Internal Control System Checklist

Internal Control System Checklist ACC/544 Monday December 03, 2010 Dr. YouKnew Abstract Internal control systems are purposed to aid in managing an array of risks, while monitoring the integrity and reliability of operational and financial data. Internal control systems ensure the proactively of audits, at the same time as serving to ensure that policies and procedures are enforced to protect the company’s financial information, limiting accounting inaccuracies and fraud. The following checklist is a tool to ensure that the objectives of internal control systems are met. Internal Control System ChecklistEthical Governance and Standards Ethical standards are the groundwork for internal control systems, where integrity is the basic principle. Business ethics show characteristics of acceptable business conduct, while ethics in internal control systems ensures that these standards are communicated, executed, reinforced, and monitored. When considering the following checklist for e valuating internal controls, three phases of the control evaluation are also applied. The three phases are understanding, assessment, and testing. I. Ethics & GovernanceYESNOComments Are the ethical standards exemplified by the board of directors?Are ethical standards reviewed with new employees either in orientation or by pamphlet? Are the ethical standards woven into employee evaluations? Are handbooks provided for ongoing review of ethical standards? Is there a process in place to review and correct bad ethical calls? Are ethical standards woven into business standards? Are fraudulent attempts in reporting communicated as intolerable to employees and management? Electronic Data Processing Electronic data processing guarantees against improper human intervention with computer processing and other transactions in a given organization.Computer programs help prevent access to certain information across departments and roles. Within the phases of the control evaluation the auditor wou ld want to ensure that each user completely understands his role and to protect the privacy of information given access. Ongoing assessment should be afforded to help each department head better manage user access and testing to ensure compliance. II. Electronic Data ProcessingYESNOComments Are policies in place to include reference check, security, and termination of employee security measures?Are the duties within the data processing system adequately segregated per role? (such as technical support, software developer, ect. ) Is the Electronic Data Processing system separate and independent from the operating and accounting departments? Is the Electronic Data Processing system such that it prevents duplicate documents from being introduced to the system? Are there adequate controls preventing changes to master files? Are there adequate controls over data entry to include supervision, current instructions, key verification of important fields and self check digits?Financial Reporti ng One of the three distinct objectives of internal control is to meet the responsibility of ensuring that financial statements are reliable. The term reliable involves the preparation of financial statements that are fairly presented in conformity with applicable financial reporting framework employed by management. The system of financial control over financial reporting therefore includes the design and implementation of policies and procedures necessary by managers to provide reasonable assurance that the ompany’s statements are presented in accordance with the basis of accounting. Evaluation of financial reporting within internal control system should place emphasis on testing and assessment. The following checklist addresses some key areas of testing and assessment of internal control of financial reporting. III. Financial ReportingYESNOComments Is the statement of financial position prepared monthly and reviewed by management and the finance committee? Are the responsi bilities for the final review and approval of financial reports segregated from those for the preparation of reports?Are monthly, semi-monthly and annual reports prepared comparing income and expenses with approved budget and reviewed by the management and the finance committee? Did the company employ a char of accounts? Are the tasks for maintaining the general ledger suitably segregated from those for the custody of assets? Is there a written accounting policy and procedural manuals distributed to appropriate personnel? Checklists mainly service as a tool that both managers and auditors can use to review a specific departments internal control and for ongoing purposes also.Checklists should be both drafted and assessments completed by management who are accountable for the business processes. When completing the checklist, simple yes or no responses prove a strong or weak internal control system where additional notes for improvement are observed. Multiple questions are needed to make the proper assessment of a control system. In conclusion, internal control checklists are integrated with control evaluations to provide the best information about the functionality of a system where changes or adjustments can be made.

Catfish and Mandala Essay

Andrew Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala, is on a journey of self-exploration. Family dysfunction, the illusions of the past, and the inability to move forward and find meaning to life when living between two cultures, are all catalysts’ for Pham return Vietnam. Contrary to being welcomed with open arms, Andrew is referred to as Viet-kieu when he is in Vietnam, a derogatory term meaning Vietnamese-American. Vietnamese people feel that the Viet-kieu abandoned everything about their culture when transplanted to America. This is an additional layer to the struggles Andrew faces. Andrew’s life is fractured into many pieces. His family is plagued with deep-seated hostility and trauma that developed long before his birth. From the abuse his father endured as a child and then transferred to his own children, the family decay after the Vietnam War, and the displacement of his family to America, Andrew has no sense of identity. Andrew is troubled with the duality of being Vietnamese and American and feels if he returns to Vietnam he will find meaning for his life. He does not assimilate to either culture and his anxiety grows as he tries to find a place to belong. Pham reminisces on his childhood, and includes deep memories of his other family members as well. The fissure in his family stems from the physical abuse and inability for the entire family to merge the two cultures and adapt together. The damage from the violence moves like a virus through the family, branching off and taking victim after victim. Chi-Minh, Andrew’s transsexual brother, cannot rise above the hardship and kills himself. Through out the book, Andrew goes back and forth giving the reader insight into Chi-Minh conflicts. Andrew never moves past Chi-Minh’s death and writes about his last moments with his brother,† It was my season of unraveling. And his as well. I couldn’t remember all, what he said. Nor what I said. Maybe he wished I’d said something. And I him. Perhaps we should have shared our troubled hearts. But in the end – My long-staying memory – I heard only the wavering catch in his voice† (334). Pham regrets not being able to open his heart to Chi-Minh, and overcome the emotional disconnect of the Vietna mese culture. Chi-Minh struggles to maintain a healthy existence and find life meaning. Sex change aside, Andrew blames the Vietnam War, family dysfunction and abuse, and a forced move to America as reasons for Chi-Minh’s short life and suicide. He draws parallels between his own struggles and Chi-Minh’s inability to create a life in America. The trauma of Chi-Minh’s death is an emotional vehicle for Andrew’s bike journey to Vietnam. As Children, Andrew and Chi were brutally beaten by their father. Even as a teenager, Chi survived a dreadful caning that resulted in her running away. Later, Andrew’s father recants his temper and wishes he could have â€Å"been more like an American father† because â€Å"They know how to cherish their children† (320). Andrew watches his own father struggle with being Vietnamese in an American society. He was use to a father who had a â€Å"survival instinct† and â€Å"refused victimization† (321). His brothers are homosexual, this is a point of embarrassment for Andrews father. Andrew tries to explain how they are successful and happy, but the definition of successful and happy are vastly different in the two countries, with his father being â€Å"Old-World† (321). Andrew realizes his entire family has trouble converging Vietnamese and American cultures and he is not the only victim of the abusive and dysfunctional life. In his preparation to bike across Vietnam and absorb the country that he believes keeps the roots of his existence; he is unaware of the drastic changes since the Vietnam War. Andrew remembers Vietnam through the eyes of a child and the memories are mostly happy and quite biased. Pham’s illusion of the past leads him to an emotional awakening while traveling and he compares current-day Vietnam to a prostitute. Vietnam has been reduced t o poverty in most places. Andrew remarks, â€Å"Saigon was thick with almsfolk, every market, every street corner, maggoty with misshapen men and women hawking their open sores and puss-yellow faces for pennies† (106). Although his description is putrid, Andrew weeps for the poor. Having sympathy for the impoverished is an American way of thinking, and this is a point of shame for his family that he stays with in Vietnam. Crying is seen as weakness in men. The reader sees the internal struggle that continues as Andrew tries to â€Å"be Vietnamese† or to â€Å"be American†. Andrew is repulsed by the cold hearts of his Vietnamese family members, and then ashamed for having ill feelings against his family. Andrew believed he would find his identity with the Vietnamese people and his life would move forward with strong meaning and purpose. Andrew goes through life living for his parents, living for the happiness of others, and in this neglects to find his true self. Before his ride to Vietnam , he rode to Mexico, then through the coast of America, and through Japan for 45 days. His physical journey mimics his stagnant and redundant state. He was wandering, living a superficial life. Andrew held the stress of the first-born son, to make his parents proud. He became an engineer, just as his mother told him he would do when he was four. He acted the role of the â€Å"Good Oriental employee† (25). Andrew recalls, â€Å"My father said ‘Good’ to me twice in my life. I showed him the glowing congratulatory letter from the national honor society†¦and for landing a cushy engineering post at a major airline† (24-25). As he travels, Andrew speaks as an American, and as a Vietnamese man. Chapter two begins with Andrew stating that he is â€Å"Vietnamese-American† (10). He lists out his likes and dislikes, implying that he has a strong sense of self. The reader soon finds out this is superficial. Andrew proclaims all of this to set up where he is now and gives a brief family history of the stark difference of where he came from. When he arrives to Vietnam, he is ready to embrace the culture and be Vietnamese. On the plane Andrew is divided by his feelings toward the Vietnamese as they fight for toys that have spilled, â€Å"Mortified by the Vietnamese’s behavior and equally dismayed that I feel an obligatory connection to them, I sink deeper in to my seat, resentful, ashamed of their incivility† (64). This is the beginning of the conflict Andrew faces about being American yet being from Vietnam. Instead of finding his way, his identity, value for his life, he is engorged with a larger paradox of emotion. Who is Andrew X. Pham? This is the question that Catfish and Mandala tries to answer by using memories and events of the past and journey of the present. A chasm opened in his family when they all integrated into American culture through very unique ways. The family inadvertently makes the journey of self-exploration difficult for each other, with Chi-Minh’s being virtually impossible. Abusive treatment of the children acts as a symptom of the disorder and illusion of self through out the entire family. Andrew writes his memoirs in a rhythmic motion swaying back and forth through past and present, in hopes of finding who he is to be in the future. Andrew is torn between being Vietnamese in America, and American in Vietnam. He is afflicted with living a placid half-life, never socially accepted by either society, and forced to carve his own path and make his own statement of self. From Vietnamese immigrant, to respected engineer, and now famous author and food critic, Andrew has found a way to merge the Vietnamese and American cultures to fit the mold of Andrew X. Pham, the Original. Works Cited Page Pham, Andrew X. Catfish and Mandala. New York: Farrar, Stratus and G, 1999. Print.

