Financial Accounting Standards Board Essay

The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) are two of the most important bodies of the Accounting/Finance field today. Though both boards work together to develop and enforce financial reporting standards for publicly held organizations, the FASB concentrates on the accounting standards in the United States while the IASB sets its focus on global standards. The rules and standards that are set for individual certified public accountants that practice in the United States are also set by the FASB. By introducing the IASB and FASB into the MSA program, students are able to gain more insight into what businesses are required to report and the progress that the accounting field continues to make. The FASB was established in 1973 after the AICPA had adopted recommendation which were made by the Wheat Committee. The Wheat Committee had recommended that the Accounting Principles Board (APB) be eliminated and that FASB be created. The elimination of the APB and the creation of the FASB meant that the FASB was the board that issued accounting standards. FASB’s structure is as follows: A board of trustees nominated by organizations whose members have special knowledge and interest in financial reporting is selected. The organizations originally chosen to select the trustees were the American Accounting Association; the AICPA; the Financial Executives Institute; the National Association of Accountants (The Naa’s name was later changed to Institute of Management Accountants in 1991), and the Financial Analysts Federation (Schroeder etal, 2011). The FASB’s mission is to create and improve financial accounting standards for the assistance and education of the public. The IASB was established in 2001, after succeeding the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) which was established in 1973. The International Accounting Standards are created by the IASB and are called International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS’s). The main responsibility of the IASB is to create and issue IFRS’s, exposure drafts, and approve interpretations which are developed by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). These IFRS’s are the equivalent to FASB’s Statements of Financial Accounting Standards. The primary difference between the two sets of standards is, one set of standards are established in the United States and another set of standards are established in another country. The FASB and IASB are currently working to create a uniform set of International Accounting Standards (IAC’s). The two boards started working together to create this uniform set of standards in 2003. The goal of this project is to achieve â€Å"compatibility of identifying common, high-quality solutions† (Schroeder etal, 2011). The reason for the convergence of the two boards is to have a specific set of accounting standards that all countries must follow. The guidelines for the convergence of the two boards are as follows: * Convergence of accounting standards can best be achieved through the development of high-quality, common standards theme * Trying to eliminate differences between two standards that are in need of significant improvement is not the best use of the FASB’s and the IASB’s resources – instead, a new common standard should be developed that improves the financial information reported to investors * Serving the needs of investors means that the boards should seek to converge by replacing weaker standards with stronger standards (Schroeder etal, 2011) The primary standards that are to be converged are six of FASB’s Statements of Financial Concepts (SFAC’s): SFAC No. 1. â€Å"Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises† SFAC No. 2. â€Å"Qualitative Characteristics of Accounting Information† SFAC No. 5. â€Å"Recognition and Measurement in Financial Statements of Business Enterprises† SFAC No. 6. â€Å"Elements of Financial Statements† SFAC No. 7. â€Å"Using Cash Flow Information and Present Value in Accounting Measurements† (Schreoder etal, 2011) Seven of IASB’s Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements are also part of the conversion: 1.  The objective of financial statements 2. Qualitative characteristics of financial statements 3. The elements of financial statements 4. Recognition of the elements of financial statements 5. Measurement of the elements of financial statements 6. Concepts of capital and capital maintenance (Schroeder etal, 2011) The standards mentioned above are the standards that appear to have the most commonality which would seem that there would be fewer obstacles. However; a prevalent variance is the amount of detail which is contained within the two frameworks. While the convergence of the two boards will be difficult, recognizing the commonalities between the frameworks is the first step in making sure the convergence goes through smoothly. Not only is it important to merge the two different sets of standards, but it is also important that the two boards work together to build onto the current set and establish additional standards that organizations are required to follow. The Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) program prepares students for a professional life within the accounting vocation by introducing students to the standards set by the FASB and the IASB. â€Å"The (MSA) provides the breadth of knowledge for the professional accountant. Students master the theory and principles that frame a wide range of problems and issues encountered in the accounting profession† (University of Phoenix, 2011). The students are able to go in depth with the boards and discover how the entire accounting system works. By introducing the functionality of the FASB and the IASB, the students are able to understand the importance of following GAAP. By understanding GAAP and knowing the relationship between those principles and the IASB and FASB, the students will have the knowledge to perform the job and understand why the IASB and FASB set the standards that they do. The IASB and FASB are two very influential boards within the accounting field. The standards that these two boards have established and enforced have paved the way toward a single set of standards between all countries. Having a single set of standards will allow investors to view financial reports for all organizations around the world and know that the information is being reported using the same set of standards. It is important to the future success of any organization that its current and future employees are up to date on all of the rules and regulations that are part of the accounting career. The MSA program allows students the opportunity to gain the knowledge of any current and future rules that the boards have established.

