Respect Is Earned

Respect is something that must be earned and in return the same will be give n to you. An individual should not just automatically be given respect because of who they are, what they wear, how old they are or even by their status in society. Call me crazy but rest peck is gained through trust and experience with a person and this believe. You might ask why would I say such a thing well let me explain. First day of school and I'm sitting in first period. I'm the only person there beck cause the bell hasn't rung yet.A few minutes later the warning bell rings and kids start t o fall through the door as if there was a disease spreading through the halls. Soon after the final I bell rings and we're ready to begin class, but something is missing, or should I say someone. The teacher is late! Now I try to be openhanded as to why a teacher would be late on the firs t day, but something didn't rub me the right way. Ten minutes later in walks the teacher or some guy that think is the teacher, but by the way he's dressed he might be from the circus.He has on wetlands and a baggy this that looks like his dog had a field day with it. N to to mention he smells like the trash under a teenage boys' bed. Think to myself maybe I'm b Ewing too judgmental, so I back off a little as he explains his morning. The details of his explanation are much too graphic to write in such a formal piece, but will say he knows how t o party. Now in a perfect world every adult deserves respect, but we don't live in a per effect world (at least I don't). Society makes you feel as if you have to respect everyone you come in contact with.You must be open minded and kindhearted to the idea of respecting eve Renee, but in reality who ever does? Was taught to respect all my teachers and those above e me. The question have for you is how can you respect someone you barely know. To make ma otters worse they don't even make the effort Of being on time, they don't kick at least half pres notable, they smell like raw fish and because they partied too hard the night before they were to o hung-over to wake up for school the next morning.I have the answer for you, in case you weren't sure, YOU DON'T! Yes everyone should be treated with kindness. I also think every individual De serves the chance to earn respect but unfortunately not everyone deserves respect. If the at was the case there would be no reason for rules and laws for us to live by. Respect is something I value and in order to get respect from me, regardless of who you are, how much money you ma eek, what kind of car you drive, you MUST show me that I can give you such a priceless thing and the is I believe.

Police Brutality Essay

Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. For those people who feel racism is not a factor in causing the use of excessive force, here is a fact. In Tampa Bay, Florida five men died while in the custody of the Tampa Bay police department. The thing is the Tampa Bay Police Department is made up of mostly white officers, but of the five men who died none where white. Four of the five men that died were African Americans, and the other man was a Mexican. If the incident in Tampa Bay does not show person racism, this event might. In New York City, an average of seven Latin Americans were killed a year between 1986 to 1989, but in 1990, that number increased. In that year, twenty-three Latin Americans were killed by police gunfire. Police brutality is involving the unnecessary and unjustified use of force that is either physical or verbal. Other than the police stopping brutality, the use of review boards can be used. These boards must be able to receive all the evidence in a case, including the police audio tapes, in order to make fair judgment if excessive force was used or not. If excessive force is present in cases, these review boards must be able to punish the police or they are almost useless. Whether or not a person believes police brutality is a serious problem, it must be stopped. In some cases, where more force is needed than in others, it is still there. Even in areas where police and the use of excessive force is not a huge problem, it must be decreased by both the police and the public. Finally, there needs to be rules making sure that this never happens again.

American Medical Association AMA

Amongst the midst of the ancient remains of a mastodon (Mammut amercanum) inside the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, more than two hundred fifty delegates from twenty-eight states met in May 7, 1847 to form a national convention of medical practitioners as response to the resolution of Dr. Nathan S. Davis (1817-1904) in the New York Medical Association. All affirmed Dr. Davies’ vision and agreed to the founding of the American Medical Association with Dr. Nathaniel Chapman as its founding president (â€Å"Founding of the American Medical Association,† 2005).Since then AMA has been the leading organization in promoting the medical science and consolidating the doctors and their patients. Among its goals are to centralize scientific advancement in the field of medical science, to set standards and establish rules for medical practice and education, and to improve public health. The AMA’s Strategies To achieve their goal to consolidate sci entific advancements in the field of medical science, they institutionalized the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1883. This publication became the largest publication for a weekly medical journal in theâ€Å"33183073 American Medical Association AMA† â€Å"Page # 2† world and became a forum for members of the medical society to communicate easily with each other and learn of the most recent medical discoveries or research in the science of medicine (â€Å"American Medical Association,† 2006). In the advent of computer technology and the internet, they gained new means of relaying new discoveries and data to their members and even to non-members alike. In their official website, the association provides links to electronic editions of JAMA.Also they provide a means for patients to find the right physicians to help them with their health problem, together with their location and availability trough the â€Å"DoctorFinder† feature of th eir website (â€Å"DoctorFinder,† 2006). To attain national recognition and to increase its membership, the AMA in 1901 decided to reorganize the association and create a more effective national body by enabling each state medical society to have equal representation. They then established the AMA House of Delegates (HOD) as the legislative body of the AMA (â€Å"American Medical Association,† 2006).This permitted the organization to increase its number and relevance with respect to the national medical society. The establishment of the HOD increased the organization’s influence in the medical society enabling them to make decisions that are respected by all medical practitioners. According to the US History Encyclopedia (2006), the AMA recommended the implementation of severe standards of medical training in schools and was the one who established the original Code of Medical Ethics in 1847 and provides a lead role in the development of the American Code of Med ical Ethics until today.In regards to their mission to improve the condition of public health in America the Association took part on numerous public health initiatives such as the declaration of â€Å"33183073 American Medical Association AMA† â€Å"Page # 3† alcoholism as an illness in 1956 and the recommendation of a nationwide polio vaccination in the 1960’s. Recent efforts of the organizations to promote the Children’s Medical Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act in congress show the AMA’s intention to help improve public health by making public care affordable to less able patients or citizens.Their support for CHAMP is consistent with their vehement campaign against the reduction of Medicare funds that would greatly increase the cost to beneficiaries of the insurance system and reduce their access to care (â€Å"Tell Congress to pass the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act,† 2007). These, together with numerous other efforts, not mentioned here, by the AMA are vital to the improvement of the American public health and the medical community as a whole. ConclusionThe AMA is fighting a continues struggle for the improvement of medicine as a science and the development of public care so as to continually give patients the proper attention that is due them. Their success in the elevation of the status of the medical science and public health in the USA is their contribution to the American society as a whole, and this allowed the United States to be one of the worlds leading countries in the field of medical science. References American Medical Association. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of American History. Retrieved August 02, 2007, from Answers. com Web site: http://www. answers.com/topic/american-medical-association American Medical Association. (n. d. ). Encyclopedia of Public Health. Retrieved August 02, 2007, from Answers. com Web site: http://www. answers. com/topic/american-medical-associatio n DoctorFinder. (2006). Retrieved Aug. 2, 2007, from http://webapps. ama-assn. org/doctorfinder/home. html Founding of the American Medical Association. (2005). Retrieved July 28, 2007, from http://www. ama-assn. org/ama/pub/category/12982. html Tell Congress to pass the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act. (2007). Retrieved Aug. 2, 2007, from http://capwiz. com/ama/issues/alert/? alertid=10078856

MGT paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MGT paper - Essay Example White collar jobs emphasizes professionalism in that, a person work in the field where he or she has the knowledge, skills and experience. In a white collar work setting, it is possible for workers to work in any area they prefer, but work is dictated by a person’s training in a particular career field (Hoop and Wolzansky 64). Since white collar workers do their job in an office setting, their productivity can be measured in a number of ways. First, the productivity of white collar workers can be measured by assessing worker engagement. Worker engagement refers to the interest that workers have in the various task that they are delegated in the office. Where the workers are dissatisfied with their working environment, they tend to shirk thus affecting the productivity of the company in terms of reaching the established goals. Worker involvement can be used to measure productivity in that, where workers are happy with their work environment, their involvement increases and this in turn, increases performance and productivity of the company. On the other hand, innovativeness and creativity can also be used to measure the productivity of white collar workers. An innovative pool of workers means that a company is able to improve its productivity and gain a competitive edge over similar companies with regard t o the market share. However, a lack of innovativeness or creativity among workers means that the productivity of the company is also affected (Hoop and Wolzansky 68). Team work is also a tool to measure the productivity of white collar workers. This is because, in a group, it is easier to notice the input of every member in terms of contributions made by each member. This helps the team leader to assess the talent or ability of each group member in improving a company’s productivity. Employee turnover is also a way of measuring the productivity

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment Research Paper

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment - Research Paper Example This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  1) To find out the extent of Chinese foreign direct investments in the Zambian Mines2) To establish the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investments on the performance of mining firms in Zambia.3) To investigate the effects of the mining firms on the economic growth of Zambia both in the short-term and long-term.Study questions based on the above objectives, this research will seek to answer these research qu estions regarding the foreign direct investment of China in Zambian Mining firms.  1) What is the extent of the Chinese Foreign direct investments in Zambian mining firms?2) What is the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investment on the performance of the Mining firms in Zambia?3) What is the existing relationship between Chinese foreign direct investments with short and long-term economic growth of Zambia?Study HypothesisThe Zambian economy is a small open economy that depends on the inflows of the foreign direct investments from China and export of the mining products from its economy. Therefore, this study seeks to fulfill the hypothesis that the Zambian economic growth is positively related to the FDI from China and increased export of Zambian mining products. Literature Review Financial Crisis and Chinese Economy The business environment experiences cycles that occur in different periods. Some of the cycles include the boom, recession, depression and lastly growth. As noted by Gruen, a recession is a cycle that occurs immediately after a boom. It

