Obama Vs. Clinton Essay

The Affordable Health Care Act is a very in-depth process. The changes to the health care system were attempted to be passed in prior years by Bill Clinton. However, it failed at this time and was implemented in the United States by the current president Barack Obama. The Congress diversity of Democrats vs. Republican’s was very similar in both Clintons and Obamas time in office. There were many steps that were taken in creating this policy, and some of those steps succeeded, and some of those steps failed. Any new process would be expected to have some issues to work through as it was created. The Affordable Health Care Act still has some issues to work on, but many steps succeeded and that is why it has been implemented during Obamas term. Health Care Reform was in some ways similar in both Obama and Clinton’s proposals, but greatly different as well. Clinton’s main focus in the policy was to make health care mandatory for all Americans and have universal coverage. Employers would pay 80 percent of the cost of health insurance premiums, with the employee covering the remaining costs (Khan, 2014). However, both policies have the same goal of providing health insurance to all people. Each policy creates the ways of completing this task differently. Clinton’s health care reform plan was very complex. It involved high levels of government involvement in the health care industry. A federal national health board would have overseen the health system, and would be tasked with regulating premiums and overseeing benefits (Khan, 2014). Health care alliances at the state level would conduct a similar task, and states would have had the authority to regulate plans and have the option to create a single-payer system (Khan, 2014). The policy would be more of a government takeover, than assisting Americans with health  insurance. This was something that was not found to be favorable by many stakeholders. Obama’s reform allows for people with private insurance to keep their insurance. He is creating a government insurance company to compete with the private insurance companies. However, Obama still faces struggles with Republicans being opposed to this idea as well. The concern of finances was also purposed similar in both policy creations. Both presidents plan on the bill not adding to the deficit of the country. Another similarity between the two plans was that insurances companies could no longer deny a client because of their previous medical conditions. This has been another successful step in the process. Health Care Reform was created very similar but still with great differences between each president. The Affordable Health Care Act was successful for Obama mostly because of the way he pushed the bill through congress. Obama used Clinton’s health care reform failures as lessons and a blueprint of what not to do. This made him about to learn from past failure and make changes along the way. Different steps were taken in creating both of the policies. As Clinton moved slowly on this policy, Obama pushed his through quickly (Oberlander, 2014). Moving quickly was a decision that helped the policy succeeding, whereas, moving slowly caused it to fail. However, both presidents did pitch their speech about the Affordable Health Care Act before a joint session of Congress. This was not a successful step for either president. Both Obama and Clinton did not have great support for the policy, and this caused great suffering. Obama allowed for alternative methods in this policy whereas Clinton did not. Although both presidents had a wonderful idea, the steps that they took in implementing the policy are what changed the success of it. Both policies have similar stakeholders. When discussing health care insurance the stakeholders do not often change because the policies were slightly different. Stakeholders consist of business, insurance companies, and the American Medical Association. Other stakeholders consist of the people of the United States of America. There was much skepticism about the policy plans that both presidents were rolling out by the people of America. It is important that the presidents did not only look at stakeholders of large companies, but the everyday people of the community and employees of the health care industry as stakeholders as well. There were also government stakeholders in both  policies. However, the government level of stakeholders was greater in Clinton’s policy because his consist of government takeover. Stakeholders are crucial to the success of any policy. The Affordable Health Care Act has so far been successfully implemented by Obama. However, like any other new policy there are some issues still to be worked on. Obama was a success on passing this policy because he used the mistakes of the past to make his policy succeed. Even though there were struggles and steps that failed in Obama’s plan as well, there were more that succeed. Clinton’s policy was more government based and had many failures. The stakeholders for both presidents’ policies were similar. The Affordable Health Care Act has been in progress by many presidents for many years. However, it has been Obama’s plan that has been the most successful. Reference Oberlander, J. (2014). Long Time Coming: Why Health Reform Finally Passed. Retrieved from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/6/1112.full Khan, H. (2014). Throwback to 1993? What’s New About Democrats’ Health Care Plans. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/health-care-reform-president-obama-path-bill-clinton/story?id=8675596

Research and development Essay

The Human resource management department of the business is responsible for the hiring and firing of the staff that work in Boots PLC outlet stores and any other jobs that are related to the company. Their main aim to make sure that there is the right amount of workers in the specified place at the right time in order to contribute to the maximum output that the staffing effort can help towards. The hiring and firing is very important as it makes sure that the right people are hired for the job that are in appropriate situations to fulfill vacancies. On the other hand however the firing is just as important. If staff are not pulling their weight or are incapable of carrying out the jobs they are meant to they may be fired. Also if there is no need for all staff then they may be laid off. This is a way of maximizing profits as less go on output of wages which is a great percentage of the businesses output. The HRM is also responsible for the training of staff. It is their responsibility to make sure that all staff is fully trained for the job they are employed for. These increases the customer reliability and satisfaction as when staff are asked questions they will hopefully know they answers and also that they are capable of approaching customers comfortably and in a good fashion. This adds to customer satisfaction and this is important to Boots it is also one of their objectives listed previously in the report. HRM are responsible for forecasting labour amounts and the amount of man power that will be needed at different times of the day week and year. If manpower is low in rush hours or periods such as Christmas then the company may not reach its maximum out put through mistake of their own. Staff receives appraisals when they work for Boots. This lets them know if the business is happy with them and if they are considered a valued member of the work force. The appraisals are again responsibility of the HRM department and they help to maximize business by insuring workers are reaching their full potential within in the business. Boots recently proposed to train up 7000 people to become more knowledgeable about technology so that the business will benefit from this. Boots PLC also employ a further 45% of their workforce on top of their usual numbers to help in outlet stores over Christmas period with tills, stock rotation and demonstrations. This shows the business has been planning the workforce amounts according to potential times of increases in demand. This area of the business can be very economical and save the business money when it comes to hiring and firing staff. This is however also very beneficial to the staff also. When jobs in the business become available instead of employing new staff they promote current staff. This saves money as described in management styles later on. The HRM area of the business works towards the organization and in turn globalization objective of the business. The statement of â€Å"we aim to develop staff and provide them with the right skills and attitude in order to achieve the organizations goals† suggests that it be aimed at all the objectives of the business, which will reflect on the globalization and expansion conclusively. The fact that more staff was hired acts on the objective of improving customer satisfaction as more staff means that there are more hands to deal with the tasks needed which leaves more staff to be available to help customers and aid them with their shopping needs. The Marketing section of the business is responsible for satisfying customers needs at the right prices and once again as in Boots objective consumer satisfaction. To do this the marketing section of Boots PLC is responsible for researching what the target markets want and interpreting what their future needs would be and how they will change. They persuade the customer to buy products by advertising. They either increase awareness by advertising to all on TV or radio, or advertise specifics. These include in store adverts for particular products, which they make the customer, think they need. Free demos of some products also help to draw in custom and Boots does this in its make-up and its perfume range where there is always trained staff available to recommend and advice. The marketing aspect of the business has lead to the birth of the Boots Advantage Card. Boots customer services is an outstanding department as they have been able to established customer loyalty by the use of this Advantage card. Referring back to Boots objectives the wish to increase customer loyalty is proven as the Advantage Card is used by more than 70% of all key customers. Boots objectives on marketing were to increase promotion and stature by globalization. This has been attempted by opening several firms in Taiwan. A strategy that separated them from their competitors and attracted thousands of consumers over the Christmas period was the three for two-mix and match strategy which was introduced after a market research poll into marketing strategies return the mix and match as a popular suggestion. This was reflected by the feedback it returned. It is very important to be able to forecast and predict what will happen to the market. In order for a company to success in the long term it must have an idea of where it is going. One of the best ways to do this, which also show the success of the business, is to look at its accounts. This will show if there is a gradual increase or decrease in profit and it will show what products sell, how they sell and in what quantity are they likely to still be required as the majority of tangible inessential goods reach saturation point and are no longer needed. The finance section of the business is the area that looks after the accounts and the money flow forecasting. The Financial area of the business makes sure all the finances of a business are properly recorded. This involves keeping detailed accounts either manually or on a computer of all the money that comes in, and how it comes in to the business and how and where it goes out. The financial information is used by Boots and published in the yearly reports to show how the business is getting on. Boots PLC uses computer technology to record all the information and trained staff regularly analyzes it to spot correlation in output or product relationships. This is done to try and find out where Boots could benefit from altering the market and changing product ranges or increasing product base. This section of the business is also capable of raising finance when the business needs to raise capital for an investment or expansion. There is only a small aspect of the objective system that it appears the financial function touches on. This is the objective to act towards modernization. Boots keeps its financial records in the form of computer files as apposed to storing them manually. This shows that Boots keeps up with the development of technology, which was a specific objective. This shows that an objective has been worked towards and met which has been beneficial as now the financial function is a lot less time consuming in storing data and retrieving it. Although there is always more problems with modern technology it is likely that in the long run it is less time consuming. Production is another one of the functional areas but as there is little that Boots actually produce due to the fact that they are in the tertiary sector this function does not really affect them. The only way it does affect them is that Boots must keep in touch with the production (secondary industry) business to ensure that they can meet the demands that they need in order to increase customer satisfaction. Coinciding with this the staff at Boots must check produce that is received from the production companies to make sure it is correct. This section does not really affect any objectives that the business has directly. However indirectly it does regard the objective of wishing to increase the proportion of their own brand. There is little evidence I can provide of this objective been carried out but they do have their own cosmetic range that goes by the name of No7. This appears to have been doing very well. The main cogs of the business are the Administration section. This keeps the day to day workings of the business going. Again these are skilled staff trained in their field and Boots pride them selves on the level of training and standards that their staff operates to. The administration maintains the business premises and equipment and if anything goes wrong they are responsible for fixing it of finding someone to do so. Anyone who works for Boots doing photocopying, printing (stationary jobs) catering, computer services, data storage, all these types of jobs come under the job description of Administration. As boots is expanding it is relying less on its own workers to carry out some of these tasks and it calls in people from out side the business, this is called ‘outscoring’, these people are usually found by the administration team. The administrative function as it is a necessity in the business and keeps it flowing hardly relates as a contribution to any objective at all. The only objective I can see that the administrative function applies to id the modernization of the company. This is due to the fact that in order for the administration staff to act efficiently they need to be modernizing as technology such as computers develops. This will benefit all areas of the business. As the target markets demands are forever changing and new fashions are coming in and the months of the years come in and out the products that Boots supply are always changing. It is hard to keep on top of the supply for goods, as there are so many aspects that alter the product demands it is hard to be aware of where they will go next. The research and development of the business is responsible for trying to find out where to go next. They keep the other parts of the business informed about changes as much as they can. This is a main part of the marketing for the business. The research and development sector look at sales figures, accounts, customer trends and spending and try and deduct where the majority of the money goes and also where it doesn’t. They do not look to replace products all the time but also to look for new products that would be beneficial to bring into the product range to increase sales or attract new business. It was the idea of the research and development of Boots to open the optician section of the business, as this was an area that they had not yet spread into and would be beneficial. The people in the research and development part of boots also look at other businesses and see how they operate, what they sell and how much they charge. All this contributes to the smooth running of the business. As Boots main objective is to produce a well-established firm that caters for the consumers needs research and development is a major part of decision making. Diversification is also reliant on this department as in order to diversify research needs to be carried out to find out which areas it would be beneficial to divert into in respects of the customers and the company as a whole. Boots has got a large research and development department. The paragraph below shown what affects the research and development has had on the company’s expansion. â€Å"The first Health and Beauty Experience store opened in Kensington High Street in September this year. It moves Boots into new areas of the expanding health and beauty market. Services include physiotherapy, osteopathy, homeopathy, herbalism, aromatherapy, reflexology and nutrition. These sit alongside beauty services including facials massage, false tan, ear piercing, pedicure, manicure, nail bars, and make-overs, plus lifestyle advice on weight management, smoking, sleep management, relaxation and stress management. All combine to offer a total wellbeing offer. † This paragraph gives list of some of the new products and services that have been introduced. These expansions in the business would not have been the result if research and development had not taken place. This shows that research and development has also contributed to the firm expanding, which was another objective of Boots.

