Ethical Leadership in Organizations Essay Example for Free

Ethical Leadership in Organizations Essay Ethical leadership is leadership that is involved in leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others. As leaders are by nature in a position of social power, ethical leadership focuses on how leaders use their social power in the decisions they make, actions they engage in and ways they influence others. Leaders who are ethical demonstrate a level of integrity that is important for stimulating a sense of leader trustworthiness, which is important for followers to accept the vision of the leader. Leaders who are ethical are people-oriented, and also aware of how their decisions impact others, and use their social power to serve the greater good instead of self-serving interests. Motivating followers to put the needs or interests of the group ahead of their own is another quality of ethical leaders. Motivating involves engaging others in an intellectual and emotional commitment between leaders and followers that makes both parties equally responsible in the pursuit of a common goal. Ethical leadership falls within the nexus of inspiring, stimulating, and visionary leader behaviours that make up transformational and charismatic leadership. Ethical leaders assist followers in gaining a sense of personal competence that allows them to be self-sufficient by encouraging and empowering them. What is Ethical Leadership? One typical response to the â€Å"ethics crisis† in business is a clarion call for more â€Å"ethical leadership,† yet there are few explanations of what exactly is meant by the term. Many executives and business thinkers believe that ethical leadership is simply a matter of leaders having good character. By having â€Å"the right values† or being a person of â€Å"strong character,† the ethical leader can set the example for others and withstand any temptations that may occur along the way. Without denying the importance of good character and the right values, the reality of ethical leadership is far more complex and the stakes are much higher. Over the past 25 years, in talking to executives in a number of industries about the problems of how to lead in a world of great change—globalization, democratization, and incredible technological advances—we have identified a number of touchstones for the idea of â€Å"ethical leadership.† Our experience is often contrary to the picture of business executives one finds in public discussion where they are often seen as greedy, competitive, and only concerned with compensation. In fact most executives want to be effective in their jobs and to leave their companies and the world a better place, creating value on both fronts for those whose lives they affect. Our view of ethical leadership takes into account not only the leader but also his constituents (followers and key stakeholders), the context or situation that the leader and constituents face, the leader’s processes and skills, and the outcomes that result. Leaders are first and foremost members of their own organizations and stakeholder groups. As such, their purpose, vision, and values are for the benefit of the entire organization and its key stakeholders. â€Å"Leaders see their constituents as not just followers, but rather as stakeholders striving to achieve that same common purpose, vision, and values. These follower and stakeholder constituents have their own individuality and autonomy which must be respected to maintain a moral community.† Ethical leaders embody the purpose, vision, and values of the organization and of the constituents, within an understanding of ethical ideals. They connect the goals of the organization with that of the internal employees and external stakeholders. Leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents’ opinions. They are open to others’ opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better. Characteristics of Ethical Leaders In today’s turbulent world, ethics and values are present at a number of levels for executives and managers—leaders who devote their time and energy to leading the process of value creation. This broader concept of ethical leadership empowers leaders to incorporate and be explicit about their own values and ethics. The following list provides a framework for developing ethical leadership. It is based on the observations of and conversations with a host of executives and students over the past 25 years, and on readings of both popular and scholarly business literature. Written from the perspective of the leader, these ten facets of ethical leaders offer a way to understand ethical leadership that is more complex and more useful than just a matter of â€Å"good character and values.† â€Å"It is important for leaders to tell a compelling and morally rich story, but ethical leaders must also embody and live the story. This is a difficult task in today’s business environment where everyone lives in a fishbowl—on public display. So many political leaders fail to embody the high-minded stories they tell at election time, and more recently, business leaders have become the focus of similar criticism through the revelations of numerous scandals and bad behaviours. CEOs in today’s corporations are really ethical role models for all of society.† 1. Articulate and embody the purpose and values of the organization. Following a series of unethical activities by Citigroup employees in Japan in 2004, new CEO Chuck Prince fired several executives, publicly accepted responsibility and bowed apologetically to Japanese officials. Not only did Prince’s message resonate within Japan, but it also signalled a new era of â€Å"shared responsibility† within the culture of Citigroup where every employee was expected to take ownership for their decisions that affected the enterprise. 2. Focus on organizational success rather than on personal ego. Ethical leaders understand their place within the larger network of constituents and stakeholders. It is not about the leader as an individual, it is about something bigger—the goals and dreams of the organization. Ethical leaders also recognize that value is in the success of people in the organization. In 1998, in a bold gesture demonstrating how he valued the company’s line employees, Roger Enrico, former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, chose to forego all but $1 of his salary, requesting that PepsiCo, in turn, contribute $1 million to a scholarship fund for employees’ children. In a similar manner, the founders of JetBlue began a process of matching, from their salaries, employee donations to a charity. Today, their entire salaries go to the JetBlue Crewmember Catastrophic Plan charity, to assist staff with crises not covered by insurance. The point of these examples is not that ethical leaders donate their salaries to charities, but rather that ethical leaders identify and act on levers, such as employee loyalty, that drive organizational success. 3. Find the best people and develop them. This task is fairly standard in different models of leadership. Ethical leaders pay special attention to finding and developing the best people precisely because they see it as a moral imperative—helping them to lead better lives that create more value for themselves and for others. Finding the best people involves taking ethics and character into account in the selection process. â€Å"Ethical leaders pay special attention to finding and developing the best people† Many CEOs have said to us that judging someone’s integrity is far more important than evaluating their experience and skills. Yet, in many organizations, employees are hired to fill a particular skill need with little regard to issues of integrity. 4. Create a living conversation about ethics, values and the creation of value for stakeholders. Too often business executives think that having a laminated â€Å"values card† in their wallet or having a purely compliance approach to ethics has solved the â€Å"ethics problem.† Suffice it to say that Enron and other troubled companies had these systems in place. What they didn’t have was a conversation across all levels of the business where the basics of value creation, stakeholder principles and societal expectations were routinely discussed and debated. There is a fallacy that values and ethics are the â€Å"soft, squishy† part of management. Nothing could be further from the truth. In organizations that have a live conversation about ethics and values, people hold each other responsible and accountable about whether they are really living the values. And, they expect the leaders of the organization to do the same. Bringing such a conversation to life means that people must have knowledge of alternatives, must choose every day to stay with the organization and its purpose because it is important and inspires them. Making a strong commitment to bringing this conversation to life is essential to do if one is to lead ethically. Most people know the story of Johnson and Johnson’s former CEO Jim Burke and the Tylenol product recall in the 1980s in which, at a great short-term financial cost, he pulled all potentially tampered-with products off the shelves, thereby keeping the public’s trust intact. The less well-known background to this story, however, is critical to understanding the final outcome. Well before the Tylenol crisis hit, Johnson Johnson had held a series of â€Å"challenge meetings† all around the world, where managers sat and debated their â€Å"Credo,† a statement of their purpose and principles of who they wanted to be as a company. The conversation about ethics at Johnson Johnson was alive, and in many ways made Jim Burke’s choice about handling the situation clearer than it otherwise would have been. 5. Create mechanisms of dispute. This needs to be made part of the organizational culture, not just a line item in a compliance program document. Some companies have used anonymous e-mail and telephone processes to give employees a way around the levels of management that inevitably spring up as barriers in large organizations. Many executives also have used â€Å"skip level† meetings where they go down multiple levels in the organization to get a more realistic view of what is actually going on. General Electric’s famous â€Å"workout† process—where workers meet to decide how to fix problems and make the company better—was a way for front line employees to push back against the established policies and authority of management. All of these processes lead to better decisions, more engaged employees, and an increased likelihood of avoiding damaging mistakes. In a company that takes its purpose or values seriously, there must be mechanisms of pushing back to avoid the values becoming stale and dead. Indeed, many of the current corporate scandals could have been prevented if only there were more creative ways for people to express their dissatisfaction with the actions of some of their leaders and others in the companies. The process of developing these mechanisms of dissent will vary by company, by leadership style, and by culture, but it is a crucial leadership task for value creation in today’s business world. 