Christians Restoring the Environment

â€Å"Go Green,† the new slogan that promotes saving the environment is being heard everywhere. As I turn on my television or pass a billboard on the highway. The message is loud and clear that the earth is desperately crying out for us humans to start taking care of our domain. According to Green Living, â€Å"Going green is about conserving our resources, finding alternative energies, and innovative ways to keep our rivers and oceans cleaner and our landfills smaller. (Scheid, 2009) Christians can make a difference in the environment if all the churches in the United States rallied together to promote environmental restoration. I'm aware that our environmental issues are extreme; however, if you have a large organization such as the church pushing the cause to its congregants, I believe we will begin to see a difference in those who make conscious decisions that will attribute to the restoration of our environment. Targeting individuals and families through the media and ads are positive but I question how affective those streams of influence really are. I know that I have personally not given a lot of attention to, â€Å"Being Green. The reason for that is because I don't really understand the importance of individuals making small changes towards these environmental issues, especially when you look at the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It makes me want to ask why we are being targeted. It appears our efforts are useless when big corporations make destructive decision that affect the environment way more than me and my family ever could. I also know that right now my family can't afford to go out and buy energy saving appliances which is a huge expense in this depressed economy. Also, most of the items you can buy that are â€Å"green† cost more. Cleaners, paints, materials can add up and really have negative affects on a person’s financial income if you are living on a budget. I have also heard so much controversy around the validity of global warming that I question if it is all a hoax or if there really is anything that can be done to help improve our environment. However, if churches began answering these questions to their attendees and began promoting environmental restoration, I believe we would see people become passionate to the point they start making more â€Å"go green† choices. According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately, 310,470,820 people in the United States alone. (Census Bureau, 2010) Gallup poll states that 43. 1% of Americans reported going to church weekly. (Newport, 2010) If the churches would rally around the environmental restoration cause, they could be influential to their attendees about taking care of the environment. According to Star Tribune, â€Å"The faith community has become one of the major players in environmental issues. Coming from the standpoint of morals, religious groups are able to address green issues from a different perspective than the political or socioeconomic juggernaut. (Strickler, 2008) There are several things that churches can do on a Sunday morning to persuade their attendees. Many churches these days do video announcements that are very affective because they are visual. I think it would be an asset to incorporate visual examples of these individual churches making an effort to bring restoration to the environment. They could use these video announcements to educate their members, teach them the importance of conserving energy and lessening pollution and give their congregants specific tips on how they can save energy with updated appliances. The churches could also speak with some appliance stores that may offer discounts to their church members in hopes that they would switch over to these energy saving appliances. Churches could avoid using paper as much as possible by using their website or phone tree to contact their congregants. They could also dedicate a wall within the church which displays information about environmental restoration as well as giving information on their website. Ricky Nolan of Minneapolis attended an earth day service at his church and he stated, â€Å"The religious world, ‘brings a sense of responsibility' to the ecological debate. (Strickler, 2008) Unlike the secular world, the church can emphasize the importance of taking care of the earth because God made it. Pastors can use scripture to explain God’s intent of being good stewards over His creation. Christians can stand together by good simple Christian stewardship and work towards a cause that will benefit not only our generation but several generations to come. Most people will listen to their spiritual leader with an issue such as environmental restoration because it is a good cause and because they are very good at endorsing worthwhile causes. They know how to make their listeners take personal responsibility. Pastors already have a level of influence; why else would 43% of people in America take time out of their busy schedules to attend church. Pastors could use this influence to evoke passion; once these spiritual leaders have made their members zealous about the cause; I believe that excitement would automatically spill over into their individual communities. So you might ask why it is necessary for our churches to get involved since there is so much information already spreading about being environmentally conscious. I personally don't believe that most people really care enough to change their lifestyle. However, if a repetitious announcement is being made weekly in a place that people choose to be apart of, the probability is higher that people will catch on and begin to embrace the cause. I believe our Christian churches can make a difference because we represent a large number of Americans. Churches already have great influence; just imagine what we can do if we used that influence to remind God's children about the world He created and how it is crying out right now for some love and attention.

Scenario

Decision Form Period 5 Company____ 3 COPY I Price (per unit) Advertising Sales Corporate Identity Market research report Market 1 3090 EUR 6 mEUR MEUR Yes: ? x 2 Market 2 4420 FCU mEUR 3 Market 1 no. of ppl. Market 2 no. of ppl. Yes: ? Yes: ? Value Analysis 1 2 Sales Staff 120 90 Bid price for tender 2699 EUR/unit Relaunch (I – old) Introduction (I – new) Ecology 2. 6 4. 8 Technology COPY I – old COPY I – new COPY II – new 35 50 o. of ppl. no. of ppl. no. of ppl. COPY I R&D mEUR mEUR mEUR mEUR mEUR mEUR Purchasing Input Materials/Parts 30,000 units COPY I Production Volume Production Lines Investment Disinvestment Maintenance Rationalization 50,000 units Type B no. of new lines no. of line(s) mEUR /line mEUR /line 1 3 Type A no. of new lines no. of line(s) mEUR /line 1 mEUR /line 1. 6 Type C no. of new lines no. of line(s) mEUR /line mEUR /line ProductionProcess Optimization Investment in Environmental Technology Production Staff – hire (+) / dismiss (-) Training Non-salary costs Short Term Loans Long Term Loans Purchase of securities Dividends . 3 . 20 mEUR mEUR ppl. mEUR % mEUR mEUR mEUR % of net income Financing 5 30 COPY I Planned figures Sales Revenue* Return on equity Cash-Flow Market 1 100 mEUR % 15 10 mEUR Market 2 50 mEUR * Sales Revenue without Bulk Buyer and Request for Bids TOPSIMÂ ® – General Management | Version 13. 0 | Decision Form 8 Periods – Standard Scenario www. topsim. com

