The Telephone

The Telephone â€Å"Before the telephone came to Magdaluna, Im Kaleem’s house was bustling at just about any time of day, especially at night, when its windows were brightly lit with three large oil lamps, and the loud voices of the men talking, laughing, and arguing could be heard in the street below—a reassuring, homey sound† Anwar F. Accawi (p. 46). It’s hard to imagine that a single device such as the telephone, albeit a breakthrough in technology, could change not only a person’s day to day life, but an entire village.These men in the village experienced all of the luxuries the village had to offer at no cost, Im Kaleem provided the men with a place to gather for conversation, games, drinks and sexual services. The children used to hang around Ima Kaleem’s courtyard playing games waiting for a call down from some of the men requesting errands in exchange for money.But that all changed once the telephone was installed, most of the men wou ld now sit at Abu Raja’s store, â€Å"they were always looking up from their games and drinks and talk to glance at the phone in the corner, as if expecting it to ring any minute and bring news that would change their lives and deliver them from their aimless existence†. (p. 46) Exposure to the telephone not only affected the men in the village, but it also affected the women, children and their entire way of life.I get very excited to hear about, read about or experience new technology, and I grew up surrounded by a constant emergence of technology, from pagers and cell phones to the home pc. I remember when we bought our first computer, they were just becoming a common household device, my dad came home from the store and asked me to hold the door open while he trucked in these huge boxes, I had never seen my dad so excited about struggling and sweating while moving things in the house.I had no idea what was in those boxes, but I became curious and excited as my dad opened the boxes and removed all the packaging, taking everything out piece by piece. Watching my dad fumble around with the instructions and all the wires in anticipation of something big happening made me super excited and I had no idea what this even was. â€Å"You can do almost anything you can imagine with this thing† he said to me in a very animated voice. To me it just looked like a television sitting on a desk, I started to become bored of watching this spaghetti of wires get connected one at a time at a very agonizing pace.My dad was determined and after what seemed like hours of running back and forth between the wires and the instructions, he looked over at me with a huge smile on his face as he powered the computer on. â€Å"I’m finished† he exclaimed, â€Å"now let’s see with this thing can do† he said. He wasn’t kidding, this was amazing, you could send electronic mail that could be opened by the other person instantly, you cou ld listen to music, instant message, play games with someone from another country, it seemed that there was nothing this device could not do. It was limitless with opportunity and could take you anywhere your imagination would allow.So I am not surprised that when this tiny village, that did not have the simple things in life such as a calendars, clocks or even running water, were so influenced by the arrival of the telephone. This gave the people new hopes and dreams, it gave them an opportunity to experience new things and find out what the outside world was doing and could offer. â€Å"Within a year, only the sick, the old, and the maimed were left in the village. Magdaluna became a skeleton of its former self, desolate and forsaken, like the tombs, a place to get away from†. Anwar F. Accawi(p. 7) The calls eventually came in as expected and people started leaving the village for new opportunities, some went into the army while others went to explore new jobs. All of them left looking for a better life than the one they had in the village. With new technology comes new opportunity, I’m not saying that newer is always better, but it can open you up to things you never thought possible. It can provide you with choices that you never had before. I believe in the end Accawi was happy with the way his life turned out but reminisced of how he loved his life as a young boy in the village.

Opinion on the Us Correctional Facility

Tantania Dixon Corrections 320 Final Paper If we ever want our economy to recover and our citizens to prosper, we need to overhaul our correctional system immediately. The correctional system has three main goals: punish, protect the population and rehabilitate the offender. However, it is unclear how well the modern U. S. correctional system achieves these goals and whether the money invested in the correctional system might be better spent. Perhaps the most obvious goals of the correctional system are to punish those who are found guilty of crimes.In theory, this is supposed to serve as prevention against one repeating criminal activities and as an example to others of why criminal activities should be avoided. Incarceration is the most common example of punishment in the correctional system, but the death penalty and lesser penalties such as probation are also designed to be punitive. However, the correctional system acts as being too lenient on those who commit crimes. Theyâ€⠄¢re let into the prison/jail and are just free to live, something as far as harsh punishment needs to be put in action, or their mentality of jail being a â€Å"free ride† is going to remain the same.If there isn’t any other punishment being put into force, besides the fact that their sentenced to time in prison, the offender is basically getting over on the system. A basic day in the life of a prisoner is eat, sleep, working out, visits, community service, and communication with other inmates, and that’s not teaching them what they did was wrong at all. They need to be put in classes, as if someone gets a speeding charge they have to go to driving classes, not only because they committed a crime, Tantania Dixon ut to understand what crime they have committed and why NOT to do it again, and the value of what can happen if it’s done again. In addition to punishing a criminal, the correctional system is supposed to protect the rest of the society from crim inals. This includes the policing of streets as well as the imprisonment of criminals in jails. By keeping criminals in prison, they are not among the public and are not in a position in which they could harm the public at large with additional criminal acts. The protection of inmates also needs to be stricter than what it previously and still is.There are prisoners that get physically, mentally, and emotionally abused in prison, and even though it probably isn’t visible it happens, whether it’s man on man inmates vice-versa for women inmates, but not only inmates, sometimes a correctional officer can commit these crimes as well. That can make an inmate retaliate on themselves, because they can feel like their privacy of themselves and their surroundings has been taken away. If this is done so, the inmate doesn’t have anyone to speak with regarding that their treated like they don’t have feelings and concerns because they are inmates.However, at the end o f the day inmates are still human beings, and correctional officers need to take notice of that. The correctional system is also supposed to rehabilitate inmates. Rehabilitation, if done well, will make the criminal functional in normal society after release. This may include vocational training, counseling and drug rehabilitation treatment. Rehabilitation is intended to shift the criminal from being a cost to society to being a contributing member of society. Some believe that if we want to rehabilitate criminals we must do more than just send them to prison.For Tantania Dixon instance, we could give them a chance to obtain job skills, which will improve the chances that inmates will become productive citizens upon release. The programs must aim to change those who want to change. Those who are taught to produce useful goods and to be productive are likely to develop the self-esteem essential to a normal, integrated personality. This kind of program would provide skills and habits and replace the sense of hopelessness that many inmates have. Another technique used to rehabilitate criminals is counseling.There are two types of counseling in general, individual and group counseling. Individual counseling is much more costly than group counseling. The aim of group counseling is to develop positive peer pressure that will influence its members. â€Å"One idea in much sociology text is that group problem-solving has definite advantages over individual problem-solving. The idea is that a wider variety of solutions can be derived by drawing from the experience of several people with different backgrounds. Also one individual’s problem might have already been solved by another group member and can be suggested.Often if a peer proposes a solution it carries more weight than if the counselor were to suggest it. † (NYS Dept. of Correctional Services. 2000) Incarceration of criminals is expensive. It often costs more that $40 per day to keep a criminal in a prison. Similarly, the criminal prosecution process is expensive. In addition to paying the salaries of judges and district attorneys, the state must pay for criminal defense attorneys for criminals that do not have the financial means to hire an attorney on their own. This can easily cost thousands of dollars for a felony prosecution.Being that it’s so costly to keep an inmate in prison, the US Correctional System must ensure that the prisoners behind bars, aren’t Tantania Dixon innocent, and has actually committed the crime. The costs of just one inmate is very high, therefore the system needs to make sure that they are giving justice to the right criminals, and also if the crime is such as a minimum charge (i. e. drugs, vandalizing, stealing) they should have other justifications for that, so the state won’t have to be issuing extra money for people with no so harsh crimes. The chart below, basically gives you an ideal of the estimated prices for inmates.Cap ital punishment, also dubbed the â€Å"death penalty,† is the pre-meditated and planned taking of a human life by a government in response to a crime committed by that legally convicted person. â€Å"It violates the right to life†¦ It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There can never be any justification for torture or for cruel treatment. † (Death Tantania Dixon Penalty Information Center). There are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present.I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self defense to protect the innocent. As of October 2009, capital punishment in the US is officially sanctioned by 34 states, as well as by the federal government. Each state with legaliz ed capital punishment has different laws regarding its methods, age limits and crimes which qualify.Although Capital Punishment is the way of getting people to understand killing or other crimes isn’t right, wouldn’t that be contradicting itself? If someone kills, then they should be killed for committing that crime? That law isn’t showing leadership whatsoever, that’s showing that killing is the way, and that it is right. However, The Death penalty does in some way help the prisons from overcrowding, although if a criminal gets sentenced to life without parole or to the death penalty, the sentencing needs to be 100% accurate.Due to the facts in some states there have been false accusations and that’s absolutely not acceptable to an innocent human being. Here is an example, how being a falsely accused criminal can ruin your life; â€Å"Brooklyn school custodian  Francis Evelyn once walked proud, worked hard and looked forward to a peaceful retir ement. Now he's too scared to go out his front door. Five months after his face was broadcast worldwide as an accused child rapist, Evelyn, 58, can't sleep. He can't stop the tears. He can't wipe away the nightmare of being arrested, jailed and wrongly accused.Berated by cops, taunted by Rikers Island inmates and branded in his native Trinidad, the dignified, law-abiding immigrant has filed a $10 million claim against the city (New York) for ruining his life by believing a troubled child with a history of lying. Evelyn was Tantania Dixon paraded before television cameras and spent two days at Rikers before prosecutors, in a nearly unprecedented move, rushed to a night judge to drop the charges. â€Å"I had two more years to retire,† he said. â€Å"After you work all that time, all that sacrifice, it comes to this?I want to get over this! † he said. â€Å"I don't want those charges just to be sealed. I want it to be washed away! I want an apology. Come on. Clear my nam e! † (New York Daily News Newspaper, September. 2007) Although Mr. Evelyn’s charge was dropped, he still has to face life of once being called a child molester, he shouldn’t have to live with that accusation to his name, it’s cruel and very un-justice. In conclusion, the US Correctional System has a lot of cleaning up to do, its name needs to be clean, and show America how to be a good leader.We as Americans don’t want our children to be able to look at cops as being crocked, and not being able to see them as being truthful. The correctional system does have good goals as for getting the criminals off the streets, protecting the community, being able to let people know that they are safe. The prisons in America take the criminals and give them justice, show them that they are wrong and shouldn’t be free to live their lives, because when they were given the chance to they screwed up and now have to pay the time, for committing the crime.