6. Take a charitable understanding of others’ values. Ethical leaders can understand why different people make different choices, but still have a strong grasp on what they would do and why. Following twenty-seven years in South African prisons, Nelson Mandela was still able to see the good in his jailers. After one particularly vicious jailer was being transferred away from Robbins Island because of Mandela’s protest and push back, the jailer turned to Mandela and stated â€Å"I just want to wish you people good luck.† Mandela interpreted this statement charitably as a sign that all people had some good within them, even those caught up in an evil system. Mandela felt that it was his responsibility to see this good in people and to try and bring it out. One CEO suggested that instead of seeing ethical leadership as preventing people from doing the wrong thing, we need to view it as enabling people to do the right thing. 7. Make tough calls while being imaginative. Ethical leaders inevitably have to make a lot of difficult decisions, from reorienting the company’s strategy and basic value proposition to making individual personnel decisions such as working with employees exiting the organization. Ethical leaders do not attempt to avoid difficult decisions by using an excuse of â€Å"I’m doing this for the business.† The ethical leader consistently unites â€Å"doing the right thing† and â€Å"doing the right thing for the business.† The idea that â€Å"ethical leadership† is just â€Å"being nice† is far from the truth. Often, exercising â€Å"moral imagination† is the most important task. Mohammed Yunus founded the Grameen Bank on such moral imagination. By taking the standard banking practice of only lending to people with collateral, and turning it on its head, Yunus spawned an industry of micro-lending to the poor. The Grameen Bank’s motto is that poverty belongs in a museum. In addition to having one of the highest loan repayment rates in the banking industry, the bank’s program of lending to poor women in Bangladesh to start businesses has helped millions of them to be able to feed themselves. 8. Know the limits of the values and ethical principles they live. All values have limits, particular spheres in which they do not work as well as others. The limits for certain values, for instance, may be related to the context or the audience in which they are being used. Ethical leaders have an acute sense of the limits of the values they live and are prepared with solid reasons to defend their chosen course of action. Problems can arise when managers do not understand the limits of certain values. As an example, one issue common to the recent business scandals was that managers and executives did not understand the limits of â€Å"putting shareholders first.† Attempts to artificially keep stock prices high—without creating any lasting value for customers and other stakeholders—can border on fanaticism rather than good judgment. Ethics is no different from any other part of our lives: there is no substitute for good judgment, sound advice, practical sense, and conversations with those affected by our actions. 9. Frame actions in ethical terms. Ethical leaders see their leadership as a fully ethical task. This entails taking seriously the rights claims of others, considering the effects of one’s actions on others (stakeholders), and understanding how acting or leading in a certain way will have effects on one’s character and the character of others. There is nothing amoral about ethical leaders, and they recognize that their own values may sometimes turn out to be a poor guidepost. The ethical leader takes responsibility for using sound moral judgment. But, there is a caution here. It is easy to frame actions in ethical terms and be perceived as â€Å"righteous.† Many have the view that ethics is about universal, inviolable principles that are carved into stone. We need to start with principles and values, and then work hard to figure out how they can be applied in today’s complex global business environment. Principles, values, cultures, and individual differences often conflict. Ethical leadership requires an attitude of humility rather than righteousness: a commitment to one’s own principles, and at the same time, openness to learning and to having conversations with others who may have a different way of seeing the world. Ethics is best viewed as an open conversation about those values and issues that are most important to us and to our business. It is a continual discovery and reaffirmation of our own principles and values, and a realization that we can improve through encountering new ideas.

Nationalisation of Royal Bank of Scotland

Nationalisation of Royal Bank of Scotland Purpose The purpose of this report is to discuss the change in Royal Bank of Scotland indicated by the companys nationalization in 2008. Shareholders lost the most part of the company in favour of the government and management of the bank had to be changed. The purpose will be fulfilled by analyzing the process of nationalization and its implications for RBS. Theoretical literature provides a lot of models of change management and strategic management. For example, Ansoff (1987) model suggests four quadrants of strategy. Companies can grow by penetrating the market and winning larger market share while competitors share will shrink. Firms can also develop their key products which are their strength and this will be a strategy for expansion. The third Ansoffs (1987) strategy would be to diversify the products and operations to achieve growth. Finally, the company can choose to pursue market development which is entering new geographical areas or new niches that will help generate higher revenue. The case of RBS represents this final model of market development. The banks pursued the new market of mortgage backed securities in the US through acquisition of ABN Amro. This strategy appeared to be unsuccessful and led the bank into a position where accounting losses reached tremendous value of over 30 billion pounds in 2008 and led to national ization of the bank by the UK government. Company Overview Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc is a banking corporation with its branch Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) that is spread around United Kingdom with almost 700 sub-branches, located in Scotland, England and Wales and is one of the largest banks in UK. It was founded in 1727 and is the first bank introducing overdraft availability to its clients. Since its foundation, RBS expanded greatly, with big number of acquisition deals, such as its acquisition of NatWest Group in 2000, First Active (Ireland), Charter One (USA) , Churchill Insurance (UK) and ABN Amro (Netherlands) in 2007 (House of Commons Treasury Committee, 2008). The Royal Bank of Scotland still uses a privilege of printing its own banknotes. Until 2009, it was one of the main shareholders of the Bank of China, but had to sell its shares after the global financial crisis impact. RSB is still in the list of worlds largest banks, being on 6th position in 2003, 10th in 2007 and 19th in 2008 (Financial Ranks Online, 2009). Financial performance of RBS was changing in the last years. In 2005 group operating profit rose by 16%, with total dividend for the year increase by 25%, with capital and earnings increase. During 2006, RBS showed great results and continuing growth, with increased dividends by 25% with total income growth by 10%. With unstable position in the market and in global financial system, RBS had some problems, but managers were working toward control of the situation, however growth of the operating profit decreased by 9%, earnings per share by 18% and return on equity 19.9%. The company faced big net losses of around 7.9 billion pounds. In the 2009 bank entered hard times with reorganization in management field and in structure. (RBS Annual Report, 2005-2009). Due to changing situation in the global economy, in 2008 Royal Bank of Scotland announced its greatest loss in the banks history with the amount of 692 million pounds that was connected to unhealthy loans and 71 billion pounds as a result of incorrect deal of acquiring ABN Amro (Bradley, 2009). Prior to the global financial crisis RBS have had great profit margins and was a respected brand with long history. And it is necessary to mention that the bank was at great position in terms of facing crisis, with little impact until the decision of getting ABN Amro, which brought various problems. In 2008-2009 UK citizens were under shock of the fact that one of the largest UK banking system representatives had incredible losses and unpredictable future. At this position RBS had one way to survive seek government support. However not all UK banks suffered from consequences of global financial crisis, which can be connected with accurate and carefully planned management strategy. RBS have got some capital of about 2 billion pounds from selling its share in Bank of China and after giving up part of Linea Directa, a Spanish insurance company for about 4.5 billion pounds. However, it did not help to make a radical change of the situation (Bradley, 2009). According to Hester, current Chief Executive of the RBS Group (2009), great losses of the Group had nothing to do with management of businesses as their performance was profitable. However problems appeared mainly in two divisions Global Banking Markets and Asia Retail Commercial Banking. Their profits were crushed by market and credit losses, within fast changes in the economic conditions. At the same time top managers of the Royal Bank of Scotland were facing risks of acquisition and had limited time to make decisions. Global financial crisis had its impact in different countries, affecting economies and markets especially in terms of exchange rates. Here, decrease in sterling exchange rate had an influence on further performance of the bank and changing market position intensified the situation (Hester, 2009). In spite of the fact that financial situation became critical for many banks, RBS was still having serious and stable business. Top management was taking steps to recover from crisis consequences, in order to return capital and provide stable ground for future operation such steps included applying to government support. The strategic plan for recovery was supposed to be finished in 2009, meanwhile the focus is on long-term customer franchises, quality and profitability. Royal Bank of Scotland can be an example of the fact that in terms of global financial crisis even big and powerful