The Credit Crunch of 2007-2008 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Credit Crunch of 2007-2008 - Essay Example As shown in the diagram underneath, this led to rising housing prices since decades. In 2000, the rate of increase of house prices was rising at unsustainable levels, much faster than they had in the last decade. Sub-prime mortgages (mortgages to high risk customers) began to rise due to availability of cheap credit (Mizen). The low interest rate environment stimulated upsurges in mortgage backed financing and hence considerable increases in house prices. It encouraged investors (financial institutions, such as pension funds, hedge funds, investment banks) to design instruments that offer yield enhancement such as subprime mortgages. The bullish attitude of Wall Street led to creation of complex structured products such as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and a lot of repackaging of high-risk mortgage backed securities. The credit and house price bubble led to a real-estate boom and eventually to a surplus of unsold homes, which triggered U.S. housing prices to peak and before declining and bursting in mid-2006. Subprime borrowers began to default on their loans as real estate prices decreased further. The default on a significant ratio of subprime toxic assets produced cascade effects in financial markets via the securitized mortgage derivatives into which these mortgages were bundled, to the balance sheets of investment banks and hedge funds. The vagueness about the value of the securities collateralized by these mortgages spread chaos and concern over the soundness of loans for leveraged buyouts. That led to the freezing of the interbank lending market in August 2007, collapse of key financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers and triggered the credit crunch crisis. 2. Economists classify macro-economic indicators as leading, lagging, or coincident. Define each classification and give two examples of each, relating them to the recession that began in 2007 and the recovery that is now under way. ? Economic indicators are periodical statements by the government and private institutions that describe the health of a country's economy. Economist classify these indicators into lea ding, lagging or coincident kind that are described below in detail: Leading Indicators: Leading indicators are economic indicators that predict future events. They are foreign exchange indicators that change beforehand the change in the market or economy has occurred. Examples of leading indicators may include bong yields, inventory variations, stock prices and insurance claims. Economic establishments and central banks study leading indicators in expectation to fluctuations in expected interest rates. A forex-leading indicator is a pointer that advises the trader to buy or sell before a new trend in the market commences. Leading indicators, however, are difficult to recognize and could lead to misleading results or interpretations if not analyzed by an experience trader. Two examples leading indicators for the financial crisis of 2007 are stock prices (500 common stocks) that reduced by 8% in 2007 (The Conference Board) and Building permits that reduced by 16% leading to a 40% dec line in US Home Construction Index. Lagging Indicators: Lagging indicators are indicators that follow an economic event. These indicators usually exist three to twelve months after the economy. Lagging economic indicators are the confirmation to outline the peaks and troughs that

Application of Nursing Theory Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Application of Nursing Theory - Assignment Example As a result, nurses often turn to nursing theory in order to make sure that they are able to help the patient in the best possible way. Part II: The Problem Nursing theory and Rehabilitation Around the world, the issue of rehabilitation is becoming a very big issue which many nursing centres have to deal with. The number of individuals who need to be rehabilitated every year is increasing every year. And so has the severity of the cases because people are now indulging more deeply in harmful drugs and alcohol. Rehabilitation is becoming an issue and many nursing professionals working in rehabilitation centres are finding it harder to be able to treat the individuals (Strong, 2013). As a result, there is an increasing need for all the stake holders to come together and develop a solution. In the United States, the problem of ineffective rehabilitation is being blamed on so many stakeholders including the following; Policy makers have been accused of making ineffective and irreverent h ealthcare policies which make it harder for rehabilitation of addicts to be effective. Policy makers are accused of failing to recognize addiction as a healthcare problem and therefore this offers very little government help for addicts, thus leaving them to have to pay the expensive costs of rehabilitation which are in often cases prohibitive and thus always leads to the patient relapsing to their vices. Justice system is also accused of failing to recognize addicts as patients and in most cases sends them to prison instead to rehabilitation centres. For instance, most addicts who are arrested with drugs are sentenced to prison terms where they end up using these drugs even more because they are readily available in the prison environment. However, it is the nursing professionals in the rehabilitation centres who end up getting the largest blame especially when they are not able to rehabilitate individuals who are struggling with addiction (Strong, 2013). Needless to say, there nee ds an overhauling of the rehabilitation process in order to help the individuals who find themselves in this deadly health problem to be able to live life again. While the policy makers and the justice system have their shares to do, the nurses should use the available resources in order to be able to help these patients and give their lives back to them. To be able to solve this issue, it will be necessary to be able to come up with ways to handle as many rehabilitation patients as possible within the limited resources available for nurses. The nurses will need to know how to deal with the patients and help them to overcome their issues without failing. Part III: Using Nursing theory to address the problem Self-care deficit nursing theory (Orem B Model of Nursing) The self-care deficit nursing theory was developed by Dorothea Orem between 1959 and 2001 and is postulated upon the argument that patients are more likely to get their health back if they are allowed to participate in th eir own healthcare. This theory is important in the treatment of rehabilitation patients due to the very nature of these patients. More than any other type of patients, a rehabilitation patient needs to relearn how to depend on himself and become self efficacious. Failing to restore this ability in the patient will also mean that the patient will relapse back to their old habit (Johnson & Roberson, 2012). Unlike most healthcare issues that nurses