To determine the relationship between physical self-perceptions and Essay

To determine the relationship between physical self-perceptions and participation in sport in school children in years 9, 10 and 11 - Essay Example The stronger the internal cues, the greater the impact, whether positive or negative. For children, particularly in their pre-adolescent years (9-11) when they are anticipating and experiencing great physical changes (Craig, 1992) and are just starting to develop the ability to formulate abstract thought (â€Å"Piaget†, 2006), most of these internal cues are gained through their perceptions of themselves as they compare physically to their peers. As a result of the physicality of self-perception in this age group, study after study have demonstrated that participation in sports can have a positive impact on children’s self-perception just as negative self-perceptions tend to decrease a child’s willingness to participate in sports. Links between sports participation and self-perception in this age group have been demonstrated to be relatively universal, regardless of culture or nationality. For example, a study conducted on the highest and lowest quarter of students participating in a physical fitness test in comparison with their results from a self-concept scale indicated a strong correlation in attitudes among those who scored high and those who scored low. In the study (Sherrill & Alguin, 1989), children, both boys and girls, who scored high on the physical fitness test also scored high on the self-concept scale while children who scored low on the fitness test also scored low on the self-concept scale. While this study doesn’t necessarily support the concept that physical activity and positive self-concept are positively linked, it does indicate the possibility. Other studies have established this link, however. Marsh and Sonstroem (1995) conducted a study in which participants were asked to report the amount of physical activity they participated in on a weekly basis, reporting at the same time the intensity level of the exercise. At the same time, a physical

Sex Offenders' Registration Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sex Offenders' Registration - Research Paper Example It is also a requirement that sex offenders from other states notify the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification when they move to the state of Louisiana within three days. The sexual offenders have to report in person in order to register with the appropriate agencies. The state of Louisiana also has the Crime against Nature statute that covers sexual crimes. The law seeks to punish prostitution especially anal and oral sex by requiring those convicted of those offences to register as sexual offenders. Although, the Supreme of Court outlawed sodomy in 2003 and hence should have invalidated the Crimes against Nature law, the state of Louisiana still implements the part that punishes solicitation. Guidelines on Implementation of Sex Offender Registration A person who is convicted of a sexual offense against a minor has to register and maintain the registration for a period of twenty five years. A person with a previous conviction may be required to maintain a life time registratio n. A first time offender is required to maintain registration for close to 15 years. On the occurrence that such an individual maintains a clean record for ten consecutive years, the person may be exempted from further registration requirements. Maintaining a clean record encompasses not being convicted of any offence and successfully completing any supervised probation. The funding for the sexual offenders database comes from the taxpayers’ kitty. The federal government through the Sex Offender Registry Technology Fund allocates money to purchase a computer system to keep the records and also some monies to cater for personnel and logistics at the office of the attorney general. The implementation cost is several millions and the federal funds that are lost due to failure to implement the registration requirements is about two hundred thousand dollars. Also, a state may be cut-off from federal funding if it fails to implement the federal requirement to implement registration of sexual offenders. The guidelines for the information required during the registration are quite expansive depending on each state. In Louisiana State, it’s a stipulation that offenders give their details. The DNA samples, fingerprints and palm prints are taken by the appropriate agency. Details of telephone contacts are also recorded and even the online details such as email addresses and the names used in social sites. The social security number and travel documents’ details are recorded (Kayla, â€Å"What does court ruling mean for sex offenders?†). The agency charged with collecting this information is the State Bureau of Criminal Identification and information. Penalties for Non-Compliance to Sex Offender Registration Any person who fails to register or update registration is liable for an offence and may be fined an amount less than one thousand dollars or a jail term of between two to ten years. Providing false information knowingly to the enforcement agency also has a similar penalty. On second conviction for failure to comply with the provisions of the registration law, a person may be fined three thousand dollars or a jail term of between five to twenty years. A person who fails to notify the authorities when moving is also liable to prison term or a fine. It should be noted that the sexual offenders. Registration requirement is implemented across almost all the States in the United States therefore a person has legal obligation to

Television effects on Children Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Television effects on Children - Research Paper Example The essay discusses the effects of television on children in today’s society. Media greatly influences the character of many children. That is why most children chose the rock stars as their role model. Their way of dressing and character gives an affirmation to this. Research shows that children spend three to five hours watching television (Pressley 12). Television has both negative and positive effects on children. It educates, open their minds to new ideas, enable them to learn more about their culture as well as other people’s culture, it also gives them the chance to learn more about wildlife and the world that is other continents and planets lastly, it entertains (Datta 118). The positive effects only apply if the child chooses the right programme. On the other hand, television can be very detrimental on children. For instances, many movies show that one can achieve goals in life easily. This is to say that, television will display how ordinary people do extraord inary things to achieve a certain level of success for instance, engaging in theft. By so doing, children inherit this believes and presume how the school curriculum is wasting their productive time (Pressley 14). Because of this, children become violet and engage in theft activities to attain certain status in life. In addition, television creates stereotypes about life (Datta 117). For instance, men are portrayed to be wealthy and handsome while women are young and attractive. This makes them to assume that the society is supposed to be in that order. Because of that, many children have tried to achieve this level of life in the wrong way for instance theft as stated above and prostitution. As a child grows, television affects their health, weight, and sleeping hours. As children spend more time in front of television, screens they do not engage in physical activities. Sleep is also important for a growing child, lack of enough sleep results to fatigue (Voort 32). This makes the c hild to lose concentration in class affecting his or her performance. Recent research shows that the number of obese children in United States of American has doubled compared to the other years (Pressley 17). The main cause of this is many hours that the children spend on television screens. Television affects the social life of a child. A child may prefer to watch a certain programme instead of playing with other children. This also applies in the family where the child does not have time with the parents because of the television. Social interaction is an important aspect for a child’s development (Voort 32). Research has shown that about 85 percent of the children who are obese are vulnerable to diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and heart problems (Pressley 15). This is to say that diabetes increases the risk of getting chronic diseases. The increase in obese children results to increase in obese adults this reduces their life span. The radical f rom the society lowers their self-esteem (Voort 32). This makes them not to feel accepted by the members of the society. To curb this parents are supposed to limit hours that children spend on the television and encourage their children to engage in physical activities. The other negative effect of television is that it encourages aggressive behaviors among the children. The aggressive behavi

Heliotrope Medical Devices (HMD) Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Heliotrope Medical Devices (HMD) - Case Study Example In addition, the Mobile robot permits application of an insertion method that enables outpatient cardiac surgery. The models in these experiment used suction to sustain pretension of the heart while the locomotion was aided by a wire-driven actuation. Also a digitized fiber scope presents visual feedbacks to the general practitioner, who gearshift the heartlander through joystick interface in various samples to determine the control process. The original model exhibited progressive prehension , locomotion and turning on bare chest, thumping pig hearts having excess pericardiums .This work exhibits a control process for producing the heartlander component which requires special attention during production. Abstract Table of contents Background information †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 Objective †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.4 Literature review †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 Robot Assisted cardiac Surgery †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..6 Methodology †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 System requirements †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 Design implementation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.9 Testing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9 Findings and discussion †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 Conclusion and recommendation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦12 Reference †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..15 Appendix 1: Calculation to test one finding Appendix 2: Calculation to test two finding BACKGROUND INFORMATION Cardiac surgery is an intervention on the heart or other significant vessels carried out by cardiac surgeons, in most cases it is performed to treat issues related ischemic heart disease. In the recent past, application of minimally invasive methods has turn out to be the main objective in cardiothoracic surgery since there a need to do away with morbidity related to sternotomy. Sternotomy refers to the bisecting of the sternum in order to expose the ribcage which gives the surgeon easy access to the heart and it majorly obviated by use of endoscopic minimally invasive surgery(Tendick et al 2003). This practice employs minute cameras and tools placed at distal ends of rigid shafts placed through miniature incisions between the ribs (figure 1). By use of endoscopic tools, the surgeon is in a position to convey the equipments to the operative site instead of exposing the patient to render the operative site to the tools. These mainly reduce movement in surgical process since the major pain and disability witnessed by the patient is as result of accessibility rather than the process itself. Figure 1 Nevertheless, the initial handheld endoscopic equipments had various setbacks that limited the implementation of minimally invasive methods for most surgical procedures. These drawbacks included: decrease in dexterity,

