Cultural Diversity in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace - Essay Example Issues of diversity have gained prominence and they have been forecast to become very important in the future; this is because of the increase in diversity in different demographics across many countries. Many organizations have realized the importance diversity, they are considering different options that will make such workplaces to be all-inclusive, and this is because diversity can bring positive results in terms of productivity and competition. Effective management of people encompass implies proper management of diversity and correct valuation of the same. Understanding the concept of diversity People in a group can choose to identify and categorize themselves using factors, which seem similar or different to them, and thus the term diversity becomes a very subjective intonation. Mazur (2010) defines diversity to be those features, which differentiate one category of people from another, and these features are based on two different dimensions, which are identified as either pr imary or secondary. Primary dimensions of diversity implies those that people identify with and include primal influences such as disability, gender, race, sexual orientation, age or ethnicity. These primal influences have been found to have a lot of influence on the different categories in not only the workplace but to the whole society. Secondary dimensions on the other hand, are not very discernible and the influence they exert in the workplace is variable, and only relevant to the extent of personal identity. They may include such factors such as family status, educational background, geographic location, work experience, role in the organization, style of work, religion, income, style of communication and first language (Mazur, 2010). The latter dimension has been found to have a lot of impact in an individual’s self-esteem and personal definition and realization. The concept of diversity is not limited to these examples above; it manifests itself differently to a given environment. Arredondo (2004) includes language, culture and social class to the first dimension, the primary dimension while he adds healthcare beliefs and leisure benefits to the secondary proportions. Other writers have further added the third category of dimension to the first two dimensions, the tertiary dimension (Bolton, 2007). This has frequently been identified as the central feature of an individual’s identity and it is at the base of the surface. It is the most important, because if it is uncovered it can propel both the individual and the organizations to higher echelons. Understanding cultural diversity in the workplace Cultural diversity in the workplace is the situation where people with diverse behaviors and worldviews come as one in the workplace. The depiction of people, in one social system who are a distinct group with diverse associations of cultural importance aptly summarizes the definition of cultural diversity. Empirical studies and analysis on cultur al diversity in the workplaces with emphasis on the value of such diversity have revealed that effectiveness is always realized. Consequently, empirical studies that have focused their research on such issues as social identity and other self-categorization concepts have revealed that

Reflection on Global Operation Management Essay Example for Free

Reflection on Global Operation Management Essay Pietra Rivoli who is an associate professor in the Georgetown University, specializes in finance and social issues, and is the author of the book, ‘The Travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy’. The main reason which instigated Rivoli to write this book, was a speech a student had given at the Georgetown University, the student was severely criticizing globalization, and asking about who made the T-shirts they were wearing. She told some facts about child labor in India and Vietnam, which made everybody, sit up and think, including Rivoli. Rivoli then starts on a journey to find out some interesting facts about the origin of the T-shirt. Her case study starts in Texas at the home of Nelson Reinch, who produces enough cotton for more than 1.3 million T-shirts. Reinch and his colleagues control the whole world market of cotton, through hard work, determination, modern technology and much needed discounts from the government. Reinch was no where in comparison to the poor farmers in India and Africa, who did not have proper funds or government support in marketing their goods. Rivoli’s next stop was China, were she met a young woman Yuang Zhi, who spun the yarn for the fabric and sewed the shirt. This young lady worked for 50 hours a week, and earned nearly $150 per month. This woman’s working conditions were far better than the conditions in which women had to work previously in Manchester and England. This was probably the woman’s first encounter with independence and identity, which came in the form a paycheck, even though it was a small amount.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most important point which was very surprising was that, throughout the world there must be millions of people who manufacture cotton, but the manufacturers from Texas were totally dominating the cotton industry, because of their shrewd manner by which they manage to avoid competition. These manufacturers manage to control the market by avoiding the labor market, which make the other manufacturers unable to compete with them due to no government and political assistance, lack of proper education and money. People who support globalization vow by the free trade of clothes, as it can be used to the advantage of the poorer countries. Rivoli was surprised to find that how recycled clothes from the USA were a rage in Tanzania. Used clothes from America get imported in huge quantities to Tanzania. Tanzania is a small country which was slowly proceeding towards a more liberal capitalist system from the socialist model. People are able to freely take part in the daily auctions of the clothes at the market place, and merchants are also making a mark for themselves in the cutthroat markets as consumers or retailers. Rivoli feels that free trade should be encouraged without any government or political interference in the markets. According to the author, United States is on the top of the market whereas Africa is at the bottom; she feels that USA will have a better chance to make progress economically if they give a reasonable chance of competition to other poorer countries. Tanzania is a proper example of how a free market should work, and these markets are extremely professional, but do not get acknowledged, because of the low capital raised through such markets, which is not significant. Two of the most important principles which need to be followed are that, government and political interference should not be there in any market. Another point is that the subsidy which US government gives the cotton manufacturers is indirectly harming other poorer countries. Rich people are becoming wealthier and the poor are becoming poorer. If the subsidies are reduced, the price of cotton can be increased, which would be beneficial to other poorer markets. Another important point which is a shock is that the clothes that people donate, are not given away freely to poor people, but are sold to middlemen for huge profits, which later land in the streets of   the Tanzania marketplace. Some of the most important principles which can be followed by other industries also are that free market in any trade should be encouraged, and people should have the power to voice their demands, meaning a free democracy should be prevalent to achieve a fruitful society. Government should support free trade in any industry, and should provide the necessary platform in the form of proper education and capital to help the markets grow. Some of the other reasons for the trouble that African industries are facing are the lack of proper authority, which is due to no proper education, corruption and insecurity. The author Rivoli made a very good job of the book, she was successful in exposing the secrets and complications of the cotton trade globally.   Her views on free trade and liberal democracy are very interesting, and should be followed by the authorities of the poorer countries for a better society. On the whole she succeeded in voicing her thoughts and opinions on the recycle market in Tanzania, and hopefully, their government will provide a strong platform for such global trades. References Kris Hundley, What a T-shirt Teaches Series., St Petersburg Times, 4 October 2007, http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/819871301.html?MAC=02bf1feb f29a46475f850792f7bc0fa9did=819871301FMT=FTFMTS=FTdate=author=pu b=printformat=1desc=What+a+T-shirt+teaches+Series%3A+BOOKS. Lauren Dorsey, Lauren Barbieri, Zack Thomas, ‘The Travelers of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, by Pietra Rivoli’, 4 October 2007, http://www-learning.berkeley.edu/cipolat/PDF/ISF100E/Student%20Summaries/Rivoli.pdf.

My Philosophy :: Philosophy Education Teaching Teachers Essays

My Philosophy Everyday we learn, whether we are conscious of it or not. Since primate times to the new generations. Primates taught their kids how to hunt, those kids taught the next generation, and the chain of teaching still exists because we still learn new data, and information every day in our lives. We gain this new information primarily from our parents and teachers. I thank God for all the people who had taught me the things that I know, and helped me to realize that education is a necessity in my life. Education is a necessity in our lives. We need to go to school to become well prepare persons in the future. If I did not have the education I have today, probably I would be working at a Jack in the Box fast food restaurant, or at Wal-Mart. I am not saying that these work places are not dignify, but I would not had the benefits I have, and all the knowledge I have conquer through out the years of education, and experience. Becoming a teacher is one of the greatest experiences in my life. I will confess, teaching was not in my plans, but Gadsden School District gave me the opportunity to become a music teacher. In the district, I found out that becoming an educator is not about money, vacation, or sick leaves. This profession has to do with the satisfaction of seeing your kids accomplish their dreams, and goals. We all have experience these wonderful school satisfactions, through kindergarten, all the way to University. I remember when I f irst wrote my name in a piece of paper, I was all happy because of what I have accomplished. Since then, I have achieved many goals, and dreams. Now, I have realized that I am giving the same educational opportunities to f ind fulfillment to my music students. This fulfillment is visible when I teach them a new rhythm, or a new song. Like myself, my music students walk out of my classroom happy, and proud due to the new knowledge they have accomplish. On the other hand, I could not have achieved these goals and dreams without the help of all my professors. In all the years I have been going to school, many teachers are still in my mind.