Border Security and Terrorism Essay

The only way that any country can effectively prevent terrorist attacks is by improving the local security on a domestic scale. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, â€Å"the protection of borders and ports of entry are vital to the success of this campaign (Campbell & Flourney 372)†. The issue here, however, is that by imposing stricter immigration laws and beefing up border security, the rich American legacy of legal immigration becomes threatened. As more and more people and politicians alike cite the pressing need to improve border security, that rich legacy comes to mind. According to Dave Camp, former Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Borders and Infrastructure, â€Å"while there is a need to protect the borders and ports of entry, any new policies regarding this matter do not have to intervene with the avowed American history of legal immigration (1)†. What the policies do suggest is that if there are those who violate the immigration and border laws, they will be dealt with strictly (Campbell & Flourney 377). Plans such as a REAL ID act or the removal of certain asylum laws that have loopholes are certainly plans that deserve a serious consideration. The entry of the attackers of 9/11 was greatly facilitated by the lax immigration standards and other legal loopholes. These allowed the terrorists to secure driver’s licenses and other permits that allowed them to move around the country freely and make the preparations that they needed to do (Campbell & Flourney 377). If the border security measures were not as lax those days, it might have even led to the prevention of 9/11. Campbell & Flourney, in their study on measures against terrorism have cited that, â€Å"A large step in curbing the possibility of terrorist attacks lies in improving border security† (372). Many critics have continually cited that the first step in winning the war against terror is by first preventing the happening of any future attacks. As such, airline security in conjunction with border security must be improved. The American-Mexican Border remains to be the largest concern since it remains as the largest security vulnerability of the United States. The porous domestic border could provide much greater problems than that of illegal immigration. It could lead to the entry of terrorist groups into the United States on a massive scale, leading to the proliferation of a large number of terrorists in the United States and possibly the establishment of a network that would make them extremely difficult to apprehend (Campbell & Flourney 372). Current Success of Border Security As earlier mentioned, the role of border security in the fight against terror is crucial. The current government reorganization program that has been proposed places the Department of Homeland Security, the Customs and Border Protection Program and the Immigration-Customs Enforcement agencies under a single operating body (Carafano 1). This move alone signifies that America is serious in curbing these terrorist attacks and that improving border security is a major factor. The next figure shows the attacks that have been prevented. Since the 9/11 attacks, over 19 terrorist attacks have been thwarted. Much of this success has been attributed to the Border Security measures that have been set in place since then. Almost all of these attacks have been intercepted through the careful monitoring of the activities that have occurred at the border. The passage of not only terrorists but also terrorist weapons is a major concern for the Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection Program. The porous and vulnerable American-Mexican Border remains the key element in taking the war against terror to the next level. Without the current border security situation at the level that it is in at the present, most of those 19 attempts could not have been prevented (Taylor 3). According to most experts who are studying this matter, â€Å"the key remains to be in keeping the inflow of people and goods into the United States under close scrutiny (Campbell & Flourney 372). † While there has been much success in this, there still remains the question on what further improvements can be made against such a devious and cunning foe. Future of Border Security It has clearly been established at this point that in order to be effective in the war on terror border security needs to be improved. The government must take a firm stand on the policies that will be implemented in the area of border security. While such policies may threaten certain precepts that America is known for such as the legacy of legal immigration, it must be remembered that sacrifices are sometimes necessary to protect the greater interests of the American public (Taylor 12). If it means that legal immigration may be throttled to a certain extent in order to ensure the safety of the American public, it is certain that there are more than a few Americans who would stand by that decision. As it is, more and more funding has gone into the improvement of border security particularly with regard to airline regulations and ports of entry as well as along the American-Mexican border. â€Å"Laws that have funded the increase in the number of fences along the border have been drafted and stricter port of entry rules have been established,† according to studies done on this subject (Taylor 12). The next step lies in ensuring that these measures push through and that they are implemented effectively. It has been said that increasing the security measures that are currently in place will send the wrong message to the terrorists and instead signal to them that they have won and that America has given in (Taylor 12). Ensuring one’s safety, however, should never be considered as a sign of cowardice or defeat. Instead, it should send the message that the United States and its people will not give up and will not give in to the terrorist tactics of these groups. Concrete steps such as improving border security are one of the many ways by which the United States government can show that they are serious and determined to end the war on terror. Conclusion When it comes to the war on terror, every other person seems to be of the opinion that there is one solution that is better than the next one. Everyone seems to think that there is one sure fire way of dealing with the situation. Truth be told, it would be perfect if that were really the case because it would have meant that the war on terror would already be over. The sad reality is that terrorism still continues to be a growing threat against all civilizations in the world today. While theories abound, success stories against the war on terror are far and few. This is not to say that policies to help improve border security are a waste of time but it rather serves to emphasize a very important point. The war on terror cannot be solved by just implementing one policy or one program. The response to problem will never be as quick or as earth shaking as the event that intensified the problem. Efforts to improve border security are just one of the many things that need to be done to combat the terrorists. Be that as it may, it still is one of the more crucial steps to stop terrorism. References: Campbell, Kurt and Flourney, Michelle (2001). To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign Against Terrorism. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Immigration Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Immigration Law - Essay Example It was a state of peace, goodwill, preservation and mutual assistance. In this state of nature, people had all the rights which the nature could provide. The provision of these rights is justified by the fact that in the state of nature, the human natural condition was a state of complete and perfect liberty that was able to conduct a person’s life in a way that one could see best fits. The other theoretical model of state is the state as a provider of identity. In this theory, a person is mainly identified by state he or she comes from. Despite the plethora of human identification, very little attention has been paid when it comes to identification of foreigners in a given state. Given the present globalization and internationalization of human movement, the inflow of foreigners into states has remained too high.1 In the modern times, nationalism is one of the main social and political problems. Nationalism mainly involves imposing culture in a society which replaces most multiculturalism, local and low cultures. The origin of nationalism regards the transformation of a society from a social structure and agrarian based economy to one which is mainly centered on industrialism. A society before industrialism was vertically bound and about 80 percent of its population made up of peasant farmers. There were strict boundaries between communities and between classes. With these separate communities being bound under the ‘state’, they do not share a common language, myths, memories, ancestry or religion. Peasant were born as farmers and still died as farmers with no chances of social advancement or economic mobility due to lack of standardized education. As a result, these communities totally did not wish to impose their culture or language to the neighboring communities. Nationalism strives for ethnicity or one culture under the same roof or ‘state’. The mentioned is the most successful

Nursing Theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Nursing Theory - Research Paper Example This partnership has an aim of enabling patients better manage and control the disease. If properly administered and adhered to by both parties, the partnership helps reduce social, economic, physical and psychological effects of chronic illness (Fowler, Kirschner, Van Kuiken and Baas, 2007). In the 21st century, the needs of patients, more so those with chronic illness, continue to draw attention from researchers. The nature of chronic diseases is that they last for a long period of time, developing slowly but surely. Since the majority of the illnesses have no cure, it becomes difficult to predict effects in the long-term. However, with medication some of the symptoms and problems can be tackled. On the contrary some patients find themselves severely affected by the disease. Diseases such as diabetes, depression arthritis, and hypertension may limit individuals’ daily activities. As much as these chronic conditions might have clinical differences, needs arising from the illnesses are similar for patients and their families. For instance it is important to have behavioral changes, emotional and social impacts of symptoms, disabilities, approaching death must be dealt with. The patient must endeavor to take medicines consistently and continue to interact with medi cal care (Marquis and Huston, 2009). On the other hand it is the duty of health care practitioners to ensure patients are better informed and allowed access to the best treatment. In this way the patients will be able to effectively manage their health and death. This goal cannot be realized without effective leadership and management skills by the nurses. Apart from the skills which as vital for the nursing practice, the recovery process can be fostered by good leadership skills by the nurse (Stanley, 2008). One area where the skill can be applied is in influencing legislation and health care policy. Though the level of power of the nurse cannot be compared

Help in a Dangerous or Troublesome Circumstances Essay

Helping in a Dangerous or Troublesome Circumstances - Essay Example   The author of the paper states that Jenifer was driving on a high way and suddenly noted a little girl, maybe four years old, running across the road, right in front of her. Each way of the road had four lines and she was driving on the second line from the side of the road from which the child emerged. The child seemed to be alone because no one was even following her or was along the road at the point at which she attempted to cross. Maybe she had lost her guardian somewhere in the streets and was trying to trace the guardian. The first lane, where the little girl was at the time, appeared safe, from Jenifer’s side mirror. A vehicle was behind her and though it was at a distant, it would take its driver extreme level of caution to avoid a collision had Rachel made an emergency brake.  Three options existed with decisions to be made within a second a second or two. Jenifer could slow down and move to the first lane to avoid hitting the child and any associated legal and moral liability and this would be a safe option for her. She would have also tried to stop before reaching the child and shout at her to stop running and even though this had minimal chances of saving the child, it also risked her car to being hit from behind. Jenifer, however, implemented a third option, one that was even more risky for her and the driver behind her but offered higher chances of saving the child. She decided to accelerate the car, to reach the child before she crosses into the second lane, and stop the car right in front of her. She explains that even though she did not think of the car behind her then, the driver would have a reasonable time to stop the car or to move to the first lane at a lower speed that could avoid running over the little girl. This succeeded and even though there was an impact between her car and the child, this occurred when the car had already stopped and the child was safe.

Digital media has changed the ways ideas, information, and arguments Essay

Digital media has changed the ways ideas, information, and arguments in society are communicated both locally and globally - Essay Example This revolution has changed the people’s lifestyles and actions are manipulated by the information that they can access. The availability of information due to digital technology has brought along positive and negative impacts on the new society referred to as the network society. This paper features out the various ways in which digital media has impacted on the society’s way of thinking and reasoning, and how this has changed their course of actions. In the Dark Age, an age where information was a scarce resource, the behavior of the people was so much influenced by their community traditions and social-cultural norms. Information was common only on the elite people and the society highly depended on such while working out their decisions. The elite community would misuse this privilege of having information to manipulate the reasoning of the people to make decisions that would favor their individual goals. This was common in the political arena where politicians woul d influence the voting process to suit their political ambitions during the campaign period. Deprived of the power of information the people were likely to arrive at immature conclusion and consequently uninformed decisions (Silverstone, 2005). The evolution of information technology has phased out this era and information can no longer be hoarded among the few elite in the society. Today, dense media networks are available and accessible to all humanity in the entire world, and its power cannot be ignored (Risi, 2013). The evolution of telecommunication devices and numerous service providers have brought about a whole new experience for the community with information from the global view available to the majority of the people. With television people can access live information, and with digital mobile phone communication takes place in real time across the boundaries. According to Silverstone (2005), the evolution of the digital technology has brought a new different morphology of the society, and the digital trends will have more influence on the society that it had ever been imagined. The proliferation of the internet has completely changed the world into a global village by closing in the distance that existed between different national boundaries. The emergence of video conferencing technology today people can communicate and hold conferences from their remote locations without any problem (Risi, 2013). The internet resource has become an answer for multinational corporations and international business can now be conducted at ease. The numerous social networks in the internet have formed new platforms where people can communicate, share and pass information, exchange ideas and influence the peoples thinking process, and hence their decision making practice (Silverstone, 2005). One of the areas where digital media have been used to influence the decision making process of individuals is in the political field. Today, political agendas can be propagated ac ross the world at a click of a mouse and it only takes few minutes before the entire world responds to an issue. This has had a great impact on the political campaigns since the factors of time, cost and distance have been put behind by the evolution of technology. On the other hand the people have vast information which they can use as a ground to make more informed and wise decisions. For instance, Cambodian politics general

