Tuesday, December 24, 2019
The Theories Of Female Offenders - 965 Words
Theories of female offenders Most of the theories of crime was developed to explain male crimes by male criminologists. For decades, women offending challenges traditional theoretical explanations of crime, which were developed to explain male offenders. There were a few debates that indicate the concern of whether the theories were being used equally to explain both female and male crime. Criminologists came to a conclusion that the traditional theories are male-specific theories. For that particular reason, they argue that those theories are not suitable to explain female crimes. However, both the social process and traditional structure theories explain a gender neutrality in crime. They also give a better understanding for both male and female crime. The social process and traditional structure theory explained why female crime rates are rather lower than males. The social process theory tend to explain the traditional crime with regards to differential opportunity to lean criminal techniques and values. The use of the traditional theory shows evidence in which considered the overlap on the causes of crimes committed by both genders. Studies shows that both male and female offenders that came in contact with the criminal justice system often came from a social background that are typically of low socioeconomic status, poorly educated, under or unemployed, and minority groups (Steffensmeir and Allan, 1995). The only difference between male and female offenders is, femaleShow MoreRelatedThe Theories Of Crime Causation Essay1414 Words à |à 6 Pages Theories of Crime Causation Dolores Jackson Williams Colorado Technical University Juvenile offender 1. Biological theory states that the individual will have certain traits will be transmitted from parent to children through genetics and not from social learning. Along with the juvenile having similar facial characteristics, which some believe also predisposes them to criminal behavior (Palmerin, 2012). 2. Rational choice theory states that the person will make sensible and reasonableRead MoreSocial Reaction Theory And Feminist Theory Of Crimes1476 Words à |à 6 PagesReaction Theory and Feminist Theory of Crimes are the subject theories I am going to review, examine, and explain. I will be discussing the evolution of social reaction and labeling theory, which is mainly concerned with how individualsââ¬â¢ personal identities are highly influenced by the way that society has a tendency to classify them as offenders. I will also be reviewing the various forms of feminist theories, which began as reactions to the lack of reasonable theorizing about why females commit crimeRead MoreGender Differences Within Juvenile Status Offenses1650 Words à |à 7 Pages18 such as skipping school or running away from home. Other examples include curfew violations, possession and consumption of alcohol, and possession and use of tobacco. Theories such as the labeling theory and Robert Agnewâ⠬â¢s General Strain Theory attempt to explain why females commit juvenile status offenses. Additional theories attempt to explain their treatment in the juvenile justice system such as the Chivalry Hypothesis. Based on the rising rates of status offenses for girls and the unique factorsRead MoreGender Roles : The Juvenile Justice System1244 Words à |à 5 Pagesnow more so than ever, females crime rates have increased. In some instances within the juvenile justice system, it may appear that boys and girls are comparable; however there are differences, even though they are subtle. As opposed to their male counterpart, female offenders have dissimilar needs, mainly due to unequal victimization that includes physical and or sexual abuse as well as mental health complications (U.S. Department of Justice, 1998). Criminal behavior by females has been commonly seenRead MoreDescribe and critique Moffitt1801 Words à |à 6 Pagestaxonomy theory of offending behaviour as an attempt to expl ain the developmental processes that lead to the shape of the age crime curve. Moffitt proposed that there are two primary types of antisocial offenders in society. First the Adolescent Limited Offender who exhibits antisocial behaviour only during adolescence, and secondly, the Life-Course-Persistent offender, who behave in an antisocial manner from early childhood into adulthood. Moffitt s theory can be applied to both females and malesRead MoreA Historical Context That Changed Perspectives985 Words à |à 4 Pagescriminological theories focused on the offender and motivations that leads to criminal acts. Cohen and Felson (1979) proposed a different aspect where they shifted the focus from offender and motivations to the criminal act itself and opportunities behind it (Andrews, 2004). One important aspect is that lifestyle theory by Hindelang back in 1978 and the routine activities theory by Cohen and Felson (1979) are merely the same. Routine activities could be seen as an expansion of lifestyle theory or as manyRead MoreA Critical Evaluation of two Research Methods, Qualitative and Quantitative1585 Words à |à 7 Pagesin the Home: Females and Residential BurglaryThis article uses a qualitative research method. Qualitative research involves analyzing and interpreting texts and interviews in order to discover meaningful patterns descriptive of a particular phenomenon (Adler Clarke, 2008, p.13.). The method has been adopted to investigate the research question. The research question is; what involvement do women have in residential burglaries. This research question is analysed by comparing female characteristicsRead MoreEssay female juvenile crime736 Words à |à 3 Pages Traditionally, there has been little research on or interest in the impact of female cri me in modern society. In addition, juvenile crime rates are on the rise, which combine for a void of research or information on female juvenile offenders. In general, crime rates for women offenders have risen since the 1990s. Increasing numbers of young women are also offending at higher rates. In a 1996 U.S. Department of Justice Report, the number of arrests of young women had doubled between 1989 and 1993Read MoreQualitative Research : Quantitative Research Essay1320 Words à |à 6 Pages(University of Wisconsin-Madison-Health Services Ebling Library, 2016). Qualitative research is biased and uses preliminary reasoning to combine data (University of Wisconsin-Madison-Health Services Ebling Library, 2016). Qualitative research establishes theories to help explain the phenomena while focusing on the experiences and opinions of all study subjects (Verhoef Casebeer, 1997). Qualitative research has a broad and more in-depth discussion (University of Wisconsin-Madison-Health Service s Ebling LibraryRead MoreCriminal Law And Its Effect On Society951 Words à |à 4 Pagessocial behavior. The law breaking has potential punishment which its purpose is to keep orderly functioning society. Criminal laws only works if it is enforced some areas are stricter than others. The guarantee of punishment will stop offenders or first time offender from ever committing a crime again. I donââ¬â¢t believe the law is too restrictive; the law is design to work with society social norm. The law could be harsher in the area where is more heavily enforcing like the difference in Texas and
Monday, December 16, 2019
Silence Kills, Animal Farm Essay Free Essays
Haley Zrnchik Mrs. Hawkins Honors English 1, Red 1 13 December 2012 Silence Kills In George Orwellââ¬â¢s Animal Farm, Benjamin, a soft-spoken donkey, finds his once peaceful home transformed into a tyrannical dictatorship led by a power-hungry pig named Napoleon. Because of Benjaminââ¬â¢s reserved nature, he ultimately was able to lead Animal Farm into its oppression. We will write a custom essay sample on Silence Kills, Animal Farm Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Benjaminââ¬â¢s silence, his ability to follow without question, and his inability to share his wisdom with the other animals turned him into one of the main contributors to the tyrannical behavior that occurred and the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. When someone keeps their thoughts silent, it usually allows wrong to happen; in this case, Benjamin and his reserved nature is what helped to fuel the farmââ¬â¢s oppression. So when: ââ¬Å"Benjamin . . . seemed to understand, but would say nothingâ⬠(109) he allowed the other animals to go without knowing about Napoleonââ¬â¢s true intentions. Perhaps Benjamin assumed that his silence would protect him, and that by staying silent, he was not creating more drama and instead helping to minimize it. Even though Benjamin is one of the more intelligent animals on the farm, his standoffishness is what helped Napoleon lead as a dictator: ââ¬Å"Benjamin . . nodded his muzzle with a knowing airâ⬠(109) Benjamin had the ability to share his wisdom with the other animals on the farm. However, instead of spreading the truth about Napoleon, Benjamin kept to himself and refused to meddle in what he considered to be ââ¬Å"nonsenseâ⬠. Benjamin refused to voice his thoughts and because of that, he allowed his friends to die, his home to be destroyed, and his life to be turned into that of a follower. Instead of speaking up, Benjamin quietly followed the orders he was given. So while he never volunteered to do extra work, he never did less than what he was supposed to: ââ¬Å". . . ven . . . Benjamin . . . did [his] shareâ⬠(60-61) Because Benjamin did not try to overthrow Napoleon, he allowed Napoleon to become a stronger and more influential dictator on Animal Farm. Had Benjamin not allowed himself to be turned into a follower, he most likely would have been able to prevent the farmââ¬â¢s oppression. More often than not, it is the followers that help to fuel a tyranny: ââ¬Å"Benjamin was watching . . . [silently and] intentlyâ⬠(102). Followers sit, watch, do what they are told, and they listen. While Benjamin may not have agreed with Napoleonââ¬â¢s rulings, he never objected to any of them either. Benjamin is a follower and he always will be, because even though he possesses the qualities of a leader, he doesnââ¬â¢t have the strength, the care, or the willpower to speak up. Benjamin was always quiet soul, but when he lost Boxer, the pain in his heart only intensified. Benjamin tried to save his dear friend before he was sent to the ââ¬Å"knackerââ¬â¢sâ⬠but alas, he wasnââ¬â¢t fast enough: ââ¬Å"Come at once! Theyââ¬â¢re taking Boxer away! â⬠he shouted . . . Sure enough, there was a . . . van, drawn by two horses . . . And Boxerââ¬â¢s stall was empty . . . ââ¬Å"Good-bye, Boxer! â⬠[The animals] chorused . . . ââ¬Å"Fools! Fools! â⬠shouted Benjamin . . . ââ¬Å"Fools! Do you not see what is written on . . . that van? . . . Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer . . . They are taking Boxer to the knackerââ¬â¢s! â⬠. . . But the van was already . . . drawing away from them . . . [And] Boxer was never seen again. After losing Boxer, Benjamin recoiled deeper into his shell of silence. Little did Benjamin realize that if he chose to harness his anger and use it as a tool to fight against Napoleon, he probably would have been victorious. Even though he spoke in a condescending and undermining tone before, after Boxer died, Benjamin chose not to speak at all: ââ¬Å"Only old Benjamin was much the same as ever . . except . . . since Boxerââ¬â¢s death, more morose and taciturn than everâ⬠(128) Benjaminââ¬â¢s growing silence caused him to become a bigger contributor to the loss of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. At this point, he wouldnââ¬â¢t speak up; Benjamin confirmed his spot as a follower and never as anything more. Sometimes si lence is the deadliest weapon. Benjamin proved that by remaining quiet through a time of oppression, one would only be helping to promote a leaderââ¬â¢s totalitarianism. His stubborn silence, his adamancy towards following his orders, and his taciturn attitude after the death of Boxer only stood to show that a follower sometimes can be the strongest contribution to a tyranny. Napoleonââ¬â¢s dictatorship, while strong, would not have been as successful had it not been for his followers. Benjamin and the others, while they may not have realized it, were key attributes needed to lead to the ultimate removal of freedom and equality on Animal Farm. Works Cited Orwell, George. Animal Farm: With Connections. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1999. Print. How to cite Silence Kills, Animal Farm Essay, Essays