Martha Stewart Lost Reputation Essay

Martha Stewart places her name on her products. She becomes the face of her company and the voice of her brand. When her personal misconduct occurred, she made her company vulnerable and risky as well. This case study examines how Martha Stewart managed her corporate communication when her public image and reputation were tarnished on trial for alleged insider trading scandal. The trial not only led her to prison but also hurt her brand equity. The study shows that Stewart’s early response to her crisis demonstrated lack of situation awareness. In the beginning of her investigation, she kept her public persona intact, ignoring or downplaying her role in it. As a result, what Stewart called â€Å"a small personal matter† later became a full -blown crisis. If she had managed her communication in a more timely manner, the magnitude of her crisis might have been minimized. This article also provides detailed insights for organizations to learn from her crisis response strat egies. Keywords: Organizational crisis, Crisis communication, Image restoration 1. Introduction The personalities of strong business leaders can help shape and enhance their corporate image. In some cases, the leaders become the virtual icon of the corporate brand, lendi ng their personal prestige to the brand and personifying the company. They can also threaten the company when they are involved in a scandal. In this situation, the consequences for the company can be critical as in the Martha Stewart’s insider trading crisis in the United States. The crisis management scholar, Roux-Dufort (2000) points out that corporate crises as â€Å"a privileged moment during which to understand things differently† (p. 26). As such, there is a growing body of literature on organizational learning in the wake of corporate crisis (Mitroff, 2002; Shrivastava, 1998). The Stewart case, in particular, drew the attention of media for years. The crisis of Martha Stewart’s insider trading raised the issue about the Martha Stewart’s multiplatform franchise; that is, the media world and homemaking business are intricately interwoven with her persona. Stewart’s empire has an impressive business synergy as shown by her TV programs that promote her magazines, her website which sells her products, and her p roducts which are a link to her TV programs. She is the face, voice and personality behind the brand and, thus, the two – Stewart and the brand – are inseparable. After Stewart’s personal misconduct, the interlocking nature of her business proved to be vulnerable and risky. Moreover, Stewart’s crisis had both legal and public relations components (Jerome, Moffitt, & Knudsen, 2007). Allegations of insider trading against Martha Stewart led to her imprisonment. Her strategic plan in response to the insider trading accusations and the media attention su rrounding this crisis left Stewart trying to take action to restore her image. In a sense, it is important to understand how Stewart herself and her company managed their corporate communication when her public image and reputation were tarnished under the investigation of the insider trading scandal. This article explores how the high profile iconic Martha Stewart responded when confronted with an organizational crisis that threatened existence. It also provides detailed insights for organizations to learn from her crisis response strategies. 2. Background of Martha Stewart’s Insider Trading Beginning with the 1982 publication of her book Entertaining, Martha Stewart made a name for herself as a homemaking diva. In September 1997, Stewart became chairperson, president, and CEO of her new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSO since 1999. As the chief of MSO, Stewart used her name and face to make connections with various businesses including a line of housewares, television shows, radio channels, magazines and a series of books on entertaining. On December 27, 2001, Stewart sold 3,928 shares of her ImClone stock worth US$228,000 the day before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected approval of Erbitux, ImClone’s anti -cancer drug. By selling ahead of the FDA rejection, Stewart received about US$45,000 more than if she had sold the stocks later. Compared to her wealth, it was certainly an insignificant sum and in fact, during her Larry King Live interview, she said it was â€Å"miniscule, really, about 0.006 percent of my net worth† (Four nier, 2004). Stewart had denied any wrongdoing, insisting she did not receive any advance knowledge from Sam Waksal, the founder and CEO of ImClone about the decision on Erbitux (Pollack, 2002). Instead, her sale of ImClone stock was part of a predetermined plan to sell if shares fell below US$60. Later, Stewart was officially indicted on charges of securities fraud and obstructing justice related to her sale of ImClone stock on March 5, 2004. Judge Cedarbaum dismissed the securities fraud charge against S tewart, saying prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence on the issue (Masters & White, 2004). However, obstruction of justice, charges of conspiracy, and making false statements remained. Stewart served a five-month prison sentence between October 8, 2004 and March 4, 2005 for these charges. On August 7, 2006, Martha Stewart reached an agreement with the securities’ regulators over the insider-trading civil charges and agreed to pay US$195,000 to settle a five-year legal battle. 3. Literature Review Crisis events can and do strike organizations of all types. Every kind of organization, from larger organizations to small family owned businesses, have the potential of being a victim of crisis (Seeger, Sellnow, & Ulmer, 2003). In many circumstances, crisis immediately raises questions from an organization’s many different publics (Marra, 1998). In this view, for an organization to manage the effects of a crisis it must communicate to both internal and external stakeholders. Ulmer, Sellnow, and Seeger (2007) suggest all crises involve the general communication strategies of reducing uncertainty, responding to the crisis, resolving it, and learning from it. The ability to communicate quickly and effectively is clearly an important component of successfu l crisis management. Effective crisis communication can not only defuse or eliminate crisis, but it can sometimes bring an organization a more positive reputation than before the crisis occurred (Kauffman, 2005). On the other hand, Marra (1998) argues if an organization fails to respond to a crisis in the correct manner, a bad situation can be made worse. Hence, crisis communication strategies can substantially diminish the harm caused by a crisis or magnify the harm if mismanaged. In this study, the stream of crisis response models from communication scholars and public relations professionals (Benoit, 1995; Coombs, 1999, 2007) are utilized as the theoretical framework to interpret the crisis response strategies that Martha Stewart employed in her insider trading crisis. According to Benoit (1995), firms or individuals may take preventative and restorative approaches to image problems. Five strategies (i.e., denial, evasion of responsibility, reduction of the offensiveness of the act , corrective action, and mortification) make up the rhetoric or image repair discourse. Each of these strategies has a set of tactics within them. Denial is the strategy employed when the rhetor simply chooses to deny the actions he is being accused of or shift the blame from the organization to outside individuals or agencies. The second strategy is evasion of responsibility is the strategy that the rhetor can blame circumstances beyond his control. It consists of four possible tactics: provocation, defeasibility, accident and good intentions. Benoit’s third major image restoration strategy, occurs when the rhetor attempts to reduce the degree of offensiveness experienced by the accuser. To this end, Benoit includes six tactics: bolstering, minimization, differentiation, transcendence, attacking the accuser, and compensation. The fourth category of the typology is corrective action, which attempts to correct the situation rather than counterbalance it. The final image restoration strategy, mortification, requires the rhetor to take responsibility for the action and to issue an apology. Benoit and colleagues have applied the model to a variety of different crisis situations. For instance, Benoit and Brinson (1994) analyzed AT&T’s defense following an interruption of its long-distance service in New York in September of 1991. Initially, AT&T tried to shift blame to low-level workers. As the complete story emerged, however, AT&T apologized for the interruption (mortification) and began to bolster its image by stressing its commitment to excellence, the billions of dollars invested in service, and the quality of its employees. Finally, AT&T promised corrective action and introduced a comprehensive review of its operations to anticipate and prevent further problems. It also stressed its commitment to providing excellent service and its willingness to spend billions of dollars to do so. Given these corrective action strategies, AT&T’s finally restored its image. Benoit (1995) also examined Union Carbide’s response to the Bhopal, India, gas leak that killed thousands and injured hundreds of thousands. Union Carbide’s primary strategies, bolstering and corrective action, were focused on four specific actions: a relief fund, an orphanage, medical supplies, and medical personnel. Although these strategies were appropriate and timely, Benoit claimed that Union Carbide failed to address the most important question: What were they doing to prevent another tragedy? Coombs (1999, 2007) develops situational crisis communication theory, creating 10 categories of basic organizational crisis communication strategies. These strategies are further grouped into four posture: 1) â€Å"denial posture† including attack the accuser (confronting person claiming a crisis occurred), denial ( asserting no crisis), and scapegoat (shifting the blame to others outside the organization), with an attempt to eliminate the crisis by denying its existence or the organization’s responsibility for the crisis; 2) â€Å"diminishment posture† which takes the forms of excuse (denying intend to do harm or claiming inability to control) and justification (minimizing severity of damage) with the purpose of weakening the link between the crisis and the organization by claiming the crisis is not the organization’s fault; 3) â€Å"rebuilding posture† of compensation (providing money or other gifts to the victims) and apology (taking full responsibility), which strives to restore legitimacy by seeking public approval and forgiveness; and 4) â€Å"bolstering posture† which includes reminder (telling stakeholders about its past good works), ingratiation (praising stakeholders and/or reminds them of past good works) and victimage (reminding stakeholders that the organization is a victim of the crisis, too). Using Coombs’s typology of crisis response strategies, Wilcox and Cameron (2006) examined the case of Intel. In 1993, Intel initially denied there was a problem with its Pentium 586 chip. As the crisis was covered in the mainstream press, Intel used the justification strategy by assuring that the problem was not serious enough to warrant replacing the chips. It minimized the concerns of consumers. In fact, Intel mismanaged the handling of its crisis communication. First, it did not disclose to the public the information about the Pentium flaw when they initially realized there was a problem. Then when the problem finally did come out into the open, they downplayed it instead of helping the users who had purchased the flawed chips. After considerable damage had been done to Intel’s reputation and IBM had suspended orders for the chip, Intel took corrective action to replace the chips. Subsequently, Andy Grove, Intel’s president, issued a full apology. Based on Benoit’s image repair theory and Coombs’s typology of crisis response st rategies, the following research questions are posited: RQ 1. What strategies did Martha Stewart use to manage her insider trading crisis? RQ 2. Were these strategies effective or ineffective? RQ 3. What can we learn from Martha Stewart case? 4. Methodology The case study is employed in this study, as it is effective in illustrating public relations management in real situations (Hendrix, 2004). According to Yin (1994), the six sources of evidence that are typically associated with the case study include documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant -observation, and physical artifacts. In this study, texts documenting Stewart’s discourse in response to incidents that threatened her image were collected from multiple sources. Specifically, this study used predominantly two types of data: documents and archival records. It began with gathering data and finding facts related to cases and defining the specific tasks. The actions and communication strategies used by Martha Stewart wer e reviewed with information from her corporate websites, press releases and media coverage. MSO is a publicly traded company. A look at the organizational archival records (e.g., stock prices, sales and annual reports) and official government records (e.g. , court records and commission reports) contributed to understand the impact of corporate scandals have had on the companies’ financial performance and their stakeholders. The media coverage on the Martha Stewart case was found through Lexis Nexis Academi c keyword search of â€Å"Martha Stewart & insider trading† in The New York Times and The Washington Post. These newspapers were selected because of their large circulation, prominence and influence on public opinion. For the purpose of the valance of news narration in this study, the period of analysis covered two time frames (during the crisis and post crisis). The first time frame started from the trading day to the verdict, beginning in December, 2001 and running through March, 2004. The second time frame started from the day of sentencing to her release from prison, beginning on July 16, 2004 and running t hrough March 2005. Since the research questions of this study were related to crisis communication strategies, the unit of analysis of this case study was Martha Stewart’s response to stakeholders during and post crisis. Thus, the strategies were apparent through the types of evid ence. 14 By examining corporate communication employed by Martha Stewart during the crisis and post -crisis period, the procedures for analysis involved three steps. First, after the data were collected from multiple sources, a detailed timeline of relevant events leading up to the crisis itself, and the post-crisis process was created. For example, the chronological order of the Martha Stewart case was constructed in the following manner: 1) the investigation (January, 2002 – June, 2003); 2) indictment (June – December, 2003); 3) verdict (January – May, 2004); 4) sentencing (June – July, 2004); 5) in prison (October, 2004); and 6) release from prison (March, 2005). Second, after the chronological order of actual events was refined, a narrative description and process analysis of each event was thus constructed. A worksheet served as an organizing tool for evaluating each event. All data collected were analyzed using the typology of crisis response strategy. Finally, a thick descript ion and analysis of the findings of each research question was conducted. 5. Analysis of Martha Stewart’s Crisis Response Strategies 5. 1 Investigation The story about Martha Stewart’s ImClone stock sale was broken to the public in the Wall Street Journal on June 7, 2002 (Adams & Anand, 2002). In the article, her lawyer, John Savarese, indicated that Stewart had set the price at US$60 for selling the stock but in fact, as of June 7, 2002, the stock price of ImClone sank to a low US$8.45 a share. Using the strategy of differentiation, Savarese further was trying to put distance between Stewart and Sam Waksal. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that she spoke to Sam, or had any information from anybody from ImClone during that week †¦ I am absolutely sure that there was no communication of any kind between her and Sam, no passing of any information from him to her. (Adams & Anand, 2002, p. B2) On June 12, 2002, Waksal was arrested for insider trading and soon after, the stock price of MSO plunged 12 percent, closing at US$15. From June 6, 2002, when congressional investigators started looking into Stewart’s sale of ImClone shares, the stock price of MSO had dropped 22 percent. Stewart immediately denied any insider trading or wrongdoing and, in a public statement, she said she knew nothing about the pending FDA announcement. She claimed that when the share price dropped below US$60 – the level at which she had agreed with her broker – she returned a call from her broker and sold the s hares on December 27, 2001. She acknowledged that after the trade, she immediately called Waksal but could not reach him, and he did not call her back. The message she left read: â€Å"Martha Stewart called. Something is going on with ImClone and she wants to know what† (Hays, 2002a, p. C1). She proclaimed her innocence in her statement: â€Å"In placing my trade, I had no improper information. My transaction was entirely lawful† (White, 2002, p. E1). However, the congressional investigator questioned Stewart’s sale, noting that ImClone dropped below $60 at least once before while Stewart owned it (White, 2002). On June 18, 2002, Stewart tried to resolve concerns about her sale of ImClone shares and hired a new lawyer, James F. Fitzpatrick, who submitted several documents to congressional investigators. This was the first time Stewart used a strategy of corrective action as a response to the inquiries. On June 19, 2002, MSO stock rebounded sharply, climbing from US$2.05, to US$14.4 and then to US$16.45, suggesting that her corrective action was working. However, Ken Johnson, a spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the documents would help answer some questions but â€Å"we still don’t have an answer to the most nagging one: was Ms. Stewart’s pre-existing agreement to sell reached in late November, as she says, or in mid-December as some reports have indicated?† (Hays, 2002b, p. C7). On June 25, 2002, she appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, and when asked by the host, Jane Clayson, about the ImClone shares during a cooking segment, she replied while slicing a cabbage with a big knife. I’m involved in an investigation that has very serious implications. I have nothing to say on the matter. I’m really not at liberty to say. And as I said, I think this will be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of any ridiculousness. And I just want to focus on my salad because that is why we’re here. (Clayson, 2002) Apparently, Stewart had no idea how to handle the situation and was unwilling to respond to the questions. She continued to dodge public inquiries and ignored the increasing outcry for answers about her role in the insider trading scandal.

