Goodner Brother Inc Essay

1. Key internal control objectives of Goodner’s Huntington Sales Office: a. Controls should be able to prevent and detect fraud. Authorization should be required for every sales transaction. Woody would not be able to sell returned tires from customers and consignees for his own benefits if all sales transactions needed prior management’s approval. b. Controls should aim at safeguarding physical assets. Sales Office should ensure that only certain authorized personnel could get access to the warehouse and at any time security should be enforced to minimize inventory shortages and shrinkages c. Controls should ensure the completeness and accuracy of accounting records. Woody would charge merchandise that he sold for his benefit to the accounts of large volume customers. Or in other words, Woody has altered the nature of the transactions by inflating the number of tires the customers actually ordered. 2. Key internal control weaknesses that were evident in the Huntington unit’s operations a. Strong reliance on the honesty and integrity of the employees they hired. The company recruited its personnel basing off references and recommendations; however this practice could not make up for the lack of a strong internal control system. b. Insufficient personnel. Its crew of 10 to 12 people had to staff its 14 sales outlets. Many of Goodner’s personnel had to take on double positions such as Goodner’s secretary who worked as both the receptionist and the bookkeeper. c. Unrestricted access to the accounting system by the unit’s sales manager and two sales representatives. This gave Woody a good opportunity to commit fraud. d. Lack of security for its tire inventory, which typically ranged from $300,000 to $700,000 per each sales outlet. 3. Control policies or procedures to alleviate the control weaknesses identified in question 2: a. Authorization of transactions: Management approval should be required on all transactions. Otherwise, the tire purchase request should be made by one individual and got approved by a different one. b. Segregation of duties: The secretary should not act as both the secretary and the receptionist. Report on returned items should be generated by one individual and then another individual should receive and put the returned items back to stock.

Antigone Mock Trial Essay

For you to find the Defendant guilty of the crime of Contempt, you must be convinced that the prosecution has proved one of the following beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the Defendant misbehaved in the King’s presence or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice; or (2) the Defendant disobeyed or resisted a process, order, rule, decree, or command of the King. For those who don’t remember the play clearly, here is a brief summary: Antigone completes the story of the family of Oedipus the King of Thebes, who kills his father and marries his mother. Following the death of Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polyneices are to rule Thebes alternately. Eteocles assumes the throne first, but when Polyneices’ turn comes, Eteocles refuses to yield the throne. Polyneices attacks Thebes, and he and Eteocles die in the battle. Creon assumes the throne and gives Eteocles a hero’s burial, but commands that Polyneices be allowed to rot in the open since he is a traitor to the state. Antigone, Polyneices’ sister, throws a handful of dust on the corpse as a symbolic burial. Creon orders her imprisoned. Under the urging of his son Haemon, who is Antigone’s fiancee, Creon relents, but before he can free Antigone she kills herself. Haemon and Creon’s wife Eurydice also commit suicide. Witness for the Defense (Ismene, Haimon, and Tiresias) Responsibilities You will serve as a defense witness for Antigone throughout the trial. Preparation Before the trial, you will create an affidavit as a witness for the defense (your testimony of what you think happened). This affidavit should be one-page in length and typed neatly. When your affidavit is complete, meet with the Defense Attorneys and discuss your testimony. Give a copy of your affidavit to all attorneys and judges (me) by ____________________. On Trial Make sure you know your character & testimony well enough to be that person in class. After the trial, turn in your final copy of the affidavit with both of your names on it. Post Trial Write an essay explaining the whether you believe the verdict is fair or not based on your interpretation (the interpretation of your character) of what happened in the play and in the mock trial. Essays must be 4 paragraphs in length. Witness for the Prosecution (Sentry, Creon, Choragos) Responsibilities You will serve as a prosecuting witness throughout the trial (Antigone is guilty of the charge). Preparation Before the trial, you and will create an affidavit as a witness for the defense (your testimony of what you think happened). This affidavit should be one-page in length and typed neatly. When your affidavit is complete meet with the Defense Attorneys and discuss your testimony. Give a copy of your affidavit to all attorneys and judges (me) by ___________________. On Trial Make sure you know your character & testimony well enough to be that person in class. After the trial, turn in your final copy of the affidavit with both your names on it. Post Trial Write an essay explaining the whether you believe the verdict is fair or not based on your interpretation (the interpretation of your character) of what happened in the play and in the mock trial. Essays must be 4 paragraphs in length. Antigone Responsibilities Create an affidavit (what you think happened) for your testimony. At the end of your testimony, enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and explain your reasoning. Craft your persona around how Antigone is presented in the text. Strive to imitate her, based on any evidence the text gives about her personality and habits. Preparation Before the trial, you must create your affidavit, which should be one page in length and written or typed neatly. Make a copy of your plea (guilty or not guilty) and your reasoning and submit it to the prosecution (you can just give them your affidavit). Work with the defense attorneys to develop a case in your favor. On Trial At the beginning of the trial, you will stand with the defense attorneys and enter your plea. Make sure you know your character & testimony well enough to be that person in class. Again, use the book as your guide! Post Trial Write an essay explaining the whether you believe the verdict is fair or not based on your interpretation (the interpretation of your character) of what happened in the play and in the mock trial. Essays must be 4 paragraphs in length. Prosecuting and Defense Attorneys Responsibilities Review the affidavits given to you by witnesses and decide how to formulate your questions to best serve your argument. Develop an opening statement, closing statement, and a list of questions to ask each witness to help you win the case. Preparation With your team of attorneys and witnesses, complete a case outline (see attached) to develop your argument using textual evidence from the play. You will question the witnesses during the trial, so work with your attorneys and witnesses to create examination questions to best serve your argument. Your examination should create a witness testimony of approximately 5 minutes. On Trial You will give your opening statement, examine your witnesses using the examination questions you developed with your team of attorneys, and give your closing statement. After the trial, turn in your exanimation questions and your case outline with your name on it. Post Trial Write an essay explaining the whether you believe the verdict is fair or not based on your interpretation (the interpretation of your role in the trial) of what happened in the play and in the mock trial. Essays must be 4 paragraphs in length. Jurors Responsibilities Create a brochure using Microsoft Publisher reporting the crime, including quotes from the text, articles, and pictures. Decide a final verdict of Guilty or Not Guilty Preparation While others are preparing their roles for the trial, you will on your brochure using Microsoft Publisher reporting Antigone’s crime. Be sure to include a name for your brochure, a large & catchy headline, articles, and relevant pictures. On Trial Listen attentively to all testimonies & statements given. Take notes (see attached). You must have these in order to create a final verdict of guilty or not guilty and your explanation. After the trial, meet & vote with your fellow jurors to decide what verdict you will submit to the judge (Guilty or Not Guilty). After the trial, submit your final verdict with trial notes attached.

A Reflection on the Qur'an, Heritage and Education Essay

A Reflection on the Qur'an, Heritage and Education - Essay Example This essay reflects on his ideas on the subjects of the Qur’an, laws, and education. It agrees with the foundations that the Qur’an laid for a comprehensive viewpoint on lawmaking and legal interpretation, as well as on a modern educational system that balances religious and rational sciences. The Qur’an is the foundation of Islam, which supports it as a way of life. The Qur’an is different from other religious texts, because it focuses on the moral development of humanity in a tangible and communal way (Rahman 2). It is different from Buddhist and Taoist texts that tend to be metaphysical or individualist in orientation. The Holy Bible of Christianity also attempts to morally guide Christians as individuals and as a community, but it does not attempt to affect the legal and political dimensions of human living. The Qur’an, on the other hand, is a blueprint not only for individual living, but how individuals should live together. It is a practical a nd moral guide for numerous issues, including peace, war, and various other public and private affairs (Rahman 2). This paper believes then that the basis of saying that Islam is a way of living is because the Qur’an provides for the direction of that way of living. In Christian societies, the Church and the law are separate, and so are the Church and legislative and executive functions of society. Muslim jurists, on the contrary, use the Qur’an to find answers to both historical and present-day legal questions and cases (Rahman 2). The idea is that God lives through the words of the Qur’an and to follow it completely entails that Muslims should believe in and depend on the Qur’an completely. This way, they truly fully surrender to Allah through living the Qur’an in every aspect of their existence. This essay agrees with Rahman that one of the main problems with present Islamic jurisprudence is the failure of jurists to have a unified reading of th e Qur’an, which leads to an atomistic and insufficient understanding of the verses and the entire Qur’an itself. Rahman criticizes the deductive reasoning used on the Qur’an, such as using qiyas, or analogical reasoning, because it reduces it to its parts, instead of using the parts to appreciate it as a whole (Rahman 2). Like Rahman, this essay believes that to properly read the Qur’an, people must go beyond literally reading the verses, and instead, they must read it in relation to the whole of the text too. In other words, the process starts from the specific and then goes to the general goals and values of the text. Rahman is concerned that by diving the text into verses, they will have unintended legal and religious interpretations (Rahman 2-3). In order to properly read the Qur’an, this paper believes too that the thought systems must come from it, and not from external sources, like what the Sufis did (Rahman 3). This way, fundamental ideas and thought structures will be derived from the Qur’an itself and not from the outside, which are forced on the Qur’an instead (Rahman 3). Rahman calls his process as a new hermeneutical method that highlights the cognitive aspect of the Qur’an (4). It consists of studying the Qur’an using its text, instead of relying on external resources to make sense of it. For me, it means that interpreting the Qur’an does not require outside sources, but an analysis of what the text means in its parts and then as a whole. The idea is to go inside the