Britain is a sexist society Essay

Sexism is prejudice or animosity towards gender, institutionally or personally. The term is most often used for women, but it is generally aimed for all genders. In the United Kingdom, in the past few years 72% of women claimed they got abused due to their workplaces. Compared to 67% in 2002, 72% of women said yes, when asked; if they had ever felt intimidated at work by a fellow employee. Even with these results, 81% of the women said that they would not report these cases to their managers because they would be shy or worried. In addition, they believe that being female harmed their chances of career progression (82%) in 2006, compared to 78% in 2002 because males are the dominant office culture. The main reasons that sexism takes place is because one gender will feel another gender is weaker and not as successful as another. They will feel as if they have not got the ability e. g: workplaces without giving them any chance to prove themselves. This is clearly a stubborn and an ignorant way to treat people. Sexism is certainly taking place in the UK and there are numerous ways, which denotes that sexism does manifest in this country, such as: making prejudice statements and using offensive terms. In addition there was someone paying you less because of gender, this would be sexism. If you make friends and talk to more people based on their personality, this will help fight sexism and also joining anti-sexist campaigns will help the community.

Princess Diana Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Princess Diana - Essay Example The conclusion provides a summary of her life and basic evidences from her existence. This information is supported by proper data and scientific evidences which is relevant nowadays. The method that is used is particularized examination of a literature together with the critical summarizing and personal inferences on the topic. Princess Diana was considered to the incredible woman and fascinating person. This lady provided a great influence in Britain in particular and world in general. She was remained to be the favorite person from the royal family and was excelled by kindness and charity. Lady Di lived a short, but saturated life and left a big mark afterwards. This woman was amazing and beautiful, charming and marvelous, great and famous. Princess of Wales was born on July 1, 1961 in England (Levchuck, 1999, p.6). Formally she did not belong to the royal family; still, both her parents were in connection with the regal origin (Levchuck, 1999, p.6). Diana’s family was rather big, as she had two older sisters and brother who was younger, so she was remained to be the third child in the family of Spenser’s (Levchuck, 1999, p.6). Her full maiden name was regarded as Diana Frances Spencer; also, she was called as Lady Di and Queen of Hearts (Levchuck, 1999, p.6, 21). Diana was responsible and kind girl since her early years and it was worse to mention that after finishing school she made a decision for passing up â€Å"a carefree life of fun with her friends† and started to occupy more serious affairs (Levchuck, 1999, p.6). She wanted to help people; therefore, Diana Spencer worked as a nanny for one family in America and also became a teacher in the kindergarten (Levchuck, 1999, p.6). It should be admitted that this first tries of her devotion to a children were of high importance for her and laid a ground for further development. Her acquaintance with Prince Charles became a changing

Marketing Plan of Skyvision Airlines Research Paper

Marketing Plan of Skyvision Airlines - Research Paper Example As part of business expansion, the Skyvision Airline is planning to enter full service airline operations. As the company is a key player in the industry, it has wider access to a range of potential resources including human and finance and this capability would be assistable for the organization to deal with business expansion activities. In addition, the company has an expert team of aircraft technicians and engineers, and therefore designing full service airlines may not be a difficult task for the firm. The Skyvision Airlines offers additional services including rent a car, hotel accommodation, and other amenities that can be booked online through the company’s website. Executive summary of marketing plan As the company focuses on a full service airline, high income groups would be the main target segments since low and middle class people may depend on low-fare discount carriers. The company will target customers on the basis of their tastes and specifications. Big players in the US airlines industry including Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines are identified to be the potential competitors to Skyvision Airlines. In addition, the increased pressures from lower cost competitors may also raise serious threats to the company. While analyzing the services offered by the company, it seems that the firm has a range of potential advantages over its competitors. Like the most full service airlines, the Skyvision Airlines also operates aircrafts with cabins that have different three classes of services. The company management has budgeted one billion for this service plan implementation. However, the management is willing to raise additional finance if it becomes necessary. The Skyvision Airlines offers its services in economically as well as technologically developed regions to attract more urban customers. The company has a large number of flight services to industrially developing countries like India and China where thousands of people travel by air every day. As the company offers the full service airlines for the first time, it will charge a relatively lower price at initial stages. Stiff competition from low cost competitors also pressurizes the company to reduce its fare margins. The management has decided to raise its price margins once customers are attracted by its service quality. Description of the target market The company mainly plans to focus rich businessmen, business executives, high salaried employees, and other famous personalities including athletes and individuals from film industry. However, the organization will not ignore other classes of people completely as it also provides ordinary cabins. Nowadays women represent nearly fifty percent of nation’s employment sector and therefore it is necessary to target women and men with equal importance. According to IBM, family customers often choose full service airlines as they give first priority to privacy factor; hence, the company will give great emphasis on family customers while framing its promotional strategies. Skyvision Airlines will focus more on people under the age 55, because most of the old aged people are dependent on their younger family members. The firm intends to specifically target businessmen and other famous personalities since they would use airlines services frequently and continue to be the company’

Keeping a Client Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Keeping a Client - Coursework Example Black and that her particular situations will be negotiated in the upcoming months and tailored to her needs (Carrell & Heavrin, 2008). b) I would react to Ms. White’s demand for limiting my time at the site, by presenting to her the amount of work to be covered through the process of negotiation to closing. By letting her know the contents, maybe contained in agreement template in favor of Mr. Black and the time it took through that negotiation, she should appreciate the time needed. c) Ms. White apparent problem here is the fact that she could be facing opposition from establishing a retailer shop. First step is to identify her problem, verify it alongside defining this problem and analyze. After proper analysis has been conducted, then the last process before implementing is to identify an alternative which can have a better outcome than what we have already identified. If the alternative is better, then it means we have to shift to the alternative, but if it is of less value then we have to implement the first option (Carrell & Heavrin, 2008). d) Ms. White has already had a pre-conception about what we are supposed to negotiate hence it might be had to get her out of the situation. But to avoid this situation, I will have to frame her issues differently to her specific needs that are different from that of Mr. Black. I should be able to frame in terms of gains she should be benefitting from particular and unique to her preferred site (Education, 2014). e) As mentioned in (d) above, the benefit is our goal, in comparison to the barriers along the way. The best technique, therefore, in closing this deal with Ms. White is by using problem-solving mediation approach. A conflict is already in existence between us, a problem too exists, due to incompatibility of our interests. So we will assess the conflict and define the differences. In our case, the problem is opposition to her location whiles our conflict, too, is her apparent position of

Managing Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Managing Decision Making - Essay Example David Olsen is one person who had a visionary style of decision making through which he was able to accommodate the views of other workers with a friendly perspective and this contributed to him being liked by many employees. This style enhances transformational leadership (Mintz and DeRouen, 2010, p.47). This is as opposed to Sally Olsen who had a different perspective and a style for decision making which aimed at preserving the company regardless of the facts of the issues that other people could have. Her style of decision making may cause many people to avoid their participation in an organisation’s projects (Speier, Vessey and Valacich, 2003, p.63). Bella Murphy, Ben Simmonds and Archer Wilson are kind of managers that are using a motivator style of decision making; this is indicated by the way they respond to the different things they encounter in the organisation by ensuring that they listen carefully to the people who surround them and having their view and perspectives considered (Verma, 2009, p.37). Through their action, they are able to establish their decisions in a way that ensures that they include the perspectives of others as opposed to Gregory Jones, Madeline Roberts and Charles Morriss who remained resistant to change and never make any consultation. The decision making styles of the three prevented fast progression of the company in attainment of a reliable system of managing funds. Bella uses catalyst style as she motivated the site manager to give their views about â€Å"Trackit† and encouraged them to learn to use it. Ben Simmonds is a person that has indicate a flexible decision making style since he wa s able to decide on ways to assist different people that needed him. This style enables a leader in a management in an organisation to be productive in his or her delivery of services for he has many ways of responding to issues (Coscarelli, 2007, p. 23). In order to enhance participation

Sexuality and Teen Pregnancy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sexuality and Teen Pregnancy - Essay Example I would understand her need for autonomy but would also make her understand that autonomy does not mean engaging in dangerous activities that would risk her future prospects. The concept of teenage pregnancies has always been considered as undesirable in all ages (Holgate, Evans & Yuen, 2006). Actually, the teenagers are pressurized from the society to bring out their sexualities and develop relationships at an age when they have not yet completed their education and are unemployed. Big credit goes to the mass media which has arose feelings of sexuality in teenagers through advertisements and shows that the teenagers see and fantasize ignoring the fact they are too young for it. The sexual urges cover themselves under the name of love and as a result a total demoralization of the society occurs when teenagers make each other sexual objects rather than citizens. Apart from the risk of pregnancy, another important physical issue that is involved in teenage sexual relationship is regard ing the sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS (Talashek, Norr & Dancy, 2003, p.207). It is such a dreadful disease that is not curable, so why should a teenager like Sally take such a big risk? There are mental issues involved in teenage pregnancies too. Getting pregnant would be a total disaster of Sally’s personality if she wanted to step ahead in her educational career. Wilson and Huntington (2006) have discussed in their study how the passing decades have stigmatized the teenage pregnant mothers and what negative social outcomes they suffer from that make them undergo social exclusion and reduced opportunities in education, training and employment.

World view discussion about the flaws of the belief system of the Research Paper

World view discussion about the flaws of the belief system of the Religion of Scientology - Research Paper Example Despite the many negative character traits of the founder, scientology is considered a religion that uses dirty tricks as well as being a killer4. The religion’s fair game practice has attracted many opponents who have been maltreated through propaganda and malice. What’s more, while under the care of Flag Service Organization (FSO)5, which is a branch of the Scientology Church, Lisa McPherson passed on after being neglected on the basis of religion. Every religion should struggle to give life but for religion of scientology that is not the case. Religion of scientology does not only rip off but is also anti-psychiatry. One has to take expensive courses in order to be part of the religion. According to the religion of scientology human beings are spiritual and all that psychology does is to reduce them into robotized and drugged states6. In order to share a gospel of Jesus Christ with a believer of scientology, there is need to invoke the application of existence of human beings and other creatures. It is important to begin by outlining how the world came to be making such a believer to accept the presence of some supernatural powers that led to creation of the earth, heaven, and all that is within the earth. Once the believer is convinced of such existence, it becomes easier to share with him/her the gospel of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the existence of supernatural

Customer Care & Front Office Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Customer Care & Front Office - Essay Example This essay describes different care policies, that provide guidelines against which any hotel employee may measure his or her performance in caring for customers. It insures continuity of quality between visits by the same customers and also across various other hotels owned by the same company and over time. The researcher states that word of mouth is the best advertisement any hotel can hope for, and it costs nothing. By having a set of policies to follow, the company helps employees to remember everything which will make customers feel welcome and valued. Without established policies for customer care, there is room for variance in the quality of that care. Different people, even with training, may not habitually treat the customer with the same quality of care. The researcher then describes different communication types and how these are identified and use to best effect and describes the different types of customers who are likely to pass through a hospitality outlet and their d iffering and specific requirements. The researcher of the essay summarizes the sequence and various stages of the customer cycle and the procedures which occur at each stage. This essay also explains the various financial procedures which occur at various stages of the customer cycle, that begins with first contact with the customer when inquiries are made. In the end, the researcher explains the legal requirements, which may possibly affect the interaction of the guest with staff and uses some examples to present them.

