The Core Competence of the Corporation Assignment

The Core Competence of the Corporation - Assignment Example Definition: Core competency: Core competency is what a company does well (a company’s strength), that differentiates it from other similar business establishments. M. Tampoe describes core competence as management subsystems which incorporate processes, diverse technologies, resources and knowledge to distribute services and products which would reap unique and sustainable benefits and also add worth to an organization. Introduction: The idea of "core competencies" in the organization is one of the most significant business shaping ideas in the present business world. This is one of the key thoughts that lie behind the present wave of outsourcing, as companies concentrate their attempts in key strong (work) areas and outsource as much as they can of everything else. The opening point for understanding core competencies of an organization lies in understanding that a business in order to acquire good position in the market requires having something that consumers uniquely value . The most powerful method to succeed worldwide competition is still unseen to many of the business establishments. Here the study talks about the core competencies of the corporation Boom-Bust Construction Ltd. ... The following case study talks about the Boom-Bust Construction Ltd (BBLC). First of all, to understand how to build up core competencies; it is advisable to understand what is and in not a core competency? According to Prahalad, core competencies are not necessary on the subject of: outspending competitors on Research &Development, sharing expenses between business units and amalgamating vertically. At the same time as the construction of core competencies may be helped by some of these proceedings by themselves, they remain inadequate. What is the topic about? The following study makes an attempt to critically review the article about the core competencies of the corporation (by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel) and application of core competency ethos in business industry. The following case study talks about Boom-Bust Construction Ltd (BBLC), it is a large family building organization owned by Jed Boom. As per C.K. Prahalad, the application of core competency in BBLC might help to de velop various new opportunities. Core competencies are inclined to be rooted in the capability to coordinate and incorporate various groups in the company. At the same time as an organization may be capable to hire a group of brilliant scientists with a particular skill, in doing so it does not itself become competent in that skill. But the efficient coordination between every group involved in bringing an invention to the market, can be taken as a core competency of the company (Core competency suggestions by P.J.H Shoemaker, S.T. Walsh & J.D. Linton, M. Tampoe and D.C.Band & G. Scanlan). Criticisms: The idea of core competencies was started by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel in the year 1990 as a part of management literature. The two main

Drop Out of School Essay Example for Free

Drop Out of School Essay Today many young people do not realize the importance of an education so dropping out of school becomes an option. They just easily end up dropping from school without thinking about their future. They are thinking that their parents will support their financial daily lives, thus they do not feel worried about continuing their education. Moreover, there are several reasons that make young people decide to drop out of school some of which are getting poor grades, not getting along with teachers and/or students, or having a drug or alcohol problem. Those reasons make the young people end up by dropping from school. However, if the parent has been guiding their children well, they may be able to be solving the problem. There are no easy solutions to the school dropout problems. However, here are two ways to solve these problems; parents should encourage their children to do the right things and parent should meet with the school counselor. There are some solutions to the problem of dropping out of school. First, parents should encourage their children to do the right things, so that one day the children will become a better person and will be useful for the childrens future. For example, parents should talk with their children about how important the education is for their future; help them understand that the choices they make can seriously disrupt their future. The parent should not give up trying to make conversation with their children. Furthermore, the parent should start a conversation by asking their children how school is doing or make other conversation where both side feels comfortable with each other. In addition, by being open to one and another would give the children confident to talk about what they have been observed from school. This type of communication is sometimes hard to do but it is necessary to keep their children remain in school. Next, when a parent notices that their children want to drop out from school, the parents should follow this solution: workings with school counselors or teachers that can help their children remain in school. For instance, the parent may arrange for help by making up a schedule to meet the school counselor. The parent has to inform their children to meet with their school  counselor at least once a week to solve their children problems in the school. Especially, for children who has a problem in certain subjects which make them to think about dropping out of school. As an expert, the counselor will give advice to the young people by explaining how important education is for them on the future. Moreover, education is one of the requirements to get a better job, which they will later need for their future and for personal responsibilities. In conclusion there are many reasons why kids drop out of school. Primarily they have to do with a poor understanding of what good education is, struggling to make the grades, and due to drug problems. By maintaining good open communication with their children and seeking advices from school advisor which are preventing their children drop out from school. In the end, the parents and children can work together to keep the children remain in the school. Thus, by having good communication with their parents, teachers, or school advisor, it is important for children to realize that the adults in their lives do want them to remain in school and are willing to do a lot to make it possible. Hopefully, these tips might be helpful for parents who have problems with their children who want to drop out from school.

