Case Study: Harold Shipman

Case Study: Harold Shipman Shipman began practicing as a doctor in 1974, at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden. He was there until 1975 when his partners discovered that he had been obtaining drugs dishonestly for his own use. In 1976 he pleaded guilty to three offences of obtaining pethidine by deception, three offences of unlawful possession of pethidine and two further offences of forging a prescription he was sentenced in Halifax Magistrates court to pay a fine and compensation. In August 1992,he began working as a solo practitioner at a surgery in Hyde he continued to work as a single-handed practitioner until his arrest in September 1998. In July 1998 the Greater Manchester Police began an inquiry into Kathleen Grundys death, a patient of Dr Shipman, the inquiry was rapidly widened to include the deaths of Shipmans other patients. On Monday, 31st January 2000 the jury at Preston Crown Court convicted Harold Shipman of 15 murders and of forging a will. Case Study Mrs Kathleen Grundy was a widow and lived by herself she was in remarkably good health for her age. She undertook work for many Charitable organisations and had a healthy social life. She spent the evening before her death with a friend and was in normal health when she went home. Mrs Grundy died on 24th June 1998 at the age of 81. Shipman forged a certificate and passed of her death being due to old age. Later scientific analysis of her body tissues in August 1998 showed that she had died of morphine poisoning. In the few days before her death, Shipman had persuaded Mrs Grundy to take part in a research project into the ageing process, allegedly to be conducted by Manchester University. It emerged later that this was a hoax so he could obtain a sample of her signature, which he used in an attempt to forge a will. This also created an excuse to visit her at home. She visited him on 23rd June, to have her ears syringed and told her that he needed a blood sample for the research project which must be taken early in the morning. He arranged to visit her at about 8.30am the next morning. The following day she was due to attend Werneth House but she did not arrive. Friends and colleagues there became concerned as this was out of character for Mrs Grundy and two of them, Mr John Green and Mr Ronald Pickford, went to her house at about midday. They found her lying on the sofa fully dressed. Her body was cold and it was established she was dead. The door to the house was unlocked. They summoned Shipman to the house. Following a perfunctory examination of the body, he said ‘cardiac arrest’, following the test he had a brief discussion with someone in the coroner’s office and it was agreed that a certificate which stated the cause of death to be ‘old age’ would be acceptable. There was no record kept of the conversation with the coroner’s office. When Shipman had left the house Mr Green informed the police, as he was unable to contact Mrs Grundy’s daughter Mrs Angela Woodruff. The officers concerned spoke to Shipman later and he informed them he had called on Mrs Grundy earlier that day because she had been unwell. He did not mention the fact that he had called to take a blood sample. Shipman also told them he had spoken with the coroner’s office and was going to issue a certificate stating that Mrs Grundy had died of natural causes. The police officers took a quick look at the body and on seeing nothing suspicious took no further action. The day after the death Shipman spoke to Mrs Woodruff. He told her that he had seen Mrs Grundy on the day before her death just for ‘a routine thing’. He was vague and mentioned she had chest pains possibly due to indigestion. Shipman said that he had arranged to collect a blood sample the next morning, when he arrived she was not yet dressed. He then said that some old people complain of feeling unwell a few days before they die and then just die. He inferred that this had happened to Mrs Grundy. He handed Mrs Woodruff the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) and said that he had certified the death as being due to old age. Mrs Woodruff’s suspicions were not aroused until she was contacted by the Hamilton Ward legal firm handling her mother’s will. Her own law practice in Warwickhad usually dealt with her mother’s legal affairs. The original will had been lodged with the firm in 1986. Hamilton Ward received a new will the same day that Mrs Grundy died. The new will was badly typed. Mrs Woodruff told the Shipman trial in October: â€Å"My mother was a meticulously tidy person. The thought of her signing a document which is so badly typed didn’t make any sense. The signature looked strange, it looked too big. The concept of mum signing a document leaving everything to her doctor was unbelievable.†[1] The police arranged for the exhumation of Mrs Grundys body. The exhumation was vital because forensic evidence was needed to verify the case of death. Dr Rutherford an expert witness pathologist was instructed to conduct the post-mortem examination. The post-mortem was crucial as it would establish time and cause of death, one would also know if Shipmans version of events are true. The results of the post-mortem examination found no natural explanation for Mrs Grundy’s death therefore not supporting Shipmans account. Also questions that were left unanswered for example why had this happened to someone who had been in good health, had been answered. Scientific analysis of the body tissues revealed levels of morphine consistent with the administration of a fatal dose. Dr John Grenville also provided a report and said that there were a number of false entries in the medical records which had been created after the death to give credibility to Shipman’s stories. Firstly that Mrs Grundy was under the weather when he saw her on 23rd June and secondly that Mrs Grundy had been abusing drugs and might have administered the morphine herself. This evidence was very valuable as it proved medical records had been doctored in order to cover Shipmans back. Forensic evidence proved that Shipman forged Mrs Grundys will this was one of the main reasons as to why suspicions were aroused in the first place. Shipman wanted to obtain the whole of Mrs Grundy’s estate, leaving nothing to her daughter and grandchildren. He drafted the will using his own old-fashioned Brother portable typewriter. When the police came to Shipman’s premises and took possession of the typewriter the will was immediately linked to him. This was important as tests would be able to show that if the will had been produced from Shipmans type writer the paper could be matched as well as the ink and tracks that had been used, this evidence would be enough to prove