IT Systems Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

IT Systems Case Study - Assignment Example The institutional archives manager at Campus A learned the tough way that he could not inactively wait till electronic records were conveyed to his office for long-standing access and retention. A research of the records at the campus, aided by the National Historical Publication and Records Commission grant, discovered that over 90 percent of the data sets did not have adequate documentation, hence making archival evaluation impossible (Kahn, 2000, 332). Campus B The archives department at Campus B opted for a method to handling electronic records, which was extremely diverse from Campus A’s. Rather than working with groups all through the university system, the archives department opted to work with a minute group of mainly external experts on creating an electronic-record policy (Kahn, 2000, 336). The challenge to this is that it left out vital departments of the institution meaning that the final policy did not incorporate every department’s view about the endeavor (Kahn, 2000, 337). Also, the campus had limited resources unlike Campus A, which opted to use all the resources they could together for the endeavor. Unlimited resources translated into unlimited support for the system. Strategic Responses to the Challenges Campus A In response to the campus’ IT report, the institution archives director begun by strengthening internet record management in his office and also by seeking the assistance of relevant and significant offices and departments all round the institution. He also started to make use of a new budget-management scheme, which rewarded record-management endeavors all through the university system (Kahn, 2000, 334). The director’s initial move to deal with this problem was to add the role of electronic-record management to the archives department. The appointment of the electronic-record administrator in the archives department was a departure from normal practice whereby record management was housed in an administrat ive scheme. Campus B The archives department allocated a majority of its internal budget resources and a US$130,000 national grant for creating a conceptual strategy for managing electronic records (Kahn, 2000, 335). The money was largely used to recruit a small team and pay faculty to oversee pilot record-management plans and create policy. The archives department director also hired a counseling board which included national specialists in the field of electronic-record management. Just two people in the institution’s hierarchy—a university personnel director, as well as a university information resources administrator—were included on that board (Kahn, 2000, 336). This would assist the campus to come to grips with the policy and management concerns surrounding electronic records. Social Action Theory Social action, in sociology, is an act that considers the actions and reactions of people (or 'agents'). Max Weber considers that "an Action is 'social' if the p erforming person considers the behavior of others and is thus oriented in its course. Campus A Campus A’s archives department is situated at the library adjacent to the geographic center of the main campus. The department is in walking distance to several university

It’s Time for a Change Essay Example for Free

It’s Time for a Change Essay Social issues have lingered in the shadows of American history since the day that our independence was signed in 1776, a mere two hundred and thirty ­nine years ago. At that time, social issues consisted of our founding father’s debate over which men were to be considered equal, and the social issue of slavery as a whole became prominent to our young nation. From slavery to suffrage, the United States is no stranger to defining these particular social wrongs, and striving to make them right. As time has developed, the issues of old have passed, but now, new ones have arose. Currently, sitting in 2015, the United States is again being subjected to another social issueÍ ¾ that is police brutality and the use of body cameras as a means of holding all parties involved accountable for their actions. It is simply irresponsible not to implement this new means of technology and I believe that it’s use is a key factor in solving the social issue of police brutality, and the untrust and stigmas that stem from this abuse of power. Names like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner have dominated headlines of many major news outlets for the past two years. The common factor between the three being the excessive use of force upon unarmed civilians. In the cases of Martin and Brown, both men were fatally shot, both were unarmed, and both had two conflicting sides of the story detailing the events leading up to and after their respective shootings. In each instance, many in the public were led to believe that racial stigmas were the determining reasons for the pulling of the trigger, and as a result mass protests and riots have occurred in towns such as but not limited to, Ferguson, Missouri and New York City. This is where body cameras demonstrate their necessity in our society and culture. As previously mentioned, both Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin’s deaths both went unrecorded, and the only substantial evidence of what occurred is the accounts of those who fired the fatal bullets. This is a defined problem. Despite either the positive or negative intentions of the officers who fired their weapons, each one has a bias, and with that, it can lead to that party giving a skewed opinion on how the events of each occurrence actually went down. The idea of a human source is just simply too unreliable, and it comes down our own human nature with bias’, and the fact that every single person has one. The use of body cameras instead in these instances would ultimately resolve this problem. Real footage would clearly display whether or not the use of fatal force was indeed necessary to use upon an unarmed civilian, and if not, it would hold the actually guilty party accountable for their actions. By simply attaching a recording device to an officer’s person, society is able to cut out human bias, and reveal the true nature of the event. The benefit alone in these new technologies makes the investment worth every dollar.

Shakespeare’s Usage of Foils Illustrates Man’s Deceit :: Essays Papers

Shakespeare’s Usage of Foils Illustrates Man’s Deceit 1. William Shakespeare, the most popular playwright of all time, experiments with comedy, mystery, betrayal, romance, and tragedy in his play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The author uses a variety of characters from different social backgrounds to give us an elaborate picture of deception. From the opening line of "Who’s there?" the reader gets the impression that people are not what they seem in this play. The interrelationships between the royalty and people of the court are well-developed to illustrate the major and minor similarities and differences between the characters. Shakespeare reveals the deceptive nature of man and the ruin it causes through his use of foils. [Many of the other essays did not follow the directions and used the definition of foils as the introduction. This writer understood that the essay was to be about the use of foils in the play. The introduction, therefore, is about the play, and it leads up to a thesis which briefly states the function (m eaning) of the foils within the play. The thesis, in other words, does not simply state that the essay will discuss foils in the play, but rather that the essay will show how the foils help reveal the deceptive nature of man and the resulting ruin. This is, I believe, also the only writer who alludes to "Who's there?" and thereby nicely connects the essay -- and thus the foils -- to much of what I emphasized in class discussions of the play.] 2. Foils are integral to this play, because many of the devious plots are revealed to the reader through them. A foil is a secondary character which [*1] illuminates certain things about a primary character to the audience. The major character may reveal secrets, such as murderous plots or traps, or feelings, for example, a perspective on death or the love of another character. This can happen if the minor character is primarily a listener on stage. Another scenario is if two characters, major and minor, share similarities, but have distinct differences. These variations in personality will reveal something important about the main character. The "something important" could be a fatal flaw or a good point of their personality. Many foils are used in this play, but there are two important ones which happen to be for the same character.

On “The Incident at Oglala: the Leonard Peltier Story” Essay

The Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story is a political documentary which questions the claims of justice and equality in the United States. It is a Civil Rights documentary that recounts one event in the lives of Native Americans. This essay is an expository work and not a critique. The objective here is to present the major elements of the documentary and their ramifications for the doctrine of equal treatment under the law in the United States. With other supporting sources, it is my hope that the readers would become enlightened about the issues of justice as it relates to minority populations. Pine Ridge: The Political Context The primary events documented in the film occurred at a placed considered the poorest reservation in the nation, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Pine Ridge, with a population of about 15,000 Lakota Indians, is a severely economically depressed area with the highest murder rate in the United States per capita. The high murder rate is the result of intra-tribal rivalries fermented by limited Federal funding. The residents of Pine Ridge had divided themselves into two groups, the full-blood and the mixed blood. The full-bloods were the genetically pure natives with culturally conservative views. The mixed-bloods were Native Americans with Caucasian heritage who generally preferred a more progressive society. For the most part, the mixed-blood dominated the administration of the reservation. To foster self-help and a sense of pride among themselves, the residents formed the American Indian Movement (AIM). In the spring of 1972, Dick Wilson, a mixed-blood, became president the Tribal Council. The leader of the Tribal Council controlled the major source of livelihood on the reservation, the money from the Federal Government. Wilson was believed to be a very corrupt leader who used death squads (Guardians of the Oglala Nations or GOONs) to silence his critics. As a result, nearly all of the victims of the high murder rate in Pine Ridge were the full-blood Native Americans. The failure of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of India Affairs (BIA) to investigate the murders coupled with the fact that Wilson was being supported by Federal money gave the impression that the Federal Government was in support of the actions of Wilson and his cohorts. In this environment of fear and intimidation, many of the residents secured arms for self-defense. To publicize their plight, AIM decided to get confrontational with the Federal Government. The group occupied Wounded Knee in late 1973. AIM got the desired publicity with the unintended consequences of a heavy military response from the Federal Government. After a three-day standoff and two Native American deaths, the crisis was resolved. It, however, reinforced the belief among the Pine Ridge residents that they could not depend on the Federal Government to seek their interests. As Wilson’s vigilantes pushed their campaign of intimidation and elimination, Pine Ridge residents became more concerned for their lives and afraid of strangers. Wilson’s Goons, in collaboration with the FBI and BIA, attempted to destroy the American Indian Movement. AIM members became very much afraid of strangers and always assumed a defensive posture. It was in this environment that two FBI agents, driving in two unmarked vehicles, made an aggressive pursuit of a vehicle into a heavily armed section of the reservation in 1975. A gun battle ensued in which the agents were killed. It was not until after their deaths did any of the residents of Pine Ridge know that they were Federal Agents. All the men involved in the shootout fled. Leonard Peltier went to Canada. The Trials The events of that day became the focus of the Michael Apted’s documentary, Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story. The U. S. Government brought indictments against Jimmy Eagle, Dareelle Butler, Bob Robideau, and Leonard Peltier. The case against Eagle was dismissed for lack of evidence. According to the documentary, Peltier fled to Canada fearing that he would not get a fair trial anywhere in the United States. Peltier fought extradition from Canada. Desiring a speedy trial and perceiving that the extradition proceedings would take considerable time, the U. S. Government prosecuted the other defendants without Peltier. The case was taken to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Government tried to instill a sense of fear in the local population against the Native American population. It did not work. Convinced that the government did not present case void of reasonable doubts, all the defendants were found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense. Peltier was the lone accuser left and the prosecutor wanted to convict him at all cost. Federal agents had been murdered and someone had to be convicted; and Peltier was the man. If he had not fled to Canada, he would have acquitted along with his colleagues. Now, he must face a separate fate. What followed is a disturbing look into how representatives of the Federal Government can manipulate people and information to convict innocent people. It began with the extradition. The U. S. Government used a perjured document to get Canada to extradite Peltier back to the United States. Myrtle Poor Bear, the Government’s witness in the extradition case, claimed to be Peltier’s girlfriend. It was a lie. She admitted in the documentary that if she had seen Peltier in court, she would not have been able to identify him. Yet, they Government got her to sign two affidavits attesting to be on the scene when the Federal Agents were murdered and that they were murdered by Peltier. Her affidavit of February 23rd indicated that she was not present when the agents were murdered. Four days later, she signed another affidavit indicating that she was present when the agents were killed and that the perpetrator was Peltier. Fingerprints analyses from the location did not put Poor Bear at the scene. Why, then, did she lie? Poor Bear was threatened by representatives of the U. S. Government. She was shown the mutilated body of a colleague and told that her fate could be worse. In addition, she was told that she could lose her child to the Government. Fearing that the Government had the power to make good on its threats, she decided to cooperate. The Government Agents then provided her the information she attested to in the affidavits. That representatives of the United States Government would deliberately lie to a foreign government and undermine international treaty is very disturbing. But that is what happened. With an eyewitness affidavits ((Linder, Famous Trials: Leonard Peltier Trial, paragraph 17) putting Peltier at the scene of the crime and identifying him as the perpetrator, the Canadian Government turned Peltier over to the United States. According to Bob Robideau, one of the defendants in the first trial, the Canadians did not need the affidavits to extradite Peltier. It gave them the excuse because the Canadian Government has its own problems with the local populations of Native Americans. No wonder they were willing to breach an international treaty based on conflicting evidence. The trial of Leonard Peltier was filled with many inconsistencies in the Government’s case. James Harper, the Government’s prime witnessed who allegedly got a prison confession from Peltier, was a liar. His landlord reported how he had rehearsed his claims of evidence in the Manson case and in Peltier’s case. Secondly, the bullet casings found at the murder scene could not me matched to any one particular weapon. Thirdly, the Government provided conflicted evidence about the vehicle the dead agents were following. All initial reports indicated that the agents were following a red pick-up truck. This would have been the case because the person they were look for, Jimmy Eagle, was last seeing driving a red pickup. So it made sense that they would chasing after a red pickup truck; however, to implicate Peltier, the prosecutors changed the vehicle in the chase from a red pickup truck to a red and white van because Peltier owned a red and white van. Three witnesses, who at the trial placed Peltier at the murder scene, later recanted their statements and said that they were coerced (AIM For Freedom For Leonard Peltier). Unlike his colleagues who were tried in Iowa, Peltier was tried in Fargo, South Dakota by a jury that did not represent his peers (Linder, Famous Trials: Leonard Peltier trial, paragraph 20). Peltier was found guilty in spite of the preponderance of very doubtful evidence. Ballistics analyses could not definitely tie Peltier’s gun to the casings found at the murder scene because his gun was damaged in a motor vehicle fire. The Government Agents were apparently chasing one vehicle: it was both a red pickup truck and a red and white van. Witnesses were coerced. Even a Federal Appeals Court has found this case to be gross travesty of justice. â€Å"As late as November 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that ‘†¦Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed’† (AIM For Freedom For Leonard Peltier) Opinion The credibility of any judicial system rests on the fact that it can be trusted by the people to administer justice impartially. When judicial system can be manipulated, especially by the government, to disregard the principle of innocent until proven guilty, it is not Leonard Peltier alone who is the victim. We are all victims because the judicial system loses its credibility at home and abroad. Since his imprisonment, many world-renowned figures have called for his on the grounds that he is a political prison. Amnesty International, the 14th Dalai Lama, the Belgium Parliament, the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, the Italian Parliament, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Italian Parliament, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the European Parliament have all called for his release (See Resolution). The continued imprisonment of Peltier also undermines the United States in it efforts to be a beacon of justice, equality, and fair play. As long as the world continues to see Peltier as a political prisoner, America’s call on other nations, like Cuba and China, to release their political prisoners would ring hollow, if not seen as hypocritical. Worst of all, if the government can plant evidence, distort evidence, coerced witnesses, and intentionally falsify documents just to get a conviction in one case, what will stop it from doing the same in any other case? On a larger sociological point, the Pine Ridge Indians see the case of Peltier as another reason why they should be skeptical about the government seeking their interests. This is the same reason why African Americans have distrusted the government, especially law enforcement. If the government wants to be a government for all people, regardless of race, creed or ethnicity, justice must be blind and never, even manipulated by the government. References AIM For Freedom For Peltier, 2009. An Internet publication. Retrieved on 12 May 2009 from http://www. whoisleonardpeltier. info/background. htm Linder, Douglas. 2006. Famous Trials: The Leonard Peltier Trial, 1977. Retrieved on. 12 May 2009 from: http://www. iterasi. net/openviewer. aspx? sqrlitid=eguyvxdeae-dwr5whj8t6g Resolution on the case of Leonard Peltier. European Parliament. 1999-02-11. Retrieved on 12 May 2009 from: http://www. webcitation. org/5LSGc933r.