Technical Term Paper (Part B) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Technical Term Paper (Part B) - Assignment Example The current network system has security lapses and faces slow response time and occasional downtime. In the process of moving and with the professional input of Wide-IP Company, Fiction Corporation intends to upgrade its system in order to adopt modern and standard network operations and security. The current hardware used in its network system was bought a long time ago and its application is based on the old technology. The network system upgrade will be essential in increasing system reliability, easy and economical maintenance of its components and increased speed of the data transfer process. At an estimated budgetary cost of $425,000 and a time frame of one month, Wide-IP Company will develop logical and physical design that will be useful in configuring Fiction Corporation network system. Project goal Making the correct and appropriate network technology decisions ensures that the organization attains its goals, the morale of the employees is retained, and the cost incurred is tenable with organization’s budgetary plan and financial objectives. In order to ensure that there is smooth transition of organization networking system from one location to the other, the right networking technology plan must be developed and implemented. In most cases, transferring a data center needs a flush cutover of the network system in order to supply remote systems that have access to data before and after migration. Wide-IP intends to develop a number of router configuration changes that would enable data center routers to be easily transferred, one at a time and dismantling the old lines after the installed new data centers are proven. This is essential in providing an uninterrupted user support during the transfer and reducing the ongoing operational risk. Project scope The project of transferring and developing a new networking system for Fiction Corporation will be done by the Wide IP Company that has 10 members who are proficient in system networking. With a budget of approximately $425,000, Wide IP Company will identify the requirements of Fiction Corporation, develop networking systems, establish errors and correct them, and provide and adhere to a detailed project schedule of 30 days. Design requirements User communities and network applications Fiction Corporation, a retail chain needs to move a new headquarter several miles away. Considering the distance and the chain operations, the main challenge is moving all the personnel to the new headquarters and ensuring that the data center supports all call centers and warehouse operations. Whereas the warehouse functions from Monday to Saturday, allowing one day transferring an AS/400 and developing new SNA links, most of the stores will be open for 24 hours, which will be significant in ensuring non interruption transfer of the network system. Basing on the viewpoint of data processing, the migration of network system will include as AS/400, a large UPS, NT PC and Novell servers, and mu ltiple RS/6000 AIX application servers. The network will be made up of 100 servers for call centers and three remote warehouses .These user communities are connected through frame relay that has ISDN backup to three routers located in data center. The three routers will run a common LAN that will be shared by the headquarter staff, call centers, the warehouse and the data center. There is a high possibility for a whole

Evolution of the 19th Century European Paintings Term Paper

Evolution of the 19th Century European Paintings - Term Paper Example Towards the age of enlightenment in the 18th century, perceptions have been changed. Art is then described as a pursuit or profession in which skill is geared towards the achievement of taste or creation of what is beautiful. And although the skill is there, art is further associated with taste, class, elegance, and beauty. An account has been made that Mme. de Pompadour contributed in the development of new standards for such taste and elegance, but also did so much to heighten the status of the artists in the society. During this century, artists and writers became frequent guests in aristocratic rendezvous.In the 19th century, artists already began to show more extensive emancipations with conventional ideas and techniques, interpretation, and appropriate subject matter. The manifestations of the artists' skills are greatly shown in their works. Their ideas of beauty and creativity coupled with their skills were radiated to superior works of art that have entertained spectators. W ith this, artists held special and sublime class, in some ways distinct from ordinary humans. Another noted consideration of the 19th-century perception of art and its relation to the present day is the ability of paintings to persuade and teach. At that time, it has been the most powerful visual image and the window of people to get information about the world around them. Thus, wealthy and powerful supporters used art for the purpose of education. This concept has transcended to the creation highly technological visual images used today. Somehow, the theories that apply to the use of art during the olden centuries have been handed down to current generations. It is a very important tool to facilitate learning and it continuously advances to graphic designs in cyber technology. Also during the 19th century is the spread of democracy and at this stage, avenues have been provided for artists that allowed them to present vast diversity of visions and messages. This was also because of the fact that there has been an increase in the middle class that already patronize their works; like today, exhibits are held to publicly display an artist' masterpieces. There were still convictions, as there have been in the past, in the supremacy of art to shape human minds. But now, these works of art became expressions of visions and the thus the artists were foreseen as prophets. They somehow provide moral and spiritual guidance and to project beauty and significance for the emergence of the industrial age; to reinvent and develop the visual arena to meet the changing times. As noted in the past, the later years of the 19th century gave rise to significant movements such as modernism, impressionism, expressionism, and symbolism. In many ways, these movements are clearly s een in today's concept of arts. The quest for innovation and updated-ness is inherent in the artist's goal of producing fine arts. Nonetheless, there are still many who remain to patronize the traditional, nostalgic techniques and endeavored to hinder the accelerating rate of change. The appearances of such arts are with intricate, elaborate, and decorative details, as opposed to modernist penchant to simplify forms and diminish decorative details. Similar to present setting, there is a diverse range of themes in modern paintings. There may a touch of contemporary inspiration or the traditional and melancholy mood. However these

Do you have free will or are you determined Essay

Do you have free will or are you determined - Essay Example The paper describes two examples of philosophers (W.T. Stace and Baron d'Holbach), who believe in determinism, but with qualifications. While d'Holbach represents a determinism-only view, Stace offers a view compatible with a free will, and this compatibilist thesis is more correct. Compatibilism, as represented by W.T. Stace, is the view that free will and determinism are compatible without being logically inconsistent. This allows claims about individual autonomy in actions to make sense, whereas under the incompatabilism approach, it is logically inconsistent to speak of the coexistence of free will with determinism. An incompatabilist such as Baron d'Holbach, rules out a kind of metaphysical free will because determinism, the view that all of our actions are the result of antecedent causes, means that no actions are truly free in the sense that the person actually chose to do them. With this foundation, we can differentiate the views of Stace and d'Holbach with respect to freedom of the will. d'Holbach argues that human beings are very similar in nature to a machine, which is created with a very narrow range of functions. In his System of Nature, d'Holbach writes, â€Å"There is no such entity as a soul, but we are simply material objects in motion, having very complicated brains that lead the unreflective to believe that they are free†. In fact, human beings are so complex that they actually believe their actions are free, which is the symptom of religious beliefs, according to d'Holbach. Claiming that all of man’s ideas and senses can be reduced to his physical characteristics, the philosopher believes that these ideas and senses are involuntary and forced upon him. This incompatabilist, hard determinist stance is impossible to prove, which makes it difficult to accept d'Holbach’s arguments (Pojman 335). He argues primarily from analogy to machines and other human artifacts, which seems to undermine the premise that man is incapable o f original, free thoughts. In addition, it is difficult to get past the brute fact that if all of man’s arguments are determined by antecedent causes, then d'Holbach’s claims here are determined and therefore possibly false. In contrast, W.T. Stace offers a compatibilist (or soft determinist) view that upholds the truth of morality. Stace defines an act that was produced from free will as one that is directly caused by a person’s thoughts, emotions, and desires (Roberts). In other words, an act is only free if it is the result of internal mental states, not the outside influences of other antecedent causes. For instance, fasters on hunger strikes do not consume food because it is theoretically within their power to abstain from food, while someone who fasts because he does not have access to food is not doing so according to his free will. Stace defends compatibilism because of how he defines the notion of free will.

ENGH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ENGH - Essay Example imes, she would sit with my friends and I as we watched the other neighborhood kids turning on the fire hydrants and running underneath the water spray just to cool off. During those instances, she would ask us to each tell a story about what we thought the other kids were doing under the spray of water. While my friends and I made up stories about the scenes unfolding before us, grandmother would pull up her rocking chair and ask us to sit around her. This was often the signal for the game that she loved to play with us. She would ask a child to start the story and then point to another child to continue the story and we would go on like that for around an hour or so until she would say â€Å"last 4 kids need to help end the story.† That was how we whiled away our time during our youth. My grandmother encouraged us to let our imagination soar and get as creative as possible with the stories that we were chaining together. It was really sad that we could only practice the chain story telling when my grandmother was staying with us. Our parents did not have the time to play with us the same way that she did. As for me, I enjoyed the story telling activity so much that I wanted to keep doing it even while my grandmother was away. That is why I once asked my mother to buy me a notebook and some extra pens. I would sit on our front step and observe the people who passed me by. Then I would jot down something that I observed about that person and what I thought he or she was thinking as she walked past. Before I knew it, I had begun to write simple stories of the fictional kind. Maybe it was because of the constant repetition of the activity, it maybe it was the enjoyment that I got from releasing my imagination and allowing it to soar. But I discovered later on that I had a natural talent and love for fictional writing. My grandmother was my first ever editor and my biggest fan. She encouraged me to continue discovering my writing talent in a way that my parents

Comtemporary Humanity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Comtemporary Humanity - Essay Example What is the connection he is making here? What commodity is he talking about? The connection that the author is making here is that the theatrical existence and experiences are the basis of market economies in the current society. These acting in the theater not only provide political and social direction for human beings, but also determine the economy of the society, as well as interaction of humans with goods and services. The commodity that the author is talking about is art. How does the sense that life entails performing as an actor in a market of commodities result in what Agnew calls â€Å"the crisis of representation? The crisis of representation comes about due to acting that attempts to bring out the cultural, political, and social dimensions of modernity. For instance, during the times of recession, creativity, performance, and acting are of great importance in representing marketization. Being a human being in the 20th/21st century means that the identity is shaped by the theatrical representations as brought out by acting. This is because acting provides the basis for social, cultural, and political directions in the society. This is important in understanding the connection between theater with its imagery of human beings, and its influence on the market

