Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Enron And Ethics Essay
Having some detailed written code of ethics like Enron had is usually not enough. Enron had a 64 page code of ethics and incase you might be wondering, the pages were not blank. However, despite this, it went down. The organizations ought to infuse some integrity and ethics in their corporate structure and in their success definition. To be precise, Enron ethics were simply ignored by the management and the employees. In any organization, the functions of any department should be based on ethical values, competence, integrity and a clear accountability of financial matters. Enron totally ignored these functions thus leading to its bankruptcy. As the companyââ¬â¢s reputation did grow globally, hence there was competition of the employees therefore leading to individual greed and also the generation of egotism in the company. Every employee wanted to earn more, achieve a lot and hence there was the high motivation by the company to succeed. Such an atmosphere leads to a tendency to distrust people as everybody is concerned with their personal interests. There were so many dealings in the finance section hence the companyââ¬â¢s goals were underestimated as well as the business ethics. Therefore it is imperative to give an immense background on Enronââ¬â¢s collapse and various views that can be deducted from its collapse. Enronââ¬â¢s, history, collapse the whistleblowers and conflicts The main issue which led to its downfall lay comfortably in the department of the operations management. At one time the company was receiving lots of praises from outsiders and then it was mounted with a decentralized control in the finance sector and also their decision structure gave an unclear and illogical picture on the activities of the company and its operations. Enron Corporation was one of the largest companies in Houston, Texas which used to sell natural gas, electricity and also distributed energy. It also offered other services for example bandwidth interest connections as well as offering financial services and providing management of risk services globally. The company gradually became powerful due to its initiative marketing strategies as well as the endorsement of communications and power bandwidth services and the offshoots of risk management. All these services got supervised by the department of operations management and other departments. Though the functions of these departments were executive in their nature, there was however lack of responsibility, integrity, control and creativity. The absence of these vital ethics did lead to the entire bankruptcy of the whole company. Kenneth lay who died three months before he was to be finally sentenced was the founder of Enron in the year 1985. He initiated the electricity sale and then afterwards US congress did pass legislation on the deregulation of natural gas. Enron before its collapse could report some annual revenues in the year 1990 of $ 10 billion and in the year 2000 to about $ 101 billion (Mark, 2002). In October 2, 2002, early in the morning, Andrew, Fastow who was Enronââ¬â¢s former chief and the financial officer did voluntarily surrender to the FBI agents and was led in hand cuffs to the car trailed by the television cameras and reporters. He was later taken to federal house and was charged with mail fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. He was sentenced for ten years (Loren, 2003). In the 1990s, Enron was a universal lauded company that did transform all the old businesses and started creating new ones. However, the criminal complains did cap disclosures and revealed that it was poorly managed and had amplified its reliance on some convoluted business ordeals in order to maintain growth objectives and encourage some unbridled ingenuity that resulted to fraud. It is patent that the company had some poor internal controls and unreliable top managers. Enron came crushing in 2001 and filed for what could have been termed as the nationââ¬â¢s vast bankruptcy. What were the main causes of its down fall? First the financial statements of Enron were not transparent and did not give a clear detail on the finances and operations with analysts and shareholders. Second it had a complex business model that actually stretched on the accounting limits thus required the company to use the limitations of accounting in order to manage on its earnings as well as modify on its balance sheet to limelight a constructive depiction of its whole performance. It is completely patent in the Enron movie; these scandals had grown tremendously out of some steady accumulation of the values. Habits and actions that had already began many years before later going out of control. The top managers who were the whistleblowers like Jeffrey Skilling who was the chairman and Andrew Fastow contributed to the downfall. The auditor, Arthur Andersen, also got accused of reckless application standards in the audits out of conflict of interest over the vital consultancy fees that had been generated by this company. Finally, in November 28, of 2001, Enron was declared bankrupt. The company lost confidence in its investors and at the end had very little cash to run business and satisfy some hefty debts. Trade secrets and privacy in Enron Trade secret is by definition any information that the company keeps as a secret in order to offer them an advantage over other competitors. Basically Enron was a multi billion dollar company that had assets that were far flung that did rival those of other companies