that it had come from that specific printer. Although this evidence was valuable shipman could still argue that someone else had used his type writer. Overall the final product looked painstakingly unprofessional and suspicion would be aroused immediately. Expert hand writing evidence proved them to be forgeries. Shipman forged Mrs Grundy’s signature and dated the will 9th June 1998. On that day he staged a ‘signing and witnessing’ event in his consulting room and must have prepared a document for Mrs Grundy to sign which purported to provide for her consent to take part in some medical research supposedly to be conducted by Manchester University. This document required that Mrs Grundy’s signature should be witnessed by two others, who also had to sign and provide their names, addresses and occupations. While Mrs Grundy was at Shipman’s surgery on 9th June, Shipman appears to have obtained her signature on this document and then called two patients from his waiting room into the consulting room where they completed and signed the witnesses’ part of the document. Shipman must have used this document to copy the three signatures as well as he could. The document would have been valuable to shipman as he had no other means of looking at Mrs Grundys signature. Forensic evidence showed the Shipman had forged the signature as it did not match the style of Mrs Grundys writing and it was blatantly obvious that it was a copy due the fact that Shipman had to break off as he kept looking at the original signature to copy it, it was also noted that the signature Shipman forged was allot bigger than how Mrs Grundy would normally sign. There were clear conclusions drawn from the Forensic evidence as the post-mortem that Mrs Grundys death was a clear case of morphine poisoning. Even without this evidence there were a number of questions that did not add up for instance this was a sudden death of an elderly person in good health. There was no explanation for her death. Mrs Grundys door was unlocked this was also unusual for her as her neighbours mentioned the fact that she was a security conscious person, Shipman implied that Mrs Grundy left the door unlocked after letting him out this vital piece of evidence was a major blow to shipmans case as he had been unable to leave the security system in the condition relatives and friends would have expected it to be. Even though Shipman had altered Mrs Grundys medical records to show she was unwell just before her death and that he suspected she had been abusing drugs her medical records still showed she had been in good health and had no potentially fatal conditions that would harm her. Also the cause of death being ‘old age’, left unanswered question and was quite an inappropriate case of death for a person who had been in such good health. On the 31st January 2000, after six days of deliberation the jury found Shipman guilty of killing 15 patients by lethal injections of diamorphine, and forging the will of Kathleen Grundy. He was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences and it was recommended that he never be released. Shipman also received four years imprisonment for forging the will. Two years after his conviction, Home Secretary David Blunkett confirmed the judge’s recommendation that Shipman never be released. Shipman was officially struck off by the General Medical council in Februaury 2002 he consistently denied his guilt, disputing the scientific evidence against him. He never made any statements about his actions. His defence tried, but failed, to have the count of murder of Mrs Grundy, where a clear motive was alleged. Shipman subsequently committed suicide at Wakefield Prison by hanging himself from the window bars of his cell using bed sheets. He was found in his cell at 6:20 am on 13 January 2004, on the eve of his 58th birthday, and was officially pronounced dead at 8:10 am. Bibliography Crime scene to court second edition, Edited by .P.C.White http://www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk http://www.geraldengland.co.uk/gx/shipman.htm http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-180566187.htm [1] Mrs Woodruffs evidence in court Royal Ahold: An analysis Royal Ahold: An analysis ROYAL AHOLD: 1. Introduction Headquartered in the Netherlands, Royal Ahold is one of the worlds largest international retail grocery and food service companies. At its peak in 2001, Aholds reported sales and profits were â‚ ¬66.6 billion and â‚ ¬1.1 billion and it operated 5,155 stores in 27 countries with nearly a quarter of a million employees. Ahold was started as a family firm in 1887 by the Heijn family. It was a family-controlled business, operating primarily in the Netherlands for over 100 years. The company went public in 1948. In 1989, Ahold underwent a major transition from a family-controlled to a management controlled firm. This transition resulted in a phenomenal period of success for the firm. It generated over a 1,000% return for its shareholders and had a market capitalization of â‚ ¬30.6 billion by November 2001. In February 2003, Ahold witnessed a reversal of fortunes and suffered a complete meltdown. The firm was in a complete disastrous state with nothing going in their favour: a failed strategy, an accounting scandal, the firing of professional management, and litigation filings from all parts of the world. Shareholders lost most of their returns generated since 1989. Ahold scandal gave Europe a reason to believe that corporate governance and accounting problems were not restricted U.S. only. Ahold became â€Å"Europes Enron† (The Economist, March 1, 2003). It caused Dutch and European policymakers to rethink their approach to corporate governance and accounting policy. The Royal Ahold scandal, along with the accounting fraud at the giant Italian firm Parmalat, caused the European Union (EU) to impose more extensive and rigorous regulation on the financial reporting system and independent audit function within its member nations. The Royal Ahold debacle also reignited the debate re garding the need for more uniform accounting and auditing standards around the globe. In the Netherlands, a committee on corporate governance was installed on March 10, 2003 (Tabaksblat Committee, 2003) to restore the lost confidence in public companies. This report aims at studying the inter-relationships between the lack of corporate governance and of accounting transparency which led to the downfall of Ahold. The subsequent policies and strategies of the firm which aimed at reviving the firm are also aptly covered in the report. 