Culture, Modernity and media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Culture, Modernity and media - Essay Example This is because the idea of a nation state or the concept the every human belongs to one or more nations has been very influential in the course of human history. A nationalistic ideology forms the basis of creation for a nation state which determines its friendly or even hostile relationships with other nations of the world. Being a part of nations entails to some extent a positive belief in the ideology of the nation and upholding certain customs which are part of the national culture (Miztal, 2003). Strangely enough, there sometimes appears to be no basis of creating a nation since in historical terms nations were formed simply because a group had a different accent from another, while at the same time, people from across races, religions, cultural and backgrounds as well as those who speak different languages can call themselves part of one nation (Giddens, 1994). This is particularly the case with western democracies like America or Britain, where the diversity of the nation is celebrated as much as the union (Bhaba, 1989). In fact, celebrations are significant in helping to create a national identity and infusing a sense of belonging to a nation without internal discrimination. The celebratory role of a particular incident in history is often connected with war and struggle. Incidentally, the celebration seldom looks at the atrocities committed by the nations involved in the war but rather at the positive, heroic, self sacrificing and noble acts which ‘deserve’ to be commemorated. For instance, the American celebration of Veteran’s Day is a celebration of all the war heroes who fought for America in the many wars the nation has conducted over its comparatively short history (Gillis, 1994). Of course there is little mention of America being the only nation in the world to have ever used a nuclear attack on another nation. The atrocities which were committed by American soldiers in Vietnam and the crimes of war they

Community Health Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Community Health Nursing - Assignment Example The average casualty rate of Ebola is 50% and therefore, samples are not to be extracted from patients. (WHO, 2014) Diagnosis is conducted through various tests; virus extraction by cell structure, serum neutralization test and electron microscopy are examples of diagnostic tests. There is no treatment available for Ebola. However rehydration with intravenous or oral fluids is administered to patients to increase their survival chances. Prevention measures include: fast response to Ebola incidences and isolation of affected victims, proper burial of victims and community engagement towards controlling the disease. There are no proven vaccines for Ebola, though two vaccines are undergoing human testing currently.(WHO, 2014) In case of an outbreak, nurses can educate the affected communities about the disease as ignorance can have dire consequences. Nurses can provide both the facts and myths associated with Ebola and advice them on the best prevention measures. The main ethical issue that Ebola patients face is that they are isolated and kept away from their loved ones for as long as they live. 3. York, G. (Oct. 09, 2014). Fear and Education play crucial role in Ebola crisis. Retrieved from

Obesity Statistics Essay Example for Free

Obesity Statistics Essay Obesity statistics in Malaysia are getting scarier by the day. The World Health Organization (WHO) survey in 2010 ranked Malaysia as sixth in Asia with the highest adult obesity rate. Obesity statistics from the Malaysian National Health and Morbidity Survey in 2006 showed that 43% of Malaysian adults were obese or overweight at that time. And these obesity statistics showed that overweight children were 38% of the child population in Malaysia. The recent WHO results of 2010 showed that 60% of Malaysians aged 18 and up, had a BMI over 25. A BMI of more than 25 means the person is overweight. In 2008, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) did research on the ‘prevalence of obesity among children’. The results were astounding, showing an increase of obesity of 30% in the 6 to 12 years old age group. In 2007, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) did a nationwide, all Malaysian states study on obesity, on Malaysians aged 15 years old and above. A person with a BMI of more than 30 was considered to be obese. Those overweight with a BMI reading of more than 25 were excluded. The UPM researchers found that females were more likely to be obese at 13.8% while men were at 9.6%. Malays and Indians had higher cases of obesity at 13.6% and 13.5%, while Chinese came in 8.5% of their population groups. Sarawak natives had 10.8% cases of obesity while the Sabah natives had the lowest at 7.3%. The data obtained were statistically significant (p 0.0001). All these obesity statistics have rung alarm bells at the Malaysian Ministry of Health. The Malaysian government is concerned on the health effects, productivity and the healthcare costs implications of an obesity epidemic in the country. The government notes that this obesity and overweight issue is far more serious in Malaysia than in other countries in the region. The Malaysian Ministry of Health had planned for another survey in 2011 to update these obesity statistics. This would have included a study on the incidences of diabetes and kidney diseases in Malaysia. But no results are available as of now.

Government Strategies to Control Inflation

Government Strategies to Control Inflation With reference to the UK, examine and discuss the methods open to a government to control the rate of inflation within an economy. Introduction Inflation refers to an increase in the price level of goods and services in a given economy. Since inflation is concerned with increases in the cost of living rather than increases in the cost of a particular good, it is measured using a price index which monitors the price of a weighted ‘basket’ of goods. In the UK, the main price indices are the Retail Price Index (RPI), the Retail Price Index excluding Mortgage Interest Payments (RPIX) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Responsibility for the control of inflation was handed from the Treasury to the Bank of England in 1997 at which time the RPIX was used to measure inflation and the inflation target was set at 2.5%. Since December 2003, the CPI has replaced the RPIX as the main inflation measure and the target has been set at 2%. Diagram 1 (below) depicts annual inflation rates in the UK from 1997 to 2007 as measured by both the RPIX and the CPI. This essay will first outline the main theories put forward to explain the causes of inflation and the methods that each theory suggests would control inflation. The next section considers inflation in the UK from 1997 to date, and then evaluates the measures employed by the Bank of England in order to try to control inflation in that period. Causes of inflation and methods of inflation control There are two main schools of thought on the causes of inflation. The Keynesian school posits that changes in the real supply of or demand for goods and services are the key causes of inflation. Thus in order to reduce inflation, an expansion in supply or a contraction in demand is necessary to reduce the price level. This can be achieved through fiscal or monetary policy or a combination of the two. Fiscal policy such as an increase in income tax rates, has the effect of reducing effective demand for goods and services and thus can be used to lower inflation. Furthermore, a reduction in sales taxes (VAT in the UK) can reduce inflation to the extent that that inflation is caused by an increase in consumer prices. Monetary policy, through an increase in interest rates, can reduce aggregate demand through discouraging borrowing, increasing saving and reducing the disposable income of homeowners as the cost of mortgage repayments increases. The monetarists, on the other hand, argue that inflation is caused primarily by changes in the supply of and demand for money. In this view, then, inflation can be reduced either by reducing the supply of, or increasing the demand for, money. Given that either the government or the central bank (as in the case of the UK where the Bank of England has had independence on monetary policy since 1997) sets the price of money (i.e. the interest rate), they are able to control the supply of and demand for money. This suggests that fiscal policy can be used to affect aggregate supply and aggregate demand while monetary policy can be used to affect aggregate demand (particular in an economy with a high level of mortgaged home-ownership) and the supply of and demand for money. Inflation in the UK and Bank of England control measures from 1997 to 2008 The diagram above shows UK inflation (as measured by RPIX and CPI) from 1997 to 2008 together with the inflation targets set for the Bank of England by the government. This shows that from 1997 to 2003, inflation was held within 0.5% of its target. In 2004, inflation as measured by its (then new) CPI target was on the low side but from 2005 to 2007, it was within a healthy 0.5% range of target. In recent months, however, inflation has been climbing and is predicted to go over 3% at some point before the end of 2008. In order to understand inflation and inflation control in the UK, it is necessary to understand some of the specificities of the UK economy. In the first place, the nature of the UK housing market (which is characterized by high loan-to-value ratios, relatively few long-term fixed rate mortgages, and ease of re-mortgaging) makes house prices particularly responsive to interest rates. Cameron (2005:3) explains that ‘a one percentage point rise in the short-term real interest rate would reduce house prices over a five year period by 2.6% in the UK, 1.8% in the US, and 1.3% in Germany.’ Furthermore, in the UK, house prices have a major impact on consumer spending. Cameron (2005:3) explains that house prices are more volatile in the UK than elsewhere in the developed world, and that the impact of house prices on consumer spending is also particularly heavy in the UK – according to the OECD, a 1% fall in UK housing wealth correlates with a 0.07% fall in consumer spendi ng. This can be seen as due to the high levels of home ownership and the high loan-to-value ratios of mortgages. This demonstrates that while monetary policy can be very effective in reducing aggregate demand via just a small increase in interest rates, the converse is also true – in other words, a small reduction in interest rates will have a significant effect on aggregate demand and so will lead to a significant increase in inflation. This last point is well illustrated by the current situation in the UK. The Bank of England is mandated to control inflation (as mentioned previously the target is 2% as measured by the CPI) but has control only over monetary policy and not over fiscal policy. Monetary policy impacts economic growth as well as inflation and therefore when the economy is slowing (as is currently the case) and potentially heading towards recession, interest rates may be used to stimulate growth even if this may also increase inflation to an unacceptable level (when it goes over 3% the governor of the Bank of England must write an explanatory letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer). As the Economist (2008:38) explains, in January of this year, ‘consumer prices were 2.2% higher than a year ago—a bit above the governments 2.0% inflation target. The banks central forecast shows inflation heading up to 3% by the third quarter of this year.’ The Bank of England (2008) itself certainly blames the predicted escalation of inflation over the acceptable 3% level on the problem of balancing growth objectives with inflation targets given that monetary policy is the only tool at its disposal, claiming that the ‘combination of slow growth and above-target inflation poses substantial challenges for policy.’ Conclusion The Bank of England (2008) explains that ‘higher energy, food and import prices push inflation up sharply in the near term.’ This is echoed by analysis in the Economist (2008:38) which claims that increasing ‘home-energy bills, which have jumped by nearly 15% so far this year, will add almost half a percentage point to consumer-price inflation in February. Food-price inflation, which is currently 6.6%, is likely to rise further. Import prices will be pushed up by a weaker pound, whose 6% fall in the last three months was the biggest since sterlings ignominious exit from the European exchange-rate mechanism in 1992.’ In order to address this kind of inflation without stifling economic growth at a time when growth is already slowing, policies need to be directed at aggregate supply of goods and services. As was outlined above, monetary policies have an impact on the supply and demand for money and also on aggregate demand for goods and services. However, only fiscal policy impacts the aggregate supply of services. Thus in the context of low levels of growth and high levels of inflation, monetary policy (as controlled by the Bank of England) is not sufficient because if it focuses on controlling inflation it cannot also reverse the slowdown in economic growth, and if it focuses on economic growth, there is a danger that inflation will get out of control. Thus inflation controls should draw on a combination of fiscal and monetary policy. References Bank of England (2008) ‘Overview of the Inflation Report February 2008’ (downloaded from http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/inflationreport/infrep.htm on 4 March 2008) Cameron, G. (2005) ‘The UK Housing Market: Economic Review’ (downloaded from http://hicks.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/cameron/papers/ukhousingmarket.pdf on 4 March 2008) Economist (2008) ‘Economic woes: Fighting on two fronts: Britain’s central bank gets gloomier about growth and inflation’ in The Economist, February 16th-22nd 2008, p.38 OECD (2005) ‘Economic Survey of the United Kingdom, 2005 (downloaded from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/34/35473312.pdf on 4 March 2008) Office for National Statistics (2008a) ‘RP07 RPI all items excluding Mortgage Interest Payments (RPIX) percentage change over 12 months (CDKQ)’ (downloaded from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/RPIX.pdf on 4 March 2008) Office for National Statistics (2008b) ‘CPI12 CPI all items percentage change over 12 months (D7G7)’ (downloaded from http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_economy/CPI.pdf on 4 March 2008)