and countries thus there had to be some information on their weakness in order to bring them down that was unknown to some average citizens. According to Debka, the first hidden weakness of Enron was based on finance which could have made the competitors destroy the company fast. Enron hid hefty blocks of liabilities from investment companyââ¬â¢s eyes through creation of shell companies to which they were basically shuffling debts. Since the outside companies had no tie to this company, there is no one in the investment community who realized how immensely in debt Enron was and how it was affecting on its pictures of profitability. The Enron executives knew that if this information if it was made public then the investors would end up selling their stock. Enron basically had to hide some hefty liabilities in their shell company to show the investors that they were still at a profit. The second weakness it had was the fact that it held some contracts on foreign soil thus depending on those countries to pay all their bills according to the agreement. All the conflicts of interest of this company were finally not solved as they accumulated and led to bankruptcy. All this later led to court cases where the convicts were sentenced. All this shows there was some extent of privacy. Kenneth lay already knew that Enron was undergoing some financial trauma but still went ahead to lie to the shareholders and the investors that the company was at its best shape. They kept their financial crisis a secret. Honesty and Enron The moral demand of transparency as well as honesty is the foundational principle in investing in the free markets. Any decision of any corporation to ignore some moral demands that are based on transparency and honesty in their financial arrangements should never be used like an excuse to smother the spirit of the entrepreneurial in aggressive situations (Philip, 2001). Analysts and the commentators analyzed on the hinge matter that led to the down fall of Enron. It is lucid that the demise of Enron did not lie in the deregulation of electric power but in some questionable practices of accounting by the company. Thus we can denote that honesty which is an ethical principal was not curtailed. Despite their higher earnings, in 2001 Jeffrey Skilling resigned for some disclosed reasons and Enron reported a loss of $ I billion because of poor performance. Despite the angle you look at the whole phenomenon, it is quite clear that there lacked honesty at Enron. In the documentary ââ¬ËEnron: the smartest guys in the roomââ¬â¢ it depicts on some o the social evils like hubris, greed and lies that did bring Enron down. The film does a tremendous job of digging up a lot of dirty acts where the whistle blowers could tell some plain lies to the government, investors, and employees and make it sound very good. Virtues and Enron Despite the mischievous and questionable deeds by Enron, failing to credit them for some charity work they did will be questioning on our ethics too. Most media reports have reported on some good work that was done by Ken Lay, who is the former Enronââ¬â¢s CEO. With his family he gave generously to the church through the familyââ¬â¢s charitable foundation which did hold over $ 50, 000,000 of all Enron stock in the year 2000 (Tim, 2010). Enron made some sufficient donations to the legitimate charities. (Francis, 2002). Utilitarianism and Enron Some theories and principles can be used to give an inner analysis on the situation at hand that led to this failure. Utilitarianism theory by John, Stuart Mill, does offer some straightforward method of approach in deciding the morally right action for all situations we find ourselves in. This is a theory that does consider what is good for everybody. To discover what we ought to do, we should identify first the divergent courses of actions that can be performed in the situation and all the future benefits as well as harms that can mount from that. Utilitarianism states that we should always take the course of actions that offers the most benefits when the costs have already been taken into full account (Manuel et al, 1989). In this case it is patent that utilitarianism concept was never used. The company since it already knew that it was going down to the drains could have come up with a strategy that was rational to save them from the predicament instead of fooling those around it that it was enjoying some benefits. They could have used this theory to look unto the future possibilities and work towards attaining sustainability. They should have been a global responsibility to advance in their financial aspects (Yvon, 2003). Egoism and Enron Unlike Utilitarianism, egoism theory states that individuals should only act to their own best interest and self interest. Egoism is basically not effectual for solving the moral conflicts. In Enron Company most people got away with this theory. Egoism is only based in addressing concerns that are based on satisfying our own desires and getting what we really want (Jelena & Kristijan 2008). The employees at Enron lost their jobs and life savings and the higher executives cashed in millions and received other millions in the bonuses for all the stock inflation thus bringing the company down. There were blatant interest conflicts that were overlooked, members of the board received hefty gifts from executives, millions were spent to discourage oversight and government regulations and warnings from within were ignored (Lawrence, 2002). That is pure egocentrism that should be discouraged in the workplaces.