Decision Making within college life Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Decision Making within college life - Term Paper Example By learning and participating in the college curriculum, I have been able to draw gems of knowledge which are key to effective decision making. Particularly, creative thinking featured in the college curriculum and inculcated within me, awareness on the inevitable need to incorporate proper perspectives, analogies and skills. Factoring analogies in decision making helps an individual make proper comparison among the options available, in respect to the consequences that come with each option. Proper perspective entails the maintenance of objective thinking during the course of decision making. This involves weighing the options present and their consequences, without letting personal biases, feelings and personal or partisan opinion to affect the thought process or the final decision which will have been arrived at. While doing this thinking, it is important that impartiality is maintained concerning the matter at hand (West-Burnham and Jones, 2008). Experiences in Campus There are a lso several meaningful experiences which I have drawn from the college experience. Particularly, this remained a strong case when it comes to scholarly integrity, especially during exam situations. I specifically through college experience learned that not only is academic cheating and intellectual theft rife among college students, but that the allure of these vices is very strong. Several situations such as carrying small hand-held notes into exam rooms, conversing with friends during exams and lifting ideas from a fellow student’s ideas from his term paper, are some of the manifestations of academic cheating and intellectual dishonesty which I witnessed among college peers. In light of this development, it is fitting to observe that ethical decision making criteria came in handy in helping me make personal decisions which would foster intellectual and academic integrity, and not just in determining organizational and management behavior. It is against this above backdrop t hat I adopted justice as a form of ethical decision making criteria, in lieu of other options such as utilitarianism, deontology, consequantialism and fundamental rights. Utilitarianism failed to qualify the occasion since by saying that an act is ethically and morally right provided it gives the greatest good and pleasure to the greatest number (of people). Herein, I noticed that utilitarianism may easily be misconstrued as abetting cheating in exam rooms since it extends the greatest good and pleasure to the greatest number. For instance, the cheating student will have obtained good grades and the mean grade of class made to rank higher, and thereby vindicating the lecturer as competent. The fact that utilitarianism did not provide proper explanations against academic or intellectual dishonesty is a matter that drew a wedge between utilitarianism and me. In about the same wavelength, deontology failed to suffice as a possible bulwark against the allure of cheating in exams since i t only emphasized the need to do things out of duty. The emphasis that things are done out of duty assumes that humans are programmed like robots and that what entails duty is a simplistic one-way directive. However, humans are rational beings with different in-depths in personal convictions, and duties are characterized by ethical issues which are

You have chosen to return to college to finish your degree. Describe Essay

You have chosen to return to college to finish your degree. Describe reasons why you made this decision and persuade a friend to do the same - Essay Example In the first decade of the 21st century the United States lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs (Americanmanufacturing, 2011). The jobs available in the US marketplace have shifted into the knowledge and service economy. In order to compete in the new job marketplace it is imperative to obtain a formal education at an accredited college or university. Without a college degree the only jobs that are available are minimum wage jobs and even those are becoming scarcer and companies are diluting those jobs by offering part-time instead of full-time employment. The unemployment rate in the United States has gone up during the last few years. The unemployment in the United States in July 2011 was 9.1% (Bls, 2011). Due to the fact that more people are unemployed the level of competition was gone up and people that have better credentials are getting the jobs in the marketplace. The most important educational credential employers seek in new recruits is a college education. I have realized that the only way for me to get a good job is to go back to school to earn a degree. A college education increases a person’s chances to get a job and the job obtained will have higher wages. A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn an extra $0.9 million over their lifetime in comparison to a high school graduate; while people with a master’s degree will earn $1.3 more than a high school diploma and $0.4 million more than a bachelor’s degree (Longley, 2011). The past constraints that sometimes hurt the ability of adults to obtain a college education no longer apply. For instance a working adult sometimes had the excuse that he could not go back to college because of employment obligations. Time used to be a variable that hurt a lot of working adults. Due to advances in technology there are solutions available for working adults. Online universities such as the

Workplace Observation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Workplace Observation Paper - Essay Example The portal does indicate an attempt to increase employees’ sense of belonging. Wal-Mart previously did not encourage employees to speak out about their working experiences with the retail giant. Walmartfacts.com is now available for employees to post their positive experiences. Where Wal-Mart fails in communications is in addressing the negative issues, the subjects that have brought about all the negative headlines. The retailer is still reluctant to meet with union leaders in communities where it has proposed new store locations. Edd Snyder, executive director, corporate communications, at GM, offers advice that counters avoidance of opposing groups. â€Å"You must find some common ground. The idea is to bridge [differences] and talk and be in constant communication with the other organization. Find common threads† (Frank, 2005). The corporate culture at Wal-Mart is very different from the individual cultures In each store location. Every community has its own set of values or standards. Some are more blue-collar oriented, while others are more white-collar with higher levels of education. The low cost strategy, which many critics believe has ignored environmental and human rights issues does appeal to those who are price conscious. Wal-Mart’s mission statement includes â€Å"our fist responsibility is to provide all consumers (1) the best products and services with guaranteed satisfaction under one roof† (uwstout.edu). Wal-Mart follows through on this promise, by providing securing relationships with low cost suppliers and manufacturers.

Management Roles Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management Roles Paper - Essay Example Management roles, as presented by Henry Mintzberg (1980), are the most popular, compact set of managerial roles about managerial behavior, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. These are ten management roles in total, comprised by 3 categories: Leader role. Under this role, the manager is expected to lead and supervise teams, motivate the subordinates, and train the employees. He gives them feedback about their performances, and makes constructive criticisms. Disturbance handler role. Under this role, the manager resolves conflicts among employees, arranges for mediators if necessary, and seeks to achieve the best solution to employees’ problems. He makes the employees adapt to changes and deal with crisis efficiently. Summing it up together, management roles are a diverse set of responsibilities that managers are expected to carry out. If they carry out these roles effectively, they become efficient managers that everyone at the workplace looks forward to. Each role is unique, with its demands and expectations. Henry Mintzberg has provided us with above mentioned management roles, which also serve as a guideline for all managers, and help us understand their importance and authority in the

Marketing Plan 2007 for NESCAF Coffee (Nestle) Assignment

Marketing Plan 2007 for NESCAF Coffee (Nestle) - Assignment Example In 1996, Nescafe Kenjara was added to the range. (Nestle, UK) External Marketing Audit: In 1939 Nescafe was introduced in Britain and coffee production started at the Hayes factory. In 1954 Nescafe was made with 100% coffee. The company's technology in 1964 helped it to retain the coffee aroma in Nescafe. Nescafe Original decaf was launched in 1998, and today there is a whole range of instant Nescafe coffees available to suit every taste. (Nestle, UK). Nestle has been continuously improving its instant coffees using new technologies and much innovation. It was the first manufacturer in the UK to introduce coffee with a new rich aroma to enhance the coffee flavour. The market: Nescafe has been around for many years since 1937 and for many years it has been the number one instant coffee brand in the UK. Nescafe, of course, has to contend with competition from other brands. One such brand is the Good African Coffee (GAC), formerly known as Rwenzori Finest Coffee. President of Uganda predicted that one day Good African Coffee would become a household brand like "Nescafe". Another competing brand is Kenco Instant Coffee, one of the UK's leading coffee brands. ... During 1962 the company changed its name to the Kenco Coffee Company. Baby Milk Action, which campaigns against the aggressive marketing of baby milk in the Third World, blacklisted Nescafe Partners Blend, produced by Nestlewhose activities in the baby milk market have attracted most opprobrium from such campaign groups. In 2005, Kraft Foods, the world's second biggest food company, predicted that within the next decade, 60% to 80% of the coffee market would be taken up by products with independent certification for fairtrade issues. Ethical marketing: Nestle and its product, Nescafe, have to cope with this fact in their external environment facet of their marketing activities in 2007. Market share: In terms of market share, Nescafe is the nation's default coffee of choice valued at 375m. Internal Marketing Audit: Product development Packaging can be used to help in establishing product differentiation. Marketing Objectives: Generally, the objective of marketing a firm's product is to help the firm achieve its objective of maximising profit. Ethical marketing Marketing mix: One of the important concepts in marketing is that of the marketing mix. A product can be marketed on three levels. The core product is the benefit which the product delivers to customers. It is benefits which customers actually buy and not products, so benefits and not products should be marketed. A product's physical features represent the tangible product, i.e. quality, style, dimensions, packaging etc. This is the second product level on which a marketing strategy may be built. A Marketing technique: Sales of Nescafe have been growing ever since 1938 when Nestle launched the first commercially successful soluble coffee. The Group

Animal testing debate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Animal testing debate - Essay Example In addition, an example, according to a former head of U.S. national cancer institute was a cure for cancer that worked for mice but did not work for animals (Cohen & Regan 2001: 108). Laboratory animals are bred for predisposition to certain types of diseases, kept in conditions that would be considered unnatural and exposed to disproportionately large amounts of chemicals and other substances used for testing. This therefore means that animal research adds little to our understanding of diagnosis and treating patients. The third argument raised is the benefits to human beings from animal testing are very minimal and that alternative methods could be employed because they are efficient (Yarri 2005: 151). Alternative methods include computer modeling and testing human tissues. Statistics from the National Institute for Medical Research, London reveled that approximately ninety-two percent of drugs that were successful during animal testing failed during clinical trials on human being s (Lovell-Badge 2013). Thus, this wastes time that could be used on alternative drug testing; as the DNA of humans and animals is very different. Personally, I agree with prohibition of animal experimentation for medical products as it is unethical. Scientists should endeavor to find logical and ethically acceptable ways of animal experimentation. If it is also possible to employ anesthesia and derive the same results, the same should be done. Buffalo, NY says that all animal experiments are untenable on a statistical.