“Little Warrior” by Lucille O’Neal Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Little Warrior† by Lucille O’Neal Essay Lucille O’Neal wrote â€Å" Little Warrior†. The story is about the way Shaquille O’Neal got his name. A young single mother, strict grandparents house, and it was a racist time. A racist time was happening and Martin Luther King was killed. Giving her child a Muslim name with great meaning. Raising a child by yourself is hard to do and she gave her son the best foundations while growing up. The responsibilities and together in order to survive. Andy Greenberg wrote â€Å" A Step Beyond Human† . The story is about Hugh Herr both Herr’s legs were amputated six inches below the knee after a rock climbing trip ended in severe frostbite. His goal to build artificial limbs that are superior to natural ones. He lost both his legs as an adult and a man died saving his life. This Motivated him to help others by creating better prosthetic limbs. Nearly thousand soldiers who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Paralympics athletes will regularly outperform Olympic athletes. May need special disability laws for humans who decline to have their bodies mechanically enhanced, Herr says. The theme of the short story â€Å" Indian Education† by Sherman Alexie is despair, poverty, and alcoholism amongst the lives of the Native American people. In the beginning of his school, he was weak and always bullied and beaten by higher grade students, and punished by his teacher because of his race. As he was growing up, Victor was demanded by his teacher preparing to be a doctor in the future. However, he knew that all Indians had their own dream. Later, he talked more about his life, about how he learn to obey teachers order, his kiss to a white girl, his poor life, death of another Indian and the lost of football his game. At last, he finished his school year with a good ending, but his most of his former classmates learned almost nothing. Victor education was spend in an poor, tragic and full-of-discrimination life, and ended in a numb stoic. He was not the only one, but one among all the Indian tribe whom were called Indians during the past time. I can imagine that it was hard for the O’Neal family during a racist time and Ms. O’Neal was the only provider for the family. I would have been just like Shaquille by obeying my mother and striving for the best. I can’t relate to Hugh Herr awful mishap of loosing both legs. However, I like how he turned a awful accident into a great invention by inventing prosthetic legs. Victor definitely had a hard-life ass a Native American, He had dreams just like many of us today, however we have a greater chance of fulfilling or dreams.

Rage Against Machine Three Rebels Essay Example for Free

Rage Against Machine Three Rebels Essay The protagonists of the novels Emma by Jane Austen, My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain all share a rebellious streak that both serves them well and causes them trouble in their respective novels. However, these protagonists didnt operate with a wild disregard to the rules of their society and times. Rather, all three characters are constrained in the end by the mores of Victorian England, Orthodox Jewish society and 19th century Southern values respectively. Exploring such aspects of Emma, My Name is Asher Lev, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as theme, historical context, and psychological traits, it will be shown that despite Emma Woodhouses disdain for the institution of marriage, Asher Levs living in the two seemingly opposite worlds of art and Jewish society, and Huckelberry Finns lack of respect for social refinement and rules, the three protagonists did not entirely succeed in their goals of living lives that went against the grain of their societies. Emma Woodhouse was described in the pages of Emma as a â€Å" handsome, clever, and rich † (Austen, p. 1, 1816) young woman who was the apple of her doting fathers eye and the mistress of Hartfield, their family estate. Taking credit for the union of her former governess and a Mr. Weston, Emma decided to further hone her â€Å"matchmaking† skills by setting up her friend Harriet Smith with various men of higher social status. This interest in Harriet Smiths marriage prospects directly contradicts Emmas own quest to remain single in a society that offered women only bleak alternatives to marriage. Despite Emmas twin resolves to remain single and find Harriet a suitable mate, Emma eventually caved into the demands that were made on women of high social status when she gets engaged and realized that Harriet marrying a farmer named Robert Martin would forever alter their relationship. Asher Lev, the protagonist of My Name is Asher Lev, had loved to draw ever since he was small. His father, an important figure in the Ladover community, tried to discourage his son from getting too serious about his art while his mother implored Asher to draw pictures that were â€Å"pretty†, an assault to her sons melancholy artistic temperment. Despite reading in an art book that an artist should be free of religion, country, etc, Asher decides that he will try to balance being a devout Jew with being a passionate artist. Under the guidance of Jacob Kahn, a non-practicing Jewish artist, Ashers art and his knowledge flourishes as he explores the use of crucifixes in his work. Asher is uneasy about showing the crucifixion pictures in a show, but he goes through with it, being true to his calling as an artist. The crucifixes ultimately prove to be Asher Levs undoing as he is shunned by his parents and the Ladover community in general. Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is an adolescent boy who enjoys looking for trouble with his friend Tom Sawyer way more than trying to become a civilized boy at the hands of the widow and Miss Watson. After running away from his drunkard father, he decides to travel with Jim, who left Miss Watsons house after he found out that Miss Watson was thinking of selling him. Even though Huckleberry Fin grows attached to Jim, he harbors doubts throughout the story about hiding a runaway slave. He even thinks about turning Jim in before deciding that having a conscience just wasnt worth the mental agony of losing his friend. In the end, the protagonists rebellious act of helping a slave escape his captors prove to be for nothing as Miss Watson, his former master, decides to set him free. All three novels have themes that somehow relate back to rebellion or freedom. In Emma, the protagonist told her friend Harriet Smith that she never intended on getting married, a bold pronouncement in Victorian England. Her reasons are simple: â€Å"Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want; I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husbands house as I am of Hartfield † (Austen, p. 74, 1816) What Emma was saying was that her social status allowed her the freedom to chart her own course throughout life, an option given to few women at the time. Another way that Emma tried to rebel against the social customs of Victorian England was to find her friend Harriet a mate of high social status. Since Harriets bloodline was unknown, most people would have scoffed at a pairing of Harriet with a man like Mr. Elton or Frank Churchill. Mr. Knightley echoes this sentiment when talking to Mrs. Weston: â€Å"Hartfield will only put her out of conceit with all the other places she belongs to. She will grow just refined enough to be uncomfortable with those among whom birth and circumstances have placed her home. † (Austen, p. 31,1816) Freedom is the overarching theme of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. At the beginning and end of the novel, the protagonist yearns to be free from the rules and civilization of 19th century polite Southern society. For a boy that seemed to be hemmed in by clean clothes and spelling lessons, floating on a raft must have seemed like heaven: â€Å"Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft dont. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft. † (Twain, p. 134, 1985) The novel even ends with Huckleberry Finn promising to run away looking for more adventures, claiming that he â€Å"been there before† (Twain, p. 296, 1985) with the civilized life. One of the themes of My Name is Asher Lev is the protagonists struggle between life as a devout Jew and life as an artist dedicated to his craft. This battle is evident on the first page as Asher Lev introduces himself to a reader that is already familiar with his work. In this passage, Asher tears himself apart yet defends himself at the same time, showing uncertainty years later with his decision to show the crucifixes: I am an observant Jew. Yes, of course, observant Jews do not paint crucifixions. As a matter of fact, observant Jews do not paint at all-in the way that I am painting I am a traitor, an apostate, a self-hater, an inflicter of shame upon my family Well, I am none of those things. And yet, in all honesty, I confess that my accusers are not altogether wrong; I am indeed, in some way, all of those things. (Potok, p. 1, 1972) It was established earlier that Emma rebelled against Victorian society by resolving to stay single and fix up her friend Harriet with a man above her social status. As the novel ended with Emmas engagement to Mr. Knightley and Harriets engagement to Robert Martin, Emma realized that rebellion wasnt quite her cup of tea, deciding to let her friendship with Harriet fall to that of social goodwill: â€Å"The intimacy between her and Emma must sink; their friendship must change into a calmer sort of goodwill † (Austen, p. 435, 1816) At the start of the novel, Emma wanted to live her life according to her rules, but by the end became caught up in the social mores of Victorian England. Sharing the psychological trait of rebelliousness with Emma Woodhouse, Huckleberry Finn did everything he could to escape the stifling life of rules and convention, even traveling the length of the Mississippi River with a runaway slave. However, the protagonist almost gave in to social conventions several times when he seriously thought about turning Jim in to the authorities. Huckleberry Finn even wrote a letter to Miss Watson telling her of Jims whereabouts, feeling better afterward. However, as Huckleberry Finn thought of all the things that Jim had done for him, he tears up the letter, saying â€Å"All right, then, Ill go to hell† (Twain, p. 223, 1985) The rebellious streak in Asher Lev started early. Even at a young age, Asher was willing to defend his gift, no matter the situation. For example, when Asher was called into the mashpias office for drawing a sinister picture of the Rebbe, Asher boldly stood up for his art to his disapproving father, something a polite Orthodox Jewish kid did not do in those times: â€Å"Foolishness is something thats stupid Foolishness is something a person shouldnt do. Foolishness is something that brings harm to the world. Foolishness is a waste of time. Please dont call it foolishness any more, Papa. † (Potok, p. 129, 1972) Like Huckleberry Finn, Asher Lev knew how he wanted to live his life at a very young age. Also like Huck Finn, Asher was willing to thwart social conventions in order to communicate this. Despite the rebellious streaks of Emma Woodhouse, Huckleberry Finn, and Asher Lev, the time periods in which the three novels take place largely serve to mute the three protagonists individuality. In Emma, for example, women of her class were expected to be married. Those who didnt were largely seen as pathetic beings on which to take pity. The character of Miss Bates was presented as a ridiculous character, seen as a clown-like figure by Emma and others, and seen as an object of sympathy such characters as Mr. Knightley. Even Harriet Smith saw Miss Bates as someone to be pitied. However, Emma, Harriet, and even Jane Fairfax, thought to be doomed to a governess position, escaped Miss Bates fate by marrying according to the social customs of Victorian England. Rebellious in her youth, Emma realizes the â€Å"error† of her ways and did her womanly duty. The vile tradition of slavery provided a subtle color to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Yes, the protagonist became close friends with a runaway slave. However, it was obvious that Huckleberry Finn was conflicted about this friendship. One example of this conflict occurred when the protagonist meets his friend Tom Sawyer , who was on his way to visit relatives. When Tom suggests that they steal Jim away from the Phelps farm, Huckleberry Finn is flabbergasted: â€Å"Well, I let go all holts, then, like I was shot. It was the most astonishing speech I had ever heard-and Im bound to say Tom Sawyer fell, considerable, in my estimation. † (Twain, p. 235, 1985) In other words, it was ok for Jim to travel with Huck when they were in no danger of getting caught. Once caught, Jim was no longer Hucks problem. He was even surprised that anyone would go to the trouble of breaking the law to help a slave escape. Huckleberry Finn wasnt a bad person. He was just a victim of pre-Civil War America. Growing up an Orthodox Jew who was also a gifted artist in the mid 20th century was a unique situation for Asher Lev. Throughout My Name is Asher Lev, the protagonist had tried valiantly to combine being a devout Jew with being an even more devout artist. He observed the Jewish faith despite studying under a non-practicing Jewish artist and living in Europe for a while. At the end, something had to give in Ashers struggle between Judaism and art, and it ended up being his place in the Ladover community. As Asher walked down the street after the Rebbe cast him out of the community, he contemplates his life thus far: â€Å"I was demonic and devine Asher Lev was the child of the Master of the Universe and the Other Side. Asher Lev paints good pictures and hurts people he loves. † (Potok, 367, 1972) From this passage, one can see how Asher Lev wondered whether the sacrifice was actually worth the love of his parents and his community. The protagonists of Emma, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and My Name is Asher Lev all sought to do things that were not really done in their times. Emma Woodhouse sought to raise the social status of her friend by marriage while remaining single herself in a time when both acts were looked down upon. Huckleberry Finn wanted to escape civilization while bringing along a runaway slave for company. Asher Lev wanted to combine the life of faith with the life of art in a time when no one would even think about the two concepts together. Ultimately, the times of the three rebel protagonists proved to be too much, dulling their mutinous acts.