Automotive Industry

Auto is a large industry which mainly engaged in manufacture, design, development, sales and marketing of vehicles. Globally, it is one of the most crucial economic sector. According to the researchers, there are 806 million vehicles includes cars on the road in 2007, which consumes 980 billion litres of petrol and diesel yearly, (Wikipedia. 2018). Therefore, automobile is a major mode of transportation for many country economies. In this industry, safety is crucial means the user or manufacturer do not meet any risk from motor vehicle or its parts. Thus, automobile have to follow with the rules and regulations. The standard ISO 26262 is the most proper practice framework to reach automotive functional safety, (Wikipedia. 2018). However, in safety issues, the product may flaw or fault during manufacturing, hence the manufacturer can ask to return the vehicle. This is called as ‘product recall'. Product and operation inspections have many levels to avoid the products recalls by ensure security, (Wikipedia. 2018). Despite, the automotive industry really concern about recalls, which cause financial problems. Volkswagen Volkswagen is a German auto manufacturer which founded by German Labour Front under Adolf Hitler in May 28, 1937, (Wikipedia. 2018). Its head office located in Wolfsburg, German, (Volkswagen. 2018). Volkswagen is one of the leading automotive manufacturer and biggest producer in Europe, (Volkswagen. 2018). As well as, it is biggest sales marque of Volkswagen Group which is the largest automaker in worldwide, (Volkswagen. 2018). It is in charge of many brands includes Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, SEAT, Scania, Ducati, MAN, Bentley, Bugatti and Skoda, (Volkswagen. 2018).As great achievements, Volkswagen performed sales record of 6.29 million vehicle in 2010 with market share at 11.4 percent, (Wikipedia. 2018). Volkswagen also is the third biggest automaker in year 2010 and second greatest manufacturer in the world in the year 2012, (Wikipedia. 2018). In addition, Volkswagen has manufacture facilities in many countries includes United States, Russia, Mexico, China, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Bosnia, Kenya and South Africa, (Wikipedia. 2018). Volkswagen is one of the successful company that listed by Forbes Global 2000 in 2011, (Wikipedia. 2018). Therefore, Volkswagen has goal of become world's greatest auto manufacturer by 2018, but its emission scandal issue caused the organization to drop of market capitalization, (Volkswagen. 2018). Volkswagen Emissions Violation The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) which a non-profitable council tried to provide independent research to environmental regulation agencies, (Zhou, A. 2016). Therefore, it selected West Virginia University to conduct the emission tests. Volkswagen encouraged it diesel cars as an environmental friendly and fuel efficient vehicles, which earned some high revenue. However, one of the professor named Arvind Thiruvengadam noted that Volkswagen has some fraud on diesel emissions, (Zhou, A. 2016). As continuous research, the ICCT suspected that Volkswagen has fixed fault device, (Zhou, A. 2016). Generally, computer on test accept the changes in how the emissions control system and vehicle can choose only few. But, Volkswagen's device can do more. Therefore, the ICCT summarized and submitted all the gathered information to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On September 2015, the EPA issued a notice of Clean Air Act to Volkswagen Group, (Wikipedia. 2018). The Volkswagen had violated the Clean Air Act by illegally installed software into diesel cars to cheat emission tests, (Zhou, A. 2016). However, this test to control the nitrogen oxide level, but it released up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide when driving, (Zhou, A. 2016). Moreover, Volkswagen also admitted that had been applied this software in 11 million cars worldwide, (Zhou, A. 2016). Later, EPA also found modified software fitted into Porsche, Audi and some Volkswagen models, (Zhou, A. 2016).Responses In order to compensate, Volkswagen commanded voluntary recall, make public apology and the CEO with other directors of the organization resigned, (Zhou, A. 2016). The Volkswagen Group is also facing lawsuits and criminal charges and hence future of the organization is hopeless, (Wikipedia. 2018). As a step towards to solve, Volkswagen former CEO Martin Winterkorn released a video apology when the company under fire. In his statement, â€Å"I apologize sincerely to our customer, regulatory agencies and the public for misbehaviour†, said by Winterkorn in German, (Groden, C. 2015). More than that, Volkswagen current CEO Matthias Muller also has apologized for emission test cheating, (France, A. 2016). Beside public apologies, Volkswagen promised to reserve 6.5 billion euros to use make cars follow with pollution standards, (Zhou, A. 2016). Although, its looks big amount, but it is only the half year of company profit. Furthermore, Volkswagen meet 3.3 billion euro lawsuit and experience some criminal cases, (Zhou, A. 2016). In the United States, the company encountered fine up to $30,000 per car, (Zhou, A. 2016). In addition, the share price of Volkswagen fell over 20 percent, (Kollewe, J. 2016). Moreover, Volkswagen officially announced ‘vehicle recall' which recalls the 83,000 three litre diesel vehicles with model year between 2009 and 2015, (Berkeley, L and Christine, W. 2016). Volkswagen also spend $225 million to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, (Berkeley, L and Christine, W. 2016). The company also give $25 million to California Air Resources Board to support the free emission vehicles, (Berkeley, L and Christine, W. 2016). Apart from that, Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned and head of brand development Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Porsche research and development director, Wolfgang Hatz, and Audi research and development director, Ulrich Hackenberg were suspended, (Wikipedia. 2018). Further, the Volkswagen headquarter and other branches were raided for further investigation, (Zhou, A. 2016).It Is Effective Although Volkswagen responded with public apology, lawsuit and voluntary recall on its emission violation, it is not much effective ways to overcome from the reputation risk. The Volkswagen still not regain the consumer trust. The organization should use the business continuity plan to recover the business with higher profit. Alternative Solution Volkswagen Group is still facing many problems of establishing credibility to their customers. Hence, I suggest business continuity plan (BCP) that can apply into the Volkswagen business. The BCP is a plan to help that business process can continue during the disaster. In this case, Volkswagen emission scandal is man-made disaster whereby the business is not able to continue in normal conditions. The 5 Business Continuity Planning PhasesProject management and initiationVolkswagen need to identify the risks behind the issue of emission scandal. Therefore, the primary risk of this company is image risk as known as reputation risk. Reputation risk can loss result from damages to the company's reputation. Thus, this risk affected the Volkswagen company's revenue which is went drop, increased operating expenses including compensation and fines and also kills corporate trust of consumers and stakeholders. Next, legal risk is also one of the main risk which also need to consider. Volkswagen need to face legal risk includes fine and criminal charges to cheat the government. Moreover, the Volkswagen also need to establish new management team. Management team includes IT coordinator, business continuity coordinator (BCC), crisis manager. IT coordinator to provide advice on best programming and provide technical support for system. In this case, the IT experts of Volkswagen installed defeat device. They cheated on programming writing code. Next, Volkswagen can hire business continuity coordinator who develop and maintain the business continuity plans. They also responsible for the critical situation which identify the risk, and provide solution to minimize the risks. Volkswagen also can hire crisis manager who responsible for disaster recovery and responsible for communication with insurance agent. Business Impact AnalysisAs an impact of reputation risk, Volkswagen loss trust credibility among the customers and shareholders. More than that, Volkswagen became the target of regulatory investigations in many countries. In fact, one of the German newspaper labelled this issue as â€Å"most expensive act of stupidity in the history of the car industry†, (Zhou, A. 2016). After this news, immediately Volkswagen's stock price fell, (Zhou, A. 2016).The Volkswagen also affected on legal risk which facing some lawsuits and fines, (Edwards, J. 2016). The United States Justice Department has sued Volkswagen with $48 billons under environmental laws, (Edwards, J. 2016). It also give $14.7 billion as penalties to the Clean Air Act violation, (Zhou, A. 2016). However, the total loss of Volkswagen Group based on this emission scandal issue is almost $90 billion which is consider the deep loss in Volkswagen history, (Edwards, J. 2016). Beside financial loss, it also polluted the environment. The scandal tragedy released extensive amounts of nitrogen oxide. It is polluted the environment. Moreover, nitrogen oxide cause smog, greenhouse effect, acid rain and tropospheric ozone which associated with health effect such as respiratory problem includes lungs irritation, wheezing, asthma, emphysema. Nitrogen oxide also cause damaging vegetation which reduce growth of plants.Recovery strategiesThe Volkswagen Group primarily affected by reputation (image) risk. It damaged its image and facing problems of establishing credibility to customers and stakeholders. Thus, to recover from this issue, have some recovery solutions such as Volkswagen can restart the business in new name, partnership with independent agency and issue the bond, (Zhou, A. 2016). Volkswagen should use these solutions to restore credibility to its company.Re-brandingAs known as, Volkswagen is a worldwide brand and it is the largest car company in the world. Hence, the scandal issue is not forgotten easily, unless restart the business with new name. Re-branding may improve the brand image and it make easier for the business to speed up efficient program, (Zhou, A. 2016). However, re-branding is an expensive and have high risk, but it will reduce bad publicity of the organization, (Zhou, A. 2016). If Volkswagen ready to rebrand its business, it should develop company with greener environment and corporate social responsible (CSR), (Zhou, A. 2016). The company reputation will increase when it give more importance for environmental friendly and sustainability. Thus, the re-branding company should collaborate with Federal Trade Commission which give importance to sustainability work, (Zhou, A. 2016). More than that, the re-branding company should concentrate on minimizing energy consumption, saving water, minimizing carbon emission and reducing waste. Further, the re-branding company can engage with communities or NGOs to show the public that they have care about society, (Zhou, A. 2016). However, these are helpful to use social marketing as a recovery strategy that increase the company's image. Partnership with Independent Verification AgencyEven though Volkswagen have its own audit team to inspect their vehicles emissions, the organization should partnership with the external independent agency to regain the customer's trust. Thus, there are some independent verification agency includes Fair Labour Association (FLA), World Business Council for sustainable Development (WCSBD), Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), (Zhou, A. 2016). As more information of these independent agencies, FLA has own Code of Conduct and sustainable compliance methodology, (Zhou, A. 2016). The WCSBD is a global network which handle recent sustainable development issues, (Zhou, A. 2016). LMOP is a voluntary program which focus to reduce the methane emissions from land by using renewable energy, (Zhou, A. 2016). Finally, FTC that mainly focus on customer protection, (Zhou, A. 2016).However, if Volkswagen partnership with any independent verification agency, then not only can rebuild the consumer trust, but also can get rewards and recognition from NGOs based on CSR practices. More, if Volkswagen partnership with prestigious global organization will give stronger credibility. Issue a bondAnother recovery method to achieve again the customer trust is Volkswagen should issue bond. This is because bond is benchmark of credibility. Also Volkswagen can announced that if again the cheating is happen, they will pay a bond to the European Commissions, (Zhou, A. 2016). This will motivate the regulators to be strict in audit. Hence, the amount can use for develop environment good vehicle, decarbonisation of engine and information technology infrastructure. Volkswagen should issue high price bond, thus customer will know that the company regret on emission scandal issue. This is because Volkswagen Company have many assets. In order to invest this bond, Volkswagen should sell its assets or any branch. For example, oil price in increasing rapidly, thus Volkswagen should sell its companies to make environmental good vehicles such as electric vehicle. If Volkswagen can capitalized, then it became the great company in automotive industry.Information technology infrastructureVolkswagen should use advance information technology. Therefore, it made advancement in infrastructure of vehicles includes emission control system, safety features and audio system. After this scandal issue, people do not buy Volkswagen car, thus using technology in emissions control system will attract customers. Volkswagen may use technologies to control nitrogen oxide includes selective catalytic reduction (SCR), Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), Lean NOx traps (LNTs) and Lean NOx catalysts (LNCs), (MECA. 2007). The SCR is a reducing agent which able to reduce nitrogen oxide from 75 to 90 percent, (MECA. 2007). EGR technology reduce lowest engine emission which can reduce 50 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, (MECA. 2007). Moreover, LNTs is more efficient technology which able to minimize up to 80 percent meanwhile LNCs is only able to reduce 10 to 40 percent of nitrogen oxide from emission which using hydrocarbon in exhaust, (MECA. 2007). Plan design and developmentAfter recovery strategies, Volkswagen should plan to publish the recovery plans. For example, Volkswagen interacting with external groups includes customers, and media. It can use social media and advertise the new plan through Facebook, YouTube and watt sap. Makes everyone knows about the new plans of Volkswagen. Therefore, people may forgot the previous scandal issue and this will improve the Volkswagen's image as well.Testing, maintenance, awareness and trainingHowever, measure the success by testing. Volkswagen can test the plans which execute by the company. This will also improve the plans. There are several kind of tests includes checklist test, walk through and recovery simulation test. Let say, if the company found any problem while testing they can do maintenance. Meaning can modify the technical problems and for more efficient can do internal and external audit. This will identify the mistaken of the process. Meanwhile, it is also important to Volkswagen to having business continuity plan training and awareness. This will increase the value of the company and reduce costs by managing risk. For example, Volkswagen should provide training and awareness campaign to all level of employees who working in the company. Hence, this will improve the business continuity knowledge and skills among the staffs.Recommendation In order to overcome the reputation risk, first Volkswagen should focus on contract design of agent that make penalty or rewards. For example, European Commission or Environmental Protection Agency are non-profitable agencies, (Zhou, A. 2016). Therefore, Volkswagen should have up to date information detailed outlines. Next, screening and selection mechanisms to minimize the irregular information, (Jesus, N.D. 2015). For evidence, if the Volkswagen hired trust employees then this emissions scandal may not happened. Furthermore, Volkswagen should manipulated by agents, (Jesus, N.D. 2015). The agent can carry out random audits to monitor the company.In other hand, Volkswagen should comply environmental regulations, (Jesus, N.D. 2015). This will increase company's reputation. Meanwhile, Volkswagen's managers and employees are responsible for law and order to get corporate governance outcome. If the corporate governance standard is high, then company such as Volkswagen do not able to fraud in future. Automotive Industry The auto industry has been the core of the American nation, its living an American dream. I will focus of the car manufacturing industry in this article. We have always been very proud of the cars we made.Our cars were an extension of America; they were big, beautiful and made a statement. The reason I chose to write about the auto industry is that I have always felt that the auto industry is like the heartbeat of the American industry, what better way to talk about the impact of macro economic changes on this industry.I will talk about some of the basics of the industry and how it has changed in the last few decades and how we are placed now. I will compare the American companies against the other companies and analyze how the changes in the macro economic environment are affecting companies from America and the companies from other parts of the world.History of the industryCarol Loomis in The tragedy of General Motors mentions that the auto industry in America is just over a hundre d years old; Ford completed its 100 years a few quarters back and the rest are getting there. We have always been known for our big 3. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Chrysler is now of course Daimler Chrysler and the other 2 can always use tie ups with other companies to take themselves forward.The major change in the last few years has been the rise of oil prices. We always loved our Hummers and the big SUV’s, they seemed to be the right choice for every user but off the last few years that choice has suddenly become a very expensive passion, it has become like playing golf, you spend a decent amount of money every time you play golf and you end up spending a decent amount of money every time you run your SUV.That is the why nowadays, the success is in smaller or mid sized cars and smaller SUV’s. the average fuel prices are across America are expected to be at $2.71 per gallon and its getting very expensive compared to the good days when we could get gas for less than a dollar a gallon.This change in gas prices has affected the kind of choices consumers are making. The consumers were choosing the small and easy to drive Japanese cars for a long while but the lucrative SUV market was still a place where GM and Ford used to make lots of money, but now that markets has gradually and now rapidly dwindled. Let us see how the major manufacturers are doing in the industry.

Comparison of ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ Essay

In this essay I will be comparing the two stories ‘The Speckled Band’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ by Roald Dahl. ‘The Speckled Band’ was written in 1892.This was in The Victorian Period when people had very little faith in the Police and Conan Doyle needed to create a Detective who always got everything right so that the public started to believe the Police could actually get it right. It was first published in a magazine called â€Å"The Strand† in weekly episodes so to a certain extent he needed to keep his readers interested as well which is why the plot is so complicated. The plot is about a woman called Helen Stoner who is going to get married, but someone or something murders her sister who also was supposed to get married. Helen Stoner goes to see Sherlock Holmes to see if he can help solve the crime. The plot is full of twists and red herrings that is up to the reader to try and solve as they go along but as always Sherlock Holmes works out the significance of everything and solves the crime. ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ was written in 1954by Roald Dahl. This story was also published in a magazine called â€Å"Harpers† but was written to be read in one go so it does not have the complicated layout of Conan Doyles story. Instead the reader knows exactly what is going on form the start of the story and the ending is shocking and designed to entertain and horrify. It was written by Dahl to show how women at the time were a lot more powerful than the men gave them credit for and should be respected more than being at home , pregnant. The plot is about a modern couple that seem to be falling out. Mary Maloney is the perfect 1950’s housewife who makes dinner and cleans, but one day when her husband (Patrick Maloney) comes home from work they have an argument. Mary loses her temper with Patrick and hits him over the head with a leg of lamb and accidentally kills him. In a panic she phones the police and puts the leg of lamb in the oven to cook for dinner. When the police arrive she persuades them to eat the lamb because it would be a waste of food. In the end the police eat the evidence and Mary didn’t get caught. Dahl uses comic irony at the end to engage the reader as Mary sits there laughing about what she has done; you don’t imagine her to do this as a middle class housewife. The times that these stories are set in are both very different. Like travel, in ‘The Speckled Band’. They travel by horse and cart but in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ trey use car or foot just like in the modern day. For communication the people in 1892 would have to write or go and see the person they wanted to talk to but in 1954 they would have used the telephone. Also in 1892 they did not have much electricity so they used candles instead of light, whereas in 1954 they had lots of electricity. In 1892 the women would have worn veils and long skirts but in 1954 they would have they would have worn jeans, t-shirt etc. in 1892 rich families would lived in large houses with servants but in the modern day most families are middle classed and do not have the money for servants etc. When there was an enquiry in 1892 the detectives would have had to use their own knowledge to solve crimes but in 1954 they would use fingerprints, evidence etc to solve the crimes. The language used in ‘The Speckled Band’ was old fashioned and very formal like when Sherlock Holmes says â€Å"Very sorry to knock you up Watson, † said he, â€Å"but it’s the common lot this morning.† He also says things like â€Å"Mrs Hudson has been knocked up, she reported upon me, and I on you.† This isn’t the kind of language we would use in the modern day and proves that it is set in 1892. However in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ there was a lot of slang and it was not as formal. Like when Mary says â€Å"Hullo darling.† And † Hullo Sam† to the grocer. However the way she speaks to Sam the grocer proves it was set in the 1950’s and not in any other time because we would not know the person in the corner shops first name today but it was common in the 1950’s to be friendly with them. In ‘The Speckled Band’ Sherlock Holmes is the main character. He is a famous detective and solves difficult cases. Conan Doyle invented him because people in the Victorian times were fed with the fact that the police could not solve any crimes and he wanted a character that always got everything right. However in ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ there were police who are good at solving cases but wouldn’t be able to solve them without any evidence and they are very arrogant and treat Mary as a silly woman when in fact she is the person who has tricked them and been the murderer. Dahl does this to shock his readers and make it even more dramatic which Conan Doyle would not want to do because they needed to trust their detective! In ‘The Speckled Band’ the killer was a snake that had been hypnotised by Helen Stoner’s stepfather, but all the way through the story he is a suspect and he acts suspiciously like when Helen goes to visit Sherlock Holmes to tell him what has been going on, shortly after she leaves her stepfather came in asking if she has been here. It seemed like he had something to hide, but in the end it had nothing to do with him. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ Mary seems like a nice, gentle woman who feels that she has to help out. Like when she says, â€Å"Darling, shall I get your slippers?† but after the police eat the evidence she laughs so I think he whole issue hade made her go a bit insane. At the beginning of the story you didn’t expect it from her because she just seems like a normal, average wife like when it said about ‘She took his coat and hung it in the closet.’ and when it said ‘She was sat back again in her chair with the sewing.’ The scene seems too realistic for something bad to happen. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the victim was Helen Stoner’s sister because there was nothing anyone could do to save her; this made the readers feel very sorry for her. The next victim was Helen Stoner and because nobody knew what killed her sister it seemed that she needed protection. I would expect someone like her to be the next victim because she is a woman who has done nothing wrong and is innocent. I don’t think her or her sister deserved to be the victims because they are both just happy and normal people. In ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ you don’t feel sorry for Patrick because he is being horrible to Mary and you feel automatically on her side from the beginning. I think he deserved to be upset but not killed because they are just having a falling out. ‘The Speckled Band’ is set in Stoke Moran, which is Helen’s stepfather house. Sherlock Holmes is investigating the house. I think it is a good setting for a murder to take place and because it’s a very big house which makes it creepier for the reader because you don’t know what is doing the killings. ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ is set in Mary Maloney’s house. I think the way the author has described it makes it sound very realistic, like when he says, â€Å"The room was warm and clean, the curtains drawn, the two table lamps alight.† This makes the room sound cosy and like it really exists. You can really picture the scenery. I also think it’s a good setting for a murder because you can imagine it happening there. I think I would expect it because so many crimes in real life have been taken place in houses. Out of the two stories I preferred ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ because it is easier to understand and keeps you interested all the way though with the description it uses. I disliked the other story because the speaking parts dragged on to long and I did really just want to get on and find out what happens.