HR Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HR Management - Essay Example As such, this concept is beneficial to the organization in terms of accurately identifying the interests that need to be addressed and give the direction and assistance needed from HR towards improving the value and image of the organization. The successful implementation of policies and procedures of any organization depends on the organization’s ability to adhere to standards and regulations imposed by government agencies and other relevant institutions that govern its operations. For HR, since the department is tasked with administering the responsibilities of various employees, it is expected to adhere to various regulatory issues and laws from the Department of Labor and compliance to OSHA requirements. This is valuable in terms of adhering to legal, moral and ethical standards expected from the profession and as expected by various stakeholders. The organization’s compliance to these regulatory requirements are crucial in ensuring smooth implementation of policies, procedures and strategies towards the accomplishment of goals. Workforce demographics indicate the relevant information pertinent to the employees’ background: age, educational background, gender, previous work experiences, status, skills and competencies, among others. A comprehensive and updated collection of this particular information in an organization’s HR database is needed to identify strategies that would influence and affect other decisions regarding staffing, maintenance and development of personnel. This concept is therefore important to business practitioners to determine current information in the workforce that could potentially impact present and future strategies. As revealed, â€Å"keeping one customer is more profitable than attracting a new customer† (Ppt 2 Herbold, Almansori, Aldaeri 10). It is therefore in the best interest of the organization and of HR practitioners to focus on enhancing customer service to accurately identify their needs

The Health of Nations in a Global Context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Health of Nations in a Global Context - Essay Example ceptualized by the three authors is they sought to portray the nations health (in this case, it is measured by its infant mortality rate or IMR) is influenced by its status in the global trading system using a statistical method called network analysis based on that countrys level of trade on capital- intensive commodities (four items were selected based on their high-load factors in the high-tech and heavy-manufacturing sectors). The authors had grouped the countries under study into six world-trade system blocks and made comparisons between the amount of trade that particular country has with regards to capital-intensive commodities (independent variables) and its infant mortality rate (dependent variable). Based on their statistical analysis of their selected trade data, the authors concluded that there is a strong correlation between a countrys overall population health (indicated by its infant mortality rate) and its position in the overall framework of the global trading system. In other words, the lower a countrys position in the world trade system, the higher is its IMR. This was the conclusion after eliminating factors like economic dependency, political stability, geographical location and access to seaports (Moore, Teixeira & Shiell, 2006, p. 171). In the brave new world of globalization, health care is seen as just another commodity that is subject to world trade. This means on a global scale, the health policies of most nations had shifted from their governments, in conjunction with the UN World Health Organization, to private enterprises. Global health care today is more a result of privatization of health care than the previous health models of nationally-comprehensive publicly-funded health strategies based on the provision of more valuable basic health care. This is a world view most authors agree that sees health care as just another aspect of global trade among commodities that is no different from agricultural or mining products. Todays global

Myth’s Function in the Public World Essay Example for Free

Myth’s Function in the Public World Essay The four main objectives are more extensive than is necessary. From other research and revitalization projects, the main objectives include the commercial enterprise (vacancies) inventory and the communities and surrounding areas population ideal of the area. In fact, having a private investor interested in the area is better than most areas. Many central business districts had to give financial incentives, such as lower rent or tax breaks to get entrepreneurs into the area. In the case study, Williams Realty Corporation was readily taking the first step in the revitalization process. The main objects were really to get people back into the downtown area through creating an area of individual retailers, corporations, restaurants and entertainment facilities, and new residential projects that would be able to renovate the old building and create a trendy Mecca for the young adults in the area that wanted to be close to work and entertainment. The fact that William Realty Corporation had done all the planning and preparation and just wanted the data is exceptional. However the data is what seems to be lacking in most cases, but by focusing on the two main objectives, the plan could move forward (Duvoli, 2004; Faulk, 2006; Weiler, 2000). 2. Briefly outline a research proposal by listing the appropriate techniques for collection of these data. Based on other research of central business district development the focus of the study should be on the gaining of population to start using the area again. Through tax records and housing data a basic understanding of the district can show the number of vacancies and when the decline of the area began. With this information the survey of viable building and the occupancy rates along with a walking survey of those people who work and live in the central business district should be undertaken. This survey does not have to be on a grand scale, but needs to ask the important questions, such as what is missing from the area, what would need to be included to make the area more people friendly. For the most part, any revitalization project needs to look at the business that can use the existing stores and building for either residential or commercial prospects. Old warehouses can offer lofts in the upper areas while allow retail businesses on the ground level. Listening to the people and the area itself will help direct the project and help keep investment to a minimum for the city. Following these easily completed research techniques will allow the city to plan the revitalization easier than without this basic information. It does not have to be elaborate, but it does have to give the people what they want in a central business district (Duvoli, 2004; Faulk, 2006; Weiler, 2000). References Duvoli, J. (2004, March 8).One Hudson River city sees amazing downtown business growth. Hudson Valley Business Journal, 15(5), 3-3. Retrieved January 3, 2009, from Regional Business News database. Faulk, D. (2006, March). The Process and Practice of Downtown Revitalization. Review of Policy Research, 23(2), 625-645. Retrieved January 3, 2009, doi:10. 1111/j. 1541-1338. 2006. 00219. x Weiler, S. (2000, January). Pioneers and Settlers in Lo-Do Denver: Private Risk and Public Benefits in Urban Redevelopment. Urban Studies, 37(1), 167-179. Retrieved January 3, 2009, doi:10. 1080/0042098002348