Questionnair on customer satisfaction of bank Essay

To make a questionnaire first of all we need to understand management problem of SBI Bank. For that we need to know Why Customers are dissatisfied? Research Question: Now we need to understand where the problem is. Is it that Service Provided by SBI bank is not up to the mark or Staff member are not efficient and effective in their work or communication and after care services are not efficient or product offer by bank is not up to the mark. These are four areas in which management problem needs to be identiefied.This is known as Research Question. Investigative Question : Now we have identified problem area so now we need to examine different aspects of particular problem area its is known as investigative question. Eg. Service Provided by SBI is helpful? Service is being provided timely? In Second area of Problem of staff member, we need to Examine that information provided by staff member is easy to understand Staff member are Help full In third problem area of after care service, we need to examine whether account is Keep up to date or not? Queries are attended promptly Measurement Question: Now we need to convert investigative question in to normal layman language so that person can Understand and can answer properly. Myself Khushbu Desai. I am T.Y.B.B.A Finance student. I am doing study in B.R.C.M College of Business Administration. I have prepared a Questionnaire for Business Research Project Against Study of Customer Satisfaction for Customers of State Bank of India (SBI), Parle Point Branch. Please help me to do survey by rating the service that you currently receive from SBI Bank 5 = Excellent 4 = Good 3 = Average 2 = Poor 1 = Very Poor (Tick the boxes where appropriate) Â  

Martin Luther King in campaigning in the North Essay

In 1966 Martin Luther King decided to focus on dealing with the problems in the North particularly Chicago. The problems that he encountered here were very different to those that he had had so much success with in the South. Dealing with the economic and social segregation that he faced here proved difficult for several reasons. The problems facing blacks in the North, stemmed from a variety of different areas including education, employment, housing etc. Although King was able to identify the problems being faced in these areas, particularly housing, he still largely relayed on the same tactics that he and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) had used in the South. However, the mayor of Chicago (Daley) would avoid making a hostile response such as that of ‘Bull’ Connor in Birmingham. The authorities here were more subtle to avoid gaining the attention of the media e.g. the police would avoid using brutality and Daley even blamed violence for social decay*. This prevented the movement from gaining as much publicity and support as in previous years. King also tried to come to some sort of agreement with Daley regarding housing. However, Daley was reluctant to do so fearing the loss of votes of the white working class. Actions such as this added to the anger that blacks in Chicago felt towards the white authorities and increased their unwillingness to co-operate. Both Mayor Daley’s refusal to help and King’s disorganisation when planning the Chicago campaign played an important role in its failure. Chicago suffered more from problems in racial division than other cities in the North, and so perhaps it was not a good starting point for the campaign here. Locals would sometimes blame blacks for inciting race riots and these divisions were illustrated by the marches organised by the SCLC in 1966, which ended in violence from mobs. * * In Chicago most blacks lived in ghettoes to the south of the city. Therefore it appears reasonable that these people often found it difficult to relate to Martin Luther King and his middle class background. The SCLC had never had much grass roots support unlike other organisations, such as the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNNC). Although in the South this had  still allowed them to have success, in Chicago most blacks were working class and looking for improvements in housing, less poverty and some overall change brought about by an end to de facto segregation. However, in the South the need for change had been more political- an end to de jure segregation. Given these differences, many northern blacks felt that King’s non-violent philosophy did not represent their views. It would be difficult to change these attitudes – here, perhaps as a result of poverty, the amount of gang warfare and crime was much higher than in the South. Change would undoubtedly take time- more than the few months that the SCLC had planned for the campaign to last. There were quite clear social divisions between black communities in the South and North. One of the most important examples of this is that the churches in the North were not as successful at organising their community as churches in the South had been. This was partly due to a lack of co-operation, and partly due to the fact that the Christian faith was much stronger in the South. It was at this point that many blacks were beginning to join alternative ‘black power’ groups. Overall it appears that King underestimated the differences between the North and the South and the divisions that were evident amongst the black community. He was unfamiliar with the attitudes of those in the North and did not make an accurate assessment of the situation. As a result of this the tactics employed by the SCLC were not as successful as originally hoped. * http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/59.html ** http://www.reportingcivilrights.org/

Writing Genres essays

Writing Genres essays Fiction is usually thought of as prose, while poetry is given a separate classification. Essays are a form of prose usually differing from fiction in that the essay is considered a real document and not a tale. The distinction among these three forms is not always that clear, and often the genres are deliberately blurred. For that matter, critics often find elements of one type or writing echoed in another. A writer such as Thomas Wolfe, for instance, is often cited for the poetic nature of his prose. Steinbeck wrote what are called the intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath in the form of essays on topics related to the larger fictional portion of the novel. Some poetry reads more like prose than what is thought of as poetry until the reader analyzes the interior tensions of the words selected and how they fit into the whole. In much modern fiction, the three elements may be used in various ways in the same work in order to achieve some purpose or to illustrate some conc ept more fully. How these three can be fit together can be seen with reference to the poetry of She Tries Her Tongue: Her Silence Softly Breaks by M. Nourbese Philip and the more prose work Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. The way the different genres are mixed depends on how they are mixed. Poetry and prose can be differentiated strictly in terms of the way language is used in each, but there are also distinctions to be made in terms of subject matter and the treatment of subject matter. When critics say prose is poetic, they often mean the choice and use of language, but they may also mean the way certain subjects are treated. Similarly, the essay form may be adapted to either poetry or prose when the writer adopts the sort of personal account style that infuses so many essays today, an approach that can make fiction seem more real and that can tie together a book of poems that otherwise might be treated only as individual works. These t...

