Black Athletes in Society Essay -- essays research papers fc

Introduction In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, â€Å"The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,† (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young Black male basketball athletes, that the value of education appear to be less important in the development of these young men, â€Å"According to Sailes (1997), there is an over-representation of Black males in particular sports and an under-representat ion in other segments of American society. He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males.†, (Robinson, 2004:1). The idea of the attainment of a professional basketball player’s salary in the NBA, without even having to go to school for the time it takes to earn a degree is very appealing to some players. Those with a wealthy, or even upper-middle class upbringing may not view material assets as a priority. In the Black community, we have theorized that money and success play a more important role than education in most households. Although these two seem to go together, one resulting from the other, this does not apply in the sports world. Our research will examine the role that the family value system plays in influencing Black vs. White male athletes to turn prof essional, as opposed to obtaining a college degree before turning professional. The role of the family value system encouraging Black male athletes to graduate from college appears to be less influential than that of White male athletes. The attainment of a professional basketball contract is more important because the value system in African American families appears to be focused more on immediate gratification. So r... ...r   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education Statistics. No date of posting/revision given. 20 Apr. 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This website provides the information on the graduation rates of all races. It also gives one important factor when studying the Black community’s graduation rates, â€Å"Black may be 12% of population, but only 3% of PHD, 6.7% of Bachelors Degrees,† and therefore encouraging the idea that the Black community does not support education as one of its main priorities. Robinson, Mark D. Ph. D. â€Å"Every Black Kid Should Strive to Be a Professional Athlete†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black Athlete Sports Network. 10 May 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This article proposes the idea of what would happen if Black people really embraced the sports world and made that their priority instead of education, â€Å"He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males,†. Dr. Robinson brings up the sta†¦..

Marketing ethics

To begin this paper I would first give a definition of what Marketing Ethics is. From what I have gathered â€Å"Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing.† (www.wikipedia.org). It is common knowledge that the area of ethics is rather wide. People sometimes confuse ethics with that of morality. Thus, a distinction may be called upon in order to understand things better. Ethics is vaster than that of morality.Ethics is the study of values and customs of a group of people. Ethics is divided into three parts, meta-ethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Of the three, marketing ethics is under applied ethics. Now, when one talks about morality a clear distinction must be made between ethics and morality. By morality, one means simply a concept under ethics which dwells with matters of right and wrong.Having made the distinction let us now go on to what is meant by applied ethics from w hence marketing ethics is a part. Applied ethics is something which aims to apply theoretical ethics such as utilitarianism, Kantianism among many others to real world dilemmas. (www.wikipedia.org). Such is one of the purposes of this paper. Upon closely examining the way Subway operates we will then go on to look and to evaluate from two different ethical perspectives whether Subway is doing something unethical or not.In this paper I choose two contrasting ethical frameworks that of Utilitarianism and Kantianism, to examine the way Subway operate according to these two ethical standards. I will now move on to introducing the side of the two ethical issues.The philosopher Immanuel Kant developed Kantianism. His ethics is called deontological because it revolves primarily around duty. All actions should be done according to duty because it is what we â€Å"ought to† do. For Kant, all humans are rational being and thus humans ought to know what is good and what is bad which can be seen on his idea of categorical imperative. This is what I meant earlier by doing something because you â€Å"ought to† do it.It is categorical imperative because you have no other choice but to do it, thus the term â€Å"ought†. Kant pays little respect for things done out of emotion or feelings, thus for him, saving a drowning child out of pity is not a moral thing to do. The only moral thing for him are things done out of duty. According to Kant the consequence of an action holds no bearing in making it a moral act. For him humans are different from other animals because of our faculty of reason. Thus, we must treat each and everyone with respect simply on the grounds that s/he is human and thus one does not deserve and should not be treated simply as a means towards an end.The second ethical framework I chose is utilitarianism. In utilitarianism the moral worth of an action is determined by the utility it has to offer. It is the exact opposite of Kantianism in that for a utilitarian sacrificing a person to achieve a better end is not bad. If an action would produce the betterment of the many then it is okay for them to sacrifice a few if such is the only way to save more people. For example, if the world is taken over by aliens and the only way to save it is to offer the hearts of twenty very young children as a sacrifice and to appease the intruders so that they would leave us alone, then the action the world must take, for a utilitarian, is to do the offering as soon as possible.There is no room for pity or the like if such would be the only means there is to save the world. The rights of the twenty chosen children to live would be overridden by the lives of the remaining population of the world. Such is the way a utilitarian point of view operates. Also, for a utilitarian the unique ability of humans is their ability to feel pleasure and pain. So, for a utilitarian the moral thing to do is one that would produce the higher amount of pl easure. The utilitarians believe that the end justifies the means. Seeing the philosophy utilitarians live by one must clearly see that it is the exact anti-thesis of Kantianism.Before analyzing the marketing strategy of Subway one must first have a background of what Subway is. Subway is a multinational restaurant franchise. The foods they offer are mainly that of salads and sandwiches. Subway, a health restaurant which is very concern over diet and nutrition, is founded in 1965 by Fred de Luca and Peter Buck. Subway is very famous and very successful worldwide even though the foods they offer are rather expensive. Their success may be attributed to the fact that they know or they try to know the mentality of their customers. The restaurant is very health conscious which a very common trend is nowadays, with everyone trying their best in order not to be overweight.Having discussed the two ethical frameworks I would later use on this paper, I would now move on to the evaluation of t he marketing strategy of Subway. To begin, I would first give a lay-out of how subway does their marketing. I have read one article of how subway did some of its marketing. On this particular article Subway chose a rather unique form of advertising which shocked and enraged Americans. They managed to enrage the Americans by promoting the film â€Å"Super Size Me† and by using as an advertisement the fat statue of Liberty holding some burgers and fries with a bold headline saying â€Å"WHY ARE AMERICANS SO FAT?