2. The Growth Story: Expanding Boundaries Over the years, Ahold evolved from a single grocery store in 1887 to a food company with a dominant position in the Netherlands. By the mid-1970s, Royal Aholds management realized that for the company to continue to grow it could not limit its operations to The Netherlands. Since the Netherland market was already dominated by Royal Ahold, the companys top executives, who had long been known for their conservative operating and financial policies, announced their plan to expand its operations into other countries. Royal Aholds expansion efforts got off to a slow start but then accelerated rapidly in the 1990s after the company hired a new management team. Until the late 1980s, members of the Heijn family had occupied the key management positions within the firm. In 1987, two grandsons of Albert Heijn, served as Royal Aholds two top executives. Later in 1987 when the brothers retired, a professional management team was hired to replace the Heijn brothers. The team recognized that the quickest way for Royal Ahold to gain significant market share in the grocery retailing industry outside of The Netherlands was to purchase existing grocery chains in foreign countries. To finance their growth-by-acquisition policy, Royal Aholds new executives raised large amounts of debt and equity capital during the 1990s. By 2000, Royal Ahold had purchased retail grocery chains in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Portugal, Scandinavia, South America, and the United States. This aggressive expansion campaign m ade Royal Ahold the third largest grocery retailer worldwide by the turn of the century. At the time, only U.S.-based Wal-Mart and the French firm Carrefour SA had larger annual retail grocery sales than Royal Ahold. Royal Ahold completed its most ambitious acquisition in 2000 when it purchased U.S. Foodservice, a large food wholesaler headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Although Royal Ahold had previously purchased several retail grocery chains along the eastern seaboard of the United States, including New England-based Stop Shop, U.S. Foodservice was easily the largest U.S. company it had acquired. The U.S. Foodservice acquisition was also important because it signalled the companys commitment to becoming a significant participant in the food wholesaling industry. In 2003, after purchasing two smaller U.S.-based food distributors, Royal Ahold ranked as the second largest food wholesaler in the United States—Houston-based Sysco Corporation was the largest. In fact, the three U.S. acquisitions caused food wholesaling to be the companys largest source of revenue, accounting for slightly more than one-half of its annual sales. The companys more than 4,000 retail grocery stores located in 27countries accounted for the remainder of its annual sales. 3. Problems Due to Expansion The aggressive growth strategy adopted by the new professional management gave rise to a number of unexpected and unanticipated problems. Among these the major problems were caused primarily due to the expansion in the global regions. The differences in the cultural norms hampered the ability of the management to manage its worldwide retail grocery operations. As the firm ventured into new markets, especially the markets outside of Western Europe and the United States, it faced new challenges in the face of wide range of laws, regulations and cultural differences. The management team also faced difficulty in dealing with human resource policies regarding hiring, appraisal, and other employee benefits. The policies which were successful in The Netherlands failed to live up to the expectations of the new managers and employees in the countries of Asia, Latin America and South America. Furthermore the cultural norms of grocery shopping among the consumers in global markets also exacerbated the misery of the firm. Some consumers out rightly rejected the â€Å"Dutch: idea and way of organizing the grocery store. The consumers also did not appreciate the idea of â€Å"foreign invader† replacing the local grocery stores which existed there for years. 4. Response towards the Problems and Further Issues Since the problems were primarily the result of cultural and social issues, the management at Ahold decided upon the strategy of using the management personal of the local grocery chains and retaining them when those chains were acquired by Ahold. The new mangers were empowered with the authority to make major decisions. The Royal Ahold ambitious plan to become a major player in the wholesaling segment of the huge food industry in the US gave rise to new problems. Most of the company officials were unfamiliar with that segment. Therefore they adopted the â€Å"hands-off† mindset to the acquisition and depended primarily on the executives of U.S. Foodservice who were retained following the buyout to oversee the subsidiarys day-to-day operations. But the firm adopted a policy of following the same rigorous performance standards that were imposed on the companys domestic operations. The companys established goal of 15% annual growth rate in profits was used to decide upon the annual sales targets for each of the companys operating unit in Netherland and also at global locations. The units were pressurised to achieve their target and there were significant rewards on meeting the specified targets. But due to increased competition and the relatively lower profit margins within the food industry prevented many of those units from achieving the annual earnings goals that had been assigned to them.  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­5. Accounting Issues During the fiscal 2002 audit of Royal Ahold, Deloitte Accountants uncovered evidence suggesting that the companys consolidated revenues had been inflated and overstated. When Royal Ahold invested in a foreign company, it often acquired exactly a 50 percent ownership interest in the given company. Nevertheless, Royal Ahold would fully consolidate the companys financial data in its annual financial statements.Dutch accounting rules at the time permitted a parent company to fully consolidate the financial data of a joint venture company if the parent could control that firms operations. Such control could be evidenced by a more than 50 percent ownership interest in the joint venture company or by other means. Royal Ahold persuaded their Deloitte auditors by providing them with â€Å"control letters† officially signed by the officials of joint venture companies. This was accomplished by taking the officials to their side by bribing them. Further in order to placate the companys executives, the Royal Aholds management team signed â€Å"side letters† addressed to the companys executives of the JV. These letters affirmed that the decision making was mutual rather than by Ahold exclusively. Thus for Dutch accounting purposes, the joint ventures operating results