Microsofts Stakeholder Analysis

Microsofts Stakeholder Analysis MICROSOFT CORPORATION Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. The company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on 4th April 1975 to develop and Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office suite, and Internet Explorer web browser. Its flagship hardware products are Xbox game consoleand the Microsoft Surface series of tablets. It is the worlds largest software maker measured by revenues. 1.1THE OBJECTIVES This assignment is going to discuss about Microsoft Corporation stakeholders interests either in conflict or coincide, the mapping exercise and with analysis. Also the Porter’s Five Forces Model on Microsoft relating to competitions among the operators in the same industry and the approach this company adopted on its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how the approach has been of competitive advantage to the organization. 2.0STAKEHOLDERS A stakeholder is anybody or group that has interest in a project or enterprise who could directly be affected by business operations or its outcomes. They can either be internal or external stakeholders as listed below (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2011):- (A).Those that are mostly affected by the business operations and outcomes are the investors, the customers, employees, suppliers and communities at large. According to (R. Edward Freeman, 1984) (B).Those who guide and influence the organization in carrying out the business specifically the government, regulatory authorities, non-governmental organizations and civil societies and the industry organization. According to (Archie B.Carroll, 1991). FIG.1: MICROSOFT CITIZENSHIP REPORT 2013 PG. 7 Microsoft recognizes its bigger responsibility in developing and sustaining relationships with diverse stakeholder groups, both internal and external to the organization. According to Microsoft Citizenship report 2013, stakeholders are categorized into two groups: those who are directly affected by the business operations and outcomes (namely, investors, customers, employees, suppliers, and the community at large) and those who guide and influence us in carrying out our business (specifically, government and regulatory agencies, non-government and civil society groups and industry organization). Investors Pursuant to the Corporate Governance (CG) Manual, it is the duty of the Board to promote and uphold stockholders’ rights such as the right to vote, pre-emptive right, right to timely receive relevant information, right to dividends and the appraisal right. The Board shall ensure that the company remains faithful to its undertaking to make timely disclosures of material information and transactions that could potentially affect the market price of the company’s shares. Customers Customers are important stakeholders at Microsoft Corporation because they are driven force of sales and revenue generation. Organization must provide products that are of high quality and at affordable price. Microsoft continually strives to satisfy its customers’ expectations and concerns regarding quality of service. They commit us to continually improve the way they do things to better serve their customers. Employees Microsoft is committed to the development and welfare of its employees. As the Company sustains its efforts in building a high performance culture to fully respond to the requirements of the new business environment, employees are continuously trained and developed to enable them to achieve excellent performance founded on our Corporate Mission. All employees are required to attend a 5-day training a year which is monitored on a monthly basis. Career development programs are implemented to ensure professional growth through skills and job enrichment opportunities, learning and development programs, performance management and promotion systems. Yearly employees are mandated to go for a 5-day mandatory training requirement. The training of employees are based on the competencies which are analyzed and evaluated every year to ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to handle the job. Each employee has its yearly Training Plan to address the gap on the competencies. Employees are compensated based on performance and over-all qualifications. Adequate provisions for medical, health and other essential benefits; and workplace safety are provided to promote employee welfare and well-being. Uprightness and impartiality are observed in conflict resolution. Human Resource (HR) Programs for the employees are continuously reviewed and enhanced to ensure their overall effectiveness and responsiveness. The Company is further committed in sustaining and/or further enhancing the high level of engagement of employees. Guided by the results of an employee engagement survey conducted, focused and deliberate initiatives are undertaken to help ensure employee job satisfaction and motivation. Employee communication is strengthened to keep employees well-informed on significant developments. Employees are likewise encouraged to give feedback and suggestions to Management to further improve on the yearly corporate governance, corporate and operational performance, thereby promoting employee accountability and empowerment. Commendations are given to employees who show exemplary customer service through published emails and the President’s Awards which go with a cash prize to employees who meet the criteria of Customer Service Award, Great Idea Award and Quality Award. Communities Beyond the confines of our boardroom and corporate walls, Microsoft embarks on initiatives to help improve the lives of people in the communities. They do this by embedding corporate social responsibility in its business and engaging her employees through volunteerism initiatives. As a responsible corporate citizen, they contribute to building a sustainable society in partnership with non-government organizations, government institutions, and other civic organizations on projects that promote entrepreneurship, education and the environment. In line with this, Microsoft continued to build on the employee-driven volunteer program, â€Å"Save a Soul for Better Tomorrow: The Boys Town Orphanage in Pasay is one of the most successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) endeavors of Microsoft. In December 2012, Microsoft instituted a donation drive among its employees and business partners in support of the relief efforts for Typhoon Pablo victims in Eastern Mindanao. Suppliers Microsoft aspires to maintain mutually beneficial relationships only with suppliers that uphold fairness, accountability, integrity and transparency in their own businesses. Microsoft is using the list of accredited suppliers of Microsoft which serve the requirements of Microsoft, from capital expenditures to operating expenditure items, as well as service requirements. Suppliers are required to undergo stringent accreditation process before they are authorized to do business with Microsoft. Among the criteria used for accreditation are legitimacy of operations, capacity for continuous business operations, quality and prices for goods and services, track record, compliance with regulatory bodies and transparency in relationship. Microsoft purchases, as a general rule, are made on the basis of competitive bidding through accredited and qualified suppliers. Environment As for the environmental responsibility starts from within Microsoft by adopting policies, standards and practices to make our workplace, not just a conducive environment for work, but a place that works toward the betterment of the environment as well. FIG. 2: THE MICROSOFT STAKEHOLDER MAPPING This is a tool of analysis that is use to analyze the level of interest of different types of stakeholders in an organization or in a project. It helps manager to prioritize various opinions, influences and interest to go into any project or business. It will display each stakeholder group interest in a particular project that can influence it either positively or negatively. Different stakeholder groups have different commitment and expectation from the organization, in which the manager has to meet and any conflict should be resolved amicably or diplomatically for the smooth running of the organization and if their opinion is the same, the better for the organization. 3.0 POTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL ON MICROSOFT CORPORATION fig. 3: PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL ON MICROSOFT CORPORATION (www.doughtycentre.info adapted from core values for the practice of public participation by the international association for public participation – pg.12) This model consists of five threats, which will be outlined and applied to Microsoft’s current situation below: 3.1.THREAT OF NEW ENTRY The threat of entry for Microsoft is relatively low for all of their divisions. In the personal computing business, they have a strong hold of the majority share of operating systems that are used by consumers. Currently, there is really only one main competitor with any real market share, which would be Apple and the Max OS Open source projects such as Linux do not currently pose much of a threat because it is much more of a tech niche market. Creating an OS can take years and requires expansive knowledge of computing. Microsoft has been building off of their knowledge from old versions of their OS’s for years. In this company, all voiced consumer interests and demands are being filled. There would be very little that a new firm could do to differentiate a new gaming console from anything this company currently do or will do with the next generation. It has also been producing these systems long enough to understand how to minimize its costs with the components they choose, leaving little chance for cost advantage. 3.2.THREAT OF RIVALRY The threat of rivalry is relatively low for Microsoft. From an operating system standpoint, there are not many competitors who make operating systems. Because of this, Microsoft does not feel that they need to constantly be surveying a large amount of companies to see what price or sales trends are occurring. Prices are rather static because of this. The only type of differentiation created between operating systems is what software it can run. However, the numbers of software packages that are only available on one platform are getting smaller every year. One thing to mention would be that Windows can be installed on Apple hardware, while Mac OS X cannot be installed on a large majority of non-Apple products (with the exception of building a Mackintosh which would require more knowledge than most casual computer users have.)However, the gaming division of Microsoft is under a high threat of rivalry from Nintendo and Sony. It is standard practice to make large price cuts to game consoles every six to twelve months as production costs decrease, and there is a constant â€Å"console war† going on. As soon as a console is released, a new one begins RD. 3.3.THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES Microsoft’s gaming division has a moderately high threat of substitute. I say this because there are two gaming audiences: casual and hardcore. A hardcore gamer will likely own multiple consoles to make sure they get to play every game they want to due to exclusive titles on separate consoles. This group would likely not contribute to a threat of substitute. However, casual gamers will easily substitute for a Nintendo or Sony console, or even just buy a few games on their smart phone. While Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offers many other services (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Last.fm, etc.) these services could be found elsewhere if someone is not interested in the games available on the console. 3.4.THREAT OF POWERFUL SUPPLIERS For both Windows and the Xbox 360, there is a relatively low threat of powerful suppliers. All of the resources that would need to be supplied to Microsoft by outside suppliers are available from a large number of firms. Blank media, circuit boards, processors, etc. are not in short supply in any way. Given the size and brand recognition that Microsoft has and the number of other suppliers available, many suppliers know they would have to offer a good price in order to work with them. None of the items supplied are necessarily unique, and the very few times that a supplier has tried to enter a videogame market through forward vertical integration, it has not gone very well. The only threat a supplier could hold is that the physical items needed by Microsoft are used in a wide variety of electronics. Memory chips, processors, hard drives, DVDs, capacitors, circuit boards, etc. are all used in everything now. However, a large number of game consoles have been sold by Microsoft (66 million units as of 1/9/2012.).This would suggest that the components inside each console would pass as a decent side of a supplier’s business. 