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Stress in the Workplace Demands and Constraints
Question: Discuss about theStress in the Workplacefor Demands and Constraints. Answer: Introduction Stress in the workplace has been a present issue in the organizations today. Work can be stressful and it could disrupt an individual the work balance of their life. The stress in the workplace can come from many ways such as being given many tasks, which are demanding, conflicts in the roles. In this report, it examines the causes of the stress in the workplace and the impact it has impacted their well-being. Stress refers to the situation in which individuals who are working encounters demands, constraints and opportunities. Work can be stressful and it could disrupt an individual the work balance of their life. The stress in the workplace can come from many ways such as being given many tasks, which are demanding, conflicts in the roles, ethical dilemmas issues, as well as the interpersonal problems. According to the research that has been done many of the studies have pointed the majority of the stress that individuals suffer nowadays have resulted from a lot of work they have been given to handle as well as the pressure they derive from the workplace. Insight is crucial towards the management of the stress as well as the prevention (Beehr, 2014). The workplace is usually an environment to which there is full of concerns, and the tension is very high. Stress can come from anywhere regardless of the workplace, which may include salary, relationships with other workers, performance at work and even promotion. There has been an alarming incidence of reports on the stress of the employees in the workplace over the last few years and the impact it has brought. This has led the management of the stress to be an important strategy for many of the Australian company. The stress in the workplace survey been undertaken through questionnaires within Australia banking industry between January 31, 2017 to 8 February 2017 among ten adults who are aged above eighteen years and they reside in the Australia who are either employed on the full-time basis, or part-time. Although the majority of the adults are satisfied with their jobs, few cases have been reported of being pleased with the specific such as the opportunities for advancement in their career, recognition of the employees and the flexibility. In the recent, there was the use of random selection technique for the sample size from the area of research of business, which is banking (Dopkeen and DuBois, 2014). The study analysed the stress factor s that are facing workers in Australia and the impact on the organization (Beehr, 2014). There has been a presentation of stress management techniques, which would allow individuals as well as organization to implement. The questionnaires that were used in the were both open headed questions as well as interviews were done. In the research done approximately, fifty-five percent of the employed are happy with their job. Approximately forty five percent of individuals highlighted they have been satisfied from the employer recognizing them. More than half of the employees highlighted that they feel stressed during their workday others said because of the low salary it influenced their stress level at the workplace (punch, 2016). Additionally, employees highlighted that lack of opportunities for the growth as well as advancement, heavy workload, the presence of unrealistic job expectations are long hours in the workplace were some of the stress in the workplace. Nearly two-thirds of the employees who were interviewed highlighted that their employers made some cut because of the recession (punch, 2016). The most common reported reduced companies had made laying of the employees, which was followed by reducing or perhaps eliminating on the bonuses, as well as increasing of their insurance costs. Method The research has been made using the qualitative approach, with the utilization of both descriptive and exploratory case study approach. The data that has been collected is through the structured interview with ten different employees in the banking sector in Australia. The stress in the workplace survey research was carried out through interviews and handing out of questionnaires to individuals who are working in Australia either part-time, and full-time (Di Virgilio, Bova, and Holt, 2015). The results, which were obtained from the research, were weighted based on the age, education, sex, household income as well as region. The samples were usually based on the individuals who were invited to participate in the research through invitation by letter through the email, and no estimates of the theoretical sampling error, which was calculated. After the research the participants they became acquainted with the written questions, and they prepared to express their opinions on the issues of stress in the workplace, the face-to-face interview was appointed. For the topic to become more attractive as well as practical, the interviews were done to the persons who were sampled (Punch, 2016) Most of the knowledge was taken from the interviews; the theme connected with the literature, magazines and from my experience. Most of the respondents stated that stress at work resulted from the interaction of an individual and the working conditions. Nonetheless, the attitude varies depending on the significance of the working environment and the employees personal features. Respondents The effectiveness of an interview depends on how good the respondent respond to a given issue. A good interviewee should be well prepared, has confident, enthusiastic as well as positive in regards to the company and the role, observant and a good listener to what is being said. In this research, I will identify some characteristics that have been exhibited to the interviewees on the investigation carried out (Punch, 2016). Ten respondents were interviewed for the research, five males, and five females. The age of the individuals ranged between twenty-one to forty-five years across the various department of the banking sector who are either part-time or full-time basis. The ethnicity of the respondent was diverse from the whites, blacks and Asian to provide a broad range of cultural background. The occupations of the interviewees ranged from the managers, bank tellers, customer care and the support staff in the banking (Velez, Moradi and Brewster, 2013). The method that was used for recruitment was random sampling to give equal opportunity for the sample size. I found the respondent in Hume Bank in Australia. The bank has over nineteen branches, which serve more than fifty-eight thousand customers in Australia. I recruited the ten individuals from these banks who are in different positions in the various department of the bank. The research was based on the banking sector. Therefore, I identified that I would base the research from this institution. Random sampling was done to get the ten individuals for the research. Questionnaire The research that has been adopted the deductive approach, use of survey strategy, which has been well suited for the approach. Data is required to determine the causes of the stress in the workplace. The purpose of the survey they can help collect the data to a sizeable audience, and it is a cost effective way. The study usually done through a means of the questionnaire that provide a standardized data and thus making it easier for comparison. Additionally owning to the nature of the data for the research there is the use of the statistical analysis technique through the representation of the graphs to identify the causes of the stress in the workplace and the impact it has created. Additionally, to answer the research question, the data was also collected from the use of the theories as well as case studies, which were analysed qualitatively. Procedure The questionnaires have been divided into two sections. The first part of information regards issues on the demographics such as the age, ethnicity, and the tenure in the organization as well as the job role (Velez, Moradi and Brewster, 2013). The section part consists of the questions that are related to the knowledge of the organization, behavior and the use of the knowledge. The data was collected using questionnaire, and it took a period of two weeks. Results The causes of the stress in the workplace usually range from individual problems to the workload, physical working environment, conflicts among the colleagues and the managers. According to the interviewed people they highlighted that they suffered from stress because of the physical working environment and the overload with the tasks they were given. Some of the respondents emphasized that they were not being recognized for the work they did and this demotivated them to work harder (LaMontagne, Keegel, Shann and Noblet, 2015). The management did not look into the matters of the career growth of the employees. Therefore, many were stagnant and still struggling at the same level they were for more than three years. The hypothesis of the research the causes and the impact of the stress in the workplace has been supported from the evident that stress has been caused by the different phenomenon and each aspect depends on of an individual. Discussion Job stress usually has an impact on both men and women although there are some gender differences in a certain degree. In general, women are more likely to experience the physical symptoms such as stress, irritability, and depression. Women are usually more liable to cope with workplace stress with the unhealthy behaviours. The workplace stress imposes a lot as well as far-reaching costs on the workers wellbeing and the profitability of an organization. The stress in the workplace has been growing concern about the current state of the economy, where the workers increasingly facing conditions of the overwork, insecurity of job, lack of the autonomy, and the levels of the jobs satisfaction. The workplace stress has been highlighted as the detrimental impact on the well-being of the workers, or perhaps from arising in the workplace. References Beehr, T.A., 2014. Psychological stress in the workplace (psychology revivals). Routledge. Choi, M.F., Lendai, F., Mulok, M. and Helmi, S., 2015. Relationship between Selected Leadership Style and Employee Stress Level at Workplace. Journal of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, 1(1), pp.11-21. Di Virgilio, F., Bova, N. and Holt, S., 2015. Physical and Psychosocial Sources as Potential Predictors of Job Stress in the Workplace. In Global Enterprise Management (pp. 37-59). Palgrave Macmillan US. Dopkeen, J.C. and DuBois, R., 2014. Stress in the Workplace. LaMontagne, A.D., Keegel, T., Shann, C. and Noblet, A., 2015. Integrating job stress and workplace mental health literacy intervention: Challenges and benefits. In Derailed Organizational Interventions for Stress and Well-Being (pp. 27-35). Springer Netherlands. Punch, R., 2016. Employment and Adults Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Current Status and Experiences of Barriers, Accommodations, and Stress in the Workplace. American Annals of the Deaf, 161(3), pp.384-397. Velez, B.L., Moradi, B. and Brewster, M.E., 2013. Testing the tenets of minority stress theory in workplace contexts. Journal of counseling psychology, 60(4), p.532.