Holden Caulfield And The Stages Of Grief English Literature Essay

Holden Caulfield And The Stages Of Grief English Literature Essay There are seven stages of grief through the process of life and back. These stages are denial, depression, anger, bargaining, guilt, reconstruction, and eventually acceptance. Different stages of grief are represented through the main character Holden Caulfield in the novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Three stages of the stages of grief stands out the most and are focused on as Holden goes through the process of eventually accepting his loss. In the novel the Catcher in the Rye, the character, Holden Caulfield, goes through the many stages of grief, such as, anger, denial, and depression, after the death of his brother, Allie. Two stages such as anger and denial in the stages of grief are represented when Holden retraces one of his memories after Allies death. The memory Holden shares with us, is the time when he decides to spend a night in his garage Through his anger from his brothers death, Holden rampages in the garage, breaking all of its windows. From this scene, Holden shows the stages of anger and denial. I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddamn windows with my fist, just for the hell of ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it was very stupid I have to admit, but I hardly didnt even know I was doing it, and you didnt know Allie (Salinger, 39). During that night, Holden expresses his anger and denial by breaking all of the glass windows and not admitting why he did so. From the loss of his brother Allie, Holden expresses his anger and denial physically and mentally. Holdens anger was expressed through his actions of physically breaking the garage windows with his fist, and his stage of denial was represented by him not admitting why he did so. According to Sarah Cifelli, Holdens denial of his brothers death leads him to take action in the garage, and when asked why he did so, Holden doesnt admit and take credit for what he has done. His inability to accept the loss of his brother becomes clearerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The action of breaking an entire garage full of windows poses questions, but the main point is, he did not admit the reason for breaking them (Cifelli 2006). Although both of the stages of anger and denial are present here, the most important stage represented is actually denial. By Holden not admitting why he broke t he windows in the garage in the first place, the stage of denial is the most important stage represented here. As Sarah Cifelli has stated before, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the main point is he did not admit the reason for breaking themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ shows that Holden still believes that Allie is still alive, which leads to the main reason of why Holden took the action of breaking all of the windows. In another memory Holden shares with us in the novel the Catcher in the Rye, the stage of denial and depression are present as he tries to maintain both his innocence and relationship with Allie. Holden Caulfield wants to be the Catcher in the Rye. In other words, he wants to catch all the children who are falling off a cliff into adulthood. Both of the stages are represented together as Holden catches everyone from losing their innocence. And Im standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff-I mean if theyre running and they dont look over where theyre going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. Thats all Id do all day. Id just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know its crazy, but thats the only thing Id really like to be. I know its crazy (Salinger, 173). During this scene, Holden is trying to tell his little sister, Phoebe, that he wants to keep everyone safe and to catch them from falling off a cliff. By catching people from falling off the cliff, Holden is referring to stop kids from growing up and losing their innocence from the adult world. Holden wants to protect those that he loves and whom he is close to. Besides his little sister Phoebe, Holden also wants to protect all of the children and their innocence. Becoming the catcher in the rye in Holdens mind, this means that he still wants to catch Allie from falling off the cliff. Being that Allie is already dead, this shows that Holden is in denial of Allie ever dying. This also relates to Holdens depression in a sense that Holden is not going to accept the fact that he needs to grow up and join adulthood rather than playing games and all. As everything around Holden is telling him to grow up, Holden turns away from what he thinks will bring him farther apart from his relationsh ip with Allie. As Parthkatri states in the following quote, he helps explain that Holden doesnt want to change and would rather be with his brother Allie as a child. Unfortunately, Holden doesnt realize that Allie is dead, and therefore kicks him into the stages of denial and depression. Holden is not willing to accept the inevitability to changeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ After Allies death, Holden equates the loss of innocence from the changes of the adult world (Parthkatri 2009). Basically, Holden is in fear of growing up because of two reasons. One being that his brother Allie died as a child and another because Holden believes that all children hold their innocence before they lose it in the adult world. The stage of grief represented here are denial and depression because Holden wants to maintain his relationship with Allie as a child and hold onto his own innocence, but at the same time, Holden is on the verge of becoming an adult, forcing him into more stress and difficulty leaving him to depression. Therefore, Holden wants to protect children and catch them from falling into the adult world. Meanwhile, Holden is actually on the verge of falling himself off of the cliff and onto the lap of adulthood. As Parthkatri has explained before, Holden doesnt want to change, but as he continues on his journey in the novel, the world is showing him that he has to change because growing up is a part of life and you cannot run away from it.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact On Company Performance Management Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact On Company Performance Management Essay Traditionally, governments were the main providers of development assistance and were responsible for stimulating social development. In recent years, Corporate Social Responsibility has gained considerable ground and it is now common for corporations to get involved in activities resembling those carried out in the name of development assistance. Organizations which eventually practice this approach are looking for answers for questions such as does Corporate Social Responsibility really payoff, are the objectives set by the CSR manager really fulfilled, is their money worth spending at such practices? Considering the current financial scenario around the globe, managers are in dire need to make better, precise and eventually correct decisions. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate (1) if we can reap tangible benefits such as higher financial performance, higher employee commitment, and better reputation by engaging in CSR activities (2) if developing countries would benefit from corporate involvement. (3) Can corporations benefit by gaining access to new markets along with sustaining present markets and will it lead to innovative business strategies. Appropriate literature for this thesis has been derived from previous research journals, thesis, case studies, news paper articles and magazines which have helped us in acquiring general understanding and finding the scope and nature of the subject. The conclusion up till now is that CSR has played an important role in enhancing an organizations image and reputation along with bringing positive change in customers purchasing patterns. I KEYWORDS Corporate Social Responsibility; CSR Payoff; Impact on Company Performance Page No 17 Figure 2-1 CSR and Marketing Strategies Drivers and Constraints III LIST OF TABLES Page No 6 12 Table 1-1 Karachi Sector Division Table 2-1 Potential Benefits of Being Socially Responsible III INTRODUCTION The introducing chapter of this thesis provides a background of our study along with a concept of corporate social responsibility. It also aims to highlight the subjects topicality, significance, and the studys objective on which literature review would be based. Furthermore, the kind of research methodology used along with how the data collected would be interpreted is discussed. Finally, the studys scope, limitations, and significance are discussed. 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY In todays competitive world the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become one of the imperative strategies for the companies to stand out in the cut throat market environment. In circumstances where market dimensions and customers preferences become more unpredictable and complex, CSR can play an extra pivotal role to cope up with such situations. But even still managers are confused or rather unaware of whether their CSR approach will prove to be beneficial for them as less efforts have been put into finding out the results of their implementation. Initially CSR was evolved around corporate philanthropy but after passing through several phases it has entered into a new dimension with solidarity movements and environmental activism from the civil sector which is now highly involved in business activities. Accordingly pressures from governments, courts, civil organizations, NGOs, WTO have compelled corporations to follow stringent parameters of corporate behavior, forcing them towards legal compliance, doing business for betterment of the society and less occurrence of damage to civil society and environment and protecting the consumers. In Pakistan, however, where poverty, illiteracy, corruption is the talk of the town CSR journey is in its initial phases and is still struggling to be accepted in its first phase i.e. of philanthropy and legal compliance which is society and government focused. But still some leading organizations in Pakistan have realized that the government alone is not in a position to handle this everlasting situation and have finally spread their arms to help them out in this hour of need. The present societal marketing concept has started making inroads into Pakistan. Many leading corporations have accepted this challenge and have adapted this approach and begun to promote themselves and their brands by associating with it. CSR hence has open new ventures of competition and leading and non-leading corporations are in the race to make a mark on general public and show how much efforts they are putting in to CSR. Companies embrace the responsibility of serving to its stakeholder through different ways; it may be in the shape of improvising their internal operations so that employees, customers, society and environment do not get hurt or doing an act or deed that may increase their customer, employee, supplier loyalty etc. There are numerous ways to show how socially responsible an organization is or wants to be but is this act or deed actually fulfilling the objectives that managers had laid down. What are the success rates achieved by applying CSR? Did customers actually buy their product after looking at a beautiful monument donated to the government? There are many such questions that need to be answered so that managers in future feel confident in taking the right CSR decisions. Ultimately, does CSR payoff or is it a tradeoff between social criteria and investment returns? 1.2 CSR ITS DIFFERENT VIEWS For CSR there exists contrasting point of views, supporters of this concept argue that CSR is the source of value enhancement of any organization, while some organizations argue that the social work is the responsibility of the government and not the business. As awareness regarding pay off of CSR has increased, the debate regarding CSR seems to be disappearing. Prior goals and strategies evolved only around profit maximization with no view of serving the society at large. There have been controversial statements issued in the past such as the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits stated by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, September 1970, in New York Times Article. However since the birth of this approach CSR has been touched upon by many authors who show its importance and its inevitable desire to stay in business and society. The birth of CSR has been a long debate with various researchers having different views over its time period and the individuals involved. There have been different arguments placed over it genesis with some saying that its birth took place when in 1930s there was a debate between AA Berle and E Merrick Dodd over the role of managers (Post 2003 ; Turner 2006). Others such as Carroll have described Bowen as the modern Father of Corporate Social Responsibility and believe that his work marks the beginning of the modern period of literature on CSR. Peter Drucker was one of the first to explicitly address CSR, including public responsibility as one of the eight key areas for business objectives developed in his 1954 book, The Practice of Management. While Drucker believed that managements first responsibility to society involved making a profit, he felt it was also most important that management consider the impact of every business policy and action upon society (Joyner Payne 2002, p. 302). The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its publication Making Good Business Sense by Lord Holme and Richard Watts, used the following definition. Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large The best definition that suits our research is by Mallen Baker published on his website which states that CSR is about how companies manage their business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT Traditionally, governments were the main providers of development assistance and were responsible for stimulating social development. In recent years, Corporate Social Responsibility has gained considerable ground and it is now common for corporations to get involved in activities resembling those carried out in the name of development assistance. Organizations which eventually practice this approach are looking for answers for questions such as does Corporate Social Responsibility really payoff, are the objectives set by the CSR manager really fulfilled, is their money worth spending at such practices? Considering the current financial scenario around the globe, managers are in dire need to make better, precise and eventually correct decisions. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION Based on previous discussion in the preliminary phase and the problem statement, the following questions arise; Does CSR really payoff? In order to provide an in depth answer to this question, the following sub questions are derived which are also our 1.5 OBJECTIVES OF OUR STUDY 1. Does CSR influence consumer purchasing decision? 2. Does CSR provide an opportunity for a firm to have a competitive advantage? 3. Is there a relationship between CSR activities and corporate performance? 4. Do people perceive a CSR implementing organization and a non CSR implementing organization as same by keeping all other factors constant? 1.6 DATA COLLECTION METHODS Primary Data: In order to measure and quantify our research, survey methods will be used for primary data collection. Questionnaires will be distributed among employees, customers, students and general public. This will help us in getting accurate information regarding the payoffs of CSR and decisions regarding CSR investments. Secondary Data: Secondary data will involve a thorough analysis of related research articles, journals, publications, magazines, newspapers and studies from both international and local websites. 1.7 DATA ORGANIZATION The relationship between organizations corporate social responsibility initiatives and its pay offs is of valued importance. This research has both opportunity and potential. Initially, appropriate literature will be derived from previous researches, case studies and news paper articles which will help us acquire general understanding and finding the scope and nature of the subject. Subsequently, unstructured interviews would then be carried out with professionals concerned within the subject of corporate social responsibility. The purpose of the interview will be to discuss the success and failures caused while implementing CSR in their organizations and would also help in further understanding and approaching the topic in a more creative way. Furthermore our subject will also be discussed thoroughly with our thesis coordinator for better guidance and direction. The literature stage would constitute of thorough understanding of previous researches and theoretical frameworks which are relevant, accurate to our study. Both national and international researches will be considered with no limit concerning the point of time the research was carried out. Internet search engines such as Google will be used comprehensively. Keywords such as Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR payoff, Impact on Company Performance will be used along with other phrases to find the most accurate literature online. 1.8 SAMPLING The sampling frame will constitute of employees (Business Sector) and students (Higher Education Sector) that lie in four different zones of Karachi i.e. North, South, East, and West. The sample for survey will be selected through Non-Probability Stratified/Quota sampling method. There will be two different questionnaires designed for employees and the general public/customers. Questionnaires will comprise of closed-ended questions so that it would be convenient to analyze the findings. The analysis will finally be done on Microsoft Excel. SAMPLING SIZE Below is the breakup for the sample size: Table 1-1: Karachi Sector Divisions KARACHI BUSINESS SECTOR EDUCATION SECTOR North 75 Questionnaires 75 Questionnaires South 75 Questionnaires 75 Questionnaires East 75 Questionnaires 75 Questionnaires West 75 Questionnaires 75 Questionnaires 1.9 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Our study will be beneficial for organizations as well as for society and the government. Organizations will be able to better realize the importance of CSR and hence can then engage themselves in long term strategies rather than focusing on short term tactics. As a result of this activity society can then be served more effectively. Due to this a multiplier effect can be generated and a cash starved government can also benefit from this approach. Findings of our study will help organization to find out the way to utilize resources on social welfare and up liftmen efficiently and effectively. 