Training Incentives Essay Example for Free

Training Incentives Essay Training incentives helps employers meet the cost of training their staff. The funding helps to ensure that there is continued supply of qualified people. The employers use training incentives to assist employees who have no formal qualifications. Managers and supervisors are also trained in order to develop management and supervision skills. Trainees can be of any age and on any pay scale and training can be done during work hours or outside business hours. (Tuscon, 1994 pp32) Different Training Styles Self motivated style – training is thought of in terms of the practical results, the trainer likes direct results from training. He is assertive whereby he does not hesitate to express his views and disapproval when the training session is going on. The participants who are being trained are attentive and avoid embarrassing the trainer who is in control of the training. Informal and expressive style – the trainees make contribution to the session freely and openly express themselves in a personal and friendly way. They ensure the training session is informal and open to everyone. The trainer tries to avoid discussions that are unnecessary and are tactful in the way they direct communicators to the materials that are supposed to be used for training. (Brooks, 1999 pp13-15). Analytical style – here the trainer is dealing with interpreters whose main concern accuracy and detail. They do not accept information that is not backed by facts. The trainer will command subject matter to be used for him to retain credibility when dealing with individuals of this type. Readiness of different people to accept the information given to them will depend on the way that information is presented to them. Some people do not understand easily unless there are clear facts presented. In providing effective training the trainer should know how to help the audience accept the information given to them. There are also contemplators who always think about new ideas and concepts. They seek time to consider them and their special effects. The trainer will need to know the suitable pace for delivering the course material to ensure that they are able to understand what is being taught with ease. If they require more time for them to understand the concepts the trainer should be patient enough. (Eisman, 1995 pp32-35). What Works For Particular Employees When there are new employees in any organization, a worker mentor assist them to learn the job. Once the new employee is familiar with the job and can do it well without assistance, he can be left to continue working on his own. This is very important because, even if the new employee has qualified for the job, there is need for him to get experienced with new work environment. The supervisor monitors work performance to ensure that all the assigned duties are done well. A co-worker can help new worker get to know how to socialize with other workers and help him to make use of orientation training for him to make practical use of what he was taught during orientation. If there is any issue that was not understood during orientation, a co-worker can assist in answering any question that might arise. Employee assistant program assist particular employees to improve his job performance, get familiar to the work environment and make use of employment policies and adapt to changes on how some jobs are supposed to be performed in order for employees to do the job successfully. (Janak, 1997 pp345-349). Environmental support which includes physical structures and surrounding objects make the job site to be accessible for current and future employees. For example, automatic door openers that assists employees to move from one department to another. Procedural support activities help employees perform jobs and related job functions. Flexible time allows employees work within hours that are conducive to their personal lives. (Clement, 1995 pp53-58). Different Job Functions If essential functions require employees to have physical abilities or communication abilities for example frequent contact with people, this requires verbal communication for information to be conveyed or writing. If duties are performed in various locations, frequent travel is required and a driving license. Job descriptions contain statement that, jobs other than the ones enumerated can be assigned to employees which should be reasonably related to the assigned position. Duties and responsibilities should outline basic components of activities to be performed, scope of the assigned responsibility and level of authority and who is responsible. Each task should have a process that shows what methods are used, procedure followed when performing the task and the tools to be used. It should show how often the task should be performed. The expected outcome should be indicated which shows the acceptable quality of work. (Reynolds, 1997 pp40-45). Essential functions are the fundamental duties employees must be able to perform. Job function is considered essential when there is a position for that function to be performed, the number of employees is limited for distribution of the job function and the function is highly specialized and requires experts to perform it. Employee Training Retention And Feedback Employee training retention helps reduce the staff turnover rates which waste a lot of time, very costly and affects the success of business in the long run. The key component of retaining superior employees is to allow them to express themselves freely and give out ideas and opinions. Chief executive officers should be good listeners and collect feedback from employees. Supervisors should recognize employees’ problems and deal with them in an appropriate manner. (Peterson, 1999 pp15-17). Managing turnover maintains quality of work performed by experienced employees. Training expert who have track record should cause cultural change, improve organization productivity and be trusted by employees and management. Strategic plan should be implemented on how to conduct pre and post training survey and make follow up in order to ensure employee are productive. Talent management strategy sustains the organization and an action plan guarantees the continuity of the organization in future. Effective feedback survey design should be delivered with extensive resources and impressive reporting capabilities. Human resource department should fully staff in order to solve issues of human relations and offer standardized training. In order to assess staff climate, satisfaction survey should be done annually. New starter feedback should be done after four weeks to know employees perception on the effectiveness of recruitment and the process of induction and know the ideas they have for improvement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recruitment process feedback should be done immediately after recruitment is over and send short post placement survey to the manager responsible for hiring within one week after appointment. Analysis for training need should be done to know the training opportunities that the staff need. Post training feedback helps to know how staff valued training sessions. This can also be done by testing the staff knowledge in certain subject after the training session is over by giving them a short post training quiz. (Phillips, 1996 pp45-47) Best Practices   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Employer should ensure the work place is safe for all employees so that they can be able to apply their knowledge to improve the quality of work performed in the organization. Financial rewards should be given to employees based on their performance for them to be motivated to continue working hard. Performance standards should be set for all employees without favor or discrimination. Employees should be able and willing to employ all what brings best results. (Tuscon, 1994 pp30-31) Challenges   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Competition from other firms in the same line of business and labor shortages make employees work for long hours and harder and have more responsibilities. Modern training need is also demanded in order to reflect the changes in lifestyle. Organizations do not afford use of classrooms for training because; it involves traveling and lodging expenses. Productivity is reduced and revenue is low due to time spent while traveling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Organization needs to improve performance of employees and retain them, this call for an organization to offer ongoing education and training in order to benefit from a work force that has better skills and have increased rate of employee retention. In order to keep training updated, knowledge and skills should be provided by managers rapidly. this requires organization to add more organization training mix. (Arkin, 1995 pp36). REFERENCES: Tuscon M. (1994): outdoor training for employee effectiveness: London Institute of Personnel Management, pp 30-32. Eisman R. (1995): incentives excellent adventure: Incentive, pp32-35. Clement C. (1995): The Ins and Outs of experimental training: Training and development, pp53-56. Arkin A. (1995). Breathing fresh air into training: people management, pp35-36. Alder A. (1995): Changing outdoor vision: Management training, pp21-23. Phillips J. (1996): the search for best practices, training and development: ROI, pp45-47. Peterson B. (1999): measuring impact of learning and performance. The Franklin, pp15-17. Reynolds M. (1997): management learning: London Sage, pp40-45. Janak E. (1997): A meta analysis of the relationship among training criteria; personnel psychology; pp345-349. Brooks H. (1999): Designing and facilitating experimental learning: thousand oak, pp 13-15.