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Social environment Essay Example
Social environment Paper Demographic changes and opinions: Increasingly diverse racial and religious distribution of the population Income People and the environment Increasingly diverse racial and religious distribution of the population Cultural factors; religious beliefs, e. G. There is a negative demand for beef as cow is considered to be holy Subway; Subway will now have 185 hall outlets in the ELK; this was due to a strong demand for their Muslim customers. This is an example of a business changing to meet the needs of customers. Subways re trying to be more socially responsible by stunning their animals first, to appease consumers with strong moral objections. This is important because a study by Forbes showed that 65% of workers would seriously consider leaving their jobs if they worked for a company that harmed the environment. Research has shown that over 88% of consumers think companies should try to achieve their business goals while improving society and the environment. So therefore Subways diverse workforce may provide ideas that a more homogeneous workforce could miss. Also, they might have a greater understanding of markets that may be segmented on these factors. They may also provide more natural links to market opportunities abroad, through linguistic skills, cultural knowledge and knowledge of foreign markets. This can explain why Subway operates in 83 countries, with a rapid rise in sales in Germany, its second most valuable Western European market. Income Income can affect business. A companys products usually appeal to certain income groups. People with lower incomes are more sensitive to price and may prefer purchasing discount products. We will write a custom essay sample on Social environment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Social environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Social environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Supermarkets are experiencing a hanged in market share because of the increase of people with lower incomes and less disposable income who are sensitive to price (elasticity of demand) and a shift in tastes and trends, with cheap foods becoming increasingly in demand. This means that the demand for discount food stores is increasing. Tests; an example of a food store that is experiencing a decrease in market share because people cannot afford Tests foods and prefer bargain stores like Lid. Decos market share over the last 12 weeks (from outhouse) compared to a year ago is down from 29. 6% to 28. 7%. Tests have responded to the threat with hard discounters by launching a price war on milk and other essentials. Tests has cut the price of pant milk to El to match budget chains. People are more aware Of the importance of the environment and becoming green consumers; prefer environmentally-friendly goods which have less impact on the environment e. G. Refer to travel by bus. Cataracts; expanding their recycling programmer to reduce waste minimizing energy consumption and using renewable energy sources Achieve this by developing more environmentally-friendly cups, evaluating store sign and operations to identify ways to reduce the amount of water used, use responsible building materials and energy efficient designs for their stores The changing nature of the ethical environment Moral principles that should underpin decision making. Ethical behavior involves actions and decisions that are seen to be morally correct Ethics are the set of moral values held by an individual or group. An organization may make decision that it believes to be morally right, rather than one that suits the needs of some of its stakeholders. Thus a decision made on ethical grounds might reject the most profitable solution for an organization in favor of one of greater benefit to society. Seibel ethical stances Organizations may take different stances in relation to ethics, including: Viewing shareholders or owners short term interests as their only responsibility Recognizing that well managed relationships with other stakeholders bring long term benefits to shareholders or owners Including the interested and expectations of stakeholders in their mission Taking an ideological approach and placing financial considerations secondary Ethical Codes An instruction from an organization to its employees to indicate how they would react to situat ions relating to moral values The focus of the code will depend on the business concerned. A typical code may include sections on Personal integrity in dealing with suppliers and in handling the firms resources Corporate integrity such as forbidding collusion with competitors and predatory pricing Social responsibility to provide products of genuine value that are honestly promoted Critics believe there is nothing more than public relations exercises Ethical Investment Stock market investment based on a restricted list of firms that are ethically sound Ethical investors do not invest in firms that Finance weapons deals to oppressive governments Make products involving tobacco, fur, animal testing and exploitative farming Do not act responsibly towards the environment or are not good employers Advantages/Disadvantages with Ethical Behavior Reviewing a firms ethical position A number of elements should be considered when reviewing a companys ethical position. Individuals Each person has their own set of personal standards derived from their upbringing educations and background. As they make decisions, their own ideas of what is right and wrong is involved Corporate culture Set of unwritten rules that affect the attitudes and management style of a business. This can affect how employees behave in order to do well at the business Public standards Operate in an environment that affect everything they do and the results they achieve. A public outcry against a particular type of activity will force a business to look at itself and decide if it needs to change. It may also mean other businesses look at themselves as well Competitors A USPS can be built based on emphasizing their ethical stance. Other businesses may then review their operations Ethics, Business Culture and Delegation Organizations have cultures and codes of behavior that affect attitudes, decision making and management style. If there is conflict between the ethical position of the organization and the moral values of the individuals it employs, then delegated decision making may not reflect the ethical position of the organization. The potential of this problem can be minimized if the culture is one which all employees understand and take responsibility for. Changing business cultures is not easy and investment in effective training and communication is important to ensure that all staff behave in an agreed ethical manner. Creating an ethical culture within a business can actually improve motivation and can become part of a wider policy of employee empowerment. Corporate Social Responsibility The duties of an organization towards employees, customers, society and the environment Benefits to Society Problems such as unemployment and pollution are likely to be reduced Quality Of life is likely to be improved Society longer term needs are likely to be considered rather than simply the short term needs of a business Life and business activity will be easier if everyone involved is working together for the common good Simply the right wing to do. Firms have a duty to be concerned with the wider impact of their activities Benefits to Firms Improved financial performance Reduced operating costs due to greater recycling Enhanced brand image and reputation which could bring in more customers, trading partners and makes it easier to attract capital investment Increased sales and customer loyalty Increased ability to attract and retain employees Access to capital Arguments against CARS Efficient use or resources is likely to be reduced if business are restricted by how they can produce and where they can locate which could lead to higher sots and prices Socially responsible policies can be costly to introduce Stakeholders tend to have differing objectives and are therefore unlikely to agree on what is socially responsible behavior Social responsibility may be just a passing fashion and nobody can be sure of the value of firms being socially responsible During a recession the objectives are profit and survival social responsibility doesnt matter here If something is important to society at large it can be argued that the government should pass laws to ensure everybody acts responsibly Just an extension of a firm being market orientated, meaning its only done as the customer wants it Overall, in the long term, CARS could benefit businesses, as the local community may improve in terms of wealth, quality of life and standard of living, meaning the firm could also benefit. Most large firms will produce an ethical code of practice. This will uphold the firms social responsibilities. This might include being environmentally-friendly wherever possible. Cataracts CARS; giving back to the environment Environmental mission statement; Understanding environmental issues and sharing these with staff Striving to ay, sell and use environmentally-friendly products Recognize that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environment future Installing environmental responsibility at a corporate value Example; serve high quality coffee that is ethically traded and responsibly grown. They do this through forest conservation efforts and farmer support centers. Why be ethical Marketing opportunities: A good reputation in relation to environmental issues can act as a positive marketing tool that encourages customers to choose one brand over another. They can also build a loyal customer base through USPS. Financial opportunities: Can actually make it easier to get money off certain banks banks like Cooperative will not lend money to firms with a reputation for damaging the environment. Lower costs through recycling and less waste. Human resources opportunities: Motivation, attract the best workers who want to work for a company with high standards. Poor reputation can damage reputation and the ability to attract high quality applicants Why not be ethical; More expensive to source raw materials, more expensive capital goods to cut pollution, Training workers to be ethical costs money, goings custom from more ruthless competitors Ethics or Public Relations? Public Relations Activities to boost the public profiles Of an organization Public relations usually involves obtaining favorable publicity via the press, television or radio. Unlike advertising, it is not paid for and there is no control over its content. When a business behaves ethically it may be good for PR. It has been suggested that the good PR is the main reason for ethical behavior it can help enhance the image of a business and is likely to generate more goodwill. This in turn will lead to improved sales and may eventually boost he companys share value. Example; Foxing (public relations)(benefits of not being ethical) Criticized for polluting nearby rivers with factory chemicals, black-green water dumped twice a day. Foxing said it is complying with emission standards and bring the factories into full compliance with policies and that other companies within the same industrial park are dumping water into the rivers too. This shows they are stating that their complying with emission standards for public relations because really they dont want to lose their competitive advantage from more ruthless competitors; doing it to save costs, generate reparability quick, keep costs low, keep up with demand etc More evidence that they care more about public relations is that they installed safety nets in some Of its factories and hired counselors to help its workers; not solving underlying problem of suicide so the social responsibility doesnt reflect genuine values, dont care about their staff, only care about deadlines and money. Example Primary: (genuine values) The roof of their factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1000 people. Long-term compensation and support services for the workers and families who were irking in the factory payments end this month ($mm) = High cash outflows so less revenue. They also had building surveys to assess the structural integrity of factories which means they are addressing the underlying problem. However this may not actually affect Primary, this may be cheaper in the long term than paying their staff higher wages; a significant variable cost. This shows that corporate social responsibility is just a form of public relations and a way to back their reputation and offer a method to shut them up. Could be because of public relations?
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Describe How Active Participation Benefits An Individual Essay Example