Challenges Faced Rural Healthcare Facilities Health And Social Care Essay

Challenges Faced Rural Healthcare Facilities Health And Social Care Essay Twenty-five percent of the total population in the United States are living in rural areas and compared with urban Americans and healthcare facilities in rural areas generally serve low-income, the elderly, and individuals who are less informed and armed with less knowledge concerning health care prevention measures. Moreover, rural individuals accessing healthcare in rural facilities face barriers to healthcare such as fewer doctors, hospitals and health resources in generation and face difficulty in accessing health services. Statement of the problem   Hospital closures and other market changes have adversely affected rural areas, leaving State and Federal policymakers, and others concerned about access to health care in rural America. Considerable changes in the health care delivery system over the past decade have intensified the need for new approaches to health care in rural areas. Managed care organizations, for example, may not be developed easily in rural areas, partly because of low population density. Research Questions          The primary research question in this study is the question of whether rural health care facilities overcome the ongoing challenges to provide quality medical care to their communities. Rationale of the Research The rationale of this research is based upon the following facts: 1.) Rural Healthcare and Barriers to Accessing Care: Many small rural hospitals have closed, while other health care supply of primary care physicians and other health care provider facilities are in financial straits. Unavailability of resources and transportation problems are barriers to access for rural populations. 2.). The supply of primary care practitioners and other health care providers in rural areas is decreasing. Some are leaving rural areas to join managed care organizations elsewhere. 3.) Barriers to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Goals for improving the Nations health over the next decade can be achieved only if rural populations are included in efforts to remove barriers to access and use of clinical preventive services. 4.) Barriers Related to Lack in Health Care Technology. Technologies including telemedicine offer promise of improved access to health care, but their most efficient and effective applications need further evaluation. 5.) Organizational Barriers of Service Provision to Vulnerable Rural Populations: Low population density in rural areas makes it inherently difficult to deliver services that target persons with special health needs. Groups at particular risk include: the elderly; the poor; people with HIV or AIDS; the homeless; mothers, children, and adolescents; racial or ethnic minorities; and persons with disabilities. 6.) Consumer choice and the rural hospital. Factors that drive changes in rural hospitals have a critical effect on consumer choice and access. Significance of the Study This study is significant in that individuals in rural areas are likely to continue to receive less healthcare as well as less effective healthcare if rural healthcare does not gain necessary knowledge, informed by research study as to what should be done to better deliver health care services to those in rural areas. This study is of significance to several groups including patients depending on rural healthcare services, the families of these patients, the rural communities at large and the insurance companies who provide insurance coverage for individuals in rural areas. Methodology The methodology of the proposed research is one of a qualitative nature in which data will be gathered through survey/questionnaires of individuals, physicians and business in the rural community at focus in the research in order to asses whether the needs of the community in terms of healthcare provision are being met. Data analysis will be both qualitative and quantitative in nature. After having administered and compiled data from the survey/questionnaires focus groups will be scheduled to gain further insight into the unmet needs of the community in health care services in needs assessment focus group discussions. Literature Review The California Healthcare Foundation, in its Rural Health Care Delivery: Connecting Communities through Technology report of December 2002 states : Challenges facing rural health care include scarcity of local medical resources and distance between patients, physicians and facilities. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002) Furthermore, it is related in this report that there are insufficient numbers of primary care practitioners in rural areas. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002; paraphrased) In the instance where a patient is forced to travel from home to another area for accessing health care services resulting is a range of difficulties including: (1) time away from work; (2) additional expenses; and (3) the complications of coordinating care in different locales. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002) This increases the chance the patient information will come up missing or incomplete and as well may result in care that is delayed or fragmented. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002) The physicians in rural areas as wel l as other health care providers experience negative impacts due to the low number of health care practitioners in rural areas as well as in the distance factor, which results in limitations on productivity, communication and ongoing education. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002) Research notes that there is more difficulty for the rural providers in communication with other providers of health care. There is much less in the way of opportunities to attend conferences and training due to the requirements of travel, which limits access to medical knowledge and research work. Lower efficiency results due to travel time involved in visiting patients in hospitals and nursing homes as well as in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦fewer face-to-face visits, and more time on the telephone with other providers and with patients. (Turisco and Metzger, 2002) In a recent report relating to healthcare in rural India stated is that: The number of patients is increasing exponentially each year, putting enormous pressure on healthcare delivery systems worldwide. Hospitals and specialists are concentrated in cities and are inaccessible to the rural poor. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) This report relates that several physicians in India along with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and the largest IT company in India collaborated in the creation of WebHealthCentre.com which is stated to be: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a comprehensive healthcare portal like no other. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) Offered are abundant health-related reference material, online medical consultation, online appointment scheduling, and online lab results for physicians. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) The WebHealthCentre.com website was stated to have been created with the Microsoft.NET Framework, Micr osoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Web services and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. The requirements set out by the physicians in rural areas included: Ease of use by a wide cross section of people; Cutting-edge yet cost-effective technologies; Simple log on by many different users and easy assignment of user rights; Tight security to keep medical records confidential; Structured data capture for future data mining; Scalable to handle millions of users; and Extensible to accommodate audio and video interface. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) Benefits resulting from implementation of this healthcare service delivery Network include: Improved access to healthcare; Better use of doctors time; Rapid development, usability; Scalable to millions of patients; and Extensible to new technologies. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) Key features of WebHealthCentre.com are stated to include the following: Online, real-time medical consultation with remote healthcare professionals. PC or mobile-phone access to regional directories for hospitals, specialists, blood banks, medical appliance suppliers, and welfare agencies. An online appointment scheduler that enables patients to make appointments with participating physicians. An online lab report tool that helps diagnostic centers automate the process of uploading lab reports to the Web. Access to test results through mobile devices. Online access to electronic health records. Medical image upload services. Online sonogram viewing. A medical student resource center. Healthcare job listings. Online shopping for healthcare supplies. (Tata Consultancy Services and Microsoft Corporation, nd) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) held an expert panel meeting to provide guidance on its new health information technology on July 23-24 2003. The focus of AHRQ is the implementation and evaluation of technologies, which have been shown to be effective in small and rural communities. Secondly, the AHRQ has set its focus upon supporting advancement in the HIT field through implementation and evaluation support for innovation in technologies for use in diverse health care settings. (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) The Meeting Summary reports that two general themes emerged from the discussion which are those of: (1) Bringing people together; and (2) Providing technical assistance. (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Activities recommended for achieving their goals are those as follows: Support demonstration projects that involve HIT implementation and will lead to the creation of learning networks comprised of providers from various types of rural health care organizations. Create learning communities that span geography; collect and analyze the outcomes associated with participation. Once factors that facilitate learning communities and HIT implementation have been identified, engage CMS and other purchasers to define an appropriate reimbursement strategy. Incorporate evidence-based primary care guidelines with rural relevance into technological templates. Clinicians are likely to accept clinical guidelines offered by the Federal Government at no cost. Support local capacity development for HIT, including barrier analysis, education and other activities. Provide sustained technical assistance (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Evaluation of the process in rural and small communities includes: (1) scope of the project; (2) goals; (3) critical success factors; and (4) technical assistance. (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Community grants have been focused on the provision of personal digital assistant (PDA) systems in assisting with the decision support role. The initiative is stated to include: (1) development of toolkits; (2) leveraging known tools; (3) developing capacity; and (4) disseminating best practices. (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson report in the work entitled: Supporting the Rural Health Care Safety Net (2000) state: The policy and market-driven changes in the health care sector taking place across country are not confined to metropolitan areas. Rural communities are experiencing changes impelled by many of the same forces that are affecting urban areas. However, due to the demographical differences and other facts existent only in rural life the health care system can be differentiated from those in urban areas in various ways. According to Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, it is that difference that highlights the importance of giving consideration explicitly to the impact of competitive forces and public policy developments on rural health care systems and the patients and communities they serve. (2000) The changes that are occurring in the health care sectors are resulting in many providers being threatened in both rural and urban areas however, health care provider failures in a rural area is likely to a much greater impact as compared to health care provider failure in urban areas. Because alternative sources of care in the community or within reasonable proximity are scarce, each provider likely plays a critical part in maintaining access to health care in the community. For this reason, in most rural communities all providers should be considered part of the health care safety net if not directly through their care for vulnerable populations, then indirectly through their contribution to the stability of the communitys health care infrastructure. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) The study reported by Ormond, Wallin and Goldenson is based on case studies in rural communities in the states of Alabama, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington selected in representation of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a broad range of pressures facing rural providers. (2000) A debate is stated to exist in terms of limited services models for hospitals who fear that more insure d patients or those who are wealthier will be reluctant to use this facilities. Challenges to full-service facilities in rural areas include recruitment and retention of health care professionals and of ensuring the financial viability of local hospitals. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Also related is the fact that health care providers are very reluctant to locate in communities without a hospitalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ while simultaneously when there is not a strong physician practice in an area, hospitals find it difficult to attract patients. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Constraints upon a rural hospital of either a full or limited service hospital include its rural location. The population required to support given service, such as a hospital or particular physician practice is spread over a much greater area. Low volume can mean high average costs, a factor that rural health officials feel is not always taken into account in reimbursement. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenso n, 2000) Demographical and socioeconomic differences in rural areas places demands upon health care system providers in terms of the need for treatment for more elderly people which are those more likely to have chronic health care needs. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Furthermore, due to the lack of access to mass and major media in rural areas, the individuals residing in these areas are much less likely than those in urban areas to be aware of the availability of health care and public programs. Insurance coverage in rural areas is also a factor because rural areas have higher self-employment than urban areas, and specifically relating to farming operations making it very likely the employer-sponsored insurance in minimal. Of those who are insured in rural areas, it is likely that many of these are under insured with high premiums and low benefits as compared to those insured in urban areas. The social structure of rural communities may make the stigma attached to particip ation in public programs greater, particularly in the case of Medicaid. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) The range of services offered in rural hospitals is limited by the size of the area it serves as compared to the population within that area. Many of the hospitals in the study reported by Ormond, Wallin and Goldenson relied on a local primary care physician for core servicesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but augmented his or her capabilities by making arrangements with other, nonlocal providers. The core services each hospital offers depend primarily on the capabilities of their physicians. (2000) In order that a hospital be able to support a visiting specialist program it is a requirement that the hospital have the staff that is appropriate and qualified to assist in the various specialties and physicians be able to monitor recovery, as well as the necessary space and equipment for procedures. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) The rural hospital is not in the position to provision all the services needed within the community it serves and this makes a requirement of having a referral system of a reliable nature. Stated to be a mainstay of the safety net in rural areas just as is the case in urban areas is the community health center. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Another important provider of care in rural areas is the local health department. Another problem in rural areas is transportation for patients in that in rural areas there is oftentimes no public transportation. Internal strategies reported to be used by rural health care providers are inclusive of: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦increasing the stock of physicians and other health professionals, tailoring facilities and services to the needs of the community, and expanding, downsizing, or diversifying as needed. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Other stated strategies are inclusive of cooperation among rural providers and developing links with urban providers through mergers, management contracts, and joint projects. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Initiatives have been developed for recruitment of physician s and other health professionals who are familiar with life and medical practice in rural areas. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Those who are recruited for practice in rural areas are likely to remain after recruitment. All five states in this study report that they provide support: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for the development of rural health professionals by requiring, facilitating, or funding training opportunities in rural areas so that students become familiar with the particular demands and satisfactions of rural medical practice, or by funding education either through scholarships for aspiring providers from rural areas or through loan forgiveness for providers agreeing to locate in rural areas. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Only the state of Washing is stated by this report to have a formal residency program. Service expansion is reported to be utilized by rural hospitals and clinics for enabling them in meeting a broader range of health care needs in their communities. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Areas of expansion included: (1) the construction or renovation of a physician plant; (2) the addition of new medical services; and (3) diversification beyond traditional acute services. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) In fact, growth and expansion as compared to downsizing appeared to be the more common, and seemingly more successful, route. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) Expansion is also noted in outpatient services offered by hospitals and clinics. Cooperative efforts among rural providers as these health care providers collaborate in order to ensure the capability of serving their communities will continue is noted in this report stating that cooperation with other rural providers is also a mainstay of rural hospitals strategy to ward off encroachment by urban health care systems. (Ormond, Wallin, and Goldenson, 2000) The work of Rygh and Hjortdahl entitled: Continuous and Integrated Health Care Services in Rural Areas: A Literature Study makes a review of literature that examines possible methods of improving healthcare services in rural areas. Stated by these authors is the fact that: Healthcare providers in rural areas face challenges in providing coherent and integrated services. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) This study proposes a need for greatly flexibility in traditional professional roles and responsibilities, such as nurse practitioners of community pharmacists managing common conditions. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) Further stated is that the substitution of health personnel with lay health workers or paraprofessionals often in combination with interdisciplinary teams, is among measures proposed to alleviate staff shortage and overcome cultural barriers. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) Other findings of this study include that for those working in rural areas called for is flexibility of roles and responsibilities, delegation of tasks, and cultural adjustments by the healthcare practitioners. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) This study states that rural case management is greatly dependent upon a locally based case manager and that the highest ranked skills for rural case managers are: the ability to be creative in the coordination of resources, multidimensional nursing skills, excellent communication skills, high-caliber computer skills and excellent driving skills. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) Stated is that: Case management in a rural environment requires a much broader and generalist knowledge base, it covers all levels of prevention and transverses all age groups. Rural case management is a distinct specialty area of practice, with a distinct knowledge base and skills level, and nurses should be prepared at the advanced practice level. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) This study further relates that evidence exists of the success of: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦collaboration at the interface betw een primary and secondary sectors may improve access, continuity of care and the quality of service delivery in rural areas. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) This study defines telemedicine as Medicine practiced at a distance therefore encompassing diagnosis, treatment and medical education. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) The state of Maine is stated to have a well-functioning telemedicine services system using telemedicine in a broad array of interactive videoconferencing applications, including mental health and psychiatry, diabetes management, primary care, pediatrics, genetics and dermatology. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007) According to this review telemedicine has the potential to be a tool of a valuable nature in achievement of healthcare access in rural areas although the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine has yet to be documented. (Rygh and Hjortdahl, 2007; paraphrased) The work entitled: Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas states that the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦believes that all Americans are entitled to an equitable level of health and well-being established through health care services, regardless of where they live. An important but often overlooked aspect of health and well-being is assurance of appropriate care and support when people are experiencing chronic, progressive illness and/or approaching the end of their lives. (Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas, 2005) In order to study this area of service provision the method for defining and assessing needs is stated to be through a needs assessment to include recruitment of a group of members of the community for participation in identifying the needs and creating a method of assessing results. Data is gained from various sources an may include the following: Demographics of the community; disease statistics (county health department and state vital statistics division); List of health care organizations/agencies that provide related services; A definition of unmet or under-met service needs; Identification of the unique characteristics that differentiate palliative care and/or hospice services from other services in the community; Vital statistics, including cause of death, age at death and location of death; Loss data; Community residents satisfaction with current hospice and/or palliative care services, obtained through interviews; and Community members preferences about hospice and palliative care. (Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas, 2005) Recruitment of individuals in this type study are stated to include: Community residents; Representatives from other community service providers such as a librarian, store owners, chiropractor or dentist; The president of a fraternal organization, the Rotary Club, another service club or the Chamber of Commerce; Pastors or leaders of local faith communities; Someone involved with the local food pantry or other emergency relief organization; An influential local business person such as the feed store owner; A county extension staff person active in community events and volunteer work; Someone who organizes the towns annual parade, festival or other special events; Someone who works on civic clean-up and beautification; and Representatives from other small organizations and entities in each of the countries the provider serves. (Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas, 2005) This study speaks of the creation of capacity building in expansion of the service provision and in meeting unmet or undermet needs in rural areas. Capacity building strategies include education and training of staff for skills development needed in broadening the services provided. Community education in establishing a broader understanding of what services and opportunities are available for care is also stated to be a strategy for capacity building as service utilization will be increased as well. Capacity building strategies as well are stated to include outreach strategies for development and sustaining partnerships and collaborations as well as in sustaining and supporting growth of expectations related to hospice and palliative care services. (Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas, 2005; paraphrased) Stated as practical examples of the training and education of staff and the philosophy used by rural providers in the creation and sustaining of program ca pacity are those as follows: Development and adoption of service performance parameters; Education of the board and/or local leaders in national trends such as palliative care, open access, managed care, chronic care management and the nursing shortage; Establishment of an ethics committee comprised of community members, hospital representatives, palliative care and hospice program staff, and church members to review specific ethical considerations/cases and to address projects such as advance care planning and advance directives; Importing best practices in enhancing service definition and outreach; Offering support for local and offsite continuing staff education an subsidies for staff to pursue relevant credentials; Offering support for local and offsite continuing staff education and subsidies for staff to pursue relevant credentials; Appointing full-time or substantially part-time physicians and advanced practice nurses as soon as feasible and involving these individuals in professional and community outreach; Establishment of bridge programs and/or extended palliative home care; Improved/extended utilization of volunteers in meeting caregiving requirements. For hospices, this may include volunteer participation in providing continuous care as allowed by regulations; and As needed, referrals to other organizations. (Providing Hospice and Palliative Care in Rural Frontier Areas, 2005) The work entitled: Planting the Seeds for Improving Rural Health Care relates the Chronic Care Model which portrays the essential involvement of the community, the design and function of the health care system and effective interaction between patients/families and their team of caregivers, producing optimal clinical outcomes. (2005) The following figure labeled figure 1 shows the Chronic Care Model: Figure 1 Chronic Care Model Source: Planting the Seeds for Improving Rural Health Care (2005) Components of this program include the following: Use of a rapid-cycle method for implementing quality improvements; Use of a standard set of changes for teams to implement; Sharing a vision of the ideal system of care developed by clinical experts; Monthly reporting of process and outcome measurements; Three learning sessions; A final national forum during which teams attend sessions with expert faculty to share progress, best practices, and lessons learned. (Planting the Seeds for Improving Rural Health Care, 2005) The work entitled: Practical Tips and Information Resources for Developing Collaborative Relationships Between Rural Community Health Centers (CHCs) and Rural Hospitals asks the question of Why Collaborate? and answers this question by stating that collaboration strengthens community health infrastructure; improves efficiency levels; and provides joint economic advantage. Collaboration is stated to be a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can explore constructively their differences and search for (and implement) solutions that go beyond their limited vision of what is possible. (Taylor-Powell, et al., 1998) There are five levels of relationships in building collaborative interorgnaizational relationships around health issues in a rural community which are: (1) networking; (2) cooperating; (3) coordination; (4) coalitions; and (5) collaboration. These five levels of relationships according to purpose, structure and process are shown in the following C ommunity Linkages- Choices and Decisions matrix. Figure 2 Community Linkages Choices and Decisions Source: Practical Tips and Information Resources for Developing Collaborative Relationships Between Rural Community Health Centers (CHCs) and Rural Hospitals (2005) The following are examples of the ways that CHCs and hospital partnerships are able to collaborate. These initiatives may also be used by any rural hospital, CHC or primary care provider: Joint training, recruitment, human resources, and clinical direction; Shared case managers; Working together on disease collaboratives; Shared medical laboratory; Partnership establishment enables organizations in qualifying for funding through grants for which they would not otherwise have been eligible to receive; and Shared electronic patient medical records systems; (Practical Tips and Information Resources for Developing Collaborative Relationships Between Rural Community Health Centers (CHCs) and Rural Hospitals (2005) This study states findings that a number of activities specific to an individual site have the potential for wider replication. Those activities are stated to be as follows: Local foundations can support rural health-related activities; namely physician recruitment and retention. Collaboration of CHCs, hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted care facilities in the same location can serve a large rural area and make efficient use of scarce resources; namely physicians. Affiliation with a large regional hospital can be a positive experience that is supportive of community-based services. Collaboration may be a vehicle for expanding benefits to CHC patients; namely as a result of the collaborative, a hospital utilizes the CHCs sliding fee scale for laboratory services provided to CHC patients. Case management for discharge planning and care coordination between the CHC, home health care agency, and the hospital can improve patient care. Electronic patient medical records systems that integrated the CHC and the hospital medical records are the key to future collaboration and the development of a comprehensive model of a health care system for the rural community. (Practical Tips and Information Resources for Developing Collaborative Relationships Between Rural Community Health Centers (CHCs) and Rural Hospitals (2005) There are important factors identified for organizing a successful collaboration which include: (1)