organisations can face danger. It is the biggest UK company that suffered from the global economic crash. Today it is still far from recovery, having bad loans and loss before tax in the beginning of 2009 was around 44 million pounds. From the forecasts, 2009 and 2010 will still be challenging for the RBS with main focus on debt returns. Now, after current management revision, directors of RBS are more confident of future recovery and success (The Telegraph, May 2009). New Chief Executive supports the position that management must stay calm and take steps for a slow but effective recovery, rather than fast and wasting strategies in order to save more that to spend (Murchie, 2009). However, human resource management of the bank is not so confident and planning to shorten around 9000 jobs, which is about 20%. It is believed that this action will help to decrease costs of around 3 billion dollars (Global Crisis News, 2009). Moreover, RBS represented the worst results in the market, being at the bottom of banking sector in September 2009 (Frei, 2009). Aspects of Nationalisation According to Encyclopedia Britannica, nationalisation is â€Å"alteration or assumption of control or ownership of private property by the state† (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2009) with several variations in the types and motives. Nationalisation usually appears through assets or shares taken over, and this can help the company to continue its business but under control of the government. If the company is nationalised by government it can continue to produce and operate, getting some revenue and have some returns on shares. Usually this process is followed by structural reorganisation, including traditional administrative strategy and style of control (Backhaus and Wagner, 2004). As a fact, nationalisation can come in the form of expropriation, if the previous owners do not get compensation for the business and in the form of rescue tool or governmental support. Not every company can get such support; it is usually a privilege of the companies and corporations that have national importance and heritage. There is a number of examples in the UK history of nationalisation, which helped to reorganise the structure of the company as well as to get financial support (Floud and McCloskey, 1994). It is believed that nationalisation started in the UK in 1908 after the establishment of Port of London Authority with the necessity of production control (Beardshaw and Ross, 2001). Some researches mention negative effects of nationalisation, pointing that it can damage economy and banking sector. One of the problems is decreasing competitiveness, especially in banking sector (Lee, 2007). Also, financial institutions and government avoid participating in management as it can lead to further recalls of nationalisation. And when the company fails to use management as an appropriate tool, the chance of mistake gets bigger with a cause of future nationalisation (Cuthbert and Dobbins, 1980). Mainly, nationalisation has political or economic aspects and motives. When government has power to control specific corporations and their production as well as financial position, it can use the company as an instrument to correct economy. In addition, government can provide more accurate and efficient capital and assets diversification. If the company is fully nationalised, government becomes the owner of the business and has to deal with its problems and debts. Nationalisation is connected to economy, here in order to have more attractive economy, government trying to stabilise financial system through bad assets escape. There are still debates around the necessity of nationalisation and its problems. On the other hand, there is a view that this process must have temporary term, and government acts more as guardian of the company or bank for the hard period. However, one must consider that the process of nationalisation must be done correctly and carefully, with revision of all advantages and disadvantages (Richardson, 2009). Looking at the advantages of the nationalisation first comes its ability to save the company or in our case the bank from heavy and senseless assets, which were collected over the time and are representing thread of bankruptcy. This will include separation such assets from the business allowing operating more efficiently. Unnecessary assets then can be put for sale or managed by another organisation and the bank, free from problematic sectors can continues to operate. In addition, nationalization can help to restructure top management, getting rid of dilettantish approach of operating the business (Richardson, 2009). RBS is also supporting this fact and according to Montia (2009), is now selling some of its asset management business with managed capital of 30 billion pounds. In addition, it is possible that RBS will have to sell more of its business and even at the very low price that is now at the market. It is also a part of the Chief Executives recovery plan for the RBS to separa te troubled divisions from working ones with further selling of non-core parts of the business (Bradley, 2009). Without considering the advantage of nationalisation, government can continue to give money support to the banks that are big and important for the economy, but this can create the situation, where nothing will be changed and achieved. Government support can give a privilege of a competitive advantage, for example, Northern Rock could cut its prices in mortgages and insurance and attract new customers. Among disadvantages of nationalisation is management problem. In reality it is very difficult to find right and appropriate human capital for each bank in order to manage them properly. Still there will be a chance of risks regarding new borrowings, credits and market position. And these risks are now to be taken by the owner. Again the problem of unnecessary assets appears and banks need to get rid of then, basically on very low prices. In this situation market will have clear advantages of nationalisation, while banks will suffer. In addition, nationalisation is very challenging to the government. It must find labor force and money to finance the process. Future performance of the company also depends on who will be in charge could be government itself or another managing company (Richardson, 2009). In order to avoid afterward problems, other options and decisions must be revised before the final decision of nationalisation. The company must stay efficient and respond to the market and global changes in time. Management must stay open and react quickly in order to avoid critical point. Change Process: Nationalisation of RBS In the beginning it is important to discuss global economic situation which caused problems in RBS and necessity of taking radical directions, including nationalisation. UK banking sector was under pressure of economic crisis 2006-2009 and is still recovering. It all started from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and reached the rest of the world at the beginning of 2007 with increasing debts. Most of all crisis hit banking sector, central banks and international banks worldwide. As a result the Bank of England had to decrease interest rates, and all banks were under risk of failure (Rayner, 2008). Current crisis was named the worst for the last 75 years with negative effects on many types of businesses and customers expectations (Altman, 2009). During this time period management was facing great challenges, especially risk management. In addition, it is obvious from current crisis practice that risk management can help to win the race and using various models and strategies matters (Varma, 2009). Spreading from United Stated over Europe and UK crisis attacked banking sector. UKs economy is connected to the US through trade and loans and borrowings. As a result of the continuing bankruptcy of banks, some tried to avoid it through help request from government. The first bank that was fully nationalised in UK is Northern Rock, followed by the Lloyds Banking Group with partial control from the government. Some researchers put nationalisation under meaning of rescue, and as a fact not all banks or companies were getting such rescuing package from the UK government. In the case of Northern Rock, decision was made according to the point that this bank is special and its failure can cause growing instability in the UK banking sector (Tomasic, 2008). This also can be true about the Royal Bank of Scotland as it is bank with great history, representing Scottish nation as part of Britain, with its own printed banknotes and heritage. In spite of the fact that many banks across the world were put into critical situation, having choices of selling just assets or banks itself, not many were rescued (Woods, Humphrey, Dowd, Liu, 2009). In the report of the House of Commons Treasury Committee (April, 2008) it is discussed that in October 2008 RBS introduced new plan of rescue with capital amount of 20 billion pounds, however, shareholders were getting unattractive returns and government had to rescue RBS through acquisition of major part of its shares. At that time point nationalisation was inevitable in relation to future life of the RBS. Looking at the managerial problems that caused such consequences it can be pointed that RBSs top management along with its prior Chief Executive, Sir Fred Goodwin was taking over optimistic decisions as well as misunderstanding of the critical situation. Wrong decisions were made due to fast process of the economic worsening in UK and globally. According to Hester, RBS was suffering from great downturn due to prior decisions. In addition wrong risk management strategies that were adopted at that time made even worse, in particular control issues. It seems that RBS had a great balance sheet for a long time period and was not prepared for immediate change. In 2007, RBS made a crucial decision of taking over ABN Amro bank, in cooperation with Fortis and Santander banks, this resulted in RBSs independence of private organization. Acquisition of the ABN Amro was a wrong step to take in the thread of economic crisis which made RBS unable to finish its strategic plan. Newly formed group was defenseless in the worsening situation of market changes (House of Commons Treasury Committee, 2008). The step of huge expenditure, acquiring ABN Amro in wrong time, could have been avoided by managers of RBS. Even more, loss of around 72 billion Euros intensified critical situation. Managerial decisions of this acquisition were made without disclose of credit and asset problems in ABN Amro prior to the deal. In addition, this decision was influenced by shareholders, here 94.5% of them agreed on acquisition and it may appear that they pressed top management to finish the deal. However, RBS directors and top managers agreed about the