Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Approximately
Chapter 9 1)Approximately how much water do you need each day to stay healthy? Water constitutes 50% to 70% of the human body. Its unique chemical properties enable it to dissolve substances as well as serve as medium for chemical reactions, temperature regulation and lubrication (found in the knees and other joints of the body); it also aids in regulating the acid base balance in the body. It helps remove waste from the body and is the basis for saliva, bile and amniotic fluid. It is clear that obtaining the proper daily intake of water is extremely important.For adults daily water needs are estimated at 2. 7 liters (11 cups) for adult women to 3. 7 liters (15 cups) for adult men, total water is a combination of fluids and food. For fluid alone this corresponds to at 2. 2 liters of water (9 cups) for women to 3 liters water (13 cups) for men per day. (Fluid intake does not have to be derived from water alone). Identify at least two situations that increase the need for water. ?Dehyd ration: Dehydration is triggered after the loss of water due to illness and drinking alcohol.The following are signs of the early stages of dehydration: dry mouth and lips, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, headache, elevated heart rate and fatigue. ?Thirst: If you do not drink enough water your brain lets you know by signaling thirst. Your brain communicates the need to drink. Thirst mechanism can lag behind actual water loss after a prolonged exercise and illness, as well as in older people. Children that are ill especially those with fever, diarrhea, vomiting and increased perspiration should be encouraged to take in adequate fluids.Then list three sources of water in the average personââ¬â¢s diet. ?Liquids: Beverages that we consume, such as water, milk, coffee, tea, soda and fruit juices. Beer and wine are also considered forms of water however ââ¬â these should be consumed within healthy daily guidelines (2 for men and 1 for women). Plain water is considered by many experts to be the best source as it provides water intake without adding any calories ââ¬â even though it doesnââ¬â¢t provide any other nutrients. ?Foods: Much of the food we consume has water.Many fruits and vegetables are more than 80% water. ?Metabolic Water: Water as a byproduct of metabolism. 2)What is the relationship with sodium and water balance, and how is that relationship monitored as well as maintained in the body? Sodium is the major positive ion found outside cells and is essential to fluid balance and nerve impulse balance. The North American diet provides abundant sodium through processed foods and table salt. Table salt is chemically known as sodium chloride, it is 40% sodium and 60% chloride.The human body absorbs almost all sodium consumed. Once absorbed it becomes the major positive ion found outside of cells in extracellular fluid and is a key factor in retaining body water. Fluid balance throughout the body depends partly on the variation of sodium and o ther ion concentrations among the water containing components in the body. Sodium ions also function in nerve impulse conduction and absorption of nutrients like glucose. Both deficiency and toxicity can occur with sodium; the greater concern lies with toxicity.Sodium deficiency is less common than excess sodium since it is so readily available in the diet; many health problems can occur when either happens. Kidneys are essential for regulating the volume and composition of bodily fluids. Water balance is achieved by ensuring that the amount of water consumed and generated by metabolism equals the amount of water excreted by the body. Consumption side is regulated by behavioral mechanisms which include thirst and salt cravings. Urine is produced not only to eliminate cellular waste products, but also to control the amount and composition of extracellular fluid.Controlling the amount of water and sodium as well as other chemicals is essential to life ââ¬â our body controls this b y producing various amounts of urine so that we can conserve water and chemicals when short in supply. Too much or too little water and/or salt in our bodies is dangerous. Therefore the amount of water and salt excreted in urine and the amount of urine excreted is adjusted to meet the needs of the body. 3)Identify four factors that influence the bioavailability of minerals from food. Food supplies us with many minerals, but the way in which our bodies are able to absorb them varies.The degree to which ingested nutrient is absorbed from food sources and is available to our body is called bioavailability. The bioavailability of minerals depends on many factors. The mineral content listed in food composition table for amount of a mineral in a food is just a starting point for estimating the actual contribution the food will make to our mineral needs. For example spinach contains much calcium but only 5% can be absorbed because of the vegetables high concentration of oxalic acid, a calc ium binder. Usually 25% of calcium is absorbed by adults.Minerals from animal products are absorbed better as binders such as fiber in plant foods are not present to hinder absorption. The mineral content of plants greatly depends on mineral concentrations of the soil in which they are grown. Refined plant food has a lower content of minerals. Four factors that influence bioavailability of minerals from food are outlined below: ? Fiber -Mineral Interactions: Components of fiber, particularly phytic acid in grain fiber can limit absorption of some minerals by binding to them. Oxalic acid is another substance in plants that binds minerals and makes them less bioavailable.High-fiber diets can decrease the absorption of iron, zinc and possibly other minerals. ?Mineral-Mineral Interaction: Many mineral, such as magnesium, calcium, iron and copper are of similar sizes and the same electrical charge causes these minerals to compete with each other for absorption, and therefore they affect each otherââ¬â¢s bioavailability. An excess of one mineral decrease the absorption and metabolism of other minerals. ?Vitamin-Mineral Interaction: Many beneficial vitamin-mineral interactions occur during nutrient absorption and metabolism.When consumed in conjunction with Vitamin C, absorption of certain forms of iron such as that in plant products improves. The active Vitamin D hormone improves calcium absorption. Many vitamins require specific minerals to act as components in their structure and functions. ?Mineral Toxicities: An excessive mineral intake, particularly of trace minerals (such as iron and copper) can have toxic results. For many trace minerals the gap between just enough and too much is quite small. Using mineral supplements should be closely monitored and should not exceed any upper level set on a term basis.The potential for toxicity is not the only reason to carefully consider the use of mineral supplements ââ¬â there can also be harmful interactions with other nutrients, as well as the possibility of the supplements being contaminated. 5) In terms of total amounts in the body, calcium and phosphorous are the first and second most abundant minerals, respectively. What functions do these minerals have in common? Approximately 99% of calcium is found in the bones. In addition to its critical role in bones, it also functions in blood clotting muscle contraction, nerve-impulse transmission and cell metabolism.Calcium requires a slightly acid PH and the Vitamin D hormone for efficient absorption. Calcium deficiency is a major factor in osteoporosis. Approximately 85% of the bodyââ¬â¢s phosphorus is found in the bones ââ¬â the remainder is found in the bloodstream and functions inside cells. Phosphorus is a component of enzymes, other key compounds, DNA, cell membrane and bone. The body efficiently absorbs phosphorus at about 70% of dietary intake. The high absorption rate and the availability of phosphorus in foods makes this mine ral less important than calcium in dietary planning.The active Vitamin D enhances absorption. Although there is currently no specific disease associated with inadequate phosphorus intake, a deficiency may contribute to bone loss in older women. The functions that these two minerals have in common are that they are both critical to good bone health, have a cell function of sorts, the majority of each is found in the bones, and Vitamin D enhances the absorption of both. ? Chapter 10 1)How does greater physical fitness contribute to better overall health? Explain the process. Physical fitness has many health benefits.Physical fitness refers to the ability to perform moderate to vigorous activity without undue fatigue. The benefits of regular physical activity include, less injury, better sleep habits, reduced blood pressure, increased cardiovascular function and improved blood lipid profiles, aids in weight control/loss, increases muscle mass and strength, improves GI tract peristalsis , slows aging process, reduces risk of certain cancers, improves immune function, increases flexibility and balance, reduces stress and improves self-image, improves blood glucose, and strengthens bones and joints.Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that all adults should be active to some extent ââ¬â some activity is better than none. The Physical Activity Guidelines set specific time goals for adults ââ¬â they are outlined below: ? For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes a week or moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity. For additional health benefits, adults should increase aerobic activity to 300 minutes a week or moderate-intensity activity or 150 minutes of a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous intensity aerobic activity. ?Adults should also include muscle strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups at least two days a week. ?In order to stay with an exercise program the following are recommended: oStart slow oVary activities, make it fun oInclude friends and family Set specific and attainable goals and monitor progress oSet aside a specific time each day for exercise oReward yourself for keeping up with your goals oDonââ¬â¢t worry about occasional setbacks; keep focus on long-term health goals. 2)You have set a goal to increase muscle mass and decrease body fat. Plan a weekly fitness regime, specifying activity types, frequency, intensity, duration, and progression. Commitment is an important step in participating in a physical fitness program and is the first step in putting together a weekly fitness regimen.There are three main components to a good plan that will decrease body fat and increase muscle mass; aerobic, stretching/flexibility, and strength training. ?Aero bic: Aerobic exercise focuses on improving cardiorespiratory and cardiovascular health. oActivities: Walking, running, hiking, cycling, basketball, tennis, soccer, elliptical trainer, etc. o Duration: 20 to 60 minutes. oIntensity: 55% to 90% maximum heart rate or RPE of 4 or above. oFrequency: 5 days a week oProgression: Initiation Phase 3 to 6 weeks/Improvement Phase 5 to 6 months/Maintenance Phase plateau in gains in fitness. Stretching/Flexibility: Focuses on stretching muscles in an effort to maintain and increase mobility. oActivities: Yoga and stretching o Duration: 4 repetitions of 10 to 30 seconds per muscle group oFrequency: 2 to 3 days a week and during warm-up and cool down oIntensity: 5 to 10 minutes during warm-up and cool down oProgression: Start with smaller muscle groups (arms) and work toward large muscle groups (legs) ?Strength: Focuses on increasing or maintaining muscle mass through resistance exercise. oActivities: Weight lifting, Pilates, push-ups and ull-ups o Duration: 8 to 12 repetitions of 8 to 10 to different exercises oFrequency: 2 to 3 days a week oIntensity: Enough to condition major muscle groups of the upper and lower body. 3)How are carbohydrates, fat and protein used to supply energy during a 100-meter sprint, during a weight lifting session, during a 3-mile walk? Nutrients are converted to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) base on intensity and duration of any activity. Carbohydrates are the main nutrient for fueling exercise of moderate to high intensity, and fat providing energy during low intensity exercises.For example, fat is a great fuel for endurance events, but would not be good for 100-meter sprint. If exercising at a low intensity (50% of the max heart rate) you would have enough stored fat to fuel activity for hours or days as long as their sufficient oxygen to allow fat metabolism to occur. As the intensity of exercise increases, carbohydrate metabolism takes over. While it is more efficient than fat metabolism it has limited energy stores. This stored carbohydrate can fuel about two hours of moderate to high level exercise.One could continue with moderate to high intensity for longer by replenishing carbohydrate stores during exercise. If carbohydrates are not restored you will have to reduce your intensity and draw energy from fat. As exercise intensity continues to increase, carbohydrate metabolism efficiency drops and anaerobic metabolism kicks in ââ¬â because the body canââ¬â¢t take in and distribute oxygen quickly enough to metabolism carbs or fat easily. Low amounts of protein are metabolized during all levels of exercise ââ¬â slightly more in endurance exercise especially when carbohydrate fuel has been depleted.