1.10 SCOPE LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The scope of the study is to quantify the impact of CSR activities and measure its performance to see whether the investment done in implementing CSR has really paid off or not. As students we lack sufficient resources to broaden the geographical scope of the study and extend it to whole of Pakistan, which has forced us to limit our study to Karachi, Pakistan only. Also employees, customers, general public and other students will be involved in our sampling frame, which might lead to biased responses as they will consider us premature students rather than professional researchers. In order to measure the impact of CSR we will have to limit our study and findings to only those CSR initiated projects which are visible to masses. Only then can we be able measure the impact correctly as than our findings will reflect the true scenario. This study is being conducted for an academic purpose with certain time constraints and has to be completed within minimum resources available. The study will be completed by last week of April 2011. LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION We have entered the new millennium with countless societal, environmental, political legal, health issues surrounding us but there seems to be no respite when we talk about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its numerous false dawns that have occurred in the past decades. Perhaps, business shocks and scandals which involved some huge organizations such as Enron, WorldCom and Nike, Shell, together with the impact of rapid climate change on the environment, have played a major role in pushing organizations irrespective of their sizes to rethink their responsibilities towards their stakeholders and rationalize their attitudes according to the societal norms. The upcoming conversations about CSR suggests that it is a normative, multi-level concept, whose meaning depends on various perspectives and relationships, and, that it changes in response to social trends (Silberhorn, D Warren, RC 2007) . Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has variously been described as a motherhood issue (Ryan 2002), the hot business issue of the noughties (Blyth 2005) and the talk of the town in corporate circles these days (Mees Bonham 2004). While earlier thoughts of CSR often had a regional, person-centered philanthropic focus, recent conceptions of CSR are inclusive, broad and diverse (Silberhorn, D Warren, RC 2007). Due to the diverse philosophical status that CSR has achieved over the years it has seriously hampered the theoretical development as well as research into the implementation of these policies (Goebbels, 2002). In order to start research, the first step that has to be taken is to explore how corporations are themselves defining and interpreting CSR. Most empirical studies of CSR have been focused on firms in the USA, Canada and the UK, but few have attempted to assess whether definitions of CSR differ between countries (Hopkins, 2004). These are one of reasons that have led to slow development of CSR in developing countries such as Pakistan. Swanson (1995) suggested that there were three main types of motivation for CSR which helps in engulfing organizations towards this approach: The utilitarian perspective (an instrument to help achieve performance objectives); The negative duty approach (compulsion to adopt socially responsible initiatives to appease stakeholders); and The positive duty view (businesses self-motivated regardless of social pressures) (Maignan Ralston 2002) Companies are primarily reactive with respect to CSR, responding to external pressures rather than proactively defining CSR (LEtang, 1994; Vogel, 2005). Here, industry-specific issues as well as public visibility play a role. ODwyer (2003), Esrock and Leichty (1998) found that companies from sectors with a high-environmental impact had to respond more to external pressures. In addition, societal developments appear to force businesses to evolve their thinking for CSR (Carroll, 1999; Wilson, 2000; Zadek, 2004). Such pressure is said to increase when codified by legislation (Pinkston and Carroll, 1996; ODwyer, 2003). Mass media are then also seen to exert control and build pressure by making company behavior public (Pinkston and Carroll, 1996). There has been a significant growth of CSR firms in the past ten years and the growth is mainly associated with economic development of a region or a state (Poddi, L Vergalli, S 2009). Preston and O, Bannon 1997, Woddock and Graves 1997, MacWilliams Sieger 2001, tried to establish if there exists a link between social responsibility and the performance of firms. Their results were ambiguous and did not show any connection. While on the other hand Poddi, L Vergalli, S 2009 states that there is a clear positive relation between CSR and performance, and it has been proved that CSR influences a firms performance. Lacey, R Kennett-Hensel, PA (2010) noted that customers CSR perceptions are positively linked to their trust in and commitment to the firm. Their findings also show how a firm that engages in CSR initiatives may reap rewards by building trusting and committed customer relationships which, in turn, help forge desirable customer behaviors. It is also been evident from the research that customers level of commitment has a positive effect on purchase behavior, word-of-mouth communications, and following the firms performance. Addressing social issues comes at a cost to business (Tim Barnett). Till the businesses internalize the costs of CSR actions, they keep on hurting their competitive position in the market. This argument is truly relevant in todays context especially after prevailing globally competitive environment, which is if businesses in one country expand assets to address social issues, but those in another country do not. Some argue that employees are not trained to address such problems. This suggests that organizational involvement in CSR may actually make the situation worse. Corporations can best serve societal interests by sticking to what they do best, which is providing quality goods and services and selling them at an affordable price to people who desire them (Tim Barnett) Reasons behind the failure of the CSR are that people often dont have enough knowledge regarding the environment and their rights (Vogel, D 2008). Results from CSR practice cannot be seen quickly. On the other hand, it cannot be directly linked to improved financial performance of the company (Bugariska, B 2009). We can find many examples of organization which have been and are implementing CSR approach but still have not been able to able to increase their reputation and performance (Vogel, D 2008). BP (British Petroleum) is one recent case whose image has been badly affected after its oil spill off Mexico Coast in 2010, before that it was enjoying a strong CSR reputation and had even made a positive contribution towards society and changed its identity. But if we look at the, Goldman Sachs Report (2007) it clearly shows companies that are considered leaders in implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies to create sustained competitive advantage have outperformed the general stock market by 25 percent since August 2005. Additionally, 72% of these companies have outperformed their peers over the same period (Bugariska, B 2009). Any publicized disaster might become an opportunity for good companies to show their social inclinations. The same could be seen with different ts unami or earthquake caused destructions, or the recent floods in Pakistan (2010). CSR strategies may work under certain conditions, but they are highly vulnerable to market failures, including such things as imperfect information, externalities, and free riders (Doane, D 2005). I have not been able to find any research that shows CSR to be a bad thing, states Holme, C 2010. But does it pay? Is it worth doing? We can find enormous web sites of large corporations which only outlay a positive picture. Negative examples are not even touched upon. Research that shows that the heaviest polluters are not the heaviest reporters only serves to confirm the suspicion that the whole story is not being told properly (Brooks, 2009). Holme, C 2010, argues that within organizations CSR activities that support and develop the competitive uniqueness of a business offer considerable opportunities to secure a place in the market. The evidence that he presents is that businesses are still developing their CSR related values during a period of recession which proves its importance for even firms to survive in these harsh times. University of Michigan business administration professor Aneel Karnani believes that companies do what they do because they are responsible to their shareholders. One of the members of top management of the Best Buy Public Affairs Company said that they dont allocate budget for CSR separately but they consider it as the integral part of their companys business model, they are of the opinion that success lies behind CSR. 2.1 CSR CUSTOMERS CSR is rising sharply as a corporate priority: by 2011, the percentage of executives giving high priority to CSR is expected to be 70% (Franklin 2008). There is a belief that firms designs CSR actions because they care and consider CSR activities as companys moral obligation (Vlachos, PA, Tsamakos, A, Vrechopoulos, AP, Avramidis, PK 2008). Some studies (McWilliams and Siegel 2000; Mohr et al., 2001) suggest there is no effect of CSR on consumer loyalty. But according to Casteldo (2008) consumers are interested in the social behavior of firms and the CSR profile of a firm largely influences their purchasing decisions. Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) suggest that CSR can affect consumers intentions to purchase. It is important for firms to communicate and advertise firms CSR initiatives to its customers (Du 2007) which provides greater credibility, and strength to its brand with competitive advantage (Teresa, T, Uncles, MD 2006). It may appear that the strength of CSR as a communication tool can be affected by factors such as consumer involvement and/or switching costs. Not all individuals perceive CSR actions in the same way (BÃ ©nabou, R Tirole, J 2009). CSR is more beneficial when it is not promoted as per normal advertisements, by doing this a favorable impact on the organizations goodwill can be reaped (MOHR, LA, WEBB, DJ HARRIS, KE 2001). A recent study in Pakistan (Ali 2010) confirms that in a developing country context, there is no positive relationship between awareness of corporate social responsibility activities and consumer purchase intention. In developed countries though a lot of pressure has been forced on companies to consider CSR practices which has given rise to organic products and products created according to fair trade ethical and environmental principles (Azmat, F, Samaratunge, R 2009). Table 2-1 Source: Swaen, V 2002, p 7. 2.2 DOES CSR AFFECT PURCHASING DECISIONS? Consumers need to be aware of a firms level of social responsibility before the affects can be quantified (Varadarajan Menon 1988). Ross, Stutts, and Patterson (1990-91) found that 53 percent of a sample could recall a CSR based advertisement, while Webb Mohr (1998) found 79 percent of a sample could describe a specific CSR based campaign only after the concept was explained to them. Customer lacks responsiveness towards CSR because they dont have much knowledge regarding CSR (MOHR, LA, WEBB, DJ HARRIS, KE 2001). Though people study regarding CSR as its clear from the quantity sold of a renowned book Shopping for a better world which is explaining multiple angles of corporate social responsibility (Council on Economic Priorities 1994). As mentioned above we can easily figure out that consumers really desire knowledge on how to spend their money better. Most of the previous studies shown that organization have put less efforts to make people aware first and then taken initiative rather they assumed that people know regarding initiative. However, CSR can be used as a strategic tool to enhance the reputation and public image of a business institution, while at the same time, prove to be profitable for an institution in the long-run (Dusuki, AW Dar, H 2005). The 1999 CondRoper Cause Related Trends Report has researched upon consumer responses to companies participation in CSR based marketing (Cone Communications Press Release 1999). Studies that were conducted since 1993 have shown that more than 80% firms have reported a positive image if it is involved in promoting particular cause. Furthermore, two-thirds of the sample said they are likely to switch brands or retailers to those participating in CSR activities. When research was conducted by Ross and his group members based on 225 sample regarding CSR initiatives by firms, they identified that 55% respondents would purchase a product if they get to know that the firm is supporting a cause. More than 50% respondents were also inclined to switch their brand in near future as the result of the CSR involvement of the company. In another research conducted by Smith and Alcorn (1991) identified that majority of the respondents were of the view that they would switch their brands because the company make donations to nonprofit organizations, and nearly a third (30%) stated that they sometimes buy products simply because the manufacturer supports charitable causes. Consumers also expect firms to protect the environment and behave ethically and that they sometimes base their purchasing decisions on these factors (MOHR, LA, WEBB, DJ HARRIS, KE 2001). However, no surveys could be found that attempt to measure the proportion of people whose purchasing is actually affected. 2.3 OVERVIEW OF DIFFERENT SECTORS In Stock Markets, CSR activities do not generate shareholder value in short run but it is also not correct to say that CSR activities do not generate a negative impact on the market value of a company. This is usually because investors think that CSR activities do not affect the future cash flows of a firm (Karlsson, J Chakarova, Y 2008). Research findings in housing sector showed that a great majority of buyers in Malaysia expected a socially responsible developer to provide more CSR features. However, less wealthy buyers were more sensitive to house price. However all participants were ready to pay for extra CSR features (Yam, LHS 2008). In the banking sector, unless the stakeholders perceive CSR investments as being beneficial, these investments may prove to be ineffective. It would appear that CSR activities have been employed too hastily (Calabrese, A Lancioni, F 2008). 2.4 CSR PAKISTAN SOCIETY In Pakistan, mostly multinationals are implementing CSR, competition being the reason behind. Organizations like Unilevers, P G Nestle, Siemens, ICI Pakistan, Pepsi, and Coca Cola have led the scene in Pakistan. Many national companies such as Engro, Jung Group, National Foods Pakistan, English Biscuits Manufacturing have also entered the race. Lately banks have also started following this new trend. In developing countries such as Pakistan, the concept of CSR has been intermingled with the concept of philanthropy or charity (Visser, W). Aga Khan Foundation and Resource Centre NGO conducted a survey of senior officials in over a hundred major companies working in Pakistan and found out that there is enormous potential for involving businesses in community improvement activities. Corporations in Pakistan are donating cash to education and health sectors. Generally pharmaceutical, chemical, food and beverage industries donate their products on a customary basis to different charities and beneficiaries, and also actively react to disaster relief contingencies resulting by floods and other unforeseen natural calamities by donating required products to the affected areas (Ali 2004). Unfortunately the local industry not completely realizing the importance of CSR; proper investment in this area is not been done. Electronic media as well as print media are often silent on this topic. According to a research conducted by Ali, I, Rehman, K, Yilmaz, AK, Nazir, S Fatima Ali, J 2010, they found very low awareness level in customers about CSR, with no linkage between CSR activities and customer purchase intentions. On the other hand D.Dodd, M in his research states that a positive association exists between an organizations involvement in CSR programs and consumers purchase intentions. It can be pointed out that while making a buying decision, customers in Pakistan do not consider corporations contribution towards society. But significant relationship was found between service quality and customer satisfaction. The results showed that customers are ready to pay more attention to pricing strategies than CSR activities of service providers. CSR is now a core business management issue the world over including Pakistan. The stakeholder has finally arrived to share the boardroom agenda with the stock-holder says Waheed, A (2005) in a UNDP report. From labor unions to watchdog organizations, there are multiple organizations available that have the responsibility of establishing and awarding credential to organizations that wishes to be judged for its impact on society. These include ISO 14000 (for environmental management systems), the SA 8000 (social accountability standard) and numerous more. At national level, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has made a first contribution by forming Code of Corporate Governance, and the 2002 Trade Policy formed by the government of Pakistan. Pakistan itself has had to learn quickly in adapting to the CSR paradigm. The country has suffered billion of dollars of damage through the 1990s and still are. International buyers are now continuously asking for CSR credentials from Textile and other edible good industry. Within this environment, it is unavoidable for Pakistan to stay away from CSR (Waheed, A 2005) or the whole economy might collapse. 2.5 CSR PERFORMANCE Belu, C Manescu, C (2009) in their research have found a continuous positive correlation between socially responsible initiatives and financial position of a firm. This proves that there is potential for increased profitability when conducting business with CSR in sight. There is a positiv