deal with unanimity. Consequence of this deal is big loss in 2008 of around 30 billion pounds instead of assumed profit. The change associated with acquisition of ABN Amro was a representation of Ansoffs (1987) market development strategy. RBS attempted to expand into the US market geographically and in addition the company attempted to profit from dealing with US mortgage backed securities. However, the failure of the strategy caused the banks to suffer losses and request the help from the government which acquired the shares of the business. The process of nationalisation of the RBS began with basic rescue program. In October 2008, RBS started new strategic program in order to increase capital. One of the solutions was to offer ordinary shares at a price of 65.5 pence per share. The offer consisted shares for 15 billion pounds. HM Treasury has got around 12% for 5 billion pounds and later on around 57.9% of shares were acquired by the Government. Decisions that were made by RBS and Government were directed to the achievement of more stable bank position and additional resources for strength and further capital enlargement. Government and the bank deny that there was a strategy of total nationalisation and when financial position of RBS will be stable, it will again be under private ownership (Webster, 2008). It can be argued that this nationalization is an example of emergent change rather than planned strategy (Whittington, 1993). Emergency was caused by the high dependency of the bank on the inflow of cash for sustaining its operations. Whittington (1993) proposed four basic approaches to strategy. These can be classified as classical, systematic, evolutionary and processual. Classical approach suggests that the companys strategy would be to maximize profit. Evolutionary approach suggests that the environment will select the strongest businesses. The systematic approach suggests that social environment will determine business strategy. The change in RBS is processual because it implies that the company consists of different stakeholders who have their own interests and ambitions. The goal of the management is to satisfy the interest of each stakeholder. If RBS was not nationalized and this changed was not made, the society, employees and even shareholders would suffer negative effects. However, it can be argued that the nationalization might have hurt shareholders even more because the value of their equity has gone down as the share price plummeted. PEST Analysis of RBS The change in the organization connected with the process of nationalization can be reflected in the PEST analysis of the company: Political Factors The Ownership of the bank is changed in favour of the UK government; Bail out was done out of the UK government budget; Support of the government will have positive effects on financial matters; Governments support will cause managers to act in the interests of the government rather than shareholders. Economic Factors Interest rates declined; so demand for lending can rise; Financial Crisis in the UK and the world may further deteriorate performance of the banks and additional capital may be required from the government. Social Factors The change in the bank is also connected with restructuring of the company and lay offs; Rising unemployment is a negative consequence of business failures such as RBS. Technological Factors Technologies are constantly improving and this facilitates the banking business of RBS because some costs are being reduced and the work is being optimised; However, since the ownership of the company changed from shareholders to the government, management will be rather interested in meeting the objectives of the government rather than optimising the work with new technologies. Conclusion Royal Bank of Scotland is now almost entirely owned by British government around 70%. Today, RBS is among first banks to enter new program named asset protection plan. In 2009 RBS had suffered of worst loss of about 24.1 billion pounds and adopted plan of survival. Some analysts point that as the RBS is not fully nationalised it can still face the risks and fail to satisfy investors expectations. As resent investors rate increased with great returns there is number of requests to have RBS fully nationalised (Werdigier, 2009). It is hard to judge whether RBS could have avoid nationalisation in the situation when it is hard to turn back and see other choices. However, there were some managerial mistakes that could have been avoided. Poor change management was not ready to face difficulties and get over them. Besides the acquisition of the ABN Amro that was already discussed, there was another managerial mistake of continuing dividend increase after the change in earnings that were decreasing. Trying to attract new investors with high dividends and please current shareholders, management put the business under risk of failure. After the ABN Amro deal, this, along with unhealthy assets that were not sold in time had lead RBS to the final step of nationalisation. Being attractive for investors and shareholders for a short time period RBS created consequences where investors of the company became most affected by nationalisation. Prior to the crisis RBS was a profitable company with attractive position. Later on there was a decrease of the UK shares market and dramatic drop in RBS share prices. Overall at the point that RBS entered in 2008, nationalisation seems to be the last chance of survival. It can give some extra time to make new strategic plan and to recover from the financial instability. There is still a chance for RBS in the future to become profitable, independent and private company. References Altman, R.C. (2009) The Great Crash, 2008 , Foreign Affairs, January/February [Online]. Available at http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/63714/roger-c-altman/the-great-crash-2008# [Accessed 27 October 2009]. Ansoff, I. (1987) Strategic Management, New York: Wiley Backhaus, J.G., Wagner, R.E. (2004) Handbook of public finance, Birkhà ¤user, pp. 554. Beardshaw, J., Ross, A. (2001) Economics: a students guide, Pearson Education, pp.740. Bradley, J. (2009) ‘RBS tipped for  £1.5bn Profit a Year After Crash, The Scotsman, July 19, [Online]. Available at http://business.scotsman.com/business/RBS-tipped-for-15bn-profit.5473605.jp [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Cuthbert, N., Dobbins, R. (1980) ‘Managerial Participation by Pension Funds and Other Financial Institutions, Managerial Finance, Vol.6, 3: 43-48. Encyclopedia Britannica (2009) ‘Nationalization, [Online]. Available at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/405796/nationalization [Accessed 28 October 2009]. Financial Ranks (2008) ‘Worlds Largest Banks 2008 Update, [Online]. Available at http://financialranks.com/?p=69 [Accessed 27 October 2009]. Floud, R., McCloskey, D.N. (1994) The Economic History of Britain since 1700 3 volume set, Cambridge University Press, UK, pp.400. Frei, E. (2009) ‘RBS leads 100, London banking sector lower, Finance Markets, September 21, [Online]. Available at http://www.financemarkets.co.uk/2009/09/21/rbs-leads-100-london-banking-sector-lower/ [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Global Crisis News (2009) ‘Royal Bank of Scotland to cut 9000 Jobs, April 7, [Online]. Available at http://www.globalcrisisnews.com/europe/royal-bank-of-scotland-to-cut-9000-jobs/id=775/ [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Hester, S. (2009) ‘Group Chief Executives Review, RBS Annual Report and Accounts 2008, [Online]. Available at http://www.rbs.com/microsites/gra2008/gce_review/index.html [Accessed 27 October 2009]. House of Commons Treasury Committee (2008) ‘Banking Crisis: Dealing With the Failure of the UK Banks, 7th report of session 2008-2009, April 21, [Online]. Available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmtreasy/416/416.pdf [Accessed 27 October 2009]. Lee, Kam-Hon (2007) ‘Chinese Banking in Asias Market Economies, Marketing Panoramic Review, Vol. 2: 24-26. Montia, G. (2009) ‘RBS to sell asset management business, September 28, [Online]. Available at http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/28092009-rbs-to-sell-asset-management-business/ [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Murchie, K. (2009) ‘RBS boss fears ‘lost decade, Finance Markets, September 13, [Online]. Available http://www.financemarkets.co.uk/2009/09/13/rbs-boss-fears-%e2%80%98lost-decade%e2%80%99/ [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Rayner, G. (2008) Financial crisis: Stock markets across world fall amid emergency bank rescues, The Telegraph, 08 October, [Online]. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3160869/Financial-crisis-Stock-markets-across-world-fall-amid-emergency-bank-rescues.html [Accessed 27 October 2009]. RBS Annual Report and Accounts (2005) [Online]. Available at http://www.shareholder.com/visitors/dynamicdoc/document.cfm?CompanyID=RBSdocumentID=1108PIN=209446200resizeThree=noScale=100Keyword=type%20keyword%20herePage=6 [Accessed 27 October 2009]. RBS Annual Report and Accounts (2006) [Online]. Available at http://www.rbs.com/microsites/gra2006/default.asp [Accessed 27 October 2009]. RBS Annual Report and Accounts (2007) [Online]. Available at http://www.rbs.com/microsites/gra2007/index.asp [Accessed 27 October 2009]. RBS Annual Report and Accounts (2008) [Online]. Available at http://www.rbs.com/microsites/gra2008/index.html [Accessed 27 October 2009]. Richardson, M. (2009) ‘The Case For and Against Bank Nationalization, VOX, [Online]. Available at http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3143 [Accessed 28 October 2009]. The Telegraph (2009) ‘RBS expects bad loans to mount in 2009, May 8, [Online]. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5294644/RBS-expects-bad-loans-to-mount-in-2009.html [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Tomasic, R. (2008) ‘The Rescue of Northern Rock: Nationalization in the Shadow of Insolvency, Corporate Rescue and Insolvency, Vol. 1, 4: 109-111. Varma, J.R. (2009) ‘Risk Management Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis for Derivative Changes, Indian Institute of Management working paper, February, pp. 2-26. Webster, P. (2008) ‘Royal Bank of Scotland under State Control, The Times, October, 13, [Online]. Available at http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4932250.ece [Accessed 29 October 2009]. Werdigier, J.(2009) ‘Record Loss at Royal Bank of Scotland, The New York Times, February 26, [Online]. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/business/worldbusiness/27rbos.html?_r=1 [Accessed 27 October 2009]. Woods, M., Humphrey, C., Dowd, K., Liu, Y. (2009) ‘Crunch Time For Bank Audits? Questions of Practice and the Scope for Dialogue, Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 24, 2: 114-134.