The Effects of Animal Cruelty and Abandonment
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also known as the ASPIC, is another organization that serves to decrease animal abuse and enforce arrest towards careless pet owners. Among these organizations, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA Is responsible for creating awareness and putting an end to animal cruelty. There are other ways an animal can be a victim of animal cruelty, without actually being harmed. Animal Hoarding, a practice of animal lovers, is ironically another related topic of animal cruelty.In some views, this is an attempt o save the animal, but many other views differ, saying this solution will only cause problems. Even though there are lots of organizations that help prevent animal cruelty and abandonment, there is still more that can be done.Animals should be loved and cherish, Instead of Ignored and neglected, How can this world wide crawls be solved? When animals are abandoned, they naturally begin to reproduce thousands of off spring, and because of this, baby animals roam and start to reproduce at an alarming rate. It has been estimated that more than 50 million cats and dogs live in happy homes in the US.On the contrary, over 50 million cats and dogs have been reported as neglected and abused. People are no longer willing to adopt animals. The population of animals and decreasing interest of owning pets has led to a huge number of animal overpopulation each year. Animal World Network explains that ââ¬Å"For every human born, 7 puppies and kittens are bornâ⬠¦ One female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in 7 yearsâ⬠¦ One female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in 6 years. â⬠One half of abandoned animals are taken into shelters and the other half are in the streets.About 61% of dogs and 75% f cats are bought to shelters and are killed because people do not adopt these animals In time. Due to the lack of education, shelter, financial and other resources, cats and dogs are first on the list to be housed In a shelter of the shortest amount of time and first on the list of animals to kill. The Humane Society is a worldwide organization supported by 11 million Americans which was founded in 1954. It is one of the best protection agencies for animals all over the world, raising over a million of dollars in order to create awareness to citizens.The mission of the Humane Society of he United States, HUGS Is to celebrate all breeds of animals and also to confront cruel TTY. HUGS states Tanat teen are ââ¬Å"America's mainstream Torte gallant cruelty exploitation and neglectâ⬠. They confront these issues and provide animals with rescue facilities and clinics for them to get washed, fed and neutered. They are involved in and responsible for organizing meetings, marches, and forums in order to educate society about animal rescue and animal investigations.HUGS holds advertising campaigns to promote adoption for animals so that the nation knows wha t's going on and how they can help. HUGS partner with other associations to trench the message of their organization and create stronger ties with organization with similar missions. One program known as, ââ¬Å"Humane Wildlife Servicesâ⬠, in the D. C metro area help homeowners and businesses with stopping violence towards animals. The Humane Wildlife Services help maintain valid solutions for problems concerning violent neighbors.HUGS strives to stop cruelty targeting ââ¬Å"practices of dog fighting and cook fighting; abusive puppy millsâ⬠¦ Farming inâ⬠¦ Confinements of animal in crates and cagesâ⬠¦ â⬠HUGS does its best to protect all animals and they will continue this mission in confronting animal cruelty on a whole. Another organization that also helps stop animal cruelty is The American Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals known worldwide as the ASPIC. The ASPIC was established in North America in 1866 and still today they are here doing the best that they can offer.The This organization believes that animals should be treated fairly and has healthy environments. The ASPIC are the pioneers of all animal humane organizations, they continue to maintain legal authority to take charge in investigations and arrest criminals that treat animals poorly. The ASPIC claims that it is their mission to ââ¬Å"provide local and national leadershipâ⬠¦ Raring for pet parents and pets, providing positive outcomes for at ââ¬â risk animals and serving victims of animal cruelty'.In other words, ââ¬Å"animal cruelty isâ⬠¦ A serious issueâ⬠¦ N law enforcement and mentalâ⬠. It is very important that people become involved and work to supply quick responses to these acts of criminal behavior. There is an organization like the Humane Society and ASPIC ââ¬â People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, (PETA) is also involved in solving issues on animal cruelty. There was a lady named, ââ¬Å"Ingrain E. Newsier, an autho r and co-founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who put together essays y people who took the initiative and helped create change. She started PETA in 1980 in her Washington, D. C. Basement to offer people simple vegetarian options and alternatives to products from companies that used animals in research.The nonprofit has grown to 2. 5 million supporters -? the largest animal-rights organization in the world -? and has created a global shift in awareness about the plight of animalsâ⬠. Petal's focus is primarily on animals suffering on farms, clothing trade areas, laboratories, and in industries around the world. To create aware of their cause, PETA works through education. Meetings are held around the world to raise awareness to many people.They visit schools to educate children and adults about their organization. They also work with ââ¬Å"cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, and celebrity involvement, and protest camp aignsâ⬠. PETA exclaims that animals have a Voice' too and all they want is some love to be given towards them. PETA strives to encourage people to take action because it is up to us to make a change. A dichotomous act animal lovers experience is that of animal hoarding. How can animals be negatively affected by people that love to be care for needy animals?I Nils Issue NAS Eden Known to affect as many as u. Animal annually. An extreme case reported there over 800 pets living in one home. When there is see an elderly woman lady, for example, living with 15-20 pets, a problem arises because it is harmful toward those animals, being bunched up together. The are many reasons why animal hoarding is practiced by many people. One of the reasons is that a person experienced a traumatic situation, which induced stress, b living conditions, and tough health problems. A person is then in denial of their owe problems and they in turn look to have large amount of animals to conceal their ow e rife in their lives.Many animals are affected; not Just cats or dogs. Animals such a chickens, snakes, ferrets, birds, goats, rabbits, lizards and many more are affected b animal hoarding. Animal Legal Fund, an organization fighting to protect the lives of animals says that, ââ¬Å"In terms of the number of animals affected and the degree and duration of their suffering, hoarding is the number one animal cruelty crisis facing companion animals in communities throughout the country. â⬠These animals are living bunched up together with no proper equipment to sustain a healthy environment, the start to suffer from unsanitary conditions.In effect, these animals ââ¬Å"are sick, dying and poorly socializedâ⬠. LADY listed ways to decrease the amount of animal hoarding in the world. The first strategy is the use of civil action in stopping animal hoarders and documents these cases as acts of cruelty towards animals. The second strategy is to stop animal hoarding by taxing the h oarder that is doing the crimes, instead of the local taxpayer. When animals are rescued from homes, bundles of them are confiscated and this makes it hard for local agencies and organizations to feed and comfort these animals, because there is not enough none.A majority of the time, money is taxed to the average working person when they had nothing to do with it. LADY suggested that the money should come from the hoarders instead of hard working citizens.. The final strategy, which falls in line wit the first strategy, would be that laws are applied very seriously to situations like HTH There will be sentencing given towards animal hoarders that try to repeat criminal acts. LADY is working hard to stop animal cruelty in society. First time offenders of animal hoarding will be prosecuted according to LADY First Strike and You're Out La.In this essay, many sources were stated to inform readers about animal abandonment and cruelty. Many organizations and facilities are doing everythin g possible to decrease violence towards animals around the world. Has the world ma an improvement? Can society clap for them because of a Job ââ¬Å"well doneâ⬠? NO! I choose this topic because this is a worldwide issue and it should be discussed moor to make change in the future. Animals throughout the world will continue to experience these situations for a long time, but it is so much that people can do. Animals will still be neglected, mistreated and devalued as living, breathing ratters.This worldwide issue needs to stop and it is up to the people to take a stand. Communities have to be willing to give animals Voices' and help them survive We may have thousands of organizations around the world trying very hard to stop animal cruelty but people need to take initiative in their surroundings; people must realize the criminal act and severity of animal abandonment and its reproductions. Slowly many organizations along with individual communities are creating awareness around animal cruelty, however, somewhere in each community there is a lonely animal roaming ten streets omen snouts report tans to Nell ten Animal.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
Discuss the Claim Made by Some Sociologists That in Modern Societies Religion Is Losing Its Social Significance Essay
Secularisation is the process of the decline of religious beliefs. Secularization can be measured in two ways. Firstly, there is the institutional approach that deals with church attendance and the societal approach which deals with the decline of peopleââ¬â¢s beliefs. Of course which method one chooses depends on how you define religion. Some sociologists such as Comte, Durkheim and Weber as well as others all believe that religion is indeed losing its social significance in modern societies. They believe that with industrialization, people would turn to rationalization. However, there are others that donââ¬â¢t agree that religion is losing its significance. Firstly Comte believes that society would go through three (3) stages. The first stage is the metaphysical stage where everything is controlled by abstract forces, the second stage is known as the theological stage in which philosophy would explain society and the final stage, the positive stage is where science dominates the society. As such, he didnââ¬â¢t see the existence of religion at all in society. In addition, Durkheim believes that with industrialization and the introduction of science and technology, religion would lose its social significance. People would be more concerned with the material aspects of the world such as ââ¬Ëpartyingââ¬â¢ and going to ââ¬Ëfetesââ¬â¢. In addition, with the demands of a hectic life, people would not see the need to. On the other hand, Weber believed that with industrialization, people would turn to rationalization. That is, they would turn to science and as such religious beliefs and practices would decline. An example of this is where people opt to go to the doctor rather than have a ââ¬Ëbush bathââ¬â¢. Shiner also believed that there would be a decline in religious thought and action in the society. Also people would start to question the scriptures and religious techniques. In addition, Wilson used statistics to prove that religion is indeed losing its social significance. Finally, Marx foresaw the decline of religion when the economic structure of the society had changed. On the other hand, there are sociologists that believe that religion will not lose its significance. Martin criticized Wilsonââ¬â¢s view on religion by using statistics. He believed that this was not an appropriate way to measure secularization since it says nothing about peopleââ¬â¢s beliefs. In addition, Marti n believed that secularization is a myth and does not exist. Glasner also believed it is a myth and that it cannot be measured. Jose Casanova, although he believed in the concept of secularization does not fully believe that religion will lose its social significance in society but that people would turn to rationalization. Steve Bruce also noted that secularization is an illusion and it cannot be measured accurately. However, in todayââ¬â¢s society religion does play a significant role in the lives of the people. Many persons try to go to church and take part in their religion. However, there are others who do not go to church. May people are caught up with their hectic life and do not have time to go to church. There has also been a decline in religious thought and action due to science. Despite this, a number of measures could be put in place to help people see how important religion is. Parents, community leaders as well as the religious leaders must play their part and set better examples. In addition, youths should be given more respo nsibilities in the church and as such they wonââ¬â¢t feel alienated. Hence we must do whatever we could to ensure that religion continues to play a vital role in our society.