should have been â€Å"proportionately consolidated† in Aholds annual financial statements. Apart from such improper accounting, Royal Ahold was also accused of not sharing the full information among the stakeholders. It did not reveal its obligations to purchase the ownership interests of certain investors in those companies. This was because of the default on the part of the joint venture companies to pay off their outstanding debt. Fraudulent Accounting at U.S. Foodservice Deloitte Accountants U.S. affiliate, Deloitte Touche, audited the financial statements of U.S. Foodservice after that company was acquired by Royal Ahold in 2000. Before the acquisition, KPMG was its auditor. Deloitte uncovered anomaly in the account books which distorted the consolidated net income of Ahold group. Subsequent investigation revealed that US food Service had misrepresented their financial statements for several years before the acquisition. The misrepresentation was because of improper accounting of the â€Å"promotional allowances.† Since the food wholesaling industry is intensely competitive, so the profit margins on their sales are relatively small. This led to the concept of â€Å"promotional allowances† (refund on purchases) being paid to food wholesalers by their suppliers or vendors. Another common practice or rather malpractice was â€Å"front-loading† promotional allowances. This means accounting for all the allowances prior to its actual period. The absence of proper internal controls over promotional allowances provided an opportunity for dishonest employees to overstate those allowances for accounting purposes. 6. The Aftermath In 2003 when the company issued the restated financial statements for the preceding there years, the fraud was uncovered. The net income figures for the years 2000, 2001 and 2003 had been overstated by 17.6%, 32.6% and 88.1% respectively. The corresponding figures for the reported revenues were 20.8%, 18.6% and 13.8%. Soon after the disclosures were made the regulatory agencies, law authorities, investment companies and other stakeholders began seeking more information regarding the fraud. Following the public disclosure both Dutch and U.S. law enforcement authorities filed criminal charges against the company and several of its former executives. Upon investigation, the responsibilities for the fraud lay on the top executives of the firm. The so called â€Å"professional management† which replaced the Heijn-family management in the 1990s were the forces responsible for the crisis. They over estimated their growing potential and set unrealistic targets at the company level. These targets where passed on to the individual units which were pressurised to achieve these unrealistic targets by hook or by crook. This was further enhanced by a significant level of rewards attached to the meeting of targets. Role of the Auditor Though it was because of the Aholds auditor Deloitte that the crisis was finally ended, but it cane under severe criticism for letting this fraud flourish to the extent it had reached. There were many lawsuits filed against Deloitte for the shear reason of negligence on their part which required them to prove their integrity. The loosely organized operating units under Ahold group made the auditing task a tough one. Regulatory Bodies The following controversy also revolved around the inefficiency and loopholes of the present in the regulatory system. The Ahold case re-affirmed the need for cooperation among the different regulatory bodies across countries. This was evident in the wake of rapid globalization which had taken place in the 1990s. Also the need for a common framework of regulations was further enhanced to maintain the comparability aspect of the account books across globe. 7. The Verdict The fraud charges against the Royal Ahold corporate house were finally settled in September 2004. The verdict required the firm to pay a fine of 8 million Euros. Further after investigation the Royal Aholds former executives (CFO and CEO) were found guilty and were penalized as well as were sentenced to four to nine months of imprisonment 8. The Road to Recovery program Press release is issued by Royal Ahold N.V â€Å"Our highest priority now is to rebuild the value of our company. We will do everything in our power to create a company of which you can once again be proud. Reinforcing accountability, controls and corporate governance Ahold is replacing a decentralized system of internal controls that had many weaknesses with a one-company system with central reporting lines. Internal audit will not only report to the CEO, but also to the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board. In addition, Ahold has nominated Peter Wakkie to the position of Chief Corporate Governance Counsel on the Executive Board, to serve as the driving force behind improved internal governance policies and practices, for legal compliance as well as conformance to ethical and social standards. †

Helen as Angel and Rebel in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Essay -- Tenan

Helen as Angel and Rebel in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall In nineteenth century England, the lives of men and women were completely different. The women had very few - or no - rights and the man had absolute power over his wife and children. He even had the rights to his wife's income or heritage! The only acceptable way for a woman to lead her life was to be a social character, a supporting wife and loving mother, so to speak an "angel in the house". The term "the angel in the house" refers to Coventry Patmore's poem with the same name. The poem depicts the ideal of a loving, unselfish, (sexually) passive and sensitive woman, who was religious and devoted to please her husband: "Man must be please; but him to please, is woman's pleasure --- And if he once, by shame oppress'd [sic!], a comfortable word confers, she leans and weeps against his breast, and seems to think the sin was hers --- she loves with love that cannot tire...". This was the only acceptable way of life for a woman and in this essay I discuss whether Helen Graham should be described as an angel or a rebel, and to what extent she fulfils the criteria for a woman's mission in nineteenth century England. What exactly was women's mission during the nineteenth century? The answer to this question can be found in the many so-called conduct books, which were written by women for women during the nineteenth century. These books were written for the middle-class and stated how a woman should act and behave. The conclusion we can draw from these books is that a woman's duty and mission in life was to be the religious and moral part of the household, to be a good mother and a supporting and caring wife. One author who wrote on the subject of woman's mission and dut... ...tions in order to save her offspring from growing up under his father's influence. She would probably have stood by her husband even longer if it had not been for their son. By later returning to her sick husband, she once again takes on the role of a "good wife", but shows no remorse to what she has done. When he dies, Helen is finally rewarded by knowing that she has fulfilled her duty as his wife and her mission as a woman and can go on with her life and the happiness that awaits her. In my opinion, she is a true heroine and an angel-like rebel.    Bibliography: Brontà «, Anne. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Ellis, Sarah Stickney: The women of England Patmore, Coventry: "The Angel in the House" from Representations of women in Whitman and his culture. http://www.wam.umd.edu/~heidkamp/women.html (Internet). Oct 15, 2000. Perkin, Joan: Victorian women