Sunday, November 10, 2019
How hunger and malnutrition influence the health and development of communities Essay
Discuss how hunger and malnutrition influence the health and development of communities .Then explain how community participation and national political commitment can help to address the effects of hunger and malnutrition ?. Firstly I will describe health, hunger and malnutrition , then discuss the social , physical and economic effects of hunger and malnutrition and illustrate how hunger and malnutrition are linked. I will explain community participation and show how it links to primary health care and the political commitment and .I will conclude by giving examples of community participation and national political commitment and as well as insight opinion as to how they can address the effect of hunger and malnutrition to improve the lives of those affected. ââ¬Å"Health the state of complete physically ,mentally and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity ââ¬Å" (United Nations 1974:4) health designates process of adaptation ,It designates the abilit y to adapt to changing environments and embraces the future. Hunger is a condition in which people do not get enough food to provide the nutrients for example carbohydrates ,fats proteins and minerals. Hunger occurs in three forms. 1. Acute ââ¬âthe starving skinned bones at this stage death is a loaming reality 2. Chronic hunger-is characterized by a constant lack of access to food of sufficient quality and quantity as well as lack of good health care and caring practices . 3. Hidden hunger ââ¬âresults from quality diet ,lack of balanced diet food and to lesser extent illness which will reduce appetite affects the bodyââ¬â¢s ability to use key nutrients. Malnutrition refers to improper consumption of food ,it is most commonly used to refer to under nutrition. Malnutrition mostly affect the poor but it is not just a problem among the poor ,it is about vulnerability not poverty . The social effect of hunger and malnutrition ,is the premature death and disability wreck havoc upon social institutions ,familial ties and civil society .Ma lnourished children endure poorer educational prospects than those who are well-fed ,with the resultant negative impact on their occupational opportunities. Eleven million children die each year before the age of five ,and the death of child can dissolve a marriage especially in African cultures .An estimated 60% of these children are vulnerable becauseà they are hungry (Regan 80:20 274). Under nutritionââ¬â¢s most damaging effects occur during pregnancy and in the first two years of life because this is when cognitive development is most rapid. The physical effect of hunger and malnutrition is stunded growth of a child .Children who are malnourished have longer and more severe illness that would not kill them if they werenââ¬â¢t malnourished. Malnourishment and undernourishment can affect for their entire lives. A malnourished individual may group with physical or cognitive disabilities and face a life of hardship as a result. Being malnourished or undernourished will make the body of the person physically weak that the person will not be able to do his/her day to day duties and will also lead to poor performance at work and as a result that person will loose the job and the company will have low production as well due to the lose of the staff. The effects of hunger and malnutrition in the economic factor .A malnourished individual may grow up with physical or cognitive disabilities also have a debilitating effects upon a countryââ¬â¢s workforce and subsequently it is economic productivity. Medical cost can be long-lasting problem pregnancies often lead to the delivery underweight babies who require medical attention from the moment they are born .Malnutrition increases a childââ¬â¢s susceptibility to malaria , pneumonia, diarrhea or measles lead to a spiral of even further medical expenditure. Malnutrition and hunger are linked in the sense that they both lead to poverty and they are both caused by poverty .Hunger will lead to malnutrition ,malnutrition in pregnant women will lead to giving birth to underweight babies who require medical attention from the moment they are born ,which will cost the family some money and at the same time taking most of the families time of going to work or to do productive activities. Community participation is the process through which people gain control over the social ,political , economic and environmental factors that determine their health. The process of participation starts with an evaluation of the situation by everyone invo lved. During the process the community defines its most important health problems ,it decides or priorities finally the community participates in implementing monitoring and evaluating a health programme ,all these things are possible even when people are poor or illiterate. Community participation links to primary health care in sense that ,the community members are the one who participate in the primary health care. Primaryà health care is essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families ,in the community through their full participation and at a cast that community can afford. National political commitment ,health services operate with a particular political structure .The decisions that determine the allocation of resources ,human resource policy and the availability and accessibility of services are primary political.