Monday, July 29, 2019
Fashion Marketing -Marks and Spencer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Fashion Marketing -Marks and Spencer - Essay Example The essay "Fashion Marketing - Marks and Spencer" concerns the fashion marketing. The company started by Amancio Ortega at the Northern part of Spain continually enjoyed growth in the Spanish market through strategic prepositions. Initially, the chain served the needs of the local consumer in the young feminine segment. Within the last ten years, the company grew proportionately to increased revenues and consumer loyalty through the modernized approaches that it employed. The company preserves the strengths of analyzing the customer targets in the market as serving the entire fashion market poses more threats than opportunities. The company defines that the youthful female consumer depicts a standardized behavior throughout the geographical segments. Zara depicts that the consumer buying decision model affects all businesses alike. The company analyzes fashion needs through the online research surveys and establishes on the fashion trends that depict a favorable rate of return on inv estment. Through a communicative channel that tends to link the company to the consumer, Zara advertises on the release of the garments that target to suit perceived consumer needs. The company runs a solely owned ultramodern factory that designs and makes garments in accordance to the anticipated consumer needs. Zara communicates actual date of releasing the new makes to the customer, and through an effective delivery chain, the company avails the garments to the more than 1500 outlets in 70 countries of the world economy. ... The Limited Collection brand was introduced in the late 2004; it was not being considered that it could significantly remain helpful to create such a unique differentiation. But it remained pretty successful and customers showed a very high adoptability towards the brand. However it has its same placement and the concept oriented approach which keenly values the notion of cost and brand consciousness. Serving segment is cost conscious group, target population is high class and upper middle class whereas positioning of the products is as a high quality and distinguished fashioned products. The Limited Collection brand offers a wide range of womenââ¬â¢s, menââ¬â¢s and kidââ¬â¢s wear. The best feature of the brand is that the offerings are replaced each week from the outlet. In this way, it has a vast choice and unique variety because of rapid replacement of display items from the stores. The section of Limited Collection is not offered at every outlet which is a step towards a specification orientation (Marketingweek.co.uk, 2004). Competitorsââ¬â¢ Analysis for Marks and Spencer Competitorsââ¬â¢ analysis is really worth when designing a lucrative marketing strategy. The competitors of Marks and Spencer in fashion industry include a wide range of potential competitors. The competitors may include elite class fashion designers to middle class fashion wears. It is important to study the characteristics of the competitors. The realistic competitors of M&S are those who present their products to the population of upper middle class and higher classes of the society. Specifically the competitors of M&S may include Alde, Centra, Leviââ¬â¢s and ASDA. Although some of these companies
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Export Final Project - Malaysian fashion retailer wishing to expand Term Paper
Export Final Project - Malaysian fashion retailer wishing to expand its business into the African Market - Term Paper Example 2). This being the case, it is important to take note of the fact that the main clothing brans in the market include Adidas, Gucci, Calvin Klein, and Nike, which have swept the fashion industry in the East Asian region, particularly in Malaysia (Appelbaum 69). Due to the growing competition for the clothing brands and the emergence of new global business opportunities, the Malaysian apparel industries is working closely with a number of global business partners in order to identify the most lucrative geographical and economic environment for its clothing brands. Identifying the Global Business Opportunities (Product / Service and Market) As one of the rising stars of the East Asian region, Malaysia prides itself as being one of the business hubs that deal with various industrial goods (Appelbaum 70). Since the discovery of oil in Malaysia, business has never been the same again especially considering the fact that the Islamic nation preserves culture while at the same time engaging t he global business world in its unique sense of business ingenuity (Khadmudin para. 2). Indeed, the success of Malaysia is because of the democratization of the business space as to involve both international and local brands. Owing to this level playground, several clothing brands have chipped in in the nation to the extent of expanding the trade to the neighboring countries (Crinis 72). Perhaps it is crucial to mention that the primary goods and agriculture drove the Malaysian economy in the 1960s, a strategy that took a sharp turn since the discovery of oil drove the Malaysian economy (Rasiah 539). Currently, the major booster to the Malaysian economy is the exports market that account for over 50% of her total revenues (Appelbaum 79). Over the last decades, the Malaysian economy has tripled with the global trade growing to the tune of US$41.58 billion, mostly due to the growth in the apparel industry that the Malaysian government embraced fully (Khadmudin para. 3). To this exten t, the global economic raking places the East Asian nation at the seventeenth position due to its robust global trade in the fashion industry. The industry of textile and apparel is certainly one with a long history as far as revolution is concerned, despite its remarkable growth in the past half century (Crinis 72). While the textile industry was existent in the 1950s, the Malaysian government had not taken it seriously since the world was not so much into fashion the way it is the case today. This being the case, Malaysia highly discouraged any imports in order to promote local talent particularly in the textile industry (Khadmudin para. 4). With both spinning and weaving of the textiles present in southern and northern parts of the country respectively, Malaysian is strategically placed to serve the international market with its unique sense of fashion (Crinis 67). Since the raw materials for the development of the textile and apparent industry are locally available, the East Asi an nation is guaranteed of a continuous supply of the raw materials, which ultimately leads to enormous volumes of garments available for export. With ready market for the textiles in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, the fashion industry in the Malaysian peninsula continues to grow at unprecedented levels (Khadmudin para. 2). The continued growth coupled with heightened
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Weekly journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3
Weekly journal - Essay Example he recessionary face of the economy when the businesses are suffering losses and a result of these losses they decrease their labor force which results in increase in the rate of unemployment (Krugman 144). Due to increase in unemployment, those who lose their jobs buy less goods and services and their spending mostly focuses on fulfilling their necessities and they stop spending money on luxurious goods and services. Another subject that has been discussed in the chapter is inflation which is a term used to denote the continuous increase in the prices of goods and services (Krugman 151). Increase in the inflation rate at one point in time leads to decrease in the ability of the consumers to purchase goods and services. Due to this they are able to purchase less goods and services in a given time period as compared to the previous time period when the rate of inflation was low. The chapter states that the government has to intervene to solve the counter inflation and increase the liv ing standards of its
Friday, July 26, 2019
Base of a book The collapse of globalism by john Ralston Saul and Essay
Base of a book The collapse of globalism by john Ralston Saul and require some Canadian input - Essay Example Therefore, the first thing that Canada would need to do in order to re-shape the economy of the country would be to lessen the American influence that is present here. In order for this to work, however, the population would have to buy into the new system as currently, American goods and services can be sold at a lesser price than Canadian ones because of the various trade agreements that are in place. One way in which Canada has attempted to keep its historical values and identity is through the Canadian content laws. These laws are in place to protect Canadian culture in the media in the face of globalization, despite how it affects the country economically. Despite this, I believe that Canada can become the country that Saul envisions if they utilize their resources properly, while keeping Canadian media and culture alive. By keeping control of the amount of American media that is allowed into Canada, the country is going a long way in protecting its identity and becoming an ethics based society. These laws in Canada show that the government of that country is highly aware of the effect that the globalization of media can have on the culture of the country. Since the government is actively attempting to limit the amount of American media that enters into the country, is it one of the few industrialized nations that have realized how destructive the global trend could be towards culture. There remains a problem, however, as cable television and twenty-four hours news organizations have made it possible for American media to make it into the hands of Canadians and people in the international community, despite any laws and regulations that are passed down. Furthermore, trade agreements like the WTO will make it even easier for this trend to continue, as more and more multinational corporations will rely on the media as they attempt to expand their hold on the global
Social policy Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Social policy Case Study - Assignment Example They can seek help from programmes or organisations such as Childline, Sane, Supporting people, Refugee council, The Children's society, Housemate, NCH, De Paul Trust, Crisis, Scottish Churches Housing Action etc.that are specifically dealing with problems like those of Jake's. These social work organisations do help people as much as possible but after a point, they find difficult to move further as different policies prove to be a setback to their efforts of improvement. The current white paper that propagates the idea of 'valuing people' is the first of its kind since the last 30 years. So it is quiet evident that not much has been done for the improvement of this sector in the past. According to Department of Health the programs for improving services are based on the key principals; civil rights, independence, choice and inclusion. It stated, "Valuing people takes a life-long approach beginning with an integrated approach to services for disabled children and their families and then providing new opportunities for a full and purposeful adult life." (para.3) From this it appears that all are welcome for support and assistance but if we study the white paper in detail some other facts come into light. The National Austic Society has rightly pointed after observing the definition of 'Valuing people' that "the definition goes on to say that IQ below 70 is not in itself a sufficient reason for deciding whether an individual requires support. An assess ment of social functioning and communication skills should also be taken into account when determining need." (para.7) So the discussed white paper brings both; a ray of hope and a situation of dilemma to people like Jake. All this affects the social work professionals' attitudes too. The Independent Living Bill of disabled persons states that the disabled people are equal in freedom, choice, dignity and control to others and have the right to assistance and support. This automatically implies that Jake and his family can expect an independent and decent life for him. The current white paper also has set an objective to provide choices of housing to people like Jake so that they can live independently. According to Twigg, NHS and the Community Care Act 1990, "established the current arrangements for community care, introducing care management and according primary responsibility for community care-lead agency status-to social services." (1999, p.370). Sadly the housing policy is not aimed at those who need it badly. The housing policy that greatly follows the key legislation like the 1972 Housing Finance Act, 1977 Homeless Act, and 1996 Housing Act etc. is not completely a social policy. Of late it has taken a social character, which does not enable the social workers to fully utilize it for the betterment of the needy. Still the social policy is an indicator for the social workers to decide upon their plan of action. (Pahl, 1999, p.173) stated: 'social policy is now beginning to recognize the contribution which carers make to individualsThe National Health Service and