Understanding the Exchange Market Rate - Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) E

The fluctuation or well known as the exchange market is the rate at which one currency will be exchange for another. It also regarded as the value of one country’s currency in the terms of another currency. The fluctuation was determined in the foreign exchange market (Wikipedia, 2014). The fluctuation rate is not permanent sometime in one day the fluctuation rate can change from high to low and from low to high. Hard currency is any global traded currency that is expected to serve as a reliable and stable store of value. The factor contributing to a currency hard status might include the long term stability of its purchasing power, the associated country’s political and fiscal condition and outlook and policy posture of the issuing central bank (Wikipedia, 2014). The two currency that can be taken as the hard currency was the United States Dollar and also the Great Britain Pound. These two currency is very popular and also important in the way to contribute to the exchange rate in foreign exchange market The United States Dollar (USD) or its sign was ($) is referred to as the U.S Dollar, and also as the American Dollar. It is the official currency to the Unites States and its overseas territories. The currency of United States Dollar was divided into 100 smaller units called cents (Wikipedia, 2014). The United States Dollar is often used in the traded process because of its high value. There were five major reason of why the U.S Dollar is so widely used in the traded. The reason is as below: †¢ It’s an investment currency in many capital markets †¢ It’s a reserve currency held by many central banks †¢ It’s a common transaction currency in many International commodity market †¢ It’s an invoice currency in many contracts †¢... ...ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling [ 3 April 2014 ] 10. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Fluctuation from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluctuation [ 2 April 2014 ] 11. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Exchange Rate from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_rate [ 2 April 2014 ] 12. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Interest Rate from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest_rate [ 3 April 2014 ] 13. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Speculator from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculation [ 2 April 2014] 14. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Government Debts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_debt from [ 5 April 2014 ] 15. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Economic Interventionism from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_interventionism [ 2 April 2014 ] 16. Wikipedia ( 2014 ) Economic Growth from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_growth [ 6 April 2014 ]