Describe How Active Participation Benefits An Individual Essay Example Describe How Active Participation Benefits An Individual Essay Describe How Active Participation Benefits An Individual Essay Introduction Recent decennaries have seen a greater accent on service user engagement than had antecedently been the instance ( Beresford, 2001 ) . In the yesteryear, determination devising in societal attention and associated policy development had been led by practicians, politicians and faculty members, with service users and citizens holding minimum say in what services they received and how services were provided ( Beresford, 2001 ) . This survey examines how active engagement of service users has developed over the last 20-30 old ages and how the advancement made in encouraging engagement has benefited persons and the overall quality of service proviso. For the intents of this survey, there is chiefly a focal point on the service user as the person who engages in active engagement although it should be accepted that household members and carers have their ain offprint and sometimes conflicting demands for engagement ( Roulstone et al. , 2006 ) . Service users are described by Beresford ( 2001, p.9 ) as ââ¬Å"people who receive or are eligible to have societal attention servicesâ⬠and it is of import to observe that people can self-identify as a service user. However, active engagement of people outside of the wellness and societal attention sphere will besides be discussed as there is grounds that engagement in community activities can be good to citizens who are non in reception of societal attention services. Policy and Legislation A displacement towards more active engagement has a footing in the policies and statute law introduced under New Labour. Government took a position that greater engagement would be a manner of increasing the figure of citizens who would be active citizens ( Millward, 2005 ) and the Health and Social Care Act 2001 was at the head of widening service user pick and the enablement of people to make up ones mind on their ain services through strategies such as Direct Payments. Other relevant statute law and counsel has included the White PaperOur Health, Our Care Our Say( Department of Health, 2006 ) ;Valuing Peoples( Department of Health, 2001 ) ; theNational Service Framework for Older Peoples( Department of Health, 2001 ) . With specific mention to societal attention,Puting Peoples First( 2007 ) set out a committedness to closer working between cardinal and local authorities, and the wellness and societal attention sectors, aboard better partnership working with service users and carer s. More late, under the Coalition Government audiences such asA vision for societal attention: Capable communities and active citizens( DH, 2010 ) andCaring for our hereafter: Shared aspirations for attention and support( DH, 2011 ) have continued to promote engagement with an outlook that it can assist people to populate healthier and more independent lives. It is apparent from cross-party support that active engagement is something supported across the political spectrum. Engagement is seen as something that encourages better citizenship and it can besides be argued that it offers a signifier of low degree democracy. Engagement is besides something that pulls back direct province intercession in peopleââ¬â¢s lives. What is Active Participation? Active engagement can be defined in a figure of ways and can be related to both persons who are in reception of wellness and societal attention services and those who live independently in the community without service proviso. Definitions such as ââ¬Ëconsultationââ¬â¢ , ââ¬Ëpartnershipââ¬â¢ and ââ¬Ëinvolvementââ¬â¢ are frequently used to explicate engagement ( Roberts, 2002 ) . In societal attention footings engagement might be seen as leting and single to hold control over twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours determinations such as what clip repasts would be taken or when personal attention services would be delivered ; at a more strategic degree, engagement might affect giving a say in how services are commissioned and delivered to a wider group of service users ( Mordey and Crutchfield, 2004 ) . Service user audience groups or local forums for citizens to discourse how services are prioritised and delivered are illustrations of this broader degree of active en gagement. The Social Care Institute for Excellence ( SCIE ) has developed some utile definitions for engagement. It uses the word engagement as being ââ¬Å"to talk about actively working together on a peculiar undertaking or activityâ⬠( SCIE 2004, p.2 ) . It besides sets out a figure of cardinal values and rules which should inform engagement work. These include a belief in citizenship ; the publicity of authorization ; developing a human rights civilization in societal attention ; giving equal precedence to all sentiment ; developing new attacks to engagement ; being inclusive ; and doing it clear what people can and can non be involved in ( SCIE 2004 ) . The concluding point is of import. Active engagement is justly seen as a positive development for service users but there still has to be a line where administrations can do determinations irrespective of service user engagement. Adult safeguarding is an illustration of this, where sometimes determinations may hold to be made without the engagement of an person in order to protect his or her public assistance. However, the nexus between engagement and societal work values is a positive 1. It suggests that engagement is grounded in a committedness to human rights and equality, something that should convey benefits to the persons who take up the chance to take part. SCIE besides draws a differentiation between the different types of engagement that can be found in societal attention, proposing that engagement can run from supplying information and actively listening to serve user positions, to supplying aid or even fiscal support to let people to research or supply services ( SCIE, 2004 ) . Engagement can besides be applied to a scope of service user groups including older people, kids and households, people with disablements and people with drug and intoxicant abuse jobs ( SCIE, 2004 ) . The Personalisation Agenda The personalisation docket in wellness and societal attention has been critical in advancing the thought of active engagement. Personalisation is chiefly a new manner of supplying societal attention support which puts the individual necessitating a service at the Centre of the appraisal procedure and allows persons and their carers a existent say in placing their demands and doing picks about how services will be provided ( Carr, 2010 ) . It recognises that people are persons with diverse strengths and penchants, and aims to authorise people through better proviso of information and protagonism, early intercession to acquire the right support in topographic point and besides recognizing the rights of carers ( SCIE, 2012 ) . Given these purposes of personalisation, one of the cardinal benefits for the person would be holding greater control over services provided and accordingly there being a greater opportunity of the rights services being provided, with positive results. Another car dinal point about personalisation and engagement is that it still has to be facilitated by bureaus and policy shapers. Equally much as people may desire to take part in service bringing or more merely merely in community work, they still require the tools to make so and besides the liberty to do their ain determinations. Benefits of Engagement Greater engagement in how services are delivered can convey a figure of benefits to service users. Active engagement can assist develop more customer/service user-friendly versions of bing services and give persons more say in how their services are run and how they can entree them. Participation gives service users ââ¬â who are besides tax-payers ââ¬â a greater say on how money is spent on services in their country and besides helps persons go co-designers and co-producers of the services that they use ( Leadbetter, 2004 ) . At a wider degree, it can be argued that active engagement allows for self-organization by communities, instead than service proviso being dictated by external bureaus or distant cardinal authorities. Engagement besides supports the development of greater citizenship. Engagement and influence over how public financess are spent can be seen as being an of import portion of the democratic procedure and the construct of citizenship lends itself to ideals of equity and corporate proviso which are embedded in public services. For the person, engagement in public service can increase a sense of civic fond regard and impress on the person what it means to be a member of a democratic society ( Leadbetter, 2004 ) . Engagement and Young Peoples Discussions around personalisation and engagement by and large have an accent on the engagement of grownup service users but active engagement can besides hold a positive impact for immature people who entree societal attention support and services. Legislation and counsel including the Children Act 1989 and the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child have a focal point on the childââ¬â¢s right to take part in determination devising and there are a figure of benefits for both immature people and the administrations that provide services. For immature people, active engagement can assist them derive new accomplishments and experience, develop assurance and influence the determinations that affect their lives. They can develop societal webs and get down to understand how organisations work. Engagement can besides quite merely be merriment for immature people, and it can assist them experience valued and empowered ( Wright et al. , 2005 ) . Active engagement can be peculiarly good for kids and immature people who might be consider as disadvantaged or vulnerable. Groups such as looked after kids, immature wrongdoers, attention departers, immature carers and homosexual and sapphic immature people are easy marginalised and many bureaus tend to direct them instead than prosecute with them. They face a figure of barriers to participation such as a deficiency of motive to prosecute ; misgiving of grownups and a feeling that their positions will non be listened to because of their past experiences ( McNeish, 1999 ) . Research surveies highlight a figure of positives from single engagement undertakings which could be used as a benchmark for future enterprises. In Hampshire for illustration, a Care Action Team ( CAT ) was established bring together members and officer from the County Council to work with people who were in, or had been in attention. Regular meetings to garner the positions of immature people led to a figure of betterments in how services to immature people were delivered. These included development of a new sleepover policy doing it easier for looked after kids to pass the dark with friends ; engagement of immature people in the review of childrenââ¬â¢s places, and a Childrenââ¬â¢s Homes Education Policy which improved the educational support for looked after kids. A more general betterment from the constitution of the CAT was that immature people developed a greater sense of worth and consciousness that they were non entirely in their experiences ( Wright et al. , 2005 ) . For administrations, promoting active engagement by immature people can besides convey betterments to serve bringing. It helps them go more antiphonal to the demands of kids and immature people ; it increases the handiness of administration and makes them more efficient in supplying effectual services ( Wright et al. , 2005 ) . Active Engagement in the Community Active engagement has benefits for society every bit good as the persons involved. We live in a state with an ageing population and many older people have greater outlook of both chance and support from public services in ulterior life. An Audit Commission study ( 2004, p.2 ) stated that ââ¬Å"the displacement in proportion, composing and attitudes of the older age group has profound deductions for public services. We need to get down taking action now to determine things for the betterâ⬠. Active engagement does non merely associate to people who are in demand or reception of societal attention services nevertheless. Engagement in the community can besides profit persons who do non necessitate societal attention proviso. Many older people for illustration, benefit from active engagement in their local communities and authorities surveies have suggested that active engagement is linked to the overall wellbeing of persons ( Audit Commission, 2004 ) . A figure of schemes can be developed to promote independency and engagement for older people. These can include work to back up people guaranting that they have a safe comfy place, and live in a vicinity near to friends and comfortss. Good public conveyance webs allow people to acquire out and about whilst societal and leisure activities promote societal inclusion. Information for older people on how to entree comfortss encourages active engagement as bash healthy life enterprises which help people to remain active and healthy ( Audit Commission, 2004 ) . Active engagement for older people is besides a manner of undertaking the agism that exists in society. Engagement allows people to experience valued and able to dispute stereotypes that older people offer less to society that younger people. Engagement allows them to hold a say in determinations made about them both as persons and as a wider group in society. A Department of Pensions study published in 2009 identified LinkAge Plus ( LAP ) pilots as enterprises which enable older people to go more active in their communities ( Willis and Dalziel, 2009 ) . Schemes to give chances to socialize through societal, leisure and preparation activities help to turn to wider community and societal wells might include over 60s nines supplying activities runing from Tai Chi to adult art categories. Network Centres set up societal webs for older people which improve assurance and wellbeing and the DWP study concludes that people are ââ¬Å"empowered when new or stronger bonds are created between themselves and the community in which they liveâ⬠( Willis and Dalziel, p.45 ) . Other illustrations of active engagement demonstrate older people have an active function in local determination devising and commissioning of services. The Gateshead Older Peopleââ¬â¢s Assembly for illustration was funded to measure the rightness, handiness and effectivity of services for older people in the part. The benefits were double ââ¬â the Assembly allowed a figure of persons the chance to go involved in exciting research and survey activities, whilst the decisions were feedback into local service procurance, guaranting that the positions of the wider population of older people were being heard ( Willis and Dalziel, 2009 ) . Criticisms and Obstacles Whilst most of the grounds points towards active engagement being a positive chance for persons there are some concerns about how it might delivered and that there will be obstructions to existent and effectual active engagement. Some observers suggest that the whole personalisation docket will merely bind up societal workers in outlining support programs and helping with fundss, instead than supplying a more person-centred societal work support, whilst there are besides concerns that the debut of personal budgets will be seized upon by person who have motivations other than the wellbeing of services users ( Needham, 2010 ) . There are besides concerns that personalisation is merely a manner of implementing public sector budget cuts and presenting a degree of consumerism into societal attention for vulnerable people. The accent on persons pull offing their ain fundss could perchance take to fiscal maltreatment or merely people mishandling their personal budgets ( Needham, 2010 ) . Even outside of societal attention, a misanthropic position of promoting people to happen their ain ways of take parting in the community could be that it is merely a manner for the province to retreat from proviso of leisure services and have people fund and pull off them themselves. A concluding concern around active engagement is that it could take to