buy custom Transformations in the USA essay

buy custom Transformations in the USA essay For a long time, the issue of gender discrimination, class and race have been rampant in the United States. As indicated in the book Ragged Dick, written by Haratio Alger, the immigrants, majority of whom were from Africa, Europe and Asia communities were categorized by the dominant white race as minorities. The main aim of this paper is to compare the issues that are covered by Alger with other sources, both primary and secondary, with the basic aim of understanding life in the U.S. during as well as after the Civil War. Alger offers three distinct theories that help the reader understand the inequality that existed in the United States. This includes cultural deficiency, bias theory, and structural theory. The cultural deficiencies define the minority groups as inferior and having inappropriate ways of thinking, reasoning, and acting. It is notable that transformation that occurred in the U.S. resulted to industrialization and growth in commerce, although there were no any profound changes that took place until urbanization. For instance, Ragged Dick was involved into a shoe shining business that he highly considered his professional business, a factor that indicates the hard life faced by many immigrants, especially those from Canada, Latin America, Japan, Europe, and China. Most of the population in the inner cities was represented by immigrant, majority of who were living in deplorable conditions simply known as immigrant ghettos. Tales were also told in local languages, thus maintaining a close connection between the immigrants with the communities that they left in their home countries. There was the second-generation of immigrants, who demanded for equal rights, especially in the work places, a factor that significantly reduced discrimination in many places. Due to urbanization and industrialization, the immigrants were faced with various disturbing issues, such as frequency of great fires, diseases, plague, and overcrowding of the working class neighborhoods. Violence was also rampant leading to the establishment of larger and more professional police force. As explained by Alger, there were class divisions, which influenced growing interests in leisure. In conclusion one can see that, immigration resulted to overcrowding, corruption, among other vices, which have affected the U.S. society up to date. Transformations in the USA Alger discusses the issues of race, class, and gender in his book Ragged Dick. In the history of the United States, race, class and gender discrimination have been rampant during the past centuries. The migrants who were mainly the minority groups were categorized by the dominant white race representatives as minorities. This explains the transformations that have occurred in the history of the USA; thus, it is important to compare the issues covered by Alger and other primary and secondary sources in order to understand life in the United States during and after the Civil War. Alger brings up the issues of race, class, gender in his art and life. He provides readers with different ways to understand gender, racial, and class discrimination against then African immigrants in the US. There are many ways of understanding these inequalities because many people have different views on these topics. The USA is a state of many immigrants, groups, as well as cultures in its populations, and has experienced various problems considering the dominant minority relationships that have made the society increasingly diverse. Alger provides an understanding of the three important popular theories including cultural deficiency, bias theory, and structural theory. In this essay, I will explain the similarities of the issues covered by Alger in the Ragged Dick and various materials that describe different theories on class, racial, and gender discrimination. Cultural deficiencies have been used to define the minority groups as inferior and having inappropriate ways of thinking, reasoning, and acting. By this, I refer to the immigrants who are the minority in the US. These minority groups feel and act as if they are discriminated against. The ideas of discrimination are imparted to the younger generation because the minority group teaches these ideas to their children through their actions and words. In the 19th century, society typically associated race with ethnic identity and skin color as well as national identity. During the 19th century, the emergence of different races in the US made Italians to be seen as a different race then the Irish, for example; however, both were different from the Germans and the English. In Ragged Dick, Frank Whitneys father tells Dick to Remember that your future position depends mainly upon yourself, and that it will be high or low as you choose to make it1.Yet, the path to economic security and social mobility in the United States in the 19th century was seldom simple as seen from these statements and provided in the writings of Alger. Transformations that occurred in the United States of America occurred in several ways and led to industrialization and growth of commerce. However, there were no profound changes until the urbanization. US started as an agrarian economy, but advanced into an urban nation in the late 19th century. During the Civil War, the urban population increased at a high rate. Death and infant mortality rates grew in number while fertility rate decreased. However, urbanization was accelerated by immigration. During the 19th century, American citizens moved from areas with declining agricultural productivity to the cities of the East and Midwest. Most migrants were of African origin and were escaping poverty, conflicts, debt, and discrimination that they faced in the rural south. Discrimination was evident in the work places, particularly in the factories, since the black-skinned were only qualified to do unskilled labor as cooks or domestic servants. For example, Ragged Dick was involved into a shoe shining business that he considered his professional business2. Many African Americans were involved in hard labor as well as unskilled labor. The immigrants were also staying in absolute poverty, as explained by Ragged Dick that General Washington provided his pants and coats to him because he did not have any of his own. This also contributed to gender inequality in the work places because most of the unskilled labor was work undertaken by women. Foreign immigrants who migrated in large numbers influenced urban population; for instance, some of the immigrants were from Canada, Latin America, China, and Japan. The greatest number of new comers arrived from Europe. In the earlier years, some of the immigrants from Europe brought wealth with them. The ones who appeared later lacked capital to buy land and headed west. In addition, before the Civil War, Irish immigrants settled in the industrial areas where most of them got absorbed into unskilled labor3 Most of the population in the inner cities was represented by immigrants. This led to racism due to the diversity of the populace. Thus, by 1890, no single race dominated in the US. Most immigrants were rural people greatly affected by culture shock. Some of them managed to recover from culture shock by forming close-knit ethnic groupings within the inner cities and the neighborhood, commonly referred to as immigrant ghettos. These ethnic grouping offered new comers vital information from newspapers and theatres in native languages. There were also tales told in their local languages. This led to the emergence of community organizations where the immigrants maintained close ties with their native nations. They maintained close connections with the communities that they left in their home countries; some even returned within a very short term. On the other hand, other immigrants even assisted their communities to migrate to the US. Thus, the cultural cohesiveness helped to ease the pa in of separation from the immigrants native countries. This enabled them to adapt to the American economic life. The migrations that transformed the American society formed part of great global movement that influenced the entire world4. The major impact was provided by population growth and industrialization. The ethnic neighborhoods and the immigrant groups reinforced the cultural values that were well suited to economic development. However, discrimination by the whites made it difficult for some immigrants to advance. Among those affected are immigrants who had valuable skills as well as capital5. The immigrants who occupied the inner cities came to dominate due to assimilation and exclusion. Most of these occupants were young people who shared the experience of living in the inner cities. Hence, most of the immigrants with foreign-born ethnic ties were involved in a competition against the desire for assimilation. Second-geeneration immigrants decided to come with new ways of socialization; for instance, women demanded for their rights as a way of preventing forced marriages or gender discrimination in the workplace. The natives also influenced assimilation by requiring English to be included in the curriculum in public schools, and employers demanded that workers use English at the workplace. Church leaders were usually native born Americans or more assimilated immigrants who encouraged the new comers to adopt American lifestyle. Other reforms were made to conform to the norms of the new country. Consequently, many immigrants maintained their ethnic cultures and led to the creation of distinctive communities. There were restrictions that led to the screening of immigrants through standards like literacy tests; however, these restrictions kept away only a small number of aliens because the immigrants provided cheap and plentiful labor to the rapidly growing economy that accelerated the industrial development of the US5. Class system was very rampant because wealthy citizens were the principal force behind the creation of great art museum and other social and recreation facilities such as parks. As the material and social aspirations of the wealthy grew, they required the public life and demanded the city to provide them with amenities that would match their expectations. Due to urbanization and industrialization, the immigrants were faced with various disturbing facts including the frequency of great fires, diseases, plague, and overcrowding of the working class neighborhoods. The immigrants were exposed to improper disposal of human and industrial waste, air pollution. Above all, urban po verty, crime, and violence accelerated with little success due to the involvement of middle-class people who believed that a lot of assistance would contribute to dependency. They grew particularly alarmed over the increasing number of children in the inner cities that attracted a lot of attention among the reformers. However, the attention never lasted for long. Poverty and overcrowding led into crime and violence. The native-born Americans believed that immigrants committed crimes because of the violence proclivities among their populations. This led to the creation of larger and more professional police force. The immigrants could only seek protection from the political machine that owed its existence to the power vacuum that the growth of the cities created for the political voting power. Class divisions influenced the growing interest in leisure where members of the middle class spent a lot of time. Leisure life bridged the differences of class, race, and gender. For instance, saloons and certain sporting events were male activities6. According to Alger, Ragged Dick, like other immigrants, could socialize in gambling houses that were overcrowded by young boys who misused their hard earnings. At these meetings, the juveniles would take refreshments at two cents a glass. Shopping and attending the tearooms were associated with women. This is in contrast to the cafeteria attended by the immigrants. Alger explains that the tearoom that Ragged Dick attended was a small apartment with a few plain tables without tablecloths; the class of clients who attended it was not very familiar. The meals provided were substandard. On the other hand, popular forms of entertainment developed in the cities whereby many ethnic communities maintained their own style. The Media opened few entertainments to the black performers due to racial discrimination. In addition, performers of both races tailored their acts to prevailing white prejudices in a manner that ridiculed the blac ks. Discrimination was also prevalent in the schooling system. Even though compulsory school attendance laws existed, the rural school lagged behind the urban schools. In the South, most immigrants had no access to the public schools, but for the whites opportunities for schooling expanded drastically. In addition, during the post-Civil War era, there were important educational opportunities open for women, they were less for men and denied to black women7. In conclusion, immigration led to the development of cities characterized by corruption, filth, overcrowding, and diseases. The city governments were dominated by political machines and ruled by party bosses that were the major source of inefficiencies as well as corruption. These cities brought together races, ethnic groups, and class systems. Hence, the immigrants were greatly affected by racial, class and gender discrimination8. Buy custom Transformations in the USA essay