Wal-Mart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Wal-Mart - Essay Example Wal-Mart has experienced heavy criticism at the hands of several groups and individuals, which include labor unions, workers, and organizations that are smaller in size, environmentalist and organizations. During the period of 2006, Wal-Mart was criticized by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy as they believed that the company was paying 20% less to their employees as compared to the salaries paid by employers of other retail outlets (F. Cascio 1). During the period of 2001, the organization was criticized for paying $800/year less than the poverty line set at $14,630 by the federal government (Hansen 1). Before the death of Sam Walton, the company was operating a total of 1,714 and supercenters and Sam Clubs and the organization has employed 371,000 individuals and was earning a profit of 1.6 billion (Friedman 1). After his demise, the number of stores decreased to 1,647 stores and 1,066 Supercenters, an additional 500 Sam Clubs, and the organization experienced a total profit of $6.6 billion with an increase in number of employees to 1.3 million (Friedman 1). On the surface it seems that the company is performing quite well, but with the death of Walton came in issues regarding unfair labor practices and labor unions forming to clash against Wal-Mart. One of the issues experienced by Wal-Mart is in the area of labor relations. Employees claim that they are paid less than the amount of contribution they make to make the business successful. Wal-Mart itself agrees that its wages are quite competitive and it is one way through which it is saving its cost. As a CEO of Wal-Mart, I would have made changes in this corner. Several changes such as better feedback to employees and fringe benefits can be forwarded to employees to replace the issue of decreased hourly wages. In the field of public relations, the organization needs to ensure that a positive image is created regarding the company. The

PSY 365 Psychology of Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PSY 365 Psychology of Diversity - Essay Example At the seminar students volunteered to participate and completed the first questionnaire. Some of these were subsequently located in the United States and completed mail surveys. Ultimately the sample of 155 completed all questionnaires. The participants pursued graduate education in thirty-one American states, with the highest concentration in California followed by New, and Michigan, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. The variables measured were: acculturative stressors, affiliation with Taiwanese and Americans, English competence and their effect on adjustment. There were two control variables mentioned; these were the need to improve one’s English ability and extroversion. There were several hypotheses related to the effect that ethnic density would have on the variables acculturative stressors, affiliation with Taiwanese and Americans and English competence, and the resulting effect of these on adjustment. The authors sum up the hypotheses thus, â€Å"In sum, we hypothesized that acculturative stressors, affiliation with Americans, and English competency would be greater while affiliation with Taiwanese would be less for students in lower ethnic density schools as compared to those in higher ethnic density schools by the second semester. Furthermore, adjustment in the third semester would be predicted by acculturative stressors, affiliation with Americans, and English competence on low er ethnic density campuses, but affiliation with Taiwanese on higher ethnic density campuses, controlling for extroversion and baseline English ability†. The results of the study showed that in fact when there were more Taiwanese students on the campus there was more affiliation with them. On schools with moderate numbers of Taiwanese students there was indeed greater affiliation with Americans and better English competence. However the presence of acculturative stressors, affiliation with Americans and English competence enhanced adjustment only

No Housing Around Texas Wesleyan University Research Proposal

No Housing Around Texas Wesleyan University - Research Proposal Example The company that was employed also works with the major street improvements that take place around the area where the university is situated. The admissions that usually take place at the university are considered to be selective and the undergraduate enrollment is 1,794 while the graduate enrollment is 1,410 students. Fifty eight percent of the student population is female and there are 1,233 students who are enrolled in the full time programs while 561 are enrolled in the part time with 44 percent of the student body being identified as minority. Only 412 students reside inside the campus out of the total population of the school due to lack of adequate boarding and accommodation facilities in the university and most of the students that are enrolled in this university are from Texas. Out of the total population of the students that are enrolled by the university, only 412 students live inside the university and the rest of the students have to find alternative places to live outside the campus. There are houses that offer this alternative residential living for the students but these houses are expensive for the students and cannot house many of the students. There are no apartment buildings that can adequately cater for the accommodation needs of many of the students at the same time. As a result of the lack in adequate housing for the university students at the Texas Wesleyan University, the prices that the students who do not get accommodation inside the university have to pay at the alternative housing around the university are very high. The limited housing that exists around the university does not offer competitive rates that are in the range that the university charges those students living within the campus. This makes the students seek alternative housing in areas that are further from the campus so that they can be able to have relatively lower rates.

Short answers Written assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Short answers Written assignment - Essay Example Environment affects the health status of a person because it is space where activities take place that are necessary for development; hence, a person living in a well-situated environment more often than not defines a well- being of an individual. Lifestyle determines the health status through the way a person lives his life. As such, a person who has vices and bad habits are more likely unhealthy and vice versa. Health belief affects the health behaviors because what a person thinks is seen physically. If a person believes that he or she is sick, then worries will just arise and start to develop into stress (DePoy and Gilson, 2004). Biological basis of ageing can be a senescence which is a result of damage to the organism. Free radical theory and hormonal theories are just two of the biological theories of ageing. Free radical theory states that different reactive oxygen metabolites are able to cause a broad damage to organisms and shortens lifespan. It could affect a health behavior of a person through the physical changes in the body. Free radical diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis can also be the major effect; though the discovery of antioxidants are said to help decrease the effects of radical reactions in the body (Rattan, 2006). On the other hand, hormonal theories suggest that eminent levels of steroid hormones produced mainly by the adrenal cortex can cause a fast aging turn down. The two theories are different in such a way it affects living organisms. Free radical theory shortens the lifespan of an organism while hormonal theory controls the stage in which ageing occurs (Rattan, 2006). However, both theories suggest a process in which ageing occurs to living organisms and how it affects the health behavior. As people age, hormones are becoming less capable of maintaining our bodies like the younger days and one effect is menopause (for women). Erik Erikson proposed the concept of development in

European History, The French Revolution Personal Statement

European History, The French Revolution - Personal Statement Example At times it also appeared that the royal family's lavish spending was unsustainable. The sources of tax collection were also not adequate and efficient as the since many people like us (the nobles) and the clergy paid almost no tax and the peasants, who were already poor, were levied with much burden of tax and thus resulting into inequalities. The chargeable tax also varied from region to region. The rising prices of food compelled the middle class to lose faith in the government. Other irregularities like the persecution of religious minorities and the state intervention in personal lives also annoyed the public. The people became increasingly dissatisfied with the monarchy. The antiquated legal system only added to the woes of the people with the government becoming synonymous with corruption and inefficiency. Earlier it was not so but now the king had a very autocratic and absolute behavior. The parlement had many times opposed the king's action feeling that traditional rights and liberties of the people were threatened. However, I always felt that the king was well intentioned because he made many attempts to restore normalcy since the time he was enthroned. In the mid 70s he had appointed Turgot as chief finance minister to take care of the worsening situation.

Outlining research area that would like to pursue for my doctoral Proposal

Outlining area that would like to pursue for my doctoral dissertation - Research Proposal Example An example of a leader who has demonstrated servant leadership is Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who is the current President of the Unites Arab Emirates. Using Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, this research study proposes to investigate how servant leadership that has been demonstrated by him has contributed to the peaceful political environment in the country, which is contrary to other Islamic states such as Syria, Yemen, and Egypt that have continued to witness political arrest over the past few years (Beaumont, 47-49). Secondly, the research study proposes to establish how the President’s servant leadership has created a condusive environment for economic progress that UAE has recorded over the past years. The research will employ an investigative approach, which will apply the use of secondary and primary research methods. Under primary research methods, the researcher will randomly select participants from the UAE in order to get their view on the effect of servant leadership in creating a peaceful political environment and condusive environment for economic progress. This research study will be based on the concept of total quality management but it will take a detour from the common studies that have been undertaken in regards to this concept, which have largely been centered on management issues. Moreover, studies conducted by Creech stated that total quality management (TQM) at creating excellence and due to this fact (8); it focuses on promoting the right attitudes within organisations and even implementing control measures in order to avoid costly mistakes (Evans and Lindsey, 45-48). The detour will lead to a research study that seeks to investigate the impact of TQM on the level of productivity amongst the employees. Productivity in this context will refer to the performance measure of both employee effectiveness and

Business Decision Making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Decision Making - Assignment Example The recommendations made by the respondents will also be considered along with the recommendations of the final report. Research Methodology The research methodology to be incorporated in the report is primary research. Secondary research methodology refers to the methodology that focuses on collecting data from already existing resources. Secondary data can be collected from online sources or from published sources. Secondary data can also be collected from government or organization sources. Now a day’s secondary research methodology is popular among the researchers because the internet provides data from all parts of the world on the desktop (Driscoll, 2011, p. 3). The researchers can gain large amount of data from reliable sources of the internet and thus can gain data in much less time than compared to gathering data from physical libraries. The researchers can use the cost cutting to enhance the scope of the research in future. The data collected from the peer reviewed j ournals provide authenticated data. The researchers do not need to appoint external associate to collect data as theses are readily available over the net. Therefore secondary research is extremely popular among researchers as it has got some advantages over the primary method of data collection in terms of cost or time (Hox and Boeije, 2007). Primary research methodology In order to form current information to be the basis of research, it is important to incorporate methodologies like primary research. Primary research is created through the development of questionnaires that can be both structured as well as unstructured. The structured questionnaire is closed ended questions. The structured questionnaire is based on interviews on an existing set of alternatives. The open ended questions like to gather data through open views of the respondents (Reja, U. Et. Al.,2003). Both types of questions can be sent through mail to the respondents. The researchers can also appoint external au thorities to conduct direct interviews. The respondents are selected in the form of framing the target population into groups and then selecting the respondents from that group with the probabilistic or the non probabilistic methods. In this assignment two groups are selected namely the staffs of the restaurant and the students of the university. They have further been categorised into different age groups namely 18-24, 25-30 and 30+. On the basis of two categories the respondent groups the sampling method into Stratified Sampling method where 25 of the respondents have been selected from many respondents (University of Alberta, n.d). Herein for conducting the research, 25 respondents have been chosen from the categories in order to provide recommendation to the restaurant authority. Further types of questions that can be constructed for the purpose are qualitative as well as quantitative sets. The qualitative research tries to infer the impact of the behavioural parameters. Quantit ative research focuses in gaining inferences with the help of graphs and charts which can further be used for statistical modelling. Interviews conducted relating to the niche group of respondents contains both the students and the staffs. This is needful for the authorities to have a proper inference of the behaviour of the respondents from both perspectives. The researchers need to conduct the interview in unbiased fashion as biased data will lead to false information (Geer, n.d.). This is expected to