Global business investment Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global business investment - Coursework Example Because of this reason, exchange rates analyzed, watched and manipulated economic measures by the government. Exchange rates are also useful when examined on a smaller scale: they influence the real return of the portfolio of an investor. There are several factors that affect exchange rates. Before we examine these factors, it is important to look at how exchange rate affects the trading relationships between countries. A lower currency is considered to make exports of a country cheaper and imports expensive in the foreign markets. A higher currency is considered to make exports of a country expensive and imports cheaper in the foreign markets. Hence, a lower rate of exchange will increase the balance of trade of a country while a higher rate of exchange is expected to lower it. There are several factors that have influence on exchange rates, and they are associated with the trading relationship between countries on a global level known as internationalization or globalization (Hill 2012). It is significant to understand that exchange rates are expressed as a comparison of two currencies from two countries. It is also significant to understand that these factors cannot be discussed in a specific order; similar to numerous aspects of economics, the significance of these factors is usually subjected to discussion. The following are discussed determinants that influence exchange rate between countries. Exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation are all highly correlated. Central banks in manipulating interest rates can exert influence on both exchange rates and inflation, and altering interest rates influence currency and inflation values. Interest rates that are high offer lenders high return in an economy relative to other countries. For this reason, interest rates that are high attract a huge amount of foreign capital and result in a rise in the exchange rate. For instance, if the United Kingdom rates rise in relation to elsewhere, it becomes

Medical Experiment on Animals Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Medical Experiment on Animals - Term Paper Example the past, animal testing was justified due to lack of technology and absence of proficiency in medicine, as fewer alternatives were present to heal the patients (Anderegg et al, 1). Supporters of animal testing have been using the argument that experimentation on animals have led to remarkable advancements like kidney transplants, mental illness, ulcer and asthma drugs, bypass operations, polio vaccines etc. Even the effects of penicillin were first observed on mice in 1940. Following these tests, the drug was then used on soldiers in 1941. Similarly, blood transfusion was conducted on dogs in 1914. Since then this technique has been used for human beings and has helped save the lives of many (RDS, 3). In spite of what the supporters of animal testing say, it has been testified by numerous medical historians that key medical discoveries were rather made by observing patients and human autopsy, as opposed to animal testing. There have been several cases where testing on animals has led to results which ended up misleading the scientists rather than provide evidence. In 1963, it was concluded that smoking and lung cancer in humans was strongly correlated. This conclusion was a result of retrospective studies and research. However when tested on animals, the experiments failed to produce the desired results. Since the human and animal anatomy had vast difference, researchers ignored the human data which they obtained from patients. As a result, health warnings weren’t issued and this resulted in thousands of deaths by lung cancer (Anderegg et al, 2). Similarly the use of animal models misled researchers, when the polio virus was being studied. As a result of experimenting on monkeys, researchers concluded that the polio virus was transmitted through the respiratory system. Consequently misdirected preventive measures were taken and the development of the polio vaccine was delayed. It was later found out that in human, the polio virus is transmitted by the