Integrating Four Skills in Clt Context Essay Example for Free

Integrating Four Skills in Clt Context Essay In the history of language teaching, many methods and approaches have been used and developed. Among them Communicative Language Teaching is now thought as the most influential or must-use one. It is clearly defined in the handout: It would be fair to say that if there is any one umbrella approach to language teaching that has become the accepted norm in this field, it would have to be the Communicative Language Teaching Approach. Below is a lesson plan which is based on the CLT approach and we try to integrate four macro skills in it. This lesson plan is designed or intermediate-level or sophomore students at SFLC, NUM. In the lesson, we are aiming at a result in which students are actually able to use the language about environment, especially about the climate change/global warming, both verbally and in writing. Even though it looks like each task focuses on different skill, every task is designed to integrate at least 2 skills of the four. Also, the lesson is a part of a sequence lesson which means in the previous class they have been introduced vocabulary related to the environment. The period of the lesson plan is an hour and a half. Lesson procedure Warm-up: As a warm-up students are asked about the weather that day and previous day. The question is for the whole class; therefore anyone who feels comfortable to talk in front of the whole class can answer. Then they are asked to work in pairs to talk about their favorite weather. Its a simple task to encourage the students and build confidence in them. The warm-up is about 10-15 minutes. Speaking: When the students are thought to be ready and confident enough, gradually turn the class into a discussion about climate change and global warming (causes of the climate hanges, whats happening in the world, what we can do about it, etc). Then they are divided into group of three and given statements of the Task 1 . Students should discuss about the statement and when they are finished with it they can rotate the statements around the groups. Since the topic is a popular one all the students are encouraged to speak out. They can also use some Mongolian language if they cant express them freely (but they should try as much English as they can) . As for the teacher, they need to use the target language as often as possible in order to provide ealistic models for students to use. I would give some explanation or help in Mongolian on the students request (15-20 minutes). Listening: As the discussion is on the global warming and climate change, students are now asked to listen to people speaking out their opinion on global warming. This is very authentic and contextualized because the tape script is actually taken from a readers discussion on a weather website. It will help the students to move from structured language production to more communicative language use . At first the tape is played without ny interference. For the second time it should be stopped after each speaker and the students are asked if they agree or disagree with that person and to comment on the speakers opinion. If the students do not agree with each other and start an argument, they should be encouraged to defend their own idea. In this way, the listening task would turn from an inactive listening task to one where the students take alternate roles as listener and speaker (20 minutes). Writing: At this time, own opinion and built knowledge on the subject . Therefore, students are asked to rite a small opinion passage about global warming. They should imagine that they are writing it on the real website discussion. In the previous task students have listened texts which models how people are expressing their opinion. Thus, the students will not face difficulties. After they are done with the task, they should exchange what they have written (20 minutes). Reading: Students are given handouts in which they need to read short passages about different areas of environmental issues (preferably questions discussed in the speaking section). Students are asked o read the passages at their own speed and match them to a set of questions. In order to match questions to the passages, students are required to demonstrate a global comprehension of the passages. Also this type of readings sharpens the students reading skills. While reading the handouts students are not allowed to use dictionary, because it distracts them from understanding the text. At the same time, it will help them to learn to recognize words automatically which is a basis for reading skill . When students complete the task, check the answer. (1 5 minutes) Homework (explaining HW will take 5 minutes): Students are asked to work in groups of four. Choose one of the environmental issues and present it to the class. It can be in any form e. g. ews report, role-play, informative presentation and etc. This task is supposed to integrate all four skills including (but not limited to) activities such as: 0 Doing some research and reading them thoroughly 0 Or listening to news reports for information 0 Writing about the topic based on information they found 0 Finding related pictures and other visual materials and preparing to explain them Working with their partners which should include sharing opinions and listening to the others 0 Presenting it to the class and responding to any questions those come from peer students afterwards. Handouts for the tasks Task 1: Discussion Statements Climate change is the most serious threat to our planet at the moment. All countries should be forced to apply serious regulations to reduce carbon emissions. Normal people cant do much to stop global warming. I am worried about climate change. Everybody should do whatever they can to save energy. Climate change isnt as serious as people say. People like to worry about something! There are simply too many people living on planet earth! We are going to lose many animal species and areas of low land in the very near future be cause of global warming. Gonzalo Im all in favour of global warming. I grow tropical plants so for me the warmer the weather is the better! Tanya In 20 years time the traditional British weather will be a thing of the past. Well have a climate like the south of France. People will be healthier as theyll spend more time outdoors. Just think, dining al fresco in the summer months. Itll be great! Luis no one can tell me that global warming isnt happening. Weve Just had the hottest year on record! My sister lives in the north of Spain and she said that it is beach weather there and its November. I mean its not normal is it? Kevin When I was a boy we used to have heavy snow most years. Since the early 90s all weve had is a light dusting of snow. It must be due to global warming. Ruth You only have to switch on the news to see the crazy things the weather is doing. There are so many floods, hurricanes and droughts. Its the extreme weather conditions caused by global warming. Oliver Theres no such thing as global warming. Its all media hype to brainwash people. If they told us the moon was made of cheese often enough people would believe it! Mark The world will never be the same again, but thats how it has always been. It changes constantly and nature and man can adapt to these changes. If we couldnt, human life on the planet would have finished years ago. Task 3 Who do you agree with most? Who do you disagree with? What would you write to the message board? Put your message here. Share your message with the class. Does anyone have the same view as you?

Cultural Tasks Essay Example for Free

Cultural Tasks Essay The main idea of postmodernism is that individuals from different cultures have diversified values, beliefs, interests and perspectives, which are not the result of natural human nature, but have been formed by human history and culture. Since at a particular time knowledge is socially constructed in different ways, it changes through time from one context to another. As a result, there is no universal truth about anything; it should rather be perceived as multiple truths about different issues and concepts, which are unique and applicable for particular situations and cultures. The current chapter discusses the principles of postmodernism as applied to educational changes offered by modern grand schemes and programs. According to postmodernists, the best way to achieve changes is to combine collaborative and individual efforts. Though, since changes are usually unpredictable, there is no guarantee whether those efforts and actions can lead to real success and progress. Moreover the perception of the progress differs among nations and cultures: while one culture can consider change as positive leading to progress, the other might consider such change as negative or undesired. If to apply postmodernism ideas toward the educational programs and changes they can bring, it is possible to state that there is little guarantee that contemporary grand schemes and programs such as No Child Left Behind can bring positive change to schools and educational changes. On the contrary, the changes within the school premises are usually caused and influenced by the local context, which might include the school culture, the environment of the community the school is located and other aspects. To determine what can bring educational change might require certain research by gathering and analyzing the related information. Since self-study, according to postmodernism, is socially constructed knowledge, it cannot be applied without the external data of multiple values and experiences. Nowadays many schools try to implement uniformity in cloths, lectures, teaching methods, attitude to students, etc. From one side, it is a good way of making all students feel as they all have equal chances to learn and show their knowledge. However, according to postmodernists, such uniformity might suppress the personality and opportunities of some more progressive students. That is why, it is very important to identify what should be the same in the schools and what should be different. To ensure positive and effective changes in schools it is important to organize the combined work between school members by applying innovative and latest teaching methods in order to change teaching and learning for all the students. Change in the school teaching methods can be achieved if every teacher realizes the importance of personal professional learning, the results of which can mature the learning process of the students. It is not mandatory that such learning should be professional and obtained from some learning center or university. It can start from everyday desire to learn something new and apply this new knowledge into the teaching process. Moreover, every teacher should try to understand each students way of perceiving information, recognize and respect diversity among students and apply the teaching methods, which will be the most effective for all the students in the classroom. Finally, collaborative learning stimulates deep thinking about teaching and learning while ensuring that the students are prepared to be active participants in a global world. There can be large number of different educational programs, teaching styles, and advices, but the most important thing is to realize and understand the individual nature of each student and his/her demands in the education. Friendly, trustful and respectful teachers/students relationships are the most important factor in the teaching process. Works Cited: Part 6: Cultural Tasks of Supervision, pp. 414-456.