Impact Of Climate Change And Possible Solutions Environmental Sciences Essay

Impact Of Climate Change And Possible Solutions Environmental Sciences Essay Moscow in Russia has just witnessed its hottest day in its history this January. Climate change is evident given a series of recent environmental disruptor events all over the world. Researchers across the world have begun to raise their concerns over much occurring climatic changes. Several instances of climate change have been recorded worldwide and have been mentioned in our study. We look at different causes of climate change and present a detailed study of climate change, issues connected with it, impact of climate change and possible solutions. Climate change effects energy, water, environment and ecosystem on the whole. Solutions to climate change include collective effort and individual effort in using renewable forms of energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy instead of non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuels. INTRODUCTION Life is a definite flow of events. Mistimed events are not welcome in human lives. Mistimed events occurring in a very high frequency are immensely dangerous. Climate is the regular behavior of temperature, precipitation, humidity, atmospheric pressure and other related environmental factors. Climate change is a stark reality. A study in [1] states that ice loss in arctic region between 1979 and 2003 is larger than the area of the states Texas, California and Maryland combined. For long, climate change was a prediction but a series of natural disasters like Tsunami, floods and wildfires point directly to climate change. Let us examine some damage caused by climate change. Climate change has been associated with historical collapses of heritage sites like Harappa, Ancient Egypt and Maya civilization. Sourcewatch reports that Bombay, an Indian city, received 37 inches rain due to global warming [8]. Global warming was attributed as the reason for the hurricane Katrina in 2005. Recent inconclusive reports have surfaced that global warming might be the culprit behind Leh cloudburst this August [9]. It is a well-known fact that the lack of mangrove forests in the coastline in south-Asia has increased the effect of Tsunami in December 2004. Sourcewatch also reports deaths caused by heat wave in Arizona in 2005, two-foot snowfall in Los Angeles in November 2004, 124 mph winds in Scandinavia leading to electricity loss and disruption, drought in Midwest in August 2005 and attributes global warming as the reason for these incidents. Significant awareness drive has begun following such events with political commentators and activists at the helm. A report by In tergovernmental Panel on Climate Change headed by RK Pachauri predicted a 7-23 inch increase in sea levels in 2010 due to climate change [10]. Another report at University of Washington by Climate Impacts Group reports 1.5Â ° F increase in temperature in Pacific Northwest in 20th century. CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE Nature has, in its own way, contributed to the cause of climate change by regular adaptations. A natural disaster like volcano releases toxic gases such as sulphur-dioxide apart from water vapor, dust and ash. The released sulphur-dioxide gets accumulated in the topmost layer of atmosphere. The released substances also obstruct sunlight from entering earths surface leading to earth cooling. The formed water combines with the toxic gas to result in sulphuric acid that hangs around the topmost layer of atmosphere. These have the capability to block sunlight and disrupt regular processes leading to eco-imbalance. Part of the climate change is attributed to continental drift as it changes the physical features of the land area, their location and location of water, eventually tidal currents. If nature changes the climate unintentionally, humans have multiplied the climate change effect by several notches. Industrial revolution, over-usage of resources, inefficient resource handling can be attributed to human -influential causes of climate change. This also includes greenhouse emission gases and burning of fossil fuels like oil, coal, natural gas. Excessive emission from industries has polluted the atmosphere to great levels. It is not surprising to note that developed countries contribute the maximum to atmospheric pollution through carbon emissions. Ten of the top countries in the world contribute 67% of carbon emissions [3]. However, it is the poor of the world who bear the maximum brunt due to this. A report by mongabay reveals that more than one million square kilometers of forest land was lost between 2000 and 2005 [2]. It is a well-known fact that trees absorb carbon-dioxide emitted by vehicles and industries. Hence, we should introspect the findings of the report to estimate the amount of unabsorbed carbon-dioxide and other toxic gases. IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE Let us consider the case of highly developed and industrialized country, the United States to estimate the impact of climate change in near future. Water Availability Water cycle is affected to the extent of influencing the availability of water as a resource. As a result, floods and droughts become more frequent. Varying climate is bound to change surface water quality and groundwater quality. All this can be contributed to increasing water temperatures, decrease in ice per area, fluctuations in precipitation occurrence, transformations in soil moisture and high concentration of water vapor in atmosphere. Energy Energy availability and energy production is inextricable from available water resources. Increasing water temperatures and inadequate water resources restrict energy production. As the population shifts to southwest, increased use of air conditioning systems drain energy resources contributing to climate change. 87% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States origin from energy production. Transportation Increased irregular floods will impact the transportation sector given the disruption caused to infrastructure. Evacuation and rehabilitation of people, infrastructure damage are the evident results of disruption by floods. Agriculture Agriculture in the United States contributes 8.6% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Gases like carbon-dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide directly affect agriculture. Recent wildfires in Russia resulted in crop loss given a high increase in atmospheric temperature. Many have pointed this to observable global warming [4]. Another report reveals that South Africa is bound to lose 30% of its maize crop by 2030 [5]. Environment It cannot be ignored that many living species depend on climate for their survival. We are witnessing reports predicting extinction of polar bears if current ice melting continues in the Arctic region and extinction of variety of other species due to changing temperatures and climate as a whole. Heavy investment in drylands reveals the importance to turn these lands into fertile lands [6]. The effect of Tsunami that occurred in south-Asia in 2005 increased multifold due to deforestation of mangrove forests along the coastline. Mangrove trees have the capability to absorb tsunami waves but were uprooted to promote aquaculture. Health Figure 1- Projected heat-related deaths in Chicago [7] Increasing temperatures already cause many heat-related deaths in India. Each summer in India many die due to high temperatures and each year are getting hotter with time. Irregular temperature changes lead to health imbalance, across any age group. Infections caused due to air pollutants are bound to leave their mark on humans. SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE Every individual living on this planet is responsible for global warming in one way or another and must amend ways to stop this phenomenon in his/her own way. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a common framework in which Kyoto protocol is proposed to fight global warming. 187 countries signed the protocol till November 2009. Kyoto protocol was introduced in 1997 but was enforced from February 2005. The main objective of the protocol is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% by 2012 from 1990 levels. Another solution for climate aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2020. Solutions include Energy efficiency Efficient usage of energy includes proficient car usage, energy reduction power sources, innovated industrial strategies and developing technological solutions. Low noise refrigerators, energy efficient washing machines save significant amount of energy. Hand drying of clothes after machine washing saves considerable energy. Reducing temperatures of air conditioning system also saves huge amounts of energy over the year. Solar energy Renewable forms of energy sources must be worked up on instead of using non-renewable energy sources such as oil, gas, nuclear energy and coal. Coal is no longer being generated to be used extensively. The fate of oil is similar to that of coal. According to the latest status report of renewable energy, out of total energy consumed only 19% is renewable, a meager 2.8% is nuclear energy and the rest if fossil fuels [11]. Of the renewable energy sources, biomass forms 13%, hydropower forms 3.2%, solar energy forms about 1.4% and the rest sources are wind energy, geothermal and hydropower. Electricity can be generated from sunlight which can be substituted for non-renewable forms of energy. Photovoltaic cells can be used to convert light to electricity and can be used to charge devices such as calculators or power entire house. Solar thermal power plants are another source of energy where electricity is generated by highly pressurized steam from sunlight using power turbines. Wind energy Using wind energy reduces carbon emissions drastically, given our major objective is to reduce carbon emissions, and maintains eco-balance. Construction of infrastructure required for generating wind energy is not tedious as generally believed. Greenpeace states the prediction of wind energy usage at 12% of worlds energy by 2020 [12]. Individual contribution Reducing water usage in daily activities saves good amount of energy. Using public transportation such as trains and buses preserves energy. [11] suggest rural renewable energy strategies like using hydropower or biogas for lighting and energy purposes instead of candles or kerosene. Similarly, hydropower or biogas can be used for communications instead of batteries. Solar cookers can be developed and used instead of burning wood for cooking to achieve over 25% efficiency. Solar PV pumps or mechanical wind pumps can be used to pump water instead of diesel pumps and generators. Another recommendable solution is saving energy on computers by turning on the save screen mode which reduces power consumption and emissions. It might sound trivial but small amounts of saved energy add up to huge amounts at the end of the year. CONCLUSION A greater resolve is needed on behalf of all world countries to stand by the promises made to reduce carbon emissions to achieve our objectives by the target, 2020. Countries must work towards the common goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and must also abide by frameworks such as Kyoto protocol aimed at reducing global warming. Also, reducing global warming and addressing climate change is the responsibility of not only governments but also its citizens, of each and every individuals. We should collectively work to save energy by reducing unnecessary water usage, saving electricity, using public transport, recycling plastic, bottles, paper and waste.