discrimination against vulnerable groups if they were to go more active and seeable in the community. Services users with physical and learning disablement who try to pull off their ain attention in the community may be investigation to physical, emotional or fiscal maltreatment by neighbors and Burton et Al. ( 2012 ) besides suggest that handicapped people seeking to populate ordinary lives in the community, and take parting in community activities, may do some ill will. Decisions The grounds available suggests that engagement is a positive thing. The applies every bit to engagement in service bringing and reappraisal for those in demand of societal attention, and to those in the community who merely wish to stay active members of the community. In societal attention, the personalisation docket and the move towards autonomous support and personal budgets has promoted active engagement. It puts single service users in greater control of what services they receive and allows services user groups to hold a greater say in how services are commissioned and delivered. This benefits persons as it allows them to hold a existent say in how they receive support ; it should besides help the administrations that provide services to develop and better the services that they provide. Similar rules apply in societal attention proviso for kids and immature people, as active engagement allows their voices to be heard and should give determination shapers a better apprehension of what is needed to back up vulnerable immature people It is of import to observe that active engagement in societal attention can be linked into some basic societal attention values. Good societal work pattern should affect seting the person foremost ( SCIE, 2012 ) and enterprises such as personalisation and can assist show a committedness to esteem for the single and self-government. Social workers that encourage active engagement will by and large be showing a person-centred or child-centred attack that will enable an effectual and non-discriminatory relationship with the person that they are seeking to assist. Again, this is farther grounds that active engagement is mostly good to the person. Active engagement for people outside of the societal attention system besides appears to hold a positive consequence on peopleââ¬â¢s lives. It promotes societal inclusion and the grounds suggests that being active in the community promotes well-being and helps people to populate more fulfilling lives. In a modern, democratic society, there is no ground why active engagement should non be platitude. It demonstrates that as a society we value the positions and sentiments of all citizens and that when people need support, they can hold a say in how it is provided, instead than the province merely enforcing a service that may non run into the individualââ¬â¢s need. By promoting more general engagement in society, active engagement besides demonstrates that we value the input of all members of society into the community, irrespective of age or disablement. Cynics might reason that active engagement is a manner for local and cardinal authorities to salvage money and pass the burden for some undertakings back to service users and the local community. Whilst their might be an component of truth in this, the world is that active engagement is mostly a positive development. Many citizens want to take part in determination devising both for themselves and their local communities and the grounds suggests that this engagement produces good results. Bibliography Audit Commission. ( 2004 ) .Older Peoples ââ¬â Independence and Well-being ââ¬â the challenge for public services. London: Audit Commission Publications Beresford, P. ( 2001 ) . Service users, societal policy and the hereafter of public assistance.Critical Social Policy, 21 ( 4 ) : 494ââ¬â512. Burton, J. , Toscano, T. and Zonouzi, M. ( 2012 )Personalisation for Social Workers.Hymen: Open University Press. Department of Health. ( 2001 ) .National Service Framework for Older Peoples.London: TSO Department of Health. ( 2006 ) .Our Health, Our Care Our Say.London: TSO Department of Health. ( 2011 ) .Caring for our hereafter: Shared aspirations for attention and support.London: TSO Leadbetter, M. ( 2004 )Personalisation Through Participation. London: Demonstrations Millward, L. ( 2005 ) . Just because we are amateurs does nt intend we are nt professional : the importance of adept militants in tenant engagement.Public Administration, 83 ( 3 ) : 735ââ¬â751. Needham, S. ( 2011 ) .Personalizing Public Services,Bristol: Policy Imperativeness McNeish, D. ( 1999 ) .From rhetoric to world: Participatory attacks to wellness publicity with immature people.London: Health Education Authority. Mordey, M. A ; Crutchfield, J. ( 2004 ) . User engagement in supported lodging.Housing, Care and Support, 7 ( 1 ) : 7ââ¬â10 Roberts, K. ( 2002 ) . Researching engagement: older people on discharge from infirmary.Journal of Advanced Nursing, 40 ( 4 ) : 413ââ¬â420. Roulstone, A. , Hudson, V. , Kearney, J. , Martin, A. , with A ; Warren, J. ( 2006 ) .Working Together: Carer Participation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. London: Care Institute for Excellence. SCIE ( 2004 )SCIE Participation Strategy[ online ] Available: [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.scie.org.uk/publications/corporate/files/participationstrategy.pdf ] accessed 10ThursdayOctober 2014 SCIE ( 2012 ) .Personalisation: A Rough Guide. [ on-line ] Available: [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide47 ] accessed 10ThursdayOctober 2014 Willis M. and Dalziel, R. ( 2009 )LinkAge Plus: Capacity edifice ââ¬â enabling and authorising older people as independent and active citizens. DWP Research Report 571[ online ] Available: [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/186778/rrep571.pdf ] accessed 9ThursdayOctober Wright, P. , Tirner, C. , Clay, D. and Mills H. ( 2005 )The engagement of kids and immature people in developing societal attention. SCIE Participation Practice Guide 06[ online ] Available: [ hypertext transfer protocol: //www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide11/files/guide11.pdf ] accessed 10ThursdayOctober 2014
Friday, November 22, 2019
Forensic Anthropology - Definition and Examples
Forensic Anthropology s Forensic anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains in the context of crime or medico-legal contexts. It is a fairly new and growing discipline that is made up of several branches of academic disciplines brought together to assist in legal cases involving the death and/or identification of individual people.à Key Takeaways: Forensic Anthropology Forensic anthropology is the scientific study of human skeletal remains in the context of crime or natural disaster.à Forensic anthropologists participate in many different tasks during such investigations, from mapping the crime scene to positively identifying the individual from the skeleton.à Forensic anthropology relies on comparative data housed in donated repositories and digital data banks of information. The primary focus of the profession today is determining the identity of a dead person and the cause and manner of that persons death. That focus can include extracting information about the individuals life and condition at death, as well as identifying characteristics revealed within the skeletal remains. When there is soft body tissue still intact, a specialist known as a forensic pathologist is required.à à History of the Profession The profession of the forensic anthropologist is a relatively recent outgrowth from the broader field of forensic sciences in general. Forensic science is a field which has its roots at the end of the 19th century, but it didnt become a widely practiced professional endeavor until the 1950s. Early anthropologically-minded practitioners such as Wilton Marion Krogman, T.D. Steward, J. Lawrence Angel, and A.M. Brues were pioneers in the field. Sections of the field dedicated to anthropology - the study of human skeletal remains - began in the United States in the 1970s, with the efforts of pioneer forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow.à à Forensic anthropology began with scientists dedicated to determining the big four of any one set of skeletal remains: age at death, sex, ancestry or ethnicity, and stature. Forensic anthropology is an outgrowth of physical anthropology because the first people who attempted to determine the big four from skeletal remains were primarily interested in the growth, nutrition, and demography of past civilizations. Since those days, and largely due to an enormous number and variety of scientific advances, forensic anthropology now includes the study of both the living and the dead. In addition, scholars strive to collect information in the form of databases and human remains repositories, that allow continuing research in the scientific repeatability of forensic anthropological studies.à Major Focus Forensic anthropologists study human remains, with particular respect to the identification of the individual person from those remains. Studies include everything from single homicide cases to mass death scenarios created by terrorist activities such as the World Trade Center on 9/11; mass transit crashes of planes, buses, and trains; and natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, and tsunamis.à Today, forensic anthropologists are involved in a wide range of aspects of crimes and disasters involving human deaths.à Scene of the crime mapping - sometimes known as forensic archaeology, because it involves using archaeological techniques to recover information at crime scenesSearch and recovery of remains - fragmented human remains are difficult for non-specialists to identify in the fieldSpecies identification - mass events often include other life formsPostmortem interval - determining how long ago the death occurredTaphonomy - what kinds of weathering events have affected the remains since the deathTrauma analysis - identifying the cause and manner of deathCraniofacial reconstructions or, more properly, facial approximationsPathologies of the deceased- what kinds of things did the living person suffered fromPositive identification of human remainsà Acting as expert witnesses in court cases Forensic anthropologists also study the living, identifying individual perpetrators from surveillance tapes, determining the age of individuals to define their culpability for their crimes, and determining the age of subadults in confiscated child pornography.à A Wide Range of Toolsà Forensic anthropologists use a wide range of tools in their business, including forensic botany and zoology, chemical and elemental trace analysis, and genetic studies with DNA. For example, determining the age of death can be a matter of synthesizing the results of what an individuals teeth look like - are they fully erupted, how much are they worn - combined with other metrics considering things like the progression of epiphyseal closure, and the centers of ossification - human bones become harder as a person ages. Scientific measurements of bones may be achieved in part by radiography (photo-imaging of the bone), or histology (cutting cross-sections of the bones).à à These measurements are then compared against databases of previous studies of humans of every age, size, and ethnicity. Human remains repositories such as those at the Smithsonian Institution and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History were assembled by scientists in the 19th and early 20th centuries largely without the consent of the culture being collected. They were incredibly important to the early growth of the field.à However, beginning in the 1970s, shifts in political and cultural power in western societies have resulted in the reburial of many of these remains. The older repositories have largely been supplanted by collections of donated remains such as those at the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection, and digital repositories such as the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank, both of which are housed at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.à Significant Studiesà The most publicly visible aspect of forensic anthropology, outside of the wildly popular CSI series of television shows, is the identification of historically important persons. Forensic anthropologists have identified or attempted to identify people such as the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, the 18th-century Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the 15th-century English king Richard III, and the 20th-century U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Early mass projects included identifying the victims of the 1979 DC10 crash in Chicago; and the ongoing investigations into Los Desaparecidos, thousands of missing Argentine dissidents murdered during the Dirty War. Forensic science is not infallible, however. Positive identification of an individual is limited to dental charts, congenital abnormalities, unique features such as previous pathology or trauma, or, best of all, DNA sequencing if the likely identity of the person is known and there are living relatives who are willing to help.à Recent changes in legal issues resulted in the Daubert standard, a rule of evidence for expert witness testimony agreed upon by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 (Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 584-587). This decision affects forensic anthropologists because the theory or techniques that they use to testify in court cases must be generally accepted by the scientific community. In addition, the results must be testable, replicable, reliable, and created by scientifically valid methods developed outside of the current court case.à Sourcesà Anthropologists and Archeologist. Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor 2018. Web.à Blau, Soren, and Christopher A. Briggs. The Role of Forensic Anthropology in Disaster Victim Identification (DVI). Forensic Science International 205.1 (2011): 29-35. Print.Cattaneo, Cristina. Forensic Anthropology: Developments of a Classical Discipline in the New Millennium. Forensic Science International 165.2 (2007): 185-93. Print.Dirkmaat, Dennis C., et al. New Perspectives in Forensic Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137.47 (2008): 33-52. Print.Franklin, Daniel. Forensic Age Estimation in Human Skeletal . Legal Medicine 12.1 (2010): 1-7. Print.Remains: Current Concepts and Future DirectionsYaÃ
Ÿar IÃ