Napster Vs Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) :: essays research papers

Napster Under Glass   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Online, you can find a digital version of any song that your heart desires from classical to hardcore to country in less than 10 – 15 minutes. Terabytes or 1000000000000 (a trillion) bytes of Mp3 files can be found online at peak times, which roughly translates to 330,000 songs in 3100 different collections. A Mp3 is an individual song converted into a digital format and playable on computers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A popular program easily accessible on the Internet is called Napster. After you download it from Napster’s site, you basically tell it where you keep your Mp3 files and when it connects it cross-references everyone’s files and lets you search through them all and download as you please. 90% of the files that are traded daily are illegally â€Å"ripped† from CDs. Napster has a blurb at startup that states â€Å"Copying or distributing unauthorized Mp3 files may violate United States and/or foreign copyright laws. Compliance with copyright law remains your responsibility.† The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is charging the site with copyright infringement and alleges that Napster has created a base for music piracy on an unprecedented scale. Napster contends that they provide the platform, not the actions, and that as the blurb states it’s up to the people. Napster is not at fault because the RIAA has overstepped their boundaries and infringed on first amendment rights online.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Should the owner of the gun shop be charged with murder if a man he sold a gun to decides to shoot another man in cold blood? Of course not, if the shop owner followed all of the laws that govern him. Should the car dealership be charged with vehicular felonies every time one of their vehicles is involved in a crime? Certainly not. So why should software’s originator be responsible for what their software is used for? They shouldn’t, but the only reason the RIAA is jumping all over the Napster community is that they can’t just go out and arrest everybody who decides to trade Mp3s online.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The real people that the RIAA should crack down on are the people who use the rippers. A ripper is a computer program used to convert (rip) a musical track off of a CD and into a Mp3. They can be found on public shareware sites fairly simply with a search engine. The problem here is that the public in general uses them and can download them just like any other software.

Historical and political relation of anthropology with human rights Essay

From the onset, it is necessary to define anthropology as the social science that is involved with studying the inherent relationship patterns and origins of human beings. As a juxtaposition, the concept of human rights refers to the intrinsic freedoms and rights to which all and sundry (human beings) are entitled, if only by virtue of belonging to the human race, and these are broadly categorized into two main classifications, including the socio-cultural and economic rights, which pertain to the rights to education, food, work and participate in culture. The other distinct grouping of rights and freedoms are those of civil and political nature, encompassing the ideology of people being equal before the law, the right to liberty and life, and also, the freedom to freely express oneself, provided that this does not interfere with that of other people. It is noteworthy that the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights – a non-binding declaration by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 – reiterates the equality of all humans as relates to their rights and dignity, further acknowledging that each individual was equipped with the vital tools of a rational conscience and logical reasoning, and thus, all subsequent inter-personal relationships ought to reflect a communal spirit of brotherly co-existence. This cognition is widely viewed as being the framework for justice, peace and freedom in the globe today (Goodale, 2004:18-29). From a historical perspective, the anthropologist is more concerned with deciphering the linkage between the afore-mentioned rights and the prevailing localized cultures, from whence an understanding of the basic outline of social justice against a backdrop of cultural relativism is investigated. The general concession is that indeed, deliberation into the historical aspects of anthropology reveals a contribution to both the practical and theoretical facets of human rights workings. Select case studies closely related to this postulation include the current crisis in the Middle East, pitting the Israelis against the inhabitants of the Gaza strip, the Rwandan genocide (Bowman, 2000:31-49) and the topical issue of gay rights in Southern Africa. The former predicament entails Israel devastating, over the recent past, a population of some 1. million inhabitants in Gaza, with their arms tied behind their backs, owing to the fact that there is no active army in Gaza. Statistics reveal that close to 1300 Palestinian casualties are on record, as opposed to a measly 13 Israelis in the raging conflict, largely regarded as a modern day case of ‘ethnic cleansing’. Since the year 2006, Israel placed a blockade into the Gaza region, thus inhibiting the delivery of necessities such as medicine, food and fuel. Previous attempts to foster harmony and well-being in the region, with cease-fires being disrespected severally, have led up to the present situation in which the stakeholders in the conflict, chief amongst which is the Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian socio-political faction that has been in control of the Gaza strip, and Israel itself, have agreed to permanently seek a lasting solution to avoid more bloodshed. The possible recommendations to aid in arriving at a peaceful co-existence is scenario where Israel takes the front row in ensuring a sense of hope to the Palestinians, via the action of taking the political risk and dismantling the illegal West Bank Settlements. On their part, Palestinians should institute measures to ensure they elect purposive leaders into power, if only to militate against the eventuality of history repeating itself iteratively. Hamas should in turn cease firing missiles into Israel, which only serve to wound and kill majority of the innocent civilians, and the large scale smuggling of arms, so as to avoid the likelihood of the situation degenerating into another â€Å"United States versus Al Qaeda† affair. Also, the other stakeholders in the conflict, namely Jordan and Egypt, should seal all loopholes that enable the military exploits of the Hamas to fall through. This being said, the International community should actively ensure they do not turn a deaf ear to the conflict, to be spearheaded by the United Nations and the European Union. The latter, in detail, involved South Africa holding its second, fully democratic elections in the year 1999, which were characterized by the recognition of a wide array of groups and previously neglected factions of the population, such as the gay and lesbian community. Earlier on, the country made history by pioneering non-discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation, with gay and lesbian activists championing their cause by widely challenging the very constitutionality of laws that infringed on their freedoms, organizing workshops to educate voters on their rights, plus lobbying for the drafting and resultant implementation of rules and legislations guaranteeing equity in the rights of all citizens (Goodale, 2004:43-54). They also went a step further and created working relationships with non-governmental organizations like the Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality, in addition to forming outreach programmes for the members of the gay and lesbian community, especially those that lived in townships. Of particular note is the fact that sodomy has been decriminalized before the South African courts, thus recording another victory in the war for adequate recognition of this community. Of significance is the assertion that, these developments were achieved even with the realization that the South African populace was still divided along ethnic and racial boundaries (Riches, 1986:16-29), and more importantly, within the indigenous cultural groupings in the country, homosexuality is deemed non-existent, or on the best case scenario, a foreign acquisition. Thus, in a nutshell, this case study can be assessed from the view that it not only shapes social patterns, but also, it is instrumental in the democratization of regimes, as influenced by the civil society. Yet another occurrence was witnessed in an iconic court case in Japan (2008), involving the challenging of the historical definition of whom the concept of â€Å"human rights† is meant to apply. The immediate bone of contention was that the court of the day had proceeded to expand the rights of the children of Japanese fathers and non-Japanese mothers to claim Japanese citizenship, and thus by extension, such definition by the justices in the case served to only ensure the protection of the fundamental human rights of Japanese citizens, excluding those of other non-citizens. In this way, this can be said to expressly alienate those people who did not have papers certifying their Japanese citizenship. However, this ought not to be the case, as the rights in question should be guaranteed to every human being, as the very name suggests. In a publication by one Professor Jones regarding this case, he posits that there is a sorry state of affairs in Japan, citing that the tendency of the Sovereign state to mediate the citizens’ claims against each other should be sharply contrasted against the Anglo-American system, which is characterized by human rights being the limiting factor of the state’s power over individuals. In this way, the case is illustrative of how culture and history can affect and/or influence human rights in society (Kurtz, 2001: 43-52). Whilst still appreciating the historical contribution of anthropology to human rights, it is worthwhile to take mention of the concept of hegemony, defined as the utter domination of a state over its allies, and how this has over time influenced historical changes, especially on the cultural frontier. As a focal point, hegemony facilitates the comprehension of power within the confines of routine daily activities, as may be underpinned by cultural (customary) practices (Asad, 1991:13-27). On a more positive note, it is fit to state that the anthropological theory has over the years succeeded to come up with a contested, unbounded and widely flexible supposition of the term, which consequently goes a long way in uncovering the cultural understandings and how these in turn shape power relations, naturalizing domination and acting to suppress different manifestations of resistance in the society (Gledhill, 2000:29-44). Again, drawing from the South African example, although in a different context, it can be established that, quite ironically, the evangelical work of missionaries can be termed as being part of hegemony, although it heightened societal consciousness, going on to spark a form of resistance that gave rise to the awareness of the black community, fuelling the fight against apartheid. Of particular contention is the debate whether, as an interpretive issue, resistance in society should require consciousness and be collective in nature, or whether on the other hand, an end of attaining justice should be envisioned from the onset. Also, it is disputable whether the concept at hand should be extended to incorporate such actions as may be influenced by a sense of non-cooperation or discontent. In the recent past, there has been great agitation in the anthropological circles, wherein the concept of culture has been scrutinized in detail. Earlier anthropologists focused chiefly on societies that were virtually unaffected by factors such as colonial influences, for example, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel since, today, greater emphasis is being laid on flexibility of the frame of thought of culture, as afore-mentioned, now not only being affiliated to habits and daily practices of a people, but also, being engrained in the values they abide to and the ideas