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Bradtech Limited Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Bradtech Limited Company - Essay Example Apart from this the balanced scorecard focuses on integrating the output or performance different departments and units of the organisation in order to generate more effective consolidated end result (Lawrie & Cobbold, 2004). In this case analysis, the initial process of balanced scorecard has been utilised i.e. the generation of the important performance measures and indicators for the company. If the organisation will review and monitor these performance indicators on regular basis then there will be better control over the overall output and profits of the organisation. Overview of the Company: Bradtech is a subsidiary of another manufacturing company. It is currently facing a very stiff environment. The company under capital constraint from the parent company needs to expand its current capacity. But to this decision are affecting further conditions also: one of the major products of the company is losing its utility and thereby is facing a shrinking market; the other product alt hough new has its own set of constraints. One major constraint is its ability to be customised which requires prior ordering before manufacturing; this entails a vibrant supply chain which unfortunately the company does not have. All these restraints are not allowing the company to operate or compete effectively. Key Factors which should be Considered by Bradtech: Bradtech should prepare counter measures for the shrinking market share of its flagship product (product A). Whereas for its other product (product B), which needs to be customised as per the buyers demand, the company should adopt a pull based strategy to avoid inventory holding cost (Northcott and Smith, 2011). For this it needs to restructure its supply chain and make it vibrant, sensitive and efficient. Other key factor which should be considered is: relationship build with customers; who demand on time delivery, honest technical advice, good quality and product reliability. The company should come up with some form of competitive advantage at the service level to gain customers and prevent getting engaged in price competition. The company should keep track of its processes and try to minimise cost to raise its profit margins. For product A, it can be assumed that no new competitor will enter the market, looking at the current market crisis, so Bradtech should offer some sort of price benefits to capture more market share. Bradtech also has to utilise its capacity optimally because it is highly unlikely that it would receive additional funds to expand its current capacity. In this endeavour the company needs to undergo stringent capacity and space planning. The company also need to keep its parent company interested in its operations because if the parent company starts to believe that the Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is creating more trouble than it could handle, than the parent company may start thinking about divesture. Other key factor to consider would be the rising buyersââ¬â¢ power and the buyersââ¬â¢ tactics to play one supplier against other. Since the product has no additional offering the company will keep facing this
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Abercrombie & Fitch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Abercrombie & Fitch - Essay Example ââ¬Å"Abercrombie & Fitch aggressively positioned itself as a ââ¬Å"life styleâ⬠brand - a brand that embodies the values and appeal of a desirable way of livingâ⬠(Abercrombie & Fitch, wikipedia, 2006). A&Fââ¬â¢s customers integrate all their experiences of observing, using, or consumà ¬ing a product with everything they hear and read about it. Information about A&Fââ¬â¢s prodà ¬ucts comes from a variety of sources and cues, including advertising, publicity, sales personnel, and packaging. The sum of impressions created A&Fââ¬â¢s brand image, a singleââ¬âbut often complexââ¬âmental image about both the product itself and the company that markets it. In order to appeal to consumers and create a unique brand image, A&F introduced sex-based ad approach. This approach popularized naked body images and nudism as the main concepts of A&F selling strategy. In general, this was a very effective marketing strategy which has helped A&F to appeal to emotions of consumers using unique mixture of clothes, fashion and sex. The sex-based ad approach had a great influence on the society as it was designed to add psychological value to the brand. This approach was introduced becau se frequently purchased products generally require heavy advertising support to remind consumers about the product. Unfortunately, A & F sex-based ad approach prompted boycott around the country. The main problem was caused by the fact that the core of potential consumers includes teens, and sex-based approach is undesirable for this age group. Some critics suppose that ''There's no question that Abercrombie appeals to teen-agers because it's the whole forbidden fruit syndrome" (Khudairi, 1999). A&F represents a promise about a particular product, and sex image was a sort of quality certification. The sex-based approach heated negative publicity because it popularized A&F brand as a sexual one aiming to attract teenage audience by sex messages. Critics state that: "These images and messages are contrary to the best interest of American teens" (Parvas, 2003). A&F managers explain that sexual messages and specific brand image enable customers to better organize their marketplace experience by helping them seek out and zero in on particular products. As noted earlier, the company exerts complete control over the content of its advertising and pays for message placement in the media. However, the media typically receive many more press releases and other public relations materials than they can use. Negative brand image is explained by the fact that the message of sex ads is encoded, conveyed via the appropriate channels, and decoded by the customer-receiver differently. The rationale of sex-based ad approach means that teens are motivated and persuaded to buy the products popularizing "forbidden fruits". Obviously, this approach does not take cultural and moral considerations into account. The advertising appeal is the communications approach that relates to the motives of the target audience. "Hodel said, then A&F will still have to face the outrage of Americans who have had enough of "companies that think sexploitation at a time of rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases is OK if it separates people from their money" (Schneeberge, 2003). As a result of this strategy, A&F has lost its brand equity, which represents the added value that accrues to a product as a result of the company's prior investments in the marketing of the brand. This looses has had a great impact on A&F profitability because brand equity is thought of as an asset representing the value created by the relationship between the brand and customers over time. To return positive image of the company and its brand, A&F should change its ad approach implementing new advertising campaign. It was a
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Global Business Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
Global Business Environment - Assignment Example At the same, there has been progressive scientific understanding into global warming as well as ways that this issue can be mitigated. There have been a lot of international conferences and seminars to educate people on its effects and things that can be done in order to mitigate its effects (Chatham, 2009, p. 34). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been active and effective in the study of global warming and its related effects. The panel researched and discovered that global warming is a result of an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the environment and the general stratosphere. Human beings play an important and active role in the accumulation of these gases in the environment through various activities and processes. The report by IPCC explained that of all the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide was the most prevalent contributor of global warming. At the same time, other different human activities like deforestation play a big role in the accumulation of carbon dioxide. Forests and vegetation cover usually use the excess carbon dioxide in their photosynthetic processes in a process called carbon dioxide fixation. This means that maintaining forest cover is an important step necessary in checking on the effects of global warming. However, people should try their level best in order to reduce on the energy that is released in the atmosphere, there should be effective and successful environmental campaigns aiming at sensitizing people on various methods of environmental management and conservation
Monday, July 22, 2019
Troubled Asset Relief Program Essay Example for Free
Troubled Asset Relief Program Essay When assessing the values of the proposed legislation, lawmakers knew that the bill was going to be very complex in that it is dealing with very difficult issues. The public was assured that much time and effort had gone into assessing these issues such as: ââ¬Å"â⬠¦fairness and equity, banking regulation, executive pay, job lossesâ⬠¦moral hazard, 401(k) values, and the proper role of the state (Couch, Foster, Malone, Black, 2011). â⬠After all things considered, it was realized that the motivation behind most cast votes was hardly as complicated as expected. In actuality, it was quite simple (Couch, Foster, Malone, Black, 2011). In November 2008, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson indicated that stimulating the market for consumer credit would be a major priority in the second allocation. December 2008, President Bush used executive authority to declare that funds from the TARP program be spent any way Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson deemed necessary to ease the financial burden. Mid January 2009, Paulson issued temporary rules for reporting and record keeping requirements under the executive compensation standards of the Capital Purchase Program. Paulson also announced a new set of guidelines disclosing conflicts of interest with TARP contracts. The Senate accepted the changes to TARP that regulated firms from paying out bonuses with TARP funding. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut proposed this amendment to the economic stimulus act. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was nationalized by the Federal Reserve and Treasury department, the worldââ¬â¢s largest insurance company, AIG, was bailed out. This alone extended the insurance deposit to $3. 4 trillion dollars in money market funds for the government. Levinson, 2009) Then Paulson set out for the largest government save in history by buying out $700 billion dollars of contaminated securities from troubled banks. In Paulsonââ¬â¢s original 3 page plan, Wall Street would have had uncontrolled access to public revenues at very little cost (Levinson, 2009). The original version was rejected by the House and then modified by the Senate (Levinson, 2009). Banks that were not in desperate need could make loans and supply liquidity was to get TARP funding. OneUnited Bank did not meet the requirement to receive the TARP funds. The bank was in trouble financially but was involved with two major legislators: Congressman Barney Frank from Massachusetts and Congresswoman Maxine Waters from California. These two served on the House Financial Service Committee as chairman and the third highest Democrat in seniority respectively. Waters husband at one point was a director at the bank. Waters had made investments with the bank and her husband had owned stock in the firm (Schmidt, 2009). Waters called the Treasury Department on behalf of OneUnited and the bank received $ 12 million in funds from TARP. This was made possible by a special provision written into the bailout. Wall Street Journal reporter Susan Schmidt explained, A provision designed to aid OneUnited was written into the federal bailout legislation by Mr. Frank, who is chairman of the financial services panel. Mr. Frank said he inserted the provision to help the only African-American owned bank in his home state (Schmidt 2009). The American financial system had changed over the last decade. Wall Street, an independent investment bank that relied on high leverage, is no more. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, what used to be the fourth largest investment bank in the United States has went bankrupt. On September 15, 2008 Lehman Brothers filed Chapter 11. This was caused by a massive exit of a large portion of its clients, major loss in stock, and depreciation of assets by credit rating agencies. Barclay agreed to purchase Lehmanââ¬â¢s North American banking and trading divisions, along with the headquarters building in New York. All other Lehman Brothers franchiseââ¬â¢s was bought out as well by Nomura Holdings (Levinson, 2009). An automobile task force was formed by President Obama that was chaired by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. Members of this newly created task force included: Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, Labor, Energy, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the administrator of the EPA, the director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change and lastly the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. Stephen Rattner was selected to head the team (Shepardson and Trowbridge, 2009). Chrysler and GM were instructed to submit plans of restructuring to the group for approval. Rattner recognized the complication of the task and also that his team was inexperienced in the automobile industry. He said, ââ¬Å"Weââ¬â¢ve learned a lot about how car dealers work, and how companies get paid when they sell a car to a dealer, and why there are a certain number of dealers more than are optimalâ⬠(qtd. in King and Stoll 2009). Obama seemed pleased with the progress the group he created was making. In a radio interview Obama criticized Bush and his actions but praised his own efforts. Obama made reference to not just writing GM and Chrysler a blank check but holding these companies accountable for the funds they received. The task force had rejected the initial plan that Chrysler had submitted but accepted its revised plan. Chrysler filed Chapter 11 and as a condition closed 789 of its dealerships. A list of dealers that was subject to closure was sent out to all dealerships with a messaging stating: ââ¬Å"With regret, this letter is to inform you that on May 14, 2009, we are filing a motion in bankruptcy court rejecting the Sales and Service Agreement (s) between Chrysler Motors LLC and the dealerships listed aboveâ⬠(qtd. n Valdez-Dapena 2009). Company officials realized that the decision to close dealerships, in particular those with franchises, was difficult but needed. The vice chair said at the time it was the most difficult decision in business that he had ever made. The criteria used to determine which dealerships was to be closed was never made clea r. The process was suppose to be a function of the numbers, data driven matrix assessed with a number of key metrics is the terminology used by Steven Landry, executive vice president (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). Dealerships owned by McLarty-Landers-Johnson were not closed even though they did not meet Chryslerââ¬â¢s performance data. Robert Johnson, former owner of Black Entertainment Television, is one of the firms owners and a major contributor to the Democratic Party. Mack McLarty, a former aide to Bill Clinton, is another owner. After this was brought to the public eye, accusations were being made that dealerships owned by individuals with ties to the Republican Party was becoming targets and would be closed (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). The Treasury Department made statements that the federal government had not played a role in which dealerships were set for closure. Chrysler officials made claim that it became clear that there was no wisdom in closing twenty five percent of its dealers and that it really was not their decision. Officials made reference that they were under pressure from the Obama task force (Shepardson and Trowbridge 2009). It is well known that most everything surrenders to pressure or political pressure to be more specific. Bureaus and agencies are no exception. Examples of such surrender have been noticed in IRS audits and enforcement activity, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and by antitrust authorities. The noted influence of politics dates back to the Vietnam War (Couch, 2011). ââ¬Å"Public-choice theory asserts that politicians are motivated by a desire for reelection and that this desire shapes which policies are pursued and how they are implemented (Couch, 2011). As a result of this desire to please voters, governmental policy goals are misguided. Their purpose is not to find a solution but instead to build a forum in which to base their next winning election. Other examples of political pressure include things such as Obamaââ¬â¢s automobile task force, and governmental branches. ââ¬Å"In short, politics trumps economicsâ⬠(Couch, 2011). An investigation of the Chrysler dealership closing was done for the percentage of votes cast for Obama in each state. Electoral votes at state level and the number of congress persons in the House of Representatives for the dealerships district was used as additional measures for political influence (Couch, 2011). Also factored are the individual dealership characteristics, like profitability and level of customer service. If a dealership was located in a highly depressed area with high unemployment rates it would more than likely be closed (Couch, 2011). When all the facts had been put together it was evident that dealerships offering political support for Obama would remain open. This evidence was gathered at both state-level and dealership-lever. This would suggest that the Obama administration was more than just concerned with the long-term success of Chrysler, but was most concerned with protecting the Obama supporters from negative consequences (Couch, 2011). The US Treasury Department to buy preferred stock with funds from TARP within approved institutions earning a 5% dividend for the government. The plan was to stimulate the economy by making the right hand side of the balance sheet of the institution be matched with increased bank business loans. The institutions were being pressured by regulators to not increase or to reduce the liabilities of the assets. The economy in the United States has improved since the TARP was employed. The 2010 fourth quarter GDP had a 2. 8% growth (Gabby, 2011). The financial markets are signaling progress in the economy: ââ¬Å"Between March 31, 2009 and March 31, 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose approximately 62% from 7,609 to 12,320 and for the four largest banks JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup their March 31, 2011 vs. March 30, 2009 share prices were: $46. 10 vs. 24. 85 (+86%); $13. 33 vs. $6. 03 (+121%); $31. 71 vs. $13. 37 (+137%); and $4. 42 vs. $2. 31(+91%); respectivelyâ⬠(Gaby, 2011). The United States four largest banks had a combined total of $4. 8 trillion in assets as of March 31, 2009. If these four had failed the loss to tax payers would have been in excess of $2 trillion. TARP injected $239. 5 billion into roughly 35 financial institu tions and 23 of the institutions earned a 5% dividend. By the end of the October 2010 78% of the TARP funds had been repaid. If interest and dividends are included the percentage rises to 102% (Gabby, 2010). If the smallest of the four largest banks had failed there could have been theatrical to the US banking system and could have had global impacts as well. A modest benefit of the program was that CIT was able to continue lending to small firms during the bankruptcy filing and reorganization. The TARP provided brief support the US banking system and the global financial system. The modern administration has veered from the Constitution. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 created the Troubled Asset Relief Program. This was going to strip 200 pages of pork, tax preferences, and various oversights. Section 101 authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase troubled assets from any financial institution, on such terms and conditions as are determined by the Secretaryâ⬠(Lawson, 2010). Troubled Asset Relief Program is a constitutional mess; many of the issues with it are common with the current administrative state. Congress did not have the power to enact the program. It violated the non-delegation doctrine. Both the President and Congress may have violated the Appointment Clause during the enactment of the program. Bush also exceeded his constitutional executive power when he implemented TARP (Lawson, 2010). The major issue with TARP is that there is no Troubled Assets clause in the Constitution. There are other clauses like the Bankruptcy Clause, Copyright Clause but not a clause authorizing the Congress to give power to the government to become a mortgage broker. Government buying mortgages and securities backed by mortgages in not a guideline of commerce with foreign countries (Lawson, 2010) The ability to spend in the Constitution comes from the Necessary and Proper Clause: appropriations of funds are laws necessary and proper for carrying into Execution other federal powers. But in the context of Troubled Asset Relief Program, one has to find some detailed power that is suitable to buy mortgages that can necessarily and properly carry into execution. The entire TARP venture was unconstitutional from the start (Lawson, 2010). We can look back on the financial situation and try to determine the central problem; global imbalances of savings or imports and exports, the Fedââ¬â¢s low rates, a housing bubble, subprime mortgages was not really the issue. In September 2008, the signature event of this financial crisis came to light. Short-term credit became frozen, inter-banking lending was froze as well as commercial paper markets. If panic had not occurred it is likely that economic contraction after the housing burst would have been no worse than a mild recession (Cochrane, 2009). The most current recession comes from the banking system not lending money and the normal way of doing business is almost extinct. The short-term credit crunch has ended. The recession now seems to be moving into recovery (Cochrane, 2009). Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, told the Center for Public Integrity that his office conducted 142 ongoing criminal and civil investigations. Over the past 2 years the SIGTARP has recovered approximately $152 million in stolen assets. The agency has also saved another $555 million through prevention of fraud. The office investigated the potential of fraudulent use of TARP funds at 64 financial institutes, from small banks to large banks (Hallman, 2011). Barofskyââ¬â¢s most prominent investigation has led to civil securities fraud charges last year against Bank of America Corp. ormer chief executive officer Ken Lewis. The charges were for not disclosing major losses at Merrill Lynch to shareholders. The complaints allege that the bank and its officers hid losses at Merrill in order to complete the 2008 merger of the two institutions, and that the defendants also lied to the government to obtain tens of millions of dollars in TARP funds (Hallman, 2011). From a business managerââ¬â¢s view a program like TARP allows for a company to be ran as poorly as possible and still stay in business. Programs like TARP allow for companies to be irresponsible and very loose with their money. In some cases TARP would allow a company to file Chapter 11 but still continue to function on a daily basis. To a business manager this would benefit him under many circumstances and allow for big bonus money to be paid out to upper management even if the company is not as profitable as it once was. Bailouts like the TARP allows for bad business practices to continue and managers to continue allow it. References Couch, J. F. , Burton, P. A. , Malone, K. D. , amp; Black, D. L. (2011). Government behind the wheel more a Matter of politics than of economics.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Portrayal of Terrorism in Film
Portrayal of Terrorism in Film Luke Costen Terrorism and the mutual influentially of the British film industry, the genre of satire Terrorism is an exceedingly ambivalent topic and one that becomes particularly ambiguous when attempting to define. When trying to comprehend the motivations of a specific terrorist organisation, one must start by considering the context of the acts of terrorism, by exploring ââ¬Ëthe historical, social, economic, ethnic and even psychological factors that have some influence on thought, behaviour and action.