3.5.THREAT OF POWERFUL BUYERS Microsoft has had deals with almost every major PC company (buyers in this instance) to include a copy of the latest Windows version as part of the cost of a pre-built PC. This has become expected from people buying non-Apple computers and if a buyer was to decide not to include this, it would probably lead to negative repercussions. There is room for tablets and some netbooks to run versions of IOS or Android OSs, but when some laptop manufacturers tried to switch from Windows being preinstalled to Linux, it did not fare well. The cost of having Windows included is also not a large amount of the cost of the computer, so it does not carry that much weight for the company building the machine. These attributes lead to a low threat from buyers.From a game console standpoint, the threat from buyers is low as well. The console gaming market is a multi-billion dollar industry and there are a large number of retailers who stock Xbox 360s. There is enough of an economic profit from consoles and associated merchandise to validate whole stores dedicated to just selling these items. The possibility of a retailer attempting to develop and distribute their own console is incredibly unlikely due to the cost and barriers. 4.0MICROSOFT – CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY {CSR} FIG.4: MICROSOFT – CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY {CSR} (http://www.businessrespect.net/definition.php by Mallen Baker) Compared to just a decade ago, it is now common for business people to talk about social responsibility and the importance of being good corporate citizens. Many business leaders today consider it critical to engage with shareholders, the communities in which their companies operate, and others affected by and interested in what they do. The diverse activities needed to respond to these expanded duties are widely referred to by the catchall phrase corporate social responsibility. It incorporates a host of concepts and practices, including the necessity for adequate corporate governance structures, the implementation of workplace safety standards, the adoption of environmentally sustainable procedures, and philanthropy. Take Microsoft CSR for example: -According to Microsoft 2013 Citizen Report,the company embarked on various CSR programs some of which are listed below: 4.1.GOVERNMENTS: Microsoft Corporation is working with community-based organizations and NGOs in China to increase employment opportunities for unskilled migrant workers, partnering with law enforcement officials in Canada to develop a customized system that helps police fight computer-facilitated crimes against children, collaborating in Latin America with the Organization of American States and its affiliate The Trust for the Americas to help people with disabilities gain the skills they need to start their own businesses and find employment, or working with leading companies and community organizations in Europe on a grants program to help small and medium sized enterprises improve productivity through technology, their commitment is the same: to make it possible for people to use technology to improve their lives. â€Å"Partnership and collaboration are at the center of how we do business, and that’s also how we work with governments and NGOs. It’s central to our commitment to provide leadership in our industry, to create a safe and secure computing environment, and to advance a worldwide knowledge economy that creates possibilities for hundreds of millions of people previously underserved by technology.† (Steven A. Ballmer Chief Executive Officer in the Microsoft 2013 citizen report). 4.2.CUSTOMERS: As an industry leader, Microsoft recognizes its responsibility to help make the Internet safer and computing more secure. Their ultimate goal is to help create an environment in which adults, children, businesses, and other organizations can enjoy the full benefits of the Internet without concerns about their safety, privacy, or security. Meanwhile, they continue to work toward that goal with the help of government, industry, and law enforcement partners worldwide, and to help consumers and their customers understand what they can do to protect themselves and their systems. Microsoft has done a lot to improve product quality and engineering excellence over the last few years. Every year, 15,000 Microsoft developers, testers, and program managers attend mandatory training on how to write more secure code. They have also integrated security into their software development process. The results have been a significant decrease in the number of security bulletins issued for products like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and a significant increase in the security of their esteemed customers’ systems. 4.3.LOCALCOMMUNITIES: Microsoft Local Language Program: This provides people access to technology in a familiar language while respecting linguistic and cultural distinctions. The program aims to empower individuals in local communities to create economic opportunities, build IT skills, enhance education outcomes, and sustain their local language and culture. 4.4.EMPLOYEES: Microsoft is widely recognized as a leading company for offering one of the strongest and most comprehensive compensation and benefits packages in the US. They start with competitive pay, bonuses, and stock awards to eligible employees based on individual performance. Then they add on unique offerings that might surprise you. Here’s a bird’s-eye view: Leading health wellness care: Medical hospitalization: Industry-leading health coverage, more than many other companies offer. Vision care: one annual eye exam and reimbursement for one pair of glasses or contacts per calendar year. 24 – hours health line: receive useful, easy – to –understand information and so much more, including life insurance, disability insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, group legal coverage, dependent and healthcare flexible spending accounts, office ergonomics’ support etc. You can notice that the company is trying to create a good environment at the office by providing all the staff with good conditions to work and develop themselves. I now recall the word of Jack Welch that says: â€Å"The recognition of the contribution of each employee, recognition for each employee the right to have a voice and a role in the success of the company – is the source of true performance. The source from which it can improve not gradually, but significantly† CONCLUSION In conclusion, Microsoft being the foremost organization in the information and technology industry worked at its humble beginning in 1975 by Mr. Bill Gates and his youth mate Mr. Paul Allen which has a rapid growth history and finally became a public quoted company in 1986 and have since remained dominant in the IT industry and is affecting people’s life all over the world positively with business partners globally and also providing aids and rescue services on emergencies through its corporate social responsibility programs and can be regarded as employer of first choice REFERENCES CSR Report. (2012). Microsoft Release 2012 Citizenship Report. Retrieved on February 9, 2012 from http://www.csrwire.com/report/1272/-Microsoft-Release-2012-Citizenship-Report.html Andrews, K.R. (1971), the Concept of Corporate Strategy, Dow-Jones Irwin, Homewood, IL. Blomback, A. Wigren, C. (2009), Challenging the importance of Size as determinant for CSR activities; Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal Vol. 20 No. 3 PP. 255-270; Carlisle, Y.M. and Faulkner, D.O. (2004), Corporate social responsibility: a stages framework, European Business Journal, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 143-52. Carroll, A.B. (1991), The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders, Business Horizons, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 39-48. http://www.businessrespect.net/definition.php by Mallen Baker http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/ Carroll, A.B. (1999), Corporate social responsibility Garriga, E. and Mele, D. (2004), Corporate social responsibility theories: mapping the territory, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 53, pp. 51-71. Gyves, S. OHiggins, E. (2008), Corporate Social Responsibility: An avenue for sustainable benefit for society and the firm? Society Business Review Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 207-223; Henderson, D. (2005), The role of business in the world today, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 17, pp. 30-2. Hirschland, M. (2005), Taking the Temperature of CSR Leaders, Business for Social Responsibility, San Francisco, CA. http://www.codeproject.com Karnani, A. (2010). The case Against Corporate Social Responsibility. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on February 9, 2013 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100.html www.doughtycentre .info – adapted from core values for the practice of public participation by the international associationfor public participation – pg.12 David Thompson. Help employees achieve a work/life balance//URL: http://goo.gl/4Fdh3.28.01.2013. 1

Free Essays - Religious Motifs in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein :: Frankenstein essays

Religious Motifs in Frankenstein Upon completion of this novel, a clearly prevalent and outstanding motif is that of religion and biblical reference. The frequent references to religion come in varied forms from that of biblical role-playing, to that of the fate of our current society. Another related argument that occurs can be the relationship of biblical role-playing and character domination. When all are combined appropriately, a very strong and prominent key motif in this novel is produced. Mary Shelley might have used religion reference as a method of showing us how something that happened during the creation of the earth can be related and brought to us via modern day fantasy creations. It is important for us to realize this connection because it will help us to understand an important deeper meaning of this work. The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farf etched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein. Free Essays - Religious Motifs in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein :: Frankenstein essays Religious Motifs in Frankenstein Upon completion of this novel, a clearly prevalent and outstanding motif is that of religion and biblical reference. The frequent references to religion come in varied forms from that of biblical role-playing, to that of the fate of our current society. Another related argument that occurs can be the relationship of biblical role-playing and character domination. When all are combined appropriately, a very strong and prominent key motif in this novel is produced. Mary Shelley might have used religion reference as a method of showing us how something that happened during the creation of the earth can be related and brought to us via modern day fantasy creations. It is important for us to realize this connection because it will help us to understand an important deeper meaning of this work. The most important religious comparison in Frankenstein, are the outstanding similarities between Victor as God and the monster as Lucifer. This idea is proven by the monster in the quote where he states, " I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed." Broken down, this quote shows us that the monster feels that he is the neglected creation and that he has been created to be unhappy, although he has committed no wrongdoing, and he doesn't deserve to be mistreated by society. As it goes in the bible, God created Lucifer as the most brilliant and beautiful angel in the sky with good intentions, but Lucifer turned his back on his creator and began a notorious streak of evil as the "malignant devil." Now if the role of God is switched with that of Victor, and the role of Lucifer is switched with that of the monster, the story is retold in almost the same context. Now to prove that this is not just farf etched speculation, the monster even says in his quote that he ought to be Adam, God's successful creation, rather than the fallen angel (Lucifer). Among other quotes in which the monster deigns Victor as [his] creator, this is a powerful novel reference and this quote beautifully shows the direct motif of religious role-playing in Frankenstein.