Keats and the Senses of Being: Ode on a Grecian Urn (Stanza V) Essay

Keats and the Senses of Being: "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (Stanza V) ABSTRACT: With its focus on the pathos of permanence versus temporality as human aporia and on the function — the Werksein — of the work of art genuinely encountered, John Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn is a particularly compelling subject for philosophical analysis. The major explications of this most contentiously debated ode in the language have largely focused, however, on various combinations of the poem’s stylistic, structural, linguistic, psychological, aesthetic, historical, symbolic, and intellectual-biographical elements. My paper articulates a bona fide philosophical approach to the ode’s famously controversial fifth stanza (the one containing the Urn’s declaration: "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"). I demonstrate how William Desmond’s metaphysics of Being-specifically his analysis of the univocal, equivocal, dialectical, and metaxological senses of being-affords the groundwork for a "hermeneutics of the between" that elucidate s the ode’s culminating stanza with all of the cogency and nuance that one would expect to derive from a systematic ontology. In what ways are philosophy and literature mutually elucidating? More specifically, how can a systematic metaphysics serve as a vehicle of insight into the way that literary art renders, in solution as it were, ontological truths that orchestrate our experience of the ideal? I’d like briefly to address these questions by considering the concluding stanza of John Keats’s "Ode on a Grecian Urn" in terms of four complementary ontological keys. These four senses of being — the univocal, the equivocal, the dialectical, and the metaxological—are the heart of a compelling ontology detailed by William Desmond in... ...n the unformed, undifferentiated, prelinguistic word [that] leaves the Du free and stands together with it in reserve where the spirit does not manifest itself but is. (I and Thou 89). Bibliography Buber, Martin. I and Thou. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Scribners, 1970. Desmond, William. Being and the Between. Albany: SUNY P, 1995. Heidegger, Martin. "The Origin of the Work of Art." Poetry, Language, Thought. Trans. Albert Hofstadter. New York: Harper, 1975. Keats, John. The Complete Poems. Ed. John Barnard. 3rd ed. London: Penguin, 1988. Stambovsky, Phillip. The Depictive Image: Metaphor and Literary Experience. Amherst, MA: U of Massachusetts P, 1988. ——— Myth and the Limits of Reason. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1996. Stillinger, Jack, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of Keats’s Odes. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Womens Studies: Woman of the Year Refia Ari -a pioneer of Special Need

Women's Studies: REFIA ARI - Woman of the Year Pioneer of Special Needs Education for disabled children in KKTC Cyprus Refia Ari received the Woman of the Year award in 2003 of the Women's Studies & Education Centre, Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU), KKTC/TRNC-Cyprus. She enabled special needs education for disabled children, children's disability support for their parents and disabilities careres. "Mrs. Refia (Ari) has created for .. children a world that becomes more beautiful every day" (Sà ¼leyman Ergà ¼Ãƒ §là ¼, News Director, Bayrak Radio-Television -rtd ~YaÅŸamÄ ±n Ä °Ãƒ §inden BRTK, Cyprus-KKTC) This woman's nation also has its share of disabled children. But Cyprus-KKTC had no facilities for children with disabilities. Neither for their care, nor for their well being and education. Nor for the welfare and educational support needs of their parents. Special needs education did not exist for children with disabilities. Parents of disabled children had no education on how to cope. Children with mental or physical handicaps simply existed and suffered. Refia Ari changed that for the disabled of Cyprus-KKTC. Her Successful Woman of the Year Award by the Eastern Mediterranean University's Women's Studies and Education Centre was for her pioneering works which made that change possible. Especially for children with disabilities and the parents of handicapped children. While Cyprus is in, both, the British Commonwealth and the European Union, and, indeed, also in the European Convention on Human Rights, concerns were, as of the United Nations, mostly with its inter-communal conflict, and neither local nor foreign aid existed for the disabled men and women and children of Cyprus-KKTC -not even an official disability re... ...ial education provisions catering also for the special needs of disabled children up the age of 18, and she was included in its committee for the re-organisation of the educational system which should also ease the integration into society of disabled children by their education in ordinary schools. Refia Ari, with her exceptional leadership qualities and extraordinary organising skills having worked wonders for the handicapped children of Cyprus-KKTC, is reported in the media to be pursuing her vision to get official help, support and education extended also to disabled adults. Her voluntary works with various disability organisations and vision for the disabled, as she stated to the BRTK, is based on Refia Ari's philosophy that -translated "We have advantages in life and disadvantages, some of us can't run -but if one's hand is held one can at least walk."

Adolescent Sex Offenders and Social Workers Role

One of the most significant problems of the Western world is sexual assaults which rank among the societies’ illness that connects to other crimes such as nonsexual crime, spread of infectious diseases, substance abuse and environmental damage.Victims of sexual assaults are increasing on a large scale basis according to the 1987 surveys using stratified random samples of selected population.Sexual assaults during the past decades have shown that one half of the number of women interviewed say they experienced sexual victimization before reaching the age of 14 while one in four of the adult female respondents say they were sexually abused before the age of 18. Although most of these assaults were committed by adults, male juvenile sex offenders are beginning to take the limelight in committing sex offenses more than any other records we had decades ago.Male sex offenders are those persons convicted in court of sexual crimes that include rape, sexual intent such as molestations and sexual component which include rape with murder. Categorically there are two types of sex offenders and these are the adult and adolescent offenders.While the adult sex offenders are fully sanctioned by the law, juvenile or adolescent sex offenders are treated differently because they are still under the age covered by juvenile criminal justice system which separate them from adult system.In the criminal justice system, the court considers a young person a sex offender when he or she cannot be responsible for the criminal behavior because of his or her age. In American jurisdictions, when a person is younger than 12 years old, he or she is considered a child so they cannot be convicted of sexual crime because sexual crime covers only those who are 13 years and above.Juvenile or adolescent sex offenders, however, have ages of 12 up to 18 therefore they are within the juvenile court system and consider them as juvenile sex offenders. They can be held liable for sexual offense beca use according to the court they can be criminally responsible for the crime because of their capability to distinguish sexual offense.According to the US statistical data, from 1985 to 2000, 91.8% of sexual offenses were committed by young males with ages 12 to 17.In a study conducted in 1983 by Ageton, he estimated that approximately around 20% of all rapes and child molestations were caused by adolescent male offenders. One of the most recognizable characteristics of adolescent sex offender is their deviant sexual behavior.This behavior includes sexual behavior on child molestation, pedophilia and fetishism. Sexual deviation is often interpreted as â€Å"sexual perversion† or â€Å"paraphilia†.   Paraphilia is defined in the medical or behavioral science as a behavioral condition that refers to sexual deviation, sexual anomaly, sexual perversion or a disorder of sexual preference.Adolescent sex offenders suffering from Paraphilias are mostly males who develop this condition during their early puberty and may suffer from it until the age of 20 (Barbaree & Marshall, 2008).In 1994, the American Academy of Pediatrics has published its last policy statement that includes information on rape and sexual assault by adolescents, victims of these assaults and the perception of these adolescents about sexual assault or sexual offense. Sexual assault or sexual offence may vary in definitions.It may connote rape, acquaintance, date rape, molestation, statutory rape, treatment and management of the victim. In sexual offense, there is usually sexual contact with or without penetration that occur either with the use of psychological coercion or by physical force. It can also include touching the person that violates his or her persona or touching the person’s sexual or body parts or even touching the clothing that covers the intimate parts of the person.There is molestation even when there is non-coital sexual activity between a child, an adolescent o r an adult. Molestation which is one form of sexual offense can also include encouraging a child in viewing pornographic materials, fondling of the genitals or breasts or through oral-genital contact.According to the national data, victims of adolescent sexual offense are mainly composed of adolescents themselves. Although adolescent sexual offenders may victimize any age group, according to the 1998 record of the US Department of Justice out of the 1000 males and female victims of sexual assault annually, 3.5 % are of ages 12 through 15 years of age and 5 % are of 16 to 19 years of ages.These are only conservative data because accordingly cases are not all