ââ¬â¢ (Whittaker, 2012: 4) thus the notion of a universal and objective definition is virtually impossible. The dissimilarities between the United Kingdomââ¬â¢s and the USAââ¬â¢s definitions raise controversy over the evidently contextual and subjective nature of what terrorism is. ââ¬ËThe use or threat, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, of action which involves serious violence against any person or propertyââ¬â¢ (Whittaker, 2012: 3). This definition appropriately legitimises the existence of state terrorism, theoretically defining the USA as a state terrorist, due to the atrocities taking place in the Middle East over the past decade. Whilst the USAââ¬â¢s equivalent contrasts this idea, it states that terrorism must be surreptitious and committed by subnational groups. This essay will explore the notion of political communication, demonstrating the mutual influence between contemporary Terrorist organisations, particularly Jihadism and the satirical genre, within the British film industry. This essay will thus formulate the context of the following case study; an analysis of Four Lions (2010), a black comedy that provocatively satirises Islamic terrorism, humanising the British born anti-protagonist terrorists, exploring indoctrination, islamophobia, and police inadequacy when combating the issue of terrorism. The 7thJuly 2005 London bombings resonate throughout the text, creating a social commentary on the event and the obsession that the conservative western media have with Islamic fundamentalism, that further assist the feeling of estrangement of British born Muslims. The most important aspect in what politicises communication is not the origin of the message, instead it is the subject matter and the intentions of the message. (Denton and Woodward, 1990: 11) This defines political communication as accessible to anyone intending to make a statement about a political issue in society, emphasising that communicating politically is not exclusive to the government and the elites that control global and national politics. This therefore allows the public to convey political messages through any means possible, such as any form of media or even the body itself (the black or homosexual liberation). However this can be contested as acquiring a credible platform may require an already cemented position or political power, those who do, will find it considerably simpler to secure media coverage; hence it is far easier to express their message. (Wolfsfeld, 2011: 2) Film as well as other varying media can be seen as a process that allows an individual to reach a target audience as well as wider audience, in order to convey the intended political message, and can perhaps give some explanation to why bodies are used in extreme forms of political communication. Both acts of terrorism and the film industry can be equally seen as diverse forms of political communication, in an attempt to highlight prevalent issues in society. Respectively terrorism, specifically suicide terrorism is the most radical practice of political communication and one that is almost impossible to entirely understand. In the context of religious suicide, an unfamiliar concept in secular society is still far easier to understand then the secular suicide. The radicalised Muslim; mujahedeen will be profoundly rewarded for partaking in the holy war and, completing Godââ¬â¢s will in destroying the infidel forces, his family will be cared for, and receive a payment for their loss a sort of life insurance. (Whittaker, 2011: 26) Although the practise of film-making in its original form is not inherently politically or artistically charged, its malleability and diversity as a creative media allow for artistic and political expression. It is the director or producers of a film text that can therefore express artistic and political visions creating an immersive form of political communication. Hunger (2008) follows Bobby Sands, an imprisoned IRA member who sees the sacrifice of his life as imperative for the gain of political objectives. Hunger seeks to alter views on IRA as in Britain intrinsically evil, viewing the group as freedom fighters searching for independence. Of course the act of terrorism in itself is evil, but issues of context tell a Janus-faced story, ultimately humanising the individuals of a considerably inferior political group.Hunger(2008) demonstrates the political methods Margret Thatcher used against the IRA prisoners, she refused to politicise the IRA members. This would, firstly define t hem as political prisoners, but more importantly humanise the individual people behind the acts of terrorism, thus accepting that their political ideologies were legitimate and subjective value systems, with historical, social and cultural contexts. Ignoring this would further alienate the IRA from the British public, rejecting any potential sense of compassion or empathy, forcing a prolonged, futile and failed attempt to reclaim their independence from the imperialist head of state. The terrorist group sacrifices their life for the progression and development of their cause; they are generally oppressed over an elongated period of time and see the act as the appropriate and imperious motives so that collective institutions are able to prosper. (Whittaker, 2011:25-26) Consequently comparisons can be drawn in the attempts to combat Jihadism and a similar rhetoricis used by the mass-media in order to strip political legitimacy. However Thatcherââ¬â¢s rhetoric of rejecting the political was already in place, as Jihadism, is the collective union ofIslamicbrothers and the ââ¬Ëholy war against the infidel.ââ¬â¢ (Whittaker, 2011: 47) So the context of religion is what takes centre stage, thus comparisons to similar consequences can be drawn. However religion can be politicised particularly in the form of terrorism, as political objectives exist simultaneously with religious ones. Martyrdom is highly regarded for the fundamentalist, and believes they will be rewarded for completing Godââ¬â¢s will, whilst the terrorist organisation benefits from political gain. (Noonan, 200: 97) The British mass media seldom politicise Jihadism terrorism, in order tomaintain the publicââ¬â¢s lack of comprehension, and detachment of the individual, preventing the public from seeing a rational person with emotions and a conscience. A stereotypical Arabian image of Islam has now become synonymous with the inimical image of world terrorism, due to the Middle Eastern origins of Jihadism. The mass-media has thus created an archetypal enemy with distinguishable ideologies, belief systems, creating the illusion that they oppose our own, and finally an image that can be applied to Asian Muslims. This has produced cultural alienation, a prominent issue in multi-cultural societies, where British born Muslims become estranged from their nationality and society, thus become easily radicalised. Attacks are unforeseeable and committed discreetly by inconspicuous people. (Whittaker, 2011: 71) Essentially the film industries main purpose within a capitalist system is to make a profit, although the British film may have more artistic and political integritythanAmerican cinema, its inherent principles are fundamentally neoliberal. These values rivalIslamicfundamentalists of Islam, and represent USAââ¬â¢s and the UKââ¬â¢s dominating force of culture imperialism within the Middle East. In the wake of the Iraq war, markets previously out of reach of American influences, were placed directly under the control of a small group of American businessââ¬â¢ by means of government contracts. (Harvey, 2005: 7) British film can be interpreted as mutually influencing with terrorism, propagating the view that the Western economic and political ideology is culturally superior to that of the East, and the contemptible notion that it is the duty of the western world is to civilize Islam, exploiting the economic gain of neoliberalising newly occupied nations and the continuous turning of the lucrative war machine. Thus western values inhabit underlining themes in film, such as the capitalist dream, the monetisation of practically everything, commonly denouncing religion, and neglecting equal ethnic diversity. The Terrorist Act [2000] considerably increased policing power, and ââ¬Ëhas no such provision,ââ¬â¢ (unlike previous counter-terrorist measures) ââ¬Ëand this is its chief dangerââ¬â¢ (McGovern, 2010: 138). Counter-terrorism is a self-explanatory process; acts are put in place increasing the policing powers in order to prevent terrorism in the process. Conversely counter-terrorism acts can be abused placing too much power in the police force, this allows for the potential on infringement on civil liberties, thus placing too much power in the inevitable inherent prejudices that some police officers may have. It is therefore possible that this could cause a detrimental effect on society forcing an insurgence ofââ¬Ë home-grownââ¬â¢ terrorists to emerge. It is conceivable to assume that the Muslim community can become disillusioned in British society due to ââ¬Ëneo-conservative counter-terrorismââ¬â¢ in place. (Whittaker, 2011: 77)The way that film and terrorism in fluence one another is not solely negative. Simply the inclusion of thesubject matter of terrorism in British film is a significant discourse continually evolving the views on the existing ideologies around why people commit terrorism. A film with a strong political subject matter can influence the publicââ¬â¢s perceptions, educating the inevitable confused and fearful opinion formulated by the mass-mediaââ¬â¢s outlook. Theoretically this can be viewed as a counter-terrorist measure, in an attempt to reveal contexts of a side of the narrative rarely explored, assisting in eliminating ethnic and religious divides and the sense of estrangement found in British-born Muslims. British Film often represents terrorism contrarily to that of the mass-media, creating thought-provoking representations of theindividuals behind the terrorist acts. Through the exploration ofcultural, political and social factors, British film generallyhumanisesthe terrorist but never legitimises or validates the actual acts. Conversely it understands that for oppressed groups there is usually no alternative course of action, showing that there is always more than one side to a narrative, usually told with a level of bias, in context to oneââ¬â¢s own political agenda. ââ¬Ëthe term ââ¬Ëterroristââ¬â¢ is value-laden, and may be rejected by groups whose members may prefer to see themselves as ââ¬Ëfreedom fightersââ¬â¢ in ââ¬Ënational liberationââ¬â¢ or ââ¬Ëresistanceââ¬â¢ movements, (McNair, 2011: 9)The Wind that Shakes the Barley(2006) authenticates the IRA struggle against the imperial empire and following young members of the IRA and the struggles again st British imperialism. Satire is the generic form of artistic and political expression typically used as a form of political communication, expressing itself through the use of humour and wit and critiquing existing social or political issues within the public sphere. The job of the satirist is to scrutinise the ubiquitous corrupt or immoral political issues in society. Satire was patented in the form of literary work but is now seen as ââ¬Ëthe process of attacking by ridicule in any mediumââ¬â¢ (Hodgart, 1969: 7). British film often represents the terrorist as the freedom fighter, politically satirising the perception of the differences between the two.Brazil(1985)satirises the bureaucratic political system and the omnipotent authoritarian government. Harry Tuttle is an alleged terrorist; he illegally repairs citizens, thus breaking the rules of the bureaucratic state. In reality Harry Tuttle is a freedom fighter, liberating individuals from the endless administrative process that is required by the government. The terrorist attack on the Danish cartoons and more recently the murders of the CharlieHebdomagazine exposed the limitations of the freedom of expression, and the fine line between political satire and the incitement of hate. ââ¬ËIt is an expression of free speech, [] Among the several tests by which we measure the extent of individual freedom, the right to ridicule must be included.ââ¬â¢ (Freedman, 2009: 164) Forcefully instigating a reaction through the crass depiction of sacred figure will inevitably provoke a response fromIslamicfundamentals. Political satire of the ââ¬Ëotherââ¬â¢ is created in relation to the increasing social tensions regarding numbers of immigration, particularly in France were the rise of the far right-wing party in France; Le Front National, and a history of banning religious signifiers such as the Burka, create an unstable and fluctuating marginalisation of an already isolated Muslim community. When combined with the increasing and hostile isla mophobic rhetoric frequently used in the mass-media, forces the estranged and isolated members of the society to seek collective acceptance and meaning in extreme fundamentalism taking out the anger on the society that rejected them. Political communication is how each politicised text interacts with each other, and practically anything can be politicised. In political communication, it is not the origin of the message that deciphers whether or not something can communicate politically but instead it is the focus and the objective of that message. Through the examples of British film as mutually influential with the actions of terrorist organisations is the idea of humanising the individual memberââ¬â¢s image of the terrorist. Underneath the terrorists political agenda is a person with thoughts and emotions, and reading deeper into the social, historical and cultural contexts help give the public or audiences they are attempting to shock a better understanding of the motives and intentions of committing such heinous crimes. Bibliography Denton, R. E., Woodward, G. C. (1990). Political Communication in American. New York, Praeger. Freedman, L. (2009). The Offensive Art. London: Praeger. Harvey, D. (2005).A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: OUP. Hodgart, J. (1969).Satire. Hampshire: BAS Printers Limited. McGovern, M. (2010). Ignatieff, Ireland and the ââ¬Ëless evilââ¬â¢: some problems with the lesson. In: Discourses and Practices of Terrorism ââ¬â Interrogating terror. London and New York: Routledge. McNair, B. (2011). An Introduction to Political Communication. 5th ed. London and New York: Routledge. Noonan, J. (2010) Fundamentalist foundations of terrorist practice ââ¬â The political logic of self-sacrifice. In: Discourses and Practices of Terrorism ââ¬â Interrogating terror. London and New York: Routledge. Pollard, A. (1970). Satire: The Critical Idiom. Methuen Co Ltd: London Whittaker, D. (2012).The Terrorism Reader. 4th ed. Oxon: Routledge. Wolfsfeld, G. (2011). Making Sense of Media and Politics: Five Principles in Political Communication. Abingdon: Taylor Francis. Filmography Brazil (1985) Directed by Terry Gillingham [Film]. UK: Embassy International Pictures Four Lions (2010) Directed by Chris Morris [Film]. UK: Film4, Warp Films, Wild Bunch Hunger (2008) Directed by Steve McQueen [Film]. UK/Ireland: Film4 The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) Directed by Ken Loach [Film]. Ireland/UK: Sixteen Films, Matador Pictures, Regent Capital, UK Film Council 1
Concept of perceived effective leadership