Ethics and Financial Services Essay

Question A1 Outline the frauds identified in the case and explain the inconsistencies with proper accounting treatment. Relate your answer to broad accounting concepts and accounting standards where relevant. (8 marks; approximately 800 words) Answer: Livent Inc. is a theatre production corporation registered in Toronto, Canada. Therefore, all the accounting behaviours were subject to the General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) of Canada. In a broad sense, the GAAP imposes four main constraints on the accounting behaviours of companies – objectivity, materiality, consistency and conservatism. In the case of Livent Inc., there are several behaviours that was inconsistent with the proper accounting regulations in general. Large kickback scheme At the very beginning of the entire fraud by Livent, the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, fabricated transactions that did not exist at all, in order to transfer the revenue of the company secretly to their own pockets. They made the fake transaction on their balance sheet by colluding with their vendors. Drabinsky and Gottlieb received the money from vendors and asked them to fabricate evidences of charging fees. Manipulation of accounting records The kickback scheme sacrificed the net profit of the company, and as a result, Drabinsky and Gottlieb started manipulating the records. There were evidence from later investigation that Livent was exaggerating its revenue from the box office to show that it kept good income statement with good  profit. Also, they asked the accountants at Livent to modify the financial statements to hide the potential financial problems Livent had and to exhibit good operating performance to attract more investment. Drabinsky even used special software to manipulate the financial statements to make them as if they were the original record and hard to be detected. Keeping the fraud as secret to auditors With the help of the special software, Livent Inc. was able to keep two records of their financial performances, the phony one and the real one. And the outside auditors did auditing of Livent based on the phony financial records Livent provided. Therefore, the Deloitte, Livent’s outside auditing company, could hardly see signs of fraud during annual auditing. Significantly, the fraud of Livent Inc. broke the accounting principle of objectivity, which is also the primary standards companies should stick to. The objectivity principle basically requires that all kinds of financial statements the companies offer should be based on the facts. That is to say, every transaction and item recorded in the financial statements should be supported by unbiased and objective information. Under no circumstances are the managers, shareholders and accountants allowed to fabricate or distort any accounting reports and materials of the company. However, what Drabinsky and Gottlieb did at Livent went against the accounting standards. The fact that the two partners urged the internal accountants to modify the seasonal expenses and liability is definitely away from the proper professional behaviours. Livent benefited from manipulating its performance with additional investment and bank loans, which boosted aggressive expanding plans of Livent. It is even intolerable that the company invented the special software, which allowed unlimited arbitrary modification of all the accounting records of the company. This made the fraud much easier and less likely to be discovered because it enabled the manipulation looked as if they were the original data. Elrod and Gorhum (2010) made quantitative research on the way of detecting fraud by examine the extent to which the cash flow from operation and the earnings from continuing operations are correlated. Livent Inc. forced the accounting staff in the company to comply with the fraud behaviour without any doubt. The executives showed a â€Å"matter-of-fact† attitude toward the fraud. The accountants, independent auditors were not working independently and objectively as required by GAAP. On the contrary, they have been coerced or instructed to make fake accounting records, and did not show cooperation with the independent outside auditors. GAAP intends to ensure auditor independence. But Messina used her previous influence at Deloitte to disturb the independency of Deloitte auditors in examining the financial performance of Livent. The objectivity principle additionally restricts unreliable reports, materials and sheets offered to the auditors for annual auditing. Under the current accounting principles and standards in Canada and the United State, the auditors are responsible only for ensuring the preparation of all the accounting documents of the company align with the GAAP. But the outside auditors do not have access to the detailed daily record of the company. Therefore, the annual auditing is unable to prevent managerial collusion if the company provides counterfeit accounting materials. Livent was giving the fake balance sheet, income statement and other reports to Deloitte, which is not allowed by the accounting standards to a broad extent. Some companies correct their cheating behaviour when the situation improves, which makes it even harder to be detected. Nonetheless, such behaviours done by Livent are inconsistent with the standard professional ethics and regulations. Moreover, the aggressive developing strategy Livent had taken also violated the conservatism principle that the GAAP requires. This principle asks the accountants to exclude the uncertain income or revenue, while include the possible losses and risks in the financial statement. The conservative accounting behaviors are necessary because they can effectively prevent the shareholders and investors from potential losses. But in this case, Drabinsky is in such a haste to pursue aggressive development of the company, and obviously was exaggerating its revenue as well as concealing its losses. Question A2 Describe the corporate ethical culture at Livent Inc. How did this culture affect employee behaviour? Explain and justify your answer. (12 marks; approximately 1,200 words) Answer: Several researches supported the argument that the corporate ethical culture had large influences on the behaviours of the employees and their ethical judgements. The company does not have to have a specific code of ethics for the employees to constraint their ethical behaviours. The corporate environment in itself is enough for influencing the ethical behaviours inside the company. Nwachukwu and Vitell (1997)’s research found that the ethical culture in corporate has certain impact on the moral conviction of the employees upon what is right and wrong. Fraudulent behaviour was a very significant issue in the development of companies. It was because that it had tremendous impacts on the corporate, the employees as well as the public. Also, the difficulties in preventing such behaviours were to define, prevent and detect it. Schwartz (2013) made research and emphasized the three key factors in maintain an ethical corporate culture in the company. They are the set of ethical beliefs or values throughout the company, establishing â€Å"formal ethics program† and the ethical leadership throughout the development of the company. However, in the case of Livent’s fraud, all the three factors were lack in the system of the company. They had no clear ethical values, as the self-regulation mechanism, set and administrated inside the company to constraint the behaviours of not only the employees, but the senior executives as well. The unethical culture set by the top executives had not only influenced, but also forced all the staff, especially the accountants, to cooperate and to help conceal the fraud from being detected by the outsiders. This caused the company running under a set of very unethical corporate culture. It seemed to be routine to manipulate the financial records in Livent Inc. for quite a long time. As early as the year of 1990, Drabinsky, together with his best partner Gottlieb, began the kickback scheme to illegally create fake transactions to transfer money from the company to their own pockets. Then later Dranbinsky and Gottlieb had to tell even bigger lies and got more people involved in in order to make up for the expense losses from the kickback plan. The company lacked ethical leadership from the very beginning. To make the financial performance of Livent look promising,  Drabinsky and Gottlieb meddled in the daily accounting records as well as the preparation of the annual financial statements that were handed in and were examined by the auditing company, Deloitte. The executives and the senior level staff were not establishing positive example inside the company so as to maintain a positive ethical corporate culture. What’s even worse, they acted as the leading role in such fraudulent behaviours and arbitrarily got the other employees into the serious fraud scheme. Drabinsky and Gottlieb shouted at and coerced the staff and even the senior level managers to fulfil their ambition. They developed a specific computer software inside the company’s accounting system, so that they were able to take control of the financial status of the company. They could adjust any amount and transaction records in the system to make the quarterly, semi-annually and annually report of financial performance of Livent look promising to invest in. Even worse, by applying the software, Livent was able to cheat on the accounting records as if they were the raw figures, and avoid being discovered. It had also facilitated the fraudulent behaviours and motivated the employees and the executives to fraud continuously. Another serious issue inside Livent, besides the manipulation of the accounting records and financial statements, is the overwhelming attitude of viewing fraud as a matter of fact among executives as well as the employees. Even if some of the accounting staff including Messina and Webster questioned the unethical behaviours they got involved in, they were influenced by the overall environment and paid no attention to the fraudulent behaviours in Livent. They took for granted that what they did was to follow the instructions of the executives so as not to get fired. The employees would see Drabinsky shouting and bullying the accountants and even the senior level staff in the company if they had any different opinions against him. This was in fact establishing bad example for the employees and was to warn the other staff to just accept the deviant behaviours as a matter of fact. For a long time, employees were aware of the fraud happening, but were unwilling to avoid it. Llopis et al. (2007) argued that â€Å"effective communication is essential for the ethical message to be properly assimilated†. However, in Livent, the top two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, were much too autocratic in the way of managing the company. There  were barely any information about the ethical culture passed to the employees, and the staff had little freedom to do their job but to listen to Drabinsky’s instructions. Last but not least, Livent Inc. lacked proper self-regulation mechanism to prevent the non-ethical behaviours. More often than not, self-regulation are considered as the last prevention of bad corporate ethical culture. Schwartz (2013) pointed out that the set of ethical value of the company was critical for making ethical decisions. Real self-regulation should not be independent of the public interest. Instead, the behaviours under self-regulation should be compatible with the social values and principles. In addition, as the ethical value of the company should not be arbitrarily decided by the executives or a few people in the company; instead the set of ethical value should gain the consent of the majority of the employees (Llopis et al. 2007). Yet, what the set of value acquiesced by the employees in Livent went against the public’s interest, and thus led to the unethical corporate culture overall. Formally, inside Livent, they did not have complete ethical programs including regulations on the professional operation of each position to prevent fraud. The ethical value of the company should be clearly stated in the policies and regulations, or even set incentive mechanism to encourage the employees to follow and to form good habits. In conclusion, there were three factors causing the unethical corporate culture inside Livent. The first is the long-standing fraudulent behaviours from the top executives, which were then passed down to the employees of lower levels arbitrarily. Second element of the unethical culture was the attitude of taking committing fraud as a matter of fact, and thus no one in the company were willing to discourage it. Finally, the lack of internal ethical corporate regulations or values established throughout the company accelerated the forming of unethical corporate culture. Working under such environment, the employees got involved in the fraudulent behaviours willingly or unwillingly forced by their boss. Moreover, their original ethical judgement became vague as they got used to the prevalent fraudulent working culture after a long time. They loss the sense of justice to judge the right and the wrong things. They might even rationalize what they had  done to be just and necessary. PART B Question B1 Why do you think Maria Messina become complicit in the fraud(s)? Explain your answer using the fraud triangle. (15 marks; approximately 1,500 words) Answer: The fraud originally started with the large kickback scheme by Drabinsky and Gottlieb, and finally Maria Messina, as the chief financial officer of Livent, got involved and helped in the huge fraud. Messina’s motivation to become complicit in the fraud can be explained by the theory of fraud triangle, which