Development of Youth Culture Essay Example for Free

Development of Youth Culture Essay There is no single reason for the development of culture; rather, it came about as a result of the number of different social changes occurring at the same time. These developments included the increasing economic power of young people, the influence of the USA and globalisation, social changes at the end of World War 2, development of the media, demographic change in the numbers of young people and the transition to adulthood. Defining youth culture can be difficult because different cultures and interruptions in employment status’s can affect the perspective of what â€Å"youth† is. Culture is the way we live within our culture and youth culture is the way youth lives within it but because of the difficulties youth culture could mean different things to different cultures. Youth culture developed in the early 1950’s, although the idea of youth as a phase in life has a longer history. Youth culture was first developed in America after World War 2, which then Britain decided to follow due to media and other influences from America. In my opinion the most important factor that developed youth culture was the economic changes in society. Due to the demand in workers after the Second World War there was an economic growth. The first person to realise the impact this was having on young people was Abram’s (1959) who analysed the increased economic power of the ‘teenage consumer’. There was a noticeable pattern in what was getting most money spent on, because young people were the age group spending the highest proportion of their income on leisure activities and music, clothes and cosmetics. This increase in economic power created the conditions for the emerging youth culture to develop. For the first time, young people had significant amounts of money to spend. Another extremely important factor for the development was the social change at the end of World War 2. There was much more opportunities for young people and possibilities at this time. Before the war, Britain was characterized by a class structure. By the time it came to the 1950s, we started to see a change in the economy and this opened up oppurtunities and individual expression. Judging on conventional standards, opportunities were becoming bigger. Cinema, art, literature and theatre began to explore new ideas. Amongst many new ideas was that young people were a distinctive group with new values and ideas about their place in society. The next important development for youth culture in my opinion was the influence of the USA and globalisation. With the changing culture and the growth in affluence of the 1950s, there was a ready market for American goods and culture, which included rock and roll music and other products aimed at the new ‘teenage market’. A quote from Leech (’76) saying ‘youthquake’ explained how a change in the new youth was such a sudden change it was like an earthquake. Globalisation recognised what young people wanted and advertised it more. I think the next development of the youth culture which was important was the growth and specialization of media. Media was becoming a lot more popular and so was advertisement. The media started to advertise the products that young people during that time wanted and this was a massive boost for the economics and spread quickly across the world. The 1950’s saw an explosion of different sorts of media. This was only possible because of the growth in social diversity and an increase in spending power that persuaded companies to spend large amounts of money advertising the new media. As a high-spending and newly discovered group, young people became the target for advertisers and hence the commercial media competed to attract this market. Another social condition that made the development of youth culture possible was transition to adulthood. Transition refers to the movement from being economically and socially dependent on parents, towards independence. The length of transition increased over the 20th century as the average period in education. Due to the longer age of being in education, it meant that typical adult responsibilities were taken on increasingly later in life, leaving young people with a number of years where they were physically mature but without the responsibilities of adulthood. This caused young people to want their own place in society. The last social condition that helped youth culture become possible was the demographic change in numbers of young people. After the war because couple had been split for so long because of hundreds of men being sent abroad, many sexual experiences had been delayed for years. The result was that when the men were released from the armed forces in 1945/46, there was a huge increase in birth rate. Although many of the children born at this time were not ‘teenagers’ until the end of 1950’s, they did ensure that youth culture continued and grew as a cultural form. Around 50 to 60 years ago, for the first time, a youth culture appeared to be emerging – young people appeared to be developing their own values, customs, tastes, clothes, music and language. After studying and discussing all the different social conditions that developed youth culture I have discovered that youth culture wasn’t made overnight. It took all these 6 main factors to create this culture and carry it on until this day. Economics was the most important condition in my opinion due to the fact that it all started because of the economic boost after World War 2. America was the country that started this youth culture and Britain followed it after the war ended. Abercrombie et al. (2000) has suggested that youth culture has three distinguishing features: leisure, style and peer group.