The Economic Boom of the 1920s Essay -- essays research papers

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Medical Office Management Essay

Please use this template to answer the questions below in essay format. The minimum word count for the three questions of Part 1 is 300 words total (or 100 words per question). A reference citation is required. Your responses should follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.). Your writing should be well ordered, logical and unified, as well as original and insightful. Your work should display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics. Use the APA style only for citations. More details can be found in the GEL 1.1 Universal Writing Rubric. PART I: MEDICAL RECORDS QUESTIONS The Medical Record Management System your office implements is only as good as the ease of retrieval of the data in the files. Organization and adherence to set routines will help to ensure that medical records are accessible when they are needed. Questions: 1. 1. Why are medical records important? (See Chapter 14, page 238–239 of your text for the reasons.) Medical information is the lifeblood of the healthcare delivery system. The medical record contains all of the medical information that describes all aspects of patient care and serves as a communication link among caregivers. Documentation in the medical record also serves to protect the legal interests of the patient, healthcare provider, and healthcare facility. Medical records are important to the financial well being of the facility as they substantiate reimbursement claims. Other uses of medical records include provision of data for medical research, education of health care providers, public health studies, and quality review. 2. 2. Discuss the pros and cons for the various filing methods? Be sure to include information regarding potential time involved, staffing, and spacing (See Chapter 14, pages 257–259 of your text). Clinical outcomes include  improvements in the quality of care, a reduction in medical errors, and other improvements in patient-level measures that describe the appropriateness of care. Organizational advantage, on the other hand, have included such items as as financial and operational performance, as well as satisfaction among patients and staff who use Electronic filing. Electronic filing also cuts down on the space needed tremendously, they no longer need a huge room to store all patients files. It is also faster to find, update, and send electronic files. Last but not least, societal outcomes include being better able to conduct research and achieving improved population health. Although it seems there could be nothing wrong with EMR, there are potential disadvantages associ ated with this technology. These include financial issues, changes in workflow, temporary loss of productivity associated with EHR adoption, privacy and security concerns, as well as access. 3. Discuss and explain the five basic filing steps. Include why each step (conditioning, releasing, indexing, etc.) is important. (See Chapter 14, pages 255–256 of your text). Medical records should be organized in an orderly fashion, and all of the information within the record should be legible to the average reader. The information within the medical record must be accurate and corrections should be made and documented correctly. The wording in medical records should be easily understood and grammatically correct. All of these steps are important to remember when maintaining a medical record for future reference, or even legal issues. Discuss and explain the five basic filing steps. (1) Conditioning, involves removing all pens, brads and paper clips. During this process you will also staple all related material together, and attach clippings or items smaller then page-size to a regular sheet of paper. This step is important because your starting to organize and layout the medical record. (2) Releasing, during this step a marking is placed on the papers indicating that they are ready to be filled. This step is important for other members in the medical f acility dealing with the filing process.