subscribed to. In other instances, there have been historical documentations of indigenous communities confronting resistance from the perspective of laying claim to various resources, more so when these individuals are challenged to prove an authentic affiliation to the culture under consideration (Rejali, 1994:49-60); disqualification usually results from the assertion that certain social groups have already undergone cultural changes. In a strange twist, it can be seen that the concept of ‘culture’, as formulated by twentieth century anthropologists in a bid to champion the rights of small-scale communities in the wake of colonialism and other civilizing projects, has in present times been apposite to differing political ends of resisting reform in certain sectors and turning a deaf ear to the claims of indigenous people’s claims to reparation (compensation). On a transitional note, the political inclination of anthropology to human rights can be deduced by critical analysis of the two disciplines (Cohen, 1978:34-57). Such relationship necessitates a vivid conception of the said human rights within a template of anthropologically conceived ideas or principles. A brief intermission here is the appreciation that, as an academic discipline, anthropology seeks to study the various forms and bases of human unity and relative diversity, while the other side of this coin practically applies the acquired knowledge to actively solve problems that may plague the human race (Gledhill, 2000:59-83). This being the situation, politically-oriented anthropologists should concern themselves with instances where the denial of certain rights is pegged on the differences in one human aspect or the other. The validity of using ‘human difference’ as an indicator of human rights is that it incorporates the very specificity of what we as humans – be it collectively or from an individual stance – have evolved to be, both culturally and socially. It is worth noting that the term ‘difference’, as applied in this context, refers to the linguistic, socio-cultural and/or biological characteristics of people, relative to the initial human capacities that facilitated their production in the first place. On the flipside, as may relate to human rights, these ‘differences’ may principally represent the products of the realization of social relations, personal identities and cultural forms (Goodale, 2004:98-110). The general implication of the above argumentation is that specific human rights may be advocated for by calling upon the trans-cultural, but positive, right to difference. This analogy can be stretched further still by acknowledging the unwritten law that anthropologists who study and research instances of societal injustices and assorted cases of human rights abuses do, in the actual sense, bear an ethical obligation to find lasting solutions to these predicaments. In particular, those working with marginal and/or indigenous communities shoulder the responsibility of supporting these groups by all means available, including advocacy as mentioned above (Fried, 1967:61-69).

Advantages and disadvantagesof city life Essay

A city no doubt offers many tempting comforts and conveniences, pleasures and pass times, openings and opportunities, and that is why people from the country-side are pouring into it in thousands. In a city, there are schools, colleges, business houses and technical institutes, hospitals, charitable institutions, hospitals, cinemas, play – grounds, stadiums, parks, gardens and easy means of transport and communication. If we have sufficient money, we can have the best food and clothing, the best accommodation, the best education, the best of medical treatment and the best of entertainment. Disadvantages Even though the city life has its advantages, city life is far from being all good. The city is overpopulated, polluted, noisy, contaminated, filthy and smoky. The life can be disrupted by pollution, noise, corruptions and crime. City living can be very rushed and worried. Also in the city money is admired and money is indeed the core of all evils. The city with its insane pursuit for money and pleasures. It doesn’t accommodate the best environment for everyone; considering the development of the young. Some of the young residents fall into bad crowds, in a busy environment it’s easier to be introduced to smoking, drinking, gambling, drug taking etc. These conditions of a city life can pose a great threat to social harmony and advancements. A society that’s filled with crime and violence can make it difficult for some to grow and be successful. In the city it’s easier to be surrounded by all these corruptions than in the mild and calm country life. Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which place would you prefer to live in? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. Read more: Village and city life essay There are undeniable advantages to both life in a big city and in a small town. The former offers more excitement and convenience while the latter offers a cleaner, quieter and often friendlier place to live. However, despite the advantages of small town life, I prefer to live in a big city for several reasons. First, life in the city is more convenient. More goods are available and stores are open later. Also, there is better public transportation so it is easier to get around. I can find almost anything I want easily in the city. Second, there are more ways to spend leisure time in the city. There are many places I can go to meet friends and have fun. Finally, and most importantly, the city offers more educational and career opportunities. The city often attracts the best teachers and the best companies. There is also a wider choice of jobs so it is easier to move up the career ladder. For all of these reasons, I prefer to live in the city. Although I sometimes miss the fresh air and quiet life of a small town, nothing can make up for the opportunities that the city offers me. If one wants to be successful, I believe the best place to live is the city. Advantages and disadvantages of city life Last update on March 23, 2013 under Bangladesh, Composition William Cowper, the famous English poet, wrote, â€Å"God made the country and man-made the town. † So, man has attraction to city life because he can enjoy more advantages by living in city. City Life More opportunities for work and employment: In a city there are more opportunities for work and employment. There are many offices, industries and factories in a city. Better scope of education: There are more schools and colleges in a city. So there is better scope of education. More and better medical facilities: In a city people get more and better medical facilities than the people of village. In