Employee Motivation in Tourism Industry

Employee Motivation in Tourism Industry Employee Motivation An important aspect for Service Excellence in Tourism Industry Introduction: Employee Motivation is believed as one of the vital factor for any organisation in order to operate successfully and ensuring service excellence. According to Charles Woodruffe (2006) â€Å"More and more organizations – especially those in the service sector – have become attuned to the idea that there is not much point in employing people at all if you are not going to take steps to make them want to give their best to you. But by no means all organizations think this way, and even if they do, they still need to put this thinking into practice†. Woodruffe (2006) C Wiley (1997) also holds and accepts the fact that employee motivation is one of the important aspects for the organisation to achieve or fulfil its visions, missions and organisational goal and thus attain success in the business. â€Å"Motivated employees can make powerful contributions to the profits and future success of a corporation† (C Wiley 1997) Paul Levesque believes that there is a unique relation between Employee Motivation and Customer Satisfaction. High level of Employee enthusiasm will result in higher level of Customer Satisfaction. â€Å"Employee motivation and customer satisfaction fuel each other in a chain reaction of contagious enthusiasm†. (Paul Levesque) For any research to be carried out efficiently and effectively, it’s really important to jot down the main aims and objectives. Laying out clear aims and objectives would benefit during research and will also be helpful enough in attaining them. The Rationale of this research topic is to critically review the importance of Employee motivation for achieving service excellence in tourism industry by conducting an extensive research and using different paradigm and methods for research. The main aim of the Research Topic is:- To evaluate the role and importance of employee motivation for achieving high level of service excellence in Tourism industry. The above mentioned aim provides a broader idea for evaluating the role and importance of employee motivation for achieving high level of service excellence in Tourism industry. So in order to critically evaluate every aspects of the mentioned aim, some important objectives have been drafted which are given below:- To identify employee motivation as an important tool for success of the organisations. To examine the use of motivational theories and strategy in order motivate employees and ensuring Service Excellence. To establish the growing use of reward and recognition and other methods like incentives as different ways of motivating employees After drafting down the objectives of the research topic it would be worthy enough to understand that for achieving them, suitable paradigms, philosophies, approach and methodology should be used and reviewed. Literature Review:- Literature by many researchers has been identified as an important factor for carrying out any type of research as it plays major role in understanding important theories, data, figures etc and also help in relating them to the data collected. But it is also important to understand that while pursuing research reviewing the available literature is an important step which should be followed. Veal (2006) believes that, â€Å"Reviewing the Literature on a topic can be one of the most rewarding – and one of the most frustrating – of research tasks. It is a task where a range of skills and qualities needs to be employed – including patience, persistence, insight and lateral thinking† (Veal: 2006). Hence, literature review also becomes an important part of the research in order to analyze the content of the available Literature for meeting the objectives of the research. This research is concerned to evaluate the concept of employee motivation, its importance for ensuring high level of service excellence and the role played by it for the success of the organization. For this particular research there are lots of Academics books, Journals Articles, Electronic Articles published on the Internet which provides extensive information. The data collected from the above mentioned secondary data play a crucial role in meeting the objectives of the research topic. At this stage of the research proposal briefly reviewing the available literature for the achievement of the mentioned objectives is required Hence, for the first objective which is to identify employee motivation as an important tool for success of the organisations mix and match of Primary and Secondary data would be referred. Good and comprehensive Academic books, journals and web articles are available in the form of Secondary Data which can be referred. There are numbers of journals and web articles which provide critical knowledge about Employee Motivation would also be referred. Journals articles and Web articles mentioned below gives information for the first objective:- â€Å"Motivating Your Staff in a Time of Change† written by Susan M. Heathfield This article provides vital information about the fact that employees are one of the factors in the success and motivating them is equally important for managers. Susan M. Heathfield believes â€Å"In today’s turbulent, often chaotic, environment, commercial success depends on employees using their full talents. Yet in spite of the myriad of available theories and practices, managers often view motivation as something of a mystery.