Assumptions, research design and data collection strategies

Assumptions, research design and data collection strategies Chapter 1 Introduction The purpose of this assignment is to offer a critical analysis of the underpinning assumptions and research design and data collection strategies and the practice of academic research. Two research papers are chosen for the purpose of this analysis. The first paper is a quantitative study and the second paper is a qualitative study. They are as follows:- Shafer, W. E., Fukukawa, K. and Lee, G. M. (2007) Values and the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility: The U.S. versus China, Journal of Business Ethics, 70 (3), pp. 265-284. Tsoi, J. (2007) Stakeholders perceptions and future scenarios to improve corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong and Mainland China, Journal of Business Ethics, pp. 1-14. The main reason for selecting these two papers is that they both report upon the area of corporate social responsibility, which is the focus of my PhD. Within the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR), there has been considerable research discussing the relationship between values and perception with the attitude/behaviour of businesses towards CSR. These values are considered quantifiable and thus have been measured quantitatively using scales developed by authors such as Forsyth (1980), Singhapakdi et al.(1996), and Vitell and Patwardhan (2008). Interviews have been used to bring forward the values that are deemed important by stakeholders, and were explored qualitatively by Fukukawa and Teramoto (2009), Siltaoja (2006), and Là ¤hdesmà ¤ki and Siltaoja (2009). The two papers selected both looked at cross-cultural values and perceptions, however, they utilise different methods of investigation. This difference could provide a good basis for comparison, in terms of philosophical assumptions, research design, and the method of data collection. The analyses will begin for each paper with an introduction of the research aims, followed by the epistemological and ontological position, the research design, followed by analysis of its research methodology, the alternative research design and lastly, conclusions from this discussion will be provided. Chapter 2 Review of Quantitative Research paper 2.1 Research Objectives This study by Shafer, Fukukawa and Lee (2007) examined the values and the perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility on managers from China and the U.S. The authors used scales instruments to obtain quantitative data in order to make inferences on whether the managers nationality and personal values have effect on their ethical perception. The American and Chinese managers are assumed to differ in their personal values and subsequently this should be reflected from their responses to the â€Å"Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility† (PRESOR) scale. The authors provided the relevant background information and built up the reasoning for their hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that managers from China would believe less strongly than American managers in the importance of ethically and socially responsible conduct to achieve organisational success. The second hypothesis was that both American and Chinese managers personal values are believed to have significant impact on the responses to the scale. These hypotheses seem to correlate strongly with the research objectives which are to determine that there is variation in response due to cultural differences. 2.2 Epistemological and Ontological Assumptions It is likely that the authors based their research on moral philosophy which â€Å"refers in particular to the principles of rules that people use to decide what is right or wrong† (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell, 2005:19). This paper seems to indicate that the principles of rules of managers of different cultures are likely to differ and thus ethical decision-making would vary. The authors provided examples of other empirical research to support this notion. The assumption that personal values can influence ethical decisions shows that the research is likely to infer an ontological assumption of realist, whereby reality is seen to have an existence independent of the activities of the human observer (Blaikie, 2007:13). As the research strives to compare values and perceptions, these elements are thought to be measurable and quantifiable; seemingly leaning towards the empiricism position in which the key idea is that knowledge comes from observing the world (Blaikie, 2007:19). The authors employed deductive research whereby the â€Å"hypotheses formed are tested to determine if the statements can be supported† (Sekaran, 2003:31), which is a typical research approach of empiricists. Taking possibly the stance of positivists, these values are assumed measureable, and are thus thought to form the social reality that these values affect the perception of corporate social responsibility amongst the managers from these two countries. 2.3 Research Design The intention is to establish the differences in personal values, by using large quantities of data, which would be representative of the overall population of American and Chinese managers. This suggests that there are two assumptions, that values are measureable and that it is possible to generalise the population from the sample. In order to generalise, a considerably large amount of data is required, thus a survey research instrument was employed. The PRESOR scale developed by Singhapakdi et al. (1995) was used. The reasons that the PRESOR scale was chosen over the cultural dimensions formed by Hofstede (2001) were argued; examples of the latter in other research were shown to be inconsistent and inconclusive in its directional impact, thus making theoretical predictions difficult. The use of PRESOR scale in other research was exemplified and seemed to have established the reliability of its measurement. The PRESOR scale was explained further in the introduction of the paper. Thirteen out of sixteen original items were selected and the authors justified this by stating that only these thirteen items had significant factor loadings in the Singhapakdi, Scott and Franke (1999:25) study. These items were grouped into two categories; the Stockholder and the Stakeholder views. The Stakeholder View reflects the importance of ethics and social responsibility to organisational survival and success, whilst the Stockholder view indicates that organisational success depends on more than just profitability and obligations to the stockholders (Axinn et al., 2004:104) In the methodology section, the Schwartz value instrument and a demographic questionnaire were mentioned as being used together with the PRESOR scale. There was little mention of the reasons the Schwartz scale was used and how it was applied. It was only later in the appendix that the items considered in the Schwartz scale was provided in details. A clearer explanation could have improved the clarity of the paper. The research design employed the use of two research instruments (PRESOR scale and Schwartz value instrument) as means for data collection. The sample of practising managers from the two different countries was given the same survey to complete, thus the responses could be compared on that basis. The results from the analyses were then compared against the hypotheses formed, affirming or not affirming the hypotheses. This process is typical of the deductive approach (Blaikie, 2007:70). 2.4 Data Collection The sample consisted of 311 practising managers, enrolled part time in selective MBA programmes in the U.S. and China. The participation was voluntary and the scales were completed as an in-class exercise. The authors acknowledged potential problems from this sample selection. The first is that, although the MBA programmes in these two countries appear to be comparable, the sample may have confounded the effects of national differences and MBA programme differences. Secondly, the sample was not randomly selected as the authors had asked their students to complete the scales in-class. The authors did not provide further justification for these two problems and thus this is believed to have weakened the external validity of this investigation (Bryman and Bell, 2007:204). Aside from this comment from the authors, there was very little mention of the validity of the measurement which makes it difficult to make further discussion on this. The basis of their selectivity and the criteria in which these programmes were said to be comparable, were also not provided in details. The details of its comparability may have helped clarify and strengthen the validity of the selection criteria, as well as making the paper more understandable. Considering the objectives of the research, in which the authors seem to be looking at making generalisations on the affect of personal values, there is a need to collect large quantities of data. The survey method seems to be appropriate as surveys are easy to distribute to large number of people and costs can be kept to a minimum (Bryman and Bell, 2007:195). This relates to external validity, which is â€Å"about generalisability of results beyond the focal study† (Easterby-Smith et al., 2008:87). In this paper, external validity was not discussed; however, it is likely that the results are meant to be applicable for the context of China and the U.S. only. The authors stated the limitation of which the participants can not be assumed as representative of the broader populations of managers in these two countries, due to the fact that the MBA programmes were selective in nature. The research took consideration of the possibility that the age and experience differences of their sample might affect the results, and thus these factors were examined for significance. The scale was translated to Mandarin Chinese and later back-translated with resolution of discrepancies, to take account of the language difference. These examples seem to reflect on the effort of the authors in ensuring that the results are not significantly affected by other variables. In order to test the dimensionality of the PRESOR scale, a principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalisation was applied. This is typical of a quantitative study where factor analysis is usually applied as part of the research design. In terms of research replication, this research had provided considerable amount of information which would possibly allow other researchers to perform similar research. The items from the two views (Stockholder and Stakeholder) of the PRESOR scale were provided in details. In addition, the authors also mentioned the calculation method used, such as the use of mean values and the Univariate Analysis of Covariance models (ANCOVA). The only exception would probably be the PRESOR scale itself, whereby the questions that were asked and the choice answers were not explicitly given, which might mean that future researchers might find it difficult to replicate the research and might even have to approach the authors or Singhapakdi who developed the scale. 2.5 Alternative Method The authors mentioned that more in-depth examination using qualitative design of investigation such as interviews would perhaps be more revealing. It is agreed that qualitative measure would allow insights into the importance of ethics to managers, and the various ethical issues that managers prioritise. The researchers are more likely to obtain a richer data of the decision-making process of managers, at the same time; they would be able to achieve the research objectives. The researchers can make use of semi-structured type interview which will allow better control of what questions need to be asked, and to ensure that the objectives of the interview are achieved as well (Bryman and Bell, 2007:474), if time and costs are constraints. There are also other alternatives methods to obtain qualitative data that would have fit this research, such as the use of focus groups. Focus group interviews allow researchers to observe the behaviour of the American and Chinese managers as they interact with each other. It would be possible to see the differences in reaction to ethical issues much more clearly, when these managers are given, for example, the same ethical dilemma, and they are required to rationalise the problem and come up with solutions. This method might be more useful than questionnaire surveys, particularly in that the values of the American and Chinese managers could be brought out through the way they respond and react to ethical problems, the problem-rationalisation process, and the degree of attention paid on a particular problem. Similar to the interview method, this would be considerably more costly to conduct, and it might even be more costly than doing interviews, however, the researchers would gain no t only in achieving the research objectives but they would also attain a better understanding of the effects of personal values in ethical decision-making. However, if the goal was only to establish that perception of CSR differs between diverse cultures, the research design would have fit the purpose. This is because the data collection strategy used (questionnaire survey), allowed the authors to obtain considerably response for generalisation. A questionnaire survey would also have been more cost-efficient and less time consuming, especially for cross-cultural studies. Chapter 3 Review of Qualitative Research paper 3.1 Research Objectives In this second paper, this qualitative study aims to make apparent the perceptions and views of the future scenarios from stakeholders within the garment industry in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The underlying intention was to seek consensus and common ground, on a local and regional level to help companies develop an appropriate CSR strategy, to improve the state of corporate social responsibility and in the long run, to achieve sustainability in the region. The main objective was stated as â€Å"by engaging with major stakeholders, to identify the local and regional supply chain stakeholders perceptions and expectations† (Tsoi, 2007:1). Typical of a qualitative study, generalisation is often not the objective of the study (Bryman and Bell, 2007:410). This is apparent from this study as the author had mentioned that the sample may not be sufficient for generalisation for the entire garment industry, however, it is â€Å"relevant to garment businesses involved in export-orientated activities† (Tsoi, 2007:1). Tsoi (2007) used an inductive approach to identify the perceptions of stakeholders by conducting interviews. 