† Of course the Americans are known to be people who show great value on their prides thus the advertisement caused them to get mad. There are Americans who believes that the advertisement is immoral.Looking at an unbiased point of view I think that what Subway did is of course insensitive and a little off the mark. However, companies would do everything in their power in order to attract more customers. For that, I would say that Subway indeed succeeding in doing their marketing strategy by catching the eye of the public. In this regard, I would say that Subway did their marketing on a utilitarian basis. What made me think so would be discussed later on this paper.Analyzing what Subway did in the point of view of a believer of the Kantian theory, a Kantian would say that what subway did is not acceptable because they treated the Americans as a means to achieve their end which for a Kantian is a crime. For a Kantian, Subway failed to treat the Americans with the respect due to them as individuals. No matter how great the end result would have been for Subway, fact remains that they used others to obtain their end and it is not acceptable. In a Kantian point of view Subway did something wrong.On a utilitarian point of view however, they would say that if the act Subway did promote greater utility for the most number of people, then Subway could not have did something immoral. Since what they did produced good result then their act is morally acceptable and thus should not be condemned.Subway wishes to attract kids and tweens for their customers. They are promoting healthy food because they are promoting something about anti-obesity. According to Michelle Cordial, â€Å"children don’t want to eat healthy foods although they are talking about healthy food in school†. Teenagers, which make up a large number of their customers, are very much concern with the way they look and they are very much disturbed and conscious with their physical appearance and so I think that Subway chose to promote healthy but delicious food in order to appease and to please teenagers.As for the kids of younger age, I think that their advertisement and their promotion of healthy food are in order to please the parents. As a parent they would want their children to eat healthy foods and which restaurant offers healthy foods if not Subway? I think that something to that effect must be going on, on the minds of those responsible for the decisions being made in the management of Subway. I mentioned earlier that the target market of Subway is teenagers and children.How do they aim to do that? Subway did that by thinking of catchy promos which their clients cannot resist. Such promos includes getting key chains and lanyards on their Kids’ Pak meal and value meals and giving a promo from where one may win a chance to have a trip for six to Vans’ Triple Crown of Surfing competitions which would be held on Hawaii from November-December. It is normal for businessmen to improve the market of their products by thinking of promos which their clients cannot resist. Of course, Subway claims to be different from McDonald, KFC and the like.I think they made that claim because it is common knowledge that foods from such restaurants or fast food chains are high in cholesterol and thus expose their clients into the state of being fat. Claiming to be the same as the fast food chains I mentioned above would contradict the earlier claim made by Subway that they promotes healthy food now, wouldn’t it? I have mentioned earlier that such marketing strategy is very useful because it greatly appeals to their target clients.Of course, Subway is very successful because they are living up to their standards and because they are capable of thinking of gimmicks which would work and which would appeal greatly to their customers. In this line, I think that the strategy used by Subway is great because it helps attain what they set out to attain. I don’t think that Subway made an unwise choice by opening a branch in Iraq. Of course, before embarking upon a certain project a businessman must first check the location, the population and the like in order to see if their products would be accepted in a certain location or not and thus I think that their decision to open a branch there is made on rational grounds and thus not foolish.As I have mentioned earlier, Subway is doing very great strategy in that they always try to know their customers. Thus, needless to say their menu varies from one country to another. If they open a branch in a Muslim country, they would omit pork and ham from their menu. Because of this great sensitivity for their customers, I would not have any doubts whatsoever over their success on Iraq. Subways decision to do â€Å"Giant Subs†, dependent on the customers likes and dislikes shows their sensitivity and the way they value their customers and because of this it is no wonder that Subway is very successful.However, as most businesses are, Subway does have its critics. Eric Schlosser is at odds with the way Subway does their franchising, criticizing the way Subway competes with its competitors. Schlosser does not agree with the way Subway selected its position in order to better compete with their competitors. I’ve also read something about Subway fooling their customers.In the article it is said that Subway is being criticized by nutriti onists despite the fact that Subways front is that they are a health restaurant. The criticisms can be clearly seen in this line, â€Å"Subway sells ‘trick food’ and hides the fact that many of its food items contain high levels of calories, fooling customers by the ‘less than 6 grams of fat’ signs commonly shown in ads or in stores worldwide.† (www.wikipedia.org).I would not condemn Subway for the way they operates because such things are common in businesses. Somehow, businessmen can’t help but make a fool of their clients by giving and showing them what they want to see. It is part of business to appear to be something they are not and I don’t think, not even for a minute, that Subway alone does such tricks.Also, the way Subway competes did not bother me for a minute because I believe that that is what business is all about – competition. Upon analyzing Subway, I came into the conclusion that Subway lives by the maxim â€Å"t he end justifies the means† and thus my belief that they are utilitarians. The cunning Subway showed in fooling their customers made me reflect about a certain philosopher I know named Niccolo Machiavelli. Surely the idea to pretend to be something you’re not if it would keep you in your position originated from Machiavelli himself. Now, these things made me think that not only politicians alone read Machiavelli’s â€Å"The Prince†. It is very evident that businessmen got some advice from the great Machiavelli.I have made the claim that Subway is more of a utilitarian than a Kantian because of the reasons I have mentioned earlier in this paper. A Kantian would not, even for a second, put profits or benefits over the rights of an individual. Thus, I think Subway is very much a Utilitarian because it is