† (http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationsucces3/a/motivatestaff.htm) In the above article the author critically explains about the advantages of staff motivation, barrier in motivating staff and use of motivational theories and methods for achieving motivation. â€Å"Motivating knowledge workers to innovate: a model integrating motivation dynamics and antecedents† by Amar, A. D This article develops a conceptual model synthesizing motivations â€Å"what† and â€Å"how† that will bring human creativity in organizations which thrive on innovation and also understanding the theory and application of motivation which is very important in managing human resource and in making organizations succeed. â€Å"How to Encourage Employee Motivation† written by Anthony Di Primo This article gives information about the importance of employee for attaining efficiency and success. Author also point out some important steps for optimum personnel utilization. â€Å"Do All Carrots Look The Same? Examining the Impact of Culture on Employee Motivation† by Justine Di Cesare and Golnaz Sadri Provides extensive information about the effect of different dimensions of culture on Employee Motivation The second Objective which is to examine the use of motivational theories and strategy in order motivate employees and ensuring Service Excellence. For achieving this objective, Academics books would be the best assets to use. There are many books on the topic of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour which provide extensive knowledge about Motivational theories and there importance. Academic books given below provides information about Content theories which mention theories developed by Maslow, Hertzberg, Mc. Clelland, Aldefer and Process motivational theories like Expectancy Theory, Equity Theory, Goal Theory and Attribution Theory. â€Å"Management and Organisational Behaviour† and â€Å"Managing People in the Hospitality Industry† by L.J, Mullins â€Å"Human Resource Management in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry† written by Michael Riley. â€Å"Human Resource Management† by Torrington, D., Hall, L and Taylor, S. Organizational Behaviour† by H. Kirk Downey, Don Hellriegel, John W. Slocum. â€Å"Strategic Human Resource Management†, by Mabey, C. and Salaman, G. Apart from the above mentioned books, Journals article could be referred. Article written by Terence R. Mitchell â€Å"Motivation: New Directions for Theory, Research and Practice† explains major theories of motivation concerned with the arousal and choice of behaviour, problems of implementation and directions for future research are suggested. For the third objective which is to establish the growing use of reward and recognition and other methods like incentives as different ways of motivating employees, again mix and match of Primary and Secondary data would be referred. Following Books and Journals examine the use of reward and recognition and incentives as useful techniques. â€Å"Strategic Human Resource Management†, by Mabey, C. and Salaman, G which critically evaluate the reward strategy used by Mangers. â€Å"What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys† by Wiley, C, which provide in-depth information about the changes in factors influencing Employee Motivation over the years. â€Å"Recognise, Reward, Retain: The Three R’s of Performance Management† by Jennifer Juergens explains the concept of Reward, Recognition and Incentives for motivating employee and retaining them in the organisation for a long term. â€Å"Employee Motivation and Work Incentives in the Service Industries† by Robert W. McIntosh. This article explains the fact that to effectively motivate, a definite system of incentives or rewards is necessary. It also provides information different techniques and suggestion for motivating employees. â€Å"Incentive remuneration not delivering role ownership?† This article critically analyze to the fact that performance related pay is supposed to motivate people to take more ownership of their role, to work harder, be more productive and contribute. Thus by doing a literature review of the current research topic, it could be said that the above mentioned Academics books, Journals and Articles provides an in – depth knowledge about the concepts of Motivation Theories, Employee motivation and its importance in Organisation’s success and achieving service excellence in tourism industry. Although in any research, literature review is an on-going process and in a same way for this research topic many more relevant Academic Books, Journals and Articles would be referred in order to gain excessive information about the topic. Research Design and Methodology:- Research Methodology according to Glyn Jackson, â€Å"Methodologies are strategies with strong focus on gathering information, planning, and design elements† (http://www.newebia.co.uk/articles/what-is-a-methodology.html) Positivist