reported due to the fact that the assailants are of their acquaintance or relative of the victims.Usually the persons involved in the treatment of these victims are pediatricians who are responsible in the management of children and the well being of the adolescents. This is because they are trained to conduct forensic procedures that are necessary for documentation and evidence collection which the pediatrician must refer to an emergency department or rape crisis center when there is the case of adolescent rape.Rape cases may involve Colposcopic procedures that will allow examiners to check on genital trauma as seen in rape cases. Pediatricians who are tasked to treat sexually abused or assaulted patients must be aware of the legal requirements which include the completion of the needed forms, documentation and reporting to the authorities.In case there is diagnosis and management of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) blood and tissue specimens should be obtained and checked as most of the victims of adolescent sex offenders may suffer from these kinds of diseases and infection (Kaufman, 2008).But what causes male adolescent sexual offense and what are the treatments? According to studies adolescent sexual behavior develop during childhood. Because of exposure to non-profound sexual values and absence of bonding with their families, the young mind of a child learned to trust no one.They may be exposed to sexual behavior and values that victimize people or live in a very complex family setting where they see their parents getting involved with other partners. Because of the lack of stability and consistency in mind, the children’s confused world affects their sexual identity.Since they lack psychological support from their families, what they have in their environment confuse them to the point of getting confused by his own sexual identity. As they grow up, they cannot categorize what is right from wrong when it comes to having relationship particularly sexual relationship.Psychiatrists can be able to see this abnormal behavior based from the adolescent’s background. They can also see the difference between normal boys and young sex offenders. A normal boy is usually self-absorbed but also much aware of other people and his surroundings while a boy with adolescent sex offender tendencies is usually motivated in satisfying his own needs with no regards for others.In the case of a normal adolescent male, as puberty sets in he will take interest with the opposite sex. Although this is also true with an adolescent male sex offender, the problem is he can both become attracted to males and females but this attraction is not based on respect but with manipulative and opportunistic desire that involves inappropriate sexual fantasies.While the normal adolescent boy begins to seek friendship with his peers, the offender will only wish for sexual relationships. Because of this unusual personality, the opposite sex may find him unsuitable for friendship and avoid his companionship. In view of this the offender may just commit sexual gratification by other means and to what satisfies him regardless of consequences.Since this condition may become too emotionally deep, extensive study of the offender’s background and psychiatric test must be provided to prevent re-offending. Treatment must be applied and people in charge of the treatment must start with orienting the offender of his condition to prevent the status of denial and begin to process individual motivations, detect the signals to offending, monitor emotional responses and pattern of offense.The offender must be taught to assume responsibility of his own behavior and must be told that his deeds make him to act antisocially. This process will enable the adolescent to understand his condition and can motivate himself to seek help to prevent future conflicts. This usual therapy can help in making the offender analyze and acknowledge his offenses so that he can have room for potential change.Some important treatments that are involved to alter abnormal sexual behavior is altering the deviant sexual fantasies of the offenders and stop the habit of masturbation, improving the development of conscience and feelings of empathy. Patients subjected to group therapy experience faste r treatment and this is where the value of the social workers comes into place.The social workers can significantly assist treatment and therapy to enable the patients to coordinate events, thoughts and feelings that trigger his offending behavior. In case they bypasses boundaries of good morals, the social workers will reorganize and restructure their thoughts by teaching them re-routing their energies to legitimate leisure activities to prevent immersing themselves to boredom which can trigger offensive behaviors.One of the most important aspects of treating an adolescent sex offender particularly in males is abandoning the objectification of people specifically of those sex partners so that he will learn social skills and attracting a person to a commitment of a true, loving and committed relationship. Getting him exposed to be moral is the main objective of therapy and treatment.Truly, it takes a lot of effort to make an offender get on the right track because as we have said, h is mind and abnormal behavior developed during his younger years of mental formation that is why treatments sometimes seem to be overwhelming.There are different forms of treatment and therapy with this condition and they take in many forms. Social workers, however, does not rely on drugs or other forms of treatment that uses chemicals in enhancing treatment but instead they condition the mind of the offenders through the use of lectures, discussions, exercises, movies, instructional videos, role playing, oral treatment plan assignments and so on.Usually social workers rely on the use of role models that are once adolescent sex offenders and can serve as rich source of experiences. Social workers are especially trained to share personal anecdotes in teaching the fundamentals of responsibility, sexuality, morality, social skills and communication, preventing relapse and emotionality.They encourage their subjects in watching television shows and news programs that offer rich sources o f discussion that provokes moral interpretations and judgments.As have been mentioned before, group therapy can be the most significant treatment of all the choices provided by the social workers because a group mobilizes peer pressure and can be a powerful motivator for change and it presses confession and conformation as well. Counseling is also done to individual inpatients and outpatients on a weekly basis (Lakey, 1994).  However since this discussion is primarily pointing at what are the causes and treatment of adolescent sex offense it must also be noted that prevention must be considered to altogether stop or spread the cases of this clinical condition.We all know that 95% of the time, sex is rooted out in our childhood because as children, we have an inborn curiosity about everything including sex. A child who starts to mingle with other children accelerates this curiosity to an astonishing degree and therefore this is where the guidance of his family must come to play.Onc e the child begins to notice the opposite sex it means his curiosity starts to accelerate removing himself to his confinement with his toys and playthings. However if the child cannot get from his parents the information of what he is curious about, his tendency is to run to his peers or other adults for the answers. Unfortunately, pedophiles are most aware in this factor and may use their advantage to gain the trust of children.The result of the curiosity of the child may be disastrous in this manner. That is why sex education at home should begin the earliest possible time or when the child starts to ask questions about sexuality. Male child may ask about simple things but the parent must answer the child with very basic answers that do not need to talk about pure sex.The parents must also correct misinformation that deals with sex contributed to him by his peers, classmates or other adults. Remember that everything that the child ask and see becomes imprinted in his young mind an d will carry and lead him to other aspects related to what he learned during his developing years.When the child starts to enter his adolescence he begins to experience confusion and will try to discover his true identity. Inadequate learning from his family or misinformation given to him by other people may confuse him deeply which can affect his personality and his view toward sex may become abnormal.Being in the stage of budding adolescence is where the role of his family becomes critical because he will see that something different takes place on his body and at the same time notice that opposite sex attracts him. If misguided and the adolescent has no one to talk about the changes he feels, depression may result and he can have a puzzled adolescent life (Prendergast, 2003).No man has desired to be a sex offender but unfortunately we cannot always direct our lives due to the fact that there are many influences that may put our child at risk. However, the US government is very an xious about this and so every US state are encouraged to put up their adolescent prevention program to put a hold on the growing criminality caused by the offending youths.According to The Safer Society Foundation, in 1986 there were about 346 programs in the U.S. treating adolescent sex offenders with ages ranging from 12-17. In 2002 these programs rose to 937. But with the rising offenses during that period around 410 programs were also established for children under the age of 12 due to the rising trends of younger offenders.Government programs were the result of these data because suddenly there was the need for establishing programs for juvenile treatment as referred by state courts (â€Å"Juvenile Probation and Court Services Department,† 2006)For the conclusion of this discussion, checking on the data plus the concern that affects some of our youth, there is a point indeed for concern for the need to answer the growing problem of adolescent sex offense. Through the yea rs, this information tells us that not only adolescents are affected by this conditions but even younger males.There are now researches to back-up the need for rehabilitation of the offenders because of the massive data that have been supported by studies and information from the US National Statistics and other government programs. Giving hope to these children through treatments encouraged by different programs is the only recourse we could do because we want to prevent further debilitation of culture and future of our youth.eferences:Barbaree, H., & Marshall, W. L. (2008). The Juvenile Sex Offender, Second Edition (2 ed.): Guilford Press (book)Juvenile Probation and Court Services Department.   (2006). Retrieved from http://www.cookcountycourt.org/services/programs/juvenile/innovations.html#jsoKaufman, M. (2008). Care of the Adolescent Sexual Assault Victim. Pediatrics (Journal), 107, 1476-1479.Lakey, J. F. (1994). The Profile and Treatment of Male Adolescent Sex Offenders. Ado lescence (Journal), 29(116), 755-761.Prendergast, W. E. (2003). Treating Sex Offenders (2nd ed. Vol. 1): Haworth Press. (book)