evident in their action that they gives utmost importance to the consequences of their actions. If fooling a customer would yield better profit for them then they would not feel the slightest twinge of remorse upon fooling their customers.Also if people or rather their customers feels safer by eating in Subway even though their show that their products are health foods are nothing but a mere faà §ade then they should still go through it for the reason that it causes or it promotes more pleasure than pain or happiness than suffering. Since, their customers would not want to eat risky foods which would make them fat and would cause them great displeasure then the decision of Subway to fool their customers is not bad, at least for a utilitarian.Having made this paper, I therefore conclude that Subway lives more on a code of ethics which values the consequences of an action. The said ethics is called Utilitarianism. Thus, upon conclusion, Subway lives in the maxim â€Å"the end justifies the means†.Reference:http://www.echeat.com/http://www.chiefmarketer.com/division/consumer-marketing/http://www.subway.com/en-ushttps://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/Main_Page Marketing Ethics Marketing Activities —–Groupon Hong Kong Groupon is a deal a day websites, it provides a newly developed business model that offer group coupon per day. The companies provide the coupon of services and products with discount and it works as assurance contract. That means only if the number of people who sign up for the group coupon meet the minimum, the deal will become available. However, there are sharply increasing number of the complaints against the products of the group buying websites in Hong Kong .Groupon Hong Kong as the biggest group buying company, still being criticized as companies without ethical marketing in Hong Kong. This essay has facilitated the discovery of the ethics of Cadbury’s marketing activities. The discussion is mainly focused on marketing ethical of the products of the Groupon Hong Kong. The products will be analyzed based two ethical values which are responsibility and transparency with according to American Marketing Association (AM A). http://hk. apple. nextmedia. com/template/apple/art_main. php? ss_id=20110701&sec_id=4104&art_id=15391305 Responsibility: Groupon Hong Kong failed to accept the consequence of their marketing decision and strategies. On early September Groupon Hong Kong offers group coupon that customers only need to pay 148 for buying Mint Design shoes which priced $400 in the market. However, it fails to provide products to customers within the committed date as the product was shock out. Although there are many customers claimed to refund, the Groupon did not give any properly responds to customers.Instead of refund to customer Groupon offer another model shoes to customers and titled â€Å"upgraded service† without any reason and the agreement of the customers. (Apple Daily Newspaper 2011) The Groupon fail to provide products as they did not set the limit for the coupon appropriated with the inventory of the Mint Design and refuse to deal with the customers’ complaints. Instead of serve the customers to refund; the Groupon forced the customer to accept another â€Å"upgraded product†. According to AMA, it is unethical for Groupon simple ignore the customers’ claim and force them to accept another product.Transparency: http://hk. apple. nextmedia. com/template/apple/art_main. php? iss_id=20110924&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11867&art_id=15643242 Groupon Hong Kong also failed to create a spirit of openness in marketing operations. Customers MS Ng claims it is different to make appointment for enjoy the service which purchased through Groupon Hong Kong. However, she can easily make the appointment for the service in the same shop as a normal customer who paid for origin price. The Kinki Nail Professional said that they set limited quota daily for the Groupon Hong Kong’s customers.However, the Groupon did not disclose this to customers (Apple Daily Newspaper 2011). According to the AMA, companies have to explain and disclose the risk of the pro duct or service which can determine customers to make the purchase decision. However, Groupon transparent insufficient information about the risk of failure for making booking for the service as the quota set by the suppliers. It is unethical in terms of transparency for group disclose insufficient information. http://hk. apple. nextmedia. com/template/apple/art_main. php? ss_id=20110924&sec_id=4104&subsec_id=11867&art_id=15643242 From above information, it shows that marketing activities are ethical in term of responsibility and transparency. There are increased From my point of view, the Groupon as a leading company in group buying websites should be more responsible for customer needs. Also, Groupon as an intermediate between suppliers and customers, it is necessary for further communication with suppliers. This can help Groupon to provide accurate and comprehensive information of the products and services to customers.

Decision Making and Enron’s Control Essay

Introduction – Students, analysts and critics of modern business practice will always consider the colossal Enron collapse as an important text book case about how a lot of different things inside the company can trigger a nearly overnight downfall of a once prestigious company. If there was any Cinderella story in the world of blue chip trading and high portfolio business, Enron was the ultimate opposite, if not the witch herself who was killed by her own lethal potion. The Enron collapse resulted in the formulating of many different opinions pointing to the many different possible reasons why Enron – with all the promise and potential that it has a few years before it went south – made the nosedive that made it one of the worst disasters in the history of trade, commerce and business. There is no doubt that most of the opinions that surfaced explaining the reason why such an eventuality befell Enron placed the blame on the wrong things that the top management echelon did for the company; they are after all the one which is responsible for the present and the future of Enron. Critics looking at the Enron debacle scrutinized what happened leading to the collapse using many different perspectives and considering many different factors, both in the professional capability of the company’s leaders as well as the impact of the surrounding factors beyond Enron’s control. One of the most important facets in the debate regarding the fall of Enron is decision making. Evidently, a lot of wrong decisions were made, with one every wrong decision acting as a building block that eventually became an insurmountable wall of consequences all borne out of wrong or faulty decision making processes that yielded results that did the company more harm than good. Indeed, the decision making linchpins significant to the establishment of the case that the Enron collapse was due in some extent to the decision making aspect of the leadership strata of the company can be identified easily as it is scattered throughout the timeline of Enron’s very near and not so distant past leading to the eventual fall of the company that hid behind the faà §ade of the building the ugliness created by the qualities of its leaders that caused the chaos that burned down Enron down to meager, worthless ashes. This paper will pick the significant moments wherein the decision making capabilities and abilities of its top management leaders were at play and use these moments to establish the ethical and