American Home Products Corporation Essay

1. How much business risk does American Home Products face? How much financial risk would American Home Products face at each of the proposed levels of debt shown in case Exhibit 3? How much potential value, if any can American Home Products create for its shareholders at each of the proposed levels of debt? A combination of business risk and financial risk shows the risk of an organization’s future return on equity. Business risk is related to make a firm’s operation without any debt, whereas financial risk requires that the firm’s common stockholders make a decision to finance it with debt. a) American Home Products has been operating on four main lines of business that are less uncertainty about product demand; for example, one of its business lines is food products because whenever people buy foods. It means that AHP’s business risk is low. As mentioned above, if a firm does its operation activities regularly without leverage, it means that its busines s risk is not significant high. Thus, ratio of cash to total assets is calculated by following: According to Figure 1, AHP’s cash was about 23% of total assets, rose constantly since 1978 to 1981, and reached 28.2% in 1981; thus, it has enough cash flow to finance its daily operation.  Also, return on assets can show that a firm’s ability to cover its operating cost by generating income. According to the calculation below, American Home Products Corporation’s ROA was stable and approximately 19.2 % in 1981; consequently, AHP earned sufficient amount of income to cover its operating cost. Figure 2 Return on Assets of Amercan Home Products Corporation, 1972-1981 ($ in millions) Add to these above explanations, Exhibit 1 shows that AHP’s peak annual growth in sales was 14.1% in 1978 and compare to it, annual growth in sales decreased by 5.3% in 1981; as a result, it became disadvantage to AHP because consumers started to interest into competitors’ products. Risk aversion was the most fundamental component of AHP’s culture; consequently, they prefer to acquire or take license of previously developed goods or produce similar products with its competitors rather than to develop new-products. Although it seems to save R&D expenses, acquisition cost or a cost of time response to steal other’s innovation would be still appeared. Thus, AHP should try to improve its sales. b) Financial risk is related to business risk, so we measured NOPAT, ROIC, ROE whose uncertainty future can determine a firm’s business risk in Figure 3. Figure 3 Pro Forma 1981 Results for Alternative Capital Structures ($ in millions except ratios) Above pro forma illustrates that total debt and financial risk have straight correlation with each other and AHP’s total debt increased, so its financial risk would rise. Then if American Home Products Corporation could not pay its loan and interest by schedule, it would meet the financial risk and the risk of bankruptcy. According to Exhibit 4, AHP used excess cash of 233 million dollars on each of the proposed levels to repurchase stocks and remaining amounts were financed by debt; thus, its common shares outstanding would decreased by 19.8 million shares on 30% dept ratio and 36.6 million shares on 70% debt ratio. It means that equity will goes down, so its return on equity will rise. AHP should consider about financial risk to change the capital structure. American Home Products Corporation can save taxes to pay by increasing debt. Figure 4 illustrates that its taxes savings can be advantage to AHP if it uses heavier capital structure. Figure 4 Pro Forma 1981 Taxes Savings ($ in millions) According to Figure 4, if the company’s capital structure is 70% debt to total capital, comparing to 30 % debt to total capital structure, it can save approximately 1.9 times greater money; thus, its shareholders would benefit from it. 2. What capital structure would you recommend as appropriate for AHP? What are the advantages of leveraging this company? The disadvantages? How would leveraging up affect the company’s taxes? How would the capital markets react to a decision by the company to increase the use of debt in its capital structure? Most appropriate capital structure for American Home Products is 30% debt to total capital. Several reasons will explain the reason why this structure gives advantage to AHP. The first, as using 30% debt ratio, the company would be able to be recapitalized; hence, common shares outstanding of 19.8 million can be repurchased. The second, according to Figure 4, AHP would have advantage to save taxes of 37.8 million dollars and its sha reholders benefit by getting more values. Exhibit 2 shows that Warner Lambert company’s debt ratio is approximately 32% and its bond rating is AAA or AA. It means that if AHP uses 30% debt and 70% equity, its bond rating will be same as Warner Lambert; consequently, bond interest to pay will not increase much due to bond rating. Addition to these reasons, AHP would face less risk to compare heavier capital structures. Finally, AHP’s annual growth in sales decreased in 1981 by 2.9% from previous year, so getting debt could be helpful to manage its operation effectively and increase its sales growth. Besides above advantages, using 30% debt and 70% equity capital structure has disadvantages. First of all, if a firm has a loan, it has to be responsible to pay its principle and interest as a schedule; otherwise, it would be reason to bankruptcy; thus, same rule works on case of AHP. In addition to the risk of bankruptcy, if the company’s daily operation requires more investment after recapitalization, gettin g new loan for it would be more difficult. In final, using debt can be reason to increase its financial risk, so it has to be more careful to manage its operation. According to Figure 4, leveraging the company by using 30% debt to capital structure would decrease its taxes of 37.8 million dollars to pay. The capital market would react positively to a decision by the company to use of 30% debt in its capital structure. The company had almost no debt and had excess of cash or higher liquidity and Mr. Laborte who was chief executive of the company was near to give his position because of retirement, so most analysts expected the company to change its conservative capital structure. Also, Figure 5 shows the market positive reaction on the stock price. Figure 5 Stock Price of AHP ($ in millions except per share datas and ratios) According to Figure 5, AHP’s stock price will increase to 31.5. In order to calculate new stock price, we used average price/earnings ratio of both American Home Products Corporation and Warner Lambert Company in Exhibit 2 because exhibit 2 illustrates that while P/E ratio of AHP is 10.6%, 8% for Warner Lambert and unlike Warner Lambert, AHP has less financial risk. All though AHP’s risk will increase after getting leverage and its P/E ratio will decrease, AHP would have better financial position than Warner Lambert, so investors would be interested to buy AHP’s stock rather than stock of Warner Lambert. 3. How might AHP implement a more aggressive capital structure policy? What are the alternative methods for leveraging up? AHP should use heavier capital structure which means that increase to use more debt instead of conservative capital structure; consequently, AHP’s capital structure might be more effective and aggressive. The alternative methods for leveraging up are innovating new products, using better technology, and motivating labor. 4. In view of AHP’s unique corporate culture, what arguments would you advance to persuade Mr. Laporte or his successor to adopt your recommendation? According to Mr. Laporte, his company works in order to increase shareholders wealth, so as using 30% debt to capital would give possibility to save 37.8 million dollars from taxes; thus, its shareholders would benefit getting higher dividends per share. Even though after using debt, its price/earnings ratio might be decreased, its attraction of investors will be still powerful because of stock price increase. Also, if the company uses more debt to the operation, it will be possible to repurchase common stocks of 19.8 millions of shares from market.