reveals much of the psychology of committing a fraud. The three key factors in the fraud triangle, considered as prerequisites of fraudulent behaviours, are the pressure, the opportunity and the rationalisation of doing it. Pressure The pressure of committing the fraud, according to the theory of fraud triangle, is more often than not â€Å"non-shareable† (Dellaportas 2013). The type of pressure may be related to financial issues, or may come from the job and working atmosphere. Dellaportas (2013) pointed out that the evil ideas can also be the source of pressure that causes fraud. People in Livent who joined in the fraud had different reasons of incentive to do illegal things as they had different kind of pressure. For example, for the two executives, Drabinsky and Gottlieb, they shared financial pressure. At first, their greed for money stimulated them to design the large kickback plan to secretly transfer money from the company to their own pockets. And later, just as Brenna and McGrath (2007) described in the paper, the executives had the motivation to fraud to keep the company at good performance so that they could gain high bonus as well as keep continuous outside investment for the company. But the motivation and pressure for Messina was a little different. Although as CFO of Livent, her bonus was linked with the performance of the company, the evidences in the  case and in the trial were insufficient to decide whether her fraudulent behaviour was directly motivated by financial pressure. However, it is clear that she was forced to involve in the fraud, like many other accountants at Livent, because of the coercion of Drabinsky and Gottlieb. Messina testified that the executives including Drabinsky would shout at the accountants and force them to cooperate in work. She worked under the pressure of the executives in the company. Messina would be at the risk of losing her job if she did not follow the instruction of Drabinsky. The financial situation was negative long before Messina joined Livent, meaning the fraud had already started before Messina was able to stop it. Taking over the responsibility of managing the financial performance of the company, she was faced with the situation out of her control. The environment of fraud and routine to manipulate the financial records had long been formed. The frequent use of software that enabled Drabinsky to easily manipulate the financial records and financial statements as much as he wanted was a common behaviour in Livent, acquiesced by everyone in the company. Under the threat of Drabinsky, Messina thus had no choice but to try her best to manage the fraud from being detected, making herself really exhausted by the daily work. The pressure Messina faced as the chief financial officer was unable to share with other colleagues and she was forced by the financial pressures to involve in the fraud. She could feel the threats from Drabinsky and the already very troublesome financial situation. And she could perceive that her subordinates and other staff in Livent were suffering the bully and coercion from their executives as well. Opportunity The factor of opportunity in the fraud triangle refers to the ability to commit the fraud and in the situations like the one in the case, such opportunity mainly results from having specific professional skills or knowledge. That is to say, the person was able to manipulate skilfully and knew how to avoid being discovered by his supervisors or regulations. In addition, the trust that the person is able to accomplish the job in accord  with laws also contributes to the opportunity. The trust existing in the relationship between the supervisor and the employees may contribute to getting authorized without careful screening. The trust caused the space of opportunity to fraud expanded. In case of Livent, Messina was an experienced accountants as well as a Chartered Accountant, who had been promoted to partner of the Deloitte &Touch, LLP in Canada. Her previous experience in the industry enabled her to have a good knowledge both in accounting and auditing. That is to say, Messina potentially knew how to manipulate the accounting records daily and prepare the fraudulent financial statement annually. Also, she understood the normal practice of outside professional auditors, who were responsible for examining the financial performance of the company and avoiding inconsistency with the GAAP. Thus, Messina could give professional advice to Drabinsky and Gottlieb so that their manipulation of the accounting records would not be detected in the annual auditing. Besides her professional knowledge and skills in assisting in the fraud in accounting, the opportunity for Messina to get involved also includes the trust on her and her influence in her previous company. Messina had worked at Deloitte Canada for quite a long time and had been promoted to position as partner before she left the company and became CFO of Livent Inc. She had therefore built broad relationship within Deloitte, who was the outside auditing firm for Livent at that time. As Dellaportas (2013) pointed out in the research, insufficient internal regulation and supervision upon such fraudulent behaviours prompted the fraud to continue without being detected by others. However, in the specific case of Livent, there was no self-regulation mechanism at all, since the entire company, from the executives to the employees of the lowest-level, got involved in the fraud. Thus, it was hopeless to discover and discourage such deviant behaviours by the people inside the company. This caused the fraud of Livent to continue to expand and to be very serious. Rationalisation The rationalisation is not rational, instead it is an excuse for the person  who commits the fraud to justify the behaviour to himself. Coleman (1987) discussed this factor of fraud within the context of white collar crimes, and he argued that rationalisation is not an â€Å"after-the-fact† excuse. In fact, people who commit the crime do not realize that their behaviours are deviant. A large number of white collar crime criminals argued that they considered the laws to be unjust or unreasonable, causing them to break the rules (Coleman 1987). The factor of rationalisation is more risky than the other two factors because the people who have violated the laws believed that they had the right reason to do so. He also mentioned other common argument of the fraudulent behaviours. They claimed that such behaviours were the only way for them to achieve the goal or to â€Å"survive† (Coleman 1987). Based on the research results from Dellaportas (2013), he identified the three most common way of denial that people think to justify their fraudulent behaviours. People would rationalize their behaviour as they deny the â€Å"responsibility, injury and victim†. First, the offenders will shirk responsibility and say someone else are supposed to be in charge of the fraud. Secondly, they justify what they have done by arguing that there is no victim in this situation. Finally, if there is victims, the offenders may consider that the victims deserve the sufferings. Thus, they are free from taking responsible or even committing their fraud is illegal. Definitely, there were rationalisation inside Messina that made her behaviour â€Å"just† according to her own value. After quitting the partner position at Deloitte, Messina believed it to be right or rational for her to help Drabinsky in the fraud. Or otherwise, she would lose her job and would be unable to survive. And the overall atmosphere inside the Livent, considering what they were doing as â€Å"matter of fact†, alleviated the employee’s sense of responsibility for the fraud. Messina could hardly feel guilty and never considered about the consequences of helping the company’s fraud. She might rationalize her efforts in the fraud as under the instruction of Drabinsky, instead of out of her own willingness. The above analysis clearly dissected the reasons why Messina became complicit in the fraud from the perspective of psychology. However, as Dellaportas (2013) discussed, the influence of each factor in the fraud triangle varied  from case to case, and was not often equally impacting the fraud behaviours. Recent researches intend to improve the fraud triangle by considering additional factors into the model to better understand the behaviour of fraud in current times. What Messina had done assisted the fraud in Livent to continue for quite a long time after she joined Livent. Messina became the complicit in the serious fraud due to the pressure she was facing, mainly financially, the opportunity she was able to take advantage of and the rationalisation she found for herself to justify her deviant behaviours. Dellaportas (2013) discovered, through case study from ten accountants’ committing fraud, that the opportunity of committing fraud was a much more important factor in dete cting fraud and to take control of it. The motivation and rationalisation contributed less in this kind of accounting fraud cases. Question B2 Comment on the adequacy of the disciplinary action taken against Messina. (5 marks; approximately 500 words) Answer: Finally, Messina was fined for $7,500 and was suspended from doing accounting practice for two years. It is adequate but not enough punishment for Messina’s violation to the accounting standards according to the facts already known. After joining Livent, what Messina did in the Livent’s case of fraud went against the code of professional ethics, which discourages cheating and manipulations. Also, her behaviours broke the securities law in the United States, where the trial of Livent was held. Her involving in the fraud conflicted the interest of the public, especially the investors, who were unable to judge the real performance of Livent from their financial reports. Messina abused her authority in Livent and her influence on Deloitte, for the interest of her own and the executives at Livent. At the very beginning of joining Livent, Messina faced coercion and threats from Drabinsky to keep decent records by manipulation. However, she did not take positive action to resolving the conflict of interest between Drabinsky and herself. Proper ways when one faces conflict of interest is to  quit the job or decline to do the fraud. Messina could have turned to a confidential counselling firm for advice so that she did not have to get involved further in the fraud. On the one hand, it is enough punishment for her involvement in the fraud. She helped the accounting department at Livent to conceal the manipulation of financial statements. Also, as former partner at Deloitte, she abused her influence on the outside independent auditors to comb the financial reports of Livent before they filed to ensure the fraud undetected. What she did violated the standard professional codes for accountants and auditors, and thus she should be subject to penalty. According to the documents from Securities and Exchange Commission (1999), Messina was involved in discussion and approval of every manipulated records. She helped to hide these materials from the auditors so as not to be discovered the inflation in the company’s revenue. On the other hand, the SEC is conservative in judgement because of lack of evidence in proving Messina’s role in the fraud. First, it requires further investigation of the case to identify what she really did and her attitude in the fraud supported with evidence. Moreover, Messina, according to the case material, did show adversarial attitude toward Drabinsky’s fraud plan at first. It means that she still sticked to professional discipline in the beginning, though she yielded to Drabinsky’s bullying later. Also, Messina showed humble attitude in investigation and trial, and cooperated with the commission to investigate the case. It is adequate that the judges punished Messina both financially and professionally. She not only has to give back the illegal money she gained from the fraud, but also should be prevented from doing the practice until she can finally reflect on her mistakes before returning to the business as chief financial officer. However, the amount of fine is too little for Messina to realize her improper behaviours, considering the massive consequences of the fraud and the amount of money they benefited from manipulation. But the judgement should after all based on the evidences and regulations. The judge should take the good and bad things Messina had done  throughout the fraud into account to decide. Also, the punishment against Messina requires further investigation of her role in the fraud, which is disputable. References Coleman, J W 1987, ‘Toward an integrated theory of white-collar crime’, American Journal of Sociology, vol 93, no. 2, pp. 406-439. Dellaportas, S 2013, ‘Conversations with inmate accountants: Motivation, opportunity and the fraud triangle’, Accounting Forum, vol. 37, pp. 29-39. Elrod, H & Gorhum, M J, ‘Fraudulent financial reporting and cash flows’, Journal of Finance and Accountancy, vol. 11, pp. 56-61. Llopis, J, Gonzalez, M R & Gasco, J L 2007, ‘Corporate governance and organisational culture: The role of ethics officers’, International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 96–105 Nwachukwu, S LS & Vitell, S J 1997, ‘The influence of corporate culture on managerial ethical judgments’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 16, no. 8, pp. 757-776. Schwartz, M S 2013, ‘Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core elements’, Business Horizons, vol. 56, pp. 39-50. Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999, Securities and Exchange Commission versus Garth H. Drabinsky, Myron I. Gottlieb, Robert Topol, Gordon C. Eckstein, Maria M. Messina, Diane J. Winkefein, D. Grant Malcolm and Tony Fiorino, 99 CIV.0239, Litigation Release No. 16022, retrieved 15 Aug 2013, .