3.2 Epistemological and Ontological Assumptions Although the author did not indicate the philosophical assumptions behind this study, the author implied that by identifying the stakeholders perception, â€Å"the findings would help in building consensus, strengthening the implementation, and establishing future CSR framework†. This suggests that the author has an ontological position of constructionism, which asserts that social phenomena and their meanings are continually being accomplished by social actors, implying that there exists social interaction and that there is a constant state of revision of the social phenomena (Bryman and Bell, 2007:23). In this case study, the social reality of what is happening in the garment industry, in terms of its corporate social responsibility, is a social reality that was formed by the stakeholders. It suggests that the social phenomena (condition of CSR) can undergo changes, and that it is dependent on the activities of the social actors. The views of the social actors are thought to be indicative of the important issues in corporate social responsibility, within the garment industry. This form of research is consistent with the research paradigm of the interpretivist position, as the basis of the research is that the study of the phenomena requires an understanding of the social world that social actors have constructed and which they reproduced through their continuing activities (Blaikie, 2007:124). In this instance, the stakeholders are the social actors who will continually interpret and reinterpreting their social world which can be the garment industry. The social phenomenon that the author is investigating is the current state and the future of the corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The future conception of CSR in these two places is related to phenomenology, whereby, it concerns with the question of how individuals make sense of the world around them (Bryman and Bell, 2007:18). In this case, it can be viewed as the way stakeholders make sense of the state of corporate responsibility in the region. 3.3 Research Design The author relied on a qualitative method, specifically, the face-to-face semi-structured interview, which indicates the leanings of the author in â€Å"conducting a naturalistic inquiry in real-world rather than experimental or manipulated settings† (Ritchie and Lewis, 2003:4). For qualitative studies, semi-structured and unstructured interviews are commonly used as they provide rich, detailed answers and taps into the interviewees point of view (Bryman and Bell, 2007:474). As the focal source of data was the stakeholders themselves in this study, this seems to infer that the research design is based on the interpretivist view that the â€Å"social phenomena can only be understood and be investigated from the inside† (Blaikie, 2007:125). The author identified major stakeholders possibly with stakeholder theory, stating the assumption â€Å"that multinationals see stakeholder consultation and management as an important communication tool in identifying and interpreting the needs of salient stakeholders† and as such would enable â€Å"the development of a common language for CSR and subsequently the development of proactive CSR strategies†. This correlates with the stakeholder approach of Wheeler et al. (2003:19) who stated that â€Å"value creation at the highest level requires an ability to build value-based networks where all stakeholders see merit in their association with and support for a business†. In this instance, it is likely that the stakeholders were deemed to be important in the future direction of CSR in the region, and this was the reason that stakeholders were chosen as source of data. The author mentioned that these interviews conducted in 2004 and 2005 may no longer be relevant, since there were major developments in 2008. This might have made the interviews slightly outdated however; there should not be many changes to the overall aims of the stakeholders and thus the outcomes of this research would remain valid. However, as an alternative, the author could have applied longitudinal design which â€Å"represents a distinct form of research design than is typically used to map change in business and management research† (Bryman and Bell, 2007:60). The longitudinal design would not only serve the purpose of this study, but it would also allow insights into the factors that cause change to the perception. With this sample, it is possible to use cohort study, whereby â€Å"the cohort is made up of people who share a certain characteristics† (Bryman and Bell, 2007:61), since the stakeholders have a stake in the garment industry. However, longitudinal re search may require a lot more preparation, could be time-consuming and thus it could be more costly. 3.4 Data Collection With regards to the methodology, the interview questions that were used for this research was not provided. As this was a semi-structured interview, it would have been useful if the author had provided general information on how the questions were formed, and the structure of the interview questions as this would provide an indication of the depth of the interviews, and hence the validity of the research design. For the sample, 25 representatives from academia, the business organisations, the non-government organisations, trade association, and government officials were identified. The response rate was 84%, in which 21 out of a total of 25 representatives of these organisations agreed to be interviewed. It was mentioned that the reason for such a high response rate, was that the author had contacted the interviewees on a one-to-one basis. Furthermore, the interviewees were also guaranteed anonymity. The sample, thus, appears to be extensive and is representative of the various stakeholders that are vital in the garment industry. 3.5 Alternative Method The intention was that the â€Å"findings would help in building consensus, strengthening the implementation and establishing the future CSR framework† (Tsoi, 2007:1). The author might have meant that having collected all the different views from these stakeholders, the author would be able to determine the consensus of how CSR should be developed and how CSR should be like in the future. However, it is doubtful that a consensus could have been obtained using this method of analysis. The interviewees, although were representative of the garment industry, each one a vital stakeholder, there was no real interaction between these stakeholders, and thus, the consensus that is meant is only based on the researchers understanding from the interviewees responses. Stakeholders are thought to be able to reach a better compromise through discourse, with different sides arguing for the validity of their point as well as ensuring that the interests of the group or association that they re present are taken account of (Bryman and Bell, 2007:511). While it is understandable, that there is a strong possibility that it could be costly to get all the interviewees to sit together through a discourse, nevertheless there are alternatives which might be more useful for the purpose of this investigation, given that the objective is to reach a consensus amongst the stakeholders. With this reasoning, the research design could improve by firstly conveying the findings of the interviews to all of the stakeholders interviewed, and follow up with another interview to see if there were changes to their views. Alternatively, the author could use the method of focus group interviews. With this method, Merton et al. (1956) (in Bryman and Bell, 2007:511) stated that the â€Å"accent is upon interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning†. Focus group interviews could provide a platform for the interviewees to interact and to establish a joint construction of what it means to strengthen CSR and also determine what future scenarios should and could be like. With regards to selecting a suitable size for the focus group, it is recommended by Bryman and Bell (2007:517) that the typical group size should be six to ten members, whilst Sekaran (2003:220) recommends a size of eight to twelve members. The reason that the focus group interview method was recommended was that the interviewees would be encouraged to express their opinions argumentatively, which would then allow the researcher to gauge the degree of importance of certain issues and how much flexibility the interv iewees might have to reach a compromise with others. There are of course possible pitfalls using the focus group method, in that some interviewees might be dominant over others, and thus the opinions of those less dominant might not be heard, but these effects can be reduced to a minimum level by having a good moderator (in Bryman and Bell, 2007:511). The one-to-one interview method could still be more advantageous compared with the focus group interview, as the time and monetary costs of conducting a one-to-one interview would probably be considerably less and thus be more manageable especially if there was only one researcher, as was with this case study. In this case study, it seemed that a quantitative design would actually be difficult to apply, and it would also be inappropriate for an investigation on the perception of CSR as a business concern. Taking the example of using a questionnaire survey with closed-ended questions, it is very likely that the respondents would answer that they are very concerned about CSR, as that might be perceived as the correct response, thus creating social desirability bias to the results. Furthermore, with a questionnaire survey, the researcher would not be able to pin-point all the various future scenarios for CSR in Hong Kong and Mainland China, even if it was possible, the list of future scenarios might be too long to be practically manageable. Another issue would be that in making assumptions of the future scenarios that are deemed significant to the stakeholders, it would be problematic as the researcher might risk missing out relevant information. Therefore, it would be difficult, from these r easons, that a quantitative design would not be suitable for such a case study. Chapter 4 Conclusions In summary, the two papers reflect significant differences in their research approach. This was seen through the objectives of the research, the underlying assumptions of the research philosophy and the conceptualisation of research design and the data collection. There is certainly much to learn from these two research papers, both had given valuable information on the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as offer guidance on the selection of research method and how to go about utilising these methods. The research designs, as shown in these papers, are dependent of the research objectives and the designs are also influenced by the epistemological and ontological assumptions made. Even though the philosophical positions of the researchers were not made explicit, however, the likely positions can be assumed. These papers have also shown that the advantages and the disadvantages of the different methods of investigation, and they need to be considered to e nsure that the best method is chosen for the purpose of the research. In these two papers, the method of investigation is distinct, one was a qualitative study and the other was a quantitative study, however, this does not necessarily mean that a mixed method of investigation can not be used. In fact, (Bryman and Bell, 2007:646) suggested that triangulation can be applied, in which â€Å"the results of an investigation employing a method associated with one research strategy are cross-checked against the results of using a method associated with the other research strategy†.