Frankensteins Monster Essay Example for Free

Frankensteins Monster Essay In the beginning of the story, Elizabeth who was adopted daughter of Victor Frankensteins parents falls ill to a deadly illness, which is called scarlet fever. Victor Frankensteins mother nurses Elizabeth, and she finally gets better; however Victor Frankensteins mother contracts the illness with fatal consequences. Victor Frankenstein becomes very upset when his mother dies. This event make Victor Frankenstein very determined to study and become a doctor and preserve life. Victor Frankenstein goes to a university in Ingolstadt to study. He seems to be in two minds about his, departure for Ingolstadt, which had been deferred by these events, because he feels guilty about leaving the house of mourning so soon but he is very eager to study. When Frankenstein begins his study at the university, he becomes interested in bringing people back to life. He becomes so interested that he convinces himself that he could revive a dead human being back to life, one of the phenomena which had peculiarly attracted my attention was the structure of the human frame, and indeed, any animal endued with life. The next part of the story is when Victor Frankenstein creates the creature and he tries to bring him to life by using electricity, I collected the instruments of life around me, might I infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing . Once the creature gains life, Victor Frankenstein describes the creature as a demon and a wretch. Frankenstein can only see what the creature looks like on the outside and so believes the creature is evil, How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? Mary Shelley makes the reader feel sympathy for the creature by the way see the way the monster was made this fill us full of horror because the way he was made is completely unnatural I dabbled among the unhallowed damps of the grave or tortured the living animals to animate the lifeless clay This make u feel that the monster was born out of pain and horror. Another way Mary Shelley make feel sympathy for the creature is the way she describes the place the creature was made as no one should be brought in to the world in a place like that In a solitary chamber, or rather cell, at the top of the house, and separated from all the other apartments by a gallery and staircase, I kept my workshop of filthy creations Some readers may gain sympathy towards the monster as Frankenstein refers to the monster as filthy as may mean filthy as physically filthy or mentally filthy. One of the biggest ways that Mary Shelley gains sympathy for the creature is the way she describes him, this tells the reader how ugly he is and it also tells the reader what Frankenstein thinks of him His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles arteries beneath; his hair was of lustrous black, and following; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but seemed almost the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. The description Mary Shelley uses gives the image that the creature is evil although the creatures personality is pleasant. Also this is how Frankenstein sees the creature as Frankenstein should be a farther figure and towards the creature he should help the creature to learn about the world instead he is disgusted by what he has created also and only see what the creature looks like not how the creature is inside and so he believes the creature is evil. One other way is the way that Frankenstein flees his creation The miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtains of the bed; and his eyes, if they maybe called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out seeming to detain me, but I escaped and rushed down the stairs. I took refuse in the courtyard belonging to the house, which I inhabited. This makes you feel sympathy towards the monster because Frankenstein should be like a father towards the monster and help him through the early stages of his life but instead he abandons him leaves him to survive on his own. Probably the monster feels frightened, and confused, as he is like a newborn baby unaware of anything also not knowing anything. Uneducated, Victor Frankensteins creation is forced to fend for itself, and find food, even he doesnt know how to or what food is.

Detecting starch and sugars in food Essay Example for Free

Detecting starch and sugars in food Essay Aim: To detect the presence of starch and sugars (glucose and fructose) in different food sources. Background: We have many different foods in daily life and many of them contain nutrients like carbonhydrates which are essential to human life. Starch is a polysaccharide, a group of nutrients known as carbonhydrates. Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides, simpler carbonhydrates which are often refered to as sugars. In order to detect the different carbonhydrates content in ranges of food, we used two theories in our experiment. Firstly, starch can react with iodine to create a blue product. Secondly, glucose and fructose are reducing sugars which can be tested by Benedict’s reagent, because the reducing sugars which contain aldehydes group produce red copper(à ¢ ) oxide precipitate when react with Benedict’s reagent. Materials and equipments: 2cm3 of 1% starch solution, 2cm3 of 1% glucose solution, 10 cm3 of 1% iodine solution, 30 cm3 of 1% Benedict’s reagent, small amounts of different type of food (mushrooms, potatoes, bread piece, sweet potatoes, lemon, onion, biscuit, cucumber, tomatoes, peanuts,lettus, tomato sauce, dark green vegetables, milk, cereal), white tile Ten test tubes, test-tube holder, test-tube rack, Nusen burner, Heat-proof mat, safety glasses Procedures: 1. Three drops of 2cm3 of 1% starch solution was placed onto a white tile and three drops of iodine solution was added and observed the solor change. 2. 2cm3 of glucose solution was placed into a test tube and added about five frops of Benedict’s reagent and boiled gently. Observed the color change. 3. Placed small piece of ten foods in ten test tubes and added one drop of water, three drops of 2cm3 of 1% starch to them respectively and orderly. (mushrooms, potatoes, bread piece, sweet potatoes, lemon, onion, biscuit, cucumber, tomatoes, peanuts) Oserved the color change and made records. 4. Placed small pieces of ten foods into ten different test tubes and added one drops of water, five drops of Benedict’s reagent to them in order and respectively. (lemon, lettus, tomato sauce, cucumber, tomato, dark green vegetables, milk, biscuit, cereal, sweet potatoes) And boiled each test tube gently and observed the color change. 5. Made a conclusion based on results. Result 1.In procedure 1, the color of solution changed to blue-black when starch solution reacted with iodine solution. In procedure 2, the color of solution changed to orange-red when the glucose solution reacted with the Benedict’s reagent and was heated. 2.The diagram(fig.1) below shows what I observed directly after the procedure 3 : Food source Color change Mushroom Potatoes Blue-black Bread piece Blue-black Sweet potatoes Purple-blue Lemon Onion Biscuit Blue-black Cucumber Tomatoes Peanuts 3.Then,the diagram(fig.2) below shows what I observed directly after the procedure 4: Food source Color change Lemon Red-orange Lettus Dark purple-red Tomaot sauce Orange Cucumber Red-orange Tomato Orange Dark green vegetable Milk Light orange Biscuit Orange Cereal Orange Sweet potato Red-orange Analysis: 1. In my whole experiment, the procedure 1 and 2 were used as testing thoeries to give us a standard to testify whether certain food source contained certain kinds of carbonhydrates. If in procedure 3 the food turned color near blue or purple, the food must contain starch inside. What’s more, if in procedure 4 the solution in the test tube turned color near red or orange, the food msust contain reducing sugars glucose or fructose. 1. From the information and results I gathered from fig.2, I was able to figure out whether each food contains sugars glucose and fructose or not. The list was shown below(fig.4): From the diagram above we can clearly see that except dark green vegetables all the foods remained contain sugars glucose or fructose. Evaluation: During the experiment, our group made several mistakes and I listed them below to evaluate them respectively. 1. At the beginning of the experiment, during the process of adding water to the washing powder solution to 500cm3. We first ingnored the bubbles above and filled the water till the 500cm3 scale but later on we found the water was much more than 500cm3, so we repeated the experiment from the starting point once again. This time, I controled the water very carefully by pouring it softly along side the walls of the beaker and measuring cylinder to make sure there’s no bubble made during the procedures. My improvement was successful and at the second time we added water accurately to 500cm3. 2. The color of final solution in test tube â€Å"2.5mgdm-3† was as dark as that of the solution with 10mgdm-3and it’s not consistent with the general trend of other solutions. I considered the whole procedure of our experiment thoroughly and thought of two possible errors. Firstly we could have made that firstly we might add more than 5 cm3 standard detergent solution to the test tube. Secondly, because before using the 1000cm3 beaker to heat the test tube we used 500 cm3 beaker at first then we found it too small to hold six test tubes so we removed two test tubes out of the water and then put them into the bigger container. Maybe one of the two previously heated test tube was the â€Å"2.5mgdm-3† one and it’s darker because it has been heated for seconds before others.