Ÿcan, Mehmet. Rise of Forensic Anthropology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 31.9 (1988): 203-29. Print.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
SOCIETY, IMMIGRATION in United States Movie Review
SOCIETY, IMMIGRATION in United States - Movie Review Example The film introduces Samââ¬â¢s wife, Eva, and then his son Jules and then gradually the whole family. There arise problems for the family as time passes by. Sam and his brothers later get to start their own business selling televisions. The business is a profitable one and lets the businessmen make good money. Television is the newest fad in the market then. The shift from person to person storytelling and newspapers to television marks the transformation in the American society which of course affects the Krichinsky family too. The Jewish family had migrated from Europe and brought with them their old and inherited values and morals without knowing that soon the very things they consider more or less sacred to themselves will be challenged by the American life style. The consumerism of the American family is pictured differently in Avalon as it discusses the early period of development in technology which gave way to the inventions of the television. The emphasis is laid on the fact that the presence of a television set in every American household has caused a serious change in family life, social life and the youth of the country. The family business profits from the television business but it brings with it problems for the Kirchinsky family. The societies are different. The one from which Sam has migrated and the one to which he has willingly migrated. The American dream of prosperity, freedom, justice and equality is beautiful enough to attract people from thousands of miles to the land of opportunity but it does not promise a healthy social and more specifically family life. The Kirchinsky family undergoes several hardships in the new country and finds itself in problems related to the joint family systems. The cultural clash between the Kirchinsky and the Americans signifies the differences between the two when it comes to morals, tolerance and values. The family experiences disagreements, fights and politics when Samââ¬â¢s wife refuses to
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Does aid work If so, where and how If not why Provide a solid and Essay
Does aid work If so, where and how If not why Provide a solid and coherent evidence base to back up your assertion - Essay Example If the event is especially destructive so as to threaten the very social, political, or economic structure of the affected state or country, longer term aid in the form of rehabilitation assistance is provided. In the discussion of whether aid is effective, it would be easy to see that humanitarian aid in the foregoing scenario would certainly seem to. This, however, excludes discourses and debates on whether the distribution of relief aid is effective; as to that, logistics would probably be the most determining factor (Thomas & Kopczak, 2005). The purpose of this report is to determine whether aid itself ââ¬â measured against the purpose for which it is intended ââ¬â is effective. Therefore, I would like to focus the discussion on the other kind of aid where the answer to such a question is somewhat blurred: development aid or what is more formally known as ââ¬Å"overseas development assistanceâ⬠(ODA). ODA is the official aid and according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD (1985), it specifically refers to loans and grants allotted to developing countries provided by the public sector (of mostly developed countries) with the aim of promoting economic development in the recipient country; to be rightfully classified as aid, the funds must be concessional and has a grant element of at least 25%. Aid in this context basically means the rich, developed countries providing the poor Third World with financial assistance so that the latter will have a much better economy. To ext rapolate it from there, the ultimate goal of aid would then be greater global economic equality or at least that is what it is promoting (Therien, 2002). Such an aid as we know it has been around for the past 70 years ââ¬â ever since the United Nations and the World Bank (the recognized forerunners in multilateral aid agency) were
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Legal, social, and economics of Business Essay Example for Free
Legal, social, and economics of Business Essay The scenario in question gives us the portfolio of a person that likes to do things around the home and has come up with an idea that might benefit his/her home and perhaps other homes globally. Another version of this idea already exists on the market but the person believes his invention might further simplify and make the ââ¬Å"applianceâ⬠more user friendly and safer. This person does not have available funds for the project and would therefore have to look to an outsider to complete the task at hand. The inventor has researched the market of the other ââ¬Å"applianceâ⬠and found that it has an annual growth of 2%. He believes this invention could increase that growth because he thinks this invention might be used in many other ââ¬Å"appliancesâ⬠making the product quite versatile and therefore appealing to a wide range of markets. For the person to be able to make a wise decision about how to make his project a reality we look at three types of business, the sole proprietorship, general partnership and corporation, while considering the advantages and disadvantages. After looking thoroughly at these types of businesses, we try to make an informed decision in which type to recommend for the project, keeping in mind all the aspects of the persons ââ¬Å"limitationsâ⬠. These three types of businesses all have their advantages and disadvantages and based on those we determine that general partnership would be the smartest way to proceed, as the persons ââ¬Å"limitationsâ⬠minimize the chances of the two other options succeeding. Let us start by looking at closely at the three business types in question regarding the scenario. Sole proprietorship, a business owned and operated by one person. Advantages: He would be in full control, and accountable to no one but himself. In the case listed this could be good because he could manage his time between his business and the home equally, on the other hand it might also bring difficulties both to the home and business as one might suffer from the other. Managing a business by oneself must be a difficult task. It is easily achievable. The startup of a sole proprietorship would be easy, but does success come from ease? There must be some risks and difficulties involved. Less money to be raised for starting up the business. As written in the scenario, the subject does not have access to large funds, therefore this could be a less financially upsetting way to start. Disadvantages: He would be liable for all the debts of the business personally, there is no limit to his liability. Putting his familyââ¬â¢s financial security at risk might not seem a good idea and hardly appealing to his spouse, but taking a considerable amount of risk would be necessary. He might find it difficult to attain funding. Being an individual with low ââ¬Å"net worthâ⬠banks and other loan facilities might not want to take the chance of lending the money for the project. General partnership, two or more persons whom share monetary responsibilities. Advantages: Growth possibilities. As described in the scenario the idea could be usable with several ââ¬Å"appliancesâ⬠making the project likely to have considerable growth potential in time. Easier to attain funding. If two or more individuals take up partnership it is more likely to be appealing to monetary facilities to fund the project because two individuals are worth more than just one. Both partners are taxed as individuals. Only one level of taxation. Partners are taxed according to their partnership agreement and have full control over how their income is allocated in accordance to their interests as long as there is economic reason. Disadvantages: One person may be liable for all debts. If for example a person would only be letting someone use their name in the partnership agreement, that same person, even if he or she could prove never to have had anything to do with the business itself, could be liable. It is therefore extremely important to have a good, detailed partnership agreement that covers all aspects of the partnership. Conveyance of ownership can be arduous. If for example one of the partners died, the partnership would go to his next of kin or whomever is his or her heir. This could be a problem if that person is not interested in the partnership or for any other reason is unable to uphold the partnership agreement. Corporation, a business where owners have separate status from the business itself and are only financially liable at part. Advantages: The owners are only liable for the funds they bring into the business. There is an exception from this rule, if the incorporation of the company was not ââ¬Å"up to parâ⬠, an owner can be held liable. The business is not reliant on the owners to continue. The board members can easily agree on ââ¬Å"pushingâ⬠an owner out of the corporation, which can be become a reality in this particular scenario if the inventor or initial owner of the corporation does not have a ââ¬Å"bulletproofâ⬠agreement and/or patent of the product of the corporation. If an owner dies or by any other means cannot uphold his status in the corporation it does not affect the corporation itself. Disadvantages: Costly startup. As written before, the subject is not a person of great means. Starting a corporation could be extremely difficult for this person. Rules and regulations. There are different rules and regulations in accordance with where the corporation is incorporated, for the subject it might be a wise decision to incorporate in another state than where he lives, which in turn could make the spouse unhappy for it would obviously make the home life difficult and/or resolve in them having to move the whole family to a new place. The owner as well as the business are taxed separately, making the income double taxed. ââ¬Å"First, a corporation pays income taxes on company profits. Then stockholders pay taxes on their income (in form of dividends) returned by their investments.â⬠( Ebert, R. J., Griffin,R. W. (2011), page 48) To make an informed decision regarding the type of business that best fits the personââ¬â¢s interests, abilities and the product, the first step for the person could be to have the idea assessed. There are several businesses that offer that kind of services and for this particular scenario it might be the best thing to do. From reading the scenario it is apparent that the persons spouse is insecure about the whole affair and by having the idea or invention assessed the inventor could get an experienced professional in this field to assess the product regarding manufacturing possibilities, consumer needs, legal aspects and distribution, before he jumps in ââ¬Å"at the deep endâ⬠and puts his familyââ¬â¢s financial security at risk. Having done that, based on the assessment, he could make an informed decision regarding the business type best suitable. After reading the scenario and studying the business types it would be likely that the best type in this case would be General partnership. That recommendation is based on the fact that the person is low on funding options and taking in consideration the families security, sole proprietorship seems too risky because the person would have to create large debts in the beginning to just produce the product, that is, if any type of monetary company would want to risk lending to the person in the first place. Also by opting for sole proprietorship, all obligations of the business would fall on the person, making the venture potentially minimize family time. Even though sole proprietorship could result in great personal success and money if all went as planned, the initial risk would be too great, especially when taken into consideration the fact that the person has little or no managerial skills. By choosing general partnership, the person could, after having the invention assessed, and perhaps patented the ââ¬Å"applianceâ⬠, make detailed business plan that could be presented to one or more potential business partners with access to large funds and /or good credit, being careful in choosing someone who can bring to the table something that compensates his shortcomings, like his lack of managerial skills. General partnership also divides the risk, making the project more appealing to the persons spouse. By creating a ââ¬Å"bulletproofâ⬠detailed partnership agreement it minimizes the risk of all factors of the disadvantages in general partnership. Choosing the corporation type at this time would not be wise because it requires large funds and could prove too large an undertaking for the person at this point. That however does not mean things cannot change in time.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Of Mice and Men :: essays research papers