other considerations coming to play during the analysis of the decision making efforts of the leaders and why the outcome of such exercises led to the fall of Enron and not towards the company’s betterment, which is the main task of the company’s top executives. The paper will utilize these occasions to stress its argument regarding the role of effective, ethical and sound decision making of top executives leading to either the success or bankruptcy of companies, in this case that of Enron, and discuss key aspects of this line of thought. The paper will not criminalize the actions of the executives of Enron; rather, it will infuse inputs from other professionals regarding important aspects in the discussion of corporate decision making (ethics, result-orientation, etc). Background – Various angles have already been explored by many different individuals every time the topic of analysis is Enron and its collapse. Because of this, the paper is moving to focus on an aspect that is focused more on Kenneth Lay and the rest of his top executive clique’s personal characteristic that could have played an important role in the outcome of Enron’s operation. Decision making is both a personal characteristic as it is a professional credential, even an asset. Some people are being paid handsome amounts of money for their ability to transform decision making moments into an opportunity that provides a positive result and expected outcome for the company. Ehringer (1995) puts it simply: ‘The ability to make good decisions is the defining quality of our lives’ (Ehringer, 1995, p. 1). When Lay, Skilling, Fastow and other Enron bosses were placed in their respective positions, they were expected to exercise a high level of intuitiven ess, business acumen and professional foresight so that every decision making opportunity is met with the company’s best interest long term and short term in mind. They were where they were because those who placed them there believed that they can make decisions to which the company can benefit from. When Enron collapse, many people and organizations criticized the questioned the decision making capabilities of the top executives – was the collapse an effect of the result of the decision that they made? Was the decision made putting the benefit of the company and the employees first, or are the decisions shaped so that it benefited them first? How bad was the breach in the ethical considerations that a professional should take every time he or she makes a decision that puts the future of the company on the line? These are just some of the questions that may also be present in the minds of those who followed the Enron case. Sure there were varying degrees of deception and fraudulent acts from the part of many select individuals who sinned against Enron and its employees, but these cases would have been minimized or even averted altogether if the important decision making privileges was limited to a select few, or if the future-altering decision making capability is disseminated largely among a huge group of people that can provide a check and balance system for Enron. Roberts (2004) explained that ‘ if it is possible for others to make the decisions for a unit, then new options arise to design the decision-making process as well as the incentive schemes to get better performance on both dimensions. For example, the design might specify that a decision about a project arising in one unit that affects another would be implemented if and only if both units agree to it,† (Roberts, 2004, p.151). Enron is an energy trading firm which was performing well in the early part of its existence. By the s tart of the 21st century, the problems that the bosses were trying to hide from the public and from the employees started to stank. Soon, events unfolded like dominoes falling one after the other as a consequence of information spilling out into the public’s attention. Before 2004, the public already had a clear idea about how Enron bosses were supposedly the one responsible for the defrauding of the employees and their company shares and other benefits, as well as the one responsible for the bankruptcy of Enron. One by one, key company officials stepped out of the light and implicated a new name, which will in turn implicate a much bigger name, until the dragnet sent out to see who was accountable for the fraudulent acts in Enron caught its top bosses, including Lay, Skilling and Fastow. Many individuals faced criminal charges, and many more simply went home not just jobless but are robbed of lifetime investments which Enron bosses manipulated and soon lost because of the wrong decisions they made on how to run the company and make it prosper and grow. Examples of how Enron management made wrong decisions during decision making moments abound in the history of the company. Take for example what happened in 1987 – instead of declaring the $190 million loss the company experienced, they concealed it instead, leading to criminal charges. This habit of Enron for opting to conceal losses instead of declaring it became a dangerous vice; when Fastow was aboard Enron, the same outlook affected the decision making of Enron, leading to increase in pile of cases wherein Enron through its top management consciously made actions that defraud the employees and the public. There was also the case of poor public relations by Enron which fanned the flames of panic that removed any possible opportunity for Enron to remedy the financial situation without creating hysteria that saw many stockholders selling their stocks due to the continued falling of the stock value of Enron. Statement of Problem – The most important decision that Enron’s executives faced was not the decision on whether or not to publicly announce about the bankruptcy; in fact, there was no decision making factor during that instance since the predicament of the company has already been decided regardless of what the top executives might have opted for: they were flat out broke and the public needs to know about this, that was the situation. The true decision making moment for Enron’s bosses was the time when they were deciding what the best option to take is with regards to the financial aspect of the company, including taxes, earnings and financial loses. It was a matter of facing a decision making task that provided the Enron bosses with two options – to do the right thing, or to opt for something that is morally and ethically inappropriate. The decision reached in this particular decision making instance was laced with the hope that the option they took would be free from serious repercussions and give them enough time to fix it all up again. Unfortunately for Enron, things did not work out as planned, and the criminal liability of the Enron bosses stemmed from the fact that they decided to do something which they consciously knew was detrimental to the welfare of the Enron company and its employees. During that particular instance, Lay could have opted to do the right thing and faced the consequences – by coming clean, he may have a more sympathetic public to support him in whatever efforts he may wish to undertake to revive Enron, and not be faced with the collapsing stock value since those who can sell theirs sell it in a frantic phase to rid themselves of the stock of the company which is nearing imminent bankruptcy. This showed how the people do not give second chances to those who squander their decision making privileges by making decisions bereft of the consideration of the good of the greater many. Decision making – John Hintze (2006), in his discussion