Praying area Essays

Praying area Essays Praying area Essay Praying area Essay Almost every other country in the world has a minority that follows Islam. As a relatively high percentage of Muslims regularly practice their religious duties, including prayers, there are always needs to design, build, and maintain mosques in various parts of the world. (Mozart, 2003, p. 2). Mozart (2003, p. 2) claimed that most of mosque design references, however, focus solely on the design of the praying space of the mosque. They typically ignore the supporting spaces for the mosque. These supporting spaces can be required, such as the toilets and ablution spaces or optional such as a room for body washing for the dead, a library, or a classroom. Within the category of required spaces, toilet design is very much standard and the requirements are well- known to most designers. On the other hand, the ablution spaces are much more challenging in their design because they are needed for a function that many designers may not be familiar with. As an expected result of such a design environment, there are some well-designed ablution spaces, but there are many more badly designed ones. The bad designs not only cause discomfort in using the space, but can also constitute a safety hazard (Hilliards et al. , 1999). Before defining the possible relationships between the praying area and the ablution area, it is important in designing the circulation and access to mosques and praying areas to define what is design-wise known as the clean zone. This definition aims at keeping the praying space free of organic traces, bad smells, and other things that either render the praying space unsuitable for the function or annoy those who are praying or sitting in the praying space. It is important in the design to visually define a line after which people should not be putting on their shoes as these shoes might carry traces of road dirt. (Mozart, 2003, p. 5). Users who are not in ablution state can still go inside the clean zone. No religious rule prevents that. As users who perform ablution need as well to take off their shoes so they can wash their feet, the relationship between the defined clean zone and ablution area is important for designers to consider. (Mozart, 2003, p. ) The relationship between the access to the ablution space and the access to the praying space is very important in defining the comfort and safety level for ablution space users. Conceptually, the access to the ablution space can be either from outside or from inside the clean zone. The access from inside the clean zone can be either directly from the praying area or through a corridor or other types of links. (Mozart, 2003, p. 7). 1. 1. 1 Defining Wood or ablution According to Outwar d ( 2009, p. 1) wood or ablution is the action and wood is the water used for it. It is also a verbal noun, and both may also refer to the used. Wood in the Syria or Islamic law is the use of clean and cleansing water upon certain body parts.

Tell Me Your Dreams essays

Tell Me Your Dreams essays The latest novel written by Sidney Sheldon, Tell Me Your Dreams, is about three stunning young women. Their names are Ashley Patterson, Toni Prescott, and Alette Peters. They all live in Cupertino, California and work at Global Computer Graphics, a successful, fast-growing young company with two hundred employees in Silicon Valley. Ashley Patterson is a confused woman, but is smart and beautiful. Shes lonely, timid, and certainly convinced shes being stalked. Toni Prescott is an insolent, British flirt with a passion for Internet dating and cabarets. Alette Petters is a wannabe artist who chooses quiet, dreamy weekends with handsome painters. Ashley reminds herself of her high school boyfriend, Jim Cleary. He was the most popular boy in Bedford Area High School. He was on the football team, was handsome and amusing and had a killer smile. He had promised her that they would run away together to Chicago, but Ashley was left at the station watching the train to Chicago leave. Toni had met Jean Claude Parent in an on-line chat room. Jean told her all about Quebec City. Toni was interested and would like to go to Quebec one day. Toni and Jean talked on-line every chance they get. Alette also met a guy, Richard Melton, in the Museum of Modern Art, in San Francisco. They talked about great artist and about Alette growing up in Rome. Alette assured Richard that shed see him again soon. Ashley receives an invitation to her Ten-Year Class Reunion. She decides to go and reunite with all her classmates except the person she wanted to see, Jim. A close friend of hers, Florence Schiffer, tells her the horrible news of Jim. The day after the graduation party, Jims parents came back and found his body stabbed to death and castrated. She believes her father had killed Jim for her father told Jim to stay away from Ashley. Dennis Tibble was Global Computer Graphics computer gen...

4 Scientific Ways To Convince Your Boss to Say Yes Every Time

4 Scientific Ways To Convince Your Boss to Say Yes Every Time As marketers, every month seems like the equivalent of a year in other industries. Marketing has  changed more in last few years than in the last 50 before them. Not only do we have to be awesome at being leaders, conversion experts, project managers, advertisers, copywriters, email wizards, and 48 other skills we have to build the skill of leading change. weve gotta kill the status quo before it kills us. and of course, we have to convince our bosses to go along with it all. This boils down to our ability to influence others. But, if youve ever read about the psychology of influencing others, it can be deflating. Doubly so when it comes to how to convince your boss or peers to try new stuff. 4 Ways To Convince Your Boss to Say Yes Every Time (Backed By Science)The Slightly Depressing Reality Of Influence One of the first principles of influence you come across is called the halo effect. In the 1920s, psychologist Edward Thorndike piloted a study of how military officers judge their subordinates. He found more physically attractive soldiers were were rated higher across the board on a four-point scale: intelligence, physique, leadership, and character. This means positive reactions to physical appearance were projected onto other areas of the soldiers. And as much as we hate to admit it, the rabbit hole goes deeper. This principle holds true in elections, as well. In a study called Beauty at the Ballot Box, researchers theorized that since physical attractiveness is a cue toward good health, we may be biologically programed to esteem it. Meaning were naturally inclined to favor attractive people. The halo effect is at work in our restaurants, as well. Another study called Beauty and the feast found that attractive servers earn roughly $1261 more per year than unattractive servers. And counterintuitively, Beauty matters more for female than male customers. Meaning pretty female waitresses get bigger tips from women. Oh yeah, and then theres this happy stat Pretty people earn 12% more money than average-looking humans. From politics to pot pies, something as shallow as looks play a major role in influencing others. However, when it comes to convincing your boss to say yes to that new process a fresh software tool obliterating makeshift marketing a flexible work-from-home policy we have more science-backed levers to pull than just our faces. 4 Ways To Convince Your Boss To Say Yes With The Power Of Science 🚀 In this post, Ill share the best research on ethical approaches to convince your boss to say yes to anything. No makeup required. Youll learn four tactics: How to position what youre asking for in concrete terms, How to align your change with team objectives, Why to conduct a trial run with a mini post-mortem conversation, And how to win by starting big, then going small. One of the most powerful changes we see is crushing the bug we call makeshift marketing. A major change to the marketing landscape is the volume of tools available. But, most of them dont play well together. This means marketers are awash in single-function tools that arent actually designed with marketers in mind. This makes your life more difficult and hurts your results. So, well walk through examples of leading change to combat it. Alright, saddle up. Its time to convince your boss to say yes every time. #1: Convince Your Boss To Say Yes Through Loss Aversion First up, lets talk opportunity cost. An opportunity cost is the benefit someone could have gained, but gave up, in favor of another action. When you choose one action over another, you lose the benefits of the alternative choice. With this first approach, we will capitalize on the principles of loss aversion and prospect theory. People fear loss more than they desire benefit. And this greatly influences the way they choose between options (aka: prospects). This means people will overweigh even the smallest opportunities for loss. A Nielsen Norman Group article summarizes it like this: When choosing among several alternatives, people avoid losses and optimize for sure wins because the pain of losing is greater than the satisfaction of an equivalent gain. For example, lets say you want to adopt a new marketing tool  like to replace a less effective one (or even multiple tools). Because there is a chance the new tool will cost more than its worth in hard cash  and  in lost productivity, your boss may be instantly loss averse. This will impact her choice between the prospects of status quo and potential loss. To capitalize on this understanding, simply structure your ask in two parts: If we do [thing you want] it will add [positive value]. If we dont do [thing you want] it will cost [negative value]. In this example, your ask might sound like: If we [adopt this new tool], it will give us a [55% lift in productivity per team member]. If we dont [adopt this new tool], we are actually losing [$1,255 per week in lost productivity]. The idea here is to highlight the gain as specifically as possible. Then showcase the loss of the alternative option - in this case changing nothing - as specifically as possible. This way, you can position the facts according to the emotional principles at play. Make loss aversion your friend and get to yes faster. #2: Convince Your Boss By Aligning Change With Team Goals Next, marketers have goals to hit. In fact, a recent study we conducted found that marketers who set goals are 429% more likely to be successful. To warm up your boss to a change, use this stat to your advantage. If you have goals, like driving  1,000 qualified leads every month Cash in on alignment theory. In essence, it posits that the most successful people understand their strengths and then arrange their lives in alignment with them. This theory works for individuals and is also portable for groups. Successful organizations tick using this principle. And the power of alignment is possible when strategy, goals, and purpose mutually reinforce one another. To put it to work with your boss, structure your ask for change like this: Our team is trying to achieve [goal]. But we have [failed] for the past [timeframe]. I think the best way we can do this right now is by [thing you want]  [based on prior success]. In keeping with our 1,000 qualified leads example, the ask might be: Our team is trying to achieve [1,000 qualified leads every month]. But weve [only reached 70% of that goal] for the [past three months]. I think the best way we can do this right now is by [focusing exclusively on driving traffic] [to our top-performing landing pages]. The change youre after is a shifted focus: driving more traffic. However, the goal youre trying to achieve is the same: 1,000 qualified leads. Its also super important to notice the last part of that statement based on prior success. If your team has had any related successes in the past, highlight them for leverage as proof.If your team has had any related successes in the past, highlight them for leverage as proof. In this example, it was top-performing landing pages. In their fantastic book, Switch, authors Chip and Dan Heath call these prior wins bright spots. Theyre extremely powerful because they showcase that positive results  are possible, because you have achieved them in the past. Youre team is capable of the results. So, youre aligning your methods accordingly. Bonus: This is also a great chance to sharpen your goal-setting strategy if it needs a little work. #3:Convince Your Boss With A Post-Mortem Post-mortems sound depressing but can I confess something? I think theyre awesome. A post-mortem is an analysis held after any project. Usually, its aim is to figure out: How on earth did things go so wrong?! However, I love them because theyre amazing chances to learn. Theyre even beneficial to hold on the heels of successful projects. No matter how well a project has gone, there are always things that can be improved.  They promote healthy self-reflection and can benefit your entire team. In this case, I want you to hold a mini post-mortem with your boss in advance of your ask. The reason is twofold. You can learn why similar changes have failed in the past. You can pre-empt legitimate objections your boss will have ahead of time. Why Have Other Things Failed? By learning why other initiatives have failed, you can learn what pitfalls to avoid. For instance, if youre proposing a move from spreadsheets to   - or a similar transition from a clunky way of doing things - how helpful would it be to learn that the last tool transition to be shot down actually had the support of your manager, but got squashed by the CFO? An easy way to phrase this question is, When was the last time we wanted to get budget for a new project, idea, or tool in our department? If the last attempt failed, you can follow with, Why do you think it failed? And is there any way it could have been approved? If it succeeded, even better! You can ask, Why was it successful? And how has it panned out? Overcoming Legitimate Objections Next, you can glean what legitimate objections your boss may have to your idea. Almost every boss Ive ever had loved to say, Yes! to great ideas. But so many of my attempts at leading a new change as the underling failed because I didnt understand their field of visibility. Field of visibility means their viewpoint informed by the things they know that I dont. Often, its the difference between someone standing on a balcony and someone in the crowd below. Company execs sit in meetings that you dont. They hear forecasts, plans, and upcoming constraints that you dont. They understand organizational dynamics you may have missed. They see your team from a broader perspective than you might. This means understanding their field of visibility is incredibly beneficial. With an informal post-mortem, you can dig into why a similar change failed. This will help you position your ask to overcome your bosss legitimate (or even illegitimate) objections. Whether its data  A project champion up the chain Or competitive research You can gain insight beforehand to have great answers to tough questions. #4: Convince Your Boss By Asking Big, Then Small Last, if youre a marketer, youve probably heard of the rule of reciprocity. Psychologist and mega best-selling author Robert Cialdini explains it in his book  Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion like this. He says, The rule says that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us [and] by virtue of the reciprocity rulewe are  obligated to the future repayment of favors, gifts, invitations, and the like. The idea is to do something for someone else  before you ask them to do something for you. When you do so, youre far more likely to get that coveted yes. But honestly, this principle might be effective, but its too manipulative for me to entertain actually doing this. Call me a boy scout, but that seems like a pretty sketchy move. And worse, an infringement on a healthy relationship. Now that Ive taken a stand on my moral high ground, Ill share with you a version of this rule Id happily endorse 😎 Cialdini also shares a specific application of this rule called bargaining, saying, Bargaining is frequently used in the negotiation process, which involves reciprocal concessions. That is, if Person A rebuffs a large request from Person B, and Person B then concedes by making a smaller request, Person A will feel obligated to reciprocate this concession with a concession of his or her own by agreeing to this lesser plea. In 1975, researchers on the Arizona State University campus cracked the code on exactly how this works. Their experiment was pretty slick. Half of the students in the test were asked, Will you chaperone juvenile-detention-center inmates on a day trip to the zoo? Only 17% of them said yes. The other half of the test subjects were asked a leading question first: Will you volunteer as a juvenile-detention-center counselor for two hours per week for the next two years? Everyone said no to the first question. However, almost 50% said yes to the second question about chaperoning the zoo visit! The angle for our marketing purposes is pretty obvious. Construct two versions of your ask.