Assess the view that ethnic differences Essay Example for Free

Assess the view that ethnic differences Essay ?An Ethnic minority background increases your chances of arrest and conviction, some people argue that police racism in itself results in higher suspicion against black people in general. According to official statistics there are significant ethnic differences in the likelihood of being involved in the criminal justice system. Black and Asians are overrepresented in the system. For example black people make up 2. 8% of the population, but 11% of the prison population. Contrastingly whites are underrepresented. However such statistics do not tell us whether members of one ethnic group are more likely than members of another ethnic group to commit an offence in the first place; they just tell us about involvement in the criminal justice system. For example differences in stop and search or arrest rates may be due to police racism, while differences in rates of imprisonment may be the result of courts handing down harsher sentences on minorities. There are other sources of statistics to reveal link of ethnicity and offending. Victim surveys ask individuals to say what crimes they have been victims of. We can get information on ethnicity and offending from surveys when we ask what ethnicity of the person who committed the crime against them. For example in the case of mugging blacks are overly represented among those indentified by victims as offenders. Victim surveys show much crime is intra-ethnic; it takes place within rather than between ethnic groups. For example the British crime survey (2007) found 90% of where the victim was white; at least one of the offenders was also white. However while victim surveys are useful in identifying ethnic patterns of offending, they have several limitations. They rely on a victim’s memory of events. Ben Bowling and Coretta Phillips (2002) found whites may over identify blacks, saying the offender was black even when not sure. They only cover personal crimes, which make up 20% of all crimes. They exclude under 16s; minority ethnic groups contain a higher proportion of young people. They exclude crimes by big business; thus tell us nothing of ethnicity of white collar criminals. Thus victim surveys only tell us about the ethnicity of a small proportion of offenders, which may not be representative of offenders in general. Self report studies ask individuals to disclose their own dishonest and violent behaviour. Graham and Bowling (1995) found that blacks and whites had similar rates of offending, while Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis had lower rates. Similarly Sharp and Budd (2005) note that the 2003 offending, crime and justice survey of 12,000 people found whites and mixed ethnic origin groups were more likely than blacks and Asians to say they had committed offences. The Home Office have conducted nine self report studies on drugs since the early 1990s, all with similar findings. Sharp and Budd (2005) found 27% of mixed ethnicity individuals said they had used drugs in the last year, compared to 16% of blacks and whites, and 5% of Asians. Use of class a drugs, such as heroin or cocaine was 3 times higher among whites than blacks and Asians. The findings of self report studies challenge stereotypes of blacks more likely than whites to offend, though they support the widely held view Asians are less likely to offend, however self report studies have their limitations in relation to ethnicity and offending. Overall the evidence of ethnicity and offending is inconsistent. For example while official statistics and victim surveys point to the likelihood of higher rates of offending by blacks; this is generally not the results of self report studies. There are ethnic differences at each stage of the criminal justice process. To explain them we need to look at main stages of the process that an individual may go through, possibly culminating in a custodial sentence. Phillips and Bowling (2007) argue since the 70s there have been many allegations of oppressive policing of minorities, including stop and search, deaths in custody, police violence and failure to respond effectively to racist violence. Minorities are more likely to be stopped and searched by police. Statistics show Asians were three times more likely to be searched under this act. Its thus unsurprising minorities are less likely to think police acted politely when stopped, or think they were stopped fairly. Phillips and Bowling (2007) argue these communities feel over policed and over protected and have limited faith in the police. There are three possible reasons for the disproportionate use of stop and search against minorities. Police racism; the Macpherson Report (1999) on the police investigation of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence concluded there was institutional racism in the Metropolitan police. Other have found deeply ingrained racist attitudes among individual officers. For example Phillips and Bowling point out that many officers hold negative stereotypes about ethnic minorities as criminals, leading to deliberate targeting for stop and search. Such stereotypes are endorsed and upheld by the canteen culture of rank and file officers. Ethnic differences in offending; an alternative explanation is that the disproportionality in stop and searches simply reflects ethnic differences in levels of offending. However it’s useful to distinguish between low discretion and high discretion stops. In low discretion stops police act on relevant information about a specific offence, for example a victim’s description of the offender. In high discretion stops police act without specific intelligence. It is in these stops police can use stereotypes that disproportionality and discrimination are more likely. Demographic factors; ethnic minorities are over represented in the population groups who are most likely to be stopped such as the young, the unemployed, manual workers and urban dwellers. These groups are all more likely to be stopped, regardless of their ethnicity, but they are also groups who have a higher proportion of ethnic minorities in them, so minorities get stopped more. Figures in England and Wales show that in 2006/07, the arrest rates for blacks was 3. 6 times higher than for whites. Contrastingly once arrested blacks and Asians were less likely to receive a police caution. One reason for this may be more likely to deny the offence and likely to exercise their right to legal advice. However not admitting the offence means they cannot be let off with a caution and are more likely to be charged instead. The crown prosecution service is the body responsible for deciding whether a case brought by the police should be prosecuted in court. In doing so CPS must decide whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction and whether the prosecution is in the public’s interest. Studies suggest the CPS is more likely to drop cases against minorities. Bowling and Phillips (2002) argue this may be because the evidence presented to the CPS by the police is often weaker and based on stereotyping of ethnic minorities as criminals. When cases do go ahead minorities are more likely to elect trial before a jury in the Crown Court rather than the magistrates court, perhaps due to mistrust of magistrates impartiality. However crown courts can impose more severe sentences if convicted. Thus is interesting to note minorities are less likely to be found guilty. This suggests discrimination, in that the police and CPS may be bringing weaker or less serious cases against ethnic minorities that are thrown out by the courts. In 2006/7 custodial sentences were given to a greater proportion of black offenders (68%) than white (55%) or Asian offenders (59%), whereas whites and Asians were more likely than blacks to receive community sentences. This may be due to differences in seriousness of the offences or defendants previous convictions. However a study of 5 crown courts by roger Hood (1992) found even when such factors were taken into account, black men were 5% more likely to receive a custodial sentence, and were given sentences of an average of 3 months longer than whites. Another reason for harsher sentences id pre sentence reports (PRs) written by probation officers. A PRs is intended as a risk assessment to assist magistrates in deciding on the appropriate sentence for a given offender. However Hudson and Bramhall (2005) argue that PRs allow for unwitting discrimination. They found reports on Asian offenders were less comprehensive and suggested that they were less remorseful than white offenders. They place this bias in the context of demonising Muslims in the wake of 9/11 attacks. In 2007, one quarter of the male prison population was minorities. Blacks were five times more likely to be in prison than whites. Black and Asians were more likely to be serving longer sentences. Within the total prison population all minorities had a higher than average proportion of prisoners on remand. This is because minorities are less likely to be granted bail whilst awaiting trial. There are similar patterns in other countries, for example in USA two fifths of prison population is black. There was large scale migration from the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent in the 50s, at this time it was agreed minorities had lower crime rates. However by the 70s there was conflict between blacks and the police meaning â€Å"black criminality† became more of a problem. Contrastingly by the 90s Asian crime also became viewed as a problem. Events e. g. 9/11 cemented the idea that Asians were a threat to public order. There are two main explanations for ethnic differences in crime; left realism and neo-Marxism. Left realists Lea and Young (1993) argue ethnic differences in statistics reflect real differences in the levels of offending by different ethnic groups. Left realists see crime the product of relative deprivation, subculture and marginalisation. They argue racism had led to economic exclusion of ethnic minorities who face higher unemployment, poverty and poor housing. At the same time the Medias emphasis on consumerism promotes a sense of relative deprivation by setting materialistic goals that many minorities are unable to reach by legitimate means. One response is formation of delinquent subcultures, especially by young unemployed blacks. It produces higher utilitarian crime to cope with relative deprivation. Furthermore as these groups are marginalised and have no groups to represent their interests their frustration is liable to produce non utilitarian crime such as rioting. Lea and Young acknowledge police often act in racist ways and results in unjustified criminalisation of some members of minorities. However they don’t believe discriminatory policing fully explains the statistics. For example over 90% of crimes known to the police are reported by the public rather than discovered themselves. Under these circumstances even if police act discriminatory it’s unlikely it can account for ethnic differences in statistics. Similarly Lea and Young argue we cannot explain differences in minorities in terms of police racism. For example blacks are more criminalised than Asians. The police would have to be selective in their racism for racism to cause these differences. Lea and Young thus conclude that the statistics represent real differences in levels of offending between ethnic groups and these are caused by real differences in levels of relative deprivation and marginalisation. However Lea and Young can be criticised for their views on the role of police racism. For example arrest rates may be lower for Asians because police stereotype them differently. Stereotypes may have changed since 9/11, explaining rising criminalisation of this group. While left realists see official statistics reflecting real differences in offending between ethnic groups, other sociologists have argued differences in statistics do not reflect reality. These differences are the outcome of a process of social construction that stereotypes ethnic minorities as inherently more criminal than the majority of the population. The work of neo Marxists Paul Gilroy (1982) and Stuart Hall (1979) illustrates this view. Gilroy argues the idea of black criminality is a myth created by racist stereotypes of African Caribbean’s and Asians. In reality these groups are no more criminal than any other. However as a result of the police and criminal justice system acting on these racist stereotypes, ethnic minorities came to be criminalised and thus to appear in greater numbers in official statistics. Gilroy argues ethnic minority crime can be seen as a form of political resistance against a racist society, and this struggle has roots in earlier struggle against British imperialism. Gilroy holds a similar view to that of critical criminology which argues working class crime is a political act against capitalism. Most blacks and Asians in the UK originated from former colonies where their anti imperialist struggles taught them how to resist oppression, for example through riots and demonstrations. When they found themselves facing racism in Britain they adopted the same form of struggles to defend themselves, but their political struggle was criminalised by the British state. However Lea, Young and Gilroy are criticised on several grounds. First generation immigrants were very law abiding, so it’s unlikely they passed their anti colonialist struggle onto their children. Most crime is interethnic, criminals and victims usually have similar ethnic backgrounds, so it can’t be seen as anti colonial struggle against racism. Lea and Young argue Gilroy romanticises street crime as revolutionary. Asian crime rates are similar to or lower than whites. If Gilroy were right then the police are only racist towards black and not Asians, which seems unlikely. Stuart Hall et al adopt a neo Marxist perspective. They argue the 70s saw a moral panic over black muggers that served the interests of capitalism. Hall et all argues the ruling class can normally rule the subordinate classes through consent. However in times of crisis this becomes more difficult. In the early 70s British capitalism faced a crisis. High inflation and rising unemployment provoked widespread industrial unrest and strikes. When opposition to capitalism was growing the ruling class may need to use force to keep control. However the use of force needs to be legitimated or provoke more resistance. The 70s also saw a media driven panic of the growth of mugging. In reality mugging was a new name for street robbery and Hall et al suggest there was no significant increase of this crime at the time. Mugging was soon to be associated by the media, police and politicians with black youth. Hall et al argues that the emergence of the moral panic about mugging as a specifically black crime at the same time as crisis of capitalism was no coincidence; the moral panic and crisis were linked. The myth of the black mugger served as a scapegoat to distract attention from the true cause of problems of unemployment, namely the crisis of capitalism. The black mugger symbolised disintegration of social order. By presenting black youth as a threat to the fabric of society the moral panic served to divide the working class on racial grounds and weaken opposition to capitalism as well as winning popular consent to authoritarian forms of rule to suppress opposition. However Hall et al do not argue that black crime was solely a product of media and police labelling. The crisis of capitalism was increasingly marginalising black youth through unemployment and drove them to a lifestyle of hustling and petty crime to survive. However Hall et al have been criticised on several grounds. Downes and Rock (2003) argue that Hall et al are inconsistent in claiming that black street crime was not rising, but also that it was rising because of unemployment. They do not show how a capitalist crisis led to a moral panic, nor do they provide evidence that the public were in fact panicking or blaming crime on blacks. Left realists argue inner city residents fears about mugging are not panicky but realistic. Until recently the focus of the ethnicity and crime debate was largely about the over representation of blacks in the criminal justice system. However recently sociologists have studied racist victimisation of ethnic minorities. Racist victimisation occurs when an individual is selected as a target because of their race, gender or religion. Racist victimisation is nothing new, but brought into public view with the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the subsequent Macpherson inquiry into the police investigation. Information of victimisation comes from two main sources; the British crime survey and police recorded statistics. These generally cover racist incidents, any incident perceived to be racist by the victim or another person. They also cover racially or religiously aggravated offences where the offender is motivated by hostility towards members of a racial or religious group. The police recorded 60,000 racist incidents in England and Wales in 2006/7, mostly damage to property and verbal harassment. However most incidents go unreported; the British crime survey estimates there were 184,000 racially motivated incidents in 2006/7. The police recorded 42,600 racially or religiously aggravated offences on 06/7, mostly harassment. 10,600 people were prosecuted or cautioned for racially aggravated offences in 2006. The risk of being a victim of any sort of crime varies by ethnic group. The 2006/7 British crime survey shows people of mixed ethnic background had a higher risk of becoming a victim of crime than blacks, Asians or whites. The differences may be partly the result of factors other than ethnicity. For example for violent crime factors such as being young, male and unemployed are strongly linked to victimisation. Ethnic groups with a high proportion of young males are thus likely to have higher rates of victimisation. However some of these factors such as unemployment are themselves partly due to discrimination while the statistics record the instances of victimisation they don’t capture the victim’s experience of it. As Sampson and Phillips (1992) note racist victimisation tends to be over time with repeated minor instances of abuse with periodic physical violence. The resulting long term psychological impact needs to be added to the physical injury and damage to property caused by offenders. Members of minority ethnic communities have often been active in responding to victimisation. Responses range from situational crime prevention measures such as fireproof doors to organised self defence campaigns. Such responses need to be understood in the context of accusations of under protection by the police who often ignore the racist dimension in victimisation and fail to investigate incidents properly. For example the Macpherson enquiry (1999) concluded the police investigation into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence was marred by incompetence, institutional racism and failure of leadership by senior officers. Others have found deeply ingrained racist attitudes among individual officers.