Drivers and theories of corporate social responsibility

Drivers and theories of corporate social responsibility This part of the study emphasises on the research literature review related to the study. The structure of the literature review is broken down into three sub-sections. The former relates to the various aspects of CSR. The last two sub-sections discuss the different theoretical and empirical studies associated with CSP and CFP. 2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate citizenship, responsible business, or sustainable responsible business is all but a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model where companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society. Arguably, business and society are interwoven: society has certain expectations regarding business and therefore the firm has responsibilities towards society. Hence, being a steward of the needs of society is deemed to be a socially responsible, appropriate, and natural act. The first book acknowledging CSR is the Social Responsibilities of the Businessman (Howard R. Bowen) in the mid 1950s. But, the term CSR came in widespread use in the early 1970s. In fact, it owes its origin due to the globalisation which took place after many multinational corporations were formed, thus, bringing in force the corporate governance mechanisms to ascertain fairness and transparency as well as social responsibility in the corporate world. CSR is defined in various ways in different countries, of about being the capacity building for sustainable livelihoods from Ghana to about giving back to society from Philippines; and of being conventionally presented in a philanthropic model from the United States to being focused on operating the core business in a socially responsible way, complemented by investment in communities for solid business case reasons and voluntary interaction with the stakeholders from the European model. As such, according to Caroll (2003), The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has of organisations at a given point in time. Hence, ideally and broadly, the concept of CSR is a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business would monitor and ensure its support to law, ethical standards, and international norms. 2.1.1 CSR and CSP In todays competitive market environment, businesses are confronted with a new set of non economics-related challenges. To survive and prosper, firms must bridge economic and social systems. Maximising shareholder wealth is a necessary but is no longer a sufficient condition for financial prosperity. Despite the concept of CSR addresses such issue, a specific connotation of CSR and a new performance measure called the corporate social performance (abbreviated as CSP) needs to be unified to capture the performance of a business in the social realm, and also to be more precise in thinking about CSR. CSP defined as a business organizations configuration of principles of social responsibility, processes of social responsiveness, and policies, programs, and observable outcomes as they relate to the firms societal relationships (Wood, 1991), clearly shows that social performance is not limited to corporations only, but also applies to any firm and organisation. This comprehensive definition assumes that CSP is broader than CSR, which consists of three norms at different levels of analysis: institutional, organisational, and individual. Additionally, it includes organisational processes of environmental assessment, stakeholder management, and issues management, and also various measures of its external manifestations and societal effects, such as social impacts. Hence the CSP model expresses and articulates three stages, from less to more engage towards stakeholders: social obligation, social responsibility and social responsiveness (S.P. Sethi, 1975). 2.1.2 Views on CSR According to Hancock (2005), CSR can be viewed through 3 ways namely: Sceptic view According to this view, the notion of CSR is opposed to democracy and freedom, frustrating business focus on its purpose of wealth creation. Milton Friedman best defines this approach: Few trends would so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as they possibly can. Utopian view A utopian view of CSR reflects the idea that companies have a prior duty to anyone touched by their activity, their stakeholders rather than their shareholders, and especially the vulnerable that may be exploited by the companys operation. This is based on the work of Evan and Freeman who are for the stakeholder theory where a corporation must recognise and respect the vital interests of each of its surrounding stakeholders. Realist view This view gathers the greatest following of an alliance model advocated by Patricia Werhane. It states that CSR is not simply about whatever funds and expertise companies choose to invest in communities to help resolve social problems. But, it is also about the integrity with which a company governs itself, fulfils its mission, lives by its values, engages with its stakeholders, measures its impacts and reports on its activities. 2.1.3 Key Drivers of CSR CSR is seen by Porter and Van Der Linde (2000, p. 131) as a competitive driver that requires appropriate resources. CSR programmes, however, on their own, have certain main drivers which are as follow: Bottom Line Effect This is the most relevant driver of CSR programmes as it incorporates a socially responsible element into corporate practice. As John Elkington (1997) rightly underlined that many companies exhibit corporate citizenship through charity or philanthropy. Nevertheless, a new perspective evolved over time for some corporate stakeholders. Success of a corporation is now weighted and defined by evaluating businesses using a Triple Bottom Line comprised of its social, environmental and financial performance. Managing Risk An endeavour to adopt CSR programme has been the gain in market share, key personnel and investment which pioneering companies enjoy when they seriously address labour and green issues. In fact, corporations implement such a programme to manage risks and ensure legal compliance as denoted by Levine Michael A. (2008). They try to avoid investigation, litigation, prosecution, regulation or legislation. Influence of the Corporate Disasters There has been an increased perception of greed amidst senior business officials in the corporate world following corporate scandals affecting Enron, WorldCom and the like. CSR is important in counteracting allegations of corporate greed. As a result, as described by Hancock (2005) in his book, corporations are now shifting away from the philanthropic approach towards CSR and are moving towards the greater alignment of CSR with business strategy and corporate governance. Lower Equity Risk Premium Reputation Management Corporations can face economic damage when their corporate reputations and brands are assailed or sales are affected by consumer boycotts. As argued by some rating agencies, a comprehensive CSR programme will lower a companys equity risk premium. A direct correlation between reputation and financial outcome measures share price and credit rating (Hancock, 2005) has been illustrated through a model designed by the global public relations company Bell Pottinger. In fact, companies may face a variety of legal and reputational risks if they do not have adequate social compliance or corporate social responsibility/sustainability programs in place. Customer Loyalty In todays markets, companies have to focus on building and maintaining customer loyalty. As proposed by Zhou Y. (2009), this can be done through a CSR programme which builds loyalty with customers by offering a competitive advantage in a marketplace where consumers find ethically delivered or produced goods and services. Stakeholder Activism Investment Incentives As perceived by Visser, W. (2008), CSR is encouraged through the activism of stakeholder or pressure groups which often address the alleged failure of the market and government policy. The trend of socially responsible investment gives CSR an incentive where funds are screened on ethical, social and environmental criteria. Thus, this proactively encourages businesses to inform shareholders of potential risks and issues and it helps them to better understand their stakeholders, including shareholders. According to Hill Knowltown (2006), surveys have indicated that analysts place as much importance on corporate reputation as they do on financial performance. 2.1.4 Theories for CSR There are several theories that emerged to explain the reasons behind environmental reporting over the time. These are as follow: Operational Efficiency Theory Operational Efficiency occurs when the right combination of people, process, and technology to boost the productivity and value of any business operation, while reducing cost of routine operations to a desired level. In the context of CSR, operational efficiencies can be achieved through managing impending risks and liabilities more effectively and efficiently through CSR tools and perspectives by reducing costs; streaming information to stakeholders concerning the investment community for better transparency and by using corporate responsibility and sustainability approaches within business decision-making to result in new market opportunities, newly developed manufacturing processes that can be expanded to other plants, regions or markets as advocated by S. B. Banerjee (2007). Social Contract Theory The current practice of CSR by corporations was explained by O. O. Amao (2007) under the social contract theory. This theory dates from the classic period of history but took its modern form in the 16th and 18th centuries with best known philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau who talk on social contract. Rousseau, in fact, conceptualised the individual-society relationship as a symbiotic situation whereby the two parties mutually confer some right to the state in order to maintain social order which makes human life and cohabitation better and to gain benefits of community and safety. In parallel to the social contract, the corporate social theory, pertaining to a firms indirect social obligations, is advanced where businesses are bound by the social contract to perform various socially desired actions in return for approval of their objectives and other rewards. Legitimacy Theory Similar to the social contract theory, the legacy theory was adopted by comporations to ensure that operations are within the limits and norms of their respective societies and the outside parties perceive their activities as being legitimate. Society grants legitimacy and power to business. In the long run, those who do not use power in a manner which society considers responsible will tend to lose it. This principle developed by Daviss (1973) is commonly known as the Iron Law of Responsibility. It expresses legitimacy as a societal-level concept and describes the responsibility of business as a social institution that must avoid abusing its power. Thus, this principle expresses a prohibition rather than an affirmative duty, and it applies equally to all companies, regardless of their particular circumstances. According to A.K.H. Khor, the legitimacy theory is fundamentally a system-oriented theory where organisations are viewed as components of the larger social environment within which they exist. Stakeholder Theory A key feature of CSR involves the way that a company engages, involves, and collaborates with its stakeholders including shareholders, employees, debt-holders, suppliers, customers, communities, non-governmental organisations, and governments. M. C. Branco and L. L. Rodrigues (2007) argued that companies need to use stakeholder engagement to internalise societys needs, hopes, circumstances into their corporate views and decision-making. While there are many questions about how far a companys responsibilities extend into communities relative to the roles of governments and individual citizens, there is a strong argument that CSR can effectively improve a companys relations with communities and thereby produce some key features that will improve business prospects for its future. Agency Theory This theory comes to explain the relationship that exists between the owners/shareholders and the management. As such the latter is the agent which appointed by the principal (owner/subsidiary) and problems such as the potential moral hazard and conflict of interest are likely to occur. CSR comes as a middle way so that both parties can maximise their gains. As such, when CFP is strong, managers may reduce social expenditures in order to maximise their own short term private gains whereas when CFP weakens, managers will try to offset their disappointing results by engaging in conspicuous social programs, hence increasing their own wealth and that of shareholders as well, pursuant to the managerial opportunism hypothesis by Preston OBannon (1997). 2.2 Theoretical Review 2.2.1 Corporate Financial Performance (CFP) Most of the businesses operate with a view of yielding profits. The financial performance of a company is reflected through its policies and operations in monetary terms. These results are reflected through its return on investment, return on assets, value added, return on sale and growth in sales. Managers work in the best interest of shareholders to maximise profits. Financial performance is the most common, however, it cannot be considered as the only indicator used to measure a firms wealth. A broader definition of financial performance is accompanied by additional indicators such as short-term profits, long-term profits, market value, and other forms of competitive advantage, as noted by Jensen (2001). 2.2.2 Corporate Social Performance and CFP Many previous studies have indicated an unclear relationship between CSR and financial performance. Thus, literature has pointed out towards an innovation in bringing the concept of CSP to better explore its impact upon corporate financial performance (CFP). In todays world, for a firm to achieve a good and high level of CFP, it has to go beyond the limits of its own corporate strategies and adopt views of other stakeholders who may be directly or indirectly related to the company. Since over the three decades, the study of the correlation between CSP and CFP has gained much salience. Many studies conducted in this effect have yielded positive correlation, while others produced contradictory results with negative or non-significant different causal directions being found. In effect, there are several competing theoretical models which are proposed to explain three varying findings on the CSP-CFP link. Owing to these differing relationships, I.Y. Maroam (2006) proposes a unified theory of the CSP-CFP link that explain the different relationships that may be observed between CSR and CFP, thus basing itself on the parallels between the business and CSR domains. The concept of CSR instils in corporations the moral responsibility towards society that go beyond the goal of simply making profits for their owners and shareholders (Berman et al., 1999). As Freeman (1984) rightly pointed out that corporations should be socially responsible for both moral and practical (instrumental) reasons, by reflecting a socially responsible posture, a corporation can enhance its own performance. Thus, CSR activities can, inter-alia, be rewarded with more satisfied customers, better employee, improved reputation, and improved access to financial markets, all pertaining to improving financial performance and sustaining the business. However, social accomplishments may equally involve certain financial costs which can effectively reduce profits and comparative performance. Hence, Vance (1975) came up with the trade-off hypothesis to show negative linkage between CSP and CFP whereby corporations displaying strong social credentials experience declining stock price s relative to the market average. 