about making smart decisions during decision making, used the case of the Enron collapse to open his discussion and establish the fact that problems are something that is foreseen, something that happened nonetheless owing to bad decision making. Hintze wrote, ‘should we have seen 9/11 coming? What about the Enron collapse? The Signs were there; people pointed them out, but the appropriate steps were not taken by those in a position to do something. Why is this? Politics? Greed? Those certainly contributed, but there was something else at work here, too: A failure of common sense in decision making’ (Hintze, 2006, p. 123). Enron: Bad decision making – Nothing can prove more about how bad the decision making went inside Enron camp more convincingly than the fact the company transformed from prosperous to poor overnight. This was the general characteristic of Enron through the traits shown by its leaders that reflect the Enron personality. There were earlier discussions in the paper about snippets on instances pointing to Enron’s penchant for making bad decision or for going to the resolving of a problem utilizing an option that is more questionable. Fox (2004) explained that ‘Enron believed that its expansion into international projects were positive initiatives simply because they put the company in more potential markets. In truth, Enron made bad business decisions that weren’t supported by the deal’s economics. The bad business decisions piled up, stretching from India to Brazil, pressuring the company to do something about its finances’ (Fox, 2004,p. 307). At least at this point, Fox is not pointing at the unethical aspect of the Enron decision making machinery, just the fact that they made decisions that were bad for the future of the company, but not to the extent of deliberately sabotaging the company or putting the company in danger with all known risk for personal gain. For Fox, it was a bad call plain and simple. But the matter of the fact is that not everyone sees it the way Fox does, and there are those who believe that there were ethical breaches in the decision making in Enron among its top bosses. The (absence of) Leaders in decision-making – Decision making in retrospective is one of the common line of thinking used when investigating events that led to growth or debacle. It is because decision making played an important part in shaping the future of the company; it is here where the foundation, or lack of it, was created via the decisions the bosses made or failed to make. To trace the problems or mark significant actions resulting from decision making which eventually resulted to either the success or failure of the company, it is not only the decision making events that are looked back to; the persons that made them were also put under the microscope, and among the qualities scrutinized is their decision making ability and their other characteristics that affect their decision making attitude and behavior. Professionals debate about the idea of a good decision, a bad decision, good intentions and bad intentions and how the good and bad effect that comes into play afterwards account for the overall accountability of a person wielding the power to make decisions that will have a tremendous impact on the future of the company, something which happened in Enron via Lay, Skilling, Fastow and the rest of the top figures of the company. Acuff (2004) explains that ‘if they make a decision that might not have been the decision I would have made, and the y come and talk to me about it, we look at it and discuss it. There are a lot of different ways to skin the horse. I don’t go saying my idea is the only one that will get you where you want to go. I hold people accountable for good decision-making. If a bad outcome results from a bad decision – that’s a problem. But if a bad outcome results from a reasonable decision, then that’s business, and it could happen to anyone† (Acuff, 2004, p. 187). This was the predicament of those who are trying to evaluate the decision making actions of Enron top executives – did they make decisions, even bad decisions – with the sake of the company in mind, and gambled with their careers because they know that if their plans and actions go well, it is extremely beneficial for the company, in a very Machiavellian approach towards getting things done regardless of the means by which they did it, or were they just plain guilty of fraudulent actions? People who are burdened by the decision that impacts a lot of people is not always amenable to taking the high and moral grounds, that is why the adage about the end justifying the means, about getting things done at what ever cost, about delivering against the odds became popular because of people like the Enron bosses who (probably) acted upon their decision making duties by risking what can be a popularly bad decision. Indeed, it may be easy or even convenient for most people adversely affected by the Enron collapse to attribute the colossal corporate debacle to the top management figures of the company by criticizing their decisions as well as their faculty for sound decision making. While it is true that Enron’s top executives are responsible for the collapse of the company, it is not that easy to measure the level of ethical decision making attributes of Enron’s top brass. Goethals et al (2004) pointed out that â€Å"the complexity associated with ethical decision making and behavior, especially as it applies to leadership and the workplace, makes the construct extremely difficult to research†, adding that â€Å"Measuring an individual’s level of ethical decision making is challenging, particularly because the measurement instruments that are available have problems with priming and social-desirability effects; that is, questionnaires or other similar modes of data collection cue respondents to give answers that they believe are socially acceptable rather than answers that truly reflect their own actions or opinions (Goethals et. al., 2004, p. 461).† Proof of which is the fact that all of these executives in question are career corporate leaders even before they joined Enron; their credentials played an important role regarding their selection for a corporate position as high as theirs. Because of this, as well as the factors that affect the credibility of the ability for identification of the real public pulse regarding the persons involved in the issue, ethical decision making levels of the persons involved is hard to ascertain, making claims for questionable ethical decision making consideration of the people lose important ground and stand on insufficient set of stable legs for proof and justification. Still, there are those who believe that the level of ethics that influences the decision making capabilities of the Enron bosses are without a doubt questionable, and this includes Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins who was quoted in the book edited by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn B. Bronstein. In the article, it mentions about how Swartz and Watkins â€Å"blame Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, and other company executives for privileging greed and arrogance over ethical business decisions† (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, p. 179), the gist of the published work co-authored by the two individuals. Nalebuff and Ayres (2006) wrote that ‘the problem often arises because people ignore the costs and benefits that their decisions have on other people. We call this approach â€Å"Why don’t you feel my pain?