Physics of Baseball :: physics sport sports baseball

Missing Figures Baseball is a fascinating sport that is exceptionally fun to play. This assignment is all about understanding the physics of a few key aspects of this sport. One might ask what physics could have to do with baseball? Like most sports baseball involves physical motion. Baseball encompasses all three planes of motion through throwing, hitting, and fielding. All of the classical laws of mechanics can be applied to understand the physics of this game. Baseball is not a difficult game to comprehend, but it can a very long time to achieve a high level of performance. Usually one starts playing this game at a very young age and the first thing they start out with is throwing. Throwing a baseball involves exploiting all major muscle groups in the body to generate a large torque on the arm that will in turn create a high potential for speed when it is released. Throwing Throwing is a fairly natural activity for a person. Everyone at some point in time has thrown some object at a person. In baseball throwing becomes an art. Throwing a baseball is a relatively easy task, but throwing it accurately and with a high speed is difficult. People who play this sport spend a very long time perfecting their throw. When one throws a baseball properly they are using there entire body to generate a large force to propel the baseball. A general throwing position starts with a person rotated 90 degrees from there target with there throwing arm 180 degrees from the target and parallel to the ground. The person then starts rotating their body back towards their target while there throwing arm starts bending until it is almost 90 degrees to their elbow, while the arm is bending at the elbow the throwing arm is rotating such that the arm rotates back almost 180 degrees from the target. Meanwhile the person is leaping forward with the leg that was initially pointed at the target while there other leg is planted into the ground. The person is bending at their waist and the other arm is rotating into their body. Around the point where the driving leg strikes the ground the throwing arm is rotating foreword at a tremendous angular speed and the person lets go of the ball. At the point where the ball is let go the persons body pulls the planted leg forward and the throwing arm finishes its motion towards the driving leg.

bioremediation of explosive contaminated soil :: essays research papers

Bioremediation of explosive contaminated soil â€Å"It has been estimated that there are thousands of explosives-contaminated sites within the United States, and even a greater number in Europe and the Soviet Union.†(2) TNT (2,4,6- trinitrotoluene) is one of the most popular explosives used by military forces, and due to improper handling and disposal techniques TNT and its derivatives, have polluted environments to levels that threaten the health of humans, livestock, wildlife and, entire ecosystems. TNT is known to have many health effects on animals as well as humans. As stated by The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, â€Å"Workers involved in the production of high explosives experienced many harmful health effects as a result of exposure to 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene at their jobs. These effects included disorders of the blood, such as anemia, and abnormal liver function.† (1) Treatment of the contaminated soil has usually been handled through incineration, which is costly and does not always guarantee that the pollutants have been completely destroyed. Therefore new techniques such as bioremediation have been developed as a safe cost effective alternative to treating pollutants such as TNT. (3) Fundamentals of Bioremediation Bioremediation is a new, efficient, environmentally friendly, and low-cost technology, which uses microorganisms to clean up soil contaminated with heavy metals and organic contaminants such as solvents, crude oil, explosives, and other toxic compounds from contaminated environments. Mechanism: Bioremediation works by taking complex organic compounds such as TNT, which are made up of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. When combined with regular compost ingredients such as manures, sawdust, straw, and fruit and vegetable processing wastes, the explosives become broken down into harmless chemical forms.(3) Bioremediation methods are classified into two categories: Composting, and bioslurries. Composting:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the EPA’s Fact Sheet on Composting of Soils Contaminated by Explosives, the process of composting operates as a result of naturally occurring microorganisms breaking down the explosive contaminants in the soil. Using the contaminants as â€Å"food,† the microorganisms convert them into harmless substances consisting primarily of water, carbon dioxide, and salts. In addition to this food source, microorganisms require nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, in order to thrive, digest, and reproduce. To provide these nutrients in sufficient quantities, soil amendments, such as manure and potato waste, are added to the contaminated soil.(3)The most common type of composting used for bioremediation of TNT contaminated soil is Windrow composting. The US Army Environmental Center report on Cleanup Technology: Bioremediation of Explosives-Contaminated Soil, describes windrow composting as the following.

Biochemistry

The first semester of the two part series covers the topics chemistry, histology, genetics and inheritance, and the integument, skeletal, muscular, digestive, and reproductive systems. General objectives: 1. To discuss a basic understanding and working knowledge of the human body. 2. To outline the concepts of homeostasis and interdependence of all body systems. 3. To provide an Introduction to the disruption of homeostasis (pathology) as contrasted with normal processes, particularly as they apply to the allied health occupations.Course learning outcomes: As part of the requirements of accreditation Course Learning Outcomes (COOL) have been developed that represent examples of capstone outcomes that each course of Anatomy and Physiology 101 needs to become skilled at and evaluated in a standardized format. The three CLOSE for this class are listed below. You will have a test on these as either a quiz during the semester or as part of the comprehensive examination. SKIN, MUSCLES, DIG ESTION 1 . Describe the typical anatomy and physiology of the Integument (skin) Including epidermal derivative, sensory receptors, and appropriate glands. . Describe the anatomy and physiology muscle contraction including the events in the excitation and contraction coupling of skeletal muscle. 3. Outline the events of the digestion of a cheeseburger including the mechanical and chemical modes of digestion and the various means of absorption within the gut for the various nutrients Included. Master (102) Recommended preparation: High school or college biology and/or chemistry are strongly recommended. Format: Classes meet two days per week. One and one half hours of theory (lecture) followed by three hours of laboratory.A. Be prepared for a short quiz every Monday that will typically cover the previous weeks' lecture material. These will start at the beginning or end of class so it will be important to be in class on time and remain for the entire period. B. During the semester ther e will be at least four midterm examinations. C. A comprehensive final examination will be given n the last day of class and is a requirement to receive a passing grade. D. Please read over the textbook and lab assignments BEFORE coming to class.Several laboratory sessions will involve the study and use of cadavers and preserved specimens. Students not wishing to work with these specimens for ethical or health concerns should contact the instructor so an alternative assignment can be determined. Attendance: If you cannot make it to class, it is your responsibility to check which assignments are due when returning back to class. Exchange telephone numbers and use the buddy system. Please do not call or e-mail for an excused absence. All absences hurt your chances of being successful in this fast paced class and the quizzes cannot be made up.If you need to contact me because of extended absence please e-mail me in this regard. Drop Policy: It is the instructor's responsibility to drop students that are a â€Å"no show'. This is accomplished prior to the census date. A â€Å"no show' is someone who never attended a single class session. In addition you will be dropped for excessive absences. Excessive absences are typically more than four class sessions in a row. Exceptions may be made depending on circumstances and the student's chances of being successful.Makeup's and late work: Quizzes cannot be made up. Labs and Tests can be made up at the discretion of the instructor in extenuating circumstances with official documentation (medical note, police report, etc. ) No tests can be made up after two weeks of the initial test date and no make-ups are given during the last two weeks of class. Extra credit: Extra credit may be given at the instructor's discretion Laboratory credit: Lab credit is based solely on the practical exam. There will be 4 racial exams and each exam is worth 10% of your grade.Blackboard material: During the semester there may be extra materia l on blackboard. Be sure to check it regularly. Grading policy: 5 Written Exams (including final) worth 10% each = 50% 10 Quizzes worth 1% each = 10% 4 Lab Practical Exams Worth 10% each = 40% The point percentage for a particular grade is as follows: â€Å"D† Grade—- â€Å"F† Grade———-less than 60% â€Å"C† Grade———– 70-79% The grade of â€Å"F† is given to a student who obtains less than 60% of the points possible in class and/or is found cheating in class.See Policy) The grade of â€Å"D† is given to those students who satisfactorily obtained at least 60% of all the points possible in class. The grade of â€Å"C† is given to the student who can assimilate the lecture and lab material and is able to obtain 70% of all the points possible in class. The grade of â€Å"B† is given to the student, who in addition to fulfilling 80% of the previous objectives, is also able to display that he or she can satisfactorily answer questions beyond those discussed in lecture material. Other sources of information include the textbook and blackboard reading recommendations.The grade of â€Å"A† is given to the student who fulfills the previous objectives and is also able to integrate information to solve novel situations thereby clearly demonstrating the concept of critical thinking. Cheating policy: Cheating is any activity that gives an unfair advantage to a particular student. These activities include but are not limited to: using notes or books on examinations of any kind, looking at or copying someone else's paper, changing graded papers for credit, not putting â€Å"late† on papers requiring that designation, or falsifying documents.If someone is caught cheating, he r she will receive an automatic zero for whatever work was being completed. A report called the â€Å"Violation: Student Code of Conduct† will be generated within 5 days of the inci dent . If a student is caught cheating a second time the student will receive an â€Å"F† in the class. This report is electronically submitted to Dean Patrick Springer. He will contact you and explain the actions decided at that point in time. I suggest you check the college catalog for the current policy regarding due process and student discipline.Cheating in a flagrant manner may also be exposed to student disciplinary action as warranted. During the test you must not have a cell phone or other electronic device. A device that is within reach and turned on during the test constitutes cheating and you will receive a zero on the test at hand and the appropriate notifications submitted. If you are assigned to a group you may not change your group designation without permission. Non-participation in a group is cheating. It is the responsibility of the group to enforce this and act as professionals. A nonparticipating needs to be informed early on and given an opportunity to c hange.As a last resort it is up to the group to inform me as early as possible where corrective action will take place. Americans with Disabilities Act: Mat. San Action College abides by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that prohibits federal and state agencies or programs from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a documented disability that limits a major life activity which may have some impact on your work in this class and for which you may require accommodations, please see me or Disabled Students Programs and Services.If there is any accommodation that you require prior to being in the program please let me know and I will do my best to accommodate your needs. Safety: Safety is the most important issue in the laboratory. Always work in a safe manner. Many labs deal with sharp objects, flammable material, and toxic or infectious substances. If you are ever in doubt about a procedure, as k, never assume. Note the proper disposal of wastes and the location or the floor. All food items must be in a backpack or on top of or in the refrigerator. Kibbutz's Hot Buttons: 1 . Eating or drinking in class.Please keep your food stored in your backpack or the refrigerator in the classroom. Every day the refrigerator is cleaned out so that other course sections may have room for their food. You will lose safety percentage points if you have food or food containers on the floor or under the cabinet. 2. Not putting the microscopes away clean and with the arm facing outwards. 3. Cell phones and pagers that go off during lecture times. Testing during lecture is rude and will not be allowed. 4. Students who ask me if it is okay to leave early. If you want to leave class early you do not need my permission.This is a fundamental difference between high school and college. Also do not ask if you will miss anything. Use the buddy system. 5. Smoking on campus especially near doorways, hal lways, and near the A&P building. If you must destroy your lungs then please walk the short distance to the street sidewalk and please pick up your butts. Privacy: Students have a right to privacy. Anyone not wanting their papers to be returned in the out box can get their papers returned to them in person during the office hours directly following the class. Final comment: I wish all of you the best of earning.To learn how your own body works can be very interesting. It is unfortunate that all of these rules must be spelled out. It is a sign of the times but is still not representative of how the class functions. In large part students accommodate to the rules and procedures and the class in general runs smoothly without incidents. For those of you that have taken the time to read this syllabus you will be rewarded. The first quiz will contain questions regarding its content. In general any material that is handed out should be read and considered â€Å"testable material†.