2.2.3 CSP as a Business Strategy So far, it is clear that CSP can be used as a business strategy which can contribute to the competitive advantage of firms. A study by N. A. Dentchey (2004) on the effects of CSP on the competitiveness of organisations reveals that CSP should not be thought as an innocent adventure for executives. It is rather a strategy for achieving corporate strategies, which if not warily implemented, may harm the firms competitive advantage. Competitive advantage, as seen by Porter (1996), denotes the ability of a company to outperform others from successful differentiation from rivals actions. This strategic fit between the outside environment and companies internal resources and capabilities (Hoskissoon et al., 1999) results in superior financial results, as indicated by various measures of profitability. Hence, as per Burke and Logsdon (1996), a strategic implementation of social responsibility benefits all by resulting in strategic outcomes such as customer loyalty, future purchases, new products, new markets and productivity gains. Arguably, CSP can be a source of competitive disadvantage for firms which regard CSP as an additional cost. Business contributions to social prosperity (CSP) are seen by Keim (1978, p.33) as an investment in public good which is consumed or enjoyed by a number of individuals disregarding the cost sharing. Thus, investing in CSP is likely to bear negative effects for the firms which are in curring costs that might otherwise be avoided or that should be borne by others, for example, individuals or government (Aupperle et al., 1985). 2.2.4 CSP, CFP and the Stakeholder Theory Following the above arguments, a new perspective of CSP, based on the stakeholder analysis, emerges to argue furthermore that there exists a positive relationship between CSP and CFP. As such, S.A. Waddock and S.B. Graves (1997) propose that a tension exists between the firms explicit costs (for instance, payments to bondholders) and its implicit costs to other stakeholders (for example, product quality costs, and environmental costs). Hence, a firm which tries to outweigh its explicit costs by increasing its socially responsible actions incurs higher implicit costs, resulting in competitive advantage. Thus, high levels of CSP are seen as indicators of superior management by Alexander and Buchholz (1982) which lead to lower explicit costs and enhanced financial performance. The stakeholder theory accompanies the concept of CSR by shedding more light on the issue of social responsibility. This theory is spread over three aspects (Donaldson and Preston, 1995) namely, descriptive, instrumental and normative. While the descriptive aspect describes and explains the theory, the instrumental aspect discloses the cause-effect relationships between stakeholder management practices and improving corporate performance. The normative aspect, on the other hand, as perceived by I.Y. Maroam (2006) emphasizes on the moral imperatives for practising stakeholder management, rather than the business benefits it may provide. A parallelism between the core business domain and the CSR domain will maximise a firms profitability. The stakeholder theory provides a framework for investigating the relationship between CSP and CFP by examining how a change in CSP is related to a change in financial accounting measures. In fact, the two concepts of CSR and stakeholder share the proposition that social responsibility affects financial performance in some way or other. This subject area has been so vastly explored that this trend is now seen as a natural progression which goes associatively with developments in the industrial and business world. There is an increasing concern and emphasize on humanity, environmental preservation and enlightened social consciousness. Thus, a new area of research began to pave its way within the field of business and society where the relationship between corporate social conduct, both toward the corporations stakeholders and the wider society, and the corporations financial performance was and is still being investigated across several countries. Over environmental issues, research h as revealed that businesses which are eco-friendly and demonstrate good CSR practices enjoy increased consumer purchase preference (Gildea, 1994; Zaman, 1996) and good economic performance (Al-Tuwaijiri, et al., 2004). A stakeholder group, as identified and defined by Freeman (1984), is one that that can affect or is affected by achievement of the organisations objectives, that is, which can be harmed as well as can help it to achieve its goals. Therefore, there is a growing need for firms to address the needs and expectations of the stakeholders to avoid negative outcomes and produce positive outcomes for themselves (Donaldson and Preston, 1995; Freeman, 1984; Frooman, 1997). Pursuant to the stakeholder theory perspective, CSP can be assessed in terms of a company meeting the demands of multiple stakeholders, ranging from cost minimisation to societal maximisation. Building on the previous mentioned definition of CSP, Wood and Jones (1995) propose that stakeholder theory is the key to understanding the structure and dimensions of the firms societal relationships thereby assuming that firms are responsible for honouring all the implicit and explicit contracts they hold with their various constituen ts. Therefore, the stakeholder theory provides a system-based perspective of the organisation and its stakeholders where it acknowledges the dynamic and complex nature of the interplay between them. The various stakeholders of the firms, such as the employees, shareholders, financers, environmentalists, government, communities, customers and even competitors should be convinced by the management that it is working harder to satisfy them. The more important the stakeholders to the firm, the more effort the firm needs to put to uphold its relationship with the former. According to Clarkson, Donaldson and Preston et al. (1995), the stakeholder theory must place shareholders as one of the multiple stakeholder groups which managers should consider in their decision-making process. However, like the shareholders, the other stakeholders may have a say upon the firm, bestowing societal legitimacy. Notably, Bernadette M. Ruf et al. (2001) asserted that firms must address these non-shareholder gro ups demands otherwise they might face negative confrontations which can ultimately result in diminished shareholder value, through boycotts, lawsuits, protests and so on. Hence, firms have a fiduciary duty relationship not only to the shareholders, but to all stakeholders (Hasnas, 1998, p.32). So far, recognising a companys contractual relationship with the various stakeholders has been instrumental in better comprehending the relationship that CSP and CFP share. Stakeholders have expectations from the organisation. Nevertheless, these expectations may conflict with the firms limited resources leading the firm to evaluate its costs and benefits tradeoffs. Firms must thus come with measures representative of the various factors of CSP and stakeholders interests. Unlike neo-classical stockholders who were only interested in financial performance (Grouf, 1994; Shapiro, 1992), the major stakeholders of today, that is, the stockholders are more interested in the firms current and future financial benefits and social performance. 2.3 Empirical Review This section reviews the works done and methods used by researchers on the relationship of CFP and CSP. Empirical results on the latters correlation are mixed whereby some yielded in positive, some in negative and some in non-significant relationships. Basing on the stakeholder theory approach, several models on the CFP-CSP relationship have been proposed, where the largest number of investigations found a positive CSP-CFP linkage. Notably, different methods to compute indexes for CFP and CSP have been used since data on both cannot be possibly obtained in absolute figures. As such, using aggregated weights assigned to K dimensions of social performance obtained through questionnaire for CSP and using change in return on equity (ROE), change in return on sales (ROS) and growth in sales as financial measures on a sample of 496 firms, Bernadette M. Ruf et al. (2001) came up with a positive relationship between CSP and CFP. They, in fact, regressed change in CSP on change in CFP. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between change in CSP and change in ROE and change in ROS in the long term but that with growth in sales was significantly positive only in year 0 and 1. The study suggests that improvements in CSP have both immediate and continuing financial impacts. The authors have furthermore suggested that since many financial performance measures follow a random walk or mean reversion  [1]  , it is important to use lead/lag studies to establish a causal sequence of CSP and CFP. Concerning time period, one year may be short in strat egic terms and could well be distorted by rogue figures, hence, it suggested to take two or five years data in analyses. A paper by S. A. Waddock and S. B. Graves (1997) also found positive linkage between CFP and CSP. An index for CSP was computed using eight attributes relating to shareholder concerns and were rated consistently across the entire Standards Poors 500 by a rating service. The firms profitability was measured using three accounting variables, namely, return on assets (ROA), ROE and ROS used to assess CFP by the investment community. Factors such as size, risk and industry which affect both CFP and CSP were taken as control variables. Used on a sample of 469 companies and using CSP as both dependent and independent variable, the results revealed that CFP does depend on CSP and vice-versa and also indicated the importance of controlling for industry in assessing such a relationship. Size has been suggested in previous studies, like that of Ullman (1985), to be a factor which affects both CFP and CSP. Size remains a relevant variable because there had been evidence that smaller firms may not demonstrate the same obvious socially responsible behaviours as larger firms. Authors like Pinkston and Carroll (1993), for instance, investigated the extent social responsibility orientations, organisational stakeholders, and social issues can differ among firms of differing sizes. P. A. Stanwick and S. D. Stanwick (1998), on the other hand, found a significant positive association between size (annual sales) and CFP at the 10% level for three of the six years of their study. Firm size is particularly the scale of operations in an organisation (Price and Mueller (1986, p. 233)). Previous literature has indicated a need to control not only for industry, and size (Ullman, 1985; Waddock and Graves, 1997), but also for risk (McWilliams and Siegel, 2000) to render research results more complete. The argument to use risk as a control variable is supported by the fact that the degree of risk is seen as the other important component of firm performance assumed by a firm in order to achieve a given level of financial performance as stated by Bettis and Hall (1982). Baird and Thomas (1985) also advocated risk as being both as a strategic variable (firms choose a given level of risk) and as an outcome variable (strategic choices lead to a level of risk) which ultimately leads to improved financial performance. As such, M. Brine, R. Brown and G. Hackett (2004) used risk alongside size as control variables to assess financial performance of 277 companies. Their preliminary results stated that the adoption of CSR does lead to increases in turnover and also an increase in equity, which in turn improve the CFP level. To bring more integrity, M. Orlitzky et al. (2003) conducted a quantitative meta-analysis on the CFP-CSP relationship building on the hypothesis that CSP and CFP are generally positively related leading to competencies, learning, efficiency and reputation-building with its external stakeholders. Taking CFP as a companys financial viability through three broad subdivisions consisting of market-based (investor returns), accounting-based (accounting returns), and perceptual (survey) measures and constructing CSP through four broad measurement strategies, namely: (a) CSP disclosures (annual reports, letters to shareholders); (b) CSP reputation ratings; (c) social audits, CSP processes, and observable outcomes; and (d) managerial CSP principles and values (Post, 1991), the study suggests that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility can pay off, despite the CSP-CFP operationalisations can also moderate the positive associa tion. CSP appeared to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices were more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators. According to Mahoney L. and Roberts R.W. (2007), there is no significant relationship between a composite measure of firms CSP and CFP. Using four years panel data of Canadian firms, they calculated a composite measure of CSP score by summing all dimension strength ratings, such as, community relations, diversity, employee relations, environment, international, product safety, and amongst others and subtracting all dimension weaknesses ratings. Following Waddock and Graves (1997a), ROA and ROE were used separately to measure a firms CFP. As CFP was expected to be positively related to CSP, a one-year lag between CFP and all independent variables (CSP, firm size, debt level, and industry) was used. Inconsistent with their expectation, they found no significant relationship between the composite CSP measure and either ROA or ROE. However, the use of individual measures of firms CSP regarding environmental and international activities and CFP resulted in a significant relationship provi ding mixed support for the business case for CSP. A study, using the Granger causality approach, by Rim Makni et al. (2008) reaffirms Mahoney and Roberts (2007) works on the non-significant relationship. However, there may also be a simultaneous and interactive negative relation between CSP and CFP, forming a vicious circle.