Special education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Special education - Assignment Example Children with all challenging conditions are qualified. Parent HELPLINE: Can be used by anyone and any family that needs emergency help. Reddix centre has trained professionals who offer to support and answer the questions of all those who are in a crisis. For more information call 210-397-2401. Most students with disabilities have barriers of all types. However, the advent of new technology has made life easier for most students. New technology is now helping most of these students to overcome all barriers. Medical Equipment: The medical equipment provides the students with physical flexibility in their movement while at the centre and in positioning their monitors when learning in classes. By using special toys, devices, equipment and computers, students with disabilities are also capable of handling all the activities without the help of parents, other students or teachers For more information Visit the Central Office at Nelly Reddix Centre or by call

Case Analysis.Sustainable Development Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Analysis.Sustainable Development - Case Study Example It also helps in suggesting best business practices on various issues on variety of platforms like government, non government and inter-governmental organizations (WBSCD, 2013c). The main objectives of the association are as follows: To be one of the leading business that advocate on matters like sustainable development To actively participate in policy development and in development of the right kind of framework that helps in making an effective contribution in sustainable human progress To develop and promote the business case for sustainable development To demonstrate the business contributions to the development of sustainable business solutions and sharing the knowledge among the members (WBSCD, 2013d). To contribute towards a sustainable future for developing nations The association helps in bringing the forward thinking companies together that help in reshaping the global business community and in creating a sustainable future for society, business and environment. ... It helps the management of various companies to lay emphasis on the societal and environmental concerns in the business interactions and decisions taken by the stakeholders. CSR is in response to the various kinds of civil society and consumer pressure. The main focus of WBCSD is to ensure that the CSR model has been implemented by various organizations that will help in taking managerial decisions ethically (WBSCD, 2013e). The main focus of the organization is to ensure that the companies are aware about the benefits, applications and awareness of the CSR model. WBCSD ensures that the CSR assists the small and medium enterprises in developing countries in promoting environmental awareness and also achieve their organizational goals. Promotion of CSR concept among small and medium enterprise requires several approaches that complements the business capacity and needs and do not have an adverse impact of the business decisions taken by the management. Various techniques like Triple Bo ttom Line theory and other CSR based programme have proven to be instrumental in meeting social and environmental needs without compromising their competiveness. Company Profile: Saipem Saipem is regarded as one of the largest oil and gas companies in the entire oil and gas industry. It is one of the leading companies in engineering, construction and drilling. The company enjoys a superior position in the offshore and onshore oil industry by completion of successful technological projects. Saipem is regarded as one of the global contractor companies with a strong presence in Middle East, Asia, West Africa, North Africa, FSU and Central Asia. It has a strong presence in the European region and the major part

International Strategic Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

International Strategic Management - Assignment Example To adequately address his concept of sustainability, Elkingtons (1998) introduced the three Ps that include people, profit and planet therefore, the concept of Triple Bottom Line. Since the introduction of the TBL framework in mid 1990s, many organizations have been adopting the practice as their main approach that supports sustainability goals especially based on the increased ability to measure environmental and social impact in addition to the more traditional financial performance. This essay presents an evaluation of the concept of Triple Bottom Line (TBL) and its usefulness for businesses. The difficulties of measuring TBL especially social and environmental components is also discussed bearing in mind there is no standard unit of measure for the two. By definition, TBL refers to an accounting approach for business, non-profit and government organizations to assess performance based on three frameworks covering financial, environmental and social dimensions. However, TBL represents a more complex measure of performance as it includes social and ecological aspects of the organization, which is difficult to quantify during the process of assessment. Further, this is a more plausible measure as it is more comprehensive than the eco-efficiency method of sustainability measurement, which had also gained widespread use during the time of TBL introduction. To simplify further the application of this framework, Elkingtons (1998) presented its application in terms of the three Ps comprising people, planet and profits (3Ps). The researcher, therefore, was able to breakdown his analysis where people as a bottom line refers to all the individuals interacting with the organization or products and the impact both the organization and products has on them. The organization will therefore be concerned with the wellbeing of individuals such as farmers, suppliers, of raw materials and employees

In this age of globalisation, while it is absolutely necessary for Essay

In this age of globalisation, while it is absolutely necessary for large listed companies in different countries to prepare fina - Essay Example It focuses on effective use of the resources in a dynamic and competitive environment. Therefore, management accounting is concerned with resource management for facilitating decision making in an organization in tune with the changes continuously taking place due to various factors which may be internal or external to the business. International Financial Reporting Standards have not been developed with a view to report management decision making or management control. However, changes in the technology sphere, especially information technology enabled development of Management Accounting Software involving complex analysis of the business situations for the purpose of making strategic management decisions. Globalization and liberalization of the economies calls for uniformity and standardization in various fields for easy dissemination of information. Therefore, the need for uniformity in management policies, procedures and methods of applications of management techniques will even tually lead to incorporation of management accounting in IFRS over a period of time. Evolution of standards The developments taking place in the businesses are accepted slowly and shaped up by the conventions followed in the society or country in the early stages. These principles undergo various judicial tests in the evolutionary process before passing through the legislature. Therefore translation of the management accounting concepts into International Financial Reporting Standards will take time, since management accounting is relatively new compared to financial accounting which has been followed by the business for many centuries. There are differences in its adoption even in the developed countries. For instance, â€Å"there are many major differences between IFRSs and the standards issued by FASB (USA), although efforts are underway to remove them to ensure convergence† (Banerjee, 2010, p. 685). For example, the practical considerations such as adoption of current val ue for the purpose of valuation of say, land or properties will be relevant in decision making process, whereas under GAAP it is required to be stated at historical cost in the financial reports. The transitional process from GAAP to IFRS in US is expected to begin in 2014. The adoption of Management accounting in developing countries is still restricted only to the larger companies. Therefore, accounting bodies of these countries are not in a hurry to push forward the cause of management accounting at this stage. The adoption of management accounting practices by an organization is a prerequisite for management accounting reports, and it will happen only when the benefits are appreciated at the company level and the cost of operating a suitable system in respect of collection and analysis of data is reasonable and consistent with the benefits derived. Impact of IAS and IFRS on Management Accounting Prochazka and Ilinitchi (n.d.) state â€Å"The implementation of IFRS into Czech le gislation has brought new quality to financial reporting. Due to their usefulness, IFRS infiltrate into management accounting systems. In fact, in many companies IFRS carry out (satisfy, meet) the function of internal management accounting (with some modification allowing better internal performance evaluation).† However, it is restricted to certain disclosures where information available from the financial accounts is not adequate. The level of integration of financial and management accoun

Human Trafficking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Trafficking - Essay Example This was the case with one student studying ballet, who found herself performing in a topless bar and considered herself fortunate that she was able to return home at all. The slave trade that evolved and peaked in the 19th century considered humans as property rather than chattel, captured on raiding expeditions into West Africa. European traders shipped them to the New World. In North America, the Slave Codes of 1705 sealed the fate of African Americans as slaves, property rather than human beings (History of Slavery). It is this use of humans as property that has evolved into the human trafficking trade, a serious unresolved problem in the 21st century. Can sexual exploitation and forced labor ever be considered legitimate endeavors? ‘Modern-Day Slavery’ According to a 2002 conference report, the government seems to have been after to campaign against trafficking that already exists rather than looking for sources of trafficking and trying to prevent it in the first p lace. With young women and children, male and female, from Albania, Moldova, and the Ukraine forced into prostitution by way of Russia and Turkey and sent to Central and Western Europe, the trafficked persons are often ignorant of what will happen to them. This was the case in the early days of slavery in West Africa when slavers invaded communities and took people away from home and family against their will. Can the present resurgence of human trafficking in the world be compared to slavery as it existed in the past?... European traders shipped them to the New World. In North America, the Slave Codes of 1705 sealed the fate of African Americans as slaves, property rather than human beings (History of Slavery). It is this use of humans as property that has evolved into the human trafficking trade, a seriously unresolved problem in the 21st century. Can sexual exploitation and forced labor ever be considered legitimate endeavors 'Modern-Day Slavery' According to a 2002 conference report, the government seems to have been more apt to campaign against trafficking that already exists rather than looking for sources of trafficking and trying to prevent it in the first place. With young women and children, male and female, from Albania, Moldova, and the Ukraine forced into prostitution by way of Russia and Turkey and sent to Central and Western Europe, the trafficked persons are often ignorant of what will happen to them (Human Trafficking). This was the case in the early days of slavery in West Africa when slavers invaded communities and took people away from home and family against their will. Can the present resurgence of human trafficking in the world be compared to slavery as it existed in the past This paper will discuss briefly the chronological development of slavery from pre-Columbian times to the present, and each section will be addressed according to the various descriptions of "slavery" and how each description applies t o specific time lines. Five aspects of slavery-bondage, property, servitude, forced labor, and trade route--will be explored. Slavery, Then and Now Pre-18th Century - Slavery was a private and domestic