How to Document the Marketing Process in Six Steps - CoSchedule

How to Document the Marketing Process in Six Steps Documenting your marketing processes gives you the steps you need to complete every project you take on.  Its a vital part of executing any strategy. Perhaps you’re looking to revamp an outdated workflow or  maybe youre looking to make your team more efficient and collaborate better. This post will walk you through how to build a marketing process from start to finish. Once your process is developed, it will help you maximize your time and get things done as efficiently as possible. DID YOU KNOW: You can manage and execute your entire marketing strategy using the Marketing Suite? From social media planning and publishing to marketing project management and task organization to content marketing strategy and execution,  the Marketing Suite is the most complete marketing platform to get better results. Download Your Marketing Process  Template Marketers who document their process  are 538% more successful. Be like them. Document your own process with this easy-to-use template.Document the entire marketing process with this free template.What is a Marketing Process? A marketing process is: â€Å"A series of steps that allow organizations to identify customer problems, analyze market opportunities, and create marketing materials to reach the desired audience.† So ... how exactly does the marketing process work? And how does documenting one help you achieve...Step One: What Does Your Company Do? The first step in creating your marketing process is to highlight the mission statement of your company. All of your marketing efforts will revolve around fulfilling that statement for your customers. Take a look at some of the mission statements of these brands: Starbucks: To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time. Discovery Benefits: Discovery Benefits is transforming the complexity of employee benefits administration with innovative solutions and extraordinary customer service delivered by empowered and knowledgeable employees. : A family of Agile marketing products that will help you stay focused, deliver projects on time, and make your team  happy. Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Tesla: To accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. Each one of these companies creates materials, campaigns, and more to help foster those mission statements. Take   for example. Every feature we build helps marketing teams get organized and save time. All of your marketing efforts should relate back to fulfilling this mission or the goals that have been set. Define the goal behind your marketing process. Follow this template to get started: {My company} exists to {provide benefit} through {product or service}. Documenting your #marketing process? Start with your mission statement.Step Two: Conduct a SWOT, 5C’s or PEST Analysis The next step in creating your marketing process is running an analysis for your marketers. You have three options to choose from: A SWOT analysis.  These analyses  run through the internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that your organization faces. The 5C’s analysis.  The 5C’s analyses focus on the company, collaborators, customers, competitors, and climate of your marketing. A PEST Analysis.  The PEST analysis focuses on more environmental factors like politics, the environment, social climate, and technology. Here are three types of competitive analyses to consider when documenting the #marketing process.Conducting a SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis  a relatively straightforward process. As a team, you will need to identify the internal strengths and weaknesses of your organization. To find your strengths  answer questions like: What does our organization do well? What processes do we have in place that help us stay efficient? What do we currently do that is a unique strength of our organization? To find your weaknesses  answer questions like: What could we improve in our organization? What is causing a constant roadblock to our progress? What are we currently doing in our marketing process that could use improvement? Each of these questions should address the internal factors that are helping or hindering the success of your marketing. The second part of the SWOT analysis is going to focus on the opportunities and threats that affect your marketing outside of your organization. To analyze the opportunities  outside your organization answer the following: What are we currently doing in our marketing that is fulfilling our mission statement or goals that have been set for our team? What is going on in the current market that we can use as an opportunity? What is changing in our industry that we could take advantage of right now? Once you’ve found opportunities to expand your marketing, analysis the threats  that may impede your success. Answer the following questions: What are our competitors doing better than us? Are there changes in our industry that could threaten our efforts? Is there anything going on politically, economically, or socially that could hinder our marketing efforts? If running a SWOT analysis is something your marketing team wants, use the analysis template that you downloaded earlier in your marketing process strategy bundle. This is how to run a SWOT analysis.How To Run A 5C’s Analysis Another analysis that your marketing team  can choose to run is a 5C’s analysis that focuses on your: Company. Collaborators. Competitors. Climate. Customers. For this analysis, answer the following questions and record them in the 5C analysis template. Company Question Examples: What marketing strategies are we employing that are making a positive impact? What strategies are we using that aren’t making an impact on our audience? What roadblocks are continually recurring that hinder our marketing process? Collaborator Question Examples: Who are we working with that is having a positive impact on our marketing efforts? Who is up and coming in our industry that we could partner with? What relationships aren’t having the same effect that they used to? Competitors Question Examples: Who are our most significant competitors? What are they doing that we currently aren’t? What tactics seems to resonant with their audience? Climate Question Examples: Is there anything happening in our industry that would affect our marketing tactics? Are their new best practices in our industry? Is our industry growing or shrinking? Customer Question Examples: What tactics are resonating with our audience? What have they come to expect from us? Is there anything we can be doing to increase the loyalty to our brand? Fill in your analysis in the marketing process template. This is how to run a 5 C's analysis.Running a PEST Analysis No, this isn’t about potential bugs in the office. A PEST analysis involves  looking at the political, economic, social, and technological factors that may affect your organization. To run a PEST analysis, record answers to the following questions. Political Climate Questions: Are there any upcoming elections that could affect the way our product is used or made? Could any upcoming legislation affect the way our organization conducts its business? If there is an upcoming legislation change that affects your organization, how quickly will that take effect? Economic Climate Questions: What is the current outlook for the economy? If you do business with foreign countries, what does the current exchange rate look like? How much are our target audience members spending on products or services we sell? Social Climate Questions: Are there any social movements that our company should be addressing? How does the upcoming generation of buyers feel about our product? Is there any social faux-pas arising that could affect how people view our business? Technological Climate Questions: Are there any new tech tools that could help us do our jobs better? Are there any new tech advancements in our industry that we could bring to our customers? If new technology is coming to our industry, how quickly will it make an appearance? Record your answers in the PEST analysis template you downloaded earlier. Here's how to run a PEST analysis.Step Three: Creating Your Marketing Strategy Now that you have a full analysis of your organization  and your industry, you can begin to shape your marketing strategy. Define Your Target Audience To start creating your strategy, you need to define who your target audience is.   Your target audience is: â€Å"The ideal customer you want to attract to your product or service through your marketing efforts.† To start finding your target audience ask your marketers the following: Who is already a part of our existing audience? Who responds best to our efforts? Why do people use our product or service? What type of problem do they experience? As you begin to format the answers to those questions, you’ll create a target audience statement which could look something like: â€Å"[Target Demographic] experiences [problem] which is leading them to interact with our organization and use our services.† Read more  about how to develop your target audience  and marketing persona. Documenting your marketing strategy? Don't forget your target audience.Creating Marketing Goals The next step in formatting your marketing strategy is to develop a series of marketing goals that connect back to the business goals that were mentioned earlier. Your marketing goals should be S.M.A.R.T. This means they should be: Specific.  You should know exactly what you'd like to accomplish. Measureable.  If you can't measure it, it's not useful. Attainable.  Stretch yourself, but avoid setting yourself up for failure. Relevant.  Your marketing goals should be connected to clear business outcomes. Time-based.  Give yourself a deadline by which you'll achieve your goal. For example, if we were to go back to the overarching goal for the mattress company which was to sell mattress your marketing goals would want to help contribute to that goal. A possible marketing goal for this example would be: â€Å"Increase the website referral traffic coming from social media channels by 25% in the next quarter.† You can set as many goals as you need to complete each marketing project. Learn how to set your goals. Every documented #marketing strategy should include clear goals.Remember, the most important thing with your marketing goals is that they are tied to wider business objectives. Ensuring Your Marketing Goals Contribute to the Bottomline Let's say your overarching business goal is to have 20 million in revenue by 2020. In order to increase revenue, you have to increase sales. In order to increase sales, you've got to increase leads coming into the marketing funnel. This is where you come in. You've identified that you need to bring in 1,000 leads per month. Working back from there helps you identify the one lead metric to focus on. Your website is the largest lead generator, so to increase the number of leads, you've got to increase traffic. Say you get 5,000 website visitors each month; is it possible to convert 20 percent of them? Likely not. In reality, a 2-5 percent conversion rate is more accurate. To hit your goal of 1,000 leads, you need between 20,000 and 50,000 website visitors. Now you've found the one metric to focus on. Every activity you do should focus on increasing the volume of website visitors from 5,000 to 20,000 (to hit a 5 percent conversion rate). Set A Budget The last step in your marketing strategy is setting a budget up. Your budget will determine what resources and strategies you use throughout the year. There are four ways you can set a budget for the year: Percent of Revenue.  This is where the revenue that your organization brings in determines what your budget will be. Top-Down.  This is where your CMO or boss decides what your marketing team will spend. Competition Matching.  This type of budget is based on trying to reverse engineer what your competitors are doing. Goal Driven.  This type of budget is based on the goals that you have set for the year. The amount you spend on each project will depend on the kind of goal you need to reach. Learn more about creating a marketing budget, with our  marketing strategy guide. Have questions about working budget into your marketing strategy? We have answers.Step Four: Building Your Marketing Mix The next step in your marketing process is going to be building  your marketing mix. According to The Economic Times: â€Å"The marketing mix refers to the set of actions, or tactics, that a company uses to promote its brand or product in the market.† This is usually broken down into the four P’s: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Product.  The product of your marketing mix is going to refer to how the thing that your company is selling is produced. It includes things like branding, packaging, quality of the product, features and more. Price.  Price in a marketing mix refers to how much your product or service costs. It also includes things like the discounts your company may offer, and it’s perceived value. Promotion.  Promotion is how your organization sells the product to your target audience. This includes things like advertising channels, public relations, sales and publicity efforts that sell your product. Place. Place refers to where your product or service is produced. This could involve distribution channels, outlet locations, how your product is transported and stored. Check out this SlideShare on how to build a marketing mix: As you continue to develop your mix, record it in the 4P’s spreadsheet that was in your downloaded strategy kit. What does your #marketing mix look like?Step Five: Execution The next part of your marketing process is determining how to use it when you execute your projects. Here is how each part of your marketing execution can be used. Target Marketing Process Target marketing involves breaking down your target audience into smaller segments and sending those segments messages to move them further down the marketing funnel. Here are some ways you can segment your audience: By demographic. By location. By lifestyle or income level. By behavior (hobbies, interests, shopping habits, etc). After you have your segments drawn up your marketing process should look something like this:

Dior Homme Perfume Commercial Directed by Guy Ritchie Essay

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Mount Sinai Hospital Pediatric Cardiolody issues Term Paper

Mount Sinai Hospital Pediatric Cardiolody issues - Term Paper Example One of the reasons behind Mount Sinai Hospitals huge success is the management practices it adheres to. Mount Sinais view of organizational effectiveness is more wholesome, as opposed to profit-making ventures. A critical look at Mount Sinai Hospital shows that as an institution, it sees effectiveness as a culmination of the integration and application of the three dimensions of management: focus, structure and time-horizons. As is postulated by Robert Quinn and John Rohrbaugh, when the three dimensions they form four dynamic and competing models of organizational effectiveness (Tompkins, 2004). The first model is the human relations model which internally focuses on people who make up the organization and is emphatic on the need to promote structural flexibility, intra-organizational cohesion, motivation and training, as the means of actualizing organizational effectiveness, as can be seen in the human relations theory. Mount Sinai Hospital can be seen to have perfected the use of the human relations models. This exemplified by the fact that the New York Magazine in 2009 listed 129 of Mount Sinai Hospitals physicians to its Best Physicians List. One of the ways this healthcare services institution has been able to do is by sustaining competitive recruitment processes for its medical and non-medical staff. To this effect, Mount Sinai Hospital sticks to: commitment to patients welfare; the candidates wellbeing; and roundedness; and overall grades that the candidates scored during his medical training. These measures are usually observed if the recruitment exercise is being done to applicants who wish to work as physicians. Mount Sinai Hospital uses previous commitment to community work in medical or healthcare institutions as the yardstick for measuring the love for the patient (commitment to the patients welfare). Experience and academic records are also considered