Early Sunday Morning :: essays research papers

Early Sunday Morning, is a Dear America book. It's the Pearl Harbor diary of Amber Billows by Barry Denenberg. This book is about a girl whos father is a newspaper writer. They move almost every month. The reason for this is so he has something to write about. This time they were moving to Hawaii. The family hated moving and so did the dad but he didn't show how much he did. He hid it from his family. When Amber found this out she spent the next day at the library learning about Hawaii. The night before they left to Hawaii they had a dinner. Amber couldn't believe that her father was having a party the week before they left. All week Amber was hoping that her friend Allison didn't talk to her and she didn't. One night she was in her room reading a book when she looked up and there was Allison at the foot of her bed. Then Amber told her that she was moving to Hawaii. Allison just started to cry and then she said she would never find a better friend then her. Then Amber started to lau gh to cheer her up. She said she would write every week. They could be pen pals. The next day she said good bye to Washington and aloha to Hawaii.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book is a turn pager because it's interesting to see what happens to Amber. They have to adapt to the beautiful place they are going to be in for awhile. They went down to the beach to see the surfers and Amber's little brother Andy said that the reason why there weren't many surfers is because the sharks ate them. Amber eventually had to go to school. She was so nervous. She thought that she wouldn't have any friends but she made one. Mr.Poole asked her if she liked to read and she said very much. He then gave her a booked called The Secret Garden. He told her she liked it as much as he did. After Thanksgiving Amber didn't know if they were going on a tour of Pearl Harbor with Lieutenant Lockhart because he had offered to take them. Andy, her dad, and Amber went on the tour. Andy was so excited. They got to see the ships on battleship row and after that they went to see the Lieutenant's ship called the USS Arizona.

The Pressure Brought On By College Essay -- University Stress Peer Pre

The Pressure Brought On By College Socially, religiously, and scholastically, a person’s values are severely challenged as he enters college. A major university has many evil faces that can alter a person’s values if he or she is not careful. Fraternities and their counterpart, sororities, target freshmen mainly because they’re young, easily influenced, and lonesome. Religious organizations try their best to counter the fraternities by gathering these young scholars to spread their word. The University of Georgia itself causes turmoil in these students' beliefs by requiring classes that promote a change in merit. These are the main things that I have encountered as a student through the University, and all three intrude on my privacy. (in her essay "Keeping Close to Home,")bell hooks argues that a college campus is a place where people hide there true selves. At a time when someone’s values are constantly being tested they should show their true feelings in order to avoid conflicts l ater in life. Fraternities and sororities play a major role in the choices a person makes as he enters college. They target the young because they are simply the easiest to influence. Most of these students are away from home with no friends. They are hungry to belong to a group, and a Fraternity offers a sense of togetherness that these lambs away from the herd need. Once hooked and interested in becoming a member, recruits are constantly challenged to drink and perform embarrassing tasks to prove how dedicated they are to becoming a brother. These rushies can possibly be beaten, definitely made to clean non-stop, and constantly forced to run errands for the older brothers. Hazing, or abusing a recruit, has supposedly been abolis... ...he said that a university forces you to hide your background. She said this about the years she attended Stanford, "I lived alone, like the one Mormon student who kept to himself as he made a concentrated effort to remain true to his religious beliefs and values" (hooks 88 ). Yes, you can be highly influenced at a college to change, but I have never had to hide my beliefs. I guess it's different for me to attend UGA and for her to attend Stanford. She should not mask who she is, and she should be proud and teach these people not to stereotype. Overall, a University system is a great place and I love every second of being on campus. There are just some things that need to be fixed before I graduate. Works Cited hooks, bell. "Keeping Close to Home." The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea Lunsford and John Ruszkiewicz. New York: St. Martins Press, 1997. 85-95. The Pressure Brought On By College Essay -- University Stress Peer Pre The Pressure Brought On By College Socially, religiously, and scholastically, a person’s values are severely challenged as he enters college. A major university has many evil faces that can alter a person’s values if he or she is not careful. Fraternities and their counterpart, sororities, target freshmen mainly because they’re young, easily influenced, and lonesome. Religious organizations try their best to counter the fraternities by gathering these young scholars to spread their word. The University of Georgia itself causes turmoil in these students' beliefs by requiring classes that promote a change in merit. These are the main things that I have encountered as a student through the University, and all three intrude on my privacy. (in her essay "Keeping Close to Home,")bell hooks argues that a college campus is a place where people hide there true selves. At a time when someone’s values are constantly being tested they should show their true feelings in order to avoid conflicts l ater in life. Fraternities and sororities play a major role in the choices a person makes as he enters college. They target the young because they are simply the easiest to influence. Most of these students are away from home with no friends. They are hungry to belong to a group, and a Fraternity offers a sense of togetherness that these lambs away from the herd need. Once hooked and interested in becoming a member, recruits are constantly challenged to drink and perform embarrassing tasks to prove how dedicated they are to becoming a brother. These rushies can possibly be beaten, definitely made to clean non-stop, and constantly forced to run errands for the older brothers. Hazing, or abusing a recruit, has supposedly been abolis... ...he said that a university forces you to hide your background. She said this about the years she attended Stanford, "I lived alone, like the one Mormon student who kept to himself as he made a concentrated effort to remain true to his religious beliefs and values" (hooks 88 ). Yes, you can be highly influenced at a college to change, but I have never had to hide my beliefs. I guess it's different for me to attend UGA and for her to attend Stanford. She should not mask who she is, and she should be proud and teach these people not to stereotype. Overall, a University system is a great place and I love every second of being on campus. There are just some things that need to be fixed before I graduate. Works Cited hooks, bell. "Keeping Close to Home." The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea Lunsford and John Ruszkiewicz. New York: St. Martins Press, 1997. 85-95.