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Cultural and language Essay Example
Cultural and language Essay Example Cultural and language Essay Cultural and language Essay The main hope of a nation lies in the proper education of its youth. This startlingly succinct quote by philosopher Erasmus exemplifies where to go next, or perhaps, first with emotional intelligence teachings. The fact that many parents can fill the role of emotional mentor to their children (as early as infancy) can be enormously beneficial was originally introduced by Harvard pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton. He adds, Parents need to understand how their actions can help generate the confidence, the curiosity, the pleasure in learning and the understanding of limits that help children succeed in life. Programs such as Head Start accentuate the acquisition of the social and emotional skills seemingly required for children to develop the readiness to learn. E. L. Schieffelin, author of Anger, Grief and Shame: Toward a Kaluli ethnopsychology, adds in regards to learning and emotional responses:à Children learn that how people feel in a particular situation is not only supposed to be natural, given the situation, but it is also socially expected, or even socially required. Thus in every society, the how and when to express feelings is taught by example, instruction, and the administration of reward and punishment from the time of infancy. Body language is clearly central to good communication and is particularly important when attempting to communicate across cultural and language barriers. In fact, body language is more important to people from other cultures than it is to most Americans. To native-born Americans, the spoken word is by far the most important communication tool. In other cultures, however, the way words are spoken (along with the gestures, posture and facial expressions that accompany those words) is of greater significance. Between 60-80% of our message is communicated through our Body Language, only 7-10% is attributable to the actual words of a conversation. Some psychologists claim that the impact you make on others depends on what you say (7%), how you say it (38%), and by your body language (55%). Since how you sound also conveys a message, 93% of emotion is communicated without actual words. Its often not what you say that influences others; its what you dont say. Its a given that, although there are some similarities, for the most part body language is culture specific. Fuad I. Khuri, a leading Middle East anthropologist, has observed that:à Body language is culture-bound, and therefore, the same gesture may convey different meanings in different cultures. Whereas kissing men signifies amity and friendship ties in Arab culture, in many western societies outside the Mediterranean it often indicates a homosexual commitment. The same goes for facial expressions. Psychologist Paul Eckman coined the term Display Rules (norms regarding the expected management of facial appearances), the expected facial expression varies culture to culture.à Anyone can become angry-that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way-this is not easy. Philosopher Aristotle sums up the concept of emotional intelligence perfectly. By blending the sociohistorical, the physiological, the educational, and the kinesthetic, you have all the components needed for attaining a high Emotional Intelligence Quotient that will benefit anyone in most any situation. : Beier, Earnest. People Reading. New York: Scarborough House, 1989à Brazelton, T. Berry. The Brazelton Institute. 2001. brazelton-institute.com/index.htmlà Cacioppo, John T. Social Psychology. 2002-2003.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Sociology Paper Writing â⬠Prompts and Tips
Sociology Paper Writing ââ¬â Prompts and Tips Useful Tips on Writing a Good Sociology Paper Have you always been interested in peopleââ¬â¢s relations? Would you like to learn more about their interaction with society? In this case, you are probably good at writing amazing sociology papers. Sociology is a science that studies different aspects of our lives ranging from politics to religion and society. It highlights major conflicts between different types of social groups, displays individualsââ¬â¢ behavior and more. The science refers to actually every aspect of our lives from economy and psychology to commerce and other different fields. Although writing a sociology paper may seem to be rather easy, you need to follow several vital stages to provide an outstanding work that will result in higher marks. Just follow our useful writing tips to succeed during the course. Ways to Write a Decent Sociology Paper Unlike other types of the essay with a typical structure, this particular assignment requires more involvement, research, and discussion. Most students are familiar with baseline parts like introduction and conclusion. However, a brilliant sociology paper deals with something more than that. Introduction. There is nothing difficult about this part. Make sure you state the problem quite