Successful Aging

Successful Aging Free Online Research Papers There has been a growth of investigation into the concept of successful aging in recent years. The most commonly used explanation is the increase in lifespan of those living in modern times, the most beneficent group as of yet being the â€Å"baby boomers†, or the generation of people born right after WWII. A substantially larger amount of people are living past retirement than ever before, and they are looking to the best way to continue into life after accomplishing most of the goals that they set for themselves so long ago. There have been many studies into the subject, with methods ranging from following the subjects health over long periods of time to making connections between activities and happiness. For the most part, all of these studies have made very similar conclusions in how to help yourself age well. The key factor to successful aging seems to be the idea of overall â€Å"wellness† (Seeman 1). Wellness is the goal which is accomplished through the manipulation of many different aspects of an aging person’s lifestyle. The most important aspects include intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational, and spiritual wellbeing. Though different people may have had different ways of taking care of each dimension of their wellness, it may be noted that each person who took care of every dimension in some way were still as happy as those who did the same through different methods (Seeman 2). One example of this can be seen through the methods of maintaining physical health. Whether it is biking, walking, jogging or leisurely playing Frisbee with a pet, it has been shown that peoples overall health takes on a much more positive influence from daily physical activity (CDC 1). Many seniors do not realize the many benefits of physical activity. Amongst obvious reasons, activity seems to help prevent or slow down the onset of high blood pressure, stroke, depression, colon cancer, osteoporosis, and obesity, diabetes. Maintaining strength also helps to prevent falls and counteract the loss of muscle mass that comes from aging, also known as sarcopenia (CDC 2). Some things that may seem to be the smallest part of your life may be helping you in many ways. For most people, getting together with friends for group activities, even competitive ones, have shown to help the individuals sustain their intellectual, emotional, and social dimensions. This is why seniors are encouraged to involve themselves in recreational activities with others. With the realization of the need of physical activity for seniors came about the rise of senior sensitive group activities at health clubs and gyms. For example, many sports clubs offer water classes, which is easy on seniors who have issues with arthritis (CDC 3). There are businesses marketed towards seniors now that there are more of them. One such example I happen to know of is a portable video game made for seniors to play with while idly waiting in a bus, or sitting down at the park with a morning tea. It was created to help maintain the player’s cognitive skills while aging through the many simple yet challenging timed mini-games. So really things are looking good for the older generations of today, and are constantly growing to be even better for the elderly of the future. Research Papers on Successful AgingPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementTwilight of the UAWRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