Paradigm and Phenomenology Paradigm are considered to be main paradigm for any research hence it would be very important to understand them briefly in order to efficiently use them for the current research topic. Positivist Paradigm â€Å"Positivism is a framework of research, similar to that adopted by the natural scientist, in which the researcher sees people as a phenomena to be studied from the outside, with behaviour to be explained on the basis of facts and observation gathered by researchers, using theories and models developed researchers† (Veal: 2006) In Positivist approach the data collected through is highly specific and precise .It lays emphasis on quantitative observations and statistical analysis. (Collis, J: 2003) On the other hand, Phenomenological paradigm â€Å"Is a framework which gives more emphasis on the people being studied to provide their own explanation of their situation or behaviour.† (Veal: 2006) Phenomenological paradigm is predominately Qualitative in nature and data derived is highly rich and subjective (Collis, J.2003). For the above mentioned Research topic, a PLURALISTIC approach which is a combination of both Positivist and Phenomenology paradigm. This approach has been taken as research process which includes both observations (Positivist) and the personal views (Phenomenology) of Managers and Employees on Employee Motivation and its relation to Service excellence. For this research Inductive approach has been applied as it believed to be a process whereby the exploration and analysis of related observation leads to the construction of a theory that systematically links such observations in a meaningful way† (Clark M: 1998). Hence for this research, it would be described that Employee Motivation is essential for Service excellence by collection of Primary (surveys) and Secondary (Books, Journals) data and then processing the collected data for explanation to fulfil the objectives of the proposed research. In this research topic as informed before for the first and the third objective Primary and Secondary sources will be used for achieving them. As far as the first and the third objectives goes along with using books, journals and articles, Primary data will be collected with the method of Survey. Major survey techniques will be used like:- Face to Face Interview Questionnaire Telephonic Interviews E – mails Interviews and Questionnaire For the First objective at the preliminary stage, Telephonic Interviews or E mail Interviews would be conducted with Mangers and Supervisors in order to convince them about the research and also to carry out Face to face Interviews at the later stages. By using these survey techniques the first objective of how employee motivation plays an important role in success of the Organisations can be identified. For the Third objective which is to examine the use of rewards and incentives as Motivators. A questionnaire will also be designed for employees in order to gain information on how reward, recognition and incentives help them feel motivated. Telephonic and Face to face Interview will be conducted with managers and Supervisors to understand their views on the rewards, recognition and incentive plans as motivators for their employees. Appendix 1 given at the end of the report consists some of the potential Questions to be asked at the time of Telephonic or Face to face Interviews. For carrying out a successful survey it is very important for any researcher to use the technique of Sampling. â€Å"Sampling is a process by which researchers select a representative subset or part of the total population that can be studied for the topic so that they will be able to draw conclusion regarding the entire population† (Levent Altinay and Alexandros Paraskevas: 2008) Thus for this research, the area and number of organisations to be surveyed will be determined by the use of Multi stage sampling under Probility Sampling approach, hence undertaking Survey in four major towns of UK namely Birmingham, Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Walsall and at least 2 organisations will be surveyed from each town. The number of Managers and Employees to be surveyed will be determined by the use of Simple Random Sampling in which 20 employees will be surveyed from each organisation and 2 managers or supervisors will be surveyed from each organisation. After discussing the Philosophy and Methodology of the research topic, another important step which would be taken care at the time of conducting the research is of Ethics. Ethics according to Veal (2006) is a behavior which is important in research, as in any other field of human activity. Ethical issues arise in the design and conduct of research and in the reporting of results. The general principles in codes of research ethics are: That no harm should befall the research subjects That subjects should take part freely That subject should take part on the basis of informed consent. (Veal: 2006) At the time of conducted research, the questions for the Interviews and Questionnaire would be carefully designed so that they don’t negative impression about the research. No individual will be forced to give interviews