American Politic

The United States of America had over the years restricted voting from women, black American and prisons of particular offences. The American legibility to vote over the years has been mainly determined by the federal and the state laws. Today, only the citizens of the US can be allowed to vote. However the states have their own laws that govern the right to votes at any elections. As if to deprive the states of their independence, the national constitutions has also gone ahead to restrict the voting laws at the state level.However over the years there have been extensions of voting rights. At the very onset of the American democracy, women and the poor were not legible to take part in the voting. This disfranchisement has been criticized over the years. Nevertheless it is appreciable the attainment of the voting rights have been as progressive as the progression of the American democracy. Until 1870 Americans were denied voting rights based on the three principles, race color and th eir previous servitude conditions.In 1920 the provision was reviewed and only sex was used as a restricting factor against one taking part in the voting process. In 1964 a provision was passed contrary to inter alia allowing American citizens who had failed to pay taxes to take part in voting. Hitherto, American who were not paying taxes were not allowed vote. In 1971, passed an amendment bill that sought to lift any restrictions on account of the age. The right to vote has been extended to a wide spectrum of voters. However some states barred people who had committed felonies from voting.Several movements pushed for the expansion of the suffrage extend. In the 1960 for example, young men who had taken art in the war in Vietnam were in dire need for voting to taking part in the election of their leaders. While they were taking an active part in the government policy implementation they appeared locked out in key government decisions such as elections. Subsequent to this movement the minimum voting age was moved from 21 years of age to 18 years. In a dramatic shift, some states even allowed those who were nearing that age to take part in election at the primaries and caucuses.The voting space was further opened through the extension of voting rights to prisoners. Though this was done spaciously, some states allowed only prisoners on probation to take part in voting. As of 2007 fourteen states in the United State were allowing prisoners with minor crimes and ex-felons to vote. It is however regrettable that an estimated 5. 3 American are denied the voting rights because convictions of felony. This is in sharp contrast with the practice in the European Union where ex-felons and in some cases prisoners are allowed to vote.In Canada for example, prisoners have been allowed to vote since 2002. It has taken relatively long for the extension of the suffrage in the United States. Presumably, this is because over the years there was no push for this course. However the few past decades have seen movements fronting for the rights of the franchised. While these movements go way back to the times of Martin Luther king Junior, after his death there was reduced political activism that would have led to reduction of the voter franchise. The extension of suffrage has been largely precipitated by the increased American political space.In addition, the increased economic development was coupled with political reform. Given that economic development is always coupled with political and social development, these transformations made the upsurge of political and social movements inevitable. Subsequently, the United States was being used as a parameter for ideal democracy; hence it was utterly inevitable of the powers that be to embrace human rights, inclusive of the voting rights. 2. Describe the factors that have contributed to the overall weakening of political parties in America. How are parties weaker?How do they remain important? What are the advantages of a political system with weak political parties? What are the disadvantages? Political parties are elected into power based on their manifestos and their policies. However it so happens that after election the parties tend to deviate utterly from their manifesto. They tend, in the opinion of the electorates, to engage in other businesses other than the mandate for which they were elected into power. Besides, the parties have revered their political party’s hegemony to an extent that they are not the electorates that count but the party.Apparently the United States has international forces that are dictating its direction. Worse still, the purported purchase of votes in the quest to pass certain bills are also making the voters loss their trust in the system. Given that parties are about numbers, this ends up weakening the parties even further. In particular the voters cite the passing of the healthcare plan bill. This exhibition of concealed corruption is making the general public to lose trust overall in the leadership of the country; who happen to be emanating from political parties.The decentralization of the party powers has also believably contributed to the weakening of the political parties. The implication is that the grassroots leader have equal mandate on the affairs of the party just as much as the leaders at the national levels. In addition the party system tends to have very many cleavages at all the three levels; national, state and the local levels. This fragments the system further hence making it to lose its powers. It is also worth noting that the parties sporadically supported; in one state, one party is supported altogether while in another, another party is supported.The United States has very many issues that need to be addressed. This diversified issues lead to lower internal unity among party members. This has been particularly prevalent in the Democratic Party. Vividly, even the Republican Party seems to be tending on this ver y trend. This notable is the fragmenting of the party into Conservative Republican and Libertarian Republicans. In addition, the emergence of interest groups has also critiqued the political parties to the extent of igniting distrust from the voters. Further, partisan bickering has also seen turn off to the American voter.There are a number of indicators of weakening of parties. In particular the realignment in elections has been dramatic encounter in the US. This has been an ultimate indication of the weakening of political parties. Areas that were initially perceived to be in support of the Republican Party are now supporting the Democratic Party. There has also been a decline in the straight ticket voting to increased split ticket voting. The subsequent inclusion of the office bloc ballot that allows for the split ticket voting is an indicator of this trend.There appears o be no clear cut merits for weaker political parties; however, weaker political parties tend to strengthen de mocratic ideals. Clearly, when the incumbent is duly mandated they tend to deliver service with a clear conscience of low civil mandate. On the contrary, when political are weaker the lack of mandate expose them to sabotage even when their strategic and political intention or good willed. In general this tends to impede the success of both political social and economic agenda. In the overall analysis it does affect the functioning of political economic and social systems.Ultimate, the delivery of services to the general public is tampered with. 3. Should race be taken into account when congressional districts are redrawn after each census? If 20 percent of a state is African American, should 20 percent of the districts have an African American majority? First, it need to be acknowledged that any process that takes race as a central parameter for course will always end up disfranchising the nation. Therefore such attempts should be resisted at all costs. It is equally appreciable tha t over years racism has impacted white people.Usually that discussion comes in the context of an assumption that, if whites can see that racism has negative effects on them as a group, that realization will motivate action to eliminate racism. While the forces of racism would not be demonized as such, its emphasized use promotes its ideals. Hence if the criteria is used it divides the nation into such lines. Racism is by far too powerful and recalcitrant force that if it is allowed to permeate, it clings and stubbornly gets lodged into the system this assumption acknowledges, clinging stubbornly wherever it is lodged.In addition there is much price to be paid in acceptance of this draconian approach to national development. Most of the white will not accept this aspect and would rather not accept this dynamics. However, the role they do play is so immense that the least consideration should be given to such criteria in making such decision as rescheduling of the district boundaries. In measuring the benefits, powers and privileges, in some concealed process of thought and sensation outweigh the negatives.Nevertheless, there is the least possibility of balancing the effects of the racial criteria with their inherent negative effect. Racism would not only hurt the marginalized, but also those who purport to be privileged. While the argument in the article should not play sanguine, the basic principle and guiding criteria should be that in earnest, racism has the least positives to offer, rather it simply creates divisions that jeopardize the peace and tranquility of the nation or the state.Fronting of divisions based on these criteria will defeat the national object of ensuring that the state is dully glued together and utterly cohesive. Majorly, it has always been perceived that racism affect the blacks more than the white; however, I feel the effect is felt across the board. Racism has distorted reality for many whites. Teachings about history, the world, the pursuits of thought, expressions of culture, and personal relationships have for most whites been both limited and false.Racism has taught whites that we are members of a race which is superior, and that assumption creates false expectations and warped illusions. Racism, particularly during the period when Africans were enslaved, taught white men that it is all right to rape black women, and also exacerbated the devaluation of white women. Racism has taught whites that we are entitled to privilege as a right of birth, undercutting the assumption of achieved merit which is one of the cornerstones of democracy.Racism, present at the foundation of our nation, left a country built on a fundamental and terrible contradiction between a belief in equality and a belief in white superiority. That contradiction remains unresolved. Racism has produced in white society a mental health problem: characteristic responses among many whites are dominated by unfounded fear of blacks, hatred, suspicio n, guilt, shame, and jealousy. These words are the language of disease. The cost for whites who want to move beyond racism has been a high one, measured in time, emotion, psychic energy, and sometimes money.Racism, as one of the root causes of poverty, costs our nation huge amounts of money, measured in crime, unemployment and related social ills. Racism has set whites who are made poor in our society in competition with people of color, and has also increased the separation between classes among whites. Ultimately, no, race should not be taken into considerations. Ideally taking into account the race is simply trying to fragment the nation into the races. 4. A dilemma is presented by the values of liberty and equality in regard to interest-group activity.On the one hand, individuals should have the liberty to organize themselves politically in order to express their views. On the other hand, there is a strong class bias in the politics of organized interests. How has the U. S. gove rnment sought to regulate group activity in order to balance these competing values? What else might government do to make group politics less biased? What are the potential consequences—both good and bad—of the actions you suggest? The United States has sought to regulate group activities through passing legislations that require all lobbyists to register.Until the 1970, the United States monitored rather than regulated the activities of lobby groups. Today the activities of the various groups have been regulated through four constitutional legislations. Within the constitutional provisions, the lobby groups are expected to report on their expenditure and the activities of involvement by the registered lobby groups. The government has also regulated the activities of the groups by restricting the association of the civil servants and government organizations with the lobby groups.The association regulated is in terms of finances and logistics. Ideally this is meant to reduce the muzzle of the lobby groups in terms of their financial capability and their subsequent technical ability to address certain group issues. In addition, this assists the government to ensure that there is no leakage of any government classified information to this lobby groups. The groups are also expected to disclose their financial statements. Ideally, the lobby groups are meant to publish their income sources and their expenditure items.Besides, the government restricts and limits the amount of money that can be attained from the various funding organizations. Further, the government sets timeline within which the group can access funds from various fundraisers. The political action committee is mandated with the regulation of funds for the purpose of campaigns. Presumably, the PAC is supposed to ensure that the groups do not get beyond the target set for group expenditures on campaigns. It need be noted that different states have also come up with supporting laws that regulate the activities of the groups.Like in the case of campaign financing regulations, some of the laws compel limitations and prohibits the contributions from Political Actions Committees. The US constitution does require that the political parties should get majority votes from half the states. To reduce bias further, I feel strongly that there should be a provision to the effect that the winner should gunner at least 40 percent of the votes cast from the remaining states other than the present requisite majority of the 75% from the electorates college. 