RETIREMENT ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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Globally, what is the commercial and residential use and reliance on Research Paper

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EMPLOYMENT AND DISCRIMINATION LAW 2009-10 Essay

EMPLOYMENT AND DISCRIMINATION LAW 2009-10 - Essay Example The test for less favourable treatment is clearly an objective one and the question that is to be asked is whether the complainant would have been treated differently more favourably had it not been for his sex. Thus, the tribunal must ask what the ‘conscious or subconscious reason for treating the claimant less favourably was’ (Nagarajan v. London Regional Transport)1. The decision of less favourable treatment is for the tribunal to decide and it is not a difficult one. In order to determine less favourable treatment, a comparison with an actual or hypothetical comparator is to be made, however it is necessary that the relevant circumstances of the complainant and the comparative group are same or not materially different. Thus, in Shamoon v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary2, it was stated that From s.63A and Igen v Wong3 it is clear that the evidential burden to show facts from which Employment Tribunal can conclude that the employer has committed an act of discrimination and if such burden is met then the legal burden shifts to the employer who has to show that the reason for the treatment was not related in any way with claimant’s sex. Thus, if an inadequate explanation is provided the Employment Tribunal must fina that the employer committed an act of unlawful discrimination. In the current scenario it is quite evident that Graham has received less favourable treatment on the ground of his sex and this is clear from what has been said by IRU in their reason for rejecting Graham. Furthermore, if a hypothetical comparator is drawn then in the same circumstances a woman would have received more favourable treatment and thus direct discrimination is established. The remedies that might be available to Graham are a recommendation that IRU should take action so as to reduce the effect of the discrimination. Further, he could receive compensation which could include pecuniary losses if any and injury to feelings. For the

Greenhouse gasses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Greenhouse gasses - Assignment Example The 19th century alone saw increase of 10 percent in carbon dioxide concentration in the earth’s atmosphere thanks to the burning of fossil fuels. It is being said that the Industrial revolution has contributed 40 percent to carbon dioxide and it is being estimated that if the activities continue at such pace the global temperature would rise by staggering 2 degree centigrade by 2050. The main constituents of green house gases are carbon dioxide itself, nitrous oxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, besides these gases, deforestation is a serious threat and every tree cut gives rise to emission of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Deforestation results in rise in number of floods and droughts because the trees stop the flow of floods. This climate change will hit different parts of the world in different manner and it is being believed that dry regions would get further drier and temperatures would soar in those parts of the world where as cold and wet regions would get further wet and temperatures will remain low throughout the duration of year. The overall climate change will affect the available natural water, with rise in sea levels, the salt water would join the ranks of fresh water resources, and this can also result in increasing level of sediment. Existence of †Dead Zone† with low concentration of oxygen would be on a more frequent display .The Overall Scenario will have direct implications on human life in form of asthmas and other respiratory illnesses associated with heat waves and different environmental conditions. Ecology constitutes the study of overall natural system that encircles plants, animals, woodlots, lakes, and human beings themselves. Strong relationship exists between human beings and their surroundings. The mankind has a great impact on how the surroundings are today and how they will be 50 to 100 years down the lane. The Ecosystem in itself is at a great threat from

Abnormal Psychology Essay Example for Free

Abnormal Psychology Essay Jeffrey Dahmer was a sex offender and serial killer mainly between the years 1978 and 1991. He is well known for his severely atypical behaviors. Among his outward manners that are recognized as abnormal are paraphilia-specifically necrophilia and sexual sadism. Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims, whom were boys and men, suffered from rape, violence, dismemberment and finally their murders. Dahmer’s slow progression of killings soon turned into an obsession, which would later land him in prison with a sentence for fifteen life terms or a total of 957 years in prison. Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer was born to Joyce and Lionel Dahmer in Wisconsin, and eight years later moved with his family to Ohio. In his younger years, between the ages of ten and fifteen, Jeffrey became more and more antisocial; he was very quiet and socially distant from his family members and had signs of anhedonia (loss of interest in hobbies and interactions with people). Discovered later, this behavior may have been caused by peers at school consistently mocking Jeffrey without him putting up any defense for himself. See more:  The 3 Types of Satire Essay His fetishes and discoveries of unique hobbies began in a biology class in 9th grade where Jeffrey and his classmates dissected a fetal pig. At the end of the class, Jeffrey collected the remains of the pig and returned to the house, deciding to keep its skeleton. Dahmer’s fascination with this initial incident began to grow and carry over to other animals, such as dogs and cats. In an interview with Stone Phillips Dahmer says, â€Å"There may have been some violence involved, some underlying subconscious feelings of violence I just it was a compulsion, it became a compulsion. As this continued throughout his teenage years, Jeffrey Dahmer began to consume alcohol regularly. In the same interview he admits, â€Å"I was drinking a lot during that time and just, I don’t know, looking for some way to find some fulfillment, some pleasure and I acted on my fantasies and that’s where everything went wrong. † Soon, his alcoholism, too, got out of hand and he became an alcoholic while still finishing high school. Jeffrey Dahmer attempted to attend college at Ohio State University, but his lost of interest in attending classes combined with his heavy consumption of alcohol caused him to drop out after only a quarter of a semester. During this time, his parents, Joyce and Lionel got divorced. Jeffrey’s father made him join the Army after dropping out of Ohio State, but after a couple years, his alcohol problem again caused him to be removed. After being discharged from the Army, Dahmer decided against facing his father so he decided to live in Miami, Florida where the majority of his time was spent in a hospital. In 1981 Jeffrey Dahmer was first arrested for public intoxication. In 1982, Jeffrey went back to Wisconsin to live with his grandmother. Late nights, alcohol binges, and belligerent behavior characterized his time living there. His grandmother was tolerant of his peculiar behavior at first, which included several strange incidences: she had found a male mannequin dressed up in Jeffrey’s closet, a . 357 Magnum under his bed, and she could recall many instances where awful smells would waft from the basement. Dahmer once claimed that the terrible smell was from a squirrel that he had caught, killed, and dissolved with chemicals. (Dahmer’s father was chemist, and this claim was made from Jeffery to his father; it seems as though Jeffery told his father so that he would be proud of him). Jeffrey was arrested again in 1982 and in 1986, both times for indecent exposure. The second offense that he was arrested for in 1986 was for masturbation in front of two young males. It was only two years later that Jeffrey’s so-far-tolerant grandmother told him that he could not live with her anymore due to the many strange happenings. Jeffrey was arrested in the same year, 1988, for sexually fondling and drugging a young teenage boy (age thirteen); for this, he was put on probation for five years and for one year he was assigned to a work release camp where he was registered as a sex offender from the incident with the thirteen year old boy. Due to good behavior and a built up trust with the authorities, Dahmer was paroled from his work release camp two months early. Jeffrey Dahmer began killing at age eighteen, which was during the summer of 1978. Since this was after his parent’s divorce, Dahmer’s mother no longer lived at the same house and his father was away for business duties. Jeffrey had brought a man over to the house offering to drink alcohol with him, and when the man tried to leave, Jeffrey beat him to death with a ten-pound weight to the head. Dahmer did not murder again until nine years later where he killed a man randomly after picking him up; Dahmer said he could not recollect anything about this murder. After the second murder, Jeffrey Dahmer’s killings increased dramatically adding two more to the same year (1989), five the following year (1990), and several after that. On July 22, 1991 Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested for the alleged 17 murders (which would later be reduced to 15). Psychological Functioning: Jeffrey Dahmer is a unique human being who struggled with necrophilia, which is having sexual attraction to corpses. Upon arrest, officers found many severed heads, dismembered body parts, an altar made of skeletons, and several corpses. This makes Dahmer seem like a collector in a way, but I think that his collections go beyond what people might consider a just a fetish. Often, those who are diagnosed with necrophilia behave in this was because they strongly desire to have full possession of and control over someone without the person resisting or refraining from being with them. I think this is a lot of what Jeffrey Dahmer dealt with in his life because he confesses it himself in his interview with Stone Phillips saying, â€Å"The only motive that there ever was- was to completely control a person, a person that I found physically attractive and keep them with me as long as possible, even if that meant just keeping a part of them. † Another reason for necrophilia could be a person’s desire for increased self-esteem; being attracted to a corpse was the only way Jeffrey could avoid rejection. As we know that Jeffrey was teased and picked on when he was young and during his teenage years, I think that his murders and necrophilia are related to these difficult times in his life. I think that once he established that he could have control over his victims, he went on a power trip and began to obsess over the supremacy he felt when he was controlling someone. It is reported that during the times that Dahmer was picked on and mocked in school, he never stood up for himself and never fought back. I think this led to an internalization of his feelings. He most likely built up some hostility to those people who tormented him and took advantage of him. Jeffrey Dahmer also began his attraction to males in his teenage years as he reports going to gay bars and bath clubs. The combination of his withheld anger and aggression towards his tormentors and the frustration that came from being attracted to men could have very well led to his outward aggression and finally to his killing spree. When Jeffrey talks about the things that he would do to victims, especially evident in his first crime, his pattern began to develop and it is in direct correlation to these things: he would seek out men (doing whatever it took to draw their attention), he would get them alone one way or another (either by bring them to the house or drugging them), and after having sex with them or taking advantage of them in whatever way he found pleasurable he would kill them. While he found it enjoyable to partake in sexual encounters while them men ere still alive, Jeffrey Dahmer found himself even more attracted to the corpses of those men and he found it fascinating to dismember them and keep just â€Å"a part of them. † I believe that this is where his necrophilia came from. In Jeffrey’s first murder we can see the power struggle where he desired to have sex with the man who wanted to leave. Through his sexual desires, Dahmer channeled his anger that he was being rejected and he lashed out and beat the man to death in the head with a ten-pound dumbbell. This extreme behavior is what leads me to believe that he showed signs of sadism. A sexual sadist finds pleasure in inflicting physical pain on someone and watching him or her suffer. I also can see that maybe Dahmer was frustrated with his sexual desires toward men and he felt his only way to stop this was to destroy the root of the problem; unfortunately, Jeffrey saw the men he was attracted to as his problem and in his desire to eliminate his problem he began killing the men who made him feel this way. In some ways, I am also convinced that Jeffrey Dahmer was competent and could take full responsibility of the killings because of his strategic behavior. His victims and murders were not random. Dahmer was also able to recognize that he was not completely satisfied in his initial encounters with the male species and when those things were no longer enough for him, he started purchasing sleeping pills in order to first drug his victims so that he could then take advantage of them. If Jeffrey Dahmer was not sane and competent than this organized behavior would not be evident in his tendencies. In the interview with Stone Phillips, Dahmer says, â€Å"After the second time, it seemed like the compulsion to do it was too strong and I didn’t even try to stop it after that; but before the second time, things had been building up gradually: going to bookstores, going to the bars- the gay bars, bath clubs; when that wasn’t enough, buying sleeping pills using it on various guys in the bath clubs. It just escaladed slowly but surely and after the second time which was not planned, it was out of control—it felt like it was out of control. The way that he uses his words here implies that he does take responsibility and that he fully knew what he was doing; as he says, â€Å"it was out of control—it felt like it was out of control,† he recognizes that he had the ability to make a choice and he chose to sexually victimize the men he was attracted to and then kill them. I am convinced that all of the things mentioned above lend themselves to his atypical functioning, but one thing that was not addressed was his parent’s role in all of this. Although they were divorced and parted during a time in Jeffrey’s life where he was having difficulties in other areas, I do not think that this was an issue or trigger to any of his behaviors. In an interview Jeffrey actually defends his parents saying that it makes him mad when people accuse them of playing any role in his decisions because they were not even aware of the type of issues Jeffrey was dealing with. From what Dahmer admits, we know that it was a gradual escalation of compulsive feelings that led to his abnormal behaviors. On November 28, 1994 while in prison, Jeffrey was beaten by an inmate and died from head trauma.