Problems and Questions

Briefly explain the meaning of R-squared. A time series analysis of demand tends to result In a higher R-squared than one using cross-sectional data. Why do you think this Is the case? R-squared measures the goodness of fit of a regression equation. A time series analysis of demand tends to result in a higher Required than one using cross-sectional data because data is being gathered at multiple periods of time as opposed to one period of time when using cross-sectional data. II.What is the identification problem? What effect will this problem have on the regression estimates off demand function? Explain. The identification problem occurs when there Is an Inability In the principle to Identify the best estimate of values of one or more variables In regression. This problem effects regression estimates of a demand function because there is a simultaneous shifting of both the supply and demand, which results in biased results. Ill. A. Why are manufacturers' new orders, endogens capital goods, an appropriate leading indicator?They are an appropriate Indicator because they are commitments that show that economic activity will take place In the future. B. Why Is the Index of Industrial production an appropriate coincident Indicator? The Index of Industrial production Is an appropriate coincident indicator because it provides information about the current state of the economy. C. Why is the average prime rate charged by banks an appropriate lagging indicator? It's an appropriate lagging indicator because changes in the prime rate generally trail changes in the rest of the economy.IV. You have been asked to produce a forecast for your compacts product, bottled water. Discuss the kind of Information you would look for In order to make this forecast. An effective forecast for bottled water would Include sales revenue, marketing, competition, Seibel issues that may arise in the future, and information about the target demographic. V. One of the most difficult tasks in re gression analysis is to obtain the data suitable for quantitative studies of this kind.Suppose you are trying to estimate the demand for home furniture. Suggest kinds of variables that could be used to represent the following factors, which are believed to affect the demand for any product. Do you anticipate any difficulty in securing such data? Explain. Determinants of Demand for Furniture Suggested Variables to use in Regression Analysis Price Prices set for furniture at competing companies Tastes & Preferences % of people who like modern, rustic, traditional, contemporary, country, etc. Hypes of furniture Price of related products Price of accent Items (blinds, pillows, rugs) Income Average Income of buyers Cost or availability of credit % of people who purchase furniture with cash or credit Number of buyers # of sales per year Future expectations Availability of products, future income of buyers Other possible factors Seasonal sales I do not see any problem securing this data. M ost of this Information can be maker of a leading brand of low-calorie microwaveable food estimated the following emend equation for its product using data from 26 supermarkets around the country for the month of April.

learning journal Essay

A learning journal is a collection of notes, observations, thoughts and other relevant materials built-up over a period of time and usually accompanies a period of study, a placement experience or fieldwork. Its purpose is to enhance your learning through the very process of writing and thinking about your learning experiences. Your learning journal is personal to you and will reflect your personality and experiences. Structuring your learning journal A learning journal may be called several different things: a learning log, a fieldwork diary or personal development planner, for example. Different subject areas may ask you to focus on different aspects of your experiences and may also have a different format. A journal could be a notebook, an electronic document or sometimes can be recorded verbally on a tape. You will need to check which format is required with your module tutor. Why use a learning journal: To provide a ‘live picture’ of your growing understanding of a subject or experience To demonstrate how your learning is developing To keep a record of your thoughts and ideas throughout your experiences of learning To help you identify your strengths, weaknesses and preferences in learning Essentially, a learning journal helps you to be reflective about your learning, this means that your learning journal should not be a purely descriptive account of what you did etc but an opportunity to communicate your thinking process: how and why you did what you did, and what you now think about what you did. What is reflective learning? Reflective learning is a learned process that requires time and practice. It is also an active process: involving thinking through issues yourself, asking questions and seeking out relevant information to aid your understanding. Reflective learning works best when you think about what you are doing before, during and after your learning experience. Reflective learning is therefore not only about recognising something new (new learning), it is also about seeing reality in a new way. Reflection is an important skill to develop, and requires you to think about how you personally are relating to what is happening on your course, during your assignment, or in your placement. The following diagram illustrates the process of reflective learning.