Analyzing the Poem The White Mans burden by Rudyard Kipling Essay

Analyzing the Poem The White Mans burden by Rudyard Kipling - Essay Example The poem was published in 1899, a period wherein racial discrimination is still the norm in America. Although slavery was finally abolished and outlawed in 1865, people of color were still treated as inferior. The audience of the poem, hence, was still characterized by prejudicial outlook, seeing imperialism as a favor and even a burden for America as the best of the white men will be sent on a mission to civilize the colored colonials. This theme is underscored by several concepts, which can be classified into three: captives, wild, serf, sweeper; burden, terror, pride, profit, gain; laurel, manhood, praise, wisdom. The first set of keywords described the colonials, the next described the process of imperialism and, finally, the last set highlighted the rewards. It is clear that the poem encourages imperialism. Kipling appeared to campaign for this move not only because it is a noble thing to civilize others. Also, he seemed to consider imperialism as a precondition for the United S tates to be finally recognized by its peers, which of course are the European colonials. There is an implied proposition that in order for America to be finally considered as a world power – within the league of the European club – it must be able to govern its own colony. There are scholars who believe that this poem by Kipling is a satire. But this interpretation is quite far-fetched. The tone, the diction and the themes involved are on the serious side and no attempt at humor is apparent. The thesis is clear: America must take the burden and colonize a backward nation. His poem provided the arguments for these. First, there is the suggestion that imperialism is a task that must be accomplished because it is noble. The colonization will benefit the colony. America and its best would strive to make the client state and its people ready and worthy member of the community of nations. Secondly, Kipling argued that imperialism is a selfless act, hence, noble, as America

Choose one of the 5 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Choose one of the 5 questions - Essay Example The purpose of this research paper is to summarize the company’s strategic plan for the next three to five years. In discussing, this document will describe the company’s overall business strategy and IT department strategic plan in ensuring that it align with the business priorities and financial justifications. Further, the researcher will be looking at some of the current strategic issues the company is facing. Business Strategy and Capabilities Medtronic is a global company whose headquarter is located in Minneapolis Minnesota. Historically, the company started developing their facilities in 1967 when the first service center was created in Amsterdam’s Schipohl followed by Kerkrade located in Netherlands. Today, the company has expanded so much that there are facilities all over in the world. It is important to understand how the company has been progressing for the past years and the main challenges that need to be met to achieve their strategic plan. Accord ing to Medtronic, Inc, for the past five years, the company has shown a remarkable growth in sales and revenue (Ford, 2013 B). Despite the noted progress, the company has identified a number of challenges that needed to be solved. ... In this case, the IT cost drivers should be considered when establishing the company’s strategies and objectives as discussed in the following section. Establishing Priorities Studies show that, Medtronic IT department provides the company with excellent products and services across the globe (Michelson, 2013). To fully succeed in the competitive world, IT departments needs to understand the functional team required and how they can utilize their services to solve the challenges identified. For instance, the IT department needs to develop software that tracks the clinical trial data; the company needs to look into China or India since these countries have a high number of graduates’ students each year who are competent and experienced and they would cost the company one quarter of the salaries they would earn in the United States (DeRosa, 2013). Furthermore, this report makes the following suggestion, for the IT department, as a means of solving their challenges. First, the department needs to create a strong IT team that would support and implement the goals and objectives set by the strategy team. There is a need to have a team that would conduct analysis that would enhance positive growth in the company and ensure that there is a small group of IT staff that facilitate daily activities (Oppenheimer, 2013). The IT standardization would help the Company to lower costs and provide opportunities to innovate new products. Overall, the IT department’s information of the business world would help the company achieve its missions and values. Background Medtronic is headquartered in Minneapolis and was founded in the year 1949. It is an international supplier of

Amelie Rorty on The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes Assignment

Amelie Rorty on The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes - Assignment Example Dynamically permeable love is precarious because once it changes the character of a person; their affair may terminate prematurely (Grau, Para. 22). According to Rorty, dynamically permeable love is distinct from constant rigid love in a number of different ways. Constant rigid love is a kind of love that is consistent and does not change due to circumstances two parties. Amidst difficult times, constant rigid love has the potential to prevail and stand the test of time. Although the character of friends may change due many factors such as growing wealthy or one becoming successful, their friendship will always remain unchanged. Even though the attributes that brought the two friends together initially changes, the love for the two parties remains unshaken. Other contributors of the topic such as Nozick and Kraut also came up with similar description for this kind of love. However, Rorty contends that this particular kind of love does not can grow to higher levels and flourish unlike dynamically permeable that has a high potential. Dynamically permeable love seems to enjoy the support of some groups because it considers changes as a means of guaranteeing consistency whereas constant love fails to do so. It accommodates changes in a partner’s traits for the sake of securing the friendship unlike constant love that is very rigid and protects the status quo (Grau, Para 23). In some instances, Rorty comes out supporting constancy of love as the best kind of love which creates confusion about her actual position on these two kinds of love. However, she fails to point out precisely on what entails constant love. Two definitions of constant love by Kraut leave her confused about the composition of constant love. The first views entail constant love, and the undying love that two friends may have despite character changes. The second one describes it as a love that does not undergo via dynamism given that the

Environmental Science Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Science - Assignment Example Seasonal food is encouraged and calls for the avoidance of junk food most of which is wrapped in plastics (Garbage Warrior Film Theatrical Trailer Web). This paper discusses the effect of No Impact to the general population. The project is appealing to me. It calls for taking care of the environment and I advocate for this approach. I agree it is individual responsibility influence environment. No Impact man affected me greatly. I got an insight into the things I do that harm the environment. This movie changed my view of the world. I realized that this world depend on us for I to be able to sustain us. Additionally, No Impact man affected how I view my own life. I realized that I was making less impact to the proper functioning of our ecosystem. Moreover, I found that my lifestyle affected greatly the ecosystem. As an advocate of clean and healthy environment, I decide to share this information to my family to change the lifestyle in my home that affects the environment. It is easy to decipher about the environment from this movie. It also shows relationship between our lifestyle and environment. Waste is the material that we consider of no use or us the remains after we get the essential part. Waste causes harm to the environment and the people who stays in such environment. Waste is also a source of diseases such as airborne disease and other form of environmental hazards. Various form of waste is generated especially in our homes. These wastes may include food, paper, plastic, wrappers. Majority of the waste cannot be eliminated from waste stream but can be easily recycled. Waste management is an important aspect towards conserving and taking care of our environment. This paper discusses ways in which waste can be reduced. Kitchen generates a lot of waste. Most of kitchen waste decomposes easily. This type of waste can be put into a compost pit. It will decompose in a few days and it is a good source for our garden. This manure can

Amelie Rorty on The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes Assignment

Amelie Rorty on The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes - Assignment Example Dynamically permeable love is precarious because once it changes the character of a person; their affair may terminate prematurely (Grau, Para. 22). According to Rorty, dynamically permeable love is distinct from constant rigid love in a number of different ways. Constant rigid love is a kind of love that is consistent and does not change due to circumstances two parties. Amidst difficult times, constant rigid love has the potential to prevail and stand the test of time. Although the character of friends may change due many factors such as growing wealthy or one becoming successful, their friendship will always remain unchanged. Even though the attributes that brought the two friends together initially changes, the love for the two parties remains unshaken. Other contributors of the topic such as Nozick and Kraut also came up with similar description for this kind of love. However, Rorty contends that this particular kind of love does not can grow to higher levels and flourish unlike dynamically permeable that has a high potential. Dynamically permeable love seems to enjoy the support of some groups because it considers changes as a means of guaranteeing consistency whereas constant love fails to do so. It accommodates changes in a partner’s traits for the sake of securing the friendship unlike constant love that is very rigid and protects the status quo (Grau, Para 23). In some instances, Rorty comes out supporting constancy of love as the best kind of love which creates confusion about her actual position on these two kinds of love. However, she fails to point out precisely on what entails constant love. Two definitions of constant love by Kraut leave her confused about the composition of constant love. The first views entail constant love, and the undying love that two friends may have despite character changes. The second one describes it as a love that does not undergo via dynamism given that the

Leadership Traits of Hilary Clinton Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Leadership Traits of Hilary Clinton - Assignment Example Clinton can be traced to preserve a number of valuable traits that led her to become a successful leader in different spheres. An enormous aptitude of resilience and adaptability towards performing different roles in various critical situations has been apparently observed to be one of the ways, which led her to become a renowned as well as a successful leader. On a further note, the consistent focus on maintaining a strong set of values and work ethics with possessing certain behavioral characteristics can also be duly considered as the other way of leading Mrs. Clinton to be an effective leader (Shambaugh, 2010). With regards to the fundamental principles and key elements, the leadership styles of Mrs. Clinton can be related to that of the functions performed by a successful manager. It can be affirmed from a broader understanding that certain facets or qualities of Mrs. Clinton ultimately led her to become a manager as well. In this regard, these facets or qualities can be measured in terms of possessing greater aptitude of resilience and most vitally be making effective decisions towards mitigating any sort of risks among others (Shambaugh, 2010). Despite the prevalence of strong values and ethical conducts, the leadership styles of Mrs. Clinton were also observed to focus on a set of masculine traits such as following more decisive and confrontational leadership principles. It is worth mentioning that during her tenure as the US Senator, the leadership principles of Mrs. Clinton had been viewed to include a well-defined set of values that significantly helped her to perform assigned roles and functions efficiently. Moreover, Mrs. Clinton effectively dealt with the challenges that faced by her while performing varied functions as a Senator (Shambaugh, 2010). Thus, it can be affirmed that the above-discussed leadership skills and competencies do Mrs. Clinton fulfill as a successful leader or a manager.