† The more technical term for these effects is externalities. Decision makers who ignore externalities are bound to make bad decisions† (Nalebuff and Ayres, 2006, p. 67). This explanation greatly tarnishes the ethical value of the decision making ethics of Enron bosses because it shows that they are prone or inclined to make decisions even if the result of such decisions lead to negative effects that other people will experience. Niskanen (2005) believes that Lay, one of the top bosses of Enron, â€Å"should be judged on the basis of his personal actions, directions to subordinates, or the actions of subordinates that he implicitly condoned by knowing about it without attempting to correct – not on the basis of what he should have known† (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Lay’s condoning of actions is a result of a personal and professional decision that he made – or failed to make – and because of that, Niskanen believes that Lay is answerable for any criminal charges that would result from that particular action (or inaction). Watkins was thinking of the company and its employees and their future and hers as well, when she made the decision to let her superiors, particularly Lay, know about the possible accounting problems and the making public of the current and real financial and trade status of the company. This clearly illustrates the difference in ethics when it comes to decisio n making. Decision making, ethics and public perception – Decision making in business is not merely a power or a privilege that one can use at will without thinking of the consequences that might happen should the decision resulted into something that is considered as adversely negative and detrimental to the welfare of the employees, their jobs and the company they work for. Those who are provided with such amenity to go along with their job description should consider that it is also their responsibility to make sure that their employees and subordinates do not think that they are squandering away their decision making privilege and everything that goes along with it. This was the prevailing attitude or outlook of the Enron employees especially nearing the imminent collapse of the company. The absence of ethical consideration resulted to the losing of the credibility of the bosses of Enron because they were not careful with how they undertake their decision making tasks. While bankruptcy is something that is very difficult to accept and impacts greatly in the lives of the employees especially the rank and file blue collar workers, there is a sense of adding insult to injury during occasions wherein the employees are starting to realize that all of the unfortunate things that happen in the company and in their careers are all a result of the faulty, incompetent and unethical decision making of the top management echelon and not because the company was helpless in the onslaught of a devastating economic problem, like how companies closed down during the Great Depression despite the efforts of American businessmen to keep the different industries alive and breathing. During the collapse of Enron, the US is experiencing a very stable economy far from that which characterized US economy during the Great Depression, and is shielded securely from the impact of whatever it was that was happening in the global economic and business landscape, and so during the Enron collapse, the collective finger was pointing an accusing index digit to Enron bosses and majority of the cause of their indignation originates from the sloppy decision making capabilities of Enron bosses who lost their credibility the moment they lost Enron. Brazelton and Ammons (2002) wrote in the book they co-wrote: â€Å"The Ethics Resource Center conducted a survey in 2000 in which it learned that 43 percent of respondents believed that their supervisors are generally poor examples of honest managers, and the same number were pressured to compromise their own integrity or that of their organization during decision making. The survey also identified a strong connection between employees’ perceptions of their supervisors and their own ethical behavior (Brazelton and Ammons, 2002, p. 388).† Enron decision making: the two-pronged factors – It can be pointed out that one of the problems that happened to Enron is the ineffective of decision making among top executives – first, their top executives failed to make correct decisions when they are required to do so, and second, Enron was not fully complimented with a set of professionals which could have contributed to the decision making process, and in the process provided the possibility of infusing new or different ideas that could have altered the outcome of the decision making process. Fitzpatrick and Bronstein (2006) did not look exclusively on Enron’s bosses and the decisions they made in the management of Enron and the company’s money and asset, rather, the two editors focused on the absence of a key top managem ent personnel and took the presence of such a void as a sign that Enron is not even prioritizing the welfare of the company and its employees. The book Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy, which includes the Enron case as one of the important case studies to point out the importance of the role of public relations, explains that â€Å"perhaps the governance of these companies was such that they did not care about their publics, and did not want the advice of senior-level public relations officer playing an active or dominant role in organizational decision making† (Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006, pg 179). Conclusion – Niskanen (2005) summed up the Enron case on its characteristic of thriving in bad decisions made by its corporate leaders by saying in the book that ‘the most important lesson from the Enron collapse, however, is that Enron failed because of a combination of bad business decisions, not because its accounts were misleading’ adding that ‘the major business decisions that most contributed to its collapse were a series of bad investments, most of which were in the tra ditional asset-rich industries; the failure to reconcile two quite different business models; and the decision to focus management objectives on reported revenues and earning rather than on the present value of future cash flows’ (Niskanen, 2005, p. 6). Are they poor in decision making, or was the decision making adversely affected by other concerns and priorities outside of Enron that the results of the decision made for Enron looks like those who made the call did not even think about how this course of action will affect Enron? There are no sufficient proofs to point that the case was the latter; for a company that became seventh all in all in the Fortune 500 at least once, it is unthinkable how there will be conscious efforts to sink the company by making wrong decisions, deliberately or not. The point of the paper is not the assertion of the guild of Skilling, Lay or even Fastow, it’s the establishing of the point that decision making, when not handled properly, can turn even the most profitable company into a nose-diving wreck in a short period of time, that decision making plays an important role in how a person defines his or her life and how he or she leads a company and that because of these factors, no one should have an excuse why decision making was taken lightly and without much thought or care. All the people can see is a group of people who made wrong decisions several times, the resulting web and how they got trapped in that web, that is assuming that there was no malice or hidden agenda that the bosses perpetrated