Orems general theory of nursing is composed of three constructs

Orems general theory of nursing is composed of three constructs Orems theory: Orems general theory of nursing is composed of three constructs. Throughout her work, she interprets the concepts of human beings, health, nursing and society and has defined 3 steps of nursing process. It has a broad scope in clinical practice and to lesser extent in research, education and administration. Orems theory describes how patients self -care needs will be met by nurse, the patient or both. This theory includes Self-care: practice of activities that individual initiates and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health and well being; self care agency is a human ability which is the ability for engaging in self care -conditioned by age developmental state, life experience socio-cultural orientation health and available resources, Therapeutic self-care demand: totality of self care actions to be performed for some duration in order to meet self care requisites by using valid methods and related sets of operations and actions, and Self -care requisites: action directed towards provision of self-care. 2) Roys theory: His theory is evolved from mental imagery of what nursing is, who the nursing client is, and what the goal of nursing is. He systematically developed theoretical propositions to promote research projects. Propositions were based on neurological and biological sciences. The goal of nursing is to help person adapt the changes 3) Nightingale: Florence Nightingale  (1820-1910), considered The founder of educated and scientific and widely known as The Lady with the Lamp wrote the first nursing notes that became the basis of nursing practice and research. In environmental effects she stated in her nursing notes that nursing is an act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery Nightingale 1860/1969 that it involves the nurses initiative to configure environmental settings appropriate for the gradual restoration of the patients health, and that external factors associated with the patients surroundings affect life or biologic and physiologic processes, and his development. B) CREATE A TIMELINE WHEN THESE THEORIES WERE DEVELOPED. Ans b. 1) Orems Nursing: Concept of Practice was first published in 1971 and subsequently in 1980, 1985, 1991, 1995, and 2001.Continues to develop her theory after her retirement in 1984. 2) Roys theory was developed from 1976-1981. 3) Nightingales theory was developed between 1820-1910. Q2) UNDERSTANDING OF HEATH CARE TEAM. RESEARCH THE VARIOUS HEALTHCARE TEAM MEMBERS AND DISCUSS THEIR ROLE IN PATIENT MANAGEMENT Doctors: they have in common is a high level of autonomy in practice and a commensurate level of responsibility. Nurses and nursing staff: The people in this group provide direct, hands-on patient care, most often carrying out doctors orders but also initiating care based on their own clinical judgment and observation at the patients bedside. They provide near continuous monitoring of a patients progress and response to treatment and have a strong tradition of patient advocacy. Other Direct care providers: The people in this group provide direct patient care in particular settings or areas of medicine. Some function as physician extenders and practice in settings and areas of medicine as diverse as physicians do. Therapists: The people in this group provide direct patient care in specialized areas, usually at the request of primary caregivers. Some concentrate on helping patients regain or retain their ability to function with respect to daily activities while others provide therapy to patients with problems in specific areas (Respiratory Therapists, Speech-Language Pathologists). Care and Psychosocial Support Coordinators: The people in this group assist patients and caregivers with the coordination of the complex and variable range of services that may be required for patients and their families. Some deal primarily with logistical issues, continuity of care, post-discharge support and resources, and financial issues. Others address spiritual needs and support or complex issues involving difficult ethical decisions. Diagnostic Technologists: The people in this group provide technical services in support of diagnostic or therapeutic aspects of patient management. Some are primarily involved in collecting and analyzing biological patient samples, while others are involved in gathering diagnostic data (images) and carrying out treatment protocols. Administrators and information managers: The people in this group are not involved in hands-on patient care but provide critical resources to ensure the smooth operation of the health care team. Some have responsibility for the overall operation of a hospital or institution some provide or process the gamut of information necessary to ensure efficient and safe patient management, and others ensure the security of the physical facility (Hospital Security Officers) or work to minimize the liability of the institution. Other support staff: The people in this group provide a variety of services. Some are in direct contact with patients, often assisting them as they move through the processes involved in accessing and interacting with the healthcare system. Others provide services primarily to other members of the health care team. B) CASE STUDY 1   Ansb. Case study 1: I would suggests the best way to solve Rebeccas case would be to let the doctors know about the situation, and the dieticians can be very much helpful in this case. Q3 ENROLLED NURSE CAREER Ans3. A) ENROLLED NURSE WORK IN A VARIETY OF HEALTH CARE SETTINGS, RESEARCH AND DISCUSS SOME OF THE CAREER PATHWAYS OPEN TO ENROLLED NURSES. ANS A) Rest haven acknowledges that the continued provision of quality service to residents and clients is underpinned by appropriately trained and skilled staff. Enrolled nurse can work as midwifery, in mental health dept., in aged care, NT public sector nursing and midwifery. B) THERE ARE SEVERAL PROFFESIONAL BODIES THAT NURSES MAY JOIN AS WELL AS ORGANIZATIONS WE MUST BE APART OF, DISCUSS THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF THESE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. ANS B) Enrolled Nurses can find work with a variety of organizations including hospital wards or operating theatres, GP surgeries, nursing homes, community health centers, aged care services, private homes, schools, ambulance service, the Red Cross, emergency aid or even a combination of these. Health industry / health focused business settings: University, vocational, and school educational settings Maternity / Birthing facilities. Acute care and Day Surgery hospitals (adults and Children) As a casual flight nurse. C) THROUGHOUT OUR CAREER WE ALL ARE EXPOSED TO PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL. WHAT IS THIS PROCESS AND WHY ISIT IMPORTANT TO OUR CAREER DELIVERY? ANS C) In the early 1980s performance appraisal was redirected from issues related to the development of psychometrically sound rating scaled to those involving the cognitive processes of raters (Landy and Farr 1980, Feldman 1981). Since that time several reviews have attempted to translate principles from social cognition and cognitive psychology to the specific conditions of formal appraisal systems in work-oriented organizations. The review is structured around a 3 stag process model of gathering, storing and retrieving information about social stimuli for the purpose of rating performance. Factors affecting this process are clustered into four categories: appraisal settings, rates, raters and the nature of scales used for the appraisal. Once reviewed, the research is evaluated in terms of its contributions to improving the quality of appraisal systems as they are used in organizations (Janet L, Daniel R, David B 1980) Q4 NURSING CARE A) RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING METHODS OF NURSING CARE DELIVERY; WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF EACH TYPE OF CARE DELIVERY? Ans A) 1) Functional nursing care: This model is also referred to as the Task Method, and for good reason. Functional nursing evolved during the Depression when RNS went from being private practitioners to becoming employees for the purposes of job security. Once WWII broke out, however, nurses left to care for the soldiers, which left the hospitals short-staffed. To accommodate this shortage, hospitals increased their use of ancillary personnel. For efficiency, nursing was essentially divided into tasks, a model that proved very beneficial when staffing was poor. The key idea was for nurses to be assigned to TASKS, not to patients. For example, one nurse would be responsible for all the treatments, another nurse for all the medications, and so on. Advantages: A very efficient way to delivery care. Could accomplish a lot of tasks in a small amount of time Staff did what only they were capable to do: no extraneous work was added that could be done by assertive personnel. Disadvantages: Care of persons became fragmented Patients did not have one identifiable nurse and the nurse had no accountability. Very narrow scope of practice for RNS Lead to patient and nurse dissatisfaction 2) Team Nursing: Advantages: 1. High quality comprehensive care can be Provided despite a relatively high proportion of ancillary staff. 2. Each member of the team is able to participate in decision-making and problem solving. 3. Each team member is able to contribute his or her own special expertise or skills in caring for the patient. 4. Improved patient satisfaction. 5. Organizational decision making occurring at the lower level. 6. Cost-effective system because it works with expected ratio of unlicensed to licensed personnel. 7. Team nursing is an effective method of patient care delivery and has been used in most inpatient and outpatient health care settings. Disadvantages: 1. Establishing a team concept takes time, effort and constancy of personnel. Merely assigning people to a group does not make them a group or team. 2. Unstable staffing pattern make team nursing difficult. 3. All personnel must be client centered. 4. There is less individual responsibility and independence regarding nursing functions. 5. Continuity of care may suffer if the daily team assignments vary and the patient is confronted with many different caregivers. 6. The team leader may not have the leadership skills required to effectively direct the team and create a team spirit. 7. Insufficient time for care planning and communication may lead to unclear goals. Therefore responsibilities and care may become fragmented (Marquis and Huston, 2003). 3) Client Assignment: Client assignment or total patient care method is the oldest way of providing care to a patient .In this one nurse provides total care for one patient during the entire work period. This method was used during Florence nightingale era. Care includes fulfilling the needs of whole family as well as cooking and cleaning (Nelson, 2000). Advantages:- The patient receives consistent care from one nurse and this helps in developing mutual trust between patient, nurse and family. This method of caring is comprehensive, continuous and holistic. Disadvantages: In todays healthcare economy it proves to be very expensive. It requires highly qualified and skilled nurses but during the times of nursing shortages there are not enough resources or nurses to use this model. This care delivery requires total patient care, such as assessment and teaching the patient and family, as well as the less functional aspects of care. 4) Primary Nursing: Primary nursing was developed in the 1980s by Marie Manthey and the hallmark of this model is that one nurse cares for one group of patients with 24 hour accountability for planning their care. In other words, a Primary Nurse (PN) cares for her primary patients every time she works and for as long as the patient remains on her unit. An Associate Nurse cares for the patient in the PNs absence and follows the Primary nursing individualized plan of care. This is a decentralized delivery model: more responsibility and authority is placed with each staff nurse. It has been debated whether PN is a cost-effective model. Some say it is because the RN has all the skills necessary to move the patient through the health care system quickly. Others say it is not cost effective because RNS spend time doing things that other, less expensive employees can do. Advantages: Increased satisfaction for patients and nurses More professional system: RN plans and communicates with all disciplines. RNs are seen as more knowledgeable and responsible. RNs more satisfied because they continue to learn as a function of the in-depth care they are required to deliver. Disadvantages: Intimidating for new graduates who are less skilled and knowledgeable Where do we get all these RNS during times of shortage? B) WHEN DELEVERING AGE CARE, GENDER, RELIGION AND CULTURE OF OUR CLIENT NEEDS TO BE CONSIDERED. GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW A NURSING ACTIVITY MAY NEED TO BE ADJUSTED TO MEET DIFFERENT NEEDS IN RELATION TO THIS. AnsB.   Nurses need a pragmatic approach to the culture of clients that is flexible enough to take multiple scenarios into account. The very first step is to understand the concept of diversity. In this discussion, diversity is an inclusive concept that embraces not only ethnic groups and people of color, but also other marginal or vulnerable people in society. These groups are included because they experience discrimination based on their lifestyle choices, e.g., sexual preference, or their socioeconomic status, e.g., the poor, the handicapped. Several theoretical models for cultural assessment are available. Leininger (1991), Giger and Davidhizer (1995) and Campinha-Bacote (1994) developed three of the most widely used models. The Leininger model is an expansive systems approach to achieving cultural understanding. She identifies the cultural content categories as educational, economic, political, legal, kinship, religious, philosophical, and technological. Giger and Davidhizer propose tha t nursing consider the following phenomena for their cultural importance: communication; space; time; environmental control; biologic variations; and social organization. The Campinha-Bacote model views cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural skill, and cultural encounters as components of cultural competence in nursing care delivery. Nursing literature also offers many data collection tools that were devised to create a profile of clients from other cultures and to specify how associated behavior influence the biological, psychological and sociological dimensions of health. However, integrating these theoretical models and assessment tools into the actual practice of nursing continues to be an evolving process. The most basic assumption is that there is a point of convergence where people enjoy sameness before differences cause divergence. This sameness or common core is largely an outgrowth of the universal need of all people to be treated with respect. The ability of the nurse to accept the need of all persons to be treated with respect is predicated on awareness of the interaction of three cultures. First, it begins with our personal selves as cultural entities. Every nurse brings two cultures into the relationship with clients. First, the qualities and characteristics of personal culture are key determinants of personal and professional behavior. Second, and equally important is recognizing that the health care delivery system, which the nurse represents and helps the client and family to access, is also a separate and unique culture. Both of these cultures-that of the nurse and of the health care system- must strike a balance with a thirdthe culture of the client. Ignoring any of these entities creates barriers to the achievement of positive, productive, and caring nurse -client relationship.   Nurses care for the whole person. If nursing care is truly holistic, then culture must be an integral part of the nursing process. Culturally competent care is achieved when individualized care includes a complementary and harmonious blend of the patients beliefs, attitudes and values, with Western health care practices (Murray Atkinson, 2000). The nursing process is the primary tool for critical thinking. It facilitates decision-making and is a deliberative, systematic method of care planning for individuals, families, and communities.   C) CASE STUDY 2 Ans c. As a nurse we should maintain the confidentiality as well as duty of care towards our client. In this case if we report this we breach the clients confidentiality or privacy. Most of the organizations have internal reporting protocol, in this case the nurse should report to the appropriate person within the organization. This is called internal duty of care but theres also external duty of care as well. Having reported internally and if that person would report it externally then even it breaches the confidentiality of the client. If the client doesnt want to let the nurse report internally also even then it breaches his confidentiality. Duty of care is a balancing between your duty to that person and that persons rights. But at last keeping Jones uncomfortable during his sons visit all the time its better to do something for him rather than doing nothing. Because to be sued for negligence is worse than being sued for a breach of confidentiality. Thus in this case its better t o report the concerned RN within organization but at same time it should not be reported externally by RN. This satisfies the duty of care as well as confidentiality. (Brian Herd, Carne Reidy Herd) Q5) EVIDENCE BASED PRACTICE ANS A) A great and increasing challenge facing all practitioners, regardless of their discipline or background, is how to keep abreast of new research findings. All clinicians would like to think that they are following best practice and that their practice is based on evidence. However, evidence-based practice means more than practicing with an awareness of research evidence. A widely accepted definition of evidence-based medicine is a conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about individual patients (Sackett et al, 1996). Ensuring that nurses can practice according to the philosophical underpinnings of their profession is recognized as an important factor in job satisfaction and hence is critical to retention and recruitment of the nursing workforce (Baumann et al. 2001). Employers share responsibility with nurses, professional associations and others for promoting environments that support quality professional practice (Canadian Nurse s Association 2001). The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Ltd (the Agency) was established in October 1997 and appointed as the accreditation body under the  Aged Care Act 1997  (the Act) owned by Australian government. The Accreditation Grant Principles 1999 require the Agency to carry out regular supervision of accredited residential aged care homes to monitor their compliance with the Accreditation Standards and other responsibilities under the Act; and to assist residential aged care homes to undertake a process of continuous improvement. Improvements have occurred in the provision of care and services since the commencement of accreditation. There have been three major rounds of comprehensive accreditation assessment since September 1999. In an industry comprising more than 2,800 residential aged care homes nationally, during the last round (July 2005 to December 2006), 91.8% of residential aged care homes were assessed as being fully compliant with all 44 expected outcomes of the Ac creditation Standards. That is an improvement from an already outstanding 87.9% three years earlier, and a sharp improvement compared with 63.5% in 2000.

Narrative Essay :: Personal Narrative

David The chaos from my teenage sister’s birthday party was deafening. Somehow through the noise, I registered that the phone was ringing. Jumping up, my sister answered it in hopes of hearing her boyfriend’s voice. A look of concern and confusion crossed her face as she handed me the phone. She mouthed the word "David" as I placed the receiver to my ear. Immediately I began fighting off a panic I could not yet explain. Dead. David. Crying and screaming assaulted my senses. "He's dead. He's dead," were all I could hear. I wondered briefly if this was someone’s idea of a cruel joke. But, within moments, the cold reality of this life changing nightmare set in. How could something like this happen to someone I was so close to? I had just talked to him that morning. We were supposed to meet up later to hang out like always. My heart hurt; I couldn’t breathe. It was like I was stuck in a bad movie and I couldn’t turn it off. The tears just wouldn’t stop. I had to see for myself. I slipped my shoes on, grabbed my keys, and rushed to my car. The drive to David’s house was agonizing. I could barely see the road through my tears. The whole drive my mind was racing, trying to grasp the reality of what just happened. Once I got there and saw the ambulances, the policemen, and the look in his family’s eyes it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was really gone and not coming back. I've never seen a body bag with a real body in it. Not in real life and not with one of my friends inside. But there he was surrounded by detectives as the Emergency medical technicians were loading him into the ambulance. I'll never be able to erase that image from my mind and believe me, I have tried. David was a close friend of mine. We had known each other since elementary school. He was the one that could make me laugh nonstop and without even trying to. I could always depend on him to lift my spirits. He had the most amazing caramel eyes that seemed liked they stared into your soul.