Corruption in Procurement

UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM BUSINESS SCHOOL| AN ASSESSMENT OF CORRUPTION IN THE PROCUREMENT PROFESSION IN GOVERNMENT: CASE IN TANZANIA. | | BY| BERNARD, HELLEN| REG. NO. 2009-06-00929 | RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL TO CARRY OUT RESEARCH FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. | Table of Contents 1. 0 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 background3 1. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM4 2. o research aim6 2. 1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES6 3. 0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 3. 1 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS. 7 4. 0 LITERATURE REVIEW 4. 1 CONCEPTUAL LITERATURE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 4. 3 EMPIRICAL LITERATURE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 12 5. 0 METHODOLOGY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 REFERENCES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 17 1. 0. INTRODUCTION 1. 1 Background The Tanzania Government has long realized the importance of public procurement to the economic development of Tanzania and hence to the fulfillment of key objectives within the national Poverty Reduction Strategy. To this effect, Tanzania was one of the first countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to enact a law modeled on the UNCITRAL model law. Since 1996, when the first country procurement assessment report (CPAR) was carried out, the Government has been working closely with the World Bank and other development partners to enhance the economy and efficiency of its procurement system and to make it more transparent and accountable. The Government has long acknowledged that there is rampant corruption in Tanzania and has been fighting hard to reduce it. It is estimated that at the national level about 20 percent of the government expenditure on procurement is lost through corruption, mainly through kick-backs and bogus investments that have to be written off. Considering that public procurement accounts for about 70 percent of the entire government expenditure budget, this translates to a loss of TShs 300 billion (USD 300 million) per year, enough to finance the combined annual recurrent budgets of the ministries of health and education. Clearly such a loss is economically unsustainable. Major losses occur in construction and supply contracts, which are the major avenues for corruption, particularly at the local government level. The need for enhancing the transparency of the procurement system cannot therefore be overemphasized. The Government of Tanzania is fully aware that its public procurement is still weak and needs to be strengthened substantially to enable it to ensure that the procurement laws and institutions become effective tools in the efficient and transparent management of public funds. Strategic management in the public sector begins by looking up toward politics -the current expectations and aspirations of citizens and their representatives and the older political agreements formally enshrined in the legislation that defines public managers' mandates for action. Corruption had been inculcated in the political culture of most underdeveloped countries; while, it still elicits the criticism and opposition of the public, it has nonetheless been accepted as a fact in the political life. One of the primary areas of corruption is in the procurement process. Grounded on the idea that, the bread and butter of politicians exists in this aspect, the procurement process has been the locus and target of most politicians aiming to get a slice of the cake. In third world countries, this part of the cake proves to be the life of people. The foreign aid given by international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and the government revenue from taxes is easily lost once the budget is distributed to departments and the â€Å"purchase† of equipments and materials has begun. . Earlier on we questioned the assumption or perception that corruption, especially petty corruption is a function of low pay. In our review of theories of motivation we noted that there is consensus among theorists on motivation on pay being a necessary, but not sufficient condition for an employee to perform at a minimum level in an organization. Where an employee has a perception that the level of compensation given by the employer cannot and will not meet basic living/existence needs, and the employee is not in a position to exit from the organization, he/she will adopt deviant work behavior, which will include a number of income maintenance strategies, including corruption to address the income shortfall. 1. 2 statement of the problem The procurement process has been the locus of government corruption- unless this can be addressed; the citizens of Tanzania will continue to suffer. It is necessary that strategies and measures be introduced in the government procurement profession to reduce the corruption in this process and in effect, corruption in the government. Procurement corruption is deeply rooted in the political culture and traces its roots on the nature of governments. As long as the nature of government and politics remains to be relatively immature, corruption in the procurement process will remain. Thus, the need for strategies to hamper this occurrence arises. A focus on newspaper reports, editorials and letters from readers in any of the last ten years would make one conclude that this country has been eaten away by the corruption scourge. Contrast the foregoing situation with what obtained between 1961, as we became independent and the late 1970s. The decade following Tanzania’s independence (1960-1970) did not manifest intense corruption. Where it took place it tended to be restricted to low-level officials who demanded and received negligible sums of money. As the country expanded the public sector and public administration institutions progressively decayed, entailing the rise of bureaucratic malfunctioning, opportunities for rent-seeking behavior and asking and offering bribes started creeping in. In the same period, the cost of living rose dramatically while public service pay remained static or declined. Public officials became driven by a culture of survival and they progressively adopted deviant behavior patterns discussed earlier in the paper, including the use of corruption as an income maintenance strategy. To address and control the trend of increased corruption, the Nyerere Government enacted the leadership code as part of the Arusha Declaration which had been adopted in 1967 and dedicated Tanzania to the pursuit of Ujamaa and Self Reliance as its ideology. While moral suasion through a socialist code of conduct was making its contribution to the fight against corrupt tendencies, the country came to experience a major economic crisis following the oil crisis and the after effects of the war with Idd Amin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with double digit inflation, major fiscal deficits and negative economic growth. That situation saw the state lose its ability to pay public servants a living wage. Official salaries, even at managerial and executive levels, fell below subsistence needs, creating incentives to look for side incomes. As the state controlled economy declined, an informal one arose to take its place. Smuggling became rampant. In the end, the harsh realities of scarcity and poverty overwhelmed the dedication to socialist equality and corruption became embedded in Tanzania society. 2. 0 RESEARCH AIM This study aims to propose measures and strategies that could resolve the issue of government corruption in the procurement process. . 1 research objectives This research paper aims to: 1. Identify the different procurement corruptions in governments of Third World countries 2. Determine the stages of the procurement process and discover where corruption happens 3. Evaluate the nature of Third World Government and politics and the corruption in procurement 4. Propose measures that can reso lve the issue of corruption in the procurement profession 3. 0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What are the indicators of procurement corruption and how extensive is it mong governments (Developed, developing and Third World) 2. What are the different corrupt practices in the process of procurement? 3. Outlining the procurement process, what stage(s) does corruption happen? 4. In relation to the nature of Third World Governments, what is their relation and to what degree that these two variables (corruption in procurements and government) affect each other? 5. What are the measures and strategies that governments have employed to address this issue? 3. 1 Research hypothesis 1. The nature of government and politics in a country is significantly related to its corruption practices 2. The more accountable the government, the lesser the tendency of corruption in the procurement process 3. Further, procurement corruption is directly related to the lack of transparency in government purchases. 4. 0 LITERATURE REVIEW 4. 1 Conceptual literature CORRUPTION Corruption is a very widespread phenomenon with most governments having a least some. While corruption usually meets with disapproval, it may have some redeeming features (Tullock, 1996). It may make possible smaller or no salary payments to officials who, if carefully supervised, will still carry out their functions on a fee-for-service basis (Tullock, 1996). Transparency International (TI) has chosen a clear and focused definition of the term: Corruption is operationally defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gain. TI further differentiates between â€Å"according to rule† corruption and â€Å"against the rule† corruption. Facilitation payments, where a bribe is paid to receive preferential treatment for something that the bribe receiver is required to do by law, constitute the former. The latter, on the other hand, is a bribe paid to obtain services the bribe receiver is prohibited from providing. The cost of corruption The cost of corruption is four-fold: political, economic, social, and environmental. On the political front, corruption constitutes a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law. In a democratic system, offices and institutions lose their legitimacy when they are misused for private advantage. Though this is harmful in the established democracies, it is even more so in newly emerging ones. Accountable political leadership cannot develop in a corrupt climate. Economically, corruption leads to the depletion of national wealth. It is often responsible for the funneling of scarce public resources to uneconomic high-profile projects, such as dams, power plants, pipelines and refineries, at the expense of less spectacular but more necessary infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals and roads, or the supply of power and water to rural areas. Furthermore, it hinders the development of fair market structures and distorts competition, thereby deterring investment. The effect of corruption on the social fabric of society is the most damaging of all. It undermines people's trust in the political system, in its institutions and its leadership. Frustration and general apathy among a disillusioned public result in a weak civil society. That in turn clears the way for despots as well as democratically elected yet unscrupulous leaders to turn national assets into personal wealth. Demanding and paying bribes become the norm. Those unwilling to comply often emigrate, leaving the country drained of its most able and most honest citizens. Environmental degradation is yet another consequence of corrupt systems. The lack of, or non-enforcement of, environmental regulations and legislation has historically allowed the North to export its polluting industry to the South. At the same time, careless exploitation of natural resources, from timber and minerals to elephants, by both domestic and international agents has led to ravaged natural environments. Environmentally devastating projects are given preference in funding, because they are easy targets for siphoning off public money into private pockets. PROCUREMENT Procurement is the full process involved in acquiring required goods, services or works. Procurement involves identifying the requirement of the purchasing authority, building a list of minimum requirements, and then scoring any interested parties who meet the minimum requirements, usually offering the highest score based on the most economically advantageous bid, commonly known as â€Å"best value†. Part of the Procurement process is also to manage the contract once awarded, to ensure that the successful suppliers, or suppliers, are providing a quality service. Collaborative contracts are becoming more commonplace; where multiple public bodies will combine their requirements and run a single Procurement process to meet their merged requirements. Due to the higher volume of business promised by collaborative contracts, suppliers will usually offer larger discounts. Collaborative contracts are usually led by one public body, acting on behalf of the others. In addition to this, some Procurement Centers of Expertise set up and manage contracts on behalf of public bodies, allowing all public bodies to use these collaborative contracts. Some examples of these Centers of Expertise are OGC, Buying Solutions and Procurement Scotland. The stage of the Procurement cycle when suppliers are invited to submit bids is known as the Tendering process. Usually, in addition to submitting their monetary bid, suppliers are required to respond to a questionnaire which the public body has put together with the intention of identifying and eliminating suppliers who are unable to meet their basic requirements, thereby preventing their tender from being successful regardless of whether they have the most economically advantageous bid. . 