in lieu of Enron’s collapse. In the end, only Lay (now deceased) and the elite circle of the Enron executive clique will be the ones who would really know about the truth regarding ethics and the decision making in Enron leading to th e collapse of the company. Many would ask, and some would presume, the reasons as well as the level of guilt of these leaders when it comes to breaching the ethical requirements needed when undertaking decision making for a company. Regardless, the decisions they made created far reaching ripples and altered the lives of many individuals who invested not just their time, strength and life’s savings into the company but as well as their but as well as their faith and trust, which are not in shattered pieces because of the bad decisions that Enron executives made. Crawford (2006) further elaborated on the pointed by explaining that ‘bad decisions by a major company, however, cause major disruptions for all of the company’s stakeholders’. He pointed at the case of Enron as one of his examples, saying that ‘the Enron disaster, as one example, certainly had devastating impacts on the lives of most of Enron employees (including the middle managers and professionals who invested in the company-sponsored Enron 401[K] plans) and also caused suffering for many individual investors who purchased Enron stock on the open market. Thousands of other Enron stakeholders, including Enron’s suppliers and customers, also suffered,’ (Crawford, 2006, p. 26). Indeed, Enron’s decision making had a hand in how the company turned out to be. References: Acuff, Jerry and Wood, Wally (March 2004). Relationship Edge in Business: Connecting with Customers and Colleagues when It Counts. Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. Brazelton, Julia K. and Ammons, Janice L. (September 2002). Enron and beyond: Technical Analysis of Accounting, Corporate Governance and Securities Issues. CCH, Incorporated. Crawford, Curtis J. J. (November 2006). Compliance and Conviction: The Evolution of Enlightened Corporate Governance. XCEO, Incorporated. Ehringer, Ann G. (June 1995). Make up Your Mind: Entrepreneurs Talk about Decision Making by Ann G. Graham. Silver Lake Publishing. Fitzpatrick, Kathy, Bronstein, Carolyn B. (May 2006). Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy. SAGE Publications. Fox, Loren. (2004). Enron: The Rise and Fall. Retrieved May 12, 2008, from http://www.wiley.com. Fusaro, Peter C., Miller, Ross M. and James, Tom (2002). What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone’s Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S History. John Wiley and Sons. Goethals, George R., Burns, James MacGregor and Sorenson, Georgia (March 2004). Encyclopedia of Leadership. SAGE Publications. Hintze, John. (May 2006). Making Smart Decisions. Harvard Business School Press. Nalebuff, Ian Ayres (November 2006). Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small. Harvard Business School Press. Niskanen, William A. (June 2005). After Enron: Lessons for Public Policy. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Roberts, John. (May 2004). The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth. Oxford University Press, USA.

Many Masters of Slavery essays

Many Masters of Slavery essays In 1865, the passing of Amendment XIII by congress abolished slavery in the United States. Toni Morrisons novel, Beloved, covers a span of time just before, and just after the abolishment of slavery. Reading the novel we learn that despite being physically free, complete freedom for former slaves and their families can not be realized until they are no longer imprisoned by their pasts. Based upon the true events of Margaret Garner, Beloved is centered around the escaped slave Sethe, who after a month of stolen freedom is tracked down to her freed mother-in-laws home in Cincinnati to be taken back to Sweet Home by the schoolteacher. Upon discovery, she attempts to kill all her children to save them from a life of slavery. She is only successful at killing her one year old baby girl, which spoils her as a slave in the eyes of the schoolteacher, and he allows the authorities to take her to prison. Later, the spirit of the murdered child haunts the house at 124, and returns as Beloved, a young women the age of what Sethes murdered daughter would have been. Included in the novel are accounts of other ex-slaves, or family members of ex-slaves, and their struggles to free themselves from their pasts. One of the major themes Toni Morrison is relaying in this novel is that although the ex-slaves in the book were freed by different methods, none of them actually experienced freedom. Some of the characters were freed by escaping, others had their freedom paid for, while others were born free and still feel the imprisonment of slavery a generation later. Sethe gained her freedom by escaping from Sweet Home. Regardless of this, her past is a constant reminder of her price for that freedom. In a conversation with Paul D., she tells him No more running-from nothing. I will never run from another thing on this earth. I took one journey and I paid for the ticket, but let me tell you something, Paul D Garner: it cos...

Using “Etcetera” in Academic Writing Blog at EssaySupply.com

Using â€Å"Etcetera† in Academic Writing Blog Using â€Å"Etcetera† in Academic Writing You probably know it better as â€Å"etc.† you have read things that have used it; you have probably said it yourself. You may or may not have used it in your own assignment writing, but chances are you may not be using it correctly. One of the reasons is that how to use etc. is not taught in English grammar and composition classes. But if you plan on using etcetera in academic writing, you will need to understand the rules. And that what this article is all about. So here goes. The term â€Å"et cetera† actually comes from Latin, and it means â€Å"so forth† or â€Å"and other similar things.† And using etcetera in academic writing is perfectly fine, as long as you do it right. How to Use Etc. in Lists of Things In this case, you will want to know how to use etc. at the end of a sentence and, as well, how do you use etc. in a sentence, when there is more that follows it. The important point in using etc. at the end of a list is that all things in the list must be related. Here are some examples of both situations: They can live in any body of fresh water – creeks, ponds, lakes, etc. That literature class covers fiction, non-fiction, short stories, novels, poetry, etc. We were asked to describe the emotion (anger, fear, joy, etc.) we felt when we viewed the photography. Bring any small items that may be of value - coins, stamps, jewelry, etc. to the appraiser on Thursday morning. Note that all of the items in the lists are related. Another important point in how to use etc. in a sentence is punctuation. Because it is an abbreviation, you must place a period at the end of it, no matter where it may appear. You don’t need a period if you spell it out, but be sure your spelling is correct. Excetera, etcetra, and exedra are common mis-spellings, so get it right. In the 4th example, note also that there was a dash before the list, rather than a term like â€Å"such as.† If you use â€Å"such as,† you do not need to use â€Å"etc.† because the meaning is already clear. Don’t Use Etc. More Than Once in a Sentence While using several â€Å"etc.’s† in speaking or in informal writing is often used for emphasis, using etc. in academic writing is far different. You can say to a friend, â€Å"I have to get to the grocery store, a doctor’s appointment  and my haircut appointment, write my essays before the deadline runs out, etc., etc., etc., before I can get back to home and start cleaning,† is common informal language. But in formal writing, only one â€Å"etc.