Holes-Why is it a good novel for teenagers? Essay -- English Literatur

Holes-Why is it a good novel for teenagers? In this essay I intend to look at why the book ‘Holes’, is a good novel for teenagers to read. Written by Louis Sachar in 1998, it is a modern novel telling readers a story about the life experiences of a young boy called Stanley. The story revolves around Stanley being unfairly acquitted for a crime leading to him being faced to cope with life at a juvenile detention centre. Along with this main plot, there are several other underlying smaller plots that contribute towards the success of the story as a whole. I will examine the various reasons for why this book would appeal to teenagers. There are three simultaneous plots, which creates more excitement and suspense for the reader. But the main theme is how young Stanley Yelnats IV comes to redeem the curse which was visited upon his great-great-grandfather and all the Yelnats family, through the generations, by Madame Zeroni. Stanley, the main character in the story, is falsely accused of stealing a pair of trainers, which had been donated to help raise money for the homeless shelter. These trainers weren’t any ordinary trainers; they had belonged to the most famous baseball player in history, Clyde Livingstone. Stanley isn’t too disheartened when he is sent away from his family to a juvenile delinquent’s camp (Camp Green Lake) for a crime he did not commit, due to his family’s long known history of bad luck. Stanley doesn’t blame the judge for falsely convicting him, but he blames the whole misadventure on his â€Å"no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather†. For Stanley, his troubles are just a natural part of being a Yelnats, which is a factor of life that he has become accustomed to. .. ...n different parts of the world, not all teenagers may be treated in the same way Stanley had been. This is why it might be interesting to see what different parts of the world are like. The story isn’t really realistic either, because a teenager wouldn’t really expect such events to take place in this day and age. A teenager may want to read something that could happen to them, but from someone else’s point of view. The finding of treasure may seem to be an old-fashioned task and hence may not create the excitement that it was aimed for. Despite some not so appealing events in the story, I would recommend this book to all teenagers due to its suspense and excitement elements. The reader becomes intrigued to reach the ending, which is very successful in connecting all the sub plots to reveal the conclusion to the treasure and Stanley’s family history.

Critical Approaches to Literature Should Not be Required of English Majors :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Critical Approaches to Literature Should Not be Required of English Majors In the controversy that surrounds the issue of requiring English majors to take Critical Approaches to Literature, it is not important whether the course is academically justifiable, but whether requiring English majors to take it is justifiable. By thinking about this issue in this way, I have concluded that Critical Approaches to Literature should not be required of English majors. The main reason for including Critical Approaches to Literature as a required course for English majors is to incorporate a sense of multi-culturalism and feminism into the English major. I would be the first to agree that writers such as Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, Beth Bryant, and Sherman Alexie should be required reading for all English majors at some point in their education because these authors and their works do bring a dimension of multi-cultural appreciation and feminist understanding to the student's literary background. However, the Critical Approaches to Literature class that I attended did not teach me to appreciate the literature of other cultures; instead, it taught me how to analyze Western Literature as if I were a sociologist or psychologist. In this class, I began to feel that there was a hidden agenda imbedded within the course's objectives. This agenda was to destroy the literature, which I am familiar with, of the culture I have grown up in, and to force me to appreciate the literature of other cultures along the way. It did not work. By saying, "It did not work," I do not mean that I have no appreciation for the literature of cultures other than my own. What I do mean is that if I had not already possessed an appreciation for Multi-cultural and Women's Literature, Critical Approaches to Literature would not have conveyed this appreciation to me. I firmly believe that the poetry of Maurice Kenny is some of the most powerful poetry that I have ever read, and Duan Niatum's love-poem "Round Dance" is comparable to the best poetry that Western Literature has to offer. These are authors I know and love not because I have taken Critical Approaches to Literature, but because I have read these authors' works in a Native American Literature course. This is one reason why Critical Approaches to Literature should not be

Meaning, Interpretation, and Tension in Literature Essay -- Literary A

"Iraqi Head Seeks Arms." (Pinker, p. 69) Quiproquo, double entendre, pun. These are instances of finding more than one possible meaning to an event, most often a phrase. We can't read Shakespeare, or Molià ¨re, or the works of many other authors if we don't believe that something can have more than one meaning. "There is no topic in philosophy that has received more attention than meaning, in its multifarious manifestations." (Dennett, p. 401) Meaning is one of our most intimate bedfellows – it is always in our minds. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary, meaning is defined as follows; 1meaning 1a: The thing one intends to convey by an act or esp. by language b: the thing that is conveyed or signified esp. by language: the sense in which something (as a statement) is understood 2: The thing that is meant or intended: INTENT, PURPOSE, AIM, OBJECT It is especially interesting that there is a difference between 1a and 1b in this definition, because this implies that there can be at least two meanings for a given event or utterance; what the meaner intends, and what the witness understands the meaning to be. The number of possible meanings grows when we consider that there may be many different meanings, or levels of meanings of the meaner. There could also be many witnesses to the event, each with her own interpretation. Each of these situations is like a different context, which could reveal a new sense. One area in which the possibility of the existence of more than one meaning or interpretation creates tension is literature. "Intention, text, context, reader – what determines meaning? Now the very fact that arguments are made for all four factors shows that meaning is complex and elusive, not something once and f... ...case, especially if we concede that certain things from which we derive meaning were created without intent or purpose. Perhaps our concept of meaning is a manifestation of our tendency to make up stories to explain things, or desire as humans to fill emptiness and to expand. We certainly don't have all the puzzle pieces yet; hopefully our understanding will evolve and expand as more information becomes available. Works Cited: Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. New York; Philomel. 1969. Culler, Jonathon. Literary Theory. New York; Oxford. 1997. Dennett, Daniel. Darwin's Dangerous Idea. New York; Touchstone, 1995. Hofstadter, Douglas R. Gà ¶del, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. New York; Basic Books. 1979 Mayr, Ernst. What Evolution Is. New York; Basic Books, 2001. Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct. New York; HarperCollins, 1994.