and answering questionnaire. The aims and objectives of the research will be discussed and made evident to the participant before doing survey of any kind. After noting the value of Ethics in research it would be important to discuss briefly the importance of Reliability and Validity. Reliability is believed to be the extent to which research findings would be the same if the research were to be repeated at a later date or with a different sample of subjects. In a phenomenological approach reliability is low as compared to positivist approach. (Veal: 2006) On the other hand, Validity is the extent to which the information collected by the researcher truly reflects the phenomena being studied. In phenomenological approach validity is high as compared to positivist approach (Veal: 2006) Thus the above mentioned Research philosophy and methodology are appropriate as the methods used for data collection are apt enough to meet the objectives of the proposed Research Topic. Conclusion:- Finally in the end it would be worthy enough to recognize the importance of Employee motivation for ensuring service excellence in tourism industry. Employee Motivation not only plays an important role for service excellence but it is also very important for smooth operations of the organisations. Wiley, C. believe â€Å"In order to attain to high levels of performance, employers depend on their employees to perform at levels that positively affect the bottom line. Thus, they must understand what motivates them. Such an understanding is essential to improving productivity and, ultimately, to ensuring the success of the company†. The aim and objectives of the research topic are clear and the method of survey and sampling seems to be the most suitable in order to collect primary data and the literature review also proves the availability of sufficient secondary data in the form of Books, journals and internet sources. Thus it can be said that the Positivist and Phenomenology par adigm , Pluralistic approach and methodology of Survey and Sampling of the research topic, if carried out in a systematic and organised manner keeping in mind the Ethics of research can be very helpful in conducting a valid and reliable research. Referencing:- Books Mullins, L.J. (1998) Managing People in Hospitality Industry (3rd Edition) Harlow: Longman Mullins, L.J. (1999) Management Organisational Behaviour (5th Edition) FT/Prentice Hall: London Veal, A (2006) Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism – a Practical Guide, (3rd Edition), Harlow: Prentice Hall Mabey, Christopher (1995), Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Blackwell Business. Torrington, Derek (2004), Human resource management (6th Edition), Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall Altinay, L (2008), Planning research in hospitality and tourism, Amsterdam; London: Butterworth-Heinemann Collis. Hussey, R .(2003): Business Research – a practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students , 2nd Edition, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Altinay, L, and Paraskevas, A. (2008), Planning research in hospitality and tourism, Amsterdam; London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Mona A. Clark (1998), Researching and writing dissertations in hospitality and tourism, London: International Thomson Business Press. Journals Wiley, C (1997) What motivates employees according to over 40 years of motivation surveys, International Journal of Management, Vol 18, No 3, pp263-280 Di Cesare, J Golnaz, S (2003) Do all carrots look the same? examining the impact of culture on employee motivation In Management Research News, 26:1 Woodruffe, C. (2006), The crucial importance of employee engagement, Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol.14, No. 1, pp. 3-5. Jennifer Juergens (2005) Recognise, Reward, Retain: The Three R’s of Performance Management, Successful Sales Management, pp. 6 – 14. Amar, A. D (2004), Motivating knowledge workers to innovate: a mode integrating motivation dynamics and antecedents, European Journal of innovation Management, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 89 – 101 Electronic Source (Internet Websites) Paul Levesque, (no date) Turn Your Employees into Customer Service Dynamos [online]. [Cited 20th April 2008] Robert W. McIntosh, (no date) Employee Motivation and Work Incentives in the Service Industry [online]. [Cited 20th April 2008]. Zealise, (no date) Incentive remuneration not delivering role ownership [online]. [Cited 20th April 2008]. Glyn Jackson, (no date) what is a methodology? [online] . [Cited 20th April 2008]. Appendix 1 Telephonic or Face to face Interview: Some of the potential Questions to be asked at the time of Telephonic or Face to face Interviews Worksheet: Interview Questions What is the primary aim of your company? What really motivates your staff? Are there any recent changes in the company that might have affected motivation? What are the barriers in motivation which stop employees performing to best effect? What are the patterns of motivation in your company? How involved are employees in company development? Does employee feel motivated when they take part in development process?