clear for the reader. A good idea is to include some common hypothesis and raise questions that are of great value for a chosen topic Once you are done with the introduction, you need to perform all your analytic skills. Choose as many literature sources as you can and do the research on the topic. There is nothing wrong in incorporating findings of other experts and scientists that have been already published. Methodology. At this stage, you will need to discuss methods and approaches that will help readers to solve and resolve problems arising in your paper. The clearer your methodology, the more validity your paper gets. Discussion. The stage is set the green flag drops. This is where you should start discussing your findings and providing outcomes. Using charts, graphs and other visual representations is certainly a good idea. Conduct surveys to highlight the main pros and cons of your particular theme. Details. At this stage, you need to stress all key points and provide the result of your work. Reference List. Make sure you indicate all sources in your reference list arranged on a separate page. If sociology paper writing still looks daunting, check our improved writing tips that will let you handle the task. Improved Sociology Writing Paper Tips Most students start facing difficulties at their first step when choosing the right topic for the paper. You can come across the list of topics while surfing the net for additional prompts or you can ask for professional writing assistance. If you handle the assignment yourself, here are the tips that may come in handy: Start with an outline and indicate all key points for the major paper; Use first paragraphs to state the problem and argument; Make sure you write a strong introduction and conclusion paragraphs. Those are the essential parts of your paper that will make a final impression on your readers; Keep an eye on your paper structure and make sure it meets all academic requirements. Feel free to browse for a sociology paper template on the web; Use real evidence only when it comes to building a strong argument and thesis statement. Include statistics and real-life data; Avoid using too many direct quotes. Paraphrasing them would be the best bet for the paper. Passive voice is hardly the best grammar construction for this type of academic paper; Amplified historical context will add validity to your paper. Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a Sociology Paper Although the task seems to be rather clear especially considering the above-mentioned prompts, many students still fail to avoid common mistakes when writing a sociology paper. They typically include: Spreading too much when speaking for details that require narrowing; Failing in effort to follow all requirements provided by the instructor; Problems with writing style, grammar and punctuation; Irrelevant or out-of-date information; The lack of logical connection between paragraphs. We do hope our tips will come in handy whenever you are assigned to write a sociology paper. If you till face difficulties, you can buy papers online.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Teacher professional development Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words
Teacher professional development - Assignment Example Without a doubt, this is a great program to harness learning. As of now, no other educational institutions are taking a proactive approach towards this active learning. Hence, any foundation to cultivate learning is a good one. Moreover, it stimulates a social environment in which children have the appropriate environment to nurture themselves. Therefore, this program is necessary to continue and improve the system in the long-run. One of the main challenges of this program is that it is very dynamic, and does not possess a straight forward curriculum. Since there is no standardization of the curriculum, it becomes a challenge to embed these programs holistically. Additionally, many teachers and students lack the correct resources to train their students. This creates an ambiguity of a mutual symbiotic relationship in which students do not fully comprehend teachers. Another element towards the weakness of the program is culture. Culture forbids asking questions, which in essence creates a barrier for students to challenge thinking and grow their intellect. In order to rectify this, it is crucial to have an open dialogue between students and teachers that creates an aura of symbiotic
Friday, November 1, 2019
Small Business Entrepreneurship Assignment Essay