† is â€Å"allowed.† Etc., How to Use When Referring to People This rule is simple. Never, never, never use etc. when referring to people. â€Å"We studied the works of Shakespeare, Milton, etc. in our English lit class,† is not acceptable. Either name them all or come up with some other term, like, â€Å"We studied all of the most famous authors in our English literature course.† Never Use â€Å"And† before â€Å"Etc.† The word â€Å"and† already implies what â€Å"etc.† means, and using it is just redundant. So, you can say, â€Å"The courses covered all of the major forms of government, including democracy, fascism, communism, monarchy, etc.,† or you can say, â€Å"The course covered all of the major forms of government, including democracy, fascism, communism, monarchy, and others.† Etc. How to Use Correct Punctuation This rule is quite simple. If you use â€Å"etc.† in the middle of a sentence, and it is not enclosed in parentheses, then you must use a comma after the abbreviation. If it is in parentheses in the middle of a sentence or at the end of a sentence, no comma is needed. Examples: Joe and I stuffed ourselves on pizza, beer, pork rinds, candy bars, etc., and we really felt it the next day. After finals were over, Joe and I stuffed ourselves on pizza, beer, pork rinds, candy bars, etc. After finals, Joe and I stuffed ourselves with every bit of junk we could find (pizza, beer, pork rinds, candy bars, etc.). Using Additional Punctuation after â€Å"Etc† Remember, â€Å"etc.† is an abbreviation, and abbreviations call for periods after them. This doesn’t mean that you don’t use any other punctuation after that period. Use all of the regular punctuation that you would if that â€Å"etc.† were just another word – question marks, exclamation points, semis: Are you going to bring the paper supplies, like plates, cups, napkins, etc.? I hate proofreading my essays, papers, etc.! We are not going to get anxious about these finals; we are not going to lose sleep, eat junk, etc.; and we are not going to go in with a defeatist attitude. In General You will not find the use of â€Å"etc.† rampant in academic writing. That is because scholarly research and writing is usually very specific and detailed and does not rely on the reader to â€Å"add† things on his own. Oh, yes, you can use it, certainly, in essays you may write for an English course. But use it sparingly in research works.

Ansoffs Product Market Expansion Grid Making Tool

Ansoffs Product Market Expansion Grid Making Tool Strategy plays a huge role in a business’s success or failure. A strategy has to be chosen in accordance to a company’s vision, mission, goals and objectives. One of the major decisions that today’s marketing managers have to take is to follow what strategy and when is the right time to implement the strategy. With the ever-increasing competition in the market, along with the continually changing customer interests, it has become difficult for managers to decide upon a strategy which can ensure a substantial amount of success, even if steps are taken carefully. The more than ever informed customers are also forcing managers to change on a regular basis. This report explains the basic fundamentals of Ansoff’s Product Market Expansion Grid and the four strategies that can be deployed after using the grid. The grid can be used to predict any growth opportunities that may exist in the market for the company to expand its business, either in terms of market or in terms of products. Based on the strategy indicated to by the grid, the managers can decide on further actions which should be taken to be more profitable. The later phase of the report describes how Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates telecom giant, entered the Nigerian market in the fifth place and still were able to penetrate the market deeply within a significant small amount of time. The managers could successfully learn from their experiences in the Egyptian market they had entered before embarking their journey of Nigeria, and that proved to be very helpful. The report also discusses the various promotions that were undertaken by Etisalat and the reason those promotions were chosen. The report emphasises on the importance of research and using the findings of the same to enhance business profitability and success. Introduction With the ever-changing lifestyles of customers in the contemporary world, businesses have realised the importance of customers in the success or fail ure of the organization. To get along with the changing business environment and customer interests, companies are transforming themselves. Today, customers are ruling the business practices and telling the companies about the type of products and services that they desire. As a result, companies have also transformed from being product oriented to being customer oriented. They are now focusing on customers, tracking them, collecting personal information about them, which would help them to understand them better and provide customized offers. Bottomline: customer is the king. One of the main reasons for this is the fierce competition existing in the markets in which these businesses operate. With the on-going changes in the organizational practices, there resides the need to revive the strategies that a company work upon, of which marketing forms a major part. Good marketing has evolved to be vital component for any successful business. It needs careful planning and execution. To i ncrease the probability that a business will succeed, companies are continually revamping and reforming their marketing practices. One of the tools helping the companies to refine their business practices is the Product-Market Expansion grid, proposed by Ansoff, to detect new intensive growth opportunities.

Pneumonia Dq question Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pneumonia Dq question - Assignment Example The predisposing factors for mucormycosis are kartoacidosis, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, solid tumors, and renal failure. Pulmonary mucormycosis generally takes place inhaling the fungal sporangiospores. The medical interventions for treating mucormycosis involve 3-pronged integration of surgical and medical approaches, together with addressing predisposing underlying conditions (Spellberg & Edwards, 2012). 2. Some laboratory test values are abnormal. The pH value is 7.5 and this figure is high. The high pH values are abnormal and are mainly experienced among patients with high blood pressure (Kontoyiannis & Lewis, 2013). PaO2 is also abnormally low at 59mmHg. This illustrates a condition that is common among patients having pheumonia. 3. Three treatments are applied in patients with pulmonary mucormycosis. The treatments are; hyperbaric oxygen therapy, surgery and step down therapy. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy applies high concentration of oxygen, which hinders the development of mucorales in vitro. Surgery is also a treatment option. Sinus lesions are very significant and should be done with minimal delay, due to the aggressive characteristic of the mucor infection. Step down therapy entails treatment of parenteral lipid amphotericin B. The treatment is antifungal. The medications involve usage of antifungal agents. Classic antibiotics like echinocandins are commonly used. Amphotericin B is also applied as liposomal formulations, with the aim of minimizing toxicity (Bitar & Van,