The Main Arguments of Evolution Theory

International Management Prof. dr. Niels Noorderhaven Lecture 1 Agenda †¢ †¢ †¢ 1. 2. 3. Introduction and organizational matters Does â€Å"international† still matter? Conceptual foundations of international business strategy (1) †¢ †¢ Case: Honda in the USA Literature: Textbook chapter 1 (pp 13-33 + 59-62) Team Lectures Niels Noorderhaven Cases Fons Naus Ana Aranda Gutierrez Zhengyu Li Teaching strategy Complementarity of lectures – readings †¢ Individual case participation †¢ Each lecture, one or several cases from the book will be expanded to put the theory into practice †¢ Importance of research articles Grading †¢ 70% MC exam – See Study manual for correction formula †¢ Exam dates December 13, 2012 and April 12, 2013 †¢ 30% 2 Interactive lectures – individual participation †¢ Interactive lectures grades of 2010 and 2011 can be transferred Book †¢ http://www. cambridge. rg/features/manag ement/verbeke/ Does â€Å"international† still matter? 7 Transportation & communication costs fall 17 September 2012 8 Tariffs fall, anti-dumping measures rise anti- 17 September 2012 9 Globalization Theory: †¢ Linguistic, trade and cultural barriers become less important †¢ ‘Stateless’ MNCs †¢ Within MNCs worldwide diffusion of technologies, knowledge and information Convergence of world economies 17 September 2012 10 Why is nationality important to people? Individual identity and social identity †¢ Three processes of social identity formation: †¢ social categorization †¢ social comparison †¢ social identification †¢ (Self-)categorization: what is the salient category? 17 September 2012 11 Why is nationality important to people? †¢ Positive stereotyping of â€Å"in-group†, negative stereotyping of â€Å"out-group† †¢ Nationality differences are particularly salient when people have no common history †¢ Nationality then becomes a source for one’s own identity and for the ascribed identity of the other 7 September 2012 12 Does â€Å"international† still matter? Yes, because †¦. †¢ Cultural , institutional and language differences persist †¢ Leading to differences in (business) decision making †¢ Nationality forms an important basis for social categorization processes †¢ Leading to shortcuts like cultural attribution and stereotyping With the effect that doing business across borders is different than domestic business 13 Conceptual foundations of international business strategy 4 Definition of international business strategy International business strategy means effectively and efficiently matching a multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) internal strengths (relative to competitors) with the opportunities and challenges found in geographically dispersed environments that cross international borders. Such matching is a precond ition to creating value and satisfying stakeholder goals, both domestically and internationally. 15 TABLE OF CONTENTS (1) Introduction and overview of the book’s framework †¢ Part one: Core concepts (1) Conceptual foundations of international business strategy (2) The critical role of firm-specific advantages (3) The nature of home country location advantages (4) The problem with host country location advantages (5) Combining firm-specific advantages and location advantages in an MNE network 16 TABLE OF CONTENTS (2) †¢ Part two: Functional issues (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) International innovation International sourcing and production International finance International marketing Managing managers in the multinational enterprise 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS (3) †¢ Part three: Dynamics of global strategy (11) Entry mode dynamics 1: foreign distributors (12) Entry mode dynamics 2: strategic alliance partners (13) Entry mode dynamics 3: mergers and acquisitions (14) The role of emerging economies (15a) International strategies of corporate social responsibility (15b) International strategies of environmental sustainability 18 The seven concepts of the unifying framework †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Internationally transferable (or non-location bound) firmspecific advantages (FSAs) Non-transferable (or location-bound) FSAs Location advantages Investment in – and value creation through – recombination Complementary resources of external actors Bounded rationality Bounded reliability The MNE’s unique resource base †¢ Physical resources (natural resources, buildings, plant equipment). †¢ Financial resources (equity and loan capital) †¢ Human resources (individuals and teams, entrepreneurial and operational skills). Upstream knowledge (sourcing knowledge, product and process-related technological knowledge). †¢ Downstream knowledge (marketing, sales, distribution and after sales service). †¢ Admin istrative knowledge (organizational structure, culture and systems). †¢ Reputational resources (brand names, reputation for honest business dealings). International transferability of FSAs? †¢ Paradox: If the FSA consists of easily codifiable knowledge (i. e. , if it can be articulated explicitly, as in a handbook or blueprint), then it can be cheaply transferred abroad, but it can also be easily imitated by other firms.Though expensive and time-consuming to transfer tacit knowledge across borders, the benefit to the MNE is that this knowledge is also difficult to imitate. It is often a key source of competitive advantage when doing business abroad. Some FSAs are not transferable abroad: location-bound locationFSAs (1) Four main types: †¢ Stand-alone resources linked to location advantages (privileged retail locations). †¢ Local marketing knowledge and reputational resources, such as brand names (may not be applicable to a host country context, or valued to the s ame extent). Local best practices (i. e. routines), such as incentive systems or buyer-supplier relations (may not work abroad). †¢ Domestic recombination capability (may not work in foreign markets – e. g. , because co-location of resources is needed). Some FSAs are not transferable abroad: location-bound locationFSAs (2) †¢ Even if transferability of the relevant resources were technically possible, this does not mean potential for profitable deployment, i. e. the resource bundles that may be transferable from a technical perspective (e. g. , the way n which a product is marketed at home), do not constitute an FSA abroad. Location advantages †¢ Entire set of strengths of a location, and accessible by firms in that location. †¢ Should always be assessed relative to the strengths of other locations. †¢ Instrumental to FSAs Motivations for foreign expansion †¢ Natural resource seeking – Verbeke: physical, financial or human resources †¢ Market seeking †¢ Strategic resource seeking – e. g. , knowledge, finance †¢ Efficiency seeking – E. g. , low labor cost Case: Honda in the USA Background Prior to 1970s exports of motorcycles and cars †¢ Drivers of foreign production: – Rising value of the yen against US$ – Fear of import restrictions – The Clean Air Act in the US – First oil crisis †¢ Motivation for expansion (natural resource, market, strategic resource, efficiency seeking? ) Honda’s approach †¢ After four-year decision process Honda of America Manufacturing established in Marysville, Ohio, in 1978 †¢ Top priority: attain Japanese-level quality and efficiency – – – – – Selection of employees Training program Fly in managers and workers from Japan Develop lean supplier network Upgrade supplier quality level 1980: start production of cars †¢ Present: 9 production plants in USA Honda’s FSAs †¢ Non-location bound FSAs: – – – – – – – Know-how four-strike engines with optimal power-to-weight ratio Management principles Quality systems Employee selection processes Training and knowledge transfer routines Manufacturing expertise Supplier management approach †¢ †¢ Location-bound FSAs in the host country: – High demand for specific products Resource recombination: – – – Use four-strike engines in many products (motorcycles, small cars, generators, †¦) Design and manufacturing skills + knowledge of consumer preferences in USA Melding existing and new resources through management exchange program Exploit new capabilities worldwide Complementary resources of external actors †¢ Opportunity to study American way of production at Ford †¢ Extensive use of American experts and consultants (especially for selecting location) †¢ Critical role of suppliers Bounded rationality issues lack of knowledge local conditions †¢ Suppliers’ lack of familiarity with Honda †¢ New employees lack of familiarity with â€Å"The Honda Way† Bounded reliability issues †¢ Moral hazard/adverse selection employees †¢ American managers have local priorities Deliberate strategy? Agenda for next lecture 1. 2. 3. 4. Four types of MNEs Recombination Bounded rationality & reliability Firm-specific advantages (FSAs) †¢ Cases: 3M & IKEA †¢ Literature: Textbook chapter 1 (pp 33-76) + chapter 2 NB: Class will be in SZ 31