Impact of Violence on Children

Impact of Violence on Children Violence is understood to mean â€Å"all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse† (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2011). â€Å"Physical violence is the intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing death, disability, injury, or harm.† (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). Nowadays, parents are as busy as a bee to bring home the bacon. This leads to the matter that children spend more time in pre-schools, schools or learning environments than anywhere else outside their houses. Thus, people who work in educational systems must take responsibility for safety and total development of children. However, are those educational environments as safe as parents usually think? In reality, UNICEF data points out that corporal retribution has been applied for 6 in 10 children from 2 to 14 years old (UNICEF, 2014). In the same trend, a lot of child abuse cases from baby minders have been reported on famous Vietnamese newspapers since 2008 although kindergarten is said to have best conditions for children growth. The news has caught attention from all social classes about the downgraded morality among a certain population of teaching staff working in pre-school level. It is an urgent problem which should be publicized to people to enhance their awareness about consequences that children have to be suffered like psychology problems. â€Å"All forms of violence against children, however light, are unacceptable.† (United Nations Committee on the Rights of the child, 2011) This essay will look into the physical violence against children from kindergarteners then suggest the solutions before evaluating the effectiveness of those. The rapid increasing of population as well as more people likely moving to the cities have created a lot of problems for society and one of those are schools for children especially for infants. Each locality has an average of 1-2 public nursery schools which is not a small figure but this number still meets only 40-50% of citizens’ needs especially in industrial parks or considerable resident areas. Thus, public pre-schools are overloaded. To be able to send children to those, parents must satisfy many conditions that school as well as ministry of education and training launch as city registration book, priority candidate, †¦ This becomes more and more tense when parents don’t have time for their kids because their jobs take up most of the time and they have to afford to live. Those people even don’t have a day off for themselves. Therefore, founding a private school is indispensable when teaching staff will respond those parents’ demands such as looking after children from 6AM to 6PM everyday or even more with moderate price level. Generally, this establishment has reduced the overcharged case mentioned above as well as the pressure that most of the families having infants suffers but the article inquiring about the violence against children in kindergartens recently has constantly raised anxiety of people from all walks of life about safety issues in these schools. The big headlines are set at the first page of the newspapers, even in foreign newspapers let people worry much about poor quality as well as the downgraded in morality of the teaching staffs in kindergartens. Taking care of 15-20 children in a day is a big pressure. Instead of improving quality, these people are chasing the profits and leaving their conscience so recently there have been a lot of violence against children cases investigated by police, journalists, reporters and even residents such as arresting the baby-sister who persecuted an 18-month-old to death (Tuoitre News, 2013), Maltreating preschool children (Tuoitre News, 2013), or The kindergartener taught her children by slippers, inox spoons (Tuoitre News, 2010),†¦ â€Å"Educating children must be with love. Violence like those will impact deeply to a child’s lifetime† – said Ninh Thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹ Hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å"ng – Member of the Standing Committee of Vietnam Protection of Children’s Rights Association. Violence against children in VietNam in private kindergartens is not just one individual’s responsibility, it’s an unit’s one. State of violence against children originates from many different purposes. Firstly, mentioning is the role and responsibility of parents. Some parents don’t care much about the study of their children. Using cost-saving, temporary reasons to choose substandard environment is unacceptable. This choice led to many unfortunate consequences. Furthermore, pressure that parents put in caregivers is too considerable. Their requirement is that their children must attain certain weight and height. Hence, caregivers must do everything to make children develop in the way that their parents expect so that they can keep their salary. Socializing pre-school policy has created good condition for establishing private schools satisfying minding children need of those families that don’t have enough terms for their adolescence to go to public schools. Howerer nowsaday, most pre-schools in Vietnam don’t meet the standard of material facilities or quality of teaching. Those places transform housing into teaching environment so they don’t have playgrounds according to regulations. Every classroom has about 30-40 children so it is difficult for every childminder to take care thoughtfully all of these adolescence. Hence, compelling children into order and discipline, teaching staff have to use physical methods. Furthermore, some caregivers choose teaching as a job to earn money not because they love children. Thus, violence is an action representing the powerless in teaching skill and lacking of scientific education methods. But most, one of those reasons is the downgraded morality among a certain population of teaching staff working in the preschool level. Deeply, it is because the law is not enforced seriously. Beside the level of law of residents is poor while children rights are publicized and executed. This incidentally led to violence against children cases. Consequences of child abuse are grave. They bequeath after-effects on adolescence’s brain and constitution. Physical impacts are the most obvious and may include serious wounds or deaths by homicide or suicide. Then, children can be retarded in the future. Durrant JE (2005) suggests that children who have suffered corporal punishment tend to take part in aggressive behaviour such as hurting their families or friends in future. They can’t control their action correctly. â€Å"When children grow up they keep what was done to them in mind and in the end they also do the same to those younger than them, especially at school. Some people become mentally disturbed.† Said a boy -14 years old living in Eastern and Southern Africa, 2005. Steven,D.(2014) states that abuse has a longlife effect on children’s mental and psychological development. Children who have suffered violence have 6% smaller brain than normal. Violence may lead to mental disorder or nervous disorder on children. Because the brains have similar patterns of activity to soldiers exposed to combat. Moreover, children may change their personality as taciturn, stubborn and strange activities. Steven also confirms that victim may find it difficult communicating and set up relationship. This may make things worse. UNICEF(2014) puts forward some strategies that are believed to reduce violence against children. The first method is enforcing laws and polices strictly. Government have the duty to forbid irrevocably violence against children by law.Children’s right has been publicized and executed for over 10 years. Child abuse cases such as PhÆ °Ãƒâ€ Ã‚ ¡ng Anh kindergarten or teaching children by slippers and inox spoons must be judged strongly in order to awaken who used or have intention of using corporal retribution. People who have any action violating children’s safety must bear full responsibility for any damage and expiate behind the court of justice. Punishment suitable to the offence may prevent violent tendency to zero. Secondly, carrying out data collection and research is an appropriate way to expand knowledge based on the issue. This process let researchers, psychologists find the far-reaching cause of the violence then solving the problem to the every roots. Furt hermore, releasing those documents will change people’s thoughts and action. They may have consciousness and be indignant of alarming child abuse situation. Last but not least, ministry of education and training must assume responsibilities that teaching methods and disciplinary punishment of all schools must not include threat, physical force, or humiliation . Administrators must ensure the implementation of related policies and procedures at the school level– specifically putting a stop to corporal punishment. Moreover, quality of teaching needs to be improved. Good teacher recruitment and training must one the most important strategies to reduce violence. All school staff must be well- educated and have good virtues. Those will create good environment – letting children be the center, listening to their needs and concerns and alleviating children’s opposing when adults compel them to do something that they dislike and deeply is violence. Related agenci es ought to make an examination of valid papers to ensure that no educational foundations are set up illegally then bring forward standards every school needs to execute exactly. If those agencies don’t manage this closely, state of violence still happens.