In this age of globalisation, while it is absolutely necessary for Essay

In this age of globalisation, while it is absolutely necessary for large listed companies in different countries to prepare fina - Essay Example It focuses on effective use of the resources in a dynamic and competitive environment. Therefore, management accounting is concerned with resource management for facilitating decision making in an organization in tune with the changes continuously taking place due to various factors which may be internal or external to the business. International Financial Reporting Standards have not been developed with a view to report management decision making or management control. However, changes in the technology sphere, especially information technology enabled development of Management Accounting Software involving complex analysis of the business situations for the purpose of making strategic management decisions. Globalization and liberalization of the economies calls for uniformity and standardization in various fields for easy dissemination of information. Therefore, the need for uniformity in management policies, procedures and methods of applications of management techniques will even tually lead to incorporation of management accounting in IFRS over a period of time. Evolution of standards The developments taking place in the businesses are accepted slowly and shaped up by the conventions followed in the society or country in the early stages. These principles undergo various judicial tests in the evolutionary process before passing through the legislature. Therefore translation of the management accounting concepts into International Financial Reporting Standards will take time, since management accounting is relatively new compared to financial accounting which has been followed by the business for many centuries. There are differences in its adoption even in the developed countries. For instance, â€Å"there are many major differences between IFRSs and the standards issued by FASB (USA), although efforts are underway to remove them to ensure convergence† (Banerjee, 2010, p. 685). For example, the practical considerations such as adoption of current val ue for the purpose of valuation of say, land or properties will be relevant in decision making process, whereas under GAAP it is required to be stated at historical cost in the financial reports. The transitional process from GAAP to IFRS in US is expected to begin in 2014. The adoption of Management accounting in developing countries is still restricted only to the larger companies. Therefore, accounting bodies of these countries are not in a hurry to push forward the cause of management accounting at this stage. The adoption of management accounting practices by an organization is a prerequisite for management accounting reports, and it will happen only when the benefits are appreciated at the company level and the cost of operating a suitable system in respect of collection and analysis of data is reasonable and consistent with the benefits derived. Impact of IAS and IFRS on Management Accounting Prochazka and Ilinitchi (n.d.) state â€Å"The implementation of IFRS into Czech le gislation has brought new quality to financial reporting. Due to their usefulness, IFRS infiltrate into management accounting systems. In fact, in many companies IFRS carry out (satisfy, meet) the function of internal management accounting (with some modification allowing better internal performance evaluation).† However, it is restricted to certain disclosures where information available from the financial accounts is not adequate. The level of integration of financial and management accoun

Critical thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Critical thinking - Essay Example interventions in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan could expose much severe similar incident - says the article. President Obama claims to achieve a significant saving of atleast U.S.$ 40 billion dollars an year through strong interventions in the contract awarding process. According to the reports, abolishing no-bid contracts and reducing the outsourcing level of government works to the private agencies are the major ones in the proposal. The articles communicates clearly the commitment of Barack Obama by emphasizing that the money from the people of America need to be utilized to satisfy their priorities rather than allowing it flow through the drains. The necessity of radically transforming the feeble system of contracting also adds to the Obama’s interest to provide a good public administration. The initiatives taken by the present President includes issuing clear directions to his Budget Chief for evolving appropriate guidelines to evaluate the existing contracts for their via bility. Based on which they could be either modified or even cancelled. In addition, the Budget director is also asked to strictly monitor the entire no- bid contracts and the operations of the private companies working with the government also would give a fresh impetus into these things. The article substantiates the President’s claim with very clear figures. The award of contract for undertaking the restoration work of Iraq’s Oil production was through non-competitive manner to then Vice-President Dick Cheney. And, spending of millions of dollars without proper accountability in Iraq and Afghanistan, over spending in over 95 defence projects are some of the few specific references made by him. As per the content in the article, the message Obama spreads is very clear. Contracting works would no longer be in a flexible budget form, the fixed price of the contacts would soon force all the contractors to assess their costs in a realistic manner. The

The Return of Depression Economics Essay Example for Free

The Return of Depression Economics Essay Classical economists like Smith and Ricardo often argued that economic prosperity can be best achieved if the market is left alone. They argued that the market alone is the most efficient mechanism of determining supply and demand, wages and labor supply. The market â€Å"being the invisible hand† removes sluggishness in the economy. At the beginning of the 20th century, these assumptions were attacked by neo-classical economists led by John Maynard Keynes. Keynes argued that because wages are essentially fixed in the short-run, it is possible for an economy to experience sluggishness (Keynes, 1936). This â€Å"sluggishness† causes temporary recessions, that if â€Å"untreated† may lead to depressions. The only means to treat temporary recessions is government intervention. Keynes (1936) argued that it is desirable for the government to either increase or decrease spending in order to boost the economy. This increase or decrease in spending may be facilitated by increasing or decreasing interest rates (on the expenditure side of the economy). Now, the assumptions of both classical and neo-classical economists are being attacked. Paul Krugman (a Nobel prize winner), in his book â€Å"The Return of Depression Economics,† put his main arguments against mainstream economics (Krugman, 2008). Here are some of his main points: 1) It is very possible for recession to occur even if an economy is in good shape. To illustrate this, he used the story of babysitting groups in Washington D. C. Here, couples agreed to babysit for each other. A special currency was used. Those who want to babysit would get the currency while those who do not want to babysit will give the currency. However, because the economy is in â€Å"good shape†, nobody wanted to babysit. Couples preferred going to social gatherings than babysitting. This creates a shortage of babysitters, which in effect caused the economy to experience recession. This is same case with government control of money supply. Supposing the government increases money supply in order to boost the economy, the real effect may in fact a real decline in overall production. The â€Å"good shape† of the economy may well be an enough reason for people to work less (which in the long run translates into lower economic output); 2) During economic prosperity, people usually invest their â€Å"money† to risky forms of investments. Supposing there are two sources of investments: trust funds and bank securities. Trust funds offer more returns and of course, higher risks. Bank securities are more conservative in nature (low returns and risks). During economic prosperity, trust funds usually earn more, and thus people invest in it. However, when one trust fund fails, people will usually withdraw their investment out of the system. This creates panic (confidence decreases) and the economy experiences recession; 3) And, panic can destroy wealth more easily than confidence can create it. Krugman noted that it took almost 100 years for the United States to accumulate wealth and only 5 years to destroy it (The Great Depression). In essence, a financial panic has a higher probability of occurring than a miraculous boom (due to soaring financial confidence). As Krugman noted, as more and more economies are being integrated into the world economy, the chances of experiencing recession in times of economic prosperity increases (Krugman, 2008). In short, economic prosperity may not be a bailiwick for economic certainty. References Keynes, John Maynard. 1936. General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: London Publishing Company. Krugman, Paul. 2008. The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. New York: Penguin Books.