Risk Management Failures of British Petroleum

BP is a British global energy company which is the third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world. As a multinational oil company, BP is the UK's largest corporation, with its headquarters in St James's, City of Westminster, London. BP America's headquarters is in the One Westlake Park in the Energy Corridor area of Houston, Texas; the company is among the largest private sector energy corporations in the world, and one of the six leaders.In order to project social responsibility and improve its image British Petroleum changed its name into BP in year 2000 with a logo of green and yellow sunflower patterns. Paradoxically the same company symbol is now under derision and the object of controversial attacks from environmentalists and damaging court cases. The company’s predicament further worsened when it was listed as one of the â€Å"ten worst corporations† during the year 2001 and 2006. In fact, BP and its competitors Royal Dutch-Shell were co nsidered by activists to be responsible with the threatening phenomenon of climate change.BP was warned before the oil pipeline leak happened in Alaska, but no action was made by the higher officials to mitigate its possible occurrence and reduce damages. In March 2005, BP's Texas City, Texas refinery, one of its largest refineries, exploded causing 15 deaths, injuring 180 people and forcing thousands of nearby residents to remain sheltered in their homes. A large column filled with hydrocarbon overflowed to form a vapor cloud, which ignited. The explosion caused all the casualties and substantial damage to the rest of the plant.The incident came as the culmination of a series of less serious accidents at the refinery, and the engineering problems were not addressed by the management. Maintenance and safety at the plant had been cut as a cost-saving measure, the responsibility ultimately resting with executives in London. The fall-out from the accident continues to cloud BP's corpor ate image because of the mismanagement at the plant. There have been several investigations of the disaster, the most recent being that from the U. S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board which offered a derisive evaluation of the company.The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation and said management failures could be traced from Texas to London. The company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Air Act, was fined $50 million, and sentenced to three years probation. On October 30, 2009, OSHA fined BP an additional $87 million— the largest fine in OSHA history— for failing to correct safety hazards revealed in the 2005 explosion. Inspectors found 270 safety violations that had been previously cited but not fixed and 439 new violations.BP is appealing that fine. In August 2006, BP shut down oil operations in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, due to corrosion in pipe lines leading up to the Alaska Pipeline. The wells were leaking insulating agent called Arctic pack, consisting of crude oil and diesel fuel, between the wells and ice. BP had spilled over one million liters of oil in Alaska's North Slope. This corrosion is caused by sediment collecting in the bottom of the pipe, protecting corrosive bacteria from chemicals sent through the pipeline to fight this bacteria.There are estimates that about 5000 barrels (790 m3) of oil were released from the pipeline. To date 1513 barrels (240. 5 m3) of liquids, about 5200 cubic yards (4000 m3) of soiled snow and 328 cubic yards (251 m3) of soiled gravel have been recovered. After approval from the DOT, only the eastern portion of the field was shut down, resulting in a reduction of 200000 barrels per day (32000 m3/d) until work began to bring the eastern field to full production on 2 October 2006.In May 2007, the company announced another partial field shutdown owing to leaks of water at a separation pl ant. Their action was interpreted as another example of fallout from a decision to cut maintenance of the pipeline and associated facilities. On 16 October 2007 Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation officials reported a toxic spill of methanol (methyl alcohol) at the Prudhoe Bay oil field managed by BP PLC. Nearly 2,000 gallons of mostly methanol, mixed with some crude oil and water, spilled onto a frozen tundra pond as well as a gravel pad from a pipeline.Methanol, which is poisonous to plants and animals, is used to clear ice from the insides of the Arctic-based pipelines. From January 2006 to January 2008, three workers were killed at the company's Texas City, Texas refinery in three separate accidents. In July 2006 a worker was crushed between a pipe stack and mechanical lift, in June 2007, a worker was electrocuted, and in January 2008, a worker was killed by a 500-pound piece of metal that came loose under high pressure and hit him.On April 1 2009, a Bond Offshore He licopters Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma ferrying workers from BP's platform in the Miller oilfield in the North Sea off Scotland crashed in good weather killing all 16 on board. On April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a blowout and sank two days later, killing eleven people and causing a massive oil spill threatening the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida. The rig is owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of BP, which is the majority owner of the oil field.The company originally estimated the size of the leak at about 1,000 barrels a day but later accepted government estimates of a leak of at least 5000 barrels per day. On April 30, BP stated that it would harness all of its resources to battle the oil spill, spending $7 million a day with its partners to try to contain the disaster. BP was running the well without a remote control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producin g nations, Brazil and Norway, as a last resort protection against underwater spills. The use of such devices is not mandated by U.S. regulators. The U. S. Government gave the responsibility of the incident to BP and will hold it accountable for costs incurred in containing the situation. On May 11, 2010, Congress called the executives of BP, Transocean, and Halliburton to a hearing regarding the oil spill. When probed for answers regarding the events leading up to the explosion, each company blamed the other. BP blamed Transocean who owned the rig, who then blamed the operators of the rig, BP. They also blamed Halliburton, who built the well casing.Coming to analyze BP's risk management, it is noted first that BP organization employs the systems of centralized direction and decentralized implementation. The centralized direction system was designed to attain business goals and objectives. The company unifies the corporation by implementing strategic objectives, values, behaviors and standards to be performed and easily understood by their people. On the other hand the systematic objective of BP is decentralized implementation of its operations in order to deliver the best quality of products or services and satisfy the needs of the consumers.The decentralized implementation covered three business segments namely: Exploration and Production, The Gas, Power and Renewable and Refining and Market. As is well known, procedures and controls are a necessary condition for effective risk management, but not a sufficient one. A company’s standards and processes will fail if employees do not feel empowered to follow the standards during times of stress or they fear retaliation for reporting â€Å"unwanted† information. Reading the report of BP and other esources at my disposal I have found that how parts of BP’s culture may have tolerated shortened safety procedures as they fell behind investment schedules and other deadlines. For example, the compan y cut short a procedure involving drilling fluid that is designed to detect gas in the well and skipped a quality test of the cement around the pipe (another buffer against gas) despite BP’s report finding that there were signs of problems with the cement job and despite a warning from the cement contractor company.The experts also concluded that there was not a strong culture of communication across its own team leaders and partner companies. Having multiple players can restrict access to critical knowledge and slow decision-making processes to a dangerous point. Nor did there appear to be a culture where managers were expected to seek out or share contrary information from a different perspective. These cultural elements allowed issues to continue without the application of comprehensive expertise.It seems to be necessary adding more controls, more checks and balances, with auditable risk management processes new minimum standards, and increased self-audits. While some crit eria and thresholds did not exist prior to the accident, it is unclear whether the lack of these controls and audit mechanisms directly caused the accident itself Companies are not able to entirely shift operational or reputational risk to a partner, subcontractor, or supplier. Presumably, BP had in place significant and comprehensive controls and contractual requirements for its contractors and other service providers.However, questions remain about whether these contractual requirements were actually implemented, assessed, and monitored by BP. Anyway, risk management referred to in this paper are the activities related to managing an organization that integrates recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing strategies to manage it, and mitigation of risk using managerial resources. Its primary objective is to reduce the different risks related to threats caused by environment, technology, humans, organizations and politics.Firms usually formulate strategies in order to manage o r mitigate risk by transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk. BP must apply risk management in its corporate financing as the technique for measuring, monitoring and controlling the financial or operational risk on the firm. The commonly used framework breaks risks into market risk (price risk), credit risk and operational risk and also specifies methods for calculating capital requirements for each of these components.In enterprise risk management, a risk is defined as a possible event or circumstance that can have negative influences on the survival of a company. Its impact can be on the very existence, the resources (human and capital), the products and services, or the customers of the enterprise, as well as external impacts on society, markets, or the environment. In a financial institution, enterprise risk management is normally thought of as the combin ation of credit risk, interest rate risk or asset liability management, market risk, and operational risk.All risks can never be fully avoided or mitigated simply because of financial and practical limitations. Therefore all organizations have to accept some level of residual risks. In the case of BP, the following must also be undertaken in addition and consideration of those discussed above. Firstly, it is of major importance to planning how risk management will be conducted must be undertaken: in this regard the plan must include risk management tasks, responsibilities, activities and budget.Secondly, managers responsible for BP will assign a risk officer who will be responsible for foreseeing potential problems. In this respect, it is important also to maintain the risk database and each risk should have an opening date, a title, a brief description, a probability and a suggestion of importance. Once potential sources of risk have been identified, it will also need preparing a p lan for reducing the risk (mitigation plan) for risks that are chosen to be mitigated.In this regard, it is well known that the purpose of the mitigation plan is to describe how this particular risk will be handled what, when, by who and how will it be done to avoid it or minimize consequences if it becomes a liability. BP, in a perspective of reducing the risks described above in the long run as well as in order to optimize and reduce the resources used for that purpose, must eventually summarizing planned and faced risks, effectiveness of mitigation activities, and effort spent for the risk management. Risk Management Failures of British Petroleum BP is a British global energy company which is the