2 Theoretical framework The systematic study of political corruption encompasses matters of definition, typology, cause, and consequence, linked by a common theoretical framework. A substantial body of literature explores these issues, but many problems exist. The countless definitions inadequately set out the fundamental normative and behavioral dimensions of corruption and fail to incorporate the phen omenon into a broader theoretical framework or to deal accurately with the question of private interests. Typologies of corruption, though equally rife, also seem to lack clear theoretical relevance. Existing explanations of corruption can be attacked for projecting confusing and contradictory hypotheses, for being fragmentary, and for failing to differentiate various types of corrupt behavior; those centering on the functions of corruption also seem incomplete. Some, for instance, underscore the positive effects of corruption in integrating ruling elite but fail to question whether corruption influences feelings of legitimacy toward government or inspires destabilizing protests and mobilizations. As a form of deviant political behavior, corruption is political conduct contrary to political norms. This definition underscores both its normative and behavioral components. The normative aspect of corruption centers on the evaluative standards or rules that determine political propriety: the criteria used to judge the legitimacy or illegitimacy (i. e. , the â€Å"corruptness†) of a political act; the behavioral aspect corresponds to observable actions (Morris, 1991). The norm provides the standard by which all acts of government are to be interpreted and judged. Accordingly, any private usurpation of that pertaining to the public domain, which negates this principle, invites condemnation. An important issue that warrants attention concerns the role of personal gain or interest. Including personal gain or what is tantamount to private interest in a definition of corruption presents two major problems. First, it is generally held that all acts are a function of personal gain; in formal theory, this is referred to as â€Å"rationality. † Consequently, all acts by government officials, whether corrupt or otherwise, are thought to be motivated by a rational promotion of private interest. In other words, a non corrupt act is promoted by personal interest just as is a corrupt act. Since personal interest is an assumption of human behavior and a constant, it need not be included in a definition Strategic management in the public sector begins by looking up toward politics -the current expectations and aspirations of citizens and their representatives and the older political agreements formally enshrined in the legislation that defines public managers' mandates for action. Politics, and the laws that politics produce, deserve this pride of place for three key reasons. First, it is this realm that managers must search to discover what purposes are deemed publicly valuable and can, therefore, be practically and normatively sustained as the focus of their managerial efforts. It is in and through politics that they can discover and help shapes their mandates for action. Second, political institutions grant public managers the resources they need to accomplish their operational purposes–including money and authority over their own organizations and over those beyond their organizations who can contribute to the managers' purposes. Third, it is to politics and law that public managers are both theoretically and practically accountable; their performance is graded and their reputations made within this realm. Procurement contracting often entails large monetary sums and involves widely known or powerful people inside and outside government. Thus, this kind of corruption can be especially damaging to a country in terms of distorted incentives, undermined public trust, and inequitable distribution of national budgets. This is particularly prevalent in Third World countries where the political socialization of people seems to accept corruption as a part of the political culture. Among the principal types of procurement corruption includes: collusion in bidding (leading to higher costs/prices for the city, payments for which may or may not be shared with corrupt officials); kickbacks by firms to â€Å"fix† procurement competition; and bribes to officials who regulate the winning contractor's behavior (which may permit lowball bids with subsequent cost overruns and unnecessary changes in contract specifications) (Klitgaard, MacLean, and Parris, 2000). 4. 3 Empirical literature Corruption is about economics, gaining power, maintaining power and unfortunately to some, survival (Green, 2000). Generally, it's been my experience that corruption usually involves bribery, kickbacks, gratuities and gifts to government employees from individuals doing business or attempting to do business with the government. A large percentage of corruption taking place within governments and businesses worldwide rests within the procurement of goods and services. The movement toward decentralization, accountability, and democratic forms of government at the local level is gathering momentum (Klitgaard, MacLean, and Parris, 2000). In this context, the enormous costs of corruption are being explicitly recognized, as is the urgent need to correct governmental malfeasance (Klitgaard, MacLean, and Parris, 2000). Corruption is an entrenched symptom of misgovernance often reflected in patronage, red tape, ineffective revenue-generating agencies, large scale bribery in procurement, and failure to deliver services to city dwellers When the government needs a good or service, the city government has the two broad alternatives of making it or buying it: that is, the city can provide the good or service itself, or rocure it from the private sector (Klitgaard, MacLean, and Parris, 2000). Corruption is one of the dimensions of this choice. Because contracting is â€Å"where the money is†, most government officials are tempted by the lure of procurement services often at the expense of the public. Recent developments and current trends are highlighting the role of accountants in governance. Foremost among these are: the increasing concern with rising levels of corruption, the renewal of interest in accountability and transparency as inoculations against corruption; the new government focus on results, benchmarking and value-for-money (the â€Å"new public management†) and the corresponding thrust in the private sector through business process reengineering, knowledge management and intranets — where accounting systems play a major role; decentralization and participation by citizens and NGOs in public management are multiplying the needs for credible accounting information; the privatization of utilities in several countries is increasing the need for regulation, in which accountants have a major role in reducing information asymmetry; the globalization of corporate finance has enhanced the need for global standards of accounting and auditing; the Asian crisis has highlighted the weaknesses in transparency, in financial sector regulation and in corporate g overnance generally in a number of countries (Bennett,   2000). There are several measures that could be done in order to reduce the incidence of corruption. First, reducing the scope and role of personality politics. An increase in public policy debates and other activities of government, opening the closed doors, and permitting greater public scrutiny of official processes would clearly have such an impact. Generally, the more public government affairs become, the less corrupt they can be (Bennett,  2000). Enhancing the autonomy of the state's subsystems would also reduce the likelihood of corruption. This could be pursued, for instance, by creating an effective civil service system or merit system or opening up grass-roots political involvement. Such reforms would cripple the centralization of recruitment and thereby temper the loyalty patterns that currently prevail. Strengthening the autonomy and role of Congress or democratizing corporate organizations would be steps in this direction (Bennett,  2000). Strengthening social organizations would also impinge on corruption. This could be done by reducing the tutelary role of the state and lessening the dependency of social organizations on the state or by enhancing popular input into the organizations themselves. Not only must businesses or union’s articulate demands on the government, but such organizations must be structurally responsive to the demands of their constituents. Tying the fate of leaders of social organizations to criteria internal to the group rather than those determined by the state would greatly inhibit current patterns of corruption (Bennett,  2000). 5. 0 METHODOLOGY This chapter will discuss the method of research to be used, the respondents of the study, the sampling technique, the instrument to be used, the validation of the instrument, the administration of the of the instrument and the statistical treatment of the data that will be gathered. Research Methodology and Techniques for data collection This study will use the descriptive approach. This descriptive type of research will utilize interview, observation and questionnaires in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, the researcher will be guided by Calmorin when he stated: â€Å"Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. The purpose of employing this method is to describe the nature of a situation as exists at the time of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. Proposed subject Population/Sample The general population for this study will be composed of government officials and personnel in the procurement process, randomly selected private companies who have been involved in the bidding process and randomly selected citizens. I will use a combination of cluster and random sampling. First, I will cluster the respondents from the government, the private sector and the public sector. To make the sampling easier for every specific cluster, I will seek the aid of any anti-corruption non-government organization to facilitate the names and addresses of the respondents or have them together in one place (i. e. in an organizational meeting) so that the surveys can be given in one session. I will pick one hundred (100) respondents per cluster for a total of three hundred (300) respondents. Validation of the Instrument For validation purposes, I will initially submit a survey questionnaire and after approval, the survey will be given to five responden ts from the government, private corporations and the public sector. After the survey questionnaire will be answered, I will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument. I will again examine the content of the survey questionnaire to find out the reliability of the instrument. I will exclude irrelevant questions and will change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, too much simpler terms. Administration of the Instrument The revised instrument will then be administered to the respondents of the study which will be chosen through a combination of cluster and random sampling. I will exclude the ten respondents who will be initially used for the validation of the instrument. I will also tally, score and tabulate all the relevant data in the survey questionnaire. Statistical Treatment of Data When the entire survey questionnaire will have been collected, the researcher will use statistics to analyze all the data. The statistical formulae to be used in the second and third part of the survey questionnaire will be the following: 1. Percentage – to determine the magnitude of the responses to the questionnaire. 2. Weighted Mean 3. I will use chi-square to relate the participation rate of the government employees, companies and the public sector. I will be assisted by the SPSS in coming up with the statistical analysis for this study. Resource, Confidentiality and other consideration The survey respondents and interviewees’ identities will be held confidential. Only I will have the knowledge on their identities and utmost secrecy will be provided. Further, personalities who do not want to be quoted in interviews will not be disclosed. REFERENCES. 1. Klitgaard, Robert, MacLean, Ronald and Parris, Lindsey, Corrupt Cities: A Practical Guide to Cure and Prevention, Ics Press, 2000 2. Bennett, Anthony, â€Å"The Role of Accounting in Good Governance†, In Carter, Williiam, Davies, Mark, El, Yassin and Ford, Kevin, Government Ethics and Law Enforcement: Toward Global Guidelines, Praeger Publishers, 2000 3. Green, Vincent, â€Å"An Approach to Investigating Corruption in Government†, In Carter, Williiam, Davies, Mark, El, Yassin and Ford, Kevin, Government Ethics and Law Enforcement: Toward Global Guidelines, Praeger Publishers, 2000 4. Morris, Stephen, â€Å"A State-Society Approach to the Study of Corruption â€Å", Corruption & Politics in Contemporary Mexico, University of Alabama Press, 1991