Concept of perceived effective leadership The literature review will focus on two dimensions of literature. The first is to look at the kind of leadership that is termed as effective by looking at numerous definition of leadership and the conceptualization of leader effectiveness done by previous studies as well as conceptualization by Kouzes and Posner (2002) in which he measured effective leadership using his Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). The second is to look at the definition of integrity and how it is conceptualized and measured from the perspective of leadership. To this, the author wishes to use the Perceived Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS) developed by Craig and Gustafson (1998) as previous studies indicated that it is one of the reliable ways to measure integrity from perspective of leadership. Having the two components of this study defined, this paper also attempted to explain the theory underlying the relationship between the two components based on previous studies. This chapter critically and selectively reviews the concept of perceived effective leadership and perceived integrity in leadership and their relationship from published journals and articles. The author believes that this could be useful for understanding and the development of theoretical models. 2.2. Effective leadership As public organizations are facing an increasingly complex environment due to globalization, advancement in technology and communication, more diverse workforce, the need to meet and satisfy citizens and customers satisfaction through high-quality services, the outcry for effective leadership in public organizations has become crystal-clear though it has been contended that effective leaders with integrity are often lacking in organizations (Haberfeld, 2006; Rowe, 2006) to bring the desired impact. Previous research indicated that leadership is a complex process and leadership theories have been defined and developed substantially over the last decades and as claimed by Bennis and Nanus (1985) cited in Olu Oyinlade (2006) that leadership had been defined by researchers in over 350 different ways in the 30 years prior to 1985. This was also agreed by Bass in 1990 who stated that there seems to be many definitions of leadership than the number of researchers striving to study the concept. According to Conger (1992) also cited in Olu Oyinlade that so far there is no single agreed-upon definition as leadership is largely an intuitive concept and this is agreed by Bennis (2007) that recent research suggests there is no one-size-fits-all approach to leadership. The most common so far of leadership theories are the traits theory, behavioural theory, contingency theory, and leader-member exchange (LMX), the transformational and transactional theory. Due to the vast definitions of leade rship, Bass (1990) cited in Schafer (2009) hinted and pinpointed some common unifying theory implying that leadership is the persuasive power and ability to influence group of people or individuals or other behaviours in an coordinated manner to achieve some pre-determined goal. Kouzes and Posner (2004) defined leadership by their followers and it involves a relationship between those who want to lead and those who choose to follow. They suggested that any discussion of leadership should follow this norm of relationship. Kouzes and Posners assertion for leaders and followers relationship is based on followers perception and they normally depend upon leaders for collective success. Thus, the implication to follow good leaders is high and to follow bad leaders is too costly as it cannot be denied that some leaders are often tempted and lured to manipulate their position for personal gain (Van Vugt et al., 2008). Previous studies on followers assessment of leadership focused on the behaviours associated with effective leadership and past findings also indicated that dimensions of what they call as effective leadership vary from instrument to instrument of research. To this, prior study by Parry and Proctor-Thomson (2002) in citing Bass (1985) in their study on Perceived integrity of transformational leaders in organisational settings suggested that effective leadership can be related to transformational leadership behaviours of idealized influence, inspiring motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration which are very much admired and could become respected role-model. The researchers used Perceived Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS) by Craig and Gustafson (1989) to measure leaders integrity and Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) developed by Bass (1985) to measure transformational leadership involving a sample 1,354 out of 6,025 managers throughout New Zealand and fou nd a strong positive relationship between perceived integrity and demonstration of transformational leadership behaviours. However, this study will not apply the MLQ as an instrument to measure effective leadership as it is criticised on the ground that it lacks ability to measure accurately and distinguish the four dimensions of transformational leadership from one another (Bycio, Hackett Allen, 1995; Tepper and Percy, 1994; Tracey Hinkin, 1998; Yammarino Dubinsky, 1994) although it has been widely used in many investigations of transformational and transactional leadership (Den Hartog, Van Muijen Koopman , 1997). Some theorists also raised questions regarding the notion that transformational leadership may not necessarily lead followers to higher ethical ground but instead may lead to unethical and immoral direction (Giampetro, Brown, Browne Kubasek, 1998; Yukl, 1998) as cited in Parry and Proctor-Thomson (2002). This has given rise to another dimension of transformational leadership in what Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) called as authentic which refers to real ethical leader and pseudo-transformational which is unlikely to be ethical leader. This notion of transformational leader related to effective leadership will not be applied in this study as some researcher like Ciulla (1995) raised the issue of Hitler problem who argued that Hitler must not be in the same category as Martin Luther King, Jr. though the Nazis during his time might have treated him to be effective and transformational. The idea of charismatic leadership too will not be related to effective leadership in this study although Conger and Kanungo (1998) described charismatic leaders to possess all the qualities of vision, drive, passion and ability of leaders to inspire their followers into action. But Bass (1985) argued that charismatic leaders often lead to dictatorship than real leaders with inclusion of qualities such as narcissism, manipulation of people and defensiveness in the example such as Hitler and Mussolini. To this, Kouzes and Posner (1988) came up with their Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) to conceptualize leadership behaviours associated with leader effectiveness based on five dimensions of practices: Modelling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act, and Encouraging the Heart. The construction of LPI is although not designed for transformational or transactional leadership styles, but the instruments contents of different scales may from subordinates point of view contains elements of transformational and transactional leadership styles (Fields Herold, 1997). Other studies indicated an increase in perception of effective leadership can lead to an increase in subordinate and organizational effectiveness. To this, researchers like Jaussi and Dionne (2004) in their study on Unconventional leader behaviour, subordinate satisfaction, effort and perception of leader effectiveness cited Bass (1990) claimed that an increased in perception of leader effectiveness can lead to elevated subordinate performance which in turn can enhance organizational effectiveness as one the three outcomes documented in previous leadership literature. As there are too many literatures associated with effective leadership, this paper only attempted to use the term effective leadership as derived by Kouzes and Posner (2002) through his Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) and the dimensions that articulate and explain effective leadership. The reason as to why practices are selected rather than traits and characteristics of leadership is based on the understanding of leaders behaviour through the role theory that can provide insight and understanding on how roles and behaviours influence subordinates behaviour. Role has been defined as a socially specified pattern of behaviour that accompanies a particular position within a social context (Deaux Wrightsman, 1988) cited in Huse (1998). In another definition, roles are also the combination of expectations and performances on the part of those who are interacting with each other (Neal, 1983). Hooijberg and Quinn (1992) also stated that in order to increase their effectiveness, leaders may perform and execute variety of leadership roles and practices in the organizational setting. Another reason for the role theory to be accepted and not the traits theory is because previous literatures on the traits theory popularised in 1930s only explained leadership effectiveness by means of natural characteristics, skills and abilities such as self-efficacy, decisiveness, and interpersonal competences to be associated with organizational effectiveness. But this theory has been subjected to criticism on the ground that this theory lacks predictive power in linking leadership traits to performance (Stogdill, 1948). Consequently, in 1940s and 1950s, the leadership behaviour theory was introduced to explain leadership effectiveness based on leaders behaviours and practices they should play to provide new perspective on understanding leadership effectiveness (Steers, Porter Bigley, 1996) cited in Oyinlade (2006). The theory explains that the behaviour of the leader occurs within the context of various roles and practices the leader plays. This further justifies why leadership practices and behaviours are important to influence subordinates behaviour and this also helps to explain that the effectiveness of the leader is influenced by his/her roles obligations and expectations. 2.3. Measurement of effective leadership In a study done in 2008 to more than 1,000 police supervisors attending the FBI National Academy (NA) in Quantico, Virginia which involved 1,042 of the 1,071 (97.3 percent) NA attendees completed all or part of the survey, the survey concluded that efficacy of police chiefs who are effective leaders was most strongly linked with integrity, work ethic, communication, and care for personnel while ineffective leaders were characterized as failing to express these traits or were characterized as suffering from questionable ethics and integrity. The study revealed that 37.5 percent of respondents ranked honesty and integrity as the most important characteristics of an effective leader. The study also acknowledged that development of effective leaders and leadership practices is a persistent problem in policing (Schafer, 2009) A study done in 2008 involving a total of 1,000 high public school teachers in Amman, Jordan which studied the behaviours of their principals using Kouzes and Posners LPI has shown that 550 school teachers represent 55 per cent of the targeted respondents of 1,000 have assessed their principals as moderately practising Kouzes and Posners leadership practices model and identified them as transformational which is also associated with effective leadership (Abu-Tineh et.al. 2008). 2.4. Integrity Integrity is a concept commonly discussed in a formal and informal way and usually associated with leadership and organisational theory, but it is yet to be defined and theoretically understood (Rieke Guastello, 1995) as cited in Parry and Proctor-Thomson (2002). Previous definitions on integrity indicated that integrity has been defined in different manner and in different forms due to different lines of research by previous researchers. This was conceded by Hooijberg et.al (2010) that the complexity regarding its meaning and interpretation makes it difficult to be understood. Hence, its broad dimensions had led to many researchers to associate it with ethics, honesty, trust, credibility, and character that have been used and applied interchangeably in many past literatures (Hooijberg et.al., 2010; Becker, 1998; Yukl Van Fleet, 1990); Kouzes and Posner (2002); Ciulla (2004). In 2007 and 2009, Palanski and Yammarino cited in Hooijberg et. al. who successfully found evidence of rela tionship between integrity and honesty also asserted that it involves matching deeds to words, a sense of morality and that it lies in the eyes of the beholder. This was shared by Kirkpartrick and Locke (1991) and Covey (1992) described integrity as walking the talk with no desire other than for the good of others. This was supported by Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman, (1995) by stating that integrity should be more than walk the talk but is associated to an individuals full commitment to underlying principles. For Kolthoff et al. (2010) stated integrity has its foundation in ethics and Lawton (1998) asserted that ethics and integrity encapsulate a code of conduct as basis for actions. Notably some examples of ethics violation in public organizations include lying, cheating, rule-bending, stealing public property, harming others and so on (Ciulla, 2004). For Van der Wal; Huberts; Van Den Heuvel and Kolthoff (2006), they described integrity within organizational context to constitute wholeness and in the Latin word -integritas which means acting according to moral values, norms and rules and which must take place within the context and environment in which one works or operates and accepted by the members of the organisation. For integrity also means trust as Bennis (1989) stated that integrity is the basis of trust and Simons (1999) in asserting that trust of subordinates in leaders behaviours is very important suggested behavioural integrity (BI) rather than self-perceived integrity or any statement on integrity as the main focus research on integrity to describe leaderships style and behaviours as there often mismatch between actual values and enacted values of leaders behaviour. The author duly admits that this has been the common flaw in public service where leaders normally ignore subordinates trust and in many instances they do not need subordinates trust as they probably feel proud to helm public organizations and hence could have acted on their own for selfish gain. It is here that mistrust and dishonesty exist within public organizations and as Kolthoff et al. (2010) pointed out that integrity is affected. Other researchers like Padilla, Hogan, and Kaiser (2007) also believed and argued that the occurrences of corruption, unethical and bad behaviours, mismanagement and so on perpetrated by people in position of power appointed in public organizations can be traced to issues of integrity. That is why integrity must be perceived as a moral courage and the will and willingness public servants ought to do and to go against what is not right and believes to be wrong (Kolade, 1999). How integrity is important for leadership? Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991); Kouzes and Posner (2002) cited in Hooijberg et.al (2010) asserted that integrity is not only good for organizations but also to be an important trait of leaders. Becker (1998) argued that excellent leaders are people viewed and perceived to be high in integrity because they do not want to gain something out of organizational resources for selfish reasons. This is consistent with Badaracco and Ellsworths (1990) notion that leaders with values and integrity normally make decisions in accordance with the enacted values of the organization and for Kouzes and Posner, (2002) added that leaders with integrity would be able to convince followers that they are worth to be followed. While Kanungo and Mendonca (1996) cited in Parry and Proctor-Thomson (2002) also stated that integrity in leadership has become an increasing concern for business and organisations. To this, many theorists now believe that leadership without i ntegrity may put the organisations at risk, (Morgan, 1993; Mowday, Porter Steers, 1982; Posner Schmidt, 1984). Perhaps, the most important definition of integrity related to leadership was given by Tan Sri Mohd. Sidek Hassan who is the Chief Secretary to the government of Malaysia in his speech dated 25 Mac 2009 that integrity can be defined as continuous adherence to moral principles, honesty, wholeness, the quality of being unimpaired; soundness. He also reminded civil servants on the need to instil integrity especially on the role of leadership in public institutions in order to deliver high quality of service delivery (http://www.pmo.gov.my/ksn/?frontpage/speech/detail/1512. accessed 5th April 2011). From the so many definitions of integrity mentioned above, it is clear that integrity plays an important role in establishing and maintaining high ethical standards in public organizations but it must start with the top echelon of the organizations which must be perceived to have integrity as without it the whole system and existing reform measures will be meaningless. 2.5. Measurement of integrity Hogan and Kaiser (2010) in their study on How to assess (not to assess) the integrity of managers stated that various attempts have been made in the past to assess and measure integrity in leadership including using the Big Five Personality Theory as researcher like Allport (1937) and other moral philosophers linked leaders integrity to personality and they believed that leaders personality could influence individuals and groups behaviours. To this, measurement of leaders personality using The Big Five Personality theory was a questionable issue related to how sound the integrity test works with leaders (Howard Thomas, 2010) and although it can predict counterproductive work behaviour based on the three dimensions of personality theory: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Emotional Stability; but it does not measure counterproductive behaviours. Another critic for the theory was by Mischel (1977) who suggested that personality is most important in weak situations and of course in s trong situation it could provide solid cues about leaders appropriate behaviour which resulted in peoples supportive actions. Hogan and Kaiser (2010) also stated that another measurement technique linked integrity to leaders competency model theory and by using the data that delivered subordinates ratings of 672 directors and vice presidents employed by a Fortune 500 technology firm in the United States, this method defines integrity as a leadership competency and measures it using co-worker ratings of observed ethical behaviour. The test used 23-items to measure five competencies and integrity is one of them. The result of the competency test found that the behavioural ratings suggested only a negligible proportion of managers may have integrity issues and do not identify leaders with integrity issues as most of the items in the questionnaire only reflect the desirable end of integrity construct. The study also did not differentiate between high and low-performing managers, and hence cannot be used as an appropriate measurement to identify leaders with integrity issues. What have been done by previous measurements only focused on positive behaviours of managers that might not have been able to identify leaders with integrity issues. However, using Craig and Gustafson (1998) measurement technique of Perceived Leader Integrity Scale (PLIS) which focussed on perception of unethical behaviours of leaders using only a short version of 8-items questionnaire survey rather than 32-items, Hogan and Kaiser (2010) in their study using data from 80 employed MBA students at a university in the South-Eastern United States has proven that this technique is a reliable way of assessing leaders with potential integrity issues as correlation and regression analyses using the PLIS suggested that trust and leaders integrity is the primary determinant of employee attitudes and effective leadership perceptions. Apart from using PLIS, Hogan and Kaiser also used Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) developed by Stogdill (1963) in the study to assess the leaders effectiveness via two-factor of leaders behaviour, that is, Initiating Structure and Consideration scales (10-items for each scale) and found that PLIS is the strongest predictor of all the three predictors and another result indicated that leader perceived integrity was highly correlated with consideration rather than initiating structure which means leaders need to pay more attention to the needs of the subordinates. So, this study will use the PLIS to measure perceived leaders integrity from subordinates assessment in the focus area, that is, the selected Sabah states agencies in Kota Kinabalu. 2.6. Relationship between effective leadership and perceived integrity Parry and Proctor-Thomson (2002) in their study on Perceived Integrity of Transformational Leaders in Organisational Settings involving 1,354 useable samples out of 6,025 managers in private and public organizations throughout New Zealand using both PLIS and MLQ to measure perceived leader integrity and effectiveness respectively found that there was positively significant correlation between leader perceived integrity and a range of leader effectiveness measures in which leader effectiveness was measured with items such as satisfaction with leadership, perceived leader effectiveness, extra efforts from followers and motivation of followers. A study done by Hooijberg et.al in 2010 involving 175 bureau chiefs and directors of a state government agency in the North-eastern USA taking part in a leadership-training program using 20-items survey of Competing Values Framework (CVF) to assess managers effectiveness through eight leadership roles: Producer, Director, Coordinator, Monitor, Mentor, Facilitator, Innovator and as Broker revealed that integrity has an above impact of leadership effectiveness followed by honesty and goal-orientation is the leadership role that bosses highly associated with leaders effectiveness. In addition to the above studies, other past literatures on the study of leadership focussed on the impact of leadership on organization and indicated it was the leaderships role to protect and enhance the invulnerability of public agencies to threats of integrity as suggested by Selznick (1957) that the integrity of the institution is vulnerable to corruption if the leader fails to protect the institutions distinctive values, competence and role. The importance of leaders to demonstrate integrity was also studied by Gray (1985) and Fiedler (1995) as cited in Huse (1998) who argued that leaders will inspire others when they demonstrated integrity. This shows that leadership with integrity is vital to protect organizations vulnerability to corruption as well as to inspire others to behave in a forthright and open-manner and lead the organization into the future which is part of leaders demonstration of integrity. The study by OECD in 2005 on Public Sector Integrity: A Framework for assessment regarding perception of integrity in all its member countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Germay, Japan and host of other countries indicated that integrity in public agencies starts at the top and through leaders actions and behaviour. Instilling a culture of integrity has to come from the top such as the senior management, head of department, governing board etc. Leaders in public organizations must keep integrity at the forefront activities so that employees can take their cues and examples from the top. Other research also has shown that supervisors or leaders are the primary influence on the ethical behaviours of their subordinates (Morgan, 1993; Posner Schmidt, 1984). Their contention is based on the belief that as integrity is also about ethical behaviours, this indicates that if leaders exercise ethical behaviour this will lead to larger implications on subordinates behaviours and behaviours of others in the organization. To this, an effective leadership must lead the initiatives to create an atmosphere where individuals in the organization feel safe to move forward to becoming an ideal and competitive organization. But this will depend on the leaderships beliefs in motivation and competitive spirit of all members in the organization on the adherence to values of honesty, ethics, and trust. What is important is a statement by Morgan (1993) who emphasized the ethical leaderships positive impact on organisational effectiveness will result in ethical development which is very important to the leaders success. Morgan also found that followers perception of leaders ethics was positively related to their perceptions of leaders effectiveness. 2.7. Summary of Literature Review Based on the numerous definitions of integrity given by previous researchers such as Becker (1998), integrity is conceptualized as similar to honesty, trust, ethics, matching words with deeds and actions, and a commitment in actions to set of principles and values. In other words, integrity is about something ethical and morality in words and in actions in accordance with existing norms, cultures, values, processes, rules and laws in which managers and leaders in public organizations must adhere to in order to create and maintain public trust. Previous studies indicated that effective leadership can be conceptualized and perceived using Kouzes and Posners (2002) Leadership Practices Inventory or LPI which emphasizes on leadership practices in five dimensions : Inspiring Vision, Model the Way, Challenge the process, Enable others to act and Encourage the heart. Recent study by Abu-Tineh et.al (2008) done in 2008 in Amman, Jordan involving a sample of 550 school teachers resulted in the school teachers assessed their school principals as having practiced Kouzes and Posners leadership practices and has identified them as transformational which is also related to effective leadership. The leaders integrity can be perceived by using Craig and Gustafsons (1998) Perceived Leader Integrity Scale of PLIS in which Parry and Proctor-Thomson in 2002 has conducted a study on a sample of 1,354 private and public managers in New Zealand using PLIS and found a moderate to positive relationship between perceived leader integrity and transformational leadership behaviours measured using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Other previous literatures also pinpointed to the needs for perceived effective leadership to possess moral values such as honesty, trust and ethics or in other words integrity to maintain trust and create followers positive perception of leaders effectiveness and integrity to bring the desired impact to the organizations.
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