third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world. As a multinational oil company, BP is the UK's largest corporation, with its headquarters in St James's, City of Westminster, London. BP America's headquarters is in the One Westlake Park in the Energy Corridor area of Houston, Texas; the company is among the largest private sector energy corporations in the world, and one of the six leaders.In order to project social responsibility and improve its image British Petroleum changed its name into BP in year 2000 with a logo of green and yellow sunflower patterns. Paradoxically the same company symbol is now under derision and the object of controversial attacks from environmentalists and damaging court cases. The company’s predicament further worsened when it was listed as one of the â€Å"ten worst corporations† during the year 2001 and 2006. In fact, BP and its competitors Royal Dutch-Shell were co nsidered by activists to be responsible with the threatening phenomenon of climate change.BP was warned before the oil pipeline leak happened in Alaska, but no action was made by the higher officials to mitigate its possible occurrence and reduce damages. In March 2005, BP's Texas City, Texas refinery, one of its largest refineries, exploded causing 15 deaths, injuring 180 people and forcing thousands of nearby residents to remain sheltered in their homes. A large column filled with hydrocarbon overflowed to form a vapor cloud, which ignited. The explosion caused all the casualties and substantial damage to the rest of the plant.The incident came as the culmination of a series of less serious accidents at the refinery, and the engineering problems were not addressed by the management. Maintenance and safety at the plant had been cut as a cost-saving measure, the responsibility ultimately resting with executives in London. The fall-out from the accident continues to cloud BP's corpor ate image because of the mismanagement at the plant. There have been several investigations of the disaster, the most recent being that from the U. S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board which offered a derisive evaluation of the company.The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found organizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation and said management failures could be traced from Texas to London. The company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Air Act, was fined $50 million, and sentenced to three years probation. On October 30, 2009, OSHA fined BP an additional $87 million— the largest fine in OSHA history— for failing to correct safety hazards revealed in the 2005 explosion. Inspectors found 270 safety violations that had been previously cited but not fixed and 439 new violations.BP is appealing that fine. In August 2006, BP shut down oil operations in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, due to corrosion in pipe lines leading up to the Alaska Pipeline. The wells were leaking insulating agent called Arctic pack, consisting of crude oil and diesel fuel, between the wells and ice. BP had spilled over one million liters of oil in Alaska's North Slope. This corrosion is caused by sediment collecting in the bottom of the pipe, protecting corrosive bacteria from chemicals sent through the pipeline to fight this bacteria.There are estimates that about 5000 barrels (790 m3) of oil were released from the pipeline. To date 1513 barrels (240. 5 m3) of liquids, about 5200 cubic yards (4000 m3) of soiled snow and 328 cubic yards (251 m3) of soiled gravel have been recovered. After approval from the DOT, only the eastern portion of the field was shut down, resulting in a reduction of 200000 barrels per day (32000 m3/d) until work began to bring the eastern field to full production on 2 October 2006.In May 2007, the company announced another partial field shutdown owing to leaks of water at a separation pl ant. Their action was interpreted as another example of fallout from a decision to cut maintenance of the pipeline and associated facilities. On 16 October 2007 Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation officials reported a toxic spill of methanol (methyl alcohol) at the Prudhoe Bay oil field managed by BP PLC. Nearly 2,000 gallons of mostly methanol, mixed with some crude oil and water, spilled onto a frozen tundra pond as well as a gravel pad from a pipeline.Methanol, which is poisonous to plants and animals, is used to clear ice from the insides of the Arctic-based pipelines. From January 2006 to January 2008, three workers were killed at the company's Texas City, Texas refinery in three separate accidents. In July 2006 a worker was crushed between a pipe stack and mechanical lift, in June 2007, a worker was electrocuted, and in January 2008, a worker was killed by a 500-pound piece of metal that came loose under high pressure and hit him.On April 1 2009, a Bond Offshore He licopters Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma ferrying workers from BP's platform in the Miller oilfield in the North Sea off Scotland crashed in good weather killing all 16 on board. On April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible exploratory offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded after a blowout and sank two days later, killing eleven people and causing a massive oil spill threatening the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Florida. The rig is owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of BP, which is the majority owner of the oil field.The company originally estimated the size of the leak at about 1,000 barrels a day but later accepted government estimates of a leak of at least 5000 barrels per day. On April 30, BP stated that it would harness all of its resources to battle the oil spill, spending $7 million a day with its partners to try to contain the disaster. BP was running the well without a remote control shut-off switch used in two other major oil-producin g nations, Brazil and Norway, as a last resort protection against underwater spills. The use of such devices is not mandated by U.S. regulators. The U. S. Government gave the responsibility of the incident to BP and will hold it accountable for costs incurred in containing the situation. On May 11, 2010, Congress called the executives of BP, Transocean, and Halliburton to a hearing regarding the oil spill. When probed for answers regarding the events leading up to the explosion, each company blamed the other. BP blamed Transocean who owned the rig, who then blamed the operators of the rig, BP. They also blamed Halliburton, who built the well casing.Coming to analyze BP's risk management, it is noted first that BP organization employs the systems of centralized direction and decentralized implementation. The centralized direction system was designed to attain business goals and objectives. The company unifies the corporation by implementing strategic objectives, values, behaviors and standards to be performed and easily understood by their people. On the other hand the systematic objective of BP is decentralized implementation of its operations in order to deliver the best quality of products or services and satisfy the needs of the consumers.The decentralized implementation covered three business segments namely: Exploration and Production, The Gas, Power and Renewable and Refining and Market. As is well known, procedures and controls are a necessary condition for effective risk management, but not a sufficient one. A company’s standards and processes will fail if employees do not feel empowered to follow the standards during times of stress or they fear retaliation for reporting â€Å"unwanted† information. Reading the report of BP and other esources at my disposal I have found that how parts of BP’s culture may have tolerated shortened safety procedures as they fell behind investment schedules and other deadlines. For example, the compan y cut short a procedure involving drilling fluid that is designed to detect gas in the well and skipped a quality test of the cement around the pipe (another buffer against gas) despite BP’s report finding that there were signs of problems with the cement job and despite a warning from the cement contractor company.The experts also concluded that there was not a strong culture of communication across its own team leaders and partner companies. Having multiple players can restrict access to critical knowledge and slow decision-making processes to a dangerous point. Nor did there appear to be a culture where managers were expected to seek out or share contrary information from a different perspective. These cultural elements allowed issues to continue without the application of comprehensive expertise.It seems to be necessary adding more controls, more checks and balances, with auditable risk management processes new minimum standards, and increased self-audits. While some crit eria and thresholds did not exist prior to the accident, it is unclear whether the lack of these controls and audit mechanisms directly caused the accident itself Companies are not able to entirely shift operational or reputational risk to a partner, subcontractor, or supplier. Presumably, BP had in place significant and comprehensive controls and contractual requirements for its contractors and other service providers.However, questions remain about whether these contractual requirements were actually implemented, assessed, and monitored by BP. Anyway, risk management referred to in this paper are the activities related to managing an organization that integrates recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing strategies to manage it, and mitigation of risk using managerial resources. Its primary objective is to reduce the different risks related to threats caused by environment, technology, humans, organizations and politics.Firms usually formulate strategies in order to manage o r mitigate risk by transferring the risk to another party, avoiding the risk, reducing the negative effect of the risk, and accepting some or all of the consequences of a particular risk. BP must apply risk management in its corporate financing as the technique for measuring, monitoring and controlling the financial or operational risk on the firm. The commonly used framework breaks risks into market risk (price risk), credit risk and operational risk and also specifies methods for calculating capital requirements for each of these components.In enterprise risk management, a risk is defined as a possible event or circumstance that can have negative influences on the survival of a company. Its impact can be on the very existence, the resources (human and capital), the products and services, or the customers of the enterprise, as well as external impacts on society, markets, or the environment. In a financial institution, enterprise risk management is normally thought of as the combin ation of credit risk, interest rate risk or asset liability management, market risk, and operational risk.All risks can never be fully avoided or mitigated simply because of financial and practical limitations. Therefore all organizations have to accept some level of residual risks. In the case of BP, the following must also be undertaken in addition and consideration of those discussed above. Firstly, it is of major importance to planning how risk management will be conducted must be undertaken: in this regard the plan must include risk management tasks, responsibilities, activities and budget.Secondly, managers responsible for BP will assign a risk officer who will be responsible for foreseeing potential problems. In this respect, it is important also to maintain the risk database and each risk should have an opening date, a title, a brief description, a probability and a suggestion of importance. Once potential sources of risk have been identified, it will also need preparing a p lan for reducing the risk (mitigation plan) for risks that are chosen to be mitigated.In this regard, it is well known that the purpose of the mitigation plan is to describe how this particular risk will be handled what, when, by who and how will it be done to avoid it or minimize consequences if it becomes a liability. BP, in a perspective of reducing the risks described above in the long run as well as in order to optimize and reduce the resources used for that purpose, must eventually summarizing planned and faced risks, effectiveness of mitigation activities, and effort spent for the risk management.