During the era of the Great Depression in the 1930ââ¬â¢s, many people lost their jobs and became very lonely. This was around the time when John Steinbeck released his famous book about these ââ¬Å"bindle stiffsâ⬠. The book was called, Of Mice and Men. Loneliness is one of the major themes of this novel. Several of the characters in the book are alone. In this novel, John Steinbeck shows how being alone affects different characters. Each is affected in a different way. Throughout the novel, the theme of loneliness is mostly expressed in the important characters of Candy, Curleyââ¬â¢s wife and Crooks. Candy, the ranch handyman, lost his hand in an accident and worries about his future on the ranch. He fears that his age is making him useless and unwanted. Candy's age and handicap also contribute to his loneliness. Many of the men reject Candy because of these things and he fears that he will eventually come to the same end as his old dog. Candy is crushed by Lennie and George's dream to get their own piece of land and "live off the fatta the lan'". This dream lifted Candy's spirit and only set him up for a bigger disappointment. This made Candy not only a victim of loneliness, but also of disillusionment. He also feels the burden of loneliness and shows it by his relationship with his sheep dog. The dog, being described as ââ¬Å"ancientâ⬠, ââ¬Å"stinkyâ⬠, and ââ¬Å"half-blindâ⬠, had been in Candyââ¬â¢s life and his companion for a very long time and Candy had grown attached to it. He said he, "had him since he was a pup" and he used to &quo t;herd sheep with him." Once the other farmhands had finally gotten fed up with it and stated that the dog needed to be put out of its misery Candy was extremely reluctant to turn it over and let him go. After hearing the shot ring outside, all Candy could do was turn his face towards a wall and not look around. Certainly Candy found this dog to be a loyal companion of his and he had developed a strong relationship with it over the years, which helped him cope with his loneliness on the ranch. Whenever one is taking a deeper look at Of Mice and Men one will probably get a sense of how depressing the ranch really is. These are just a few examples of how different characters dealt with their loneliness. Of Mice and Men :: essays research papers During the era of the Great Depression in the 1930ââ¬â¢s, many people lost their jobs and became very lonely. This was around the time when John Steinbeck released his famous book about these ââ¬Å"bindle stiffsâ⬠. The book was called, Of Mice and Men. Loneliness is one of the major themes of this novel. Several of the characters in the book are alone. In this novel, John Steinbeck shows how being alone affects different characters. Each is affected in a different way. Throughout the novel, the theme of loneliness is mostly expressed in the important characters of Candy, Curleyââ¬â¢s wife and Crooks. Candy, the ranch handyman, lost his hand in an accident and worries about his future on the ranch. He fears that his age is making him useless and unwanted. Candy's age and handicap also contribute to his loneliness. Many of the men reject Candy because of these things and he fears that he will eventually come to the same end as his old dog. Candy is crushed by Lennie and George's dream to get their own piece of land and "live off the fatta the lan'". This dream lifted Candy's spirit and only set him up for a bigger disappointment. This made Candy not only a victim of loneliness, but also of disillusionment. He also feels the burden of loneliness and shows it by his relationship with his sheep dog. The dog, being described as ââ¬Å"ancientâ⬠, ââ¬Å"stinkyâ⬠, and ââ¬Å"half-blindâ⬠, had been in Candyââ¬â¢s life and his companion for a very long time and Candy had grown attached to it. He said he, "had him since he was a pup" and he used to &quo t;herd sheep with him." Once the other farmhands had finally gotten fed up with it and stated that the dog needed to be put out of its misery Candy was extremely reluctant to turn it over and let him go. After hearing the shot ring outside, all Candy could do was turn his face towards a wall and not look around. Certainly Candy found this dog to be a loyal companion of his and he had developed a strong relationship with it over the years, which helped him cope with his loneliness on the ranch. Whenever one is taking a deeper look at Of Mice and Men one will probably get a sense of how depressing the ranch really is. These are just a few examples of how different characters dealt with their loneliness.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Health Write Up Alcohol Essay
Alcohol is one of the most abused drugs in America. It is easily accessible, cheap, and perfectly legal to buy and consume. The way alcohol works is that it enters your bloodstream and moves into the biological membranes in your body. Up to 20% of alcohol consumed is absorbed through your stomach lining and 75% is absorbed in your upper intestine directly into the blood stream. Absorption rate is increased if you mix with carbonation, it is decreased with food, and if you drink higher concentration of alcohol (ie 80 proof or higher) absorption is also slower. The amount of alcohol absorbed along with factors of weight, body fat, sex, and in some cases race all depends on your blood alcohol concentration (or BAC). This is the ratio of alcohol absorbed to the rate of your metabolism. Alcohol is only metabolized through the liver, and cannot be speed up with the use of exercise, drinking coffee, eating certain food, or taking a cold shower. Alcohol has a generally negative impact on health. Chronic use of alcohol will have the user develop sever cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), higher blood pressure, various cancers, and major cognitive impairments, memory loss, including dementia. The constant abuse of alcohol or alcohol dependence will cause people to live shorter lives and they will have withdrawal symptoms when they donââ¬â¢t have a drink for periods of a time. However, there is help very readily available for those who are seeking a change in their drinking habits with many programs of all types.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Corporate Governance Essay
ABSTRACT This paper examines whether the remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer position in Hong Kong public firms is affected by board composition, given the influence of family control on the boards of many Hong Kong companies. It is hypothesized that I) in family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receiver higher compensation and II) Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. In family-controlled boards, corporate governance is of very high importance as the independent non-executive directors can exert less influence over the board, compared to non-family-controlled boards (ââ¬Å"dispersed boardsâ⬠). Keywords: Board composition, Remuneration, Corporate Governance. 1.INTRODUCTION The economic turmoil in Asia in 1997 has led to a wider recognition of the importance of corporate governance. In line with global trends towards higher standards of corporate governance, the duties and liabilities of the directors of the listed companies have therefore become more stringent. It follows that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned and family-controlled firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned and family-controlled firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. For the purposes of the study, family-owned and family-controlled are used interchangeably. The reason is that actual family ownership is difficult to ascertain due to various shareholdings and special purpose vehicles that are used, and cannot be deduced from annual reports. Thus, in this study we classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members as a ââ¬Å"family-controlled boardâ⬠. When it is not, we classify it as a ââ¬Å"dispersed boardâ⬠. In practice, there are instances where the family owns the majority of a company but comprise of a minority of the board, and it is possible that the family is able to exert influence via other avenues, however, this study will not be examining such. Family-owned firms are common throughout Asia. Studies show that, family-owned firms hold more than 20 percent of the equity of listed companies in Asia, and more than 60 percent of the listed companies have connections with family-owned groups (Bebchuk & Fried, 2006). Family-owned businesses represent the predominant form of listed companies in Hong Kong (Standard & Poorââ¬â¢s, 2002). Such family ownership structure implies the strong influence of dominant shareholders and provides limited voice for minority shareholders. Compared to the Anglo-American environment, where ownership blocks are less concentrated but institutional investors are more prevalent, in Hong Kong, there is less of a culture for non-executive directors or minority shareholder activists to challenge. Variations in ownership structure may lead to differences in the nature of agency conflicts, the roles of directors may vary in accordance to the ownership structure. For family-owned firms, Shleifer and Vishny (1997) argue that the primary agency conflict is between a family owner and non-family owners. Meanwhile, for widely held firms, Berle and Means (1932), and, Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that the primary agency conflict is between executives and shareholders. As a consequence, tying remuneration to performance of executives may prove the most efficient way to mitigate this agency conflict. To date, a vast of literatures published in recent years show the growing recognition of influences of family-owned firms and executive remuneration on corporate governance. Many studies have tended to focus on the use of remuneration contracts to align interests of executives with owners in family-owned firms. The rise in executive remuneration in recent years has been the subject of public criticism, which further intensified corporate governance scandals. Therefore, the question whether a correlation exists between remuneration and family-control in board composition at Hong Kong-listed companies. 2.OBJECTIVES In 1994, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited introduced rules that require listed firms to disclose the remuneration of directors. Before 2004, there was no requirement to disclose the names and remuneration of directors (Cheng & Firth, 2005). The Disclosure of Financial Information rule under Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limitedââ¬â¢s Listing Rules was amended on 31 March 2004 to require full disclosure, on an individual and named basis, of directorsââ¬â¢ fees and any other reimbursement or emolument payable to a director. In addition, Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standard 2 requires listed firms to disclose directorsââ¬â¢ share-based remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices forms part of the Listing Rules and came into effect on 1 January 2005. According to the Code on Corporate Governance Practices, Hong Kongââ¬â¢s listed firms should be overseen by an effective board, which should assume responsibility for the leadership and control of the listed firm, and the members of which should be collectively responsible for promoting the success of the firm by directing and supervising its affairs. Directors should make decisions objectively in the best interests of the firm. In regards of remuneration policy for firmsââ¬â¢ directors, the Code on Corporate Governance Practices requires the disclosure of information related to the firmââ¬â¢s directorsââ¬â¢ remuneration policy and other remuneration-related matters. There should be a formal and transparent procedure for setting policy on executive directorsââ¬â¢ remuneration. The Chief Executive Officer, a director in the board of company, will hence have his/her full remuneration disclosed. It is recommended that remuneration should be set at a level sufficient to attract and retain directors of the caliber required to run the company successfully, but companies should avoid paying more than is necessary. However, it is argued that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. In Hong Kong, there are quite a number of listed companies have a high concentration of family ownership. It is common for the top executives of family-owned firms in Hong Kong to be family members. The rise of remuneration of family executives in family-owned firms has been the subject of public criticism. Recognizing this, the purpose of this research is to find out whether there is any relationship between family-board-control of firms and remuneration of Chief Executive Officers. To summarize, this study revolves around the following major objectives. â⬠¢ To test whether there are significant differences in Chief Executive Officersââ¬â¢ remuneration for family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms (specifically firms with family-controlled boards and firms without family-controlled boards); â⬠¢ To find out whether ââ¬Å"Family Chief Executive Officesâ⬠(cases where the Chief Executive Officer are family members of the family-controlled boards) are awarded excessive compensation, compromising standards of corporate governance; â⬠¢ To examine the tenure of Chief Executive Officers for family-controlled firms vs non-family-controlled firms, given that there may be differences in the boardââ¬â¢s ongoing approval and demand of the results delivered by the Chief Executive Office; and â⬠¢ To test whether there are significant differences in corporate governance structure of family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms. 3.LITERATURES REVIEW, HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 3.1 Agency theory It is commonly acknowledged that ownership structure, the basis of corporate governance, is important to the overall performance of firms. While there are a large number of literatures discussing ownership structure, agency theory is frequently cited as a foundation. In modern corporations, the separation of ownership and control leads to agency conflicts that can be alleviated through various corporate governance mechanisms (Fama and Jensen, 1983). As one such mechanism, compensation schemes are designed to provide incentives that align the behavior of agents to act on behalf of principles (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This relationship between executive compensation and firm performance has received considerable attention from the general public and academics. One of the issues in the field of management is the impact of family influence (Mishra et. al., 2001; McConaughy et. al., 1998) and corporate governance on the value of a firm (Khatri et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Black et al., 2003). There are various studies in diverse areas like accounting, economics, finance, law and management have been conducted to study such impact (Mishra et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Blacket al., 2003; Andersen and Reeb, 2003). These studies have resulted in interesting and useful observations. According to Alchian and Demsetz (1972), the principal agent problem comes from hidden action due to asymmetric information. The essence of a firm is that, it permits people to work as a team. It is the cooperation of a team that leads to a firmââ¬â¢s output. Thus, the agency problem inevitably arises in corporate governance. According to Jensen and Meckling (1976), agent problem arises from the conflict of interests between shareholders as the principals and the executives as the agents. Consequently, residual control rights fall into the hands of management instead of the residual cash flow claimants. As a result, the sum of monitoring expenditures be incurred by the principal, bonding expenditures incurred by the agent, and the value of the lost residual borne by the principal are included as the cost of agency. In general, when ownership of a firm becomes more dispersed, the agency problem will be deteriorated due to the inability of the relatively small shareholders to monitor the behavior of management. The monitoring of managers by shareholders is also weakened by free-rider problem. To mitigate the problem of agency, Ang (2000) and Denis and Sarin (1999) suggested the shareholding of management to be increased in order to make the executive a significant claimant. An inverse correlation exists between the dispersed ownership and firm performance (Berle and Means, 1932), because executivesââ¬â¢ interests do not coincide with the interest of shareholders so that corporate resources are not used for the maximization of shareholdersââ¬â¢ wealth. This view has been supported by many scholars. Shleifer and Vishny (1986), McConnell and Servaes (1990), and Zingales (1995) found a strong positive relationship between ownership concentration and corporate performance. In transitional economies, Xu and Wang (1999) and Chen (2001) found a positive relationship between actual firm performance and ownership concentration for a sample of listed Chinese companies. 