Stock Options With Fixed Exercise Prices

Stock Options With Fixed Exercise Prices Table of Contents (Jump to) 1 Introduction 2 Fixed Price Options versus Indexed Options 3 Case for Indexed Options 3.1 Compensation for Relative rather than Absolute Performance 3.2 Protection of Managers during Market Downswings 3.3 Reduced Expected Costs 4 Case against Indexed Options 4.1 Unpredictability 4.2 Difficulty in Controlling Compensations 4.3 Larger Deadweight Costs. 4.4 Tax Treatment 4.5 Reluctance of Managers 5 Reasons for Choosing Alternatives of Indexed Options 5.1 Requirements of Firms 5.2 Sensitivity of Payoff 6 Empirical Evidence 7 Conclusion 8 References 1 Introduction The principal-agent problem has long been a matter of discussion within organisational institutions. As a matter of fact, the owners of a limited company normally elect a Board of Directors to control the business’s resources on their behalf. However, conflict arises among these managers and shareholders due to their different objectives. As owners, shareholders would want to maximise profits while managers may want to maximise sales, build empire buildings and enjoy perks. To align the interests of both stakeholders therefore, compensation of managers should be linked with the firm’s performance. One way to do this is the introduction of options: fixed price options and indexed options. Basically, an option is a financial derivative representing a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option, just like a stock or bond, is a security. Fixed price options and indexed options differ significantly from each other. For the purpose of this assignment, we will discuss how indexed options provide a better case compared to fixed price options. 2 Fixed Price Options versus Indexed Options Fixed price options whose exercise price is already agreed upon and will remain the same until expiration date. The option exercise price is usually set equal to the stock price at grant. When an executive is given a fixed price option as a means compensation, two situations can arise. If the share price rises above the exercise price, the executive gains. On the other hand, the executive receive absolutely nothing if there is a decrease in share price In contrast, an indexed option is a stock option whose exercise price is connected to a benchmark index, which may be a specific sector index or a broad market index. Indexed price options have unknown selling price when contract is being made, and the final price of the option depends on market status on the expiration date. A change in the absolute value of the share will have no effect unless thecompanyoutperformssomestatedindex suchastheSP500 or a group of peers. Then only, the optionwillbeexercised. 3 Case for Indexed Options 3.1 Compensation for Relative rather than Absolute Performance Fixed price options reward performance in absolute terms. If the share price increases, the executives are rewarded in spite of rising market trends being unconnected to managers’ performance. Executives are still rewarded if competitors’ or the market have performed better. Similarly, when the share price falls, no rewards are given even if the firm did better than its peers. On the other hand indexed options reward relative rather than absolute performance. Hence, executives do not enjoy windfall gains by luck in rising markets, but by their performance instead. Only if the company performs better than the market or its peers that the executives can cash in. The executives have therefore further incentives to deliver good performance. The example below gives a better idea of how indexed options actually reward relative performance. XYZ ltd.’s equity stock is currently selling for $100 per share when the market (benchmark) index is at a level of 1000. XYZ limited grants an option to its CEO which enables him to purchase an option consisting of 100000 shares at an exercise price of $100, but the same will move in line with the market in future. Taking a specific case, the CEO is given indexed options. The value of the option granted to the CEO under 4 various scenarios is shown in the table below. Value of Indexed Option under Indexed Options SHAREPRICE INDEX Rises Falls Outperforms the index Index: 1150 (by 15%) Exercise price: $115 (by 15%) Stock price: $120 (by 20%) Value of option: $500,000 Index:850 Exercise price: $85 (by 15%) Stock price: $90 (by 10%) Value of option: $500,000 Underperforms the index Index: 1150 (by 15%) Exercise price: $115 (by 15%) Stock price: $110 (by 10%) Value of option: $0 Index: 850 (by 15%) Exercise price: $85 (by 15%) Stock price: $80 (by 20%) Value of option: $0 Table 1 From Table1, indexed options only reward the CEO when the companies’ stock outperforms the market, even if indexes have increased or decreased. They have a fair way of rewarding CEOs; they do not reward under-performingexecutives nor do they penalize superior performers whenever the market index has increased or decreased in respective cases. This is a convenient way of keeping CEOs motivated and thus encourage them perform well in their duties of decision making for a company’s investment. In general, indexed options reward superior performance under all market conditions. However, if the same example is taken in the case of fixed price option, and that there is a 5% change in the share price, the scenarios will differ as follows: Value of Option under Fixed Price Options SHAREPRICE RISES Exercise price: $100 Share price: $105 (by 5%) Value of option : $500,000 EXERCISE OPTION FALLS Exercise price: $100 Share price: $95 (by 5%) Value of option: $0 NOT EXERCISE OPTION Table 2 As shown in Table 2, when the share price increases from $100 to $105, the option is exercised to the benefit of the manager. The latter receives a compensation of $ 500,000. In the reverse case, when the share price falls to $95, the shareholders gets no compensation. 3.2 Protection of Managers during Market Downswings In the case of fixed price options, executives are not rewarded when the market is declining because share prices are below the exercise price. However, indexed options can well reward managers in bearish markets as long as the decline in the company’s stock price is less steep than that of his peers. Indexed options reward better performers. 3.3 Reduced Expected Costs Traditional options plans reward employees as long as the share price is higher than the grant price. However, indexed options eliminates the possibility that managers can be compensated for share price movements that are unrelated to what they might have done. Thus it helps a firm to remove or lower undeserved compensations. A study by J. Angel and D. McCabe values that the expense of providing conventional options to executives at the 100 largest NYSE-listed companies is 41 percent more than the expense of providing options that take out market outcomes. The lower expected costs against future earnings of indexed options compared to fixed priced options can only be to the advantage of companies. 4 Case against Indexed Options The advantages of indexed options over fixed price options are flagrant in light of the above. However, the application of indexed options is still rare. They lag behind fixed price options in many ways. 4.1 Unpredictability Unlike indexed options, fixed price options brings predictability and certainty to a transaction due to the fixed exercise price. Through the characteristic of ‘all or nothing’, the manager will exercise, and therefore make money, if and only if the firm’s stock price is above the exercise price. 4.2 Difficulty in Controlling Compensations Budgeting and forecasting business costs are made easier using fixed value plans. They allow for firms to plan and control how much compensation to offer to employees. Retention risk, in particular concerning non- executive staff members, can be largely minimised when compensations are close to that offered by rival companies. Indexed options, on the other hand, can cause large discrepancies in compensations and the loss of key employees. 4.3 Larger Deadweight Costs An indexed option plan has a greater deadweight loss compared to a traditional option plan. This is because, with agency problems, where the interests of owners and managers do not always line up, there is the need to expose the managers to firm-specific risk to encourage a specific type of behaviour. However, this means that they are unable to diversify their portfolios to their full potential, exposing them to both systematic and unsystematic risks while compensating them only for the systematic portion of risk. Consequently, managers will always value their equity-based compensation at less than its market value. 4.4 Tax Treatment So as to obtain favourable tax treatments, a company can grant incentive stock options. However, according to the 1994 US Code, this entails that the option price should be less than the fair market value of the stock at the time such an option is granted. In this case, it implies that the option price be fixed on the grant date. 4.5 Reluctance of Managers Managers are unwilling to accept a compensation plan based on relative performance. This is because in the case of fixed price options, when the stock market performs well, they reap high rewards for stock price performance unrelated to their own efforts. Managers are reluctant to forego the potentially huge rewards conferred by the bull market, especially when they estimate that a downturn is less likely to occur in the stock market. 5 Reasons for Choosing Alternatives of Indexed Options Besides, it should be noted that indexed options are not suitable in all cases. Some reasons are illustrated below and the corresponding alternatives are also suggested. 5.1 Requirements of Firms Compensation systems have the following functions: to compensate managers for completed work, to reduce principal-agent costs by more closely aligning managers interests with those of shareholders, and to retain the manager. Compensation that accomplishes one of these functions successfully may not carry out the other functions of a compensation system as effectively. Stock options, for instance, serve to align incentives. However, a firm where incentive alignment is not that important, would not be keen to use stock or stock options to compensate its managers. It would rather use cash compensation Cash avoids the deadweight costs that accompany any equity-based compensation plan. 5.2 Sensitivity of Payoff Indexed options do not work as expected in practice. Instead, their payoff tends to be highly sensitive to market price movements. As the market increases, the value of the variable-exercise-price option increases too. For example, Lisa Meulbroek of Harvard Business School shows that the estimated value of an option indexed to the SP 500 rises by 15% if that stock index rises by 15%. Clearly, indexing does not even achieve its aim; separating the general market movements from the movements in the value of the option. An alternative design that rewards managers only for performance and not for that is due to overall gains in the market or industry can be considered. Instead of using the firm’s stock as an underlying asset, an alternative design employs a performance benchmarked portfolio. Under this proposed structure, the value of the portfolio changes to reflect the firm’s performance, net of market and industry effects, while the exercise price remains fixed. (Meulbroek, 2001). 6 Empirical Evidence A brief empirical review will determine whether relative performance is compensated in practice. We also explore if indexed options are indeed better than fixed price options. According to Gibbons and Murphy (1990), chief executive officers are compensated upon relative performance. It was found that there is a positive and significant relationship between the remunerations of CEOs and the firm performance, but an inverse and significant one with the industry and market performance. On the contrary, Bertrand and Mullainathan (1999) report that CEOs are remunerated for market-wide and industry movements that they perceive as luck. However firms that are better managed reward their CEOs less for such market movements compared to other firms. Sloan (1993)’s also found that CEO compensation depends on earnings so as to help separate market movements from the reward. With regard to the effectiveness of indexed options, in their works titled â€Å"Indexing Executive Compensation Contracts† in 2013, Ingolf Dittmann, Ernst Maug and Oliver G. Spalt gave empirical evidence that indexed options provide incentives at a higher cost than conventional options. 7 Conclusion In light of the above, it is observed that stock options with fixed exercise prices do not properly link managers’ performance to compensation since they relate to absolute and not relative performance reward. Indexed options have higher incentive advantages over the fixed price option since it takes into account the skills of the executives. It is also highlighted that indexed options result in a lower compensation costs than equivalent fixed price options. Nevertheless, the drawbacks and suitability of indexed options should not be ignored either. As a result, a firm is well advised to properly weigh the costs and benefits of indexed options before applying them. 8 References Angel, J. and McCabe, D. (2002). Market-adjusted options for executive compensation. Global Business and Economics Review, 4(1), pp.123. Bebchuk, L. and Fried, J. (2004). Pay without Performance, The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation, Part III: The Decoupling of Pay from Performance. 1st ed. [ebook] Harvard University Press, p.24. Available at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/bebchuk/pdfs/Performance-Part3.pdf [Accessed 25 Sep. 2014]. Bertrand, Marianne, and Sendhil Mullainathan, (1999), Are CEOs Rewarded for Luck? A Test of Performance Filtering, (Princeton University, Mimeograph). Chandra, P. (2007). FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT. 1st ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, pp.947- 949. Dittmann, I., Maug, E. and Spalt, O. (2013). Indexing executive compensation contracts. Review of Financial Studies, 26(12), pp.31823224. Gibbons, R. and Murphy, K. (1990). Relative performance evaluation for chief executive officers, Industrial and Labor Relations Review 43, 30-51 Meulbroek, L. (2000). Executive Compensation Using Relative-Performance-Based Options: Evaluating the Structure and Costs of Indexed Options. SSRN Journal, [online] 01-021. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.281028 [Accessed 21 Sep. 2014]. Mueller, D. (2012). The Oxford handbook of capitalism. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.386. Schnusenberg, O. and McDaniel, W. (2000). HOW TO VALUE INDEXED EXECUTIVE STOCK OPTIONS. Journal of Financial and Strategic Decisions. Sloan, R. (1993). Accounting earnings and top executive compensation. Journal of accounting and Economics, 16(1), pp.55100. Stapledon, G. (2004). THE PAY FOR PERFORMANCE DILEMMA. 1st ed. [ebook] U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 83, p.6. Available at: http://www.pay-without-performance.com/Stapledon-Pay-for-Performance-Dilemma .pdf [Accessed 25 Sep. 2014]. Symes, S. (2014). Advantages Disadvantages of a Fixed-Price Contract. [online] Small Business Chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-fixedprice-contract-21066.html [Accessed 23 Sep. 2014].