Conflict of Interest Essay Example for Free

Conflict of Interest Essay Abstract Information about the financial health of public companies provided by auditors ideally allows investors to make informed decisions and enhances the efficiency of financial markets. However, under the current system auditors are hired and fired by the companies they audit, which introduces incentives for biases that favor the audited companies. Three experiments demonstrate bias in auditors judgments, and show that these biases are not easily corrected because auditors are not fully aware of them. The first experiment demonstrates that the judgments of professional auditors tend to be biased in favor of their clients. The second and third experiments explore more closely the psychological processes underlying the bias. The results suggest that the closeness of the relationship between auditor and client may have a particularly strong biasing influence on auditors private judgments. Key words: Conflict of interest; Auditor independence; Self-serving bias; Motivated reasoning Auditor Independence, Conflict of Interest, and the Unconscious Intrusion of Bias By certifying the public reports that collectively depict a corporation’s financial status, the independent auditor assumes a public responsibility transcending any employment relationship with the client. The independent public accountant performing this special function owes ultimate allegiance to the corporations creditors and stockholders, as well as to the investing public. This public watchdog function demands that the accountant maintain total independence from the client at all times and requires complete fidelity to the public trust. -Chief Justice Warren Burger, writing on behalf of a unanimous United States Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Arthur Young Co. (1984) Independence is central to the function served by auditors. Although managers may have an interest in exaggerating, misrepresenting, or falsifying reports of their firm’s performance, an independent audit report is supposed to provide a credible, unbiased appraisal of the firms financial status. The importance of auditor independence is reflected in the Code of Professional Ethics of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and has been reinforced by numerous legal decisions, such as that rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the opening quote. Recent events, however, have led many to question whether the modern practice of public accounting is independent enough. In the wake of a number of accounting scandals, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conducted a series of hearings on auditor independence in 2000. The SEC instituted modest changes to disclosure rules after the 2000 hearings and the issue receded from the public agenda until the failure of the Enron Corporation and the role of its auditor, Arthur Andersen, in that failure brought the issue of auditor independence to the fore. In analyzing the problem of auditor independence, both the academic accounting literature and the mass media have implicitly adopted what could be considered an â€Å"economic† perspective on the problem. Theoretical papers, empirical analyses, and media discussions of the Conflict of Interest 4 issue of independence assume, sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly, that auditor bias is a matter of deliberate choice (Antle, 1984; DeAngelo, 1981; Simunic, 1984). Auditors are assumed to have the ability to complete high-quality, independent, unbiased audits if they choose to do so. Bias, to t he extent that it is thought to exist, is seen as a deliberate response to incentives. This â€Å"economic† account of independence and bias is challenged by psychological research which suggests that biased information processing is not only pervasive, but is typically unconscious and unintentional—i.e., seldom a matter of deliberate choice. Applied to auditing, this research suggests that auditors who face conflicts of interest may find it difficult, if not impossible, to avoid bias even if they attempt to do so. Whether auditor bias is a matter of conscious choice or is unintentional and unconscious has wide-ranging implications for policy, because conscious corruption and unconscious bias respond to different influences. In this paper, we first review findings from empirical research on biased information processing. Then we report results from three experiments. The first experiment documents biased judgment among professional auditors. The second and third experiments delve deeper into the psychological processes at work and examine the causes of bi ased judgment. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the practice of and rules surrounding auditing. Motivated Information Processing Research shows that people evaluate evidence in a selective fashion when they have a stake in reaching a particular conclusion. They tend to focus on evidence that supports the conclusion they would like to reach and evaluate that evidence in an uncritical fashion (Holyoak Simon, 1999; Koehler, 1991; Lord, Ross, Lepper, 1979; Russo, Medvec, Meloy, 1996; Russo, Meloy, Medvec, 1998, see Rabin Schrag, 1999 for a theoretical model). When evidence conflicts with their desired conclusions, people tend to either ignore it or subject it to particularly critical scrutiny (Ditto Lopez, 1992). This selective information processing effect is so strong that when people on different sides of an issue are exposed to the same information they can all feel that the information supports their position. As a result, they may even hold more strongly disparate opinions after receiving the same information (Lord et al., 1979). One important influence on how people evaluate information is accountability. When people know that they will be accountable for their decisions, they show more concern for how their decisions will be received. When they do not know the preferences of their audience, this heightened concern leads to more systematic cognitive processing and a more thorough justification of the conclusion (Tetlock, 1983). However, when the preferences of the audience are known, accountability need not lead to more thoughtful processing, but can instead increase the likelihood that the decision-makers judgment will be consistent with the known preferences of the audience (Tetlock, 1983). In an audit, there can be little doubt regarding the preferences of the management of the client firm: They want to get an unqualified audit report. The effect of accountability cannot be easily explained by simple self-interest, because most of the research on accountability has not included any rewards for agreeing with the individual to whom one is accountable (Tetlock, 1992). But this is not to say that self-interest does not influence judgment. When a particular interpretation of the evidence will benefit them materially, people gravitate toward that interpretation, even when they hold an explicit goal of being impartial. For example, people tend to think that the allocation of resources that benefits themselves is fair (Messick Sentis, 1979), and believe that others will share their perspective (Diekmann, 1997; Diekmann, Samuels, Ross, Bazerman, 1997; Messick Sentis, 1983). Moreover, they are typically unaware that they are processing information in a self-serving fashion and, thus, are unaware that they are biased. Thompson and Loewenstein (1992) found evidence of a self-serving bias in negotiators’ reports of fairness. In their experiment, participants played either the role of management or union in a wage negotiation, and both roles were given the same information about the details of the situation. Before they negotiated, both parties were asked what they believed a fair outcome to be from the vantage point of a neutral third party. Their responses were egocentrically biased; individuals representing the union tended to believe that a higher wage was fairer, whereas those representing management tended to report that a lower wage was fairer. The parties then proceeded to trade bids until they came to settlement, and delay was costly to both parties. The magnitude of the egocentric bias—the difference between the two sides perceptions of a fair wage—predicted the length of time it took parties to come to agreement: The more egocentric the parties ex ante perceptions of fairness were, the longer strikes tended to last. Later research demonstrated the same result in real negotiations between union and school board presidents in Pennsylvania (Babcock, Wang, Loewenstein, 1996). In the studies cited above, the pre-negotiation fairness judgments had no direct consequence for the negotiators, so it is unlikely that the bias resulted from strategic misrepresentation. However, subjects were not given any incentive to report their judgments accurately, so the studies do not reveal whether people are able to provide impartial judgments when they are motivated to do so. Two studies (Babcock, Loewenstein, Issacharoff, Camerer, 1995; Loewenstein, Issacharoff, Camerer, Babcock, 1993), however, offered a clear incentive to participants to be accurate in their private fairness judgments. Participants whose judgments came close to the determinations of an impartial judge were given a cash bonus. This incentive did not eliminate egocentrism in participants reports, suggesting that their roles influenced their assessments of fairness in ways they could not disregard even when it was in their interest to do so. Kunda (1990) argued that this motivated reasoning leads to biased conclusions whenever there is sufficient ambiguity in the evidence to allow for a biased interpretation. Thompson and Loewenstein (1992) explicitly manipulated ambiguity and confirmed Kundas prediction: Greater ambiguity leads to more bias. In general, as Babcock and Loewenstein (1997: 120) concluded on the basis of the aforementioned studies: As soon as asymmetries are introduced between the parties—for example, different nonagreement values or costs of non-settlement, or subtle differences in roles—both parties notions of fairness will tend to gravitate toward settlements that favor themselves. They will not only view these settlements as fair, but believe that their personal conception of fairness is impartial. In sum, research on information processing and bargaining suggests both that people process information in a biased, self-interested, fashion, and that this bias is strong, automatic, and unconscious. Implications of Motivated Information Processing for Auditor Independence The research on motivated information processing has significant implications for auditor bias. Very few auditors begin their work hoping to find a client has breached accounting standards. Rather, auditors typically start with a desire to reach a positive conclusion about their clients and issue an unqualified audit report. Auditors generally want to be rehired by their clients, and it is often the case that an unfavorable audit report is likely to result in a client firm changing auditors (Levinthal Fichman, 1988; Seabright, Levinthal, Fichman, 1992). Even if the accounting firm is large enough that one account is a trivial percentage of its revenues, individual auditors’ jobs and careers may depend on success with specific clients. Perhaps more importantly, accounting firms often treat auditing work as a way to build relationships that will allow them to sell other services including management consulting, information technology assistance, or tax accounting. Although some have argued that the contingent rents available through consulting services should not influence audit quality (Antle, Griffen, Teece, Williamson, 1997; Dopuch, King, Schwartz, 2001), other recent evidence suggests that it may (Frankel, Johnson, Nelson, in press). An auditor’s job is complex, involving the accumulation and synthesis of a great deal of information about a client firm. The information available to auditors often includes the kind of ambiguity that facilitates motivated information processing. Joseph Berardino, Arthur Andersen’s former chief executive, in his congressional testimony on the Enron collapse, commented that: Many people think accounting is a science, where one number, namely earnings per share, is the number, and it’s such a precise number, that it couldn’t be two pennies higher or two pennies lower. I come from a school that says it’s really much more of an art (as quoted in Harris, 2001). This imprecision allows motivated reasoning to insinuate itself into auditors judgments. Historically, those who have defended auditors against charges of bias have emphasized their high ethical standards and professional values. For example, at the SEC hearings on auditor independence, Gary Shamis, Chairman of the Management of an Accounting Practice Committee at the AICPA, stated that: Conflict of Interest 9 We take the existing independence rules quite seriously, and consequently abide by all the existing rules. We are professionals that follow our code of ethics and practice by the highest moral standards. We would never be influenced by our own personal financial well being (Shamis, 2000) While it is likely that most auditors attempt to remain independent, neither ethical codes nor training are likely to be effective remedies against a bias that is unconscious and unintentional. Undoubtedly, the vast majority of auditors do not deliberately author biased reports. Instead, auditors’ roles influence their professional assessments so that their private beliefs become consistent with the interests of their clients. Although it is possible that auditors sometimes intentionally misrepresent their findings in public, it is more likely that self-interest operates indirectly, by unconsciously influencing auditors’ assessments of a client’s financial condition. The Studies The three experiments reported here bring together research on motivated reasoning and accountability to study the psychology auditors judgments. Experiment 1 presents data from professional auditors and tests the hypothesis that their judgments may be biased in favor of client firms (Hypothesis 1). The second and third studies examine the causes behind this effect; they examine factors that could moderate the magnitude of bias, and test the extent to which the bias can be consciously undone. Participants were asked to produce two judgments: one public and the other private. For the public judgments, subjects were given an explicit incentive to be biased. For the private judgments, they were given an incentive to be unbiased; they were paid on the basis of how close their judgments came to those provided by an impartial panel of experts. If participants were fully aware of the bias in their public reports, and if properly motivated to do so, they should have been able to adjust their evaluations to eliminate the bias in their private judgments. If they were not fully aware of the bias, as the research on motivated information processing would suggest, then their private estimates should have been biased as well (Hypothesis 2). Experiment 2 specifically tests the consequences of financial incentives on bias. To the extent that financial incentives affect the strength of the auditors desire to reach a particular conclusion, one might expect to observe parallel changes in the magnitude of bias. Experiment 2 tests the hypothesis that the greater one’s financial interest in a particular outcome, the more biased one will be in the direction of that outcome (Hypothesis 3). The third study examines the effect of the relationship between the auditor and the principal. Material interests are not the only factors that can undermine the impartiality of judgments. Personal relationships and affiliations can have a similar effect. The power of affiliations is evident in sports fans; questionable referee