Job Specialization and the Division of Labour

Job Specialization and the Division of Labour Introduction Car production has changed dramatically over the years as managers have applied different views or philosophies of management to organize and control work activities. Prior to 1900, workers worked in small groups, cooperating to hand-build cars with parts that often had to be altered and modified to fit together. This system, a type of small-batch production, was very expensive; assembling just one car took, moving conveyor belts bring the car to the workers. Each individual worker performs a single assigned task along a production line, and the speed of the conveyor belt is the primary means of controlling their activities. Ford experimented to discover the most efficient way for each individual worker to perform an assigned task. The result was that each worker performed one siderable time and effort; and workers could produce only a few cars in a day. To reduce costs and sell more cars, managers of early car companies needed better techniques to increase efficiency. Henry Ford revolutionized the car industry. In 1913, Ford opened the Highland Park car plant in Detroit to produce the Model T. Ford and his team of manufacturing managers pioneered the development of mass-production manufacturing, a system that made the small-batch system almost obsolete overnight. In 1913, Henry Ford revolutionized the production process of a car by pioneering mass-production manufacturing, a production system in which a conveyor belt brings each car photo, taken in 1904 inside Daimler Motor Co., is an example of the use of small-batch production, a production system in which small groups of people work together and perform all the tasks needed to assemble a product. to the workers, and each individual worker performs a single task along the production line. Even today, cars are built using this system, as shown in this photo of workers along a computerized automobile assembly line, specialized task, such as bolting on the door or attaching the door handle, and jobs in the Ford car plant became very repetitive. Fords management approach increased efficiency and reduced costs so much that by 1920 he was able to reduce the price of a car by two-thirds and sell over two million cars a year.2 Ford Motor Company (www.ford.com) became the leading car company in the world, and many competitors rushed to adopt the new mass-production techniques. Two of these companies, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, eventually emerged as Fords major competitors. The CEOs of GM and Chrysler-Alfred Sloan and Walter Chrysler-went beyond simple imitation of the Ford approach by adopting a new strategy: offering customers a wide variety of cars to choose from. To keep costs low, Henry Ford had offered customers only one car-the Model T. The new strategy of offering a wide range of models was so popular that Ford was eventually forced to close his factory for seven months in order to reorganize his manufacturing system to widen his product range. Due to his limited vision of the changing car market, his company lost its competitive advantage. During the early 1930s, GM became the market leader. The next revolution in car production took place not in the United States but in Japan. A change in management thinking occurred there when Ohno Taiichi, a Toyota production engineer, pioneered the development of lean manufacturing in the 1960s after touring the US plants of the Big Three car companies. The management philosophy behind lean manufacturing is to continuously find methods to improve the efficiency of the production process in order to reduce costs, increase quality, and reduce car assembly time. In lean manufacturing, workers work on a moving production line, but they are organized into small teams, each of which is responsible for a particular phase of car assembly, such as installing the cars transmission or electrical wiring system. Each team member is expected to learn all the tasks of all members of his or her team, and each work group is charged with the responsibility not only to assemble cars but also to continuously find ways to increase quality and reduce costs. By 1970, Japanese managers had applied the new lean production system so efficiently that they were producing higher-quality cars at lower prices than their US counterparts, and by 1980 Japanese companies were dominating the global car market. To compete with the Japanese, managers at the Big Three car makers visited Japan to learn lean production methods. In recent years, Chrysler Canada has been the North American model for speed in automobile production. Chryslers Windsor, Ontario assembly plant opened in 1928, and over 54 years built its first five million vehicles. Less than 11 years later, in 1994, the plant reached the eight million mark. Chryslers Windsor facility has made a reputation for itself as the biggest single experiment with flexible manufacturing methods at one site. In the last 20 years, the plant has been so successful that Ken Lewenza, President of Local 444 of the expected to meet peak demand for the firms most popular products. On July 24, 2000, the plant reopened its doors after being shut down for just two weeks to retool for the newest generation of DaimlerChrysler AG minivans, due in dealers showrooms a month later. That was by far Windsors quickest turnover, but flexible manufacturing procedures introduced in 1983 have enabled the plant to display North Americas speediest production turnovers. In 1982-83, the plant shut down for 16 weeks to retool from making sedans to the first models of the Chrysler minivan, and then in 1995, it closed for 12 weeks for retooling to produce the next generation of minivans. While the Windsor facility has been a model for quick turnarounds, Canadas auto industry in general has fared well with the advancements in lean production methods. One analyst suggested that Canada is in the golden era of the auto sector in Canada, with a chance to outpace Michigan as early as 2001. As this sketch of the evolution of global car manufacturing suggests, changes in management practices occur as managers, theorists, researchers, and consultants seek new ways to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The driving force behind the evolution of management theory is the search for better ways to utilize organizational resources. Advances in management theory typically occur as managers and researchers find better ways to perform the principal management tasks: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling human and other organizational resources. Scientific Management Theory: The evolution of modern management began in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, after the industrial revolution had swept through Europe, Canada, and the United States. In the new economic climate, managers of all types of organizations-political, educational, and economic-were increasingly trying to find better ways to satisfy customers needs. Many major economic, technical, and cultural changes were taking place at this time. The introduction of steam power and the development of sophisticated machinery and equipment changed the way in which goods were produced, particularly in the weaving and clothing industries. Small workshops run by skilled workers who produced hand-manufactured products (a system called crafts production) were being replaced by large factories in which sophisticated machines controlled by hundreds or even thousands of unskilled or semiskilled workers made products. Owners and managers of the new factories found themselves unprepared for the challenges accompanying the change from small-scale crafts production to large-scale mechanized manufacturing. Many of the managers and supervisors had only a technical orientation, and were unprepared for the social problems that occur when people work together in large groups (as in a factory or shop system). Managers began to search for new techniques to manage their organizations resources, and soon they began to focus on ways to increase the efficiency of the worker-task mix. Job Specialization and the Division of Labour: Manufacturing methods. The first was similar to crafts-style production, in which each worker was responsible for all of the 18 tasks involved in producing a pin. The other had each worker performing only 1 or a few of the 18 tasks that go into making a completed pin. Smith found that factories in which workers specialized in only 1 or a few tasks had greater performance than factories in which each worker performed all 18 pin-making tasks. In fact, Smith found that workers specializing in a particular task could, between them, make 48,000 pins a day, whereas those workers who performed all the tasks could make only a few thousand at most. Smith reasoned that this difference in performance was due to the fact that the workers who specialized became much more skilled at their specific tasks, and, as a group, were thus able to produce a product faster than the group of workers who each had to job specialization The process by which a division of labour occurs as perform many tasks. Smith concluded that increasing the level of job specialization-the process by which a division of labour occurs as different workers specialize in different tasks over time-increases efficiency and leads to higher Based on Adam Smiths observations, early management pract itioners and theorists focused on how managers should organize and control the work process to maximize the advantages of job specialization and the division of labour. To discover the most efficient method of performing specific tasks, Taylor studied in great detail and measured the ways different workers went about performing their tasks. Principle 1: One of the main tools he used was a time-and-motion study, which involves the careful timing and recording of the actions taken to perform a particular task. Once Taylor understood the existing method of performing a task, he tried different methods of dividing and coordinating the various tasks necessary to produce a finished product. Usually this meant simplifying jobs and having each worker perform fewer, more routine tasks, as at the pin factory or on Fords car assembly line. Taylor also sought ways to improve each workers ability to perform a particular task-for example, by reducing the number of motions workers made to complete the task, by changing the layout of the work area or the type of tool workers used, or by experimenting with tools of different sizes. Principle 2: Codify the new methods of performing tasks into written rules and standard operating procedures. Once the best method of performing a particular task was determined, Taylor specified that it should be recorded so that the procedures could be taught to all workers performing the same task. These rules could be used to standardize and simplify jobs further-essentially, to make jobs even more routine. In this way, efficiency could be increased throughout an organization. Principle 3: Carefully select workers so that they possess skills and abilities that match the needs of the task, and train them to perform the task according to the established rules and procedures. To increase specialization, Taylor believed workers had to understand the tasks that were required and be thoroughly trained in order to perform the tasks at the required level. Workers who could not be trained to this level were to be transferred to a job where they were able to reach the minimum required level of proficiency. Principle 4: Establish a fair or acceptable level of performance for a task, and then develop a pay system that provides a reward for performance above the acceptable level. To encourage workers to perform at a high level of efficiency, and to provide them with an incentive to reveal the most efficient techniques for performing a task, Taylor advocated that workers should benefit from any gains in performance. They should be paid a bonus and receive some percentage of the performance gains achieved through the more efficient work process. This decision ultimately resulted in problems. For example, some managers using scientific management obtained increases in performance, but rather than sharing performance gains with workers through bonuses as Taylor had advocated, they simply increased the amount of work that each worker was expected to do. Many workers experiencing the reorganized work system found that as their performance increased, managers required them to do more work for the same pay. Workers also learned that increases in performance often meant fewer jobs and a greater threat of layoffs, because fewer workers were needed. In addition, the specialized, simplified jobs were often monotonous and repetitive, and many workers became dissatisfied with their jobs. Scientific management brought many workers more hardship than gain, and left them with a distrust of managers who did not seem to care about their wellbeing. These dissatisfied workers resisted attempts to use the new scientific methods unable to inspire workers to accept the new scientific management techniques for performing tasks, some organizations increased the mechanization of the work process. For example, one reason for Henry Fords introduction of moving conveyor belts in his factory was the realization that when a conveyor belt controls the pace of work (instead of workers setting their own pace), workers can be pushed to perform at higher levels-levels that they may have thought were beyond their reach. Charlie Chaplin captured this aspect of mass production in one of the opening scenes of his famous movie, Modern Times (1936). In the film, Chaplin caricatured a new factory employee fighting to work at the machine imposed pace but losing the battle to the machine. Henry For d also used the principles of scientific management to identify the tasks that each worker should perform on the production line and thus to determine the most effective way to create a division of labour to suit the needs of a mechanized production system. From a performance perspective, the combination of the two management practices (1) achieving the right mix of worker-task specialization and (2) linking people and tasks by the speed of the production line-makes sense. It produces the huge savings in cost and huge increases in output that occur in large, organized work settings. For example, in 1908, managers at the Franklin Motor Company redesigned the work process using scientific management principles, and the output of cars increased from 100 cars a month to 45 cars a day; workers wages increased by only 90 percent, however. From other perspectives, though, scientific management practices raise many concerns. Ethics in Action: From 1908 to 1914, through trial and error, Henry Fords talented team of production managers pioneered the development of the moving conveyor belt and thus changed manufacturing practices forever. Although the technical aspects of the move to mass production were a dramatic financial success for Ford and for the millions of Americans who could now afford cars, for the workers who actually produced the cars, many human and social problems resulted. With simplification of the work process, workers grew to hate the monotony of the moving conveyor belt. By 1914, Fords car plants were experiencing huge employee turnover-often reaching levels as high as 300 or 400 percent per year as workers left because they could not handle the work-induced stress. Henry Ford recognized these problems and made an announcement: From that point on, to motivate his workforce, he would reduce the length of the workday from nine hours to eight hours, and the company would double the basic wage from US$2.50 to US$5.00 per day. This was a dramatic increase, similar to an announcement today of an overnight doubling of the minimum wage. Ford became an internationally famous figure, and the word Fordism was coined for his new approach. Fords apparent generosity was matched, however, by an intense effort to control the resources-both human and material-with which his empire was built. He employed hundreds of inspectors to check up on employees, both inside and outside his factories. In the factory, supervision was close and confining. Employees were not allowed to leave their places at the production line, and they were not permitted to talk to one another. Their job was to concentrate fully on the task at hand. Few employees could adapt to this system, and they developed ways of talking out of the sides of their mouths, like ventriloquists, and invented a form of speech that became known as the Ford Lisp. Fords obsession with control brought him into greater and greater conflict with managers, who were often fired when they disagreed with him. As a result, many talented people left Ford to join his growing rivals. Outside the workplace, Ford went so far as to establish what he called the Sociological Department to check up on how his employees lived and the ways in which they spent their time. Inspectors from this department visited the homes of employees and investigated their habits and problems. Employees who exhibited behaviours contrary to Fords standards (for instance, if they drank too much or were always in debt) were likely to be fired. Clearly, Fords effort to control his employees led him and his managers to behave in ways that today would be considered unacceptable and unethical, and in the long run would impair an organizations ability to prosper. Two prominent followers of Taylor were Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) and Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972), who refined Taylors analysis of work movements and made many contributions to time-and-motion study. The Gilbreths often filmed a worker performing a particular task and then separated the task actions, frame by frame, into their component movements. Their goal was to maximize the efficiency with which each individual task was performed so that gains across tasks would add up to enormous savings of time and effort. Their attempts to develop improved management principles were captured-at times quite humorously-in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, which depicts how the Gilbreths (with their 12 children) tried to live their own lives according to these efficiency principles and apply them to daily actions such as shaving, cooking, and even raising a family. Eventually, the Gilbreths became increasingly interested in the study of fatigue. They studied how the physical characteristics of the workplace contribute to job stress that often leads to fatigue and thus poor performance. They isolated factors- such as lighting, heating, the colour of walls, and the design of tools and machines-th at result in worker fatigue. Their pioneering studies paved the way for new advances in management theory. In workshops and factories, the work of the Gilbreths, Taylor, and many others had a major effect on the practice of management. In comparison with the old crafts system, jobs in the new system were more repetitive, boring, and monotonous as a result of the application of scientific management principles, and workers became increasingly dissatisfied. Frequently, the management of work settings became a game between workers and managers: Managers tried to initiate work practices to increase performance, and workers tried to hide the true potential efficiency of the work setting in order to protect their own well-being. Administrative Management Theory: Side by side with scientific managers studying the person-task mix to increase efficiency administrative management. Organizational structure is the system of task and authority relationships. It leads that how employees use resources to achieve the organizations goals. Two to high efficiency and of the most influential views regarding the creation of efficient systems of organization effectiveness. administration were developed in Europe. Max Weber, a German professor of sociology, developed one theory. Henri Fayol, the French manager also developed a model of management in the form of certain principles, which are given as under: Fayols Principles of Management Working at the same time as Weber but independently of him, Henri Fayol (1841-1925), the CEO of Comambault Mining, identified 14 principles that he believed to be essential to increasing the efficiency of the management process. Some of the principles that Fayol outlined have faded from contemporary management practices, but most have endured. Division of Labour Job specialization and the division of labour should increase efficiency, especially if managers take steps to lessen workers boredom. Authority and Responsibility Managers have the right to give orders and the power to exhort subordinates for obedience. Unity of Command An employee should receive orders from only one superior. Line of Authority The length of the chain of command that extends from the top to the bottom of an organization should be limited. Centralization Authority should not be concentrated at the top of the chain of command. Unity of Direction The organization should have a single plan of action to guide managers and workers. Equity All organizational members are entitled to be treated with justice and respect. Order The arrangement of organizational positions should maximize organizational efficiency and provide employees with satisfying career opportunities. Initiative Managers should allow employees to be innovative and creative. Discipline Managers need to create a workforce that strives to achieve organizational goals. Remuneration of Personnel The system that managers use to reward employees should be equitable for both employees and the organization. Stability of Tenure of Personnel Long-term employees develop skills that can improve organizational efficiency. Subordination of Individual Interests to the Common Interest Employees should understand how their performance affects the performance of the whole organization. Esprit de Corps Managers should encourage the development of shared feelings of comradeship, enthusiasm, or devotion to a common cause. The principles that Fayol and Weber set forth still provide a clear and appropriate set of guidelines that managers can use to create a work setting that makes efficient and effective use of organizational resources. These principles remain the bedrock of modern management theory; recent researchers have refined or developed them to suit modern conditions. For example, Webers and Fayols concerns for equity and for establishing appropriate links between performance and reward are central themes in contemporary theories of motivation and leadership. Behavioural Management Theory: The study of how managers should behave in order to motivate employees and encourage them to perform at high levels and be committed to the achievement of organization. The behavioural management theorists writing in the first half of the twentieth century all espoused a theme that focused on how managers should personally behave in order to motivate employees and encourage them to perform at high levels and be committed to the achievement of organizational goals. The Management Insight indicates how employees can become demoralized when managers do not treat their employees properly. The Hawthorne Studies and Human Relations might be increased through improving various characteristics of the work setting, such as job specialization or the kinds of tools workers used. One series of studies was conducted from 1924 to 1932 at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company. This research, now known as the Hawthorne studies, began as an attempt to investigate how characteristics of the work setting-specifically the level of lighting or illumination-affect worker fatigue and performance. The researchers conducted an experiment in which they systematically measured worker productivity at various levels of illumination. The experiment produced some unexpected results. The researchers found that regardless of whether they raised or lowered the level of illumination, productivity increased. In fact, productivity began to fall only when the level of illumination dropped to the level of moonlight, a level at which presumably workers could no longer see well enough to do their work efficiently. The researchers found these results puzzling and invited a noted Harvard psychologist, Elton Mayo, to help them. Subsequently, it was found that many other factors also influence worker behaviour, and it was not clear what was actually influencing the Hawthorne workers behaviour. However, this particular effective group, had deliberately adopted a norm of output restriction to protect their jobs. Workers who violated this informal production norm were subjected to sanctions by other group members. Those who violated group performance norms and performed above the norm were called ratebusters; those who performed below the norm were called chiselers. One of the main implications of the Hawthorne studies was that the behaviour of managers and workers in the work setting is as important in explaining the level of performance as the technical aspects of the task. Managers must understand the informal organization The system of behavioural rules and norms that workings of the informal organization, the system of behavioural rules and norms that emerge in a group, when they try to manage or change behaviour in organizations. Many studies have found that, as time passes, groups often develop emerge in a group. elaborate procedures and norms that bond members together, allowing unified action either to cooperate with management in order to raise performance or to restrict output and thwart the attainment of organizational goals. The Hawthorne studies demonstrated the importance of understanding how the feelings, thoughts, and behaviour of work-group members and managers affect performance. It was becoming increasingly clear to researche rs that understanding behaviour in organizations is a complex process that is critical to increasing performance. Indeed, organizational behaviour The study of the factors that have an the increasing interest in the area of management known as organizational behaviour, the study of the factors that have an impact on how individuals and groups respond to and act in organizations, dates from these early studies.