Hegel: Reason in History Essay -- Philosophy History Essays

Hegel: Reason in History The second chapter of the Introduction to the Philosophy of History bears the title "Reason in History"; however, careful study reveals that it could just as aptly been dubbed Reason is History or better, History is Reason. Although Reason exists in a finite form within the human being, the whole—infinite Reason—is necessarily greater than the sum of its parts—the sum of finite Reasons. Hegel's Reason is the infinite material of all reality—the substance, form, and power. History is the increasing self-consciousness of the Spirit i.e. Reason; that is, a progressive increase of Reason within the world. This relationship between history and Reason is expressed by Hegel's agreement with Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds. In other words, everything is as it should be. In fact, Hegel makes strong assertions along just these lines, "that [Reason] reveals itself in the world, and that nothing else is revealed in the world but that Idea itself, its glory and majesty (12-13)." It is from this idea that Hegel derives the point that "Re... Hegel: Reason in History Essay -- Philosophy History Essays Hegel: Reason in History The second chapter of the Introduction to the Philosophy of History bears the title "Reason in History"; however, careful study reveals that it could just as aptly been dubbed Reason is History or better, History is Reason. Although Reason exists in a finite form within the human being, the whole—infinite Reason—is necessarily greater than the sum of its parts—the sum of finite Reasons. Hegel's Reason is the infinite material of all reality—the substance, form, and power. History is the increasing self-consciousness of the Spirit i.e. Reason; that is, a progressive increase of Reason within the world. This relationship between history and Reason is expressed by Hegel's agreement with Leibniz that this is the best of all possible worlds. In other words, everything is as it should be. In fact, Hegel makes strong assertions along just these lines, "that [Reason] reveals itself in the world, and that nothing else is revealed in the world but that Idea itself, its glory and majesty (12-13)." It is from this idea that Hegel derives the point that "Re...

Shame and Learning in Platos Apology Essay -- Philosophy Philosophica

Shame and Learning in Plato's Apology ABSTRACT: In the Apology, Socrates proves to be the master teacher (1) of Athens in the way that he invites the city to overcome its "cognitive shame." Psychologist and teacher Paul Shane contends that much of the learning process begins in shame. (2) Shane defines shame in this way: Shame is the feeling of being exposed and wanting to hide one's nakedness. It is related to ego-ideal. One has a conception of self, an image of what one can be, and the feeling of shame is experienced in not having achieved a desired and attainable goal, in lacking something, in being inadequate. Rather than being a function of not having lived up to the standards of another, it is having failed or disappointed oneself. Shane holds that shame is an element in the learning process because the individual does not want to be in a position of having his or her ignorance exposed. In this way, "cognitive shame" spurs on the student's desire ". . . to explore and acquire, to master and become competent." (3) If an important element in the learning process of the pupil is her need to overcome this shame of not knowing then it seems that she is in a very awkward position, in fact an intolerable position! On the one hand her shame at not knowing is the spur that drives her on to want to transcend her limitations and the feelings of inadequacy, of ignorance that threaten her. On the other hand, the only way she can overcome her state of ignorance and free herself from the shame that threatens her is by revealing her ignorance and thereby making herself vulnerable to the very feelings of shame that will attend this disclosure. Shane implicitly points to this dilemma in his discussion of the questionable structu ... ...ely, a certain degree of irony here but Socrates' fundamental orientation as the sort of teacher who is at the same time a learner is to be taken very seriously. Socrates, in fact, breaks down the distinction between teacher and pupil by making the learning process a collaborative one. (2) Paul Shane, Ph.D., "Shame and Learning," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 50 (2), April 1980. (3) Shane, 352. (4) Shane, 350-351. (5) Shane, 352. (6) Shane, 352. (7) The verb, here, dokounton, is slightly ambiguous. It can mean, one of those who seem or appear to be wise or one of those who have a reputation for being wise. (8) This, I take it, is the grounds of his hesitation and difficulty, namely, that he is challenging the god's utterance. (9) He appears to be someone involved in the political affairs of the city from Apology 21c4, tis ton politikon.

Choose at least two social work theories; explain their main principles, advantages and disadvantages and apply them to the assessment, planning and intervention in one of the case studies provided below.