Making money whilst travelling

Making money whilst travelling 1.Get Sponsored to Travel! Getting sponsored is an innovative and new way to travel around the world. By using fundraising sites such as Kickstarter, GoGetFunding, and FundRazr, you can raise all of your travel and expense costs to travel the world for free – all you have to do is to have an idea and to develop a proposal. Crowd funding means using the resources of the crowd (that means you, me, and the billions of other users on the net) to finance your project. All it takes is for everyone to sponsor or donate a dollar, and before long, you can have thousands of dollars to fulfill your dreams! When you upload your proposal, you can set the time span that you want it to run for, usually somewhere around 1–3 months. During this time of marketing your idea, you will receive steady bids and sponsors, with people offering to pledge as little as 5 dollars or as much as $500! When you set up your proposal, you get to describe the different funding options. These are usually organized into levels, with different bonuses or advantages to each level. You might set the lowest option at $10 and the highest at $1500! Each funding level should have a perk or advantage for the patron. Perhaps, you want to offer them a personalized guide brochure or limited-release prints or pictures of your travels. Some inventive proposals even offer T-shirts courtesy of CafePress, key rings, or mugs courtesy of Zazzle.com. Be inventive! The better the prize, the more likely you are to get funded! 2.Write a Travel Guide Why not get paid to travel around the world? One of the ways that you can do this is by writing travel guides, for which you either will have your transport fees paid for you or will be paid in retrospect. If you have ever heard of the Lonely Planet guide series, then you will know just how popular and successful travel writing is. In today’s world, there are now many more opportunities to become a travel blogger, or someone who writes articles and short journal pieces about where they are and what is happening to them for travel and adventure websites. If you manage to land a major gig like working with Lonely Planet, then they will often pay your travel costs for you to locations that they need updated books for. 3.Review Hotels An increasingly popular way to travel or more accurately to get paid to travel is to review travel locations. The theory is simple; hotels, hostels, and BnBs are always looking for positive reviews, so much so that they will ask online copywriters to write fake adverts for them if they are forced to! Remember that a negative review – just one – on an online travel site can sink or seriously damage hotels’ profits that season, so they need a constant stream of positive reviews from travelers just like yourself. If wine reviewers and restaurant critiques get paid to write professional reviews, then why shouldn’t you do too, as a professional world traveler? The first thing you have to do is to start an online blog or review site, talking about your experiences around the world. If you run an attractive, professional-looking blog with complimentary pictures, true stories offering well-sourced information, and links, then the chances are that you are already offering just the sort of service that a hotel needs. What makes your proposition even more attractive is if you have an engaged readership and an established presence on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, or Pinterest. One of the most important things that you can do to achieve your goal is to research your destination. If you are going to travel to any of the world’s major cities, then you will be looking at hotels, holiday apartments, and studios, most of which will have websites. More rural locations will probably mean BnBs, resorts, or estate houses. Always go direct to the website or hotel itself rather than through a third party. The closer you get to the owner, the better chance you are likely to have of making an impression! Remember to only target places to stay that you actually want to stay in! There’s no point settling for accommodation that you know you might hate, and thus, you and they have a bad experience! A part of this is also selecting places that suit your travel style – whether adventurous, luxurious, self-catered, and family. Choose accommodation that already has some sort of social media presence, even if it is only a website and a Twitter. These are the ones who are actively going to be aware and familiar of travel blogging. Medium to large hotels and resorts are more likely going to have spare rooms that need filling than small, family-run BnBs. To put it bluntly, the small, family-run business probably depends on every individual visitor’s income! 4.Free Transport Abroad Now that you are abroad on your free holiday, something to think about is how you plan to travel from one place to another. If you didn’t bring your own vehicle as a form of community taxi or car delivery, you’ll have to find ways to get about which isn’t going to burn a hole in your pocket! How to Travel Abroad on the Cheap! Hitching: Hitching is still the number one resort for groups of travelers, but not generally advisable for single travelers. If you are traveling as a couple or as part of a group, then I would certainly recommend it. If you are staying at a hostel or on a farm, you will probably find that there are others there who are willing to hitch, and you should soon get a lift to where you want to go. You will probably find that the further into the developing world that you travel, the more that hitching becomes a natural mode of travel, as many people cannot afford to own or run cars and instead operate them collectively and expect to give hitchhikers a lift. As ever, you should always keep your wits about you and keep your money secure in a money purse when traveling. Walk or Cycle: Remember that the cheapest and easiest way to see the world is under your own steam! Many European cities now offer bike rental schemes, where you can unlock a free bike at just the cost of a pound or token, which you will get back as soon as you finish with your bike. There is always walking too – the best way to see a city! 5.Where to go for free? While the travel, flights, and the accommodation are usually the biggest obstacles to your goal of traveling for free, the next most important concern is how you are going to survive and what you are going to do while you are out there. If you are already using one of the schemes like WWOOFing or hosting, then the chances are you already have got access to meals and a kitchen or indeed are even getting paid! It is worth, however, taking advantage of these other free opportunities. Remember to Find the Free Days: Most of the world’s biggest attractions such as the Guggenheim or the Louvre have free days. This is usually part of their civic requirement for their own state- or government-level funding, so why not take advantage of this? By looking through the museum or attractions’ own website (sometimes only by signing up for a newsletter), you will be told when the free days, nights, or mornings are. There is almost always once a month and more around Christmas time! Special Promotions: Remember that most attractions bring in not only tourists from abroad but also visitors from their host city and have to market to their host city. Remember to check local newspapers (i.e., if you can read the language) and the notice boards for special promotions, free meal tickets, and discounts. Most of these kinds of offers are coupon deals, so all that you have to do is cut out the coupon and offer it at the desk of where you are going!

Eaters of The Dead :: essays papers

Eaters of The Dead â€Å"Eaters of the Dead† by Michael Crichton is a fiction but with historical background. Through this piece Crichton hopes to express the way of life for the Vikings in the year 922 AD while at the same time creating an entertaining story. Using a manuscript written by Ibn-Fadlan Crichton pieced together a book filled with adventure and excitement. Michael Crichton was born in Chicago, 1942 and always knew he had a talent for writing. He attended Brown University and has since published many books such as â€Å"Jurassic Park†, â€Å"The Rising Sun†, â€Å"Disclosure†, and many more. Several of his books have been made into movies, for example, â€Å"Jurassic Park†, â€Å"The Lost World†, â€Å"Sphere†, â€Å"Congo†, and â€Å"Eaters of the Dead† is coming to theatres this summer starring Antonio Banderas. Michael Crichton is also the writer of the hit TV show â€Å"ER†. Ibn-Fadlan is a refined Arab courtier representing the powerful Caliph of Baghdad and the whole story line is based on his travels. He is a Muslim and is sent to the Bulgar land to instruct the king in the Islamic religion, acquaint the king with Islamic laws, and build a Mosque in the city. Little does Ibn-Fadlan know where his travels will lead him. Wyglif is the present chief of the Northmen (at the time) he has fallen ill and is believed to have no chance of recovery. Once he dies, shortly after becoming ill, Buliwyf is made the new leader. Buliwyf is a young noble chosen to be the Northmens new leader once Wyglif dies. He is a courageous warrior, very tall and strong, and skin, hair, and beard of pure white. Herger, one of the Northmen warriors, also became Ibn-Fadlan’s friend. He helped him to translate the words of the Northmen and also helped Ibn-Fadlan become accustomed to their way of life and how to act around the Northmen. â€Å"The Wendols† are characters in the story who, as told by Ibn-Fadlan, do not seem fully human. They ride on the back of a black horse and have the head of a bear. They are extremely fierce warriors and are quite vindictive. They give off a stench so strong it hurts to breathe because they consume human flesh and it is always on their breath. They come with the mist, a dark fog that encircles the land when the Wendols come.

Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Justice System Essay -- Race Racial

Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Justice System Introduction In modern-day America the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is controversial because there is substantial evidence confirming both individual and systemic biases. While there is reason to believe that there are discriminatory elements at every step of the judicial process, this treatment will investigate and attempt to elucidate such elements in two of the most critical judicial junctures, criminal apprehension and prosecution. Criminal Apprehension Statistical accounts show consistent accord in that African Americans are disproportionately arrested over whites. What is much less lucid, however, is the real reason for this disparity. Both criminologists and political scientists alike have expounded remarkably polarized explanations for this phenomenon. Exemplary of this are two arguments as developed as they are diametrically opposed, that of William Wilbanks and that of Samuel Walker, Cassia Spohn and Miriam DeLone. These authors’ arguments are both well-articulated and comprehensive, addressing virtually every pertinent concept in the issue of explaining racially disparate arrest rates. In The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System, Wilbanks insists that racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is a fabrication, explaining the over-representation of African Americans in arrest numbers simply through higher incidence of crime. Walker, Spohn and DeLone’s The Color of Justice dissents that not only are African Americans not anywhere near the disproportionate level of crime that police statistics would indicate, they are also arrested more because they are policed discriminately. Walker, Spohn and DeLone addi... ...ican Sociological Review 55(5): 609-627. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28199010%2955%3A5%3C609%3ACADOTL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4 Tappan, Paul W. 1947. â€Å"Who Is the Criminal?† American Sociological Review 12 (1): 96-102. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-1224%28194702%2912%3A1%3C96%3AWITC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Z Turner, Billy. 1986. â€Å"Race and Peremptory Challenges During Voir Dire: Do Prosecution and Defense Agree?† Journal of Criminal Justice 14: 61-69. U.S. Department of Justice. 2002. â€Å"What is the Sequence of Events in the Criminal Justice System?† http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cjsflowco.pdf. Walker, Samuel, Cassia Spohn, and Miriam DeLone. 2000. The Color of Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Wilbanks, William. 1987. The Myth of the Racist Criminal Justice System. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Determination of Factors Contributing to Success Essay

