 2001 http://www.yale.edu/ydn/paper/3.27/3.27.95storyno.FE.html

Catherine des Roches Epistle To Her Mother :: Catherine Roches Epistle Letter Essays

Catherine des Roches' "Epistle To Her Mother" The "Epistle To Her Mother" by Catherine des Roches of Poitiers discusses the very close and dear relationship that exists between mother and daughter. In this letter, the daughter gives a very detailed and vibrant description of the closeness and respect that she shares with her mother. She also reveals her thankfulness to her mother for all that her mother has bestowed upon her. She does this by taking a vow of silence at the end of the letter, which will allow her mother to live a longer and fuller life. In the letter, she wrote, "Since he [the Samian] wishes to speak, I will be silent, Mother, after humbly beseeching Divine Mercy that it please Him lengthen and prosper your days so that you may live a long life as example of the graces of Heaven" (Roches 254). In this letter, Catherine des Roches states facts and details by addressing many parallel points in an easy to read manner. Catherine des Roches does a very good job of consistently using parallel points that contribute to her effectiveness in getting her point across. This means of description allows the reader to grasp the depth of her gratitude and love that she holds for her mother. In the "Epistle To Her Mother," Catherine des Roches uses a very definite pattern of imagery, which includes her use of many mythological figures and activities as references to describe her mother and the relationship that they share. Catherine des Roches also refers to things such as the earth and nature. An example of this is when she says, "You quickened me as Prometheus, the earth which he himself formed" (Roches 253). In this letter, there is also a strong appeal to the senses with the use of words such as luminosity and illumines. Catherine des Roches wrote, "And just as the body in all its proportions, and the shadow in its width cannot be seen without light, so the brilliant luminosity of your mind illumines for us the narrow path where I pray" (Roches 253). According to The Oxford English Dictionary, luminosity means shedding light and illumines means to light up or to enlighten spiritually. These two words are very strong and appeal to the senses to a great degree.

Contractual and Non Contractual Liability Essay

I. Contract   A contract is an agreement having a lawful object entered into voluntarily by two or more parties, each of whom intends to create one or more legal obligations between them. The elements of a contract are â€Å"offer† and â€Å"acceptance† by â€Å"competent persons† having legal capacity who exchange â€Å"consideration† to create â€Å"mutuality of obligation. † Contracts may be bilateral or unilateral. A bilateral contract is an agreement in which each of the parties to the contract makes a promise or set of promises to each other. For example, in a contract for the sale of a home, the buyer promises to pay the seller $200,000 in exchange for the seller’s promise to deliver title to the property. These common contracts take place in the daily flow of commerce transactions, and in cases with sophisticated or expensive promises may involve extensive negotiation and various condition precedent requirements, which are requirements that must be met for the contract to be fulfilled. Less common are unilateral contracts in which one party makes a promise, but the other side does not promise anything. In these cases, those accepting the offer are not required to communicate their acceptance to the offeror. In a reward contract, for example, a person who has lost a dog could promise a reward if the dog is found, through publication or orally. The payment could be additionally conditioned on the dog being returned alive. Those who learn of the reward are not required to search for the dog, but if someone finds the dog and delivers it, the promisor is required to pay. Elements At common law, the elements of a contract are offer, acceptance, intention to create legal relations, and consideration. Offer and acceptance In order for a contract to be formed, the parties must reach mutual assent. This is typically reached through offer and an acceptance which does not vary the offer’s terms, which is known as the â€Å"mirror image rule†. If a purported acceptance does vary the terms of an offer, it is not an acceptance but a counteroffer and, therefore, simultaneously a rejection of the original offer. Intention to be legally bound In commercial agreements it is presumed that parties intend to be legally bound unless the parties expressly state the opposite as in a heads of agreement document. For example, an agreement between two business parties was not enforced because it contained an ‘honor clause’ which stated the parties wish that the agreement not be reviewed or enforced by a court. In contrast, domestic and social agreements such as those between children and parents are typically unenforceable on the basis of public policy. For example, a husband agreed to give his wife $100 a month while he was away from home, but the court refused to enforce the agreement when the husband stopped paying. Consideration is something of value given by a promissor to a promisee in exchange for something of value given by a promisee to a promissor. Typically, the thing of value is a payment, although it may be an act, or forbearance to act, when one is privileged to do so, such as an adult refraining from smoking. This thing of value or forbearance from some legal right is considered to be a legal detriment. In the exchange of legal detriments, a bargain is created. II. Contractual Liability Contractual liability, is exactly as it sounds. A contract is a legal binding agreement between two or more persons.  When you sign, or agree to the terms of a contract, then you have accepted the contractual liabilities set forth in the document. Liabilities are things that you can be held accountable for, and may have to repay or replace, in the event that they occur. For example, a renter’s agreement may state that, â€Å"†If upon moving out of the premises stated in the contract, any part of the premises is destroyed, you may be accountable for and have to pay to repair, or replace the damage†Ã¢â‚¬ . Contractual liability (or liability because of a contract) has a very broad meaning—a promise that may be enforced by a court. Consider the following simple example. I agree to paint your house for $1,000 and collect $500 prior to the job. After I accept the $500, I obtain a more lucrative offer and never show up to paint your house. You can go to court and claim the $500 you paid me, as I have breached the contract. Your claim is a contractual liability claim. Contractual liability can take many forms, but is basically holds you accountable for damages that are stated in the contract. Another example can be a publishing contract. If you are found guilty of plagiarism, the publisher is not accountable for the act. It is your contractual liability, to release the publisher from fault, and take it yourself. In a nutshell, contractual liability, is anything that you agree to in the terms set forth in a contract. Before entering in to any contract, if you do not understand the terms, consult with an attorney. III. Non-contractual liability The term non-contractual liability can be defined as tort liability. Tort liability is legal obligation of one party to a victim as a results of a civil wrong or injury. This action requires some form of remedy from a court system. A tort liability arises because of a combination of directly violating a person’s rights and the transgression of a public obligation causing damage or a private wrongdoing. Evidence must be evaluated in a court hearing to identify who the tortfeasor/liable party is in the case. Some torts are also crimes punishable with imprisonment, the primary aim of tort law is to provide relief for the damages incurred and deter others from committing the same harms. The injured person may sue for an injunction to prevent the continuation of the tortious conduct or for monetary damages. For example, a factory was built in A village. Then this factory releases so much smoke and waste which can harm to human health and environment. Therefore, this factory has to take responsible for her releasing. Among the types of damages the injured party may recover are: loss of earnings capacity, pain and suffering, and reasonable medical expenses. They include both present and future expected losses. Torts fall into three general categories: intentional torts (e. g. , intentionally hitting a person); negligent torts (e. g. causing an accident by failing to obey traffic rules); and strict liability torts (e. g. , liability for making and selling defective products). Intentional torts are any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to cause harm to an individual, and that do so. Negligence is a tort which depends on the existence of a breaking of the duty of care owed by one person to another from the perspective of a reasonable person, it is just carelessness not intenti on. Strict liability wrongs do not depend on the degree of carefulness by the defendant, but are established when a particular action causes damage.