Introduction Recognition of the importance of evidence and theory-based practice in social work has grown in recent years (Webb, 2001). Their importance in this field of work should be encouraged as early as possible. Students of social work should be encouraged to explore theories that can not only help them to better understand and work with service users but also help them to handle personal issues that may arise through the course of their work (Trotter and Leech, 2003). This essay will explore the advantages and disadvantages of three theories that are currently applied to social work practice and use them in the assessment, planning and intervention of a case study. Social Learning Theory Social learning theory was first developed by Albert Bandura and colleagues (1961, 1963, 1977) after they observed that children had a strong tendency to imitate adult role models who exhibited either aggressive or non-aggressive behaviour toward a life-sized doll known as ‘Bobo’. Furthermore, this imitation behaviour was strengthened when the role model was the same sex as the child. Bandura et al. (1961, 1963) concluded that children learn behaviour through observing the behaviour of adults around them. Since these early studies, there have been numerous other papers supporting social learning theory, especially in the arenas of crime, violence and aggression (Akers et al., 1979; Foshee, Bauman and Linder, 1999; Pratt et al., 2010). Social learning theory is applicable to social work because it provides an easy to understand theory by which social workers can understand the behaviour of service users. It is a theory to which most people can relate and can provide a rel atively easy basis on which to build suitable interventions. Nevertheless, there were some concerns about the methodology of the Bobo doll study. For example, the study lacked ecological validity because the target of aggression was a toy and children may have been far less likely to have imitated aggression toward another person or an animal.AdvantagesA strength of social learning theory is its high applicability to real life. It is an easy to understand theory and the concepts are clear, and it can therefore be applied by most people in a wide range of situations. It has also been found to be successful in accounting for and explaining a wide range of behaviours including binge drinking (Durkin, Wolfe and Clark, 2005), police misconduct (Chappell and Piquero, 2004) and even software piracy (Higgins, 2006). Therefore, another strength of social learning theory is that it can be tested empirically because it is possible to develop a study design that can demonstrate whether or not i ndividuals learn behaviour through observing others carry out that behaviour. Social learning theory is able to account for the great variability of behaviour that individuals demonstrate and acknowledges that our reactions to different situations are likely to at least partly reflect the reactions displayed by significant others such as parents and friends.DisadvantagesOne criticism of social learning theory is that it focuses too heavily on social aspects. Our social environments and the behaviour of our role models do assert some degree of influence on our own behaviour. Despite this, there are numerous other influences that can serve to influence our behaviour and the way that we react to our surroundings. These may include genetics as well as the role of reinforcement (Skinner, 1948, 1958), by which some behaviours are repeated because they produce a positive outcome whereas others are ceased because they cause a negative outcome. Social learning theory also fails to adequately account for cultural influences on an individual’s learned behaviours. The theory also tends to downplay the cognitive processes of the child. It assumes that children will automatically copy any behaviour they have observed, without taking into account that the child may use other cognitive information to make a decision as to whether the behaviour should be copied or not. In the Bobo doll study by Bandura and his colleagues, children imitated aggressively toward the toy, but would have been likely to have used knowledge about wrong or right had they observed role models being aggressive to another person or an animal. Nor does the theory give an adequate explanation as to how social learning interacts with development. The theory cannot explain at which point in a child’s development social learning may become more or less influential on their behaviour. A final criticism of social learning theory is that it cannot explain behaviour demonstrated by children that the y have not observed. Social Learning Theory: Application to Case Study OneAssessmentAccording to the Community Care Act (1990), assessment by a social worker should be comprehensive, holistic, be needs led and include participation by both the service user and carer. Social learning theory can be applied to the assessment, planning and intervention for the family detailed in case study one in a number of different ways. The very early studies by Bandura and colleges applied social learning theory to aggression in particular. Case study one details that Jenny and Dave’s oldest child Sean exhibits aggressive behaviour at nursery. Assessment of this case using social learning theory would understand Sean’s behaviour to be a product of his environment and in particular, of the rocky and argumentative relationship that his parents have. In a study investigating the role of social learning on subsequent alcohol use and self-regulatory behaviours, Patock-Peckham et al. (2001) found that the parent ing style and behaviours of the parent who is the same sex as a child, is significantly related to that child’s self-regulation skills, which are known to be protective against alcohol use and abuse. This suggests that Sean is likely to adopt his father’s maladaptive drinking behaviours through the process of social learning. The early studies by Bandura et al. (1961, 1963) also reflected this more powerful effect of same sex models. The case study also details that Jenny was invited to attend a ‘Mother and Toddler’ group but did not take the offer up. It also appears as though neither Jenny nor Dave have integrated into their community and are not making the most of their social environment. Social learning theory can also be used to assess and understand the inharmonious relationship between Jenny and Dave, as the theory has been found to be useful in predicting intimate partner violence (Sellers, Cochran and Branch, 2005).Planning and InterventionA suitable intervention based on social learning theory would include educating both Jenny and Dave on the impact that their behaviour is likely to have on their children. Bearing in mind the finding that children tend to be more influenced by the behaviour of the parent of the same sex, Dave should be encouraged to model positive behaviours around Sean in particular and Jenny should be encouraged to attend the ‘Mother and Toddler’ group with Sarah to increase the number of positive interactions and behaviours Sarah is exposed to around other mothers and female role models. Secondly, Jenny and Dave must be encouraged to widen their social interactions in order to foster more positive social experiences, which in return should have a positive impact on their behaviours. Although her mother lives some miles away, Jenny should be encouraged to maintain contact with her in order maximise positive social interactions. It may also be advantageous to help Jenny and Dave explore how they may have learnt to deal with their marital problems using maladaptive behaviours such as verbal aggression, and to help them toward the realisation that although they may have observed significant others using these coping mechanisms, there are more adaptive techniques available to them.Social Conflict TheorySocial conflict theory is based strongly on the philosophy of the famous communist Karl Marx and holds that inequality within society is t he product of some individuals holding and actively defending a disproportionate share of society’s resources. As a result, those without many resources are controlled by those with the lion’s share. Therefore, social conflict theory sees society as greatly unequal and views social problems as the product of society’s issues, not the issues of the individual. One of the most famous empirical demonstrations of social conflict theory was by Sherif et al. (1961). A group of boys unknown to each other were randomly assigned to one of two groups and attended a summer camp. In the initial phase of the experiment, the two groups did not know of the others existence and were encouraged to bond as individual groups. Once an element of competition was introduced, each group became fiercely protective of their own group and both prejudiced and discriminatory behaviour was observed. The study demonstrated that when two groups are put in contest with each other over resource s this can trigger negative behaviours and attempts by competing groups to sabotage each other. Social conflict theory is applicable to social work because it captures the social injustices and inequalities that are often observed in this line of work. It can provide a framework for understanding why some individuals find themselves in constant financial and economic struggles and gives the social worker a better understanding of how they may change this and make a difference in people’s lives.AdvantagesUnlike many other theories, social conflict theory acknowledges the role of economics. This is especially useful for the field of social work because it avoids social workers from putting too much emphasis on the power held by the service user to make a change. It acknowledges that some elements cannot be controlled by the service user and may avoid frustration on behalf of the service user at the social worker not taking into that due to the social standing of the service user they will struggle to find employment opportunities that can change their financial situations. DisadvantagesSocial conflict theory is somewhat reductionist and does not account for the impact of individual thinking or behaviours. The theory sees individuals as a product of their socio-economic standing and cannot explain why many people from poor and deprived backgrounds go on to be successful and wealthy through hard work and determination, overcoming economic obstacles. There is empirical support for social conflict theory supporting its usefulness in aiding understanding of a number of different social constructs, including racial profiling by law-enforcement agencies (Petrocelli, Piquero and Smith, 2003). However, the theory is complex and is thus difficult to measure empirically. This is a key criticism of the theory because complexity adversely affects applicability in the real world. Social Conflict Theory: Application to Case Study OneAssessmentJenny and Dave’s situation can be assessed in the context of social conflict theory. Living in a housing estate, they are likely to be considered as belonging to the lower or working class. As a result, conflict theory would argue that their financial difficulties are due to only owning or having access to a small share of society’s resources. Dave’s employment status appears to be intermittent, which social conflict theory would argue is the result of opportunities being withheld from him by those higher up the economic ladder. The family’s lack of resources are clearly having a knock-on effect on the marriage, with Dave’s spending of the house money on gambling and drinking being a common source of arguments. Social conflict theory can also be applied to understand internal as well as external conflict. For example, high levels of parent-child conflict have been associated with child behavioural problems (El-Sheikh and Flanagan, 2001; El-Sheikh and Elmore-Stanton, 2004). Therefore, Sean’s aggressive behaviour at nursery could be a product of a perceived conflict between himself and his parents. Although Sean is young, his parents’ preoccupation with trying to cope with their poor financial situation may be interpreted by Sean as a lack of attention. This could explain why he acts poorly at nursery.Planning and InterventionBearing the principles of conflict theory in mind, intervention should take the form of enabling the family to increase their resources and the opportunities available to them. Dave should be encouraged to join some government funded courses to increase his skills and employability status. The family should be made aware of the huge number charities that of fer free and impartial advice on both debt and rent arrears. The family’s social worker should be sensitive to their economic standing and take it into account when working with them.Psychoanalytic TheoryOriginally developed by the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory seeks to explain how external struggles can impact upon an individual or their family to such a degree that they become internalised (Bower, 2005). The theory focuses on uniting both the strengths of an individual’s personality and available resources in order to optimise both their personal and interpersonal functioning (Hollis, 1977). Psychoanalytic theory can also be differentiated from other theories because of its inclusion of Freudian concepts such as the influence of unconscious mental processes and defence mechanisms (Brearley, 2007). One of the main principles of psychoanalytic theory is believing that our unconscious is largely responsible for our conscious actions, thought and feelings, and that awareness of these processes is rare (Greene and Uebel, 2008) Defence mechanisms can be either conscious or unconscious but are always deployed in order to help an individual avoid facing facts about themselves they perceive to be threatening (Jacobs, 2010). Contemporary psychoanalytic theory use in social work has tended to be based on ego psychology (Corey, 2000; Greene and Uebel, 2008), which emphasises the impact of our environment and the role of the ego’s problem-solving capacity in maximising adaptive behaviour. Psychoanalytic theory is applicable to social work and the assessment of service users because it embraces the social work ideal of acknowledging that both individual differences and the environment can have a negative impact on the individual. It may also help social workers to cope with difficult to manage or difficult to understand behaviour by acknowledging that some processes are unconscious on behalf of the service user.AdvantagesUnlike conflict theory that focuses on economic influences and social learning theory that focuses on social influences, psychoanalytic theory is far less reductionist meaning that it can be applied to a wider range of situations and individuals. The theory is somewhat more holistic than both social learning and conflict theory because it emphasises the importance of both internal and external factors and the influence these have on an individual’s ability to cope with everyday stresses. Indeed, early theorists argued that ego psychology in part icular struck an advantageous balance between acknowledging both individual and situational factors (Hamilton, 1958; Wood, 1971). Psychoanalytical theory has been the root of many other useful and currently practised social work models, such as transactional analysis, group therapy and crisis intervention (Trevithick, 2012). Therefore, it has had positive real-world and social work applications.DisadvantagesPsychoanalytic theory can be hard to test empirically, meaning that scientific evidence for both its validity and its effectiveness is lacking. However, it is not completely without evidence. For example, through observational methods, Beebe and Lachmann (2002) found that in support of psychoanalytic theory, infants learn much about their own emotional lives through empathically fuelled caregiver interactions. Nevertheless, Fonagy (2003) has argued that psychoanalytic theory has recently become too fragmented to be supported empirically and this fragmentation makes it a difficult theory to apply in a clinical or social work setting. This highlights another issue with psychoanalytic theory in that it is a com plex theory, which limits both its applicability and usefulness. Psychoanalytic theory is also considered to be quite controversial, although it has come a long way since the overt sexual themes pioneered by Freud. Despite being a more holistic theory, it could be argued that psychoanalytic theory does not adequately acknowledge the role of social influences in how individuals cope with their everyday life stresses. Psychoanalytic Theory: Application to Case Study OneAssessmentThere are a number of behaviours exhibited by Jenny and Dave that could be interpreted as defence mechanisms. Firstly, Dave both gambles and drinks, which causes friction between him and Jenny. Both of these behaviours could be interpreted as coping mechanisms that Dave uses to deal with the family’s financial and economic worries. Dave has said that the only thing wrong with their marriage is the â€Å"lack of intimacy† since their youngest was born. However, from an outside perspective, this is clearly an example of denial and a defence mechanism that Dave is using to avoid facing up to reality. Jenny’s spending of the household income on mail order catalogues is also a likely example of a maladaptive coping mechanism because the family cannot afford to spend money on luxuries.Planning and InterventionThe helping of others through the use of psychoanalytic theory has been described as â€Å"a correc tive emotional experience,† (Greene and Uebel, 2008, p. 64). Therefore, Jenny and Dave should be supported in developing adaptive emotional responses to the difficulties that their environment presents. They should be encouraged to externalise their financial troubles so that they do not control their emotions, which is likely to result in a continuation of negative behaviours, such as drinking, arguing and gambling. Psychoanalytic theory could be applied to this case study by helping Dave to optimise internal and more adaptive external forces to help him cope with the family’s stresses rather than turning to maladaptive behaviours, such as drinking and gambling. Dave should be encouraged to face up to the reality of the family’s situation and to explore ways in which he can cope in healthier ways. If Dave feels the need to escape now and again, he may be encouraged to take up a hobby or sport, which will give him time away from the family but avoid isolation. Conclusion Jenny and Dave’s situation can be interpreted through the use of various theories. A holistic approach in which the most applicable elements of each theory are used to help the family improve their financial and emotional well-being is recommended. References Akers, R.L., Krohn, M.D., Lanza-Kaduce, L. and Radosevich, M. (1979) Social learning and deviant behaviour: A specific test of a general theory. American Sociological Review, 44, pp. 636-655. Bandura, A., Ross, D. and Ross, S.A. (1961) Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), pp. 575. Bandura, A., Ross, D. and Ross, S.A. (1963) Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66(1), pp. 3-11. Beebe, B. and Lachmann, F.M. (2002) Infant research and adult treatment: Co-constructing interactions. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press. Bower, M. (2005) Psychoanalytic Theory for Social Work Practice. Oxford, UK: Routledge. Brearley, J. (2007) ‘A Psychoanalytic approach to social work,’ in: J. Lishman (ed.) Handbook of Theory for Practice Teachers, London, UK: Jessica Kingsley. Chappell, A.T. and Piquero, A.R. (2004) Applying social learning theory to police misconduct. Deviant Behavior, 25(2), pp. 89-108. Corey, G. (2000) Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Monterey, CA: Thomson Brooks Cole. 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