Department of Education

Department of Education Free Online Research Papers The Department of Education’s purpose is to establish policy for, administer and coordinate most federal assistance to education. Its mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation (wikipedia.org). The Department carries out its mission in two ways. First, the Department pursues goals of access and excellence through the administration of programs that cover every area of education and range from preschool education through postdoctoral research (ED.gov). Second, the Secretary and the Department are constantly engaging in national discussion over how to improve the quality of education for all students (ED.gov) Originally, the Department of Education was founded in 1867 to assemble information on schools and teaching that would assist all states to create effective school systems (wikipedia.org). They were able to do this by providing for teachers, school administrators and education policymakers a platform on which to share with one another the latest discoveries in what works with teaching and learning and helping communities work out solutions to difficult educational issues (ED.gov). In October 1979, The Department of Education Organization Act was passed into law. This law mandated that the United States organize and create a cabinet level agency that would assist the President in making policy decisions involving education. In May of 1980, Congress established the US Department of Education, called ED (wikipedia.org). The U.S. Department of Education serves an astronomical number of individuals. All of the individuals in the United States and then anyone else who may be looking to come to this country for an education who is willing to pick up the phone or look on the internet to ask for help. The U.S. Department of Education is willing to help individuals of all ages (Monica). â€Å"We serve students from low income families through grants, infants, toddlers, children, and adults, through No Child Left Behind. We serve any student who qualifies for grants and loans through our FAFSA grants and loans. We serve parents, teachers, and education administrators, through our many websites and publications of the U.S. Department of Education† (Monica). It serves around 4,200 of the federal government’s employees. There are an estimated 37.9 million primary school students (grades 1-6), 16.5 million secondary school students (grades 7-12), and 17.5 million post-secondary school stude nts (college level). Combined, that’s an estimated 76.8 million students (wikipedia.org). Currently the Department of Education administers a budget of 62.6 billion dollars. The budget has of course changed somewhat since the department’s inception. Looking at Table 1 (ED.gov) will show just how drastic the change has been from then until now! The Department of Education’s structure is very complex. The official title of the head of the Department is the Secretary of Education. The Secretary must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Secretary is a member of the President’s cabinet and the Department’s public figure with the task of promoting public understanding of the goals and objectives of the Department. The Secretary also advises the President on federal policies, programs, and activities related to education in the United States. The PresidentAs a member of the Presidents cabinet, the Secretary is the principal advisor to the president on federal policies, programs, and activities related to education in the United States. The secretary is nominated by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate. The Secretary is aided in the overall management of the Department by the Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary. The Secretary also appoints an Assistant Secretary to oversee each of the eight program offices. They are as follows (See Table 2. usinfo.org): ? The Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students administers programs designed to enable students with limited English proficiency to become proficient in English and meet challenging state academic content and student achievement standards (ED.gov). ? The Office for Civil Rights enforces federal statutes that prohibit discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. (ED.gov). ? The Office of Educational Research and Improvement supports research and demonstration projects to improve education; collects and analyzes education statistics; disseminates information on research findings and education statistics; and provides technical assistance to those working to improve education (ED.gov). ? The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education is responsible for providing leadership, technical assistance, and financial support to state and local education agencies for the maintenance and improvement of both public and private preschool, elementary, and secondary education. OESE administers programs designed to advance the academic opportunities of the nations neediest children (ED.gov). ? The Office of Postsecondary Education is responsible for formulating federal postsecondary education policy and administering grant programs and other initiatives that provide assistance to postsecondary education institutions for reform, innovation, and improvement. OPE is also responsible for the accrediting agency recognition process and for coordinating with the states on matters that affect institutional participation in federal financial assistance programs (ED.gov). ? The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services provides support for programs designed to educate children with special needs; provides for the rehabilitation of youths and adults with disabilities; and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities, regardless of age (ED.gov). ? The Office of Federal Student Aid administers the systems and products related to providing billions of dollars annually in federal financial aid to millions of students pursuing postsecondary education and training opportunities. The office provides information and forms for students applying for loans, grants, and work-study funds, as well as technical information for financial aid administrators, lending institutions, auditors, and others in the field. In 1998, this office became the first performance-based organization in the federal government, with increased accountability for results and greater flexibility in operations (ED.gov). ? The Office of Vocational and Adult Education supports a wide range of programs and activities that prepare people for employment and that provide adults with basic skills necessary to obtain a high school diploma or the equivalent (ED.gov). The very first Secretary of Education was Shirley Hufstedler who served under President Jimmy Carter. To this date, there have only been nine people to hold that position. To name a few, Terrell Bell was in Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet and Richard Riley was under Bill Clinton. Currently, that position is held by Arne Duncan who previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (ED.gov). A telephone interview was conducted with Monica at the Information Resource Center for the US Department of Education. She was posed the question, â€Å"What are some accomplishments by the United States Department of Education?† â€Å"There were two great accomplishments by the U.S. Department of Education. The first accomplishment was that of overseeing of the implementation of the elementary and secondary education as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Program in 1965. The second great accomplishment that comes to mind for me is that of the Higher Education Act (Monica)†. The No Child Left Behind Act is an Act that was signed into law by President Bush in 2002. The intention for this law is to improve the educational opportunities for disadvantaged students; to narrow the achievement gap. To do this, it required states to demonstrate annual progress in raising the percentage of students that understand in the subjects of math and reading by using standardized test scores. It set deadlines for the individual states to enlarge the target group of students tested and the frequency of that testing. The No Child Left Behind Act also increased funding for programs such as kindergarten through third grade reading programs, before school programs as well as after school programs, provide the states with the flexibility to use federal funds however they feel will best benefit their state (ED.gov). The Higher Education Act is an Act that helps to carry out a program of making grants and contracts designed to identify qualified individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, to prepare them for a program of postsecondary education, to provide support services for such students who are pursuing programs of postsecondary education, to motivate and prepare students for doctoral programs, and to train individuals serving or preparing for service in programs and projects so designed (ED.gov). The passing of both of these acts into law have had a positive impact on the economy in more than one way. First, they have created employment positions within the government in order to serve the individuals who qualify for the educational programs. Second, they have given employment opportunities to the educated individuals who previously would not have those opportunities. Third, the next generation of family members will have a better foundation. They will have not grown up in poverty. Research Papers on Department of EducationStandardized TestingHip-Hop is ArtResearch Process Part OneInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Fifth HorsemanRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andThree Concepts of PsychodynamicPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyTwilight of the UAW

20 Terms Every Content Writer Needs to Know

20 Terms Every Content Writer Needs to Know Crafting content for businesses and their marketing agencies can be a decent earner for aspiring writers. But if you want to be taken seriously, you need to get the lingo right. Dan Brotzel of UK agency Sticky Content walks us through some of the essential terminology So, youve got your first content commission – a series of blog posts perhaps, or some new web copy. What usually comes next is a briefing form. The brief may be a detailed document of several pages, or it may be a couple of pages in an email. It may have been written just for you, or – more likely – for lots of other people working on the project as well, from marketers to web developers. ​​​​​​​ Your first job is to go through the brief, understand whats required, and come back with any questions. Heres a handy guide to some of the phrases you may come across Amends. Content work always goes through several rounds of amends on its way to approval. Your agreement may cite a certain number of rounds of amends that you will carry out; if not, its worth asking about this up front. While you shouldnt worry that there will be things to tweak, you should make sure that the amount of amends isnt getting unreasonable or turning into a rebrief. Brand voice. This is the verbal personality that your copy should convey. Guidance may come in a tone of voice document or in a brief description, e.g. friendly, straightforward, positive. If in doubt, ask for examples of voice they like. Call to action (CTA). All content should lead to a next step you want your reader to take, such as Call us now or Get a quote. Knowing the CTA will help you focus your writing. Compliance. In heavily regulated industries such as finance, a Compliance team will review the copy for potential issues such as making claims (the cheapest cover ever!) that cant be backed up. Its worth asking up front what sorts of things they normally look for. Conversion. The action that you want people reading a piece of content to take, such as downloading a report or making a purchase. Copydeck. Simply the document that contains your copy. This may take the form of a templated doc that you are asked to write content into. Distribution. How your content will reach people, for example via email, social channels or search results. Engagement. A slippery word that really just means people acting on your content in some way, e.g. Evergreen content. Content thats designed to have a very long shelf-life so needs to be written in a way that wont quickly date. Hygiene content. Essential content that keeps a website working, such as FAQs, Help content and About us content. This is distinct from Hub content (regular editorial-style content such as posts and articles) and Hero content (big campaign material). Key phrases. Words you may be asked to work into your copy, to help it appear in relevant search results pages. Landing page. The page that people arrive at after clicking on a search result, especially a paid-for one. There is a whole best practice for writing and designing these to drive conversions. Listicle. An article written in list form, usually beginning with a number. Localization. Translation. Sometimes you will be asked to write copy thats easy to localize, meaning it should steer clear of idioms and very specific cultural references that could get lost in translation. Newsjacking. The practice of creating some content triggered Optimization. Basically, improving things through an ongoing process of testing and learning. A page thats been optimized for search, for example, is one that has been written and designed to have the best chance of driving search traffic. Personas. Many bigger companies will have developed character sketches that stand in for key segments of their target audience. Often theyll have a nickname such as Sally, the savvy shopper or Dave, the silver surfer. These profiles can be very useful to help you pitch your copy correctly. Pay Per Click. The paid-for ads that appear among your search results when you look for something via a search engine. Pay per click is abbreviated PPC. The search engine gets a small fee whenever anyone clicks on an ad. Stakeholders. People with a governance interest in your content, such as Compliance, Product, and Brand. All review the content, and some may have an input into its creation. Stakeholder reviews inevitably lead to amends. Traction. A fancy word for response. As in: We want to see how much traction this first ebook gets, then well decide whether to do another one. Wash-up. A meeting where the work is reviewed after its gone live. You may not be asked to attend this, but you may hear feedback from it thats useful for your next commission. When interrogating a brief (as marketers like to say) you can inspire confidence