Struggle Between Hindu and Secular Nationalisms in India Essay

Struggle Between Hindu and Secular Nationalisms in India India holds a prominent place in the history of imperialism and decolonization, making recent events in this country of nearly one billion especially important to the current day citizen. India also faces problems associated with accommodating religion and diversity within a large federal republic, making their experience important for Americans concerned with these issues. India faces growing action of governing which invites the use of violence to achieve political objectives. In spite of India's size and importance, it is hard for an American to gain an understanding of the issues and conflicts which have set the stage for the most recent revival of Hindu nationalism. The central feature of this new reform in Indian federal politics is the clash between Hindu and secular nationalists. The overview of this situation comes from the perspective of an American born Indian student interested in Indian history and federal systems, so the observations are intended as suggestions designed to encourage more progressive work both in India and the United States. While the prominence of Hindu themes affects many levels of Indian government, this paper will focus only on India's central government on Hindu Nationalism. This conflict is crucial to understanding the current situation in India. Indian democracy and secularism face a menace from the forces of militant Hinduism which hope to turn India into a Hindu state. What is the nature of the present challenge to secularism in India? What do Hindu nationalists hope to achieve by making their government more assertively Hindu? One can begin to answer these questions by examining the large body of writing on secularism recently produced by Indians. Academics, lawyers, journalists, and political citizens have explored the many facets of Indian secularism. These works provide clues to the nature of Hindu nationalism's appeal in contemporary Indian politics. These writings are interesting for what they reveal about India and its versions of nationalism. Sudipta Kaviraj, a scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, admits that, "among those who consider themselves secular individuals there is an intensifying sense of crisis†. What are the criticisms of secularism which lead to the perception of a predicament? At first glance, the challenge appears minuscule, ... ...d world", comparisons to the United States may prove more fruitful. Second, excessive use of historical analogy from other periods in time runs the risk of incorporating outmoded assumptions regarding development stages so prominent in modernization theory. India's current problems relate directly to developments in this phase of world history; one could go so far to say that India's problems foreshadow those the United States is likely to face when the resources used to lubricate the machinery of a diverse federation can no longer be borrowed. Furthermore, those familiar with the constitutional debate over the separation of church and state in the United States and Stephen Carter's recent book The Culture of Disbelief: How American Law and Politics Trivialize Religious Devotion understand that questions regarding religion and politics are by no means confined to the so-called "developing" world. Rather than grappling with issues already solved by Western countries, India faces dilemmas associated with the modern state. Understanding India's experien ce in confronting these problems may provide unanticipated insights into problems faced by federal government in the United States.