Small Business Entrepreneurship Assignment - Essay Example Source: Sofat & Hiro Q1b: What benefits, other than more capital, would a partner bring? If two or more individuals share capital in a business, it is recognised as a partnership. Partnership appears to be a beneficial for small businesses because it is the simplest form of business and the partners share the profits and loss of the company. In a start-up business, the risk of failure of business is high therefore, by sharing capital both partners share profit and loss, thereby, having less money at risk. In other words, the partners have the shared financial commitment. Second, the expertise and skills of the partner can improve the operational and financial performance of business. Third, partners have to fulfil very few legal formalities because these enterprises do not have legal status however, they need to have licences. Q1c: In 1996 Finch said ââ¬Ëif I become your partner, we must have a written agreement ââ¬âitââ¬â¢s illegal not toââ¬â¢. What are your views on th is? In a partnership business, the partners are not legally bound to undergo any legal agreement however, creating written agreements in partnership is important because of a number of reasons. Through a written agreements the two partners could have define the responsibilities and essential terms of the contract and in the case of any conflict between them, the written agreement could help them to resolve the issue. Therefore, in my opinion, the idea of Finch to make the written agreement is a good suggestion however, saying that its illegal not to have the written agreement is not right because in the legal framework of formation of a company in the UK, no legal agreements are required for the General Partnerships because these enterprises do not have a legal status. What advantages would there be in becoming a private limited company rather than taking on more partners? Rather than taking on more partners, become a private limited company has been advantageous for the company bec ause a private limited company has a legal identity. The business owns the property and assets of the company and unlike partnership assets and property are not owned by the partners. The partners are personally liable if a partnership business fails however, in a private limited company, the liability of the shareholders is only limited to the share they have in the shared capital. It means that if a partnership fails, the partners would be personally liable to sell their assets to pay off the loans and borrowings whereas, in the private limited company, the assets of the company would be sold. In other words, the personal assets of the shareholders or the director of the company cannot be used to pay off the loans and debts in a private limited company (Forma Company). Moreover, in a partner if more partners are added, the chances of conflicts and issues are increased whereas, in a private limited company shareholders are bound by the legal agreements and they have limited liabili ties which reduce the chances of conflicts. Q2a: In the case study it was said that the company ââ¬Ëwent publicââ¬â¢. What effect would this have on the companyââ¬â¢s name? The change in the company from a private limited company to a public company would have brought various benefits to the company. First, the value and recognition of the company would have increased because company got listed on the stock exchange which would have made it popular in the
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Core Subsystems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Core Subsystems - Assignment Example The scheduler policies fail to receive priority from the memory managers. In such scenarios, there may de diverge allocations of the central processing unit (Torkkeli and Tuominen, pg. 277). Such a scenario may result to two main problems. For instance, there is the schedule oblivious; where scheduling policies fail to exist and even those who are operating, the systems do not use it. In addition to that, the core objective remains to maximize the final and overall faults. Such an approach deters the achievement of schedule goals. The scheduling aspects of the general systems are based on the priority purposes in all times. The input is kept at a high end at all times. Delaying of one priority task occurs for the sake of more than five low priorities. Real time operating systems have the mandate of managing the hardware aspects, which are found in the computer, and other applications installed in it. It remains very reliable it enhances measurement and general automation where the downtime remains a costly affair. The real time systems operate under maximal time. It does provide a high level of real time consistent timing (Grimmer and King, pg. 2647). A number of real-time systems are constructed and operate using the general systems. The operating system is at the chance of providing real time support though they are engineered for a robust real time production, with a number of unpredictability. The disk activity and schedule granularity is at a consistent angle. The critical difference between the general-purpose operations system and real-time operating system is all about the physical aspects of the system. It is all about the time sensitivity aspect. An example of a time conscious system is an automated machine, where one gets the money in not more than five seconds after request of the transaction. Such a system is critical in being time responsive. A personal computer does not portray such a time sensitivity aspect. When one is
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