These factors will be uncovered by nalyzing the internal and external factors influencing strategic alliances and the phases through which these alliances evolve. In order to provide this research study with a practical element two case studies within the airline industry have been incorporated, namely the Swissair Qualiflyer Alliance and Star Alliance. These case studies represent a successful and an unsuccessful alliance, which are analyzed on a basis of the provided literature study, in this case the phases through which these evaluation of the case studies numerous supportive results were identified, ontributing toward establishing determinant factors, which emphasize the importance of a successful implementation of the different phases, however limitations affect the reliability of this study, due to the lack of evidence found in various different phases. Keywords: strategic alliances, internal and external factors, strategic alliance phases Introduction In past years a visible increase in the amount of strategic alliances, concerning firms with varying economic objectives, was observed (Das, Teng 2000). Strategic alliances are the â€Å"relatively enduring inter-firm cooperative arrangements, involving flows and inkages that utilize resources and/or governance structures from autonomous organizations, for the Joint accomplishment of individual goals linked to the corporate mission of each sponsoring firm† (Parkhe 1991, p. ). The amount of strategic alliances has recently doubled, predicting additional raise in the future (Booz, Allen, Hamilton 1997). Especially alliances in the form of non-equity based, which are defined as two or more firms developing a contractual-relationship in order to establish competitive advantage by combining resources and capabilities (Globerman 007), have increased in importance which is visible in non equity alliances accounting for 80 per cent (Hagedoorn 1996). Strategic alliances provide firms with the opportunity to recognize synergies through combining operations, such as in research and development, manufacturing etc (Aaker 1995; Addler 1966). The growth of strategic alliances is related to growing competition and globalization (Das, Teng 2000). This is in alignment with Doz and Hamels (1998) view which states that globalization as well as changes in economic activities is a consequence for the growth in strategic alliances, which is visible in various different industries Hagedoorn 1993). The primary reasons for the growth of the number of alliances is 1) the ability of cost savings in executing operations 2) the ability to access particular markets 3) the reducing of financial and political risk in addition to cheapest labor and production costs (Wheelen, Hungar 2000). A strategic alliance by definition is a hybrid organizational form which Jensen and Meckling (1991) refer to as a network organization. Harbison and Pekar (1998) highlight numerous common characteristics visible within strategic alliances, namely a required commitment of at least ten years, he connection of the partners is based on equity or on shared capabilities, a complementary relationship based on a shared strategy, increasing companies’ value in the market place, the pressuring of competitors and the willingness of sharing and leveraging core capabilities. Nevertheless, strategic alliances have noticeable high instability rates (Das, Teng 2000); furthermore, according to Kalmbach and Roussel (1999) the failure rates are approximately as high as 70 per cent. Studies conducted by Das and Teng (2000) reportedly state that encountered problems are witnessed in he first two years of two thirds of all alliances. This study is going to provide a more in-depth analysis on the factors that are necessary for determining success in all strategic alliances. Starting with an analysis of strategic alliances based on the as to which extent these factors play a crucial role in the determination of success rate of strategic alliances. In order to incorporate a practical view on the strategic alliances, this study will additionally implement two case studies to the analysis. Conceptual Model [pic] This conceptual model starts the literature study on strategic alliances as a central concept. From this central concept, emphasis is drawn on internal and external factors influencing strategic alliances, as well as on the different phases through which alliance evolve. Additionally, strategic alliances lead to either successful or unsuccessful alliances. Based on the research from Bronder and Pritzl (1992), Hoffmann and Schlosser (2001), Waddock (1989) and Wolhstetter, Smith and Malloy (2005), a framework of seven phases is established. Within these seven phases the most important activities and processes are analyzed, including reasoning behind strategic alliances, potential intensions for forming strategic alliances, partner election, external factors influencing the design of the strategic alliance, negotiation methods, followed by the structuring of the alliance. Furthermore, implementation and management of the strategic alliance is examined. Finally, the last two phases concerning the evaluation of the formation of strategic alliances and the termination of the partnership are discussed. Resulting from this literature study are two outcomes, namely a successful implementation of the phases and an unsuccessful implementation. In order to apply a practical element to this thesis, two case studies ill be analyzed, those of Qualiflyer, which turned out to be an unsuccessful alliance and Star Alliance, which was able to incorporate a success strategic alliance in the airline industry. After analyzing the cases the findings compared to the literature analysis, will hopefully correlate to each other and the determinants that influence more success in alliances can be established. Problem Statement Based on past literature research studys the outcomes of implementing strategic alliances as a change strategy in organizations is unfavorable, especially when looking at the failure rates. Nevertheless, the adoption of strategic alliances is a customary implemented firm strategy (Gulati 1998), as a means of securing their competitive position. Much research is conducted in order to provide more guidance in determining factors that achieve sustainable strategic alliances, therefore in this thesis the main research question is; What factors determine the success of strategic alliances? This research question will be addressed by the help of analyzing and answering these various sub-questions; Why do firms choose strategic alliances as a change process? What are the potential ntentions of a strategic alliance? activities and processes occur in which phase? Preview of the organization of the thesis This report begins by indicating the problem that strategic alliances are a favorable organizational change strategy in the business world today, however the failure rate is extremely high. Secondly, by applying literature analysis the main determinants influencing more success in strategic alliances will be uncovered, which will be coupled to the case study part of the thesis where the determinants will be compared to the specific cases. Finally, the thesis will conclude on the part if the eterminants uncovered in the literature study correlate to the findings in the case study. Methodology and Research Design In this thesis the methodology contained two specific approaches, including a literature study as well as evaluating two case studies. Firstly, the literature analysis was conducted; with as primary focus an in-depth analysis of academic articles. The findings of the literature study are compared to two case studies, those of the Qualiflyer alliance and Star Alliance. These two cases were chosen because they represent the different outcomes an alliance can hold, namely the successful mplementation the alliance strategy at Star Alliance and the unsuccessful outcome of an alliance strategy of the Qualiflyer alliance. In addition, even though these two examples vary substantially in size, which provides difficulty when comparing the two alliances, they both started off at reasonably the same size; therefore this thesis incorporated these two examples anyway. This evaluation will be conducted by means of desk research, exploring the different implementations of this strategy. The time frame of the case studies is from the first phase up until the last phase, through hich they evolved, in order to identify dependent unsuccessful and successful aspects. The significance of implementing case studies in this thesis is relating the findings from the literature analysis to real life cases of both a successful alliances as well as a non-successful alliance. Furthermore, comparing if the determinants of success found in the literature analysis correlate with the factors observed in the cases. Internal versus External factors Influencing Strategic Alliances Our internal tensions perspective framework (Figure 2, Appendices) of strategic alliances comprises three airs of competing forces-namely, cooperation versus competition, rigidity versus flexibility, and short-term versus long-term orientations (Das, Teng 2000). Competition is defined as pursuing one’s own interest at the expense of others, while cooperation is the pursuit of mutual interests and common benefits in alliances. This tension of cooperation versus competition is most salient in selecting alliance partners, the first of three major stages in the alliance making process, along with structuring and managing an alliance (Das, Teng 1997). In conclusion, the stability and success of trategic alliances will be inversely related to the difference between the cooperation level and the competition level. Rigidity refers to the characteristics of mutual to adapt, unencumbered by rigid arrangements. The dominance of either flexibility or rigidity may change the status quo and trigger the evolution of a new structure, which leads to unsuccessful alliances. Therefore, the stability of strategic alliances will be inversely related to the difference between the rigidity level and the flexibility level. Short-term orientation views strategic alliances as transitional in nature, with a emand for quick and tangible results, whereas long-term orientation regards alliances as at least semi permanent entities, so that more patience and commitment are exercised. A strategy that reflects only one temporal orientation is not compatible with the foundation for a sustainable strategic alliance, in other words the stability of strategic alliances will be inversely related to the difference between the short-term orientation and the long-term orientation. Furthermore, the three internal pairs of contradictory forces are interrelated within an evolving system, resulting in the ollowing propositions, namely that the levels of rigidity and cooperation will be positively related when the partners have a short-term orientation in strategic alliances. However, a negative relatedness at a high level of rigidity, cooperation and rigidity (Das, Teng 2000). will be negatively related when the partners have a long- term orientation in strategic alliances (Das, Teng 2000). According to Das and Teng (2000) the contradictions and tensions in these force-pairs may lead to an overthrow of the status quo namely, the strategic alliance. Strategic alliances can nevertheless e sustained and successful if a careful balance between these competing forces can be maintained. According to Todeva and Knoke (2005) external factors influence alliance formation, due to differing economic condition and organizational frameworks in partnering countries; these can include legal requirements, price controls, distribution channels and contract enforcement. Furthermore, these regulative state activities comprehend the freedom when firms are forming alliances. Moreover, the formation of an alliance necessitates the authorization of national governments. Additionally, of influence to the formation of alliances is the omplicated collection of relations visible with firms, such as business associations, local governments and elite universities. On an industrial note alliances are influenced on an interflrm basis by direct impacts, where the decision on which activities to internalize is based on severity of competition within the industry and the organization of ad hoc product markets, in the challenge for increased market share, the cooperation for specific advantages and the process of internationalization (Todeva, Knoke 2005) . The partner under consideration for the formation of an alliance is in a certain sense an external factor. Firms are susceptible in the case of partnering with a dominant firm (Pennings 1994), due to technical and economic rationales. Thus, technology is a specific part of the process to establishing organizational boundaries as well as intrinsic structures. Of importance to alliances is obtaining research and development advantages, which to certain extent differs across industries on terms of expenses and the sources provided by the government (Todeva, Knoke 2005). Every alliance design commences with negotiations, thereafter the phase of structuring the alliance in which various aspects are aligned, such as he objectives of both parties, organizational structures, functional operations and cultures (Ring, van de Ven 1994). The distinguishing of phases through which strategic alliances evolve plays an essential role in the development toward successful alliances, which according to Bronder and Pritzl (1992) evolves through the three stages, which are categorized as strategic decision, confguration of strategic alliance and partner selection. Where Bronder and Pritzl terminate their research on the establishment of phases other researchers continue in identifying essential phases, for the reason that partner election as final phase represents an incomplete evolution of strategic alliances. With regard to the research conducted by Hoffmann and Schlosser (2001), the identification of strategic alliance phases resulted in a five phase path through which strategic alliances evolve, namely strategic analysis and decision to cooperate, search for a partner, designing the partnership, implementation and management of the partnership and finally termination. When comparing both Bronder and Pritzls (1992) and Hoffman and Schlossers (2001) phases, a comparison is visible in the primary hases of strategic alliances, namely the strategic analysis and decision to cooperate (Hoffmann, Schlosser 2001) which corresponds with the strategic decision phase from Bronder and Pritzl (1992). Furthermore, the partner selection phase is visible in both frameworks on strategic alliance phase. The main difference between the two studies is the more detailed approach from Hoffmann and Schlosser (2001) also distinguishing phases after the partner selection process. Finally, a study building on Waddocks (1989) work, which suggests that strategic alliances progress through hree phases, which are identified as initiation, establishment and maturity, Wohlstetter, Smith and Malloy (2005) consistently debated that the strategic alliances process is organized into three similar phases namely initiation, operations and evaluation. When comparing these views with the earlier stated reasoning on strategic alliance phases merely a fguration is enabled as to which phases from Bronder and Pritzl (1992) and Hoffmann and Schlosser (2001) are in comparison with Wohlstetters et al (2005) view and could be placed within their views, for example the artner selection phase distinguished the above stated views is probably placed within the initiation phase identified by Wohlstetter et al. (2005). In order to provide this thesis with an in-depth view on the phases through which strategic alliances evolve a combination of the three above stated views is implemented. Phase 1: Strategic Decision According to Bronder and Pritzl (1992) a clarification of the firms’ position is to be analyzed, refer ably because this is identified as the first direction toward alliance formation. Pumpin (1987), states that the evaluation of the actual situation of the firm s identified by exploring its mission, possible values and core competencies. Additionally, the firm identifies the reasoning behind incorporating an alliance strategy. According to Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven (1996), Harrigan (1985), Link and Bauer (1989), Pisano (1991) and Teece (1992) technological change faced by firms is related to the favorability toward flexible organizational forms like alliances. Additionally, Ciborra (1991) and Oster (1992) state that high-tech industries, in which learning and flexibility are key characteristics, will preferably choose alliances, lexibility, firms favorably adopt a merger and acquisition strategy. The flexibility of strategic alliances is suitable as organizational structure due to the fast expiring of new knowledge and the lengthy learning time from partners (Eisenhardt, Schoonhoven, 1996; Hagedoorn 1993). Furthermore, these flexible organizational structures appear more effectively in uncertain environmental situations when adjusting to changes (Lawrence, Lorsch 1967; Pffeffer, Salancik 1978). In continuation of Powells (1996) view, Hagedoorn and Duysters (2002) predict that strategic alliance xperience positively contribute to choosing alliances as instrument for obtaining external innovative capabilities. This view is aligned with that of Kogut et al. (1992) and Gulati (1993) who accentuate the relationship between actual alliance formation and past alliances, however emphasize on a more social basis. Therefore, the formation of strategic alliances is dependent on both strategic as well as social factors. According to Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven (1996), an extension of the resource-based view provides a basis for examining the relationship through which alliances form by means of strategic and social resources. This research study contributed numerous outcomes on strategic alliances to existing literature, namely that increasingly challenging market conditions and Jeopardous organizational strategies result into an increase of alliance formations as an organizational change process. Additionally, of importance to the rate of formation of alliances are managerial characteristics, visible when large, experienced teams were implemented through previous employers, the rates of alliances increased (Eisenhardt, Schoonhoven 1996). In conclusion of their research Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven 1996) state that in cases of either a vulnerable strategic situations or a strong social situation the likelihood of the formation of strategic alliances increase. Phase 2: Initiation Phase The initiation phase is characterized by informal structures and communication channels as the critical issue is the development and understanding of the purpose for strategic alliances (Waddock 1989). According to Hitt et al. 1997), the potential intentions to be realized behind entering into strategic alliances are categorized into three market types 1) namely markets characterized by slow cycle, which adopt trategic alliances for original intentions such as the gaining of access to restricted markets, establishing franchises in a new market and maintaining market stability 2) in markets characterized by a standard cycle amongst the intentions able to be achieved are the gaining of market power and access to complementary resources, over coming trade barriers, gaining knowledge and learning about new business techniques 3) in the final market, the fast cycle, the achievable goals are the speeding up of the entry of new products and services in addition to new markets, maintaining he market leadership position, sharing the risky Research and Development expenses and overcoming uncertainty. Furthermore, several internal conditions drive the initiation phase including, a champion taking responsibility, complementary needs and assets, compatible goals and trust. According to Waddock (1989), the main responsibility of the champion is the guidance of the organization through the initiation phase, especially visible in the process of partner selection. Stated in the initiation phase is essential for identifying needs in addition to the process of partner selection. Complementary needs and assets appear in various different forms, however is one of the main reasons for partnering (Oliver 1990; Robertson 1998). Additionally, the main goal of partnering is achieving compatible goals among the partners, which might not have been achieved otherwise (Austin 2000; Das, Teng 1998; Kanter 1994; Oliver 1990; Robertson 1998; Spillett 1999). Finally, the initiation phase stands no chance without trust, which is mainly established through existing networks (Austin, 2000; Waddock 1989; Waide 1999), within these networks similar interests are the main characteristic. Phase 3: Partner Selection The purpose behind strategic alliance partnering is to initiate and prolong a long- term partnership, which enables more effective competition with others firms which are positioned outside the partnership Carillo 1988; Walker, Poppo 1991). The crucial decision toward the correct partner selection is the primary focus after pursuing this alliance strategy (Hitt, Tyler, Hardee, Park 1995). According to Koot (1988) the selecting of a partner is a complex process however crucial to the success of an alliance. In the partner selection process perspectives of both resource-based and organizational earning provide an explanation as to why certain partners are selected (Barkema, Bell, Pennings 1996). In explanation, firms own certain resource endowments (Barney 1991) however, in order to obtain a competitive position in a specific market supplementary resources are necessary (Hitt, Nixon, Clifford, Coyne 1999), which is the main objective for engaging in strategic alliances. Hitt et al. (2000) argues that of importance to the partner selection process is the firms’ embeddedness in both emerging markets and developed markets. Furthermore, the access to necessary esources for leveraging as well as the obtaining of capabilities for learning are primary reasons for the selection of partners. Table 1 in the Appendices, state the concluding outcomes on the selection of partners by Hitt et al. (2000), which explains the fundamental elements of the process toward partner selection. Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven (1996) and Dacin and Olivers’ (1997) view state that legitimacy enhancements are an additional intention for establishing alliances, therefore the partner selection process is focused on those providing strong intangible assets, for example strong reputations. According to Bronder and Pritzl (1992) critical to the partner selection process is the establishment of fundamental, strategic and cultural fit. This fundamental fit is achieved if a win-win situation for both parties is established and potential value is increased. The strategic fit is realized when the alliance involves partners with harmony of the business plans. Finally, the cultural fit is an essential success factor for partner selection, which is accomplished after acceptance of cultural differences among the partners. Phase 4: Designing the Partnership Niederkofler (1991) argues that the negotiation process must essentially interpret learly understandable resources and interests of the partners involved, in order for the creation of strategic and organizational fit to be achieved, which will direct the accomplished through open and detailed communication, circumventing hidden agendas of any sort. The consequence of this open communication translates into a coherent attitude of sincerity toward the different partners, which demands trust. In addition to strategic fit, the negotiation process also initiates a solid basis for the enforcement of an operational fit within the partnership, which can be viewed in Figure 1 of the Appendices. An important aspect of the negotiation process is the creation of flexibility, which is increased through contract provisions in addition to developing and prolonging of trust. The process of conquering complexity in operations embarks with the communication of the discovered complexity, followed by a tracking and solving of this difficulty, which results in the avoidance of any operational unalignments. The flexibility within the partnering arrangement, in addition to trust, permits renegotiation processes within the partnership; however a coherent basis must be accomplished (Niederkofler 1991). The success of alliances is highly dependent on a competent and effective alignment, therefore of importance is the designing of the partnership, thus the structure implemented. This structure is in need of a fine constructed collection of strategy, procedures and management views, which can be viewed as the internal alignment (Miles, Snow 1994). In the process of obtaining internal alignment interests as well as environmental aspects must be balanced between the partners, enabling a profitable situation (Douma, Bilderbeek, Idenburg, Looise 2000). Additionally, their framework, Figure 3, Appendices, stress the act that the five features must sufficiently be aligned to prevent failure. One of the features, namely strategic fit, is established when expected advantages and possible risks are weighed against that of the individual interests in the alliance. Various driver of strategic fit can be identified, starting with a shared vision. Further conditions necessary for strategic fit are compatibility of strategies (Brouthers, Brouthers, Wilkinson 1993), strategic importance (Doz 1988), acceptance into the market and mutual dependency. In addition to strategic fit, organizational fit is a ecessity, however due to the differences in many aspects, such as market position, organizational structure and views, management style, this is a complex task. By clarifying these differences an understanding between partners is achieved. Numerous drivers toward organizational fit are identified, namely as stated above the addressing of organizational differences (Doz 1988) furthermore, essential drivers are facilitating strategic and organizational flexibility, minimal complexity to enhance manageability (Killing 1988), efficient management control, enhancing long-term tability by investigating possible strategic conflicts and finally, the achievement of the strategic objective. Of influence, however to lesser extent are the three remaining features in the framework, which are human, operational and cultural fit. Human fit is particularly of importance in alliances processes (Boersma 1999) and according to Lewis (1990) the cultural fit is specifically an issue among employers and employees, which translates to their functioning in for example boardrooms. Finally, operational fit, also relates to the functioning of the alliance and is often susceptible to various ontingencies, therefore must be aligned. Research and Development activities have gradually evolved since the 1980s (Peterson, 1991). Creamer (1976) and Pearce (1989) identified three primary types of Research and Development activities, namely basic purpose is an understanding of the inherent and fundamental scientific development, however disregarding commercial applications. Furthermore, applied research employs knowledge conceived from the basic research to certain dimensions such as technical problems or related commercial technology aspects. In conclusion, basic research generates new facts and theories which are thereafter roven through applied research. These proven facts are generated into products and processes in the development stadium. The intention of development activities is the configuration of applied research contributions into commercially feasible products, processes and technologies Oansen 1995; Jones, Davis 2000). Phase 5: Implementation and Management of the Partnership The role of the management of strategic alliances is valuable for the progression of the alliance toward a successful outcome, however it is complex to manage (Koza, Lewin 2000). An important aspect in serving this complexity is the acquiring of nowledge from past engaging in alliances, which provides meaningful know-how to be leveraged (Kale, Dyer, Singh 2001). The framework of the four C’s of learning and leveraging alliance know how provides a tool for obtaining valuable knowledge. The four components in the framework are, capture, codify, communicate and create, and coach (Kale, Dyer, Singh 2001), also visible in Figure 4, Appendices. Capture refers to managements’ role of accessing and obtaining of valuable alliance insights and past experiences. To codify past experiences and practices contributes to the accomplishing of alliance specific needs. In order to have a common thread through the organization on these past knowledge practices, communication is essential in sharing experiences. Additionally, the creation of networks within the alliance facilitates the distribution of these valuable experiences and knowledge. Intrinsically executed coaching and education programs increase the ability to obtain alliance skills. An additional benefit from coaching is the establishment of informal social networks, which provides assistance in key situations. Furthermore, networks are critical to the development of opportunities, the assessing of concepts and obtaining esources in order to construct the new partnership (Aldrich, Zimmer 1986). The incorporation of social networks within a firm improves communication between partners, which in turn results in improved decision making processes (Gulati 1993). Various intentions for the implementation of networks can be identified, one specific is the preserving of advantages (Lorenzoni, Baden- Fuller 1995). According to Madhaven, Koka and Prescott (1998) the initiation of inter-organizational networks is created by exogenous factors, which could include competition background and specific industrial activities. Building on this theory, Gulati et al. (1997) argues that the initiation of these inter-organizational networks is dependent on two aspects, namely exogenous resource dependencies, which achieve motivation of the cooperation and an â€Å"endogenous embeddedness† dynamic, which in turn familiarizes toward partner selection. According to Stinchcombe (1990), in flows of network information meaningful views are discovered,