Biographies of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels Essay -- Marx Engels Bio

Biographies of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels Karl Marx and Frederich Engels collaborated to introduce the liberal ideas of Communism. The Communist Manifesto was their byproduct that was introduced in January of 1828. Marx and Engels lives were drastically different from each other, although they both agreed upon the fundamental ideas of it. Marx’s idea of being an individual stemmed from the life that he lived. Marx found that his ideas were often not accepted in various societies but this did not stop him from professing them. Marx found that his personal ideas could be expressed freely, not in his own country, but in other countries. This soon became a problem because his homeland of Germany tried to oppress him through pressure. Engels life was different because of the family that he came from. Engels was born into the life of a middle-upper class family that allowed him more freedom in his life. Engels found that his individual ideas were accepted from the start but he was not as liberal as Marx. With the experience s and oppression that the men faced for their ideas, it is amazing to see how the Communism Manifesto was established. Karl Marx (1818- 1883) Karl Marx is an intriguing and fascinating man. He was born on May 5, 1818 from two German Jewish parents. Marx’s father was a prominent lawyer in Trier. Marx’s father converted to Lutheranism to safeguard his livelihood. This event did influence Marx’s later view of religion and conformism. His mother was from a long line of rabbis, but these religious beliefs played a small role in his life. He was baptized at age six, but this was the extent his encounter with religion as a child, which prevailed later in his life as he proclaimed himself an atheist. Marx stu... ...Both Marx and Engels believed that the individual should not be repressed in a governmental system. Their thoughts on these ideas came from the events that shaped their lives. Together the dynamite combination of Marx and Engels created a Communist theory that shaped society. Notes [i] Carver, Terrell ed., The Cambridge Companion to Marx (United States: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 4-6. [ii] Koren, Henry J., Marx and the Authentic Man (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1967), 1. [iii] Lenin, â€Å"Biographical Article on Frederich Engels,† Engels Biography by Lenin, (10 March 2002). [iv] Brian Basgen, â€Å"Karl Marx By: Frederick Engels,† Karl Marx Biography, (08 March 2002).

Decision Making at the Executive Level Essay -- Business Management Pa

Decision Making at the Executive Level The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination. A study published in the winter 1997 volume of Business Strategy Review suggests the major factor in a decisions success is the decision process itself. The study, by Paul Nutt, suggests that poor decision making processes cost North American businesses billions of dollars each year. The study also proposes that most managers don't realize the importance of the process, and it's effect on the success of the decision. Before analyzing the decision process in depth, the measurement of success must be established. Nutt used two broad measures to determine the success of decisions made. First, was the decision implemented fully. Second, was the decision still effective two years after implementation. Based on these measures, only half of the decisions in the study were considered successful. Nutt concluded that much time and money was therefore wasted on these unsuccessful decisions. So during what part of the decision making process did these top-level managers go wrong? In general, many managers often rush to a decision and stick by it, even when it continues to fail. Another cause of unsuccessful decisions is that the managers did not include those most affected by the outcome in the decision mak... ...n decisions, often increasing the chance of success. Unfortunately, most executives don't use this strategy in their decision process. Executives often rush to decisions in order to remove the feeling of uncertainty by not coming to a decision. This impulsive strategy fails because the decision maker does not include enough key people in the decision process itself. If managers would be more confident and take the time to properly assess the decisions they face, the success rate would increase and therefore save much time and money. Bibliography: Works Cited 1. Kroll, Karen M., "Costly omission", Industry Week, July 8, 1998, p 20. 2. Information Access Company, "Avoiding stupid management moves", American Printer, March 1997, v218 n6, p 94. 3. Nutt, Paul, "Better decision-making: a field study", Business Strategy Review, Winter 1997, v8, pp 45-53.

Essay on Australian Culture Essay

The composers of In Sydney’s Suburbs, An Endless Summer and Love Letter: McIver’s Baths have helped me to further understand Australian culture by using a variety of language devices and techniques to uncover the Australian culture. Chris West, the author of In Sydney’s Suburbs, An Endless Summer reveals that Australians respect the harsh landscape and presents beach culture as a prominent aspect n the lives of Australia. Helen Pitt, the author of Love Letter: McIver’s Baths, uncovers Aboriginal beliefs in Australian principles and shows that multiculturalism is freely accepted in Australian society. West conveys the Australian landscape to be harsh and rugged, yet respected and valued by Australians. West personifies the land and describes how it â€Å"points like a crooked finger†. The use of the verb â€Å"points† gives the land an intimidating quality. West continues to describe the land as â€Å"a patch of God’s country. † The juxtaposition of the two phrases suggests that the Australian is feared but respected and cared for by Australians. This comparison has broadened my understanding of the Australian culture. This idea is similar to Pitt’s description of the beach â€Å"which is as curvy as the female form. † The simile creates a unique attractiveness, which is intriguing but is appreciated in Australian culture. Both West and Pitt expose an underlying appreciation of natural beauty in Australia, confirming my understanding of Australian culture. Pitt has employed the use of figurative devices that helped extend my understanding of Australian culture. â€Å"You nursed me†¦your swell embraced me in a way she no longer could. † The use of apostrophe gives the baths motherly qualities. The verbs â€Å"nursed† and â€Å"embraced† mimic the actions of a mother caring for her child. The quote also alludes to the old Aboriginal beliefs that the land is mother. This reveals that Aboriginal culture and beliefs are still present in today’s society and highly respected in Australian culture. In West’s article, there are also allusions to Aboriginal culture. He describes children playing on the beach â€Å"under the watchful eyes of black-clad elders†. Both composers display an aspect of Aboriginal culture and its importance in Australian society, thus deepening my understanding of Australian culture. In West’s article, beach culture is displayed as a prominent aspect in the lives of Australians. He describes businessmen and how they â€Å"peel off their swimsuits in the beachfront parking lots, towel down and don sober business attire then drive straight to work. † The use of the verb â€Å"peel† suggests that the beach and beach culture is part of them, that it’s in their skin and soul. Pitt reinforces the idea that being at one with sea and its surrounding environment is what is truly valued in Australian society. â€Å"I took refuge in your barnacled depths, reacquainting myself†¦with what it meant to be Australian. † Both composers explore the notion that having connection with the beach is genuinely valued in Australian culture, thus challenging my understanding of Australian culture. In Pitt’s article, multiculturalism is celebrated by showing the freedoms that we as Australians, no matter what cultural heritage we have, are able to enjoy. â€Å"Muslim women frolicking in burkinis†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of the verb â€Å"frolicking† suggests that the women feel comfortable enjoying the Australian environment without fear of prejudice from other cultures. The revelation of the carefree attitude towards cultural diversity in Australian culture has expanded my understanding of Australian culture. West also presents the acceptance of a diverse range of culture in his article. â€Å"Families of newly arrived Mediterranean immigrants fetch extravagant picnics†¦from the trunks of Japanese-built sedans† Both composers clarify that people of other cultures and religions are accepted and welcomed in Australian society. The confirmation has contributed to my understanding of Australian culture. By manipulating a range of language devices, both composers have challenged and reinforced my understanding of Australian culture, beliefs and values. West and Pitt both confirm that the harsh yet spectacular landscape of Australia is respected and cherished in Australian culture. They both uncover Aboriginal beliefs that are still present in today’s society. Multiculturalism and beach culture are both thoroughly exposed by West and Pitt. In Sydney’s Suburbs, An Endless Summer and Love Letter: McIver’s Baths have definitely helped me to further understand Australian culture.

Pepsi’s Needs Assessment Essay

Every organization at some point must design a training and development program to make sure that the managers and employees get the skills that it would take to perform their job. In order to design a training and development program, the organization must conduct a need assessment. â€Å"Need assessment is the process used to determine if training is necessary; it also is the first step in the Instructional System Design model (Raymond A. Noe). In order a training need assessment to be conducted, the training manager need to know the organization goals and objective, must know the jobs and its related tasks that need to be learned, must know the skills and competencies that are needed to perform the job, and also must know who will need to be trained. The need assessment has three levels of analysis such as organization analysis, individual analysis, and task analysis. Through this paper, there will be some discussion on the three levels of analysis and Pepsi’s training nee d assessment. Levels of Analysis  The first level of analysis is organization analysis. â€Å"Organizational analysis looks at the effectiveness of the organization and determines where training is needed and under what conditions it will be conducted (http://www. ispi. org/pdf/suggestedReading/Miller_Osinski. pdf). † Organizational analysis is identified by the environmental impact (OSHA, FMLA, etc. ), changing work force demographics, changing technology and automation, political trends such as sexual harassment and workplace violence, and how effective is the organization in meeting its goals. Information needed to conduct an organizational analysis can be found through; strategic plans, turnover rates, accident reports, customer complaints, mission statements, cost of materials, audits, change in equipment, annual reports, and employees attitudes and satisfaction. The second level of analysis is task analysis. â€Å"Task analysis provides data about a job or a group of jobs and the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities needed to achieve optimum performance (http://www. spi. org/pdf/suggestedReading/Miller_Osinski. pdf). † Organization can collect task analysis from job, KSA, performance standards, observe the job, perform the job, and conducting a job inventory questionnaire, and find out all the operating problems if any. Without the task analysis, the organization would not know what areas to train the employees in when it comes to their job performance. The third level of analysis is the individual analysis. Individual analysis analyzes how well the individual employee is doing the job and determines which employees need training and what kind (http://www. ispi. org/pdf/suggestedReading/Miller_Osinski. pdf). † There are many sources an organization can use to conduct an individual analysis. The first sources are performance evaluation, which shows areas of weakness. The second source is employee’s performance, which includes absenteeism, productivity, lateness, product waste, quality in work, and customer complaint. The third source is interviews. HR can simply have a talk with the managers, supervisor, and employees to what it is they need to learn more about. There so many other sources that can be used to conduct an individual analysis. After the individual analysis, the individual that needs training will be able to get the additional help that they needed. Pepsi’s Need Assessment â€Å"Pepsi believes that for their associated to thrive, they must continue to provide a supportive and empowering workplace. Which includes giving associates the opportunity to learn and grow professionally through regular training and proven career development tools, as well as the transfer of best practices, skills, knowledge and technology across the businesses (http://www. pepsico. com/Purpose/Talent-Sustainability/Associate-Learning-and-Development. html). † Pepsi offers their associate’s specific job training that is required in order for them to perform their job. Pepsi also offered associates the opportunity to attend professional conferences to enhance their skills. Pepsi’s year-long proprietary career process includes objective-setting, performance and development reviews, development action plans, midyear reviews and 360-degree evaluations—all supported by training and materials. Executive leadership training focuses on helping high-potential managers learn to be more effective leaders and to gain a broader perspective on our business. All associates are included in some form of the performance management process across PepsiCo (http://www. pepsico. com/Purpose/Talent-Sustainability/Associate-Learning-and-Development. html). Pepsi’s 360-degree feedback is used to focus on building self-awareness by linking to a best-in-class personality assessment inventory. Pepsi also uses survey to help them find ways for improvement. With Pepsi being all over the world, it is important to Pepsi that every employee conduct the survey. Pepsi recognize the concerns of their employees and they look for more and more ways to make sure employees and trained properly and become very successful within their career. Conclusions Implementing the needs assessment is very important for any organization. Needs assessment focus on the urgent training needs within and organization which is based off the information that is provided from the managers, supervisors, and employees. Pepsi being a billion dollar company knows the importance of need assessment. The three levels of analysis must be conducted or weighted out in ordered to have a successful training need assessment. At the end of the need assessment, you must evaluate the training and development program to make sure that all the needs were met.