Letter To Board :: essays research papers

I would like to commend the apparent effort of the Pulaski County Board of Education in their developing the new Drug/Alcohol Screening Program now in effect in both local high schools. I am grateful to see that some advance has been made to valorize the education process in our community. However, I am discouraged to see that the main focus of this program is centered around some of the most valued students in our schools. It is to my knowledge that this program is designed to screen students involved in extracurricular activities, including sports, and student drivers. Although I do believe that there is some sort of drug use within these groups, I do not feel that this is the epicenter of the school system’s problems. Most drug use and/or drug trafficking, I have heard of and/or witnessed has not come from any of the groups listed in your policy. I believe it makes sense that some athletes use performance enhancing drugs and/or alcohol, as do some student drivers and club participants, but I do not feel that this is the area of greatest concern to you. As I am aware of, drugs and alcohol cause a condition called demotivational syndrome, which is evident in frequent drug users. This syndrome causes a lack of motivation, followed by a decline in academic performance, followed by an ultimate decline in personal well being. Student athletes for example, are expected to maintain a rigorous practice schedule, as well as a certain grade point average, which is inconsistent with the symptoms and effects of demotivational syndrome. I believe that the greatest amount of victims of drugs and demotivational syndrome are not located in athletic or school programs, but inside the school itself. No drug user I k now of and may have been familiar with is involved with sports or extracurricular activities, nor would they choose to be. It is to my knowledge that no less than 10% of student participants in these activities will be randomly screened at any time. But, if the main drug use in schools isn’t in the activities department, but in the school itself, why couldn’t 10% of the total student body be screened? It appears to not only me but other members of the student body, that the school board tests members of athletic departments and certain extracurricular activities because they are concerned about the public image of our school system.

Kant Political Leader :: essays research papers

Kant held that nothing was good in itself except good will. In other words, no action, in and of itself, was either wrong or right. Only the motive of the actor lent the action its morality. If a person acted out of a vested interest (because of a possible consequence) then the act was non-moral—it had no moral implications whatsoever. But, if a person acted because she thought she was doing the right thing, then she was acting out of good will and the act was a moral act. In Kant’s view, actions have true moral worth only when they spring from a recognition of a duty and a choice to discharge it. For example, using Kantian logic, an advertiser who avoided untruthful advertising because he was afraid of getting caught and fined would not necessarily be acting morally. However, if the advertiser recognized a duty to his constituents to tell the truth, and that is the reason he didn't lie, then the act would be a moral act. Kant defined good will as the uniquely human capacity to act according to one's principles, not out of an expectation of potential consequences. In fact, Kant had learned through the writings of the Italian philosopher and royal counselor, Niccolo Machiavelli, that basing decisions solely on likely consequences could excuse any action, even the most abhorrent. In his famous treatise, The Prince, Machiavelli had proposed that any action taken by a monarch should be based on an assessment of the best outcome for the monarch himself. Under this guideline (which is also known as egoism), actions such as murder could be excused if they are in the best interest of the person making the decision. Like other Enlightenment theorists, Kant believed that human beings were endowed with the ability to reason, and reasoning would logically lead to an understanding of how to construct moral rules to live by. Rational beings would, then, logically abide by the rules they set for themselves. In this, he was in accord with the social contractarians. Rules arrived at in this manner would also become morally obligatory, and Kant saw obligation (or duty) as the overriding determinant of morality. He believed that we would recognize our duty when we saw it because we could reason, and reason would lead us logically to recognition. For Kant, there were two obvious types of duties: perfect duties and imperfect duties.

Order: Non-commissioned Officer and Lawful Orders

Following Lawful Orders Lawful orders are given for a reason and you should always obey them. For starters you should always obey lawful orders because you took an oath to do so when you joined the military. A lawful order must be followed, and done so in a timely manner. If you disagree with a lawful order, you must still follow it; you are required to follow a lawful order before you are permitted to question it. All officers and non commissioned officers appointed over you are held responsible for you and are in the keeping of the traditions and doctrines of the armed forces of the United States of America.Discipline is the only way to get a large group of people to do something that could make or break them. The military is all about discipline, which is obeying a lawful order. Military discipline and effectiveness is built on the foundation of obedience to orders. Soldiers are taught to obey immediately, and without question, orders from their superiors. If you fail to obey lawf ul orders there are many consequences. You could get an article 90 of the UCMJ, which makes it a crime to willfully disobey a superior commissioned officer.Article 91 of the UCMJ, makes it a crime to willfully disobey a superior noncommissioned or warrant officer. Article 92 of the UCMJ, makes it a crime to disobey any lawful order. It does not have to be â€Å"willful† under a article 92. The military recognizes that respect for authority is what maintains order and prevent the eruption of chaos and is hence willing to set an example for all who might be tempted to oppose their leaders, by administering punishment first hand without any judicial representatives. The Army and our commanding officers have our best interest at hand and they put in place the orders that they do for that reason.