a city there are more hospitals and clinics . there are more qualified doctors in a city. Easier communication: Science has made the world smaller. It has invented and discovered many means and ways of communication. So communication has become easier, in a city people can communicate with one another over telephone. Telex, fax etc. , through less inconvenience. Easier transportation: In a city people need not go to distant places on foot. There are various types of vehicles in a city by which people can reach a place earlier and faster with less trouble. More scope for art. Culture and literature: People in a city have more scope of practicing art culture and literature. There are more cultural centres and literary clubs. More scope of cultivating intellect: Since most of the people in a city have more scope of practicing art culture and literature. There are more cultural centres and literary clubs. More recreational facilities: In a city people enjoy more recreational facilities, there are many cinema halls. Theatre, clubs, parks etc. More comfortable domestic life: In a city domestic life is more comfortable . woman needs not go to bring water, to collect fire wood etc. to light kerosene lamp etc. More civic facilities: In a city people enjoy more civic facilities; they get everything at their hand Disadvantages: There is no unmixed blessing on earth. Everything has its merits and demerits. Similarly city life has some demerits than merits. Pollution: Air is more polluted in a city. It gets polluted in many ways, people cannot breath in pure air. Besides this, there arewater pollution and sound pollution. Higher standard of living: In a city the standard of living is costlier and higher, people of limited income lead income their life through much hardship, the price of things are very higher. More violence and crime: More violence and crime take place in a city, the criminals do not hesitate to commit crime, violence, killing, hijacking and so many crimes and anti-social activities. More in secured life: Life in a city is more in secures. People have no safety and security, less scope of enjoying of natural beautiful flowers and murmuring streams on the earth below. He cannot hear the sweet songs of birds. More traffic jam: Sometimes people in a city get stuck in a traffic jam and as a result they suffer more. Less scope of getting fresh things: there is less scope of getting fresh things, in a city there is adulteration in everything. Less scope of enjoying life: he is always in a hurry as if some invisible demon, the demon of materialism, drives him on with a whip in hand. In short, life here is so artificial that man soon loses his divine origin and becomes almost a machine. Above all, a city is a veritable university for men who like to acquire wisdom from observation and experience. Someone has truly said: if you would be known and not know, live in a village; if you would know and be unknown, live in a city.

Learning organization and human motivation Essay - 2

Learning organization and human motivation - Essay Example of Excellence, Tom Peters speaks of eight themes which the successful companies adopts and two of them focus on the optimisation of human capital – Autonomy & entrepreneurship through fostering innovation and nurturing champions and secondly productivity through people (Peters & Waterman 1982). Achieving innovation and continuous development through workforce involvement and commitment has become a challenge, which organizations seeking to excel, has to address as a top priority. Employee commitment is the most potent competitive driver an organisation can develop for pursuing its objectives and harnessing employee commitment involves creating an environment, which allows for autonomy and achievement. Flexibility among the workforce is critical for developing lean and effective organisational structures which is critical for organisational excellence (Peters & Waterman 1982) High performance work teams are the norm of today’s successful companies where the team members perform multitasks on highly flexible work agendas. Employee creativity is developed and nurtured by those organisations that recognise the potential for breakthrough products and process innovations. Such companies as 3M which is placed at the forefront of innovation, capitalises on its employee creativity and promotes it through policies as the â€Å"15% rule† allowing time for pursuing personal projects. The manager who wants commitment, flexibility and creativity from employe es is therefore advised to provide them with lots of learning opportunities. As per the management guru, Peter Senge, â€Å"If a seedling has no room to grow, it will never become a tree.† (Senge 1990) Providing a workplace environment, that promotes learning opportunities through innovation, creativity, participation and autonomy addresses the motivational needs of the employees. Motivational theories as Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs as well as Alderfer’s ERG Theory both identify people’s desire for growth and self

Effective Working Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Effective Working Teams - Essay Example Brilliance in communication is an ingredient in influencing others as one stands a better chance to present and defend their line of thought, hence convincing others to adopt it as a superior option to theirs. On the same note, persons willing to assume any responsibility and with the ability to make decisions and solve problems more aggressively do dominate others in working teams. Such persons do embrace more leadership roles compared to those who do not possess the skills. Therefore, personal skills are critical in influencing others effectively in teamwork roles. In an organization, for any group to qualify as a team, there are certain basic qualifications required. Plunkett, Allen, and Attner explain the most important qualification for the development of a common objective for such a group to qualify as a team. Despite the roles of each member of the team, all team players have to work towards a common, shared goal, which is the common objective. Secondly, there has to be regular interaction and coordination between members of the group for it to qualify as a team. Therefore, an effective team has to have all its members sharing and committed to a common goal. Furthermore, there has to be deeply rooted trust among members, with each member enjoying the freedom of expression in addition to participating in any role played by the team. Importantly, in teamwork, major decisions have to be made through consensus after evaluating the presented opinions. Problems in effective teams have to be solved based on their causes to develop lasting soluti ons.