Managing Quality, Risk and Cost in Health Care Essay

Managing Quality, Risk and Cost in Health Care - Essay Example There is ample evidence that shows that effective management of service quality and patient safety could bring about vast improvement and desired results. Managing service quality, for example, could improve efficiency and costs and bring about patient satisfaction. On the other hand, improving the standards of patient safety is imperative because it lessens the risks of errors in clinical practice and secures the health and well-being of patients. Theoretically, managerial concerns in these two areas are deemed separate and distinct from each other because whilst one is evidently organisational in nature, the other involves actual clinical practice. The broadness of the concept of quality care, however, necessarily includes patient safety as a subset. Nonetheless, this connection and the commonalities of variables found in these two functions do not necessarily entail their integration. Patient safety is an important, and the primary, function of healthcare and deserves a separate t reatment from service quality. The quality of the service in health care is critically determined by the design of the process or processes that makes up the service. In health care organisations, the services offered are not tangibles but are processes or sets of processes. The process or processes themselves may not be entirely understood by patients but their quality is perceived, from the point of view of patients, from the design of the process or processes. This is because it is the design that shapes and directs the interaction between health provider and patients and serves the defining moment or the critical incident between them. This moment or incident by which the health provider interacts with the member or patient may be called a service encounter. A service encounter greatly impacts upon a member because it is at this point that the latter is given the opportunity to form his or her impression of the health provider’s service quality (Taylor &

Modern Art Periods Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Modern Art Periods - Assignment Example The paper "Modern Art Periods" investigates modern art and periods of it. Here will be discovered such movements as cubism, impressionism, and post-impressionism. The Stagecoach at Louveciennes is a painting which represents the impressionism. In essence, Impressionism transcended boundaries and traditions that had characterized art and pioneered the emergence of new and radical forms of art. The tendency by the impressionist artists to paint outdoors was also considered radical since most artists were used to painting indoors and then allowed the painting to dry gradually. However, impressionist artists preferred painting indoors. In addition, impressionism art avoided the use of symmetry in looking at most of the paintings of the landscapes one realizes that they preferred asymmetry but still managed to maintain balance. Figure 2 adapted from Impressionist Paintings shows an example of an impressionist’s depiction of a spring landscape. Impressionism redefined art through th e use of light and visual effects and the tendency to paint outdoors and a significant number of impressionism paintings depict landscapes. In depicting landscapes the impressionism artists employed asymmetry about an object like a tree. The utilization of space was done uniformly demonstrating a tendency to create balance. Figure 3 adapted from Impressionism Paintings, shows how the garden has been visually harmonized by the trees in the background. Manet’s painting style was always considered to be controversial. ... Perhaps one single impressionist artist that share many similarities with Manet is Edgar Degas. Both artists hailed from wealthy families and their paintings were often done luxuriously in places like racecourses. In fact when the two met Edgar influenced Manet to adopt a more impressionist approach in art. The artists share some similarities and difference in their style of painting. Figure 4: Daughter of Jephtha by Edgar Degas In figure 4 adopted from Blacksheep, one realizes that Degas occasionally painted from a historical perspective demonstrated by the Bibilical depiction in the painting. Degas also preferred the use of deep and dull colors. His paintings also brought about an important aspect of impressionism; depiction of movement. On the other hand as depicted in Figure 5 adopted from Blacksheep, Manet preferred the use of brigher and huge chunks of colors. Manet wlaso avoided historical paintings. Figure 5: The Absinthe Drinker Claude Monet contributed to suburban realism b y constantly providing a vivid depiction of the suburban places he had visited and the feelings the paintings had elicited within him. Monet’s depiction of the suburban areas was characterized by paintings indicating the simple pleasures of suburban areas where nature met with the emerging civilization. Figure 6 adapted from Claude Monet's Paintings, shows one of his paintings depicting pleasure boats at Argentueil. Monet uses light to depict the emerging civilization and its pleasures and dull colors to depict the tranquility of nature. In essence, the juxtaposition of nature and civilization as depicted by Monet provide new avenues of adventure by artists. Figure 6: Pleasure Boats at Argentueil

The negative effects on the grammatical skills of teenagers due to Research Paper

The negative effects on the grammatical skills of teenagers due to text messaging - Research Paper Example The technology used in communication in the modern world has proved to be highly advanced bringing people closer to each other through different means that include the mobile phones, the internet and â€Å"text messaging† (Sampson). From Pew Research Center’s survey conducted in the year 2010, it has been obtained that â€Å"one in three teens† can be found to text message that may be reported as being more than 100 in a day (Sampson). This massive use of text messaging has a natural impact on the teenagers, particularly with respect to their effects on the grammatical skills of the user (Sampson). Text messaging is developing as a much loved practice of communication particularly for the younger generation who prefer to â€Å"stay in close contact† with friends and close ones. The young generation does not feel convenient in â€Å"typing out full words or sentences† (Baldauf & Stair, 280). Alternatively abbreviations enhance a â€Å"fast-paced† process of communication a reason why most of the people use limited or â€Å"just enough† characters to phrase a message (Baldauf & Stair, 280). However, although the use of abbreviations may prove to be convenient, this may also impact the ability of a person to properly construct a sentence and other similar negative effects (Baldauf & Stair, 280). This report would primarily focus on the negative impacts that text messaging are having on the grammatical skills of teenagers.... Text messages have character limitations and people are using this facility to convert their long conversations into short texts and send to friends and other acquaintances (Braun, 17-18). It can be realized that when long conversations can be expressed in short messages, that becomes more convenient for the users to make use of less effort as well as lesser time thus making the text messaging service preferable for the teenagers. Moreover, teenagers of the modern world are known to be impatient and in search of fast and easy way of achieving things. Communication is thus not an exception. Thus like all other technologies, the text messaging also has specific uses that make this facility â€Å"more valuable† than other ways of communicating (Ball & Foster, 92). Firstly, through text messaging, very small messages can be exchanged. Moreover, text messaging is less expensive than calling a person and communicating the same message. In comparison to making calls, text messaging i nvolves lesser time as well as lesser costs making it more favorable for the users. Also, text messaging provides an â€Å"excellent technology for chatting† and staying in close contact with others (Ball & Foster, 92). Teenagers would thus prefer to keep in touch with their friends, make plans for enjoyments or other necessities through communication facilities that can occur in very less time, and with less money. Through such text messaging, users can share ideas, views, knowledge, and information or simply stay in touch by conversing. Views on the effects of text messaging on the use of English Grammar amongst the teenagers: Different views arise on the effects that the use of text messaging may have on the teenagers in their use of English grammar. This is particularly because

GOALS ESSAY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

GOALS - Essay Example My academic pursuits were put on hold when I enlisted in the U.S. Army. My years in active service in Germany proved to be a turning point in my life. Not only did it inculcate in me a new-found self-respect, discipline and spirit of altruism, army life also heightened my awareness of the myriad individual differences in man and, above all, the basic goodness inherent in all humanity. I saw men battle not only their adversaries, but also their own fatigue, fears and attitudes, to rise to the occasion and triumph against all odds. I was now resolved to make a career choice devoted to working closely with people on a personal level. I believe that my past experiences, including my B.S. in Family Studies in Gerontology, have equipped me to contribute in my own way to the field of Counseling Psychology. I have seen, at first hand, the power of positive thinking which can make a man reach unthought-of levels of endurance and achievement. My interpersonal skills are particularly suited to the role of a psychological counselor. My career in the Army and the Postal Service has exposed me to a vast number of people of varying ethnic, economic and social backgrounds and heightened my powers of observation and communication. I consider the primary role of a psychological counselor to be that of a facilitator in the therapeutic process. In dealing with everyday stresses and the problems pertaining to careers, academics, marriage and family, the counselor can be the sounding board for the client’s thoughts and emotions, guiding him to a coherent understanding of his emotions and problems. My conception of an effective counselor is one who helps the client to help himself. In this context, I am confident that my interpersonal skills, powers of observation and my trait of being a good listener are resources I can draw upon in developing the client’s treatment plan. I believe that communication is the basic

Assessing and Managing Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions Article

Assessing and Managing Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions - Article Example The journal, which is the focus of this critique, is entitled "Assessing and Managing Patients with Musculoskeletal Conditions", written by Nicola L. Judge. It was published in the Nursing Standard last September 2007. The journal dealt with how a nurse should assess patients presenting with musculoskeletal conditions. Some of the aims of this journal were for the readers understand the pathology of several common musculoskeletal conditions as well as the principles of common symptom management. The population discussed in this journal is musculoskeletal patients, and these would include athletes or people who engage themselves in an active lifestyle.Judge gave important anatomy and physiology concepts regarding the musculoskeletal system such as the type, classification and function of muscles, bones, ligaments and joints. The author also discussed common musculoskeletal conditions such as osteroarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteroporosis, fractures and sports injuries.Judge (200 7) also considered examination techniques and principles of nursing care. The health assessment procedures stated in this journal includes some of the most important information to ask the patient during history taking. The author stated that the cause, whether it is traumatic or non-traumatic should be first established. Next, the onset of the symptom, whether it is acute or gradual and the severity, pertaining to the extent of the affectation should be asked. Any precipitating and relieving factors should also be noted.