calls often provoke outrage by the fans of the call’s loser, but rarely by fans on the winning side. Indeed, one of the first studies that documented the self-serving bias involved sports teams. In their classic study of a particularly rough football game, Hastdorf and Cantril (1954) showed that fans from each side blamed the other team for behaving more aggressively; this result also held for fans who had not seen the game live but only watched a film of the game. These fans obtained no material benefit from their energetic advocacy but nevertheless made judgments that favored their own teams. The self-serving bias does not require the powerful affiliations associated with sports teams. Thompson (1995) has shown, in a simulated labor dispute, that it takes only a whiff of affiliation with a partisan to create sympathetic leanings. Naturally, this tendency is only strengthened when people feel accountable to the partisan (Lerner Tetlock, 1999; Tetlock, 1992). Most auditors are likely to have frequent close contact with a client, creating much stronger affiliations. Indeed, it is the cooperation of the client that makes it possible for auditors to do their jobs. Thus, Experi ment 3 tests the hypothesis that the closer one’s personal relationship with a particular individual, the more biased one will be in that person’s favor (Hypothesis 4). EXPERIMENT 1: Role-Conferred Biases Method Participants were 139 professional auditors employed full-time by one of the Big Four accounting firms in the United States. Their ages ranged from 23 to 55, with a mean of 29 years (SD = 6.2). Fifty-six percent of the participants were male. They had a mean of five years (SD = 5.7) working as an auditor. Nine participants requested, after they had handed in their questionnaires, that their responses be excluded from subsequent data analyses. Participants were given five different auditing vignettes and asked them to come to a judgment regarding the proper auditing in each case. The problems were intentionally chosen to be somewhat difficult accounting problems for which generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) did not provide an unambiguous solution. Each of the vignettes depicts a situation in which accounting issues that are not clearly addressed by current rule-based accounting standards. The issues addressed include the recognition of intangible assets on the financial statements (vignette 1), the restructuring of debt with dilutive securities (vignette 2), the recognition vs. deferral of revenues (vignette 3), capitalization vs. expensing of expenditures (vignette 4), and the treatment of research and development costs on the financial statements (vignette 5). Subjects were told that these cases were independent of each other and hypothetical, although are intentionally realistic. It was our goal to design these vignettes such that the issues that are described are more general and do not particularly apply to any one  industry, to ensure that auditors specializing in one industry will not have a specific advantage or disadvantage in answering any of the questions. All participants saw all five vignettes in the same order. The five vignettes are listed in Appendix A. The experiment had a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. evaluate other’s accounting first) between-subjects factorial design. The role manipulation varied whom participants were told they were working for. Half the participants’ materials informed them that they had been hired as the external auditor for the firm in question. The other half of participants were told that they were working for an outside investor considering investing money in the firm. The question order manipulation varied the order of the questions that followed every vignette. Those in the choice-first condition were first presented with (1) the firm’s unaudited accounting, and were asked whether they would accept it as complying with GAAP; and (2) what the right accounting would be. Those in the valuation-first condition got these two questions in the reverse order. All participants were also asked how confident they were about their judgments. Results Neither age nor years of auditing experience affected the dependent measures reported below. Therefore, we do not report them in any of the subsequent analyses. We hypothesized that participants would be more likely to come to the conclusion that the accounting behind a firm’s financial reports complied with GAAP if they were working for the firm than if they were not (Hypothesis 1). To test this hypothesis, we conducted a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. Conflict of Interest 13 evaluate other’s accounting first) MANOVA using the five approval decisions as dependent variables. The results show a significant main effect of role. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, those working as external auditor for a firm were significantly more likely to approve its accounting (M = 29%, SD = 24%) than were those who represented outside investors (M = 22%, SD = 21%), F (5, 107) = 2.9, p .05. Neither the main effect of question order nor its interaction with role is significant. We also expected, consistent with Hypothesis 1, that in addition to being more willing to endorse the firm’s own accounting, participants would be more likely to come to valuation decisions that were favorable to the target firm when they were considering the problem from the perspective of an outside auditor then when they had taken the perspective of a potential investor. To test this prediction, we first generated standardized scores for each item by computing a zscore of the valuation and reverse-scoring items as appropriate so that higher scores indicated valuations more favorable to the target firm. We then computed an average valuation for each participant and submitted these valuations to a 2 (role: hired by issuer or by outside investor) X 2 (question order: make accounting valuation first vs. evaluate other’s accounting first) ANOVA. The results show a main effect of role: Those playing the role of outside auditor came to more favorable valuations (M = .08, SD = .56) than did those working for a potential investor, (M = -.11, SD = .50), F (1, 134) = 4.07, p .05. Neither the main effect of question order nor its interaction with role is significant. Discussion The results of Experiment 1 are broadly consistent with research on accountability that shows that people tend to be proactively responsive to those to whom they expect to be accountable. When people are accountable to others with known preferences, then their judgments tend to be consistent with the preferences of those to whom they are accountable (Tetlock, 1983). An auditor who feels accountable to the client is more likely to issue a clean, unqualified audit report than one who feels accountable to an audit partner within his or her own firm (Buchman, Tetlock, Reed, 1996). However, it is worth noting that the accountability manipulation used in Experiment 1 was weak compared with the standard accountability manipulations in which people are led to believe that they will actually be meeting with a real person to whom they will need to justify their decisions. In Experiment 1, no mention was made of such accountability and participants were not required to justify their opinions. Nevertheless, this weak manipulation had an effect. We speculate that one reason for its effectiveness may be that the participants were familiar with the role of auditor, and so were able to easily put themselves in the role of being employed by, and accountable to, the client firm. One notable feature of the results of Experiment 1 is the low levels of endorsement. Nearly three quarters of the time, participants rejected the accounting proposed in the vignette as not complying with GAAP. This fact stands in contrast to the fact that the vast majority of all audit reports are unqualified. Two facts can explain the low endorsement rates in Experiment 1. First, the proposed accounting we gave participants in each vignette was intentionally designed to be fairly aggressive. Second, participants general suspiciousness was heightened because: (1) before they responded to the questionnaire, participants had to sign the consent form which, according to the rules of the institutional review board that approved it, had to include the name of the study: Auditor independence and bias; and (2) the participants had all been recently hired away from Arthur Andersen, and several expressed the concern that their ex-employers fate would be assumed to reflect badly on them. It is, perhaps, striking that the experiments manipulation worked despite participants heightened suspiciousness. Experiment 1 leaves a number of important theoretical questions unanswered. What, exactly, is it in the relationship between auditor and client that leads it to have the power to sway auditors judgments, given the clear ethical standards of their professions prohibiting such influence? Experiments 2 and 3 test two possible answers to this question: financial incentives and personal relationships. Because these two factors are confounded in actual auditor-client relationships, the experiments are conducted with participants who are not professional auditors. However, due to the fact that these non-auditor participants were unfamiliar with GAAP and so could not judge compliance with it, we created a slightly different experimental paradigm. EXPERIMENT 2: The Role of Financial Incentives Method Participants. One hundred twelve individuals participated for pay. Participants were recruited with advertisements in local newspapers and with flyers posted on the campuses of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Forty-nine percent of the participants were male. They ranged in age from 20 to 41, with an average age of 24 years (SD = 5.18 years). Procedure. Participants were run in groups of four. They were assigned to one of four roles: the buyer, the buyer’s auditor, the seller, or the seller’s auditor. Principals (the buyer and the seller) were seated next to their auditors. All four participants received the same packet of information about the target firm, named E-Settle (see Appendix B). After reading through these materials, the principals made public reports on the value of the firm. The auditors then reviewed these reports and offered either an unqualified endorsement of the principal’s assessment or offered their own assessments that could include suggestions for revision. In addition, all auditors were asked to specify both the most they thought the buyer should consider paying and the least they thought the seller should consider accepting. Both the principals’ and the auditors’ public reports were viewed by both principals. Armed with their own estimates and those of their auditors, principals then negotiated the purchase of the firm. The principals were paid based on their negotiated outcomes. In addition to the auditors’ public reports, which went to both principals, the auditors each completed a private report that went only to the experimenter. This private report instructed auditors to report their true belief in the value of t he target firm, and told them, â€Å"Your goal is for this assessment to be as impartial as you can make it.† Participants were told that their estimates of the firm’s value would be compared with the opinions of nonpartisan experts. The panel of experts consisted of eight professors of accounting and finance at Carnegie Mellon University’s Graduate School of Industrial Administration. The experts had assessed the value of the firm at $14 million. If a participant’s valuation were within $3 million of the experts’, he or she would receive an additional $3 payment. Participants were then asked to express how confident they were in the accuracy of their private appraisals. They were given the opportunity to bet on their private appraisals. If they chose to take the bet, they stood to win more money ($6 instead of $3, but their appraisals had to be more accurate (within $1.5 million instead of $3 million). Finally, participants answered questions designed to assess the degree to which they believed their own appraisals of the target firm (E-Settle) may have been bias ed by the roles they played: Conflict of Interest 17 1) To what extent do you believe your private appraisal of the value of E-Settle was biased by your role? The response scale ran from 0 (no bias whatsoever) to 10 (powerfully biased). 2) To what extent do you think your role interfered with your ability to give an impartial estimate of E-Settle’s value in your private assessment? The response scale ran from 1 (it did not influence me at all) to 7 (I found it impossible to make an impartial assessment). 3) How do you believe your role influenced your estimate of E-Settle’s value in your private appraisal? The response scale ran from -$3,000,000 (It led me to make an appraisal that was at least $3 million below what it would otherwise have been) to +$3,000,000 (It led me to make an appraisal that was at least $3 million above what it would otherwise have been). Design. The experiments manipulation of incentive structures included three conditions: Fixed fee, Pay for performance, and Future business. In the fixed fee condition, auditors were paid a fixed $9 fee regardless of their reports and regardless of the principal’s outcomes. In the pay for performance condition, auditors received a $3 base payment plus the same contingent payments as their principals: $.50 per $1 million in sale price either above $0 (for the seller) or below $30 million (for the buyer). This manipulation was designed to mirror a practice that the SEC has made illegal in which auditors have a direct financial stake in the success of a client firm. In the future business condition, auditors received a $3 base payment; after the negotiation was complete, principals could choose to award future business to the auditor, worth anywhere from $0 to $10. The decision of how much business to give to the auditor did not influence the principal’s own earnings. This manipulation was designed to mirror the incentives present for auditors who would like to continue offering profitable services to a client who has the choice of hiring them or some other firm. Results Public reports. After reading about the target firm, principals provided estimates of its value. A 2 (role: buyer vs. seller) X 3 (pay: fixed, pay for performance, future business) ANOVA revealed a main effect for role. Sellers estimated the value of the firm to be higher (M = $21.5 MM, SD = $8.5 MM) than did buyers (M = $12.3 MM, SD = $12.3 MM), F(1, 49) = 18.94, p .001. After having seen this report, auditors had the option of either unconditionally endorsing the principal’s report or suggesting changes. A logistic regression reveals that neither role nor the extremity of the principal’s valuation influenced the frequency of endorsement. However, pay condition was a significant predictor of the tendency to endorse, B = -.75, p .05. Auditors in the fixed payment and pay for performance conditions were about equally likely to issue unconditional endorsements (50 percent and 47 percent respectively). However, auditors in the future business condition were less likely to issue an unconditional endorsement (17 percent) and instead tended to offer suggestions for revision (see Table 1), χ2(2) = 4.89, p .05. In professional auditing, issuing a conditional endorsement of a client’s financial statements suggests that the auditor believes there are problems. However, participants in the present experiment were not constrained in this way. In their reports, about 12 percent of auditors suggested that their principals had been too extreme in their valuation of the company, and advised moderation (lower prices recommended to sellers and higher prices to buyers).