Economic Justification for High Salaries in Sport

Justification of the huge salaries paid to some top athletes; an economic perspective. Over the last century there has been much research into the area of Labour Economics, and hence the determinants of supply, demand and wages for labour. In this essay, I will be looking at the unique example of the Sports Labour Market with specific focus on the European Football Market, and use various economic models to justify the huge salaries currently offered to top athletes within this field.The wages of professional footballers have risen dramatically since the Bosman ruling in December 1995, in which EU football players were given the right to a  free transfer  at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they were transferring from a club within one EU Association to a club within another EU Association (European Commission, 2012).This has been supported by various studies, including (Simmons, 1997), who argued that the move towards a free agency had the consequent impact of increasing players’ salaries, as the forgone transfer fees translate into increased salaries, since the bargaining power is transferred to the player. This was reinforced by (Downward, 2000) who found that post-Bosman, the wages within the United Kingdom’s Premier League rose considerably.However, these findings conflict with other studies conducted, including (Szymanski, 1999), who argued that the new ruling only lead to increased wages for superstar players who have the greatest bargaining power, and that it did not affect the wages for the average player. During this essay I will first discuss the basic economic principles relating to the labour market, and subsequently introduce various models developed with specific focus on the sports labour market. Demand for labour is â€Å"derived demand† because it is dependent on the demand for the final product that the labour produces (R.Sandy, 2004). The conventional model used to analyse wage determinants states that the demand for labour is dependent on the Marginal Revenue Product of Labour (MRP) which is â€Å"the change in revenue that results from the addition of one extra unit (employee) when all other factors are kept equal† (Investopedia, 2012). In the field of sport, the industry is in a real sense selling its athletes, hence the demand for labour is dependent on the athletes â€Å"product† which could be viewed as his or her contribution towards the teams win column. The value of a win to the ports franchise is dependent on how the fans respond when the team wins more games. This value could be realised through the many revenue streams that sports franchises currently operate, perhaps most notably in the form of increased ticket sales, increased spending on merchandise and prize money. The â€Å"Standard Model† or â€Å"Perfect Competition Model† for wage determinants assumes that the sports franchise will operate at the profit maximising level of outpu t, i. e. when the last unit of labour that is added adds as much to the firms revenues as to its costs > MRPL = MCL as shown in Figure 1.Figure 1– PC Model Revenue and cost Marginal Wage Cost ARP MRP Employment of labour However, there are many limitations to this model, as the labour market for competitive athletes is far more complex. One basic argument against this model is that if in a perfectly competitive industry; firms earn abnormal profits, it assumes that more firms will enter the market and diminish these returns. Nonetheless, there are huge barriers to entry in the professional sports industry, and freedom of entry and exit does not exist.If we look at the Premier League for example, each club typically has a local monopoly, and due to the nature of the market, one firm may bid up the price of labour as it hires more units, hence in the sense it could be viewed as a monopsonistic market (R. Sandy, 2004). Furthermore, there is uncertainty over quality, as sports te ams have uncertainty over both the new players they hire and even experienced players and in the PC model the quality of labour is assumed to be known to the firm. Also due to long-term contracts it is impossible to predict how their skills will deteriorate or improve ver that period and if any injuries will occur. Furthermore, Players have to learn the weaknesses and strengths of their team-mates and to coordinate their strategies. A group of players who have been together for years will be much more effective than a group of equally talented individuals who have just been assembled into a team (R. Sandy, 2004). When establishing a suitable model to justify the enormous wages paid to some top athletes, we should first consider some basic economic principles. By definition, Star players are scarce hence the supply of these star players is highly inelastic.This in itself would inflate the wage of these players, as the supply of top talent is very limited. To add a unit of player qual ity the team has to pay a higher price than it paid for its last unit of quality (Robinsion, 2012). However, it has been suggested that the labour supply curve has become more elastic since the globalisation of the sports labour market. Sherwin Rosen’s seminal 1981 paper on the economics of superstars asked the question why â€Å"relatively small numbers of people earn enormous amounts of money and seem to dominate the fields in which they engage. Rosen suggests that in superstar markets, â€Å"small differences in talent at the top of the distribution will translate into large differences in revenue† (Rosen, 1981). This suggests that the MRP of labour in sports, accelerates at an almost exponential rate as talent or quality increases, and profit-maximisers will operate where MRPL = MCL, hence leading to high salaries. Rosen simple insight was that â€Å"†¦ sellers of higher talent charge only slightly higher prices than those of lower talent, but sell much larg er quantities; their greater earnings come overwhelmingly from selling larger quantities than from charging higher prices†.This was tested empirically on the Italian League by Simmons & Lucifora in 2003 and the findings were consistent with Rosen’s hypothesis, and found that relatively small number of performers dominate their industry and earn a disproportionate share of revenue (Simmons C. L. , 2003). Furthermore, in a study conducted by (Depken, 2000), it was found that performance may be affected by the dispersion of pay within teams. Hefound, empirically, that less salary disparity resulted in greater team cohesiveness and more efficient team production.Another justification given for these huge salaries has been deemed the â€Å"Demonstration Effect†. This is a positiveexternality in the sense that a team which hires a superstar may raise the revenues of other teams in the league. This was found by Hausman and Leonard (1997) who established that the presenc e of a superstar such as Michael Jordan can have a substantial effect on the number of viewers watching NBA basketball games and increase other teams’ revenue as well as his own (Leonard, 1997). Perhaps one of the most important factors relating to salaries is the underlying motive of owners.There have been various views on whether owners actually employ a utility maximisation or profit maximisation strategy, and in the European Football industry, it could be argued that both forms exist. Gerald Scully investigated the theoretical relationship between a club’s winning percentage, ticket prices, attendance and profits. He stated that the marginal cost of acquiring player talent (T) is given by MC(T). Also, the demand for wins depends on thesize of the franchise market and the elasticity of fans demand for wins.In this model the term we represents a profit-maximising winning percentage where MC(T) = MR(T), the marginal revenue derived from a particular level of talent, w ith Te being the profit-maximising level of talent required to produce this outcome. This can be shown in Figure 2 Figure 2 – Scully’s Model Price / Cost Te MC(T) P C D(T) MR(T) Win percentage W2 We W1 However, playing success has a random component due to injuries, mistakes by the referee, or a mismatch between managerial skills and players.Thus, there is a range of win percentages associated with Te talent such as w1 – w2. In turn this range gives rise to variation in attendance between A1 and A2 in Figure 3. To show the relationship between profit and win percentage Scully uses Figure 4. He shows a horizontal line ? = 0 which describes the club’s break-even point. He also makes the assumption that costs other than talent are fixed. Since Scully assumes that revenue is proportional to the team’s winning percentage, as indicated by ? T) in Figure 3, but that costs are fixed for the season, teams will make positive profits for winning percentages a bove or close to the profit maximising level, we, as shown by ? 0 Attendance Profit Figure 3Figure 4 ?(T) = TR ? TC A ?3 A3 ?2 A2 ?0 ?1 A1 Win percentage 0 w3 w2 w1 Win Percentage 0 w3 w2 w1 On the other hand, there are some criticisms to this model. Firstly, considering European Football, clubs also compete in European competitions, therefore giving incentive to have T >Te. In addition, Scully’s model focuses on the proportion of games won.Fans may be more interested in their team contending for a championship. These are not the same; hence in an evenly balanced league a team with nearly 50% wins could be in contention while in a highly unbalanced league a team with 60% wins could be out of contention. The utility maximisation model was introduced by Peter Sloane in 1971, and he viewed that in the case of football this model was intuitively the most appealing in since we may regard football as a consumption activity (Sloane, 1971).In Sloane’s model the utility U of an owner is a function, u, of; playing success; defined as the percentage of wins, (w); average attendance which adds to the spectacle and atmosphere (a); the competitive balance of the league defined as the standard deviation of league-wide winning percentages (x); having attractive opponents increases the interest in games; and after tax profits minus the threshold level of profit required to stay in business (x); profits add to the stability of the club and help to attract star players.Thus Utility Maximisation is the function denoted by U = u (w, a, x, ? ), subject to ? r 0 + taxes; where ? r equals actual profits and ? 0 equals minimum profits. Both ? r and ? 0 may in fact be negative, in which case the taxes due would be zero. This is possible where the club has access to external sources of finance (f). In this model, the owner might weight each component of the function differently; hence if the owner puts a high weight on w then they will be prepared to trade off some rofit ( or make losses) in order to secure additional playing success. Sloane’s model is perhaps even more relevant today, as there has been a recent trend for billionaires to acquire football clubs and spend unprecedented amounts on talent, purely to maximise the amount of wins. Implications of this model could also be used to describe the financial instability of some clubs, and the unbalanced performance of many European Leagues. Figure 5 – Sloane ModelReturns and cost of winning L’’ D TC C TRL L’ S’’ B TRS S’ A 0 W’L W’s WL Ws Win Percentage This result is illustrated in Figure 5, which compares a big city club, L, with a small city club, S, competing in a two-team league. As with the Scully model, it is assumed that costs of producing wins rises linearly and are identical for both clubs. Returns to winning rise initially at an increasing rate, but then at a decreasing rate as interest wanes if a team wins too often.T he total returns to winning schedule for a large city team TRL lies above that for a small city team TRS as the larger population catchment area in the former case means that the large city team will attract more spectators for any given winning percentage. The financial instability arises from the zero sum nature of the wins within the league. If the large city team wins more often, denoted by L’, this means that the small city team will win less often, denoted by S’. Thus the success of one club will drive the other into the area of loss making (anywhere below TC).Due to the different regulations and restrictions, there is no one-size fits all model, but in the case of European Football, the most influential factor relating to players wages is the motives of the owner. Many high profile clubs in recent times have been criticised for spending endless sums of money to bring in the talent to enable them to win. Perhaps most notably, in the case of Chelsea, Roman Abromav ich total spending has surpassed â‚ ¬1bn [ (Jackson, 2012) ], and Chelsea has consistently reported losses with Abramovich’s sole mission of wanting to win the European Champions League.When looking at Sloane’s model, it could be viewed that in the case of utility maximisation, that Abramovich puts heavy weighting on the winning aspect of the function, with little or no emphasis on profits, and perhaps in this rare example, it could be viewed that he has no have a maximum loss. To overcome this growing trend, UEFA have implemented new rules regarding Financial Fair Play which includes an obligation for clubs, over a period of time, to balance their books or break even.Under the concept, clubs cannot repeatedly spend more than their generated revenues, and clubs will be obliged to meet all their transfer and employee payment commitments at all times† [ (UEFA, 2012) ]. This would be a new factor that needs to be introduced into economic models. Furthermore, it c ould be viewed that the traditional business model of Football clubs is changing, as in the case of David Beckham, the increased merchandise sales realised by Real Madrid and LA Galaxy has meant that they have been able to justify his huge salaries ased on the marginal revenue product that he generates. Some superstars can have huge impacts on franchises total revenue, as described in the superstar effect, and clubs are forced to pay all players huge salaries to prevent underperformance due to pay disparity. Bibliography Ross Jackson. (2012, 02 01). Goal. com. Retrieved from http://www. goal. com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/02/01/2879167/roman-abramovichs-chelsea-spending-surpasses-1-billion Depken, C. (2000). Wage disparity and team productivity: evidence from major. Economics Letters 67 . Downward, P. . (2000). The Economics of Professional Team Sports. London: Routledge. European Commission. (2012, 12 02). White Paper on Sport. Retrieved from The Organisation of Sport: ht tp://ec. europa. eu/sport/white-paper/swd-the-organisation-of-sport_en. htm#4_2 Investopedia. (2012, 12 02). Marginal Revenue Product. Retrieved from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/m/marginal-revenue-product-mrp. asp#axzz2Duw8EOwf Leonard, J. H. (1997). Superstars in the NBA. Journal of Labour Economics . R. Sandy, P. S. (2004). The Economics of Sport; An International Perspective.New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Robinsion, T. (2012). The Labour Market for Players Lecture. Manchester. Rosen, S. (1981). The Economics of Superstars. The American Economic Review . Simmons. (1997). Implications of the Bosman Ruling. Economic Affairs , 13-18. Simmons, C. L. (2003). Superstar Effects in Sport : Evidence From Italian Soccer. Journal of Sports Economics . Sloane, P. J. (1971). The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club As A Utility Maximiser. Scottish Journal of Political Economy . Szymanski, K. &. (1999). Winners and Losers. London: Penguin. Economic Justification for High Salaries in Sport Justification of the huge salaries paid to some top athletes; an economic perspective. Over the last century there has been much research into the area of Labour Economics, and hence the determinants of supply, demand and wages for labour. In this essay, I will be looking at the unique example of the Sports Labour Market with specific focus on the European Football Market, and use various economic models to justify the huge salaries currently offered to top athletes within this field.The wages of professional footballers have risen dramatically since the Bosman ruling in December 1995, in which EU football players were given the right to a  free transfer  at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they were transferring from a club within one EU Association to a club within another EU Association (European Commission, 2012).This has been supported by various studies, including (Simmons, 1997), who argued that the move towards a free agency had the consequent impact of increasing players’ salaries, as the forgone transfer fees translate into increased salaries, since the bargaining power is transferred to the player. This was reinforced by (Downward, 2000) who found that post-Bosman, the wages within the United Kingdom’s Premier League rose considerably.However, these findings conflict with other studies conducted, including (Szymanski, 1999), who argued that the new ruling only lead to increased wages for superstar players who have the greatest bargaining power, and that it did not affect the wages for the average player. During this essay I will first discuss the basic economic principles relating to the labour market, and subsequently introduce various models developed with specific focus on the sports labour market. Demand for labour is â€Å"derived demand† because it is dependent on the demand for the final product that the labour produces (R.Sandy, 2004). The conventional model used to analyse wage determinants states that the demand for labour is dependent on the Marginal Revenue Product of Labour (MRP) which is â€Å"the change in revenue that results from the addition of one extra unit (employee) when all other factors are kept equal† (Investopedia, 2012). In the field of sport, the industry is in a real sense selling its athletes, hence the demand for labour is dependent on the athletes â€Å"product† which could be viewed as his or her contribution towards the teams win column. The value of a win to the ports franchise is dependent on how the fans respond when the team wins more games. This value could be realised through the many revenue streams that sports franchises currently operate, perhaps most notably in the form of increased ticket sales, increased spending on merchandise and prize money. The â€Å"Standard Model† or â€Å"Perfect Competition Model† for wage determinants assumes that the sports franchise will operate at the profit maximising level of outpu t, i. e. when the last unit of labour that is added adds as much to the firms revenues as to its costs > MRPL = MCL as shown in Figure 1.Figure 1– PC Model Revenue and cost Marginal Wage Cost ARP MRP Employment of labour However, there are many limitations to this model, as the labour market for competitive athletes is far more complex. One basic argument against this model is that if in a perfectly competitive industry; firms earn abnormal profits, it assumes that more firms will enter the market and diminish these returns. Nonetheless, there are huge barriers to entry in the professional sports industry, and freedom of entry and exit does not exist.If we look at the Premier League for example, each club typically has a local monopoly, and due to the nature of the market, one firm may bid up the price of labour as it hires more units, hence in the sense it could be viewed as a monopsonistic market (R. Sandy, 2004). Furthermore, there is uncertainty over quality, as sports te ams have uncertainty over both the new players they hire and even experienced players and in the PC model the quality of labour is assumed to be known to the firm. Also due to long-term contracts it is impossible to predict how their skills will deteriorate or improve ver that period and if any injuries will occur. Furthermore, Players have to learn the weaknesses and strengths of their team-mates and to coordinate their strategies. A group of players who have been together for years will be much more effective than a group of equally talented individuals who have just been assembled into a team (R. Sandy, 2004). When establishing a suitable model to justify the enormous wages paid to some top athletes, we should first consider some basic economic principles. By definition, Star players are scarce hence the supply of these star players is highly inelastic.This in itself would inflate the wage of these players, as the supply of top talent is very limited. To add a unit of player qual ity the team has to pay a higher price than it paid for its last unit of quality (Robinsion, 2012). However, it has been suggested that the labour supply curve has become more elastic since the globalisation of the sports labour market. Sherwin Rosen’s seminal 1981 paper on the economics of superstars asked the question why â€Å"relatively small numbers of people earn enormous amounts of money and seem to dominate the fields in which they engage. Rosen suggests that in superstar markets, â€Å"small differences in talent at the top of the distribution will translate into large differences in revenue† (Rosen, 1981). This suggests that the MRP of labour in sports, accelerates at an almost exponential rate as talent or quality increases, and profit-maximisers will operate where MRPL = MCL, hence leading to high salaries. Rosen simple insight was that â€Å"†¦ sellers of higher talent charge only slightly higher prices than those of lower talent, but sell much larg er quantities; their greater earnings come overwhelmingly from selling larger quantities than from charging higher prices†.This was tested empirically on the Italian League by Simmons & Lucifora in 2003 and the findings were consistent with Rosen’s hypothesis, and found that relatively small number of performers dominate their industry and earn a disproportionate share of revenue (Simmons C. L. , 2003). Furthermore, in a study conducted by (Depken, 2000), it was found that performance may be affected by the dispersion of pay within teams. Hefound, empirically, that less salary disparity resulted in greater team cohesiveness and more efficient team production.Another justification given for these huge salaries has been deemed the â€Å"Demonstration Effect†. This is a positiveexternality in the sense that a team which hires a superstar may raise the revenues of other teams in the league. This was found by Hausman and Leonard (1997) who established that the presenc e of a superstar such as Michael Jordan can have a substantial effect on the number of viewers watching NBA basketball games and increase other teams’ revenue as well as his own (Leonard, 1997). Perhaps one of the most important factors relating to salaries is the underlying motive of owners.There have been various views on whether owners actually employ a utility maximisation or profit maximisation strategy, and in the European Football industry, it could be argued that both forms exist. Gerald Scully investigated the theoretical relationship between a club’s winning percentage, ticket prices, attendance and profits. He stated that the marginal cost of acquiring player talent (T) is given by MC(T). Also, the demand for wins depends on thesize of the franchise market and the elasticity of fans demand for wins.In this model the term we represents a profit-maximising winning percentage where MC(T) = MR(T), the marginal revenue derived from a particular level of talent, w ith Te being the profit-maximising level of talent required to produce this outcome. This can be shown in Figure 2 Figure 2 – Scully’s Model Price / Cost Te MC(T) P C D(T) MR(T) Win percentage W2 We W1 However, playing success has a random component due to injuries, mistakes by the referee, or a mismatch between managerial skills and players.Thus, there is a range of win percentages associated with Te talent such as w1 – w2. In turn this range gives rise to variation in attendance between A1 and A2 in Figure 3. To show the relationship between profit and win percentage Scully uses Figure 4. He shows a horizontal line ? = 0 which describes the club’s break-even point. He also makes the assumption that costs other than talent are fixed. Since Scully assumes that revenue is proportional to the team’s winning percentage, as indicated by ? T) in Figure 3, but that costs are fixed for the season, teams will make positive profits for winning percentages a bove or close to the profit maximising level, we, as shown by ? 0 Attendance Profit Figure 3Figure 4 ?(T) = TR ? TC A ?3 A3 ?2 A2 ?0 ?1 A1 Win percentage 0 w3 w2 w1 Win Percentage 0 w3 w2 w1 On the other hand, there are some criticisms to this model. Firstly, considering European Football, clubs also compete in European competitions, therefore giving incentive to have T >Te. In addition, Scully’s model focuses on the proportion of games won.Fans may be more interested in their team contending for a championship. These are not the same; hence in an evenly balanced league a team with nearly 50% wins could be in contention while in a highly unbalanced league a team with 60% wins could be out of contention. The utility maximisation model was introduced by Peter Sloane in 1971, and he viewed that in the case of football this model was intuitively the most appealing in since we may regard football as a consumption activity (Sloane, 1971).In Sloane’s model the utility U of an owner is a function, u, of; playing success; defined as the percentage of wins, (w); average attendance which adds to the spectacle and atmosphere (a); the competitive balance of the league defined as the standard deviation of league-wide winning percentages (x); having attractive opponents increases the interest in games; and after tax profits minus the threshold level of profit required to stay in business (x); profits add to the stability of the club and help to attract star players.Thus Utility Maximisation is the function denoted by U = u (w, a, x, ? ), subject to ? r 0 + taxes; where ? r equals actual profits and ? 0 equals minimum profits. Both ? r and ? 0 may in fact be negative, in which case the taxes due would be zero. This is possible where the club has access to external sources of finance (f). In this model, the owner might weight each component of the function differently; hence if the owner puts a high weight on w then they will be prepared to trade off some rofit ( or make losses) in order to secure additional playing success. Sloane’s model is perhaps even more relevant today, as there has been a recent trend for billionaires to acquire football clubs and spend unprecedented amounts on talent, purely to maximise the amount of wins. Implications of this model could also be used to describe the financial instability of some clubs, and the unbalanced performance of many European Leagues. Figure 5 – Sloane ModelReturns and cost of winning L’’ D TC C TRL L’ S’’ B TRS S’ A 0 W’L W’s WL Ws Win Percentage This result is illustrated in Figure 5, which compares a big city club, L, with a small city club, S, competing in a two-team league. As with the Scully model, it is assumed that costs of producing wins rises linearly and are identical for both clubs. Returns to winning rise initially at an increasing rate, but then at a decreasing rate as interest wanes if a team wins too often.T he total returns to winning schedule for a large city team TRL lies above that for a small city team TRS as the larger population catchment area in the former case means that the large city team will attract more spectators for any given winning percentage. The financial instability arises from the zero sum nature of the wins within the league. If the large city team wins more often, denoted by L’, this means that the small city team will win less often, denoted by S’. Thus the success of one club will drive the other into the area of loss making (anywhere below TC).Due to the different regulations and restrictions, there is no one-size fits all model, but in the case of European Football, the most influential factor relating to players wages is the motives of the owner. Many high profile clubs in recent times have been criticised for spending endless sums of money to bring in the talent to enable them to win. Perhaps most notably, in the case of Chelsea, Roman Abromav ich total spending has surpassed â‚ ¬1bn [ (Jackson, 2012) ], and Chelsea has consistently reported losses with Abramovich’s sole mission of wanting to win the European Champions League.When looking at Sloane’s model, it could be viewed that in the case of utility maximisation, that Abramovich puts heavy weighting on the winning aspect of the function, with little or no emphasis on profits, and perhaps in this rare example, it could be viewed that he has no have a maximum loss. To overcome this growing trend, UEFA have implemented new rules regarding Financial Fair Play which includes an obligation for clubs, over a period of time, to balance their books or break even.Under the concept, clubs cannot repeatedly spend more than their generated revenues, and clubs will be obliged to meet all their transfer and employee payment commitments at all times† [ (UEFA, 2012) ]. This would be a new factor that needs to be introduced into economic models. Furthermore, it c ould be viewed that the traditional business model of Football clubs is changing, as in the case of David Beckham, the increased merchandise sales realised by Real Madrid and LA Galaxy has meant that they have been able to justify his huge salaries ased on the marginal revenue product that he generates. Some superstars can have huge impacts on franchises total revenue, as described in the superstar effect, and clubs are forced to pay all players huge salaries to prevent underperformance due to pay disparity. Bibliography Ross Jackson. (2012, 02 01). Goal. com. Retrieved from http://www. goal. com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/02/01/2879167/roman-abramovichs-chelsea-spending-surpasses-1-billion Depken, C. (2000). Wage disparity and team productivity: evidence from major. Economics Letters 67 . Downward, P. . (2000). The Economics of Professional Team Sports. London: Routledge. European Commission. (2012, 12 02). White Paper on Sport. Retrieved from The Organisation of Sport: ht tp://ec. europa. eu/sport/white-paper/swd-the-organisation-of-sport_en. htm#4_2 Investopedia. (2012, 12 02). Marginal Revenue Product. Retrieved from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/m/marginal-revenue-product-mrp. asp#axzz2Duw8EOwf Leonard, J. H. (1997). Superstars in the NBA. Journal of Labour Economics . R. Sandy, P. S. (2004). The Economics of Sport; An International Perspective.New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Robinsion, T. (2012). The Labour Market for Players Lecture. Manchester. Rosen, S. (1981). The Economics of Superstars. The American Economic Review . Simmons. (1997). Implications of the Bosman Ruling. Economic Affairs , 13-18. Simmons, C. L. (2003). Superstar Effects in Sport : Evidence From Italian Soccer. Journal of Sports Economics . Sloane, P. J. (1971). The Economics of Professional Football: The Football Club As A Utility Maximiser. Scottish Journal of Political Economy . Szymanski, K. &. (1999). Winners and Losers. London: Penguin.