Crohn’s Disease: a Patient Education Plan

Sarah is a bright, energetic 18-year-old high school senior. She leads a very active life playing soccer and lacrosse for her high school and excels academically. Recently, Sarah has been losing weight and has been less energetic. For the past few months she has been experiencing abdominal pain, cramping, and diarrhea. Her lack of energy has begun to show by recently missed practices and declining grades. Sarah's parents were concerned about their daughter's health so they brought her to the doctor's in which she was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Sarah lives with both parents and two younger brothers in suburban Maryland. It is noted that Sarah's maternal grandmother had irritable bowel syndrome. Sarah is planning on going to college in the fall and will need a large amount of education on nutrition, medications, and symptoms of the disease so that she can manage the disease independently. Sarah states that she learns best by reading. Crohn's disease is a chronic disorder that causes inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, usually the colon, although it can be found anywhere in the digestive tract. There is no proven cause of Crohn's disease but according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease's (2006), â€Å"the most popular theory is that the body's immune system reacts abnormally mistaking bacteria, foods and other substances for being foreign† (Crohn's Disease, para 5), the intestines become inflamed and swell and ulcers form leading to diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding. Other symptoms associated with Crohn's disease include abdominal pain and cramping, bloody stools, ulcers, fever, reduced appetite and weight loss, arthritis, and skin problems. A diagnoses of Crohn's disease to an active 18year old girl can be devastating. At 18, girls are usually concerned with their image and outward appearance. Sarah would also be concerned about her independence and quality of life. Fitting in with her peers and feeling â€Å"normal† are a big concern. She may be concerned about having intimate relationships in the future or going out to eat with friends. There is no known cure for Crohn's disease so Sarah needs to focus on the things she can do to control the symptoms and educe the time between flare ups. There is obviously a lot of emotional stress that can go along with Crohn's disease. A young girl, trying to have a social life may find it difficult to go out in public for fear of having an attack of gas , pain or diarrhea, and not be near a bathroom. Knowing where the public bathrooms are before you go out can reduce anxiety. Special dietary needs may be restrictive when going out with friends. Figuring out the trigger foods and avoiding them is necessary. If surgery is needed, this can impact her self image. Talking with a doctor about possible surgical procedures may be helpful. Sarah will also have to be monitored for depression, which is common when living with a chronic disease. Sarah will need education on how manage her disease independently. Besides medication, there are many other things Sarah can do to manage her disease and improve her quality of life. Sarah will need to be taught about her nutritional needs. She should limit dairy products. Often people with Crohn's are lactose intolerant. Sarah should eat low fat foods. Fattier foods can worsen diarrhea. Drink plenty of liquids avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Eat small meals. Take a multivitamin. She should also pay attention to and avoid the foods that cause gastrointestinal upset. In addition to her dietary needs, Sarah needs to manage stress. Avoiding stressful situations or using exercise or yoga to reduce stress may help prevent flare-ups. Other educational needs for Sarah include teaching about the possibility of surgery if or when the medications and diet modifications cannot control the symptoms any longer. As stated on the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America website (2009), â€Å"Two-thirds to three quarters of patients with Crohn's disease will require surgery at some point in their lives† (About Crohn's Disease, para 24). Sarah will be provided with informational handouts and videos along with a list of website resources such as www. ucandcrohns. org and www. ccfa. org/kidsteens. Counseling will be provided for emotional support. Sarah's family will also be educated and taught how to provide support and acceptance. Sarah may believe her life will be very different but with education and support, she should be able to live a relatively normal life. Diagnoses with a chronic disease at any age is difficult. For Sarah, educational on how to best manage Crohn's disease and prevent flare-ups will decrease stress and help her live a normal life. Follow-up doctor appointments for medication management and updated disease information is important so she has current treatment options. Ongoing emotional support and guidance are needed to maintain a healthy attitude and lifestyle. References American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons. (2008). Crohn's Disease. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.fascrs.org/patients/conditions/crohns_disease/ Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. (2009). Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.ccfa.org/info/about/crohns Mayo Clinic. (2009). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104 National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2006). Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/ University of Maryland Medical Center. (2010). Crohn's Disease. Retrieved June 13, 2010 from http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/crohns-disease-000043.htm