1980: Miami Floridabbegin to Rise as the Crime Capital of the Nation Essay

In the 1980s Miami Florida was just beginning to rise as the crime capital of the nation, but it had been the drug capital for a decade. An estimated 70% of Cocaine imported to the U.S passes through South Florida. When president of Cuba Fidel Castro agreed to allow citizens to leave in response to a tough Cuban economy, many of them departed to the United States and landed in South Florida, unfortunately many of those allowed to leave were convicted criminals. Adding these dubious characters into the mix only served to dilute the population of law-abiding citizens, therefore increasing the crime rate in the city of Miami. Cuba wasn’t the only country that was responsible for the increasing crime rate in Miami throughout the 1980s; Colombia was heavily involved in the Cocaine business. From the movie Cocaine Cowboys, John Roberts, Mickey Munday, Rafa Cardona Salazar, Max Mermestein were all drug smugglers. They were in charge of getting the illegal narcotics into Florida. Jon Roberts flooded Miami with over $2 billion worth of cocaine throughout the ’80s. He was also one of the drug traffickers who turned government informant. Roberts operated in the downtown Miami area and was an associate of Medellà ­n Cartel during the growth phase in cocaine trafficking. Soon after he hooked up with Medellin Cartel he began using his own method to ship cocaine into the United States. He began orchestrating plane shipments of hundreds of kilos of cocaine a week. He was associated with Mickey Munday who is the last Cocaine Cowboys left alive. He too was also involved in the cocaine business during that time. Based on the Movie Jon Roberts was kind of like the thinker and Mickey Munday was like the pilot. Jon would think about where to deliver the drug and how to deliver the drug while Mickey on the other hand was the one who flew the drugs into Miami. In September 1986, FBI and Customs offici als busted the the 38 years old trafficker jon Roberts. Columbia is South America’s fourth largest country. It is about 440,831 square miles long and the capital is Bogota with the population of 27 million people. Columbia greatest agriculture crops are coffee, and coca. â€Å"Columbia is one of the world largest producers of the drugs cocaine, and heroin producing 50,900 hectares of coca that they sold 75% to the United States.† (CIA database) Drug dealers and drugs control Columbia and are the new Mafia and gangsters, who smuggle drugs in the United States, and make millions and millions of dollars a year. Smuggling had its greatest growth in the United States during the Prohibition Era. It became a full-fledged business for organized crime like the Mafia who ran Chicago in the 1920’s. The drug dealers of Columbia are the modern day Mafia who used the power of drug money to control the government. The most famous drug dealers were Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa Valquez and Carlos Lehder Rivas, who controlled the drug trades in Columbia and were, at the time, the new Mafia. â€Å"By the year, 1984 the Medellin cartel had controlled 80 percent of the cocaine in the country.† (Alternatives.com) Pablo Escobar was born in a small village of Rionegro seventeen miles outside Medellin. In 1976, police arrested him for possession of thirty-nine pounds of cocaine, but the officers where soon killed and 9 judges refused to hear the case due to death threats. The record disappeared and he was never tried. Soon he was worth over 2 million dollars that he used to buy himself a huge estate near the Magdalena river that included his own private zoo. Pablo Escobar built low cost housing and a hospital to get the people of Medellin on his side. In 1982, he was elected to the congress, which gave him immunity from arrest. On Nov. 18, 1986 charges where brought against Escobar, on bringing 16 tons of cocaine into the United States. The government of Columbia said they would not deport him because they feared for their lives. On, December 2, 1993, a group of military police shot the drug lord on a rooftop in Medellin, Columbia. Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasguez was the son of Fabio Ocheoa Restrepo whose family was cattle breeders until they began trafficking drugs in the mid 1970. In 1981, guerrillas kidnapped Jorge Vasguez sister for ransom. Ocheoa joined with other drug lords including Escobar to form a vigilante group called Muerte a Secuestadores who kidnapped or killed members of the guerrillas until the girl were set free. This caused these three drug dealers to work together and Escobar and Vaguez made a new pact. Jorge Vasguez and the Ocheoa family provided hitmen, guards and death squads that included high ranked military officers. The Ocheoa family also would handle payoffs to police, judges and politicians. Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez was arrested by police on November 15,1984 and was going to be deported to the United States. When this news reached Bogota a car loaded with dynamite exploded in front of the US embassy in Bogota killing one and injuring four Colombians. On Aug. 13, 1986, Ochea Vasquez was released. He was arrested again on Nov. 21, 1987 but he was released again on December 30,1987. Carlos Lehder Rivas was born in Michigan and was a car dealer until he deiced to use his money to start a drug smuggling operation bringing drugs out of Columbia. He found a remote landing strip in the Bahamas where he bribed Bahamian officials where drugs would be unloaded and depatched into the United States in many different types of transportation. Soon Carlos was working with the Medellian cartel and would unload 300 kilograms a day making over 300 million a year. He was worth over 2.5 billion dollars and owned over 15 cars, three helicopters, and property all over Columbia. Finally the United States government caught up with him, but he got away because he killed 11 Supreme Court Justices, two newspaper editors in Columbia and 26 other journalists. Finally in 1997 he was arrested and was brought to a cell at the U.S. Penitary in Marion, IL that had a telephone. From his cell he made contact with FBI, and CIA agents who used to work in the cartel. Leder was sentenced to life in prison plus 135 years but the FBI and CIA gave him a deal to help them convict Noriega and cut down 30 years on his prison term. A few years after he testified he mysteriously disappeared from prison. These three individuals are only a few of the individuals who used the cartel to control all levels of the government including the president. President Ernesto Sampler accepted millions of dollars from the Mafia to finance his campaign. He said that the newspaper he wrote had over 10,900 subscribers instead of the 1,000 original subscribers his wife knew about. Also the government tried to destroy drug fields by eradicating coca and opium fields by spraying herbicide glyphosate. The problem is drug traffickers are paying guerrillas $200,000 for every plane that they shot down three times what they get for destroying the fields for the government. The police and military forces in Columbia are too weak and easily bribed by the cartels. The police in Columbia are armed civilians who don’t have the right to vote and don’t have much power and only a policeman can arrest someone under a warrant in Columbia. But since most policemen don’t have much power they are afraid to arrest someone, so the military forces usefully have to get involved in order to arrest someone. The police in Columbia can’t get anything done without the help of the military and neither really knows what the other is supposed to do which causes nothing to get done. The illegal drugs that are smuggled into the United States from Colombia come by many forms of transportation. Nova Scotia, Canada, has been a major drop-off point for illegal cargo since the early 1970s. Police say that to prepare for one drug smuggling operation, a group of criminals based in Nova Scotia bought a fishing vessel and used it just for fishing until long-ti me residents took it for granted. It would make runs in and out for two to three months just for fishing. â€Å"Then it went out on its fishing trip, and instead of bringing back fish, it had hashish and marijuana† (Abadinsky 39). Between 1974 and 1986, police recorded 12 major seizures, including boatloads of hashish and marijuana (Allen 1). Drug smuggling attempts by boat usually involve a â€Å"mother ship,† a cargo vessel lying up to 250 miles off the shore. This vessel will off load a variety of drugs onto smaller fishing vessels, which then transport the drugs to other couriers on shore. Cargo vessels, coming from other countries to the United States have become the newest method in drug smuggling. On June 19, 1992, the captain of the container ship Santa Marta radioed ahead to Jacksonville, Florida, that his ship was experiencing difficulties with its ballast ducts. An alert Customs officer suspected that it was a drug shipment unknown to the captain, and he was right. Forty kilograms of cocaine were discovered by divers in duffel bags secured in the recessed ballast duct by metal wire (Goode 10). The growth of hull attachments has sparked the interest of scientists to design an invention that will detect objects underwater. Drugs are not only smuggled into the country by boats, but are also driven across by cars and trucks. Drug lords sometimes hire one-time â€Å"mules,† or couriers, who pose as vacationers in the Big Bend National Park They hide the drugs in secret compartments in the walls of trailers and motor homes as they camp through the park. Many times the drug dealers will hire or start their own trucking companies. In one incident, cocaine wrapped in grease-smeared plastic had been stuffed into about ten hollow forty-foot steel beams. They were trucked across the country from California to New York. Drugs have been known to be found in hubcaps, spare tires, glove compartments, and in the stuffing of car seats, and ceilings of cars. Also, they have been found packed in metal boxes and hooked by magnets to the underside of the truck without the driver knowing. One of the most recent techniques is through Postal Service Express. Drug dealers will send a certain amount of drugs through the Postal Service Express. They choose the Postal Service Express because it is delivered the next day, it eliminates the middle man, which means that it costs less, it is also very difficult to monitor and harder to stop. After the client receives the drugs, he/she will send money back through Postal Service Express. Although there are many other next day delivery services, Postal Service Express is connected to the United States Post offices. Which means that opening the mail would be a federal offense. Other express package companies do not face the same problem. These companies assume ownership of the parcel as soon as it is handed to them. This means they can open it if they suspect it contains illegal substances. The only way Postal Service Express can detect a drug smuggler is to watch the packages. If the packages are being sent to the same person constantly, and then packages are being sent back to the sender the next day, postal workers might become suspicious and request a warrant. They have to be almost one hundred percent sure that there are drugs inside of the packages to get a warrant. With a warrant they can legally open the package. If the package contains drugs they will deliver it to the person and then make an arrest. Many packages will have probably been sent back and forth carrying drugs and money long before someone suspects something. One of the most risky and dangerous ways drugs are smuggled is through people. Couriers will sometimes carry drugs in false-bottomed suitcases, in the hollowed-out soles of their shoes, taped to their bodies, or sewed into their clothes. Some have even swallowed them. Some people have even swallowed up to two hundred thumb-size latex pellets. T hese carriers are usually desperate people hoping to escape poverty. Others swallow little balls of heroin wrapped in condoms. Each person swallows approximately eighty to one hundred condoms. This method is very dangerous because if the pellet or condom should break open, in most cases it would cause instant death. For example, on May 12, 1993, a thirty year old man from Bolivia was found dead on the plane. When doctors did an autopsy, they discovered seventy eight packages of cocaine. Two of the packages had broken open totaling six hundred and fifty grams in his stomach. Drugs have also been smuggled in electronic components, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, peppers, coffee, and just about any product. Because of all these techniques, the government has set up the Drug Enforcement Administration. Coastal Watch Programs have been organized around the coast of Nova Scotia. James Parker, head of the program, has been telling the citizens to keep their eyes and ears open for signs of smuggling. On Parker’s wall there is a map of Nova Scotia with clusters of pins showing the locations of two thousand informa nts involved. Each person has a local number to call in case of suspicion. In the case of passengers arriving by air from known drug places, there are customs agents waiting to ask them a few questions at the baggage claim area. Judging by the passenger’s behavior, the tone of their voice, and their actions, the agents decide whether or not they might be carrying drugs. Columbia sends computer passenger lists to Customs agents before aircrafts arrive in Miami. These lists have the names of possible suspects. The police have developed programs that teach officers to stop motorists for small traffic violations and then search legally their cars for drugs. Many innocent people are stopped before one offender is actually caught. Some indicators are an open map on the front seat, a fast-food bag on the floor, or an out-of-state license plate. Police use these as signs because couriers are in a hurry and usually do not know their way around. After all of the efforts to control the drug smuggling, the new North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the United States, and Canada makes things worse. This agreement makes the United States more accessible and convenient for drug traffickers. It will gradually eliminate tariffs on goods traded among the three nations and allow Mexican truckers to drive their rigs anywhere in the United States and Canada with little inspection. The United States and Columbia need to work together instead of blaming each other to stop drug trafficking and the Columbia Mafia. Columbia needs an stronger police force and to use the money the United States is giving them to make busts. Studies have shown that the money has been going to guerrilla forces helping the cortels instead of training the Colombian police. Second both countries have to recognize the supply and demand of the drugs problem. Both countries need to educate their people on the effects of drugs. If the United States lowered the demand on drugs then Columbia would not produce them. Third the Colombian government needs to be tougher on drug dealers and give them harsher sentences. Also Columbia needs new crops to grow and maybe the United States should teach the farms how to gr ow things other then coca. Coca is the major product in Columbia and many farmers do not know what else to plant. Works Cited De Lama, George, â€Å"US. Unable to Take Much of a Bite Out of Drug Traffic from Mexico.† Chicago Tribune. Chicago: Sunday April 17, 1994. Farah, Douglas, â€Å"Columbia Defense Minister Charges Samper with Accepting Drug Money† The Washington Post. Internet: http://thetech.mit.edu/v115/n66/colo.66w.html. Hallihan, Joe. â€Å"Car Searches Latest Tactic in Drug War.† N.S.L.S. Cd-Rom Database Not Given:1991. John, Harvey. â€Å"Cocaine Poisoning.† The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1993. Kirby, Joseph. â€Å"Mail-order Drug Dealers on Fast Track.† Chicago Tribune. Chicago: Thursday March 11, 1993. Moushey, Bill, â€Å"Hunted Down, then Protected.† Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Pittsburgh: May 1996, http:www.gotti.com/pwhunteddown.html. Powell, Morgan. â€Å"The Rifleman.† Chicago Tribune. Chicago: Sunday March 27, 1994. Treaster, Joseph B. â€Å"Nigerian Connection Floods U.S. Airport with Asian Heroine.† New York Times. New York: Feb. 15,1992 â€Å"Drug Production and Transit Countries DEA- Congressional Testimony,† Internet: http:www.alternatives.com/crime/deacert.html#Columbia. â€Å"In Columbia, Jailed Politicians Reveal Power of Trafficking.† CrimeData base, http://www.latinolink.com/news/0612ncol.html. â€Å"Pablo Escobar,† Internet: http://www.alternatives.com/crime/Escobar.html â€Å"Who is the Mob Today,† Internet: http://www.alternatives.com.crime/mobtoday.html. â€Å"Columbia† Internet: http://www.cia.com â€Å"Jorge Vasques†, Crimedata base, Internet: http://www.alternatives.com/crime/cm15.html.