3.2Ownership Structure It is common in Hong Kong, that ownership structure is characterized by single dominant owners (Chau & Leung, 2006). A report of the Corporate Governance Working Group of the Hong Kong Society of Accountants in 1995 indicated that a high concentration on family-controlled listed firms is highly entrepreneurial and opportunistic in their business strategies, however, the report also indicate that these firms with single dominant owners lack resources and corporate culture to maintain strong internal corporate control. The 2001 Review on Corporate Governance by the Hong Kong Standing Committee for Corporate Law Reform, as well as a report from Standard & Poorââ¬â¢s, indicated that family ownership structures present particular challenges. Theoretically, there is a major puzzle regarding the role of family in large firms (Bertrand & Schoar, 2006; Villalonga & Amit, 2006). In family-controlled firms, threatening factors may negatively influence the firmsââ¬â¢ value (Demstez, 1983; Demstez and Lehn, 1985). Table 1 as below lists positive and negative factors affecting the relationship between family control and firm value. It shows that there is still difference of opinion among researchers on this topic of importance. 3.3ââ¬Å"Familyâ⬠Chief Executive Officers In this study, whether a person belonging to the family acts as a Chief Executive Officer is taken into account. We classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members (ââ¬Å"family-controlled boardâ⬠). When it is not, we classify it as a ââ¬Å"dispersed boardâ⬠. Family Chief Executive Officers have substantial stockholdings of 5 percent or more (Daily & Dollinger, 1993), with such given bargaining power, can be expected to influence the size and structure of their remuneration packages to their own benefit. Thus, for the purposes of this study, Chief Executive Officers with stockholdings of less than 5 percent are not counted as ââ¬Å"Family Chief Executive Officersâ⬠. There are differing opinions on whether such Family Chief Executive Officers have higher or lower remunerations at such family-controlled firms. Some believe that such Family Chief Executive Officers are receiving above-average compensation due to the family-controlled board, as well as their strong ability to influence remuneration committee. Oh the other hand, others take the opposite view and see that Family Chief Executive Officers should be receiving below-average compensation. There is several reasons for this expectation. First of all, both anecdotal (Applegate, 1994; Kets de Vries, 1993) and empirical (Allen & Pamian, 1982; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001; Schulze et al., 2001) evidence suggest that incumbents with family ties to owners enjoy high employment security. As argued by Beehr (1997), the Family Chief Executive Officer inherently plays two overlapping and interdependent roles: a work role as steward of the company, and a non-work role as fulfillment of family obligations. In reciprocity for this role duality, the Family Chief Executive Officer is rewarded with a relatively assured job (Allen & Pamian, 1982; Kets de Vries, 1993; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Moreover, some literatures suggested that evaluators are more likely to make positive performance attributions to employees when there are emotional ties between monitoring and those being judged (Cardy & Dobbins, 1993). It is expected that in family-controlled firms, board members in their role as monitors may be less inclined to attribute disappointing results to the Family Chief Executive Officer, giving the benefit of the doubt to the incumbent when interpreting ambiguous performance data. Agency theory suggests that there are inherent conflicts between shareholders and executives. Applying agency theoryââ¬â¢s logic, the above scenario suggests that in family-controlled firms, risk adverse agents would trade higher job security for lower earnings if they are related to principals. Family Chief Executive Officers mitigate usual agency costs because of their aligned interests with the owners (Anderson & Reeb, 2003). The information asymmetry problem in agency relationships may also be reduced given the close ties between Family Chief Executive Officers and the owners. Since they hold high ownership stakes, Family Chief Executive Officers have sufficient incentives to place family welfare ahead of personal interests, thus may perform better than firms with non-family Chief Executive Officers. Barney (2001) suggested that appointing family members as Chief Executive Officers may be beneficial. Tradition, loyalty, and bonding relationships determine how resources are deployed in family firms. Family Chief Executive Officers build common interests and identities (Habbershon & Williams, 1999) and play a dual role by being both owners and executives (Chang, 2003; Yiu, Bruton, & Lu, 2005). Through social relationships with managers and employees, Family Chief Executive Officers may help to obtain intangible resources such as goal congruence, trust, and social interactions, providing valuable, unique, and hard-to-imitate competitive advantage (Chu, 2011; Liu et al., 2011; Luo & Chung, 2005). The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directorsââ¬â¢ remuneration. Executives in firms controlled by a large shareholder receive more compensation for performance, than executives in firms lacking a controlling owner (Gomez-Mejia et al., 1987). Mehran (1995) examined the relationship between executive remuneration, ownership structure and firm performance. The results indicate that firms, which have more outside directors, have a higher percentage of executive remuneration in equity-based form. Moreover, the percentage of equity-based remuneration is inversely related to the outside directorsââ¬â¢ equity ownership, i.e., the executiveââ¬â¢s equity-based remuneration rose if the outside directorsââ¬â¢ owned less of the company, and vice-versa. Next, Mehran (1995) turned to firm performance, and its relationship to executive remuneration and ownership structure. He used Tobinââ¬â¢s Q and return on assets as measures of firm performance. He found firm performance to be positively related to the percentage of executive remuneration that is equity-based. However, Mehran (1995) no relationship between firm performance and ownership structure. He concluded that the results support the notion that executive remuneration should be tied to firm performance. There is a vast amount of literature on turnover of the Chief Executive Officer position (Furtado and Karan, 1990; Kesner and Sebora, 1994; Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996; Pitcher et al., 2000). However, according to Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996), the relationship between remuneration and turnover has not been subjected to rigorous empirical examination, even given the emphasis on retention as a justification for high remuneration of Chief Executive Officer. The following hypotheses are framed: Hypothesis 1: In family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receive higher compensation. Hypothesis 2: Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. 3.4Board Composition The role of the board is expected to represent shareholders, provide strategic guidance to and effective oversight of management, foster a culture of good governance, and promote a safe and healthy working environment within the company. In accordance to Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rule 3.10, the board of directors is required to have at least three independent non-executive directors. The presence of ââ¬Å"trulyâ⬠independent non-executive directors in the corporate governance regime is seen as one way of mitigating agency problem associated with concentrated family ownership. In family-owned firms, given the influence of family control on the remuneration and performance relationships exists, where the majority of shares are in the hands of family members, under this circumstance, the executive and risk-bearer functions are merged and more of the wealth consequences of the executivesââ¬â¢ decisions are internalized. In other words, there is less separation of ownership and control and thus lowering agency costs, which in turn leads to less cost for monitoring by outside directors. Therefore, firms closely controlled and managed by family members are expected to use lower proportion of outside directors compared with firms with disperse ownership. In widely held firms, with ownership dispersed among many investors, investors are often small and poorly informed to exercise even the control rights they actually have. Moreover, the free-rider problem faced by individual investors makes them uninterested in expending effort to learn about the firms they have financed, or even to participate in the governance (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). As a result, the larger degree of separation of ownership and control in widely held firms leads to greater conflicts. The use of outside directors by widely held firms is expected to be more. 3.5Remuneration Committee In 1999, remuneration committees were uncommon in Hong Kong, with only few firms reporting their existence (Cheng & Firth, 2005). Since 2006, Hong Kong Stock Exchange proposes a rule to require issuers to set up a remuneration committee, with the committee chairman and a majority of the members being Independent Non-executive Directors. In family-owned firms, the positions of the Chief Executive Officer are usually held by family members, who can influence the level of remuneration paid to directors. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directorsââ¬â¢ remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends that the majority of remuneration committee members be Independent Non-executive Directors. The presence of Independent Non-executive Directors on the remuneration committee is supposed to be used as monitoring mechanism that prevents excessive remuneration for executive directors (Basu et al., 2007), including that of the Chief Executive Officer. The role of independent non-executive directors and large institutional shareholders becomes crucial to curtailing the possible self-serving behavior of top managers (HKSA, 2001). Studies of firms in other countries show conflicting results on the relationship between remuneration and remuneration committee. Some findings show that remuneration committees tend to reduce remuneration, whereas others report the opposite (Conyon & Peck, 1998; Ezzamel & Watson, 1998). However, in practice it is highly likely that the Chief Executive Officer has some influence over the compensation decision (Murphy, 1999). An important question relating to the composition of remuneration committee concerns the ideal combination of outsiders and insiders. Insiders may face distorted incentives due to their lack of independence from the Family Chief Executive Officer (Bushman et al., 2004). 3.6 Components of Remuneration The basic components of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer are similar, however, the relative level and weights on the components differ (Abowd and Kaplan, 1999, and Bryan et al., 2006). Generally, remuneration of Chief Executive Officer can be divided into four basic parts: a base salary, an annual bonus which is tied to some accounting measure of company performance, stock options, and long-term incentive plans, such as restricted stock plans and multi-year accounting-based performance plans. â⬠¢ Base salary: is the fixed part of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer, causing risk-averse executives to prefer an increase in base salary rather than an increase in bonuses. Most components of remuneration are specified relative to base salary. â⬠¢ Bonus: in addition to the base salary, most companies offer their executives an annual bonus plan based on a single yearââ¬â¢s performance. The purpose of such bonuses, as well as options, is to align the incentives of the Chief Executive Officer with that of the shareholders. â⬠¢ Stock options: are contracts, which give the owner the right to buy shares at a pre-specified exercise price. Stock options reward stock price appreciation, not total shareholder return, which includes dividends. In this study, stock options are excluded, as full details of such information would not be retrievable from annual reports. â⬠¢ Other forms of compensation: restricted stock to be received by executives, it is restricted in the sense that shares are forfeited under certain conditions, which usually have to do with the longevity of employment. Many companies also have long-term incentive plans in addition to the bonus plans, which are based on annual performance. Top executives routinely participate in supplemental executive retirement plans in addition to the company-wide retirement plans. Most executives have some sort of severance arrangement. Finally, executives often receive benefits in the form of free use of company cars, housing, etc. Based on the various conceptual and empirical evidences presented above, this study aims to understand whether the remuneration of a Family Chief Executive Officer is influenced by the board composition, i.e. whether it is family-controlled or not. This ties into the original Hypothesis 1, thus, the further hypotheses is framed as follows: Hypothesis 3: The higher the proportion of independent non-executive members on the board of directors at family-board-controlled firms, the lower the Chief Executive Officer remuneration.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)