5. Two of Congress’s chief responsibilities are representation and lawmaking.Describe the ways in which these two responsibilities might conflict with one another. How do these responsibilities support and reinforce one another? What would Congress be like if its sole function were representative? What would it be like if it were solely legislative? The congressmen and women are expected to represent their electorates in the all spheres, and on the other extreme they are expected to make laws that are to serve the interests of the larger America. There are issues that would be in conflict with the representative’s aspiration of the people whom they do represent.Some of the legislations are in the interests of the country at large; however, the representative may have to sacrifice the desires of the electorates to have the legislations passed. In some cases, the laws presented would, though good, may be turned down because the representatives are trying to have their electorates protected. Ultimately, this represents conflicts in interests. In financial related bills, as a representative the legislator would be compelled to turn down the bill if the bill does not give considerations to the states of representation.In earnests this would be in the interests of the state but not the national interests. This conflict would impede on the overall delivery of services to the nation. In additions, on e may push for legislations that only take care of the states for which there represents not taking the interests of the nation into account. As a legislator, the representative function curtails the members of the congress to pass legislations that would not hurt their electorates, but remain consistent with the needs and desires of the nation. Subsequently the legislations passed remain consistent with the interests of the country.If the congress was only comprised of legislators, it could be more likely that the laws would not take into consideration the needs of the citizens. This would just lead to complacence in the entire legislation process. The fact that legislators are also representatives makes the whole process issue and needs oriented unlike if the legislators are only playing that role in seclusion without understanding the needs of the citizenry. If the congress was purely of the representation functions, there could be a high chance that the legislations passed would have total seclusion from the ideal state on the ground.Ideal reforms would be practical to the needs of the citizenry need to bridge between the linked to the ideal state on the ground; the central role of representation. Partisan politics largely take the interests of the state at heart rather the national interests. In view of this aspect, legislation may be hampered by the interests. In their quest to defend the party positions, which are representative of their election mandate, the representative end up dwelling a blow on the functions of the congress. 6. Presidents have constitutional, institutional, and political sources of power.Which of the three do you think most accounts for the powers of the presidency? Is it, in fact, possible to discern among these the true source of presidential power? Select a president and discuss the ways in which that particular president used each source of power to succeed in the presidency. Because of the democratic ideal embraced by the Unit ed States of America, constitutional source of power tend to take much prominence in the presidents mode of administration. Though the other powers may come into foreplay, they can only have impact where they are supported by constitutional powers.When the president gets into office appointment, he undertakes appointments informed by the constitutional powers, though behind the scenes there could be some fore play in the determination of the person, the whole act is prompted by the constitution. The constitution does mandate the president to make appointment subject to certain conditions. Nevertheless, he has the powers that are constitution of undertaking the appointments. Taking the decision such as the engagement into war in Iraq Bush simply used his constitutional powers to declare the war on Iraq.Ideally political powers could have the list effect as the decision was not supported by all the Republicans. In essence the party was much divided over the declaration of the war in I raq. On the strength of this argument it is evident that constitutional powers fore played other sources of power. It is utterly possible to discern that the political powers only assist the presidency to take over the office. But once the president has taken over the office institutional powers take the central stage the decision making process with the other sources of powers only being supportive to the entire excise of the presidential mandate.Essentially, one can strongly content that the major source of powers for the presidency in the United States of America is mainly the constitution. The institution of the presidency has sufficient powers that allow the American president make decisions on behalf of the state. Pursuant to this provision the presidency (under Bush) refused to sign the Kyoto protocol which according to bush was going to hurt the American economy. Bush argued that if the Kyoto protocol was signed, it implied most of the vehicle (75 millions) were to be remove d from the road which meant the Americans were to resort to some other form of transport.When President Bush (former) was seeking election to the white house he did make a promise to the conservatives that he would nominate one of the conservative judges to the high court bar. For him this was going to change the direction in the court. Alito’s appointment was purely, within this context, political. The credentials of Alito, purely conservative, were to provide a swing vote in O’Connor. 7. Often the efficiency of public bureaucracies is judged in terms of the efficiency of private business and other organizations.In many instances, government has been expected to do things that businesses in the marketplace have chosen not to do or have found unprofitable. Might the tasks that government is asked to perform be more prone to inefficiency? Think about the ways in which business might be able to perform some tasks that government currently performs. Would business necessa rily perform these tasks more efficiently? Should efficiency be the only priority in the public enterprise? There are certain services and goods that would otherwise not be left in the hands of the public for delivery to the consumers.These goods will ascribe to these aspects for a number of reasons. First, the fact that certain service such as the constructions of roads has such a large capital outlay that the private sector would not single handedly offer implies that it is only the government that can offer such services. Some goods and services are so sensitive that leaving their supply to the private sector would not only jeopardize national security but will also put at risk the security of the civilians at risk.Services such as the military, police services and the prison services are so sensitive that leaving them to the private sector does not give the general public assurance of the efficacy and the reliability of the services. The provision of the legal tender for any gov ernment, America and any other would not be left in the hands of the general public. The currency would readily be supplied to the economy without the least consideration of effect particularly where partisan interests come into foreplay. In the long run the currency of any state may never be stabilized.This risks the economic performance of any state. The other reason for the provision of these services by the government is if the services or the goods are very unprofitable. Given that the central goal of the central objective of any business is to make profits. Any service that proves unprofitable would definitely and at all costs be avoided by the private sector. Given that the government has to ensure the provision of these services is inevitable, the government has no option but seek to offer the services.The lightings of the street for example have the least returns, if any. However, the provision of lights on the streets is an inevitable venture. For the streets to be safe, t he government has to erect street lights for the safety of the street users. Such venture has the least prospects of any profits. The provision of road networks services would still be left to the private sector for business if the private is allowed to collect some toll from the roads. It is appreciable that the private sector world over offers the best services compared to the government.If such avenues are opened up, it is possible that the private sector would offer relatively superb services compared to the government. However, such step can only be approved off with due caution. This is because the private sector, due to the monopolistic nature of the road system network, would end up exploiting the citizens and making exorbitant profits at the expense of the common citizenry. Therefore should be generally appreciated that the private sector has the likelihood of offering better services but the challenge would only be how best they can be contained to reduce consumer exploita tion.Nonetheless, services such as banking would only be regulated by the central bank but utterly left to the private sector to undertake such services. Ultimately efficiency and effectiveness would be attained. I strongly feel indeed efficiency should be the central indicator of good performance; however, other factors such as the reliability of the service delivery and effectiveness of the entire process should be equally taken into consideration. Clearly, being efficient may not necessarily imply that the entire citizenry is able to access the services.Ultimate, the efficiency aspect should be coupled with aspects of reliability and the effectiveness of the services being delivered. 8. In many ways, courts are expected to be apolitical institutions of government. In what ways are courts, judges, and justices shielded from politics and political pressure? In what ways are they vulnerable to political pressure? Are the courts an appropriate place for politics? What is the danger o f having too much or too little political accountability in judicial decision-making?The American judicial system has been made independent through a dependent judiciary and independent judges. Ideally the accountability of the judiciary and the independence of the judicial system are irreconcilable. Presumably, the both the two are means to an end and are never ends in themselves. The United States has a well-functioning adjudication system that has ultimately tries to reconcile democratic and legal legitimacy. In earnest, the achievement of a balance between the democratic and the legal legitimacy is utterly in the hands of the judges.The judicial has the mandate to restrict the government on certain issues. The muzzle that the judicial system has is marshaled from the fact that the judges have a security of tenure in office. This makes it possible for them to dispense their responsibilities with the least form of fear or favor. Given that their decision can not be overruled so ea sily, the judicial system therefore become impartial and therefore end making decisions that end up giving judgments that are beyond political reproach. The courts are capable of questioning the government over certain actions.Courts hold governments answerable through their power to evaluate the actions of the executive and the legislature. These powers are at the zenith particularly when courts can declare certain laws passed by the parliament as unconstitutional. Courts can also declare any decision by the parliament as unconstitutional and the executive has the least say on the same. This decision would be reached in respect to or subject to both the national and the international law. Though the judicial system is termed as an independent institution, its appointment mode subjects the process to political likelihood of manipulation.Given that the appointment of the judges is normally done by the political class, this subjects the system to political reprisal. The fear of immine nt lack of reappointment after the change of government thus subjects the judicial system to some boot-leaking condition. Definitely, the courts are not the best place for politics. Allowing politics to permeate the judicial system denies the civilians their right. Clearly, when politics dog the judicial system, the officers in the judicial system live in fear of political reprisal and hence tend to serve the interest of the political class than to fully follow the constitutional order.While the political class will feel contented, the civilians will be denied their constitutional rights. The extremes of involvement or lack of political involvement is equally disastrous. Too much involvement, as has already been mentioned curtails the rights of the civilians. The lack of political involvement makes the court lack responsibility. Hence the best balance that would be at the interest of the civilian should be political involvement that is moderated. Moderation implies that the politica l class should only make the judicial system accountable.Lack of accountability should be pointed out by the political class and therefore allow the system to valuate the entire accountability prospects. Ultimately, the interaction between the judicial system and the other branches of government should be geared to quality and legal service delivery to the civilians. Extraverted exercise of these powers simply jeopardizes the service delivery process to the citizenry. The three arms of any government should simply act as checks and balances of each other. this subsequently translates to the efficacy and efficiency if the entire service delivery process to the populace.