Amadou Diallo Essay

Social cognition is the study of how people form attribution or judgments about themselves and the social world from the social information they received from their environment (Chapter Review, 2010). However, it was discovered often marked by apparent errors and biases. People make quick judgment based on their past experiences, hence at times leading to tragic endings. The Amadou Diallo case study was an example of the tragic error which was made by four New York City Police officers. The police shooting of an unarmed man was an act of automatic inferences which happens when people use mental shortcuts to simplify the amount of information they receive from the environment. Automatic thinking is known as the thinking that is unconscious, unintentional, involuntary and effortless (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). While, schemas are mental structure people use to arrange their information regarding the social world around themes or subjects: schemas affect what information we notice, think about, and remember (Chapter Review, 2010). During the incident February 4, 1999, Carroll had made a low-effort automatic thinking with schemas when Diallo reached into his jacket to get his wallet by assuming that Diallo was reaching for a gun in his pocket, and shouted â€Å"Gun! † to alert his colleagues. Officer Carroll’s action was due to his natural instinct or response as most criminal would reach into their pocket for gun during the detection of police officers. He had use schemas to form an expectation of the event in which made him to expect a gun pulling out of Diallo’s jacket rather than his wallet. As he attends to his schema-consistent knowledge: criminals would pull out guns from their jacket when they spotted police officers; his schemas filtered out any inconsistent information: Diallo reached in his jacket to get his wallet; had caused the NYPD officers to fire at Diallo. Besides that, there are also a few theories or concept under automatic thinking with schemas that had shown relevance to the Amadou Diallo case study, such as, accessibility. Accessibility is the ease with which schemas can be brought to one’s mind (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The four police officers had practiced accessibility when they saw Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway at their approach, ignoring their orders to stop and â€Å"show his hands†. When they saw Diallo ran after they claimed to have identified themselves as NYPD officers, they might assume that Diallo was the serial rapist they were searching for, as logically a serial rapist or a criminal would ran when approached by police officers to avoid getting caught. The ease of the thought that criminals would run when they spotted police officers, had made the four police officers to identified Diallo as a criminal, although that was not the truth in Diallo’s case. As a result, a firestorm had unfortunately occurred. Furthermore, the four police officers had practice priming in this case study. Priming is the process which related to recent experience that made schemas or concept to come to one’s mind more readily (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). For example, when Officer MeMellon fell down the steps, appearing to be spot, the other three officers might assume that Diallow had fire a gunshot towards Officer McMellon hence causing him to fell down those steps because they had linked it to their recent experiences of gunshot and thought that Officer McMellon had been spot and that Diallo had shot him with his gun. As one would logically fall back when shot. Perseverance effect was also shown in this case study. Perseverance effect is known as the tendency for people’s beliefs about themselves and their world to persist even when those beliefs are discredited (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When the four NYDP officers thought Diallo matched the description of a (since-captured) serial rapist, it might be due to the fact that Amadou Diallo was an immigrant to the United States and the four police officers could have the belief that immigrants are the major causal crime increment in the Unites States. Hence resulting the police officers to think the worse out of Diallo when he ran and even though he was reaching into his jacket to get his wallet, the police officers had persisted that the square object had been of a firearm although in logical terms both wallet and gun do not share the same shape and size. On the other hand,people also tend to use mental strategies and shortcuts to organize and make sense of their social world, especially when they are lack of full processing time, lack of solid information to use for decision making, information overload, or when the issues are not important to them (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Mental strategies and shortcuts help people to make decisions easier and allow them to get on with their lives and not turn every decision into a major hurdle. Four NYDP officers had practise judgmental heuristics when they made judgments about Diallo. Police officers thought Diallo had matched the description of a (since-captured) serial rapist. This might be because that Diallo was a dark skin immigrant which had logically matched the description of the serial rapist leading officers to made a quick decision so that they do not need analyse in detailed and make a major hold-up over the matter. Furthermore, the four police officers also did performed availability heuristic in this case. Availability heuristic is a mental rule of thumb whereby people base a judgment on the ease with which they can bring something to their mind (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). During the incident, Diallo had been mistaken that he was reaching into his jacket to get his firearm whereas he was actually reaching to get his wallet. Officer Carroll had shouted â€Å"Gun! † to his colleagues. His judgment might be due to his ease with which he can bring to his mind, which in this case, was automatically thinking that Diallo’s wallet was a gun, hence warned his colleagues about the matter. Attitude heuristic is the determination of what is â€Å"true† based upon an individual’s feelings towards or for a matter (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The four police officers also had carried out attitude heuristic towards Amadou Diallo. For example, these police officers might dislike Diallo because he was an immigrant or ‘black’ person therefore assuming that Diallo’s intention, plan, or doings would also be bad too. This caused Diallo to be misinterpreted to be a criminal trying to escape from police detention rather than his true intention, which was believed to initially intend to show the NYPD officers his identification card in his wallet before he wrongly shot. Besides theories and concept of automatic thinking with schemas, the Amadou Diallo case had also displayed a few relevant theories of social perception. During the incident, the four police officers had displayed the attribution theory. Attribution theory is a description of the way which people explain the causes of their own and other people’s behavior (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). It is because that Diallo had run up the outside steps of his apartment after they claimed to identified themselves as NYPD officers, and that he had reached into his jacket, the police officers have made a cause and effect explanation towards Diallo’s behavior hence assuming that he was a criminal or the serial rapist they were searching for, therefore Diallo had run up in the attempt to escape and when he reached into his jacket for his wallet, they thought that he was reaching for his gun to defend himself. Due to this theory, it made sense of he reason four police officers have assumed that Diallo was a criminal and they had to fire back Diallo. All this might be due to the attachment of meaning they decode from Diallo’s nonverbal behavior. In addition, the fundamental attribution error was also shown in the incident when the four police officers have focus on Diallo’s action to run and reached into his jacket, rather than the situation causes of his action, which was intending to reached into his jacket to get his wallet to show the police officers that he was innocent when he was approached by the police officers and asked to â€Å"show his hands†. Fundamental attribution error is known as the tendency to overestimate the extent to which a person’s behavior is due to internal, dispositional factors and to underestimate the role of situational factors, one reason people make fundamental attribution error is because the observer only put their attention on the actor, while ignoring the situational causes of the actor’s behavior (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Furthermore, Diallo had also displayed the spotlight effect in this case study. The spotlight effect is the tendency to overestimate the extent to which our actions and appearance are salient or clear to others (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When Diallo had reached into his jacket to get his wallet, he might had assumed that the NYPD officers know or understand what he was doing, which in his case, was the probability to take out his wallet and show them he was not the criminal or man they were searching for. However, the four police officers were not aware of his action hence assumed that he has a gun, hence fired at Diallo. Moreover, police officers had also displayed the aggression objects as cues concept during the shooting event. Aggression objects as cue is an aggressive stimulus that act as an object that is associated with aggressive response, and whose mere presence can increase the probability of aggression (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). The aggressive stimulus in this Diallo case is the guns that the police officers possessed. When the police officers had encountered a threatening or violent stimulus, they were more likely to â€Å"shoot† regardless of what stimulus actually appeared (Baumann & Desteno, 2010). Due to the possession of firearms, the four police officers had the higher possibilities to response aggressively towards Diallo, hence the gun act as the object that associated with their aggressive response. Without the firearms that the four police officers possessed, the act of aggression towards Diallo would decrease therefore the firestorm would not have happened. According to Correll et al. (2002), it was found that participants’ performance shown difference regarding race of the targeted person. When a decision making process was time limited, participants had made more errors shooting unarmed African American targets than unarmed White targets. Whereas, participants had made more errors not shooting armed White targets than armed African American targets. In other words, participants were more likely made errors evaluating African American targets as threatening compared to White targets. This means that because Diallo was a ‘black’ immigrant, it increases his rate of being shot. This is an act of stereotype as because Diallo was a ‘black’ immigrant, they assumed that he might be a criminal, hence the police officers thereby increasing the likelihoods for certain interpretations and ensuing actions during the crucial moment, resulting them to mistaken Diallo’s wallet as a gun, hence shot him. In another words, it is like the Arabs possess guns, resulting in more frequent mistaken â€Å"shootings† of Arab men within the context of the shooter bias paradigm (Unkelbach, Forgas, & Denson, 2008). There are also group prejudices that had been displayed in the Amadou Diallo case study. The four police officers had shown prejudice against Diallo because he was a dark-skin immigrant, hence they have ordered him to stop and â€Å"show his hands† without confirming whether he was the serial rapist they were searching for. Seeing the suspect holding a small square object, Officer Carroll yelled â€Å"Gun! † to alert his colleagues, believing thatDiallo had aimed a gun at them at close range, the officers opened fire on Diallo. Diallo was a West African immigrant with no criminal record (Cooper, 1999). It was clearly shown the act of prejudice towards Diallo, whom was misunderstood or misinterpreted just because of his race. Furthermore, discrimination was shown in the Amadou Diallo case when the four NYPD officers had opened fire to shoot Diallo without proper investigation on his identity and the square object that he was holding during the incident. The action carried out by the four police officers was unjustified and harmful towards Diallo because he was a West American immigrant in the United States. Finally, illusory correlation was also shown in the Amadou Diallo case. An illusory correlation is the tendency to see relationships, or correlations, between events that are actually unrelated (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). When Diallo ran up the outside steps of his apartment and pulled out his wallet, the police officers had correlated his action to a criminal’s doing hence leading them to assume that he was a criminal ready to open fire at them in short range. These two events are distinctive and hardly correlated. Because Diallo was a West African immigrant, therefore the police officers correlated the two events together, causing Diallo his innocent life.

Human Sexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Human Sexuality - Essay Example This also becomes highly pertinent for the simple fact that non-monogamy, especially in the forms of divorce and other forms of separation, adultery and marital infidelity, has already been a part and parcel of the daily social existence (Emmens 2003). Hence this leads us to the subtle differentiations between various conceptual categories that are critical in the constitution of our sexual desires and preferences. The constructionist approach towards human sexuality and sexual preferences have already shattered the essentialists’ and conservatives’ arguments on the ground that sexual subjectivity, including identity and sexual orientations and desires, are inherently offshoots of the larger social and cultural environment (Ritchie and Barker 2006, 585). It is in this context that a postmodern challenge against the hegemony of heterosexual monogamy has emerged from an albeit new form of â€Å"partner arrangements that vary as to the number of people involved, the sexes of those involved, the sexualities of those involved, the level of commitment of those involved, and the kinds of relationships pursued† known as polyamory (Strassberg 2003, 440). A form of non-monogamy polyamory stresses upon â€Å"people’s capacity to share and multiply their love in honest and consensual ways† (Anderlini-D’Onofrio, 2004 as quoted in Ritchie and Barker 2006) as opposed to the rigid ethical, moral restraints associated with monogamy. The emergence of polyamory as a conceptual category seeking to subvert the prevalent beliefs regarding sexual desire and practice has significantly contributed to the ongoing debate around, especially, polygamy and other non-monogamous unions. ... The emergence of polyamory as a conceptual category seeking to subvert the prevalent beliefs regarding sexual desire and practice has significantly contributed to the ongoing debate around, especially, polygamy and other non-monogamous unions. In fact defining the various forms of non-monogamous and other forms of sexual practices, as neatly articulated in the Lawrence case at the Supreme Court (See Emens 2003 and Ashbee 2007 for a detailed analysis of this case), like bigamy, polygamy, incest, obscenity, masturbation and so on as logical extensions of enterprises to legalize same-sex marriage invites us to revisit those categories, including monogamy and the postmodern polyamory. Despite the different factors that co-exist with monogamy and that have already invalidated the very base of monogamy, the institution of monogamy still looms large â€Å"in this nation’s social landscape† (Emens 2003, 8). In the western culture it still continues to be a fact that that life-l ong or serial monogamy with one (everlasting) partner is the dominant model of relationships available. It exerts its hegemony through various apparatuses that are basically concerned with mainstream, statist ideologies. Depictions and valorizations of monogamous couples, fidelities and other romantic associations still fill the media discussions and other forms of cultural representations. This compulsory notion of monogamy not only renders all other forms of non-monogamy invalid and invisible but also labels alternative desires and relationships as completely unethical, amoral and pathological (Ritchie and Barker 2006). The representations of monogamy have indeed served to further normativise its existence and other forms of marital unions essentially fall outside of this