Edgar Allen Poe :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The gothic short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe are so outstanding that they are still being read today. He only lived for forty years yet made such a huge impact on literature. Poe tells Thomas W. Fredrick in a letter, why he became a writer. â€Å" Depend upon it, after all, Thomas, Literature is the most noble of professions. In fact, it is about the only one fit for a man. For my own part, there is no seducing me from the path.†(Edgar Allan Poe’s Life, intro page) The word that best describes the life and works of Edgar Allan Poe would have to be mystery. Not only is it seen in his literary works, but in his life as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 19, 1809 to Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe Jr. His parents were both actors who hardly made enough money to live on. Edgar had two siblings, an older brother named William Henry, who lived with relatives in Baltimore, and a baby sister named Rosalie. When Edgar was about two years old, his father died, or disappeared (no one knows for sure). Shortly after, his mother died of tuberculosis, the two children were all alone. In 1811,a t the age of two, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan. Mr. Allan Refused to adopt Edgar but said he could stay with them. Rosalie was taken by another family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Poe lived in Richmond until he was six years old, then the Allans and Poe moved to Scotland. Poe attended school at Irvine Grammar School and for several years at Manor House School in Stoke Newington. (The Manor may have been reproduced in some of the darkly romantic houses in Poe’s stories). When Edgar was eleven the Allan’s returned to Richmond. There he went to school at an English and Classical School attended by the more wealthy children. At this time, Edgar began to notice how diffrent he was and began to feel bitterness towards his mother and Mr. Allan. He expressed his feelings at age sixteen, when he began to write poems and short stories. He became very arrogant and didn’t get along with anyone.